Kothari-Hussain Khan to battle it out in Natl Billiards & Snooker SF
Chennai, Dec 16: Sourav Kothari (PSPB) will meet Md Hussain Khan (RSPB) in the semi-finals of the 15-Red snooker event at the ongoing National Billiards & Snooker Championships here. In Saturday’s quarterfinal, Kothari prevailed over Anurag Giri (Madhya Pradesh) 5-3 (69-35, 8-96, 78-9, 50-82, 65-9, 19-61, 67-44, 65-6), whereas Hussain trounced Sunny Choudhary (Delhi) 5-3 (80-2, 79-42, 68-59, 55-79, 42-50, 8-82, 63-52, 65-23). Also, Shoaib Khan (Dekhi) edged past Rayaan Razmi (Maharashtra) 5-4, having stunned defending champion Kamal Chawla (RSPB) in the pre-quarterfinal. He will be taking on Paras Gupta (UP), as the latter had it easy over Shabaaz Khan (Maharashtra) 5-1 (61-59, 55-67, 90-10, 74-42, 82-57, 107-19). Earlier during the day, teenager Natasha Chethan (Karnataka) won her maiden sub-junior girls’ billiards crown, as she defeated Aanya Patel (Gujarat) 143-107. The 15-year-old happened to be a semi-finalist at the IBSF Women’s Under-21 World Snooker Championships in Riyadh back in July. (PTI)
Gukesh, Erigaisi play out a draw in Chennai GM chess tourney
Chennai, Dec 16: Local star D Gukesh and Arjun Erigaisi played out a draw in the second round of the Chennai Grand Masters Chess Championship 2023 here on Saturday. Experienced Indian GM Pentala Harikrishna, who scored over Erigaisi in round one, settled for a draw against Alexandr Predke (Serbia) to take his tally to 1.5 points. Highly-rated American GM Levon Aronian held top seed Iran GM Parham Maghsoodloo in his second round match, while the match between Pavel Eljanov (Ukraine) and Sanan Sjugirov (Ukraine) saw the latter securing a win. Gukesh with white pieces, held compatriot Erigaisi to a draw. The two young Indians are aiming for a good performance here to boost their chances of securing a spot in next year’s Candidates tournament. The 8-player, all-GM tournament being held in the classical format, provides an opportunity for Gukesh and Erigaisi and Iran’s Maghsoodloo to earn qualification for the Candidates tournament. (PTI)
PSPB men, RBI and Haryana eves advance in national TT c’ships
Panchkula, Dec 16: The Petroleum Sports Promotion Board (PSPB) men and Reserve Bank of India (RBI) women registered easy 3-0 wins over respective opponents to enter the pre-quarterfinals of the Senior Nationals and Inter-State Table Tennis Championships here on Saturday. Anthony Amalraj, Manav Thakkar and Sanil Shetty put their teams ahead in the group race against Madhya Pradesh in the first round at the Tau Devi Lal Stadium. Amalraj beat Pankaj Vishwakarma 11-8, 11-5, 11-8, Manav downed Ansh Goyal 11-5, 11-4, 11-4, and Sanil won 11-8, 11-3, 11-5 over Pratham. Hosts Haryana, spearheaded by Suhana Saini, beat Punjab and Kerala with identical 3-0 margins to secure their top spot in Group F and a berth in the pre-quarterfinals. Women teams of Telangana, Delhi, Assam, Maharashtra, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat looked to occupy the top positions in their respective groups. As for RBI women, they needed less than 60 minutes to tide over their first-round opponent, Daman & Diu. Diya Chitale, playing her first match after Vadodara National Ranking, beat Koenaa Jariwala 11-2, 11-2, 11-7 to put the team 1-0 up. Amrutha Pushpak defeated Sanskrati Muley 11-7, 11-6, 11-6, and R. Harshavardhini accounted for Basni Singh 11-3, 11-4, 11-6 to complete the demolition job. RBI women disposed of Bihar with Sreeja Akula entering the fray, as the team management rested Diya in the second round. Amrutha Pushpak and Harshavardhini continued their job in the second round to keep their slate clean. Tamil Nadu, Delhi, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Haryana, Gujarat and West Bengal are the likely group leaders. Punjab men surprised Kerala in Group A with a 3-1 victory to strengthen their qualification chance, as they could be the second team to make the grade for the second-stage knockout. (AP)