Anand loses again
Gibraltar: Five-time world champion Viswanathan Anand continued to struggle with his form as he lost to 16-year old International Master Benjamin Gledura of Hungary in the seventh round of the Masters section of Gibraltar International Chess festival, here on Tuesday. With just three rounds to come in the event, Anand remained on four points from his seven games and went out of contention for a podium finish. For the records, Anand played the Slav defense and on another day against his elite peers would have drawn the resulting endgame fairly easily. However, one mistake led to another and what looked like a certain draw on move fifteen turned in to a lost endgame. Gledura was spot on when he had to find the best moves in the endgame once Anand erred decisively. David Anton Guijjaro, the 20-year old Spanish Grandmaster emerged as the sole leader on six points defeating Richard Rapport of Hungary. Four Indians P Harikrishna, Abhijeet Gupta, Vidit Gujrathi and S P Sethuraman are sharing the second spot on 5.5 points apiece besides the likes of Maxime Vachier-lagrave of France, Radoslav Wojtaszek of Poland, Ni Hua of China and eight others.
Pak contingent gets govt clearance for SAG
Karachi: Pakistan's 456-strong contingent for the upcoming South Asian Games in India has been cleared by its government to participate in the event starting February 5. "The government has given clearance for the contingent to go to India and take part in nearly 22 disciplines including field hockey," Akhtar Ganjera, the Director-General of Pakistan Sports Board, told PTI. The Games are set to be held in two cities — Guwahati and Shillong — from February 5-16.Ganjera said there would be no compromise on the security for the Pakistani contingent during the Games and the Indian Olympic Association had assured them of top notch arrangements for the athletes. Pakistan Olympic Association President lt General (ret) Arif Hasan said players' safety was their primary concern. Hasan said Pakistan's participation in the hockey event was significant since the last time the two sides played in was the 2014 Champions Trophy. The occasion was marred by the Pakistani players' behaviour after the match.
Easy draw for women in Asia C'ship
Hyderabad: India's women shuttlers have an easy group league draw being clubbed with Singapore and Japan in the Badminton Asia Championship which will be held here from February 15 to 21. However the men's team will have China and Singapore in their group for the team championship event. China, japan, Korea and Thailand are the top four teams in the event. Teams shall play in two stages which is a Group Stage on Round Robin basis, top 2 teams from each group will be qualified for the Final Stage to be played on Knock Out basis.
Khawaja misses out for 1st NZ ODI
AUCKlAND: Batsman Usman Khawaja has been omitted from Australia's lineup for the first of three one-day games against New Zealand at Eden Park on Wednesday. Khawaja, who has been in outstanding form in Australia's domestic competition, was called into the touring squad as a replacement for opening batsman Aaron Finch who injured a hamstring during the recent Twenty20 series against India. Captain Steve Smith announced on Tuesday that Shaun Marsh had been picked to open the batting with David Warner in the opening match of the Chappell-Hadlee series despite Khawaja scoring two centuries during Australia's Twenty20 Big Bash league. "He's unlucky to miss out but Shaun's going to get the first opportunity," Smith said. "No doubt he'd be frustrated.
Tokyo Oly logo complaint dropped
Brussels: Belgian designer Olivier Debie who sued the International Olympic Committee for plagiarising a logo for the Tokyo 2020 Games has decided to drop the complaint, his lawyer said on Tuesday. "Debie believes he has won his case in the court of international opinion. He also knows he will not win substantial damages because the IOC has dropped the logo and he does not want to incur further costs," Philippe Mottard told AFP. Debie filed his suit in August alleging that Japanese designer Kenjiro Sano plagiarised a logo designed for a theatre in the east Belgian city of liege. Amid a growing scandal, the Tokyo Games organising committee dropped the design shortly afterwards but insisted the move was not in response to the legal action and that the designs were different.