Indian sports wrap, February 23: GM Iniyan finishes runner-up in La Grande International Open Chess Tournament

CHESS

GM Iniyan loses to French IM Mahel in tiebreak

Indian Grandmaster P. Iniyan finished runner-up in the 41st Cappelle La Grande International Open Tournament after losing to IM Mahel of France in the tiebreaks in Dunkirk.

The fifth seed Indian scored 7.5 points, with six wins and 3 draws to be tied first alongside Mahel after nine rounds.

However, luck was against Iniyan in tie-breaks as the French IM emerged victorious.

After starting with four wins in a row, Iniyan drew the fifth game with fellow Indian IM Muthaiah.

He then drew with the eventual third-place finisher GM Raja Rithvik of India. A win in the penultimate round left him leading the event along with Mahel.

The result has helped Iniyan gain 16 rating points and his live rating now is 2566.

– PTI

TENNIS

ITF Ahmedabad: Abhaya beats Saily in first qualifying round

Abhaya Vemuri overcame a tough start to beat Saily Thakkar 6-7(3), 6-3, 6-3 in the first qualifying round of the USD 40,000 ITF women’s tennis tournament at the Ahmedabad Tennis Foundation courts on Sunday.

In the second and final qualifying round, Abhaya will play the top seed Michika Ozeki of Japan.

Anjali Rathi also fought back to beat Divya Bhardwaj 3-6, 6-2, 6-2, to set up a clash against second seed Maria Kalyakina.

Akanksha Nitture, Prathyusha Rachapudi, Humera Baharmus, Paavanii Paathak, Laalitya Kalluri, Sonal Patil, Smriti Bhasin and Aakruti Sonkusare were the other Indians to make the second and final qualifying round.

– Team Sportstar

GOLF

Veer Ahlawat slips in third round in Kenya Open

Veer Ahlawat had a disastrous third round of 8-over 79 as he slipped to T-67 with one round to go in the Kenya Open.

The Indian rookie had a nightmarish 11 on the par-5 seventh besides four other bogeys against just two birdies for a 79.

His earlier rounds were 70 and 72.

Shubhankar Sharma had earlier missed the cut.

South African Jacques Kruyswijk moved into pole position as he bids for his first DP World Tour title. He had a stunning seven-under-par round of 64 that gave him a one-stroke lead.

The South African came home in five-under par at the Muthaiga Golf Club to lead England’s John Parry by one.

Parry added a one-over 72 to his opening two rounds of 63-65 as he goes in search of his second win of the 2025 Race to Dubai.

– PTI