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Rajinder denies an Uzbek sweepPATIALA: Olympian Valeev Ildar of Uzbekistan lost concentration for a moment while performing three flops on...

Rajinder denies an Uzbek sweep
PATIALA: Olympian Valeev Ildar of Uzbekistan lost concentration for a moment while performing three flops on vaulting horse which denied him a clean sweep on apparatus competitions in the first South Central Asian Gymnastic Championship at the Polo Ground Gymnasium here today.

His fall in three flops sequence relegated him to the third position with 8.025 points. On the other hand Rajinder Prasad of India capitalised on the golden chance to emerge winner with 8.825 points. The silver also went to Indian – Vikas Pandey with 8.675 points.

The Uzbeks extended their golden march in the women’s section too. The Indian women had to satisfy themselves with bronze medals in all four apparatuses with Uzbeks winning gold and silver.

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Indian riders win
CHENNAI: India brought about an epic win over fancied Australia in the Show Jumping Team Event of CSI-Y Young Riders International Championship (under 21 years) at Mohite Stadium, OTA, Chennai, here on Saturday.

In an astonishing turnaround of fortunes, the Indian Reds (Rohit Dagar, Ajay Appachoo, A Ajay) rode consistently in both Round A and Round B to emerge worthy victors at the end of a long-fought duel with Australia.

Easy for seeds
SIVAGANGA: Seeded players had a smooth sailing into the second round of the Kaliswari Fireworks Junior National Chess Championship here on Saturday. Of the 35 rated players, Vikas Sharma of Punjab was held to a draw by local lad B Maheswara, while B Sivasankar of Tamil Nadu lost to K Savesom of Manipur.

Top seed Sandipan Chanda of Goodricke Academy, Calcutta, recorded the quickest win of the day over Gujarat’s Aswin Swaminathan. International Masters Neelotpal Das, Tejas Bakre, National B’ champion, Surya Sekhar Ganguly, under-18 girls world champion Aarthie Ramaswamy too won their respective games.

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Urska triumphs
LUCKNOW: Unseeded Slovenian Urska Vesenjak lifted the ITF Women’s Circuit Tennis title with shocking top seed Katarina Daskovic of Yugoslavia here today. Urska, who conquered second seed Manisha Malhotra of India in the semi-finals yesterday, rallied brilliantly to overpower Daskovic 4-6 6-2 6-1. Southpaw Urska, however, failed to realise her dream of a grand double when she and her twin sister Masa lost in the doubles final to Manisha and Tong Ka-Po (Hong Kong) 3-6 7-5 1-6.

UP extend Bihar
NEW DELHI: Defending champions Punjab and last year’s runners-up Bihar scored contrasting victories in their respective men’s super league matches on the opening day of the 50th Senior National Basketball Championship at the Talkatora Stadium on Saturday.

While Punjab scored an impressive 83-49 victory over West Bengal in Group A, Bihar had to quell a strong first half challenge from Uttar Pradesh in winning 77-64 in Group B.

— ENS & Agencies