DISTRICT-LEVEL CHESS

Hailakandi, Nov. 7: Manab Bhattacharjee, Sushanta Mohan Chatterjee and Nilanjan Das annexed the top three positions in the open event of the two-day 12th Hailakandi district-level chess championship held here on Saturday and yesterday.

In the women's category, Gopa Das and Pranati Sinha secured the first and second positions respectively.

Swapnadeep Paul emerged the under-9 group champion. In the under-11 catergory, Nadim Jahir and Ayushman Choudhury finished first and second. Biswarup Bhattacharjee and Abhay Roy emerged first and second respectively in the under-13 section. Saurav Dutta Bhowmick and Jatin Sarda got the first and second positions in under-15 category. Akanksha Sarda emerged champion in the under-15 girls' event.

Akashjyoti Paul and Dwiptaban Debnath secured first and second positions respectively in the under-17 boys' event. Hritu Bania and Topojit Acharjee secured the first and second positions in under-19 boys. Altogether 47 players participated in the meet, organised by Hailakandi District Chess Association in collaboration with the Rotary Club of Hailakandi.

Senior football: Silchar have qualified for the final round of Sati Dev Trophy Football Championship. Silchar, Karimganj, Hailakandi, Lakhipur and Dima Hasao districts participated in the zonal championship. In the last match of the qualifying round on Saturday, they defeated Lakhipur 5-2 at India Club ground. Subhradeep Guha scored a hat-trick. Lakhipur's Romario Lalruth gave lead to his team in the fourth minute. Silchar's Ajos Palong equalised in the seventh minute.

Alfred Lalruth Thanga once again put Lakhipur ahead in the 28th minute. Later, Guha netted the three goals in the 46th, 60th and 71st minutes. Guha scored 11 goals in the tournament, including three hat-tricks.

In the second match of the last day, Hailakandi defeated Karimganj 5-0. The goals were scored by Mushtalij Ahmed Barbhuiya, Jahan Uddin Barbhuiya, Rajan Ali, Sainur Hussain Choudhury and Birat Hazarija.