Monday, June 30, 2008

Tennis News -
At The Championships Wimbledon 2008,

[R3] (9) Lukas Dlouhy (CZE)/ Leander Paes (IND) bt Travis Parrott (USA)/ Filip Polasek (SVK) 76(2) 76(6) 64

Junior Girl -
Poojashree Venkatesh (IND,55) l (6) Jessica Moore (AUS,26) 64 36 16

Tight sets victory in quality match where Parrott/ Polasek did 14 UFEs and Lee/ Lukas managed only 11 UFEs in this 2 hrd 14 mins match ... So with this win our pair is in quarters and mostly will play against 3rd seed Israeli pair Ram/ Elrich.
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At $75K+H Dublin Challenger, Ireland

[Q3] (7) Ashutosh Singh (IND,540) (2) Ivo Klec (SVK,360) 06 64 36

Doubles -
[R1] Harsh Mankad (IND)/ Ashutosh Singh (IND) l Roko Karanusic (CRO)/ Ivo Klec (SVK) 75 67(3) (8)10

So close losses in singles and doubles for Ashutosh ... In doubles Harsh and Ashutosh had chances after winning first set.
Tennis News -
At $10K USA F15 Futures, Rochester, NY

[F] (8) Somdev Dev Varman (IND,793) bt Alexander Domijan (USA,1045) 62 62

Doubles -
[F] Somdev Dev Varman (IND)/ Treat Huey (USA) bt (4) Bryan Koniecko (USA)/ Justin Kronauge (USA) 61 46 12(10)

As expected Somi won double crown at Rochester Futures ... So this win earned him 12 pts and push his ranking towards top-600 ... This week he is playing at Pittsburgh Futures.

In new development, Somi has signed up with Charlottesville based an agency, Mamba Enterprises, and has appointed a travelling coach, Jacek Wolicki.

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At $75K+H Dublin Challenger, Ireland

[Q1] (7) Ashutosh Singh (IND,540) bt Tommy Murphy (IRL,UNR) 26 64 61
[Q1] Purav Raja (IND,1006) l (1) Andis Juska (LAT,341) 26 16

[Q2] (7) Ashutosh Singh (IND,540) bt Jonathan Kinsella (GBR,1333) 67(7) 64 76(5)

[Q3] (7) Ashutosh Singh (IND,540) vs (2) Ivo Klec (SVK,360)

[R1] Prakash Amritraj (IND,350) vs (WC) Eoin Heavey (IRL,1513)
[R1] (PR) Harsh Mankad (IND,674) vs (PR) Jonathan Marray (GBR,1598)
[R1] Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (PAK,158) vs (WC) Colin O'Brien (IRL,1459)

Ashutosh struggled against unknown players but importantly he is in the final qualifying round ... Kash, Harsh and Aisam having favourable draw ... But I m still not able to find answer for 'Why Bops decided to skip this challenger?', where he was double champion in 2007.
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Golf News -
At Buick Open

Leading after third round, Dan started 4th round with 4 bogeys and then never recovered to produce challnge in the final round ... Disappointing end for Dan, he was in position of finishing top instead he finished on T17 with -13 ... But hopefully this poor last round doesn’t hamper his concentration as today at Michigan he is playing in a British Open qualifier.

Sunday, June 29, 2008

Billiards News -
At Australian Open Billiards Championship 2008, Melbourne 23 - 29 June 2008


Pankaj won Australian Open Billiards Championship (150-format) beating countryman Dhruv Sitwala in the final ... Pankaj, Dhruv and Devendra Joshi participated here in the preparation for World Professional Billiards Championship at Leeds from 23rd July.
Pankaj Advani - "It was a good championship. The conditions were very player friendly. Winning on debut is definitely special. There were quite a few good players. They had an edge over the Indians because played the time format tournament, which could not participate in."
"The semifinals was a god match. Matthew Bolton was playing exceptionally well. I had to bring out the best in myself to beat him."

Final -
Pankaj Advani (IND) bt Dhruv Sitwala (IND) 6-1

Semi-Finals -
Pankaj Advani (IND) bt Matthew Bolton (AUS) 5-4
Dhruv Sitwala (IND) bt Devendra Joshi (IND) 5-4

Quarter-Finals -
Pankaj Advani (IND) bt Steve Mifsud (AUS) 4-0
Matthew Bolton (AUS) bt David Collins (AUS) 4-0
Devendra Joshi (IND) bt Joe Minici (AUS) 4-1
Dhruv Sitwala (IND) bt Mark Hammer (AUS) 4-0

Group B - Pankaj Advani (IND)
bt Joe Minici (AUS) 3-0
bt Adam Wyard (AUS) 3-0
bt Alex Kay (AUS) 3-0
bt Ian Gilbee (AUS) 3-0

Group C - Devendra Joshi (IND)
bt David Collins (AUS) 3-2
bt Vic Sacco (AUS) 3-0
bt David Cosgriff (AUS) 3-0
bt Keith Taylor (AUS) 3-0

Group D - Dhruv Sitwala (IND)
bt Allen Taylor (AUS) 3-0
bt Mac Rynkiewicz (AUS) 3-0
bt Steve Mifsud (AUS) 3-0
Tennis News -
At The Championships Wimbledon 2008,

Mixed Doubles -
[R2] (10) Leander Paes (IND)/ Rennae Stubbs (AUS) l Jonas Bjorkman (SWE)/ Alicia Molik (AUS) 36 63 36
[R2] (11) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Sania Mirza (IND) l Igor Andreev (RUS)/ Maria Kirilenko (RUS) 67(4) 36

So with that our MXD challenge got over ... Very disappointing Wimby for Mahesh with early exit in doubles and MXD ... Rohan had wonderful debut with winning single round in doubles and MXD ... Lee is still alive in doubles and hopefully go deep in the draw ... Considering Sania's return from injury this Wimby turning into satisfying as she got chance to test her wrist and still remaining in doubles which is less demanding on her wrist.
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At $10K USA F15 Futures, Rochester, NY

[SF] (8) Somdev Dev Varman (IND,793) bt Bryan Koniecko (USA,827) 75 63
[F] (8) Somdev Dev Varman (IND,793) vs Alexander Domijan (1045)

As per onlooker, Somi struggled with his game mainly his serve ... In both set they traded multiple breaks but Somi showed his metal to win important points ... Somi mentioned this was his off-day so hopefully today we will see different Somi which we use to see ... :)

What I liked from this match that while struggling with his game Somi still kept fighting without losing his focus ... Great stuff champ.

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Golf News -

At Buick Open, Grand Blanc, Daniel Chopra leading by 2 strokes at -16 after third round ... Dan won the season-opening Mercedes-Benz Championship, but after that he has failed to crack the top 30 in any tournament.

Tomorrow will be a very important day for Daniel ... As he needs one more solid round to win this and secure Ryder Cup spot.

Check report on
PGA tour site.

Saturday, June 28, 2008

Tennis News -
At The Championships Wimbledon 2008,

Doubles -
[R2] (13) Sania Mirza (IND) / Bethanie Mattek (USA) bt Maria Kirilenko (RUS)/ Flavia Pennetta (ITA) 63 64
[R2] Rajeev Ram (USA)/ Bobby Reynolds (USA) l Stephen Huss (AUS)/ Ross Hutchins (GBR) 16 67(6) 62 67(1)

MXD -
[R2] Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Tatiana Poutchek (BLR) l (13) Lisa Raymond (USA)/ Simon Aspelin (SWE) 36 67(1)

Junior -
[R1] (5) BHAMBRI Yuki (IND,7) l TROMBETTA Ty D (USA,58) 67(2) 46

Dominating win by Sania and Bethanie, but disappointing loss of Yuki ... I think this was his continuous 7th loss, Yuki's think-tank need to work on to find out what exactly bothering him ... Its really sad to see such promising talent struggled this way ... :-(
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At $15K Ireland F2 Futures, Limerick

[F] Harsh Mankad (IND,669) l (2) Conor Niland (IRL,304) 36 46

Tough loss but Harsh showed very consistent performance this week ... Really happy to see he is coming back to his groove in his favourite surrounding ... Next week is big $75K+H challenger week so going deep their can bring heap of points.
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As per the news from Jon Wertheim in Sports Illustrated, Prakash has got the main draw wild card for Newport ATP tournament.
Tennis News -
At The Championships Wimbledon 2008,

Mixed Doubles -
[R1] Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Tatiana Poutchek (BLR) bt Igor Kunitsyn (RUS)/ Elena Vesnina (RUS) 64 26 64

[R2] Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Tatiana Poutchek (BLR) vs (13) Lisa Raymond (USA)/ Simon Aspelin (SWE)
[R2] (10) Leander Paes (IND)/ Rennae Stubbs (AUS) vs Jonas Bjorkman (SWE)/ Alicia Molik (AUS)
[R2] (11) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Sania Mirza (IND) vs Igor Andreev (RUS)/ Maria Kirilenko (RUS)

Juniors -
[R1] (5) BHAMBRI Yuki (IND,7) vs TROMBETTA Ty D (USA,58)
[R1] VENKATESHA Poojashree (IND,55) vs (6) MOORE Jessica (AUS,26)

Rohan had winning start in MXD debut ... But for me saddening part was he removed his name from next week's Dublin Challenger list, where he was defending double champion ... It clearly indicates henceforth Rohan is giving more important to his doubles career ignoring singles.
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At $15K Ireland F2 Futures, Limerick

[QF] Harsh Mankad (IND,669) bt (Q) Frederik Nielsen (DEN,310) 64 36 76(3)

Harsh is in sizzling form ... I was worried when match stopped due to rain break becoz at that time Harsh had momentum, he was leading 64 2-1 ... But Harsh overcame challenge of Nielsen to win match in 3rd set tie-break.

Now Harsh is in chance to capture $15K title beating top-3 seeds in this futures ... I think after Manchester challenger Harsh wouldn't need injury protected ranking to make cut in challengers.

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At $10K USA F15 Futures, Rochester, NY

[QF] (8) Somdev Dev Varman (IND,793) bt (1) Artem Sitak (RUS,321) 62 62

[SF] (8) Somdev Dev Varman (IND,793) vs Bryan Koniecko (USA,827)

It looks this time Somi decided to give little respect to his opponent as top-seed ... :-)

Very heartening to see his concentration and commitment in these dominating wins where he knows he will win.

Friday, June 27, 2008

Tennis News -
At $10K USA F15 Futures, Rochester, NY

[R2] (8) Somdev DEV VARMAN (IND,793) bt (WC) KRONAUGE Justin (USA,1686) 60 60
[QF] (8) Somdev DEV VARMAN (IND,793) vs (1) Artem SITAK (RUS,321)

Doubles -
[SF] DEV VARMAN Somdev (IND)/ HUEY Treat (USA) bt AUBONE Jean-Yves (USA)/ BOWLES Clint (USA) 61 61
[F] DEV VARMAN Somdev (IND)/ HUEY Treat (USA) vs (4) KONIECKO Bryan (USA)/ KRONAUGE Justin (USA)

Somi is man-handling his opponents on the court with his game ... Justin Kronauge is currently #13 in NCAA ranking, so wasn't easy opponent ... But Somi was on different planet and scored another double bagel victory ... So now real test for him is against top-seed Russian Sitak ... This match will decide Somi should stick to futures or move over to Challengers qualifying.
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At $25k Qian Shan Challanger, China

[QF] (4) Isha LAKHANI (IND)/ Pemra OZGEN (TUR) l Lei HUANG (CHN)/ Yan-Ze XIE (CHN) 62 46 (5)10
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Badminton News -
At 120K Thailand GP GOLD 2008,

[QF] Saina NEHWAL (IND,23) l (1) Xingfang XIE (CHN,1) 16-21 17-21

Saina produced creditable performance in this 34 mins match, lot better than her March's match against Xingfang ... In new BWF ranking Saina is climbed to #21.

Thursday, June 26, 2008

Tennis News -
At The Championships Wimbledon 2008,

[R1] (13) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Bethanie Mattek (USA) bt Elena Baltacha (GBR)/ Naomi Cavady (GBR) 64 62
[R1] Rajeev Ram (USA)/ Bobby Reynolds (USA) bt Amer Delic (USA)/ Brendan Evans (USA) 62 76(4) 63
[R1] (4) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Mark Knowles (BAH) l Philipp Petzschner (GER)/ Alexander Peya (AUT) 57 26 67(4)

[R2] Rohan Bopanna (IND )/ Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (PAK) l Marcel Granollers-Pujol (ESP)/ Santiago Ventura (ESP) 26 46 26
[R2] (9) Lukas Dlouhy (CZE)/ Leander Paes (IND) bt Eric Butorac (USA)/ Ashley Fisher (AUS) 63 76(3) 63

[R2] (13) Sania Mirza (IND) / Bethanie Mattek (USA) vs Maria Kirilenko (RUS)/ Flavia Pennetta (ITA)
[R2] Rajeev Ram (USA)/ Bobby Reynolds (USA) vs Stephen Huss (AUS)/ Ross Hutchins (GBR)

Surprising loss for Rohan and Aisam after good first round victory ... But good easy start for Sania and Bethanie, also for Rajeev and Bobby in mens doubles.

Mahesh and Mark lost their first round match in straight sets ... Another shocking result, this loss may be due to lack of match practice togather in grass season or Hesh's ongoing injury.

Other hand Lee and Lukas showed very clinical performance against tricky pair to win match in straight sets.

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At $15K Ireland F2 Futures, Limerick

[QF] Harsh Mankad (IND,669) bt (Q) Lazare Kukhalashvili (GEO,UNR) 62 64

Doubles -
[SF] (3) MANKAD Harsh (IND)/ SINGH Ashutosh (IND) l (1) KONING Michel (NED)/ NIELSEN Frederik (DEN) 67(3) 76(3) (8)10

Very hard fought doubles match ... Our pair was unlucky to lost in super-tiebreak.
Tennis News -
At The Championships Wimbledon 2008,

[R2] (32) Sania Mirza (IND,33) l (Q) Maria Jose Martinez sanchez (ESP,101) 06 64 7-9

After losing first set in 20 mins with numerous Unforced errors Sania fought back match with winning second set ... She was down service break in early of second set.

In third set Sania started with breaking Maria Jose Martinez sanchez's serve in 2nd game ... But Martinez broke back in 3rd game, then Sania broke her serve in 6th game but broken back in 7th game ... Sania wasted a match point in 10th game and then 3 more in 12th game game and in end Martinez kept her nerve to won match breaking Sania's serve in 15th game.

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At $15K Ireland F2 Futures, Limerick

[QF] Harsh Mankad (IND,669) bt (Q) Lazare Kukhalashvili (GEO,UNR) 62 64

Harsh is earning very important ranking points in this $15K ... Harsh having tough test against Danish Frederik Nielsen in semis ... Today both having chance of judging eachother's game in doubles semis match before tomorrow singles semis.
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At $15K Iran F2 futures, Tehran (clay)

[F] (1) Rohan Gajjar (IND)/ Murad Inoyatov (UZB) l (2) Alexey Kedryuk (KAZ)/ Mohammed Maamoun (EGY) 06 67(3)

So no doubles title for Rohand and Murad.
Badminton News -
At 120K Thailand GP GOLD 2008,

[R1] (7) Jwala GUTTA (IND)/ Shruti KURIAN (IND) l Shinta Mulia SARI (SIN)/ Lei YAO (SIN) 17-21 21-15 10-21

[R3] KASHYAP P (IND,84) l Tanongsak SAENSOMBOONSUK (THA,71) 14-21 19-21 (in 33 mins)
[R3] (13) Anup SRIDHAR (IND,28) l (2) Boonsak PONSANA (THA,14) 11-21 26-28 (in 40 mins)

[R2] Saina NEHWAL (IND,23) bt Nguyen Nhung LE NGOC (VIE,72) 21-9 21-6

[QF] Saina NEHWAL (IND,23) vs (1) Xingfang XIE (CHN,1)

In first round Saina won match in 20 mins, today she take 2 mins extra but result was more one-sided ... With this win she will definetly enter into top-20 BWF ranking on 3rd July.

But now in quarter-final she is facing toughest challenge against Chinese WR #1 Xingfang Xie ... Saina have nothing to lose against her, so interesting to see her performance against WR #1 to judge Saina's progress.

Anup saved 3 match-points but also wasted 4 game points in second game.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Tennis News -
At The Championships Wimbledon 2008,

Mixed Doubles -
[R1] (10) Leander Paes (IND)/ Rennae Stubbs (AUS) Bye
[R1] (11) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Sania Mirza (IND) Bye
[R1] Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Tatiana Poutchek (BLR) vs Igor Kunitsyn (RUS)/ Elena Vesnina (RUS)

Mixed doubles draw is out ... Rohan is making his debut in MZD event, he is playing with Belarus's Tatiana Poutchek ... Lee having good partner in Rennae Stubbs ... Our all pairs r in top draw ... Rohan and Mahesh/ Sania can meet each other in quarters if they win their respective matches ... Lee/ Rennae can meet one of them in semis.

In second round Lee and Rennae will meet winner between Jonas Bjorkman (SWE)/ Alicia Molik (AUS) and Frantisek Cermak (CZE)/ Lucie Hradecka (CZE) ... Sania and Mahesh will meet to winner between Igor Andreev (RUS)/ Maria Kirilenko (RUS) and Michal Mertinak (SVK)/ Dominika Cibulkova (SVK)
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At $10K USA F15 Futures, Rochester, NY

[R2] (8) Somdev DEV VARMAN (IND,793) vs (WC) KRONAUGE Justin (USA,1686)

Doubles -
[QF] DEV VARMAN Somdev (IND)/ HUEY Treat (USA) bt OUELLETTE Gregory (USA)/ WILLIAMS Rhyne (USA) 61 64
[SF] DEV VARMAN Somdev (IND)/ HUEY Treat (USA) vs AUBONE Jean-Yves (USA)/ BOWLES Clint (USA)

Expected easy victory in doubles ... In second round, Somi playing against wild card entrant Justin Kronauge, he defeated Treat Huey in 3 sets.
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At €30K+H Mamaia Challenger, Constanta, Romania (clay)

[R1] GHOUSE Mustafa (IND)/ THOMPSON Nathan (USA) l (3) LOPEZ JAEN Miguel Angel (ESP)/ NAVARRO Ivan (ESP) 36 46

They couldn't produce much fight against 3rd seed Spanish pair.

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Tennis News -
At $15K Ireland F2 Futures, Limerick

[R2] Harsh Mankad (IND,669) bt (1) Thomas Oger (FRA,287) 36 61 62
[R2] Purav Raja (IND,996) l (3) Frederik NIelesn (DEN,306) 16 16

[QF] Harsh Mankad (IND,669) vs (Q) Lazare Kukhalashvili (GEO,UNR)

Doubles -
[QF] (3) MANKAD Harsh (IND)/ SINGH Ashutosh (IND) bt Raphael DUREK (AUS) /Sadik KADIR (AUS) 64 36 10(5)

[SF] (3) MANKAD Harsh (IND)/ SINGH Ashutosh (IND) vs (1) KONING Michel (NED)/ NIELSEN Frederik (DEN)

This is a huge win by Harsh over top-300 Oger with whom Harsh lost at Delhi Challenger, 67(5) 46 ... Harsh is showing steady improvement in his game week after week ... C'mon Harsh, now want title from u.
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At $ 15 K Iran F2 futures , Tehran (clay)

[SF] (1) Rohan Gajjar (IND)/ Murad Inoyatov (UZB) bt (4) Harrison Keyser (AUS)/ Richard Ruckelshausen (AUT) 63 64

[F] (1) Rohan Gajjar (IND)/ Murad Inoyatov (UZB) vs (2) Alexey Kedryuk (KAZ)/ Mohammed Maamoun (EGY)

So Rohan in the final with UZbek partner in doubles.
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At $25k Qian Shan Challanger, China

[R1] (5) Isha LAKHANI (IND,305) l (Q) Si-Si QIU (CHN,953) 46 36

Isha lost her singles match against qualifier ... In round 2, 12 out of 16 girls r Chinese.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Badminton News -
At 120K Thailand GP GOLD 2008,

[R1] VIDYADHAR J B S (IND,236) l Hsuan-Yi HSUEH (TPE,270) 15-21 17-21
[R1] Arvind BHAT (IND,41) l Kazuteru KOZAI (JPN,181) 14-21 17-21
[R1] Chetan ANAND (IND,39) l (5) Wei NG (HKG,21) 15-21 16-21
[R1] Anand PAWAR (IND,67) l Wei Feng CHONG (MAS,81) 20-22 19-21
[R1] (Q) GURUSAI DATT R.M.V (IND,UNR) l Alamsyah YUNUS (INA,104) 16-21 13-21
[R1] Ajay JAYARAM (IND,155) bt Hoang Nam NGUYEN (VIE,262) 21-10 21-17
[R1] KASHYAP P (IND,84) bt Allan TAI (MAS,179) 21-13 21-12
[R1] (13) Anup SRIDHAR (IND,28) bt Juergen KOCH (AUT,68) 18-21 21-8 21-16

[R1] Saina NEHWAL (IND,23) bt (8) Elizabeth CANN (ENG,24) 21-13 21-5
[R1] Aditi MUTATKAR (IND,52) l Salakjit PONSANA (THA,36) 17-21 1-21

[R1] (7) Jwala GUTTA (IND)/ Shruti KURIAN (IND) vs Shinta Mulia SARI (SIN)/ Lei YAO (SIN)

[R2] Ajay JAYARAM (IND,155) l (9) Marc ZWIEBLER (GER,30) 20-22 20-22
[R2] KASHYAP P (IND,84) bt (11) Yen Hui Kendrick LEE (SIN,32) W/O
[R2] (13) Anup SRIDHAR (IND,28) bt Daren LIEW (MAS,136) 21-12 21-18

[R2] Saina NEHWAL (IND,23) vs Nguyen Nhung LE NGOC (VIE,72)

[R3] KASHYAP P (IND,84) vs Tanongsak SAENSOMBOONSUK (THA,71)
[R3] (13) Anup SRIDHAR (IND,28) vs (2) Boonsak PONSANA (THA,14)

Disastrous performance by Indian contingent, who lost against lowly ranked opponents … Sad to see that our players missing important opportunity to grab ranking points to improve their ranking through this high quality tournament.

Saina is definetly moving towards top-20 (mostly she will enter into in next week's ranking update), today she scored very dominating victory over top-25 British player.

But I m still not confident about Anup's performance after change in coach ... Kashyap recieved walkover from Indonasian player, Anup won his match easily and Ajay Jayaram showed superb resistance against top-30 player in Round 2.

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Tennis News -
At The Championships Wimbledon 2008,

[R1] (9) Lukas Dlouhy (CZE)/ Leander Paes (IND) bt James Auckland (GBR)/ Jamie Delgado (GBR) 46 60 63 46 63
[R1] Rohan Bopanna (IND )/ Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (PAK) bt (10) Mariusz Fyrstenberg (POL)/ Marcin Matkowski (POL) 63 75 64

[R2] (9) Lukas Dlouhy (CZE)/ Leander Paes (IND) vs Eric Butorac (USA)/ Ashley Fisher (AUS)

Superb hard fought five setter against local pair for 9th seeds ... Match was going for almost 3 hrs, though Lee and Lukas won more points than Britishers but Brits were winning important points. (161 pts - 129 pts) ... So very important win for Lee and Lukas in this tricky match, but they r having another tricky second round match against grass court specialist.

Bops and Aisam scored their first victory in grandslam as doubles pair against 10th seed Poles in straight sets ... Very solid performance by Indo-Pak pair in 1 hr 51 mins to win against seeded pair ... Poles couldn't converted single break point from 4 break points chances ... Other hand our pair converted 3 break points from 14 break points chances in clinical display.

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At $10K USA F15 Futures, Rochester, NY

[R1] (8) Somdev DEV VARMAN (IND,793) bt Adolfo GOMEZ-PINTER (ESP,926) 60 60

Doubles -
[R1] DEV VARMAN Somdev (IND)/ HUEY Treat (USA) bt (1) FUGATE Marcus (USA)/ HEALEY Nathan (AUS) 64 62
[QF] DEV VARMAN Somdev (IND)/ HUEY Treat (USA) vs OUELLETTE Gregory (USA)/ WILLIAMS Rhyne (USA)

After watching 60 60 score I m still not controlling laughing ... Poor Adolfo ... So Somi started with big bang for his professional career after finishing the college ... Somi truly announced his entry on the professional curcuit ... Now all players in the draw must take notice of him ... In next round he can meet his ex-team-mate and doubles partner Treat Huey.

In doubles also he and Huey tamed their top-seed opponents.

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At $25k Challanger Qian Shan, China

[R1] (5) Isha LAKHANI (IND,305) vs (Q) Si-Si QIU (CHN,953)

Doubles -
[R1] (4) Isha LAKHANI (IND)/ Pemra OZGEN (TUR) bt Di ZHAO (CHN)/ Yi ZHONG (CHN) 63 63
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At $ 15 K Iran F2 futures , Tehran (clay)

[R2] Rohan GAJJAR (IND,830) l (3) Jan STANCIK (SVK,451) 46 26

Doubles -
[R1] (1) Rohan Gajjar (IND)/ Murad Inoyatov (UZB) bt Rahil Makharia (IND)/ Ciaran Moore (RSA) 63 61
[QF] (1) Rohan Gajjar (IND)/ Murad Inoyatov (UZB) bt Candy Idoko (NGR)/ Dmitri Marfinsky (RUS) 61 61

[SF] (1) Rohan Gajjar (IND)/ Murad Inoyatov (UZB) vs (4) Harrison Keyser (AUS)/ Richard Ruckelshausen (AUT)

Good performance in doubles for Gajjar.
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At $10K Ireland F2 Futures, Limerick

[R1] Purav Raja (IND,996) bt (Q) Ryan Horgan (GBR,UNR) 63 62

[R2] Harsh Mankad (IND,669) vs (1) Thomas OGER (FRA,287)
[R2] Purav Raja (IND,996) vs (3) Frederik NIELSEN (DEN,306)

Doubles -
[R1] RAJA Purav (IND)/ SINGH Navdeep (IND) l COJANU Ioan-Alexandru (ROU)/ LA PORTE Shane (USA) 76(5) 57 (12)14

[QF] (3) MANKAD Harsh (IND)/ SINGH Ashutosh (IND) vs Raphael DUREK (AUS) /Sadik KADIR (AUS)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Badminton News -
At 120K Thailand GP GOLD 2008,

[Q1] Vinay Kumar K. REDDY (IND,UNR) l Jakrapan THANATHIRATHAM (THA,UNR)
[Q1] GURUSAI DATT R.M.V (IND,UNR) Bye

[Q2] GURUSAI DATT R.M.V (IND,UNR) bt Decha DECHAPINICH (THA,UNR) 21-15 21-12

Gurusai qualified for his biggest tournament ... Here big Indian contingent r participating in Mens single as many top players r skipping this GP Gold tournament as they r preparing for Olympics.
Tennis News -
At The Championships Wimbledon 2008,

[R1] (32) Sania Mirza (IND,33) bt (Q) Catalina Castano (COL,148) 76(3) 36 64
[R2] (32) Sania Mirza (IND,33) vs (Q) Maria Jose Martinez sanchez (ESP,101)

Both players had 29 UFEs, Sania had 10 DFs and Castano had 7 DFs ... In the match, Castano won 110 pts to Sania's 108 ... Lucky escape for Sania after playing poor tennis.

Next she is playing against Spanish doubles specialist qualifier Maria Jose Martinez sanchez ... Who scored one-sided victory over German Martina Muller, 61 61.

Maria Jose Martinez sanchez's best performance at Wimbledon was 2001 R1 loss, so this time reaching R2 is her best performance.

--------------------------------------------
At $10K Ireland F2 Futures, Limerick

[R1] Harsh Mankad (IND,669) bt (WC) Tristan Farron-Hahon (IRL,1474) 64 64
[R1] Navdeep Singh (IND,775) l (6) Ludovic Walter (FRA,478) 67(1) 36
[R1] Ashutosh Singh (IND,539) l Jonathan Kinsella (GBR,1338) 36 36
[R1] Purav Raja (IND,996) vs (Q) Ryan Horgan (GBR,UNR)

Doubles -
[R1] (3) MANKAD Harsh (IND)/ SINGH Ashutosh (IND) bt SEATOR Edward (GBR)/ WRAFTER Simon (IRL) 60 62
[R1] RAJA Purav (IND)/ SINGH Navdeep (IND) vs ROU COJANU Ioan-Alexandru (ROU)/ LA PORTE Shane (USA)

Good expected start for Harsh but surprising defeat to Ashutosh against lowly ranked Britisher.
-------------------------------------------
At $ 15 K Iran F2 futures , Tehran (clay)

[R1] Rohan GAJJAR (IND,830) bt (WC) Kiarash SOURI (IRI,UNR) 60 62
[R2] Rohan GAJJAR (IND,830) vs (3) Jan STANCIK (SVK,451)
-------------------------------------------
At €30K+H Mamaia Challenger, Constanta, Romania (clay)

[Q1] GHOUSE Mustafa (IND,1362) l ALBOT Radu (MDA,UNR) 46 06

Doubles -
[R1] GHOUSE Mustafa (IND)/ THOMPSON Nathan (USA) vs (3) LOPEZ JAEN Miguel Angel (ESP)/ NAVARRO Ivan (ESP)

This week Mustafa is playing on Romanian clay with Nathan and they r having tough match against 3rd seed Spanish pair.

Monday, June 23, 2008

Motorsport News -
At the Formula V6 Asia Round 3-4, Sepang International Circuit, Malaysia
Armaan Ebrahim claimed his second win of the season in another close race during the Formula V6 Asia Round 4 at Sepang International Circuit today ... His first victory also came at same venue in May.

Armaan also take 2nd position finish in Race 3 ... He was qualified on 2nd spot for this weekend.

Armaan Ebrahim is just one point, 46 pts, behind leader James Grunwell.

Armaan Ebrahim -
“I had a good start. In the dry we had a very good car, slowly - not a lot - but lap by lap we could pull away from Earl, who managed a very good start and became second. I took a bit of time to get used to it and then James nearly caught up to me and he was quick at that point. So I really had to put my head down and really push because he was really quick.

We had a close battle for some time but there was always a little gap. It was a good tight race, I needed that. I’m confident now for Indonesia, we need to change a few things but the team did a fantastic job getting the car right, its really good to drive and I thank the team.”

-----------------------------------------
At GP 2 Series, Magny-Cours, France

At Magny-Cours race track, i-Sports's Bruno Senna qualified on top of the grid and Karun Chandhok on 10th.

But in race 1, Bruno Senna couldn't finished the race and Karun finished on 7th position ... In race 2, fortune changed as Bruno finished on 4th but Karun couldn't finished in wet condition.

Sunday, June 22, 2008

Squash News -
At $12K Crocodile Challenge Cup 2008, Hong Kong

[R1] (4) Joshna Chinappa (IND,36) bt Imelda Salazar Martinez (MEX,119) 9-2 9-1 9-4
[QF] (4) Joshna Chinappa (IND,36) l (7) Annie Au (HKG,54) 3-9 6-9 0-9 (27m)

Joshna Chinappa breaks into top-40 WISPA World Ranking ... Last month she was at her best ranking, #35.
But at Crocodile Challenge Cup surprising meltdown in 3rd game, may be due to some injury.

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Tennis News -
At $10K Futures Houston, TX, USA

[F] NGUYEN Kim-Anh (USA)/ Shikha UBEROI (IND) l (4) Catrina THOMPSON (USA)/ Christian THOMPSON (USA) 36 57

So another doubles title miss by Indian this week.

Saturday, June 21, 2008

Tennis News -
At € 349K Ordina Open, s'Hertogenbosch, Netherlands

[F] (2) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Leander Paes (IND) l Mario Ancic (CRO)/ Jurgen Melzer (AUT) 67(5) 36

So 2 weeks, 2 finals but still no title for Lee.

Indian Express started well leading 3-0 then 4-1, at that time they were winning 20 pts against 9 pts by Ancic & Melzer ... But then suddenly Ancic & Melzer started to play well or our pair stumbled, don't know ... But for me this was lost opportunity for especially Lee to win his first title of the year.

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At € 30K+H Guzzini Challenger, Recanati, Italy

[SF] (4) GHOUSE Mustafa (IND)/ THOMPSON Nathan (USA) l (2) DORSCH Benedikt (GER)/ PHAU Bjorn (GER) 36 67(4)
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At $15K Ireland F1 Futures, Dublin

[F] (1) Harsh Mankad (IND)/ Ashuotosh Singh (IND) l (2) Brad Pomeroy (USA)/ Ludovic Walter (FRA) 67(4) 46

Our pair lost points at crucial stages of the match.
-------------------------------------------
At $10K Futures Houston, TX, USA

[QF] (Q) Shikha UBEROI (IND,853) l (1) Chin-Wei CHAN (TPE,295) 46 67(4)

Doubles -
[SF] NGUYEN Kim-Anh (USA)/ Shikha UBEROI (IND) bt DIESKOVA Dominika (SVK)/ DUARTE Ana-Clara (BRA) 63 57 12(10)

[F] NGUYEN Kim-Anh (USA)/ Shikha UBEROI (IND) vs (4) Catrina THOMPSON (USA)/ Christian THOMPSON (USA)

Fighting performance by Shikha against top-300 player ... So this performance boost her confidence.

Friday, June 20, 2008

Tennis News -
At € 349K Ordina Open, s'Hertogenbosch, Netherlands

[SF] (2) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Leander Paes (IND) bt Juan Martin del Potro (ARG)/ Guillermo Canas (ARG) 67(6) 63 10(7)

[F] (2) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Leander Paes (IND) vs Mario Ancic (CRO)/ Jurgen Melzer (AUT)

In first set both players had 5 break points but both saved all and Indian Express lost sset in tie-break ... In second set Indian Express started with bang breaking Argentine's service and then consolidated early break in 7th game but Argentinian pair broke back in 8th game ... Indian Express again broke their service in 9th game to win second set.

In super-tiebreak Argentine pair started with mini-break but our pair hit back ... Then they agin traded mini-breaks middle of tie-break but from 7-6 our pair get hold of super-tiebreak to win it ... So they r in the final.

-------------------------------------------
At The Championships Wimbledon 2008,

[R1] (32) Sania Mirza (IND,33) vs (Q) Catalina Castano (COL,148)

Doubles -
[R1] (13) Sania Mirza (IND) / Bethanie Mattek (USA) vs Elena Baltacha (GBR) / Naomi Cavady (GBR)

[R1] Rohan Bopanna (IND )/ Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (PAK) vs (10) Mariusz Fyrstenberg (POL)/ Marcin Matkowski (POL)
[R1] (4) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Mark Knowles (BAH) vs Philipp Petzschner (GER)/ Alexander Peya (AUT)
[R1] (9) Lukas Dlouhy (CZE)/ Leander Paes (IND) vs James Auckland (GBR)/ Jamie Delgado (GBR)

For Sania in Singles, Martina Muller of Germany could be next, with a potential mouth watering third round match against seventh seed Venus Williams, if she survives ... In doubles a potential third round match against 4th seed Taipei duo of Yung-Yan Chan and Chia-Jung Chuang.

In men's doubles, good draw for Rohan and Aisam playing against Poles in the first round ... If they wins first round then they can meet Thai twins Ratiwatana in second round ... Hesh and Mark r in same draw of Bryans and can meet in semis.

Lee nad Lukas having local wild card pair in the first round.

-------------------------------------------
At $15K Ireland F1 Futures, Dublin

[SF] (1) Harsh Mankad (IND)/ Ashuotosh Singh (IND) bt Edward Allinson (GBR)/ Alex Miotto (GBR) 63 76

So Harsh and Ashutosh r un the final.
Tennis News -
At $10K Futures Houston, TX, USA

[R2] (Q) Shikha UBEROI (IND,853) bt Vasilisa BARDINA (RUS,949) 60 61
[QF] (Q) Shikha UBEROI (IND,853) vs (1) Chin-Wei CHAN (TPE,295)

Doubles -
[QF] NGUYEN Kim-Anh (USA)/ Shikha UBEROI (IND) bt ROLLE Tiya (USA)/ ROSSI Nathalia (BRA) 75 63
[SF] NGUYEN Kim-Anh (USA)/ Shikha UBEROI (IND) vs DIESKOVA Dominika (SVK)/ DUARTE Ana-Clara (BRA)

Shikha scored emphatic victory against former top-50 player ... But now facing Taiwani top-300 & top-seed Chan in quarters.
-------------------------------------------
At $15K Ireland F1 Futures, Dublin

[QF] (3) Ashutosh Singh (IND,540) l (7) Sadik Kadir (AUS,784),61 36 67(6)
[QF] Purav Raja (IND,964) l Baptiste Bayet (FRA,1281) 46 26

Doubles -
[QF] (1) Harsh Mankad (IND)/ Ashuotosh Singh (IND) bt Burnham Arlidge (GBR)/ Timothy Patient (GBR) 76(6) 63
[SF] (1) Harsh Mankad (IND)/ Ashuotosh Singh (IND) vs Edward Allinson (GBR)/ Alex Miotto (GBR)

Was hoping better results from Purav and Ashutosh ... But expected start for our top-seed pair in doubles.

Thursday, June 19, 2008

Badminton News -
At $250K Indonesia Super Series 2008, Jakarta

[R2] Saina NEHWAL (IND,30) l (3) Hongyan PI (FRA,5) 21-12 18-21 16-21

So again 3 games loss after winning first game in 55 mins ... But atleast this time opponent didn't outperform Saina in the third game.

After being semi-finalist in the last week's Singapore Super Series tournament Saina climbed on to her best personal singles ranking ... In newly declared BWF ranking list she is on #23 ... Anup also re-entered into top-30 singles ranking, he is on #28.

Interestingly Saina's best ranking was also #23, that was in April 12, 2007 BWF ranking list.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tennis News -
At € 349K Ordina Open, s'Hertogenbosch, Netherlands

[SF] (2) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Leander Paes (IND) vs Juan Martin del Potro (ARG)/ Guillermo Canas (ARG)

In semis Indian Express r facing Argentine pair, who r having dream run with dominating victories.
Shooting News -

Ronjan Sodhi won the double trap gold in the shotgun World Cup in Belgrade by equalling two World records, he equalled the final World record with a 194 out of 200, after having equalled the preliminary phase World record of 147 out of 150.

Last 2 yrs he has been supported by the Mittal Champions Trust ... Now he is hoping for wild card entry for Olympics.

Ronjan Sodhi - “It is a great feeling. To win the gold in a World-class competition with a World record is a dream for any athlete. I am glad to have equalled two World records. Now, I keep my fingers crossed for the wild card for the Olympics."
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Athletics News -

At 48th National inter-State athletics championships, J. J. Shobha crossed the ‘A’ qualification of 6000 points in heptathlon to make the Beijing Olympics, she reached 6043 points ... But that means Susmita Singha Roy, who already had the ‘B’ norm (5866 at Bhopal), will need to go for the 6000 points to qualify for Beijing Olympics.

Discus thrower Harwant Kaur qualified for Beijing Olympics with 61.09 mtrs throw ... She will join Krishna Poonia as 2nd Indian qualifier in discus as both have crossed 61 mtrs qualifying mark.
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Tennis News -
At € 30K+H Guzzini Challenger, Recanati, Italy

[QF] (4) GHOUSE Mustafa (IND)/ THOMPSON Nathan (USA) bt (WC) CORVATTA Federico (ITA)/ GEHRKE Geoff (USA) 63 63

Easy victory against wild card pair.
-------------------------------------------
At $15K Ireland F1 Futures, Dublin

[R2] (3) SINGH Ashutosh (IND,539) bt Alex MIOTTO (GBR,1441) 76(11) 75
[R2] RAJA Purav (IND,964) bt (1) WALTER Ludovic (FRA,478) 76(8) 64

[QF] RAJA Purav (IND,964) vs BAYET Baptiste (FRA,1281)

Purav scored huge upset win over top-seed Frenchman ... Beating top-500 player in straight sets is terrific achievement for Purav ... I think after long gap Purav scored victory over higher rank player ... Go Purav.

Ashutosh scored straight sets victory in closely fought match ... His quarter-finals opponent is still to be decided ... Still no doubles match for Harsh and Ashutosh.

-------------------------------------------
At $10K Futures Houston, TX, USA

[R1] (Q) Shikha UBEROI (IND,853) bt (8) Anna WISHINK (AUS,650) 63 64
[R2] (Q) Shikha UBEROI (IND,853) vs Vasilisa BARDINA (RUS,949)

Doubles -
[R1] NGUYEN Kim-Anh (USA)/ Shikha UBEROI (IND) bt (2) CHAN Chin-Wei (TPE)/ FALCONI Irina (USA) 75 62
[QF] NGUYEN Kim-Anh (USA)/ Shikha UBEROI (IND) vs ROLLE Tiya (USA)/ ROSSI Nathalia (BRA)

Good confident start for Shikha ... Very interesting next round match up, as 21 yrs old Bardina is former top-50 player couple of years back and she is coming back from injury.

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Tennis News -
At € 349K Ordina Open, s'Hertogenbosch, Netherlands

Doubles -
[QF] (2) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Leander Paes (IND) bt David Ferrer (ESP)/ Marcel Granollers (ESP) 62 61

Very clinical performance by Indian Express ... Today they showed their class what they can do when they played as a team ... Flawless tennis of 48 mins.

[R2] (Q) Rohan Bopanna (IND,292) l (7) Guillermo Canas (ARG,46) 26 46

Clinical performance from Canas to win match in 1hr 2mins ... Canas won first set in 26 mins breaking Bops serve twice ... Bops first serves wasn't working as only 1 ace for him in this set ... In second set Bops hit 5 aces but his first serve percentage dropped to 50% from 59% in first set ... So with this loss Bops will move for Wimbledon doubles with Aisam.
--------------------------------------------
At $175K Ordina Open, s'Hertogenbosch, Netherlands

[R2] Sania Mirza (IND,33) l Michaella Krajicek (NED,51) 26 26

Match was over in 59 mins ... Total one-sided affair ... Sania had 48% first serve % in first set ... In second set her first serve % improved to 55% ... In match 8 aces for Michaella Krajicek and didn't face single break point on her serve whereas sania had 1 ace and got broken 4 times ... Sania had lot many UFEs from backhand and forehand ... Nothing was going right for Sania ... May be bad day or may be struggling after wrist operation .. Need lot of hard work before Wimbledon.
-------------------------------------------
At The Championships, Wimbledon 2008,

[Q2] Sunitha Rao (IND,149) l (15) Olga Puchkova (RUS,130) 46 26

This match was much closer than score suggest ... First set they traded breaks one after another ... But in second set Olga played much better game ... With Sunitha's last week performance I was expecting better performance from her.
-------------------------------------------
At $15K Iran F1 futures, Tehran (clay)

[R2] GAJJAR Rohan (IND,830) l (Q) (4) KEDRYUK Alexey (KAZ,495) 67(6) 26

Doubles -
[QF] ALAYLY Karim (LIB)/ GAJJAR Rohan (IND) l FILENKOV Alexei (RUS)/ STANCIK Jan (SVK) 75 36 (5)10

Now I m really tired writing more about our singles losses ... :-(
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Badminton News -
At $250K Indonesia Super Series 2008, Jakarta

[Q1] Anand PAWAR (IND,67) bye
[Q2] Anand PAWAR (IND,67) l Hans-Kristian VITTINGHUS (DEN,63) 17-21 18-21

Maindraw -
[R1] Saina NEHWAL (IND,30) bt (Q) Rosaria Yusfin PUNGKASARI (INA,137) 21-12 21-14
[R1] Anup SRIDHAR (IND,32) l Joachim PERSSON (DEN,16) 23-21 9-21 14-21
[R1] Arvind BHAT (IND,44) l (Q) Alamsyah YUNUS (INA,103) 21-23 22-20 12-21

[R1] Saina NEHWAL (IND)/ Anna RICE (CAN) l Ekaterina ANANINA (RUS)/ Anastasia RUSSKIKH (RUS) 11-21 17-21

[R2] Saina NEHWAL (IND,30) vs (3) Hongyan PI (FRA,5)

Saina scored easy victory against qualifier in just 25 mins but now facing WR # 5 in second round ... After winning first game Anup didn't manage to sustain same level performance in remaining 2 games against WR #16 Persson in 44 mins.

Arvind lost 1 hr 2 mins battle against Indonasian qualifier ... But sad part is his challenge was blown off in third game.
Tennis News -
At $15K Ireland F1 Futures, Dublin

[R1] RAJA Purav (IND,996) bt POMEROY Brad (USA,1238) 64 60
[R1] (6) SINGH Navdeep (IND,775) l (Q) PATIENT Timothy (GBR,UNR) 64 46 36

[R2] RAJA Purav (IND,964) vs (1) WALTER Ludovic (FRA,478)
-------------------------------------------
At $25K Istanbul-Kremer challanger, Turkey

[R1] LAKHANI Isha (IND,310) l (6) GERASIMOU Anna (GRE,268) 67(6) 67(3)

Doubles -
[R1] EKSHIBAROVA Vlada (UZB)/ LAKHANI Isha (IND) l (3) MIRCIC Teodora (SRB)/ TVAROSKOVA Lenka (SVK) 57 16
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At $15K USA F13 FUTURES, Sacramento, CA, USA

[R1] SIPAEYA Sunil-Kumar (IND,468) l (4) COOK Lester (USA,297) 46 46

Doubles -
[R1] EL MIHDAWY Adam (USA)/ SIPAEYA Sunil-Kumar (IND) l UGATE Marcus (USA)/ KIELBOWICZ Joel (USA) 46 64 (6)10

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Tennis News -
At € 349K Ordina Open, s'Hertogenbosch, Netherlands

[R1] (2) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Leander Paes (IND) bt Yves Allegro (SUI)/ Sebastian Prieto (ARG) 63 76(3)
[R1] (4) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Robert Lindstedt (SWE) l Guillermo Canas (ARG)/ Juan Martin Del Porto (ARG) 26 16

[QF] (2) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Leander Paes (IND) vs David Ferrer (ESP)/ Marcel Granollers (ESP)

Ouch, one-sided loss for Rohan and his Swedish partner ... Hopefully tomorrow in singles Bops takes revenge against Canas.

But excellent start for Indian Express ... Now they r facing Spanish pair in quarters.
-------------------------------------------
At The Championships, Wimbledon 2008,

[Q1] Sunitha Rao (IND,149) bt Raquel Kops-jones (USA,198) 57 75 64
[Q2] Sunitha Rao (IND,149) vs (15) Olga Puchkova (RUS,130)

[Q2] (22) Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (PAK,158) l Dawid Olejniczak (POL,207) 67(9) 36
[Q2] Prakash Amritraj (IND,311) l (13) Sergiy Stakhovsky (UKR,137) 36 64 36

Sunitha scored tight victory against Kops-jones ... She is having tough draw and now facing former top-35 player Olga Puchkova in Q2.
Kash had lot many opportunities but he couldn't convert ... Again same old story of not taking chances ... Poor result for Kash ... Aisam also lost his Q2 match.
-------------------------------------------
At € 30K+H Guzzini Challenger, Recanati, Italy

[R1] (4) GHOUSE Mustafa (IND)/ THOMPSON Nathan (USA) bt GARD Catalin (ROU)/ SKUGOR Franko (CRO) 67(2) 76(4) 10(8)

[QF] (4) GHOUSE Mustafa (IND)/ THOMPSON Nathan (USA) vs (WC) CORVATTA Federico (ITA)/ GEHRKE Geoff (USA)

Mustafa and Nathan having winning start at Guzzini Challenger ... But match was very close with very few points difference.
-------------------------------------------
At $15K Ireland F1 Futures, Dublin

[R1] (3) SINGH Ashutosh (IND,539) bt (WC) FARRON-MAHON Tristan (IRL,1474) 64 64
[R2] (3) SINGH Ashutosh (IND,539) vs Alex MIOTTO (GBR,1441)

Doubles -
[R1] (3) Purav Raja (IND)/ Navdeep Singh(IND) l Kyle Brassington (GBR)/ Christoper Harfield (GBR) 26 46

[QF] (1) Harsh Mankad (IND)/ Ashuotosh Singh (IND) vs Burnham Arlidge (GBR)/ PATIENT Timothy Patient (GBR)
-------------------------------------------
At $10K Futures Houston, TX, USA

[Q1] (2) Shikha UBEROI (IND,853) bt Mariana DEMICHELLI VERGARA (PER,UNR) 63 60
[Q2] (2) Shikha UBEROI (IND,853) bt Chloe WEST (AUS,UNR) 60 61
[Q3] (2) Shikha UBEROI (IND,853) bt Christian THOMPSON (USA,UNR) 61 60

[R1] (Q) Shikha UBEROI (IND,853) vs (8) Anna WISHINK (AUS,650)

Shikha need to break-out tournament to bring back her ranking inside top-500, so then she can concentrate on lower level challengers.
-------------------------------------------
At $15K USA F13 FUTURES, Sacramento, CA, USA

[R1] SIPAEYA Sunil-Kumar (IND,468) vs (4) COOK Lester (USA,297)

Another tough matchup for Sunil on American soil.
-------------------------------------------
At $15K Iran F1 futures, Tehran (clay)

[Q1] MAKHARIA Rahil (IND,UNR) bye
[Q2] MAKHARIA Rahil (IND,UNR) bt SABER Daryoush (IRI,UNR) 62 63
[Q3] MAKHARIA Rahil (IND,UNR) l (WC) (1) KEDRYUK Alexey (KAZ,495) 16 26

[R1] GAJJAR Rohan (IND,830) bt (Q) KHACHATRYAN Khachatur (ARM,NR) 62 61
[R2] GAJJAR Rohan (IND,830) vs (Q)(4) KEDRYUK Alexey (KAZ,495)

Doubles -
[R1] MAKHARIA Rahil (IND)/ MOORE Ciaran (RSA) l (1) KEDRYUK Alexey (KAZ)/ MAAMOUN Mohammed (EGY) 46 36
[R1] ALAYLY Karim (LIB)/ GAJJAR Rohan (IND) bt BIKTYAKOV Rifat (UZB)/ INOYATOV Murad (UZB) 63 64

[QF] ALAYLY Karim (LIB)/ GAJJAR Rohan (IND) vs FILENKOV Alexei (RUS)/ STANCIK Jan (SVK)

Good to see Rohan participating in Iranian clay event ... Tough second round against Alexey.

Monday, June 16, 2008

Tennis News -
At € 349K Ordina Open, s'Hertogenbosch, Netherlands

[R1] (Q) Rohan Bopanna (IND,292) bt (WC) Martin Verkerk (NED,316) 67(8) 76(2) 64
[R2] (Q) Rohan Bopanna (IND,292) vs (7) Guillermo Canas (ARG,46)

Terrific win against former top 15 player with whom he lost in epic Davis cup tie in 2003 ... Big demon lifted from Rohan's mind ... So this win gave him more 15 pts, so total 20 pts (15+5).

In whole match only 1 service break happened, thats Rohan breaking Martin's serve ... Superb performance by Rohan coming back from that heartbreaking first set tie break loss to beat Verkerk. He really made his biggest weapon serve count today. 21 Aces, no breakpoints at all & only 4 points lost on 1st serve in the whole match.

So now Bops next match is against ex-top 10 player, who luv to stretch his matches ... Rohan need to be his service best like today .. Go Bops.

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At $175K Ordina Open, s'Hertogenbosch, Netherlands

[R1] Sania Mirza (IND,33) bt (5) Flavia Pennetta (ITA,23) 64 63
[R2] Sania Mirza (IND,33) vs Michaella Krajicek (NED,51)

Terrific win considering her last 2 performances against Pennetta ... Thats also in her second tournament after wrist operation ... Each time after injury break Sania produced good results one after another in firsst 2/3 tournaments ... Thats truly speak talent in this girl.

Today both were struggling with holding their serve but Sania was more consistent in 2 and that helped her to clinch the match ... In complete match Pennetta only managed to hold her serve twice, one each in every set.

In second round Sania is playing against Michaella Krajicek ... Hmm, another tough match considering Sania lost all 3 previous matches with her ... At 2006 Australian open (63 75), 2006 Istambul Open on clay (46 61 62) and 2007 Zurich Open on Indoor carpet (61 64).

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At The Championships, Wimbledon 2008,

[Q1] Prakash Amritraj (IND,311) bt Jene-Rene Lisnard (MON, 218) 62 76(4)
[Q1] Rajeev Ram (USA,275) l Michal Przysiezny (POL,415) 67(3) 67(7)
[Q1] (22) Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (PAK,158) bt Josselin Ouanna (FRA,216) 76(5) 63

[Q2] Prakash Amritraj (IND,311) vs (13) Sergiy Stakhovsky (UKR,137)

Good start at the Wimbledon qualifying for Kash ... His win against Lisnard, who was in good form and he qualified for FO and managed to win set against Safin, definitely count as big win ... Next Kash meeting seeded Ukranian Sergiy Stakhovsky, who is having very less experiance of playing on grass ... C'mon Kash..
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At $15K Ireland F1 Futures, Dublin

[R1] RAJA Purav (IND,964) vs POMEROY Brad (USA,1233)
[R1] (6) SINGH Navdeep (IND,776) vs (Q) PATIENT Timothy (GBR,NR)
[R1] (3) SINGH Ashutosh (IND,540) vs (WC) FARRON-MAHON Tristan (IRL,1474)

Doubles -
[R1] (1) Harsh Mankad (IND)/ Ashuotosh Singh (IND) bye
[R1] (3) Purav Raja (IND)/ Navdeep Singh(IND) vs Kyle Brassington (GBR)/ Christoper Harfield (GBR)

Due to visa problem Harsh need to skip singles, so this week he is participating in doubles only.
-------------------------------------------
At € 30K+H Guzzini Challenger, Recanati, Italy

[R1] (4) GHOUSE Mustafa (IND)/ THOMPSON Nathan (USA) vs GARD Catalin (ROU)/ SKUGOR Franko (CRO)

This week Mustafa is playing at Guzzini Challenger with another new partner, this time talented Nathan Thompson.

Sunday, June 15, 2008

Athletics News -

Preeja Sreedharan has achieved the 'B' qualifying norms for Beijing Olympics by clocking 32:04.41s in 10000m at the British Miles Club Elite Grand Prix in London ... She improved our national record and her personal best by more than 1 min & 15 secs.

Another notable achievement was Surendra Singh breaking oldest national record of 32 year old record of Hari Chand by clocking 28:22.79s but fell short of reaching the Olympic qualifying time ... 28:48.72s clocked by our great distance runner Hari Chand at 1976 Montreal Olympics in 10,000m ... He had great rivalry with Shivnath Singh, who decided to concentrate on Marathon after 1975 Seoul Asian Championships, where he came second place in both the 5,000m (behind Ito of Japan) and in the 10,000m (behind Hari Chand) ... Shivnath Singh produced our best Marathon finish in Olympics at 1976 Montreal Olympics, he finished on 11th position clocking 2:16:22.0.

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Tennis News -
At Gerry Weber Open, Halle, Germany

Final -
(4) Lukas Dlouhy (CZE)/ Leander Paes (IND) l Mikhail Youzhny (RUS)/ Mischa Zverev (GER) 63 46 (3)10

After winning first set Lee and Lukas lost the final ... So they r still searching for their first title as a pair .. Hopefully that would be Wimbledon.
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At € 349K Ordina Open, s'Hertogenbosch, Netherlands

[Q1] BOPANNA Rohan (IND,293) Bye
[Q2] BOPANNA Rohan (IND,293) bt RENARD Alexandre (FRA,638) 46 76(2) 75
[Q3] BOPANNA Rohan (IND,293) bt SCHOECK Thomas (GER,834) 63 64

Doubles -
[R1] (2) BHUPATHI Mahesh (IND)/ PAES Leander (IND) vs ALLEGRO Yves (SUI)/ PRIETO Sebastian (ARG)
[R1] (4) BOPANNA Rohan (IND)/ LINDSTEDT Robert (SWE) vs CANAS Guillermo (ARG)/ DEL POTRO Juan Martin (ARG)

Bops was 15 out of from Wimbledon qualifying list, so he decided to skip Wimbledon qualifying and playing at Ordina Open ... Good choice as he can test his knee before Wimbledon doubles ... Rohan and Robert r in same draw with Indian Express ... They can meet eachother in semis ... But I m interesting to see how Indian Express perform on tour after long break.

Rohan qualified for maindraw with entertaining tennis ... He already earned 5 ranking points, with favourable draw he can go deep in the draw with his serve and volley game.
-------------------------------------------
At $175 K Ordina Open, s'Hertogenbosch, Netherlands

[R1] Sania Mirza (IND,33) vs (5) Flavia Pennetta (ITA,22)

Skipping doubles look good decision as she is still recovering from writst injury ... But having tough first round against Pennetta.

Pennetta is having upperhand in their career meeting ... Pennetta is leading 2-1, after losing at Paris Open in 2006 Pennetta won next 2 matches against Sania at Japan Open in 2007 and Hobart Open in 2008.

Saturday, June 14, 2008

Football News -
At SAFF Championship, Sri Lanka- Maldives

Final -
India l Maldives 0-1
Goal Scored - Mukhtar Naseer (MAL) 87'

Maldives won their first SAFF Championship title defeating defending champion India ... In this whole tournament Indian forwards let them down and due to injury their defense was also shaky.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Badminton News -
At $200K AVIVA Singapore Super Series 2008

[SF] Saina NEHWAL (IND,30) l (5) Mi ZHOU (HKG,10) 21-17 19-21 11-21

As per onlooker, Saina played exceptionally well and had chance of finish match in 2 games ... But in third game Zhou take advantage of her lack of stamina, which generally top-20 players exploited.

But creditable performance as after long time Indian player was in Super Series semis.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
At Gerry Weber Open, Halle, Germany

Final -
(4) Lukas Dlouhy (CZE)/ Leander Paes (IND) vs Mikhail Youzhny (RUS)/ Mischa Zverev (GER)

Tomorrow in the final they r playing against Russian-Grman pair of Mikhail Youzhny and Mischa Zverev.

Friday, June 13, 2008

Badminton News -
At $200K AVIVA Singapore Super Series 2008
Huge victory for Saina, though not ranking wise ... But she is entered into her first Super Series semi-final ... Frankly last 2 years I was hoping for this performance from Saina, but somehow she kept struggling due to her slow movements on the court and stamina ... She was able to stretch top players but her challange get blown off in third game ... Now with help from her coaches (Gopichand etc) she is showing improvement ... This semi-final apperance give her huge confidence before Beijing Olympics.

[QF] Saina NEHWAL (IND,30) bt Firdasari ADRIANTI (INA,33) 21-16 16-21 21-14
[SF] Saina NEHWAL (IND,30) vs (5) Mi ZHOU (HKG,10)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Tennis News -
At € 713K Stella Artois Championships, Queens club, London

[QF] (8) BHUPATHI Mahesh (IND)/ BOPANNA Rohan(IND) l (2) Daniel Nestor (CAN)/ Nenad Zimonjic (SRB) 46 46

Though our pair lost against WR #2 pair they showed good performance ... Nestor and Zimo had a single break in every set ... Our pair had 7 break points opportunities but coldn't convert one ... Our pair won total 52 points against 59 points won by Nestor and Zimo ... Bops definetly recieved required match practice against high quality pair and importantly they both played match after their injury break.
-------------------------------------------
At Gerry Weber Open, Halle, Germany

[SF] (4) Lukas Dlouhy (CZE)/ Leander Paes (IND) bt LJUBICIC Ivan (CRO)/ SODERLING Robin (SWE) 64 06 10(4)

Good to see this pair is in finale of Halle Open ... Good fighting win after poor second set ... Go guys and take ur first title as a team.

Thursday, June 12, 2008

Tennis News -
At Gerry Weber Open, Halle, Germany (Grass)

[QF] (4) Lukas Dlouhy (CZE)/ Leander Paes (IND) bt Michael Berrer (GER)/ Tommy Haas (GER) 63 64

[SF] (4) Lukas Dlouhy (CZE)/ Leander Paes (IND) vs LJUBICIC Ivan (CRO)/ SODERLING Robin (SWE)

Easy victory against local players ... In each set Lukas and Lee had a single break and they saved 3 break points on their serves ... Now they r only seeded pair remaining in the draw ... Next they r facing pair of Ljubicic and Soderling.
-------------------------------------------
At Stella Artois Championships, Queens club, London

[R2] (8) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Rohan Bopanna (IND) bt Fernando Gonzalez (CHI)/ Nicolas Lapentti (ECU) W/O

[SF] (8) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Rohan Bopanna (IND) vs (2) Daniel Nestor (CAN)/ Nenad Zimonjic (SRB)

So Hesh and Bops r in quarters without playing single match ... Good break for these injured Indian stars ... :-)

But now tough test against WR rank No.2 pair of Nestor and Zimo in quarters ... Go guys.

-------------------------------------------
At $200K DFS Classic, Birmingham, Great Britain (Grass)

Currently its raining at Birmingham ... From morning rain is very on and off so still no play.
Badminton News -
At $200K AVIVA Singapore Super Series 2008

[R2] Saina NEHWAL (IND,30) bt (Q) Juan GU (SIN,147) 21-19 21 17 (29m)
[R2] Arvind BHAT (IND,44) l Joachim PERSSON (DEN,16) 11-21 27-25 15-21 (53m)
[R2] Anup SRIDHAR (IND,32) l Sairul Amar AYOB (MAS,28) 17-21 13-21 (33m)

[QF] Saina NEHWAL (IND,30) vs Firdasari ADRIANTI (INA,33)

Saina showed clinical performance to win match in straight games ... Arvind was leading 11-9 in the first game but from there Joachim won next 12 pts to won the game ... In second game Arvid saved 3 match points, he fought back from 18-20 to won this game ... But Joachim was too strong in third game.

Other hand Anup couldn't managed to produce his game and lost his consecutive 2nd match against Sairul Amar Ayob.

In quarter-finals Saina facing Indonasian Firdasari Adrianti, who defeated top seed and WR #5 Hongyan Pi.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Tennis News -
At $ 15K USA F12 , Loomis, CA

[R1] SIPAEYA Sunil-Kumar (IND,468) l (Q) DIAO NATALE Justin (USA,610) 36 36

Another disappointing result for Sunil.

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Tennis News -
At $200K DFS Classic, Birmingham, Great Britain (Grass)

Another excellent comeback victory over local girl for Sunitha to move into 3rd round ... And with this win she is keeping Indian flag flying in singles ... After losing first set Sunitha controlled the match and didn't give much chance to Naomi breaking her serve early in each set ... So with this win Sunitha accumulate 24 WTA points which help her to push her ranking around 150 in WTA singles.

Sunitha is playing against top-30 rank Alona Bondarenko in round 3, who defeated doubles specialist Spanish Virginia Ruano Pascual in tight match.


[R2] (Q) Sunitha Rao (IND,160) bt (WC) Naomi Cavaday (GBR,196) 46 63 61
[R3] (Q) Sunitha Rao (IND,160) vs (5) Alona Bondarenko (UKR,29)

[R2] (6) Sania Mirza (IND,33) l Marina Erakovic (NZL,64) 36 06

Doubles -
[R1] (4) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Bethanie Mattek (USA) l Natalie Grandin (RUS)/ Raquel Kops-Jones (USA) 46 63 (4)10

In Sania's match Marina didn't give any chance to Sania ... Marina didn't face a single break point on her serve, other hand Sania faced 9 and Marina converted 4 ... Marina won 58 points against Sania's 34 ... Thats tell us all story of the match.

With doubles loss early end of week for Sania in her comeback tournament after wrist surgery.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Football News -
At SAFF Championship 2008, Male, Maldives - 3rd June to 14th June 2008

India bt Bhutan 2-1 (1-1) ET
Goal Scored - Sunil Chetri (IND) 31', Gouramangi Singh (IND) 120+' and Kinley Dorji (BHU) 20'

Very scrappy performance by our players ... We struggled in the match ... Our defense was shaky ... Bhutia had terrible day though he was marked by Bhutanese he missed numerous easy chances.

But Bhutanese also played well to take deserving lead and fought until end ... We were lucky to finish match in extra time and Bhutanese were unlucky to lose in such fashion.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Badminton News -
At AVIVA SINGAPORE SUPER SERIES 2008

[R1] Saina NEHWAL (IND,30) bt Jie YAO (NED,17) 21-19 19-21 21-13
[R1] Anup SRIDHAR (IND,32) bt Yu Hsin HSIEH (TPE,51) 22-20 19-21 21-11
[R1] Arvind BHAT (IND,44) bt (5) Przemyslaw WACHA (POL,11) 13-21 21-13 21-14

[R2] Saina NEHWAL (IND,30) vs (Q) Juan GU (SIN,147)
[R2] Anup SRIDHAR (IND,32) vs Sairul Amar AYOB (MAS,28)
[R2] Arvind BHAT (IND,44) vs Joachim PERSSON (DEN,16)

Doubles -
[R1] Saina NEHWAL (IND)/ Anna RICE (CAN) l (8) Lena FRIER KRISTIANSEN (DEN)/ Kamilla RYTTER JUHL (DEN) 18-21 13-21

After long time we r seeing good performance by Indian players in Super Series, that's also our 2 players scored quality victories over top-20 players.

Tomorrow Saina will face local 100+ rank player in second round ... Arvind will face another top-20 European player but this time Danish ... Anup facing similar rank player but in the past he struggled against Malaysian players, so interesting to see tomorrow how he perform against them after his new coaching stint.

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

Football News -
AFC Challenge Cup Football Championship, Hyderabad, India - July 30 to August 10

Eight-nation AFC Challenge Cup football championship will be held from July 30 to August 10, 2008 ... The 2008 and 2010 editions of the AFC Challenge Cup will serve as qualifiers for the 2011 AFC Asian Cup.

Groups r declared, India is in tough group with Defending champion Tajikistan and Turkmenistan.

GROUP A -
1. Turkmenistan
2. India
3. Afghanistan
4. Tajikistan

GROUP B -
1. DPR Korea
2. Myanmar
3. Nepal
4. Sri Lanka

THE SCHEDULE
July 30 - Turkmenistan vs Tajikistan; India vs Afghanitsan
July 31 - DPR Korea vs Sri Lanka; Myanmar vs Nepal
August 1 - Tajikistan vs India; Afghanitan vs Turkmenistan
August 2 - Sri Lanka vs Myanmar; Nepal vs DPR Korea
August 3 - Turkmenistan vs India; Afghanistan vs Tajikistan
August 4 - DPR Korea vs Myanmar; Nepal vs Sri Lanka
August 7 - Semi-finals - Winner Group A vs Runner-up Group B
Winner Group B vs Runner-up Group A
August 10 - Third / Fourth place match and Final
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Athletics News -

Mandeep Kaur clocked a career-best 51.80 seconds for the 400 meters while qualifying for the Beijing Olympics at the Ukrainian National Cup athletics championships in Yalta ... This performance was surprising (and create doubts) considering she shelved off 1.54 secs from her personal best in few months.

Manjeet Kaur also qualified as she also completed in 52.08s, which is well below of the Olympics qualification ‘B’ standard of 52.55 seconds.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
At $ 15K USA F12 , Loomis, CA

[R1] SIPAEYA Sunil-Kumar (IND,468) vs (Q) DIAO NATALE Justin (USA,610)

Monday, June 09, 2008

Tennis News -
At $200K DFS Classic, Birmingham, Great Britain (Grass)
[R1] (Q) Sunitha Rao (IND,160) bt Petra Kvitova (CZE,60) 76(8) 64

[R2] (Q) Sunitha Rao (IND,160) vs (WC) Naomi Cavaday (GBR,196)

Sunitha scored best ranking wise win in her small career ... This was hard fought match which was going on 1 hr 55 mins ... Kvitova fought until end and this match had numerous breaks ... Sunitha won 92 pts and Kvitova won 86 pts so that can give picture about close match.

Next Sunitha is facing local British wild card player Naomi Cavaday, who defeated #14 seeded Jill Craybas 60 64 ... So match between these 2 will be exciting.

-------------------------------------------
At Gerry Weber Open, Halle, Germany

[R1] (4) DLOUHY Lukas (CZE)/ PAES Leander (IND) bt BAGHDATIS Marcos (CYP)/ ROCHUS Olivier (BEL) 62 76(6)

Good start for Lee and Lukas in grass season ... Its good that they managed to win in 2 sets against this tricky pair.
Tennis News -
At $200K DFS Classic Birmingham, Great Britain (Grass)

[R1] (Q) Sunitha Rao (IND,160) vs Petra Kvitova (CZE,60)

Doubles -
[R1] (4) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Bethanie Mattek (USA) vs Natalie Grandin (RUS)/ Raquel Kops-Jones (USA)

Sunitha facing talented 18 yrs old Czech Petra Kvitova in first round ... Petra having good results in 2008 ... Last week at French Open she reached 4th round beating players like Australian Samantha Stosur and top-15 player Hugarian Agnes Szavay ... She also had good results on hard courts, in February she defeated Venus Williams ... Also she had win over Shahar Peer of Israel in Fed Cup in April.

Sunday, June 08, 2008

Golf News -


Jeev after accepting Trophy


Kissing trophy of the Bank Austria GolfOpen presented by Telekom Austria.


Jeev with his wife, Kudrat, after putting final shot.

Jeev Milkha Singh has won the 2008 Bank Austria Golf Open after a fascinating but steady final round in which he scored 18 consecutive pars for a one shot victory over England's Simon Wakefield. Jeev emulated great Nick Faldo’s final round of 18 consecutive pars at the 1987 British Open Championship .

This is Jeev's first title after 2006 Volvo Masters in Spain ... Then he was in contention of few tournaments but couldn't managed to cross final hurdle ... Creditable performance from Jeev to win his 3rd European title and 13th International title ... With this win he moves to ninth position on The European Tour Order of Merit with €731,692.


This win also bring back Jeev in top-75 of World Golf Ranking ... Also Jeev is jumped to #71 from #90 and pushed Jyoti to 2nd in Indian ranking, who is on #74 on WGR ... So their cat and mouse game continue ... But its really good to see this friendly rivalry between these two ... This is definitely helping them to bring out their best on the course and I feel this will also help them to break into top 50 WGR.

At Bank Austria Golf Open, Vienna, Austria - Final Standing
1 Jeev Milkha Singh IND 64 63 71 -15 € 216660.00
2 Simon Wakefield ENG 66 65 68 -14 € 144440.00
T3 Pelle Edberg SWE 64 72 65 -12 € 57200.00
T3 Martin Erlandsson SWE 67 69 65 -12 € 57200.00
T3 Peter Fowler AUS 65 67 69 -12 € 57200.00
T3 Michael Jonzon SWE 70 64 67 -12 € 57200.00
T3 Iain Pyman ENG 69 67 65 -12 € 57200.00

Jeev Milkha Singh - "I feel very fortunate to win with 18 pars. Shooting even par on the last day it's tough to win and Simon put up a great fight. I think the golfing Gods were looking out for me. They did not want a play-off with the bad weather forecast! I didn't hit my last putt hard enough but it caught the edge of the hole and went in. I had no idea about matching Nick Faldo. I was trying to make birdies but they just weren't going in. When you have a lead you don't want to be too aggressive or too defensive, you just play 'mediocre' golf and hit fairways and greens. It's great to win, it's always a feather in your cap. I've knocked on the door a few times this season and at last the door has opened for me. I'm pretty excited about that."
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tennis News -
At $200K DFS Classic Birmingham, Great Britain (Grass)

[Q1] (8) Sunitha Rao (IND,155) bt (WC) Anna Smith (GBR,455) 61 64
[Q2] (8) Sunitha Rao (IND,155) bt (14) Chanelle Scheepers (RSA,175) 36 64 76(4)

Maindraw -
[R1] (6) Sania Mirza (IND,32) Bye

So with superb comeback victory Sunitha qualified for maindraw of DFS Classic grass court tournament ... She fought until end with Scheepers to grab this victory ... Congrats Sunitha.
Tennis News -
At WTA DFS Classic, Birmingham, Great Britain

[Q1] (8) RAO Sunitha (IND,155) bt (WC) SMITH Anna (GBR,485) 61 64
[Q2] (8) RAO Sunitha (IND,155) vs SCHEEPERS Chanelle (RSA,175)

Good positive start for Sunitha in her this season's fist grass court match against local player ... Go Sunitha.
---------------------------------------------------
At Stella Artois Championships, Queens club, London

[Q1] Prakash Amritraj (IND,) l Woong-Sun Jun (KOR,230) 36 26

Doubles -
[R1] (8) BHUPATHI Mahesh (IND)/ BOPANNA Rohan(IND) Bye

In second round they will play against winner between pair of Rafel Nadal & Argentine Mariano Hood and South American pair of Fernando Gonzalez & Nicolas Lapentti.
---------------------------------------------------
At Gerry Weber Open, Halle, Germany

[R1] (4) DLOUHY Lukas (CZE)/ PAES Leander (IND) vs BAGHDATIS Marcos (CYP)/ ROCHUS Olivier (BEL)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Golf News -
At Bank Austria Golf Open, Vienna, Austria - Second Round

1 SINGH Jeev Milkha 64 63 -15
---------- Cut @ -2 ---------------
T98 RANDHAWA Jyoti 75 68 +1

Jeev Milkha Singh added a sensational 63 to his opening 64 to pull away from the field and threaten total domination at the Bank Austria GolfOpen presented by Telekom Austria.

Jeev Milkha Singh - “I am very pleased with that. (after completing his excellent 63.) I am happy with the way that I have played, especially today when I was bogey free and holed a great long putt on the last for eagle. I hit the ball really well today in fact – I putted well too. To be 15 under after two rounds doesn’t come every often – I can remember when the last time was that I did that, it certainly not coming back to my memory so I might never have done it. I am pretty happy with the way that I have managed myself and conducted myself on the golf course. I think when any golfer gets to certain score they can get anxious and get ahead of themselves so I am very happy with the way that I handled that.”
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Football News -
At SAFF Championship 2008, Male, Maldives - 3rd June to 14th June 2008

India bt Maldives 1-0

Goal Scored - Gouramangi Moirangthem Singh (IND) 13'

We had poor match ... We were lucky to win as Maldives was better team ... But that mostly becoz we were playing with reserve players ... Still better performance was expected from us.

Friday, June 06, 2008

Tennis News -
At $50K The Surbiton Challenger, Great Britain ( Grass )

[R2] (Q) Rohan Bopanna (IND,310) l (3) Arnaud Clement (FRA, 95) 26 57

Doubles -
[R1] (1) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (PAK) l (WC) Neil Bamford (GBR)/ Joshua Goodall (GBR) W/O

Rohan couldn't do much against Clement though better second set score ... Rohan is recovering from knee injury and playing his matches on hard courts swollen his knee ... So he decided to skip doubles after discussing with Aisam ... Now Rohan is playing the qualifying at Queens which will begin from Saturday.
-------------------------------------------
At $50K Yuba City Challenger, California, USA

[QF] Dann Battistone (USA)/ Harsh Mankad (IND) l Victor Estrella (DOM)/ Alberto Francis (USA) 06 64 7(10)

Was expecting this loss after Harsh's one-sided singles loss ... His confidence must be shaken up after that loss against Sam Warburg.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Athletics News -

On 5th June 2008 in St Mary’s Classic Meet at Twickenham in London Surendra Singh broke legendary Bahadur Prasad’s 16-year-old national record in 3000m ... Surendra clocked 7:50.31s to erase Bahadur Prasad’s feat of 7:56.74s which was also set in London in May 1992.

Thursday, June 05, 2008

Tennis News -
At French Open 2008,

MXD -
[SF] Jie Zheng (CHN)/ Mahesh Bhupathi (IND) l (1) Katarina Srebotnik (SLO)/ Nenad Zimonjic (SRB) w/o

Its official that Mahesh gave walk over - Most probably due to Mahesh's strained left calf muscle, they mostly give walkover to top-seeds in semis ... As per report, Mahesh is struggling to even walk and pushing himself in the semifinals on Thursday could cost him the entire summer, which includes Wimbledon and the Beijing Olympics.
-------------------------------------------
At $50K The Surbiton Challenger, Great Britain ( Grass )

[R1] (Q) Rohan Bopanna (IND,310) bt Simon Stadler (GER,168) 75 76(5)
[R2] (Q) Rohan Bopanna (IND,310) vs (3) Arnaud Clement (FRA, 95)

Doubles -
[Q1] Prakash Amritraj (IND)/ Rajeev Ram (USA) l (1) Gilles Muller (LUX)/ Frederik Nielsen (DEN) 16 26

Due to consistent rain matches were shifted from Surbiton to the National Tennis Centre in Roehampton on outdoor acrylic courts ... So now all next matches will be played at NTC.

But change in court didn't change Rohan's performance ... Rohan scored one of biggest win in singles of 2008 season ... As one of my friend said 'Smell of grass seems to bring the best out of him, regardless of the surface he ends up playing on!'

So next Rohan is playing against the former Australian Open Finalist, Former Top Ten Player and the reigning Wimbledon doubles champion (with Llodra) Arnaud Clement ... Tough match but Rohan definitely having game to upset him on fast courts.

-------------------------------------------
At $50K Yuba City Challenger, California, USA

[R1] Harsh Mankad (IND,669) l (2) Sam Warburg (USA,139) 06 16

As per Harsh, there were a bunch of deuce games and all, but Warburg took them all ... Basically not much of a chance today.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Football News -
At SAFF Championship 2008, Male, Maldives - 3rd June to 14th June 2008

India bt Pakistan 2-1
Goal Scored - NP Pradeep (IND) 25', Steven Dias (IND) 45+' and Adnan Farooq Ahmed (PAK) 88'

We managed to beat Pak but surprisingly close match ... So with this win we secured our place in the semis ... So now next match against host will decide group winner.

Wednesday, June 04, 2008

Tennis News -
At $50K The Surbiton Challenger, Great Britain ( Grass )

[Q3] (8) Rohan Bopanna (IND,310) bt (3) Prakash Amritraj (IND,260) 76(1) 64

Maindraw -
[R1] (Q) Rohan Bopanna (IND,310) vs Simon Stadler (GER,168)
[R1] Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (PAK,150) l Gary Lugassy (FRA,222) 75 67 36

Yesterday's final qualifying matches were moved to indoor courts due to rain ... And considering Rohan's last year's title win at Dublin Challenger on indoor courts he was favorite for the match and he didn't disappointed.
-------------------------------------------
At $50K Yuba City Challenger, California, USA

[R1] Dann Battistone (USA)/ Harsh Mankad (IND) bt (3) Ryler De Heart (USA)/ Daniel King-Turner (NZL) 64 36 10(5)
[R1] Stephen Amritraj (IND)/ Lester Cook (USA) l Victor Estrella (DOM)/ Alberto Francis (USA) 46 57

[QF] Dann Battistone (USA)/ Harsh Mankad (IND) vs Victor Estrella (DOM)/ Alberto Francis (USA)

Very surprising win for Harsh with his first-time partner Dann against top-250 doubles players ... But Stephen kept struggling with his 'new partner' every week mantra ... Stephen needs to select regular partner, my suggestion is Mustafa Ghouse for longterm as both having similar ranking.
Tennis News -
At French Open 2008,

MXD -
[QF] Jie Zheng (CHN)/ Mahesh Bhupathi (IND) bt Virginie Razzano (FRA)/ Rogier Wassen (NED) 62 64

Juniors Doubles -
[R1] Aleksandra Kolesnichenko (UZB)/ Poojashree Venkatesh (IND) l Chloe Babet (FRA)/ Charlotte Rodier (FRA) 26 57

[R2] (7) Yuki Bhambri (IND)/ Ilija Vucic (SRB) l Julien Obry (FRA)/ Adrien Puget (FRA) 36 36

Good easy victory for Hesh and Jie ... Now they r still waiting for their semis opponents ... But disappointing end for Yuki's FO challenge.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Football News -
At SAFF Championship 2008, Maldives/ Sri Lanka - 3rd June to 14th June 2008

Group A -
India bt Nepal 4-0
Goal Scored - NP Pradeep (IND) 26', Bhaichung Bhutia (IND) 34', Sunil Chhetri (IND) 67', Sushil Singh (IND) 83'

Good positive and dominating start for defending champion ... Now tomorrow they will face Pakistan.

Tuesday, June 03, 2008

Tennis News -
At French Open 2008,

MXD -
[R2] Jie Zheng (CHN)/ Mahesh Bhupathi (IND) bt (6) Cara Black (ZIM)/ Paul Hanley (AUS) 76(2) 61

[QF] Jie Zheng (CHN)/ Mahesh Bhupathi (IND) vs Virginie Razzano (FRA)/ Rogier Wassen (NED)

Juniors Doubles -
[R1] (7) Yuki Bhambri (IND)/ Ilija Vucic (SRB) bt Giacomo Miccini (ITA)/ Borut Puc (SLO) 75 63

[R2] (7) Yuki Bhambri (IND)/ Ilija Vucic (SRB) vs Julien Obry (FRA)/ Adrien Puget (FRA)

Hesh and Jiw scored straight sets victory over sixth seed pair ... Yuki and Vucic also had good start in boys doubles.

Monday, June 02, 2008

Tennis News -
At $50K The Surbiton Challenger, Great Britain ( Grass )

[Q1] (3) Prakash Amritraj (IND,260) bt Philipp Oswald (AUT,405) 61 46 64
[Q1] (8) Rohan Bopanna (IND,310) bt Edward Seator (GBR,503) 62 46 64

[Q2] (3) Prakash Amritraj (IND,260) bt Richard Bloomfield (GBR,376) 64 64
[Q2] (8) Rohan Bopanna (IND,310) bt Sergei Bubka Jr. (UKR,635) 64 64

[Q3] (3) Prakash Amritraj (IND,260) vs (8) Rohan Bopanna (IND,310)

Doubles -
[Q1] Prakash Amritraj (IND)/ Rajeev Ram (USA) vs (1) Gilles Muller (LUX)/ Frederik Nielsen (DEN)

[R1] (1) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (PAK) vs (WC) Neil Bamford (GBR)/ Joshua Goodall (GBR)

Not so comfortable start for Kash and Rohan in their first grass court season match but then they scored easy victories in second round ... Its pity that they r facing eachother in final qualifying ... Prkash also playing doubles qualifying with Rajeev Ram.
-------------------------------------------
At $50K Yuba City Challenger, California, USA

[R1] Harsh Mankad (IND,669) vs (2) Sam Warburg (USA,139)

Very tough first rounder against man in form.

Table Tennis News

At $70K ITTF Challenge Plus Oman Open 2020 , Muscat, Oman [R32] Harmeet Desai (IND,87) bt Jeremy Hazin (CAN,164) 4-0 (12-10, 11-8, 11-4,...