Latest news with #worldChampionships
New Indian Express
21-07-2025
- Sport
- New Indian Express
Two Indians, two Chinese, one coveted chess World Cup trophy
CHENNAI: ONE of Divya Deshmukh or Koneru Humpy will feature in next year's women's Candidates, the eight-player double round-robin tournament whose topper will play in the 2026 edition of the women's world Championships. This was confirmed after Humpy's win in the quarterfinal against Yuxin Song on Sunday. On Monday, Deshmukh joined her senior compatriot in the last four after her tie-break win over D Harika in the women's World Cup in Batumi. The teen, an age-group world champion, continued her fairy tale run in Georgia as she took down another GM. A few days after bringing down the second seed and one of the pre-tournament favourites, China's Zhu Jiner's, she repeated the trick against Harika as she won both the tie-break games. After the pair of games, she credited her coach 'for the prep'. "I would have to say the preparation had a lot of role in that game (first game of the break with white pieces)," she said. "I would have to thank my coach for that." Neither player held a clear advantage out of the opening — the eval bar was pretty much level after 20 moves — but the 19-year-old built up an advantage thanks to couple of sharp moves as she punished several of Harika's questionable moves in the middlegame. A blunder from her — 27. c6 — put the younger Indian in the driver's seat. And it's an advantage she didn't relinquish till Harika resigned. Both players traded major inaccuracies in the second of the two breakers. At one point of time in the endgame, Harika had the chance to win on demand but there were some miscalculations and the IM won a second game in succession. She faces Tan Zhongyi in one of the two semis, while Humpy faces the other Chinese, Lei Tingjie, for a place in the final.
Yahoo
20-06-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Why three-time world champion Kaori Sakamoto will retire after the 2026 Winter Olympics
FILE - Kaori Sakamoto of Japan performs during the women's short program at the figure skating world championships, Wednesday, March 26, 2025, in Boston. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa, File) FILE - Japan's Kaori Sakamoto performs during the women single skating free skating at the 9th Asian Winter Games in Harbin, China on Thursday, Feb. 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila, File) FILE - Japan's Kaori Sakamoto performs during the women single skating free skating at the 9th Asian Winter Games in Harbin, China on Thursday, Feb. 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila, File) FILE - Kaori Sakamoto of Japan performs during the women's short program at the figure skating world championships, Wednesday, March 26, 2025, in Boston. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa, File) FILE - Japan's Kaori Sakamoto performs during the women single skating free skating at the 9th Asian Winter Games in Harbin, China on Thursday, Feb. 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila, File) TOKYO (AP) — Kaori Sakamoto, the three-time figure skating world champion, will retire after next year's 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan-Cortina, she said Friday. The 25-year-old Japanese star won an Olympic bronze medal in the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing and took the silver medal in the world championships in March with gold to American Alysa Liu. Advertisement Sakamoto acknowledged that age is catching up with her. 'I feel like I have less than a year left,' the Japanese news agency Kyodo quoted her as saying in Kobe, Japan. 'I'll be 29 at the following Olympics (in 2030), which is out of the question. I'll try to bring things to a close the year I turn 26." ___ AP sports:
Reuters
25-05-2025
- Sport
- Reuters
China's Sun, Chuqin win singles world titles
May 25 (Reuters) - China swept the singles titles at the world table tennis championships again, with Wang Chuqin securing a dominant 4-1 victory over Hugo Calderano in the men's final and Sun Yingsha retaining the women's crown on Sunday. World number one Sun overcame a stubborn challenge from Wang Manyu, outwitting the world number two in a thrilling final to clinch gold with a 4-3 victory in Doha. Former champion Manyu, who beat Sun in the 2021 final, fought back from two games down and saved four championship points to take the contest down to the wire. "We have played each other many times since childhood. So every time we meet in the finals, it would be a tough match," Sun said. The 24-year-old started well, winning the first two games 11-6 12-10. Manyu bounced back to dominate the next two games, and was a point away from winning the fifth but Sun saved the game point and took it 12-10. Sun quickly took a 10-6 lead in the sixth game, putting her a point away from winning the championship, but Manyu held her nerve to win the next three points. The defending champion pushed for victory with a forehand that Manyu barely got her paddle to, but the ball soared up high and nicked the table, putting Wang level at 10-10. Manyu seized the momentum to win the sixth game 13-11 and took a 3-0 lead in the decisive seventh. "At that time my mentality fluctuated a little bit," Sun admitted. Sun, who had beaten Wang in nine of their previous 10 meetings, rallied to win the seventh game 11-7, however, to secure the title. "Every day I fought hard... and I cherished each game. And I'm extremely happy I managed to stand till the last," Sun added. World number two Wang claimed his first singles gold at the World Championships, beating Calderano 4-1 to avenge his loss to the Brazilian at last month's World Cup. World number three Calderano, the first Brazilian to win the World Cup, was no match for Chuqin's speed as the Asian Cup winner forced Calderano on to the defensive. "After losing (at) the World Cup, I fell into doubt, especially during my training," said Chuqin. "So I had a challenger's mindset." Chuqin, who lost the 2023 final to compatriot Fan Zhendong, took the first two games 12-10 11-3, and although Calderano bounced back in to win the third 11-4, the Chinese regained control to seal victory. Earlier, Japan won the men's doubles title for the first time in 64 years, with Hiroto Shinozuka and Shunsuke Togami edging out Taiwan's Lin Yun-ju and Kao Cheng-jui 3-2.
