Anand defeats Istratescu
london: Viswanathan Anand outclassed Andrei Istratescu of France to jump in to sole lead on seven points at the half-way stage of the preliminaries of the london Chess Classic in progress here at the Olympia. On what turned out to be another fine day as black, Anand came up with some brilliant planning, sacrificed an exchange and romped home without much ado to almost seal a place in the knockout stage of the Classic this year reserved for the top two finishers. Anand leads his group on seven points in three games under the soccer-like scoring system that gives three points for a win and one for a draw. The Indian ace is now followed by Michael Adams of England on five points after he was held to a draw by compatriot luke McShane. McShane on four points is in close proximity of the leaders on four points with three more rounds to come in the double round-robin prelims.
Force India signs sergio Perez
Madrid: Formula One team Force India has signed Mexican driver Sergio Perez to replace Paul di Resta. The 23-year-old Perez was released by Mclaren after the first of a multi-year deal but quickly found a new seat with the Indian team. Force India did not provide financial terms of the deal or the contract length, saying only Perez had signed for “2014 and beyond.” Perez will partner German driver Nico Hulkenberg after taking over Di Resta’s spot on the grid. Hulkenberg had replaced Adrian Sutil. Perez was 11th in the drivers’ standings this year to finish one position behind Hulkenberg, who was driving for Sauber. Force India started last season well with several top-five finishes before midseason tire revisions contributed to its drop-off to a final position of sixth in the team standings.
Top men paddlers skip nz c’ships
New Delhi: Top men shuttlers Sharath Kamal, Soumyajit Ghosh, Anthony Amalraj and Harmeet Desai will miss the North Zone National Ranking Table Tennis Championships starting here on Thursday, owing to participation in various leagues abroad. The tournament, starting at the Hansraj Model School here, will see participation from 500 players. The absence of stalwarts provides a very good opportunity for the aspiring contenders, at least in the men’s section, to have a shot at the title and, if not, earn valuable points to enhance their position in the ranking table. All top women paddlers, including national champion K Shamini and the likes of Poulomi Ghatak, Manika Batra, Madhurika Patkar, Mouma Das are participating in the zonals which begin with the cadet and sub-junior events in the boys and girls sections.
Shiv Kapur shoots 71
Durban: Indian golfer Shiv Kapur opened with a one-over 71 in the weather-affected first round of the Nelson Mandela Championship presented by ISPA Handa here. A flawless eight-under 62 saw Daniel Brooks claim the lead after heavy rain disrupted the first round. Play began seven hours later than planned on Wednesday after rain left many of the fairways waterlogged and as a result more than half the field could not complete their rounds. Kapur, who started from the tenth, had birdies at the 11th hole, first and fourth holes.
solid starts for Bhullar, Sujjan
Bangkok: Gaganjeet Bhullar missed the final birdie by a whisker but managed to finish sole fourth with a six-under 66 on the opening day of the Thai Golf Championships here on Thursday. Bhullar had seven birdies and a bogey and was two shots behind leader Czech-born German Alex Cejka, who cracked a flawless eight-under 64 to lead by two. In between Cejka and Bhullar were US Open champion Justin Rose and young Thai Arnond Vangvanij, who shot 65 each on the first day of the USD one million Asian Tour tournament, which features eight of the world’s top-50 players. There was more good news for Indians as Sujjan Singh, playing on a medical exemption this year, showed he is on his path to recovery with a four-under 68.
Raina-Thombare pair in last four
Mumbai: Wildcard entrants Ankita Raina and Prarthana Thombare today made a surprise entry into the semi-finals of the USD 25,000 Ganesh Naik ITF women’s tennis championship at Vashi in Navi Mumbai. In the quarter-finals, the Raina-Thombare pair scored a 7-5, 6-4 win over Gioia Barbieri of Italy and Deniz Khazaniuk of Israel to book their semi-finals berth where they will meet the British pair of Jocelyn Rae and Anna Smith. The Rae-Smith combine upset second seeds Ksenia Palkina of Kyrgyzstan and Jade Windley of Britain 6-3 6-1 at the event organised by the Navi Mumbai Sports Association.
Georgian GM sole leader
Kolkata: Georgian GM levan Pentsulaila snatched the lead from IM Jacek Stopa of Poland in the eighth round of SREI International Grandmaster tournament here. With two more rounds to go, Pentsulaila emerged sole leader on 6.5 points and the tournament was poised for an intense finish as six others were closely following the leader half-a-point adrift. Stopa, second seed GM Ivan Popov, GM Samvel Ter-Sahakyan, GM Vladislav Borovikov, IM Mikhail Mozharov and GM Valeriy Neverov are on joint second place.