Guru, Praneeth, Tarun-Sikki reach Singapore Open main draw

SINGAPORE: Commonwealth Games bronze medallist RMV Gurusaidutt and young B Sai Praneeth advanced to the main draw of Singapore Open Super Series badminton tournament after notching up contrasting wins in the men's singles qualifiers on Tuesday.

Gurusaidutt outsmarted Thailand's Boonsak Ponsana 18-21, 21-18, 21-18 in the first round and then tamed Chinese Taipei's Tzu Wei Wang 21-9, 21-13 to make it to the main draw.

Praneeth, too, produced some scintillating performance in the qualifiers, edging out Denmark's Rasmus Fladberg 18-21, 21-18, 21-12 first and then disposed off Malaysia Zulfadli Zulkiffli after his rival retired midway at 11-6.

Kona Tarun and N Sikki Reddy, who won titles at Uganda and Romania last month, also made it to the main draw after twin victories in the qualifiers.

Tarun and Sikki defeated Singapore's Jian Liang Lee and Jia Ying Crystal Wong 21-11, 21-12 in the opening round and then beat Malaysian combo of Mohd Razif Abdul Latif and Sannatasah Saniru 21-11, 21-17 in the next round.

However, it was curtains for Ajay Jayaram, who had conjured up hopes of reaching the main draw after winning his opening round against Malaysia's Daren Liew 21-13, 14-21, 21-17. But the Bangalore shuttler lost to Simon Santoso of Indonesia 16-21, 18-21 in the second round to crash out of the tournament.

Meanwhile, World No. 4 Kidambi Srikanth, Commonwealth Games champion Parupalli Kashyap and Indonesia Masters winner H S Prannoy will start their campaign tomorrow in the men's singles competition.

India ace Saina Nehwal has withdraw from the tournament in order to recharge her batteries for the upcoming events.

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Harika gives credit to Surya, Hari

PUNE: Instead of rushing back to India after losing the World Women's Chess Championship semifinals, D Harika has decided to enjoy the hosts' hospitality this time. The Indian grandmaster lost to eventual champion Mariya Muzhychuk of Ukraine in the semifinals at Sochi last week, and decided to stay back for six days and take her metal on the podium.

The 24-year-old suffered a heart-wrenching defeat after being on the verge of winning the penultimate game in the tiebreak against Mariya Muzhychuk. "It was quite painful," Harika told TOI on Monday.

Her voice suggested that she had come over the defeat though. Ditto with her status: "Happy times are back."

"I was the 12th seed and played strong players except in the quarters. So I'm happy with my effort. I have learnt from each knockout World Championships. Grandmasters Surya Shekhar Ganguly and P Harikrishna have helped me so much. They both were my pillars of strength," she said.

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This is golden phase of Indian badminton, says Pawar

NAGPUR: Spectacular results achieved by Indian shuttlers in last few months have really delighted yesteryear heroes and Uday Pawar is no exception.

The former Indian player termed the present phase as the best ever for Indian badminton and opined the better is yet to come.

The former Indian player said that Indian badminton is in its best phase at present and opined the better is yet to come.

"This is undoubtedly the golden phase of Indian badminton. It started with Saina Nehwal becoming world No. 1. It can only get better in the years to come. I am sure, the best of Indian badminton is just round the corner," said Pawar.

The Mumbai-based player-turned-coach was addressing the media after inaugurating the 11th SJAN Media Badminton tournament at the Subhedar Hall here on Monday.

The 56-year-old said that various factors played key role in Indian players achieving excellent results at the international level.

"I must say major credit goes to academies. We have some very good academies in India which are continuously producing quality players. Government has been supporting the game by providing lot of financial assistance. Players get lot of international exposure thanks to ministry of sports constant support. With good results, many sponsors have also come forward which is directly helping the players and game in general," said Pawar.

Pawar, former doubles partner of legendary Prakash Padukone, said that India producing a quality player after a gap of 10-20 years is now a thing of past. "We took almost two decades to produce a true champion in the form of Pullela Gopichand after Prakash Padukone. Thankfully, the situation is quite rosy now with several Indians doing well simultaneously at the international level. Better fitness level has contributed a lot to their success. Indian players always had the skill but lacked in fitness. With improved fitness, the results have now started coming in a big way," said Pawar, who runs a badminton academy at the Goregaon Sports Club in Mumbai.

The multiple former national champion admitted that India is now a force to reckon with in the world of badminton. "The success of Saina, Srikanth, Sindhu and Kashyap has made other Indian players fearless. They now have the self-belief to do well at every international tournament. This talented bunch is not afraid of any players be it the Chinese or the Indonesians. Self-confidence has increased and this will ensure even better results in future," said Pawar, whose son Anand has also represented India.

Pawar said the present boom must be capitalized by the Badminton Association of India by building up a strong infrastructure for the game. He praised Saina for enhancing the status of badminton by climbing atop the world ranking. "She is certainly at the peak of her career. She has become a serious threat to the top Chinese players. Her game has improved by few notches in the last one year or so. No doubt, she has worked hard, but coaches should also get the credit for her success. Be it her present coach Vimal Kumar or previous coach Gopichand. Both have shaped the career of Saina in a big way," said Pawar.

He said there is lot of talent in Nagpur and he is ready for any help to the budding shuttlers of the city.

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State champion boxer Rishu Mittal forced to work as maid

KAITHAL (Haryana): A state-level gold medallist boxer, Rishu Mittal, is being forced to work as a domestic help to continue her passion for the sport and to support her schooling.

The class X student toils hard to support herself and her brother.

Her coach Rajinder Singh said on Tuesday that Rishu is a promising talent, but needs support to flourish and prove her mettle on the big stage.

"The girl and her brother hail from a poor family. Rishu washes utensils, cleans the floor, cooks and does other jobs of a domestic help to raise some money," he told reporters.

In between, she struggles to take out time for her daily practice and attend the school as well.

He said that if Rishu gets some support from the government and from others she can have better diet and one day make the country proud like MC Mary Kom.

The coach said Rishu had won a gold medal in a state-level championship last year and also represented Haryana at the national championships in December last year.

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Indians off to a good start in Dubai Chess

DUBAI: Former world junior champion Abhijeet Gupta got off to a flying start, defeating Maria Gevoryan of Armenia in the first round of the Dubai International Open chess tournament on Tuesday.

Sahaj Grover, S Arun Prasad, S Kidambi and Murali Karthikeyan were the other Indian Grandmasters who did a similar act, but former Commonwealth Champion R R Laxman was surprisingly held to a draw by unheralded Mayed Alrashedi of UAE.

Playing white in the first round, Gupta, a winner here in 2011, played a fine positional game to beat Gevoryan, who proved no match to the wily Indian.

While Grover defeated compatriot Inacio Rodrigues, Arun Prasad accounted for Wang Shanshan of China, Kidambi outwitted Sri Lankan Vasanta Wettasinha and Karthikeyan had it easy against Elie Asmar of Libya.

The opening round had its share of upsets in the $50000 prize money tournament and stealing the limelight was local hopeful Saeed Ishaq, who crashed through the defences of higher ranked Grandmaster Eltaj Safarli of Azerbaijan.

Philippines' Jobannie Tabada was the other big gainer of the day, defeating Grandmaster Yuriy Kuzubov of Ukraine.

It turned out to be an easy outing for Gupta, who starts this year as the highest rated Indian and 12th seed overall in a strong line-up. Gevoryan went for the Queen's Gambit accepted as black and Gupta chose an early queen exchange variation favoured by former world champion Vladimir Kramnik of Russia.

After the trade of Queens, Gevoryan found the going tough early on as she could not find the right placement for her pieces. As a result, Gupta won a rook for a Bishop and won in a mere 25 moves to start his campaign on a high.

The other higher ranked Indians also had a good day. GM norm holder Sagar Shah used his white pieces to perfection to outplay Alattar Ghayda of Jordan, while International Masters Sayanatan Das and K Rathanakaran scored wins over Akshay V Halagannavar and Ahmad Al Romaithi of UAE, respectively.

The tournament is a nine-round Swiss with 150 players in all. There are 39 Grandmasters and 22 International Masters in the fray, making it one of the strongest open of the continent. The winner's purse is $12000.

Important and Indian results round 1 (Indians unless stated): Abdulla Khayala (Aze) lost to David Howell (Eng); Vladimir Fedoseev (Rus) beat Fawzy Adham (Egy); Aniruddha Deshpande lost to Igor Kovalenko (Lat); Jobannie Tabada (Phi) beat Yuriy Kuzubov; Saeed Ishaq (Uae) beat Eltaj Safarli (Aze); Abhijeet Gupta beat Maria Gevorgyan (Arm); Sergey Volkov (Rus) beat LN Ram Aravind; Daniele Vocaturo (Ita) beat Amruta Mokal; Siva Mahadevan lost to Papp Gabor (Hun); Inacio Rodrigues lost to Sahaj Grover; S Arun Prasad beat Wang Shanshan (Chn); Elie Asmar (Lib) lost to Murali Karthikeyan; Sagar Shah beat Alattar Ghayda (Jor); Sayantan Das beat Akshay V Halagannavar; K Rathnakaran beat Ahmad Al Romaithi (Uae); Vasanta Wettasinha (Sri) lost to S Kidambi; Mayed Alrashedi (Uae) drew with R R Laxman; Eesha Karavade beat Alshaeby Razan (Jor); Nr Vignesh beat Ali Abdulaziz (Uae); Tamara Khateeb (Jor) lost to Nr Visakh; Abhishek Kelkar beat Raya Alnaimat (Jor); Aseel Odeh (Jor) lost to S Vijayalakshmi; Mehar Chinna Reddy beat Mohamed Marshool (Uae); Bashaer Khalil (Uae) lost to Rakesh Kulkarni; Ahmed Mohamed Qayed (Uae) lost to Sameer Kathmale; Harikrishnan Samyuktha beat Mridul Thaivalappil.

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Harika wins bronze in World Women's Chess Championship

SOCHI (Russia): Indian Grandmaster Dronavalli Harika won the bronze medal along with Swedish Grandmaster Pia Cramling by virtue of making it to the semifinals of World Women's chess championship.

Harika lost to the eventual winner Mariya Muzychuk of Ukraine in the semifinals.

Muzychuk bagged the title after defeating Russian Natalija Pogonina 2.5-1.5 in the four-game final. She had earlier defeated top seeded Indian Grandmaster Koneru Humpy in the quarters.

While both Humpy and Harika got excellent chances to beat Muzychuk, the Ukrainian prevailed over them, thanks to some steely nerves.

Against Humpy, she was looking at a hopelessly lost position in the deciding tiebreaker when the Indian played an inexplicable blunder and lost.

Harika lost to Muzychuk when she was not able to win a simple position with two extra pawns again in the tie-break games and then lost the return game without much ado. This was the second time in succession that Harika made it till the semifinals in the knockout championship.

While the last-four finish guarantees Harika a place in the Women's Grand-prix for the next World championship cycle, Humpy has already qualified to the Grand prix thanks to her high world ranking.

Muzychuk, who won the gold ahead of many fancied rivals, including Humpy, played out a marathon event lasting six mini-matches and spread over almost three weeks.

Pogonina, who had many ups and downs in the championship, finally ran out of steam in the final, losing the second game and drawing the remaining three to win the silver medal.

Winner Muzychuk won $60000, while Pogonina bagged $30000. Harika, who decided to stay back to receive her medal, got $20000.

"I started this tournament as 12th seed so, on paper, it's a nice result. At the same time definitely I am a bit disappointed that I couldn't win gold. But overall, I think it is fine. I played my best chess and gave my best in tough situations," Harika said.

Speaking about her blunder which has cost her a place in the final, Harika said, "I focussed more on not to make mistake in such conditions rather than the position, and I think this is the reason I blundered, it was painful but it's a learning experience.

"It takes a lot of effort to reach here," Harika said adding, "I think credit goes to the people around me: my family, my trainer since childhood N V S Raju, my friend and supporter Eesha (Karavade, an International Master), my sponsors Lakshya and Government of India that supported me under NSDF so I could take training."

Harika also said that GMs Surya Shekhar Ganguly and P Harikrishna were the two important pillars for her good showing here.

"I worked with Surya many times which changed my perspective towards chess and here, Harikrishna helped me all through the event which was of great benefit," she said.

Harika next plays in the World Women Team Chess Championship in China in less than two weeks where Humpy will also join the Indian team.

"We have got a good team and we are seeded around fifth out of 10 teams. It's a tough competition but we all are prepared to give our best," Harika said.

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11th SJAN Media Badminton tournament from Monday

NAGPUR: The 11th SJAN Media Badminton tournament, jointly organized by the Sports Journalists' Association of Nagpur and Post Graduate Teaching Department for Physical Education, Nagpur University, will commence at Subhedar Hall here on Monday.

The three-day annual tourney has been sponsored by Dr Dande Foundation. Matches will be played with Li Ning feather shuttles.

One of the greats of Indian badminton, Uday Pawar, will inaugurate the tournament at 11 am. However, the men's singles first round matches will begin at 9 am. Dr Peenak Dande of Dande Foundation will preside over the function. NU Director of Department of Sports and Physical Education Dhananjay Welukar and coordinator PGTD of Physical Education Sanjay Choudhary will also grace the occasion.

The categories include men's singles, men's doubles and women's singles. Winners, runners-up and semifinalists in all the categories will be awarded cash prizes and trophies. Apart from it Li Ning has also sponsored T-shirts to the winners and runners-up.

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Undefeated Sankalp pockets Weekend Rapid Chess crown

NAGPUR: Maintaining his unbeaten streak, Sankalp Gupta bagged the crown of the rapid chess tournament, organized by the Nagpur District Chess Association (NDCA), which concluded at the NIT Recreation Centre, Surendra Nagar, on Sunday.

Gupta was on song as he captured maximum seven points to clinch the title. He was followed by overnight joint leaders Sharang Kapoor and Shubham Lakudkar, who finished second and third respectively.

On the top board, Gupta got the better of Prasad Aurangabadkar, while Kapoor prevailed over Mayur Shelke.

NDCA organizing secretary Umesh Panbude and NDCA secretary KK Barat distributed the prizes.

RESULTS (Round 7): Sankalp Gupta (7) bt Prasad Aurangabadkar (5), Sharang Kapoor (6) bt Mayur Shelke (5), Jayant Katdate (4) lost to Shubham Lakudkar (5.5), Om Vitalkar (5) bt Raunak Sadhwani (4), Roneet Das (4) lost to DS Mukherjee (5), Sheikh Javed (4) lost to Divya Deshmukh (5), Saurabh Lokhande (4) drew with Priyanshu Patil (4.5), Sanjay Guha (3.5) lost to Vaibhav Raut (4.5), Harsh Kanoje (3) lost to Omprakash Soni (4).

Final standings: 1. Sankalp Gupta (7, 29), 2 Sharang Kapoor (6, 28.5), 3. Shubham Lakudkar (5.5, 29), 4. Prasad Aurangabadkar (5, 28), 5. Mayur Shelke (5, 26.5), 6. Mukherjee D S (5, 24.5), 7. Om Vitalkar (5, 24.5), 8 Divya Deshmukh (5, 24.5), 9. Vaibhav Raut (4.5), 10 Priyanshu Patil (4.5).

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Saina skips Singapore Open, Srikanth leads Indian charge

SINGAPORE: Olympic bronze-medallist Saina Nehwal has withdrawn from $300,000 Singapore Open Super Series badminton tournament to recharge her batteries after competing at the highest level for the last few weeks.

The Indian ace had a hectic last month as she competed at the All England Championship, India Open Super Series and Malaysia Open Super Series Premier.

The 25-year-old reached the finals at Birmingham and New Delhi, before finishing as a semifinalist in Kuala Lumpur last week following her narrow defeat to China's Li Xuerui.

It could have been a hat-trick of finals for Saina but two line calls robbed her of the achievement and saw her surrender the world no. 1 crown to Li after attaining the numero uno status during her India Open triumph.

"Last month was hectic. I have played three tournaments and reached the finals at two. I didn't want to overburden myself. It is a very important year so I thought let me train for a week and play at the Asian badminton championship," said Saina, who won India Grand Prix Gold in January at Lucknow.

P V Sindhu will also not be available for Singapore Open as she has just started her training after a stress injury kept her out of the court last month.

The 19-year-old is likely to be back for the Asian Badminton Championship from April 21-26 at Wuhan.

In Saina's absence, it will be new sensation Kidambi Srikanth who will lead the Indian challenge when the main draw gets underway at the Singapore Indoor Stadium on Wednesday.

Srikanth, who won the Swiss Grand Prix Gold and India Super Series last month, will open his campaign against Vietnam's Tien Minh Nguyen. Interestingly, the 22-year-old from Guntur had beaten Tien at the last edition.

Commonwealth Games champion Parupalli Kashyap will be up against Korea's Lee Hyun Il. The Indian does not have a good record against him as he has lost thrice in four meetings and he will have to play out of his skin.

Indonesia Masters champion, H S Prannoy, will take on Wong Wing Ki Vincent of Hong Kong in his opening round. The Indian has beaten Wong twice but the last time they faced each other, it was the Hong Kong shuttler who had the last laugh at Macau Open.

In women's singles, P C Thulasi is the only Indian in the fry and she will square off against Denmark's Line Kjaersfeldt.

In women's doubles, 2010 Commonwealth Games champions Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa will be up against Korea's Go Ah Ra and Yoo Hae Won.

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PHF turns down Hockey India's offer

KARACHI: The cash-strapped Pakistan Hockey Federation has turned down Hockey India's offer for financial aid after it evoked strong reactions from a cabinet minister and former players.

"We cannot accept this offer from Hockey India despite their polite gesture as this is purely an internal matter of the Pakistan Hockey Federation," PHF President Akhtar Rasool told PTI.

Soon after a senior official of Hockey India said last Saturday that it was concerned with news reports about Pakistan being unable to send its team for the Olympic qualifying tournament in Holland due to financial crisis and that HI was willing to lend a helping hand, the Pakistan hockey community reacted strongly.

"It is all drama by the PHF to get more funds. It is a shameful situation for us that India is offering us financial assistance for our hockey," former Olympian and captain Samiullah said.

Similar sort of reactions came from other former players and federal minister for information Pervez Rasheed said India's offer showed the incompetence of PHF.

"The government has released around USD 12 million to the PHF as special funds in the last few years so it is not as if the government is not supporting hockey but the PHF needs to get its house in order and tell us where this money was spent because we have been told more than the players it was spent on other things," Rasheed told reporters.

PHF secretary Rana Mujahid, who confirmed getting a note from HI offering financial assistance, had announced last week that it was postponing a national training camp set up in Rawalpindi to prepare for the Olympic qualifying tournament as it could not pay the daily allowances of the players and coaches.

Pakistan has also failed to send its team to Malaysia for the Sultan Azlan Shah tournament due to lack of funds. Scheduled training tours of Australia and Korea as part of preparations for Olympic qualifiers late next month are also in doubt.

"We have asked the government to include any official of their audit department on our executive committee so that he can have a look at all our accounts and where we spend money.

"We have got audited accounts for the last few years," Mujahid said.

He said they were still hopeful that the government would bail them out of the financial crisis. A source in the PHF said that after the strong rebuttal from the federal minister the PHF was now planning to resume its training camp in Lahore from Friday.

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