Tennis News
At The Wimbledon 2012, London, Great Britain

[R2] (4) Leander Paes (IND)/ Radek Stepanek (CZE) bt Jonathan Erlich (ISR)/ Andy Ram (ISR) 62 64 76(5)

[R3] (4) Leander Paes (IND)/ Radek Stepanek (CZE) vs Ivan Dodig (CRO)/ Marcelo Melo (BRA)

Mixed Doubles
[R2] (5) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Sania Mirza (IND) l Paul Hanley (AUS)/ Alla Kudryavtseva (RUS) 36 16
[R2] (10) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Jie Zheng (CHN) bt Marcelo Melo (BRA)/ Vera Zvonareva (RUS) w/o

[R3] (10) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Jie Zheng (CHN) vs (6) Daniele Bracciali (ITA)/ Roberta Vinci (ITA)

Sania and Mahesh lost easily in the first round of the Wimbledon ... They didn't manage to get a single break point in this match ... This result also means chances r brighten for Sania and Lee pairing at Olympics ... In other mixed doubles match Rohan and Jie received walkover without playing a single point ... Next they r facing 6th seed Italian pair.

Lee and Radek scored excellent win against tricky, experienced and dangerous Israeli pair ... With double break they won the first set easily ... In the second set also they take crucial break in 7th game to won it ... In the third set Israeli pair broke our pair in 6th game to take 4-2 lead but while they were serving for the set at 5-3 Lee and Radek broke back and take the set in tie-break ... In tie-break Lee and Radek take early mini-break to lead 5-2 but Israeli's broke back to make it 5-6 ... Our pair won next point on Israeli's serve to won this match.
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At $15K Indonesia F1 Futures, Jakarta

[SF] (1) Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND,432) l (3) Christopher Rungkat (INA,449) 46 36

Jeevan failed to overcome challenge of local top player but I was expecting much more fighting performance from him.
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At $10K Germany F7 Futures, Roemerberg (clay)

Doubles Final
(2) N. Sriram Balaji (IND)/ N. Vijay Sundar Prashanth (IND) bt (3) Lukas Jastraunig (AUT)/ Marc Rath (AUT) 75 64

[SF] (2) N. Sriram Balaji (IND)/ N. Vijay Sundar Prashanth (IND) bt (4) Bastian Knittel (GER)/ Marc Sieber (GER) 64 76(5)

Sriram Balaji and Vijay Sundar lifted doubles title on the clay in German futures ... In the final they defeated 3rd seed Austrian pair in straight sets ... Terrific result on the clay for Vijay Sundar and Balaji ... They also scored good win in the semis against third seed local pair.

Tennis News
At The Wimbledon 2012, London, Great Britain

[R2] (13) Bethanie Mattek-Sands (USA)/ Sania Mirza (IND) bt Stephanie Foretz Gacon (FRA)/ Kristina Mladenovic(FRA) 63 62

Juniors
[Q1] Arjun KADHE (IND,90) l (4) Maximilian MARTERER (GER,55) 46 75 6-8

Sania and Bethanie scored solid win over French pair ... They faced a single break point in this match which they saved and broke their opponents thrice to move into the third round.

Arjun lost in the first qualifying round but gave creditable fighting performance against 4th seed German.
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At $15K Indonesia F1 Futures, Jakarta

[QF] (1) Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND,432) bt Wishaya Trongcharoenchaikul (THA,1250) 2-0 Retd.

Jeevan in the semis when his Thai opponent retired after 2 games ... Next he is facing Indonesian top player young Christopher Rungkat.

Football News
At the AFC U-22 Championship Qualifiers, Muscat, Oman

Group A
India dw United Arab Emirates (UAE) 1-1
Goal Scored - Romeo Fernandes (IND) 88' and Jamal Ibrahim (UAE) 9'

Our boys produced terrific performance against Olympics bound UAE after early goal down ... They kept attacking and creating opportunities though our forwards failed to utilize them ... Deserving equalizer scored in dying minutes by Romeo Fernandes with header ... Next we r facing Turkmenistan, which we need to win.

Tennis News
At The Wimbledon 2012, London, Great Britain

[R1] (4) Leander Paes (IND)/ Radek Stepanek (CZE) bt (LL) Colin Ebelthite (AUS)/ John Peers (AUS) 62 64 62

Mixed Doubles
[R1] (4) Leander Paes (IND)/ Elena Vesnina (RUS) bye
[R1] (5) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Sania Mirza (IND) bye
[R1] (10) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Jie Zheng (CHN) bye

Lee and Radek faced lucky loser Australian pair ... Our pair won the first with double break ... In the second set Lee and Radek take crucial break in 5th game before saving couple of break points on their serves to won it ... Our pair dominated the third set and broke Aussie pair twice and won match comfortably.

In mixed doubles our all players r seeded with their respective partners and having bye in the first round ... Lee and Mahesh r in same draw and can face each other in the quarters.
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At $35K+H Marburg Challenger, Germany (clay)

[QF] Alexander Satschko (GER)/ Divij Sharan (IND) l (3) Mateusz Kowalczyk (POL)/ David Skoch (CZE) 46 46

The third seed European pair proved strong for Divij and Satschko.
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At $15K+H Spain F18 Futures, Palma Del Rio

[R2] (Q) Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,999) l (3) Gerard Granollers-Pujol (ESP,303) 36 57

Doubles
[QF] Mohit Mayur Jayaprakash (IND)/ Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND) l (1) James Cluskey (IRL)/ Fabrice Martin (FRA) 67(3) 67(6)

Decent match against top-300 for Ramkumar ... In doubles also he gave fighting performance with Mohit Mayur against top-seed.
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At $10K Germany F7 Futures, Roemerberg (clay)

[R1] (7) Vijayant MALIK (IND,465) l (Q) Evgeny Korolev (KAZ,514) 26 06

[R1] (8) N. Sriram Balaji (IND,483) l (Q) Oscar OTTE (GER,1184) 36 16
[R1] N. Vijay Sundar Prashanth (IND,759) l (2) Pierre-Hugues HERBERT (FRA,303) 16 36

Doubles
[QF] Vijayant MALIK (IND)/ Saketh MYNENI (IND) l (1) Roman JEBAVY (CZE)/ Maciej SMOLA (POL) 26 63 4-10
[QF] (2) N. Sriram Balaji (IND)/ N. Vijay Sundar Prashanth (IND) bt Yannick HANFMANN (GER)/ Ralf STEINBACH (GER) 46 63 10-1

Expected tough loss for Vijayant against former top-50 player ... In the second round Balaji lost against 18 yrs old German qualifier easily ... Vijay Sundar managed to win only a game in the first set ... In the second set Vijay Sundar was break up early, 2-0, but lost next 5 games ... In 8th game Vijay Sundar saved a match point on Pierre-Hugues's serve before breaking him but failed to hold his own serve in the next game.

In doubles Balaji and Prashanth r in the semis.
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At $15K Indonesia F1 Futures, Jakarta

[R2] (1) Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND,432) bt Kirati Sirinutwong (THA,1881) 62 61

[QF] (1) Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND,432) vs Wishaya Trongcharoenchaikul (THA,1250)

Doubles
[SF] (2) Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND)/ Ranjeet Virali-Murugesan (IND) l (3) Christopher Rungkat (INA)/ Elbert Sie (INA) 46 36

Expected comfortable win for Jeevan against Thai player ... Next in the quarters he is facing another young Thai player Wishaya Trongcharoenchaikul.

But Jeevan and Ranjeet lost in the doubles semis against Indonesian pair.

Tennis News
At London Olympics 2012, Great Britain

ITF announced wild card for Olympics ... Sania Mirza received doubles wild card with Rushmi Chakravarthi ... Somdev Devvarman also received wild card for the singles ... So this time we r sending biggest tennis contingent for Olympics as our 7 players r going -
Men's Singles
Somdev Devvarman (wild card)

Mens's Doubles
Leander Paes/ Vishnu Vardhan (direct entry)
Mahesh Bhupathi/ Rohan Bopanna (direct entry)

Women's Doubles
Sania Mirza/ Rushmi Chakravarthi (wild card)

Mixed Doubles
Sania Mirza/ (Mahesh or Leander) (direct entry)
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At The Wimbledon 2012, London, Great Britain

[R1] (7) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Rohan Bopanna (IND) bt Marcel Felder (URU)/ Malek Jaziri (TUN) 60 76(1) 62

Rohan and Mahesh started confidently and won the first set without losing a single game ... In the second set Felder and Jaziri stretched our pair but they won it tie-break ... Rohan and Mahesh dominated the third and won it breaking their opponents twice.
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At $35K+H Marburg Challenger, Germany (clay)

[R1] Alexander Satschko (GER)/ Divij Sharan (IND) bt Hiroki Moriya (JPN)/ Nima Roshan (AUS) 63 64

[QF] Alexander Satschko (GER)/ Divij Sharan (IND) vs (3) Mateusz Kowalczyk (POL)/ David Skoch (CZE)

Divij and Satschko started with straight sets victory ... Next they r facing third seed European pair.
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At $35K+H Milan Challenger, Italy (clay)

[R1] (4) Purav Raja (IND)/ Walter Trusendi (ITA) l Federico Delbonis (ARG)/ Nicolas Pastor (ARG) 36 46

Disappointing result with new Italian partner for Purav ... Lost in the first round against Argentine pair.
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At $10K Germany F7 Futures, Roemerberg (clay)

[R1] Saketh MYNENI (IND,508) l (PR) Bruno Rodriguez (MEX,1026) 46 36
[R1] (8) N. Sriram Balaji (IND,483) bt Franjo Raspudic (BIH,1016) 61 64
[R1] N. Vijay Sundar Prashanth (IND,759) bt Lukas Jastraunig (AUT,735) 26 76(3) 63

Doubles
[R1] Vijayant MALIK (IND)/ Saketh MYNENI (IND) bt Moritz Linhart (GER)/ Julian Wenzel (GER) 63 62

Saketh's struggle on clay continued but good winning start for Vijay Sundar and Sriram Balaji.
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At $15K Indonesia F1 Futures, Jakarta

[R1] (4) Ranjeet Virali-Murugesan (IND,501) l (WC) Sunu-Wahyu Trijati (INA,UNR) 62 67(6) 26

Doubles
[QF] (2) Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND)/ Ranjeet Virali-Murugesan (IND) bt Chih-Jen Ho (KOR)/ Wishaya Trongcharoenchaikul (THA) 62 61

[SF] (2) Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND)/ Ranjeet Virali-Murugesan (IND) vs (3) Christopher Rungkat (INA)/ Elbert Sie (INA)

Ranjeet's inconsistency continued ... Lost against unranked player.

Tennis News
At The Wimbledon 2012, London, Great Britain

[R1] (13) Bethanie Mattek-Sands (USA)/ Sania Mirza (IND) bt Alla Kudryavtseva (RUS)/ Sloane Stephens (USA) 64 62

Sania and Bethanie started with comfortable win ... After winning the first set after breaking opponent's in 10th game they dominated the second and won it with double break.
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At $15K+H Spain F18 Futures, Palma Del Rio

[R1] (Q) Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,999) bt (Q) Marcos Esparcia Omedas (ESP,926) 63 62

[R2] (Q) Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,999) vs (3) Gerard Granollers-Pujol (ESP,303)

Doubles
[R1] Mohit Mayur Jayaprakash (IND)/ Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND) bt Alexander Khalanskiy (RUS)/ Rafael Mazon-Hernandez (ESP) 63 63

[QF] Mohit Mayur Jayaprakash (IND)/ Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND) vs (1) James Cluskey (IRL)/ Fabrice Martin (FRA)

Good to see Ramkumar scored victory in main-draw and earned a ranking point ... In doubles also he started with win with Mohit Mayur ... Next he is having tough matches in the singles and doubles.
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At $15K Indonesia F1 Futures, Jakarta

[R1] (1) Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND,432) bt (WC) Wisnu Adi Nugroho (INA,1576) 62 60

[R2] (1) Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND,432) vs Kirati Sirinutwong (THA,1881)

Doubles
[R1] (WC) Aroon Khatter (IND)/ Mohamed Nazim Khan (MAS) l (1) Weerapat Doakmaiklee (THA)/ Kirati Siributwong (THA) 46 16
[R1] (2) Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND)/ Ranjeet Virali-Murugesan (IND) bt Peter Goldsteiner (AUT)/ Austin Karosi (USA) 63 62

[QF] (2) Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND)/ Ranjeet Virali-Murugesan (IND) vs Chih-Jen Ho (KOR)/ Wishaya Trongcharoenchaikul (THA)

Comfortable winning start for Jeevan in the singles and doubles.

Football News
At the AFC U-22 Championship Qualifiers, Muscat, Oman

Group A
India l Iraq 1-2
Goal Scored - Alwyn George (IND) 82' and Ali Mohammed Alialah (IRQ) 35', Ammar Abdul Hussein (IRQ) 49'

Alwyn George scored in the 82nd minute to reduce the lead, but it proved to be too late, as young Indian side fought valiantly, but ultimately came up short against Iraq ... Next is another tough match against UAE.

Tennis News
At $35K+H Marburg Challenger, Germany (clay)

[R1] Alexander Satschko (GER)/ Divij Sharan (IND) vs Hiroki Moriya (JPN)/ Nima Roshan (AUS)

This week Divij is partnering German Alexander Satschko in Marburg challenger.
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At $35K+H Milan Challenger, Italy (clay)

[R1] (4) Purav Raja (IND)/ Walter Trusendi (ITA) vs Federico Delbonis (ARG)/ Nicolas Pastor (ARG)

Purav is partnering Italian Trusendi and they 4th seed in Milan challenger.
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At $15K+H Spain F18 Futures, Palma Del Rio

[R1] (Q) Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND,999) vs (Q) Marcos ESPARCIA OMEDAS (ESP,926)

[Q2] (9) Mohit Mayur JAYAPRAKASH (IND,1213) l (3) Juan-Samuel ARAUZO-MARTINEZ (ESP.946) 36 62 36
[Q2] (4) Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND,999) bt (11) Angel ALONSO-CAMPOS (ESP,1611) 64 62

[Q1] (9) Mohit Mayur JAYAPRAKASH (IND,1213) bt Alejandro ANDINO VALLVERDU (ESP,UNR) 60 61
[Q1] (4) Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND,999) bt Oscar LONGWORTH (AUS,UNR) 61 60

Doubles
[R1] Mohit MayurJAYAPRAKASH (IND)/ Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND) vs Alexander Khalanskiy (RUS)/ Rafael Mazon-Hernandez (ESP)

This week in big Spanish futures Mohit Mayur failed to qualify for main-draw ... Ramkumar qualified for main-draw and facing another qualifier in the first round ... In doubles Ramkumar is playing with Mohit Mayur.
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At $15K Indonesia F1 Futures,

[R1] (1) Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND,432) vs (WC) Wisnu Adi Nugroho (INA,1576)
[R1] (4) Ranjeet Virali-Murugesan (IND,501) vs (WC) Sunu-Wahyu Trijati (INA,UNR)

[Q3] (1) Ranjeet VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND) bt In-Sub LEE (KOR,UNR) 63 62
[Q2] (1) Ranjeet VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND) bt Fei Ti LIAO (TPE,UNR) 62 63
[Q1] (1) Ranjeet VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND) bye

Doubles
[R1] (WC) Aroon Khatter (IND)/ Mohamed Nazim Khan (MAS) vs (1) Weerapat Doakmaiklee (THA)/ Kirati Siributwong (THA)
[R1] (2) Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND)/ Ranjeet Virali-Murugesan (IND) vs Peter Goldsteiner (AUT)/ Austin Karosi (USA)

Ranjeet made late entry so needed to play qualifying ... He qualified comfortably ... Jeevan is top-seed and Ranjeet is 4th seed.
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At $10K Germany F7 Futures, Roemerberg (clay)

[R1] Saketh MYNENI (IND,508) vs (PR) Bruno Rodriguez (MEX,1026)
[R1] (8) N. Sriram Balaji (IND,483) vs Franjo Raspudic (BIH,1016)
[R1] (7) Vijayant MALIK (IND,465) vs (Q) Evgeny Korolev (KAZ,514)
[R1] N. Vijay Sundar Prashanth (IND,759) vs Lukas Jastraunig (AUT,735)

Doubles
[R1] Vijayant MALIK (IND)/ Saketh MYNENI (IND) vs Moritz Linhart (GER)/ Julian Wenzel (GER)
[R1] (2) N. Sriram Balaji (IND)/ N. Vijay Sundar Prashanth (IND) bye

This week 4 Indians r in the main-draw ... Vijayant and Sriram Balaji r seeded but Vijayant having very tough match against former top-50 Kazakh player Evgeny Korolev, who is coming out of injury ... Saketh is also playing against former top-400 Mexican player, who is playing with protected ranking.

Archery News
At Archery World Cup-3 2012, Ogden, USA

Recurve Men Team Final
India l USA 213-213 (28-27)

Recurve Men Individual - Bronze medal
Tarundeep Rai (IND) l Gael Prevost (FRA) 5-6 (28-29, 26-25, 28-27, 28-28 26-28 T10-T8)

Indian men's Recurve archery team lost in the final in the shoot-off against WR #1 USA ... After both teams tied for 213-213 in shoot-off USA's Wukie scored perfect 10 and other 2 archers managed 9 point arrows but all Indian archers managed to score 9 points.

In Recurve men individual event Tarundeep Rai also lost in shoot-off against Frenchman ... After losing the first set Tarundeep won next 2 sets ... Fourth set tied and Prevost won last set to take match in shoot-off ... Prevost scored perfect 10 and Tarundeep failed to match his score ... Still creditable performance from Tarundeep in this World cup stage.

Football News
At the AFC U-22 Championship qualifiers, Muscat, Oman

Group A
India bt Lebanon 5-2
Goal Scored - Manandeep Singh (IND) 16' and 55', Alwyn George (IND) 39', Jeje Lalpekhlua (IND) 71' and 90' and Omar Kurdi (LEB) 48', Abdul Fattah (LEB) 69'

We r in Group A with the Asian giants like Iraq, Turkmenistan, United Arab Emirates, hosts Oman and Lebanon ... Indians looked better prepared and organized on the field ... After dominating the first half we conceded early goal in the second but after introduction of Jeje we scored another one to take control ... Good win but our real test will be against Iraq in the next match.

Athletics News
At the National Inter-State Athletic Meet, Hyderabad China

Sahana Kumari qualified with jump of 1.92 meters for London Olympics B Standard qualification mark ... She bettered the National Record of 1.91 set by Bobby Aloysius in Chennai in 2004.

Tennis News
At The Wimbledon 2012, London, Great Britain

Doubles
[R1] (13) Bethanie Mattek-Sands (USA)/ Sania Mirza (IND) vs Alla Kudryavtseva (RUS)/ Sloane Stephens (USA)
[R1] (4) Leander Paes (IND)/ Radek Stepanek (CZE) vs Alejandro Falla (COL)/ Santiago Giraldo (COL)
[R1] (7) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Rohan Bopanna (IND) vs Marcel Felder (URU)/ Malek Jaziri (TUN)

Lee and Radek r 4th seed and Mahesh with Rohan r 7th seed ... Our both pairs r in top draw and can face each other in the quarters ... If that happens then that would be a MATCH of the Wimbledon. ... Sania and still-not-fit Bathanie having tricky draw as 13th ssed.

Archery News
At Final Olympics Qualification Tournament 2012, Ogden, USA

Recurve Men Team
Final
India l Japan 218-221

[SF] India bt Australia 221-209
[QF] India bt Canada 224-216
[R1] India bt Norway 224-207

Indian men's archery Recurve team comprising Tarundeep Rai, Jayanta Talukdar and Rahul Banerjee secured London Olympic berth beating Australians in the semi-final of final qualifiers at Ogden ... Top 3 teams from these qualifiers were going to qualify ... So Japan and Chinese Taipei r qualified for London Olympics with India.
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At Archery World Cup-3 2012, Ogden, USA

Recurve Men Team
Final
India vs USA

[SF] India bt Italy 220-218
[QF] India bt Malaysia 223-216
[R1] India bt Netherlands 229-221

Recurve Men Individual
Bronze Medal
Tarundeep Rai (IND) vs Gael Prevost (FRA)

[SF] Tarundeep Rai (IND) l Laurence Godfrey (GBR) 5-6 (26-30, 26-30, 28-26, 29-28, 28-28 T8-T10)
[QF] Tarundeep Rai (IND) bt Michele Frangilli (ITA) 6-5 (28-28, 29-27, 28-28, 23-24, 27-27 T9*-T9)
[R4] Tarundeep Rai (IND) bt Simon Terry (GBR) 6-2 (29-28, 23-28, 28-26, 26-25)
[R3] Tarundeep Rai (IND) bt Bato Tsynguev (RUS) 7-1 (27-27, 30-28, 28-27, 27-25)

[R2] Jayanta Talukdar (IND) l Marco Galiazzo (ITA) 2-6 (24-30, 29-26, 27-29, 28-30)
[R2] Tarundeep Rai (IND) bt Cheng Pang Wang (TPE) 6-4 (25-29, 27-25, 27-28, 28-26, 26-25

[R1] Tarundeep Rai (IND) bt Raymond Paguia (PHI) 6-2 (25-25, 30-26, 28-27, 26-26)
[R1] Rahul Banerjee (IND) l Ibrahim Sabry (EGY) 4-6 (26-28, 26-22, 28-25, 27-30 28-30)
[R1] Jayanta Talukdar (IND) bt Artyom Gankin (KAZ) 6-0 (30-23, 28-23, 28-26)

Indian men's Recurve archery team reached in another final at World cup ... In the first round they scored big 229 points in a win against Netherlands ... They also defeated good teams like Italy and Malaysia to reach the final ... In the final they r facing local team.

In Recurve men individual event Tarundeep Rai produced excellent performance ... He is in medal round after losing very close semi-final with British player ... For Bronze medal he is facing Frenchman Gael Prevost ... Our other two archers lost in first 2 rounds.

Badminton News
At $200K Singapore Super Series,

[QF] (6) Diju V. (IND)/ Jwala Gutta (IND) l (2) Hung Ling Chen (TPE)/ Wen Hsing Cheng (TPE) 21-13 14-21 17-21

The second seed Taipei pair defeated Jwala and Diju in 45 minutes ... Jwala and Diju started well winning the first game but Taipei pair fought back to win the second comfortably ... In the third game Taipei pair take control from 12-all after winning next 4 points ... Indian pair saved 2 match points from 15-20 but Taipei pair converted third to complete the victory.

Badminton News
At $200K Singapore Super Series,

[R2] Ajay Jayaram (IND,23) l (6) Tien Minh Nguyen (VIE,11) 15-21 14-21
[R2] (Q) Gurusaidutt R. M. V. (IND,55) l Boonsak Ponsana (THA,32) 12-21 8-21
[R2] (Q) Anand Pawar (IND,62) l Viktor Axelsen (DEN,22) 19-21 17-21

[R2] Pradnya Gadre (IND)/ Prajakta Sawant (IND) l (3) Shizuka Matsuo (JPN)/ Mami Naito (JPN) 18-21 15-21
[R2] Jwala Gutta (IND)/ Ashwini Ponnappa (IND) l (8) Meiliana Jauhari (INA)/ Greysia Polii (INA) 15-21 20-22
[R2] (6) Diju V. (IND)/ Jwala Gutta (IND) bt Aik Quan Tan (MAS)/ Pei Jing Lai (MAS) 21-15 21-15

[QF] (6) Diju V. (IND)/ Jwala Gutta (IND) vs (2) Hung Ling Chen (TPE)/ Wen Hsing Cheng (TPE)

Jwala and Diju moved into the quarters with comfortable win over pair in 30 minutes ... Next they r facing 2nd seed Taipei pair.

In the first game Viktor take lead after 5-all ... He was leading 11-6 and 14-10 but Anand fought back to make it 14-all ... Anand won 4 points in arow from 14-17 to lead 18-17 but Viktor won next 3 points and converted 2nd game point to win this game ... In the second game from 7-10 down Viktor take 12-10 lead ... Anand caught with him at 13-all and was leading 17-16 but Viktor won last 5 points to complete win in 34 minutes ... But other hand Guru had poor outing and lost one-sided match in 31 minutes ... Ajay also failed to produce much fight to Vietnamese Tien Minh Nguyen ... In both games Nguyen take early lead and managed to keep that throughout the games.

Pradnya Gadre and Prajakta Sawant gave decent performance against 3rd seed Japanese pair ... I was expecting better result from Jwala and Ashwini against Olympics bound WR #13 Indonesian pair ... Disappointing loss.

Tennis News
At The London Olympics 2012, Great Britain

The AITA (All India Tennis Association) officially announced pairing after all drama ... Mahesh Bhupathi and Rohan Bopanna r one pair ... Leander Paes will be partnering with J. Vishnu Vardhan ... The AITA is also applied wild-card for Sania Mirza ... They decided to partner Sania Mirza with Leander Paes in mixed doubles.
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At $10K Germany F6 Futures, Koeln (clay)

[R1] (8) Vijayant MALIK (IND,454) l Dennis BLOEMKE (GER,579) 36 26

Vijayant also struggled on the clay and lost in the first round.
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At $10K Spain F17 Futures, Melilla

[QF] (2) Michael LOOK (AUS)/ Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND) l Roberto ORTEGA-OLMEDO (ESP)/ Adam SANJURJO HERMIDA (ESP) 26 62 4-10

Badminton News
At $200K Singapore Super Series,

[R1] Sourabh VARMA (IND,42) l Yun HU (HKG,25) 24-22 12-21 10-21
[R1] Ajay JAYARAM (IND,23) bt Brice LEVERDEZ (FRA,36) 21-12 21-14
[R1] (Q) Gurusaidutt R. M. V. (IND,55) bt Zi Liang Derek WONG (SIN,47) 21-12 21-13
[R1] (Q) Anand PAWAR (IND,62) bt Kevin CORDON (GUA,33) 12-21 21-11 21-19
[R1] Kashyap PARUPALLI (IND,26) l (2) Hyun Il LEE (KOR,8) 18-21 12-21
[R1] Sindhu P. V. (IND,26) l Xiao Jia CHEN (CHN,25) 16-21 12-21

[R1] Tarun KONA (IND)/ Arun VISHNU (IND) l Thien How HOON (MAS)/ Wee Kiong TAN (MAS) 9-21 13-21
[R1] Jwala GUTTA (IND)/ Ashwini PONNAPPA (IND) bt Jiayuan CHEN (SIN)/ Juan GU (SIN) 21-9 21-8
[R1] Tarun KONA (IND)/ Ashwini PONNAPPA (IND) l Noriyasu HIRATA (JPN)/ Miyuki MAEDA (JPN) 15-21 17-21
[R1] (6) Diju V. (IND)/ Jwala GUTTA (IND) bt Markis KIDO (INA)/ Pia Zebadiah BERNADETH (INA) 21-18 21-12

[R2] Ajay Jayaram (IND,23) vs (6) Tien Minh Nguyen (VIE,11)
[R2] (Q) Gurusaidutt R. M. V. (IND,55) vs Boonsak Ponsana (THA,32)
[R2] (Q) Anand Pawar (IND,62) vs Viktor Axelsen (DEN,22)

[R2] Pradnya Gadre (IND)/ Prajakta Sawant (IND) vs (3) Shizuka Matsuo (JPN)/ Mami Naito (JPN)
[R2] Jwala Gutta (IND)/ Ashwini Ponnappa (IND) vs (8) Meiliana Jauhari (INA)/ Greysia Polii (INA)
[R2] (6) Diju V. (IND)/ Jwala Gutta (IND) vs Aik Quan Tan (MAS)/ Pei Jing Lai (MAS)

Dominating start for Jwala and Ashwini in women's doubles ... They won their match in mere 21 minutes against Singaporean pair ... Next they r facing 8th seed Indonesian pair ... But in the men's doubles Tarun and Arun lost in 23 minutes one-sided match.

In the first game Yun Hu was leading 16-10 then had 2 game points 20-18 but Sourabh saved those 2 game points and then another one before converting his 2nd game pointto win this game ... From the second game Yun Hu didn't lose control over the match ... He take early 7-2 lead ... Sourabh managed to reduce it to 12-13 but Yun Hu won next 8 points to win the second game ... Same trend continued in the third ... From 4-all Yun Hu take control and lost only another 6 points before winning this game comfortably.

Guru scored comfortable win over local player in 34 minutes taking early lead in both games ... Ajay also scored very comfortable win in 31 minutes ... He controlled both games after taking early lead ... Anand Pawar scored excellent comeback win after losing the first game against Kevin Cordon.

Sindhu failed to produce challenge to her Chinese opponent Xiao Jia Chen.

Kashyap lost against 2nd seed Hyun Il Lee in the straight games but I m happy that he got chance of playing another top-10 player before the Olympics ... In the first game Lee take early lead but Kashyap caught with him at 10-all ... Then Kashyap take 17-14 lead but failed to utilize that advantage ... Lee won next 5 point and regain lead ... After winning the first game Lee Kept momentum to win this game after controlling from the start.

Jwala and Diju started with straight games victory.

Anand is next playing against Danish player Viktor Axelsen, who upset top-seed and WR #6 Japanese Sho Sasaki ... Guru is facing experienced Thai Boonsak Ponsana ... Ajay is facing WR #11 Vietnamese Tien Minh Nguyen.

Tennis News
At $637K Aegon International, Eastbourne, England

[R1] Sania Mirza (IND)/ Paola Suarez (ARG) l Daniela Hantuchova (SVK)/ Jie Zheng (CHN) 26 Retd.

Paola Suarez was sick so our pair retired after losing the first set.
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At €450K 's-Hertogenbosch Open, The Netherlands

[R1] (4) Scott Lipsky (USA)/ Leander Paes (IND) l Juan Sebastian Cabal (COL)/ Dmitry Tursunov (RUS) 26 57

The first round loss for Lee with different partner so frankly bad preparation for the Wimbledon and the Olympics.
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At $10K Spain F17 Futures, Melilla

[R1] (Q) Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND,1036) l Ricardo OJEDA LARA (ESP,958) 67(3) 36
[R1] (Q) Mohit MayurJAYAPRAKASH (IND,1133) l Andoni VIVANCO-GUZMAN (ESP,725) 36 36

Doubles
[QF] Eric GARCIA DRESPO (ESP)/ Mohit MayurJAYAPRAKASH (IND) l (4) Alejandro ANDINO VALLVERDU (ESP)/ Andoni VIVANCO-GUZMAN (ESP) 67(6) 46
[QF] (2) Michael LOOK (AUS)/ Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND) vs Roberto ORTEGA-OLMEDO (ESP)/ Adam SANJURJO HERMIDA (ESP)

In the singles disappointed run continued.

Mayur and his partner lost in the doubles quarters against 4th seed Spanish pair.
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At $10K Germany F6 Futures, Koeln (clay)

[R1] (8) Vijayant MALIK (IND,454) vs Dennis BLOEMKE (GER,579)
[R1] Saketh MYNENI (IND,514) l (3) Germain GIGOUNON (BEL,387) 16 16

Doubles
[R1] Vijayant MALIK (IND)/ Saketh MYNENI (IND) l (3) Miguel-Angel REYES-VARELA (MEX)/ Bruno RODRIGUEZ (MEX) 63 16 6-10

This was Saketh's first match on the clay and that was also against top-400 European, still I was hoping for better scoreline.

In doubles also our pair lost against third seed Mexican pair in match tie-break.

Badminton News
At $200K Singapore Super Series,

[Q1] Gurusaidutt R. M. V. (IND,55) bt Nan WEI (HKG,77) 21-17 21-16
[Q1] (4) Yuhan TAN (BEL,51) bt Chetan ANAND (IND,64) 21-10 21-15
[Q1] (3) Andre Kurniawan TEDJONO (INA,49) bt Arvind BHAT (IND,78) 11-21 21-19 21-15
[Q1] Anand PAWAR (IND,62) bt Misbun Ramdan MOHMED MISBUN (MAS,65) 21-18 21-18

[Q1] Sanjeeth S. / Jagadish YADAV (IND,136) bt Jimmy Yu Lun TAY (MAS)/ Kay Ee YEOH (MAS) 22-20 21-16

[Q2] Gurusaidutt R. M. V. (IND,55) bt Wisnu Haryo PUTRO (ITA,96) 21-8 21-8
[Q2] Anand PAWAR (IND,62) bt Joachim PERSSON (DEN,87) 17-7 Retd.

[Q2] Sanjeeth S. (IND)/ Jagadish YADAV (IND) l (2) Zheng Yi KOK (MAS)/ Keat Zhen KONG (MAS) 19-21 14-21

[R1] Sourabh VARMA (IND,42) vs Yun HU (HKG,25)
[R1] Ajay JAYARAM (IND,23) vs Brice LEVERDEZ (FRA,36)
[R1] Kashyap PARUPALLI (IND,26) vs (2) Hyun Il LEE (KOR,8)
[R1] (Q) Gurusaidutt R. M. V. (IND,55) vs Zi Liang Derek WONG (SIN,47)
[R1] (Q) Anand PAWAR (IND,62) vs Kevin CORDON (GUA,33)
[R1] Sindhu P. V. (IND,26) vs Xiao Jia CHEN (CHN,25)

[R1] Tarun KONA (IND)/ Arun VISHNU (IND) vs Thien How HOON (MAS)/ Wee Kiong TAN (MAS)
[R1] Pradnya GADRE (IND)/ Prajakta SAWANT (IND) bt Shu CHENG (CHN)/ Pan PAN (CHN) w/o
[R1] Jwala GUTTA (IND)/ Ashwini PONNAPPA (IND) vs Jiayuan CHEN (SIN)/ Juan GU (SIN)
[R1] Tarun KONA (IND)/ Ashwini PONNAPPA (IND) vs Noriyasu HIRATA (JPN)/ Miyuki MAEDA (JPN)
[R1] (6) Diju V. (IND)/ Jwala GUTTA (IND) vs Markis KIDO )INA)/ Pia Zebadiah BERNADETH (INA)

[R2] Pradnya GADRE (IND)/ Prajakta SAWANT (IND) vs (3) Shizuka MATSUO (JPN)/ Mami NAITO (JPN)

Another match against top-10 palyer for Kashyap ... Good preparation for the Olympics.

Guru and Anand qualified for main-draw with good wins.

Tennis News
At The Wimbledon, London, Great Britain

[Q1] Yuki Bhambri (IND,219) l Marc Gicquel (FRA,191) 46 06

Marc Gicquel take crucial break in 9th game of the first set to win it ... But Yuki failed to produce same fighting performance in the second and Marc broke him thrice to win this set without losing single game ... Very disappointing debut by Yuki on the Wimbledon senior level.
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At $637K Aegon International, Eastbourne, England

[R1] Sania Mirza (IND)/ Paola Suarez (ARG) vs Daniela Hantuchova (SVK)/ Jie Zheng (CHN)


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At $10K Spain F17 Futures, Melilla

[Q1] (1) Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND,1036) bye
[Q1] (3) Mohit Mayur JAYAPRAKASH (IND,1133) bye

[Q2] (1) Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND,1036) bt Pedro-Hector ALONSO ABAJO (ESP,UNR) 60 62
[Q2] (3) Mohit Mayur JAYAPRAKASH (IND,1133) bt Ivan MARTINEZ MONTORO (AUS,UNR) 64 64

[R1] (Q) Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND,1036) vs Ricardo OJEDA LARA (ESP,958)
[R1] (Q) Mohit Mayur JAYAPRAKASH (IND,1133) vs Andoni VIVANCO-GUZMAN (ESP,725)

Doubles
[R1] Eric GARCIA DRESPO (ESP)/ Mohit MayurJAYAPRAKASH (IND) bt Juan-Samuel ARAUZO-MARTINEZ (ESP)/ Antonio GARCIA SANCHEZ (ESP) w/o
[R1] (2) Michael LOOK (AUS)/ Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND) bye

Mohit Mayur and Ramkumar in the main-draw ... They r playing in doubles and already in the quarters with their respective partners without playing single game.

Badminton News
At $650KK Indonesia Open 2012, Jakarta (Super Series Premier)

Singles Final
(5) Saina Nehwal (IND,5) bt (4) Xuerui Li (CHN,3) 13-21 22-20 21-19

Saina's amazing run at Indonesian super series continued ... This was her consecutive 4th final in this tournament and she won titles in 2009, 2010 and 2012.

In the first game Saina struggled with intercepting Xuerui's smashes but from the second game Xuerui made uncharacteristic errors on the service returns ... Also Xuerui was struggling to keep shuttle inside the court from backside of the court ... Luved the way Saina saved 2 match points in the second game and then winning well fought final game.

In the first game Xuerui take 4-0 lead and kept increasing to won it comfortably ... In the second game Saina matched Xuerui and opened 13-8 lead but from 18-14 lead Saina lost next 6 points and were 2 match points down ... Saina brought back her composure and saved those 2 match points ... She won 4 points in a row to won this second game ... Momentum was with her after winning the second game but Xuerui was on dream run with 30 matches winning streak ... In that she won 4 titles and was in 5th final ... In the final game both players were exchanging leads through out the game ... Saina opened 2 points lead at 16-14 which she increased to 19-16 ... Xuerui won next 2 points tto make it 18-19 ... Xuerui saved a match point at 18-20 but Saina converted the second completing memorable win in 64 minutes ... So Saina lifted this prestigious Super Series Premier title beating 2 top four Chinese girls and won $48,750 in prize money.

Tennis News
At $637K Aegon International, Eastbourne, England

[Q1] Sania Mirza (IND,238) bt (WC) Lise Whybourn (GBR,409) 61 62

[Q2] Sania Mirza (IND,238) l (7) Andrea Hlavackova (CZE,92) 36 36

Good solid win by Sania against local girl ... Her next qualifying round match was also winnable against Czech player but somehow Sania lost it in straight sets.
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At €450K 's-Hertogenbosch Open, The Netherlands

[R1] (4) Scott Lipsky (USA)/ Leander Paes (IND) vs Juan Sebastian Cabal (COL)/ Dmitry Tursunov (RUS)

This week Leander is partnering American Scott Lipsky at 's-Hertogenbosch ... They r 4th seed and can face 2nd seed Aisam-Roger into the semis.

Badminton News
At $650KK Indonesia Open 2012, Jakarta (Super Series Premier)

[SF] Kashyap Parupalli (IND,23) l (7) Simon Santoso (INA,9) 15-21 12-21
[SF] (5) Saina Nehwal (IND,5) bt Ji Hyun Sung (KOR,10) 22-20 21-18

[F] (5) Saina Nehwal (IND,5) vs (4) Xuerui Li (CHN,3)

Saina scored hard fought win over Korean ... In the first game she take early lead ... At one time Saina was leading 16-9 but she gave chance to Sung fightback and Sung caught with her at 17-all ... Saina saved a game point at 19-20 before converting her first game point ... In the second game both players were exchanging the lead ... Sung was up 16-13 when Saina won next 5 points to lead 18-16 ... After that Saina lose only single point before winning the game and match in 50 minutes ... Next she is facing WR #3 Xuerui Li.

Kashyap failed to produce any fight against Indonesian top player Simon Santoso in 45 minutes match.

Tennis News
At $10K India F9 Futures, Bangalore

Singles Final
(2) Vishnu VARDHAN (IND,362) bt (1) Ti CHEN (TPE,301) 62 46 61

After winning the first set easily Vishnu lost the second when Ti Chen won it taking crucial break ... In the third set Vishnu saved a break point in 1st game but then he broke Ti Chen in 4th and 6th games to won this comfortably ... So this was Vishnu's second title in two weeks ... This will push his ranking inside top-300 on 25th June ranking list.

Badminton News
At $650KK Indonesia Open 2012, Jakarta
(Super Series Premier)
[QF] Kashyap Parupalli (IND,23) bt Hans-Kristian Vittinghus (DEN,16) 21-15 21-14
[QF] (5) Saina Nehwal (IND,5) bt (3) Shixian Wang (CHN,4) 21-17 21-23 21-19

[SF] Kashyap Parupalli (IND,23) vs (7) (7) Simon Santoso (INA,9)
[SF] (5) Saina Nehwal (IND,5) vs Ji Hyun Sung (KOR,10)

Kashyap showed his yesterday's win over WR #3 Long Chen wasn't fluke ... Today he defeated Danish Hans-Kristian Vittinghus comfortably in 39 minutes ... In the first game he take lead early lead, 6-3 ... He kept that lead afterwards and won last 4 points to win this game ... In the second game Kashyap opened couple of points lead from 9-all but won 6 points from last 7 points to win it comfortably ... In the semis he is facing Indonesian top player, WR #9 Simon Santoso.

Shixian Wang take early couple of points lead but Saina caught with her at 8-all ... After that both players were traded single point lead until 14-all ... Then Saina take 2 points lead, 16-14, but Shixian Wang won next 2 points to make it 16-all ... Saina won next 4 points to make it 20-16 and converted 2nd game point and win this game ... In the second game Saina opened early 6-1 lead and she managed to keep that lead through out the game ... Shixian Wang managed to come close 16-18 and 17-19 ... But from 20-17 down Shixian Wang saved 3 match points to make it 20-all ... Saina needed to save a game point but Shixian Wang converted 2nd game point and take match into the decider ... In the third game Saina take early 3-0 lead but Shixian Wang caught with her at 6-all ... Again Saina take lead after winning next 4 point but this time also Shixian Wang won next 5 points to lead 10-11 ... From 13-all Saina again opened couple of points lead, which she kept and increased to 19-15 ... This time also Shixian Wang made it 19-all but this time Saina won next 2 points and won this match converting 4th match point ... Huge confidence boosting victory for Saina.

Though Saina wasted 3 match points in the second game still impressed with Saina and her team ... This was one of longest match from women side ... Match was going for more than one and half hours, exactly 95 minutes ... Definitely improved fitness level for Saina, who matches her game with Shixian Wang in the third game also.

Next in the semis Saina is facing WR #10 Korean Ji Hyun Sung ... Saina is having perfect 3-0 win-loss record against her.

Tennis News
At the London Olympics 2012, Bangalore

Unnecessary drama is going on for selection of doubles pairing for the London Olympics ... As inside top-10 Leander Paes, #7, is having direct qualification ... Other hand Rohan Bopanna, #12, and Mahesh Bhupathi, #14 r also inside ITF qualification as total of their ranking should be inside 50 ... Rohan and Mahesh already conveyed that they r not interested in partnering Lee ... For the Olympics they r playing together from January but AITA selected Lee and Mahesh as partner for the London Olympics ... Mahesh and Rohan immediately announced that either of them is not ready to play with Lee ... Other hand Lee messed up opportunity of trying out partnership with other young Indian player like Vishnu Vardhan or Yuki Bhambri or if fit then Somdev Devvarman on the grass ... As this week he is playing with South African Kevin Anderson ... I hope AITA handle this situation carefully and give India good chance of winning 2 medals with proper combination for the Olympics.

My choice of pairing r -
1. Leander Paes with Yuki Bhambri/ Vishnu Vardhan/ (if fit) Somdev Devvarman
2. Mahesh Bhupathi/ Rohan Bopanna

and for Mixed doubles -
Mahesh Bhupathi/ Sania Mirza
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At €625,300 AEGON Championships, London, Great Britain

[R1] Leander Paes (IND)/ Kevin Anderson (RSA) bt Julien Benneteau (FRA)/ Nicolas Mahut (FRA) 67(1) 75 10-5

[R2] Leander Paes (IND)/ Kevin Anderson (RSA) l (7) Janko Tipsarevic (SRB)/ Nenad Zimonjic (SRB) 62 46 7-10

[QF] (5) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Rohan Bopanna (IND) l (1) Max Mirnyi (BLR)/ Daniel Nestor (CAN) 67(7) 46

At last Leander's first round match got over on the Friday ... They needed match tie-break to overcome challenge of the French pair ... After losing the first set in tie-break Lee and Kevin needed to win the second tight set ... In match tie-break they were better than their opponents ... They r playing their second match of the day later today.

In their second round match Lee and Kevin started positively and won the first set with double break ... But in the second set Serbians take crucial break in 7th game and that was enough to won this second set ... In match tie-break Serbians take lead with double mini-break 5-1 after that Lee and Kevin tried to comeback but Serbians kept advantage and won this matchto enter into the quarters.

In the first set Mahesh and Rohan saved four break points but wasted 2 set points before top-seeds converting their set point ... In the second set Mirnyi and Nestor take crucial break in 10th game when Indians were serving for staying in the match ... Hoping for upset win for our pair.
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At $10K India F9 Futures, Bangalore

[SF] (4) Jeevan NEDUNCHEZHIYAN (IND,448) l (1) Ti CHEN (TPE,301) 63 67 (8) 46
[SF] (2) Vishnu VARDHAN (IND,362) bt (5) Ranjit VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND,488) 64 67(3) 63

Doubles Final
(2) Jeevan NEDUNCHEZHIYAN (IND)/ Ranjit VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND) bt (1) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND)/ Arun-Prakash RAJAGOPALAN (IND) vs 46 63 10-7

Big missed opportunity for Jeevan against top-seed Ti Chen ... After winning the first set Jeevan had 2 match points in ti-break in the second ... In the third set also after down 3-5 Jeevan broke to make it 4-5 but he failed to hold his serve in 10th game.

Ranjeet tried fight back after losing the first set ... He managed to win the second but in the final set Vishnu take early break and kept advantage to win it.

Jeevan and Ranjit scored comeback win in match tie-break over last two week's winner and top-seed pair of Balaji and Arun-Prakash.
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At $10K Spain F16 Futures, Martos

[R1] (Q) Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND,1057) l (4) Taro DANIEL (JPN,432) 36 16

One-sided win by Japanese over Ramkumar.

Badminton News
At $650KK Indonesia Open 2012, Jakarta (Super Series Premier)

[R2] Kashyap Parupalli (IND,23) bt (1) Long Chen (CHN,3) 21-17 21-14
[R2] Ajay Jayaram (IND,25) l Dionysius Hayom Rumbaka (INA,21) 15-21 14-21
[R2] (5) Saina Nehwal (IND,5) bt (Q) Aprilla Yuswandari (INA,45) 21-17 14-21 21-13
[R2] Sindhu P. V. (IND,26) l (8) Juliane Schenk (GER,7) 14-21 14-21

[R2] Diju V. (IND)/ Jwala Gutta (IND) l Tao Jiaming (CHN)/ Xia Huan (CHN) 13-21 21-14 18-21

[QF] Kashyap Parupalli (IND,23) vs Hans-Kristian Vittinghus (DEN,16)
[QF] (5) Saina Nehwal (IND,5) vs (3) Shixian Wang (CHN,4)

Huge upset win by Kashyap against top-seed Chinese Long Chen ... This was his first top 5 win ... Kashyap scored very comfortable win ... In the first game he take control from 8-all after taking 3 points lead and managed to keep it ... In the second game Kashyap take control from 9-all taking 5 points lead and kept increasing to win this match in 44 minutes.

Another unnecessary tough outing for Saina ... She should have won this match easily instead after winning the first game she lost concentration ... Indonesian qualifier take full advantage to won it before Saina winning the third.

Diju and Jwala gave fighting performance in their loss against Chinese pair ... Ajay and Sindhu's respective opponents proved lot better than them.

Next Saina is facing first Wang challenge and Kashyap is facing Danish challenge ... Our both players r having 2-1 win-loss record against their respective opponents.

Tennis News
At €625,300 AEGON Championships, London, Great Britain

[R1] Leander Paes (IND)/ Kevin Anderson (RSA) vs Julien Benneteau (FRA)/ Nicolas Mahut (FRA) 4-4 (match suspended due to rain)

[R2] (5) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Rohan Bopanna (IND) bt Marcos Baghdatis (CYP)/ Jamie Murray (GBR) 63 76(5)

Mahesh and Rohan scored good win against Baghdatis and Jamie Murray in grass season opener ... Giving another strong case for their selection as pair for London Olympics.
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At $75K+H Monza Challenger, Italy

[QF] (1) Rameez Junaid (AUS)/ Purav Raja (IND) l Andrey Golubev (KAZ)/ Yuri Schukin (KAZ) 67(4) 57

This week Purav and Rameez failed to repeat last week's result and lost in well fought two sets against Kazakh pair.
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At $75K Nottingham-2 Challenger, England

[R1] Divij Sharan (IND)/ Lauryna Grigelis (LTU) l Dudi Sela (ISR)/ Jimmy Wang (TPE) 46 57

Two first round losses against different partner in the first round for Divij.
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At $10K India F9 Futures, Bangalore

[QF] (1) Ti CHEN (TPE,301) bt Ashwin VIJAYRAGAVAN (IND,908) 76(7) 63
[QF] (4) Jeevan NEDUNCHEZHIYAN (IND,448) bt Warit SORNBUTNARK (THA,1081) 61 62
[QF] (5) Ranjit VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND,488) bt (3) Vijayant MALIK (IND,443) 62 63
[QF] (2) Vishnu VARDHAN (IND,362) bt (6) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND,548) 60 64

Doubles
[SF] (1) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND)/ Arun-Prakash RAJAGOPALAN (IND) bt (4) Abhijeet TIWARI (IND)/ Ashwin VIJAYRAGAVAN (IND) 57 62 10-8
[SF] (2) Jeevan NEDUNCHEZHIYAN (IND)/ Ranjit VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND) bt (3) Vijayant MALIK (IND)/ Kaza Vinayak SHARMA (IND) 64 64

Ashwin fought hard against top-seed ... Jeevan, Ranjeet and Vishnu scored comfortable win over their respective opponents ... Surprised to see Ranjeet's easy win over Vijayant.

Top two seeds r in the doubles final.
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At $10K Germany F5 Futures, Munich-Unterfohring (red clay)

[R1] N. Vijay Sundar PRASHANTH (IND,719) bt (Q) Dmytro KOVALYOV (UKR,UNR) 26 62 76(3)

[R2] N. Vijay Sundar PRASHANTH (IND,719) l (6) Jose STATHAM (NZL,365) 46 46

Vijay Sundar needed comeback win and the final set tie-break to overcome unranked Ukrainian but lost against in the second round against Statham.

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At $10K Spain F16 Futures, Martos

[QF] Blake MOTT (AUS)/ Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND) l (3) Marcos ESPARCIA OMEDAS (ESP)/ Gerard GRANOLLERS-PUJOL (ESP) 06 26

In doubles Ramkumar and his partner failed to produce fight.

Badminton News
At $650KK Indonesia Open 2012, Jakarta (Super Series Premier)

[R1] Kashyap Parupalli (IND,23) bt Kevin Cordon (GUA,33) 21-19 19-21 21-16
[R1] (Q) Gurusaidutt R. M. V. (IND,52) l Hyun Il Lee (KOR,7) 13-21 21-11 20-22
[R1] Ajay Jayaram (IND,25) bt Viktor Axelsen (DEN,22) 21-16 21-14
[R1] (Q) Sourabh Varma (IND,42) l (7) Simon Santoso (INA,9) 18-21 14-21
[R1] Sindhu P. V. (IND,26) bt Maria Febe Kusumastuti (INA,33) 13-21 21-18 21-19
[R1] (5) Saina Nehwal (IND,5) bt Sayaka Sato (JPN,15) 21-12 14-21 21-17

[R1] Tarun Kona (IND)/ Arun Vishnu (IND) l (3) Mathias Boe (DEN)/ Carsten Mogensen (DEN) 14-21 13-21
[R1] Pradnya Gadre (IND)/ Prajakta Sawant (IND) l (Q) Melvira Oklamona (INA)/ Khaeriah Rosmini (INA) 21-23 19-21 19-21
[R1] Jwala Gutta (IND)/ Ashwini Ponnappa (IND) l (2) Qing Tian (CHN)/ Yunlei Zhao (CHN) 13-21 17-21
[R1] Tarun Kona (IND)/ Ashwini Ponnappa (IND) l Riky Widianto (INA)/ Puspita Richi Dili (INA) 16-21 10-21
[R1] Diju V. (IND)/ Jwala Gutta (IND) bt Yeon Seong Yoo (KOR)/ Ye Na Jang (KOR) 14-21 21-11 21-16

[R2] Kashyap Parupalli (IND,23) vs (1) Long Chen (CHN,3)
[R2] Ajay Jayaram (IND,25) vs Dionysius Hayom Rumbaka (INA,21)
[R2] (5) Saina Nehwal (IND,5) vs (Q) Aprilla Yuswandari (INA,45)
[R2] Sindhu P. V. (IND,26) vs (8) Juliane Schenk (GER,7)

[R2] Diju V. (IND)/ Jwala Gutta (IND) vs Tao Jiaming (CHN)/ Xia Huan (CHN)

Good comeback win by Diju and Jwala against Korean pair ... After losing the first game they came back strongly in the second and kept momentum to win the final game.

From 7-all Cordon increased lead to 9-15 but after that Kashyap fought back and made it 18-all ... Kashyap won the first game winning last 2 points ... In the second game Kashyap take 2/3 points lead from 6-all and maintained most part of the game ... Cordon made it 18-all and then won last 3 points to win this second game ... In the third game Cordon take early 3-8 lead but Kashyap caught with him at 11-all ... Kashyap won last 6 points in a row from 15-16 and completed victory in 65 minutes.

Ajay scored comfortable straight games victory over similar ranked Danish player in 33 minutes.

In the first game Saina take control from 6-all and increased to 15-7 which was enough to won this game ... In the second game also Saina take control from the start and increased it to 12-5 but after that Saina lost her concentration and lost this game after winning only 2 more points ... In the decider Saina opened 8-1 lead and kept increasing it ... Sayaka Sato saved 3 match points but Saina converted fourth match point and completed victory in 57 minutes.

Excellent comeback by Pradnya and Prajakta from 9-15 down in the first game ... They caught with their local qualifier at 18-all and converted 3rd game point .. But in next two games Pradnya and Prajakta wasted advantage ... In both games they were leading but failed to win it ... In the second game they were only 2 points away from the victory at 19-17 ... Chinese WR #2 pair proved too strong for Jwala and Ashwini, who failed to produce much fight in this match.

As expected top-10 Indonesian Simon Santoso proved better player, still Sourabh gave fight in the first game.

Against Guru also top 10 Korean Hyun Il Lee started positively and won the first game comfortably ... But in the second game from 4-8 down Guru won next 6 points to lead 10-8 and again from 10-9 Guru won next 8 points to win this game easily ... In the third game Lee take 2-4 early lead and kept that couple of points advantage most of the part but from 14-18 Guru won next 4 points to make it 18-all ... Guru saved a match point at 19-20 but Lee converted 2nd match point to win this match in 61 minutes ... Impressive performance by Guru against WR #7 Lee.

Sindhu scored excellent comeback win over local girl ... After losing the first game she won next two games in closely fought match ... Next she is facing 8th seed German Juliane Schenk.

Next Saina is facing local qualifier Aprilla Yuswandari but Kashyap is facing WR #3 and top seed Chinese Long Chen ... Ajay is facing local Dionysius Hayom Rumbaka, who upset WR #6 Japanese Sho Sasaki when he won third game 24-22 ... Diju and Jwala r facing Chinese pair.

Tennis News
At $200K AEGON Classic, Birmingham, England

[R1] (2) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Yaroslava Shvedova (KAZ) l Iveta Benesova (CZE)/ Alla Kudryavtseva (RUS) 57 36

Disappointing loss considering Sania and Shvedova r good doubles players ... In the firs Set Sania and Shvedova were leading 5-3 before losing this set and next set.
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At $75K+H Monza Challenger, Italy

[R1] (1) Rameez Junaid (AUS)/ Purav Raja (IND) bt (WC) Julio Silva (BRA)/ Viniclus Trevisan (BRA) 62 61

[QF] (1) Rameez Junaid (AUS)/ Purav Raja (IND) vs Andrey Golubev (KAZ)/ Yuri Schukin (KAZ)

Very comfortable win for Purav and Rameez against wild-card Brazilian pair ... Next they r facing Kazakh pair, whom they defeated last week in match tie-break.
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At $10K India F9 Futures, Bangalore

[R2] (1) Ti CHEN (TPE,301) bt (WC) Tejas CHAUKULKAR (IND,UNR) 60 61
[R2] Ashwin VIJAYRAGAVAN (IND,908) bt (7) Kittiphong WACHIRAMANOWONG (THA,588) 62 Retd.
[R2] (4) Jeevan NEDUNCHEZHIYAN (IND,448) bt (Q) Jatin DAHIYA (IND,UNR) 60 60
[R2] Warit SORNBUTNARK (THA,1081) bt (Q) Ajai SELVARAJ (IND,1801) 76(2) 46 76(1)
[R2] (5) Ranjit VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND,488) bt Zach ITZSTEIN (AUS,1039) 60 61
[R2] (3) Vijayant MALIK (IND,443) bt Kunal ANAND (IND,1536) 61 67(1) 64
[R2] (6) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND,548) bt (WC) Venkat IYER (IND,UNR) 63 64
[R2] (2) Vishnu VARDHAN (IND,362) bt Abhijeet TIWARI (IND,1235) 62 63

Doubles
[QF] (1) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND)/ Arun-Prakash RAJAGOPALAN (IND) bt Scott PUODZIUNAS (AUS)/ Gavin VAN PEPERZEEL (AUS) 64 36 10-8
[QF] (4) Abhijeet TIWARI (IND)/ Ashwin VIJAYRAGAVAN (IND) bt Kunal ANAND (IND)/ Ajai SELVARAJ (IND) 76(1) 57 10-4
[QF] (3) Vijayant MALIK (IND)/ Kaza Vinayak SHARMA (IND) bt Elwin ANTONY (IND)/ Fariz MOHAMMED (IND) 57 63 10-5
[QF] (2) Jeevan NEDUNCHEZHIYAN (IND)/ Ranjit VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND) bt Krishik DIVAKAR (IND)/ Sagar MANJANNA (IND) 63 64

Good to see our all seeded players enter into the quarters ... Jeevan, Ranjeet, Balaji and Vishnu scored comfortable wins ... Kunal Anand stretched Vijayant to three sets ... Ashwin's 7th seed Thai Kittiphong retired from his match after losing the first set ... Ajai Selvaraj gave creditable fight against higher ranked Thai opponent, he lost his match losing 2 tie-breaks.

In the doubles all 4 seeded pairs enter into the semis.
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At $10K Spain F16 Futures, Martos

[R1] (Q) Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND,1057) bt (Q) Sergio MAGRO MORENO (ESP,1251) 63 64

Doubles
[QF] Blake MOTT (AUS)/ Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND) vs (3) Marcos ESPARCIA OMEDAS (ESP)/ Gerard GRANOLLERS-PUJOL (ESP)

Good to see Ramkumar started with win over fellow qualifier.

Badminton News
At $650KK Indonesia Open 2012, Jakarta (Super Series Premier)

[Q1] (3) Sourabh Varma (IND,42) bt Yong Zhao Ashton Chen (SIN,59) 21-17 21-17
[Q1] Sai Praneeth B. (IND,71) l Andre Kurniawan Tedjono (INA,48) 19-21 14-21
[Q1] Gurusaidutt R. M. V. (IND,52) bt Yuhan Tan (BEL,50) 19-21 21-8 21-16
[Q1] Anand Pawar (IND,61) l Sony Dwi Kuncoro (INA,65) 23-21 10-21 9-21

[Q2] (3) Sourabh Varma (IND,42) bt Mohamad Arif Abdul Latif (MAS,57) 21-15 21-19
[Q2] Gurusaidutt R. M. V. (IND,52) bt (4) Eric Pang (NED,51) 21-15 21-6

[R1] Kashyap Parupalli (IND,23) vs Kevin Cordon (GUA,33)
[R1] (Q) Gurusaidutt R. M. V. (IND,52) vs Hyun Il Lee (KOR,7)
[R1] Ajay Jayaram (IND,25) vs Viktor Axelsen (DEN,22)
[R1] (Q) Sourabh Varma (IND,42) vs (7) Simon Santoso (INA,9)
[R1] Sindhu P. V. (IND,26) vs Maria Febe Kusumastuti (INA,33)
[R1] (5) Saina Nehwal (IND,5) vs Sayaka Sato (JPN,15)

[R1] Tarun Kona (IND)/ Arun Vishnu (IND) vs (3) Mathias Boe (DEN)/ Carsten Mogensen (DEN)
[R1] Pradnya Gadre (IND)/ Prajakta Sawant (IND) vs (Q) Melvira Oklamona (INA)/ Khaeriah Rosmini (INA)
[R1] Jwala Gutta (IND)/ Ashwini Ponnappa (IND) vs (2) Qing Tian (CHN)/ Yunlei Zhao (CHN)
[R1] Tarun Kona (IND)/ Ashwini Ponnappa (IND) vs Riky Widianto (INA)/ Puspita Richi Dili (INA)
[R1] Diju V. (IND)/ Jwala Gutta (IND) vs Yeon Seong Yoo (KOR)/ Ye Na Jang (KOR)

Sourabh Varma and Guru qualified in the main-draw for this big Super Series Premier tournament from the qualifying but both r facing top-10 player in the first round ... Kashyap and Ajay having favorable draw in the first round ... Sindhu is also having winnable match in the first round ... Saina is having Japanese test in the first round ... In doubles Jwala and Ashwini r facing WR #2 Chinese pair.

Tennis News
At €625,300 AEGON Championships, London, Great Britain

[R1] (5) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Rohan Bopanna (IND) bye
[R1] Leander Paes (IND)/ Kevin Anderson (RSA) vs Julien Benneteau (FRA)/ Nicolas Mahut (FRA)

This week Lee is playing with South African Kevin Anderson and they r facing French pair in the first round ... Mahesh and Rohan r fifth seed and r having the first round bye.
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At $200K AEGON Classic, Birmingham, England

[R1] (2) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Yaroslava Shvedova (KAZ) vs Iveta Benesova (CZE)/ Alla Kudryavtseva (RUS)

This week Sania is having good doubles partner, 2 grandslam winner Yaroslava Shvedova.
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At $75K Nottingham-2 Challenger, England

[R1] Divij Sharan (IND)/ Lauryna Grigelis (LTU) vs Dudi Sela (ISR)/ Jimmy Wang (TPE)

Divij is playing with another different partner at Nottingham-2 challenger.
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At $75K+H Monza Challenger, Italy

[R1] (1) Rameez Junaid (AUS)/ Purav Raja (IND) vs (WC) Julio Silva (BRA)/ Viniclus Trevisan (BRA)

Purav and Rameez decided to play another tournament on the clay ... They r top-seed in this Monza challenger.
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At $35K Furth Challenger, Germany

Doubles Final
(2) Rameez Junaid (AUS)/ Purav Raja (IND) l Arnau Brugues-Davi (ESP) / Joas Sousa (POR) 57 76(4) 11-13

Purav and Rameez lost in very closely fought match against unseeded pair in the final ... After losing the first set they fought back to win the second but failed to capitalize in match tie-break.
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At $10K India F9 Futures, Bangalore

[R1] (1) Ti CHEN (TPE,301) bt Scott PUODZIUNAS (AUS,1322) 62 61
[R1] (WC) Tejas CHAUKULKAR (IND,UNR) bt (Q) Manpreet Singh CHAWLA (IND,UNR) 62 60
[R1] Ashwin VIJAYRAGAVAN (IND,908) bt Gavin VAN PEPERZEEL (AUS,965) 63 64
[R1] (7) Kittiphong WACHIRAMANOWONG (THA,588) bt (Q) Yogesh PHOGAT (IND,UNR) 64 62
[R1] (4) Jeevan NEDUNCHEZHIYAN (IND,448) bt Siddharth RAWAT (IND,1076) 76(6) 75
[R1] (Q) Jatin DAHIYA (IND,UNR) bt Saurabh PATIL (IND,1437) 63 61
[R1] (Q) Ajai SELVARAJ (IND,1801) bt (WC) Vishwanath SAVADI (IND,UNR) 62 63
[R1] Warit SORNBUTNARK (THA,1081) bt (8) Francesco VILARDO (ITA,835) 36 62 76(6)
[R1] (5) Ranjit VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND,488) bt Kaza Vinayak SHARMA (IND,942) 75 63
[R1] Zach ITZSTEIN (AUS,1039) bt Kenny BUN (CAM,1092) 62 46 64
[R1] Kunal ANAND (IND,1536) bt (Q) Aaditya TEWARI (IND,UNR) 64 63
[R1] (3) Vijayant MALIK (IND,443) bt Vinod GOWDA (IND,1543) 61 62
[R1] (6) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND,548) bt (Q) Elwin ANTONY (IND,1901) 63 76(1)
[R1] (WC) Venkat IYER (IND,UNR) bt (WC) Sagar MANJANNA (IND,UNR) 64 63
[R1] Abhijeet TIWARI (IND,1235) bt (Q) Krishik DIVAKAR (IND,UNR) 61 62
[R1] (2) Vishnu VARDHAN (IND,362) bt (Q) Bharatram BALAJEE (IND,UNR) 61 62

Doubles
[R1] (1) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND)/ Arun-Prakash RAJAGOPALAN (IND) bt Siddharth RAWAT (IND)/ Aaditya TEWARI (IND) 62 75
[R1] Scott PUODZIUNAS (AUS)/ Gavin VAN PEPERZEEL (AUS) bt Shahbaaz KHAN (IND)/ Sumeet SHINDE (IND) 67(5) 64 10-5
[R1] (4) Abhijeet TIWARI (IND)/ Ashwin VIJAYRAGAVAN (IND) bt Kenny BUN (CAM)/ Saurabh PATIL (IND) 62 63
[R1] Kunal ANAND (IND)/ Ajai SELVARAJ (IND) bt Zach ITZSTEIN (AUS)/ Francesco VILARDO (ITA) 26 62 10-7
[R1] Elwin ANTONY (IND)/ Fariz MOHAMMED (IND) bt (WC) Tejas CHAUKULKAR (IND)/ Venkat IYER (IND) 76(3) 63
[R1] (3) Vijayant MALIK (IND)/ Kaza Vinayak SHARMA (IND) bt Krishna KARSOLIA (IND)/ Neishit VAKIL (IND) 61 62
[R1] Krishik DIVAKAR (IND)/ Sagar MANJANNA (IND) bt (WC) Ravi Shankar SATHIYARAJ MITRA (IND)/ Ganga SINGH (IND) 61 36 10-6
[R1] (2) Jeevan NEDUNCHEZHIYAN (IND)/ Ranjit VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND) bt (WC) Sagar AHUJA (IND)/ Vishwanath SAVADI (IND) 64 62

Karan missed this week due to injuries and Saketh decided to skip as from next week he is going to play in German futures series on the clay ... In this week's draw last week's finalists Vijayant and Vishnu r in the same draw.

Siddharth Rawat gave fighting performance against Jeevan ... Player to watch in the future tournaments ... Venkat Iyer earned another ranking point, Jatin Dahiya and Tejas Chaukulkar earned their first ranking point with a win.
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At $10K Spain F16 Futures, Martos

[Q1] (3) Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND,1057) bye
[Q2] (3) Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND,1057) bt Antonio MARQUEZ-CONTRERAS (ESP,UNR) 76(1) 76(1)
[Q3] (3) Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND,1057) bt Philipp ALEKSANYAN (RUS,UNR) 76(4) 63

[R1] (Q) Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND,1057) vs (Q) Sergio MAGRO MORENO (ESP,1251)

Doubles
[R1] Blake MOTT (AUS)/ Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND) bt Roberto ORTEGA-OLMEDO (ESP)/ Adam SANJURJO HERMIDA (ESP) 76(7) 76(6)

This week Ramkumar playing on hard court in Spain ... He needed to win close matches against unranked players for qualifying main-draw ... Also had winning start in the doubles with his Australian partner in two tie-breaks.

Volleyball News
At the 2012 World Olympic Qualifications, Berlin, Germany

#30 India l #5 Cuba 0-3 (12-25 22-25 20-25)
#13 Germany bt #23 Czech Republic 3-1 (25-22 23-25 25-23 25-21)

Expected loss against WR # 5 Cuba but our players fought well in last 2 sets ... Other hand Germany won their third match in a row and captured the Olympic ticket to London 2012.

Badminton News
At $120K SCG Thailand Open 2012, Bangkok

Women's Singles Final
(1) Saina Nehwal (IND,5) bt (2) Ratchanok Inthanon (THA,11) 19-21 21-15 21-10

Ratchanok take control of the first game from 7-all ... From 12-19 down Saina tried fightback and came close to her at 19-20 but Ratchanok converted 3rd game point ... In the second game Saina opened early 3 points lead 5-2 ... Saina kept that advantage till end to won this game ... In the final game Saina take control from the start and won it comfortably to won this final in 66 minutes ... This was Saina's second title of the year after Swiss Open title in March.

Volleyball News
At the 2012 World Olympic Qualifications, Berlin, Germany

#30 India l #23 Czech Republic 0-3 (19-25 13-25 23-25)
#13 Germany bt #5 Cuba 3-2 (25-21 25-17 21-25 17-25 20-18)

So with the second loss in two days what a theoretical chance was there get over ... Again our players failed to produce any sizzling performance ... Overall very disappointing.

Tennis News
At $75K Nottingham-2 Challenger, Great Britain

[Q1] (2) Yuki Bhambri (IND,218) l Colin Ebelthite (AUS,569) 36 63 36

Not a great preparation for Wimbledon qualifying ... Yuki lost in his first match on UK grass against lower ranked Australian ... It would be good if Yuki had couple of wins on UK grass before Wimby qualifying which can boost his confidence.

In the first set he lost his serve early to trailed 0-3 and that break was enough for Colin to win this set ... In the second set Yuki take crucial break in 4th game to lead 4-1 and with that single break he won this set ... In the decider Colin take crucial break in 8th game ... In 9th game on Colin's serve Yuki saved 2 match points but Colin converted 3rd to complete victory.
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At $10K India F8 Futures, Mysore

Singles Final
(2) Vishnu VARDHAN (IND,362) bt (7) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND,548) 76(7) 63

Vishnu lifted another Indian futures title beating Balaji ... Balaji gave fighting performance in the final, he is showing improvement week after week ... The first set went to tie-break when both players hold their respective service games but Blaji needed to save couple of break points ... The tie-break was also long one as both players were serving well and Vishnu take crucial mini-break to won it ... In the second set Vishnu take crucial break in 8th game to won this match.

Badminton News
At $120K SCG Thailand Open 2012, Bangkok

[SF] (1) Saina Nehwal (IND,5) bt (3) Porntip Buranaprasertsuk (THA,17) 24-22 21-11

[F] (1) Saina Nehwal (IND,5) vs (2) Ratchanok Inthanon (THA,11)

Porntip take early 9-2 lead over Saina ... After that Saina crawled back and caught with her at 16-all ... Porntip had 3 games points at 20-19, 21-20 and 22-21, but Saina saved those and converted her first game point to won this long game after 24 minutes ... In the second game Sania take control from the start from 2-all she increased lead to 10-4 ... After that Saina was increasing lead and won this game comfortably and move into the final in 41 minutes ... In the final Sania is facing 2nd seed and WR #11 local girl Ratchanok Inthanon.

Volleyball News
At the 2012 World Olympic Qualifications, Berlin, Germany

#30 India l #13 Germany 0-3 (16-25 19-25 15-25)
#5 Cuba bt #23 Czech Republic 3-1 (27-29 25-23 25-23 25-21)

Only top team will qualify for the London Olympics ... WR #30 India is in tough group with host WR #13 Germany, 2010 World Championship silver medalists WR #5 Cuba and WR #23 Czech Republic.

In the first match German team scored very comfortable win over Indians ... They outperformed us in the all the departments ... Next we r facing Czech team, who gave fighting performance against Cuban team in their first match.

Tennis News
At $35K Furth Challenger, Germany

[SF] (2) Rameez Junaid (AUS)/ Purav Raja (IND) bt (4) Andrey Golubev (KAZ)/ Yuri Schukin (KAZ) 67(4) 64 13-11

[F] (2) Rameez Junaid (AUS)/ Purav Raja (IND) vs Arnau Brugues-Davi (ESP)/ Joas Sousa (POR)

Excellent comeback win by Purav and Rameez against Kazakh pair ... After losing thew first set our pair won the second with a single break ... They had see-saw battle in match tie-break, which our pair won after saving match p[oints ... Next they r facing unseeded pair of Brugues-Davi and Sousa.
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At $10K India F8 Futures, Mysore


[SF] (7) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND,548) bt (8) Kittiphong WACHIRAMANOWONG (THA,588) 46 76(10) 75
[SF] (2) Vishnu VARDHAN (IND,362) bt (3) Vijayant MALIK (IND,443) 67(7) 62 76(4)

Doubles Final
(1) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND)/ Arun-Prakash RAJAGOPALAN (IND) bt Kunal ANAND (IND)/ Ajai SELVARAJ (IND) 36 61 10-6

Excellent comeback wins by Balaji and Vishu against their respective opponents ... Balaji was 3-5 down in the decider before winning next four games to complete the victory ... Vijayant was unlucky to pull biggest upset but happy to see Vishnu prevailed big challenge from Vijayant ... Vishnu was also 3-5 down in the decider before taking the set in tie-break and winning it.

After his long singles semi-final Balaji managed to win the doubles title ... This was his second title in two weeks with Arun-Prakash.

Badminton News
At $120K SCG Thailand Open 2012, Bangkok

[QF] (12) Sourabh Varma (IND,42) l Sony Dwi Kuncoro (INA,65) 6-21 8-21
[QF] Sai Praneeth B. (IND,71) l Chen Yuekun (CHN,158) 15-21 17-21
[QF] Sameer Verma (IND,128) l (Q) Huan Gao (CHN,305) 16-21 13-21
[QF] (1) Saina Nehwal (IND,5) bt (8) Sapsiree Taerattanachai (THA,36) 21-10 22-20

[SF] (1) Saina Nehwal (IND,5) vs (3) Porntip Buranaprasertsuk (THA,17)

Saina take control of the game winning the first 8 points and kept that momentum to won this game ... Taerattanachai produced fight in the second game ... From 2-4 down Taerattanachai won next 6 points to take lead ... She managed to keep that lead most part of the game but from 9-16 Saina fought back and managed to catch with her at 19-all ... Saina converted the first match point after saving a game point ... In the semis Sania is facing another local Thai player, WR #17 Porntip Buranaprasertsuk.

Sony Dwi Kuncoro proved too strong for Sourabh ... He lost in 30 minutes winning only 14 points in two games ... His brother Sameer gave decent performance against upcoming Chinese player but lost in straight games ... Sai Praneeth also failed to overcome Chinese challenge and lost in straight games.

Tennis News
At French Open 2012, Paris, France

Mixed Doubles Final
(7) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Mahesh Bhupathi (IND) bt Klaudia Jans-Ignacik (POL)/ Santiago Gonzalez (MEX) 76(3) 61

Juniors
[QF] Arjun Kadhe (IND)/ Jorge Brian Panta Herreros (PER) l Andrew Harris (AUS)/ Nick Kyrgios (AUS) 26 75 9-11

Sania and Mahesh lifted their second mixed doubles title before this they won the Australian Open in 2009 ... This was Mahesh's 8th mixed doubles grandslam title and overall 12th grandslam title ... This win boost their chances of claiming mixed doubles pairing for the Olympics.

Unseeded Jans-Ignacik and Gonzalez take early break on Sania's serve to lead 3-1 but while serving for the set at 5-4 Gonzalez failed to hold his serve and then Sania and Mahesh won tie-break with double min-break ... In the second set it was one way traffic, Sania and Mahesh won it comfortably breaking opponent's serve twice.

Arjun with his Peruvian partner lost close match against AUssie pair ... After losing the first set they fought hard to won the second but lost match tie-break against Aussies.
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At $75K Aegon Trophy Challenger, Nottingham, England

[R1] Divij Sharan (IND)/ Tatsuma Ito (JPN) l (WC) David Rice (GBR)/ Sean Thornley (GBR) 67(5) 36

Divij and Ito failed to overcome challenge of local pair on the grass.
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At $35K Furth Challenger, Germany

[QF] (2) Rameez Junaid (AUS)/ Purav Raja (IND) bt Adam Hubble (AUS)/ Jose (Rubin) Statham (NZL) 76(6) 36 10-8

[SF] (2) Rameez Junaid (AUS)/ Purav Raja (IND) vs (4) Andrey Golubev (KAZ)/ Yuri Schukin (KAZ)

Purav and Rameez needed to dig deep for overcoming challenge from Hubble and Statham ... After winning the first set Purav and Rameez lost the second ... In match tie-break Hubble and Statham gave big fight but Purav and Rameez kept cool to win this tie-break ... Next they r facing tough challenge of Kazakh pair.
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At $10K India F8 Futures, Mysore

[QF] (8) Kittiphong WACHIRAMANOWONG (THA,588) bt (1) Ti CHEN (TPE,301) 62 76(5)
[QF] (7) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND,548) bt (4) Jeevan NEDUNCHEZHIYAN (IND,448) 36 62 76(3)
[QF] (3) Vijayant MALIK (IND,443) bt Saketh MYNENI (IND,590) 63 36 61
[QF] (2) Vishnu VARDHAN (IND,362) bt Sidharth RAWAT (IND,1076) 62 76(5)

Doubles
[SF] (1) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND)/ Arun-Prakash RAJAGOPALAN (IND) bt Neeraj ELANGOVAN (IND)/ Fariz MOHAMMED (IND) 64 64
[SF] Kunal ANAND (IND)/ Ajai SELVARAJ (IND) bt Venkat IYER (IND)/ Bowen OUYANG (CHN) 75 76(4)

So this week Vijayant proved better in his duel with Saketh ... Also happy for Bala for his first win over Jeevan ... Good friendly rivalry is building between our Indian players ... Good fighting performance by Sidharth in his loss against Vishnu.

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

Our steeple chase runner Sudha Singh has qualified for the 2012 London Games, breaking her own 3,000m steeple chase national record in the VIII Meeting Iberoamericano de Atletismo ... Sudha Singh qualified with a timing of 9:47.70 secs to break her national record of 9:49.25 secs set at the Shanghai Diamond League last month ... Her timing was better than the London Olympics 'B' standard timing of 9:48.00.

Badminton News
At $120K SCG Thailand Open 2012, Bangkok

[R3] (12) Sourabh Varma (IND,42) bt (7) Alamsyah Yunus (INA,29) 18-21 21-13 22-20
[R3] Sai Praneeth B. (IND,71) bt Choong Hann Wong (MAS,131) 13-21 21-18 22-20
[R3] Sameer Verma (IND,128) bt Teck Zhi Soo (MAS,241) 21-18 21-18
[R2] (1) Saina Nehwal (IND,5) bt Li Han (CHN,39) 21-17 21-13
[R2] (4) Sindhu P. V. (IND,25) l Lin Wang (CHN,106) 12-21 23-25

[R1] Tarun Kona (IND)/ Arun Vishnu (IND) l (6) Ricky Karanda Suwardi (INA)/ Muhammad Ulinnuha (INA) 22-24 13-21
[R1] Sanjeeth S. (IND)/ Jagadish Yadav (IND) l (Q) Calvin Jia Hong Ong (MAS)/ Wee Gleen Tan (MAS) 12-21 6-21
[R1] Aparna Balan (IND)/ Siki Reddy N. (IND) l (1) Xia Huan (CHN)/ Jinhua Tang (CHN) 10-21 13-21
[R1] Pradnya Gadre (IND)/ Prajakta Sawant (IND) l Amelia Alicia Anscelly (MAS)/ Fie Cho Soong (MAS) 19-21 12-21

[QF] (12) Sourabh Varma (IND,42) vs Sony Dwi Kuncoro (INA,65)
[QF] Sai Praneeth B. (IND,71) vs Chen Yuekun (CHN,158)
[QF] Sameer Verma (IND,128) vs (Q) Huan Gao (CHN,UNR)
[QF] (1) Saina Nehwal (IND,5) vs (8) Sapsiree Taerattanachai (THA,36)

Saina scored good win against Chinese Li Han in straight games ... Li Han take early couple of points lead but Saina managed to make it 12-all and from 17-all she won next 4 points to won this game ... In the second game Saina controlled from the start and won it comfortably.

Former WR #1 opened early 3 points lead which Sindhu managed to reduce at 10-11 but from here Lin Wang dominated and won the first game ... In the second game Lin Wang take 5-0 lead but Sindhu caught with her at 7-all and opened 16-12 lead ... Lin Wang caught with her 16-all, still Sindhu had 2 game points at 20-18 but Lin Wang saved total 5 game points before converting first match point.

Sameer Verma take full advantage of weak draw and move into the quarters ... In the first game he take 12-6 lead but Malaysian Soo caught with him at 13-all ... Sameer opened couple of points lead and maintained to won this game ... In the second game Sameer take lead from the start and increased to 16-9 but Malaysian fought back and made it 18-all ... Sameer won last 3 points to won this match.

Wong take early lead against Sai and kept increasing to won the first game ... In the second game Sai open 3 points lead from 7-all and kept that lead to won it ... In the final game Wong take big lead from the start 9-14 but Sai managed to reduce it, 14-16 ... From 14-18 Sai won next 6 points to lead 20-18 but failed to convert 2 match points, 20-all ... But Sai kept his cool and won next 2 points to complete excellent comeback victory in 55 minutes.

Yunus take early lead but Sourabh Varma made it 9-all and then take lead but from 18-15 down Yunus won next 6 points to won the first game ... In the second game Sourabh take early lead and kept increasing to won it comfortably ... In the decider from 6-all Yunus take 4 points lead which he managed to keep until 16-19 ... Sourabh made it 19-all and then saved a match point at 19-20 ... Sourabh converted first match point to complete superb comeback victory against top-30 Indonesian player in 68 minutes.

Next is real test for Sai and Sameer against Chinese players, though they r lower ranked ... Sourabh is facing another Indonesian player, this time former top-10 player Sony Dwi Kuncoro ... Saina is facing another Thai player for place in the semis.

Our all doubles pairs lost in the first round.

Tennis News
At French Open 2012, Paris, France

Mixed Doubles
[SF] (7) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Mahesh Bhupathi (IND) bt Galina Voskoboeva (KAZ)/ Daniele Bracciali (ITA) 64 62
[SF] (5) Elena Vesnina (RUS)/ Leander Paes (IND) l Klaudia Jans-Ignacik (POL)/ Santiago Gonzalez (MEX) 67(2) 36

[F] (7) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Mahesh Bhupathi (IND) vs Klaudia Jans-Ignacik (POL)/ Santiago Gonzalez (MEX)

Juniors
[R2] Arjun Kadhe (IND)/ Jorge Brian Panta Herreros (PER) bt (3) Julien Cagnina (BEL)/ Luke Saville (AUS) 63 76(4)

[QF] Arjun Kadhe (IND)/ Jorge Brian Panta Herreros (PER) vs Andrew Harris (AUS)/ Nick Kyrgios (AUS)

Sania and Mahesh scored comfortable straight sets win over Voskoboeva and Bracciali but Lee and Elena failed to produce dream final when they lost in the semis ... When rain-break came Lee and Elena were leading 3-1 but after break from 5-2 they lost their service game twice and then lost tie-break with erratic play ... Gonzalez and Jans-Ignacik take full advantage of their erratic game and won the second set with double break.

Arjun and his Peruvian partner Jorge scored upset win over third seed pair and book their place in the quarters ... They will face Aussie pair.
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At $10K India F8 Futures, Mysore

[R2] (1) Ti CHEN (TPE,301) bt Gavin VAN PEPERZEEL (AUS,965) 61 63
[R2] (8) Kittiphong WACHIRAMANOWONG (THA,588) bt (Q) Neeraj ELANGOVAN (IND,1921) 61 60
[R2] (4) Jeevan NEDUNCHEZHIYAN (IND,448) bt Zach ITZSTEIN (AUS,1039) 64 63
[R2] (7) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND,548) bt Bowen OUYANG (CHN,774) 63 64
[R2] Saketh MYNENI (IND,590) bt (Q) Ajai SELVARAJ (IND,1801) 76(2) 64
[R2] (3) Vijayant MALIK (IND,443) bt (WC) Vinod GOWDA (IND,1543) 60 61
[R2] Sidharth RAWAT (IND,1076) bt (5) Karan RASTOGI (IND,464) 26 62 63
[R2] (2) Vishnu VARDHAN (IND,362) bt Abhijeet TIWARI (IND,1235) 75 62

Doubles
[QF] (1) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND)/ Arun-Prakash RAJAGOPALAN (IND) bt (WC) Shahbaaz KHAN (IND)/ Sumeet SHINDE (IND) 62 62
[QF] Neeraj ELANGOVAN (IND)/ Fariz MOHAMMED (IND) bt (4) Kaza Vinayak SHARMA (IND)/ Abhijeet TIWARI (IND) 76(2) 57 10-1
[QF] Kunal ANAND (IND)/ Ajai SELVARAJ (IND) bt (WC) Jatin DAHIYA (IND)/ Yogesh PHOGAT (IND) 63 64
[QF] Venkat IYER (IND)/ Bowen OUYANG (CHN) bt Scott PUODZIUNAS (AUS)/ Gavin VAN PEPERZEEL (AUS) 16 63 10-6

Other than Karan's loss all other results in the singles were expected.
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At $35K Furth Challenger, Germany

[R1] (2) Rameez Junaid (AUS)/ Purav Raja (IND) bt (WC) Peter Torebko (GER)/ Holger Zuehlsdorff-Pavlovic (GER) 62 61

[QF] (2) Rameez Junaid (AUS)/ Purav Raja (IND) vs Adam Hubble (AUS)/ Jose (Rubin) Statham (NZL)

Easy win for Purav and Rameez against local wild-card pair ... Next they r facing Hubble and Statham in the quarters.
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At $25K Women's ITF Tournament, Karshi, Uzbekistan

[QF] Anastasia MUKHAMETOVA (RUS)/ Ankita RAINA (IND) l (4) Eugeniya PASHKOVA (RUS)/ Ekaterina YASHINA (RUS) 64 36 3-10

Ankita lost in doubles quarters with her Russian partner against 4th seed Russian pair.
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At $10K Morocco F3 Futures, Casablanca

[R2] Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,1057) l (1) Jerome Inzerillo (FRA,418) 67(3) 57

Fighting performance from Ramkumar against top-425 player.