Anand dumps Aronian in Zurich opener
zurich: Viswanathan Anand made a grand comeback defeating levon Aronian of Armenia in the first round of Zurich Chess challenge that got underway here. Anand outplayed Aronian out of a seemingly calm Four Knights' Game, that suddenly came to live when white allowed his pawn structure to be damaged, but in return got a strong knight on the king side to open an attack. The material was a bit reduced after the exchange of two pairs of minor pieces early in the middle game and Anand came up with a flourish of tactics to make him count. The chess engines that can count a million moves a second were rooting for blood as early as move 15 and Anand did not disappoint his fans to take the same route.
Injured Watson's WT20 participation in doubt
dubai: Australian all-rounder Shane Watson's preparation for the World Twenty20, to be held in India in March-April, has hit a hurdle with what is suspected to be an abdominal injury. The 34-year-old was ruled out of the remainder of the ongoing Pakistan Super league (PSl) after he hurt himself while bowling for Islamabad United during their seven-wicket defeat to Peshawar Zalmi in Sharjah on Friday night. He took to twitter to express his disappointment, posting a video from the club's account. "I've unfortunately made this video because I injured myself last night bowling, so disappointingly I'm going to have to head home back to Australia to get assessed with the medical people at Cricket Australia to try and get right for the Twenty20 World Cup," Watson said. Watson also thanked his PSl franchise. "Thanks very much to my franchise, Islamabad, I've had a hell of a lot of fun getting to know all the local players and playing in the PSl, which is a great tournament." Watson's injury is a huge blow to Australia's WT20 plans as the selectors are already dealing with the fitness issues of James Faulkner, Aaron Finch and Nathan Coulter-Nile.
Sania-Hingis stretch winning run to 40
St. Petersburg: Indian tennis star Sania Mirza and her Swiss partner Martina Hingis triumphed in the St. Petersburg ladies Trophy to extend their winning streak to 40 matches, here on Sunday. The top seeded Indo-Swiss pair registered a comfortable 6-3, 6-1 victory over the Russian-Czech team of Vera Dushevina and Barbora Krejcikova in the women's doubles final that lasted for an hour. This is the fourth title that Sania and Hingis have won this year. Their overall trophy count stands at 13.