Manav assures Bronze in Belarus Open
Minsk: Indian paddler Manav Vikash Thakkar scored an easy 3-0 win over Russia's Lev Katsman to enter the semifinals and assure himself of at least a Bronze in under-21 men's singles category at the ITTF Challenge Belgosstrakh Belarus Open here on Friday. Manav notched up a 3-0 (11-5, 11-7, 15-13) win over Katsman in the U-21 men's singles quarterfinals. He had earlier displayed his prowess, registering a hard-fought 3-2 (9-11, 3-11, 11-7, 11-8, 11-9) win against World No 8 Yuki Matsuyama of Japan in the round of 16 of here. Manav started off his campaign with an easy 3-0 (11-6, 11-2, 11-8) win over Russia's Maksim Grebnev. In the next clash, Israel's Aviv Ben-Ari put up a staunch fight but capitulated to the Indian as Manav won the game 3-1 (12-10, 9-11, 11-6, 11-7).
Gukesh, Savitha win Gold in Cadets
New Delhi: International Master Gukesh D and Savitha Shri B won Gold medals in U-12 Open and girls category respectively at the World Cadets Chess Championship in Spain. The Championship, which ended at Galicia on Thursday, was held for the age groups U-8, U-10 and U-12, girls and Open. Gukesh with 10 wins and a loss comfortably won the title by a huge margin of 1.5 points. Savitha of Tamil Nadu effortlessly won the Gold in U-12 girls category with 8 wins and 2 draws. Apart from this, India stood second with two Gold medals for best performance, while China with two Golds and a Bronze and USA with a Gold, a Silver and two Bronze medals took the 1st and 3rd place respectively.
Ravi in final of U-23 World C'ship
New Delhi: Indian wrestler Ravi Kumar on Friday defeated Uzbekistan's Jahongirmirza Turobov to enter the finals of 57kg freestyle event at the Senior U-23 World Championship in Bucharest. According to information received, the Indian outwitted Turobov 10-8 in the semifinals and will face Japan's Toshihiro Hasegawa in the final on Saturday. Toshihiro defeated China's Wanhao Zou 5-2 in the another semi-final. In the quarterfinals, Ravi had outclassed Ukraine's Taras Markovych 12-4, while getting past Razvan Marian Kovacs of Romania in the round of 16.
Bayern Youth Cup to begin from Nov 24
New Delhi: The sixth edition of the FC Bayern Youth Cup, an under-16 seven-a-side inter-school football tournament, is set to kickstart from November 24 across six cities in India. The FC Bayern Youth Cup — a joint initiative by adidas and Germen giants FC Bayern — will see participation of over 2,000 kids from schools across India. The city legs of the tournament spanning over a period of 14 weeks, will be played in New Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Kolkata, Chennai and Srinagar. The final will take place in February next year in Delhi. The winning team will represent 'Team India' in the FC Bayern Youth Cup World Finals and get to train under the professionals in Munich in May next year.
Armaan slams 300 in C K Nayudu Trophy
Mumbai: Young batsman Armaan Jaffer on Friday slammed an unbeaten triple hundred for Mumbai in their U-23 Col C K Nayudu Trophy match against Saurashtra here. 20-year-old Armaan, who has played three first-class matches, slammed unbeaten 300 off 367-balls, striking 26 boundaries and 10 sixes. Courtesy Armaan's knock, Mumbai declared their first innings at a mammoth 610/5 after bundling out Saurashtra for 175 in their first innings. In the second outing Saurashtra are 157/4 at stumps on the penultimate day of the four-day match. Saurashtra trail by 278 runs. The knock came at the right-time for Armaan as he had recently made a comeback after suffering from a knee injury which had kept him out for an year. Armaan was part of India's Under-19 team at the 2016 World Cup.