Tennis News -
At € 888K Open 2008 Sabadell Atlantico, Barcelona, Spain

[R2] (6) HANLEY Paul (AUS)/ PAES Leander (IND) l CHELA Juan Ignacio (ARG)/ CUEVAS Pablo (URU) 46 16

Very disappointing performance from Lee and Paul ... Chela and Cuevas scored very easy victory against them.
-------------------------------------------
At U-16 Asia-Oceania Davis Cup Qualifying Tournament, New Delhi, India

India bt Thailand 3-0

Saurabh Singh (IND) bt Chanon Varapongsttikul (THA) 63 61
Yuki Bhambri (IND) bt Adirek Khundanpinitwong (THA) 62 61
Yuki Bhambri (IND)/ Saurabh Singh (IND) bt Chanon Varapongsttikul (THA)/ Phasawit Burapharittha (THA) 60 64

With this easy victory India in quarter-finals and facing Chinese team ... They need to win this match to qualify for World group.
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At $ 25k Balikpapan Challenger, Indonesia

[R1] MALOO Parija (IND,672) l (Q) SHAO Shi-Tong (CHN,NR) 36 67(2)

[R2] (2) LAKHANI Isha (IND,338) vs BARR Cassandra (AUS,777)

Doubles -
[R1] LAKHANI Isha (IND)/ LIU Shaozhuo (CHN) bt KURITA Natsuko (JPN)/ SEKINE Kei (JPN) 63 62
[R1] MALOO Parija (IND)/ POLUNINA Katerina (UKR) l (2) CHEN Yan-Chong (CHN)/ LIANG Chen (CHN) 16 26

[QF] LAKHANI Isha (IND)/ LIU Shaozhuo (CHN) vs (3) GUMULYA Sandy (INA)/ TANANTA Lavinia (INA)

Parija Maloo lost in singles and doubles .. But Isha and her Chinese partner having easy winning start in doubles.
-------------------------------------------
At $15k Korea F1 futures, Gimcheon

[R2] RASTOGI Karan (IND,456) l (8) KLEIN Brydan (AUS,427) 57 16

Karan should learn to win these matches against same rank opponents.

Tennis News -
At € 888K Open 2008 Sabadell Atlantico, Barcelona, Spain

[R2] (6) HANLEY Paul (AUS)/ PAES Leander (IND) vs CHELA Juan Ignacio (ARG)/ CUEVAS Pablo (URU)

Chela and Cuevas defeated wildcard Spanish pair to meet Lee and Paul in second round.
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At U-16 Asia-Oceania Davis Cup Qualifying Tournament, New Delhi, India

India bt Pakistan 3-0

Saurabh Singh (IND) bt Samir Iftikhar (PAK) 61 61
Yuki Bhambri (IND) bt Heera Ashiq (PAK) 60 64
Yuki Bhambri (IND)/ Saurabh Singh (IND) bt Heera Ashiq (PAK)/ Faizan Khurram (PAK) 62 60

As per report Yuki struggled lot in second set due to unforced errors.
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At $25k Coatzacoalcos Challenger, Mexico

[Q1] (10) UBEROI Shikha (IND) bye
[Q2] (10) UBEROI Shikha (IND,894) bt (8) GRAJDEK Kim-Alice (GER,844) 62 61

[R1] (Q) UBEROI Shikha (IND,894) vs (8) FITZPATRICK Anna (GBR,332)

Doubles -
[Q1] (1) Shikha Uberoi (IND)/ Nicola Slater (GBR) l Daniela Covello (CAN)/ Bo Verhulsdonk (NED) 46 26

Shiha qualified easily for maindraw but facing top-350 player in the first round.
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At $50K Charlottesville Challenger, USA

[R1] UBEROI Neha (USA,333) vs (2) PUCHKOVA Olga (RUS,117)

Doubles -
[R1] FICHMAN Sharon (CAN)/ UBEROI Neha (USA) l (2) KOPS-JONES Raquel (USA)/ SPEARS Abigail (USA) 26 64 (7)10

Neha having tough draw in Charlottesville Challenger.

Tennis News -
At $15k Korea F1 futures, Gimcheon

[R1] RASTOGI Karan (IND,456) bt (WC) LIM Yong-Kyu (KOR,900) 61 26 75

[R2] RASTOGI Karan (IND,456) vs (8) KLEIN Brydan (AUS,427)

Doubles -
[R1] (4) RASTOGI Karan (IND)/ KEDRYUK Alexey (KAZ) bt (WC) AN Jae-Sung (KOR)/ SEOL Jae-Min (KOR) 64 62

[QF] (4) RASTOGI Karan (IND)/ KEDRYUK Alexey (KAZ) vs FUKUDA Katsushi (JPN)/ ITO Yuichi (JPN)

Lim is a talented 17 year old Korean who had reached R2 in Busan Challenger last week with win over top 350 player ... So it was good to see that Karan managed to win match in third set.

Karan is playing doubles with Alexey Kedryuk ... They won first round easily against wildcard Korean pair.
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At $ 25k Balikpapan Challenger, Indonesia

[R1] (2) LAKHANI Isha (IND,338) bt LIU Shaozhuo (CHN,732) 64 64
[R1] MALOO Parija (IND,672) vs (Q) SHAO Shi-Tong (CHN,NR)

Doubles -
[R1] LAKHANI Isha (IND)/ LIU Shaozhuo (CHN) vs KURITA Natsuko (JPN)/ SEKINE Kei (JPN)
[R1] MALOO Parija (IND)/ POLUNINA Katerina (UKR) vs (2) CHEN Yan-Chong (CHN)/ LIANG Chen (CHN)

Good winning start for Isha.

Hockey News -

KPS GILL IS SACKED FROM IHF!!!
In interesting turnaround IOA sacked KPS Gill and suspended IHF (Indian Hockey Federation) after executive committee meeting … It will be replaced by an ad-hoc commission, comprising five former Olympians ... First time something creditable work by IOA (Indian Olympics Association).

IOA president Suresh Kalmadi - "Not one person opposed the suggestion to dissolve the IHF. We have a great responsibility to run the IHF well."

They also announced 5 members of selection committee under Aslam Sher Khan ... Other members of selection committee r Zafar Iqbal, Dhanraj Pillay, Ashok Kumar, Ajit Pal Singh and Ric Charlesworth will be advisor of selection committee.

Now we can genuinely hope for revival of Indian hockey in near future under new bosses.
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Tennis News -
At U-16 Asia -Oceania Davis Cup Qualifying Tournament, New Delhi, India

The seedings - 1. Australia, 2. Japan, 3. New Zealand, 4. India, 5. Philippines, 6. Thailand, 7. Chinese Taipei, 8. China.

The draw -
Group-I - Australia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Chinese Taipei.
Group-II - New Zealand, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Philippines.
Group-III - India, Singapore, Pakistan, Thailand.
Group-IV - Japan, Korea, Indonesia, China

India bt Singapore 3-0

Saurabh Singh (IND) bt Han Felix Wee 60 60
Yuki Bhambri (IND) bt Chenjie Dominic Boey 60 60
Saurabh Singh (IND)/ Samip Mehta (IND) bt Chenjie Dominic Boey (SIN)/ Ching Wei Justin Low (SIN) 75 76(6)
Expected start for Indian team ... Their match against Thailand in group will be most important for them.
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Golf News -
At Henrico County Open, Richmond, Virginia - Final Standing (Nationwide Tour)

T4 Arjun Atwal 72 70 66 68 -12 $ 18,125.00

Good finish for Arjun ... Last 2 days his score was 10 under, which was 3 strokes better than any other player in the field ... This performance will give him boost to achieve much more (like 3 NW tour wins to grab PGA Tour card this year itself) on NW tour.

This week's performance helped Arjun to rise on #18 in 2008 Nationwide Tour Money Leaders ranking.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Rowing News -

Bajrang Lal - in the Open Singles Scull event
Manjeet Singh & Devender Kumar - in the Light Weight Doubles Scull event

Our rowers qualify for Beijing Olympics; this is the best result we have achieved in Olympic qualifiers ... Before this only one rower was qualified in Athens and Sydney Olympics.

Tennis News -
At € 2.270M Monte Carlo Masters, Monaco

[F] Mahesh BHUPATHI (IND)/ Mark KNOWLES (BAH) l Tommy ROBREDO (ESP)/ Rafael NADAL (ESP) 36 36

Very easy dominating victory for Rafa and Tommy ... Hesh and Mark struggled with their service games as they had 7 double faults and Spanish pair take full advantage of it.

Rafa became just the second player in Masters Series history to win both the singles and the doubles titles, before this Jim Courier won both at Indian Wells in 1991.
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At € 888K Open 2008 Sabadell Atlantico, Barcelona, Spain

[R1] (6) HANLEY Paul (AUS)/PAES Leander (IND) Bye

Lee and Paul r playing at Barcelona ... They r in same draw of Bryans and can meet in quarters ... In second round they will face winner between Chela/ Pablo Cuevas and Spanish Alcaide /Montanes.
-------------------------------------------
At €349K BMW open, Munich, Germany (Red Clay)

[R1] (3) BHUPATHI Mahesh (IND)/ BOPANNA Rohan (IND) vs BUTORAC Eric (USA)/ FISHER Ashley (AUS)

Very good chance for Rohan partnering Mahesh.
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Hockey News -
At Perth 4 Nations Tournament, Australia

India l China 1-2
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At Womens Olympic Hockey qualifiers 2008, Kazan, Russia

For 3rd Position -
Netherlands Antilles bt India 2-1 (golden goal)

Goal Scored - Rajwinder Kaur (IND) PC and Ernestina Schreuder (AHO) PC, Theresia Noorlander (AHo) 73' PC

Other Matches -
Final - USA bt Belgium 3-1
For 5th Position - Russia bt France 2-1

So our both teams ended as losing sides ... Poor and pathetic performance.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Golf News -
At BMW Asian Open, Shanghai, China - Final Standing

T23 SINGH Digvijay 74 72 67 77 +2 $24,265.00
T23 Jeev Milkha Singh 68 76 70 76 +2 $24,265.00
T46 KAPUR Shiv 71 75 74 74 +6 $11,040.00
T55 CHOWRASIA S S P 72 73 72 79 +8 $8,280.00

Tennis News -
At € 2.270M Monte Carlo Masters, Monaco

[SF] (4) BHUPATHI Mahesh (IND)/ KNOWLES Mark (BAH) bt COETZEE Jeff (RSA)/ MOODIE Wesley (RSA) 60 75

First Set
1-0 MB/ MK broke JC/ WM service on 30
2-0 MB/ MK holds service on 15
3-0 JC/ WM saved one break pt but MB/ MK broke their serve on duece
4-0 Another easy hold for MB/ MK on 15
5-0 JC/ WM had couple of game pts but MB/ MK won next 3 pts to win the game
6-0 JC/WM take 0-30 lead but then couldn't convert this advantage and lost next 4 pts to lost game and set

Hesh and Mark r crushing their opponents ... They won first set in 22 mins ... MB/MK won 24 pts of 36 ... Also converted 3 bp of 4.

Second Set
0-1 Atlast JC/ WM managed to hold their serve on 30 to put first game in the match in front of their names
1-1 MB/ MK easily holds service on 15
2-1 JC/ WM messed with couple of game pts to lose game, so MB/ MK got first break of second set
3-1 MB/ MK r getting better and better, this time they won luv game on their serve
3-2 Another service holds for JC/ WM on 15, which is rarity for them in the match
4-2 MB/ MK hold easily on 15

Sorry guys after that my connection lost so don't know what happened ... But from score it looks JC/ WM broke back but then MB/ MK broke JC/ WM serve in 11th game and then hold their serve to win the match.

In second set JC/ WM played better tennis they won 32 pts and MB/MK won 34 ... JC/ WM also converted 1 bp they got, other hand MB/ MK also converted all 2 bp ... Duration for second set was 45 mins.
-------------------------------------------
At €349K BMW open, Munich, Germany (Red Clay)

[Q1] (8) BOPANNA Rohan (IND,307) l (WC) KAS Christopher (GER,NR) 36 57

Kas and Bops having many similarities ... Both r 1980 born ... Kas and Bops both remained in singles 250-300 type players ... Their highest singles ranking is almost similar Kas, #224, and Bops, #213 ... These days Kas gave up his singles career to concentrate more on doubles and currently he is in his best doubles ranking at #30 and now Rohan is also trying to do that reducing his singles matches.

This match wasn't easy for Bops as clay is Kas's favorite surface ... And as expected Kas beat him in straight sets.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Hockey News -
At Perth 4 Nations Tournament, Australia

India bt China 3-1

Goal Scored - Tushar Khandekar (IND) 15', S.V. Sunil (IND) 51', Gurwinder Singh Chandi (IND) 66' PC and Hu (CHN) 50' PC

We won but as per report we missed several chances to score ... We required much superior win to guaranteed our entry in to final, now despite win our poor loss against Korea cost us dearly ... Australia beat Korea 3-2 ... So that means we missed chance of playing in the final on goal difference ... Tomorrow we will again play China for 3rd position.
-------------------------------------------
At Womens Olympic Hockey qualifiers 2008, Kazan, Russia

India bt France 7-0

Goal Scored - Rani Devi (IND) 3 goals, Surinder Kaur (IND) 2 goals, Rajwinder Kaur (IND), Jasjeet Kaur Handa (IND)

Other Matches -
USA bt Netherlands Antilles 3-1

Uncounted win in the last league match.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Golf News -
At BMW Asian Open, Shanghai, China - Third Round

T5 SINGH Digvijay 74 72 67 -3
T9 Jeev Milkha Singh 68 76 70 -2
T32 CHOWRASIA S S P 72 73 72 +1
T52 KAPUR Shiv 71 75 74 +4

Today Digvijay had unblemished round of 5 under ... He scored 2 birdies on front 9 and 3 birdies on back 9 ... This round helped him to move inside top 5 ... Jeev also had ublemished 2 under round, he scored birdies on first 2 holes but then only managed PAR on remaining 16 holes ... He also entered in to top 10.

Tennis News -
At € 2.270M Monte Carlo Masters, Monaco

[QF] (4) BHUPATHI Mahesh (IND)/ KNOWLES Mark (BAH) bt (5) ASPELIN Simon (SWE)/ KNOWLE Julian (AUT) 62 63

[SF] (4) BHUPATHI Mahesh (IND)/ KNOWLES Mark (BAH) vs COETZEE Jeff (RSA)/ MOODIE Wesley (RSA)

Very dominating performance by Hesh and Mark against 5th seed Aspelin and Knowle ... In complete match they won 56/90 points (62%) against 34/90 (38%) points ... Hesh and Mark didn't face single break point on their serves and other hand they converted 4 of 5 break points on Aspelin and Knowle serves.

Unseeded pair of Moodie/ Coetzee scored upset comeback win over top seed and defending champion Bryans in super-tiebreak ... After last week's Estoril title Moodie/ Coetzee r on seven-match winning streak on clay ... So tricky match for Hesh and Mark against this hot pair.
-------------------------------------------
At $50K Baton Rouge Challenger, LA, USA

[QF] (4) GHOUSE Mustafa (IND)/ WARBURG Sam (USA) l (WC) SIMMONDS Phillip (USA)/ SMYCZEK Tim (USA) 57 26

Mustafa and Sam lost in straight sets against wild card pair ... This was winnable match for these experienced players.
-------------------------------------------
At $15K China F4 Futures, Taizhou

[QF] RASTOGI Karan (IND,480) l MATSUI Toshihide (JPN,477) 64 26 46

Another needless loss ... Karan should win these matches.
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Golf News -
At BMW Asian Open, Shanghai, China - Second Round

T16 Jeev Milkha Singh 68 76 PAR
T29 CHOWRASIA S S P 72 73 + 1
T39 KAPUR Shiv 71 75 + 2
T39 SINGH Digvijay 74 72 + 2
---------- Cut @ + 3 ---------------
T67 GANGJEE Rahil 73 75 + 4
T67 GHEI Gaurav 74 74 + 4
T67 RANDHAWA Jyoti 75 73 + 4
T118 JOHL Amandeep 78 74 +8

Today only around 20 players managed to score below PAR round ... But not a single Indian managed to do that.

Jyoti, Gaurav and Rahil missed cut by a single stroke ... For Amandeep, it was impossible to make cut after poor first round ... From Indian golfer best round, PAR, scored by Digvijay.

Jeev had bad day, he scored 4 bogeys on front 9 and 2 bogeys on back 9 but he also managed birdies on 9th and 18th holes to end day on +4 ... So after 2 rounds he is inside top 20 with PAR score.

Hockey News -
At the Perth 4 Nations Tournament, Australia

India dw Australia 2-2

Goal Scored - William Xalco (IND) 27' PC, Raghunath (IND) 70' PC and Grant Schubert (AUS) 51' & 52'

After poor first match performance against Korea today we gave little improved performance ... We hold Australia 2-2 draw.

China also holds Korea 2-2 ... Coincidently in both matches last goal scored by India and China through penalty corners and that’s also in dying seconds.

China scored both goals through penalty corners in dying seconds of both half to hold Korea ... Against Aussies we take lead through penalty corner at 27 mins, William Xalco ... But Aussie's Grant Schubert scored back to back goals to gave lead ... But when 30 secs were remaining we earned PC and this time Raghunath converted it.

Now all 4 teams having chance to play in championship match, but our task is much harder due to big defeat against Korea ... Currently Korea and Australia having 3 pts ... And we r with China on 1 pt.
-------------------------------------------------
At Womens Olympic Hockey qualifiers 2008, Kazan, Russia

India l USA 0-4

Goal Scored - Jesse Gey (USA) 29', Kelly Doton (USA) 38', Angie Loy (USA) 45', Carrie Lingo (USA) 48'

Other Matches -
Russia bt France 5-2
Belgium bt Netherlands Antilles 3-2

This was 3rd defeat in 4 matches for India ... Our performance is going down match by match.

Tennis News -
At $50K Baton Rouge Challenger, LA, USA

[R1] (4) GHOUSE Mustafa (IND)/ WARBURG Sam (USA) bt BOGDANOVIC Alex (GBR)/ OBRADOVIC Vladimir (SRB) 46 63 10(6)

[QF] (4) GHOUSE Mustafa (IND)/ WARBURG Sam (USA) vs (WC) SIMMONDS Phillip (USA)/ SMYCZEK Tim (USA)

Winning start for Mustafa and Sam ... Now they r only seeded pair remaining in the draw.
-------------------------------------------
At $15K China F4 Futures, Taizhou

[R2] RASTOGI Karan (IND,480) bt SINGH Ashutosh (IND,607) 61 62

[QF] RASTOGI Karan (IND,480) vs MATSUI Toshihide (JPN,477)


Very dominating win by Karan over his doubles partner ... Now next match is between similar ranked players.
-------------------------------------------
At U-16 Asia -Oceania Federation Cup Qualifying Tournament, Shenzen, China

Quarter-Finals -
India l Australia 1-2

Natasha Palha (IND) l Molly Polak (AUS) 16 26
Ratnika Batra (IND) l Victoria Lucic (AUS) 46 16
Ratnika Batra (IND)/ Prarthna Thombre (IND) bt Molly Polak (AUS)/ Rachel Pisarev (AUS) 64 75

So due to yesterday's loss against Chinese team we r failed to qualify for world group ... :-(
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Hockey News -
At the Perth 4 Nations Tournament, Australia

India l South Korea 1-4

Goal Scored - Singh (IND) 34' (PC) and Hong (KOR) 3' (PC), Lee (KOR) 19' & 37', Seo (KOR) 22'

With our current debacle this was expected result.

Athletics News -

Krishna Poonia became the 5th Indian athlete to qualify for Bejing Olympics when she finished 4th in discuss throw in a meet in US when she threw 59.04 mts. just above the qualifying mark of 59 mtrs.

Other Indians who have qualified so far are triple jumper Renjith Maheswary, discus thrower Vikas Gowda, long jumper Anju Bobby George and heptathlete Susmita Singha Roy.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Tennis News -
At € 2.270M Monte Carlo Masters, Monaco

[R2] (4) BHUPATHI Mahesh (IND)/ KNOWLES Mark (BAH) bt MELO Marcelo (BRA)/ SA Andre (BRA) 64 63
[R2] HANLEY Paul (AUS)/ PAES Leander (IND) l (2) ERLICH Jonathan (ISR)/ RAM Andy (ISR) 64 36 (3)10

[QF] (4) BHUPATHI Mahesh (IND)/ KNOWLES Mark (BAH) vs (5) ASPELIN Simon (SWE)/ KNOWLE Julian (AUT)

Very easy victory for Hesh and Mark against Brazilian clay court specialists ... Lee and Paul started well with winning first set but then couldn't managed to convert that good start in to win.
-------------------------------------------
At $100K XL Bermuda Open, Paget (Green Clay)

[R1] AMRITRAJ Stephen (IND)/ SELA Dudi (ISR) l (WC) JONES Greg (AUS)/ YOUNG Donald (USA) 16 26

Surprisingly one sided loss for Stephen and Dudi.
-------------------------------------------
At U-16 Asia -Oceania Federation Cup Qualifying Tournament, Shenzen, China

India l China 1-2

Natasha Palha (IND) l Hao Chen Tang (CHN) 06 36
Ratnika Batra (IND) bt Xiao Rong Dong 62 60
Ratnika Batra (IND)/ Prarthna Thombre (IND) l Hao Chen Tang (CHN)/ Fan Wang (CHN)

Oh, so second week in a row we lost against lowly ranked Chinese team in 2 different events ... But now here we r having tough task to qualify for World Group as we r facing (mostly) top seed Japan in quarter-finals.
-------------------------------------------
At $10K Spain F9, Torrent (clay)

[R1] NAGARAJ Sandhya (IND,559) l (Q) SALAS-LOZANO Ana (ESP,964) 46 16

Not a good result as Sandhya lost in straight sets against local qualifier.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Squash News -
At $200K Kuwait Open

[Q2] Saurav Ghosal (Ind,51) l Daryl Selby (Eng,35) 8-11 11-5 5-11 6-11 (65m)
[Q2] Ritwik Bhattacharya (Ind,64) l Julian Illingworth (Usa,39) 7-11 4-11 9-11 (42m)

This time also Saurav couldn't turned table on Selby ... Ritwik also couldn't find his first qualifying round touch.

Wrestling News -

At qualification tournament in Martigny, Switzerland, Rajiv Tomar qualified for the Beijing Olympics winning silver in the 120 kg freestyle category.

He is joined Sushil Kumar (66 kg freestyle) and Yogeshwar Dutt (60 kg freestyle), Sushil qualified for Beijing in the World championship in Baku (Azerbaijan) in September 2007 and Dutt made entry in the Asian Championship in Jeju City, South Korea in March 2008.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Squash News -
At $200K Kuwait Open

[Q1] Saurav Ghosal (Ind,51) bt Mohd Al-Tuwary (Kuw,UNR) 11-5 11-0 11-3 (29m)
[Q1] Ritwik Bhattacharya (Ind,64) bt Aaron Frankcomb (Aus,49) 11-4 11-9 11-6 (53m)

[Q2] Saurav Ghosal (Ind,51) vs Daryl Selby (Eng,35)
[Q2] Ritwik Bhattacharya (Ind,64) vs Julian Illingworth (Usa,39)

Ritwik scored good fighting win against top-50 player ... Now he need to beat top-40 American to move in to maindraw ... Other hand Saurav facing top-35 British player, with whom he lost twice in their previous meetings.
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Hockey News -
At Womens Olympic Hockey qualifiers 2008, Kazan, Russia

India l Belgium 2-3

Goal Scored - Suman BALA (IND) 13' (PC), Ritu RANI (IND) 16' and Charlotte de VOS (BEL) 1', Astrid VERVAET (BEL) 47', Gaelle VALKE 58'

Other Matches -
USA bt France 7-0
Netherlands Antilles bt Russia 3-1

So with this defeat its real prospect of not having either our men’s or women’s teams at the Beijing Olympics ... Poor result considering we were leading after 16 mins ... Very disappointing performance by Indian women.

Tennis News -
At € 2.270M Monte Carlo Masters, Monaco (clay)

[R1] HANLEY Paul (AUS)/ PAES Leander (IND) bt NALBANDIAN David (ARG)/ PRIETO Sebastian (ARG) 64 63

[R2] HANLEY Paul (AUS)/ PAES Leander (IND) vs (2) ERLICH Jonathan (ISR)/ RAM Andy (ISR)

Good start for Lee and Paul with easy victory against clay court specialist ... Now they r facing ATP race leader Erlich and Ram, whom they defeated 3 yrs back at Bangkok open final in their only meeting.
-------------------------------------------
At $15K China F4 Futures, Taizhou

[R1] SINGH Ashutosh (IND,607) bt (Q) Vishnu Vardhan (IND,984) 76(2) 26 64
[R1] RASTOGI Karan (IND,480) bt (8) ARMSTRONG Miles (AUS,457) 62 63

[R2] RASTOGI Karan (IND,480) vs SINGH Ashutosh (IND,607)

Doubles -
[R1] RASTOGI Karan (IND)/ SINGH Ashutosh (IND) l LIN Tzu-Yang (TPE)/ YI Chu-Huan (TPE) 36 26

Last week's doubles winner lost in first round but good thing is both scored contrasting win in singles ... Karan managed to beat little higher rank Aussie but now Ashutosh and Karan r facing eachother in second round.
-------------------------------------------
At U-16 Asia -Oceania Federation Cup Qualifying Tournament, Shenzen, China

India is 4th seed and grouped with host China, Malaysia & Singapore.

Seedings -
1. Japan
2. Thailand
3. Australia
4. India
5. China
6. Newzeland
7. Indonesia
8. Uzbekistan

India bt Malyasia 3-0

Natasha Palha (IND) btTheiviya Selvarajoo (MAS) 62 60
Ratnika Batra (IND) bt Adelle Boey (MAS) 62 60
Ratnika Batra (IND)/ Prarthna Thombre (IND) bt Adelle Boey (MAS)/ Theiviya Selvarajoo (MAS) 75 62

Our team needs to be careful as host China is in our group ... We need to win that match for safe ride to semis.
-------------------------

India bt Singapore 3-0

Natasha Palha (IND) bt Juliene Keong (SIN) 62 60
Ratnika Batra (IND) bt Nicole Wan Rosenberger (SIN) 62 60
Ratnika Batra (IND)/ Prarthna Thombre (IND) bt Juliene Keong (SIN)/ Nicole Wan Rosenberger (SIN) 63 62

We won second tie easily against Singapore, so with that we r in quarter-finals ... But we need to beat China (in China) to avoid clash with top seed Japan.
-------------------------------------------
At $25K Namangan Womens Challenger, Uzbekistan

[R1] APPINENI Prerana-Mythri (IND,713) l (Q) VASYLYEVA Anastasiya (UKR,749) 06 06

Prerana had terrible loss against 16 yrs old Ukranian.

Tennis News -
At € 2.270M Monte Carlo Masters, Monaco (clay)

[R1] (4) BHUPATHI Mahesh (IND)/ KNOWLES Mark (BAH) Bye
[R1] HANLEY Paul (AUS)/ PAES Leander (IND) vs NALBANDIAN David (ARG)/ PRIETO Sebastian (ARG)

This week at Monte Carlo Masters, Lee and Paul r not seeded ... They r having tricky first round against clay court specialist Argentine pair ... If they win first round match then they can face Israeli 2nd seed pair of Erlich and Ram.

Other hand Hesh and Mark having 4th seeding at Monte Carlo Masters ... They r having first round bye and in second they will face against winner between Brazilian pair of Melo/ Sa and Frenchman Gasquet/ Serbian Tipsarevic.
-------------------------------------------
At $100K XL Bermuda Open, Paget (Green Clay)

[R1] AMRITRAJ Stephen (IND)/ SELA Dudi (ISR) vs (WC) JONES Greg (AUS)/ YOUNG Donald (USA)
-------------------------------------------
At $50K Baton Rouge Challenger, LA, USA

[R1] (4) GHOUSE Mustafa (IND)/ WARBURG Sam (USA) vs BOGDANOVIC Alex (GBR)/ OBRADOVIC Vladimir (SRB)
-------------------------------------------
At $15K China F4 Futures, Taizhou

[R1] SINGH Ashutosh (IND,607) vs (Q) Vishnu Vardhan (IND,984)
[R1] RASTOGI Karan (IND,480) vs (8) ARMSTRONG Miles (AUS,457)

Doubles -
[R1] RASTOGI Karan (IND)/ SINGH Ashutosh (IND) vs LIN Tzu-Yang (TPE)/ YI Chu-Huan (TPE)

Karan need to win first round match against little higher rank Australian to meet winner between Ashutosh and Vishnu in second round.
-------------------------------------------
At $25K Namangan Womens Challenger, Uzbekistan

[R1] APPINENI Prerana-Mythri (IND,713) vs (Q) VASYLYEVA Anastasiya (UKR,749)

Doubles -
[R1] APPINENI Prerana-Mythri (IND)/ YEMIALYANAVA Viktoria (BLR) l KONDRATIEVA Maria (RUS)/ YASHINA Ekaterina (RUS) 60 36 (8)10

Good to see Prerana keep playing all over the world ... Players like Bhambri sis and Isha should learn planning from her to playing abroad.

Hockey News -
At Womens Olympic Hockey qualifiers 2008, Kazan, Russia

India l Netherlands Antilles 1-2

Goal Scored - Rani DEVI (IND) 42' and Clair VISSER (AHO) 31', Maria HINSKINS (AHO) 54'

Other Matches -
USA bt Russia 7-0
Belgium bt France 5-0

In shocking result the pre-tournament favourites India lost in closely fought match against Netherlands Antilles ... Now Indian women need to win all their remaining matches to qualify for the final.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Tennis News -
At $75K Dothan Challenger, AL, USA

[Q1] (5) UBEROI Neha (USA,348) l FALCONI Irina (USA,469) 46 67(5)

Though match was close but Neha should win these matches.
-------------------------------------------
At $15K China F4 Futures, Taizhou

[Q1] (4) Vishnu Vardhan (IND,984) bt (WC) Chuan Jiang (CHN,UNR) 61 62
[Q2] (4) Vishnu Vardhan (IND,984) bt Yun-Peng Fu (CHN,UNR) 61 62
[Q3] (4) Vishnu Vardhan (IND,984) bt (16) Yu Chang (CHN,1803) 64 62

Tennis News -
At US$25K BallenIsles Womens Challenger, Palm Beach Gardens, FL, USA

[SF] (1) Sunitha Rao (IND,164) l (8) Soledad Esperon (ARG,270) 36 67(3)

Surprising loss considering current good form of Sunitha ... So with this loss Sunitha again missed opportunity of winning her first singles Challenger level title.
-------------------------------------------
At $50K Baton Rouge Challenger, LA, USA

[Q1] (2) AMRITRAJ Prakash (IND,254) l VODICKA Lance (USA,729) 26 2-3 Retd.
[Q1] (8) SIPAEYA Sunil Kumar (IND,412) l BLANDIN Jeremy (FRA,439) 36 16

Sunil's terrible performance in US is continue ... Kash retired from his match due to left quad. strain ... So all over bad news for Indian players ... :-(
-------------------------------------------
At $75K Dothan Challenger, AL, USA

[Q1] (5) UBEROI Neha (USA,348) vs FALCONI Irina (USA,469)

Hockey News -
At Womens Olympic Hockey qualifiers 2008, Kazan, Russia

India bt Russia 3-1

Goal Scored - Rani DEVI (IND) 8', Surinder KAUR (IND) 47', Pritam SIWACH (IND) 68' and Anna GUTENEVA (RUS) 37'

Other Matches -
USA bt Belgium 3-2
Netherlands Antilles bt France 2-0

Great start for Indian women ... Today both played excellent match ... But Indian women showed their supremacy.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Tennis News -
At US$25K BallenIsles Womens Challenger, Palm Beach Gardens, FL, USA

[QF] (1) Sunitha Rao (IND,164) bt (WC) Kimberly Couts (USA,422) 76(6) 64

[SF] (1) Sunitha Rao (IND,164) vs (8) Soledad Esperon (ARG,270)

Doubles -
[SF] (1) Sunitha Rao (IND)/ Raquel Kops-Jones (USA) l Ekaterina Afinogenova (RUS)/ Lauren Albanese (USA) 61 57 (6)10

Sunitha is in semis and performing as per her top billing.
-------------------------------------------
At $15K China F3 Futures, Taizhou

[SF] (4) RASTOGI Karan (IND,480) l LI Zhe (CHN,837) 67(6) 46

This was winnable match for Karan but still good performance in this futures.
-------------------------------------------
At World Juniors’ U-14 Qualifying Tennis Tournament, Shenzen, China

Semi-finals -
India l China 1-2

Digvijay Singh Mehta (Ind) l Zhao Cai (Chn) 46 46
Ronit Bisht (Ind) bt Xin Gao (Chn) 6-3 6-1
Digvijay Singh (Ind)/ Ronit Bisht (Ind) l Xin Gao (Chn)/ Jun Nan Tao (Chn) 63 57 36

This was really hurting loss considering with this loss we screwed up chance of getting seeded at World Group and getting favourable draw.
-------------------------------------------
At $50K Baton Rouge Challenger, LA, USA

[Q1] (2) AMRITRAJ Prakash (IND,254) vs VODICKA Lance (USA,729)
[Q1] (8) SIPAEYA Sunil Kumar (IND,412) vs BLANDIN Jeremy (FRA,439)

Tennis News -
At $15K China F3 Futures, Taizhou

[QF] (4) RASTOGI Karan (IND,480) bt XU Jun-Chao (CHN,656) 62 64

[SF] (4) RASTOGI Karan (IND,480) vs LI Zhe (CHN,837)

Doubles -
[F] (2) RASTOGI Karan (IND)/ SINGH Ashutosh (IND) bt (1) EBDEN Matthew (AUS)/ KLEIN Brydan (AUS) 62 63

So another easy victory in quarters and facing another Chinese in semis ... Karan is creating some sort of record of beating Chinese in a row ... ;-)

Also he and Ashutosh won doubles crown against top seed without much trouble ... I think this performance in singles and doubles will help Karan to bring back his game and confidence together.
-------------------------------------------
At US$25K BallenIsles Womens Challenger, Palm Beach Gardens, FL, USA

[R2] (1) Sunitha Rao (IND,164) bt Neha Uberoi (USA,348) 64 64

[QF] (1) Sunitha Rao (IND,164) vs (WC) Kimberly Couts (USA,422)

Doubles -
[QF] (1) Sunitha Rao (IND)/ Raquel Kops-Jones (USA) bt Asia Muhammed (USA)/ Ashley Weinhold (USA) 62 76(4)

[SF] (1) Sunitha Rao (IND)/ Raquel Kops-Jones (USA) vs Ekaterina Afinogenova (RUS)/ Lauren Albanese (USA)

Sunitha had another easy victory over Neha ... Now she is facing wild card entry Kimberly Couts, who r producing good results in singles and doubles.
-------------------------------------------
At $75K+H Busan Open Challenger, Korea

[R2] Harsh Mankad (IND,734) l Danai Udomchoke (THA,202) 06 36

Doubles -
[R1] Harsh Mankad (IND)/ Alun Jones (AUS) l Satoshi Iwabuchi (JPN)/ Toshihide Matsui (JPN) w/o

Very dominating win by Danai.
-------------------------------------------
At $35K+H Casablanca San Angel Challenger, Mexico City, Mexico

[R2] (5) Prakash Amritraj (IND,254) l Joshua Goodall (GBR,303) 76(4) 46 36

I was expecting win from Kash after his current Davis cup performance.

Tennis News -
At World Juniors’ U-14 Qualifying Tennis Tournament, Shenzen, China

Quarter-finals -
India bt Uzbekistan 2-1

Digvijay Singh Mehta (Ind) bt Temur Ismailov (Uzb) 62 61
Ronit Bisht (Ind) bt Abduvoris Sadmukhamedov (Uzb) 62 61
Digvijay Singh/ Ramanathan Ramkumar (Ind) l Sadmukhamedov/ Ismailov (Uzb) 67(5) 26

The Indian Boys u-14 team today qualified for the World Finals of World Junior Tennis Competition ... By reaching the semifinals, India booked a berth for the World Finals to be held at Czech Republic during August 2008 ... Along with India, Australia, China & Korea were the other teams that made it to the World Finals by winning their respective ties today ... In semis Indian boys will play against host China.
-------------------------------------------
At US$25K BallenIsles Womens Challenger, Palm Beach Gardens, FL, USA

[R1] (1) Sunitha Rao (IND,164) bt (Q) Veronica Spiegel (ARG,391) 64 63
[R1] Neha Uberoi (USA,348) bt (Q) Nicole Riner (SUI,433) 62 64
[R1] (Q) Shikha Uberoi (IND,953) l (Q) Gabriela Paz (VEN,575) 63 06 67(4)

[R2] (1) Sunitha Rao (IND,164) vs Neha Uberoi (USA,348)

Doubles -
[R1] (1) Sunitha Rao (IND)/ Raquel Kops-Jones (USA) bt (WC) Sesil Karatantcheva (BUL)/ Shareen-Rena Lai (MAS) 61 62

[QF] (1) Sunitha Rao (IND)/ Raquel Kops-Jones (USA) vs Asia Muhammed (USA)/ Ashley Weinhold (USA)

Good start for Sunitha and Neha in singles but now they face eachother in second round ... Shikha couldn't managed to convert good start in to win and lost opportunity to earn important ranking points.
-------------------------------------------
At $35K+H Casablanca San Angel Challenger, Mexico City, Mexico

[R1] (5) Prakash Amritraj (IND,254) bt Victor Estrella (DOM,305) 75 62

[R2] (5) Prakash Amritraj (IND,254) vs Joshua Goodall (GBR,303)

Doubles -
[QF] Stephen Amritraj (IND)/ Mustafa Ghouse (IND) l (2) Carsten Ball (AUS)/ Robert Smeets (AUS) 36 36

Kash had good positive start in this Mexican challenger.
-------------------------------------------
At $15K China F3 Futures, Taizhou

[R2] (4) RASTOGI Karan (IND,480) bt (Q) CHEN Sa (CHN,1405) 64 63

[QF] (4) RASTOGI Karan (IND,480) vs XU Jun-Chao (CHN,656)

Doubles -
[SF] (2) RASTOGI Karan (IND)/ SINGH Ashutosh (IND) bt WANG Yu Jr. (CHN)/ XU Jun-Chao (CHN) 61 63

[F] (2) RASTOGI Karan (IND)/ SINGH Ashutosh (IND) vs (1) EBDEN Matthew (AUS)/ KLEIN Brydan (AUS)

Karan having good outing in singles and doubles at China ... Now he is highest seeded remaining in the draw.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Football News -
At AFC Cup 2008
Group A - Matchday 4

Al Muharraq (BAH) l Dempo SC (IND) 1-2

Goal Scored - Ranty Martins Soleye (DSC) 11' & 62' and Leandson Dias da Silva (AlM) 77' (P)

Dempo scored crucial away win over Group A leader Al Muharraq ... So they r now only 1 pt away from group leaders Al Muharraq and Al Ansar ... There r still 2 games remaining to finish group fixtures.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Badminton News -
At $125K Yonex-Sunrise Badminton Asia Championships 2008, Malaysia

[R1] Rupesh Kumar (IND)/ Sanave Thomas (IND) l (4) Alvent Yulianto Chandra (INA)/ Luluk Hadiyanto (INA) 7-21 21-23
[R1] Akshay Devalkar (IND)/ Diju V. (IND) bt Noubani Ehad Nidal (JOR)/ Mohd Naser Mansour Nayef (JOR) 21-6 21-4

[R1] Jwala P Gutta (IND)/ Shruti S Kurian (IND) bt Fan Frances Liu (SIN)/ Yu Yan Vanessa Neo (SIN) 21-15 24-22

[R2] (Q) Diju V. (IND)/ Jwala P Gutta (IND) l Anggun Nugroho (INA)/ Endang Nursugianti (INA) 19-21 15-21

[R2] Jwala P Gutta (IND)/ Shruti S Kurian (IND) l (1) Wei Yang (CHN)/ Jiewen Zhang (CHN) 10-21 7-21
[R2] Akshay Devalkar (IND)/ Diju V. (IND) l (8) Keita Masuda (JPN)/ Tadashi Ohtsuka (JPN) 16-21 20-22

Very poor outing for Indian contingent in ongoing Asia Championships ... Nobody, repeating again nobody able to cross second round.

Tennis News -
Davis Cup World-group Playoff - September 19-21, 2008

Draw is out and India is having away tie against Romania ... We need to handle players like #68 Victor Hanescu and #93 Andrei Pavel ... Its lot better than playing away tie against Croatia and Slovak Republic.

Somdev can be better bet on clay ... Also Prakash and Rohan needs to play clay court events to getting hang up of those courts.
------------------------------------------
At US$25K BallenIsles Womens Challenger, Palm Beach Gardens, FL, USA

[Q3] Shikha Uberoi (IND,953) bt (15) Svetlana Krivencheva (BUL,603) 64 63

Maindraw -
[R1] (1) Sunitha Rao (IND,164) vs (Q) Veronica Spiegel (ARG,391)
[R1] Neha Uberoi (USA,348) vs (Q) Nicole Riner (SUI,433)
[R1] (Q) Shikha Uberoi (IND,953) vs (Q) Gabriela Paz (VEN,575)

[R1] Neha Uberoi (USA)/ Shikha Uberoi (IND) l Asia Muhammed (USA)/ Ashley Weinhold (USA) 76(6) 46 (5)10

Superb performance from Shikha to qualify for challenger maindraw, that's also second week in a row ... Our all players having winnable matches.
-------------------------------------------
At $35K+H Casablanca San Angel, Mexico City, Mexico

[R1] Stephen Amritraj (IND)/ Mustafa Ghouse (IND) bt (ALT) Roman Borvanov (USA)/ Norikazu Sugiyama (JPN) 63 76(3)

[QF] Stephen Amritraj (IND)/ Mustafa Ghouse (IND) vs (2) Carsten Ball (AUS)/ Robert Smeets (AUS)

Good start for pair of Mustafa and Stephen.
-------------------------------------------
At World Juniors’ U-14 Qualifying Tennis Tournament, Shenzen, China

India bt Tajikistan 3-0

Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND) bt Abdurasal NAZIROV (TJK) 60 60
Ronit BISHT (IND) bt Bakhodur FARIDUN (TJK) 60 60
Ronit BISHT (IND)/ Digvijay Singh Mehta (IND) bt Abdurasal NAZIROV (TJK)/ Bakhodur FARIDUN (TJK) 60 60

Quarter final line up -
(1) India vs (7) Uzbekistan
(3) China vs Chinese Taipei
(4) Korea vs Malyasia
(2) Australia vs (5) Hong kong

India crushed Tajikistan, but now serious matches begin with quarter-finals.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Badminton News -
At $125K Yonex-Sunrise Badminton Asia Championships 2008, Malaysia

[R1] Chetan Anand (IND,47) l Hiroyuki Endo (JPN,104) 19-21 24-26
[R1] Anand Pawar (IND,68) l (10) Simon Santoso (INA,15) 16-21 9-21
[R1] Anup Sridhar (IND,24) l (7) Sung Hwan Park (KOR,12) 9-21 13-21
[R1] P Kashyap (IND,95) bt Yi Lu (CHN,27) 11-21 21-17 21-10

[R1] (8) Saina Nehwal (IND,27) l Julia Pei Xian Wong (MAS,29) 15-21 21-16 17-21
[R1] Aditi Mutatkar (IND,73) l (3) Pui Yin Yip (HKG,12) 21-14 12-21 20-22
[R1] Trupti Murgunde (IND,50) l Porntip Buranaprasertsuk (THA,88) 11-21 14-21

[R1] (Q) Diju V. (IND)/ Jwala P Gutta (IND) bt (7) Sang Hoon Han (KOR)/ Yu Mi Hwang (KOR) 21-17 23-21

[R2] P Kashyap (IND,95) l (3) Chunlai Bao (CHN,3) 16-21 13-21

[R2] (Q) Diju V. (IND)/ Jwala P Gutta (IND) vs Anggun Nugroho (INA)/ Endang Nursugianti (INA)

Only P.Kashyap produced decent performance in singles ... He defeated top-30 Chinese player (YES CHINESE PLAYER) in the first round and showed decent performance against WR #3 Chinese player ... Aditi also gave fighting performance against WR #12, otherwise very disappointing performance by Indian players.

In MXD Diju and Jwala produced huge upset beating 7th rank Korean pair.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Football News -
At AFC Cup 2008
Group B - Matchday 4

East Bengal (IND) l Al Wihdat (JOR) 2-4

Goal Scored - Syed Rahim Nabi (EB) 12', Edmilson Marques Pardal (EB) 28' and Rafat Ali Ahmad Jaber (AlW) 6' & 24', Hasan Abdel-Fattah Hasan Mahmoud (AlW) 31' & 34'

And now this loss against Jordan team dented East Bengal's chances to reach in to knockout stage.

Tennis News -
At $75K+H Busan Open Challenger, Korea

[R1] Harsh Mankad (IND,734) bt Guillermo Alcaide (ESP,340) 63 36 76(3)

From recent results we can safely say that Harsh is playing top-350 type tennis ... Good start in this high caliber challenger, his second round opponent (mostly) will be 6th seed Danai Udomchoke.
-------------------------------------------
At $15K China F3 Futures, Taizhou

[R1] (4) RASTOGI Karan (IND,480) bt (Q) ZHU Ben-Qiang (CHN,UNR) 76(3) 4-1 Retd.
[R1] (7) SINGH Ashutosh (IND,609) l XU Jun-Chao (CHN,657) 16 16
[R1] VARDHAN Vishnu (IND,987) vs (LL) LIN Tzu-Yang (TPE,1247)

Doubles -
[R1] STATHAM Mikal (NZL)/ VARDHAN Vishnu (IND) l LIN Tzu-Yang (TPE)/ YI Chu-Huan (TPE) 16 64 (7)10
[R1] (2) RASTOGI Karan (IND)/ SINGH Ashutosh (IND) bt GONG Mao-Xin (CHN)/ LU Hao (CHN) 61 63

[QF] (2) RASTOGI Karan (IND)/ SINGH Ashutosh (IND) vs (WC) CHEN Sa (CHN)/ JIANG Chuan (CHN)

Good win by Karan against tricky opponent, as Ben-Qiang Zhu was former top-300 player who was making comeback from injury after almost 2 yrs ... But Ashutosh had poor loss.
-------------------------------------------
At World Juniors’ U-14 Qualifying Tennis Tournament, Shenzen, China

Group A - India, Malyasia, Tajikistan

India Team - Ronit Bisht, Digvijay Singh Mehta and Ramkumar Ramanathan
Captain - Sunil Yajaman

India bt Malaysia 3-0

Digvijay Singh Mehta (IND) bt Mohd. Asri Merzuki (MAS) 61 62
Ronit Bisht (IND) bt Syed Mohd. Agil Syed Naguib (MAS) 60 63
Ronit Bisht (IND)/ Digvijay Singh Mehta (IND) bt Mohd. Asri Merzuki (MAS)/ Syed Mohd. Agil Syed Naguib 63 63

Badminton News -
At $125K Yonex-Sunrise Badminton Asia Championships 2008, Malaysia

[Q1] Akshay Devalkar (IND)/ Shruti S Kurian (IND) bye
[Q1] Diju V. (IND)/ Jwala P Gutta (IND) bt Cao Hieu Pham (VIE)/ Thi Trang (B) Vu (VIE) 21-15 21-9

[Q2] Akshay Devalkar (IND)/ Shruti S Kurian (IND) bt Balaram Thapa (NEP)/ Sumina Shrestha (NEP) 18-21 21-9 22-20
[Q2] Diju V. (IND)/ Jwala P Gutta (IND) bt Oleg Savatugin (UZB)/ Anna Smirnova (UZB) W/O

[Q3] Akshay Devalkar (IND)/ Shruti S Kurian (IND) l Chun Yiu Leung (HKG)/ Kwan Yi Mong (HKG) 20-22 17-21
[Q3] Diju V. (IND)/ Jwala P Gutta (IND) bt Wai Ho Hui (HKG)/ Wai Chee Koon (HKG) 21-16 21-12

Maindraw -
[R1] Chetan Anand (IND,47) vs Hiroyuki Endo (JPN,104)
[R1] Anand Pawar (IND,68) vs (10) Simon Santoso (INA,15)
[R1] P Kashyap (IND,95) vs Yi Lu (CHN,27)
[R1] Anup Sridhar (IND,24) vs (7) Sung Hwan Park (KOR,12)

[R1] (8) Saina Nehwal (IND,27) vs Julia Pei Xian Wong (MAS,29)
[R1] Aditi Mutatkar (IND,73) vs (3) Pui Yin Yip (HKG,12)
[R1] Trupti Murgunde (IND,50) vs Porntip Buranaprasertsuk (THA,88)

[R1] Rupesh Kumar (IND)/ Sanave Thomas (IND) vs (4) Alvent Yulianto Chandra (INA)/ Luluk Hadiyanto (INA)
[R1] Akshay Devalkar (IND)/ Diju V. (IND) vs Noubani Ehad Nidal (JOR)/ Mohd Naser Mansour Nayef (JOR)

[R1] Jwala P Gutta (IND)/ Shruti S Kurian (IND) vs Fan Frances Liu (SIN)/ Yu Yan Vanessa Neo (SIN)

[R1] (Q) Diju V. (IND)/ Jwala P Gutta (IND) vs (7) Sang Hoon Han (KOR)/ Yu Mi Hwang (KOR)
In singles Chetan and Trupti having easier draw ... Otherwise our players facing difficult matches ... Good to see Jwala and Diji qualified for MXD maindraw.

Tennis News -
At $25K BallenIsles Womens Challenger, Palm Beach Gardens, FL, USA

[Q1] Shikha Uberoi (IND,953) bt (3) Asia Muhammed (USA,423) 61 36 76(2)
[Q2] Shikha Uberoi (IND,953) bt Anastasia Kharchenko (UKR,749) 61 61

[Q3] Shikha Uberoi (IND,953) vs (15) Svetlana Krivencheva (BUL,603)

Maindraw -
[R1] (1) Sunitha Rao (IND,164) vs Qualifier
[R1] Neha Uberoi (USA,348) vs Qualifier

Doubles -
[R1] (1) Sunitha Rao (IND)/ Raquel Kops-Jones (USA) vs (WC) Sesil Karatantcheva (BUL)/ Shareen-Rena Lai (MAS)
[R1] Neha Uberoi (USA)/ Shikha Uberoi (IND) vs Asia Muhammed (USA)/ Ashley Weinhold (USA)

Shikha is truly back ... She scored good fighting win over top-450 player in Q1 and then crushed top-750 player in Q2 ... Now she is one win away from qualifying for maindraw of Palm Beach Gardens Challenger.

So after 2 months (injury) break Neha is back on court in Palm Beach Gardens Challenger ... In doubles she is partnering sister Shikha and in singles Neha will face qualifier (can be Shikha ... ;-)) ... Neha can meet top seed Sunitha in second round if both players win their first round matches.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Shooting News -
At 2008 ISSF WORLD CUP, Beijing, China

10-metre Air Rifle
Gold - Qinan Zhu (CHN) - 700.8 (597+103.8)
Silver - Matthew Emmons (USA) - 700.7 (599+101.7)
Bronze - Gagan Narang (IND) - 700.3 (597+103.3)

18 - Abhinav Bindra (IND) 595
20 - PT Raghunath (IND) 594

Gagan Narang won the bronze medal in the 10-metre Air Rifle event at the ISSF World Cup in Beijing on Monday ... Gold medal won by Athens Olympics gold medalist China's Qinan Zhu.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Billiards News -
At 7th Asian Billiards Championship 2008, Yangon, Myanmar

[Final] Pankaj Advani (India) bt Rupesh Shah (India) 5-4

Pankaj won Asian billiards title in closely fought final match against Rupesh Shah ... Pankaj also become first Indian player to won the title twice.

Other Asian title winners -
1997 - Geet Sethi
2002 - Ashok Shandilya
2004 - Devendra Joshi
2005 - Pankaj Advani

Davis Cup World-group Playoff - September 19-21, 2008

Updated nations seedings r announced today ... These r seeded teams -
Croatia (5) - Away
Slovak Republic (8) - Toss
Australia (10) - Home
Belgium (12)* - Home
Korea (13) - Home
Romania (14) - Away
Austria (15)* - Home
Israel (16) - Away

* If pre-60 tournamets counted then tie's location will be decide on the toss.

Unseeded teams -

Switzerland (17)
Chile (19)
Serbia (18)
Peru (20)
Great Britain (21)
Brazil (22)
Netherlands (23)
India (24)

Match against Korea, Australia or Austria at home would be favourable for us, but knowing our luck we can expect away match with Croatia ... :-)

Tennis News -
At $35K+H Casablanca San Angel Challenger, Mexico City, Mexico

[Q1] Mustafa Ghouse (IND,UNR) bt Ikaika Jobe (USA,991) 63 62
[Q1] Stephen Amritraj (IND,1338) bt Shinta Fujii (JPN,UNR) 61 62

[Q2] Stephen Amritraj (IND,1338) l (8) Antonio Ruiz-Rosales (MEX,964) 06 46
[Q2] Mustafa Ghouse (IND,UNR) l (3) Nima Roshan (USA,638) 46 63 36

Maindraw -
[R1] (5) Prakash Amritraj (IND,254) vs Victor Estrella (DOM,305)

Doubles -
[R1] Stephen Amritraj (IND)/ Mustafa Ghouse (IND) vs ECHAGARAY, Bruno Echagaray (MEX)/ Daniel Garza (MEX)

-------------------------------------------
At $75K Busan Open Challenger, Korea

[R1] Harsh Mankad (IND,734) vs Guillermo Alcaide (ESP,340)

Doubles -
[R1] Harsh Mankad (IND)/ Alun Jones (AUS) vs Satoshi Iwabuchi (JPN)/ Toshihide Matsui (JPN)
-------------------------------------------
At $25K BallenIsles Womens Challenger, Palm Beach Gardens, FL, USA

[Q1] (3) Shikha Uberoi (IND,950) vs (3) Asia Muhammed (UKR,425)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Golf News -
At the Masters, Augusta National Golf Club, Georgia - Final Standing

1 Trevor Immelman 68 68 69 75 -8
2 Tiger Woods 72 71 68 72 -5
T5 Phil Mickelson 71 68 75 72 -2
T5 Padraig Harrington 74 71 69 72 -2
T14 Vijay Singh 72 71 72 74 +1
T17 Retief Goosen 71 71 72 76 +2
T25 Jeev Milkha Singh 71 74 72 75 +4
T25 Adam Scott 75 71 70 76 +4
T33 Jim Furyk 70 73 73 77 +5
41 K.J. Choi 72 75 78 73 +10

Tennis News -
At Asia/Oceania Zone Group I 2008, New Delhi, India (Grass)
2nd Round - India bt Japan 3-2

Day 3 -
[R4] Mahesh BHUPATHI (IND,UNR) l Kei NISHIKORI (JPN,118) 57 16
[R5] Leander PAES (IND,UNR) l Satoshi IWABUCHI (JPN,364) 46 64 46

In first set Hesh tried to produce fight when Kei was serving for the set at 5-4 ... Hesh broke his serve but due to poor service (he did numerous double faults in the match) he lost his own serve and then lost first set in 32 mins ... In second set Kei didn't gave any chance to Hesh and finished this set in 19 mins.

Impressive performance from Kei ... Today he was attacking net and successfully tried 'chip and charge' strategy on Hesh's serve.

Lee showed his brilliance in patches ... But overall entertaining match to watch ... Late in the third set Iwabuchi was struggling with cramps but he played excellent grass court tennis .. At 5-4 when Iwabuchi serving for the match he faced 2 break points, but then he served 4 superb first serves to win match.
-------------------------------------------
At $ 50k Tallahasse Challenger, Florida, USA

[Q2] (6) SIPAEYA Sunil Kumar (IND,417) l SARSTRAND Marcus (SWE,563) 16 16
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Golf News -
At the Masters, Augusta National Golf Club, Georgia - Third Round

1 Trevor Immelman -11
2 Brandt Snedeker -9
3 Steve Flesch -5
4 Paul Casey -7
5 Tiger Woods -5
6 Stewart Cink -4
T7 Phil Mickelson -2
T7 Retief Goosen -2
T7 Padraig Harrington -2
T7 Zach Johnson -2
T16 Vijay Singh -1
T19 Jim Furyk E
T19 Adam Scott E
T23 Jeev Milkha Singh +1
T28 Angel Cabrera +2
T35 Justin Rose +3
T44 K.J. Choi +9

Billiards News -
At 7th Asian Billiards Championship 2008, Yangon, Myanmar

Geet Sethi, Pankaj Advani and Rupesh Shah participated in Asian Billiards Championship ... Geet challenge ended at group level ... But Pankaj and Rupesh showed excellent cueing to move into final.

Both reached in to the final in contrasting style ... Pankaj crushed Aung San Oo to scored emphatic victory ... Other hand Rupesh showed gritty performance to fought back from 1-3 deficits against Praprut, the current Indoor Asian Games Gold Medalist.

[QF] Pankaj Advani (India) bt Thawat Sujaritthurakarn (Thailand) 4-2
[QF] Rupesh Shah (India) bt Kyaw Oo (Myanmar) 4-1

[SF] Pankaj Advani (India) bt Aung San Oo (Myanmar) 4-0 (100-05, 100-68, 100-55, 100-75)
[SF] Rupesh Shah (India) bt Praprut Chaithanasakun (Thailand) 4-3 (100-35, 38-100, 0-100, 70-100, 100-91, 100-10, 100-15)

[Final] Pankaj Advani (India) vs Rupesh Shah (India)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Golf News -
At the Masters, Augusta National Golf Club, Georgia - Second Round

1 Trevor Immelman -8
2 Brandt Snedeker -7
T3 Ian Poulter -5
T3 Steve Flesch -5
T3 Phil Mickelson -5
T11 Retief Goosen -2
T13 Tiger Woods -1
T13 Jim Furyk -1
T13 Vijay Singh -1
T21 Angel Cabrera +1
T21 Jeev Milkha Singh +1
T21 Padraig Harrington +1
T29 Justin Rose +2
T29 Adam Scott +2
T40 K.J. Choi +3
-------------------- Cut @ + 3 ---------------------
T58 Daniel Chopra +6

Cruel back 9 holes for Dan, where he scored 3 bogeys and couple of double bogeys ... But I really wish next year he will come here with motto to succeed.

In second round Jeev was struggling with his game but he managed to hold his nerve ... Congrats to Jeev for making 2 cuts 2 Masters.

Tennis News -
At Asia/Oceania Zone Group I 2008, New Delhi, India (Grass)
2nd Round - India bt Japan 3-0

Day 2 -
[R3] Mahesh BHUPATHI (IND)/ Leander PAES (IND) bt Satoshi IWABUCHI (JPN)/ Takao SUZUKI (JPN) 76(2) 36 64 64 (2hrs 50min)

Deserving 3-0 win for Indian Davis cup team ... In first 2 sets Lee and Hesh were struggling with on court chemistry ... But they raised their game and played excellent tennis ... Japanese pair also played very good tennis to bring out best from our pair.

Lee was struggling with his regular game in first 2 sets ... Other hand Hesh played very solid service game in first set, but in 2nd and 3rd set Hesh was struggling with his service ... From 3rd set our pair started to play like old oiled engine then nobody can dared to guess any different result than Indian Express's win.

Now interesting to see our WG qualifier opponent which will be decide on 16th April.
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At $25K Jackson Womens Challenger, MS, USA

[QF] (3) Sunitha Rao (IND,170) l (8) Tetiana Luzhanska (UKR,213) 46 46
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At $ 50k Tallahasse challenger, Florida, USA

[Q1] (6) SIPAEYA Sunil-Kumar (IND,417) bye
[Q2] (6) SIPAEYA Sunil-Kumar (IND,417) vs SARSTRAND Marcus (SWE,563)

Tennis News -
At Asia/Oceania Zone Group I 2008, New Delhi, India (Grass)
2nd Round - India vs Japan 2-0

Day 1 -
[R1] Rohan BOPANNA (IND,325) bt Kei NISHIKORI (JPN,118) 76(2) 36 64 26 63 (2hrs 45mins)
[R2] Prakash AMRITRAJ (IND,261) bt Go SOEDA (JPN,156) 46 67(5) 64 64 8-6 (4hrs 03mins)

Both matches were 5 setters and Indians won both matches to surprised their higher rank opponents in thrilling matches ... Kash produced best victory of his short Davis Cup career ... This was his first comeback victory in 5 sets match ... Simply amazing performance ... Now Indians having great chance of finishing this tie in 2nd day with winning doubles match..

First Rubber -
First set went as per serves, with some powerful serving Bops won this set in tie-break.
In second set, Kei broke Bops serve on 2nd game.
In third set Bops broke Kei's serve on 2nd game but Kei broke back in 7th game ... Bops broke Kei serve in 10th game to won 3rd set.
In fourth Kei started with breaking Bops serve in 1st game then he again broke Bops serve on 7th game.
In fifth set Bops take crucial break of the match in 8th game, While serving for the match Bops saved 2 break points at 15-40 before converting first match point.

Second Rubber-
In second set Go started with breaking Kash's serve, but Kash broke back immediately in next game ... Kash had mini-break in tie-break but couldn't manage to take advantage of it.
In third set Kash broke Soeda's serve in 9th game to win the set.
Fourth set started dramatically as Kash broke Soeda's serve in the first game but Soeda fought back breaking Kash's serve in fourth game ... But Kash again broke Soeda's serve in 7th game to win the set.
In fifth set, Kash was always under pressure on his serve ... He saved numerous break points but other hand Soeda was comfortably holding his serve ... In 12th game Kash saved 1 match point on his serve ... After that suddenly Kash found required confidence to break Soeda's serve in 13th game at 15 ... Then he converted first match point on his serve to win match after saving couple of brek points.
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At $25K Jackson Womens Challenger, MS, USA

[R2] (3) Sunitha Rao (IND,170) bt (Q) Alexis Gordon (USA,742) 62 64

[QF] (3) Sunitha Rao (IND,170) vs (8) Tetiana Luzhanska (UKR,213)

Sunitha continuing with her good form scoring easy victory against qualifier ... Now 8th seed Ukrainian in quarters.
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Sania's Wrist Surgery -

Good news!!! The surgery on Sania's wrist got done successfully ... Fortunately there were no tear in the ligaments ... Basically the surgical procedure was to remove the debris from a year of inflammation and a repair of the wrist capsule (this is not like a broken bone or repaired ligaments.) ... Doctor ordered 3 weeks of cast and then she will start moving the wrist ... So mostly in 4-6 weeks Sania will get back on court and hit ... May be she need to skip French Open but she will be definitely back on court from grass season .

Tennis News -
At Asia/Oceania Zone Group I 2008, New Delhi, India (Grass)
2nd Round - India vs Japan

Day 1 -
[R1] Rohan BOPANNA (IND,325) vs Kei NISHIKORI (JPN,118)
[R2] Prakash AMRITRAJ (IND,261) vs Go SOEDA (JPN,156)

Day 2 -
[R3] Mahesh BHUPATHI (IND)/ Leander PAES (IND) vs Satoshi IWABUCHI (JPN)/ Takao SUZUKI (JPN)

Day 3 -
[R4] Prakash AMRITRAJ (IND,261) vs Kei NISHIKORI (JPN,118)
[R5] Rohan BOPANNA (IND,325) vs Go SOEDA (JPN,156)
-------------------------------------------
At $25K Jackson Womens Challenger, MS, USA

[R1] (3) Sunitha Rao (IND,170) bt Maria Irigoyen (ARG,279) 75 61
[R1] (Q) Shikha Uberoi (IND,924) l (7) Ye-Ra Lee (KOR,205) 76(8) 46 46

[R2] (3) Sunitha Rao (IND,170) vs (Q) Alexis Gordon (USA,742)

Promising performance from Shikha in this challenger ... She need to mix more futures in her schedule to gain ranking points to make move in her ranking … And nice to see Sunitha sustaining her recent run of good form.

Tennis News -
At $25K Jackson Womens Challenger, MS, USA

[R1] RAO Sunitha (IND)/ UBEROI Shikha (IND) l (WC) THOMPSON Catrina (USA)/ THOMPSON Christian (USA) 64 36 (5)10

Shocking result as their (both) opponents doubles ranking were below 700 ... Really puzzling how they lost this winnable match.
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At $15K USA F7 Futures, Mobile, AL

[R1] SIPAEYA Sunil-Kumar (IND,421) l (5) WEINTRAUB Amir (ISR,327) 36 57

Doubles -
[R1] SIPAEYA Sunil-Kumar (IND)/ WEINTRAUB Amir (ISR) l EL MIHDAWY Adam (USA)/ RUCKELSHAUSEN Richard (AUT) 36 26

Tennis News -
At $25K Jackson Womens Challenger, MS, USA

[Q3] UBEROI Shikha (IND,924) bt (9) GAMBALE Mary (USA,529) 61 63

[R1] (3) RAO Sunitha (IND,170) vs IRIGOYEN Maria (ARG,279)
[R1] (Q) UBEROI Shikha (IND,924) vs (7) LEE Ye-Ra (KOR,205)

Doubles -
[R1] RAO Sunitha (IND)/ UBEROI Shikha (IND) vs (WC) THOMPSON Catrina (USA)/ THOMPSON Christian (USA)

So Shikha scored another upset win to qualify for maindraw ... But she is facing tough first round against Korean.

This is first time I m seeing Sunitha and Shikha playing together in doubles ... Interesting to see how they perform.
-------------------------------------------
At $15K USA F7 Futures, Mobile, AL

[R1] SIPAEYA Sunil-Kumar (IND,421) vs (5) WEINTRAUB Amir (ISR,327)

Doubles -
[R1] SIPAEYA Sunil-Kumar (IND)/ WEINTRAUB Amir (ISR) vs EL MIHDAWY Adam (USA)/ RUCKELSHAUSEN Richard (AUT)

Tough first round for Sunil with his doubles partner.

Tennis News -
At $25K Jackson Womens Challenger, MS, USA

[Q1] UBEROI Shikha (IND,924) bt BAKER Marilyn (USA,UNR) 60 60
[Q2] UBEROI Shikha (IND,924) bt (2) LEPORE Agustina (ARG,351) 63 63

[Q3] UBEROI Shikha (IND,924) vs (9) GAMBALE Mary (USA,529)

At Jackson challenger, Shikha again had double-bagel victory in Q1 but this time against better opponent than last week ... But importantly in Q2 she scored big victory (after her comeback) over top-350 Argentine player ... With this win now she should fancied her chance against American in final qualifying.

Tennis News -
At $3.77M Sony Ericsson Open, Miami, USA

Final -
(4) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Mark Knowles (BAH) l (1) Mike Bryan (USA)/ Bob Bryan (USA) 26 26

Very solid performance from Bryans, who never faced single break point on their serve ... Other hand they broke Mark's service twice in first set and broke Mahesh's service twice in second set.
-------------------------------------------------
At $75K Monzon Challenger, Spain (hard)

[Q1] NAGARAJ Sandhya (IND,577) l (5)CAVADAY Naomi (GBR,183) 26 63 46

Spirited performance by Sandhya against top 200 player.

Tennis News -
At $10K India F5 Futures, Chandigarh

Singles Final -
(WC) Harsh Mankad (IND,1331) bt (1)(WC) Rohan Bopanna (IND,328) W/O

Rohan has pulled out with a knee injury, so Harsh wins a double crown ... It was tough luck for Rohan, but congrats to Harsh for this title and importantly 12 ranking pts ... Harsh grabbed total 20 pts from 3 Indian futures.

I m worried about Rohan's injury ... I hope it’s minor so avoiding to aggravate it he decided to skip the final ... We need him against Japan otherwise our task will become tougher in this tie.

Tennis News -
At $3.77M Sony Ericsson Open, Miami, USA

[SF] (4) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Mark Knowles (BAH) bt (6) Martin Damm (CZE)/ Pavel Vizner (CZE) 76(5) 46 11(9)

[F] (4) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Mark Knowles (BAH) vs (1) Bob Bryan (USA)/ Mike Bryan (USA)

4th consecutive super tiebreak win for Hesh and Mark ... In this match they saved three match points in the Super Tie-break ... They trailed 9-6 before reeling off five straight points to win this match in one hour and 50 minute.
-------------------------------------------
At $10K India F5 Futures, Chandigarh

Singles Semi Finals -
(1)(WC) Rohan Bopanna (IND,328) bt Divij Sharan (IND,727) 64 75
(WC) Harsh Mankad (IND,1331) bt (3) Hyun Woo Nam (KOR,524) 46 64 75

Doubles Final -
Harsh Mankad (IND)/ Rupesh Roy (IND) bt (3) Rohan Gajjar (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) 63 64

Well deserving win in singles for Harsh .. So last few weeks hardwork showing desired results ... Importantly Harsh played 2 matches in a day in this futures without any knee problem is good sign ... Also good show with Rupesh to win doubles title.

So after this week he will take well deserving rest before moving to Busan Open Challenger.
-------------------------------------------
At $25K Hamburg Challenger, Germany (carpet)

[R2] (Q) NAGARAJ Sandhya (IND,577) l (Q) GUISARD Estelle (FRA,585) 16 36

Tennis News -
At $3.77M Sony Ericsson Open, Miami, USA

[QF] (4) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Mark Knowles (BAH) bt (8) Paul Hanley (AUS)/ Leander Paes (IND) 62 67(8) 10(6)

[SF] (4) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Mark Knowles (BAH) vs (6) Martin Damm 9CZE0/ Pavel Vizner (CZE)

Though Lee and Paul lost their match against Hesh and Mark still they showed heart to win tight 2nd set in tie-break after losing first set easily ... Now Hesh and Mark having good chance to reduce points distance between them and Ram & Elrich, who r leading 2008 doubles ATP race but lost in the first round of Miami Masters.
-------------------------------------------
At $10K India F5 Futures, Chandigarh

Singles Quarter Finals -
(1)(WC) Rohan Bopanna (IND,328) bt Danila Arsenov (RUS,782) 67(8) 76(1) 63
Divij Sharan (IND,727) bt Roman Jebavy (CZE,765) 75 62

(3) Hyun Woo Nam (KOR,524) bt Vivek Shokeen (IND,716) 64 62
(WC) Harsh Mankad (IND,1331) bt (WC) Yuki Bhambri (IND,1679) 64 63

Doubles Semi Finals -
(3) Rohan Gajjar (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) bt (1) Vivek Shokeen (IND)/ Ashutosh Singh (IND) 64 67(5) 10(4)
Harsh Mankad (IND)/ Rupesh Roy (IND) bt (WC) Yuki Bhambri (IND)/ Kamala Kannan (IND) 63 61

So 3 Indians r in singles semis ... Terrific solid victory by Divij over Jebavy.

Harsh ended spirited run of young Yuki ... But Rohan surprisingly had tough time against hot-headed Russian ... Rohan saved 1 match point when he was serving at 4-5 and 30-40 in second set in this 3 hrs match.

Creditable performance from 15 yrs old Yuki to played fuutres quarter-final and remained competitive against former #222 ... Now I m hoping for all Indians final with Harsh's win over Nam.
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At $25K Hamburg Challenger, Germany (carpet)

[R2] (Q) NAGARAJ Sandhya (IND,577) vs (Q) GUISARD Estelle (FRA,585)

French woman Guisard defeated #189 Zahlavovain in first round ... Now both qualifiers having good opportunity of moving into quarter-final of this challenger.
-------------------------------------------
At $25K Pelham Challenger, AL, USA (clay)

[R1] (Q) IRIGOYEN Maria (ARG)/ UBEROI Shikha (IND) l LEE Ye-Ra (KOR)/ TEZUKA Remi (JPN) 26 75 (2)10

Tennis News -
At $10K India F5 Futures, Chandigarh

Singles Second Round -
(1)(WC) Rohan Bopanna (IND,328) bt (Q) Peraklat Siriluethaiwattana (THA,UNR) 63 63
Danila Arsenov (RUS,782) bt (6) Nathan Thompson (USA,657) 4-0 Retd

Divij Sharan (IND,727) bt (Q) Ranjeet Virali-Murugesan (IND,1047) 63 63
Roman Jebavy (CZE,765) bt Andrey Kumantstov (RUS,767) 46 75 64

Vivek Shokeen (IND,716) bt (5) Yu Wang Jr. (CHN,620) 36 64 64
(3) Hyun Woo Nam (KOR,524) bt (LL) Ye Du (CHN,1733) W/O

(WC) Harsh Mankad (IND,1331) bt (7) Kento Tekeuchi (JPN,662) 46 60 61
(WC) Yuki Bhambri (IND,1679) bt (2) Peng Sun (CHN,487) 64 62

Doubles Quarter Finals -
(1) Vivek Shokeen (IND)/ Ashutosh Singh (IND) bt Ilya Belyaev (RUS)/ Sergei Krotiouk (RUS) 60 61
(3) Rohan Gajjar (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) bt John Mcgohan (IRL)/ Ciaran Moore (RSA) 64 76(2)

Harsh Mankad (IND)/ Rupesh Roy (IND) bt Roman Jebavy (CZE)/ Nathan Thompson (USA) W/O
(WC) Yuki Bhambri (IND)/ Kamala Kannan (IND) bt Christoph Lessiak (AUT)/ Mario Tupy (AUT) 62 64

Truly Indian day at Chandigarh Lawn Tennis Association Stadium ... :)

Terrific win by 15 yrs old Yuki over 24 yrs old China's No. 1 player Peng Sun ... This is biggest win of Yuki's small career.

Yuki, Harsh and Vivek produced upset to beat seeded players ... So now chances r high that as Doubles semi-final line up we can see all Indians line up in singles semi-final also.

Football News -
At AFC Cup 2008
Group B - Matchday 3

Al Wihdat (JOR) l East Bengal (IND) 0-2

Goal Scored - Ike Ibe Gift (EB), Alvito D'Cunha (EB)

Very exciting and also important away win for East Bengal against Jordan team.
-----------------------------
Group A - Matchday 3

Dempo SC (IND) l Al Muharraq (BAH) 0-4

Goal Scored - Leandson Dias da Silva (AlM) 7', 31', 50' (P) & 60'

Al Muharraq crushed Dempo as all goal scored by Leandson Dias da Silva ... Now next home game against Sur Club will be do or die match for Dempo, they r really in spot of bother.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Tennis News -
At $25K Hamburg Challenger, Germany (carpet)

[R1] (Q) NAGARAJ Sandhya (IND,577) bt (WC) SPINCKE Claudia(GER,NR) 62 62

Sandhya had winning start against her weak opponent ... Now mostly she will face 5th seed Czech player in second round.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Chess News -

Top rank Anand is opened gap of 15 ELO pts between him and Kramnik ... And he is also scored his best ever FIDE rating due to strong title winning performance at Morelia/Linares 2008.
Koneru Humpy is 2nd in women's list with 2603 ELO pts behind Judit Polgar.

FIDE list of 1st April 2008 -
Rank Name Country Rating B-Year

1 Anand, Viswanathan IND 2803 1969
2 Kramnik, Vladimir RUS 2788 1975
3 Morozevich, Alexander RUS 2774 1977
4 Topalov, Veselin BUL 2767 1975
5 Carlsen, Magnus NOR 2765 1990
6 Aronian, Levon ARM 2763 1982
7 Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar AZE 2752 1985
8 Radjabov, Teimour AZE 2751 1987
9 Svidler, Peter RUS 2746 1976
10 Leko, Peter HUN 2741 1979
11 Ivanchuk, Vassily UKR 2740 1969
12 Shirov, Alexei ESP 2740 1972
13 Karjakin, Sergey UKR 2732 1990
14 Adams, Michael ENG 2729 1971
15 Kamsky, Gata USA 2726 1974

40 Harikrishna, P. IND 2679 1986
42 Sasikiran, Krishnan IND 2679 1981

Football News -
India U16 team is in Group B of the AFC U16 Championships to be played from October 4th to 19th in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.

Group B - India, South Korea, Syria and Indonesia.

Match Schedule -
October 4 - India U16 vs South Korea U16
October 6 - India U16 vs Syria U16
October 8 - India U16 vs Indonesia U16

This group looks relatively easy but as we all know South Korea is powerhouse in Asia at youth or senior level ... Syria is the finalist from 2006 edition, so only Indonesia look little easier on paper.

Our U16 side need to reach semifinals to the FIFA U17 World Cup.