Volleyball News

At Men's u21 World Championship 2013, Turkey

For 5th - 8th Positions
India l Turkey 0-3 (18-25 23-25 2025)

In the first set Turkey take early lead which they kept till end ... In the second set Indians improved and fought back but that wasn't sufficient for winning this set ... In the third set Turkish boys blocking were superb which helped them for winning the match ... For 6th position Indians will play against Argentine players.

Tennis News

At US Open 2013, New York, USA

Doubles
[R2] (10) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Jie Zheng (CHN) bt Katalin Marosi (HUN)/ Megan Moulton-Levy (USA) 63 75
[R2] (6) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Edouard Roger-Vasselin (FRA) bt Nikolay Davydenko (RUS)/ Mikhail Elgin (RUS) 76(2) 76(0)
[R2] (4) Leander Paes (IND)/ Radek Stepanek (CZE) bt Daniel Brands (GER)/ Philipp Oswald (AUT) 46 63 64
[R2] Yen-Hsun Lu (TPE)/ Divij Sharan (IND) bt Jonathan Erlich (ISR)/ Andy Ram (ISR) 64 57 76(2)

[R3] (10) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Jie Zheng (CHN) vs (6) Anna-Lena Groenefeld (GER)/ Kveta Peschke (CZE)
[R3] (6) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Edouard Roger-Vasselin (FRA) vs (12) Colin Fleming (GBR)/ Jonathan Marray (GBR)
[R3] (4) Leander Paes (IND)/ Radek Stepanek (CZE) vs (14) Michael Llodra (FRA)/ Nicolas Mahut (FRA)
[R3] Yen-Hsun Lu (TPE)/ Divij Sharan (IND) vs (5) Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (PAK)/ Jean-Julien Rojer (NED)

Turned to be superb day for Indians as our all pairs win their matches ... Most impressive win was by Divij with his partner Lu against experienced Israeli pair, Erlich-Ram ... Our pair won the first set before losing the second set ... In the closely fought third set they completed win after clinching tie-break ... Next they r facing 5th seed pair of Aisam-Rojer.

Sania-Jie scored straight sets win over Marosi-Levy ... Next they r facing 6th seed pair of Groenefeld-Peschke.

Rohan-Edouard needed two tie-breaks for winning their match against Russian pair ... Next they r facing 12th seed British pair.

Lee-Radek started slowly but after losing the first set they made strong comeback to won next two sets ... Next they r facing 14th seed French pair.
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At $15K Gabon F2 Futures, Libreville

Singles Final
(2) Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan(IND,375) l Arthur Surreaux (FRA,1573) 64 46 57

Jeevan missed chance of winning another futures title as he lost the final against 1500+ ranked Surreaux ... Jeevan started with winning the first set but failed to kept momentum in next two sets ... This is Surreaux's first ITF futures title.
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At $15K Chinese Taipei F2 Futures, Taipei City

[SF] (5) Yuki Bhambri (IND,593) bt (2) Sean Berman (USA,527) 62 62

[F] (5) Yuki Bhambri (IND,593) vs (4) Kento Takeuchi (JPN,557)

Yuki scored dominating win over 2nd seed Sean Berman ... Next in the final he is facing 4th seed Japanese Kento Takeuchi.
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At $10K Egypt F22 Futures , Sharm El Sheikh

[SF] (2) N.Sriram Balaji (IND,402) l Mazen Osama (EGY,725) 57 26

Doubles Final
(1) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND)/ Ranjeet VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND) l Sebastian RIVERA (ECU)/ Ricardo URZUA-RIVERA (CHI) 46 67(4)

Bala failed to overcome challenge of junior player of Egypt's ... In the doubles final also top-seed Bala-Ranjeet lost against South American pair.
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At $10K ITF Women's Tournament, New Delhi, India

Singles Final
Bhuvana Kalva (IND) bt (6) Akari Inoue (JPN) 64 75

Bhuvana completed excellent run after lifting her first ITF tournament title beating 6th seed Akari Inoue in the final ... Terrific performance by young Bhuvana in this ITF tournament, who defeated in-form Ankita Raina in the semis.

Volleyball News

At Men's u21 World Championship 2013, Turkey

Quarter Final
India l Russia 0-3 (21-25 15-21 16-25)

Defending champion Russians boys dominated match from the start for 63 minutes easy victory ... Despite close score Russians never was in trouble in the first set ... In next two sets they reduced their mistakes and scored comfortable win ... Now Indians boys will play for 5 to 8th standings.

Hockey News

At Asia Cup Hockey Tournament 2013, Ipoh, Malaysia

Semi Final
India bt Malaysia 1-0 (2-0)
Goal Scorers - RV Raghunath (IND) PC 8', Mandeep Singh (IND) 60'

In the first semi-final Koreans defeated Pakistan 2-1 and that means India qualify for 2014 Men's Hockey World Cup as 12th team as they finished on 6th position in WHL ... But that also means first time in World cup history Pakistan is missing it.

After confirming their entry in World cup Indians started their semi-final confidently ... Indians converted first penalty corner through excellent hit taken by Raghunath ... After that both teams tried hard but very good defending by both teams ... In the second half also same story repeated as Malaysians were trying hard but our defense was solid ... Rupinder Pal send superb pass to Ramandeep, who unselfishly passed ball to Mandeep and who did easy tap in to double our lead ... Indians easily maintained that advantage till end and book their place in the final against South Korea ... In this match our mid-field struggled but we were excellent while defending.

Tennis News

At US Open 2013, New York, USA

[R2] (Q) Somdev Devvarman (IND,114) l (20) Andreas Seppi (ITA,23) 67(8) 46 57

Doubles
[R1] (6) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Edouard Roger-Vasselin (FRA) bt Bradley Klahn (USA)/ Sam Querrey (USA) 62 64

[R2] (6) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Edouard Roger-Vasselin (FRA) vs Nikolay Davydenko (RUS)/ Mikhail Elgin (RUS)

Mixed Doubles
[R1] (3) Julia Goerges (GER)/ Rohan Bopanna (IND) l Abigail Spears (USA)/ Santiago Gonzalez (MEX) 76(1) 26 6-10
[R1] Sania Mirza (IND)/ Horia Tecau (ROU) l (8) Liezel Huber (USA)/ Marcelo Melo (BRA) 64 67(10) 4-10
[R1] Martina Hingis (SUI)/ Mahesh Bhupathi (IND) l Yung-Jan Chan (TPE)/ Robert Lindstedt (SWE) 67(5) 67(5)

In this match Buji started confidently, he had 3 break point chances in 2nd game but failed to convert ... Buji broke Seppi in 3rd game and take 3-1 lead but Seppi immediately broke Buji in next game ... Seppi again broke Buji in 7th game to lead 4-3 but this time Buji broke back to made 4-all ... In tie-break Somi saved 3 set points before losing this long tie-break ... In the second set Buji broke Seppi in 5th game to lead 3-2 but this time also he lost his serve in next game ... While serving for staying in the set at 4-5 Buji lost his serve to lose the second set ... In the third set from 2-4 down Buji broke Seppi twice to lead 5-4 but he wasted 5 set points on his serve from 40-0 and lost his serve ... Seppi again broke Buji in 12th game to won this match ... Buji had chances in this match but he failed to convert ... Still creditable that with this US open performance he is re-entering into top-100.

IN men's doubles Rohan-Edouard started with comfortable win against American pair of Klahn-Querrey ... Our pair was in control from the start and never looked in trouble ... Next they r facing Russian pair Davydenko-Elgin.

In mixed doubles turned to be horrible day for Indians with their respective partner ... Our all three pairs lost after closely fought matches ... Sania and Rohan lost in match tie-break after winning the first set with their partners ... Mahesh-Hingis lost in two tie-breaks and with that end of Mahesh's superb grand slam career.
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At $15K Gabon F2 Futures, Libreville

[SF] (2) Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan(IND,375) bt Elie Rousset (FRA,533) 64 26 63

[F] (2) Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan(IND,375) vs Arthur Surreaux (FRA,1573)

Doubles Final
(2) Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND)/ Vishnu Vardhan (IND) l (1) Sam Barry (IRL)/ Elie Rousset (FRA) 06 06

Jeevan scored fighting win over 3rd Frenchman in the semis ... In the final he is facing surprising finalist another Frenchman Arthur Surreaux ... But I m surprised and worried the scoreline in the final of doubles.
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At $15K Chinese Taipei F2 Futures, Taipei City

[QF] (5) Yuki Bhambri(IND,593) bt (3) Yuichi Ito (JPN,546) 63 4-2 Retd.

[SF] (5) Yuki Bhambri(IND,593) vs (2) Sean Berman (USA,527)
Yuichi Ito retired from his match when Yuki was break up in the second after winning the first set ... Next Yuki is facing 2nd seed American Berman.
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At $10K Egypt F22 Futures , Sharm El Sheikh

[QF] (4) Ranjeet Virali-Murugesan (IND,545) l (8) Karim-Mohamed Maamoun (EGY,663) 57 16
[QF] (2) N.Sriram Balaji (IND,402) bt (7) Issam Haitham Taweel (SYR,690) 75 36 75

[SF] (2) N.Sriram Balaji (IND,402) vs Mazen Osama (EGY,725)

Doubles
[SF] (1) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND)/ Ranjeet VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND) bt (3) Mohamed ADNAOUI (MAR)/ Julian TUROSIENSKI (POL) 57 60 10-5

[F] (1) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND)/ Ranjeet VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND) vs Sebastian RIVERA (ECU)/ Ricardo URZUA-RIVERA (CHI)

Surprising loss of Ranjeet as he was looking in good form in first 2 matches ... Bla had another fighting win against Syrian ... Next he is facing Egypt's talented junior ... In the doubles our pair in the final after comeback win ... In the final they r facing South American pair.
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At $10K ITF Women's Tournament, New Delhi, India

Singles Semi Finals
Bhuvana Kalva (IND) bt (1) Ankita Raina (IND) 63 62
(6) Akari Inoue (JPN) bt Matilda Hamlin (SWE) 64 60

Huge win for Bhuvana as this was first win in almost year by any Indian girl against Ankita and that's also in dominating fashion ... Now I m rooting for Bhuvana for lifting her first ITF title.
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At $10K Turkey F34 Futures, Antalya-Belconti,

[SF] (1) Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND)/ Tucker VORSTER (RSA) l Dekel BAR (ISR)/ Tobias BLOMGREN (SWE) 36 06

End of Turkey futures for Ramkumar after his loss in the doubles.

Rowing News

At 2013 World Rowing Championships, Chungju, South Korea

Single Sculls - M1x
Semi Final A/B 1
4 Sawarn Singh Wirk (IND) 7:16.44

Sawarn Singh finished on 4th position so missed medals final, i.e. Final A ... But still overall Sawarn Singh finished on 7th positions from 12 rowers in semi-final so he will be favorite for Final B.

Tennis News

At US Open 2013, New York, USA

Doubles
[R1] (10) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Jie Zheng (CHN) bt Annika Beck (GER)/ Monica Puig (PUR) 62 62
[R1] Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Philipp Petzschner (GER) l Daniel Nestor (CAN)/ Vasek Pospisil (CAN) 36 67(4)
[R1] (4) Leander Paes (IND)/ Radek Stepanek (CZE) bt Jarkko Nieminen (FIN)/ Dmitry Tursunov (RUS) 64 76(4)
[R1] Yen-Hsun Lu (TPE)/ Divij Sharan (IND) bt Robin Haase (NED)/ Igor Sijsling (NED) 61 75

[R2] (10) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Jie Zheng (CHN) vs Katalin Marosi (HUN)/ Megan Moulton-Levy (USA)
[R2] (4) Leander Paes (IND)/ Radek Stepanek (CZE) vs Daniel Brands (GER)/ Philipp Oswald (AUT)
[R2] Yen-Hsun Lu (TPE)/ Divij Sharan (IND) vs Jonathan Erlich (ISR)/ Andy Ram (ISR)

Mahesh Bhupathi's glittering career in men's doubles grad slam got over with the first round loss against Nestor-Pospisil at US open ... He won 4 men's doubles grand slams (2 French open, 1 Wimbledon and 1 US open) and also won 8 mixed doubles grand slam titles (2 each at all 4 grand slams) in his career ... He is still having chance of winning 9th mixed doubles title with Martina Hingis in this US open ... In the men's doubles Canadian pair proved too strong, Nestor won the title last week with Leander ... He kept his winning momentum with Pospisi and won the second set in tie-break.

Divij scored his first grand slam victory with his Taiwani partner Yen-Hsun Lu ... They defeated experienced Dutch pair in straight sets ... Next they r facing another very experienced Israeli pair Jonathan Erlich-Andy Ram, who upset 11th seeds in the first round.

Leander-Radek scored tight two sets win over tricky pairing of Jarkko Nieminen and Dmitry Tursunov ... Next they r facing Daniel Brands-Philipp Oswald.

Sania-Jie started with dominating win over Beck-Puig losing only 4 games ... Next they r facing Hungarian-American pair Katalin Marosi-Megan Moulton-Levy, against same pair Sania-Jie needed match tie-brake for win at New Haven Open ... Hopefully this time easier outing for Sania-Jie.
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At $15K Gabon F2 Futures, Libreville

[QF] (5) Vishnu Vardhan(IND,688) l (4) Sam Barry (IRL,543) 76(4) 26 57
[QF] (2) Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan(IND,375) bt Matias Castro (ARG,1248) 63 61

[SF] (2) Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan(IND,375) vs Elie Rousset (FRA,533)

Doubles
[SF] (2) Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND)/ Vishnu Vardhan (IND) bt Bar Tzuf Botzer (ISR)/ Rudy Coco (FRA) 61 64

[F] (2) Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND)/ Vishnu Vardhan (IND) vs (1) Sam Barry (IRL)/ Elie Rousset (FRA)

Vishnu need to win these matches to improve his ranking ... After winning the first set in tie-break he lost the second set easily but gave fighting performance in the third before losing it ... Other hand Jeevan scored comfortable win losing only 4 games ... In the semis he is facing 3rd seed Frenchman.

In the doubles Jeevan-Vishnu enter into the final with convincing win ... In the final they r facing top seed Irish-French pair Sam Barry-Elie Rousset.
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At $15K Chinese Taipei F2 Futures, Taipei City

[R2] (5) Yuki Bhambri(IND,593) bt Dayne Kelly (AUS,897) 76(3) 64

[QF] (5) Yuki Bhambri(IND,593) vs (3) Yuichi Ito (JPN,546)

Good fighting win by Yuki against former top-300 type Dayne Kelly in the second round ... In the quarters he is facing 3rd seed Japanese Yuichi Ito.
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At $15K Netherlands F6 Futures, Rotterdam

[R2] (Q) Akash WAGH (IND,UNR) l Maximilian DINSLAKEN (GER,959) 06 36

Doubles
[SF] Kevin BOELHOUWER (NED)/ Akash WAGH (IND) l (1) Stephan FRANSEN (NED)/ Wesley KOOLHOF (NED) 57 36

Disappointed by this one sided loss of Akash against this below 950 ranked German opponent ... In the doubles semis Akash and his dutch partner gave decent fight to top-seed Dutch pair.
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At $10K Egypt F22 Futures , Sharm El Sheikh

[R2] (4) Ranjeet Virali-Murugesan (IND) bt Nizar Belmati (MAR,2029) 62 61
[R2] (2) N.Sriram Balaji (IND,402) bt (Q) Mohmed Adnaoui(MAR,UNR) 76(6) 63

[QF] (4) Ranjeet Virali-Murugesan (IND) vs (8) Karim-Mohamed Maamoun (EGY,663)
[QF] (2) N.Sriram Balaji (IND,402) vs (7) Issam Haitham Taweel (SYR,690)

Doubles
[QF] (1) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND)/ Ranjeet VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND) bt Tarek EL ESAWY (EGY)/ Karim-Mohamed MAAMOUN (EGY) 61 75

[SF] (1) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND)/ Ranjeet VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND) vs (3) Mohamed ADNAOUI (MAR)/ Julian TUROSIENSKI (POL)

Agan Bala stretched in his match by unranked qualifier ... Next he is facing top-700 Syrian player ... Ranjeet completed another dominating win ... He is facing top-675 Egyptian player ... In the doubles also they r in the semis and facing 3rd seeds.
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At $10K ITF Women's Tournament, New Delhi, India

Singles Quarter Finals
(1) Ankita Raina (IND) bt Xi-Yao Wang (CHN) 61 62
Bhuvana Kalva (IND) bt Natasha Palha (IND) 75 64
Matilda Hamlin (SWE) bt Mahitha Dadi Reddy (IND) 63 64
(6) Akari Inoue (JPN) bt (2) Rishika Sunkara (IND) 64 61

Good to see Bhuvana continued with her good run and join Ankita in the semis ... But disappointed by Rishika's loss against her Japanese opponent.
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At $10K Turkey F34 Futures, Antalya-Belconti,

[QF] (1) Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND)/ Tucker VORSTER (RSA) bt Melik FELER (FRA)/ Alexander MERINO (PER) 63 63

[SF] (1) Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND)/ Tucker VORSTER (RSA) vs Dekel BAR (ISR)/ Tobias BLOMGREN (SWE)

Ramkumar and his South African partner r in the semis in the doubles.

Volleyball News

At Men's u21 World Championship 2013, Turkey

Round of 16
India bt Japan 3-0 (25-18 25-23 25-20)

In the round of 16 Indian boys scored another upset win over WR #14 Japanese team in 73 minutes to enter quarter-final ... In the first set we controlled from the start and won it without much problem ... In the second set our boys started making too many errors and Japanese improved their game ... They were in control till their 20th point but our boys found their rhythm and snatched this set from Japanese team ... In the third set our players take control from the beginning with some excellent blocking and kept control to won the set and match ... Now real test in the quarter final against WR #4 and defending u21 World champion Russian boys..

Tennis News

At US Open 2013, New York, USA

[R1] (Q) Somdev Devvarman (IND,114) bt Lukas Lacko (SVK,84) 46 61 62 46 64

[R2] (Q) Somdev Devvarman (IND,114) vs (20) Andreas Seppi (ITA,23)

In the first set Buji was struggle with his serve ... Buji lost his serve in 3rd game but broke back in 4th game to made it 2-all ... Lacko take advantage of Buji's poor serving and take another break for winning the first set ... From the second set Buji's serving showed improvement and from 1-all Buji won next 5 games in that he broke Lacko twice to won it ... In the third set Buji was showing improvement in shot making and was finding his range ... Here also he won 4 games in a row after 2-all to won it ... At this time match's momentum was with Buji but match stopped due to lightening and then rain which gave chance to Lacko ... And Lacko came back recharge when match resumed after almost four and half hours delay ... Both players hold their respective service games till ninth game ... Buji had poor 10th service game which Lacko broke and won this set ... Buji had better serve percentage in the fifth which helped him to hold his service game and won the match with a single break ... Next he is facing in-form Italian Andreas Seppi.
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At $35K+H Como Challenger, Italy

[R1] Alessandro Motti (ITA)/ Purav Raja (IND) l (ALT) Marco Crugnola (ITA)/ Stefano Ianni (ITA) 75 46 4-10

Surprised by the loss of Purav and his partner against this local alternate pair in match tie-break.
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At $15K Chinese Taipei F2 Futures, Taipei City

[R1] (5) Yuki Bhambri(IND,593) bt (Q) Jonathan Chang (USA,UNR) 61 62

[R2] (5) Yuki Bhambri(IND,593) vs Dayne Kelly (AUS,897)

Expected comfortable win for Yuki against American qualifier ... Next he is facing Aussie opponent.
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At $15K Gabon F2 Futures, Libreville

[R2] (5) Vishnu Vardhan(IND,688) bt (Q) Eric Vehovec (CAN,UNR) 61 62
[R2] (2) Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan(IND,375) bt Alexis Klegou (BEN,1382) 67(3) 61 76(6)

[QF] (5) Vishnu Vardhan(IND,688) vs (4) Sam Barry (IRL,543)
[QF] (2) Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan(IND,375) vs Matias Castro (ARG,1248)

Doubles
[QF] (2) Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND)/ Vishnu Vardhan (IND) bt Kokou Missodey (TOG)/ Daouda Ndiaye (SEN) 76(1) 62

[SF] (2) Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND)/ Vishnu Vardhan (IND) vs Bar Tzuf Botzer (ISR)/ Rudy Coco (FRA)

Jeevan was streched to fullest by his 1300+ ranked opponent ... He was lucky to win long tie-break in the final set ... In the quarter he is facing another lower ranked Argentine opponent, who scored upset win over 8th seed in the second round ... Other hand Vishnu scored comfortable win over Canadian qualifier ... Next he is facing Irish 4th seed ... Our pair in the doubles semis also.
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At $10K Egypt F22 Futures , Sharm El Sheikh
[R1] (4)Ranjeet VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND,546) bt Lorenzo CARERA (ITA,1953) 60 60
[R1] (2) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND,411) bt Marc ABDELNOUR (SYR,797) 63 75

[R2] (4) Ranjeet Virali-Murugesan (IND) vs Nizar Belmati (MAR,2029)
[R2] (2) N.Sriram Balaji (IND,402) vs (Q) Mohmed Adnaoui(MAR,UNR)

Walk in the park for Ranjeet in his first round match ... Bala had little difficulty in his match ... After winning the first set he was 2-4 down in the second before winning 5 games from next 6 games to won this match ... In next round also both r facing easy opponents.
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At $10K Turkey F34 Futures, Antalya-Belconti,

[R1] Ramkumar Ramanathan(IND,709) l (4) Richard GABB (GBR,552) 61 46 06

Ramkumar failed to finish match in two sets and Gabb take advantage of it with strong bagel in the third set.
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At $10K ITF Women's Tournament, New Delhi, India

Singles Second Round
(1) Ankita Raina (IND) bt (Q) Riya Bhatia (IND) 61 60
Xi-Yao Wang (CHN) bt Hua-Chen Lee (TPE) 64 57 64
Bhuvana Kalva (IND) bt (Q) Shivika Burman (IND) 61 64
Natasha Palha (IND) bt Eetee Maheta (IND) 62 60
Mahitha Dadi Reddy (IND) bt (5) Prarthana G. Thombare (IND) 61 75
Matilda Hamlin (SWE) bt (4) Nidhi Chilumula (IND) 64 46 63
(6) Akari Inoue (JPN) bt (Q) Pranjala Yadlapalli (IND) 46 63 63
(2) Rishika Sunkara (IND) bt Sharon Sanchana Paul (IND) 62 63

Good upset wins by Mahitha and fighting performance by Pranjala in her loss.

Hockey News

At Asia Cup Hockey Tournament 2013, Ipoh, Malaysia

Pool B
India bt Bangladesh 9-1 (5-1)
Goal Scorers - Rupinder Pal Singh (IND) PC 4', PC, 19', PS 27' and PC 62', Nikkin Thimmaiah (IND) 25', VR Raghunath (IND) PC 29', PC 52' and PC 59', Mandeep Singh (IND) 47' and Mohammad Mamunur Rahman Chayan (BAN) PC 35'

Expected victory scored by Indians over Bangladesh but I was disappointed by our players defending ... We gave unnecessary penalty corner in dying moments of the first half due to poor tackling inside 25 yards line and Bangladesh captain scored from that one penalty corner ... Though we scored many goals through penalty corners still our defending wasn't satisfactory ... We need to avoid dangerous tackling and play more passing game then long hitting.

So with this we topped the pool and playing host Malaysia in the second semi-final ... In the first semi-final Pakistan is facing Korea.

Rowing News

At 2013 World Rowing Championships, Chungju, South Korea

Single Sculls - M1x
Quarter Final 4
2 Sawarn Singh Wirk (IND) 7:14.21

Heat 3
2 Sawarn Singh Wirk (IND) 7:04.01

Sawarn Singh become first Indian rower to qualify for Semi Final of World Rowing Championships ... In ongoing world championships at Korea, Sawarn Singh finished on 2nd position in QF-4 as top 3 qualified for Semi finals A/B ... Before this in Heat-3 Sawarn Singh finished on 2nd position to qualify for quarter final ... In London Olympics, Sawarn Singh had reached QF and finished overall on 16th place so here he is already showing improvement as he is fighting for top-12 positions.

Tennis News

At US Open 2013, New York, USA

Mixed Doubles
[R1] (3) Julia Goerges (GER)/ Rohan Bopanna (IND) vs Abigail Spears (USA)/ Santiago Gonzalez (MEX)
[R1] Sania Mirza (IND)/ Horia Tecau (ROU) vs (8) Liezel Huber (USA)/ Marcelo Melo (BRA)
[R1] Martina Hingis (SUI)/ Mahesh Bhupathi (IND) vs Yung-Jan Chan (TPE)/ Robert Lindstedt (SWE)

Surprisingly Leander is missing from mixed doubles and his Washington Kastle partner, Martina Hingis, is partnering Mahesh.
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At $35K+H Como Challenger, Italy

[R1] Alessandro Motti (ITA)/ Purav Raja (IND) vs (ALT) Marco Crugnola (ITA)/ Stefano Ianni (ITA)

Purav and his Italian partner r facing alternate Italian pair.
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At $50K Bangkok-1 Challenger, Thailand

[R1] (Q) Karunuday Singh (IND,713) l (4) Yuichi Sugita (JPN,148) 57 36

Karunuday gave decent fighting performance against top-150 Japanese Sugita.
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At $15K Gabon F2 Futures, Libreville

[R1] Sagar Ahuja (IND,1533) l Maxime Tchoutakian (FRA,1013) 16 06
[R1] Neishit Vakil (IND,1635) l (Q) Eric Vehovec (CAN,UNR) 26 06
[R1] (5) Vishnu Vardhan(IND,688) bt Tinotenda Chanakira (ZIM,2039) 61 61
[R1] (2) Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan(IND,375) bt Adriano Quinti (GER,1592) 61 63

[R2] (5) Vishnu Vardhan(IND,688) vs (Q) Eric Vehovec (CAN,UNR)
[R2] (2) Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan(IND,375) vs Alexis KLEGOU (BEN,1382)

Doubles
[R1] Sagar Ahuja (IND)/ Neishit Vakil (IND) l Phenyo Matong (BOT)/ Stefan Merunka (BIH) 26 63 8-10
[R1] Medhir Goyal (IND)/ Kawach Samraat (IND) l (3) Hassan Ndayishimiye (BDI)/ Adriano Quinti (GER) 16 06
[R1] (2) Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND)/ Vishnu Vardhan (IND) bt M'lapa Tingou Akomlo (TOG)/ Alexis Klegou (BEN) 64 61

[QF] (2) Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND)/ Vishnu Vardhan (IND) vs Kokou MISSODEY (TOG)/ Daouda NDIAYE (SEN)

Expected wins for Vishnui and Jeevan ... This week they r in different draw ... Next Vishnu is facing Canadian qualifier and Jeevan is facing another lower ranked player.
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At $15K Netherlands F6 Futures, Rotterdam

[Q1] Akash WAGH (IND,UNR) bt David KARDOL (GER,UNR) 64 62
[Q2] Akash WAGH (IND,UNR) bt Eduardo VERGOPOLEM RIBEIRO (BRA,UNR) 63 62
[Q3] Akash WAGH (IND,UNR) bt Igor KHOROSHILOV (RUS,UNR) 62 63

[R1] (Q) Akash WAGH (IND,UNR) bt (LL) Pedro MOL (NED,UNR) 61 76(6)

[R2] (Q) Akash WAGH (IND,UNR) vs Maximilian DINSLAKEN (GER,959)

Doubles
[R1] Kevin BOELHOUWER (NED)/ Akash WAGH (IND) bye
[QF] Kevin BOELHOUWER (NED)/ Akash WAGH (IND) bt (3) Marc RATH (AUT)/ Michal SCHMID (CZE) 64 61

[SF] Kevin BOELHOUWER (NED)/ Akash WAGH (IND) vs (1) Stephan FRANSEN (NED)/ Wesley KOOLHOF (NED)

After a year Akash managed to win a main-draw match in Dutch futures ... He received lucky break as his first round 7th seed Dutch opponent withdrew and his place taken by lucky loser from qualifying ... Hopefully Akash win one more match ... His second round against German opponent.

Also good win ib the doubles with his Dutch partner against 3rd seed pair.
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At $10K Egypt F22 Futures , Sharm El Sheikh

[R1] (4) Ranjeet VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND,546) vs Lorenzo CARERA (ITA,1953)
[R1] (2) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND,411) vs Marc ABDELNOUR (SYR,797)

Doubles
[R1] (1) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND)/ Ranjeet VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND) bye

Bala and Ranjeet r playing in Egypt futures.
----------------------------------------------
At $10K Turkey F34 Futures, Antalya-Belconti,

[R1] Ramkumar Ramanathan(IND,709) vs (4) Richard GABB (GBR,552)

Doubles
[R1] (2) Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND)/ Tucker VORSTER (RSA) bt Alon ELIA (ISR)/ Marco SANGES (ITA) 62 76(5)

[QF] (1) Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND)/ Tucker VORSTER (RSA) vs Melik FELER (FRA)/ Alexander MERINO (PER)

Tough match for Ramkumar in the singles but winning start in the doubles

Hockey News

At Asia Cup Hockey Tournament 2013, Ipoh, Malaysia

Pool B
India bt Korea 2-0 (1-0)
Goal Scorers - VR Raghunath (IND) PC 6', Mandeep Singh (IND) 65'

Indians r playing crucial pool match against Koreans ... Indians take early lead through their single penalty corner in 6th minute and after that they produced some superb defending to hold that advantage till half-time ... South Koreans were dominated for last 25 minutes of first half and they earned five penalty corners but PR Sreejesh was wall in front of goal and did some excellent ... In the second half also South Koreans were attacking and dominated first 20 minutes ... They had maximum possession and too many circle penetrations but failed to take advantage as Sreejesh was too good in-front of the goal ... Other hand Indians struggled in mid-field and missed few opportunities in Korean circle ... In last 15 minutes Indians managed to put extra pressure on Korean goal with some excellent moves ... When 5 minutes were remaining Mandeep take advantage of Korean defensive mistake and scored easy goal ... In end Koreans were looking tired and Indians completed excellent win ... With this win they avoid facing Pakistan in the semi-final but still having tricky semi-final against host Malaysia, against whom we struggle these days.

Volleyball News

At Men's u21 World Championship 2013, Turkey

Pool A
India bt China 3-0 (25-21 25-23 25-18)

#16 ranked Indian boys scored another upset win over #9th ranked Chinese boys ... Yesterday they scored upset win over #11 ranked Egyptian boys ... In this match Indian boys didn't lost a set and won closely fought first 2 sets ... In the third set our boys dominated Chinese boys ... So with that we r qualify for top-16 on 2nd position behind host Turkey from Pool A.

Tennis News

Tennis News
At US Open 2013, New York, USA

Doubles
[R1] (10) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Jie Zheng (CHN) vs Annika Beck (GER)/ Monica Puig (PUR)
[R1] Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Philipp Petzschner (GER) vs Daniel Nestor (CAN)/ Vasek Pospisil (CAN)
[R1] (6) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Edouard Roger-Vasselin (FRA) vs Bradley Klahn (USA)/ Sam Querrey (USA)
[R1] (4) Leander Paes (IND)/ Radek Stepanek (CZE) vs Jarkko Nieminen (FIN)/ Dmitry Tursunov (RUS)
[R1] Yen-Hsun Lu (TPE)/ Divij Sharan (IND) vs Robin Haase (NED)/ Igor Sijsling (NED)

Doubles draws r out, Sania-Jie r in bottome draw and can face 6th seed German Anna-Lena Groenefeld and Czech Kveta Peschke in the third round.

Our all pairs r in top draw with in-form Bryans ... Mahesh and his German partner Philipp Petzschner r having real tough match against Canadian pair of experienced Daniel Nestor and Vasek Pospisil, this can be turnout Mahesh's last men's doubles Grand slam match ... Rohan-Edouard can face top-seed Bryans in quarters ... Lee-Radek r in same draw with Aisam-Rojer but before them they can face 14th seed tricky French pair Michael Llodra and Nicolas Mahut in the third round.
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At $35K+H Como Challenger, Italy

[R1] Alessandro Motti (ITA)/ Purav Raja (IND) vs Simon Greul (GER)/ Bastian Pashanski (SRB)

Purav is playing with Italian partner in Como challenger.
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At $50K Bangkok-1 Challenger, Thailand

[Q3] (2) Karunuday Singh (IND,713) bt (8) Punn Bodhidutta (THA,2058) 61 62

[R1] (Q) Karunuday Singh (IND,713) vs (4) Yuichi Sugita (JPN,148)

Doubles
[R1] Karunuday Singh (IND)/ Tyler Howchwalt (USA) l Warit Sornbutnark (THA)/ Kittipong Wachiramanowong (THA) 26 46

Without any difficulty Karunuday qualify for main-draw but tough first round against Japanese top-150 Davis cupper.

Other hand started with loss in the doubles.
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At $15K Gabon F2 Futures, Libreville

[R1] Sagar Ahuja (IND,1533) vs Maxime Tchoutakian (FRA,1013)
[R1] Neishit Vakil (IND,1635) vs (Q) Eric Vehovec (CAN,UNR)
[R1] (5) Vishnu Vardhan(IND,681) vs Tinotenda Chanakira (ZIM,2039)
[R1] (2) Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan(IND,377) vs Adriano Quinti (GER,1592)

Doubles
[R1] Sagar Ahuja (IND)/ Neishit Vakil (IND) vs Phenyo Matong (BOT)/ Stefan Merunka (BIH)
[R1] Medhir Goyal (IND)/ Kawach Samraat (IND) vs (3) Hassan Ndayishimiye (BDI)/ Adriano Quinti (GER)
[R1] (2) Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND)/ Vishnu Vardhan (IND) vs M'lapa Tingou Akomlo (TOG)/ Alexis Klegou (BEN)

This week Vishnu and Jeevan r in different half of the draw.
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At $15K Chinese Taipei F2 Futures, Taipei City

[R1] (5) Yuki Bhambri(IND,591) vs (Q) Jonathan Chang (USA,UNR)

Good decision of avoiding the doubles ... Winnable first round for Yuki.
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At $10K ITF Women's Tournament, New Delhi, India

Singles First Round
(1) Ankita Raina (IND) bt Julia Moriarty (AUS) 62 61
(Q) Riya Bhatia (IND) bt (WC) Arushi Bhasin (IND) 64 64
Xi-Yao Wang (CHN) bt (WC) Smriti Joon (IND) 64 63
Hua-Chen Lee (TPE) bt (8) Shweta Rana (IND) 60 3-0 Retd.
Bhuvana Kalva (IND) bt (3) Keren Shlomo (ISR) 61 36 61
(Q) Shivika Burman (IND) bt Rushmi Chakravarthi (IND) 64 26 75
Eetee Maheta (IND) bt (WC) Vaniya Dangwal (IND) 63 62
Natasha Palha (IND) bt (7) Prerna Bhambri (IND) 63 75
(5) Prarthana G. Thombare (IND) bt (Q) Victoria Chahel (IND) 64 60
Mahitha Dadi Reddy (IND) bt (Q) Vineeta Singh (IND) 61 63
Matilda Hamlin (SWE) bt (Q) Thevaia Selavrajoo (MAS) 61 63
(4) Nidhi Chilumula (IND) bt Ho Ching Wu (HKG) 64 61
(6) Akari Inoue (JPN) bt Sai Samhitha Chamarthi (IND) 62 46 60
(Q) Pranjala Yadlapalli (IND) bt (Q) Chun-Yan Hee (CHN) 62 61
Sharon Sanchana Paul (IND) bt (WC) Simran Kaur Sethi (IND) 64 46 62
(2) Rishika Sunkara (IND) bt (Q) Sri Vaishnavi Padi Reddy (IND) 5-2 Retd.

Another opportunity for Ankita to win another $10K title ... In the first round superb upset win by Bhuvana Kalva against Israeli 3rd seed Keren Shlomo ... 14 yrs old Pranjala Yadlapalli scored her first win on women's tour when she defeated 30 yrs old Chinese qualifier.

Archery News

At Archery World Cup - stage 4, Wroclaw, Poland


Recurve Women Team - Gold medal
(2) India bt (1) Korea 219-215

The Indian women completed back to back World Cup champions in an upset over WR #1 Korea ... Koreans were by far the strongest team during qualifications and elimination rounds this week as they never scored below 222 points ... So the task would not be easy for Deepika Kumari, Bombayla Devi Laishram and Rimil Buriuly against the three Olympic gold medalists Ok-Hee Yun, Bo Bae Ki and Hye Jin Chang ... But like Antalya in last world cup Indian women adjusted better in windy conditions in the final end ... Surprisingly lots of 7s scored and until first 15 arrows both teams were tied, 163-163 but Indians hit better arrows in the final end ... Indians managed four 10s arrows in the final 6 shots and that helped them for exciting victory against World and Olympics champions.

Volleyball News

At Men's u21 World Championship 2013, Turkey

Pool A
India bt Egypt 3-1 (22-25 25-21 25-16 25-16)

Another slow start for Indian boys ... In this match also they lost the first set but after that they made strong comeback and won next three sets ... So after three matches they move to second place in the standing ... Tomorrow they r having important match against Chinese team.

Tennis News

At $690K New Haven Open, USA


Doubles Final
(3) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Jie Zheng (CHN) bt (2) Annabel Medina Garrigues (ESP)/ Katrina Srebotnik (SLO) 63 64

Sania-Jie scored huge upset win against very experienced doubles players to lift title at Yale ... This was Sania's 17th WTA doubles title and 3rd this year, and Jie Zheng's 15th WTA doubles title and 1st in over two years ... After winning the first set our pair was cruising in the second ... They were up 5-2 and had 2 match points on opponent's serve but they lost focus ... They refocused and completed win in 10th game after saving break point ... Good preparation for Sania and Jie before their US open campaign.
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At $575K Winston-Salem Open, USA


Doubles Final
(1) Daniel Nestor (CAN)/ Leander Paes (IND) bt Treat Huey (PHI)/ Dominic Inglot (GBR) 76(10) 75

Leander-Daniel lifted their first title together, this was Lee's 52nd title and Daniel's 81st ... Also this week Daniel become the first doubles player to reach the 900 match wins milestone (902-358 match record) ... Also Daniel-Leander become first aged 40 pair to lift ATP doubles title ... This was the first title of the season for Leander and also for Daniel.

The final was very close as scoreline suggested ... Our pair faced 11 break points but they saved 10 out of it and that was crucial factor of the match ... Our pair won the first set after long tie-break after saving few set points ... In the second set also Huey-Inglot fought hard but experienced Lee-Daniel take crucial break in the end for title win.
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At $50K Bangkok Challenger, Thailand

[Q1] (2) Karunuday Singh (IND,713) bye
[Q1] (5) Abhijeet Tiwari (IND,1296) bye

[Q2] (2) Karunuday Singh (IND,713) bt Khunjan Nawakarn (THA,UNR) 62 60
[Q2] (5) Abhijeet Tiwari (IND,1296) l Suthinan Tanthaseraneewat (THA,UNR) 16 26

[Q3] (2) Karunuday Singh (IND,713) vs (8) Punn Bodhidutta (THA,2058)

Doubles
[R1] Karunuday Singh (IND)/ Tyler Howchwalt (USA) vs Warit Sornbutnark (THA)/ Kittipong Wachiramanowong (THA)

Happy to see Karunuday taking advantage of weaker draw but Abhijeet failed to take.
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At $15K Chinese Taipei F1 Futures, Taipei City

[SF] Yuki Bhambri(IND,591) bt (WC) Yu Cheng Yu (TPE,1508) 62 62

[F] Yuki Bhambri (IND,5913) l (4) Huang Liang Chi (TPE,245) 64 57 retd.

Yuki's struggle with fitness continues ... In the final after one set all he retired from the match, don't know if due to cramps or any sort of injury ... Yuki really need to work hard on his fitness as he again showed with his performance that fit Yuki is a talent which can achieve top-100 rank on the tour.

Volleyball News

At Men's u21 World Championship 2013, Turkey

Pool A
India bt Morocco 3-1 (23-25 25-18 26-24 25-11)

After one sided loss in the first match against host Turkey, Indian boys opened their account with little hard fought with over Moroccan boys ... In this match also Indian boys started slowly and lost the first set ... But our boys fought back to won the second set comfortably and with their errors in the third Indians stretched by Moroccans which our boys won in on extra points ... In the fourth set Indian boys performed as per their standard and won it losing only 11 points ... Tomorrow they r facing Egyptian boys.

Tennis News

At $690K New Haven Open, USA

Doubles Final
(3) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Jie Zheng (CHN) vs (2) Annabel Medina Garrigues (ESP)/ Katrina Srebotnik (SLO)

Tough match against 2nd seed pair for Sania-Jie.
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At $575K Winston-Salem Open, USA

Doubles Final
(1) Daniel Nestor (CAN)/ Leander Paes (IND) vs Treat Huey (PHI)/ Dominic Inglot (GBR)

In the Sunday's final Lee-Daniel r facing tricky but in-form pair of Huey-Inglot.
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At $15K Gabon F1 Futures, Libreville

Singles Final
(2) Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan(IND,377) l (1) James MCGEE (IRL,256) 46 67(4)

Doubles Final
(1) Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND)/ Vishnu Vardhan (IND) bt (2) Sam BARRY (IRL)/ Elie ROUSSET (FRA) 64 76(4)

Jeevan fought hard in the singles final but failed to overcome challenge of top-seed Irishman James McGee ... After losing the first set Jeevan stretched James to tie-break but lost that.

Interestingly in the doubles final Jeevan with Vishnu defeated Irishmen James with Sam with similar scoreline which Jeevan lost in the singles.
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At $15K Chinese Taipei F1 Futures, Taipei City

[QF] Yuki Bhambri(IND,591) bt Woo-Ram Kim (KOR,1225) 75 61

[SF] Yuki Bhambri(IND,591) vs (WC) Yu Cheng Yu (TPE,1508)

Doubles
[SF] (4) Yuki Bhambri (IND)/ Kento Takeuchi(JPN) l (2) Ti Chen (TPE)/ Liang-Chi Huang (TPE) 64 67(1) 3-10

Yesterday match was stopped when score was 4-5 ... Today Yuki dominated the proceeding and won 9 games from 10 games they played ... With this win he is in the semis and facing local wild-card player.

In the doubles Yuki and Takeuchi lost in match tie-break against Taipei Davis cup pair.
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At $10K ITF Women's Tournament, New Delhi, India

Singles Final
Katherine Ip (HKG) bt (7) Shweta Rana (IND) 63 63

Decent fight by Shweta against Katherine, who lifted title with straight sets win.

Hockey News

At Asia Cup Hockey Tournament 2013, Ipoh, Malaysia

Pool B
India bt Oman 8-0 (4-0)
Goal Scorers - Mandeep Singh (IND) PC 4' and 40', Ramandeep Singh (IND) 17' and 45', VR Raghunath (IND) PS 28', Rupinder Pal Singh (IND) PC 34', Malak Singh (IND) 48', Uthappa Kushalappa (IND) 69'

Expected win for Indians but their performance weren't convincing ... Our performance was sloppy ... In the second half we gave opportunities to Oman team and were lucky they didn't score ... We need to improve our performance by few notches against Bangladesh and Korea.

Tennis News

At US Open 2013, New York, USA

[Q3] (6) Somdev Devvarman (IND,113) bt James Ward (GBR,175) 63 36 64

[R1] (Q) Somdev Devvarman (IND,113) vs Lukas Lacko (SVK,84)

Buji saved a break point in 3rd game before holding his serve and then immediately broke Ward to take lead in the first set, 3-1 ... But Ward immediately broke him in 5th game to brought this set on the serve ... Buji also immediately responded in next game and broke Ward to retake the lead, 4-2 ... In 9th game when serving for the set Buji saved a break point before converting first set point for winning the set ... In the second set Buji saved couple of break points before holding his serve in 4th game and broke Ward in next game converting 4th break point of the game to lead 3-2 ... But like the first set Buji failed strengthen the lead and lost his serve in next game, 3-all ... Ward again broke him in 8th game to lead 3-5 and then hold his serve for winning the second set ... Buji struggled with his serve after break up in the second set and lost 4 games in arow including got broken twice ... In the third set Ward broke Buji in 1st game converting 3rd break point ... After losing six games in a row Buji managed to win a game when he hold his service game in 3rd game, 1-2 ... At last Buji managed to tske break back in 6th game when he broke Ward, 3-all ... In 8th game Buji had few break points but Ward hold this long service game, 4-all ... After easily holding his serve in 9th game Buji converted first match point in 10th game for excellent comeback win from 1-3 down in the final set ... So another US open main-draw entry for Somdev!

Somdev is facing Slovakian Lukas Lacko in the first round ... I feel this is favorable draw for Buji and hoping he will give his best performance.
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At $15K Gabon F1 Futures, Libreville

[SF] (2) Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan(IND,377) bt (4) Sam BARRY (IRL,540) 64 63

[F] (2) Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan(IND,377) vs (1) James MCGEE (IRL,256)

Doubles Final
(1) Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND)/ Vishnu Vardhan (IND) vs (2) Sam BARRY (IRL)/ Elie ROUSSET (FRA)

Jeevan continued with his good form and defeated Sam Barry in straight sets for place in the final ... In the final he is facing another Irishman, that is top seed James McGee.
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At $15K Chinese Taipei F1 Futures, Taipei City

[R2] Yuki Bhambri(IND,591) bt (3) Hiroki Kondo (JPN,286) 61 60

[QF] Yuki Bhambri(IND,591) vs Woo-Ram Kim (KOR,1225) 4-5 suspended

Terrific dominated win by Yuki against top-300 Japanese second seed losing a single game ... His quarter-final stopped due to rain.
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At $10K Turkey F33 Futures, Izmir

[QF] (3) Ramkumar Ramanathan(IND,720) l (6) Borna Coric (CRO,749) 76(5) 26 36

Ramkumar gave fighting performance against junior WR #6 Coric but he failed to take advantage of winning the first set.
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At $10K ITF Women's Tournament, New Delhi, India

Singles Semi Finals
Katherine Ip (HKG) bt (4) Prathana G. Thombare (IND) 63 62
(7) Shweta Rana (IND) bt (2) Rishika Sunkara (IND) 76(4) 46 63

Superb upset win by Shweta Rana against Rishika ... Katherine Ip defeated Prarthana comfortably.

Volleyball News

At Men's u21 World Championship 2013, Turkey

Pool A
India l Turkey 0-3 (16-25 17-21 17-25)

We r in Pool A with China, Turkey, Egypt and Morocco.

Horrible start for Indian boys ... We lost against local team but this one-sided scores will hurt us in tie-breaks of the final standing of Pool A.

Archery News

At Archery World Cup, Wroclaw, Poland

Recurve Women Team
[R1] (6) India bt (11) Indonesia 217-216
[QF] (6) India bt (3) Mexico 211-202
[SF] (6) India bt (10) Denmark 214-206

[F] (6) India vs (1) Korea

Disappointing performances in individual events as only Deepika Kumari and Priyank managed to reach in the quarters, other hand 3 Korean girls and 4 Korean men r in the semis in their respective recurve categories.

Only our recurve women team is in medal round ... After finishing on 6th position, team consists of Rimil Buriuly, Deepika Kumari and Bombayla Dev Laishram r in the final ... After winning the close first round our girls won next two matches comfortably ... In the final they r facing WR #1 Korean girls, who r in awesome form.

Tennis News

At US Open 2013, New York, USA

[Q2] (6) Somdev Devvarman (IND,113) bt Robby Ginepri (USA,252) 76(4) 26 62

[Q3] (6) Somdev Devvarman (IND,113) vs James Ward (GBR,175)

Buji was favorite here though in their last meeting in Cincinnati three years ago Buji lost against Robby ... Match was hampered by rain delays ... Buji won the tight first set in tie-break ... In the second set Robby broke Buji in 3rd game to lead 2-1 and then with another break he won it comfortably ... In the final set Buji showed aggressiveness which was missing in the 1st two sets ... He broke Robby twice to won this set and enter into the final qualifying ... As per onlookers both players played average tennis and Buji's 1st and 2nd serves were looking pathetic ... Need to improve against Britisher James Ward.
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At $690K New Haven Open, USA

[SF] (3) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Jie Zheng (CHN) bt Silvia Soler-Espinosa (ESP)/ Carla Suarez Navarro (ESP) 63 63

Very authoritative victory by Sania-Jie against Spanish pair ... They needed such performance before US open ... Their final opponents is still to decide.
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At $575K Winston-Salem Open, USA

[SF] (1) Daniel Nestor (CAN)/ Leander Paes (IND) bt (WC) Eric Butorac (USA)/ Frederik Nielsen (DEN) 63 63

Lee-Daniel scored comfortable win over this wild-card pair in straight sets and enter into the final ... In this match our pair didn't lose their service and broke opponent's serve thrice.
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At $15K Gabon F1 Futures, Libreville

[QF] (2) Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan(IND,377) bt (5) Vishnu Vardhan(IND,681) 63 61

[SF] (2) Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan(IND,377) vs (4) Sam BARRY (IRL,540)

Doubles
[SF] (1) Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND)/ Vishnu Vardhan (IND) bt Alexis KLEGOU (BEN)/ Arthur SURREAUX (FRA) 61 26 10-7
[SF] Sagar Ahuja (IND)/ Tal Eros (ISR) l (2) Sam BARRY (IRL)/ Elie ROUSSET (FRA) 16 26

[F] (1) Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND)/ Vishnu Vardhan (IND) vs (2) Sam BARRY (IRL)/ Elie ROUSSET (FRA)

Surprisingly dominating win for Jeevan ... I was expecting more fighting performance by Vishnu but really good win for Jeevan ... In the semis he is facing 4th seed Irish Sam Barry.

Our top-seed pair needed match tie-break for entering the final ... In the final they r facing 2nd seed Irish-French pair.
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At $15K Canada F6 Futures, Winnipeg

[R2] (4) Vijayant MALIK (IND,451) l (Q) Cameron NORRIE (GBR,1346) 16 46

Vijayant failed to raise his game against former top-10 and current top-25 junior British player and lost in straight sets.
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At $15K Chinese Taipei F1 Futures, Taipei City

[R1] (4) Yuki Bhambri (IND)/ Kento Takeuchi(JPN) bt Wei-De Lin (TPE)/ Cing-Yang Meng(TPE) w/o
[QF] (4) Yuki Bhambri (IND)/ Kento Takeuchi(JPN) bt Yu-Chi Chang (TPE)/ Jui Mao (TPE) 64 63

[SF] (4) Yuki Bhambri (IND)/ Kento Takeuchi(JPN) vs (2) Ti Chen (TPE)/ Liang-Chi Huang (TPE)

Yuki in the doubles semis with his Japanese partner Kento Takeuchi.
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At $10K ITF Women's Tournament, New Delhi, India

Singles Quarter Finals
Katherine Ip (HKG) bt (1) Keren Shlomo (ISR) 63 62
(4) Prathana G. Thombare (IND) bt Rushmi Chakravarthi (IND) 63 61
(7) Shweta Rana (IND) bt Bhuvana Kalva (IND) 63 62
(2) Rishika Sunkara (IND) bt (8) Julia Moriarty (AUS) 46 64 64

Good tp see three Indians in the semi-finals ... But young Katherine Ip is favorite for the tournament.

Tennis News

At $690K New Haven Open, USA

[QF] (3) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Jie Zheng (CHN) bt Katalin Marosi (HUN)/ Megan Moulton-Levy (USA) 64 36 10-8

[SF] (3) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Jie Zheng (CHN) vs Silvia Soler-Espinosa (ESP)/ Carla Suarez Navarro (ESP)

Sania and Jie needed match tie-break for completing their win against this unseeded pair ... But at least they r winning matches which r required for their US open preparations ... Next in the semis they r facing Spanish pair.
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At $575K Winston-Salem Open, USA

[QF] (1) Daniel Nestor (CAN)/ Leander Paes (IND) bt Paul Hanley (AUS)/ John Peers (AUS) 64 64

[SF] (1) Daniel Nestor (CAN)/ Leander Paes (IND) vs (WC) Eric Butorac (USA)/ Frederik Nielsen (DEN)

Leander-Daniel scored straight sets win over Australian pair Hanley-Peers ... In the semis they r facing American-Danish wild-card pair.

Bopanna/Roger-Vasselin withdrew from the tournament due to ankle sprain to Roger-Vasselin.
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At $15K Canada F6 Futures, Winnipeg

[R1] (4) Vijayant MALIK (IND,451) bt (WC) Kevin KYLAR (CAN,UNR) 63 36 64

[R2] (4) Vijayant MALIK (IND,451) vs (Q) Cameron NORRIE (GBR,1346)

Doubles
[QF] Dimitar KUTROVSKY (BUL)/ Vijayant MALIK (IND) l (1) Ante PAVIC (CRO)/ Milan POKRAJAC (CAN) 36 26

Surprisingly tougher match for Vijayant against local junior player ... Next he is facing another junior player British qualifier Norrie.

In the doubles Vijayant and his Bulgarian partner lost against top seed pair.
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At $15K Gabon F1 Futures, Libreville

[R2] (5) Vishnu Vardhan(IND,681) bt Sagar Ahuja (IND,1533) 61 62
[R2] (2) Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan(IND,377) bt (Q) Sylvain Anibie (CIV,UNR) 60 60

[QF] (2) Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan(IND,377) vs (5) Vishnu Vardhan(IND,681)

Doubles
[QF] (1) Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND)/ Vishnu Vardhan (IND) bt M'lapa Tingou Akomlo (TOG)/ Kokou Missodey (TOG) 61 75
[QF] Sagar Ahuja (IND)/ Tal Eros (ISR) bt (3) Matias Castro (ARG)/ Hassan Ndayishimiye (BDI) 64 62

[SF] (1) Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND)/ Vishnu Vardhan (IND) vs Alexis KLEGOU (BEN)/ Arthur SURREAUX (FRA)
[SF] Sagar Ahuja (IND)/ Tal Eros (ISR) vs (2) Sam BARRY (IRL)/ Elie ROUSSET (FRA)

Expected dominating wins by Jeevan and Vishnu ... In the quarter finals Jeevan and Vishnu r facing each other.

In the doubles also Sagar-Tal scored upset win over third seed and join Jeevan-Vishnu in the semis.
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At $10K Turkey F33 Futures, Izmir

[R2] (3) Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,720) bt Romain Bauvy (FRA,1102) 61 63

[QF] (3) Ramkumar Ramanathan(IND,720) vs (6) Borna Coric (CRO,749)

Doubles
[QF] (1) Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND)/ Denis YEVSEYEV (KAZ) l Melik FELER (FRA)/ Alexander MERINO (PER) 36 63 12-14

Ramkumar's real test begins from quarter final ... He is facing 16 yrs old Croatian, who is junior WR #6 and last week's futures champion in Turkey.

In the doubles Ramkumar and his Kazakh partner lost match tie-break in extra points after missing couple of match points.
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At $10K ITF Women's Tournament, New Delhi, India

Singles Second Round
(1) Keren Shlomo (ISR) bt Eetee Maheta (IND) 62 62
Katherine Ip (HKG) bt Ho Ching Wu (HKG) 64 46 63
(4) Prathana G. Thombare (IND) bt (Q) Chun-Yan He (CHN) 62 62
Rushmi Chakravarthi (IND) bt (6) Hua-Chen Lee (TPE) 26 63 63
(7) Shweta Rana (IND) bt (Q) Likitha Shetty (IND) 64 62
Bhuvana Kalva (IND) bt (3) Nidhi Chilumula (IND) 64 64
(8) Julia Moriarty (AUS) bt Xi-Yao Wang (CHN) 62 46 63
(2) Rishika Sunkara (IND) bt (WC) Sri Vaishnavi Peddi Reddy (IND) 60 26 76(2)

Really good upset wins by young Bhuvana Kalva and veteran Rushmi Chakravarthi against their seeded opponents in the second round.

Tennis News

At US Open 2013, New York, USA

[Q1] (6) Somdev Devvarman (IND,113) bt Fabiano De Paula (BRA,227) 64 63

[Q2] (6) Somdev Devvarman (IND,113) vs Robby Ginepri (USA,252)

Comfortable win in 69 minutes for Buji in the first qualifying round ... With a single break Buji won the first set and he didn't face a single break point on his serve ... In the second set both players traded early breaks but from 2-all Buji take control of the match ... He broke Fabiano in 5th game and in 9th game when Fabiano was serving to stayed in the match ... Next Buji is facing former top-15 and US open semi-finalist veteran Robby Ginepri.
-----------------------------------------------------------
At $15K Chinese Taipei F1 Futures, Taipei City

[R1] Yuki Bhambri (IND,591) bt Chieh-Fu Wang (TPE,1006) 62 63

[R2] Yuki Bhambri(IND,591) vs (3) Hiroki Kondo (JPN,286)

Good start for Yuki after long injury break but tough Japanese opponent in the second round.
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At $15K Poland F3 Futures, Poznan (red clay)

[R1] Prajnesh GUNNESWARAN (IND,528) l Marek MICHALICKA (CZE,581) 67(2) 06

Definitely some fitness issue for Prajnesh ... In recent months he always struggled in third week in a row ... Was expecting win against this experienced player.
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At $15K Gabon F1 Futures, Libreville

[R1] (2) Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan(IND,377) bt (Q) Kokou Missodey (TOG,UNR) 62 60

[R2] (2) Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan(IND,377) vs (Q) Sylvain Anibie (CIV,UNR)

Doubles
[R1] (WC) Paterne Ogombe (GAB)/ Neishit Vakil (IND) l Bastien Favier (FRA)/ Maxime Tchoutakian (FRA) 36 06
[R1] Sagar Ahuja (IND)/ Tal Eros (ISR) bt Medhir Goyal (IND)/ Kawach Samraat (IND) 60 60

[QF] (1) Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND)/ Vishnu Vardhan (IND) vs M'lapa Tingou Akomlo (TOG)/ Kokou Missodey (TOG)
[QF] Sagar Ahuja (IND)/ Tal Eros (ISR) vs (3) Matias Castro (ARG)/ Hassan Ndayishimiye (BDI)

Expected winning start for Jeevan.
-----------------------------------------------------------
At $15K Canada F6 Futures, Winnipeg

[R1] Dimitar KUTROVSKY (BUL)/ Vijayant MALIK (IND) bt Tommy MYLNIKOV (CAN)/ Elias YMER (SWE) 63 64

[QF] Dimitar KUTROVSKY (BUL)/ Vijayant MALIK (IND) vs (1) Ante PAVIC (CRO) / Milan POKRAJAC (CAN)

Winning start for Vijayant with his Bulgarian partner in the doubles.
-----------------------------------------------------------
At $10K Turkey F33 Futures, Izmir

[R1] (LL) Rishabdev RAMAN (IND,UNR) l (6) Borna Coric (CRO,754) 06 06
[R1] (3) Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,727) bt (Q) Alexey Nesterov (KAZ,1603) 62 62

[R2] (3) Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,720) vs Romain Bauvy (FRA,1102)

Doubles
[QF] (1) Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND)/ Denis YEVSEYEV (KAZ) vs Melik FELER (FRA) / Alexander MERINO (PER)

Expected dominating start for Ramkumar but disappointed by this double bagel loss of Rishabdev.

Tennis News

At US Open 2013, New York, USA

[Q1] (6) Somdev Devvarman (IND,113) vs Fabiano De Paula (BRA,227)

As higher seeded Buji is having favorable draw.
-----------------------------------------------------------
At $690K New Haven Open, USA

[R1] (3) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Jie Zheng (CHN) bt Oksana Kalashnikova (GEO)/ Alicja Rosolska (POL) 63 36 10-8

Sania-Jie required super tie-break against this unseeded pair but at least they started with a win ... Sania-Jie r still not looking tuned on this US hard court season.
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At $575K Winston-Salem Open, USA

[R1] (1) Daniel Nestor (CAN)/ Leander Paes (IND) bt Julian Knowle (AUT)/ Jurgen Melzer (AUT) 61 36 10-2

Good fighting win against experienced tricky Austrian pair for Lee and Daniel ... After winning the first set our pair lost the second set but they dominated match tie-break.
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At $15K Gabon F1 Futures, Libreville

[R1] Neishit Vakil (IND,1635) l (3) Elie Rousset (FRA,538) 06 16
[R1] (5) Vishnu Vardhan(IND,681) bt (Q) Darvel Valency Lossangoye (GAB,UNR) 61 60
[R1] Sagar Ahuja (IND,1533) bt (WC) Paterne Ogombe (GAB,UNR) 76(3) 64

[R2] (5) Vishnu Vardhan(IND,681) vs Sagar Ahuja (IND,1533)

Expected results for our players.
-----------------------------------------------------------
At $10K Turkey F33 Futures, Izmir

[R1] Vinod SRIDHAR (IND,1748) l Emilien FIRMIN (FRA,824) 76(8) 36 46

Doubles
[R1] Rishabdev RAMAN (IND)/ Vinod SRIDHAR (IND) l Maniel BAINS (GBR)/ Tom HILL (GBR) 36 76(3) 7-10

Close loss for Sridhar in the singles and in the doubles with his pupil Rishabdev Raman.
-----------------------------------------------------------
At $10K ITF Women's Tournament, New Delhi, India

Singles First Round
(1) Keren Shlomo (ISR) bt (Q) Amrita Mukherjee (IND) 46 62 62
Eetee Maheta (IND) bt Anushka Bhargava (IND) 63 60
Ho Ching Wu (HKG) bt Natasha Palha (IND) 62 57 60
Katherine Ip (HKG) bt (5) Akari Inoue (JPN) 64 63
(4) Prathana G. Thombare (IND) bt Sowjanya Bavisetti (IND) 26 62 76(4)
(Q) Chun-Yan He (CHN) bt Sharon Sanchana Paul (IND) 61 36 76(7)
Rushmi Chakravarthi (IND) bt (Q) Anjana Kompally (IND) 61 61
(6) Hua-Chen Lee (TPE) bt Matilda Hamlin (SWE) 64 60
(7) Shweta Rana (IND) bt (WC) Mahitha Dadi Reddy (IND) 76(4) 75
(Q) Likitha Shetty (IND) bt (WC) Manya Nagpal (IND) 64 63
Bhuvana Kalva (IND) bt Sharmada Balu (IND) 3-1 Retd.
(3) Nidhi Chilumula (IND) bt (Q) Adnya Naik (IND) 75 62
(8) Julia Moriarty (AUS) bt (Q) Riya Bhatia (IND) 64 76(6)
Xi-Yao Wang (CHN) bt (Q) Nehel Sahni (IND) 60 64
(WC) Sri Vaishnavi Peddi Reddy (IND) bt (WC) Shivika Burman (IND) 60 63
(2) Rishika Sunkara (IND) bt (Q) Victoria Chehal (IND) 64 63

Overall expected results.

Chess News

At FIDE World Cup 2013, Tromsø, Norway

Round Three
[G2] Hikaru Nakamura (USA,2772) 1-0 B. Adhiban (IND,2567) 2-0

In the second game Nakamura comfortably defeated Adhiban in King's Indian and won match after 40 moves ... So with that Indian challenge ends in this World cup.

Tennis News

At $575K Winston-Salem Open, USA

[Q3] (8) Sanam Singh (IND,334) l (3) Thiemo De Bakker (NED,98) 16 46

Wasn't expected miracle from Sanam ... Sanam gave decent fight in the second after losing the first set.
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At $15K Gabon F1 Futures, Libreville

[R1] Neishit Vakil (IND,1624) vs (3) Elie Rousset (FRA,538)
[R1] (5) Vishnu Vardhan(IND,572) vs (Q) Darvel Valency Lossangoye (GAB,UNR)
[R1] Sagar Ahuja (IND,1519) vs (WC) Paterne Ogombe (GAB,UNR)
[R1] (2) Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan(IND,370) vs (Q) Kokou Missodey (TOG,UNR)

Doubles
[R1] (1) Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND)/ Vishnu Vardhan (IND) bye
[R1] (WC) Paterne Ogombe (GAB)/ Neishit Vakil (IND) vs Bastien Favier (FRA)/ Maxime Tchoutakian (FRA)
[R1] Medhir Goyal (IND)/ Kawach Samraat (IND) vs Sagar Ahuja (IND)/ Tal Eros (ISR)

Good opportunities for Jeevan and Vishnu to gather important ranking points in this weak futures.
----------------------------------------------------------- At $15K Poland F3 Futures, Poznan (red clay)

[R1] Prajnesh GUNNESWARAN (IND,530) vs Marek MICHALICKA (CZE,581)

This week tougher field in this Polish futures.
-----------------------------------------------------------
At $10K Turkey F33 Futures, Izmir

[R1] (LL) Rishabdev RAMAN (IND,UNR) vs (6) Borna CORIC (CRO,754)
[R1] (3) Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND,713) vs (Q) Alexey NESTEROV (KAZ,1603)
[R1] Vinod SRIDHAR (IND,1741) vs Emilien FIRMIN (FRA,824)

Doubles
[R1] (1) Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND)/ Denis YEVSEYEV (KAZ) bye
[R1] Rishabdev RAMAN (IND)/ Vinod SRIDHAR (IND) vs Maniel BAINS (GBR)/ Tom HILL (GBR)

Good opportunity for Ramkumar in this futures.
-----------------------------------------------------------
At $15K Canada F6 Futures, Winnipeg

[R1] (4) Vijayant MALIK (IND,451) vs (WC) Kevin KYLAR (CAN,UNR)

Doubles
[R1] Dimitar KUTROVSKY (BUL)/ Vijayant MALIK (IND) vs Tommy MYLNIKOV (CAN)/ Elias YMER (SWE)

Hopefully better and injury free results for Vijayant.
-----------------------------------------------------------
At $15K Chinese Taipei F1 Futures, Taipei City

[R1] Yuki Bhambri (IND,591) vs Chieh-Fu Wang (TPE,1006)

Doubles
[R1] (4) Yuki Bhambri (IND)/ Kento Takeuchi(JPN) vs Wei-De Lin (TPE)/ Cing-Yang Meng(TPE)

Happy to see Yuki back on the court.

Chess News

At FIDE World Cup 2013, Tromsø, Norway

Round Three
[G1] B. Adhiban (IND,2567) 0-1 Hikaru Nakamura (USA,2772)

Hikaru Nakamura playing with Black did not give Indian GM B. Adhiban any chances in an Exchange Ruy Lopez and won this match after 42 moves.

Tennis News

At $3.7M Western and Southern Open, Cincinnati, USA

[SF] (8) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Edouard Roger-Vasselin (FRA) l (2) Marcel Granollers (ESP)/ Marc Lopez (ESP) 57 26

The 2nd seed Spanish pair saved all 5 break points they faced in the match and converte three for straights sets win over Rohan-Edouard.
-----------------------------------------------------------
At $575K Winston-Salem Open, USA

[Q1] (7) Saketh Myneni (IND,312) bt (WC) Adam Lee (NZL,UNR) 46 63 61
[Q1] (8) Sanam Singh (IND,334) bt Sekou Bangoura (USA,675) 75 62

[Q2] (7) Saketh Myneni (IND,312) l Michal Mertinak (SVK,892) 62 36 26
[Q2] (8) Sanam Singh (IND,334) bt Jesse Witten (USA,571) 62 64

[Q3] (8) Sanam Singh (IND,334) vs (3) Thiemo De Bakker (NED,98)

Doubles
[R1] (1) Daniel Nestor (CAN)/ Leander Paes (IND) vs Julian Knowle (AUT)/ Jurgen Melzer (AUT)
[R2] (2) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Edouard Roger-Vasselin (FRA) vs Frantisek Cermak (CZE)/ Filip Polasek (SVK)

Sanam scored expected back to back wins and enter into the final qualifying round ... He is facing top-100 Dutchman Thiemo De Bakker for the place in main draw.

Other hand Saketh struggled in the first qualifying round against unranked New Zealand player Adam Lee and disappointingly lost against lower ranked Slovak doubles specialist Michal Mertinak.

This week Leander is playing in preparation for US open and he is partnering Daniel Nestor ... They r having tricky match against Austrian Julian Knowle and Jurgen Melzer ... Rohan and Edouard r 2nd seed and r favorite for the tournament.
-----------------------------------------------------------
At $690K New Haven Open, USA (WTA Premier)

[R1] (3) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Jie Zheng (CHN) vs Oksana Kalashnikova (GEO)/ Alicja Rosolska (POL)

Sania-Jie's last chance of preparation before US open.

Chess News

At FIDE World Cup 2013, Tromsø, Norway

Round Two - Rapid games
[RG1] Sergey Karjakin (RUS,2772) 1-0 K. Sasikiran (IND,2660)
[RG2] K. Sasikiran (IND,2660) ½-½ Sergey Karjakin (RUS,2772) 1½-2½

Round Three
[G1] B. Adhiban (IND,2567) vs Hikaru Nakamura (USA,2772)

In the first rapid game Sergey Karjakin outplayed Sasi in Ruy Lopez opening and completed victory in 42 moves playing with White ... In the second rapid game Sasi needed victory with White but Sergey comfortably hold after 33 moves in Nimzo-Indian opening ... So Sergey Karjakin completed victory after two rapid games.

In the third round Adhiban is facing tough challenge of American grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura.

Tennis News

At $3.7M Western and Southern Open, Cincinnati, USA

[QF] (8) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Edouard Roger-Vasselin (FRA) bt (4) Leander Paes (IND)/ Radek Stepanek (CZE) 63 67(3) 10-8

[SF] (8) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Edouard Roger-Vasselin (FRA) vs (2) Marcel Granollers (ESP)/ Marc Lopez (ESP)

In the first set Rohan-Edouard broke Lee-Radek three times and lost their serve once for winning it comfortably ... In the second set Lee-Radek were break up at 4-2 but Rohan-Edouard broke back and made it 4-all ... In tie-break from 2-3 Lee-Radek won next 5 points and in that taking double mini-break for winning this set ... In match tie-break Rohan-Edouard take early mini-break to lead 3-2 but Lee-Radek broke back to brought on serve, 3-4 ... Lee-Radek take mini-break on 11th point to lead 6-5 but this time Rohan-Edouard broke back on 13th point to made it 6-7 ... Lee-Radek take another mini-break on 15th point to lead 8-7 but immediately on next point Rohan-Edouard broke back for 8-all and then take another mini-break to lead 9-8 ... Rohan-Edouard converted on the first match point for exciting win ... In the semi final Rohan-Edouard r facing 2nd seed Spanish pair Granollers-Lopez.
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At $25K ITF Women's Tournament, Westende-Middelkerke, Belgium (hard court)

[QF] Ankita Raina (IND,352) l (6) Katerina Vankova (CZE,306) 26 06

Czech girl Katerina Vankova proved too strong for Ankita, in this match Ankita managed to win only two games.
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At $15K China F7 Futures , Tianjin

[QF] (3) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND,396) l (7) Ji Sung NAM (KOR,462) 75 67(3) 26

Doubles Final
(1) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND)/ Ranjeet VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND) bt (3) Hyeon CHUNG (KOR)/ Ji Sung NAM (KOR) 63 62

Bala lost against talented Korean Ji Sung Nam ... After winning the first set with a single break Bala failed to won the second set in tie-break ... Nam dominated the third for upset win.

Bala-Ranjeet won their second doubles title in two weeks of China futures ... In the final Bala-Ranjeet started well with winning the first set ... In the second set our pair take break in 5th and 7th games to complete comfortable win.
----------------------------------------------
At $15K Poland F3 Futures, Bydgoszcz (red clay)

[QF] (8) Prajnesh GUNNESWARAN (IND,530) l (3) Rui MACHADO (POR,358) 63 16 Retd.

Prajnesh started well against former top-60 Rui and won the first set but after losing the second set Prajnesh retired from the match ... Hopefully nothing another serious injury scare.

Chess News

At FIDE World Cup 2013, Tromsø, Norway

Round Two
[G2] Sergey Karjakin (RUS,2772) ½-½ K. Sasikiran (IND,2660) 1-1

[G2] Alexandr Fier (BRA,2595) 0-1 B. Adhiban (IND,2567) ½-1½

Adhiban celebrated his 21st birthday with win over higher rated Brazilian GM Alexandr Fier. Playin with black Adhiban used Ruy Lopez opening for 43 moves win ... With this win he enter into the third round of FIDE World cup.

Sasi and Karjakin agreed quick draw in 23 moves in Ruy Lopez opening, so both continue to the tiebreaks.

Tennis News

At $3.7M Western and Southern Open, Cincinnati, USA

[R2] (4) Leander Paes (IND)/ Radek Stepanek (CZE) bt Jerzy Janowicz (POL)/ Lukasz Kubot (POL) 63 64

[QF] (4) Leander Paes (IND)/ Radek Stepanek (CZE) vs (8) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Edouard Roger-Vasselin (FRA)

Lee-Radek faced tough Polish challenge and they scrpted comfortable straight sets win ... Good win after poor outing at Rogers Masters ... Next they r facing tough challenge of Rohan-Edouard ... And with recent form Rohan-Edouard will be favorite for the match..
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At $15K China F7 Futures , Tianjin

[R2] (3) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND,396) bt Kento TAKEUCHI (JPN,559) 62 63

[QF] (3) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND,396) vs (7) Ji Sung NAM (KOR,462)

Doubles
[SF] (1) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND)/ Ranjeet VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND) bt (4) Arata ONOZAWA (JPN)/ Shuichi SEKIGUCHI (JPN) 63 62

[F] (1) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND)/ Ranjeet VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND) vs (3) Hyeon CHUNG (KOR)/ Ji Sung NAM (KOR)

Bala scored comfortable win over Takeuchi in the singles and then with Ranjeet in the doubles they r in the final with dominating win ... In the quarters Bala is facing 7th Korean and in the doubles final they r facing Korean pair.
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At $15K Poland F3 Futures, Bydgoszcz (red clay)

[R2] (8) Prajnesh GUNNESWARAN (IND,530) bt Andriej KAPAS (POL,735) 61 36 76(5)

[QF] (8) Prajnesh GUNNESWARAN (IND,530) vs (3) Rui MACHADO (POR,358)

Prajnesh needed third set tie-break to beat local player Kapas after saving few match points in 10th game ... After winning the first set easily Prajnesh lost momentum in the second ... But he fought back in the third before winning it in tie-break ... In the quarter final he is having very tough match against former top-60 player Rui Machado.
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At $10K Turkey F32 Futures, Izmir

[QF] (6) Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND,713) l (4) Enzo Couacaud (FRA,542) 46 57

Doubles
[QF] (2) Jaime PULGAR-GARCIA (ESP)/ Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND) l Konstantinos MIKOS (GRE)/ Warit SORNBUTNARK (THA) w/o

Fighting performance by Ramkumar against in-form Frenchman ... After losing the first set mRamkumar was up with break 4-2 in the second but Enzo made solid comeback to won this set and match.
-----------------------------------------------------------
At $10K ITF Women's Tournament, Sharm El Sheikh , Egypt

[R2] Mahitha DADI REDDY (IND,1081) l (1) Clothilde DE BERNARDI (FRA,372) 26 06

Expected one-sided loss of Mahitha.

Chess News

At FIDE World Cup 2013, Tromsø, Norway

Round Two
[G1] K. Sasikiran (IND,2660) ½-½ Sergey Karjakin (RUS,2772)

[G1] B. Adhiban (IND,2567) ½-½ Alexandr Fier (BRA,2595)

In the second round Sasi is facing tough challenge of of WR #8 Sergey Karjakin, who is in-form in recent tournaments ... In the first game Sasi managed to hold Sergey playing with White ... Adhiban is playing against Brazilian grandmaster Alexandr Fier but he also managed draw playing with White ... In the second game our both players having tough task of playing with Black.

Football News

At International Friendlies 2013, Khujand, Tajikistan

Tajikistan bt India 3-0
Goal Scored - Nuriddin Davronov (TJK) 11', Fatkhullo Fatkhulloev (TJK) 19', Akhtam Khamrakulov (TJK) 90+'

Very disappointing loss for Indian team as they failed to produce decent fight against Tajikistan ... In first 20 minutes Tajikistan scored two goals and that guaranteed outcome of the match.

Tennis News

At $3.7M Western and Southern Open, Cincinnati, USA

[R2] (8) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Edouard Roger-Vasselin (FRA) bt Andreas Seppi (ITA)/ Mikhail Youzhny (RUS) 75 63
[R2] (4) Leander Paes (IND)/ Radek Stepanek (CZE) vs Jerzy Janowicz (POL)/ Lukasz Kubot (POL)

The straight sets win for Rohan-Edouard against Seppi-Youzhny and enter into the quarter final.
-----------------------------------------------------------
At $25K ITF Women's Tournament, Westende-Middelkerke, Belgium (hard court)

[R2] Ankita Raina (IND,352) bt (Q) Vanesa Furlanetto (ARG,402) 61 64

[QF] Ankita Raina (IND,352) vs (6) Katerina Vankova (CZE,306)

Doubles
[QF] Ankita Raina (IND)/ Barbara Luz (POR) l (3) Tatiana Bua (ARG)/ Daniela Seguel (CHI) 36 06

Really happy for Ankita as she is adjusting well for these higher level ITF tournaments ... In the second round she scored dominating win over Argentine qualifier to enter in quarter final ... Next she is facing 6th seed Czech player Katerina Vankova.

But in the doubles third seed pair of Bua-Seguel comfortably defeated Ankita-Barbara.
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At $15K China F7 Futures , Tianjin

[R1] Ranjeet VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND,546) l (Q) Ruikai WANG (CHN,1342) 67(4) 36

[R2] (3) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND,396) vs Kento TAKEUCHI (JPN,559)

Doubles
[QF] (1) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND)/ Ranjeet VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND) bt Siyu LIU (CHN)/ Chuhan WANG (CHN) 62 26 10-1

[SF] (1) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND)/ Ranjeet VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND) vs (4) Arata ONOZAWA (JPN)/ Shuichi SEKIGUCHI (JPN)

Ranjeet's disappointing run in the singles continues ... Here he lost against local qualifier ... Bala having tricky match against his Japanese opponent.

In the doubles Bala-Ranjeet needed match tie-break for a win against local pair ... Next they r facing 4th seed Japanese pair.
----------------------------------------------
At $10K Turkey F32 Futures, Izmir

[R2] (6) Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND,713) bt Romain Bauvy (FRA,1089) 61 63

[QF] (6) Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND,713) vs (4) Enzo Couacaud (FRA,542)

Ramkumar scored comfortable and dominating win over his French opponent ... But his next French opponent is tough one.
-----------------------------------------------------------
At $10K ITF Women's Tournament, Sharm El Sheikh , Egypt

[R1] Mahitha DADI REDDY (IND,1081) bt (Q) Rona BERISHA (ENG,UNR) 64 61
[R1] Anushka BHARGAVA (IND,1003) l Dagmara BASKOVA (SVK,1183) 63 46 2-3 Retd.

[R2] Mahitha DADI REDDY (IND,1081) vs (1) Clothilde DE BERNARDI (FRA,372)

Mahitha scored straight sets win over British qualifier but Anushka retired from her match in the third set ... Mahitha has a tough match against top-seed French girl.

Chess News

At FIDE World Cup 2013, Tromsø, Norway

Round One
[G1] G.Akash (IND,2340) 0-1 Fabiano Caruana (ITA,2796)
[G2] Fabiano Caruana (ITA,2796) ½-½ G.Akash (IND,2340) 1½ - ½

[G1] Evgeny Alekseev (RUS,2710) ½-½ B. Adhiban (IND,2567)
[G1] B. Adhiban (IND,2567) ½-½ Evgeny Alekseev (RUS,2710) 5.0 - 3.0

[G1] Yuriy Kryvoruchko (UKR,2678) 0-1 Parimarjan Negi (IND,2643)
[G2] Parimarjan Negi (IND,2643) 0-1 Yuriy Kryvoruchko (UKR,2678) 2.0 - 4.0

[G1] Constantin Lupulescu (ROU,2634) ½-½ K. Sasikiran (IND,2660)
[G2] K. Sasikiran (IND,2660) ½-½ Constantin Lupulescu (ROU,2634) 2½ - 1½

Adhiban won the first rapid game against Russian GM Evgeny Alekseev ... He lost the second, and drew both 10+10 games ... Adhiban went on to win both the blitz tiebreakers and was through to the second round ... One of the biggest upset of the day.

Sasi drew first Rapid game against Constantin but won the second Rapid game and completed victory.

Negi again started with win against Yuriy in Rapid game but lost the second Rapid game ... Yuriy then won both accelerated games (10 min + 10 sec) and completed victory.

Snooker News

At Indian Open Qualifying, Doncaster, England

[Q1] Pankaj Advani (IND,73) bt Matthew Selt (ENG,51) 4-0 (62(62)-53(53), 74-47, 70(54)-01, 72(65)-00)
[Q1] Aditya Mehta (IND,74) bt Xiao Guodong (CHN,37) 4-2 (61-17, 73(48)-36, 117(104)-09, 01(68)89, 0-(105)105, 60-25)

[R1] Pankaj Advani (IND,73) vs Marcus Campbell (SCO,29)
[R1] Aditya Mehta (IND,74) vs Peter Ebdon (ENG,32)

Pankaj Advani and Aditya Mehta created history by qualifying for the Indian Open 2013, a major professional ranking event to be held in New Delhi for the first time from October 14-18 ... Pankaj defeated Matthew Selt comfortably to qualify this prestigious event ... In the first round he will facing Scottish Marcus Campbell.

Aditya started well against his top-40 Chinese opponent Guodong and won first 3 frames, in that he managed one century break ... But after that Guodong made excellent fightback and won next two frames with big breaks, he also scored century break in 5th frame ... In 6th frame Aditya played tactical game on the board and completed win with small breaks ... In the first round Aditya will face Britisher Peter Ebdon, 2002 World champion.