Indian junior women’s hockey team beat Belgium 3-2
Antwerp (Belgium), June 8: The Indian junior women’s hockey team made a positive start to its tour of Europe with a 3-2 win over hosts Belgium here on Sunday. India opened the scoring through Geeta Yadav (11th minute). However, in the second quarter, Belgium equalised through Marie Goenns (25th). Soon Belgium took the lead as Louise van Hecke (34th) found the back of the net. India made a valiant comeback and levelled the scores through Sonam (40th). The visitors continued to attack, and the tactic paid off as they won a penalty corner soon, which was converted by Lalthantluangi (45th). After that, the Indians did not let Belgium get the equaliser with some stout defending. India will again play Belgium on June 10 in the second game of their European tour. (PTI)
Delhi Chess: Chakkravarthy, Narayanan among early leaders
New Delhi, June 8: India’s top seed and joint leader Narayanan S L continued his flawless run with victory over Arnav Agarwal in the third round of the 21st Delhi International Open Grandmasters Chess Tournament here on Sunday. Joining Narayanan at the top of the table are Grandmasters Deepan Chakkravarthy, Vitaly Sivuk, Mihail Nikitenko, Karthik Venkataraman, Abhijeet Gupta, and International Master Arsen Davtyan. All the leaders have registered three wins in three rounds. IM Aronyak Ghosh also maintained his perfect score with a win over Guru Prakash, keeping pace with the front-runners in a fiercely competitive field. The day was equally memorable for India’s emerging crop of players. Vairaj Sogerwal, riding high on his Round 1 upset over GM Karen H Grigoryan, continued to showcase his resilience against stronger opponents. Singh Arshpreet produced another composed showing, while J Ramakrishna and Akila Kavinda also stood at two points. Adding to the surprises, Sai Kuchibhotla delivered a gritty performance to hold GM Tornike Sanikidse to a draw, a result that exemplified the rising standard of India’s grassroots chess talent. The tournament, offering a record prize purse of Rs 1.21 crore, has attracted over 2,500 players from more than 20 countries, including 24 Grandmasters. (PTI)
Salman Ali Agha in line to become all-format captain for Pakistan
Karachi, June 8: The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) is expected to make some sweeping changes in its national team set-up with Salman Ali Agha in line to become all-format captain, replacing Shan Masood as the skipper of the Test side. Besides the change in captaincy, the board will also be announcing the formation of an “observatory” committee after Eid holidays, a concept meant to keep a close watch on cricket developments including in the national team and forward recommendations to the board’s chairman. A source in the board said that former captain Sarfaraz Ahmed and ex-pacer Sikander Bakht had been called to Lahore for a meeting. “The two were informed about the decision to form the observatory committee and offered positions on it,” the source said. “Some other players will also be on this committee.” He said PCB chairman Mohsin Naqvi, after discussions with his close aides including new white ball head coach Mike Hesson, is also considering redefining the role of the national selection committee. “Either there will be changes in the current selection committee which would continue to work with the Pakistan team management or a new selection set-up would be announced with prime focus on looking and finding talent from domestic and age group cricket,” the source said. Naqvi, the source added, wanted to see things move forward with the right people in the right positions and with the coach and captain given powers to select the teams. There is also a move to give more responsibility to Agha who is currently the national T20 captain and the board is contemplating replacing Masood as the Test skipper when they announce the new head coach. (PTI)