Diptayan among leaders

Tirupati: Andhra Pradesh youngster Abhilash Reddy produced another emphatic win to stop the unbeaten run of overnight sole leader G. Akash of Tamil Nadu in the 11th round of the 50th National Challengers Chess Championship on Saturday.

This result threw the championship wide open as four players, including Akash and Reddy now share the lead with eight and half points. Diptayan Ghosh defeated fourth seed International Master P Karthi-keyan to give company to the leaders along with third seed Debashis Das of Odisha, who settled for half point against second seed S Satyapragyan of Air India.

Silver for men

Zaozhuang: The Indian men’s team thrashed Iraq 4-0 to win silver while their women counterparts bagged a bronze in the Asian Nations Chess Cup that concluded here on Saturday.

Top-rated K. Sasikiran rested himself, while P. Harikrishna, Parimarjan Negi, Abhijeet Gupta and GN Gopal completed a easy victory to collect 15 points to finish second to top seed China-1.

Virginia Water: Former England youth cricketer James Morrison hit his rivals for six with a stunning exhibition of golf in the PGA Championship second round on Friday, while world No. 1 Rory McIlroy missed the cut. Morrison raced into a four-shot lead on 12-under 132.       

Rajneesh feat

New Delhi: Rajneesh turned out to be India’s best performer of the day as he clinched the gold medal in the freestyle 60kg category after Neha and Kamlesh bagged silver and bronze in their respective categories on the second day of the Hari Ram Grand Prix wrestling tournament here on Saturday.

Chinappa title

Chennai: Joshna Chinappa claimed her maiden WISPA title at home, and sixth overall, as she rallied to beat third seed Sarah Jane Perry 3-1 in the final of the Chennai Open International Squash championship, here on Saturday.

The Indian, ranked 71 in the world, recorded a 9-11, 11-4, 11-8, 12-10 win in the summit clash against her British rival.

CSA move

Calcutta: The board of directors of Cricket South Africa (CSA) addressed the implementation of the Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (SASCOC) and Sport and Recreation South Africa (SRSA) as a matter of urgency at their quarterly meeting in Johannesburg on Saturday, according to a release.

“I have sensed a great determination by the Board to move the process forward as speedily as possible so that we can bring closure to this sorry episode by the time of our Annual General Meeting (AGM) at the end of September,” commented CSA Acting President Dr. Willie Basson.

The board unanimously committed itself to signing the MOA as soon as Board members have had the opportunity to report back to their affiliates.