Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Saturday.
India had a disappointing outing at the 43rd Chess Olympiad with the men's team finishing a poor sixth and the women ending their campaign at a lowly eighth spot, in Batumi, on Friday.
The coronavirus pandemic has taken a toll on sports calendars across the globe, resulting in cancellation and postponement of events, but it has also provided sportspersons a rather unexpected break. Indian sportspersons including some chess players plan to use the time to train and also be with their families.
The Indian men and women missed out on the podium by a whisker as they finished fourth in both the categories at the World Team Chess Championships, in Khanty Mansiysk, Russia.
A summary of sports events and sports persons, who made news on Tuesday.
Grandmaster Abhijeet Gupta won a silver by pocketing seven points out of nine games while Tania Sachdev turned out to be the best woman performer for India with a bronze medal in the Chess Olympiad, that concluded in Istanbul Turkey on Sunday.
Five-time world champion Viswanathan Anand continued to struggle in his first open tournament in 23 years as he suffered a shock defeat at the hands of French Grandmaster Adrien Demuth in the fifth round of the masters section of Gibraltar chess festival in Gibraltar on Sunday.
Having done all the hard work with spectacular results, Indian players would look to hold their nerves in the final dash to finish at the podium in the World Women Chess Team Championships, in Mardin, Turkey.
India scored an emphatic 4-0 victory over South Africa and jumped to joint second spot after the third round of the World Women's Team Chess Championship in Mardin, Turkey.
Grandmaster Koneru Humpy's crucial victory helped last-minute entrant Indian women's team settle for a 2-2 draw with Ukraine in the first round of the ongoing World Women Team Chess Championship in Mardin, Turkey.
Five-time World champion Viswanathan Anand continued to struggle with his form as he lost to 16-year old International Master Benjamin Gledura of Hungary in the seventh round of the Masters section of Gibraltar International Chess festival
Continuing his dream run, Grandmaster Abhijeet Gupta held higher-ranked compatriot Pentala Harikrishna to a draw, while Viswanathan Anand kept himself in contention with an easy victory, in the sixth round of the masters section of the Tradewise Gibraltar International Chess Festival in Gibraltar, on Monday.
Grandmaster Koneru Humpy took an early lead against Ju Wenjun of China while GM norm holder D Harika played out a draw with another Chinese, Ruan Lufei, in the first game of the quarter-finals of the World Women's Chess Championship in Hatay, Turkey. With another victory in the first game itself, Humpy now needs just a draw in the return game to make it to the last four stage that has been her performance till date in a World Championship.
Grandmaster Koneru Humpy of India made it to the quarter-finals of the World Women Chess Championship after she split point in the second game of the third round against Anna Zatonskih of the United States.
Top rated Koneru Humpy started off with an easy victory in the women's world championship opener but second highest Indian D Harika was held to a draw by compatriot Kruttika Nadig in the first game of the opening round in Hatay, Turkey on Sunday.
Indian women are on course for a chess medal as they scored an easy victory over Bangladesh to remain on joint top along with China after six rounds of the chess competition in the Asian Games in Guangzhou on Tuesday.
Former world junior champion Abhijeet Gupta finished joint first at the Reykjavik International Open Chess Tournament after playing out a quick draw with local star Hannes Stefansson in the ninth and final round in Iceland on Thursday.
This year's Padma awards took place at the Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Delhi on Monday. Mohanlal Viswanathan, Prabhu Deva and Shankar Mahadevan have been conferred with honours. Take a look.
Leaving out Tania Sachdev proved a costly mistake as India's medal hopes went up in smoke when the women's team lost to second seed China in the 10th and penultimate round of the Chess Olympiad in Khanty Mansiysk, Russia.
Indian girls rose to joint second spot after upstaging third seeds Ukraine in the 29th Chess Olympiad in Khanty Mansiysk, Russia.
The Indian women's team had a dismal day out in the third round of the World Women's team chess championship in Ningbo, China, on Friday.
Chandrasekhar Yeleti's Telugu film is a sweet story about a boy falling in love with a girl and wooing her at an airport.
This is the second death of a student due to ragging in Andhra Pradesh during last 24 hours. S Harish Kumar, a student of polytechnic college died at his home in Nandyal town of Kurnool district in the state on Friday night, nearly three months after he had attempted suicide by consuming acid over ragging and humiliation by the senior students.
Indian players had a disappointing outing at the Corus chess championship with Grandmaster Krishnan Sasikiran and D Harika settling for draws while Abhijeet Gupta went down to slip to the third spot.
On a mixed day for India at the 32nd Chess Olympiad, the women's team defeated Bulgaria to move up to joint-third place while the men slipped to tied 10th after losing to France in the seventh round. Asian women's champion Tania Sachdev and Asian junior girls' winner Mary Ann Gomes helped the Indian women to a 2.5-1.5 victory over Bulgaria.
India asserted its supremacy in chess by winning three gold medals in the rapid mixed team event and rapid individual events at the second Asian Indoor Games in Macau on Saturday.
It took Gujrathi 40 moves to outwit Benjamin and now he shares the lead with six others. The fourth Indian to cross the 2700 ELO rating barrier, Gujrathi will face American Grandmaster Aleksandr Lenderman in the fifth round.
It's been seven years since a chess player got the Arjuna award and the iconic Viswanathan Anand is hoping that India's triumphant campaign at the online Chess Olympiad will change this when the national sporting honours are announced next year.
Dronavalli Harika and S Vijayalakshmi also tasted success, beating Grandmaster Tigran Petrosian and GM Denis Khismatullin respectively in the Aeroflot International Chess tournament.
Six-time world champion Viswanathan Anand will be a part of the Indian team for the Chess Olympiad to be held in Georgia later this year after he accepted the request from the All India Chess Federation.
A summary of sports events and sports persons, who made news on Tuesday
In a disappointing sixth round for Indians at the World Junior Chess Championships, the Delhi lad, Tania Sachdev and D Harika were beaten.
They beat Kazakhstan 2-1 and moved to joint 13th in the women's Chess Olympiad.
IM Elisabeth Paehtz of Germany and GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov of Azerbaijan won the girls' and boys' title respectively at the World Junior Chess.
The Indian Woman Grandmaster is joint-fifth after the seventh round in the World Junior girls' chess championship.
The administrators are busy thrashing out resumption plans but with the COVID-19 pandemic showing no signs of slowing down, India's sportsperson are pleading for caution as discussion rages on whether competitions can resume by August. Top stars from various disciplines want the waiting period to continue, while others pointed out at the loss it would cause in terms of fitness and readiness.
The Indian Grandmaster meets Cecile Van Der Merwe of South Africa in her opening match of the tournament.
Top Indian shuttlers, including K Srikanth and Parupalli Kashyap in men's singles and P V Sindhu in women's singles, advanced to the second round after easy victories on the first day of the main draw in the Syed Modi International Badminton tournament, in Lucknow, on Wednesday.
After six rounds, the Woman Grandmaster has four points from six games and looks good for a medal at the World Junior Chess championships.
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