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Ramana needs draw for crownHYDERABAD: J Venkataramana (AP) was half a point ahead of his nearest rivals after the penultimate round of the...

Ramana needs draw for crown
HYDERABAD: J Venkataramana (AP) was half a point ahead of his nearest rivals after the penultimate round of the Global Trust Bank All-India Open Chess Tournament. Ramana drew with Bihar’s SK Sinha on Friday. Venkataramana now requires only a draw in the final round on Saturday to regain the title which he had won in the first edition in 1997.
Results (10th round): J Venkataramana (8.5) drew with SK Sinha (8), BT Muralikrishnan (8) drew with Varghese Koshy (8) Atanu Lahiri (7.5) drew with TS Ravi (7.5), Tejas Bakre (7.5) drew with Jayant Gokhale (7.5), SS Soman (7) lost to NK Mishra (8), Suvrajit Saha (8) lost to Laltu Chatterjee (7), PDS Girinath (7.5) drew with Vishal Sareen (7.5)

Team selection
KOCHI: The Selection Committee meeting to pick the Indian team for the ensuing Davis Cup tie against Lebanon at Lucknow in the first week of February will be held at Thrissur on Jan 15.

The selectors and non-playing captain Ramesh Krishnan will be in Thrissur on Satuday to pick the side.

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Title for Isha
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Top seeds Amanjot Singh (Chandigarh) and Isha Lakhani (Maharashtra) won the under-16 boys’ and girls’ titles respectively in the Rajan Pillai All-India Ranking Junior Tennis Championship on Friday. Amanjot beat fifth seed R Arunprakash (Tamil Nadu) 6-4, 6-3, while Isha faced overcame third seed Nandita Chandrasekhar (Tamil Nadu) 6-3, 1-6, 7-6. In the girls U-18 final, Samrita Sekhar beat Isha 2-6, 7-6 (5), 6-0.

Mumbai in trouble
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Uttar Pradesh are poised to win the All India Vijay Merchant Cricket Championship. At the end of the second day’s play here on Friday, they had Mumbai at 145 for eight in the first innings, which was in reply to UP’s first innings total of 297.
Brief scores: UP 240-6 (R Elahi 63, SK Upadhyaya 54; Shoaib 2-30, Rawle 3-83, Pandey 4-59) vs Mumbai 145-8

Pak cricket rights
MUMBAI: ESPN-Star Sports channel has acquired the exclusive telecast rights for all international cricket out of Pakistan, including the proposed three-Test and three-match limited overs series against India early next year and the Asia Cup at Dhaka this May, till 2002.
The sports channel already has acquired telecast rights of all international cricket from six other countries Australia, South Africa, England, West Indies, New Zealand and Zimbabwe till the 2003-04 season, it was announced on Thursday.

University beaten
LUDHIANA: Defending champions Guru Nanak Dev University (GNDU) moved up after scoring a 4-0 win over Mumbai University in Pool A in the All-India Inter-Varsity Hockey Tournament on Friday.
Other results: Ravi Shankar (Raipur) bt Annamalai (Chennai) 4-0, Sambalpur bt Kerala 5-3, Kurukshetra bt Bangalore 7-1, Jiwaji (Gwalior) bt MGK (Varanasi) 3-1, Ranchi bt MG (Kottayam) 5-1; Punjab University bt Jodhpur 7-0.

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Trupti, Abhishek up
BANGALORE: Top seeds Abhishek Bakshi and Trupti Murgunde, both Air-India, advanced into the under-19 quarterfinals in the Union Bank junior and mini-ranking badminton tournament on Friday. Abhishek whipped Sandeep Luiz 15-4, 15-12, and was joined by SDS Krishna, Gaurav Singh Siwach, A Pridhvi, K Srinivas, V Diju, Ajith Phatak and Anup Sridhar.
Trupti beat Madhumita (Karnataka) without conceding a single point. G Jwala, Shruti Kurien and Srilakshmi, Neha Gangolli, Ranmoyee Nandi, Gauri Narayan and Pooja Patil also advanced.

Bengal in final
CALCUTTA: Hosts Bengal stormed into the final of the National Sub-Junior Football outplaying Assam 3-0 in the first semi-final.
Midfielder Dineshsar, striker Supratik Ain and medio Sona Biswas scored for Bengal.

–ENS & Agencies

Police personnel seen to control the situation during a massive protest over the statehood demand and the inclusion of Ladakh under the Sixth Schedule, in Leh on Wednesday. (ANI Video Grab)

Statehood protest takes violent turn in Ladakh, BJP office set ablaze in Leh

India4 hr ago

Protests in Ladakh turned violent as students and youth organisations demanded statehood and Sixth Schedule status. Two elderly protesters fainted, prompting a shutdown call. A BJP office and security vehicle were set on fire. Activist Sonam Wangchuk urged for a peaceful approach. The demand for Sixth Schedule status is due to Ladakh's tribal-majority population and direct central administration.

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