Tennis News
At $220K Japan HP Open International 2009, Osaka

[R2] Sania Mirza (IND,61) bt (Q) Viktoriya Kutuzova (UKR,89) 64 63

[QF] Sania Mirza (IND,61) vs (2) Marion Bartoli (FRA,12)

Doubles
[R1] (2) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Vania King (USA) bt Ayumi Oka (JPN)/ Tomoko Yonemura (JPN) 60 76(5)

[QF] (2) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Vania King (USA) vs Julie Coin (FRA)/ Mathilde Johansson (FRA)

Though Sania had poor service games still she managed to win it in 1 hour 23 minutes ... Sania's serve was broken 4 times but she broke Kutuzova's serve 7 times in the match ... In quarters Sania is facing WR #12 Frenchwoman Marion Bartoli.

In doubles also Sania and Vania started with win ... After winning first set easily rookie Japanese pair stretched them into tie-break in second set.
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At $125K+H Tashkent Challenger, Uzbekistan

[R2] (7) Somdev Devvarman (IND,131) l Alexandre Kudraytsev (RUS,208) 36 46

Somewhat expected loss ... Somi struggled with player like Kudraytsev, who having similar style like Som but also having good service ... After Lu's loss in second round this draw was open for Som but he failed to take advantage ... So with this loss his Asian tour is over and he will be back to US from next week.
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At $15K+H Nigeria F1 Futures, Lagos

[R1] Srirambalaji NARAYANASWAMY (IND,1134) l John-Paul FRUTTERO (USA,903) 57 26
[R1] (4) Ranjeet VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND,531) bt Candy IDOKO (NGR,1379) 60 62

[R2] (4) Ranjeet VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND,531) vs Komlavi LOGLO (TOG,809)

Doubles
(1) Antal VAN DER DUIM (NED)/ Boy WESTERHOF (NED) vs Srirambalaji NARAYANASWAMY (IND)/ Ranjeet VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND)

As expected Ranjeet started with easy win against local player but Srirambalaji failed to join him in second round.
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At $10K India ITF Womens Tournament, Pune

Second Round
(1) Poojashree VENKATESHA (IND) bt Soon-Mi SEO (KOR) 61 61
(6) Elodie ROGGE-DIETRICH (FRA) bt (Q) Sheethal GOUTHAM (IND) 61 63
(Q) Aishwarya AGRAWAL (IND) bt (3) Sanaa BHAMBRI (IND) 46 75 63
Prerna BHAMBRI (IND) bt (7) Jung-Yoon SHIN (KOR) 62 63
(8) Shivika BURMAN (IND) bt Khristina KAZIMOVA (UKR) 62 76(6)
(4) Miki MIYAMURA (JPN) bt (Q) Nimisha MOHAN (IND) 62 60
(WC) Ankita RAINA (IND) bt (5) Kumari-Sweta SOLANKI (IND) 61 4-2 Retd
(2) Rushmi CHAKRAVARTHI (IND) bt Rashmi TELTUMBDE (IND) 36 61 62

Prerna continued her giant killing from last week with win over seeded Korean player ... But day's biggest upset scored by young Aishwarya, who upset 3rd seed Sanaa in 3 sets comeback victory ... Also 15 yrs old Ankita moved into quarters.
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Football News
At 2009 AFC Under-16 Championship Qualifiers, Abu Dhabi, UAE

India l UAE 3-6

Goal scored - Jayabrata Dhar (IND) 10', Brandon Fernandes (IND) 54' P, Lanba Luwang (IND) 80' and Johar Ahmed (UAE) 18', Saeed Ali Rawahi (UAE) 25', Majid Shahin (UAE) 26' P, Yousif Saeed (UAE) 45', Khaled Khamis Rashid (UAE) 64', Ahmed Barman (UAE) 81' P

India ended on disappointing note after losing to host UAE in final league match ... Again lapses in defence cost Indian side ... Overall disappointing outing in this u-16 AFC qualifier.