Tennis News
At $10K F12 India Futures, Kolkata

[R2] (1) Junn MItsuhashi (JPN,376) bt Chandril Sood (IND,1743) 63 46 61
[R2] Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND,661) bt (5) Kaza Vinayak Sharma (IND,810) 62 61
[R2] (4) Karunuday Singh (IND,662) bt Akash Wagh (IND,1338) 16 61 62
[R2] (7) Mate Pavic (CRO,909) bt (WC) Sunil Kumar Sipaeya (IND,1460) 61 26 64
[R2] (6) Jaime Pulgar-Garcia (ESP,883) bt (Q) Hasier Pastor (ESP,UNR) 62 60
[R2] (3) N. Vijay Sundar Prashanth (IND,616) bt (Q) Andre Gaspar Murta (POR,UNR) 64 61
[R2] N. Sriram Balaji (IND,1016) bt (8) Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,930) 61 36 62
[R2] PC Vignesh (IND,1003) bt (2) Ranjeet Virali-Murugesan (IND,535) 76(5) 26 60

Doubles Quarter Finals
(1) PAVIC (CRO)/ PULGAR-GARCIA (ESP) bt MAHESHWARI (IND)/ TIWARI (IND) 75 60
(3) NEDUNCHEZHIYAN (IND)/ PRASHANTH (IND) bt JAYAPRAKASH (IND)/ SIPAEYA (IND) 64 62
PERANAMALLUR (IND)/ WAGH (IND) bt (4) MANUJA (IND)/ VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND) 62 4-4 (match abandoned)
(2) BALAJI (IND)/ SHARMA (IND) bt ANAND (IND)/ THAKKAR (IND) 67(5) 63 10-7

Superb dominated win by Jeevan which was expected ... Vignesh scored huge upset beating 2nd seed Ranjeet but I think some fitness issue with Ranjeet as he struggled with fitness in Pune also ... Balaji scored another win over young Ramkumar and having good chance to go deep in this futures.

Hockey News
At FIH Champions Challenge 1 2011, Johannesburg, South Africa

India bt Poland 7-0
Goal Scored - Yuvraj Walmiki (IND) 18', Shivendra Singh (IND) 24' and 33', SV Sunil (IND) 43', Birendra Lakra (IND) 53', Tushar Khandker (IND) 55' and 70'

I would say today Poland played poorly rather than we played well ... Poland played with lack of enthusiasm, they didn't intercept Indian passing and defended poorly ... They failed to take couple of chances ... Other hand we had numerous chances, our forward line missed too many, mainly Yuvraj ... But today we were lucky to play against Polish team otherwise this scoreline wasn't the same.

As usual our defending was poor but I surprised by Polish side ... Generally they play decent hockey but here they r looking mess, who r not doing single basic thing correctly ... May be Polish team is here with their youngsters and giving chance to them before Olympics qualifier but avoid giving any their strategy which they will use in qualifier.

With this big win we topped the group as Belgium managed only 2-1 victory against South Africa ... In quarters we r going to face our recent nemesis young Malaysian side, who r struggling in this tournament.

Football News
At FIFA International Friendly 2011, Goa, India

India vs Zambia 0-5
Goal Scored - Jimmy Chisenga (ZAM) 14', Sitali Mushumba (ZAM) 55', Musakanya Bwalya (ZAM) 69', 72' and 90'

Today Indians played without their regular strikers Sunil Chhetri and Jeje Lalpekhlua, as they are currently attending their trials with Rangers FC in Glasgow.

Zambians scored a goal in 14th minute through solo effort from Jimmy Chisenga to lead at half-time ... They scored second goal immediately in the second half when Sitali Mushumba scored in 55th minute with pass from Kangwa Evans ... After that Zambian side was playing in our half only ... Musakanya Bwalya scored 2 more goals in 4 minutes, first scored header on corner kick in 69 minutes and second scored after mistake from Gouramangi Singh in 72 minutes ... Musakanya Bwalya completed his hat-trick after scoring another goal in 90th minute when received cross from Sitali Mushumba.

Frankly turned out one-sided match where nothing positive to take from this match ... Though our players had couple of good chances of scoring but usual poor defending by our defenders and goal-keeper Karanjit Singh.

At $10K F12 India Futures, Kolkata

[R1] (1) Junn MItsuhashi (JPN,376) bt (Q) Rajat Maheswari (IND,UNR) 63 61
[R1] Chandril Sood (IND,1743) bt (Q) Abilash Srivastava (IND,UNR) 61 62
[R1] Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND,661) bt Vignesh Veerabhadran (IND,1625) 61 63
[R1] (5) Kaza Vinayak Sharma (IND,810) bt (WC) Lakshit Sood (IND,UNR) 64 46 64
[R1] (4) Karunuday Singh (IND,662) bt (Q) Arpit Sharma (IND,UNR) 76(3) 61
[R1] Akash Wagh (IND,1338) bt (Q) Yokesh Pagat (IND,UNR) 57 64 60
[R1] (WC) Sunil Kumar Sipaeya (IND,1460) bt Keita Koyama (JPN,1344) 61 63
[R1] (7) Mate Pavic (CRO,909) bt Saurabh Patil (IND,1625) 61 61
[R1] (6) Jaime Pulgar-Garcia (ESP,883) bt (WC) Kunal Anand (IND,1866) 76(3) 46 63
[R1] (Q) Hasier Pastor (ESP,UNR) bt Abhijeet Tiwari (IND,1327) 63 62
[R1] (Q) Andre Gaspar Murta (POR,UNR) bt Neeraj Elangovan (IND,1414) 26 60 62
[R1] (3) N. Vijay Sundar Prashanth (IND,616) bt Mohit Mayur Jayaprakash (IND,1159) 36 63 63
[R1] (8) Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,930) bt (LL) Rakshay Thakkar (IND,1625) 62 63
[R1] N. Sriram Balaji (IND,1016) bt (WC) Ajai Selvaraj (IND,UNR) 62 36 60
[R1] PC Vignesh (IND,1003) bt (Q) Ronak Manuja (IND,UNR) 26 64 62
[R1] (2) Ranjeet Virali-Murugesan (IND,535) bt (Q) Elwin Antony (IND,UNR) 63 62

Doubles First Round
(1) PAVIC (CRO)/ PULGAR-GARCIA (ESP) bt ANTONY (IND)/ ELANGOVAN (IND) 64 60
MAHESHWARI (IND)/ TIWARI (IND) bt (WC) PHOGAT (IND)/ RAJPUT (IND) 61 63
(3) NEDUNCHEZHIYAN (IND)/ PRASHANTH (IND) bt GASPAR MURTA (POR)/ GROTEMEYER (USA) 61 46 10-5
JAYAPRAKASH (IND)/ SIPAEYA (IND) bt RAMANATHAN (IND)/ RUIZ-CADENAS (ESP) 61 64
PERANAMALLUR (IND)/ WAGH (IND) bt PATIL (IND)/ SHARMA (IND) 63 62
(4) MANUJA (IND)/ VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND) bt KHAN (IND)/ VEERABADRAN (IND) 63 62
ANAND (IND)/ THAKKAR (IND) bt (WC) MOHAMMED (IND)/ SELVARAJ (IND) 76(4) 62
(2) BALAJI (IND)/ SHARMA (IND) bt (WC) SOOD (IND)/ SOOD (IND) 64 63

Happy to see Ramkumar and Sunil earned their first point of the Indian futures ... Interesting match on clay for Ramkumar and Balaji in the second round.

Mohit Mayur lost opportunity of upsetting Vijay Sundar ... In decider he was up 3-1 before losing 5 games in a row.

Abhijeet Tiwari and Neeraj Elangovan lost against un-ranked European qualifiers ... But good to see Akash managed to grab a point beating qualifier ... Otherwise expected results.

Chess News
At the World Youth Chess Championship 2011, Caldas Novas, Brazil

India won a gold, a silver and three bronze medals to finish third behind Russia (three golds and four silver) and Kazakhstan (two gold and a bronze) in the World Youth chess championship at Caldas Novas, Brazil.

Karthikeyan became the u-12 world champion on the basis of his superior tie-break score after being tied at 7.5 points with Hungry's Benjamin Gledura.

Ram Aravind claimed the silver in the u-8 section ... The Indian bronze medal winners were, Debashis Das in u-18, V.S. Rathanvel in u-10 and Saina Salonika u-8 girls.

Hockey News
At the Champions Challenge Hockey Tournament 2011, Johannesburg, South Africa

India bt South Africa 7-4
Goal Scored - Sandeep Singh (IND) 14' PC and 35' PC, Saravanjit Singh (IND) 29', Tushar Khandekar (IND) 41', SV Sunil (IND) 55' and 66' PC, Rupinder Pal Singh (IND) 65' PS and Justin Reid-Ross (RSA) 6', Marvin Harper (RSA) 38', Miguel de Garcia (RSA) 46, Tim Drummond (RSA) 48'

India scored exciting win over South Africa in fast paced match ... South Africa take early lead but Indian fought back scoring 3 goals in that 2 from Sandeep Singh through penalty corners to lead 3-1 at half-time ... But due to poor defending and marking with some sloppy goal-keeping Sreejesh South Africa came back into the match and managed to equalized 4-all ... After that Indians played really excellent hockey with good help from Sreejesh's superb goal-keeping ... Indians scored 3 goals in 12 minutes to scored their first victory in 2 matches ... Indians need to improve marking and avoid stupid defensive errors against better teams.

Tennis News
At Barclays ATP World Tour Finals, London, England

[SF] (4) Leander Peas (IND)/ Mahesh Bhupathi (IND) l (8) Mariusz Fyrstenberg (POL)/ Marcin Matkowski (POL) 46 64 6-10

In the first set Polish pair take crucial break in 10th game breaking Mahesh's serve converting 2nd break point to won the first set ... In the second set Poles started positively and broke Lee in 2nd game to take 2-0 lead ... Immediately Lee and Hesh responded breaking Poles twice to take 3-2 lead ... Again both pairs traded break but Indians take crucial break in 9th game breaking Matkowski before Lee hold his serve to won the second set ... In super tie-break Lee and Hesh take 3-0 lead but after that Poles won 9 points from 11 points played to take control and winning this semi-final.
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At $15K F11 India Futures, New Delhi

Singles Final
(2) Vishnu VARDHAN (IND,394) bt (8) Rohan GAJJAR (IND,578) 64 46 64

Vishnu scored hard fought win over Rohan in 3 hrs match despite groin pain ... Both players played good tennis in patches but gave their all in this match ... Vishnu take crucial break in 10th game to won the first set ... After losing the first set Rohan fought back breaking Vishnu in 7th game and then saved 3 break point on his serve in next game to won that ... In desider despite injury Vishnu fought hard ... He saved 4 break points in 7th game before breaking Rohan in 10th game to complete victory.

Hockey News
At the Champions Challenge Hockey Tournament 2011, Johannesburg, South Africa

India dw Belgium 3-3
Goal Scored - Rupinder Pal Singh (IND) 45', Chingelnsana Singh (IND) 48', Vokkaliga Raghunath (IND) 57' PC and Alexandre de Paeuw (BEL) 31' Tom Boon (BEL) 55', Xavier Rekinger (BEL) 69' PC

Again Indian side conceded late equaliser in dying minutes ... Belgium take lead in the first half but Indians fought back scoring 2 goals but again Belgium side equalised before Raghunath gave lead back to Indian side but late lapse in concentration cost us full points.

Chess News
At the 6th Tal Memorial, Moscow, Russia

Round 9 - Friday, November 25, 2011
Hikaru Nakamura 0-1 Magnus Carlsen
Boris Gelfand ½-½ Viswanathan Anand
Sergey Karjakin ½-½ Vassily Ivanchuk
Peter Svidler 1-0 Vladimir Kramnik
Ian Nepomniachtchi ½-½ Levon Aronian

Don't know if this is the sign of worry or not but very poor result for Anand in this strong field ... In the last round Carlsen scored win with Black over Nakamura which helped him to tie for the top spot with Aronian in points but Carlsen lifted title in tie-break ... Other hand Anand had another draw and he finished on 7th in the standing.

Final Standing
1 Magnus Carlsen 5½ pts
2 Levon Aronian 5½ pts
3 Vassily Ivanchuk 5 pts
4 Sergey Karjakin 5 pts
5 Ian Nepomniachtchi 5 pts
6 Peter Svidler 4½ pts
7 Viswanathan Anand 4½ pts
8 Vladimir Kramnik 3½ pts
9 Boris Gelfand 3½ pts
10 Hikaru Nakamura 3 pts

Badminton News
At $350K Li Ning China Open 2011, Shanghai (Superseries Premier)

[QF] Jwala Gutta (IND)/ Ashwini Ponnappa (IND) l (3) Mizuki Fujii (JPN)/ Reika Kakiiwa (JPN) 20-22 11-21

In the first game Japanese pair opened small lead of 13-10 but Jwala and Ashwini won next 6 points to take a lead ... Japanese pair made it 17-all ... Our pair wasted a game point at 20-19 but Japanese pair converted their first game point to won this game ... After winning the first game 3rd seed Japanese pair proved too strong for Jwala and Ashwini ... They won the second game very authoritatively.

Tennis News
At Barclays ATP World Tour Finals, London, England

Group B
(4) Leander Peas (IND)/ Mahesh Bhupathi (IND) bt (1) Mike Bryan (USA)/ Bob Bryan (USA) 64 62

In their final tournament before another split, Indian Express delivered ... They defeated top-seed Bryans showing authority in 58 minutes ... Our pair take only break of the first set in 3rd game on Mike's serve when he double faulted ... In the second set Lee and Hesh broke Bob's serve twice in 1st and 5th game to won this match comfortably ... With this win Lee and Hesh evened their career record against the best doubles pair in history (on record) at 3-3.

With this win they qualified for the semis topping the Group A with 2-1 (W-L) record ... In the semis they will face challenge of Poles Mariusz Fyrstenberg and Marcin Matkowski.

Really sad to think this is their last tournament before split ... Please guys think over ur decision.
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At $35K+H Toyota Challenger, Japan

[QF] Yuki BHambri (IND,384) l (3) Yuichi Sugita (JPN,201) 26 16

Yuki received beating from 3rd seed Yuichi Sugita in one-sided match ... Still good show by Yuki reaching in the quarters as unseeded player in this Japanese challenger.
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At $15K F11 India Futures, New Delhi

[SF] (8) Rohan GAJJAR (IND,578) bt (7) Ranjit VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND,563) 76(3) 62
[SF] (2) Vishnu VARDHAN (IND,394) bt (4) Daniel COX (GBR,422) 63 64

Doubles Final
(1) Karan RASTOGI (IND)/ Vishnu VARDHAN (IND) bt N.Sriram BALAJI (IND)/ Vijayant MALIK (IND) 61 63

Vishnu won comfortably with a break in both sets against Cox ... Rohan also scored straight sets win over Ranjeet to enter in his second $15K futures final.

Karan and Vishnu lifted doubles title with convincing win.

Chess News
At 2011 Women's World Chess Championship, Tirana, Albania

Game 8 - Thursday, November 24, 2011
Humpy Koneru (IND) ½-½ Hou Yifan (CHN) (Final score 2½-5½)

In this game Humpy neded victory to stay in the match but Hou Yifan played perfect game to draw match with Black ... And Hou Yifan (China) remains the World Champion defeating Humpy with 5½-2½ score.
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At the 6th Tal Memorial, Moscow, Russia

Round 8 - Thursday, November 24, 2011
Magnus Carlsen ½ ½ Ian Nepomniachtchi
Levon Aronian 1-0 Peter Svidler
Vladimir Kramnik ½ ½ Sergey Karjakin
Vassily Ivanchuk ½ ½ Boris Gelfand
Viswanathan Anand ½ ½ Hikaru Nakamura

Continuous 8th draw for Anand but this time Anand missed chance of taking upperhand ... Levon Aronian scored victory over Svidler to take sole lead ... Now in the final round Aronian need draw to grab the title ... In the last round next Anand is facing Boris Gelfand, his opponent from World Championship match.

Tennis News

It is official now that Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi will split at the end of this season ... And new pairing of Mahesh Bhupathi and Rohan Bopanna will participate in season opener Chennai Open ... Sad to see orginal Indian Express is breaking before 2012 London Olympics.

Leander Paes is thinking of partnering Radek Štěpánek in Chennai Open but personally I feel Lee should give a try with Somdev Devvarman here ... If that clicks then this can be good pairing for London Olympics.
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At Barclays ATP World Tour Finals, London, England

Group A
(5) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (PAK) l (8) Mariusz Fyrstenberg (POL)/ Marcin Matkowski (POL) 26 16

Aisam and Rohan received thrashing from Polish team in totally one-sided match ... Polish pair won this match in 49 minutes ... In the first set they lost only 5 points on their serve ... Our pair had 3 break points in 4th game, 15-40, but they failed to convert ... Other hand Polish pair broke them in 3rd and 7th to won the first set ... In the second set they take 4-0 lead without losing a single point on their serve ... They broke Bops 3rd time in the match in 7th game to complete humiliation ... So with that Aisam and Bops ended their debute 0-3 at ATP Tour Finals.
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At $35K+H Toyota Challenger, Japan

[R2] Yuki BHambri (IND,384) bt (8) Jimmy Wang (TPE,287) 57 64 62

[QF] Yuki BHambri (IND,384) vs (3) Yuichi Sugita (JPN,201)

Terrific comeback win by Yuki over former top 100 player ... Jimmy Wang was world-class junior as in 2001 he lost the AO junior singles final to Tipsarevic and the US Open junior final to Giles Muller at that time he was 16 yrs old ... In 2006 he entered into top 100 but last 2 year he was out due to injury and made comeback in 2011 ... So really good win for Yuki against this experienced player in the challenger.

Next he is having tough match against 3rd seed Sugita, who defeated Somdev in our Davis cup tie.
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At $15K F11 India Futures, New Delhi

[QF] (7) Ranjit VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND,563) bt (1) Junn MITSUHASHI (JPN,388) 26 61 63
[QF] (8) Rohan GAJJAR (IND,578) bt (WC) Saketh MYNENI (IND,UNR) 36 76(5) 75
[QF] (4) Daniel COX (GBR,422) bt (Q) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND,1006) 63 60
[QF] (2) Vishnu VARDHAN (IND,394) bt (5) Vijayant MALIK (IND,490) 61 60

Doubles
[SF] (1) Karan RASTOGI (IND)/ Vishnu VARDHAN (IND) bt Richard BECKER (GER)/ Nikolaus MOSER (AUT) 61 61
[SF] N.Sriram BALAJI (IND)/ Vijayant MALIK (IND) bt (4) Weerapat DOAKMAIKLEE (THA)/ Kirati SIRIBUTWONG (THA) 64 16 10-4

Ranjit scored huge upset beating top-seed in comeback win ... Saketh stretched Rohan but failed to win match in the second set ... In end terrific fighting win for Rohan against in-form Saketh.

Cox won easily against Balaji in the quarters and Vishnu toyed Vijayant in one-sided match.

All Indians final in doubles as Balaji and Vijayant defeated 4th seed Thai pair in the semis.

Badminton News
At $350K Li Ning China Open 2011, Shanghai (Superseries Premier)

[R2] Diju V (IND)/ Jwala Gutta (IND) l (3) Joachim Fischer Nielsen (DEN)/ Christinna Pedersen (DEN) 14-21 14-21
[R2] Jwala Gutta (IND)/ Ashwini Ponnappa (IND) bt Iris Wang (MAS)/ Rena Wang (MAS) 21-9 21-12

[QF] Jwala Gutta (IND)/ Ashwini Ponnappa (IND) vs (3) Mizuki Fujii (JPN)/ Reika Kakiiwa (JPN)

Jwala and Ashwin take full advantage of unranked Malaysian pair to score dominating win in 23 minutes, big boost for their bid of qualifying for London Olympics ... Next they r facing tough challenge of WR #3 Japanese pair.

Danish apir scored straight games win over Diju and Jwala in 34 minutes.

Chess News
At 2011 Women's World Chess Championship, Tirana, Albania

Game 7 - Wednesday, November 23, 2011
Hou Yifan (CHN) 1-0 Humpy Koneru (IND)

In the 7th game Hou Yifan had white pieces ... Third time in the match they played Ruy Lopez ... After falling 2 points behinf Humpy take too many risks in the middle game ... She gave her opponent a chance to win a pawn that was immediately grabbed by Hou Yifan ... Then in the endgame the Chinese player took another pawn to secure her victory.

After 7 games the World champion is leading 5-2, only ½ point from defending her title and now only a miracle can help Koneru to win all of the remaining three games.
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At the 6th Tal Memorial, Moscow, Russia

Round 7 - Wednesday, November 23, 2011
Peter Svidler ½-½ Jan Nepomniachtchi
Sergey Karjakin ½-½ Levon Aronian
Boris Gelfand ½-½ Vladimir Kramnik
Hikaru Nakamura 0-1 Vassily Ivanchuk
Viswanathan Anand ½-½ Magnus Carlsen

Another draw for Anand in 7th round, this time against Magnus Carlsen ... Vassily Ivanchuk joined leaders scoring win against Nakamura with Black ... Now 5 players r leading the pack with 4 points; Aronian, Carlsen, Ivanchuk, Karjakin and Nepomniachtchi ... Anand and Svidler r tied 6th with 3½ points.

Tennis News
At Barclays ATP World Tour Finals, London, England

Group A
(4) Leander Peas (IND)/ Mahesh Bhupathi (IND) bt Jurgen Melzer (AUT)/ Philipp Petzschner (GER)

After disappointing first 3 days at last Mahesh and Lee managed to score victory in ATP Tour Finals ... After their one sided loss against Lindstedt and Tecau this was much needed victory for them ... Now for qualifying for the semis they still have herculean task to beat Bryans in their last match.

Indians broke Petzschner in 4th game but Petzschner and Melzer fought back breaking Mahesh's serve in next game ... In 12th game Lee and Mahesh had 4 set points at 0-40 but Petzschner saved 3 of those with big serves but our pair won next on sudden death deuce to win this set ... In the second set Mahesh saved break points in 5th game and then broke Petzschner when hit 2 double faults from 30/30 in 8th game ... Then Mahesh hold her serve to love and completed the victory ... Now Mahesh and Lee having 1-1 (W-L) record in the ATP Tour Finals.
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At $35K+H Toyota Challenger, Japan

[R1] (2) Purav Raja (IND)/ Divij Sharan (IND) l Peng Gao (CHN)/ Wan Gao (CHN) 76(1) 67(5) 5-10

Very close but tough loss for 2nd seed Purav and Divij against futures level Chinese pair ... They lost super tie-break easily but before that both pairs shared a set in tie-breaks.
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At $15K F11 India Futures, New Delhi

[R2] (1) Junn MITSUHASHI (JPN,388) bt James MARSALEK (GBR,795) 26 76(1) 76(1)
[R2] (7) Ranjit VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND,563) bt (Q) Abhijeet TIWARI (IND,1317) 64 62
[R2] (WC) Saketh MYNENI (IND,UNR) bt (SE) Jeevan NEDUNCHEZHIYAN (IND,1511) 46 62 62
[R2] (8) Rohan GAJJAR (IND,578) bt Richard BECKER (GER,594) 61 75
[R2] (Q) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND,1006) bt (6) Nikolaus MOSER (AUT,523) 76(7) 63
[R2] (4) Daniel COX (GBR,422) bt (Q) Weerapat DOAKMAIKLEE (THA,1326) 63 75
[R1] (5) Vijayant MALIK (IND,490) bt Mate PAVIC (CRO,892) 16 62 63
[R2] (2) Vishnu VARDHAN (IND,394) bt (WC) Kunal ANAND (IND,1802) 64 61

Doubles
[QF] (1) Karan RASTOGI (IND)/ Vishnu VARDHAN (IND) bt (WC) Mohit Mayur JAYAPRAKASH (IND)/ Saketh MYNENI (IND) 64 46 10-6
[QF] Richard BECKER (GER)/ Nikolaus MOSER (AUT) bt (3) Rohan GAJJAR (IND)/ Alexander SATSCHKO (GER) 64 63
[QF] (4) Weerapat DOAKMAIKLEE (THA)/ Kirati SIRIBUTWONG (THA) bt Ronak MANUJA (IND)/ Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND) 64 63
[QF] N.Sriram BALAJI (IND)/ Vijayant MALIK (IND) bt Vignesh PERANAMALLUR (IND)/ Sunil-Kumar SIPAEYA (IND) 63 60

After losing the first set Saketh comfortably won next two against last week's $15K futures title winner Jeevan ... Superb upset win by Balaji over Austrian seeded Moser in straight sets ... So 6 Indians r in singles quarters but in doubles only 2 Indian pair in the semis.

Badminton News
At $350K Li Ning China Open 2011, Shanghai (Superseries Premier)

[R1] Kashyap Parupalli (IND,26) l Kenichi Tago (JPN,16) 17-21 16-21
[R1] Ajay Jayaram (IND,34) l Wing Ki Wong (HKG,24) 18-21 19-21
[R1] (4) Saina Nehwal (IND,4) vs Youn Joo Bae (KOR,10) 21-15 22-24

[R1] Rupesh Kumar KT (IND)/ Sanave Thomas (IND) l (5) Kien Keat Koo (MAS)/ Boon Heong Tan (MAS) 12-21 14-21
[R1] Jwala Gutta (IND)/ Ashwini Ponnappa (IND) bt Leanne Choo (AUS)/ Renuga Veeran (AUS) 21-15 21-16
[R1] Diju V (IND)/ Jwala Gutta (IND) bt Muhammad Rijal (INA)/ Debby Susanto (INA) 21-17 21-16

[R2] Jwala Gutta (IND)/ Ashwini Ponnappa (IND) vs Iris Wang (MAS)/ Rena Wang (MAS)
[R2] Diju V (IND)/ Jwala Gutta (IND) vs (3) Joachim Fischer Nielsen (DEN)/ Christinna Pedersen (DEN)

Saina take early 6-2 lead against Youn and kept that to win the first game comfortably ... The second game was very close, Youn take couple of times 2 points lead but Saina managed to keep pace with her ... But from 18-all Youn won 2 points to gave herself game points ... Again Saina saved those 2 points to make it 20-all ... Youn saved couple of match points, 22-all ... Youn converted 3rd game point to won this game ... In the third game Saina take early 7-5 lead which she increased to 11-7 but Youn won 9 points in a row from 12-15 down to completed upset win in 61 minutes ... May be fitness issue?

Year 2011 turning into disastorous for Saina, who lost against many different players from top 20 ... Not a great preparation for London Olympics.

Ajay fought against Wong but failed to win crucial points which cost him the match ... In the first game Wong was leading 12-8 but Ajay take lead winning 4 poits from 13-15 ... Wong made it 17-all and won 3 points in a row from 18-all to win the first game ... In the second game Ajay take 9-7 lead ... Wong won next 7 points to take 14-9 lead but Ajay responded winning next 6 points ... Wong managed to open 17-15 and 19-16 lead but again Ajay made it 19-all ... Wong won last 2 points to comple victory.

Tago scored lot easier win against Kashyap though in both game Kashyap produced fight in early stages.

Expected win for Jwala and Ashwini against Aussie pair ... Next they r facing unseeded Malaysian pair, who upset 5th seed Taiwani pair in the first round ... Good chance for Jwala and Ashini to enter into quarters and give big boost to their chances of qualifying for London Olympics.

Other hand one-sided loss for Rupesh and Sanave against seeded Malaysian pair.

Jwala also had winning start in mixed doubles with Diju against Indonesian pair ... Next they r facing WR #3 Danish pair.

Chess News
At the 6th Tal Memorial, Moscow, Russia

Round 6 - Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Magnus Carlsen ½ ½ Peter Svidler
Ian Nepomniachtchi ½ ½ Sergey Karjakin
Levon Aronian ½ ½ Boris Gelfand
Vladimir Kramnik ½ ½ Hikaru Nakamura
Vassily Ivanchuk ½ ½ Viswanathan Anand

Third straight round with all draws ... Anand is still ½ point behind 4 leaders.

Tennis News
At Barclays ATP World Tour Finals, London, England

Group B
(5) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (PAK) l (2) Michael Llodra (FRA)/ Nenad Zimonjic (SRB) 67(6) 36

In the first set both pairs traded a single break .. In tie-break our pair was up with mini-break at 4-2 and 6-3 but they failed to push advantage and lost the first set ... In the second set our pair lost serve twice to lose this match and with that their chances of reaching semis ended.
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At $35K+H Toyota Challenger, Japan

[R1] Yuki BHambri (IND,384) bt (LL) Shuichi Sekiguchi (JPN,764) 75 76(1)

[R2] Yuki BHambri (IND,384) vs (8) Jimmy Wang (TPE,287)

Good win by Yuki against local lucky loser on tricky Japanese court ... Next he is having match against experienced Wang.
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At $15K F11 India Futures, New Delhi

[R1] (1) Junn MITSUHASHI (JPN,388) bt Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND,909) 62 64
[R1] James MARSALEK (GBR,795) bt Ivan ARENAS-GUALDA (ESP,670) 57 63 61
[R1] (Q) Abhijeet TIWARI (IND,1317) bt Kaza Vinayak SHARMA (IND,820) 63 75
[R1] (7) Ranjit VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND,563) bt Jaime PULGAR-GARCIA (ESP,868) 61 1-0 Retd
[R1] (WC) Saketh MYNENI (IND,UNR) bt (3) Karan RASTOGI (IND,400) 57 64 75
[R1] (SE) Jeevan NEDUNCHEZHIYAN (IND,1511) bt (WC) Mohit Mayur JAYAPRAKASH (IND,1374) 57 62 60
[R1] Richard BECKER (GER,594) bt (Q) Lakshit SOOD (IND,UNR) 63 63
[R1] (8) Rohan GAJJAR (IND,578) bt (Q) Abdulla Maqdas (KUW,973) 64 63
[R1] (6) Nikolaus MOSER (AUT,523) bt Vignesh PERANAMALLUR (IND,992) 64 62
[R1] (Q) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND,1006) bt (Q) Keita KOYAMA (JPN,1334) 60 60
[R1] (Q) Weerapat DOAKMAIKLEE (THA,1326) bt (Q) Sunil-Kumar SIPAEYA (IND,1802) 64 64
[R1] (4) Daniel COX (GBR,422) bt Perakiat SIRILUETHAIWATTANA (THA,777) 62 61
[R1] (5) Vijayant MALIK (IND,490) bt (Q) Ajai SELVARAJ (IND,UNR) 61 62
[R1] Mate PAVIC (CRO,892) bt (LL) Chandril SOOD (IND,1625) 62 61
[R1] (WC) Kunal ANAND (IND,1802) bt (WC) Saurabh SINGH (IND,UNR) 62 76(5)
[R1] (2) Vishnu VARDHAN (IND,394) bt Alexander SATSCHKO (GER,785) 62 63

Doubles
[R1] (1) Karan RASTOGI (IND)/ Vishnu VARDHAN (IND) bt Jeevan NEDUNCHEZHIYAN (IND)/ Ranjit VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND) 57 64 10-7
[R1] (WC) Mohit Mayur JAYAPRAKASH (IND)/ Saketh MYNENI (IND) bt Saurabh PATIL (IND)/ Vignesh VEERABADRAN (IND) 60 62
[R1] (3) Rohan GAJJAR (IND)/ Alexander SATSCHKO (GER) bt (WC) Rishabdev RAMAN (IND)/ Saurabh SINGH (IND) 61 75
[R1] Richard BECKER (GER)/ Nikolaus MOSER (AUT) bt Keita KOYAMA (JPN)/ Mate PAVIC (CRO) 63 76(5)
[R1] Ronak MANUJA (IND)/ Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND) bt (WC) Chandril SOOD (IND)/ Lakshit SOOD (IND) 64 36 10-7
[R1] (4) Weerapat DOAKMAIKLEE (THA)/ Kirati SIRIBUTWONG (THA) bt Kaza Vinayak SHARMA (IND)/ Vivek SHOKEEN (IND) 76(5) 64
[R1] Vignesh PERANAMALLUR (IND)/ Sunil-Kumar SIPAEYA (IND) bt Kunal ANAND (IND)/ Ankit SACHDEVA (IND) 75 64
[R1] N.Sriram BALAJI (IND)/ Vijayant MALIK (IND) bt (2) Ivan ARENAS-GUALDA (ESP)/ Jaime PULGAR-GARCIA (ESP) 62 62

Expected win by Saketh after he missed the chance of winning in Pune futures ... Interesting match-up between 2 ex-college players, Jeevan and Saketh ... Both will play this second round match with huge confidence after their first title wins in last 2 weeks ... Saketh having advantage with his huge serve and better court coverage but Jeevan can produce surprise with his powerful forehands and smart play .

Badminton News
At $350K Li Ning China Open 2011, Shanghai (Superseries Premier)

[Q1] Sourabh Varma (IND,66) l (1) Yan Kit Chan (HKG,36) W/O
[Q1] Gurusaidutt RMV (IND,51) bt (4) Choong Hann Wong (MAS,43) 22-20 19-21 21-13
[Q1] Arvind Bhat (IND,57) l Kai Wen (CHN,144) 13-21 14-21
[Q1] (4) Sindhu PV (IND,46) bye

[Q2] Gurusaidutt RMV (IND,51) l Yi Lu (CHN,134) 21-13 16-21 21-23
[Q2] (4) Sindhu PV (IND,46) l Xue Yao (CHN,201) 9-21 12-21

[R1] Kashyap Parupalli (IND,26) vs Kenichi Tago (JPN,16)
[R1] Ajay Jayaram (IND,34) vs Wing Ki Wong (HKG,24)
[R1] (4) Saina Nehwal (IND,4) vs Youn Joo Bae (KOR,10)

[R1] Rupesh Kumar KT (IND)/ Sanave Thomas (IND) vs (5) Kien Keat Koo (MAS)/ Boon Heong Tan (MAS)
[R1] Jwala Gutta (IND)/ Ashwini Ponnappa (IND) vs Leanne Choo (AUS)/ Renuga Veeran (AUS)
[R1] Diju V (IND)/ Jwala Gutta (IND) vs Muhammad Rijal (INA)/ Debby Susanto (INA)

As expected lot more tougher draw in this Superseries premier event.

In qualifying Guru started with hard fought win against higher ranked Malaysian but he wasted 2 match points in the third game in his final qualifying round to lose match against his Chinese opponent.

Chess News
At 2011 Women's World Chess Championship, Tirana, Albania

Game 6 - Monday, November 21, 2011
Humpy Koneru (IND) 0-1 Hou Yifan (CHN)

The World champion won the sixth game and is now 2 points ahead of the challenger Humpy Koneru ... This will be decesive lead ... This result was even more surprising knowing that Hou Yifan spent several hours in the hospital the previous night, she experienced severe pains in her stomach.

In the begining Humpy with White got an edge but Hou managed to equalize and break the position in the time trouble to come out as a winner in 38 moves ... Hou is leading 4-2 after six games.

Tennis News
At Barclays ATP World Tour Finals, London, England

Group A
[R1] (4) Leander Peas (IND)/ Mahesh Bhupathi (IND) l (6) Robert Lindstedt (SWE)/ Horia Tecau (ROU) 67(6) 16

Worst possible start for our pair ... There were 4 breaks of serve in the first set, which Lindstedt and Tecau could have won the set 6-4, but Lindstedt hit a double fault on sudden death deuce ... Lee and Mahesh converted only 2 of 11 break points in this set ... In tie-break our pair had 2 set points at 6-4 but they failed to covert it ... In the second set Mahesh lost his serve twice to and our pair lost this set easily.
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At $15K F11 India Futures, New Delhi

[R1] (1) Junn MITSUHASHI (JPN,388) bt Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND,909) 62 64
[R1] James MARSALEK (GBR,795) bt Ivan ARENAS-GUALDA (ESP,670) 57 63 61
[R1] (Q) Abhijeet TIWARI (IND,1317) bt Kaza Vinayak SHARMA (IND,820) 63 75
[R1] Richard BECKER (GER,594) bt (Q) Lakshit SOOD (IND,UNR) 63 63
[R1] (6) Nikolaus MOSER (AUT,523) bt Vignesh PERANAMALLUR (IND,992) 64 62
[R1] (Q) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND,1006) bt (Q) Keita KOYAMA (JPN,1334) 60 60
[R1] (Q) Weerapat DOAKMAIKLEE (THA,1326) bt (Q) Sunil-Kumar SIPAEYA (IND,1802) 64 64
[R1] (WC) Kunal ANAND (IND,1802) bt (WC) Saurabh SINGH (IND,UNR) 62 76(5)

Doubles
[R1] (1) Karan RASTOGI (IND)/ Vishnu VARDHAN (IND) bt Jeevan NEDUNCHEZHIYAN (IND)/ Ranjit VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND) 57 64 10-7
[R1] (WC) Mohit Mayur JAYAPRAKASH (IND)/ Saketh MYNENI (IND) bt Saurabh PATIL (IND)/ Vignesh VEERABADRAN (IND) 60 62
[R1] (3) Rohan GAJJAR (IND)/ Alexander SATSCHKO (GER) bt (WC) Rishabdev RAMAN (IND)/ Saurabh SINGH (IND) 61 75
[R1] (4) Weerapat DOAKMAIKLEE (THA)/ Kirati SIRIBUTWONG (THA) bt Kaza Vinayak SHARMA (IND)/ Vivek SHOKEEN (IND) 76(5) 64

Disappointing loss of Sunil against fellow Thai qualifier ... Ramkumar is struggling on Indian futures though he was facing top-seed ... Abhijeet scored upset win over Kaza and Kunal earned his first ATP point of Indian futures ... Balaji double bagel Japanese qualifier.

Bad day for Kaza as he lost in doubles first round with Vivek against 4th seed Thai pair ... Jeevan and Ranjeet stretched top-seed Karan and Vishnu in their match but dominated start for Saketh and Mohit Mayur in doubles.

Chess News
At 2011 Women's World Chess Championship, Tirana, Albania

Game 5 - Sunday, November 20, 2011
Yifan Hou (CHN) ½-½ Humpy Koneru (IND)

In the 5th game World champion Yifan had white pieces as in the previous game ... The players continued with the same line they already played in the 4th game ... They accepted draw after 43rd move.
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At the 6th Tal Memorial, Moscow, Russia

Round 5 - Sunday, November 20, 2011
Vassily Ivanchuk ½ ½ Magnus Carlsen
Viswanathan Anand ½ ½ Vladimir Kramnik
Hikaru Nakamura ½ ½ Levon Aronian
Boris Gelfand ½ ½ Ian Nepomniachtchi
Sergey Karjakin ½ ½ Peter Svidler

In this round also it seemed that the black pieces would again dominate a round ... Nepomniatchtchi, Aronian and Carlsen had a significant edge but they failed to convert in a win ... So again 5 draws.

Tennis News
At Barclays ATP World Tour Finals, London, England

Group B
[R1] (5) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (PAK) l (3) Max Mirnyi (BLR)/ Daniel Nestor (CAN) 67(2) 6-4 9-11

Mirnyi and Nestor take 2-0 and 4-2 leads but both time Bops and Aisam fought back breaking Nestor's serve ... Bops and Aisam wasted a sudden death set point on Mirnyi's serve at 5-4 ... After that Mirnyi and Nestor take control of tie-break to won the first set ... In the second set Bops and Aisam saved 3 break points from 0-40 on Aisam's serve in 2nd game ... They broke Nestor's serve in 5th game and then kept this advantage to win the second set ... In super tie-break Bops and Aisam take early lead with mini-break, 3-1 ... But when they were leading 6-3 Mirnyi and Nestor came back taking mini-break to level 6-all ... Bops and Aisam again take lead with mini-break, 8-6, but again Mirnyi and Nestor broke back ... Bops and Aisam saved a match point at 8-9 but Mirnyi and Nestor take crucial mini-break on 19th point on Aisam's serve ... Nestor served ace to complete the victory.
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At $35K+H Toyota Challenger, Japan

[R1] Yuki BHambri (IND,384) vs Catalin Gard (ROU,516)

Doubles
[R1] (2) Purav Raja (IND)/ Divij Sharan (IND) vs Peng Gao (CHN)/ Wan Gao (CHN)

Yuki is in singles and getting favorable draw ... Purav and Divij r 2nd seed in doubles and facing tricky Chinese pair in the first round.
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At $15K F11 India Futures, New Delhi

[R1] (1) Junn MITSUHASHI (JPN,388) vs Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND,909)
[R1] Ivan ARENAS-GUALDA (ESP,670) vs James MARSALEK (GBR,795)
[R1] Kaza Vinayak SHARMA (IND,820) vs (Q) Abhijeet TIWARI (IND,1317)
[R1] (7) Ranjit VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND,563) vs Jaime PULGAR-GARCIA (ESP,868
[R1] (3) Karan RASTOGI (IND,400) vs (WC) Saketh MYNENI (IND,UNR)
[R1] (SE) Jeevan NEDUNCHEZHIYAN (IND,1511) vs (WC) Mohit Mayur JAYAPRAKASH (IND,1374)
[R1] Richard BECKER (GER,594) vs (Q) Lakshit SOOD (IND,UNR)
[R1] (8) Rohan GAJJAR (IND,578) vs (Q) Abdulla Maqdas (KUW,973)
[R1] (6) Nikolaus MOSER (AUT,523) vs Vignesh PERANAMALLUR (IND,992)
[R1] (Q) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND,1006) vs (Q) Keita KOYAMA (JPN,1334)
[R1] (Q) Sunil-Kumar SIPAEYA (IND,1802) vs (Q) Weerapat DOAKMAIKLEE (THA,1326)
[R1] (4) Daniel COX (GBR,422) vs Perakiat SIRILUETHAIWATTANA (THA,777)
[R1] (5) Vijayant MALIK (IND,490) vs (Q) Ajai SELVARAJ (IND,UNR)
[R1] Karunuday SINGH (IND,697) vs Mate PAVIC (CRO,892)
[R1] (WC) Kunal ANAND (IND,1802) vs (WC) Saurabh SINGH (IND,UNR)
[R1] (2) Vishnu VARDHAN (IND,394) vs Alexander SATSCHKO (Ger,785)

Unbelievable draw, cruel is an understatement ... Karan, Saketh, Jeevan, Ramkumar and Mohit Mayur r getting worst possible draw.

This week I m hoping upset from Ramkumar as Junn is struggling with his fitness ... Saketh can upset Karan, this is huge match of the first round ... Other hand good opportunity of grabbing their first ranking point of Indian futures for Sunil, Balaji, Kunal and Saurabh.

Chess News
At the 6th Tal Memorial, Moscow, Russia

Round 4 - Saturday, November 19, 2011
Magnus Carlsen ½ ½ Sergey Karjakin
Peter Svidler ½ ½ Boris Gelfand
Ian Nepomniachtchi ½ ½ Hikaru Nakamura
Levon Aronian ½ ½ Viswanathan Anand
Vladimir Kramnik ½ ½ Vassily Ivanchuk

All matches ended in a draw in 4th round.

Tennis News
At $15K F10 India Futures, Pune

Singles Final
(Q) Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND,1514) bt (3) Vishnu Vardhan (IND,395) 64 75

Both players serving well from the start ... Jeevan was looking lot better and fitter in long rallies ... Other hand Vishnu was depending mostly on his big serves ... Jeevan take crucial break in 10th game to win the first set.

In the second set again both players were holding their serves easily ... Vishnu was looking tired after long 3 hrs semi-final against Yuki and Jeevan was looking better player on the court ... Vishnu take medical break for tight muscles and little pain due to side stain ... Vishnu had 2 break points on Jeevan's serve in 9th game but Jeevan saved both with solid serves and UFE from Vishnu ... Second time in the match Vishnu failed to hold his serve while serving for staying in the set ... Jeevan take crucial break in 12th game with couple of down the line and couple of UFEs from Vishnu helped him to lift his fitst $15K Futures title in Pune ... Congratulation for Jeevan for this big title win as an qualifier ... Very happy for him.

Vishnu 11 aces and Jeevan 6 aces in the match.

Chess News
At 2011 Women's World Chess Championship, Tirana, Albania

Game 4 - Friday, November 18, 2011
Yifan Hou (CHN) ½-½ Humpy Koneru (IND)

In the fourth game of the match World champion Hou Yifan had advantage with white pieces ... Humpy Koneru had to defend the position that was not pleasant for her ... In the deep endgame White managed to win a pawn, but there were not many sources left for a fight – both players had a rook and a knight ... Humpy defended this endgame well despite being short on time and the opponents agreed a draw ... The game finished after 58 moves ... Today is the rest day but Yifan is still having 1 pt lead over Humpy, 2.5-1.5
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At the 6th Tal Memorial, Moscow, Russia

Round 3 - Friday, November 18, 2011
Vladimir Kramnik ½ ½ Magnus Carlsen
Vassily Ivanchuk 0-1 Levon Aronian
Viswanathan Anand ½ ½ Ian Nepomniachtchi
Hikaru Nakamura 0-1 Peter Svidler
Boris Gelfand 0-1 Sergey Karjakin

This was literally 'black' day for White in third round as 3 out of 5 games ended in a win for Black, and even Carlsen's draw as Black against Kramnik was probably won in the final position.

Badminton News
At $250K Yonex Sunrise Hong Kong Open 2011, (Superseries)

[QF] Saina Nehwal (IND,4) l (7) Tine Baun (DEN,7) 16-21 15-21
[QF] Ajay Jayaram (IND,34) l (1) Chong Wei Lee (MAS,1) 16-21 13-21
[QF] (Q) Gurusaidutt R. M. V. (IND,52) l (2) Long Chen (CHN,2) 13-21 21-23

In the first game Saina was leading 9-6 but from 10-all Tine take control to win it ... In the second game Tine take control from 4-all ... She won 6 pts in a row and kept that lead to scored comfortable win in 29 minutes ... So another title Saina failed to defend this year, so still searching for her first superseries title in 2011 ... Worrying form of Saina.

Long Chen started positively and take 8-2 lead which he kept increasing ... He won the first game easily ... In the second game also Long Chen opened 9-4 lead but this time Guru fought back ... He was 12-18 down but reduced it to 16-18 ... Long Chen had 2 match point at 20-18 but Guru saved those and had a game point at 21-20 ... He failed to convert it and then Long Chen converted 3rd match point to complete victory in 44 minutes ... Very heartening performance by Guru against this top Chinese player.

Lee take early control from 3-all ... Ajay managed to reduce it to 7-8 but after that Lee gave clinical performance to won the first game ... In the second game take 8-2 ealy lead which he kept increasing to complete easy straight games victory in 32 minutes.

Tennis News
At $50K Salzburg Challenger, Austria

[SF] (4) Purav Raja (IND)/ Divij Sharan (IND) l (2) Alexander Waske (GER)/ Lovro Zovko (CRO) 57 76(6) 8-10

After losing the first set our pair did excellent comeback to won the second set in tie-break after saving the match point ... In super tie-break our pair was up 8-6 but after that 2nd seed pair take couple of mini-breaks to win this match ... Still creditable performance by our pair against this experienced pair.
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At $15K F10 India Futures, Pune

Singles Semi Finals
(3) Vishnu Vardhan (IND,395) bt (1) Yuki Bhambri (IND,378) 62 67(3) 75
(Q) Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND,1514) bt (6) Ranjit Virali-Murugesan (IND,564) 36 64 Retd.

Doubles Final
(2) Rohan Gajjar (IND)/ Alexander Satschko (GER) bt (1) Karan Rastogi (IND)/ Vishnu Vardhan (IND) 46 76(1) 10-8

Vishnu struggled in the first set ... Made lots of UFEs and his service wasn't working ... Yuki broke him in 1st and 5th to win the first set comfortably ... In the second set both players hold their service games comfortably ... In 11th game Yuki had a break point but Vishnu saved it ... Vishnu won tie-break comfortably with couple of mini-breaks to take match in the decider ... Dog fight in the third set ... Both raised their game and played excellent tennis ... Vishnu take crucial break converting the first match point in 12th game to complete excellent comeback win ... Creditable comeback by Vishnu, who lost in their last 2 meetings at Nationals and Nigerian futures.

Ranjit started well and was better player on the court in the first set ... But after winning the first set he was troubling with shoulder ... Jeevan take full advantage of it breaking him once to won the second set ... After that Ranjit retired due to shoulder injury ... So singles final is between 2 Chennai players, Vishnu and Jeevan.

In doubles Rohan and Satschko scored excellent comeback win over top-seed pair of Karan and Vishnu ... After losing the first set they won the second set in tie-break ... In super tie-break Rohan and Satschko were 6-8 down and from here they won next 4 points to lift the title.

Chess News
At 2011 Women's World Chess Championship, Tirana, Albania

Third Game - Thursday, November 17
Humpy Koneru (IND) 0-1 Yifan Hou (CHN)

In the third game current World champion Yifan Hou playing with black defeated Humpy in 37 moves.

So after 3 rounds Hou is leading 2-1 ... Hou is looking stronger player and it is very difficult for Humpy to produce comeback in this championship match.
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At 6th Tal Memorial, Moscow, Russia

Round 2 - Thursday, November 17
Aronian Levon ½-½ Vladimir Kramnik
Jan Nepomniachtchi ½-½ Vassily Ivanchuk
Peter Svidler ½-½ Viswanathan Anand
Sergey Karjakin ½-½ Hikaru Nakamura
Magnus Carlsen 1-0 Boris Gelfand

In the second round only WR #1 Carlsen managed to win with white ... All other matches ended in a draw.

Tennis News
At $50K Salzburg Challenger, Austria

[QF] (4) Purav Raja (IND)/ Divij Sharan (IND) bt Maximilian Neuchrist (AUT)/ Tristan-Samuel Weissborn (AUT) 62 62

[SF] (4) Purav Raja (IND)/ Divij Sharan (IND) vs (2) Alexander Waske (GER)/ Lovro Zovko (CRO)

Another comfortable win by Purav and Divij but next tough match against experienced doubles players.
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At $15K F10 India Futures, Pune

[QF] (1) Yuki BHAMBRI (IND,378) bt (8) Richard BECKER (GER,604) 75 75
[QF] (3) Vishnu VARDHAN (IND,395) bt Karunuday SINGH (IND,696) 61 64
[QF] (6) Ranjit VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND,564) bt (4) Karan RASTOGI (IND,401) 36 64 61
[QF] (Q) Jeevan NEDUNCHEZHIYAN (IND,1514) bt (5) Vijayant MALIK (IND,491) 63 61

Doubles
[SF] (1) RASTOGI (IND)/ VARDHAN (IND) bt NEDUNCHEZHIYAN (IND)/ SINGH (IND) 76(3) 63
[SF] (2) GAJJAR (IND)/ SATSCHKO (GER) bt JAYAPRAKASH (IND)/ MYNENI (IND) 75 36 10-8

Today Vijayant had bad day and Jeevan played according to plan to take advantage of it ... Jeevan scored really dominating win over Vijayant to book place in the semis ... In this futures Vishnu is in good form ... He is producing clinical performances one after another ... Today also he scored comfortable win over Karunuday.

Karan won the first set but Ranjt fought back to win the second ... From the second set onward Karan struggled to read Ranjit's game and his powerful returns ... Ranjit take a break in 4th game and then another break in 6th game to complete his victory ... Ranjit overpowered Karan in the third to win this match.

Yuki take crucial break in 12th game to win the first set .. In the second set also Yuki broke Becker's serve in 12th game to complete the victory.

In doubles top 2 seeds pairs r in the final in contrasting style ... Saketh and Mohit Mayur gave fighting performance against Rohan and Satschko but failed to convert in a win in STB ... But still creditable performance by last week's winner pair.

Badminton News
At $250K Yonex Sunrise Hong Kong Open 2011, (Superseries)

[R2] Saina Nehwal (IND,4) bt Jie Yao (NED,19) 21-17 21-17
[R2] (Q) Arvind Bhat (IND,56) l (2) Long Chen (CHN,2) 10-21 8-21 (30m)
[R2] (Q) Gurusaidutt R. M. V. (IND,52) bt (7) Pengyu Du (CHN,7) 15-21 21-7 21-13 (56m)
[R2] Ajay Jayaram (IND,34) bt Muhammad Hafiz Hashim (MAS,40) 21-16 21-15

[R2] Rupesh Kumar K. T. (IND)/ Sanave Thomas (IND) l (2) Jae Sung Jung (KOR)/ Yong Dae Lee (KOR) 11-21 14-21 (23m)
[R2] Diju V. (IND)/ Jwala Gutta (IND) l (2) Chen Xu (CHN)/ Jin Ma (CHN) 18-21 16-21

[QF] Saina Nehwal (IND,4) vs (7) Tine Baun (DEN,7)
[QF] Ajay Jayaram (IND,34) vs (1) Chong Wei Lee (MAS,1)
[QF] (Q) Gurusaidutt R. M. V. (IND,52) vs (2) Long Chen (CHN,2)

In the first game both players were togather until 9-all .. Saina opened 3 points lead from there and kept that to win the first game ... In the second game Saina take early 7-3 lead but Jie made it 7-all winning continuous 4 points ... Again Saina opened 4 points lead from 7-all ... Jie tried to reduce and managed to come near at 16-17 but Saina kept her cool to complete victory in 38 minutes.

Saina is facing Tine Baun in the quarters ... In their last meeting Saina won against this veteran former WR #1 but regular top-10 player in recent years in Indonesia Open.

In the first game Guru take early 8-4 lead but Pengyu fought back to make it 8-all ... Still both players were equal till 14-all ... From here Pengyu opened the lead to with the first game ... In the second game Guru take control early from 5-1 he increased his lead to 11-2 and 16-3 ... He won the second game very easily ... In the third game also Guru take early 8-3 lead which he kept increasing to score huge upset win and will face WR #2 Long Chen in the quarters.

Ajay joined Guru and Saina in this superseries quarters with comfortable win over his Malaysian opponent ... In the first game Ajay take lead winning 6 points continuously from 3-6 and kept that lead to won this game ... In the second game Hashim take early lead, he was leading 7-3 then 12-9 ... This time also Ajay won 6 points continuously to take lead and keep that to win this match.

Arvind and pair of Rupesh and Sanave failed to produce any fight against their respective WR #2 opponents.

Diju and Jwala were neck to neck against WR #2 Chinese pair till 14-all ... Chinese pair opened 2 points lead but Indian pair caught with them immediately, 16-all ... Again Chinese pair take couple of points lead and maintained to win this tight first game ... In the second game Diju and Jwala take 3-0 and 7-4 early lead but both time Chinese pair came back strongly to regained the lead ... From 11-all they kept increasing lead to won the second game and match in 29 minutes.

Chess News
At 6th Tal Memorial, Moscow, Russia

Round 1 - Wednesday, November 16
Levon Aronian ½ ½ Magnus Carlsen
Vladimir Kramnik 0-1 Ian Nepomniachtchi
Vassily Ivanchuk 1-0 Peter Svidler
Viswanathan Anand ½ ½ Sergey Karjakin
Hikaru Nakamura ½ ½ Boris Gelfand

It is a historical first tournament where 4 players rated 2800 and over participating, Carlsen, Anand, Aronian, and Kramnik ... In the first round Kramnik lost to Nepomniachtchi, and while the top seeds failed to impress, Ivanchuk also scored victory against Svidler.

Football News
At International Friendly 2011, Kolkata, India

India bt Malaysia 3-2
Goal Scored - Sunil Chhetri (IND) 39' and 53', Jeje Lalpekhlua (IND) 47' and Mohd Sali Mohd Safee (MAS) 45' and 60'

Malaysians started positively with attacking on Indian post ... But Indians tried hard to keep possession which helped them to get back into the match ... Indians started attacking and scored goal in 39th minute by Sunil ... Malaysian responded immediately through Safee before end of the first half ... Indians take lead through Jeje in 2nd minute of the second half ... Sunil extended their lead in 53rd minutes but again Safee reduced lead due to mistake from defense ... Then Malaysians tried hard to equalised but Indians defended well ... This is India's first victory under new coach Savio Medeira in entertaining match.

Tennis News
News update,

Mahesh denied any split report between him and Lee ... Happy to see that ... He tweeted saying - Just fin practice with Leander. Media with cameras perched in the trees and climbing the walls. Freaked out the members! Disappointed them!!
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At $15K F10 India Futures, Pune

[R2] (1) Yuki BHAMBRI (IND,378) bt Yu CHANG (CHN,868) 16 75 76(3)
[R2] (8) Richard BECKER (GER,604) bt (LL) Abdulla Maqdas (KUW,973) 67(6) 63 61
[R2] (3) Vishnu VARDHAN (IND,395) bt Alexander SATSCHKO (GER,775) 62 61
[R2] Karunuday SINGH (IND,696) bt (7) Rohan GAJJAR (IND,592) 76(5) 63
[R2] (6) Ranjit VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND,564) bt (WC) Mohit Mayur JAYAPRAKASH (IND,1369) 61 75
[R2] (4) Karan RASTOGI (IND,401) bt (WC) Saketh MYNENI (IND,UNR) 46 76(6) 76(6)
[R2] (5) Vijayant MALIK (IND,491) bt Kaza Vinayak SHARMA (IND,822) 60 61
[R2] (Q) Jeevan NEDUNCHEZHIYAN (IND,1514) bt Ivan ARENAS-GUALDA (ESP,677) 63 64

Doubles
[QF] (1) RASTOGI (IND)/ VARDHAN (IND) bt SHARMA (IND)/ SHOKEEN (IND) 63 64
[QF] NEDUNCHEZHIYAN (IND)/ SINGH (IND) bt BALAJI (IND)/ MALIK (IND) 64 64
[QF] JAYAPRAKASH (IND)/ MYNENI (IND) bt (WC) KADHE (IND)/ RAMANATHAN (IND) 76(2) 63
[QF] (2) GAJJAR (IND)/ SATSCHKO (GER) vs CHANG (CHN)/ MARSALEK (GBR)

Vishnu and Vijayant scored very dominating wins ... Sad to see Kaza's one-sided loss against Vijayant ... Ranjit also moved to quarters with striaght sets victory over Mohit ... Jeevan scored straight sets upset win over Spanish player ... After winning the first set in tie-break Karunuday comfortably take the second set.

As expected match of the day played between Karan and Saketh ... Saketh won the first set with a single break ... From the beginning Karan was struggling with adjusting his game with Saketh ... Somehow he managed to control his emotions and take crucial mini-break to won the second set tie-break ... In the third set Saketh take the break in 7th game when Karan committed double fault but while serving for the match at 5-4 Saketh failed to hold his serve ... Karan started 11th game with double fault but managed to hold it ... In tie-break Karan handled his nerve better ... He wasted one match point but converted second to complete remarkable comeback victory ... As per report both played quality tennis ... Saketh showed excellent composure while facing this top-350 type player, I m impressed ... He adjusted really well to higher level of the game against Karan ... Saketh served 25 aces in this match and other hand Karan saved 4 match points ... I think if draw permit then Saketh having good chance to go deeper in next 2 futures.

Yuki started the match with too many flashy shots and missed those ... I think seeing lower ranked Chinese he was bit relaxed from the start and that almost cost him this match ... In the second set also he was struggling on his serve and hold his service games after duece but take crucial break in 12th game ... He also received court violation warning for showing anger on the court ... Yuki saved 2 match points at 5-4 and 40-15 in the second set ... In the third set also Yuki kept repeating same mistakes and Yu Chang take advantage of unforced errors to break in 1st game ... Yu kept that lead until late of the set but Yuki broke Yu when he was serving for the set at 5-4 ... Then both players hold their serves to take this final set in tie-break ... Yuki take early mini-break to lead 4-2 and then he double faulted when serving for the match at 6-2 ... Won next point to complete hard fought victory ... I like the way Yuki digging deep when he wasn't playing well in this match ... Despite bad day at the office he managed to complete the victory.

Karan and Yuki both had a confidence boosting comeback wins in these tough matches ... Despite bad games lots of positives to take from these matches for the future.

Badminton News
At $250K Yonex Sunrise Hong Kong Open 2011, (Superseries)


[R1] Ajay Jayaram (IND,34) bt (6) Sho Sasaki (JPN,6) 14-21 21-18 21-14
[R1] Kashyap Parupalli (IND,26) l (3) Dan Lin (CHN,3) 21-16 17-21 14-21
[R1] (Q) Gurusaidutt R. M. V. (IND,52) bt Brice Leverdez (FRA,32) 21-11 21-16
[R1] (Q) Arvind Bhat (IND,56) bt (Q) Tien Chen Chou (TPE,54) 21-18 21-15
[R1] Saina Nehwal (IND,4) bt Tsz Ka Chan (HKG,42) 21-4 21-17

[R1] Rupesh Kumar K. T. (IND)/ Sanave Thomas (IND) bt Chris Adcock (ENG)/ Andrew Ellis (ENG) 21-16 21-17
[R1] Jwala Gutta (IND)/ Ashwini Ponnappa (IND) l (8) Christinna Pedersen (DEN)/ Kamilla Rytter Juhl (DEN) 15-21 14-21
[R1] Diju V. (IND)/ Jwala Gutta (IND) bt Wai Hong Wong (HKG)/ Hoi Wah Chau (HKG) 21-15 26-24

[R2] Ajay Jayaram (IND,34) vs Muhammad Hafiz Hashim (MAS,40)
[R2] (Q) Gurusaidutt R. M. V. (IND,52) vs (7) Pengyu Du (CHN,7)
[R2] (Q) Arvind Bhat (IND,56) vs (2) Long Chen (CHN,2)
[R2] Saina Nehwal (IND,4) vs Jie Yao (NED,19)

[R2] Rupesh Kumar K. T. (IND)/ Sanave Thomas (IND) vs
[R2] Diju V. (IND)/ Jwala Gutta (IND) vs (2) Chen Xu (CHN)/ Jin Ma (CHN)

In end turned to be amazing day for Indians ... Sho take early lead but Ajay managed to make it 12-all ... But from 13-all Sho won next 7 points and converted 2nd game point to won the first game ... In the second game Ajay take 6-0 lead but Sho regained lead when he won 7 points in a row from 5-8 to lead 12-8 ... Then most of the game Sho was leading but Ajay won 5 points in a row from 15-17 and then converted 2nd game point to won the second game ... In the third game Ajay take 7-1 lead which he kept until end to produced superb upset win over WR #6 Sho Sasaki in 49 minutes ... Now Ajay need to took advantage of this open draw and at least reach into the quarters ... Next he is facing Malaysian Muhammad Hafiz Hashim.

Kashyap started well against Dan Lin leading 14-9 but gave chance to comeback and Dan managed to make it 14-all ... From 16-all Kashyap won next 5 points to won the first game ... In the second game Kashyap kept couple of points lead early till 13-11 ... Dan won next 6 points to take 17-11 lead ... Kashyap managed to reduce that lead to 17-18 but Dan won next 3 points to won the second game ... In the third game Dan take 8-2 lead and kept that increasing to won it comfortably ... I feel some fitness issue with Kashyap as against top player he always struggle in the third game and fail to finish match in his favor.

Saina started with comfortable win ... In the first game she didn't give much chance to Chan ... In the second game despite Chan's fight back Saina completed victory quite easily ... Next she is facing experienced Jie Yao, in their last meeting Saina scored dominating win.

Jwala lost in women's doubles but winning start in mixed doubles with Diju ... After winning the first game easily their local opponents stretched them in the second ... But our pair managed to complete victory in straight games after saving few game points ... Next they r facing WR #2 Chinese pair.

Good win by Rupesh and Sanave against higher ranked British pair in men's doubles ... Next they r also facing WR #2 Korean pair.

Arvind scored his first in in superseries after his long injury break ... He won his match in 39 minutes against fellow qualifier ... This win will push his ranking inside top-50 ... Next he is facing WR #2 Long Chen.

Guru also scored upset win over higher ranked French player in straight games and book his match against Wr # 7 Chinese player Pengyu Du.

Chess News
At 2011 Women's World Chess Championship, Tirana, Albania

Second Game - Tuesday, November 15
Hou Yifan (CHN) ½-½ Humpy Koneru (IND)

Another fighting draw for Humpy, this time after 42 moves and not like 80 moves in the first game ... In the second game Humpy chose Russian game and comfortably equalized the position ... She surprised the world champion with this opening ... The game entered the endgame stage quite early where Black stood slightly more active on the queenside what nevertheless was not enough for a real advantage.

After two games the score is equal (1-1) ... Tomorrow is the rest day

Tennis News
At Barclays ATP World Tour Finals, London, England

Group A
Bob Bryan (USA)/ Mike Bryan (USA)
Leander Peas (IND)/ Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)
Robert Lindstedt (SWE)/ Horia Tecau (ROU)
Jurgen Melzer (AUT)/ Philipp Petzschner (GER)

Group B
Michael Llodra (FRA)/ Nenad Zimonjic (SRB)
Daniel Nestor (CAN)/ Max Mirnyi (BLR)
Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (PAK)
Mariusz Fyrstenberg (POL)/ Marcin Matkowski (POL)

Grouping is declared for ATP World Tour Finals ... Rohan and Aisam r in toughest group in their first participation in year-end tournament ... They r with in-form pairs like Llodra-Zimo, Nestor-MadMax and Polish pair ... If Lee and Hesh manage to keep aside their differences then they r having good draw to reach in the semis.
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At $15K F10 India Futures, Pune

[R1] (1) Yuki BHAMBRI (IND,378) bt James MARSALEK (GBR,797) 60 76(6)
[R1] Yu CHANG (CHN,868) bt (LL) Vivek SHOKEEN (IND,1490) 62 64
[R1] (LL) Abdulla Maqdas (KUW,973) bt Roberto ORTEGA-OLMEDO (ESP,610) 75 26 63
[R1] (8) Richard BECKER (GER,604) bt (Q) Weerapat DOAKMAIKLEE (THA,1420) 64 36 61
[R1] (3) Vishnu VARDHAN (IND,395) bt (Q) Shahbaaz KHAN (IND,UNR) 60 62
[R1] Alexander SATSCHKO (GER,775) bt (Q) Sunil-Kumar SIPAEYA (IND,UNR) 16 62 63
[R1] Karunuday SINGH (IND,696) bt (Q) Aditya MADKEKAR (IND,UNR) 61 61
[R1] (7) Rohan GAJJAR (IND,592) bt Perakiat SIRILUETHAIWATTANA (THA,793) 63 61
[R1] (6) Ranjit VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND,564) bt Jaime PULGAR-GARCIA (ESP,895) 75 61
[R1] (WC) Mohit Mayur JAYAPRAKASH (IND,1369) bt (WC) Rakshay THAKKAR (IND,UNR) 63 62
[R1] (WC) Saketh MYNENI (IND,UNR) bt (Q) Kunal ANAND (IND,1805) 63 61
[R1] (4) Karan RASTOGI (IND,401) bt (Q) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND,1003) 64 67(1) 64
[R1] (5) Vijayant MALIK (IND,491) bt (Q) Jason JUNG (USA,UNR) 46 64 76(5)
[R1] Kaza Vinayak SHARMA (IND,822) bt Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND,917) 64 63
[R1] (Q) Jeevan NEDUNCHEZHIYAN (IND,1514) bt (WC) Arjun KADHE (IND,UNR) 63 64
[R1] Ivan ARENAS-GUALDA (ESP,677) bt (2) Junn MITSUHASHI (JPN,385) 75 1-0 Retd

Last week's runner-up Marsalek produced fighting performance in the second set against top-seed Yuki after getting bagel in the first set ... Myneni continued with his good run beating qualifier Kunal comfortably ... Balaji gave heck of the fight to Karan showing how much he is improved in last few months ... Jung also gave tough fight to Vijayant but Vijayant showed his fighting qualify after losing the first set ... He needed tie-break in the final set to complete the victory.

Young wild-carders Ramkumar and Arjun gave decent performance but failed to overcome challenge from their seniors.

Badminton News
At $250K Yonex Sunrise Hong Kong Open 2011, (Superseries)

[Q1] (1) Gurusaidutt R. M. V. (IND,52) bt Toby Ng (CAN,353) 21-4 21-7
[Q1] Sourabh Varma (IND,87) l Ka Long Ng (HKG,315) 13-21 5-9 Retd
[Q1] (2) Arvind Bhat (IND,56) bt Yun Lung Chan (HKG,175) 15-21 21-12 23-21
[Q1] Sindhu P. V. (IND,46) bt Wing Chiu Tsang (HKG,UNR) 21-9 21-17

[Q2] (1) Gurusaidutt R. M. V. (IND,52) bt Dick Long Chan (HKG,572) 21-1 21-9
[Q2] (2) Arvind Bhat (IND,56) bt Ka Long Ng (HKG,315) 21-18 12-21 21-18
[Q2] Sindhu P. V. (IND,46) l Ying Suet Tse (HKG,68) 17-21 16-21

[R1] Ajay Jayaram (IND,34) vs (6) Sho Sasaki (JPN,6)
[R1] Kashyap Parupalli (IND,26) vs (3) Dan Lin (CHN,3)
[R1] (Q) Gurusaidutt R. M. V. (IND,52) vs Brice Leverdez (FRA,32)
[R1] (Q) Arvind Bhat (IND,56) vs (Q) Tien Chen Chou (TPE,54)
[R1] Saina Nehwal (IND,4) vs Tsz Ka Chan (HKG,42)

[R1] Rupesh Kumar K. T. (IND)/ Sanave Thomas (IND) vs Chris Adcock (ENG)/ Andrew Ellis (ENG)
[R1] Jwala Gutta (IND)/ Ashwini Ponnappa (IND) vs (8) Christinna Pedersen (DEN)/ Kamilla Rytter Juhl (DEN)
[R1] Diju V. (IND)/ Jwala Gutta (IND) vs Wai Hong Wong (HKG)/ Hoi Wah Chau (HKG)

As expected big Indian contingent taking part in Hong Kong superseries ... Tough matches for Kashyap and Ajay Jayaram.

Guru and Arvind joined Kashyap and Ajay in main-draw with contrasting wins in the qualifying ... Sindhu lost in the final qualifying round.

Table Tennis News
At 2011 World Junior Table Tennis Championships, Manama, Bahrain

[SF] (1) China bt (5) India 3-0

LIN Gaoyuan (CHN) bt GHOSH Soumyajit (IND) 11-2 6-11 11-8 9-11 11-6 (3-2)
SONG Hongyuan (CHN) bt DESAI Harmeet (IND) 11-5 9-11 6-11 11-5 11-6 (3-2)
WU Jiaji (CHN) bt GNANASEKARAN Sathiyan (IND) 11-13 11-6 8-11 11-3 11-8 (3-2)

After winning incredible match against South Korea, our boys received only 2 hours rest to take on mighty China.

Again Soumyajit Ghosh and also Harmeet Desai were top performers as both pushing their matches all the way ... However in this tie the star of the show was Sathiyan Gnanasekaran, who took Wu Jiaji all the way in the fifth like others.

Although truly tested for the first time in the tournament, China still did enough to ensure a safe passage through to the final ... They won 3-0 but a valiant effort by Indian boys.

Tennis News
At $50K Salzburg Challenger, Austria

[R1] (4) Purav Raja (IND)/ Divij Sharan (IND) bt Florin Mergea (ROU) / Victor-Mugurel Anagnastopol (ROU) 62 64

[QF] (4) Purav Raja (IND)/ Divij Sharan (IND) vs Maximilian Neuchrist (AUT)/ Tristan-Samuel Weissborn (AUT)

Winning start for Purav and Divij in this Austrian challenger ... Next they r facing local pair.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
News update,

In shocking development rumor is Leander and Mahesh r set for another split ... It has been learnt that Mahesh is set to partner Rohan Bopanna on the Tour next year, while Leander is looking for someone with younger legs to bolster his chances ... As per report Lee wanted to forge partnership with Bops from 2012 season and that triggered the friction ... Don't know truth about it but for fans it is really sad development before 2012 Olympics.

Chess News
At 2011 Women's World Chess Championshipl, Tirana

First Game - Monday, November 14
Humpy Koneru (IND) ½-½ Hou Yifan (CHN)

Women's World Championship stated in Albania where Humpy Koneru is challenging reigning women's world champion Hou Yifan ... The match consists of 10 games and the winner of the Match shall be the first player to score 5.5 points or more.

Before this Yifan beat Humpy in the semifinals of the last two 64 player knock out world championships in 2008 and 2010 ... This year it is a match play to decide the world championship.

Humpy Koneru managed draw with Hou Yifan playing with White in the first game of the match ... Humpy played chose a rare line in Catalan (12. a4) and reached a pleasant position ... Later White made exchanges in the center that simplified the position ... But in a trouble time Hou Yifan confidently went for a pawn less rook ending, where the draw was soon agreed.

Table Tennis News
At 2011 World Junior Table Tennis Championships, Manama, Bahrain

[QF] (5) INDIA BT (4) KOREA REPUBLIC 3 - 2
DESAI Harmeet (IND) bt PARK Chan-Hyeok (KOR) 13-11 8-11 11-8 11-5 (3-1)
GHOSH Soumyajit (IND) bt KIM Dong Hyun (KOR) 11-8 11-9 11-9 (3-0)
GNANASEKARAN Sathiyan (IND) l BAEK Kwang Il (KOR) 5-11 9-11 11-9 9-11 (1-3)
DESAI Harmeet (IND) l KIM Dong Hyun (KOR) 2-1 11-8 9-11 12-14 (1-3)
GHOSH Soumyajit (IND) bt PARK Chan-Hyeok (KOR) 7-11 11-7 11-5 11-7 (3-1)

[R2] (5) INDIA BT EGYPT 3-0
GHOSH Soumyajit (IND) bt SHOUMAN Mohamed (EGY) 11-3 8-11 11-5 11-7 (3-1)
DESAI Harmeet (IND) bt BEDAIR Omar (EGY) 11-8 12-10 11-4 (3-0)
GNANASEKARAN Sathiyan (IND) bt MAGDY Shady (EGY) 11-4 9-11 11-9 11- 8 (3-1)

[R1] (5) INDIA bye

India were assured of their first ever medal in the team event of the World Junior Table Tennis Championships when they beat fancied South Korea 3-2 in the quarterfinals of the junior boys category ... This is huge result for young Indian paddlers.

In this tournament we received bye in the first round ... Then in quarters we defeated Egypt 3-0 before scoring this unbelievable victory over South Korean team 3-2 ... Next match is against mighty Chinese team.

Our girls were lost early and play for 9 to 12 position ... It was also the first time that India boys and girls qualified for the World Championships since the first edition in Santiago, Chile in 2003.

“It was a really close match. We thought we would throw it away after a 2-0 lead but Soumyajit did for us,” Choudhary told IANS.

“The boys did not go into the match thinking it was a higher-ranked team. They played to their potential and the stint in Sweden has certainly brought improvement in their game. Beating China is a daunting task but I am sure they will give their hundred percent,” said Choudhary about Ghosh and Harmeet, who are undergoing a six-month training under former doubles world champion Peter Karlsson.

Hockey News
At the 2012 Olympic Qualification Tournament, New Delhi, India

Men
India 10
Canada 11
France 18
Poland 19
Egypt 25
United States 26

Women
South Africa 12
India 13
Italy 19
Canada 20
Ukraine 26
Poland 28

Very good draw for Indian teams for Olympics qualifying ... Our men team is higher ranked team with #11 Canada, #18 France, #19 Poland, Egypt and USA.

Our women team is with higher ranked #12 South Africa, #19 Italy, #20 Canada, Ukraine and Poland.

Tennis News
At $50K Salzburg Challenger, Austria

[R1] (4) Purav Raja (IND)/ Divij Sharan (IND) vs Florin Mergea (ROU)/ Victor-Mugurel Anagnastopol (ROU)

This week in Austria our pair is 4th seed and facing Romanian pair.
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At $15K F10 India Futures, Pune

[R1] Yu CHANG (CHN,868) bt (LL) Vivek SHOKEEN (IND,1490) 62 64
[R1] (3) Vishnu VARDHAN (IND,395) bt (Q) Shahbaaz KHAN (IND,UNR) 60 62
[R1] (WC) Mohit Mayur JAYAPRAKASH (IND,1369) bt (WC) Rakshay THAKKAR (IND,UNR) 63 62

Doubles First Round
(1) RASTOGI (IND)/ VARDHAN (IND) bt BECKER (GER)/ SIRILUETHAIWATTANA (THA) 63 64
SHARMA (IND)/ SHOKEEN (IND) bt SHINDE (IND)/ SORNBUTNARK (THA) Walkover
NEDUNCHEZHIYAN (IND)/ SINGH (IND) bt (4) ARENAS-GUALDA (ESP)/ PULGAR-GARCIA (ESP) 46 63 10-8
BALAJI (IND)/ MALIK (IND) bt RAJAGOPALAN (IND)/ VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND) 76(5) 64
JAYAPRAKASH (IND)/ MYNENI (IND) bt PERANAMALLUR (IND)/ SIPAEYA (IND) 36 76(4) 10-4
KADHE (IND)/ RAMANATHAN (IND) bt (3) DOAKMAIKLEE (THA / SIRIBUTWONG (THA) 75 16 10-8
CHANG (CHN)/ MARSALEK (GBR) bt BHAMBRI (IND)/ MANUJA (IND) 36 61 10-8
(2) GAJJAR (IND)/ SATSCHKO (GER) bt ANAND (IND)/ ELANGOVAN (IND) 62 62

Expected results from first day.

Good win by young Arjun Kadhe and Ramkumar against experienced 3rd seed Thai pair ... Also good win by Jeevan and Karunuday Singh against 4th seed Spanish pair.

Tennis News
At €2.75M Paris Masters, France

Doubles Final
(7) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (PAK) bt Julien Benneteau (FRA)/ Nicolas Mahut (FRA) 62 64

Rohan Bopanna and Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi won their first ever ATP Masters tournament after beating Frenchmen Julien Benneteau and Nicolas Mahut in straight sets in 65 minutes ... They earned 1000 ranking points each and split euro 134,500 as prize money.

Bops and Aisam broke Frenchmen in 3rd and 5th games to take 4-1 lead and won it comfortably ... In the second set both pairs locked 4-all before our pair broke Mahut in 9th game and then hold to win the title.

Football News
At International Friendly 2011, Guwahati, India

India dw Malaysia 1-1
Goal Scored - Syed Rahim Nabi (IND) 89' and Mohd Safiq Rahim (MAS) 41'

India managed to hold the South Asian champions Malaysia in well fought match ... Malaysians take lead before half-time through Safiq ... India equalized very late in the match when Nabi headed corner-kick ... We missed chance of winning against young Malaysian side after dominating the match.

Tennis News
At €2.75M Paris Masters, France

[SF] (7) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (PAK) bt (3) Max Mirnyi (BLR) / Daniel Nestor (CAN) 63 76(7)

[F] (7) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (PAK) vs Julien Benneteau (FRA)/ Nicolas Mahut (FRA)

Rohan Bopanna and Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi advanced to their first ATP World Tour Masters 1000 doubles final on Saturday at the Paris Masters ... They defeated in-form third seeds Max Mirnyi and Daniel Nestor in 89 minutes ... After winning the first set our pair were leading 3-1 in the second ... But Mirnyi and Nestor won 4 straight games to lead 5-4 ... Rohan and Aisam could not convert 2 match point opportunities at 6-4 in the tie-break and were forced to save one set point at 6-7, before making it third-time lucky at 8-7 to complete the victory ... In the final they r facing unseeded local pair, Benneteau and Mahut.
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At $10K F9 India Futures, Chennai

Singles Final
(WC) Saketh MYNENI (IND,UNR) bt (8) James MARSALEK (GBR,797) 61 64

Saketh Myneni won his first ITF futures singles title beating 8th seed Marsalek in straight sets ... In this match Saketh didn't lose his service game ... With his fluid and comfortable serving style he was serving many aces and service winners ... He was taking full advantage of his 6'4" height while serving which helped him to come out some tight spots and that increased pressure on Marsalek ... In the first set he hit 4 aces in his first 2 service games ... He broke Marsalek in 2nd game to take control and then broke again to won this set comfortably ... In the second set Marsalek managed to hold his service games and tried to create pressure ... At 4-all Masalek came under pressure to stay in the match and made 3 unforced errors to lost it ... Then with his big serve Saketh comfortably hold his serve to win this title.

Early to comment on his game but with huge serve Saketh having good groundstrokes though not one stroke stands out as such ... These will be tested against better players in coming weeks ... He will definitely going to improve in his overall game as he play more on this and higher level ... Before this Saketh played American college tennis when he was studying in University of Alabama and his highest NCAA ranking was #10 in singles and #14 in doubles.

Four wild-cards for Pune Futures r allocated to - Saketh Myneni and Mohit Mayur Jayaprakash with Pune's 2 kids Arjun Kadhe and Rakshay Thakkar.

Tennis News
At €2.75M Paris Masters, France

[QF] (7) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (PAK) bt (2) Michael Llodra (FRA)/ Nenad Zimonjic (SRB) 36 64 10-6

[SF] (7) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (PAK) vs (3) Max Mirnyi (BLR) / Daniel Nestor (CAN)

Our pair scored excellent comeback win over in-form 2nd seed Llodra and Zimo ... After losing the first set they won the second with crucial break before winning STB with double mini-break.
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At $10K F9 India Futures, Chennai

Singles Semi Finals
(8) James MARSALEK (GBR) bt (1) Junn MITSUHASHI (JPN) 75 60
(WC) Saketh MYNENI (IND) bt (4) Roberto ORTEGA-OLMEDO (ESP) 63 63

Doubles Final
Mohit Mayur Jayaprakash (IND)/ Saketh Myneni (IND) bt Vijay Kannan (IND)/ Rohan Gajjar (IND) 64 63

Saketh continued with his giant-killing to enter in his first futures final ... He defeated 4th seed Roberto very dominantly ... He hold comfortably with his big serves and kept pressure on Spaniard ... Take crucial breaks to win it in straight sets ... In the final he is facing Britisher James Marsalek, who upset Japanese top-seed.

Saketh lifted his first ITF Futures doubles title with Mohit Mayer ... In the final they defeated experienced pair of Vijay and Rohan in straight sets.

Tennis News
At €2.75M Paris Masters, France

[R2] (7) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (PAK) bt Colin Fleming (GBR)/ Jamie Murray (GBR) 64 63

[QF] (7) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (PAK) vs (2) Michael Llodra (FRA)/ Nenad Zimonjic (SRB)

Winning start for Rohan and Aisam ... Next they r facing in-form 2nd seed Llodra and Zimo.
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At $10K F9 India Futures, Chennai

Singles Quarter Finals
(1) Junn MITSUHASHI (JPN) l (7) Karunuday SINGH (IND) ?6 46
(3) Rohan GAJJAR (IND) l (8) James MARSALEK (GBR) 46 76(2) 67(7)
(4) Roberto ORTEGA-OLMEDO (ESP) l (5) N. Vijay Sundar PRASHANTH (IND) 26 26
(WC) Saketh MYNENI (IND) bt (6) Ivan ARENAS-GUALDA (ESP) 62 Retd.

Doubles Final
Mohit Mayur Jayaprakash (IND)/ Saketh Myneni (IND) vs Vijay Kannan (IND)/ Rohan Gajjar (IND)

Though Saketh Myneni in the semis as his Spanish opponent Ivan Arenas-Gualda conceded match, still Saketh dominated to win the first set.

Rohan lost match which he should won ... After losing the first set he came back strongly ... In the second and third he had many break point chances but he failed to convert ... In the second set tie-break he controlled it from early to won it but in the third set tie-break James kept cool and converted important point to produce upset over Rohan.

Bad losses for Karun and Vijay as expected much improved performance from them ... Both struggled with their serves and game, opponents take full advantage of it ... In the second set after 2-5 down Karun tried fight back breaking Junn but that wasn't enough.