Hockey News
At FIH World Cup 2010, New Delhi, India

INDIANS HAD WINNING START IN WORLD CUP BEATING PAKISTAN 4-1!!!
Group B

Spain bt South Africa 4-2
England bt Australia 3-2
India bt Pakistan 4-1

Goal Scored - Shivendra Singh (IND) 27' PC, Sandeep Singh (IND) 35' PC & 57' PC, Prabhjot Singh (IND) 37' and Sohail Abbas (PAK) 60' PC

Indian and Pakistani started match in good spirit ... Pakistani were using their fast break strategy ... But Indians were defending smartly and controlling the game in mid-field ... Indian received first penalty corner but Salman made excellent save but on 2nd penalty corner Sandeep Singh shot stopped by Salman by chest, Shivendra Singh jumped on the ball to score first goal of World cup from team India ... After few minutes Pakistan got their 1st penalty corner but Sohail Abbas shot hit crossbar ... Indian received 3rd penalty corner when 5 seconds were remaining of first half and Sandeep Singh scored hitting ball right side of Salman to gave India 2-0 lead at half-time ... In second half Indians had dream start ... They scored field goal through Prabhjot Singh in 2nd minute ... Then Pakistani had 2nd penalty corner and again Sohail's shot hit crossbar of Indian goal ... Indian got 4th penalty corner and again Sandeep Singh scored with powerful hit this time left of Pakistani goal-keeper Salman ... At last Sohail scored converting 4th penalty corner for Pakistan ... After that Pakistani tried to score more goals but Indians defended well ... Pakistan got 6 penalty corners and they converted one but we got 5 and utilised those opportunity scoring 3 goals ... Indian team were definetly better team on the field ... Great start for India, after long time we r getting such good winning start in major tournament.

Badminton News
At SCG Thomas & Uber Cup 2010 Preliminary Asia Zone, Thailand

Uber Cup - For 3rd Position

India l Japan 2-3

Saina Nehwal (IND,7) bt Ai Goto (JPN,24) 21-17 21-16 (30 mins)
Jwala Gutta (IND)/ Ashwini Ponnappa (IND) l Mizuki Fujii (JPN)/ Reika Kakiiwa (JPN) 16-21 15-21 (32 mins)
Sayali Gokhale (IND,59) l Eriko Hirose (JPN,18) 20-22 13-21 (33 mins)
Trupti Murgunde (IND,61) bt Yu Hirayama (JPN,60) 21-8 21-16 (28 mins)
Saina Nehwal (IND)/ Aparna Balan (IND) l Miyuki Maeda (JPN)/ Satoko Suetsuna (JPN) 16-21 10-21 (32 mins)

Indian women lost against Japanese women in Uber Cup 3rd position match, with that they lost opportunity of getting direct entry into Uber Cup Finals ... But as I mentioned earlier they will qualify for Uber Cup Finals as best 4th finished team from Asia and Europe.

Indian women won 2 singles by Saina and Trupti but Japanese doubles pair were very strong to Indians pair and that was difference for final outcome of this match.

Tennis News
At $ 1.619M Dubai Tennis Championships, UAE

Doubles Final
(2) Leander Paes (IND)/ Lukas Dlouhy (CZE) l Simon Aspelin (SWE)/ Paul Hanley (AUS) 26 36

Poor performance from second seed pair to lose final this easily ... Lee struggled with holding his serve and other hand Lukas's double faults didn't help their cause.

Badminton News
At SCG Thomas & Uber Cup 2010 Preliminary Asia Zone, Thailand

INDIA gained direct entry for Thoms Cup Final 2010.

Thomas Cup - For 3rd Position

Chetan Anand (IND,15) bt Sho Sasaki (JPN,29) 21-16 23-21 (32 mins)
Sanave Thomas (IND)/ Rupesh Kumar (IND) bt Hirokatsu Hashimoto (JPN)/ Noriyasu Hirata (JPN) 21-19 18-21 21-15 (47 mins)
Arvind Bhatt (IND,33) l Kazushi Yamada (JPN,44) 15-21 21-14 7-21 (47 mins)
V Diju (IND)/ Akshay Dewalkar (IND) l Kenta Kazuno (JPN)/ Kenichi Hayakawa (JPN) 21-17 16-21 19-21 (37 mins)
Anup Sridhar (IND,39) bt Shoji Sato (JPN,UNR) 21-7 19-21 24-22

Uber Cup - Semi Finals

India l Indonesia 0-3

Saina Nehwal (IND,7) l Adriyanti Firdasari (INA,22) 16-21 15-21 (28 mins)
Shruti Kurian (IND)/ Aparna Balan (IND) l Greysia Polii (INA)/ Nitya Krishinda Maheswari (INA) 16-21 15-21 (29 mins)
Sayali Gokhale (IND,59) l Maria Kristin Yulianti (INA,53) 22-24 12-22 (33 mins)

Chetan Anand gave good start for Indian team with winning his match in straight game ... But important win was from our top doubles team ... Rupesh and Sanave scored win in 3 games ... But Japan fought back winning next 2 matches ... Yamada upset Arvind winning third game very easily and in next doubles match Diju and Akshay lost after winning first game ... But in 5th deciding match Japan was playing with top doubles specialist Shoji Sato so Anup had a chance ... Anup dominateed first game winning it easily ... In second game Anup was up by 4 points in the start but Sato take lead from 12-all and was up 13-18, 15-19 ... Anup made it 19-all but Sato won next 2 points to take match into decider ... In third game Sato take early 2/3 points lead and maintained it until Anup caught with him at 17-all ... And first time take lead in deciding game 19-17, he had 2 match points at 20-18 but Sato saved those ... Anup again take lead 21-20, 22-21 but again both time Sato saved it ... But Anup converted 5th match point to secured win and tie for India.

So with that our men team officially qualified for 2010 Thomas cup final, last time we were qualified in 2006.

Indian women lost against Indonasin team in semis ... Was surprise to see Saina losing easily against Adriyanti Firdasari ... Against her Saina having so-so record ... In 2009 she lost against Adriyanti Firdasari at Korea Super Series but at Singapore Super Series Saina take revenge beating her in 3 games ... Today was different story.

Reaching semis in Uber Cup 2010 Preliminary Asia Zone tournament our women also secured their place in 2010 Uber Cup final, which will be played in May at Kuala Lumpur ... Same format like Thomas cup follw here, so top 3 teams will get direct entry from Asia Zone and 4th team from Asian zone and European Zone having toss-up between them on basis of singles ranking of players ... Our players ranking is far too better than Dutch players who finished 4th from European zone.

Interestingly this is the first time we are qualified for Uber Cup final ... Heartily congratulation to our both teams!!!

Tennis News
At $ 1.619M Dubai Tennis Championships, UAE

Doubles
[SF] (2) Leander Paes (IND)/ Lukas Dlouhy (CZE) bt Christopher Kas (GER)/ Dick Norman (BEL) 26 76(6) 10-7

[F] (2) Leander Paes (IND)/ Lukas Dlouhy (CZE) vs Simon Aspelin (SWE)/ Paul Hanley (AUS)

Nice comeback victory for Lee and Lukas, so now they r in line to lift their first title of 2010.

Badminton News
At SCG Thomas & Uber Cup 2010 Preliminary Asia Zone, Thailand

Thomas Cup - Semi Finals

India l Korea 1-3

Parupalli Kashyap (IND,30) l Sung Hwan Park (KOR,13) 16-21 17-21 (36 mins)
Sanave Thomas (IND)/ Rupesh Kumar (IND) l Jae Sung Jung (KOR)/ Ji Man Hwang (KOR) 10-21 20-22 (28 mins)
Arvind Bhatt (IND,33) bt Wan Ho Shon (KOR,49) 21-13 21-15 (30 mins)
V Diju (IND)/ Chetan Anand (IND) l Sung Hyun Ko (KOR)/ Yeon Seong Yoo (KOR) 21-16 15-21 9-21 (37 mins)

Uber Cup - Group Y

India bt Chinese Taipei 3-2

Saina Nehwal (IND,7) bt Hsiao Huan Chen (TPE,77) 21-15 21-14 (28 mins)
Shruti Kurian (IND)/ Aparna Balan (IND) l Yu Chin Chien (TPE)/ Pei Rong Wang (TPE) 21-11 14-21 18-21 (38 mins)
Sayali Gokhale (IND,59) bt Shih Han Hung (TPE,97) 15-21 21-10 23-21 (48 mins)
Jwala Gutta (IND)/ Ashwini Ponnappa (IND) bt Wen Hsing Cheng (TPE)/ Hsin Yun Chang (TPE) 21-16 21-16 (25 mins)
Trupti Murgunde (IND,61) l Hsiao Ma Pai (TPE,154) 14-21 12-21 (26 mins)

Indian men lost to Korea in Thomas cup Asian zone tournament ... P. Kashyap played first match and lost in straight games against top-15 Park ... In doubles we changed our pair but Korean pairs were too strong for our pairs ... Arvind won third match to keep our challenge alive but Diju and Rupesh lost their match and tie after winning first game ... Tomorrow we r facing Japan for #3 position match.

Our women team also qualify for semi-final with well contested win over Chinese Taipei ... Saina Nehwal scored comfortable victory ... Shruti Kurian and Aparna Balan r still struggling with their form and lost another match ... That's put extra pressure on our second string singles players ... Today Sayali Gokhale responded to the call and produced tight third game comeback victory over Shih Han Hung ... Jwala and Ashwini scored straight games victory to secure tie for India ... In semis we will face Indonesia.

Our men team got lucky break with easy pool but importantly they utilized that ... So now if we finish on 4th losing next matche still we will qualify for Thomas Cup Final in May 2010 at Kuala Lumpur ... Top 3 teams will get direct entry from Asia Zone and 4th team from Asian zone and European Zone having toss-up between them on basis of singles ranking of players .. Our players ranking is far too better than Ukrainian players who finished 4th from European zone ... That's why I say we secure our ticket for Thomas Cup Final in May 2010 but I luv if we finish inside top-3 and get automatic qualification.

Tennis News
At $ 1.619M Dubai Tennis Championships, UAE

Doubles
[QF] (2) Leander Paes (IND)/ Lukas Dlouhy (CZE) bt Robert Lindstedt (SWE)/ Arnaud Clement (FRA) 76(3) 61

[SF] (2) Leander Paes (IND)/ Lukas Dlouhy (CZE) vs Christopher Kas (GER)/ Dick Norman (BEL)

Another good win by Lee and Lukas ... In past their indoor courts record was poor so here they performing well is really good sign.
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At $35K+H Meknes Challenger, Morocco (clay)

[QF] (1) Harsh Mankad (IND)/ Adil Shamasdin (CAN) l Pablo Andujar (ESP)/ Flavio Cipolla (ITA) 62 36 5-10

Our pair won first set easily and then match stopped due to darkness ... But today they were outplayed by European pair .. So this was Harsh 7th super tie-break in row and lost his 5th match.
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At $15K Australia F2 Futures, Berri (Grass)

[QF] (8) Vishnu Vardhan (IND,382) l (1) Greg Jones (AUS,218) 36 26

This was upset for me, was expecting win for Vishnu against top-seed.

Badminton News
At SCG Thomas & Uber Cup 2010 Preliminary Asia Zone, Thailand

Thomas Cup - Quarter Finals

India bt Vietnam 3-0

Parupalli Kashyap (IND,30) bt Hoang Nam Nguyen (VIE,139) 20-22 21-10 21-18 (45 mins)
Arvind Bhatt (IND,33) bt Cao Hieu Pham (VIE,128) 16-21 21-7 21-10 (39 mins)
Anup Sridhar (IND,39) bt Vinh Huynh (VIE,UNR) 21-13 21-6 (21 mins)
Sanave Thomas (IND)/ Rupesh Kumar (IND) vs Cao Hieu Pham (VIE)/ Duc Duong Bao (VIE)
V Diju (IND)/ Chetan Anand (IND) vs Hoang Nam Nguyen (VIE)/ Vinh Huynh (VIE)

Uber Cup - Group Y

India bt Philippines 5-0

Saina Nehwal (IND,7) bt Malvinne Ann Venice Alcala (PHI,167) 21-9 21-13 (26 mins)
Sayali Gokhale (IND,59) bt Gelita Castilo (PHI,292) 21-9 21-16 (26 mins)
Trupti Murgunde (IND,61) bt Dia Nicole Magno (PHI,UNR) 21-4 21-8 (17 mins)
Jwala Gutta (IND)/Ashwini Ponnappa (IND) bt Malvinne Ann Venice Alcala (PHI)/ Gelita Castilo (PHI) 21-15 21-11 (22 mins)
Saina Nehwal (IND)/ Aparna Balan (IND) bt Dia Nicole Magno (PHI)/ Jamila Fatima Cruz (PHI) 21-9 21-13 (19 mins)

Indian men team is in semis of Thomas Cup 2010 Preliminary Asia Zone tournament ... Today they defeated Vietnamese 3-0 ... Chetan Anand was rested in singles for this match but Parupalli Kashyap and Arvind Bhatt stretched to 3 games by their opponents, who r almost more than 100 places below in ranking of their Indian opponents.

So today our women team scored very comfortable win over Philippines ... Their tomorrow's last match against Chinese Taipei will decide second team from Group Y, who will qualify for semi-final with group winner Japan ... Both team need win to qualify for the semis, so high stake match for both team.

Tennis News
At $ 1.619M Dubai Tennis Championships, UAE

[R2] (Q) Somdev Devvarman (IND,143) l Marcos Baghdatis (CYP,37) 36 63 16

Doubles
[R1] (WC) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (PAK) l Robert Lindstedt (SWE)/ Arnaud Clement (FRA) 75 67(5) 8-10

[QF] (3) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Max Mirnyi (BLR) l Simon Aspelin (SWE)/ Paul Hanley (AUS) 46 46

In first set Somi was struggling with his serve and Baghdatis take advantage of it breaking him in 4th game ... With that single break Baghdatis won first set in 32 mins ... In second set Somi started serving well and was able to put pressure on Baghdatis's serve ... He got crucial break in 8th game and with that break Somi make it 1 set all after winning second set in 38 mins ... But from third set Somi's serve was deteriorating ... Other hand Baghdatis also had poor service games ... But difference was Baghdatis was able to hold and Somi didn't ... Baghdatis broke Somi's serve in 2nd game ... Then in 3rd Baghdatis saved 4 break points including 0-40 down before holding his serve ... He again broke Somi's serve with ease in 4th game ... Then in 5th game Somi broke Baghdatis serve to won first game of third set ... But again in 6th game Baghdatis broke Somi's serve with ease ... In 7th game Somi had 6 break point chances including up 0-40, but Baghdatis saved those and converted 2nd match point to won match in 1 hour 45 mins.

In third set Somi had chances on Baghdatis's serve which he failed to take and other hand he struggled to hold his serve once in third set ... But still overall encouraging performance that he is showing his presence on the tour.

But in doubles our both pairs lost ... Bops and Aisam put valiant effort against experienced doubles players but lost in super tie-break ... Other hand Hesh's partnership with Max is still not clicking.

Match Notes
First Set

Baghdatis serving first, MB hold @15, served 1st ace of the match
0-1 Somi hold after deuce
1-1 MB hold @15, served 1st double fault
1-2 MB broke Somi @ luv ... :-( Tough time
1-3 MB hold @15
1-4 Somi had a good service game, hold @ luv, served his 1st ace of the match ... C'mon need break of serve
2-4 MB hold @30, served 2nd double fault of the match
2-5 Again Somi hold @ luv
3-5 Somi played excellent game, he saved 2 set points and had a opportunity to break but MB saved that break point and converted third set point to won set in 32 mins
3-6

After his first 2 service games Somi looks settling down in this match ... Hoping better performance in second set.

Stats - Somi 1st serve % 70, MB 45% ... Somi 1 ace, MB 1 ace and 2 DFs ... Somi had 1 break point chance but couldn't convert it and other hand MB converted 1 he got ... Total points won, Somi 22 and MB 29

Second Set

Somi hold @15
1-0 MB hold after couple of deuce, served 2nd ace of the match
1-1 Somi hold @30
2-1 MB hold
2-2 Somi hold

Sorry guys, Was watching mesmerized inning by Tendulkar, who become first batsman to scored double century in ODI ... SIMPLY AMAZING!!!

3-2 Back to update ... MB hold
3-3 Somi hold after saving 1 break point, served 2nd ace of the match
4-3 Somi broke @30, MB served 3rd ace of the match ... Now need to hold his serve ... Go Somi
5-3 Hold it style @15 to won second set in 38 mins ... So now match in decider
6-3

Stats - Somi 1st serve % 70, MB 69% ... Somi 1 ace, MB 2 aces ... Somi had 1 break point which he converted and MB didn't converted 1 bp which he got ... Total points won, Somi 31 and MB 25 (Total points - Somi 53 and MB 54)

Third Set

MB hold @15
0-1 Damn, Somi started on wrong foot ... Lost his serve @30 ... Now he need to do catching up
0-2 Somi immediately take control of the situation and had a triple break point chances in that MB served 3rd double fault of the match ... But MB saved all 3 break points, then again Somi had a break point after deuce ... This time also MB saved ... And then MB had Adv but Somi brought back to deuce ... At this crucial moment MB served his 4th & 5th aces of the match to hold game ... Big missed opportunity of breaking back MB's serve .. Noe tough task for Somi to comeback in the match
0-3 Another service break :-( Somi saved 1 break point but broke @30
0-4 Somi broke MB's serve to won first game of third set ... :-) Still 1 break down
1-4 :-( But he couldn't managed to hold his serve and again got broken @15 .. So MB serving for the match
1-5 MB served 2 double faults and was down 0-40 ... But he again saved all break points ... Somi created 4th chance of breaking serve, this time also MB saved that ... Somi had 5th break point chance but again MB saved it ... At last MB surged ahead in the game and gave himself 1st match point, this time Somi saved it and MB served double fault #6 to gave 6th break point ... But MB saved that and served 6th ace of the match to gave himself 2nd match point which he converted to won match 1 hour and 45 mins
1-6

Stats - Somi 1st serve % 59, MB 49% ... Somi 0 ace, MB 3 aces and 4 double faults ... Somi had 11 break point chances and converted 1, MB had 4 and converted 3 ... Total points won, Somi 22 and MB 32

Total points won in the match - Somi 75 and MB 86
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At $35K+H Meknes Challenger, Morocco (clay)

[R1] (1) Harsh Mankad (IND)/ Adil Shamasdin (CAN) bt Adrian Menendez (ESP)/ Lamine Ouahab (ALG) 76(4) 57 12-10

In first set both pairs traded early breaks but in tie-break our pair prevailed ... In second set our pair was down 0-4 but then they fought back to make 5-4 but lost serve in 11th game to lost set ... Super tie-break were very close as both pairs were going neck to neck but Harsh and Adil managed to convert second match point to move into quarters.
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At $15K Australia F2 Futures, Berri (Grass)

[R2] (8) Vishnu Vardhan (IND,382) bt Sadik Kadir (AUS,387) 63 76(4)

[QF] (8) Vishnu Vardhan (IND,382) vs (1) Greg Jones (AUS,218)

Good win by Vishnu over similar ranked good grass player ... Next he is facing top-seed Jones but Vishnu having game to surprise him.

Badminton News
At SCG Thomas & Uber Cup 2010 Preliminary Asia Zone, Thailand

Thomas Cup - Group C

India bt Thailand 3-2

Chetan Anand (IND,15) l Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk (THA,32) 18-21 14-21 (28 mins)
Sanave Thomas (IND)/ Rupesh Kumar (IND) l Patipat Chalardchaleam (THA)/ Thitipong Lapoe (THA) 19-21 20-22 (36 mins)
Arvind Bhatt (IND,33) bt Suppanyu Avihingsanon (THA,85) 21-15 21-16 (32 mins)
V Diju (IND)/ Akshay Dewalkar (IND) bt Tin D.Caballes (THA)/ Nipitphon Puangpuapech (THA) 16-21 21-18 21-14 (36 mins)
R M V Gurusai Datt (IND,55) bt Watchara Buranakruea (THA,230) 21-6 21-13

India was the strongest team in Group C with their depth in singles ... But today our top singles and doubles players lost their matches and then pressure was on our second doubles team to win their match to remain in the tie.

Chetan lost in straight games against Saensomboonsuk, which he should have won ... Same happened with our top doubles team of Rupesh and Sanave, they lost against Thai pair giving close fight ... After 0-2 down in third match Arvind responded to a call and scored easy victory .. After that Our second doubles team also responded well ... They scored comeback victory over Thai pair to kept tie alive ... After that all pressure was on young Gurusai ... And Gurusai scored comfortable victory over his lowly ranked Thai opponent and helped India to top Group C ... This is creditable performance from us after losing first 2 matches ... In quarters we r mostly facing Vietnamese.

In next knock-out ties we require better performance from our top players, Chetan and Rupesh/ Sanave.

Tennis News
At $ 1.619M Dubai Tennis Championships, UAE

[R1] (Q) Somdev Devvarman (IND,143) bt Marco Chiudinelli (SUI,52) 64 75

[R2] (Q) Somdev Devvarman (IND,143) vs Marcos Baghdatis (CYP,37)

Somi scored big win over top-50 type player in straight sets ... Chiudinelli was in good form and on rise, so match was tough for Somi ... In first set Somi had solid service games, he lost only 2 points until 10th service game ... He broke Marco Chiudinelli serve in 3rd game ... While serving for the set Marco Chiudinelli had a break point but Somi hold his serve to won first set ... In second set Marco Chiudinelli played much better game ... He was holding his serve with ease and was creating pressure on Somi's serve ... Marco Chiudinelli had break point opportunity on Somi's serve in 6th game but Somi managed to hold his serve ... Somi take most crucial break of second set in 11th game, breaking Marco Chiudinelli serve at 15 and then hold his serve in style without losing a single point to won second set and match in 1 hour & 20 mins.

Next Somi is facing former top-10 player Marcos Baghdatis.

Match notes
First Set
MC hold @30, he served 1st double fault of the match
0-1 Somi hold @ luv and served 1st ace of the match
1-1 Somi broke MC's serve @30 to lead ... Up with early break, hopefully Somi will keep this trend in the match
2-1 Somi hold @30
3-1 MC was up 40-0 but Somi take it to deuce but then MC converted first Adv ... Good to see Somi is keeping pressure on MC's service games
3-2 another comfortable hold for Somi @ luv, he also served his 2nd ace of the match
4-2 first comfortable hold of serve for MC @ luv
4-3 again Somi hold @ luv
5-3 MC hold @30 ... now Somi is serving for the set
5-4 Somi saved 1 break point before converting second set point to captured this set in 38 mins
6-4

Solid game by Somi in the first set, before last game he lost only 2 points on his serve ... Somi's 1st serve % was 61% to MC's 50% ... 2 aces and no double fault other hand MC no ace and 1 double fault ... Somi won 33 pts and MC won 25

Second Set
MC hold @30, Somi was up 0-30 in this game
0-1 Somi hold @15
1-1 MC hold @15, served 2nd double fault of the match
1-2 Somi hold @30, scored his 1st double fault of the match
2-2 MC hold @15, served his 1st ace of the match
2-3 Somi was up 40-15 before MC take it to deuce and had a break point ... Somi saved that before holding his serve, he served his 3rd ace of the match in this game ... MC is winning more points on Somi's serve than first set
3-3 MC hold @ luv, he is holding his serve more freely
3-4 Somi had a strong service game when needed, he hold @ luv and served his 4th ace of the match
4-4 another easy hold for MC @ luv, important game for Somi
4-5 MC won first 2 points of the game and created pressure on Somi ... Somi responded well winning next 4 points to hold @30
5-5 Somi take early lead on MC's serve 0-30 and MC buckled up under pressure ... Somi broke him @15 ... Need to hold his serve to script a big win .. Go Somi
6-5 15-0, 30-0, 40-0 :-) one more point ... YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS hold @ luv
7-5

Again excellent stat in second set, Somi's 1ar serve % was 77% and MC's 69% ... 2 aces and 1 double fault, other hand MC one ace and one double fault ... Somi converted only break point chance and other hand save one break point ... Won 34 pts to MC's 30.

Overall Somi won 67/122 and MC won 55/122.
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At $15K Australia F2 Futures, Berri (Grass)

[R1] (8) Vishnu Vardhan (IND,382) bt (Q) Josh Barrenechea (AUS,UNR) 64 64

[R2] (8) Vishnu Vardhan (IND,382) vs Sadik Kadir (AUS,387)

Doubles
[QF] (2) Vishnu Vardhan (IND)/ Marcus Daniell (NZL) l Jarryd Chaplin (AUS)/ Michael Look (AUS) 36 16

Vishnu won his singles match against qualifier and booked next match against Sadik Kadir ... But surprisingly 2nd seed team lost tamely in doubles.

Badminton News
At SCG Thomas & Uber Cup 2010 Preliminary Asia Zone, Thailand

Uber Cup - Group Y

India l Japan 1-4

Saina Nehwal (IND,7) bt Ai Goto (JPN,24) 21-13 Retd (13 mins)
Aparna Balan (IND)/ Shruti Kurian (IND) l Mami Naito (JPN)/ Shizuka Matsuo (JPN) 18-21 21-17 14-21 (60 mins)
Trupti Murgunde (IND,61) l Sayaka Sato (JPN,26) 16-21 19-21 (31 mins)
Jwala Gutta (IND)/Ashwini Ponnappa (IND) l Miyuki Maeda (JPN)/ Satoko Suetsuna (JPN) 21-13 21-13 12-21 (47 mins)
Gayatri Vartak (IND,233) l Eriko Hirose (JPN,18) 12-21 7-21 (25 mins)

Thomas Cup - Group C

India bt Cambodia 5-0

Chetan Anand (IND,15) bt Chanpisey Vann (CAM,513) 21-11 21-10 (17 mins)
Arvind Bhatt (IND,33) bt Veasna Troeung (CAM,UNR) 21-4 21-9 (14 mins)
V Diju (IND)/ Jishnu Sanyal (IND) bt Mesa Vandy (CAM)/ Puthicheat Chindet (CAM) 21-7 21-9 (14 mins)
Anup Sridhar (IND,39) bt Nuon Sophoan (CAM,282) 21-9 21-13 (14 mins)
Sanave Thomas (IND)/ Rupesh Kumar (IND) bt Veasna Troeung (CAM)/ Chanpisey Vann (CAM) 21-10 21-8 (15 mins)

In Uber Cup, Saina won her match as her Japanese opponent retired from her match after first game ... In second doubles match Shruti and Aparna tried comeback after losing first game but in decider Japanese pair were too strong for them ... After losing first game Trupti missed chance of taking match in decider ... At one time Trupti was leading 16-7, Sayaka Sato won last 5 points in a row to won match from 19-16 ... Then in 4th match Jwala and Ashwini tried comeback after winning second game easily but in decider Japanese pair showed their superiority to won match and tie for Japan ... Tomorrow our ladies team having rest day before their next match against Philippines.

In Thomus cup, our all five matches completed in mere 74 mins ... Very thumping victory over Cambodians, so now tomorrow we r having crucial tie against local team, Thailand, to decide group winner.

Tennis News
At $ 1.619M Dubai Tennis Championships, UAE

Doubles
[R1] (WC) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (PAK) vs Robert Lindstedt (SWE)/ Arnaud Clement (FRA)
[R1] (3) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Max Mirnyi (BLR) bt (WC) Abdullah Magdas (KUW)/ Mahmoud-Nader Al Baloushi (UAE) 75 60
[R1] (2) Leander Paes (IND)/ Lukas Dlouhy (CZE) bt Marcin Matkowski (POL)/ Mariusz Fyrstenberg (POL) 76(7) 63

Good win by Lee and Lukas over former top-10 Polish team ... I was surprise to see that Hesh and Max stretched to 7-5 in first set against middle-east team.
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At $15K Australia F2 Futures, Berri (Grass)

[R1] (8) Vishnu Vardhan (IND,382) vs (Q) Josh Barrenechea (AUS,UNR)

Doubles
[R1] (2) Vishnu Vardhan (IND)/ Marcus Daniell (NZL) bt Colin Ebelthite (AUS)/ Matt Reid (AUS) W/O

[QF] (2) Vishnu Vardhan (IND)/ Marcus Daniell (NZL) vs Jarryd Chaplin (AUS)/ Michael Look (AUS)

Badminton News
SCG Thomas & Uber Cup 2010 Preliminary Asia Zone, Thailand

Thomas Cup
Group A - Indonesia, Vietnam, Singapore
Group B - Chinese Taipei, Hong Kong, Philippines
Group C - India, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Cambodia
Group D - Japan, Korea, Laos

Thomas Cup - Group C

India bt Sri Lanka 5-0

Chetan Anand (IND,15) bt Niluka Karunaratne (SRI,UNR) 21-18 19-21 21-17 (38 mins)
Parupalli Kashyap (IND,30) bt Dinuka Karunaratne (SRI,UNR) 21-11 21-10 (19 mins)
R M V Gurusai Dutt (IND,55) bt Rajitha Dahanayake (SRI,UNR) 21-13 21-9 (18 mins)
Sanave Thomas (IND)/ Rupesh Kumar (IND) bt Dinuka Karunaratne (SRI)/ Niluka Karunaratne (SRI) 21-14 18-21 21-12 (32 mins)
V Diju (IND)/ Akshay Dewalkar (IND) bt Hasitha Chanaka (SRI)/ Rajitha Dahanayake (SRI) 21-11 21-8 (15 mins)

Uber Cup
Group X - Korea, Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore, Sri Lanka
Group Y - Japan, Hong Kong, Chinese Taipei, India, Philippines

Uber Cup - Group Y

India bt Hong Kong 3-2

Saina Nehwal (IND,7) bt Mi Zhou (HKG,8) 14-21 21-10 23-21 (50 mins)
Sayali Gokhale (IND,59) l Pui Yin Yip (HKG,13) 13-21 11-21 (26 mins)
Trupti Murgunde (IND,61) bt Tsz Ka Chan (HKG,48) 21-18 21-16 (27 mins)
Jwala Gutta (IND)/Ashwini Ponnappa (IND) bt Mi Zhou (HKG)/ Ying Suet Tse (HKG) 21-13 21-16 (21 mins)
Aparna Balan (IND)/ Shruti Kurian (IND) l Hoi Wah Chau (HKG)/ Tsz Ka Chan (HKG) 9-21 13-21 (19 mins)

In Uber Cup India having winning start against powerful Hong Kong team ... Good comeback fighting win by Saina against another top-10 player ... But I think #61 Trupti Murgunde scored crucial win against top-50 Hong Kong player to turned this tie in our favor.

In Thomas Cup we started with comfortable win over Sri Lanka ... But surprisingly Sri-lankan unranked players stretched our best singles player and best doubles pair to 3 games.

Tennis News
At $ 1.619M Dubai Tennis Championships, UAE

[Q2] (8) Somdev Devvarman (IND,141) bt Dick Norman (BEL,308) 36 76(1) 61

[R1] (Q) Somdev Devvarman (IND,141) vs Marco Chiudinelli (SUI,53)

Doubles
[R1] (WC) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (PAK) vs Robert Lindstedt (SWE)/ Arnaud Clement (FRA)
[R1] (3) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Max Mirnyi (BLR) vs (WC) Abdullah Magdas (KUW)/ Mahmoud-Nader Al Baloushi (UAE)
[R1] (2) Leander Paes (IND)/ Lukas Dlouhy (CZE) vs Marcin Matkowski (POL)/ Mariusz Fyrstenberg (POL)

In first set Somi failed to take advantage of 7 break point chances ... In second set also he failed to take advantage break points but won tie-break easily ... In third set Somi started with a break and consolidated his early break with another break in 3d game to lead 3-0 ... He again broke Norman in 7th game to win match.

Good to see Somi kept patience and came back strongly from tie-break to won final qualifying match ... Last season Swiss Marco Chiudinelli made improvement of 723 position ... He jumped to #56 at 2009 year-end ranking from #779 at 2008 year-end ranking.
-----------------------------------------------------------
At Delray Beach International Tennis Championships, USA

[Q2] Yuki Bhambri(IND,324) l Izak Van Der Merwe (RSA,293) 64 46 57

Yuki was early break down in first set but from 3-4 down he broke Merwe 2 times to won first set ... In second set only important break taken by Merwe in 9th game to won this set ... In decider match was close ... Yuki had 3 match points at 5-4 but failed to take it and then Merwe broke him 11th game to won match.
-----------------------------------------------------------
At $220K Malaysian Open, Kuala Lumpur

[Q1] Rushmi Chakravarthi (IND,631) bt (WC) Neesha Thirumalaichelvam (MAS,UNR) 60 61

[Q2] Rushmi Chakravarthi (IND,631) l Elena Bovina (RUS,175) 36 26

Reaching second qualifying round gave her 6 ranking points ... Surprised to see her playing here.

Football News
At AFC Challenge Cup 2010, Colombo, Sri Lanka

Group B - 21st February
India l North Korea 0-3

Goal Scored - Ryang Yong Gi (DPR) 36' & 72', Choe Chol Man (DPR) 57'

Today DPR Korea proved too strong our young side but in first half we gave creditable performance ... So we ended with 3 defeats.

Tennis News
At $ 1.619M Dubai Tennis Championships, UAE

[Q1] (8) Somdev Devvarman(IND,141) bt (WC) Abdullah Magdas (KUW,UNR) 62 62

[Q2] (8) Somdev Devvarman(IND,141) vs Dick Norman (BEL,308)

Expected win by Somi against US college player ... Next having tricky match against big server Norman.
-----------------------------------------------------------
At Delray Beach International Tennis Championships, USA

[Q1] Yuki Bhambri(IND,324) bt Marvel Felder (URU,242) 64 63

Impressive win by Yuki ... He controlled match from the start and didn't give much chance to his opponent.
-----------------------------------------------------------
At $35K+H Tanger Challenger, Morocco (clay)

[QF] (1) Harsh Mankad (IND)/ Adil Shamasdin (CAN) l Steve Darcis (BEL)/Dominik Meffert (GER) 57 63 7-10

Another disappointing loss for Harsh and new partner.

Golf News
At World Golf Championships-Accenture Match Play Championship,

Bobby Jones bracket
[R16] Jeev Milkha Singh (IND,60) l Ian Poulter (ENG,11) 5 and 4

Poulter was hot from first hole scoring birdies one after another ... Jeev didn't match his game and lost easily ... Still good performance to reached final 16.

Match Report from PGA Tour -
After a couple of tight matches, the Englishman finally enjoyed a little less stress Friday in dispatching Singh. Poulter opened quickly with birdies on his first two holes and, in his words, "pretty much kept my foot down the whole way around the course." A 15-foot birdie putt on the par-4 5th put him 2 up, and Singh followed with a bogey on the par-3 sixth when he found the rough with his tee shot and couldn't get up-and down. Singh then faded with bogeys on the eighth and 10th holes, as Poulter advanced to the quarterfinals for the first time since his fourth-place finish here in 2005. "I played pretty much flawless today," he said. "I executed pretty much every shot I wanted to hit. There wasn't any mis-hits out there. So I found my job very clincal today and it was nice."
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tennis News
At $ 1.619M Dubai Tennis Championships, UAE

[Q1](8) Somdev Devvarman(IND,141) vs (WC) Abdullah Magdas (KUW,UNR)

Somi is facing US college player from Uuniversity of Southern California.
-----------------------------------------------------------
At Delray Beach International Tennis Championships,

[Q1] Yuki Bhambri(IND,324) v Marvel Felder (URU,242)
-----------------------------------------------------------
At $35K+H Tanger Challenger, Morocco (clay)

[R1] (1) Harsh Mankad (IND)/ Adil Shamasdin (CAN) bt Blaz Kovcic (SLO)/ Dusan Lojda (CZE) W/O
[QF] (1) Harsh Mankad (IND)/ Adil Shamasdin (CAN) vs Steve Darcis (BEL)/Dominik Meffert (GER)

Play is difficult due to rain ... So on Saturday Harsh need to play 2 matches quarters and if he win then semis.

Tennis News
At Davis Cup World Group 2010,

At last Indian team announced for their away tie against Russia from 5th March ... First time in recent years we r experiencing such late announcement of the team.

Surprisingly Yuki Bhambri left out of team, selection committee clarified that Yuki requested them to not select him for this tie as he wants to play few challengers in USA ... Frankly in last couple of months Yuki didn't play much, so he is lack of match practice ... In his place deserving Sanam Singh selected as reserve 5th player ... This is good selection as Sanam is in match practice playing with UVa, last week Virginia wins the ITA Men's Team Indoor Championship, third year in a row ... Sanam had big hand in this UVa victory ... In newly updated NCAA singles rankings, Sanam is climbed to his personal best #6 ranking.

So Indian team for Russian tie is,

Leander Paes, Mahesh Bhupathi, Somdev Devvarman, Rohan Bopanna, Sanam Singh

Team Captain - S P Misra
Coach - Nandan Bal
--------------------------------------------------------------
At €512750 Open 13 Tournament, Marseille, France

[SF] Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Jeff Coetzee (RSA) l (1) Julian Knowle (AUT)/ Robert Lindstedt (SWE) 46 60 610

Good fighting performance by Bops and Coetzee .. After losing first set they came back strongly in the match but lost in super tie-break.

From next week Rohan is playing at Dubai Open, he received wild-card of doubles with Aisam ... Go Bops.
-----------------------------------------------------------
At $10K Egypt F3 Futures 2010, Giza (clay)

[QF] (5) Rohan Gajjar (IND,470) l Karim MAAMOUN (EGY,299) 46 57

Doubles
[QF] (3) Rohan Gajjar (IND)/ Roman Vogeli (CZE) l (2) Karim Maamoun (EGY)/ Sherif Sabry (EGY) 75 16 6-10

So with these losses Gajjar's Egypt trip is over ... Decent performance on clay from him.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Football News
At AFC Challenge Cup 2010, Colombo, Sri Lanka

Group B - 19th February
India l Turkmenistan 0-1

Goal Scored - Karadanov Mamedaly (TUK) 24' P

As per report our boys produced fighting performance ... They kept attacking and creating chances but didnot able to convert it ... Last 15 mins we played with 10 men ... Debrata Roy, who conceded penalty early, recieved second yellow card of the match to received marching order ... In injury time umpire declined spot kick for Indians when Balwant Singh was brought down inside the box.

So with this loss Indian challenge from AFC Challenge Cup got over.

Golf News
At World Golf Championships-Accenture Match Play Championship,

Bobby Jones bracket
[R2] Jeev Milkha Singh (IND,60) bt Matt Kuchar (USA,43) 1 up

That's another good win ... Good to see under pressure Jeev managed to keep his cool to win on 18th hole.

WR #11 Ian Poulter having a big experience of matchplay as he is also regular member of European Ryder cup ... But with his back to back victories show Jeev having ability to upset him ... Go Jeev.

Match report from PGA Tour - After Singh made bogey at the fifth hole, he kept a clean scorecard the rest of the way. A birdie at the par-5 eighth when he two-putted from 67 feet put him 1 up. He birdied another par-5 hole, the 13th, to go 3 up. At that point, Kuchar rallied with consecutive birdies on the next two holes. But he never gave himself a good chance the equalizer on any of the final three closing holes. "I ground it out, and I think that's what match play is all about," Singh said. "You can't lose your patience, and you have to hole those short putts. That's what I did today."

Tennis News
At €512750 Open 13 Tournament, Marseille, France

Doubles
[QF] Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Jeff Coetzee (RSA) bt (3) Marc Lopez (ESP)/ Tommy Robredo (ESP) 46 61 21-19

Another impressive win by Bops and Coetzee over experienced players ... 21-19, what a score in super tie-break!!!

Crowd must be enjoyed that super tie-break where both pairs had ample match points.
-----------------------------------------------------------
At $125K+H Belgrade Challenger, Serbia

[SF] (4) Prakash Amritraj (IND)/ Jamie Cerretani (USA) l Dustin Brown (JAM)/ Martin Slanar (AUT) 26 63 7-10

Prakash and Cerretani lost good opportunity of reaching final at this big challenger.
-----------------------------------------------------------
At $15K Australia F1 Futures, Mildura (Grass)

[QF] (8) Vishnu VARDHAN (IND,382) l (2) Matthew EBDEN (AUS,224) 67(4) 26

As mentioned earlier Ebden turned tough to Vishnu, but he produced creditable performance in first set against this experienced campaigner.
-----------------------------------------------------------
At $10K Egypt F3 Futures 2010, Giza (clay)

[R2] (5) Rohan Gajjar (IND,470) bt Duncan Mugabe (UGA,752) 63 75
[R2] (LL) Srirambalaji Narayanaswamy (IND,893) l (1) Guillermo Alcaide (ESP,276) 46 16

Doubles
[QF] Ronak Manuja (IND)/ Srirambalaji Narayanaswamy (IND) l (1) Guillermo Alcaide (ESP)/ Gerard Granollers-Pujol (ESP) 16 36
[QF]
(3) Rohan Gajjar (IND)/ Roman Vogeli (CZE) bt Karim-Mohamed Maamoun (EGY)/ Hossam Meligy (EGY) 62 46 12-10

Better performance by Srirambalaji against top-seed ... Rohan scored expected win but now tough test in quarters.

Golf News
At World Golf Championships-Accenture Match Play Championship,

Bobby Jones bracket
Jeev Milkha Singh (IND,60) bt Padraig Harrington (IRL,9) 3 and 1

Match report
The third time was the charm for Singh, who was making his debut as a PGA TOUR member. Singh had lost in the first round in two previous appearances but got untracked on the back nine to upset the three-time major champion. Harrington led for two holes early, but the match was all square through 12 holes when Singh took control with consecutive birdies. He then added a third birdie at the 17th hole to close the match out. "At the end of the day in match play, it all comes down to who holes more putts," Singh said, "and I was lucky enough to do that."

Huge victory by Jeev over WR #( and 3 times Major champion Padraig Harrington ... This was Jeev's first victory in World Golf Championships-Match Play, last 2 years he lost in the first round ... Next he is facing American WR #43 Matt Kuchar.

Tennis News
At €512750 Open 13 Tournament, Marseille, France

[R1] Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Jeff Coetzee (RSA) bt Christophe Rochus (BEL)/ Olivier Rochus (BEL) 62 61

[QF] Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Jeff Coetzee (RSA) vs (3) Marc Lopez (ESP)/ Tommy Robredo (ESP)

Surprising one-sided win for Rohan and Coetzee ... Next they r facing 3rd ranked Spanish pair in quarters.
-----------------------------------------------------------
At $125K+H Belgrade Challenger, Serbia

[R1] Somdev Devvarman (IND,141) l (WC) Filip Krajinovic (SRB,363) 63 67(6) 36

Doubles
[QF] (4) Prakash Amritraj (IND)/ Jamie Cerretani (USA) bt Julian Reister (GER)/ Grega Zemlja (SLO) 63 64

[SF] (4) Prakash Amritraj (IND)/ Jamie Cerretani (USA) vs Dustin Brown (JAM)/ Martin Slanar (AUT)

Somdev won first set with a single break but in second set he was early break down losing his serve in second game ... At 3-5 Somi broke Krajinovic's serve to bring back on serve ... In tie-break both traded multiple mini-breaks but Krajinovic won set after converting second set point ... In third set Somi had early chances of breaking Krajinovic serves but couldn't converted it ... Krajinovic broke Somi's serve in 7th and 9th games to scored upset win ... Too much defensive game from Somi ... Somi in the line of getting Dubai wild card.

Prakash continued his good run in doubles with Cerretani to moved in to semis with straight sets win.
-----------------------------------------------------------
At $15K Australia F1 Futures, Mildura (Grass)

[R2] (8) Vishnu VARDHAN (IND,382) bt Matt Reid (AUS,495) 63 64

[QF] (8) Vishnu VARDHAN (IND,382) vs (2) Matthew EBDEN (AUS,224)

Doubles
[SF] (2) VARDHAN Vishnu (IND)/ DANIELL Marcus (NZL) l (3) EBDEN Matthew (AUS)/ GROTH Samuel (AUS) 36 76(2) 10-12

Another good expected win by Vishnu in singles and now facing real test in quarters against top-225 local player.

In doubles he lost in semis.
-----------------------------------------------------------
At $10K Egypt F3 Futures 2010, Giza (clay)

[R1] (PR) Karan Rastogi (IND,1002) l (7) Gerard Granollers-Pujol (ESP,540) 26 76(3) 46
[R1] (5) Rohan Gajjar (IND,470) bt (Q) Jeremy Jahn (GER,869) 63 64
[R1] (Q) Ronak Manuja (IND,1200) l (1) Guillermo Alcaide (ESP,276) 06 06
[R1] (LL) Srirambalaji Narayanaswamy (IND,893) bt Motaz Abou El Khair (EGY,813) 63 67(2) 63

[R2] (5) Rohan Gajjar (IND,470) vs Duncan Mugabe (UGA,752)
[R2] (LL) Srirambalaji Narayanaswamy (IND,893) vs (1) Guillermo Alcaide (ESP,276)

Doubles
[R1] Ronak Manuja (IND)/ Srirambalaji Narayanaswamy (IND) bt Adam El Mihdawy (USA)/ Clement Reix (FRA) 62 46 10-7
[R1] (3) Rohan Gajjar (IND)/ Roman Vogeli (CZE) bt Stefano Valenti (ITA)/ Francesco Vilardo (ITA) 64 64

[QF] Ronak Manuja (IND)/ Srirambalaji Narayanaswamy (IND) vs (1) Guillermo Alcaide (ESP)/ Gerard Granollers-Pujol (ESP)
[QF] (3) Rohan Gajjar (IND)/ Roman Vogeli (CZE) vs Karim-Mohamed Maamoun (EGY)/ Hossam Meligy (EGY)

Was expecting loss of Ronak but double bagel .......................... :-(

So Granollers-Pujol take revenge of last week's loss but good match for Karan ... Good to see Srirambalaji managed to grab his first ranking point of 3 weeks, next he is facing top-seed Guillermo Alcaide.

Football News
At AFC Challenge Cup 2010, Colombo, Sri Lanka

Group B - 17th February
India l Kyrgyzstan 1-2

Goal Scored - Denzil Franco (IND) 58' P and Amirova (KYR) 15', Anton (KYR) 32'

Disappointing start for India u-23 at AFC Challenge Cup ... In second half they matched their opponents but failed to score goals.

Tennis News
At $1.1M Memphis Open, USA

Doubles
[R1] (1) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Max Mirnyi (BLR) l Eric Butorac (USA)/ Rajeev Ram (USA) 46 46

Rajeev and Eric Butorac defeated top-seed pair of Mahesh and Mad max in straight sets .... This was expected result against this American team as Mahesh was playing after long injury break.

But this also means Mahesh is also lack of match practice before our Russian Davis cup tie.
-----------------------------------------------------------
At $125K+H Belgrade Challenger, Serbia

Doubles
[R1] (4) Prakash Amritraj (IND)/ Jamie Cerretani (USA) bt Karol Beck (SVK)/ Jiri Krkoska (CZE) 57 63 10-7

[QF] (4) Prakash Amritraj (IND)/ Jamie Cerretani (USA) vs Julian Reister (GER)/ Grega Zemlja (SLO)

Winning start for 4th seed pair in this Belgrade Challenger.
-----------------------------------------------------------
At $15K Australia F1 Futures, Mildura (Grass)

[R1] (8) VARDHAN Vishnu (IND,382) bt (Q) LOOK Michael (AUS,1659) 63 64

[R2] (8) VARDHAN Vishnu (IND,382) vs Matt Reid (AUS,495)

Doubles
[QF] (2) VARDHAN Vishnu (IND)/ DANIELL Marcus (NZL) bt FROST Leon (AUS)/ GOH Steven (AUS) 64 60

[SF] (2) VARDHAN Vishnu (IND)/ DANIELL Marcus (NZL) vs (3) EBDEN Matthew (AUS)/ GROTH Samuel (AUS)

So expected winning start for Vishnu ... He also in doubles semi-final.
-----------------------------------------------------------
At $25K Surprise ITF Womens Tournament, AZ , USA

[Q2] UBEROI Shikha (IND,573) l (14) CECIL Mallory (USA,481) 46

Doubles
[R1] MOLINERO Florencia (ARG)/ UBEROI Shikha (IND) l (3) SPEARS Abigail (USA)/ VANDEWEGHE Coco (USA) 16 26

Disappointing results.

Tennis News

Congratulations to Sanam Singh for winning ITA Sportsmanship award!!! Sanam Singh of the University of Virginia received the ITA Sportsmanship Award.

According to the report, he was chosen for this annual award by the 16 participating coaches at the ITA National Men's Team Indoor Championship for displaying outstanding sportsmanship and exemplifying the spirit of college tennis during the course of the Team Indoor Championship as well as throughout his career. He is the first Virginia player to win this award in the 19 years it has been presented.
-----------------------------------------------------------
At $2M Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships 2010,

[R1] Sania Mirza (IND,77) l Anabel Medina Garrigues (ESP,33) 36 46


[R1] (7) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Virginia Ruano Pascual (ESP) l Yung Chan (TPE)/ Jie Zheng (CHN) 36 36

Sania lost in straight sets against WR #33 .. With her recent performances wasn't much hope from her in this big tourney.

Sania had injured her wrist in singles, really don't why she played in doubles in chance of increasing her injury threat ... She withdrawn from next week's Malaysia Open.
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At $10K Egypt F3 Futures 2010, Giza (clay)

[Q2] (5) Srirambalaji Narayanaswamy (IND,893) l (14) Romain Sichez (FRA,1777) 62 57 67(1)
[Q2] (7) Ronak Manuja (IND,1200) bt (12) Adam Novak (CZE,1591) 75 76(5)

[R1] (PR) Karan Rastogi (IND,1002) vs (7) Gerard Granollers-Pujol (ESP,540)
[R1] (5) Rohan Gajjar (IND,470) vs (Q) Jeremy Jahn (GER,869)
[R1] (Q) Ronak Manuja (IND,1200) vs (1) Guillermo Alcaide (ESP,276)
[R1] (LL) Srirambalaji Narayanaswamy (IND,893) vs Motaz Abou El Khair (EGY,813)

Doubles
[R1] Ronak Manuja (IND)/ Srirambalaji Narayanaswamy (IND) vs Adam El Mihdawy (USA)/ Clement Reix (FRA)
[R1] (3) Rohan Gajjar (IND)/ Roman Vogeli (CZE) vs Stefano Valenti (ITA)/ Francesco Vilardo (ITA)

Ronak Manuja won closely fought his final qualifying match but other hand Srirambalaji lost closely fought final qualifying match ... But Srirambalaji is entering as lucky loser.

In main draw Ronak having toughest draw facing top-seed Spanish player ... I really don't know why top-275 player is playing in these futures ... I was really hoping after qualifying Ronak at least win one round to accumulate 1 point from this 3 weeks tour ... :-(

In second week a row Karan is facing Spanish Gerard Granollers-Pujol ... Hopefully he repeats last week's performance ... This week he is not playing doubles.
-----------------------------------------------------------
At $25K Surprise ITF Womens Tournament, AZ , USA

[Q1] UBEROI Shikha (IND,573) bt FULLER Kate (USA,UNR) 61 60
[Q1] SANJEEV Nirupama (IND,NR) l CAKO Jacqueline (USA,500) 36 46

[Q2] UBEROI Shikha (IND,573) vs (14) CECIL Mallory (USA,481)

Nirupama played qualifying and lost in first round.
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At $15K Australia F1 Futures, Mildura (Grass)

[R1] (8) VARDHAN Vishnu (IND,382) vs (Q) LOOK Michael (AUS,1659)

Doubles
[R1] (2) VARDHAN Vishnu (IND)/ DANIELL Marcus (NZL) bt (WC) LEEDER-CHARD Aaron (AUS)/ PHILLIPS Cory (AUS) 76(4) 64

[QF] (2) VARDHAN Vishnu (IND)/ DANIELL Marcus (NZL) vs FROST Leon (AUS)/ GOH Steven (AUS)

Vishnu having good chance of performing well Down under as these futures r on the grass ... In doubles he is second seed and having winning start.
-----------------------------------------------------------
At $15K Azerbaijan F1 Futures,

[R1] VIRALI-MURUGESAN Ranjeet (IND,479) vs (4) MIDDELKOOP Matwe (NED,349)

Tough match but happy to see Ranjeet playing at altogether different location.

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

Salgaocar SC bt Viva Kerala 1-0

Goal Scored - Mandjou Keita (SSC) 59'

Couple of first round matches played which were cancelled due to heavy rain.

Salgaocar scored important win against Viva to remain fighting coming out of relegation zone.
-----------------------------------------

Sporting Clube de Goa l Air India FC 1-2

Goal Scored - Elijah Junior (SCG) 64' and Dada Nabeel (AI) 59', Vijith Shetty (AI) 61' P

Airmen defeated Sporting Clube de Goa to move out of relegation zone ... Elijah Junior missed spot kick in late of the match.

Tennis News
At €512750 Open 13 Tournament, Marseille, France

Doubles
[R1] Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Jeff Coetzee (RSA) vs Christophe Rochus (BEL)/ Olivier Rochus (BEL)

Rohan is playing with Jeff Coetzee against Rochus.
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At $1.1M Memphis Open, USA

Doubles
[R1] (1) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Max Mirnyi (BLR) vs Eric Butorac (USA)/ Rajeev Ram (USA)

Mahesh is coming back on court after his injury break from AO at Memphis ... He and Mad Max having tough match against Rajeev and Eric.
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At $125K+H Belgrade Challenger, Serbia

[Q1] (1) Prakash Amritraj (IND,222) l Martin Slanar (AUT,684) 36 57

[R1] Somdev Devvarman (IND,141) vs (WC) Filip Krajinovic (SRB,363)

Another disappointing performance from Kash ... Somi having tough opener against tlented Serbian.
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At $35K+H Tanger Challenger, Morocco

[Q1] (WC) Harsh Mankad (IND,UNR) l Joao Sousa (POR,438) 16 36

Expected loss as Harsh was playing singles after more than a year break.
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At $10K Egypt F2 Futures 2010, Giza (clay)

Doubles
[SF] Ronak Manuja (IND)/ Srirambalaji Narayanaswamy (IND) l (1) Karim Maamoun (EGY)/ Sherif Sabry (EGY) 57 63 7-10
[SF] Rohan Gajjar (IND)/ Karan Rastogi (IND) l (3) Gerard Granollers-Pujol (ESP)/ Matteo Marrai (ITA) 46 67(4)

Our pairs lost in doubles semis.
-----------------------------------------------------------
At $10K Egypt F3 Futures 2010, Giza (clay)

[Q1] (7) Ronak Manuja (IND,1204) bt Hossam Meligy (EGY,UNR) 63 64
[Q1] (5) Srirambalaji Narayanaswamy (IND,896) bt (WC) Alex Parker (USA,UNR) 61 61
[Q1] Kaza Vinayak Sharma (IND,UNR) l (11) Andrea Stucchi (ITA,1488) W/O

[Q2] (5) Srirambalaji Narayanaswamy (IND,896) vs (14) Romain Sichez (FRA,1777)
[Q2] (7) Ronak Manuja (IND,1204) vs (12) Adam Novak (CZE,1591)

Tennis News
At $125K+H Belgrade Challenger, Serbia

[Q1] (1) Prakash Amritraj (IND,222) vs Martin Slanar (AUT,684)

Prakash having good opportunity of qualifying for this big challenger.
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At $35K+H Tanger Challenger, Morocco

[Q1] (WC) Harsh Mankad (IND,UNR) vs Joao Sousa (POR,438)

Harsh must be playing one of singles qualifying for getting used to clay courts.

Tennis News
At $10K Egypt F2 Futures 2010, Giza (clay)

[QF] (PR) Karan Rastogi (IND,1051) l (Q) Marcel Zimmermann (GER,667) 46 26

Doubles
[QF] Ronak Manuja (IND)/ Srirambalaji Narayanaswamy (IND) bt (2) Augustin Gensse (FRA)/ Eric Prodon (FRA) 62 61
[QF] Rohan Gajjar (IND)/ Karan Rastogi (IND) bt (4) Jiri Skoloudik (CZE)/ Roman Vogeli (CZE) 76(5)57 12-10

[SF] Ronak Manuja (IND)/ Srirambalaji Narayanaswamy (IND) vs (1) Karim Maamoun (EGY)/ Sherif Sabry (EGY)
[SF] Rohan Gajjar (IND)/ Karan Rastogi (IND) vs (3) Gerard Granollers-Pujol (ESP)/ Matteo Marrai (ITA)

Zimmermann turned too strong for Karan ... But our both pairs scored very impressive wins over seeded pair in doubles.

Tennis News

Somdev Devvarman switched from Mamba International to leading international sports management company Lagardere Unlimited ... Lagardere Unlimited manages top players like Andy Roddick, Justine Henin, Daniel Nestor, Tommy Haas, Gael Monfils, Richard Gasquet, Andre Sa, Fernando Gonzalez, Nadia Petrova and Aleksandra Wozniak etc.

Somdev Devvarman -
"Lagardere's client roster is impressive and the fact that Ken Meyerson has represented several Grand Slam champions, as well as Arnaud Lagardere's passion for the game, made selecting Lagardere Unlimited an automatic choice."
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At $10K Egypt F2 Futures 2010, Giza (clay)

[R2] (PR) Karan Rastogi (IND,1051) bt Gerard Granollers-Pujol (ESP,540) 16 64 63
[R2] (6) Rohan Gajjar (IND,475) l (Q) Giulio Torroni (ITA,727) 36 67(2)

[QF] (PR) Karan Rastogi (IND,1051) vs (Q) Marcel Zimmermann (GER,667)

This is really exciting comeback win over European clay court specialist after coming out of his injury break ... Next he is facing German qualifier.

Tennis News
At $531K SAP Open, San Jose, USA

Doubles
Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Jeff Coetzee (RSA) l Carsten Ball (AUS)/ Stephen Huss (AUS) 16 46

So no last year's repeat performance at San Jose for Rohan with Coetzee.
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At $50K+H Bergamo Challenger, Italy

Doubles
[QF] Prakash Amritraj (IND)/ Brendan Evans (USA) l (3) Daniele Bracciali (ITA)/ Jonathan Erlich (ISR) 06 67(3)

Produced some fight in second set after humiliating first set.

So now our players will move to Serbian challenger.
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At $10K Egypt F2 Futures 2010, Giza (clay)

[R1] (6) Rohan Gajjar (IND,475) bt (Q) Francois-Arthur Vibert (FRA,1073) 75 76(4)
[R1] (PR) Karan Rastogi (IND,1051) bt (7) Mohammad Ghareeb (KUW,512) 63 1-0 Retd

[R2] (PR) Karan Rastogi (IND,1051) vs Gerard Granollers-Pujol (ESP,540)
[R2] (6) Rohan Gajjar (IND,475) vs Giulio Torroni (ITA,727)

Good lucky break for Karan against experienced Ghareeb ... Frenchman stretched Rohan in first round ... Next both facing clay court specialists.

Tennis News
At $220K PTT Pattaya Open, Thailand

[R1] (6) Sania Mirza (IND,59) l Tatjana Malek (GER,79) 63 46 36

Sania had a good start winning first set conveniently though got broken once ... In second set Sania saved 2 break points in the first game but then had a chance of early break when she had 3 break point chances on Malek's serve but Malek holds ... In fourth game had a chance to break Malek but again she failed to convert that ... At last Sania broke Malek's serve in 6th game to lead 4-2 ... But somehow she managed to bring back her problem of poor servicing in the match and got broken twice to lose next 4 games to gave set to Malek ... Sania lost her service game in the first but she broke back in next 2 make it 1-all ... Malek again broke Sania in 3rd game and hold her serve in next ... At last after losing 4 service games (on her serve) Sania managed to win 5th game but Malek again broke Sania in 7th game to lead 2-5 ... Sania broke Malek's serve in next game after saving one match point to make it 3-5 ... But again Sania lost her serve in 9th game to lose match in 1 hour 54 minutes.

In third set she only managed to hold her serve once and got broken 4 times ... Frankly her service stat was decent ... First serve % was 64, Malek had 55% ... But what was shocking 1st serve points won, Sania managed to win only 33% (6/18), Malek 65% (11/17).

Tennis News
At $50K+H Bergamo Challenger, Italy

Doubles
[R1] Harsh Mankad (IND)/ Dustin Brown (JAM) l (2) Jonathan Marray (GBR)/ Jamie Murray (GBR) 16 76(4) 7-10
[R1] Prakash Amritraj (IND)/ Brendan Evans (USA) bt Mikhail Kukushkin (KAZ)/ Alessandro Motti (ITA) 64 46 10-5

Harsh and Brown produced good fighting performance against Tour experienced British pair but lost in tie-break ... In other match, Kash and Evans won their match is super tie-break to moved in to quarters.
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At $10K Egypt F2 Futures 2010, Giza (clay)


[R1] (6) Rohan Gajjar (IND,475) vs (Q) Francois-Arthur Vibert (FRA,1073)
[R1] (PR) Karan Rastogi (IND,1051) vs (7) Mohammad Ghareeb (KUW,512)

Doubles
[R1] Rohan Gajjar (IND)/ Karan Rastogi (IND) bt Jordi Marse-Vidri (ESP)/ Oscar Sabate-Bretos (ESP) 63 75
[R1] Ronak Manuja (IND)/ Srirambalaji Narayanaswamy (IND) bt (WC) Ali Abdel Aziz (EGY)/ Mohamed Moussa (EGY) 61 62

[QF] Ronak Manuja (IND)/ Srirambalaji Narayanaswamy (IND) vs (2) Augustin Gensse (FRA)/ Eric Prodon (FRA)
[QF] Rohan Gajjar (IND)/ Karan Rastogi (IND) vs (4) Jiri Skoloudik (CZE)/ Roman Vogeli (CZE)

So our both pairs won their respective doubles matches ... In singles Karan having very tricky and tough match against experienced Kuwaiti Ghareeb.

Tennis News
At $50K+H Bergamo Challenger, Italy

[R1] Prakash Amritraj (IND,222) l (WC) Marco Crugnola (ITA,218) 57 61 57

In the first set at 5-all and 30-15 Kash tried for some unnecessary shots ... He lost serve and set ... Second set fully dominated by Kash and won it easily ... In third set first 4 games both players broke others service but while staying in the match at 5-6 and was leading 30-0, again Kash made unforced errors to lose match.

Tennis News
At $220K PTT Pattaya Open, Thailand

[R1] (6) Sania Mirza (IND,59) vs Tatjana Malek (GER,79)

Sania is 6th seed at Pattaya Open ... She is playing with sore wrist, so decided to skip doubles next couple of weeks.
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At $531K SAP Open, San Jose, USA

Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Jeff Coetzee (RSA) vs Carsten Ball (AUS)/ Stephen Huss (AUS)

Rohan was last year's finalist with Jarkko Nieminen beating Bryans in quarters ... So Bops must be hoping of repeat performance ... But he will be very tired after long travel from South Africa through Dubai to San Jose, so hopefully he will be ready for his match which will be mostly on Wednesday.
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At $50K+H Bergamo Challenger, Italy

[R1] Prakash Amritraj (IND,222) vs (WC) Marco Crugnola (ITA,218)

Doubles
[R1] Harsh Mankad (IND)/ Dustin Brown (JAM) vs (2) Jonathan Marray (GBR)/ Jamie Murray (GBR)
[R1] Prakash Amritraj (IND)/ Brendan Evans (USA)/ Mikhail Kukushkin (KAZ)/ Alessandro Motti (ITA)

Good to see Harsh rush to Europe for next set of challengers ... But tough match against Britishers in first round with Brown.

Kash having match against similar ranked Italian in singles, though winnable ... Also winnable match in doubles.
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At $10K Egypt F2 Futures 2010, Giza (clay)

[Q1] (12) Srirambalaji Narayanaswamy (IND,904) bt (WC) Mohamed Safwat (EGY,1157) 76(11) 75
[Q1] Kaza Vinayak Sharma (IND,UNR) bt Christian Mohs (GER,UNR) 61 Retd
[Q1]Ronak Manuja (IND,1208) l Vyacheslav Lytvynenko (UKR,UNR) 67(7) 46

[Q2] (12) Srirambalaji Narayanaswamy (IND,904) l Romain Sichez (FRA,1777) 46 16
[Q2] Kaza Vinayak Sharma (IND,UNR) l (9) Roman Vogeli (CZE,857) 16 26

This week no one reached in final qualifying round,so again Rohan Gajjar and Karan will be in main draw.

Golf News
At $300K Asian Tour International,
From Asian Tour site
1 Gaganjeet Bhullar IND 71 71 71 64 -11 $47,550.00
2 Hwang Inn-choon KOR 72 70 67 69 -10 $32,550.00
3 Tetsuji Hiratsuka JPN 71 72 68 68 -9 $18,300.00

21 yrs old Gaganjeet Bhullar produced a brilliant course record of eight-under-par 64 to win the season-opening Asian Tour International by one stroke on Sunday ... Gaganjeet started the final round six strokes behind the leader ... Gaganjeet had an eagle and six birdies for an unblemished card on final day ... Gaganjeet started with an eagle at the par five second hole when an eight iron approach stopped three feet of the flag ... He scored four more birdies to turn in 30 and added two more birdies on 15, for taking the lead, and on 18 to clinch a second title of his career.

Gaganjeet Bhullar -
"It’s amazing. I have no words to describe it, I’m totally speechless. When I woke up this morning, I just wanted to shoot a good number. I never ever thought I was going to shoot a 64 and win by one. It’s like a dream coming true. My first event of the year and winning at the start of the season will give me a lot of confidence."

“After 15 where I made a good curling putt, I told myself to make par on 16 and 17 and make birdie on 18. Everything happened the way I decided. On 18, it was amazing. I told myself that the putt was to win the tournament."

“It was a crucial one as I had missed the same putt last the two days from the nearly same line. I had a bit of an idea that it would come from the right. I just got lucky. I’m sure my confidence will go up a long way. I’m looking forward to next week (Avantha Masters). It’s a big event and I love the DLF course as I’ve won there twice (on the local circuit). Going back to play in front of the home crowd will give me a great sense of achievement."

"Last night, I was surfing the web and I clicked on asiantour.com and they had a poll “Who do you think will win the Asian Tour International” and my name was there. I clicked on my name and I had the highest votes. I told myself that it was a bit of a disappointment that I wouldn’t win as I had so many votes. But it shows that anything can happen in golf."
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At Omega Dubai Desert Classic, Dubai, UAE - Final Standing

T15 Jeev Milkha Singh 68 72 70 74 -4 € 24052.49
T51 Shiv Kapur 74 71 71 74 +2 € 7294.02
T60 SSP Chowrasia 77 69 70 76 +4 € 4803.38

In end disappointing finish for our players ... All had over PAR rounds and missed chance of finishing higher on the standing.
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Tennis News
At $500K South Africa Tennis Open, Johannesburg

Doubles Final
Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (PAK) bt Karol Beck (SVK)/ Harel Levy (ISR) 26 63 10-5

Rohan and Aisam lifted their first ATP tour title as a pair in their 3rd final appearence ... This was Rohan's 2nd ATP tour title and Aisam's first ... Rohan won first title with with Eric Butorac at Los Angeles 2008.

Rohan and Asiam started badly losing first 4 games and lost first set in 30 mins ... In second set at 1-all match was suspended due to rain ... That break turned out blessing for them as they came out firing all cylinders ... They won second set breaking Beck and Levy in 6th game ... In super tie-break they were down with mini-break at 0-2 ... But they got double mini-break on Beck and Levy's serve to make it 3-2 ... They got another mini-break on 13th point after that Rohan served out for match winning 2 points on his serve to win match in 68 mins.

Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi -
“I think it’s a great achievement. As a team we are really, really good and we can be in the Top 10 definitely together. Today’s win definitely proves it because the chips were really down and we were able to find the solution to get back."

Rohan Bopanna -
“This win here is definitely going to help our confidence and our ranking so we will certainly play more [together] this year.”

“We started off a little tentatively. Obviously it was our third final together, which meant there was a little bit of tentativeness starting off. The rain delay helped. We spoke a little bit. We said 'We’re here to fight and win'. We came out and started winning by playing aggressive tennis, the way we do normally."

Squash News
At $60K Swedish Open 2010, Linkoping, Sweden

[R1] Saurav Ghosal (IND,30) l (1) Nick Matthew (ENG,2) 7-11 4-11 11-5 5-11

Good fighting performnce by Saurav against WR #2 with whom he managed to win one game in Swedish Open.
------------------------------------------
At $6K Swedish Open 2010, Linkoping, Sweden

[R1] (3) Dipika Pallikal (IND,46) bt Lovisa Forstadius (SWE,249) ?
[QF] (3) Dipika Pallikal (IND,46) bt (8) Maud Duplomb (FRA,97) 11-4 11-4 11-9

[SF] (3) Dipika Pallikal (IND,46) l (2) Annelize Naude (NED,41) 9-11 8-11 12-14

Dipika will feel disappointed with her 3 straight games loss, where in each game she had chance ... She really had opportunity to reaching in the final.
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Tennis News
At $531K SAP Open, San Jose, USA

[Q1] Yuki Bhambri (IND,325) l (4) Giovanni Lapentti (ECU,228) 46 57

Yuki produced fight against experienced player but couldn't convert it in to victory.

Hockey News

Indian team is declared for FIH World CUP which is starting from February 28th at New Delhi ... Rajpal Singh retained as Indian skipper ... Sandeep Singh recalled in team after passing fitness test.

Tirkeys r missing from the team.

Goalkeepers - Adrian D'Souza, P R Sreejesh

Defenders - Sandeep Singh, Dhananjay Mahadik, Diwakar Ram

Mid-fielders - Gurbaj Singh, Sardar Singh, Bharat, Arjun Halappa, Danish Mujtaba, Vikram Pillay

Forwards - Rajpal Singh (C), Shivendra Singh, Tushar Khandker, Prabhjot Singh, Sarwanjit Singh, Deepak Thakur, Gurvinder Singh Chandi."
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Football News
At the 2010 AFC Champions League playoff , Abu Dhabi

6th February
Al Wahda SC (UAE) bt Churchill Brothers SC (IND) 2-5

Goal Scored - Fernando Baiano (AW) 45' & 65', Mahmoud Khamis (AW) 46', Abdulraheem Juma (AW) 63', Ismaeil Matar (AW) 85' and Dan Ito (CB) 41', Leihaorungbam Dhanachandra Singh (CB) 77'

Al Wahda battled back from a goal down to beat Churchill Brothers 5-2 in the AFC Champions League play-offs.

Tennis News
At the Asia/Oceania Zone Group II , Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Play-off for Asia/Oceania Zone Group I
India bt Kyrgyzstan 3-0

Rushmi Chakravarthi bt Bermet Duvanaeva 64 16 63
Sania Mirza bt Ksenia Palkina 60 62
Sanaa Bhambri/ Rushmi Chakravarthi bt Nelli Buyuklianova/ Bermet Duvanaeva 60 1-0 Retd

So Indian team scored easy 3-0 victory over Kyrgyzstan to moved into Asia/Oceania Zone Group I from 2011 ... In first match Rushmi played on place of Poojashree and scored 3 sets victory over Duvanaeva ... In second match Sania didn't lose much sweat to complete India victory ... She only lost a single game against Palkina.
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At $531K SAP Open, San Jose, USA

[Q1] Yuki Bhambri (IND,325) vs (4) Giovanni Lapentti (ECU,228)

Good to see Yuki back on court and that also in ATP qualifying ... Weak draw, so good chnce to Yuki for qualifying.

Tennis News
At $500K South Africa Tennis Open, Johannesburg

[QF] (5) Rajeev Ram (USA,84) l (3) Feliciano Lopez (ESP,46) 67(1) 36
[QF] Somdev Devvarman (IND,162) l (2) David Ferrer (ESP,18) 16 36

Doubles
[SF] Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (PAK) bt (3) Rajeev Ram (USA)/ Eric Butorac (USA) 76(5) 64

Ferrer broke Somi's serve in 2nd and 6th game in first set ... Though score looking one-sided still Somi had 5 break point chances which he couldn't converted in the first ... In second set Somi was playing much better on his first serve but Ferrer broke him back to back game in 5th and 7th game ... But Somi broke Ferrer when he was serving for the match at 2-5 ... Ferrer again broke him next to won the match ... In end point won 39 pts to 58 pts in the match, so Ferrer dominated Somi fairly well.

This was tough match but good to see Somi managed to create chances ... Also its good to hear that he is working on his aggresive game, so hopefully we will see more good performance from him.

Somi had relatively good tournament after reaching quarters and again start moving towards his best singles ranking.

Really impressive result for Rohan and Aisam to beat 3rd seed pair ... Ram and Eric Butorac were on a good form as at AO they reached quarters before losing to Bryans in close match.
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At the Asia/Oceania zone Group II , Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Group A
India bt Malaysia 3-0

Poojashree Venkantesha bt Chin-Bee Khoo 61 61
Sania Mirza bt Jawairiah Noordin 61 60
Sanaa Bhambri/ Rushmi Chakravarthi bt Chin-Bee Khoo/ Jawairiah Noordin 76(4) 62

India scored another expected comfortable win ... It was surprise to see Malaysian pair stretched our pair in double first set.

Now India plays important match against Kyrgyzstan on Saturday for the playoff to make it to the Group 1.

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

[QF] (2) Harsh Mankad (IND)/ Treat Conrad Huey (PHI) l Andre Begemann (GER)/ Marcio Torres (BRA) 63 26 10-12

Another close loss in quarter-finals like last week ... They need to tighten up these slip ups.
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At Egypt F1 Futures 2010, Giza (clay)

[R2] (4) Rohan Gajjar (IND,475) l Axel MICHON (FRA,597) 16 46
[R2] (PR) Karan Rastogi (IND,1051) l Marco SIMONI (ITA,588) 36 26

Disappointing stuff ... They lost without giving much fight.

Tennis News
At $500K South Africa Tennis Open, Johannesburg

[R2] Somdev Devvarman (IND,162) bt Thiago Alves (BRA,134) 64 61

[QF] Somdev Devvarman (IND,162) vs (2) David Ferrer (ESP,18)
[QF] (5) Rajeev Ram (USA,84) vs (3) Feliciano Lopez (ESP,46)

Doubles
[QF] Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (PAK) bt (2) Johan Brunstrom (SWE)/ Jean-Julien Rojer (AHO) 36 63 9-9 (by Default)
[QF] (3) Rajeev Ram (USA)/ Eric Butorac (USA) bt Prakash Amritraj (IND)/ James Cerretani (USA) 64 76(6)

[SF] Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (PAK) vs (3) Rajeev Ram (USA)/ Eric Butorac (USA)

Somi scored very dominating win over Brazilian Thiago Alves ... He won match in 67 minutes ... In first set he didn't face a single break point on his serve and broke Thiago's serve in 10th game to won it ... Second set was more dominating though he faced 3 break points on his serve but saved all and other hand he broke Thiago Alves's serve twice in 4th and 6th game ... In this set Somi only lost 14 points and won 31 points ... So next he will most probably face Spanish WR #18 David Ferrer in quarters.

Kash and Cerretani lost close match against solid pairing of Ram and Butorac ... Rohan and Aisam struggled in their quarter-final match against 2nd seed ... They lost first set when their serve got broken in 8th game ... In second set 2nd seed pair broke Aisam's serve in first game when Aisam committed double fault on break point ... But they came back strongly breaking Brunstrom and Rojer's service games to win 5 games on a row to won second set.

In super tie-break with couple of mini-breaks Bops and Aisam take early lead but Brunstrom and Rojer brought tie-break on serve at 8-7 ... Bops and Aisam saved 1 match point at 8-9 to make it 9-all.

In end looks like some controversy with Brunstrom and Rojer as our pair declared winner by Default.

From ATP Tour
Second seeds Johan Brunstrom and Jean-Julien Rojer were leading Bopanna and Qureshi 9-8 in the Match tie-break, when Brunstrom missed a volley into the net to level the score at 9-9. In frustration, Brunstrom tossed his racquet, which accidentally hit Bopanna on the wrist.

Gerry Armstrong, the ATP Supervisor in Johannesburg, was called onto court and followed ATP procedure to default Brunstrom after 77 minutes of play.
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At the Asia/Oceania zone

Group II , Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Group A
India bt Singapore 3-0

Poojashree Venkatesha bt Si Ying Julienne Keong 61 61
Sania Mirza bt Li-Yun "Stefanie" Tan 62 63
Rushmi Chakravarthi/ Sanaa Bhambri bt Li-Yun "Stefanie" Tan/ Clare Fong 60 62

So expected easy winning start for Indians ... Sania and debutant Poojashree Venkatesha won their respective matches.

Tennis News
At the Asia/Oceania zone Group II , Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Due to Sania's participation and with easy draw India is aiming to re-enter in to Asia/Oceania zone Group I.

India is in Group A with host Malaysia and Singapore ... In Group B, Kyrgyzstan, Hong-Kong, Philippines and Syria r clubbed together.

Day 1
Group A
Malaysia bt Singapore 2-1

Group B
Hong-Kong bt Syria 3-0
Kyrgyzstan bt Philippines 3-0
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At $50K Dallas Challenger, Texas, USA

[R1] (Q) Purav Raja (IND)/ Dominic Inglot (GBR) l (1) Scott Lipsky (USA)/ David Martin (USA) 46 46

No upset for Purav and Inglot.
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At Egypt F1 Futures 2010, Giza (clay)

[R1] (4) Rohan Gajjar (IND,475) bt (WC) Mohamed Moussa (EGY,UNR) 63 62
[R1] (PR) Karan Rastogi (IND,1051) bt (Q) Enrico Fioravante (ITA,959) 62 61

[R2] (4) Rohan Gajjar (IND,475) vs Axel MICHON (FRA,597)
[R2] (PR) Karan Rastogi (IND,1051) vs Marco SIMONI (ITA,588)

Good winning start for Karan and Rohan ... These 3 weeks Egypt futures give us some picture about Karan's progress after long injury.

Tennis News
At $500K South Africa Tennis Open, Johannesburg

[R1] Somdev Devvarman (IND,162) bt (6) Xavier Malisse (BEL,93) 64 62

[R2] Somdev Devvarman (IND,162) vs Thiago Alves (BRA,134)
[R2] (5) Rajeev Ram (USA,84) bt Bjorn Phau (GER,128) 76(10) 76(2)

Doubles
[R1] Prakash Amritraj (IND)/ James Cerretani (USA) bt (WC) Ruan Roelofse (RSA)/ Nikala Scholtz (RSA) 64 61
[R1] (3) Rajeev Ram (USA)/ Eric Butorac (USA) bt Philipp Marx (GER)/ Igor Zelenay (SVK) 76(6) 63
[R1] Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (PAK) bt Yves Allegro (SUI)/ Marcc Chiudinelli (SUI) 46 63 10(5)

[QF] Prakash Amritraj (IND)/ James Cerretani (USA) vs (3) Rajeev Ram (USA)/ Eric Butorac (USA)

Somi started tentatively and was break down early ... Was down 1-3 then 2-4 but turning point of the match came in 7th game when Somi saved 3 break points to hold serve ... He broke Malisse twice to win first set ... In second set Somi broke Malisse's serve in 4th game and again broke in 8th game to won this match ... Though score looks one-sided but match was lot closer ... Somi managed to win important points.

Superb win by Somi after down 2-4 in the first set ... Showed his usual never-die-attitude after that ... Bravo Somi!

Rajeev Ram moved to quarters with 2 tie-breaks in win over German.

Rohan and Aisam produced very good comeback win against Swiss pair ... After losing first set they played solid tennis ... They broke Swiss pair in 6th and 8th game to won second set ... In super tie-break they started with mini-break and take another on 5th point ... They didn't lose point on their serve in super tie-break ... Solid performance by Rohan and Aisam.

In doubles, Prakash and Cerretani scored comfortable win over local wild-card pair ... Also Rajeev and Eric Butorac won their first round match and they will face Kash and Cerretani in quarters.
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At $50K Dallas Challenger, Texas, USA

[R1] (2) Harsh Mankad (IND)/ Treat Conrad Huey (PHI) bt Alex Bogomolov Jr. (USA)/ Michael Ryderstedt (SWE) 63 36 10(2)

Good winning start for Harsh and Treat against experienced players.
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At Egypt F1 Futures 2010, Giza (clay)

Doubles
[R1] Rohan Gajjar (IND)/ Karan Rastogi (IND) l Tim Goransson (SWE)/ Thomas Kromann (DEN) 26 67(6)

So not great start as lost in first round.