Tennis News
At $125K Helsinki Challenger, Finland

Doubles Final
(3) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Aisam-Ul_Haq Qureshi (PAK) bt (WC) Henri Kontinen (FIN)/ Jarkko Nieminen (FIN) 62 76(7)

Another title for Rohan and Aisam ... Excellent straight sets win by Rohan and Aisam over local Davis Cup pair in the final ... Again it simply shows us that how much lethal these two as a pair!!!

So with this win Rohan climbed to #82 doubles ranking.

Golf News
At Omega Mission Hills World Cup, China - Final Standing (Foursomes)

1 Italy 64 66 61 68 -29
T2 Ireland 58 68 64 70 -28
T2 Sweden 64 65 62 69 -28
4 England 66 69 63 64 -26
5 Japan 62 71 64 69 -22

T14 India 67 68 65 72 -16

Jeev and Jyoti helped India to produce their best finish at World Cup team event ... They must be disappointed with finish as they were in chance of top 5 or atleast top 10 finish but in last round they only managed PAR round ... They had 3 birdies and 3 bogeys.
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Tennis News
At ATP World Tour Finals, London, England

Semi Finals
Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Mark Knowles (BAH) l Mike Bryan (USA)/ Bob Bryan (USA) 46 46

Bryans defeated Mahesh and Mark in straight sets to moved into the final ... So with that Mahesh and Mark's 2 yrs doubles partnership got over ... As in 2010 Mahesh is decided to partner Max Mirnyi.
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At $125K Helsinki Challenger, Finland

Doubles Final
(3) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Aisam-Ul_Haq Qureshi (PAK) vs (WC) Henri Kontinen (FIN)/ Jarkko Nieminen (FIN)

Tricky match against Finland's doubles Davis Cup pair.

Tennis News
At ATP World Tour Finals, London, England

Group B
Lukas Dlouhy (CZE)/ Leander Paes (IND) l Max Mirnyi (BLR)/ Andy Ram (ISR) 67(1) 46

Semi Finals
Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Mark Knowles (BAH) vs Mike Bryan (USA)/ Bob Bryan (USA)
Max Mirnyi (BLR)/ Andy Ram (ISR) vs Frantisek Cermak (CZE)/ Michal Mertinak (SVK)

So Lee and Lukas lost all 6 sets they played at ATP World Tour Finals ... After US Open they didn't play together for 2 months and I feel that costed them ... In other group match Bryans won to moved into semis.
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At $125K Helsinki Challenger, Finland

Doubles
[SF] (3) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Aisam-Ul_Haq Qureshi (PAK) bt Karol Beck (SVK)/ Jiri Krkoska (CZE) 36 75 10(3)

Really good comeback win by Rohan and Aisam to moved into final ... They earning good ranking points in this big event.
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Golf News
At Omega Mission Hills World Cup, China - Third Round Four-balls

1 Ireland 58 68 64 -26
T2 Italy 64 66 61 -25
T2 Sweden 64 65 62 -25

T9 India 67 68 65 -16

Today Jeev and Jyoti scored 8 birdies and a bogey in first 12 holes but in last 6 holes they managed PAR ... After scoring their best round of team World Cup, 7 under, they still dropped down to T9 in standing ... Now leader Ireland having only 1 stroke lead over 2nd place Italy.

Golf News
At Omega Mission Hills World Cup, China - Second Round Foursomes (one ball)

1 Ireland 58 68 -18
2 Sweden 64 65 -15
3 Italy 64 66 -14
4 Japan 62 71 -11

T7 India 67 68 -9

Today Jeev and Jyoti performed well in tough format, Foursomes ... They managed 4 under with 7 birdies and 3 bogeys ... Which helped them to move inside top 10 standing ... But leader Ireland is still 9 shots ahead.
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Badminton News
At $15K Yonex Welsh International 2009,

[R1] (5) Sayali Gokhale (IND,61) vs Carissa Turner (WAL,340) 13-21 21-8 17-21

Very surprising loss of Sayali against local doubles specialist.
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Tennis News
At $10K Malaysia F5 Futures, Kuala Lumpur

Doubles
[F] (2) GAJJAR (IND)/ O'BRIEN (IRL) l (4) BETAU (BLR)/ ZHYRMONT (BLR) 46 36

Gajjar and his Irish partner lost in the final against Belarus pair.

Tennis News
At ATP World Tour Finals, London, England

Group A
Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Mark Knowles (BAH) l Daniel Nestor (CAN)/ Nenad Zimonjic (SRB) 46 67(9)

Nestor and Zimo scored their first victory at ATP World Tour Finals beating Mahesh and Mark ... But Mahesh and Mark already qualified for semis with top spot in the group.
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At $125K Helsinki Challenger, Finland

Doubles
[SF] (3) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Aisam-Ul_Haq Qureshi (PAK) vs Karol Beck (SVK)/ Jiri Krkoska (CZE)

Rohan and Aisam r only seeded pair remaining in the draw.
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Golf News
At Omega Mission Hills World Cup, China - First Round (Fourballs)

1 Ireland 58 -14
2 Argentina 61 -11
3 Japan 62 -10

T15 India 67 -5

Rory McIlroy and Graeme McDowell combined to score brilliant 14 under par 58 in the opening round in fourballs ... With that Ireland opened up a good three shot lead over Argentina ... India is T15 with 5 under with USA and Thailand.

Jeev and Jyoti scored bogey in 2nd hole and scored 6 birdies at 3rd, 7th, 10th, 14th, 15th and 18th holes.

Tennis News
At ATP World Tour Finals, London, England

Group B
Lukas Dlouhy (CZE)/ Leander Paes (IND) l Bob Bryan (USA)/ Mike Bryan (USA) 36 46

So with this loss against Bryans chances of reaching semis at ATP World Tour Finals got over for Lee and Lukas ... Again they struggled with returning game and in this match Lee was totally off-color ... This was their second consecutive loss in straight sets ... In other group match Kubot and Marach defeated Ram and Mirnyi in super tie-break saving 3 match points.
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At $125K Helsinki Challenger, Finland

[QF] (3) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Aisam-Ul_Haq Qureshi (PAK) bt Frank Moser (GER)/ Rogier Wassen (NED) 76(2) 64

Another good win over experienced players for Rohan and Asiam to moved semis of this big challenger.
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At $10K Malaysia F5 Futures, Kuala Lumpur

Doubles
[SF] (1) SHARAN (IND)/ VARDHAN (IND) l (4) BETAU (BLR)/ ZHYRMONT (BLR) 46 46
[SF] (2) GAJJAR (IND)/ O'BRIEN (IRL) bt JAYA (MAS)/ SI (MAS) 75 76(5)

[F] (2) GAJJAR (IND)/ O'BRIEN (IRL) vs (4) BETAU (BLR)/ ZHYRMONT (BLR)

Only Gajjar with his partner reached in doubles final.
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Chess News
At The FIDE World Chess Cup 2009, Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia - November 20th to December 15th 2009

Round Second
Krishnan Sasikiran (IND) vs Etienne Bacrot (FRA) 0-2
R1: 0-1 R2: 0-1

Surya Shekhar Ganguly (IND) l Hao Wang (CHN) 0-2
R1: 0-1 R2: 0-1

Sandipan Chanda (IND) l Dmitry Jakovenko (RUS) 0-2
R1: 0-1 R2: 0-1

No fight back from any one, so again Indian challenge got over in second round.

Tennis News
At ATP World Tour Finals, London, England

Group A
Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Mark Knowles (BAH) bt Mariusz Fyrstenberg (POL)/ Marcin Matkowski (POL) 36 63 10(7)

Mahesh and Mark continued with their good run in ATP World Tour Finals ... In second group match they defeated Polish pair in comeback victory ... After losing first set they played excellent tennis to won this match in super tie-break ... This win also guaranteed their place in semi-final ... Top-seed pair of Nestor and Zimo lost their second match, so now they r out of semi-final spot.
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At $125K Helsinki Challenger, Finland

[R1] (3) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Aisam-Ul_Haq Qureshi (PAK) bt Daniele Bracciali (ITA)/ Lovro Zovko (CRO) 75 26 10(6)

[QF] (3) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Aisam-Ul_Haq Qureshi (PAK) vs Frank Moser (GER)/ Rogier Wassen (NED)

Good win by Bops and Aisam against experienced pair ... After winning close first set they lost next very easily ... But our pair came strongly in super tie-break to book their place in quarters.
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At $10K Malaysia F5 Futures, Kuala Lumpur

[R2] (1) Vishnu VARDHAN (IND,368) l Ante PAVIC (CRO,873) 67(3) 36
[R2] (3) Ranjeet VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND, 483) l Marin BRADARIC (CRO,677) 61 36 67(2)

Doubles
[QF] (1) SHARAN (IND)/ VARDHAN (IND) bt DOAKMAIKLEE (THA)/ WACHIRAMANOWONG (THA) 75 46 10(6)
[QF] HAENLE (GER)/ SHOKEEN (IND) l JAYA (MAS)/ SI (MAS) 36 57
[QF] (2) GAJJAR (IND)/ O'BRIEN (IRL) bt HUANG (TPE)/ SIRILUETHAIWATTANA (THA) 64 46 10(7)

[SF] (1) SHARAN (IND)/ VARDHAN (IND) vs (4) BETAU (BLR)/ ZHYRMONT (BLR)
[SF] (2) GAJJAR (IND)/ O'BRIEN (IRL) vs JAYA (MAS)/ SI (MAS)

Oh, both Croats defeated their seeded Indian opponents in singles ... Surprising loss of Vishnu against player who was ranked 500 places below him.
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Chess News
At The FIDE World Chess Cup 2009, Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia - November 20th to December 15th 2009

Round Second
Krishnan Sasikiran (IND) vs Etienne Bacrot (FRA) 0-1
R1: 0-1

Surya Shekhar Ganguly (IND) vs Hao Wang (CHN) 0-1
R1: 0-1

Sandipan Chanda (IND) vs Dmitry Jakovenko (RUS) 0-1
R1: 0-1

Poor start for our players in second round ... All 3 players lost their respective matches ... But task of Sasi and Sandipan is much harder as both lost their matches playing with White.

Tennis News
At ATP World Tour Finals, London, England

Group B
Lukas Dlouhy (CZE)/ Leander Paes (IND) l Lukasz Kubot (POL)/ Oliver Marach (AUT) 36 67(3)

Kubot and Marach produced very solid performance to beat Lee and Lukas ... Lee and Lukas struggled with return game and Kubot and Marach take full advantage of it ... In second set Lee and Lukas fought back but both served a single double fault in tie-break and that was enough for Kubot and Marach to scored victory ... In other Group match Ram and Mirnyi defeated Bryans in straight sets.
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At $10K Malaysia F5 Futures, Kuala Lumpur

[R1] Divij SHARAN (IND, 764) l Marin BRADARIC (CRO, 671) 67(3) 63
[R1] (3) Ranjeet VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND, 483) bt Juan Antonio LOS SANTOS (MAS, UNR) 16 62 63

[R2] (1) Vishnu VARDHAN (IND,368) vs Ante PAVIC (CRO,873)
[R2] (3) Ranjeet VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND, 483) vs Marin BRADARIC (CRO,677)

Doubles
[QF] (1) SHARAN (IND)/ VARDHAN (IND) vs DOAKMAIKLEE (THA)/ WACHIRAMANOWONG (THA)
[QF] HAENLE (GER)/ SHOKEEN (IND) vs JAYA (MAS) / SI (MAS)
[QF] (2) GAJJAR (IND)/ O'BRIEN (IRL) vs HUANG (TPE) / SIRILUETHAIWATTANA (THA)

Divij also lost his first round match ... Young Juan, whos is Malaysian one of top junior, stretched Ranjeet to 3 sets ... In second round Vishnu and Ranjeet r facing Croatian opponents.
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Chess News
At The FIDE World Chess Cup 2009, Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia - November 20th to December 15th 2009

Round One Tie-break
Krishnan Sasikiran (IND) bt Erwin L'Ami (NED) 2½-½

Parimarjan Negi (IND) l Vadim Milov (SUI) ½-2½

Sasi produced clinical performance against L'Ami in tie-break but same Milov did against Negi ... In both matches 4th game was cancelled after player taking winning lead.

Tennis News
At ATP World Tour Finals, London, England

Group A
Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Mark Knowles (BAH) bt Frantisek Cermak (CZE)/ Michal Mertinak (SVK) 63 63

Good start for Mahesh and Mark at ATP World Tour Finals with very convincing win over 5th seed pair ... In other Group A match Polish team, Fyrstenberg and Matkowski, defeated top-seed Nestor and Zimonjic.

Today in Group B match Lee and Lukas will face Kubot and Marach.
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At $10K Malaysia F5 Futures, Kuala Lumpur

[R1] (1) Vishnu VARDHAN (IND,368) bt Barry KING (IRL, 606) 63 64
[R1] (4) Rohan GAJJAR (IND,487) l Colin O'BRIEN (IRL,642) 57 57
[R1] Divij SHARAN (IND, 764) vs Marin BRADARIC (CRO, 671)
[R1] (3) Ranjeet VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND, 483) vs Juan Antonio LOS SANTOS (MAS, UNR)

Doubles
[R1] (1) SHARAN (IND)/ VARDHAN (IND) bt DOBSON (USA)/ RAWI (MAS) W/O
[R1] DOAKMAIKLEE (THA)/ WACHIRAMANOWONG (THA) bt PRASHANTH (IND)/ VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND) 26 63 10(8)
[R1] HAENLE (GER)/ SHOKEEN (IND) bt (3) KING (IRL)/ MCGEE (IRL) 64 64
[R1] (2) GAJJAR (IND)/ O'BRIEN (IRL) bt BORODKIN (KAZ)/ KHUSAINOV (KAZ) 60 62

Surprising loss of Gajjar ... Otherwise expected start for our players.
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Golf News
At Dubai World Championship, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

T13 Jeev Milkha Singh 70 72 68 70 -8 € 89712.92

Jeev finished on creditable tied 13th position in this prestigious European tour season ending tournament.

Chess News
At The FIDE World Chess Cup 2009, Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia - November 20th to December 15th 2009

This is a seven-round knockout event with six rounds of matches comprising two games per round, with the winners progressing to the next round. The final seventh round consists of four games. The time control is 90 minutes for the first 40 moves followed by 30 minutes for the rest of the game with an addition of 30 seconds per move from move one.

After first round, Surya Shekhar Ganguly scored convincing victory over his Uzbek opponent ... Sandipan Chanda managed draw in R2 to moved into next round ... Negi won R1 with Whites but lost in R2 ... So he with Sasi will be playing tie-break ... Abhijit Kunte, Sriram Jha and Abhijeet Gupta lost against superior players.

Round One
Sriram Jha (IND) l Alexander Grischuk (RUS) ½-1½
R1: ½-½ R2: 0-1

Abhijit Kunte (IND) l Alexei Shirov (ESP) ½-1½
R1: ½-½ R2: 0-1

Abhijeet Gupta (IND) l Nikita Vitiugov (RUS) ½-1½
R1: ½-½ R2: 0-1

Krishnan Sasikiran (IND) - Erwin L'Ami (NED) 1-1
R1: ½-½ R2: ½-½

Surya Shekhar Ganguly (IND) bt Anton Filippov (UZB) 2-0
R1: 1-0 R2: 1-0

Parimarjan Negi (IND) - Vadim Milov (SUI) 1-1
R1: 1-0 R2: 0-1

Sandipan Chanda (IND) bt Mikhail Kobalia (RUS) 1½-½
R1: 1-0 R2: ½-½

Tennis News
At $50K Champaign Challenger, Illinois, USA

Doubles
[F] (2) Harsh Mankad (IND)/ Treat Huey (PHI) l Brian Battistone (USA)/ Dann Battistone (USA) 57 67(5)

Very close loss ... But Battistones were tricky pair, in this tourney they played excellent tennis beating top 2 seeded pair to lift title ... Overall very good year for Harsh, he reached 9 finals winning 3 doubles challenger title ... Still it would be icing on his performance if he manage to finish inside top 100 in 2009 year ending ranking.
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At $125K Helsinki Challanger, Finland

[Q1] (4) Rohan BOPANNA (IND,395) l Mateusz KOWALCZYK (POL,770) 36 46

Badminton News
At $15K 2009 Bank of Scotland International Badminton Championships, Glasgow

[SF] (3) Aparna Balan (IND)/ Shruti Kurian (IND) l (1) Valeria Sorokina (RUS)/ Nina Vislova (RUS) 21-15 11-21 14-21

[QF] Sourabh Verma (IND,354) l (7) scott Evans (IRL,65) 11-21 13-21
[QF] Sayali Gokhale (IND,73) vs Jeanine Cicognini (SUI,56) 21-19 14-21 15-21

[QF] (3) Aparna Balan (IND)/ Shruti Kurian (IND) bt Ozge Bayrak (TUR)/ Li Shuang (TUR) 21-10 14-21 21-10

Sayali fought well against higher ranked opponent in 46 mins match ... After she won first game, Cicognini take control of the match.

Shruti and Ashwini stretched to 3 games in their quarter-final match but in semis after winning first game against top-seed Russian pair they couldn't managed to convert in victory.

Tennis News
At $50K Champaign Challenger, Illinois, USA

[SF] (2) Harsh Mankad (IND)/ Treat Huey (PHI) bt (4) Martin Emmrich (GER)/ Andreas Siljestrom (SWE) 36 61 10(5)

[F] (2) Harsh Mankad (IND)/ Treat Huey (PHI) vs Brian Battistone (USA)/ Dann Battistone (USA)

Harsh and Treat broke Emmrich and Siljestrom 10 match winning streak on challenger level with exciting comeback victory in super tie-break ... They came back strongly after losing first set and entered in another final.

Badminton News
At $15K 2009 Bank of Scotland International Badminton Championships, Glasgow

[R2] Sourabh Verma (IND,354) bt Jakub Bitman (CZE,174) 21-9 21-10
[R2] Abhimanyu Singh (IND,250) bt Philippe Charron (CAN,460) 21-10 21-16
[R2] Trupti Murgunde (IND,62) bt Valerie St Jacques (CAN,205) 21-13 21-12
[R2] Sayali Gokhale (IND,73) bt Phyllis Chan (CAN,158) 21-11 21-12
[R2] Gayatri Vartak (IND,224) bt Neha Pandit (IND,85) 21-15 18-21 21-13

[R2] (3) Aparna Balan (IND)/ Shruti Kurian (IND) bt Phyllis Chan (CAN)/ Jocelyn Ko (CAN) 21-10 21-13

[R3] Sourabh Verma (IND,354) bt (9) Kieran Merrilees (SCO,74) 17-21 22-20 21-18
[R3] Abhimanyu Singh (IND,250) l (4) Peter Mikkelsen (DEN,46) 6-21 16-21
[R3] Trupti Murgunde (IND,62) l (3) Linda Zechiri (BUL,38) 13-21 14-21
[R3] Sayali Gokhale (IND,73) bt Renuga Veeran (AUS,144) 13-21 21-13 21-15
[R3] Gayatri Vartak (IND,224) l Jeanine Cicognini (SUI,56) 14-21 12-21

[QF] Sourabh Verma (IND,354) vs (7) scott Evans (IRL,65)
[QF] Sayali Gokhale (IND,73) vs Jeanine Cicognini (SUI,56)

[QF] (3) Aparna Balan (IND)/ Shruti Kurian (IND) vs Ozge Bayrak (TUR)/ Li Shuang (TUR)

Only Sourabh Verma and Sayali Gokhale managed to reach quarters in singles ... Sourabh Verma scored comeback upset win on top-75 local player ... In second round Gayatri Vartak scored upset win over her top-100 team-mate.

Tennis News
At $50K Champaign Challenger, Illinois, USA

[QF] (1) David Martin (USA)/ Rajeev Ram (USA) l Brian Battistone (USA)/ Dann Battistone (USA) 46 64 (4)10
[QF] (2) Harsh Mankad (IND)/ Treat Huey (PHI) bt Dominic Inglot (GBR)/ Rylan Rizza (USA) 36 76(5) 10(7)

[SF] (2) Harsh Mankad (IND)/ Treat Huey (PHI) vs (4) Martin Emmrich (GER)/ Andreas Siljestrom (SWE)

Very good comeback victory for Harsh and Treat against talented tricky UVa pair ... So another semi-final for them but there they r facing big challenge of Martin Emmrich and Andreas Siljestrom ... This pair is currently hottest pair on challenger level ... Emmrich and Siljestrom are on a 10 matches winning streak in challengers with winning last 2 weeks titles at Charlottesville and Knoxville ... But I feel our team is capable of breaking their hot streak.

Rajeev and David lost their doubles match in super tie-break against Battistones.
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At $50K ITF Pune Tournament, Pune, India

Singles Final
(6) Rika Fujiwara (JPN) bt (3) Bojana Jovanovski (SRB) 57 64 63

Doubles Final
(2) Clerico (ITA)/ Vasylyeva (UKR) bt (1) Bratchikova (RUS)/ Palkina (KGZ) 46 63 13(11)

Singles Semi Finals
(6) Rika Fujiwara (JPN) bt (5) Nina Bratchikova (RUS) 62 62
(3) Bojana Jovanovski (SRB) bt (WC) Sabina Sharipova (UZB) 64 61

Badminton News
At $250K China Super Series 2009,

[R2] Arvind Bhat (IND,23) l (8) Dwi Kuncoro Sony (INA,9) 15-21 16-21
[R2] (7) Saina Nehwal (IND,6) l (Q) Jingyun Xia (CHN,206) 21-17 8-21 13-21
[R2] Chetan Anand (IND,17) vs Pengyu Du (CHN,39) 19-21 9-21

After losing first game Jingyun Xia outperformed Saina in next 2 games ... Sony scored straight games victory without facing much problem.

In first game Du take early lead and Chetan tried catching game but in second game Du was too strong for Chetan taking early 0-7 lead, after that Chetan challenge was over.

Interesting to note only 1 seeded player is in women quarters, i.e. 6th seed Chinese Yanjiao Jiang ... Today 4 seeded players lost in 2nd round, those r Chinese WR #1 Yihan Wang, Chinese WR #2 Lin Wang, Danish WR #3 Tine Rassmussen and Saina ... 7 out 8 quarter finalists r Chinese and only Malaysian Mew Choo Wong managed to stop all Chinese affair, who upset WR #1.
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At $15K 2009 Bank of Scotland International Badminton Championships, Glasgow

[R1] Sourabh Verma (IND,354) bt Bruce Flockhart (SCO,UNR) 21-12 21-17
[R1] Abhimanyu Singh (IND,250) bt Kenneth Young (SCO,285) 21-11 21-7
[R1] Trupti Murgunde (IND,62) bye
[R1] Arundhati Pantawane (IND,268) l (6) Anu Nieminen (FIN,44) 16-21 19-21
[R1] Sayali Gokhale (IND,73) bt Lauren Smith (ENG,457) 21-3 21-9
[R1] Neha Pandit (IND,85) bt Barbara Matia (FRA,121) 23-21 14-21 21-13
[R1] Gayatri Vartak (IND,224) bt Helena Lewczynska (ENG,UNR) 21-16 21-17

[R1] (3) Aparna Balan (IND)/ Shruti Kurian (IND) bye
[R1] Pradnya Gadre (IND)/ Nitya Sosale (IND) l Heather Olver (ENG)/ Sarah Walker (ENG) 13-21 21-13 12-21

[R2] Sourabh Verma (IND,354) vs Jakub Bitman (CZE,174)
[R2] Abhimanyu Singh (IND,250) vs Philippe Charron (CAN,460)
[R2] Trupti Murgunde (IND,62) vs Valerie St Jacques (CAN,205)
[R2] Sayali Gokhale (IND,73) vs Phyllis Chan (CAN,158)
[R2] Neha Pandit (IND,85) vs Gayatri Vartak (IND,224)

[R2] (3) Aparna Balan (IND)/ Shruti Kurian (IND) vs Phyllis Chan (CAN)/ Jocelyn Ko (CAN)

Trupti is improving her ranking rapidly and again ready to back in top-50 where she was before her injury break ... Last week at Norwegian Internationals she reached in quarters ... This week with our other players she is participating in Scottish championship.

Tennis News
At $50K Champaign Challenger, Illinois, USA

[R1] (2) Rajeev Ram (USA,78) bt Luka Gregorc (SLO,249) 62 76(5)
[R2] (2) Rajeev Ram (USA,78) l (Q) Kaden Hensel (AUS,484) 67 36

Doubles
[R1] (1) David Martin (USA)/ Rajeev Ram (USA) bt (WC) Colt Gaston (USA)/ Ryan Harrison (USA) 63 46 12(10)
[R1] (2) Harsh Mankad (IND)/ Treat Huey (PHI) bt Nicholas Monroe (USA)/ Izak Van Der Merwe (RSA) 64 63
[R1] Richard Bloomfield (GBR)/ Purav Raja (IND) l Dominic Inglot (GBR)/ Rylan Rizza (USA) 06 67(2)

[QF] (1) David Martin (USA)/ Rajeev Ram (USA) vs Brian Battistone (USA)/ Dann Battistone (USA)
[QF] (2) Harsh Mankad (IND)/ Treat Huey (PHI) vs Dominic Inglot (GBR)/ Rylan Rizza (USA)

This week winning start for Harsh and Treat, next they r facing UVa tricky pair to place in semis ... Rajeev also started with win but surprising loss in singles second round.
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At $50K ITF Pune Tournament, Pune, India

Singles Quarter Finals
(5) Nina Bratchikova (RUS) bt (1) Tamarine Tanasugarn (THA) 63 62
(6) Rika Fujiwara (JPN) bt Varatchaya Wongteanchai (THA) 61 61
(3) Bojana Jovanovski (SRB) bt (8) Anastasiya Vasylyeva (UKR) 57 60 64
(WC) Sabina Sharipova (UZB) bt (Q) Chen Astrogo (ISR) 62 63

Doubles Semi Finals
(1) Bratchikova (RUS)/ Palkina (KGZ) bt Lertcheewakarn (THA)/ Wongteanchai (THA) 75 63
(2) Clerico (ITA)/ Vasylyeva (UKR) bt Bhambri (IND)/ Chakravarthi (IND) 63 16 10(6)

So with Sanaa and Rushmi's loss Indian challenge got over in Pune ITF tournament.
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At $10K Malaysia F4 Futures, Kuala Lumpur

[QF] (4) Rohan GAJJAR (IND,494) l (8) Petar JELENIC (CRO,567) 36 67(12)

Petar Jelenic scored back to back win over Indian players to finish Indian challenge from this week tournament ... Gajjar lost very long second set tie-break.

Badminton News
At $250K China Super Series 2009,

[R1] Arvind Bhat (IND,23) bt Wan Ho Shon (KOR,44) 21-18 21-16
[R1] Chetan Anand (IND,17) bt (Q) Valeriy Atrashchenkov (UKR,74) 22-20 25-23
[R1] (7) Saina Nehwal (IND,6) bt Charmaine Reid (CAN,53) 21-6 21-12

[R1] Rupesh Kumar (IND)/ Sanave Thomas (IND) l Kasper Faust Henriksen (DEN)/ Anders Kristiansen (DEN) 19-21 12-21
[R1] Jwala Gutta (IND)/ Ashwini Ponappa (IND) l (8) Yu Chin Chien (TPE)\ Wang Pei Rong (TPE) walkover
[R1] (8) Diju Valiyaveetil (IND)/ Jwala Gutta (IND) l Baek Choel Shin (KOR)/ Min Jung Kim (KOR) 14-21 3-11 Retd

[R2] Arvind Bhat (IND,23) vs (8) Dwi Kuncoro Sony (INA,9)
[R2] Chetan Anand (IND,17) vs Pengyu Du (CHN,39)
[R2] (7) Saina Nehwal (IND,6) vs Jingyun Xia (CHN,206)

In first game Arvind and Shon was neck to neck till 11-all but from there Arvind take lead and was leading 18-13 ... Shon did mini comeback and came near to 18-17 ... But Arvind kept his lead and won first game ... In second game Shon take early couple of point lead but Arvind caught with him at 6-all ... From 7-all Arvind won next 6 points and that did trick for him ... As Shon didn't able to overcome this lead ... From 11-20 down Shon won next 5 points but gap was too much .. Arvind won match in 40 mins.

Chetan was doing catching game in first game ... From start he was behind Atrashchenkov ... He was behind 1-6 then 5-12 then 10-16 then 12-18 ... But here Chetan fought back winning next 5 points to make it 17-18 ... Atrashchenkov had couple of game points at 18-20 but Chetan won next 4 points to win first game ... Interestingly Chetan first time take lead in the match at 21-20 ... In second game Chetan take early lead and at one time he was leading 13-10 and 14-12 but Atrashchenkov won next 6 points to take 14-18 lead ... Like first game again from 18-20 Chetan saved couple of game points and earned first match point ... This time Atrashchenkov saved that, then Chetan saved another couple of game points before winning match on second match point in 34 mins.

Saina produced commendable performance in her very easy straight games victory over Reid in just 25 mins ... Next round she is facing local tricky opponent.

Our womens double pair gave walkover to their opponents and MXD pair retired from their match in second game ... Hoping nothing serious injury issue to Jwala.

Tennis News
At $50K Champaign Challenger, Illinois, USA

Somdev decided to skip this tourney due to shoulder injury ... Hopefully he will be fit to play remaining 2 weeks of 2009 challengers season in Europe.
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At $50K ITF Pune Tournament, Pune, India

Singles Second Round
(1) Tamarine Tanasugarn (THA) bt (WC) Nirupama Sanjeev (IND) 62 63
(5) Nina Bratchikova (RUS) bt Noppawan Lertcheewakarn (THA) 76(6) 62
Varatchaya Wongteanchai (THA) bt Nudnida Luangnam (THA) 76(3) 76(5)
(6) Rika Fujiwara (JPN) bt Shiho Hisamatsu (JPN) 62 60

(8) Anastasiya Vasylyeva (UKR) bt Sanaa Bhambri (IND) 61 57 75
(3) Bojana Jovanovski (SRB) bt Poojashree Venkatesha (IND) 61 60

(Q) Chen Astrogo (ISR) bt (LL) Sheethal Goutham (IND) 63 46 63
(WC) Sabina Sharipova (UZB) bt (2) Masa Zec-Peskiric (SLO) 63 62

Doubles Quarter Finals
(1) Bratchikova (RUS)/ Palkina (KGZ) bt (Q) Prerna Bhambri (IND)/ Sharipova (UZB) 61 62
Lertcheewakarn/Wongteanchai (THA) bt Astrogo (ISR)/ Jovanovski (SRB) 62 36 11(9)

Bhambri (IND)/ Chakravarthi (IND) bt (4) Shlomo (ISR)/ Venkatesha (IND) 63 26 10(7)
(2) Clerico (ITA)/ Vasylyeva (UKR) bt Solanki (IND)/ Sunkara (IND) 62 63

Indian challenge got over in singles ... Nirupama produced decent performance against top-seed Tammy ... Sheethal also fought well against Astrogo .... But most impressive performance showed by Sanaa against Vasylyeva ... After losing first set easily she showed remarkable resilience in second set ... She won second set after saving 2 match points .. Her efforts were fell short of producing remarkable victory.

In doubles Sanaa and Rushmi r keeping Indian interest alive.
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At $10K Malaysia F4 Futures, Kuala Lumpur

[R2] (Q) Vivek SHOKEEN (IND,888) l (1) Nathan THOMPSON (USA,457) 36 46
[R2] (4) Rohan GAJJAR (IND,494) bt Sebastian LAVIE (NZL,UNR) 61 64
[R2] (Q) N. Vijay Sundar PRASHANTH (IND,999) l (8) Petar JELENIC (CRO,567) 46 36
[R2] (3) Ranjeet VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND,483) l Jaan-Frederik BRUNKEN (GER,594) 67(2) 16
[R2] Karan RASTOGI (IND,1137) l (6) Murad INOYATOV (UZB,502) 67(6) 36

[QF] (4) Rohan GAJJAR (IND,494) vs (8) Petar JELENIC (CRO,567)

Doubles
[QF] (1) Divij SHARAN (IND)/ Vishnu VARDHAN (IND) l Kirati SIRIBUTWONG (THA)/ Nathan THOMPSON (USA) 26 62 (6)10
[QF] Rohan GAJJAR (IND)/ Matt SIMPSON (NZL) l (3) Barry KING (IRL)/ James MCGEE (IRL) 36 57

Only Rohan Gajjar remained in the singles draw after second round.

Tennis News

Singles First Round
(1) Tamarine Tanasugarn (THA) bt Rushmi Chakravarthi (IND) 62 60
(WC) Nirupama Sanjeev (IND) bt (Q) Tamara Curovic (SRB) 76(5) 63
Noppawan Lertcheewakarn (THA) bt Ganna Piven (UKR) 76(3) 63
(5) Nina Bratchikova (RUS) bt (WC) Prerna Bhambri (IND) 64 63

Nudnida Luangnam (THA) bt (4) Ksenia Palkina (KGZ) 57 61 5-0 Retd
Varatchaya Wongteanchai (THA) bt (Q) Kumari-Sweta Solanki (IND) 62 63
Shiho Hisamatsu (JPN) bt Keren Shlomo (ISR) 62 26 75
(6) Rika Fujiwara (JPN) bt Miki Miyamura (JPN) 62 61

(8) Anastasiya Vasylyeva (UKR) bt Nicole Clerico (ITA) 63 62
Sanaa Bhambri (IND) bt Anastasia Malhotra (JPN) 60 64
Poojashree Venkatesha (IND) bt (WC) Rashmi Teltumbde (IND) 62 63
(3) Bojana Jovanovski (SRB) bt (Q) Rishika Sunkara (IND) 64 75

(LL) Sheethal Goutham (IND) bt (Q) Shivika Burman (IND) 76(2) 26 64
(Q) Chen Astrogo (ISR) bt Dalila Jakupovic (SLO) 62 46 61
(WC) Sabina Sharipova (UZB) bt Magali De Lattre (POR) 64 63
(2) Masa Zec-Peskiric (SLO) bt Hae-Sung Kim (KOR) 63 64

Doubles First Round
(1) Bratchikova (RUS)/ Palkina (KGZ) bt Kim (KOR)/ Piven (UKR) 63 64
(Q) Prerna Bhambri (IND)/ Sharipova (UZB) bt (WC) Agrawal (IND)/ Rana (IND) 62 26 10(5)

Astrogo (ISR)/ Jovanovski (SRB) bt (3) Hisamatsu (JPN)/ Miyamura (JPN) 60 61
Lertcheewakarn/Wongteanchai (THA) vs (Q) Curovic (SRB)/ Jakupovic (SLO) 76(1) 62

Bhambri (IND)/ Chakravarthi (IND) bt (WC) Sanjeev (IND)/ Tulpule (IND) 64 46 10(7)
(4) Shlomo (ISR)/ Venkatesha (IND) bt (WC) Shrivastava (IND)/ Teltumbde (IND) 62 64

Solanki (IND)/ Sunkara (IND) bt Bhattacharyya (IND)/ Burman (IND) 75 64
(2) Clerico (ITA)/ Vasylyeva (UKR) bt De Lattre (POR)/ Malhotra (JPN) 60 63

Good start for Nirupama's mini comeback bid against 15 yrs old Serbian top-725 player (JWR #33) ... Sheetal also used lucky loser spot in her favor ... Yesterday Sanaa scored upset win over Anastasia Malhotra.

In doubles also, Nirupama gave tough fight to Sanaa and Rushmi with Radhika Tulpule.
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At $10K Malaysia F4 Futures, Kuala Lumpur

[R1] (Q) Vivek SHOKEEN (IND,888) bt (WC) Adam JAYA (MAS,1488) 61 75
[R1] (4) Rohan GAJJAR (IND,494) bt Raphael LUSTENBERGER (SUI,1360) 63 75
[R1] (Q) N. Vijay Sundar PRASHANTH (IND,999) bt (WC) Razlan RAWI (MAS,UNR) 60 61
[R1] (3) Ranjeet VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND,483) bt Sun-Yong KIM (KOR,818) 76(2) 62
[R1] Karan RASTOGI (IND,1137) bt Yew-Ming SI (MAS,1515) 63 46 63

[R2] (Q) Vivek SHOKEEN (IND,888) vs (1) Nathan THOMPSON (USA,457)
[R2] (4) Rohan GAJJAR (IND,494) vs Sebastian LAVIE (NZL,UNR)
[R2] (Q) N. Vijay Sundar PRASHANTH (IND,999) vs (8) Petar JELENIC (CRO,567)
[R2] (3) Ranjeet VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND,483) vs Jaan-Frederik BRUNKEN (GER,594)
[R2] Karan RASTOGI (IND,1137) vs (6) Murad INOYATOV (UZB,502)

All other Indians had winning start in singles but surprisingly Karan stretched to 3 sets against local player.

Badminton News
At $250K China Super Series 2009,

[R1] Arvind Bhat (IND,23) vs Wan Ho Shon (KOR,44)
[R1] Chetan Anand (IND,17) vs (Q) Valeriy Atrashchenkov (UKR,74)
[R1] (7) Saina Nehwal (IND,) vs Charmaine Reid (CAN,53)

[R1] Jwala Gutta (IND)/ Ashwini Ponappa (IND) vs (8) Yu Chin Chien (TPE)\ Wang Pei Rong (TPE)
[R1] (8) Diju Valiyaveetil (IND)/ Jwala Gutta (IND) vs Baek Choel Shin (KOR)/ Min Jung Kim (KOR)
[R1] Rupesh Kumar (IND)/ Sanave Thomas (IND) vs Kasper Faust Henriksen (DEN)/ Anders Kristiansen (DEN)

This week at Chine Super Series, Chetan joined other Indians, who participated in last week Hong Kong Super Series.

Tennis News
At $10K Malaysia F4 Futures, Kuala Lumpur

[R1] Divij SHARAN (IND,777) l Jaan-Frederik BRUNKEN (GER,595) 36 36

Doubles
[R1] (1) Divij SHARAN (IND)/ Vishnu VARDHAN (IND) bt Soong-Jae CHO (KOR)/ Sun-Yong KIM (KOR) 64 46 10(8)
[R1] Thomas OGER (MON)/ Vivek SHOKEEN (IND) l Kirati SIRIBUTWONG (THA)/ Nathan THOMPSON (USA) 63 67(2) (9)11
[R1] Rohan GAJJAR (IND)/ Matt SIMPSON (NZL) bt N. Vijay Sundar PRASHANTH (IND)/ Ranjeet VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND) 67(0) 62 10(6)

[QF] (1) Divij SHARAN (IND)/ Vishnu VARDHAN (IND) vs Kirati SIRIBUTWONG (THA)/ Nathan THOMPSON (USA)
[QF] Rohan GAJJAR (IND)/ Matt SIMPSON (NZL) vs (3) Barry KING (IRL)/ James MCGEE (IRL)

Divij lost in singles first round but in doubles with his partner Vishnu he pulled close victory against Koreans ... But other hand Vivek lost close match in doubles.

Tennis News
At $50K+H Aachen Challenger, Germany

[SF] (1) (WC) Rajeev RAM (USA,97) bt (3) Daniel Brands (GER,106) 63 46 76(6)

[F] (1) (WC) Rajeev RAM (USA,97) bt Dustin Brown (JAM,180) 76 67 76(2)

Doubles Final
(2) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Aisam Qureshi (PAK) bt (3) Philipp Marx (GER)/ Igor Zelenay (SVK) 64 76(6)

For me expected win by Rohan and Aisam against 3rd seed pair ... Really happy for them as they again lifted title playing together ... After winning first set they were stretched in second set but importantly they managed to finish match in 2 sets ... Congrats Bops and Aisam.

Rajeev lifted title in very tight match where all 3 sets went into tie-break.
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At $10K Malaysia F4 Futures, Kuala Lumpur

[Q1] Sudanwa SITARAM (IND,1280) l (16) Kirati SIRIBUTWONG (THA,1253) 46 26
[Q1] (9) N. Vijay Sundar PRASHANTH (IND,999) bye
[Q1] (5) Vivek SHOKEEN (IND,888) bye
[Q1] Ankit SACHDEVA (IND,NR) l Jae-Won CHOI (KOR,1310) 46 06
[Q1] (12)Ronak MANUJA (IND,1127) bt Adirek KHUNDARNPINITVON (THA,1532) 60 75

[Q2] (9) N. Vijay Sundar PRASHANTH (IND,999) bt Sang-Woo NOH (KOR,NR) 75 61
[Q2] (5) Vivek SHOKEEN (IND,888) bt Tomislav BRKIC (BIH,1313) 76(1) 76(12)
[Q2] (12)Ronak MANUJA (IND,1127) bt Wan-Yong PARK (KOR,NR) 76(5) 06 64

[Q3] (9) N. Vijay Sundar PRASHANTH (IND,999) bt (4) Ante PAVIC (CRO,884) 67(5) 40 Retired
[Q3] (5) Vivek SHOKEEN (IND,888) bt Yao-Lun CHANG (TPE,1714) 63 67(5) 63
[Q3] (12)Ronak MANUJA (IND,1127) l (7) Matheson KLEIN (AUS,934) 46 16

[R1] (Q) Vivek SHOKEEN (IND,888) vs (WC) Adam JAYA (MAS,1488)
[R1] (4) Rohan GAJJAR (IND,494) vs Raphael LUSTENBERGER (SUI,1360)
[R1] (Q) N. Vijay Sundar PRASHANTH (IND,999) vs (WC) Razlan RAWI (MAS,NR)
[R1] Divij SHARAN (IND,777) vs Jaan-Frederik BRUNKEN (GER,595)
[R1] (3) Ranjeet VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND,483) vs Sun-Yong KIM (KOR,818)
[R1] Karan RASTOGI (IND,1137) vs Yew-Ming SI (MAS,1515)

A big Indian contingent is playing next 3 weeks in Malaysia ... Vivek and Vijay Sundar qualified for main draw ... They joined Gajjar, Ranjeet, Divij and Karan in main draw.
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Golf News
At UBS Hong Kong Open, Fanling, Hong Kong

T22 S S P Chowrasia 65 69 73 65 -8 € 17427.91
T22 Jyoti Randhawa 66 69 67 70 -8 € 17427.91
T36 Rahil Gsngjee 67 70 68 69 -6 € 10892.44
T36 Jeev Milkha Singh 71 67 70 66 -6 € 10892.44
T48 Shiv Kapur 68 68 72 68 -4 € 7876.07

SSP and Jeev produced better rounds from Indians in final round which helped them to finished inside top-25 and top-40 respectively ... Shiv also scored under par round to finished inside top-50.
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Football News
At AFC Under 19 Qualification 2009, Arbil

India u-19 bt Kuwait u-19 3-0

Goal Scored - Malsawmfela (IND) 45' & 60', Jeje Lalpekhlua (IND) 6'

Indian boys ended their campaign on positive note beating Kuwaiti side easily ... With this Indian boys finished 4th in Group C ... Only top 2 teams, Iraq and Saudi Arabia, moved to final round.

Chess News
At Tal Memorial 2009, Moscow, Russia - 4th to 19th November 2009

Round 9 - Saturday, November 14, 2009
Vassily Ivanchuk ½-½ Vladimir Kramnik
Viswanathan Anand 0-1 Levon Aronian
Peter Svidler ½-½ Boris Gelfand
Ruslan Ponomariov 1-0 Alexander Morozevich
Peter Leko - Magnus Carlsen

Levon Aronian shocked Anand playing with blacks ... He defeated Anand in 25 moves ... With this Anand lost chance of sharing top spot ... Ponomariov defeated Morozevich in 27 moves and in other match Carlsen won his match to moved on tied 2nd place ... In end disappointing result for Anand ... With T2 position Magnus Carlsen become WR #1 in unofficial live ranking.

Tal Memorial 2009 - Final Standing

1 Vladimir Kramnik 6.0
T2 Vassily Ivanchuk 5.5
T2 Magnus Carlsen 5.5
T4 Levon Aronian 5.0
T4 Viswanathan Anand 5.0
6 Boris Gelfand 4.5
7 Ruslan Ponomariov 4.0
8 Peter Svidler 3.5
T9 Peter Leko 3.0
T9 Alexander Morozevich 3.0

Tennis News
At $50K+H Aachen Challenger , Germany

[QF] (1) (WC) Rajeev RAM (USA,97) bt (LL) Louk Sorensen (IRL,336) 75 75
[SF] (1) (WC) Rajeev RAM (USA,97) vs (3) Daniel Brands (GER,106)

Doubles
[SF] (2) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Aisam Qureshi (PAK) bt Yves Allegro (SUI)/ Lovro Zovko (CRO) 63 64

Rohan and Aisam moved into the final with straight sets win over good doubles pair ... Again they r showing how much good they r on this challengers level when playing together.
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At $50K Knoxville Challenger, Tennessee, USA

Doubles
[SF] (2) Harsh Mankad (IND)/ Treat Huey (PHI) l Martin Emmrich (GER)/ Andreas Siljestrom (SWE) 26 36
[SF] Somdev DevVarman (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) l Raven Klaasen (RSA)/ Izak Van Der Merwe (RSA) 36 67(3)

So our both pairs lost in semis and with that hope of almost all Indians final faded.

Chess News
At Tal Memorial 2009, Moscow, Russia - 4th to 19th November 2009

Round 8 - Friday, November 13, 2009
Vladimir Kramnik ½-½ Peter Leko
Magnus Carlsen 1-0 Ruslan Ponomariov
Alexander Morozevich ½-½ Peter Svidler
Boris Gelfand ½-½ Viswanathan Anand
Levon Aronian ½-½ Vassily Ivanchuk

Anand agreed draw in 28 moves ... Only Magnus Carlsen scored win in 31 moves against Ponomariov ... In last round Anand is playing with whites against Levon Aronian ... Anand is still ½ pt behind leader Kramnik.

Hockey News
At BDO Men’s Champions Challenge I , Salta, Argentina

Our team is declared for the 8 nation Champions challenge tournament to be played between 6-13 December in Salta, Argentina ... Overall good selection but surprisingly Prabodh Tirkey's name is missing from the squad ... Also interesting to note that Rajpal Singh replaces Sandeep Singh as Indian Captain for this important tournament, though on Canadian tour Basra used rotation policy for captaincy.

Our team will leave for Madrid on November 23 for a one-week training-cum-competition tour en-route to Salta.

Group A - India, China, New Zealand, Belgium
Group B - Pakistan, Argentina, South Africa, Canada

Match Schedule
Sunday - 06 Dec 2009
India vs New Zealand (16.05 hrs local time)

Tuesday - 08 Dec 2009
India vs China (12.05 hrs local time)

Thursday - 10 Dec 2009
India vs Belgium (16.05 hrs local time)

Saturday - 12 Dec 2009
Semi-finals

Sunday - 13 Dec 2009
Final

Indian Team -
Goalkeepers - Adrian D'Souza, PR Sreejesh
Defenders - Sardar Singh, Sandeep Singh, Gurbaj Singh, Bharat Ajitesh Roy, Dhananjay Mahadik, V Raghunath
Midfielders - Tushar Khandker, Arjun Halappa, Vikram Pillay, Roshan Minz, Danish Mujtaba, Vikas Sharma
Forwards - Rajpal Singh (Capt), Gurvinder Singh Chandi, Shivendra Singh, Deepak Thakur, Sarwanjit Singh, Mandeep Antil, Prabhjot Singh
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Squash News
At $41K Santiago Open 2009, Spain

[R1] Saurav Ghosal (IND,33) bt (6) Miguel Angel Rodriguez (COL,27) 11-5 11-8 11-6 (33m)

[QF] Saurav Ghosal (IND,33) l (2) Adrian Grant (ENG,11) 6-11 11-2 11-5 12-14 5-11 (59m)

Recently Saurav is giving consistent performance and I feel he is on verge of big break through ... This week also in ongoing Santiago Open he performed well ... In first round he defeated top-30 Colombian in straight game and then stretched WR #11 British player to 5th game, where Saurav was in chance of finishing match in 4th game.

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

Doubles
[QF] (2) Harsh Mankad (IND)/ Treat Huey (PHI) bt Grigor Dimitrov (BUL)/ Filip Prpic (SWE) 67(5) 61 10(4)
[QF] Somdev DevVarman (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) bt (3) Kaden Hensel (AUS)/ Adam Hubble (AUS) 63 61

[SF] (2) Harsh Mankad (IND)/ Treat Huey (PHI) vs Martin Emmrich (GER)/ Andreas Siljestrom (SWE)
[SF] Somdev DevVarman (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) vs Raven Klaasen (RSA)/ Izak Van Der Merwe (RSA)

Very good dominating win by Purav and Somi against seeded Aussie pair ... Harsh and Treat also produced good performance after losing first set in tie-break.

Next Purav and Somi r facing South African pair, Harsh and Treat r facing Europeans.

Chess News
At Tal Memorial 2009, Moscow, Russia - 4th to 19th November 2009

Round 7 - Thursday, November 12, 2009

Levon Aronian ½-½ Vladimir Kramnik
Vassily Ivanchuk 1-0 Boris Gelfand
Viswanathan Anand ½-½ Alexander Morozevich
Peter Svidler ½-½ Magnus Carlsen
Ruslan Ponomariov ½-½ Peter Leko

Only Vassily Ivanchuk managed to win his match against Boris Gelfand and all other matches ended in a draw ... With this win Ivanchuk joined Anand on 2nd place with 4.5 pts, but Kramnik maintained his ½ pt lead over them ... Tomorrow Anand facing Boris Gelfand with blacks.

Football News

JCT striker Baljit Singh Sahni, who scored 6 goals in 7 I-League matches, and his teammate Sunil Thakur were seriously injured in a motorcycle accident at Margao ... As per report, Sahni fractured his wrist and needed 25 stitches while Thakur fractured his jaw and required five stitches ... :(

As per JCT coach Parminder Singh - "Doctors will operate on Sahni’s wrist on Thursday morning."

I wish both full recovery, with that Sahni will miss 2/3 months due to injury ... That means Sahni will miss SAFF Cup and AFC Challenge Cup 2010.
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At AFC Under 19 Qualification 2009, Arbil

India u-19 bt Afghanistan u-19 4-1

Goal Scored - Malsawmfela (IND) 48' & 67', Jeje Lalpekhlua (IND) 62' P & 84' and Mohammad Rahimi (AFG) 21'

At last our boys managed to score win ... After down by a goal at half time they scored 4 goals in second half to secured win.
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At I League 2009-10, India - Round VIII

Mumbai FC dw Sporting Clube de Goa 0-0
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Salgaocar SC dw JCT, Phagwara 0-0
-----------------------------------------

Pune FC l Mohun Bagan 1-3

Goal Scored - Douhou Sey (PFC) 90+' P and Chidi Edeh (MB) 37', 61' & 76'

Chidi Edeh scored hat-trick in win for Bagan.
-----------------------------------------

Churchill Brothers SC bt Chirag United SC 2-0

Goal Scored - Ogba Kalu Nnanna (CB) 5', Odafe Onyeka Okolie (CB) 65'

Churchill Brothers defeated Chirag United to lead table.
------------------------------------------

East Bengal bt Lajong FC 3-0

Goal Scored - Abel Hammond (EB) 35' & 90', Yakubu Yusif (EB) 90+'

East Bengal won their 3rd match in a row.
-----------------------------------------

Air India l Mahindra United 0-4

Goal Scored - Madambillath Mohammed Rafi (MU) 10', Subair Muritala Ali (MU) 41', 49' & 58'

Muritala Ali scored hat-trick to help Mahindra for convincing win in Mumbai derby.
-----------------------------------------

Dempo SC bt Viva Kerela

Goal Scored - Sunil Chetri (DSC) 72', Ranty Martins Soleye (DSC) 81', Joaquim Abranches (DSC) 86' and Karma T. (VK) 17'

Dempo scored 3 goals in last 20 mins to overcome spirited challenge from Viva.

Badminton News
At $250K Hong Kong Super Series 2009,

[R2] Jwala Gutta (IND)/ Ashwini Ponappa (IND) l (3) Jing DU (CHN)/ Yang YU (CHN) 9-21 10-21
[R2] (8) Diju Valiyaveetil (IND)/ Jwala Gutta (IND) l Anthony CLARK (ENG)/ Donna KELLOGG (ENG) 29-27 13-21 18-21
[R2] Rupesh Kumar (IND)/ Sanave Thomas (IND) l (6) Alven Yulianto Chandra (INA)/ Hendra Aprida Gunawan (INA) 17-21 21-17 13-21

Rupesh and Sanave produced excellent fighting performance against seeded Indonesian pair in this 55 mins match ... After losing first game they won second one but in decided Indonesian pair were too strong.

Diju and Jwala made shocking exit in 50 mins against unranked British pair ... They mananged to win first game after long battle but then British pair dominated next 2 games ... This was lost opportunity for Diju and Jwala, as they were only seeded pair in bottom draw ... So was in chance of making first final in Super Series ... Chinese 3rd seed pair crushed Jwala and Ashwini in 19 mins ... With that Indian challenge got over in this Hong Kong Super Series ... Hopefully next week all they perform better in China Super Series.

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

[R1] Somdev DevVarman (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) bt (WC) Cory Parr (USA)/ Todd Paul (USA) 64 76(3)

[QF] (2) Harsh Mankad (IND)/ Treat Huey (PHI) vs Grigor Dimitrov (BUL)/ Filip Prpic (SWE)
[QF] Somdev DevVarman (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) vs (3) Kaden Hensel (AUS)/ Adam Hubble (AUS)

Good win by Purav and Somi against tricky pair, who last week upset Harsh and Treat in first round.
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At $50K+H Aachen Challenger, Germany

[R2] (1) (WC) Rajeev RAM (USA,97) bt (WC) Sebastian Rieschick (GER,414) 64 36 75

[QF] (1) (WC) Rajeev RAM (USA,97) vs (LL) Louk Sorensen (IRL,336)

Doubles
[QF] (2) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Aisam Qureshi (PAK) bt Dustin Brown (JAM)/ Jiri Krkoska (CZE) 75 76(6)

Nice to see Aisam and Bops finished this tight match in 2 sets to moved into semis.

Chess News
At Tal Memorial 2009, Moscow, Russia - 4th to 19th November 2009

Round 6 - Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Vladimir Kramnik 1-0 Ruslan Ponomariov
Peter Leko ½-½ Peter Svidler
Magnus Carlsen ½-½ Viswanathan Anand
Alexander Morozevich 0-1 Vassily Ivanchuk
Boris Gelfand 1-0 Levon Aronian

Vladimir Kramnik has once again taken the sole lead with win against Ruslan Ponomariov in 81 moves ... Anand managed only draw with Magnus Carlsen in 36 moves ... Today Anand is playing win whites against Alexander Morozevich.
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Tennis News
At BNP PARIBAS ATP Masters 1000, Paris

[R2] (3) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Mark Knowles (BAH) l Simon Aspelin (SWE)/ Paul Hanley (AUS) 46 76(6) (7)10
[R2] (4) Leander Paes (IND)/ Lukas Dlouhy (CZE) l Jordan Kerr (AUS)/ Travis Parrott (USA) 76(5) 46 (5)10

So our both seeded pairs lost at Paris Masters second round, they had bye in first round ... After US Open both pairs showed little interest in playing together ... Mahesh and Mark played at China Masters but Lee take a long break after his injury ... So these results didn't surprise me.

Badminton News
At $250K Hong Kong Super Series 2009,

[R1] Saina Nehwal (IND,6) l Jie Yao (NED,16) 16-21 12-21
[R1] Arvind Bhat (IND,23) l Chunlai Bao (CHN,14) 19-21 11-21 16-21

[R1] Rupesh Kumar (IND)/ Sanave Thomas (IND) bt (Q) Pak Chu Chow (MAS)/ Chieng Hun Hong (MAS) 21-18 21-9

[R2] Rupesh Kumar (IND)/ Sanave Thomas (IND) vs (6) Alven Yulianto Chandra (INA)/ Hendra Aprida Gunawan (INA)

Jie Yao scored one-sided victory over Saina in just 26 mins ... I would say one of bad day at office for Saina ... In doubles Rupesh and Sanave had comfortable start against Malaysian qualifiers.

In first game Arvind take early lead but Bao caught with him at 12-all but again Arvind take lead and was leading 19-15 .. This time also Bao caught with him winning next 4 points but Arvind won next 2 points to won first game ... In second game Bao take control from the start and didn't give any chance to Arvind to won it easily ... In third game again Arvind take lea from 3-4 ... At one time he was leading 13-8 but from 15-13 Bao won next 3 points to make it 15-16 ... Arvind won next point but after that Bao won next 5 points to completed victory in 48 mins.

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

[R1] (6) Somdev Devvarman (IND,124) vs Roko Karanusic (CRO,191) 67(8) 36
[R1] Prakash Amritraj (IND,204) l Izak Van Der Merwe (RSA,263) 36 26

Doubles
[R1] (2) Harsh Mankad (IND)/ Treat Huey (PHI) bt (WC) Ryan Harrison (USA)/ Rylan Rizza (USA) 26 62 10(8)
[R1] Somdev DevVarman (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) vs (WC) Cory Parr (USA)/ Todd Paul (USA)

Croatian was tricky one but still wasn't expected this loss after last week nice run ... Though Roko Karanusic was ranked as high as #88 in February 2009 ... But with this our singles challenge got over as Kash also lost cheaply against Van Der Merwe.

Good to see Harsh and Treat managed win in super tie-break ... Hopefully this week they will perform as per their seeding.
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At $50K+H Aachen Challenger , Germany

[R1] (Q) Rohan BOPANNA (IND,411) l Simon STADLER (GER,285) 26 57
[R1] (1) (WC) Rajeev RAM (USA,97) bt (ALT) Alexander SADECKY (SUI,324) 46 64 62

[R2] (1) (WC) Rajeev RAM (USA,97) vs (WC) Sebastian Rieschick (GER,414)

Doubles
[R1] (2) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Aisam Qureshi (PAK) bt (WC) Nikola Mektic (CRO)/ Ivan Zovko (CRO) 75 62

[QF] (2) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Aisam Qureshi (PAK) vs Dustin Brown (JAM)/ Jiri Krkoska (CZE)

Rohan failed to continue his nice singles win streak in main draw ... He lost to local player, must be tired after grueling 3 qualifying matches ... But as expected winning start for him and Aisam in doubles.

Chess News
At Tal Memorial 2009, Moscow, Russia - 4th to 19th November 2009

The Tal Memorial is the strongest tournament of the year and at category 21 (average Elo 2764) one of the strongest of all time ... It is a 10 players round robin with classical time controls – 40 moves in two hours, then 20 moves in one hour and then 15 minutes for in this phase.

After 4 rounds Kramnik take lead with 2 wins but Anand joined him at top spot with 5th game victory over Leko ... Now both having 3 pts ... Anand-Leko was a Semi-Slav in which the Anand made a novel 22 move ... Which was very difficult for Leko to work out and then his position steadily deteriorated ... He resignation at move 45 ... In 6th round Anand is playing with Blacks against Magnus Carlsen.

Round 5 - Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Boris Gelfand ½-½ Vladimir Kramnik
Levon Aronian ½-½ Alexander Morozevich
Vassily Ivanchuk ½-½ Magnus Carlsen
Viswanathan Anand 1-0 Peter Leko
Peter Svidler ½-½ Ruslan Ponomariov

Round 4 - Sunday, November 8, 2009

Vladimir Kramnik 1-0 Peter Svidler
Ruslan Ponomariov ½-½ Viswanathan Anand
Peter Leko ½-½ Vassily Ivanchuk
Magnus Carlsen ½-½ Levon Aronian
Alexander Morozevich ½-½ Boris Gelfand

Round 3 - Saturday, November 7, 2009

Alexander Morozevich 0-1 Vladimir Kramnik
Boris Gelfand ½-½ Magnus Carlsen
Levon Aronian 1-0 Peter Leko
Vassily Ivanchuk ½-½ Ruslan Ponomariov
Viswanathan Anand 1-0 Peter Svidler

Round 2 - Friday, November 6, 2009

Vladimir Kramnik ½-½ Viswanathan Anand
Peter Svidler ½-½ Vassily Ivanchuk
Ruslan Ponomariov ½-½ Levon Aronian
Peter Leko ½-½ Boris Gelfand
Magnus Carlsen ½-½ Alexander Morozevich

Round 1 - Thursday, November 5, 2009

Magnus Carlsen ½-½ Vladimir Kramnik
Alexander Morozevich ½-½ Peter Leko
Boris Gelfand ½-½ Ruslan Ponomariov
Levon Aronian ½-½ Peter Svidler
Vassily Ivanchuk ½-½ Viswanathan Anand

Badminton News
At $250K Hong Kong Super Series 2009,

[R1] Jwala Gutta (IND)/ Ashwini Ponappa (IND) bt Savitree Amitrapai (THA)/ Vacharaporn Munkit (THA) 21-18 21-18
[R1] (8) Diju Valiyaveetil (IND)/ Jwala Gutta (IND) bt Chris Adcock (ENG)/ Gabrielle White (ENG) 17-21 21-15 21-12

[R2] Jwala Gutta (IND)/ Ashwini Ponappa (IND) vs (3) Jing DU (CHN)/ Yang YU (CHN)
[R2] (8) Diju Valiyaveetil (IND)/ Jwala Gutta (IND) vs Anthony CLARK (ENG)/ Donna KELLOGG (ENG)

Another scratchy start for seeded MXD pair of Jwala and Diju against British pair ... But importantly they won last 2 games comfortably after losing first game ... In second round they r facing another British pair ... Jwala and Ashwini produced positive start beating Thai opponents ... In second round they r facing 3rd seed Chinese pair.
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Tennis News
At $50K Knoxville Challenger, Tennessee, USA

[R1] Prakash Amritraj (IND)/ Kevin Kim (USA) l (WC) David Sandgren (RSA)/ John Patrick Smith (AUS) 36 26

Not really surprised with this one-sided loss as local university pair of Davey Sandgren and John-Patrick Smith r currently top ranked NCAA doubles pair ... So with local support they also had good experience of playing together.
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Football News
At AFC Under 19 Qualification 2009, Arbil

India u-19 l Oman u-19 3-4

Goal Scored - Lalrindika Ralte (IND) 15' & 19', Akshay Mall (IND) 33' and Al-Rajaibi Basim Abdullah Taeeb (OMA) 4', Khalil Ibrahim Abdullah Al Alawi (OMA) 70', Abdullah Saif Rashid Al-Shibli (OMA) 75', Yaqoob Salim Nasser Al Nadabi (OMA) 89'

3 losses in 3 matches for our u-19 team ... In another disappointing performance our u-19 boys lost against Oman after leading 3-1 at half-time ... Again opposition team scored goals in last 20 minutes.

After checking these results I m wondering any fitness issues with these boys? Who r mostly struggling to play full 90 minutes.

Badminton News
At $250K Hong Kong Super Series 2009,

[R1] Arvind Bhat (IND,23) vs Chunlai Bao (CHN,14)
[R1] Saina Nehwal (IND,6) vs Jie Yao (CHN,16)

[R1] Rupesh Kumar (IND)/ Sanave Thomas (IND) vs Qualifier
[R1] Jwala Gutta (IND)/ Ashwini Ponappa (IND) vs Savitree Amitrapai (THA)/ Vacharaporn Munkit (THA)
[R1] (8) Diju Valiyaveetil (IND)/ Jwala Gutta (IND) vs Chris Adcock (ENG)/ Gabrielle White (ENG)

This week very few Indians managed to get entry in big Hong Kong Super Series ... Don't know why Chetan is skipping this ... Saina climbed back to her personal best #6 world ranking after reaching quarter-finals at last 2 Super Series French and Denmark ... She has already qualified for the season-ending eight-field Super Series Masters Finals to be held at Kuala Lumpur from December 2-6.

Tennis News
At $50K Charlottesville Challenger, Virginia, USA

[F] (3) Somdev Devvarman (IND,116) l (2) Kevin Kim (USA,105) 46 76(8) 46

First set won by Kim with single break ... In second set Kim started well breaking Somi's serve in 5th game but Somi broke back and take set in tie-break ... And won second set after long tie-break and in that he saved 3 match points ... In third set Somi struggling with his first serve but still managed to broke Kim's serve in third game ... In 5th game Kim committed couple of double faults but Somi failed to take advantage and I feel that was turning point ... Then in 7th game also Kim served double fault and saved 2 break point chances before holding his serve ... In 9th game at 15-all Kim sprained his ankle and take medical time out but that didn't affect his performance in remaining 2 games ... Kim won last 4 games from 2-4 breaking Somi's serve twice, he converted 6th match point.
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At $50K Aachen Challenger , Germany

[Q3] (6) Rohan BOPANNA (IND,414) bt (2) Louk SORENSEN (IRL,337) 46 76(2) 63

[R1] (Q) Rohan BOPANNA (IND,411) vs Simon STADLER (GER,285)
[R1] (1) (WC) Rajeev RAM (USA,97) vs (ALT) Alexander SADECKY (SUI,324)

Doubles
[R1] Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Aisam Qureshi (PAK) vs (WC) Nikola Mektic (CRO)/ Ivan Zovko (CRO)

Another excellent comeback win against top-350 type player ... In all 3 qualifying matches he was set down and needed fight back in the match ... Yesterday in a day he played 6 tough sets so that showing his fitness looks back to where he left before his injury ... In doubles Rohan is partnering his favorite partner Aisam ... This week Rajeev decided to skip doubles.
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At $50K Knoxville Challenger, Tennessee, USA

[R1] (6) Somdev Devvarman (IND,124) vs Roko Karanusic (CRO,191)
[R1] Prakash Amritraj (IND,204) vs Izak Van Der Merwe (RSA,263)

Doubles
[R1] (2) Harsh Mankad (IND)/ Treat Huey (PHI) vs (WC) Ryan Harrison (USA)/ Rylan Rizza (USA)
[R1] Somdev DevVarman (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) vs (WC) Cory Parr (USA)/ Todd Paul (USA)
[R1] Prakash Amritraj (IND)/ Kevin Kim (USA) vs (WC) David Sandgren (RSA)/ John Patrick Smith (AUS)

Tennis News
At $50K Charlottesville Challenger, Virginia, USA

[SF] (3) Somdev Devvarman (IND,116) bt (5) (WC) Ryan Sweeting (USA,147) 64 46 62

[F] (3) Somdev Devvarman (IND,116) vs (2) Kevin Kim (USA,105)

Somi started well breaking Ryan serve in second game but Ryan broke back in 7th game ... But at 5-4 Somi broke Ryan's serve to won first set ... In second set Somi was struggling with his first serve and moreover his defensive approach like standing 10 feets behind baseline while returning the serve was hurting him ... Ryan broke Somi in 7th game and that was enough for him to won second set ... Somi continued to struggle with his first serve in this match ... In third set he broke Ryan serve in 2nd game ... Then again Somi broke him in 6th game to go up 5-1 ... But here instead of finishing the match he played crappy service game and lost game on love ... But Somi managed to win match in next game as Ryan committed 2 double faults and Somi converted 3rd match point ... In the final he is facing Kevin Kim.
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At $50K Aachen Challenger , Germany

[Q1] (6) Rohan BOPANNA (IND,414) bt Andrej MARTIN (SVK,457) 57 62 64
[Q2) (6) Rohan BOPANNA (IND,414) bt Thomas SCHOOREL (NED,459) 67(4) 62 76(9)

[Q3] (6) BOPANNA, Rohan (IND,414) v. (2) SORENSEN, Louk (IRL,337)

Bops win both matches after long dog fight ... In both matches he lost first set but in second match he was stretched to fullest ... Hopefully he has enough fuel in tank for final qualifying.
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Hockey News
At Asia Cup 2009, Thailand

Final
India l China 3-5

Goal Scored - Surinder Kaur (IND) 8', Mamta Kharab (IND) 43', Deepika (IND) 60' and Fu Bao Rang (CHN) 13', Ma Yi Bo (CHN) 16' PC, Zhao Yu Dia (CHN) 27', Ma Yi Bo (CHN) 44' PC, De Jiao Jiao (CHN) 55'

China wins the Asia Cup beating India 5-3 ...After 1-3 down in first half Indian women didn't lose hope and scored 2 goals in second half ... Other hand Chinese girls kept fighting with their counter attacking skill and they also scored 2 goals ... Though our women were controling most of second half but failing to score on penalty corners proved costly for them ... They wasted 3 penalty corners in second half.
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Football News
At AFC Under 19 Qualification 2009, Arbil

India u-19 l Saudi Arabia u-19 1-3

Goal Scored - Malsawmfela (IND) 28' and Deepak Devrani (IND) 57' OG, Abdullah Ali S Almohammed (KSA) 89', Muhannad Hamed J Alfarsi (KSA) 90+'

Saudi Arabian boys scored late goals that was undoing for Indian boys.

Tennis News
At $50K Charlottesville Challenger, Virginia, USA

[QF] (Q) Sanam Singh (IND,UNR) l (2) Kevin Kim (USA,105) 57 76(3) 67(5)
[QF] (3) Somdev Devvarman (IND,116) bt Matwe Middelkoop (NED,370) 63 64

[SF] (3) Somdev Devvarman (IND,116) vs (5) (WC) Ryan Sweeting (USA,147)

What a match played by Sanam ... He matched shot to shot with Kim ... I think experience of playing on this level helped Kim to win this match ... After losing first set Sanam take medical break but he kept fighting until end ... He won second set in tie-break ... Was up 2-0 with break in third set but Kim broke back immediately to make it 3-all ... In 8th game Sanam saved 3 break points ... In tie-break Kim take early mini-break to lead 2-1 but Sanam immediately broke back ... At 2-3 Sanam committed double fault to gave lead to Kim but again Sanam fought back to make it 5-all ... Again Sanam double faulted at this crucial moment to gave Kim match point and Kim take this opportunity with big service winner ... These 2 double faults were crucial but very encouraging performance by Sanam ... Hats off!!!

In first set Somi started strongly after 1-all he won next 4 games on a row to lead 5-1 but Middelkoop broke back but Somi hold his next serve to won this set ... Second set also went like first set and Somi kept control to moved into semis ... His next opponent is American Ryan Sweeting, with whom in their only meeting he lost 57 46 at Delray Beach ATP qualifying.

Football News
At I League 2009-10, India - Round VII

Pune FC dw Shillong Lajong FC 1-1

Goal Scored - Shanmugam Venkatesh (PFC) 62' and Daniel Bidemi (SL) 90+'

Pune FC is still searching for their first win ... In this match when only 30 seconds were remaining their Selwyn Fernandes unintentionally hand ball inside the box, which gave Lajong opportunity with spot kick and their Daniel Bidemi converted it coolly.
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Churchill Brothers SC bt Dempo SC 3-2

Goal Scored - Odafe Onyeka Okolie (CB) 8' P & 87', Felix Chimaokwu (CB) 79' and Ranty Martins Soleye (DSC) 23' & 32'

Odafe's late goal helped Churchill to scored derby win against Dempo.
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Mumbai FC bt JCT Phagwara 2-0

Goal Scored - Bashiru Abbas Mohd. (MFC) 63', Abhishek Yadav (MFC) 81' P

Mumbai FC continued with their good run.
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Air India l East Bengal 0-1

Goal Scored - Abel Hammond (EB) 29'

This was East Bengal's first win at Cooperage after December 2003.
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Sporting Clube de Goa dw Mohun Bagan 2-2

Goal Scored - Nathaniel Adisa Amos (SCG) 23', Joseph Pereira (SCG) 43' and Branco Vincent Cardozo (MB) 32', Marcos Alexandro de Carvalho Pereira (MB) 42'

In well fought match Sporting managed to hold Bagan.
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Chirag United bt Salgaocar SC 2-0

Goal Scored - Joshimar (CU) 52' & 68'

With this win Chirag United grab top position in I-League.
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Mahindra United bt Viva Kerela 1-1

Goal Scored - Mohammed Rafi (MU) 54' and Wisut Bunpeng (VK) 29'

Viva hold Mahindra in their away match.

Hockey News
At Asia Cup 2009, Thailand

Semi Final
India bt South Korea 3-2

Goal Scored - Jasjeet Kaur (IND) 8' PC & 39', Rani Ramphal (IND) 55' and

Indian women defeated South Koreans to reach final at Asia Cup but importantly reaching final guaranteed their direct entry in 2010 World Cup.

After drawing in last pool match against Malaysia Indians women had tough task of facing South Korea ... And Indian team take that challenge, they dominated the match from start ... Our team was comfortably ahead leading 3-0 but South Koreans fought hard in last 15 mins ... Managed to scored 2 goals but in end Indians defended well to save penalty corners ... In the final they r facing China.

Tennis News
At $50K Charlottesville Challenger, Virginia, USA

[R2] (Q) Sanam Singh (IND,UNR) bt Scoville Jenkins (USA,230) 16 76(1) 64
[R2] (3) Somdev Devvarman (IND,116) bt Izaak Van der Merwe (RSA,264) 62 16 62

[QF] (Q) Sanam Singh (IND,UNR) vs (2) Kevin Kim (USA,105)
[QF] (3) Somdev Devvarman (IND,116) vs Matwe Middelkoop (NED,370)

Sanam's amazing run continued in Charlottesville Challenger ... He scored another upset win in 3 sets over experienced American player, Scoville Jenkins ... In this match also he showed his never die attitude after losing first set.

In first set Jenkins was too strong with his first serve and pinpoint ground strokes ... He broke Sanam in 2nd and 6th games to won first set easily ... In second set Sanam started to find his game and his serve started to work for him ... He broke Jenkins in 4th game but Jenkins broke back Sanam's serve in 7th game ... Jenkins also saved couple of set points in 12th game to forced tie-break ... But in tie-break Sanam was too strong, he lost first point in tie-break after leading 5-0 ... Surprising to see Sanam kept fighting in this match ... As this was his 5th match in 6 days in which most of them went to 3 sets ... In third set also Sanam played controlled tennis .. His backhands were working and his first serve percentage was also high ... He broke Jenkins's serve in 3rd game and didn't face single break point on his serve ... He converted second match point to moved into his first challenger quarter-final ... In quarter final he is facing 2nd seed Kevin Kim.

In his match Somdev struggled with his game ... His first serve wasn't working and he didn't able to hit his sharp ground strokes ... But still he managed to hang on against big serving Van der Merwe and scripted victory to moved into quarters.

After both players shared first 2 sets in the beginning of third set momentum was with Van der Merwe ... He started well breaking Somi's serve in third game but Somi broke Van der Merwe's serve in next game to make it 2-all ... This was turning point of the match ... Somi again broke Van der Merwe's serve in 6th and 8th games to complete the victory ... Next in quarter he is facing Dutch player Matwe Middelkoop.

Somdev removed his name from doubles may be due to fatigue after first round and traveling from Asia.
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At $100K+H Chuncheon Challenger, South Korea

[QF] Prakash Amritraj (IND,223) l Igor Sijsling (NED,250) 57 46

Doubles
[SF] (4) Purav Raja (IND)/ Sadik Kadir (AUS) l Andis Juska (LAT)/ Dmitri Sitak (RUS) 63 36 (12)14

Not sure but this week Sijsling looks hot player in this challenger ... But for Kash lost opportunity to go deep in this big challenger.

Purav and Sadik also got upset from unseeded pair in very closely fought super tie-break.

Football News
At AFC Under 19 Qualification 2009, Arbil

India u-19 l Iraq u-19 0-5

Goal Scored - Amjed Waleed Hussain (IRQ) 10' & 56', Mustafa Jalal (IRQ) 35', Mohaimen Saleem Mallakh (IRQ) 77', Mohamed Saad Abdullah (IRQ) 86'

Iraq side dominated match from the start and scored comfortable win against our boys ... Our boys didn't match their fast paced game.

Tennis News
At $50K Charlottesville Challenger, Virginia, USA

[R1] (3) Somdev Devvarman (IND,116) bt (WC) Denes Lukacs (HUN,1292) 63 26 75
[R1] (Q) Sanam Singh (IND,UNR) bt (6) Grega Zemlja (SLO,159) 62 57 64

[R2] (Q) Sanam Singh (IND,UNR) vs Scoville Jenkins (USA,230)
[R2] (3) Somdev Devvarman (IND,116) vs Izaak Van der Merwe (RSA,264)

Doubles
[R1] (1) Harsh Mankad (IND)/ Treat Huey (PHI) l (WC) Cory Parr (USA)/ Todd Paul (USA) 67(2) 57
[R1] Somdev Devvarman (IND)/ Alex Bogomolov Jr. (USA) vs Kevin Anderson (RSA)/ Donald Young (USA)

Writing this report from onlooker report
Sanam won first set breaking Zemlja's serve in 3rd and 5th games ... In this set he had 8 aces ... In second set Sanam broke Zemlja's serve in 7th game and was serving for the match at 5-4 but Zemlja broke Sanam's serve saving 2 match points and Zemlja take full advantage of disappointed Sanam's breaking him again in 12th game to won second set ... In third set Zemlja started well breaking Sanam's serve in 2nd game, that means Zemlja won 6 games on a row ... But instead of going down Sanam showed excellent fighting ability (I feel true credit should go to UVa coach Brian Boland, that he is turning our players in to proper pro players, who never lose their hopes.), he broke Zemlja's serve in 3rd game and take another break in 5th game to taking control of third set ... In final game Sanam was down 0-30 but he won next 4 points to complete excellent victory.

Somi had expected tough match of 2 and 1/2 hours ... It was baseline duel from the start ... In first set Somi was in control and moved Lukacs all over the court ... He broke Lukacs's serve in 5th and 7th games to won first set ... Seconfd set was exactly opposite of first set and this time Lukacs dominated this set moving Somi all over the court ... He broke Somi's serve in 5th and 7th games to won second set easily ... In third set also Somi was struggling with holding his serve and Lukacs was comfortably holding his service games ... But from 3-2 Somi again started to find his range and from their tide started to move in his favor ... In game 8 Somi had a break point chance but couldn't convert it ... Somi broke Lukacs's serve in 12th game after leading 6-5, converting 2nd match point.

But in doubles our top-seed pair of Harsh and Treat lost against college pair ... As per report, match was close but Treat struggled with his net game ... Hopefully next week they will perform better.
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At $100K+H Chuncheon Challenger, South Korea

[R2] Prakash Amritraj (IND,223) bt Andis Juska (LAT,287) 61 26 76(4)

[QF] Prakash Amritraj (IND,223) vs Igor Sijsling (NED,250)

Doubles
[QF] (4) Purav Raja (IND)/ Sadik Kadir (AUS) bt Greg Jones (AUS)/ Pavel Snobel (CZE) 63 62
[R1] Prakash Amritraj (IND)/ Alex Kuznetsov (USA) l (2) Rik De Voest (RSA)/ Frederik Nielsen (DEN) 36 46

Prakash scored good tight win over Latvian in third set tie-break ... In quarters he is facing Sijsling, who upset 3rd seed in second round.

Purav and Sadik scored another easy victory to moved into semis.
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At $35K+H Eckental Challenger, Germany

[R1] (3) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Rameez Junaid (AUS) l Martin Fischer (AUT)/ Philipp Oswald (AUT) 75 36 (11)13

Another disappointing loss for Rohan, next week we can find him outside top-100 doubles ranking.

Chess News
Pune's Soumya Swaminathan won World Junior Chess Championship, she became 3rd Indian girl to achieve this feat after Koneru Humpy and Dronavalli Harika ... This will also give her a direct entry to the Women's World Championship.

Soumya was leading in Argentina after 10 rounds ... But a draw in the 11th against Russian Zoja Severiukhina and a heartbreaking loss in the 12th to higher-rated Corri Tello Deysi of Peru [2361] reduce her title hopes ... After 12th round Turkish girl Yildiz Betul Cemre was leading by 0.5 point with 9.0 pts and Soumya & Corri were on second place with 8.5 pts ... In the dramatic final round Soumya clinched the title ... Soumya received help from another Indian girl, Kiran Manisha Mohanty ... Kiran Manisha Mohanty played excellent game without giving any chance to leader Yildiz Betul Cemre, who only managed draw ... Then Soumya defeated another Turkish girl Kübra Öztürk in 36 moves and Corri defeated WGM Iozefina Paulet of Romania ... This makes 3 way tie with 9.5/13 points but Soumya won on better tie-break.

At the u-20 World Junior Chess Championship 2009, Patagonia, Argentina

Girls' Championship - top rankings after thirteen rounds (final)
1 WGM Soumya Swaminathan IND [2297] 9.5 (TB. 27314)
2 WIM Cori Tello Deysi PER [2361] 9.5 (TB. 27250)
3 WIM Yildiz Betul Cemre TUR [2224] 9.5 (TB. 27052)
4 WIM Zhang Xiaowen CHN [2391] 9.0 (TB. 27216)
5 WIM Mikadze Miranda GEO [2317] 8.5 (TB. 27071)
6 WIM Severiukhina Zoja RUS [2339] 8.0 (TB. 27135)
7 WGM Paulet Iozefina ROU [2342] 8.0 (TB. 26978)
8 WIM Padmini Rout IND [2331] 8.0 (TB. 26896)
9 WFM Tjolsen Katrine NOR [2178] 8.0 (TB. 26619)
10 WIM Kiran Manisha Mohanty IND [2153] 8.0 (TB. 26563)

Tennis News
At $100K+H Chuncheon Challenger, South Korea

[R1] Prakash Amritraj (IND,223) bt (5) Kyu Tae Im (KOR, 165) 76(2) 62

Doubles
[R1] (4) Purav Raja (IND)/ Sadik Kadir (AUS) bt Kamil Capkovik (SVK)/ Pavol Cervenak (SVK) 62 61
[R1] Prakash Amritraj (IND)/ Alex Kuznetsov (USA) vs (2) Rik De Voest (RSA)/ Frederik Nielsen (DEN)

In first set Kyu Tae Im broke Prakash's serve in 5th game @15 but Kash broke back Im's serve in 8th game after deuce ... But Im again broke Kash's serve on luv and while serving for the set Kash again broke back after deuce ... In tie-break Kash dominated to won losing just 2 points ... Second set Kash saved couple of break point in 2nd game but afterward he dominated the match ... He broke Im's serve in 3rd and 7th games @15 to won match in straight sets ... In final game he was up 40-0 but then Im saved all 3 match points but Kash converted next point.

Good winning start for Purav and Sadik over capable pair.
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At $50K Charlottesville Challenger, Virginia, USA

[Q3] (WC) Sanam Singh (IND,UNR) bt (8) Kaden Hensel (AUS,514) 62 16 75

[R1] (Q) Sanam Singh (IND,UNR) vs (6) Grega Zemlja (SLO,159)

Another good win by Sanam over top-500 player, this time tiring 3 sets ... He is really showing good progress with his stint at UVa ... He is having tough first round against 6th seed & #159 Grega Zemlja.

Tennis News
At $50K Charlottesville Challenger, Virginia, USA

[Q2] (WC) Sanam Singh (IND,UNR) bt Adam Hubble (AUS,695) 64 64

[Q3] (WC) Sanam Singh (IND,UNR) vs (8) Kaden Hensel (AUS,514)

[R1] (3) Somdev Devvarman (IND,116) vs (WC) Denes Lukacs (HUN,1292)

Doubles
[R1] (1) Harsh Mankad (IND)/ Treat Huey (PHI) vs (WC) Cory Parr (USA)/ Todd Paul (USA)
[R1] Somdev Devvarman (IND)/ Alex Bogomolov Jr. (USA) vs Kevin Anderson (RSA)/ Donald Young (USA)

Another straights sets victory for Sanam ... Those who watched this match they reported Sanam was playing excellent from back side of court, generating lot of pace ... His backhand was treat to watch ... Next he is facing another Aussie 8th seed Hensel.

This week Somi climb to his PB singles ranking ... In first round he is facing UVa college player Denes Lukacs, this match is tricky for Somi as in his college days also as freshman Lukacs troubled Somi in his last year of college ... In doubles Harsh and Treat r top-seed ... First round they r facing wild card local (college?) pair ... Somi and Alex having very interesting match against Kevin and Young.
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At $35K+H Eckental Challenger, Germany

[Q2] (7) Rohan Bopanna (IND,414) l Antal Van Der Duim (NED,631) 62 67(2) 26

Doubles
[R1] (3) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Rameez Junaid (AUS) vs Martin Fischer (AUT)/ Philipp Oswald (AUT)

After losing second set in tie-break Bops lost control over the match ... This was winnable match considering it was playing on fast Carpet courts.

Football News
At I League 2009-10, India - Round VI

Mumbai FC bt Mohun Bagan 2-1

Goal Scored - Abhishek Yadav (MFC) 1', Mohammad Abbas (MFC) 41' and Snehashish Chakraborty (MB) 60'

Mohun Bagan goalkeeper Shilton Paul was culprit of this loss.
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East Bengal bt Viva Kerala 1-0

Goal Scored - Syed Rahim Nabi (EB) 11'

East Bengal scored their first victory.
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Sporting Clube de Goa dw Chirag United SC 1-1

Goal Scored - Nathaniel Adisa Amos (SCG) 82' and Edmilson Marques Pardal 80' (CU)

Amos saved day for Sporting with late equalizer.
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Shillong Lajong FC dw Salgaocar SC 0-0
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Air India l Churchill Brothers 2-3

Goal Scored - Dada Nabeel (AI) 4', N D Opara (AI) 45' and Ogba Kalu (CB) 31' & 37', Odafa Okolie (CB) 86'

In well contested match Churchill Brothers defeated Air men.
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Pune FC dw Dempo SC 1-1

Goal Scored - Izumi Arata (PFC) 76' and Anthony Pereira (DSC) 82'

Pune FC wasted golden opportunity of scoring their first win ... After leading Pune FC defenders gave opportunity to Goan team which taken by their Captain ... So 5th draw from 6 matches for Pune FC, still searching for their first win.
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JCT Phagwara dw Mahindra United 0-0