Indian Navy in Durand semis
New Delhi: Talismanic Brazilian Jose Ramirez Barreto struck the winning goal in the dying moments of the game but it wasn’t enough to see his team Bhawanipur FC qualify for the semifinals of the Durand Cup, here on Sunday. Despite a hard-fought 4-3 win over Air India, Bhawanipur bowed out of the tournament having failed to win their final group league match by a clear margin of two goals. Indian Navy and ONGC will be pitted against each other in the second semifinal while Kolkata giants Mohammedan Sporting Club will meet Mumbai Tigers in the first semifinal on Monday.
Gujarathi, Grover win
Kocaeli: Indian Grandmasters Vidit Gujarathi and Sahaj Grover maintained a clean slate, defeating Tomas laurusas of lithuania and Vyacheslav lozhnikov of Kazakhstan respectively in the second round of the World Junior Chess Championship here. Gujarathi overpowered laurusas with the black pieces after a positional exchange sacrifice that netted him a handful of pawns in the endgame. The Nasik-boy made no mistakes in the endgame that turned out to be a one-sided affair. Grover, on the other hand, demolished lozhnikov in a miniature game out of a closed Sicilian. The Kazakh youngster fell prey to some deft manoeuvres by the former under-10 world champion and his position collapsed with the king stuck in the center.
Chiragh finishes tied 5th in Taipei
Taipei: Chiragh Kumar closed the week with a two-under 70 to record his best finish in more than 22 months as he ended tied fifth at the Yeangder Tournament Players Championship (TPC) here on Sunday. Chiragh’s previous two top-10s in last two years have both been achieved at the Indian Open on his home course, so a top-5 in Taipei will do a world of good for his confidence. Gaganjeet Bhullar, the champion here last year, dropped from overnight 22nd to tied 41st with a final round of 76 and Rahil Gangjee, too, had a disappointing finish with a round of 74 that saw him finish tied 55th. Thai star Thaworn Wiratchant rediscovered his best form as he won the Yeangder TPC for an unprecedented 16th Asian Tour title.
IOC, PNB register wins
Chennai: V Raghunath converted three penalty corners in the second-half to help Indian Oil Corporation beat Indian Overseas Bank 3-1 in their pool A match of the 88th All-India MCC-Murugappa Gold Cup hockey tournament, here on Sunday. After V Shanmugam’s 23rd minute goal put IOB ahead, India star and penalty corner specialist Raghunath came up with a fine hat-trick to enable Indian Oil, the joint winners of 2012 edition, log home full points. In another pool A match, Punjab National Bank notched up a hard-fought 2-1 win over fancied Bharat Petroleum. Jalwinder struck twice in 28th and 36th minute to give his side a comfortable lead only to see a late fightback by BPCl for whom Amar Aiyamma found the back of the net in the 63rd minute. In Pool B, SAIl, Rourkela comfortably defeated last year’s joint winners Air India 5-2.
PNS/Agencies