Tennis News
At US Open 2011, New York

[R1] (10) Somdev Devvarman (IND,64) l (4) Andy Murray (GBR,4) 67(5) 26 36

Doubles
[R1] (6) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Elena Vesnina (RUS) bt Samantha Crawford (USA)/ Madison Keys (USA) 62 60

[R2] (6) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Elena Vesnina (RUS) vs Vitalia Diatchenko (RUS)/ Olga Savchuk (UKR)

Mixed Doubles
[R1] (7) Elena Vesnina (RUS)/ Leander Paes (IND) bt Nadia Petrova (RUS)/ Jamie Murray (GBR) 62 67(7) 10-6

[R2] (7) Elena Vesnina (RUS)/ Leander Paes (IND) vs Yung-Jan Chan (TPE)/ Mariusz Fyrstenberg (POL)

Sommy started with breaking Andy's serve in 1st game and was leading 3-1 but he gave break back in 6th game ... After that both players hold their service games to take set into tie-break ... In tie-break Sommy was up with mini-break at 3-2 but Andy won next 2 points on Sommy's serve to take lead ... Sommy saved 2 set points from 3-6 down but Andy converted next to won the first set ... After winning the first set Andy played more solid and confident game ... He won next 2 set quite easily to moved into the second round.

Sania and Elena started with very comfortable win ... They lost only 2 games in their first round match ... In MXD, Lee and Elena was facing tricky match ... They won the first set comfortably but as expected Nadia and Jamie fought back winning the second set in tight tie-break ... In super tie-break our pair proved strong to win this match.
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At $50K Bangkok Challenger, Thailand

[QF] Divij Sharan (IND)/ Harri Heliovaara (FIN) l (3) John Paul Fruttero (USA)/ Raven Klaasen (RSA) 46 67(2)

They lost quarters against 4th seed in close 2 sets.
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At $35K+H Como Challenger, Italy

[QF] (4) Olivier Charroin (FRA)/ Purav Raja (IND) bt Andrea Arnaboldi (ITA) / Stephano Ianni ( ITA) 63 67(6) 10-6

After winning the first set with a single break Purav and Olivier were up with break in the second ... Italian pair fought back breaking them ... In tie-break our pair was up with mini-break but again Italian pair fought back and won the tie-break after saving match point ... In super tie-break our pair dominated to take 9-2 lead before converting 6th match point.

Tennis News
At US Open 2011, New York

[R1] Sania Mirza (IND,63) l (23) Shahar Peer (ISR,24) 76(5) 36 16

Doubles
[R1] (5) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (PAK) bt Robby Ginepri (USA)/ Rhyne Williams (USA) 61 26 62
[R1] (4) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Leander Paes (IND) bt Alexandr Dolgopolov (UKR)/ Albert Ramos (ESP) 76(8) 64

Mixed Doubles
[R1] (5) Vania King (USA)/ Rohan Bopanna (IND) vs Barbora Zahlavova Strycova (CZE)/ Philipp Petzschner (GER)
[R1] (7) Elena Vesnina (RUS)/ Leander Paes (IND) vs Nadia Petrova (RUS)/ Jamie Murray (GBR)
[R1] (4) Kveta Peschke (CZE)/ Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (PAK) vs Jarmila Gajdosova (AUS)/ Bruno Soares (BRA)
[R1] (6) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Mahesh Bhupathi (IND) vs Lucie Hradecka (CZE)/ Frantisek Cermak (CZE)

Sania take a break to lead 4-3 but while serving for the set at 5-3 she failed to hold her serve ... Played better tie-break to won the first set ... Shahar take advantage of Sania's poor serving and unforced errors to won the second set ... In decider also Sania struggled with her game and fitness, Shahar take full advantage of it winning comfortably.

Rohan and Aisam started well winning the first set easily but surprisingly they lost focus in the second to lose it ... But again played solid third set to won the first round ... Lee and Mahesh also tested against big serving pair ... They prevailed in tight sets victory.
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At $50K Bangkok Challenger, Thailand

Doubles
[R1] Divij Sharan (IND)/ Harri Heliovaara (FIN) bt Hiroki Moriya (JPN)/ Yuichi Sugita (JPN) 46 63 10-7

[QF] Divij Sharan (IND)/ Harri Heliovaara (FIN) vs (3) John Paul Fruttero (USA)/ Raven Klaasen (RSA)

This was tricky match against Japanese Davis cup pair but Divij and Harri survived the test ... They fought back after losing the first set and won close super tie-break to move into next round.
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At $10K Germany F13 Futures, Kempten (clay)

[R1] (Q) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND,1328) bt (WC) Patrick ELIAS (GER,UNR) 63 67(5) 63

[R2] (Q) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND,1328) vs (6) Antony DUPUIS (FRA,522)

In end turned very tight win for Balaji against unranked German player but importantly with this win Balaji earned one ranking point ... Next he is facing top-550 player.
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At $15K Spain F31 Futures, Santander (clay)

[R1] Rafael MAZON-HERNANDEZ (ESP)/ Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND) l Alejandro ANDINO VALLVERDU (ESP)/ Marcos GIRALDI REQUENA (ESP) 57 76(2) 3-10
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At $15K Netherlands F6 Futures, Apeldoorn (clay)

[R1] (Q) Akash WAGH (IND,1482) l (6) Alexandre SIDORENKO (FRA,408) 36 36

Expected loss but decent performance against top-400 type player.

Athletics News
At The World Championship, Daegu, South Korea

Vikas Gowda finished on 7th position in the discus final with 64.05m throw ... Creditable effort from Vikas Gowda.

Chess News
At FIDE World Cup Chess Tournament 2011, Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia

Round One
[G2] Rauf Mamedov (AZE,2679) 0-1 Abhijeet Gupta (IND,2627) - ½-1½
[G2] P. Harikrishna (IND,2669) ½-½ Maxim Rodshtein (ISR,2637) - 1½-½

Round Two
[G1] Parimarjan Negi (IND,2642) - (7) Teimour Radjabov (AZE,2744)
[G1] P. Harikrishna (IND,2669) - (10) Dmitry Jakovenko (RUS,2736)
[G1] Abhijeet Gupta (IND,2627) - Samuel L. Shankland (USA,2539)

Abhijeet Gupta scored exciting victory with black pieces over higher-ranked Mamedov in 47 moves ... Hari comfortably draw his game and joined Abhijit and Negi in the second round.

In the second round Negi and Hari r facing experienced seeded opponents ... Abhijit is facing American L. Samuel Shankland, who upset 18th seed Hungarian Peter Leko 1½-½ in the first round.

Tennis News
At US Open 2011, New York

[R1] (6) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Elena Vesnina (RUS) vs Samantha Crawford (USA)/ Madison Keys (USA)
[R1] (4) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Leander Paes (IND) vs Alexandr Dolgopolov (UKR)/ Albert Ramos (ESP)
[R1] (5) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (PAK) vs Robby Ginepri (USA)/ Rhyne Williams (USA)
[R1] Somdev Devvarman (IND)/ Treat Conrad Huey (PHI) vs Igor Andreev (RUS)/ Igor Kunitsyn (RUS)

Sania and Elena having favorable draw until quarters if both r fit.

In men doubles our all pairs in the bottom draw ... Happy to see Ex-UVa pair of Sommy and Treat r playing together here ... Sommy and Treat can face Lee and Mahesh if they reaches to the third round ... Rohan and Aisam can meet one of them in the semis.
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At $35K+H Como Challenger, Italy

[R1] (4) Olivier Charroin (FRA)/ Purav Raja (IND) bt Niels Desein (BEL)/ Stephane Robert (FRA) 63 62

[QF] (4) Olivier Charroin (FRA)/ Purav Raja (IND) vs Andrea Arnaboldi (ITA) / Stephano Ianni ( ITA)

Comfortable win for Purav and Olivier in the first round ... Next they r facing local pair.
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At $15K Spain F31 Futures, Santander (clay)

[R1] Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND,949) bt (WC) Borja GUTIERREZ-DE LA MAZA (ESP,UNR) 62 61

[R2] Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND,949) vs (5) David ESTRUCH (ESP,397)

Doubles
[R1] Rafael MAZON-HERNANDEZ (ESP)/ Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND) vs Alejandro ANDINO VALLVERDU (ESP)/ Marcos GIRALDI REQUENA (ESP)

Expected winning start for Ramkumar.
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At $10K Germany F13 Futures, Kempten (clay)

[Q1] (2) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND,1328) bye
[Q2] (2) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND,1328) bt Adriano QUINTI (GER,UNR) 62 64
[Q3] (2) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND,1328) bt Jan MAREK (CZE,UNR) 75 75

[R1] (Q) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND,1328) vs (WC) Patrick ELIAS (GER,UNR)

Sriram Balaji qualified for the main-draw and having winnable first round.
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At $15K Netherlands F6 Futures, Apeldoorn (clay)

[Q1] (6) Akash WAGH (IND,1482) bye
[Q2] (6) Akash WAGH (IND,1482) bt Philip DE VETTER (BEL,UNR) 64 75
[Q3] (6) Akash WAGH (IND,1482) bt Jan MEYER (GER,UNR) 75 61

[R1] (Q) Akash WAGH (IND,1482) vs (6) Alexandre SIDORENKO (FRA,408)

Doubles
[R1] Yannick EBBINGHAUS (NED)/ Akash WAGH (IND) vs Bobbie DE GOEIJEN (NED)/ Matthew PIEROT (NED)

Akash qualified for the maindraw but having tough first round against top-400 type player.

Athletics News
At The World Championship, Daegu, South Korea

Mayookha Johny failed to qualify for the finals in Triple Jump ... She finished on 10th in her group and 19th overall with 13.99 m ... She needed over 14.15 m to qualify, which was well above her personal best ... Still creditable performance from her.

Vikas Gowda qualified for the discus final in 8th place with 63.99m throw ... This is his first final appearance in the World Championships.

Mayookha Johny had qualified for the finals in Long Jump with 6.53m, at 10th position ... But disappointed result in the final where Mayookha finished 9th with a jump of only 6.40m.

Harwant Kaur came 10th in her group and 21st in the two groups (out of 24) in the discus qualification with 56.49m.

In 20km walk, Gurmeet Singh and Babubhai Panucha finished 30th & 31st.

Chess News
At FIDE World Cup Chess Tournament 2011, Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia

[R1] Parimarjan Negi (IND,2642) bt Vladimir Akopian (ARM,2667) w/o

Round One
[G1] Abhijeet Gupta (IND,2627) ½-½ Rauf Mamedov (AZE,2679)
[G1] Maxim Rodshtein (ISR,2637) 0-1 P. Harikrishna (IND,2669)

Hari started with a win ... Playing with black he defeated Rodshtein in 34 moves after Hari's opponent made mistake under severe time-pressure ... Abhijit managed draw playing with white after 52 moves.

Parimarjan Negi moved to the second round after receiving a walkover from higher-ranked Armenian Vladimir Akopian due to a fractured leg.

In the second round, Negi is likely to face 7th seed Azerbaijani Teimour Radjabov ... Hari is likely to face 10th-seeded Russian Dmitry Jakovenko ... Other hand Abhijeet's potential second-round rival, 18th seeded Hungarian Peter Leko suffered a surprising loss against USA's L. Samuel Shankland.

Hockey News

Hockey India committee banned Sandeep Singh and Sardar Singh for two years for indiscipline ... The players can go on appeal and have been given 30 days time.

The two players had quit the camp for the Asian Champions Trophy on August 23 citing personal reasons that angered the coaches and disarray in the team ... The federation had expressed dismay at their departure and announced that the disciplinary committee on Saturday would decide on their future ... This decision to ban them was unanimous as both Sandeep and Sardar were repeat offenders.

Billiards News
At 2011 IBSF World Billiards Championship, Carlow, Ireland

Point Format - Final
Mike Russell (England) bt Pankaj Advani (India) 6-3 (150(150-U)-49, 150(150-U)-00, 150(148-U)-17, 150(150-U)-00, 150(114)-10, 83-150(143), 105(97)-150(120-U), 06-150(143-U), 150(143-U)-61)

In the final Mike Russell was in his best ... He scored 4 unfinished 140+ break to take 5-0 lead in best of 11 frames final ... Pankaj tried to fightback scoring couple of unfinished 100 breaks to won next 3 frames but Mike scored another unfinished 140+ break to lift the title.

Squash News
At 23rd World Men's Team Squash Championship, Paderborn, Germany

For 7th Position
#6 India l #8 USA 0-2

Saurav Ghosal l Julian Illingworth 9-11 11-2 11-13 7-11 (50m)
Mahesh Mangaonkar l Todd Harrity 11-6 5-11 11-7 2-11 5-11 (51m)

Disappointing result for Indians ... After losing yesterday's match to Italians they lost this 7th position match against Americans to finished on 8th place.

At $50K Astana-2 Challenger, Kazakhstan

Doubles Final
Karan Rastogi (IND) / Vishnu Vardhan (IND) bt (4) Harri Heliovaara (FIN)/ Denys Molchanov (UKR) 76(3) 26 10-8

In the first set both pairs didn't lose their service games and in tie-break our pair dominated to win it ... In the second set Karan lost his serve in 6th game and then Vishnu lost his service game while serving for staying in the set ... In Super tie-break our pair take early double mini-break to lead 4-1 and kept that advantage nto lead 8-3 ... While serving for the match at 9-4 Karan double faulted and on 2nd match point he hit smash outside the court ... On next Vishnu hit easy shot in the net ... But after wasting 4 match points our pair converted 5th with superb backhand lob by Karan in the right corner of the court.

This was Karan's first doubles challenger title from the first final, other hand this was Vishnu's also first doubles challenger title but from three finals ... This win will push Vishnu's doubles ranking in top-250 and Karan will re-enter into top-450.

Billiards News
At 2011 IBSF World Billiards Championship, Carlow, Ireland

Point Format - Semi Finals
Pankaj Advani (India) bt Praput Chaithanasukan (Thailand) 5-4 (150(91-U)-16, 150(95)-33, 150(91)-122(80), 116-150(79), 150(108-U)-34, 06-150(91-U), 94(91)-150(104-U), 126(92)-150(143-U), 150(55)-104)
Mike Russell (England) bt Sourav Kothari (India) 5-3 150(91)-46, 94(84)-150(139), 147-150, 71(71)-150(94), 150(87,70)-67(64), 151(150)-00, 150(150)-00, 150(145)-03)

Pankaj reached in the final beating experienced Thai Praput Chaithanasukan 5-4 in closely contested semi-final ... Pankaj was leading 4-2 before Praput fought back .. He won next 2 frames but Pankaj won the final frame 150-104 to won this match ... Sourav Kothari played well against Mike Russell but current World champion proved too strong for Sourav.

Badminton News
At $50K Yonex Sunrise Vietnam Grand Prix Open 2011, Phan Dinh Phung

[SF] (12) Gurusaidutt R. M. V. (IND,64) l (1) Tien Minh Nguyen (VIE,7) 5-21 9-21
[SF] (5) Ajay Jayaram (IND,29) l (2) Sho Sasaki (JPN,9) 21-12 14-21 16-21

Ajay produced fighting performance against Japanese top-10 player Sho Sasaki in 52 mins match ... He won the first game but Sasaki came back winning last two games ... Guru failed to produce much fight against another local top-10 player Nguyen ... Managed to win only 14 pts in this match ... Still creditable performance by Indian contingent in this big GP tournament.

Billiards News
At 2011 IBSF World Billiards Championship, Carlow, Ireland

Point Format
[SF] Pankaj Advani (India) vs Praput Chaithanasukan (Thailand)
[SF] Sourav Kothari (India) vs Mike Russell (England)

[QF] Praput Chaithanasukan (Thailand) bt Geet Sethi (India) 4-2 (134(100)-152, 150(140)-38, 47-150(75), 150(74)-53, 150-141(124), 150(82)-98(86))
[QF] Pankaj Advani (India) bt Peter Gilchrist (Singapore) 4-3 (150(121)-82, 00-151(151-U), 87-150(86-U), 150(85-U)-00, 14-150(141-U), 151(151-U)-00, 150(150-U)-04)
[QF] Mike Russell (England) bt Ashok Shandilya (India) 4-2 (150(116)-95(85), 145-150(148), 150-92, 150(145)-66, 56-150(118), 150(89)-66)
[QF] Sourav Kothari (India) bt Dhruv Sitwala (India) 4-2 (150(93)-32, 150(115)-125, 108-150, 150(85)-145(145), 110-150(121), 150(99)-40)

[PQF] Geet Sethi (India) bt Alok Kumar (India) 4-0 (150(103)-10, 150(87)-98, 150(76)-09, 150(110)-74)
[PQF] Peter Gilchrist (Singapore) bt Devendra Joshi (India) 4-0 (150(115)-114, 150-40, 153(151)-34, 157(157)-02)
[PQF] Pankaj Advani (India) bt B. Bhaskar (India) 4-0 (150-18, 150(150)-20, 150-38, 150(114)-124)
[PQF] Ashok Shandilya (India) bt Nay Thway Oo (Myanmar) 4-3 (150-60, 150-126, 76-150(91), 37-150(107), 89-150, 150(89)-107(77), 150(88)-20)
[PQF] Dhruv Sitwala (India) bt Matthew Bolton (Australia) 4-1 (150(131)-98, 95-150(71), 150(88)-71, 150(70)-35, 150(98)-106)
[PQF] Sourav Kothari (India) bt Rupesh Shah (India) 4-1 (150-45, 00-152(152-unf), 150-85, 150-83, 150(93)-53)

[R24] Geet Sethi (India) bt Thanh Binh Nguyen (Vietnam) 3-1 (150(98)-86, 150-47, 142-150(86), 150-68)
[R24] Devendra Joshi (India) bt Phil Mumford (England) 3-0 (150-63, 150(66, 67)-25, 153(151)-02)
[R24] B. Bhaskar (India) bt Aidan Murray (Ireland) 3-2 (150(121-unf)-39, 148-150, 04-150(148-unf), 150(150-unf)-00, 150(76-unf)-91)
[R24] Ashok Shandilya (India) bt Phil Martin (Ireland) 3-0 (150(85)-98, 150(60)-20, 150(91)-39)
[R24] Dhruv Sitwala (India) bt Brian Harvey (England) 3-0 (150(74-unf), 150-58, 150(73, 74-unf)-35)
[R24] Sourav Kothari (India) bt Kyaw Oo (Myanmar) 3-2 (79-150(82), 66-150, 150(120)-27, 150-125(107), 150(80, 67)-106(76))

In ongoing World Billiards Championship at Ireland, 9 Indians reached in the Round of 16 from group stage.

From that 5 Indians reached in quarter-finals ... In that Ashok Shandilya scored exciting win over Nay Thway Oo from 2-3 down ... In the quarterfinal, Geet lost in close match against Thai Praput Chaithanasukan ... Mike Russell defeated Ashok Shandilya ... In all Indians match Sourav defeated Rupesh to move into semis ... Pankaj also joined him with hard fought win from 2-3 dowm over very experienced Peter Gilchrist ... Both players produced lot many big unfinished breaks in this match.

Squash News
At 23rd World Men's Team Squash Championship, Paderborn, Germany

For 5th to 8th Positions
#6 India l #9 Italy 1-2

Siddharth Suchde l Marcus Berrett 5-11 11-6 4-11 0-11
Saurav Ghosal bt Davide Bianchetti 11-5 6-11 11-7 11-3
Harinder Pal Sandhu l Amr Swelim 9-11 11-8 4-11 11-5 8-11

India lost to Italian side so now they will face USA for 7th position ... Marcus Berrett gave Italian 1st point beating Siddharth easily ... Saurav won his match against Italian top-seed to make it 1-all ... In decider Amr Swelim gave important victory to Italian scoring 3-2 victory over Sandhu.

Badminton News
At $50K Yonex Sunrise Vietnam Grand Prix Open 2011, Phan Dinh Phung

[QF] Aditi Mutatkar (IND,133) l Mingtian Fu (SIN,41) 21-18 14-21 17-21
[QF] Sindhu P. V. (IND,95) l (3) Tzu Ying Tai (TPE,19) 21-11 11-21 19-21
[QF] Arundhati Pantawane (IND,117) l Kaori Imabeppu (JPN,49) 21-18 13-21 12-21
[QF] (12) Gurusaidutt R. M. V. (IND,64) bt Beng Hong Kuan (MAS,258) 21-14 21-12
[QF] (5) Ajay Jayaram (IND,29) bt (4) Alamsyah Yunus (INA,32) 15-21 21-11 21-15

[QF] (4) Arun Vishnu (IND)/ Aparna Balan (IND) l Eui Seok Chung (KOR)/ Hyun Young Yoo (KOR) 19-21 12-21

[SF] (12) Gurusaidutt R. M. V. (IND,64) vs (1) Tien Minh Nguyen (VIE,7)
[SF] (5) Ajay Jayaram (IND,29) vs (2) Sho Sasaki (JPN,9)

Ajay scored fighting win over Indonesian Alamsyah Yunus after losing the first game ... Other hand Guru scored comfortable win against lwly ranked Malaysian ... In the semis our both players r facing top-10 top 2 seeds to place in the final.

Our all girls lost after winning the first game ... Sindhu won the first game comfortably against top-20 player but lost the second easily ... In decider she fought well but failed to cross the final hurdle ... Aditi fought well against Mingtian ... She won the first game and then tried hard but couldn't overcome the challenge ... Arundhati started well winning the first game but she couldn't match to Kaori Imabeppu in last 2 games which Kaori won comfortably ... In MXD 4th seed Arun and Aparna failed to their first real test against Koreans.

Tennis News
At US Open 2011, New York

[R1] Somdev Devvarman (IND,64) vs (4) Andy Murray (GBR,4)
[R1] Sania Mirza (IND,63) vs (23) Shahar Peer (ISR,24)

Sommy having very tough draw to face Andy Murray in the first round ... I would not say cruel draw as non-seeded u can expect sometime u will face top players in the grand slam ... Big learning experience for Sommy ... Sania is also facing seeded player but she is having lot of success against Shahar Peer ... Sania having 4-0 win-loss record against her but considering Sania's recent form I m doubtful about win.
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At $100K+H Manerbio Challenger, Italy

[SF] (3) Olivier Charroin (FRA)/ Purav Raja (IND) l (1) Dustin Brown (GER)/ Lovro Zovko (CRO) 36 63 7-10

Purav and Olivier lost in super tie-break against top seed pair ... After losing the first set they fought back winning the second set but top-seed Brown and Zovko proved strong in STB.
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At $50K Astana-2 Challenger, Kazakhstan

[SF] Karan Rastogi (IND) / Vishnu Vardhan (IND) bt Radu Albot (MDA)/ Artem Smirnov (UKR) 64 64

[F] Karan Rastogi (IND) / Vishnu Vardhan (IND) vs (4) Harri Heliovaara (FIN)/ Denys Molchanov (UKR)

Karan and Vishnu reached the final of Astana-2 Challenger ... In the semis they defeated Radu and Artem in straight sets breaking opponent once in each set ... This is Karan's first challenger level doubles final and Vishnu's third ... In the final they r facing 4th seed pair.

Squash News
At 23rd World Men's Team Squash Championship, Paderborn, Germany

Quarter Final
#6 India l #4 Australia 0-2

Saurav Ghosal l David Palmer 11-7 8-11 4-11 6-11
Siddharth Suchde l Cameron Pilley 9-11 8-11 4-11

Higher ranked Australians defeated Indians to moved into the semis ... Saurav started with winning the first game against former WR #1 but after winning the second game Palmer won last 2 easily.

Now Indians will play against Italians for 5th to 8th positions.

Badminton News
At $50K Yonex Sunrise Vietnam Grand Prix Open 2011, Phan Dinh Phung

[R2] Aditi Mutatkar (IND,133) bt Hsiao Huan Chen (TPE,73) 15-21 21-18 21-17
[R2] Sindhu P. V. (IND,95) bt (6) Aprilla Yuswandari (INA,40) 21-18 21-19
[R2] Arundhati Pantawane (IND,117) bt Jing Yi Tee (MAS,88) 23-21 21-19
[R3] (12) Gurusaidutt R. M. V. (IND,64) bt (7) Jen Hao Hsu (TPE,43) 21-10 17-21 21-19
[R3] (5) Ajay Jayaram (IND,29) bt (Q) Jong Woo Yim (KOR,UNR) 21-8 21-15

[R2] Aparna Balan (IND)/ Siki Reddy N. (IND) l (5) Anneke Feinya Agustin (INA)/ Nitya Krishinda Maheswari (INA) 19-21 13-21
[R2] (4) Arun Vishnu (IND)/ Aparna Balan (IND) bt (Q) Nguyen Nhan Hoa Duong (VIE)/ Ngoc Quyen Phan Nguyen (VIE) 21-16 21-8

[QF] Aditi Mutatkar (IND,133) vs Mingtian Fu (SIN,41)
[QF] Sindhu P. V. (IND,95) vs (3) Tzu Ying Tai (TPE,19)
[QF] Arundhati Pantawane (IND,117) vs Kaori Imabeppu (JPN,49)
[QF] (12) Gurusaidutt R. M. V. (IND,64) vs Beng Hong Kuan (MAS,258)
[QF] (5) Ajay Jayaram (IND,29) vs (4) Alamsyah Yunus (INA,32)

[QF] (4) Arun Vishnu (IND)/ Aparna Balan (IND) vs Eui Seok Chung (KOR)/ Hyun Young Yoo (KOR)

Aditi moved to quarter-final showing her first round win over Goto wasn't fluke ... In the second round she scored comeback win after losing the first game.

Ajay scored very comfortable win over his Korean opponent ... Next he is facing Indonesian in the quarter.

Guru scored upset win over top-45 Taiwani player to move in quarter-final ... Sindhu scored close straight games upset win over top-40 Indonesian, next she is facing top-20 Taiwani player in the quarter ... Arundhati also joined others in the quarter with another well fought win ... She is next facing Japanese Kaori Imabeppu, who upset her top country girl Sayaka Sato very easily ... Good to see Indians r taking advantage of weak draw in singles.

Comfortable win for seeded Arun and Aparna in MXD but now real test is against Koreans in quarters.

Football News
At FIFA International Friendly, Providence, Guyana

Guyana bt India 2-1
Goal Scored - Vurlon Mills (GUY) 17', Walter Moore (GUY) 63' and Steven Dias (IND) 36′

Despite much improved performance Indian side failed to avoid their second successive defeat of the Caribbean tour ... Steven Dias canceled out Vurlon Mills' opening goal with excellent free-kick but a second half goal from Guyana defender Walter Moore proved the winner ... Guyana are technically not as good as Trinidad & Tobago but they used their physical superiority to get the better of the Indian side.

Squash News
At 23rd World Men's Team Squash Championship, Paderborn, Germany

Round 16
#6 India bt Denmark 2-0

Harinder Pal Sandhu bt Morten W Sorensen 11-6 11-1 11-8 (29m)
Saurav Ghosal bt Kristian Frost 11-6 11-5 9-11 11-9 (66m)

Indians moved to quarter-final with 2-0 win over Danish side ... In quarters they r having tough challenge of 4th seed Aussie team.

Tennis News
At $553K Winston Salem Open, USA

[R1] (3) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Mark Knowles (BAH) l Jonathan Erlich (ISR)/ Andy Ram (ISR) 46 36

So our both seeded pairs lost in the first round.

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At $100K+H Manerbio Challenger, Italy

[QF] (3) Olivier Charroin (FRA)/ Purav Raja (IND) bt Jaroslav Pospisil (CZE)/ Florent Serra (FRA) 76(4) 36 10-8

[SF] (3) Olivier Charroin (FRA)/ Purav Raja (IND) vs (1) Dustin Brown (GER)/ Lovro Zovko (CRO)

Purav and Olivier Charroin scored tight win in super tie-break to move into the semi-final ... Nice to see they r performing as per their seedings in this big challenger.
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At $50K Astana-2 Challenger, Kazakhstan

[QF] Karan Rastogi (IND) / Vishnu Vardhan (IND) bt (3) Teymuraz Gabashvili (RUS)/ Konstantin Kravchuk (RUS) 76(5) 36 10-7

[SF] Karan Rastogi (IND) / Vishnu Vardhan (IND) vs Radu Albot (MDA)/ Artem Smirnov (UKR)

Good hard fought win for Karan and Vishnu ... In semis they r facing another unseeded pair.
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At $10K Germany F12, Überlingen (clay)

[R2] (Q) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND,1315) l (Q) Marko LENZ (GER,1156) 46 75 46

Despite giving fight Balaji lost in the second round.

Badminton News
At $50K Yonex Sunrise Vietnam Grand Prix Open 2011, Phan Dinh Phung

[R1] Aditi Mutatkar (IND,133) bt (4) Ai Goto (JPN,24) 21-18 14-21 21-16
[R1] Sindhu P. V. (IND,95) bt Shih Han Hung (TPE,146) 22-24 25-23 21-19
[R1] Arundhati Pantawane (IND,117) bt (5) Juan Gu (SIN,25) 21-18 12-21 21-14

[R2] (12) Gurusaidutt R. M. V. (IND,64) bt Ha Anh Le (VIE,246) 21-18 21-11
[R2] (5) Ajay Jayaram (IND,29) bt Soon Huat Goh (MAS,116) 21-14 21-14
[R2] Prannoy H. S. (IND,259) l (4) Alamsyah Yunus (INA,32) 21-17 16-21 12-21

[R1] Manu Attri (IND)/ Jishnu Sanyal (IND) l (Q) Low Juan Shen (MAS)/ Jagdish Singh (MAS) 7-21 21-17 17-21
[R1] Aparna Balan (IND)/ Siki Reddy N. (IND) bt (Q) Huynh Ngoc Uyen Lam (VIE)/ Thi Thanh Thuy Le (VIE) 21-11 21-11
[R1] (4) Arun Vishnu (IND)/ Aparna Balan (IND) bt Calvin Jia Hong Ong (MAS)/ Chiew Sien Lim (MAS) 21-8 21-14

[R2] Aditi Mutatkar (IND,133) vs Hsiao Huan Chen (TPE,73)
[R2] Sindhu P. V. (IND,95) vs (6) Aprilla Yuswandari (INA,40)
[R2] Arundhati Pantawane (IND,117) vs Jing Yi Tee (MAS,88)
[R3] (12) Gurusaidutt R. M. V. (IND,64) vs (7) Jen Hao Hsu (TPE,43)
[R3] (5) Ajay Jayaram (IND,29) vs (Q) Jong Woo Yim (KOR,UNR)

[R2] Aparna Balan (IND)/ Siki Reddy N. (IND) vs (5) Anneke Feinya Agustin (INA)/ Nitya Krishinda Maheswari (INA)
[R2] (4) Arun Vishnu (IND)/ Aparna Balan (IND) vs (Q) Nguyen Nhan Hoa Duong (VIE)/ Ngoc Quyen Phan Nguyen (VIE)

Terrific upset by Aditi over former top-20 Japanese player ... Hopefully Aditi finding her old touch which was missing after her injury break ... She is having good chance to go deep here as not a single seeded player is remaining in the top draw.

Ajay and Guru moved to the third round with comfortable wins over their respective opponents ... In doubles our women and mixed doubles teams scored comfortable win but our men doubles team lost against Malaysian qualifiers.

Very hard fought win for Sindhu ... She was in trouble after losing the first game in extra points but kept fighting to won the second in extra points ... Third game was also close before Sindhu winning the match in 67 mins.

Arundhati scored biggest victory of her small career ... I think this was her first top-25 wins ... She scored three games win over Singapore player to moved into the second round.

Squash News
At 23rd World Men's Team Squash Championship, Paderborn, Germany

Pool F
#6 India bt #11 South Africa 3-0

Siddharth Suchde bt Shaun Le Roux 7-11 11-7 8-11 11-1 11-6 (80m)
Harinder Pal Sandhu bt Clinton Leeuw 12-10 9-11 6-11 11-9 11-8 (83m)
Saurav Ghosal bt Steve Coppinger 11-5 11-3 11-4 (28m)

#6 India bt Kuwait 3-0

Saurav Ghosal bt Abdullah Almezayen 7-11 11-9 11-1 11-6 (39m)
Siddharth Suchde bt Ammar Al-Tamimi 11-4 11-4 11-5 (30m)
Harinder Pal Sandhu bt Ali B Al-Ramzi 11-8 11-5 11-5 (24m)

#6 India bt Hungary 3-0

Siddharth Suchde bt Sandor Fulop 11-6 11-5 11-9 (30m)
Saurav Ghosal bt Marton Szaboky 11-6 11-4 11-3 (28m)
Harinder Pal Sandhu bt 11-5 11-4 11-9 (25m)

6th seed India were in Pool F with 11th seed South Africa, Kuwait and Hungary in 23rd World Men's Team Squash Championship ... South African men stretched 2 matches into 5 games but we won the group winning all matches.

In R16 knockout stage we r facing unseeded Denmark who upset 12th seed Pakistan in their pool match.

Tennis News
At $553K Winston Salem Open, USA

[R1] (1) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (PAK) l Lukas Dlouhy (CZE)/ Horia Tecau (ROU) 46 46

Top-seed Rohan and Aisam had tough match and they failed to deliver ... They lost in straight sets against Dlouhy and Tecau ... Dlouhy and Tecau broke once in each set to scored somewhat comfortable victory.
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At $50K Astana-2 Challenger, Kazakhstan

[R1] Vishnu Vardhan (IND,370) l Joshua Milton (GBR,365) 36 46

Doubles
[R1] Karan Rastogi (IND) / Vishnu Vardhan (IND) bt Ti Chen (TPE)/ Hiroki Moriya (JPN) 75 62

Vishnu's struggle in singles at challenger level continued ... He lost without giving much fight to similar ranked British Joshua Milton in straight sets.

In doubles he and Karan started with win over Moriya and Chen.
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At $100K+H Manerbio Challenger, Italy

[QF] (3) Olivier Charroin (FRA)/ Purav Raja (IND) vs Jaroslav Pospisil (CZE)/ Florent Serra (FRA)
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At $15K Spain F30 Futures, Orense

[R1] (6) Carlos CALDERON-RODRIGUEZ (ESP,615) l Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND,942) 36 16

Doubles
[R1] Rafael MAZON-HERNANDEZ (ESP)/ Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND) l (4) Jaime PULGAR-GARCIA (ESP)/ Federico ZEBALLOS (BOL) 36 57

Early weekend for Ramkumar as he lost in singles and doubles first round.
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At $10K Germany F12, Überlingen (clay)

[Q1] (5) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND,1315) bt Laurent WAGNER (GER,UNR) 60 60
[Q2] (5) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND,1315) bt Teri GROLL (FRA,UNR) 63 36 75

[R1] (Q) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND,1315) bt (WC) Alexander RITSCHARD (SUI,1858) 63 63

[R2] (Q) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND,1315) vs (Q) Marko LENZ (GER,1156)

Good to see Balaji winning the first round.

Badminton News
At $50K Yonex Sunrise Vietnam Grand Prix Open 2011, Phan Dinh Phung

[R1] Saurabh Varma (IND,95) l Yun Lung Chan (HKG,183) 23-21 14-21 16-21
[R1] (12) Gurusaidutt R. M. V. (IND,64) bt Christopher Flores (PHI,196) 21-15 21-9
[R1] (5) Ajay Jayaram (IND,29) bt (Q) Kian Meng Tan (MAS,480) 21-11 19-21 21-11
[R1] Prannoy H. S. (IND,259) bt Chong Chieh Lok (MAS,167) 21-18 18-21 21-19
[R1] Aditi Mutatkar (IND,133) vs (4) Ai Goto (JPN,24)
[R1] Sindhu P. V. (IND,95) vs Shih Han Hung (TPE,146)
[R1] Arundhati Pantawane (IND,117) vs (5) Juan Gu (SIN,25)

[R2] (12) Gurusaidutt R. M. V. (IND,64) vs Ha Anh Le (VIE,246)
[R2] (5) Ajay Jayaram (IND,29) vs Soon Huat Goh (MAS,116)
[R2] Prannoy H. S. (IND,259) vs (4) Alamsyah Yunus (INA,32)

[R1] Manu Attri (IND)/ Jishnu Sanyal (IND) vs Qualifier
[R1] Aparna Balan (IND)/ Siki Reddy N. (IND) vs (Q) Huynh Ngoc Uyen Lam (VIE)/ Thi Thanh Thuy Le (VIE)
[R1] (4) Arun Vishnu (IND)/ Aparna Balan (IND) vs Calvin Jia Hong Ong (MAS)/ Chiew Sien Lim (MAS)

This week big Indian contingent participating in Vietnam Grand Prix Open ... Interesting to see how our youngsters like Guru, Saurabh, Prannoy and Sindhu perform ... Ajay is having good chance to build on his recent World Championship success.

But poor start for Saurabh, who lost in 3 games after winning the first against lower ranked Hong Kong player ... Qualifier below 475 ranked Malaysian stretched Ajay to 3 games ... Other hand Guru scored convincing victory and Prannoy scored good fighting win over higher ranked Malaysian to moved into the second round.

Tennis News
At $220K Texas Tennis Open, Dallas, USA

[R1] Sania Mirza (IND,63) l (5) Sabine Lisicki (GER,23) 36 06

Sabine toyed with Sania to scored one-sided victory ... Sabine take 3-0 lead but Sania fought back to make it 3-all ... After that Sabine take control winning next 9 games to complete easy win ... Sania wasn't match for her.
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At $100K+H Manerbio Challenger, Italy

[R1] (3) Olivier Charroin (FRA)/ Purav Raja (IND) bt Marco Crugnola (ITA)/ Adrian Ungur (ROU) 63 62

Easy winning start for seeded Purav and Olivier.

Football News
At FIFA International Friendly, Port of Spain

Trinidad and Tobago bt India 3-0
Goal Scored - Stern John (TT) 19'P, Darryl Roberts (TT) 47′, Darryl Roberts (TT) 85′

Hoping lot better performance from our team against top-90 ranked team ... But from report it looks Trinidad and Tobago punished our side ... We were lucky that they managed only 3 goals ... Our performance was dismissal.

Tennis News
At $2.6M Cincinnati Masters, USA

Doubles Final
(3) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Leander Paes (IND) bt (4) Michael Llodra (FRA)/ Nenad Zimonjic (SRB) 76(4) 76(2)

Mahesh and Lee defeated in-form Llodra and Zimonjic to lift their 3rd title of the season and 2nd title at Cincy Masters ... Before this they won the title 10 yrs ago in 2001.

In the final both pair didn't lose their service game ... Indians saved 3 break points, other hand Llodra and Zimonjic saved 8 on their serves ... In both tie-break Lee and Mahesh take early mini-break to captialise on that ... So good to see they r started to play well before US Open.

Leander Paes - “If you had asked me 10 years ago if we would win here again 10 years later, I would have started laughing that we’d still be playing. It’s a great feeling to come back and win in the summer. We didn’t have so much rhythm in Europe, but we managed to put it together this week. We’ve beat some really big teams and are playing well. For us, it’s a big confidence booster for the US Open, but we still have a lot of work to do there.”

Mahesh Bhupathi - “They are the hottest team and we had to play our best match of the year to beat them,” Bhupathi said. “We served and volleyed great, and played an error free match. When we had chances, we took them.”
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At $553K Winston Salem Open, USA

[R1] (1) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (PAK) vs Lukas Dlouhy (CZE)/ Horia Tecau (ROU)
[R1] (3) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Mark Knowles (BAH) vs Jonathan Erlich (ISR)/ Andy Ram (ISR)

This week Rohan and Aisam r top-seed at Winston Salem Open ... They r having tricky first round against Dlouhy and Tecau ... Mahesh is also playing with his old partner Mark Knowles to get much required match practice before US Open ... They r having tough first round against former top-5 Israeli pair.
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At $50K Astana-2 Challenger, Kazakhstan

[Q3] (7) Ranjeet Virali-Murugesan (IND,554) l (3) Michail Elgin (RUS,399)

[R1] (WC) Karan Rastogi (IND,351) l (1) Rainer Schuettler (GER,125) 06 16

Doubles
[R1] (WC) Vijayant Malik (IND)/ Serizhan Yessenbekov (KAZ) l Valery Rudnev (RUS)/ Dmitri Sitak (RUS) 26 26

Very disappointing performance by Karan considering his good form ... His struggle against top-150 players continued ... He need to work hard on his overall game to give decent performance against these players ... Also Ranjeet lost in the final qualifying and in doubles Vijayant lost easily with his local partner.

Tennis News
At $2.6M Cincinnati Masters, USA

[SF] (3) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Leander Paes (IND) bt (1) Bob Bryan (USA)/ Mike Bryan (USA) 16 76(2) 10-7

[F] (3) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Leander Paes (IND) vs (4) Michael Llodra (FRA)/ Nenad Zimonjic (SRB)

Bryans started positively ... They won the first set in 21 mins and breaking Mahesh and Lee twice in the set ... In the second set also Bryans were up 3-1 before our pair fought back breaking them in 6th game to take the set in tie-break ... They take ealy mini-break to take control of tie-break to win it comfortably ... In super tie-break our pair were in big trouble ... They were down 1-4 and then 2-5 .... Then they won a bunch of points on their own second serves and broke the twins to scored remarkable victory.

In the final they r facing red hot pair of Llodra and Zimo, who r on 11 matches winning streak ... They won two successive titles in Washington (bt Lindstedt-Tecau) and Montreal (bt Bryans).
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At $50K Astana-2 Challenger, Kazakhstan

[Q1] (7) Ranjeet Virali-Murugesan (IND,554) bye
[Q1] Rupesh Roy (IND,799) l (WC) Timur Khabibulin (KAZ,UNR) 62 57 0-3 Retd
[Q1] Vijayant Malik (IND,579) bt (WC) Stanislav Nikulchikov (KAZ,UNR) 62 60

[Q2] (7) Ranjeet Virali-Murugesan (IND,554) bt (WC) Timur Khabibulin (KAZ,UNR) 62 61
[Q2] Vijayant Malik (IND,579) l (8) Mohamed Safwat (EGY,568) 57 16

[Q3] (7) Ranjeet Virali-Murugesan (IND,554) vs (3) Michail Elgin (RUS,399)

[R1] (WC) Karan Rastogi (IND,351) vs (1) Rainer Schuettler (GER,125)
[R1] Vishnu Vardhan (IND,370) vs Joshua Milton (GBR,365)

Doubles
[R1] Karan Rastogi (IND) / Vishnu Vardhan (IND) vs Ti Chen (TPE)/ Hiroki Moriya (JPN)
[R1] (WC) Vijayant Malik (IND)/ Serizhan Yessenbekov (KAZ) vs Valery Rudnev (RUS)/ Dmitri Sitak (RUS)

Rupesh retired from his match due to lower back pain ... Ranjeet had tough match against Russian Michail Elgin in the final qualifying.

Tough first round for Karan against top-seed ... Rainer Schuettler played 3 challengers (Pozoblanco Cordoba, Recanati & Segovia) without much success after losing at 2nd round of Wimbledon ... Tough match for Karan but also good opportunity of playing against top100 type player ... Vishnu need to start winning these matches against similar ranked opponents.

In doubles Vishnu is playing with Karan and they r facing Ti Chen with Moriya ... Vijayant received wild-card with local player, Yessenbekov and they r facing Russian pair.
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At $15K Spain F29 Futures, Vigo

Doubles Final
Rafael MAZON-HERNANDEZ (ESP)/ Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND) bt Taro DANIEL (JPN)/ Hiroyasu EHARA (JPN) 63 62

Ramkumar lifted his first futures doubles title pairing his Spanish partner Rafael Mazon-Hernandez ... They comfortably defeated Japanese pair in the straight sets.
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At $10K Istanbul, Turkey

Doubles Final
Christina SHAKOVETS (GER)/ Ashvarya SHRIVASTAVA (IND) bt (1) Tara MOORE (GBR)/ Lisa WHYBOURN (GBR) 61 63

Ashvarya Shrivastava lifted her maidain title in futures at Istanbul ... She won the doubles title partnering German Christina Shakovets ... In the final they defeated top-seed British pair dominating the match.

Tennis News
At $2.6M Cincinnati Masters, USA

[QF] (3) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Leander Paes (IND) bt Tomas Berdych (CZE)/ Radek Stepanek (CZE) w/o
[QF] (5) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (PAK) l (4) Michael Llodra (FRA)/ Nenad Zimonjic (SRB) 36 26

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

Surprisingly one-sided loss for Rohan and Aisam against Llodra and Zimo ... In this match Rohan struggled with his serve.

Lee and Mahesh received walkover ... Good to see they r in the semis but they require more match practice before US Open ... Next they r facing Bryans.
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At $220K Texas Tennis Open, Dallas, USA

[R1] Sania Mirza (IND,65) vs (5) Sabine Lisicki (GER,22)

Tough first round for Sania against in-form Lisicki.
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At $15K Spain F29 Futures, Vigo

[SF] Rafael MAZON-HERNANDEZ (ESP)/ Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND) bt Axel ALVAREZ LLAMAS (ESP)/ Roberto CARBALLES BAENA (ESP) 46 76(5) 10-7

[F] Rafael MAZON-HERNANDEZ (ESP)/ Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND) vs Taro DANIEL (JPN)/ Hiroyasu EHARA (JPN)

Ramkumar and his partner Rafael defeated Baena and Llamas in comeback win after losing the first set ... Next they r facing Japanese pair for the title.
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At $10K Istanbul, Turkey

[SF] SHAKOVETS (GER)/ SHRIVASTAVA (IND) bt ISAEVA (RUS)/ MILEVSKAYA (BLR) 76(3) 63

[F} SHAKOVETS (GER)/ SHRIVASTAVA (IND) vs (1) MOORE (GBR)/ WHYBOURN (GBR)

Ashvarya and her German partner continued with their good run ... Now they will face top-seed British pair

Tennis News
At Davis Cup World Group playoffs 2011,

The team - Somdev Devvarman, Rohan Bopanna, Leander Paes, Mahesh Bhupathi
Reserve - Karan Rastogi, Vishnu Vardhan

Non-Playing Captain - S P Misra

Team is announced for the Davis Cup World Group playoffs against Japan ... No real surprise in the team.
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At $2.6M Cincinnati Masters, USA

[R2] (3) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Leander Paes (IND) bt Marc Lopez (ESP)/ Rafael Nadal (ESP) 64 62
[R2] (5) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (PAK) bt Juan Ignacio Chela (ARG)/ Juan Monaco (ARG) 63 57 10-4

[QF] (3) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Leander Paes (IND) vs Tomas Berdych (CZE)/ Radek Stepanek (CZE)
[QF] (5) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (PAK) vs (4) Michael Llodra (FRA)/ Nenad Zimonjic (SRB)

Lee and Mahesh had surprisingly easy outing ... May be due to Rafa must be tired after his 3 hrs 40 mins singles match against Verdesco ... Argentine pair stretched Rohan and Aisam till super tie-break.

In quarters Mahesh and Lee r facing same Czech pair against whom they lost last week ... Hopefully this week they will turned the table ... Rohan and Aisam r facing Llodra and Zimo.
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At $10K Istanbul, Turkey

[QF] RAINA (IND)/ SUNKARA (IND) l (1) MOORE (GBR)/ WHYBOURN (GBR) 46 46
[QF] SHAKOVETS (GER)/ SHRIVASTAVA (IND) bt (3) EKSHIBAROVA (UZB)/ SHLOMO (ISR) 61 76(3)

[SF] SHAKOVETS (GER)/ SHRIVASTAVA (IND) vs ISAEVA (RUS)/ MILEVSKAYA (BLR)

Ashvarya reached in the semis with her German partner scoring upset win over 3rd seed pair.

Boxing News

A 10-member Indian boxing team announced for the World Championships in Azerbaijan next month ... The World Championship, scheduled to be held in Azerbaijan capital Baku from September 22 to October 10, is the first Olympic qualifying event from where all quarterfinalists will make the cut for the 2012 London Games ... After that the second and final Olympic Qualification Tournament for Asia will be held in Kazakhstan in March 2012.

Surprise selection of 20-year-old rookie boxer L Devendro Singh, as per report he defeated likes of Asian Championship silver-medallists Amandeep Singh and Thokchom Nanao Singh in the light fly weight 49kg selection trials ... Apart from from Devendro, other Indian team members r tried and tested names likes Vijender, Akhil, Suranjoy etc. ... Also interesting to note that Asian Games gold-medallist in the 60kg category, Vikas Krishan jumped a couple of divisions to welter weight 69kg.

Team - L Devendro Singh (49kg - Light Fly weight), Suranjoy Singh (52kg - Fly weight), Akhil Kumar (56kg - Bantam weight), Jai Bhagwan (60kg - Light weight), Manoj Kumar (64kg - Light Welter weight), Vikas Krishan (69kg - Welter weight), Vijender Singh (75kg - Middle weight), Dinesh Kumar (81kg - Light Heavy weight), Manpreet Singh (91kg - Heavy Weight), Paramjeet Samota (+91kg - Super Heavy weight)

Badminton News

New updated rankings after World Championship.

Saina moved to #5 in the latest ranking ... Kashyap re-entered into top-25, #23 ... Ajay Jayaram moved into top-30, #28 ... Semi-finalist Jwala and Ashwini moved to their best combine ranking in women doubles, #17.

Tennis News
At $2.6M Cincinnati Masters, USA

[R2] (3) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Leander Paes (IND) vs Marc Lopez (ESP)/ Rafael Nadal (ESP)

Tough match for Lee and Hesh but they need to start these wins.
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At $100K+H Cordenons Challenger, Italy

[R1] Olivier Charroin (FRA)/ Purav Raja (IND) l (1) Julian Knowle (AUT)/ Michael Kohlmann (GER) 36 46

So no upset from Purav and his French partner against top-seeds.
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At $50K Karshi Challenger, Uzbekistan

[R1] Karan Rastogi (IND,351) l Radu Albot (MDA,267) 57 67(3)
[R1] Vishnu Vardhan (IND,370) l (7) Farrukh Dustov (UZB,231) 46 75 46

Encouraging performance by both against higher ranked opponents ... After losing the first set Vishnu fought back winning the second but Farrukh was better in the third ... Karan lost both sets due to failing converting opportunities ... So now both will be back to Astana for the challenger.
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At $15K Spain F29 Futures, Vigo

[R1] Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND,938) l (3) Roberto CARBALLES BAENA (ESP,440) 16 16

Doubles
[QF] Rafael MAZON-HERNANDEZ (ESP)/ Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND) bt (4) Florent DIEP (FRA)/ Mathieu RODRIGUES (FRA) 60 63

[SF] Rafael MAZON-HERNANDEZ (ESP)/ Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND) vs Axel ALVAREZ LLAMAS (ESP)/ Roberto CARBALLES BAENA (ESP)

One-sided loss for Ramkumar against very talented Spanish Baena.

Ramkumar is having another opportunity of facing Baena ... This time in doubles semi-final.
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At $10K Istanbul, Turkey

[R1] Ashvarya SHRIVASTAVA (IND,707) l Anja PRISLAN (SLO,508) 26 46
[R1] (Q) Ankita RAINA (IND,829) bt (WC) Ekin BAHITLI (TUR,UNR) 62 61

[R2] (Q)Ankita RAINA (IND,829) l (8) Elina SVITOLINA (UKR,428) 36 26

Doubles
[R1] RAINA (IND)/ SUNKARA (IND) bt ARGINBAYEVA (KAZ)/ SVITOLINA (UKR) 64 26 10-3
[R1] SHAKOVETS (GER)/ SHRIVASTAVA (IND) bt BEREZHNAYA (KAZ)/ BEREZHNAYA (KAZ) 60 62

[QF] RAINA (IND)/ SUNKARA (IND) vs (1) MOORE (GBR)/ WHYBOURN (GBR)
[QF] SHAKOVETS (GER)/ SHRIVASTAVA (IND) vs (3) EKSHIBAROVA (UZB)/ SHLOMO (ISR)

Ashvarya failed to cross first hurdle but Ankita scored expected victory over her un-ranked opponent before losing to top-500 player in the second round.

In doubles our players had winning start ... Next they r facing seeded pairs.

Archery News
At Asian Champions Trophy Hockey TournamentOrdos, China

Men Team
Goalkeepers - Bharat Chetri, PR Sreejesh.
Defenders - Sandeep Singh, Rupinder Pal Singh, Harpreet Singh.
Midfielders - Sardar Singh, Gurbaj Singh, Ignace Tirkey, Manpreet Singh, Manjit Kullu.
Forwards - Rajpal Singh (captain), Danish Mujtaba, Sarvanjit Singh, SV Sunil, Ravi Pal, Gurvinder Singh Chandi, Roshan Minz, Yuvraj Walmiki.

Standbys - Kamaldeep Singh (Goalkeeper), VR Raghunath (Defender), Vikas Sharma (Midfielder), Birender Lakra (Midfielder), Mandip Antil (Forward), Chinglensana Singh Kangujam (Forward)

The Schedule
September 3: India vs China
September 4: India vs Japan
September 6: India vs South Korea
September 7: India vs Malaysia
September 9: India vs Pakistan

September 11: Classification matches and final.

Women Team
Goalkeepers - Yogita Bali, Savita
Defenders - Joydeep Kaur, Jaspreet Kaur, Th Pinki Devi
Midfielders - Ritu Rani, Asunta Lakra, Kirandeep Kaur, Mukta Prava Barla, Deepika, Kiran Dahiya.
Forwards - Saba Anjum (Captain), Jaspreet Kaur Handa, Poonam Rani, Vandana Kataria, Rani, Th Anuradha Devi, Soundarya Yendala.

Standbys - Rajani Etimarpu (Goalkeeper), Preety Sunila Kiro (Defender), M N Ponnamma (Midfielder), Sushila Chanu (Midfielder), Deep Grace Ekka (Midfielder), Roselin Dung Dung (Forward), Lilima Minz (Forward), Rashmi Singh (Forward).

The Schedule
September 4: India vs South Korea
September 6: India vs Japan
September 8: India vs China

September 10: final

Overall good selection ... Happy to see so called rebellions r back in the team.

Tennis News
At $2.6M Cincinnati Masters, USA

[R1] (3) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Leander Paes (IND) bye
[R1] (5) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (PAK) bye

[R2] (5) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (PAK) vs Juan Ignacio Chela (ARG)/ Juan Monaco (ARG)

Hopefully Rohan is recovered from ankle injury ... Lee and Mahesh need to start winning matches ... They r struggling due to lack of match practice ... Going deep here will help them at US Open.
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At $50K Karshi Challenger, Uzbekistan

Doubles
[R1] (Alt) Vijayant Malik (IND)/ Kento Takeuchi (JPN) l (3) John Paul Fruttero (USA)/ Raven Klaasen (RSA) 26 26
[R1] Divij Sharan (IND) / Vishnu Vardhan (IND) l (4) Konstantin Kravchuk (RUS)/ Denys Molchanov (UKR) 57 46

So challenge in doubles ended on the first day at Karshi challenger.
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At $15K Spain F29 Futures, Vigo

[R1] Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND,938) vs (3) Roberto CARBALLES BAENA (ESP,440)

Doubles
[R1] Rafael MAZON-HERNANDEZ (ESP)/ Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND) bt (WC) Ashley BOCCO (ITA)/ Marco NEUBAU (ESP) 63 61

Tough first round against top-450 player ... In doubles Ramkumar had a winning start with his Spanish partner.
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At $10K Istanbul, Turkey

[Q1] (4) Ankita RAINA (IND) bye
[Q1] (6) Rishika SUNKARA (IND) bye

[Q2] (4) Ankita RAINA (IND) bt Maria MILANOVA (BUL) 61 62
[Q2] (6) Rishika SUNKARA (IND) bt Valeriya STRAKHOVA (UKR) 62 16 64

[Q3] (4) Ankita RAINA (IND) bt Anette MUNOZOVA (SWE) 61 64
[Q3] (6) Rishika SUNKARA (IND) l Ellen ALLGURIN (SWE) 46 16

[R1] Ashvarya SHRIVASTAVA (IND,707) vs Anja PRISLAN (SLO,508)
[R1] (Q) Ankita RAINA (IND,829) vs (WC) Ekin BAHITLI (TUR,UNR)

Doubles
[R1] RAINA (IND)/ SUNKARA (IND) vs ARGINBAYEVA (KAZ)/ SVITOLINA (UKR)
[R1] SHAKOVETS (GER)/ SHRIVASTAVA (IND) vs BEREZHNAYA (KAZ)/ BEREZHNAYA (KAZ)

Good to see this week Ankita joined Ashvarya and Rishika ... Ankita qualified and having wild-card player in the first round.

Tennis News
At Cincinnati Masters, USA

[Q2] (13) Sania Mirza (IND,64) l (WC) Alexa Glatch (USA,151) 26 46

[Q1] (10) Somdev Devvarman (IND,65) vs Marsel Ilhan (TUR,108) 46 67(3)
[Q1] (13) Sania Mirza (IND,64) bt Vania King (USA,83) 76(4) 26 76(5)

Disappointing performance by Sommy and Sania in Cincinnati Masters qualifying ... Sommy lost to Turkish player in the first round ... Sania scored hard fought exciting win over Venia King but in the second round she was too tired against American wild-card player ... Glatch take full advantage of it beating her in straight sets.
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At $50K Karshi Challenger, Uzbekistan

[R1] Karan Rastogi (IND,351) vs Radu Albot (MDA,267)
[R1] Vishnu Vardhan (IND,370) vs (7) Farrukh Dustov (UZB,231)

[Q3] (8) Vijayant Malik (IND,579) l (2) Michail Elgin (RUS,399) 36 16

[Q2] Divij Sharan (IND,808) l (6) Ervand Gasparyan (RUS,359) 57 16
[Q2] (8) Vijayant Malik (IND,579) bt Grisha Reytman (UZB,UNR) 60 60

[Q1] Divij Sharan (IND,808) bt Pavel Tsoy (UZB,UNR) 61 3-0 Retd
[Q1] (8) Vijayant Malik (IND,579) bt Vadim Kutsenko (RUS,UNR) w/o

Doubles
[SF] (3) Divij Sharan (IND)/ Vishnu Vardhan (IND) vs (4) Konstantin Kravchuk (RUS)/ Denys Molchanov (UKR)

Karan and Vishnu having tough first round against higher ranked opponents ... Vijayant reached in the final qualifying, but Elgin proved too strong for him.

In doubles Vishnu and Divij having the first round against 4th seed ... This week the first-time Divij breaks into top-200 ATP doubles ranking, #199.
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At $100K+H Cordenons Challenger, Italy

[R1] Olivier Charroin (FRA)/ Purav Raja (IND) vs (1) Julian Knowle (AUT)/ Michael Kohlmann (GER)

Tough first round for Purav with Frenchman against top-seed.

Badminton News
At Yonex BWF World Championships 2011, London, England

[SF] Jwala Gutta (IND)/ Ashwini Ponnappa (IND) l (5) Qing Tian (CHN)/ Yunlei Zhao (CHN) 14-21 16-21

Congrats Jwala and Ashwini for winning a Bronze medal in World Championship ... This is our only 2nd World Championship medal after Prakash Padukone, who won Bronze in singles 28 yrs back in 1983.

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

[QF] (5) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (PAK) l (1) Bob Bryan (USA)/ Mike Bryan (USA) 3-3 Retd.

Rohan rolled his left ankle and could not continue ... Wishing no serious injury scare.
-----------------------------------------------------------
At $2.6M Cincinnati Masters, USA

[Q1] (10) Somdev Devvarman (IND,65) vs Marsel Ilhan (TUR,108)
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At $2M Western & Southern Open, Cincinnati, USA

[Q1] (13) Sania Mirza (IND,65) vs Vania King (USA,83)
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At $15K Kazakhstan F5 Futures, Astana

[SF] (2) Karan Rastogi (IND,353) bt (3) Roman Jebavy (CZE,470) 76(6) 64
[F] (2) Karan Rastogi (IND,353) bt (5) Mohamed Safwat (EGY) 62 61

Doubles
[SF] Vijayant Malik (IND)/ Rupesh Roy (IND) l (1) Roman Jebavy (CZE)/ Denys Molchanov (UKR) 26 16

Karan Rastogi won the 15k ITF futures in Kazakhstan scoring dominating win over his Egyptian opponent ... This was his 7th futures title and interestingly in the last one year he won 3 futures titles which have come abroad.
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At Turkey F23 Futures, Istanbul

[F] (2) N. Vijay Sundar Prashanth (IND)/ Riccardo Ghedin (ITA) l (1) Brydan Klein (AUS)/ Dane Propoggia (AUS) 36 67(3)

Badminton News
At Yonex BWF World Championships 2011, London, England

[QF] (6) Saina Nehwal (IND,6) l (3) Xin Wang (CHN,3) 15-21 10-21
[QF] Jwala Gutta (IND)/ Ashwini Ponnappa (IND) bt (12) Vita Marissa (INA)/ Nadya Melati (INA) 17-21 21-10 21-17

[SF] Jwala Gutta (IND)/ Ashwini Ponnappa (IND) vs (5) Qing Tian (CHN)/ Yunlei Zhao (CHN)

In the begining Saina and Xin were going neck to neck but from 9-all Xin opened 4 pts lead ... Then again at 13-17 Xin won next 3 pts to gave herself 7 game points ... She converted 3rd game point to won the first game ... In the second game Xin take control from 4-5 winning next 5 pts ... Again from 6-12 Xin won next 5 pts and won the second game comfortably ... Xin scored dominating win over Saina in just 30 mins.

Seeded Indonesian pair take early lead and extended to 9-15 but Jwala and Ashwini fought back and caught with them at 17-all ... Indonesian pair take next 4 pts to win the first game ... In the second game again Indonesians started well taking 1-4 lead but Jwala and Ashwini made it 4-all ... From 7-all our pair won next 7 pts to take control of the game and they won the second game losing another 3 pts ... In the decider both pairs were going neck to neck until 14-13 ... At that time Indians take crucial 4 pts lead and increased to 20-14 before converting 4th match point to reached their first World championship semi-final ... This is huge result for Jwala and Ashwini, now they r dreaming medal at Olympics ... Next they r facing toughest challenge of 5th seed Chinese pair.

Tennis News
At$35K+H Samarkand Challenger, Uzbekistan (clay)

[SF] (3) Divij Sharan (IND)/ Vishnu Vardhan (IND) l (1) Michail Elgin (RUS)/ Alexander Kudryavtsev (RUS) 67(4) 36

Divij and Vishnu lost against top-seed after giving good fighting performance.
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At $15K Kazakhstan F5 Futures, Astana

[QF] (6) Vijayant Malik (IND,567) l (4) Arata Onozawa (JPN,517) 46 36
[QF] (7) Rohan Gajjar (IND,610) l (3) Roman Jebavy (CZE,470) walkover
[QF] (2) Karan Rastogi (IND,353) bt (8) Vitali Reshetnikov (RUS,659) 2-0 Retd

[SF] (2) Karan Rastogi (IND,353) vs (3) Roman Jebavy (CZE,470)

Doubles
[SF] (1) vs Vijayant Malik (IND)/ Rupesh Roy (IND) vs (1) Roman Jebavy (CZE)/ Denys Molchanov (UKR)

Karan got lucky break as he reached semis without losing a sweat ... Same happened with his semi-final opponent Jebavy as Rohan didn't play due to injury ... Vijayant gave decent performance against his Japanese opponent.
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At Turkey F23 Futures, Istanbul

[QF] (8) N. Vijay Sundar Prashanth (IND,622) l (1) Riccardo Ghedin (ITA,330) 26 16

Doubles
[SF] (2) N. Vijay Sundar Prashanth (IND)/ Riccardo Ghedin (ITA) bt (4) Richard Gabb (GBR) / Ashley Hewitt (GBR) 61 60

[F] (2) N. Vijay Sundar Prashanth (IND)/ Riccardo Ghedin (ITA) vs (1) Brydan Klein (AUS)/ Dane Propoggia (AUS)

Top-seed Ghedin proved too strong for Vijay Sundar in single but in doubles they scored dominated win over British pair to moved into the final.
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At $10K Sao Paulo 2011, Brazil

[SF] Isabella Robbiani (PAR)/ Kyra Shroff (IND) l (1) Maria-Fernanda Alves (BRA)/ Fernanda Hermenegildo (BRA) 26 36

Top-seed Brazilian proved too strong for Kyra and her partner.

Badminton News
At Yonex BWF World Championships 2011, London, England

[R3] Ajay Jayaram (IND,35) l (6) Jin Chen (CHN,6) 21-18 12-21 11-21
[R3] (6) Saina Nehwal (IND,6) bt (14) Pui Yin Yip (HKG,15) 21-3 13-5 Retd.

[R3] Jwala Gutta (IND)/ Ashwini Ponnappa (IND) bt (11) Lok Yan Poon (HKG)/ Ying Suet Tse (HKG) 19-21 21-17 21-19
[R3] (16) Diju Valiyaveetil (IND)/ Jwala Gutta (IND) l (5) Joachim Fischer Nielsen (DEN)/ Christinna Pedersen (DEN) 9-21 15-21

[QF] (6) Saina Nehwal (IND,6) vs (3) Xin Wang (CHN,3)
[QF] Jwala Gutta (IND)/ Ashwini Ponnappa (IND) vs (12) Vita Marissa (INA)/ Nadya Melati (INA)

Ajay played good match against Jin Chen ... In the first game Jin take 5-0 lead but Ajay fought back winning next 4 pts ... Again Jin was leading 5-9, this time also Ajay won next 4 pts to make it 9-all ... THis was the trend of the game, Jin was taking lead and Ajay was catching him but at 18-all Ajay won next 3 pts to won the first game ... In the second game Jin take early couple of points lead and he kept until 12-13 but from here he won next 8 pts in a row to make it 1 game all ... In the decider both players were neck to neck ... Ajay take 10-7 lead but Jin managed to equal at 10-all ... But after 10-11 down Jin won next 11 pts to stamped his authority to win this match ... Still creditable performance from Ajay.

Saina's opponent Pui Yin Yip was playing with ankle injury ... Her ankle was tapped up and her court movement was clumsy ... But still Saina played excellent game ... She was dictating points with all court game, she was moving Pui all over the court and setting points to win it ... It was delighted to watch Saina's cross-court half smashes, drops and smashes which were working like a charm ... After winning the first game losing only 3 pts Saina again started well in the second ... Pui was trying hard but couldn't manage to play her regular game ... At 5-13 she decided to quit the match ... So Saina in the quarters at World championship with not playing 60 mins on the court ... Tomorrow will be the big test for her against Xin Wang in the quarters ... I m hopeful for Saina after looking her first 2 matches ... She is looking into zone and fit, she is covering court without any sign of her ankle injury from which she recovered, good sign.

Jwala and Ashwini scored hard fought comeback win over 11th seed Hong Kong pair to moved into quarter-final ... With this win they showed their last round win over 2nd seed pair wasn't fluke.

Danish team dominated match to complete straight games victory over Diju and Jwala.

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

[R2] (5) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (PAK) bt Paul Hanley (AUS)/ Bruno Soares (BRA) 64 76(6)

Rohan and Aisam moved into quarters with straight sets win over Paul and Bruno ... In the first set they broke opponents in 5th game to win it ... The second set went to tie-break which our pair won it ... Next they will mostly play Bryans.
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At 2.05M Rogers Cup, Toronto, Canada

[R1] (5) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Elena Vesnina (RUS) l Sara Errani (ITA)/ Roberta Vinci (ITA) 62 06 7-10

Disappointing end of Rogers Cup for Sania ... In doubles she and Elena lost after winning the first set.
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At Turkey F23 Futures, Istanbul

[R2] (8) N. Vijay Sundar Prashanth (IND,622) bt Ergun Zorlu (TUR,834) 63 61

[QF] (8) N. Vijay Sundar Prashanth (IND,622) v. (1) Riccardo Ghedin (ITA,330)

Doubles
[QF] (2) N. Vijay Sundar Prashanth (IND)/ Riccardo Ghedin (ITA) bt Bruno Abdel Nour (SYR)/ Marc Abdulnour (SYR) 61 62

[SF] (2) N. Vijay Sundar Prashanth (IND)/ Riccardo Ghedin (ITA) vs Richard Gabb (GBR) / Ashley Hewitt (GBR)

Good to see couple of wins on the clay for Vijay Sundar ... Next match is tough one against top-350 Italian on the clay but interesting match up as both r doubles partners in this futures.
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At $10K Sao Paulo 2011, Brazil

[QF] Isabella Robbiani (PAR)/ Kyra Shroff (IND) bt (4) Gabriela Ce (BRA)/ Laura Pigossi (BRA) 75 62

[SF] Isabella Robbiani (PAR)/ Kyra Shroff (IND) vs (1) Maria-Fernanda Alves (BRA)/ Fernanda Hermenegildo (BRA)

Good upset win by Kyra and Isabella over seeded Brazilian pair.

Badminton News
At Yonex BWF World Championships 2011, London, England

[R2] Ajay Jayaram (IND,35) bt Valdimir Ivanov (RUS,63) 21-19 21-17
[R2] P Kashyap (IND,28) l (7) Tien Minh Nguyen (VIE,7) 22-24 21-17 20-22
[R2] (6) Saina Nehwal (IND,6) bt Chole Magee (IRL,53) 21-10 21-7

[R3] Ajay Jayaram (IND,35) vs (6) Jin Chen (CHN,6)
[R3] (6) Saina Nehwal (IND,6) vs (14) Pui Yin Yip (HKG,15)

[R2] (16) Diju Valiyaveetil (IND)/ Jwala Gutta (IND) bt Jien Guo Ong (MAS)/ Sook Chin Chong (MAS) 21-11 21-15
[R2] Jwala Gutta (IND)/ Ashwini Ponnappa (IND) bt (2) Wen Hsing Cheng (TPE)/ Yu Chin Chien (TPE) 21-18 21-18

[R3] Jwala Gutta (IND)/ Ashwini Ponnappa (IND) vs (11) Lok Yan Poon (HKG)/ Ying Suet Tse (HKG)
[R3] (16) Diju Valiyaveetil (IND)/ Jwala Gutta (IND) vs (5) Joachim Fischer Nielsen (DEN)/ Christinna Pedersen (DEN)

Solid start in World Championship for Saina ... She won her first match losing only 17 points ... She dominated in both games to scored comfortable win in 26 mins ... Next she is having top-15 Hong Kong girl's challenge ... Ajay also joined her in the third round with win over Russian ... In the first game Ajay take early 2/3 points lead but Ivanov made it 18-all ... Ajay won next 2 pts before converting 2nd game point to win the game ... In the second game Ajay take control from 11-all and kept his advantage to win the match ... Next he is facing big challenge against WR #6 Chinese Jin Chen.

Kashyap played excellent match against WR #7 Tien Minh Nguyen but choked in end to lose this long match ( 1 hr 20 mins) ... Before this match Kashyap had 1-2 win-loss record against him ... Nguyen defeated Kashyap 21-18 21-10 in their last meeting at last month's US Open GP ... In this match Nguyen take 16-13 before Kashyap made it 16-all ... He wasted 2 game points before losing the first game to Nguyen ... In the second game Nguyen take 1-6 lead and was leading major part of the game but Kashyap kept trying and reducing distance point by point ... Kashyap caught with Nguyen at 16-all and then only lose a point to won the second game ... In the third game Kashyap opened early 8-3 lead and kept that advantage till end ... Kashyap was leading 20-15 but he wasted 5 match points and Nguyen won 7 pts in a row to complete remarkable win.

Happy to see Diju won his first match after long injury break with Jwala in MXD against Malaysian pair ... Next they r facing WR #5 Danis player.

Tterrific victory by Jwala and Ashwini though their WR #2 opponents weren't play like their ranking ... But this was a biggest victory for Jwala and Ashwini as a pair ... Next they r facing #11 ranked Hong Kong pair.

Volleyball News
At the 2011 FIVB Men's Junior World Championship, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

7th Position
August 10
India l Spain 2-3 (25-21 25-17 21-25 12-25 17-19)
Disappointing last few matches for our team ... Today also they lost against lowly ranked Spanish team ... They were leading 2-0 before losing next 3 sets ... So we ended one position below than our world rank.

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

[R2] (3) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Leander Paes (IND) l Tomas Berdych (CZE)/ Florian Mayer (GER) 16 67(9)

Lack of match practice costing Lee and Mahesh, if they r really planning to play Olympics together then they need to play a lot regularly.
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At$35K+H Samarkand Challenger, Uzbekistan (clay)

[QF] (3) Divij Sharan (IND)/ Vishnu Vardhan (IND) bt Illia Chkonia (RUS)/ Jakhongir Jalalov (UZB) 60 64

[SF] (3) Divij Sharan (IND)/ Vishnu Vardhan (IND) vs (1) Michail Elgin (RUS)/ Alexander Kudryavtsev (RUS)

Expected comfortable win for Vishnu and Divij ... Next they r facing tp-seed Russian in the semis.
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At $15K Kazakhstan F5 Futures, Astana

[R2] (Q) Ranjeet Virali-Murugesan (IND,583) l (5) Mohamed Safwat (EGY,498) 06 63 06
[R2] (6) Vijayant Malik (IND,567) bt Aidynbek Rakhishev (KAZ,1280) 62 60
[R2] (7) Rohan Gajjar (IND,610) bt (Q) Yusuke Watanuki (JPN,UNR) 62 64
[R2] Kaza Vinayak Sharma (IND,849) l (8) Vitali Reshetnikov (RUS,659) 26 06
[R2] (2) Karan Rastogi (IND,353) bt Rupesh Roy (IND,741) 46 61 60

[QF] (6) Vijayant Malik (IND,567) vs (4) Arata Onozawa (JPN,517)
[QF] (7) Rohan Gajjar (IND,610) vs (3) Roman Jebavy (CZE,470)
[QF] (2) Karan Rastogi (IND,353) vs (8) Vitali Reshetnikov (RUS,659)

Doubles
[QF] Vijayant Malik (IND)/ Rupesh Roy (IND) bt (4) Rohan Gajjar (IND)/ Karan Rastogi (IND) W/O
[QF] Kaza Vinayak Sharma (IND)/ Ranjeet Virali-Murugesan (IND) l (3) Yuki Matsuo (JPN)/ Arata Onozawa (JPN) 57 46

[SF] (1) vs Vijayant Malik (IND)/ Rupesh Roy (IND) vs (1) Roman Jebavy (CZE)/ Denys Molchanov (UKR)

No upset scored by our players so only 3 seeded in the quarters ... I m surprised by weird score of Ranjeet, who despite winning a set lost other sets without winning a game ... Kaza also lost easily against Russian ... Karan came back strongly after losing the first set, he only lost a single game in next 2 sets against Rupesh.

Hoping no injury issue to Karan or Rohan as they gave walkover to Rupesh and Viajyant in doubles quarters.

Volleyball News
At the 2011 FIVB Men's Junior World Championship, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

5th - 8th Positions
August 9
India l Iran 0-3 (11-25 22-25 21-25)

India's poor record against Iranian team in international tournaments continues ... After losing the first set in horrific fashion our spikers managed decent performance in next 2 sets but failed to win the set.

Badminton News
At Yonex BWF World Championships 2011, London, England

[R1] P Kashyap (IND,28) bt Dieter Domke (GER,85) 21-13 23-25 21-11

[R2] P Kashyap (IND,28) vs (7) Tien Minh Nguyen (VIE,7)

[R2] Rupesh Kumar (IND)/ Sanave Thomas (IND) l (8) Alvent Yulianto Chandra (INA)/ Hendra Aprida Gunawan (INA) 21-19 11-21 12-21
[R2] (16) Diju Valiyaveetil (IND)/ Jwala Gutta (IND) vs Jien Guo Ong (MAS)/ Sook Chin Chong (MAS)

After winning the first game easily from 6-9 down Kashyap gave opportunity to German fight back in the match ... In the second game Kashyap was leading 16-11 but Domke won next 5 pts to 16-all ... Then he stretched Kashyap till end in this game ... He saved 2 match points before converting 3rd game point to take match into decider ... In decider Kashyap take huge 11-2 early lead which Domke couldn't reduce and Kashyap won this game very easily ... Unnecessary hiccup in the second game, such loss of concentration can cost him match against top-10 players ... Next he is having tough match against WR #7 Tien Minh Nguyen.

Rupesh and Sanave started well against top-10 Indonesian pair ... But after losing the first game Indonesian pair take control of the match and easily won next 2 games.

Tennis News
At$35K+H Samarkand Challenger, Uzbekistan (clay)

[R1] (Q) Divij Sharan (IND,808) l (8) Ivo Klec (SVK,246) 76(5) 26 46

Doubles
[R1] (3) Divij Sharan (IND)/ Vishnu Vardhan (IND) bt Ivo Klec (SVK)/ Marek Semjan (SVK) 61 64

[QF] (3) Divij Sharan (IND)/ Vishnu Vardhan (IND) vs Illia Chkonia (RUS)/ Jakhongir Jalalov (UZB)

Divij played a terrific match against this top-250 player ... Hopefully he will get more chances to participate in singles tournaments (which look difficult due to his doubles commitments.).

In doubles Divij and Vishnu scored crushing victory over Klec and his Slovakian partner Semjan ... Next in quarters they r facing Russian Chkonia and Uzbek Jalalov.
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At $15K Kazakhstan F5 Futures, Astana

[R1] (Q) Ranjeet Virali-Murugesan (IND,583) bt Serizhan Yessenbekov (KAZ,925) 63 63
[R1] (6) Vijayant Malik (IND,567) bt Sardor Pulatov (UZB,1747) 75 60
[R1] (7) Rohan Gajjar (IND,610) bt (WC) Stanislav Nikulchikov (KAZ,UNR) 62 61
[R1] Mohit Mayur Jayaprakash (IND,1343) l (Q) Yusuke Watanuki (JPN,UNR) 46 16
[R1] (Q) Sidharth Rawat (IND,UNR) l (3) Roman Jebavy (CZE,476) 26 16
[R1] Kaza Vinayak Sharma (IND,849) bt (Q) Kirill Komarov (RUS,UNR) 60 26 Retd.
[R1] (2) Karan Rastogi (IND,353) bt Dilshod (TJK,1829) 62 60

[R2] (Q) Ranjeet Virali-Murugesan (IND,583) vs (5) Mohamed Safwat (EGY,498)
[R2] (6) Vijayant Malik (IND,567) vs Aidynbek Rakhishev (KAZ,1280)
[R2] (7) Rohan Gajjar (IND,610) vs (Q) Yusuke Watanuki (JPN,UNR)
[R2] Kaza Vinayak Sharma (IND,849) vs (8) Vitali Reshetnikov (RUS,659)
[R2] (2) Karan Rastogi (IND,353) vs Rupesh Roy (IND,741)

Doubles
[R1] Vijayant Malik (IND)/ Rupesh Roy (IND) bt Alexandr Martynov (KAZ)/ Aidynbek Rakhishev (KAZ) 62 62

[QF] (4) Rohan Gajjar (IND)/ Karan Rastogi (IND) vs Vijayant Malik (IND)/ Rupesh Roy (IND)
[QF] Kaza Vinayak Sharma (IND)/ Ranjeet Virali-Murugesan (IND) vs (3) Yuki Matsuo (JPN)/ Arata Onozawa (JPN)

Mohit lost his match against Japanese qualifier in straight sets ... Kaza lost the second set before his Russian opponent retired from the match, otherwise expected results.

Ranjeet and Kaza having tough second rounds but considering last week's form Ranjeet can upset Egyptian seeded player.
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At $10K Turkey F23 Futures, Istanbul

[R1] N. Vijay Sundar Prashanth (IND,622) bt (WC) Can Centinel (TUR,1829) 64 61
[R1] (LL) Kunal Anand (IND,1694) l Issam Al Tawil (SYR,1056) 36 46

[R2] N. Vijay Sundar Prashanth (IND,622) vs Ergun Zorlu (TUR,834)

Doubles
[R1] Kunal Anand (IND)/ Ronak Manuja (IND) l (WC) Onur Kargin (TUR)/ Sefa Sulluoglu (TUR) 60 36 9-11
[R1] Neeraj Elangovan (IND)/ Fariz Mohammed (IND) l (4) Richard Gabb (GBR)/ Ashley Hewitt (GBR) 57 26
[R1] (2) N. Vijay Sundar Prashanth (IND)/ Riccardo Ghedin (ITA) bt Issam Al Tawil (SYR)/ Mo Niaki (CAN)

[QF] (2) N. Vijay Sundar Prashanth (IND)/ Riccardo Ghedin (ITA) vs Bruno Abdel Nour (SYR)/ Marc Abdulnour (SYR)
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At $15K Spain F28 Futures, Irun

[R1] Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,940) l Juan Lizariturry (ESP,617) 26 57

Doubles
[R1] Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND)/ Juan Lizariturry (ESP) l Antonio Garcia Sanchez (ESP)/ Borja Rodriguez Manzano (ESP) 63 46 4-10

Last few weeks Ramkumar is struggling on Spanish clay, hoping to see he will find his footing on Spanish clay as early as possible.
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At $10K Sao Paulo 2011, Brazil

[R1] Kyra Shroff (IND,762) l Francesca Rescaldani (ARG,1157) 36 26

Doubles
[R1] Isabella Robbiani (PAR)/ Kyra Shroff (IND) bt Marina Danzini (BRA)/ Flavia Dechandt Araujo (BRA) 60 62

[QF] Isabella Robbiani (PAR)/ Kyra Shroff (IND) vs (4) Gabriela Ce (BRA)/ Laura Pigossi (BRA)

Badminton News
At Yonex BWF World Championships 2011, London, England

[R1] Ajay Jayaram (IND,35) bt (15) Kenichi Tago (JPN,18) 21-12 21-19
[R1] P Kashyap (IND,28) vs Dieter Domke (GER,85)
[R1] (6) Saina Nehwal (IND,6) bye

[R1] Rupesh Kumar (IND)/ Sanave Thomas (IND) bt Michael Fuchs (GER)/ Oliver Roth (GER) 9-21 21-18 21-17
[R1] Pranav Chopra (IND)/ Tarun Kona (IND) l Hung Ling Chen (TPE)/ Yu Lang Lin (TPE) 17-21 13-21
[R1] Jwala Gutta (IND)/ Ashwini Ponnappa (IND) bt Eva Lee (USA)/ Paula Lynn Obanana (USA) 21-9 21-18
[R1] (16) Diju Valiyaveetil (IND)/ Jwala Gutta (IND) bye

[R2] Ajay Jayaram (IND,35) vs Valdimir Ivanov (RUS,63)
[R2] (6) Saina Nehwal (IND,6) vs Chole Magee (IRL,53)

[R2] Jwala Gutta (IND)/ Ashwini Ponnappa (IND) vs (2) Wen Hsing Cheng (TPE)/ Yu Chin Chien (TPE)
[R2] Rupesh Kumar (IND)/ Sanave Thomas (IND) vs (8) Alvent Yulianto Chandra (INA)/ Hendra Aprida Gunawan (INA)

BWF World Championships is started from today at London ... Saina is 6th seed in the singles and having bye in the first round ... She is in the same draw of 3rd seed Xin Wang, they can face each other in quarters.

Ajay and Kashyap r in men singles ... Ajay had tough first roundagainst top-20 Japanese player Tago ... But Ajay started with upset win over seeded Japanese opponent ... After 6-7 down he dominated the first game to won it comfortably ... In the second game he take 11-2 early lead ... Tago tried to fightback but Ajay managed to keep lead to won this match.

In women doubles Jwala and Ashwini had winning start against American pair but next they r having tough match against WR #3 Chinese Taipei pair ... In men doubles Rupesh and Sanave lost the first game easily against German pair but from the second game they managed to took early 3/4 pts advantage which they kept until the end in next 2 games to scored little tight win ... Next they r facing WR #8 Indonesian pair ... Not a winning start for Pranav Chopra and Tarun Kona in their first World championship ... In both games Chinese Taipei pair take early lead and never gave chance to our pair to get back in the match.

In MXD after long back injury break Diju is participating with Jwala ... They r 16th seed and having first round bye but difficult to see how Diju perform after his long injury break.