Local snippets: Viji keeps lead in national challenger chess, Peter triumphs

Viji logged seven points after eight rounds followed by former national champion Swati Ghate of LIC and R Vaishali of TN in second place with 6.5 points each. Vaishali beat her state-mate J Saranya on the second board in the eighth round while Swati Ghate defeated Pratyusha Bodd of AP with black pieces. Kiran Manisha Mohanty (LIC), Michelle Catherina (AI), Bala Kannamma, Mahalakshmi M (both TN), Tarini Goyal (Chandigarh), Arpita Mukherjee (West Bengal) shared the third position with six points each.

Peter Paul (SRSA) defeated Vijay Nichani (CDBSA) 5-4 (80-39,6430,47-58.45-74,7432,56-35,52-66,2757,79-42) to win the MHP Rao Memorial snooker tournament on Wednesday. Peter held his nerve in the decider after the scores were level.

Chennai’s Ramkumar Ramanathan beat Czech Republic’s Marek Michalicka 7-5, 6-7(2), 6-4 in the first round of the Wimbledon men’s qualifying at Roehampton on Tuesday. Ramkumar faces Daniel Brands of Germany in the next round. However, it was tough luck for Saketh Myneni who snatched defeat from the jaws of victory 4-6, 7-6(2), 6-1 by Tristan Lamasine of France in the first round