Tennis News
At 1.78M Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championship, UAE

[QF] Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Michael Llodra (FRA) bt (4) Mariusz Fyrstenberg (POL)/ Marcin Matkowski (POL) 46 64 10-8
[QF] Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Rajeev Ram (USA) bt Victor Hanescu (ROU)/ Lukas Rosol (CZE) 46 75 10-4

[SF] Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Michael Llodra (FRA) vs Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Rajeev Ram (USA)

Rohan and Mahesh scored win in match tie-breaks with their respective partners ... After losing the first set Mahesh and Llodra won the second set ... Mahesh and Llodra won very close match tie-break against 4th seed Poles ... Rohan and Rajeev also lost the first set but fought back to win the second ... They won match tie-break comfortably ... In the semis Rohan and Rajeev r facing Mahesh and Llodra.
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At $50K Sydney 1 Challenger, Australia

[QF] (3) Divij Sharan (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) bt Artem Sitak (NZL)/ Jose (Rubin) Statham (NZL) 64 64

[SF] (3) Divij Sharan (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) vs Alex Bolt (AUS)/ Nick Kyrgios (AUS)

Good comfortable straight sets victory over All Blacks pair by Purav and Divij ... Next they r facing in-form young Aussie pair in the semis.
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At $15K Kazakhstan F2 Futures, Aktobe

[SF] (4) Yuki Bhambri (IND)/ Mohamed Safwat (EGY) l (2) Mao-Xin Gong (CHN)/ Ze Zhang (CHN) 46 46

With this end of disappointing one week in Kazakh for Yuki.
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At $10K India F1 Futures, Chennai

Singles Quarter Finals
(1) Victor CRIVOI (ROU) bt (WC) Elwin ANTONY (IND) 63 61
(4) Thales TURINI (BRA) bt (5) Ranjeet VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND) 63 57 60
(3) Jeevan NEDUNCHEZHIYAN (IND) bt (7) N. Vijay Sundar PRASHANTH (IND) 26 61 62
(PR) Tak Khunn WANG (FRA) bt (6) Vijayant MALIK (IND) 63 61

Doubles
[SF} (1) Arata ONOZAWA (JPN)/ Arun-Prakash RAJAGOPALAN (IND) bt (ALT) Jui-Chen HUNG (TPE)/ Petar TOMIC (SRB) 75 64
[SF] (2) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND)/ Jeevan NEDUNCHEZHIYAN (IND) bt (ALT) Ting Yu CHUANG (TPE)/ Chih-Jen HO (TPE) 63 63

Only Jeevan remains in the singles semis ... Other and terrific run from former top-500 young Frencman Tak Khun Wang, who scored another upset win over Indian player.

Chess News
At Zurich Chess Challenge 2013, Switzerland

4th round - 27 February 2013
GM Viswanathan Anand (IND,2780) 0-1 Fabiano Caruana (ITA,2757)
Boris Gelfand (ISR,2740) ½-½ Vladimir Kramnik (RUS,2810)

Fabiano Caruana surprsied Anand with his deep preparation ... He outplayed Anand move by move and won this match in 45 moves playing with Black ... Kramnik missed opportunity of winning a full point against Gelfand ... Their match ended in a draw after 46 moves ... Caruana is leading with ½ pts and Anand is on last position.

Tennis News
At 1.78M Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championship, UAE

[R2] (PR) Somdev Devvarman (IND,315) l (4) Juan Martin Del Potro (ARG,7) 46 46

Doubles
[R1] Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Michael Llodra (FRA) bt Janko Tipsarevic (SRB)/ Viktor Troicki (SRB)63 63
[R1] Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Rajeev Ram (USA) bt (2) Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (PAK)/ Jean-Julien Rojer (NED) 64 64

[QF] Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Michael Llodra (FRA) vs (4) Mariusz Fyrstenberg (POL)/ Marcin Matkowski (POL)
[QF] Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Rajeev Ram (USA) vs Victor Hanescu (ROU)/ Lukas Rosol (CZE)

Somi failed to convert 3 break point chance on Del Potro's serve but Del Porto converted first break point ... For winning the first set that a single break advantage was enough for Del Porto ... Del Porto broke Somi in 1st game of the second set after long game ... Del Porto kept this one break advantage and won this match with clinical performance ... In the second set Del Porto didn't face a single break point.

Winning start for defending champions Mahesh and Rohan with their respective partners ... Mahesh and Llodra scored comfortable win over Serbian pair ... Rohan managed to keep upper hand over his ex-partner Aisam ... On Sunday he defeated Aisam and Rojer in the title match pairing Colin Fleming ... Here Rohan is back with Rajeev and they also defeated Aisam and Rojer in straight sets.
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At $50K Sydney 1 Challenger, Australia

[R2] Sanam Singh (IND,295) l James Duckworth (AUS,238) 26 67(5)

Doubles
[QF] (3) Divij Sharan (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) vs Artem Sitak (NZL)/ Jose (Rubin) Statham (NZL)

After losing the first set easily Sanam had his chances in the second ... He failed to hold his service when serving for the set at 5-4, Sanam lost his serve on luv ... Then he lost tie-break to lose the match ... So old trend continues, again Sanam failed to show consistency in his results after excellent upset.
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At $15K Kazakhstan F2 Futures, Aktobe

[R2] (3) Yuki Bhambri (IND,257) l Marek Semjan (SVK,452) 26 46

Doubles
[QF] (4) Yuki Bhambri (IND)/ Mohamed Safwat (EGY) bt Nurdaulen Baimakhanov (KAZ)/ Alexey Kedryuk (KAZ) 63 63

[SF] (4) Yuki Bhambri (IND)/ Mohamed Safwat (EGY) vs (2) Mao-Xin Gong (CHN)/ Ze Zhang (CHN)

These stupid long breaks from the tour is really not helping Yuki ... Yuki failed to create much challenge to last week's finalist Marek Semjan ... This was Yuki's only 4th match on the tour in new season.

In the doubles Yuki and Safwat scored comfortable win over local pair ... Next they r facing 2nd seed Chinese pair.
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At $10K India F1 Futures, Chennai

Singles Second Round
(1) Victor CRIVOI (ROU) bt Laslo URRUTIA FUENTES (CHI) 62 61
(WC) Elwin ANTONY (IND) bt (Q) Vivek SHOKEEN (IND) 67(6) 64 62
(4) Thales TURINI (BRA) bt (Q) Mats MORAING (GER) 75 67(8) 76(8)
(5) Ranjeet VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND) bt (WC) Mohd Assri MERZUKI (MAS) 64 62
(7) N. Vijay Sundar PRASHANTH (IND) bt Sidharth RAWAT (IND) 62 64
(3) Jeevan NEDUNCHEZHIYAN (IND) bt Giulio TORRONI (ITA) 60 62
(6) Vijayant MALIK (IND) bt (Q) Tom SCHONENBERG (GER) 64 61
(PR) Tak Khunn WANG (FRA) bt (2) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND) 62 76(3)

Doubles Quarter Finals
(1) Arata ONOZAWA (JPN)/ Arun-Prakash RAJAGOPALAN (IND) bt Vijayant MALIK (IND)/ Vivek SHOKEEN (IND) 76(2) 76(5)
(ALT) Jui-Chen HUNG (TPE)/ Petar TOMIC (SRB) bt Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND)/ Ranjeet VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND) 46 63 13-11
(ALT) Ting Yu CHUANG (TPE)/ Chih-Jen HO (TPE) bt (3) Augusto LARANJA (BRA)/ Thales TURINI (BRA) 63 26 10-6
(2) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND)/ Jeevan NEDUNCHEZHIYAN (IND) bt (WC) Elwin ANTONY (IND)/ Fariz MOHAMMED (IND) 61 46 10-7

Frenchman proved too strong for 2nd seed Balaji ... Elwin also scored upset win over Vivek.

Badminton News
At $120K YONEX German Open 2013, Mülheim an der Ruh

[R2] (10) Ajay Jayaram (IND,32) bt Richi Takeshita (JPN,114) 21-17 21-16
[R2] Anand Pawar (IND,51) bt (6) Viktor Axelsen (DEN,22) 21-11 22-20
[R2] Arvind Bhat (IND,93) l (2) Boonsak Ponsana (THA,15) 10-21 16-21

[R1] Tarun Kona (IND)/ Ashwini Ponnappa (IND) bt (5) Riky Widianto (INA)/ Puspita Richi Dili (INA) 23-25 21-16 21-17
[R1] (Q) Arun Vishnu (IND)/ Aparna Balan (IND) l Chun Hei Lee (HKG)/ Hoi Wah Chau (HKG) 10-21 17-21
[R1] Ashwini Ponnappa (IND)/ Pradnya Gadre (IND) bt Samantha Barning (NED)/ Eefje Muskens (NED) 22-20 21-11
[R1] Tarun Kona (IND)/ Arun Vishnu (IND) l V Shem Goh (MAS)/ Khim Wah Lim (MAS) 16-21 17-21

[R3] (10) Ajay Jayaram (IND,32) vs (8) Tommy Sugiarto (INA,24)
[R3] Anand Pawar (IND,51) vs Hsuan Yi Hsueh (TPE,78)

[R2] Tarun Kona (IND)/ Ashwini Ponnappa (IND) vs Chris Adcock (ENG)/ Gabrielle White (ENG)
[R2] Ashwini Ponnappa (IND)/ Pradnya Gadre (IND) vs (4) Kyung Eun Jung (KOR)/ Ha Na Kim (KOR)

Ashwini having winning start in mixed and women's doubles ... In mixed double she defeated WR #11 Indonesian pair after losing the first game in close 53 minutes match with her partner Tarun Kona ... Next they r facing experienced British pair ... In women's doubles both pairs were 14-all before Dutch pair take 18-14 lead ... Ashwini and Pradnya won 5 points in a row to win the first game from 17-20 after saving 3 game points ... After winning the first game they dominated the second game and completed victory in 26 minutes ... Next they r facing WR #9 Korean pair.

Anand scored upset win over top-25 Danish player Viktor ... In the first game from 4-8 down Anand lost only 3 more points before winning the game ... In the second game both players were nect to neck until 17-all ... Anand had 3 match points at 20-17 which Viktor saved it before Anand converting 4th match point ... Next he is facing experienced Taipei player Hsuan Yi Hsueh ... Ajay scored comfortable straight sets win over his Japanese opponent but next having tough match against Indonesian Tommy Sugiarto ... Boonsak Ponsana scored easy victory over Arvind.

Badminton News
At $120K YONEX German Open 2013, Mülheim an der Ruh

[Q1] Arun Vishnu (IND)/ Aparna Balan (IND) bt Hannes Kaesbauer (GER)/ Kira Kattenbeck (GER) 21-15 21-10

[Q2] Arun Vishnu (IND)/ Aparna Balan (IND) bt (4) Sam Magee (IRL)/ Chole Magee (IRL) 21-19 21-12

[R1] (15) Gurusaidutt R. M. V. (IND,37) l (Q) Bin Qiao (CHN,142) 17-21 11-21
[R1] (10) Ajay Jayaram (IND,32) bt Brice Leverdez (FRA,49) 21-12 21-18
[R1] Anand Pawar (IND,51) bt Michael Lahnsteiner (AUT,80) 22-20 16-21 21-16
[R1] Arvind Bhat (IND,93) bt Anup Sridhar (IND,108) 21-17 21-15

[R2] (10) Ajay Jayaram (IND,32) vs Richi Takeshita (JPN,114)
[R2] Anand Pawar (IND,51) vs (6) Viktor Axelsen (DEN,22)
[R2] Arvind Bhat (IND,93) vs (2) Boonsak Ponsana (THA,15)

[R1] Tarun Kona (IND)/ Ashwini Ponnappa (IND) vs (5) Riky Widianto (INA)/ Puspita Richi Dili (INA)
[R1] (Q) Arun Vishnu (IND)/ Aparna Balan (IND) vs Chun Hei Lee (HKG)/ Hoi Wah Chau (HKG)
[R1] Ashwini Ponnappa (IND)/ Pradnya Gadre (IND) vs Samantha Barning (NED)/ Eefje Muskens (NED)
[R1] Tarun Kona (IND)/ Arun Vishnu (IND) vs V Shem Goh (MAS)/ Khim Wah Lim (MAS)

Arun and Aparna qualified for main-draw with upset win over Irish pair ... In the single Guru lost against Chinese qualifier ... Anand struggled against lower ranked Austrian player ... Ajay and Arvind started with straight games win over their respective opponents.

Tennis News
At 1.78M Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championship, UAE

[R1] (PR) Somdev Devvarman (IND,315) bt (Q) Igor Kunitsyn (RUS,167) 61 64

Before this match Somdev lost in all three meetings against Kunitsyn but those losses were in 2008/09 ... In this match Somdev started aggressively and take early break to lead 3-1 ... He again broke Kunitsyn in 6th game and won the first set in 22 minutes ... In the second set also Somi started with breaking Kunitsyn's serve in 1st game to lead 2-0 but Kunitsyn broke him in 4th game to make it 2-all ... Kunitsyn improved level of game in this set but Somi take advantage of couple of errors from Kunitsyn and broke him in 7th game to lead 4-3 ... This break proved important as Somi hold his next 2 service games and completed the victory ... With this win Somi earned 45 ranking points which will push his ranking inside top-250 ... Somi will be India's #1 on next ranking updates on 4th March ... In the second round Somi will face winner between WR #7 Del Potro and #36 Baghdatis.
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At $50K Sydney 1 Challenger, Australia

[R1] Sanam Singh (IND,295) bt (1) Yuichi Sugita (JPN,137)

[R2] Sanam Singh (IND,295) vs James Duckworth (AUS,238)

Doubles
[R1] (3) Divij Sharan (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) bt Colin Ebelthite (AUS)/ Stephane Robert (FRA) 76(3) 46 10-6

Sanam scored huge upset win over top-150 Sugita in the straight sets ... This was close match over 2 hours ... After winning the first set in tie-break Sanam take 5-2 lead in the second before winning it ... Really good win against talented and top-seed Yuichi Sugita ... Now he need to show consistency with his results

Divij and Purav needed match tie-break for victory against French-Aussie pair ... After winning the first set in tie-break Divij and Purav lost the second before winning match tie-break.
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At $15K Kazakhstan F2 Futures, Aktobe

[R1] (3) Yuki Bhambri (IND,257) bt (PR) Richard Becker (GER,830) 75 61

[R2] (3) Yuki Bhambri (IND,257) vs Marek Semjan (SVK,452)

Doubles
[R1] (4) Yuki Bhambri (IND)/ Mohamed Safwat (EGY) bt Kaysar Bekimov (KAZ)/ Yan Sabanin (RUS) 64 61

[QF] (4) Yuki Bhambri (IND)/ Mohamed Safwat (EGY) vs Nurdaulen Baimakhanov (KAZ)/ Alexey Kedryuk (KAZ)

Expected winning start for Yuki in the singles and doubles ... Next he is facing last week's finalist Semjan.
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At $10K India F1 Futures, Chennai

Singles First Round
(1) Victor CRIVOI (ROU) bt Filippo LEONARDI (ITA) 62 62
Laslo URRUTIA FUENTES (CHI) bt Ashwin VIJAYRAGAVAN (IND) 64 61
(WC) Elwin ANTONY (IND) bt Vinayak Sharma KAZA (IND) 46 5-3 Retd.
(Q) Vivek SHOKEEN (IND) bt (8) Arata ONOZAWA (JPN) 26 63 63
(4) Thales TURINI (BRA) bt Caio SILVA (BRA) 2-2 Retd.
(Q) Mats MORAING (GER) bt (WC) Chandril SOOD (IND) 63 75
(WC) Mohd Assri MERZUKI (MAS) bt (Q) Katsushi FUKUDA (JPN) 64 64
(5) Ranjeet VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND) bt Augusto LARANJA (BRA) 64 26 75
(7) N. Vijay Sundar PRASHANTH (IND) bt (Q) Kunal ANAND (IND) 76(3) 63
Sidharth RAWAT (IND) bt (Q) Patrick CIORCILA (ROU) 76(7) 62
Giulio TORRONI (ITA) bt (Q) Vignesh PERANAMALLUR (IND) 63 36 75
(3) Jeevan NEDUNCHEZHIYAN (IND) bt (Q) Ting Yu CHUANG (TPE) 64 62
(6) Vijayant MALIK (IND) bt Claudio FORTUNA (ITA) 26 63 64
(Q) Tom SCHONENBERG (GER) bt (WC) Ajai SELVARAJ (IND) 62 75
(PR) Tak Khunn WANG (FRA) bt Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND) 76(4) 62
(2) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND) bt Maximilian DINSLAKEN (GER) 60 63

Doubles First Round
(1) Arata ONOZAWA (JPN)/ Arun-Prakash RAJAGOPALAN (IND) bt Austin KAROSI (USA)/ Libor SALABA (CZE) 61 46 10-7
Vijayant MALIK (IND)/ Vivek SHOKEEN (IND) bt Kunal ANAND (IND)/ Chandril SOOD (IND) 61 61
(ALT) Jui-Chen HUNG (TPE)/ Petar TOMIC (SRB) bt (WC) Sagar MANJANNA (IND)/ Rakshay THAKKAR (IND) 75 63
Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND)/ Ranjeet VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND) bt Patrick CIORCILA (ROU)/ Victor CRIVOI (ROU) 64 75
(ALT) Ting Yu CHUANG (TPE)/ Chih-Jen HO (TPE) bt Filippo LEONARDI (ITA)/ Giulio TORRONI (ITA) 62 57 10-3
(3) Augusto LARANJA (BRA)/ Thales TURINI (BRA) bt Sidharth RAWAT (IND)/ Tak Khunn WANG (FRA) 62 64
(WC) Elwin ANTONY (IND)/ Fariz MOHAMMED (IND) bt Claudio FORTUNA (ITA)/ Ajai SELVARAJ (IND) 64 62
(2) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND)/ Jeevan NEDUNCHEZHIYAN (IND) bt Vignesh PERANAMALLUR (IND)/ N. Vijay Sundar PRASHANTH (IND) 62 61

After long time Vivek scored upset win as an qualifier against Japanese 8th seed.

Chess News
At Zurich Chess Challenge 2013, Switzerland

3rd round - 25 February 2013
GM Viswanathan Anand (IND,2780) ½-½ GM Boris Gelfand (ISR,2740)
GM Fabiano Caruana (ITA,2757) ½-½ Vladimir Kramnik (RUS,2810)

Gelfand hold Anand in 42 moves with Najdorf though Anand had upperhand in later stage ... Kramnik used sharp Benoni but Caruana failed to take advantage and this ended in draw after 53 moves ... So after three rounds all players r on 1½ points.

Football News
At the AFC Challenge Cup 2014 (Qualifiers), Yangon, Myanmar

Goalkeepers - Subrata Paul (Prayag United), Sandip Nandy (Churchill Brothers), Karanjit Singh (Salgaocar SC)
Defenders - Nirmal Chhetri, Syed Rahim Nabi (both from Mohun Bagan), Denzil Franco (Churchill Brothers), Gouramangi Singh (Prayag United), Rowilson Rodrigues (Dempo SC), Shouvik Ghosh (Pailan Arrows), Raju Gaikwad (East Bengal), Gurjinder Singh (Pune FC)
Midfielders - Lenny Rodrigues (Churchill Brothers), Lalkamal Bhowmick, CK Vineet (both from Prayag United), Arata Izumi (Pune FC), Mehtab Hossain (East Bengal), Francisco Fernandes (Salgaocar SC), Alwyn George (Pailan Arrows), Jewel Raja Shaikh (Mohun Bagan), Clifford Miranda (Dempo SC)
Forwards - Sunil Chhetri (Churchill Brothers) Robin Singh (East Bengal), Jeje Lalpekhlua (Pune FC)

Coach - Wim Koevermans

Team is announced for the AFC Challenge Cup 2014 (Qualifiers) which kicks-off in Yangon on March 2, 2013 ... India have been clubbed with hosts Myanmar, Chinese Taipei and Guam in Group ‘A’ ... We will play Chinese Taipei in the first match on 2nd March.

Chess News
At Zurich Chess Challenge 2013, Switzerland

2nd round - 24 February 2013
GM Boris Gelfand (ISR,2740) ½-½ GM Fabiano Caruana (ITA,2757)
GM Vladimir Kramnik (RUS,2810) ½-½ GM Viswanathan Anand (IND,2780)

1st round - 23 February 2013
GM Fabiano Caruana (ITA,2757) ½-½ GM Viswanathan Anand (IND,2780)
GM Vladimir Kramnik (RUS,2810) ½-½ GM Boris Gelfand (ISR,2740)

In Catalan game Anand defended well to hold Kramnik after 41 moves ... Caruana missed chance of winning the game with late mistake and Gelfand hold him after 40 moves.

Before this in the first round Anand and Caruana played exciting draw in Sicilian Najdorf opening after 65 moves ... Gelfand hold Kramnik after 59 moves.

Squash News
At the 16th Asian Junior Team Squash Championship, Seoul, Korea

Boys Final
India l Pakistan 0-2
Mahesh Mangoankar l Sayed Ali Mujtaba Shah Bokhari 2-3 (5-11, 11-5, 11-9, 6-11, 7-11)
Kush Kumar vs Ammad Fareed (Didn't play)
Deepak Mishra l Bilal Zakir 0-3 (7-11, 6-11, 9-11)



Girls Final
India bt Hong Kong, China 2-1
Anaka Alankamony bt Ho Ka Po 3-0 (11-4, 11-5, 11-6)
Aparajitha Balamurukan bt Choi Uen Shan 3-0 (11-7, 11-9, 11-9)
Lakshya Ragavendran l Ho Tze Lok 0-3 (6-11, 4-11, 6-11)

Indian squash team won a Gold and Silver medal in the 16th Asian Junior Team Squash Championship.

Today order of play was 3-1-2 ... In the first match Lakshya Ragavendran failed to match attacking game of Ho Tze Lok and lost in straight games ... Then in-form Anaka Alankamony faced Hong Kong top player Ho Ka Po ... Anaka dominated from the start for a comfortable win ... In the final match Aparajitha faced Hong Kong No. 2 Choi Uen Shan ... Aparajitha struggled earlier in this week and lost her rubber in semi-final match but in the final she played confidently ... Aparajitha kept her focus and won crucial points for title win for Indians ... After 10 years Indian girls lifted the 16th Asian Junior Team Squash Championship.

In the boys final, Deepak Mishra failed to overcome challenge from his Pakistani opponent and lost in the straight games ... In the second match Mahesh faced Pakistani top player Ali Bokhari ... As per report this was very physical match and after 1-2 down Ali came back strongly ... His win gave Pakistan boys title.

Hockey News
At the Hockey World League Round 2, New Delhi, India

Men's - February 24th, 2013
India bt Bangladesh 5-1 (2-1)
Goal Scorers - Danish Mujtaba (IND) 15' and 64', Rupinder Pal Singh (IND) 32' PC, Akashdeep Singh (IND) 50', Malak Singh (IND) 58' and Md Mamunur Rahman Chayan (BAN) 5' PC

Oman bt Fiji 7-3 (2-3)
Ireland bt China 4-0 (2-0)

Women's - February 24th, 2013
India bt Russia 1-0 (0-0)
Goal Scorers - Rami Rampal (IND) 50'

Japan bt Malaysia 4-0 (1-0)
Kazakhstan bt Fiji 4-0 (2-0)

In tense match Rani scored crucial goal in the second half to help her side claim top spot from the women’s Hero Hockey World League Round Two 2013 in Delhi ... In this match Russian defended well but Indians missed lot of penalty corners also ... Japan also won their match so India and Japan confirm their places to World League Round 3.

Indian men scored expected victory though Bangladesh surprised them with early lead ... Bangladesh frustrated our forwards with their stubborn defense ... We equalize through Danish in 15th minute but waited until end of the first-half to take lead ... We played more coordinated and orgainsed game in the second half which helped us to score 3 more goals ... Ireland defeated China to finished on the second and with that they qualify for the next phase of the competition with India.

India captain Sardar Singh was named as player of the tournament, receiving R200,000 for his efforts, sponsored by Hero ... VR Raghunath shared the top goalscorer prize – and a Hero cheque for R100,000 – with Ireland’s Alan Sothern for his eight goals in the competition ... Raghunath named defender of the tournament and Sothern getting the prize for best attacker ... David Harte was named the best goalkeeper while Rashel “Jimmy” Mahmud was the top midfield player.

Rani Ramphal was the top-scorer with seven goals while Jaspreet Kaur was the overall best defender and player of the tournament ... Fiji’s Susan Mudunatagi was honoured as goalkeeper of the tournament while Japanese veteran Sachimi Iwao was top midfielder and Malaysia’s Siti Rahmah Othman the best attacker.

Tennis News
At €598,535 Open 13, Marseille, France


Doubles Final
(2) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Colin Fleming (GBR) bt (1) Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (PAK)/ Jean-Julien Rojer (NED) 64 76(3)

Rohan and Colin Fleming lifted Marseille open title beating top-seed Aisam and Rojer in 80 minutes ... In this match Rohan and Colin saved all 4 break points and take single break for winning the first set ... In the second set Rohan and Colin played solid tie-break for straight sets victory ... This was Rohan's 8th doubles title and 1st title of the year.
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At 1.78M Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championship, UAE

[R1] (PR) Somdev Devvarman (IND,315) vs (Q) Igor Kunitsyn (RUS,167)

Doubles
[R1] Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Michael Llodra (FRA)/ Janko Tipsarevic (SRB)/ Viktor Troicki (SRB) [R1] Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Rajeev Ram (USA) vs (2) Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (PAK)/ Jean-Julien Rojer (NED)

In doubles last year's winner r playing with their respective different partners ... Mahesh is playing with Llodra and facing tricky match against Serbian pair ... Rohan and Rajeev having tough opponents in the first round, today's his opponents in the final at Marseille open ... Somdev is facing Igor Kunitsyn in the first round.
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At $50K Sydney 1 Challenger, Australia

[Q1] Divij Sharan (IND,1011) bt (WC) Jake Delaney (AUS,UNR) 64 62

[Q2] Divij Sharan (IND,1011) l Ryan Agar (AUS,841) 67(4) 46

[R1] Sanam Singh (IND,295) vs (1) Yuichi Sugita (JPN,137)

Doubles
[R1] (3) Divij Sharan (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) vs Colin Ebelthite (AUS)/ Stephane Robert (FRA)

After winning the first qualifying round Divij lost in the second against local player ... Sanam having tough first round against top-seed Sugita.

Squash News
At the 16th Asian Junior Team Squash Championship, Seoul, Korea

[Boys - SF] India bt Hong Kong, China 2-1
Mahesh Mangoankar bt Yeung Ho Wai 3-0 (11-5, 11-4, 11-8)
Kush Kumar bt Wong Chi Him 3-1 (11-3, 11-2, 8-11 11-4)
Madhav Dhingra l Leung Chi Hin Henry 0-2 (5-11, 9-11)

[Girls - SF] India bt Malaysia 2-1
Anaka Alankamony bt Vanessa Raj Gnanasigamani 3-0 (11-4, 11-7, 11-5)
Aparajitha Balamurukan l Rachel Mae Arnold 0-3 (4-11, 7-11, 5-11)
Lakshya Ragavendran bt Celine Yeap Shu wan 3-0 (11-6, 11-6, 13-11)

[Boys - QF] India bt Iran 3-0
Mahesh Mangoankar bt Farzad Shokouhi 3-0 (11-8, 11-6, 11-2)
Kush Kumar bt Soheil Shameli 3-0 (11-2, 11-2, 15-13)
Deepak Mishra bt Alireza Shameli 2-0 (11-6, 11-2)

Boys Pool B
India bt China 3-0
Kush Kumar bt Liang Jun 3-0 (11-1, 11-2, 11-3)
Madhav Dhingra bt Yang Tian Xia 3-0 (11-1, 11-0, 11-0)
Deepak Mishra bt Wang Jia Xu 3-0 (11-1, 11-1, 11-1)

India bt Korea 3-0
Mahesh Mangoankar bt Ko Young Jo 3-0 (11-9, 13-11 11-1)
Kush Kumar bt Yoo Seung Ryung 3-1 (11-9, 11-5, 9-11, 11-6)
Madhav Dhingra bt Ryu Han Dong 3-0 (11-3, 11-0, 11-4)

India bt Jordan 3-0
Mahesh Mangoankar bt Ahmad Al Saraj 3-2 (11-7, 11-4, 9-11, 8-11, 11-6)
Kush Kumar bt Mohammad Al Khasawneh 3-0 (11-9, 11-6, 11-8)
Deepak Mishra bt Hamza Alzubaidi 3-0 (11-6, 11-7, 11-7)

Girls Pool A
India bt Chinese Taipei 3-0
Aparajitha Balamurukan bt Lin Chiao Chi 3-0 (11-5, 11-5, 11-1)
Harshit Kaur Jawanda bt Hung An Jung 3-0 (11-3, 11-2, 11-4)
Lakshya Ragavendran bt Chu Yi Hsuan 3-0 (11-1, 11-0, 11-0)

India bt China 3-0
Anaka Alankamony bt Duan Si Yu 3-0 (11-0, 11-0, 11-1)
Aparajitha Balamurukan bt He Xin Ru 3-0 (11-1, 11-1, 11-0)
Lakshya Ragavendran bt Zhou Li Bo 3-0 (11-0, 11-0, 11-0)

India bt Korea 3-0
Anaka Alankamony bt Park Min Ju 3-0 (11-4, 11-2, 11-3)
Aparajitha Balamurukan bt An Ye Jin 3-0 (11-3, 11-7, 11-3)
Harshit Kaur Jawanda bt Eum hwa Yeong 3-0 (11-6, 11-6, 11-3)

India bt Japan 3-0
Anaka Alankamony bt Risa Sugimoto 3-0 (11-3, 11-6, 11-8)
Aparajitha Balamurukan bt Satomi Watanabe 3-1 (11-5, 11-4, 6-11, 11-4)
Lakshya Ragavendran bt Hinako Sakai 3-0 (11-4, 11-2, 11-4)

This is the only second time that Indian boys and girls team have reached in the finals at the same tournament ... Before this it was happened in 2003 in Islamabad, Pakistan.

Lakshya Ragavendran won the deciding match to take Indian girls into the finals at Asian Junior Team Championship ... Anaka Alankamony gave winning start against Malaysian top seed but Aparajitha Balamurukan lost her match against Malaysian no. 2 ... In the final Indian girls r facing Hong Kong.

Indian boys also entered the final beating Hong Kong 2-1 ... Kush Kumar gave winning start after losing 3rd game ... Mahesh Mangoankar won his match convincingly and secured our place in the final ... In the final match Madhav Dhingra lost in straight games ... In the final our boys r facing top-seed Pakistan.

Before this our boys and girls won their respective groups without losing a single match ... Our boys qualified for the quarters as Pool B winner and our girls qualified for the semis as Pool A winner.

Hockey News
At the Hockey World League Round 2, New Delhi, India

Men's - February 23rd, 2013
India bt China 4-0(2-0)
Goal Scorers - VR Raghunath (IND) 12' PC and 28', Dharamvir Singh (IND) 39', Rupinderpal Singh (IND) 43' PC

Bangladesh bt Fiji 8-4 (3-2)
Ireland bt Oman 7-2 (3-1)

Indian men showed impressive game to beat China ... With this win Indian men almost secured top spot and qualification for Round 3.

Tennis News
At Davis Cup - the Asia/Oceania Zone Group I relegation play-off, Bangalore, India

Indian Team
Somdev Devvarman, Yuki Bhambri, Leander Paes and Sanam Singh
Non-playing captain - SP Misra
Coach - Zeeshan Ali

Happy to see strong Indian Davis cup team for the tie against Indonesia in Bangalore from April 5-7 ... Also AITA selected Vijayant Malik and N Sriram Balaji as reserves while Ram Kumar Ramnathan was picked for practice ... Interestingly AITA stick with SP Misra as captain for the tie, initially AITA announced the Korea tie was supposed to be Misra's farewell tie.
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At $2M Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championship, UAE


Doubles Final
Bethanie Mattek-Sands (USA)/ Sania Mirza (IND) bt (2) Nadia Petrova (RUS)/ Katarina Srebotnik (SLO) 64 26 10-7

Sania and Bethanie won the doubles title at the Dubai Tennis Championships defeating Petrova and Srebotnik in super tie-break ... After winning the first set Sania and Bethanie lost the second set easily ... In match tie-break Sania and Bethanie won it after coming back from 3-6 ... Sania and Bethanie has played 20 tournaments together and they have now won all four finals they have entered, including Brisbane last month ... It was the 12th title for Bethanie Mattek-Sands and the 16th title for Sania Mirza.

Sania Mirza - “When you play a final, it's not really just about tennis, it's a lot about nerves and it's about trying to keep positive. When we went down 0-4 [in the second set], I think we went a little passive and defensive. When you play people like Nadia and Kata, you have to be offensive. In the super tiebreak, anything can happen.”

Hockey News
At the Hockey World League Round 2, New Delhi, India

Women's - February 22nd, 2013
India l Japan 2-2 (0-2) (2-3 PS)
Goal Scorers - Soundraya Yendala (IND) PC 62', Napa Barla (IND) 64' and Shiho Sakai (JPN) 4' PC, Akiko Ota (JPN) 31' PC

Russia bt Kazakhstan 8-1 (2-0)
Malaysia bt Fiji 12-0 (4-0)

Indian women fought back in the second half after 0-2 down ... They made 2-all but lost against Japanese women in penalties ... Before last round both teams r tied with 10 points ... But India remain on top of the table by virtue of having won more games in the competition to date and so they r having chance of winning the competition on Sunday if they beat Russia.

Japan dominated the first half ... They were attacking and got 2 goals from penalty corners ... In the second half our team played more organised and were attacking on Japanese goal ... India scored their first goal through deflection by Soundraya in Jaspreet's hit ... In 2 minutes we equalized through Barla who received excellent pass from Rani ... In penalty shoot-out Soundarya Yendala and Rani Rampal scored while Chanchan Devi, captain Ritu Rani and Vandana Katariya were off target for India ... Mazuki Arai, Yuri Nagai and captain Rika Komazawa scored for Japan.

Tennis News
At €598,535 Open 13, Marseille, France

[SF] (2) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Colin Fleming (GBR) bt (3) Julian Knowle (AUT)/ Filip Polasek (SVK) 75 61

Rohan and Colin had 2 break points (set points) at 4-5 but failed to convert but they didn't miss chance in 12th game and after breaking 3rd seed won the first set ... After winning the first set Rohan and Colin gave dominating performance in the second ... They broke opponents in 4th and 6th games and won the match in an hour.
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At $2M Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championship, UAE

[SF] Bethanie Mattek-Sands (USA)/ Sania Mirza (IND) bt Cara Black (ZIM)/ Anastasia Rodionova (AUS) 62 75

Sania and Bethanie r in 2nd final of the year, this time this big Premier tournament ... In the semis after winning the first set comfortably they were 2-3 break down ... But Sania and Bethanie broke opponent in 6th game to make it 3-all and then again broke them when their opponents were serving for remain in the set ... Another straight sets victory over good pairing.
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At $25K Women's ITF Tournament, Muzzafarnagar, India

[QF] (Q) Prerna Bhambri (IND,639) l (2) Noppawan Lertcheewakarn (THA,264) 26 36

Prerna lost against Lertcheewakarn but still encouraging performance from her in this $25K tournament.

Hockey News
At the Hockey World League Round 2, New Delhi, India

Men's - February 21st, 2013
India bt Ireland 3-2 (1-1)
Goal Scorers - Rupinderpal Singh (IND) 16' PC, RV Raghunath (IND) 39' PC, Dharamvir Singh (IND) 56' and Conor Harte (IRL) 27' PC, Eugene Magee (IRL) 51'

China bt Fiji 4-1 (1-0)
Bangladesh bt Oman 4-1 (0-0) (3-2)

Women's - February 21st, 2013
India bt Fiji 10-0 (4-0)
Goal Scorers - Soundarya Yendala (IND) 8' PC, Joydeep Kaur (IND) 12' PC, Roselin Dung Dung (IND) 14' and 46', Rani Rampal (IND) 22' and 61', Navjot Kaur (IND) 38', Jaspree Kaur (IND) 59' PS and 69' PC, Chanchan Devi (IND) 66'

Malaysia bt Kazakhstan 3-1 (3-0)
Japan bt Russia 1-1 (0-1) (3-2 PS)

Another expected win for Indian women but they fumbled lot in penalty corners drill ... Indian coach Hawgood need to work on penalty corners drill with our team as in last two matches those will be very important ... Russia hold Japan in the full-time before losing in tie-break.

Indian men were lucky to beat gritty Irish team ... In this match our players lacked in coordination and looked tired Other hand the Irishmen displayed fine exhibition in defending ... In this match our set pieces ratio was poor, we managed to convert only 2 from 6 penalty corners ... Irish team also earned 6 penalty corners ... Again our forwarders failed to score after so many D penetrations by Sardara Singh and Mandeep Singh.

Tennis News
At €598,535 Open 13, Marseille, France

[QF] (2) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Colin Fleming (GBR) bt James Cerretani (USA)/ Adil Shamasdin (CAN) 63 67(2) 10-7

[SF] (2) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Colin Fleming (GBR) vs (3) Julian Knowle (AUT)/ Filip Polasek (SVK)

Rohan and Colin won the first set comfortably ... In the second our pair had couple of break points in the 1st game but failed to convert ... After that both pairs hold their serves comfortably to take the set in tie-break but Rohan and Colin lost tie-break easily ... Rohan and Colin were down with mini-break at 5-7 but after that they won next 5 points winning 2 points on opponent's serve ... Good victory, next they r facing 3rd seed Julian Knowle and Filip Polasek.
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At $2M Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championship, UAE

[QF] Bethanie Mattek-Sands (USA)/ Sania Mirza (IND) bt Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (RUS)/ Lucie Safarova (CZE) 64 64

[SF] Bethanie Mattek-Sands (USA)/ Sania Mirza (IND) vs Cara Black (ZIM)/ Anastasia Rodionova (AUS)

Again straight sets win for Sania and Bethanie in the quarters and with this win they qualify for the semis Next they r facing experienced Cara Black and her partner Anastasia Rodionova.
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At $25K Women's ITF Tournament, Muzzafarnagar, India

[R2] Rishika Sunkara (IND,545) l (8) Nicha Lertpitaksinchai (THA,356) 46 46
[R2] (Q) Nidhi Chilumula (IND,742) l (3) Aleksandrina Naydenova (BUL,275) 76(5) 26 36
[R2] (Q) Prerna Bhambri (IND,639) bt (6) Dalila Jakupovic (SLO,321) 57 61 63

[QF] (Q) Prerna Bhambri (IND,639) vs (2) Noppawan Lertcheewakarn (THA,264)

Terrific comeback win by Prerna against top-325 Jakupovic ... Simply impressive stuff and definitely first-time she is in the quarters of $25K tournament ... Next she is facing 2nd seed Noppawan Lertcheewakarn.

In other matches Nidhi started well after winning the first set against top-275 Bulgarian player Aleksandrina Naydenova but failed to keep momentum.

Hockey News
At the Hockey World League Round 2, New Delhi, India

Men's - February 20th, 2013
India bt Oman 9-1 (4-1)
Goal Scorers - VR Raghunath (IND) 3' PC and 39' PC, Dharamvir Singh (IND) 13' PC, Rupinder Pal Singh (IND) 20' and 37' PC, Nithin Thimmaiah (IND) 15' and 60', Mandeep Singh (IND) 42', Gurjinder Singh (IND) 65' PC and Mohamed Hubais (OMA) 34' PC

Ireland bt Fiji 13-0 (5-0)
Bangladesh bt China 3-2 (2-2)

Expected win for Indians but we had a chance of scoring dozen more ... Disappointed that our players didn't go for big win and more over very lethargic defense in that Oman scored through penalty corner.

Bangladesh scored upset win over Chinese team.

Tennis News
At €598,535 Open 13, Marseille, France

[R2] (PR) Somdev Devvarman (IND,354) l Bernard Tomic (AUS,46) 36 57

Tomic started positively breaking Somi in 1st game ... Somi needed to save 3 break points from 0-40 in 3rd game before holding the serve ... Somi missed 3 break points on Tomic's serve in 4th game ... Some broke back breaking Tomic's serve in 6th game, 3-all ... But after that Tomic blitzed through next three games breaking Somi twice and won the first set in 35 minutes ... In the second set both players were holding respective serves still 5th game ... Tomic broke Somi's serve in 6th game after converting 2nd break point to lead 4-2 ... In 9th game when Tomic was serving for the match at 5-3 Somi take break to bring set on the serves, 4-5 ... After that both players hold their respective service games but at 5-6 when Somi was serving for staying in the match Tomic take crucial break and won this match in 1 hour 13 minutes.
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At $2M Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championship, UAE)

[R1] Bethanie Mattek-Sands (USA)/ Sania Mirza (IND) bt (5) Su-Wei Hsieh (TPE)/ Liezel Huber (USA)

[QF] Bethanie Mattek-Sands (USA)/ Sania Mirza (IND) vs Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (RUS)/ Lucie Safarova (CZE)

Happy to see Sania and Bethanie take advantage of lucky break as top-seed Vesnina-Makarova have withdrawn ... After straight sets win they r facing Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Lucie Safarova in the quarters.
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At $25K Women's ITF Tournament, Muzzafarnagar, India

(1) Tadeja Majeric (SLO) bt (Q) Sharon Sanchana Paul (IND) 62 61
(Q) Varunya Wongteanchai (THA) bt (Q) Eetee Maheta (IND) 62 64
Rishika Sunkara (IND) bt Nicole Clerico (ITA) 63 63
(8) Nicha Lertpitaksinchai (THA) bt (Q) Prarthana G. Thombare (IND) 57 62 76(5)

(3) Aleksandrina Naydenova (BUL) bt (WC) Resha Chandak (IND) 60 60
(Q) Nidhi Chilumula (IND) bt (WC) Sharmada Balu (IND) 75 60
Nicole Rottmann (AUT) bt (Q) Shweta Rana (IND) 63 60
(7) Veronika Kapshay (UKR) bt (WC) Ankita Raina (IND) 46 64 61

(5) Basak Eraydin (TUR) bt Melis Sezer (TUR) 64 63
Melanie Klaffner (AUT) bt Justyna Jegiolka (POL) 62 64
Peangtarn Plipuech (THA) bt (Q) Napatsakorn Sankaew (THA) 60 75
Tamara Curovic (SRB) bt (4) Sung-Hee Han (KOR) 61 64

(6) Dalila Jakupovic (SLO) bt (WC) Grisha Arora (IND) 60 60
(Q) Prerna Bhambri (IND) bt Kyra Shroff (IND) 63 61
So-Ra Lee (KOR) bt Anna Shkudun (UKR) 46 75 75
(2) Noppawan Lertcheewakarn (THA)bt Keren Shlomo (ISR) 64 36 75

Really good win by Rishika against higher ranked Italian Clerico ... Prerna also scored upset win over Kyra ... Prarthana and Ankita gave fighting performance against their seeded opponents.

Hockey News
At the Hockey World League Round 2, New Delhi, India

Women's - February 19th, 2013
India bt Malaysia 3-0 (1-0)
Goal Scorers - Vandana Katariya (IND) 9' PC and 38', Rani Rampal (IND) 65'

Japan vr Kazakhstan 11-0 (6-0)
Russia bt Fiji 9-0 (4-0)

Tired looking Indian women struggled to beat Malaysian girls but favourite Japanese team scored dominating win against Kazakhs.

Tennis News
At €598,535 Open 13, Marseille, France

[R1] (PR) Somdev Devvarman (IND,354) bt Benoit Paire (FRA,38) 76(6) 67(7) 64

[R2] (PR) Somdev Devvarman (IND,354) vs Bernard Tomic (AUS,46)

Doubles
[R1] (2) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Colin Fleming (GBR) bt Robin Haase (NED)/ Dick Norman (BEL) 64 62

Somdev played excellent match against in-form local player Benoit Paire ... After winning the first set in tight tie-break Somi had 3 match points in the second set tie-break, 6-3 ... But failed to convert on 2 Paire's serve and one on his serve to eventually lost the set ... In the final set Somi take a break in 5th game to lead 4-2 ... Somi missed break point in 7th game and then lost his serve in 8th game, 4-4 ... Somi again broke Paire in 9th game but this time he hold to scripted huge win in 2 hours 37 minutes ... Huge win for Somi as Benoit Paire was in top form this year making semi-final at Chennai ATP and final at Montpellier ATP ... Next he is facing Aussies youngster, Tomic.

Winning start for Rohan with his new partner, Fleming ... They scored comfortable win over Haase and Norman.
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At $15K Australia F2 Futures, Mildura (Grass)

[R1] (5) Sanam Singh (IND,300) l Chris Guccione (AUS,598) 57 26
[R1] Divij Sharan (IND,1008) l James Lemke (AUS,492) 57 46

Doubles
[R1] Divij Sharan (IND)/ Sanam Singh (IND) l (WC) Daniel Byrnes (AUS)/ Daniel Ferretti (AUS) 26 67(3)

Turned horrible day for Sanam and Divij ... They lost in the singles matches with their doubles match ... Sanam failed to raise his game against former top-70 player Chris Guccione.

Hockey News
At the Hockey World League Round 2, New Delhi, India

Men's - February 18th, 2013
India bt Fiji 16-0 (7-0)
Goal Scorers - V. R. Raghunath (IND) 3' PC, 15' PC and 41' PC, Rupinderpal Singh (IND) 5' PC and 35' PC, Nitin Thimmaiah (IND) 17', Gurjinder Singh (IND) 20' PC, Danish Mujtaba (IND) 28', 38' and 57', Kothajit Singh (IND) 47', Manpreet Singh (IND) 50', Malak Singh (IND) 51', Chenglensana Singh (IND) 54', Dharamvir Singh (IND) 56', Akashdeep Singh (IND) 62'

China bt Oman 4-0 (2-0)
Ireland bt Bangladesh 5-2 (0-0)

Women's - February 18th, 2013
India bt Kazakhstan 8-0 (4-0)
Goal Scorers - Jaspreet Singh (IND) 8' PC, 21' PC, 54' PC and 70' PS, Rani Rampal (IND) 15', 26' and 41', Soundarya Yendala (IND) 48' PC

Japan bt Fiji 14-0 (8-0)
Malaysia bt Russia 3-1 (1-0)

Indian women started with comfortable win over Kazakhs scoring four goals In each half ... But still they missed chance of big win as we had 15 penalty corners in the match.

Expected comfortable win For Indian men against Fijians ... Indians scored six goals through penalty corners ... Overall good match practice before bigger test in next matches.

Chess News
At Baden-Baden GRENKE Chess Classic 2013, Germany

10th round - 17 February 2013
GM Daniel Fridman (GER,2667) ½-½ GM Fabiano Caruana (ITA,2757)
GM Michael Adams (ENG,2725) ½-½ GM Georg Meier (GER,2640)
GM Arkadij Naiditsch (GER,2716) 0-1 GM Viswanathan Anand (IND,2780)

Viswanathan Anand lifted GRENKE Chess Classic title with last-round black-pieces win over German Arkadij Naiditsch, with 6.5/10 points and a 2808 performance ... Fridman holding co-leader after 9th round Caruana helped Anand but still Anand produced back-to-back wins for this long waited title ... Before this reasonably successful tournament for Anand was Wijk aan Zee 2011, where he finished sole second position behind Nakamura.

In this game Anand went for the Sicilian ... Anand take full advantage of mid-game mistake from Naiditsch ... He shocked Naiditsch with his variation, who resigned after 49 moves ... Other two games ended in a draw.


Final Standing
1. Viswanathan Anand (IND) 6½ pts
2. Fabiano Caruana (ITA) 6 pts
3. Michael Adams (ENG) 5 pts
4. Georg Meier (GER) 5 pts
5. Arkadij Naiditsch (GER) 4 pts
6. Daniel Fridman (GER) 3½ pts

Viswanathan Anand - “After Wijk aan Zee 2011 basically I went over a cliff and the next five tournaments were pretty awful”. Wijk aan Zee this year also went well until the last round, with the champion commenting, “I was hoping I wouldn’t do a Wang Hao today!”

“After Bilbao 2011 my big problem was getting interesting positions where I had chances. This year the new problem has been exploiting those chances – against Fridman here, Hou Yifan in Wijk aan Zee or last year against Nakamura and Adams at the London Chess Classic I’ve been gifting people half points. If it wasn’t for that my results would be much better. Still, it’s a hundred times better to have the second problem! I need to work on my technique.”

Tennis News
At €598,535 Open 13, Marseille, France

[R1] (PR) Somdev Devvarman (IND,357) vs Benoit Paire (FRA,38)

Doubles
[R1] (2) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Colin Fleming (GBR) vs Robin Haase (NED)/ Dick Norman (BEL)

Somi is receive last direct entry in the main-draw ... In the first round he is facing in-form Frenchman Benoit Paire.

Rohan is playing with Britisher Colin Fleming at Marseille ... They r 2nd seed and facing Haase/Dick Norman in the first round.

Chess News
At Baden-Baden GRENKE Chess Classic 2013, Germany

9th round - 16 February 2013
GM Viswanathan Anand (IND,2780) 1-0 GM Daniel Fridman (GER,2667)
GM Fabiano Caruana (ITA,2757) 0-1 GM Michael Adams (ENG,2725)
GM Georg Meier (GER,2640) 1-0 GM Arkadij Naiditsch (GER,2716)

First time all decisive games in the round ... Anand played perfect game against Fridman to won it in 46 moves and Adams helped him with win over leader Caruana in complex Catalan battle ... Adams take advantage of mid-game error from Caruana and won it in 54 moves ... Meier defeated Naiditsch after 47 moves ... After this round Anand is sharing top position with Caruana, 5½ points.

Chess News
At Baden-Baden GRENKE Chess Classic 2013, Germany

8th round - 15 February 2013
GM Daniel Fridman (GER,2667) ½-½ GM Michael Adams (ENG,2725)
GM Viswanathan Anand (IND,2780) ½-½GM Georg Meier (GER,2640)
GM Arkadij Naiditsch (GER,2716) 0-1 GM Fabiano Caruana (ITA,2757)

Fabiano Caruana once again defeated Arkadij Naiditsch from a lost position and now in position to win the title as he is full point ahead of Anand ... Anand managed only draw against Georg Meier after 56 moves.

Snooker News
At £250K Welsh Open 2013, Newport, Wales

[QF] Pankaj Advani (IND,71) l Judd Trump (ENG,2) 2-5 (20-73, 19-72, 3-69, 78-39, 18-62 59-66, 98-0)

Pankaj's terrific run ended in the quarter-final against highly rated young Judd Trump ... Trump started confidently and take 3-0 lead quickly ... Trump won 4th frame also but in that Pankaj scored 39 points break ... Pankaj gained momentum and managed to win his first frame ... In 6th Trump take 59-1 lead but Pankaj had different plans ... He played tactical snooker game and with help of 2 small breaks of 26 and 33 points won this frame ... Trump played flawless game in 7th and with help of 69 points break he won the match comfortably.

Creditable performance by Pankaj to reached in quarters of this big quality tournament where he back to back defeated former world champions ... He also picked up highest pay cheque of his career, 10,000 pounds.

Chess News
At Baden-Baden GRENKE Chess Classic 2013, Germany

7th round - 14 February 2013
GM Georg Meier (GER,2640) 1-0 GM Daniel Fridman (GER,2667) 0-1
GM Fabiano Caruana (ITA,2757) ½-½ GM Viswanathan Anand (IND,2780)
GM Michael Adams (ENG,2725) ½-½ GM Arkadij Naiditsch (GER,2716)

In this round only Georg Meier scored his first win of the tournament ... Fabiano Caruana managed to hold Anand after 44 moves and keep his ½ point lead over 2nd place Anand and Naiditsch.

Snooker News
At £250K Welsh Open 2013, Newport, Wales

[R2] Pankaj Advani (IND,71) bt Graeme Dott (SCO,15) 4-1 (73-7, 74-1, 39-84, 75-37, 100-1)

[QF] Pankaj Advani (IND,71) vs Judd Trump (ENG,2)

Pankaj continued with his terrific run and defeated another former World champion, this time Graeme Dott ... Pankaj started well he scored 63 points break in the first frame to won it ... In the second frame Pankaj's 73 points break was enough to gave him 2-0 lead ... Dott tried fightback winning the third frame but Pankaj again take control of 4th game ... Winning this frame he take 3-1 lead ... In the fifth frame Pankaj scored only century break of the match and completed comfortable win.

This is by far the best performance by Indian on professional snooker tour ... First Indian quarter-finalist, he will face in-form 23 yrs old young WR #2 Judd Trump ... Few weeks back Trump was WR #1 for 5 weeks ... Trump was finalist at the 2011 World Snooker Championship ... Also at the age of 14 he became the youngest player ever to make a competitive 147 points break.

Tennis News
At $15K Australia F1 Futures, Melbourne

[R2] Sanam Singh (IND,297) l Andrea Arnaboldi (ITA,354) 61 26 67(4)

Sanam failed to build on his first round upset win over Rungkat ... He started well against Italian Arnaboldi after winning the first set comfortably ... Arnaboldi came back strongly winning the second set with double break ... In the decider Sanam tried but Arnaboldi kept his advantage to win the tie-break.

Chess News
At Baden-Baden GRENKE Chess Classic 2013, Germany

6th round - 13 February 2013
GM Daniel Fridman (GER,2667) 0-1 GM Arkadij Naiditsch (GER,2716)
GM Viswanathan Anand (IND,2780) ½-½ GM Michael Adams (ENG,2725)
GM Georg Meier (GER,2640) ½-½ GM Fabiano Caruana (ITA,2757)

In this tournament Naiditsch is playing very entertaining chess ... In 6th round he defeated Fridman in 45 moves playing with Black ... He played brilliant knight sacrifice on his 21st move to take control ... Anand commented on Arkadij Naiditsch - “The guy’s on fire – he’s been like this for weeks!”.

Anand managed draw with Adams after 41 moves ... He is still on the second position but sharing with Naiditsch.

Tennis News
At $15K Australia F1 Futures, Melbourne

[R1] Sanam Singh (IND,297) bt (6) Christopher Rungkat (INA,252) 63 61

[R2] Sanam Singh (IND,297) vs Andrea Arnaboldi (ITA,354)

This is solid win by Sanam over in-form top-250 Indonesian Christopher Rungkat ... Like the way he dominated the second set after winning the first ... Next he is facing Italian opponent for the place in the quarters.

Snooker News
At £250K Welsh Open 2013, Newport, Wales

[R1] Pankaj Advani (IND,71) bt Shaun Murphy (ENG,4) 4-3 (76-15, 10-100, 121-8, 72-2, 36-103, 28-73, 64-15)

Pankaj scored biggest victory of his professional career ... He defeated #4 ranked Shaun Murphy in exciting match ... Pankaj won the 1st frame but Shaun scored 74 points break to win the 2nd ... In the 3rd frame Pankaj scored only 100+ break of the match, he comfortably won this frame after scoring 121 points break ... In 4th frame with help of 51 points break Pankaj take 3-1 lead ... Shaun fought back in 5th frame scoring 89 points break ... He continued with his momentum to win 6th frame and make it 3-all ... In the final frame Pankaj kept his nerves and with help of small breaks completed important victory of his career.

Wrestling News
At 2020 Olympics,

IOC leaders have dropped wrestling from the 2020 Games.

Really surprised with this decision by IOC ... They r removing one of the oldest sport from list of core sports which was the part of the inaugural modern Olympics in Athens in 1896 ... Shocking!

Now wrestling will fight with seven other sports, baseball and softball, karate, squash, roller sports, sport climbing, wakeboarding and wushu, in applying for inclusion in 2020. Only one sport from these 8 sports will be selected ... The IOC executive board will meet in May in Russia, to decide which sport or sports to propose for 2020 inclusion ... After that the final vote will be made at the IOC general assembly in September in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Tennis News
At €1.57M ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament, Rotterdam, The Netherlands

[R1] Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Rajeev Ram (USA) vs (1) Marcel Granollers (ESP)/ Marc Lopez (ESP) 67(2) 36

In the first set our pair saved 7 break points and wasted 2 break points on Spanish pair's serve ... But Spanish pair proved strong in tie-break ... In the second set our pair had several break points, they wasted 8 break points ... In 5th game they had 4 break points at 0-40 but they wasted and immediately Spanish pair converted break point in 6th game to take 4-2 lead ... That one break was enough for Spanish pair for clinching the set and match in 80 minutes.
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At Qatar Total Open, Doha

[R1] (8) Bethanie Mattek-Sands (USA)/ Sania Mirza (IND) l Lisa Raymond (USA)/ Samantha Stosur (AUS) 46 26

Sania and Bethanie failed to cross first hurdle and lost in the straight sets against experienced tricky pair of Raymond and Stosur ... They were 0-4 down in the second after losing the first set so no chance of fight back.
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At $15K Australia F1 Futures, Melbourne

[R1] Divij Sharan (IND)/ Sanam Singh (IND) l (4) Andrea Arnaboldi (ITA)/ Luca Vanni (ITA) 67(4) 26

I proved wrong ... Sanam and Divij lost in straight sets against Italian pair.

Snooker News
At £250K Welsh Open 2013, Newport, Wales

[R1] (Q) Pankaj Advani (IND,71) vs Shaun Murphy (ENG,4)

[Q2] Pankaj Advani (IND,71) bt Peter Ebdon (ENG,28) 4-3 (19-84, 29-92, 78-47, 67-66, 6-70, 75-49, 65-7)
[Q2] Aditya Mehta (IND,72) l Mark King (ENG,30) 0-4 (32-87, 32-79, 4-66, 47-61)

[Q1] Pankaj Advani (IND,71) bt Peter Lines (ENG,58) 4-1 (88-50, 58-50, 19-69, 70-16, 107-0)
[Q1] Aditya Mehta (IND,72) bt Dave Harold (ENG,44) 4-2 (53-13, 70-26, 7-74, 81-30, 38-77, 78-61)

Pankaj and Aditya continue to try their luck in professional snooker ... They played in Welsh open qualifying ... Aditya started with upset win but lost in the final qualifying ... Pankaj scored dominating win against higher ranked opponent in the first round ... In the final qualifying round he faced former top-5 player Peter Ebdon ... Pankaj scored comeback win against Ebdon, he was 0-2 and 2-3 frames behind before winning this match ... In the main-draw first round he is facing 4th ranked Shaun Murphy.

Chess News
At Baden-Baden GRENKE Chess Classic 2013, Germany

1st round - 07 February 2013
GM Arkadij Naiditsch (GER,2716) ½-½ GM Daniel Fridman (GER,2667)
GM Michael Adams (ENG,2725) ½-½ GM Viswanathan Anand (IND,2780)
GM Fabiano Caruana (ITA,2757) 1-0 GM Georg Meier (GER,2640)

2nd round - 08 February 2013
GM Daniel Fridman (GER,2667) ½-½ GM Georg Meier (GER,2640)
GM Viswanathan Anand (IND,2780) ½-½ GM Fabiano Caruana (ITA,2757)
GM Arkadij Naiditsch (GER,2716) 1-0 GM Michael Adams (ENG,2725)

3rd round - 09 February 2013
GM Michael Adams (ENG,2725) ½-½ GM Daniel Fridman (GER,2667)
GM Fabiano Caruana (ITA,2757) 1-0 GM Arkadij Naiditsch (GER,2716)
GM Georg Meier (GER,2640) ½-½ GM Viswanathan Anand (IND,2780)

4th round - 10 February 2013
GM Daniel Fridman (GER,2667) ½-½ GM Viswanathan Anand (IND,2780)
GM Arkadij Naiditsch (GER,2716) 1-0 GM Georg Meier (GER,2640)
GM Michael Adams (ENG,2725) ½-½ GM Fabiano Caruana (ITA,2757)

5th round - 11 February 2013
GM Fabiano Caruana (ITA,2757) ½-½ GM Daniel Fridman (GER,2667)
GM Georg Meier (GER,2640) ½-½ GM Michael Adams (ENG,2725)
GM Viswanathan Anand (IND,2780) 1-0 GM Arkadij Naiditsch (GER,2716)

After four continuous draw Anand managed to win his 5th game against Naiditsch ... In this game Anand played complex Ruy Lopez and in perfect game he won after 38 moves ... So at half stage of the tournament Anand is on 2nd position with 3 points and ½ point behind leader Fabiano Caruana.

Tennis News
At €1.57M ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament, Rotterdam, The Netherlands

[R1] Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Rajeev Ram (USA) vs (1) Marcel Granollers (ESP)/ Marc Lopez (ESP)

Rohan and Rajeev r playing at Rotterdam but having tough match against top-seed Spanish pair, Granollers and Lopez.
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At $15K Australia F1 Futures, Melbourne

[R1] Sanam Singh (IND,297) vs (6) Christopher Rungkat (INA,252)

Doubles
[R1] Divij Sharan (IND)/ Sanam Singh (IND) vs (4) Andrea Arnaboldi (ITA)/ Luca Vanni (ITA)

Tricky match for Sanam against in-form Rungkat but in a way good match up considering our next Davis cup tie against Indonesia ... Sanam is also playing in the doubles with Divij and they r facing 4th seed Italian in the first round ... Winnable match for them.

Tennis News
At Davis Cup 2013 - Asia/Oceania Group I

A group of India's top tennis pros, led by Somdev Devvarman, send a written acceptance to the All-India Tennis Association (AITA)agreeing to play the Asia-Oceania Group One relegation tie against Indonesia, scheduled to be played at Bangalore subject to the players demands are met by the sports' Indian authorities.
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At Fed Cup - Asia/Oceania Group I, Astana, Kazakhstan

Relegation Play-off
India l Korea 0-3

[R1] Rutuja Bhosale (IND,605) l So-Ra Lee (KOR,389) 67(5) 16
[R2] Rishika Sunkara (IND),548) l Sung-Hee HAN (KOR,296) 46 36
[R3] Ankita Raina (IND)/ Kyra Shroff (IND) l Mi Yoo (KOR)/ Seo-Kyung Kang (KOR) walkover

Another expected loss but this loss will be hurt more as with that Indian team relegates to Group II.
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At $547K SAP Open, San Jose, USA

[Q1] Prakash Amritraj (IND,436) l Jason Jung (USA,551) 36 62 26

After his terrific run in Chennai open Kash failed to use that advantage ... After almost 5 weeks he decided to play in SAP qualifying ... Rustiness and lack of match practice was the reason for his loss in first qualifying.

Tennis News
At €468 PBZ Zagreb Indoors, Zagreb, Croatia

[SF] (PR) Somdev Devvarman (IND)/ Flavio Cipolla (ITA) L (2) Julian Knowle (AUT)/ Filip Polasek (SVK) 26 26

Failed to repeat same magic in the semis and lost convincingly against 2nd seed in the semis ... Still creditable outing for Somi and Cipolla.
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At Fed Cup - Asia/Oceania Group I, Astana, Kazakhstan

Group A
India l Thailand 0-3

[R1] Rutuja Bhosale (IND,605) l Nuddnida Luangnam (THA,212) 16 63 16
[R2] Kyra Shroff (IND,480) l Luksika Kumkhum (THA,148) 06 06
[R3] Ankita Raina (IND)/ Rishika Sunkara (IND) l Noppawan Lertcheewakarn (THA)/ Varatchaya Wongteanchai (THA) 16 36

Another expected loss against Thailand but at least Rutuja managed to win the set against Luangnam.

Tennis News
At €468 PBZ Zagreb Indoors, Zagreb, Croatia

[R2] (PR) Somdev Devvarman (IND,395) l (4) Jurgen Melzer (AUT,29) 61 67(5) 26

Doubles
[QF] (PR) Somdev Devvarman (IND)/ Flavio Cipolla (ITA) bt Benjamin Becker (GER)/ Lukas Rosol (CZE) 62 62

[SF] (PR) Somdev Devvarman (IND)/ Flavio Cipolla (ITA) vs (2) Julian Knowle (AUT)/ Filip Polasek (SVK)

Somi started confidently against top-30 Jurgen Melzer after breaking him in 2nd game to lead 3-0 ... Somi take another break of serve in 6th game to win this set in 25 minutes ... In the second set Somi had few break point chances but he failed to convert those ... In tie-break Melzer take early mini-break to lead 0-2 ... Somi take back mini-break in 5th point for 2-3 ... Somi again take mini-break in 8th point to lead 5-3 ... But Melzer came back strongly winning both points on Somi's serve from 4-5 and then served to win this tie-break ... In the third set Melzer take early break to lead 2-1 and then doubled his lead to win this final set comfortably ... In the end missing break point chances in the second set and failed to win important couple of points while serving after mini-break up at 5-4 in tie-break proved crucial ... Missed opportunity of beating Melzer.

Somi and Cipolla scored very dominating win in doubles quarters ... Next in the semis they r facing 2nd seeds Julian Knowle and Filip Polasek.

Football News
At the FIFA International Friendly 2013, Kochi, Kerala, India

India l Palestine 2-4
Goal Scored - Clifford Miranda (IND) 17', Syed Rahim Nabi (IND) 39' and Ashraf Nu'man Alfawaghra (PAL) 30', 51' (PG) and 66', Hussam Abusalah (PAL) 47'

Ashraf Nu'man Alfawaghra scored a hat-trick to help his side secure an easy victory against the Indians ... Somewhat disapointing result considering this was a depleted Palestine side.

We started brightly Miranda gave lead ... Alfawaghra equalized at half-hour but Nabi again gave Indians which our team managed to keep till half-time ... In the second half our team lost plot and let 2 goals in first 6 minutes.

Hockey News
At the Azlan Shah Cup, Ipoh, Malaysia

Goal Keeper - PR Sreejesh (Vice-Captain), Sushant Tirkey
Fullbacks - Rupinderpal Singh, Harbir Singh, Gurjinder Singh
Half Backs - Amit Rohidas, Gurmail Singh, Manpreet Singh, Kothajit Singh Khadangbam, MB Aiyappa
Forwards - Danish Mujtaba (Captain), Nithin Thimmaiah, Satbir Singh, Mandeep Singh, Akashdeep Singh, Chinglensana Singh Kangujam, Dharamvir Singh, Gurvinder Singh Chandi

Standbys - Keshav Dutt (Goalkeeper), Sandeep Singh (Defender), Pardeep Mor (Midfielder), Surender Kumar (Midfielder), Malak Singh (Forward), Imran Khan (Forward), Amon Mirash Tirkey (Forward), Siddarth Shanker (Forward)

Some bold decision by selection committee ... They announced very young team with few seniors for Azlan Shah Cup under new captain, Danish Mujtaba ... As per selectors this team they selected on the basis of their recent performance in the ongoing HIL ... Good exposure for our young players and much required rest for our senior players.

Interestingly Sandeep Singh is in standbys like Hockey World league team.

Tennis News
At €468 PBZ Zagreb Indoors, Zagreb, Croatia

Doubles
[R1] (PR) Somdev Devvarman (IND)/ Flavio Cipolla (ITA) bt (WC) Mate Delic (CRO)/ Franco Skugor (CRO) 64 62

[QF] (PR) Somdev Devvarman (IND)/ Flavio Cipolla (ITA) vs Benjamin Becker (GER)/ Lukas Rosol (CZE)

Another lucky break for Somi ... In the doubles he got chance with Italian Cipolla as alternate pairing ... In the first round they faced local wild-card pair and defeated them in the straight sets ... Next they r facing Becker and Rosol, who defeated 3rd seeds.
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At Fed Cup - Asia/Oceania Group I, Astana, Kazakhstan

Group A
‌India l Kazakhstan 0-3

[R1] Kyra Shroff (IND,480) l Yaroslava Shvedova (KAZ,32) 16 16
[R2] Rishika Sunkara (IND,548) l Ksenia Pervak (KAZ,73) 06 06
[R3] Rutuja Bhosale (IND)/ Ankita Raina (IND) l Galina Voskoboeva (KAZ)/ Sesil Karatantcheva (KAZ) 36 16

This is tough outing for our young girls ... This all matches will be big learning curve for them playing against top-100/150 players.

In the first match host Kazakhs won their tie losing only six games in the match.

Tennis News
At €468 PBZ Zagreb Indoors, Zagreb, Croatia

[R1] (PR) Somdev Devvarman (IND,395) bt (Q) Michael Berrer (GER,125) 06 76(3) 4-1 Retd.

[R2] (PR) Somdev Devvarman (IND,395) vs (4) Jurgen Melzer (AUT,29)

Somi had slow start and struggled with hard hitting from Berrer ... Somi lost the first in 23 minutes without winning a single game ... In the second set Somi was early break down in 3rd game, 1-2 ... But after that produced excellent comeback, he broke Berrer in 4th game to make it 2-all ... Saved a break point in 11th game ... In tie-break Berrer was up with mini-break and had 2 match points on his serve at 6-4 ... Somi won next four points to win this set ... In the final set Somi broke Berrer in 3rd game to take 2-1 lead ... Somi again broke him in 5th game to take 4-1 lead and at that time Berrer conceded the match.

This is a terrific comeback win by Somi against hard hitter tricky opponent, Berrer ... Next he is facing similar style hard hitter but also huge server Melzer.

Hockey News
At the Hockey World League Round 2, New Delhi, India

Goal Keepers - PR Sreejesh, PT Rao
Fullbacks - VR Raghunath (Vice-Captain), Rupinderpal Singh, Harbir Singh
Half Backs - Birendra Lakra, Manpreet Singh, Kothajit Singh Khadangbam, Sardar Singh (Captain), Gurjinder Singh
Forwards - Danish Mujtaba, Nithin Thimmaiah, Mandeep Singh, Malik Singh, SV Sunil, Chinglensana Singh Kangujam, Dharamvir Singh, Gurvinder Singh Chandi

Standbys - Sushant Tirkey (Goalkeeper), Sandeep Singh (Fullback), MB Aiyappa (Halfback), Gurmail Singh (Halfback), Akashdeep Singh (Forward), Imran Khan (Forward)

The Hero Hockey World League Round 2 to be played at Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium, New Delhi from 18-24 February2013. ... This tournament is a part of the qualification league for the FIH Men’s Hockey World Cup 2014 to be held in The Hague, Netherlands.

18 members team is announced for the tournament where Junior internationals forwards Mandeep Singh and Malak Singh r new faces in the team.

Squash News
At $50K Cleveland Classic 2013, Ohio, USA

[R1] (Q) Joshana Chinappa (IND,28) l (3) Alison Waters (ENG,5) 1-3 (9-11, 11-6, 4-11, 7-11)

[Q2] (Q) Joshana Chinappa (IND,28) bt Latasha Khan (USA,26) 3-1 (11-7, 11-9, 14-16, 13-11)
[Q1] (Q) Joshana Chinappa (IND,28) bt Katja Amir (GER,115) 3-0 (11-3, 11-6, 11-6)

After tow and half years Joshna is back on her personal best ranking ... She lost almost a year due to her prolong knee injury but at last she is showing consistency in her results ... Hoping for our another player in top-20.

She played the qualifying at Cleveland and qualified for main-draw upsetting very experienced American Latasha Khan ... In the main-draw also she gave fighting performance against WR #5 Alison Waters.
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At $15K Meadowood Open 2013, Winnipeg, Canada

[F] (1) Dipika Pallikal (IND,15) bt (2) Joey Chan (HKG,19) 3-0 (11-9, 11-7, 11-4)

[SF] (1) Dipika Pallikal (IND,15) bt (4) Sarah-Jane Perry (ENG,29) 3-1 (11-7, 12-14, 11-5, 11-2)
[QF] (1) Dipika Pallikal (IND,15) bt (7) Amanda Landers-Murphy (NZL,35) 3-0 (11-6, 11-6, 11-7)
[R1] (1) Dipika Pallikal (IND,15) bt (Q) Laura Pomportes (FRA,56) 3-0 (11-6, 11-8, 11-9)

Dipika lifted her first WISPA title of season 2013 ... She played $15K tournament in Canada as a top-seed ... England's Sarah-Jane Perry troubled her in the semis but Dipika scored dominating win for the title over another top-20 player, Hong Kong's Joey Chan

Tennis News
At €468 PBZ Zagreb Indoors, Zagreb, Croatia

[R1] (PR) Somdev Devvarman (IND,395) vs Qualifier

This week Somi is using his protected ranking for Zagreb tournament and he is playing against qualifier in the first round.

Tennis News
At Davis Cup - Group I Asia/Oceania - 1st Round, New Delhi, India

India l South Korea 1-4

Friday - 1st February 2013
[R1] Ranjeet Virali-Murugesan (IND,511) l Min Hyeok Cho (KOR,UNR) 16 06 16
[R2] Vijayant Malik (IND,537) l Suk-Young Jeong (KOR,321) 46 57 0-3 Retd.

Saturday - 2nd February 2013
[R3] Leander Paes (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) bt Young-Kyu Lim (KOR)/ Ji Sung Nam (KOR) 64 76(5) 62

Sunday - 3rd February 2013
[R4] Ranjeet Virali-Murugesan (IND,511) l Suk-Young Jeong (KOR,321) 46 46 26
[R5] Vijayant Malik (IND,537) l Ji Sung Nam (KOR,484) 26 46

Today Indian captain decided to stick with Ranjeet in the reverse singles ... Ranjeet saved early break points but Jeong take crucial break in 9th game ... Then hold his serve to won the first set ... In the second set Jeong take early break to lead 3-1 but Ranjeet broke him in 6th game to make it 3-all ... This time also Jeong take crucial break on Ranjeet's serve in 9th game and then hold his serve to won the second set ... In the final set Jeong take early break and then again broke Ranjeet in 7th game to win this set with double break ... In the final dead rubber Vijayant failed to produce any fighting performance against his Korean opponent.

With this India lost their Davis cup tie against South Korea and need to wait for 2 more years for any hope for World group ties ... Before that our tennis body and players need to resolve issue so we can play regular team in our next ties to avoid relegation in Group II.

Tennis News
At Davis Cup - Group I Asia/Oceania - 1st Round, New Delhi, India

India vs South Korea 1-2

Friday - 1st February 2013
[R1] Ranjeet Virali-Murugesan (IND,511) l Min Hyeok Cho (KOR,UNR) 16 06 16)
[R2] Vijayant Malik (IND,537) l Suk-Young Jeong (KOR,321) 46 57 0-3 Retd.

Saturday - 2nd February 2013
[R3] Leander Paes (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) bt Young-Kyu Lim (KOR)/ Ji Sung Nam (KOR) 64 76(5) 62

After poor first day outing Leander lift young Indian players spirit and defeated Korean pair in straight sets with another debutante Purav Raja ... Lee and Purav were up with early break of Lim's serve but Korean broke back in 7th game breaking Purav's serve, 3-4 ... Indian pair again broke Lim again in 10th game to win the first set ... Koreans fought hard in the second ... They broke Purav in 5th game but Indians fought back breaking Nam's serve in 8th game ... Korean broke Lee's serve in 11th game but again Indian broke Nam's serve to take set in tie-break ... In the tie-break our pair fought back from 0-3 where Lee used his experience to win this set ... After losing the second set Korean failed to raise game so Indians won the third set with double break ... Tomorrow reverse singles will be played.

Tennis News
At Davis Cup - Group I Asia/Oceania - 1st Round, New Delhi, India

India vs South Korea 0-2

Friday - 1st February 2013
[R1] Ranjeet Virali-Murugesan (IND,511) l Min Hyeok Cho (KOR,UNR) 16 06 16
[R2] Vijayant Malik (IND,537) l Suk-Young Jeong (KOR,321) 46 57 0-3 Retd.

Expecting losses after 9 top players boycott this Davis cup tie but shocking melt-down by Ranjeet against Cho ... Cho won this match in 83 minutes losing only 2 games ... Cho missed tour after 2009 as he joined army for 2 yrs ... Last year he scored upset win over talented Taipei youngster Yang Tsung-Hua, WR #213, in their Davis cup tie ... So Ranjeet match wasn't easy but in end horrible scoreline ... I really hope this was his last Davis cup match.

Other hand Vijayant gave fighting performance against Korean top player Suk-Young Jeong ... First 2 sets he lost after fighting hard but he was early double break down in the third and then got injured ... Hoping no serious injury issue.