Batkhuyag clinches women’s chess crown
MUMBAI: Top-seeded IM Batkhuyag Munguntuul from Mongolia lived up the high expectations to clinch top honours in the SBI LIFE-AICF Women Grandmaster Chess Championship at The Acres Club, Chembur, on Tuesday.
The 30-year-old Batkhuyag (ELO 2410), who was in second position at the end of the 10th and penultimate round, scored a decisive win over Russian WIM Elena Tomilova (2334) in the final round.
The Mongolian finished with eight points after overnight leader Kazakhstan’s WGM Guliskhan Nakhbayeva (2323) slipped at the last hurdle, losing to talented Indian WIM Srija Seshadri (2207).
RONAK NETS WINNER
Alpha FA scored an early goal through Ronak Santara for their 1-0 win against Hedgewar Boys in the Mumbai District Football Association’s Third Division league.
OTHER RESULTS
Third Division: RCF Colony Boys 1 (Atharva Sawant) bt SC Chincholi 0; OSS Mandal 2 (OG-A Naga, Shoaib Baig) bt Sachivalaya Gym 1 (Bharat C).
WAWRINKA ENDS POOR RUN AT QUEEN’S CLUB
LONDON: Wawrinka kicked off his Wimbledon preparations with a 6-2, 6-3 win over British youngster Cameron Norrie in the Queen’s Club first round on Monday.
Wawrinka has struggled to return to peak form since suffering a left knee injury last yeat that required two operations and wiped out the second half of the Swiss star’s season.
Still hampered by the problem this term, Wawrinka was sidelined again for three months in between a second round exit at the Australian Open and a first round loss in the French Open.
Meanwhile, second seed Grigor Dimitrov survived a tough first-round workout against Bosnia’s Damir Dzumhur at the Queen’s Club championships on Tuesday to set up a secondround clash with former world number one Novak Djokovic.
The 27-year-old Bulgarian was edged out in a second-set tiebreak but eventually prevailed 6-3 6-7(4) 6-3, sealing victory with an ace.
RAMKUMAR BITES THE DUST IN ILKLEY
LONDON: Indian Davis Cupper Ramkumar Ramanathan continued to struggle on grass as he crashed out of the Ilkley ATP Challenger event after losing his first round to Austria’s Sebastian Ofner.
Ramkumar lost 5-7 3-6 to Ofner in 64 minutes. He has managed to win only three matches in as many tournaments he has played since the grass court began.
It was the fifth meeting between Ramkumar and Ofner, who had also won in the last encounter in Antwerp in 2017.
The Indian, ranked 125, converted only one of the three breakpoints while Ofner, placed 20 places below Ramkumar, broke his rival four times at the Euro 12700 event. Ramkumar earned 1320 euros.
‘BECKER’S DIPLOMATIC PASSPORT IS FAKE’
BANGUI: The Central African Republic (CAR) on Tuesday said a diplomatic passport that German tennis star Boris Becker claims entitles him to immunity in bankruptcy proceedings in Britain “is a fake”.
“The diplomatic passport that he has is a fake,” foreign ministry chief of staff Cherubin Moroubama was quoted as saying by AFP.
The document’s serial number corresponded to one of a batch of “new passports that were stolen in 2014,” he said.
In addition, the passport -- a copy of which has been seen by AFP, and bears the date of March 19, 2018 -- does not carry the signature or the stamp of the foreign minister, Charles Armel Doubane, Moroubama said here on Tuesday.