INQUIRER Sports

GRANDMASTERS Rogelio “Joey” Antonio Jr., and GM Mark Paragua of the Philippines, won their seventh round assignment yesterday in the on-going 3rd Asian Indoor Games in Hanoi, Vietnam.

Antonio, rebounded from his 6th-round loss to Iranian GM Ehsan Ghaem Maghami after beating IM Sami Khader of Jordan yesterday while Paragua who bowed to Vietnamese GM Le Quang Liem in the 6th round, drubbed FM Teerapabpaisit Wisuwat of Thailand in the seventh.

Antonio raised his total to 4.5 points while Paragua totaled 4.0.

Earlier, Antonio drew with IM Ahmad Azizjawad Obada of Irag in the fourth then nipped FM Husse Ali of Iraq in the fifth while Paragua yielded to GM Murtas Kazhgaleyev of Kazakhstan in the fourth then beat Russell M K A of Sri Lanka in the fifth.

In the eighth round, Antonio meets Vietnamese GM Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son while Paragua battles FM Husse Ali.

Meanwhile, Chinese GM Wang Hao outclassed Indian GM Pentala Harikrishna in the sixth then split the point with Indian GM Krishnan Sasikiran in the seventh for a leading 6.0 total.

The country’s women players were not as lucky after WFMs Catherine Perena and Shercila Cua both lost.

Perena, who upset WGM Shadi Paridar of Iran in the sixth round, fell to Chinese GM Zhao Xue in the seventh while Cua, who crushed WIM Ismael Ibrahim Delbak of Iraq in the sixth, also lost her 7th round match against Uzbek WIM Nafisa Muminova. Perena and Cua both had 4.0 points.