Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Tennis News
At US Open 2010, New York, USA

[R1] Somdev Devvarman (IND,98) l Kevin Anderson (RSA,77) 36 46 36
[R1] (Q) Sania Mirza (IND,159) bt (Q) Michelle Larcher De Brito (POR,175) 63 62

[R2] (Q) Sania Mirza (IND,159) vs (20) Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (RUS,22)

Sania saved 1 break point in second game, in next game Sania had 3 break points but Brito saved to hold serve ... Sania take control of the set breaking Brito in 5th game and then take another break at luv in 9th game to won first set ... In second set Sania break Brito's serve in 2nd game to take 2-0 lead but Brito broke back to make it 2-1 ... Again Sania broke Brito's serve in next game to take 3-1 lead but again Brito broke back to 3-2 ... But after that Sania broke Brito in 6th and 8th games and hold her serve to complete dominating victory over talented 17yrs old player form Portugal ... Huge moral boosting win for Sania ... Next match is tough one against #22 Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.

Kevin started positively in the match breaking Somi's serve in 2nd game ... This was only break in first set which was enough to won it ... In this match Kevin keeping pressure on Somi's serve from the start again he broke Somi's serve in 3rd and 5th game to take 1-5 lead but Somi came back breaking Kevin's serve in 8th game ... Kevin hold his crucial service on luv in 10th game to won second set ... In third set also same pattern repeated ... Somi had break point in 4th game but failed to convert ... Then Kevin broke him in 5th and 9th game to won this match in straight sets ... I m little disappointed by Somi's performance ... Was hoping match stretched more than scoreline suggest.
Hockey News
At 2010 Women's Hockey World Cup, , Rosario, Argentina

Group A

India l Netherlands 1-7

Goal Scored - Rani Rampal (IND) 24' and Marilyn Agliotti (NED), Kim Lammers (NED) 2, Maartje Paumen (NED) PC, Maartje Paumen (NED) PC, PS & PC.

Germany bt New Zealand 2-0
Australia bt Japan 2-1

In first half Indian women played well and giving good fight to current World, Olympic and European Champions ... At half time they were trailing 1-3 but in second half Maartje Paumen hat-trick blew their challenge and Indian women take their biggest defeat in World Cup competition.
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Indian team for Commonwealth Games 2010 is announced ... First time we r playing in international tournament with 1 goal keeper like many European teams ... That gives extra option for selecting extra player in mid-field or defense, sound interesting (though risky) strategy.

They r also giving goal-keeping practice to Vikram Pillay in case of worst scenario (injury to only goal-keeper).


Forwards - Rajpal Singh (Captain), Tushar Khandker, Shivendra Singh, Dharamvir Singh
Midfielders - Arjun Halappa, Vikram Pillay, Ravi Pal, Bharat Chikara, Danish Mujtaba, Sarvanjit Singh
Defenders - Sardar Singh, Sandeep Singh, Dhananjay Mahadik, Gurbaj Singh, Prabodh Tirkey
Goalkeeper - Bharat Chetri

Monday, August 30, 2010

Billiards News
At ISBF World Billiards Championship, Pune (Time Format)

Mike Russell 4120 (281, 324, 281, 420, 88, 265, 1137, 735, 176, 439) bt Peter Gilchrist 784 (192, 124, 124)

On Opening day of World Championships Mike Russell said to journalists, ‘I don’t forget good victories and bad losses’ ... And a year after losing the world pro title against Pankaj Advani at home, he completed a grand double of world titles ...


Don't find any word for Mike Russell's crushing victory over Peter Gilchrist .. He thrashed Peter by 3336 points ... In that he joined elite club of 1000+ Group with Michael Ferreira (1149), Geet Sethi (1276) and Peter Gilchrist (1346) scoring 1137 pts break ... After that Mike again scored another 735 pts break leaving his opponent Peter Gilchrist way behind ... Mike also scored 439 pts in his last visit ... Felt sad for Peter Gilchrist, who was mere spectator in the final.


In the final Mike's average per visit to table was 158.5 pts and Peter's average was 30.2 pts.
Tennis News
At US Open 2010, New York, USA

[R1] Somdev Devvarman (IND,98) vs Kevin Anderson (RSA,77)
[R1] (Q) Sania Mirza (IND,159) vs (Q) Michelle Larcher De Brito (POR,175)

Doubles
[R1] (4) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Max Mirnyi (BLR) vs Arnaud Clement (FRA)/ Nicolas Mahut (FRA)
[R1] (3) Leander Paes (IND)/ Lukas Dlouhy (CZE) vs Martin Damm (CZE)/ Filip Polasek (SVK)
[R1] (16) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (PAK) vs (WC) Brian Battistone (USA)/ Ryler DeHeart (USA)
[R1] Vera Dushevina (RUS)/ Sania Mirza (IND) vs (11) Alisa Kleybanova (RUS)/ Ekaterina Makarova (RUS)

Sania is facing another qualifier in the first round, Portugal's Michelle Larcher De Brito ... So winnable match for her in singles but in doubles in first round she is with Vera Dushevina facing 11th seed Russian pair.

In mens doubles as expected Rohan and Aisam recieve their first seedings of grand slam ... In first round they r facing American wild-card pair ... They r in same draw of Nestor and Zimo ... Lee and Lukas r facing experienced pair so tricky match for them considering their recent form on hard courts ... Mahesh and Max their US Open with another experienced French pair.

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At $664K Pilot Pen Tennis Tournament, New Haven, USA

[F] Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (PAK) l Robert Lindstedt (SWE)/ Horia Tecau (ROU) 46 57

Rohan and Aisam lost their third match of the season against Lindstedt and Tecau ... Before this they lost against them at Casablanca ATP tournament final and Wimbledon quarter final.

In the final Rohan and Aisam struggled with their serve, they committed 9 double faults and hit only 7 aces ... In first set with one break Lindstedt and Tecau won first set and in second they exchanged breaks before Lindstedt and Tecau take crucial break to won this match.

Saturday, August 28, 2010

Tennis News
At US Open 2010, New York, USA

[Q3] Sania Mirza (IND,155) bt Catalina Castano (COL,188) 61 16

After winning first set easily Sania lost second on similar score ... In third set Sania was broken and down 2-3 but immediately she broke back in next to make 3-all ... Then again Sania broke her in 8th game and while serving for the match Sania saved 3 break points before converting 3rd match point.

Very creditable performance by Sania to qualify for main-draw of US Open considering her struggle in recent mothes ... Well done Sania.

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At $664K Pilot Pen Tennis Tournament, New Haven, USA

[SF] Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (PAK) bt (2) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Max Mirnyi (BLR) 64 64

[F] Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (PAK) vs Robert Lindstedt (SWE)/ Horia Tecau (ROU)

Excellent win in straight sets ... They r really turning into world beaters ... This team having all in them to dominate doubles tour in near future ... Go guys.

In the final they r facing Wimbledon finalist Robert Lindstedt and Horia Tecau.

Friday, August 27, 2010

Badminton News
At Yonex BWF World Championships 2010, Paris, France

[QF] (2) Saina Nehwal (IND,2) l (6) Shixian Wang (CHN,4) 8-21 14-21

[QF] (9) Diju V (IND)/ Jwala Gutta (IND) l (12) Sung Hyun Ko (KOR)/ Jung Eun Ha (KOR) 16-21 19-21

Diju and Jwala lost in straight games against Koreans ... They defeated same Korean opponents at Singapore Super Series but failed to repeat that performance here ... In latest MXD world ranking Koreans r #7th ranked and our pair is #12 though this week Indian pair was higher seeds than Koreans.

Shixian didn't give any chance to Saina ... In first game after 6-all she won next 8 points and that almost finished Saina's challenge in the match ... Shixian played excellent attacking game without giving Saina any chance of counter-attacking ... She outplayed Saina to scored convincing win in 34 mins.
Billiards News
At ISBF World Billiards Championship, Pune (Time Format)

Semi-Finals

Peter Gilchrist (SIN) 1668 (610, 454, 247, 87, 67, 57) bt Geet Sethi (IND) 1022 (170,143, 135, 103, 65, 63, 53)
Mike Russell (ENG) 1417 (334, 186, 177, 125, 308) bt Pankaj Advani (IND) 1300 (231, 255, 185, 317, 81 unf)

Turning into horrible day as Geet lost easily against Peter in first semi-final ... And in second semi-final Mike was leading more than 600 pts against Pankaj after first session.

Pankaj fought back well in second session ... He scored one 300+ break and another 250 type but Russell also responded well scoring one 300+ break ... In last few visits Pankaj missed some shots which cost him match which he lost by 100+ difference.

Geet never was in the match, he managed only one 150+ break ... Other hand Peter scored 600+ points break to take lead after first session, then he had another 450+ points break to scored 600+ points victory.
Tennis News
At US Open 2010, New York, USA

[Q2] Sania Mirza (IND,155) bt Elena Bovina (RUS,150) 63 63

[Q3] Sania Mirza (IND,155) vs Catalina Castano (COL,188)

[R1] Somdev Devvarman (IND,99) vs Kevin Anderson (RSA,77)

Sania scored really good win against Russian and hoping that continue in the final qualifying ... She lost her service only once in the match ... She is facing another unseeded player from Colombia in the final qualifying, who crushed Chinese opponent losing 3 games.

Draw is out and Somi having first match against South African Kevin Anderson ... Though before this they never play each other on tour or in ITF tournaments but they were rivals in NCAA and Somi dominated their matches at that time ... So hopefully we will see same here at US Open.

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At $664K Pilot Pen Tennis Tournament, New Haven, USA

[QF] Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (PAK) bt Andrey Golubev (KAZ)/ Denis Istomin (UZB) 63 76(1)
[QF] (2) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Max Mirnyi (BLR) bt Juan Ignacio Chela (ARG)/ Pablo Cuevas (URU) 62 63

[SF] (2) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Max Mirnyi (BLR) vs Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (PAK)

Our both pairs scored straight sets victory to moved into semis ... So Mahesh and Max having tough challenge of Rohan and Aisam in the semis.
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At $50K Astana Challenger, Kazakhstan

[SF] (1) Sadik Kadir (AUS)/ Purav Raja (IND) l Di Wu (CHN)/ Ze Zhang (CHN) 16 36

[QF] (1) Sadik Kadir (AUS)/ Purav Raja (IND) bt Juan-Manuel Valverde (ARG)/ Daniel Yoo (KOR) 62 61

It looks these days China is producing good doubles pairs ... Last week Vishnu and Divij lost their final match against Chinese pair ... This week another Chinese pair scored comfortable win over top-ssed pair of Purav and Sadik in the semis.
Billiards News
At ISBF World Billiards Championship, Pune (Time Format)

Quarter Finals
Geet Sethi (IND) 1658 (245, 230, 221, 192, 152, 127, 78) bt Ashok Shandilya (IND) 455
Peter Gilchrist (SIN) 851 (268, 205, 145, 89) bt Dhruv Sitwala (IND) 831 (316, 118, 109, 93)
Pankaj Advani (IND) 1279 (709 unf, 103, 89, 79) bt Rupesh Shah (IND) 684 (163, 121, 97, 75)
Mike Russell (ENG) 1127 (633, 231, 79) bt Kyaw Oo (MYA) 850 (239, 187, 109, 95, 78)

Dhruv was unlucky to found himself again against Peter Gilchrist after quarter-final draw ... He fought well but Peter scored important break in the end to scored win by only 20 pts ... First time in the tournament Mike struggled with his game against Kyaw Oo, but his another one 600+ break helped him to scored victory against Kyaw Oo.


Geet didn't have any big 300+ break but he was very consistent in his visits to table ... He hardly play less than 50 pts in every visit, in end dominating win over Ashok ... Pankaj Advani at last got form at right moment in the tournament ... After first session he was down 570-684 but in second session he didn't give a chance to Rupesh to visit the table and played his best break of World Championship ... He scored 709 pts unfinished break, this was his first 500+ break in the World Championships ... His best break is 867 pts, which he scored in 2006 Nationals at Chennai.


So both semi-finals matches r very interesting as worlds top-4 players facing each other.

Thursday, August 26, 2010

Badminton News
At Yonex BWF World Championships 2010, Paris, France

[R3] ((2) Saina Nehwal (IND,2)) bt (13) Ella Diehl (RUS,16) 21-14 21-18

[PQF] (15) Rupesh Kumar (IND)/ Sanave Thomas (IND) l (8) Lars Paaske (DEN)/ Jonas Rasmussen (DEN) 16-21 16-21
[PQF] (16) Jwala Gutta (IND)/ Ashwini Ponnappa (IND) l (6) Jung Eun Ha (KOR)/ Min Jung Kim (KOR) 14-21 15-21
[PQF] (9) Diju V (IND)/ Jwala Gutta (IND) bt Chayut Triyachart (SIN)/ Lei Yao (SIN) 14-21 21-18 21-14

[QF] (2) Saina Nehwal (IND,2) vs (6) Shixian Wang (CHN,4)

[QF] (9) Diju V (IND)/ Jwala Gutta (IND) vs (12) Sung Hyun Ko (KOR)/ Jung Eun Ha (KOR)

Saina started well against Russian taking early control of the match ... She won first game comfortably ... In second game Russian was trying to keep with her but from 17-all Saina take a lead to finish match in 40 mins ... Russian Ella Diehl like to rallys more and Saina smartly avoided that ... Now real test begin for Saina against Chinese Wangs, in quarters she is facing WR #4 Shixian Wang.

Diju and Jwala moved into quarterfinals of World Championships after hard fought comeback win over Singaporean pair ... Next they r facing 12th seed Korean pair who scored upset win over 5th seed Danish pair.
Billiards News
At ISBF World Billiards Championship, Pune (Time Format)

Group A
Nay Thway Oo 919 (129, 93, 68, 64, 57, 53) bt Aidan Murray 476
Pankaj Advani 1711 (334, 309, 206, 130, 112, 84, 66, 60, 56) bt Phil Mumford 771 (92, 78, 72, 64, 53)

Group B
Kyaw Oo 1042 (161, 119, 100, 75, 67, 67) bt Tae Hoon Jung 402
Geet Sethi 1672 (650, 210, 183, 147(1st), 143, 92, 54, 50) bt Alok Kumar 659 (138, 63, 58, 57)

Group C
Peter Gilchrist 1938 (411, 336, 201, 136, 106, 92, 83, 70, 67) bt Min Hu Baek 337
Billy Bousfield 842 (125, 98, 87, 84) bt Gary Oliver 807 (68)

Group D
Rupesh Shah 785 (185, 112, 97, 87, 76, 69) bt Devendra Joshi 761 (245, 186, 178, 101)
Chul Ho Hwang 597 bt Abdul Omar 507

Quarter-Finals

Geet Sethi (IND) vs Ashok Shandilya (IND)
Peter Gilchrist (SIN) vs Dhruv Sitwala (IND)
Pankaj Advani (IND) vs Rupesh Shah (IND)
Mike Russell (QAT) vs Kyaw Oo (MYA)

Geet is picking form at crucial juncture of the tournament ... Today he scored first 600+ break in his last group match ... Pankaj is also showing some form with 2 300+ breaks ... Peter is also coming into the form before knock-out stage.
Tennis News
At $664K Pilot Pen Tennis Tournament, New Haven, USA

[R1] Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (PAK) bt (4) Mariusz Fyrstenberg (POL)/ Marcin Matkowski (POL) 63 26 10-5
[R1] (2) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Max Mirnyi (BLR) bt Frantisek Cermak (CZE)/ Michal Mertinak (SVK) 36 76(1) 10-4

[QF] Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (PAK) vs Andrey Golubev (KAZ)/ Denis Istomin (UZB)

So rohan and Aisam take revenge of last week's Masters loss against Poles ... Another good victory for Rohan and Aisam against top team ... Mahesh and Max also produced good comeback after losing first set.

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Billiards News
At ISBF World Billiards Championship, Pune (Time Format)

Group A
Ashok Shandilya 641 (193, 115, 90) bt Na Thway Oo 613 (202) (Avg - 13.33)
Pankaj Advani 1175 (266, 146, 119) bt Aidan Murray 598 (75)
Phil Mumford 731 (90, 81, 59) bt Aidan Murray 547
Pankaj Advani 1481 (222, 179, 166, 146, 145, 127, 109) bt Ashok Shandilya 828 (143, 138, 93, 91)

Group B
Kyaw Oo 1001 (220, 159, 149, 103, 81) bt B. Bhaskar 522 (131, 127, 86, 86)
Geet Sethi 1950 (547, 501, 198, 190, 131, 90) bt Tae Hoon Jung 249
Alok Kumar 1495 (339, 209, 123, 110, 102, 95, 78, 58) bt Tae Hoon Jung 369 (64)
Geet Sethi 1583 (309, 264, 163, 140, 140, 116, 71, 70, 68) bt B. Bhaskar 628 (150, 103, 89, 76, 59)

Group C
Dhruv Sitwala 1039 (331, 198, 162, 146) bt Peter Gilchrist 942 (408, 257, 98)
Gary Oliver 766 (88) bt Min Hu Baek 442
Billy Bousfield 924 (93, 86, 68, 61, 55) bt Min Hu Baek 488
Dhruv Sitwala 1131 (287, 244, 117, 92, 76, 54) bt Gary Oliver 546 (112)

Group D
Mike Russell 1644 (753, 243, 177, 165, 110) bt Devendra Joshi 671 (198, 97, 96) (Avg - 29.17)
Rupesh Shah 1582 (334, 139, 123, 118, 110, 97, 84, 79, 77) bt Abdul Omar 294
Rupesh Shah 1417 (306, 238, 195, 98, 54, 53) bt Chul Ho Hwang 281
Mike Russell 1680 (622, 308, 139, 109, 105, 69, 60, 52) bt Abdul Omar 406 (58)

Mike defeated Devendra by almost 1000 pts and in that he scored another break over 750 pts and in evening session he scored another 600+ break ... In all 4 matches Mike scored 1 break over 600+ showing his class ... But biggest margin win scored by Geet and in that he also scored two 500+ pts breaks showing he is also getting form ... Dhruv again defeated Peter in thrilling match.

Mike and Dhruv are qualified for quarter-finals winning all their matches ... Ashok Shandilya also secured his place from Group A ... As Geet and Pankanj r in line to win their respective groups ... Also from Group D winner betweeen Rupesh and Devendra will join Mike in quarters.
Badminton News
At Yonex BWF World Championships 2010, Paris, France

[R2] (2) Saina Nehwal (IND,2) bt Hsiao Huan Chen (TPE,65) 20-22 21-15 21-8

[R3] (2) Saina Nehwal (IND,2) vs (13) Ella Diehl (RUS,16)

In first game after 9-all Saina kept couple of points lead over Chen ... But Chen saved couple of game points to make it 20-all and then win next two points to won first game ... In second game Saina was leading 12-8 before Chen made 12-all but after that Saina next 5 points to take control of the game and won it losing only 3 points after that ... In third game Sania played like champion taking control from the start ... She was 7-0 up when Chen won her first point of the game ... Saina kept pressure on Chen to won this game in 11 mins to moved into third round of World Championship.
Youth Olympics Games
At 2010 Singapore Youth Olympics Games,

Boxing - Men's Bantam Weight (54kg) - Gold Medal

Shiva Thapa (IND) l Robeisy Eloy Ramirez (CUB) 2-5

Gold - Robeisy Eloy Ramirez (CUB)
Silver - Shiva Thapa (IND)
Bronze - Dawid Michelus (POL)

Boxing - Men's Light Weight (60kg)
Gold - Evaldas Petrauskas (LTU)
Silver - Brett Mather (AUS)
Bronze - Vikas Krishan (IND)

Shiva Thapa couldn't take his revange of losing in the final at the AIBA Youth World Championships earlier this year from Cuban ... Today he lost close bout ... Cuban take early lead with winning first round 2-0 ... In second round both boxers were tied on 2-2, so Cuban boxer was leading 4-2 ... In the last round he defended well and won round 1-0.

In Men's Light Weight (60kg) category Lithuanian boxer won gold with convincing victory over Australian boxer, 13-4 ... So in this category at Junior level Vikas and Evaldas r truely top 2 boxers ... Earlier this year in the AIBA Youth World Championships Vikas won gold medal beating Lithuanian Evaldas Petrauskas with 4-3 score, with same score he lost against him in the Youth Olympics semis.

Though we failed to win a Gold medal in this 1st Youth Olympics still our juniors performed well to give us hope for future.

We finished with 6 Silver and 2 Bronze medals.
Youth Olympics Games
At 2010 Singapore Youth Olympics Games,

Shooting - 10M Air Rifle Women Junior

5 Neha Milind Sapte (IND) (392 + 103.7) 495.7 pts

Neha qualified for the final on 7th position, she performed well in the final to finished on 5th position.
Tennis News
At US Open 2010, New York, USA

[Q1] Sania Mirza (IND,155) bt Ksenia Lykina (RUS,236) 62 62

[Q2] Sania Mirza (IND,155) vs Elena Bovina (RUS,150)

Sania started with convincing win over Russian ... After winning first set Sania lost her serve in first game but take back control to complete easy victory ... Next she is facing Russian Elena Bovina, she upset 15th seeded German Tatjana Malek in the first round ... Hopefully Sania win this match to move into final qualifying round.

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Billiards News
At ISBF World Billiards Championship, Pune (Time Format)

Group A
Nay Thway Oo 812 (144, 79] bt Phil Mumford 696 (117, 87)
Ashok Shandilya 806 (99, 83) bt Aidan Murray 447 (76)
Ashok Shandilya 744 (227) bt Phil Mumford 707 (173, 101, 82)
Pankaj Advani 1481 (325, 241, 99, 94, 94, 83, 80) bt Nay Thway 636 (95, 77)

Group B
Kyaw Oo 1188 (214, 195, 121, 116, 100, 90, 79, 78) bt Alok Kumar 595 (146, 81)
B. Bhaskar 1043 (168, 135, 93, 75) bt Tae Hoon Jung 335 (57)
B. Bhaskar 838 (267, 209) bt Alok Kumar 759 (213, 135, 105)
Geet Sethi 1309 (341, 258, 231, 194, 148) bt Kyaw Oo 724 (160, 123, 117, 114)

Group C
Peter Gilchrist 1364 (352, 291, 288, 144) bt Billy Bousfield 619 (136, 115)
Dhruv Sitwala 1135 (167, 88) bt Min Hu Baek 394
Dhruv Sitwala 1088 (251, 195, 140, 99, 80) bt Billy Bousfield 547 (133, 111)
Peter Gilchrist 1568 (273, 198, 184, 172, 121, 111, 103) bt Gary Oliver 497 (103, 78)

Group D
Devendra Joshi 1515 (273, 240, 180, 166, 95, 91, 91) bt Chul Ho Hwang 349 (71)
Mike Russell 1269 (774, 241, 76) bt Rupesh Shah 856 (251, 166, 140, 80, 68)
Mike Russell 1339 (697, 232, 217, 110) bt Chul Ho Hwang 195
Devendra Joshi 1364 (168, 111, 98, 86, 80, 76, 75) bt Abdul Omar 410

Good start for our players in time format ... Experienced players like Mike, Geet and Devendra had field day with big breaks.

Mike showed his class scoring 2 big breaks of the tournament on the first day of Time format ... In first match he scored break of 774 pts and in second match he again scored big break of 697 pts.
Youth Olympics Games
At 2010 Singapore Youth Olympics Games,

Boxing - Men's Light Weight (60kg) - Bronze Medal

Vikas Krishan (IND) bt Daniel Echeverria (MEX) DSQ R3 0.58

Vikas Krishan won bronze medal after referee disqualified Mexican boxer after 3rd warning in the final round ... Mexican boxer already received 2 warnings in second round ... But at same time Vikas Krishan was dominating the match, when bout stopped he was leading 15-3 ... Vikas comfortably won first 2 rounds on identical score of 6-1 ... Gold medal match is tomorrow so medal distribution will take place after that match.
Badminton News
At Yonex BWF World Championships 2010, Paris, France

[R1] (14) Chetan Anand (IND,15) l Yong Zhao Ashton Chen (SIN,107) 14-21 18-21

[R2] (15) Rupesh Kumar (IND)/ Sanave Thomas (IND) bt Dorian Lance James (RSA)/ Willem Viljoen (RSA) 21-14 21-16
[R2] (16) Jwala Gutta (IND)/ Ashwini Ponnappa (IND) bt Marija Ulitina (UKR)/ Natalya Voytsekh (UKR) 21-8 21-10
[R2] (9) Diju V (IND)/ Jwala Gutta (IND) bt Peng Soon Chan (MAS)/ Liu Ying Goh (MAS) 21-19 21-8

[PQF] (15) Rupesh Kumar (IND)/ Sanave Thomas (IND) vs (8) Lars Paaske (DEN)/ Jonas Rasmussen (DEN)
[PQF] (16) Jwala Gutta (IND)/ Ashwini Ponnappa (IND) vs (6) Jung Eun Ha (KOR)/ Min Jung Kim (KOR)
[PQF] (9) Diju V (IND)/ Jwala Gutta (IND) vs Chayut Triyachart (SIN)/ Lei Yao (SIN)

From score it looks Chetan was rusty in the match, he was playing first tournament after coming out of injury.

Diju and Jwala scored comfortable win over Malaysian pair and next they r facing unseeded Singaporean pair ... Rupesh and Sanave also moved in PQF with comfortable win, they r facing seeded Danish pair.

Jwala and Ashwini also had very easy outing against Ukrainian pair, next they r facing 6th seed Korean pair.
Tennis News
At US Open 2010, New York, USA

[Q1] Sania Mirza (IND,155) vs Ksenia Lykina (RUS,236)

Intrestingly this is the first time Sania is playing in the grand slam qualifying ... In 2005 at Australian Open she directly played in main draw after getting wild-card.
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At $50K Astana Challenger, Kazakhstan

[R1] (WC) Yuki Bhambri (IND,478) l (3) Andrej Martin (SVK,210) 26 46

Doubles
[QF] (1) Sadik Kadir (AUS)/ Purav Raja (IND) vs Juan-Manuel Valverde (ARG)/ Daniel Yoo (KOR)

Yuki had tough first round match and that showed in the result.
Badminton News
At Yonex BWF World Championships 2010, Paris, France

[R1] Kashyap P (IND,26) l Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk (THA,29) 21-14 14-21 16-21
[R1] (14) Chetan Anand (IND,15) vs Yong Zhao Ashton Chen (SIN,107)
[R1] Aditi Mutatkar (IND,34) l (10) Eriko Hirose (JPN,13) 12-21 16-21
[R1] (2) Saina Nehwal (IND,2) bye

[R1] (15) Rupesh Kumar (IND)/ Sanave Thomas (IND) bt Ola Fagbemi (NGR)/ Jinkan Ifraimu (NGR) 21-18 21-10
[R1] (16) Jwala Gutta (IND)/ Ashwini Ponnappa (IND) bt Samantha Barning (NED)/ Eefje Muskens (NED) walkover
[R1] (9) Diju V (IND)/ Jwala Gutta (IND) bt Chris Adcock (ENG)/ Gabrielle White (ENG) 21-6 14-21 21-8

[R2] (2) Saina Nehwal (IND,2) vs Hsiao Huan Chen (TPE,65)

[R2] (15) Rupesh Kumar (IND)/ Sanave Thomas (IND) vs Dorian Lance James (RSA)/ Willem Viljoen (RSA)
[R2] (16) Jwala Gutta (IND)/ Ashwini Ponnappa (IND) vs Marija Ulitina (UKR)/ Natalya Voytsekh (UKR)
[R2] (9) Diju V (IND)/ Jwala Gutta (IND) vs Peng Soon Chan (MAS)/ Liu Ying Goh (MAS)

Was hoping better result from Kashyap ... Good to see Jwala and Diju win tricky match against British pair ... Saina received bye in the first round, next she is facing Taipei player ... Jwala and Ashwini also received walkover in the first round ... Today Chetan will play his first round match.
Billiards News
At ISBF World Billiards Championship, Pune

Point Format - Final

Mike Russell bt Pankaj Advani 6-0 (151(129)-129, 151(145)-00, 151-(128)-29, 150(92)-20, 151(149)-09, 151(83)-125(80))

Mike scored comfortable win over Pankaj to lift his 10th World Championship title, simply showing why he known as 'The emperor of English Billiards' ... Before final Pankaj only got an hour rest after his 5 hours 30 mins marathon semi-final match against Peter Gilchrist ... In the first game Pankaj scored 3 forty plus breaks but with help of break of 129 pts Mike won first game ... In next 4 games Mike didn't give any chance to Pankaj scoring breaks of 145, 128, 92 and 149 (unf) to take 5-0 lead ...In 6th game Pankaj had a chance but he missed long shot after break of 80 and Mike take full advantage of that mistake to finished match in 6th game ... Mike won the world title and prize money US $6000 as total prize money (including US $4000 sponsors’ prize) and Pankaj received US $1800 (including sponsors’ prize US $1000) ... Geet Sethi (India) and Peter Gilchrist (Singapore) were awarded Bronze medals.

Monday, August 23, 2010

Youth Olympics Games
At 2010 Singapore Youth Olympics Games,

Athletics - Boys 400M Hurdles Final

Gold - Norge Sotomayor Lara (CUB) 50.69 Sec
Silver - Durgesh Kumar (IND) 50.81 Sec
Bronze - William Mbevi Mutunga (KEN) 51.23 Sec

Durgesh Kumar won Silver medal in 400m hurdles behind Cuban runner ... What more impressive is, Durgesh clocked personal best timing in this big tournament to won medal.

Still we r searching for our first gold medal in this event and our real bet is 16 yrs old Shiva Thapa in Bantam Weight final against Cuban boxer.


Currently we r having 5 Silver and 1 Bronze medals.
Youth Olympics Games
At 2010 Singapore Youth Olympics Games,

Shooting - 10M Air Pistol Women Junior

6 Ruchi Singh (IND) (374 pts + 93.2 pts) 467.2 pts

Basketball Boys - 17-20 position

India l Singapore 20-31

Ruchi Singh, who qualified on 6th position for the final, failed to improve her position in the final round.

Our basketball boys team lost their match against host team in position match to finished on 18th place.
Billiards News
At ISBF World Billiards Championship, Pune

Point Format - Semi Finals
Pankaj Advani bt Peter Gilchrist 5-4 (15-152(140), 115(134)-151(88), 150(77)-106, 150-99, 91-151(95), 40-152, 150(120)-99, 152(77)-57, 152-111)
Mike Russell bt Geet Sethi 5-2 (152(145)-00, 27-150(143), 16-151(137), 152(152)-00, 151(73)-36, 150(90)-07, 152(96)-50)

Pankaj scored very close win in entertaining match against in-form Peter Gilchrist ... He lost first 2 frames against Peter but came back in the match winning next 2 ... But again Peter take next 2 frames to lead 4-2 ... At that time Pankaj was 1 frame away from losing semi-final ... He kept trying and managed to win next 3 frames to move into the final ... In the final Pankaj is facing another in-form player, who didn't loss a match like Pankaj in the tournament, Mike Russell.


In other semi-final Mike defeated Geet easily ... After losing first frame Geet won next 2 to lead 2-1 ... But from there Russell played almost flawless game to scored dominating win over Geet Sethi.
Golf News
At $5.1M Wyndham Championship, Greensboro, USA - Final Standing


1 Arjun Atwal 61 67 65 67 -20 $918,000
T18 Jeev Milkha Singh 64 68 68 66 -14 $ 55,947.00
77 Daniel Chopra 70 65 73 69 -3 $ 9,486.00

Arjun Atwal won Wyndham Championship on PGA tour to become first Indian to win PGA tour title ... Arjun Atwal became first golfer in 24 yrs to won PGA tour event as a Monday qualifier after Fred Wadsworth did it at the 1986 Southern Open.

After leading or sharing the lead after each of the first three rounds, Arjun shot a 3-under 67 in the final round to finished at 20-under to win tournament ... His $918,000 winning cheque was more than double the amount he previously earned this year, the reason why his future on TOUR had been in trouble ... At one time seven players shared the lead at 18 under but Arjun birdies on 16th secured him crucial lead and he PAR last hole and kept his nerve to fulfill his dream.

Arjun Atwal - "I told my caddie, 'We've got nothing to lose this week. Just go out there and try and win it. Guys are going to be out there trying to secure their FedExCup spots or whatever. We've got nothing. I don't have a card. I don't have anything. Just go out there and free-wheel it, and that's what I did this week."
Photos from PGA Tour site
Tennis News
At US Open 2010, New York, USA

As per latest update Argentine Juan Martín del Potro withdrew from US Open and that gives big break to Somdev Devvarman ... As he was next player in the list to include in main-draw for US Open, so with that firs-time in his small career Somi is getting direct entry into main-draw of any Grand slam.

Also with their doubles ranking, Rohan (#33) and Aisam (#35) having good chance of getting their first seedings in grand slam ... They will be mostly #15 or #16 seeded in main-draw.

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At $2.43M Western & Southern Financial Group Masters, Cincinnati, USA

[F] (4) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Max Mirnyi (BLR) l (2) Bob Bryan (US)/ Mike Bryan (USA) 46 36

Mahesh and Max couldn't match Bryans and lost in straight sets ... If we check this year Bryans r on awesome roll in championship matches.
-----------------------------------------------------------
Ranking update

In updated ranking Somi re-entered into top-100 on #99 ... After reaching in semi-final at Karshi challenger as an qualifier, Vishnu Vardhan moved to his career best singles ranking, #335 and also become India's No. 2 singles player ... Sania drop couple of places to #155 in singles ranking but moved up to #76 in doubles ranking.

Sunday, August 22, 2010

Billiards News
At ISBF World Billiards Championship, Pune

Quarter Finals
Pankaj Advani bt Kyaw Oo 4-2 (150(100)-18, 1529114)-80, 42-151(85), 117(95)-151(89), 150(82)-118(113), 152(110)-05)
Peter Gilchrist bt Rupesh Shah 4-0 (151(100)-99, 152(101)-52, 152-56, 150-121)
Geet Sethi bt Dhruv Sitwala 4-2 (1529106)-24, 150(95)-04, 22-152(85), 151(78)-146(91), 97(88)-152(92), 150(141)-89(85))
Mike Russell bt B. Bhaskar 4-1 (151(76,75)-23, 100-150(119), 150-85, 150(148)-12, 150(121)-141(120))

Pre-Quarter Finals
Pankaj Advani bt Gary Oliver 4-1 (128-152, 151-63, 150(85)-73, 152(99)-05, 150(123)-36)
Kyaw Oo bt Nay Thway Oo 4-1 (152-88, 150-45, 151-110, 73-151(87), 151-44)
Rupesh Shah bt Sourav Kothari 4-2 (79-150(95), 153(101)-08, 150(146)-09, 150(143, 150(89)-109)
Peter Gilchrist bt Thawat Sujaritthurakarn 4-0 (150(150)-00, 150(150)-21, 152(152)-00, 150-93)
Geet Sethi bt Praput Chaithanasakun 4-0 (151(107)-47, 150(150)-29, 151-128, 150(97)-137)
Dhruv Sitwala bt Alok Kumar 4-3 (15-153(81), 150-00, 151-47, 150-04, 139-150, 93-150, 150-110(76))
B. Bhaskar bt Ashok Shandilya 4-3 (120-150, 00-151(147), 150(76)-147(136), 133(89)-151, 150(91)-12, 150-42, 152(102)-04)
Mike Russell bt Chul Ho Hwang 4-0 (151(151)-00, 150(138)-23, 150-25, 150(142)-06)

Geet was lucky to entered in knock-out stage but he take full advantage of that and showed his experience ... Scored dominating win aginst Thai Praput Chaithanasakun in pre-quarter final and defeated Dhruv Sitwala in quarter-final to face in-form Mike Russell in semis ... In other semi-final Pankaj facing another experience player Singapore's Peter Gilchrist.
Youth Olympics Games
At 2010 Singapore Youth Olympics Games,

Boxing - Men's Bantam Weight (54kg)

[SF] Shiva Thapa (IND) bt Zack Davies (GBR) 14-4

Boxing - Men's Light Weight (60kg)

[SF] Vikas Krishan (IND) l Evaldas Petrauskas (LTU) 3-4

Shooting - 10M Air Rifle Men Junior Final

8 Navdeep Singh Rathore (IND) 587 pts + 98.5 pts = 685.5 pts

Basketball Boys - Group A

India bt South Africa 27-11

Shiva Thapa scored very dominating win over British boxer ... After first round he was leading 5-1, end of second round he increased lead to 10-3 before winning 14-4 on pts ... Now he is having tough match for gold medal against Cuban boxer, Robeisy Eloy Ramirez.

But Vikas Krishan lost in very close match against Lithuanian boxer ... After first 2 round both boxers were tied on 3-all but Lithuanian boxer take important point to complete victory in the final round ... Now Vikas face Mexican boxer Daniel Echeverria for bronze medal match.

Navdeep Siingh Rathore qualifed for the final on 8th place and had poor round in the final to finished on 8th place.

Our basketball boys scored second win in the group.
Tennis News
At $2.43M Western & Southern Financial Group Masters, Cincinnati, USA

[SF] (4) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Max Mirnyi (BLR) bt (5) Lukasz Kubot (POL)/ Oliver Marach (AUT) 63 64

[F] (4) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Max Mirnyi (BLR) vs (2) Bob Bryan (US)/ Mike Bryan (USA)

Mahesh and Mx scored comfortable win to moved into the final.
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At $664K Pilot Pen Tennis Tournament, New Haven, USA

[R1] Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (PAK) vs (4) Mariusz Fyrstenberg (POL)/ Marcin Matkowski (POL)
[R1] (2) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Max Mirnyi (BLR) vs Frantisek Cermak (CZE)/ Michal Mertinak (SVK)

So Rohan and Aisam having chance of take revenge of their last week's loss in hands of Poles.
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At $50K Astana Challenger, Kazakhstan

[R1] (WC) Yuki Bhambri (IND,478) vs (3) Andrej Martin (SVK,210)
Youth Olympics Games
At 2010 Singapore Youth Olympics Games,

Tennis - Boys Singles

[F] (6) Yuki Bhambri (IND) l Juan Sebastian Gomez (COL) 76(4) 67(4) 1-4 Retd

Gold - Juan Sebastian Gomez (COL)
Silver - Yuki Bhambri (IND)
Bronze - Damir Dzumhur (BIH)

Athletics - Boys Discus Final

Gold - Jacques Du Plessis (RSA) 63.94 mtrs
Silver - Arjun (IND) 62.52 mtrs
Bronze - Jaromir Mazgal (CZE) 60.31 mtrs.

Yuki's match against Juan was high quality match as per on-lookers ... Both played excellent tennis ... But 1-all in 3rd set Yuki got cramp and then he couldn't move so he retired from the match.

Arjun couldn't repeat his personal best in the final but throw over 62 mtrs was enough to win Silver medl.

So we r still searching for our first Gold medal, until now we r having 4 Silvers and 1 Bronze.

Saturday, August 21, 2010

Youth Olympics Games
At 2010 Singapore Youth Olympics Games,

Athletics - Girls 5000M Walk Final

13 Khushbir Kaur (IND) 25:30.27

Boxing - Men's Light Weight (60kg)

[R1] Vikas Krishan (IND) bt Hrayr Matevosyan (ARM) 7-2

[SF] Vikas Krishan (IND) vs Evaldas Petrauskas (LTU)

Basketball Boys - Group A

India bt Panama 28-22

Vikas Krishan joined Shiva Thapa in the semis with win over Armenian boxer.

In boys 55 kg Judo, Subash Yadav lost bronze medal match against Ukraine's Dmytro Atanov.

Arjun couldn't repeat his personal best throw e final in tbut his throw over 62 mtrs was enough to helped him to win Silver.

At last our boys scored win in the basketball event ... :) They defeated Panamanians.

Friday, August 20, 2010

Tennis News
At $2.43M Western & Southern Financial Group Masters, Cincinnati, USA

[QF] (4) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Max Mirnyi (BLR) bt (8) Mariusz Fyrstenberg (POL)/ Marcin Matkowski (POL) 63 62

[SF] (4) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Max Mirnyi (BLR) vs (5) Lukasz Kubot (POL)/ Oliver Marach (AUT)

Mahesh and Max scored comfortable win against Poles to move into semis ... They r facing Kubot and Marach in the semis.
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At $35+H Karshi Challenger, Uzbekistan

[SF] (Q) Vishnu Vardhan (IND,393) l (1) Blaz Kavcic (SLO,154) 36 67(5)

Doubles
[F] Vishnu Vardhan (IND)/ Divij Sharan (IND) l Mao-Xin Gong (CHN)/ Zhe Li (CHN) 36 16

Creditable performance by Vishnu to reached in semis ... After losing first set Vishu tried hard to take it in tie-break before losing it ... This was his 10th match of the week so some tiredness must be there but I was really hoping he at least lift doubles title with Divij to make more memorable week for him ... But Chinese pair were too strong for them ... Still very good week for Vishnu, he reached in singles semis as an qualifier and doubles final with Divij as unseeded pair.
Billiards News
At ISBF World Billiards Championship, Pune

Group A
Aidan Murray bt Min Hu Baek 3-0 (152-58, 151-32, 151-100)
Rupesh Shah bt Nay Thway Oo 3-0 (150-137, 152-136, 150(133)-76)
Mike Russell bt Geet Sethi 3-0 (150(142)-49, 151(88)-09, 150(87)-58)
Mike Russell bt Min Hu Baek 3-0 (150(90)-89, 152(115)-29, 150(146)-08)
Nay Thway Oo bt Geet Sethi 3-0 (152-114, 150-15, 150(125)-00)
Rupesh Shah bt Aidan Murray 3-0 (151-87, 150(127)-73, 151(80)-42)
Mike Russell bt Aidan Murray 3-0 (151-103, 152(120)-04, 152(150)-00)
Nay Thway Oo bt Min Hu Baek 3-0 (151-37, 150(150)-08, 151-76)
Rupesh Shah bt Geet Sethi 3-1 (151-23, 1519112)-73, 20-152, 151-36)
Mike Russell bt Nay Thway Oo 3-1 (151(137)-59, 51-151(93), 150(150)-45, 150(133)-81)
Geet Sethi bt Aidan Murray 3-1 (102-150(86), 150-59, 151(125)-02, 152(81)-27)
Rupesh Shah bt Min Hu Baek 3-0 (151(121)-15, 150-81, 151(106)-76)
Geet Sethi bt Min Hu Baek 3-0 (152-22, 151-35, 151-42)
Mike Russell bt Rupesh Shah 3-2 (150(150)-00, 150-81, 51-105(150), 20-150(143), 151(151)-02)
Nay Thway Oo bt Aidan Murray 3-0 (150(104)-13, 150(90)-39, 150(133)-20)

Group B
Ashok Shandilya bt Gary Oliver 3-1 (152-134, 150-103, 78-151, 150(92)-68)
Phil Mumford bt Sourav Kothari 3-1 (150-51, 151-80, 92-151, 150-98)
Praput Chaithanasakun bt Gary Oliver 3-0 (150-02, 150-36, 152-10)
Ashok Shandilya bt Sourav Kothari 3-1 (150(90)-10, 152(82)-12, 55-151(111), 150(78)-02)
Sourav Kothari bt Gary Oliver 3-0 (151(119)-07, 151-57, 150-32)
Praput Chaithanasakun bt Phil Mumford 3-1 (151(93)-35, 134-150, 151-22, 150-35)
Praput Chaithanasakun bt Sourav Kothari 3-2 (99-151, 150(146)-00, 150(79)-57, 108-150(81), 152(97)-50)
Praput Chaithanasakun bt Ashok Shandilya 3-0 (150-116, 152(95)-116, 151-145)

Group C
Peter Gilchrist bt Kyaw Oo 3-1 (150(137), 150(140)-00, 00-152, 150(102)-54)
Dhruv Sitwala bt Tae Hoon Jung 3-0 (151(103)-48, 150(78)-05, 150-117)
Thawat Sujaritthurakarn bt Devendra Joshi 3-0 (150-43, 151-100, 151-147)
Thawat Sujaritthurakarn bt Tae Hoon Jung 3-0 (150(75)-38, 151(116)-21, 151-15)
Dhruv Sitwala bt Peter Gilchrist 3-0 (150-26, 150-90, 151-27)
Kyaw Oo bt Devendra Joshi 3-2 (150-88(80), 150-145(125), 00-152(96), 17-150, 150(79)-103)
Thawat Sujaritthurakarn bt Dhruv Sitwala 3-0 (151-81, 150(96)-32, 150(97)-37)
Kyaw Oo bt Tae Hoon Jung 3-0 (150(82)-25, 152(93)-30, 150(75)-44)
Devendra Joshi bt Peter Gilchrist 3-2 (150(127)-48, 25-150, 151(151)-00, 130-150, 150(103)-112)
Peter Gilchrist bt Tae Hoon Jung 3-0 (151-27, 151(111)-10, 152(152)-00)
Thawat Sujaritthurakarn bt Kyaw Oo 3-2 (23-151, 13-151(91), 150-02, 150(141)-09, 151(102)-56)
Dhruv Sitwala bt Devendra Joshi 3-2 (70-150(105), 151(88)-70, 65-150, 150(90)-20, 152(152)-12)
Devendra Joshi bt Tae Hoon Jung 3-0 (152(87)-49, 151(132)-08, 150-08)
Thawat Sujaritthurakarn bt Peter Gilchrist 3-2 (55-150(143), 151-128, 06-150(131), 150(80)-06, 151(138)-69)
Kyaw Oo bt Dhruv Sitwala 3-1 (150-65, 150-98(85), 83-152(143), 151(111)-62)

Group D
Pankaj Advani bt Billy Bousfield 3-1 (150(96)-70, 151(101)-61, 37-150, 151(142)-10)
B. Bhaskar bt Chul Ho Hwang 3-0 (151(121)-14, 151-36, 151(97)-67)
Alok Kumar bt Abdul Omar 3-1 (150-75, 151-87, 147-150, 150-30)
Pankaj Advani bt Chul Ho Hwang 3-0 (150(94)-31, 150-125, 150(99)-60)
Alok Kumar bt Billy Bousfield 3-1 (151-149, 47-151, 152(132)-134, 151(131)-00)
B. Bhaskar bt Abdul Omar 3-0 (150-13, 152-97, 150-06)
Alok Kumar bt Chul Ho Hwang 3-0 (150-72, 151(107)-61, 150-127)
Billy Bousfield bt Abdul Omar 3-1 (109-150, 151-142, 150(105)-36, 150-39)
Pankaj Advani bt B. Bhaskar 3-1 (150(130)-55, 151(95)-64, 83-150(103), 150-145)
B. Bhaskar bt Billy Bousfield 3-0 (154-125, 25-154, 21-151(107), 151(84)-26, 150-97)
Pankaj Advani bt Alok Kumar 3-0 (150(142)-46, 151(143)-73, 152(112)-29)
Chul Ho Hwang bt Abdul Omar 3-1 (150-118, 150(90)-103, 68-151, 151-133)
Pankaj Advani bt Alok Abdul Omar 3-0 (150-106, 152-56, 152(84)-23)
Alok Kumar bt B. Bhaskar 3-1 (150(94)-68, 130-150, 150-29, 150(141)-02)
Chul Ho Hwang bt Billy Bousfield 3-1 (101-151, 150-131, 150-120, 150-126)

Geeth Sethi came back strongly in the tournament after losing first 3 games but winning next 2 qualified for knock-out stage ... Dhruv Sitwala scored exciting win over in-form Peter Gilchrist in the group ... Pankaj is in awesome form winning all group matches with Mike Russell.
Youth Olympics Games
At 2010 Singapore Youth Olympics Games,

Archery Girls

[R16] Seema Verma (IND) l Zoe Gobbels (BEL) 3-7

(25-27, 26-26, 27-28, 26-25, 24-26)

Disappointing performance by our archers.
Tennis News
At $2.43M Western & Southern Financial Group Masters, Cincinnati, USA

[R2] (3) Leander Paes (IND)/ Lukas Dlouhy (CZE) l Mardy Fish (USA)/ Mark Knowles (BAH) 36 26

[QF] (4) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Max Mirnyi (BLR) vs (8) Mariusz Fyrstenberg (POL)/ Marcin Matkowski (POL)

Disappointing 2 weeks at Masters for Lee and Lukas ... Another exit in their first match against Fish and Knowles.

Thursday, August 19, 2010

Youth Olympics Games
At 2010 Singapore Youth Olympics Games,

Badminton Boys - Gold Medal match

(3/4) H. Sunil Kumar Prannoy (IND) l (5/8) Pisit Poodchalat (THA) 15-21 16-21

Gold - Pisit Poodchalat (THA)
Silver - H. Sunil Kumar Prannoy (IND)
Bronze - Ji Wook Kang (KOR)

Sad to see H. Sunil Kumar Prannoy lost final against Thai opponent ... After his win against Kang, whom he lost at Junior World Champion in the semis, I was expecting Gold from him ... But still good performance to win Silver in this quality tournment.
Youth Olympics Games
At 2010 Singapore Youth Olympics Games,

Tennis - Boys Singles

[SF] (6) Yuki Bhambri (IND) bt (2) Damir Dzumhur (BIH) 63 46 62

[F] (6) Yuki Bhambri (IND) vs Juan Sebastian Gomez (COL)

Basketball Boys - Group A

India l New Zealand 12-17

Yuki scored win against 2nd seed Bosnian to moved into the final ... First time he loss a set in this tournament before booking his place in medal round.

In the final he will face unseeded Colombian.

Another loss for our basketball team ... This time very close one against All Blacks.
Tennis News
At $2.43M Western & Southern Financial Group Masters, Cincinnati, USA

[R2] Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (PAK) l (8) Mariusz Fyrstenberg (POL)/ Marcin Matkowski (POL) 57 67(3)
[R2] (4) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Max Mirnyi (BLR) bt John Isner (USA)/ Sam Querrey (USA) W/o (due to ankle injury to Isner)

Rohan and Aisam lost after giving good fight to Polish team ... Despite loss this week they scored their first win in the Masters ... I m sure many more will follow soon.

Mahesh and Max moved into quarters after Isner withdrew from the tournament due to injury.

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At $35+H Karshi Challenger, Uzbekistan

[QF] (Q) Vishnu Vardhan (IND,393) bt Marek Semjan (SVK,240) 57 63 76(8)

[SF] (Q) Vishnu Vardhan (IND,393) vs (1) Blaz Kavcic (SLO,154)

Doubles
[SF] Vishnu Vardhan (IND)/ Divij Sharan (IND) bt (2) Denys Molochanov (UKR)/ Artem Smirnov (UKR) 76(6) 61

[F] Vishnu Vardhan (IND)/ Divij Sharan (IND) vs Mao-Xin Gong (CHN)/ Zhe Li (CHN)

Vishnu having dream week at Karshi Challenger ... He scored another upset win over in-form Slovakian in the quarters ... Superb comeback victory over top-250 type player ... This win also gives him biggest points tally in a single week, 29 pts ... Next he is facing top-seed Slovenian, top-150 player, another tough match.

Vishnu not only having great run in singles but he is with Divij scored upset win over 2nd seed to move into the final ... In the final they r facing unseeded Chinese pair ... Terrific week ... This will give him big boost to achieve more on tour with results and his fitness.

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At Thailand F3 Futures, Nakorn Ratchasima

[SF] SHOKEEN (IND)/ SINGH (IND) l (1) RATIWATANA (THA)/ RATIWATANA (THA) 16 26

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Youth Olympics Games
At 2010 Singapore Youth Olympics Games,

Badminton Boys

[SF] (3/4) H. Sunil Kumar Prannoy (IND) bt (1) Ji Wook Kang (KOR) 19-21 21-17 21-17

Tennis - Boys Singles

[QF] (6) Yuki Bhambri (IND) bt John Morissey (IRL) 64 64

[SF] (6) Yuki Bhambri (IND) vs (2) Damir Dzumhur (BIH)

Archery Boys

[R32] (5) Atanu Das l (28) Joni Hautamaki (FIN) 5-6 (8-9 in shoot-off as both ended 2-sets all after completing 5 sets.)

(24-22, 27-27, 24-26, 29-24, 26-27) Total 10's and X's were also similar, 3 each.

Archery Girls

[R32] (5) Seema Verma (IND) bt (28) Tanja Sorsa (FIN) 6-0 (2 points for winning every set)

(27-24, 26-23, 26-24)

Basketball Boys - Group A

India l Greece 20-33

Kerala lad H. Sunil Kumar Prannoy upset top-seed Korean in the semis and guaranteed another medal for India ... Impressive comeback win over No. 1 seed Korean by Prannoy ... He looks promising so we should keep eye on his performance.

Good to see another straight sets victory for Yuki to move into semis ... Next he is facing 2nd seed Damir Dzumhur for place in the medal round.

In Archery we had mixed day ... In boys event our 5th seed Atanu Das lost in close match against Finland player, in shoot-off ... In girls event ou 5th seed Seema Verma scored comfortable win against her opponent to move into round of 16.

Consecutive 3rd loss for our basketball boys team ... But may be we r defending well as no team scored more than 33 pts against us, in fact they all scored same 33 pts.
Tennis News
At $2.43M Western & Southern Financial Group Masters, Cincinnati, USA

[R1] Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (PAK) bt (WC) Rajeev Ram (USA)/ Bobby Reynolds (USA) 63 16 10-4

[R2] (4) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Max Mirnyi (BLR) vs John Isner (USA)/ Sam Querrey (USA)
[R2] Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (PAK) vs (8) Mariusz Fyrstenberg (POL)/ Marcin Matkowski (POL)
[R2] (3) Leander Paes (IND)/ Lukas Dlouhy (CZE) vs Mardy Fish (USA)/ Mark Knowles (BAH)

Rohan and Aisam had winning start ... After one-sided loss of second set they came back strongly in super tie-break to beat Ram and Reynolds ... Next they r facing 8th seeds Poles for place in quarter-finals.
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At $35+H Karshi Challenger, Uzbekistan

[R2] (Q) Vishnu Vardhan (IND,393) bt (5) Andrey Kumantsov (RUS,302) 46 64 63

[QF] (Q) Vishnu Vardhan (IND,393) vs Marek Semjan (SVK,240)

Doubles
[QF] Vishnu Vardhan (IND)/ Divij Sharan (IND) bt (3) Hsin-Han Lee (TPE)/ Tsung-Hua Yang (TPE) 76(2) 64

[SF] Vishnu Vardhan (IND)/ Divij Sharan (IND) vs Denys Molochanov (UKR) / Artem Smirnov (UKR)

Like the way he fought back into the match after losing first set, one of his top win against top-300 type player ... Next match is tough against Slovakian but nothing to lose for Vishnu ... Go Vishnu.

In doubles also Vishnu upset Taiwani seeded pair in company of Divij to moved into semis.

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At Thailand F3 Futures, Nakorn Ratchasima

[R1] (2) Rupesh Roy (IND,454) l Mikal Statham (NZL,791) 46 36

[R2] Vijayant Malik (IND,863) l Kento Takeuchi (JPN,715) 36 36
[R2] (Q) Vivek Shokeen (IND,973) l Suk-Young Jeong (KOR,808) 06 16

Doubles
[R1] CREPALDI (ITA)/ MALIK (IND) bt SEKIGUCHI (JPN)/ SIRIBUTWONG (THA) 16 75 10-8

[QF] SHOKEEN (IND)/ SINGH (IND) bt ISHII (JPN)/ ONOZAWA (JPN) 63 63
[QF] CREPALDI (ITA)/ MALIK (IND) l CHANG (CHN)/ XU (CHN) 26 60 7-10

[SF] SHOKEEN (IND)/ SINGH (IND) vs (1) RATIWATANA (THA)/ RATIWATANA (THA)

Rupesh lost in the first round and then remaining 2 players lost in second round ... So this turned out forgettable futures for Indians.

I m surprised to see Ratiwatanas playing here instead of playing in any challenger ... It shows how much important these players give to their local tournaments.

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Youth Olympics Games
At 2010 Singapore Youth Olympics Games,

Boys Freestyle 100 kg - Bronze Medal
Satywart Kadian (IND) bt Geno Petriashvili (GEO) 3-1

Gold - Ali Magomedabirov (AZE)
Silver - Abraham de Jesus Conyedo Ruano (CUB)
Bronze - Satywart Kadian (IND)

Satywart Kadian won Bronze medal defeating Georgian wrestler ... So our both wrestlers managed to win medals in 1st Youth Olympics.

So now our medal tally is - 1 silver and 1 bronze.
Youth Olympics Games
At 2010 Singapore Youth Olympics Games,

Badminton Boys
[QF] (3/4) Prannoy Kumar (IND) bt Feng-Tse Hsieh (TPE) 21-13 18-21 24-22

[SF] (3/4) Prannoy Kumar (IND) vs (1) Ji Wook Kang (KOR)

Boys Freestyle 100 kg - Group B
Satywart Kadian (IND) l Abraham de Jesus Conyedo Ruano (CUB) 0-3
Satywart Kadian (IND) bt Parmvir Dhesi (CAN) 3-0
Satywart Kadian (IND) bt Andries Schutte (RSA) 3-1

Boys Freestyle 100 kg - Bronze Medal
Satywart Kadian (IND) vs Geno Petriashvili (GEO)

Tennis - Boys Singles
[R2] (6) Yuki Bhambri (IND) bt Liang-Chi Huang (TPE) 62 64

[QF] (6) Yuki Bhambri (IND) vs John Morissey (IRL)

After losing his first match against Cuban wrestler Satywart Kadian managed to win next 2 ... So with that he is now in medal bout.

Yesterday while playing doubles Yuki injured himself (groin strain) ... But he decided to play and scored good solid win against talented Taipei player to rwach into quarter-finals ... Next he is facing Irishman who defeated 4th seed Peru player.

Prannoy won very hard fought quarter-final against Taipei player in 51 minutes to moved into semis ... In semis he is facing top-seed Korean.
Tennis News
At $2.43M Western & Southern Financial Group Masters, Cincinnati, USA

[R1] (Q) Somdev Devvarman (IND,103) vs (WC) Robby Ginepri (USA,114) 76(4) 67(4)

Somi started well taking early breaks in 3rd and 5th game to take 4-1 lead but after that may be due to lapse in concentration Somi struggled with his first serve ... Robby take back 2 breaks breaking Somi in 6th and 8th game to make it 4-all ... In tie-break Somi take control from the start to win it converting second set point ... In second set Robby broke Somi's serve in 5th game but Somi managed break back in 8th game ... This time in tie-break Robby dominated to won second set ... In second set after 2-all Robby take total control of the game as Somi's game fall and committed too many unforced errors ... Interestingly commentrators pointed out their observation on Somi's second set loss - Somi kept trying his kick serve instead of the higher-velocity serves which should trouble Robby more.

So another learning lesson for Somi to finish match when u r having chance.

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At $35+H Karshi Challenger, Uzbekistan

[R1] (Q) Vishnu Vardhan (IND,393) bt Hiroki Moriya (JPN,434) 61 64

[R2] (Q) Vishnu Vardhan (IND,393) vs (5) Andrey Kumantsov (RUS,302)

Doubles
[R1] Sadik Kadir (AUS)/ Purav Raja (IND) l Murad Inoyatov (UZB)/ Andrey Kumantsov (RUS) 57 16
[R1] Vishnu Vardhan (IND)/ Divij Sharan (IND) bt (ALT) Arsen Asanov (UZB)/ Samuel Groth (AUS) 75 62

[QF] Vishnu Vardhan (IND)/ Divij Sharan (IND) vs Hsin-Han Lee (TPE)/ (3) Tsung-Hua Yang (TPE)

Good start for Vishnu winning first round comfortably ... Winning first round after qualifying, this help him to boost his confidence for future tournaments ... Also good winning start for him and Divij in doubles, with their recent good performances in British futures make them threat to other teams in this challenger ... Next they r facing 3rd seed Taipei pair.

Really surprised by loss of Purav and Sadik, this loss is tough to digest as they set standard so high with their performance in last few months.

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At Thailand F3 Futures, Nakorn Ratchasima

[R1] (Q) Kaza Vinayak Sharma (IND,1242) l Ruan Roelofse (RSA,880) 36 46
[R1] (3) Karan Rastogi (IND,459) l (WC) Danai Udomchoke (THA,916) 46 46
[R1] (Q) Vivek Shokeen (IND,973) bt (Q) Peng Gao (CHN,874) 67(2) 61 64
[R1] (LL) Srirambalaji Naryanswamy (IND,936) l (6) Yu Chang (CHN,609) 16 26
[R1] (2) Rupesh Roy (IND,454) vs Mikal Statham (NZL,791) 46 3-1

[R2] Vijayant Malik (IND,863) vs Kento Takeuchi (JPN,715)
[R2] (Q) Vivek Shokeen (IND,973) vs Suk-Young Jeong (KOR,808)

Not a good day as all our players loss other than Vivek ... Rupesh lost first set before match was stopped due to rain ... Hard luck to Karan that facing Danai again in the early round and this time Danai take his revenge of last week's loss.

Monday, August 16, 2010

Youth Olympics Games
At 2010 Singapore Youth Olympics Games,

Gold - Battsetseg Baatarzorig (MGL)
Silver - Pooja Dhanda (IND)
Bronze - Svetlana Lipatova (RUS)

Women's Freestyle 60 kg - Gold Medal
Pooja Dhanda (IND) l Battsetseg Baatarzorig (MGL) 1-3

India open their medal account at 1st Youth Olympics as our wrester girl won it ... In the final Pooja Dhanda failed to beat her Mongolian opponent but managed to win Silver for her effort.
Tennis News
At $2.43M Western & Southern Financial Group Masters, Cincinnati, USA

[R1] (Q) Somdev Devvarman (IND,103) vs (WC) Robby Ginepri (USA,114)

Somi climbed inside top-105 ranking and next week again in position of re-entering in top-100 ... In good chance of moving to second round of Masters tournament.
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At $35+H Karshi Challenger, Uzbekistan

[Q3] (7) Vishnu Vardhan (IND,393) bt Sadik Kadir (AUS,461) 67(5) 63 63

[R1] (Q) Vishnu Vardhan (IND,393) vs Hiroki Moriya (JPN,434)

This week Vishnu re-entered into top-400 with his some good performance at British futures ... Today he defeated Sadik after losing first set to qualify for main-draw of Karshi Challenger ... He is having relatively easy match against Japanese.
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At Thailand F3 Futures, Nakorn Ratchasima

[R1] Vijayant Malik (IND,863) bt Nikala Scholtz (RSA,686) 26 63 64
[R1] N Vijay Sunder Prashnth (IND,662) l (5) Soong-Jae Cho (KOR,517) 67(4) 1-2 Retd

Doubles
[R1] SHOKEEN (IND)/ SINGH (IND) bt CAUVARD (FRA)/ PETRONE (FRA) 76(4) 63
[R1] CREPALDI (ITA)/ MALIK (IND) vs SEKIGUCHI (JPN)/ SIRIBUTWONG (THA)
[R1] (2) PROPOGGIA (AUS)/ ROY (IND) l CHANG (CHN)/ XU (CHN) 36 36

[QF] SHOKEEN (IND)/ SINGH (IND) vs ISHII (JPN)/ ONOZAWA (JPN)

Vijayant Malik scored comeback upset win against higher ranked South African ... But Vijay Sunder retired against Korean after losing first set in tie-break.
Youth Olympics Games
At 2010 Singapore Youth Olympics Games, Iran

Badminton Boys - Pool C
Prannoy Kumar (IND) bt Lucas Claerbout (FRA) 21-15 21-14
Prannoy Kumar (IND) bt Dennis Coke (JAM) 21-9 21-10
Prannoy Kumar (IND) bt Phetphanom Keophiachan (LAO) 21-11 21-12

Badminton Boys - Pool H
B. Sai Praneeth (IND) l Chao Huang (SIN) 12-21 21-18 17-21
B. Sai Praneeth (IND) bt Asher Richardson (NZL) 21-12 21-12
B. Sai Praneeth (IND) bt Mario Cuba (PER) 21-12 21-12

Basketball Boys - Group A

India l Puerto Rico 15-33
India l Serbia 19-33

Women's Freestyle 60 kg

Pooja Dhanda (IND) bt Jenna Rose Burkert (USA) 3-0
Pooja Dhanda (IND) bt Erna Natasha Puteri (SIN) 4-0
Pooja Dhanda (IND) bt Dzhanan Ahmed (BUL) 3-0

For Gold Medal
Pooja Dhanda (IND) vs Battsetseg Baatarzorig (MGL)

Tennis - Boys Singles
[R1] (6) Yuki Bhambri (IND) bt Kevin Krawietz (GER) 63 60

[R2] (6) Yuki Bhambri (IND) vs Liang-Chi Huang (TPE)

Tennis - Boys Doubles
[R1] Yuki Bhambri (IND)/ Jeson Patrombon (PHI) l (4) Damir Dzumhur (BIH)/ Mate Pavic (CRO) 76(3) 57 4-10

Pooja Dhanda guaranteed first medal for India in this ongoing Youth Olympics ... She won her all group matches to reach into gold medal match against Mongolian.

Yuki started with win against German opponents ... Gave solid performance in first round match.

Prannoy Kumar qualified for quarter-final with winning all 3 matches.

As expected we r struggling in the basketball against quality opponents.

Sunday, August 15, 2010

Tennis News
At $2.43M Western & Southern Financial Group Masters, Cincinnati, USA

[Q2] Somdev Devvarman (IND,111) bt Tim Smyczek (USA,206) 63 62

Tim started with breaking Somi's serve in first gsme but Somi broke back immediately in next game to bring set on the serve ... Tim saved a break point in 6th game but Somi broke him in 8th game and then hold his 9th game to won first set ... In second set Somi started well breaking Tim in first game ... Somi again broke Tim in 3rd game to take 3-0 lead but Tim broke Somi in next 4th game ... Somi again broke Tim's serve in 7th game and hold it to scored easy win to qualify for main-draw of Cincinnati Masters.

Congrats Somi for qualifying in ur first Masters tournament and I know u will play many more!!!

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At $35+H Karshi Challenger, Uzbekistan

[Q1] (7) Vishnu Vardhan (IND,440) bt Arsen Asanov (UZB,917) 60 61
[Q1] Divij Sharan (IND,1163) bt (WC) Akmal Isakov (UZB,UNR) 61 63

[Q2] (7) Vishnu Vardhan (IND,440) bt SHARAN, Divij (IND,1163) 76(5) 76(3)

[Q3] (7) Vishnu Vardhan (IND,440) vs Sadik Kadir (AUS,461)

Doubles
[R1] Sadik Kadir (AUS)/ Purav Raja (IND) vs Murad Inoyatov (UZB)/ Andrey Kumantsov (RUS)
[R1] Vishnu Vardhan (IND)/ Divij Sharan (IND) vs Woong-Sun Jun (KOR)/ Jose (rubin) Statham (NZL)

Good to see Vishnu moved into final qualifying but having tricky match against Sadik.
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At Thailand F3 Futures, Nakorn Ratchasima

[Q1] (12) SHARMA Kaza Vinayak (IND,1244) bt BURAPHARITTA Phassawit (THA,UNR) 76(4) 62
[Q1] (4) NARAYANASWAMY Srirambalaji (IND,936) bt YUMUANG Sirawit (THA,UNR) 62 62
[Q1] (5) SHOKEEN Vivek (IND,973) bt LUESANTIA Natasith (THA,UNR) 36 75 62
[Q1] SHINDE Sumeet (IND,UNR) l (11) SIMPSON Matt (NZL,1156) 36 46
[Q1] (7) SINGH Ashutosh (IND,997) bt LERTCHAI Kong Pop (THA,UNR) 64 76(4)
[Q1] MANUJA Ronak (IND,1780) l (9) GAO Wan (CHN,1012) 26 46

[Q2] (12) SHARMA Kaza Vinayak (IND,1244) bt BUN Kenny (CAM,UNR) 76(4) 62
[Q2] (4) NARAYANASWAMY Srirambalaji (IND,936) l (11) SIMPSON, Matt (NZL,1156) 63 16 46
[Q2] (5) SHOKEEN Vivek (IND,973) bt (13) CHANG Yao-Lun (TPE,1265) 62 46 63
[Q2] (7) SINGH Ashutosh (IND,997) l (9) GAO Wan (CHN,1012) 57 26

[R1] (Q) Kaza Vinayak Sharma (IND,1244) vs Ruan Roelofse (RSA,880)
[R1] Vijayant Malik (IND,863) vs Nikala Scholtz (RSA,738)
[R1] (3) Karan Rastogi (IND,483) vs (WC) Danai Udomchoke (THA,911)
[R1] (Q) Vivek Shokeen (IND,973) vs (Q) Peng Gao (CHN,874)
[R1] N Vijay Sunder Prashnth (IND,678) vs (5) Soong-Jae Cho (KOR,513)
[R1] (2) Rupesh Roy (IND,471) vs Mikal Statham (NZL,800)

This week also Karan facing ex-top 80 Danai Udomchoke in early round.
Tennis News
At $2.43M Rogers Cup, Toronto, Canada

[Q1] Sania Mirza (IND,153) l Arantxa Rus (NED,127) 63 67(5) 46

Doubles
[SF] (4) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Max Mirnyi (BLR) l (2) Bob Bryan (USA)/ Mike Bryan (USA) 64 36 4-10

They lost against Bryans after winning first set ... After winning second set Bryans were too strong in super tie-break.

Sania started well winning first set ... In second set 2 times she had opportunity of serving for the match but both time she lost her serve ... With this display it is hard to believe that she will qualify for US Open main-draw.

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At $2.43M Western & Southern Financial Group Masters, Cincinnati, USA

[Q1] Somdev Devvarman (IND,111) bt (7) Marco Chiudinelli (SUI,65) 63 76(3)

[Q2] Somdev Devvarman (IND,111) vs Tim Smyczek (USA,206)

Doubles
[R1] (4) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Max Mirnyi (BLR) bye
[R1] (3) Leander Paes (IND)/ Lukas Dlouhy (CZE) bye
[R1] Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (PAK) vs (WC) Rajeev Ram (USA)/ Bobby Reynolds (USA)

Somi started well breaking Chiudinelli's serve in first game ... Somi was struggling with his first serve but managd to held his serve ... He again broke Chiudinelli's serve in 9th game to won first set ... Chiudinelli broke Somi's serve in first game of second set ... Somi had break point in 4th game but couldn't manage to convert it, he broke Chiudinelli's serve in 8th game to make it 4-all ... Set went in to tie-break ... In tie-break Somi didn't give chance to his Swiss opponent to complete his win in straight sets.

This time Lee is in bottom draw with Bryans and Mahesh is in top draw with Nestor and Zimo ... But before that Lee and Lukas can face tricky second round opponents Mardy Fish and Mark Knowles ... Otherhand Mahesh and Max can meet American pair John Isner and Sam Querrey.

Rohan is back with Aisam and they r playing Ram and Reynolds in first round.

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At $35+H Karshi Challenger, Uzbekistan

[Q1] (7) Vishnu Vardhan (IND,440) vs Arsen Asanov (UZB,917)
[Q1] Divij Sharan (IND,1163) vs (WC) Akmal Isakov (UZB,UNR)

Saturday, August 14, 2010

Tennis News
At $2.43M Rogers Cup, Toronto, Canada

[QF] (4) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Max Mirnyi (BLR) bt Sergiy Stakhovsky (UKR)/ Mikhail Youzhny (RUS) 46 63 10-3

[SF] (4) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Max Mirnyi (BLR) vs (2) Bob Bryan (USA)/ Mike Bryan (USA)

Good comeback win by Mahesh and Max against Eastern european opponents ... Next they r facing Bryan twins to grab place in the final.
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At $2.43M Western & Southern Financial Group Masters, Mason, USA

[Q1] Somdev Devvarman (IND,111) vs (7) Marco Chiudinelli (SUI,65)

Tough qualifying first round against Swiss player, whom Somi lost in 5 sets at French open after win at Dubai Open.
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At $2M Western & Southern Financial Group Women's Open, Cincinnati, USA

[QF] Sania Mirza (IND)/ Monica Niculescu (ROU) l Victoria Azarenka (BLR)/ Maria Kirilenko (RUS) 26 57

Didn't expected win in this match against Azarenka and Kirilenko ... But gave good fight in second set after losing first set easily.
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At $50K Binghamton Challenger, USA

[QF] (4) Harsh Mankad (IND)/ Adam Hubble (AUS) l Treat Conrad Huey (PHI)/ Dominic Inglot (GBR) 46 67(6)

So last week's winner of Vancouver challenger (and ex-UVa team-mates) turned strong for Harsh and Hubble.

Friday, August 13, 2010

Tennis News

As expected no change in the team for Davis Cup tie against Brazil and same team will represent us in Commonwealth Games.

Indian Team - Somdev Devvarman, Leander Paes, Mahesh Bhupathi and Rohan Bopanna

Non-playing Captain - Mr. SP Misra

Reserves for Davis Cup - Vishnu Vardhan, Ranjeet Virali Murugesan and Divij Sharan

Reserves for Commonwealth games - Yuki Bhambri, Vishnu Vardhan and Ranjeet Virali Murugesan
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At $2.43M Rogers Cup, Toronto, Canada

[R2] (4) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Max Mirnyi (BLR) bt Robert Lindstedt (SWE)/ Horia Tecau (ROU) 63 75

[QF] (4) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Max Mirnyi (BLR) vs Sergiy Stakhovsky (UKR)/ Mikhail Youzhny (RUS)

Good straight sets win by Mahesh and Max against Wimby finalist, against same opponents Mahesh and Max lost in Wimby third round.
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At Thailand F2 Futures, Phitsanulok

Doubles Fina;l
[F] (2) KONDO (JPN)/ SINGH (IND) bt ISHII (JPN)/ ONOZAWA (JPN) 64 75

So another futures title for Asutosh Singh, this time with Japanese partner.

Thursday, August 12, 2010

Tennis News
At $2.43M Rogers Cup, Toronto, Canada

[R1] Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Eric Butorac (USA) l Frantisek Cermak (CZE)/ Michal Mertinak (SVK) 63 36 5-10
[R2] (3) Lukas Dlouhy (CZE)/ Leander Paes (IND) l Julien Benneteau (FRA)/ Michael Llodra (FRA) 16 67(6)

[R2] (4) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Max Mirnyi (BLR) vs Robert Lindstedt (SWE)/ Horia Tecau (ROU)

So bad day for Indians at Rogers Cup ... After Rohan's loss with Butorac in first round after winning first set, Lee and Lukas also lost in st right sets against French pair.
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At $2M Western & Southern Financial Group Women's Open, Cincinnati, USA

[R1] MIRZA Sania (IND)/NICULESCU Monica (ROU) bt (WC) HAMPTON Jamie (USA)/OUDIN Melanie (USA) 64 76(5)

[R2] MIRZA Sania (IND)/ NICULESCU Monica (ROU) bt (5) KING Vania (USA)/ SHVEDOVA Yaroslava (KAZ) 63 16 10-6

Good win by Sania and her Romanian partner over defending Wimbledon champion .. After losing second set easily they came strongly in super tie-break to finished the match.

I really hope this good doubles performance help Sania to built confidence for singles.

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At $50K Binghamton Challenger, USA

[R1] (4) Harsh Mankad (IND)/ Adam Hubble (AUS) bt Richard Bloomfield (GBR)/ Craig Schwartz (USA) 46 63 10-7

[QF] (4) Harsh Mankad (IND)/ Adam Hubble (AUS) vs Treat Conrad Huey (PHI)/ Dominic Inglot (GBR)

Good comeback win by Harsh and Adam in their first match playing together ... Next they r facing in-form pair of Huey and Inglot, who last week won big $75K Vancouver challenger.
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At Thailand F2 Futures, Phitsanulok

[QF] (4) Karan Rastogi (IND,478) l (SE) Simon Cauvard (FRA,1000) 67(5) 76(5) 67(2)
[QF] (3) Rupesh Roy (IND,467) l Suk-Young Jeong (KOR,808) 36 16

Doubles
[SF] (2) KONDO (JPN)/ SINGH (IND) bt NARAYANASWAMY (IND)/ PRASHANTH (IND) 62 62

[F] (2) KONDO (JPN)/ SINGH (IND) vs ISHII (JPN)/ ONOZAWA (JPN)

Both lost in quarter-finals but Karan lost in dogfight against Frenchman ... Importantly I liked that Karan able to play such a long match ... Karan was unlucky to lose in his match but other hand Rupesh lost without much fight.

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Tennis News
At $2.43M Rogers Cup, Toronto, Canada

[R1] (LL) Somdev Devvarman (IND,111) l (15) Gael Monfils (FRA,18) 67(3) 36

Somi entered as lucky loser and faced top-20 Monfils in the first round ... In the begining Somi was able to put pressure on Monfils serve and had 3/4 break points but couldn't convert it ... Monfils broke Somi's serve in 11th game but in next game Somi broke back to take set in tie-break ... Somi played loose tie-break to gift it to Monfils ... In second set Monfils take crucial break in 4th game and that was enough to won set and match.
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At Thailand F2 Futures, Phitsanulok

[R2] (Q) Vijayant Malik (IND,858) l (1) Hiroki Kondo (JPN,383) 16 06
[R2] (4) Karan Rastogi (IND,478) bt (WC) Danai Udomchoke (THA,910) 63 57 60
[R2] (3) Rupesh Roy (IND,467) bt Takuto Niki (JPN,851) 62 63

[QF] (4) Karan Rastogi (IND,478) vs (SE) Simon Cauvard (FRA,1000)
[QF] (3) Rupesh Roy (IND,467) vs Suk-Young Jeong (KOR,808)

Doubles
[QF] NARAYANASWAMY (IND)/ PRASHANTH (IND) bt SHOKEEN (IND)/ TAKEUCHI (JPN) 63 64
[QF] (2) KONDO (JPN)/ SINGH (IND) bt SIRIBUTWONG (THA)/ SIRILUETHAIWATTANA (THA) 62 75

[SF] (2) KONDO (JPN)/ SINGH (IND) vs NARAYANASWAMY (IND)/ PRASHANTH (IND)

Good outing for our players as Karan and Rupesh won their singles matches with our 2 pairs r in semis.

Karan and Danai had 2 competitive sets but may be in decider Danai was too tired/ may be troubled with injury or Karan played excellent tennis ... ;-)

Monday, August 09, 2010

Tennis News
At Thailand F2 Futures, Phitsanulok

[R1] (Q) Vijayant Malik (IND,858) bt Arata Onozawa (JPN,725) 46 64 62
[R1] (3) Rupesh Roy (IND,467) bt (WC) Wishaya Trongcharoenchakul (THA,UNR) 64 64
[R1] Vijay Sunder Prashanth (IND,676) l (1) Hiroki Kondo (JPN,383) 57 64 46
[R1] (Q) Vivek Shokeen (IND,970) l Weerapat Doakmaiklee(THA,717) 46 36
[R1] (4) Karan Rastogi (IND,478) bt Mikal Statham (NZL,799) 62 76(4)
[R1] (LL) Ronak Manuja (IND,1782) l (5) Sabestien Rieschick (GER,498) 06 06

[R2] (Q) Vijayant Malik (IND,858) vs (1) Hiroki Kondo (JPN,383)
[R2] (4) Karan Rastogi (IND,478) vs Danai Udomchoke (THA,910)
[R2] (3) Rupesh Roy (IND,467) vs Takuto Niki (JPN,851)

Doubles
[R1] SHOKEEN (IND)/ TAKEUCHI (JPN) bt RIESCHICK (GER)/ UDOMCHOKE (THA) 26 76(8) 10-8
[R1] NARAYANASWAMY (IND)/ PRASHANTH (IND) bt (3) DOAKMAIKLEE (THA)/ RUNGKAT (INA) 76(2) 46 10-8
[R1] MALIK (IND)/ ROY (IND) l SIRIBUTWONG (THA)/ SIRILUETHAIWATTANA (THA) 64 36 7-10
[R1] (2) KONDO (JPN)/ SINGH (IND) bt CHO (KOR)/ SAFWAT (EGY) 46 76(3) 11-9

[QF] SHOKEEN (IND)/ TAKEUCHI (JPN) vs NARAYANASWAMY (IND)/ PRASHANTH (IND)
[QF] (2) KONDO (JPN)/ SINGH (IND)vs SIRIBUTWONG (THA)/ SIRILUETHAIWATTANA (THA)

Good start by Indians in singles and doubles .. Vijayant Malik scored upset comeback win over Japanese opponent ... In doubles Vivek scored good win with his Japanese partner against Udomchoke and his German partner ... Srirambalaji and Vijay Sunder also started with upset win over their 3rd seed opponent pair.

On second day only Karan won his first round match but Vijay Sunder gave creditable fighting performance against top-seed Japanese player ... Forgettable match for Ronak ... Karan having interesting second round match up against former top-100 Thai Danai Udomchoke.
Tennis News
At $2.43M Rogers Cup, Toronto, Canada

[Q2] (14) Somdev Devvarman (IND,96) l (3) Denis Istomin (UKR,54) 64 36 67(10)

Doubles
[R1] Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Eric Butorac (USA) vs Frantisek Cermak (CZE)/ Michal Mertinak (SVK)
[R1] (3) Lukas Dlouhy (CZE)/ Leander Paes (IND) bye
[R1] (4) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Max Mirnyi (BLR) bye

Very tough and heart-breaking loss for Somi ... After looking at the stat it showed he almost played perfect match to match top-50 players but again failed to take crucial points ... Somi started well after breaking Denis's serve in the first game and won first set with that break converting 3rd set points ... In the first set when Somi had set point at Adv-40 rain stopped game ... Again match start and in second set at 0-1 another rain break came ... Somi didn't adjust to these break losing second set with a single break ... In third set both players hold their serves until 6-all, though Somi saved 1 break point ... In tie-break Somi was mini-break down before going up and had 3 match points 6-3 but couldn't converted one ... In tie-break he got total 7 match points but Denis saved all those before converting his first ... Good opportunity loss to qualified for Masters for Somi.
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At $75+H Beijing Challenger, China

[F] (1) Sadik Kadir (AUS)/ Purav Raja (IND) l (2) Pierre-Ludovic Duclos (CAN)/ Artem Sitak (RUS) 67(4) 67(5)

Very close 2 tie-breaks loss for Purav and Sadik in the final.
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At $50K Binghamton Challenger, USA

[R1] (4) Harsh Mankad (IND)/ Adam Hubble (AUS) vs Paul Capdeville (CHI)/ Brian Dabul (ARG)

Harsh is back on familiar ground in US from this week.
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At Thailand F2 Futures, Phitsanulok

[Q1] (12) Vivek Shokeen (IND,970) bt Yao-Lun Chang (TPE,1261) 16 63 64
[Q1] Ronam Manuja (IND,1782) bt Kong Pop Lertchai (THA,UNR) 63 64
[Q1] (10) Karunuday Singh (IND,932) bt Kaza Vinayak Sharma (IND,1242) 64 61
[Q1] (7) Vijayant Malik (IND,858) bt Warut Korkiatthaworn (THA,1746) 46 64 62
[Q1] (11) Srirambalaji NarayanSwami (IND,935) l Sean Berman (USA,UNR) 76(6) 36 46
[Q1] (14) Ashutosh Singh (IND,994) l Yang Lu (CHN,1424) 46 46

[Q2] (12) Vivek Shokeen (IND,970) bt (WC) Warit Sornbutnark (THA,UNR) 64 64
[Q2] Ronam Manuja (IND,1782) l Sean Burman (USA,NR) 16 26
[Q2] (10) Karunuday Singh (IND,932) l (5)Takuto Niki (JPN,851) 46 61 67(7)
[Q2] (7) Vijayant Malik (IND,858) bt Erik Crepaldi (ITA,1058) 64 62

[R1] Vijay Sunder Prashanth (IND,676) vs (1) Hiroki Kondo (JPN,383)
[R1] (Q) Vijayant Malik (IND,858) vs Arata Onozawa (JPN,725)
[R1] (Q) Vivek Shokeen (IND,970) vs Weerapat Doakmaiklee(THA,717)
[R1] (4) Karan Rastogi (IND,478) vs Mikal Statham (NZL,799)
[R1] (3) Rupesh Roy ( IND,467) vs (WC) Wishaya Trongcharoenchakul (THA,UNR)
[R1] (LL) Ronak Manuja (IND,1782) vs (5) Sabestien Rieschick (GER,498)

Doubles
[R1] SHOKEEN (IND)/ TAKEUCHI (JPN) vs RIESCHICK (GER)/ UDOMCHOKE (THA)
[R1] NARAYANASWAMY (IND)/ PRASHANTH (IND) vs (3) DOAKMAIKLEE (THA)/ RUNGKAT (INA)
[R1] MALIK (IND)/ ROY (IND) vs SIRIBUTWONG (THA)/ SIRILUETHAIWATTANA (THA)
[R1] (2) KONDO (JPN)/ SINGH (IND) vs CHO (KOR)/ SAFWAT (EGY)

Second week of Thai futures having strong field ... Other than Rupesh and Karan all having tough first round matches ... In doubles this time Vivek and Ashutosh r not playing together instead both playing with Japanese partners.
Shooting News
At 50th ISSF World Championship 2010, Munich, Germany

50m Rifle Prone Women - Final Result
1. Tejaswini Sawant IND 597 pts EWR (41x)
2. Joanna Ewa Nowakowska POL 597 pts EWR (39x)
3. Olga Dovgun KAZ 596 pts

Tejaswini Sawant equalled world record to won gold medal at World Championship at Munich ... She and Polish Joanna Ewa Nowakowska equalled world record but Tejaswini had more bulls eye hits than her Polish opponent ... This is Tejaswini's first world title but unluckily this type of event is not part of Olympics so no Olympic quota for this event.

Table Tennis News

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