Srihari draws Fedorov in final round to win Chennai Open
Chennai, Jan 7: LR Srihari secured a draw against Belarusian Alexei Fedorov in the final round to emerge champion in the Chennai Open International Grandmaster Chess Tournament 2023 here on Sunday. Srihari registered seven wins, and three draws on his way to the title. With an ELO rating of 2500, Srihari is now away from his third and final GM Norm. Nguyen Duc Hoa (Vietnam) took the second spot. (PTI)
Wadhawan progresses to second round of All India Snooker Open
Mumbai, Jan 7: Samay Wadhawan notched up a comfortable 4-0 win over Md. Shafique Khatri in the best-of-7-frame qualifying draw first round match of the NSCI Baulkline 3.0 All India Snooker Open here on Sunday. Samay registered a 60-52, 51-7, 75-45, 62-8 victory over Shafique to move to the second round. Pune-based Shivam Arora also waltzed to a 4-0 victory over Hormuz Pardiwala in another match. Arora showed great touch and with breaks of 74 in the second frame and a 49 break later gave Pardiwala no chance of putting up a fight and raced to a 67-20, 74-0, 77-8 and 91-19 victory. Rahul Narang of Matoshree Club was also on a roll as he eased past Jai Shroff 4-0 (80-32, 71-30, 69-51 and 62-53) to enter the second round. Akash Israni went down fighting to Suyog Mukadam 3-4 in an engrossing affair. In a nervy seventh frame, Mukadam came out stronger to win the decider with a 35-51, 49-63, 49-18, 84-37, 45-35, 38-51 57-49 verdict and progress to the second round. In another keenly contested match, Gaurav Prabhu got the better of Karan Chugani 4-3 (52-14, 35-68, 49-58. 25-64, 47-2, 59-25 and 62-39) to also move into the next round. (PTI)
ICC rejects Usman Khawaja’s appeal against armband sanction
Melbourne, Jan 7: Australia opener Usman Khawaja suffered a setback after his appeal against the sanction imposed on him for wearing a black armband during the opening Test against Pakistan was rejected by the International Cricket Council, a report said on Sunday. Last month, Khawaja was reprimanded by the ICC for wearing the black armband to mourn the children who have been the victim of the conflict between Israel and Palestine that has been going on since October last year. The 37-year-old, who was born in Pakistan and is the first Muslim to play Test cricket for Australia, had challenged the reprimand saying that the armband was for a personal bereavement. (PTI)
Pollard replaces injured Rashid as MI Cape Town captain in SA20
Cape Town, Jan 7: Former West Indian all-rounder Kieron Pollard on Sunday replaced Rashid Khan as captain of MI Cape Town in SA20, beginning on January 10. The Cape Town outfit had initially named ace leg-spinner Rashid as their skipper but the Afghan is still recuperating from his injury. “Rashid Khan is unavailable currently, as he continues his recovery from injury. The MI CT wish Rashid a quick recovery and look to have him back on the playing field soon,” the franchise said in a media statement. However, Rashid has been named in Afghanistan’s squad to tour India for a three-match T20I series, but he is unlikely to be available. The MI Cape Town will begin their campaign in the tournament with a match against Durban SuperGiants on January 11. The Cape Town side has some leading players such as Kagiso Rabada, Rassie van der Dussen, Sam Curran, Jofra Archer and Liam Livingstone in their ranks. Meanwhile, MI Emirates appointed West Indian batter Nicholas Pooran as their captain for ILT20. (PTI)