Neena improved national record
Panaji: Kerala race walker, K T Neena proved her mettle once again as she improved her national record and defended her title in 5,000m race walk at the 11th National Youth Athletics here on Tuesday. Neena clocked 24 minutes 11.70 secs, bettering her previous best time of 24:42.18 that she registered during the World Youth Championships at Donetsk, Ukraine, last year. Ever since she took part in the under-16 division six years ago, Neena has been performing well. Her first taste of victory arrived in the national inter-zonal championships at Panchkula in 2009. She had also won the Juniors Nationals in Warangal in 2009. Neena made it to the Indian Team for Donetsk following her excellent performance in Guntur last year.
Solanki misses another shot
New Delhi: Indian boxer Gaurav Solanki failed for a second time to qualify for the Youth Olympics after losing in a box-off on Tuesday, but will have another shot at notching up a quota place on April 24 in the ongoing World Youth Championships in Sofia, Bulgaria. Solanki lost to home favourite Daniel Asenov 0-3 in the first box off for the Youth Olympics quota place on Tuesday. The Indian had initially lost in the quarterfinal of the ongoing Championships, where the boxers have to make at least the semifinals to get direct qualification for the Youth Olympics. Two quota places are being decided by box offs between four losing quarterfinalists. It is Solanki's good luck that only three of the four in his category turned up for the mandatory weigh-in this morning.
Chitra wins Women's snooker
leeds: Overcoming her early exit in the World Snooker Championships in the WlBSA event, Chitra Magimairaj showed tremendous grit and determination to pocket the Senior snooker title in her first appearance, here on Tuesday. The Bangalore cueist won all her four matches without dropping a single set against accomplished snooker players from across 13 countries. En route to her final clash with Alena Asmolava of Belarus, the 41-year-old also met compatriot Umadevi Nagraj in the semifinal match. The former World Billiards champion Chitra has bagged three gold, three silver and three bronze medals in the WlBSA event so far. Meanwhile, reigning national billiards champion Uma, who lost to Chitra 0-2, is still looking to regain her Billiards crown.
Sethuraman joins leaders
Sharjah: S P Sethuraman put it across Chu Wei Chao of China to jump to joint lead after the conclusion of the fifth round of Asian Continental chess championship here on Tuesday. It was hard work for Sethuraman out of a Sicilian defense game where the Chinese played black. The Rauzer variation by Sethuraman lived up to its reputation, resulting in wild complexities. Sethuraman calculated and judged well when he parted two rooks for the black queen and the resulting endgame was played well by the Indian. The game lasted 55 moves. Overnight joint leader, B Adhiban played out a draw with in-form Ehsan Ghaem Maghami of Iran in another battle that lasted long.
No end to Somdev's woes
Barcelona: Somdev Devvarman's lean patch extended today as the top-singles player of the country lost his fifth straight first-round match on the ATP tour whenhe bowed out of Barcelona Open following a defeat against Martin Klizan, here. Somdev, on the edge of the top-100, lost 2-6 4-6 to his Slovakia rival, ranked 108, in one hour and 18 minutes. It was a fateful start for the Indian in the euro 2,127,035 clay court ATP 500 tournament, as he was broken in the very first game of the match. He did put up a fight in the second set but the day just did not belong to him.
Churchill look to seal 2nd spot
Margao: Churchill Brothers Goa are looking to seal the second spot when they take on New Radiant Maldives in the last round of the AFC Cup group E encounter at Male's National Stadium on Wednesday. With two teams qualify from each group, Persipura Jayapura of Indonesia who is leading the group "E" with 11 points from five matches is the first team to qualify for the knock out stage from this group. The second place will be filled between Churchill Brothers and Home United who are on 7 points each.
Chennai to host Bridge C’ships
Chennai: More than 800 participants from 30 countries will take part in the World Bridge Championships to be held here next year. Disclosing this, Bridge Federation of India President N R Kirubakara Moorthy said it will the first time that the biggest event of the mind game would be held in the country. The prestigious event will be held from September 26 to October 10.
Indians in Sr. World tennis C'ship
New Delhi: Palani Vale, Vijay Kumar, Avinash Rastogi and Rajeev Goel will take part in the Seniors World Tennis Championships to be held in Palm Beach, Florida, USA from 21st April to 4th May this year. The four players qualified in over-40 category and will represent India in both individual and team competitions. PNS/Agencies