SQUASH

Abhay-Senthilkumar look to extend dominance at Asian Doubles Squash Championships

Abhay Singh and Velavan Senthilkumar will look to extend their dominance when the pair begins its campaign in the 3rd Asian Doubles Squash Championships, beginning in Sarawak, Malaysia, on Thursday.

The defending champions have been given top billing in Pool A, while compatriots Rahul Baitha and Suraj Kumar Chand are seeded eighth and feature in Pool B of the league-cum-knockout competition.

Last year, Abhay had partnered the young Anahat Singh to also win the mixed crown. Anahat then went on to clinch the top honours in the women’s doubles, partnering the experienced Joshna Chinappa.

However, Anahat will not compete in Malaysia this week, as she is preparing for the World Junior Championships in Canada next month.

Joshna is pairing up with Rathika Seelan, and the duo is seeded second in the women’s section. Compatriots Janet Vidhi and Pooja Arthi are seeded seventh. Both pairs are placed in Pool B.

Joshna and Senthilkumar are seeded second in mixed doubles and will look to better their bronze-medal finish from the previous edition.

-PTI

CHESS

Soham Kamotra halt Iniyan Pa’s winning run at Global Chess Festival

IM Soham Kamotra displayed strong defence to halt GM Iniyan Pa’s winning spree in their sixth round clash of the Global Chess League on Tuesday.

Iniyan looked set for a victory in the sixth round after making a strong start, but he had to settle for a draw after losing his way against Kamotra.

However, Iniyan (5.5 points) maintained a slender lead of 0.5 over the second placed Aakash Sharadchandra Dalvi. Kamotra, Ayush Sharma and Harish Suresh are clubbed together with 4.5 points each.

But it was a successful outing for GM Abhijit Gupta who ended the winning streak of Sri Lanka’s WIM Oshini Gunawardhana Devindya.

Ajay Santhosh Parvathareddy squandered a winning position to end on the losing side against Dalvi in another important result. IM Akshay Borgaonkar held the higher rated GM Alexander Aleksej to a draw, whereas IM Mohan Kushagra was shocked by compatriot FM Adak Bivor.

Viresh Sharnarthi and Madhvendra Pratap Sharma scored their sixth consecutive victories to lead the Challenger and Junior Categories respectively with six points each.

In the Challengers group, Nithin Babu, Arul Anand and Swain Aashirwad trail Sharnarthi by half a point, whereas in the Junior category, Madhvendra has a one point lead over Ankit Das, Vinayak Kolluru, A Amanlal, Nijesh R and Amber Gangwal.

-PTI

CRICKET

Saksham’s 98 leads Murshidabad Kings to thrilling victory

Murshidabad Kings rode on Saksham Chaudhary’s stunning 47-ball 98 to beat Novus Royals Purulia by four wickets in a nail-biting last-over finish and stay alive in the Bengal T20 League at the Eden Gardens on Tuesday.

In a rain-curtailed affair, Purulia relied on Priyam Sarkar’s century (100, 56b, 10×4, 6×6) to score 196 for three in the reduced quota of 18 overs. Murshidabad achieved the revised target of 200 to post its third win.

Sarkar showed his fearless approach and impressive range. He took advantage of two reprieves to play proper cricketing shots in the ‘V’ and square of the wicket on both sides to gather runs quickly.

Sarkar added 83 runs with attacking left-hander Yuvraj Keswani (56, 27b, 3×4, 5×6) in Purulia’s rain-interrupted innings.

Kings got off to a good start due to captain Abhishek Raman’s rapid-fire knock (43, 20b, 5×4, 3×6) before slipping to 56 for three in six overs.

Saksham displayed his natural stroke-play as he pulled and drove heavily on the onside to bring Kings back into contention. The southpaw, who hit six fours and 10 sixes, missed a century as he departed when Kings needed just 17 to win. He was delighted to see his colleagues achieve the target.

-Team Sportstar

SNOOKER

China ‘B’ edges out India in opener of World Team Snooker Championship

Former champion India suffered a narrow defeat to China ‘B’ in its opening match of the World Team Snooker Championship on Tuesday.

The 2-3 loss to the host in the three-team Group ‘B’ leaves India with a must-win game against Turkey on Wednesday.

With the match poised on a knife’s edge at 2-2, Aditya Mehta, who gave India the opening frame, frittered away the advantage and allowed the formidable Zhou Jinhao to help the host prevail in a thriller.

Down 20-22, Jinhao capitalized on Mehta’s poor safety shot with a crucial break of 23.

The Chinese cueist resorted to safety after taking the penultimate red. After a bit of a cat-and-mouse game, the Indian missed a long red and sold it to the top left-hand pocket.

The promising Jinhao took the generous offering gleefully to seal the frame and match for China ‘B’, who had earlier outclassed Turkey 3-0.

Earlier, Jinhao had defeated Pankaj Advani with a gritty break of 53 in the second frame to draw level with India. Partnering Xu Jianhao, Zhou later compiled a flowing break of 81 to down Advani and Mehta in the doubles for a 2-1 lead.

Advani brought India back into contention with a splendid win over Ma Hailong.

Despite the black ball being out of play — stuck near the top cushion — he made a frame-clinching break of 62 to level scores at 2-2.

However, Mehta, who looked solid in his opening win against Hailong, failed to reproduce that same touch in later frames.

-PTI

Published on Jun 16, 2026