Hockey News
At Sultan Azlan Shah Tournament 2012 , Malaysia

India bt Pakistan 2-1
Goal Scorer - Sandeep Sing (IND) 29' PC, Sunil SV (IND) 69' and Sohail Abbas (PAK) 61'

We were lucky to win this match ... In the first half we gave 4 penalty corners but Sohail failed to convert from them ... We earned one and Sandeep scored from that to give half-time lead ... We were better in the defense than our previous matches but again our forward-line disappointed ... Unnecessary crosses in the D when nobody was available to intercept those crosses ... Also many times our forwards fumbled in-front of the goal ... In the second half Pakistan was better team on the filed ... They were attacking continuously but unlucky to scored a goal ... Sohail converted 5th penalty corner to make it 1-all ... Indians earned 4 penalty corners but Raghunath and Sandeep failed to convert it ... Sunil scored when 87 seconds were remaining after excellent move from Birendra Lakra and we managed to win this tie ... So we will mostly play for 3/4th positions.

Tennis News
At French Open 2012, Paris, France

[R1] (6) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Rohan Bopanna (IND) l Marc Gicquel (FRA)/ Edouard Roger-Vasselin (FRA) 61 57 36
[R1] (7) Leander Paes (IND)/ Alexander Peya (AUT) bt Simone Bolelli (ITA)/ Fabio Fognini (ITA) 61 67(2) 63

[R2] (7) Leander Paes (IND)/ Alexander Peya (AUT) vs Mikhail Elgin (RUS)/ Denis Istomin (UZB)

Juniors
[Q1] Rutuja Bhosale (IND,150) l (5) Ioana Loredana Rosca (ROU,56) 36 67(4)

Mahesh and Rohan started well breaking French's pair serve twice to won the first set ... But from the second set they found trouble of reading Frech pair's game and French pair take crucial break in 12th game to won the second set ... French pair again take early lead breaking Indians serve in 4th game and kept that lead to scored upset win over Indian pair.

Leander and Alexander Peya started confidently and won the first set breaking Italian pair's serve twice ... But our pair lost the second set in tie-break ... Still they managed to prevail over Italian pair after winning the third set with a single break ... Much required victory for this new pairing ... Next they r facing Russian-Uzbek pair in the second round.

This also means we will miss to play 2 pairs at the Olympics as only Lee will remain inside top-10 after the French open ... So interesting to see AITA's decision about who will partner Lee, Rohan or Mahesh?

In the junior qualifying Rutuja faced top-60 Romanian girl in the first round ... It was tough match against European player on the clay but Rutuja gave decent performance taking the second set in tie-break.
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At $10K India F7 Futures, Mandya

[QF] (1) Vijayant MALIK (IND,439) bt (6) Bowen OUYANG (CHN,765) 64 75
[QF] (3) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND,542) bt Kaza Vinayak SHARMA (IND,936) 62 64
[QF] (4) Saketh MYNENI (IND,587) bt (5) Sebastien BOLTZ (FRA,702) 63 64
[QF] (2) Ranjit VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND,484) bt (LL) Vignesh VEERABADRAN (IND,1888) 64 60

Doubles
[SF] (1) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND)/ Arun-Prakash RAJAGOPALAN (IND) bt Kunal ANAND (IND)/ Ajai SELVARAJ (IND) 62 64
[SF] (2) Saketh MYNENI (IND)/ Bowen OUYANG (CHN) bt (3) Vijayant MALIK (IND)/ Vivek SHOKEEN (IND) 63 76(3)

Happy to see that our all top 4 seeds played as per their seedings to reached in the semis in the single.

Chess News
At World Chess Championship 2012, Moscow, Russia

Final score

Viswanathan Anand (IND,2791) bt Boris Gelfand (ISR,2727) 2½ - 1½ in tie-break (after 6 - 6 tie in the classic chess)

Tie-break 4 - 30th May 2012
Viswanathan Anand (IND,2791) dw Boris Gelfand (ISR,2727) ½-½ (6-6, Tie-break 2½—1½)

Tie-break 3 - 30th May 2012
Boris Gelfand (ISR,2727) dw Viswanathan Anand (IND,2791) ½-½ (6-6, Tie-break 2-1)

Tie-break 2 - 30th May 2012
Viswanathan Anand (IND,2791) bt Boris Gelfand (ISR,2727) 1-0 (6-6, Tie-break 1½—½)

Tie-break 1 - 30th May 2012
Boris Gelfand (ISR,2727) dw Viswanathan Anand (IND,2791) ½-½ (6-6, Tie-break ½—½)

Viswanathan Anand remains the World Champion after this dog-fight ... In classic chess Gelfand matched Anand's preparation but in Rapid chess (tie-break) Anand showed his class and outperformed Gelfand to win this World championship match ... Deserving winner as Anand kept his nerves in this high tension rapid chess matches ... Anand clearly was better prepared and energized in the rapid playoff.

In the fourth game Gelfand used the Sicilian defense with the Najdorf Variation ... Despite Anand's novelty move on 13th, b3, Gelfand played very interestingly, creatively and constructively and Anand was struggling with lack of spaces on the board ... After that most of the game advantage was to black and Gelfand used the black king while attacking the white pieces ... But Boris was in usual time trouble and then Anand played excellent tactical chess game and managed superb bishop switch on 54th move and that confirmed draw after 56 moves.

In the third game Anand again decided to play with the Slav defense ... Gelfand surprised Anand with his 11th move, Qc2 ... Gelfand played strategically and take control of the game ... Anand was in trouble but Gelfand made blunder on 26th move he played Rxb8 instead of may be this game winning Nxe4 ... Gelfand again found himself in time trouble and due to that missed opportunity Anand managed to equalize on the board ... Despite time trouble Gelfand played brilliantly and managed draw after 59 moves ... Big missed opportunity for Gelfand.

In the second game, Gelfand also went for his favorite defense the Sicilian defense with the Rossolimo variation ... Anand surprised him with novelty moe on 7th, d4 ... Gelfand take lot of time to played next few moves ... In middle of the game Anand played safe instead of putting more pressure but Gelfand failed to utilize that due time trouble ... From around 30th move Gelfand played with less than a minute on the clock other hand Anand had 7+ minutes ... Gelfand tried hard for draw but Anand kept putting pressure and improving his position on the board ... Gelfand resigned after 77 moves.

In the first game Gelfand played with white ... Anand again played the Slav Defence ... After entertaining battle both agreed draw after 32 moves.

Hockey News
At Sultan Azlan Shah Tournament 2012 , Malaysia


India l Argentina 2-3
Goal Scorer - Sardar Singh (IND) 48' PC, Raghunath (IND) 61' PC and Lucas (ARG) 37', Santiago (ARG) 38', Gonzalo Peillat (ARG) 57' PC

Indians failed to score in the first-half despite dominating it ... In the second half Argentina scored 2 goals in 2 minutes due to poor defending by Sandeep Singh ... After that Indians tried and earned 2nd penalty corner ... Sardar Singh scored on rebound after Raghunath's hit saved by the goal-keeper ... Argentina increased their lead to 2 goals when Peillat converted Argentina's first penalty corner ... In three minutes Indians earned their third penalty corner which Raghunath converted but failed to convert 4th penalty corner in 63rd minute.

Again poor finishing inside D and dodgy defense costed us a match ... With this loss our chances of reaching the final of the Azlan Shah cup r over.

Tennis News
At French Open 2012, Paris, France

Mixed Doubles
[R1] (5) Elena Vesnina (RUS)/ Leander Paes (IND) bt Lucie Hradecka (CZE)/ Frantisek Cermak (CZE) 61 61
[R1] (4) Lisa Raymond (USA)/ Rohan Bopanna (IND) l Natalie Grandin (RSA)/ Paul Hanley (AUS) 67(6) 64 6-10
[R1] (7) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Mahesh Bhupathi (IND) bt Raquel Kops-Jones (USA)/ Eric Butorac (USA) 62 64

Lee and Elena started with solid win over Czech pair losing only 2 games ... Sania and Mahesh also started with comfortable win over American pair ... Shocking loss of 4th seed pair Rohan and Lisa in match tie-break against Hanley and Grandin ... In the first set tie-break Rohan and Lisa were leading 5-2 before losing that.
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At $10K India F7 Futures, Mandya

[R2] (1) Vijayant MALIK (IND,439) bt Sidharth RAWAT (IND,1069) 63 64
[R2] (6) Bowen OUYANG (CHN,765) bt (Q) Venkat IYER (IND,UNR) 61 62
[R2] (3) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND,542) bt (Q) Elwin ANTONY (IND,1888) 64 63
[R2] Kaza Vinayak SHARMA (IND,936) bt (WC) Sagar MANJANNA (IND,UNR) 60 62
[R2] (5) Sebastien BOLTZ (FRA,702) bt Kunal ANAND (IND,1523) 61 60
[R2] (4) Saketh MYNENI (IND,587) bt Vivek SHOKEEN (IND,1344) 64 62
[R2] (LL) Vignesh VEERABADRAN (IND,1888) bt (WC) Rajat MAHESHWARI (IND,UNR) 67(3) 63 4-1 Retd
[R2] (2) Ranjit VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND,484) bt Ashwin VIJAYRAGAVAN (IND,904) 63 64

Doubles
[QF] (1) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND)/ Arun-Prakash RAJAGOPALAN (IND) bt Ronak MANUJA (IND)/ Abhijeet TIWARI (IND) 61 46 10-7
[QF] Kunal ANAND (IND)/ Ajai SELVARAJ (IND) bt Scott PUODZIUNAS (AUS)/ Gavin VAN PEPERZEEL (AUS) 64 16 10-7
[QF] (3) Vijayant MALIK (IND)/ Vivek SHOKEEN (IND) bt Elwin ANTONY (IND)/ Saurabh PATIL (IND) 63 61
[QF] (2) Saketh MYNENI (IND)/ Bowen OUYANG (CHN) bt Sebastien BOLTZ (FRA)/ Francesco VILARDO (ITA) 63 16 10-7

Expected results in the singles second round.

Tennis News
At French Open 2012, Paris, France

Doubles
[R1] (15) Bethanie Mattek-Sands (USA)/ Sania Mirza (IND) l Nina Bratchikova (RUS)/ Edina Gallovits-Hall (ROU) 36 64 57

In the first set Sania and Bethanie had a break point in 7th game, 3-all, but failed to convert it and then lost their service game in 8th game to lose the first set ... In the second set they lost their serve in 3rd game but immediately broke back in next to make it 2-all ... Sania and Bethanie take crucial break in 10th game to won the second set ... In the third set Sania and Bethanie lost their serve in 3rd game but again they broke back to make it 2-all ... Sania and Bethanie lost 5th service game from 40-0 but they broke opponent's serve in 10th game when they were serving for the match to make it 5-all ... But Bratchikova and Gallovits-Hall easily broke Sania's serve in 11th game and then comfortably hold their service game to completed upset win.

Disappointing performance by Sania and Bethanie ... So with this first round loss Sania failed to defend her 1400 points as last year's finalist ... This also means she will be out of top 10 doubles rankings so she will miss direct entry in doubles for London Olympics.
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At $10K Spain F14 Futures, Madrid

[R1] (Q) Mohit Mayur JAYAPRAKASH (IND,1084) l Lorenzo GIUSTINO (ITA,643) 67(5) 26

Though Mohit Mayur failed to earn a single ranking point still heartening performance from him against higher ranked opponents in this futures.

Chess News
At World Chess Championship 2012, Moscow, Russia

Game 12 - 28th May 2012
Viswanathan Anand (IND,2791) dw Boris Gelfand (ISR,2727) ½-½ (6-6)

Anand played very attacking game in the final game ... Anand was going all out for the win ... Gelfand again started with Sicilian defense but Anand surprised him with b3 6th move ... Anand looks well prepared for this novelty ... After 22 moves Anand was a pawn up and he was slightly better and Gelfand had only 16 minutes for 18 moves but still Anand agreed draw.

So his means that the classical world champion will be decided through tie-break which will be played on Wednesday.

Hockey News
At Sultan Azlan Shah Tournament 2012 , Malaysia

India bt Malaysia 3-2
Goal Scorer - Danish Mujtaba (IND) 9', Shivendra Singh (IND) 11' PC, Tushar Khandekar (IND) 41' and Muhammad Amin (MAS) 40' PC, Muhammad Fitri Saari (MAS) 58'

Indians survived as last 15 minutes they were under tremendous pressure from Malaysians ... India troubled with their dodgy defence and most of the last minute we were playing with one man less on the field due to back to back 2 yellow cards to Raghunath and Sandeep Singh ... Early Indians were in the control scoring 2 goals in 3 minutes and they maintained that lead till half-time ... After half-time Malaysians were trying hard and attacking from both flanks ... Within 5 minutes they earned penalty corner and scored from that ... On next minutes Indians scored through excellent move by Sardara Singh ... Malaysians kept pushing and earned couple of more penalty corners but failed to convert ... Muhammad Fitri Saari scored excellent individual goal from top of the circle in 58 minutes ... After that Malaysians tried and earned one penalty corner but Indians managed to keep lead ... So this was India's second victory from 4 matches.

Tennis News
At French Open 2012, Paris, France

[R1] (15) Bethanie Mattek-Sands (USA)/ Sania Mirza (IND) vs Nina Bratchikova (RUS)/ Edina Gallovits-Hall (ROU)
[R1] (6) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Rohan Bopanna (IND) vs Marc Gicquel (FRA)/ Edouard Roger-Vasselin (FRA)
[R1] (7) Leander Paes (IND)/ Alexander Peya (AUT) vs Simone Bolelli (ITA)/ Fabio Fognini (ITA)

Mixed Doubles
[R1] (5) Elena Vesnina (RUS)/ Leander Paes (IND) vs Lucie Hradecka (CZE)/ Frantisek Cermak (CZE)
[R1] (4) Lisa Raymond (USA)/ Rohan Bopanna (IND) vs Natalie Grandin (RSA)/ Paul Hanley (AUS)
[R1] (7) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Mahesh Bhupathi (IND) vs Raquel Kops-Jones (USA)/ Eric Butorac (USA)

Lucky break for Sania and Bethanie ... When draw announced They were facing the Olympics bound experienced and 17h seed Argentine pair in the first round ... But 13th seed Russian pair Kuznetsova and Zvonareva withdrawn and 17th seed Argentine pair replaced them as seeded pair ... Rohan and Mahesh r 6th seed and facing French pair in the first round ... They r in top draw with Max Mirnyi and Daniel Nestor ... Radek is not playing with Lee due to his prior commitment so last minute Lee decided to pairing with Austrian Alexander Peya ... They r 7th seed and in bottom draw with Bryans ... In the first round they r facing Italian pair.

In mixed doubles our players r playing with their Australian open partners ... Lee and Rohan r in the top draw and can face in the semis but before that Lee and Vesnina can face top-seed Mirnyi and Huber in the quarters ... Rohan and Sania r in bottom draw and can face 2nd seed Bryan and Pescke in the quarters.
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At $10K India F7 Futures, Mandya

[R1] (1) Vijayant MALIK (IND,439) bt Viju GEORGE JR (USA,1728) 60 63
[R1] Sidharth RAWAT (IND,1069) bt (WC) Saurabh PATIL (IND,1426) 61 60
[R1] (Q) Venkat IYER (IND,UNR) bt Scott PUODZIUNAS (AUS,1310) 46 62 62
[R1] (6) Bowen OUYANG (CHN,765) bt (Q) Neeraj ELANGOVAN (IND,1907) 76(5) 64
[R1] (3) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND,542) bt Gavin VAN PEPERZEEL (AUS,961) 46 62 63
[R1] (Q) Elwin ANTONY (IND,1888) bt Arvind Vishnu BESTHA (IND,1629) 61 63
[R1] (WC) Sagar MANJANNA (IND,UNR) bt (Q) Rishabdev RAMAN (IND,UNR) 63 76(5)
[R1] Kaza Vinayak SHARMA (IND,936) bt (7) Francesco VILARDO (ITA,828) 62 36 64
[R1] (5) Sebastien BOLTZ (FRA,702) bt (WC) Krishik DIVAKAR (IND,UNR) 64 60
[R1] Kunal ANAND (IND,1523) bt Zach ITZSTEIN (AUS,1072) 64 46 63
[R1] Vivek SHOKEEN (IND,1344) bt (Q) Rynold TIMOTHY (IND,UNR) 62 61
[R1] (4) Saketh MYNENI (IND,587) bt (Q) Abhijeet TIWARI (IND,1225) 64 63
[R1] (WC) Rajat MAHESHWARI (IND,UNR) bt (LL) Ronak MANUJA (IND,1888) 62 62
[R1] (LL) Vignesh VEERABADRAN (IND,1888) bt (Q) Ajai SELVARAJ (IND,1793) 64 75
[R1] Ashwin VIJAYRAGAVAN (IND,904) bt (Q) Fariz MOHAMMED (IND,1728) 63 61
[R1] (2) Ranjit VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND,484) bt Vinod GOWDA (IND,1531) 64 60

Doubles
[R1] (1) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND)/ Arun-Prakash RAJAGOPALAN (IND) bt (WC) Bharatram BALAJEE (IND)/ Bharath-Srinivasan PARTHASARATHY (IND) 61 63
[R1] Ronak MANUJA (IND)/ Abhijeet TIWARI (IND) bt Yogesh PHOGAT (IND)/ Sidharth RAWAT (IND) 62 63
[R1] Kunal ANAND (IND)/ Ajai SELVARAJ (IND) bt (4) Zach ITZSTEIN (AUS)/ Ashwin VIJAYRAGAVAN (IND) 76(5) 16 10-7
[R1] Scott PUODZIUNAS (AUS)/ Gavin VAN PEPERZEEL (AUS) bt (WC) Arnav MOHANTY (USA)/ Arsav MOHANTY (USA) 60 61
[R1] Elwin ANTONY (IND)/ Saurabh PATIL (IND) bt Arvind Vishnu BESTHA (IND)/ Vignesh VEERABADRAN (IND) 64 76(3)
[R1] (3) Vijayant MALIK (IND)/ Vivek SHOKEEN (IND) bt Neeraj ELANGOVAN (IND)/ Fariz MOHAMMED (IND) 61 62
[R1] Sebastien BOLTZ (FRA)/ Francesco VILARDO (ITA) bt (WC) Krishik DIVAKAR (IND)/ Sagar MANJANNA (IND) 63 62
[R1] (2) Saketh MYNENI (IND)/ Bowen OUYANG (CHN) bt Vinod GOWDA (IND)/ Venkat IYER (IND) 61 62

Interesting to see how Saketh perform after long injury and training break.

Good upset win over higher ranked forigners by Kaza Sharma, Venkat Iyer and Kunal Anand ... Also happy to see new players like Sagar Manjanna and Rajat Maheshwari earning their first ranking point.
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At $10K Spain F14 Futures, Madrid

[R1] (Q) Mohit Mayur JAYAPRAKASH (IND,1084) vs GIUSTINO, Lorenzo (ITA,643)

[Q3] (10) Mohit Mayur JAYAPRAKASH (IND,1084) bt (1) David Perez Sanz (ESP,796) 76(7) 16 76(4)
[Q2] (10) Mohit Mayur JAYAPRAKASH (IND,1084) bt Daniel GARCIA-GORDILLO (ESP,UNR) 63 62
[Q1] (10) Mohit Mayur JAYAPRAKASH (IND,1084) bt Eduardo RICO BRUSI (ESP,UNR) 61 62

Excellent win in the final qualifying round against top-800 Spanish player on the clay for Mohit Mayur.

Hockey News
At Sultan Azlan Shah Tournament 2012 , Malaysia

India l Great Britain 2-3
Goal Scorer - VR Raghunath (IND) 56' PC, SV Sunil (IND) 59' and Glen Kirkham (GBR) 28' PC, Ben Hawes (GBR) 44', Nick Catlin (GBR) 62'

Indians played better hockey on the field and showed more urgency but sloppy defending cost them the match ... Despite early chances which Indians failed to utilize Britisher take lead converting third penalty corner ... In the second half also our forwards failed to convert circle penetrations ... Britain doubled their lead in 44th minute through field goal ... Indians kept trying and earned first penalty corner in 55th minute which Raghunath converted and immediately after 3 minutes later SV Sunil deflected beautiful pass from Gurbaj Singh ... Britain strike back when sloppy defending by Indians in 62nd minute ... After that Indians tried hard to equalize ... They earned 2 penalty corners in last 3 minutes but failed to convert.

Chess News
At World Chess Championship 2012, Moscow, Russia

Game 11 - 26th May 2012
Boris Gelfand (ISR,2727) dw Viswanathan Anand (IND,2791) ½-½ (5½-5½)

Important game for both players as only last 2 games were remaining ... This was last time Gelfand playing with white and Anand again used Nimzo Indian defense but on 8th played rare Bd7 move ... Gelfand played cautiously avoiding complication ... They agreed draw after 25 moves when Gelfand was under time pressure as only 12 minutes were remaining on his clock.

So tomorrow will be the last game and Anand is playing with white ... Interesting to see if Anand go all out with white or prefer the rapid playoffs.

Tennis News
At $637K Brussels WTA Open, Belgium (Red clay)

Doubles Final
(4) Bethanie Mattek-Sands (USA)/ Sania Mirza (IND) bt (3) Jie Zheng (CHN)/ Alicja Rosolska (POL) 63 62

Sania won her 14th WTA doubles title and the first premier WTA tournament title of 2012

Sania and Bethanie were early break down, 0-2, but they broke back in 4th game to make it 2-all ... Sania and Bethanie again broke their opponent in 8th game and then hold to won the first set ... In the second set Sania and Bethanie broke Jie Zheng and Rosolska in 1st and 3rd game to take 4-0 lead and then hold their service game respectively to complete comfortable win in 70 minutes.

Much required title win for Sania as she gets 470 points and huge confidence boost before French open ... She is defending loads of point as last year's French open finalist so her direct double entry in the Olympics with top 10 finish is under pressure.
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At $10K Delhi ITF Tournament, India

Singles Final
(5) Rishika Sunkara (IND) bt (Q) Simran Kaur Sethi (IND) 62 64

Rishika Sunkara lifted her first $10K ITF title beating 15 yrs old talented Simran Kaur Sethi in the final ... Frankly great week for both players as Simran needed to qualify before reaching into the final.

Hockey News
At Sultan Azlan Shah Tournament 2012 , Malaysia

India bt South Korea 2-1
Goal Scorer - Sandeep singh (IND) 11' PC, Utthappa (IND) 70'and Nam Hyun (KOR) 66' PC

South Koreans were looking more co-ordinated side on the field but Indians scored early through penalty corner ... Indians maintained that lead at half-time while keeping pressure on Koreans ... In the second half Koreans were better side on the field and Indians were disarray ... In the last 10 minutes Koreans kept building pressure and managed equalizer through penalty corner when 5 minutes were remaining ... But smart deflection by Utthappa on Tushar Khandekar's cross when 55 seconds were remaining help India to earned important 3 points.

Tennis News
At $10K Delhi ITF Tournament, India

[SF] (5) Rishika Sunkara (IND) bt (Q) Ho Ching Wu (HKG) 61 61
[SF] (Q) Simran Kaur Sethi (IND) bt Natasha Palha (IND) 64 64

Doubles Final
(1) Rushmi CHAKRAVARTHI (IND)/ Ankita RAINA (IND) bt Sri Vaishnavi PEDDI REDDY (IND)/ Prarthana G. THOMBARE (IND ?

Young 15 yrs old Simran Kaur Sethi continued with her giant-killing ... As an qualifier she reached in the final with win over last week's finalist and another young Goan girl Natasha Palha in straight sets ... She will face 5th seed Rishika Sunkara, who also scored straight sets win over Hong Kong girl.

Chess News
At World Chess Championship 2012, Moscow, Russia

Game 10 - 24th May 2012
Viswanathan Anand (IND,2791) dw Boris Gelfand (ISR,2727) ½-½ (5-5)

The 10th game ended in a draw after 25 moves ... Anand tried couple of different moves early 3.Bb5 and 5.b3 for Gelfand's Sicilian defense but Gelfand was equally ready and handled them without any trouble.

Hockey News
At Sultan Azlan Shah Tournament 2012 , Malaysia


India l New Zealand 1-5 (1-2)
Goal Scorer - Shivender Singh (IND) 6' and Simon Child (NZL) 1', Andy Hayward (NZL) 34' PC, Nick Wilson (NZL) 58', Stephen Jenness (NZL) 61', Matt L'Huillier (NZL) 66' PC

Another pathetic and lethargic performance from us on the field in the first match of Sultan Azlan Shah Tournament ... We were feeble inside D while defending ... Sandeep Singh, Raghunath and Rupinderpal Singh were culprits in conceding penalty corners and they failed to trap simple passes or intercept crosses from their opponents ... Out forward also fumbled or mis-pass in front of the goal ... Missed numerous chances and managed to get only 2 penalty corners which Raghunath failed to convert ... Other hand we conceded 8 penalty corners and the black sticks converted 2 of them.

Tennis News
At $637K Brussels WTA Open, Belgium (Red clay)

[SF] (4) Bethanie Mattek-Sands (USA)/ Sania Mirza (IND) bt Casey Dellacqua (AUS)/ Anastasia Rodionova AUS) 63 46

Aussie pair take early break to lead 2-1 but after that Sania and Bethanie broke Aussie pair twice to lead 5-2 and then won the set when Sania hold comfortably ... In the second set Sania and Bethanie take break in 3rd game to lead 3-1 but Aussie pair broke back in 8th game to make it 4-all ... Ausie pair again broke them in 10th game and won the second set ... In STB, our pair was double mini-break down at 1-4 but after that they won 9 points from next 10 points to book their place in the final.
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At $10K Delhi ITF Tournament, India

[QF] (Q) Ho Ching Wu (HKG) bt Eetee Maheta (IND)64 62
[QF] (5) Rishika Sunkara (IND) bt Shweta Rana (IND) 61 62
[QF] Natasha Palha (IND) bt (Q) Prarthana G. Thombare (IND) 63 62
[QF] (Q) Simran Kaur Sethi (IND) bt (2) Prerna Bhambri (IND) 4-1 Retd.

Doubles
[SF] (1) Rushmi CHAKRAVARTHI (IND)/ Ankita RAINA (IND) bt Ambika PANDE (IND)/ Simran Kaur SETHI (IND) 61 63
[SF] Sri Vaishnavi PEDDI REDDY (IND)/ Prarthana G. THOMBARE (IND) bt Pei-Chi LEE (TPE)/ Chia Hsien YANG (TPE) 63 61

Today another seeded player retired from her match, this time Prerna Bhambri ... Eetee failed to continue with her good run but happy to see Rishika and Natasha Palha in the semis.

Chess News
At World Chess Championship 2012, Moscow, Russia

Game 9 - 23rd May 2012
Boris Gelfand (ISR,2727) dw Viswanathan Anand (IND,2791) ½-½ (4½-4½)

After embarrassing loss in the eight round Gelfand again showed edge with white ... Gelfand had better chances but he failed to capitalize ... Still moral victory for Gelfand after his shocking loss ... Anand opted for Nimzo-Indian but Gelfand was in control through out the match till both agreed to draw after 49 moves.

Tennis News
At $637K Brussels WTA Open, Belgium (Red clay)

[QF] (4) Bethanie Mattek-Sands (USA)/ Sania Mirza (IND) bt (WC) Elena Bovina (RUS)/ Alison Van Uytvanck (BEL) 62 36 10-1

[SF] (4) Bethanie Mattek-Sands (USA)/ Sania Mirza (IND) vs Casey Dellacqua (AUS)/ Anastasia Rodionova AUS)

After winning the first set easily Bethanie and Sania were leading 3-1 in the second set ... After that they lost next 5 games mostly due to break in the their concentration to lose this set but came back strongly in STB ... Won it losing only 1 point ... Next they r facing Aussie pair in the semis.
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At €450 Open de Nice Côte d’Azur, Nice, France

[R1] (2) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ David Marrero (ESP) l (WC) John Isner (USA)/ Sam Querrey (USA) 36 36

Rohan and his Spanish partner lost against big serving Americans.
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At $10K Delhi ITF Tournament, India

[R2] (Q) Ho Ching Wu (HKG) bt (1) Kyra Shroff (IND) w/o
[R2] Eetee Maheta (IND) bt (6) Pei-Chi Lee (TPE) bt Chia Hsien Yang (TPE) 46 60 62
[R2] Shweta Rana (IND) bt (4) Ankita Raina (IND) 63 62
[R2] (5) Rishika Sunkara (IND) bt (Q) Shalaka Uddur Manjunath (IND) 61 62
[R2] (Q) Prarthana G. Thombare (IND) bt (7) Ratnika Batra (IND) 2-0 Retd
[R2] Natasha Palha (IND) bt (3) Rutuja Bhosale (IND) 64 76(3)
[R2] (Q) Simran Kaur Sethi (IND) bt Chun-Yan He (CHN) 60 60
[R2] (2) Prerna Bhambri (IND) bt (WC) Shreya Pasricha (IND) 61 76(3)

Doubles
[QF] (1) Rushmi CHAKRAVARTHI (IND)/ Ankita RAINA (IND) bt Amrita MUKHERJEE (IND)/ Shreya PASRICHA (IND) 60 62
[QF] Ambika PANDE (IND)/ Simran Kaur SETHI (IND) bt Natasha PALHA (IND)/ Kyra SHROFF (IND) w/o
[QF] Pei-Chi LEE (TPE)/ Chia Hsien YANG (TPE) bt Manya Nagpal NAGPAL (IND)/ Shalaka UDDUR MANJUNATH (IND) 63 60
[QF] Sri Vaishnavi PEDDI REDDY (IND)/ Prarthana G. THOMBARE (IND) bt Riya BHATIA (IND)/ Sai Samhitha CHAMARTHI (IND) 61 61

In the second round 'seeded massacre' happened on the court ... Only 2 seeded players managed to enter into the quarters all others retired or lost.

Really good win by Eetee Meheta over last week's winner Pei-Chi Lee ... Shweta scored solid win over Ankita ... Natasha Palha showed last week's final wasn't fluke with win over Rutuja ... Simran Kaur Sethi double bageled her Chinese opponent.

Hoping for not serious health issue for Kyra and wishing her quick recovery.

Tennis News

In latest ATP ranking updates 19 yrs old Yuki Bhambri become India's top male tennis player ... After his last week's title win at Fergana challenger he climb in the ranking to his career best ranking #218 ... Somdev is down to #232 and Vishnu Vardhan is on #357.
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At $637K Brussels WTA Open, Belgium (Red clay)

[R1] (Q) Sania Mirza (IND,192) l Monica Niculescu (ROU,34) 16 57

Doubles
[R1] (4) Bethanie Mattek-Sands (USA)/ Sania Mirza (IND) bt Mervana Jugic-Salkic (BIH)/ Sandra Klemenschits (AUT) 64 62

[QF] (4) Bethanie Mattek-Sands (USA)/ Sania Mirza (IND) vs (WC) Elena Bovina (RUS)/ Alison Van Uytvanck (BEL)

After losing the first set easily Sania tried fightback in the second ... Two times she fought back after losing her serve but Monica take crucial break in 11th game to won this match ... Still good to see Sania qualified for main-draw in the singles after long-time.

In doubles 4th seed Sania and Bethanie had straight sets wining start ... Next they r facing wild-card pair in the quarters.
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At $10K Morocco F1 Futures, Kenitra (clay)

[R1] (Q) Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (887) l Elie ROUSSET (FRA,592) 36 36

[Q3] (2) Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (887) bt Romain BERQUAND (FRA,UNR) 63 61
[Q2] (2) Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (887) bt Melik FELER (FRA,UNR) 60 62
[Q1] (2) Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (887) bye

Doubles
[R1] (3) Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND)/ Oscar SABATE-BRETOS (ESP) l Sebastian BADER (AUT)/ Lukas KONCILIA (AUT) 46 57

This week Ramkumar is playing in Moroccan futures ... After qualifying had a tough first round against top-600 Frenchman and lost it in straight sets ... In the doubles he and his Spanish partner lost against Austrian pair.

Chess News
At World Chess Championship 2012, Moscow, Russia

Game 8 - 21st May 2012
Viswanathan Anand (IND,2791) bt Boris Gelfand (ISR,2727) 1-0 (4-4)

World champion Anand bounced back in World chess championship match with stunning and short victory with white over Gelfand in just 17 moves ... Nobody were expecting such response from Anand after his yesterday's loss with black ... Anand played aggressively with queen pawn opening ... Gelfand tried to surprise with invitation to swap bishops on the eighth move which Anand accepted unhesitatingly ... Gelfand's wrong queen move on the 14th move open door for Anand which he used to his advantage for this quick victory.

Now Anand having psychological advantage over before 9th game which will be played tomorrow after rest day.

Tennis News
At $637K Brussels WTA Open, Belgium (Red clay)

[Q3] Sania Mirza (IND,192) bt (5) Lesia Tsurenko (UKR,105) 60 60

In shocking display Sania scored her first double bagel win in WTA beating Ukrainian Lesia Tsurenko in 45 minutes to qualify for main-draw in Brussels WTA Open.

In the first set Sania didn't face a single break point and converted all three on Tsurenko's serve ... In the second set Sania faced 4 break points on her serve, 1 in 3rd game and 3 in 5th game, but saved all those and again converted all three break points on Tsurenko's serve for comfortable win on the red clay.
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At $10K Delhi ITF Tournament, India

[R1] (1) Kyra Shroff (IND) bt Kamonwan Buayam (THA) 62 64
[R1] (Q) Ho Ching Wu (HKG) bt (WC) Ambika Pande (IND) 62 60
[R1] Eetee Maheta (IND) bt (Q) Adnya Naik (IND) 64 62
[R1] (6) Pei-Chi Lee (TPE) bt Chia Hsien Yang (TPE) 61 46 76(1)
[R1] (4) Ankita Raina (IND) bt (WC) Riya Bhatia (IND) 61 60
[R1] Shweta Rana (IND) bt (WC) Zainab Ali Sajjad (IND) 62 76(4)
[R1] (Q) Shalaka Uddur Manjunath (IND) bt (Q) Sumeera Kamil (IND) 75 62
[R1] (5) Rishika Sunkara (IND) bt Vaniya Dangwal (IND) 62 75
[R1] (7) Ratnika Batra (IND) bt Smriti Joon (IND) 61 06 64
[R1] (Q) Prarthana G. Thombare (IND) bt Tarrannum Handa (IND) 63 76(4)
[R1] Natasha Palha (IND) bt Sri Vaishnavi Peddi Reddy (IND) 64 63
[R1] (3) Rutuja Bhosale (IND) bt Manya Nagpal Nagpal (IND) 60 60
[R1] (Q) Simran Kaur Sethi (IND) bt (8) Rushmi Chakravarthi (IND) 46 4-1 Retd.
[R1] Chun-Yan He (CHN) bt (Q) Ravnoor Kaur (IND) 64 62
[R1] (WC) Shreya Pasricha (IND) bt Nupur Kaul (IND) 61 60
[R1] (2) Prerna Bhambri (IND) bt (Q) Sharon Sanchana Paul (IND) 75 75

Doubles
[R1] (1) Rushmi CHAKRAVARTHI (IND)/ Ankita RAINA (IND) bt Rutuja BHOSALE (IND)/ Shweta RANA (IND) 62 64
[R1] Amrita MUKHERJEE (IND)/ Shreya PASRICHA (IND) bt Disha DANG (IND)/ Sanya SINHA (IND) 60 60
[R1] Natasha PALHA (IND)/ Kyra SHROFF (IND) bt Vaniya DANGWAL (IND)/ Eetee MAHETA (IND) 60 75
[R1] Ambika PANDE (IND)/ Simran Kaur SETHI (IND) bt Tarrannum HANDA (IND)/ Chun-Yan HE (CHN) 62 46 11-9
[R1] Pei-Chi LEE (TPE)/ Chia Hsien YANG (TPE) bt Preeti GOKHALE (IND)/ Avika SAGWAL (IND) 62 62
[R1] Manya Nagpal NAGPAL (IND)/ Shalaka UDDUR MANJUNATH (IND) bt Smriti JOON (IND)/ Natalla KHANIEJO (IND) 75 64
[R1] Riya BHATIA (IND)/ Sai Samhitha CHAMARTHI (IND) bt Nupur KAUL (IND)/ Tanisha ROHIRA (IND) 64 64
[R1] Sri Vaishnavi PEDDI REDDY (IND)/ Prarthana G. THOMBARE (IND) bt (2) Kamonwan BUAYAM (THA)/ Rishika SUNKARA (IND) 60 63

More or less Indian open as very few non-Indian players r playing.

Chess News
At World Chess Championship 2012, Moscow, Russia

Game 7 - 20th May 2012
Boris Gelfand (ISR,2727) bt Viswanathan Anand (IND,2791) 1-0 (4-3)

Gelfand draws first blood and leads after winning 7th game ... This time Gelfand was well prepared for Anand's Slav defense ... Anand tried for win with his attacking Qb8 15th move but after that Anand was strangely error prone in the last stages of the game, just when it appeared that it was heading for a draw ... Gelfand take advantage to complete win in 38 moves ... Tomorrow Anand is playing with White and needs to win.

Tennis News
At $3.8M Rome Masters, Spain

[SF] (7) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Rohan Bopanna (IND) l Marcel Granollers (ESP)/ Marc Lopez (ESP) 46 16

Spanish pair proved too strong for Indian pair ... After winning the first set they dominated the second ... Still creditable performance on the red clay.
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At $35K+H Fergana Challenger, Uzbekistan

Singles Final
Yuki Bhambri (IND,297) bt (4) Amir Weintraub (ISR,181) 63 63

[SF] Yuki Bhambri (IND,297) bt (8) Denys Molchanov (UKR,249) 36 63 63

Great, Yuki completes his challenger level breakthrough in style beating top-200 Israeli player comfortably in the final ... This is Yuki's first challenger level title and he will be India's new #1 male tennis player ... Yuki also became the first Indian teenager after Leander Paes, who won the title at Guangzhou challenger in December 1992, to win challenger title.

In the semis Yuki showed his fighting ability ... After losing the first set he kept fighting and won next two sets ... In the final he was up against experienced Israeli challenger level player, Amir Weintraub, but Yuki kept it simple and won in straight sets to win this title ... This win will give him 80 ranking points which can push his ranking around 225 in latest ranking updates.
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At $637K Brussels WTA Open, Belgium (Red clay)

[Q3] Sania Mirza (IND,192) vs (5) Lesia Tsurenko (UKR,105)

[Q2] Sania Mirza (IND,192) bt (4) Anastasia Rodionova (AUS,101) 60 26 62
[Q1] Sania Mirza (IND,192) bt Yuliya Beygelzimer (UKR,156) 75 64

Doubles
[R1] (4) Bethanie Mattek-Sands (USA)/ Sania Mirza (IND) vs Mervana Jugic-Salkic (BIH)/ Sandra Klemenschits (AUT)

Sania is playing at Brussels open ... In the singles qualifying she scored two good win against higher ranked players ... In the final qualifying having tough challenge of Ukrainian clay-court specialist Tsurenko.
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At €450 Open de Nice Côte d’Azur, Nice, France

[R1] (2) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ David Marrero (ESP) vs (WC) John Isner (USA)/ Sam Querrey (USA)

This week Mahesh is taking break before French open but Rohan is playing with Spanish partner Marrero ... They r second seed but having tricky match against big serving American wild-card pair.

Chess News
At World Chess Championship 2012, Moscow, Russia

Game 6 - 18th May 2012
Boris Gelfand (ISR,2727) dw Viswanathan Anand (IND,2791) ½-½ (3-3)

It was a sixth draw in a row after 27 moves ... No decisive advantage but there was chance for Gelfand in this game ... Again Anand comfortably drew with black.

Half games of this World championship r over but still no clear picture ... Anand is struggling with his end game and looking under pressure but Gelfand is also looking under pressure for his first win over Anand in classic chess game after 1993.

Boxing News
At AIBA Women's World Boxing Championships 2012, Qinhuangdao, China

51 kg Flyweight

After losing in the quarter-final for Mary Kom to qualify for the London Olympics, Nicola Adams needed to win her semi-final against a Russian Savalyeva who beat a North Korean in the quarter-final ... And Nicola Adams wins her semi-final bout defeating Russia's Savalyeva 11-8.

This also means, Chungneijang Mary Kom Hmangte qualifies for the London Olympics as the second Asian (Asia quota places) from the World Championships.

Tennis News
At $3.8M Rome Masters, Spain

[QF] (7) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Rohan Bopanna (IND) bt (1) Max Mirnyi (BLR)/ Daniel Nestor (CAN) 64 75

[SF] (7) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Rohan Bopanna (IND) vs Marcel Granollers (ESP)/ Marc Lopez (ESP)

Mahesh and Rohan played perfect match against WR #1 pair ... They didn't face a single break point on their serves but in both sets converted one break point which they received ... In the semis they r facing local unranked pair Granollers and Lopez.
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At $35K+H Fergana Challenger, Uzbekistan

[QF] Yuki Bhambri (IND,297) bt (Q) Mikhail Ledovskikh (RUS,340) 63 16 76(5)

[SF] Yuki Bhambri (IND,297) vs (8) Denys Molchanov (UKR,249)

Doubles
[SF] Yuki Bhambri (IND)/ Vishnu Vardhan (IND) l (1) Sanchai Ratiwatana (THA)/ Sonchat Ratiwatana (THA) 46 46

In the first set Yuki didn't face a single break point on his serve ... He had early chances to break Ledovskikh's serve but managed to break him in 8th game and won the first set ... In the second set Ledovskikh broke Yuki's serve in 2nd and 4th games to lead 5-0 and easily won this set .. In the third set both players didn't face a single break point and set went to tie-break ... In tie-break Yuki take early mini-break on 3rd point to lead 2-1 then 4-1 but Ledovskikh take mini-break back on 8th point to make it 4-all ... Yuki take crucial mini-break on 11th point to lead 6-5 and won this match converting this first match point.

This is Yuki's first semi-final at challenger level ... In the semis he is facing 8th seed Ukrainian Denys Molchanov.

In doubles Yuki and Vishnu failed to continue their good run and lost against top-seed Ratiwatanas in straight sets ... Ratiwatanas broke them once in both sets.

Squash News
At $150K Men's British Open Squash Championships 2012,

[R2] Saurav Ghosal (IND,25) l (6) Peter Barker (ENG,7) 11-7 2-11 6-11 6-11 (57m)

Saurav started well winning the first game but Peter take control from the second and kept advantage to win it in an hour.

Chess News
At World Chess Championship 2012,

Game 5 - 17th May 2012
Viswanathan Anand (IND,2791) dw Boris Gelfand (ISR,2727) ½-½ (2½-2½)

Sicilian Sveshnikov drawn in 27 moves in the fifth game ... Gelfand surprised Anand with his preparation against Anand's e4 start ... Gelfand is looking well prepared with black ... This match is getting more and more interesting after every game.

Tennis News
At $3.8M Rome Masters, Spain

[R2] (7) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Rohan Bopanna (IND) bt Daniele Bracciali (ITA)/ Andreas Seppi (ITA) 62 61
[R2] (5) Leander Paes (IND)/ Radek Stepanek (CZE) l Lukasz Kubot (POL)/ Janko Tipsarevic (SRB) 26 57

[QF] (7) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Rohan Bopanna (IND) vs (1) Max Mirnyi (BLR)/ Daniel Nestor (CAN)

Mahesh and Rohan scored really good dominating win over Italian pair on the red clay ... Next they r facing top-seed and new WR #1 pairing of Mirnyi and Nestor.

Lee and Radek's struggled on the clay continue ... They lost in straight sets against Kubot and Tipsarevic.
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At $35K+H Fergana Challenger, Uzbekistan

[R2] Yuki Bhambri (IND,297) bt (WC) Murad Inoyatov (UZB,530) 62 60

[QF] Yuki Bhambri (IND,297) vs Mikhail Ledovskikh (RUS,340)

Doubles
[QF] Yuki Bhambri (IND)/ Vishnu Vardhan (IND) bt (4) Purav Raja (IND)/ Divij Sharan (IND) 76(5)

[SF] Yuki Bhambri (IND)/ Vishnu Vardhan (IND) vs (1) Sanchai Ratiwatana (THA)/ Sonchat Ratiwatana (THA)

What a dominating win by Yuki against experienced Inoyatov ... After 2-all Yuki won next 10 games in a row ... Didn't face a single break point on his serve in this 47 minutes match ... Next he is facing unseeded former top-150 Russian Mikhail Ledovskikh.

Purav and Divij were leading 5-3 with early break but from here Yuki and Vishnu turned match in their favor ... They take this set in tie-break and won it and then dominated the second set ... From 1-all they won last 5 games breaking Divij and Purav twice ... In the semis they r facing top-seed Ratiwatanas.
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At $25K ITF Tournament, Fergana, Uzbekistan

[R2] (Q) Kyra SHROFF (IND,668) l Chiaki OKADAUE (JPN,489) 57 60 67(5)

Doubles
[QF] Dalila JAKUPOVIC (SLO)/ Kyra SHROFF(IND) l (3) Tamara CUROVIC (SRB)/ Ekaterina YASHINA (RUS) 57 16

Very close loss for Kyra .. In the first set she was leading 5-1 and wasted couple of set points in 7th game ... After that Chiaki Okadaue won next 6 games breaking Kyra 3 times to won this set ... Kyra responded immediately winning next 6 games to won the second set ... In the second set Chiaki was leading with double break 3-0 ... Kyra broke her in 4th and 6th games to make it 3-all ... Kyra again lost her serve in 9th game but broke Chiaki when she was serving for the match in 10th ... In tie-break also Kyra was up with mini-break but Chiaki kept her nerve and won tie-break.

Kyra and Dalila lost in the straight sets against 3rd seed pair ... Kyra and Dalila were up with break in the first set but failed to keep that momentum.

Squash News
At $150K Men's and $95K Women's British Open Squash Championships 2012,

[Q1] Siddarth Suchde (IND,46) bt James Earles (ENG,196) 11/5 11/6 11/1 (43m)
[Q1] Joshna Chinappa (IND,71) bt Olga Ertlova (CZE,44) 11/8 4/11 11/6 11/7 (53m)

[Q2] Siddarth Suchde (IND,46) l Alan Clyne (SCO,28) 6/11 5/11 7/11 (38m)
[Q2] Joshna Chinappa (IND,71) l Heba El Torky (EGY,27) 9/11 11/7 7/11 3/11 (49m)

[R1] Saurav Ghosal (IND,25) bt (Q) Marwan El Shorbagy (EGY,30) 11/7 11/6 11/5 (35m)
[R1] (14) Dipika Pallikal (IND,14) bt Omneya Abdel Kawy (EGY,18) 8/11 9/11 11/9 11/5 11/5 (70m)

[R2] Saurav Ghosal (IND,25) vs (6) Peter Barker (ENG,7)
[R2] (14) Dipika Pallikal (IND,14) l (5) Raneem El Weleily (EGY,5) 4/11 11/8 4/11 11/7 7/11 (51m)

Dipika had a tricky draw at British Open Squash Championships ... In the first round she faced former WR #4 and current #18 ranked Egyptian Omneya Abdel Kawy ... After losing first 2 games Dipika produced excellent comeback to win next 3 ... In the second round she faced another Egyptian WR #5 Raneem El Weleily ... Again Dipika played excellent match but lost in the final game.

Saurav is playing at British Open Squash Championships ... He scored good win over junior winner and similar ranked Marwan El Shorbagy in straight games ... Next he is facing British WR #7 Peter Barker.

Joshna's comeback from injury is continued ... She played qualifying at British Open Squash Championships ... Won the first round and lost the final qualifying against higher ranked Egyptian opponent.

Siddarth also played in the qualifying of British Open Squash Championships ... After winning the first round he lost against top-30 Scottish in the final qualifying.

Boxing News
At AIBA Women's World Boxing Championships 2012, Qinhuangdao, China

51 kg Flyweight

[QF] (7) Mery Kom Hmangte (IND) l (2) Nicola Adams (ENG) 11-13

We r in danger of missing Asian quota places for the London Olympics ... Today Mary Kom lost in her first real test against WR #2 British boxer Nicola Adams ... This bout was closely fought, Adams won 2 rounds with a single point but that proved enough to beat Mary Kom - 2-3, 3-3, 3-4, 3-3.

Tennis News
At $3.8M Rome Masters and WTA Tournament, Spain

[R2] Bethanie Mattek-Sands (USA)/ Sania Mirza (IND) l (1) Liezel Huber (USA)/ Lisa Raymond (USA) 16 36

Top-seed Huber and Raymond toyed with pairing of Sania and Bethanie ... They scored comfortable win in 58 minutes ... In both sets they take control with early breaks and won it with double breaks.
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At $35K+H Fergana Challenger, Uzbekistan

[R2] Vishnu Vardhan (IND,376) l Evgeny Kirillov (RUS,274) 64 26 46

Doubles
[R1] (4) Purav Raja (IND)/ Divij Sharan (IND) bt (WC) Abduvoris Saitmukhamedov (UZB)/ Sergey Shipilov (UZB) 62 60
[R1] Yuki Bhambri (IND)/ Vishnu Vardhan (IND) bt Konstantin Kravchuk (RUS)/ Denys Molchanov (UKR) 16 76(3) 12-10

[QF] (4) Purav Raja (IND)/ Divij Sharan (IND) vs Yuki Bhambri (IND)/ Vishnu Vardhan (IND)

Vishnu had break point opportunities early but failed to convert ... He take crucial break in 9th game to won the first set ... In this set Vishnu served 9 aces but from the second set Vishnu struggled with his serve ... In the second set he had a single ace and his 1st serve percentage were mere 41% ... Kirillov take advantage of it and broke him twice to won the second set ... Vishnu's struggled with his serve continued in the third ... Kirillov take crucial break in 9th game and then hold to complete the victory.

Purav and Divij having very easy winning start against local wild-card pair ... They won this match in 42 minutes losing only 2 games.

After losing the first set easily in the second set both pairs were on serve until 9th game but Kravchuk and Molchanov had 3 match points in 10 th game on Vishnu's serve, 15-40 ... Our pair won next 3 points to hold Vishnu's serve ... In tie-break our pair take mini-break on 8th point to lead 5-3 and then double the mini-breaks 6-3 and hold their service point to won the second set in tie-break ... In STB, our pair take early mini-break, 4-3, but Kravchuk and Molchanov take mini-break back bring on the serve, 4-5 ... Again Yuki take mini-break to lead 6-4 but again Kravchuk and Molchanov brought back on serve at 6-7... Our pair had a match point at 9-8 then they saved 4th match point at 9-10 and converted 2nd match point scoring excellent comeback win.
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At $25K ITF Tournament, Fergana, Uzbekistan

[R1] (Q) Kyra SHROFF (IND,668) bt (8) Keren Shlomo (ISR,359) 64 61

[R2] (Q) Kyra SHROFF (IND,668) vs Chiaki OKADAUE (JPN,489)

Doubles
[QF] Nidhi CHILUMULA (IND)/ Maya GAVEROVA (RUS) l (1) Lyudmyla KICHENOK (UKR)/ Nadiya KICHENOK (UKR) 46 26

Kyra and Keren were holding their service games easily ... Kyra saved break point in 7th game but take crucial break in 10th game when Keren was serving for the staying in the set ... In the second set Keren had 3 break point opportunities in 1st game but Kyra saved those to hold her serve ... Kyra broke Karen in 2nd game and take early lead ... In 4th game Kyra had couple of break point opportunities but Karen managed to hold this 15 minutes long game ... Kyra doubled her breaks lead after breaking Karen in 6th game and then hold comfortably to scored another good win against top-350 type Israeli player ... Next she is facing Japanese player Chiaki Okadaue.

Nidhi and her Russian partner Maya played good first set ... Top-seed Kichenok twins take crucial break in 9th game to won the first set ... Kichenok twins take early break in the second set and then again broke them in 7th game.

Chess News
At World Chess Championship 2012,

Game 4 - 15th May 2012
Boris Gelfand (ISR,2727) dw Viswanathan Anand (IND,2791) ½-½ (2-2)

Gelfand's preparation against Anand's Semi-Slav was insufficient to generate any winning chances and the game ended in draw after 34 moves.

Tennis News
At $35K+H Fergana Challenger, Uzbekistan

[R1] Yuki Bhambri (IND,297) bt Michal Konecny (CZE,351) 63 61
[R1] Vishnu Vardhan (IND,376) bt (7) Jamie Baker (GBR,206) 46 76(1) 64

[R2] Yuki Bhambri (IND,297) vs (WC) Murad Inoyatov (UZB,530)
[R2] Vishnu Vardhan (IND,376) vs Evgeny Kirillov (RUS,274)

Vishnu had 3 break points in 2nd game, 0-40, which he failed to convert ... Jamie take crucial break in 7th game to won the first set ... In the second set also he had 2 set points on Jamie's serve in 12th game but again failed to convert ... Vishnu dominated tie-break and won it losing single point to make it one set all ... In the third set Vishnu broke Jamie in 1st game and then hold his serve comfortably and take 2-0 lead ... After this both players hold their service games through out set and Vishnu scored big upset win over in-form British player Jamie Baker, who is at his career-best ranking of 206 this week ... Vishnu served 28 aces in this match ... Next he is facing another top-300 player Russian Evgeny Kirillov.

Yuki got broken in 2nd game, 0-2, but then he won next 4 games to make it 4-2 and then he again broke Konecny in 9th game to won the first set ... In the second set Yuki broke Konecny in 2nd and 4th games to take 5-0 lead and then comfortably hold his serve to won the first round match in 63 minutes ... In this match Yuki faced just one break point which he couldn't save but on Konecny's serve he had 11 break points and converted 6 of them ... Next Yuki is facing local experienced wild-card player Murad Inoyatov, who upset 3rd seed Izak Van Der Merwe.
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At $25K ITF Tournament, Fergana, Uzbekistan

[R1] (Q) Kyra SHROFF (IND,668) vs (8) Keren Shlomo (ISR,359)
[R1] (LL) Nidhi CHILUMULA (IND,749) l (WC) Alina ABDURAKHIMOVA (UZB,UNR) 57 61 26

[Q2] (6) Nidhi CHILUMULA (IND,749) l (10) Maya GAVEROVA (RUS,738) 26 57
[Q2] (5) Kyra SHROFF (IND,668) bt (9) Albina KHABIBULINA (UZB,702) 63 76(5)
[Q1] (5) Kyra SHROFF (IND,668) bt Nargiza RAKHMANOVA (UZB,UNR) 61 62
[Q1] (6) Nidhi CHILUMULA (IND,749) bt Madina KHATAMOVA (UZB,UNR) 60 61

Doubles
[R1] Dalila JAKUPOVIC (SLO)/ Kyra SHROFF(IND) bt (WC) Arina FOLTS (UZB)/ Alisa OGORODOVA(UZB) 64 60
[R1] Nidhi CHILUMULA (IND)/ Maya GAVEROVA(RUS) bt (WC) Alina ABDURAKHIMOVA (UZB)/ Polina MERENKOVA(UZB) 64 61

[QF] Dalila JAKUPOVIC (SLO)/ Kyra SHROFF(IND) vs (3) Tamara CUROVIC (SRB)/ Ekaterina YASHINA (RUS)
[QF] Nidhi CHILUMULA (IND)/ Maya GAVEROVA(RUS) vs (1) Lyudmyla KICHENOK (UKR)/ Nadiya KICHENOK (UKR)

Kyra and Nidhi r playing in Uzbek ITF tournament ... Kyra is qualified for main-draw and facing 8th seed Israeli player in the first round ... Nidhi lost in the final qualifying round but entered in main-draw as luckyloser .. She failed to use that in her favor, she faced local unranked girl but lost against her in three sets.

In doubles Kyra and Nidhi had winning start with their respective partners against local wild-card pairs ... In the quarters both r facing 3rd and top-seed pair respectively.

Boxing News
At AIBA Women's World Boxing Championships 2012, Qinhuangdao, China

51 kg Flyweight

[R3] (7) Mery Kom Hmangte (IND) bt Marielle Vermedal Hansen (NOR) 18-6

[QF] (7) Mery Kom Hmangte (IND) vs Nicola Adams (ENG)

60 kg Lightweight

[R3] Laishram Sarita Devi (IND) l Natasha Jonas (ENG) 22-25

Mery Kom produced another clinical performance against Norwegian to won her bout comfortably ... She won all four rounds - 4-1, 5-2, 4-1 5-2 ... In the quarter-final she is facing British boxer Nicola Adams ... Three Asian girls r in the quarter-final so quota for 2 Asian girls in the Olympics is undecided in 51 kg division.

Crazy scheduling cost bout for L. Sarita Devi ... After very close and tiring bout against world champion Turkish boxer in the last bout Sarita was in the ring inside 24 hours ... She won the first round by a point and tied on the points in the second ... Sarita lost the third round by a point but in the fourth her British opponent take advantage of her tiring and won this round and bout - 4-3, 6-6, 7-8, 5-8.

Chess News
At World Chess Championship 2012,

Game 3 - 14th May 2012
Viswanathan Anand (IND,2791) dw Boris Gelfand (ISR,2727) ½-½ (1½-1½)

Anand was very close to secure first win but Gelfand saved a pawn advantage with excellent defense to draw after 37 moves.

Tennis News
At $3.8M Rome Masters and WTA Tournament, Spain

[R1] Bethanie Mattek-Sands (USA)/ Sania Mirza (IND) bt Marina Erakovic (NZL)/ Monica Niculescu (ROU) 62 61

[R2] Bethanie Mattek-Sands (USA)/ Sania Mirza (IND) vs (1) Liezel Huber (USA)/ Lisa Raymond (USA)
[R2] (7) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Rohan Bopanna (IND) vs Daniele Bracciali (ITA)/ Andreas Seppi (ITA)
[R2] (5) Leander Paes (IND)/ Radek Stepanek (CZE) vs Lukasz Kubot (POL)/ Janko Tipsarevic (SRB)

After longtime Sania and Bethanie played together but that didn't reflect in the match ... They scored dominating win losing only 3 games ... Next they r having very tough match against WR #1 pair Huber and Raymond.

Boxing News
At AIBA Women's World Boxing Championships 2012, Qinhuangdao, China

60 kg Lightweight

[R2] Laishram Sarita Devi (IND) bt (2) Gulsum Tatar (TUR) 14-13

[R3] Laishram Sarita Devi (IND) vs Natasha Jonas (ENG)

In closely fought bout L. Sarita Devi upset WR #2 Turkish boxer Gulsum Tatar ... After first 3 rounds both boxers were equal on the points - 3-3, 4-4, 3-3 - 10-10 ... Sarita won the final round 4-3 to produce biggest win when it was matter ... Next she is facing British boxer for place in the quarter-final.

Athletic News
At the Su-Di-Ka Kupa Meet, Szombathely, Hungary

Om Prakash Karhana shattered Shakti Singh's 12-year-old national record in shot put on his way to achieving London Olympics qualification 'A' standard ... Om Prakash tossed the iron ball to 20.69m and broke the previous national record of 20.42m held by Shakti Singh since 2000 ... Om Prakash throws read as 20.09, 20.60, foul, 20.40, 20.63, 20.69, showing consistency and 3 throws over national record.

Tennis News
At $3.8M Rome Masters, Spain

[R1] Bethanie Mattek-Sands (USA)/ Sania Mirza (IND) vs Marina Erakovic (NZL)/ Monica Niculescu (ROU)
[R1] (7) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Rohan Bopanna (IND) bye
[R1] (5) Leander Paes (IND)/ Radek Stepanek (CZE) bye

Rohan and Mahes r in top draw with new WR #1 pair Nestor and Mirnyi ... Lee and Radek r in bottom draw with 2nd rank Bryans.

Tough draw for Sania and Bethanie ... They can face top-seed Huber and Raymond in the second round.
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At $75K+H Busan Challenger, South Korea

Doubles Final
Yuki Bhambri (IND)/ Divij Sharan (IND) bt (3) Cheng-Peng Hsieh (TPE)/ Hsin-Han Lee (TPE) 16 61 10-5

Yuki lifted his first challenge title pairing Divij ... This was Divij's second challenger title, his first was with Karan Rastogi.

In the final our unseeded pair faced third seed Tapei pair ... Taipei pair dominated the first set and won it losing only a game ... Yuki and Divij responded strongly in the second and they also won it losing only a game ... Our pair managed to keep momentum in STB and won it comfortably to win this big challenger title.
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At $35K+H Fergana Challenger, Uzbekistan

[R1] Yuki Bhambri (IND,306) vs Michal Konecny (CZE,351)
[R1] Vishnu Vardhan (IND,385) vs (7) Jamie Baker (GBR,215)

Doubles
[R1] Purav Raja (IND)/ Divij Sharan (IND) vs (WC) Abduvoris Saitmukhamedov (UZB)/ Sergey Shipilov (UZB)
[R1] Yuki Bhambri (IND)/ Vishnu Vardhan (IND) vs Konstantin Kravchuk (RUS)/ Denys Molchanov (UKR)

Tricky match for Vishnu against seeded British player Baker ... Yuki is facing Czech player.

Our 2 teams r in the doubles and can face eachother in the quarters.

Boxing News
At AIBA Women's World Boxing Championships 2012, Qinhuangdao, China

51 kg Flyweight
[R1] (7) Mery Kom Hmangte (IND) bye

[R2] (7) Mery Kom Hmangte (IND) bt Ayako Minowa (JPN) 20-9

[R3] (7) Mery Kom Hmangte (IND) vs Marielle Vermedal Hansen (NOR)

60 kg Lightweight
[R1] Laishram Sarita Devi (IND) bt Ayzanat Hajiyeva (AZB) 27-11

[R2] Laishram Sarita Devi (IND) vs (2) Gulsum Tatar (TUR)

75 kg Middleweight
[1] Pooja Rani (IND) l Claressa Maria Shields (USA) 11-27


In 51 kg category in the second round Mery Kom gave clinical display against Japanese boxer ... She won all her 4 rounds by 4-1, 4-1, 7-3 and 5-4 ... Next Mery Kom is facing Norwegian boxer for the place in the quarter-final.

In 60 kg category L. Sarita Devi started with cinvicing win ... Both boxers started cautiously, Sarita won it 4-3 but from 2nd round Sarita take control ... She won last 3 rounds 8-3, 10-2 and 5-3 ... Sarita is having big bout of her career to fulfill her dream of paying in the Olympics as she is facing WR #2 Turkish boxer Gulsum Tatar.

In 75 kg category Pooja Rani's Olympics dream shattered ... She was unlucky to face young talented 17 yrs old American Claressa Maria Shields in the first round, who defeated her by a dazzling display of youth power, speed and controlled aggression ... Last month Claressa defeated the World No.1 Mary Spencer of Canada.

Athletic News
At the World Race Walking Cup, Saransk, Russia

K. T. Irfan became the third Indian walker to qualify for the London Olympic Games on Saturday when he timed 1:22:09 to finish 19th in the World Race Walking Cup ... The ‘A' standard in the 20km walk event for the Olympics is 1:22:30 ... Gurmeet Singh and Baljinder Singh had earlier attained the ‘A' standard.

Basanta Bahadur Rana with time 4:02:13 (32nd) and Sandeep Kumar with time 4:03:45 (36th) completed the 'B' qualification standard for the London Olympics in the 50km walk ... The B standard is 4:09:00 and 'A' standard 3:59:00 ... But that also means only one of these two can make the trip to London, unless of course both better the 'A' standard.

Chess News
At World Chess Championship 2012,

Game 2 - 12th May 2012
Boris Gelfand (ISR,2727) dw Viswanathan Anand (IND,2791) ½-½

While playing with black Anand decided to chose Semi-Slav in the second game ... This game wasn't excited but Anand showed proper defensive skill in this match ... Match ended in draw after 25 moves.

Tennis News
At $4M Madrid Masters, Spain

[SF] (7) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Rohan Bopanna (IND) l (6) Robert Lindstedt (SWE)/ Horia Tecau (ROU) 46 61 7-10

Mahesh and Rohan failed to overcome challenge of Lindstedt and Tecau to lose in STB ... After losing the first set our pair made strong comeback winning the second convincingly but pairing of Lindstedt and Tecau proved better in the super tie-break.
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Chess News
At World Chess Championship 2012,

Game 1 - 11th May 2012
Viswanathan Anand (IND,2791) dw Boris Gelfand (ISR,2727) ½-½

In the first match both players played safe game and drew ... The game was a fascinating Grünfeld with ended after 24 moves.

Tennis News
At $4M Madrid Masters, Spain

[QF] (7) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Rohan Bopanna (IND) bt Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (PAK)/ Jean-Julien Rojer (NED) 76(2) 76(5)
[QF] (5) Leander Paes (IND)/ Radek Stepanek (CZE) l (2) Max Mirnyi (BLR)/ Daniel Nestor (CAN) 36 76(2) 2-10

[SF] (7) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Rohan Bopanna (IND) vs (6) Robert Lindstedt (SWE)/ Horia Tecau (ROU)

Mahesh and Rohan needed two tie-breaks to beat Aisam and Jean-Julien in the quarters ... Much needed victory for Mahesh to improve his doubles ranking ... Next they r facing 6th seed Swedish-Romanian pair.

In other quarter-final Lee and Radek lost against 2nd seed Nestor and Mirnyi in STB ... After losing the first set they fought back to win the second in tie-break but in STB Nestor and Mirnyi proved too strong for Lee and Radek.

Tennis News
At $4M Madrid Masters, Spain

[R2] (5) Leander Paes (IND)/ Radek Stepanek (CZE) bt Richard Gasquet (FRA)/ Gael Monfils (FRA) 63 64

[QF] (7) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Rohan Bopanna (IND) vs Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (PAK)/ Jean-Julien Rojer (NED)
[QF] (5) Leander Paes (IND)/ Radek Stepanek (CZE) vs (2) Max Mirnyi (BLR)/ Daniel Nestor (CAN)

Winning start for Lee and Radek against French pair ... Our pair won in in straight sets without losing much sweat ... Next they r facing 2nd seed Nestor and Mirnyi in the quarters ... Mahesh and Rohan r facing Aisam and Jean-Julien, who upset top-seed Bryans in very long STB after saving 5 match points ... They won STB 18-16.
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At $75K+H Busan Challenger, South Korea

[SF] Yuki Bhambri (IND)/ Divij SHaran (IND) bt (4) John Paul Fruttero (USA)/ Uladzimir Ignatik (BLR) 75 75

Yuki and Divij lost their serve in 4th game but won next 4 games from 1-3 breaking their opponents twice ... But while serving for the set Divij lost his serve in 10th game to make it 5-all but again immediately our pair broke back and Yuki hold to win the first set ... In the second set our pair broke 4th seed opponent's serve in 7th game but again while serving for the match in 10th game our pair lost their serve from 40-15 ... This time also our pair broke them in 11th game and then hold to win this match ... This is Yuki's first challenger level final.

Tennis News
At $4M Madrid Masters, Spain

[R2] (7) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Rohan Bopanna (IND) bt Santiago Gonzalez (MEX)/ Christopher Kas (GER) 61 76(2)

Winning start for Mahesh and Rohan ... After winning the first set easily they needed ti-break in the second ... So with this win they r in the quarters.
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At $75K+H Busan Challenger, South Korea

[R2] Vishnu Vardhan (IND,385) l (PR) John Millman (AUS,492) 46 36
[R2] Yuki Bhambri (IND,306) l (6) Danai Udomchoke (THA,174) 06 36

Doubles
[QF] Yuki Bhambri (IND)/ Divij Sharan (IND) bt (2) Sanchai Ratiwatana (THA)/ Sonchat Ratiwatana(THA) 36 63 10-3

Very disappointing performance by Yuki ... In the beginning of the year he defeated Udomchoke but here he struggled with his serve and overall game ... Danai won the first set without losing a single game ... In the second set Yuki was up with break at 3-1 but again he lose next 5 games to lost this match easily.

Millman take first break after breaking Vishnu in 5th game but Vishnu responded breaking Millman in next game to make it 3-all ... Millman again broke him in 7th game and kept that advantage to won the first set ... In the second set at 3-all Millman broke Vishu and again broke when Vishnu was serving for staying in the match in 9th game to won this set and match.

But in doubles Divij made excellent upset win with Yuki against very experienced and 2nd seed Thai pair Ratiwatanas ... After losing the first set our pair was break down before broke back and winning the second set ... Our pair dominated STB and moved into the semis.
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At $35K+H Rome-2 Challnger, Italy (clay)

[QF] (2) Colin Ebelthite (AUS)/ Purav Raja (IND) l Adrian Menendez-Maceiras (ESP)/ Walter Trusendi (ITA) 76(3) 57 8-10

European pair proved better pair on clay against Purav and Colin ... They started well winning the first set in tie-break but Europeans fought back winning the second ... In STB also Europeans managed to win important points to complete the victory.

Swimming News
At the 55th Malaysia Open Swimming Championships, Bukit Jalil, Kuala Lumpur

India finished second on the medal tally at the 55th Malaysia Open Swimming Championships with a haul of 6 Gold, 2 Silver and 4 Bronze medals. Virdhawal Khade and Sandeep Sejwal won 3 Gold medals each in the 50, 100 and 200m Freestyle and Breaststroke respectively.

Virdhawal clocked a season best time in the 50m Freestyle (23.08sec).

Sejwal clocked 2:16.16s in 200m breaststroke while the OST was set at 2:16.35s.

Tennis News
At $75K+H Busan Challenger, South Korea

[R1] Yuki Bhambri (IND)/ Divij SHaran (IND) bt Tatsuma Ito (JPN)/ Yasutaka Uchiyama (JPN) 64 46 10-8

[QF] Yuki Bhambri (IND)/ Divij SHaran (IND) vs (2) Sanchai Ratiwatana (THA)/ Sonchat Ratiwatana(THA)

Yuki and Divij started with win ... Match was tougher than expected ... In STB our pair converted 5th match point after 9-4 lead ... Next they r facing 2nd seed Ratiwatanas brothers.
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At $35K+H Rome-2 Challnger, Italy (clay)

[R1] (2) Colin Ebelthite (AUS)/ Purav Raja (IND) bt Jesse Huta Galung (NED)/ Yuichi Sugita (JPN) 62 61

[QF] (2) Colin Ebelthite (AUS)/ Purav Raja (IND) vs Adrian Menendez-Maceiras (ESP)/ Walter Trusendi (ITA)

Comfortable winning start for Purav and his Aussie partner on red clay.
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At $10K Spain F10 Futures, Lleida

[R1] (LL) Mohit Mayur JAYAPRAKASH (1133) l (LL) Michael VAKS (RUS,1113) 67(4) 16

Missed big opportunity to garner another ranking point.

Tennis News
At $4M Madrid Masters, Spain

[R1] (6) Anastasia Rodionova (AUS)/ Sania Mirza (IND) l Anna-Lena Groenefeld (GER)/ Shuai Zhang (CHN) 36 26

Surprisingly one-sided loss for Sania and Rodionova.
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At $75K+H Busan Challenger, South Korea

[R1] Vishnu Vardhan (IND,385) bt Michael Look (AUS,364) 76(9) 64
[R1] Yuki Bhambri (IND,306) bt (WC) Ji Sung Nam (KOR,1527) 63 63

[R2] Vishnu Vardhan (IND,385) vs John Millman (AUS,257)
[R2] Yuki Bhambri (IND,306) vs (6) Danai Udomchoke (THA,174)

Yuki got broken in 1st game but he got break back and then with another break he won the first set ... In the second set both players were exchanging breaks regularly ... Nam broke Yuki 3 times and Yuki broke him 5 times in this set ... Yuki really work had on his serve if he has to do well against better players.

Vishnu and Michael played close first set ... Vishnu saved 4 break points in this set but Michael didn't face a single ... In tie-break Vishu take early 3-0 and 4-2 lead but Michael came back to make it equal ... Vishnu saved 4 set points before converting 2nd on 20th point to won the first set ... In the second set Vishnu broke Michael in 1st game and maintained that lead to won this set and match ... Next he is facing in-form Aussie John Millman, who upset 5th seed South African Van Der Merwe in the first round.
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At $10K Spain F10 Futures, Lleida

[Q1] (11) Mohit Mayur JAYAPRAKASH (IND) bye
[Q2] (11) Mohit Mayur JAYAPRAKASH (IND) bt Aaron COLAS SANCHEZ (ESP) 57 61 64
[Q3] (11) Mohit Mayur JAYAPRAKASH (IND) bt Oriol GARROBE GUILERA (ESP) 64 60
[Q4] (11) Mohit Mayur JAYAPRAKASH (IND,1133) l (3) Jean-Marc WERNER (GER,712) 63 67(4) 16

[R1] (LL) Mohit Mayur JAYAPRAKASH (1133) vs (LL) Michael VAKS (RUS,1113)

In the final qualifying round Mohit gave very fighting performance against top-800 German player ... In main-draw he receive lucky break, he gets entry as lucky-loser and facing another lucky-loser in the first round.

Hockey News
At Four Nations Olympics Test Event, London, England

Bronze Medal match
India l Great Britain 1-2 (1-1 HT)
Goal Scorer - Raghunath (IND) PC and James Tindall (GBR) 35' PC, Rob Moore (GBR) 55'

At half-time score was 1-all ... Both goals scored through penalty corners ... Raghunath gave us early lead but again we failed to hold that lead and conceded a goal in last minute of the first-half through James Tindall ... In the second-half British team was lot better and they scored through Rob Moore ... Before that Sandeep wasted penalty corner ... Again Sunil was excellent but this time also our forward-line failed to utilized crosses from him ... Nobbs need to do more work on our tactics before facing these top teams at Olympics.

Archery News
At World Cup Stage 2, Antalya, Turkey

Recurve Men Team Final
(5) India l (7) Great Britain 211-222

One bad day for our archers ... British archers take control from the start leading 57-53 ... We were behind from the start but when Rahul Banerjee released a 6 point arrow at end of third round our remaining hope ended ... So our archers ended winning a Silver after excellent upset win over world champion Koreans.

Tennis News
At $4M Madrid Masters, Spain

[R1] (6) Anastasia Rodionova (AUS)/ Sania Mirza (IND) vs Anna-Lena Groenefeld (GER)/ Shuai Zhang (CHN)

[R1] (7) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Rohan Bopanna (IND) bye
[R1] (5) Leander Paes (IND)/ Radek Stepanek (CZE) bye

As expected first round bye for our seeded men pair ... Mahesh and Rohan r in top draw and can face Bryans in the quarters ... Lee and Radek r in bottom draw and can face 2nd seed Mirnyi and Nestor in the quarters.

Sania r 6th seed with Anastasia and they r facing experienced doubles pair in the first round.
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At $75K+H Busan Challenger, South Korea

[Q1] Divij Sharan (IND,807) l (3) Michael McClune (USA,467) 26 46

[R1] Vishnu Vardhan (IND,430) vs Michael Look (AUS,364)
[R1] Yuki BHambri (IND,309) vs (WC) Ji Sung Nam (KOR,1527)

Doubles
[R1] Yuki BHambri (IND)/ Divij SHaran (IND) vs Tatsuma Ito (JPN)/ Yasutaka Uchiyama (JPN)

Yuki and Vishnu having winnable first round matches ... This week Vishnu is skipping doubles so Divij is playing with Yuki for the first time.
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At $35K+H Rome-2 Challnger, Italy (clay)

Doubles
[R1] (2) Colin Ebelthite (AUS)/ Purav Raja (IND) vs Jesse Huta Galung (NED)/ Yuichi Sugita (JPN)

This week Purav is playing in Rome challenger ... He is partnering Aussie Colin Ebelthite ... They r 2nd seed and facing Dutch-Japanese pair in the first round.

Archery News
At World Cup Stage 2, Antalya, Turkey

Recurve Women Individual Final
(23) Deepika Kumari (IND) bt (1) Sung Jin Lee (KOR) 6-4 (27-30 29-27 27-29 27-26 28-27)

Deepika Kumari won her first senior World Cup individual recurve gold medal ... She defeated experienced Korean Sung Jin Lee in well fought final.

After losing the first set with 3 perfect shots from Korean, Dipika came back to win next ... Korean against won next set but Dipika kept her cool to win next two tight sets and gold medal.

Squash News
At 16th Asian Team Championship 2012, Kuwait

Men's Team Championship Final

(1) India l (4) Pakistan 0-2
Saurav Ghosal (IND,24) l Farhan Mehboob (PAK,77) 2-3 (7-11 11-7 11-7 7-11 9-11)
Siddharth Suchde (IND,45) l Farhan Zaman (PAK,89) 2-3 (6-11 7-11 13-11 11-7 9-11)

Women's Team Championship Final

(3) India bt (1) Hong Kong 2-0
Dipika Pallikal (IND,14) bt Annie Au (HKG,7) 3-0 (11-8 12-10 11-8)
Joshana Chinappa (IND,53) bt Joey Chan (HKG,19) 3-2 (11-3 11-8 8-11 5-11 11-8)

Indian women created history after winning their first Asian team championship title beating defending champion Hong Kong in the final ... Dipika scored straight games victory over WR #7 Annie Au ... After that Joshana started well winning first 2 games but WR #19 Joey Chan fought back winning next two ... Joshana kept her nerve to won decider to clinch title for Indian women.

Our top-seed men team lost to defending champion Pakistan in two tight matches and failed to win their first Asian team championship title ... Pakistan's Farhan Mehboob defeated Saurav from 1-2 down ... Farhan Zaman stopped Siddharth Suchde's fight back ... After losing first 2 games Siddharth needed to keep fighting to win third game in extra points ... After losing 3rd and 4th games this time Zaman kept his nerve on important points to won the fifth game to win title for Pakistan.

Hockey News
At Four Nations Olympics Test Event, London, England

India l Germany 1-2
Goal Scorer - Shivendra SIngh (IND) 15' and Christopher Wesley (GER) 27', Florian Fuchs (GER) 65'

Improved performance by our Indian team against Germany ... Germany needed a very special goal from Fuchs to win it ... Florian Fuchs hits a running backhand thunderbolt ... For us Sardar and Sunil played well on the field ... So we will play for Bronze medal match against loser between Austalia and Great Britain.

Badminton News
At $120K Malaysia Open GP Gold 2012, Johor

[SF] (1) Sindhu PV (IND,28) l Sayaka Takahashi (JPN,100) 19-21 12-21

Sindhu need to win these type of matches ... Disappointing loss of Sindhu, she missed big opportunity of winning her first GP Gold title.

Tennis News
At $10K India F5 Futures 2012, Chennai

Singles Final
(5) N.Sriram Balaji (IND,651) bt Joss Espasandin (SUI,1094) 63 64

So third time proved lucky for Balaji to win his first ITF futures title ... Last two times he lost to Sanam and Jeevan in the final but today he defeated Swiss Joss Espasandin in straight sets.

In the first set Balaji broke Joss in 4th game to won it ... In the second set Balaji lost his serve in 2nd game but he immediately broke Joss's serve in next game and then take crucial break in 9th game to win it.

Wrestling News
At the World Qualifying Tournament, Helsinki, Finland

74 kg Freestyle
[F] Narsingh Yadav (IND) bt Olegk Motsalin (GRE) 5-0

[SF] Narsingh Yadav (IND) bt Batuhan Demircin (TUR) 7-2
[QF] Narsingh Yadav (IND) bt Szabolcs Laszlo (ROM) 10-2
[R2] Narsingh Yadav (IND) bt Andei Shykka (GER) 12-3
[R1] Narsingh Yadav (IND) bye

Narsingh Yadav become the fourth Indian male wrestler and fifth overall to qualify for London Olympics ... He secured his place reaching the final of the second and last Olympics qualifying tournament in Helsinki ... Narsingh won the gold medal beating Greece wrestler comfortably.