Tennis News
At French Open 2011, Roland Garros, France

Doubles
[R3] (5) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (PAK) bt Andrey Golubev (KAZ)/ Denis Istomin (UZB) 63 75

[QF] (7) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Elena Vesnina (RUS) bt (1) Gisela Dulko (ARG)/ Flavia Pennetta (ITA) 60 75

[QF] (5) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (PAK) vs (1) Bob Bryan (USA)/ Mike Bryan (USA)

Mixed Doubles
[QF] (7) Iveta Benesova (CZE)/ Leander Paes (IND) l (1) Katarina Srebotnik (SLO)/ Nenad Zimonjic (SRB) 67(3) 36

What a win scored by Sania and Elena over WR #1 pair, Dulko and Pennetta ... In the first set Sania and Elena broke WR #1 pair's serve thrice to won it in only 22 mins ... In second set Dulko and Pennetta take a break in 1st game breaking Elena's serve but our pair fought back breaking them in 4th and 6th to take 4-2 lead ... But WR #1 pair fought back after down 2-5 ... They won next 3 games breaking Elena's serve in 9th game while she was serving for the match to make it 5-all ... Then Sania made crucial hold of her serve and after that our pair break WR #1 pair's serve to scored memorable victory ... With this win Sania and Elena entered into the semi-final, this is Sania's first semi-final in womens doubles.

Rohan and Aisam started with a serve ... Crucial break came in 6th game and that break was enough to won the first set for Rohan and Aisam ... In the second set both pairs were holding their serves with ease until 9th game ... Rohan and Aisam saved 3 set points in 10th game before holding their serve and then immediately broke opponent to take lead with service break ... Then hold their serve comfortably to book their quarter-final match with top-seed Bryans.

But in mixed doubles quarter-final Lee and Iveta lost against top-seed Zimo and Srebotnik in straight sets.
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At $75K+H Nottingham Challenger, Great Britain (Grass)

[R1] (2) Somdev Devvarman (IND,66) vs Marinko Matosevic (AUS,146)

Doubles
[R1] Somdev Devvarman (IND)/ Rik De Voest (RSA) vs Jamie Delgado (GBR)/ Edouardo Roger-Vasselin (FRA)
[R1] Treat Conrad Huey (PHI)/ Purav Raja (IND) vs (3) Dustin Brown (GER)/ Martin Emmrich (GER)

Good decision by Sommy of playing at Nottingham to getting used to grass court before Queens and Wimbledon.

In doubles Sommy is playing with Rik De Voest ... Purav and Treat r also playing, if both pairs win their first round matches then they can face eachother in quarters.

Golf News
At $6.5M HP Byron Nelson Championshi, Irving, Texas, USA - Final Standing (PGA Tour)

T8 Arjun Atwal (IND) 68 72 67 74 +1 $169,000.00

Before final round Arjun was in contention for the title ... But poor last round cost his title to finished on T8 ... Though he produced his best result of 2011 on PGA tour but missed opportunity of top 3 finish.

Tennis News
At French Open 2011, Roland Garros, France

Womens Doubles
[R3] (7) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Elena Vesnina (RUS) bt (11) Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez (ESP)/ Anabel Medina Garrigues (ESP) 61 64

Mixed Doubles
[R2] (5) Jie Zheng (CHN)/ Mahesh Bhupathi (IND) l Rennae Stubbs (AUS)/ Marcelo Melo (BRA) 64 36 7-10

Sania and Elena started with breaking opponent's serve in 2nd game but couldn't hold their serve in next game ... But again they immediately broke them in 4th and 6th games to won first set comfortably ... In the second set also Sania and Elena broke Spanish pair in 1st game but Spanish pair brought set on serve after breaking our pair in 4th game ... Sania and Elena broke Spanish pair's serve on luv in 7th game to take crucial break ... This is huge win considering Spanish players clay court specialty ... So they will face top-seed pair Argentine Gisela Dulko and Italian Flavia Pennetta in quarter-finals.

In mixed doubles 5th seed Zheng and Bhupathi lost against Stubbs and Melo after winning the first set ... Stubbs and Melo won next set and then super tie-break to completed shocking win.

Tennis News
At French Open 2011, Roland Garros, France

[R2] (3) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Leander Paes (IND) l Ashley Fisher (AUS)/ Stephen Huss (AUS) 67(7) 46

Mixed Doubles
[R2] (7) Iveta Benesova (CZE)/ Leander Paes (IND) bt Chia-Jung Chuang (TPE)/ Marcin Matkowski (POL) 64 76(1)

Shocking defeat of Indian Express in hands of Aussies ... In the first set they wasted a set point at 7-6 in tie-break but in second set Aussies didn't lose grip once they take a break ... Sad ending for our pair ... I really hope they still stick together to play through out year.

But in mixed doubles match, Lenader scored victory with his partner Iveta over Chuang and Matkowski to moved into quarters ... After winning the first set with a break they needed tie-break to won second but they dominated tie-break to won losing a point.

Tennis News
At French Open 2011, Roland Garros, France

Doubles
[R2] (7) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Elena Vesnina (RUS) bt Kristina Barrois (GER)/ Johanna Larsson (SWE) 76(4) 63
[R2] (5) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (PAK) bt Maximo Gonzalez (ARG)/ Kei Nishikori (JPN) 67(4) 63 64

[R3] (5) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (PAK) vs Andrey Golubev (KAZ)/ Denis Istomin (UZB)

Sania and Elena started positively with breaking opponents serve in 1st game ... They take another break in 5th game to lead 4-1 but sudden lost of concentration cost them to lose next 4 games ... But they played excellent tie-break to take first set ... In the second set also Sania and Elena take early break in 2nd game to take early lead ... They again exchanged breaks in 5th and 6th games to maintained their one break lead ... Sania and Elena saved break points in 9th game before winning it ... They r in the third round.

Rohan and Aisam take a break in 6th game to lead 4-2 but immediately in next they failed to hold serve to brought the set on serve ... In tie-break with 1 mini-break they lost the first set ... In the second set Rohan and Aisam take early break in 1st game to lead ... In 8th game our pair saved 2 break points from 15-40 to hold their serve and immediately broke opponent's serve in 9th game to won this set with double breaks ... And our pair also won decider with a single break to moved into the third round ... So good win after slow start ... Next they r facing another Asian pair, Golubev and Istomin.

Badminton News
At 2011 Double Star BWF Sudirman Cup, Qingdao, China

Level 1 - Quarter Final
(10) India l (1) China 1-3

Sanave Thomas (IND)/ Rupesh Kumar (IND) l Yun Cai (CHN)/ Haifeng Fu (CHN) 15-21 14-21
Saina Nehwal (IND,4) bt Xin Wang (CHN,3) 21-15 21-11
P. Kashyap (IND,28) l Dan Lin (CHN,3) 14-21 14-21
Jwala Gutta (IND)/ Ashwini Ponnappa (IND) l Xiaoli Wang (CHN)/ Yang Yu (CHN) 8-21 13-21

Indians were playing in their first Sudirman cup quarter-final and had a tough task of facing holders, host and WR #1 team China ... If we manages to win 1 rubber than also I will be happy.

Chinese double team gave a winning start with comfortable win over Indian pair in 27 mins ... In second match Saina started positively and take early 6-0 lead and managed to maintain that advantage to win the first game comfortably ... In second game also Saina started with 4-0 lead ... Wang cut that lead to 6-4 but again Saina take decisive lead winning next 7 points ... After that Saina didn't give much chance to Wang to complete dominating victory in 32 mins ... Huge victory for Saina considering demolishing Xin Wang and that's also in China ... Great work Saina.

In third match Dan Lin played excellent match to scored comfortable win over Kashyap in 33 mins to gave China 2-1 lead ... In 4th match WR #1 pair Xiaoli Wang and Yang Yu gave doubles lesson to WR #32 pair Jwala and Ashwini in 27 mins match ... Both teams decided to not playing mixed doubles tie ... With this in China completed victory to moved into Sudirman cup semi-final.

Tennis News
At French Open 2011, Roland Garros, France

[R2] Sania Mirza (IND,72) l (12) Agnieszka Radwanska (POL,13) 26 46

Mens Doubles
[R1] (5) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (PAK) bt Andreas Seppi (ITA)/ Simone Vagnozzi (ITA) 63 62
[R1] (3) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Leander Paes (IND) bt Tommy Haas (GER)/ Philipp Petzschner (GER) 26 63 62
[R1] Somdev Devvarman (IND)/ Yen-Hsun Lu (TPE) l Marcel Granollers (ESP)/ Feliciano Lopez (ESP) 36 46

[R2] (5) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (PAK) vs Maximo Gonzalez (ARG)/ Kei Nishikori (JPN)
[R2] (3) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Leander Paes (IND) vs Ashley Fisher (AUS)/ Stephen Huss (AUS)

Mixed Doubles
[R1] Sania Mirza (IND)/ Rohan Bopanna (IND) l Chia-Jung Chuang (TPE)/ Marcin Matkowski (POL) 67(4) 67(2)

[R2] (5) Jie Zheng (CHN)/ Mahesh Bhupathi (IND) vs Rennae Stubbs (AUS)/ Marcelo Melo (BRA)
[R2] (7) Iveta Benesova (CZE)/ Leander Paes (IND) vs Chia-Jung Chuang (TPE)/ Marcin Matkowski (POL)

Sania started with breaking Agnieszka's serve in 1st game but then se couldn't hold her serve ... She again broke Agnieszka's serve into 7th game but in the first set she failed to hold her serve once ... Had poor serving day as she had 5 double faults ... In second set again Sania started with breaking Agnieszka's serve in 1st game and then first time in the match she hold her serve to take 2-0 lead ... Agnieszka broke her in 4th game to make it 2-all ... Again Sania broke Agnieszka in 5th game before losing her serve in 6th game ... Agnieszka take crucial break in 10th game to complete easy voctory.

In first round doubles Lee and Mahesh had bad start due to lack of match practice ... Their German opponents take full advantage of that and they broke Indians twice to won first set ... From second set our pair started fightback and with a single break they won second set ... In decider our pair were control from the start and they broke Haas and Petzschner's serve once to won set comfortably.

In doubles Somdev and Lu lost their serve in 2nd game and with that a single break they lost the first set against experienced Spanish pai ... In second set also Spanish pair take early break in 3rd game .. And that early break was enough for Spanish pair to complete win with winning the second set ... So with that end of the French Open for Sommy.

Rohan and Aisam started confidently with their French open campaign with dominating win over Italian clay-court specialist pair losing only 5 games.

Disappointing loss for Rohan and Sania in mixed doubles ... In the first set they were break up at 4-1 but then they gave chance to opponent's fightback ... And then lost both sets in tie-breaks.

Tennis News
At French Open 2011, Roland Garros, France

Mixed Doubles
[R1] (5) Jie Zheng (CHN)/ Mahesh Bhupathi (IND) bt Petra Kvitova (CZE)/ Sergiy Stakhovsky (UKR) 67(3) 60 10-8
[R1] (7) Iveta Benesova (CZE)/ Leander Paes (IND) bt Aravane Rezai (FRA)/ Grigor Dimitrov (BUL) 63 61

Contrasting wins for Lee and Mahesh in mixed doubles ... Lee and Iveta scored very win over Rezai and Dimitrov losing only 4 games ... But other hand 5th seed Mahesh and Jie struggled against European pair ... They won second set without losing a game after losing first set in tie-break ... Mahesh and Jie needed to fight till end to won super tie-break.
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At $35K+H Alessandria Challenger, Italy (clay)

[QF] (4) Purav Raja (IND)/ Sadik Kadir (AUS) l Diego Junqueira (ARG)/ Andres Molteni (ARG) 26 36

I expected tough match for Purav and Sadik against South Americans and it proved more than that ... Argentine pair defeated 4ht seed pair quite easily.

Tennis News
At French Open 2011, Roland Garros, France

[R1] Somdev Devvarman (IND,66) l Ivan Ljubicic (CRO,37) 46 36 46

[R2] Sania Mirza (IND,72) vs (12) Agnieszka Radwanska (POL,13)

Doubles
[R1] (7) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Elena Vesnina (RUS) bt Vera Dushevina (RUS)/ Ekaterina Makarova (RUS) 76(2) 62

[R2] (7) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Elena Vesnina (RUS) vs Kristina Barrois (GER)/ Johanna Larsson (SWE)

Mixed Doubles
[R1] (5) Jie Zheng (CHN)/ Mahesh Bhupathi (IND) vs Petra Kvitova (CZE)/ Sergiy Stakhovsky (UKR)
[R1] (7) Iveta Benesova (CZE)/ Leander Paes (IND) vs Aravane Rezai (FRA)/ Grigor Dimitrov (BUL)
[R1] Sania Mirza (IND)/ Rohan Bopanna (IND) vs Chia-Jung Chuang (TPE)/ Marcin Matkowski (POL)

Bad match played by Sommy ... He was making numerous unforced errors and experienced player like Ljubicic take full advantage of it ... In 1st game Sommy created 2 break point cances but failed to convert ... But Sommy broke Ljubicic's service in 3rd game ... In 8th game Sommy was leading 4-3 and 40-0 still he managed to lose his serve and Ljubicic's again broke him in 10th game to won first set ... In the second set Ljubicic take crucial break in 8th game to won it ... Ljubicic broke Sommy's serve in 1st game and that break was enough for Ljubicic to won set ... Ljubicic won this match in 2 hrs and 2 mins ... Sommy failed to create any break point chances after 4 chances he created in first 2 service games of Ljubicic.

Sania and Elena started positively taking 3-1 lead with early break but Vera and Ekaterina fought back taking double break to lead 3-4 ... But after that both pair failed to hold their servers until 6-all ... Sania and Elena dominated tie-break to win it easily ... In second set Sania and Elena take control from the start with breaking Russian's serve ... They again broke them in 7h game to win second set easily ... In the second round Sania is facing Kristina Barrois again with her Swedish partner Johanna Larsson.

Mixed doubles draw is out ... As Cara not participating so Lee is playing with different partner ... Sania and Rohan r playing together may be they r starting playing together in preparation for 2012 London Olympics ... If Lee-Iveta and Rohan-Sania wins first round match then they can face each-other in the second round.
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At $35K+H Alessandria Challenger, Italy

[R1] (4) Purav Raja (IND)/ Sadik Kadir (AUS) bt Adrian Ungur (ROU)/ Lovro Zovko (CRO) 63 62

[QF] (4) Purav Raja (IND)/ Sadik Kadir (AUS) vs Diego Junqueira (ARG)/ Andres Molteni (ARG)

Purav and Sadik started with very comfortable win in the first round but next having tricky match against Argentine pair on the clay.

Badminton News
At 2011 Double Star BWF Sudirman Cup, Qingdao, China

Level 1 - Group C
(10) India bt (7) Thailand 3-2

Sanave Thomas (IND)/ Rupesh Kumar (IND) bt Issara Bodin (THA)/ Jongjit Maneepong (THA) 21-17 21-13
Saina Nehwal (IND) l Inthanon Ratchanok (THA,18) 14-21 20-22
P. Kashyap (IND,28) bt Boonsak Ponsana (THA,6) 12-21 21-18 21-16
Jwala Gutta (IND)/ Ashwini Ponnappa (IND) bt Aroonkesorn Duanganong (THA)/ Voravichitchaikul Kunchala (THA) 21-18 15-21 21-19
Prajakta Sawant (IND)/ Pravan Chopra (IND) l Sudket Prapakamol (THA)/ Saralee Thoungthongkam (THA) 18-21 7-21

India scored upset win over higher ranked Thai team despite Saina had shocking defeat ... On first men doubles match Rupesh and Thomas scored comfortable win over Thai team to gave 1-0 lead ... In second match Indians were expecting win for Saina but Thai Inthanon Ratchanok had different plan ... She take advantage of Saina's mistake to won first game ... In second game Saina tried to keep pace with Inthanon Ratchanok, she saved 2 match point but Inthanon Ratchanok converted 3rd to gave first point to Thailand ... In third match Kashyap face Thai top 10 player Boonsak Ponsana ... Boonsak started well winning first game comfortably but from second game Kashyap take control from 6-all ... He take 2/3 points lead and kept it until end ... Same repeated in third game when Kashyap take control from 4-all and kept lead to complete upset victory to gave India 2-1 lead ... In 4th match Jwala and Ashwini defeated Thai pair in 3 games ... They won first game before losing second ... In third game they take early lead of 12-7 but Thai pair caught them at 12-all ... Then both pairs exchanged lead before our pair take final 2 points from 19-all to complete memorable victory for India ... With this win I think Indian team secured place in the quarter-final.

Tennis News
At French Open 2011, Roland Garros, France

[R1] Sania Mirza (IND,72) bt Kristina Barrois (GER,73) 63 63

Doubles
[R1] (5) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (PAK) vs Andreas Seppi (ITA)/ Simone Vagnozzi (ITA)
[R1] (3) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Leander Paes (IND) vs Tommy Haas (GER)/ Philipp Petzschner (GER)
[R1] Somdev Devvarman (IND)/ Yen-Hsun Lu (TPE) vs Marcel Granollers (ESP)/ Feliciano Lopez (ESP)
[R1] (7) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Elena Vesnina (RUS) vs Vera Dushevina (RUS)/ Ekaterina Makarova (RUS)

Sania broke Kristina in 4th game before saving 2 break points in 5th game ... In 8th game Kristina saved 3 set points but Sania hold her serve in 9th game to won first set ... In second set Sania wasted a break point in a 1st game but saved 2 break points in 2nd game ... Sania broke Kristina in 3rd game but Kristina fought back to broke Sania in 6th game to ake it 3-all ... Immediately Sania broke Kristina in 4th game to take 4-3 lead ... Then Sania saved 2 break points in 8th game to hold her serve ... Sania completed her only second French Open win in main-draw in a style breaking Kristina in 9th game.

In men's doubles draw our all teams r in top draw ... Indian Express and Indo-Pak Express can meet eachother in the semis ... Other hand Sommy and Lu having tough match against experienced Spanish pair.

Sania and Elena r 7th seed but tough draw for them starting from Russian pair.
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At $35K+H Alessandria Challenger, Italy

[R1] (4) Purav Raja (IND)/ Sadik Kadir (AUS) vs Adrian Ungur (ROU)/ Lovro Zovko (CRO)

This week Purav is playing with Sadik at Alessandria Challenger .. They r 4th seeds.

Badminton News
At 2011 Double Star BWF Sudirman Cup,

Level 1 - Group C
(10) India l (4) Chinese Taipei 2-3

Aparna Balan (IND)/ Arun Vishnu (IND) l Sheng Mu Lee (TPE)/ Yu Chin Chien (TPE) 17-21 10-21
P. Kashyap (IND) bt Hsuan Yi Hsueh (TPE) 21-16 21-13
Sanave Thomas (IND)/ Rupesh Kumar (IND) l Sheng Mu Lee (TPE)/ Chieh Min Fang (TPE) 15-21 18-21
Saina Nehwal (IND) bt Tzu Ying Tai (TPE) 21-10 12-21 21-17
Jwala Gutta (IND)/ Ashwini Ponnappa (IND) l Wen Hsing Cheng (TPE)/ Yu Chin Chien (TPE) 15-21 17-21

Last year we moved to Level 1 from Level 2 in Sudirman Cup ... We r in Level 1 - Group C with #4 Chinese Taipei and #7 Thailand ... Lot better draw than facing #1 China, #2 Denmark, #3 Indonesia and #5 Korea.

But we lost first match against #4 Chinese Taipei 2-3 ... We managed to win both singles but lost all doubles matches ... Missing Diju in MXD due to minor key hole surgery cost us a MXD point.

Shooting News
At ISSF World Cup Rifle / Pistol, Fort Benning, USA

In the new exciting format for 25m Rapid Fire Pistol final German shooter Christian Reitz, who won the match with an overall score of 29 hits ... The Olympic Bronze medallist of Beijing 2008 won a Gold medal in breathtaking match after outdoing India’s Vijay Kumar in a shoot-off for Gold by 4 to 1 hits.

India’s 25-year old Vijay Kumar secured the Silver medal, as well as the second Olympic Quota Place to be awarded today, with an overall score of 29 hits + 1 hit in the shoot-off, after scoring two great series of five hits during the final.

The Bronze medal went to China’s Ding Feng, the winner of last year’s World Cup final round here in Fort Benning ... Chinese shooter had qualified in the lead with 589 points, but with the new final format qualification points are not counting in the final ... With 24 hits, he shot-off against Kumar, eventually finishing then in third place, just one hit far from the Olympic Qualification.

25m Rapid Fire Pistol Men Final
Gold - Christian Reitz (GER) (584 pts)
Finals series - (3 5 3 4 4 3 3 4) 29 S-off: 4

Silver - Vijay Kumar (IND) (584 pts)
Finals series - (2 3 4 4 5 3 3 5) 29 S-off: 1

Bronze - Ding Feng (CHN)
Finals series - (2 3 3 5 4 3 4) 24

Tennis News
At $35K+H Cremona Challenger, Italy

Doubles Final
(1) Treat Conrad Huey (PHI)/ Purav Raja (IND) bt Tomasz Bednarek (POL)/ Mateusz Kowalczyk (POL) 61 62

Purav and Treat scored very dominating win over Polish pair to lift the title ... This is Purav's 3rd challenger title and 2nd with Treat.
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At Asian Closed Junior Championships 2011, Chennai, India (B1)

Girls Final
(15) Rutuja BHOSALE (IND) bt (6) Ratnika BATRA (IND) 61 64

Boys Final
(1) Xin GAO (CHN) bt (2) Arjun KADHE (IND) 63 76(2)

Girls Semi-finals
(15) Rutuja BHOSALE (IND) bt (13) Apichaya RUNGLERDKRIANGKRAI (THA) 64 61
(6) Ratnika BATRA (IND) bt (7) Katherine IP (HKG) 76(2) 63

Boys Semi-finals
(1) Xin GAO (CHN) bt Sahil DESHMUKH (IND) 75 60
(2) Arjun KADHE (IND) bt (15) Yuki MURAMATSU (JPN) 76(5) 60

Quarter Finals
Boys
(1) Xin GAO (CHN) bt (5) Saurabh SINGH (IND) 62 60
Sahil DESHMUKH (IND) bt (10) Abdullah SHAIKH (IND) 63 61
(15) Yuki MURAMATSU (JPN) bt (11) Vilasier KHATE (IND) 61 64
(2) Arjun KADHE (IND) bt (9) Vishwesh SINHA (IND) 60 62

Girls
(15) Rutuja BHOSALE (IND) bt (9) Ching-Wen HSU (TPE) 63 61
(13) Apichaya RUNGLERDKRIANGKRAI (THA) bt (5) Anna Clarice PATRIMONIO (PHI) 63 26 63
(7) Katherine IP (HKG) bt Rimpledeep Kaur BATTH (IND) 64 60
(6) Ratnika BATRA (IND) bt (14) Bhuvana KALVA (IND) 62 64

[PQF] Sahil DESHMUKH (IND) bt Niranjan.R. RAM (IND) 75 63
[PQF] (2) Arjun KADHE (IND) bt (13) Ziad SULTAN (KUW) 63 67(7) 61

[PQF] (15) Rutuja BHOSALE (IND) bt (1) Ayaka OKUNO (JPN) 64 63
[PQF] (6) Ratnika BATRA (IND) bt (10) Sanae OHTA (JPN) 63 61
[PQF] (14) Bhuvana KALVA (IND) bt (2) Aldila SUTJIADI (INA) 26 75 63

15 yrs old Rutuja Bhosale created history lifting prestigious Asian Closed Junior Championships ... In whole tournament she only lost a set in the second round ... Otherwise she scored dominating victories including top-seed Japanese and in the final over more experienced Ratnika ... This win will help Rutuja to enter into top 100 Junior girls ranking.

Arjun also had excellent tournament though he failed to lift the title ... He will enter into top 70 Junior boys ranking, very near to make entry into junior grand slams.

Another impressive performance by 14 yrs old Sahil Deshmukh in his first Asian Closed Junior Championships ... He lost in semi-final against top-seed Gao but until then he scored one after another impressive wins.

These all 3 players r from Pune and supported by Lakshya Sports.

Tennis News
At French Open 2011, Roland Garros, France

[R1] Somdev Devvarman (IND,66) vs Ivan Ljubicic (CRO,36)
[R1] Sania Mirza (IND,74) vs Kristina Barrois (GER,59)

Sania is facing German girl Kristina Barrois in the first round, she is in botom draw with Sharapova ... Barrois reached in the final at Estoril on clay but hopefully Sania will take care of her ... If Sania cross the first hurdle then she can face #12 seeded Polish player Agnieszka Radwanska.

Tough match for Sommy against very experienced Crot and former top 3 player Ivan Ljubicic but it is lot better than facing top-10 player in the first round ... Sommy is in top draw with Rafa.
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At $35K+H Cremona Challenger, Italy

[SF] (1) Treat Conrad Huey (PHI)/ Purav Raja (IND) bt Nikola Mektic (CRO)/ Sanchai Ratiwatana (THA) 63 76(5)

[F] (1) Treat Conrad Huey (PHI)/ Purav Raja (IND) vs Tomasz Bednarek (POL)/ Mateusz Kowalczyk (POL)

Purav and Divij r in the final at Cremona Challenger ... They won match in straight sets, in second set they were up 4-3 when Purav failed to hold his serve then in ti-break our pair was down by early mini-break but came back strongly to finished match in 2 sets.

In the final they r facing unseeded Polish pair.

Tennis News
At $35K+H Cremona Challenger, Italy

[QF] (1) Treat Conrad Huey (PHI)/ Purav Raja (IND) bt (WC) Giuseppe Menga (ITA)/ Andrea Stoppini (ITA) 60 57 10-6

[SF] (1) Treat Conrad Huey (PHI)/ Purav Raja (IND) vs Nikola Mektic (CRO)/ Sanchai Ratiwatana (THA)

After winning first set without losing a game Purav and Treat needed super tie-break to beat wild-card pair ... But importantly they r in the semis.

Next they r facing unseeded pair, who upset 3rd seed in quarters ... Interestingly last few weeks Ratiwatana brothers r participating in tournaments with different partners.
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At $35K+H Fergana Challenger, Uzbekistan

[QF] Divij Sharan (IND)/ Toshihide Matsui (JPN) l Kyu Tae Im (KOR)/ Danai Udomchoke (THA) 67(5) 62 3-10

After winning second set easily Divij and Toshihide lost super tie-break winning only 3 pts.

Shooting News
At ISSF World Cup Rifle / Pistol, Fort Benning, USA

Rahi Sarnobat shot amazing final round of 207.7 pts, meaning an average of more than 10.3 pts per shot, to won the Bronze medal from the eighth qualifying place for the final ... This was her first ISSF medal and with that she also grabbed an Olympic Quota Place for 2012 Games ... So this is our sixth quota place for London Olympics.

Anisa Sayyed had qualify for the final in second place but finished far behind from top 3 in seventh place with an overall score of 787.0 pts (587+200.0)

Gold medal won by Chinese Ying Chen equalling the current final world record, who is also current 25m Pistol Women Olympic Champion.

25m Pistol Women
Gold - Ying Chen (CHN) (591+205.7) 796.7 pts (EFWR)
Silver - Gundegmaa Otryad (MGL) (585+204.8) 789.8 pts
Bronze - Rahi Sarnobat (IND) (582+207.7) 789.7 pts

Athletics News
At Chula Vista Invitational Meet 2011, California, US

Vikas Gowda threw his second best career throw of 64.89 metres which claimed the bronze in the invitational meet at Chula Vista and also secured place for the London Olympics next year ... Vikas had crossed the qualifying standard for the Olympics (63.00m) in this favorable discus throwing conditions ... He became the first Indian athlete to qualify for the London Olympics as the qualification period for the London Olympics began only on May 1.

Tennis News
At $35K+H Cremona Challenger, Italy

[R1] (1) Treat Conrad Huey (PHI)/ Purav Raja (IND) bt Olivier Charroin (FRA)/ Sadik Kadir (AUS) 64 62

[QF] (1) Treat Conrad Huey (PHI)/ Purav Raja (IND) vs (WC) Giuseppe Menga (ITA)/ Andrea Stoppini (ITA)

Purav and Treat scored comfortable straight sets victory to moved into quarters ... Next they r facing local wild-card Italian pair.

Tennis News
At $220K Strasbourg WTA Open, France

[R1] Sania Mirza (IND,74) l (WC) Alize Cornet (FRA,80) 46 64 16

Former WR #11 Cornet started with breaking Sania's serve in 1st game but Sania fought back breaking her in 4th game to make it 2-all ... Immediately Cornet broke her in 5th game and after that both hold their serves ... In 10th game Sania had a break point opportunity but failed to convert and Cornet converted 3rd set point to won the first set ... In second set also Sania lost her serve in 1st game but managed immediated break in next game to make it 1-all ... In 6th game Sania take break after converting 3rd break point to take 4-2 lead ... While serving for the set at 5-3 Sania failed to hold her serve, 5-4, but in 10th game Sania broke Cornet on luv to won second set ... In decider also same old story, Sania lost her serve in 1st game ... Cornet broke her again in 3rd game to take control of the set, 0-4 ... Cornet again broke her in 5th game but while Cornet serving for the match Sania broke her to take first game of the final set ... But Sania failed to won a game on her serve in third set and got broken in 7th game to lose this match.
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At $35K+H Fergana Challenger, Uzbekistan

[QF] Divij Sharan (IND)/ Toshihide Matsui (JPN) vs Kyu Tae Im (KOR)/ Danai Udomchoke (THA)

Second straight week Divij is facing pair of Kyu Tae Im and Danai Udomchoke in quarters, this time with his Japanese partner Matsui.
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At $10K Morocco F2, Rabat (clay)

[R1] (Q) Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND,UNR) l (4) Carlos BOLUDA-PURKISS (ESP,561) 46 16

No upset this week ... 18 yrs old Carols Boluda-Purkiss proved too strong for Ramkumar.

Shooting News
At ISSF World Cup Rifle / Pistol, Fort Benning, USA

Annu Raj Singh, who had never won an ISSF World Cup medal before, won Silver medal in the 10m Air Pistol Women event ... Annu Raj Singh, ranked 33rd in the world before today’s final, also secured an Olympic Quota Place – a ticket to London 2012 ... She joins rifle shooters Ronjan Sodhi, Gagan Narang, Hari Om Singh and Sanjeev Rajput to clinch a quota place for the London Olympics.

Qualified for the final with 389 points, tied to Kostevych, the 27-year old pistol shooter ended up in second place with a total score of 486.6 points, after scoring 97.6 points in the final.

The 10m Air Pistol Women event

Gold - Olena Kostevych (UKR) (389 + 100.4) = 489.4 pts
Silver - Annu Raj Singh (IND) (389 + 97.6) = 486.6 pts
Bronze - Celine Goberville (FRA) (388 + 98.3) = 486.3 pts

Tennis News
At €450K Nice Open, France

[R1] Somdev Devvarman (IND)/ Ryan Sweeting (USA) l (3) Frantisek Cermak (CZE)/ Filip Polasek (SVK) 26 26

With one-sided loss in doubles first round with Sweeting against 3rd seed pair made early weekend for Sommy.
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At $220K Strasbourg WTA Open, France

[R1] (1) Lucie Hradecka (CZE)/ Sania Mirza (IND) l Angelique Kerber (GER)/ Katarzyna Piter (POL) 75 26 10-12

After winning the first set Sania and Lucie lost second set easily after 0-4 down ... In super tie-break they saved 2 match points from 7-9 ... Sania and Lucie had a match point at 10-9 but failed to convert it.
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At $35K+H Fergana Challenger, Uzbekistan

[R1] Divij Sharan (IND)/ Toshihide Matsui (JPN) bt (1) Mao-Xin Gong (CHN)/ Zhe Li (CHN) 26 76(6) 10-4

Really good tight comeback win for Divij and Matsui against top-seed Chinese pair ... After losing first set easily they fought hard to won second set in tie-break before comfortably winning super tie-break.

Tennis News
At €450K Nice Open, France

[R1] Somdev Devvarman (IND,66) l Adrian Mannarino (FRA,53) 36 67(7)

Doubles
[R1] Somdev Devvarman (IND)/ Ryan Sweeting (USA) vs (3) Frantisek Cermak (CZE)/ Filip Polasek (SVK)

After very good start in clay season Sommy is struggling last few weeks ... Before this match up Sommy won both matches against Mannarino ... Last year in French Open qualifying and this year at Indian Wells ... But here after losing first set in second set he was double break down at 1-4 ... He fought back taking set in tie-break but lost tie-break after taking early lead.
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At $220K Strasbourg WTA Open, France

[R1] Sania Mirza (IND,74) vs (WC) Alize Cornet (FRA,80)

Doubles
[R1] (1) Lucie Hradecka (CZE)/ Sania Mirza (IND) vs Angelique Kerber (GER)/ Katarzyna Piter (POL)

I feel Sania is taking risk just before French open ... Last week she retired due to back pain but instead of taking break she is playing here ... Hopefully she is fully fit.
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At $35K+H Fergana Challenger, Uzbekistan

[R1] Divij Sharan (IND)/ Toshihide Matsui (JPN) vs (1) Mao-Xin Gong (CHN)/ Zhe Li (CHN)

Tough match for Divij with his Japanese partner.
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At $35K+H Cremona Challenger, Italy

[R1] (1) Treat Conrad Huey (PHI)/ Purav Raja (IND) vs Olivier Charroin (FRA)/ Sadik Kadir (AUS)

This week Purav is playing with Treat and they r facing Purav's ex-doubles partner Sadik and his French partner.
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At $10K Morocco F2, Rabat (clay)

[Q1] Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND,UNR) bt Yannick MARTELL BEUZIT (ESP,UNR) 61 64
[Q2] Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND,UNR) bt (3) Francesc MONTANES-ROCA (ESP,1286) 76(5) 46 61
[Q3] Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND,UNR) bt Khalil NAJI (MAR,UNR) 61 60

[R1] (Q) Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND,UNR) vs (4) Carlos BOLUDA-PURKISS (ESP,561)

This week also at Moroccan futures Ramkumar qualified to main-draw with few impressive win in qualifying ... Again cruel draw, facing 4th seed Spanish player in the first round.

Tennis News
At $10K Morocco F1, Kenitra (clay)

[SF] Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,UNR) l (3) Tak Khunn Wang (FRA,550) 46 26

[QF] (Q) Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,UNR) bt Anas Fattar (MAR,879) 64 63

Young 16 yrs old Ramkumar's terrific run in Moroccan futures got over in the semis ... In quarters he scored good straight sets victory over higher ranked local player before losing to 3rd seed Frenchman in the semis ... So this will give him 6 valuable ranking points which will help him to moved inside top-1100 in ranking and avoid some qualifying at $10K futures.

Hockey News
At Azlan Shah Cup 2011, Ipoh, Malaysia

India l New Zealand 3-7

Goal Scored - Sunil Sowmarpet (IND) 20', Gurvinder Singh Chandi (IND) 26' and 40' and Nicholas Wilson (NZL) 24', Blair Hilton (NZL) 32' and 64', Andrew Hayward (NZL) 44' PC, 52' PC, 55' PC and 56' PC

Australia bt Great Britain 2-1

Considering our performance against New Zealand we should say we played better hockey against Pakistan ... 2 days horror show completed today ... At half-time both teams were 2-all ... Until 3rd goal every time we take lead and immediately conceded goal in next 4-6 mins ... In second hald New Zealand almost managed to score a goal on every penalty corners and other hand it looks we were playing with legs inside D.

This was our worst defeat against New Zeland and I hope somebody sensible from HI will take initiative to kick-out Harendra from Indian team coaching job.

Chess News
At the 10th Asian Individual Open Chess Championship 2011, Mashhad, Iran

GM P. Harikrishna and IM D. Harika won the Asian individual open chess championship ... Harikrishna clinched the title with 6.5 pts in a three-way tie-break with China's Ya Yangyi and Vietnam's Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son ... Top seed Harika was a clear winner with 6.5 pts as she finished half a point ahead of Vietnam's Pham Le Thao Nguyen.

With this win P. Harikrishna and D. Harika r qualified for the World Cup to be held in Khanty Mansiysk ( Russia) in August ... They will joined by National champions, Delhi's Parimarjan Negi and Pune's Soumya Swaminathan in the World Cup knockout stage.

Tennis News
At €2.75M Rome Masters, Italy

[R2] (3) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Leander Paes (IND) l John Isner (USA)/ Sam Querrey (USA) 36 63 5-10

This was tough match for Lee and Mahesh as Isner and Querrey reached semis at last week's Madrid Masters ... So Americans were well settled on the clay and other hand our pair was playing their first match on European clay for season 2011 ... Hopefully they will plan to play one more tournament before French Open.
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At $10K Morocco F1, Kenitra (clay)

[R2] (Q) Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,UNR) bt (Q) Andrew Bennett (AUS,UNR) 63 62

[QF] (Q) Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,UNR) vs Anas Fattar (MAR,879)

Ramkumar continued with his good run ... He easily defeated another qualifier to moved into his first quarter-final at futures level ... Next he is facing local player, who upset 6th seed in the second round.

Hockey News
At Azlan Shah Cup 2011, Ipoh, Malaysia

India l Pakistan 1-3

Goal Scored - Rupinder Pal Singh (IND) 20' PC and Umar Bhutta (PAK) 49', Mohammad Imran (PAK) 55' PC, Sohail Abbas (PAK) 57' PC

Australia bt South Korea 4-2
New Zealand bt Malaysia 1-0

In this match we played stupiddest hockey with no strategy ... Harendra should kicked out of Indian coach position for this poor show ... Though we scored goal through Rupinder still Pakistan was looking better team on the field ... We were leading at half-time but in second half all Pakistan show was on the field ... Again our defenders played like there were no mid-fielders on the field ... Same stupid long passes (scoops) from inside 25 yards and really boneheaded overall hockey from our players ... Frankly I would be happy if Harendra manage to spell STRATEGY word correctly.

Tennis News
At $100K ITF Prague Womens Tournament, Czech Republic

[R1] (6) Sania Mirza (IND,74) l (Q) Aleksandra Krunic (SRB,273) 46 Retd

Sania played match with back injury and decided to retired from the match due to back injury after end of the first set.

Sania need to avoid these stupid mistake of taking chances when she is not 100% fit to play ... She should take rest and return to court after fully fit ... Hopefully this is minor injury.

Sania's tweet
Tried to play today,back was no good; had to retire the match..its gotta be one of the worse feelings ever to pull out mid-match. Hope to feel better in the next couple of days..that's what the physio thinks I need..let's see.
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At $75K+H Busan Challenger, South Korea

[R1] (4) Purav Raja (IND)/ Divij Sharan (IND) bt (WC) Hong Chung (KOR)/ Ji Sung Nam (KOR) 63 16 10-8

[QF] (4) Purav Raja (IND)/ Divij Sharan (IND) vs Kyu Tae Im (KOR) /Danai Udomchoke (THA)

Hard fought win in super tie-break for Purav and Divij against local wild-card pair ... Importantly they started on winning note but next match is against experienced players.
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At $50K Zagreb Chalenger, Croatia

[R1] Somdev Devvarman (IND)/ Yves Allegro (SUI) l Dustin Brown (GER)/ Dominik Meffert (GER) 46 63 7-10

With loss in doubles first round Sommy is having early weekend ... ;-)
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At $10K Morocco F1, Kenitra (clay)

[Q1] Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,UNR) bt Khalid Allouch (MAR,UNR) 62 62
[Q2] Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,UNR) bt Roque Rocha (POR,UNR) 75 64

[R1] (Q) Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,UNR) bt (2) Ivan Nedelko (RUS,526) 75 63

[R2] (Q) Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,UNR) vs (Q) Andrew Bennett (AUS,UNR)

Superb upset win by young 16 yrs old Ramkumar ... He earned his first ATP point in style defeating 2nd seed Russian player in straight sets ... Hopefully he will continie with his good run in next round.

Tennis News
At €2.75M Rome Masters, Italy

[R1] (3) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Leander Paes (IND) bye

At last our pair is back on tour and r playing in clay Masters ... In a way it is good that they will be tested in second round against most probably by Isner and Querrey.
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At $50K Zagreb Chalenger, Croatia

[R1] (2) Somdev Devvarman (IND,68) l (WC) Antonio (Veic (CRO,232) 36 26

Doubles
[R1] Somdev Devvarman (IND)/ Yves Allegro (SUI) vs Dustin Brown (GER)/ Dominik Meffert (GER)

Sommy's poor run at challenger level continued ... Another easy and shocking loss against unheard player ... In doubles he is partnering experienced Swiss player Yves Allegro and they r facing German pair.
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At $75K+H Busan Challenger, South Korea

[R1] (4) Purav Raja (IND)/ Divij Sharan (IND) vs (WC) Hong Chung (KOR)/ Ji Sung Nam (KOR)

Purav is playing in Busan Challenger and this time he is partnering Divij Sharan ... They r 4th seed and facing local wild-card pair.
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At $100K ITF Prague Womens Tournament, Czech Republic

[R1] (6) Sania Mirza (IND,74) v (Q) Aleksandra Krunic (SRB,273)

Sania is facing qualifier but young Serbian clay-court specialist ... Tricky match for Sania.

Hockey News
At Azlan Shah Cup 2011, Ipoh, Malaysia

India bt Malaysia 5-2

Goal Scored - Roshan Minz (IND) 8', Mandeep Antil (IND) 18' and 70', Rupinder Pal Singh (IND) 22' PC, Sunil Sowmarpet (IND) 35' and Muhammad Azammi Adabi (MAS) 34' and 43'

Great Britain bt New Zealand 3-1
Australia bt Pakistan 5-1

India take revenge for their Asian Games semifinal loss at the hands of Malaysia by defeating the hosts 5-2 at the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup ... Very dominating performance from Indians side who raced 3-0 lead in 22 mins and were leading 4-1 at half-time.

Hockey News
At Azlan Shah Cup 2011, Ipoh, Malaysia

India dw Australia 1-1

Goal Scored - Rupinder Pal Singh (IND) 21' PC and Jacob Whetton (AUS) 14'

Great Britain bt Pakistan 3-2
New Zealand dw South Korea 1-1

In this match we conceded 5 penalty corners, faced a green card to our captain and last 7 mins played with 10 players due to yellow card to Rupinder but still we managed to survive ... Overall patchy performance but importantly we hold challenges from Aussies.

Aussie opened account through field goal from Jacob Whetton in 14th min ... India managed equalizer through penalty corner conversion from Rupinder Pal Singh in 21 min.

Badminton News
At $120K Yonex-Sunrise Malaysia Open Grand Prix Gold 2011, Alor Setar

[F] (1) Saina Nehwal (IND,4) l (2) Xin Wang (CHN,3) 21-13 8-21 14-21

Saina lost the final against Xin Wang in 3 games and 48 mins ... In the first game Sania take control of the game from 3-all ... Saina didn't give any chance to Xin to fought back to won it comfortably ... In second game Xin take full control from 2-all and hurried to win it losing only 8 pts ... In decider Xin take early lead but Saina kept fighting and managed to make it 14-all ... But from here Xin won next 7 pts to won title.

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

Mohun Bagan dw Salgaocar SC 2-2

Goal Scored - Edeh Chidi (MB) 14' and 53' and Ryuji Sueoka (SSC) 30', Gilbert Olivera (SSC) 39'
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HAL, Bangalore l Churchill Brothers SC 0-3

Goal Scored - Odafa Onyeka Okolie (CB) 9', Bineesh Balan (CB) 26', Kayne Vincent (CB) 88'
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Air India FC dw JCT Mills FC 1-1

Goal Scored -
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Mumbai FC l Indian Arrows 1-2

Goal Scored - S Kutty Mani (MFC) 35' and Lalrindika Ralte (IAR) 12' and 63'
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Viva Kerala dw ONGC, Mumabi 0-0

In 25th round, 2 matches r postponed, Pune FC against Dempo and East Bengal against Chirag United.

Mohun Bagan drew with Salgaocar with double strike from Edeh Chidi ... Expected win for Churchill against HAL ... JCT drew with Airmen.

Young Indian Arrows defeated Mumbai FC, Lalrindika Ralte scored 2 goals for them ... Oilmen hold Viva in away match.

Badminton News
At $120K Yonex-Sunrise Malaysia Open Grand Prix Gold 2011, Alor Setar

[SF] (1) Saina Nehwal (IND,4) bt (7) Ji Hyun Sung (KOR,16) 21-14 21-13

[F] (1) Saina Nehwal (IND,4) vs (2) Xin Wang (CHN,3)

Saina scored comfortable win in 35 mins over Korean opponents ... In both games she take early control and kept pressure to win both games easily.

In the final she is facing another Wang, this time WR #3 Xin Wang.

Tennis News
At At €3.5M Madrid Masters, Spain

[QF] (4) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (PAK) l John Isner (USA)/ Sam Querrey (USA) 76(8) 46 3-10

Rohan and Aisam's disappointing run on the clay continue ... They won close first set in tie-break against big-server Americans but lost second set with a break and super tie-break easily.
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At u-14 Asia-Oceania Final Qualfying, Kutching, Malaysia (WJT boys)

For Third Place
(5) INDIA bt (3) CHINA 2-1

Sahil DESHMUKH bt Su-Hao ZHONG 75 63
Sumit NAGAL l Xu-Fan ZHOU 16 57
Garvit BATRA/Sahil DESHMUKH bt Su-Hao ZHONG/ Xu-Fan ZHOU 75 06 75

Well deserving 3rd place finish for Indian kids in u-14 Asia-Oceania region ... Sahil scored impressive win over Su-Hao Zhong to gave 1-0 lead but Sumit Nagal lost his match ... In Doubles Sahil and Garvit won close first set but Chinese pair fought back winning second without losing a game but again in decider our pair fought hard to complete win.

Congrats to our u-14 Indian team and their coach Sunil Yajaman.

Hockey News
At Azlan Shah Cup 2011, Ipoh, Malaysia

India bt Great Britain 3-1

Goal Scored - Rupinder Pal Singh (IND) 9' PC, 54' PC and 56' PC and James Tindall (GBR) 62'

Pakistan bt South Korea 4-2
Australia bt Malaysia 2-1

At half-time we were leading 1-0 with goal through penalty corner conversion from Rupinder Pal Singh in 9th mins ... As usual we struggled in the defense, in the first half Great Britain earned 4 penalty corners and we earned 2 ... In second half we started offensively and managed to put pressure on British defense ... India earned 3 PCs in 10 mins and Rupinder Pal Singh converted 2 of them ... This was his first international hat-trick ... He converted 4th and 5th PCs in 54th and 56th mins ... After 3-0 lead our defense relaxed and British forward line take advantage scoring field goal through James Tindall in 62nd min ... It looks we played very good offensive hockey first 25 mins of the second-half.

After taking 3-0 lead we take usual rout of defending so in last 10 min Britishers were continuously attacking ... James Tindall missed easy chance in 64th min ... These r typical silly mistakes by Indian coaches over the years, over-defending ... Such silly mistakes cost us matches previously and we r still repeating those.

Badminton News
At $120K Yonex-Sunrise Malaysia Open Grand Prix Gold 2011, Alor Setar

[QF] (1) Saina Nehwal (IND,4) bt ((Q) Lin Wang (CHN,75) 14-21 21-19 21-19

[SF] (1) Saina Nehwal (IND,4) vs (7) Ji Hyun Sung (KOR,16)

Saina take early lead 7-4 but after that all Wang show ... She caught Saina at 7-all and from 7-9 she won next 8 points to take control of the game ... Saina saved 3 game points but points difference was vast ... Wang won the first game in 13 mins ... In second game also Saina started well and opened early lead ... She was leading 8-5, 13-8 before Wang caught her at 14-all ... Then Saina again opened 3 points lead from 15-all ... In end that proved crucial to Saina for winning second game in 22 mins.

In decider Saina opened small lead from 4-all to 7-4 ... Saina maintained that lead ... Wang tried to reduce it, she came close at 13-12 and 15-14 ... Again Saina opened the lead to 18-14 but this time Wang won next 4 points to make it 18-all ... After 19-all Saina won last 2 points to scored memorable win over former WR #1 Wang ... This game also Saina won in 22 mins.

Definitely one of Saina's best win of her career ... After losing first game easily frankly I wasn't expecting this turn around but Saina pleasantly proved me wrong.

Next Saina is facing Korean Ji Hyun Sung, who upset WR #5 Chinese player Jiang Yanjiao in 1 hr 18 mins long match.

Tennis News
At At €3.5M Madrid Masters, Spain

[QF] Sania Mirza (IND)/ Elena Vesnina (RUS) l (2) Kveta Peschke (CZE)/ Katarina Srebotnik (SLO) 57 57

[QF] (4) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (PAK) vs John Isner (USA)/ Sam Querrey (USA)

After both pair exchanged early breaks 2nd seed pair broke Elena's serve in 5th game to take lead but while serving for the set at 4-5 Srebotnik failed to hold her serve ... 2nd seed pair again take crucial break after breaking Sania's serve in 11th game and then Peschke hold her serve after deuce to won the first set ... In the second set our pair broke Srebotnik's serve in 2nd game but immediately Sania failed to hold her serve in 3rd game ... In 4th game on Peschke's serve our pair had 3 break points but they failed to convert it ... In 10th game they had a set point on Srebotnik's serve but again couldn't convert it ... Sania lost her serve in 11th game and again in 12th game our pair failed to convert a break point to lose this match ... In this match from 8 deuce our pair won only 1 and that lack of conversion cost them to lose this match.
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At u-14 Asia-Oceania Final Qualfying, Kutching, Malaysia (WJT boys)

Semi Final
(5) INDIA l (1) KOREA 1-2

Sahil Deshmukh (Ind) l Seong Chan Hong (Kor) 16 06
Sumit Nagal (Ind) l Ku Keon Kang (Kor) 46 57
Sahil Deshmukh/ Garvit Batra bt Seong Chan Hong/ Duck Hee Lee 36 Retd.

Top-seed Koreans look too strong for this age group ... Surprised by one-sided loss of Sahil against Hong ... Nagal produced fighting performance against Kang ... In doubles also Koreans were in control before they gave match to India due to injury ... Hopefully our boys repeat same performance of group to beat higher seeded Chinese team to finish in top-3.

Badminton News
At $120K Yonex-Sunrise Malaysia Open Grand Prix Gold 2011, Alor Setar

[R2] (1) Saina Nehwal (IND,4) bt Ayane Kurihara (JPN,30) 21-14 21-17

[QF] (1) Saina Nehwal (IND,4) vs (Q) Lin Wang (CHN,75)

Saina scored victory against Japanese to moved into quarters ... In both games Saina take control from 11-all to won this match ... Next Saina having real test against famous Wang ... Former WR # 1 Lin Wang coming out of injury ... This is her 2nd tournament of 2011 ... Tough match for Saina.

Hockey News
At Azlan Shah Cup 2011, Ipoh, Malaysia

India l South Korea 2-3

Goal Scored - Diwakar Ram (IND) 20' PC, Danish Mujtaba (IND) 27' and Cho Suk Hoon (KOR) 31', Yoon Sung Hoon (KOR) 40' PC, Jang Jong Hyun (KOR) 56'

Pakistan bt New Zealand 4-2
Great Britain bt Malaysia 3-1

At half-time India was leading 2-1 against Koreans but Korans scored 2 goals in second half to comple the victory ... Poor result for Indians against young Korean side ... Though Indians struggled with defense still they manged to take lead ... For India, Diwakar Ram scored through PC in 20th min and Danish Mujtaba scored field-goal with reverse-flick in 27th min ... Korean scored field-goal through Cho Suk Hoon in 31st min ... Koreans wasted 4 PCs, second was controversial where they walk-out of the field ... In second half Koreans dominated ... They scored equalizer converting 5th penalty corner and due to mistake by defender India gave stroke which Korean converted to comple the victory.

Tennis News
At At €3.5M Madrid Masters, Spain

[R2] Sania Mirza (IND)/ Elena Vesnina (RUS) bt Nadia Petrova (RUS)/ Anastasia Rodionova (AUS) 63 75
[R2] (4) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (PAK) bt (WC) Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo (ESP)/ Santiago Ventura (ESP) 63 60

[QF] Sania Mirza (IND)/ Elena Vesnina (RUS) vs (2) Kveta Peschke (CZE)/ Katarina Srebotnik (SLO)

Rohan and Aisam take early break on Spanish pair in 4th game and that lone break was enough to won the first set ... The second set was one-sided affair ... Our pair broke Spanish pair in 1st, 3rd and 5th games to won it comfortably to book their place in quarters.

Sania and Elena started with breaking Nadia's serve in 1st game ... But Nadia and Anastasia fought back breaking Sania's serve in 4th game ... They again broke Nadia in 5th game to take lead and 3rd time broke Nadia's serve in 9th game to won the first set ... In the second set both pairs hold their serves until 4-all ... Nadia and Anastasia broke Elena in 9th game but while serving for the set Anastasia couldn't hold her serve to make it 5-all ... Sania hold her serve into 11th game and then Sania and Elena broke Nadia's serve to won this match and moved into quarters ... In quarters they r facing 2nd seed pair Peschke and Srebotnik.
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At u-14 Asia-Oceania Final Qualfying, Kutching, Malaysia (WJT boys)

Quarter Final
(5) INDIA bt (6) THAILAND 3-0

Sahil DESHMUKH bt Thanapol CHAINGAM 16 60 60
Garvit BATRA bt Kittinut CHITTIPORNSAN 62 64
Sahil DESHMUKH/ Sumit NAGAL bt Thanapol CHAINGAM/ Nawakarn KHUNJAN 62 64

As expected our boys scored commanding win over Thai boys to qualify for World Group of u-14 World Junior Tennis ... Today again Sunil Yajaman changed combination of the team and again it worked in favor of us ... After losing first set Sahil overpowered Thai opponent winning next 2 without losing a game ... Garvit scored easy win to give us 2-0 winning lead ... In doubles Sahil partnered Sumit to scored another easy victory over Thai pair ... In the semi-final they r facing top-seed Korean side but after following their performance in this tourney I m hoping upset from our kids.

Badminton News
At $120K Yonex-Sunrise Malaysia Open Grand Prix Gold 2011, Alor Setar

[R1] RMV Gurusai Datt (IND,52) l Beryno Jiann Tze Wong (MAS,138) 21-19 21-23 18-21
[R1] (12) P. Kashyap (IND,24) bt Chong Chieh Lok (MAS,151) 22-20 21-7
[R1] Arvind Bhat (IND,43) bt Yun Lung Chan (HKG,129) 21-14 21-19
[R1] Anup Sridhar (IND,122) bt (8) Choong Hann Wong (MAS,17) 21-15 21-15
[R1] Anand Pawar (IND,40) l (3) Tien Minh Nguyen (VIE,8) 21-10 7-21 16-21
[R1] Ajay Jayaram (IND,30) l (9) Hyun Il Lee (KOR,18) 12-21 21-12 18-21
[R1] (1) Saina Nehwal (IND,4) bt Jiayuan Chen (SIN,53) 21-16 21-12

[R2] (12) P. Kashyap (IND,24) l Brice Leverdez (FRA,31) 21-17 15-21 18-21
[R2] Arvind Bhat (IND,43) l (11) Sho Sasaki (JPN,15) 21-13 20-22 15-21
[R2] Anup Sridhar (IND,122) l Sony Dwi Kuncoro (INA,37) 18-21 7-21

[R2] (1) Saina Nehwal (IND,4) vs Ayane Kurihara (JPN,30)

Surprising loss of Guru against lower ranked Malaysian ... In first 2 games he was leading from the start but gave chance for Wong to fightback ... In second game he had 2 match points at 20-19 and 21-20 but failed to convert.

Anup scored excellent easy upset win over top-20 Malaysian but he failed to repeat that performance against experienced Sony in the second round.

Kashyap also lost in the second round after wining first game against Frenchman ... Arvind Bhat had excellent opportunity to upset WR #15 Japanese ... He dominated in the first game and had 2 match points at 20-18 in the second round ... He failed to convert those and Japanese capitalized on that to won this game and then match.

So now only Saina remain in the draw ... Next she is facing #30 ranked Japanese player ... Considering her recent performance against Japanese player I would say tricky match for her.

Tennis News
At u-14 Asia-Oceania Final Qualfying, Kutching, Malaysia (WJT boys)

Group A
(5) INDIA bt NEW ZEALAND 2-1
Sahil DESHMUKH bt Connor HEAP 61 62
Garvit BATRA l Kyle BUTTERS 63 67(4) 64
Sahil DESHMUKH/ Sumit NAGAL bt Kyle BUTTERS/ Kiranpal PANNU 6-2 6-0

(5) INDIA bt SYRIA 3-0
Sumit NAGAL bt Hazem NAW 62 61
Garvit BATRA bt Kareem AL-ALLAF 61 60
Sahil DESHMUKH/ Sumit NAGAL bt Kareem AL-ALLAF/ Hazem NAW 62 61

(5) INDIA bt (4) China 2-1
Sahil DESHMUKH bt Su-Hao ZHONG 64 63
Sumit NAGAL bt Xu-Fan ZHOU 76(5) 76(3)
Indians gave a walkover to Chinese pair in doubles.

Indian team is 5th seed and they r in Group D with #4 China, New Zealand and Syria.

In 1st match India defeated New Zealand winning decider doubles rubber after Sahil gave them wining start in the 1st rubber.

In 2nd match our team had easier outing against Syrian team ... They lost only 7 games in 3 matches against them.

In 3rd match Indians upset higher seeded Chinese to qualify for quarters as top team from Group D ... Sahil won his match rather easily but Sumit played excellent match to won both sets in tie-break ... In quarters they r facing 6th seed Thai team.

Tennis News
At At €3.5M Madrid Masters, Spain

[R1] Sania Mirza (IND)/ Elena Vesnina (RUS) bt (8) Iveta Benesova (CZE)/ Barbora Zahlavova Strycova (CZE) 36 61 10-2

[R2] Sania Mirza (IND)/ Elena Vesnina (RUS) vs Nadia Petrova (RUS)/ Anastasia Rodionova (AUS)
[R2] (4) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (PAK) vs (WC) Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo (ESP)/ Santiago Ventura (ESP)

Seeded Chech pair started well they broke our pair in 3rd game to take early lead ... Another break in 9th game gave Czech pair the first set ... In the second set our pair broke Czech pair in 1st game ... From 2-1 they again broke Czech pair in 5th game and 7th game to won second set easily ... After out performing seeded Czech pair in second set they overpowered them in super tie-break ... They win that comfortably, losing only 2 points ... With their current form they will prevail over Nadia and Anastasia.

But Rohan and Aisam having tricky match against local wild-card pair, Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo and Santiago Ventura... From their recent results on clay show they r struggling against clay-court specialists.

Tennis News
At At €3.5M Madrid Masters, Spain

[R1] (Q) Sania Mirza (IND,76) l Elena Vesnina (RUS,46) 46 36

Elena Vesnina started positively against her doubles partner ... She broke Sania in 1st and 3rd game to take 0-4 lead ... In 5th game Sania served 2 double faults but managed to hold ... In 6th game Sania broke Elena converting 3rd break point ... Again Sania broke Elena in 8th game converting 3rd break point to bring set back on serve, 4-all, but Elena broke her in next game to take crucial lead, 4-5 ... Elena hold her serve in 10th game to won first set ... In first set Sania served 6 double faults ... In second set Sania saved 2 break point before holding her serve in 1st game, again she served couple of double faults in this game ... Both players hold their serves until 3-all ... Elena broke Sania in 7th game to take lead and again broke Sania in 9th game when she was serving to stay in the match to won the match.

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

JCT Mills FC bt Pune FC 2-1

Goal Scored - Ajay Singh (JCT) 38', Sakatar Singh (JCT) 65' and Keita (PFC) 69'
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Mohun Bagan bt Air India FC 1-0

Goal Scored - Muritala Ali (MB) 65' and 79'
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Salgaocar SC l Mumbai FC 2-3

Goal Scored - Yusif Yakubu (SSC) 64', Milagres Gonsalves (SSC) 87' and Keegan Pereira (MFC) 17', Noel Wilson (MFC) 32', Nicolas Rodrigues (MFC) 69'
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Indian Arrows l Viva Kerala 0-1

Goal Scored - Felix Chimaokwu (VK) 20'
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ONGC, Mumabi dw Chirag United SC 2-2

Goal Scored - N.D.Opara (ONGC) 50'P and 90+' and Sunil Chhetri (CU) 41' and 76'

2 matches of round 24 will be played on 22nd May, Churchill Brothers SC v East Bengal, and 23rd May, Dempo SC vs HAL, Bangalore.

Leader Salgaocar lost their 2nd match in a row, this time against Mumbai FC ... Mumbai FC take early lead and kept pressure to scored victory ... Viva scored much needed important win against Indain Arrows ... Oilmen also hold Chirag after double strike from N.D.Opara.

2 goals from Muritala Ali helped Mohun Bagan to earned full points against Airmen ... JCT also scored much needed victory over Pune FC in their home match.

After this round Salgaocar remain on 46 points from 22 matches with East Bengal and Dempo SC r closely behind at 44 points from 21 matches each.

Tennis News
At At €3.5M Madrid Masters, Spain

[Q2] (8) Sania Mirza (IND,76) bt Varvara Lepchenko (USA,82) 63 61

[R1] (Q) Sania Mirza (IND,76) vs Elena Vesnina (RUS,46)

Doubles
[R1] (4) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (PAK) bye
[R1] Sania Mirza (IND)/ Elena Vesnina (RUS) vs (8) Iveta Benesova (CZE)/ Barbora Zahlavova Strycova (CZE)

In this match Varvara started breaking Sania's serve in the first game but immediately Sania broke her in 2nd from 40-0 and again in 4th game to take 3-1 lead ... After that both players hold their serves and Sania won the set with a single break lead ... In the second set Sania was toally in control ... She broke Varvara's serve in 1st, 5th and 7th games to won this set authoratively and first time made it to Madrid Masters main-draw ... But she is having tricky draw as Sania is facing her doubles partner Elena Vesnina in the first round.

Sommy is missing this week's action due to minor injury ... Also Lee and Mahesh r missing this Masters as Mahesh is down with high fever.
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At $10K India F5, Chennai

Singles Final
(Q) Patrik ROSENHOLM (SWE,1768) bt (2) Vishnu VARDHAN (IND,340) 6-5 Retd.

Vishnu must be disappointed with losing opportunity of winning third Indian futures title in 3 weeks due to injury ... He retired due to spraining his leg ... But very exciting 3 weeks for Vishnu.