Chess News
At XVIII Torneo Internacional, Ciudad De Pamplona - Masters

1 Krishnan Sasikiran (IND,2694) 5
2 Vladimir Malakhov (RUS,2675) 4
3 Francisco Vallejo Pons (ESP,2664) 4
4 Fabiano Caruana (ITA,2640) 3½
4 Michael Roiz (ISR,2677) 3½
6 Aleksander Delchev (BUL,2632) 3
6 Ian Nepomniachtchi (RUS,2616) 3
8 Ivan Salgado Lopez (ESP,2556) 2

So with this solid win Sasi will become second Indian player rated above 2700 ELO rating ... As per Chess live rating site, Sasi will move his ELO rating to 2720.7 and he will be rank #20 in FIDE rating.

But this tournament's performance will not be considered for January 2009 FIDE list update, so we need to wait until April 2009 list to official announcement ... Next Sasi is playing at Corus 2009 in Group B tournament.

In January 2009 updated FIDE list Sasi reached to his personal best ELO rating 2711 and he also re-enters into top-25 with his good performance in Croatian league.

Round 1 - Krishnan Sasikiran (IND,2694) - Vladimir Malakhov (RUS,2675) ½-½
Round 2 - Ian Nepomniachtchi (RUS,2616) - Krishnan Sasikiran (IND,2694) ½-½
Round 3 - Krishnan Sasikiran (IND,2694) - Ivan Salgado Lopez (ESP,2556) ½-½
Round 4 - Fabiano Caruana (ITA,2640) - Krishnan Sasikiran (IND,2694) 0-1
Round 5 - Krishnan Sasikiran (IND,2694) - Francisco Vallejo Pons (ESP,2664) 1-0
Round 6 - Krishnan Sasikiran (IND,2694) - Michael Roiz (ISR,2677) 1-0
Round 7 - Aleksander Delchev (BUL,2632) - Krishnan Sasikiran (IND,2694) ½-½

Badminton News

This year we all experienced emergence of Saina into top-10 world ranking ... Also we experienced comeback of Chetan Anand, who also entered into top-15 world ranking ... Overall positive signs on our badminton scene as our 7 players (mens and womens) are inside top-50 world ranking.

2008 year-end ranking of Indian Badminton players

Top 5 Mens Singles
15 Chetan Anand 40540 pts
35 Arvind Bhat 30627 pts
45 Anup Sridhar 25592 pts
49 P Kashyap 24270 pts
50 Anand Pawar 23720 pts

Top 5 Womens Singles
10 Saina Nehwal 48791 pts
36 Aditi Mutatkar 27910 pts
104 Neha Pandit 11180 pts
108 Trupti Murgunde 10726 pts
134 Gayatri Vartak 8680 pts

Mens Doubles
38 Rupesh Kumar/ Sanave Thomas 23190 pts
87 Akshay Diwalkar/ V Diju 10010 pts

Womens Doubles
27 Jwala Gutta/ Shruti Kurian 25650 pts
70 Saina Nehwal/ Anna Rice (CAN) 11120 pts

Mixed Doubles
38 V Diju/ Jwala Gutta 23240 pts

Tennis News
At $450K Chennai Open ATP Tennis Tournament, India (5th - 11th Jan 2009)

Doubles wildcards r announced ... Somdev Devvarman with Prakash Amritraj and Harsh Mankad with Yuki Bhambri recieved those wildcards ... Good choices by organisers though Ashutosh Singh's case was stronger partnering Harsh.
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These r 2008 year-end ranking of our top-10 players ... Hopefully in 2009 we will see better results from our players and more than 2 players in top-100 ranking.

ATP Singles Ranking as on 29th December 2008
204 Devvarman Somdev 206
210 Amritraj Prakash 196
333 Bopanna Rohan 104
565 Mankad Harsh 44
700 Sharan Divij 26
740 Rastogi Karan 23
767 Vardhan Vishnu 21
769 Gajjar Rohan 21
832 Virali Murugesan Ranjeet 16
845 Roy Rupesh 15

1156 Bhambri Yuki* 5

ATP Doubles Ranking as on 29th December 2008
6 Bhupathi Mahesh 3295
10 Paes Leander 2900
78 Bopanna Rohan 860
170 Singh Ashutosh 336
187 Mankad Harsh 310
207 Amritraj Prakash 287
239 Raja Purav 250
268 Amritraj Stephen 208
277 Gajjar Rohan 202
303 Ghouse Mustafa 180
450 Devvarman Somdev 106

681 Bhambri Yuki* 54


WTA Singles Ranking as on 29th December 2008
101 MIRZA SANIA 344
197 RAO SUNITHA 146
365 LAKHANI ISHA 62
383 BHAMBRI ANKITA 59
480 BHAMBRI SANAA 40
512 CHAKRAVARTHI RUSHMI 35
592 UBEROI SHIKHA 24
607 VENKATESHA POOJASHREE 23
647 GOSWAMI PARUL 21
688 SAHOO SHALINI 18

WTA Doubles Ranking as on 29th December 2008
61 MIRZA SANIA 803
221 RAO SUNITHA 166
312 UBEROI SHIKHA 102
337 BHAMBRI SANAA 91
341 BHAMBRI ANKITA 88
345 CHAKRAVARTHI RUSHMI 86
403 LAKHANI ISHA 69
577 VENKATESHA POOJASHREE 31
606 MALOO PARIJA 27
703 GOSWAMI PARUL 18

Tennis News
At $50K Womens Challenger, Delhi, India

Singles Final
(3) Sandra Zahlavova (CZE,186) bt Bojana Jovanovski (SRB,375) 64 63

Doubles Final
(2) I-Hsuan Hwang (TPE)/ Ling Zhang (HKG) bt Megan Moulton-Levy (USA)/ Emily Webley-Smith (GBR) 63 76(4)

Singles Semi-Finals
Bojana Jovanovski (SRB,375) bt (1) Masa Zec-Peskiric (SLO,136) 64 46 61
(3) Sandra Zahlavova (CZE,186) bt Megan Moulton-Levy (USA,368) 26 63 61

Singles Quarter-Finals
(1) Masa Zec-Peskiric (SLO,136) bt Anastasiya Vasylyeva (UKR,498) 75 64
Bojana Jovanovski (SRB,375) bt Chiaki Okadaue (JPN,300) 63 63

(3) Sandra Zahlavova (CZE,186) bt Ling Zhang (HKG,414) 61 46 62
Megan Moulton-Levy (USA,368) bt (8) Yuliya Beygelzimer (UKR,269) 63 64

Doubles Semi-Finals
Megan Moulton-Levy (USA)/ Emily Webley-Smith (GBR) bt Neha Uberoi (USA)/ Shikha Uberoi (IND) 64 75

(2) I-Hsuan Hwang (TPE)/ Ling Zhang (HKG) bt Ankita Bhambri (IND)/ Sanaa Bhambri (IND) 64 63

With Uberois and Bhambris loss in doubles semis finished Indian challenge.

Tennis News
At $50K Womens Challenger, Delhi, India

Singles Second Round 
(1) Masa Zec-Peskiric (SLO,136) bt Emily Webley-Smith (GBR,376) 46 75 63
Anastasiya Vasylyeva (UKR,498) bt Montinee Tangphong (THA,348) 62 76(6)

Chiaki Okadaue (JPN,300) bt (4) Anna Gerasimou (GRE,222) 76(3) 76(3)
Bojana Jovanovski (SRB,375) bt (5) Melanie Klaffner (AUT,282) 62 62

Ling Zhang (HKG,414) bt (WC) Shikha Uberoi (IND,658) 64 76(3)
(3) Sandra Zahlavova (CZE,186) bt (WC) Poojashree Venkatesha (IND,686) 64 61

(8) Yuliya Beygelzimer (UKR,269) bt Ankita Bhambri (IND,404) 62 46 64
Megan Moulton-Levy (USA,368) bt (Q) Romana Tabakova (SVK,703) 67(2) 64 61

Doubles Quarter-Finals 
Neha Uberoi (USA)/ Shikha Uberoi (IND) bt Rushmi Chakravarthi (IND)/ Shaozhuo Liu (CHN) 60 63
Megan Moulton-Levy (USA)/ Emily Webley-Smith (GBR) bt (3) Yuliya Beygelzimer (UKR)/ Florence Haring (FRA) 76(7) 61

Ankita Bhambri (IND)/ Sanaa Bhambri (IND) bt Ganna Piven (UKR)/ Anastasiya Vasylyeva (UKR) 16 63 10(4)
(2) I-Hsuan Hwang (TPE)/ Ling Zhang (HKG) bt Anna Gerasimou (GRE)/ Margit Ruutel (EST) 4-1 Retd.

But no more upsets from our players in the singles second round ... In doubles Bhambris and Uberois r in semis.
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At $450K Chennai Open ATP Tennis Tournament, India (5 - 11 Jan 2009)

Bryans pull out of the Chennai Open citing an aggravated injury to Bob Bryan.

Mike Bryan - "This is really unfortunate. We were keenly looking forward to our participation at the Chennai Open 2009; however Bobs injury has spoilt our plans. We were eagerly looking forward in playing in India but things have not worked out."

Football News

So Indian football team's 2008 year-end ranking is #143 with 168 pts ... Indian coach Houghton has lined up 11 friendlies in the next two years to groom his players.

Also the All India Football Federation named Baichung Bhutia the country's player of the year after his an inspirational showing in India's AFC Challenge Cup win where he won the most valuable player award ... Bhutia is winning this award second time before this he won the award in 1995, he is also the only player after I M Vijayan to win it twice ... Vijayan won this award three times in his career.

Tennis News
At $50K Womens Challenger, Delhi, India

Shikha scored a upset win over top-300 player after more than year, this was also her first win in singles after 9 consecutive losses from July ... Another wild card holder Poojashree also started well with scoring win against higher ranked Chinese player ... Shalini Sahoo also scored creditable win in the final qualifying round to qualify for this challenger.

In doubles also good start for Uberoi and Bhambri sisters who upset seeded pairs in the first round.

Singles First Round -
(1) Masa Zec-Peskiric (SLO,136) bt Laura Siegemund (GER,391) 62 62
Emily Webley-Smith (GBR,376) bt (Q) Shalini Sahoo (IND,736) 63 60

Anastasiya Vasylyeva (UKR,498) bt Miki Miyamura (JPN,454) 64 63
Montinee Tangphong (THA,348) bt (6) Florence Haring (FRA,270) 75 67(0) 61

(4) Anna Gerasimou (GRE,222) bt Marina Melnikova (RUS,514) 67(5) 64 64
Chiaki Okadaue (JPN,300) bt Shiho Hisamatsu (JPN,435) 61 64

Bojana Jovanovski (SRB,375) bt (WC) Parul Goswami (IND,656) 61 64
(5) Melanie Klaffner (AUT,282) bt Tadeja Majeric (SLO,417) 75 64

(WC) Shikha Uberoi (IND,658) bt (7) I-Hsuan Hwang (TPE,275) 62 64
Ling Zhang (HKG,414) bt Nudnida Luangnam (THA,481) 60 75

(WC) Poojashree Venkatesha (IND,686) bt Shaozhuo Liu (CHN,495) 62 64
(3) Sandra Zahlavova (CZE,186) bt (Q) Anastasia Malhotra (JPN,568) 63 64

(8) Yuliya Beygelzimer (UKR,269) bt Sanaa Bhambri (IND,482) 61 60
Ankita Bhambri (IND,404) bt (WC) Rushmi Chakravarthi (IND,516) 61 64

(Q) Romana Tabakova (SVK,703) bt (Q) Ganna Piven (UKR,530) 63 64
Megan Moulton-Levy (USA,368) bt (2) Margit Ruutel (EST,163) 46 64 64

Doubles First Round -
Neha Uberoi (USA)/ Shikha Uberoi (IND) bt (1) Melanie Klaffner (AUT)/ Laura Siegemund (GER) 76(3) 64
Rushmi Chakravarthi (IND)/ Shaozhuo Liu (CHN) bt (WC) Parul Goswami (IND)/ Poojashree Venkatesha (IND) 63 61

(3) Yuliya Beygelzimer (UKR)/ Florence Haring (FRA) bt Parija Maloo (IND)/ Marina Melnikova (RUS) 63 62
Megan Moulton-Levy (USA)/ Emily Webley-Smith (GBR) bt Shiho Hisamatsu (JPN)/ Miki Miyamura (JPN) 76(4) 62

Ganna Piven (UKR)/ Anastasiya Vasylyeva (UKR) bt Ayu-Fani Damayanti (INA)/ Lavinia Tananta (INA) 64 61
Ankita Bhambri (IND)/ Sanaa Bhambri (IND) bt (4) Tadeja Majeric (SLO)/ Masa Zec-Peskiric (SLO) 64 76(4)

Anna Gerasimou (GRE)/ Margit Ruutel (EST) bt (WC) Shalini Sahoo/ Jun-Yi Zheng (CHN) 61 62
(2) I-Hsuan Hwang (TPE)/ Ling Zhang (HKG) bt (WC) Ratnika Batra (IND)/ Shweta Rana (IND) 62 60

Singles Qualifying Final Round -
Shalini Sahoo (IND) bt Aleksandra Filipovksi (HUN) 67(5) 76(6) 63
(2) Ganna Piven (UKR) bt (6) Ayu-Fani Damayanti (INA) 63 62
(3) Anastasia Malhotra (JPN) bt Jun-Yi Zheng (CHN) 61 63
Romana Tabakova (SVK) bt (4) Margarita Edinarova (RUS) 63 60

Second Round -
Aleksandra Filipovksi (HUN) bt (1) Neha Uberoi (USA) 36 63 75
Shalini Sahoo (IND) bt (8) Parija Maloo (IND) 62 75

(2) Ganna Piven (UKR) bt Ratnika Batra (IND) 76(5) 36 62
(6) Ayu-Fani Damayanti (INA) bt Vishakha Sheoran (IND) 60 60

(3) Anastasia Malhotra (JPN) bt Garima Vatwani (IND) 62 64
Jun-Yi Zheng (CHN) bt Shivika Burman (IND) 46 76(3) 62

(4) Margarita Edinarova (RUS) bt (WC) Smriti Joon (IND) 62 62
Romana Tabakova (SVK) bt (5) Lavinia Tananta (INA) 62 64

First Round -
(1) Neha Uberoi (USA) BYE
Aleksandra Filipovksi (HUN) bt Marta Sirotkina (RUS) 76(5) 76(4)
Shalini Sahoo (IND) bt Sowjanya Bavisetti (IND) 60 62
(8) Parija Maloo (IND) btOmlata-Rai Kumari (IND) 60 60

(2) Ganna Piven (UKR) BYE
Ratnika Batra (IND) bt (WC) Likitha Shetty (IND) 60 62
Vishakha Sheoran (IND) bt Disha Saigal (IND) 62 76(3)
(6) Ayu-Fani Damayanti (INA) bt Kumari-Sweta Solanki (IND) 61 62

(3) Anastasia Malhotra (JPN) BYE
Garima Vatwani (IND) bt Sagarika Phadke (IND) 61 62
Jun-Yi Zheng (CHN) bt Sonal Phadke (IND) 63 60
Shivika Burman (IND) bt (7) Prerana-Mythri Appineni (IND) 76(5) 64

(4) Margarita Edinarova (RUS) bt Shweta Rana (IND) 62 63
(WC) Smriti Joon (IND) bt Renuka Keswani (IND) 64 63
Romana Tabakova (SVK) bt Prerna Bhambri (IND) 61 46 63
(5) Lavinia Tananta (INA) bt (WC) Sadhana Athreya (IND) 60 60

Golf News
Jeev Milkha Singh won 2 main awards at the Asian Tour's Awards Gala 2008 on Sunday night, 21st December 2008 ... With his 2008 Order of Merit crown he become the first Indian to win 2 Order of Merit titles, Jeev also named the Players' Player of the Year by other players from Asian tour.

Jeev Milkha Singh - "This is a very special moment. The Asian Tour means a lot to me as this was where I started from. All credit to the Tour as it helped build my confidence and I am truly honoured that the players voted for me for the Player of the Year award."
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Hockey News

At 6th Women's Junior Asia Cup, our U-21 girls team grabbed last spot from Asia for 6th Women's Junior World Cup which will be played at Boston, USA from 3rd to 16th August, 2009 ... They defeated Japanese girls 3-1 in 3rd place play-off.

Badminton News
At $500K World Super Series Masters Finals 2008, Malaysia

Womens Semi-Finals

Saina Nehwal (IND,10) l Wang Chen (HKG,6) 21-15 14-21 16-21

Saina's challenge got over in semis in 42 mins ... Saina won first game but Wang overpowered her in second game ... In third game Wang take lead 14-9 and won it 21-16 ... On Friday night Saina's match against Malaysian Mew Choo Wong ended late, so on Saturday Saina was tired in her match and that was visible in third game.

But this was creditable performance from Saina, who became first Indian player to qualify for World Super Series Masters Finals and also qualified for semis ... With this performance Saina will cemented her place in top-10 BWF ranking.

Saina Nehwal - "Last night match (against Malaysia's Wong Mew Choo) finished very late and I went to bed at 1am. It was very tiring match and it affected me today. Overall, I am still happy with myself after advancing this far and I can say that I had gave my best."

Wang Chen - "Saina played a very fast game in the first set. I can't catch up with her speed. She is a very strong player, her speed very fast and she still very young. But I was able to come back. I now play a more relax game and there is no pressure. That's why I can still play well."

Badminton News
At World Super Series Masters Finals 2008, Malaysia

Womens Semi-Finals

Tina Rasmussen (DEN,2) vs Mi Zhou (HKG,1)
Saina Nehwal (IND,10) vs Chen Wang (HKG,6)

Tomorrow in semis Saina is facing WR #6 Chen Wang, with whom she lost recently at Hong Kong Super Series 2008 on 30th November but Saina also had win against her at Olympic Games 2008 in August ... Saina having 1-3 win-loss record, hopefully she will improve that.
GO SAINA !!!

Womens Singles - Group B

Tina Rasmussen (DEN,2) bt Hongyan Pi (FRA,7) 21-14 21-8
Saina Nehwal (IND,10) bt Mew Choo Wong (MAS,11) 21-10 17-21 21-16

Saina won first game very easily but Wong fought back in second game to win it ... But Saina produced another excellent result winning third game to win match in 48 mins ... So this was Saina's first win over Wong to move into semis, before this match Saina lost against her twice but that was in 2005 and 2007.

Womens Singles - Group B

Saina Nehwal (IND,10) bt Hongyan Pi (FRA,7) 21-18 21-13
Tina Rasmussen (DEN,2) bt Mew Choo Wong (MAS,11) 21-7 21-19

Saina scored convincing victory in 34 mins against WR #7 Hongyan Pi ... This was Saina's first win after 3 consecutive losses against Pi ... So sweet revenge for Saina on bigger stage and that's also in straight games.

Saina after the match - "I kept my cool during the match. I was disappointed with yesterday's defeat and knew that I had to win to stay in contention. It was a very tiring match because of my opponent (Pi Hongyan) style of play. So far, I am having a very good year. Things started to happen after I made it into the quarterfinals of the Olympics. When I went to Olympics, my ranking was at 20 and making it to the quarter-finals is something that is big for me."

Badminton News
At World Super Series Masters Finals 2008, Malaysia

Womens Singles - Group B

Saina Nehwal (IND,10) l Tina Rasmussen (DEN,2) 18-21 14-21
Hongyan Pi (FRA,7) bt Mew Choo Wong (MAS,11) 21-12 20-22 22-20

Saina had unwanted start ... She lost against WR #2 Rasmussen in 27 mins ... In the first game she matched with her fancied opponent but in the second game Rasmussen showed her superiority ... Saina needs to win remaining matches to reach into semis.

Badminton News
At World Super Series Masters Finals 2008, Malaysia

Womens Singles - Group B

Tina Rasmussen (DEN,2)
Hongyan Pi (FRA,7)
Saina Nehwal (IND,10)
Mew Choo Wong (MAS,11)

As per ranking Saina's group looks easier one ... But Saina never win a match against all 3 players from her group ... Very good opportunity for Saina playing back to back against these top quality player.

Tennis News
At 62nd Annual Orange Bowl International Tennis Championships, Key Biscayne, Florida ( ITF Grade A event)

16 yrs old Yuki Bhambri became the first Indian player to win a 16s or 18s Orange Bowl singles championship, he showed remarkable consistency in defeating 18-year-old Jarmere Jenkins.

With this win he will move to no. 2 in the ITF Junior Rankings in year-end rankings ... This is the best result achieved by an Indian junior since at least Leander more then 10 years back ... Karan & Sanam had briefly reached no.4 in the rankings, but those were early in the year.

With this title win Yuki has earned a wild card for qualifying at Miami Master Series ATP in March 09 ... Also as one of the top 2 ranked players, he will receive a junior exempt spot in the three 15K (+H) futures anywhere in the world ... So very big opportunity for him to make some progress on pro tour next year.

Boys’ 18s Singles -

[F] (2) Yuki Bhambri (IND,4) bt Jarmere Jenkins (USA,116) 61 63

[SF] (2) Yuki Bhambri (IND,4) bt (4) Cedrik-Marcel Stebe (GER,6) 63 46 61
[QF] (2) Yuki Bhambri (IND,4) bt Julien Obry (FRA,88) 62 64
[R3] (2) Yuki Bhambri (IND,4) bt (WC) Ryan Noble (USA,361) 63 63
[R2] (2) Yuki Bhambri (IND,4) bt Harry Fowler (USA,66) 62 64
[R1] (2) Yuki Bhambri (IND,4) bt Dennis Novikov (USA,439) 60 62

Boys’ 18s Doubles

[F] (1) Yuki Bhambri (IND)/ Chase Buchanan (USA) l (7) Devin Britton (USA)/ Jarmere Jenkins (USA) 67(9) 26

[SF] (1) Yuki Bhambri (IND)/ Chase Buchanan (USA) bt (3) Shuichi Sekiguchi (JPN)/ Tsung-Hau Yang (TPE) 36 64 10(8)
[QF] (1) Yuki Bhambri (IND)/ Chase Buchanan (USA) bt Jordan Cox (USA)/ Evan King (USA) 63 63
[R2] (1) Yuki Bhambri (IND)/ Chase Buchanan (USA) bt Ryan Noble (USA)/ William. R Parker (USA) 64 61
[R1] (1) Yuki Bhambri (IND)/ Chase Buchanan (USA) bt Emilio Gomez (ECU)/ Jose Pereira (BRA) 62 62

But Jenkins played spoil sport for Yuki to denying double crown as he and partner Devin Britton pulled out a very tight first set against Yuki and Chase, and then easily won second set in doubles final.

Excellent performance by Yuki to win the Grade A Orange Bowl tournament, after a brief period of below par results in the middle of the year ... But Yuki has picked up his game remarkebly since Junior Davis Cup in October, after that he has gone 26-2 win-loss record with most of the wins against top 100 players.

Yuki Bhambri - "It's a big achievement. It's the biggest tournament in the states after the U.S. Open, so I feel very proud of myself."

"It feels really great, and it’s an honor to be the first player from India to win this title. Jarmere’s played some unbelievable tennis this week, and he’s so quick on the court, that I just needed to execute my shots and try my best to keep him off balance."

"Jarmere is an attacking player, he likes to come to the net a lot, get on you very quickly. He was missing at the start, he was a bit nervous, and started to lose confidence."

Bhambri said that it wasn't so much the weakness of the Jenkins backhand as the strength of his forehand that had him searching for errors from that side.

"Every time I went to the forehand I would get passed, he'd hit a winner, so that was the only option I had," Yuki said.

Boxing News
At 1st AIBA World Cup Moscow 2008, Russia

India showed their best performance by winning 4 bronze medals at Boxing World Cup, as our all 4 boxers lost their semi-final matches.

54kg - Bantamweight Semi Final

Akhil Kumar (IND) l Yankiel Leon Alarcon (CUB) 4-4 (on count-back)

Very tactical defensive bout between Akhil and Yankiel ... Akhil produced creditable fight against Olympic silver medallist Yankiel Leon Alarcon from Cuba ... After first 2 rounds both were 2-all, but after 3rd round Cuban takes 1 pt lead but Akhil managed to 4-all after 4th round ... But then in end he lost match on count-back (less punches counted by judges) against Cuban.

Akhil Kumar - "I had worked out a defensive plan for today and he, it seemed, had a similar strategy. We both remained cautious and though I lost, I can proudly say that I gave it my best. It hurts not to have won the gold medal that I always aim for but I am happy that I could give an Olympic silver medallist a run for his money. It was an exciting fight which I enjoyed thoroughly. Anyways my motto in life is get up and keep moving until you achieve your goal."

51kg - Flyweight Semi Final

Jitender Kumar (IND) l Hernandez Laffita (CUB) 4-14

Pan-American champion and Olympic silver medallist Cuban Hernandez Laffita easily defeated Jitender, but after first round Jitender was trailing by only 2 pts (2-4).

Jitender Kumar - "I did pretty well in the first round but lost my composure in after that. It happens but I am happy with the way I performed."

57kg - Featherweight Semi Final

Lalit Anthresh Lakra (IND) l Idel Torriente (CUB) 3-6

Lakra also showed creditable performance in his loss against Cuban boxer Idel Torriente.

81kg - Light-Heavyweight Semi Final

Dinesh Kumar (IND) l Artur Beterbiev (RUS) R2 2:00 Retd

20 yrs old Dinesh Kumar retired from his match against Russian Artur Beterbiev after trailing 1-10 in the second round.

Boxing News
At 1st AIBA World Cup Moscow 2008, Russia

51kg - Flyweight Quarter-Final

Jitender Kumar (IND) bt Jo Gage (WAL) 18-6

Jitender dominated bout from the start against Welsh boxer Jo Gage taking 6-0 lead after first round ... In end he scored very convincing win ... In semis Jitender having tough challenge of Pan-American champion Cuban Hernandez Laffita.

Jitender Kumar - "I was confident ahead of this bout. I felt good and put into practice all my training proving to be too quick and too strong whilst keeping my technique. I owe a lot to my brother (54kg Akhil Kumar) who gave me sound advice ahead of the bout - stay calm, concentrate and always remember you are better than him."

57kg - Featherweight Quarter-Final

Lalit Anthresh Lakra (IND) bt Arturo Santos Reyes (MEX) W/O

Lakra recieved walkover as his Mexican opponent's failed to make weight before match ... In semis he is also facing Cuban boxer Idel Torriente.

Today is a rest day and all semis will be played on Saturday.

Boxing News
At 1st AIBA World Cup Moscow 2008, Russia

Our 4 boxers r participating in this 1st AIBA World cup which having only the Olympics quarter finalists and replacements for withdrawals r invited with exception of Vijender Kumar.

54kg - Bantamweight Quarter Final

Akhil Kumar (IND) bt Marcel Schneider (GER) 15:6 pts

In the 54 kg draw, Indian Commonwealth Games champion Akhil Kumar comfortably beat Germany's Marcel Schneider 15:6 and will face Olympic silver medallist Yankiel Leon Alarcon from Cuba.

81kg - Light-Heavyweight Quarter Final

Dinesh Kumar (IND) bt Abdelhafid Benchabla (ALG) 17:11 pts

Dinesh Kumar also guranteed our second medal with win over Algerian boxer Abdelhafid Benchabla and in the semis he will face Russian Artur Beterbiev.

Today Jitender Kumar is facing Welsh boxer Jo Gage in 51kg Flyweight category and Lalit Anthresh Lakra is facing Mexican Arturo Santos Reyes in 57kg Featherweight category.
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Badminton News
At $15K VIII Italian International 2008, Roma

[R1] (Q) Akshay Dewalkar (IND)/ Jishnu Sanyal (IND) l Ruben Gordown Khosadalina (ESP)/ Stenny Kusuma (ESP) 19-21 14-21

[R2] Neha Pandit (IND,95) l (5) Jill Pittard (ENG,47) 21-23 21-18 18-21
[R2] (Q) Rajah M. V. Gurusaidatt (IND,373) l (3) Dicky Palyama (NED,32) 20-22 19-21

Though they lost their matches still Neha and Gurusaidatt produced creditable fighting performances against their top-50 opponents.

Badminton News
At $15K VIII Italian International 2008, Roma

[Q1] Abhimanyu Singh (IND,277) l Pedro Martins (POR,233) 20-22 17-21
[Q1] Sourabh Verma (IND,340) bt Vidre Vibowo (FRA,UNR) 21-14 14-21 21-10
[Q1] Rajah M. V. Gurusaidatt (IND,373) bt Rainer Kaljumäe (EST,316) 21-13 22-20
[Q1] Gayatri Vartak (IND,178) l (3) Natalia Pocztowiak (POL,130) 21-13 16-21 16-21

[Q1] Akshay Dewalkar (IND)/ Jishnu Sanyal (IND) bt (3) Daniel Grassmück (AUT)/ Roman Zirnwald (AUT) 21-17 24-22

[Q2] Sourabh Verma (IND,340) bt (4) Vladimir Malkov (RUS,180) 21-18 13-21 21-19
[Q2] Rajah M. V. Gurusaidatt (IND,373) bt Giovanni Traina (ITA,402) 21-10 21-17

[Q2] Akshay Dewalkar (IND)/ Jishnu Sanyal (IND) bt Maxime Michel (FRA)/ Maxime Renault (FRA) 21-8 21-19

[Q3] Rajah M. V. Gurusaidatt (IND,373) bt Sourabh Verma (IND,340) 21-8 21-9

[R1] (Q) Rajah M. V. Gurusaidatt (IND,373) bt Koen Ridder (NED,138) 19-21 21-11 21-13
[R1] Neha Pandit (IND,95) bt Martina Benesova (CZE,125) 21-23 21-16 21-17

[R1] (Q) Akshay Dewalkar (IND)/ Jishnu Sanyal (IND) vs Ruben Gordown Khosadalina (ESP)/ Stenny Kusuma (ESP)

[R2] Neha Pandit (IND,95) vs (5) Jill Pittard (ENG,47)
[R2] (Q) Rajah M. V. Gurusaidatt (IND,373) vs (3) Dicky Palyama (NED,32)

RMV Gurusaidatt continued with his excellent performance of last week ... Sourabh Verma was unlucky to face him in the final qualifying ... Pair of Akshay Dewalkar and Jishnu Sanyal also qualified with good win over higher seeded pairs.

RMV Gurusaidatt and Neha had fighting win in the first round but in second round they r having tougher challenge of top-50 players.

Badminton News

Badminton World Federation (BWF) declared Saina Nehwal as the most promising player of the year 2008 ... Saina became the first Indian woman shuttler to be named for this prize.
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Golf News

After his emotional win in the Golf Nippon Series JT Cup, Jeev Milkha Singh equaled his career best #36 official world golf rankings ... He is also played maximum tournaments in top-50 list, he played 72 tournaments.
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Shooting News

Gagan Narang, Abhinav Bindra and Ronjan Sodhi r in the top 10 of latest rankings issued by the International Shooting Federation (ISSF).

After his World record-breaking performances in the recent World Cup finals, Gagan Narang has moved up 3 places in the men’s 10m air rifle to be sixth in the latest rankings.

Olympic gold medallist Abhinav Bindra managed to remain to his second place in Men's 10m Air Rifle.

Double trap shooter Ronjan Sodhi retained the 10th spot.

Golf News

At Golf Nippon Series JT Cup, Tokyo

1 Jeev Milkha Singh 64 70 68 66  -12  ￥30,000,000

Jeev Milkha Singh showed courage to put behind personal tragedy to win the most emotional victory of his career when he lifted the second time this season-ending Golf Nippon Series JT Cup in Tokyo on Sunday.

On last day Jeev started one shot behind previous round leader Prayad Marksaeng, Jeev kicked off with a blemish-free front nine which was studded with a treble of birdies at the Tokyo Yomiuri Country Club ... On back 9, bogey on the 13th hole was only blemish for Jeev, but he followed it with a birdie to produced superb round of 66 that was enough to take home his second JT Cup title and pocket thirty million yen by 2 strokes.

So far, Jeev has won four titles on three different tours to break into the top 50 and his other titles include Bank Austria Open (on European Tour) and the Barclays Singapore Open (on Asian Tour).

Jeev Milkha Singh - "I dedicate this win to my wife, for being strong enough to tell me to go and play on the Thursday morning. A lot happened in my family over the last few days and we have gone through quite a bit. Besides my wife, I want to dedicate this win to the family members from both my and my wife's sides. I also want to thank the Indian ambassador and his wife, who have been a close friend and stood by us emotionally as well, helping us get through the difficult time."

On the personal tragedy, Jeev said, "It was God's will and I hope there is something better in future for us. I would like to thank my friends and fans who cared for us and all people who supported us in this difficult time. I also thank the media for respecting and understanding the situation. God has been very kind with this victory and I hope, no I believe, in future there would be something good for us."

Badminton News
At $15K Bahrain International Challenge 2008,

Indians managed to win 4 titles of 5 available ... Only exception was Womens doubles title.

R.M.V. Guru Sai Dutt of India won his maiden men’s singles title on the international circuit defeating Andy Sabutro of Indonesia 21-13, 22-20 in the final of the Bahrain International Challenge badminton championship in Bahrain.

Trupti Murgunde also made winning comeback, this was her first tournament after more than 6 months injury lay-off.

Mens Singles -
[R1] SINGH Abhimanyu (IND,277) bye
[R1] M . Vyasan (IND,UNR) bye
[R1] SABOO Sidharth (IND,UNR) bt MATAR Faeez (SYR,456) 21-15 20-22 21-12
[R1] CASTELINO Rohan (IND,293) bye
[R1] P. K . Jamsheed (IND,UNR) bt PILLAI Unnikrishna (BRN,UNR) 21-16 19-21 21-0
[R1] VERMA Saurabh (IND,340) bye
[R1] BORA Angshuman (IND,UNR) bye
[R1] BORAH Dibyajyoti (IND,UNR) bye
[R1] CHETIA Anirban (IND,UNR) l ABDUL WAHID Nawras (SYR,UNR) 21-19 9-21 12-21
[R1] (4) JADHAV Ankush (IND,175) bye
[R1] SARMA Nikhilesh (IND,UNR) bye
[R1] BHOBORA Suranjan (IND,UNR) bye
[R1] RAJAH MANURI VENKATA Gurusaidutt (IND,373) bye

[R2] SINGH Abhimanyu (IND,277) l SAPUTRO Nugroho Andi (INA,212) 19-21 16-21
[R2] M . Vyasan (IND,UNR) bt (6) SMOLA Clemens (AUT,151) 21-15 21-13
[R2] SABOO Sidharth (IND,UNR) bt AL- SAYED HAMED Ebrahim Jafar (BRN,UNR) W/O
[R2] CASTELINO Rohan (IND,293) bt (3) SHAHHOSSEINI Ali (IRI,104) 21-19 21-17
[R2] P. K . Jamsheed (IND,UNR) l AWAD Ammar (SYR,453) 18-21 20-22
[R2] VERMA Saurabh (IND,340) l (8) PAMUNGKAS Bandar Sigit (INA,188) 18-21 13-21
[R2] BORA Angshuman (IND,UNR) bt NICOLAIDES Chris (BRN,UNR) 16-21 21-15 21-11
[R2] BORAH Dibyajyoti (IND,UNR) l MATEJKA Michal (SVK,252) 21-17 12-21 19-21
[R2] (4) JADHAV Ankush (IND,175) l KHERADMANDI Mohammed Reza (IRI,230) 13-21 13-21
[R2] SARMA Nikhilesh (IND,UNR) l SETIAWAN Engga (INA,375) 10-21 7-21
[R2] BHOBORA Suranjan (IND,UNR) l (5) KESSOV Boris (BUL,178) 17-21 12-21
[R2] RAJAH MANURI VENKATA Gurusaidutt (IND,373) bt AHMAD Assaf (SYR,453) W/O

[R3] SABOO Sidharth (IND,UNR) bt M . Vyasan (IND,UNR) 21-17 21-2
[R3] CASTELINO Rohan (IND,293) bt AWAD Ammar (SYR,453) 21-11 21-12
[R3] BORA Angshuman (IND,UNR) l (8) PAMUNGKAS Bandar Sigit (INA,188) 6-21 11-21
[R3] RAJAH MANURI VENKATA Gurusaidutt (IND,373) bt (2) MEHRABI Kaveh (IRI,100) 21-17 15-21 21-19

[QF] SABOO Sidharth (IND,UNR) l SAPUTRO Nugroho Andi (INA,212) 14-21 11-21
[QF] CASTELINO Rohan (IND,293) l (8) PAMUNGKAS Bandar Sigit (INA,188) 19-21 21-14 16-21
[QF] RAJAH MANURI VENKATA Gurusaidutt (IND,373) bt SETIAWAN Engga (INA,375) 21-16 21-17

[SF] RAJAH MANURI VENKATA Gurusaidutt (IND,373) bt KHERADMANDI Mohammed Reza (IRI,230)

[F] RAJAH MANURI VENKATA Gurusaidutt (IND,373) bt SAPUTRO Nugroho Andi (INA,212) 21-13 22-20

Womens Singles -
[R1] SAHASRABUDDHE Sampada (IND,UNR) bt (1) REID Charmaine (CAN,49) 21-19 21-13
[R1] VARTAK Gayatri (IND,178) bt AMIRIPOUR Negin (IRI,203) 21-10 21-11
[R1] DAS Kristi (IND,378) bt (3) SANTOS Telma (POR,79) W/O
[R1] PONNAPPA Ashwini (IND,UNR) bt KAREEM Hadil (SYR,UNR) 21-11 21-16
[R1] DEKA Abantika (IND,281) bt ZAMANIAN NEJAT ZADEH Sahar (IRI,242) 21-10 21-15
[R1] BALAN Aparna (IND,UNR) l (4) GRETHER Nicole (GER,70) 14-21 16-21
[R1] MURGUNDE Trupti (IND,117) bt KABIRI Sabereh (IRI,281) 21-11 21-9
[R1] MISHA Ruth (IND,225) bt (2) LAMY Filipa (POR,67) W/O

[QF] VARTAK Gayatri (IND,178) bt SAHASRABUDDHE Sampada (IND,UNR) 21-16 21-15
[QF] PONNAPPA Ashwini (IND,UNR) bt DAS Kristi (IND,378) 21-9 21-10
[QF] DEKA Abantika (IND,281) l (4) GRETHER Nicole (GER,70) 15-21 15-21
[QF] MURGUNDE Trupti (IND,117) bt MISHA Ruth (IND,225) 21-13 14-21 21-12

[SF] PONNAPPA Ashwini (IND,UNR) bt VARTAK Gayatri (IND,178)
[SF] MURGUNDE Trupti (IND,117) bt (4) GRETHER Nicole (GER,70)

[F] MURGUNDE Trupti (IND,117) bt PONNAPPA Ashwini (IND,UNR) 21-16 21-13

Mens Doubles -
[R1] BORA Angshuman (IND)/ SARMA Nikhilesh (IND) bye
[R1] P.K. Jamsheed (IND)/ M. Vyasan (IND) bye
[R1] VALIYAVEETIL Diju (IND)/ VIJAY Ram.C. (IND) bye
[R1] VISHNU Arun (IND)/ KONA Tarun (IND) bye
[R1] BORAH Dibyajyoti (IND)/ BHOBORA Suranjan (IND) bt SMOLA Clemens (AUT)/ OMAR Nahas (BRN) 21-9 21-5
[R1] DEWALKAR Akshay (IND)/ SANYAL Jishnu (IND) bye
[R1] JAMES Jayan (IND)/ SEBASTIAN Konnullil (IND) bye
[R1] CHETIA Anirban (IND)/ SABOO Sidharth (IND) bye

[R2] BORA Angshuman (IND)/ SARMA Nikhilesh (IND) l (1) SHAHHOSSEINI Ali (IRI)/ KHERADMANDI Mohammed Reza (IRI) 14-21 16-21
[R2] P.K. Jamsheed (IND)/ M. Vyasan (IND) bt AL- SAYED HAMED Ebrahim Jafar (BRN)/ AL- SAYED JAFAR Ebrahim Jafar (BRN) 23-21 16-21 21-17
[R2] VALIYAVEETIL Diju (IND)/ VIJAY Ram.C. (IND) bt KALLOOKKARAN Anto (BRN)/ REBELLO Ricson (BRN) 21-6 21-8
[R2] VISHNU Arun (IND)/ KONA Tarun (IND) bt AL-DORA Bassel (SYR)/ ABDULWAHID Nawras (SYR) 12-21 13-21
[R2] BORAH Dibyajyoti (IND)/ BHOBORA Suranjan (IND) bt NICOLAIDES Chris (BRN)/ MOTTIL Junith (BRN) 21-12 21-17
[R2] DEWALKAR Akshay (IND)/ SANYAL Jishnu (IND) bt AHMAD Assaf (SYR)/ SAIMIR Fadi (SYR) W/O
[R2] JAMES Jayan (IND)/ SEBASTIAN Konnullil (IND) bt PULLANI Jayakumar (BRN)/ PILLAI Unnikrishna (BRN) 21-14 21-13
[R2] CHETIA Anirban (IND)/ SABOO Sidharth (IND) l (2) AWAD Ammar (SYR)/ MATAR Faeez (SYR) 21-17 17-21 22-24

[QF] P.K. Jamsheed (IND)/ M. Vyasan (IND) l (1) SHAHHOSSEINI Ali (IRI)/ KHERADMANDI Mohammed Reza (IRI) 9-21 5-21
[QF] VALIYAVEETIL Diju (IND)/ VIJAY Ram.C. (IND) bt VISHNU Arun (IND)/ KONA Tarun (IND) 21-9 21-13
[QF] DEWALKAR Akshay (IND)/ SANYAL Jishnu (IND) bt BORAH Dibyajyoti (IND)/ BHOBORA Suranjan (IND) 21-12 21-14
[QF] JAMES Jayan (IND)/ SEBASTIAN Konnullil (IND) bt (2) AWAD Ammar (SYR)/ MATAR Faeez (SYR) 21-10 21-13

[SF] VALIYAVEETIL Diju (IND)/ VIJAY Ram.C. (IND) l (1) SHAHHOSSEINI Ali (IRI)/ KHERADMANDI Mohammed Reza (IRI)
[SF] DEWALKAR Akshay (IND)/ SANYAL Jishnu (IND) bt JAMES Jayan (IND)/ SEBASTIAN Konnullil (IND)

[F] DEWALKAR Akshay (IND)/ SANYAL Jishnu (IND) bt (1) SHAHHOSSEINI Ali (IRI)/ KHERADMANDI Mohammed Reza (IRI) 14-21 21-18 21-11

Womens Doubles -
[R1] DEKA Abantika (IND)/ MISHA Ruth (IND) bye
[R1] BALAN Aparna (IND)/ SAHASRABUDDHE Sampada (IND) bt SUNDER Rehana (BRN)/ SHETTY Shalini (BRN) 21-11 21-10
[R1] PONNAPPA Ashwini (IND)/ SOSALE Nitya (IND) bt KAREEM Hadil (SYR)/ KABIRI Sabereh (IRI) 17-21 21-9 21-17

[QF] BALAN Aparna (IND)/ SAHASRABUDDHE Sampada (IND) bt DEKA Abantika (IND)/ MISHA Ruth (IND) 21-11 19-21 21-16
[QF] PONNAPPA Ashwini (IND)/ SOSALE Nitya (IND) bt JOSE Alphonsa (BRN)/ NAIR Jayashree (BRN) 21-9 21-5

[SF] BALAN Aparna (IND)/ SAHASRABUDDHE Sampada (IND) bt AMIRIPOUR Negin (IRI)/ ZAMANIAN NEJAT ZADEH Sahar (IRI)
[SF] PONNAPPA Ashwini (IND)/ SOSALE Nitya (IND) l (2) REID Charmaine (CAN)/ GRETHER Nicole (GER)

[F] BALAN Aparna (IND)/ SAHASRABUDDHE Sampada (IND) l (2) REID Charmaine (CAN)/ GRETHER Nicole (GER) 16-21 13-21

MXD -
[R1] (1) VALIYAVEETIL Diju (IND)/ MURGUNDE Trupti (IND) Bye
[R1] VIJAY Ram.C. (IND)/ SAHASRABUDDHE Sampada (IND) l AL-DORA Bassel (SYR)/ KAREEM Hadil (SYR) 19-21 21-15 16-21
[R1] BORAH Dibyajyoti (IND)/ DEKA Abantika (IND) bt MOTTIL Junith (BRN)/ MISHA Ruth (IND) 21-12 21-15
[R1] CHETIA Anirban (IND)/ DAS Kristi (IND) bt AWAD Ammar (SYR)/ NAIR Jayashree (BRN) 21-15 21-13
[R1] VISHNU Arun (IND)/ BALAN Aparna (IND) bt AL- SAYED JAFAR Ebrahim Jafar (BRN)/ GRETHER Nicole (GER) 21-15 18-21 21-15

[QF] (1) VALIYAVEETIL Diju (IND)/ MURGUNDE Trupti (IND) bt AL-DORA Bassel (SYR)/ KAREEM Hadil (SYR) 21-17 21-13
[QF] BORAH Dibyajyoti (IND)/ DEKA Abantika (IND) bt REBELLO Ricson (BRN)/ SUNDER Rehana (BRN) 21-9 21-11
[QF] CHETIA Anirban (IND)/ DAS Kristi (IND) bt ABDUL WAHID Nawras (SYR)/ JOSE Alphonsa (BRN) 21-11 21-19
[QF] VISHNU Arun (IND)/ BALAN Aparna (IND) bt KHAN Rashed (BRN)/ REID Charmaine (CAN) 21-13 21-3

[SF] (1) VALIYAVEETIL Diju (IND)/ MURGUNDE Trupti (IND) bt BORAH Dibyajyoti (IND)/ DEKA Abantika (IND)
[SF] VISHNU Arun (IND)/ BALAN Aparna (IND) bt CHETIA Anirban (IND)/ DAS Kristi (IND)

[F] VISHNU Arun (IND)/ BALAN Aparna (IND) bt (1) VALIYAVEETIL Diju (IND)/ MURGUNDE Trupti (IND) 17-21 21-18 21-19

Golf News

Very sad, my condolences with Jeev and his family -
Any other player would have packed the bag and headed home but Jeev Milkha Singh, urged by his wife, shone through the grief of losing his child and turned in an even-par round on Friday.

With his wife recuperating in a local hospital after delivering a stillborn baby, playing in the Nippon Series was the last thing on Jeev's mind but he decided to tee off at the urge of his better half.

After end of second round at Golf Nippon Series JT Cup 2008, Jeev is leading the pack ... Today only 6 players from 26 players managed under par round, Jeev scored PAR round and taking lead by 1 stroke over 2 local players.

Jeev started from front 9, scored birdie, bogey, birdie on first 3 holes ... Then scored another birdie on 6th hole with bogey on 7th ... He completed front 9 scoring birdie and was 2 under for the day after completing 9 holes ... But on back 9 he scored a double bogey on 11th hole to back on even for the day ... Then he scored birdie on 16th hole but bogey on par-5 17th hole brought him back on even for the day.

Badminton News
At $50K Vietnam Open Grand Prix 2008,

[R2] (7) Ajay Jayaram (IND,81) bt Saravuth Prum (CAM,384) 21-10 21-3
[R2] (4) Kashyap P (IND,48) bt Ngo Manh Nguyen (VIE,UNR) 21-9 21-15
[R2] (2) Aditi Mutatkar (IND,36) bt Melicia Kurniawan (INA,150) 21-14 21-14

[R3] (7) Ajay Jayaram (IND,81) bt Zi Liang Derek Wong (SIN,157) 25-23 21-13
[R3] (4) Kashyap P (IND,48) bt Kazushi Yamada (JPN,147) 21-13 21-17

[QF] (4) Kashyap P (IND,48) l (6) Ari Yuli Wahyu Hartanto (INA,50) 13-21 18-21
[QF] (7) Ajay Jayaram (IND,81) l (1) Tien Minh Nguyen (VIE,17) 17-21 10-21

[QF] (2) Aditi Mutatkar (IND,36) l (7) Mingtian Fu (SIN,66) 20-22 21-17 14-21

[QF] (5) Rupesh Kumar (IND)/ Sanave Thomas (IND) l (1) Wan Wah Lee (MAS)/ Tan Fook Choong (MAS) 21-23 21-16 13-21

Aditi was favorite against Singaporean player ... After losing close first game she tried fightback winning second game ... But in third game Fu didn't give her any chance ... Lost opportunity for Aditi.

After winning his 2nd and 3rd round matches easily Kashyap lost his quarter-final against similar ranked Indonesian player ... Rupesh and Sanave also lost close match against top-seed Malaysian pair.
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Top 100 Ranking of Indian Badminton players on December 4, 2008

As expected first time in her short career 18 yrs old Saina Nehwal breaks into top 10 BWF ranking in newly declared rankings.

Womens Singles -
10 Saina Nehwal 49471 pts
36 Aditi Mutatkar 27960 pts
95 Neha Pandit 11860 pts

Womens Doubles -
25 Jwala Gutta (IND)/ Shruti Kurian (IND) 31038 pts
66 Saina Nehwal (IND)/ Anna Rice (CAN) 11120 pts

Mens Singles -
15 Chetan Anand 41440 pts
33 Arvind Bhat 31307 pts
42 Anup Sridhar 25592 pts
48 P Kashyap 24170 pts
49 Anand Pawar 23720 pts
81 Ajay Jayaram 15380 pts

Mens Doubles -
44 Rupesh Kumar (IND)/ Sanave Thomas (IND) 21356 pts
68 Akshay Diwalkar (IND)/ V Diju (IND) 12865 pts

Mixed Doubles -
26 V Diju (IND)/ Jwala Gutta (IND) 27240 pts

Tennis News

In interesting development, Somdev Devvarman is currently enjoying a ten-day training stint with American player Andy Roddick in Austin, Texas ... Somi started working alongside the world No. 8 and his new coach Larry Stefanki on Sunday ... This is a huge opportunity for him to train under the watchful eye of Larry Stefanki, who coached great players like John McEnroe, Marcelo Rios, Yevgeni Kafelnikov and Fernando Gonzales.
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Badminton News
At $50K Vietnam Open Grand Prix 2008,

[R1] (4) Kashyap P (IND,45) bt Quoc Huy Pham (VIE,493) 21-9 21-6
[R1] (7) Ajay Jayaram (IND,83) bt Huy Hoang Phan (VIE,UNR) 21-5 21-10

[R1] (2) Aditi Mutatkar (IND,38) bt Sok Kung Leng (CAM,UNR) 21-3 21-5

[R1] (5) Rupesh Kumar (IND)/ Sanave Thomas (IND) bt Ping Hsuan Hsieh (TPE)/ Hsun Wei Liao (TPE) 21-16 21-7
[R2] (5) Rupesh Kumar (IND)/ Sanave Thomas (IND) bt Phakornkham Fongmalayseng (LAO)/ Vanpasith Philavanh (LAO) 21-18 21-5

Very difficult to find results of this GP level tournament at Vietnam ... Expected winning start for our all players.
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Golf News
At Nippon Series JT Cup, Tokyo

This week Jeev is playing season-ending Nippon Series JT Cup at Tokyo ... Jeev started well on his favorite hunting ground, where he won the title in 2006 and missed the title winning chance in 2007 when after leading the tournament until 71st hole he scored a double bogey on the last hole to finished on 3rd, he scored 6-under (64) to sharing the second, one stroke behind leader Kaname Yokoo (63).

Jeev had a blemishless round with 6 birdies and no bogeys ... Jeev scored 3 birdies each on the front and back 9.

Jeev after the first round - "I have been playing well and as I have always maintained if I can keep myself in contention over the weekend, I will always have a chance. I sure love this tournament of champions. It seems to bring the best out in me."

Badminton News
At $50K Vietnam Open Grand Prix 2008,

[R1] (4) Kashyap P (IND,45) vs Quoc Huy Pham (VIE,493)
[R1] (7) Ajay Jayaram (IND,83) vs Huy Hoang Phan (VIE,UNR)

[R1] (2) Aditi Mutatkar (IND,38) vs Sok Kung Leng (CAM,UNR)

[R1] (5) Rupesh Kumar (IND)/ Sanave Thomas (IND) vs Ping Hsuan Hsieh (TPE)/ Hsun Wei Liao (TPE)

This week Aditi, Kashyap and Ajay having good opportunity to improve their ranking in this weak draw GP ... Go guys make the most of it.

Football News
I-League 2008-09 - 29th November

Mohun Bagan bt Chirag United 2-0

Goal Scored - Jose Ramirez Barreto (MB) 16', Baichung Bhutia (MB) 30'
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Vasco SC bt Air-India 1-0

Goal Scored - Ravshan Teshabaev (VSC) 65'
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30th November

Sporting Clube de Goa bt JCT 2-1

Goal Scored - Elijah Obagbemiro Junior (ScG) 28' & 48', Jagpreet Singh (JCT) 58'
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1st December

East Bengal l Churchill Brothers SC 1-2

Goal Scored - Chitrasen Chandam Singh (CB) 2' (own Goal) and Ogba Kalu Nnanna (CB) 32', Mehrajuddin Wadoo (EB) 65' (own goal)
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Tennis News
At $15K India F9 Futures, Kolkata (clay)

Singles Final
(1) Alexander SATSCHKO (GER) bt (3) David SAVIC (SRB) 63 64

Doubles Final
(4) Rupesh ROY (IND)/ Sunil-Kumar SIPAEYA (IND) bt (2) David SAVIC (SRB)/ Nathan THOMPSON (USA) 76(5) 60

Singles Semi-Finals
(1) Alexander SATSCHKO (GER) bt Vishnu VARDHAN (IND) 3-0 Retd
(3) David SAVIC (SRB) bt (2) Nathan THOMPSON (USA) 61 67(2) 2-1 Retd

This week Rupesh and Sunil kept Indian challenge to win doubles title Vishnu also performed well in singles reaching semis in singles.

Badminton News
At $200K Yonex Sunrise Hong Kong Super Series 2008,

[QF] Arvind Bhat (IND,41) l Boonsak Ponsana (THA,17) 26-28 22-20 14-21

[QF] Saina Nehwal (IND,11) l Chen Wang (HKG,8) 25-27 21-14 15-21

Arvind wasn't third time lucky ... Arvind produced valiant efforts against top-20 Thai player ... After losing marathon first game, he won second game ... But in third game he mostly went out of steam in this long 65 mins match ... Though good performance from him in this Super Series.

And Saina's challenge also got over in quarter-finals against local girl, who was WR #8 ... After losing closely fought first game Saina won second game easily but then lost this match in 52 mins.

Tennis News
At $15K India F9 Futures, Kolkata (clay)

Singles Quarter-Finals
(1) Alexander SATSCHKO (GER) bt Rupesh ROY (IND) 62 75
Vishnu VARDHAN (IND) bt Rohan GAJJAR (IND) 63 64
(3) David SAVIC (SRB) bt (6) Daniel LUSTIG (CZE) 63 Retd.
(2) Nathan THOMPSON (USA) bt (Q) Rifat BIKTYAKOV (UZB) 63 60

Doubles Semi-Finals
(4) Rupesh ROY (IND)/ Sunil-Kumar SIPAEYA (IND) bt (1) Rohan GAJJAR (IND)/ Purav RAJA (IND) 36 61 10(5)
(2) David SAVIC (SRB)/ Nathan THOMPSON (USA) bt (3) Alexander SATSCHKO (GER)/ Marc-Andre STRATLING (GER) 36 75 10(6)

So Vishnu is keeping Indian interest alive in singles ... In doubles Rupesh and Sunil scored good win over op-ssed pair of Rohan and Purav.

Badminton News
At $200K Yonex Sunrise Hong Kong Super Series 2008,

[R2] Chetan Anand (IND,14) vs (3) Jin Chen (CHN,3) 11-21
[R2] Arvind Bhat (IND,41) bt Yan Kit Chan (HKG,26) 21-14 21-19

[R2] Saina Nehwal (IND,11) bt (Q) Youn Joo Bae (KOR,78) 21-15 11-21 21-13

[QF] Arvind Bhat (IND,41) vs Boonsak Ponsana (THA,17)
[QF] Saina Nehwal (IND,11) vs Chen Wang (HKG,8)

Surprisingly Saina lost 2nd game against Koream qualifier ... Mostly loss of concentration but then in third game Saina gave dominating performance to move into quarter-final ... With this win Saina assured her first-time entry into BWF top-10 ranking ... :-)

Arvind scored another upset win over top-30 local player in 32 mins .. He showed yesterday's win wasn't fluke in this straight games win to move into Super Series quarter finals.

Chetan had tough time in adjusting his game against WR # 3 Jin Chen lost first game in 13 mins ... In second game also he was doing catching game but in end lost match in 27 mins.

Badminton News
At $200K Yonex Sunrise Hong Kong Super Series 2008,

[R1] Chetan Anand (IND,14) bt Petr Koukal (CZE,40) 21-18 17-21 21-13
[R1] Arvind Bhat (IND,41) bt (6) Joachim Persson (DEN,8) 21-17 21-17

[R1] Saina Nehwal (IND,11) bt Salakjit Ponsana (THA,30) 21-19 22-20

[R1] Saina Nehwal (IND)/ Anna Rice (CAN) l Chiou Hwee Haw (MAS)/ Pek Siah Lim (MAS) 16-21 11-21

[R2] Chetan Anand (IND,14) vs (3) Jin Chen (CHN,3)
[R2] Arvind Bhat (IND,41) vs Yan Kit Chan (HKG,26)

[R2] Saina Nehwal (IND,11) vs Youn Joo Bae (KOR,78)

These days our Indian players r playing exceptionally well ... This time Arvind produced stunning result beating Danish WR #8 Joachim Persson in 29 mins ... Very solid straight games victory in which he controlled match from the start, in second round he is facing local player ... Chetan also scored win in 3 games but having tough Chinese opponent, WR #3, in the next round ... Saina also started well finishing her match in tight 2 games, now she will face Korean qualifier in second round.
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Chess News
Chess Olympiad 2008 Dresden, Germany

Chess Olympiad 2008 ended yesterday, overall our both teams underperformed slightly than their rankings -
In Open Category - Indian Men ended on Rank 16 with 26 points (seeding 13th)
In Women Category - Indian Women ended on Rank 15 with 25 points (seeding 11)

In Women Board 5 category our Mary Ann Gomes won a Silver medal ... This is creditable performance by 19 yrs old Mary Ann Gomes ... She managed to score 6 pts from 8 games and that will help her to gain 21 ELO rating points.

Tennis News
At $15K India F9 Futures, Kolkata (clay)

Singles Second Round
(1) Alexander SATSCHKO (GER) bt Ranjeet VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND) 64 63
Rupesh ROY (IND) bt Purav RAJA (IND) 62 76(1)
Vishnu VARDHAN (IND) bt (Q) N. Vijay Sundar PRASHANTH (IND) 46 76(5) 76(4)
Rohan GAJJAR (IND) bt (WC) Vijayant MALIK (IND) 75 76(4)
(6) Daniel LUSTIG (CZE) bt (Q) Mario ECKARDT (GER) 61 57 62
(3) David SAVIC (SRB) bt (WC) Rohan GIDE (IND) 76(1) 60
(Q) Rifat BIKTYAKOV (UZB) bt (Q) Ronak MANUJA (IND) 62 60
(2) Nathan THOMPSON (USA) bt Navdeep SINGH (IND) 63 76(3)

Doubles Quarter-Finals
(1) Rohan GAJJAR (IND)/ Purav RAJA (IND) bt N. Vijay Sundar PRASHANTH (IND)/ Ranjit VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND) 63 3-3 ?
(4) Rupesh ROY (IND)/ Sunil-Kumar SIPAEYA (IND) bt I-Ta CHEN (TPE)/ Perakiat SIRILUETHAIWATTANA (THA) 62 64
(3) Alexander SATSCHKO (GER)/ Marc-Andre STRATLING (GER) Rifat BIKTYAKOV (UZB)/ Vaja UZAKOV (UZB) 62 64
(2) David SAVIC (SRB)/ Nathan THOMPSON (USA) bt (WC) Vijay KANNAN (IND)/ Saurav PANJA (IND) 62 62

Somewhat expected results in singles ... Rupesh scored good win over Purav ... Vijayant Malik produced fighting performance against Rohan Gajjar ... Navdeep also produced decent performance against 2nd seed Nathan Thompson.

But match of the day was between Vishnu Vardhan and Vijay Sundar Prashanth ... From score it looks match was very close, losing some points here and there costed match for Vijay Sundar Prashanth ... But good result for Vishnu Vardhan, who able to scored comeback victory in this tight match.

Tennis News
At $15K India F9 Futures, Kolkata (clay)

Singles First Round
(1) Alexander SATSCHKO (GER) bt Vignesh PERANAMALLUR-CHANDRASEKHAR (IND) 60 60
Ranjeet VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND) bt (Q) Rahil MAKHARIA (IND) 60 63
Rupesh ROY (IND) bt Prajnesh GUNNESWARAN (IND) 64 64
Purav RAJA (IND) bt (5) Marc-Andre STRATLING (GER) 75 64
(Q) N. Vijay Sundar PRASHANTH (IND) bt (4) Sunil-Kumar SIPAEYA (IND) 76(1) 60
Vishnu VARDHAN (IND) bt (WC) Aditya MADKEKAR (IND) 60 62
(WC) Vijayant MALIK (IND) bt (WC) Abhijeet TIWARI (IND) 62 67(4) 63
Rohan GAJJAR (IND) bt (7) Syrym ABDUKHALIKOV (KAZ) 63 64
(6) Daniel LUSTIG (CZE) bt Perakiat SIRILUETHAIWATTANA (THA) 61 64
(Q) Mario ECKARDT (GER) bt (Q) Srirambalaji NARAYANASWAMY (IND) 46 63 76(2)
(WC) Rohan GIDE (IND) bt (Q) Jakhongir KHAYDAROV (UZB) 63 64
(3) David SAVIC (SRB) bt Pirmin HAENLE (GER) 62 64
(Q) Ronak MANUJA (IND) bt (8) Vaja UZAKOV (UZB) 75 63
(Q) Rifat BIKTYAKOV (UZB) bt (Q) Igor PANIN (RUS) 75 61
Navdeep SINGH (IND) bt Tushar LIBERHAN (IND) 64 63
(2) Nathan THOMPSON (USA) bt I-Ta CHEN (TPE) 75 62

Doubles First Round
(1) Rohan GAJJAR (IND)/ Purav RAJA (IND) bt Vignesh PERANAMALLUR-CHANDRASEKHAR (IND)/ Vishnu VARDHAN (IND) 60 63
N. Vijay Sundar PRASHANTH (IND)/ Ranjit VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND) bt (WC) Kamala KANNAN (IND)/ Vishal PUNNA (IND) 63 60
(4) Rupesh ROY (IND)/ Sunil-Kumar SIPAEYA (IND) bt Mario ECKARDT (GER)/ Pirmin HAENLE (GER) 67(2) 62 10(6)
I-Ta CHEN (TPE)/ Perakiat SIRILUETHAIWATTANA (THA) bt Krishik DIVAKAR (IND)/ Nikunj SIWACH (IND) 60 61
Rifat BIKTYAKOV (UZB)/ Vaja UZAKOV (UZB) bt (ALT) Suresh KRISHNA (IND)/ Ronak MANUJA (IND) 64 62
(3) Alexander SATSCHKO (GER)/ Marc-Andre STRATLING (GER) bt (WC) Aditya MADKEKAR (IND)/ Mithun MURALI (IND) 64 62
(WC) Vijay KANNAN (IND)/ Saurav PANJA (IND) bt Rohan GIDE (IND)/ Vikram B REDDY (IND) 16 63 11(9)
(2) David SAVIC (SRB)/ Nathan THOMPSON (USA) bt Tushar LIBERHAN (IND)/ Navdeep SINGH (IND) 63 62

Very good results for Indians ... With creditable few upsets win 10 players r in second round.

But something terribly wrong with Sunil's game .. He is losing to anybody and on any surface ... This time he lost on clay courts ... In break he needs to work on his basic and mental aspects of game ... Hopefully in 2009 we will see his comeback in company of Karan Rastogi, who will be ready in January to join tour again.

Badminton News
At $200K Yonex Sunrise Hong Kong Super Series 2008,

[R1] Chetan Anand (IND,14) vs Petr Koukal (CZE,40)
[R1] Arvind Bhat (IND,41) (6) Joachim Persson (DEN,8)

[R1] Saina Nehwal (IND,11) vs Salakjit Ponsana (THA,30)

[R1] Saina Nehwal (IND)/ Anna Rice (CAN) vs Chiou Hwee Haw (MAS)/ Pek Siah Lim (MAS)

Saina having good opportunity to break into top 10 with good showing at Hong Kong Open ... She is facing Thai opponent in the first round.

Anup having tough match against world's top-10 Danish player ... Chetan facing Koukal in the first round.

Squash News
At $8K NSC Super Sat #4 2008, Malaysia

[R1] (1) Joshna Chinappa (IND,38) bt Rachel Goh (MAS,238) 11-6 11-4 11-2 (10m)
[QF] (1) Joshna Chinappa (IND,38) bt (8) Low Wee Nee (MAS,88) 11-6 13-11 11-5 (19m)
[SF] (1) Joshna Chinappa (IND,38) bt (4) Siti Munirah Jusoh (MAS,62) 9-11 11-3 11-2 11-7 (26m)

[F] (1) Joshna Chinappa (IND,38) bt (3) Low Wee Wern (MAS,46) 11-8 11-7 11-6 (22m)

Joshna celebrated her back-to-back second title in the Malaysian capital after winning the NSC Super Squash Satellite #4 trophies at the Bukit Jalil National Squash Centre in Kuala Lumpur ... It was the second WISPA title at KL triumph in seven days for Joshna.
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Golf News
At US$2.5 million UBS Hong Kong Open - Final Standing

T11 Jeev Milkha Singh 71 63 66 69 -11 $41,875.00
T19 Jyoti Randhawa 71 68 66 67 - 8 $29,150.00
T48 Gaurav Ghei 71 69 67 70 - 3 $11,250.00

No magic from Jeev this time around but very creditable finish for him ... But happy to see Jyoti was founding some form before Team World Cup at Mission Hills in China from November 27-30.

Football News
At I-League 2008/09 - 23rd November

Mohammedan Sporting l Churchill Brothers 0-1

Goal Scored - Odafe Onyeka Okolie (CB) 70'

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Sporting clube de Goa bt Air India 2-1

Goal Scored - Joseph Pereira (ScG) 24', Nathaniel Amos (ScG) 43' and Singam Subash Singh (AI) 2'
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24th November

Mohun Bagan AC bt Mahindra United 1-0

Goal Scored - Baichung Bhutia (MB) 46'

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25th November

Chirag United SC bt Vasco Sports Club 3-1

Goal Scored - Fulganco Cardozo (CU) 45+' (OG), Snehasish Chakraborty (CU) 54', Subair Muritala Ali (CU) 89' and Sherzod Nazarov (VSC) 90+'
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26th November
Mumbai FC bt JCT 3-2

Goal Scored - Abel Hammond (MFC) 58', Felix Aboagye (MFC) 64', Abhishek Yadav (MFC) 88' and Balwant Singh (JCT) 38', Eduardo de Silva (JCT) 50'

Mumbai FC produced superb comeback win after down 0-2 against JCT.
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Dempo SC bt East Bengal 1-0

Goal Scored - Climax Lawrence (DSC) 80'

Tennis News

Somdev has withdrawn from next week's challanger in Mexico due to injury ... So this is the end of season for him ... Now he will get a one & half moths break before Chennai ATP ... Hopefully he will recover fully and come back strongly in 2009 season.
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At $50K Kolkata Womens Challenger, India

Singles Final
(2) Ayumi Morita (JPN) bt Elora Dabija (ROU) 61 63

Doubles Final
(3) Laura Siegemund (GER)/ Agnes Szatmari (ROU) bt (1) Jing-Jing Lu (CHN)/ Sheng-Nan Sun (CHN) 75 63

Singles Semi-Finals
Elora Dabija (ROU) bt Sophie Ferguson (AUS) 62 76(4)
(2) Ayumi Morita (JPN) bt (Q) Bojana Jovanovski (SRB) 61 63
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At $15K India F8 Futures, Mumbai

Singles Final
(2) Nathan Thompson (USA) bt (LL) Pirmin Haenle (GER) 76(3) 46 60

Doubles Final
(1) Rohan Gajjar (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) bt (2) David Savic (SRB)/ Nathan Thompson (USA) 62 76(4)

Singles Semi-Finals
(LL) Pirmin Haenle (GER) bt (7) Daniel Lustig (CZE) 76(3) 63
(2) Nathan Thompson (USA) bt (8) Syrym Abdukhalikov (KAZ) 62 75

Rohan Gajjar and Purav Raja won doubles title beating second seed pair ... Nathan continued his succesful run in Indian futures with singles title.

Badminton News
At $200K Li Ning China Open Super Series 2008,

[QF] Arvind Bhat (IND,39) l Kai Wen (CHN,170) 13-21 10-21

In quarters Arvind couldn't produced enough fight against lowly ranked Chinese opponent to lost match in only 28 mins.

Badminton News
At $200K Li Ning China Open Super Series 2008,

[R2] Arvind Bhat (IND,39) bt Petr Koukal (CZE,38) 18-21 21-18 21-15

[R2] Saina Nehwal (IND)/ Anna Rice (CAN) l (4) Jung Eun Ha (KOR)/ Min Jung Kim (KOR) 13-21 11-21

[QF] Arvind Bhat (IND,39) vs Kai Wen (CHN,170)

Arvind scored superb comeback victory over Petr ... After winning first game Petr was leading 18-15 but Arvind take next 6 poits to won second game ... In third game Arvind kept pressure on Petr from the start to won game and match in 62 mins.

Tennis News
At $50K Knoxville Challenger, TN, USA

[R1] Somdev Devvarman (IND,204) l (1) Vincent Spadea (USA,75) 67(7) Retd

Doubles -
[R1] Somdev Devvarman (IND)/ Izak Van Der Merwe (RSA) l (Q) Romano Frantzen (NED)/ Nick Van Der Meer (NED) w/o (due to Somi's injury)

[QF] Harsh Mankad (IND)/ Ashutosh Singh (IND) l (1) Rajeev Ram (USA)/ Bobby Reynolds (USA) 36 36

Somi retired from the match due to (twisted) ankle injury ... He is already decided to skip doubles to give his ankle required rest ... Still not sure about his next week's participation in Cancun challenger at Mexico ... I m hoping nothing serious with this twisted ankle.
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At $50K Kolkata Womens Challenger, India

Singles Quarter-Finals
Elora Dabija (ROU) bt Noppawan Lertcheewakarn (THA) 36 76(5) 75
Sophie Ferguson (AUS) bt (7) Ksenia Palkina (KGZ) 06 61 64
(Q) Bojana Jovanovski (SRB) bt (8) Kai-Chen Chang (TPE) 64 57 76(2)
(2) Ayumi Morita (JPN) bt (Q) Emily Webley-Smith (GBR) 62 62

Doubles Semi-Finals
(1) Jing-Jing Lu (CHN)/ Sheng-Nan Sun (CHN) bt Sophie Ferguson (AUS)/ Alexis Prousis (USA) 63 63
(3) Laura Siegemund (GER)/ Agnes Szatmari (ROU) bt (2) Chin-Wei Chan (TPE)/ Yi Chen (TPE) 46 63 10(6)
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At $15K India F8 Futures, Mumbai

Singles Quarter-Finals
(7) Daniel Lustig (CZE) bt (1) Alexander Satschko (GER) 76(5) 76(6)
(LL) Pirmin Haenle (GER) bt Vaja Uzakov (UZB) 64 64
(8) Syrym Abdukhalikov (KAZ) bt (3) David Savic (SRB) 61 62
(2) Nathan Thompson (USA) bt (Q) David Sodek (CZE) 76(1) 62

Doubles Semi-Finals
(1) Rohan Gajjar (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) bt Mithun Murali (IND)/ Vignesh Peranamallur (IND) 63 63
(2) David Savic (SRB)/ Nathan Thompson (USA) bt (4) Divij Sharan (IND)/ Vishnu Vardhan (IND) 36 61 10(8)