GOLF
Madappa finishes tied 6th at USD 2 million International Series in England
Viraj Madappa continued his rich vein of form with a tied sixth finish at the USD 2million International Series England.
The Indian youngster, who has one win on the Asian Tour, had for a good part of the week contended for the title, before a triple bogey on third day pushed him and he carded an even par 71 on Sunday.
His rounds of 68-70-70-71 saw him at 5-under for the week as Zimbabwean Scott Vincent won a title for the second week in a row.
A week after winning the Gate Way to the Open Mizuno Open in Japan to secure a place in the 150th Open, Vincent won the International Series after a battle with Travis Smyth (68), Sadom Kaewkanjana (69) and Justin Harding (69), who finished behind him in that order.
Last year's Asian Tour No. 1 Kim Joohyung (72) was fifth and Madappa alongside Sihwan Kim (67) and Turk Petit (70) was tied sixth.
Madappa was the highest placed Indian while Gaganjeet Bhullar (72) was T-23 and SSP Chawrasia (70) was T-30th.
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Shiv Kapur (73), who had a great start in first two rounds, (73) was T-36 and Ajeetesh Sandhu (70) was T-44 and S Chikkarangappa (73) was T-49th. Karandeep Kochhar (77) finished 64th and Jeev Milkha Singh (75) was T-68th.
Madappa, who at one stage in the week even had the lead, had three birdies and three bogeys in his 71.
For the 30-year-old Vincent it was his maiden Asian Tour triumph. “This is the tour I started on, so obviously it’s nice to get the first win out here. It has felt like a long time but my game is trending in a good direction.” The International Series England also saw five golfers earning their spots at next week's USD 25 million LIV Invitational Series at Centurion Club.
Smyth and Viraj Madappa from India both claimed a berth as the two highest-finishers from the Slaley Hall event who were not otherwise exempt.
South African Ian Snyman, Kevin Yuan from Australia and Thailand's Itthipat Buranatanyarat will be joining them, having qualified from the cumulative International Series Order of Merit.
-PTI
CHESS-
Maharashtra Open chess: Top-seed Amonatov jumps into lead
Top-seed Farrukh Amonatov of Tajikistan posted a 43-move win over Russian Boris Savchenko to take his tally to 7.5 points and shoot into the lead after the ninth round of the inaugural Maharashtra International Open Grandmaster chess tournament on Monday.
In the top board clash, GM Amonatov (Elo 2622), who is unbeaten so far, got the better of fellow GM Savchenko to take sole lead.
Three players -- Arjun Kalyan, Deep Sengupta and Aleksej Aleksandrov, all Grandmasters trail the leader by half a point.
Kalyan, Sengupta and Aleksandrov registered wins over GMs Karthik Venkatarman, Mihail Nikitenko and Duc Hoa Nguyen of Vietnam in their respective ninth round games.
Luka Paichadze, who held the lead till round five, made short work of Indian Grandmaster Divya Deshmukh to take his score to 6.5 points, a point behind the leader.
Two more rounds remain to be played in the tournament.
-PTI
SNOOKER
The North Zone HS Bhogal memorial 6 Red snooker tournament to be played at the Megapool Academy, Dwaraka, from July 26. will carry a total prize purse of Rs.1,50,000.
This event will be followed by the Wilson Jones Delhi State billiards and snooker championship in September. The 45th edition of the Delhi State championship has been named in the memory of the country’s first
World billiards champion in 1958, Wilson Jones.
-Kamesh Srinivasan
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