Tennis News

At Wimbledon 2013, London, Great Britain

Doubles
[R2] (8) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Julien Knowle (AUT) bt Nicholas Monroe (USA)/ Simon Stadler (GER) 36 64 64 62
[R2] (14) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Edouard Roger-Vasselin (FRA) bt Daniel Brands (GER)/ Lukas Rosol (CZE) 63 57 76(4) 67(8) 64
[R2] (4) Leander Paes (IND)/ Radek Stepanek (CZE) bt Jamie Delgado (GBR)/ Matthew Ebden (AUS) 64 64 63
[R2] (6) Liezel Huber (USA)/ Sania Mirza (IND) bt Flavia Pennetta (ITA)/ Andrea Petkovic (GER) 76(6) 36 62

[R3] (8) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Julien Knowle (AUT) vs Jesse Levine (CAN)/ Vasek Pospisil (CAN)
[R3] (14) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Edouard Roger-Vasselin (FRA) vs (3) Alexander Peya (AUT)/ Bruno Soares (BRA)
[R3] (4) Leander Paes (IND)/ Radek Stepanek (CZE) vs (15) Lukasz Kubot (POL)/ Marcin Matkowski (POL)
[R3] (6) Liezel Huber (USA)/ Sania Mirza (IND) vs Shuko Aoyama (JPN)/ Chanelle Scheepers (RSA)

Mixed Doubles
[R2] (7) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Jie Zheng (CHN) vs Robert Farah (COL)/ Darija Jurak (CRO)
[R2] (15) Leander Paes (IND)/ Saisai Zheng (CHN) vs Eric Butorac (USA)/ Alize Cornet (FRA)
[R2] (2) Horia Tecau (ROU)/ Sania Mirza (IND) vs Martin Emmrich (GER)/ Julia Goerges (GER)

Lee and Radek scored very comfortable win inside 2 hours against Delgado and Ebden ... They scored straight sets win breaking their opponent's serve five times and losing their serve only twice ... Lee-Radek lost their service twice in 2nd set and broke opponents thrice ... Next they r facing 15th seed Polish pair.

Mahesh-Julien recovered well after losing the first set to won this match inside 2 and half hours ... They lost the first set with a single break ... In the second set they broke Monroe-Stadler once to won it ... In the third set Monroe-Stadler broke them once but Mahesh-Julien broke them twice for winning it ... In the fourth set Mahesh-Julien dominated and won it after breaking opponents twice ... Next they r facing Canadian pair.

Yesterday when match suspended due to rain Rohan-Edouard were up 2 sets to 1 ... They needed only one set to win but Brands-Rosol had different idea ... They fought back excellently and saved couple of match points before winning the fourth set ... Rohan-Edouard recovered in the fifth and won it with a single break ... Next they r facing 3rd seed Peya and Soares.

Sania-Liezel won well fought the first set where both pairs failed to break opponent's serve ... Sania-Liezel won tight tie-break in extra points ... In the second set Pennetta-Petkovic broke Sania-Liezel in 4th game to lead 4-1 ... Sania-Liezel broke back in 7th game to make it 3-4 but Pennetta-Petkovic re-broke in 8th game and hold their serve for winning the second set ... Sania-Liezel made excellent fightback and won the final set with double break ... They broke Pennetta-Petkovic in 8th game while they serving for staying in the match ... Next they r facing Japanese-South African pair, Aoyama-Scheepers.
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At $10K ITF Women's Tournament, Delhi, India

Singles Final
(2) Ankita Raina (IND) bt Eetee Maheta (IND) 63 62

Ankita defeated 17 yrs old Eetee in straight sets and lifted her third $10K ITF tournament title ... Ankita truly deserve India's #1 singles player tag as this year she doesn't loss a single match against Indian player.

Tennis News
At Wimbledon 2013, London, Great Britain
Doubles
[R1] (4) Leander Paes (IND)/ Radek Stepanek (CZE) bt Daniele Bracciali (ITA)/ Jonathan Erlich (ISR) 76(6) 64 67(1) 64

[R2] (14) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Edouard Roger-Vasselin (FRA) vs Daniel Brands (GER)/ Lukas Rosol (CZE) 63 57 76(4)

Mixed Doubles
[R1] Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Daniela Hantuchova (SVK) l Mark Knowles (BAH)/ Sabine Lisicki (GER) 76(2) 46 46

Lee-Radek completed victory in four sets after match re-started ... They won the second set with a break but lost next set in tie-break ... In the fourth set our pair take crucial break in 10th game when Bracciali-Erlich were serving for staying in the match ... Good win by Lee-Radek against potentially dangerous pairing of Bracciali-Erlich and also considering Radek's hamstring injury ... They r facing another good grass court pair in the next round, Britisher Jamie Delgado and Aussie Matthew Ebden.

Rohan-Edouard were leading 2 sets to 1 when match suspended due to rain ... They started positively and won the first set comfortably against German-Czech pair ... But Brands-Rosol fought back to won the second with crucial break in 12th game ... In the third set both pairs tried but Rohan-Edouard managed to win tie-break.

After winning the first set in tie-break Mahesh-Daniela failed to keep momentum and lost next two sets with a single break ... I was hoping better Wimbledon for Mahesh-Daniela.
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At $10K ITF Women's Tournament, Delhi, India

Singles Semi Finals
Eetee Maheta (IND) bt (8) Natasha Palha (IND) 16 75 62
(2)Ankita Raina (IND) bt (6) Shweta Rana (IND) 63 61

Ankita Raina reaches her fifth consecutive $10K ITF women's final by comfortably beating Shweta Rana ... In the final she is facing Eetee Maheta, who scoded comeback win over Natasha Palha..

Tennis News
At Wimbledon 2013, London, Great Britain

Doubles
[R1] (4) Leander Paes (IND)/ Radek Stepanek (CZE) vs Daniele Bracciali (ITA)/ Jonathan Erlich (ISR) 76(6) suspended

Mixed Doubles
[R1] (7) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Jie Zheng (CHN) bye
[R1] Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Daniela Hantuchova (SVK) vs Mark Knowles (BAH)/ Sabine Lisicki (GER)
[R1] (15) Leander Paes (IND)/ Saisai Zheng (CHN) bye
[R1] (2) Horia Tecau (ROU)/ Sania Mirza (IND) bye

Mixed doubles draw is out ... Again Sania is in top seedings with her new partner, Romanian Horia Tecau ... Rohan is sticking with his Chinese partner Jie Zheng ... Leander is with new Chinese partner Saisai Zheng ... Mahesh is back with his old partner Daniela Hantuchova after few years gap ... Sania, Lee and Mahesh r in same draw and face each other from round three ... Our seeded pairs having first round bye so only Mahesh-Daniela playing first round against tricky pairing of Mark Knowles and Sabine Lisicki.

Radek played in this match with his hamstring injury ... Lee and Radek won the first set in tie-break before match suspended due to rain.
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At $15K+H Spain F18 Futures, Palma Del Rio

[R2] Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,702) l (6) Sergio Gutierrez-Ferrol (ESP,268) 67(0) 62 16

Ramkumar fought hard in first two sets but failed to overcome challenge of top-270 Gutierrez-Ferrol in the final set ... After losing the first set in one-sided tie-break Ramkumar dominated the second set and won it with double break.
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At $10K Germany F7 Futures, Roemerberg (clay)

[R2] (8) N. Vijay Sundar Prashanth (IND,531) l (WC) Oscar Otte (GER,1196) 36 2-2 Retd.

Aargh, hate when our player get injured ... :-(
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At $10K ITF Women's Tournament, Delhi, India

Singles Quarter Finals
Eetee Maheta (IND) bt Shreya Pasricha (IND) 62 64
(8) Natasha Palha (IND) bt (Q) Ambika Pande (IND) 62 61
(6) Shweta Rana (IND) bt (3) Rishika Sunkara (IND) 16 60 61
(2)Ankita Raina (IND) bt (5) Prarthana G. Thombare (IND) 46 63 61

Expected results other than upset win by Shweta Rana over Rishika ... Ankita had a slow start against Prarthana but she recovered after losing the first set.
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At $10K USA F17 Futures, Rochester, New York

[R1] (2) Sanam Singh (IND,342) l (SE) Jason Tahir (USA,1252) 46 57

Sanam made quiet return on tour in US futures ... This was his first match after coming out of 2/3 months back injury break and match was tough against American player ... Tahir was last future's semi-finalist so this was tough match for Sanam against in-form player.

Tennis News
At Wimbledon 2013, London, Great Britain

Doubles
[R1] (8) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Julien Knowle (AUT) bt Leonardo Mayer (ARG)/ Albert Ramos (ESP) 62 67(5) 64 62
[R1] (14) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Edouard Roger-Vasselin (FRA) bt Jarkko Nieminen (FIN)/ Dmitry Tursunov (RUS) 76(5) 62 76(6)
[R1] (6) Liezel Huber (USA)/ Sania Mirza (IND) bt Renata Voracova (CZE)/ Klara Zakopalova (CZE) 63 36 61

[R2] (8) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Julien Knowle (AUT) vs Nicholas Monroe (USA)/ Simon Stadler (GER)
[R2] (14) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Edouard Roger-Vasselin (FRA) vs Daniel Brands (GER)/ Lukas Rosol (CZE)

Mahesh-Julien started well after breaking opponents twice for winning the first set but Mayer-Ramos fought back in the second and won it in tie-break .... In the third set Mahesh-Julien broke opponent's in 7th game and then won 10th game after few deuces to win this set ... After winning the third set Mahesh-Julien dominated the fourth and won it with double break ... Next they r facing Monroe and Stadler, who defeated Purav and Divij in the first round.

Rohan-Edouard faced stiff resistant from Nieminen-Tursunov in the first set ... Our pair manged to win this set in tie-break ... After that Rohan-Edouard dominated the second which they won with double break ... Nieminen-Tursunov fought hard and take the third set in tie-break ... They were early mini-break up but Rohan-Edouard saved a set point at 5-6 and won next 3 points to complete the victory ... Next they r facing German-Czech pairing of Brands and Rosol.

Sania-Liezel won the first set with a single break but they lost the second set against Czech pair ... In the final set Sania-Liezel broke Czech opponents in 2nd and 4th games to lead 5-0 ... Czech pair won next game before losing the match.

Radek Stepanek retired in his singles second round match ... Tough luck for Leander in men's doubles.
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At $10K Germany F7 Futures, Roemerberg (clay)

[R1] (6) Vishnu Vardhan (IND,572) l (Q) Lukas Finzelberg (GER,UNR) 16 26

Poor loss against unranked player so Vishnu's struggle of comeback continues.
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At $15K+H Netherlands F3 Futures, Breda (clay

[R1] (4) Ariel Behar (URU)/ Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND) l Henri Kontinen (FIN)/ Christopher Rungkat (INA) 26 67(4)

Disappointing Dutch futures for Jeevan.
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At $10K ITF Women's Tournament, Delhi, India

Singles Second Round
Shreya Pasricha (IND) bt (1) Mai Minokoshi (JPN) 75 76(5)
Eetee Maheta (IND) bt (7) Naomi Totka (HUN) 61 62
(Q) Ambika Pande (IND) bt (4) Prerna Bhambri (IND) 3-0 Retd.
(8) Natasha Palha (IND) bt Vaniya Dangwal (IND) 60 62
(6) Shweta Rana (IND) bt (Q) Sneha Padamata (IND) 64 62
(3) Rishika Sunkara (IND) bt Adnya Naik (IND) 60 64
(5) Prarthana G. Thombare (IND) bt (Q) Sai Samhitha Chamarthi (IND) 62 63
(2)Ankita Raina (IND) bt (Q) Rushmi Chakravarthi (IND) 36 76(7) 63

Huge upset wins by Shreya against top-seed Japanese girl and Eetee against 7th seed Hungarian girl ... Prerna retired from her match ... Ankita produced excellent comeback against experienced Rushmi to show her improved confidence on her own game.

Tennis News
At $15K+H Spain F18 Futures, Palma Del Rio

[R1] Ashwin Vijayragavan (IND,1010) l (4) Steven Diez (CAN,229) 26 46

[R2] Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,702) vs (6) Sergio Gutierrez-Ferrol (ESP,268)

As expected Diez proved too strong for Ashwin
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At $10K Germany F7 Futures, Roemerberg (clay)

[R1] (6) Vishnu Vardhan (IND,572) bt (Q) Lukas Finzelberg (GER,UNR)
[R1] (8) N. Vijay Sundar Prashanth (IND,531) bt Julio Silva (BRA,601) 63 46 61

[R2] (8) N. Vijay Sundar Prashanth (IND,531) vs (WC) Oscar Otte (GER,1196)

Very good fighting win by Vijay Sundar against veteran Brazilian Julio Silva ... Next he is facing local wild-card player.

Tennis News
At Wimbledon 2013, London, Great Britain

Doubles
[R1] (Q) Divij Sharan (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) l Nicholas Monroe (USA)/ Simon Stadler (GER) 76(4) 62 36 46 46

Heartbreaking loss for Purav and Divij against Monroe and Stadler in five setter ... Divij and Purav started well breaking Monroe and Stadler early but Monroe and Stadler fought back to break back in 7th game ... Divij and Purav kept their cool in tie-break for winning the first set ... Divij and Purav dominated the second set and won it with double break but from the third set picture started turning ... Monroe and Stadler used their all experience of playing on ATP tour and made excellent comeback ... They won next three sets with a single break and I would say they gave little lesson to Purav and Divij that the match is never finished until someone wins it.
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At $15K+H Netherlands F3 Futures, Breda (clay

[R1] Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND,354) l Thomas Schoorel (NED,418) 26 36

Doubles
[R1] (4) Ariel Behar (URU)/ Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND) vs Henri Kontinen (FIN)/ Christopher Rungkat (INA)

As expected former top-100 local player Thomas Schoorel proved too strong for Jeevan on the clay ... In the first set from 2-1 Jeevan lost next 5 games and then he was never in the match.
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At $15K+H Spain F18 Futures, Palma Del Rio

[R1] Ashwin Vijayragavan (IND,1010) vs (4) Steven Diez (CAN,229)
[R1] Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,702) bt (WC) David Vega Hernandez (ESP,800) 62 06 75

Doubles
[R1] (2) Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND)/ Ashwin Vijayragavan (IND) l Robert Ortega-Olmeda (ESP)/ Ricardo Villacorta-Alonso (ESP) 46 26

Good win by Ramkumar against in-form player Vega Hernandez, who reached quarters and semis in last few weeks futures ... Ashwin having very tough first round against top-225 type Canadian Steven Diez, two weeks back against same player Ashwin lost in straight sets.
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At $10K ITF Women's Tournament, Delhi, India

Singles First Round
(1) Mai Minokoshi (JPN) bt Sanae Ohta (JPN) 76(4) 63
Shreya Pasricha (IND) bt (WC) Victoria Chehal (IND) 63 61
Eetee Maheta (IND) bt (Q) Aishwarya Agrawal (IND) 61 3-0 Retd.
(7) Naomi Totka (HUN) bt (Q) Zainab Ali Sajjad (IND) 62 62
(4) Prerna Bhambri (IND) bt Amrita Mukherjee (IND) 76(3) 64
(Q) Ambika Pande (IND) bt (WC) Jeni Patel (IND) 60 61
Vaniya Dangwal (IND) bt (WC) Nehel Sahni (IND) 36 62 76(2)
(8) Natasha Palha (IND) bt Arantxa Andrady (IND) 61 60
(6) Shweta Rana (IND) bt Sanya Madan (IND) 60 61
(Q) Sneha Padamata (IND) bt Manya Nagpal (IND) 57 62 62
Adnya Naik (IND) bt Bhuvana Kalva (IND) 26 63 76(3)
(3) Rishika Sunkara (IND) bt Damini Sharma (IND) 64 63
(5) Prarthana G. Thombare (IND) bt (Q) Likitha Shetty (IND) 64 76(9)
(Q) Sai Samhitha Chamarthi (IND) bt (WC) Megha Sehrawat (IND) 62 63
(Q) Rushmi Chakravarthi (IND) bt Sharon Sanchana Paul (IND) 76(4) 63
(2)Ankita Raina (IND) bt (Q) Treta Bhattacharyya (IND) 61 60

As usual weak draw for this Indian ITF tournament ... Only 3 foreigners in the draw but interesting match up for Ankita Raina ... In the first round she faced Treta and defeated her comfortably ... Next she is facing veteran Rushmi ... Interesting match to see progress of Ankita.

Chess News
At the 8th Tal Memorial Chess Tournament, Moscow, Russia

Round 09 – June 23 2013
Hikaru Nakamura (USA,2784) 0-1 Alexander Morozevich (RUS,2760)
Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (AZE,2753) ½-½ Magnus Carlsen (NOR,2864)
Vladimir Kramnik (RUS,2803) ½-½ Boris Gelfand (ISR,2755)
Sergey Karjakin (RUS,2782) ½-½ Viswanathan Anand (IND,2786)
Fabiano Caruana (ITA,2774) ½-½ Dmitry Andreikin (RUS,2713)

In the final game Anand hold Karjakin with black ... Anand finished on 9th position with 3½ pts, just above Kramnik, who finished on last position with 3 pts ... This was Anand's one of the poorest result in recent tournaments ... Anand will loose chunk of points and will be outside of top 5 ranking with rating around 2774 ... He need to regroup as World championship is four and half months away.

Hockey News
At Hockey World League Semi-Final - Men, Rotterdam, Netherlands

For 5th Place
India l Spain 2-2 (2-1) PS 2-4
Goal Scorers - Shivendra Singh (IND) 10', Mandeep Singh (IND) 12' and Roc Oliva (ESP) 2', David Alegre (ESP) 56'

Spain claimed a vital win in penalties over India to capture fifth place in Rotterdam, this will helping their chance of potentially claiming a lucky losers berth at the 2014 World Cup ... Normal time had ended 2-2 between the two sides but the Spaniards prevailed 4-2 in the shoot out as Manpreet and Akashdepp missed 3rd and 4th penalties when Indians up 2-1 in shoot-out ... Before this Spanish team take lead in 2nd minute but Indians scored 2 goals in three minutes and take lead in 12th minute ... Spanish team kept pushing for equalizer and they managed that in the second half ... After that both teams failed to break deadlock ... In penalties Spanish team hit 2nd shot on the board but we failed to take advantage as Spanish goalkeeper Quico Cortes made excellent defense on penalty shots from Mandeep and Akashdeep.

Chess News
At the 8th Tal Memorial Chess Tournament, Moscow, Russia

Round 08 – June 22 2013
Alexander Morozevich (RUS,2760) 0-1 Fabiano Caruana (ITA,2774)
Dmitry Andreikin (RUS,2713) ½-½ Sergey Karjakin (RUS,2782)
Viswanathan Anand (I,2ND786) ½-½ Vladimir Kramnik (RUS,2803)
Boris Gelfand (ISR,2755) ½-½ Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (AZE,2753)
Magnus Carlsen (NOR,2864) 1-0 Hikaru Nakamura (USA,2784)

Kramnik easily hold Anand in Nimzo variation ... Carlsen defeated Nakamura and climbed to sole second position ... He is only half point behind leader Gelfand.

Tennis News
At $10K ITF Women's Tournament - week 3, Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt

[SF] Sowjanya Bavisetti (IND,1009) l Susanne Celik (SWE,985) 63 36 46

Sowjanya lost in three hours long match against British player ... Very fighting performance in her loss against Swedish player ... Overall very encouraging performance by Swojanya.,

Hockey News
At Hockey World League Semi-Final - Women, Rotterdam, Netherlands

For 7th Position
India bt Chile 2-1 (0-0)
Goal Scorers - Ritusha Kumari Arya (IND) 47', Chanchan Devi Thokchom (IND) 56' and Camila Caram (CHI) PC 44'

Indian girls avoided wooden spoon after scoring comeback win over Chilean girls ... Chilean girls take lead in the second half through penalty corner after the first-half ended goalless ... Indian girls responded immediately and equalized through Ritusha Kumari in three minutes ... Then in 56th minute our vice-captain Chanchan Devi scored winner ... This was first win by Indian girls in this World League semi-final.

Chess News
At the 8th Tal Memorial Chess Tournament, Moscow, Russia

Round 07 – June 21 2013
Magnus Carlsen (NOR,2864) ½-½ Alexander Morozevich (RUS,2760)
Hikaru Nakamura (USA,2784) 0-1 Boris Gelfand (ISR,2755)
Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (AZE,2753) ½-½ Viswanathan Anand (IND,2786)
Vladimir Kramnik (RUS,2803) 0-1 Dmitry Andreikin (RUS,2713)
Sergey Karjakin (RUS,2782) ½-½ Fabiano Caruana (ITA,2774)

Anand agreed comfortable draw ... Gelfand overtake Nakamura with exciting win over him ... Andreikin scored surprising win over Kramnik.

Hockey News
At Hockey World League Semi-Final - Men, Rotterdam, Netherlands

5th-8th Positions
India bt France 6-2 (3-1)
Goal Scorers - Akashdeep Singh (IND) 13', VR Raghunath (IND) 27', SV Sunil (IND) 33', Sardar Singh (IND) 42', Mandeep Singh (IND) 56' and 69' and Hugo Genestet (FRA) 3', Guillaume Deront (FRA) PC 70+'

Our men can still hope for World Championships qualification as Netherlands is already qualify as host and Australia or New Zealand will be qualify through topping Oceanic group ... So direct WC entry for top-3 teams means it will come down to 5th place team.

For that Indians needed to win next two matches ... As expected we scored win over French team ... French team surprised us scoring first goal in three minutes but after that our team recovered and scored 3 goals in first half ... Indians scored another 3 goals in second half but conceded penalty corner before hooter and French team converted that ... In this match Dharamvir Singh, SV Sunil and Sardar Singh impressed with their game ... For fifth position match we will face Spanish team, who defeated Irish team with solitary goal.

Badminton News
At $200K Singapore Open 2013, (Superseries)

[QF] (2) Saina Nehwal (IND,4) l Lindaweni Fanetri (INA,13) 21-17 13-21 13-21

Saina's bad run and inconsistency continues ... Again she lost in the quarters in 58 minutes against Indonesian Fanetri ... After winning the first game Saina played ordinary game against Fanetri ... In the second game from 7-8 Fanetri take lead and won it comfortably ... In the final game from 3-all Fanetri won next 9 points ... Saina failed to overcome this huge difference and lost match ... She need to bring her act together before too late.

Tennis News
At Wimbledon 2013, London, Great Britain

Doubles
[R1] (Q) Divij Sharan (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) vs Nicholas Monroe (USA)/ Simon Stadler (GER)
[R1] (8) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Julien Knowle (AUT) vs Leonardo Mayer (ARG)/ Albert Ramos (ESP)
[R1] (14) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Edouard Roger-Vasselin (FRA) vs Jarkko Nieminen (FIN)/ Dmitry Tursunov (RUS)
[R1] (4) Leander Paes (IND)/ Radek Stepanek (CZE) vs Daniele Bracciali (ITA)/ Jonathan Erlich (ISR)
[R1] (6) Liezel Huber (USA)/ Sania Mirza (IND) vs Renata Voracova (CZE)/ Klara Zakopalova (CZE)

Purav and Divij avoids seeded pair in the first round ... Their opponents r 70s ranking pair so winnable match for them and I m really hoping for a win as they will get chance of facing Mahesh-Julien in the second round ... Mahesh and Rohan also having easier first round pairs with their respective partners ... Lee and Radek having most trickier pair in our lot ... Sania and Liezel r facing Czech pair, this week they lost against Zakopalova and her partner ... So they need to play carefully against this pairing.
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At $10K ITF Women's Tournament - week 3, Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt

[QF] Sowjanya Bavisetti (IND,1009) bt Madrie Le Roux (RSA,905) 26 64 61

[SF] Sowjanya Bavisetti (IND,1009) vs Susanne Celik (SWE,985)

Sowjanya continues with her impressive performance and reach in the semis ... She scored another superb comeback win over South Africam Le Roux ... Next she is facing another unseeded Swedish girl Celik.

Hockey News
At Hockey World League Semi-Final - Women, Rotterdam, Netherlands

5th-8th Positions
India l Japan 0-4 (0-2)
Goal Scorers - Ayaka Nishimura (JPN) 2', Shiho Otsuka (JPN) 18' and 36', Yur Nagai (JPN) 54'

Another one-sided loss for Indian women ... Japanese girls scored comfortable win ... Now our women play against Chilean women for wooden spoon.

Badminton News
At $200K Singapore Open 2013, (Superseries)

[R2] (Q) Sai Praneeth B. (IND,45) l Wei Feng Chong (MAS,12) 11-21 21-17 16-21
[R2] (2) Saina Nehwal (IND,4) bt Eriko Hirose (JPN,12) 16-21 21-16 21-9

[R2] Pranaav Jerry Chopra (IND)/ Akshay Dewalkar (IND) l (6) Baek Choel Shin (KOR)/ Yeon Seong Yoo (KOR) 14-21 19-21
[R2] Arun Vishnu (IND)/ Aparna Balan (IND) l Praveen Jordan (INA)/ Vita Marissa (INA) 10-21 18-21

[QF] (2) Saina Nehwal (IND,4) vs Lindaweni Fanetri (INA,13)

Saina scored hard fought win and enter into the quarters where she will face Indonesian Fanetri ... In the first game both players were exchanging lead till 14-all and after that Hirose opened lead for winning this game ... In the second game both players were neck to neck till 12-all after that Saina opened couple of points lead ... But from 16-15 Saina gave Hirose only one point before winning the game ... In the final Saina opened 8-2 early lead and kept increasing to complete win in 61 mins.

Sai failed to keep his winning momentum and lost against Malaysian Chong in three games ... After losing the first game easily Sai fought back in the second ... In the second game Sai was behind 1-5 but kept fight to caught Chong 12-all ... Then won 5 points in a row from 14-all and won the game losing 3 more points ... In the decider Chong opened 4-0 lead which extended to 10-4 but Sai fought back to make it 11-all ... After that Chong won 6 points in a row and then Sai tried to catch her but difference was enough for Chong to win the match.

In the doubles and mixed doubles our pairs lost in straight games.

Chess News
At the 8th Tal Memorial Chess Tournament, Moscow, Russia

Round 06 – June 19 2013
Alexander Morozevich (RUS,2760) ½-½ Sergey Karjakin (RUS,2782)
Fabiano Caruana (ITA,2774) ½-½ Vladimir Kramnik (RUS,2803)
Dmitry Andreikin (RUS,2713) ½-½ Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (AZE,2753)
Viswanathan Anand (IND,2786) 0-1 Hikaru Nakamura (USA,2784)
Boris Gelfand (ISR,2755) ½-½ Magnus Carlsen (NOR,2864)

Nakamura showed excellent touch and handed another defeat to Anand ... In this different Spanish variations Nakamura kept upperhand from the start and completed win in 45 moves ... Worrying form of Anand as he lost his second game with white and already lost three matches from six matches.

Tennis News
At Wimbledon 2013, London, Great Britain

[Q2] (4) Divij Sharan (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) bt Andreas Haider-Maurer (AUT)/ Jiri Vesely (CZE) w/o

Lucky break for Divij-Purav as their opponents gave walkover to our pair ... So with that they qualify for main-draw of Wimbledon ... Huge achievement for them, with little luck in main-draw we can expect some fireworks from them.
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At €526K Eastbourne Open, Great Britain

[QF] (3) Leander Paes (IND)/ Radek Stepanek (CZE) l Jamie Murray (GBR)/ John Peers (AUS) 61 36 5-10

Lee-Radek faced tricky British-Aussie pair, who stretched Bryans in the quarters of Queens open (67(5) 76(9) 9-11) ... After losing the first set Murray-Peers made strong comback and won the second set ... They also dominated match tie-break against 3rd seed pair.
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At $690K Ageon International, Eastbourne, Great Britain (WTA Premier)

[QF] (2) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Liezel Huber (USA) l Monica Niculescu (ROM)/ Klara Zakopalova (CZE) 36 63 9-11

Surprising loss of Sania- Liezel pairing against European pair in match tie-break ... So as such no grass court practice for Sania before Wimbledon.
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At $10K ITF Women's Tournament - week 3, Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt

[R2] Sowjanya Bavisetti (IND,1009) bt (7) Taisiya Zakarlyuk (UKR,812) 62 61
[R2] (4) Kyra Shroff (IND,709) l (Q) Anna Dollar (UKR,UNR) 4-1 Retd.

[QF] Sowjanya Bavisetti (IND,1009) vs Madrie Le Roux (RSA,905)

Sowjanya showing consistency in her results ... Scored another big dominating win over higher ranked Ukrainian ... Next she is facing South African girl ... Kyra retired in the first set when she was break up.

Hockey News
At Hockey World League Semi-Final - Men, Rotterdam, Netherlands

Quarter Final
India l Australia 1-5 (1-4)
Goal Scorers - Chinglensana Singh Kangujam (IND) 21' and Glen Simpson (AUS) PC 2', GOHDES Matt Gohdes (AUS) 20', Sandeep Singh (IND) OG 21', Russell Ford (AUS) 22', Matthew Swann (AUS) 39'

As expected this match turned very tough for Indian side ... Australians made their intention clear after converting penalty corner in 2nd minute and dominating initial period ... Indians earned penalty corner but Sandeep Singh hit very weak hit ... From 20 minutes next 3 minutes turned chaotic for Indian team ... Australians scored 3 goals due to poor marking and defending and in that one goal was own goal through Sandeep Singh ... In between Indians also scored through Chinglensana Singh ... First half ended 4-1 in Aussies favor ... In the second half Aussie against scored in first few minutes converting penalty corner ... After that Aussies failed to add few more but Indians also failed to convert their attacks in scoring opportunity ... Overall comfortable win for Aussies as they dominated whole match.

Badminton News
At $200K Singapore Open 2013, (Superseries)

[R1] Anand Pawar (IND,3) l (1) Pengyu Du (CHN,38) 16-21 13-21
[R1] Srikanth K. (IND,44) l (6) Tien Minh Nguyen (VIE,9) 21-19 16-21 12-21
[R1] Ajay Jayaram (IND,25) l (4) Kenichi Tago (JPN,6) 19-21 21-18 17-21
[R1] (7) Kashyap Parupalli (IND,10) l Takuma Ueda (JPN,16) 21-18 20-22 15-21
[R1] Sourabh Varma (IND,42) l Wing Ki Wong (HKG,14) 17-21 17-21
[R1] Gurusaidutt R. M. V. (IND,23) l Wei Feng Chong (MAS,12) 21-15 18-21 9-21
[R1] (Q) Sai Praneeth B. (IND,61) bt (2) Yun Hu (VIE,4) 21-9 21-10
[R1] (Q) Thulasi P. C. (IND,80) l Lindaweni Fanetri (INA,14) 23-21 16-21 16-21
[R1] (Q) Arundhati Pantawane (IND,61) l Petya Nedelcheva (BUL,26) 18-21 18-21
[R1] (1) Saina Nehwal (IND,2) bt Juan Gu (SIN,21) 21-14 23-21

[R1] Pranaav Jerry Chopra (IND)/ Akshay Dewalkar (IND) bt Marcus Ellis (ENG)/ Paul Van Rietvelde (SCO) 27-25 21-17
[R1] Tarun Kona (IND)/ Arun Vishnu (IND) l Ji Wook Kang (KOR)/ Sang Joon Lee (KOR) 21-23 18-21
[R1] Aparna Balan (IND)/ Siki Reddy N. (IND) l Meng Yean Lee (MAS)/ Yin Loo Lim (MAS) 21-18 18-21 9-21
[R1] Pradnya Gadre (IND)/ Ashwini Ponnappa (IND) l Nitya Krishinda Maheswari (INA)/ Greysia Polii (INA) 18-21 23-21 16-21
[R1] Arun Vishnu (IND)/ Aparna Balan (IND) bt Songphon Anugritayawon (THA)/ Kunchala Voravichitchaikul (THA) 21-17 19-21 21-12
[R1] Tarun Kona (IND)/ Ashwini Ponnappa (IND) l (3) Tontowi Ahmad (INA)/ Liliyana Natsir (INA) 6-21 10-21

[R2] (Q) Sai Praneeth B. (IND,61) vs Wei Feng Chong (MAS,12)
[R2] (1) Saina Nehwal (IND,2) vs Eriko Hirose (JPN,12)

[R2] Pranaav Jerry Chopra (IND)/ Akshay Dewalkar (IND) vs (6) Baek Choel Shin (KOR)/ Yeon Seong Yoo (KOR)
[R2] Arun Vishnu (IND)/ Aparna Balan (IND) vs Praveen Jordan (INA)/ Vita Marissa (INA)

I m really impressed with young Sai ... As qualifier he scored huge upset win over WR #4 Yun Hu in 30 minutes losing only 19 points ... He demolished his 2nd seed opponent with his quick game ... Saina also overcome challenge of veteran Singaporean Juan Gu in close 2nd game ... Earlier this month Juan Gu defeated Saina in their last meeting at Thailand Gold GP tournament ... So good victory for Saina.

Arun-Aparna scored upset win over higher ranked Thai pair in mixed doubles but Tarun-Ashwini failed to give any fight to 3rd seed Indonesian player ... Ashwini also lost with Pradnya in women's doubles ... Aparna-Siki started positively after winning the first game but after failing to win the close second game ended their challenge ... Pranaav-Akshay scored straight games victory after winning the first game in extra points ... Next they r facing 6th seed Korean.

Ajay, Srikanth and Thulasi stretched their higher ranked opponents to three games but failed to complete the win ... Anand Pawar also gave decent performance against top-seed Du ... Guru started well after winning the first game but after that Wei Feng Chong taking lead and Guru was trying to catch him ... In the second game he came near till 18-19 but after winning this game Wei Feng Chong didn't give any chance in the final game ... Kashyap's poor form continued in this tournament ... After winning the first game he failed to keep pressure on Ueda ... Ueda take lead and then Kashyap did catching game ... Kashyap saved 2 game points from 18-20 but Ueda converted 3rd game point ... In the decider Ueda take early lead and kept for upset win.

Tennis News
At $690K Ageon International, Eastbourne, Great Britain (WTA Premier)

[R1] (2) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Liezel Huber (USA) bt Darija Jurak (CRO)/ Heather Watson (GBR) 76(4) 76(3)

[QF] (2) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Liezel Huber (USA) vs Monica Niculescu (ROM)/ Klara Zakopalova (CZE)

Tight winning start for Sania and Liezel as they won both sets in tie-breaks.
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At $10K Germany F5 Futures, Koeln (clay)

[R1] (5) Vishnu Vardhan (IND,421) bt (Q) Jannis Kahlke (GER,UNR) 62 75
[R1] N. Vijay Sundar Prashanth (IND,520) l (WC) Daniel Masur (GER,UNR) 26 36

[R2] (5) Vishnu Vardhan (IND,421) l Kamil Capkovic (SVK,496) 06 1-2 Retd.

Vishnu started with win but retired from the second match ... Other hand very distrubling loss of Vijay Sundar.
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At $10K Spain F18 Futures, Melilla

[R1] Ashwin Vijayragavan (IND,1012) l Matthieu Roy (FRA,861) 26 67(2)
[R1] (7) Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,784) l (Q) Goncalo Oliveira (POR,1923) 64 26 06

Doubles
[R1] (3) Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND)/ Ashwin Vijayragavan (IND) l Ricardo OJEDA Lara (ESP)/ Samuel Ribeiro Navarrete (ESP) 57 26

After their excellent run in last week's futures, where they won doubles title and Ramkumar was singles finalist, very disappointing outing for Ramkumar and Ashwin.
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At $10K ITF Women's Tournament - week 3, Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt

[R1] Sowjanya Bavisetti (IND,1009) bt Magy Aziz (EGY,935) 64 62
[R1] (4) Kyra Shroff (IND,709) bt (SE) Valeria Prosperi (ITA,1114) 61 64

[R2] Sowjanya Bavisetti (IND,1009) vs (7) Taisiya Zakarlyuk (UKR,812)
[R2] (4) Kyra Shroff (IND,709) vs (Q) Anna Dollar (UKR,UNR)

After losing the first round in second week Kyra and Sowjanya r back in third week ... Winning start for them and Sowjanya showing improvement in her game ... She defeated higher ranked local player in the first round.

Chess News
At the 8th Tal Memorial Chess Tournament, Moscow, Russia

Round 05 – June 18 2013
Boris Gelfand (ISR,2755) 1-0 Alexander Morozevich (RUS,2760)
Magnus Carlsen (NOR,2864) 1-0 Viswanathan Anand (IND,2786)
Hikaru Nakamura (USA,2784) ½-½ Dmitry Andreikin (RUS,2713)
Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (AZE,2753) ½-½ Fabiano Caruana (ITA,2774)
Vladimir Kramnik (RUS,2727) ½-½ Sergey Karjakin (RUS,2782)

In their last game before World championship in November Carlsen scored crushing victory over Anand in 29 moves ... In this match Anand used Nimzo-Indian Rubinstein Variation, which he was using after 13 yrs and lack of practice costed him in this match ... May be Anand was avoiding to show his preparation of Openings which he will be using in their World championship matches so used this unprepared opening ... Still psychological advantage is with Carlsen after this match ... Gelfand won his match and become joined leader with Nakamura.

Hockey News
At Hockey World League Semi-Final - Women, Rotterdam, Netherlands

Quarter Final
India l Netherlands 1-8 (0-2)
Goal Scorers - Vandana Katariya (IND) 48' and Kim Lammers (IND) 21', Maartje Paumen (NED) PC 33' and PC 65', Ellen Hoog (NED) 44', Valerie Magis (NED) 49', Eva De Goede (NED) PC 57', Sabine Mol (NED) 63'

Expected loss for Indian girls against WR #1 Netherlands ... In the first half Netherlands managed only 2 goals but they scored more freely in the second ... I was expecting double figure goals from Netherlands and bigger win ... Next we r facing Japan for positioning match.

Badminton News
At $200K Singapore Open 2013, (Superseries)

[Q1] Prannoy H. S. (IND,53) l Yong Zhao Ashton Chen (SIN,68) 21-19 19-21 12-21
[Q1] Sai Praneeth B. (IND,61) bt Muhammad Hafiz Hashim (MAS,132) 21-13 21-15
[Q1] Arvind Bhat (IND,70) l Nan Wei (HKG,93) 21-19 9-21 15-21
[Q1] Thulasi P. C. (IND,80) bt Thi Trang (B) Vu (VIE,203) 21-18 21-17
[Q1] Arundhati Pantawane (IND,61) bt Anna Astrakhantseva (RUS,193) 21-5 21-10

[Q1] Manish Gupta (IND)/ Gaurav Venkat (IND) l Zheng Yi Kok (MAS)/ Keat Zhen Kong (MAS) 13-21 21-17 11-21
[Q1] Jwala Gutta (IND)/ Prajakta Sawant (IND) l Wei Han Tan (SIN)/ Dellis Yuliana (SIN) 20-22 12-21
[Q1] Mohd Razif Abdul Latif (MAS)/ Prajakta Sawant (IND) l (2) Zhao Jiang Terry Yeo (SIN)/ Lei Yao (SIN) 16-21 20-22

[Q2] Sai Praneeth B. (IND,61) bt Richi Takeshita (JPN,66) 21-12 22-20
[Q2] Thulasi P. C. (IND,80) bt Chochuwong Pornpawee (THA,83) 18-21 21-13 21-8
[Q2] Arundhati Pantawane (IND,61) bt Xiaoyu Liang (SIN,88) 21-14 21-16

[R1] Anand Pawar (IND,3) vs (1) Pengyu Du (CHN,38)
[R1] Srikanth K. (IND,44) vs (6) Tien Minh Nguyen (VIE,9)
[R1] Ajay Jayaram (IND,25) vs (4) Kenichi Tago (JPN,6)
[R1] (7) Kashyap Parupalli (IND,10) vs Takuma Ueda (JPN,16)
[R1] Sourabh Varma (IND,42) vs Wing Ki Wong (HKG,14)
[R1] Gurusaidutt R. M. V. (IND,23) vs Wei Feng Chong (MAS,12)
[R1] (Q) Sai Praneeth B. (IND,61) vs (2) Yun Hu (VIE,4)

[R1] (Q) Thulasi P. C. (IND,80) vs Lindaweni Fanetri (INA,14)
[R1] (Q) Arundhati Pantawane (IND,61) vs Petya Nedelcheva (BUL,26)
[R1] (1) Saina Nehwal (IND,2) vs Juan Gu (SIN,21)

[R1] Pranaav Jerry Chopra (IND)/ Akshay Dewalkar (IND) vs Marcus Ellis (ENG)/ Paul Van Rietvelde (SCO)
[R1] Tarun Kona (IND)/ Arun Vishnu (IND) vs Ji Wook Kang (KOR)/ Sang Joon Lee (KOR)
[R1] Aparna Balan (IND)/ Siki Reddy N. (IND) vs Meng Yean Lee (MAS)/ Yin Loo Lim (MAS)
[R1] Pradnya Gadre (IND)/ Ashwini Ponnappa (IND) vs Nitya Krishinda Maheswari (INA)/ Greysia Polii (INA)
[R1] Arun Vishnu (IND)/ Aparna Balan (IND) vs Songphon Anugritayawon (THA)/ Kunchala Voravichitchaikul (THA)
[R1] Tarun Kona (IND)/ Ashwini Ponnappa (IND) vs (3) Tontowi Ahmad (INA)/ Liliyana Natsir (INA)

Sai with Arundhati and Thulasi qualify for the main-draw ... But tough matches for almost all players in the first round.

Chess News
At the 8th Tal Memorial Chess Tournament, Moscow, Russia

Round 04 – June 17 2013
Alexander Morozevich (RUS,2760) ½-½ Vladimir Kramnik (RUS,2803)
Sergey Karjakin (RUS,2782) ½-½ Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (AZE,2753)
Fabiano Caruana (ITA,2774) 0-1 Hikaru Nakamura (USA,2784)
Dmitry Andreikin (RUS,2713) ½-½ Magnus Carlsen (RUS,2864)
Viswanathan Anand (IND,2786) ½-½ Boris Gelfand (ISR,2755)

Hikaru take sole lead after scoring his third win of the tournament against Caruana ... Gelfand gave solid performance to hold Anand ... So Anand remains on 6th position with 2 points.

Hockey News
At Hockey World League Semi-Final - Men, Rotterdam, Netherlands

Pool B
India dw New Zealand 3-3 (0-1)
Goal Scorers - Mandeep Singh (IND) 46', VR Raghunath (IND) PC 47', Kothajit Singh (IND) 53' and Marcus Child (NZL) 6', Stephen Jenness (NZL) 51', Blair Hilton (NZL) 66'

Netherlands bt Ireland 5-0

Frankly we messed up big way and missed opportunity of scoring outright win over Kiwis men ... So with this draw we r facing formidable Aussies in the quarters after finishing 3rd in the pool ... In this match both teams started with attacking hockey ... We earned 1st penalty corner in 3rd minute which Raghu missed but Black-sticks opened account through Child in 6th minute ... Despite dominating Kiwis failed to increase lead and first-half ended in their favor, 1-0 ... In the second half we started with attacking hockey and Mandeep equalized within 11 minutes and on next minute we take a lead after converting 2nd penalty corner through Raghu taking excellent in-direct drill where Sandeep Singh acted as dummy ... But after 4 minutes Jenness scored excellent diving deflection for equalizing the score, 2-all ... Again inside 2 minutes Kothajit take advantage in-front of Kiwis goal and again gave lead to India ... After that we missed many chances in-front of goal after failing interception of the crosses ... Then Rupinderpal made stupid mistake inside D and gave penalty stroke but Couzins missed hitting cross-bar ... Here advantage was to Kiwis as they were attacking Indian goal post one after another ... When 4 minutes were remaining then Hilton scored excellent goal from top D with reverse flick to equalized ... After that Kiwis pushed for a win but failed to score.

Tennis News
At Wimbledon 2013, London, Great Britain

[Q1] (22) Somdev Devvarman (IND,135) l Matt Reid (AUS,213) 67(4) 64 16-18

Doubles
[Q1] (4) Divij Sharan (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) bt Flavio Cipolla (ITA)/ Wayne Odesnik (USA) 62 64

[Q2] (4) Divij Sharan (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) vs Andreas Haider-Maurer (AUT)/ Jiri Vesely (CZE)

Buji was break up early after breaking Matt in 2nd game ... In 4th game Buji missed couple of break points and Matt broke him in 6th game after converting 2nd break point ... In tie-break Matt take early lead with double mini-break, 4-1 ... Buji take one mini-break on 7th point, 2-5, but Matt hold his single mini-break advantage for winning tie-break ... Missed opportunity of winning the first set.

In the second set Buji take crucial break in 9th game and won the second set

In the final set Buji broke Matt in 2nd game to lead 2-0 ... Both players hold their serves till 8th game without much fuss, 5-3 ... Buji had a match point on Matt's serve in 9th game which Matt saved, 5-4 ... While serving for the match Buji failed to hold his serve and lost his serve after saving 1st break point, 5-all ... In 20th game Buji saved a match point on his serve at 30-40 before holding his serve ... Matt hold his serve after couple of deuce in 21st game ... In 29th game Buji had a break point chance at 30-40 but Matt saved it before holding his serve ... In 30th game Buji was 0-30 on his serve before winning 4 points in a row ... Matt saved another break point at 30-40 before holding in 31st game ... Comfortable hold for Matt in 33rd game as previously he faced a break point in his last two service games ... Matt take 0-40 lead in 34th game before Buji saving 1 match point but failed to save another ... So match ended after more than 3 and half hours.

Disappointed by Buji's loss after his good performance in last two weeks ... Buji had a chance of finishing match in straight sets, which he failed ... Then again he had chance to won this match when he was serving for the match at 5-4 but this time also he failed to hold his serve ... In this match Matt played bigger points better than Buji and that played huge part in final outcome of the match.

Other hand excellent start for Divij-Purav, who scored straight sets victory in the first qualifying ... In the first set our pair broke opponents in 3rd and 5th games to won it comfortably ... In the second set our pair broke Cipolla-Odesnik in 5th game and that break was enough for completing the victory ... In the final qualifying round they r facing unseeded European pair, who upset 6th seeds in the first qualifying.
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At €526K Eastbourne Open, Great Britain

[R1] (3) Leander Paes (IND)/ Radek Stepanek (CZE) bt Ivan Dodig (CRO)/ Marcelo Melo (BRA) 57 76(5) 10-6

After losing the first set Lee and Radek were facing defeat when they lost their serve (like first set) in 11th game of the second set ... But then they produced excellent comeback as they broke Crot-Brazilian pair in 12th game and take the set in tie-break ... And our pair won tie-break and then match tie-break for excellent win against good pair on the grass ... Last year at Wimbledon this same pair defeated Lee-Radek.

Chess News
At the 8th Tal Memorial Chess Tournament, Moscow, Russia


,Round 01 – June 13 2013
Dmitry Andreikin (RUS,2713) ½-½ Alexander Morozevich (2760)
Viswanathan Anand (IND,2786) 0-1 Fabiano Caruana (ITA,2774)
Boris Gelfand (ISR,2755) ½-½ Sergey Karjakin (RUS,2782)
Magnus Carlsen (NOR,2864) 1-0 Vladimir Kramnik (RUS,2803)
Hikaru Nakamura (USA,2784) 0-1 Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (AZE,2753)

Round 02 –June 14 2013
Alexander Morozevich (RUS,2760) ½-½ Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (AZE,2753)
Vladimir Kramnik (RUS,2755) 0-1 Hikaru Nakamura (USA,2784)v Sergey Karjakin (RUS,2782) ½-½ Magnus Carlsen (NOR,2864)
Fabiano Caruana (ITA,2774) 0-1 Boris Gelfand (ISR,2755)
Dmitry Andreikin (RUS,2713) ½-½ Viswanathan Anand (IND,2786)

Round 03 – June 15 2013
Viswanathan Anand (IND,2786) 1-0 Alexander Morozevich (RUS,2760)
Boris Gelfand (ISR,2755) ½-½ Dmitry Andreikin (RUS,2713)
Magnus Carlsen (NOR,2864) 0-1 Fabiano Caruana (ITA,2774)
Hikaru Nakamura (USA,2784) 1-0 Sergey Karjakin (RUS,2782)
Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (AZE,2753) ½-½ Vladimir Kramnik (RUS,2803)

Anand started badly as he lost against Italian hot-shot Caruana in 1st game ... Then lower rated Russian player os the tournament, Dmitry Andreikin hold Anand in 2nd game ... In the third game Anand defeated Morozevich and he is on 6th position with 1.5 pts.

Hockey News
At Hockey World League Semi-Final - Women, Rotterdam, Netherlands

Pool B
India l Germany 1-7 (0-3)
Goal Scorers - Vandana Katariya (IND) PC 43' and Janne Müller-Wieland (GER) PC 14', Maike Stöckel (GER) 21' and 44', Marie Mävers (GER) 35', Jennifer Plass (GER) PC 49', Lydia Haase (GER) PC 54', Hannah Krüger (GER) PC 67'

New Zealand bt Belgium 4-2 (3-0)

Another disappointing and dis-oriented performance by our girls ... German scored dominating win over us ... In this match also most of the time we failed to complete 3/4 passes continuously ... So we ended on the last place of the Pool and facing host Netherlands in the quarter-final ... I m not convinced by coaching of Australian Neil Hawgood ... In this match I think we can face most embarrassing defeat from Netherlands.

Tennis News
At €526K Eastbourne Open, Great Britain

[R1] (3) Leander Paes (IND)/ Radek Stepanek (CZE) vs Ivan Dodig (CRO)/ Marcelo Melo (BRA)

Lee and Radek r playing together first time after Australian open and after Radek's neck surgery ... Interesting to see how they perform in coming tournaments.
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At $10K Spain F17 Futures, Martos

Singles Final
Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,800) l (1) Steven Diez (CAN,267) 57 76(4) 46

Ramkumar was unlucky to failed to win the title in this almost 3 hours match ... All three sets were closely fought where Ramkumar served really well as he hit 16 aces ... After losing the first set Ramkumar fought back to win the second in tie-break ... In the final set at 3-all Ramkumar broke Steven in 7th game to lead 4-3 but after that Steven won next 3 games and breaking Ramkumar in 8th and 10th games ... Still fighting performance against top-275 ranked Canadian by young Ramkumar.

Hockey News
At Hockey World League Semi-Final - Men, Rotterdam, Netherlands

Pool B
India l Netherlands 0-2 (0-2)
Goal Scorers - Billy Bakker (NED) 2', Jeroen Hertzberger (NED) 17'

New Zealand bt Ireland 4-2 (1-1)

The Netherlands men started positively and take lead within two minutes through Billy Bakker ... After that Dutch side was kept attacking but Sreejesh was very good under goalpost, who saved many attacks ... On clumsy defending Dutch earned penalty stroke in 16 minutes which Jeroen Hertzberger converted ... Indians earned penalty corner in 20th minute but failed to convert ... First half dominated by Dutch team ... From the second half our team was looking little threatening but again our age-old poor finishing inside D helped Dutch team ... In this half we earned 3 more penalty corners which our three penalty corner specialists failed to convert ... So after that we r staying at bottom of Pool B.

Tennis News
At €780K Queens Open, London, Great Britain

[SF] (3) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Rohan Bopanna (IND) l (1) Bob Bryan (USA)/ Mike Bryan (USA) 46 26

Mahesh-Rohan failed to raise their game against Bryans and lost in straight sets.
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At $75K Nottingham-2 Challenger, Great Britain (grass)

Doubles Final
(4) Divij Sharan (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) l (2) Sanchai Ratiwatana (THA)/ Sonchat Ratiwatana (THA) 67(5) 76(3) 8-10

Heart-breaking loss for Purav-Divij against Ratiwatanas after 100 minutes match ... In this match both pairs failed to break service of opponents ... Our pair had 7 break point chances and Ratiwatanas had 5 ... Ratiwatanas won the first set in tie-break ... In the second set Purav-Divij dominated tie-break to win it ... Again very close match tie-break which Ratiwatanas won it ... Still good match practice on the grass before Wimbledon qualifying.,
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At $10K India F8 Futures, Coimbatore

Singles Final
(2) Jeevan NEDUNCHEZHIYAN (IND) bt (3) Vijayant MALIK (IND) 62 5-1 Retd.

In end comfortable title victory for Jeevan ... After winning the first set easily Jeevan was up 5-1 when Vijayant conceded match due to injury.
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At $10K Spain F17 Futures, Martos

[SF] Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,800) bt Jose Checa-Calvo (ESP,260) 76(5) 5-0 Retd.

[F] Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,800) vs (1) Steven Diez (CAN,267)

Doubles Final
(2) Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND)/ Ashwin Vijayragavan (IND) bt (4) Roberto Ortega-Olmedo (ESP)/ Ricardo Villacorta-Alonso (ESP) 63 57 11-9

Ramkumar scored huge win of his career when he defeated top-275 Spanish player Jose Checa-Calvo in the semis and facing top-seed Canadian in the final ... After winning closely fought first set in tie-break Ramkumar was 5-0 leading when Jose retired due to injury.

Afterwards Ramkumar-Ashwin lifted doubles title beating 4th seed Spanish pair in match tie-break ... After winning the first set our pair lost the second set ... Both pairs fought hard in match tie-break but our pair won it in extra points.

Squash News
At World Teams 2013, Mulhouse, France

For 5-8 Positions
(8) India l (6) Germany 0-2

Saurav Ghosal 2-3 Simon Rosner 11/3 8/11 12/10 9/11 5/11
Harinderpal Sandhu 2-3 Raphael Kandra 9/11 12/14 11/5 11/3 12/14

For 7th Position
(8) India bt (5) Malaysia 2-0

Mahesh Mangoankar 3-0 Muhd Asyraf Azan 14/12 11/4 11/7
Saurav Ghosal 3-2 Ong Beng Hee 6/11 7/11 12/10 11/7 11/9

Indian men finished creditable 7th position in this World team championship ... For 7th position match they defeated higher seeded Malaysian team ... In the first match young Mahesh Mangoankar won the first game in extra points but after that he controlled the match and won next two games more comfortably ... In the second match Saurav lost first 2 games against higher ranked Ong Beng Hee but from the third game he fought back ... He won the third game after saving match ball ... He kept fighting and won closely fought last two games for memorable victory.

Before this India lost against Germany in very close match ... In the first match Saurav started well and was 2-1 up after third game ... But after that he messed up things committing many unforced errors and Rosner take advantage of it after winning next two games ... In next match Harinder lost closely fought first 2 games ... Then he made strong comeback and won next two games comfortably against Kandra ... In decider he failed to take advantage of the momentum and lost the game in extra points after missing match ball.

Badminton News
At $700K Djarum Indonesia Open 2013, Jakarta (Superseries Premier)

[SF] (1) Saina Nehwal (IND,2) l Juliane Schenk (GER,3) 21-12 13-21 14-21

Juliane scored upset win over Saina in 52 minutes ... Saina failed to stable against Juliane ... In the first game from 6-all Juliane won next 6 points to lead 12-6 but after that Saina won next 15 points in a row to won this game ... In the second game Juliane opened 6-0 lead which she kept increasing and won this game comfortably ... In the final game from 6-5 Juliane take 12-6 lead ... After that Saina tried reduce the lead and she managed to came close to 14-16 but after that Juliane won next 5 points and completed the victory.

Hockey News
At Hockey World League Semi-Final - Women, Rotterdam, Netherlands

Pool B
India dw Belgium 1-1 (0-1)
Goal Scorers - Anupa Barla (IND) 38' and Erica Coppey (BEL) 4'

Germany bt New Zealand 3-2 (2-0)

After dismissal yesterday's performance this was welcome result for our girls but nothing positive about performance ... Belgium take early lead through Coppey and after that they dominated the proceedings ... They had numerous chances of doubling the lead but they struggled inside Indian D and also with excellent goal-keeping by Savita ... Indians equalized in early stage of second half ... After that also Belgium had chances of winning the match which they failed to convert.

Tennis News
At €780K Queens Open, London, Great Britain

[QF] (3) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Rohan Bopanna (IND) bt (5) Colin Fleming (GBR)/ Jonathan Marray (GBR) 76(5) 46 10-4

[SF] (3) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Rohan Bopanna (IND) vs (1) Bob Bryan (USA)/ Mike Bryan (USA)

Our pair in the semis with match super tie-break win over local pair ... After winning the first set in tie-break Rohan-Mahesh lost the second with a single break ... Our pair dominated match tie-break, which they won losing only 4 points ... In the semis they r facing in-form Bryans.
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At $75K Nottingham-2 Challenger, Great Britain (grass)

[SF] Somdev Devvarman (IND,140) l Steve Johnson (USA,120) 36 46

Doubles
[QF] (4) Divij Sharan (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) bt Go Soeda (JPN)/ Ruan Roelofse (RSA) 76(5) 75

[SF] (4) Divij Sharan (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) bt (1) Marcelo Demoliner (BRA)/ Nicholas Monroe (USA) 67(8) 63 10-8

[F] (4) Divij Sharan (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) vs (2) Sanchai Ratiwatana (THA)/ Sonchat Ratiwatana (THA)

Match between two 2 times NCAA champions didn't live as per expectations ... Johnson won the first set with a single break ... In the second set also Johnson broke Buji in 1st game and then take another break to lead 4-1 ... When Johnson was serving for the match at 5-2 Buji tried fightback ... He broke Johnson in 8th game and then hold his serve ... But he wasn't third time lucky for another comeback and Johnson hold his serve for a win ... Still creditable performance by Buji in last two weeks, he reached in the semis of big challengers on clay and grass ... From next week he will try his luck at Wimbledon qualifying.

Divij-Purav completed quarter-final win and then they played semis late in evening against top-seed pair ... After losing the first set in tie-break they made strong comeback to won the second ... They managed to keep momentum in match tie-break and won this tight tie-break ... Good win against good grass court players ... In the final they r facing Ratiwatanas.
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At $10K India F8 Futures, Coimbatore

Singles Semi Finals
(3) Vijayant MALIK (IND) bt (1) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND) 75 61
(2) Jeevan NEDUNCHEZHIYAN (IND) bt (5) Karunuday SINGH (IND) 63 63

Doubles Final
(2) Keith-Patrick CROWLEY (RSA)/ Arun-Prakash RAJAGOPALAN (IND) bt Fariz MOHAMMED (IND)/ Vignesh PERANAMALLUR (IND) 63 62

Jeevan scored very good win over Karunuday ... Vijayant kept his upperhand over Bala ... In the doubles Arun-Prakash managed to lift his first doubles title of this future series.
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At $10K Spain F17 Futures, Martos

[QF] Ashwin Vijayragavan (IND,980) l (1) Steven Diez (CAN,267) 26 46
[QF] Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,800) bt Matthieu Roy (FRA,861) 62 63

[SF] Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,800) vs Jose Checa-Calvo (ESP,260)

Doubles
[SF] (2) Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND)/ Ashwin Vijayragavan (IND) bt Alejandro Augusto Bueno (ESP)/ Marcos Giraldi Requena (ESP) 64 16 10-4

[F] (2) Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND)/ Ashwin Vijayragavan (IND) vs (4) Roberto Ortega-Olmedo (ESP)/ Ricardo Villacorta-Alonso (ESP)

Ramkumar scored another comfortable win over Frenchman and enter into the semis ... He is facing top ranked player of the tournament Jose Checa-Calvo ... Ashwin produced decent fight against top-seed Canadian.

Ashwin-Ramkumar r in the doubles final ... In the semis they scored match tie-break victory over Spanish pair ... In the final they r facing 4th seed Spanish pair.

Badminton News
At $700K Djarum Indonesia Open 2013, Jakarta (Superseries Premier)

[QF] Ajay Jayaram (IND,28) l Marc Zwiebler (GER,22) 16-21 15-21
[QF] Gurusaidutt R. M. V. (IND,23) l Tommy Sugiarto (INA,20) 21-19 11-21 10-21
[QF] (1) Saina Nehwal (IND,2) bt Carolina Marin (ESP,27) 21-16 21-19

[SF] (1) Saina Nehwal (IND,2) vs (4) Juliane Schenk (GER,3)

Saina scored straight games victory but Spanish girl Marin stretched her ... In the first game both players exchanged lead till 12-all ... After that Saina opened couple of points lead and which she increased for winning this game ... In the second game Carolina opened 7-2 lead but Saina caught with her at 10-all ... But again Carolina take 13-10 lead and she kept her lead till 19-15 ... After that Saina won last 6 points and completed win in 39 minutes ... Next she is facing German Juliane Schenk.

Ajay failed to raise his game against Zwiebler and loss in straight games ... Guru started well against Tommy Sugiarto and won the first game but after that Tommy proved too strong ... He won the last two games comfortably.

At World Teams 2013, Mulhouse, France

[QF] (8) India l (1) Egypt 0-2

Harinderpal Sandhu 0-3 Karim Darwish 7/11 4/11 2/11 (28m)
Saurav Ghosal 1-3 Ramy Ashour 7/11 9/11 11/4 11/13 (61m)

Top-seed Egypt scored expected victory over India ... Harinderpal played well in the first game but after losing that he failed to produce any challenge to Karim.

The second match between Saurav and Ramy called match of the day by experts ... Saurav kept running and returning everything which Ramy was playing ... Ramy won well fought 1st game ... In the second game Saurav played well and take advantage of Ramy's mistakes ... He was leading 9-5 but Ramy cut down his errors and played excellent game winning next 6 points to won this game ... In the third Saurav dominated and won it comfortably ... In fourth game also both kept playing quality squash ... Ramy 2 match balls at 10-8 but Saurav saved both and had a game ball at 11-10 but Ramy won next 3 points for hard fought win.

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

[QF] Somdev Devvarman (IND,140) bt Donald Young (USA,157) 36 76(4) 64

[SF] Somdev Devvarman (IND,140) vs Steve Johnson (USA,120)

Slow start for Buji in the first set, he was 5-2 down before losing the first set ... In the second set both players hold their respective serves till 4-all ... Donald broke Buji in 9th game to lead 5-4 but again Buji showed his fighting spirit ... He broke Donald when he was serving for the match at 15 ... In tie-break both players exchanged early mini-breaks but at 5-4 Buji won next 2 points on Donald's serve to won this set ... In the final set only break came in 5th game when Buji broke Donald to lead 3-2 ... In 6th game Buji saved 3 break points before holding his serve but after that both players hold their respective serve without any problem ... So Buji completed his another comeback win ... Next he is facing another American, Steve Johnson, who was also NCAA champion in 2011 and 2012 ... So interesting match between 2 former NCAA two-time champions.
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At $10K Spain F17 Futures, Martos

[R2] Ashwin Vijayragavan (IND,980) bt (7) Pol Toledo Bague (ESP,660) 67(3) 62 64
[R2] Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,800) bt Emilien Firmin (FRA,787) 76(2) 64

[QF] Ashwin Vijayragavan (IND,980) vs (1) Steven Diez (CAN,267)
[QF] Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,800) vs Matthieu Roy (FRA,861)

Doubles
[QF] (2) Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND)/ Ashwin Vijayragavan (IND) bt Eduard Esteve Lobato (ESP)/ David Vega Hernandez (ESP) 75 62

[SF] (2) Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND)/ Ashwin Vijayragavan (IND) vs Alejandro Augusto Bueno (ESP)/ Marcos Giraldi Requena (ESP)

Very good comeback win by Ashwin over top-700 Spanish player ... Next he is facing top-seed Canadian ... Ramkumar also continued with his good form and scored straight sets win over similar ranked Frenchman ... Next he is facing another unseeded Frenchman.

Ashwin-Ramkumar r also in the doubles semi with straight sets win over Spanish pair.

Hockey News
At Hockey World League Semi-Final - Men, Rotterdam, Netherlands

Pool B
India dw Ireland 4-4 (1-2)
Goal Scorers - Akashdeep Singh (IND) 21', Rupinder Pal Sigh (IND) PC 40' and PC 66', Shivender Singh (IND) 47' and Alan Sothern (IRL) 25', Paul Gleghorne (IRL) 30', Conor Harte (IRL) PC 57', Andrew McConnel (IRL) 64'

Netherlands dw New Zealand 3-3

We were lucky in the end as we managed draw against spirited Irish team, who was looking better on the field ... Need improvement in defending and finishing inside the circle against Kiwis and Dutch side.

Match was evenly fought early and Akashdeep gave lead to India but Irish team responded with 2 goals in 5 minutes and take control of the match ... After end of first-half Irish team was leading 2-1 ... Rupinder Pal converted 2nd penalty corner in 40th minute and then Shivendra Singh deflected the ball in goal and gave lead to India ... But due to mistake by Raghu and Gurmail inside D we conceded first penalty corner and Irish team converted through Harte ... After 7 minutes Irish Andrew McConnel scored goal of the match with a diagonal hit from 25-yard, Sreejesh couldn't do anything with this goal ... Indians earned another penalty corner in 2 minutes and Rupinder Pal scored to equalized ... In last 4 minutes Irish team made numerous circle penetration but failed to score and match ended in a draw.

Tennis News
At €780K Queens Open, London, Great Britain

[R2] (3) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Rohan Bopanna (IND) bt Nicolas Mahut (FRA)/ Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (FRA) w/o

Mahesh-Rohan won match as French pair gave them walkover.
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At $75K Nottingham-2 Challenger, Great Britain (grass)

[R2] Somdev Devvarman (IND,140) bt (5) Jack Sock (USA,102) 16 67(5) 63

[QF] Somdev Devvarman (IND,140) vs Donald Young (USA,157)

Doubles
[QF] (4) Divij Sharan (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) vs Go Soeda (JPN)/ Ruan Roelofse (RSA)

Yesterday match was suspended due to rain when Buji was leading 3-2 in the third and 30-all on Sock's serve ... Today immediately Buji broke him to lead 4-2 ... After that both players hold their respective service games comfortably and within 15 minutes Buji completed his match ... Next he is facing Donald Young in the quarters.
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At $10K India F8 Futures, Coimbatore

Singles Quarter Finals
(1) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND) bt Jui-Chen HUNG (TPE) 67(3) 63 75
(3) Vijayant MALIK (IND) bt (7) Vignesh PERANAMALLUR (IND) 62 61
(5) Karunuday SINGH (IND) bt (4) Keith-Patrick CROWLEY (RSA) 62 57 63
(2) Jeevan NEDUNCHEZHIYAN (IND) bt (Q) Abdullah SHAIKH (IND) 62 60

Doubles Semi Finals
Fariz MOHAMMED (IND)/ Vignesh PERANAMALLUR (IND) bt (1) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND)/ Jeevan NEDUNCHEZHIYAN (IND) 62 60
(2) Keith-Patrick CROWLEY (RSA)/ Arun-Prakash RAJAGOPALAN (IND) bt Neeraj ELANGOVAN (IND)/ Ajai SELVARAJ (IND) 64 76(3)

This is Karunuday's 4th semi-final in fourth tournament in a row ... Surprising tough match for Bala.

Surprising loss of top-seed pair of Jeevan-Balaji, who were champion in last two weeks, against unseeded pair ... This loss mostly due to tiredness of Bala after his long singles quarter-final match against Taipei player.

Badminton News
At $700K Djarum Indonesia Open 2013, Jakarta (Superseries Premier)

[R2] (Q) Sai Praneeth B. (IND,55) l (1) Chong Wei Lee (MAS,1) 18-21 12-21
[R2] Sourabh Varma (IND,37) l (3) Pengyu Du (CHN,3) 16-21 6-21
[R2] Ajay Jayaram (IND,28) bt (4) Sony Dwi Kuncoro (INA,5) 22-20 21-12
[R2] Gurusaidutt R. M. V. (IND,23) bt (Q) Kazumasa Sakai (JPN,39) 21-12 9-21 21-19
[R2] (1) Saina Nehwal (IND,2) bt Sayaka Takahashi (JPN,24) 21-13 21-19

[R2] Pradnya Gadre (IND)/ Ashwini Ponnappa (IND) l Anneke Feinya Agustin (INA)/ Della Destiara Haris (INA) 13-21 19-21
[R2] Tarun Kona (IND)/ Ashwini Ponnappa (IND) l (7) Robert Mateusiak (POL)/ Nadiezda Zieba (POL) 14-21 21-17 13-21

[QF] Ajay Jayaram (IND,28) vs Marc Zwiebler (GER,22)
[QF] Gurusaidutt R. M. V. (IND,23) vs Tommy Sugiarto (INA,20)
[QF] (1) Saina Nehwal (IND,2) vs Carolina Marin (ESP,27)

Guru and Saina in quarter finals with contrasting victories ... After winning the first game easily Guru lost the second game against Kazumasa cheaply ... In decider Kazumasa 7 points in a row from 8-10 to lead 15-10 ... Guru fought back winning 5 points in a row from 12-16 and then converted 3rd match point ... Next he is facing local player, Tommy Sugiarto.

Saina started confidently and won the first game comfortably ... In the second game Sayaka opened lead of 4 points from 11-all ... Saina managed to catch her at 18-all and then won 3 points in a row from 18-19 and completed straight games win ... Next she is facing surprising quarter-finalist Spanish girl Carolina Marin.

Ajay scored cracking win over local favorite and WR #5 Sony Dwi Kuncoro in straight games ... In the first game whenever Ajay opened 3/4 points lead Sony was catching him ... Ajay had game points at 20-18 but Sony saved both ... Again Ajay created 3rd game point which he converted ... After winning the first game in extra points Ajay dominated the second from the start ... He was leading 7-2 one time but Sony reduced it to 11-12 ... After that Ajay gave him only one more point and won the game easily for 38 mins victory ... Next he is facing unseeded German Zwiebler for place in the semis.

Sai gave fighting performance against WR #1 Lee ... In the first game Lee take 10-6 lead but Sai fought back to made it 11-all ... From 14-all Lee take lead but after 15-20 down Sai saved 3 game points before losing the game ... In the second game Lee take early 7-3 lead which he kept increasing but Sai managed decent score line in his 38 mins loss.

Sourabh gave fighting performance in the first game against Chinese Pengyu Du but Du proved too strong him in the second ... Ashwini lost her women's doubles and mixed doubles matches with her respective partners but in mixed doubles she and Tarun managed to stretch seeded Polish pair.

Squash News
At World Men's Teams 2013, Mulhouse, France

[PQF] India bt Hong Kong 2-1
Saurav Ghosal 3-1 Max Lee 11/3 11/8 7/11 11/6 (61m)
Ramit Tandon 3-0 Yip Tsz Fung 11/9 11/5 11/9 (38m)
Harinderpal Sandhu 1-2 Leo Au 9/11 11/7 4/11 (25m)

Pool H
India bt Venezuela 3-0
Mahesh Mangaonkar 3-0 Miguel Vallennilla 11/1 11/2 11/7 (16m)
Harinderpal Sandhu 3-1 Gabriel Teran 11/3 6/11 11/8 11/5 (23m)
Ramit Tandon 3-0 Miguel Mendez 11/2 11/2 11/3 (17m)

India bt Finland 3-0
Ramit Tandon 3-1 Henrik Mustonen 11/4 11/6 11/13 11/4 (38m)
Mahesh Mangaonkar 3-0 Matias Tuomi 11/4 11/7 11/7 (28m)
Saurav Ghosal 3-1 Olli Tuominen 11/7 11/2 7/11 11/9 (51m)

India bt Argentina 2-1
Harinderpal Sandhu 2-3 Roberto Pezzota 9/11 11/2 11/6 11/13 6/11 (99m)
Saurav Ghosal 3-0 Hernan D'Arcalengo 11/7 11/8 11/2 (44m)
Mahesh Mangaonkar 3-1 Leandro Romiglio 8/11 11/5 11/6 11/8 (51m)

As per seeding 8th seed Indian team is in the quarters of World Men's Teams championship in France ... Our players dominated Pool H for winning it and in pre-quarter finals they defeated Hong Kong ... Saurav Ghosal is giving very solid performance ... In the quarter final we r facing #1 Egyptian side.

Hockey News
At Hockey World League Semi-Final - Women, Rotterdam, Netherlands

Pool B
India l New Zealand 0-7 (0-4)
Goal Scorers - Charlotte Harrison (NZL) 8' and 52', Own goal (IND) 16', Katie Glynn (NZL) 26' and 69', Sian Fremaux (NZL) 31', Krystal Forgesson (NZL) 52'

Germany bt Belgium 3-0 (2-0)

This match showed us what we can expect from THIS Indian women team ... They played like bunch of school girls against formidable New Zealand women team ... The Kiwis overpowered our girls ... In the first-half we were totally dis-oriented and lucky that Kiwi girls missed few easy chances ... In the second-half we were little better but over girls failed in Kiwi's Circle penetrations, Kiwis penetrated 62 times and our girls only 15 times ... Shots on the goal were 3 from us and other hand Kiwi girls had 15 shots.

Tennis News
At €780K Queens Open, London, Great Britain

[R2] (LL) Rohan Bopanna(IND,NR) l Kenny De Schepper (FRA,86) 46 36

Lucky break for Rohan as he entered straight into second round as 8th seed Kevin Anderson who had a first round bye pulled out ... But Rohan lost his serve in 7th game and lost the first set with single break ... Rohan struggled with his 1st serve and Schepper take full advantage of it and broke Rohan twice to completed victory ... So Rohan failed to capitalise on this opportunity.
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At $75K Nottingham-2 Challenger, Great Britain (grass)

[R2] Somdev Devvarman (IND,140) vs (5) Jack Sock (USA,102) 16 76(5) 3-2

Doubles
[QF] (4) Divij Sharan (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) vs Go Soeda (JPN)/ Ruan Roelofse (RSA) 6-6 (4-3)

Buji started disastrously and lost his serve thrice to lose the first set ... In the second set also he was 2-5 down and was facing one-sided loss but made amazing comeback ... He broke Sock twice when he was serving for the match at 5-2 and 5-4 ... Then again Sock broke Somi in 11th game but this time also Somi broke back and then won the tie-break ... In the final set when Somi was leading 3-2 on the serve and 30-all on Sock's serve when match suspended due to rain.

Divij-Purav were 6-6 and leading 4-3 in tie-break when their match also suspended.
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At $25K ITF Women's Tournament, Bukhara, Uzbekistan

[R2] (Q) Sharmada BALU (IND,UNR) l (7) Mari TANAKA (JPN,328) 26 06
Doubles
[QF] Ankita RAINA (IND)/ Prarthana G. THOMBARE (IND) l (3) Margarita GASPARYAN (RUS)/ Polina PEKHOVA (BLR) 16 67(4)

Shamada failed to produce challenge to her Japanese opponent ... In the doubles Ankita-Prarthana gave fighting performance in the second set after losing the first set easily against 3rd seed.
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At $15K Germany F5 Futures, Essen (clay)

[R1] N. Vijay Sundar Prashanth (IND,517) l (3) Nils Langer (GER,311) 67(5) 64 26
[R1] Vishnu Vardhan (IND,421) l Michael Venus (NZL,395) 26 46

Doubles
[R1] N. Vijay Sundar Prashanth (IND)/ Vishnu Vardhan (IND,421) l (1) Christian Harrison (USA)/ Michael Venus (NZL) 64 67(3) 6-10

Vijay Sundar gave fighting performance against 3rd seed German before losing this match ... But other hand Vishnu's struggle on the tour continues ... In the doubles also Vijay Sundar-Vishnu lost close match in match tie-break against top-seed pair.
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At $10K India F8 Futures, Coimbatore

Singles Second Round
(1) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND) bt (WC) Vigneshwaran RAMESH (IND) 61 76(5)
Jui-Chen HUNG (TPE) bt (8) Chandril SOOD (IND) 63 63
(3) Vijayant MALIK (IND) bt Neeraj ELANGOVAN (IND) 61 62
(7) Vignesh PERANAMALLUR (IND) bt Ajai SELVARAJ (IND) 62 63
(5) Karunuday SINGH (IND) bt Rakshit RISHI (IND)62 64
(4) Keith-Patrick CROWLEY (RSA) bt (Q) Saurabh PATIL (IND) 62 62
(Q) Abdullah SHAIKH (IND) bt Fariz MOHAMMED (IND) 63 61
(2) Jeevan NEDUNCHEZHIYAN (IND) bt (Q) Tushar MANDLEKAR (IND) 60 62

Doubles Quarter Finals
(1) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND)/ Jeevan NEDUNCHEZHIYAN (IND) bt (WC) Sumeet SHINDE (IND)/ U M Gugan VERMA (IND)62 63
Fariz MOHAMMED (IND)/ Vignesh PERANAMALLUR (IND) bt Jatin DAHIYA (IND)/ Shahbaaz KHAN (IND) 76(4) 57 10-8
Neeraj ELANGOVAN (IND)/ Ajai SELVARAJ (IND) bt (4) Chandril SOOD (IND)/ Lakshit SOOD (IND) 76(3) 67(5) 13-11
(2) Keith-Patrick CROWLEY (RSA)/ Arun-Prakash RAJAGOPALAN (IND) bt Kunal ANAND (IND)/ Sagar MANJANNA (IND) 64 76(4)

Sheikh Abdullah scored another win but next facing Jeevan ... Frankly expected loss of Chandril against Taipei player.
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At $10K Spain F17 Futures, Martos

[R1] Ashwin Vijayragavan (IND,980) bt (Q) Hasier Pastor (ESP,1163) 64 36 64
[R1] Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,800) bt (Q) Pedro Dominguez Alonso (ESP,1702) 61 64

[R2] Ashwin Vijayragavan (IND,980) vs (7) Pol Toledo Bague (ESP,660)
[R2] Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,800) vs Emilien Firmin (FRA,787)

Doubles
[R1] (2) Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND)/ Ashwin Vijayragavan (IND) bt Philipp Aleksanyan (RUS)/ Ivan Gakhov (RUS) 63 46 10-8

[QF] (2) Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND)/ Ashwin Vijayragavan (IND) vs Eduard Esteve Lobato (ESP)/ David Vega Hernandez (ESP)

Ashwin won his first round match in 3 sets against Spanish qualifier ... Next he is facing young 18 yrs old talented Pol Toledo Bague ... Ramkumar also started with comfortable win ... Next he is facing similar ranked Frenchman, who upset seeded countryman in the first round.

In the doubles Ramkumar-Ashwin started with close win over Russian pair.

Badminton News
At $700K Djarum Indonesia Open 2013, Jakarta (Superseries Premier)

[R1] (Q) Sai Praneeth B. (IND,55) bt Taufik Hidayat (INA,35) 15-21 21-12 21-17
[R1] Kashyap Parupalli (IND,10) l Sho Sasaki (JPN,19) 7-21 8-21
[R1] Sourabh Varma (IND,37) bt Hans-Kristian Vittinghus (DEN,15) 19-21 21-14 21-15
[R1] Ajay Jayaram (IND,28) bt (Q) Riyanto Subagja (INA,71) 22-20 8-21 21-12
[R1] Gurusaidutt R. M. V. (IND,25) bt Andre Kurniwan Tedjono (INA,53) 22-20 21-16

[R1] Pradnya Gadre (IND)/ Ashwini Ponnappa (IND) bt Mingtian Fu (SIN)/ Lei Yao (SIN) 21-16 15-21 22-20
[R1] (Q) Aparna Balan (IND)/ Siki Reddy N. (IND) l Gebby Ristiyani Imawan (INA)/ Tiara Rosalia Nuraidah (INA) 12-21 17-21

[R2] (Q) Sai Praneeth B. (IND,55) vs (1) Chong Wei Lee (MAS,1)
[R2] Sourabh Varma (IND,37) vs (3) Pengyu Du (CHN,3)
[R2] Ajay Jayaram (IND,28) vs (4) Sony Dwi Kuncoro (INA,5)
[R2] Gurusaidutt R. M. V. (IND,25) vs (Q) Kazumasa Sakai (JPN,39)

[R2] Pradnya Gadre (IND)/ Ashwini Ponnappa (IND) vs Anneke Feinya Agustin (INA)/ Della Destiara Haris (INA)

Sai scored comeback win over Indonesian legend Taufik Hidayat in his last competitive match as this was his last tournament ... After losing the first game Sai dominated the second before winning the third winning crucial points ... Terrific win for Sai.

Sourabh also scored big win over top-15 Danish player Vittinghus in three games ... He also lost the first game before winning next two games comfortably ... Next matches r tough for Sai and Sourabh against WR #1 and WR #3 respectively.

Shocking one-sided loss of Kashyap in 31 minutes, where he managed to win only 15 points in the match.

Ajay recovered well in the final game after losing the second game easily against local qualifier ... Next he is facing Indonesia's top player and WR #5 Sony Dwi Kuncoro ... Guru also scored good win against former top-20 Indonesian player Tedjono in straight games ... Next he is facing Japanese qualifier, who scored upset win over 7th seed Danish player.

Ashwini-Pradnya scored tight win over experienced Singaporean pair ... In the final game Singaporean pair were leading by 2-3 points but our pair caught them at 14-all from 11-14 ... After that our pair had 19-16 lead but this time Singaporean pair made it 19-all ... Ashwini-Pradnya played kept their focus and converted 2nd match point ... Next they r facing local pair, who upset 6th seed Thai pair.

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

[R1] Somdev Devvarman (IND,140) bt (Q) Brydan Klein (GBR,253) 76(2) 64

[R2] Somdev Devvarman (IND,140) vs (5) Jack Sock (USA,102)

Both players exchanged early breaks and then Buji saved couple of set points in 10th game ... In tie-break when Buji was leading 5-2 when match stopped due to rain ... After returning Buji won next two points for winning the set ... In the second set both players played another tight games but Buji take crucial break in 10th game when Brydan was serving for staying in the match ... Good win for Buji in his first match of the grass season against better grass court player, who was played few matches on the grass before this match ... Next Buji is playing against young 5th seeded American Jack Sock.
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At $25K ITF Women's Tournament, Bukhara, Uzbekistan

[R1] (Q) Ankita RAINA (IND,430) l (Q) Indy DE VROOME (NED,467) 67(3) 16
[R1] (Q) Sharmada BALU (IND,UNR) bt (WC) Arina FOLTS (UZB,UNR) 62 61

[R2] (Q) Sharmada BALU (IND,UNR) vs (7) Mari TANAKA (JPN,328)

Doubles
[QF] Ankita RAINA (IND)/ Prarthana G. THOMBARE (IND) vs (3) Margarita GASPARYAN (RUS)/ Polina PEKHOVA (BLR)

Tough scheduling for Ankita considering so much matches but this is learning curve for her and her support team ... This was her 9th match in 11 days ... Happy to see Balu take advantage of weaker opponent.
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At $15K Germany F5 Futures, Essen (clay)

[R1] Vishnu Vardhan (IND,421) vs Michael Venus (NZL,395)
[R1] N. Vijay Sundar Prashanth (IND,517) vs (3) Nils Langer (GER,311)

Doubles
[R1] N. Vijay Sundar Prashanth (IND)/ Vishnu Vardhan (IND,421) vs (1) Christian Harrison (USA)/ Michael Venus (NZL)

Good to see Vishnu and Vijay Sundar r playing in tough German clay futures.
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At $10K Spain F17 Futures, Martos

[R1] Ashwin Vijayragavan (IND,980) vs (Q) Hasier Pastor (ESP,1163)
[R1] Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,800) vs (Q) Pedro Dominguez Alonso (ESP,1702)

Doubles
[R1] (2) Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND)/ Ashwin Vijayragavan (IND) vs Philipp Aleksanyan (RUS)/ Ivan Gakhov (RUS)

Ramkumar and Ashwin r playing against qualifiers in the first round.