Senthilkumar, Harinder win at Asian Squash C''ship

Chennai

India's Velavan Senthilkumar entered the pre-quarterfinals along with Harinder Pal Sandhu at the 19th Asian Individual Squash Championship here today. Aditya Jagtap, however, suffered a loss against Malaysia's Mohammed Nafizwan Adnan. Senthilkumar breezed past Iran's Soheil Shameli 11-1 11 -5 11-5 in the first round and received a walkover from Pakistan's Farhan Zaman. Harinder defeated Reymark Begornia of Philippines 11-1 11-5 11-4. In the women's section, India's Sunayna Kuruvilla stunned 12th seed Choe Yura of Korea in straight games. However, R Lakshya was beaten by 11th seed Foo Zoe Yuk Han of Malaysia in five games.

London

English T20 tournament gets green light

A new city-based Twenty20 tournament in England was given the go-ahead to start in 2020 following an England and Wales Cricket Board meeting today.  Proposals for the eight-team tournament, designed to rival similar events such as the Indian Premier League and Australia's Big Bash, were approved by 38 of the ECB's 41 members.

Reykjavik

Harika plays out draw against Mustafa

Indian Grandmaster Harika Dronavalli eked out a hard-fought draw against higher-rated Mustafa Yilmaz of Turkey in Round 8 of the Rejkjavik Open chess tournament here. Harika, who had a glorious opportunity to break into the top-five in the points table, could not breach the Turkish Grandmaster's defence. With time running out, both the players decided to call it a day and share the spoils. "It was a very complicated game from the beginning. Even though I got into good positions, I took a lot more time and was down on time," Harika said. — Agencies