Tennis News
At Wimbledon 2011, London, Great Britain

Mixed Doubles
[R3] (6) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Sania Mirza (IND) bt Martin Damm (CZE)/ Renata Voracova (CZE) 63 60
[R3] (14) Leander Paes (IND)/ Cara Black (ZIM) bt (3) Nenad Zimonjic (SRB)/ Katarina Srebotnik (SLO)

[QF] (4) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Elena Vesnina (RUS) vs Jonathan Erlich (ISR)/ Shahar Peer (ISR)
[QF] (6) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Sania Mirza (IND) vs Paul Hanley (AUS)/ Su-Wei Hsieh (TPE)

Rohan played excellent net game in the opening set ... Our pair take a crucial break in 8th game to won the first set ... After winning the first set Rohan and Sania dominated the second set ... They destroyed Czech pair and won the second set without losing a single game to move into quarters ... It was very difficult for Czech pair winning points on Rohan's serve.

Lee and Cara received walkover by their 3rd seed opponents Zimo and Srebotnik ... Srebotnik was tired after almost 3 hrs long her doubles win against Chinese pair.

Tennis News
At Wimbledon 2011, London, Great Britain

Doubles
[QF] (4) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Elena Vesnina (RUS) bt Nuria Llagostera Vives (ESP)/ Arantxa Parra Santonja (ESP) 36 64 75

Mixed Doubles
[R2] (6) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Sania Mirza (IND) bt Jamie Murray (GBR)/ Jarmila Gajdosova (AUS) 76(5) 62

[R3] (4) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Elena Vesnina (RUS) bt Eric Butorac (USA)/ Olga Govortsova (BLR) 62 75
[R3] (6) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Sania Mirza (IND) vs Martin Damm (CZE)/ Renata Voracova (CZE)
[R3] (14) Leander Paes (IND)/ Cara Black (ZIM) vs (3) Nenad Zimonjic (SRB)/ Katarina Srebotnik (SLO)

In this match Sania started exactly opposite of yesterday's game ... Sania was struggling with her serve and was hitting all over the court ... So Spanish pair won the first set comfortably ... Other hand Elena was playing excellently and Sania started to improve her game ... In the second set our both playes struggled and made numerous errors but importantly they were winning important points ... Our pair take crucial break in 10th game to win the second set ... In the third set our pair saved few break points on their serves in 3rd and 5th games ... But again Sania and Elena delivered when needed most, they take crucial match winning break in 12th game to moved into semi-final.

In MXD, Rohan and Sania started with early break in 3rd game to lead 3-1 but Murray and Gajdosova fought back breaking Sania's serve in 8th game to take the set in tie-break ... Sania and Rohan take a crucial mini-break to won the first set ... In the second set Rohan and Sania broke opponent in 2nd and 8th games to comfortably won the second set and match.

Mahesh and Elena scored expected win over Butorac and Govortsova in straight sets to moved into MXD quarters.
-----------------------------------------------------------
At $15K Spain F22 Futures, Palma del Rio

[R2] (Q) Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND,1021) l (6) Josselin OUANNA (FRA,282) 46 16

Good to see Ramkumar got opportunity of playing former top-100 French player ... Good experience foir him though he lost the match.

Hockey News

Australian Michael Jack Nobbs appointed as new hockey coach for the Indian team ... He was the member of Australian team which reached in the semis in 1984 Olympics ... He coached Japanese Women team and was currently working with Western Australian hockey set up ... His contract runs till the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro and his pay cheque will start at 10,000 Australian dollars per month ... Also his contract has a clause for performance-based incentives like 10% hike if India qualify for 2012 London Olympics.

This selection is right or wrong that time will tell us but right now I m happy to see Australian coach for our national hockey team ... Also like performance-based incentives part from the deal.

Tennis News
At Wimbledon 2011, London, Great Britain

Doubles
[R3] (4) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Elena Vesnina (RUS) bt (13) Daniela Hantuchova (SVK)/ Agnieszka Radwanska (POL) 64 63

[QF] (4) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Elena Vesnina (RUS) vs Nuria Llagostera Vives (ESP)/ Arantxa Parra Santonja (ESP)

After winning the first set with a single break Sania and Elena take early break to lead 3-1 but Daniela and Agnieszka Radwanska fought back breaking htem to make 3-all ... But again our pair take crucial break in 8th game and then served to complete the victory ... Really good win by Sania and Elena over tricky pair to reach in quarters ... Both players played well and looked totally committed but Sania's return game was exceptional with her powerful forehands ... In the second set Sania didn't lose a single point on her serve ... Next they r facing unseeded Spanish pair, who upset 5th seed American Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Meghann Shaughnessy in the second round.
-----------------------------------------------------------
At $10K Spain F22 Futures, Palma del Rio

[Q1] (6) Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND,1021) bt Sander BRENDMOE (NOR,UNR) 62 61
[Q2] (6) Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND,1021) bt (16) Amerigo CONTINI (ITA,1734) 63 61

[R1] (Q) Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND,1021) bt (WC) Oleksandr KAZAKOV (UKR,UNR) 62 64

This week also Ramkumar qualified for maindraw and taking full advantage of easy draw to scored the first round victory.

Tennis News
At Wimbledon 2011, London, Great Britain

Doubles
[R2] Somdev Devvarman (IND)/ Kei Nishikori (JPN) l (6) Michael Llodra (FRA)/ Nenad Zimonjic (SRB) 36 46 67(5)

Mixed Doubles
[R2] (14) Leander Paes (IND)/ Cara Black (ZIM) bt Rogier Wassen (NED)/ Alicja Rosolska (POL) 61 64
[R2] (4) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Elena Vesnina (RUS) bt Stephen Huss (AUS)/ Anastasia Rodionova (AUS) 62 76(3)
[R2] (5) Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (PAK)/ Kveta Peschke (CZE) l Jonathan Erlich (ISR)/ Shahar Peer (ISR) 36 16

Lee and Cara started with comfortable win in MXD to defend their title ... Mahesh and Elena started well winning the first set easily ... In the second set they saved a set point in 10th game before taking the set into tie-break and won it comfortably.

Sixth seed Llodra and Zimo won first 2 set comfortably but Sommy and Kei take the thirs set in tie-break ... But Llodra and Zimo take crucial mini-break in 12th point to completed straight sets victory.

Athletics News

On Sunday race walker Gurmeet Singh qualified for the 2012 London Olympics 20km race walking competition after finishing sixth in the 18th Dublin International Grand Prix in Ireland ... Gurmeet clocked 1:22:07 to better the London Games qualifying 'A' standard of 1:22:30 at the Phoenix Park in Dublin, Ireland ... With this timing he also qualified for the World Championships to be held in Daegu, South Korea from August 27 to September 4.

Gurmeet had bettered 20km race walking national record during the Indian Grand Prix series at Patiala last month with an effort of 1:20:35.

Another Indian 20km race walker, Babubhai Panocha clocked his personal best of 1:23:02, which is better than the London Olympics and World Championships qualifying 'B' standard of 1:24:00.

Badminton News
At $600K Indonesia Open Superseries Premier 2011, Jakarta

[F] (4) Saina Nehwal (IND,4) l (3) Yihan Wang (CHN,3) 21-12 21-23 14-21

Saina and Yihan matched eachother early in the first game ... Saina take lead from 5-all and increased to 9-6 but Yihan made it 9-all ... Saina won next 4 pts to take lead and then kept increasing to won this game easily ... In the second game Yihan take 3 pts lead from 7-all ... Saina reduced the difference to 10-11 ... Again Yihan increased lead to 12-15 ... Nut Saina fought back from 16-19 down ... She won next 4 pts to gave herself a championship point ... But Yihan saved that and converted 2nd game point to won the second set ... In the decider from 4-all Saina take 7-4 lead but Yihan managed to take lead from 6-9 due to unforced errors from Saina ... Yihan won 6 pts in a row to take 9-12 lead ... Saina made it 12-all but Yihan again take 6 pts cushion with 12-18 lead ... In end that was a too big difference for Saina to catch ... Yihan won comfortably to captured this Premier tournament title.

Saina failed to complete hat-trick of Indonesian titles but still good performance ... She had a chance to finished match in 2 games but then Yihan proved strong for her.

Tennis News
At Wimbledon 2011, London, Great Britain

[R2] (3) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Leander Paes (IND) l Arnaud Clement (FRA)/ Lukas Dlouhy (CZE) 62 36 67(1) 46

After winning the first set Lee and Mahesh struggled with their game ... Dlouhy and Clement take full advantage of that ... In the third set they missed a chance to won it and that cost them a match ... In 4th set Dlouhy and Clement take early break which was enough to win the set and match ... Disappointed with Lee and Mahesh efforts.
-------------------------------------------------------------
At $10K ITF Womens, Delhi

[F] (8) Prerna BHAMBRI (IND,854) bt (1) Keren SHLOMO (ISR,494) 62 63
[SF] (8) Prerna BHAMBRI (IND,854) bt (Q) Desiree BASTIANON (BEL,UNR) 46 63 1-0 Retd
[QF] (8) Prerna BHAMBRI (IND,854) bt (WC) Rutuja BHOSALE (IND,UNR) 62 62
[R2] (8) Prerna BHAMBRI (IND,854) bt Jung-Yoon SHIN (KOR,1190) 63 61
[R1] (8) Prerna BHAMBRI (IND,854) bt Gopika KAPOOR (IND,UNR) 62 60

At New Delhi, Prerna won her first $10K ITF title beating top-seed Israeli, who was 360 places above her ... Creditable performance from young Prerna, hopefully she will repeat such type of performance at abroad ... Young Rutuja Bhosale also reached quarters and showed she can be our future star.

At $600K Indonesia Open Superseries Premier 2011, Jakarta

[SF] (4) Saina Nehwal (IND,4) bt Shao Chieh Cheng (TPE,9) 21-14 14-21 21-17

[F] (4) Saina Nehwal (IND,4) vs (3) Yihan Wang (CHN,3)

Saina take early 4-1 lead over Shao Chieh ... Shao Chieh tried comeback and came near 14-13 but Saina won next 6 pts and won the first game comfortably in 13 mins ... In the second game Shao Chieh started taking first 6 pts and she kept this lead to won the second game easily ... In the decider Saina take 3-1 lead which she increased to 14-7 ... Shao Chieh fought back and reduced lead to 16-14 ... But Saina kept cool and increased her lead ... She had 5 match points at 20-15 and converted 3rd to complete victory ... Sweet revenge for Saina as she lost against same opponent in Singapore Super series ... In the final Saina is facing Chinese Yihan Wang.

Last year Saina got 9200 pts after winning Indonesian Super Series ... This year she already defended that after reaching in the final ... In this premier event runner-up is getting 9350 pts and winner will be receiving 11000 pts.

Tennis News
At Wimbledon 2011, London, Great Britain

Doubles
[R1] (3) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Leander Paes (IND) bt Ivan Dodig (CRO)/ Lovro Zovko (CRO) 67(9) 64 64
[R1] Somdev Devvarman (IND)/ Kei Nishikori (JPN) bt Rainer Schuettler (GER)/ Alexander Waske (GER) 67(3) 63 62

[R2] (4) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Elena Vesnina (RUS) bt Renata Voracova (CZE)/ Galina Voskoboeva (KAZ) 63 57 64

[R2] Somdev Devvarman (IND)/ Kei Nishikori (JPN) vs (6) Michael Llodra (FRA)/ Nenad Zimonjic (SRB)
[R2] (3) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Leander Paes (IND) vs Arnaud Clement (FRA)/ Lukas Dlouhy (CZE)

Day 5 at the Championship turned good for us ... Our all pairs won their matches in 3 sets ... Most surprising win was by Sommy and Kei against experienced German pair.

Sania and Elena had a good start ... They broke opponents in 2nd game and though they failed to hold their serves in next game still they again broke opponents in 4th game to lead 4-1 ... Then both pairs hold their serves but our pair had break point chances which they didn't take ... They converted 3rd set point to won the first set ... In the second set our pair started with breaking opponents serve in 1st game but they failed to hold their serve in 4th game to bring the set back on serves ... Voracova and Voskoboeva broke our pair in 12th game to won the second set ... In the third set both pairs were holding their serve until Sania and Elena take crucial break in 9th game and then served out to moved into the third round.

Mahesh and Lee had tricky match against big serving and hard hitting Croatians ... Our pair managed to hold their serves but in tie-break Croatian proved little strong to win this tight tie-break ... In the second set our pair take a single break to win it and in decider also they take crucial break in 9th game and then hold their serve to moved into the second round ... Next they r facing Lee's ex-doubles partner Dlouhy and Frenchman Clement.

Sommy and Kei played really well against vetreans Germans ... They lost the first set in tie-break but won next two sets comfortably to book their second round match against 6th seed Zimo and Llodra.

Badminton News
At $600K Indonesia Open Superseries Premier 2011, Jakarta

[QF] (4) Saina Nehwal (IND,4) bt (8) Tine Baun (DEN,6) 21-19 21-19

[SF] (4) Saina Nehwal (IND,4) vs Shao Chieh Cheng (TPE,9)

Before this match Saina had dubious record against Tine as she lost both their previous encounters ... In the first game Saina take early 3 pts lead, 6-3, but Tine responded back and won next 7 pts to take lead ... Saina managed to catch with her at 12-all and take 16-14 lead but again Tine made it 16-all and take 17-18 lead ... Saina won next 3 pts and converted 2nd game point to won the first game ... In the second game Saina take early lead, 4-1, which she increased to 12-7 but Tine won next 5 pts to make it 12-all ... Again Saina take lead winning 4 pts in a row from 13-all but this time also Tine managed to make it 17-all ... Saina take next 2 pts to lead 19-17 ... Tine won next point but Saina take next point to gave 2 match points and converted second to scored her first victory over Tine Baun ... It looks very entertaining match ... Well done Saina.

Next repeat match of last week against Shao Chieh Cheng ... Good chance of taking revenge ... Go Saina.

Football News
At 2012 Pre-Olympic Qualifier, Pune, India (Return leg)

India dw Qatar 1-1

Goal Scored - Khaled Muftah (QAT) 54' OG and Mohammed El Neel (QAT) 73'

Indians gave spirited performance in this return leg ... Despite Lalrindika missed penalty in the first half we take lead through self goal from Khaled Muftah ... But Mohammed El Neel scored equaliser late in the match ... So with this 4-2 aggregate loss we r out of 2012 Olympics qualifier.

Tennis News
At Wimbledon 2011, London, Great Britain

[R2] Somdev Devvarman (IND, 68) l (18) Mikhail Youzhny (RUS,17) 26 46 46

Doubles
[R1] (4) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (PAK) l Juan Sebastian Cabal (COL)/ Robert Farah (COL) 62 26 19-21
[R1] (4) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Elena Vesnina (RUS) bt Anna Chakvetadze (RUS)/ Melanie Oudin (USA) 60 76(4)

[R2] (4) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Elena Vesnina (RUS) vs Renata Voracova (CZE)/ Galina Voskoboeva (KAZ)

Due to weather Wimbledon organizers decided best of 3 sets in the first round of mens doubles.

Rohan and Aisam started aggressively against Colombian pair and won the first set easily ... But surprising fight back by Colombian pair, who also won the second set with double break ... In third set both pairs were holding their serve easily, this was last set so no tie-break rule ... Rohan and Aisam missed couple of match points in 22nd game ... Then they wasted another match point in 30th game ... Rohan and Aisam survived scare after 0-30 down in 35th game ... But Our pair cracked and Colombians broke them in 39th game ... Then our pair had 2 break points in 40th game but again they failed to convert it ... Otrher hand Colombians converted the first match point ... Shocking loss for Rohan and Aisam.

Sania and Elena were so dominating that they won the first set without losing a single game ... Again they take early break to lead in the second set ... Chakvetadze and Oudin fought back breaking back but our pair proved strong in tie-break to finished match in straight sets.

Sommy started with the serve but Youzhny take the first break in 5th game and he doubled his breaks again breaking Sommy in 7th game to won the first set easily ... In the second set Youzhny take a single break to won the second set ... And again with another single break in late of the third set Youzhny take the set and match.
---------------------------------------------------
At $10K Spain F21, Melilla (Hard)

[QF] (Q) Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND,1021) l Roberto ORTEGA-OLMEDO (ESP,719) 26 26

Roberto Ortega-Olmedo proved too strong for young Ramkumar in the quarters.

Badminton News
At $600K Indonesia Open Superseries Premier 2011, Jakarta

[R2] (4) Saina Nehwal (IND,4) bt Petya Nedelcheva (BUL,16) 21-18 21-9

[R2] Jwala Gutta (IND)/ Ashwini Ponnappa (IND) l (6) Meiliana Jauhari (INA)/ Greysia Polii (INA) 20-22 21-18 18-21

[QF] (4) Saina Nehwal (IND,4) vs (8) Tine Baun (DEN,6)

Saina scored dominating win over Petya in 31 mins ... In the first game Saina take 6-2 lead and maintained until 12-9 but Petya fought back winning next 3 pts to take lead ... At one time Petya was leading 15-17 ... Saina won next 5 pts and then converted 2nd game point ... In the second game Saina take control from 2-all and then didn't give any chance to Petya to scored comfortable win.

Next Saina is playing against former WR #1 Tine Baun ... Saina having losing record against her, Tine having 2-0 (W-L) record ... Last loss came in All England Open in 2010 ... So good test for Saina.

Ashwini and Jwala lost nail-biting match against local seeded pair in 1 hr and 8 mins ... In the first game both pairs were nect to neck until the end ... Though our pair saved first game point still Indonasians converted second ... In the second game our pair take early lead but Indonesian caught with them at 11-all ... Then our pair take control from 13-all and kept lead to won the second game ... In the decider Ashwini and Jwala take early lead, 3-0 9-3 and maintained it most part of the game ... But from 16-18 Indonesian pair won next 5 pts to complete comeback victory.

Tennis News
At Wimbledon 2011, London, Great Britain

Mixed Doubles
[R1] (6) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Sania Mirza (IND) bye
[R1] (14) Leander Paes (IND)/ Cara Black (ZIM) bye
[R1] (4) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Elena Vesnina (RUS) bye
[R1] (5) Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (PAK)/ Kveta Peschke (CZE) bye

Mixed doubles draw is out and as expected our all pairs r seeded and having the first round bye.
------------------------------------------------------
At $10K Spain F21, Melilla (hard court)

[Q1] (3) Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND,1021) bye
[Q2] (3) Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND,1021) bt Ashley BOCCO (ITA,NR) 61 62
[Q3] (3) Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND,1021) bt (9) Javier PULGAR-GARCIA (ESP,1325) 36 76(4) 76(5)

[R1] (Q) Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND,1021) bt (WC) Oleksandr KAZAKOV (UKR,UNR) 76(4) 63
[R2] (Q) Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND,1021) bt (LL) Stepan KHOTULEV (RUS,1261) 16 62 60

[QF] (Q) Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND,1021) vs Roberto ORTEGA-OLMEDO (ESP,719)

Good comeback win in the second round against Russian, Ramkumar showing grit to earned these ranking points ... In last qualifying match also he needed to dig deep to win last 2 sets in tie-break ater losing the first set ... So with these couple of points he will enter into 900s ... Go Ramkumar.

Badminton News
At $600K Indonesia Open Superseries Premier 2011, Jakarta

[R1] (4) Saina Nehwal (IND,4) bt Linda Zechiri (BUL,27) 21-12 21-10
[R1] (Q) Ajay Jayaram (IND,38) l (5) Peter Hoeg Gade (DEN,5) 22-24 12-21

[R1] Jwala Gutta (IND)/ Ashwini Ponnappa (IND) bt Lotte Jonathans (NED)/ Paulien Van Dooremalen (NED) 21-17 21-17
[R1] Rupesh Kumar (IND)/ Sanave Thomas (IND) l (Q) Anthony Clark (ENG)/ Chris Langridge (ENG) 21-18 17-21 16-21

[R2] (4) Saina Nehwal (IND,4) vs Petya Nedelcheva (BUL,16)

[R2] Jwala Gutta (IND)/ Ashwini Ponnappa (IND) vs (6) Meiliana Jauhari (INA)/ Greysia Polii (INA)

Very comfortable win for Saina against Bulgarian Zechiri ... Saina won the match in just 30 mins losing only 22 pts.

Ashwini and Jwala had winning start but next they r having tough match against local 6th pair.

Ajay gave trouble Gade in the first game stretching him to extra points but Gade proved too strong after he won the first game ... Rupesh and Sanave had disappointing result after winning the first game against British qualifiers.

Tennis News
At Wimbledon 2011, London, Great Britain

[R1] Somdev Devvarman (IND,68) bt Denis Gremelmayr (GER,110) 64 4-2
[R1] Sania Mirza (IND,60) l Virginie Razzano (FRA,98) 67(4) 62 36

[R2] Somdev Devvarman (IND, 68) vs (18) Mikhail Youzhny (RUS,17)

Sania started well and take 3-0 lead breaking Virginie's serve in 1st and 3rd game but old known problem of first serve percentage haunted Sania ... She lost her serve in 4th game and while serving for the set in 10th game ... In the 7th game Sania had 2 break points at 15-40 but she failed to convert ... In tie-break Sania had mini-break and was leading 2-0 but Virginie fought back to take mini-break and then take crucial mini-break to won the first set ... Sania had 41% first serve percentage ... In the second set also Sania started with early break on Virginie's serve in 2nd game ... In this set Sania didn't lose control and take another break to won the second set ... In this set her first serve percentage was increast to 61% and she served 4 aces ... Sania struggled to break Virginie in the decider ... Virginie broke her in 7th game and 9th game to won this match ... Disappointing loss for Sania .. She had a great opportunity to won this and also missed chance of facing WR #1 Caroline Wozniacki in the second round.

Somdev take crucial break on Denis's serve in 10th game to won the first set ... In the second set Somdev broke Denis in 6th game to take 4-2 lead and after that Denis retired from the match due to injury ... So with that Sommy first time reaches into the second round of Wimbledon ... Next Sommy is facing Russian Mikhail Youzhny.

Badminton News
At $600K Indonesia Open Superseries Premier 2011, Jakarta

[Q1] Ajay Jayaram (IND,38) bt Arief Gifar Ramadhan (INA,152) 21-18 21-5
[Q2] Ajay Jayaram (IND,38) bt Joachim Persson (DEN,37) 17-21 21-19 21-16

[R1] (Q) Ajay Jayaram (IND,38) vs (5) Peter Hoeg Gade (DEN,5)
[R1] (4) Saina Nehwal (IND,4) vs Linda Zechiri (BUL,27)

[R1] Jwala Gutta (IND)/ Ashwini Ponnappa (IND) vs Lotte Jonathans (NED)/ Paulien Van Dooremalen (NED)
[R1] Rupesh Kumar (IND)/ Sanave Thomas (IND) vs (Q) Anthony Clark (ENG)/ Chris Langridge (ENG)

Ajay scored superb comeback win over experienced former top 10 Danish player Joachim Persson to qualify for maindraw in this big event ... In the first game Joachim take control from 1-all winning next 5 pts and kept that advantage to won it ... In the second game Ajay take early control opening 5-0 lead but Joachim made it 18-all from 18-13 ... But Ajay converted 2nd game point to won the second game ... In the decider after 3-5 down Ajay take small couple points lead and increased it to won the third game easily ... Now in maindraw Ajay having tough task to face another Danish player ... This time much more experienced and former WR #1 Peter Gade.

Kashyap is skipping this big Premier Super Series event, mostly due to injury ... Saina need to play as per ranking to keep her top 5 ranking.

Football News
At 2012 Pre-Olympic Qualifier, Al Sadd Stadium, Doha, Qatar

Qatar bt India 3-1

Goal Scored - Jeje Lalpeklua (IND) 7' and Al Khalfan (QAT) 14', Hassan Al Haidous (QAT) 54', Mohammed El Neel (QAT) 68'

After taking early lead against superior Qatar side we lost match by 2 goals ... Also our goalkeeper Laxmikant Kattimani saved a penalty in 10th min ... Overall our boys gave spirited performance at least in the first half ... Return leg will be played on Thursday at Pune.

Shooting News
At ISSF World Cup Rifle/ Pistol 2011, Munich Germany

Abhinav Bindra failed to win a medal in 10m Air Rifle Men event at ISSF World Cup which is started at Munich but he was lucky enough to won a quota place for London Olympics ... With this Abhinav became the 8th Indian shooter to earn a quota place for Olympics


Abhinav struggled with early shots and managed only 297 from first 300 points ... But he recovered to scored 299 from last 300 points which tied with 8 other shooters on 596 pts ... Than he shot finished second in the shoot-out to qualify for the finals ... But in the fial he manged lowest score 10.7 and finishe on 8th ... He was lucky as 6 of the shooters above him had already earned qualified for Olympics, so Abhinav managed to earn a quota place.

Tennis News
At Wimbledon 2011, London, Great Britain

[R1] Somdev Devvarman (IND,68) vs Denis Gremelmayr (GER,110)
[R1] Sania Mirza (IND,60) vs Virginie Razzano (FRA,98)

Doubles
[R1] (3) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Leander Paes (IND) vs Ivan Dodig (CRO)/ Lovro Zovko (CRO)
[R1] (4) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (PAK) vs Juan Sebastian Cabal (COL)/ Robert Farah (COL)
[R1] Somdev Devvarman (IND)/ Kei Nishikori (JPN) vs Rainer Schuettler (GER)/ Alexander Waske (GER)
[R1] (4) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Elena Vesnina (RUS) vs Anna Chakvetadze (RUS)/ Melanie Oudin (USA)

Winnable first round matches for Sommy and Sania ... If our both players win their first round matches then they will face seeded players in the second round ... Sania can face WR #1 Caroline Wozniacki and Sommy can face 18th seed Russian Mikhail Youzhny ... But couple of tricky first round doubles matches ... Sommy and Kei r facing experienced German pair ... Lee and Mahesh r facing big server Croatian pair ... Sania and Elena also need to play well against Chakvetadze and Oudin.

Badminton News
At $200K Singapore Open Superseries 2011,

[R2] (4) Saina Nehwal (IND,4) l Cheng (TPE,11) 21-8 10-21 19-21

Saina started positively taking 3-0 lead and then she kept increasing it to won the first game easily ... After losing the first game easily Shao-Chieh take control of the second game winning 13 pts in a stretch from 2-all, that lead was enough to won the second game ... In the decider both players were going neck to neck, if any players take couple of points lead immediately other player was responding ... But when Saina take 14-12 lead Shao-Chieh fought back winning next 6 pts ... After that Shao-Chieh didn't lose control of the match ... Saina saved 3 match points from 16-20 down but Shao-Chieh converted 4th to complete victory ... Disappointing result for Saina as she was defending champion and was defending lot of points.

Tennis News
At $618K Eastbourne International, Eastbourne, Great Britain

[R2] Somdev Devvarman (IND,68) l Julien Benneteau (FRA,77) 67(1) 76(6) 36

Doubles
[R1] (1) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (PAK) bt Pablo Andujar(ESP)/ Guillermo Garcia-Lopez (ESP) 63 64
[R1] (3) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Elena Vesnina (RUS) l Jarmila Gajdosova (AUS)/ Samantha Stosur (AUS) 75 6-10

[QF] (1) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (PAK) l Grigor Dimitrov (BUL)/ Andreas Seppi (ITA) 57 36

Somdev take early break against Julien and was serving for the set at 5-3 ... He lost his serve in 9th game and then set went to tie-break where Julien dominated to win it comfortably ... In the second set Sommy had 2 break points but he failed to win it ... In next game Sommy saved a break point on his serve ... In 12th game Sommy saved a match point to take the set in tie-break ... He won closely fought tie-break to take the match in decider ... But in decider Julien started positively breaking Sommy on luv in 1st game ... Then again Julien had a break point in 5th game but Sommy managed to hold ... Julien take double break lead breaking Sommy in 7th game, 5-2 but Sommy immediately broke back when Julien was serving for the match ... But Sommy again failed to hold his serve in 9th game to lose the match ... Losing his serve while serving for the first set cost the match for Sommy ... Missed opportunity of winning another match on the grass before Wimbledon.

Rohan and Aisam started well breaking Pablo's serve in 2nd game but Spanish pair fought back breaking Rohan's serve in 5th game ... Rohan and Aisam take crucial break on Guillermo's serve in 8th game and then Rohan hold his serve to won the first set ... And with a single break they also won the second set to moved into quarters ... This was Rohan's 100th doubles win on the tour with 75 losses, Other hand Aisam having 96-70 record.

Sania and Elena had tricky doubles match against big servers and hard hitters Australian pair ... But our pair take early lead breaking Stosur in 5th game but immediately Aussie pair broke Elena's serve to make it 3-all ... After that Sania and Elena take crucial break in 11th game breaking Gajdosova's serve and then Sania hold her serve easily to won the first set ... In the second set Aussie pair take first break breaking Elena's serve in 2nd game ... Our pair broke back when Stosur was serving for the set in 9th game ... But again Aussie pair broke Elena's in 10th game to won the second set ... Aussie pair dominated super tie-break as Elena struggled with her serves.

In quarter final Rohan and Aisam had a bad start ... Aisam failed to hold his serve in 2nd game and our pair was 0-3 down ... They take break back in 7th game to bring set back on the serve ... But in 12th game Rohan struggled on his serve and made double faults to lose the first set ... The second set also started badly ... Rohan again double faulted in 4th game and due to his poor serving our pair lost the serve ... Rohan and Aisam wasted 2 break point chances in 7th game ... Then both pair hold their serves so with this loss early end for Indian challenge in Eastbourne.

Badminton News
At $200K Singapore Open Superseries 2011,

[R1] P. Kashyap (IND,23) l (8) Sung Hwan Park (KOR,8) 15-21 14-21
[R1] (4) Saina Nehwal (IND,4) bt Lan Lu (CHN,27) 21-18 13-21 21-16
[R1] (Q) Arundhati Pantawane (IND,169) l Tzu Ying Tai (TPE,18) 16-21 13-21

[R1] Rupesh Kumar (IND)/ Sanave Thomas (IND) l Hiroyuki Endo (JPN)/ Kenichi Hayakawa (JPN) 17-21 16-21
[R1] Jwala Gutta (IND)/ Ashwini Ponnappa (IND) l Kyung Eun Jung (KOR)/ Ha Na Kim (KOR) 17-21 14-21

[R2] (4) Saina Nehwal (IND,4) vs Shao-Chieh Cheng (TPE,11)

Kashyap and our women doubles team failed to produce much challenge to their respective Korean opponents.

Tzu Ying Tai proved too strong for Arundhati but creditable performance by her to reached main draw of Super series event.

In the first game after 5-7 down Saina take couple of points lead ... Lu caught with her at 10-all but after that Saina take 2/3 pts lead and maintained that to win the first game ... In the second game both players were tied at 11 all but from here Lu take control to win this game comfortably ... In the third game from 3-all Saina take early control and at 19-11 she was leading by 8 pts ... Lu tried fight back but Saina won required points cooly to moved into the second round in 56 mins ... Next she is facing WR #11 Shao-Chieh Cheng.

Tennis News
At $618K Eastbourne International, Eastbourne, Great Britain

[R1] Somdev Devvarman (IND,68) bt (4) Guillermo Garcia-Lopez (ESP,32) 63 64

[R2] Somdev Devvarman (IND,68) vs Julien Benneteau (FRA,77)

Doubles
[R1] Somdev Devvarman (IND)/ Mark Knowles (BAH) l Yen-Hsun Lu (TPE)/ Oliver Marach (AUT) 36 46

Sommy did what he wanted to do ... Need to only hold his serve after 5-3 in the second set ... He hold serve at luv to complete memorable victory considering Guillermo Garcia-Lopez having good grass skill ... He was last year's runner-up in the same event ... This was also Sommy's first win on the grass in 2011 season after disappointing last 2 weeks ... Next he is facing Frenchman Julien Benneteau, who is also having decent grass skill so good test for Sommy before Wimbledon.

In doubles bad start for Sommy and Mark ... They lost their serve thrice and managed to break their opponents once in the first set ... In the second set also both pairs traded early breaks but Lu and Marach take important break in 8th game and that was enough to won the second set.

Badminton News
At Singapore Open Superseries 2011,

[Q1] RMV Gurusai Datt (IND,62) bt Hsuan Yi Hsueh (TPE,59) 16-21 21-18 21-12
[Q1] Ajay Jayaram (IND,36) l Muhammad Hafiz Hashim (MAS,42) 15-21 21-14 22-24
[Q1] Arundhati Pantawane (IND,169) bt Hsiao Huan Chen (TPE,71) 18-21 21-17 21-19

[Q2] RMV Gurusai Datt (IND,62) l (3) Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk (THA,35) 20-22 16-21
[Q2] Arundhati Pantawane (IND,169) bt Michelle Li (CAN,47) 21-14 14-21 21-19

[R1] P. Kashyap (IND,23) vs (8) Sung Hwan Park (KOR,8)
[R1] (4) Saina Nehwal (IND,4) vs Lan Lu (CHN,27)
[R1] (Q) Arundhati Pantawane (IND,169) vs Tzu Ying Tai (TPE,18)

[R1] Rupesh Kumar (IND)/ Sanave Thomas (IND) vs Hiroyuki Endo (JPN)/ Kenichi Hayakawa (JPN)
[R1] Jwala Gutta (IND)/ Ashwini Ponnappa (IND) vs Kyung Eun Jung (KOR)/ Ha Na Kim (KOR)

Gurusai scored good comeback win over Taipei player after losing the first game ... In other match Ajay had chances in the decider ... He wasted 5 match points, he was up 20-17 before Malaysian fought back and defeated him.

Arundhati played excellent match against 100 ranked higher opponent ... In the first game both players were neck to neck until 16-all then Hsiao won 3 pts and kept that lead to won the first game ... In the second game Hsiao take early lead 2-6 but Arundhati equaled at 7-all and take lead ... Arundhati increased lead upto 17-12 but Hsiao made it 17-all ... Arundhati won next 4 pts to won the second game ... In the decider Hsiao take early 1-4 lead but Arundhati made it 4-all ... Hsiao regained lead 812 then 11-14 but again Arundhati equaled at 14-all ... Then Hsiao take 18-16 lead but Arundhati made it 18-all and won 3 pts from last 4 pts to scored upset win.

In the second qualifying matches, after falling behing Gurusai tried comeback in the match but Tanongsak kept winning important points to beat Guru.

Arundhati played another exceptional match to scored win over Canadian top-50 player ... In the first game she take early lead but Li made it 10-all and take 12-14 lead ... Arundhati won next 9 pts to won the first game ... In the second game after Li didn't give a chance to Arundhati after taking lead from 8-all to won it comfortably ... In decider Li take early 2-6 lead but Arundhati made it 7-6 ... Again Li take 9-11 and 13-15 lead but Arundhati managed to equalt it at 15-all ... Arundhati won 3 pts in a row from 17-18 to gave 3 match point and converted 2nd to moved into super series main-draw ... She is facing top-20 Taipei player in the first round.

In Singles maindraw Saina is in top draw and again facing Lan Lu in the first round.

Tennis News
At €462,675 AEGON International, Eastbourne, Great Britain

[R1] Somdev Devvarman (IND,67) vs (4) Guillermo Garcia-Lopez (ESP,33) 63 5-3

Terrific upset in the making, hopefully Sommy will finish this match as he is having a break advantage in the second set ... Sommy won the first set with a single break and in the second set also he is break up ... Match suspended due to darkness when Lopez was serving.
-----------------------------------------------------------
At $618K Eastbourne International, Great Britain

[Q3] (7) Sania Mirza (IND,58) l Tamira Paszek (AUT,80) 36 36

Doubles
[R1] (3) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Elena Vesnina (RUS) vs Jarmila Gajdosova (AUS)/ Samantha Stosur (AUS)

So second loss in 2 weeks against Paszek for Sania ... This loss was expected as before this match Sania won 3 sets match against Anna Tatishvili ... Still Sania need to adjust to the grass to give good result in singles at Wimbledon.

Tennis News
At Wimbledon 2011, London, Great Britain

Doubles Qualifying
[Q1] (6) Brian Battistone (USA)/ Purav Raja (IND) l David Rice (GBR)/ Sean Thornley (GBR) 26 46

Expected that match against local British pair was tough but still I was hoping Purav and Brian will take care ... But they lost the first set easily ... In second set also British pair take a break and won match comfortably.
-----------------------------------------------------------
At €694,250 Aegon Championships, London, Great Britain

[F] (3) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Leander Paes (IND) l (1) Bob Bryan (USA)/ Mike Bryan (USA) 76(2) 67(4) 6-10

Both pairs were knowing eachother's game as they played so many matches ... Still Mahesh and Lee were better team on the court in the first set ... Mahesh and Lee had 7 break point chances and they converted 2, other hand Bryans converted 2 of 2 ... But in tie-break our pair dominated after 1-all and won next 5 pts to give themselves 5 set points converted 2nd to won the first set ... In the second set Lee saved 2 break points in 1st game and then our pair take break on Bryans in 6th game ... But poor serving for Mahesh gave them break back on next game ... In tie-break Bryans take mini-break on 5th point and that was enough to won the second set tie-break ... In super tie-break our pair take early mini-break in 4th point but Bryans fought back taking double mini-break in 10th and 11th pts ... They again take mini-break point on 14th point to won STB comfortably ... Our pair missed a chance of upsetting Bryans.
-----------------------------------------------------------
At $618K Eastbourne International, Great Britain

[Q2] (7) Sania Mirza (IND,58) bt Anna Tatishvili (GEO,118) 62 36 63

[Q3] (7) Sania Mirza (IND,58) vs Tamira Paszek (AUT,80)

Sania started breaking Anna in 2nd game converting 4th break point ... Anna immediately broke Sania in 3rd to bring the set back on the serve ... Sania broke Anna in 6th game converting 2nd break point and after holding her serve in 7th Sania again broke Anna in 8th game, this time also converting 2nd break point, to won the first set ... In the second set Sania got broken in 3rd game ... Anna again broke Sania in 7th game to take 2-5 lead ... Sania broke back in 8th game but Anna broke Sania again in 9th game while she was serving to remained in the set ... In the third set Sania wasted 3 break points in 5th game but Sania broke Anna in 7th game to take crucialk break ... And after holding her serve Sania again broke Anna to won this match.

Tennis News
At €750K Gerry Weber Open, Halle, Germany

Doubles Final
(1) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (PAK) bt Robin Haase (NED)/ Milos Raonic (CAN) 76(8) 36 11-9

Rohan and Aisam struggled against big server pair of Raonic and Haase ... They served 16 aces in comparison 5 aces from our pair ... Rohan and Aisam won the first set in tight tie-break ... In match Raonic and Hasse faced 4 break points which they saved all but our pair faced 1 break point which converted by Haase and Raonic to won the second set ... But Rohan and Aisam made terrific comeback in super tie-break after 1-5 down to won it ... This is also their first title as top-seed in the tournament on ATP tour ... This is Rohan's 3rd ATP tour doubles title and 2nd title with Aisam.

Archery News
At World Cup Stage 2, Antalya, Turkey

Recurve Mixed Team
[F] Jayanta Talukdar/ Deepika Kumari (IND) l Xiaoxiang Dai/ Yutin Fang (CHN) 133-136

[SF] Jayanta Talukdar/ Deepika Kumari (IND) bt Bo Bae Ki/ Wooji Kim (KOR) 151-149
[QF] Jayanta Talukdar/ Deepika Kumari (IND) bt Mauro Nespoli/ Natalia Valeeva (ITA) 149-147
[R1] Jayanta Talukdar/ Deepika Kumari (IND) bt Florian Floto/ Elena Richter (GER) 146-145

Jayanta and Deepika performed above expectations ... They reached final in mixed event and won their first silver in this event ... In semi-final they defeated top-seed Korean pair Bo Bae Ki and Wooji Kim, who scored world record of 156 pts in quarter-final.

Also our Recurve women team of Laishram Bombayla Devi, Deepika Kumari and Chekrovolu Swuro won bronze medal beating Ukraine 206-197 ... In semis they tied USA with 212-212 but lost on more bulls eye hit by American girls.

Tennis News
At €694,250 Aegon Championships, London, Great Britain

[SF] (3) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Leander Paes (IND) bt Max Mirnyi (BLR)/ Daniel Nestor (CAN) 67(7) 76(6) 10-8

[F] (3) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Leander Paes (IND) vs (1) Bob Bryan (USA)/ Mike Bryan (USA)

Mahesh and Lee played another memorable match ... After losing the first set in tight tie-break our pair fought back winning second set tie-break ... They also won tight super tie-break to face top-seed Bryans in Queen's final.
-----------------------------------------------------------
At €750K Gerry Weber Open, Halle, Germany

[SF] (1) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (PAK) bt Christopher Kas (GER)/ Philipp Kohlschreiber (GER) 57 63 11-9

[F] (1) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (PAK) vs Robin Haase (NED)/ Milos Raonic (CAN)

Rohan and Aisam were early break down in the second set after losing the first set but they made solid comeback breaking German opponents to won the second set ... In super tie-break both pairs played well ... Our pair had match point at 9-8 though they wasted that still they converted 2nd to moved into the final.
-----------------------------------------------------------
At $618K Eastbourne International, Great Britain

[Q1] Sania Mirza (IND,58) bt Renata Voracova (CZE,127) 46 63 64

[Q2] Sania Mirza (IND,58) vs Anna Tatishvili (GEO,118)

Sania missed a break point in 3rd game, another in 7th game and again in 9th game ... Renata take advantage of it breaking Sania in 10th game to won the first set ... In the second set Sania broke Renata in 3rd game to take early lead ... And she again broke Renata in 9th game to won the second set ... Renata take early break in decider breaking Sania in 3rd game ... Then Sania missed a break point in 4th game ... Sania fought back breaking Renata in 6th game ... After hold her serve in 9th game Sania broke Renata in 10th game to won this match.
-----------------------------------------------------------
At €462,675 AEGON International, Eastbourne, Great Britain

[R1] Somdev Devvarman (IND,67) vs (4) Guillermo Garcia-Lopez (ESP,33)

Doubles
[R1] (1) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (PAK) vs Pablo Andujar(ESP)/ Guillermo Garcia-Lopez (ESP)
[R1] Somdev Devvarman (IND)/ Mark Knowles (BAH) vs Yen-Hsun Lu (TPE)/ Oliver Marach (AUT)

Tough match for Sommy against last year finalist Garcia-Lopez.

Somdev is also participating in doubles with multiple grand slam winner Bahamas's Mark Knowles ... I think good decision from Sommy to play with this doubles legend.
-----------------------------------------------------------
At €450K Unicef Open, s-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands

[R1] (1) Leander Paes (IND)/ Mahesh Bhupathi (IND) vs Filip Polasek (SVK)/ Igor Zelenay (SVK)

Tennis News
At €694,250 Aegon Championships, London, Great Britain

[QF] (3) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Leander Paes (IND) bt Filip Polasek (SVK)/ Igor Zelenay (SVK) 64 64

Lee and Mahesh moved into semis with straight sets win over Slovakian pair ... In this match also they struggled with their serves ... They faced 9 break points but managed to save 8, other hand they converted 3 break points from 4 on Slovakian pair's serve.

Badminton News
At $120K SCG Thailand Open Grand Prix Gold 2011, Bangkok

[QF] (14) P. Kashyap (IND,23) l (1) Long Chen (CHN,4) 18-21 5-21
[QF] Sourabh Verma (IND,170) l (3) Sung Hwan Park (KOR,8) 21-16 16-21 11-21
[QF] (1) Saina Nehwal (IND,4) l (7) Xuerui Li (CHN,13) 13-21 12-21

Saina failed in 2nd Chinese hurdle ... In June she is defending lots of ranking points as last year in this month she won 3 title including 2 super series titles ... If she fails to defend these super series titles then chances r high that she can find herself outside top 5.

Xuerui take early 1-4 lead which she consolidated lead to 7-17 ... Saina tried fightback and reduced lead to 13-18 but Xuerui take next 3 pts to won the first game in 14 mins ... In the second game Saina take early lead but Xuerui take lead from 4-all ... Saina managed to catch her at 10-all ... But from 12-13 Xuerui won last 8 pts to complete comfortable win in only 30 mins.

Long Chen take early lead and he increased to 11-18 then Kashyap made mini-comeback and reduced lead to 1 pt 17-18 ... But Chen won last 2 pts from 18-19 to won the first game ... In second game also Chen take early lead and never gave chance to Kashyap like the first game ... He won this game losing only 5 pts.

It looks Sourabh is playing fearless badminton without caring opponent's ranking ... He started positively against top-10 Korean and take early lead of 4-0 which he managed to increase it to 18-9 ... Then Sung Hwan Park fought back winning next 6 pts but Sourabh kept control to won the first game ... In the second game both players were together until 9-all then Korean take 10-14 lead and kept that lead to won the second game ... In third game Korean take 6-10 lead Sourabh reduced that lead to 1 pt, 9-10, but after that it looks Korean played like top 10 player ... He lost only 2 pts from next 13 pts to complete the victory ... Still creditable performance by young Sourabh to reached quarters in this quality GP tournament.

Tennis News
At €694,250 Aegon Championships, London, Great Britain

[R2] (3) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Leander Paes (IND) bt (WC) Colin Fleming (GBR)/ Ross Hutchins (GBR) 64 16 15-13

[QF] (3) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Leander Paes (IND) vs Filip Polasek (SVK)/ Igor Zelenay (SVK)

Match is on against local wildcard pair ... Lee and Mahesh r leading breaking opponent's in 5th game ... Our pair needed to save couple of break points in 10th game before winning the set ... British pair take early break in the second set ... In 2nd game Lee saved 1 break point but committed double fault on 2nd break point ... British pair take double break lead breaking Mahesh's serve in 4th game and with that they won the second set easily ... In super tie-break both pairs exchanged many mini-breaks before our pair converted 3rd match point after saving 3 match points.

In quarters they r facing Slovakian pair who upset 5th seed Moodie and Norman.

Badminton News
At $120K SCG Thailand Open Grand Prix Gold 2011, Bangkok

[R1] Sanave Thomas (IND)/ Rupesh Kumar (IND) l (5) Biao Chai (CHN)/ Zhendong Guo (CHN) 8-21 14-21
[R1] (8) Jwala Gutta (IND)/ Ashwini Ponnappa (IND) l Lok Yan Poon (HKG)/ Ying Suet Tse (HKG) 21-23 13-21

[R3] (14) P. Kashyap (IND,23) bt Mohamad Arif Abdul Latif (MAS,122) 21-16 19-21 21-12
[R3] Sourabh Verma (IND,170) bt (Q) Beng Hong Kuan (MAS,UNR) 21-19 23-25 21-14
[R2] (1) Saina Nehwal (IND,4) bt Mitani Minatsu (JPN,97) 21-13 15-21 21-7

[QF] (14) P. Kashyap (IND,23) vs (1) Long Chen (CHN,4)
[QF] Sourabh Verma (IND,170) vs (3) Sung Hwan Park (KOR,8)
[QF] (1) Saina Nehwal (IND,4) vs (7) Xuerui Li (CHN,13)

In doubles our both pairs disappointed ... Rupesh and Sanave failed to produce any fight against Chinese pair but loss of seeded Jwala and Ashwini was more shocking considering their current good form in Sudirman Cup.

Kashyap and Sourabh moved to quarters in this prestigious tournament ... Terrific run for Sourabh ... Next both having very tough match against top-10 players ... Kashyap is facing top-seed and WR #4 Chinese Long Chen and Sourabh is facing 3rd seed and WR #8 Korean Sung Park.

Saina was down 0-6 in the first game before she take control of the game from 11-all ... But in second game this lowly ranked Japanese player take control from 9-all to won it comfortably ... In decider Saina played like top 5 player, she take control from 5-all to win this game losing another 2 pts only.

Another Chinese test for Saina ... She is sharing 1-1 win-loss record against Xuerui Li ... Both matches were played in 2010.

Tennis News
At €750K Gerry Weber Open, Halle, Germany

[QF] (1) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (PAK) bt Gael Monfils (FRA)/ Dustin Brown (GER) 46 76(5) 10-4

Rohan and Aisam scored superb comeback win over Monfils and Brown to moved in semis ... After losing the first set they needed to fight hard to won the second set in tie-break before winning super tie-break comfortably.

Badminton News
At SCG Thailand Open Grand Prix Gold 2011, Bangkok

[R1] (1) Saina Nehwal (IND,4) bt Lan Lu (CHN,24) 21-17 14-21 21-18
[R1] (14) P. Kashyap (IND,23) bt Poodchalat Pisit (THA,101) 21-17 9-21 21-11
[R1] Sourabh Verma (IND,170) bt Andre Kurniawan Tedjono (INA,74) 15-21 21-19 22-20
[R1] R.M.V Gurusai Datt (IND,62) bt Kwong Beng Chan (MAS,155) 21-10 20-22 21-10
[R1] Ajay Jayaram (IND,36) bt Tien Chen Chou (TPE,65) 21-14 21-17

[R2] (14) P. Kashyap (IND,23) bt Sukamta Evert (INA,157) 21-13 21-14
[R2] Sourabh Verma (IND,170) bt Jen Hao Hsu (TPE,45) 21-17 20-22 21-16
[R2] R.M.V Gurusai Datt (IND,62) l (16) Choong Hann Wong (MAS,32) 13-21 21-19 12-21
[R2] Ajay Jayaram (IND,36) l (4) Jin Chen (CHN,11) 12-21 21-15 18-21

[R3] (14) P. Kashyap (IND,23) vs Mohamad Arif Abdul Latif (MAS,122)
[R3] Sourabh Verma (IND,170) vs (Q) Beng Hong Kuan (MAS,UNR)
[R2] (1) Saina Nehwal (IND,4) vs Mitani Minatsu (JPN,97)

Saina crossed first Chinese hurdle ... She defeated former WR #2 Lan Lu in well fought an hour long match ... In the first game Saina take 3 pts cushion from 10-all ... But Lu caught with her at 15-all ... Saina won 4 pts in a row from 17-all to won the first game ... In the second game Lu take 4-0 early lead and kept that lead to won the second game easily ... In decider Lu take early 3 pts lead, 4-7, but Saina won next 6 pts to take 10-7 lead ... Lu fought back winning 4 pts in row to make 18-all from 18-14 down but Saina kept her cool and won final 3 pts to complete important victory.

In men's section also our players had winning start ... Kashyap stretched to 3 games against 100 ranked local player ... Sourabh Verma scored upset win over top-75 Indonesian player in good comeback win, showing his performance at Indian open wasn't fluke.

In mens second round Kashyap scored comfortable win over lowly ranked Indonesian ... Sourabh Verma scored another well fought hard win, this time over top-50 Taiwani player ... But Guru and Ajay lost in 3 games ... Ajay gave creditable performance against top-10 type Chinese player.

Sourabh's next Malaysian opponent looks tricky though he is unranked still in the second round he scored easy upset win over top-20 Yen Hu.

Tennis News
At €694,250 Aegon Championships, London, Great Britain

[R1] Somdev Devvarman (IND,67) l (Q) Matthew Ebden (AUS,168) 57 36

Somdev missed break point chances in 3rd game and Matthew Ebden take crucial break in 12th game to won the first set ... In the second set Sommy again failed to take advantage of 2 break points in 1st game ... Matthew broke Sommy in 4th game to lead 1-3 but Sommy immediately broke back in next game to bring the set back on serves ... In 7th game Sommy again missed opportunity of breaking Matthew but in next game Matthew take a crucial break ... While serving for the match Matthew saved 3 break points before winning it ... Sommy converted only 1 out of 11 break point opportunities and that tell us the story of this match ... Frankly another disappointing outing for Sommy on the grass ... His struggle against these lower ranked players continues.
-----------------------------------------------------------
At $220K Aegon Classic, Edgbaston, England

[R1] Sania Mirza (IND,58) l Tamira Paszek (AUT,80) 36 64 26

Sania started with the serve ... In 5th game Sania saved 3 break points from 0-40 but Tamira converted 4th to break the serve ... Tamira again broke Sania's serve in 9th game to won the first set ... In the second set Sania take early lead with double brea, 4-1 ... Tamira broke her in 6th game ang again broke Sania in 8th game to make it 4-all ... But again Sania broke Tamira in 9th before holding her serve while serving for the set ... In decider Sania take early break in 3rd game to take 2-1 lead but Tamira immediately broke her in next to make it 2-all ... Then Tamira again broke her in 6th game to take 2-4 lead ... Sania failed to hold her serve in 8th game to give victory to Tamira ... Sania struggled with her serve, she managed around 40% first serve percentage..
-----------------------------------------------------------
At €750K Gerry Weber Open, Halle, Germany

[R1] (1) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (PAK) bt Ivan Dodig (CRO)/ Alexandr Dolgopolov (UKR) 75 64

[QF] (1) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (PAK) vs Gael Monfils (FRA)/ Dustin Brown (GER)

Our top-seed pair take early break in 3rd game but Aisam lost his serve in 10th game while serving for the set ... Immediately our pair broke opponent's serve and then Rohan hold to won the first set ... In second set our pair started with breaking opponent's serve in the first game and with that break they won the second set and match.

Badminton News
At SCG Thailand Open Grand Prix Gold 2011, Bangkok

[Q1] Arundhati Pantawane (IND,167) bt (2) Hsiao Huan Chen (TPE,71) 21-11 10-21 21-13
[Q2] Arundhati Pantawane (IND,167) bt Chanida Julrattanamanee (THA,161) 21-17 21-12

[Q3] Arundhati Pantawane (IND,167) l Hung Yung Chan (HKG,124) 18-21 5-21

[R1] (1) Saina Nehwal (IND,4) vs Lan Lu (CHN,24)
[R1] (14) P. Kashyap (IND,23) vs Poodchalat Pisit (THA,101)
[R1] Sourabh Verma (IND,170) vs Andre Kurniawan Tedjono (INA,74)
[R1] R.M.V Gurusai Datt (IND,62) vs Kwong Beng Chan (MAS,155)
[R1] Ajay Jayaram (IND,36) vs Tien Chen Chou (TPE,65)

[R1] Sanave Thomas (IND)/ Rupesh Kumar (IND) vs (5) Biao Chai (CHN)/ Zhendong Guo (CHN)
[R1] (8) Jwala Gutta (IND)/ Ashwini Ponnappa (IND) vs Lok Yan Poon (HKG)/ Ying Suet Tse (HKG)

Good performance at Sudirman Cup helped Jwala and Ashwini to improved their doubles ranking from 32nd to 22nd position and they r 8th seed in Thailand Open ... Kashyap also improved his ranking to 23rd from 28th.

Arundhati Pantawane started with upset win over top-70 Taiwani player in 3 games ... Arundhati won second qualifying round in 30 mins ... But Arundhati lost her final qualifying match ... Surprised the way she folded in the second game.

Saina is top-seed but need to play at her best as she is facing former WR #2 Lan Lu in the first round ... Saina is having 2-1 win-loss record against Lu ... This tournament is good test for Saina as she can face 3 more Chinese players from quarters in this tournament.

Tennis News
At €694,250 Aegon Championships, London, Great Britain

[R1] Somdev Devvarman (IND,67) vs (Q) Matthew Ebden (AUS,168)

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

Tough match for Sommy against Australian qualifier, who is good grass court player ... If Sommy manages to win then he can face WR #1 Rafa in the second round.

Good to see Mahesh and Lee r playing in this event ... After longtime Lee is outside top-10 doubles ranking ... In newly updated ranking he is slipped to #11.
-----------------------------------------------------------
At $220K Aegon Classic, Edgbaston, England

[R1] Sania Mirza (IND,58) vs Tamira Paszek (AUT,80)

Newly updated Ranking Sania enter into top-60 in singles and reaching final at Roland Garros helped her to achieve career best doubles ranking ... She is entered into top-15, #14.
-----------------------------------------------------------
At €750K Gerry Weber Open, Halle, Germany

[R1] (1) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (PAK) vs Ivan Dodig (CRO)/ Alexandr Dolgopolov (UKR)

Rohan and Aisam r top-seed at Halle ... Both first time entered in top-10 doubles ranking ... Aisam is on #8 and Rohan is on #10.

Tennis News
At French Open 2011, Roland Garros, France

Womens Doubles Final
(7) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Elena Vesnina (RUS) l Andrea Hlavackova (CZE)/ Lucie Hradecka (CZE) 46 36

Elena started with serve but Czech pair take first break in 3rd game breaking Sania's serve ... Czech pair again broke Elena's serve in 5th game and were leading 1-5 ... Elena was struggling with her game and was making numerous unforced errors ... Then in 8th game Czech pair had 3 set points at 0-40 but after that our pair did mini comeback ... They saved all set points and broke Andrea Hlavackova's serve in 8th game ... In 9th game despite 2 doubles faults Elna manged to hold serve after deuce ... In 10th game our pair saved another set point but Hlavackova served well to win the first set ... The second set started with Elena failed to hold her serve, she was making too many unforced errors ... Again our pair broke Andrea Hlavackova's serve on luv in 4th game but again Elena failed to hold her serve in 5th game ... In 7th game Sania hold after numerous deuce ... Again our pair had couple of break points Andrea Hlavackova's serve but failed to convert it ... Czech pair again broke Elena's serve converting 2nd match point to complete the victory ... Today Elena was off-color and Czech pair take full advantage of it to won first grand slam title in the first final.

Dream French Open for unseeded Czech pair of Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Hradecka ... They won the title without losing a single set ... In the first round they defeated 8th seed Czech pair Iveta Benesova and Barbora Zahlavova Strycova ... In the quarter-final they defeated in-form 2nd seed pair Kveta Peschke and Katarina Srebotnik ... In semi-final they defeated 3rd seed pair Vania King and Yaroslava Shvedova, who were 16-0 run before this match in grand slams winning 2010 US Open and 2011 Australian Open titles ... And in the final they defeated 7th seed Sania-Elena to lift the French Open title.

Football News

42 probables r announced for India’s World Cup Qualifier against UAE ... Players r selected on their performance in I-League so 13 top players r missing from the list including unfit Baichung Bhutia ... Other players who dropped from the squad r Subhashish Roy Choudhary, Surkumar Singh, Anwar Ali, Deepak Mondal, NS Manju, Govind Singh, NP Pradeep, Renedy Singh, Mehrajuddin Wadoo, Baldeep Singh, Mohamad Rafi and Abhishek Yadav.

India are going to play UAE (away-match) on July 23 and then in Delhi (home-match) on July 28 ... The camp will begin in Delhi from June 15, 2011 under new coach Armando Colaco.

List of probables
Goalkeepers - Subrata Pal (Pune FC), Jagroop Singh (Indian Arrows), Sandip Nandy (Kingfisher East Bengal), Karanjit Singh (Salgaocar), Laxmikant Kattimani (Dempo SC)

Defenders - Gourmangi Singh, Denzel Franco, Robert Lalthlamuana, Rowilson Rodrigues (all Churchill Brothers); Thokchom Naoba Singh, Gurwinder Singh (both Kingfisher East Bengal); Raju Eknath Gaikwad (Indian Arrows), Valleriano Rebello, Debabrata Roy, Sameer Naik, Mahesh Gawli (all Dempo SC); Mohanraj, Rakesh Masih (both McDowell Mohun Bagan)

Midfielders - Mehtab Hossain, Syed Rahim Nabi, Harmanjot Khabra (all Kingfisher East Bengal); Steven Dias (Churchill Brothers); Jewel Raja Sheikh, Khan Gembam Jibon Singh, Shilton D’Silva, Lalrindika Ralte (all Indian Arrows); Gilbert Oliviera, Francis Fernandes, Anthony Barbosa, Rocus Lamare, Baldeep Singh, Khangembam Singh (all Salgaocar SC); Peter Carvalho, Climax Lawrence, Clifford Miranda (all Dempo SC); Xavier Vijay Kumar (HAL)

Forwards - Sunil Chhetri (Chirag United), Jeje Lalpekhlua (Indian Arrows), Joaquim Abranches (Dempo SC), CS Sabeeth, Anil Kumar (both Viva Kerala); Sushil Kumar Singh (Kingfisher East Bengal)
--------------------------------------------------------------
At I-League 2010-11, India

I-League 2010-11 Final Standing

Position Team P W D L GF GA PTS GD
1 Salgaocar S.C 26 18 2 6 58 27 56 31
2 Kingfisher East Bengal 26 15 6 5 44 21 51 23
3 Dempo SC Pvt. Ltd. 26 15 5 6 63 34 50 29
4 Churchill Brothers SC 26 14 8 4 57 31 50 26
5 Pune FC 26 9 9 8 32 27 36 5
6 McDowell Mohun Bagan 26 8 10 8 34 32 34 2
7 Mumbai FC 26 9 7 10 24 28 34 -4
8 Chirag United SC 26 5 14 7 31 36 29 -5
9 Indian Arrows 26 7 8 11 31 49 29 -18
10 Viva Kerala 26 6 9 11 30 36 27 -6
11 Air India FC 26 5 9 12 25 57 24 -32
12 HAL Bangalore 26 6 6 14 18 40 24 -22
13 ONGC 26 5 9 12 25 36 24 -11
14 JCT Mills Football Club 26 6 6 14 17 35 24 -18

2010-11 Season ended on dramatic note ... In their last 2 matches Pune FC defeated Dempo 2-1 and Churchill 3-2 to finished on respectable 5th position ... But these losses cost these 2 teams 2nd position behind Champion Salgaocar, East Bengal won last match against Chirag United, 2-1, to finished on 2nd position ... Young Indian Arrows finished on respectable 9th position in their first year of professional league but due to lack of main sponsors big question mark on their future.

In last match of this season HAL defeated Dempo 4-2 to move out of I-League’s relegation zone ... Four teams — Air India, HAL, JCT and ONGC - finished on 24 points ... But on head to head count (matches played between the four teams), JCT and ONGC were relegated so Air India and HAL survived.

Dempo's Nigerian striker Ranti Martins finished top-scorer with 30 goals ... Indian top-scorer was Indian Arrows striker Jeje Lalpekhulua with 12 goals and Viva's Anil Kumar P.V. finished 2nd with 11 goals.

Tennis News
At French Open 2011, Roland Garros, France

[QF] (5) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (PAK) l (1) Bob Bryan (USA)/ Mike Bryan (USA) 76(2) 36 67(3)

[SF] (7) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Elena Vesnina (RUS) bt (4) Liezel Huber (USA)/ Lisa Raymond (USA) 63 26 64

Doubles Final
(7) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Elena Vesnina (RUS) vs Andrea Hlavackova (CZE)/ Lucie Hradecka (CZE)

Rohan and Aisam failed to cross line ... Bryans proved strong for them in tie-break ... Tough loss for them.

Elena started with serve, in beginning both pairs hold their serves ... Sania and Elena take crucial break in 6th game breaking Liezek Huber's serve ... In next game Sania saved a break point before holding her serve ... Our pair converted 3rd set point on Elena's serve to won the first set ... In the second set Huber and Raymond broke Elena's serve in 2nd game but immediately our pair broke Lisa's serve in 3rd game ... In 4th game Sania failed to hold her serve, 1-3 ... In 6th game they saved few break points on Elena's serve and had opportunity to break Lisa but couldn't take it ... Huber and Raymond again broke Sania in 8th game to won the second set ... In third set our pair broke Liezel's serve in 1st game to take early lead but Huber and Raymond fought back breaking Elena's serve in 6th game, 3-3 ... But Sania and Elena immediately broke Raymond in 7th game with blistering returns to take crucial break ... And then hold their services converting first match point to scored memorable win ... So this is 24 yrs old pair's first Grand slam final ... In the final they r facing unseeded giant-killers Czech pair.
-----------------------------------------------------------
At $75K+H Nottingham Challenger, Great Britain (Grass)

[R1] Somdev Devvarman (IND)/ Rik De Voest (RSA) l Jamie Delgado (GBR)/ Edouardo Roger-Vasselin (FRA) 46 46
[R1] Treat Conrad Huey (PHI)/ Purav Raja (IND) l (3) Dustin Brown (GER)/ Martin Emmrich (GER) 76(4) 46 12-14

Treat and Purav played superbly against third seed Germans and won the first set in tie-break ... In second set Purav and Treat take early break but after that both pairs traded breaks ... Germans take crucial break in 10th game to won the second set ... After that Purav and Treat lost very close super tie-break.

Another disappointing outing for Sommy in doubles ... They lost in straight sets with a single break in each set.

Tennis News
At French Open 2011, Roland Garros, France

[QF] (5) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (PAK) vs (1) Bob Bryan (USA)/ Mike Bryan (USA) 76(2) 36 5-5

Bryans take early break of the match ... They broke Aisam's serve in 3rd game but our pair fought back breaking Mike's serve in 8th game to make it 4-all ... Our pair won tie-break comfortably with double mini-breaks ... In the second set Our pair broke Bob's serve in 1st game but Bryans fought back breaking Aisam's serve in 4th game and then they take another break in 6th game breaking Rohan's serve to lead 2-4 ... With that crucial break they won the second set ... In third set Bryans take early break after breaking Aisam's serve in 3rd game but our pair immediately responded breaking Mike's serve in next game ... Match suspended due to bad light at 5-all ... Terrific match for Rohan and Aisam, hopefully today they will take Bryans out.
-----------------------------------------------------------
At $75K+H Nottingham Challenger, Great Britain (Grass)

[R1] (2) Somdev Devvarman (IND,66) l Marinko Matosevic (AUS,146) 46 63 62

Sommy started well with a single break he won the first set ... But from late second set he struggled with his serve and Matosevic take full advantage of it ... He broke Sommy once in the second set and twice in the final set ... In the final set Sommy's first serve percentage was 39% ... Disappointing result for Sommy considering Matosevic also don't like to play on the grass.