Sunday, May 31, 2009

Tennis News
At French Open 2009,

[R3] (4) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Mark Knowles (BAH) l Jose Acasuso (ARG)/ Fernando Gonzalez (CHI) 57 64 46

Mahesh and Mark lost in third round against South Americans in 3 sets ... It always feel bad when doubles specialist pair lost against singles players ... So only Lee is remaining in doubles.
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At $50K Carson Challenger II, California, USA

[F] Harsh Mankad (IND)/ Frederik Nielsen (DEN) bt (2) Carsten Ball (AUS)/ Travis Rettenmaier (USA) 64 64

And this week harsh lifted doubles challenger title after losing last couple of finals ... He and Nielsen scored straight sets victory over 2nd seed pair ... This was Harsh's 4th challenger level doubles title, he won first title in 2003 at Donetsk Challenger, Ukraine and then last year won 2 titles in New Delhi challengers ... This win gives 75 ranking points so guranteed Harsh will re-enter into top-150 in next ranking updates.
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At $50K Nottingham Challenger, Great Britain (on grass)

[Q1] Rohan Bopanna (IND,284) bt Colin O'Brien (IRL,622) 61 62

[Q2] Rohan Bopanna (IND,284) vs Joshua Milton (GBR,703)

[R1] Prakash Amritraj (IND,161) vs (WC) Daniel Evans (GBR,316)
[R1] Somdev Devvarman (IND,135) vs Qualifier

So our top 3 singles players playing first grass court event of grass season ... Prakash and Som r in maindraw, Rohan is playing qualifying ... Expecting good rsults from Kash and Rohan on their favourite surface but as such no expectation from Som as he is playing first-time on grass in UK.

As expected easy start for Rohan against Irish player, next he is facing British player ... This match can be tricky.

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Golf News
At The European Open 2009, Ash, Kent, England

T5 Jeev Milkha Singh 67 69 71 76 -5 € 73294.06
T46 Shiv Kapur 67 74 75 76 +4 € 9212.94
T46 Jyoti Randhawa 66 73 79 74 +4 € 9212.94

Jeev must be disappointed with his performance as he was leading in 2nd and 3rd rounds ... Today Par round also gave him title as winner won with -7 score.
Badminton News
At $15K Open Volant d Or De Toulouse 2009, France

[QF] (3) Kashyap Parupalli (IND,33) bt (8) Christian Lind Thomsen (DEN,60) 18-21 21-11 21-14
[QF] (Q) Aditya Prakash (IND,UNR) l (2) Rajiv Ouseph (ENG,32) 10-21 13-21
[QF] (6) Neha Pandit (IND,69) l (3) Kati Tolmoff (EST,47) 12-21 20-22
[QF] Sayali Gokhale (IND,203) bt (Q) Atu Rosalina (INA,UNR) 21-15 16-21 21-16

[QF] Tarun Kona (IND)/ Arun Vishnu (IND) l (2) Rasmus Bonde (DEN)/ Mikkel Delbo Larsen (DEN) 16-21 15-21

[SF] (3) Kashyap Parupalli (IND,33) bt (Q) Pablo Abian (ESP,169) 16-21 21-19 21-9
[SF] Sayali Gokhale (IND,203) l (2) Jill Pittard (ENG,43) 21-19 15-21 16-21

[F] (3) Kashyap Parupalli (IND,33) vs (2) Rajiv Ouseph (ENG,32)

Only Sayali and P. Kashyap managed to score wins in quarters ... But Sayali lost semi-final in 3 games against top-45 and British no. 2 Jill Pittard.

Other hand P. Kashyap scored 2 comeback victories after losing first game ... So with this win Kashyap is in 2nd final in 2 weeks ... In final he is facing British no. 2 Rajiv Ouseph, who already defeated 2 Indians in this tournament.
Tennis News
At French Open 2009,

[R2] (4) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Mark Knowles (BAH) bt Johan Brunstrom (SWE)/ Jean-Julien Rojer (AHO) 75 67(4) 76(3)

[R3] (3) Lukas Dlouhy (CZE)/ Leander Paes (IND) bt Julien Benneteau (FRA)/ Nicolas Mahut (FRA) 76(4) 63

[R3] (4) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Mark Knowles (BAH) vs Jose Acasuso (ARG)/ Fernando Gonzalez (CHI)

[QF] (3) Lukas Dlouhy (CZE)/ Leander Paes (IND) vs (5) Bruno Soares (BRA)/ Kevin Ullyett (ZIM)

MXD
[R1] Sania Mirza (IND)/ Mahesh Bhupathi (IND) l Nathalie Dechy (FRA)/ Andy Ram (ISR) 16 57

[R2] (2) Cara Black (ZIM)/ Leander Paes (IND) l Sybille Bammer (AUT)/ Lukasz Kubot (POL) 06 61 (6)10

Mixed day for our players, in doubles our both pairs won but in mixed doubles our both pairs lost ... Sania and Mahesh lost in the first round of MXD ... 2nd seed pair of Lee and Cara lost in 2nd round which had one sided score in first 2 sets but our pair lost in super tie-break.

Lee and Lukas scored striaght sets victory against local pair to move into quarter-final ... They needed tie-break to won first but in second set they were in control ... In quarter-final they having very tough challenge of 5th seed good clay court pair of Brazilian Soares and Zimbabwian Ullyett.

Mahesh and Mark needed to dig deep to scored tight 3 sets victory over Johan Brunstrom and Jean-Julien Rojer ... Match was too closer than they expected where last 2 sets went to tie-break ... Lucky escape for them.
Boxing News
At AIBA World Junior Boxing Championships 2009, Yerevan, Armenia

Pin Weight 46kg - Final
Sandeep (IND) l Koryun Soghomonyan (ARM) 4-10

Local Armenian boy was too strong for Sandeep ... Soghomonyan won bout easily of gold medal ... Still creditable performance by our boys, who returned with a silver and 3 bronze medals.

Saturday, May 30, 2009

Tennis News
At $50K Carson Challenger II, California, USA

[SF] Harsh Mankad (IND)/ Frederik Nielsen (DEN) bt (Q) G.D. Jones (NZL)/ Scott Oudsema (USA) 63 16 10(2)

[F] Harsh Mankad (IND)/ Frederik Nielsen (DEN) vs (2) Carsten Ball (AUS)/ Travis Rettenmaier (USA)

Harsh and Frederik reached final beating qualifier in super tie-break ... In the final they will face 2nd seed pair ... So this was another challenger final for Harsh with another partner, this time I m wishing title for him.
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At $50K Carson Tournament, California, USA

[SF] (3) Shikha Uberoi (IND)/ Mashona Washington (USA) l (2) Monique Adamczak (AUS)/ Nicole Kriz (AUS) 46 26
Badminton News
At $15K Open Volant d Or De Toulouse 2009, France

[R2] (3) Kashyap Parupalli (IND,33) bt Martin Bille Larsen (DEN,120) 21-10 21-13
[R2] Ajay Jayaram (IND,81) l Dmytro Zavadsky (UKR,78) 20-22 13-21
[R2] Aditya Prakash (IND,UNR) bt Rune Massing (NED,100) 19-21 21-18 21-18
[R2] R. M. V. Gurusaidatt (IND,132) l (2) Rajiv Ouseph (ENG,32) 21-12 18-21 16-21
[R2] (6) Neha Pandit (IND,69) bt Claudia Vogelgsang (GER,106) 21-17 21-17
[R2] Sayali Gokhale (IND,203) bt (4) Camilla Sorensen (DEN,52) 21-18 16-21 21-16

[R2] Tarun Kona (IND)/ Arun Vishnu (IND) bt Vitalij Durkin (RUS)/ Nikolay Nikolaenko (RUS) 21-16 13-21 26-24
[R2] Aparna Balan (IND)/ Shruti Kurian (IND) l (4) Line Kruse (DEN)/ Mie Schjott-Kristensen (DEN) 15-21 22-20 14-21
[R2] Arun Vishnu (IND)/ Aparna Balan (IND) l Ruben Gordown (INA)/ Xin Xu Bing (CHN) 21-18 20-22 19-21

[QF] (3) Kashyap Parupalli (IND,33) vs (8) Christian Lind Thomsen (DEN,60)
[QF] (Q) Aditya Prakash (IND,UNR) vs (2) Rajiv Ouseph (ENG,32)
[QF] (6) Neha Pandit (IND,69) vs (3) Kati Tolmoff (EST,47)
[QF] Sayali Gokhale (IND,203) vs (Q) Atu Rosalina (INA,UNR)

[QF] Tarun Kona (IND)/ Arun Vishnu (IND) vs (2) Rasmus Bonde (DEN)/ Mikkel Delbo Larsen (DEN)

Sayali scored huge victory over top-50 type player to moved into quarters ... Aditya also continued his terrific run.

Friday, May 29, 2009

Boxing News
At AIBA World Junior Boxing Championships 2009, Yerevan, Armenia

Pin Weight 46kg - Final
Sandeep (IND) vs Koryun Soghomonyan (ARM)

Pin Weight 46kg
[SF] Sandeep (IND) bt Javlonbek Eshmatov (UZB) 8-4

Flyweight 50kg
[SF] Namit Bahadur (IND) l Talgat Bertleuov (KAZ) 3-7

Light Bantamweight 52kg
[SF] Shiva Thapa (IND) l Yerbolat Seidalliyev (KAZ) 6-11

Bantamweight 54kg
[SF] Vikas Khatri (IND) l Yunior Ernesto Valdes Boleri (CUB) 2-5

Only Sandeep managed to cross hurdle to move into the final .. But still satisfying performance by our young boxers as first time our 4 junior boxers reached semis in same event ... Sandeep having tough match against local boy.
Tennis News
At French Open 2009,

[R2] (14) Chia-Jung Chuang (TPE)/ Sania Mirza (IND) l Agnieszka Radwanska (POL)/ Urszula Radwanska (POL) 64 67(5) 36

[R1] (4) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Mark Knowles (BAH) bt Josselin Ouanna (FRA)/ Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (FRA) 63 62

[R2] (4) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Mark Knowles (BAH) vs Johan Brunstrom (SWE)/ Jean-Julien Rojer (AHO)
[R2] (3) Lukas Dlouhy (CZE)/ Leander Paes (IND) bt James Cerretani (USA)/ Sergiy Stakhovsky (UKR) 46 63 62

Mahesh and Mark had easy outing to moved to second round.

Lee and Lukas started slowly ... After losing first set they came into act from 4-3 in second set ... They broke opponent's serve in 8h game to win second set ... In third set they dominated Cerretani and Stakhovsky, broke their serve twice to scored victory.

Radwanska sisters were tough pairing on clay but Sania and Chia-Jung started well after exchanging breaks they grabbed important break to won first set ... In second set also they started well breaking Radwanska sisters serve early but they couldn't keep momentum ... Radwanska sisters won second set in tie-break and they won third set breaking Sania and Chia-Jung's serve twice.

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At $15K Kuwait F1 Futures, Meshref

[SF] (Q) MALIK Vijayant (IND,1315) l (7) JAZIRI Malek (TUN,572) 26 46
[SF] (8) VARDHAN Vishnu (IND,583) l (6) GHAREEB Mohammad (KUW,562) 46 67(4)

Vijayant creditable run as qualifier ended in semis ... Vishnu also lost but he fought hard against local player, who was very experienced.
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At $10K ITF Womens Futures, New Delhi

Semi Finals
Ying-Ying Duan (CHN) bt (Q) Yi Zhong (CHN) 61 63
(6) Rushmi Chakravarthi (IND) l (5) Keren Shlomo (ISR) 36 26

Rushmi lost her singles semi-final but won doubles with her Chinese partner Chun-Yan He ... They easily defeated 2nd seed pair of Keren Shlomo and Australian Kristina Pejkovic, 62 61
Badminton News
At $15K Open Volant d Or De Toulouse 2009, France

[Q1] Nishant Sinha (IND,UNR) l Nick Fransmann (NED,578) 9-21 8-21
[Q1] Oskar Bansal (IND,UNR) bt Joël Mevel (FRA,653) 21-2 21-12
[Q1] Aditya Prakash (IND,UNR) bt Yauheni Yakauchuk (BLR,218) 21-14 21-10

[Q2] Oskar Bansal (IND,UNR) l Zhang Hong (CHN,UNR) 19-21 21-19 11-21
[Q2] Aditya Prakash (IND,UNR) bt Alexander Sim (IRL,430) 21-11 21-12

[Q3] Aditya Prakash (IND,UNR) bt Carlos Longo (ESP,332) 21-16 21-13

[R1] Ajay Jayaram (IND,81) bt Kaveh Mehrabi (IRI,99) 21-9 21-15
[R1] (3) Kashyap Parupalli (IND,33) bt Misha Zilberman (ISR,124) 21-16 12-21 21-16
[R1] R. M. V. Gurusaidatt (IND,132) bt Michael Lahnsteiner (AUT,129) 20-22 21-18 21-8
[R1] Aditya Prakash (IND,UNR) bt (Q) Andreas Heinz (GER,578) 16-21 21-10 21-9

[R1] Dhanya Nair (IND,222) l Valerie St. Jacques (CAN,216) 21-14 19-21 18-21
[R1] (6) Neha Pandit (IND,69) bt Barbara Matias (FRA,98) 21-14 23-21
[R1] Sayali Gokhale (IND,203) bt Yoana Martinez (ESP,195) 21-16 21-18

[R1] Tarun Kona (IND)/ Arun Vishnu (IND) bt Baptiste Careme (FRA)/ Sylvain Grosjean (FRA) 21-18 14-21 21-18
[R1] Aparna Balan (IND)/ Shruti Kurian (IND) bt Alina Hammes (GER)/ Claudia Vogelgsang (GER) 21-11 21-11
[R1] Tarun Kona (IND)/ Shruti Kurian (IND) l Robert Mateusiak (POL)/ Nadiezda Kostiuczyk (POL) 9-21 14-21
[R1] Arun Vishnu (IND)/ Aparna Balan (IND) bye

[R2] (3) Kashyap Parupalli (IND,33) vs Martin Bille Larsen (DEN,120)
[R2] (6) Neha Pandit (IND,69) vs Claudia Vogelgsang (GER,106)
[R2] Sayali Gokhale (IND,203) vs (4) Camilla Sorensen (DEN,52)

[R2] Tarun Kona (IND)/ Arun Vishnu (IND) vs Vitalij Durkin (RUS)/ Nikolay Nikolaenko (RUS)
[R2] Aparna Balan (IND)/ Shruti Kurian (IND) vs (4) Line Kruse (DEN)/ Mie Schjott-Kristensen (DEN)
[R2] Arun Vishnu (IND)/ Aparna Balan (IND) vs Ruben Gordown (INA)/ Xin Xu Bing (CHN)

This week our second string players playing Toulouse International Challenge event ... Again Aditya Prakash qualified for maindraw ... Overall good start for our contingent.

Thursday, May 28, 2009

Tennis News
At French Open 2009,

MXD
[R1] (2) Cara Black (ZIM)/ Leander Paes (IND) bt Virginie Razzano (FRA)/ Jeff Coetzee (RSA) 63 63

[R2] (2) Cara Black (ZIM)/ Leander Paes (IND) vs Sybille Bammer (AUT)/ Lukasz Kubot (POL)

Easy winning start for 2nd seed pair of Cara and Lee in mixed doubles.
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At $50K Carson Challenger II, California, USA

[QF] Harsh Mankad (IND)/ Frederik Nielsen (DEN) bt (4) Brian Battistone (USA)/ Nicholas Monroe (USA) 62 63

[SF] Harsh Mankad (IND)/ Frederik Nielsen (DEN) vs (Q) G.D. Jones (NZL) / Scott Oudsema (USA)

Harsh and Nielsen scored very impressive win over seeded pair ... Next they r facing qualifiers to book place in the final.
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At $50K Carson Tournament, California, USA

[QF] (3) Shikha Uberoi (IND)/ Mashona Washington (USA) bt Gail Brodsky (USA)/ Laura Siegemund (GER) 63 75

[SF] (3) Shikha Uberoi (IND)/ Mashona Washington (USA) vs (2) Monique Adamczak (AUS)/ Nicole Kriz (AUS)

Good to see Shikha and Mashona performed as per their ranking and r in semis.
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At $15K Kuwait F1 Futures, Meshref

[QF] (Q) MALIK Vijayant (IND,1315) bt (1) RIESCHICK Sebastian (GER,454) 76(4) 76(6)
[QF] GAJJAR Rohan (IND,773) l (7) JAZIRI Malek (TUN,572) 64 26 26
[QF] (8) VARDHAN Vishnu (IND,583) bt (3) YSERN Pierrick (FRA,539) 76(4) 63

[SF] (Q) MALIK Vijayant (IND,1315) vs (7) JAZIRI Malek (TUN,572)
[SF] (8) VARDHAN Vishnu (IND,583) vs (6) GHAREEB Mohammad (KUW,562)

Doubles
[SF] NARAYANASWAMY Srirambalaji (IND)/ VIRALI-MURUGESAN Ranjeet (IND) l (4) KONTINEN Henri (FIN)/ RIESCHICK Sebastian (GER) 46 26
[SF] (3) GAJJAR Rohan (IND)/ GHAREEB Mohammad (KUW) l (2) KRKOSKA Jiri (CZE)/ YSERN Pierrick (FRA) 67(2) 46

Vijayant keep impressing with his performance ... Yesterday he scored his first win over top-450 type player in tight 2 tie-breaks ... Vishnu also kept his current good run scoring upset but expected victory over Frenchman.
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At $10K ITF Womens Futures, New Delhi

Quarter Finals
Ying-Ying Duan (CHN) bt Parija Maloo (IND) 63 64
(Q) Yi Zhong (CHN) bt (7) Yoon-Young Jeong (KOR) 57 63 63

(6) Rushmi Chakravarthi (IND) bt Renee Binnie (AUS) 67(3) 63 63
(5) Keren Shlomo (ISR) bt (Q) Soon-Mi Seo (KOR) 61 61

Sad to see no new new name coming up in womens side, Rushmi kept Indian hope alive.
Boxing News
At AIBA World Junior Boxing Championships 2009, Yerevan, Armenia

Currently AIBA World Junior Boxing Championships 2009 is going on in Armenia ... This event is for boxers in age group of 15-16 yrs.

Our 4 boxers reaches in semis and guranteed 4 medals ... Sandeep, Namit Bahadur, Shiva Thapa and Vikas Khatri r in medal bouts ... Namit Bahadur was up 4-1 after first round but in second round Haykir won 4 pts to lead 4-5 but in last round Namit won 3 pts without giving any chance to his Turkish opponent ... Shiva Thapa was up 5-1 when bout stopped as his Israeli opponent's nose bleeding didn't stop.


Pin Weight 46kg
[R1] Sandeep (IND) bt Kestutis Pukas (LTU) RSC R2 1:21
[QF] Sandeep (IND) bt Aliaksei Hohleu (BLR) 11-3

[SF] Sandeep (IND) vs Javlonbek Eshmatov (UZB)

Flyweight 50kg
[R1] Namit Bahadur (IND) bt Viktor Barak (ISR) 5-0
[QF] Namit Bahadur (IND) bt HAYKIR Bulut Haykir (TUR) 7-5

[SF] Namit Bahadur (IND) vs Talgat Bertleuov (KAZ)

Light Bantamweight 52kg
[R1] Shiva Thapa (IND) bt HLOYAN Andranik Hloyan (ARM) 11-2
[R2] Shiva Thapa (IND) bt Yuriy Shestak (UKR) 9-2
[QF] Shiva Thapa (IND) bt Makhlin Stanislav (ISR) RSCI R1 2:00

[SF] Shiva Thapa (IND) vs Yerbolat Seidalliyev (KAZ)

Bantamweight 54kg
[R1] Vikas Khatri (IND) bt Przemyslaw Runowski (POL) 8-2
[QF] Vikas Khatri (IND) bt Yang Zhang (CHN) 8-6

[SF] Vikas Khatri (IND) vs Yunior Ernesto Valdes Boleri (CUB)

Light Flyweight 48kg
[R1] Gaurav Bidhuri (IND) bt Freddie Ortiz (PUR) 7-2
[QF] Gaurav Bidhuri (IND) l Bagdat Uaidayev (KAZ) 4-8

Featherweight 57kg
[R1] Kuldeep (IND) bt Andrei Mikhailau (BLR) 9-8
[QF] Kuldeep (IND) l Aleko Chadashvili (GEO) 8-11

Light Middleweight 70kg
[R1] Sumit Sangwan (IND) bt Yossi Levi (ISR) 11-0
[R2] Sumit Sangwan (IND) l Burak Aksim (TUR) 3-9

Lightweight 60kg
[R1] Mandeep Jangra (IND) l Ricardas Kuncaitis (LTU) 1-2

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Tennis News
At French Open 2009,

[R1] (14) Chia-Jung Chuang (TPE)/ Sania Mirza (IND) bt Ipek Senoglu (TUR)/ Yanina Wickmayer (BEL) 75 61

[R1] (3) Lukas Dlouhy (CZE)/ Leander Paes (IND) bt Sebastien De Chaunac (FRA)/ Benoit Paire (FRA) 61 63
[R1] Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Jonathan Erlich (ISR) l Guillermo Garcia-Lopez (ESP)/ Sergio Roitman (ARG) 46 67(10)
[R1] Rajeev Ram (USA)/ Bobby Reynolds (USA) l Andrei Pavel (ROU)/ Horia Tecau (ROU) 26 57

[R2] (14) Chia-Jung Chuang (TPE)/ Sania Mirza (IND) vs Agnieszka Radwanska (POL)/ Urszula Radwanska (POL)
[R2] (3) Lukas Dlouhy (CZE)/ Leander Paes (IND) vs James Cerretani (USA)/ Sergiy Stakhovsky (UKR)

Sania and Chia-Jung started badly losing their serve but they fought back and dominated second set after winning tight first set ... In second round they r facing Polish Radwanska sisters.

Our 3rd seed pair started with very easy victory without losing much sweat.

But Rohan and Erlich lost their match against clay courters ... They fought hard in second set but couldn't forced third set.

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At $50K Carson Tournament, California, USA

[R1] (Q) Shikha Uberoi (IND,533) l (8) Alexandra Stevenson (USA,263) 76(5) 36 36

Doubles
[R1] (3) Shikha Uberoi (IND)/ Mashona Washington (USA) bt (WC) Kristie Ahn (USA)/ Danielle Lao (USA) 64 63

[QF] (3) Shikha Uberoi (IND)/ Mashona Washington (USA) vs Gail Brodsky (USA)/ Laura Siegemund (GER)

Shikha started well winning first set in tie-break but then she found Stevenson too strong to handle.
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At $15K Kuwait F1 Futures, Meshref

[R2] (Q) MALIK Vijayant (IND,1315) bt (5) LEJNIEKS Karlis (LAT,554) 63 63
[R2] GAJJAR Rohan (IND,773) bt (PR) SHOKEEN Vivek (IND,1202) 62 76(2)
[R2] (8) VARDHAN Vishnu (IND,583) bt (Q) KISLYANSKIY Roman (RUS,1538) 62 61

[QF] (Q) MALIK Vijayant (IND,1315) vs (1) RIESCHICK Sebastian (GER,454)
[QF] GAJJAR Rohan (IND,773) vs (7) JAZIRI Malek (TUN,572)
[QF] (8) VARDHAN Vishnu (IND,583) vs (3) YSERN Pierrick (FRA,539)

Doubles
[QF] NARAYANASWAMY Srirambalaji (IND)/ VIRALI-MURUGESAN Ranjeet (IND) bt (1) FILENKOV Alexei (RUS)/ LEE Hsin-Han (TPE) 61 61
[QF] SHARAN Divij (IND)/ VARDHAN Vishnu (IND) l (4) KONTINEN Henri (FIN)/ RIESCHICK Sebastian (GER) 36 26
[QF] (3) GAJJAR Rohan (IND)/ GHAREEB Mohammad (KUW) bt AL MOUSA Hassan (KUW)/ MUHAMMAD Ahmad Rabeea (KUW) 63 64
[QF] SHOKEEN Vivek (IND)/ SINGH Navdeep (IND) l (2) KRKOSKA Jiri (CZE)/ YSERN Pierrick (FRA) 36 46

[SF] NARAYANASWAMY Srirambalaji (IND)/ VIRALI-MURUGESAN Ranjeet (IND) vs (4) KONTINEN Henri (FIN)/ RIESCHICK Sebastian (GER)
[SF] (3) GAJJAR Rohan (IND)/ GHAREEB Mohammad (KUW) vs (2) KRKOSKA Jiri (CZE)/ YSERN Pierrick (FRA)

Vijaykant scored huge victory in his small career over 5th seed Latvian ... This was his first win over top-550 type player ... Tomorrow as expected our all players having tough matches.
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At $10K ITF Womens Futures, New Delhi

First Round
(1) Ankita BHAMBRI (IND) bt (WC) Ratnika BATRA (IND) 62 60
Ying-Ying DUAN (CHN) bt (Q) Moe KAWATOKO (JPN) 62 63
(Q) Treta BHATTACHARYYA (IND) bt (WC) Aishwarya AGRAWAL (IND) 63 76
Parija MALOO (IND) bt (8) Parul GOSWAMI (IND) 67 76 61
(4) Sanaa BHAMBRI (IND) bt Ting LI (CHN) 64 76
(Q) Yi ZHONG (CHN) bt (WC) Shweta RANA (IND) 64 76
Jung-Yoon SHIN (KOR) bt Shivika BURMAN (IND) 62 64
(7) Yoon-Young JEONG (KOR) bt (WC) Radhika JADHAV (IND) 60 60
(6) Rushmi CHAKRAVARTHI (IND) bt Alisa OGORODOVA (UZB) 61 16 63
Seo-Kyung KANG (KOR) bt Stephanie THEILER (SUI) 60 62
Renee BINNIE (AUS) bt Kumari-Sweta SOLANKI (IND) 62 76
(3) Isha LAKHANI (IND) bt (Q) Sonya DAYAL (IND) 62 61
(5) Keren SHLOMO (ISR) bt (Q) Lisa MARSHALL (RSA) 62 64
(Q) Rushmi TELTUMBDE (IND) bt (Q) Rani Smita JAIN (IND) 61 61
Marisa GIANOTTI (AUS) bt Chun-Yan HE (CHN) 62 61
(Q) Soon-Mi SEO (KOR) bt (2) Anastasia MALHOTRA (JPN) 67 75 75

Second Round
Ying-Ying Duan (CHN) bt (1) Ankita Bhambri (IND) 62 63
Parija Maloo (IND) bt (Q) Treta Bhattacharyya (IND) 63 75
(Q) Yi Zhong (CHN) bt (4) Sanaa Bhambri (IND) 62 63
(7) Yoon-Young Jeong (KOR) bt Jung-Yoon Shin (KOR) 61 60

(6) Rushmi Chakravarthi (IND) bt Seo-Kyung Kang (KOR) 67(4) 75 64
Renee Binnie (AUS) bt (3) Isha Lakhani (IND) 64 60
(5) Keren Shlomo (ISR) bt (Q) Rashmi Teltumbde (IND) 62 63
(Q) Soon-Mi Seo (KOR) bt Marisa Gianotti (AUS) 76(1) 60

Bad outing for Indian girls ... :-(
Volleyball News
At the 2010 FIVB Men’s World Championships, Teheran, Iran - Second Round Asian Qualifying
(May 25-27, 2009)

Group D
27 May 2009

India l Iran 1-3 (25-21 19-25 21-25 19-25)

So no upset but we didn't play bad match ... After winning first set we couldn't maintained momentum ... So as I earlier mentioned we will travel to China.

26 May 2009

India bt Oman 3-1 (25-18 20-25 25-23 25-19)
Iran bt Pakistan 3-0 (25-20 25-22 25-18)

So India scored win against Oman to move into final and 3rd Asian qualifying round for the 2010 FIVB Men’s World Championships ... It looks difficult that #44 Indian side can defeat host and #24 Iranian side tomorrow ... So India will be in group G in China (14-16 August) with #10 China and #13 Australia and Group E winner, which is still to be decided, June 9-11 in Thailand, probably #33 Thailand.
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Football News
At the AFC Cup 2009, (Knockout stage Round of 16)

Kuwait SC bt Dempo SC 3-1

Goal Scored - Jehad Alhussien Fadel (KSC) 21', 58', 90'+ and Roberto Mendes Silva (DSC) 63'

Kuwait SC's Jehad Alhussien Fadel scored hattrick to give his side huge advantage before return leg ... Dempo having tough task in home match.
Tennis News
At French Open 2009,

[R1] Sania Mirza (IND,95) l Galina Voskoboeva (KAZ,81) 46 67(3)

Sania lost match in around 1 hour 30 minutes ... In this match Sania had chances but she couldn't able to convert them ... In first set Voskoboeva broke Sania's serve in 3rd game and that single break was enough to won set ... Sania had 4 break point opportunities but she failed to convert it ... In second set Voskoboeva started with breaking Sania's serve but Sania broke back immediately ... Voskoboeva broke Sania's serve in 7th game and was leading 3-5, Sania broke Voskoboeva's serve when she was serving for the match at 4-5 but in end Voskoboeva was too strong for Sania in tie-break as Sania also helped with 2 double faults ... In complete match Sania served 10 double faults.
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At $50K Carson Tournament, California, USA

[Q3] (1) Shikha Uberoi (IND,533) bt Krista Hardebeck (USA,UNR) 36 64 60

[R1] (Q) Shikha Uberoi (IND,533) vs (8) Alexandra Stevenson (USA,263)

Shikha struggled to beat 14 yrs old American girl ... But in end managed to pull off victory to move into maindraw.
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At $15K Kuwait F1 Futures, Meshref

[R1] (Q) NARAYANASWAMY Srirambalaji (IND,UNR) l LEE Hsin-Han (TPE,612) 57 64 46
[R1] (Q) MALIK Vijayant (IND,1315) bt (Q) MAAROUF Hayan (SYR,1844) 60 63
[R1] GAJJAR Rohan (IND,773) bt (4) KROTIOUK Sergei (RUS,544) 64 61
[R1] (PR) SHOKEEN Vivek (IND,1202) bt RICE David (GBR,884) 36 64 76(6)
[R1] SINGH Navdeep (IND,949) l THORNLEY Sean (GBR,825) 16 06
[R1] VIRALI-MURUGESAN Ranjeet (IND,847) l (3) YSERN Pierrick (FRA,539) 36 26

[R2] (Q) MALIK Vijayant (IND,1315) vs (5) LEJNIEKS Karlis (LAT,554)
[R2] GAJJAR Rohan (IND,773) vs (PR) SHOKEEN Vivek (IND,1202)
[R2] (8) VARDHAN Vishnu (IND,583) vs (Q) KISLYANSKIY Roman (RUS,1538)

Doubles
[R1] SHARAN Divij (IND)/ VARDHAN Vishnu (IND) bt (WC) JANAHI Hamad Abbas (UAE)/ SULTAN Ziad (KUW) 61 62

[QF] SHARAN Divij (IND)/ VARDHAN Vishnu (IND) vs (4) KONTINEN Henri (FIN)/ RIESCHICK Sebastian (GER)

Rohan Gajjar scored dominating win over 4th seed and top-550 Russian player ... Vivek also scored very fighting comeback victory ... Now they r facing eachother in next round.

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Volleyball News
At the 2010 FIVB Men’s World Championships, Teheran, Iran - Second Round Asian Qualifying (May 25-27, 2009)

India had a bye in 1st round ... But in 2nd round we r clubed with Iran in Group D and Pakistan with Oman r other teams ... Then top 2 teams from 2 groups will be moved to 3rd and final round ... Australia, Japan, China and South Korea having direct entry in 3rd round, so 4 teams from 2nd round will be joined them ... Total 4 teams from Asia will be qualify for 2010 FIVB Men’s World Championships in Italy.

Group D
25 May 2009

India bt Pakistan 3-2 (25-18 24-26 20-25 25-20 15-13)
Iran bt Oman 3-0 (25-16 25-18 28-26)

So winning start for us, good fightback by our team after down 1-2 sets ... Today we r facing Oman if manage to beat them then we will gurantee our place in 3rd and final Asian qualifying round.
Tennis News
At $50K Carson Challenger II, California, USA

[R1] Harsh Mankad (IND)/ Frederik Nielsen (DEN) bt (WC) Lester Cook (USA)/ Jesse Witten (USA) 16 76(5) 10(6)

Harsh and his Danish partner Frederik Nielsen won their R1 beating the American wildcard duo of Lester Cook & Jesse Witten ... It was a very close fought match, our pair was 16 1-4 down ... Then they saved a match point when Harsh was serving at 5-6 (30-40) ... But in tie-break abd super tie-break they dominated to win this match.
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At $50K Carson Tournament, California, USA

[Q1] (1) Shikha Uberoi (IND,533) bye
[Q2] (1) Shikha Uberoi (IND,533) bt Cierra Gaytan-Leach (USA,UNR) 64 62

[Q3] (1) Shikha Uberoi (IND,533) vs Krista Hardebeck (USA,UNR)

Doubles
[R1] (3) Shikha Uberoi (IND)/ Mashona Washington (USA) vs (WC) Kristie Ahn (USA)/ Danielle Lao (USA)
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At $15K Kuwait F1 Futures, Meshref

[R1] (8) VARDHAN Vishnu (IND,583) bt SHARAN Divij (IND,717) 62 64
[R1] (Q) TIWARI Abhijeet (IND,1529) l (2) GOFFIN David (BEL,521) 16 26

Doubles
[R1] NARAYANASWAMY Srirambalaji (IND)/ VIRALI-MURUGESAN Ranjeet (IND) bt KROTIOUK Sergei (RUS)/ MANEGIN Anton (RUS) 63 63
[R1] (3) GAJJAR Rohan (IND)/ GHAREEB Mohammad (KUW) bt MALIK Vijayant (IND)/ TIWARI Abhijeet (IND) 63 61
[R1] SHOKEEN Vivek (IND)/ SINGH Navdeep (IND) bt RICE David (GBR)/ THORNLEY Sean (GBR) 16 61 10(7)

[QF] NARAYANASWAMY Srirambalaji (IND)/ VIRALI-MURUGESAN Ranjeet (IND) vs (1) FILENKOV Alexei (RUS)/ LEE Hsin-Han (TPE)
[QF] (3) GAJJAR Rohan (IND)/ GHAREEB Mohammad (KUW) vs AL MOUSA Hassan (KUW)/ MUHAMMAD Ahmad Rabeea (KUW)
[QF] SHOKEEN Vivek (IND)/ SINGH Navdeep (IND) vs (2) KRKOSKA Jiri (CZE)/ YSERN Pierrick (FRA)

Monday, May 25, 2009

Tennis News
At French Open 2009,

[R1] Sania Mirza (IND,95) vs Galina Voskoboeva (KAZ,81)

Doubles
[R1] (3) Lukas Dlouhy (CZE)/ Leander Paes (IND) vs Sebastien De Chaunac (FRA)/ Benoit Paire (FRA)
[R1] Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Jonathan Erlich (ISR) vs Guillermo Garcia-Lopez (ESP)/ Sergio Roitman (ARG)
[R1] (4) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Mark Knowles (BAH) vs Josselin Ouanna (FRA)/ Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (FRA)
[R1] Rajeev Ram (USA)/ Bobby Reynolds (USA) vs Andrei Pavel (ROU)/ Horia Tecau (ROU)

[R1] (14) Chia-Jung Chuang (TPE)/ Sania Mirza (IND) vs Ipek Senoglu (TUR)/ Yanina Wickmayer (BEL)

Sania having relatively easy opponent in the first round but can face 7th seed Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova in second round if she crosses the first hurdle ... In doubles she is seeded with Chia-Jung Chuang, they can meed second seeded Lisa Raymonds and Kveta Peschke in third round.

Lee and Lukas r in top draw with top seed Nestor and Zimo ... mahesh and Mark r in bottom draw with Bryans ... Rohan get very good partner in former top-5 and 2008 Australian Open doubles champion Israeli Jonathan Erlich ... Rohan and Erlich can meet Mahesh and Mark in thrid round if they wins their first 2 rounds.

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At $50K Carson Challenger II, California, USA

[R1] Harsh Mankad (IND)/ Frederik Nielsen (DEN) vs (WC) Lester Cook (USA)/ Jesse Witten (USA)

Harsh is playing with new partner this week.
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At $15K Kuwait F2 Futures, Meshref

[Q1] (1) MALIK Vijayant (IND,1315) bye
[Q1] (4) TIWARI Abhijeet (IND,1529) bye
[Q1] SOOD Chandril (IND,UNR) bt AL BITAR AbdelRahman (EGY,UNR) 61 61
[Q1] NARAYANASWAMY Srirambalaji (IND,UNR) bt SOOD Lakshit (IND,UNR) 61 61

[Q2] (1) MALIK Vijayant (IND,1315) bt AL ABDULLH Zaki (KSA,UNR) 75 62
[Q2] (4) TIWARI Abhijeet (IND,1529) bt ABBAS Saad (GBR,UNR) 62 62
[Q2] SOOD Chandril (IND,UNR) l (5) KISLYANSKIY Roman (RUS,1538) 26 26
[Q2] NARAYANASWAMY Srirambalaji (IND,UNR) bt ALI Ahmed (KUW,UNR) 63 61

[R1] (Q) NARAYANASWAMY Srirambalaji (IND,UNR) vs LEE Hsin-Han (TPE,612)
[R1] (Q) MALIK Vijayant (IND,1315) vs (Q) MAAROUF Hayan (SYR,1844)
[R1] GAJJAR Rohan (IND,773) vs (4) KROTIOUK Sergei (RUS,544)
[R1] (PR) SHOKEEN Vivek (IND,1202) vs RICE David (GBR,884)
[R1] SINGH Navdeep (IND,949) vs THORNLEY Sean (GBR,825)
[R1] (8) VARDHAN Vishnu (IND,583) vs SHARAN Divij (IND,717)
[R1] VIRALI-MURUGESAN Ranjeet (IND,847) vs (3) YSERN Pierrick (FRA,539)
[R1] (Q) TIWARI Abhijeet (IND,1529) vs (2) GOFFIN David (BEL,521)

Doubles
[R1] SHARAN Divij (IND)/ VARDHAN Vishnu (IND) vs (WC) JANAHI Hamad Abbas (UAE)/ SULTAN Ziad (KUW)
[R1] NARAYANASWAMY Srirambalaji (IND)/ VIRALI-MURUGESAN Ranjeet (IND) vs KROTIOUK Sergei (RUS)/ MANEGIN Anton (RUS)
[R1] (3) GAJJAR Rohan (IND)/ GHAREEB Mohammad (KUW) vs MALIK Vijayant (IND)/ TIWARI Abhijeet (IND)
[R1] SHOKEEN Vivek (IND)/ SINGH Navdeep (IND) vs RICE David (GBR)/ THORNLEY Sean (GBR)

So again 3 Indians qualified for maindraw ... But Yuki is missing from the list due to ankle injury ... Last week in doubles quarter-final he twisted his ankle while playing over head shot, though injury isn't serious but due to this injury he is going to miss Junior French Open 2009 as doctor asked him to took rest for 2 to 3 weeks before playing on the tour.

In between good news r keep coming for Yuki Bhambri ... He recieved invitation of playing with American teen age sensation Ryan Harrison to play with Andre Agassi and Pete Sampras in the Venetian Macao Tennis Showdown, an exhibition event this October.


Yuki Bhambri - “I’ll have to be there to believe it. I think I still wouldn’t believe it if I was right there with them. You dream of watching them play, but to actually play with them is huge.”
Badminton News
At $15K XXII Spanish International 2009, Madrid

Current national champion Sayali Gokhale won her first international title ... She scored upset victories to won this title without losing a single game ... She had couple of top-100 victory and also scored big upset win over top-45 British player Jill Pittard in semis.

Kashyap Parupalli lost in the final against Danish player ... Also good performance by new pairs of Aparna Balan/ Shruti Kurian and Arun Vishnu/ Aparna Balan, who also reached final at this International series.

Also interesting to note P. Kashyap is currently on his personal best singles ranking.


Finals
Sayali Gokhale (IND,203) bt Lianne Tan (BEL,102) 21-9 21-18
(2) Kashyap Parupalli (IND,33) l (5) Hans-Kristian Vittinghus (DEN,43) 10-21 16-21

Aparna Balan (IND)/ Shruti Kurian (IND) l (2) Line Damkjær Kruse (DEN)/ Mie Schjøtt-Kristensen (DEN) 14-21 21-17 15-21
Arun Vishnu (IND)/ Aparna Balan (IND) l Robin Middleton (ENG)/ Mariana Agathangelou (ENG) 16-21 15-21

[SF] (2) Kashyap Parupalli (IND,33) bt (4) Brice Leverdez (FRA,41) 21-12 21-10
[SF] Sayali Gokhale (IND,203) bt (2) Jill Pittard (ENG,43) 21-18 21-16

[SF] Aparna Balan (IND)/ Shruti Kurian (IND) bt Mariana Agathangelou (ENG)/ Heather Olver (ENG) 21-13 21-19
[SF] Arun Vishnu (IND)/ Aparna Balan (IND) bt (1) Wouter Claes (BEL)/ Nathalie Descamps (BEL) 19-21 21-10 21-19

[QF] (2) Kashyap Parupalli (IND,33) bt R. M. V. Gurusaidatt (IND,132) 21-19 11-21 21-18
[QF] Sayali Gokhale (IND,203) bt Beatriz Corrales (ESP,317) 21-13 22-20

[QF] Abantika Deka (IND)/ Vania Leça (POR) l Johanna Goliszewski (GER)/ Inken Wienefeld (GER) 14-21 15-21
[QF] Aparna Balan (IND)/ Shruti Kurian (IND) bt Lotte Bonde (DEN)/ Louise Hansen (DEN) 21-11 21-8
[QF] Arun Vishnu (IND)/ Aparna Balan (IND) bt Andrew Ellis (ENG)/ Heather Olver (ENG) 15-21 21-18 21-16

[R2] Ajay Jayaram (IND,81) l Pablo Abian (ESP,169) 22-24 15-21
[R2] R. M. V. Gurusaidatt (IND,132) bt Kasper Ipsen (DEN,77) 21-11 16-21 21-18
[R2] (2) Kashyap Parupalli (IND,33) bt (Q) Ernesto Velazquez (ESP,403) 21-18 21-18

[R2] Abantika Deka (IND,203) l (7) Camilla Overgaard (DEN,95) 19-21 21-19 16-21
[R2] Sayali Gokhale (IND,203) bt (5) Nathalie Descamps (BEL,86) 21-8 21-15

[R2] Tarun Kona (IND)/ Arun Vishnu (IND) l Dean George (ENG)/ Chris Langridge (ENG) 9-21 21-16 14-21
[R2] Abantika Deka (IND)/ Vania Leça (POR) bt (4) Laura Molina (ESP)/ Haidee Ojeda (ESP) 21-18 17-21 22-20
[R2] Aparna Balan (IND)/ Shruti Kurian (IND) bt Milaine Cloutier (CAN)/ Valerie St. Jacques (CAN) 21-16 21-17
[R2] Tarun Kona (IND)/ Shruti Kurian (IND) l Peter Mørk (DEN)/ Maria Helsbøl (DEN) 22-24 21-18 11-21
[R2] Arun Vishnu (IND)/ Aparna Balan (IND) bt (4) Joe Morgan (WAL)/ Kerry Ann Sheppard (WAL) 21-18 21-16

[R1] Ajay Jayaram (IND,81) bt Kaveh Mehrabi (IRI,99) 21-10 21-10
[R1] R. M. V. Gurusaidatt (IND,132) bt (Q) Vidre Wibowo (SWE,320) 21-10 21-15
[R1] (2) Kashyap Parupalli (IND,33) bt Marcel Reuter (GER,108) 16-21 21-15 21-6

[R1] Abantika Deka (IND,203) bt Alexandra Langley (ENG,359) 21-17 21-17
[R1] (4) Neha Pandit (IND,69) l Valerie St. Jacques (CAN,216) 15-21 16-21
[R1] Sayali Gokhale (IND,203) bt Claudia Mayer (AUT,97) 21-14 21-7

[R1] Tarun Kona (IND)/ Arun Vishnu (IND) bye
[R1] Abantika Deka (IND)/ Vania Leça (POR) bye
[R1] Aparna Balan (IND)/ Shruti Kurian (IND) bt Carolina Marin (ESP)/ Ana Maria Martin (ESP) 21-13 21-8
[R1] Tarun Kona (IND)/ Shruti Kurian (IND) bye
[R1] Arun Vishnu (IND)/ Aparna Balan (IND) bt (Q) Sam Magee (IRL)/ Chloe Magee (IRL) 21-16 21-11

[Q3] Aditya Prakash (IND,UNR) l (3) Pedro Martins (POR,194) 15-21 21-15 14-21
[Q2] Aditya Prakash (IND,UNR) bt Pablo Mendez (ESP,UNR) 21-17 21-9
[Q1] Aditya Prakash (IND,UNR) bt Igor Cimbur (CRO,363) 21-15 21-14
Tennis News
At French Open 2009,

[Q3] (26) Somdev Devvarman (IND,138) l (3) Marcos Daniel (BRA,96) 06 16

Som lost in one-sided match against Brazilian No. 1 winning only 1 game in the match in 58 minutes ... After reaching final qualifying round Som increased hopes of his followers but he couldn't do much against his superior clay court opponent ... Daniel didn't give any chance to Som in this match.

But considering his first French Open qualifying I would say satisfying performance to reached final qualifying but in that match scoreline was distrubing.
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At $15K Kuwait F1 Futures, Meshref

[SF] (Q) VIRALI-MURUGESAN Ranjeet (IND,857) l (4) GHAREEB Mohammad (KUW,496) 26 26

[QF] (Q) NARAYANASWAMY Srirambalaji (IND,UNR) l JAZIRI Malek (TUN,572) 26 36
[QF] (Q) VIRALI-MURUGESAN Ranjeet (IND,857) bt GAJJAR Rohan (IND,775) 26 61 64

Doubles
[F] SHOKEEN Vivek (IND)/ SINGH Navdeep (IND) l (3) KONTINEN Henri (FIN)/ RIESCHICK Sebastian (GER) 46 26

[SF] SHOKEEN Vivek (IND)/ SINGH Navdeep (IND) bt (4) BHAMBRI Yuki (IND)/ GAJJAR Rohan (IND) 76(4) 64

[QF] SHARAN Divij (IND)/ VARDHAN Vishnu (IND) l (3) KONTINEN Henri (FIN)/ RIESCHICK Sebastian (GER) 26 57
[QF] (4) BHAMBRI Yuki (IND)/ GAJJAR Rohan (IND) bt AHMADVAND Saeid (IRI)/ AL GHAREEB Ali (KUW) 62 75
[QF] SHOKEEN Vivek (IND)/ SINGH Navdeep (IND) bt (2) FILENKOV Alexei (RUS)/ SLABINSKY Alexander (GBR) 63 62

Ranjeet performed well to reach singles semis as qualifier and our unseeded pair of Vivek Shokeen and Navdeep Singh lost in the doubles final.
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At $10K ITF Womens Futures, Mumbai

Final
Seo-Kyung KANG (KOR) bt (8) Chun-Yan HE (CHN) 61 60

Semi Finals
(8) Chun-Yan HE (CHN) bt (1) Anastasia MALHOTRA (JPN) 67(6) 61 61
Seo-Kyung KANG (KOR) bt (Q) Moe KAWATOKO (JPN) 61 63

Quarter Finals
(1) Anastasia MALHOTRA (JPN) bt (5) Yoon-Young JEONG (KOR) 64 62
(8) Chun-Yan HE (CHN) bt (4) Rushmi CHAKRAVARTHI (IND) 61 76(4)
Seo-Kyung KANG (KOR) bt Alisa OGORODOVA (UZB) 63 61
(Q) Moe KAWATOKO (JPN) bt (2) Isha LAKHANI (IND) 75 75

Indian challenge got over in quarters ... In doubles top-seed pair of Rushmi Chakravarthi and Isha Lakhani won title beating their Chinese-Australian pair in super tie-break, 26 63 10(7)

Thursday, May 21, 2009

Next update on blog will be on Sunday evening as going on vacation for 3 days ... Sorry for ur inconvenience, hoping same support from u guys in the future.

Hopefully will post good news of Som qualifying for French Open 2009.
Tennis News
At French Open 2009,

[Q2] (26) Somdev Devvarman (IND,138) bt Alex Bogdanovic (GBR,198) 62 67(3) 64
[Q2] Rajeev Ram (USA,169) l (4) Victor Crivoi (ROU,99) 46 46

[Q3] (26) Somdev Devvarman (IND,138) vs (3) Marcos Daniel (BRA,96)

Som started well against serve and volleyer Britisher ... In first set Som only face a single break point in 8th game while serving for the set and he broke Bogdanovic's serve twice in 3rd game and 7th game to won it in 30 minutes ... But second set started other way around as Bogdanovic broke Som's serve in 2nd game to take early lead but Som came back breaking Bogdanovic's serve in next game ... But they they again exchanged breaks in next 2 games and then they hold their serves until 6-6 ... Bogdanovic dominated tie-break to won second set in 70 minutes ... In third set Bogdanovic started breaking Som's serve in first game ... Som break back in 4th game but he again got broken but he made another comeback in match breaking Bogdanovic's serve in 8th game to make it 4-all ... After holding his serve in 9th game he created 3 match points on Bogdanovic's serve, 0-40 ... Bogdanovic saved one match point but Som sealed match winning second match point to moved into final qualifying of French Open 2009 ... He won third set on 61 minutes, total almost 2 hours 45 minutes battle.

This is the best performance by Indian on European clay after Lee made the main draw 2nd round in the 1997 French Open ... Tomorrow Som having tough match but when challenge rises somehow Som having tendency of raising his game so in my view upset is on the card.
Tennis News
At $35K Fergana Challenger, Uzbekistan

[R1] Purav Raja (IND)/ Samuel Groth (AUS) l (3) Evgeny Kirillov (RUS)/ Alexandre Kudryavtsev (RUS) 64 16 (9)11

Very close loss in super tie-break for Purav and Groth against 3rd seed Russians.
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At $15K Kuwait F1 Futures, Meshref

[R2] (Q) NARAYANASWAMY Srirambalaji (IND,UNR) bt VARDHAN Vishnu (IND,590) 63 2-1 Retd
[R2] (PR) SHOKEEN Vivek (IND,1205) l (6) GOFFIN David (BEL,526) 46 16
[R2] SHARAN Divij (IND,723) l (4) GHAREEB Mohammad (KUW,496) 26 75 26
[R2] GAJJAR Rohan (IND,775) bt (8) YSERN Pierrick (FRA,559) 76(4) 64
[R2] (Q) VIRALI-MURUGESAN Ranjeet (IND,857) bt (Q) RICE David (GBR,897) 75 75

[QF] (Q) NARAYANASWAMY Srirambalaji (IND,UNR) vs JAZIRI Malek (TUN,572)
[QF] GAJJAR Rohan (IND,775) vs (Q) VIRALI-MURUGESAN Ranjeet (IND,857)

Good upset win by Gajjar, he will nmeet Ranjeet for place in semis ... Hoping nothing serious injury worry for Vishnu.
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At $10K ITF Womens Futures, Mumbai

Second Round
(1) Anastasia MALHOTRA (JPN) bt (WC) Rashmi TELTUMBDE (IND) 62 ?
(5) Yoon-Young JEONG (KOR) bt (WC) Tanvi SHAH (IND) 60 75
(4) Rushmi CHAKRAVARTHI (IND) bt (Q) Prerna BHAMBRI (IND) 63 63
(8) Chun-Yan HE (CHN) bt Soon-Mi SEO (KOR) 62 63
(6) Parul GOSWAMI (IND) l Seo-Kyung KANG (KOR) 63 ?
Alisa OGORODOVA (UZB) bt (3) Keren SHLOMO (ISR) ?
(Q) Moe KAWATOKO (JPN) bt (7) Kumari-Sweta SOLANKI (IND) 75 64
(2) Isha LAKHANI (IND) bt Renee BINNIE (AUS) 36 62 62

No upset by any Indians in second round .. Isha needed almost 2 hours 45 minutes to scored win against her Australian Opponent.

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Tennis News
At French Open 2009,

[Q1] Prakash Amritraj (IND,163) l (3) Marcos Daniel (BRA,96) 46 46
[Q1] (26) Somdev Devvarman (IND,138) bt João Souza (BRA,223) 62 26 75
[Q1] Rajeev Ram (USA,169) bt (WC) Julien Obry (FRA,941) 64 62

[Q2] Rajeev Ram (USA,169) vs (4) Victor Crivoi (ROU,99)
[Q2] (26) Somdev Devvarman (IND,138) vs Alex Bogdanovic (GBR,198)

Very clinical performance from Marcos Daniel, after winning first set in second set his serve was under pressure all the time but he managed to hold his serve ... Other hand Kash's was holding his serve easily but Marcos Daniel take crucial break in 9th game to win this match.

Som started with breaking Souza's serve but Souza broke immediately to make it 1-1 ... But again Som broke Souza's serve to take 2-1 lead ... Som broke again Souza in 7th game to take 2 break lead and won first set 6-2.

In 2nd set from 2-2 once again Som lost his focus and one way traffic for Souza as he won next 4 games to won second set 6-2.

In third set match was on serve until 7 games but in 8th game Souza broke Som's serve and was serving for the match on 5-3 ... But Som had another plan he broke back @ 30 and then saved 1 match point on his own serve to make it 5-5 ... Then 11th game was going for longer time, after couple of duece Som managed crucial break to lead 6-5 ... Souza saved couple of match point from 40-15 but Som converted 3rd match point to score important win.

In 2nd qualifying he is facing Britisher Alex Bogdanovic.

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At $10K ITF Womens Futures, Mumbai

First Round
(1) Anastasia MALHOTRA (JPN) bt Nupur KAUL (IND) 75 63
Rashmi TELTUMBDE (IND) bt Stephanie THEILER (SUI) 76(6) 64
Tanvi SHAH (IND) bt Anushree THAMMANNA (IND) 60 60
(5) Yoon-Young JEONG (KOR) bt Kristina PEJKOVIC (AUS) 75 63
(4) Rushmi CHAKRAVARTHI (IND) bt Jung-Yoon SHIN (KOR) 62 61
Prerna BHAMBRI (IND) bt Ashvarya SHRIVASTAVA (IND) 62 61
Soon-Mi SEO (KOR) bt Sonya DAYAL (IND) 63 63
(8) Chun-Yan HE (CHN) bt Rishika SUNKARA (IND) 64 60
(6) Parul GOSWAMI (IND) bt Treta BHATTACHARYYA (IND) 57 76(6) 63
Seo-Kyung KANG (KOR) bt Adnya NAIK (IND) 62 64
Alisa OGORODOVA (UZB) bt Aishwarya AGRAWAL (IND) 75 61
(3) Keren SHLOMO (ISR) bt Shivika BURMAN (IND) 64 64
(7) Kumari-Sweta SOLANKI (IND) bt Ankita RAINA (IND) 46 63 64
Moe KAWATOKO (JPN) bt Yui-Lynn MIAO (TPE) 26 63 75
Renee BINNIE (AUS) bt Lisa MARSHALL (RSA) 63 60
(2) Isha LAKHANI (IND) bt Marisa GIANOTTI (AUS) 62 46 61
Football News
At the AFC Cup 2009,
Group E
Dempo SC bt Al Faisaly, Jordan 3-1

Goal Scored - Ranty Martins Soleye (DSC) 1' & 52'P, Beto (DSC) 61' and Moayad Abukeshek (AlF) 35'P

Dempo scored impressive win over Al Faisaly to qualify for knock out stage ... They needed win to qualify to final 16 and they delivered when count most.
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Group D
Mohun Bagan l Al Karamah, Syria 0-4

Goal Scored - Haani Al Taiar (AlK) 11'& 72', Alaa Al Shbli (AlK) 39', Mohamad Alhamwi (AlK) 60'
Mohun Bagan's poor run in this edition ended on poor note with another one sided defeat.
Tennis News
At $15K Kuwait F1 Futures, Meshref

[R1] (Q) NARAYANASWAMY Srirambalaji (IND,UNR) bt (WC) AL GHAREEB Ali (KUW,1770) 64 63
[R1] VARDHAN Vishnu (IND,590) bt (7) LEJNIEKS Karlis (LAT,558) 76(3) 62
[R1] (PR) SHOKEEN Vivek (IND,1205) bt (Q) AL TAWEEL Issam (SYR,1499) 64 67(5) 63
[R1] SHARAN Divij (IND,723) bt (WC) JANAHI Hamad Abbas (UAE,UNR) 63 62
[R1] (Q) TIWARI Abhijeet (IND,1540) l (4) GHAREEB Mohammad (KUW,496) 16 46
[R1] (JE) BHAMBRI Yuki (IND,664) l (8) YSERN Pierrick (FRA,559) 64 46 26
[R1] GAJJAR Rohan (IND,775) bt CHERNOV Artur (RUS,620) 63 63
[R1] (Q) VIRALI-MURUGESAN Ranjeet (IND,857) bt (Q) SINGH Navdeep (IND,960) 75 63

[R2] VARDHAN Vishnu (IND,590) vs (Q) NARAYANASWAMY Srirambalaji (IND,UNR)
[R2] (PR) SHOKEEN Vivek (IND,1205) vs (6) GOFFIN David (BEL,526)
[R2] SHARAN Divij (IND,723) vs (4) GHAREEB Mohammad (KUW,496)
[R2] GAJJAR Rohan (IND,775) vs (8) YSERN Pierrick (FRA,559)
[R2] (Q) VIRALI-MURUGESAN Ranjeet (IND,857) vs (Q) RICE David (GBR,897)

Was hoping win from Yuki but he couldn't continue his tempo of first set ... But Gajjar scored good upset win over Russian ... Six Indians in second round.
Tennis News
At French Open 2009,

[Q1] (26) Somdev Devvarman (IND,138) vs João Souza (BRA,223)
[Q1] Prakash Amritraj (IND,163) vs (3) Marcos Daniel (BRA,96)

Kash having tough opener against Brazilian No. 1 Marcos Daniel, who is #96 on ATP ranking ... Last week Marcos won Zagreb Challenger on clay and having some good wins in last 2 weeks over players like Ivan Ljubicic, Guillermo Canas, Olivier Rochus, etc.

Som is also playing against Brazilian but winnable match for him ... Though no gurantee with his curren On/ Off playing form.

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At $35K Fergana Challenger, Uzbekistan

[R1] (Q) Purav Raja (IND,922) l Ti Chen (TPE,375) 62 16 26

Doubles
[R1] Purav Raja (IND)/ Samuel Groth (AUS) vs Evgeny Kirillov (RUS)/ Alexandre Kudryavtsev (RUS)

Purav started well against Ti Chen winning first set but it looks then Chen didn't give him any chance in next 2.
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At $15K Kuwait F1 Futures, Meshref

[R1] VARDHAN Vishnu (IND,590) bt (7) LEJNIEKS Karlis (LAT,558) 76(3) 62

Doubles
[R1] VIRALI-MURUGESAN Ranjeet (IND)/ NARAYANASWAMY Srirambalaji (IND) l AL MOUSA Hassan (KUW)/ MUHAMMAD Ahmad Rabeea (KUW) 36 62 (2)10
[R1] SHARAN Divij (IND)/ VARDHAN Vishnu (IND) bt AL TAWEEL Issam (SYR)/ MAAROUF Hayan (SYR) 62 61
[R1] (4) BHAMBRI Yuki (IND)/ GAJJAR Rohan (IND) bt KROTIOUK Sergei (RUS)/ MANEGIN Anton (RUS) 62 63
[R1] SHOKEEN Vivek (IND)/ SINGH Navdeep (IND) bt GHAREEB Mohammad (KUW)/ ORTEGREN Johan (SWE) 64 57 10(8)

[QF] SHARAN Divij (IND)/ VARDHAN Vishnu (IND) vs (3) KONTINEN Henri (FIN)/ RIESCHICK Sebastian (GER)
[QF] (4) BHAMBRI Yuki (IND)/ GAJJAR Rohan (IND) vs AHMADVAND Saeid (IRI)/ AL GHAREEB Ali (KUW)
[QF] SHOKEEN Vivek (IND)/ SINGH Navdeep (IND) vs (2) FILENKOV Alexei (RUS)/ SLABINSKY Alexander (GBR)

So expected start for Vishnu, this upset was on card considering Vishnu's recent good run in Indian futures.

Sunday, May 17, 2009

Tennis News
At $35K Fergana Challenger, Uzbekistan

[Q1] (6) Purav Raja (IND,922) bt Artem Tarasov (UZB,UNR) 61 64
[Q2] (6) Purav Raja (IND,922) bt Aziz Yuldashev (UZB,UNR)63 60
[Q3] (6) Purav Raja (IND,922) bt (2) Irakli Labadze (GEO,509) 46 61 62

[R1] (Q) Purav Raja (IND,922) vs Ti Chen (TPE,375)

Doubles
[R1] Purav Raja (IND)/ Samuel Groth (AUS) vs Evgeny Kirillov (RUS)/ Alexandre Kudryavtsev (RUS)

While qualifying for maindraw Purav scored one of his best comeback win over top-500 type player, who was top-50 on tour in 2004.
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At $15K Kuwait F1 Futures, Meshref

[Q1] (1) VIRALI-MURUGESAN Ranjeet (IND,857) bye
[Q1] (3) SINGH Navdeep (IND,960) bye
[Q1] (6) TIWARI Abhijeet (IND,1540) bt REDA Mohammed (KUW,UNR) 60 60
[Q1] NARAYANASWAMY Srirambalaji (IND,UNR) bt (10) MANEGIN Anton (RUS,1914) 63 62

[Q2] (1) VIRALI-MURUGESAN Ranjeet (IND,857) bt AL BITAR Ahmed (EGY,UNR) 62 62
[Q2] (3) SINGH Navdeep (IND,960) bt MUBARAK Abdulhamid (KUW,UNR) 63 62
[Q2] NARAYANASWAMY Srirambalaji (IND,UNR) bt (7) KISLYANSKIY Roman (RUS,1548) 63 76(4)
[Q2] (6) TIWARI Abhijeet (IND,1540) bt AL ABDULLH Zaki (KSA,UNR) 61 60

[R1] (Q) NARAYANASWAMY Srirambalaji (IND,UNR) vs (WC) AL GHAREEB Ali (KUW,1770)
[R1] VARDHAN Vishnu (IND,590) vs (7) LEJNIEKS Karlis (LAT,558)
[R1] (PR) SHOKEEN Vivek (IND,1205) vs (Q) AL TAWEEL Issam (SYR,1499)
[R1] SHARAN Divij (IND,723) vs (WC) JANAHI Hamad Abbas (UAE,UNR)
[R1] (Q) TIWARI Abhijeet (IND,1540) vs (4) GHAREEB Mohammad (KUW,496)
[R1] (JE) BHAMBRI Yuki (IND,664) vs (8) YSERN Pierrick (FRA,559)
[R1] GAJJAR Rohan (IND,775) vs CHERNOV Artur (RUS,620)
[R1] (Q) VIRALI-MURUGESAN Ranjeet (IND,857) vs (Q) SINGH Navdeep (IND,960)

Doubles
[R1] VIRALI-MURUGESAN Ranjeet (IND)/ NARAYANASWAMY Srirambalaji (IND) vs AL MOUSA Hassan (KUW)/ MUHAMMAD Ahmad Rabeea (KUW)
[R1] SHARAN Divij (IND)/ VARDHAN Vishnu (IND) vs AL TAWEEL Issam (SYR)/ MAAROUF Hayan (SYR)
[R1] (4) BHAMBRI Yuki (IND)/ GAJJAR Rohan (IND) vs KROTIOUK Sergei (RUS)/ MANEGIN Anton (RUS)
[R1] SHOKEEN Vivek (IND)/ SINGH Navdeep (IND) vs GHAREEB Mohammad (KUW)/ ORTEGREN Johan (SWE)

Big Indian contingent is playing next 2 weeks in Kuwait ... Though Yuki and Vishnu r playing against seeded but they having good draw to go deep inthis futures.

Saturday, May 16, 2009

Tennis News
At $50K Sarasota Open, Longboat Key, Florida, USA

[F] (3) Harsh Mankad (IND)/ Kaes Van't Hof (USA) l Victor Estrella (DOM)/ Santiago Gonzalez (MEX) 26 46

And in second week in a row Harsh and Kaes failed to lift doubles title ... Estrella and Gonzalez overpowered this pair in straight sets.
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At $75K+H Izmir Cup, Turkey

[F] (2) Prakash Amritraj (IND)/ Rajeev Ram (USA) l (1) Jonathan Erlich (ISR)/ Harel Levy (ISR) 36 36

But they lost against top seed pair in that very experienced Jonathan Erlich was partnering Levy ... Still good run till final for them.
Tennis News
At €3.7M Mutua Madrilena Madrid Open, Spain

[SF] Chia-Jung Chuang (TPE)/ Sania Mirza (IND) vs (3) Kveta Peschke (CZE)/ Lisa Raymond (USA) 67(4) 46

Sania and Chia-Jung's fine run ended in semis against WR #3 pair of Peschke and Raymond ... Match was close but 3rd seed pair played important point quiet well to sealed the victory but very encouragin tournament for Sania and Chia-Chung.
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At $75K+H Izmir Cup, Turkey

[SF] (2) Prakash Amritraj (IND)/ Rajeev Ram (USA) bt (3) Michail Elgin (RUS)/ Alexandre Kudryavtsev (RUS) 76(8) 16 10(5)

[F] (2) Prakash Amritraj (IND)/ Rajeev Ram (USA) vs (1) Jonathan Erlich (ISR)/ Harel Levy (ISR)

Prakash and Rajeev won their semifinal match in super tie-break to face top-seed local pair in the final ... After winning first set in tight tie-break they lost focus from the match but played solid super tie-break to won this match.
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At $50K Sarasota Open, Longboat Key, Florida, USA

[SF] (3) Harsh Mankad (IND)/ Kaes Van't Hof (USA) bt (1) Carsten Ball (AUS)/ Travis Rettenmaier (USA) 26 63 10(5)

[F] (3) Harsh Mankad (IND)/ Kaes Van't Hof (USA) vs Victor Estrella (DOM)/ Santiago Gonzalez (MEX)

Harsh and Kaes scored excellent comeback victory against top-seed pair against whom they lost in last week's final ... After losing first set they cameback strongly ... Harsh is gelling well with young 21 yrs old Kaes Van't Hof, he needs these good results as next week he is defending 110 points ... In the final they r facing 2nd seed pair.

Friday, May 15, 2009

Tennis News
At €3.7M Mutua Madrilena Madrid Open, Spain

[QF] Chia-Jung Chuang (TPE)/ Sania Mirza (IND) bt Victoria Azarenka (BLR)/ Elena Vesnina (RUS) 2-0 Retd. (due to left knee injury to Azarenka)

[SF] Chia-Jung Chuang (TPE)/ Sania Mirza (IND) vs (3) Kveta Peschke (CZE)/ Lisa Raymond (USA)

Without playing match Sania and Chia-Jung entered into semis of Madrid Masters ... In semis they r facing 3rd seed pair of Lisa Raymond and Kveta Peschke ... This semi-final appearence in Madrid Masters will help Sania to re-enter into top-50 in next week's doubles ranking.

Leander Paes and Lukas Dlouhy withdraw from Madrid Masters due to illness to Dlouhy.
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At $75K+H Izmir Cup, Turkey

[QF] (2) Prakash Amritraj (IND)/ Rajeev Ram (USA) bt Frederik Nielsen (DEN)/ Ken Skupski (GBR) 63 64

[SF] (2) Prakash Amritraj (IND)/ Rajeev Ram (USA) vs (3) Michail Elgin (RUS)/ Alexandre Kudryavtsev (RUS)

So Ram participated in doubles with Kash and they had easy victory in quarters.
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At $50K Sarasota Open, Longboat Key, Florida, USA

[QF] (3) Harsh Mankad (IND)/ Kaes Van't Hof (USA) bt (Q) Ty Braswell (USA)/ Ryan Harrison (USA) 63 76(3)

So Harsh and Kaes captured another win against qualifiers, who were good collegian doubles players, to move into semis.
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At $50K Raleigh Tournament, USA (Clay)

[R2] (LL) Shikha Uberoi (IND,583) l Lilia Osterloh (USA,234) 46 26

Thursday, May 14, 2009

Badminton News
At the Sudirman Cup 2009, Guangzhou, China - 10th to 17th May 2009

Group 3 - For First Position

India bt Bulgaria 3-0

Sanave Thomas/ Rupesh Kumar bt Vladimir Metodiev/ Yulian Hristov 21-13 21-11
Saina Nehwal bt Linda Zetchiri 21-14 21-17
Arvind Bhat bt Krasimir Yankov 16-21 21-16 21-19

So first-time Indian team qualified for Group 2 of the Sudirman Cup ... Our mens doubles team and Saina started with straight games victory .. Arvind's win was expected against #238 ranked Bulgarian but he surprised Arvind winning first game ... Arvind needed to play very consistent game in next 2 games to pulled match ... In final game he kept 2 points lead from mid-game to won this match in 58 minutes ... Congrats to Indian team for their promotion to Group 2.
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Tennis News
At $75K+H Izmir Cup, Turkey

[R2] (8) Prakash Amritraj (IND,163) l Pavel Snobel(CZE,174) 36 46

Was hoping good outing at this Challenger as 6 seeded players were already lost .. But Snobel kept that trend continue beating seeded Kash in straight sets.
Tennis News
At €3.7M Mutua Madrilena Madrid Open, Spain

[R2] Chia-Jung Chuang (TPE)/ Sania Mirza (IND) bt (2) Anabel Medina Garrigues (ESP)/ Virginia Ruano Pascual (ESP) 76(4) 46 10(7)
[R2] (4) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Mark Knowles (BAH) l Stephen Huss (AUS) / Ross Hutchins (GBR) 46 57

[QF] Chia-Jung Chuang (TPE)/ Sania Mirza (IND) vs Victoria Azarenka (BLR)/ Elena Vesnina (RUS)

This pair of Chia-Jung and Sania is cooking ... They scored their second win over WR # 2 pair in 3 meetings ... In this match our pair won crucial points as Garrigues and Ruano Pascual won more points than their opponents, 80 to 71 ... After winning first set in tie-break Sania and Chia-Jung lost second set but they again played well in super tie-break to pulled of upset win in almost 2 hours.

Yesterday in mens doubles 5 upsets scored and in those losses pair of Mahesh and Mark were their with Bryans.

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At $50K Raleigh Tournament, USA (Clay)

[R1] (LL) Shikha Uberoi (IND,583) bt (6) Soledad Esperon (ARG,249) 46 63 61

[R2] (LL) Shikha Uberoi (IND,583) vs Lilia Osterloh (USA,234)

Doubles
[R1] Florencia Molinero (ARG)/ Shikha Uberoi (IND) l Melanie Oudin (USA)/ Allie Will (USA) 64 26 (7)10

Very good comeback upset win for Shikha against top-250 Argentine player on clay ... I wasn't expecting this so very sweet win but lost her doubles match in super tie-break.
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At $25K Tanjung Selor Tournament, Indonesia

[R1] Ankita BHAMBRI (IND,391) l Cynthia MELITA (INA,UNR) 26 46
[R1] Rushmi CHAKRAVARTHI (IND,550) l (6) Montinee TANGPHONG (THA,374) 46 76(6) 06
[R1] (7) Isha LAKHANI (IND,460) l Sarah-Rebecca SEKULIC (GER,1071) 36 57
[R1] Poojashree VENKATESHA (IND,457) bt Mi-Rae HAM (KOR,1020) 60 75

[R2] Poojashree VENKATESHA (IND,457) l (Q) Sarah-Rebecca SEKULIC (GER,1071) 57 26

Disappointing stuff from senior players like Ankita and Isha ... Poojashree won first round but lost against lowly ranked German qualifier.

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Tennis News
At $75K+H Izmir Cup, Turkey

[R1] (8) Prakash Amritraj (IND,163) bt Rik De Voest (RSA,191) 63 76(6)

[R2] (8) Prakash Amritraj (IND,163) vs Pavel Snobel(CZE,174)

Good straight sets victory for Kash ... Rik De Voest tried comeback in second set but Kash made sure match not entered into third set ... Second round against #174 Czech player is winnable for Kash with his current form.
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At $50K+H Zagreb Open, Croatia (Red clay)

[R2] Somdev Devvarman (IND,140) l Ricardo Hocevar (BRA,169) 46 67(4)

Som's inconsistent performance is going on ... But atleast Som started to win some matches though his performance is going up and down ... If some positivies from this match then he fought until end but again lost due to not able to win crucial points.
Badminton News
At the Sudirman Cup 2009, Guangzhou, China - 10th to 17th May 2009

Group 3 - B

India bt Scotland 5-0

V Diju/ Jwala Gutta bt Andrew Bowman/ Emma Mason 21-17 21-12
Arvind Bhat bt Gordon Thomson 21-15 21-16
Saina Nehwal bt Susan Hughes 18-21 21-13 21-19
Sanave Thomas/ Rupesh Kumar bt Andrew Bowman/ Thomas Bethel 21-18 25-23
Shruti Kurien/ Aparna Balan bt Emma Mason/ Jillie Cooper 21-12 21-15

As expected 5-0 win for Indian team but surprisingly very close match for Saina ... Bulgaria topped 3 - A group on more games won than USA, both had 2 wins and a loss.

So tomorrow we will play to Bulgaria for first-time advancing to Group 2 in the Sudirman Cup.
Tennis News
At $50K Sarasota Open, Longboat Key, Florida, USA

[R1] (3) Harsh Mankad (IND)/ Kaes Van't Hof (USA) bt Vladimir Obradovic (SRB)/ Adam Vejmelka (CZE) 63 62

[QF] (3) Harsh Mankad (IND)/ Kaes Van't Hof (USA) vs (Q) Ty Braswell (USA)/ Ryan Harrison (USA)

Easy winning start for Harsh and Kaes ... In quarters facing qualifiers.
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At $75K+H Izmir Cup, Turkey

Doubles
[R1] Purav Raja (IND)/ Joseph Sirianni (AUS) l Andrea Stoppini (ITA)/ Todd Widom (USA) 36 46

Rajeev withdraw from singles due to illness, lets see if he able to play doubles with Kash.
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At $50K Raleigh Tournament, USA (Clay)

[Q1] Sandhya Nagraj (IND,UNR) bt Parija Maloo (IND,661) 64 61
[Q1] Shikha Uberoi (IND,583) bt Alex Martin (USA,UNR) 63 61

[Q2] Sandhya Nagraj (IND,UNR) l (7) Sabine Klaschka (GER,504) 36 46
[Q2] Shikha Uberoi (IND,583) bt (5) Natalia Guitler (BRA,480) 64 60

[Q3] Shikha Uberoi (IND,583) l (4) Ashley Weinhold (USA,472) 36 16

[R1] (LL) Shikha Uberoi (IND,583) vs (6) Soledad Esperon (ARG,249)

Doubles
[R1] Florencia Molinero (ARG)/ Shikha Uberoi (IND) vs Melanie Oudin (USA)/ Allie Will (USA)

After longtime saw Sandhya's name in the draw ... Shikha is entering into maindraw as a luckyloser but having tough task of facing top-250 South American player on clay.

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Tennis News
2009 Davis Cup World Group Play-offs

The draw for the 2009 Davis Cup World Group Play-offs has been made at the ITF ... And India is having away tie against South Africa on 18-20 September, 2009 ... This is evenly matched tie, so we r having good chance to make it into World Group with winning this tie.
Badminton News
At the Sudirman Cup 2009, Guangzhou, China - 10th to 17th May 2009

Group 3 - B

India bt Ukraine 5-0

Sanave Thomas/ Rupesh Kumar bt Vitaly Konov/ Dmytro Zavadsky 21-14 21-6
Saina Nehwal bt Mariya Diptan 21-18 21-9
Arvind Bhat bt Valeriy Atrashchenkov 21-16 21-11
Shruti Kurien/ Aparna Balan bt Larisa Griga/ Elena Prus 21-7 21-14
V Diju/ Jwala Gutta bt Dmytro Zavadsky/ Mariya Diptan 21-15 22-20

Another easy victory by Indian team against Ukraine without dropping much sweat ... Tomorrow in last group match they will face Scotland team.
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Hockey News
At Asia Cup 2009, Kuantan, Malaysia

India dw China 2-2

Goal Scored - Sandeep Singh (IND) 31' PC & 34' PC and ? (CHN) 45' PC, Yu Yang (CHN) 59'

Indians again blown up 2-0 half-time lead to drew their match against China ... With that defending champion India r out of semifinals as we required win to qualify for Semis after losing first match against Pakistan ... Sandeep Singh 2 goals through penalty corners in last 5 minutes of first-half ... But in 2nd half we missed some scoring opportunities and faulty defense costed us match ... China scored their first goal through penalty corner with indirect variation ... Then due to Indian defensie lapse China scored 2nd goal through free-hit outside 'D' ... We earned penalty corner when 50 seconds were remaining but Sandeep Singh's flick was blocked by Chinese goalie and that ended our challenge from this edition of Asia Cup.
Tennis News
At $50K+H Zagreb Open, Croatia (Red clay)

[R1] Somdev Devvarman (IND,140) bt (3) Leonardo Mayer (ARG,96) 46 62 62

Unexpected win from Som after his recent drop of confidence and form ... But this was huge comeback win over top-100 South American clay court specialist player ... Now Som should build on this win to go deep in this Croatian challenger.

Somdev's coach Jacek Wolicki - " Som continues to get better on clay with each match. He started of really well and got up to a 4-2 lead in the first set. Unfortunately he let that set slip away but showed some incredible toughness to win the next two sets. Leonardo Mayer is an incredibly good clay player with some great results in the recent past. Som Focused on the thing that he could do today and came up with an impressive win."
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At $75K+H Izmir Cup, Turkey

[R1] (2) Prakash Amritraj (IND)/ Rajeev Ram (USA) bt (WC) Sami Beceren (TUR)/ Baris Erguden (TUR) 76(3) 62

[QF] (2) Prakash Amritraj (IND)/ Rajeev Ram (USA) vs Frederik Nielsen (DEN)/ Ken Skupski (GBR)

Surprisingly close first set for this 2nd seed pair.

Monday, May 11, 2009

Badminton News
At the Sudirman Cup 2009, Guangzhou, China - 10th to 17th May 2009

Group 3-B

India bt Australia 4-1

V Diju/ Jwala Gutta bt Benjamin Walkate / Kate Wilson Smith 21-19 21-15
Chetan Anand bt Jeff Tho 21-14 21-14
Sanave Thomas/ Rupesh Kumar bt Glenn Warfe/ Benjamin Mccarthy 21-12 21-15
Saina Nehwal bt Leisha Cooper 21-11 21-5
Shruti Kurien/ Aparna Balan l Eugenia Tanaka/ Kate Wilson Smith 21-16 18-21 19-21

Expected winning start against Austalian team ... But only black spot on this win was our newly formed womens doubles team loss ... Tomorrow our team play against Ukraine.
Tennis News
At €3.7M Mutua Madrilena Madrid Open, Spain

[R1] (3) Leander Paes (IND)/ Lukas Dlouhy (CZE) bye
[R1] (4) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Mark Knowles (BAH) bye
[R1] Chia-Jung Chuang (TPE)/ Sania Mirza (IND) bt (WC) Ma. Emilia Salerni (ARG)/ Silvia Soler Espinosa (ESP) 63 64

[R2] Chia-Jung Chuang (TPE)/ Sania Mirza (IND) vs (2) Anabel Medina Garrigues (ESP)/ Virginia Ruano Pacual (ESP)

Winning start for Sania and Chia-Jung against wild-card pair, but now they r facing 2nd seed Spanish pair in next round ... Lee and Lukas r in top draw with Bryans ... Mahehs and Mark r with Nestor and Zimo in bottom draw.
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At $75K+H Izmir Cup, Turkey

[R1] (8) Prakash Amritraj (IND,163) vs Rik De Voest (RSA,191)
[R1] Rajeev Ram (USA,167) vs (4) Benedikt Dorsch (GER,131)

Doubles
[R1] Purav Raja (IND)/ Joseph Sirianni (AUS) vs Andrea Stoppini (ITA)/ Todd Widom (USA)
[R1] (2) Prakash Amritraj (IND)/ Rajeev Ram (USA) vs (WC) Sami Beceren (TUR)/ Baris Erguden (TUR)

Praksh should only play if he is feeling injury free from his leg strain.
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At $50K Sarasota Open, Longboat Key, Florida, USA

[R1] (3) Harsh Mankad (IND)/ Kaes Van't Hof (USA) vs Vladimir Obradovic (SRB)/ Adam Vejmelka (CZE)

This week also Harsh partnering Kaes Van't Hof and they r again 3rd seeds.
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At $50K+H Zagreb Open, Croatia (Red clay)

[R1] Somdev Devvarman (IND,140) vs (3) Leonardo Mayer (ARG,96)

Som having tough match on red clay considering his lack of form.
Archery News
At World Cup Stage 2, Porec, Croatia - 4th to 9th May 2009

Jayanta Talukdar repeated his 2006 performance after winning Recurve Men individual final, he won the first ever World Cup Stage in Porec in 2006 and also participated in the 2006 World Cup Final in Mexico.

Jayanta Talukdar won his second gold medal with Rahul Banerjee and Mangal Singh Champia ... They defeated Russian team to lift gold medal in Recurve Team Final.

Individual Recurve Men Final
Jayanta Talukdar (IND) bt Marco Galiazzo (ITA) 110 - 108

Recurve Men Team Final
(1) India bt (3) Russia 220 - 218

Recurve Women Team Bronze Medal
(9) India l (3) Ukraine 197 - 212
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Golf News
THE PLAYERS Championship - Final Standing

T64 Jeev Milkha Singh 68 74 76 76 +6 $20,045.00

After excellent first round Jeev struggled in remaining 3 rounds to finished bottom half of standing.
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Hockey News
At Asia Cup 2009, Kuantan, Malaysia

India l Pakistan 2-3

Goal Scored - Prabjot Singh (IND0 15' PC, Rajpal Singh (IND) 45' and Hasneem Khan (PAK) 33', Rehan Butt (PAK) 36', Sohail Abbas (PAK) 55' PC

Disastrous start for defending champion Indian team ... They were disarray on the field and Pakistani team take full advantage of it ... Captain Sandeep Singh was off-color and wasted 3 penalty corners in last 10 minutes ... Now Indians having big task of beating chinese team to book their place in semi-final.
Tennis News
At €450K BMW Open, Munich, Germany (Red clay)

[SF] (4) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Travis Parrott (USA) l (2) Ashley Fisher (AUS)/ Jordan Kerr (AUS) 67(2) 46

Rohan and Parrott fine run ended in semis against Australian pair ... Overall good performance for Rohan in his first tournament on red clay.
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At €3.7M Mutua Madrilena Madrid Open, Spain

[Q1] (18) Sania Mirza (IND,92) l Aravane Rezai (FRA,108) 36 36

Sania's struggled continue ... Worrying more of lack of practice due to first round losses.
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At $50K Savannah Challenger, USA (Green clay)

[SF] (3) Harsh Mankad (IND)/ Kaes Van't Hof (USA) bt (WC) Alex Kuznetsov (USA)/ Fritz Wolmarans (RSA) 64 61

[F] (3) Harsh Mankad (IND)/ Kaes Van't Hof (USA) vs (1) Carsten Ball (AUS)/ Travis Rettenmaier (USA) 67(4) 46

Harsh and Kaes scored good easy victory in doubles semis against wild-card pair, who defeated second seed pair earlier ... But in the final they couldn't overcome top-seed pair challenge and lost in 2 tight sets.

So with this Harsh climb to his personal best doubles ranking and first-time break into top-150 doubles raning, he is on #145.

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At Asia-Oceania u-14 Boys Qualifying, Kuching, Malaysia

Quarter Finals - (7) India l (3) Australia 0-3

Vishal Passi l Nicholas Kyrgios 26 36
Abhishek Alla l Jay Andrijic 16 26
Divgijay Singh Naruka/ Vishal Passi l Nicholas Kyrgios/ Daniel Talens 26 26

Disappointing stuff from our U-14 boys ... Nobody gave any decent fight to their respective opponents.
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Junior French Open 2009,

As expected Yuki Bhambri is top-seed in Roland Garros acceptance list .. Kaza Vinayak Sharma is only other Indian boy or girl in qualifying.

Friday, May 08, 2009

Archery News
At World Cup Stage 2, Porec, Croatia - 4th to 9th May 2009

In Recurve Men Team Qualifying India finished top with 3993 pts, 56 pts ahead of second place Chinese team ... And for individual event Jayanta Talukdar qualified on 2nd position, Mangal Singh Champia on 6th and Rahul Banerjee on 7th position.

Namita Yadav also reached into quarter-final individual Compound Women event before losing close match to Croatian Ivana Buden, who is in the final.

Jayanta Talukdar entered into final of Individual Recurve Men knock-out event and Recurve Men Team reached final in team event ... Our women team lost in semis against France after beating top-seed team Italy in quarters ... They face Ukraine team for bronze medal.

These all matches will be played tomorrow.


Recurve Women Team Knock-out event
[R16] (9) India bt (8) Great Britain 217 (T28) - 217 (T23)
[QF] (9) India bt (1) Italy 217 - 212
[SF] (9) India l (4) France 206 - 209

For Bronze Medal
(9) India vs (3) Ukraine

Recurve Men Team Qualifying
1 India - 3993 pts

Rahul Banerjee - 1328 pts
Mangal Singh Champia - 1329 pts
Jayanta Talukdar - 1336 pts

Recurve Men Team Knock-out event
[R16] (1) India bt (16) Slovakia 224 - 193
[QF] (1) India bt (9) USA 227 - 218
[SF] (1) India bt (5) Italy 225 - 220

Recurve Men Team Final
(1) India vs (3) Russia

Individual Recurve Men knock-out
[R1] Viswash (IND) bt Rafael Poppenborg (GER) 112 - 107
[R1] Mangal Singh Champia (IND) bt Chris Marsh (SUI) 110 - 103
[R1] Rahul Banerjee (IND) bt Tyler Domenech (USA) 112 - 102
[R1] Jayanta Talukdar (IND) bt Luis Felipe Paulinyi (BRA) 113 - 105

[R2] Viswash (IND) bt Mangal Singh Champia (IND) 113 (T9,10) - 113 (T9,9)
[R2] Rahul Banerjee (IND) bt Damian Goly (POL) 111 - 101
[R2] Jayanta Talukdar (IND) bt Hai Feng Xue (CHN) 112 - 111

[R3] Viswash (IND) bt Bair Badenov (RUS) 104 - 99
[R3] Rahul Banerjee (IND) l Baljinima Tsyrempilov (RUS) 110-113
[R3] Jayanta Talukdar (IND) bt Yu xing (CHN) 113 - 111

[QF] Viswash (IND) l Jean-Charles Valladont (FRA) 104 (T8) - 104(T9)
[QF] Jayanta Talukdar (IND) bt Baljinima Tsyrempilov (RUS) 112 - 110

[SF] Jayanta Talukdar (IND) bt Jean-Charles Valladont (FRA) 112 - 101

Individual Recurve Men Final
Jayanta Talukdar (IND) vs Marco Galiazzo (ITA)
Badminton News
At the Sudirman Cup 2009, Guangzhou, China - 10th to 17th May 2009

Indian Team -

Men - Chetan Anand, Aravind Bhat, Rupesh Kumar, Sanave Thomas, V Diju, K Tarun and Arun Vishnu
Women - Saina Nehwal, Aparna Balan, Sayali Gokhale, Jwala Gutta and Shruti Kurien
Chief coach - Gopi Chand

India having very good chance of first-time advancing to Group 2 in this mixed team championships ... The last time we came close to making it to Group 2 was in 2007 when we lost to France in the play-off final in Scotland ... This time Saina is highest ranked player in our group ... Chetan Anand and Aravind Bhat r also in good form in singles ... Our huge plus is performance of V. Diju and Jwala Gutta in mixed doubles ... In past we were struggling in doubles matches to score point but this top-10 MXD team will give us huge push as in this mixed event each tie will have five matches — men’s and women’s singles, men’s doubles, women’s doubles and mixed doubles ... In women's doubles mostly Shruti Kurien will play with Aparna Balan due to differences with Jwala Gutta, they already decided to split after this event.

We r having good draw in Group 3 ... We r pooled with Scotland, Ukraine, Australia, Sweden, US, Czech Republic and Bulgaria ... We will start with playing Australia on Monday.

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Chess News
GM Viswanathan Anand won the sixth Chess Oscar, which is awarded by the Russian chess magazine “64 – Chess Review” on the basis of a poll carried out amongst chess journalists and experts from all over the world ... The Oscar comes in the form of a statuette also called the "Fascinated Wanderer" ... Viswanathan Anand is the only non-Russian to have won the award more than five times (Fischer won it three times, Kasparov eleven times).
Tennis News
At €450K BMW Open, Munich, Germany (Red clay)

[QF] (4) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Travis Parrott (USA) bt James Cerretani (USA)/ Jeremy Chardy (FRA) 64 64

[SF] (4) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Travis Parrott (USA) vs (2) Ashley Fisher (AUS)/ Jordan Kerr (AUS)

Rohan continued with his good run on red clay with Travis Parrott to reached in semis with straight sets victory.
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At $50K Savannah Challenger, USA (Green clay)

[QF] (3) Harsh Mankad (IND)/ Kaes Van't Hof (USA) bt Ryler Deheart (USA)/ Treat Conrad Huey (PHI) 26 64 10(5)

[SF] (3) Harsh Mankad (IND)/ Kaes Van't Hof (USA) vs (WC) Alex Kuznetsov (USA)/ Fritz Wolmarans (RSA)

Another super tie-break but they produced good comeback victory ... In semis they r facing wild-card pair who upset 2nd seed.
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At $10K Tarakan Futures, Indonesia

[R2] (7) Isha LAKHANI (IND,380) l Erika SEMA (JPN,527) 57 26

With lack of match practice was expecting such loss.
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At Asia-Oceania u-14 Boys Qualifying, Kuching, Malaysia

(7) India l (2) Korea 0-3

Vishal Passi l Min-Guk Cho 36 36
Abhishek Alla l In-Kyo Jeong 26 36
Divgijay Singh Naruka/ Vishal Passi l Min-Guk Cho/ Hyeon Chung 67(3) 64 06

Disappointing performance by our boys, match was tough but scoreline was one-sided ... Now they r having tough challenge of 3rd seed Australia in quarter-final for booking their place in World group.

Thursday, May 07, 2009

Tennis News
At $100K Israel Open, Ramat Hasharon

[R2] Prakash Amritraj (IND,166) l Harel Levy (ISR,250) W/O

Kash conceded match due to his last week's left leg muscle strain ... And he withdrawn from doubles.
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At $10K Tarakan Futures, Indonesia

[R1] (7) Isha LAKHANI (IND,380) bt Anna LIVADARU (GER,UNR) 64 16 62

[R2] (7) Isha LAKHANI (IND,380) vs Erika SEMA (JPN,527)

Good to see Isha back on tour after long almost 6 months illness break ... It looks she was rusty but atleast she managed win.
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At Asia-Oceania u-14 Boys Qualifying,

Team - Vishal Passi, Abhishek Alla, Divgijay Singh Naruka

India is 7th seed in this tournament ... they r in group with 2nd seed korean team ... They started well winning first 2 matches but today they r facing 2nd seed Korean team.

(7) India bt Philippines 3-0

Vishal Passi bt Calvin Charles Canlas 62 63
Abhishek Alla bt Jurence Zosimo Mendoza 62 62
Divgijay Singh Naruka/ Vishal Passi bt Calvin Charles Canlas/ Juan Alfonso Opulencia 60 61

(7) India bt Myanmar 3-0

Vishal Passi bt Zin Soe Thaw 62 60
Abhishek Alla bt Sit Thu Zae Naung 62 62
Digvijay Singh Naruka/ Vishal Passi bt Sit Thu Zaw Naung/ Zin Soe Thaw 60 60

Table Tennis News

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