Singles

Anand finishes joint 2nd in Norway Chess

stavanger: Playing out his his third successive decisive game, Viswanathan Anand got the better of Sergey Karjakin of Russia in the final round to end joint second in the Altibox Norway chess tournament, here on Friday. In a solid start, the Indian ace started off with as many as six drawn games and ended with three decisive games in a row. But for his loss against Fabiano Caruana of United States in the previous round, the Indian ace could have been at the helm in the strongest chess tournament of the year. Having lost the tournament-opener itself, the rise of Fabiano Caruana continued as the American scored a fine victory over compatriot Wesley So to win the tournament with five points. While Anand, Hikaru Nakamura and Magnus Carlseny ended tied for the second spot on 4.5 points apiece.

NZ Eves score highest ever ODI total

dublin: New Zealand women's cricket team posted the highest ever total in One-day cricket by scoring an incredible 490 for four against Ireland in the first match against Ireland in Dublin with skipper Suzie Bates leading from the front with a blistering 151-run knock. The total posted by the 'White Ferns' is the highest ever in ODIs including men's matches. In men's cricket, the highest total in ODI is 444 for three, made by England against Pakistan in August 2016 at Nottingham. With their incredible batting, New Zealand women team bettered their own 21-year old world record of 455 for five against Pakistan at Christchurch in January 1997. It's only third time that a 400-plus score has been made in women's ODIs.

Gopichand signs MOU with Odisha Govt

bhubaneswar: The Pullela Gopichand Badminton Foundation (PGMF) on Friday signed an MOU with Government of Odisha with an aim to nurture and groom badminton talents in the state. The MoU was signed between the Sports and Youth Services Department and Pullela Gopichand Badminton Foundation here at the Secretariat in the presence of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, Sports Minister Chandra Sarathi Behera and P Gopichand. "It is an honour for us to be associated with the Govt Of Odisha and we are aligned to their vision to keep producing world class talent," Gopichand said. The trajectory of Badminton as a sport in India has hit new highs in the recent past, with top players like Saina Nehwal and PV Sindhu winning major honours at regular intervals. "The academy in Odisha will help in keeping the momentum up, and we hope to nurture great talent right from the grass roots to the international levels," he added.

Jisna wins Gold in  Asian Jr Athletics

gifu: Quartermiler Jisna Matthew clinched a Gold to lead India's medal charge on the second day of the Asian Junior Athletics Championships here on Friday. Five other Indian athletes also grabbed a Bronze each on Friday as India took their total medal tally on the second day to two Gold, one Silver and seven Bronze. Junior national record holder long jumper M Sreeshankar did not come close to matching his personal best of 7.99m but still clinched a Bronze medal after clearing a distance of 7.47m. Sreeshankar, who nearly touched the 8m mark at the Federation Cup in Patiala in March, was named in India's Gold Coast CWG team but had to undergo a surgery to remove his appendicitis just before the CWG.