Tennis News
At €416,650 Serbia Open 2011, Belgrade

[QF] Somdev Devvarman (IND,71) l (7) Janko Tipsarevic (SRB,36) 36 63 46

Janko started positively and immediately broke Sommy in 2nd game ... This one break was enough to Janko to won first set ... In second set Janko broke Sommy in first game but Sommy immediately broke him in next game to bring set on the serve ... Sommy take crucial break in 8th game breaking Janko's serve after the deuce ... And then Sommy hold comfortably to won second set ... In decider who take early break was going to be in driving seat ... Janko take early break in 4th game to take lead ... After that Sommy had a break point on Janko's serve but he failed to break it ... While serving for the match Janko was down 0-40, he saved 3 break points but Sommy converted fourth to bring the set on serve ... But while serving for the stay in the match Janko broke him to won this match in 2 hrs and 40 mins.

Overall Sommy showing improvement but in this match he failed to take advantage of Janko's second serve, whose first serve percentage was 36% in the first and third set ... Need to work on that.
-----------------------------------------------------------
At €450K Estoril Open, Portugal

[SF] (1) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (PAK) l (3) Eric Butorac (USA)/ Jean-Julien Rojer (AHO) 26 46

Getting walkover in quarters didn't help Rohan and Aisam ... They lost easily against third seeds in semis.
-----------------------------------------------------------
At €3.5M Madrid Open, Spain

[Q1] (8) Sania Mirza (IND,76) bt Alexandra Panova (RUS,136) 16 62 61

[Q2] (8) Sania Mirza (IND,76) vs Varvara Lepchenko (USA,82)

Sania wasted 3 break points in 3rd game and then lost her twice in 4th and 6th games to lose first set easily in 37 mins ... But from second set Sania started to find her range and she created 7 break point opportunities ... Sania converted 3 break points and lost her serve in 6th game to won this set convincingly ... In decider Sania played near perfect game on the clay ... She didn't face a single break point on her serve and broke Panova in 4th and 6th game to complete easy victory after losing first set.
-----------------------------------------------------------
At $10K India F5, Chennai

Singles Semi Finals
(Q) Patrik ROSENHOLM (SWE,1768) bt N. Vijay Sundar PRASHANTH (IND,611) 36 64 62
(2) Vishnu VARDHAN (IND,340) bt (4) Julien DUBAIL (BEL,451) 46 62 61

Doubles Final
PRASHANTH (IND)/ RAJAGOPALAN (IND) bt SIE (INA)/ SIRILUETHAIWATTANA (THA) 75 64

Damn, disappointing loss of Vijay Sundar against 1750 plus ranked Swedish qualifier ... He lost after winning first set ... Other hand Vishnu continued with his dream form to reach third final in three weeks and aiming for third Indian futures title in a row ... After losing first set he won next two sets comfortably against Dubail.

Vijay Sundar lifted doubles title with Arun-Prakash beating Thai-Indonesian pair.

Badminton News
At $200K Yonex – Sunrise India Open Superseries, New Delhi

[QF] (Q) Sourabh Verma (IND,230) l (1) Chong Wei Lee (MAS,1) 7-21 8-21
[QF] R.M.V Gurusai Datt (IND,52) l (8) Yun Hu (HKG,20) 10-21 16-21

Chong Wei Lee proved too strong for qualifier Sourabh Verma ... Gurusai also lost in straight games against Yun Hu, I was expecting more fighting performance from Guru. But still overall satisfying performance by these 2 young players in this first Indian superseries.

Tennis News
At €416,650 Serbia Open 2011, Belgrade

[R2] Somdev Devvarman (IND,71) bt (3) Guillermo Garcia-Lopez (ESP,26) 76(6) 26 76(8)

[QF] Somdev Devvarman (IND,71) vs (7) Janko Tipsarevic (SRB,36)

In first set Sommy faced 9 break points and saved 8 ... In 5th game Sommy saved 4 break points ... In 11th game Sommy saved 2 break points but Garcia-Lopez converted 3rd ... But while serving for the set Garcia-Lopez failed to hold his serve, Sommy converted 2nd break point ... In tie-break Sommy take early mini-break on 6th point but Garcia-Lopez take mini-break back in 12th point ... In end Sommy take crucial mini-break on 14th point to won first set after 1 hour 22 mins ... After losing first set Garcia-Lopez broke Sommy in 2nd and 4th games to lead 0-5 ... Sommy broke him in 7th game but again lost his serve in 8th game to lose second set ... In decider Sommy take early break in 3rd game but Garcia-Lopez immediately broke back in next game to make it 2-all ... After that they again exchanged a break before taking set into tie-break ... In tie-break Sommy was down with mini-break at 1-4 but after that he made strong comeback in tie-break ... He was leading till the end ... Wasted 3 match points before converting 4th to won match in 3 hours and 14 mins ... Very long match and this is the best win by Sommy on the clay ... Beating #26 ranked Spanish player against whom he lost 3 weeks back ... Next Sommy is facing local player Janko Tipsarevic, with whom Sommy having 1-1 record.
-----------------------------------------------------------
At $10K India F5, Chennai

Singles Quarter Finals
N. Vijay Sundar PRASHANTH (IND,611) bt (1) Karan RASTOGI (IND,318) 64 63
(Q) Patrik ROSENHOLM (SWE,1768) bt (5) Marc FORNELL-MESTRES (ESP,452) W/O
(4) Julien DUBAIL (BEL,451) bt Vivek SHOKEEN (IND,1168) 61 61
(2) Vishnu VARDHAN (IND,340) bt (7) Ranjeet VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND,554) 75 62

Doubles Semi Finals
SIE (INA)/ SIRILUETHAIWATTANA (THA) bt KEPLER (GER)/ NARASIMHAN (USA) 64 61
PRASHANTH (IND)/ RAJAGOPALAN (IND) bt (2) MITSUHASHI (JPN)/ RUNGKAT (INA) 75 64

Excellent win by Vijay Sundar over Karan, though disappointed for Karan but happy for Vijay Sundar ... Now he has good chance to move into the final ... Vishnu continued with his excellent form to moved into another semi-final.

Badminton News
At $200K Yonex – Sunrise India Open Superseries, New Delhi

[R2] (Q) Sourabh Verma (IND,230) bt (7) Kenichi Tago (JPN,24) 21-19 18-21 21-11
[R2] R.M.V Gurusai Datt (IND,52) bt Yuhan Tan (GER,76) 21-13 14-21 21-13
[R2] P Kashyap (IND,23) l (2) Taufik Hidayat (INA,2) 17-21 19-21

[R2] Attri Manu (IND)/ Jishnu Sanyal (IND) l (1) Kien Keat Koo (MAS)/ Boon Heong Tan (MAS) 9-21 14-21
[R2] (8) Rupesh Kumar (IND)/ Sanave Thomas (IND) l Yohanes Rendy Sugiarto (INA)/ Afiat Yuris Wirawan (INA) 19-21 12-21
[R2] Pradnya Gadre (IND)/ Jyotshna Polavarapu (IND) l (1) Miyuki Maeda (JPN)/ Satoko Suetsuna (JPN) 8-21 16-21
[R2] (8) Jwala Gutta (IND)/ Ashwini Ponnappa (IND) l Eei Hui Chin (MAS)/ Pei Tty Wong (MAS) 20-22 18-21
[R2] Pranav Chopra (IND)/ Prajakta Sawant (IND) l (7) Muhammad Rijal (INA)/ Debby Susanto (INA) 11-21 21-19 13-21
[R2] Akshay Dewalkar (IND)/ Pradnya Gadre (IND) l (5) Peng Soon Chan (MAS)/ Liu Ying Goh (MAS) 18-21 24-22 12-21

[QF] (Q) Sourabh Verma (IND,230) vs (1) Chong Wei Lee (MAS,1)
[QF] R.M.V Gurusai Datt (IND,52) vs (8) Yun Hu (HKG,20)

Sourabh Verma scored another upset win showing his first round win wasn't fluke, this time he defeated top-25 Japanese shuttler Kenichi Tago in 60 mins ... In the first game he was falling behind on points until he caught with Tago at 15-all ... He take 3 points lead at 19-16 to won the first game ... In the second game both were going neck to neck, Sourabh take 16-13 lead but Tago won next 7 points to won the second game ... In decider Sourabh take 6-0 early lead and kept pressure to won it easily ... In quarters he is having toughest challenge of WR #1 Malaysian Chong Wei Lee.

Surprisingly tough match for Gurusai against German player ... After winning first game he lost second before winning decider comfortably ... In quarters he is facing WR #20 Hong Kong player Yun Hu.

Our new mixed doubles pair gave tough fight to seeded pairs ... Kashyap also played respectable match against Hidayat.

But our seeded doubles pair lost in their first match after receiving bye in the first round.

Badminton News
At $200K Yonex – Sunrise India Open Superseries, New Delhi

[R1] Ajay Jayaram (IND,29) l (1) Chong Wei Lee (MAS,1) 19-21 18-21
[R1] (Q) Sourabh Verma (IND,230) bt Sony Dwi Kuncoro (INA,37) 21-18 21-19
[R1] R.M.V Gurusai Datt (IND,52) bt (4) Boonsak Ponsana (THA,5) 22-20 18-21 21-19
[R1] (Q) Sai Praneeth B. (IND,389) l Wing Ki Wong (HKG,28) 19-21 12-21
[R1] Anand Pawar (IND,40) l Sho Sasaki (JPN,19) 21-19 17-21 12-21
[R1] (Q) Prannoy H.S. (IND,352) l Wan Ho Shon (KOR,22) 14-21 12-21
[R1] Arvind Bhat (IND,43) l (6) Sung Hwan Park (KOR,10) 14-21 16-21
[R1] P Kashyap (IND,23) bt Michal Matejka (SVK,85) 21-7 21-15
[R1] (Q) Anup Sridhar (IND,119) l (2) Taufik Hidayat (INA,2) 13-21 5-21

[R1] (1) Saina Nehwal (IND,4) l Ai Goto (JPN,24) 17-21 19-21
[R1] Aditi Mutatkar (IND,85) l (4) Pui Yin Yip (HKG,11) 14-21 8-21
[R1] (Q) Trupti Murgunde (IND,118) l Aprilla Yuswandari (INA,38) 12-21 5-21
[R1] (Q) Sindhu Pusarla Venkata (IND,193) l (8) Salakjit Ponsana (THA,20) 19-21 20-22
[R1] (Q) Sayali Gokhale (IND,100) l Jiayuan Chen (SIN,53) 21-23 21-15 19-21

[R1] Gupta Manish (IND)/ Gaurav Venkat (IND) l Yoshiteru Hirobe (JPN)/ Kenta Kazuno (JPN) 6-21 9-21
[R1] Akshay Dewalkar (IND)/ Arun Vishnu (IND) l Patipat Chalardchaleam (THA)/ Nipitphon Puangpuapech (THA) 18-21 17-21
[R1] Pranav Chopra (IND)/ Tarun Kona (IND) l Yohanes Rendy Sugiarto (INA)/ Afiat Yuris Wirawan (INA) 17-21 16-21
[R1] S D S Krishna (IND)/ Vineeth Manuel (IND) l Ki Jung Kim (KOR)/ Sa Rang Kim (KOR) 10-21 7-21
[R1] Utsav Mishra (IND)/ Ravinder Singh (IND) l Mohd Zakry Abdul Latif (MAS)/ Thien How Hoon (MAS) 9-21 17-21
[R1] Sanjeeth S. (IND)/ Jagadish Yadav (IND) l Peng Soon Chan (MAS)/ Wee Kiong Tan (THA) 7-21 17-21

[R1] Meenakshi Nair (IND)/ Mohita Sahdev (IND) l Ye Na Jang (KOR)/ Min Seo Kim (KOR) 10-21 13-21
[R1] Thulasi P.C (IND)/ Siki Reddy (IND) l Eei Hui Chin (MAS)/ Pei Tty Wong (MAS) 7-21 11-21
[R1] Sanyogita Ghorpade (IND)/ Saili Rane (IND) l Sook Chin Chong (MAS)/ Liu Ying Goh (MAS) 21-19 13-21 12-21
[R1] Aparna Balan (IND)/ Prajakta Sawant (IND) l Kyung Eun Jung (KOR)/ Ha Na Kim (KOR) 13-21 9-21

[R1] Gaurav Venkat (IND)/ Juhi Dewangan (IND) l (7) Muhammad Rijal (INA)/ Debby Susanto (INA) 6-21 11-21
[R1] Pranav Chopra (IND)/ Prajakta Sawant (IND) bt Kenta Kazuno (JPN)/ Ayaka Takahashi (JPN) 21-14 21-18
[R1] Jishnu Sanyal (IND)/ Jyotshna Polavarapu (IND) l Gun Woo Cho (KOR)/ Min Seo Kim (KOR) 12-21 14-21
[R1] Arun Vishnu (IND)/ Aparna Balan (IND) l (8) Shintaro Ikeda (JPN)/ Reiko Shiota (JPN) 18-21 21-17 14-21
[R1] Prem Singh (IND)/ Niharika Saini (IND) l Wai Hong Wong (HKG)/ Hoi Wah Chau (HKG) 7-21 9-21
[R1] Akshay Dewalkar (IND)/ Pradnya Gadre (IND) bt Noriyasu Hirata (JPN)/ Miyuki Maeda (JPN) 21-17 21-17
[R1] Tarun Kona (IND)/ Ashwini Ponnappa (IND) l (5) Peng Soon Chan (MAS)/ Liu Ying Goh (MAS) 21-23 10-21

[R2] (Q) Sourabh Verma (IND,230) vs (7) Kenichi Tago (JPN,24)
[R2] R.M.V Gurusai Datt (IND,52) vs Yuhan Tan (GER,76)
[R2] P Kashyap (IND,23) vs (2) Taufik Hidayat (INA,2)

[R2] Attri Manu (IND)/ Jishnu Sanyal (IND) vs (1) Kien Keat Koo (MAS)/ Boon Heong Tan (MAS)
[R2] (8) Rupesh Kumar (IND)/ Sanave Thomas (IND) vs Yohanes Rendy Sugiarto (INA)/ Afiat Yuris Wirawan (INA)
[R2] Pradnya Gadre (IND)/ Jyotshna Polavarapu (IND) vs (1) Miyuki Maeda (JPN)/ Satoko Suetsuna (JPN)
[R2] (8) Jwala Gutta (IND)/ Ashwini Ponnappa (IND) vs Eei Hui Chin (MAS)/ Pei Tty Wong (MAS)
[R2] Pranav Chopra (IND)/ Prajakta Sawant (IND) vs (7) Muhammad Rijal (INA)/ Debby Susanto (INA)
[R2] Akshay Dewalkar (IND)/ Pradnya Gadre (IND) vs (5) Peng Soon Chan (MAS)/ Liu Ying Goh (MAS)

Young Gurusai scored his first win over top 5 player ... He scored well fought win over WR #5 Thai Boonsak Ponsana in 63 mins ... After winning first game in extra points he lost second game when he lost 10 pts in a row when he was leading 12-7 ... But in decider he take control of the game from 5-all and was leading 20-14 ... Boonsak saved 5 match points but Guru converted 6th match point to score memorable victory.

Sourabh Verma scored biggest victory of his small career ... He defeated top-40 experienced Indonasian player, who was almost 200 places above him in straight games ... Kashyap scored expected victory over Matejka.

Ajay Jayaram played respectable match against WR #1 Chong Wei Lee ... Other hand WR #2 Taufik Hidayat toyed with Anup Sridhar ... Sayali Gokhale had opportunity to beat Jiayuan Chen ... She was leading 18-12 and had 2 game points in the first game before losing it ... Sayali won second game easily but lost close decider to lose this match ... P.V. Sindhu also played close match against top-20 Thai player.

In mixed doubles our 2 new pairs scored upset win over Japanese pairs.

But in the last match of the day big disappointed was waiting ... Top-seed and WR #4 Saina lost against Ai Goto in straight games ... In the first game Saina was leading early but Ai take control from 10-all and won this game ... In the second game again Saina was in control and was leading 19-16 but lost next 5 points to lose this match ... I m very disappointing by Saina though she was coming from knee injury ... This was winnable match but in end she messed up.

Tennis News
At €416,650 Serbia Open 2011, Belgrade

[R1] Somdev Devvarman (IND)/ Treat Conrad Huey (PHI) l (2) Jonathan Erlich (ISR)/ Andy Ram (ISR) 36 62 1-10

In first set Sommy failed to hold his serve in 8th game and with that single break they lost the set ... In second set they had couple of breaks to won it comfortably but in super tie-break they out performed by Israeli pair.
-----------------------------------------------------------
At $50K Ostrava Challenger, Czech Republic

[R1] (4) Purav Raja (IND)/ Sadik Kadir (AUS) l Andis Juska (LAT)/ Alexander Kudryavtsev (RUS) 46 16

Purav and Sadik's first partnership of the year ended on losing note.
-----------------------------------------------------------
At $10K India F5, Chennai

Singles Second Round
(1) Karan RASTOGI (IND,318) bt (WC) Vijay KANNAN (IND,UNR) 60 61
N. Vijay Sundar PRASHANTH (IND,611) bt (8) Christopher RUNGKAT (INA,601) 64 62
(Q) Patrik ROSENHOLM (SWE,1768) bt (Q) Vignesh PERANAMALLUR (IND,1275) 62 62
(5) Marc FORNELL-MESTRES (ESP,452) bt (WC) Srirambalaji NARAYANASWAMY (IND,1427) 36 76(3) 60
Vivek SHOKEEN (IND,1168) bt (WC) Neeraj ELANGOVAN (IND,UNR) 60 62
(4) Julien DUBAIL (BEL,451) bt (Q) Suresh KRISHNA (IND,UNR) 63 64
(7) Ranjeet VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND,554) bt Junn MITSUHASHI (JPN,726) 63 3-0 Retd.
(2) Vishnu VARDHAN (IND,340) bt (Q) Jeson PATROMBON (PHI,UNR) 64 63

Doubles Quarter Finals
SIE (INA)/ SIRILUETHAIWATTANA (THA) bt (1) FORNELL-MESTRES (ESP)/ VERMEER (LUX) 26 75 10-6
KEPLER (GER)/ NARASIMHAN (USA) bt (4) AN (KOR)/ KIM (KOR) W/O
PRASHANTH (IND)/ RAJAGOPALAN (IND) bt MALIK (IND)/ SHARMA (IND) 62 26 10-8
(2) MITSUHASHI (JPN)/ RUNGKAT (INA) bt KADHE (IND)/ PATROMBON (PHI) 64 36 10-8

Our 5 players r in quarters ... Vijay Sundar scored upset win over similar ranked Rungkat ... Vivek handled Neeraj easily ... Vishnu continued with good form but Karan looks in good form as he lost only 2 games in 2 matches, his real test will start from quarters ... Srirambalaji again failed to take advantage of good start.

Tennis News
At €416,650 Serbia Open 2011, Belgrade

[R1] Somdev Devvarman (IND,71) bt Mikhail Kukushkin (KAZ,65) 16 64 62

[R2] Somdev Devvarman (IND,71) vs (3) Guillermo Garcia-Lopez (ESP,26)

In the first set Sommy missed break point chances in third game and then lost his serve in 4th and 6th games to lose this set ... In the second set they traded breaks regularly from 2nd game ... Sommy break him in 2nd and 4th game, other hand Kukushkin broke Sommy in 3rd and 5th games ... Sommy again broke him 8th game but lost his serve while serving for the set ... In 10th game Sommy take crucial break to won second set ... In decider suddenly both players started to hold serve ... Sommy take break converting 2nd break point in 6th game to lead 4-2 ... After this break Sommy was controlling the points and take another break in 8th game to complete the victory.

Superb turnaround by Sommy after losing first set ... He struggled in the second but managed to take crucial break in 10th and in decider he take control after 2-all to gave winning start to his European clay court season ... Tough second round match as he already lost him at Houston but lets hope for the best.
-----------------------------------------------------------
At €450K Estoril Open, Portugal

[R1] (1) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (PAK) bt Scott Lipsky (USA)/ Travis Rettenmaier (USA) 76(1) 64

[QF] (1) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (PAK) bt Pablo Andujar (ESP)/ Daniel Gimeno-Traver (ESP) W/O

Good start with tight sets victory over American pair ... In the quarters they received walkover from Spanish pair and now they r in the semis.
-----------------------------------------------------------
At $50K Ostrava Challenger, Czech Republic

[R1] (4) Purav Raja (IND)/ Sadik Kadir (AUS) vs Andis Juska (LAT)/ Alexander Kudryavtsev (RUS)

First time in 2011 season Purav is partnering his old partner Sadik, with whom he had lot of success last year, in Ostrava Challenger ... They r 4th seeds.

Badminton News
At $200K Yonex – Sunrise India Open Superseries, New Delhi

[R1] Ajay Jayaram (IND,29) vs (1) Chong Wei Lee (MAS,1)
[R1] (Q) Sourabh Verma (IND,230) vs Sony Dwi Kuncoro (INA,37)
[R1] R.M.V Gurusai Datt (IND,52) vs (4) Boonsak Ponsana (THA,5)
[R1] (Q) Sai Praneeth B. (IND,389) vs Wing Ki Wong (HKG,28)
[R1] Anand Pawar (IND,40) vs Sho Sasaki (JPN,19)
[R1] (Q) Prannoy H.S. (IND,352) vs Wan Ho Shon (KOR,22)
[R1] Arvind Bhat (IND,43) vs (6) Sung Hwan Park (KOR,10)
[R1] P Kashyap (IND,23) vs Michal Matejka (SVK,85)
[R1] (Q) Anup Sridhar (IND,119) vs (2) Taufik Hidayat (INA,2)
[R1] (1) Saina Nehwal (IND,) vs Ai Goto (JPN,24)
[R1] Aditi Mutatkar (IND,85) vs (4) Pui Yin Yip (HKG,11)
[R1] (Q) Trupti Murgunde (IND,118) vs Aprilla Yuswandari (INA,38)
[R1] (Q) Sindhu Pusarla Venkata (IND,193) vs (8) Salakjit Ponsana (THA,20)
[R1] (Q) Sayali Gokhale (IND,100) vs Jiayuan Chen (SIN,53)

[R1] Attri Manu (IND)/ Jishnu Sanyal (IND) bye
[R1] Gupta Manish (IND)/ Gaurav Venkat (IND) vs Yoshiteru Hirobe (JPN)/ Kenta Kazuno (JPN)
[R1] Akshay Dewalkar (IND)/ Arun Vishnu (IND) vs Patipat Chalardchaleam (THA)/ Nipitphon Puangpuapech (THA)
[R1] (8) Rupesh Kumar (IND)/ Sanave Thomas (IND) bye
[R1] Pranav Chopra (IND)/ Tarun Kona (IND) vs Yohanes Rendy Sugiarto (INA)/ Afiat Yuris Wirawan (INA)
[R1] S D S Krishna (IND)/ Vineeth Manuel (IND) vs Ki Jung Kim (KOR)/ Sa Rang Kim (KOR)
[R1] Utsav Mishra (IND)/ Ravinder Singh (IND) vs Mohd Zakry Abdul Latif (MAS)/ Thien How Hoon (MAS)
[R1] Sanjeeth S. (IND)/ Jagadish Yadav (IND) vs Peng Soon Chan (MAS)/ Wee Kiong Tan (THA)

[R1] Pradnya Gadre (IND)/ Jyotshna Polavarapu (IND) bye
[R1] Meenakshi Nair (IND)/ Mohita Sahdev (IND) vs Ye Na Jang (KOR)/ Min Seo Kim (KOR)
[R1] (8) Jwala Gutta (IND)/ Ashwini Ponnappa (IND) bye
[R1] Thulasi P.C (IND)/ Siki Reddy (IND) vs Eei Hui Chin (MAS)/ Pei Tty Wong (MAS)
[R1] Sanyogita Ghorpade (IND)/ Saili Rane (IND) vs Sook Chin Chong (MAS)/ Liu Ying Goh (MAS)
[R1] Aparna Balan (IND)/ Prajakta Sawant (IND) vs Kyung Eun Jung (KOR)/ Ha Na Kim (KOR)

[R1] Gaurav Venkat (IND)/ Juhi Dewangan (IND) vs (7) Muhammad Rijal (INA)/ Debby Susanto (INA)
[R1] Pranav Chopra (IND)/ Prajakta Sawant (IND) vs Kenta Kazuno (JPN)/ Ayaka Takahashi (JPN)
[R1] Jishnu Sanyal (IND)/ Jyotshna Polavarapu (IND) vs Gun Woo Cho (KOR)/ Min Seo Kim (KOR)
[R1] Arun Vishnu (IND)/ Aparna Balan (IND) vs (8) Shintaro Ikeda (JPN)/ Reiko Shiota (JPN)
[R1] Prem Singh (IND)/ Niharika Saini (IND) vs Wai Hong Wong (HKG)/ Hoi Wah Chau (HKG)
[R1] Akshay Dewalkar (IND)/ Pradnya Gadre (IND) vs Noriyasu Hirata (JPN)/ Miyuki Maeda (JPN)
[R1] Tarun Kona (IND)/ Ashwini Ponnappa (IND) vs (5) Peng Soon Chan (MAS)/ Liu Ying Goh (MAS)

[R2] Attri Manu (IND)/ Jishnu Sanyal (IND) vs (1) Kien Keat Koo (MAS)/ Boon Heong Tan (MAS)
[R2] Pradnya Gadre (IND)/ Jyotshna Polavarapu (IND) vs (1) Miyuki Maeda (JPN)/ Satoko Suetsuna (JPN)

First Indian open Superseries started from today ... Our men take all 4 qualifier places in main-draw ... In women side we take 3 out of 4 qualifier places.

But in singles our all players having cruel draw ... Only Saina and Kashyap having realistic chance to moved into second round.

Poor entries in doubles and MXD ... Jwala and Diju were 6th seed in MXD but they withdrew due to Diju's back injury.

Tennis News
At $10K India F5, Chennai

Singles First Round
(1) Karan RASTOGI (IND,318) bt (Q) Shantanu RAJPUT (IND,UNR) 60 61
(WC) Vijay KANNAN (IND,UNR) bt Perakiat SIRILUETHAIWATTANA (THA,1002) 64 61
N. Vijay Sundar PRASHANTH (IND,611) bt Mark-Alexander KEPLER (GER,874) 67(3) 62 60
(8) Christopher RUNGKAT (INA,601) bt Vijayant MALIK (IND,756) 76(4) 64
(Q) Patrik ROSENHOLM (SWE,1768) bt (3) Young-Jun KIM (KOR,356) 64 61
(Q) Vignesh PERANAMALLUR (IND,1275) bt Rupesh ROY (IND,731) 63 61
(WC) Srirambalaji NARAYANASWAMY (IND,1427) bt (Q) Arjun KADHE (IND,UNR) 62 62
(5) Marc FORNELL-MESTRES (ESP,452) bt Kaza Vinayak SHARMA (IND,881) 60 46 63
Vivek SHOKEEN (IND,1168) bt (6) Kittiphong WACHIRAMANOWONG (THA,512) 64 64
(WC) Neeraj ELANGOVAN (IND,UNR) bt (Q) Francois CHATELLE (BEL,UNR) 76(2) 63
(Q) Suresh KRISHNA (IND,UNR) bt (WC) Akash WAGH (IND,1404) 62 16 76(12)
(4) Julien DUBAIL (BEL,451) bt Jae-Sung AN (KOR,652) 61 62
(7) Ranjeet VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND,554) bt Suk-Young JEONG (KOR,632) 63 61
Junn MITSUHASHI (JPN,726) bt Elbert SIE (INA,1046) 67(1) 76(3) 63
(Q) Jeson PATROMBON (PHI,UNR) bt (Q) Ajai SELVARAJ (IND,UNR) 57 76(2) 60
(2) Vishnu VARDHAN (IND,340) bt Mike VERMEER (LUX,987) 62 63

Doubles First Round
(1) FORNELL-MESTRES (ESP)/ VERMEER (LUX) bt CHATELLE (BEL)/ DUBAIL (BEL) 62 64
SIE (INA)/ SIRILUETHAIWATTANA (THA) bt KANNAN (IND)/ SELVARAJ (IND) 76(8) 60
(4) AN (KOR)/ KIM (KOR) bt NARAYANASWAMY (IND)/ PERANAMALLUR (IND) 62 63
KEPLER (GER)/ NARASIMHAN (USA) bt BALAJEE (IND)/ PARTHASARATHY (IND) 46 63 10-6
MALIK (IND)/ SHARMA (IND) bt KRISHNA (IND)/ MANUJA (IND) 64 62
PRASHANTH (IND)/ RAJAGOPALAN (IND) bt (3) ROY (IND)/ SHOKEEN (IND) 26 63 10-6
KADHE (IND)/ PATROMBON (PHI) bt DAXHELET (BEL)/ WAGH (IND) 64 36 10-7
(2) MITSUHASHI (JPN)/ RUNGKAT (INA) bt ANTONY (IND)/ ELANGOVAN (IND) 62 61

Good dominating win by Ranjeet against Korean ... Both Vijay had winning start in contrasting style, veteran Kannan had comfortable outing ... Kaza Vinayak managed to win a set against seeded German after losing first set 0-6.

Superb straight sets upset win by Vivek over top 500 type Thai player ... Also good fighting win by Suresh Krishna and Neeraj to earned their first ranking point ... Vignesh also scored upset win over Rupesh.

Shooting News
At ISSF Shotgun World Cup Beijing 2011, China

Doubles Trap Men - Final Result
Gold - William Chetcuti (MLT) (141+44 ) 185 pts.
Silver - Ronjan Sodhi (IND) (142 + 41) 183 pts
Bronze - Jun Li (CHN) (140 + 42) 182 pts

Ronjan Sodhi won silver medal in ongoing ISSF Shotgun World Cup at Beijing to secure the quota for 2012 London Olympics in double trap ... Ronjan became fourth Indian shooter to get the quota for olympics after Gagan Narang, Hariom Singh and Shantany Rajput.

Rojan had opportunity to won gold medal as he qualified for the final on the second placewas in second place going into the final ... He was leading by 4 points till tmidway of the final but after that he started to miss too many shots ... However he recovered in the final stage to grab second place as quota was available only for top 2.

Tennis News
At €416,650 Serbia Open 2011, Belgrade

[R1] Somdev Devvarman (IND,71) vs Mikhail Kukushkin (KAZ,65)

Doubles
[R1] Somdev Devvarman (IND)/ Treat Conrad Huey (PHI) vs (2) Jonathan Erlich (ISR)/ Andy Ram (ISR)

Somdev is starting his European clay season with Serbia Open ... In first round he is facing Kazak player and if wins then he will face Spanish 3rd seed Garcia-Lopez.

In doubles Sommy and Treat r facing 2nd seed tough Israeli pair.
-----------------------------------------------------------
At €450K Estoril Open, Portugal

[R1] (1) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (PAK) vs Scott Lipsky (USA)/ Travis Rettenmaier (USA)

In first round top-seed Rohan and Aisam r facing American challenge.
-----------------------------------------------------------
At $10K India F5, Chennai

Singles First Round
(1) Karan RASTOGI (IND) vs (Q) Shantanu RAJPUT (IND)
(WC) Vijay KANNAN (IND) vs Perakiat SIRILUETHAIWATTANA (THA)
N. Vijay Sundar PRASHANTH (IND) vs Mark-Alexander KEPLER (GER)
(8) Christopher RUNGKAT (INA) vs Vijayant MALIK (IND)
(3) Young-Jun KIM (KOR) vs (Q) Patrik ROSENHOLM (SWE)
Rupesh ROY (IND) vs (Q) Vignesh PERANAMALLUR (IND)
(WC) Srirambalaji NARAYANASWAMY (IND) vs (Q) Arjun KADHE (IND)
(5) Marc FORNELL-MESTRES (ESP) vs Kaza Vinayak SHARMA (IND)
(6) Kittiphong WACHIRAMANOWONG (THA) vs Vivek SHOKEEN (IND)
(Q) Francois CHATELLE (BEL) vs (WC) Neeraj ELANGOVAN (IND)
(Q) Suresh KRISHNA (IND) vs (WC) Akash WAGH (IND)
(4) Julien DUBAIL (BEL) vs Jae-Sung AN (KOR)
(7) Ranjeet VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND) vs Suk-Young JEONG (KOR)
Junn MITSUHASHI (JPN) vs Elbert SIE (INA)
(Q) Ajai SELVARAJ (IND) vs (Q) Jeson PATROMBON (PHI)
(2) Vishnu VARDHAN (IND) vs Mike VERMEER (LUX)

Terrific win by young Arjun over top-seed Belgian Laurent-Olivier Daxhelet to qualify for main-draw, 76(8) 64 ... He need to play his best tennis to beat Srirambalaji in the first round ... Also interesting match is between Akash and current grass court national champion Suresh Krishna.

Tough draw for Vjayant Malik, Kaza Vinayak Sharma and Vivek Shokeen.

Football News

As expected Bob Houghton resigned from his post as the Head Coach of the Indian Football Team and AIFF agrees ... Bob Houghton coached Indian side for 5 yrs and we definitely make progress under him though it is not visible in FIFA ranking ... Thanks you Mr. Houghton for ur help to Indian football.
----------------------------------------------------
At I-League 2010-11, India - Round XXIII

Mumbai FC dw Chirag United SC 0-0
-----------------------------------------

Mohun Bagan l ONGC, Mumbai 1-2

Goal Scored - Surkumar Singh (MB) 3' and Kailash Patil (ONGC) 78' and 84'
-----------------------------------------

JCT Mills FC bt Indian Arrows 2-0

Goal Scored - Keke Keke (JCT) 70', Sakatar Singh (JCT) 90'
-----------------------------------------

HAL, Bangalore l Pune FC 1-2

Goal Scored - R.C. Prakash (HAL) 62' and Lester Fernandes (PFC) 44', Mandjou Keita (PFC) 52'
------------------------------------------

Salgaocar SC l Dempo SC 1-3

Goal Scored - Yusif Yakubu (SSC) 31' and Climax Lawrence (DSC) 4', Ranty Martins (DSC) 43', Roberto Silva (DSC) 85'
-----------------------------------------

Air India FC dw Churchill Brothers SC 2-2

Goal Scored - Okorogor Praise (AI) 15' and 90+' and Odafe Onyeka Okolie (CB) 17', Jeevan Balan (CB) 48'
-----------------------------------------

East Bengal bt Viva Kerala 3-0

Goal Scored - Syed Rahim Nabi (EB) 18', Penn Orji (EB) 20', Sushil Kumar Singh (EB) 41'

East Bengal came back to winning ways against Viva scoring comfortable win.

Dempo defeated leader Salgaocar and now this is a three-way race for the title as top 3 teams r in 2 pts difference ... Airmen hold Churchill as Praise scored equalizer in injury time.

Oilmen scored big upset win over Bagan with late brace from Kailash Patil ... JCT scored a win over young Indian Arrows ... Pune FC scored their first victory over HAL.

Tennis News
At $10K India F4, Noida

Singles Final
(3) Vishnu Vardhan (IND,369) bt (4) Young-Jun Kim (KOR,407) 75 36 76(13)

Awesome hard fought victory ... Vishnu won first set in 12th game but lost second set to Kim ... Superb fightback after losing second set ... In decider Vishnu must saved few match points before winning loooong tie-break ... Congrats Vishnu for his back to back futures titles ... Vishnu lost against Kim in a futures final in Delhi in 2009 so excellent revenge for him.

Tennis News
At $10K India F4, Noida

Singles Semi Finals
(4) Young-Jun Kim (KOR,407) bt (1) Danai Udomchoke (THA,277) 61 62
(3) Vishnu Vardhan (IND,369) bt (2) Karan Rastogi (IND,322) 67(5) 61 76(4)

Doubles Final
(3) Christopher Rungkat (INA)/ Kittiphong Wachiramanowong (THA) bt (4) Danai Udomchoke (THA)/ Junn Mitsuhashi (JPN) 67(1) 63 10-6

Vishnu scored superb hard fought win over Karan in entertaining match ... After losing first set in tie-break Vishnu fight back winning second easily and won third set despite Karan's valiant efforts ... Though Karan lost in this match still he will be happy with his efforts against in-form player.

Tennis News
At €2 Barcelona Open, Spain

[R2] (6) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (PAK) l (WC) Pablo Andujar (ESP)/ Daniel Gimeno-Traver (ESP) 26 67(3)

This week Rohan and Aisam lost in second round of Barcelona open against local wildcard pair.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
At $10K India F4, Noida

Singles Quarter Finals
(1) Danai Udomchoke (THA,277) bt Vijayant Malik (IND,777) 62 61
(4) Young-Jun Kim (KOR,407) bt Ranjeet Virali Murugesan (IND,556) 76(6) 60
(3) Vishnu Vardhan (IND,369) bt Hsin-Han Lee (TPE,708) 46 61 62
(2) Karan Rastogi (IND,322) bt (6) Julien Dubail (BEL,464) 46 64 76(2)

Doubles Semi Finals
(3) Christopher Rungkat (INA)/ Kittiphong Wachiramanowong (THA) Srirambalaji Narayanaswami (IND)/ Ashutosh Singh (IND) 36 63 10-6
(4) Danai Udomchoke (THA)/ Junn Mitsuhashi (JPN) Marc Fornell-Mestres (ESP)/ Mike Vermeer (LUX) 76(4) 46 10-8

Good win by Vishnu and Karan ... Importantly Karan needed such fighting win for his confidence ... Though Vishnu is in good form still I m backing Karan for the win in the semi.

Tennis News
At $10K India F4, Noida

Singles Second Round
(1) Danai Udomchoke (THA,277) bt Jae-Sung An (KOR,659) 60 26 64
Vijayant Malik (IND,777) bt (7) Marc Fornell-Mestres (ESP,471) 61 1-0 Retd
(4) Young-Jun Kim (KOR,407) bt Junn Mitsuhashi (JPN,645) 64 60
Ranjeet Virali Murugesan (IND,556) bt (LL) Mark-Alexander Kepler (GER,895) 62 46 63

Hsin-Han Lee (TPE,708) bt (Q) Kaza Vinayak Sharma (IND,907) 64 76(6)
(3) Vishnu Vardhan (IND,369) bt Kittiphong Wachiramanowong (THA,523) 61 63
(6) Julien Dubail (BEL,464) bt (LL) Laurent-Olivier Daxhelet (BEL,1314) 57 63 75
(2) Karan Rastogi (IND,322) bt Rupesh Roy (IND,753) 76(3) 64

Doubles Qurter Finals
Srirambalaji Narayanaswami (IND)/ Ashutosh Singh (IND) bt Vijayant Malik (IND)/ Sunil-Kumar Sipaeya (IND) 63 36 10-8
(3) Christopher Rungkat (INA)/ Kittiphong Wachiramanowong (THA) bt Rupesh Roy (IND)/ Vivek Shokeen (IND) 36 63 10-4

(4) Danai Udomchoke (THA)/ Junn Mitsuhashi (JPN) bt Vignesh Peranamallur (IND)/ N Vijay Sundar Prasanth (IND) 76(4) 62
Marc Fornell-Mestres (ESP)/ Mike Vermeer (LUX) bt (2) Hsin-Han Lee (TPE)/ Bumpei Sato (JPN) 63 76(5)

Though Vijayant Malik got walkover in second set still he won first set against top-475 Spanish player very comfortably ... Ranjeet also moved to quarters in 3 sets with seeded players Vishnu and Karan.

In doubles our only one pair managed to reach in the semis.

Tennis News
At €2 Barcelona Open, Spain

[R1] (6) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (PAK) bye

After receiving bye in the first round ... Rohan and Aisam will face Spanish pair in second round, winner between Guillermo Garcia-Lopez/ Albert Montanes and Pablo Andujar/ Daniel Gimeno-Traver ... Our pair is in same draw of Bryans.
-----------------------------------------------------------
At $10K India F4, Noida

Singles First Round
(1) Danai Udomchoke (THA,277) bt N Vijay Sundar Prasanth (IND,613) 36 63 76(2)
Jae-Sung An (KOR,659) bt (WC) Vaja Uzahov (UZB,969) 46 75 63
Vijayant Malik (IND,777) bt (WC) Rishabdev Raman (IND,UNR) 62 63
(7) Marc Fornell-Mestres (ESP,471) bt (Q) Sunil-Kumar Sipaeya (IND,1534) 62 75

(4) Young-Jun Kim (KOR,407) bt Suk-Young Jeong (KOR,617) 75 63
Junn Mitsuhashi (JPN,645) bt Christopher Rungkat (INA,616) 61 76(5)
Ranjeet Virali Murugesan (IND,556) bt (Q) Perakiat Siriluethaiwattana (THA,1005) 75 63
(LL) Mark-Alexander Kepler (GER,895) bt (WC) Lakshit Sood (IND,UNR) 63 62

Hsin-Han Lee (TPE,708) bt (8) Murad Inoyatov (UZB,478) 63 64
(Q) Kaza Vinayak Sharma (IND,907) bt (Q) Elbert Sie (INA,1087) 64 76(7)
Kittiphong Wachiramanowong (THA,523) bt (Q) Vivek Shokeen (IND,1164) 36 76(4) 64
(3) Vishnu Vardhan (IND,369) bt (WC) Chandril Sood (IND,1447) 64 76(0)

(6) Julien Dubail (BEL,464) bt (Q) Patrik Rosenholm (SWE,1768) 46 62 62
(LL) Laurent-Olivier Daxhelet (BEL,1314) bt (Q) Vignesh Peranamallur (IND,1437) 26 64 64
Rupesh Roy (IND,753) bt (LL) Srirambalaji Narayanaswami (IND,1428) 75 46 64
(2) Karan Rastogi (IND,322) bt (Q) Akash Wagh (IND,1384) 64 76(1)

Doubles First Round
Srirambalaji Narayanaswami (IND)/ Ashutosh Singh (IND) bt (ALT) Dmitriy Borodkin (KAZ)/ Murad Inoyatov (UZB) 63 60
Vijayant Malik (IND)/ Sunil-Kumar Sipaeya (IND) bt Laurent-Olivie Daxhelet (BEL)/ Julien Dubail (BEL) 61 75
(3) Christopher Rungkat (INA)/ Kittiphong Wachiramanowong (THA) bt (WC) Sidharth Rawat (IND)/ Deepak Vishavkarma (IND) 63 62
Rupesh Roy (IND)/ Vivek Shokeen (IND) bt Kaza Vinayak Sharma (IND)/ Akash Wagh (IND) 67(2) 63 10-5

Vignesh Peranamallur (IND)/ N Vijay Sundar Prasanth (IND) bt (WC) Chandril Sood (IND)/ Lakshit Sood (IND) 64 64
(4) Danai Udomchoke (THA)/ Junn Mitsuhashi (JPN) bt Suk-Young Jeong (KOR)/ Fumiaki Kita (JPN) 63 64
Marc Fornell-Mestres (ESP)/ Mike Vermeer (LUX) bt Elbert Sie (INA)/ Perakiat Siriluethaiwattana (THA) 64 16 10-7
(2) Hsin-Han Lee (TPE)/ Bumpei Sato (JPN) bt Jae-Sung An (KOR)/ Young-Jun Kim (KOR) 62 76(1)

Sunil, Akash and Kaza Vinayak qualified for maindraw with impressive wins ... But wasn't so kind draw for our unseeded players ... Still happy to see this tough futures in India.

Yuki withdrew due to ankle injury from this futures ... So all expected wins for Indian players, nobody able to produced upset.

In doubles top-seeds Vishnu and Divij decided to skip this week's futures.

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

Pune FC bt East Bengal 2-1

Goal Scored - Mandjou Keita (PFC) 31', Shanmugham Venkatesh (PFC) 63'and Uga Okpara (EB) 17'
-----------------------------------------

Churchill Brothers SC l Salgaocar SC 1-2

Goal Scored - Odafe Onyeka Okolie (CB) 40' and Francis Fernandes (SSC) 37', Ryuji Sueoka (SSC) 45'
-----------------------------------------

HAL, Bangalore l Air India FC 1-3

Goal Scored - R.C.Prakash (HAL) 90'P and Okorogor Praise (AI) 39' and 69', Soccor Velho (AI) 62'
-----------------------------------------

ONGC, Mumbai bt JCT Mills FC 2-1

Goal Scored - Badmus Babatunde (ONGC) 54' and 90+' and Ajay Singh (JCT) 40'
------------------------------------------

Chirag United SC dw Mohun Bagan 1-1

Goal Scored - Sunil Chhetri (CU) 31'P and Muritala Ali (MB) 80'
-----------------------------------------

Dempo SC bt Indian Arrows 5-2

Goal Scored - Rouhollah Samieinia (DSC) 5' Roberto Mendes Silva (DSC)29'P and 85', Ranty Martins (DSC) 45' and 61' and Shilton D'Silva (IAR) 9', Jeje Lalpekhlua (IAR) 76'P
-----------------------------------------

Viva Kerala bt Mumbai FC 1-0

Goal Scored - Felix Chimaokwu Felix (VK) 36'

Dempo scored thumping win over young Indian Arrows ... Mohun Bagan shared a point with Chirag after late equalizer from Muritala Ali ... Viva continued with their impressive run and scored important win against Mumbai FC.

Salgaocar won local derby in well fought match against Churchill ... Airmen scored needed away victory against HAL ... ONGC scored victory over JCT when Badmus Babatunde scored winner in dying moments.

Pune FC scored their biggest win of this season I-League beating top-3 team ... They scored hard fought comeback win over East Bengal.

Tennis News
At €2.75M Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters, Monaco

[SF] (6) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (PAK) l Juan Ignacio Chela (ARG)/ Bruno Soares (BRA) 26 76(4) 7-10

Rohan and Aisam struggled against clay court specialists ... After losing first set easily they were up with early break in second game of Bruno Soares's service game ... They were up 3-0, 4-1, 5-2 but again while serving for the set at 5-3 Rohan failed to hold his serve ... Rohan and Aisam managed to win tie-break to take set into STB ... In STB South American take control and didn't give chance to our pair for any fightback.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
At $10K India F3, Chandigarh

Singles Final
(1) Vishnu Vardhan (IND) bt (2) Yuki Bhambri (IND) 46 75 63

Vishnu's powerful serving and match sharpness proved crucial in the final ... Yuki got walkover in last 2 matches, other hand Vishnu scored straight sets victory over solid opponents ... Yuki won first set but from second set Vishnu take control of the match ... He won set with crucial break and on big serve ... In the decider Vishnu dominated and forced unforced errors from Yuki to won match ... So Vishnu won double crown at this Chandigarh futures.


This title win will rise Vishnu's ranking inside top-350 and Yuki will re-enter into top-400.

Tennis News
At €2.75M Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters, Monaco

[QF] (6) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (PAK) bt (2) Max Mirnyi (BLR)/ Daniel Nestor (CAN) 61 75

[SF] (6) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (PAK) vs Juan Ignacio Chela (ARG)/ Bruno Soares (BRA)

Rohan and Aisam scored huge win over WR #2 pair of Mirnyi and Nestor to moved into their first semis at Monte-Carlo Masters ... In the first set after 1-all they broke Nestor in 4th game and Mirnyi in 6th game to won it comfortably ... In the second set they broke Mirnyi in 3rd game but lost Aisam's serve in next game ... Again they broke Mirnyi 7th game but Rohan lost his serve in 10th game while serving for the match, 5-all ... Third time they broke Mirnyi in 11th game and then Aisam hold his serve to complete the victory ... In semis they r facing clay-court specialist South American pair Chela and Soares.
-----------------------------------------------------------
At $10K India F3, Chandigarh

Singles Semi Final
(1) Vishnu Vardhan (IND) bt (3) Julien Dubail (BEL) 64 64

[F] (2) Yuki Bhambri (IND) vs (1) Vishnu Vardhan (IND)

Doubles Final
(1) Divij Sharan (IND)/ Vishnu Vardhan (IND) bt (2) Hsin-Han Lee (TPE)/ Bumpei Sato (JPN) 64 46 10-7

Good to see Vishnu moved into the final with straight sets win over Belgian opponent ... Happy that our top 2 seeds r in singles final.

Vishnu and Divij won doubles title ... After winning first set they lost second set on similar score but proved strong in STB to win another doubles title.

Billiards News
At 2011 Asian Billiards and U-21 Snooker, Kish Island, Iran

Final
Alok Kumar (IND) bt Praput Chaithanasakun (THA) 6-0 (101(93)-02, 101(84)-02, 100(85)-06, 100(40)-72, 101(73)-18, 101(76*)-57)

Semi Finals
Alok Kumar (IND) bt Peter Gilchrist (SIN) 5-2 (102(67)-71(62), 101-87, 100(100)-0, 14-102(77), 102(98)-34, 00-101(83), 100(72)-13)

Quarter Finals
Alok Kumar (IND) bt Pankaj Advani (IND) 4-3
Dhruv Sitwala (IND) l Peter Gilchrist (SIN) 2-4
Geet Sethi (IND) l Praput Chaithanasakun (THA) 3-4

Alok Kumar easily defeated Thai Praput Chaithanasukan 6-0 to win the Asian Billiards title and take revenge of losing against Praput in group stage ... With this win Alok become the 1st player to achieve the rare feat of winning both the Billiards and Snooker Asian titles ... In 2004 in Jordan, Alok Kumar won the Asian Snooker title by defeating his compatriot Pankaj Advani in the finals.

In his dream run to win title Alok Kumar defeated 3 former World Champions Pankaj Advani, Singapore's Peter Gilchrist and Thailand's Praprut Chaithanasukan in the quarter final, semifinal and final respectively.

In a best of 11 games - 100 points format, Alok from the start showed great form ... On his first visit to the table he scored a break of 93 to go ahead 1-0 ... Then in next 2 games with breaks of 84 and 85 respectively he went ahead 3-0 in just 25 minutes of play ... After that Praput never recovered though he tried to fight in 4th and 6th frames but Alok kept his focus to won it without losing a frame.

Alok Kumar participated in this event with regaining Asian Billiards Champion Pankaj Advani, Dhruv Sitwala and Geet Sethi ... Pankaj qualified for knockout stage winning Group D and others qualified on second place from their groups ... Alok defeated Pankaj in well fought match in quarters ... Geet and Dhruv also failed to qualify for semis.

In u-21 Snooker Asian championship our all 3 players; Zubin Leninwala, Vipin Premi and Rovin D'Souza; failed to qualify for knockout stage.

Tennis News
At €2.75M Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters, Monaco

[R2] (6) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (PAK) bt Eric Butorac (USA)/ Jean-Julien Rojer (AHO) 76(4) 63

[QF] (6) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (PAK) vs (2) Max Mirnyi (BLR)/ Daniel Nestor (CAN)

Good to see Rohan and Aisam winning their match straight sets and entered into clay Masters quarter-final.
-----------------------------------------------------------
At $10K India F3, Chandigarh

Singles Quarter Finals
(1) Vishnu Vardhan (IND) bt (5) Murad Inoyatov (UZB) 61 64
(3) Julien Dubail (BEL) bt Hsin-Han Lee (TPE) 62 62
(4) Marc Fornell-Mestres (ESP) bt (Q) Ashutosh Singh 67(8) 76(5) 62
(2) Yuki Bhambri (IND) bt (6) Rohan Gajjar (IND) 3-0 Retd.

Singles Semi Final
(2) Yuki Bhambri (IND) bt (4) Marc Fornell-Mestres (ESP) walkover

Doubles Semi Finals
(1) Divij Sharan (IND)/ Vishnu Vardhan (IND) bt Fumiaki Kita (JPN)/ Junn Mitsuhashi (JPN) 75 62
(2) Hsin-Han Lee (TPE)/ Bumpei Sato (JPN) bt (3) Srirambalaji Narayanaswami (IND)/ Ashutosh Singh (IND) 64 64

Good win for Vishnu ... Tough loss for Ashutosh but other hand Yuki is getting one after another lucky breaks in this futures ... Yuki is in the final as Marc Fornell-Mestres gave walkover in the semis ... So hopefully Vishnu will join him in the final with win over Dubail.

Vishnu is in doubles final with Divij, they will face 2nd seed pair.

Shooting News
At ISSF World Cup Changwon 2011, South Korea

50m Rifle 3 Positions Men - Final Result
Gold - Sanjeev Rajput (IND) (1176 + 102.2.) 1278.2 pts
Silver - Nemanj Mirosavljev (SRB) (1172 + 100.5) 1272.5 pts
Bronze - Ole Kristian Bryhn (NOR) (1177 + 94.9) 1271.9 pts

Rifle shooter Sanjeev Rajput secured the quota for next year's London Olympics 2012 after winning the Gold medal in the 50m Rifle 3 Position event at ISSF World Cup in Changwon, South Korea ... Rajput shot his personal best score of 1278.2 pts (1176 + 102.2.) ... This was Sanjeev's first Gold in a World Cup and he won it in style by beating his nearest opponent by almost 6 points.


Also this victory was India's first medal at the ISSF World Cups in 2011.

Tennis News
At $10K India F3, Chandigarh

Singles Second Round
(1) (WC) Vishnu Vardhan (IND) bt Vijayant Malik (IND) 46 63 64
(5) Murad Inoyatov (UZB) bt (Q) Divij Sharan (IND) 67(2) 63 63
(3) Julien Dubail (BEL) bt Kento Takeuchi (JPN) 63 46 63
Hsin-Han Lee (TPE) bt (7) Ranjeet Virali Murugesan (IND) 26 62 62

(Q) Ashutosh Singh (IND) bt (Q) Libor Salaba (CZE) 60 63
(4) Marc Fornell-Mestres (ESP) bt Kaza Vinayak Sharma (IND) 63 60
(6) Rohan Gajjar (IND) bt (WC) Vignesh Peranamallur (IND) 46 75 62
(2) Yuki Bhambri (IND) bt Mark-Alexander Kepler (GER) 63 16 64

Doubles Quarter Finals
(1) Divij Sharan (IND)/ Vishnu Vardhan (IND) bt (WC) Chandril Sood (IND)/ Lakshit Sood (IND) 76(5) 76(3)
Fumiaki Kita (JPN)/ Junn Mitsuhashi (JPN) bt (4) Marc Fornell-Mestres (ESP)/ Mike Vermeer (LUX) 36 64 10-8

(3) Srirambalaji Narayanaswami (IND)/ Ashutosh Singh (IND) bt Vijayant Malik (IND)/ Kaza Vinayak Sharma (IND) 26 62 10-3
(2) Hsin-Han Lee (TPE)/ Bumpei Sato (JPN) bt Ladislav Chramasota (CZE)/ Libor Salaba (CZE) 64 64

Our singles top 2 seeds Vishnu and Yuki had tough time with 6th seed Ranjeet ... They needed 3 sets to move into quarters ... Ashutosh scored easy win over another qualifier ... Vijayant, Ranjeet and Vignesh lost their matches after winning first set.


In doubles young Soods gave tough fight to top-seed pair of Divij and Vishnu.

Football News
At AFC Cup 2011, Pune, India

Group A
Dempo SC l Nasaf FC, Uzbekistan 0-4

Goal Scored - Ilhom Unisov (NFC) 4', Lutfulla Turaev (NFC) 11', Mirhoidirshaev Shuhratbek (NFC) 72', Perrepotkins Andrejs (NFC) 84'

Disappointing for Dempo as now it is difficult for them to qualify for next stage ... Uzbek side scored 2 goals in first 15 mins and put pressure on Dempo ... Uzbek side again scored 2 goals late in the match.
------------------------------------------
At AFC Cup, Hong Kong

Group H
South China, Hong Kong bt East Bengal 1-0

Goal Scored - Mateja Kezman (SC) 68'

Narrow defeat against South China ... Goal scored by former Chelsea striker Mateja Kezman.

Tennis News
At $721K Family Circle Cup, Charleston, USA

Doubles Final
Sania Mirza (IND)/ Elena Vesnina (RUS) bt (4) Bethanie Mattek-Sands (USA)/ Meghann Shaughnessy (USA) 64

Sania and Elena started well breaking Bethanie in first and fifth games ... While serving for the set at 5-2 Sania lost her serve but Elena hold her serve to won first set ... Our pair again started aggressively and broke Bethanie in first game and Meghann in third game to take 4-0 lead ... Bethanie and Meghann fought back breaking Elena in 6th game and then broke Sania in 8th game to make it 4-all ... But Sania and Elena didn't in mood of losing advantage ... They broke Bethanie in 9th game and then Elena hold her serve to gave our pair their second Premier title ... This is Sania's 11th WTA doubles title and Elena's 5th.

So this week Sania re-enters into top-75 , #73, in singles and top-30, #29, in doubles.
-----------------------------------------------------------
At €2.75M Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters, Monaco

[R1] (6) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (PAK) bye

As a seeded pair they r having first round bye and in second round they will face winner between Eric Butorac/ Jean-Julien Rojer and Spanish pair Guillermo Garcia-Lopez/ Albert Montanes.

Indian Express decided to skip this Master tournament.
-----------------------------------------------------------
At $100K+H Johannesburg Challenger, South Africa

[R1 Karan Rastogi (IND,322) l Ludovic Walter (FRA,307) 46 46

Hopefully from next week at Indian futures Karan find his form.
-----------------------------------------------------------
At $10K India F3, Chandigarh

Singles First Round
(1) (WC) Vishnu Vardhan (IND) bt Vijay Sundar Prasanth (IND) 64 62
Vijayant Malik (IND) bt Vivek Shokeen (IND) 63 63
(Q) Divij Sharan (IND) bt Junn Mitsuhashi (JPN) 26 75 63
(5) Murad Inoyatov (UZB) bt Ladislav Chramasota (CZE) 64 61

(3) Julien Dubail (BEL) bt Bumpei Sato (JPN) 61 46 63
Kento Takeuchi (JPN) bt Mike Vermeer (LUX) 63 63
Hsin-Han Lee (TPE) bt (Q) Fumiaki Kita (JPN) 61 63
(7) Ranjeet Virali Murugesan (IND) bt (Q) Akash Wagh (IND) 63 67(3) 61

(Q) Ashutosh Singh (IND) bt (8) Rupesh Roy (IND) 61 76(4)
(Q) Libor Salaba (CZE) bt Antoine Tassart (FRA) 46 63 62
Kaza Vinayak Sharma (IND) bt (WC) Ajay Yadav (IND) 64 61
(4) Marc Fornell-Mestres (ESP) bt (PR) Sunil Kumar Sipaeya (IND) 67(5) 63 63

(6) Rohan Gajjar (IND) bt (Q) Lakshit Sood (IND) 60 61
(WC) Vignesh Peranamallur (IND) bt (Q) Patrik Rosenholm (SWE) 36 75 61
Mark-Alexander Kepler (GER) bt Jakhongir Khaydarov (UZB) 76(5) 36 61
(2) Yuki Bhambri (IND) bt (WC) Jeson Patrombon (PHI) 61 60

Doubles First Round
(1) Divij Sharan (IND)/ Vishnu Vardhan (IND) bt Laurent-Olivie Daxhelet (BEL)/ Nebojs Peric (SRB) 61 75
(WC) Chandril Sood (IND)/ Lakshit Sood (IND) bt Julien Dubail (BEL)/ Antoine Tassart (FRA) 64 64
(4) Marc Fornell-Mestres (ESP)/ Mike Vermeer (LUX) bt Mark-Alexander Kepler (GER)/ Shivang Mishra (IND) 75 36 10-7
Fumiaki Kita (JPN)/ Junn Mitsuhashi (JPN) bt Vignesh Peranamallur (IND)/ Ranjeet Virali Murugesan (IND) 76(5) 64

Vijayant Malik (IND)/ Kaza Vinayak Sharma (IND) bt Sunil Kumar Sipaeya (IND)/ Akash Wagh (IND) 62 36 10-7
(3) Srirambalaji Narayanaswami (IND)/ Ashutosh Singh (IND) bt Yuki Bhambri (IND)/ Rohan Gajjar (IND) 63 36 10-7
Ladislav Chramasota (CZE)/ Libor Salaba (CZE) bt Digvijay Singh Mehta (IND)/ Ajay Yadav (IND) 62 64
(2) Hsin-Han Lee (TPE)/ Bumpei Sato (JPN) bt Rupesh Roy (IND)/ Vivek Shokeen (IND) 46 75 10-6

Top seed Vishnu scored comfortable win over Vijay Sundar ... Vijayant and Kaza Vinayak also started with convincing win.

Divij scored good comeback upset win over his Japanese opponent ... But sad to see Rupesh Roy couldn't overcome challenge from veteran experienced Ashutosh Singh ... Vignesh also scored comeback win over Swedish qualifier ... Yuki started with bang losing only a game against JR WR #10 Filipino.

In doubles wild-card pair Sood brothers started with win.

Formula One
At 2011 Malaysian Grand Prix, Sepang

Narain Karthikeyan qualified for the race posting timing below 107% rule but could not finish the race and was forced to retire after the 14th lap.


Force India managed to finish among points for the second successive race with Paul Di Resta completed race on 10th place ahead of teammate Adrian Sutil.

Golf News
At $300K Panasonic Open, New Delhi, India - Final Standing (Asian tour)

1 Anirban Lahiri (IND) 65-71-68-71 -13 $47,550.00
T2 Manav Jaini (IND) 71-67-67-70 -13 $25,425.00
T5 Jyoti Randhawa (IND) 73-66-68-71 -10 $11,235.00
T5 Ali Sher (IND) 73-71-69-65 -10 $11,235.00
T7 Himmat Rai (IND) 70-67-70-72 -9 $8,130.00

Terrific result for young 23 yrs old Anirban Lahiri to won the inaugural Panasonic Open ... He secured his maiden title with a birdie on the 18th play-off hole as Mardan and Jaini could only managed to make pars.

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

Churchill Brothers SC bt Chirag United SC 2-1

Goal Scored - Chika Wali (CU) OG 62', Zakir Mundampara (CB) 65' and Sunil Chhetri (CU) 28'
-----------------------------------------

Indian Arrows dw Pune FC 0-0
------------------------------------------

East Bengal bt Mohun Bagan 2-1

Goal Scored - Tolgay Ozbey (EB), Baljit Sahni (EB) 54' and Surkumar Singh (MB) 48'
-----------------------------------------

JCT Mills FC bt Mumbai FC 1-0

Goal Scored - Ajay Singh (JCT) 11'
-----------------------------------------

ONGC, Mumbai bt HAL, Bangalore 4-0

Goal Scored - Katsumi Yusa (ONGC) 14', Babatunde (ONGC) 36', Kailash Patil (ONGC) 48' and 59'
-----------------------------------------

Dempo SC dw Viva Kerala 3-3

Goal Scored - Debabrata Roy (DSC) 5', Ranty Martins (DSC) 8' and 90+' and Anil Kumar (VK) 23', N P Pradeep (VK) 66', Charles Dzisah (VK) 78'

East Bengal won important Kolkata derby in well fought match ... Oilmen and JCT scored important required home victories ... But superb match between Viva and Dempo ... Dempo had lucky escape as Ranty scored equalizer in the last minute.

Churchill Brothers got lucky to beat Chirag ... Young Indian Arrows hold Pune FC in goalless draw.

At $721K Family Circle Cup, Charleston, USA

[QF] (Q) Sania Mirza (IND,90) l (11) Shuai Peng (CHN,30) 62 26

Doubles
[QF] Sania Mirza (IND)/ Elena Vesnina (RUS) bt Alla Kudryavtseva (RUS)/ Anastasia Rodionova (AUS) 36 62 10-8

[SF] Sania Mirza (IND)/ Elena Vesnina (RUS) bt Shuai Peng (CHN)/ Jie Zheng (CHN) 62 75

[F] Sania Mirza (IND)/ Elena Vesnina (RUS) vs (4) Bethanie Mattek-Sands (USA)/ Meghann Shaughnessy (USA)

Sania started well against Peng in the first set ... She broke her in 3rd and 7th games to won first set easily ... In second set Sania missed a break point in 5th game and that turned to be turning point of the match ... Sania lost her serve in 6th and 8th games to lose second set ... In third set Peng broke Sania in 2nd game ... Though Sania broke her in 3rd game still she couldn't managed to hold her serve in next game to down 1-3 ... Peng again broke her in 6th game but Sania broke Peng in next game while Peng was serving for the match in 7th game ... Again Sania failed to hold her serve in 8th game to lose this match ... Still overall very good performance in singles by Sania ... She won 2 qualifying matches before winning 3 main-draw matches in this tournament ... This performance will helped her to re-enter into top-75 in singles ranking.

In doubles quarter-final, Sania and Elena struggled in the first set with holding their service games ... They lost their service games thrice and managed to broke once ... In second set exactly opposite happened and our pair won second set easily ... In super tie-break they were down by mini-breaks from the start ... They were down 1-6, 2-7 and 6-8 ... Before coming back with winning last 4 points to moved into semis.

In semi-final against Chinese pair Sania and Elena started well breaking them in 3rd game ... Chinese pair broke them in next game to make it 2-all ... But after that Sania and Elena won next 4 games to won first set ... In second set both pair broke eachother regularly ... Chinese pair only managed to hold their serve twice ... Other hand Sania and Elena hold their serve thrice ... Importantly in crucial moment in 12th game to won match ... In the final they r facing 4th seed American pair Mattek-Sands and Shaughnessy.
-----------------------------------------------------------
At $35K+H Monza Challenger, Italy

[SF] Purav Raja (IND)/ Simon Greul (GER) l (3) Johan Brunstrom (SWE)/ Frederik Nielsen (DEN) 67(8) 26

Still good to see Purav reached in semis with Greul.

Tennis News
At $442.5K US Men's Clay Court Championship, Miami, Florida, USA

[R2] Somdev Devvarman (IND,71) l (3) Guillermo Garcia-Lopez (ESP,27) 46 16

Garcia-Lopez started well and kept pressure on Sommy's serve ... In second game Sommy saved 3 break points before holding the serve but Garcia-Lopez broke him in 4th game to take 1-4 lead ... Sommy fought back breaking Garcia-Lopez in 7th game to make it 3-4 ... Garcia-Lopez take crucial break in 10th game to won first set from 40-0 ... In the second set Garcia-Lopez broke Somi in 2nd and 4th games to lead 4-0 ... Sommy broke him in 5th game but again Garcia-Lopez broke him in 6th game and then hold to won this match ... Sommy need to learn few more tricks of playing on the clay like sliding while returning shots but still work in progress.
-----------------------------------------------------------
At $721K Family Circle Cup, Charleston, USA

[PQF] (Q) Sania Mirza (IND,90) bt (WC) Sabine Lisicki (GER,182) 64 64

[QF] (Q) Sania Mirza (IND,90) vs (11) Shuai Peng (CHN,30)

Sania started well against 2009 champion German Sabine Lisicki ... She was up double breaks in 5th and 7th games before Sabine broke her serve at 5-2 but one break cushion was enough to won first for Sania ... In the second set Sania broke Sabine's serve on luv in 1st game but immediately lost her serve in next ... Again Sania broke her in 3rd game on luv but this time also Sabine broke her in 6th game to make it 3-all ... Both players again exchanged breaks in next 2 games to 4-all ... Then in 9th game Sania take crucial break on Sabine's serve, this was 4th service break for Sania in this set and then hold to complete creditable victory.

Next Sania is facing Wr #30 Shuai Peng for place in semis.

Badminton News
At $120K Australian Open Grand Prix Gold 2011, Melbourne

[R3] (13) Arvind Bhat (IND,45) l (1) Boonsak Ponsana (THA,6) 18-21 14-21

[R1] Akshay Dewalkar (IND)/ Arun Vishnu (IND) l (1) Hirokatsu Hashimoto (JPN)/ Noriyasu Hirata (JPN) 9-21 10-21

Expected losses against top-seeds but at least Arvind gave creditable performance in his match.

Tennis News
At $721K Family Circle Cup, Charleston, USA

[PQF] (Q) Sania Mirza (IND,90) vs (WC) Sabine Lisicki (GER,182)

Doubles
[R1] Sania Mirza (IND)/ Elena Vesnina (RUS) bt (2) Liezel Huber (USA)/ Lisa Raymond (USA) 63 64

[QF] Sania Mirza (IND)/ Elena Vesnina (RUS) vs Alla Kudryavtseva (RUS)/ Anastasia Rodionova (AUS)

Really good straight sets win by Sania and Elena over genuine experienced doubles pair Huber and Raymond ... Next they r facing Russian-Aussie pair for place in the semis.
-----------------------------------------------------------
At $35K+H Monza Challenger, Italy

[QF] Purav Raja (IND)/ Simon Greul (GER) bt (ALT) Julian Reister (GER)/ Stephane Robert (FRA) 36 76(5) 10-6

[SF] Purav Raja (IND)/ Simon Greul (GER) vs (3) Johan Brunstrom (SWE)/ Frederik Nielsen (DEN)

Purav and Greul scored very good comeback fighting win over alternate pair to moved into semis ... In the first set opponents broke their service games twice to won it easily ... In the second set both pairs traded a single break before Purav and Greul won it in tie-break and in STB they take control early to won this match ... In semis they r facing 3rd seed pair of Brunstrom and Nielsen.
-----------------------------------------------------------
At $10K Thailand F2, Khon Kaen

[QF] Rohan Gajjar (IND,531) l (4) Daniel Evans (GBR,313) 57 26

With this loss end of Indian challenge in Thai futures.

Badminton News
At $120K Australian Open Grand Prix Gold 2011, Melbourne

[Q1] Eshan Naqvi (IND,UNR) bt Athi Selladurai (AUS,UNR) 21-10 21-17
[Q1] Ajit Wijetilek (IND,536) bt Ernest Yu Loong Ng (AUS,UNR) 21-7 21-12

[Q2] Eshan Naqvi (IND,UNR) bt Cham Chen (AUS,UNR) 21-13 17-21 21-14
[Q2] Ajit Wijetilek (IND,536) bt James Audley (AUS,UNR) 21-12 21-12

[Q3] Eshan Naqvi (IND,UNR) bt (4) Joel Findlay (AUS,443) 21-15 14-4 Retd
[Q3] Ajit Wijetilek (IND,536) l (6) Marius Fartum (NOR,392) 16-21 18-21

[R1] (13) Arvind Bhat (IND,45) bt Nicholas Jinadasa (USA,139) 21-19 21-15
[R1] Aditya Elango (IND,91) l (9) Tommy Sugiarto (INA,32) 12-21 5-21
[R1] (Q) Eshan Naqvi (IND,UNR) l (15) Yan Kit Chan (HKG,51) 7-21 8-21
[R1] (16) R.M.V Gurusai Datt (IND,57) l Yi Lu (CHN,134) 11-21 18-21

[R2] (13) Arvind Bhat (IND,45) bt Kaveh Mehrabi (IRI,101) 21-14 21-16

[R3] (13) Arvind Bhat (IND,45) vs (1) Boonsak Ponsana (THA,6)

[R1] Akshay Dewalkar (IND)/ Arun Vishnu (IND) vs (1) Hirokatsu Hashimoto (JPN)/ Noriyasu Hirata (JPN)

Young unranked Eshan Naqvi qualified for the main-darw before losing easily against around 50 ranked Hong Kong player ... Arvind Bhat performed as per his ranking to reach in pre-quarter-final but now having tough task against WR #6 Thai player Boonsak Ponsana ... Guru again disappointed his one-sided loss against Chinese opponenet.

Tennis News
At $721K Family Circle Cup, Charleston, USA

[R2] (Q) Sania Mirza (IND,90) bt Vania King (USA,109) 67(6) 64 62

In the first set Vania King served like machine putting almost 80% first serve pervcentage, still Sania manged to break her 2 times but also lost her serve twice ... This set went into tie-break ... Sania had early mini-break to take 3-0 lead but Vania got back mini-break to make it 4-all .. Again Sania take mini-break to lead 5-4, this time Vania take double break for her first set point at 5-6 ... Vania double faulted to make it 6-all ... But then Sania double faulted to give first set ... In second set both were exchanging breaks continuously ... Vania broke Sania 3 times but other hand Sania broke her 4 times to won second set ... In third set Sania take early break in second game to lead 2-0 but Vania immediately broke her in next game to bring set on the serve ... Like last match from 2-all Sania won next 4 games in that breaking Vania 2 times to won set and match ... In round three Sania will face winner between WR #12 Marion Bartoli and 2009 champion Sabine Liscki.
-----------------------------------------------------------
At $10K Thailand F2, Khon Kaen

[R2] Rupesh Roy (IND,599) l (5) Young-Jun Kim (KOR,403) 46 26
[R2] Rohan Gajjar (IND,531) bt Yasutaka Uchiyama (JPN,604) 64 64

[QF] Rohan Gajjar (IND,531) vs (4) Daniel Evans (GBR,313)

Rohan is in quarters of Thai futures with straight sets win over his Japanese opponent ... In quarter-final he is facing tournament's highest ranked player Daniel Evans.

Tennis News
At $442.5K US Men's Clay Court Championship, Miami, Florida, USA

[R1] Somdev Devvarman (IND,71) bt Robert Kendrick (USA,80) 62 61

[R2] Somdev Devvarman (IND,71) vs (3) Guillermo Garcia-Lopez (ESP,27)

Somdev started well and broke Kendrick in 4th game to take 3-1 lead but Kendrick immediately broke back to 3-2 ... Sommy again take control in 6th game and broke him in 8th game to won first set easily ... Sommy gave very dominating performance in second set ... After 1-all he won next 5 games to won match in an hour ... He broke Kendrick twice in this set and didn't face a single break point ... So good start before tough match against 3rd seed Spanish clay-court specialist Guillermo Garcia-Lopez.

Tennis News

At $721K Family Circle Cup, Charleston, USA

[R1] (Q) Sania Mirza (IND,90) bt Alison Riske (USA,118) 26 63 63

[R2] (Q) Sania Mirza (IND,90) vs Vania King (USA,109)

Sania started slowly as she wasted few break points in the first set but lost her serve in 3rd and 7th games to lose first set ... In second set Sania broke Alison in 2nd and 6th games to lead 5-1 but lost her serve in 7th game after wasting 4 sets points ... But hold her serve in 9th game to won second set ... In thirds set Sania again started with breaking Alison's serve in the first game but failed to hold her serve in next game ... Again Sania broke Alison in 3rd game and then managed to break her in 9th game to won this match ... Next she is facing American Vania King, who upset 16th seed Russian Vera Dushevina.
-----------------------------------------------------------
At $35K+H Monza Challenger, Italy

[R1] Purav Raja (IND)/ Simon Greul (GER) bt (WC) Nicolo Cotto (ITA)/ Yann Dupuy (FRA) 61 61

This week Purav partnering German Simon Greul ... They had easy first round against wild-card pair ... Next Purav and Greul can face Purav's old partner Huey and Battistone.
-----------------------------------------------------------
At $10K Thailand F2, Khon Kaen

[R1] Rupesh Roy (IND,563) bt (WC) Perakiat Siriluethaiwattana (THA,999) 60 63
[R1] Rohan Gajjar (IND,540) bt Jean-Frederik Brunken (GER,620) 64 63

[R2] Rupesh Roy (IND,563) vs (5) Young-Jun Kim (KOR,398)
[R2] Rohan Gajjar (IND,540) vs Yasutaka Uchiyama (JPN,610)

Doubles
[R1] Rohan Gajjar (IND)/ Rupesh Roy (IND) l (WC) Ti Chen (TPE)/ Tanakorn Srichaphan (THA) 61 67(9) 6-10

Good start for Rupesh and Rohan ... Rupesh had more easy match against local wild-card player but Rohan had tricky match which he won ... In second round Rohan having good chance but Rupesh having tough match against top-400 Korean.

Tennis News
At $721K Family Circle Cup, Charleston, USA

[Q2] (2) Sania Mirza (IND,99) bt (9) Olga Savchuk (UKR,144) 64 63

[R1] (Q) Sania Mirza (IND,99) vs Alison Riske (USA,119)

Doubles
[R1] Sania Mirza (IND)/ Elena Vesnina (RUS) vs (2) Liezel Huber (USA)/ Lisa Raymond (USA)

Sania started well and with double break in 3rd and 5th game she was up 4-1 ... Then both exchanged breaks in 6th, 7th and 8th game ... In 10th game Sania hold after long game, she converted 7th set point to won first set ... Sania played lot control game in second set ... She broke Olga in the first game and then again broke her in 9th game to won this set ... In the first round she is facing American Alison Riske.

Having cruel double draw, they r facing 2nd seed Huber and Raymond.

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

Churchill Brothers SC dw ONGC, Mumbai 3-3

Goal Scored - Boima Karpeh (CB) 20', Bineesh Balan (CB) 50', Odafe Onyeka Okolie (CB) 82' and Babatunde (ONGC) 49' and 87', N.D.Opara (ONGC) 66'
-----------------------------------------

Air India FC l East Bengal 0-3

Goal Scored - Tolgay Ozbey (EB) 70', 89' and 90+'
-----------------------------------------

Chirag United SC l Dempo SC 2-4

Goal Scored - Shankar Oraon (CU) 41', Sunil Chhetri (CU) 72' and Ranti Martins (DSC) 13' and 75', Roberto Mendes Silva (DSC) 30' P, Peter Carvalho (DSC) 45+'
-----------------------------------------

Pune FC l Salgaocar SC 0-1

Goal Scored - Yusif Yakubu (SSC) 66'
------------------------------------------

Mumbai FC dw Mohun Bagan 0-0
-----------------------------------------

HAL, Bangalore l Indian Arrows 0-4

Goal Scored - Jeje Lalpekhulua (IAR) 38', Jewel Raja Sheikh (IAR) 50', Shilton D'Silva (IAR) 66', Malswamfela (IAR) 80'
-----------------------------------------

Viva Kerala bt JCT Mills FC 4-0

Goal Scored - Sajesh P (VK) 18', Anil Kumar PK (VK) 47' and 82', Krama Tsewang (VK) 89', and Ajay Singh (JCT) 67'

I-League matches started after 3 weeks break.

Dempo scored win against Chirag in well fought match ... Indian Arrows scored impressive win over HAL in away match ... Viva also scored dominating win over JCT ... Salgaocar continued with their winning run ... Mumbai FC hold Mohun Bagan.

ONGC played thrilling draw against Churchill, 3 times they fought back after a goal down ... East Bengal side scored convincing victory over Airmen with hat-trick from Aussie striker Tolgay Ozbey.

Tennis News
At $3.645M Sony Ericsson Open, Miami, Florida, USA

Doubles Final
(3) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Leander Paes (IND) bt (2) Max Mirnyi (BLR)/ Daniel Nestor (CAN) 67(5) 62 10-5

This was Mahesh Bhupathi and Leander Paes's first title together at the Sony Ericsson Open ... Also Lee is now a two-time reigning champion after winning the event last year with Lukas Dlouhy and Bhupathi earned his first career title as last year he was runner-up with Mirnyi ... This win moves the Indians ahead of World No. 1 Bob and Mike Bryan for first place in race for the 2011 Barclays ATP World Tour Finals.

In the first set both pairs started tentatively ... Both pairs saved many break points in the beginning ... Indians take crucial break in 11th game but Mahesh failed to hold his serve to won the set and in tie-break Nestor and Mirnyi lead from the start to win it ... In second set Lee and Mahesh take first break in 4th game when Nestor double faulted to take 3-1 lead then they again broke Nestor in 8th game to won second set easily ... In super tie-break they dominated from the start to win it comfortably to grab this Masters title.

With this win Lee and Hesh also decided to play together until end of clay season ... :-)

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
At $442.5K US Men's Clay Court Championship, Miami, Florida, USA

[R1] Somdev Devvarman (IND,73) vs Robert Kendrick (USA,82)

Somdev having winnable first match.
-----------------------------------------------------------
At $721K Family Circle Cup, Charleston, USA

[Q1] (2) Sania Mirza (IND,99) bt Johanna Konta (AUS,248) 62 36 63

[Q2] (2) Sania Mirza (IND,99) vs (9) Olga Savchuk (UKR,144)

Sania started strongly breaking Johanna's serve in first game ... Then she again broke her in 7th game to won the first set easily ... In second set Johanna broke Sania 4th game but Sania broke back in 7th game ... Again Johanna broke her in 8th game to won first set ... In decider Sania take break in 4th game and that was enough to won set and match.
-----------------------------------------------------------
At $35K St Brieuc Challenger, France

[SF] (4) Purav RAJA (IND)/ Olivier CHARROIN (FRA) l (WC) Gregoire Burquier (FRA)/ Romain Jouan (FRA) 46 46

Purav and Olivier lost against wild-card pair in straight sets.

Cricket News

BILLIONS OF CONGRATULATIONS TO TEAM INDIA FOR WINNING THE CRICKET ODI WORLD CUP!!!
PLAYED LIKE THE CHAMPION AND DESERVED TO LIFT THE CUP!!!

This World Cup is definitely for SACHIN TENDULKAR!!!

And also lifting this World Cup Mahendra Singh Dhoni crossed the line of greatness!!! As he lifted first T20 WC title ... Taking India to #1 in the Test ranking and now after lifting this ODI World Cup India become #1 ranked ODI team.

Tennis News
At $3.645M Sony Ericsson Open, Miami, Florida, USA

Doubles
[SF] (3) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Leander Paes (IND) bt Oliver Marach (AUT)/ Janko Tipsarevic (SRB) 63 57 11-9

[F] (3) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Leander Paes (IND) vs (2) Max Mirnyi (BLR)/ Daniel Nestor (CAN)

With early break in the first set Lee and Mahesh won the set without facing a single break point ... In second set also Lee and Mahesh take early break in 3rd game but gave it back in 6th game to 3-all ... Again lost serve in 12th game to lose this set ... In super tie-break they saved a match point at 8-9 before winning next 3 points to moved into the final ... In the final they r facing 2nd seed Mirnyi and Nestor.
-----------------------------------------------------------
At $35K St Brieuc Challenger, France

[QF] (4) Purav RAJA (IND)/ Olivier CHARROIN (FRA) bt Yves ALLEGRO (SUI)/ Marc GICQUEL (FRA) 62 67(8) 10-6

[SF] (4) Purav RAJA (IND)/ Olivier CHARROIN (FRA) vs (WC) Gregoire Burquier (FRA)/ Romain Jouan (FRA)

Really good win for Purav and Olivier against tricky pair ... Next they r facing local wild-card pair, who upset 2nd seed pair in the first round.