Dusthagir assured of title

 Dusthagir Ibrahim of Madurai is assured of the title, with a round to spare, in the 19th SPIC Trophy FIDE-rated open chess tournament at Tuticorin. On Saturday, he drew with P. Phoobalan of ICF in the tenth and penultimate round and continues to be the sole leader with 9 points. Three players, top seed International master D.P. Singh of Jharkand, Balasubramanian Ramanathan and Vinoth Kumar of Chennai are on the second spot with 8 points each.

Important results (tenth round): M. Dusthagir Ibrahim (9) drew with P. Phoobalan (7.5); Ramanathan Balasubramanian (8) bt R.R. Laxman (7.5); C. Natarajan (7) lost to D.P. Singh (8); Vinoth Kumar (8) bt Syed Anwar Shazuli (7); M.B. Muralidharan (7) drew with P. Stanley Samson (7); P. Shyam Nikil (7.5) bt Vishnu Prasanna (6.5); M. Kunal (6.5) lost to S. Nitin (7.5).

Indian Bank (Chennai) recovered after losing the first set to beat Integral Coach Factory (Chennai) 19-25, 25-14, 25-22, 25-20 to post its third win in the State-level invitation prize money volleyball tournament at Karaikudi on Friday night. Indian Bank now leads the table with six points in the five-team league.

Indian Overseas Bank recorded its second win defeating Sports Hostel of Excellence (Chennai) 29-27, 25-23, 23-17 and is in second spot with 5 points along with Integral Coach Factory, Chennai which also has the same points.