Tennis News
At Group II 2012, Shenzhen, China

Pool B
India bt Oman 3-0

Isha Lakhani (IND,UNR) bt Maliha Al-Awaidy (OMA,UNR) 61 60
Rutuja Bhosale (IND,789) bt Fatma Al Nabhani (OMA,556) 16 75 64
Isha Lakhani (IND)/ Rutuja Bhosale (IND) bt Maliha Al-Awaidy (OMA)/ Fatma Al Nabhani (OMA) w/o

Good move by Indian captain, Rohit Rajpal, instead of playing Prerna Bhambri he gave chance to Isha in the opening match so Rutuja can play against Oman's top player ... Excellent comeback win by Rutuja over higher ranked and experienced Fatma to gave India winning lead ... In doubles we got walkover ... Tomorrow India will take on Turkmenistan.
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At $50K Burnie Challenger, Australia

[R1] (4) Divij Sharan (IND)/ Vishnu Vardhan (IND) bt Zhe Li (CHN)/ Ze Zhang (CHN) 62 62

[QF] (4) Divij Sharan (IND)/ Vishnu Vardhan (IND) vs Colin Ebelthite (AUS)/ Marinko Matosevic (AUS)

Divij and Vishnu started with very comfortable win against Chinese pair.

Chess News
At 74th Tata Stell Chess Tournament, Wijk aan Zee, the Netherlands

Final Standing of Group B

1 Pentala Harikrishna 9 pts
T2 Lazaro Bruzon 8½ pts
T2 Alexander Motylev 8½ pts
T4 Erwin L'Ami 8 pts
T4 Sergey Tiviakov 8 pts
T6 Ilya Nyzhnik 7½ pts
T6 Dimitri Reinderman 7½ pts
8 Vladimir Potkin 6½ pts
9 Jan Timman 6 pts
10 Sipke Ernst 5 pts
T11 Kateryna Lahno 4½ pts
T11 Daniele Vocatura 4½ pts
13 Viktorija Cmilyte 4 pts
14 Harika Dronavalli 3½ pts

Grandmaster Group B

Round 1 - Saturday the 14th
Dimitri Reinderman - Alexander Motylev ½-½
Lazaro Bruzon - Pentala Harikrishna 0-1
Kateryna Lahno - Sipke Ernst 1-0
Harika Dronavalli - Daniele Vocatura ½-½
Viktorija Cmilyte - Ilya Nyzhnik 0-1
Erwin L'Ami - Sergey Tiviakov 1-0
Jan Timman - Vladimir Potkin ½-½

Round 2 - Sunday the 15th
Alexander Motylev - Vladimir Potkin ½-½
Sergey Tiviakov - Jan Timman 1-0
Ilya Nyzhnik - Erwin L'Ami ½-½
Daniele Vocatura - Viktorija Cmilyte 1-0
Sipke Ernst - Harika Dronavalli ½-½
Pentala Harikrishna - Kateryna Lahno 1-0
Dimitri Reinderman - Lazaro Bruzon ½-½

Round 3 - Monday the 16th
Lazaro Bruzon - Alexander Motylev ½-½
Kateryna Lahno - Dimitri Reinderman ½-½
Harika Dronavalli - Pentala Harikrishna 0-1
Viktorija Cmilyte - Sipke Ernst 1-0
Erwin L'Ami - Daniele Vocatura 1-0
Jan Timman - Ilya Nyzhnik 1-0
Vladimir Potkin - Sergey Tiviakov 0-1

Round 4 - Tuesday the 17th
Alexander Motylev - Sergey Tiviakov 1-0
Ilya Nyzhnik - Vladimir Potkin ½-½
Daniele Vocatura - Jan Timman ½-½
Sipke Ernst - Erwin L'Ami 1-0
Pentala Harikrishna - Viktorija Cmilyte ½-½
Dimitri Reinderman - Harika Dronavalli ½-½
Lazaro Bruzon - Kateryna Lahno ½-½

Round 5 - Thursday the 19th
Kateryna Lahno - Alexander Motylev 0-1
Harika Dronavalli - Lazaro Bruzon 0-1
Viktorija Cmilyte - Dimitri Reinderman ½-½
Erwin L'Ami - Pentala Harikrishna ½-½
Jan Timman - Sipke Ernst 1-0
Vladimir Potkin - Daniele Vocatura ½-½
Sergey Tiviakov - Ilya Nyzhnik ½-½

Round 6 - Friday the 20th
Alexander Motylev - Ilya Nyzhnik ½-½
Daniele Vocatura - Sergey Tiviakov ½-½
Sipke Ernst - Vladimir Potkin 1-0
Pentala Harikrishna - Jan Timman 1-0
Dimitri Reinderman - Erwin L'Ami ½-½
Lazaro Bruzon - Viktorija Cmilyte 1-0
Kateryna Lahno - Harika Dronavalli ½-½

Round 7 - Saturday the 21st
Harika Dronavalli - Alexander Motylev ½-½
Viktorija Cmilyte - Kateryna Lahno ½-½
Erwin L'Ami - Lazaro Bruzon ½-½
Jan Timman - Dimitri Reinderman 0-1
Vladimir Potkin - Pentala Harikrishna ½-½
Sergey Tiviakov - Sipke Ernst 0-1
Ilya Nyzhnik - Daniele Vocatura 1-0

Round 8 - Sunday the 22nd
Alexander Motylev - Daniele Vocatura 1-0
Sipke Ernst - Ilya Nyzhnik ½-½
Pentala Harikrishna - Sergey Tiviakov ½-½
Dimitri Reinderman - Vladimir Potkin 0-1
Lazaro Bruzon - Jan Timman 1-0
Kateryna Lahno - Erwin L'Ami 0-1
Harika Dronavalli - Viktorija Cmilyte ½-½

Round 9 - Tuesday the 24th
Viktorija Cmilyte - Alexander Motylev ½-½
Erwin L'Ami - Harika Dronavalli 1-0
Jan Timman - Kateryna Lahno ½-½
Vladimir Potkin - Lazaro Bruzon 0-1
Sergey Tiviakov - Dimitri Reinderman 1-0
Ilya Nyzhnik - Pentala Harikrishna 0-1
Daniele Vocatura - Sipke Ernst 1-0

Round 10 - Wednesday the 25th
Alexander Motylev - Sipke Ernst 1-0
Pentala Harikrishna - Daniele Vocatura 1-0
Dimitri Reinderman - Ilya Nyzhnik 1-0
Lazaro Bruzon - Sergey Tiviakov ½-½
Kateryna Lahno - Vladimir Potkin ½-½
Harika Dronavalli - Jan Timman ½-½
Viktorija Cmilyte - Erwin L'Ami 0-1

Round 11 - Friday the 27th
Erwin L'Ami - Alexander Motylev ½-½
Jan Timman - Viktorija Cmilyte 1-0
Vladimir Potkin - Harika Dronavalli 1-0
Sergey Tiviakov - Kateryna Lahno 1-0
Ilya Nyzhnik - Lazaro Bruzon 1-0
Daniele Vocatura - Dimitri Reinderman 0-1
Sipke Ernst - Pentala Harikrishna 1-0

Round 12 - Saturday the 28th
Alexander Motylev - Pentala Harikrishna ½-½
Dimitri Reinderman - Sipke Ernst 1-0
Lazaro Bruzon - Daniele Vocatura 1-0
Kateryna Lahno - Ilya Nyzhnik 0-1
Harika Dronavalli - Sergey Tiviakov 0-1
Viktorija Cmilyte - Vladimir Potkin ½-½
Erwin L'Ami - Jan Timman ½-½

Round 13 - Sunday the 29th
Jan Timman - Alexander Motylev ½-½
Vladimir Potkin - Erwin L'Ami 1-0
Sergey Tiviakov - Viktorija Cmilyte 1-0
Ilya Nyzhnik - Harika Dronavalli 1-0
Daniele Vocatura - Kateryna Lahno ½-½
Sipke Ernst - Lazaro Bruzon 0-1
Pentala Harikrishna - Dimitri Reinderman ½-½

Harikrishna became only the second Indian player after Anand to gain entry into elite Group A event of Tata Steel Corus Chess tournament next year after winning Group B event ... He finished top with strong showing, he won 6 mathes (3 with black pieces) and drew 6 ... His only loss came against Dutch GM Sipke Ernst in 11th game playing with black.

Harika Dronavalli was also participated in the same group but she finished on the last place with mere 3½ pts

In Group C, GM Adhiban Baskaran, IM Sahaj Grover and IM Tania Sachdev participated ... Adhiban Baskaran finished on tied third position with 8½ pts ... Sahaj Grover finished on tied fifth position with 7 points and Tania Sachdev finished on eighth position with 6 points.

Hockey News
At 2012 Olympic Qualification Tournament, New Delhi

Indian Team
Goalkeepers - Bharat Chetri (Captain), PR Sreejesh
Defenders - Sandeep Singh, VR Raghunath, Rupinderpal Singh
Midfielders - Sardar Singh (Vice-Captain), Manpreet Singh, Birendra Lakra, Ignace Tirkey, Kothajit Singh
Forwards - S V Sunil, Sarvanjit Singh, Shivendra Singh, Gurvinder Singh Chandi, Tushar Khandker, Danish Mujtaba, Yuvraj Walmiki, S K Uthappa

Standbys - Manjeet Kullu (Defender), VS Vinaya (Midfielder), Arjun Halappa (Midfielder), Chinglensana Singh (Forward)

Some bold decision taken by Indian Coach Nobbs and selection committee ... They dropped seniors like Rajpal Singh and added other seniors like Arjun Halappa and VS Vinaya in standby list ... Gurbaj is injured so he missed from the list ... Surprising selection of Ignace Tirkey, who will play international matches after long time ... Also interesting to see performance of new faces of the team, Kothajit Singh and S K Uthappa.

Tennis News
At Group II 2012, Shenzhen, China

Pool B
India bt Iran 3-0

Rutuja Bhosale (IND) bt Madona Najarian (IRI) 60 60
Prerna Bhambri (IND) bt Ghazaleh Torkaman (IRI) 60 61
Rutuja Bhosale (IND)/ Isha Lakhani (IND) bt Madona Najarian (IRI)/ Ghazaleh Torkaman (IRI) 61 60

India r in Pool B with Philippines, Turkmenistan, Oman and Iran.

Perfect start for Indians ... They lost only 2 games in 6 sets to scored expected comfortable win against Iranian team ... Next they r facing Oman, Oman team having one good experienced player #556 Fatima Al Nabhani./span>
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At $50K Burnie Challenger, Australia

[R1] Vishnu Vardhan (IND,314) l Ze Zhang (CHN,292) 26 46

Doubles
[R1] (4) Divij Sharan (IND)/ Vishnu Vardhan (IND) vs Zhe Li (CHN)/ Ze Zhang (CHN)

Really disappointing performance considering he was playing against almost similar ranked player ... Had high hopes after his Chennai open performance but he failed to repeat similar performance.

After losing the first set Vishnu was down 0-4 in the second ... He tried comeback but managed to take asingle break only.

Tennis News
At Australian Open 2012, Melbourne

Mixed Doubles Final
(5) Elena Vesnina (RUS)/ Leander Paes (IND) l (8) Bethanie Mattek-Sands (USA)/ Horia Tecau (ROU) 36 75 3-10

In the beginning Leander was looking very lethargic and flat ... May be he was mentally drain out after his career slam completing Men's double title win ... Lee lost his serve on luv in 2nd game but immediately Lee and Elena broke Bethanie's serve in 3rd game ... On 4th game Elena failed to hold her serve as Lee was struggling near the net ... In 6th game Lee hold his serve after 0-40 down saving 4 break points but one break lead was enough for Mattek-Sands and Tecau to won the first set ... In the second set also Mattek-Sands and Tecau started positively breaking Elena's serve in 1st game ... Lee saved 3 break points on his serve in 3rd game before holding his serve but Mattek-Sands and Tecau were looking better pair on the court ... Other hand Lee and Elena were making too many unforced errors ... In 6th game on Tecau's serve Lee and Elena had 3 break point chances but they failed to convert it but after small rain delay they broke Mattek-Sands's serve in 8th game when she committed 2 double faults and brought set back on the serve ... Lee and Elena broke Mattek-Sands in 12th game to won the second set ... They were looking pumped up ... In super tie-break on the 1st point Mattek-Sands and Tecau take mini-break on Lee's serve when Mattek-Sands hit superb running forehand down the line winner and that set the tone of this entire STB ... After that Lee and Elena were down several mini-break ... Elena failed to handle pressure of her first grand slam title as she made few errors ... Her volleying, which was good in first 2 sets, let her down in STB and also she was struggled from back of the court ... Other hand Bethanie Mattek-Sands played excellent game from back of the court and also near the net ... This was Horia Tecau and Bethanie Mattek-Sands first grand slam title.
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At $50K Burnie Challenger, Australia

[R1] Vishnu Vardhan (IND,314) vs Ze Zhang (CHN,292)

This week Vishnu is playing in Australian challenger and facing China's top single player in the first round.

Tennis News
At Australian Open 2012, Melbourne

Men's Doubles Final
Leander Peas (IND)/ Radek Stepanek (CZE) bt (1) Mike Bryan (USA)/ Bob Bryan (USA) 76(1) 62

Leander Paes completed his career grand slam after winning the Australian Open doubles title partnering Czech' Radek Stepanek ... They defeated Bryans in the final ... This was Leander's 5th doubles final at Australian open and in that 3 times he faced Bryan twins so this was sweet win for him or we can say 3rd time lucky ... Leander was emotional after winning this title ... After this win his career tally move to seven for doubles grand slam titles.

Lee had a perfect start in doubles final ... He was as usual awesome near the net and was hitting fine returns from back of the court ... They managed to put pressure on Bryans service games ... From late of the first set Radek Stepanek played amazing tennis ... His returns were too good and he was matching with Lee's net game ... In 8th game Lee made few errors on his serve but our pair managed to hold this service game ... In tie-break Lee and Radek take early mini-break, breaking Bob's serve on 1st point but on next point Lee hit volley in the net, 1-all ... After that our pair showed sublime tennis on the court and won next 6 points in that they 2 points on Mike's serve and 1 on Bob's to won the first set ... After winning the first set Lee and Radek kept increasing level of their game ... They were too good near the net and in returning ... They broke Bob's serve in 2nd game to take 3-0 lead ... Bryans tried hard in 7th game, they had a break point on Lee's serve but he saved ... Lee and Radek broke Mike's serve in 8th game to complete victory ... They converted 2nd match point when Mike double faulted ... Radek and Lee lost against Bryans at Sydney before Australian open in 2 tie-breaks but they take sweet revenge on this big stage beating twins in straight sets ... Lee and Radek were unseeded pair and they defeated 5 seeded pairs to won the title ... They defeated 14th seed in 2nd round, 3rd seed pair in 3rd round, 10th seed the quarter-final, 2nd seed in the semifinal and top-seed Bryans in the final.

Tennis News
At Australian Open 2012, Melbourne

Mixed Doubles
[SF] (5) Elena Vesnina (RUS)/ Leander Paes (IND) bt Roberta Vinci (ITA)/ Daniele Bracciali (ITA) 57 62 10-7
[SF] (6) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Mahesh Bhupathi (IND) l (8) Bethanie Mattek-Sands (USA)/ Horia Tecau (ROU) 36 36

[F] (5) Elena Vesnina (RUS)/ Leander Paes (IND) vs (8) Bethanie Mattek-Sands (USA)/ Horia Tecau (ROU)

At last some good news, Lee and Elena reached in the final of Mixed Doubles at Australian Open beating talented Italian pair in super tie-break ... This Italian pair can be medal contender at London Olympics.

In the first set our pair was up with early break in 4th game but Italian pair fought back and won 5 games in a row from 2-5 ... In that they broke our both players service games to won this set ... In the second set again our pair take a break on Italian service game in 6th game and this time our pair again broke Italians in 8th game and won the second set ... IN STB both pairs traded early mini-breaks ... Our pair take control on 11th point with mini-break and then converted 2nd match point to book their place in the final.

Mahesh and Sania had a off day at the office ... Mahesh was struggling in the net and Sania failed to stand up in this situation ... She kept playing from back of the court and her poor serving did not help the cause ... In the first set Mahesh lost his serve and in the second set Sania lost her serve in 7th game before Mahesh losing her serve while staying in the match in 9th game ... Sania need to improve her volleying skill if this pair r hoping any medal chances in Olympics.
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At $50K Honolulu Challenger, USA

[R1] Yuki Bhambri (IND)/ Kamil Capkovic (SVK) l (Q) Daniel King Turner (NZL)/ Michel Venus (NZL) 36 26

For Yuki this was very tough lesson of transition to challenger level in singles and doubles.
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At $15K Great Britain F3 Futures 2012, Wirral

[SF] (4) Karan RASTOGI (IND)/ Milan POKRAJAC (CAN) l (1) David RICE (GBR)/ Sean THORNLEY (GBR) 26 26

So poor 2 weeks of British futures were over for Karan.
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At $15K Egypt F1 Futures, Cairo (clay)

[R1] Jeevan NEDUNCHEZHIYAN (IND)/ Ranjeet VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND) l Sherif SABRY (EGY)/ Mohamed SAFWAT (EGY) w/o

Gave walkover to local pair.

Squash News
At $27K 2012 J.P. Morgan Tournament of Champions, New York, USA

Final
(7) Dipika Pallikal (IND,15) l (2) Natalie Grinham (NED,8) 4-11 3-11 3-11

[SF] (7) Dipika Pallikal (IND,15) bt (5) Jaclyn Hawkes (NZL,17) 11-5 14-12 11-9
[QF] (7) Dipika Pallikal (IND,15) bt (4) Donna Urquhart (AUS,14) 11-9 11-5 7-11 10-12 11-9
[R1] (7) Dipika Pallikal (IND,15) bt Olivia Blatchford (USA,48) 11-5 11-3 11-7

Dipika started her 2012 season on positive note ... She reached in the final of Tournament of Champions with some quality win before losing easily against top-10 player in the final ... She had a very exciting win against Donna Urquhart in the quarters ... After winning first 2 games she failed to keep concentration and lost next 2 games ... In the final game she managed to keep composure in last few points and won it from 8-9 down.

Report about her quarter-final win
Dipika Pallikal, who took a 2-0 lead in games against Donna Urquhart. “I choked up in the third and fourth,” said the rapidly improving Indian player. “I lost concentration and went for too many shots.” It was a seesaw battle in the fifth, with lots of physical play and let calls. Pallikal, in a style reminiscent of her new coach, former world #1 Sarah FitzGerald, was especially effective when she stepped up to hit an attacking volley. Urquhart stayed even in the fifth by hitting the ball to good length on both rails and cross courts. Leading 9-8, Urquhart collided with Pallikal as the Aussie tried to get to the right wall. It took a minute or so for Urquhart to get up and she was clearly unnerved by the fall. Pallikal won the next point for match ball and then hit a deep backhand that nicked off the back wall, leaving Urquhart with her racquet up and ready, but no ball to hit.

Tennis News
At Australian Open 2012, Melbourne

Doubles
[SF] Leander Peas (IND)/ Radek Stepanek (CZE) bt (2) Max Mirnyi (BLR)/ Daniel Nestor (CAN) 26 64 64

[F] Leander Peas (IND)/ Radek Stepanek (CZE) vs (1) Mike Bryan (USA)/ Bob Bryan (USA)

Mixed Doubles
[QF] (5) Elena Vesnina (RUS)/ Leander Paes (IND) bt (4) Lisa Raymond (USA)/ Rohan Bopanna (IND) 62 62

[SF] (5) Elena Vesnina (RUS)/ Leander Paes (IND) vs Roberta Vinci (ITA)/ Daniele Bracciali (ITA)
[SF] (6) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Mahesh Bhupathi (IND) vs (8) Bethanie Mattek-Sands (USA)/ Horia Tecau (ROU)

Junior Girls
[SF] Rutuja Bhosale (IND)/ Aldila Sutjiadi (INA) l Gabrielle Andrews (USA)/ Taylor Townsend (USA) 36 16

Lee and Radek struggled in the beginning and 2nd seed Mirnyi and Nestor take full advatage of it ... They broke Radek and Lee twice to won the first set ... From the second set Radek and Lee came back into the match ... They started to put pressure on 2nd seed pair's serve and take crucial break in 7th game on Mirnyi's serve ... With that single break they captured the second set ... In the decider Lee and Radek take early break in 3rd game breaking Nestor's serve ... They managed to double their break advantage breaking Mirnyi's serve in 5th game to lead 4-1 ... In 5th game Lee had poor service game and Radek also made couple of mistakes at the net which cost them this service game ... After tthis break Mirnyi and Nestor tried to put pressure on Radek and Lee's serve but they both hold their serice games in 8th and 10th games to completed superb comeback victory ... In the final they will face top seed Bryans.

Frankly I was expecting this win by Lee and Elena, as a pair they r looking formidable on the court ... But I wasn't expecting such a one-sided match ... Lee and Elena take early lead with double break breaking Lisa and Rohan's serve, 4-1 ... In the second set Lee and Elena broke Lisa's serve in 3rd and 7th games and won this also very comfortably ... In this match Lee was simply amazingly good at the net ... In the semis they r facing unseeded Italian pair ... In other semis Mahesh and Sania will face 8th seed pair of Mattek-Sands and Tecau.

In junior doubles semi-final American pair proved too strong for Rutuja and her Indonesian partner ... They managed to win only 4 games in 2 sets.
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At $50K Honolulu Challenger, USA

[R1] Yuki Bhambri (IND,310) l (7) Yuichi Sugita (JPN,209) 46 26

Doubles
[R1] Yuki Bhambri (IND)/ Kamil Capkovic (SVK) vs (Q) Daniel King Turner (NZL)/ Michel Venus (NZL)

Was hoping better scoreline for Yuki against in form Sugita.
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At $15K Great Britain F3 Futures 2012, Wirral

[QF] (4) Karan RASTOGI (IND)/ Milan POKRAJAC (CAN) bt Miles BUGBY (GBR)/ Scott WHITBREAD (GBR) 63 62

[SF] (4) Karan RASTOGI (IND)/ Milan POKRAJAC (CAN) vs (1) David RICE (GBR)/ Sean THORNLEY (GBR)

Easy win in the doubles for Karan and his Canadian partner.
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At $15K Egypt F1 Futures, Cairo (clay)

[R2] Jeevan NEDUNCHEZHIYAN (IND,556) l (4) Daniele GIORGINI (ITA,302) 64 36 16

Jeevan lost after winning the first set against seeded Italian.

Tennis News
At Australian Open 2012, Melbourne

Doubles
[QF] Leander Peas (IND)/ Radek Stepanek (CZE) bt (10) Eric Butorac (USA)/ Bruno Soares (BRA) 64 76(4)

[SF] (6) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Elena Vesnina (RUS) l Svetlana Kuznetsova (RUS)/ Vera Zvonareva (RUS) 67(4) 62 46

[SF] Leander Peas (IND)/ Radek Stepanek (CZE) vs (2) Max Mirnyi (BLR)/ Daniel Nestor (CAN)

Mixed Doubles
[R2] (5) Elena Vesnina (RUS)/ Leander Paes (IND) bt Su-Wei Hsieh (TPE)/ Marcin Matkowski (POL) 63 75

[QF] (6) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Mahesh Bhupathi (IND) bt Liezel Huber (USA)/ Colin Fleming (GBR) 76(5) 62
[QF] (5) Elena Vesnina (RUS)/ Leander Paes (IND) vs (4) Lisa Raymond (USA)/ Rohan Bopanna (IND)

Junior Girls
[QF] Rutuja Bhosale (IND)/ Aldila Sutjiadi (INA) bt Irina Maria Bara (ROU)/ Jelena Ostapenko (LAT) 57 61 10-7

[SF] Rutuja Bhosale (IND)/ Aldila Sutjiadi (INA) vs Gabrielle Andrews (USA)/ Taylor Townsend (USA)

Sania and Elena started slowly and early both lost their serves but again they produced comeback late in the set to make it 5-all ... In tie-break Russians proved strong to our pair ... In the second set they started with breaking service game of Vera but Elena failed to hold her service game in next , 1-all ... Again our pair attacked Svetlana's serve to break her ... In 7th game again Svetlana failed to hold with too much of unforced errors and then Elena hold to won the second set ... In the decider Sania and Elena started well breaking Vera's serve ... Sania and Elena kept early break advantage till 4-3 and after that suddenly our pair struggled with their game ... Russians take full advantage of it, first they broke Sania in 8th game and despite our pair saved couple of match points in 10th game still Russians managed to broke them to complete victory.

Otherhand very clicnical performance by Radek and Lee to won their quarter-final in straight sets ... Next they r facing 2nd seed Mirnyi and Nestor.

Lee and Elena started well winning the first with 2 breaks but in the second set they lost their serve in 1st game ... Lee and Elena fought back breaking Hsieh's serve in 4th game but again lost their serve in the next game ... From 3-5 down our pair won next 4 games ... First they broke Matkowski's serve in 10th game while he was serving for the set at 5-4 and then in 12th game Lee and Elena broke Hsieh in 12th game while she was serving for staying in the match ... Good win, next they r facing Rohan and Lisa Raymond.

In MXD quarterfinal, today Mahesh was the better player on the court ... He carried little tired Sania through out the match ... In the first set our pair take a break in 7th game breaking Huber's service game but while serving for the set in 10th game Mahesh failed to hold ... Again Mahesh and Sania broke Huber's serve in 11th game but again our pair failed to hold their serve, this time Sania ... In tie-break both pairs traded early mini-breaks ... We were up 5-4 with min-break but Mahesh lost point on his serve on 10th point ... But at 6-5 our pair had a mini-break to won the first set ... From the second set Sania's forehands started working and then our pair dominated this set to won it comfortably with 2 breaks.

15 yrs old Rutuja is keep surprising with her performance in junior doubles with her partner Aldila Sutjiadi ... Another comeback win for them ... They r learned knack of winning STB ... In all matches they missed many opportunities in the first set, then showed strong comeback in the second and controlling STB from the start ... Next they r facing another unseeded in-form American pair for place in the final.
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At $15K Great Britain F3 Futures 2012, Wirral

[R1] (8) Karan RASTOGI (IND,391) l Richard BLOOMFIELD (GBR,482) 36 26

Doubles
[R1] (4) Karan RASTOGI (IND)/ Milan POKRAJAC (CAN) bt George MORGAN (GBR)/ Alexander WARD (GBR) 62 63

[QF] (4) Karan RASTOGI (IND)/ Milan POKRAJAC (CAN) vs Miles BUGBY (GBR)/ Scott WHITBREAD (GBR)

Disappointing stuff from Karan ... I would not be surprised if sooner than later Karan decide to concentrate on doubles only.
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At $15K Egypt F1 Futures, Cairo (clay)

[R1] Jeevan NEDUNCHEZHIYAN (IND,556) bt Karim-Mohamed MAAMOUN (EGY,721) 75 26 64
[R1] Ranjeet VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND,510) l Giulio TORRONI (ITA,570) 57 57

[R2] Jeevan NEDUNCHEZHIYAN (IND,556) vs (4) Daniele GIORGINI (ITA,302)

Doubles
[R1] Jeevan NEDUNCHEZHIYAN (IND)/ Ranjeet VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND) vs Sherif SABRY (EGY)/ Mohamed SAFWAT (EGY)

Good fighting win by Jeevan against local player and also creditable fight by Ranjeet in his loss against Italian on the clay.

Tennis News
At Australian Open 2012, Melbourne

Doubles
[QF] (6) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Elena Vesnina (RUS) bt (2) Liezel Huber (USA)/ Lisa Raymond (USA) 63 57 76(6)

[SF] (6) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Elena Vesnina (RUS) vs Svetlana Kuznetsova (RUS)/ Vera Zvonareva (RUS)

Junior Girls
[R2] Rutuja Bhosale (IND)/ Aldila Sutjiadi (INA) bt Naiktha Bains (AUS)/ Danielle Wagland (AUS) 57 62 10-5

[QF] Rutuja Bhosale (IND)/ Aldila Sutjiadi (INA) vs Irina Maria Bara (ROU)/ Jelena Ostapenko (LAT)

Sania and Elena started positively and take early break to lead 3-1 ... They again broke 2nd seed American opponents in 9th game to won the first set ... In the second set again Sania and Elena broke them in 2nd game to take 3-0 lead ... But they missed break point opportunity in 4th game and from here Americans fought back into the match ... They broke Elena's serve in 5th game and then broke Sania's serve in 11th game to won the second set ... In the decider 2nd seed take first break when they broke Elena in 5th game but our pair immediately broke back to make it 3-all ... In 7th game Sania saved couple of break points but Americans converted 3rd break point to take important break but while serving for the match at 4-5 Sania and Elena had 2 break points, 15-40 ... Americans saved both but our pair converted 3rd break point to make it 5-all ... Sania hold her next long service game which went into multiple deuces and also saved 2 break points ... Americans hold next serve after saving a match point to take the set in tie-break ... In tie-break both pairs traded early mini-breaks but at 3-2 Elena and Sania take crucial double mini-breaks on Americans serve to lead 5-2 ... At 2-6 down American pair take a mini-break back and then won 2 points on their serve to make it 5-6 and again take mini-break on Sania's serve to make it 6-all ... Sania won the next point on her serve to gave them 6th match point and this time they converted winning the point on American's serve ... This was 3 hours and 5 minutes marathon match between these two pairs ... Good win by Sania and Elena but our pair messed up many chances to finish this match in straight sets ... In the semis they will face unseeded Russian pair of Kuznetsova and Zvonareva.

In junior doubles Australian girls take crucial break in 12th game to won the first set ... Rutuja and her Indonesian partner Aldila Sutjiadi dominated the second set when they broke Aussie pair in the 1st and 5th games to won it ... In STB, Rutuja and Aldila take early double mini-break lead, 5-1 ... After they traded few mini-breaks but Rutuja and Aldila managed to keep their advantage and converted 2nd match point to scored another good win ... Next they r facing European pair in the quarters, who received walkover from 2nd seeds in the second round.
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At $15K Egypt F1 Futures, Cairo (clay)

[Q1] U M Gugan VERMA (IND,UNR) bt Karim KADRY (EGY,UNR) 63 60

[Q2] U M Gugan VERMA (IND,UNR) l (5) Ivo MIJIC (GER,962) 16 46

[R1] Jeevan NEDUNCHEZHIYAN (IND,556) vs Karim-Mohamed MAAMOUN (EGY,721)
[R1] Ranjeet VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND,510) vs Giulio TORRONI (ITA,570)

Doubles
[R1] Jeevan NEDUNCHEZHIYAN (IND)/ Ranjeet VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND) vs Sherif SABRY (EGY)/ Mohamed SAFWAT (EGY)

Jeevan and Ranjeet r playing in Egypt ... Jeevan having tricky match against local player in the first round ... Ranjeet having more tough match against Italian on the clay.

Tennis News
At Australian Open 2012, Melbourne

Doubles
[R3] (6) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Elena Vesnina (RUS) bt (12) Jarmila Gajdosova (AUS)/ Bethanie Mattek-Sands (USA) 75 63

[QF] (6) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Elena Vesnina (RUS) vs (2) Liezel Huber (USA)/ Lisa Raymond (USA)

Mixed Doubles
[R2] (4) Lisa Raymond (USA)/ Rohan Bopanna (IND) bt Casey Dellacqua (AUS)/ Matthew Ebden (AUS) 64 62
[R2] (6) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Mahesh Bhupathi (IND) bt Iveta Benesova (CZE)/ Jurgen Melzer (AUT) 36 64 12-10

[QF] (6) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Mahesh Bhupathi (IND) vs Liezel Huber (USA)/ Colin Fleming (GBR)

Junior Boys
[R1] Arjun Kadhe (IND)/ Stefan Vinti (ROU) l (2) Julien Cagnina (BEL)/ Thiago Monteiro (BRA) 67(6) 64 7-10

Junior Girls
[R1] Rutuja Bhosale (IND)/ Aldila Sutjiadi (INA) bt (ALT) Ratnika Batra (IND)/ Georgiana Ruhrig (AUS) 16 64 10-5

[R2] Rutuja Bhosale (IND)/ Aldila Sutjiadi (INA) vs Naiktha Bains (AUS)/ Danielle Wagland (AUS)

Sania and Elena struggled early and were two breaks down at 1-4 but after that they got both breaks back and won six out of next seven games to win the first set 7-5 ... In the second set Sania and Elena take break in 4th game to lead 4-1 but Jarmila and Bethanie broke Sania's serve in 7th game to make it 4-3 ... After that Sania and Elena broke opponent's serve in 8th and after that Elena hold to completed their victory and the place in quarter-final ... Next they r facing experienced 2nd seed pair of Liezel Huber and Lisa Raymond.

In MXD, Rohan and Lisa started on backfoot after Lisa losing the serve in 3rd game but they broke Dellacqua and Ebden service games in 8th and 10th games to win the first set ... In the second set Lisa and Rohan broke Dellacqua in 4th and 8th games to completed easy victory.

IN MXD, Sania and Mahesh had tough match against current Wimbledon champions ... Mahesh and Sania were early break down after Mahesh lost his service game in the 6th game, 2-4 but our pair immediately broke in the next game, 3-4 ... In the 8th game our pair wasted 2 game points on Sania's serve from 40-15 and lost this service game, again down 3-5 ... Melzer hold easily and won the first set with Benesova ... In the second set again Melzer and Benesova take early break ... They broke our pair's serve in 3rd game, 1-2, but this time also our pair immediately broke back, 2-2 ... After saving a break point on Mahesh's serve in 9th game our pair broke Melzer in 10th game to won the second set ... In STB, Melzer and Benesova saved a match point on their serve, 9-all ... Now they r having match point, 10-9 ... Our pair saved a match point 10-all ... Our pair converted 2nd match point to completed remarkable comeback victory.

Good to see Rutuja and her Indonesian partner scored win against alternate pairing of Batra and Ruhrig ... After losing the first set easily they made fightback winning the next and then won STB comfortably ... So this was Rutuja's first victory in the grandslam ... Next they r facing local pair.

Arjun and his Romanian partner Stefan Vinti gave tremendous fighting performance against 2nd seed pair ... After losing the first set in tight tie-break they won the second set breaking 2nd seeds in 9th game ... In STB the 2nd seed take early mini-break to lead 2-1 and with that single mini-break they completed victory.
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At $50K Honolulu Challenger, USA

[R1] Yuki Bhambri (IND,310) vs (7) Yuichi Sugita (JPN,209)

Yuki is facing seeded player, Japanese Yuichi Sugita, in the first round ... Sugita played well at Chennai Open, where as an qualifier he reached in the quarters upsetting #67 Olivier Rochus and #82 Yen-Hsun Lu before losing to #10 Nicolas Almagro but he lost in the first round of Australian open qualifying.
Good opportunity for Yuki to start with upset win.
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At $10K Turkey F3 futures, Antalya - Kaya-Belek

[Q1] (14) Sanam SINGH (IND,888) l Franjo RASPUDIC (BIH,1006) 57 64 46

After excellent first week Sanam failed to take advantage in next two futures ... Here he lost in the first round of qualifying ... Really shocking loss against Bosnia and Herzegovina player.

Tennis News
At Australian Open 2012, Melbourne

Doubles
[R3] Leander Peas (IND)/ Radek Stepanek (CZE) bt (3) Michael Llodra (FRA)/ Nenad Zimonjic (SRB) 75 76(2)
[R3] (4) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Rohan Bopanna (IND) l (13) Scott Lipsky (USA)/ Rajeev Ram (USA) 67(6) 26

Mixed Doubles
[R2] (5) Elena Vesnina (RUS)/ Leander Paes (IND) vs Su-Wei Hsieh (TPE)/ Marcin Matkowski(POL)
[R2] (6) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Mahesh Bhupathi (IND) vs Iveta Benesova (CZE)/ Jurgen Melzer (AUT)

Junior Boys
[R1] Arjun Kadhe (IND,40) l (Q) Quentin Halys (FRA,159) 46 67(4)

[R1] Arjun Kadhe (IND)/ Stefan Vinti (ROU) vs (2) Julien Cagnina (BEL)/ Thiago Monteiro (BRA)

Junior Girls
[R1] Rutuja Bhosale (IND,75) l Iva Mekovec (CRO,54) 63 46 26
[R1] Ratnika Batra (IND,46) l (14) Taylor Townsend (USA,24) 16 26

[R1] Rutuja Bhosale (IND)/ Aldila Sutjiadi (INA) vs (6) Varvara Flink (RUS)/ Donna Vekic (CRO)

Leander pulled superb upset victory over 3rd seed Llodra and Zimo partnering Radek Stepanek in 2 tight sets ... In the first set Lee and Radek were 3-5 down and they broke Zimo while he was serving for the set to make it 5-all ... Again they broke Llodra to won the first set so after 3-5 down they won next 4 games ... In the second set Lee and Radek dominated the tie-break to won it comfortably and book place in the quarter-final.

Mahesh and Rohan failed in their first real test against better doubles team at Australian open ... Ram and Lipsky defeated this big serving pair ... After winning closely fought the first in tight tie-break they proved too strong for Indians ... They broke Mahesh's service games in 4th and 8th games to completed straight sets victory.

In Juniors Arjun lost against French qualifier in straight sets though in the second set he manged to take his opponent's in tie-break ... Ratnika failed to create any challenge to her American opponent ... Young Rutuja started positively against higher ranked Croatian girl ... She won the first set but in the second set both players had multiple breaks ... After taking crucial break in 9th game Mekovec hold 10th game after deuce to won the second set ... In the third set Rutuja was early break down ... Mekovec again broke her in 7th game to and completed victory winning her next service game.

Shooting News
At 12th Asian Championship, Doha, Qatar

50m RIFLE 3 POSITIONS MEN
Gold - Sanjeev RAJPUT (IND) (99 97 98 100 92 92 92 96 97 91 97 97) 1148 + 93.0 = 1241.0 pts
Silver - Jonghyun KIM (KOR) (99 96 97 96 93 94 97 90 94 96 94 96) 1142 + 96.3 = 1238.3 pts
Bronze - Gagan NARANG (IND) (95 95 93 97 94 96 98 92 93 95 94 92 1134 + 98.0 = 1232.0 pts

5 Imran Hasan KHAN (IND) (98 97 99 98 96 91 93 94 93 94 92 94) 1139 + 85.4 = 1224.4 pts

50m RIFLE 3 POSITIONS MEN TEAM
Gold - India 3421 Pts (110x)
Sanjeev RAJPUT - 1148 pts (45x)
Prone - 99 97 98 100 = 394 pts
Standing - 92 92 92 96 = 372 pts
Kneeling - 97 91 97 97 = 382 pts

Imran Hasan KHAN - 1139 pts (36x)
Prone - 98 97 99 98 = 392 pts
Standing - 96 91 93 94 = 374 pts
Kneeling - 93 94 92 94 = 373 pts

Gagan NARANG - 1134 pts (29x)
Prone - 95 95 93 97 = 380 pts
Standing - 94 96 98 92 = 380 pts
Kneeling - 93 95 94 92 = 374 pts

Silver - Republic of Korea 3405 pts (102x)

Bronze - Mongolia 3376 pts (106x)

Shotgun TRAP MEN
Gold - Manavjit Singh SANDHU (IND) (24 25 25 24 24) 122 + 17 = 139.0
Silver - Talal ALRASHIDI (KUW) (24 23 23 24 23) 117 + 17 = 134.0
Bronze - Rashid AL-ATHBA (QAT) (24 24 23 23 23) 117 + 15 = 132.0

Shotgun TRAP MEN TEAM
Gold - Kuwait 344

Silver - India 337
Manavjit Singh SANDHU - 24 25 25 24 24 = 122
Kynan CHENAI - 23 22 21 21 21 = 108
Mansher SINGH - 22 24 21 21 19 = 107

Bronze - Lebanon 331

Indians gave excellent performance in the mens 50m rifle 3 positions event ... Sanjeev Rajput qualified for the final on top position with 6 points lead which he defended comfortably to won the Gold ... Gagan Narang, who qualified for the final on 5th position, had a best round in the final which helped him to win the Bronze ... Imran Hasan Khan qualified for the final on 4th position but struggled in the final which dropped him on 5th position but top 4 shooters (2 Indians and 2 Koreans) had already won a quota place, So despite finishing on 5th place Imran Hasan Khan win a quota place for London Olympics ... In team event also we won the Gold comfortably by 16 pts.

In Shotgun Trap men event Manavjit Singh Sandhu won the Gold medal and also importantly won a quota place for the London Olympics ... Manavjit qualified for the final on the first place with a score of 122 hits, which was 5 shots better than next shooter ... In the final Manavjit had a bad start as he managed to hit 3 from first 7 shots but then he recovered remarkably to hit 14 shots from next 18 to captured the Gold ... Due to excellent shooting from Manavjit helped India to won Silver in the team event.

In non-Olympics event 25m Center Fire Pistol, Pemba Tamang tied for 2nd place with another 2 shooters but lost in shoot-off to finished on 4th place ... In this event Indian team also finished on 4th place.

India finished Asian Championship with 7 Gold, 4 Silver and 4 Bronze medals - overall 15 medals ... This is a big improvement considering our Asian games performance where we had only 1 Gold and overall 8 medals.

But other hand we managed only 2 additional Olympic quota places from this tournament to make total of 11 quota places for the London Olympics... Little improvement from last Beijing Olympics where We had 8 quota places.

Tennis News
At Australian Open 2012, Melbourne

Doubles
[R2] (6) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Elena Vesnina (RUS) bt Eva Birnerova (CZE)/ Alberta Brianti (ITA) 75 75
[R2] (4) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Rohan Bopanna (IND) bt Carsten Ball (AUS)/ Treat Conrad Huey (PHI) 62 62

[R3] (6) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Elena Vesnina (RUS) vs (12) Jarmila Gajdosova (AUS)/ Bethanie Mattek-Sands (USA)
[R3] Leander Peas (IND)/ Radek Stepanek (CZE) vs (3) Michael Llodra (FRA)/ Nenad Zimonjic (SRB)
[R3] (4) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Rohan Bopanna (IND) vs (13) Scott Lipsky (USA)/ Rajeev Ram (USA)

Mixed Doubles
[R1] (5) Elena Vesnina (RUS)/ Leander Paes (IND) bt Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (RUS)/ Max Mirnyi (BLR) 62 75

Sania and Elena struggled with their serve but managed to score tight win in straight sets ... Mahesh and Rohan proved too strong for Ball and Huey ... In both sets they broke Huey in 4th and 8th games for comfortable win ... Lee and Elena started their campaign in MXD in solid win ... They didn't lose their service in this match against solid pair of Max and Pavlyuchenkova.

Golf News
At the Ladies European Tour’s Final Qualifying School for the 2012, La Manga Club, Spain

T29 Sharmila NICOLLET (IND) 68 70 80 75 75 +7

India's 20 yrs old pro Sharmila Nicollet has earned the Ladies European Tour card after a dramatic playoff ... She was leading after the first round but had a very poor third round ... She played steadily in the final 2 rounds to tied for 29th place ... She birdied her last hole to make it to a six woman playoff for the last 2 cards as the top 30 earn cards.

Here is report from the Ladies European Tour site -
However, it was further down the leader board where the drama unfolded at the end of the day after six players tied for 29th position on seven over par.

The six players headed back out to the seventh tee to begin a sudden death play-off for two places, to establish who would secure the last spots inside the top 30, eligible for category 8a membership of the LET.

The Spanish duo of Laura Cabanillas and Mireia Prat competed against India’s Sharmila Nicollet, England’s Hannah Burke, Germany’s Miriam Nagl and Scotland’s Carly Booth.

Cabanillas, an 11-year veteran of the tour, holed a 12-footer for birdie to take the 29th card available at the par-four seventh hole, while the remaining five players went to the eighth tee.

Booth fell short after driving into a fairway bunker and having to lay up on the par four, eventually taking a bogey five along with Nagl and both players were eliminated. Burke, Nicollet and Prat all had four and went to the par-five ninth tee.

The drama was completed when Nicollet, who co-led after the first round, two-putted for a birdie four from the right edge of the ninth green to earn the 30th card. The other two players could not match her score.

After holing a six-foot putt, her smile lit up the stunning venue and the 20-year-old from the south of Bangalore said: “I feel so excited. I played well under pressure and I mean, I didn’t hit the fairway the first two play-off holes and I made a recovery after that and in the end it was a great feeling. I’m so overwhelmed right now.”

Nicollet will be the only player from India with full playing rights on the Ladies European Tour this season and she was justifiably proud of her achievement.

“My goal was to get on the tour and this is my first time in Spain for the qualifier so I think it’s a big achievement for me. To be playing in Europe will be my next immediate goal. I hope to play all the tournaments and maybe move here because I have family in Paris and my dad stays there so maybe I will move there and play all the tournaments. I’m just so happy and excited. It’s been a long two weeks and it’s been a long wait and fingers crossed for the season.”

Shooting News
At 12th Asian Championship, Doha, Qatar

25m STANDARD PISTOL MEN Individual
Gold - Vijay KUMAR (IND) (150 sec - 98 95) 193 (20 sec - 95 95) 190 (10 sec - 91 98) 189 =
572 pts (17xS-off: 48)

Silver - Yongde JIN (CHN) (150 sec - 97 97) 194 (20 sec - 97 96) 193 (10 sec - 92 92) 185 = 572 pts (15xS-off: 43)

Bronze - Tomohiro KIDA (JPN) (150 sec - 95 95) 188 (20 sec - 95 97) 192 (10 sec - 92 96) 188 =
568 pts (11xS-off: 48)

Vijay Kumar won a gold medal at the Asian Shooting Championships when he finished on top in the Standard Pistol event in Doha but again no Olympic quota as this is not Olympic event ... Vijay Kumar scored 572/600 to tie for the lead with Yongde Jin of China but Vijay Kumar's tally of 17 inner tens to Jin's 15 helped him to win the gold.

Our other 2 shooters disappointed so we missed a medal in team ranking ... Samresh Jung scored 552 to finish 16th and Mahavir Singh finished 24th with a score of 542.

Tennis News
At Australian Open 2012, Melbourne

Doubles
[R2] Leander Peas (IND)/ Radek Stepanek (CZE) bt (14) Simone Bolelli (ITA)/ Fabio Fognini (ITA) 62 76(5)

[R3] Leander Peas (IND)/ Radek Stepanek (CZE) vs (3) Michael Llodra (FRA)/ Nenad Zimonjic (SRB)

Mixed Doubles
[R1] (4) Lisa Raymond (USA)/ Rohan Bopanna (IND) bt Galina Voskoboeva (KAZ)/ Alexander Peya (AUT) 61 60
[R1] (6) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Mahesh Bhupathi (IND) bt Natalie Grandin (RSA)/ Jean-Julien Rojer (CUW) 64 62

Junior Boys qualifying
[Q3] (16) Haadin BAVA (IND,106) l (1) Matteo DONATI (ITA,70) 16 26
[Q3] (WC) Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND,UNR) l Pietro LICCIARDI (ITA,82) 26 67(3)

Junior Girls qualifying
[Q3] Aarzoo MALIK (IND,288) vs Camila ROSATELLO (ITA,148)
[Q3] (16) Kanika VAIDYA (IND) l Bianco MEGANE (SUI,95) 26 67(3)

Lee and Radek scored straight sets win over seeded Italian pair ... After winning the first set easily they stretched to tie-break in the second but they won it with a mini-break ... Next they r facing biggest test against very experienced 3rd seed pair of Llodra and Zimo.

In MXD, Mahesh and Saina started with comfortable win .. Rohan and Lisa also gave very solid performance as they won losing only single game.

As per report our all junior players lost in the final qualifying ... Disappointed with Ramkumar's performance.

Tennis News
At Australian Open 2012, Melbourne

Doubles
[R1] (6) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Elena Vesnina (RUS) bt Eleni Daniilidou (GRE)/ Alexandra Panova (RUS) 60 62

[R2] (6) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Elena Vesnina (RUS) vs Eva Birnerova (CZE)/ Alberta Brianti (ITA)
[R2] (4) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Rohan Bopanna (IND) vs Carsten Ball (AUS)/ Treat Conrad Huey (PHI)
[R2] Leander Peas (IND)/ Radek Stepanek (CZE) vs (14) Simone Bolelli (ITA)/ Fabio Fognini (ITA)

Mixed Doubles
[R1] (4) Lisa Raymond (USA)/ Rohan Bopanna (IND) vs Galina Voskoboeva (KAZ)/ Alexander Peya (AUT)
[R1] (5) Elena Vesnina (RUS)/ Leander Paes (IND) vs Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (RUS)/ Max Mirnyi (BLR)
[R1] (6) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Mahesh Bhupathi (IND) vs Natalie Grandin (RSA)/ Jean-Julien Rojer (CUW)

Junior Boys qualifying
[Q1] (16) Haadin BAVA (IND,106) bye
[Q1] Suraj R PRABODH (IND,258) l Johannes HAERTEIS (GER,128) 36 46
[Q1] (WC) Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND,UNR) bt (WC) Socrates Leon TSORONIS (AUS,UNR) 60 60
[Q1] (10) Rishab AGARWAL (IND,89) bye

[Q2] (16) Haadin BAVA (IND,106) bt Ku Keon KANG (KOR,193) 63 64
[Q2] (WC) Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND,UNR) bt (9) Jonathan CORNISH (GBR,86) 61 60
[Q2] (10) Rishab AGARWAL (IND,89) l (WC) Omar Jasika (AUS,283) 76(3) 46 9-11

[Q3] (16) Haadin BAVA (IND,106) vs (1) Matteo DONATI (ITA,70)
[Q3] (WC) Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND,UNR) vs Pietro LICCIARDI (ITA,82)

Junior Girls qualifying
[Q1] Parminder KAUR (IND,212) l Brigitte BECK (AUS,497) 67(4) 06
[Q1] Aarzoo MALIK (IND,288) bt Celine LENERTZ (AUS,217) 63 60
[Q1] Bhuvana KALVA (IND,147) l (WC) Zoe HIVES (AUS,UNR) 63 46 26
[Q1] (16) Kanika VAIDYA (IND,140) bye
[Q1] Prarthana G. THOMBARE (IND,266) l Danielle WAGLAND (AUS,321) 16 26

[Q2] Aarzoo MALIK (IND,288) bt (9) Katherine IP (HKG,106) 63 62
[Q2] (16) Kanika VAIDYA (IND,140) bt (WC) Ebony Panoho (AUS,754) 63 60

[Q3] Aarzoo MALIK (IND,288) vs Camila ROSATELLO (ITA,148)
[Q3] (16) Kanika VAIDYA (IND) vs Bianco MEGANE (SUI,95)

Sania and Elena had a very stong start ... They won the first set in 19 minutes breaking opponent's serve thrice ... Sania and Elena didn't face a single break point and converted 3 from 4 break points ... In the second set Eleni and Alexandra broke Sania and Elena in 1st game but our pair immediately broke back and then take another break to lead 4-2 ... Sania and Elena again broke their opponents in 8th game to completed easy victory in 50 minutes.

In MXD, Rohan and Lee r in same draw and can face in the quarters.

In Juniors qualifying Ramkumar received wild-card and he is proving dominant ... He won 2 matches losing only 1 game and in that one win was over top-100 British junior ... In the final qualifying Ramkumar is facing Italian ... Haadin Bava also entered into the final qualifying round with win over Korean ... Next he is facing top-seed Italian ... In girls section Aarzoo Malika is in the final qualifying with 2 upset wins ... Kanika Vaidya joined her with win over local wild-card player.

In the second qualifying Rishab Agarwal had heart-breaking loss ... He lost the final set 9-11 to local wild-card player and as per Australian Tennis site report this match lasted for 4 hours 25 mins.

Tennis News
At Australian Open 2012, Melbourne

[R1] (4) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Rohan Bopanna (IND) bt Matthew Ebden (AUS)/ Chris Guccione (AUS) 57 64 64
[R1] Leander Peas (IND)/ Radek Stepanek (CZE) bt (WC) Greg Jones (AUS)/ John-Patrick Smith (AUS) 62 62

In the first set our pair was struggling to win points on opponent's serve ... Mahesh and Rohan saved a set point at 5-6, 30-40, but after deuce Aussie pair converted 2nd set point to won this first set ... In the first set Aussie pair lost only 3 points on their serves ... In the second set Mahesh and Rohan broke Aussie's serve in 3rd game after couple of break points ... Indian pair kept that single break advantage to win the second set ... In the second set our pair lost only 5 points on their serve and won 13 points from 34 points from Aussie pair's serve ... In the third set our pair take lead after breaking Aussie's in 5th game after multiple deuces ... Single break advantage was enough for our pair to won this decider ... After the first set our pair served quite well and didn't face a single break point on their service games ... Other hand they were putting pressure on service games of Aussie pair ... Good fighting win by Mahesh and Rohan against this tricky local pair, who stretched them ... All sets had only a single break so overall impressive serving from all players.

Local wild-card pair broke Lee-Radek's serve in 2nd game to take early lead but they immediately broke Aussie's serve in 3rd game to bring the set on serve ... Lee and Radek again broke Aussie in 5th game to take lead ... Again broke Aussie's serve in 7th game after multiple deuces to go up with double break ... Aussie pair saved a set point taking next game to deuce but Lee and Radek converted 2nd set point to won the first set ... In the second set Lee and Radek started with a break from 40-15 ... At last Aussie pair managed to hold in 3rd game after 4 service breaks ... Lee and Radek saved a break point in 4th game before holding the service game ... Aussie pair suddenly started to put pressure on Lee and Radek's serves, in 6th game they lead 0-30 30-40 but again Lee and Radek saved a break point before holding the serve ... Lee and Radek again broke Aussie pair after long service game to double their break ... Our pair hold comfortably to complete dominating victory.
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At $15K Great Britain F2 Futures 2012, Sheffield

[R1] (Q) Karan RASTOGI (IND) l Germain GIGOUNON (BEL,459) 26 26

Disappointing performance of Karan continues.
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At $10K Turkey F2 futures, Antalya - Kaya-Belek

[R1] (SE) Sanam SINGH (IND,887) l (7) Daniel COX (GBR,399) 67(5) 26

In the first set Sanam was a double break at 4-1 but failed to push advantage ... Cox made a strong comeback to win the next 4 games before Sanam managed to take a set in tiebreak which Cox won on a mini break ... In the second set Cox dominated and won with double break.

Athletics News
At Mumbai Marathon 2012, India

India's Ram Singh Yadav qualified for the London Olympics with a time of 2:16:59 which was below the IAAF ‘B' grade qualifying time, 2:18:00 ... In 2008 he missed qualifying time by 3 seconds after Mumbai Marathon organizers goofed up with the final timing.

Ram Singh Yadav finished the first in Indians and overall on 12th place ... Another Indian Elam Singh, who represents India in 3000m steeplechase, finished second in his first marathon and missed out on the qualification mark by 27 seconds.

Shooting News
At 12th Asian Championship, Doha, Qatar

10m AIR PISTOL WOMEN
Gold - Jang Mi KIM (KOR) (97 98 94 96) 385 + 97.3 = 482.3 pts
Silver - Ying CHEN (CHN) (99 96 94 96) 385 + 96.6 = 481.6 pts
Bronze - Annu Raj SINGH (IND) (97 94 96 96) 383 + 98.2 = 481.2 pts

5 Heena SIDHU (IND) (95 96 98 92) 381 + 99.2 = 480.2 pts
6 Shweta CHAUDHRY (IND) (94 96 97 96) 383 + 96.5 = 479.5 pts

10m AIR PISTOL WOMEN TEAM
Gold - India 1147 Pts (26x)
Annu Raj SINGH (IND) (97 94 96 96) 383 (11x)
Shweta CHAUDHRY (IND) (94 96 97 96) 383 (7x)
Heena SIDHU (IND) (95 96 98 92) 381 (8x)

Silver - - People's Republic of China 1146 pts (36x)

Bronze - Republic of Korea 1144 pta (35x)

50m RIFLE PRONE WOMEN
Gold - Raj Kumari (IND) (99 99 99 98 100 99) 594 pts (36x)
Silver - Peijing Li (CHN) (100 98 99 96 99 98) 590 pts (30x)
Bronze - Mi Ra Jeong (KOR) (98 98 98 97 99 100) 590 pts (26x)

50m RIFLE PRONE WOMEN TEAM
Gold - - Republic of Korea 1760 pts (84x)

Silver - People's Republic of China 1756 pts (79x)

Bronze - India 1755 pts (82x)
Raj Kumari (IND) (99 99 99 98 100 99) 594 pts (36x)
Tejaswini Sawant (100 94 97 98 96 97) 582 pts (21x)
Lajja Gauswami (96 95 97 99 96 96) 579 pts (25x)

Today we won the Gold and Bronze in 10m Air Pistol Women event ... Won Gold in team event ... In individual ranking Annu Raj Singh and Shweta Chaudhry qualified for the final on 4th and 5th positions ... Heena Sidhu was tied with 3 shooters for 7th place but she qualified for the final winning qualification shoot-off.

In the final Heena Sidhu scored best score of 99.2 points, which helped her to finish on 5th position ... Annu Raj Singh scored 2nd best score of 98.2 pts to win the Bronze ... Shweta Chaudhry disappointed to finished on 6th position ... Despite excellent performance in the final Heena Sidhu missed Olympic berth so we got medals but no Olympic quota.

Raj Kumari won the Gold in individual event of 50m rifle prone but this is not Olympic event so no quota in this event for Raj Kumari ... Tough luck.

India also managed the Bronze in this team event.

Parampal Singh Guron narrowly missed out on a place in the final of the men's skeet event at the Asian Shooting Championship ... Guron, who was in 13th place overnight with a score of 71/75, started the day with a perfect round of 25 to move into contention for a place in the final ...
With four quota places on offer, Guron needed to shoot another perfect round, but he crucially dropped one target to finish with a score of 120/125 ... The cut-off for the six-man final was at 121, which meant he finished 7th.

Tennis News
At Australian Open 2012, Melbourne

[R1] Sania Mirza (IND,105) l Tsvetana Pironkova (BUL,48) 46 26

Doubles
[R1] (6) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Elena Vesnina (RUS) vs Eleni Daniilidou (GRE)/ Alexandra Panova (RUS)
[R1] (4) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Rohan Bopanna (IND) vs Matthew Ebden (AUS)/ Chris Guccione (AUS)
[R1] Leander Peas (IND)/ Radek Stepanek (CZE) vs Greg Jones (AUS)/ John-Patrick Smith (AUS)

Sania lost in the first round due to her unforced errors ... She committed 36 UFEs and Pironkova 30 UFEs ... Other hand Pironkova hit 18 winners and 16 winners by Sania.

In the first set Pironkova broke Sania in 2nd game to lead 3-0 but Sania fought back and made it 4-all ... At 4-5 while serving to remained in the set Sania struggled with her game, though she saved a set point but Pironkova converted second to won the set ... In the second set Sania's game was haywire ... She struggled to put her first serve in and then with her game ... Pironkova broke her twice to won the second set and match.

Doubles draw is out ... Sania and Elena r sixth seeds and having favorable draw ... In quarters they can face 2nd seed Raymond and Huber ... Rohan and Mahesh r fourth seeds and r in same draw with Bryans but their first real test will come in the third round against thirteenth seeds Scott Lipsky and Rajeev Ram ... Lee and Radek r unseeded due to poor doubles ranking, #91, of Radek ... They can face tough third seeds Llodra and Zimonjic in the third round.
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At $15K Great Britain F2 Futures 2012, Sheffield

[Q1] (2) Karan RASTOGI (IND,391) bye
[Q2] (2) Karan RASTOGI (IND,391) bt Simon MUSSET (FRA,UNR) 60 60
[Q3] (2) Karan RASTOGI (IND,391) bt Sizya Ernest KIVANDA (GBR,UNR) 63 63

[R1] (Q) Karan RASTOGI (IND,391) vs Germain GIGOUNON (BEL,459)

Karan gave double bagel to his unranked French opponent in the second round ... Next in the final qualifying he defeated local unranked player easily and enter into maindraw ... In the maindraw he is facing Belgian Gigounon..

Tennis News
At $10K Turkey F1 futures, Antalya

[SF] (Q) Sanam SINGH (IND,887) l (5) Michal KONECNY (CZE,370) 36 67(7)

Sanam produced fighting performance but failed to convert in the win .. In the first set he lost his service twice and was down 0-4 ... But he broke Michal in 5th and 7th games to brought the set on serve 3-4 ... Michal broke him in 8th game and hold to won the set ... In the second set Sanam broke him early to take 3-0 lead ... Michal broke him back and was leading 5-4 with break ... After that Sanam broke him in 10th game but lost closely fought tie-break.

Shooting News
At 12th Asian Championship, Doha, Qatar

10m AIR RIFLE WOMEN
9 Anjali BHAGWAT (IND) (99 99 98 100) 396 pts
10 Ayonika PAUL (IND) (99 100 98 99) 396 pts
12 Mampi DAS (IND) (99 96 100 100) 395 pts

10m AIR RIFLE WOMEN TEAM
Gold - China 1192 pts (101x)

Silver - India 1187 pts (84x)
Anjali BHAGWAT (IND) (99 99 98 100) 396 pts (30x)
Ayonika PAUL (IND) (99 100 98 99) 396 pts (24x)
Mampi DAS (IND) (99 96 100 100) 395 pts (30x)

Bronze - Islamic Republic of Iran 1185x (88x)

Shotgun DOUBLE TRAP MEN
8 Asab Mohamed (IND) (43 46 46) 135 hits
9 Rajyavardhan Singh RATHORE (IND) (48 41 46) 135 hits
14 Ronjan SODHI (IND) (46 46 42) 134 hits


Shotgun DOUBLE TRAP MEN Team
Gold - United Arab Emirates 416 hits

Silver - Kuwait 405 hits

Bronze - India 404 hits
Asab MOHAMED (IND) (43 46 46) 135 hits
Rajyavardhan Singh RATHORE (IND) (48 41 46) 135 hits
Ronjan SODHI (IND) (46 46 42) 134 hits

Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore missed last chance of Olympic quota ... Poor targets hitting in the second round cost him place in the final and with that his chance of qualifuying ... Sodhi also had poor third round which cost him place in the final ... Same situation happened with Asab he had poor first round ... In combined they won Bronze in team event.

Anjali Bhagwat and Ayonika Paul lost big opportunity to place in the final and fight for quota place for Olympic ... They ended on 5th position with 7 shooters but failed to grab 4 positions for the final as both lost in penalty shoot-off ... Combined they won the Silver.

Badminton News
At $400K Malaysia Open (Superseries), Kuala Lumpur

[SF] (4) Saina Nehwal (IND,4) l (1) Yihan Wang (CHN,1) 15-21 16-21

Saina played decent match against WR #1 Yihan ... Frankly Yihan was better player on the court but Saina tried her best ... That was not enough as Yihan take full advantage of her height to handle whatever was tossed up and Saina's drop shots.

Shooting News
At 12th Asian Championship, Doha, Qatar

10m AIR RIFLE MEN
Gold - Abhinav BINDRA (IND) (100 99 100 98 100 100) 597 + (10.7 10.8 10.6 10.3 9.9 10.3 10.2 10.3 10.5 10.5) 104.1 = 701.1 pts
Silver - Qinan ZHU (CHN) (100 100 100 100 99 99) 598 + (10.0 10.8 10.0 10.8 10.4 10.8 10.1 9.8 9.8 10.3) 102.8 = 700.8 pts
Bronze - Tao WANG (CHN) (100 100 100 100 100 98) 598 + (9.8 9.8 10.1 10.5 10.7 10.6 10.2 10.1 10.3 9.8) 101.9 = 699.9 pts

4 Gagan NARANG (IND) (97 99 100 100 100 99) 595 + (10.3 10.8 10.0 10.8 10.3 10.0 10.3 9.7 10.7 10.3) 103.2 = 698.2 pts

10m AIR RIFLE MEN TEAM
Gold - China 1793 pts (153x) WR AR
Qinan ZHU (100 100 100 100 99 99) 598 (54x)
Tao WANG (100 100 100 100 100 98) 598 (49x)
Tianyou LIU (99 100 99 100 99 100) 597 (50x)

Silver - India 1774 pts (137x)
Abhinav BINDRA (100 99 100 98 100 100) 597 (55x)
Gagan NARANG (97 99 100 100 100 99) 595 (45x)
Satyendra SINGH (96 100 94 98 97 97) 582 (37x)

Bronze - Mongolia 1773 pts (135x)
Bayara NYANTAI (98 99 98 98 100 100) 593 (47x)
Bishrel BOLDBAATAR (96 98 100 100 99 99) 592 (46x)
Enkhsaihan OLZOD (99 100 97 96 99 97) 588 (42x)

Good start of the Asian Championship for our shooters ... Today we won 1 Gold and 1 Silver ... Happy to see Abhinav getting back to the form and Gagan is also getting his touch back.

Abhinav Bindra qualified for the final in 3rd position with 597 points behind two Chinese, who were on 598 points ... After poor first round Gagan recovered to qualify in 5th with 595 points behind another Chinese, who were at 597 points ... Very high scoring final, where all 8 shooters scored over 100 pts in their 10 shots ... Our both Indians scored best top 2 scores in the final ... That helped Abhinav to beat Chinese duo to won the Gold medal but Gagan finished on 4th position despite solid shooting ... Very satisfying performance by Abhinav and Gagan in Olympics year.

In team event we managed to win Silver .. Our total score was only 1 point better than Mongolians ... But Chinese won the Gold with long distant ... They created a new world record bettering previous record of Russia by 1 point.

In 50m PISTOL MEN event we had poor results ... In team event we finished on dismissal 9th position ... In individual event, Om Prakash finished on 14th position with 554 points ... Omkar Singh finished on 20th and Amanpreet Singh on 21st with 548 points.

Badminton News
At $400K Malaysia Open (Superseries), Kuala Lumpur

[QF] (4) Saina Nehwal (IND,4) bt (5) Tine Baun (DEN,6) 21-13 21-23 21-13

Good win but Saina needs to learn finish the match whenever she get opportunity ... She had a opportunity to finish this match in straight games as she was in control and leading 14-10 in the second game and then a match point at 21-20.

Tennis News
At Australian Open 2012, Melbourne

[R1] Sania Mirza (IND,105) vs Tsvetana Pironkova (BUL,48)

Sania is having better draw considering her recent ranking ... She is facing top-50 Bulgarian Pironkova, who is clay court specialist ... Sania need patience to win against her.
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At $10K Turkey F1 futures, Antalya

[R2] (Q) Sanam SINGH (IND,887) bt Ricardo RODRIGUEZ (VEN,674) 62 62

[QF] (Q) Sanam SINGH (IND,887) bt Denis YEVSEYEV (KAZ,739) 64 62

[SF] (Q) Sanam SINGH (IND,887) vs (5) Michal KONECNY (CZE,370)

Sanam scored dominating with over Ricardo ... In the first set with double breaks he take 4-0 lead and won this set ... In the second set he again broke Ricardo in 1st game and then again broke him in 7th game to completed easy win.

In quarters also Sanam faced another 17yrs old, Kazakh's Denis Yevseyev ... After winning the first set with a single break Sanam dominated the second ... In the second set Sanam broke him in 3rd and 7th games ... Now real test for Sanam against top-375 Czech player in the semis.

Badminton News
At $400K Malaysia Open (Superseries), Kuala Lumpur

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

[R2] Diju V. (IND)/ Jwala Gutta (IND) l Peng Soon Chan (MAS)/ Liu Ying Goh (MAS) 19-21 23-21 19-21

[QF] (4) Saina Nehwal (IND,4) vs (5) Tine Baun (DEN,6)

Cheng take 6-2 early lead in the first game ... Major part of the game She kept lead this lead but from 15-19 Saina won next 6 points to won this game ... In the second game Saina take early 7-1 lead which she kept increasing ... She won the second game comfortably to won this match in 31 minutes.

In quarters Saina is facing Tine Baun, hopefully Saina will repeat her winning performance against her ... In their last meeting at World Superseries Finals Saina defeated her in straight games, 21-17 21-18.

Diju and Jwala lost close match in 55 mins ... Thay had a chances of winning this match ... In the first game from 8-all they take couple of points lead but Malaysian pair fought back from 16-18 down and won next 4 points and converted 2nd game point to won this ... In the second game Diju and Jwala had couple of points lead till 16-13 ... They saved a match point at 19-20 before winning this game ... In the decider Malaysian pair take early lead before our pair fought back and take 17-15 lead ... But again Malaysian pair won last 3 points from 18-19 to won this match.

Tennis News
At $$434,250 Sydney International, Australia

[QF] Leander Peas (IND)/ Radek Stepanek (CZE) l (1) Mike Bryan (USA)/ Bob Bryan (USA) 67(5) 67(7)

In the first set both pairs didnot lose a serve though Lee and Radek saved a break point ... Bryans won the tie-break on single mini-break ... In the second set Lee and Radek were up with early break 4-1 but Bryans fought back to make it 5-all .. In tie-break also Lee and Radek were up with mini-break, 2-1, but again Bryans tfought back and made it 4-5 ... Bryans had a match point at 6-5 but our pair saved on their serve ... Bryans had another match point with mini-break at 7-6 but this time our pair broke Bryans to save that ... Bryans converted 3rd match point at 8-7 with another mini-break and cmpleted victory in 1 hour and 35 minutes.

Overall encouraging performance from this new pair of Lee and Radek against Bryans.
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At $10K Turkey F1 futures, Antalya

[Q3] (6) Sanam SINGH (IND,887) bt (13) Cheong-Eui KIM (KOR,1139) 64 64

[R1] (Q) Sanam SINGH (IND,887) bt (WC) Vaja UZAKOV (UZB,1507) 67(5) 60 63

[R2] (Q) Sanam SINGH (IND,887) vs Ricardo RODRIGUEZ (VEN,674)

Heavy rain disrupted playing schedule at Antalya ... Now in 3 days Sanam need to play 6 matches if he reaches to the final.

Sanam produced strong comeback in the match after losing the first set against Vaja, who is former top-650 player ... Next Sanam is facing talented 17 yrs old Venezuelan Ricardo Rodriguez, tricky match.

Tennis News
At $$434,250 Sydney International, Australia

[R1] Leander Peas (IND)/ Radek Stepanek (CZE) bt Fabio Fognini (ITA)/ Dmitry Tursunov (RUS) 76(3) 63

[QF] Leander Peas (IND)/ Radek Stepanek (CZE) vs (1) Mike Bryan (USA)/ Bob Bryan (USA)

Winning start for new pairing of Lee and Radek against experienced doubles players ... Next thet r having toughest test against WR #1 pair Bryans.
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At $15K China F2 Futures, Shenzhen

[R1] Saketh Myneni (IND,712) l (7) Wu Di (CHN,421) 06 Retd.

So last week's injury doesn't look minor ... Saketh need to take time-off from thr tour for full recovery.

Badminton News
At $400K Malaysia Open (Superseries), Kuala Lumpur

[R1] Ajay Jayaram (IND,28) l (7) Simon Santoso (INA,7) 21-9 18-21 16-21
[R1] (4) Saina Nehwal (IND,4) bt Juan Gu (SIN,20) 19-21 21-14 21-15

[R1] Rupesh Kumar (IND)/ Sanave THomas (IND) l (4) Kien Keat Koo (MAS)/ Boon Heong Tan (MAS) 14--21 13-21
[R1] Jwala Gutta (IND)/ Ashwini Ponnappa (IND) l (7) Christinna Pedersen (DEN)/ Kamilla Rytter Juhl (DEN) 13-21 21-15 17-21
[R1] Diju V. (IND)/ Jwala Gutta (IND) bt Chayut Triyachart (SIN)/ Lei Yao (SIN) 21-13 19-21 21-16

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

[R2] Diju V. (IND)/ Jwala Gutta (IND) vs Peng Soon Chan (MAS)/ Liu Ying Goh (MAS)

Winning start for Diju and Jwala ... After winning the first game easily Singaporean pair fought back to won tight the second game ... Our pair kept cool in the decider to book place in the second round ... They will face local pair who upset 5th seed Taipei pair.

Unnecessary 3 games match for Sania ... After losing the first game in next 2 games she take control early to completed win in 56 minutes.

Ajay started well and dominated the first game to win it comfortably but from mid-second game he lost control of the match and lost match to Santoso.

Jwala and Ashwini gave fighting performance against 7th seed Danish pair after losing the first game ... They won the second but Danish pair proved strong for them in the decider.

Tennis News
At Australian Open 2012, Melbourne


Somdev Devvarman has now officially withdrawn from Australian open due to shoulder injury ... Chances r high that he may be going for minor shoulder surgery to rectify his shoulder ... Get well soon Sommy.

Badminton News
At $400K Malaysia Open (Superseries), Kuala Lumpur

[Q1] Anand Pawar (IND,66) l Mohamad Arif Abdul Latif (MAS,52) 20-22 18-21
[Q1] Gurusaidutt RMV (IND,40) l Daren Liew (MAS,47) 16-21 21-13 23-25
[Q1] (3) Sindhu PV (IND,31) l Lydia Li Ya Cheah (MAS,87) 21-17 16-21 18-21

[R1] Ajay Jayaram (IND,28) vs (7) Simon Santoso (INA,7)
[R1] (4) Saina Nehwal (IND,4) vs Juan Gu (SIN,20)

[R1] Rupesh Kumar (IND)/ Sanave THomas (IND) vs (4) Kien Keat Koo (MAS)/ Boon Heong Tan (MAS)
[R1] Jwala Gutta (IND)/ Ashwini Ponnappa (IND) vs (7) Christinna Pedersen (DEN)/ Kamilla Rytter Juhl (DEN)
[R1] Diju V. (IND)/ Jwala Gutta (IND) vs Chayut Triyachart (SIN)/ Lei Yao (SIN)

Our all 3 players from qualifying lost in the first round of qualifying ... Guru and Sindhu r showing inconsistency in their results ... Guru had 2 match points in the third game at 21-20 and 22-21 but failed to convert ... Liew converted 3rd match point to complete the win.

Kashyap withdrew from this superseries tournament also.

Tennis News
At $$434,250 Sydney International, Australia

Doubles
[R1] Leander Peas (IND)/ Radek Stepanek (CZE) vs Fabio Fognini (ITA)/ Dmitry Tursunov (RUS)

From this week at Sydney Lee is staring with Stepanek who is his parner on the tour for 2012 season.
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At $637K Sydney International, Australia

Doubles
[SF] Sania Mirza (IND)/ Roberta Vinci (ITA) l All Kudryavtseva (RUS)/ Ekaterina Makarova (RUS) 36 64 8-10

This week Sania partnered Vinci and they lost in the first round against Russian pair in STB.
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At $15K China F2 Futures, Shenzhen

[R1] Saketh Myneni (IND,712) vs (7) Wu Di (CHN,421)

Though Di is top-500 player still these days Saketh is playing like top-500 player so I would say similar ranked players match ... But Di having huge advantage of his home court and also he played good matches in last week at Hopman cup.
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At $10K Turkey F1 futures, Antalya

[Q1] (6) Sanam SINGH (IND,887) bye
[Q2] (6) Sanam SINGH (IND,887) bt Anton YUDKIN (RUS,UNR) 60 61

[Q3] (6) Sanam SINGH (IND,887) vs (13) Cheong-Eui KIM (KOR,1139)

Sad to see Sanam is still playing in qualifying for $20K tournament but that was his fault ... He missed 4 weeks of Indian futures which can helped him to push his ranking inside top-600.

Tennis News
At Chennai Open 2012, India

Doubles Final
(3) Leander Peas (IND)/ Janko Tipsarevic (SRB) bt (4) Jonathan Erlich (ISR)/ Andy Ram (ISR) 64 64

So this so called 'scratch' pair lift the title at Chennai Open beating experienced Israeli pair in straight sets ... Leander lifted the Chennai title for the 6th time with his 48th tour-level doubles trophy and Janko's first doubles title. ... Today Janko showed tremendous commitment on the court before doubles final he played 3 hours 15 minutes singles final against Canadian Raonic ... Janko lost that final in 3 closely fought tie-breaks, 76(4) 67(4) 67(4), but came back on the court and won the doubles title with Leander.

In the first set Paes and Tipsarevic take a 3-0 lead with double break before Israeli pair broke back but one break advantage was enough to won the first set ... In the second set also Paes and Tipsarevic broke Erlich in 1st game but Israeli pair immediately broke back breaking Lee's serve to make it 1-all ... In 4th game on Janko's serve Israeli had 2 break points but Lee and Janko saved those ... In 9th game Paes put pressure on Erlich's serve with excellent returns and net game ... With Tipsarevic's help he broke Erich's serve and then Lee served for the match ... He hold comfortably to completed straight sets victory after 74 minutes.

Tennis News
At Chennai Open 2012, India

Doubles
[SF] (1) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Rohan Bopanna (IND) l (4) Jonathan Erlich (ISR)/ Andy Ram (ISR) 64 36 8-10
[SF] (3) Leander Peas (IND)/ Janko Tipsarevic (SRB) bt (2) Scott Lipsky (USA)/ Rajeev Ram (USA) 62 67(1) 10-7

[F] (3) Leander Peas (IND)/ Janko Tipsarevic (SRB) vs (4) Jonathan Erlich (ISR)/ Andy Ram (ISR)

Mahesh and Rohan started positively and take early break in 1st game ... This break was enough for them to won the first set ... In the second set also Rohan and Mahesh was up 2-0 but after that Israeli pair fought back ... They broke Mahesh's serve twice to won the second set ... In super tie-break Israeli pair proved strong for Indian pair.

Lee and Janko started in top gear and won the first set with double break ... From the middle of the second set Ram and Lipsky started fight back and won this set after dominating the tie-break ... In super tie-break Ram and Lipsky were up early with double mini-break, 5-0 ... But Lee and Janko produced fight back on crowd support ... They won 10 points from next 12 points to complete remarkable comeback win.

Tennis News
At $220K ASB Classic, Auckland, New Zealand

[SF] (2) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Elena Vesnina (RUS) l (4) Flavia Pennetta (ITA)/ Julia Goerges (GER) 62 67(2) 9-11

Saina and Elena lost in a topsy-turvy match against 4th seed ... After winning the first set comfortably out pair had a chance to finish in the second but failed to win crucial points ... In the super tie break also they were up many times but gave opportunities to Pennetta and Goerges to fought back ... They broke Pennetta twice when she was serving for the match but then Vesnina lost point on her serve while serving for the match ... Goerges won the point on her serve to completed victory after saving a match point.
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At $15K China F1 Futures, Shenzhen

[QF] Saketh Myneni (IND,712) l Austin Krajicek (USA,760) 63 26 2-3 Retd.

Saketh retired against Austin Krajicek in the decider ... He started well winning the first set but Austin came back to win the second set comfortably before Saketh's retirement after 5th game in the third set ... Hoping for no serious injury issue and just case of cramps.

Badminton News
At $1M Victor Korea Open 2012, Seoul (Superseries Premier)

[QF] (4) Saina Nehwal (IND,4) l (6) Yanjiao Jiang (CHN,6) 17-21 10-21

[QF] Diju V. (IND)/ Jwala Gutta (IND) l (3) Joachim Fischer Nielsen (DEN)/ Christinna Pedersen (DEN) 19-21 12-21

Usual old story for Saina against Chinese opponent who trouble her with their game ... She take early lead 7-3 then 8-6 before Jiang take control of the first game and won it ... In the second game Jiang take 7-3 lead after 4-all ... Jiang increased it to 13-6 from 7-6 ... Jiang won last 4 points on trot to complete dominating victory over Saina in 36 minutes.

Day by day Saina's game is exposed by Chinese girls with their ability to play smart drop shots and all court game .. Still Saina and her coaching team struggling to find solution for that.

Jwala and Diju produced some fighting performance in the first game but Danish pair dominated the second to complete solid win.

Tennis News
At $398,250 Chennai Open 2012, India

[R2] (WC) Yuki Bhambri (IND,345) l (1) Janko Tipsarevic (SRB,9) 16 36

Doubles
[QF] (1) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Rohan Bopanna (IND) bt Andreas Beck (GER)/ Stanislas Wawrinka (SUI) 64 76(3)
[QF] (3) Leander Peas (IND)/ Janko Tipsarevic (SRB) bt Fabio Fognini (ITA)/ Igor Zelenay (SVK) 63 64

[SF] (1) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Rohan Bopanna (IND) vs (4) Jonathan Erlich (ISR)/ Andy Ram (ISR)
[SF] (3) Leander Peas (IND)/ Janko Tipsarevic (SRB) vs (2) Scott Lipsky (USA)/ Rajeev Ram (USA)

In this match Janko gave some fine lessons to Yuki of top 25 quality player ... In the first set Yuki was mere spectator to superb tennis by Janko ... Janko broke him in 1st, 5th and 7th games to won this set easily ... In the second set Yuki played better tennis ... He matched shot to shot with Janko ... Yuki had a break point in 3rd game with couple of quality passing shots but he failed to convert ... Janko broke him in 4th game when Yuki double faulted on break point ... Despite break down Yuki gave spirited performance on the court ... He played some amazing shots and engaged in some long rallies matching Janko ... After the break both players hold their respective service games to gave Janko deserving victory but today again Yuki showed a spark of becoming top quality player ... Hopefully he will achieve that with proper guidance and fitness regime.

Today Mahesh and Rohan r gelling lot better than their first round match ... They broke Andreas Beck's serve in the first game and did not face a single break point on their service games to won this first set ... In the second set both pairs hold comfortably till seventh game but in 8th game Wawrinka hit superb cross court passing shot and them Mahesh hit forehand in the net to lose his serve to down 3-5... Our pair immediately broke back with superb service returns from Mahesh when Wawrinka was serving for the set ... In tie-break our pair started with mini-break on Wawrinka's serve but on next point Mahesh made unforced error on easy volley ... Again our pair take mini-break on Beck's serve on 4th point ... On Mahesh's serve on 7th point Wawrinka hit superb down the line forehand to break back, 4-3 ... Next on Wawrinka's serve our both players hit solid service returns for double break and then on match point Rohan served big to complete victory for top-seeds.

Lee and Janko r looking lot more like gelled pair than Rohan and Mahesh ... They targeted Fognini in this match ... They broke Fognini in 4th game to take 4-1 lead but Fognini and Zelenay fought back breaking Lee's serve in 7th game to make it 3-4 ... In 8th game Janko and Lee again broke Fognini to take 5-3 lead and then Janko hold at 30 to won the first set ... In the second set all 4 players hold their respective service games ... Lee and Janko take crucial break in 5th game breaking big server Zelenay ... After that both pairs hold their serves to completed straight sets victory for Lee and Janki.
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At $15K China F1 Futures, Shenzhen

[R2] Saketh Myneni (IND,712) bt Liang-Chi Huang (TPE,635) 62 64

[QF] Saketh Myneni (IND,712) vs Austin Krajicek (USA,760)

Saketh scored another upset win over talented Taipei youngster in straight sets ... He is showing very good consistency in his results from Indian futures leg ... Next he is facing American Krajicek to place in the semis.

Badminton News
At $1M Victor Korea Open 2012, Seoul (Superseries Premier)

[R2] (4) Saina Nehwal (IND,4) bt Shao Chieh Cheng (TPE,11) 21-14 21-10

[R2] Jwala Gutta (IND)/ Ashwini Ponnappa (IND) l (1) Xiaoli Wang (CHN)/ Yang (F) Yu (CHN) 10-21 17-21
[R2] Diju V. (IND)/ Jwala Gutta (IND) bt Sung Hyun Ko (KOR)/ Hye Won Eom (KOR) 21-7 10-21 21-16

[QF] (4) Saina Nehwal (IND,4) vs (6) Yanjiao Jiang (CHN,6)

[QF] Diju V. (IND)/ Jwala Gutta (IND) vs (3) Joachim Fischer Nielsen (DEN)/ Christinna Pedersen (DEN)

Saina scored another one-sided win, this time over WR #11 Shao Chieh Cheng showing her the first round dominant win wasn't fluke ... In this match Saina never was in any trouble ... Next she is facing Chinese WR #6 Yanjiao Jiang ... Saina having 0-3 win-loss against her but interestingly all wins r before October 2009 and after that they r first time meeting.

After losing the first game easily Jwala and Ashwini gave respectable performance in the second game against WR #1 Chinese pair.

Jwala and Diju reached in the quarters beating local unranked pair in 3 games ... Next they r facing 3rd seed Danish pair, who r dominating our pair in their recent matches.