Indian sports news wrap, January 6
CHESS
Srihari LR upsets GM Savchenko to maintain lead at top
Talented Indian junior Srihari LR, who is also a Grandmaster norm holder, continued his fine run as he upset Russian GM Boris Savchenko in the ninth round of the Chennai Open International Grandmaster Chess tournament in Chennai on Saturday.
In a thrilling game, Srihari gave up his rook for a knight, ripping open Savchenko’s kingside. Facing heavy loss of reinforcement on the board, Savchenko quit on the 42nd move.
Srihari will now be playing for the title and face Belarus GM Alexei Fedorov in the final round on Sunday.
Behind Srihari is Vietnamese Grandmaster Nguyen Duc Hoa at 7.5 points, while sharing the third spot with 7.0 points were 10 players, including India’s Laxman RR, Nithin Babu, Abhishek Kelkar, Aakash G, Vijay Shreeram P, Pawar Harshit.
Other Indian results in Round 9
Laxman RR drew Fedorov Alexei, Buscara Sean drew Pawar Harshit, Abhishek Kelkar drew Aronyak Ghosh, Glek Igor drew Sangma Rahul, Viani Antonio D’cunha drew Murali Krishnan BT, Nithin Babu defeat Nitin S, Tologon Tegin Semetei defeat Kartik Kumar Singh, Podolchenko Evgeniy defeat Jyotshnav Talukdar.
– PTI
TENNIS
Bhambri-Haase pair loses in Brisbane semifinals
Eighth seeds Yuki Bhambri and Robin Haase missed a match point at 9-8 in the super tie-break and were beaten 6-3, 6-7(5), [11-9] by second seeds Lloyd Glasspool and Jean-Julien Rojer in the doubles semifinals of the $739,945 ATP tennis tournament in Brisbane, Australia, on Saturday.
The Indo-Dutch pair collected 90 ATP points and $9,500.
The results:
ATP 250, Brisbane, Australia
Doubles (semifinals): Lloyd Glasspool (GBR) & Jean-Julien Rojer (Ned) bt Yuki Bhambri & Robin Haase (Ned) 6-3, 6-7(5), [11-9].
– Team Sportstar
ITF junior tennis tournament: Kouame, Golovina win singles titles
Moise Kouame and Maria Golovina won the boys and girls singles titles respectively in the ITF junior tennis tournament at the CLTA Complex on Saturday.
Moise beat Seo Hyeon Seok 6-2, 6-2 while Maria beat Shihomi Leong 6-3, 6-3. The French boy, Moise had dropped only one set on the way to the title, to his doubles partner and second seed Rethin Pranav. Maria had also dropped only one set en route to the final, to second seed Maaya Rajeshwaran.
The results (finals)
Boys: Moise Kouame (Fra) bt Seo Hyeon Seok (Kor) 6-2, 6-2.
Girls: Maria Golovina bt Shihomi Leong (Mas) 6-3, 6-3.
-Kamesh Srinivasan
MORE SPORTS
World Deaf Youth Games: Sports Council of the Deaf pleads for clearance
The All India Sports Council of the Deaf (AISCD) has pleaded for clearance of the Indian team for the first World Deaf Youth Games to be staged in Sao Paulo, Brazil, from January 14 to 20.
A team of 21 athletes in athletics, badminton, basketball and swimming in the 14-18 age group had been selected with the athletes training on their own in their place.
The Union Sports Ministry had communicated on Friday that the proposal “has not been approved at cost to government”.
Pointing out that the proposal part of the approved Annual Calendar for Training and Competition (ACTC) had been presented way back on October 25, the AISCD said that the total cost of about 1.88 crore rupees, including the expenditure for the training camp, would be well within the unspent balance of Rs.5.5 crore for 2023-24.
Saying that there was very little time left, the AISCD sought quick clearance for training camp, arrangement for sports kit, and the related administrative and financial sanction.
The AISCD also expressed its gratitude to the government for the participation of the Indian teams in four World Deaf Championships in badminton, table tennis, wrestling and tennis, when the athletes won several medals.
– Team Sportstar
FOOTBALL
IWL: Gokulam Kerala crushes Sports Odisha
Anu Tamang, Fazila Ikwaptu and Soumya Guguloth scored two goals each as defending champion Gokulam Kerala FC blanked Sports Odisha 8-0 in the Indian Women’s League football at the EMS Corporation Stadium in Kozhikode on Saturday.
The result
Gokulam Kerala FC 8 (Sandhya Ranganathan 4, Anu Tamang 12 & 90+4; Asem Roja Devi 23, Fazila Ikwaptu 33 & 38; Soumya Guguloth 45 & 50) bt Sports Odisha 0.
-Stan Rayan
WEIGHTLIFTING
Weightlifting Nationals: Mehak rewrote three NRs to win women’s +87kg title
Mehak Sharma rewrote three National records on her way to clinch the women’s +87kg crown in the National weightlifting championships at Itanagar on Saturday.
Mehak recorded better marks in snatch, clean and jerk and total to take the title with an aggregate of 240kg.
R. Arockiya Alish broke the clean and jerk record while claiming the 87kg gold medal.
The results:
Women: 87kg: 1. R. Arockiya Alish (RSPB) snatch 91kg, clean and jerk 127kg (NR, Old 126kg, P. Anuradha), 218kg; 2. Komal Wakale (Mah) 93kg, 119kg, 212kg; 3. Usha S.R. (Kar) 91kg, 118kg, 209kg; +87kg: 1. Mehak Sharma (Pun) 105kg (NR, Old 104kg, Purnima Pandey), 135kg (NR, Old 133kg, Manpreet Kaur), 240kg (NR, Old 232kg, Manpreet Kaur); 2. Manpreet Kaur (AIP) 99kg, 133kg, 232kg; 3. Ann Mariya M.T. (RSPB) 93kg, 120kg, 213kg.
– Team Sportstar
CUE SPORT
Shubhojit Roy in second round of NSCI snooker
Shubhojit Roy cruised to an easy 4-0 win against Paresh Ghatad in the best-of-seven-frame qualifying draw first-round match of the NSCI Baulkline 3.0 All India Snooker Open in Mumbai on Saturday.
Roy won the frames 44-7, 69-2, 50-12 and 72-27.
Ajinkya Yelve showed fine touch as he brushed aside Ajit Gharat 4-0 (59-16, 62-20, 76-4, 49-40) to join Roy in the second round.
In another first-round encounter, Dhawal Haria, after losing the opening frame to Vishesh Sahagal, fought back to win the next four to carve out a 4-1 (31-41, 57-16, 64-26, 66-30, 67-22) victory.
The main draw will commence on January 13.
The winner of the competition will get Rs. 5 lakh while the runner-up will be richer by Rs. 2.5 lakh.
– PTI