Tennis News
At $35K+H San Luis Potosi Challenger, Mexico

[SF] (1) Divij Sharan (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) l Marco Chiudinelli (SUI)/ Peter Gojowczyk (GER) 67(3) 76(7) 11-13

Really tough loss in very close 2 hours match ... After losing the first set in tie-break our pair was 3 match points down in the second tie-break at 3-6 ... They saved those 3 match points against them and converted 2nd set point ... In match tie-break also Divij and Purav saved another match at 8-9 but then wasted 2 match points at 10-9 and 11-10 ... Chiudinelli and Gojowczyk converted their 5th match point for good win ... Still good performance by Indian top-seed pair on the clay.

Tennis News
At $100K+H Le Gosier Challenger, Guadeloupe

[QF] (Q) Prakash Amritraj (IND,436) l (1) Benoit Paire (FRA,38) 26 26

Match against top-40 player was tough and in end it proved right ... Paire convincingly defeated Prkash with double break in each set ... Still good outing for Prakash and reaching quarters will help him to push his ranking around #370.

Tennis News
At $100K+H Le Gosier Challenger, Guadeloupe

[R2] (Q) Prakash Amritraj (IND,436) bt (8) Marc Gicquel (FRA,117) 75 76(5)

[QF] (Q) Prakash Amritraj (IND,436) vs (1) Benoit Paire (FRA,38)

Excellent win by Prakash against veteran Frenchman Marc Gicquel in almost 2 hours in closely fought match ... In this match Prakash had decent 1st serve percentage, 66%, but Marc had 9 break point chances and he converted one in each set ... Prkash also created 10 break point chances and converted 3 of them, 2 in the first set and one in the second ... Next Prakash is facing top-40 Frenchman Benoit Paire.
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At $35K+H San Luis Potosi Challenger, Mexico

[QF] (1) Divij Sharan (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) bt Dusan Lojda (CZE)/ Johm Millman (AUS) 62 64

[SF] (1) Divij Sharan (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) vs Marco Chiudinelli (SUI)/ Peter Gojowczyk (GER)

Purav and Divij continued with their good run and scored another comfortable win ... In the semis they r facing experienced European pair.

Squash News
At $70K KL Open 2013, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

[Q1] Joshana Chinappa (IND,27) bt Coline Aumard (FRA,39) 11-4 11-1 11-1 (25m)

[R1] (15) Dipika Pallikal (IND,15) bt (Q) Lisa Aitken (SCO,40) 11-7 11-7 11-7 (34m)
[R1] (Q) Joshana Chinappa (IND,27) l (7) Joelle King (NZL,7) 5-11 4-11 5-11 (35m)

[R2] (15) Dipika Pallikal (IND,15) l (8) Jenny Duncalf (ENG,8) 9-11 5-11 11-6 4-11 (48m)

Dipika started with solid win against Aitken at KL Open ... But lost in the second round against WR #8 Duncalf in four games ... Frankly I was hoping upset from Dipika.

Joshana qualified for main-draw before losing to Joelle King in straight games.
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At $50K KL Open 2013, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

[Q1] Harinder Pal Sandhu (IND,81) bt Gurshan Singh (MAS,226) 11-6 11-1 11-7

[Q2] Harinder Pal Sandhu (IND,81) l Mohd Nafiizwan Adnan (MAS,39) 8-11 5-11 11-5 9-11 (61m)

[R1] Saurav Ghosal (IND,19) l Tarek Momen (EGY,11) 6-11 11-8 11-5 6-11 5-11 (57m)

Saurav first-time enter into top 20 world ranking with some consistent performance in last few months ... He missed big opportunity of scoring upset win over Egyptian WR #11 Tarek Momen in the first round of KL Open ... He was leading 2-1 games before losing last two games.

Tennis News
At $100K+H Le Gosier Challenger, Guadeloupe

[R1] (Q) Prakash Amritraj (IND,436) bt Jamie Baker (GBR,209) 64 64

[R2] (Q) Prakash Amritraj (IND,436) vs (8) Marc Gicquel (FRA,117)

Good straight sets win by Ka$h over in-form Baker ... Ka$h served exceptionally well in this match and hoping same in next matches ... Next is tricky match against veteran Marc Gicquel but that is winnable with Ka$h top game.
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At $35K+H San Luis Potosi Challenger, Mexico

[R1] (1) Divij Sharan (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) bt Nikoloz Basilashvili (GEO)/ Malek Jaziri (TUN) 64 62

[QF] (1) Divij Sharan (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) vs Dusan Lojda (CZE)/ Johm Millman (AUS)

Good to see Purav and Divij made the clay transition quickly. -----------------------------------------------------------
At $10K Bahrain F1 Futures, Manama

[R1] (Q) Kunal ANAND (IND,1391) l Romain SICHEZ (FRA,791) 36 06
[R1] (Q) Sagar MANJANNA (IND,1848) l Maxime CHAZAL (FRA,789) 16 36
[R1] (Q) Ronak MANUJA (IND,1937) bt (WC) Mohammed REDA (KUW,1778) 64 64
[R1] Ashwin VIJAYRAGAVAN (IND,795) l (2) Peter HELLER (GER,465) 16 06

[R2] (Q) Ronak MANUJA (IND,1937) bt Cristian RODRIGUEZ (COL,635) 64 26 64

[QF] (Q) Ronak MANUJA (IND,1937) l (2) Peter HELLER (GER,465) 06 16

After longtime saw impressive win by Ronak against top-650 Colambian player in the second round.

Tennis News
At $4.2M Miami Masters, USA

[QF] (7) Bethanie Mattek-Sands (USA)/ Sania Mirza (IND) l (1) Sara Errani (ITA)/ Roberta Vinci (ITA) 16 46

Easy loss against WR #1 Italian pair ... So with that Indian challenge official got over in Miami Masters.

Tennis News
At $4.2M Miami Masters, USA

[R2] (7) Bethanie Mattek-Sands (USA)/ Sania Mirza (IND) bt Jarmila Gajdosova (AUS)/ Sabine Lisicki (GER) 61 36 10-7
[R2] Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Rajeev Ram (USA) l (2) Marcel Granollers (ESP)/ Marc Lopez (ESP) 46 67(5)

[QF] (7) Bethanie Mattek-Sands (USA)/ Sania Mirza (IND) vs (1) Sara Errani (ITA)/ Roberta Vinci (ITA)

Sania keep flying Indian flag in Miami Masters with match tie-break win over Gajdosova and Lisicki with Bethanie ... Our pair won the first set with multiple breaks but lost focus in the second ... Gajdosova and Lisicki won the second set before our pair found their touch before winning it ... In the quarters Sania and Bethanie r facing WR #1 Italian pair.
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At $100K+H Le Gosier Challenger, Guadeloupe

[Q2] (2) Prakash Amritraj (IND,436) bt (8) Gianni Mina (FRA,701) 76(1) 75

[R1] (Q) Prakash Amritraj (IND,436) vs Jamie Baker (GBR,209)

Surprisingly tight win for Prakash ... In main-draw he is facing Britisher Jamie Baker.
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At $35K+H San Luis Potosi Challenger, Mexico

[R1] (1) Divij Sharan (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) vs Nikoloz Basilashvili (GEO)/ Malek Jaziri (TUN)

Purav and Divij r top-seed in this Mexican challenger.

Tennis News
At $4.2M Miami Masters, USA

[R3] (PR) Somdev Devvarman (IND,254) l (1) Novak Djokovic (SRB,1) 26 46

Doubles
[R2] (7) Michael Llodra (FRA)/ Leander Paes (IND) l Grigor Dimitrov (BUL)/ Frederik Nielsen (DEN) 67(6) 67(4)
[R2] (3) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Daniel Nestor (CAN) l Nicolas Almagro (ESP)/ Oliver Marach (AUT) 36 36

Good performance by Somi against WR #1 with his own style of game ... In the first set Somi was struggled with unforced errors and lost his serve twice before losing the set ... In the second set Somi raised his game and played really well on his own service game ... He also managed to put pressure on Novak's second serve with his returns ... Somi faced only a single break point which Novak converted showing quality of top player ... But pathetic commentrators were on FOX sports who were making mockery of Somi ... Overall decent week for Somi with couple of wins in main-draw before facing Djoker.

Other hand Lee and Mahesh lost in the second round with their respective partners ... Lee and Llodra lost both sets in tie-break but Mahesh and Daniel failed to produce much fight against their opponents.
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At $100K+H Le Gosier Challenger, Guadeloupe

[Q1] (2) Prakash Amritraj (IND,436) bt Adil Shamasoin (CAN,UNR) 75 60

[Q2] (2) Prakash Amritraj (IND,436) vs (8) Gianni Mina (FRA,701)
Very weak qualifying draw ... Sanama and Yuki should play here with Prakash ... Expected easy win for Prakash.
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At $35K+H San Luis Potosi Challenger, Mexico

[Q1] Divij Sharan (IND,1151) l (6) Christopher Diaz-Figueroa (GUA,499) 26 16

Happy to see Divij is taking advantage of 4 weeks of challengers in Mexico ... He lost easily in the singles qualifying but hoping better results in the doubles.

Tennis News
At $4.2M Miami Masters, USA

Doubles
[R1] (7) Bethanie Mattek-Sands (USA)/ Sania Mirza (IND) bt Eva Birnerova (CZE)/ Varvara Lepchenko (USA) 75 63
[R1] Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Rajeev Ram (USA) bt Eric Butorac (USA)/ Paul Hanley (AUS) 76(8) 64

[R2] (7) Bethanie Mattek-Sands (USA)/ Sania Mirza (IND) vs Jarmila Gajdosova (AUS)/ Sabine Lisicki (GER)
[R2] (7) Michael Llodra (FRA)/ Leander Paes (IND) vs Grigor Dimitrov (BUL)/ Frederik Nielsen (DEN)
[R2] (3) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Daniel Nestor (CAN) vs Nicolas Almagro (ESP)/ Oliver Marach (AUT)
[R2] Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Rajeev Ram (USA) vs (2) Marcel Granollers (ESP)/ Marc Lopez (ESP)

Sania and Rohan having winning start with their respective partners in the first round matches.
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At $10K ITF Women's Tournament, Hyderabad

Singles Final
(3) Ankita RAINA (IND) l Barbara LUZ (POR) 62 36 16

Barbara Luz must be over the moon for selecting India for these 2 ITF tournaments ... Overall creditable performance by Ankita in these 2 weeks.

In this match Ankita started aggressively and won the first set ... But from the second set Luz used moon-balling tactics and Ankita failed to overcome these tactics to lose next two sets.

Tennis News
At $4.2M Miami Masters, USA

[R2] (PR) Somdev Devvarman (IND,254) bt (LL) Edouard Roger-Vasselin (FRA,80) 46 64 75

[R3] (PR) Somdev Devvarman (IND,254) vs (1) Novak Djokovic (SRB,1)

Doubles
[R1] (3) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Daniel Nestor (CAN) bt Richard Gasquet (FRA)/ Edouard Roger-Vasselin (FRA) 76(3) 63

[R2] (3) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Daniel Nestor (CAN) vs Nicolas Almagro (ESP)/ Oliver Marach (AUT)

Feliciano Lopez withdrew from Miami Masters so Roger-Vasselin replaced him in main-draw ... Again slow start for Somi against Roger-Vasselin ... Roger-Vasselin was serving powerfully and holding comfortably ... Somi was struggling on his own service game ... Roger-Vasselin take important break in 7th game and won the first set ... From the second set Somi improved his returning game ... He broke Roger-Vasselin in 2nd game to lead 3-0 but while serving for the set at 5-3 Somi failed to hold his serve, 5-4 ... But Somi won 5 points in a row from 40-0 to take break in 10th game and won the second set ... In the final set Somi had 2 break points in 4th game which he failed to convert ... Then in 11th game Roger-Vasselin had a break point but Somi saved it ... Somi take crucial break in 12th game converting 1st match point from 15-40 for excellent comeback win ... Really happy to see Somi is taking advantage of weaker draw ... Next he is facing WR #1 Novak Djokovic ... Novak is terrific form and won the first match against Rosol losing only a single game.

Roger-Vasselin lost in the doubles with his French partner Gasquet against Mahesh and Daniel ... Mahesh and Daniel won the first set in tie-break and then more comfortably won the second set.
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At $10K ITF Women's Tournament, Hyderabad

Singles Semi Finals
(3) Ankita RAINA (IND) bt Napatsakorn SANKAEW (THA) 63 64
Barbara LUZ (POR) bt (4) Nidhi CHILUMULA (IND) 62 75

Ankita is showing consistency in her results ... Now she is in chance of avenging last week's loss in the title match.

Tennis News
At $4.2M Miami Masters, USA

[R1] (7) Michael Llodra (FRA)/ Leander Paes (IND) bt Christopher Kas (GER)/ Philipp Kohlschreiber (GER) 63 75

Lee started with win over German pair with his new partner Llodra.
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At $15K USA F8 Futures, Costa Mesa

[R2] (7) Sanam Singh (IND,409) l (Q) Nicolas Meister (USA,537) 46 63 16

May be Meister played better than Sanam but I m thinking tiredness caught with Sanam after last week's title win ... Need to improve fitness.
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At $10K ITF Women's Tournament, Hyderabad

Singles Quarter Finals
Napatsakorn SANKAEW (THA) bt (1) Rishika SUNKARA (IND) 06 4-1 Retd.
(3) Ankita RAINA (IND) bt (6) Prarthana G. THOMBARE (IND) 36 62 62
(4) Nidhi CHILUMULA (IND) bt Natasha PALHA (IND) 57 63 64
Barbara LUZ (POR) bt (2) Prerna BHAMBRI (IND) 63 63

Top 2 seeds r out ... We were expecting Luz' victory but Rishika retired due to injury ... Prarthana and Natasha gave fighting performance in their losses against higher ranked Ankita and Nidhi respectively.

Tennis News
At $4.2M Miami Masters, USA

[R1] (PR) Somdev Devvarman (IND,254) bt Evgeny Donskoy (RUS,78) 46 76(5) 62

[R2] (PR) Somdev Devvarman (IND,254) vs (30) Feliciano Lopez (ESP,34)

Doubles
[R1] (7) Bethanie Mattek-Sands (USA)/ Sania Mirza (IND) vs Eva Birnerova (CZE)/ Varvara Lepchenko (USA)
[R1] (7) Michael Llodra (FRA)/ Leander Paes (IND) vs Christopher Kas (GER)/ Philipp Kohlschreiber (GER)
[R1] (3) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Daniel Nestor (CAN) vs Richard Gasquet (FRA)/ Edouard Roger-Vasselin (FRA)
[R1] Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Rajeev Ram (USA) vs Eric Butorac (USA)/ Paul Hanley (AUS)

In the first set Somi was struggling with his 1st serve and Donskoy take advantage of it ... Donskoy converted 7th break point and won the first set with a single break advantage ... In the second set also Donskoy broke Somi is 1st game and take 2-0 lead ... From 1-3 down Somi fought back he broke Donskoy in 6th game to brought set on the serve 4-3 ... Somi missed couple of break points in next game before taking the set in tie-break ... In the tie-break both players had multiple mini-breaks before Somi converted 1st set point on 6-5 ... After winning the second set Somi started to dominate the game ... Somi's 1st serve percentage raised to 75% and with his returning game he was troubling Donskoy ... In first 2 service games both players saved break points ... Somi broke Donskoy in 3rd game to take 2-1 lead ... Then again Somi broke him in 7th game and hold his serve for superb comeback victory ... Next he is facing Spanish Feliciano Lopez.

Doubles draw is out ... Leander is playing with Llodra and they r in top draw ... Mahesh and Rohan r in bottom draw with their respective partners.
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At $15K USA F8 Futures, Costa Mesa

[R1] (7) Sanam Singh (IND,409) bt (PR) Eduardo Peralta-Tello (MEX,922) 75 63
[R1] Saketh Myneni (IND,433) l Marek Michlicka (CZE,382) 46 26

[R2] (7) Sanam Singh (IND,409) vs (Q) Nicolas Meister (USA,537)

Sanam continues with his good form ... Next he is facing American qualifier ... Other hand Saketh struggled in US futures continue.
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At $10K ITF Women's Tournament, Hyderabad

Singles Second Round
(1) Rishika SUNKARA (IND) bt Sharon Sanchana PAUL (IND) 4-2 Retd.
Napatsakorn SANKAEW (THA) bt (5) Ho Ching WU (HKG) 64 63
(3) Ankita RAINA (IND) bt Eetee MAHETA (IND) 62 64
(6) Prarthana G. THOMBARE (IND) bt Trisha SUNDARAM (USA) 60 61
Natasha PALHA (IND) bt (7) Varunya WONGTEANCHAI (THA) 64 76(8)
(4) Nidhi CHILUMULA (IND) bt Mahitha DADI REDDY (IND) 62 64
Barbara LUZ (POR) bt (8) Michaela FRLICKA (GER) 64 62
(2) Prerna BHAMBRI (IND) bt Sharmada BALU (IND) 64 63

Excellent upset win by Natasha over seeded Thai girl ... Prerna is having tough quarter-final against last week's winner Luz.

Tennis News
At $4.2M Miami Masters, USA

[Q1] (WC) Yuki Bhambri (IND,272) l Edouard Roger-Vasselin (FRA,78) 46 57

[R1] (PR) Somdev Devvarman (IND,254) vs Evgeny Donskoy (RUS,78)

Encouraging score from Yuki against in form Roger-Vasselin ... In this match Yuki had 19 break points on Roger-Vasselin's serve and he broke 3 times so returning game was well but other hand Yuki need to work on his own service ... Roger-Vasselin broke him 5 times in the match ... In both sets Yuki was break up before Roger-Vasselin fought back to take breaks back.

Somi is facing Russian Evgeny Donskoy in the first round ... Winner between them will facing 30th ranked Spanish Feliciano Lopez in the second round.
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At $10K ITF Women's Tournament, Hyderabad

Singles First Round
(1) Rishika SUNKARA (IND) bt Anushka BHARGAVA (IND) 61 62
Sharon Sanchana PAUL (IND) bt Saranya NAGPAL (IND) 61 61
Napatsakorn SANKAEW (THA) bt Pia KONIG (AUT) 60 62
(5) Ho Ching WU (HKG) bt Shivika BURMAN (IND) 61 36 62
(3) Ankita RAINA (IND) bt Sneha PADAMATA (IND) 60 61
Eetee MAHETA (IND) bt Sai Samhitha CHAMARTHI (IND) 61 60
Trisha SUNDARAM (USA) bt Jeni PATEL (IND) 75 60
(6) Prarthana G. THOMBARE (IND) bt Sowjanya BAVISETTI (IND) 61 63
(7) Varunya WONGTEANCHAI (THA) bt Arantxa ANDRADY (IND) 63 64
Natasha PALHA (IND) bt Bhuvana KALVA (IND) 75 76(2)
Mahitha DADI REDDY (IND) bt Manya NAGPAL (IND) 36 61 62
(4) Nidhi CHILUMULA (IND) bt Ashmitha EASWARAMURTHI (IND) 61 64
(8) Michaela FRLICKA (GER) bt Amala AMOL WARRICK (IND) 61 60
Barbara LUZ (POR) bt Theiviya SELVARAJOO (MAS) 75 60
Sharmada BALU (IND) bt Sanae OHTA (JPN) 36 62 75
(2) Prerna BHAMBRI (IND) bt Likitha SHETTY (IND) 61 63

Overall expected results.

Tennis News
At $4.2M Miami Masters, USA

[Q1] (WC) Yuki Bhambri (IND,266) vs Edouard Roger-Vasselin (FRA,78)

Yuki receive wild-card at Miami Masters qualifying but having tough match against top-80 Frenchman Roger-Vasselin.
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At $15K USA F7 Futures, Calabasas


Singles Final
(6) Sanam Singh (IND,316) bt (2) Bradley Klahn (USA,223) 63 16 76(3)

Doubles Final
Saketh Myneni (IND)/ Sanam Singh (IND) bt (4) Yong-Kyu Lim (KOR)/ Ji Sung Nam (KOR) 67(3) 62 14-12

Sanam lifted double crown in this tough US futures ... After winning the first set Klahn take control of the match and won the second set comfortably ... In the third set Sanam trailed 3-0 before fightback ... Then Klahn served for the match at 5-4 in the final set before Sanam broke to even the match and then won the decisive tiebreaker to win the championship.

In doubles final Korean pair won the first set in tie-break after that Saketh and Sanam won the secont set comfortably ... Saketh and Sanam played long match tie-break before winning in extra points.
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At $35K+H Rimouski Challenger, Canada

[Q2] Prakash Amritraj (IND,432) bt (6) Daniel King-Turner (NZL,376) 63 64

[Q3] Prakash Amritraj (IND,432) vs (2) Hiroki Moriya (JPN,184)

Prakash scored straight sets victory over New Zealand's King-Turner ... In the final qualifying he is facing Japanese 2nd seed Hiroki Moriya.
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At $15K USA F8 Futures, Costa Mesa

[R1] (7) Sanam Singh (IND,316) vs Qualifier
[R1] Saketh Myneni (IND,395) vs Marek Michlicka (CZE,387)

Saketh having tricky match in this week's Costa Mesa futures.

Hockey News
At Sultan Azlan Shah Cup 2013, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

For Fifth Place
India bt Pakistan 4-2
Goal Scorers - Rupinder Pal Singh (IND) 16' PC and 62' PS, Akashdeep Singh (IND) 35', Malak Singh (IND) 43' and Muhammad Imran (PAK) 8' PC, Khasif Shah Syed (PAK) 46'

Korea bt New Zealand 2-1

Final
Australia bt Malaysia 3-2

India avoided wooden spoon defeating Pakistan in thrilling match ... In this match also Pakistan opened account through penalty corner conversion from Imran but after that both teams played attacking hockey with Indians had upper hand ... Indians equalized through Rupinder from first penalty corner ... Pakistan earned three penalty corners in a row but failed to convert it ... Just before half-time Akashdeep deflected excellent pass from Mandeep Singh in the goal ... In the 43 rd minute Malak Singh deflected ball into the net and gave India 3-1 lead ... Pakistan responded in three minutes through field goal from Khasif Shah ... In 62nd minute India awarded penalty corner by umpire after mistake from Muhammad Ateeq but after discussion by both umpires they awarded penalty stroke which Rupinder Pal converted ... After that Indians controlled the pace of the match for really good victory ... Manpreet Singh was adjudged man-of-the-match for his excellent performance.

Australia lifted their seventh Sultan Azlan Shah Cup beating host Malaysia ... Korea won the bronze beating New Zealand.

Tennis News
At $15K USA F7 Futures, Calabasas

[SF] (6) Sanam Singh (IND,316) bt (Q) Kevin King (USA,1306) 62 64

[F] (6) Sanam Singh (IND,316) vs (2) Bradley Klahn (USA,223)

Doubles
[SF] Saketh Myneni (IND)/ Sanam Singh (IND) bt (3) Marek Michalicka (CZE)/ Alexander Satschko (GER) 64 75

[F] Saketh Myneni (IND)/ Sanam Singh (IND) vs (4) Yong-Kyu Lim (KOR)/ Ji Sung Nam (KOR)

Sanam continued with his good run and reached in the final of this tough US futures beating American qualifier Kevin King in the straight set ... After winning the first set easily Sanam was 4-0 up in the second ... But he lost concentration and King won next 4 games to make it 4-all ... Sanam won next 2 games and completed victory ... In the final Sanam is facing 2nd seed American Bradley Klahn.

In the doubles also Sanam is in the final with Saketh and they r facing 4th seed Korean pair for the title match ... In the semis they scored well fought win over Czech-German pair.
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At $35K+H Rimouski Challenger, Canada

[Q1] Prakash Amritraj (IND,432) bt (WC) Daniel Chu (CAN,1519) 62 62

[Q2] Prakash Amritraj (IND,432)vs (6) Daniel King-Turner (NZL,376)

Expected comfortable win for Prakash ... Next he is facing King-Turner.

Badminton News
At $125K Swiss Open 2013, Basel, Switzerland

[SF] (1) Saina Nehwal (IND,3) l (4) Shixian Wang (CHN,7) 11-21 21-10 9-21

Saina failed to defend her Swiss open title ... She lost against Shixian Wang in three games with her erratic game ... Before this match Saina won their last 4 previous meetings including last week at All England Championship ... In the first game Shixian opened 8-0 lead which helped her to win this comfortably ... In the second game from 7-all Saina take control and from 13-10 she won last 8 points for winning this second game ... IN the final game Shixian take 5-0 lead which Saina reduced to 3-6 but after that Shixian take control of the game ... After that Saina managed to win only 6 points before losing the game and match in 50 minutes.

Hockey News
At Sultan Azlan Shah Cup 2013, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

March 16th, 2013
India dw Malaysia 2-2
Goal Scorers - Mandeep Singh (IND) 19', Rupinder Pal Singh (IND) 48' PC and Faizal Saari (MAS) 5' PC and 70' PS

Korea dw Pakistan 2-2
Australia bt New Zealand 3-2

Malaysian started positively converting 1st penalty corner in 5th minute ... Indians tried hard but waited until 19th minute to scored an equalizer through excellent scoop from Mandeep Singh ... At half-time both teams were 1-all ... In the second half Malaysians started with attack but Indians were defending well ... Indians forward line wasted many chances as they failed to intercepts crosses from their feeders ... Rupinder converted 2nd penalty corner through very powerful hit and gave lead to Indians ... Indians were receiving many cards due to their physical game ... Captain Danish received green card in 66th minute and Indians conceded penalty corner in 68th minute ... On that penalty corner Malaysian earned penalty stroke, Indians protested but umpires remained firm on their decision ... Faizal Saari converted that and denied India place in bronze medal match.

Tennis News
At $15K USA F7 Futures, Calabasas

[QF] (6) Sanam Singh (IND,316) bt (Q) Mohamed Haythem Abid (TUN,855) 61 62

[SF] (6) Sanam Singh (IND,316) vs (Q) Kevin King (USA,1306)

Sanam scored dominating win against Tunisian qualifier losing only three games ... In the semis he is facing American qualifier Kevin King.
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At $10K ITF Women's Tournament, Hyderabad

Singles Final
(3) Ankita RAINA (IND) l Barbara LUZ (POR) 64 67(5) 67(3)

Ankita missed big opportunity of lifting the title in 3 hours and 10 minutes match ... She had 2 points away from the victory in the second set when Luz was serving at 5-6 and 30-30 ... After that in the third set Ankita failed to hold when she was serving for the match at 6-5 ... At that time Raina was tired and Luz take full advantage of it.
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At $10K India F3 Futures, Trichy

Singles Final
(PR) Tak Khunn WANG (FRA,UNR) bt (WC) Patrick CIORCILA (ROU,987) 63 60

Tak Khunn Wang lifted title in last week of futures series.

Badminton News
At $125K Swiss Open 2013, Basel, Switzerland

[QF] (1) Saina Nehwal (IND,3) bt (6) Tzu Ying Tai (TPE,10)

[SF] (1) Saina Nehwal (IND,3) vs (4) Shixian Wang (CHN,7)

Saina was in scintillating form against Tai and scored very dominating win in 29 minutes against Tai ... Saina ruthlessly avenged her last lost against Tai in January at Malaysian open ... In both games Saina take control from the start and kept increasing her lead for this win ... Next she is facing Shixian Wang in the semis.

Tennis News
At $15K USA F7 Futures, Calabasas

[R2] (6) Sanam Singh (IND,316) bt (WC) Karim Hossam (EGY,1159) 75 61

[QF] (6) Sanam Singh (IND,316) vs (Q) Mohamed Haythem Abid (TUN,855)

Doubles
[SF] Saketh Myneni (IND)/ Sanam Singh (IND) vs (3) Marek Michalicka (CZE)/ Alexander Satschko (GER)

Sanam scored straight sets victory over young Hossam ... Hossam stretched Sanam in the first set but after winning the first set Sanam dominated the second ... In the quarter final Sanam is facing Tunisian qualifier Mohamed Haythem Abid, who upset top-seed Sandgren in the first round.
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At $10K India F3 Futures, Trichy

Singles Semi Finals
(WC) Patrick CIORCILA (ROU,987) bt Filippo LEONARDI (ITA,732) 76(7) 64
(PR) Tak Khunn WANG (FRA,UNR) bt (4) Thales TURINI (BRA,441) 61 63

Doubles Final
(1) Caio SILVA (BRA)/ Ranjeet VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND) bt (2) Augusto LARANJA (BRA)/ Thales TURINI (BRA) 63 61

Ranjeet lifted 2nd doubles title in 2 weeks with Silva ... The singles final is between in form Wang and 16 yrs old Ciorcila.
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At $10K ITF Women's Tournament, Hyderabad

Singles Semi Finals
(3) Ankita RAINA (IND) bt (1) Rishika SUNKARA (IND) 67(3) 63 62
Barbara LUZ (POR) bt Varunya WONGTEANCHAI (THA) 76(1) 63

Good win by Ankita against Rishika ... Ankita is in good chance to become India's No. 1 with good results (titles) in these two weeks.

Badminton News
At $125K Swiss Open 2013, Basel, Switzerland

[R3] Prannoy H. S. (IND,97) l (15) Tien Chen Chou (TPE,26) 16-21 21-15 15-21
[R3] (5) Kashyap Parupalli (IND,7) l (9) Wei Feng Chong (MAS,16) 21-18 7-21 16-21
[R2] Sindhu P. V. (IND,16) l Yui Hashimoto (JPN,67) 21-23 11-21
[R2] (1) Saina Nehwal (IND,2) bt Petya Nedelcheva (BUL,21) 21-15 21-10

[R2] Akshay Dewalkar (IND)/ Pranaav Jerry Chopra (IND) l (1) Sung Hyun Ko (KOR)/ Yong Dae Lee (KOR) 14-21 12-21

[QF] (1) Saina Nehwal (IND,3) vs (6) Tzu Ying Tai (TPE,10)

Only Saina managed to win her match to enter into the quarter-final ... Saina scored comfortable win over Nedelcheva in 30 minutes ... In the first game Nedelcheva take early lead, at one time she was leading 12-8 but after that Saina gave her chance to win 3 more points before winning this game ... In the second game Saina take control from the start and won it comfortably ... In the quarters Saina is facing Taipei's Tzu Ying Tai ... Tai defeated Saina in their last 2 meetings most recently in January at Malaysian open.

I was hoping better result from Kashyap ... He lost in previous 2 matches against Chong but that was before 2010 ... In the first game Kashyap take early lead but Chong caught with him at 9-all ... From 10-all Kashyap opened couple of points lead which he maintained till the end ... In the second game from 4-3 Chong ran away with the game ... Kashyap managed to win only 4 more points before losing this game ... In the final game both players were neck to neck until 8-all ... Chong won next 5 points to lead 13-8 but Kashyap caught him winning next 5 points ... But from 15-all Chong won next 5 points and converted 2nd match point for upset win.

Prannoy gave fighting performance in his loss against Chou ... After losing the first game he fought back to win the second but Chou's experience proved turning point in the final game ... Still creditable performance by Prannoy in this Gold GP tournament.

Disappointed loss for Sindhu against Hashimoto ... Singhu take early lead and at one time she was leading 14-6 but Sindhu lost this advantage and Hashimoto caught with her at 18-all ... Sindhu wasted two game point at 20-19 and 21-10 ... Hashimoto converted her first game point ... In the second game from 3-5 Hashimoto take control and won it convincingly ... So Indian players struggle against Japanese opponents continue.

WR #3 Ko and Lee proved too strong for our young pairing of Akshay and Pranaav.

Hockey News
At Sultan Azlan Shah Cup 2013, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

March 14th, 2013
India l New Zealand 0-2 (0-0)
Goal Scorers - Andy Hayward (NZL) 40' PC, Cory Bennett (NZL) 57' PC

Australia dw Korea 3-3
Malaysia dw Pakistan 2-2

This was most dismal performance by Indian team in this tournament ... Indian players were lethargic and very slow, other hand Black Sticks were energetic and they outplayed us ... We were lucky they failed to score more goals ... We managed to hold them until half-time but after that they scored 2 goals for comfortable win.

Tennis News
At $15K USA F7 Futures, Calabasas

[R1] Saketh Myneni (IND,395) l Juan Carlos Saez (CHI,398) 26 46

[R2] (6) Sanam Singh (IND,316) vs (WC) Karim Hossam (EGY,1159)

Doubles
[QF] Saketh Myneni (IND)/ Sanam Singh (IND) bt (WC) Kevin King (USA)/ Dennis Nevolo (USA) 61 75

[SF] Saketh Myneni (IND)/ Sanam Singh (IND) vs (3) Marek Michalicka (CZE)/ Alexander Satschko (GER)

Saketh lost in straight sets against his Chilean opponent ... Not much fight, I think again case of lack of match practice.

Sanam and Saketh won their doubles match in straight sets ... In the semis they r facing 3rd seed pair.

In the second round Sanam is facing 18 yrs old and former junior WR #11 Karim Hossam ... He is currently trains at the Advantage Tennis Academy in California and plans on joining the Rebels (University of Mississippi) for the upcoming spring semester.
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At $10K India F3 Futures, Trichy

Singles Quarter Finals
(WC) Patrick CIORCILA (ROU,987) bt (7) N. Vijay Sundar PRASHANTH (IND,564) 76(5) 62
Filippo LEONARDI (ITA,732) bt (Q) Mats MORAING (GER,1672) 62 26 60
(4) Thales TURINI (BRA,441) bt (5) Ranjeet VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND,526) 64 62
(PR) Tak Khunn WANG (FRA,UNR) bt (8) Augusto LARANJA (BRA,621) 75 64

Doubles Semi Finals
(1) Caio SILVA (BRA)/ Ranjeet VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND) bt Filippo LEONARDI (ITA)/ Giulio TORRONI (ITA) 64 61
(2) Augusto LARANJA (BRA)/ Thales TURINI (BRA) bt (3) Maximilian DINSLAKEN (GER)/ Laslo URRUTIA FUENTES (CHI) 64 64

So with this Indian challenge got over in the singles ... This 16 yrs Romanian kid, Patrick Ciorcila, looks talented but still nothing great in his junior career ... May be his coach is asking him to concentrate on Pro circuit.
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At $10K ITF Women's Tournament, Hyderabad

Singles Quarter Finals
(1) Rishika SUNKARA (IND) bt Bhuvana KALVA (IND) 62 75
(3) Ankita RAINA (IND) bt (5) Nidhi CHILUMULA (IND) 63 61
Varunya WONGTEANCHAI (THA) bt (7) Prarthana G. THOMBARE (IND) 63 16 75
Barbara LUZ (POR) bt (2) Prerna BHAMBRI (IND) 62 62

Rishika and Ankita r in the semis but Prerna and Prarthana lost against lower ranked foreigners.

Badminton News
At $125K Swiss Open 2013, Basel, Switzerland

[R2] Prannoy H. S. (IND,97) bt (7) Boonsak Ponsana (THA,11) 18-21 21-13 21-12
[R2] (5) Kashyap Parupalli (IND,9) bt Dieter Domke (GER,58) 15-21 22-20 21-13
[R1] Sindhu P. V. (IND,16) bt (3) Ji Hyun Sung (KOR,5) 7-2 Retd.
[R1] (1) Saina Nehwal (IND,3) bt Sashina Vignes Waran (FRA,40) 13-21 21-15 21-12

[R1] Akshay Dewalkar (IND)/ Pranaav Jerry Chopra (IND) bt Bodin Issara (THA)/ Sudket Prapakamol (THA) 12-21 21-17 21-15

[R3] Prannoy H. S. (IND,97) vs (15) Tien Chen Chou (TPE,26)
[R3] (5) Kashyap Parupalli (IND,9) vs (9) Wei Feng Chong (MAS,16)
[R2] Sindhu P. V. (IND,16) vs Yui Hashimoto (JPN,67)
[R2] (1) Saina Nehwal (IND,3) vs Petya Nedelcheva (BUL,21)

[R2] Akshay Dewalkar (IND)/ Pranaav Jerry Chopra (IND) vs (1) Sung Hyun Ko (KOR)/ Yong Dae Lee (KOR)

In the first game from 14-all Ponsana opened couple of points lead which he maintained to win this game ... In the second game Prannoy take 3-0 then 7-4 lead buth both time Ponsana caught him ... From 9-10 Prannoy won next 4 points and opened 3 points lead ... Which he maintained and from 17-13 he won next 4 points for winning the second game ... In the final game Prannoy opened 7-3 lead which he extended to 12-4 ... Ponsana won next 5 points to make it 9-12 but he came that much close ... From 17-12 Prannoy again won last 4 points for completing exciting upset win in 55 minutes ... Next he is facing 15th seed Taiwani Tien Chen Chou.

Kashyap needed to dig deep before this comeback win over lower ranked German opponent ... In the first game in early stages couple of time Kashyap take 3/4 points lead but Domke caught with him ... From 12-all Domke won 6 points in a row to take 18-12 lead which he maintained for winning this game ... In the second game also Kashyap was taking couple of points lead and Domke caught with him ... From 12-all Kashyap take 15-12 lead which he extended ... Surprisingly Kashyap failed to convert 5 game points from 20-15 but converted 6th game point for winning this second game ... After that Kashyap dominated the final game and didn't give any chance to Domke ... Kashyap opened 5-0 lead which he kept increasing and converted first match point for this victory ... Next he is facing Malaysian Wei Feng Chong ... Kashyap lost in their previous meetings but both losses were before 2010.

Sindhu's Korean opponent Ji Hyun Sung retired after injury in middle of the first game ... Next she is facing Japanese Yui Hashimoto.

Another slow start for Saina before recovering ... French girl Waran take 6-0 lead and maintained that to won the first game ... In the second game also Waran was leading early, 5-2, but Saina immediately caught her ... From 12-13 Saina won 6 points in a row to take control of the game and won it losing another 2 points ... In the final game Saina started with 3-0 lead which she kept increasing ... Saina converted 4th match point and completed victory in 47 minutes ... Next she is facing experienced Petya Nedelcheva.

Good win by our young pair of Akshay and Pranaav against Thai pair ... After losing the first game they fought back to win next two games ... Next they r facing WR #3 Korean pair Sung Hyun Ko and Yong Dae Lee.

Tennis News
At $15K USA F7 Futures, Calabasas

[R1] (6) Sanam Singh (IND,316) bt Ji Sung Nam (KOR,474) 64 63
[R1] Prakash Amritraj (IND,432) l Darian King (BAR,486) 46 62 57
[R1] Saketh Myneni (IND,395) vs Juan Carlos Saez (CHI,398)

Doubles
[R1] Saketh Myneni (IND)/ Sanam Singh (IND) bt (1) Carsten Ball (AUS)/ Tennys Sandgren (USA) 62 60

[QF] Saketh Myneni (IND)/ Sanam Singh (IND) vs (WC) Kevin King (USA)/ Dennis Nevolo (USA)

Sanam started with straight sets victory over Nam ... In doubles he gave terrific hammering to top-seed with Saketh.

Prakash lost in the first round ... Mostly lack of match practice was the reason.
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At $10K India F3 Futures, Trichy

Singles Second Round
(WC) Patrick CIORCILA (ROU,987) bt Sidharth RAWAT (IND,960) 63 63
(7) N. Vijay Sundar PRASHANTH (IND,564) bt Maximilian DINSLAKEN (GER,751) 76(3) 76(0)
(Q) Mats MORAING (GER,1672) bt Claudio FORTUNA (ITA,680) 67(9) 60 1-0 Retd.
Filippo LEONARDI (ITA,732) bt (6) Vijayant MALIK (IND,541) 62 62
(5) Ranjeet VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND,526) bt Laslo URRUTIA FUENTES (CHI,832) 57 61 75
(4) Thales TURINI (BRA,441) bt (Q) Elwin ANTONY (IND,1496) 64 76(1)
(8) Augusto LARANJA (BRA,621) bt (LL) Fariz MOHAMMED (IND,1895) 63 60
(PR) Tak Khunn WANG (FRA,UNR) bt (Q) Ting Yu CHUANG (TPE,1221) 63 61

Doubles Quarter Finals
(1) Caio SILVA (BRA)/ Ranjeet VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND) bt (WC) Elwin ANTONY (IND)/ Fariz MOHAMMED (IND) 75 63
Filippo LEONARDI (ITA)/ Giulio TORRONI (ITA) bt (4) N. Vijay Sundar PRASHANTH (IND)/ Vignesh PERANAMALLUR (IND) 64 64
(3) Maximilian DINSLAKEN (GER)/ Laslo URRUTIA FUENTES (CHI) bt Patrick CIORCILA (ROU)/ Victor CRIVOI (ROU) W/O
(2) Augusto LARANJA (BRA)/ Thales TURINI (BRA) bt (WC) Jui-Chen HUNG (TPE)/ Petar TOMIC (SRB) 62 63

Only 2 Indian players r in the singles quarters and VSP having real chance of moving ahead.
-----------------------------------------------------------
At $10K ITF Women's Tournament, Hyderabad

Singles Second Round
(1) Rishika SUNKARA (IND) bt Sowjanya BAVISETTI (IND) 63 61
Bhuvana KALVA (IND) bt Michaela FRLICKA (GER) 63 64
(3) Ankita RAINA (IND) bt Napatsakorn SANKAEW (THA) 62 61
(5) Nidhi CHILUMULA (IND) bt Sanae OHTA (JPN) 63 62
(7) Prarthana G. THOMBARE (IND) bt Anushka BHARGAVA (IND) 61 60
Varunya WONGTEANCHAI (THA) bt Sai Samhitha CHAMARTHI (IND) 61 62
Barbara LUZ (POR) bt (8) Shweta RANA (IND) 63 62
(2) Prerna BHAMBRI (IND) bt Eetee MAHETA (IND) 62 62

Good win by Bhuvana Kalva against her German opponent ... Rana lost against Portugal girl but otherwise expected results for Indian girls.

Badminton News
At $125K Swiss Open 2013, Basel, Switzerland

[Q1] Tanvi Lad (IND,111) l Shizuka Uchida (JPN,98) 15-21 10-21
[Q1] Thulasi P. C. (IND,125) l Olga Konon (GER,113) 21-19 17-21 16-21
[Q1] Arundhati Pantawane (IND,104) bt Ya Lan Chang (TPE,91) 21-16 21-15
[Q1] Manu Attri (IND)/ Sumeeth Reddy B. (IND) bt Yen Jui Lin (TPE)/ Chih Hao Wang (TPE) 21-13 10-21 21-18

[Q2] Arundhati Pantawane (IND,104) l Sun Yu (CHN,92) 14-21 5-21
[Q2] Manu Attri (IND)/ Sumeeth Reddy B. (IND) l (3) Robert Blair (SCO)/ Bin Shen Tan (MAS) 13-21 27-29

[R1] Sourabh Varma (IND,43) l (14) Dionysius Hayom Rumbaka (INA,25) 21-11 18-21 21-23
[R1] (5) Kashyap Parupalli (IND,9) bt Hsuan Yi Hsueh (TPE,75) 21-7 21-19
[R1] Srikanth K. (IND,) l (4) Jan O Jorgensen (DEN,) 21-10 17-21 13-21
[R1] Prannoy H. S. (IND,97) bt Michael Lahnsteiner (AUT,79) 18-21 21-9 21-12

[R2] Prannoy H. S. (IND,97) vs (7) Boonsak Ponsana (THA,11)
[R2] (5) Kashyap Parupalli (IND,9) vs Dieter Domke (GER,58)
[R1] Sindhu P. V. (IND,16) vs (3) Ji Hyun Sung (KOR,5)
[R1] (1) Saina Nehwal (IND,3) vs Sashina Vignes Waran (FRA,40)

[R1] Akshay Dewalkar (IND)/ Pranaav Jerry Chopra (IND) vs Bodin Issara (THA)/ Sudket Prapakamol (THA)

All ladies singles players and men's doubles pair failed to qualify for main-draw.

Kashyap and Prannoy had winning start but Sourabh lost against his Indonesian opponent after winning the first game ... Sourabh was take early lead in the final game but failed to capitalize on that ... He saved 3 match points but Rumbaka converted 4th match point and avenged his loss at All England.

Hockey News
At Sultan Azlan Shah Cup 2013, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

March 12th, 2013
India bt Pakistan 3-1 (2-1)
Goal Scorers - Rupinder Pal Singh (IND) 6' PC, Akashdeep Singh (IND) 9', Mandeep Singh (IND) 56' and Muhammad Waqas (PAK) 3' PC

Australia dw Malaysia 1-1
New Zealand bt Korea 3-0

India scored their first win against their arch-rival Pakistan in entertaining match ... Pakistan take early lead in 3rd minute through penalty corner conversion by Waqas... But Indians responded by converting their 1st penalty corner in 6th minute through Rupinder Pal Singh and after 3 minutes Akashdeep Singh gave us lead ... Indians kept their lead at half-time with some solid defending by Harbir Singh ... In the second half both teams missed few chances before we increased lead through field goal by Mandeep Singh on rebound in 56 minutes ... We played dangerously inside our own D and conceded total 9 penalty corners but we were lucky as Pakistan managed to score through the first only ... Today Shreejesh was outstanding in front of the goal ... Still famous win for our young team over full Pakistani team.

Tennis News
At $15K USA F7 Futures, Calabasas

[R1] (6) Sanam Singh (IND,316) vs Ji Sung Nam (KOR,474)
[R1] Prakash Amritraj (IND,432) vs Darian King (BAR,486)
[R1] Saketh Myneni (IND,395) vs Juan Carlos Saez (CHI,398)

Doubles
[R1] Saketh Myneni (IND)/ Sanam Singh (IND) vs (1) Carsten Ball (AUS)/ Tennys Sandgren (USA)

Decent draw for our players in the singles of this tough US futures.
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At $10K India F3 Futures, Trichy

Singles First Round
(WC) Patrick CIORCILA (ROU,987) bt (1) Victor CRIVOI (ROU,237) 2-1 Retd.
Sidharth RAWAT (IND,960) bt (WC) Ajai SELVARAJ (IND,1133) 76(3) 62
Maximilian DINSLAKEN (GER,751) bt (Q) Arjun KADHE (IND,1107) 64 62
(7) N. Vijay Sundar PRASHANTH (IND,564) bt (Q) Libor SALABA (CZE,1274) 76(5) 26 62
Claudio FORTUNA (ITA,680) bt (3) Vishnu VARDHAN (IND,345) 75 62
(Q) Mats MORAING (GER,1672) bt (Q) Chih-Jen HO (TPE,1345) 64 64
Filippo LEONARDI (ITA,732) bt Caio SILVA (BRA,769) 64 62
(6) Vijayant MALIK (IND,541) bt (WC) Jatin DAHIYA (IND,1468) 60 61
(5) Ranjeet VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND,526) bt Giulio TORRONI (ITA,731) 61 62
Laslo URRUTIA FUENTES (CHI,832) bt Ashwin VIJAYRAGAVAN (IND,792) 64 63
(Q) Elwin ANTONY (IND,1496) bt Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND,795) 64 64
(4) Thales TURINI (BRA,441) bt (Q) Vignesh VEERABADRAN (IND,1460) 61 62
(8) Augusto LARANJA (BRA,621) bt Austin KAROSI (USA,966) 64 61
(LL) Fariz MOHAMMED (IND,1895) bt (Q) Chandril SOOD (IND,1114) 64 64
(Q) Ting Yu CHUANG (TPE,1221) bt (WC) Vignesh PERANAMALLUR (IND,1194) 64 62
(PR) Tak Khunn WANG (FRA,UNR) bt (2) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND,325) 63 61

Doubles First Round
(1) Caio SILVA (BRA)/ Ranjeet VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND) bt Ting Yu CHUANG (TPE)/ Chih-Jen HO (TPE) 61 64
(WC) Elwin ANTONY (IND)/ Fariz MOHAMMED (IND) bt Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND)/ Ashwin VIJAYRAGAVAN (IND) vs 63 76(4)
(4) N. Vijay Sundar PRASHANTH (IND)/ Vignesh PERANAMALLUR (IND) bt Libor SALABA (CZE)/ Tak Khunn WANG (FRA) 76(1) 61
Filippo LEONARDI (ITA)/ Giulio TORRONI (ITA) bt Kunal ANAND (IND)/ Ajai SELVARAJ (IND) 76(7) 63
Patrick CIORCILA (ROU)/ Victor CRIVOI (ROU) bt Sagar MANJANNA (IND)/ Chandril SOOD (IND) 62 64
(3) Maximilian DINSLAKEN (GER)/ Laslo URRUTIA FUENTES (CHI) bt (WC) Ronak MANUJA (IND)/ Abhijeet TIWARI (IND) 75 76(6)
(WC) Jui-Chen HUNG (TPE)/ Petar TOMIC (SRB) bt Mats MORAING (GER)/ Tom SCHONENBERG (GER) walkover
(2) Augusto LARANJA (BRA)/ Thales TURINI (BRA) bt Jatin DAHIYA (IND)/ Sidharth RAWAT (IND) 64 62

Vishnu lost in straight sets against his Italian opponent ... Wang scored dominating win over Balaji and completed 3 wins in 3 weeks.
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At $10K ITF Women's Tournament, Hyderabad

Singles First Round
(1) Rishika SUNKARA (IND) bt Pia KONIG (AUT) 64 61
Sowjanya BAVISETTI (IND) bt Nithya Raj BABU RAJ (IND) 61 60
Bhuvana KALVA (IND) bt Smriti JOON (IND) 62 61
Michaela FRLICKA (GER) bt (6) Ho Ching WU (HKG) 57 76(2) 64
(3) Ankita RAINA (IND) bt Sharmada BALU (IND) 61 63
Napatsakorn SANKAEW (THA) bt Shivika BURMAN (IND) 75 76(2)
Sanae OHTA (JPN) bt Jeni PATEL (IND) 75 61
(5) Nidhi CHILUMULA (IND) bt Manya NAGPAL (IND) 64 61
(7) Prarthana G. THOMBARE (IND) bt Vaniya DANGWAL (IND) 64 60
Anushka BHARGAVA (IND) bt Tarrannum HANDA (IND) 16 75 64
Sai Samhitha CHAMARTHI (IND) bt Ambika PANDE (IND) Retd.
Varunya WONGTEANCHAI (THA) bt (4) Tereza MALIKOVA (CZE) 16 63 61
(8) Shweta RANA (IND) bt Natasha PALHA (IND) 64 64
Barbara LUZ (POR) bt Zainab ALI SAJJAD (IND) 64 60
Eetee MAHETA (IND) bt Sharon Sanchana PAUL (IND) 64 63
(2) Prerna BHAMBRI (IND) bt Anjana KOMPALLY (IND) 61 62

Expected results for Indians.

Hockey News
At Women's World League 2013, Rotterdam, Netherlands

Group A
Netherlands, Korea, Japan, Chile

Group B
New Zealand, Germany, India, Belgium

FIH announced Women's World League Semi-Finals Groups ... Indian women r playing Rotterdam with Netherlands, New Zealand, Germany, Korea, Japan, Belgium and Chile ... The Hockey World League Semi-Final tournament in Rotterdam will be held from June 13-23, 2013.

WR #12 Indian women r in Group B with WR #3 New Zealand, WR #5 Germany, WR #13 Belgium.

Hockey News
At Sultan Azlan Shah Cup 2013, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

March 10th, 2013
India l South Korea 1-2 (0-1)
Goal Scorers - Malak Singh (IND) 38' and Kang Moon Kwean (KOR) 28' PC and 60'

Australia bt Pakistan 6-0
Malaysia bt New Zealand 2-1

Young Indian side failed to score from numerous chances despite playing some good hockey, mainly in the second half ... Our forwardline struggled with finish inside the D ... Rupinder Pal Singh had bad day as he wasted 6 penalty corners ... South Koreans take full advantage of Indians error-prone game and scored their first victory.

Tennis News
At $5.03M Indian Wells Masters, USA

Turned to be bad Masters tournament for Indians ... Lee pulled out from this tournament after Sania, Rohan and Mahesh's first round losses
-----------------------------------------------------------
At $10K India F2 Futures, Madurai,

Singles Final
(1) Victor CRIVOI (ROU,236) bt (7) N. Vijay Sunder PRASHANTH (IND,563) 61 61

Victor Crivoi proved too strong for Vijay Sunder in the final.

Badminton News
At $400K All England Badminton Championships 2013, Birmingham (Super Series Premier)

[SF] (2) Saina Nehwal (IND,3) l (8) Ratchanok Intanon (THA,8) 15-21 19-21

Saina blew big opportunity of lifting All England title ... She lost against Thai Ratchanok in straight games in 40 minutes ... Saina had a best chance as all Chinese players lost before semi-final ... In the first game from 4-6 down Saina won next 6 points to lead 10-6 ... But Ratchanok retake lead after winning next 6 points, 12-10, though Saina caught with her at 13-all ... Ratchanok retake 16-13 lead which Saina reduced to 15-16 ... Ratchanok won next 5 points and game ... In the second game from 3-5 Ratchanok take 8-5 lead ... Saina manged to reduce it to 9-10 but after that Ratchanok opened 4 points lead ... From 14-18 down Saina managed to reduce it to 17-18 but Ratchanok kept her advantage and converted 2nd game point for excellent win.

Hockey News
At Sultan Azlan Shah Cup 2013, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

March 9th, 2013
India l Australia 3-4 (0-1)
Goal Scorers - Rupinder Pal Singh (IND) 40' PC and 68' PC, Malak Singh (IND) 51' and Matt Gohdes (AUS) 24' PC and 39', Glenn Simpson (AUS) 38' PC, Trent Milton (AUS) 53' PC

Pakistan bt New Zealand 4-3 (3-1)
Malaysia bt Korea 3-2 (1-0)

Young Indian side gave spirited performance against young Australian side ... Australian side scored 2 goals in 2 minutes due to some poor defending by Indians which was turning point ... Still after 0-3 down Indian boys fought back and reduced the margin to 2-3 but again Australians scored through penalty corner ... Rupinder Pal converted penalty corner but it was too late.

Tennis News
At $5.03M Indian Wells Masters, USA

[R1] (3) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Daniel Nestor (CAN) l Feliciano Lopez (ESP)/ Milos Raonic (CAN) 46 67(4)

Mahesh and Daniel lost against Lopez and Raonic in straight sets ... In the first set with a single break Lopez and Raonic won the first set ... In the second set both pair had break point chances but failed to convert but again Lopez and Raonic proved strong in tie-break.
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At $35K Kyoto Challenger, Japan


Doubles Final
(1) Divij Sharan (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) bt (2) Chris Guccione (AUS)/ Matt Reid (AUS) 64 75

Divij and Purav lifted their first challenger title of the season ... In the final they defeated 2nd seed Aussie pair in straight sets ... In the first set our pair didn't face a single break point and they converted one from three chances ... In the second set Aussie pair early break to lead 3-0 but after that our pair fought back ... They broke back to make it 4-all and then take crucial break in 11th game and then hold their serve comfortably for this title victory in an hour.
-----------------------------------------------------------
At $10K India F2 Futures, Madurai,

Singles Semi Finals
(1) Victor CRIVOI (ROU,236) bt Filippo LEONARDI (ITA,734) 61 62
(7) N. Vijay Sunder PRASHANTH (IND,563) bt (3) Jeevan NEDUNCHEZHIYAN (IND,420) 64 4-5 Retd.

Doubles Final
(1) Caio SILVA (BRA)/ Ranjeet VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND) bt Patrick CIORCILA (ROU)/ Victor CRIVOI (ROU) 64 26 11-9

Jeevan retired from the match hopefully due to tiredness and not any injury worry ... In the final Vijay Sunder is facing top-seed Romanian.

Ranjeet won the doubles title with his Brazilian partner in close match tie-break against Romanian pair.

Badminton News
At $400K All England Badminton Championships 2013, Birmingham (Super Series Premier)

[QF] Kashyap Parupalli (IND,9) l (2) Long Chen (CHN,2) 16-21 10-21
[QF] (2) Saina Nehwal (IND,3) bt (6) Shixian Wang (CHN,6) 23-21 19-21

[SF] (2) Saina Nehwal (IND,3) vs (8) Ratchanok Intanon (THA,8)

Saina won see-saw battle against Shixian in long 73 minutes match and maintained her positive winning record against her ... In the first game Shixian take early 7-3 lead but Saina made it 7-all ... After that both players were neck to neck until 16-all ... This time Saina opened 3 points lead, 19-16, but Shixian caught her at 19-all ... Both players saved one game point each before Saina converted her second game point and winning the first game in extra points ... In the second game Shixian opened 6-1 then 7-2 lead but Saina caught with her at 8-all ... Shixian again opened 13-8 lead after winning 5 points in a row ... Saina responded strongly winning next 9 points to lead 17-13 and then 18-15 ... Shixian won next 4 points to lead 19-18 and then she won next 2 points from 19-all to take the second game ... In the decider both players were neck to neck until 7-all before Saina winning 7 points in a row to lead 13-7 ... After that Saina didn't give much chance to Shixian for fight back ... Shixian managed to reduce lead to 12-15 but Saina didn't lose the control of the game ... She converted 2nd match point for good victory ... Next Saina is facing young Thai Ratchanok Intanon ... In their last meeting in December at BWF Superseries Finals 2012, Ratchanok defeated Saina easily.

Kashyap failed to produce much fight against Chen ... Chen won it comfortably in 43 minutes.

Tennis News
At $5.03M Indian Wells Masters, USA

[R1] (8) Bethanie Mattek-Sands (USA)/ Sania Mirza (IND) l Lisa Raymond (USA)/ Samantha Stosur (AUS) 76(8) 36 6-10
[R1] Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Rajeev Ram (USA) l Lukasz Kubot (POL)/ Janko Tipsarevic (SRB) 46 67(4)

Sania and Bethanie won the first set in very long tie-break but after that they failed to keep momentum against experienced Raymond and Stosur ... Raymond and Stosur won the second set with a break and then comfortably won match tie-break.

Rohan and Rajeev's pairing is struggling to make mark on the tour ... Here also they lost in straight sets against singles specialist Tipsarevic and Kubot ... After losing the first set they take the second in tie-break but failed to win it.
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At $35K Kyoto Challenger, Japan

[SF] (1) Divij Sharan (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) bt Andrea Arnaboldi (ITA)/ Dominik Meffert (GER) 76(4) 64

[F] (1) Divij Sharan (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) vs (2) Chris Guccione (AUS)/ Matt Reid (AUS)

Divij and Purav r in the final at Kyoto challenger and facing 2nd seed Australian pair in the final ... After winning the first set in tie-break our pair won the second set with single break.
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At $10K India F2 Futures, Madurai,

Singles Quarter Finals
(1) Victor CRIVOI (ROU,236) bt (Q) Tom SCHONENBERG (GER,1066) 75 63
Filippo LEONARDI (ITA,734) bt Claudio FORTUNA (ITA,686) 5-0 Retd.
(3) Jeevan NEDUNCHEZHIYAN (IND,420) bt (6) Vijayant MALIK (IND,541) 60 63
(7) N. Vijay Sunder PRASHANTH (IND,563) bt (PR) Tak Khunn WANG (FRA,UNR) 64 63

Doubles Semi Finals
(1) Caio SILVA (BRA)/ Ranjeet VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND) bt (4) Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND)/ Ashwin VIJAYRAGAVAN (IND) 62 36 13-11
Patrick CIORCILA (ROU)/ Victor CRIVOI (ROU) bt Filippo LEONARDI (ITA)/ Giulio TORRONI (ITA) 64 75

Vijay Sunder scored big win over in-form Frenchman Wang in straight sets ... Expected win for Jeevan.

Badminton News
At $400K All England Badminton Championships 2013, Birmingham (Super Series Premier)

[R2] (Q) Sourabh Varma (IND,43) l (8) Tien Minh Nguyen (VIE,8) 19-21 19-21
[R2] Kashyap Parupalli (IND,9) bt (7) Kenichi Tago (JPN,6) 21-18 21-12
[R2] Sindhu P. V. (IND,16) l (4) Juliane Schenk (GER,4) 17-21 14-21
[R2] (2) Saina Nehwal (IND,3) bt (Q) Belaetrix Manuputi (INA,41) 21-16 21-11

[R2] Diju V. (IND)/ Jwala Gutta (IND) l (8) Robert Mateusiak (POL)/ Nadiezda Zieba (POL) 17-21 16-21

[QF] Kashyap Parupalli (IND,9) vs (2) Long Chen (CHN,2)
[QF] (2) Saina Nehwal (IND,3) vs (6) Shixian Wang (CHN,6)

In the first game Nguyen take early lead over Sourabh which he extended to 14-8 but Sourabh fought back and take 17-16 lead ... Nguyen won last 2 points from 19-all to captured the first game ... Same happened in the second game as Nguyen take early 4-1 lead which he extended to 10-5 then 17-11 ... This time also Sourabh caught with him at 18-all ... After that Sourabh saved a match point at 18-20 but Nguyen converted 2nd match point for close win in 42 minutes.

Kashyap scored impressive win over WR #6 Japanese Kenichi Tago in 37 minutes ... In the first game Kashyap take early 6-3 lead but Tago caught with him at 7-all ... Again Kashyap take lead but this time also Tago caught with him at 13-all ... Kashyap take 18-15 lead but again Tago caught with him at 18-all ... Kashyap won the first game after winning next 3 points ... In the second game Kashyap opned 7 points lead after winning 6 points in a row from 4-3, 10-3 ... After that Kashyap never lose the grip of the match and won this game comfortably ... Next he is facing WR #2 Long Chen, Kashyap defeated him in their last meeting at Indonesian Super Series 2012.

Sindhu started confidently take 5-1 lead but Schenk caught her at 6-all ... First time Schenk take lead in this game when she won 5 points in a row from 12-15 ... Sindhu managed to make it 17-all but after that Schenk won next 4 points for winning this game ... After early leads exchange Schenk opened 12-8 lead after winning 5 points in a row ... Schenk managed to keep that lead and won this game more convincingly.

Saina scored expected comfortable win against Indonesian qualifier ... In the first game Saina take early lead but Manuputi managed to make it 12-all after Saina's errors ... But after 13-all Saina take control and won this game losing another only 3 points ... More polished performance by Saina in the second game ... She take 7-1 lead after winning 7 points in a row which she increased to 12-2 ... Saina won this game comfortably ... In the quarters she is facing her favorite Wang, Shixian Wang ... Saina is having 3-1 win-loss record against her.

Jwala and Diju lost against Polish pair in straight games ... In their last meeting Jwala and Diju defeated same pair convincingly but they failed to repeat same performance here.

Tennis News
At $5.03M Indian Wells Masters, USA

Doubles
[R1] (3) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Daniel Nestor (CAN) vs Feliciano Lopez (ESP)/ Milos Raonic (CAN)
[R1] Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Rajeev Ram (USA) vs Lukasz Kubot (POL)/ Janko Tipsarevic (SRB)
[R1] (7) Jurgen Melzer (AUT)/ Leander Paes (IND) vs Benoit Paire (FRA)/ Stanislas Wawrinka (SUI)

Draw is out for men's doubles ... Rohan and Rajeev r in top draw ... They can face 8th seed Polish pair in the second round ... Our other 2 pairs r in bottom draw but in different half ... Lee and Jurgen can face 2nd seed Spanish pair in the quarters ... Mahesh and Daniel can face 5th seed Lindstedt and Zimo in the quarters.
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At $35K Kyoto Challenger, Japan

[QF] (1) Divij Sharan (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) bt (ALT) Yuichi Ito (JPN)/ Takuto Niki (JPN) 6363
[QF] Yuki BHambri (IND)/ Yasutaka Uchiyama (JPN) l (2) Chris Guccione (AUS)/ Matt Reid (AUS) 67(2) 67(2)

[SF] (1) Divij Sharan (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) vs Andrea Arnaboldi (ITA)/ Dominik Meffert (GER)

Divij and Purav r in the semis with easy straight sets victory over local pair ... Next they r facing experienced pairing of Arnaboldi and Meffert.

In the first set Yuki and Yasutaka had 5 break points which they failed to convert and then lost the set in tie-break ... In the second set both pairs broke opponents once and in tie-break Yuki and Yasutaka take early mini-break but failed to keep that advantage ... They saved couple of match points but Aussie pair converted 3rd match point.
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At $10K India F2 Futures, Madurai,

Singles Second Round
(1) Victor CRIVOI (ROU,236) bt Laslo URRUTIA FUENTES (CHI,832) 63 63
(Q) Tom SCHONENBERG (GER,1066) bt (Q) Patrick CIORCILA (ROU,980) 76(6) 36 64
Filippo LEONARDI (ITA,734) bt (4) Thales TURINI (BRA,436) 57 64 63
Claudio FORTUNA (ITA,686) bt (5) Ranjit VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND,506) 46 63 75
(6) Vijayant MALIK (IND,541) bt (Q) Vinod SRIDHAR (IND,UNR) 61 46 64
(3) Jeevan NEDUNCHEZHIYAN (IND,420) bt Giulio TORRONI (ITA,733) 63 64
(7) N. Vijay Sunder PRASHANTH (IND,563) bt Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND,794) 63 61
(PR) Tak Khunn WANG (FRA,UNR) bt Maximilian DINSLAKEN (GER,748) 63 62

Doubles Quarter Finals
(1) Caio SILVA (BRA)/ Ranjeet VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND) bt Mats MORAING (GER)/ Arata ONOZAWA (JPN) 62 36 11-9
(4) Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND)/ Ashwin VIJAYRAGAVAN (IND) bt Maximilian DINSLAKEN (GER)/ Tom SCHONENBERG (GER) 64 64
Patrick CIORCILA (ROU)/ Victor CRIVOI (ROU) bt (3) N. Vijay Sundar PRASHANTH (IND)/ Ajai SELVARAJ (IND) 76(4) 63
Filippo LEONARDI (ITA)/ Giulio TORRONI (ITA) bt Chandril SOOD (IND)/ Abhijeet TIWARI (IND) 62 75

Jeevan needed to win 2 matches in a row as yesterday was wasted due to rain ... Only Vijayant and Vijay Sunder managed to join Jeevan in the quarters.

Badminton News
At $400K All England Badminton Championships 2013, Birmingham (Super Series Premier)

[R1] Ajay Jayaram (IND,32) l Zhengming Wang (CHN,19) 21-15 18-21 10-21
[R1] (Q) Sourabh Varma (IND,42) bt Dionysius Hayom Rumbaka (INA,26) 10-21 21-14 24-22
[R1] Kashyap Parupalli (IND,11) bt Jen Hao Hsu (TPE,31) 21-17 21-18
[R1] Sindhu P. V. (IND,16) bt Busanan Ongbumrungpan (THA,17) 21-13 21-18
[R1] (2) Saina Nehwal (IND,2) bt Sapsiree Taerattanachai (THA,20) 21-8 18-21 21-16

[R1] Tarun Kona (IND)/ Ashwini Ponnappa (IND) l Fran Kurniawan (INA)/ Shendy Puspa Irawati (INA) 18-21 10-21
[R1] (Q) Akshay Dewalkar (IND)/ Pradnya Gadre (IND) l Jian Guo Ong (MAS)/ Yin Loo Lim (MAS) 8-21 13-21
[R1] Diju V. (IND)/ Jwala Gutta (IND) bt Peter Kaesbauer (GER)/ Isabel Herttrich (GER) 21-9 21-17

[R2] (Q) Sourabh Varma (IND,43) vs (8) Tien Minh Nguyen (VIE,9)
[R2] Kashyap Parupalli (IND,11) vs (7) Kenichi Tago (JPN,6)
[R2] Sindhu P. V. (IND,16) vs (4) Juliane Schenk (GER,4)
[R2] (2) Saina Nehwal (IND,2) vs (Q) Belaetrix Manuputi (INA,41)

[R2] Diju V. (IND)/ Jwala Gutta (IND) vs (8) Robert Mateusiak (POL)/ Nadiezda Zieba (POL)

Sapsiree Taerattanachai stretched Saina to three games ... Saina won the first game easily but Sapsiree fought back and won close second game ... Saina kept her focus in the third and won the match ... Next she is facing Indonesian qualifier ... Top-seed Xuerui Li lost in the first round against Korean Yeon Ju Bae.

Sindhu scored comfortable win over her Thai opponent Busanan Ongbumrungpan ... Next she is facing WR #4 Juliane Schenk ... After injury break Kashyap was playing his first match ... He played crucial points well enough to win his match in straight games ... Next he is facing WR #6 Japanese Kenichi Tago.

Sourabh continued with his upset wins ... He defeated Indonesian Rumbaka in three games ... Rumbaka take 7-0 lead and won the first game easily ... In the second game Sourabh take early 4-1 lead which he kept increasing 13-5 then 15-8 ... Rumbaka saved 3 game points from 11-20 but Sourabh converted 4th game point ... In the third game Sourabh take 8-2 lead winning 6 points in a row but Rumbaka fought back winning next 5 points, 7-8 ... After that Sourabh take 10-7 then 14-11 and 18-16 lead but all the time Rumbaka caught him ... Sourabh had 3 match points at 20-17 but Rumbaka won next 4 points to lead 21-10 ... Sourabh also scored 2 match points before converting 4th match point for winning this match in an hour ... Next he is facing WR #9 Vietnamese Tien Minh Nguyen.

Jwala and Diju played their first match after London Olympics and scored comfortable win over German pair ... Next they r facing 8th seed Polish pair ... Our other two mixed doubles pair lost easily against their respective Asian pairs.

Football News
At AFC Challenge Cup qualifiers 2014, Yangon, Myanmar

Pool A
India l Myanmar 0-1
Goal Scored - Soe Min Oo (MYA) 75'

We needed only draw for topping the group and qualifying for the AFC challenge cup as Taipei side hold Myanmar in their previous match ... But our team failed miserably against host nation ... We missed many chances in both half and Soe Min Oo scored only goal of the match when 15 minutes were remains ... Now our team need to hope they r lucky enough to qualify as second best team from 2nd place five teams from other groups.

Tennis News
At $5.03M Indian Wells Masters, USA

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

Women's doubles draw is out, Sania and Bethanie r in bottom draw with 2nd seed Czech pair ... They r 8th seed but having tricky first round against good pairing of former WR #1 Lisa Raymond and Samantha Stosur.
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At $35K Kyoto Challenger, Japan

[R2] Yuki Bhambri (IND,266) l (6) Michal Przysiezny (POL,178) 76(4) 36 57

Doubles
[R1] (1) Divij Sharan (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) bt Liang-Chi Huang (TPE)/ Suk-Young Jeong (KOR) 61 63

[QF] (1) Divij Sharan (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) vs (ALT) Yuichi Ito (JPN)/ Takuto Niki (JPN)
[QF] Yuki BHambri (IND)/ Yasutaka Uchiyama (JPN) vs (2) Chris Guccione (AUS)/ Matt Reid (AUS)

Both players were holding their service games at ease ... Like the way Yuki was serving in this match ... In tie-break Yuki take mini-breaks on 5th and 9th points to lead 6-3 ... Przysiezny take one mini-break on 10th point but Yuki won next point on his serve and won the first set ... Yuki started to struggle in on his serve in the second set ... Yuki saved 2 break points from 15-40 in 3rd game but lost his serve in 5th game from 40-15 ... Michal again broke Yuki in 9th game and won the second set with double break ... In the final set first time in the match Yuki had break point on Michal's serve in 1st game ... But Michal hold with huge serving, then in 3rd game also Yuki take it to deuce ... This time also Michal hold with huge serving ... After that both players holding their service games comfortably ... But in 12th game while serving for staying in the match Yuki failed to hold his serve.

Comfortable winning start for top-seed Purav and Divij ... Next they r facing local pair ... Yuki and his Japnese partner r facing 2nd seed Aussie pair.

Badminton News
At $400K All England Badminton Championships 2013, Birmingham (Super Series Premier)

[Q1] Anand Pawar (IND,51) l (1) Rajiv Ouseph (ENG,34) 22-20 21-23 7-21
[Q1] Sourabh Varma (IND,42) bt Brice Leverdez (FRA,49) 22-20 23-21
[Q1] Gurusaidutt R. M. V. (IND,37) l (4) Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk (THA,39) 17-21 21-13 10-21

[Q1] Pranaav Jerry Chopra (IND)/ Akshay Dewalkar (IND) bt Adam Cwalina (POL)/ Przemyslaw Wacha (POL) 21-18 21-15
[Q1] (2) Tarun Kona (IND)/ Arun Vishnu (IND) l Bodin Issara (THA)/ Pakkawat Vilailak (THA) 16-21 18-21
[Q1] (4) Ashwini Ponnappa (IND)/ Pradnya Gadre (IND) bt Sarah Thomas (WAL)/ Carissa Turner (WAL) 21-8 21-12
[Q1] Arun Vishnu (IND)/ Aparna Balan (IND) l (3) Sang Joon Lee (KOR)/ So Young Kim (KOR) 21-19 9-21 19-21
[Q1] Akshay Dewalkar (IND)/ Pradnya Gadre (IND) bt Chia Bin Lu (TPE)/ Ya Lan Chang (TPE) 21-12 21-13

[Q2] Sourabh Varma (IND,42) bt (1) Rajiv Ouseph (ENG,34) 21-13 21-18

[Q2] Pranaav Jerry Chopra (IND)/ Akshay Dewalkar (IND) l Bodin Issara (THA)/ Pakkawat Vilailak (THA) 14-21 10-21
[Q2] (4) Ashwini Ponnappa (IND)/ Pradnya Gadre (IND) l Lauren Smith (ENG)/ Gabrielle White (ENG) 13-21 13-21
[Q2] Akshay Dewalkar (IND)/ Pradnya Gadre (IND) bt Chun Hei Lee (HKG)/ Hoi Wah Chau (HKG) 22-24 21-14 21-18

[R1] (Q) Sourabh Varma (IND,42) vs Dionysius Hayom Rumbaka (INA,26)
[R1] (Q) Akshay Dewalkar (IND)/ Pradnya Gadre (IND) vs Jian Guo Ong (MAS)/ Yin Loo Lim (MAS)

Anand missed big chance of upsetting Rajiv Ouseph ... In the first two games Anand was taking lead and then Rajiv were catching him ... Still Anand won the first game after converting 2nd game point ... In the second game at one time Anand had 16-11 lead but Rajiv fought back winning next 5 points ... Anand saved a game point at 19-20 but then he failed to convert match point at 21-20 ... Rajiv converted 2nd game point ... In the final game Anand failed to raise his game and lost it tamely (may be fitness issue in long matches).

Arun and Aparna won the close first game but in the second game seeded Korean pair runaway and won it comfortably ... In the final game both pairs were neck to neck but Koreans opened 3 points lead after winning 5 points from 8-10 ... Arun and Aparna managed to catch them at 15-all ... Koreans take 19-17 lead but again Indian pair made it 19-all but Koreans converted first match point and won this long 53 minutes match.

In the other match Sourabh was falling behind in the early stage but the take big 19-13 lead ... Leverdez won next 6 points to make it 19-all but Sourabh converted 2nd game point ... In the second game also both players went neck to neck, whenever someone take 2/3 points lead then other player was catching him ... Sourabh failed to convert match point at 20-19 but then he also saved a game point at 20-21 ... Sourabh won next 3 points converting 2nd match point for this tight 41 minutes victory.

Guru lost his match against Thai opponent ... After losing the first game Guru fought back and won the second game comfortably ... Guru failed to keep momentum in the final game and lost thisa game winning only 10 points.

Tarun and Arun lost in straight games against lower ranked Thai pair in the first qualifying round.

Ashwini and Pradnya started confidently and won the first qualifying match losing only 20 points against Wales pair ... But they failed to repeat same performance against local pair in the final qualifying ... They lost their match against British pair without giving much fight.

Akshay and Pradnya entered as alternate pairing mixed doubles qualifying ... In the first qualifying they defeated higher ranked Taipei pair comfortably in straight games ... In the final qualifying they faced another higher ranked Hong Kong pair ... After losing the first game in extra points Akshay and Pradnya gave solid performance to win next two games ... In the main-draw they r facing Malaysian pair.

Pranaav and Akshay won their men's doubles qualifying match against Polish pair in straight game but in the final qualifying match Thai pair proved too strong for them.

In the final qualifying match Sourabh faced top-seed Rajiv ... In the first game from 4-7 Rajiv won next 8 points to lead 12-7 but after that Sourabh won 12 points in a row to take 19-12 lead ... Sourabh won this game losing another point ... In the second game from 3-6 down Sourabh won 6 points in a row to take 9-6 lead ... After that Sourabh kept his lead throughout the game ... Rajiv tried fightback after wining 3 points in a row from 14-19 but Sourabh kept his cool and completed victory in 33 minutes ... Good draw for Sourabh as he is facing WR #26 Indonesian Dionysius Hayom Rumbak.

Prajakta Sawant failed to get visa so Jwala withdrew from women's doubles qualifying ... Also Sai skipped this tournament.

Tennis News
At $5.03M Indian Wells Masters, USA

[Q1] (PR) Somdev Devvarman (IND,250) l (23) Matteo Viola (ITA,123) 26 26

Somi had a decent draw in Indian Wells qualifying against in-form Italian Viola ... But in this match Somi struggled with his service games ... He lost his service games six times and broke opponent's twice ... One of poor show from Somi after long time.
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At $35K Kyoto Challenger, Japan

[R1] Yuki Bhambri (IND,266) bt Liang-Chi Huang (TPE,315) 64 62

[R2] Yuki Bhambri (IND,266) vs (6) Michal Przysiezny (POL,178)

Doubles
[R1] Yuki BHambri (IND)/ Yasutaka Uchiyama (JPN) bt (ALT) Hiroyasu Ehara (JPN)/ Shuichi Sekiguchi (JPN) 62 76(3)

Yuki started cautiously and in the first set he played without taking much risk ... Simply played average tennis keeping ball into play ... Take crucial break in 10th game and then dominated the second set ... He broke Huang twice before winning the first round match ... Next he is facing 6th seed Polish Przysiezny.

In the doubles also Yuki had winning start with his partner against local alternate pair.
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At $10K India F2 Futures, Madurai,

Singles First Round
(1) Victor CRIVOI (ROU,236) bt Sidharth RAWAT (IND,936) 63 61
Laslo URRUTIA FUENTES (CHI,832) bt (Q) Ting Yu CHUANG (TPE,1221) 64 62
(Q) Patrick CIORCILA (ROU,980) bt (Q) Shahbaaz KHAN (IND,UNR) 63 62
(Q) Tom SCHONENBERG (GER,1066) bt (8) Arata ONOZAWA (JPN,616) 60 76(4)
(4) Thales TURINI (BRA,436) bt (WC) Vivek SHOKEEN (IND,1072) 4-0 Retd.
Filippo LEONARDI (ITA,734) bt (WC) Ajai SELVARAJ (IND,1127) 64 36 63
Claudio FORTUNA (ITA,686) bt (Q) Kunal ANAND (IND,1379) 60 75
(5) Ranjit VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND,506) bt (Q) Libor SALABA (CZE,1245) 62 62
(6) Vijayant MALIK (IND,541) bt Austin KAROSI (USA,963) 62 75
(Q) Vinod SRIDHAR (IND,UNR) bt (Q) Rakshay THAKKAR (IND,1551) 62 63
Giulio TORRONI (ITA,733) bt Caio SILVA (BRA,761) 5-1 Retd.
(3) Jeevan NEDUNCHEZHIYAN (IND,420) bt Ashwin VIJAYRAGAVAN (IND,792) 61 75
(7) N. Vijay Sunder PRASHANTH (IND,563) bt (WC) Elwin ANTONY (IND,1494) 60 67(6) 63
Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND,794) bt Augusto LARANJA (BRA,628) 61 26 62
Maximilian DINSLAKEN (GER,748) bt (WC) Chandril SOOD (IND,1111) 61 61
(PR) Tak Khunn WANG (FRA,UNR) bt (2) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND,313) 64 67(6) 64

Doubles First Round
(1) Caio SILVA (BRA)/ Ranjeet VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND) bt Claudio FORTUNA (ITA)/ Allan Gomes OLIVEIRA (BRA) 62 46 10-7
Mats MORAING (GER)/ Arata ONOZAWA (JPN) bt Kunal ANAND (IND)/ Jatin DAHIYA (IND) 75 60
(4) Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND)/ Ashwin VIJAYRAGAVAN (IND) bt Sagar MANJANNA (IND) / Rakshay THAKKAR (IND) 75 62
Maximilian DINSLAKEN (GER)/ Tom SCHONENBERG (GER) bt Libor SALABA (CZE)/ Tak Khunn WANG (FRA) 75 36 10-4
Patrick CIORCILA (ROU)/ Victor CRIVOI (ROU) bt Elwin ANTONY (IND)/ Fariz MOHAMMED (IND) 76(5) 62
(3) N. Vijay Sundar PRASHANTH (IND)/ Ajai SELVARAJ (IND) bt Austin KAROSI (USA)/ Laslo URRUTIA FUENTES (CHI) 61 76(6)
Chandril SOOD (IND)/ Abhijeet TIWARI (IND) bt Vijayant MALIK (IND)/ Vivek SHOKEEN (IND) 64 75
Filippo LEONARDI (ITA)/ Giulio TORRONI (ITA) bt (2) Augusto LARANJA (BRA) / Thales TURINI (BRA) 62 46 10-8

Good upset win from Ramkumar against higher ranked Brazilian opponent in three sets ... Balaji also gave fighting performance against Wang.

Football News
At AFC Challenge Cup qualifiers 2014, Yangon, Myanmar

Pool A
India bt Guam 4-0 (0-0)
Goal Scored - Sunil Chhetri 49' and 90+', Clifford Miranda (IND) 67', Jewel Raja (IND) 80'

Not so impressive performance against lowly ranked Guam ... Our team won 4-0 and all goals scored in the second half ... Myanmar defeated Guam in their first match 5-0.

Badminton News
At $400K All England Badminton Championships 2013, Birmingham (Super Series Premier)

[Q1] Anand Pawar (IND,51) vs (1) Rajiv Ouseph (ENG,34)
[Q1] Sourabh Varma (IND,42) vs Brice Leverdez (FRA,49)
[Q1] Sai Praneeth B. (IND,55) vs Suppanyu Avihingsanon (THA,52)
[Q1] Gurusaidutt R. M. V. (IND,37) vs (4) Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk (THA,39)

[Q1] Pranaav Jerry Chopra (IND)/ Akshay Dewalkar (IND) vs Adam Cwalina (POL)/ Przemyslaw Wacha (POL)
[Q1] (2) Tarun Kona (IND)/ Arun Vishnu (IND) vs Bodin Issara (THA)/ Pakkawat Vilailak (THA)
[Q1] (4) Ashwini Ponnappa (IND)/ Pradnya Gadre (IND) vs Sarah Thomas (WAL)/ Carissa Turner (WAL)
[Q1] Jwala Gutta (IND)/ Prajakta Sawant (IND) vs Serithammarak Artima (THA)/ Peeraya Munkitamorn (THA)
[Q1] Arun Vishnu (IND)/ Aparna Balan (IND) vs (3) Sang Joon Lee (KOR)/ So Young Kim (KOR)

[R1] Ajay Jayaram (IND,32) vs Zhengming Wang (CHN,19)
[R1] Kashyap Parupalli (IND,11) vs Jen Hao Hsu (TPE,31)
[R1] Sindhu P. V. (IND,16) vs Busanan Ongbumrungpan (THA,17)
[R1] (2) Saina Nehwal (IND,2) vs Sapsiree Taerattanachai (THA,20)

[R1] Tarun Kona (IND)/ Ashwini Ponnappa (IND) vs Fran Kurniawan (INA)/ Shendy Puspa Irawati (INA)
[R1] Diju V. (IND)/ Jwala Gutta (IND) vs Peter Kaesbauer (GER)/ Isabel Herttrich (GER)

As expected big Indian contingent for All England ... Hoping better performance by Saina in this prestigious tournament.

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


Doubles Final
Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Michael Llodra (FRA) bt (3) Robert Lindstedt (SWE)/ Nenad Zimonjic (SRB) 76(6) 76(6)

Mahesh won his fifth Dubai Championship (interestingly) with fifth different partner ... In the final he and Llodra defeated 3rd seed Lindstedt and Zimo in two tight tie-breaks ... 52nd doubles title for Mahesh and 25th for Llodra.

Mahesh and Llodra had couple of break points in 1st game on Lindstedt's serve but failed to convert it ... Mahesh failed to hold his serve in 4th game but Mahesh and Llodra broke Lindstedt saving set point when he was serving for the set at 5-3 ... In tie-break Lindstedt and Zoma had 3 set points at 6-3 but Mahesh and Llodra won next 5 points for winning this set ... The second set went in tie-break without any service break ... In tie-break after 1-3 down Mahesh and Llodra won next 4 points but this time Lindstedt and Zimo fought back and had set point at 6-5 ... Mahesh and Llodra won next 3 points for completing well fought title win.
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At $50K Sydney 1 Challenger, Australia

[SF] (3) Divij Sharan (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) l Alex Bolt (AUS)/ Nick Kyrgios (AUS) 67(3) 46

Divij and Purav lost in the semis against Australian youngsters.
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At $10K India F1 Futures, Chennai

Singles Final
(3) Jeevan NEDUNCHEZHIYAN (IND) l (1) Victor CRIVOI (ROU) 67(3) 57

Jeevan gave fighting performance against former top-100 Romanian Crivoi ... In the first set both players hold their respective service games but Crivoi was played perfect tie-break ... In the second set Jeevan failed to hold his serve when he was serving for staying in the match at 5-6.