With draw Anand maintains lead
Khanty Mansiysk: Five-time world champion Viswanathan Anand on Saturday gave jitters to his fans before signing an early draw with top seed levon Aronian of Armenia in the eighth round of Candidates chess tournament here. The draw against Aronian was important for Anand as the Indian ace not only maintained his joint lead with the Armenian but now also has four white games to come in the last six rounds that gives him an edge over others. Vladimir Kramnik of Russia could not get past the solid defences of a resurgent compatriot Dmitry Andreikin and had to settle for a draw and the game between Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov of Azerbaijan was also drawn after showing promise of an intense battle. In the other game of the day, Peter Svidler was fighting hard to salvage a half point against Russian team-mate Sergey Karjakin. With six rounds still to go, Anand and Aronian have five points apiece and they are followed by Kramnik on 4.5 points. Svidler on 3.5 has an extra ongoing game in hand compared to Topalov, Andreikin and Mamedyarov, who all inched themselves up to the same score. Karjakin on 2.5 is on the last spot. The stakes are high in the candidates as the winner takes home 135000 Euros as prize money apart from the right to challenge Magnus Carlsen in the world championship match later this year.
Chelsea rout Arsenal 6-0
london: Chelsea handed Arsene Wenger one his most demoralizing defeats as Arsenal manager as his 1,000th game ended in a 6-0 rout on Saturday, and the referee also endured embarrassment at Stamford Bridge. Chelsea earned its biggest league victory under Jose Mourinho and was up 2-0 after just seven minutes through goals from Samuel Eto'o and Andre Schuerrle. Referee Andre Marriner then provided the london derby's big talking point by sending off the wrong Arsenal player after 15 minutes. Although Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain blatantly handled to keep out Eden Hazard's shot, it was Kieran Gibbs who was dismissed despite his teammate's protests. Hazard scored Chelsea's third from the resulting penalty, before Oscar netted twice and Mohamed Salah completed Wenger's misery with his first goal for the leaders. Arsenal saw its title ambitions seriously dented at it fell seven points behind Chelsea, and faced being dislodged from third place by Manchester City, which hosted Fulham later in the day. For Wenger the margin of defeat matched the previous low-point of his 18-year reign — an 8-2 loss at Manchester United. And the humbling only served to justify Mourinho's recent gibe that Wenger is a "specialist in failure" as the Frenchman went an 11th game without beating his Portuguese rival. "Two-nil after seven minutes and the game is over, because we were too strong for them," Mourinho said.
T1 Prima Truck racing today
Greater Noida: The stage is set for India's first-ever truck racing championships as 12 Tata T1 Prima vehicle is gearing up to zoom in the lanes of Buddh International Circuit (BIC) here on Sunday. Twelve experienced British drivers will be competing for six teams at the maiden heavy-duty machine's race. racers, in the one-make championship, will use modified Prima trucks having maximum speed of 110 km/hr. The competition is modelled on the British Truck Racing championship and European Truck Racing championship. The six participating teams, unveiled in a grand ceremony on Sunday, include Castrol Vecton, Cummins, Tata Technologies Motorsports, Allied Partners, Dealer Daredevils and Dealer Warriors. The organisers have followed guidelines from British Truck Racing Association to make the trucks fit for racing and have subsequently made 22 modifications to meet safety and performance needs.
Yadav replaces injured Nayar Mumbai:
Attacking middle-order batsman Suryakumar Yadav has replaced his Mumbai teammate Abhishek Nayar in the West Zone squad for the Prof D B Deodhar Trophy tournament commencing in Vishakapatnam from on Sunday. The replacement was necessitated due to an injury sustained by Nayar, according to Mumbai Cricket Association Joint Secretary P V Shetty. Shetty, however, did not elaborate on the nature of Nayar's injury.
make afridi Captain: Yousuf, Javed
Karachi: Pakistan's loss to India in their World Twenty20 opener has sparked massive criticism of skipper Mohammed Hafeez with former captains such as Javed Miandad and Mohammad Yousuf demanding that he be replaced by flamboyant all-rounder Shahid Afridi. "Hafeez needed to be more attacking with his bowlers and field placings once we were able to set them only a target of 130 runs," Miandad said after Pakistan's loss to India. "The key to winning the match was to stop the runs if wickets were not falling so that the run rate increased and the Indians came under pressure. Unfortunately Hafeez failed to do that as captain. He should have used his bowlers more proactively," Miandad said. Yousuf also criticised the body language of Hafeez. "With better captaincy and the right pressure we could have made this total of 130 like 160 for India but this didn't happen," Yousuf added.
Top stars for India Super Series
New Delhi: Creme-de-la-creme of world badminton, including world champion Ratchanok Intanon and world number one lee Chong Wei, will be seen in action when the fourth edition of the India Open Super Series kicks off at the Siri Fort Sports Complex on April 1. Besides Intanon, the entire top-10 women and seven of the top-10 men's singles players will feature in a field which will also have Indian challengers in Saina Nehwal, P V Sindhu, P Kashyap and K Srikanth. This year's event is more important for the players as well as organisers since it is also a dress rehearsal for the Thomas and Uber Cup team championship, one of the most prestigious event in the badminton calendar which will he hosted at the same venue from May 18 to 25.
Churchill take on Pune FC
Vasco: Churchill Brothers will look to carry their AFC Cup form into the I league when they take on Pune FC in a crucial match on Sunday at the Tilak maidan here. Churchill are facing relegation and are at the bottom with 15 points, two points below the Mohammedan Sporting. Churchill Brothers have no option but to keep on winning from now on if they are to avoid relegation.