The Hindu : Sport : Ramesh, Harika claim titles

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Tuesday, Dec 11, 2007
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Sport

Sport

Ramesh, Harika claim titles

Rakesh Rao

— Photo: S. Subramanium

TRIUMPHANT: D. Harika and R.B. Ramesh took the honours in the Commonwealth chess championship.

NEW DELHI: R.B. Ramesh rekindled some of the magic and motivation of old to tame Vikramaditya Kamble. The victory coupled with Surya Shekhar Ganguly’s triumph over K. Ratnakaran gave Ramesh the honours in the Parsvnath Commonwealth chess championship at the Siri Fort Sports Complex here on Monday.

After Ramesh won, eventual runner-up Ganguly did his IndianOil colleague a favour. Ganguly overpowered K. Ratnakaran who needed a victory to emerge as the champion.

These results involving the four overnight leaders left Ramesh and Ganguly tied for the title at 8.5 points from 10 rounds. Finally, Ramesh was adjudged champion on the basis of superior progressive score.

The 2002 British championship winner went on to collect a gold medal and an impressive trophy. As both Ramesh and Ganguly were tied for the top spot, they received Rs. 1,37,500 each.

Abhijeet Gupta, the nation’s latest Grandmaster, added another reason to make his outing memorable. He defeated P. Karthikeyan and took the third spot for which he received Rs. 75,000.

D. Harika, who finished fifth overall, retained the ladies title with 7.5 points after a quick draw with Sriram Jha. She collected Rs. 40,200, including Rs. 20,000 for being the ladies champion, ahead of Tania Sachdev and Nisha Mohota.

But one could not help sparing a thought for Ratnakaran who found himself a victory away from the title. In fact, the loss to Ganguly proved to be the biggest in Ratnakaran’s career.

Besides losing the title, Ratnakaran took home only Rs. 20,200 as against Rs. 1,37,500 which he would have earned had he beaten Ganguly.

For the record, the Indians swept 44 out of 45 medals. This was on expected lines since there was only a wafer-thin overseas challenge in almost all age-group categories.

The results (Indians unless stated): 10th round: Surya Shekhar Ganguly (8.5) bt K. Ratnakaran (7.5); R.B. Ramesh (8.5) bt Vikramaditya Kamble (7.5); D. Harika (7.5) drew with Sriram Jha (7.5); Abhijeet Gupta (8) bt P. Karthikeyan (7); M.S. Thejkumar (7) lost to Abhijit Kunte (7.5); Abdulla Al-Rakib (Ban) (7.5) bt Nisha Mohota (6.5); Aleksandar Wohl (Aus) (7) drew with Neelotpal Das (7); R.R. Laxman (7.5) bt Reefat Bin Sattar (Ban) (6.5); M.R. Venkatesh (6.5) lost to Himanshu Sharma (7.5); Tania Sachdev (7) drew with S. Kidambi (7); Mas Hafizulhelmi (Mal) (6.5) lost to Niaz Murshed (Ban) (7); Shashikant Kutwal (7) drew with S. Arun Prasad (7); Dibyendu Barua (7) bt P. Konguvel (6); Gawain Jones (Eng) (7) bt Abhishek Das (6); Prathamesh Mokal ( 6.5) drew with G. Rohit (6.5); Aswin Jayaram (7) bt Akshat Khamparia (6); David Smerdon (Aus) (7) bt Soumya Swaminathan (6); Tejas Bakre (7) bt S. Nitin (6); G.B. Prakash (6.5) drew with P.D.S. Girinath (6.5); Deep Sengupta (7) bt Sahaj Grover (6).

Standings: U-20: 1. Abhijieet Gupta, 2. S. Arun Prasad, 3. Gawain Jones (Eng). U-18: 1. P. Karthikeyan, 2. Aswin Jayaram, 3. G. Rohit. U-16: 1. Parimarjan Negi, 2. R. Ashwath, 3. S. Nitin. U-14: 1. K. Priyadarshan, 2. Mehar Chinna Reddy, 3. Aditya Udeshi. U-12: 1. Sahaj Grover, 2. G. V. Sai Krishna, 3. Fenil Shah. U-10: 1. Vaibhav Suri, 2. Girish Koushik, 3. C. H. Mohineesh. U-8: 1. C. H. Meghna, 2. Harshal Shahi, 3. Ravi Haria. Over-50: 1. Shekhar Sahu, 2. Dilip Das, 3. Ravi Hegde.

Women: 1. Harika, 2. Tania, 3. Nisha.

Girls: U-20: 1. Kruttika Nadig, 2. Eesha Karavade, 3. P. Priya. U-18: 1. Kiran Manisha Mohanty, 2. R. Preethi, 3. Mary Ann Gomes. U-16: 1. Pon N. Krithika, 2. Tejaswini Reddy, 3. Ch. Divyasri. U-14: 1. Padmini Rout, 2. Shristi Shetty, 3. Shalmali Gagare. U-12: 1. Pratyusha Bodda, 2. Priyanka Kumari, 3. K. Sai Nirupama.