Football News
At I-League 2008/09 - 26th February

JCT l Churchill Brothers 1-2

Goal scored - Odafe Okolie (CB) 50', Ogba Kalu Nnanna (CB) 85' and Jagpreet Singh (JCT) 14'

Churchill Brothers comeback strongly after down by a goal to win this match to move to 2nd place in the standing.
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27th February
Sporting Clube de Goa dw Chirag United 2-2

Goal Scored - Nathaniel Amos (SCG) 16', Wilton Gomes (SCG) 85' and Denson Devadas (CU) 48', Shankar Oraon (CU) 77'

Sporting Clube de Goa managed draw against Chirag United and they r still leading the league with 2 points ... Mohun Bagan having chance to lead league as they r playing on Monday against Dempo at home.
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28th February
Mumbai FC dw Air India 1-1

Goal Scored - Kulothungan (MFC) 39' and Emmanuel Ovieghara (AI) 63'
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East Bengal dw Mohammedan Sporting 2-2

Goal Scored - Nirmal Chettri (EB) 49', Sunil Chettri (EB) 53' and Mike Okoro (MS) 4', Eugene Grey (MS) 30'

East Bengal produced excellent comeback to draw match after down 0-2.
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1st March
Mahindra United bt Vasco SC 4-0

Goal Scored - Sushil Kumar Singh (MU) 31', Kattimani (MU) 35', Chidi Edeh (MU) 36', Mohammed Rafi (MU) 74'

Mahindra United scored their biggest victory in the ongoing league.
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4th March
Churchill Brothers bt Mohun Bagan 3-1

Goal Scored - Odafe Okolie (CB) 45+', Ogba Kalu Nnanna (CB) 58' & 76' and Jose Ramires Barreto (MB) 29'

Churchill scored impressive win over Bagan and take a lead in ongoing I-League season ... So with this win Churchill moved to 36 points, 1 more than Sporting Clube de Goa and 3 more than Bagan.

Badminton News
At $80K Yonex German Open Grand Prix, Mulheim

[R3] (9) Arvind Bhat (IND,28) l (5) Andrew Smith (ENG,21) 21-16 11-21 19-21
[R3] (15) Anup Sridhar (IND,38) l (3) Choong Hann Wong (MAS,14) 16-21 18-21
[R3] (2) Chetan Anand (IND,13) bt (16) Hans-Kristian Vittinghus (DEN,40) 21-14 18-21 21-12

[QF] (2) Chetan Anand (IND,13) vs Weijie Gong (CHN,63)
[QF] (4) Diju Valiyaveetil (IND)/ Jwala Gutta (IND) vs Bo Zheng (CHN)/ Jin Ma (CHN)

Arvind also started well winning first game but again Andrew Smith produced comeback though Arvind tried hard in the third game ... Chetan stretched to third game against Danish player.

In quarters Chetan and our MXD pair facing tough challenge of Chinese opponents.

Tennis News
At 2.233M Dubai Open Championship,

[R2] (2) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Mark Knowles (BAH) l Rik De Voest (RSA)/ Dmitry Tursunov (RUS) 67(4) 26

Disappointing result for Mahesh and Mark, who were highest seeded pair remaining in the draw ... Our pair had 10 break point chances and converted only 2 ... Other hand Voest-Tursunov had 8 chances and they converted 4 in this 1 hr 18 mins match ... Voest-Tursunov won more couple of points from our pair in final total points stats, 63-61.
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At $500K Delray Beach International Tennis Championships, Florida, USA

[QF] Rajeev Ram (USA)/ Bobby Reynolds (USA) bt (3) Jamie Murray (GBR)/ Dusan Vemic (SRB) 64 62

Good win by Rajeev and Bobby against 3rd seeds.
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Chess News
At XXVI Linares 2009, Spain (Avg. rating 2755) - from February 19th to March 7th 2009

Round 7 - Thursday , 26 February 2009

Teimour Radjabov ½-½ Magnus Carlsen
Viswanathan Anand ½-½ Alexander Grischuk
Levon Aronian 0-1 Vassily Ivanchuk
Leinier Domínguez ½-½ Wang Yue

Viswanathan Anand continued to experiment with his new 1.d4 variation playing with white but Alexander Grischuk was happy to draw after 37 moves ... Interestingly black still hasn't lost a single game and today Vassily Ivanchuk scored a victory with it against Levon Aronian ... The other two games were drawn.

Badminton News
At $80K Yonex German Open Grand Prix, Mulheim

[R2] (9) Arvind Bhat (IND,28) bt Kestutis Navickas (LTU,55) 21-17 17-21 23-21
[R2] Anand Pawar (IND,45) l (5) Andrew Smith (ENG,21) 21-14 14-21 8-21
[R2] (15) Anup Sridhar (IND,38) bt Marcel Reuter (GER,104) 21-18 21-13
[R2] (2) Chetan Anand (IND,13) bt Kay Bin Yeoh (MAS,129) 23-21 21-12

[R2] (4) Diju Valiyaveetil (IND)/ Jwala Gutta (IND) bt Halim Haryanto Ho (USA)/ Yun Peng (USA) 21-10 21-12

[R3] (9) Arvind Bhat (IND,28) vs (5) Andrew Smith (ENG,21)
[R3] (15) Anup Sridhar (IND,38) vs (3) Choong Hann Wong (MAS,14)
[R3] (2) Chetan Anand (IND,13) vs (16) Hans-Kristian Vittinghus (DEN,40)

Anand lost after winning the first game against top-25 British player ... But Arvind Bhat won very tricky match where he stretched in the third game ... Chetan also surprisingly struggled in the first game but then won second game convincingly ... Anup scored easy victory and facing Andrew Smith in the next round.

Another easy victory for Diju and Jwala to move into quarters.

Tennis News
At 2.233M Dubai Open Championship,

[R1] (WC) Prakash Amritraj (IND)/ Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (PAK) l Martin Damm (CZE)/ Robert Lindstedt (SWE) 67(4) 57

[R2] (2) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Mark Knowles (BAH) vs Rik De Voest (RSA)/ Dmitry Tursunov (RUS)

Kash and Aisam had 5 break point chances but converted only 1, but Damm and Lindstedt had 2 chances and they converted both ... Overall our pair won 66 points and their opponents 69 points ... So this was the case of missed opportunities for Kash and Aisam.
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At $500K Delray Beach International Tennis Championships, Florida, USA

[R1] Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Jarkko Nieminen (FIN) bt (ALT) Paul Capdeville (CHI)/ Evgeny Korolev (RUS) 64 75

[QF] Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Jarkko Nieminen (FIN) vs (4) Eric Butorac (USA)/ Bruno Soares (BRA)
[QF] Rajeev Ram (USA)/ Bobby Reynolds (USA) vs (3) Jamie Murray (GBR)/ Dusan Vemic (SRB)

In this match both pair had 10 break point chances ... Rohan and Jarkko converted 4, other hand Capdeville and Korolev converted only 2 ... Now our pair faced 4th seed pair in the quarters.
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Golf News
At the World Golf Championships-Accenture Match Play Championship,

Jeev Milkha Singh (IND) l Ian Poulter (ENG) 4 & 3

In this format after going down by 4 in first few holes, it was difficult to produce comeback ... Poulter defeated Jeev rather easily with 4 and 3.

Many big names also lost their first round matches including Garcia, Harrington, Goosen, Allenby, Appleby, Adam Scott, Justin Rose, Weir, Hansen, Stenson, Karlsson, Angel Cabrera, KJ Choi .. Only Asian (Japanese) Shingo Katayama managed to win against defending Masters champion Trevor Immelman.

PGA report -
Poulter proved in the 2008 Ryder Cup that he's cut out beautifully for match play. Of course, the Europeans didn't win, but Poulter shined with a 4-1-0 record and proved to be the top point-getter at Valhalla. That match play momentum evidently carried over as Poulter made easy work of his opponent. Poulter made six birdies, including three in a row beginning at No. 2. "I got off to a quick start to be 3-up after four holes and I kept my foot on the accelerator and hitting good golf shots," Poulter said.
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Chess News
At XXVI Linares 2009, Spain (Avg. rating 2755) - from February 19th to March 7th 2009

Round 6 - Wednesday, 25 February 2009

Wang Yue ½-½ Teimour Radjabov
Vassily Ivanchuk ½-½ Leinier Domínguez
Alexander Grischuk 1-0 Levon Aronian
Magnus Carlsen 1-0 Viswanathan Anand

Magnus Carlsen defeated World Champion Viswanathan Anand convincingly, with remarkable techincal skill in 77 moves ... This was Anand's 2nd loss in 6 games also the way he survived in yesterday's game shows his lack of preparation for Linares ... Alexander Grischuk defeated Levon Aronian to increase his lead to a full point ... And surprisingly Vassily Ivanchuk agreed to a draw in a winning position.

Badminton News
At $80K Yonex German Open Grand Prix, Mulheim

[R1] (9) Arvind Bhat (IND,28) bt Koen Ridder (NED,132) 21-15 21-13
[R1] Anand Pawar (IND,45) bt Daren Liew (MAS,82) 21-17 21-19
[R1] (15) Anup Sridhar (IND,38) bt Sven-Eric Kastens (GER,110) 21-16 16-21 21-15
[R1] (2) Chetan Anand (IND,13) bt Henri Hurskainen (SWE,62) 21-6 21-8

[R1] Jwala Gutta (IND)/ Shruti Kurian (IND) l (7) Ekaterina Ananina (RUS)/ Anastasia Russkikh (RUS) 14-21 10-21

[R1] (4) Diju Valiyaveetil (IND)/ Jwala Gutta (IND) bt Chayut Triyachar (SIN)/ Shinta Mulia Sari (SIN) 21-9 21-10

[R2] (9) Arvind Bhat (IND,28) vs Kestutis Navickas (LTU,55)
[R2] Anand Pawar (IND,45) vs (5) Andrew Smith (ENG,21)
[R2] (15) Anup Sridhar (IND,38) vs Marcel Reuter (GER,104)
[R2] (2) Chetan Anand (IND,13) vs Kay Bin Yeoh (MAS,129)

[R2] (4) Diju Valiyaveetil (IND)/ Jwala Gutta (IND) vs Halim Haryanto Ho (USA)/ Yun Peng (USA)

Surprisingly German stretched Anup Sridhar to third game in the first round, otherwise dominating start by our players ... Chetan won his match against top-60 Swedish player in mere 19 minutes ... In the second round Anand Pawar having tough match against top-25 British player but Anand having game to surprise him.

But not so promising start in doubles as our pair lost in 22 minutes against seeded Russian pair.

Good start by Diju and Jwala, they won first round match in 19 mins.

Badminton News
At $80K Yonex German Open Grand Prix, Mulheim

[Q1] Chetan Anand (IND)/ Diju Valiyaveetil (IND) l Yoshiteru Hirobe (JPN)/ Hajime Komiyama (JPN) 24-22 18-21 12-21

[R1] (9) Arvind Bhat (IND,28) vs Koen Ridder (NED,132)
[R1] Anand Pawar (IND,45) vs Daren Liew (MAS,82)
[R1] (15) Anup Sridhar (IND,38) vs Sven-Eric Kastens (GER,110)
[R1] (2) Chetan Anand (IND,13) vs Henri Hurskainen (SWE,62)

[R1] Jwala Gutta (IND)/ Shruti Kurian (IND) vs (7) Ekaterina Ananina (RUS)/ Anastasia Russkikh (RUS)

[R1] (4) Diju Valiyaveetil (IND)/ Jwala Gutta (IND) vs Chayut Triyachar (SIN)/ Shinta Mulia Sari (SIN)

With German Open our players started their European tour .. Saina will join them from next week at All England Open.
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Chess News
At XXVI Linares 2009, Spain (Avg. rating 2755) - from February 19th to March 7th 2009

Round 5 - Tuesday, 24 February 2009

Leinier Domínguez ½-½ Teimour Radjabov
Wang Yue ½-½ Levon Aronian
Vassily Ivanchuk ½-½ Viswanathan Anand
Alexander Grischuk ½-½ Magnus Carlsen

Viswanathan Anand managed to draw after running into an opening problem against Vassily Ivanchuk, Anand used some miraculous stalemate motifs to save the game in 65 moves ... Very tough game, excellent Black’s defensive game produced by Anand ... All the other games were also drawn.
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Tennis News
At 2.233M Dubai Open Championship,

[R1] (2) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Mark Knowles (BAH) bt (WC) Hamoud Abbas (UAE)/ Mahmoud-Nader Al Baloushi (UAE) 63 61

As expected very easy win against local pair for Mahehs and Mark.
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At $500K Delray Beach International Tennis Championships, Florida, USA

[R1] Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Jarkko Nieminen (FIN) vs (ALT) Paul Capdeville (CHI)/ Evgeny Korolev (RUS)
[R1] Rajeev Ram (USA)/ Bobby Reynolds (USA) bt (WC) Xavier Malisse (BEL)/ Vincent Spadea (USA) 62 75

Huss-Hutchins pair pulled out due to Hutchins back injury so Rohan and Jarkko playing against alternate pair ... Rajeev and Bobby had winning start.

Tennis News
At 2.233M Dubai Open Championship,

[R1] (4) Leander Paes (IND)/ Lukas Dlouhy (CZE) l Simone Bolelli (ITA)/ Ivo Karlovic (CRO) 46 62 (8)10

Poor super tie-break costed match, in match Lee and Lukas had 7 break point chances and they converted 3 ... Other hand Bolelli and Karlovic had 4 break point chances and they comnverted 2 ... In this 1 hr 6 mins match our pair won 61 points and Bolelli-Karlovic pair won only 51 points.
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At $50K Volkswagen Challenger, Wolfsberg, Germany

[R1] (2) Harsh Mankad(IND)/ Brian Battistone (USA) l Illa Bozoljac (SRB)/ Scoville Jenkins (USA) 46 46
[R1] Purav Raja (IND) / Rohan Gajjar (IND) l Jamie Delgado (GBR)/ Jonathan Marray (GBR) 36 26

Not a great start for harsh against his new partner ... Purav and Rohan also lost aginst experianced pair.

Tennis News
At 2.233M Dubai Open Championship,

[R1] (2) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Mark Knowles (BAH) vs (WC) Hamoud Abbas (UAE)/ Mahmoud-Nader Al Baloushi (UAE)
[R1] (4) Leander Paes (IND)/ Lukas Dlouhy (CZE) vs Simone Bolelli (ITA)/ Ivo Karlovic (CRO)
[R1] (WC) Prakash Amritraj (IND)/ Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (PAK) vs Martin Damm (CZE)/ Robert Lindstedt (SWE)
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At $500K Delray Beach International Tennis Championships, Florida, USA

[Q2] Somdev Devvarman (IND,154) l Ryan Sweeting (USA,176) 57 46
[Q2] Rajeev Ram (USA,210) l (1) Wayne Odesnik (USA,94) 26 36

And Som again lost against big server Sweeting ... Som needs good 1st serve percentage, in this match he managed 56% and won only 57% on his 1st serve ... Sweeting created 20 break point chances and converted 4 of them on Som's serve ... Other hand Ryan faced 4 break point chances and Som converted 2 of them ... For me overall disappointing performance in this 1 hr 47 mins match considering preparation for our Davis cup tie against Chinese Taipei.
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Golf News
At Northern Trust Open - Final Standing

T39 Jeev Milkha Singh 69 70 71 69 -5 $ 27,720.00
T72 Daniel Chopra 73 67 74 74 +4 $ 12,285.00

On the final day Jeev started with birdie on the first hole ... Then he scored bogey on 4th hole but immediately managed to score birdie on next 5th hole ... On back 9 Jeev had back to back birdies on 15th and 16th holes but bogey on the last hole missed his chance of top 30 finish.

Only under par second round was good enough to make cut for Daniel, otherwise he struggled on the course ... Today he scored 2 birdies on 7th and 8th holes but 5 bogeys on 2nd, 4th, 5th, 14th and 18th holes ... He remained bottom of the leaderboard.
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Chess News
At XXVI Linares 2009, Spain (Avg. rating 2755) - from February 19th to March 7th 2009

Round 4 - Sunday, 22 February 2009

Teimour Radjabov 0-1 Alexander Grischuk
Magnus Carlsen ½-½ Vassily Ivanchuk
Viswanathan Anand 1-0 Wang Yue
Levon Aronian 1-0 Leinier Domínguez

Viswanathan Anand outplayed Chinese Wang Yue with Slav variation ... Anand won this match convincingly in 33 moves ... Alexander Grischuk punished the creative but over-optimistic play by Teimour Radjabov ... while Levon Aronian needed 92 moves to overcome Leinier Dominguez' resistance.

Tennis News
At $500K Delray Beach International Tennis Championships, Florida, USA

[Q1] Somdev Devvarman (IND,154) bt Donald Young (USA,133) 64 64
[Q1] Rohan Bopanna (IND,321) l John Isner (USA,137) 26 16
[Q1] Rajeev Ram (USA,210) bt Dusan Vemic (SRB,272) 64 64

[Q2] Somdev Devvarman (IND,154) vs Ryan Sweeting (USA,176)
[Q2] Rajeev Ram (USA,210) vs (1) Wayne Odesnik (USA,94)

Doubles
[R1] Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Jarkko Nieminen (FIN) vs Stephen Huss (AUS)/ Ross Hutchins (GBR)
[R1] Rajeev Ram (USA)/ Bobby Reynolds (USA) vs (WC) Xavier Malisse (BEL)/ Vincent Spadea (USA)

Som played excellent tennis to score good win against talented Donald Young ... Som won 80% points on his first serve with 8 aces but his 1st serve percentage were 53%, and won only 42% of his 2nd serve points ... In the second set he was up 5-2 but Donald tried comeback winning next 2 games but Som finished on his serve ... Donald broke Somi's serve twice and Somi managed to break four times.
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Hockey News
At the four-match Hockey Series, Wellington

India bt New Zealand 2-1

Goal Scored - Tushar Khandekar (IND) 30', Sandeep Singh (IND) 40' PC and Simon Child (NZL) 4'

Indians won second match to take 1-0 lead in this hockey series after first match ended in draw ... In this match we kept more possession than opponents and were dominating ... In this match we managed to get 3 penalty corners.
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Chess News
At XXVI Linares 2009, Spain (Avg. rating 2755) - from February 19th to March 7th 2009

Round 3 - Saturday, 21 February 2009

Levon Aronian ½-½ Teimour Radjabov
Leinier Domínguez ½-½ Viswanathan Anand
Wang Yue ½-½ Magnus Carlsen
Vassily Ivanchuk ½-½ Alexander Grischuk

All games in the third round ended in well fought draw ... Dominguez and Anand match played with Najdorf Sicilian variation which ended in the draw after 41 moves.
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Golf News
At Northern Trust Open - Third Round

T42 Jeev Milkha Singh 69 70 71 -3
T70 Daniel Chopra 73 67 74 +1

Jeev must be disappointed with his third round ... He started well scoring back to back birdies on 1st and 2nd holes ... But had 3 bogeys on a row on 6th, 7th and 8th holes ... After that he managed another birdie on 10th hole to finished even for the day.

Daniel couldn't repeat his scond round peformance ... He had 5 bogeys on 2nd, 4th, 9th, 12th and 17th holes but managed only 2 birdies on 6th and 11th holes.

Football News
At I-League 2008/09 - 20th February

Churchill Brothers bt Vasco Sports Club 9-1

Goal scored - Odafe Okolie (CB) 42', 50', 57', 82', 89' & 90', Felix Chimaokwu (CB) 44' & 72', Reisangmi Vashum (CB) 77' and Leister Fernandes (DSC) 68'

Churchill Brothers scored the highest win so far in the I League against helpless Dempo.
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Air India dw Dempo SC 0-0
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21st February
JCT l Chirag United 0-1

Goal Scored - Bidemi Daniel Ayeni (CU) 38'
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Mahindra United dw Mohammedan Sporting 0-0
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22nd February
Mumbai FC l Sporting Clube de Goa 1-2

Goal Scored - Alex Ambrose (MFC) 80' P and Joseph Pereira (SCG) 7', Wilton Gomes (SCG) 77'

In this hot tempered match 3 players red carded ... Sporting striker Elijah Jr and Mumbai FC stopper back James Dissiramah and defender Selwyn Fernandes.
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East Bengal bt Mohun Bagan 3-0

Goal Scored - Syed Rahim Nabi (EB) 22' & 40', Sunil Chettri (EB) 47'

East Bengal ended Mohun Bagan’s 10 matches winning streak.

Golf News
At Northern Trust Open - Second Round

T34 Jeev Milkha Singh 69 70 -3
T52 Daniel Chopra 73 67 -2
------------- cut @ -1 ---------------
T88 Vijay Singh 72 71 +1

Jeev started with birdie on the first hole then had another birdie on 11th hole ... But he had 2 bogeys in last 4 holes, on 15th and 18th holes with birdie on 17th hole ... But this 1 under round helped him to stay where he was after first round.

Today Daniel fired when he requires most ... He declared his intention scoring eagle on first hole, then birdie on 3rd hole ... On 8th hole he scored his first bogey of the day on 8th hole but then managed back to back birdies on 9th and 10th holes ... Had bogey on 13th hole but managed another birdie on 17th hole to finished on 4 under for the day ... And also gurantee of making cut for weekend.
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Chess News
At XXVI Linares 2009, Spain (Avg. rating 2755) - from February 19th to March 7th 2009

Round 2 - Friday, 20 February 2009

Teimour Radjavov ½.½ Vassily Ivanchuk
Alexander Grischuk 1-0 Wang Yue
Magnus Carlsen ½.½ Lenier Domínguez
Viswanathan Anand 0-1 Levon Aronian

Anand was almost certain for victory against Levon Aronian ... But he made blunder on 33rd move and then Aronian took the full advantage of it to scored shocking victory in 53 moves ... Alexander Grischuk defeated Chinese GM Wang Yue in a Slav ... Other two games were drawn, now Aronian and Grischuk lead.
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Tennis News
At $500K Delray Beach International Tennis Championships, Florida, USA

[Q1] Somdev Devvarman (IND,154) vs Donald Young (USA,133)
[Q1] Rohan Bopanna (IND,321) vs John Isner (USA,137)
[Q1] Rajeev Ram (USA,210) vs Dusan Vemic (SRB,272)
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At Barclays Dubai tennis championships

[Q1] (6) AMRITRAJ, Prakash (IND,198) l DASNIERESDE VEIGY, Jonathan (FRA,337) 0-5

Prakash pulled out of the match after 12 minutes citing injury ... :-(
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Hockey News
At the four-match Hockey Series, Wellington

India dw New Zealand 1-1

Goal Scored - Phil Burrows (NZL) 3' and SV Sunil (IND) 55'

In the first half Black Sticks played excellent hockey but in second half Indians changed their tactics to switch to short passes to build attack and that helped them to equalise.

Chess News
At XXVI Linares 2009, Spain (Avg. rating 2755) - from February 19th to March 7th 2009

Player Nation rating w-rank

Viswanathan Anand India 2791 2
Vassily Ivanchuk Ukraine 2779 3
Magnus Carlsen Norway 2776 4
Teimour Radjabov Azerbaijan 2761 6
Levon Aronian Armenia 2750 11
Wang Yue China 2739 13
Alexander Grischuk Russia 2733 14
Leinier Dominguez Cuba 2717 23

Round 1 - Thursday, 19 February 2009
Viswanathan Anand 1-0 Teimour Radjabov
Levon Aronian ½-½ Magnus Carlsen
Lenier Domínguez ½-½ Alexander Grischuk
Yue Wang ½-½ Vassily Ivanchuk

The World Champion Anand went to top beating Azerbaijani grandmaster and WR #6 Teimour Radjabov in a Sicilian Sveshnikov variation in 61 moves ... This was Anand's first game after the world championship match and had a perfect start ... This was the longest game of the day, other games were also hard-fought draws.

Tennis News

Our team for Davis Cup tie against Chinese Taipei was announce ... As expected AITA left out Praksh Amritraj due to his American passport which make him ineligible to represent India as per the new government policy ... So Rohan Bopanna selected in his place and surprisingly AITA selected Sanam Singh as a fifth member (reserve player) of the team.

Sanam’s selection came a day after he was named the Most Outstanding Player of the 2009 US Intercollegiate Tennis Association’s (ITA) national team indoor championships where University of Virginia won title beating their old nemesis Georgia.

Indian Team - Somdev Devvarman, Rohan Bopanna, Leander Paes, Mahehs Bhupathi and Sanam Singh as reserve player

Non-playing Captain - S.P.Mishra
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At $25K Surprise Tournament, Arizona, USA

[QF] (Q) UBEROI Shikha (IND)/ WEBLEY-SMITH Emily (GBR) l (2) CRAVERO Jorgelina (ARG)/ IVANOVA Ekaterina (RUS) 26 06

Very one-sided loss.
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Golf News

At Northern Trust Open - First Round (PGA Tour)

T36 Jeev Milkha Singh 69 -2
T96 Vijay Singh 72 +1
T114 Daniel Chopra 73 +2

Jeev had decent start on his first round at Northern Trust Open ... He started from back 9 and scored birdie on first 10th hole ... Then he had bogey on 12th but he scored another birdie on par3 16th hole to finished back 9 on 1 under ... On front 9 Jeev started with birdie but again like back 9 he had bogey on 5th hole ... But Jeev scored another birdie on par4 7th hole and finished inside top 40 with 2 under ... But Vijay and Daniel had not so good start ... Tomorrow they need solid under par rounds to make cut.

Golf News

As we already know Jeev is planning to play less tournament in 2009, as of now he is planning to play for only 33 weeks in 2009 ... This year he is giving more priority to PGA tournaments, as per his planning he will play minimum 12 PGA tournaments this year and wants to capture full PGA Tour card for 2010.

From this week he will be playing 6 weeks in an eight-week period, including 2 World Golf Championship events, the World Matchplay and WGC-CA Championships and the Augusta Masters.

Jeev's schedule for next 8 weeks -
Feb 19-22: $6.3M Northern Trust Open, California
Feb 25- March 1: $8.5M WGC-Accenture Matchplay Championships, Arizona
March 12-15: 8.5M WGC CA Championships, Florida
March 26-29: $6M Arnold Palmer Invitational, Florida
April 2-5: 5.7M Shell Houston Open, Texas
April 9-12: $7M Masters Tournament, Georgia

Tennis News
At $2M Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships,

[R2] Sania Mirza (IND)/ Mara Santangelo (ITA) l (1) Cara Black (ZIM)/ Liezel Huber (USA) 36 36

Match was loking close than score suggest as in the first set with single break Cara and Liezel won it ... They converted 1 break point from 2 chances but Sania and Mara wasted 2 break point chances they got ... In second set Cara-Liezel pair broke Sania-Mara's serve 4 time but Sania-Mara also broke their serve 2 times ... So with that Sania's Dubai tournament was over ... Now she is taking deserving 2 weeks off from the tour and will be back at Indian Wells and Miami open where she need to play qualifying.
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At $25K Surprise Tournament, Arizona, USA

[Q1] (1) UBEROI Shikha (IND)/ WEBLEY-SMITH Emily (GBR) bt (WC) BISHARAT April (USA)/ SCANDALIS Zoe Gwen (USA) 61 61

[R1] (Q) UBEROI Shikha (IND)/ WEBLEY-SMITH Emily (GBR) bt BRENGLE Madison (USA)/ GLUSHKO Julia (ISR) 64 36 10(7)

[QF] (Q) UBEROI Shikha (IND)/ WEBLEY-SMITH Emily (GBR) vs (2) CRAVERO Jorgelina (ARG)/ IVANOVA Ekaterina (RUS)

Shikha is playing doubles with British player ... They qualified for maindraw ... And started with win in super tie-break ... Now they will face 2nd seed pair in quarters.

Tennis News
At $2M Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships,

[R2] Sania Mirza (IND,87) l (16) Kaia Kanepi (EST,24) 57 26

Doubles
[R1] Sania Mirza (IND)/ Mara Santangelo (ITA) bt Urszula Radwanska (POL)/ Stefanie Voegele (SUI) W/O (injury to Radwanska)

[R2] Sania Mirza (IND)/ Mara Santangelo (ITA) vs (1) Cara Black (ZIM)/ Liezel Huber (USA)

Sania had great start breaking Kanepi's serve in 3rd game but Kanepi fought back breaking sania's serve on luv in 8th game ... In 10th game Sania saved 1 set point to hold her serve ... But couldn't save another set point in 12th game ... Sania lost first set in 44 minutes.

In the second set Kanepi started well holding her serve on luv, but in 2nd game Sania was down 15-40 ... Sania saved 4 break points but Kanepi converted 5th break point to take lead in the second set ... Then things were getting worst for Sania as Kanepi again break her serve in 4th game ... In 6th game sania managed to hold to win 1st game of the second set ... Sania broke Kanepi's serve in 7th game while she was serving for the match, converted 4th break point ... But Kanepi broke Sania's serve after duece, where Sania saved 2 match points, to won match in 1 hour 31 minutes.

Frankly Sania must be tired, this was her 9th match in 8 days ... She is just coming out of career threatening wrist injury, so this was huge workload on her.

If this doubles match happened then that would be Sania's 10th match in 8 days ... But this time Sania and Mara recieved lucky break due to injury to Urszula Radwanska ... In second round they r facing WR #1 pair of Black and Huber.

Tennis News
At $2M Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships,

[R1] Sania Mirza (IND,87) bt Ekaterina Makarova (RUS,53) 75 62
[R2] Sania Mirza (IND,87) vs (16) Kaia Kanepi (EST,24)

Creditable win in 1 hour 28 mins ... Reason was, Sania played final at Pattaya Open and then flew to Dubai to play her first round match in 24 hours ... In the first set both players had 5 break point chances ... Makarova converted 2 of them but Sania converted 3 of them to win the first set ... In the second set Makarova had 3 break point chances and converted only one ... Other hand sania created 9 breaking opportunities and converted 3 of them ... Sania's first serve percentage was 63% ... Today she is having match against top-25 player Estonian Kaia Kanepi.
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Golf News
At AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am - Final Standing

T33 Arjun Atwal 68 73 71 -4

The final-round was officially cancelled on Monday due to unplayable conditions, as rain Sunday and overnight Monday measured 1.32 inches ... So Arjun didn't get chance to improve on his third round standing, but still best performance for him in 2009 PGA tour season.

Tennis News
At $600K SAP Open, San Jose, California , USA

[F] Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Jarkko Nieminen (FIN) l Tommy Haas (GER)/ Radek Stepanek (CZE) 26 36

In end very easy victory for Hass and Stepanek in 51 mins ... In the final, pair of Bops and Nieminen couldn't saved a single break point on their own serve, their serve was broken 4 times ... They only managed to break Haas and Stepanek serve once in three chances ... With this win Radek Stepanek captured double crown at San Jose.
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At $2M Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships,

[R1] Sania Mirza (IND,87) vs Ekaterina Makarova (RUS,53)

Doubles
[R1] Sania Mirza (IND)/ Mara Santangelo (ITA) vs Urszula Radwanska (POL)/ Stefanie Voegele (SUI)

As expected Sania moved back into top-100 after reaching final of Pattaya tournament ... She climbed 39 places to rank #87 ... Sania having tough schedule after yesterday's final in Thailand today she is playing her first round match at Dubai Open in the evening session.
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At $25K Surprise Tournament, Arizona, USA

[Q1] UBEROI Shikha (IND,606) l STEPHENS Sloane (USA,500) 26 63 06

Disappointing loss against 16 yrs old girl ... May be difference was in ranking but Shikha was definitely better player than lost against this 16 yrs old American.

Tennis News
At $220K PTT Pattaya Women's Open, Thailand

[F] Sania Mirza (IND,126) l (1) Vera Zvonareva (RUS,5) 57 16

In this match Sania committed 21 UFEs and 4 DFs ... But still Sania produced creditable performance in the first set, where she matched WR #5 in all aspect of games ... But after losing first set suddenly everything changed and Sania's game fall apart ... May be after long injury break playing so many matches in a week take toll on Sania, mostly she need to put extra work on physical conditioning ... But importantly her game is back on track, so if she remain injury-free I have no doubt that Sania will be in top 50 in next few tournaments.
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At € 1.445M ABN Amro World Tennis Tournament, Rotterdam, Netherlands

[F] (2) Leander Paes (IND)/ Lukas Dlouhy (CZE) l (1) Daniel Nestor (CAN) / Nenad Zimonjic (SRB) 26 57

Again Lee and Lukas lost in the final, this time Lee's old nemesis Zimo ... After losing first set easily they fought brilliantly in the second ... But Nestor and Zimo won 12th game breaking Lee's serve when Lee had game point ... The Serbian-Canadian duo saved all six break points they faced while also breaking serve three times – including in the final game of the match – to secure their fifth victory (5-0 record) over Dlouhy and Paes in 63 minutes.
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Golf News
At Maybank Malaysian Open - Final Standing

T2 Jyoti Randhawa 71 69 66 66 -16 $133,055.00
T21 Shiv Kapur 70 69 66 74 - 9 $ 20,800.00
T69 S S P Chowrasia 69 74 75 73 + 3 $ 3,725.00

Jyoti produced another 6 under final round and missed the tie for top position by 1 shot ... Great stuff ... Hoping Jyoti is coming back in the form.

Tennis News
At € 1.445M ABN Amro World Tennis Tournament, Rotterdam, Netherlands

[SF] (2) Leander Paes (IND)/ Lukas Dlouhy (CZE) bt (4) Julian Knowle (AUT)/ Andy Ram (ISR) 62 76(4)

[F] (2) Leander Paes (IND)/ Lukas Dlouhy (CZE) vs (1) Daniel Nestor (CAN) / Nenad Zimonjic (SRB)

Another good straight sets win for Lee and Lukas ... After winning first set easily they were stetched in the second set to tie-break ... But they prevailed over 4th seed pair in 1 hour 14 minutes ... Both pair faced 4 break point chances, but Lee-Lukas managed to save 3 and Knowle-Ram pair managed to save only 1.

In the final Lee facing his old nemesis Zimo with their respective partners.
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At $600K SAP Open, San Jose, California , USA

[SF] Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Jarkko Nieminen (FIN) bt (4) Stephen Huss (AUS) / Ross Hutchins (GBR) 36 76(5) 10(5)

[F] Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Jarkko Nieminen (FIN) vs Tommy Haas (GER) / Radek Stepanek (CZE)

Rohan and Jarkko showed their yesterday's win against Bryans wasn't fluke in their comeback win against 4th seed pair of Huss and Hutchins ... Yesterday also they saved total 6 break-point chances from 9 they faced in the match ... Other hand Huss and Hutchins faced only 3 break point chances and managed to save 1 ... In crucial second set Rohan and Jarkko saved 5 break points from 6 ... And again they showed their supremecy in super tie-break with their huge serves.


In the final they r facing another unseeded pair of Hass and Stepanek.
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Golf News
At AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am - Third Round

T33 Arjun Atwal 68 73 71 -4
------------- cut @ -1 ---------------
T109 Daniel Chopra (PH) 75 71 73 +3
T146 Vijay Singh (PH) 72 75 75 +6

Arjun started from back 9 at Poppy Hills and was 3 under for the day scoring birdies on 12th, 14th and 16th holes after completing back 9 ... But he struggled on front 9 scoring back to back bogeys on 2nd and 3rd, after that on 7th hole ... He managed to end day on positive note scoring birdie on last hole.

Daniel and Vijay had forgettable AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am tournament as both ended well below the cut-line.

Tennis News
At $220K PTT Pattaya Women's Open, Thailand

[SF] Sania Mirza (IND,126) bt (8) Magdalena Rybarikova (SVK,51) 64 57 61

[F] Sania Mirza (IND,126) vs (1) Vera Zvonareva (RUS,5)

Doubles
[SF] (3) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Mara Santangelo (ITA) l (2) Yaroslava Shvedova (KAZ)/ Tamarine Tanasugarn (THA) 62 26 (7)10

Another win against top-50 player, this time Slovakian Rybarikova ... Sania scored easy victory in third after dog fight in first 2 sets to moved into the final ... This win push her ranking around top-90 ... Sania is looking very egar to reach inside top 50 ... In the final she is facing WR #5 Vera Zvonareva, against her Sania have won the match in 2005 ... But these days Vera really play like top-5 player, very tough match up for Sania.

I missed to follow this match but after looking statistics it must be one helluva match ... In this match Sania's 1st serve percentage was very good, 67% ... In the first set Sania had 3 break point chances and she converted 2 ... Rybarikova converted 1 from 1 ... In this set Sania won 33 pts and Rybarikova 24 pts ... In the second set exactly opposite story, Sania converted 1 from 1 and Rybarikova converted 2 from 2 ... Sania managed to win 32 pts and Rybarikova won 39 pts ... Sania was serving for the match at 5-4 but then suddenly her serve stopped working and she lost next 4 games (from 5-3) to lose set ... But in the decider Sania came back strongly ... She didn't face a single break point, other hand converted 2 of 2 on Rybarikova serve ... Sania won 30 pts and Rybarikova managed only 17 in this 2 hours 1 minute match.

But Sania couldn't manage to continued her good performance in doubles ... She and Mara lost their semi-final match against 2nd seed in super tie-break after winning the first set in 1 hour 17 minutes.
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At $600K SAP Open, San Jose, California , USA

[QF] Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Jarkko Nieminen (FIN) bt (1) Bob Bryan (USA)/ Mike Bryan (USA) 64 46 10(5)

[SF] Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Jarkko Nieminen (FIN) vs (4) Stephen Huss (AUS) / Ross Hutchins (GBR)

What a win for Rohan and Jarkko ... Win against WR #1 pair will be huge boost for Rohan's doubles career ... Hopefully Rohan and Jarkko encourage to play more with eachother after this win.

Rohan and Jarkko won this match in 1 hour and 21 minutes ... Rohan and Jarkko saved 12 break point chances on their serve from 13, other hand Bryans saved 2 from 3 chances ... In the first set Bops and Jarkko saved all 7 break points and converted 1 chance which they got ... In second set Bryans saved all 2 break points and they converted 1 from 6 chances ... But this powerful serving team easily won super tie-break with their game.

Tennis News
At $220K PTT Pattaya Women's Open, Thailand

[QF] Sania Mirza (IND,126) bt (6) Tamarine Tanasugarn (THA,41) 75 64
[SF] Sania Mirza (IND,126) vs (7) Magdalena Rybarikova (SVK,51)

First Set
SM started match with serve and easily hold on luv.
1-0 SM converted 2nd bp to take early lead after duece
2-0 TT broke SM's serve on 3rd bp SM saved 2 bps from 15-40
2-1 TT hold @ 30 from 0-30 down
2-2 SM struggling with her first serve percentage again (below 40%) she was down 15-40, then she won next 2 pts to make it duece, TT captured another bp but SM saved that also and then won next 2 pts to won this important game
3-2 SM breaks TT serve on second bp @ 30
4-2 Again TT had 2 bps and SM saved them to duece, but again TT cptured 3rd bp and converted it to break back
4-3 TT hold @ 30
4-4 SM had couple of game points but TT converted 1st bp to take important lead ... Sm's 1st serve percetage hurting her, 43% ... SM need to break back to remain in this first set
4-5 SM was leading 0-30 then had bp @ 30-40 but TT saved 1st bp ... SM again created opportunity and converted to break ... C'mon Sania
5-5 SM serve her 1st ace of the match in this game and hold it @ 30
6-5 Sm had 2 set points @ 15-40, TT saved first but SM converted second to pocket first set after 1 hour.
7-5

I feel Sania was lucky to win this first set after 48% 1st serve percentage against top-50 player ... She need to tighten up her service game but after few matches under her belt she will overcome this problem.

1st set stat
SM - 1st serve percentage 48%, Aces 1, DFs 2, BPs converted 4 of 9
TT - 1st serve percentage 69%, Aces 1, DFs 1, BPs converted 3 of 10
Total points won - SM 47 pts and TT 41 pts

Second Set
SM hold her serve @ 15, good start on her own service game
1-0 TT hold @ 15
1-1 SM hold @ luv with 2 aces
2-1 TT hold @ 30
2-2 SM hold after duece, SM served 2 DFs in this game and saved 1 bp, improved 1st serve percentage for SM 65%
3-2 TT hold after duece
3-3 SM served an ace but TT grabbed another bp @ 30-40 ... SM saved it and hold
4-3 SM responded strongly and broke TT's serve @ 15 ... Now serving for the match.
5-3 SM needed to hold her serve to win this match ... But was broken on luv, had 1 DF .. Again back on serve
5-4 SM was leading 15-30 after TT's DF, but TT won next 2 pts ... SM saved couple of game points and then create her first match-point ... TT saved first MP but couldn't save second MP .. Sania won in 1 hour and 45 minutes.
6-4

Improved 2nd set stat
SM - 1st serve percentage 62%, Aces 3, DFs 3, BPs converted 2 of 3
TT - 1st serve percentage 61%, Aces 0, DFs 2, BPs converted 1 of 3
Total points won - SM 35 pts and TT 30 pts

In semis Sania is facing 7th seed Slovakian Magdalena Rybarikova, who upset 2nd seed Danish Caroline Wozniacki in easy straight sets ... Sania needs to work on her 1st serve percetage, in all matches she struggled with her 1st serve in the firset but came back strongly in 2nd.

With this win Sania will re-enter into top 100.

Football News
At I-League 2008/09 - 13th February

Dempo SC bt Mumbai FC 3-0

Goal scored - Ranty Martins (DSC) 14', Clifford Miranda (DSC) 28', Clifton Gonsalves (DSC0 83'

Much required easy win for Dempo.
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14th February
Vasco SC l East Bengal 1-4

Goal Scored - Shehod Nazarov (VSC) 52' and Yusuf Yakubu (EB) 47' & 56', Sunil Chettri (EB) 29' & 90'
------------------------------------------
Mahindra United dw JCT 0-0
------------------------------------------
Chirag United bt Air India 1-0

Goal Scored - Bidemi Daniel (CU) 24'
------------------------------------------
15th february

Sporting Clube de Goa bt Churchill Brothers 1-0

Goal Scored - SChinta Chandrashekhar (SCG) 7'
------------------------------------------
Mohun Bagan bt Mohammedan Sporting 1-0

Goal Scored - James Lukram Singh (MB) 14'

Mohun Bagan scored their consecutive 10th win, but Sporting Clube de Goa also keeping pace with them scoring win over Churchill.

Golf News
At AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am - First Round (PGA Tour)

T13 Arjun Atwal (PB) 68 -4
T90 Vijay Singh (PH) 72 E
T152 Daniel Chopra (PH) 75 +3

Good start by Arjun at AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am ... Yesterday Arjun played on Pebble Beach golf course ... Arjun started from back 9 ... He scored bogey on par-5 hole 14 but then managed birdie on another par-5 18th hole to finished on even after back 9 ... Arjun started badly on front 9 scoring bogey on par-4 1st hole ... But after scoring eagle on par-5 2nd hole Arjun played more solid game ... Then he scored another 3 birdies on 4th, 6th and 7th holes to finished inside top 15

Daniel played on Poppy Hills course and had terrible outing ... Bogeys were raining in his round, he had 6 bogeys and 3 birdies ... That push him outside top-150 ... Vijay Singh also played on Poppy Hills course and managed only even round ... He had a birdie and a bogey in his round.
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Hockey News

Goalkeepers - Baljit Singh, Adrian D'Souza
Fullbacks - Dilip Tirkey, Sandeep Singh, VR Raghunath
Midfielders - Gurbaj Singh, VS Vinay, Vikram Pillay, Prabodh Tirkey, Ignace Tirkey, Sardar Singh
Forwards - Hari Prasad, Sarwanjit Singh, Shivendra Singh, Rajpal Singh, Arjun Halappa, Tushar Khandekar, SV Sunil

Our team for Australia and New Zealand tour was announced ... Wingers Sarwanjit Singh and Hari Prasad and midfielder Sardar Singh have been included in place of Prabhjot Singh, Deepak Thakur and Bharat Chhikara ... Deepak Thakur and Bharat Chhikara r injured, Prabhjot Singh is getting married.

Tennis News
At $220K PTT Pattaya Women's Open, Thailand

[R2] Sania Mirza (IND,126) bt (Q) Vitalia Diatchenko (RUS,196) 64 60

[QF] Sania Mirza (IND,126) vs (6) Tamarine Tanasugarn (THA,41)

First Set
Diatchenko started match with serve.
VD hold after saving 3 bps
0-1 VD put SM under pressure attacking SM's second serve to created 2 bps @ 15-40, SM saved both and hold
1-1 SM breaks @ 15-40 to take early lead
2-1 SM struggling with her 1st sere but still hold @ 30
3-1 VD hold @ 15
3-2 VD broke back @ 15, so score levels
3-3 Vd hold @ 30, now she won 3 games on trot ... C'mon Sania
3-4 SM hold on luv, her 1st serve percentage - 48%
4-4 SM take crucial break in the 9th game @ 15, so SM serving for the first set
5-4 SM hold to won the first set after duece, VD saved 1 set point
6-4

Won the first set in 37 mins.

SM - 1st serve percentage 42%, Aces 2, Double Faults 0, BPs won 2 from 5
VD - 1st serve percentage 48%, Aces 0, Double Faults 4, BPs won 1 from 3

Second Set
SM started strongly breaking VD's serve on luv to take early lead in the second set
1-0 SM hold after saving 1 bp
2-0 Another break for SM @ 15 ... Now she dominating VD
3-0 SM hold @ 15 to strengthen 2 breaks lead
4-0 SM converted 2nd bp after 4 dueces, VD committed 4 double faults in this single game, now SM need to hold her serve to win this second round match
5-0 SM hold on 15 to scored easy victory, in this final game SM started with 2 aces
6-0

Sania won second set in 25 mins to score dominating win ... Improved match stats in the second set.

SM - 1st serve percentage 72%, Aces 4, Double Faults 1, BPs won 3 from 4
VD - 1st serve percentage 48%, Aces 0, Double Faults 4, BPs won 0 from 1

Overall Sania won 63 points and Diatchenko only managed 40 points in this 1 hour 2 minutes match .... Next match is real test against experience local girl, #41 Tamarine Tanasugarn.
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At € 1.445M ABN Amro World Tennis Tournament, Rotterdam, Netherlands

[QF] (2) Leander Paes (IND)/ Lukas Dlouhy (CZE) bt Igor Andreev (RUS)/ Marcin Matkowski (POL) 62 61

Very dominating win by our pair in just 45 minutes ... Our pairs serve broke down 2 times but they also broke opponents serve 7 times.
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At $15K+H Ivory Coast F2, Abidjan

[R2] SHARAN Divij (IND,698) l (5) SEMJAN Marek (SVK,377) 67(4) 67(4)

Doubles
[QF] BONDARENKO Vladislav (UKR)/ SHARAN Divij (IND) l DUCLOS Pierre-Ludovic (CAN)/ HAIDER-MAURER Andreas (AUT) 36 46

Was very close match as both sets went to tie-break ... Tough luck but promising performance by Divij ... He also lost in doubles quarters against 2nd seed with Ukranian partner.

Tennis News
At $600K SAP Open, San Jose, California , USA

[R1] Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Jarkko Nieminen (FIN) bt Rajeev Ram (USA)/ Bobby Reynolds (USA) 62 64

[QF] Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Jarkko Nieminen (FIN) vs (1) Bob Bryan (USA)/ Mike Bryan (USA)

Wow, that was really good solid win by Rohan and Jarkko against tough team of Rajeev and Bobby ... So in the second round they r facing WR #1 pair Bryans.
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At $220K PTT Pattaya Women's Open, Thailand

[R2] Sania Mirza (IND,126) vs (Q) Vitalia Diatchenko (RUS,196)

Doubles
[QF] (3) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Mara Santangelo (ITA) bt Elena Bovina (RUS)/ Ksenis Pervak (RUS) 64 63

3rd seed Cibulkova was out due to illness and Russian qualifier Vitalia Diatchenko defeated Japanese lucky-loser Ryoko Fuda to face Sania in the second round.

Also Sania's doubles partner Mara Santangelo retired from her singles match so wasn't sure about her doubles participation ... But Mara joined Sania on the court for quarter-final match and they won easily in 1 hr and 9 mins to move into semis.
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Harsh Mankad is decided to partner Brian Battistone for next few weeks mostly on European challengers ... Brian having interesting style of serve, volleyball jump-serve ... He also play with a special racket with two handles ... :-)
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At $15K+H Ivory Coast F2, Abidjan

[R1] SHARAN Divij (IND,698) bt (WC) BINI Y (CIV,UNR) 62 60

[R2] SHARAN Divij (IND,698) vs (5) SEMJAN, Marek (SVK,377)

Doubles
[R1] BONDARENKO Vladislav (UKR)/ SHARAN Divij (IND) bt (WC) ANIBIE Sylvain (CIV)/ GOVEN Mathieu (FRA) 26 62 10(0)

[QF] BONDARENKO Vladislav (UKR)/ SHARAN Divij (IND) vs DUCLOS Pierre-Ludovic (CAN)/ HAIDER-MAURER Andreas (AUT)

Expected start with easy victory .. But need super tie-break to win their first round doubles ... Now tough next rounds in singles and doubles ... Go Divij.
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At $75K Midland Tournament, MI, USA

[R1] Sunitha Rao (IND,216) l (8) Vania King (USA,118) 16 64 64

Doubles
[R1] Sunitha Rao (IND)/ Story Tweedie-Yates (USA) l Kai-Chen Chang (TPE)/ Stephanie Foretz (FRA) 26 75 (7)10

Again Sunitha lost in the first round but this time improved perormance by her against higher ranked opponents in singles and doubles.

Tennis News
At € 1.445M ABN Amro World Tennis Tournament, Rotterdam, Netherlands

[R1] Leander Paes (IND)/ Lukas Dlouhy (CZE) bt Christopher Kas(GER)/ Philipp Kohlschreiber (GER) 76(4) 57 10(3)

As expected very close match against this tricky German pair but happy to see that in end they won super tie-break easily.
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At $220K PTT Pattaya Women's Open, Thailand

[R1] Sania Mirza (IND,127) bt (WC) Nicha Lertpitaksinchai (THA,902) 76(4) 75

Surprisingly long tough match of 1 hr and 52 mins ... She saved set points at 4-5 in both the sets to win ... Sania had 18 break point chances and converted 6 but Lertpitaksinchai also had 9 break point chances and she converted 5 ... Sania struggled with her serve as 1st serve percentage was 51% ... Need to play more controlled and solid game in next rounds.

Hockey News
At the four-nation Punjab Gold Cup Hockey Tournament, India

Final
India l Holland 1-2

Goal Scored - Sandeep Singh (IND) 43' PS and Robbert Kemperman (NED) 46', Jeroen Hertzberger (NED) 62' PC

Another loss against Holland in the final, so we r still searching for win against Holland after 12 yrs ... Both team had ample opportunities in the begining but both team failed to take and first half ended on 0-0 ... In the second half India earned penalty stoke and this time Sandeep Singh scored from it ... But Holland came back strongly to make it 1-all after 4 minutes ... They scored another goal through penalty corner and that was enough to give them the title ... Indians wasted one penalty corner in the first half ... They also had 3 more in second half and last one was in 66th minute but Sandeep Singh failed to score from that also ... Other hand Holland had 3 and converted from one.

Tennis News
Davis Cup Group I, Asia/Oceania 2009,

Chinese Taipei defeated Kazakhstan 4-1, so in next month, 06 Mar - 08 Mar 2009, we r facing them in second round of Group I, Asia/Oceania ... Venue of the tie will be decide on the coin, but as per latest indication we r playing at Taiwan ... mSo mostly tie will be on the clay and if Prakash is not in the team then Rohan will be added to play singles with Somdev.
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As expected Prakash Amritraj first-time manage to break top-200 barrier in singles after reaching singles semi-final at Dallas Challenger ... He is also reached personal best doubles ranking with title win at same challenger.

On 9th February 2009 ATP ranking list,

Prakash Amritraj is on 199th position in ATP singles ranking with 407 ranking points and
he is on 167th position in ATP doubles ranking with 649 ranking points.

Ashutosh Singh also reached his personal best doubles ranking, i.e. 153rd with 699 points.
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At $600K SAP Open, San Jose, California , USA

[R1] Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Jarkko Nieminen (FIN) vs Rajeev Ram (USA)/ Bobby Reynolds (USA)

Rohand with Jarkko having very tricky but interesting first round match-up ... They r in same draw of Bryans.
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At $220K PTT Pattaya Women's Open, Thailand

Doubles
[R1] (3) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Mara Santangelo (ITA) bye

Sania is 3rd seed with Santangelo in doubles and they r having first round bye.
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At $15K+H Ivory Coast F2, Abidjan

[R1] SHARAN Divij (IND,698) vs (WC) BINI Y (CIV,UNR)

Doubles
[R1] BONDARENKO Vladislav (UKR)/ SHARAN Divij (IND) vs (WC) ANIBIE Sylvain (CIV)/ GOVEN Mathieu (FRA)

Another good draw for Divij, who r facing wild-crad local opponents in singles and doubles.
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At $10K Egypt F3, Cairo

[Q1] WAGH Akash (IND,UNR) l PERSHIN Sergei (RUS,1743) 46 26
[Q1] (12) REDDY B Vikram (IND,1385) bt CIMMINO Edoardo (ITA,UNR) 46 62 61

[Q2] (12) REDDY B Vikram (IND,1385) bt ABU-ZIED Zyad (EGY,UNR) 62 63

[Q3] (12) REDDY B Vikram (IND,1385) l (8) FIORAVANTE Enrico (ITA,1203) 46 16

This week also Akash and Vikram r playing on clay in Egypt ... Akash again lost but Vikram reached in the final qualifying round before losing to higer ranked Italian.
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Golf News
At $5.3M Buick Invitational - Final Standing

T53 Arjun Atwal 72 74 74 72 +4 $ 12,269.50

Arjun played PAR last round to finish T53 ... Arjun had bad start scoring bogeys on 1st and 3rd round, but he came back strongly scoring birdies on 5th, 6th and 9th holes ... Then another back to back bogeys on 14th and 15th take his score to +1 for the day ... In end he managed birdie on Par-5 18th hole to end day on even ... This was his best course on the south course as in last 2 rounds he had identical +2 rounds.

Arjun is making birdies, now he need to bring control on numerous bogeys ... But Arjun is showing improvement after every tournament ... Next week Arjun is playing with Daniel Chopra and Vijay Singh at AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am tournament.

Tennis News
At $600K SAP Open, San Jose, USA

[Q1] (4) Somdev Devvarman (IND,153) bt (WC) Filip Krajinovic (SRB,528) 46 63 61

[Q2] (4) Somdev Devvarman (IND,153) l Todd Widom (USA,278) 36 67(4)

Som had tough win in the first round against 16 yrs old Serbian player ... But he again lost against lower ranked American player in second qualifying ... With this his poor run continue.
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At € 1.445M ABN Amro World Tennis Tournament, Rotterdam, Netherlands

[R1] Leander Paes (IND)/ Lukas Dlouhy (CZE) vs Christopher Kas(GER)/ Philipp Kohlschreiber (GER)
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At $50K Dallas Challenger, Texas, USA

[F] (1) Prakash Amritraj (IND)/ Rajeev Ram (USA) bt (WC) Patrick Briaud (USA)/ Jason Marshall (USA) 63 46 10(8)

In second set Prakash lost his serve at 4-5 to lose this set ... Had fantastic quality supertiebreak, with both Rajeev and Prakash played some incredible shots ... Well done, congrats to Kash and Rajeev for their first title together.
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At $220K PTT Pattaya Women's Open, Thailand

[R1] Sania Mirza (IND,127) vs (WC) Nicha Lertpitaksinchai (THA,902)

Sania need good performance to bring back her ranking inside top-50 ASAP ... This week she is having good draw to go deep in this tournament.

Tennis News
At $600K SAP Open, San Jose, USA

[Q1] Somdev Devvarman (IND,153) vs (WC) Filip Krajinovic (SRB,528)
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Hockey News
At the four-nation Punjab Gold Cup Hockey Tournament, India 

India bt New Zealand 3-2

Goal Scored - Rajpal Singh (IND) 6' & 55', Ignace Tirkey (IND) 68' and Nicholas Wilson (NZL) 40', Richard Petherick (NZL) 62' PC

Again poor defending by us as we conceded 8 penalty corners and earned zero, still lucky to win  ... Yesterday Adrian D' Souza got game as Baljit Singh was rested ... But with this win India is in the final against Holland, who thrashed German team 7-1.

Football News
At I-League 2008/09 - 6th February

Mumbai FC dw Mahindra United 0-0
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Mohun Bagan bt Sporting Clube De Goa 1-0

Goal Scored - Baichung Bhutia (MB) 76'

Baichung scored crucial goal to gave first-time lead to Mohun Bagan in this edition I-League standing.
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7th February
East Bengal bt Air India 3-1

Goal Scored - Yusuf Yakubu (EB) 49', Sunil Chhetri (EB) 56', Sanju Pradhan (EB) 81' and Subhash Singh (AI) 89'
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Churchill Brothers bt Chirag United 3-0

Goal Scored - Ogba Kalu Nnanna (CB) 17', Felix Chimankwu (CB) 44' & 69'
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Mohammedan Sporting bt JCT 2-0

Goal Scored - Jothi Kumar (MS) 73', Mike Okoro (MS) 79' P
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8th february
Vasco SC dw Dempo SC 2-2

Goal Scored - Sherzod Nazarov (VSC) 3', Yorkin Nazarov (VSC) 78' and Clifford Miranda (DSC) 27', Climax Lawrence (DSC) 87'

Dempo missed numerous scoring chances and penalty in this match.

Tennis News
At $50K Dallas Challenger, Texas, USA

[SF] (7) Rajeev Ram (USA,220) l (8) Ryan Sweeting (USA,202) 46 46
[SF] Prakah Amritraj (IND,204) vs (5) Brendan Evans (USA,160) 06 57

Doubles
[SF] (1) Prakash Amritraj (IND)/ Rajeev Ram (USA) bt (4) Hiroki Kondo (JPN)/ Ashutosh Singh (IND) 75 46 10(7)

[F] (1) Prakash Amritraj (IND)/ Rajeev Ram (USA) vs (WC) Patrick Briaud (USA)/ Jason Marshall (USA)

Tough singles loss after good run until singles semis ... But let's hope Kash build momentum in next tournaments with this performance ... They r facing wild-card pair in doubles final.
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At Group I Asia/Oceania Zone, Perth, Australia

India l Chinese Taipei 0-3

Rushmi Chakravarthi (IND) l I-Husan Hwang (TPE) 26 57
Ankita Bhambri (IND) l Chin-Wei Chan (TPE) 57 16
Ankita Bhambri (IND) /Sanaa Bhambri (IND) l Chin-Wei Chan (TPE)/ Chia-Jung Chuang (TPE) 46 26

Frankly expected 0-3 loss ... In this complete tournament we only managed to win single set ... So for next year we r officially relegated to the Asia-Oceania Group-II.
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At $10K Ivory Coast F1 futures, Abidjan, Cote D'Ivoire

[SF] BONDARENKO Vladislav (UKR)/ SHARAN Divij (IND) l BEGEMANN Andre (GER)/ TAVARES Leonardo (POR) 67(2) 36
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Hockey News
At the four-nation Punjab Gold Cup Hockey Tournament, India 

India l Germany 2-4

Goal Scored - Tushar Khandekar (IND) 12', Sandeep Singh (IND) 64' PC and Jan Philipp Rabente (GER) 14', Lim Kevin (GER) 21', Mortiz Furste (GER) 34' PC, Tobias (GER) 38'

Result against Germany was real one considering their game ... In previous match they were unlucky after controlling the match but yesterday was different story.

Now India need atleast draw against New Zealand.

Tennis News
At $50K Dallas Challenger, Texas, USA

[QF] (7) Rajeev Ram (USA,220) bt Michael Russell (USA,277) 57 64 75
[QF] Prakah Amritraj (IND,204) bt Scoville Jenkins (USA,207) 76(3) 46 64

[SF] (7) Rajeev Ram (USA,220) vs (8) Ryan Sweeting (USA,202)
[SF] Prakah Amritraj (IND,204) vs (5) Brendan Evans (USA,160)

Doubles
[QF] (1) Prakash Amritraj (IND)/ Rajeev Ram (USA) bt Jesse Levine (USA)/ Peter Polansky (CAN) W/O (lower back strain to Jesse Levine)
[QF] (4) Hiroki Kondo (JPN)/ Ashutosh Singh (IND) bt Brendan Evans (USA)/ Ryan Sweeting (USA) 76(5) 62

[SF] (1) Prakash Amritraj (IND)/ Rajeev Ram (USA) vs (4) Hiroki Kondo (JPN)/ Ashutosh Singh (IND)

Prakash scored very exciting and fighting win over these days hot player on challengers level, Scoville Jenkins ... This win will help Kash to first time enter into top-200 in his small career .. Rajeev also joined him in semis.

Ashutosh also entered into doubles semis with his Japanese partner scoring good win against Americans ... They faced top-seeds Kash and Ram, whio recieved walkover in their match due to Jesse Levine injury.
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At Group I Asia/Oceania Zone, Perth, Australia

Pool A
India l Uzbekistan 0-3

Sanaa Bhambri (IND) l Albina Khabibulina (UZB) 16 57
Ankita Bhambri (IND) l Akgul Amanmuradova (UZB) 46 46
Ankita Bhambri (IND)/ Rushmi Chakravarthi (IND) l Akgul Amanmuradova (UZB)/ Albina Khabibulina (UZB) 26 57

After finishing bottom of their respective groups, tomorrow WE play against Taiwan with the winner to stay in Group I of Asia/Oceania and the loser to be relegated to Group II.

With another 0-3 loss we need miracle to overcome Taiwani to stay in Group I considering our this tournament's performance.
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At $10K Ivory Coast F1 futures, Abidjan, Cote D'Ivoire

[R2] SHARAN Divij (IND,702) l DE BONNEVIE Philippe (FRA,461) 46 36
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IPL 2009 Bidding

Max 10 foreign players r allowed for every team in their lineup and allowed to use max $2 millions for bidding.

IPL auction started and as expected Kevin Pietersen became IPL's most expensive player with Andrew Flintoff.

No buyers found for Brad Haddin, Stuart Clark, Phil Jaques, Ashwell Prince, Andre Nel, Luke Wright, Nuwan Kulasekara, Chamara Kapugedera, Morne van Wyk, Daren Powell, Jerome Taylor, Steven Smith, Ashley Noffke, Gulam Bodi, Tamim Iqbal, Shakib Al Hasan, Jon Moss, Bryce McGain, Aiden Blizzard, James Franklin, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Michael Klinger, Kaushalya Weeraratne, Prasanna Jayawardene, Dominic Thornely, Samit Patel, Yusuf Abdullah, Daniel Harris, Kemar Roach, Aaron Bird, Michael Dighton, Michael Hill and Brett Geeves.

Andrew Flintoff (base price $950,000) - for $ 1.55 million to Chennai Super Kings
Kevin Pietersen (base price $1.35 million) - for $ 1.55 million to Banglore Royal challenger
JP Duminy (base price $300,000) - for $950,00 to Mumbai Indians
Shaun Tait (base rice $250,000) - for $US375,000 to Rajasthan Royals
Owais Shah (base price $150,000 ) for $275,000 to Delhi Daredevils
Fidel Edwards (base price $150,000) - for $150,000 to Deccan Chargers
Paul Collingwood (base price $250,000) - for $275,000 to Delhi Daredevils (with this Delhi's 10 players quota finished.)

Tyron Henderson (base price $100,000) - for $650,000 to Rajasthan Royals (finished 10 players quota)
Ravi Bopara (base price $150,000) - for $450,000 to Kings XI Punjab
Thilan Thushara (base price $100,000) - for $140,000 to Chennai Super Kings
Jesse Ryder (base price $100,000) - for $160,000 to Banglore Royal challenger (finished 10 players quota)
Kyle Mills (base price $150,000) - for $150,000 to Mumbai Indians
Dwayne Smith (base price $100,000) - for $100,000 to Deccan Chargers (finished 10 players quota)
Mashrafe Mortaza (base price $50,000) - for $600,000 to Kolkata Knight Rider ( amazing bidding price considering his low base price) (finished 10 players quota)
George Bailey (base price $50,000) - for $50,000 to Chennai Super Kings (finished 10 players quota)

Jerome Taylor (base price $150,000) - for $150,000 to Kings XI Punjab (finished 10 players quota)

Oh, Mumbai decided to buy Bangladesh captain Mohammad Ashraful.

Mohammad Ashraful (base price $75,000) - for $75,000 to Mumbai Indians

Tennis News
At $50K Dallas Challenger, Texas, USA

[R2] Prakah Amritraj (IND,204) bt (6) Ricardo Mello (BRA,176) 75 63
[R2] (7) Rajeev Ram (USA,220) bt (Q) Luis Manuel Flores (MEX,598) 75 64

[QF] (7) Rajeev Ram (USA,220) vs Michael Russell (USA,277)
[QF] Prakah Amritraj (IND,204) vs Scoville Jenkins (USA,207)

Doubles
[R1] (1) Prakash Amritraj (IND)/ Rajeev Ram (USA) bt (Q) Raian Luchici (ROU)/ Justin O'Neal (USA) 62 63
[R1] Harsh Mankad (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) l Brendan Evans (USA)/ Ryan Sweeting (USA) 67(4) 36

[QF] (1) Prakash Amritraj (IND)/ Rajeev Ram (USA) vs Jesse Levine (USA)/ Peter Polansky (CAN)
[QF] (4) Hiroki Kondo (JPN)/ Ashutosh Singh (IND) vs Brendan Evans (USA)/ Ryan Sweeting (USA)

Prakash produced excellent comeback after down 0-3 in the first set, then he dominated Mello to moved into quarter-finals.

After this terrific win Kash is facing last week's finalist Scoville Jenkins in the quarters ... In doubles also top-seed pair having good start ... But pair of Harsh and Purav lost in straight sets.
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At Group I Asia/Oceania Zone, Perth, Australia

Pool A
India l Indonesia 0-3

[M1] Sanaa Bhambri (IND) l Lavinia Tatanta (INA) 62 36 16
[M2] Ankita Bhambri (IND) l Sandy Gumulya (INA) 06 46
[M3] Ankita Bhambri (IND)/ Rushmi Chakravarthi (IND) l Ayu Fani Damayanti (INA)/ Sandy Gumulya (INA) 67(6) 36

Another expected result ... But Sanaa played good match against Lavinia Tatanta to take first set but couldn't finish the match after this good start ... This time we tried different doubles combination of Rushmi and Ankita.

So with this win Indonesia and New Zealand, who upset top seed Uzbekistan, r in semis from Pool A ... Australia guranteed their place in semis from Pool B ... Mostly winer between Thailand and Korea will join them in the semis ... So we r having tough task to avoid relegation.
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At $15K+H Ivory Coast F1 futures, Abidjan, Cote D'Ivoire

[QF] BONDARENKO Vladislav (UKR)/ SHARAN Divij (IND) bt FRANSEN Stephan (NED)/ GOVAERTS Bart (BEL) 16 64 10(8)

[SF] BONDARENKO Vladislav (UKR)/ SHARAN Divij (IND) vs BEGEMANN Andre (GER)/ TAVARES Leonardo (POR)

Divij is in doubles semis with his Ukranian partner.
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At $10K Egypt F2 Futures, Cairo (Clay)

[R1] (Q) REDDY B. Vikram (IND,1389) l RUSEVSKI Predrag (MKD,850) 46 26
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At $25K Rancho Mirage Tournament, CA, USA

[R1] (5) RAO Sunitha (IND,196) l (Q) PIOPPO Elena (ITA,379) 06 46

Sunitha's woeful result continue ... This time she lost against below 350 ranked Italian qualifier.
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Hockey News
At the four-nation Punjab Gold Cup Hockey Tournament, India

India dw Holland 2-2

Goal Scored - Shivender Singh (IND) 38', Prabhjot Singh (IND) 55' and Jeroen Hertzberger (NED) 32', Geert-van Derikx (NED) 52' PC

Another goalkeeper Baljit Singh's show ... How many more times he need to do rescue act only god knows ... Yesterday, Vikram Pillay played exceptional match .. He was busy providing passes to our forwardline and did some superb saves at goal-line.

Tennis News

After 18 years we r having World Junior #1 again ... As expected Yuki climbed to #1 position after AO Junior title win ... #2 and #3 r concentrating more on seniors, so he is having 800 points lead over his nearest rival ... Last year Yuki accumulated maximum points after Junior US Open, so we can safely say that Yuki will remain No. 1 until end of all junior grandslams ... Hopefully this year he also achieve #1 year-end ranking.

Yuki defeated the current #100, #30, #41, #11, #25 on the way to the AO junior title.

Ronak Manuja is #68 and Kaza Vinayak Sharma is #77 in newly published ranking.

ITF Junior Boys' Ranking (02 Feb 2009)
1 Yuki BHAMBRI IND 1508.75
2 Grigor DIMITROV BUL 1087.5
3 Tsung-Hua YANG TPE 911.25
4 Jose PEREIRA BRA 705
5 Julen URIGUEN GUA 690
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At Group I Asia/Oceania Zone, Perth, Australia

Pool A
India l New Zealand 0-3

[M1] Rushmi Chakravarthi (IND) l Dianee Hollands (NZL) 36 06
[M2] Ankita Bhambri (IND) l Marina Eracovic (NZL) 26 36
[M3] Ankita Bhambri (IND)/ Sanaa Bhambri (IND) l Marina Eracovic (NZL)/ Kairangi Vano (NZL) 26 36

Anyway expected start for our women team ... New Zealand girls thrashed us 0-3 ... Rushmi lost against unranked player, who had her best ranking #699, without giving any fight ... In other match from our group, Indonesian girls upset Uzbekistan girls.

Team Captain Enrico Piperno - "The girls did not play to their potential. The opposition was tough but our girls played bad. It makes the job tougher for India now. Indonesia surprised everyone today. Now we have another tough tie."
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At $50K Dallas Challenger, Texas, USA

[R2] Prakah Amritraj (IND,204) vs (6) Ricardo Mello (BRA,176)
[R2] (7) Rajeev Ram (USA,220) vs (Q) Luis Manuel Flores (MEX,598)

Doubles
[R1] (4) Hiroki Kondo (JPN)/ Ashutosh Singh (IND) bt Ramon Delgado (PAR)/ Ricardo Mello (BRA) 62 63

Easy winning start for Ashutosh and Kondo.
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At $10K Ivory Coast F1 futures, Abidjan, Cote D'Ivoire

[R2] SHARAN Divij (IND,702) vs DE BONNEVIE Philippe (FRA,461)

Doubles
[R1] BONDARENKO Vladislav (UKR)/ SHARAN Divij (IND) bt VANDENBULCKE Yannick (BEL)/ WITMEUR Alec (BEL) 63 64

[QF] BONDARENKO Vladislav (UKR)/ SHARAN Divij (IND) vs FRANSEN Stephan (NED)/ GOVAERTS Bart (BEL)

Divij and his Ukranian partner started well with straight sets victory ... In the singles second round Divij facing top-500 Frenchman he upset 6th seed Russian.
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At $25K Rancho Mirage Tournament, CA, USA

[R1] (5) RAO Sunitha (IND,196) vs (Q) PIOPPO Elena (ITA,379)

Doubles
[R1] (2) PELLETIER Marie-Eve (CAN)/ RAO Sunitha (IND) l (WC) GIBBS Nicole (USA)/ TAN Stacey (USA) 16 63 (8)10

Sunitha is facing veteran Italian qualifier in the singles first round ... But she and her Canadian doubles top-100 partner lost in the first round against wild-card pair.
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Hockey News
At the four-nation Punjab Gold Cup Hockey Tournament, India

India bt Germany 2-0

Goal Scored - Dilip Tirkey (IND) 2' PC, Prabhjot Singh (IND) 53' PC

India were damn lucky to defeat this young German side ... Our win was due to goalkeeper Baljit Singh' stupendous show, who had amazing day under the bar ... He saved 8 penalty corners from German side, other hand we converted both penalty corners ... Its worrying sign that we r conceding 8 penalty corners in the match and superior side will take full advantage of it ... Now we need another win from remaining 3 matches to move into the final.

Tennis News
At $50K Dallas Challenger, Texas, USA

[R1] Prakah Amritraj (IND,204) bt Michael Yani (USA,227) 63 62
[R1] (7) Rajeev Ram (USA,220) bt Michael Ryderstedt (SWE,365) 63 62

Good easy wins for Kash and Rajeev to move into second round.
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At $10K Ivory Coast F1 futures, Abidjan, Cote D'Ivoire

[R1] SHARAN Divij (IND,702) bt (WC) ANIBIE Sylvain (CIV,1359) 76(4) 62

Doubles
[R1] BONDARENKO Vladislav (UKR)/ SHARAN Divij (IND) vs VANDENBULCKE Yannick (BEL)/ WITMEUR Alec (BEL)

Good start of new year for Divij ... Interesting to see how he fares here.
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At $10K Egypt F2 Futures, Cairo (Clay)

[Q1] WAGH Akash (IND,UNR) bt CHOMAEV Ruslan (RUS,UNR) 61 64
[Q1] (15) REDDY B. Vikram (IND,1389) bt DI GIOVANNI Lorenzo (ITA,UNR) 63 64

[Q2] WAGH Akash (IND,UNR) l HEDAYET Omar (EGY,1909) 46 36
[Q2] (15) REDDY B. Vikram (IND,1389) bt ULRIK Anders (DEN,UNR) 63 62

[Q3] (15) REDDY B. Vikram (IND,1389) bt HEDAYET Omar (EGY,1909) 76(7) 62

[R1] (Q) REDDY B. Vikram (IND,1389) vs RUSEVSKI Predrag (MKD,850)

Good to see Vikram Reddy qualifying to maindraw on clay court ... But he is having tough challenge against former top-250 (in last February) player.
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At $25K Rancho Mirage Tournament, CA, USA

[R1] (5) RAO Sunitha (IND,196) vs Qualifier

Doubles
[R1] (2) PELLETIER Marie-Eve (CAN)/ RAO Sunitha (IND) vs (WC) GIBBS Nicole (USA)/ TAN Stacey (USA)

Tennis News

We r in trouble before participating in the upcoming Group I Asia/Oceania zone tie at Perth, Australia which starting from Wednesday ... Sania Mirza decided to opt out of the upcoming Group I Asia/Oceania zone tie due to an abdominal injury.

Moreover no replacement can be sent to the event as the last date for sending the substitute has lapsed ... So we r playing with only 3 players - Ankita Bhambri, Sanaa Bhambri and Rushmi Chakravarthi ... It will be big surprise if they avoid relegation to the Fed Cup Asia/Oceania Zone Group II.

Golf News
At Dubai Desert Classic, Dubai, UAE - Final Standing

T16 Jeev Milkha Singh 69 68 72 69 -10 € 25671.32
T44 Jyoti Randhawa 73 68 73 72 - 2 € 10676.17
T41 S S P Chowrasia 74 69 73 74 + 2 € 6211.59

Jeev missed chance of finishing inside top-10 due to par round on round 3 ... But still this T16 is the best performance by Indian at Dubai Dessert Classic.
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Hockey News
At the four-nation Punjab Gold Cup Hockey Tournament, India

India dw Holland 4-4

Goal Scored - Shivender Singh (IND) 29' & 32', Prabhjot Singh (IND) 31', V Sunil (IND) 61' and Rob Reckers (NED) 16', Laurence Docherty (NED) 26' PS, Timme Hoyng (NED) 48', Geert Jan Derikx (NED) 67' PC

India lost bigopportunity of scoring their first victory against Netherlands in the last 10 years ... Again India gave opponent's chance of equalising in dying minutes ... Moreover skipper Sandeep Singh failed to convert penalty stroke when he hitted that wide ... In complete match we failed to get single penalty corner ... Overall we r still repeating mistakes which we r doing last 20 years.

Tennis News
At Australian Open 2009, Melbourne
SANIA AND MAHESH BECOME 2009 AUSTRALIAN OPEN MIXED DOUBLES CHAMPION !!!

Thanks to Getty Images for these photos.
Mixed Doubles Final
[F] Sania Mirza (IND)/ Mahesh Bhupathi (IND) bt Nathalie Dechy (FRA)/ Andy Ram (ISR) 63 61

Sania captured her first grandslam in company of Mahesh in 2009 Australian Open ... This victory gives Bhupathi a seventh mixed doubles Grand Slam title, and is the first for the Mirza/Bhupathi pairing ... So with that Indians won 2 titles and came runnerup in Mens doubles.
Sania and Mahesh started well breaking Andy Ram's serve in the first game of the match ... But in fourth game Ram and Dechy tried comeback breaking Sania's serve to make it 2-all ... At that time Mahesh was struggling with volleys, but after that Mahesh lifted his game to match Sania's game ... In seventh game Sania and Mahesh broke Nathalie Dechy's serve on luv with excellent game near net ... They again broke Andy Ram's serve in 9th game with superb back court game to won first set in 29 minutes.

In the second set first 3 games went on serve but Sania and Mahesh take initiative in the fourth game to broke Nathalie Dechy's serve ... With another service break on Andy Ram's serve in the sixth game after duece they take 5-1 lead ... Then Sania hold on 30 to make memorable day for her with first grandslam title ... Sania played exceptionally well with her trademark forehands, crosscourt backhands and improved net game ... Our pair won in just 55 minutes to gave very dominating performance.

Match Stats
Mirza and Bhupathi won a total of 53 points to their opponents’ 33
Both pairs committed just 10 errors for the match
Mirza and Bhupathi led the winner count with 28 to Dechy and Ram’s 14
Dechy and Ram won only 12 of 42 points when receiving

Interview after Australian Open Mixed Doubles title
Q. Your first Grand Slam title, Sania. How are you feeling?
SANIA MIRZA: Great. I mean, you know, it's always a dream to win a Grand Slam. That's what we all play for I think when we're younger. It's just great. It makes it more special because it's with someone that I know for so long and so well. Yeah, it's great. It's great to win it.

Q. What was it like serving for the championship? What was going through your mind?
SANIA MIRZA: Nothing, actually. I was trying to block that score out. I wasn't really looking at the scoreboard and thinking, Oh, it's 5‑1, I'm serving for the championship. I was just trying to serve it out like it was any other game.

Q. What was your feeling when you were holding the cup out on center court?
SANIA MIRZA: I think it's a feeling that you can't really describe. You're obviously very happy. It's a dream come true.

Q. Mahesh, have you personally played a better game of doubles than you did today?
MAHESH BHUPATHI: Yeah, I felt I've been playing pretty well the last couple of days. Had a good hit this morning. So obviously it's a huge bonus if you can play high quality in a Grand Slam final because that takes a lot of pressure off. I think both of us played a very high‑quality match today.

Q. A very good tournament for Indian tennis.
SANIA MIRZA: Yeah, it is. I mean, even in the juniors, we had a Grand Slam champion as well. So, yeah, it's been a great two weeks.

Q. How much impact might this have back in India?
SANIA MIRZA: Let's hope a lot. You know, it's great. I don't remember the last time when we had so many ‑‑ I mean, he played the finals, we won today, Yuki won. It's been a great two weeks. Let's hope a lot more people play, and tennis grows. It's been growing. It might take it to another level.

Q. The first all‑Indian pair to win a mixed doubles at a Grand Slam.
SANIA MIRZA: It's great. What can you say? We've been playing for I think four or five slams now. We came very close last year, as well. Yeah, we did one better this time. We hope to continue.

Q. Mahesh, what are your goals for this year? Are you going to continue playing together? Any particular tournaments in mind?
MAHESH BHUPATHI: Well, you know, for us, it's always four slams where we have the opportunity to play mixed. Ideally I'd like to continue playing with her, now that we're doing so well (laughter).

Q. In your businessman's hat would you consider a mixed doubles tournament in India?
MAHESH BHUPATHI: Yeah, we might consider an exhibition. I don't know, you know, maybe once the economy turns around across the world, we'll look at it. Obviously I think millions and millions of people watched this match today. Any time Sania plays at home, there's a lot of people watching, so...

Q. You mentioned in your presentation speech, you thanked your box about an emotional rollercoaster this week.
MAHESH BHUPATHI: The weekend. I mentioned it because we lost a tough one last night. Obviously we were a bit down. But tried to stay as positive as possible in the final today. Getting through was big.

Q. How do you bounce back from that and play the tennis you played today?
MAHESH BHUPATHI: I don't know. I mean, like I said, you know, both my coach, trainer and obviously Sania, they were trying to keep me as positive as possible. But going home without a title after making two finals just crossed my mind a few too many times today in the match (laughter). But it didn't happen. Happy about that.

Q. Was it a different final than the last one when you played against Bjorkman and Rafter?
MAHESH BHUPATHI: Well, the atmosphere in '99 was sensational, playing Pat here in the final with the full house. It was amazing. It was a five‑set match. Yesterday, again, we dominated the first two sets. We had our chances. We didn't take them. When you don't against the Bryans, that's tough.

Q. What will the reception be like when you get home?
MAHESH BHUPATHI: Well, hopefully not too big. I'm not a big fan of receptions. I'd like to sneak out the back door at the airport tomorrow. I know for a fact the whole country's excited now. It's her first slam. She's been in the news for the last four years. I think a lot of good players in the past have won a slam in either doubles or mixed and then gone on to do better things, like Lleyton Hewitt. Even Venus and Serena, they won their first slams in mixed. They were confident to move up in singles.

Q. Will you go home before your next tournament?
MAHESH BHUPATHI: Yeah, we're heading home.
SANIA MIRZA: Heading home.

Q. How would you compare your form when you first got here to today?
SANIA MIRZA: I think today, especially today, I think we both played really well. Honestly, I was a little surprised because it was my first final of a Grand Slam, nerves and everything. But I think we stepped it up after the first few games, and then suddenly we were on a roll. The last few days I've been feeling like I've been hitting the ball really well. Yeah, it helps when your partner helps you out so much, when you make a couple of returns and he's flying on the net.

Q. Physically, things are still going really well? The wrist is good?
SANIA MIRZA: The wrist has held up. That's the biggest positive, is that I played men's players for the last two weeks, and it's held up.
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At $50K Dallas Challenger, Texas, USA

[Q1] Ashutosh Singh (IND,875) l (6) Hiroki Kondo (JPN,486) 26 67(4)
[Q1] Kamala Kannan (IND,1895) bt Bryan Wooten (USA,1215) 63 63

[Q2] Kamala Kannan (IND,1895) l (3) Vladimir Ignatik (BLR,432) 36 36

Maindraw
[R1] Prakah Amritraj (IND,204) vs Michael Yani (USA,227)

Doubles
[R1] (1) Prakash Amritraj (IND)/ Rajeev Ram (USA) vs Qualifier
[R1] (4) Hiroki Kondo (JPN)/ Ashutosh Singh (IND) vs Ramon Delgado (PAR)/ Ricardo Mello (BRA)
[R1] Harsh Mankad (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) vs Brendan Evans (USA)/ Ryan Sweeting (USA)

In doubles our all players r in same top draw.