KOZHIKODE: Pentala Harikrishna scored his sixth consecutive win in the Susheela Thipsay Memorial Fide-rated chess tournament organised by Tal Academy.

Harikrishna crushed Nazia Nona of Tal Academy in 25 moves of French Defence in the sixth round to reach six points.

International Master R B Ramesh (PSCB) was in the second position with five points after his sixth round victory over IM K Murugan of NLC in 52 moves of Sicilian Defence in a King and pawn ending.

Results (6th round): K Haridas (2.5) bt M B Muralidharan (3); Nazia Nona (0.5) lost to Harikrishna (6); N A Majeed (3.5) bt K R Madhusoodanan (0); R B Ramesh (5) bt K Murugan (3); K Ratnkaran (3) bt Mitrakanth (3.5). 5th round: Ratnakaran (2) bt Haridas (1.5); Mitrakanth (3.5) drew with R B Ramesh (4); Murugan (3) bt Nazia Nona (0.5); Harikrishna (5) bt N A Majeed (2.5); Madhusoodanan (o) lost to M.B.Muralidharan (3).

E Bengal in final

CALCUTTA: East Bengal pipped Mohammedan Sporting by asolitary late goal to move into the final of the fifth McDowell Cup football.

Man-of-the-match Raman Vijayan netted the winner in the 76th minute to seal the fate of their opponents who had then been reduced to 10 men following a red card shown to defender Ali Reza.

East Bengal will take on Tollygunge Agragami in the final on July 6.Jwala scores CHENNAI: Unseeded Jwala (AP) upset No 3 seed Ketaki Thakar (A-I) to enter the final in junior girls while top seeded Chetan Anand (AI) made the boys' final of the sixth Krishna Khaitan Memorial All-India Grand Prix badminton tournament.

In the final, Jwala will meet defending champion Parul Priyadarsini (Rly), who halted qualifier Tanmoy Nandi (WB) 11-5, 11-8 in the other semi-final. Jwala made the final of the sub-juniors defeating fourth seed B N Ashwini (Kar) 11-8, 11-7. Jwala will meet third seed Aditi Biswas, who defeated M V Sarith (Kar) 11-6, 11-6.

Lele `misquoted'

BARODA: Indian cricket board secretary J Y Lele said he had not made anystatement opposing former skipper Kapil Dev's demand for snapping all cricketing contacts with Pakistan in view of Kargil developments.``I am as much a nationalist and patriotic as anybody else,'' Lele said in an advertisment published in newspapers here and clarified that the newspaper reports that he had opposed Kapil's statement were misquoted. Following the reports, some miscreants had pelted stones at Lele's house at Anandpura in the city on Thursday night and he was provided with police protection after this.

Athletes missing

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The whereabouts of the Ukranian athletes who reportedly arrived here on Friday to participate in the inaugural Amateur Athletic Federation of India International Athletic Circuit Meet, continues to remain a mystery. Reports from Nagercoil, where the first-leg was held, said they arrived here on Saturday but left the airport since nobody was present to receive them.

Kerala State Electricity Board officials, who are organising the second-leg here onTuesday, contacted the airport immigration authorities who informed them that none from Kiev had arrived.

According to the AAFI secretary Lalit Bhanot, the whereabouts of the Ukranians who were ``provided with tickets worth Rs 3 lakh to reach here for the first-leg in Nagercoil, is yet to be known''.

-- ENS and Agencies