Anand loses, falls to last spot in Norway Chess

Stavanger (Norway): Viswanathan Anand slipped to the bottom of the points table after going down to Shakhriyar Mamedyarov of Azerbaijan in the second round of the Altibox Norway Chess tournament here. Anand, who lost to world champion Magnus Carlsen of Norway in the Armageddon game in the first round, was out of sorts in the classical game against Mamedyarov. The Azerbaijani capitalised on a blunder by Anand to get the maximum of two points in the super tournament that has introduced an Armageddon game in case of a draw. 

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‘S-Hertogenbosch (Netherlands)

Archers bag four berths for Tokyo Paralympics

Indian archers secured two quota places each in the recurve and compound sections for next year’s Tokyo Paralympics after dishing out superb performances at the World Para Championships here today. Punjab’s Harvinder Singh and Uttar Pradesh’s Vivek Chhikara finished joint-ninth to bag the two available berths in the recurve men’s open section. In the compound men’s open category, Jammu’s Rakesh Kumar was first to qualify on Thursday after making the bronze medal play-off, where he will take on Matt Stutzman of the USA on Saturday. He was joined by Rajasthan’s Shyam Sundar Swami after a joint-ninth finish.  

GUIMARAES (Portugal)

Dutch reach Nations League final as England self-destruct

Netherlands capitalised on two England defensive mix-ups in extra time as they came from behind to win their Nations League semifinal 3-1 on Thursday and set up a showpiece final against Portugal. The Dutch went 2-1 ahead when defender Kyle Walker turned the ball into his own net after a mistake by team mate John Stones in the 97th minute and Quincy Promes completed the scoring in the 114th after Ross Barkley gave the ball away. 

Sydney

Oz female footballers to earn same base pay as men

Australia’s professional female footballers secured a landmark pay rise that will see them receive the same minimum wage as their male counterparts in a win for gender equality. The base annual pay for players in the W-League was hiked 33 percent to Aus$16,344 (US$11,393). — Agencies