Indian Grandmaster D Gukesh and defending champion Ding Liren played out a mostly risk-free draw in the fourth round to remain level on points in the World Chess Championship battle on Friday. The two players signed peace after 42 moves vide repetition and are tied on two points each after four games of the 14-round showdown. The first to reach 7.5 points will be crowned the champion. The 18-year-old Gukesh, who was playing with black on Friday, is the youngest-ever challenger for the title and had won the third game on Wednesday. "Towards the end, I had some chances to press better but with black this is all you can expect," Gukesh said after the game. "I am just trying to make good moves," he added when asked about the prospect of becoming the youngest world champion. The 32-year-old Liren had won the opening game before the two played out a draw in the second game. "This round, I tried to play safe. It turns out I got a little bit of an advantage. The score is still balanced. There are more games to come," Liren said. "I had a rest day to recover from the tough loss. I am in a very good mood. It worked well, not so bad," he added. With just 10 games remaining under the classical time control, Gukesh will have the advantage of playing white in the fifth game. On Friday, Liren started with the bird's opening trying to take out on the queen's bishop early in the opening which was a clear indication that the Chinese wanted to fight the Indian on the skill rather than preparation. Also Read: ‘All about doing right things’ Gukesh was up to the task in responding as he matched Liren move for move and the pieces traded hands leading to equality. The players eventually reached rook and pawns endgame which was theoretically drawn and the split of a point was a just result. Viswanathan Anand is so far the only Indian to have won the title, having claimed it five times in his career. The semi-retired legend made the ceremonial first move for Gukesh on Friday. If Liren thought he was surprising Gukesh with his opening choice, the Indian was unperturbed, exchanging the dark square Bishop early in the opening. The game took shape sans the dark-squared Bishops right from the early stages and Gukesh had no problems in maintaining the balance. "Since I cannot see my reactions during the game, because I am the one who is playing, I don't know if I am able to maintain this kind of poker face if my opponent makes some mistakes," Liren said. The two players will have their second rest day on Monday. The Moves Nf3 d5 2. e3N f6 3. b3 Bf5 4. Be2 h6 5. Ba3 Nbd7 6. O-O e6 7. Bxf8 Nxf8 c4 N8d7 9. Nc3 O-O 10. cxd5 exd5 11. b4 c6 12. Nd4 Bh7 13. Qb3 Ne5 14. a4 Rc8 15. a5 b6 16. Nf3 Nxf3+ 17. Bxf3 d4 18. Ne2 dxe3 19. dxe3 Be4 20. Rfd1 Qe7 Bxe4 Nxe4 22. axb6 axb6 23. Nc3 Rfd8 24. Nxe4 Qxe4 25. h3 c5 26. Rxd8+ Rxd8 27. bxc5 bxc5 28. Rc1 Qe5 29. Qc2 Rd5 30. g3 f5 31. Kg2 Kh7 32. Qc4 Qd6 e4 Re5 34. exf5 Rxf5 35. Qe4 Qd5 36. Qxd5 Rxd5 37. Kf3 Kg6 38. Ke4 Rd4+ 39. Ke3 Rd5 40. Ke4 Rd4+ 41. Ke3 Rd5 42. Ke4Rd4+. Game drawn. This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever
29 November,2024 08:22 PM IST | Singapore | PTISakshi Malik, Olympic bronze medalist wrestler and Commonwealth Games gold medalist will flag off races as Event Ambassador of the 12th Vasai Virar Municipal Corporation Marathon, on December 8. This event offers prize money of Rs 58 lakh plus, and will see some of the country’s fastest athletes vie for gold and glory in the full marathon for men and the half marathon for men and women. Also Read: 'Sold integrity to sell her book': Babita Phogat calls out Sakshi Malik over controversial remarks The full marathon (42.2 km) will be spearheaded by the army’s Pradeep Singh, who has a Personal Best (PB) of 2:16.55, the fastest in the field. He will face a strong challenge from Dhanwant Prahlad also from the army who has a PB of 2:18.10. Returning to stake his claim will be Mohit Rathor, two-time champion and last year’s runner-up, who also holds the course record of 2:18.05 set in 2022.
29 November,2024 06:39 PM IST | Mumbai | A CorrespondentStar Indian shuttler PV Sindhu survived a scare before beating unheralded compatriot Ira Sharma in three games to enter the women’s singles quarter-finals at the Syed Modi International Super 300 badminton tournament here on Thursday. Also Read: Shuttlers Akshat, Harshit to clash in U-16 final Sharma, ranked 147th in the world as against 18th of Sindhu, stretched the second-round match to the decider after winning the second game. Top seed Sindhu, a two-time Olympic silver medallist, recovered in time to pocket the deciding game and win the match 21-10, 12-21, 21-15, in 49 minutes. Sindhu, 29, has been struggling for some time and she last clinched a title at the Singapore Open in 2022. Unlike Sindhu, top seed Lakshya Sen easily won his second-round men’s singles match against Daniil Dubovenko of Israel 21-14, 21-13 in just 35 minutes to also book a quarter-final berth. This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever
29 November,2024 07:57 AM IST | Lucknow | PTIAkshat Raisurana of Bombay International School (Gamdevi) and Harshit Mahimkar of The Blossom English School (Marine Lines) stormed into the final of the Mumbai Schools Sports Association (MSSA) Boys’ U-16 Inter-School Badminton Tournament on Wednesday. Also Read: Round 4: It’s advantage Gukesh for now v Ding Liren In a gripping semi-final clash, Akshat overcame Adyant Gupta of Cathedral and John Connon School (Fort) with a 21-15, 21-17 victory in a best-of-three encounter. Both players, familiar with each other’s strategies from training at the same academy, engaged in a fierce battle. Akshat’s precise smashes and well-placed shots at crucial moments proved decisive, helping him secure the win. Meanwhile, top-seeded and defending champion Harshit delivered a dominant performance against Dhruv Pawar of Sanskar Academy (Girgaon). With his signature wristy strokes, Harshit cruised to a 21-6, 21-5 win, showcasing his class and control throughout the match.
29 November,2024 07:54 AM IST | Mumbai | Rufus VedanayagamWith nerves no longer a concern for him, teenaged Indian Grandmaster D Gukesh will hold the psychological edge against a slightly shaken defending champion Ding Liren when the two resume their intriguing battle for the World Championship crown in the fourth round here on Friday. Having demonstrated better preparation and claimed his first victory in the third round, Gukesh, 18, is expectedly upbeat and would be looking to just relax on the first rest today (Thursday). With a maximum of 11 games remaining under classical time control, the scores are tied at 1.5-1.5. This was after Liren won the opener and the second game ended in a draw. Gukesh has clearly shown better preparation, while Liren’s calculation let him down in the third game. The match had started with Gukesh facing the Chinese in a French defense game with white pieces and his initial progress gave the Indian a huge time advantage, which he held till the end. Also Read: A-class Aayush on fire again “It’s always nice to win a game, also for the first against such a strong opponent. I think it means more that I got a win in the World Championship, and a very important win,” a visibly pleased Gukesh had said after Wednesday’s game. The wyoungster lost the opener playing badly in a complicated middle game but could take heart from the fact that his preparation had come good. In the second game, which was his first white, Liren chose a solid variation in the Italian opening and Gukesh had no troubles whatsoever in equalising easily out of the opening itself. The game ended in a mere 23 moves vide repetition earning Gukesh a lot of respect for his flawless play with a slightly unfavourable colour. Coming in to the third game ahead of the first rest day, Gukesh decided to put all his energy and his opening choice yet again made Liren spend more than half of the allotted time on the first 14 moves itself. This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever
29 November,2024 07:51 AM IST | Singapore | PTIOlympic bronze medal-winning forward Abhishek took up hockey to escape from studies and has never regretted it as it has given him everything. “I started hockey when I was 11 or 12. A friend used to travel a lot every month to play hockey. I never had the patience to sit and study, so when I saw my friend hardly attending classes because of his hockey engagements, I thought I too could do the same if I started playing the sport,” Abhishek, 25, who was a vital part of India’s Paris Olympics bronze medal-winning show, told PTI. Also Read: After Jannik, Iga turns out to be a ‘sinner’ too! Abhishek’s ultimate goal is the Olympic gold. “We have started the process of winning medals at the Olympics, but the golden era is yet to be achieved” said Abhishek, who was the second-highest paid player at the recent Hockey India League auction behind Harmanpreet Singh (Rs 78 lakh), fetching Rs 72 lakh from Shrachi Rarh Bengal Tigers. This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever
29 November,2024 07:45 AM IST | New Delhi | PTIFive-time Grand Slam champion Iga Swiatek accepted a one-month suspension on testing positive for the banned substance trimetazidine (TMZ), a heart medication, the International Tennis Integrity Agency announced on Thursday. Unintentional use Swiatek failed an out-of-competition drug test in August, and the ITIA accepted her explanation that the result was unintentional and was caused by the contamination of a non-prescription medication, melatonin, that Swiatek was taking for issues with jet lag and sleeping. Also Read: ‘Mbappe needs our love and support’ It was determined her level of fault was “at the lowest end of the range for no significant fault or negligence,” ITIA said. This is the second recent high-profile doping case in tennis: The top-ranked man, Jannik Sinner, failed two tests for a steroid in March and was cleared in August, right before the start of the U.S. Open, which he went on to win for his second Grand Slam title of the season. Poland’s Swiatek, 23, was ranked No. 1 for most of the last two seasons, but is now at No. 2. She won the French Open in June for her fifth major title and took home a bronze medal at the Paris Olympics. Swiatek formally admitted the anti-doping rule violation on Wednesday and accepted her penalty. She already was provisionally suspended from Sept 22 to Oct 4, missing three tournaments during the post-US Open hardcourt swing in Asia — Korea Open, China Open and Wuhan Open. That provisional ban ended after her appeal showed her test result came inadvertently from contaminated melatonin. As the ultimate agreement was for a month’s suspension, she will serve the remaining eight days and can return to play on Dec 4. Swiatek also was fined the prize money of $158,944 that she earned for her semi-final run at the Cincinnati Open in August. ITIA’s statement “Once the source of TMZ was established, it became clear that this was a highly unusual instance of contamination, which in Poland is a regulated medicine. But, it does not have the same designation globally,” ITIA CEO Karen Moorhouse said. This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever
29 November,2024 07:43 AM IST | London | AP | PTIDefending champions Mumbai Customs were at their skilful best as they won the second edition of the Venky’s, NECC and Vencobb-sponsored Sussegad Masters Hockey Carnival at the Peddem Hockey Stadium in Goa recently. Mumbai Customs beat Coorg Hawks 4-3 via tie-breaker in a fast-paced final to emerge supreme in the 17-team competition. Customs were well-served by two former India hockey players — Rahul Singh and Girish Pimpale — besides wily striker Juned Coutinho, who scored twice in the keenly-contested shootout. The crafty Jayesh Jadhav and Pimpale also did well to convert their respective attempts in the shootout. For Coorg Hawks, only Amar Aiyamma, Bharat Sajan and M Mandanna were successful in getting through the defence of Mumbai Customs’ hardworking goalkeeper Lincoln Taites. Coutinho was named best player while Coorg custodian Felix Alwin was adjudged best goalkeeper of the two-day carnival. In the women’s final, United Thalassery Sports Cub (UTSC) got the better of Warriors 3-1 in another well-contested encounter. Sanggai Ibemhal scored twice for UTSC while OC Shakeela netted the third goal. Christy Elena pulled one back for the Warriors. Women's champions UTSC In the inaugural edition of the Masters Hockey Carnival at the Mumbai Hockey Association Ltd ground in Mumbai last year, Mumbai Customs had beaten a fancied Mumbai Raje 10-9 in the final via shootout. Ends
28 November,2024 07:19 PM IST | Mumbai | Ashwin FerroKetaki Thite of Rose Manor International (Santacruz) and Nidhi Padnekar of RAUBS High School (Bhandup) stormed into the semi-finals of the MSSA girls U-16 inter-school badminton tournament at Bombay Gymkhana on Tuesday. Ketaki showed great character and composure, defeating Akshita Tibrewala of SVKM JV Parekh International (Vile Parle) 21-11 in the one-game encounter, while Nidhi had a tough time against Juie Parab of Pawar Public School (Bhandup) before winning 21-16. Also Read: Gujarat’s Urvil slams fastest T20 ton by Indian; Mumbai beat Maharashtra RAUBS High School’s Nidhi Pandekar returns to Juie Parab during their quarter-final clash Earlier, in another quarter-final, Jashvi Bhatt of Dr Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan Vidyalaya (Borivli) outplayed Anvi Madne of Navi Children Academy (Colaba) 21-6 to move into the last four. Also, Riya Vinherkar of Bombay Scottish (Mahim) overcame Arya Mistry of Mary Immaculate Girls High School (Borivli) 21-8 to ensure a spot in the semi-finals, where she will take on Nidhi, while Ketaki faces Jashvi for a place in the final. This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever
28 November,2024 07:53 AM IST | Mumbai | Rufus VedanayagamSuspended for four years due to his “refusal” to provide sample for dope test, Olympic medallist Indian wrestler Bajrang Punia on Wednesday said it was a vindictive move by the government which would quash the ban if he joins the BJP. Also Read: "Nothing changed in the way we were as a group": Travis Head on Australian team's rumours NADA said Bajrang violated the rules by refusing to give sample during selection trials for the national team on March 10. The anti-doping body had first suspended the Tokyo Games bronze medallist wrestler on April 23 for the offence following which, the sport’s world governing body UWW had also slapped him with a suspension. “It is not shocking because this issue about trial has been going on for last one year. I have said in the past too that I have not refused to give sample to NADA. When they visited my home to conduct the dope test, they came with an expiry kit [in December 2023]. I have also posted this on social media,” Bajrang told reporters. Punia, along with fellow wrestler and Olympian Vinesh Phogat, have joined the Congress Party earlier this year. This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever
28 November,2024 07:39 AM IST | New Delhi | PTIThe organisers of the Pro Kabaddi League (PKL) have announced that the Season 11 playoffs and final will take place at the Badminton Hall in the Balewadi Sports Complex, Pune, from December 26 to December 29. The top two teams from the league stage will directly qualify for the semifinals, while the teams finishing third, fourth, fifth, and sixth will compete in the eliminator stage on December 26, 2024. In Eliminator 1, the third-placed team will face the sixth-placed team, while in Eliminator 2, the fourth-placed team will take on the fifth-placed team. The winner of Eliminator 1 will face the league toppers in Semi-final 1, and the winner of Eliminator 2 will go up against the second-placed team in Semi-final 2, scheduled for December 27, 2024. The grand finale to crown the Season 11 champions will be held on December 29. Also Read: Sunil Kumar aims to bring trophy back to Mumbai after tying record for most wins as PKL captain The league is currently underway in Noida, with matches being played at the Noida Indoor Stadium until December 1. The tournament will then move to Pune for matches from December 3 to December 24, culminating in the playoffs "We are thrilled to bring the playoffs and finals to Pune, a city known for its vibrant Kabaddi spirit. This season has been defined by its intense competitiveness and nail-biting finishes, from Hyderabad to Noida. As the league now heads to Pune, we anticipate the same level of thrill and excitement. With Maharashtra's talented players shining across multiple teams, we're confident the passionate Kabaddi community here will create an electrifying atmosphere for these decisive matches that will determine this season's champion," said Anupam Goswami, Business Head of Mashal and League Chairman, as quoted in a PKL press release. This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever
27 November,2024 07:22 PM IST | Pune | ANIADVERTISEMENT
