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CHESS
Chess sensation Vantika Agrawal rises to India No. 3 rank
Rising Indian chess player Vantika Agrawal continues to take rapid strides in her career as she achieved a career-high rank of India No. 3 in the women’s section with a total of 2428 rating points.
The 21-year-old Vantika, who was part of the 2020 Olympiad-winning Indian team, has been impressive in her recent outings as she added 61 points from her last four international tournaments, which also includes becoming women’s champion at the Menorca Open in Spain.
“It’s an amazing feeling to become India No. 3. Honestly, I knew that I will do this but wasn’t expecting it to happen this quickly. I managed to increase rankings in the last four tournaments and get this spot,” the Noida resident Vantika expressed her joy.
“I will not stop here and keep working harder so that I can get the Grandmaster title and become India No. 1, that’s my aim. To achieve that, I will need to play more strong tournaments now,” she further added.
Women’s Grandmaster Vantika has been a consistent performer on the international circuit. She also became the 11th Indian woman to attain the International Master title last month.
Vantika will look to continue her brilliant show when she plays some top tournaments later in order to prepare for the 2022 Asian Games, to be played in Hangzhou. She is also confident of becoming Grandmaster this year as she requires three GM norms and crosses 2500 rating points to achieve that title.
-Team Sportstar
TENNIS
Madrid Open: Bopanna and Ebden outplay top seeds
Seventh seeds Rohan Bopanna and Matthew Ebden outplayed the top seeds Wesley Koolhof and Neal Skupski 6-3, 6-2 in the doubles quarterfinals of the €8,796,536 ATP tennis tournament in Madrid, Spain, on Wednesday.
In the semifinals, Bopanna and Ebden will play eighth seeds Santiago Gonzalez and Edouard Roger-Vasselin. In the $40,000 ITF women’s event in Tbilisi, Georgia, Ankita Raina and Ekaterina Gorgodze made the doubles final, winning back-to-back matches.
The results:
€8,796,536 ATP, Madrid, Spain
Doubles (quarterfinals): Rohan Bopanna & Matthew Ebden (Aus) bt Wesley Koolhof (Ned) & Neal Skupski (GBR) 6-3, 6-2.
$80,000 Challenger, Gwangju, Korea
Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Arjun Kadhe & JiSung Nam (Kor) bt Jaesung Choe & Uisung Park (Kor) 6-4, 6-2; Anirudh Chandrasekar & Vijay Sundar Prashanth bt Altug Celikbilek & Cem Ilkel (Tur) 7-5, 6-4.
$15,000 ITF men, Monastir, Tunisia
Singles (first round): Gage Brymer (USA) bt Drona Walia 6-2, 6-2.
$15,000 ITF men, Osijek, Croatia
Singles (first round): Duje Kekez (Cro) bt Dev Javia 6-1, 6-2.
$100,000 ITF women, Bonita Springs, USA
Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Yuriko Miyazaki (GBR) & Prarthana Thombare bt Rohin Anderson & Maria Mateas (USA) 6-3, 6-1.
$60,000 ITF women, Prague, Czech Republic
Singles (pre-quarterfinals): Jessica Bouzas (Esp) bt Karman Kaur Thandi 6-4, 6-3.
$40,000 ITF women, Tbilisi, Georgia
Doubles (semifinals): Ekaterine Gorgodze (Geo) & Ankita Raina bt Stacey Fung (Can) & Maria Kozyreva 6-4, 3-6, [10-5]; Quarterfinals: Stacey & Maria bt Aysegul Mert (Tur) & Sahaja Yamalapalli 7-5, 6-1; Ekaterine & Ankita bt Georgia Kalamaris (Fra) & Victoria Lazarova (Bul) 6-0, 6-0.
$25,000 ITF women, Nottingham, Britain
Singles (first round): Rutuja Bhosale bt Elina Popescu (Rou) 6-0, 6-0.
$15,000 ITF women, Monastir, Tunisia
Singles (first round): Vaishnavi Adkar bt Xu Jiayu (Chn) 6-0, 6-1; Camilla Gennaro (Ita) bt Saumya Vig 6-1, 6-1.
Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Nina Rudiukova & Elizaveta Shebekina bt Jennifer Luikham & Teja Tirunelveli (USA) 6-4, 4-6, [10-8].
-Team Sportstar
AITA women’s tournament- Sonal made to work hard in her win against Rachita
The champion of the last tournament, third seed Sonal Patil was stretched to three sets by fifth seed Rachita Talwar in the quarterfinals of the Rs.100,000 AITA women’s tennis tournament at the Joygaon Academy on Wednesday. Sonal won 6-3, 4-6, 6-2.
In the semifinals, Sonal will challenge the top seed Sahira Singh who eased past Shefali Arora for the loss of five games.
The other semifinal will be between Divya Bhardwaj and second seed Kashish Bhatia.
The results (quarterfinals):
Sahira Singh bt Shefali Arora 6-3, 6-2; Sonal Patil bt Rachita Talwar 6-3, 4-6, 6-2; Divya Bhardwaj bt Chandana Potugari 6-3, 6-3; Kashish Bhatia bt Medhavi Singh 6-1, 6-1.
-Team Sportstar
Junior Billie Jean King Cup: India beats Mongolia
India outplayed Mongolia in the last league match, dropping only three games in all, but it was no consolation as the team had missed the chance to qualify for the quarterfinals in the Asia-Oceania Junior Billie Jean King Cup under-16 girls tennis tournament in Shymkent, Kazakhstan, on Wednesday.
In the match for the minor placings, India which had earlier lost to Chinese Taipei and Thailand, will play Vietnam on Thursday.
Chinese Taipei topped the group by beating Thailand in the last league match. Host Kazakhstan, Australia, Hong Kong, Uzbekistan, Korea and Japan were the other teams to make the quarterfinals, two each from the three other groups.
The results (league)
India bt Mongolia 3-0 (Sejal Bhutada bt Oyungerel Khasbaatar 6-0, 6-0; Asmi Adkar bt Ninjin Sanchir 6-0, 6-0; Asmi & Aakruti Sonkusare bt Namuunkhuslen Erdembileg & Ninjin 6-0, 6-3).
-Team Sportstar
SHOOTING
Olympic quota winner Bhowneesh Mendiratta and Prithviraj Tondaman kept themselves in the race for the semifinal spots as they scored 94 out of 100 in four rounds of men’s trap in the shotgun World Cup in Cairo, Egypt, on Wednesday.
Zoravar Singh Sandhu who had started bright with a perfect 25 in the first-round, had fluctuating fortunes with rounds of 22, 24 and 20 thereafter, as he found himself in the 43rd spot with 91. In women’s trap, Rajeshwari Kumari had shot 88, the sixth-best score following rounds of 22, 22, 21 and 23.
Shreyasi Singh who was among the top after two rounds slipped following the third round of 17. She recovered to shoot 22 in the fourth round to have a total of 84, one short of Preeti Rajak.
The shooters will have the fifth and final round on Thursday and the top eight will make the semifinals.
– Team Sportstar
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