Srikanth loses in Singapore Open second round

SINGAPORE: Indian shuttlers Parupalli Kashyap and HS Prannoy notched up superb victories by defeating seeded players to enter the men's singles quarterfinals at the $300,000 Singapore Open Superseries on Thursday.

However, it was the end of the road for third seed Kidambi Srikanth and women's doubles pair of Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa who lost their respective second round matches at the Singapore Indoor Stadium.

The experienced Kashyap came up with a brilliant performance to oust fourth-seeded South Korean Son Wan Ho. The Commonwealth Games champion took 46 minutes to win 21-15, 22-20, registering his first victory over the World No. 5 in three meetings.

Kashyap, 28, will next take on French Brice Leverdez, against whom the Hyderabadi has a 1-1 record. However, the last time they met was four years back in Malaysia.

Later, World No. 14 Prannoy caused one of the biggest upsets of the tournament when he downed Danish second seed Jan O Jorgensen 21-16, 21-8 in only 33 minutes.

Though the World No. 2 was expected to win, Prannoy's 2-0 career advantage, which he has now extended to 3-0, gave the Kerala shuttler the psychological edge going into the match.

Prannoy will next take on Japan's Kento Momota, against whom he has not won in the previous two meetings.

Srikanth, who last month won the India Open Superseries in New Delhi, went down 15-21, 20-22 in 38 minutes to Thai shuttler Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk.

Commonwealth Games champions Jwala and Ashwini later went down to multiple time World Champions Wang Xiaoli and Yu Yang. The Indian combine lost 22-24, 18-21, but not before giving a fight in a 40-minute battle.

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Sports minister asks SAI, Boxing India to help Haryana boxer

NEW DELHI: Moved by the plight of a state level gold-medallist boxer who is working as a domestic help, sports minister Sarbananda Sonowal has asked the Sports Authority of India and Boxing India to look into the matter and provide all help to her.

"I have asked SAI and Boxing India to look into the matter and offer all necessary help to the boxer," he said on Thursday.

Sonowal also asked the Haryana government to offer all possible assistance to the state-level gold-medallist boxer, Rishu Mittal, who hails from the state.

Mittal is reportedly 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 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 said.

In between, she struggles to take out time for her daily practice and attend the school as well. He said if Rishu gets some support from the government and others she can make the country proud like M C 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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Kashyap advances to Singapore Open quarters

SINGAPORE: Indian shuttlers Parupalli Kashyap and HS Prannoy notched up superb victories to enter the men's singles quarterfinals at the $300,000 Singapore Open Superseries on Thursday.

The experienced Kashyap came up with a brilliant performance to oust fourth-seeded South Korean Son Wan Ho. The Commonwealth Games champion took 46 minutes to win 21-15, 22-20 at the Singapore Indoor Stadium to register his first victory over the World No. 5 in three meetings.

Kashyap, 28, will next take on French Brice Leverdez, against whom the Hyderabadi has a 1-1 record. However, the last time they met was four years back in Malaysia.

Later, World No. 14 Prannoy caused one of the biggest upsets of the tournament when he downed Danish second seed Jan O Jorgensen 21-16, 21-8 in only 33 minutes.

Though the World No. 2 was expected to win, Prannoy's 2-0 career advantage which he has now extended to 3-0, gave the Kerala shuttler the psychological edge going into the match.

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Kashyap, Prannoy enter Singapore Open quarters

SINGAPORE: Indian shuttlers Parupalli Kashyap and HS Prannoy notched up superb victories to enter the men's singles quarterfinals at the $300,000 Singapore Open Superseries on Thursday.

The experienced Kashyap came up with a brilliant performance to oust fourth-seeded South Korean Son Wan Ho. The Commonwealth Games champion took 46 minutes to win 21-15, 22-20 at the Singapore Indoor Stadium to register his first victory over the World No. 5 in three meetings.

Kashyap, 28, will next take on French Brice Leverdez, against whom the Hyderabadi has a 1-1 record. However, the last time they met was four years back in Malaysia.

Later, World No. 14 Prannoy caused one of the biggest upsets of the tournament when he downed Danish second seed Jan O Jorgensen 21-16, 21-8 in only 33 minutes.

Though the World No. 2 was expected to win, Prannoy's 2-0 career advantage which he has now extended to 3-0, gave the Kerala shuttler the psychological edge going into the match.

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GM Abhijeet Gupta held by Iranian GM in Dubai Chess

DUBAI: Indian GM Abhijeet Gupta missed out on a chance to clinch a win as he had to settled for a draw with Iran GM Idani Pouya in the third round of Dubai International Open Chess Tournament on Thursday.

Playing with white pieces, GM Gupta enjoyed a certain advantage in the middle game that ensued and even got one opportunity when the whole point was up for grabs.

However, the Indian missed and Idani, himself a former U-18 World Champion, did not give Gupta a second chance to create an opening.

Up against higher opposition, the Indians had a mediocre day in the third round.

GM Sahaj Grover's opening preparation in the Benoni defence came out fine but he missed his chances in the middle game to equalise and went down to second seed Vladimir Fedoseev of Russia.

Sergei Zhigalko from Belarus also made most of his white pieces like Fedoseev as he scored over talented Indian GM Murali Karthikeyan while the big winners of previous round - Abhishek Kelkar and NR Vignesh went down fighting against Papp Gabor of Hungary and Mikheil Mchedlishvili of Georgia respectively.

Looking for his second GM norm, Sagar Shah also ended on the receiving end against Nils Grandelius of Sweden.

With six rounds still to come in the $50,000 Prize money tournament that has $12,000 purse for the winner, as many as 12 players including top seed David Howell of England share the lead with three points apiece from as many games.

There are no Indians in the leading pack currently and the likes of Gupta, Grover and Karthikeyan will have to do the hard catch-up job in the next few rounds.

LN Ram Arvind produced the upset of the round when he put it across GM Sergei Beshukov of Russia. Arvind's second victory in the tournament took him to two points from his three games thus far.

Among other Indians in the fray, Grandmaster S Arun Prasad, IM S Vijayalakshni, Sameer Kathmale and Aniruddha Deshpandey made amends for the previous round and reached two points each.

The next round will also see some tough clashes for the Indians in the fray here. Gupta is set to meet an experienced Alexander Shabalov of United States while Grover too has a tough opponent in compatriot Mehar Chenna Reddy.

Important and Indian results round 3 (Indians unless specified): Jaan Ehlvest (Usa, 2) lost to David Howell (Eng, 3); Vladimir Fedoseev (Rus, 3) beat Sahaj Grover (2); Sergei Zhigalko (Blr, 3) beat Murali Karthikeyan (2); Zaur Mammadov (Aze, 2) lost to Andrei Istratescu (Fra, 3); Abhijeet Gupta (2.5) drew with Pouya Idani (Iri, 2.5);

Sagar Shah (2) lost to Nils Grandelius (Swe, 3); Nr Vignesh (2) lost to Mikheil Mchedlishvili (Geo, 3); Abhishek Kelkar (2) lost to Papp Gabor (Hun, 3); Rakesh Kulkarni (2) lost to Yuri Solodovnichenko (Ukr, 3); Tigran Petrosian (Arm, 2.5) beat Sundararajan Kidambi (1.5); Ivan Ivanisevic (Srb, 2) drew with R R Laxman (2);

Alexandr Fier (Bra, 2) drew with Eesha Karavade (2); Alexander Shabalov (Usa, 2.5) beat Nr Visakh (1.5); S Arun Prasad (2) beat Narmin Mammadova (Aze, 1); Sayantan Das (2) beat Rajarishi Karthi (1); Mona Khaled (Egy, 1) lost to K Rathnakaran (2);

Sergei Beshukov (Rus, 1) lost to L N Ram Aravind (2); Siva Mahadevan(1) lost to Vahe Baghdasaryan (Aze, 2); Ernest Kharous (Rus, 1.5) drew with Amruta Mokal (1.5); Yousry Salah (Egy, 2) beat Vinayak Kulkarni (1); Boshra Alshaeby (Jor, 1) lost to S Vijayalakshmi (2);

Amna Nouman (Uae, 1) lost to Sameer Kathmale (2); Harikrishnan Samyuktha (1) lost to Fawzy Adham (Egy, 2); Aniruddha Deshpande (2) beat Faisal Ali (Uae, 1); Aswin Sreekumar (0) lost to Akshay V Halagannavar (1).

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Jwala-Ashwini reach second round in Singapore

SINGAPORE: Commonwealth Games champion Parupalli Kashyap and young HS Prannoy registered contrasting wins in the men's singles to enter the second round of the Singapore Open Super Series on Wednesday.

Kashyap, who won the Syed Modi Grand Prix Gold in January this year, brushed aside Korea's Lee Hyun Il 21-11, 21-13 to set up a match with fourth seed Son Wan Ho of Korea, while Indonesia Masters champion, Prannoy beat Hong Kong's Wong Wing Ki Vincent 21-15, 21-17 in another match.

Former world championship bronze medallist pair of Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa also got the better of Korean combo of Go Ah Ra and Yoo Hae Won 21-12, 21-16 to reach the second round of women's doubles competition.

However, it was curtains for RMV Gurusaidutt and PC Thulasi after they suffered defeats in the opening round of the men's and women's singles, respectively.

Gurusaidutt squandered a first-game advantage to go down fighting 21-16, 12-21, 15-21 to Son Wan Ho, while Line Kjaersfeldt of Denmark outclassed Thulasi 21-16, 21-14 in a 35-minute match.

India's mixed doubles combo of Tarun Kona and N Sikki Reddy, too, could not cross the first hurdle, going down 15-21, 17-21 to fifth seeds Ko Sung Hyun and Kim Ha Na of Korea.

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Haryana Sports Minister announces Rs 1 lakh to boxer Rishu

CHANDIGARH: Haryana Sports Minister Anil Vij on Wednesday announced a financial assistance of Rs one lakh to 16-year-old boxer Rishu Mittal of Kaithal, a state-level gold medallist, who was being forced to work as a domestic help to continue her passion for the sport and to support her schooling.

An offer has also been given to her for enrollment in National Sports Academy so that she could get better facilities to become a national player.

Acting swiftly on media reports and taking cognizance of the matter, the minister directed to provide assistance of Rs one lakh to the player.

At present, the player is getting training in academy and a stipend of Rs 2000 was being given to her, an official release said here.

The minister said if she wants the Sports Department would get her enrolled in National Sports Academy, Rohtak where all facilities were provided free of cost.

In this academy, Rishu would get golden chance of becoming a national player, he added.

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Shuttlers Kashyap, Prannoy advance in Singapore

SINGAPORE: Indian shuttlers Parupalli Kashyap and HS Prannoy notched up straight games victories to progress to the men's singles second round at the $300,000 Singapore Open Superseries on Wednesday.

A little later women's doubles pair Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa also advanced to the second round beating South Koreans Go Ah Ra and Yoo Hae Won 21-12, 21-16 in 33 minutes at the Singapore Indoor Stadium.

World No.17 Kashyap had an easy outing against South Korean Lee Hyun Il as he came out on top 21-11, 21-13 in 33 minutes to earn his second win over the World No.26 in five meetings.

The Indian will next take on another South Korean, fourth seed Son Wan Ho against whom Kashyap has never won in their previous two meetings.

Son earlier took care of Kashyap's compatriot R.M.V. Gurusaidutt 16-21, 21-12, 21-15 in an hour and three minutes before progressing to the second round.

On the other hand, Prannoy defeated Hong Kong's Wong Wing Ki Vincent 21-15, 21-17 in 40 minutes to extend his career record to 3-1.

On other courts, Danish Line Kjaersfeldt overcame P.C. Thulasi 21-16, 21-14 in 35 minutes in a women's singles match while South Korean fifth seeds Ko Sung Hyun and Kim Ha Na beat Tarun Kona and N. Sikki Reddy 21-15, 21-17 in 29 minutes in mixed doubles.

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Shyam Kumar bags gold in Thailand boxing tourney

NEW DELHI: Shyam Kumar was the only one to strike gold but India signed off a creditable second with three medals in the Thailand Invitation International boxing tournament in Pattaya.

Indian boxers fetched a gold and a couple of bronze medals in the tournament. Shyam defeated Surajit Thong Anand of Thailand 3:0 in the light flyweight (49kg) division to be the best Indian performer.

Rohit Tokas (60kg) and Manjit (69kg) settled for the bronze medals after losing in the semifinals. While, Rohit lost to Darkhan Zhumsakbayev of Kazakhstan 2:1, Manjit was beaten by local favourite Apichet Saensit 2:1.

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Srikanth advance to Singapore Open second round

SINGAPORE: Top Indian shuttlers Kidambi Srikanth, Parupalli Kashyap and HS Prannoy notched up victories to progress to the men's singles second round at the $300,000 Singapore Open Superseries on Wednesday.

A little later women's doubles pair of Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa also advanced to the second round, beating South Koreans Go Ah Ra and Yoo Hae Won 21-12, 21-16 in 33 minutes at the Singapore Indoor Stadium.

World No. 17 Kashyap had an easy outing against South Korean Lee Hyun Il as he came out on top 21-11, 21-13 in 33 minutes to earn his second win over the World No. 26 in five meetings. The Indian will next take on another South Korean, fourth seed Son Wan Ho against whom Kashyap has never won in their previous two meetings.

Son earlier took care of Kashyap's compatriot R.M.V. Gurusaidutt 16-21, 21-12, 21-15 in an hour and three minutes.

On the other hand, Prannoy defeated Hong Kong's Wong Wing Ki Vincent 21-15, 21-17 in 40 minutes to extend his career record to 3-1. The youngster has a tough challenge ahead as he takes on Danish second seed Jan O Jorgensen next up.

However, the World No.14 can take heart from the fact that he has beaten the World No.2 Dane twice is as many meetings. O Jorgensen had defeated Prannoy's friend and compatriot B. Sai Praneeth 21-11, 21-18 in 31 minutes in the opener.

Later in the day, third seed Srikanth had to work hard to earn a three-game 51-minute win over Tien Minh Nguyen. The Guntur-born came out on top with a 21-18, 19-21, 21-14 win to take a 2-1 career advantage over the Vietnamese. World No.4 Srikanth will next take on Thailand's Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk against whom the Indian has a 2-1 record.

On other courts, Danish Line Kjaersfeldt overcame P.C. Thulasi 21-16, 21-14 in 35 minutes in a women's singles match while South Korean fifth seeds Ko Sung Hyun and Kim Ha Na beat Tarun Kona and N. Sikki Reddy 21-15, 21-17 in 29 minutes in mixed doubles first round.

In women's doubles, Thai pair of Jongkonphan Kittiharakul and Rawinda Prajongjai defeated Dhanya Nair and Mohita Sahdev 21-8, 21-8 while Indonesian combine Pia Zebadiah Bernadeth and Rizki Amelia Pradipta took care of Pradnya Gadre and Sikki 21-17, 21-13.

South Korean top seeds Lee Yong Dae and Yoo Yeon Seong ended India's challenge in the men's doubles event as they beat Pranaav Chopra and Akshay Dewalkar 23-21, 21-11.

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