Indian GM Iniyan wins World Open online chess

Chennai

Indian Grandmaster P Iniyan won the Annual World Open online chess tournament held recently, having practised at night to get used to the American time zone. The Tamil Nadu player finished with 7.5 points out of a possible nine, with six victories and three draws, to finish ahead of many higher-rated Grandmasters. The event was held in American time zone, meaning that Iniyan was playing from 9:30 pm till 6 am every day. The 48th edition of the annual event was held online due to the Covid-19 on August 7-9. Iniyan had recently defeated world No. 2 Fabiano Caruana in an online blitz event.

MONT AIGOUAL (France)
Kazakhstan’s Lutsenko wins Stage 6

Kazakh Alexey Lutsenko claimed his maiden victory on the Tour de France when he won the sixth stage, a 191-km trek from Le Teil, today. The Astana rider prevailed from an eight-man breakaway at the top of the Mont Aigoual. Spain’s Jesus Herrada took second place, 55 seconds behind. Briton Adam Yates retained the overall leader’s yellow jersey after staying tucked in the main peloton, which crossed the line with a deficit of 2:53.

London
Thought of suicide: Former England U-19 captain Rafiq

Former England U-19 captain Azeem Rafiq has claimed that he was “close to committing suicide” during his stint with county side Yorkshire, accusing the club of being institutionally racist. The off-spinner, who was born in Karachi and also captained the club, said he lost “faith in humanity” after the club turned a blind eye to his complaints of racist behaviour during his stint from 2016 to 2018. “I know how close I was to committing suicide during my time at Yorkshire,” Rafiq told ESPNCricinfo. “There were times I did things to try and fit in that, as a Muslim, I now look back on and regret. But as soon as I stopped trying to fit in, I was an outsider,” he added.

Rajkot
Noted Saurashtra cricket coach Babi dies

Renowned coach Akabarkhan Babi, popularly known as ‘Babi Saheb’, has died, the Saurashtra Cricket Association (SCA) informed today. He was in his 80s and died yesterday due to age related problems.

Rio de Janeiro
Equal pay for men’s and women’s teams: Brazil football

The Brazilian Football Confederation said that its men’s and women’s national soccer teams will receive equal pay, although World Cup prize money would depend on FIFA. Agencies