Football News
At I-League 2010-11, India - Round VI

Dempo SC dw Chirag United SC 1-1

Goal Scored - Clifton Gonsalves (DSC) 45+' and Josimar da Silva Martins (CU) 89'
-----------------------------------------

Mohun Bagan bt Mumbai FC 2-0

Goal Scored - Muritala Ali (MB) 45+', Asim Biswas (MB) 79'
-----------------------------------------

ONGC, Mumbai dw Churchill Brothers SC 1-1

Goal Scored - N.D.Opara (ONGC) 20' and Odafe Onyeka Okolie (CB) 45+'
-----------------------------------------

AIFF XI bt HAL, Bangalore 2-1

Goal Scored - Malsawmfela (AIFF) 33', Bikramjit Singh (AIFF) 53' and R.C.Prakash (HAL) 88' P
------------------------------------------

Salgaocar SC l Pune FC 0-1

Goal Scored - Selwyn Fernandes (PFC) 32'
-----------------------------------------

East Bengal bt Air India FC 6-1

Goal Scored - Soumik Dey (EB) 10', Robin Sigh (EB) 33', Tolgay Ozbey (EB) 42' and 49', Mehtab Hussain (EB) 90+', Ravinder Singh (EB) 90+' and Eric (AI) 55'
-----------------------------------------

JCT Mills FC bt Viva Kerala 1-0

Goal Scored - Maninder Singh (JCT) 49'

East Bengal continued with their impressive winning run and register their sixth win on the trot in dominating fashion ... Pune FC and JCT scored their first win in the I-League 2010-11 season in identical margin ... Pune FC scored away win over in-form Salgaocar.

Young u19 AIFF XI scored back to back victories ... This week they defeated HAL side and moved out from bottom 3 ... Mohun Bagan scored comfortable win over Mumbai side scoring one goal each in both halfs ... ONGC hold mighty Churchill Brothers ... Chirag United scored late equalizer through Josimar da Silva Martins to hold Dempo in well contested match.

Football News
At 2011 AFC Asian Cup, Doha, Qatar

Yesterday final 23-member squad declared, which is captained by Bhaichung Bhutia, for the Asian Cup football tournament.


Striker Mohammed Rafi missed the Asian Cup bus with midfielder James Lukram, defender N Mohanraj, striker Baljit Sahni and midfielder Jagpreet Singh ... Other hand left back Sameer Naik, goalkeeper Arindam Bhattacharya and winger Anthony Pereira failed to get selected due to injuries.

We r in toughest draw with Asia's top 6 teams ... If we manages draw with anyone will be huge achievement.

Group C - South Korea, India, Australia and Bahrain

Indian Team
Goalkeepers - Subrata Pal, Subhasish Roy Choudhury, Gurpreet Singh Sandhu
Defenders - Surkumar Singh, Gouramangi Singh, Anwar, Mahesh Gawli, Syed Rahim Nabi, Deepak Mondal, N S Manju, Rakesh Masih, Govin Singh
Midfielders - Steven Dias, N P Pradeep, Climax Lawrence, Clifford Miranda, Renedy Singh, Mehrajuddin Wadoo, Baldeep Singh
Strikers - Bhaichung Bhutia (Capt), Sunil Chhetri, Abhishek Yadav, Sushil Kumar Singh

Tennis News

Still we r searching for a men's player who remian in top-100 in year-end ATP singles ranking ... But overall consistent performance from Buji, which giving us hope for 2011 season ... Also good to see comeback by Karan after his career threatening injury ... Yuki didn't perform as per our expectations but definetly in line to give more promising results in 2011.


In doubles we all r egarly waiting for performance of Lee and Hesh after reunion on tour for early 2011 season ... Hopefully with some good results they decide to continue until 2012 London Olympics ... Rohan and Aisam will be looking to win their first grand slam in 2011.


But on women section our picture doesn't look good ... Only Sania is in top -500 singles and top-450 in doubles ranking and frankly nobody look that promising to crack in top-250 in 2011.

2010 Year-end ATP Singles Ranking (top 10)

108 Devvarman Somdev (IND) 526
332 Rastogi Karan (IND) 130
386 Vardhan Vishnu (IND) 105
486 Amritraj Prakash (IND) 66
505 Bhambri Yuki (IND) 60
536 Gajjar Rohan (IND) 49
545 Virali-Murugesan Ranjeet (IND) 48
557 Roy Rupesh (IND) 45
626 Bopanna Rohan (IND) 32
678 Prashanth N Vijay Sundar (IND) 25


2010 Year-end ATP Doubles Rankings (top 10)

5 Paes Leander (IND) 5,150
6 Bhupathi Mahesh (IND) 5,085
16 Bopanna Rohan (IND) 3,370
139 Mankad Harsh (IND) 580 (Retd)
143 Raja Purav (IND) 551
212 Devvarman Somdev (IND) 336
261 Amritraj Prakash (IND) 247
295 Vardhan Vishnu (IND) 208
309 Sharan, Divij (IND) 200
415 Singh Ashutosh (IND) 132
466 Bhambri Yuki (IND) 108


2010 Year-end WTA Singles Rankings (top 5)

141 Mirza Sania (IND) 465
569 Venkatesha Poojashree (IND) 49
576 Chakravarthi Rushmi (IND) 45
699 Uberoi Shikha (IND) 30
858 Burman Shivika (IND) 16


2010 Year-end WTA Doubles Rankings (top 5)

60 Mirza Sania (IND) 1407
459 Chakravarthi Rushmi (IND) 95
473 Uberoi Shikha (IND) 88
491 Venkatesha Poojashree (IND) 81
635 Burman Shivika (IND) 47

Badminton News

Kashyap becomes our top men's shuttler and Ajay become #2 behind him ... Both showed more consistent performance from others to deserve to be 1 and 2 ... Guru was giving very good results in first half of 2010 to breaking into top-50 but last few months he struggled ... Hopefully he will be making more promising performance in 2011.


In ladies Saina IS our only player, who can compete in top field ... But PV Sindhu is giving us hope to join Saina in next couple of years.


2010 Year-end BWF Mens' World Singles Ranking (from top 100)

24 P. Kashyap (IND) 35066.9
34 Ajay Jayaram (IND) 31440 (PB)
37 Chetan Anand (IND) 30080.1737
42 Anand Pawar (IND) 28460
48 Arvind Bhat (IND) 27249.0714
57 RMV Gurusai Datt (IND) 23574.4
88 Aditya Elango Abdul Raheem (IND) 16320


2010 Year-end BWF Womens' World Singles Ranking (top 5)

4 Saina Nehwal (IND) 63811.2637
80 Aditi Mutatkar (IND) 18601.9822
103 Trupti Murgunde (IND) 13833.8
123 Sayali Gokhale (IND) 12370.7
150 PV Sindhu (IND) 9620

Football News
At I-League 2010-11, India - Round V

JCT Mills FC, Phagwara l Mohun Bagan 0-1

Goal Scored - Manish Maithani (MB) 67'
-----------------------------------------

Churchill Brothers SC dw Viva Kerala 1-1

Goal Scored - Felix Chimaokwu (VK) 15' and Odafe Onyeka Okolie (CB) 90+' P
-----------------------------------------

Chirag United SC bt HAL Bangalore 1-0

Goal Scored - Jerry Zirsanga (CU) 45+'
------------------------------------------

ONGC, Mumbai dw Pune FC 1-1

Goal Scored - Mandjou Keita (ONGC) 88' and N.D.Opara (PFC) 28'
-----------------------------------------

East Bengal bt Salgaocar SC 1-0

Goal Scored - Tolgay Ozbey (EB) 60'
-----------------------------------------

Dempo SC bt Mumbai FC 1-0

Goal Scored - Roberto Mendes Silva (DSC) 58'
-----------------------------------------

AIFF XI bt Air India FC 2-1

Goal Scored - Shilton D'Silva (AIFF) 32', Jagtar Singh (AIFF) 73' and Samson Singh (AI) 90+

Terrific result for young Indian u-19 side to score their first win of I-League ... In top 2 teams match East Bengal side scored their 5th win on a row to leading standing alone ... Dempo and Chirag also scored wins ... Odafe saved Churchill from defeat against Viva converting penalty in dying moments ... ONGC also shared a point with Pune FC side ... Pune FC is struggling as their main striker Edmar Figueira struggle to find the net.

Tennis News
At $75K Dubai ITF Womens Tournament, UAE

[F] Sania Mirz (IND,165) bt (5) Bojana Jovanovski (SRB,81) 46 63 60

Excellent result for Sania ... So she manged to win her first singles title of 2010 in 50th week and that is also is style ... Ending season 2010 on good note giving us high hope for season 2011 ... She will definetely back in top-75 if she remain injury free in next few months ... Before this final Sania lost 2 matches to Bojana Jovanovski in 2010 ... She lifted title beating #40 and #80 ranked players.

I like the way she fought back in the final ... After losing first set she was a break down in second but then she won 12 games of next 14 games they played ... In that she won last 7 games losing only 9 points ... :notworthy: Simply incredible performance!!!

Chess News
At Women's World Chess Championship 2010, Antakya, Turkey

Semi Final
GM Humpy Koneru (IND,2600) ½-½ Yifan Hou (CHN,2591) ½-1½

Same old story repeated again and Humpy lost in semis ... Today Humpy needed victory after yesterday's loss but Hou hold her playing with Blacks after 45 moves.

Tennis News
At $75K Dubai ITF Womens Tournament, UAE

[SF] Sania Mirz (IND,165) bt (8) Evgeniya Rodina (RUS,113) 63 46 64

[F] Sania Mirz (IND,165) vs (5) Bojana Jovanovski (SRB,81)

Doubles
[F] (1) Sania Mirz (IND)/ Vladimira Uhlirova (CZE) l (2) Julia Goerges (GER)/ Petra Martic (CRO) 46 67(7)

Sania started well and after winning first set she was leading 4-2 in second but from here again old Sania showed up ... She lost next 4 games to lose second set ... In third set both players were regularly breaking opponent's service games ... But crucial hold of service game in third set came when Sania was up with break 4-3 ... After that both players hold their serves and win for Sania ... Sania must be tired after so many matches ... In the evening she played doubles final and tomorrow also she is in singles final.

Though she struggled from mid second set still Sania played gutsy game to finished match in decider after trading multiple breaks ... Sania and Uhlirova lost doubles final in close match against 2nd seed Goerges and Martic, so chance of double crown is over ... I m really hoping Sania lift singles title beating this 19 yrs old Serbian.

Football News
At I-League 2010-11, India - Round IV

Mumbai FC l Churchill Brothers 1-5

Goal Scored - Bineesh Balan (MFC) 40' and Noel Wilson (CB) 12', Odafe Onyeka Okolie (CB) 18'P, 28', 66' and 90+'
------------------------------------------

Salgaocar SC bt AIFF XI 5-0

Goal Scored - Yusif Yakubu (SSC) 7'and 18', Ryuji Sueoka (SSC) 12' and 34', Ekene Ikenwa (SSC)
-----------------------------------------

Pune FC dw Chirag United 1-1

Goal Scored - Arata Izumi (PFC) 58' and Elijah Junior (CU) 45'
-----------------------------------------

Viva Kerala dw HAL, Banglore 1-1

Goal Scored - Anil Kumar (VK) 50' and J.Murali (HAL) 48' P
-----------------------------------------

JCT Mills, Phagwara l East Bengal 0-1

Goal Scored - Uga Okpara (EB) 36'
-----------------------------------------

Air India dw ONGC, Mumbai 0-0

East Bengal scored their 4th win a row to lead standing table ... Other match Mumbai sided ended in goalless draw.

Churchill crushed young Mumbai FC side, Odafe scored 4 goals in that ... Salgaocar continued with their good run and handed another one-sided defeat to u-19 Indian side ... Other hand Pune FC still searching for their first win of the season ... HAL managed to hold Viva.

Chess News
At Women's World Chess Championship 2010, Antakya, Turkey

Semi Final
Yifan Hou (CHN,2591) 1-0 GM Humpy Koneru (IND,2600)

Humpy fought hard against Yifan Hou but lost in 78 mins with Blacks in first game ... Hou kept pressure on Humpy from the start, now Humpy having big challenge of winning second game.

Tennis News
At $75K Dubai ITF Womens Tournament, UAE

[QF] Sania Mirz (IND,165) bt (1) Julia Goerges (GER,40) 61 76(8)

[SF] Sania Mirz (IND,165) vs (8) Evgeniya Rodina (RUS,113)

Doubles
[SF] (1) Sania Mirz (IND)/ Vladimira Uhlirova (CZE) bt Lindsay Lee-Waters (USA)/ Megan Moulton-Levy (USA) 26 75 10-5

[F] (1) Sania Mirz (IND)/ Vladimira Uhlirova (CZE) vs (2) Julia Goerges (GER)/ Petra Martic (CRO)

Terrific result!!! This was really unexpected pleasent win by Sania ... Really good year-end gift of win over top-40 player to find which level she is playing ... This was her first win of the year over top 50 player ... Go Sania, now try to win title.

Next she is facing Russian girl Evgeniya Rodina for place in the final ... In doubles also she pulled tight win with her partner over American pair to moved into the final.

Badminton News

After Super Series title win at Hong Kong Saina managed to regain #2 position, so she will be end up on #2 in world ranking behind Xin Wang.

These r Top 10 2010 year-end BWF ranking for Women
1 Xin Wang (CHN) 71192.4017 pts (10 tournaments)
2 Saina Nehwal (IND) 68811.2637 pts (11 tournaments)
3 Shixian Wang (CHN) 67176.4 pts (10 tournaments)
4 Yihan Wang (CHN) 65308.9106 pts (10 tournaments)
5 Tine Baun (DEN) 60400.0982 pts (10 tournaments)
6 Jiang Yanjiao (CHN) 52321.1 pts (8 tournaments)
7 Juliane Schenk (GER) 51029.8657 pts (19 tournaments)
8 Youn Joo Bae (KOR) 49350.708 pts (15 tournaments)
9 Hongyan Pi (FRA) 48661.9158 pts (14 tournaments)
10 Pui Yin Yip (HKG) 47274.382 pts (14 tournaments)

Snooker News
At IBSF World Snooker Championship 2010, Damascus, Syria

Men - Final
Pankaj Advani (IND) l Dechawat Poomjaeng (THA) 7-10 (37-67, 71-47, 69-35, 138-0, 12-85, 15-68, 13-63, 27-68, 57-56, 61-15, 15-71, 35-75, 32-58, 71-25, 62-33, 0-130, 8-92)

Pankaj lost in closely fought final against Thai Dechawat Poomjaeng ... So this year Pankaj failed to lift any IBSF World title.

Chess News
At 2nd London Chess Classic, Great Britain

Round 7 - Wednesday, December 15, 2010
Viswanathan Anand ½-½ Vladimir Kramnik
Hikaru Nakamura ½-½ Michael Adams
David Howell ½-½ Luke McShane
Magnus Carlsen 1-0 Nigel Short

Anand and Kramnik played cracking game but that ended in a draw in 39 moves ... Howell also hold in-form McShane ... Carlsen take full advantage of this situation and defeated Nigel Short in 40 moves to win this London Chess Classic ... Anand and McShane finished on joint second position ... This win also helped Carlsen to secured yearend WR #1 position.

Final standings
Nr Name Rating Fed Score
1 Carlsen Magnus 2802 NOR 13
2 Anand Viswanathan 2804 IND 11
3 McShane Luke J 2645 ENG 11
4 Nakamura Hikaru 2741 USA 10
5 Kramnik Vladimir 2791 RUS 10
6 Adams Michael 2723 ENG 8
7 Howell David W L 2611 ENG 4
8 Short Nigel D 2680 ENG 2
----------------------------------------------------
At Women's World Chess Championship 2010, Antakya, Turkey

Quarter Final
WGM Lufei Ruan (CHN,2480) ½-½ IM Dronavalli Harika (UKR,2462) 2½-1½

Semi Final
GM Humpy Koneru (IND,2600) vs Yifan Hou (CHN,2591)

Harika lost first Rapid match playing with Whites and then Lufei Ruan managed draw in second Rapid match playing with Whites ... So in semis Humpy is with 3 Chinese girls.

Humpy having tough semi-final against highest rated Chinese player Yifan Hou.

Tennis News
At $75K Dubai ITF Womens Tournament, UAE

[R2] Sania Mirz (IND,165) bt Korina Perkovic (GER,662) 61 62

[QF] Sania Mirz (IND,165) vs (1) Julia Goerges (GER,40)

Doubles
[QF] (1) Sania Mirz (IND)/ Vladimira Uhlirova (CZE) bt Nina Bratchikova (RUS)/ Emma Laine (FIN) 63 64

[SF] (1) Sania Mirz (IND)/ Vladimira Uhlirova (CZE) vs Lindsay Lee-Waters (USA)/ Megan Moulton-Levy (USA)

So expected easy victory for Sania against German qualifier but next match is real test against WR #40 German player ... In doubles also she moved into semis with straight sets victory.

Snooker News
At IBSF World Snooker Championship 2010, Damascus, Syria

Men - Semi Final
Pankaj Advani (IND) bt Rodney Goggins (IRL) 7-3 (53-41, 77-44, 114-8, 52-44, 32-81, 19-61, 60-18, 22-69, 89-1, 59-8)

[F] Pankaj Advani (IND) vs Dechawat Poomjaeng (THA)

Pankaj entered into the final with comfortable win over Irishman Rodney Goggins ... In the final he is facing Thai Dechawat Poomjaeng.

Chess News
At 2nd London Chess Classic, Great Britain

Round 6 - Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Vladimir Kramnik ½-½ Magnus Carlsen
Nigel Short ½-½ David Howell
Luke McShane ½-½ Hikaru Nakamura
Michael Adams ½-½ Viswanathan Anand

So now after this 50 moves draw Anand need to depend upon other results to see his position on standing ... All other matches ended in draw ... Carlsen managed draw in dogfight against Vlad after 68 moves ... So now standing remained same as Anand, Carlsen and McShane sharing top position but Carlsen is on top position as he played 4 matches with Blacks.

In the final round now advantage is to Carlsen, who is facing out of form Nigel Short ... Other hand Anand is facing Kramnik and McShane is facing David Howell.
----------------------------------------------------
At Women's World Chess Championship 2010, Antakya, Turkey

Quarter Final
WGM Wenjun Ju (CHN,2524) ½-½ GM Humpy Koneru (IND,2600) ½-1½
WGM Lufei Ruan (CHN,2480) ½-½ IM Dronavalli Harika (UKR,2462) 1-1

Humpy hold Ju challenge to win her match to moved in semis but Harika had another draw ... That means she is in another long match.

Tennis News
At $75K Dubai ITF Womens Tournament, UAE

[R1] Sania Mirz (IND,165) bt (6) Ksenia Pervak (RUS,98) 62 63

[R2] Sania Mirz (IND,165) vs Korina Perkovic (GER,662)

Doubles
[QF] (1) Sania Mirz (IND)/ Vladimira Uhlirova (CZE) vs Nina Bratchikova (RUS)/ Emma Laine (FIN)

Very dominating win by Sania over top-100 Russian Ksenia Pervak to moved into next round ... She is facing German qualifier in second round.

Snooker News
At IBSF World Snooker Championship 2010, Damascus, Syria

Knock-Out Stage - Men
[QF] Pankaj Advani (IND) bt Moh Keen Hoo (MAL) 6-1 (70-32, 69-24, 60-2, 63-77, 68-8, 67-45, 124-0)

[SF] Pankaj Advani (IND) vs Rodney Goggins (IRL)

Knock-Out Stage - Women
[SF] Vidya Pillai (IND) l Ng On Yee (HKG) 0-4 (25-54, 7-67, 19-59, 41-84)

Disappointing one-sided loss to Vidya but other hand Pankaj scored authorative victory over Malaysian opponent and will face Irish player in semis.

Chess News
At Women's World Chess Championship 2010, Antakya, Turkey

Quarter Final
GM Humpy Koneru (IND,2600) 1-0 WGM Wenjun Ju (CHN,2524)
IM Dronavalli Harika (UKR,2462) ½-½ WGM Lufei Ruan (CHN,2480)

Both played with Whites in which Humpy scored win and Harika managed draw with their respective Chinese opponents.

Tennis News
At $75K Dubai ITF Womens Tournament, UAE

[R1] Sania Mirz (IND,165) vs (6) Ksenia Pervak (RUS,98)

Doubles
[R1] (1) Sania Mirz (IND)/ Vladimira Uhlirova (CZE) bt Elena Chalova (RUS)/ Ksenia Palkina (KGZ) 76(5) 64

Draw is out for Dubai ITF tournament ... Sania is facing top-100 and seeded Russian Pervak in first round.

In doubles top-seed pair had tough outing in their first round match.

Snooker News
At IBSF World Snooker Championship 2010, Damascus, Syria

Knock-Out Stage - Men
[R1] Pankaj Advani (IND) bye
[R2] Pankaj Advani (IND) bt Mohd. Al Joaker (UAE) 5-4 (66(66)-65, 119(53)-16, 05-80, 16-83(53), 47-57, 66-39, 68-54, 50-66, 72-26)
[R3] Pankaj Advani (IND) bt Mohd. Rais Sen Zahi (AFG) 5-2 (60-40, 110(109)-15, 114(114)-00, 73-69, 00-73, 41-68, 68-21)

[QF] Pankaj Advani (IND) vs Moh Keen Hoo (MAL)

Knock-Out Stage - Women
[R1] Anuja Chandra (IND) bt Inese Lukashevska (LAT) 4-0 (59-48, 67-21, 81-39, 48-27)
[R1] Vidya Pillai (IND) bt Kathy Parashis (AUS) 4-2 (48-04, 73-38, 59-27, 42-70, 46(45)-81, 66-03)
[R1] Chitra Magimairaj (IND) bt Irina Gorbataya (RUS) 4-0 (92-23, 66-48, 74-18, 67-27)
[R1] R. Uma Devi (IND) l Hannah Jones (ENG) 0-4 (29-62(40), 49-56, 36-52, 36-64)

[QF] Anuja Chandra (IND) l Ng On Yee (HKG) 3-4 (07-65, 54-49, 06-77, 102(52)-19, 49-54, 75-40, 40-53)
[QF] Vidya Pillai (IND) bt Chitra Magimairaj (IND) 4-0 (63-43, 73-02, 75-05, 60-40)

[SF] Vidya Pillai (IND) vs Ng On Yee (HKG)

Pankaj and Yasin Merchant participated in men event ... Yasin failed to qualify for knock-out stage ... But other hand Pankaj won all his matches in Group E and that recieved him seeding with first round bye.

In second round he had tough challenge from Joaker, who stretched him to the fullest ... In round three he sored comfortable win against Afgani opponent ... In quarter he is facing Malaysian.

In women event our four women in knockout stage ... Uma Devi lost in first round ... Anuja lost close match against Hong Kong player in quarters ... Chitra couldn't match Vidya ... Now in semis Vidya is facing Ng On Yee.

Chess News
At 2nd London Chess Classic, Great Britain

Round 5 - Sunday, December 12, 2010
Michael Adams ½-½ Vladimir Kramnik
Viswanathan Anand ½-½ Luke McShane
Hikaru Nakamura 1-0 Nigel Short
David Howell 0-1 Magnus Carlsen

After 2 consecutive wins Anand decided to step back and agreed for early draw after 41 moves with McShane before only a day break in this tournament.

Carlsen joined the leaders with his 3rd win ... In this tournament Carlsen having 3 wins and 2 losses ... Kramnik will be facing Carlsen and Anand is last 2 rounds ... So next round Anand's match against Michael Adams is important for his title hope ... In last round Carlsen facing totally out of form Nigel Short.
----------------------------------------------------
At Women's World Chess Championship 2010, Antakya, Turkey

Round 3
IM Mariya Muzychuk (UKR,2462) 0-1 IM Dronavalli Harika (IND,2525) 3-4

Quarter Final
GM Humpy Koneru (IND,2600) vs WGM Wenjun Ju (CHN,2524)
IM Mariya Muzychuk (UKR,2462) vs WGM Lufei Ruan (CHN,2480)

In tie-break Harika started well beating Muzychuk with Whites but lost next game playing with Blacks ... In Blitz Harika had bad start losing her game with Whites but she came back strongly beating Muzychuk with Blacks ... Harika played with Blacks in sudden-death game to won game and match, final score was 4-3.

So with that she joined Humpy in quarter-final of 2010 Women's World Chess Championship.

Here r comments about suddendeath game from chessbase -
The armageddon was also not your usual fare, and featured five minutes for white, and four for black, with a draw favoring black. So far so normal, but if the games should reach 60 moves, both players would then receive a 3-second increment per move thereafter. Since no one actually keeps track of the number of moves played in blitz game, this is only possible with electronic boards and clocks. Harika won the draw and chose black, but things went bad in an Italian, and she soon found herself in growing trouble. Both players were very tense, and despite being winning, Mariya knew that there was no room for error and absolutely had to win. Indecision grew and the miracle for Harika happened: Muzychuk overstepped her time and lost.

Badminton News
At $250K Hong Kong Open Super Series 2010, Wanchai

SAINA DID IT!!! WON HONG KONG SUPER SERIES BEATING WANG!!!

Singles Final
(2) Saina Nehwal (IND,4) bt (3) Shixian Wang (CHN,5) 15-21 21-16 21-17

Huge victory for her ... Saina extended her 100% finals record to 5 in year 2010 ... Shixian was in good form, last week also she reached final of Super Series tournament after winning Asian Games badminton gold ... But today Saina had different plan and with this win Saina broke big mind barrier of beating Wangs and that's also in title match ... This is Saina's first win over Wang and also 3rd Super Series title of year 2010 ... She won big cheque of $19,750.

Very close match ... Both played very high quality game ... Impressed with Saina the way she take this challenge, where with Chinese opponent she was againsr most of the vocal crowd and little biased officials.

Saina was struggling in the first game ... Shixian take control of the game from 15-13 to won it ... But from second game Saina showed improvement in her game and matched shot by shot with Shixian ... Played awesome/ amazing drop shots, cross courts, half smashes, smashes and down the line ... In last 2 games she controlled from the start and Shixian was doing caching game but Saina kept her focus to win it.

Chess News
At 2nd London Chess Classic, Great Britain

Round 4 - Saturday, December 11, 2010
Vladimir Kramnik 1-0 David Howell
Magnus Carlsen 1-0 Hikaru Nakamura
Nigel Short 0-1 Viswanathan Anand
Luke McShane ½-½ Michael Adams

Anand gave good birthday gift to himself scoring win with Blacks over Nigel Short ... So with this 43 moves win Anand is joint leader with Luke McShane, 8 pts. ½-½
----------------------------------------------------
At Women's World Chess Championship 2010, Antakya, Turkey

Round 3
GM Humpy Koneru (IND,2600) ½-½ IM Anna Zatonskih (USA,2478) 1½-½
IM Mariya Muzychuk (UKR,2462) ½-½ IM Dronavalli Harika (IND,2525) 1-1

Humpy drew her second game with Anna Zatonskih to complete 1½-½ win ... Dronavalli Harika drew her game, she will play tie-break tomorrow.

Football News
At I-League 2010-11, India - Round III

Mumbai FC bt HAL, Bangalore

Goal Scored - Ebisukore (MFC) 64'
------------------------------------------

Churchill Brothers bt Mohun Bagan 2-0

Goal Scored - Odafe Onyeka Okolie (CB) 4' and 66' P
------------------------------------------

East Bengal bt AIFF XI 4-0

Goal Scored - Robin Singh (EB) 49' and 73', Penn Orji (EB) 68', Tolgay Ozbey (EB) 79'
-----------------------------------------

ONGC, Mumbai l Salgaocar SC 0-1

Goal Scored - Yusif Yakubu (SSC) 65'
-----------------------------------------

Viva Kerala dw Pune FC 1-1

Goal Scored - Jimshad (VK) 73' and Sunil Kumar (PFC) 90+'
-----------------------------------------

Chirag United dw Air India 0-0
-----------------------------------------

Dempo SC bt JCT Mills, Phagwara 2-0

Goal Scored -Beto (DSC) 25' and 35'

Dempo scored win over JCT but Chirag held by Air men.

In high profile match Okolie scored in both half to helped Churchill secured full points against Mohun Bagan ... East Bengal side gave lesson to young AIFF XI scoring 4 goals in second half ... Salgaocar continued with their dream run winning their 3rd match on a row ... Pune FC had lucky escape against Viva, where they scored equalizer in the last minute of the match.

Mumbai FC continued with their good run and scored victory over HAL.

Badminton News
At $250K Hong Kong Open Super Series 2010, Wanchai

[SF] (2) Saina Nehwal (IND,4) bt (6) Juliane Schenk (GER,6) 21-19 17-21 21-12

[F] (2) Saina Nehwal (IND,4) vs (3) Shixian Wang (CHN,5)

Saina won very close match against improved Juliane Schenk in 53 mins to moved into the final ... So another Super Series final for Saina ... Next she is facing tough challenge from Chinese Shixian Wang.

Chess News
At 2nd London Chess Classic, Great Britain

Round 3 - Friday, December 10, 2010
Luke McShane ½-½ Vladimir Kramnik
Michael Adams ½-½ Nigel Short
Viswanathan Anand 1-0 Magnus Carlsen
Hikaru Nakamura ½-½ David Howell

This was a huge win for Anand as in first 2 rounds he managed only draw with lower rated players and this tournament format doesn't favoring draw as points structure is 3-1-0 ... So McShane was already ahead with 6 pts after 2 rounds with 2 wins and other hand Anand had only 2 pts from 2 draws ... Now after 3 rounds McShane is leading with 7 pts, Anand and Nakamura r second with 5 pts.

Game between Anand and Carlsen couldn't describe better than what Chessbase site wrote - "Anand got into trouble against Carlsen, then Magnus was completely lost, almost saved it and finally succumbed."

Match between current WR #1 and WR #2 played like top match ... The game started with a Ruy Lopez but Anand was little struggling with his opening moves ... Anand's move 24...Be6 was turn table and slowly Anand take control still Carlsen was playing good defensive game ... Anand played excellent endgame and managed to keep pressure ... Carlsen resigned after 77th move ... McShane had lucky escape aginst Kramnik after 139 moves.
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At Women's World Chess Championship 2010, Antakya, Turkey

Round 3
IM Anna Zatonskih (USA,2478) 0-1 GM Humpy Koneru (IND,2600)
IM Dronavalli Harika (IND,2525) ½-½ IM Mariya Muzychuk (UKR,2462)

Humpy started well beating American Zatonskih with Blacks ... Muzychuk hold Harika playing with Blacks, now Harika having tough task to win her match playing with Blacks.

Badminton News
At $250K Hong Kong Open Super Series 2010, Wanchai

[QF] (2) Saina Nehwal (IND,2) bt Pui Yin Yip (HKG,12) 21-11 21-10

[SF] (2) Saina Nehwal (IND,2) vs (6) Juliane Schenk (GER,9)

Saina take revenge with crushing victory over Pui Yin Yip, who defeated Saina in Asian games quarter-final ... Today Saina outplayed Hong Kong player in one-sided match ... Saina won match in just 27 mins and losing only 21 pts.

Chess News
At 2nd London Chess Classic, Great Britain

Round 2 - Thursday, December 9, 2010
Vladimir Kramnik 0-1 Hikaru Nakamura
David Howell ½-½ Viswanathan Anand
Magnus Carlsen 1-0 Michael Adams
Nigel Short 0-1 Luke McShane

Disappointing result for Anand against tournament's lower ranked British player ... He again managed only draw after 50 moves ... In other matches Kramnik had surprising defeat against Nakamura ... Carlsen stike back with win but McShane scored another upset win over his experienced and highe ranked team-mate Short to take a lead.
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At Women's World Chess Championship 2010, Antakya, Turkey

Round 3
GM Humpy Koneru (IND,2600) vs IM Anna Zatonskih (USA,2478)
IM Dronavalli Harika (IND,2525) vs IM Mariya Muzychuk (UKR,2462)

Badminton News
At $250K Hong Kong Open Super Series 2010, Wanchai

[R1] P Kashyap (IND,38) bt Yu Hsing Hsieh (TPE,31) 21-14 19-21 21-18
[R1] Arvind Bhat (IND,36) l Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk (THA,28) 13-21 21-23
[R1] R.M.V Gurusai Datt (IND,41) l Wing Ki Wong (HKG,40) 12-21 21-19 13-21

[R1] Saina Nehwal (IND,2) bt Tsz Ka Chan (HKG,35) 21-16 21-18

[R2] P Kashyap (IND,38) l (5) Jin Chen (CHN,4) 15-21 18-21
[R2] Saina Nehwal (IND,2) bt Salakjit Ponsana (THA,32) 21-10 21-12

Saina won her first 2 round matches convincingly, she won both matches inside half-hour.

Kashyap also started with upset win but faced tough second round against WR #4 Chinese player Jin Chen ... Though match ended in straight games still Kashyap played well in this 45 mins long match.

Chess News
At 2nd London Chess Classic, Great Britain

Round 1 - Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Nigel Short 0-1 Vladimir Kramnik
Luke McShane 1-0 Magnus Carlsen
Michael Adams 1-0 David Howell
Viswanathan Anand ½-½ Hikaru Nakamura

Anand tried hard to win his game against Nakamura but couldn't break his resistance and agreed for draw after 74 moves ... In shocking result Carlsen lost against British McShane ... In second round Anand is facing David Howell. ½-½
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At Women's World Chess Championship 2010, Antakya, Turkey

Round 2
GM Humpy Koneru (IND,2600) bt IM Jovanka Houska (ENG,2421) 1½-½
IM Dronavalli Harika (IND,2525) bt WGM Tatiana Shadrina (RUS,2384) 2-0

Round 1
GM Humpy Koneru (IND,2600) bt WGM Melissa Greeff (RSA,2082) 2-0
IM Dronavalli Harika (IND,2525) bt WGM Kruttika Nadig (IND,2230) 1½-½
WGM Meenakshi Subbaraman (IND,2328) l GM Maia Chiburdanidze (GEO,2502) 0-2
WGM Soumya Swaminathan (IND,2332) l GM Monika Socko (POL,2495) ½-1½

Good promising start from Humpy and Harika ... Both scored comfortable wins in their first 2 matches ... From round 3 they will face tougher challenge.

Football News
At I-League 2010-11, India - Round II

In round 2 matches, Salgaocar SC scored win in very high scoring match and with 2 wins in 2 matches they take early lead on leaderboard ... In other matches JCT hold Churchill and Airmen hold Viva.

HAL scored big upset beating giant Mohun Bagan in away match ... Dempo also suffered loss in hands of East Bengal side ... Pune FC again failed to solve puzzle of Mumbai team and lost against Mumbai FC ... Young AIFF side earned their first I League point after holding ONGC.

Mohun Bagan l HAL, Banglore 1-2

Goal Scored - Jose Ramirez Barreto (MB) 30' and Bijesh Kumar (HAL) 20', J.Murali (HAL) 81'
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Mumbai FC bt Pune FC 2-0

Goal Scored -
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Dempo SC l East Bengal 0-1

Goal Scored - Tolgay Ozbey (EB) 47'
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AIFF XI dw ONGC, Mumbai 1-1 (0-1),1-1

Goal Scored - Jeje (AIFF) 78' and Baba Tunde (ONGC) 46'
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Salgaocar SC bt Chirag United 4-3

Goal Scored - Gilbert Oliveira (SSC) 1' & 49', Ryuji Sueoka (SSC) 13', Anthony Barbosa (SSC) 80' and Joshimar Da Silva Martins (CU) 45+' & 90+', Denson Devadas (CU) 63'
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JCT Mills, Phagwara dw Churchill Brothers 1-1

Goal Scored -Balwant Singh (JCT) 37' and Odafe Onyeka Okolie (CB) 65'
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Air India dw Viva Kerala 1-1

Goal Scored - Manjit Singh (AI) 33' and Sabeeth C.S (VK) 9'

Tennis News
At $10K Dominican Republic F3, Santo Domingo

[R1] [R1] Rupesh Roy (IND,565) l Phillip Simmonds (USA,582) 62 46 16

Doubles
[R1] Rupesh Roy (IND)/ Sandro Ehrat (SUI) bt Manuel Sanchez (MEX)/ Antoine Tassart (FRA) 60 62

[QF] Rupesh Roy (IND)/ Sandro Ehrat (SUI) l (1) Matwe Middelkoop (NED)/ Tim Van Terheijden (NED) 36 57

Rupesh lost against Simmonds after winning first set.

But in doubles Rupesh had very convincing start with his swiss partner, Sandro Ehrat ... But lost against top-seed Dutch pair.

Football News
At I-League 2010-11, India - Round I

Dempo SC dw Churchill Brothers 1-1

Goal Scored - Clifton Gonsalves (DSC) 58' and Odafe Okolie (CB)
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East Bengal bt ONGC, Mumbai 1-0

Goal Scored - Tolgay Ozbey (EB) 84'
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Pune FC dw Mohun Bagan 1-1

Goal Scored - Arata Izumi (PFC) and Snehasish Chakraborty (MB) 33'
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Chirag United bt AIFF XI 2-1

Goal Scored - Elijah Junior (CU) 3' & 44' and Lalrindika Ralte (AIFF) 21'
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Air India l Mumbai FC 1-2

Goal Scored -Yusif Ibrahim (AI) 63' and Ezeh Henry (MFC) 65', Nicolas Rodrigues (MFC) 68'
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Viva Kerala l Salgaocar SC 0-3

Goal Scored - Ryuji Sueoka (SSC) 8' & 61', Anthony Barbosa (JCT) 45'
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JCT Phagwara l HAL, Banglore 0-1

Goal Scored - Xavier Vijay Kumar (HAL) 13'

Season 2010-11 started from today ... This time we need to see how our youngsters and bench strength is going to perform as our top-24 players r busy with their national duty.

On first day new comer HAL scored upset win over JCT in away match ... Chirag managed to hold young AIFF XI challenge ... Salgaocar and Mumbai FC had winning start ... Pune FC hold mighty Mohun Bagan in well deserving draw.

East Bengal needed late goal to beat newcomer ONGC ... In big local derby Dempo scored crucial goal in early of second half but late equalizer from Odafe Okolie ended on equal term.

Tennis News
At $10K Dominican Republic F2, Santo Domingo

[QF] (8) Yuki Bhambri (IND,512) l (1) Victor Estrella (DOM,221) 46 76(7) 16

I would have preferred more close score in third but good to see Yuki showed improvement from last week against this local top-225 player.

Tennis News
At $10K Dominican Republic F2, Santo Domingo

[R2] Rupesh Roy (IND,563) l (2) Matwe Middlekoop (NED,286) 57 16
[R2] (8) Yuki Bhambri (IND,512) bt (Q) Marcos Giron (USA,1335) 64 63

[QF] (8) Yuki Bhambri (IND,512) vs (1) Victor Estrella (DOM,221)

Doubles
[QF] Takanyi Garanganga (ZIM)/ Rupesh Roy (IND) l Piero Luisi (VEN)/ Roman Recarte (VEN) 46 46

Expected win for Yuki ... Rupesh also gave decent fight against top-300 player ... Yuki's next match against top225 Estrella ... Hoping much decent performance this time as last week he managed to win only 2 games against same opponent.

Tennis News
At $10K Dominican Republic F2, Santo Domingo

[R1] Rupesh Roy (IND,563) bt (Q) Sandro Ehrat (SUI,771) 64 36 63

[R2] Rupesh Roy (IND,563) v. (2) Matwe Middlekoop (NED,286)
[R2] (8)Yuki Bhambri (IND,512) v. (Q) Marcos Giron (USA,1335)

After 3 sets win in his first round Rupesh having tough match against top-300 second seed player.