BWF World Junior C’ships: Tanvi, Unnati to lead Indian charge
New Delhi, Aug 19: Fast-rising shuttlers Tanvi Sharma and Unnati Hooda, along with boys’ doubles pair of Bhargav Ram Arigela and Viswa Tej Gobburu, will lead a 25-member Indian squad at the BWF World Junior Championships to be held in Guwahati from October 6 to 19. The Indian contingent also features Asian Junior Championships bronze medallist Vennala Kalagotla and Rakshitha Sree, making it one of the strongest Indian line-ups for the marquee junior event. The Suhandinata Cup (mixed team championships) will be played from October 6 to 11, followed by the individual events from October 13 to 19 at the National Centre of Excellence. (PTI)
Sinquefield Cup: Praggnanandhaa outplays world champion Gukesh
St. Louis (USA), Aug 19: Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa outplayed World Champion D Gukesh in the opening round of the Sinquefield Cup Chess tournament to rise to the third position in live world rankings. He now shares the lead with the unstoppable Levon Aronian of United States, who outsmarted Nodirbek Abdusattorov of Uzbekistan after the opening round on Monday. In other games of the first round Fabiano Caruana of USA played out a draw with Duda Jan-Kryzstof of Poland while wild card Samuel Savian split the point with American country-mate Wesley So while Maxime Vachier-Lagrave of France also drew with another Frenchman Alireza Firouzja. With eight rounds still to come in the USD 350,000 prize money tournament, as many as six players share the third spot behind Praggnanandhaa and Aronian while Gukesh and Abdusattorov are at the bottom of the heap hoping to open their respective accounts in the next round. (PTI)
Jannik Sinner withdraws from new US Open mixed doubles event
New York, Aug 19: Jannik Sinner pulled out of the US Open mixed doubles tournament shortly before it began on Tuesday, a day after he quit in the first set of the Cincinnati Open final because he was feeling ill. The No. 1-ranked Sinner, the defending champion in singles at Flushing Meadows, was supposed to compete in mixed doubles with Katerina Siniakova. The US Tennis Association announced the withdrawal less than an hour before the first contests were scheduled to be played in the new mixed doubles event. The USTA said Sinner and Siniakova would be replaced in the 16-team draw by an alternate duo with the highest combined singles ranking. (AP)
Alcaraz wins Cincinnati Open after Sinner retires in first set
Cincinnati (US), Aug 19: Carlos Alcaraz won the Cincinnati Open title in a little more than 20 minutes after top-ranked Jannik Sinner was forced to retire because of illness during the first set. Meeting in the final for the fourth time this year and first since Wimbledon, Sinner fell behind 5-0 in the first set with nine unforced errors. He was seen with an icepack on his head during a break and retired after playing just 22 minutes. “Didn’t feel great from yesterday,” Sinner said. “Also during the night, I thought I would recover a bit better, but it was not the case. I just tried to go out for the fans, trying to give a match. But it was not meant to be for me today.” It was only the third time the Cincinnati Open men’s final ended in a retirement, and the first since 2011 when Novak Djokovic stopped playing in the second set because of a shoulder injury. Meanwhile, third-ranked Iga Swiatek captured the Cincinnati Open title for the first time by defeating No. 7 Jasmine Paolini 7-5, 6-4. Swiatek had failed to advance past the semifinals in her six previous appearances at the Cincinnati Open. She reached the semifinals in Cincinnati each of the past two years, but lost to eventual champions Coco Gauff in 2023 and Aryna Sabalenka in 2024. Swiatek has won all six meetings against the Italian, dropping only one set in those matches. (AP)