Sports

Former junior champion Taffin Khan on Wednesday became Guyana’s youngest senior chess champion after he defeated Kriskal Persaud in a final playoff of the Neal and Massy/Seven Seas National Chess Championships held at Keishar’s Sports Club.

The Demerara team is looking to put behind them the dominance of Cellink Berbice in local cricket and focus on one game at a time in order to wrest the Carib/Pepsi T20 title from the Ancient County.

Guyana’s  leading distance athlete Cleveland Forde  left here this morning for Barbados where he will be participating in the annual Run Barbados Series from today.

TORONTO, (Reuters) – The Toronto Raptors spoiled the   return of number one draft pick John Wall to the line-up by   routing the Washington Wizards 127-108 on Wednesday.

Alpha ‘The Hammer’ United Football Club will appear after all in the 21st edition of the Kashif & Shanghai tournament on December 12 after the intervention of the governing body.

Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) President Chetram Singh ended months of speculation when he told Stabroek Sport yesterday that he will not be seeking re-election at January’s Annual General Meeting.

The semi-final round of the Guinness Greatest of De Street Futsal Competition was never short of excitement as the Albouystown ‘A’ and Broad Street ‘B’ teams reigned supreme at the National Park Tarmac.

ZURICH, (Reuters) – FIFA will take the biggest and  most far-reaching decision in international sport today  when its executive committee votes on the host nations for the  2018 and 2022 World Cups.

JAIPUR, India, (Reuters) – Captain Gautam Gambhir  compiled a flawless century to guide India to a resounding  eight-wicket victory over New Zealand in the second one-day  international yesterday.

ADELAIDE, (Reuters) – Pace bowler Mitchell Johnson   has been dropped from the Australia squad for the second Ashes   test against England, captain Ricky Ponting said yesterday.

SYDNEY, (Reuters) – Batsman Kevin Pietersen labelled   groundstaff at Australia’s Adelaide Oval “pathetic” after   England’s practice session was forced indoors due to rain just   two days before the start of the second Ashes test.

Women’s singles defending champion, Michelle John and men’s singles national player Idi Lewis have both confirmed that they will not be returning to Guyana for the National Table Tennis Championships scheduled to begin this weekend at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall.

Six members of the recently established Guyana Shotokan Karate Club (GSKC) were upgraded on Friday last when the club held its first grading, under 8th Dan master Frank Woon-A-Tai at the Malteenoes Sport Club.

The number one seeded team of Philip Squires and Godfrey Lowden defended their title when they defeated the team of Ezra Sue-Ho and Andy Gouveia  6-7 ( 8-6)  7-6 (7-5)  7-5 on Tuesday in the men’s doubles finals of the Guyana Lawn Tennis Association (GLTA) Pegasus Open being held at the courts of the Pegasus Hotel.

KANDY, Sri Lanka, CMC – West Indies manager Joel Garner says part of his role on the current Sri Lanka tour will also be helping the young pace attack to develop.

KANDY, Sri Lanka, (Reuters) – West Indian Darren Bravo  lifted a rain-hit opening day of the third and final test  against Sri Lanka with a fluent, unbeaten 63, his third  half-century of the series, today.

CLEVELAND, (Reuters) – LeBron James is bracing himself for a hostile reception when  he returns to Cleveland today for the first time since ditching his home team to join the  Miami Heat.

The inaugural Ricks & Sari Agro Indus-tries Under-13 Cricket competition continued in Ber-bice recently with Blairmont Commu-nity Centre defeating Rosignol United by an innings and 176 runs at Blair-mont.

Young Warriors defeated Whim National by 5 wickets to advance to the quarterfinals of the New Building Society Second Division Cricket Competition which continued recently in Berbice at Cumberland, Canje.

LONDON, (Reuters) – Belgian Kim Clijsters sealed a  glittering comeback with the Women’s Tennis Association award  for player of the year and swiftly paid tribute to her fellow  competitors, the WTA announced yesterday.