Wrestling News
At Asian Qualifying Tournament 2012, Astana

Freestyle - 55kg
[QF] Amit Kumar (IND) bt Basheer Ahmed Mohammed Al Yamani (YEM) 6-0
[SF] Amit Kumar (IND) bt Xiaobin Hong (CHN) 6-1

[F] Amit Kumar (IND) bt Shinichi Yumoto (JPN) 0-0 (5-0 on technical points)

Freestyle - 60kg
[R1] Yogeshwar Dutt (IND) bt Ulan Nadyrbek Uulu (KGZ) 7-7 (3-1 on technical points)
[QF] Yogeshwar Dutt (IND) bt Dilshod Mansurov (UZB) 8-2
[SF] Yogeshwar Dutt (IND) bt Mandakhnaran Ganzorig (MGL) 8-0

[F] Yogeshwar Dutt (IND) l Masoud Mahmoud Esmaeil Poorjouybari (IRI) 2-4

Freestyle - 66kg
[R1] Sushil KUmar (IND) bt Innokentii Innokentev (KGZ) 4-1
[QF] Sushil Kumar (IND) bt Zalimkhan Yusupov (TJK) 3-3 (3-1 on technical points)

[SF} Sushil Kumar (IND) l Akzhurek Tanatarov (KAZ) 2-5

Young Amit Kumar (55kg) and Yogeshwar Dutt (60kg) became the first set of Indian wrestlers to book their London Olympics berths by clinching a gold and silver medal respectively at the Asian Qualifying Tournament ... But the fancied Sushil Kumar (66kg) failed to make the cut in Astana, Kazakhstan.

The finalists in each weight category won tickets to the London Games in the ongoing event and Asian champion Yogeshwar and Amit were the only Indians who were able to do so in the freestyle event today.

Sushil won a medal when he defeated China's Ye Erlanbieke Katai 3-1 in the repechage bout to clinch the bronze.

Narsingh Yadav (74Kg), Pawan Kumar (84kg) and Mausam Khatri (96kg) crashed out in the first round of the tournament ... They all need to try their London Olympics qualification from these last 2 tournaments at China (April 27-29) or Finland (May 4-6).

Squash News
At $70K KL Open, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

[Q1] Dipika Pallikal (IND,15) bt Zuljijah Binti Azan (MAS,133) 11-2 11-5 11-7 (26m)
[Q1] Siddarth Suchde (IND,64) l Leo Au (HKG,106) 11-6 13-11 7-11 12-14 10-12 (122m)

[Q2] Dipika Pallikal (IND,15) bt Nour El Tayeb (EGY,18) 12-10 5-11 11-8 9-11 11-6 (60m)

[R1] Saurav Ghosal (IND,26) bt (Q) Abdullah Al Muzayen (KUW,91) 9-11 11-8 11-8 11-6 (45m)
[R1] (Q) Dipika Pallikal (IND,15) bt (8) Kasey Brown (AUS,7) 11-6 11-7 11-9 (40m)

[QF] Saurav Ghosal (IND,26) l (3) Omar Mosaad (EGY,14) 7-11 9-11 11-4 7-11
[QF] (Q) Dipika Pallikal (IND,15) l (1) Nicol David (MAS,1) 5-11 2-11 6-11

At Kuala Lumpur open Dipika scored her first win against a top-10 player in her short career ... She defeated WR #7 Australian Kasey Brown in straight games ... In the final qualifying Dipika scored very hard fought win over current junior world championship runner-up and very talented young Egyptian Nour El Tayeb in 5 games ... In the quarters Dipika lost against Malaysian WR #1 Nicol David.

Saurav also played here and lost in the quarters against Egyptian Omar Mosaad.

Tennis News
At $4.8M Miami Masters, USA

[SF] (6) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Rohan Bopanna (IND) l (2) Max Mirnyi (BLR)/ Daniel Nestor (CAN) 26 46
[SF] (7) Leander Paes (IND)/ Radek Stepanek (CZE) bt (1) Mike Bryan (USA)/ Bob Bryan (USA) 64 64

[F] (7) Leander Paes (IND)/ Radek Stepanek (CZE) vs (2) Max Mirnyi (BLR)/ Daniel Nestor (CAN)

Lee and Radek score convincing victory over Bryans and enter into the final ... Simply showed their win against Bryans at Australian open wasn't fluke ... In the first set Radek and Lee didn't face a single break point on their serves but had 5 break points on Bryans serve and converted one to won the first set ... In the second set Bryans converted one break point which they got but Lee and Radek converted two from six to won this set and match.

Mahesh and ROhan failed to take advantage ... In this match both pairs got six break points, our pair failed to convert one but Nestor and Zimo converted three ... In the first set Nestor and Zimo converted 2 from 2 and our pair wasted 2 break points ... In the second Nestor and Zimo converted 1 from 4 but again our pair wasted all 4.
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At $10K Bahrain F1 Futures 2012, Manama

[SF] Zach ITZSTEIN (AUS)/ Ashwin VIJAYRAGAVAN (IND) l Jeremy JAHN (GER)/ Matthew SHORT (GBR) 57 67(3)

Ashwin and his Australian partner lost close doubles semi-final.

Tennis News
At $4.8M Miami Masters, USA

[QF] (7) Leander Paes (IND)/ Radek Stepanek (CZE) bt David Marrero (ESP)/ Fernando Verdasco (ESP) 76(6) 64

[SF] (6) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Rohan Bopanna (IND) vs (2) Max Mirnyi (BLR)/ Daniel Nestor (CAN)
[SF] (7) Leander Paes (IND)/ Radek Stepanek (CZE) vs (1) Mike Bryan (USA)/ Bob Bryan (USA)

Spanish pair stretched Lee and Radek in the first set but after winning the first set in tie-break they won the second with a single break ... In the semis they r facing top-seed Bryans and Mahesh-Rohan r facing 2nd seed Nestor and Mirnyi.
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At $10K Kazakhstan F1 Futures 2012, Almaty

[R2] (1) Jeevan NEDUNCHEZHIYAN (IND,524) l Dmitriy MAKEYEV (KAZ,997) 62 36 1-4 Retd

Doubles
[SF] (3) Jeevan NEDUNCHEZHIYAN (IND)/ Vaja UZAKOV (UZB) l (1) Vitaliy KACHANOVSKIY (RUS)/ Alexander PAVLIOUTCHENKOV (RUS) W/O

In the second set Jeevan got injured and then he retired in the final set ... They gave walkover in the doubles and Jeevan withdraw from next week's Kazak futures ... So looks serious injury ... Hopefully he will be fit before Indian futures.
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At $10K Bahrain F1 Futures 2012, Manama

[QF] Zach ITZSTEIN (AUS)/ Ashwin VIJAYRAGAVAN (IND) bt (4) Libor SALABA (CZE)/ Michal SCHMID (CZE) 76(2) 64

[SF] Zach ITZSTEIN (AUS)/ Ashwin VIJAYRAGAVAN (IND) vs Jeremy JAHN (GER)/ Matthew SHORT (GBR)

After winning the first round in STB against local pair they upset 4th seed Czech pair in the quarters ... In the semis they r facing another unseeded German-British pair who upset top-seed in the quarters.

Tennis News
At $4.8M Miami Masters, USA

[QF] (6) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Rohan Bopanna (IND) bt (3) Michael Llodra (FRA)/ Nenad Zimonjic (SRB) 26 63 10-8

Mahesh and Rohan scored superb comeback win over strong pairing of Llodra and Zimo ... After losing the first set easily they fought back to won the second and then STB ... Important win for Mahesh as he is defending 1000 pts in Miami.
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At $10K Kazakhstan F1 Futures 2012, Almaty

[R1] (1) Jeevan NEDUNCHEZHIYAN (IND,524) bt (Q) Kuatbek ABIYEV (KAZ,UNR) 75 63

[R2] (1) Jeevan NEDUNCHEZHIYAN (IND,524) vs Dmitriy MAKEYEV (KAZ,997)

Doubles
[QF] (3) Jeevan NEDUNCHEZHIYAN (IND)/ Vaja UZAKOV (UZB) bt Vladislav DUBINSKY (RUS)/ Alexey VATUTIN (RUS) 63 64

[SF] (3) Jeevan NEDUNCHEZHIYAN (IND)/ Vaja UZAKOV (UZB) vs (1) Vitaliy KACHANOVSKIY (RUS)/ Alexander PAVLIOUTCHENKOV (RUS)

Jeevan started with straight sets victory though little tight win against local qualifier ... Next in the second round he is facing another local player ... In doubles also Jeevan entered into the semis and facing top-seed Russian pair.
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At $10K Bahrain F1 Futures 2012, Manama

[R1] (Q) Ashwin VIJAYRAGAVAN (IND,1606) l Libor SALABA (CZE,881) 63 57 36

Doubles
[R1] Zach ITZSTEIN (AUS)/ Ashwin VIJAYRAGAVAN (IND) bt (WC) Omar AWADHY (UAE)/ Hamad Abbas JANAHI (UAE) 63 46 10-5

[QF] Zach ITZSTEIN (AUS)/ Ashwin VIJAYRAGAVAN (IND) vs (4) Libor SALABA (CZE)/ Michal SCHMID (CZE)

Another close loss for Ashwin ... Last 2 weeks he qualified for main-draw and gave fighting performances ... Needs victory in main-draw to earn ATP point.

But winning start with Australian partner in doubles against local pair.

Tennis News
At $4.8M Miami Masters, USA

[R2] (7) Leander Paes (IND)/ Radek Stepanek (CZE) bt Colin Fleming (GBR)/ Ross Hutchins (GBR) 64 63
[R2] (6) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Rohan Bopanna (IND) bt Marcel Granollers (ESP)/ Rafael Nadal (ESP) 64 63

[QF] (7) Leander Paes (IND)/ Radek Stepanek (CZE) vs David Marrero (ESP)/ Fernando Verdasco (ESP)
[QF] (6) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Rohan Bopanna (IND) vs (3) Michael Llodra (FRA)/ Nenad Zimonjic (SRB)

Really good win by Rohan and Mahesh against tricky Spanish pair of Nadal and Granollers ... In last 2 matches they served really well ... Hopefully this will continue in next match against Zimo and Llodra.

Lee and Radek scored comfortable win over British pair ... Next they r facing unseeded Spanish pair.
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At $10K Kazakhstan F1 Futures 2012, Almaty

[R1] (1) Jeevan NEDUNCHEZHIYAN (IND,524) vs (Q) Kuatbek ABIYEV (KAZ,UNR)

Doubles
[R1] (3) Jeevan NEDUNCHEZHIYAN (IND)/ Vaja UZAKOV (UZB) bye

[QF] (3) Jeevan NEDUNCHEZHIYAN (IND)/ Vaja UZAKOV (UZB) vs Vladislav DUBINSKY (RUS)/ Alexey VATUTIN (RUS)

Jeevan is facing local qualifier in the first round ... In the doubles he and his Uzbek partner received bye ... Next they r facing Russian pair.
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At $10K Bahrain F1 Futures 2012, Manama

[Q1] (8) Ashwin VIJAYRAGAVAN (IND,1606) bt Hamad Abbas JANAHI (UAE,UNR) 62 60
[Q2] (8) Ashwin VIJAYRAGAVAN (IND,1606) bt (9) Antonio GARCIA SANCHEZ (ESP,1838) 60 61

[R1] (Q) Ashwin VIJAYRAGAVAN (IND,1606) vs Libor SALABA (CZE,881)

Ashwin qualified for main-draw.

Tennis News
At $4.8M Miami Masters, USA

[R1] (6) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Rohan Bopanna (IND) bt Jurgen Melzer (AUT)/ Jamie Murray (GBR) 75 63
[R1] (3) Elena Vesnina (RUS)/ Sania Mirza (IND) l (WC) Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (RUS)/ Lucie Safarova (CZE) 61 16 9-11

[R2] (6) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Rohan Bopanna (IND) vs Marcel Granollers (ESP)/ Rafael Nadal (ESP)

Really good winning start for Mahesh and Rohan against potentially dangerous pair ... In the first set our pair saved a break point in 11th game before breaking opponent's in 12th game to won it ... In the second set our pair broke opponent's in 2nd game to lead 3-0 and kept that lead to won this match ... Next match also tricky one against Spanish pair, Marcel Granollers and Rafael Nadal.

After winning the first set comfortably Sania and Elena lost the second on similar score ... In STB Sania and Elena were dowm 4-7 but they fought back to make it 8-all ... Saved a match point at 8-9 but double faulted to gave 2nd match point to Pavlyuchenkova and Safarova, which they converted to score upset win.

Athletic News
At Spring Break Collegiate Invitational 2012, UC Irvine - Results

The discus thrower from Haryana Seema Antil qualified for Women's Discus Throw with A Standard ... She threw 62.60m in the Spring Break Collegiate Invitational on Saturday ... She joins Krishna Poonia as the second entry in discus for the Olympics.

Tennis News
At $4.8M Miami Masters, USA

[R1] (7) Leander Paes (IND)/ Radek Stepanek (CZE) bt Marcos Baghdatis (CYP)/ Sam Querrey (USA) 62 76(3)

[R2] (7) Leander Paes (IND)/ Radek Stepanek (CZE) vs Colin Fleming (GBR)/ Ross Hutchins (GBR)

Lee and Radek started with good win against tricky pair ... After winning the first set easily Baghdatis and Querrey stretched Lee and Radek to tie-break ... Next they r facing British pair.

Tennis News
At $25K ITF Womenn's Tournament, Banglore, India

[SF] (WC) Kyra Shroff (IND,888) l Donna VEKIC (CRO,390) 16 67(4)

Doubles
[SF] Rushmi CHAKRAVARTHI (IND)/ Ankita RAINA (IND) l (1) Tamaryn HENDLER (BEL)/ Melanie KLAFFNER (AUT) 57 75 2-10

Kyra tried fightback after losing the first set easily against 15 yrs old talented Croatian Donna Vekic ... In the second set she was up with double breaks after breaking Vekic in 3rd and 5th games, 4-1 ... But Vekic broke back in 6th and again she broke Kyra when she was serving for the set in 10th game, 5-all ... In tie-break Vekic proved strong but still creditable performance by Kyra in this Banglore ITF>

Tennis News
At $4.8M Miami Masters, USA


[R1] (7) Leander Paes (IND)/ Radek Stepanek (CZE) vs Marcos Baghdatis (CYP)/ Sam Querrey (USA)
[R1] (6) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Rohan Bopanna (IND) vs Jurgen Melzer (AUT)/ Jamie Murray (GBR)

Lee and Mahesh are defending champion so they r defending 1000 points but this time both r playing with their new partners ... Both pairs having tricky first round matches.
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At $50K Bath Challenger, Great Britain

[R1] Purav Raja (IND)/ James Cluskey (IRL) l (3) Jamie Delgado (GBR)/ Ken Skupski (GBR) 46 63 8-10

Purav and his Irish partner lost in the first round against British pair in STB.
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At $25K ITF Womenn's Tournament, Banglore, India

[QF] (WC) Kyra Shroff (IND,888) bt (Q) Nungnadda WANNASUK (THA,598) 63 64

[SF] (WC) Kyra Shroff (IND,888) vs Donna VEKIC (CRO,390)

Doubles
[SF] Rushmi CHAKRAVARTHI (IND)/ Ankita RAINA (IND) vs (1) Tamaryn HENDLER (BEL)/ Melanie KLAFFNER (AUT)

Kyra continue with her terrific run in this $25K tournament ... She is earning chunk of points through this big tournament that will elevate her to India's #2 in Women singles ranking.

Against Nungnadda, Kyra was up with early break 3-1 ... Nungnadda broke back in 5th game, 2-3, but Kyra immediately broke her in 6th to retained one break lead, 4-2 ... Kyra kept that lead to won the first set ... In the second set also Kyra was up with early break 3-1 but again Nungnadda fought back breaking Kyra in 6th game, 3-all ... Kyra take crucial break in 9th game and then comfortably hold her serve to completed another upset win.

Next Kyra is facing 15 yrs old talented Croatian, who upset Belgian top-seed in the quarters.
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At $10K UAE F1 Futures 2012, Fujairah

[QF] (4) Jeevan NEDUNCHEZHIYAN (IND,524) l (7) Jules MARIE (FRA,720) 57 36

Jeevan lost against Frenchman ... Need to show consistency against these lower ranked opponents.

Tennis News
At $25K ITF Womenn's Tournament, Banglore, India

[R2] Kyra SHROFF (IND,888) bt Nicole CLERICO (ITA,526) 63 63

[QF] (WC)Kyra Shroff (IND,888) vs (Q) Nungnadda WANNASUK (THA,598)

Doubles
[QF] Tamara CUROVIC (SRB)/ Rishika SUNKARA (IND) l (1) Tamaryn HENDLER (BEL)/ Melanie KLAFFNER (AUT) 46 46
[QF] Rushmi CHAKRAVARTHI (IND)/ Ankita RAINA (IND) bt Martina CACIOTTI (ITA)/ Agnese ZUCCHINI (ITA) 76(4) 63

Another terrific win by Kyra against veteran and experienced Italian Cerico ... Kyra gave clinical performance to won this match in straight sets ... Really happy to see she is performing well in this bigger ITF tournament.

Next she is facing Thai qualifier Nungnadda Wannasuk, who upset 7th seed Korean.
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At $10K UAE F1 Futures 2012, Fujairah

[R2] (4) Jeevan NEDUNCHEZHIYAN (IND,524) bt (Q) Antonio GARCIA SANCHEZ (ESP,1846) 63 62

[QF] (4) Jeevan NEDUNCHEZHIYAN (IND,524) vs (7) Jules MARIE (FRA,720)

Another good easy win by Jeevan ... Next in the quarters he is facing young 20 yrs old 7th seed Frenchman Jules Marie

Tennis News
At $4.8M Miami Masters, USA

[Q2] Sania Mirza (IND,127) l (10) Sloane Stephens (USA,90) 26 46

Doubles
[R1] (3) Elena Vesnina (RUS)/ Sania Mirza (IND) vs (WC) Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (RUS)/ Lucie Safarova (CZE)

20 yrs Sloane Stephens proved too stong for Sania .. She overpowered Sania for comfortable win ... In the first set she broke Sania in 3rd and 7th games to won it ... In the second set Sania was up with break at 3-1 but Sloane Stephens fought back breaking Sania in 5th and 7th games ... With single break advantage Sloane Stephens won the second set and match.

Sania and Elena r in top draw with top-seed Huber and Raymond ... In the first round our pair is facing tricky wild-card pair of Pavlyuchenkova and Safarova.
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At $25K ITF Womenn's Tournament, Bangalore, India

[R1] (WC) Prerna BHAMBRI (IND,212) l (1) Tamaryn HENDLER (BEL,670) 63 62
[R1] (WC) Kyra SHROFF (IND,888) bt (3) Zuzana LUKNAROVA (SVK,261) 63 63
[R1] (Q) Rishika SUNKARA (IND,944) l Nicole CLERICO (ITA,526) 61 36 26
[R1] (WC) Sharmada BALU (IND,840) l (7) Sung-Hee HAN (KOR,337) 36 76(3) 57
[R1] (Q) Nidhi CHILUMULA (IND,753) l (8) Melanie KLAFFNER (AUT,372) 06 16
[R1] (WC) Spurti SHIVALINGAIAH (IND,UNR) l (4) Andrea KOCH-BENVENUTO (CHI,279) 26 46
[R1] (Q) Ankita RAINA (IND,1106) l (5) Tadeja MAJERIC (SLO,304) 67(5) 46

[R2] Kyra SHROFF (IND,888) vs Nicole CLERICO (ITA,526)

Doubles
[R1] Tamara CUROVIC (SRB)/ Rishika SUNKARA (IND) bt (WC) Prerna BHAMBRI (IND)/ Ashvarya SHRIVASTAVA (IND) 61 60
[R1] Rushmi CHAKRAVARTHI (IND)/ Ankita RAINA (IND) bt Melis SEZER (TUR)/ Kyra SHROFF (IND) 16 62 10-7
[R1] Deniz KHAZANIUK (ISR)/ Ya ZHOU (CHN) bt (WC) Michaela FRLICKA (GER)/ Spurti SHIVALINGAIAH (IND) 75 63
[R1] (3) Sung-Hee HAN (KOR)/ Keren SHLOMO (ISR) bt Seda ARANTEKIN (TUR)/ Sharmada BALU (IND) 63 76(1)
[R1] (2) Nicole CLERICO (ITA)/ Zuzana LUKNAROVA (SVK) bt (WC) Nidhi CHILUMULA (IND)/ Stephanie SCIMONE (ITA) 61 61

[QF] Tamara CUROVIC (SRB)/ Rishika SUNKARA (IND) vs (1) Tamaryn HENDLER (BEL)/ Melanie KLAFFNER (AUT)
[QF] Rushmi CHAKRAVARTHI (IND)/ Ankita RAINA (IND) vs Martina CACIOTTI (ITA)/ Agnese ZUCCHINI (ITA)

Last few months I was avoiding putting women's ITF scores due to one-sided losses of our players ... But in this on-going Bangalore ITF our players gave some heartening performances ... Rishika Sunkara, Sharmada Balu and Ankita Raina gave encouraging performances in their losses against experienced and higher ranked opponents.

Kyra shroff produced biggest upset of the tournament beating 3rd seed and in form Slovakian Zuzana Luknarova in straight sets ... After long time our player (other than Sania) defeated top-300 player ... Kyra need to show consistency and win next match against Italian veteran Nicole Clerico.

Tennis News
At $4.8M Miami Masters, USA

[Q1] Sania Mirza (IND,127) bt (18) Irina Falconi (USA,95) 76(4) 60

[Q2] Sania Mirza (IND,127) vs (10) Sloane Stephens (USA,90)

Sania take a 1st break in 3rd game to lead 2-1 but Falconi broke back in 6th game, 3-all ... Sania take a break in 11th game to lead 6-5 but while serving for the set she struggled with her 1st serve and on break point she double faulted, 6-all ... In tie-break Sania take control from the start and take 5-1 lead ... She kept that advantage to won the first set ... In the second set Sania served superbly and didn't give chance to Falconi ... She broke Falconi's serve in 2nd, 4th and 6th games to won a bagel set ... IN the second set Sania lost only 10 points and won this set in 25 minutes ... Next Sania is facing in form player Sloane Stephens.
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At $10K UAE F1 Futures 2012, Fujairah

[R1] (5) Sanam SINGH (IND,436) l Sam BARRY (IRL,735) 46 57
[R1] (4) Jeevan NEDUNCHEZHIYAN (IND,524) bt Lennert VAN DER LINDEN (NED,1072) 62 61
[R1] (Q) Ashwin VIJAYRAGAVAN (IND,1606) l Mark-Alexander KEPLER (GER,937) 36 46

[R2] (4) Jeevan NEDUNCHEZHIYAN (IND,524) vs (Q) Antonio GARCIA SANCHEZ (ESP,1846)

Bad loss for Sanam ... After his good run in Indian futures he need to win these matches in abroad futures ... Other hand easy win for Jeevan.

Tennis News
At $4.8M Miami Masters, USA

[Q1] Sania Mirza (IND,127) vs (18) Irina Falconi (USA,95)

Sania is in qualifying of Miami Masters.
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At $50K Bath Challenger, Great Britain

[R1] Purav Raja (IND)/ James Cluskey (IRL) vs (3) Jamie Delgado (GBR)/ Ken Skupski (GBR)

Tough first round against local seeded pair for Purav and his Irish partner.
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At $10K UAE F1 Futures 2012, Fujairah

[R1] (5) Sanam SINGH (IND,436) vs Sam BARRY (IRL,735)
[R1] (4) Jeevan NEDUNCHEZHIYAN (IND,524) vs Lennert VAN DER LINDEN (NED,1072)
[R1] (Q) Ashwin VIJAYRAGAVAN (IND,1606) vs Mark-Alexander KEPLER (GER,937)

With latest ranking updates Sanam first time entered into top-450 ranking after his hat-trick of titles in India ... Now interesting to see how he perform abroad futures.

At $125K Swiss Open 2012, Basel (GP Gold)

Women's Final
(3) Saina Nehwal (IND,5) bt (2) Shixian Wang (CHN,3) 21-19 21-16

Saina opened 5-0 lead which she increased to 11-3 but from here Shixian started fightback in this game ... Shixian caught with Saina and take 17-16 lead ... Saina won next 3 points to lead 19-17 and kept her nerves to convert 2nd game point to won the first game ... In the second game also Saina started strongly taking 3-0 but from 6-7 Shixian won next 5 points to take 11-7 lead ... Saina caught with her at 13-all ... From 15-all Saina won next 4 points to opened 19-15 lead and which she kept to scored comfortable straight games win over WR #3 Shixian Wang.

So Saina defended her Swiss open title beating 2 Chinese girls, Xin (F) Liu and Shixian Wang, so overall encouraging performance.

Tennis News
At $5.5M Indian Wells Masters, USA

[F] (2) Elena Vesnina (RUS)/ Sania Mirza (IND)l (1) Liezel Huber (USA)/ Lisa Raymond (USA) 26 36

Saina and Elena failed to defend their Indian Wells title ... Top-seed Huber and Raymond scored comfortable victory in 64 minutes to lift the title.

In the firs set Sania and Elena had 7 break point chances but they failed to convert ... Other hand Huber and Raymond had 4 break point chances and they converted 2 to won the first set ... In the second set also Huber and Raymond converted 2 break points from 4 and our pair managed to convert only 1 from 4.

Badminton News
At $125K Swiss Open 2012, Basel (GP Gold)

[SF] (3) Saina Nehwal (IND,4) bt Minatsu Mitani (JPN,33) 21-16 21-18

[F] (3) Saina Nehwal (IND,5) vs (2) Shixian Wang (CHN,3)

Saina reached the final beating unseeded Japanese Minatsu Mitani in straight games ... In the first game Saina take early 8-2 lead and which she kept until end to won the first game comfortably ... In the second game Mitani take early 7-3 lead but Saina won next 7 points to take 10-7 lead ... After that Saiana managed to hold her 2/3 points lead until the eand and Saina converted 2nd match point to complete the win in 35 minutes.

In the final Saina is facing WR #3 Chinese Shixian Wang ... Both players having 1-1 win-loss record but both matches played in 2010.

Badminton News
At $125K Swiss Open 2012, Basel (GP Gold)

[QF] (3) Saina Nehwal (IND,4) bt (6) Xin (F) Liu (CHN,12) 21-12 21-13

[SF] (3) Saina Nehwal (IND,5) vs Minatsu Mitani (JPN,33)


In both games Saina take control from the beginning and scored very dominating win over Chinese Xin (F) Liu ... She lost only 25 points in this one-sided 34 minutes match ... In the semis Saina is facing unseeded Japanese Minatsu Mitani.

Tennis News
At $5.5M Indian Wells Masters, USA

[SF] (2) Elena Vesnina (RUS)/ Sania Mirza (IND) bt (3) Andrea Hlavackova (CZE)/ Lucie Hradecka (CZE) 57 75 10-3

In the first set Czech pair started with serve and 4 breaks in first 4 games ... After holding their serve Czech pair again broke Vesnina in 6th to take 5-2 lead ... Sania hold in 7th and our pair broke Czech pair to brough this set back on the serve ... In 11th game our pair missed 3 break point chance and broke Sania's serve to won the first set ... In the second set Czech take early break to lead 4-1 ... Sania and Elena started fightback from 2-5 ... They saved 2 match points and broke Czech pair's serve in 9th game to back on serve at 4-5 ... Again they broke Czech pair's serve in 11th game and then Sania hold to won the second set ... After that our pair dominated super tie-break and won it comfortably losing only 3 points ... So with that defending champions r in the final with hard fought win ... They won this match despite poor serving ... They committed 7 double faults in the match.

Badminton News
At $125K Swiss Open 2012, Basel (GP Gold)

[R2] (3) Saina Nehwal (IND,4) bt (Q) Judith Meulendijks (NED,46) 19-21 21-10 21-6
[R2] Rupesh Kumar (IND)/ Sanave Thomas (IND) l (5) Alvent Yulianto Chandra (INA)/ Hendra Aprida Gunawan (INA) 16-21 21-11 14-21

[QF] (3) Saina Nehwal (IND,5) vs (6) Xin (F) Liu (CHN,12)


After losing the first game Saina made strong comeback in the match against Dutch qualifier and lost only 16 points in next 2 games and enter into the quarters ... From here Saina's Chinese test is starting ... She is facing Xin (F) Liu, surprisingly they never play against eachother .

Rupesh and Sanave gave decent performance in their lost against 5th seed Indonesian pair ... After losing the first game they won the second comfortably before losing the final game.

Swimming News
At the Singapore National Age Group Swimming Championships,

Good to see our 2 more swimmers completed the Olympic 'B' standard qualifying marks joining Sandeep Sejwal (100m breaststroke) and Maharashtra's Virdhawal Khade (100m free style).

At theSingapore National Age Group Swimming Championships, 18 yrs old Saurabh Sangvekar clocked 15:34.67 sec to win a gold in 1,500m free style, which was well under the 'B' qualifying mark of 15:43.74 sec.

19 yrs old Aaron D'Souza clocked a creditable one minute 50.89 seconds in the final, which was well inside the 'B' qualifying mark of 1:51.59.

Tennis News
At $5.5M Indian Wells Masters, USA

[QF] (2) Elena Vesnina (RUS)/ Sania Mirza (IND) bt Gisela Dulko (ARG)/ Paola Suárez (ARG) 62 63
[QF] (7) Leander Paes (IND)/ Radek Stepanek (CZE) l Marc Lopez (ESP)/ Rafael Nadal (ESP) 36 67(5)

[SF] (2) Elena Vesnina (RUS)/ Sania Mirza (IND) vs (3) Andrea Hlavackova (CZE)/ Lucie Hradecka (CZE)

Sania and Elena scored dominating win over Argentine pair and enter into the semis ... They will face 3rd seed Czech pair.

Spanish pair of Rafa and Marc proved strong for Lee and Radek ... After losing the first set Lee and Radek tried in the second but lost in tie-break.
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At $10K Spain F6 Futures 2012, Badalona (clay)

[R2] Mohit Mayur JAYAPRAKASH (IND) l (4) Ivan NEDELKO (RUS,408) 36 36

Doubles
[QF] (3) Juan Sebastian GOMEZ (COL)/ Mohit Mayur JAYAPRAKASH (IND) l Eric GARCIA CRESPO (ESP)/ Ryoma SLOANE (NZL) 63 57 9-11

After losing to seeded Russian in the singles Mohit Mayur and his Colombian partner lost in super tie-break.

Badminton News
At $125K Swiss Open 2012, Basel (GP Gold)

[R2] Sourabh Varma (IND,44) l (13) Wan Ho Shon (KOR,18) 10-21 9-21
[R2] Ajay Jayaram (IND,25) l Pedro Martins (POR,64) 16-21 16-21
[R2] Kashyap Parupalli (IND,29) l (7) Tien Minh Nguyen (VIE,10) 13-21 18-21
[R1] (3) Saina Nehwal (IND,4) bt Sayaka Sato (JPN,15) 21-13 21-8
[R1] Sindhu P. V. (IND,29) l Jie Yao (NED,21) 18-21 21-18 19-21

[R1] Rupesh Kumar (IND)/ Sanave Thomas (IND) bt Ruud Bosch (NED)/ Koen Ridder (NED) 21-18 19-21 24-22
[R1] Jwala Gutta (IND)/ Ashwini Ponnappa (IND) l (3) Shizuka Matsuo (JPN)/ Mami Naito (JPN) 21-16 18-21 10-21
[R1] (8) Diju V. (IND)/ Jwala Gutta (IND) l Shoji Sato (JPN)/ Shizuka Matsuo (JPN) 13-21 15-21

[R2] (3) Saina Nehwal (IND,4) vs (Q) Judith Meulendijks (NED,46)

[R2] Rupesh Kumar (IND)/ Sanave Thomas (IND) vs (5) Alvent Yulianto Chandra (INA)/ Hendra Aprida Gunawan (INA)

Saina started with very dominating win over Sayaka Sato ... She lost only 21 points in the match and won it in 33 minutes ... Next Saina is facing Dutch qualifier Judith Meulendijks, who upset WR #14 Thai Porntip Buranaprasertsuk.

But disappointing run of Jwala and Diju continued here ... They lost easily against Japanese pair.

Jie Yao take early 4-1 lead and which she kept increasing ... Sindhu tried fightback from 11-19, she saved 3 game points from 15-20 but Yao won the first game ... In the second game both players were neck to neck from the start ... Sindhu won 6 points in a row from 10-11 to opened the lead ... Sindhu managed to keep that lead and converted 2nd game point to won this game ... In the third game Sindhu started with winning first 5 points ... Jie Yao managed to reduce it to 9-10 but Sindhu kept couple of points lead ... But from 13-16 Jie Yao managed to catch Sindhu at 17-all ... Sindhu again won next 2 points to open 19-17 lead but Jie Yao won last 4 points to complete victory in 55 minutes ... Missed opportunity for Sindhu.

Shocking result for Ajay ... He missed big opportunity to gather important ranking points and claim for Olympic participation ... He lost in straight games against lowly ranked Pedro Martins ... Kashyap and Sourabh lost easily against their seeded opponents.

Rupesh and Sanave started with win against Dutch pair ... Next they r facing 5th seed Indonesian pair ... Jwala and Ashwini started with winning the first game against WR #5 Japanese pair but after that Japanese pair fought back and take control to win.

Badminton News
At $125K Swiss Open 2012, Basel (GP Gold)

[R1] Sourabh Varma (IND,44) bt Wing Ki Wong (HKG,20) 22-20 20-22 21-19
[R1] Gurusaidutt R. M. V. (IND,40) l (4) Jin Chen (CHN,5) 11-21 24-26
[R1] Arvind Bhat (IND,62) l Dmytro Zavadsky (UKR,46) 21-10 16-21 14-21
[R1] Ajay Jayaram (IND,25) bt Lukas Nussbaumer (SUI,356) 21-9 21-12
[R1] Kashyap Parupalli (IND,29) bt Stanislav Pukhov (RUS,97) 21-9 21-10

[R2] Sourabh Varma (IND,44) vs (13) Wan Ho Shon (KOR,18)
[R2] Ajay Jayaram (IND,25) vs Pedro Martins (POR,64)
[R2] Kashyap Parupalli (IND,29) vs (7) Tien Minh Nguyen (VIE,10)
[R1] (3) Saina Nehwal (IND,4) vs Sayaka Sato (JPN,15)
[R1] Sindhu P. V. (IND,29) vs Jie Yao (NED,21)

[R1] Rupesh Kumar (IND)/ Sanave Thomas (IND) vs Ruud Bosch (NED)/ Koen Ridder (NED)
[R1] Jwala Gutta (IND)/ Ashwini Ponnappa (IND) vs (3) Shizuka Matsuo (JPN)/ Mami Naito (JPN)
[R1] (8) Diju V. (IND)/ Jwala Gutta (IND) vs Shoji Sato (JPN)/ Shizuka Matsuo (JPN)

In the first round after losing the first game easily Guru fought hard in the second ... He had 2 game points but failed to convert and Jin Chen converted 3rd match point ... Disappointing loss of Arvind ... His struggle after injury continues.

Sourabh scored very good upset win over top-20 Hong Kong player ... After winning tight 1st game Sourabh had 2 match points at 20-18 but lost next 4 points to lose the game ... In the decider also Sourabh had 4 match points at 20-16 ... Wong won next 3 points but Sourabh converted 6th match point for the victory ... Next he is facing another top 20 Korean Wan Ho Shon ... In recently concluded Thomas cup match Sourabh lost against Shon in 3 games.

Kashyap need upset win over Tien Minh Nguyen to improve his ranking ... Last time they played 81 minutes logest match where Nguyen won in 3 games winning 2 games in extra points.

Ajay having very favourable draw as 2 seeded players from his draw withdrew ... If he win his matches then can face 4th seed Jin Chen in the quarters ... Good chance of improving his ranking for Olympic qualification.

Sayaka Sato still having 2-1 win-loss record against Saina but in their last meeting in December 2011 Saina defeated her in straight games in World Superseries Finals.

Hoping for better performance from Sindhu against Jie Yao ... In their last meeting Sindhu lost in straight games against her.

In doubles Jwala and Ashwini having tough opening round against WR #5 Japanese pair.

Tennis News
At $5.5M Indian Wells Masters, USA

[R2] (7) Leander Paes (IND)/ Radek Stepanek (CZE) bt Juan Monaco (ARG)/ Kei Nishikori (JPN) 76(5) 64

[QF] (2) Elena Vesnina (RUS)/ Sania Mirza (IND) vs Gisela Dulko (ARG)/ Paola Suárez (ARG)
[QF] (7) Leander Paes (IND)/ Radek Stepanek (CZE) vs Marc Lopez (ESP)/ Rafael Nadal (ESP)

Good tight hard fought win for Lee and Radek against Nishikori and Monaco ... Next they r having tricky match in quarters against Spanish pair Lopez and Nadal.
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At $10K Spain F6 Futures 2012, Badalona (clay)

[R1] (Q) Mohit Mayur JAYAPRAKASH (IND,1170) bt (WC) Tinotenda CHANAKIRA (ZIM,UNR) 61 62

[R2] (Q) Mohit Mayur JAYAPRAKASH (IND,1170) vs (4) Ivan NEDELKO (RUS,408)

Doubles
[R1] (3) Juan Sebastian GOMEZ (COL)/ Mohit Mayur JAYAPRAKASH (IND) bt David ESTRUCH (ESP)/ Mark VERVOORT (NED) 63 62

[QF] (3) Juan Sebastian GOMEZ (COL)/ Mohit Mayur JAYAPRAKASH (IND) vs Eric GARCIA CRESPO (ESP)/ Ryoma SLOANE (NZL)

Good to see Mohit Mayur earned single ATP point after 5 wins ... Next he is facing 4th seed Russian ... In doubles also he is having winning start with his Colombian partner.

Football News
At AFC Challenge Cup 2012, Kathmandu, Nepal

Pool B
India l North Korea 0-4
Goal Scored - Kwang Ik Jon (PKR) 3', Kwang-Hyok Ri (PKR) 34′, Nam-Chol I Pak (PKR) 59′, Chol-Myong Ri (PKR) 70′

Philippines bt Tajikistan 2-1

So our horrible performance ended in AFC challenge cup with another heavy humiliating defeat against North Koreans ... We never in the match and North Koreans scored 2 goals each in both half ... Our strategy was remaining stupid with long aerial passes which well exploited by all opponents in this tournament ... I really hope AIFF decide to kick-out Savio Medeira immediately.

Philippines finished second to qualify for semi-final with group winner North Korea.

Athletic News
At Asian 20 km Race Walking championships 2012, Nomi City, Japan

Baljinder Singh has earned a quota for the London Olympics after finishing 5th in the Asian 20 km Race Walking championships with a timing of 1:22:12 ... The `A` qualification standard for the London Olympics was 1:22:30 ... So he became second athlete to qualify for 20 km race walking with national record-holder Gurmeet Singh, who has already attained the Olympic qualification with a timing of 1:22:05 in Dublin last year.

In same event Gurmeet Singh timed a commendable 1:21:31 for the silver medal ... Gurmeet led race until the last kilometre and barely missed the gold in just 9 seconds to China`s Zhu Chundong, 1:21:22.

Gold - Zhu Chundong (CHN) 1:21:22 (PB)
Silver - Gurmeet Singh (IND) 1:21:31
Bronze - Byun Young Jun (KOR) 1:21:42

Tennis News
At $50K Pingguo Challenger, China

[R1] Vishnu Vardhan (IND,337) l (1) Go Soeda (JPN,77) 46 26
[R1] Divij Sharan (IND,761) l (7) Benjamin Mitchell (AUS,218) 36 64 16

Doubles
[R1] Divij Sharan (IND)/ Vishnu Vardhan (IND) l (2) Sanchai Ratiwatana (THA)/ Sonchat Ratiwatana (THA) 67(3) 46

Soeda scored comfortable win over Vishnu in 2 sets ... In the first set Soeda broke Vishnu once and in the second set he broke twice ... But Vishnu had chances and he failed to convert it ... Soeda saved 12 break points in the match, 9 in the first set and 3 in the second.

After losing the first set Divij was leading with early break 3-1 in the second ... Divij had a lose 5th game on his serve (made double fault) to gave break back ... Divij had 2 set points in 10th game and he converted 2nd to won the second set ... In the third set Mitchell broke Divij in 1st game ... Divij missed a break point opportunity in 4th game and then Mitchell take decisive break in 5th game to up with double break in this set ... Mitchell again broke Divij in 7th game to complete the victory.

So with doubles loss end of forgettable three weeks of Asian challengers for Vishnu ... In singles he lost in 1st round of singles main draw in 2 weeks and lost in qualifying of 1st week ... In doubles all 3 weeks Divij and he lost in 1st round.

Tennis News
At $5.5M Indian Wells Masters, USA

[R2] (2) Elena Vesnina (RUS)/ Sania Mirza (IND) bt Timea Bacsinszky (SUI)/ Alberta Brianti (ITA) 61 36 10-2
[R2] (7) Leander Paes (IND)/ Radek Stepanek (CZE) vs Juan Monaco (ARG)/ Kei Nishikori (JPN)

After winning the first set lost of concentration by Sania and Elena but they came strongly in STB to won it comfortably.
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At $50K Pingguo Challenger, China

[R1] Vishnu Vardhan (IND,337) vs (1) Go Soeda (JPN,77)
[R1] Divij Sharan (IND,761) vs (7) Benjamin Mitchell (AUS,218)

Doubles
[R1] Divij Sharan (IND)/ Vishnu Vardhan (IND) vs (2) Sanchai Ratiwatana (THA)/ Sonchat Ratiwatana (THA)

Cruel draw for Vishnu and Divij in singles and doubles.
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At $10K Spain F6 Futures 2012, Badalona (clay)

[Q1] (12) Mohit Mayur JAYAPRAKASH (IND,1170) bt Carlos BECKE (GER,UNR) 76(2) 61
[Q2] (12) Mohit Mayur JAYAPRAKASH (IND,1170) bt Samuel RIBEIRO NAVARRETE (ESP,UNR) 64 26 63
[Q3] (12) Mohit Mayur JAYAPRAKASH (IND,1170) bt Lucas MCCONE (BEL,UNR) 60 64
[Q4] (12) Mohit Mayur JAYAPRAKASH (IND,1170) bt (6) Ricardo URZUA-RIVERA (CHI,925) 76(4) 61

[R1] (Q) Mohit Mayur JAYAPRAKASH (IND,1170) vs (WC) Tinotenda CHANAKIRA (ZIM,UNR)

Doubles
[R1] (3) Juan Sebastian GOMEZ (COL)/ Mohit Mayur JAYAPRAKASH (IND) vs David ESTRUCH ESP)/ Mark VERVOORT (NED)

Really great win against higher ranked Chilean by Mohit Mayur to qualify for main-draw on the clay ... So after winning 4 qualifying matches he is in chance to earn 1 ATP point against Zimbabwean wild-card player.

Football News
At AFC Challenge Cup 2012, Kathmandu, Nepal

Pool B
India l Philippines 0-2
Goal Scored - Phil Younghusband (PHI) 10' and 73'

North Korea bt Tajikistan 2-0

India became the first side in group B of the Challenge Cup to knocked out following their 2-0 defeat against Philippines ... Phil Younghusband’s scored a goal in either side of the break ... Disappointing result for coach Savio Medeira and AIFF should think to change him ASAP.

Tennis News
At $5.5M Indian Wells Masters, USA

[R1] (7) Leander Paes (IND)/ Radek Stepanek (CZE) bt David Ferrer (ESP)/ Albert Ramos (ESP) 63 63
[R1] (5) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Rohan Bopanna (IND) l Julien Benneteau (FRA)/ Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (FRA) 46 36

Mahesh and Rohan struggled with their service games ... They faced 13 break points and managed to save 9.

Other hand Lee and Radek had easy win against Spanish pair.
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At $10K+H India F3 Futures 2012, Bhimavaram

Singles Final
Sanam SINGH (IND,776) bt Saketh MYNENI (IND,689) 64 46 75

Both players played good tennis and better player, Sanam Singh, won the title as he produced superb comeback in the third to won the match ... This was Sanam's third title in 3 weeks of Indian future series ... This will help to push Sanam's ranking around 500.

In the final Saketh was putting early pressure on Sanam's serve but Sanam take crucial break in 10th game with superb returning ... In the second set Saketh broke Sanam in 1st and 3rd games to lead 4-0 but Sanam broke back in 6th game to make it 3-4 ... Saketh kept one break advantage to won the second set ... In the third set Saketh take break in 5th game to lead 3-2 ... After holding his serve Saketh again broke Sanam in 7th game to take souble break lead 5-2 ... And from here Saketh suddenly became tight and started to make errors and double faults ... Sanam broke Saketh in 8th game and then saved match point on his serve to make it 4-5 ... Saketh made 2 double faults in 10th game and lost his serve ... Sanam broke him 3rd time in a row in 12th game to win well deserving title.

Tennis News
At $5.5M Indian Wells Masters, USA

[R2] (WC) Sania Mirza (IND,130) l (24) Anabel Medina Garrigues (ESP,26) 26 57

Doubles
[R1] (2) Elena Vesnina (RUS)/ Sania Mirza (IND) bt Vera Dushevina (RUS)/ Shahar Peer (ISR) 75 62

[R2] (2) Elena Vesnina (RUS)/ Sania Mirza (IND) vs Timea Bacsinszky(SUI)/ Alberta Brianti (ITA)

Sania missed a break pooint in 2nd game and Anabel broke her in next game to take 2-1 lead ... Anabel again broke Sania in 5th game to increase her lead to 4-1 ... Sania missed another break point in 6th game and these 2 breaks helped Anabel to won the first set ... In the second set also Anabel broke early in 3rd game to lead 2-1 but Sania broke Anabel in 4th and 6th games to lead 5-2 ... Instead of closing the set Sania gave chance to Anabel fight back in this set ... Anabel broke Sania in 9th and 11th games to won the set and match ... Sania had chances which she failed to took.

In doubles Sania and Elena had a winning start against Dushevina and Peer, who defeated Sania and Elena at Qatar open ... In the first set both pairs were regularly breaking service games of the opponents ... Our pair lost their service games 3times but they broke Dushevina and Peer 4 times to won tight first set ... In the second set our pair served properly and didn't face a single break point and they broke Dushevina and Peer twice to won this set easily.
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At $10K+H India F3 Futures 2012, Bhimavaram

Singles Final
Sanam SINGH (IND,776) vs Saketh MYNENI (IND,689)

With current form Sanam is hugely favorite ... He is on 14 matches winning streak and egar to win his third title in 3 weeks ... Other hand Saketh is trying to win his second title but struggling with minor injury ... This match is between big serving of Saketh against superb return game of Sanam.

Athletic News
At IAAF World Indoor Championships Istanbul 2012, Turkey

Top 12 Triple Jump - Women Qualification Results

1 Yamilé Aldama (GBR) 14.62 Q (SB)
2 Olga Rypakova (KAZ) 14.39 Q
3 Anna Krylova (RUS) 14.27 q
4 Yanmei Li (CHN) 14.23 q (SB)
5 Mabel Gay (CUB) 14.22 q
6 Dana Veldáková (SVK) 14.21 q (SB)
7 Kimberly Williams (JAM) 14.15 q
8 Yargeris Savigne (CUB) 14.09 q
9 Marija Šestak (SLO) 14.05
10 Victoria Valyukevich (RUS) 14.00
11 Níki Panéta (GRE) 13.98
12 Mayookha Johny (IND) 13.95 (NR)
12 Aleksandra Kotlyarova (UZB) 13.95

Mayookha Johny missed place in the final but terrific performance by her ... Impressive to see that she created national record in this big event, simply showing she is big event performer.

Football News
At AFC Challenge Cup 2012, Kathmandu, Nepal

Pool B
India l Tajikistan 0-2
Goal Scored - Akhtam Khamrakulov (TJK) 60', Nuriddin Davronov (TJK) 66'

North Korea beat Philippines 2-0

India lost comprehensively to Tajikistan by a two goal margin ... Both the goals were scored in the second half, Akhtam Khamrakulov (60') taking advantage of a defensive lapse, while Nuriddin Davronov's strike went past Karanjit Singh just six minutes later.

Badminton News
At $350K All England Open Badminton Championships 2012, Birmingham (Super Series Premier)

[QF] (4) Saina Nehwal (IND,4) l (7) Xuerui Li (CHN,5) 13-21 21-23

Saina failed in her real first test ... Xuerui Li defeated her in straight games in 40 minutes ... In the first game whenever Xuerui take couple of points lead Saina managed to catch her but from 9-8 Xuerui won 9 points in a row to take 18-8 lead ... That lead was enough for Xuerui to won the first game ... In the second game both players were exchanging lead in the beginning ... From 12 all Xuerui opened couple of points lead ... Xuerui had 3 match points at 20-17 ... Saina won next 4 points to lead 21-20 but Xuerui saved that game point and converted 4th match point to moved into the semis.

Time is running out for Saina before London Olympics ... She need to learn tackling Chinese challenge to be in medal contention.

From now onward we are going to miss to a thorough Gentleman and technically perfect Great Cricketing Ambassador in action - Rahul Dravid!!!


Thank you for your services to Indian cricket.

At $35K+H Kyoto Challenger, Japan

[QF] Yuki Bhambri (IND,280) l (5) Tatsuma Ito (JPN,105) 67(5) 76(4) 36

Doubles
[SF] Malek Jaziri (TUN)/ Purav Raja (IND) l Cheng-Peng Hsieh (TPE)/ Hsin-Han Lee (TPE) 36 63 7-10

Yuki played impressive match against top-100 typle local Davis cup player Tatsuma Ito ... In the first set Yuki saved a break point on his serve in 6th game and take set into tie-break ... Yuki lost tie-break with mini-break after leading 5-4 ... In the second set Ito broke Yuki in 5th game to take 4-2 lead but Yuki fought back breaking him in 8th game to make it 4-all ...In the tie-break Yuki take 4-2 lead which helped him to win the set ... In the decider Yuki missed 2 break points opportunities in 1st game and Ito take crucial break on Yuki's serve in 6th game ... And with this single break advantage Ito won this match in 2 hours and 36 minutes converting 2nd match point.

Yuki played a very close match ... Overall 115 points against 119 by Ito ... Ito had 10 aces as compared to 7 by Yuki ... Ito had 9 double faults as compared to 2 by Yuki ... Breakpoints converted 2 out of 6 for Ito as against 1 out of 6 for Yuki.

This time Purav and Malek Jaziri failed to win super tie-break ... After losing the first set they made excellent comeback winning the second set but in STB Taipei pair proved strong.
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At $10K+H India F3 Futures 2012, Bhimavaram

Singles Semi Finals
Saketh MYNENI (IND,689) bt (8) Jeevan NEDUNCHEZHIYAN (IND,554) 64 64
Sanam SINGH (IND,776) bt (7) Ranjit VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND,540) 63 61

Doubles Final
(2) Rohan GAJJAR (IND)/ Saketh MYNENI (IND) bt (3) N. Vijay Sundar PRASHANTH (IND)/ Arun-Prakash RAJAGOPALAN (IND) 75 63

Saketh gave clinical performance despite troubling with injury ... He take a single break in both sets to scored straight sets victory ... In the first set he take break in 7th game and in the second set he take break on 9th game on Jeevan's serve ... Saketh didn't face a single break point on his serve and served staggering 19 aces in his 10 service games.

Ranjeet started well breaking Sanam's serve in 2nd game to lead 2-0 but after that Sanam showed ruthless game and won 12 games from next 14 games to scored comfortable win and his third final in three weeks ... He has good opportunity of grabbing the third futures title in a row but having good challenge of big serving Saketh in the final.

Saketh lifted doubles title with Rohan Gajjar ... They defeated Vijay Sundar and Arun-Prakash in straight sets.

Badminton News
At $350K All England Open Badminton Championships 2012, Birmingham (Super Series Premier)

[R2] (4) Saina Nehwal (IND,4) bt Hongyan Pi (FRA,23) 21-10 21-17
[R2] Jwala Gutta (IND)/ Ashwini Ponnappa (IND) l (2) Quing Tian (CHN)/ Yunlei Zhao (CHN) 10-21 15-21

[QF] (4) Saina Nehwal (IND,4) vs (7) Xuerui Li (CHN,5)

Saina scored comfortable win over Hongyan Pi in 34 minutes ... She was in control throughout the match ... Now real test against Chinese girls begin for Saina from quarter-final ... Next she is facing WR #5 Chinese Xuerui Li.

After losing the first game easily Jwala and Ashwini gave fighting performance in the second ... They were with Chinese pair until 14-all but after that Chinese pair won 7 pts from last 8 pts to completed victory in 31 minutes.

Tennis News
At $5.5M Indian Wells Masters, USA

[R1] (WC) Sania Mirza (IND,130) bt (Q) Kristina Barrois (GER,113) 46 62 64

[R2] (WC) Sania Mirza (IND,130) vs (24) Anabel Medina Garrigues (ESP,26)

Doubles
[R1] (2) Elena Vesnina (RUS)/ Sania Mirza (IND) vs Vera Dushevina (RUS)/ Shahar Peer (ISR)
[R1] (7) Leander Paes (IND)/ Radek Stepanek (CZE) vs David Ferrer (ESP)/ Albert Ramos (ESP)
[R1] (5) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Rohan Bopanna (IND) vs Julien Benneteau (FRA)/ Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (FRA)

After losing the first set Sania got broken in 1st game of the second set ... After that Sania won next 4 games breaking Barrois twice to lead 4-1 ... Sania again broke Barrois in 8th game to won the second set ... In the third set Sania wasted 3 break points in 2nd game but she broke Barrois in 4th game to take 3-1 lead ... Sania had few match points in 8th game but she failed to take those ... Barrois broke Sania in 9th game when Sania was serving for the match ... Sania take revenge in the next game and broke Barrois in 10th game to win this match ... Good win for Sania ... Next she is facing Spanish clay court specialist Garrigues.

Lee is in top draw with Radek and they can face 3rd seed Zimo/ Llodra in the quarters ... Rohan and Mahesh r in bottom draw and they can face 2nd seed Miryni/ Nestor in the quarters.

Elena and Sania r 2nd seed but their first match is tricky against Dushevina and Peer, against them our pair lost at Qatar Open in straight sets.
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At $35K+H Kyoto Challenger, Japan

[QF] Malek Jaziri (TUN)/ Purav Raja (IND) bt (1) John Paul Fruttero (USA)/ Raven Klaasen (RSA) 57 76(3) 10-6
[QF] (LL) Yuki Bhambri (IND)/ Ti Chen (TPE) l (3) Harri Heliovaara (FIN)/ Denys Molchanov (UKR) 06 16

[SF] Malek Jaziri (TUN)/ Purav Raja (IND) vs Cheng-Peng Hsieh (TPE)/ Hsin-Han Lee (TPE)

In the first set both pairs were breaking opponent's service games regularly ... Purav and Malek were 3-5 down but they broke Fruttero's serve to make it 5-all ... Top-seed pair broke Purav's serve to won the first set ... In this first set our pair broke opponent's serve thrice but they got broken 4 times ... Surprisingly very tight service games from both pairs from the second set where nobody face a single break point ... Nice to see Purav and Malek controlled tie-breaks to won this match ... In the semis they will face another un-ranked pair from Chinese Taipei.

One-sided loss for Yuki and Ti Chen in 54 minutes where they managed to win only a single game.
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At $10K+H India F3 Futures 2012, Bhimavaram

Singles Quarter Finals
(8) Jeevan NEDUNCHEZHIYAN (IND,554) bt (1) Patrick ROSENHOLM (SWE,426) 63 63
Saketh MYNENI (IND,689) bt (3) Karan RASTOGI (IND,480) 62 4-1 Retd
Sanam SINGH (IND,776) bt Shuichi SEKIGUCHI (JPN,784) 63 61
(7) Ranjit VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND,540) bt Sarvar IKRAMOV (UZB,670) 63 26 64

Doubles Semi Finals
(3) N. Vijay Sundar PRASHANTH (IND)/ Arun-Prakash RAJAGOPALAN (IND) bt (1) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND)/ Ranjeet VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND) 63 61
(2) Rohan GAJJAR (IND)/ Saketh MYNENI (IND) bt (4) Vijayant MALIK (IND)/ Vivek SHOKEEN (IND) 76(4) 64

All Indian semi-final lineup for the singles ... Jeevan scored comfortable dominating win over Swede top-seed Rosenholm ... Saketh dominated against Karan before Karan retired from the match ... Sanam looks unstoppable in these Indian futures series, who scored another comfortable win ... Ranjeet scored fighting win against experienced Uzbek Sarvar Ikramov in three sets.

In doubles Rohan is in the final with Saketh and they will face 3rd seed Arub-Prakash and Vijay Sundar.

Badminton News
At $350K All England Open Badminton Championships 2012, Birmingham (Super Series Premier)

[R1] Kashyap Parupalli (IND,29) l Marc Zwiebler (GER,14) 13-21 21-15 9-21
[R1] Ajay Jayaram (IND,25) l (2) Dan Lin (CHN,2) 18-21 15-21
[R1] (4) Saina Nehwal (IND,4) bt (Q) Sapsiree Taerattanachai (THA,33) 21-11 13-21 21-13
[R1] (Q) P. V. Sindhu (IND,28) l Tzu Ying Tai (TPE,16) 21-14 16-21 19-21

[R1] Rupesh Kumar (IND)/ Sanave Thomas (IND) l Ingo Kindervater (GER)/ Johannes Schoettler (GER) 22-24 17-21
[R1] Jwala Gutta (IND)/ Ashwini Ponnappa (IND) bt Anneke Feinya Agustin (INA)/ Nitya Krishinda Maheswari (INA) 21-16 21-16
[R1] Diju V. (IND)/ Jwala Gutta (IND) l Peng Soon Chan (MAS)/ Liu Ying Goh (MAS) 14-21 12-21

[R2] (4) Saina Nehwal (IND,4) vs Hongyan Pi (FRA,23)
[R2] Jwala Gutta (IND)/ Ashwini Ponnappa (IND) vs (2) Quing Tian (CHN)/ Yunlei Zhao (CHN)

Jwala and Ashwini started with good straight games victory over higher ranked Indonesian pair but in the second round they r facing WR #2 Chinese pair ... Still this win will help them to gain important ranking points for London Olympics qualification.

Saina had surprisingly tough match against Thai qualifier Sapsiree Taerattanachai ... After winning the first game Saina lost her concentration and lost the second game easily but in the decider Saina brought back her composure to win it comfortably ... Next Saian is facing veteran French woman Hongyan Pi.

Sindhu gave spirited performance against another young Taipei player Tai ... Sindhu started well with winning the first game but Tai came back to win the second after taking early lead ... In the third game from 3-5 Tai take control of the game ... She kept couple of points lead until 18-16 ... Sindhu won next 3 points to take 19-18 lead but Tai won last 3 points to complete the victory.

Ajay gave decent performance against WR #2 Dan Lin ... Kashyap needed to win these matches to qualify for Olympics as India's #1 ... After losing the first game Kashyap fought back to win the second but in the third Marc Zwiebler didn't give any chance to Kashyap and won it comfortably.

In MXD Jwala and Diju failed to produce any fight against WR #9 Malaysian pair ... In mens doubles Rupesh and Sanave take the first game in extra points but after winning that German pair proved better pair in the second.

Tennis News
At Davis Cup 2012 - Asia/ Oceania Group I, Uzbekistan

Indian Davis Cup Team
Leander Paes, Rohan Bopanna, Yuki BHambri, Sanam Singh
Non-playing Captain - Shiv-Prakash Misra
Coach: Nandan Bal
Reserved player - Vishnu Vardhan

AITA announced Indian Davis Cup team for upcoming tie against Uzbekistan ... Somdev Devvarman is injured (mostly operation on his shoulder injury) so left out of the team ... Mahesh Bhupathi decided to opt out of this tie ... This will give chance to AITA to test new pairing of Paes/Bopanna before Olympics ... For Singles Yuki Bhambri and Sanam Singh r added in the team ... Vishnu Vardhan is named reserved player.

Surprised to see Sanam named as second singles player ahead of Vishnu and Karan ... Vishnu was decent in our last tie against Japan and Karan having very good record against Istomin ... AITA must go with current form of Sanam but frankly he still need to prove himself in foreign condition in the futures ... Vishnu was better choice in the team despite his recent poor form.
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At $35K+H Kyoto Challenger, Japan

[R1] (Q) Purav Raja (IND,UNR) l (1) Go Soeda (JPN,81) 46 46

[R2] Yuki Bhambri (IND,280) bt (5) Danai Udomchoke (THA,167) 36 64 62

[QF] Yuki Bhambri (IND,280) vs (5) Tatsuma Ito (JPN,105)

Doubles
[R1] Malek Jaziri (TUN)/ Purav Raja (IND) bt Colin Ebelthite (AUS)/ Samuel Groth (AUS) 63 75
[R1] (4) Divij Sharan (IND)/ Vishnu Vardhan (IND) l (WC) Hiroki Moriya (JPN)/ Yuichi Sugita (JPN) 26 67(6)
[R1] (LL) Yuki Bhambri (IND)/ Ti Chen (TPE) bt (Q) Takuto Niki (JPN)/ Bumpei Sato (JPN) 62 62

[QF] (LL) Yuki Bhambri (IND)/ Ti Chen (TPE) vs (3) Harri Heliovaara (FIN)/ Denys Molchanov (UKR)
[QF] Malek Jaziri (TUN)/ Purav Raja (IND) vs (1) John Paul Fruttero (USA)/ Raven Klaasen (RSA)

Danai take early break to lead 2-1 ... Yuki had couple of break points which he failed to convert but Dania again broke Yuki in 9th game to won the first set ... In the second set both players hold their service games comfortably before Yuki needed to save a break point in 6th game ... Yuki again saved a break point in 8th game before holding his serve ... First time in this set Yuki had a break point opportunity in 9th game and he converted taking this crucial break ... While serving for the set Yuki needed to save break point before holding his serve ... With that he won the second set in 37 minutes ... In the third set both players holding their service games without much problem ... Yuki broke Danai's serve in 5th game when Danai double faulted on break point ... Yuki take early lead and then made easy crucial hold in 6th game @15 ... Danai struggled with his service and made double fault at 15-30 to gave Yuki 2 break points in 7th game ... Yuki converted that and take double break lead ... Yuki hold comfortably @0 to completed memorable comeback victory over Danai.

I think saving those break points in his last 3 service games in the second set gave huge confidence to Yuki ... In the third set he didn't face a single break point and converted 2 break points from 4 on Danai's serve.

Good fighting performance by Purav against top-100 Go Soeda.

In the doubles, Vishnu's struggle completed on Kyoto slow court as he lost in doubles first round with Divij ... They had a 2 set points in 10th game of the second set on Japanese player's serve.

In the second match Yuki and Ti Chen won the first set with two breaks ... In the second set Yuki and Ti Chen up with a single break as they broke opponent's serve in 5th game ... ... They again broke Japanese in 7th game and then Ti Chen hold comfortably to complete one-sided victory ... Next they r facing 3rd seed pair.

Purav and Malek won the first set breaking Aussies in 7th and 9th games ... In the second set both pairs traded early break then in 12th game Purav and Malek had 4 match points at 0-40 and they converted 4th match point to complete the victory in 69 minutes ... In the quarters they r facing top-seed pair.
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At $10K+H India F3 Futures 2012, Bhimavaram

Singles Second Round
(1) Patrick ROSENHOLM (SWE,426) bt (WC) Vivek SHOKEEN (IND,1485) 62 62
(8) Jeevan NEDUNCHEZHIYAN (IND,554) bt Sam BARRY (IRL,731) 63 36 61
(3) Karan RASTOGI (IND,480) bt (Q) Jordi MUNOZ-ABREU (ESP,1710) 62 4-0 Retd
Saketh MYNENI (IND,689) bt (5) Arata ONOZAWA (JPN,518) 61 60
Sanam SINGH (IND,776) bt (6) Kento TAKEUCHI (JPN,533) 61 64
James FEAVER (GBR,770) bt Shuichi SEKIGUCHI (JPN,784) 63 63
(7) Ranjit VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND,540) bt Richard GABB (GBR,902) 76(2) 26 63
Sarvar IKRAMOV (UZB,670) bt (Q) Matthieu VIERIN (ITA,1475) 62 63

Doubles Quarter Finals
(1) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND)/ Ranjeet VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND) bt Rupesh ROY (IND)/ Abhijeet TIWARI (IND) 57 63 10-6
(3) N. Vijay Sundar PRASHANTH (IND)/ Arun-Prakash RAJAGOPALAN (IND) bt (WC) Chandril SOOD (IND)/ Lakshit SOOD (IND) 62 62
(4) Vijayant MALIK (IND)/ Vivek SHOKEEN (IND) bt Jordi MUNOZ-ABREU (ESP)/ Shuichi SEKIGUCHI (JPN) Walkover
(2) Rohan GAJJAR (IND)/ Saketh MYNENI (IND) bt Vignesh PERANAMALLUR (IND)/ Akash WAGH (IND) 62 64

Saketh scored very dominating win over 5th seed Onozawa losing only 2 games ... Sanam also continued with this good form beating 6th seed Takeuchi comfortably ... Jeevan and Ranjeet also moved to quarters winning their matches in 3 sets ... Karan joined them when his Spanish opponent retired after 6-2 4-0 down ... In quarters Karan against Saketh match will be worth to watch.

Badminton News
At $350K All England Open Badminton Championships 2012, Birmingham (Super Series Premier)

[Q1] Sourabh Varma (IND,44) l (4) Hsuan Yi Hsueh (TPE,34) 20-22 22-20 16-21
[Q1] Gurusaidutt R. M. V. (IND,39) bt Vladimir Ivanov (RUS,53) 21-19 21-17
[Q1] (1) P. V. Sindhu (IND,28) bt Rena Wang (USA,58) 21-19 21-14

[Q2] Gurusaidutt R. M. V. (IND,39) l Wei Feng Chong (MAS,57) 16-21 22-20 8-21
[Q2] (1) P. V. Sindhu (IND,28) bt Lindaweni Fanetri (INA,46) 21-14 21-18

[R1] Kashyap Parupalli (IND,29) vs Marc Zwiebler (GER,14)
[R1] Ajay Jayaram (IND,25) vs (2) Dan Lin (CHN,2)
[R1] (4) Saina Nehwal (IND,) vs (Q) Sapsiree Taerattanachai (THA,33)
[R1] (Q) P. V. Sindhu (IND,28) vs Tzu Ying Tai (TPE,16)

[R1] Rupesh Kumar (IND)/ Sanave Thomas (IND) vs Ingo Kindervater (GER)/ Johannes Schoettler (GER)
[R1] Jwala Gutta (IND)/ Ashwini Ponnappa (IND) vs Anneke Feinya Agustin (INA)/ Nitya Krishinda Maheswari (INA)
[R1] Diju V. (IND)/ Jwala Gutta (IND) vs Peng Soon Chan (MAS)/ Liu Ying Goh (MAS)

Tough matches for our unseeded players and pairs as they all r facing higher ranked opponents in the first round.

Sindhu qualified for her first All England main-draw ... She started with a win against American player ... She started with a win against American player and in the final qualifying round she faced Indonesian Lindaweni Fanetri ... Sindhu gave clinical performance to beat Fanetri in the straight games.

Sourabh tried excellent comeback in the game from 12-18 but Hsueh proved better in the final stages of the first game ... Sourabh saved one game point but failed to save next ... In the second game Sourabh take early 8-3 lead but Hsueh caught with him at 11-all and he take 15-12 lead ... This time Sourabh made it 15-all, Hsueh opened 2 points lead at 19-17 but again Sourabh made it 19-all ... Sourabh saved a match point at 20-19 and converted first game point to make it 1 game all after 37 minutes ... In the third game also both players were neck to neck till 16-all but Hsueh won last 5 points to complete victory.

Guru also started with win over Russian player ... In the first game Russian Ivanov gave fight but Guru won last 2 important points from 19-all to won it and in the second game also Guru won last 4 points from 17-all to scored victory ... In the final qualifying round Guru faced Malaysian Wei Feng Chong, who upset 2nd seed Taipei player ... Chong won the first game but Guru fought back and won tight second game ... In the third Chong did not gave much chance to Guru and won it comfortably losing only 8 points.

Tennis News
At $35K+H Kyoto Challenger, Japan

[R1] Yuki Bhambri (IND,280) bt Conor Niland (IRL,310) 61 63

Doubles
[Q2] Yuki Bhambri (IND)/ Ti Chen (TPE) l (WC) Takuto Niki (JPN)/ Bumpei Sato (JPN) 46 76(3) 7-10

Yuki broke Conor in the second and fourth games to take 5-0 lead ... Conor hold his serve in 6th game and then Yuki comfortably hold to won the first set ... In the second set Yuki broke Conor in the first game ... Yuki saved a break point in 4th game and wasted one break point chance in next game ... Yuki again broke him in 9th game to completed victory in 54 minutes ... Very dominating win by Yuki against experienced challenger level player.

In doubles final qualifying Yuki lost in super tie-break with Ti Chen against local pair.
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At $10K+H India F3 Futures 2012, Bhimavaram

Singles First Round
(1) Patrick ROSENHOLM (SWE,426) bt Lucas RENARD (SWE,901) 76(4) 75
(WC) Vivek SHOKEEN (IND,1485) bt (WC) Suresh KRISHNA (IND,1783) 76(2) 63
Sam BARRY (IRL,731) bt Rupesh ROY (IND,916) 62 62
(8) Jeevan NEDUNCHEZHIYAN (IND,554) bt (Q) Mark-Alexander KEPLER (GER,938) 62 75
(3) Karan RASTOGI (IND,480) bt (Q) Hsien-Yin PENG (TPE,1237) 62 61
(Q) Jordi MUNOZ-ABREU (ESP,1710) bt (Q) Miles BUGBY (GBR,1318) 16 62 61
Saketh MYNENI (IND,689) bt N.Sriram BALAJI (IND,738) 76(6) 63
(5) Arata ONOZAWA (JPN,518) bt (Q) Rakshay THAKKAR (IND,1710) 64 61
(6) Kento TAKEUCHI (JPN,533) bt Chieh-Fu WANG (TPE,761) 36 62 61
Sanam SINGH (IND,776) bt (WC) Akash WAGH (IND,1204) 60 60
James FEAVER (GBR,770) bt (WC) Vignesh PERANAMALLUR (IND,938) 64 26 64
Shuichi SEKIGUCHI (JPN,784) bt (4) Rohan GAJJAR (IND,515) 26 63 76(2)
(7) Ranjit VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND,540) bt (Q) Shahbaaz KHAN (IND,UNR) 64 61
Richard GABB (GBR,902) bt (Q) Daniiar DULDAEV (KGZ,1443) 63 67(5) 63
(Q) Matthieu VIERIN (ITA,1475) bt N Vijay Sunder PRASHANTH (IND,692) 63 46 63
Sarvar IKRAMOV (UZB,670) bt (2) Vijayant MALIK (IND,469) 63 26 76(0)

Doubles First Round
(1) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND)/ Ranjeet VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND) bt James FEAVER (GBR)/ Richard GABB (GBR) 62 62
Rupesh ROY (IND)/ Abhijeet TIWARI (IND) bt Maik BURLAGE (GER)/ Mark-Alexander KEPLER (GER) 36 76(8) 10-2
(3) N. Vijay Sundar PRASHANTH (IND)/ Arun-Prakash RAJAGOPALAN (IND) bt (WC) Neeraj ELANGOVAN (IND)/ Rakshay THAKKAR (IND) 63 63
(WC) Chandril SOOD (IND)/ Lakshit SOOD (IND) bt (WC) Mohammed Ashraf MOHAMMED (IND)/ U M Gugan VERMA (IND) 60 63
Jordi MUNOZ-ABREU (ESP)/ Shuichi SEKIGUCHI (JPN) bt Hsien-Yin PENG (TPE)/ Chieh-Fu WANG (TPE) 64 16 10-4
(4) Vijayant MALIK (IND)/ Vivek SHOKEEN (IND) bt Daniiar DULDAEV (KGZ)/ Sarvar IKRAMOV (UZB) 62 64
Vignesh PERANAMALLUR (IND)/ Akash WAGH (IND) bt Jeevan NEDUNCHEZHIYAN(IND)/ Sanam SINGH (IND) 62 36 10-5
(2) Rohan GAJJAR (IND)/ Saketh MYNENI (IND) bt Motoaki KITA (JPN)/ Lucas RENARD (SWE) 62 63

Jeevan and Vivek had a winning start but Vijay Sunder lost against Italian qualifier in the first round ... Shocking results for our seeded players, 2nd seed Vijayant and 4th seed Rohan Gajjar lost in the first round ... Saketh scored win over Balaji, which was match of the first round and Sanam tamed Akash when he double bageled Akash.

In doubles quarter-final only a single pair is non-Indian.

Tennis News
At $35K+H Kyoto Challenger, Japan

[Q3] (WC) Purav Raja (IND,UNR) bt (WC) Masato Hatanaka (JPN,1710) 75 63
[Q3] Divij Sharan (IND,804) l Chu-Huan Yi (TPE,873) 57 26

[R1] (Q) Purav Raja (IND,UNR) vs (1) Go Soeda (JPN,81)
[R1] Yuki Bhambri (IND,290) vs Conor Niland (IRL,310)

Doubles
[Q1] Yuki Bhambri (IND)/ Ti Chen (TPE) bt (1) Adam Feeney (AUS)/ Jose (Rubin) Statham (NZL) 46 63 10-8

[Q2] Yuki Bhambri (IND)/ Ti Chen (TPE) vs (WC) Takuto Niki (JPN)/ Bumpei Sato (JPN)

[R1] Malek Jaziri (TUN)/ Purav Raja (IND) vs Colin Ebelthite (AUS)/ Samuel Groth (AUS)
[R1] (4) Divij Sharan (IND)/ Vishnu Vardhan (IND) vs (WC) Hiroki Moriya (JPN)/ Yuichi Sugita (JPN)

Purav qualified for main-draw but facing top-seed Go Soeda ... In doubles qualifying Yuki is in the final qualifying with Ti Chen.

Tennis News
At $1.7M Dubai Tennis Championships, UAE

Doubles Final
(4) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Rohan Bopanna (IND) bt (3) Mariusz Fyrstenberg (POL) / Marcin Matkowski (POL) 64 36 10-5

Mahesh and Rohan lifted their first title of the year and as a pair ... Mahesh captured his 50th tour-level title and this was Rohan's first ATP 500 title with 6th ATP title.

Rohan and Mahesh take decisive break in 7th game of the first set ... Fyrstenberg and Matkowski fought back immediately after breaking serve in 1st game of the second set to level the match ... In the Super Tie-break, Mahesh and Rohan take a 6-2 early lead which they kept till end ... On the match point Rohan hit a backhand return winner.
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At $10K India F2 Futures 2012, Bhopal

Singles Final
Sanam Singh (IND,776) bt Shuichi Sekiguchi (JPN,784) 61 64

Sanam lifted his second ITF Futures title in two weeks ... Creditable performance from him to win back to back titles, which will help him to bring his ranking inside top-550 ... This was Sanam's overall third ITF Futures title.

Sanam dominated the final from the start and won the first set with double breaks ... In the second set also Sanam take 4-0 lead with double breaks ... From here Sanam lost his concentration and gave Shuichi chance to fought back in the match ... Shuichi broke Sanam's serve but Sanam had a match point on Shuichi's serve in 9th game ... At last Sanam converted 3rd match point after couple of deuces to complete the victory.
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At $35K Kyoto Challenger, Japan

[Q1] (2) Vishnu Vardhan (IND,337) bt Wan Gao (CHN,879) 63 57 62
[Q1] (WC) Purav Raja (IND,UNR) bt Chuhan Wang (CHN,729) 61 61
[Q1] Divij Sharan (IND,804) bt Yuichi Ito (JPN,945) 76(3) 64

[Q2] (WC) Purav Raja (IND,UNR) bt (2) Vishnu Vardhan (IND,337) 61 63
[Q2] Divij Sharan (IND,804) bt (8) Woong-Sun Jun (KOR,567) 76(4) 76(2)

[Q3] (WC) Purav Raja (IND,UNR) vs (WC) Masato Hatanaka (JPN,1710)
[Q3] Divij Sharan (IND,804) vs Chu-Huan Yi (TPE,873)

[R1] Yuki Bhambri (IND,290) vs Conor Niland (IRL,310)

Vishnu needed 3 sets to move into the second qualifying round ... Other hand Purav scored dominating win and Divij also scored straight sets win ... Next Purav is facing Vishnu and Divij is facing 8th seed Korean Woong-Sun.

In the second qualifying rounds bad loss for Vishnu but terrific results for Purav and Divij ... Both having good chance to qualify for main-draw.

Purav is facing 30 yrs old wild-card local player Masato Hatanaka, way back who was in 600s ... Divij is facing similar ranked Chinese Taipei player Chu-Huan Yi.

Yuki having winnable first round match which is depend upon how fast he adjust to these funny courts.

Tennis News
At $1.7M Dubai Tennis Championships, UAE

[SF] (4) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Rohan Bopanna (IND) bt Julian Knowle (AUT)/ Alexander Peya (AUT) 76(2) 76(7)

[F] (4) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Rohan Bopanna (IND) vs (3) Mariusz Fyrstenberg (POL) / Marcin Matkowski (POL)

Mahesh and Rohan scored very good fighting win against Austrian pair in double tie-breaks ... This is our pair's first final of the year ... In the final they r facing 3rd seed Polish pair.
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At $50K Singapore Challenger, Singapore

[QF] Yuki Bhambri (IND,289) l (1) Yen-Hsun Lu (TPE,62) 67(4) 46

In the first set Yuki was down 2-4 but Yuki fought back breaking Lu in 7th game ... Yuki had a break point in 9th game but failed to convert ... Both players exchanged early mini-breaks in tie-break but from 4-all Lu won next 3 points to won the first set ... In the second set Lu take only imporant break in 3rd game ... Lu didn't give any chance to Yuki on his serve and won the second set with a single break ... Still good fighting performance by Yuki against top-60 type player.
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At $35K Kyoto Challenger, Japan

[Q1] (2) Vishnu Vardhan (IND,337) vs Wan Gao (CHN,879)
[Q1] (WC) Purav Raja (IND,UNR) vs Chuhan Wang (CHN,729)
[Q1] Divij Sharan (IND,804) vs Yuichi Ito (JPN,945)

Purav is also joined Vishnu and Divij in Kyoto qualifying ... Vishnu and Purav can face in the second qualifying if they wins their first qualifying against Chinese players ... Divij having tricky match against local player.
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At $10K India F2 Futures 2012, Bhopal

Singles Semi Finals
Sanam Singh (IND,776) bt (4) Kento Takeuchi (JPN,533) 63 61
Shuichi Sekiguchi (JPN,784) bt (Q) Jordi Munoz-Abrue (ESP,1710) 75 57 75

Doubles Final
(4) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND)/ Ranjeet VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND) bt N. Vijay Sundar PRASHANTH (IND)/ Arun-Prakash RAJAGOPALAN (IND) 76(5) 36 10-6

Sanam scored another dominating win over seeded opponent ... In the first set he lost his serve twice but broke Kento's serve four times ... The second set was one-sided and Sanam completed win inside an hour ... So he is in position of winning back to back Indian futures titles.

Sriram Balaji and Ranjeet lifted doubles title with win over Vijay Sundar and Arun-Prakash.

Tennis News
At $1.7M Dubai Tennis Championships, UAE

[R1] (4) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Rohan Bopanna (IND) bt Lukas Dlouhy (CZE)/ Alexandr Dolgopolov (UKR) 64 75
[R1] Leander Paes (IND)/ Janko Tipsarevic (SRB) l (2) Robert Lindstedt (SWE)/ Horia Tecau (ROU) 46 57

[QF] (4) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Rohan Bopanna (IND) bt Paul Hanley (AUS)/ Jamie Murray (GBR) 63 63

[SF] (4) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Rohan Bopanna (IND) vs Julian Knowle (AUT)/ Alexander Peya (AUT)

Lee failed to recreate their performance like Chennai open with Tipsarevic and lost in the first round ... But Mahesh and Rohan r showing positive signs in their doubles pairing ... They scored 2 good wins over doubles decent players ... In the semis they r facing unseeded Austrian doubles pair.
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At $220KBMW Malaysian Open, Kuala Lumpur

[R1] Sania Mirza (IND,129) l Eleni Daniilidou (GRE,81) 26 61 46

Sania's disappointing run in singles continued but I m not worrying as she already declared this year she is targetting only doubles to play mixed doubles in Olympics.
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At $50K Singapore Challenger,

[R1] Yuki Bhambri (IND,289) bt (Q) Divij Sharan (IND,804) 62 62
[R1] (WC) Vishnu Vardhan (IND,332) l (8) Amir Weintraub (ISR,211) 46 26

[R2] Yuki Bhambri (IND,289) bt (WC) Christopher Rungkat (INA,409) 46 63 76(6)

[QF] Yuki Bhambri (IND,289) vs (1) Yen-Hsun Lu (TPE,62)

Doubles
[R1] Purav Raja (IND)/ Karan Rastogi (IND) bt (4) Divij Sharan (IND)/ Vishnu Vardhan (IND)
26 63 10-6

[QF] Purav Raja (IND)/ Karan Rastogi (IND) l Jimmy Wang (TPE)/ Tsung-Hua Yang (TPE) 36 46

As expected Yuki scored dominating win against Purav but in the second round surprised to see Rungkat stretched him to 3rd set tie-break ... Next he is having tough match against Lu.

Vishnu had poor outing in singles and in doubles also with Divij they lost against Purav and Karan ... Purav and Karan lost in straight sets in quarters against Taipei pair.
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At $10K India F2 Futures 2012, Bhopal

Singles Quarter Finals
Sanam Singh (IND,776) bt (1) Patrik Rosenholm (SWE,426) 75 64
(4) Kento Takeuchi (JPN,533) bt (7) Sarvar Ikramov (UZB,670) 36 62 63
(Q) Jordi Munoz-Abrue (ESP,1710) bt (WC) Sidharth Rawat (IND,1398) 62 61
Shuichi Sekiguchi (JPN,784) bt (2) Arata Onozawa (JPN,518) 64 64

Singles Second Round
(1) Patrik Rosenholm (SWE,426) bt Rupesh Roy (IND,916) 76(5) 62
Sanam Singh (IND,776) bt N. Sriram Balaji (IND,738) 46 75 76(4)
(4) Kento Takeuchi (JPN,533) bt Sam Barry (IRL,731) 64 62
(7) Sarvar Ikramov (UZB,670) bt Kenny Bun (CAM,1194) 60 62
(Q) Jordi Munoz-Abrue (ESP,1710) bt (8) N. Vijay Sundar Prashanth (IND,692) 64 36 63
(WC) Sidharth Rawat (IND,1398) bt (Q) Rakshay Thakkar (IND,1710) 62 64
Shuichi Sekiguchi (JPN,784) bt James Feaver (GBR,770) 62 3-0 Retd
(2) Arata Onozawa (JPN,518) bt (Q) Chieh-Fu Wang (TPE,761) 64 63

Doubles Semi Finals
N. Vijay Sundar PRASHANTH (IND)/ Arun-Prakash RAJAGOPALAN (IND) bt (3) Sam BARRY (IRL)/ Patrik ROSENHOLM (SWE) 36 64 10-4
(4) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND)/ Ranjeet VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND) bt (2) Arata ONOZAWA (JPN)/ Kento TAKEUCHI (JPN) 64 76(10)

Doubles Quarter Finals
N. Vijay Sundar PRASHANTH (IND)/ Arun-Prakash RAJAGOPALAN (IND) bt (1) Miles BUGBY (GBR)/ Rohan GAJJAR (IND) 46 76(6) 10-7
(3) Sam BARRY (IRL)/ Patrik ROSENHOLM (SWE) bt Abhijeet TIWARI (IND)/ Akash WAGH (IND) 64 62
(4) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND)/ Ranjeet VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND) bt (WC) Kunal ANAND (IND)/ Sidharth RAWAT (IND) 60 64
(2) Arata ONOZAWA (JPN)/ Kento TAKEUCHI (JPN) bt James FEAVER (GBR)/ Richard GABB (GBR) W/O

In the second round Sanam and Sidharth managed to win ... Sanam scored hard fought win over Sriram Balaji ... In the quarters Sanam shows his current solid form ... He defeated top-seed Swede and world top 425 player Rosenholm in straight sets.

Football News
At FIFA International Friendly 2012, Dubai, UAE

Azerbaijan bt India 3-0
Goal Scored - Vugar Nadirov (AZB) 3', Mohir Shukurov (AZB) 43′ PS, Nizami Hajiyev (AZB) 84′

Another disappointing loss for Indians against European team ... Our team was no match for them ... Azerbaijan take early lead and kept increasing pressure ... Indians conceded penalty in late of the first half before conceded one more goal in the second half ... Frankly speaking shocking unnecessary friendlies organized by AIFF ... These losses putting our FIFA ranking back to 160s.