Indian trio in 2nd spot

Dubai: Defending champion Abhijeet Gupta squandered a winning position before settling for a draw against Grandmaster Evgenij Miroshnichenko of Ukraine to drop to the shared second spot after the end of the seventh round at the Dubai International Open chess tournament.

While Miezes Normunds of Latvia emerged as the sole leader, the Indian trio of Gupta, Parimarjan Negi and Sandipan Chanda share the second spot.

Luck factor

New Delhi: Promising Indian shuttler Guru Sai Datt and Saurav Verma were Sunday promoted to the main draw of the Yonex India Open badminton championships starting here on April 24 after 12 players withdrew from the men’s singles event.

Gade to quit

New Delhi: One of the most successful badminton players of all time with 16 Grand-Prix titles, world No.4 Peter Gade of Denmark is planning to quit the sport after this year’s London Olympics. “I have to admit that I feel that this is the right time. I want to finish while I’m still in the top of the men’s singles, not when I’m on the way down,” Gade said.

Geetika case

New Delhi: Taking a serious note of Geetika Jakhar’s complaint, the sports ministry Sunday sought an explanation from the Wrestling Federation of India WFI for calling a retrial even after she won the recently-concluded trials for next month’s Olympic Qualifiers, in Helsinki, Finland.

Mehta show

New Delhi: India’s Aditya Mehta registered his second win with a 4-0 thrashing of Mubarak Alowais of Kuwait at the 28th Asian Snooker Championships at Doha, on Sunday. He will now play against Karam Fatima of Syria on Monday.

India win

New Delhi: India defeated the US by a solitary goal to win the bronze medal in the second leg of Four-Nation women’s hockey tournament in Pakuranga, Auckland. Midfielder Deepika scored the all-important goal in the 40th minute after the two teams failed to break the deadlock in the first period at the Llyod Elsmore Hockey Stadium.

Jeev falters

Tianjin: Jeev Milkha Singh found three birdies in his last four holes to finish tied 60th with a final round of two-under 70 at the $3million Volvo China Open on the European Tour, here on Sunday. Jeev was the only Indian to make the cut and he had rounds of 75, 66, 73 and 70 for a total of four-under 284. South African Branden Grace won the trophy.

Golf meet

Jakarta: As many as three Indians were in top-five as Gaganjeet Bhullar and Shiv Kapur finished tied third while Anirban Lahiri was tied fifth at the Indonesian Masters here on Sunday. Lee Westwood overcame fatigue to win his first title of the year.