Tennis News
At Chennai Open 2012, India

Qualifying Second Round
Yuichi SUGITA (JPN) bt Joao SOUSA (POR) 64 61
(8) Rik DE VOEST (RSA) bt Treat Conrad HUEY (PHI) 63 64
(2) Edouard ROGER-VASSELIN (FRA) bt Dusan LAJOVIC (SRB) 76(1) 62
(5) Go SOEDA (JPN) bt Rohan BOPANNA (IND) 76(2) 76(2)
(3) Izak VAN DER MERWE (RSA) bt Inigo CERVANTES-HUEGUN (ESP) 64 75
Thiemo DE BAKKER (NED) bt Juan Sebastian CABAL (COL) 61 63
(4) Vasek POSPISIL (CAN) bt Mohit Mayur JAYAPRAKASH (IND) 63 62
(8) Rajeev RAM (USA) bt (WC) Prajnesh GUNNESWARAN (IND) 63 76(3)

Qualifying First Round
Joao SOUSA (POR) bt (1) Stephane ROBERT (FRA) 46 62 76(8)
Yuichi SUGITA (JPN) bt Jimmy WANG (TPE) 64 36 63
Treat Conrad HUEY (PHI) bt (WC) Akash WAGH (IND) 62 64
(8) Rik DE VOEST (RSA) bt (WC) Abhijeet TIWARI (IND) 60 64
(2) Edouard ROGER-VASSELIN (FRA) bt Alexander KUDRYAVTSEV (RUS) 63 36 4-2 Retd
Dusan LAJOVIC (SRB) bt Sanam SINGH (IND) 46 64 63
Rohan BOPANNA (IND) bt N Vijay Sundar PRASHANTH (IND) 63 Retd
(5) Go SOEDA (JPN) bt Vignesh PERANAMALLUR (IND) 61 63
(3) Izak VAN DER MERWE (RSA) bt Jamie BAKER (GBR) 26 75 64
Inigo CERVANTES-HUEGUN (ESP) bt Ranjeet VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND) 61 75
Juan Sebastian CABAL (COL) bt (WC) Neeraj ELANGOVAN (IND) 60 60
Thiemo DE BAKKER (NED) bt (7) Arnau BRUGUES-DAVI (ESP) 75 76(5)
(4) Vasek POSPISIL (CAN) bt Jeevan NEDUNCHEZHIYAN (IND) 76(6) 76(7)
Mohit Mayur JAYAPRAKASH (IND) bt Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND) 62 62
(WC) Prajnesh GUNNESWARAN (IND) bt Karan RASTOGI (IND) 61 63
(8) Rajeev RAM (USA) bt N.Sriram BALAJI (IND) 75 64

Though Jeevan lost 76(6) 76(7) still heartening fighting performance by him in this 2 and 1/2 hrs match against #119 ranked young Canadian big server Pospisil ... In the second set he saved 7 match points ... Other hand poor start of season for Karan and Ramkumar.
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At $220K ASB Classic, Auckland, New Zealand

[Q1] Sania Mirza (IND,104) l Coco Vandeweghe (USA,122) 61 57 36

Doubles
[R1] (2) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Elena Vesnina (RUS) vs (WC) Marina Erakovic (NZL)/ Rebecca Marino (CAN)


Sania should have won this qualifying match as after winning the first set, she was leading with break 4-3 and 40-30 on her serve before losing it ... This was her first match after injury break so she performed ok but another missed opportunities for her.

Good to see Sania and Vesnina is starting year together.

Tennis News
At $450K Chennai Open 2012 , India

Singles wild-crad went to Vishnu Vardhan and Yuki Bhambri, I think who r deserving candidates for wild-card so kudos to organizers foe selecting them ... Also in a way it is good for Karan that he is playing in qualies, will boost his confidence after winning these matches.

Last year David Goffin qualified for the tournament and defeated Sommy very easily, 62 64 ... In the second round he lost against Stanislas Wawrinka in 2 tie-breaks ... So fair enough that IMG decided to give their wild-card to him.

In doubles Jeevan and Balaji r receiving one of the doubles wild-card ... Hoping second will be given to Purav and Divij.

In singles this time Somdev Devvarman is having direct entry with his current ranking ... In doubles our new pairing Mahesh Bhupathi and Rohan Bopanna will start their 2012 season with this tournament ... Other hand Leander Paes is partnering Serbian Janko Tipsarevic in the doubles draw but after that Lee is partnering Czech Radek Stepanek on the tour in season 2012.
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At the Asia/Oceania zone Group II, Shenzhen, China

Indian Fed Team - Sania Mirza, Rutuja Bhonsle, Isha Lakhani and Prerna Bhambri
Captain - Rohit Rajpal
Coach - Enrico Piperno

AITA announced Fed Cup team for the Asia/Oceania zone Group II which will be held in Shenzhen, China from January 30 to February 4, 2012 ... They removed Poojashree Venkatesha, Rushmi Chakravarthy and Aishwarya Srivastava from last year's team and included national champion Rutuja Bhonsle, Isha Lakhani and Prerna Bhambri in the four-member squad.

Surprised to see Isha's selection considering these days she is not regular on the tour and more having interest in coaching.

Squash News
At $16K Crocodile Challenge Cup 2011, Hong Kong

[F] (3) Dipika Pallikal (IND,17) bt (4) Joey Chan (HKG,20) 10-12 11-8 10-12 11-8 14-12 (60m)

[SF] (3) Dipika Pallikal (IND,17) bt (2) Sarah Kippax (ENG,16) 11-6 11-3 11-6 (29m)
[QF] (3) Dipika Pallikal (IND,17) bt (5) Siti Munirah Jusoh (MAS,42) 11-5 11-6 11-1 (21m)
[R1] (3) Dipika Pallikal (IND,17) bt Liu Tsz-Ling (HKG,68) 11-7 11-5 6-11 11-3 (35m)

Dipika won her 5th WISPA title and her third of the year winning Crocodile cup in Hong Kong ... In the final Dipika had a very close match with local WR #20 Joey ... Joey take 2-1 sets lead winning 2 sets in extra points ... Dipika won the fourth game but Joey had advantage in the fifth ... She take 7-4 lead before Dipika fought back and after saving match balls Dipika won this decider set in tie-break to complete memorable victory.

Dipika Pallikal - "I am so glad that I could end the year on a high. I think what made the difference is that I had my coach Sarah Fitz-Gerald with me during this tournament. Getting her to travel with me will help me a lot. I hope I get more sponsor support so that I have my coach traveling with me during tournaments."

"Beating Sarah on Saturday just got my confidence up cause she's a very experienced player. I had to use the front court a bit more because I felt I would get most of my points there and the plan worked. Playing Joey (Chan) in the final was always going to be tough. Playing front of home crowd gave her a lot of confidence. I am so happy to win this tournament and it will hopefully help me get up a few places in the rankings."

"I am confident of beginning the next season on a good note. As for now, it is holiday time and two weeks I will spend time with family and friends. The new season starts in the second week of January."

Badminton News
At $500K Li Ning BWF World Superseries Finals 2011, Liu Zhou, China

Final
Saina Nehwal (IND,4) l Yihan Wang (CHN,1) 21-18 13-21 13-21

Saina started positively and won well fought first game ... Yihan changed tactics from the second game and she pushed Saina back of the court ... Yihan also managed to keep shuttle backhand of Saina ... Saina made numerous errors from back of the court and from backhands which helped Yihan to completed victory in 71 minutes ... Last 2 games Yihan domianted with her smart and all court game.

Through creditable performance by Saina but she still need to learn how to change her game or plan as per match progression.

Badminton News
At $500K Li Ning BWF World Superseries Finals 2011, Liu Zhou, China

Semi Finals
Saina Nehwal (IND,4) bt Tine Baun (DEN,5) 21-17 21-18
Yihan Wang (CHN,1) bt Xin Wang (CHN,3) 21-19 21-16

Final
Saina Nehwal (IND,4) vs Yihan Wang (CHN,1)

Good win by Saina against experienced Tine, who had 3-1 win-loss record against Saina before this match and who defeated her in their last meeting ... In this match from the start Saina played very controlled game against Tine ... Other hand Tine was trying too many things on the court ... Surprisingly Tine made too many errors on service returns and on her forehands ... Saina played some excellent half-smashes and she was good near net ... Saina managed to pull errors from Tine's racquet from back of the court with her smart game ... Saina will play her first final of BWF World Superseries Finals ... In the final she will face WR #1 Yihan Wang, who defeated other Wang comfortably in the semis.

Badminton News
At $500K Li Ning BWF World Superseries Finals 2011, Liu Zhou, China

Group B
Saina Nehwal (IND,4) bt Xin Wang (CHN,3) 21-17 22-20
Sayaka Sato (JPN,15) bt Youn Joo Bae (KOR,9) 18-21 21-17 21-15

Semi Finals
Saina Nehwal (IND,4) vs Tine Baun (DEN,5)
Yihan Wang (CHN,1) vs Xin Wang (CHN,3)

Saina started with winning the first game ... In the second game Saina take early couple of points lead which she maintained until 19-16 but Wang won next 4 points to lead 20-19 ... Saina saved a game point and won next 2 points to complete straight games victory over Wang in 39 minutes ... With this win Saina topped the Group B and will face Tine in the semis.

Big moral boosting win for Saina against WR #3 Wang .. Also one non-Chinese finalist is assured, hopefully Saina ... :-)

Badminton News
At $500K Li Ning BWF World Superseries Finals 2011, Liu Zhou, China

Group B
Saina Nehwal (IND,4) bt Sayaka Sato (JPN,15) 21-16 21-13
Xin Wang (CHN,3) bt Youn Joo Bae (KOR,9) 21-8 13-21 21-13

In the first game Sayaka take early leand and was leading 12-8 ... Saina fought back winning next 6 points and then won 5 points in a row from 16-all to won the first game ... In the second game Sania won 8 points in a row from 4-all to take commanding lead ... Sayaka saved 2 match points but in the end lead was too much for her ... Saina completed win in 37 minutes.

Good win considering this year Saina struggled against Japanese opponents ... So with this second win Saina confirm her place in the semis ... Now she will face local girl Xin Wang for final group standing.

Badminton News
At $500K Li Ning BWF World Superseries Finals 2011, Liu Zhou, China

Group B
Saina Nehwal (IND,4) bt Youn Joo Bae (KOR,9) 21-14 17-21 21-14
Xin Wang (CHN,3) bt Sayaka Sato (JPN,15) 21-7 21-9

Saina needed 3 games to score win against Korean, who stretched her after losing the first game ... In other match of the group Wang demolished challenge of Sato very easily.

Badminton News
At $500K Li Ning BWF World Superseries Finals 2011, Liu Zhou, China

Group B
Saina Nehwal (IND,4) vs Youn Joo Bae (KOR,9)

As expected Saina is qualified for World Superseries Finals ... She is in Group B with Xin Wang (CHN,3), Youn Joo Bae (KOR,9) and Sayaka Sato (JPN,15) ... So good opportunity of qualifying for semis and earn important ranking points in this year-end event.

At 2011 SAFF Championship, New Delhi, India

Final
India bt Afghanistan 4-0

Goal Scored - Sunil Chhetri (IND) 71' P, Clifford Miranda (IND) 79', Jeje Lalpekhlua (IND) 80', SushilKumar Singh (IND) 90+'


In end comfortable win for defending champion but Afghans dominated first 70 minutes before Afghanistan’s goal-keeper Hameedullah Yousefzari was sent-off under questionable circumstances, when he pushed the refree ... Indians received penalty which Sunil Chhetri converted and goals from Clifford Miranda, Jeje Lalpekhlua, Sushil Singh sealed the victory for us.

Football News
At 2011 SAFF Championship, New Delhi, India

Semi Finals
India bt Maldives 3-1

Goal Scored - Syed Rahim Nabi (IND) 24′, Sunil Chhetri (IND) 70' P and 90+' and Shamweel Qasim (MDV) 60'

Afghanistan bt Nepal 1-0 ET (0-0)

India defeated Maldives after brace from Sunil Chhetri in the second half to entered their 8th SAFF champions final ... In the final they will face surprised package of the tournament, Afghanistan, who upset Nepal in extra-time.

Sunil’s spot-kick turned the tie in India's favor after Shamweel Qasim had cancelled out Syed Rahim Nabi’s first half goal ... In this match India played well ... They were positive on the field ... Syed Nabi scored opening goal on Clifford Miranda’s free-kick to gave 1-0 lead to India at half-time ... Maldives had couple of chance in late of the first half but failed to convert due to tight defending by Indians ... In the second half Maldives were attacking from the start and they managed to equalized through Qasim ... India were lucky to earned penalty as referee Timur Faizullin penalized Afghan when Mohamed Umair pulled down Chhetri in the box ... Sunil converted it confidently ... Sunil added another in injury time after receiving pass from Jeje to complete comfortable win.

Football News
At 2011 SAFF Championship, New Delhi, India

Group C
India bt Sri Lanka 3-0

Goal Scored - Jeje Lalpekhlua (IND) 50', Sunil Chhetri (IND) 70', A.B. Warakagoda (SRI) 90+' OG

Indians scored comfortable win after held goalless in the first half ... Our both strikers scored in the second half and third goal was own goal by Warakagoda on Clifford Miranda's cross.

But this win didn't give top spot for Indian team as this tournament's surprising package young Afghan side hammered Bhutan 8-1 to grab top spot ... In the semis India is facing Maldives anf Afghanistan is facing Nepal.

Football News
At 2011 SAFF Championship, New Delhi, India

Group C
India bt Bhutan 5-0

Goal Scored - Syed Rahim Nabi (IND) 29', Clifford Miranda (IND) 44' and 58', Sunil Chhetri (IND) 69' and 84'

Afghanistan bt Sri Lanka 3-1

Expected one-sided win for Indians against Bhutan ... Now in the final match against Sri Lanka they need to win to top this group.

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

Final
India l Belgium 3-4

Goal Scored - RV Raghunath (IND) 23' PC, Sandeep Singh (IND) 40' PC, Shivendra Singh (IND) 54' and Jerome Dekeyser (BEL) 44' and 57', Gauthier Boccard (BEL) 55', Tom Boon (BEL) 70'

Again Indian defense let down and India lost final against Belgium after leading 3-1 ... Indians started well and were attacking also defending well ... Raghunath converted 1st penalty corner to gave lead which we hold until half-time ... In the second half also we were controlling ... In 40th minute Sandeep Singh converted 4th penalty corner to nscored his 7th goal of the tournament ... Belgium scored through mistake from our defense in 44th minute but Shivendra Singh scored excellent solo goal in 54th minute to gave 3-1 lead ... Immediately Raghnuath did unnecessarily hard tackle and got yellow card ... Belgium take full advantage of the situation and scored 2 goal in 3 minutes to make it 3-all ... After that next few minutes we were living dangerously as our defense was non-existent ... In 68th minute Yuvraj failed to hit in open goal and when 40 seconds were remaining on the clock then Belgium scored 4th field goal due to another defense lapse by Indians ... That was enough for them to complete amazing comeback to win the title and book next edition's Champions trophy ticket.

Nobbs need to work on our defense and habit of receiving goals in dying moments ... There are lot of scope to improve before crucial Olympics qualifier in February ... In the final last 15 minutes after Raghunath's yellow card cost us match with very poor defending.

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

Semi Final
India bt South Africa 4-2

Goal Scored - RV Raghunath (IND) 14' PC, Sarvanjit Singh (IND) 40', Sandeep Singh (IND) 45' PC and 50' PC and Marvin Harper (RSA) 8', Thronton McDade (RSA) 22'

India entered into the final in this FIH Champions Challenge ... In the final they r facing Belgium, who defeated Argentina on penalty shoot-out, winner of the final will be qualify for next edition of Champions trophy.

India started slowly and South African take advantage of it ... Harper gave lead to Africanss with excellent field goal ... Raghunath made it 1-all through penalty corner but Indians were looking dull on the field ... South Africans again take lead through goal from McDade ... This half was belong to Africans, who were leading 2-1 ... But in the second half we were different team ... Our players were looking sharp and egar on the field ... Sarvanjit scored excellent field goal with showing excellent passing by our team ... Then Sandeep Singh converted 2 trade-mark penalty corners to gave lead to us ... In this half we displayed our best defensive skill in the tournament.

Tennis News
At $10K F12 India Futures, Kolkata (clay)

Singles Final
Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND,661) bt N. Sriram Balaji (IND,1016) 62 61

Jeevan lifted his 2nd ITF futures title in 4 weeks ... 2 weeks back he lifted $15K title in Pune and today he lifted this $10K title at Kolkata scoring very dominating win.

Balaji started positively, taking early break he take 2-0 lead but after that it was one-way traffic of Jeevan ... He won 12 games from next 13 games played and in that he won the first set winning 6 games in a row ... Jeevan gave very tough lesson to Balaji in this match.

With this win Jeevan will rise to around 550 in ATP ranking playing just 5 tournaments after his US college ... Good foundation for 2012 season.

Football News
At 2011 SAFF Championship, New Delhi, India

Group A – India (160), Sri Lanka (177), Afghanistan (184), Bhutan (199)
Group B – Bangladesh (141), Nepal (144), Maldives (162), Pakistan (173)

Group A
India dw Afghanistan 1-1

Goal Scored - Sunil Chhetri (IND) 10' and Belal Arezou (AFG) 5'

Defending champion India have been grouped alongside last edition’s semi-finalist Sri Lanka, Afghanistan and Bhutan.

In another group, the highest ranked nation in the competition – Bangladesh have been grouped with last season’s finalists Maldives, Nepal and Pakistan.

Indians had disappointing start against lowly ranked Afghans ... Afghanistan take early lead through Arezou nut Chhetri managed to equalize through header ... After that game played in mid-field.

Tennis News
At $10K F12 India Futures, Kolkata

[SF] Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND,661) bt (4) Karunuday Singh (IND,662) 64 61
[SF] N. Sriram Balaji (IND,1016) bt (3) N. Vijay Sundar Prashanth (IND,616) 62 61

Doubles Final
(2) N. Sriram Balaji (IND)/ Kaza Vinayak Sharma (IND) bt (3) Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND)/ N. Vijay Sundar Prashanth (IND) 63 46 10-3

Balaji in the line of double after winning doubles title with Kaza ... In the singles final he is facing in-form Jeevan.

In the semis Balaji scored very dominating win over Vijay Sundar ... Jeevan also dominated against Karunuday ... Interesting match to watch.

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

Quarter Final
India bt Malaysia 5-4 (ET) (4-4)

Goal Scored - Sandeep Singh (IND) 6' PC and 24' PC, Yuvraj Walmiki (IND) 63', SV Sunil (IND) 67' PC, VR Raghunath (IND) 85' PC and Izwan Firdaus Ahmad Tajuddin (MAS) 33', Azlan Misron (MAS) 42' and 57' PC, Tengku Ahmad Tajuddin (MAS) 46'

Indians started well and they were attacking ... Sandeep Singh converted both penalty corners to gave India 2-0 lead after 25th minutes but Malaysians kept trying ... Indian defense cracked under their pressure in 33rd minute ... At half-time we were leading 2-1 but in the second-half Malaysians showed more commitment and urgency on the field ... They scored another field goal in 42nd to make it 2-all ... Poor defending cost India 3rd goal from Tengku and gave lead to Malaysia which they increased after converting in-direct penalty corner in 52nd minute ... Malaysians were controlling the match and Sreejesh did some excellent goal-keeping in that period ... Indians kept cool and kept pushing forward .... Yuvraj scored excellent opportunist field goal and then immediately Sunil scored goal on rebound on Sandeep Singh's penalty corner ... Match ended on 4-all.

In extra-time Malaysian started positively ... Malaysia wasted 2 goal scoring opportunities when they were one-on-one position with goalkeeper PR Sreejesh but failed to utilize that in the first half ... Malaysia wasted another goal scoring opportunity with penalty corner in the second half ... India earned penalty corner when 20 seconds were remaining and Raghunath converted it to complete Indian victory in golden goal ... India r in the semis.

Tomorrow in the semis India will play against host South Africa, who they defeated 7-4 in entertaining group match ... In other semis Argentina will play Belgium for place in the final.

Tennis News
At $10K F12 India Futures, Kolkata

[QF] Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND,661) bt (1) Junn MItsuhashi (JPN,376) 5-1 Retd
[QF] (4) Karunuday Singh (IND,662) bt (7) Mate Pavic (CRO,909) 64 63
[QF] (3) N. Vijay Sundar Prashanth (IND,616) bt (6) Jaime Pulgar-Garcia (ESP,883) 75 63
[QF] N. Sriram Balaji (IND,1016) bt PC Vignesh (IND,1003) 61 64

Doubles
[QF] PERANAMALLUR (IND)/ WAGH (IND) bt (4) MANUJA (IND)/ VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND) 26 75 12-10

[SF] (3) NEDUNCHEZHIYAN (IND)/ PRASHANTH (IND) bt (1) PAVIC (CRO)/ PULGAR-GARCIA (ESP) 61 75
[SF] (2) BALAJI (IND)/ SHARMA (IND) bt PERANAMALLUR (IND)/ WAGH (IND) 76(9) 62

Great, guaranteed another title for Indian ... :) This 4 weeks of futures turn into memorable one ... Kudos to Indian players for taking advantage of it.

Junn retired from his match after double break down against Jeevan ... Karunuday scored good straight sets win over Croatian ... Balaji scored comfortable win over Vignesh to book his match against Vijay Sundar, who scored straight sets win over Spanish player.

Interesting singles semi-finals ... The first between doubles partners and the second between Balaji and Vijay Sundar.