Tennis News
At Australian Open 2010, Melbourne

Mixed Doubles Final
(1) Cara Black (ZIM)/ Leander Paes (IND) bt Ekaterina Makarova (RUS)/ Jaroslav Levinsky (CZE) 75 63

Leander wins 2010 Australian Open mixed doubles title with Cara Black ... So with that Leander Paes equalled Indian record of maximum grandslam titles win by Mahesh Bhupathi, 11 each ... This was Leander's 5th mixed doubles title and 2nd with Cara Black, with whom he lifted 2008 US Open mixed doubles title.

In first set both pairs traded couple of breaks early but Lee and Cara take important break at 5-all breaking Makarova's serve and then Cara first time hold her serve in the match to won first set ... Second set started the way Lara and Cara wanted ... They broke Levinsky's serve in first game and take control of the match ... Then they never were under pressure on their own serve but kept pressure on Levinsky and Makarova's serve ... They again broke Levinsky's serve in 9th game to won match and championship.

In the final Lee played exceptional tennis ... He was as usual best near net in making volleys and quick hands ... He served well, didn't face single break point on his serve ... In the final he lost only 3 points on his serve.

Match summary
First set
Levinsky hold on luv
0-1 Lee hold on luv
1-1 Cara and Lee broke Makarova's serve on luv
2-1 Cara serve got broken on luv Poor serving from her with 1 DF
2-2 broke Levinsky's serve @30 with mis-hit from him ... Lee played couple of exceptional points near net
3-2 Lee hold @15
4-2 Makarova hold @15 ... Some big hitting from Makarova from back of the court
4-3 again Cara's serve broken @15 .. Makarova playing excellent returns
4-4 Levinsky hold @15 .. Lee is serving to remain in the first set
4-5 Lee hold @15 ... Important game as after that Cara will be serving
5-5 Lee and Cara responded breaking Makarova's serve @15 ... Cara need to hold her serve first time in the set to win it
6-5 and Cara hold on luv to captured first set ... Both cara and Lee played very good net game.
7-5

Second set
excellent start for second set ... Inspirational game from both to break Levinsky's serve on luv
1-0 consolidate the break with Lee holding his serve on luv with his usual quick hands near the net
2-0 Makarova hold after saving 2 break points
2-1 Cara hold @15 ... Lee was in usual best near the net
3-1 Levinsky hold @30
3-2 Lee hold @15
4-2 Makarova hold @30
4-3 Cara hold @15 ... Lee was lightening quick on the net, showing amazing quick hands near the net ... One game away from the title
5-3 broke Levinsky's serve after duece when Levinsky forehand shot went wide ... @40-30 Lee played amazing point to make it duece ... So Lee and Cara won Australian Open 2010 mixed doubles title.
6-3
-----------------------------------------------------------
At $500K South Africa Tennis Open, Johannesburg

[Q1] (3) Prakash Amritraj (IND,202) bye
[Q1] Rohan Bopanna (IND,423) l Benjamin Janse Van Rensburg (RSA,1351) 36 57

[Q2] (3) Prakash Amritraj (IND,202) vs Roman Valent (SUI,534)

[R1] Somdev Devvarman (IND,162) vs (6) Xavier Malisse (BEL,93)
[R1] (5) Rajeev Ram (USA,84) vs (WC) Rik De Voest (RSA,239)

Doubles
[R1] Prakash Amritraj (IND)/ James Cerretani (USA) vs (WC) Ruan Roelofse (RSA)/ Nikala Scholtz (RSA)
[R1] (3) Rajeev Ram (USA)/ Eric Butorac (USA) vs Philipp Marx (GER)/ Igor Zelenay (SVK)
[R1] Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (PAK) vs Yves Allegro (SUI)/ Marcc Chiudinelli (SUI)

By far this was poor result for Rohan ... May be we should rethink about our Davis Cup combination against Russia ... Somi having tough first round match.

In doubles, our all pairs r in bottom draw ... Prakash and his partner can meet Rajeev and Burtoc if they wins their respective first round matches.

Chess News
At 2010 Corus Chess, Wijk aan Zee, Netherlands

Group A: Round 12 - 30th January
Viswanathan Anand - Vladimir Kramnik 1-0
Sergey Karjakin - Alexei Shirov ½-½
Leinier Dominguez - Vassily Ivanchuk ½-½
Peter Leko - Magnus Carlsen ½-½
Fabiano Caruana - Hikaru Nakamura ½-½
Sergey Tiviakov - Nigel Short ½-½
Jan Smeets - Loek van Wely 1-0

Group B: Round 12 - 30th January
Emil Sutovsky - Pentala Harikrishna ½-½
Tomi Nyback - Parimarjan Negi 1-0

Group C: Round 12 - 30th January
Soumya Swaminathan - Abhijeet Gupta 0-1

In Round 12, Anand scored convincing win over Kramnik in 45 moves ... Game played with Petrov Classical Attack ... With this win Anand moved 4th place with 7 pts ... In Group B, Hari drew but Negi lost his match ... And in Group C, Abhijeet scored win against Soumya.

Chess News
At 2010 Corus Chess, Wijk aan Zee, Netherlands

Group A: Round 11 - 29th January
Jan Smeets - Viswanathan Anand ½-½
Loek van Wely - Sergey Tiviakov 1-0
Nigel Short - Fabiano Caruana ½-½
Hikaru Nakamura - Peter Leko ½-½
Magnus Carlsen - Leinier Dominguez 1-0
Vassily Ivanchuk - Sergey Karjakin ½-½
Alexei Shirov - Vladimir Kramnik ½-½

Group B: Round 11 - 29th January
Parimarjan Negi - Emil Sutovsky ½-½
Pentala Harikrishna - Ni Hua ½-½

Group C: Round 11 - 29th January
Benjamin Bok - Soumya Swaminathan 1-0
Nils Grandelius - Abhijeet Gupta 0-1

Another short draw for Anand ... Negi and Hari drew their respective matches in Group B ... Abhijeet won but Soumya lost playing with blacks in Group C.

Tennis News
At Australian Open 2010, Melbourne

Mixed Doubles
[SF] (1) Cara Black (ZIM)/ Leander Paes (IND) bt (7) Lisa Raymond (USA)/ Wesley Moodie (RSA) 67(6) 76(5) 10-7

[F] (1) Cara Black (ZIM)/ Leander Paes (IND) vs Ekaterina Makarova (RUS)/ Jaroslav Levinsky (CZE)

Lee and Cara pulled off very close MXD semi-final ... Lee and Cara lost first set in tie-break with score 6-8 ... In second set early they were couple of breaks down and score was 0-3 ... But then they broke back to make it 1-3 and again they broke when opponents were serving for the match at 4-5 ... This time in tie-break they prevailed ... And in super tie-break they controlled from the start with early mini-break and were up 9-4 ... Converted 4th match point to moved in another MXD final.

They will face unseeded Russian-Czech pair, who surprised all with their performance.
-----------------------------------------------------------
At $50K Honolulu Challenger, Hawaii, USA

Doubles
[QF] (1) Harsh Mankad (IND)/ Treat Conrad Huey (PHI) l Hiroki Kondo (JPN)/ Go Soeda (JPN) 46 62 (6)10
[QF] Purav Raja (IND)/ Adil Shamasdin (CAN) l Kevin Anderson (RSA)/ Ryler DeHeart (USA) 26 26

Our both pairs lost in quarter-finals ... Purav and Adil couldn't produced much fight in their match ... Harsh and Treat tried fightback after losing first set but lost in super tie-break against Japanese pair.

Tennis News
At $50K Honolulu Challenger, Hawaii, USA

Doubles
[R1] (1) Harsh Mankad (IND)/ Treat Conrad Huey (PHI) bt Marco Crugnola (ITA)/ Andrea Stoppini (ITA) 62 62
[R1] Purav Raja (IND)/ Adil Shamasdin (CAN) bt (WC) Jan-Michael Gambill (USA)/ Michael McClune (USA) 64 76(3)

[QF] (1) Harsh Mankad (IND)/ Treat Conrad Huey (PHI) vs Hiroki Kondo (JPN)/ Go Soeda (JPN)

Good easy winning start for season 2010 to Harsh and Treat against Italian pair ... Also good win by Purav and Adil against tricky local opponents.

Chess News
At 2010 Corus Chess, Wijk aan Zee, Netherlands

Group A: Round 10 - 27th January
Viswanathan Anand - Alexei Shirov 1-0
Vladimir Kramnik - Vassily Ivanchuk ½-½
Sergey Karjakin - Magnus Carlsen 0-1
Leinier Dominguez - Hikaru Nakamura ½-½
Peter Leko - Nigel Short ½-½
Fabiano Caruana - Loek van Wely ½-½
Sergey Tiviakov - Jan Smeets 1-0

Group B: Round 10 - 27th January
Dimitri Reinderman - Pentala Harikrishna 1-0
Ni Hua - Parimarjan Negi ½-½

Group C: Round 10 - 27th January
Soumya Swaminathan - Nils Grandelius 1-0
Abhijeet Gupta - Kjetil Lie 0-1

After long agonizing wait Anand scored his first victory in ongoing Corus tournament in 10th round ... He defeated co-leader Alexei Shirov playing with Ruy Lopez opening in 55 moves.

In Group B, Negi hold his opponent playing with blacks but Hari suffered loss against Reinderman ... In Group C, Soumya scored her first victory of championship but Abhijeet lost he consecutive second match.

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

Viva Kerala bt Air India 2-1

Goal Scored - Shibinlal (VK) 22', Sakeer M.P. (VK) 87' and N.D.Opara (AI) 59'

Viva scored their third victory in I-League to come out of relegation group.
-----------------------------------------

Dempo S.C. dw East Bengal 0-0

East Bengal hold Dempo to goalless draw, so Dempo missed opportunity of increase points difference between them and second place Mahindra in the standing.
-----------------------------------------

Pune F.C bt Chirag United S.C. 2-1

Goal Scored - Shanmugam Venkatesh (PFC) 45', Douhou Pierre (PFC) 84' P and Josimar Da Silva (CU) 53'

Pune FC impressive run continues as they scored their 4th consecutive victory ... But this was their first home victory in the I-league in seven matches after losing two and drawing four in the first phase.
-----------------------------------------

Salgaocar S.C. bt Mohun Bagan 2-1

Goal Scored - Mandjou Keita (SSC) 44', Eneke Ikenwa (SSC) 47' and Ryuji Sueoka (MB) 14',

Salgaocar scored huge upset win over formidable Mohun Bagan.
------------------------------------------

Mumbai F.C dw Mahindra United 0-0

Mumbai FC hold Mahindra in Mumbai derby and ruined their chances of moving top of the standing.
-----------------------------------------

JCT Mills F.C. bt Sporting Clube de Goa 2-0

Goal Scored - Ajay Singh (JCT) 6', Baljit Sahni (JCT) 57'

JCT scored comfortable win against bottom place Sporting scoring a goal each in both half.
-----------------------------------------

Shillong Lajong F.C dw Churchill Brothers 0-0

Shillong Lajong hold Churchill to a goalless draw.

Tennis News
At Australian Open 2010, Melbourne

Doubles
[QF] (3) Leander Paes (IND)/ Lukas Dlouhy (CZE) l Ivo Karlovic (CRO)/ Dusan Vemic(SRB) 36 46
[QF] Eric Butorac (USA)/ Rajeev Ram (USA) l (1) Bob Bryan (USA)/ Mike Bryan (USA) 57 64 67(2)

Mixed Doubles
[QF] (1) Cara Black (ZIM)/ Leander Paes (IND) bt (8) Elena Vesnina (RUS)/ Andy Ram (ISR) 64 63

[SF] (1) Cara Black (ZIM)/ Leander Paes (IND) vs (7) Lisa Raymond (USA)/ Wesley Moodie (RSA)


Lee and Lukas didn't fired up today against big servers ... In both sets they lost their serve early and didn't able to break opponent's serve ... In end tame loss.

In mixed doubles top-seed pair of Lee and Cara scored comfortable straight sets victory over seeded pair ... In semis they r facing experienced doubles players, Moodie and Raymond.

Chess News
At 2010 Corus Chess, Wijk aan Zee, Netherlands

Group A: Round 9 - 26th January
Sergey Tiviakov - Viswanathan Anand ½-½
Jan Smeets - Fabiano Caruana 1-0
Loek van Wely - Peter Leko 1-0
Nigel Short - Leinier Dominguez ½-½
Hikaru Nakamura - Sergey Karjakin 0-1
Magnus Carlsen - Vladimir Kramnik 0-1
Vassily Ivanchuk - Alexei Shirov ½-½

Group B: Round 9 - 26th January
Parimarjan Negi - Dimitri Reinderman 1-0
Pentala Harikrishna - Liviu Nisipeanu ½-½

Group C: Round 9 - 26th January
Peng Zhaoqin - Soumya Swaminathan ½-½
Robin van Kampen - Abhijeet Gupta 1-0

Anand tried hard against Dutch GM Sergey Tiviakov but couldn't break deadlock of draw streak ... In Group B, Negi scored entertaining victory against Reinderman but Hari held draw by Nisipeanu ... In Group C, Soumya drew her third game in a row but Abhijeet Gupta lost and missed chance of going top of standing.

Tennis News
At Australian Open 2010, Melbourne

Australian Open 2010 - Junior

[R2] (Q) Rishika Sunkara (IND,132) l (3) Daria Gavrilova (RUS,4) 06 26

After losing easily in the first set Rishika produced some fight in second set.
-----------------------------------------------------------
At $50K Honolulu Challenger, Hawaii, USA

Doubles
[R1] (1) Harsh Mankad (IND)/ Treat Conrad Huey (PHI) vs Marco Crugnola (ITA)/ Andrea Stoppini (ITA)
[R1] Purav Raja (IND)/ Adil Shamasdin (CAN) vs (WC) Jan-Michael Gambill (USA)/ Michael McClune (USA)

Tennis News
At Australian Open 2010, Melbourne

Doubles
[R3] (3) Leander Paes (IND)/ Lukas Dlouhy (CZE) bt John Isner (USA)/ Sam Querrey (USA) 63 75

Mixed Doubles
[R2] (1) Cara Black (ZIM)/ Leander Paes (IND) bt Akgul Amanmuradova (UZB)/ Rik De Voest (RSA) 64 62

[QF] (1) Cara Black (ZIM)/ Leander Paes (IND) vs (8) Elena Vesnina (RUS)/ Andy Ram (ISR)

Australian Open 2010 - Junior
[R1] Vaidik Munshaw (IND)/ Chuhan Wang (CHN) l (4) Liang-Chi Huang (TPE)/ Yasutaka Uchiyama (JPN) 26 67(3)

[R1] Yuki Ito (JPN)/ Rishika Sunkara (IND) l (6) Anna-Lena Friedsam (GER)/ Mai Grage (DEN) 76(5) 26 (6)10

After winning first set easily big servers American stretched Lee and Lukas in second but they won in 2 sets to moved into quarters.

Lee and Cara won first set with a single break ... In second set they broke opponent's serve in first game and take early 2-0 lead ... And they again broke opponent's serve in 7th game to take 5-2 lead ... ... They easily hold their serve to scored comfortable win to move in to MXD quarter-final ... Next they r facing 8th seed pair of Vesnina and Ram .. So that also means Lee is in quarters of Men's doubles and Mixed doubles.

After losing first set easily, Munshaw and Wang were up 3-0 in second ... Good fighting performance by Ito and Rishika, they lost in super tie-break.

Chess News
At 2010 Corus Chess, Wijk aan Zee, Netherlands

Group A: Round 8 - 24th January
Viswanathan Anand - Vassily Ivanchuk ½-½
Alexei Shirov - Magnus Carlsen ½-½
Vladimir Kramnik - Hikaru Nakamura 1-0
Sergey Karjakin - Nigel Short 1-0
Leinier Dominguez - Loek van Wely ½-½
Peter Leko - Jan Smeets 1-0
Fabiano Caruana - Sergey Tiviakov 1-0

Group B: Round 8 - 24th January
Erwin l'Ami - Pentala Harikrishna ½-½
Liviu Nisipeanu - Parimarjan Negi ½-½

Group C: Round 8 - 24th January
Soumya Swaminathan - Kjetil Lie ½-½
Abhijeet Gupta - Li Chao ½-½

All other players r managing win but Anand is still searching for his first win after 8 rounds ... Today 4 matches produced results but Anand had another uneventful draw.

In Group B and Group C, our all players drew their matches.

Tennis News
At Australian Open 2010, Melbourne

[QF] (10) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Virginia Ruano Pascal (ESP) l (7) Alisa Kleybanova (RUS)/ Francesca Schiavone (ITA) 46 36

[R3] Eric Butorac (USA)/ Rajeev Ram (USA) bt Leonardo Mayer(ARG)/ Horacio Zeballos(ARG) 67(3) 64 76(3)

Australian Open 2010 - Junior

[R1] (13) Arthur De Greef (BEL,22) l Vaidik Munshaw (IND,81) 46 67(5)
[R1] (Q) Rishika Sunkara (IND,132) bt (Q)Miyu Kato (JPN,119) 64 62

[R2] (Q) Rishika Sunkara (IND,132) vs (3) Daria Gavrilova (RUS,4)

[R1] Vaidik Munshaw (IND)/ Chuhan Wang (CHN) vs (4) Liang-Chi Huang (TPE)/ Yasutaka Uchiyama (JPN)
[R1] Yuki Ito (JPN)/ Rishika Sunkara (IND) vs (6) Anna-Lena Friedsam (GER)/ Mai Grage (DEN)

Expected result, Sania and Virginia lost in straight sets against 7th seed ... But Rajeev Ram and Butorac r in doubles quarters beating Argentinian pair in tight 3 sets.

Rishika Sunkara scored good upset win over fellow Japanese qualifier in straight sets to moved in to second round ... In second round she has tough challenge of 15 yrs old Russian Daria Gavrilova, last year who was finalist at Junior Roland Garros and reached Junior US Open semis ... She also won Eddie Herr International Junior Tennis Championships in December.

Good fighting performance by Vaidik Munshaw against Belgian De Greef, who was a runner up at Orange bowl last month.

Chess News
At 2010 Corus Chess, Wijk aan Zee, Netherlands

Group A: Round 7 - 23rd January
Fabiano Caruana - Viswanathan Anand ½-½
Sergey Tiviakov - Peter Leko ½-½
Jan Smeets - Leinier Dominguez ½-½
Loek van Wely - Sergey Karjakin ½-½
Nigel Short - Vladimir Kramnik ½-½
Hikaru Nakamura - Alexei Shirov 1-0
Magnus Carlsen - Vassily Ivanchuk 1-0

Group B: Round 7 - 23rd January
Parimarjan Negi - Pentala Harikrishna ½-½

Group C: Round 6 - 22nd January
Stefan Kuipers - Soumya Swaminathan ½-½
Sjoerd Plukkel - Abhijeet Gupta 0-1

At Corus anybody faces Anand and manage draw ... Same thing happened in 7th round also against 17 yrs old Italian-American GM Fabiano Caruana ... American GM Hikaru Nakamura defeated leader Alexei Shirov to moved to second place with Magnus Carlsen, now they r ½ pt behind leader Shirov ... Anand is T7 with 3½ pts.

In Group B, Hari and Negi played safe draw while facing eachother ... Hari is on 4 pt remained 1½ pts behind leader Anish Giri on T6 position and Negi is on T8 with 3½ pts.

In Group C, Soumya managed her only second draw in 7 rounds and Abhijeet scored win playing with blacks ... Today leader 15 yrs old Ray Robson lost his match so now Abhijeet is only ½ pt behind leader.

Tennis News
At Australian Open 2010, Melbourne

[R2] (3) Leander Paes (IND)/ Lukas Dlouhy (CZE) bt Lucas Arnold Ker (ARG)/ Horia Tecau (ROU) 75 63

[R3] (3) Leander Paes (IND)/ Lukas Dlouhy (CZE) vs John Isner (USA)/ Sam Querrey (USA)

Australian Open 2010 - Junior

[R1] (13) Arthur De Greef (BEL,22) vs Vaidik Munshaw (IND,81)
[R1] (Q) Rishika Sunkara (IND,132) vs (Q)Miyu Kato (JPN,119)

Good straight sets victory by Lee and Lukas in second round ... Next they r facing big server Americans, tricky match.

Rishika having some chance against her Japanese opponent to move in to second round.

Chess News
At 2010 Corus Chess, Wijk aan Zee, Netherlands

Group A: Round 6 - 22nd January
Viswanathan Anand - Magnus Carlsen ½-½
Vassily Ivanchuk - Hikaru Nakamura ½-½
Alexei Shirov - Nigel Short ½-½
Vladimir Kramnik - Loek van Wely 1-0
Sergey Karjakin - Jan Smeets ½-½
Leinier Dominguez - Sergey Tiviakov 1-0
Peter Leko - Fabiano Caruana 1-0

Group B: Round 6 - 22nd January
Erwin l'Ami - Parimarjan Negi 1-0
Pentala Harikrishna - Varuzhan Akobian ½-½

Group C: Round 6 - 22nd January
Soumya Swaminathan - Robin v. Kampen 0-1
Abhijeet Gupta - Daniele Vocaturo 1-0

Another draw so Anand remained winless after 6 rounds ... In Group B, Hari managed draw with Akobian but Negi lost against Erwin ... In Group C, Abhijeet won his match but Soumya had another loss ... She will definetly going to loose chunk of ELO points.

Badminton News
At $200K Malaysia Super Series 2010, Kuala Lumpur

[QF] (7) Saina Nehwal (IND,7) l Xin Wang (CHN,10) 21-14 8-21 11-21

Saina started well winning first game but Xin Wang overpowered her in remaining 2 games ... Last 2 games score was disappointing.

Tennis News
At Australian Open 2010, Melbourne

Doubles
[R2] (WC) Prakash Amritraj (IND)/ Somdev Devvarman (IND) l (11) Simon Aspelin (SWE)/ Paul Hanley (AUS) 16 36
[R2] Eric Butorac (USA)/ Rajeev Ram (USA) bt (7) Mariusz Fyrstenberg (POL)/ Marcin Matkowski (POL) 62 36 76(2)

[R2] (10) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Virginia Ruano Pascal (ESP) bt Timea Bacsinszky (SUI)/ Tathiana Garbin (ITA) 76(3) 63

[QF] (10) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Virginia Ruano Pascal (ESP) vs (7) Alisa Kleybanova (RUS)/ Francesca Schiavone (ITA)

Mixed Doubles
[R1] (1) Cara Black (ZIM)/ Leander Paes (IND) bt Sophie Ferguson (AUS)/ Carsten Ball (AUS) 75 75

Sania and Virginia scored straight sets victory in second round ... First set they won in tie-break but they controlled second set to move in to pre-quarter finals.

Today Somi AGAIN struggled with his serve and seeded Aussie pair take full advantage of it for easy victory over Indian pair ... Rajeev and his partner Butorac scored upset win over seeded Polish team.

Top-seed Lee and Cara needed their experience to pulled tight win over local pair in first round of MXD.

Mahesh Bhupathi and Sania Mirza, the defending champions at the 2010 Australian Open, withdrew due to Mahesh's torn calf muscle injury.

Australian Open 2010 - Junior Qualifying

[Q2] Sumeet Shinde (IND,179) l (10) Bruno Semenzato (BRA,136) 57 26
[Q2] Saurabh Singh (IND,174) vs (4) Jaden Grinter (NZL,93)
[Q2] (5) Sai Kartik Nakireddi (IND,105) l Jea Moon Lee (KOR,179) 67(4) 36

[Q2] Ankita Raina (IND,183) l (1) Marianne Jodoin (CAN,74) 16 36
[Q2] Natasha Palha (IND,274) l (9) Abigail Tere-Apisah (PNG,131) 36 46
[Q2] Rashmi Teltumbde (IND,267) l Alexandra Nancarrow (AUS,UNR) 57 36
[Q2] Prerna Bhambri (IND,186) l Elizaveta Ianchuk (UKR,1053) 67(4) 46
[Q2] Sharmada Balu (IND,159) l Li-Yun Tan (SIN,254) 46 46
[Q2] Aishwarya Agrawal (IND,221) l (6) Eri Hozumi (JPN,121) 64 26 26
[Q2] (10) Rishika Sunkara (IND,132) bt Stefani Stojic (AUS,UNR) 61 62

[Q3] ((10) Rishika Sunkara (IND,132) bt (7) Ursa Jeman (SLO,122) 46 63 64

Looking at junior qualifying scores it look massacre of our players on tennis court.

At last some good news, Rishika Sunkara qualified for main draw with comeback win over Ursa Jeman.

Chess News
At 2010 Corus Chess, Wijk aan Zee, Netherlands

Group A: Round 5 - 21st January
Peter Leko - Viswanathan Anand ½-½
Fabiano Caruana - Leinier Dominguez ½-½
Sergey Tiviakov - Sergey Karjakin ½-½
Jan Smeets - Vladimir Kramnik 0-1
Loek van Wely - Alexei Shirov 0-1
Nigel Short - Vassily Ivanchuk ½-½
Hikaru Nakamura - Magnus Carlsen ½-½

Group B: Round 5 - 21st January
Wesley So - Pentala Harikrishna ½-½
Varuzhan Akobian - Parimarjan Negi 0-1

Group C: Round 5 - 21st January
Mariya Muzychuk - Soumya Swaminathan 1-0
Benjamin Bok - Abhijeet Gupta ½-½

Another quite draw for Anand ... After 5 rounds Anand is still searching for his first win, other hand Alexei Shirov scored his 5th win in 5th game to lead by 1½ pts ... In Group B, Wesley So hold Hari to draw but Negi scored exciting win over Varuzhan Akobian playing with blacks ... In Group C, Abhijeet hold Bok playing with blacks but Soumya's struggled continue and she lost 4th match in 5 rounds.

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

Viva Kerala l Pune F.C. 0-3

Goal Scored - Arata Izumi (PFC) 11' & 54', Sergey Tokov (PFC) 90'

Pune FC scored third win a row and all their wins came in away matches ... In round 11 match they scored emphatic win over Viva.
-----------------------------------------

Dempo S.C bt Sporting Clube-de Goa 3-1

Goal Scored - Clifford Miranda (DSC) 20', Joaquim Abranches (DSC) 29', Peter Carvalho (DSC) 61' and Bisheshwor Singh (SCG) 36'

Dempo showed clinical performance against Sporting, this win helped them to regain top-spot in standing ... Now they r ahead by 2 points over Mahindra.
-----------------------------------------

Chiragh United SC dw JCT, Phagwara 1-1

Goal Scored - Josimar da Silva Martins (CU) 15' and Penn Ikechukwu Orji (JCT) 36'

Inexperienced JCT side managed to hold Chirag United in 1-1 draw.
-----------------------------------------

East Bengal bt Churchill Brothers 3-2

Goal Scored - Yusif Yakubu (EB) 10' & 38', Baichung Bhutia (EB) 53' and Ogba Kalu Nnanna (CB) 9', Vashum (CB) 13'

In well contested match East Bengal gave first defeat to Churchill Brothers.
------------------------------------------

Air India bt Salgaocar S.C 2-1

Goal Scored - Avnit Singh Shergill (AI) 26', Vijith Shetty (AI) 79' and Ravinder Singh (SSC) 45'

So with this Airmen won their first home match.
-----------------------------------------

Mahindra United V Mohun Bagan 1-2

Goal Scored - Mohammed Rafi (MU) 9' and Marcos Pereira (MB) 58', Sueoka Ryuji (MB) 75'

Mohun Bagan scored very important win over leader Mahindra and joined them with 20 points ... This was Mahindra's first loss in ongoing I League.
-----------------------------------------

Mumbai FC bt Shillong Lajong FC 3-1

Goal Scored - Bashiru Abbas Mohammed (MFC) 22', Abhishek Yadav (MFC) 73', Subhas Chakraborty (MFC) 86' and Daniel Bidemi (SL) 50'

Shillong again lost against another Mumbai team

Badminton News
At $200K Malaysia Super Series 2010, Kuala Lumpur

[R2] Chetan Anand (IND,16) l (Q) Wei Feng Chong (MAS,56) 15-21 21-19 18-21
[R2] (7) Saina Nehwal (IND,8) bt Ai Goto (JPN,26) 21-19 21-12

[QF] (7) Saina Nehwal (IND,7) vs Xin Wang (CHN,10)

Good win by Saina ... After close first game she dominated second to move in to quarter final of this Super Series tournament ... WR #10 Xin Wang defeated WR #3 Danish Tine Rasmussen in second round ... Xin Wong is showing tremendous improvement in her game if we checked her results from last year ... Saina faced her last year in Malaysia Open GP, where as qualifier Wang defeated her in easy straight games in quarters, 14-21 10-21 ... So tough match for Saina.

Chetan again disappointed with his performance and failed to take advantage of weak draw in Super Series.

Tennis News
At Australian Open 2010, Melbourne

Doubles
[R1] (3) Leander Paes (IND)/ Lukas Dlouhy (CZE) bt Leos Friedl (CZE)/ David Skoch (CZE) 63 61
[R1] (4) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Max Mirnyi (BLR) l Michael Kohlmann (GER)/ Jarkko Nieminen (FIN) 46 46
[R1] Eric Butorac (USA)/ Rajeev Ram (USA) bt Thomaz Bellucci (BRA)/ Andre Sa (BRA) 63 64
[R1] (10) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Virginia Ruano Pascal (ESP) bt (WC) Yayuk Basuki (INA)/ Kimiko Date Krumm (JPN) 64 62

[R2] (WC) Prakash Amritraj (IND)/ Somdev Devvarman (IND) vs (11) Simon Aspelin (SWE)/ Paul Hanley (AUS)
[R2] (3) Leander Paes (IND)/ Lukas Dlouhy (CZE) vs Lucas Arnold Ker (ARG)/ Horia Tecau (ROU)
[R2] Eric Butorac (USA)/ Rajeev Ram (USA) vs (7) Mariusz Fyrstenberg (POL)/ Marcin Matkowski (POL)
[R2] (10) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Virginia Ruano Pascal (ESP) vs Timea Bacsinszky (SUI)/ Tathiana Garbin (ITA)

Lee and Lukas scored easy victory against Czech pair ... Rajeev and Butorac also moved to second round with win over Brazilian pair.

Sania and Virginia also had winning start against veteran pair, who fought well in first set but didn't put much fight in second set after getting early break.

Forgettable start for Mahesh and Max Mirnyi for 2010 doubles partnership ... 4th seed pair knocked in first round in straight sets ... I would say zero match practice together before Australian Open cost them early exit.

Australian Open 2010 - Junior Qualifying

[Q1] Sumeet Shinde (IND,179) bt Damian Farinola (AUS,1297) 26 75 64
[Q1] Saurabh Singh (IND,174) bt Andrew Zedde (AUS,UNR) 64 63
[Q1] (5) Sai Kartik Nakireddi (IND,105) bt Matt Roso (AUS,UNR) 46 75 64

[Q1] Ankita Raina (IND,183) bt Samantha Harris (AUS,UNR) 16 76(4) 60
[Q1] Natasha Palha (IND,274) bt Sandy Vo (AUS,504) 63 64
[Q1] Rashmi Teltumbde (IND,267) bt Bernadette Massih (AUS,948) 57 75 64
[Q1] Prerna Bhambri (IND,186) bt (14) Khristina Blajkevitch (CAN,142) 61 76(3)
[Q1] (11) Kyra Shroff (IND,133) l Chelsea Te Tai (NZL,1033) 16 57
[Q1] Sharmada Balu (IND,159) bt Ashleigh Hancock (AUS,UNR) 67(4) 76(4) 62
[Q1] Aishwarya Agrawal (IND,221) bt Azra Hadzic (AUS,623) 36 76(4) 62
[Q1] Ashvarya Shrivastava (IND,346) l Ksenia Gospodinova (RUS,164) 36 62 26
[Q1] (10) Rishika Sunkara (IND,132) bt Gussie O'Sullivan (AUS,UNR) 63 62
[Q1] Prathana Thombare (IND,225) l Nao Tada (JPN,370) 06 75 46

[Q2] Sumeet Shinde (IND,179) vs (10) Bruno Semenzato (BRA,136)
[Q2] Saurabh Singh (IND,174) vs (4) Jaden Grinter (NZL,93)
[Q2] (5) Sai Kartik Nakireddi (IND,105) vs Jea Moon Lee (KOR,179)

[Q2] Ankita Raina (IND,183) vs (1) Marianne Jodoin (CAN,74)
[Q2] Natasha Palha (IND,274) vs (9) Abigail Tere-Apisah (PNG,131)
[Q2] Rashmi Teltumbde (IND,267) vs Alexandra Nancarrow (AUS,UNR)
[Q2] Prerna Bhambri (IND,186) vs Elizaveta Ianchuk (UKR,1053)
[Q2] Sharmada Balu (IND,159) vs Li-Yun Tan (SIN,254)
[Q2] Aishwarya Agrawal (IND,221) vs (6) Eri Hozumi (JPN,121)
[Q2] (10) Rishika Sunkara (IND,132) vs Stefani Stojic (AUS,UNR)

So our many juniors r in second qualifying round ... Good upset win by Prerna Bhambri and many comeback wins.

Badminton News
At $200K Malaysia Super Series 2010, Kuala Lumpur

[R1] Chetan Anand (IND,16) bt (Q) Kwong Beng Chan (MAS,62) 21-19 21-16
[R1] (7) Saina Nehwal (IND,8) bt (Q) Li Lian Yang (MAS,230) 21-10 21-12

[R2] (7) Saina Nehwal (IND,8) vs Ai Goto (JPN,26)

Winning start for Chetan and Saina for 2010 season ... Both won their respective first round matches at Malaysia Super Series.

At last minute Dan Lin withdrew from this Super Series so Chetan's bottom draw is open ... Hopefully Chetan will use this opportunity to go deep in this tourney.

Tennis News
At Australian Open 2010, Melbourne

Doubles
[R1] Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (PAK) l Rik De Voest (RSA)/ Scott Lipsky (USA) 64 16 67(6)
[R1] (WC) Prakash Amritraj (IND)/ Somdev Devvarman (IND) bt James Cerretani (USA)/ Travis Rettenmaier (USA) 57 64 75

Mixed Doubles
[R1] (1) Cara Black (ZIM)/ Leander Paes (IND) vs Sophie Ferguson (AUS)/ Carsten Ball (AUS)
[R1] Sania Mirza (IND)/ Mahesh Bhupathi (IND) vs Carly Gullickson (USA)/ Bernard Tomic (AUS)

Mixed doubles draw is out .. Tough draw for Sania and Mahesh to defend their title ... They can face top-seed Lee and Cara in second round if both pairs win their respective first round matches.

Somi and Kash fought hard from the start ... Their American opponents were experienced doubles players and our pair needed to fight for winning every point ... After 1 set all in third set, American pair broke Somi's serve in 4th game to take lead but our pair immediately broke their service in next game ... At 3-4 on Somi's serve our pair saved 3 break points from 0-40 to won that game ... Again in 10th game while serving for staying in the match they were down 3 match point, 0-40, on Kash's serve ... This time also they saved those match points to won this game ... Immediately in next game they broke American pair's serve and then while serving for the match they converted 4th match point to won match ... Excellent victory for them.

Bops and Aisam started well winning first set with single break ... But Rik De Voest and Scott Lipsky came back strongly winning second set ... Third set went to tie-break as both pairs were serving well ... In tie-break until 6-all nobody gave mini-break ... On Rohan's serve Rik De Voest and Scott Lipsky got mini-break to lead 6-7 and they promptly converted this match point to won this match.

Chess News
At 2010 Corus Chess, Wijk aan Zee, Netherlands

Group A: Round 4 - 19th January
Viswanathan Anand - Hikaru Nakamura ½-½
Magnus Carlsen - Nigel Short ½-½
Vassily Ivanchuk - Loek van Wely 1-0
Alexei Shirov - Jan Smeets 1-0
Vladimir Kramnik - Sergey Tiviakov ½-½
Sergey Karjakin - Fabiano Caruana ½-½
Leinier Dominguez - Peter Leko ½-½

Group B: Round 4 - 19th January
Parimarjan Negi - Wesley So ½-½
Pentala Harikrishna - Arkadij Naiditsch 1-0

Group C: Round 4 - 19th January
Soumya Swaminathan - Li Chao 0-1
Abhijeet Gupta - Peng Zhaoqin ½-½

Another uneventful draw for Anand against American GM Hikaru Nakamura playing with whites ... Other hand Alexei Shirov scored 4th win in 4th game to lead Group A with a full point ... In Group B, Hari scored upset win over top-seed Arkadij Naiditsch playing with whites and Negi managed draw against Wesley So ... In Group C, Dutch woman GM Peng Zhaoqin hold Abhijit Gupta and Soumya's struggle in this high standard tournament is continued.

Chess News
At 2010 Corus Chess, Wijk aan Zee, Netherlands

Group A: Round 3 - 18th January
Leinier Dominguez - Viswanathan Anand ½-½
Peter Leko - Sergey Karjakin ½-½
Fabiano Caruana - Vladimir Kramnik ½-½
Sergey Tiviakov - Alexei Shirov 0-1
Jan Smeets - Vassily Ivanchuk 0-1
Loek van Wely - Magnus Carlsen 0-1
Nigel Short - Hikaru Nakamura 0-1

Group B: Round 3 - 18th January
Anna Muzychuk - Pentala Harikrishna 0-1
Arkadij Naiditsch - Parimarjan Negi ½-½

Group C: Round 3 - 18th January
Robin Swinkels - Soumya Swaminathan 1-0
Stefan Kuipers - Abhijeet Gupta 0-1

3rd draw in a row for Anand ... Alexei Shirov scored 3rd victory to remained ½ clear of Magnus Carlsen ... In Group B, Hari scored his first victory with blacks ... Negi managed draw against top-seed German GM Arkadij Naiditsch playing with blacks ... In Group C, Abhijeet Gupta scored his first victory playing with blacks ... Soumya's struggled continue, she lost against local grand master.

Tennis News
At Australian Open 2010, Melbourne

[R1] Sania Mirza (IND,57) l (26) Aravane Rezai (FRA,23) 46 26

Sania played aggressive game in the first set ... Her serve was good and with only single break Aravane Rezai won first set ... In second set Sania broke Aravane Rezai's serve in second game to lead 2-0 but from here Aravane Rezai won next 6 games in a row breaking Sania thrice to won this match.

Chess News
At 2010 Corus Chess, Wijk aan Zee, Netherlands

Group A: Round 2 - 17th January
Viswanathan Anand - Nigel Short ½-½
Hikaru Nakamura - Loek van Wely 1-0
Magnus Carlsen - Jan Smeets 1-0
Vassily Ivanchuk - Sergey Tiviakov ½-½
Alexei Shirov - Fabiano Caruana 1-0
Vladimir Kramnik - Peter Leko ½-½
Sergey Karjakin - Leinier Dominguez ½-½

Group A: Round 1 - 16th January
Sergey Karjakin - Viswanathan Anand ½-½
Leinier Dominguez - Vladimir Kramnik ½-½
Peter Leko - Alexei Shirov 0-1
Fabiano Caruana - Vassily Ivanchuk ½-½
Sergey Tiviakov - Magnus Carlsen ½-½
Jan Smeets - Hikaru Nakamura ½-½
Loek van Wely - Nigel Short 1-0

After 2 rounds Anand is still searching for first win ... In first round he drew his game playing with blacks against 2009 winner Sergey Karjakin ... In second round British grandmaster Nigel Short managed to hold him playing with blacks after 57 moves ... So Anand in T4th position with 1 pt and Alexei Shirov leading with 100% winning record.

In Group B, Playing with whites Parimarjan Negi drew his second game against WGM Anna Muzychuk, the lowest Elo rating opponent in the group ... He is on 1 pt ... Also playing with whites Pentala Harikrishna opened his account after drawing his game with David Howell .. He lost first game against local 15 yrs old GM Anish Giri, who is leading the standing.

In Group C, Abhijeet Gupta drew his second game playing with whites against Ukrainian WGM Marya Muzychuk ... He is on 1 pt ... Soumya Swaminathan opened her account after drawing against local lowly ranked Sjoerd Plukkel.

Tennis News
At Australian Open 2010, Melbourne

Doubles
[R1] (3) Leander Paes (IND)/ Lukas Dlouhy (CZE) vs Leos Friedl (CZE)/ David Skoch (CZE)
[R1] (4) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Max Mirnyi (BLR) vs Michael Kohlmann (GER)/ Jarkko Nieminen (FIN)
[R1] Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (PAK) vs Rik De Voest (RSA)/ Scott Lipsky (USA)
[R1] (WC) Prakash Amritraj (IND)/ Somdev Devvarman (IND) vs James Cerretani (USA)/ Travis Rettenmaier (USA)

[R1] (10) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Virginia Ruano Pascal (ESP) vs (WC) Yayuk Basuki (INA)/ Kimiko Date Krumm (JPN)

Somi and Prakash received Asian pair wild card for Australian Open ... So they r having good chance of making use of it ... Rohan and Aisam can face top-seed Bryans if they wins first round.

Sania and Virginia Ruano Pascal r 10th seed and r in same top draw of top seeds ... In first round they r facing 39 yrs old experienced Asian wild card pair, who r making comeback.

Tennis News
At Australian Open 2010, Melbourne

[Q3] (27) Somdev Devvarman (IND,161) l (12) Blaz Kavcic (SLO,126) 36 67(4)

Somi's struggle with his service games continued in this match ... In 5th game he broke Kavcic's serve in 5th game but after that he lost 4 games on row, where his serve broken twice, to lose first set ... In second set also Somi got broken early and was down 1-3 ... In 5th game he was 15-40 down on his serve, then he saved 2 break points to hold his serve and broke Kavcic's serve in next game to make it 3-all ... Then again he broke Kavic to lead 5-3 but again while serving for the set his service let him down ... He got broken and then second set went into tie-break where initially they exchanged mini-breaks ... But Kavcic take important mini-break on 8th point to lead 3-5 and that turned out crucial as he served it out to won this match.

Somi had big opprtunity of qualifying for main draw with this weak draw ... I feel this time he lost that opportunity due to poor service games ... I wish Somi's team look into this matter as early as possible,

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

Chiragh United SC dw Dempo SC 1-1

Goal Scored - Edmilson Marques (CU) 67' and Peter Carvalho (DSC) 59'

In last match of 10th round Chiragh United drew their match with Dempo ... So both teams remain on second place with 19 pts behind leader Mahindra United with 20 pts.
-----------------------------------------

Air India l Mohun Bagan 0-5

Goal Scored - Jose Marcio Ramirez Barreto (MB) 45+' P, 47', 62' & 69', Kalia Perumal Kulothungan (MB) 58'

Jose Barreto scored 4 goals in this huge win for Mohun Bagan ... Their next match against Mahindra will be cracker.
-----------------------------------------

Salgaocar SC l Pune FC 1-3

Goal Scored - Mandjou Keita (SSC) 77' and Edmar Figueira (PFC) 24' & 81', Arata Izumi (PFC) 74'

Pune FC scored their successive second win in away match ... This helped them to move middle of the table.
-----------------------------------------

Viva Kerala bt JCT 1-0

Goal Scored - Reuben Senyo (VK) 21'

Early goal helped Viva to garner full points from this match.
-----------------------------------------

Mahindra United bt Shillong Lajong 5-0

Goal Scored - Paresh Shivalkar (MU) 9' & 14', Mohammed Rafi (MU) 35', Subair Muritala Ali (MU) 49' (PS) & 57'

Very dominating win by Mahindra against young talented Shillong Lajong side ... With this win Mahindra moved to the top of I League standing.
-----------------------------------------

Mumbai FC dw East Bengal 0-0

Mumbai FC managed draw with Kolkata giant.
-----------------------------------------

Sporting Clube de Goa dw Churchill Brothers SC 0-0

Sporting Clube de Goa also managed to hold mighty Churchill Brothers to goalless draw.

Tennis News
At Australian Open 2010, Melbourne

[Q2] (27) Somdev Devvarman (IND,161) bt Tobias Kamke (GER,258) 26 61 8-6

[Q3] (27) Somdev Devvarman (IND,161) vs (12) Blaz Kavcic (SLO,126)

[R1] Sania Mirza (IND,56) vs (26) Aravane Rezai (FRA,27)

Somi started badly as his serve broken in first game ... In this set Somi was struggling with his serve and other hand Kamke was holding his serve easily ... Kamke again broke Somi's serve in 7th game and then hold his next serve to win first set easily ... Second set started on similar way ike first set ... Kamke broke Somi's serve in first game ... But from second game suddenly Somi started to play better (mostly he found his correct range on his shots) ... He won next 6 games on a row in that broke Kamke's serve thrice to won second set ... In third set again Somi broke Kamke's serve in first game and third game to take early lead 3-0 ... But Kamke made exceptional fight back breaking Somi's serve twice to make it 3-all ... Then both players hold their next service games on luv to make it 4-all ... Somi again broke Kamke's serve in 9th game and was serving for the match ... Again Kamke broke Somi's serve to make it 5-all ... After Kamke's hold Somi was serving for staying in the match and he hold easily ... In 13th game Somi broke Kamke's serve after saving 2 game points ... And this time he hold his service game @30 to moved in to final qualifying round ... In third set match was very close as anybody could win ... I really surprised to see that Somi wasted 2 breaks advantage in the beginning and got broken while serving for the match in 10th game ... From Chennai Open it is evident that Somi is struggling with his serve ... He need to take care of this before next matches to go deep here at Australian Open.

Main draw is out and Sania had tough draw facing Frenchwoman Aravane Rezai, who is good form.

Tennis News
At Australian Open 2010, Melbourne

[Q2] Prakash Amritraj (IND,200) l (25) Edouard Roger-Vasselin (FRA,156) 57 46

As expected Prakash fought well against Frenchman Edouard Roger-Vasselin ... In first set both players didn't get break point until 11th game ... Roger-Vasselin broke Kash's serve in 11th game to won first set ... But second set was different where we saw too many breaks ... Kash broke Roger-Vasselin's serve in 2nd game but then Roger-Vasselin broke Kash's serve in next and 5th game to take control of the set ... And then served well to win his service games easily ... I m bit disappointed as I was hoping upset from Kash after his recent good performance at Chennai Open qualifying.

Chess News
At World Team Chess Championship, Bursa, Turkey

Final Standing

Rank Team Gam. + = - MP Pts. Res. SB.
1 RUSSIA 9 7 1 1 15 24 0 127,75
2 UNITED STATES 9 6 1 2 13 21½ 0 103,00
3 INDIA 9 6 1 2 13 21 0 103,25
4 AZERBAIJAN 9 5 2 2 12 22 0 93,75
5 ARMENIA 9 5 2 2 12 20½ 0 97,00
6 GREECE 9 4 0 5 8 18 0 68,50
7 ISRAEL 9 3 1 5 7 17 0 53,50
8 BRAZIL 9 2 0 7 4 12½ 0 23,50
9 EGYPT 9 1 1 7 3 12 0 23,75
10 TURKIYE 9 1 1 7 3 11½ 0 23,00

Format for this World Team Chess Championship was, for winning tie team will get 2 points and for draw both teams will get 1 point.

In last match India defeated Brazil 3½ - ½ and in other match US drew with Azerbaijan ... So after last round India ties with US in match points, i. e. 13 pts, but US won silver medal on tie-break (may be due to ½ pt extra in total points calculation) and India managed to win bronze medal ... So at least we performed as per our 3rd ranking.

Brazil ½ - 3½ (3) India
GM Leitao Rafael 2620 ½ : ½ GM Sasikiran Krishnan 2653
GM Fier Alexandr 2601 0 : 1 GM Harikrishna P 2672
GM Milos Gilberto 2618 0 : 1 GM Ganguly Surya Shekhar 2654
GM Diamant Andre 2497 0 : 1 GM Geetha Narayanan Gopal 2584

Tennis News
At Australian Open 2010, Melbourne

[Q1] (27) Somdev Devvarman (IND,161) bt (WC) James Duckworth (AUS,1712) 62 62
[Q1] Yuki Bhambri (IND,330) l Jan Minar (CZE,245) 63 36 36
[Q1] Prakash Amritraj (IND,200) bt Andre Begeman (GER,231) 46 61 63

[Q2] (27) Somdev Devvarman (IND,161) vs Tobias Kamke (GER,258)
[Q2] Prakash Amritraj (IND,200) vs (25) Edouard Roger-Vasselin (FRA,156)

In first set Kash was down with early break and lost it ... But from second set he turned tide and started dominating ... He won second set easily and broke Begeman in first game on third set ... He saved couple of break points on his next service game and also in 8th game but again he broke Begeman in 9th game to moved in to second qualifying round ... Next Kash is facing seeded Frenchman Roger-Vasselin with whom he has losing record ... But hopefully he will overcome this challenge.

Yuki broke Minar's serve in 4th game, then he had 3 set point on Minar's serve at 3-5 (0-40), but he could not convert those ... He held serve in 9th game to won first set ... In second set Minar broke Yuki's serve in 8th game to won second set 3-6 after saving 2 break points in 9th game ... In third set Minar broke Yuki's serve early to take 1-2 lead ... Then Minar again broke Yuki to take lead 1-4 with double break ... But Yuki kept fighting and broke Minar's serve in 6th game ... But Minar again broke Yuki in 9th game to won set and match ... In 9th game Yuki was up 40-0 but somehow lost 5 points on a row to handover the game and match ... But still very fighting performance by Yuki against experienced player.

Somi started match with breaking Aussie's serve and that trend continued in rest of set as he won first set 6-2 ... He kept his upper hand in second set to scored comfortable win to move in to second qualifying round ... His next German opponent is tricky as he is having lot more experience of playing at this level.
-----------------------------------------------------------
At $355.5K Auckland Open, New Zealand

[QF] (2) Leander Paes (IND)/ Lukas Dlouhy (CZE) l Johan Brunstrom (SWE)/ Jean-Julien Rojer (AHO) 26 36

Very one-sided victory for Brunstrom and Rojer against 2nd seed ... They dominated in every aspect of the game ... Not right preparation for Australian Open for our pair.
-----------------------------------------------------------
At $220K Hobart International 2010, Australia

[QF] (2) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Virginia Ruano Pascal (ESP) l Sara Errani (ITA)/ Roberta Vinci (ITA) 36 57

Disappointing result for Sania and Ruano Pascal ... They r also not having right preparation for Australian Open.
-----------------------------------------------------------
At $25K Pingguo ITF Womens Tournament, China

[R1] VENKATESHA Poojashree (IND,340) l (LL) ZHANG Nan-Nan (CHN,1106) 16 46

Another disappointing outing for Poojashree ... Forgettable China visit for her.

Tennis News
At Australian Open 2010, Melbourne

[Q1] (27) Somdev Devvarman(IND,161) vs (WC) James Duckworth (AUS,1712)
[Q1] Yuki Bhambri (IND,330) vs Jan Minar (CZE,245)
[Q1] Prakash Amritraj (IND,200) vs Andre Begeman (GER,231)

Somi having favorable draw ... Facing Australian wild-card in first round .. And having Slovenian #126 Blaz Kavcic is highest seeded in his draw.

Though Prakash and Yuki having tricky first round matches still they r also having good draw ... Kash having Frenchmen #134 David Guez and #156 Edouard Roger-Vasselin r seeded players ... And Yuki also having Frenchmen #129 Josselin Ouanna, whom Yuki can face if he manage to win first round, and #141 Sebastien De Chaunac r seeded players.
-----------------------------------------------------------
At $220K Hobart International 2010, Australia

[R1] (2) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Virginia Ruano Pascal (ESP) bt Edina Gallovits (ROU)/ Marie-Eve Pelletier (CAN) 62 61

[QF] (2) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Virginia Ruano Pascal (ESP) vs Sara Errani (ITA)/ Roberta Vinci (ITA)

Very comfortable win for Sania and Virginia Ruano Pascal ... They needs match practice before Australian Open as last week they lost in first round ... Today they played like second seed to scored dominating win ... Next they r facing Italian pair.
-----------------------------------------------------------
At $355.5K Auckland Open, New Zealand

[R1] (2) Leander Paes (IND)/ Lukas Dlouhy (CZE) bt Jaroslav Levinsky (CZE)/ Travis Parrott (USA) 75 64

[QF] (2) Leander Paes (IND)/ Lukas Dlouhy (CZE) vs Johan Brunstrom (SWE)/ Jean-Julien Rojer (AHO)

Lee and Lukas had tough match than they expected ... But they managed to win this match taking breaks at crucial moment ... In second set they saved 4 break point chances and converted only 1 they got.

Top seed Bryans lost in the first round ... Next Lee and Lukas r facing little unknown European pair.

Tennis News
At $220K Hobart International 2010, Australia

[R1] Sania Mirza (IND,56) l (WC) Alicia Molik (AUS,186) 46 62 36

After checking draw I thought this was tough match up for Sania though these days Alicia play less singles ... In this match Sania committed 9 double faults ... She faced 7 break point chances and managed to save 2 and had 8 break point chances on Alicia's serve but converted only 4 ... In third set Alicia broke her service thrice ... Overall not a good preparation for Australian Open.

Golf News
At Royal Trophy 2010, Thailand Day3 - Singles

Asia l Europe 7½ - 8½

Charlie Wi bt Simon Dyson 1 up
Wenchong Liang dw Colin Montgomerie A/S
Koumei Oda bt Alexander Noren 5&3
Jeev Milkha Singh bt Robert Karlsson 2&1
Prayad Marksaeng l Pablo Martin 2&1
Ryo Ishikawa l Peter Hanson 5&4
Gaganjeet Bhullar l Soren Kjeldsen 2&1
Thongchai Jaidee dw Henrik Stenson A/S

Europe defeated Asia by 1 point advantage which they gathered on 2nd day ... Today Jeev scored victory over Robert Karlsson but Gaganjeet lost to Soren Kjeldsen with same score ... 2 matches were well fought until last hole ... On 18th hole Wenchong Liang scored 25 feets birdie and put pressure on Colin Montgomerie ... But Montgomerie also matched him scoring more than 20 feet birdie to drew match ... In last match between Thongchai Jaidee and Henrik Stenson, Jaidee take lead on 17th hole scoring birdie ... But on last hole Jaidee failed to scored PAR and Stenson won the hole to helped Europe to win Royal Trophy third time.

Tennis News
At $372.5K Brisbane International, Australia

Final
(1) Leander Paes (IND)/ Lukas Dlouhy (CZE) l Jeremy Chardy (FRA)/ Marc Gicquel (FRA) 36 67(5)

French pair started well breaking Lee's serve in first game then again they broke Lee's serve in 9th game to won first set in 29 mins ... In second set also French pair started well, they broke Lukas's serve in 2nd game ... But then both pairs traded breaks, at 5-4 Lukas had 3 set points on his servr but French pair saved those with 3 double faults from Lukas to take set in tie-break where French pair prevailed to lift title in 1 hr 17 mins match ... In this match Lukas was struggle with his game and Lee also wasn't in his regular super sharp mode near net.
-----------------------------------------------------------
At $220K Hobart International 2010, Australia

[R1] Sania Mirza (IND,57) vs (WC) Alicia Molik (AUS,198)

Doubles
[R1] (2) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Virginia Ruano Pascal (ESP) vs Edina Gallovits (ROU)/ Marie-Eve Pelletier (CAN)

Tennis News
At $450K 2010 Aircel Chennai Open, India

Doubles
[SF] (WC) Somdev Devvarman (IND)/ Sanam Singh (IND) l Yen-Hsun Lu (TPE)/ Janko Tipsarevic (SRB) 36 64 (5)10

Today Sanam played in patches, some time he was incredible and some time very ordinary ... They lost first set after leading 3-1, then they lost 5 games in a row ... In second set they broke Tipsarevic's serve in 5th game but Sanam couldn't manage to hold his next service game to make it 3-all ... Again in next game they broke Lu's serve and then hold their service games to won second set.

In super tie-break our pair started well taking mini-break on Lu's serve but Lu and Tipsarevic broke back on next point on Somi's serve ... Then Lu and Tipsarevic take control winning both points on Sanam's serve, 2-5 ... Our pair broke back one mini-break on Lu's serve to make it 3-6 ... But they again broke Sanam's serve twice to won super tie-break 10-5.

Golf News
At Royal Trophy 2010, Thailand
Day1 - Foursomes

Asia vs Europe 3.5 - 4.5

Ryo Ishikawa/ Koumei Oda bt Pablo Martin/ Colin Montgomerie 3 & 2
Jeev Milkha Singh/ Gaganjeet Bhullar dw Soren Kjeldsen/ Peter Hanson All Square
Charlie Wi/ Wenchong Liang l Alexander Noren/ Robert Karlsson 4 & 2
Prayad Marksaeng/ Thongchai Jaidee bt Simon Dyson/ Henrik Stenson 3 & 1

Jeev and Gaganjeet must be unhappy with their performance as they missed chance of winning full point ... They were up by 2 when last 4 holes were remaining ... But Jeev also made 5 foot PAR on last hole to keep match All Square.

Overall good start for Asia as they r leading with a point after first day.

On second day Europe played solid golf to won 3 matches ... Simon Dyson and Colin Montgomerie defeated Indian pair keeping 2 holes ... From Asia only Charlie Wi and Wenchong Liang won their match ... Tomorrow in singles Asia's task is cut to defend their titles.

Tennis News
At $372.5K Brisbane International, Australia

[SF] (1) Leander Paes (IND)/ Lukas Dlouhy (CZE) bt Jurgen Melzer (AUT)/ Philipp Petzschner (GER) 64 06 10(7)

Lee and Lukas moved into final winning match in super tie-break ... After winning first set they got bagel in second but it looks like they played solid super tie-break to won this semi-final against good pair.
-----------------------------------------------------------
At $450K 2010 Aircel Chennai Open, India

[QF] (3) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Rohan Bopanna (IND) l Colin Fleming (GBR)/ Ken Skupski (GBR) 64 36 (2)10

[SF] (WC) Somdev Devvarman (IND)/ Sanam Singh (IND) vs Yen-Hsun Lu (TPE)/ Janko Tipsarevic (SRB)

British team showed more understanding on court than seeded Indian pair to scored upset win ... After losing first set British team dominated rest of the match.

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

Mahindra United bt Sporting Clube de Goa 2-1

Goal Scored - Khangembam Thoi Singh (MU) 88', Paresh Shivalkar (MU) 90+' and Elijah Oriade Obagbemiro Junior (SCG) 44'

Sporting Clube de Goa were on verge on well earned win over Mahindra until 87' min ... But Mahindra managed to score equalizer on 88th min and winner in stoppage time to scored unlikely victory.
-----------------------------------------

JCT l Pune FC 1-2

Goal Scored - Penn Orje (JCT) and S Venkatesh (PFC) 6', Edmar Figuria (PFC) 44'

Pune FC scored their maiden win in I league ... All 3 goals scored in first half and both teams played good football.
-----------------------------------------

Shillong Lajong FC dw Viva Kerala 1-1

Goal Scored - Anil Gurung (SL) 90+' and Sirajuddeen C (VK) 66'

Shillong Lajong managed draw scoring goal in injury time.
------------------------------------------

Chirag United SC bt East Bengal 1-0

Goal Scored - Edmilson Marques Pardal (CU) 66'

Chirag United scored upset win over their city giant.
-----------------------------------------

Air India l Dempo SC 1-3

Goal Scored - N.D. Opara (AI) 16' and Climax Lawrence (DSC) 19', Sunil Chetri (DSC) 36', Joaquim Abranches (DSC) 79'

Air India take early lead but then Dempo showed their class to scored comfortable win.
-----------------------------------------
Mohun Bagan AC dw Churchill Brothers SC 2-2

Goal Scored - Jose Marcio Ramirez Barreto (MB) 35' & 49' and Odafe Onyeka Okolie (CB) 12' & 76'

Today I League resume after 7 weeks break .. In first match Churchill Brothers hold Mohun Bagan ... Odafe Okolie and Jose Barreto scored two goals each in this drawn match.
-----------------------------------------

Mumbai FC bt Salgaocar SC 2-1

Goal Scored - Gurpreet Singh (MFC) 2', Kayne Vincent (MFC) 84' and Mandjou Keita (SSC) 61'

Substitute Kayne Vincent helped Mumbai FC to scored win against Salgaocar scoring late goal.

Tennis News
At $450K 2010 Aircel Chennai Open, India

[R1] (3) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Rohan Bopanna (IND) bt James Cerretani (USA)/ Travis Rettenmaier (USA) 63 76(5)

[QF] (WC) Somdev Devvarman (IND)/ Sanam Singh (IND) bt Jeff Coetzee (RSA)/ Rogier Wassen (NED) 62 63
[QF] (WC) Yuki Bhambri (IND)/ Carlos Moya (ESP) l (2) Marcel Granollers (ESP)/ Santiago Ventura (ESP) 57 16

[QF] (3) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Rohan Bopanna (IND) vs Colin Fleming (GBR)/ Ken Skupski (GBR)

Ex-current UVa players pair continued their winning run at Chennai Open ... After upsetting 4th pair in first round they scored easy victory against Jeff Coetzee and Rogier Wassen to moved into semis.

Mahesh and Rohan completed first round win in few minutes after winning tie-break to moved in to quarters ... They r facing British pair.
-----------------------------------------------------------
At $372.5K Brisbane International, Australia

[QF] (1) Leander Paes (IND)/ Lukas Dlouhy (CZE) bt Ashley Fisher (AUS)/ Stephen Huss (AUS) W/O (due to knee injury to Fisher)

[SF] (1) Leander Paes (IND)/ Lukas Dlouhy (CZE) vs Jurgen Melzer (AUT)/ Philipp Petzschner (GER)

So smooth sailing for top-seed pair in semis due to Fisher's knee injury ... Now they r only seeded pair left in the draw.

Tennis News
At $450K 2010 Aircel Chennai Open, India

[R2] (WC) Somdev Devvarman (IND,126) l (4) Janko Tipsarevic (SRB,38) 26 16

Doubles
[R1] (1) Eric Butorac (USA)/ Rajeev Ram (USA) l Yves Allegro (SUI)/ Stanislas Wawrinka (SUI) 63 46 (5)10
[R1] (3) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Rohan Bopanna (IND) vs James Cerretani (USA)/ Travis Rettenmaier (USA) 63 5-5 (match stopped due to rain)
[R1] (WC) Yuki Bhambri (IND)/ Carlos Moya (ESP) bt Dudi Sela (ISR)/ Robby Ginepri (USA) 62 46 10(5)

[QF] (WC) Somdev Devvarman (IND)/ Sanam Singh (IND) vs Jeff Coetzee (RSA)/ Rogier Wassen (NED)
[QF] (WC) Yuki Bhambri (IND)/ Carlos Moya (ESP) vs (2) Marcel Granollers (ESP)/ Santiago Ventura (ESP)

Serbian Tipsarevic proved too strong for Somi in this 78 mins match ... Somi had his moments in this match he was break down in first set when he broke Tipsarevic's serve in 4th game to make it 2-all ... But from there match was belong to Tipsarevic, Somi didn't match his powerful shots from baseline and quick-hands near the net ... Must be learning experience for Somi against top-40 player.

In doubles Yuki and Carlos Moya started with upset win over Dudi Sela and Robby Ginepri in super tie-break ... They won first set easily but lost second, in super tie-break they dominated to win this match ... Next they r facing 2nd seed pair.

Mahesh and Rohan won first set and both pair r 5-all in second when match stopped ... It will continue on Thursday.

In other match top-seed pair of Rajeev Ram and Eric Butorac lost in first round.
-----------------------------------------------------------
At $220K ASB Classic, Auckland, New Zealand

[R2] Sania Mirza (IND,57) l (4) Francesca Schiavone (ITA,17) 06 36

This 1 hr 11 mins match was lot closer than score suggest ... In this match Schiavone had 9 break points and she converted 6, other hand Sania had 11 break point chances and she converted only 2.

Tennis News
At $450K 2010 Aircel Chennai Open, India

[R1] (WC) Rohan Bopanna (IND,392) l (4) Stanislas Wawrinka (SUI,21) 16 46
[R1] (WC) Somdev Devvarman (IND,126) bt Rainer Schuettler (GER,85) 75 62
[R1] (Q) Prakash Amritraj (IND,212) l Michael Russell (USA,83) 36 16

[R2] (WC) Somdev Devvarman (IND,126) vs (4) Janko Tipsarević (SRB,38)

Excellent start for Somdev in Chennai Open ... In first set he was down with break at 2-5 but then he won next 5 games breaking Schuettler twice to won first set ... Second set Somi started positively breaking Schuettler in first game, then again he broke Schuettler in 5th game ... Converted 3rd match point to won match in 1 hour 36 mins ... After down by break Somi had excellent service games ... Somi converted 5 of 10 BP chances to dominating the match ... Next Somi facing tough opponent 4th seed Janko Tipsarević.

After showing good performance in qualifying surprisingly Prakash overpowered by American Michael Russell in 1 hour 6 minutes match ... He didn't give any chance to Kash.

Rohan couldn't do much against Wawrinka, who showed clinical performance to won match in 50 mins.
-----------------------------------------------------------
At $220K ASB Classic, Auckland, New Zealand

[R1] Sania Mirza (IND,57) bt Stefanie Voegele (SUI,75) 57 61 75

[R2] Sania Mirza (IND,57) vs (4) Francesca Schiavone (ITA,17)

Doubles
[R1] (2) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Virginia Ruano Pascal (ESP) l (WC) Dominika Cibulkova (SVK)/ Yanina Wickmayer (BEL) 16 67(6)

Nice to see winning start in year 2010 ... Also good to see tight comeback victory against Swiss player ... Next round is usual tough one, lets hope she perform well.

New pair of Sania and Virginia Ruano Pascal started with loss ... They lost first set very easily and in second set they tried but couldn't overcome their wild card opponents.
-----------------------------------------------------------
At $372.5K Brisbane International, Australia

[R1] (1) Leander Paes (IND)/ Lukas Dlouhy (CZE) bt Carsten Ball (AUS)/ Sam Querrey (USA) 75 63

[QF] (1) Leander Paes (IND)/ Lukas Dlouhy (CZE) vs Ashley Fisher (AUS)/ Stephen Huss (AUS)

Winning start for year 2010 for Lee and Lukas ... They finished this match in 2 sets and r facing Aussie pair in quarters.
-----------------------------------------------------------
At $50K Quanzhou ITF Womens Tournament, China

[R1] Poojashree Venkatesha (IND,324) l (LL) Yi Zhong (CHN,948) 16 26

Doubles
[R1] Poojashree Venkatesha (IND)/ Ting Li (CHN) l (1) Yuliya Beygelzimer (UKR)/ Zi Yan (CHN) 16 06

Chinese lucky loser Yi Zhong toyed Poojashree to score one-sided victory.

Tennis News
At $450K 2010 Aircel Chennai Open, India

[R1] (8) Rajeev Ram (USA,79) l Thiemo De Bakker (NED,96) 16 16

Doubles
[R1] (WC) Somdev Devvarman (IND)/ Sanam Singh (IND) bt (4) Rik De Voest (RSA)/ Scott Lipsky (USA) 62 75

Former and current UVa players, Somi and Sanam, scored big upset beating experienced doubles players ... They finished match is straight sets.

Rajeev played late night match (almost at midnight) and Dutch players crushed him.

Tennis News
At $450K 2010 Aircel Chennai Open, India

[Q3] Prakash Amritraj (IND,212) bt Lars Poerschke (GER,277) 76(5) 63
[Q3] Yuki Bhambri (IND,335) l Louk Sorensen (IRL,293) 26 76(8) 26

Excellent straight sets victory by Kash to qualify for main draw in style ... Kash broke back to make it 5-all after being broken in the opening game and then winning tight first set in tie-break ... Then he broke Poerschke's served twice and saving few break points on his own serve to produced consistent performance to won second set ... Kash can be dangerous floater in main draw with 3 wins under belt before first round main draw.

After losing first set Yuki fought back against more experienced Irishman Sorensen ... In second set tie-break also he was down with mini-break at 0-3 but he fought back to won this set after saving a match point to take match in to decider ... Yuki started third set on positive note breaking Sorensen's serve in first game but then he couldn't continue same tempo and Sorensen stamped his superiority breaking Yuki's serve thrice, 2nd, 6th and 8th game ... Still creditable performance from Yuki, he got 6 ranking points for reaching in final qualifying.
-----------------------------------------------------------
At $50K Quanzhou ITF Womens Tournament, China

[Q1] Kumari-Sweta Solanki (IND,819) bt Xiaomeng Cheng (CHN,UNR) 63 63
[Q2] Kumari-Sweta Solanki (IND,819) l Yue Yuan (CHN,UNR) 36 16

[R1] Poojashree Venkatesha (IND,324) vs (LL) Yi Zhong (CHN,948)

Doubles
[R1] Poojashree Venkatesha (IND)/ Ting Li (CHN) vs (1) Yuliya Beygelzimer (UKR)/ Zi Yan (CHN)

Poojashree having favorable draw in singles but in doubles she and her Chinese partner facing very experienced doubles players ... Zi Yan was top-5 doubles player in 2006 and currently she is #23.

Tennis News
At $450K 2010 Aircel Chennai Open, India

[Q2] Prakash Amritraj (IND,212) bt (6) Peter Polansky (CAN,185) 46 63 76(9)
[Q2] Yuki Bhambri (IND,335) bt (1) Illya Marchenko (UKR,120) 76(2) 63

[Q3] Prakash Amritraj (IND,212) vs Lars Poerschke (GER,277)
[Q3] Yuki Bhambri (IND,335) vs Louk Sorensen (IRL,293)

What a start for Indian tennis in new year!!! Yuki scored biggest win of his small career beating top-120 Ukrainean player in straight sets ... In first set he kept cool to won tie-break but second set he won more solidly.

Other hand Kash needed to dig deep to scored comeback win ... He lost first set but won second set to take match in decider ... In third set no player faced break point until 11 games ... But at 5-6 while serving to remained in the set Kash faced 2 break points, he managed to save those 2 match points to take set in tie-break ... In tie-break also he saved couple of more match points before winning long tie-break.

In final qualifying both having tricky matches ... Hopefully they will win those to qualify for maindraw.

Tennis News
At $450K 2010 Aircel Chennai Open, India

[Q1] Yuki Bhambri (IND,335) bt Ranjeet Virali-Murugesan (IND,483) 75 64
[Q1] Prakash Amritraj (IND,212) bt Vishnu Vardhan (IND,390) 75 63
[Q1] Rohan Gajjar (IND,477) l (6) Peter Polansky (CAN,185) 36 67(8)
[Q1] (WC) Mohit Mayur Jayaprakash (IND,UNR) l Jan Minar (CZE,244) 46 26
[Q1] (WC) Sanam Singh (IND,789) l (4) Marsel Ilhan (TUR,155) 57 63 26
[Q1] (WC) Karan Rastogi (IND,1050) l James Ward (GBR,270) 26 46
[Q1] (WC) Srirambalaji Narayanaswamy (IND,906) l Noam Okun (ISR,258) 26 36

[Q2] Prakash Amritraj (IND,212) vs (6) Peter Polansky (CAN,185)
[Q2] Yuki Bhambri (IND,335) vs (1) Illya Marchenko (UKR,120)

[R1] (WC) Rohan Bopanna (IND,392) vs (4) Stanislas Wawrinka (SUI,21)
[R1] (WC) Somdev Devvarman (IND,126) vs Rainer Schuettler (GER,85)
[R1] (8) Rajeev Ram (USA,79) vs Thiemo De Bakker (NED,96)

Doubles
[R1] (1) Eric Butorac (USA)/ Rajeev Ram (USA) vs Yves Allegro (SUI)/ Stanislas Wawrinka (SUI)
[R1] (WC) Somdev Devvarman (IND)/ Sanam Singh (IND) vs (4) Rik De Voest (RSA)/ Scott Lipsky (USA)
[R1] (3) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Rohan Bopanna (IND) vs James Cerretani (USA)/ Travis Rettenmaier (USA)
[R1] (WC) Yuki Bhambri (IND)/ Carlos Moya (ESP) vs Dudi Sela (ISR)/ Robby Ginepri (USA)

Expected winning start for Prakash ... Gajjar and Mayur lost against higher ranked opponents ... In remaining lot only Yuki managed to move second round, but Sanam produced fighting performance against top-150 type player whom he stretched to 3 sets ... But overall disappointing stuff as only our 2 players win who faced Indians in first round.

Tough maindraw for our players as Somi facing seasoned German Rainer Schuettler ... Rohan having more tough challenge against former top-10 Swiss player Wawrinka ... In doubles Harsh missed cut playing with Istomin.
-----------------------------------------------------------
At $220K ABS Classic, Auckland, New Zealand

[R1] Sania Mirza (IND,57) vs Stefanie Voegele (SUI,75)

Sania starting her preparation for Australian Open with ABS Classic.
-----------------------------------------------------------
At $372.5K Brisbane International, Australia

[R1] (1) Leander Paes (IND)/ Lukas Dlouhy (CZE) vs Carsten Ball (AUS)/ Sam Querrey (USA)

Good to see Lee and Lukas preparing for Australian Open playing at Brisbane.

Happy New Year!!!

I m back with blogging for 2010 and hoping our Indian players give us more occasions to enjoy their triumph!

Hockey News

Hockey India on released the names of 38 probables for a training camp which started in Lucknow from December 29 for the preparations of next month's South Asian Games in Dhaka and they also released a list of 22 senior players who have started training in Pune from yesterday under chief coach Jose Brasa for the upcoming tournaments.

Surprisingly Prabodh Tirkey and Ignace Tirkey's names are missing from the list.

22 players for national camp under chief coach Jose Brasa

Goalkeepers - Adrian D'souza, PR Sreejesh

Defenders - Sandeep Singh, Diwakar Ram, Sardar Singh, Bharat Chikara

Midfielders - Gurbaj Singh, Vikram Pillay, Dhananjay Mahadhik, Vikas Sharma, Arjun Halappa, Tushar Khandker, Birinder Lakra (Sr), Danish Mujtaba

Forwards - Shivendra Singh, Rajpal Singh, Prabhjot Singh, Gurvinder Singh Chandi, SV Sunil, Deepak Thakur, Mandip Antil, Sarvanjit Singh

38 probables for South Asian Games under coaches Clarence Lobo and Gundeep Kumar

Goalkeepers - Harjeet Singh, Mrinal Chaubay, Jaswinder Singh, C Santosh Kumar

Defenders - V Raghunath, Innocent Kullu, Laxmi Karana, Manjit Kullu, Amit Rohidas, Irfan Ali.

Midfielders - Belsajar Horo, Vikas Pillay, Ajitesh Roy, Senthil Kumar, Birender Lakra (Jr), Amit Prabhakar, Sunil Ekka, Eliazer Lakra, Amardeep Ekka, Virenderjit Singh, Gurpreet Singh, Jasjeet Singh, Roshan Minz.

Forwards - Dharamvir Singh, Victo Singh, Pramod Kumar, Bikas Toppo, Adam Sinclair, Humza Mujtaba, Vinod Rayar, V Raja, Jai Karan, Lalit Upadhyay, Yuvraj Walmiki, Prabhdeep Singh, Satvir Singh, Mandeep Ghumman, Mohd Amir Khan.