PTI 
  
Turin (Italy), May 25: Indian eves came up with an inspired performance to beat Croatia 2.5-0.5 in the third round of the Women Chess Olympiad here.

After a first round 3-0 triumph followed by a drawn result against Venezuela this was an excellent victory by the young side that propelled the team up to ninth spot in the standing list.

Lithuania emerged as the early sole leader in the with third straight 3-0 blanking of opposition in the 13-round event. On the receiving end this time were the Latvian women who found the going tough and crumbled on all the three boards.

While only Lithuania emerged with a perfect score, defending champions China dropped a half point against France en route to a 2.5-0.5 victory after Zhao Xue was held to a draw by former Moldovan Almira Skripchenko.

As things stand, China and Russia, which whitewashed Poland 3-0, share the second spot on 8.5 points each while Ukraine and Romania were in close pursuit with 8 points to their credit.

USA, Bulgaria and Israel are next in line on 7.5 points apiece while the Indian team stand sole ninth with seven points.

In the next round, the eves are slated to play former champions Georgia and it is likely to be a tough contest.

Interestingly, the think-tank has decided to rest Dronavalli Harika in this important clash and Women Grandmaster Swati Ghate will be back in action.