Date:03/11/2007 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2007/11/03/stories/2007110357572100.htm

Sport - Chess

Sasikiran, Humpy claim blitz gold

MACAU: Grandmasters K. Sasikiran and K. Humpy gave India two more gold medals after winning the individual titles in the blitz chess competition of the Asian Indoor Games here on Friday.

This was Sasikiran’s third gold and Humpy’s second in the competition that offers nine sets of medals in chess. India has so far won five gold, a silver and a bronze in chess. In all, India stands sixth in the medals tally with eight gold, seven silver and seven bronze medals with billiards player Geet Sethi and the men’s hockey team accounting for Friday’s silver and bronze medals respectively. In the men’s blitz, Sasikiran defeated Kazakhstan’s Murtas Kazhgalyev 3-0 in the best-of-four final to claim the gold after the two players tied at 6.5 points following nine rounds of Swiss league.

Among the ladies, Humpy won the sudden-death tiebreak against former World champion Qatar’s Zhu Chen after they were tied at 2-2 in the final. In billiards singles, Sethi lost to Thai Praput Chaitanasakun in the final while the hockey team beat Malaysia 7-4 in the bronze medal play-off. The team had lost to Malaysia in the league phase at 2-4.

In swimming, Shikha Tandon managed a fifth place (1:06.71) and Richa Mishra finished seventh (1:08.02) in the women’s 100-metre individual medley.