Harika beats world no 1 Hou Yifan
Isle of Man: Indias Harika Dronavalli defeated World No 1 Hou Yifan to be at joint fourth position in the Isle of Man international chess tournament here. Harika was at her best as she manoeuvred past a determined Yifan to pull off her fourth win in the championship. The captivating 45-move game slowly started devolving the Indian Grand Master's way and she held on to her nerve for her first ever victory over the Chinese star. Indian grandmaster Vishwanathan Anand was quick to congratulate Harika for her morale-boosting win. "Nice to see Harika do well against Hou. She is holding her own against string GM (sic) quite impressively," he tweeted. Harika is now sitting pretty with five points after seven rounds, just one and a half points behind the championship leader Eljanov Pavel of Ukraine.
Aditi remains in top-10
Saint Jean-de-luz (France): Aditi Ashok battled her way through the tough back nine for the third day in succession and came back with third straight one-under 69 that kept her in top-10 in the lacoste ladies Open de France. Aditi, who is coming off two successive top-10 finishes in Germany and Spain, is now tied 8th, one spot above her overnight tied 9th position. Aditi is now three-under 207. Diana luna was the new leader as she carded four-under 66 to move to 12-under and Beth Allen (68), the overnight leader, was second at 11-under.
Jitu finishes 6th in 10m air pistol
Bologna (Italy): Ace Indian shooter Jitu Rai finished sixth in the men's 10m air pistol event of the ISSF World Cup Final here on Saturday. Jitu shot a score of 117.2 to finish sixth and be the third to be eliminated in the eight-shooter final. Damir Mikec of Serbia clinched the gold with a total score of 202.9. The silver and bronze went to Wei Pang (199.7) of China and Ismail Keles (178.4) of Turkey respectively. Two days back, Jitu had won a silver in the 50m pistol event here.
Srikanth ruled out of European circuit
New Delhi: Rio Olympics quarter-finalist shuttler K Srikanth has been ruled out of the upcoming European circuit due to an ankle injury that he sustained during the Japan Super Series last month. "I don't be taking part in the European circuit as I injured my right ankle during the Japan Open," Srikanth wrote in his Instagram account along with a picture of his injured leg. "Hope to recover very fast and comeback for China Open," he added. The European circuit includes two major tournaments — Denmark Open and French Open. Srikanth had clinched the China Open in 2014 defeating legendary lin Dan.
Ruthvika, Siril enter finals
Vladivostok (Russia): Indian shuttlers Ruthvika Shivani Gadde and Siril Verma continued their impressive run to storm into the finals of women's and men's singles events at the Russian Open Grand Prix here on Saturday. Fourth seed Ruthvika stunned local favourite and second seed Ksenia Polikarpova 22-20, 21-13 in the semifinal. In men's singles, Siril Verma, who had reached the finals of the World Junior Championships in November last year, also defeated a Russian in Anatoliy Yartsev in 32 minutes to book his place in the final. Agencies