CHESS
Chess sensation Vantika Agrawal rises to India No. 3 rank
Rising Indian chess player Vantika Agrawal continues to take rapid strides in her career as she achieved a career-high rank of India No. 3 in the women’s section with a total of 2428 rating points.
The 21-year-old Vantika, who was part of the 2020 Olympiad-winning Indian team, has been impressive in her recent outings as she added 61 points from her last four international tournaments, which also includes becoming women’s champion at the Menorca Open in Spain.
“It’s an amazing feeling to become India No. 3. Honestly, I knew that I will do this but wasn’t expecting it to happen this quickly. I managed to increase rankings in the last four tournaments and get this spot,” the Noida resident Vantika expressed her joy.
“I will not stop here and keep working harder so that I can get the Grandmaster title and become India No. 1, that’s my aim. To achieve that, I will need to play more strong tournaments now,” she further added.
Women’s Grandmaster Vantika has been a consistent performer on the international circuit. She also became the 11th Indian woman to attain the International Master title last month.
Vantika will look to continue her brilliant show when she plays some top tournaments later in order to prepare for the 2022 Asian Games, to be played in Hangzhou. She is also confident of becoming Grandmaster this year as she requires three GM norms and crosses 2500 rating points to achieve that title.
-Team Sportstar
TENNIS
Madrid Open: Bopanna and Ebden outplay top seeds
Seventh seeds Rohan Bopanna and Matthew Ebden outplayed the top seeds Wesley Koolhof and Neal Skupski 6-3, 6-2 in the doubles quarterfinals of the €8,796,536 ATP tennis tournament in Madrid, Spain, on Wednesday.
In the semifinals, Bopanna and Ebden will play eighth seeds Santiago Gonzalez and Edouard Roger-Vasselin. In the $40,000 ITF women’s event in Tbilisi, Georgia, Ankita Raina and Ekaterina Gorgodze made the doubles final, winning back-to-back matches.
The results:
-Team Sportstar
AITA women’s tournament- Sonal made to work hard in her win against Rachita
The champion of the last tournament, third seed Sonal Patil was stretched to three sets by fifth seed Rachita Talwar in the quarterfinals of the Rs.100,000 AITA women’s tennis tournament at the Joygaon Academy on Wednesday. Sonal won 6-3, 4-6, 6-2.
In the semifinals, Sonal will challenge the top seed Sahira Singh who eased past Shefali Arora for the loss of five games.
The other semifinal will be between Divya Bhardwaj and second seed Kashish Bhatia.
The results (quarterfinals):
-Team Sportstar
Junior Billie Jean King Cup: India beats Mongolia
India outplayed Mongolia in the last league match, dropping only three games in all, but it was no consolation as the team had missed the chance to qualify for the quarterfinals in the Asia-Oceania Junior Billie Jean King Cup under-16 girls tennis tournament in Shymkent, Kazakhstan, on Wednesday.
In the match for the minor placings, India which had earlier lost to Chinese Taipei and Thailand, will play Vietnam on Thursday.
Chinese Taipei topped the group by beating Thailand in the last league match. Host Kazakhstan, Australia, Hong Kong, Uzbekistan, Korea and Japan were the other teams to make the quarterfinals, two each from the three other groups.
The results (league)
-Team Sportstar
SHOOTING
Olympic quota winner Bhowneesh Mendiratta and Prithviraj Tondaman kept themselves in the race for the semifinal spots as they scored 94 out of 100 in four rounds of men’s trap in the shotgun World Cup in Cairo, Egypt, on Wednesday.
Zoravar Singh Sandhu who had started bright with a perfect 25 in the first-round, had fluctuating fortunes with rounds of 22, 24 and 20 thereafter, as he found himself in the 43rd spot with 91. In women’s trap, Rajeshwari Kumari had shot 88, the sixth-best score following rounds of 22, 22, 21 and 23.
Shreyasi Singh who was among the top after two rounds slipped following the third round of 17. She recovered to shoot 22 in the fourth round to have a total of 84, one short of Preeti Rajak.
The shooters will have the fifth and final round on Thursday and the top eight will make the semifinals.
- Team Sportstar
Tamil Nadu Champions Foundation to be launched on May 8
Tamil Nadu Champions Foundation (TNCF), an initiative to partner with citizens and corporates to revamp sports in Tamil Nadu (TN), will be launched on May 8, it was announced at an interactive event here on Wednesday.
TN Minister for Youth Welfare and Sports Development Udhayanidhi Stalin took inputs from the industry and corporate leaders most of whom also announced that they will donate to the foundation.
The foundation’s mission includes identifying, nurturing, and supporting sportspersons, putting in place state-of-the-art sports infrastructure and sporting amenities, providing world-class coaching and training to sportspersons, promoting diverse sports disciplines including traditional sports, and promoting research and development in the field of sports science.
Speaking on the occasion, Udhayanidhi said: “TNCF is a unique initiative and platform to channelise the contributions of industries, companies, and organisations to re-energize the sporting ecosystem of Tamil Nadu in its entirety.
“TNCF will be a registered company with appropriate administrative structure to ensure all the contributions received are utilised in a time-bound and transparent manner for the development of sports and sportspersons across the spectrum.”
Atulya Mishra, Additional Chief Secretary to TN government - Youth Welfare and Sports, said that ₹3 crore from the government corpus has been pledged for the foundation. Mano Thangaraj, TN Minister for Information Technology and Digital Services, and S. Krishnan, Additional Chief Secretary to TN government - Industries, also spoke on the occasion.
J. Meghanatha Reddy, Member Secretary - Sports Development Authority of Tamil Nadu (SDAT), proposed the vote of thanks. Tamil Nadu Cricket Association (TNCA) President Ashok Sigamani and SDAT Vice Chairman N. Ramachandran were also present.
- S. Prasanna Venkatesan
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