SA ANNOUNCE Champions Trophy squad
Johannesburg: Indian-origin left-arm spinner, Keshav Maharaj has been included in the 15-man Proteas squad for the ICC Champions Trophy, Cricket South Africa (CSA) announced on Wednesday. The squad will play three ODIs against England starting with the first match at Headingley in leeds on May 24th, before their first group match of the ICC Champions Trophy against Sri lanka at the Oval on June 3. The 26-year-old Maharaj has had an impressive debut season for the Test squad, and comes into the squad to bolster the spin options alongside Imran Tahir. Morne Morkel makes a return to the limited-overs format after nearly 10 months, adding experience to the pace bowling group featuring Kagiso Rabada, Wayne Parnell, Chris Morris, Dwaine Pretorius and A Phehlukwayo.
Kashyap, Harsheel reach pre-quarters
Changzhou: Commonwealth Games champion P Kashyap and Harsheel Dani advanced to the prequarterfinals of men's singles competition at the $150,000 China Masters Grand Prix Gold, here on Wednesday. Kashyap took 46 minutes to dispose off Thailand's Suppanyu Avihingsanon 21-16, 21-17 at the Olympic sports center. Young Harsheel from Mumbai also gave a good account of himself as he edged out China's Yan Runze 21-16, 22-20 to set up a match against another Chinese Sun Feixiang. However it was curtains for Sai Uttejitha Rao Chukka and Sri Krishna Priya Kudaravalli in women's singles.
Anand finishes third
Chennai: Former world chess champion Viswanathan Anand of India finished third overall, with a score of 13.5 points from a possible 21 in the Korchnoi Zurich Chess Challenge, which concluded on Monday. American Hikaru Nakamura, with 15 points, emerged the overall winner, claiming 4.5 points in the blitz section. He won the Blitz tournament, and was half a point ahead of Anand. Russian Ian Nepomniachtchi took the second place (overall) with a tally of 14 points. Anand scored 4.5 points in the blitz event after having managed nine in the classical rounds. The Indian, with an ElO rating of 2786, beat Vladimir Kramnik of Russia and Yannick Pelletier (Switzerland) but lost to Boris Gelfand and Nepomniachtchi. He held the ultimate champion Nakamura to a draw.