Anand held; Ivanchuk goes down

Bilbao: Victory eluded Viswanathan Anand yet again and the world champion was held to a draw by Hikaru Nakamura of the US in the seventh round to remain joint second in the fourth Final Masters’ second leg here.

Ukrainian Vassily Ivanchuk suffered his first loss in the second leg at the hands of tailender Francisco Vallejo Pons of Spain.

With just three rounds to go, Ivanchuk leads the table with 13 points followed by the quartet of Anand, Magnus Carlsen of Norway, Levon Aronian of Armenia and Nakamura, five points behind.

Sania surgery

Hyderabad: Sania Mirza underwent an arthroscopic surgery on her left knee at a hospital here on Saturday.

Sania’s father Imran said, “Sania had torn her meniscus during the US Open in September and thus the surgery. Her husband Shoaib Malik was present at the hospital when the operation was performed.”

Rahil misses cut

Chattanooga (US): Rahil Gangjee turned in a disappointing eight-over 80 in the second round and missed the cut in the Children’s Hospital Classic golf tournament here.

Gangjee’s sole birdie of the day came on the eighth and then he had a bogey on the ninth. There were bogeys on 11th, 13th and 14th also and he finished with a double bogey on the 16th and a triple bogey on 18th. The cut came at four-under and Gangjee was four-over.

John Mallinger shot a seven-under 65 and grabbed the 36-hole lead.

Bhasin tied 28th

Taipei: Kunal Bhasin was blown over by the tough conditions on the back nine as he shot 75 to be placed tied 28th after the third round of the Yeangder Tournament Players Championship (TPC) on the Asian Tour here .

Shiv exits

Madrid: Shiv Kapur made an early exit from Bankia Masters after carding a modest even-par 72 in the second round of the event here. The Indian finished at four-over for 36 holes, ending his challenge for the week.

Pak camp

Lahore: The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) is again under fire for insisting on holding the conditioning camp of the Pakistan team in Lahore, which has been the worst hit by the outbreak of dengue that has affected over 14,000 people in the Punjab province. The PCB’s decision has come under scrutiny after some players, taking part in the ongoing Quaid-e-Azam Trophy here, were diagnosed with dengue.

Bangla win

Rajkot: Bangladesh eves showed discipline in both batting and bowling to beat Saurashtra women’s cricket team by seven wickets and win the two-match practice game series 2-0.

Saurashtra were all out for 98 in 47.2 overs. Bangladesh reached the target in the 25th over, losing only three wickets.

Brief scores: Saurashtra 98 in 47.2 overs (Deepa Patel 39; Panna Ghosh 2/15); Bangladesh 99/3 in 25 overs (Shathira Jakir 36). Bangladesh won by 7 wickets. Agencies