CHENNAI : Former Asian champ Bhakti Kulkarni of Air India took the sole lead with six and half points after seventh round of the 46th national women’s chess championship organised by Chettinad Public School, Karaikudi. Bhakti beat top seed Soumya Swaminathan.
Select results: Round 7: Bhakti Kulkarni (Air India) 6.5 bt Soumya Swaminathan (PSPB) 5; Pratyusha Bodda (AP) 5.5 drew with Vantika Agrawal (Dli) 6; Michelle Catherina (TN) 5.5 drew with Nandhidhaa PV (TN) 5.5; Meenakshi S (Air India) 5.5 bt Swati Ghate (LIC) 5; Harshita Guddanti (AP) 5 drew with Srija Seshadri (TN) 5; Mary Ann Gomes (PSPB) 5 bt Priyanka Nutakki (AP) 4.5; Saranya J (TN) 4 lost to Divya Deshmukh (Mah) 5; Vijayalakshmi S (Air India) 4 lost to Potluri Saye Srreezza (Tel) 5; Kiran Manisha Mohanty (LIC) 5 bt Mahalakshmi M (Rlys) 4; Aarthie Ramaswamy (Air India) 4.5 drew with Nisha Mohota (PSPB) 4.5; Priyanka K (TN) 5 bt Meghna CH (Rlys) 4; Bala Kannamma P (TN) 5 bt Parnali S Dharia (Mah) 4; Saranya Y (TN) 4 lost to Nityata Jain (MP) 5; Nanditha V (Tel) 4 lost to Bagyashree Thipsay (Mah) 5; Mrudul Dehankar (Mah) 5 bt Rindhiya V (TN) 4.
Nikki books semis spot
Nikki Ponacha defeated Ihsan Hussain 7-4 in the singles quarterfinals of the SSN Open 2K19 tennis tournament.
Results: Quarters: Singles: Nikki Ponacha bt Ihsan Hussain 7-4; Siddarth Arya bt Krishna Teja Raja 7-5; Lohith Aksha bt R.Anish Froilan 7-1; Kavin M bt Rohith V 7-4. Doubles: M Kavin/Lohith Aksha bt Keerthi Chidhambaranathan/Ajay Murali 7-1; Krishna Teja Raja/Preeth Kumar bt Kiran Arunachalam/Ashwin C 7-3; Siddarth Arya/Saran Anish bt Vishal/Rohit 7-5; Anirudh Kumar/Sukanthan bt Oges Theyjo/Lakshman 7-2.
Fighting victory for Moinsha
Moinsha of Q Ball City earned a hard fought 3-2 win over Salman of Q Lounge 2.0 in the second round of the Q Lounge All-India Open snooker championship.
Results: Rd 2: Moinsha (Q Ball City) bt Salman (Q Lounge 2.0) 64-23, 23-61, 55-83, 63-62, 53-44; Fairoz (Q Lounge) bt Shabeer (Q Ball City) 66-46, 56-22, 58-17; Sheesh (Cue Zone) bt Martin (Masse) 55-37, 55-40, 29-68, 71-7.
Six teams share trophy
The six teams — Southern Railways (Chennai), St Joseph’s A, Spartians Sports Club, Mangaianallur Ball Badminton, Aluvaas Ball Badminton, JJ Boys Club — that entered the super league of the 11th St Joseph’s All-India ball badminton tournament for men, shared the trophy after it was abandoned due to rain. The prize money was `1.25 lakh. Former India boxer and Arjuna awardee V Devarajan gave away the prizes.
Shameena bags squash title
Shameena Riaz of Tamil Nadu won the 6th Bengal junior open squash championship with a 9-11, 11-7, 11-5, 7-11, 11-8 win over top seed Soniya Bajaj from Maharashtra in the final.
Dinesh hits half-century
A Dinesh Nilavan’s half-century helped VRSCET A get the better of Mailam Engineering College by four wickets in a First Division match of the Villupuram DCA league. Brief scores: I Division: Mailam Engg 107 in 32.5 ovs (Sarath 3/30, Kumar 5/15) lost to VRSCET A 108/6 in 24 ovs (Dinesh 50; Naresh 3/25). II Division: Mundiyampakkam CC 143/9 in 25 ovs bt SG CC 122/5 in 25 ovs (Ganapathi 3/22, Sekar 3/24). New Star CC 135/9 in 25 ovs lost to Mahaveer CA 136/3 in 22.5 ovs (Vinoth 52). Ammu CC 159 in 24.1 ovs (Jayaprakash 64; Karthikeyan 5/25) bt Evergreen CC 141/9 in 25 ovs (Devanand 59; Jayaprakash 4/28). III Division: Siga B 69 in 24.2 ovs (Sathish 3/17) lost to SRTCA 72/1 in 8.2 ovs. Power CC 87 in 23.3 ovs (Manikandan 4/10) lost to United CC B 89/2 in 12.4 ovs. Siga Management A 266/5 in 25 ovs (Kathiravan 77, Vimal 80) bt VDCA 138/5 in 25 ovs (Gokul 80).