Badminton News

At $120K Macau Open 2013 (GP Gold), Macau City

[SF] (1) Sindhu P. V. (IND,11) bt (Q) Qin Jinjing (CHN,780) 21-13 18-21 21-19

[F] (1) Sindhu P. V. (IND,11) vs (7) Li Michelle (CAN,30)

In the first game Qin take 6-3 early lead but Sindhu caught her at 7-all ... From 13-12 Sindhu gave only a single point to Qin and won the first game comfortably ... In the second game Sindhu started with 4-0 lead but Quin won next 4 points to made it 4-all ... Sindhu opened 3 points lead at 8-5 and kept couple of points lead till 16-14 ... Qin won next 5 points and first time take lead in this game 19-16 ... Then Qin kept that lead and converted 2nd game point for winning this game ... The decider turned to be dog fight as both players continuously changing lead ... Qin take 4-0 lead but Sindhu won next 6 points to take 6-4 lead ... Qin caught her at 7-all and take 9-7 lead ... From 9-10 down Qin won next 4 points to lead 13-10 but again Sindhu caught her at 13-all ... Qin again opened lead 15-13 then 16-14 ... This time also Sindhu fought back winning next 3 points, 17-16 ... Both were neck to neck till 19-all and then Sindhu won last 2 points for very hard fought win in 68 minutes ... Surprisingly tough match for Sindhu against this 17 yrs old Chinese qualifier ... In the final Sindhu is facing Canadian Li Michelle, who upset 3rd seed Pui Yin Yip.

Tennis News

At Asian Tennis Championship 2013, Bangkok, Thailand

[SF] (4) Vishnu Vardhan (IND,721) l (1) Ti Chen (TPE,305) 1-2 retd.

Doubles
[SF] Aqeel Khan (PAK)/ Vishnu Vardhan (IND) l (1) Hsin Han Lee (TPE)/ Hsien Yin Peng (TPE) 63 26 2-10

And today Vishnu also retired from the singles match playing only three games due to injury.

Vishnu still played the doubles and lost against top-seed Taipei pair after winning the first set.
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At $10K India F11 Futures, Raipur

Singles Final
(6) Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND,696) bt Duck Hee LEE (KOR,897) 46 76(6) 64

Ramkumar lifted his first ITF futures title beating talented 15 yrs old Korean kid in well contested two and half hours match ... Congratulation to Ramkumar for his singles Futures title win.

Ramkumar neweded to dig seep for this win ... In the first set Ramkumar was leading 3-1 but then he lost 5 games in a row for losing this set ... In the second set Lee was leading 5-3 and at 5-4 he served for the match ... Ramkumar broke him and take the set in tie-break ... In the tie-break also Ramkumar was match point down at 5-6 before saving it and then winning the tie-break 8-6 ... In the final set Ramkumar was up with double break, 4-0, but while serving for the match at 5-2 Lee broke him ... Ramkumar kept his nerve in 10th game when he was again serving for the match ... He hold his serve @15 and completed excellent win.

Snooker News

At £700K UK Championship, York, England

[R1] Pankaj Advani (IND,67) l Tian Pengfei (CHN,64) 1-6 (10-76(76), 73-44, 24-78(61), 49-68, 6-65(64), 8-73(54), 30-77)
[R1] Aditya Mehta (IND,63) l Robbie Williams (ENG,70) 2-6 (25-81, 16-53, 65-17, 61-68, 21-73, 10-73, 52-50, 0-66(58))

Pankaj failed to produce challenge to his Chinese opponent ... Tian scored comfortable win against Pankaj losing single frame.

Aditya also lost his match against young Britisher ... In this match Aditya failed to score substantial break and Williams take advantage of it ... I m feeling that our players r still struggling to adjust with speed of cloth in Britain.

Badminton News

At $120K Macau Open 2013 (GP Gold), Macau City

[QF] (1) Sindhu P. V. (IND,11) bt (5) Tsz Ka Chan (HKG,28) 21-17 21-12

[SF] (1) Sindhu P. V. (IND,11) vs (Q) Qin Jinjing (CHN,780)

In this match Sindhu started confidently after winning first 4 points ... Chan won 4 points in a row from 6-11 and reduced Sindhu's lead to 1 point, 10-11 ... But at 10-14 Chan first time take lead in the match after winning next 5 points, 15-14 ... Sindhu recovered from her lapse of concentration and won 6 points in a row from 15-17 to won the first game ... In the second game Sindhu won 6 points in a row from 1-3 to take 7-3 lead .. Chan managed to reduce lead to 1 point, 10-11, from 7-11 ... But after that Sindhu lost only 2 more points before completing victory in 28 minutes ... In the semis Sindhu is facing 17 yrs old Chinese qualifier ... Winnable match for Sindhu.

Tennis News

At Asian Tennis Championship 2013, Bangkok, Thailand

[QF] (2) Sanam Singh (IND,319) l (5) Pruchya Isarow (THA,827) 36 retd.
[QF] (4) Vishnu Vardhan (IND,721) bt (7) Ting-Yu Chuang (TPE,939) 62 36 75

[SF] (4) Vishnu Vardhan (IND,721) vs (1) Ti Chen (TPE,305)

Doubles
[QF] Aqeel Khan (PAK)/ Vishnu Vardhan (IND) bt (4) Warit Sornbutnark (THA)/ Kittipong Wachiramanowong (THA) 76(5) 62

[SF] Aqeel Khan (PAK)/ Vishnu Vardhan (IND) vs (1) Hsin Han Lee (TPE)/ Hsien Yin Peng (TPE)

Sanam's decision of skipping Thai futures for this tournament backfired ... After losing the first he retired from the match ... I m hoping not a serious injury scare.

Vishnu stretched to three sets by his 900+ ranked Taipei opponent ... In the semi-final he is facing top-seed Ti Chen ... In the doubles also Vishnu in the semi-final with Aqeel after upsetting 4th seed Thai pair ... Here also they r facing top-seed Taipei pair for place in the final.
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At $15K Thailand F4 Futures, Bangkok

[SF] Karunuday Singh (IND,636) l Luke Saville (AUS,445) 36 63 36

Karunuday blew chance of entering in the final beating former junior WR #1 Luke Saville ... After losing the first set Karunuday fought back and was controlling the match ... He won the second set and had a break point in 1st game of the final set ... Karunuday missed that opportunity and after that Luke didn't gave him a chance on his own serve .. Luke broke Karunuday in 8th game and then hold his serve for completing the victory.
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At $10K India F11 Futures, Raipur

Singles Semi Finals
Duck Hee LEE (KOR) bt (3) Jung-Woong NA (KOR) 64 retd.
(6) Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND) bt (4) Tortsen WIETOSKA (GER) 57 75 63

Doubles Final
(1) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND)/ Ranjeet VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND) bt Mohit Mayur JAYAPRAKASH (IND)/ Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND) 61 63

Really good comeback win by Ramkumar over his higher ranked German opponent ... Wietoska won the first set but Ramkumar turned his fortune take crucial break in the tight second set ... Ramkumar controlled the final set and completed victory ... In the final he is facing 15 yrs old talented Korean Duck Hee Lee for the title ... Duck Hee Lee is deaf player so his achievement is more remarkable .. Both players r trying for their first futures title.

Bala-Ranjeet lifted the doubles title after convincingly beating Mohit Mayur-Ramkumar after losing only 4 games.

Badminton News

At $120K Macau Open 2013 (GP Gold), Macau City

[R2] (1) Sindhu P. V. (IND,11) bt Salakjit Ponsana (THA,62) 18-21 21-8 21-14
[R2] Sayali Gokhale (IND,127) l Chochuwong Pornpawee (THA,64) 19-21 21-10 15-21
[R2] Thulasi P. C. (IND,72) l Di Suo (CHN,48) 15-21 7-21

[QF] (1) Sindhu P. V. (IND,11) vs (5) Tsz Ka Chan (HKG,28)

Sayali had chance in this 52 mins match ... In the first game Sayali was 6-9 behind but she came back in the game after winning next 6 points to lead 12-9 ... Pornpawee caught Sayali at 14-all but Sayali again opened 18-15 then 19-16 lead ... Pornpawee won next 5 points for winning the first game ... In the second game Sayali take 4-1 lead with Pornpawee reduced to 7-8 but after that Sayali gave her chance to win 3 more points and won this game comfortably ... But in the decider Pornpawee opened 7-1 lead which Sayali failed to overcome and lost this match ... Other hand Thulasi failed to create much challenge to her Chinese opponent Di Suo ... In the first game she tried little much but Suo didn't gave chance to Thulasi in the second game.

In this match also Sindhu started slowly ... From 8-all Sindhu opened 15-10 lead but Ponsana take advantage and fought back ... Ponsana won 5 points in a row from 14-16 to lead 19-16 ... Ponsana won 2nd game point and grabbed the first game ... Sindhu recovered in the second game and from 5-all she gave chance of winning 3 more points to Ponsana before winning it comfortably ... In the third game from 4-all Sindhu won next 9 points to lead 13-4 ... After that Ponsana tried fightback but this gap proved too much for her ... Sindhu completed win in 48 minutes and take revenge of her loss against Ponsana in 2011 ... Next in the quarter final she is facing Hong Kong girl Tsz Ka Chan.

Tennis News

At Asian Tennis Championship 2013, Bangkok, Thailand

[R1] (2) Sanam Singh (IND,319) bt Phassawit Burapharittha (THA,1917) 62 75
[R1] (4) Vishnu Vardhan (IND,721) bt Grittaboon Prammanee (THA,1674) 36 63 62
[R1] Garvit Batra (IND,1365) bt Thanasit Issaraporn (THA,1314) 26 62 61

[R1] Sharmada Balu (IND,829) bt Jitsupang Samrej (THA,UNR) 57 61 61

[R2] (2) Sanam Singh (IND,319) bt Nutthanon Kadchapanan (THA,1237) 61 60
[R2] (4) Vishnu Vardhan (IND,721) bt Pongsiri Nirot (THA,UNR) 76(4) 64
[R2] Garvit Batra (IND,1365) l Trijati Sunu Wahyu (INA,UNR) 16 46

[R2] Sharmada Balu (IND,829) l (7) Ling Zhang (HKG,427) 16 36

[QF] (2) Sanam Singh (IND,319) vs (5) Pruchya Isarow (THA,827)
[QF] (4) Vishnu Vardhan (IND,721) vs (7) Ting-Yu Chuang (TPE,939)

Doubles
[R1] Sharmada Balu (IND)/ Katherine Westbury (THA) bt Plobrung Plipuech (THA)/ Bunyawi Thamchaiwai (THA) 63 75
[R1] Aqeel Khan (PAK)/ Vishnu Vardhan (IND) bt (WC) Tanatuch Bonsiri (THA)/ Suthinan Tanthaseraneewat (THA) 75 64

[QF] Sharmada Balu (IND)/ Katherine Westbury (THA) l (2) Chin Wei Chan (TPE)/ Ya Hsuan Lee (TPE) 36 16
[QF] Aqeel Khan (PAK)/ Vishnu Vardhan (IND) vs (4) Warit Sornbutnark (THA)/ Kittipong Wachiramanowong (THA)

Sanam take a bizarre decision of playing in this Asian Tennis championship ... He was playing in the fututres event and won first 2 rounds but now he is playing in this tournament which having more prize money but zero ranking points ... The ITF will definitely going to penalized Sanam for his actions ... Surprisingly tough wins for our players in the first round ... After producing little upset Garvit got upset from unranked Indonesian in one-sided match ... Sanam is comfortably in the quarters but Vishnu struggled against local wild-card player ... Next both having winnable matches.
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At $15K Thailand F4 Futures, Bangkok

[QF] (7) Sanam Singh (IND,319) l Luke Saville (AUS,445) w/o
[QF] Karunuday Singh (IND,636) bt (WC) Singekrawee Wattanakul (THA,UNR) 61 64

[SF] Karunuday Singh (IND,636) vs Luke Saville (AUS,445)

Sanam withdrew from this futures as he decided to play in Asian Tennis championship ... Karunuday scored comfortable win over Thai unranked player ... Next Karunuday is facing Aussie Luke Saville.
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At $10K India F11 Futures, Raipur

Singles Quarter Finals
Duck Hee LEE (KOR) bt (5) Ranjit VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND) 57 63 63
(3) Jung-Woong NA (KOR) bt Jui-Chen HUNG (TPE) 63 60
(4) Tortsen WIETOSKA (GER) bt (7) Marc KALOVELONIS (GRE) 46 63 75
(6) Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND) bt (2) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND) 62 1-0 retd.

Doubles Semi Finals
(1) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND)/ Ranjeet VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND) bt (WC) Ronit Singh BISHT (IND)/ Jatin DAHIYA (IND) 61 60
Mohit Mayur JAYAPRAKASH (IND)/ Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND) bt Vinayak Sharma KAZA (IND)/ Luca MARGAROLI (SUI) 63 64

Bala must be tired in these demanding condition as he was finalists (with the title win last week) in last two weeks futures and more over also he participated in the doubles in all three futures ... In his match against Ramkumar he gave walkover after losing the first set ... Ranjeet won the first set against talented Korean youngster Lee before losing next two sets ... So only Ramkumar is remaining in the singles.

Hockey News

At the Junior Hockey World Cup 2013, New Delhi, India

Indian Squad
Goalkeepers - Sushant Tirkey, Harjot Singh Defenders - Gurjinder Singh, Amit Rohidas (vice-captain), Surender Kumar, Sukhmanjit Singh, Pardeep Mor, Kothajit Singh
Midfielders - Manpreet Singh (captain), Satbir Singh, Harjit Singh, Imran Khan, Prabhdeep Singh
Forwards - Malak Singh, Mandeep Singh, Talwinder Singh, Akashdeep Singh, Ramandeep Singh

Standbys - Jagdeep Dayal (goalkeeper), Lalit Upadhyay and Gurmail Singh (midfielder), Affan Yousuf (forward)

Pool A
Germany, Pakistan, Belgium and Egypt

Pool B
Australia, Spain, Argentina and France

Pool C
India, Netherlands, South Korea and Canada

Pool D
England, New Zealand, South Africa and Malaysia

Our team is announced for junior world cup ... Talented midfielder Manpreet Singh, a veteran of 85 international matches, is named the captain ... Our team is full of talented players, whom HI groomed with playing them in senior team in international matches.

The tournament schedule is set with four pools of four teams of which two from each pool will advance to the quarterfinals ... India is in Pool C with favorite Netherlands, South Korea and Canada.

Tennis News

At $15K Thailand F4 Futures, Bangkok

[R2] (7) Sanam Singh (IND,319) bt (Q) Kaichi Uchida (JPN,946) 61 63
[R2] Karunuday Singh (IND,636) bt (3) Tak Khunn-Wang (FRA,289) 64 64

[QF] (7) Sanam Singh (IND,319) vs Luke Saville (AUS,445)
[QF] Karunuday Singh (IND,636) vs (WC) Singekrawee Wattanakul (THA,UNR)

Excellent upset win by Karunuday against top-300 Frenchman Tak Khunn-Wang in the straight sets ... Next he is facing local wild-card player Wattanakul.

Sanam also scored dominating win over young Japanese and former junior world #3 Kaichi Uchida ... Next he is facing young Aussie and former junior world #1 Aussies Luke Saville who defeated 2nd seed Spanish in the second round.
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At $10K India F11 Futures, Raipur

Singles Second Round
Duck Hee LEE (KOR) bt (1) Jeevan NEDUNCHEZHIYAN (IND) 67(5) 64 retd.
(5) Ranjit VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND) bt Ashwin VIJAYRAGAVAN (IND) 62 61
(3) Jung-Woong NA (KOR) bt Ronit Singh BISHT (IND) 75 3-0 retd.
Jui-Chen HUNG (TPE) bt (8) N. Vijay Sunder PRASHANTH (IND) 62 76(6)
(7) Marc KALOVELONIS (GRE) bt (WC) Abhijeet TIWARI (IND) 64 62
(4) Tortsen WIETOSKA (GER) bt Arjun KADHE (IND) 64 75
(6) Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND) bt (Q) Sasi Kumar MUKUND (IND) 63 61
(2) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND) bt Luca MARGAROLI (SUI) 60 76(2)

Doubles Quarter Finals
(1) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND)/ Ranjeet VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND) bt Fedor CHERVYAKOV (RUS)/ Timur KHABIBULIN (KAZ) 64 64
(WC) Ronit Singh BISHT (IND)/ Jatin DAHIYA (IND) bt (4) Jannis LINIGER (SUI)/ Mithun MURALI (IND) 5-2 retd.
Vinayak Sharma KAZA (IND)/ Luca MARGAROLI (SUI) bt Ronak MANUJA (IND)/ Abhijeet TIWARI (IND) 67(4) 64 10-7
Mohit Mayur JAYAPRAKASH (IND)/ Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND) bt Chandril SOOD (IND)/ Lakshit SOOD (IND) 64 61

An upset stomach forced top seed Jeevan Nedunchezhian to concede his second round match ... Only Balaji, Ramkumar and Ranjeet r in the quarters.

Badminton News

At $120K Macau Open 2013 (GP Gold), Macau City

[R2] Sourabh Varma (IND,62) l (9) Jen Hao Hsu (TPE,31) 16-21 13-21
[R2] (12) Prannoy H. S. (IND,46) l Chun Hei Tam (HKG,198) 13-21 18-21
[R1] (1) Sindhu P. V. (IND,11) bt Soo Jin Kim (KOR,182) 15-21 21-12 21-9
[R1] Sayali Gokhale (IND,127) bt (8) Chi Ya Cheng (TPE,68) 24-22 21-15
[R1] Thulasi P. C. (IND,72) bt (2) Nichaon Jindapon (THA,12) 22-20 21-19

[R1] Jwala Gutta (IND)/ Ashwini Ponnappa (IND) l Pei Rong Wang (TPE)/ Kuo Yu Wen (TPE) 0-2 retd.
[R1] (7) Tarun Kona (IND)/ Ashwini Ponnappa (IND) l Nipitphon Puangpuapech (THA)/ Puttita Supajirakul (THA) 10-21 21-17 13-21

[R2] (1) Sindhu P. V. (IND,11) vs Salakjit Ponsana (THA,62)
[R2] Sayali Gokhale (IND,127) vs Chochuwong Pornpawee (THA,64)
[R2] Thulasi P. C. (IND,72) vs Di Suo (CHN,48

Thulasi scored big win against top-15 Thai girl in straight games in 46 minutes ... In the first game Thulasi take 11-6 then 15-7 lead from 6-all ... Nichaon fought back and caught Thulasi at 18-all ... Nichaon had game point at 20-19 but Thulasi won next 3 points to won the game ... In the second game Nichaon opened 8-4 lead then she increased to 12-7 then 17-12 ... Thulasi won next 6 points to take 18-17 lead ... After that Thulasi had 2 match points at 20-18 and she converted 2nd match point for good win ... Next she is having another tough match against top-50 Chinese girl Di Suo.

Sayali also scored upset win over 8th seed Taipei player Cheng in 39 minutes ... In the first game Cheng opened 10-5 lead but Sayali caught her at 11-all ... Cheng again opened 18-14 lead and she had 4 game points at 2016 ... Sayali saved all 4 game points, 20-all and then again Sayali saved 5th game point at 20-21 ... Sayali converted 2nd game point for winning this game ... In the second game Sayali opened 8-4 lead from 4-all which she managed to keep through out the game ... Sayali won this game comfortably and next she is facing Thai girl Chochuwong Pornpawee.

Sindhu struggled with her game in the beginning and Kim take advantage of it ... In the first game Kim take 14-9 then 16-11 lead which Sindhu reduced to 15-16 ... But Kim won next 5 points for winning this game ... Sindhu found her touch from the second game and then she dominated this 45 minutes long match ... Sindhu take 8-2 lead which Kim reduced to 6-8 but Sindhu again take control and won this game losing another 6 points ... In the final game from 3-all Sindhu won next 8 points to lead 11-3 and she kept increasing the lead for winning the match ... Next she is facing Thai girl Salakjit Ponsana.

But disappointing losses of our men's players in the second round ... In MXD also seeded Ashwini-Tarun lost in three games ... After losing the first game they fought back to won the second game but Thai pair proved too strong in the third game ... In women's doubles Jwala-Ashwini retired from the match after only 2 points.

Tennis News

At $15K Thailand F4 Futures, Bangkok

[R1] Karunuday Singh (IND,636) bt (Q) Hong Chung (KOR,1413) 67(4) 36 57

[R2] (7) Sanam Singh (IND,319) vs (Q) Kaichi Uchida (JPN,946)
[R2] Karunuday Singh (IND,636) vs (3) Tak Khunn-Wang (FRA,289)

Surprisingly Korean qualifier Hong Chung stretched Karunuday to three sets ... Next KU is facing tough match against 3rd seed and top-300 Frenchman Tak Khunn-Wang ... Sanam is facing Japanese qualifier.

Badminton News

At $120K Macau Open 2013 (GP Gold), Macau City

[R1] (10) B. Sai Praneeth (IND,40) l (Q) Sol Kyu Choi (KOR,1314) 19-21 17-21
[R1] Sourabh Varma (IND,62) bt Hok Man Lou (MAC,821) 21-5 21-7
[R1] (12) Prannoy H. S. (IND,46) bt Andre Marteen (INA,119) 21-10 21-23 21-10
[R1] (1) Sindhu P. V. (IND,11) vs Soo Jin Kim (KOR,182)
[R1] Sayali Gokhale (IND,127) vs (8) Chi Ya Cheng (TPE,68)
[R1] Thulasi P. C. (IND,72) vs (2) Nichaon Jindapon (THA,12)

[R1] Jwala Gutta (IND)/ Ashwini Ponnappa (IND) vs Pei Rong Wang (TPE)/ Kuo Yu Wen (TPE)
[R1] (7) Tarun Kona (IND)/ Ashwini Ponnappa (IND) vs Nipitphon Puangpuapech (THA)/ Puttita Supajirakul (THA)

[R2] Sourabh Varma (IND,62) vs (9) Jen Hao Hsu (TPE,31)
[R2] (12) Prannoy H. S. (IND,46) vs Chun Hei Tam (HKG,198)

Sourabh scored very dominating win in 18 minutes over local player losing only 12 points ... In the second round he is facing 9th seed Taiwani player.

Other hand Prannoy was stretched to three games by Indonesian 100+ ranked player ... Prannoy won the first game easily and then he was leading 13-8 in the second ... After that loss of concentration for Prannoy and Andre caught him at 17-all .. Andre had 2 game points at 20-18 but Prannoy saved them and had match point at 21-10 ... Andre saved that and then converted 3rd game point ... In the third game from 8-all Prannoy won next 9 points to lead 17-8 and that gap was enough for winning this game ... Next he is facing 200-around ranked Hong Kong player.

Shocking loss of Prannoy against lowly ranked Korean junior qualifier ... Choi defeated Prannoy in 42 minutes.

Tennis News

At $15K Thailand F4 Futures, Bangkok

[R1] (7) Sanam Singh (IND,319) bt Yuichi Ito (JPN,484) 62 75
[R1] Karunuday Singh (IND,636) vs (Q) Hong Chung (KOR,1413)

Doubles
[R1] Daniiar DULDAEV (KGZ)/ Karunuday SINGH (IND) l (4) Yong-Kyu LIM (KOR)/ Sang-Woo NOH (KOR) 36 26

Good win by Sanam against experienced Ito in straight sets.
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At $10K India F11 Futures, Raipur

Singles First Round
(1) Jeevan NEDUNCHEZHIYAN (IND) bt (WC) Prateek PUSHKAR BAXI (IND) 60 60
Duck Hee LEE (KOR) bt Mohit Mayur JAYAPRAKASH (IND) 67(2) 62 62
Ashwin VIJAYRAGAVAN (IND) bt Jatin DAHIYA (IND) 62 62
(5) Ranjit VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND) bt Timur KHABIBULIN (KAZ) 62 61
(3) Jung-Woong NA (KOR) bt (Q) Odil AKRAMOV (UZB) 62 61
Ronit Singh BISHT (IND) bt Lakshit SOOD (IND) 57 75 63
Jui-Chen HUNG (TPE) bt David PEL (NED) 63 62
(8) N. Vijay Sunder PRASHANTH (IND) bt (WC) Abdullah SHAIKH (IND) 62 61
(7) Marc KALOVELONIS (GRE) bt Fedor CHERVYAKOV (RUS) 62 62
(WC) Abhijeet TIWARI (IND) bt (Q) Anvit BENDRE (IND) 57 64 62
Arjun KADHE (IND) bt (WC) Kumar ADAVELLY (IND) 62 62
(4) Tortsen WIETOSKA (GER) bt Vignesh PERANAMALLUR (IND) 62 60
(6) Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND) bt Timon REICHELT (GER) 64 63
(Q) Sasi Kumar MUKUND (IND) bt (Q) Ronak MANUJA (IND) 64 75
Luca MARGAROLI (SUI) bt Vinayak Sharma KAZA (IND) 76(5) 64
(2) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND) bt Chandril SOOD (IND) 64 36 62

Doubles First Round
(1) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND)/ Ranjeet VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND) bt Arjun KADHE (IND)/ Ajai SELVARAJ (IND) 36 76(5) 10-6
Fedor CHERVYAKOV (RUS)/ Timur KHABIBULIN (KAZ) bt Duck Hee LEE (KOR)/ Jung-Woong NA (KOR) W/O
(4) Jannis LINIGER (SUI)/ Mithun MURALI (IND) bt Kumar ADAVELLY (IND)/ Vignesh PERANAMALLUR (IND) 76(5) 75
(WC) Ronit Singh BISHT (IND)/ Jatin DAHIYA (IND) bt (WC) Prateek PUSHKAR BAXI (IND)/ Sourabh SINGH (IND) 61 64
Vinayak Sharma KAZA (IND)/ Luca MARGAROLI (SUI) bt (ALT) Elwin ANTONY (IND)/ Sasi Kumar MUKUND (IND) 76(6) 67(4) 10-7
Ronak MANUJA (IND)/ Abhijeet TIWARI (IND) bt (3) Tortsen WIETOSKA (GER)/ Timon REICHELT (GER) 67(8) 62 10-1
Mohit Mayur JAYAPRAKASH (IND)/ Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND) bt (WC) Nail KHABIYEV (USA)/ Abdullah SHAIKH (IND) 62 61
Chandril SOOD (IND)/ Lakshit SOOD (IND) bt (2) Jui-Chen HUNG (TPE)/ Markos KALOVELONIS (GRE) 76(4) 76(3)

Good win by Ronit, Arjun and 16 yrs old Sasi Kumar Mukund ... In the doubles Sood brothers upset 2nd seed pair and Ronak-Abhijeet scored upset win over 3rd seed German pair.

Tennis News

At Asia-Pacific Australian Open 2014 - WildCard PlayOff Tournament, Shenzhen, China

Men's Singles
[SF] (2) Yuki Bhambri (IND,204) l (3) Wu Di (CHN,205) 67(6) 46

Men's Doubles Final
(2) Yuki Bhambri (IND)/ Michael Venus (NZL) bt (4) Mao-Xin Gong (CHN)/ Zhe Li (CHN) 76(3) 16 10-5

In the singles Yuki had chances but he failed to take it ... He was break up at 5-4 but Wu broke him on luv in 10th game to made it 5-all ... In the tie-break also Yuki had 2 set points at 6-4 but he lost next 4 points for losing the set ... In the second set Wu broke Yuki in 7th game and kept that advantage for winning the set and match.

Yuki and Venus lifted the doubles wild-card beating local pair in the final ... They won the first set in tie-break but Chinese pair made strong comeback and won the second set losing only a single game ... In match tie-break Yuki-Michael fought back and won it to book their ticket to Australian Open 2014.
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At $15K India F10 Futures, Bhopal

Singles Final
(2) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND,458) bt (3) Jung-Woong NA (KOR,499) 75 75

Balaji scored tight win over Korean Na to lift the futures title at Bhopal ... Bala was needing this title as last few months he struggle on the futures curcuit.

Chess News

At the FIDE World Chess Championship 2013, Chennai, India (November 9th to 28th, 2013)

Game Ten
GM Magnus Carlsen (NOR,2870) ½-½ GM Viswanathan Anand (IND,2775) (6½-3½)

Norway's Magnus Carlsen become new Chess World Champion!!!

22 yrs old Carlsen become the youngest World champion ... He defeated Anand comfortably to won the title when two games were remaining ... So Anand's 6 yrs regime over World championship got over and frankly Carlsen is most deserving candidate ... WR #1 Magnus Carlsen dominating chess world last couple of years and in the World championship match he show why he is WR #1 ... Carlsen showed his solid preparation for endgame in the World championship.

In 10th game Sicilian Defense utilized ... Carlsen and Vishy played very tactical game in this match ... But Carlsen played excellent defensive game and after long game it was eneded in draw after 65 moves.

Tennis News

At Asia-Pacific Australian Open 2014 - WildCard PlayOff Tournament, Shenzhen, China

Men's Singles
[QF] (2) Yuki Bhambri (IND,204) bt (Q) Zhicheng Zhu (CHN,UNR) 62 61

[SF] (2) Yuki Bhambri (IND,204) vs (3) Wu Di (CHN,205)

Men's Doubles
[SF] (2) Yuki Bhambri (IND)/ Michael Venus (NZL) bt (3) Chieh-Fu Wang (TPE)/ Jimmy Wang (TPE) 62 60

[F] (2) Yuki Bhambri (IND)/ Michael Venus (NZL) vs (4) Mao-Xin Gong (CHN)/ Zhe Li (CHN)

Yuki in the semis of Asia-Pacific Australian Open WildCard PlayOff Tournament with very comfortable win against junior Chinese player ... Real test for Yuki is starting from the semis ... In the semis he is facing defending champion and Chinese top-seed Wu Di.

In the doubles Yuki-Venus r one win away from sealing AO 2014 wild-card ... They scored dominating win over Taiwani pair in the final they r facing 4th seed Chinese pair, who scored upset win over top-seed pair in match tie-break.
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At $15K India F10 Futures, Bhopal

Singles Semi Finals
(1) Jeevan NEDUNCHEZHIYAN (IND,321) l (3) Jung-Woong NA (KOR,499) 26 64 26
(2) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND,458) bt (WC) N. Vijay Sundar PRASHANTH (IND,778) 75 62

Doubles Final
(1) Jeevan NEDUNCHEZHIYAN (IND)/ Purav RAJA (IND) bt Daniiar DULDAEV (KGZ)/ Karunuday SINGH (IND) 63 63

Bala is in 2nd final in two weeks of Indian futures ... He scored straight sets win over Vijay Sundar ... In the final he is facing Korean Jung-Woong Na, who scored upset win over top-seed Jeevan in the semis.

Jeevan-Purav lifted the doubles title with comfortable win over unseeded pair of Karunuday and Daniiar.

Chess News

At the FIDE World Chess Championship 2013, Chennai, India (November 9th to 28th, 2013)

Game Nine
GM Viswanathan Anand (IND,2775) 0-1 GM Magnus Carlsen (NOR,2870) (3-6)

Magnus Carlsen is on verge of becoming new World champion as he need only half point from last three games ... In 9th game Anand came out all guns blazing but he blundered in this complicated game which cost him the victory ... This game played with sharp Nimzo-Indian Defence ... Anand got in a nice attacking position and had his chances but he made mistakes middle of the game ... Carlsen won this match after 28 moves.

Badminton News

At $350K Hong Kong Open 2013, Kowloon (Superseries)

[R2] Ajay Jayaram (IND,26) l Sony Dwi Kuncoro (INA,15) 18-21 12-21
[R2] (7) Saina Nehwal (IND,7) l Porntip Buranaprasertsuk (THA,13) 17-21 21-9 15-21

Really disappointing results of Saina and Ajay ... In their previous six meetings Saina was victorious against Porntip Buranaprasertsuk ... But here Saina failed to overcome her challenge ... After losing the first game Saina made strong comeback to won the second comfortably ... This time also Saina failed to kept momentum in the decider and lost control from 5-all ... Ajay also won his last match against Sony but here he failed to repeat that and lost in straight games.

Tennis News

At Asia-Pacific Australian Open 2014 - WildCard PlayOff Tournament, Shenzhen, China

Men's Singles
[QF] (4) Yuki Bhambri (IND,204) vs (Q) Zhicheng Zhu (CHN,UNR)

Men's Doubles
[QF] (2) Yuki Bhambri (IND)/ Michael Venus (NZL) bt (Q) Tianjia Guo (CHN)/ Shenghao Zhou (CHN) 60 61

[SF] (2) Yuki Bhambri (IND)/ Michael Venus (NZL) vs (3) Chieh-Fu Wang (TPE)/ Jimmy Wang (TPE)

Yuki-Michael scored very comfortable win against local qualifiers ... Next they r facing 3rd seed Taiwani pair.
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At $15K India F10 Futures, Bhopal

Singles Quarter Finals
(1) Jeevan NEDUNCHEZHIYAN (IND) bt (8) Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND) 63 63
(3) Jung-Woong NA (KOR) bt (Q) David PEL (NED) 64 76(3)
(WC) N. Vijay Sundar PRASHANTH (IND) bt (6) Karunuday SINGH (IND) 64 64
(2) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND) bt Vishnu VARDHAN (IND) 75 76(6)

Doubles Semi Finals
(1) Jeevan NEDUNCHEZHIYAN (IND)/ Purav RAJA (IND) bt (4) Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND)/ Ashwin VIJAYRAGAVAN (IND) 64 57 12-10
Daniiar DULDAEV (KGZ)/ Karunuday SINGH (IND) bt (2) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND)/ Ranjeet VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND)64 64

Vijay Sundar scored upset win over Karunuday but Vishu again failed to overcome challenge of Bala ... Jeevan and Purav scored very close win in the doubles and keep Jeevan's hope alive for double crown.

Badminton News

At $350K Hong Kong Open 2013, Kowloon (Superseries)

[R1] K. Srikanth (IND,28) l (1) Chong Wei Lee (MAS,1) 18-21 14-21
[R1] Kashyap Parupalli (IND,11) l Zhengming Wang (CHN,9) 14-21 10-21
[R1] Ajay Jayaram (IND,26) bt (7) Tien Minh Nguyen (VIE,7) 21-7 21-12
[R1] (7) Saina Nehwal (IND,7) bt Bellaetrix Manuputty (INA,30) 21-14 21-16
[R1] P. V. Sindhu (IND,10) l (2) Ratchanok Intanon (THA,2) 16-21 17-21

[R1] Pranaav Jerry Chopra (IND)/ Akshay Dewalkar (IND) l (1) Mohammad Ahsan (INA)/ Hendra Setiawan (INA) 18-21 19-21
[R1] (Q) Manu Attri (IND)/ Sumeeth Reddy B. (IND) l Vladimir Ivanov (RUS)/ Ivan Sozonov (RUS) 9-21 15-21
[R1] Tarun Kona (IND)/ Ashwini Ponnappa (IND) l (7) Praveen Jordan (INA)/ Vita Marissa (INA) 19-21 21-19 17-21

[R2] Ajay Jayaram (IND,26) vs Sony Dwi Kuncoro (INA,15)
[R2] (7) Saina Nehwal (IND,7) vs Porntip Buranaprasertsuk (THA,13)

Though losses were expected still disappointing outing for our players, who failed to stretch their respective opponents ... Sindhu gave decent fight to WR #2 Ratchanok Intanon in 39 minutes match.

Saina scored comfortable win in her 34 minutes match ... Next she is facing top-15 Thai opponent Porntip Buranaprasertsuk.

Ashwini-Tarun gave fighting performance against 7th seed Indonesian pair ... After losing the first game Tarun-Ashwini fought back to won the second ... But Indonesian pair proved better in the third.

In the last match of the day Ajay faced WR #7 Tien Minh Nguyen and Ajay continued Indian dominance over him ... In recent matches Tien Minh Nguyen lost too many matches against Indian opponents and that repeated in this match ... Ajay scored very dominating win over Tien Minh Nguyen losing only 19 points in 25 minutes ... Next he is facing Indonesian Sony Dwi Kuncoro.

Tennis News

At Asia-Pacific Australian Open 2014 - WildCard PlayOff Tournament, Shenzhen, China

Men's Singles
[R1] (4) Yuki Bhambri (IND,204) bt Michael Venus (NZL,388) 26 62 63

Men's Doubles
[R1] Yuki Bhambri (IND)/ Michael Venus (NZL) vs Qualifier

Women's Singles
[R1] (WC) Prarthna Thombre (IND,425) l (WC) Chin-Wei Chan (TPE,324) 16 06
[R1] Ankita Raina(IND,293) l (WC) Zhaoxuan Yang (CHN,1006) 26 62 16

Women's Doubles
[Q1] (2) Ankita Raina(IND)/ Prarthna Thombre (IND) bye

[Q2] (2) Ankita Raina(IND)/ Prarthna Thombre (IND) l (4) Qiuyu Ye (CHN)/ Wushuang Zheng (CHN) 06 36

Yuki needed comeback win for beating his doubles and practice partner Michael Venus ... After losing the first set Yuki made strong comeback in the match.

But Ankita and Prarthana had forgettable tournament ... Ankita lost against 1000+ ranked local player and in the doubles also she lost convincingly with Prarthana against local pair.
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At $15K India F10 Futures, Bhopal

Singles Second Round
(1) Jeevan NEDUNCHEZHIYAN (IND) bt (Q) Abdullah SHAIKH (IND) 63 62
(8) Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND) bt Markos KALOVELONIS (GRE) 67(5) 63 62
(3) Jung-Woong NA (KOR) bt Mohit Mayur JAYAPRAKASH (IND) 62 76(4)
(Q) David PEL (NED) bt(7) Daniiar DULDAEV (KGZ) 64 64
(6) Karunuday SINGH (IND) bt Jatin DAHIYA (IND) 64 64
(WC) N. Vijay Sundar PRASHANTH (IND) bt (Q) Akash WAGH (IND) 67(2) 61 63
Vishnu VARDHAN (IND) bt Jui-Chen HUNG (TPE) 62 63
(2) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND) bt (Q) Jannis LINIGER (SUI) 75 63

Doubles Quarter Finals
(1) Jeevan NEDUNCHEZHIYAN (IND)/ Purav RAJA (IND) bt Mohit Mayur JAYAPRAKASH (IND)/ Arjun KADHE (IND) 62 62
(4) Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND)/ Ashwin VIJAYRAGAVAN (IND) bt Timon REICHELT (GER)/Torsten WIETOSKA (GER) 62 62
Daniiar DULDAEV (KGZ)/ Karunuday SINGH (IND) bt (WC) Kunal ANAND (IND)/ Aaditya TEWARI (IND) 63 63
(2) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND)/ Ranjeet VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND) bt (WC) Chandril SOOD (IND)/ Lakshit SOOD (IND) 76(2) 75

Expected results in the second round but Akash missed opportunity of upsetting his senioe Vijay Sundar after winning the first set.

Football News

At FIFA International Friendlies 2013, Siliguri, India

India bt Nepal 2-0 (1-0)
Goal Scored - Sunil Chhetri (IND) 21', Clifford Miranda (IND) 48'

Sunil Chhetri became India's all-time top scorer (43 goals) courtesy of his first half strike against Nepal in an international friendly ... Indians scored comfortable win against Nepal with strikes from Sunil Chhetri and by Clifford Miranda in the second half.

Chess News

At the FIDE World Chess Championship 2013, Chennai, India (November 9th to 28th, 2013)

Game Eight
GM Magnus Carlsen (NOR,2870) ½-½ GM Viswanathan Anand (IND,2775) (5-3)

Surprisingly this game also started with Ruy Lopez and promptly replied by Anand in Berlin Defence ... Again Carlsen hold Anand comfortably after 33 moves and keep his 2 points advantage ... Now after day break only four games r remaining.

Badminton News

At $350K Hong Kong Open 2013, Kowloon (Superseries)

[Q1] (3) Anand Pawar (IND,30) l Nan Wei (HKG,64) 21-18 13-21 13-21

[R1] K. Srikanth (IND,28) vs (1) Chong Wei Lee (MAS,1)
[R1] Kashyap Parupalli (IND,11) vs Zhengming Wang (CHN,9)
[R1] Ajay Jayaram (IND,26) vs (7) Tien Minh Nguyen (VIE,7)
[R1] (7) Saina Nehwal (IND,7) vs Bellaetrix Manuputty (INA,30)
[R1] P. V. Sindhu (IND,10) vs (2) Ratchanok Intanon (THA,2)

[R1] Pranaav Jerry Chopra (IND)/ Akshay Dewalkar (IND) vs (1) Mohammad Ahsan (INA)/ Hendra Setiawan (INA)
[R1] (Q) Manu Attri (IND)/ Sumeeth Reddy B. (IND) vs Vladimir Ivanov (RUS)/ Ivan Sozonov (RUS)
[R1] Tarun Kona (IND)/ Ashwini Ponnappa (IND) vs (7) Praveen Jordan (INA)/ Vita Marissa (INA)

Disappointing loss of Anand after winning the first game.

In main-draw tough matches for our players other than Saina.

Chess News

At the FIDE World Chess Championship 2013, Chennai, India (November 9th to 28th, 2013)

Game Seven
GM Viswanathan Anand (IND,2775) ½-½ GM Magnus Carlsen (NOR,2870) (2½-4½)

Anand needed to recover to kept his challenge alive in this World championship match after two crushing defeats in mastery endgame by Carlsen ... In 7th game for Ruy Lopez opening Carlsen replied with Berlin Defence ... He comfortably hold Anand after 32 moves and keep his 2 points lead over him with only five more games r remaining.

Tennis News

At $15K India F10 Futures, Bhopal

Singles First Round
(1) Jeevan NEDUNCHEZHIYAN (IND) bt Arjun KADHE (IND) 64 63
(Q) Abdullah SHAIKH (IND) bt Ashwin VIJAYRAGAVAN (IND) 36 64 62
Markos KALOVELONIS (GRE) bt (WC) Purav RAJA (IND) 60 76(5)
(8) Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND) bt (WC) Garvit BATRA (IND) 62 64
(3) Jung-Woong NA (KOR) bt Vinayak Sharma KAZA (IND) 63 63
Mohit Mayur JAYAPRAKASH (IND) bt Luca MARGAROLI (SUI) 76(4) 67(5) 75
(Q) David PEL (NED) bt (Q) Timon REICHELT (GER) 64 46 63
(7) Daniiar DULDAEV (KGZ) bt Shonigmatjon SHOFAYZIYEV (UZB) 64 36 61
(6) Karunuday SINGH (IND) bt Fedor CHERVYAKOV (RUS) 64 64
Jatin DAHIYA (IND) bt (Q) Ajai SELVARAJ (IND) 76(5) 63
(Q) Akash WAGH (IND) bt Duck Hee LEE (KOR) 62 64
(WC) N. Vijay Sundar PRASHANTH (IND) bt (4) Torsten WIETOSKA (GER) 63 76(6)
Jui-Chen HUNG (TPE) bt (5) Ranjeet VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND) 16 63 64
Vishnu VARDHAN (IND) bt (WC) Aaditya TEWARI (IND) 61 62
(Q) Jannis LINIGER (SUI) bt (Q) Chandril SOOD (IND) 62 76(4)
(2) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND) bt (Q) Lakshit SOOD (IND) 64 61

Doubles First Round
(1) Jeevan NEDUNCHEZHIYAN (IND)/ Purav RAJA (IND) bt Timur KHABIBULIN (KAZ)/ Shonigmatjon SHOFAYZIYEV (UZB) 61 46 10-3
Mohit Mayur JAYAPRAKASH (IND)/ Arjun KADHE (IND) bt Jui-Chen HUNG (TPE)/ Markos KALOVELONIS (GRE) 76(4) 64
(4) Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND)/ Ashwin VIJAYRAGAVAN (IND) bt (WC) Amrit NARASIMHAN (USA)/ Ajai SELVARAJ (IND) 75 63
Timon REICHELT (GER)/Torsten WIETOSKA (GER) bt David PEL (NED)/ N. Vijay Sundar PRASHANTH (IND) 62 75
(WC) Kunal ANAND (IND)/ Aaditya TEWARI (IND) bt Vinayak Sharma KAZA (IND)/ Akash WAGH (IND) 64 76(5)
Daniiar DULDAEV (KGZ)/ Karunuday SINGH (IND) bt (3) Jannis LINIGER (SUI)/ Luca MARGAROLI (SUI) 64 64
(WC) Chandril SOOD (IND)/ Lakshit SOOD (IND) bt Garvit BATRA (IND)/ Rakshit RISHI (IND) 64 63
(2) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND)/ Ranjeet VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND) bt Ronak MANUJA (IND)/ Abdullah SHAIKH (IND) 63 62

Some superb upset wins by our players over higher ranked foreign players ... Vijay Sundar scored upset win over 4th seed German Wietoska ... Mohit Mayur scored upset win over his higher ranked Swiss opponent Margaroli in very close match where first 2 set went in tie-breaks ... Qualifier Akash also scored upset win over talented top-20 junior and higher ranked 15 yrs old Korean Duck Hee Lee in straight sets ... Also qualifier Abdullah Shaikh scored upset win over his senior higher ranked Ashwin ... Other hand comfortable win win for Jeevan but upset loss for Ranjeet against Taiwani player.

Snooker News

At €129K Euro Tour 7, Antwerp, Belgium (14-17 Nov 2013)

[R1] Pankaj Advani (IND,67) bt James Silverwood (ENG,A) 4-0 (77(54)-20, 69-0, 127(126)-0, 58-50)
[R1] Aditya Mehta (IND,63) bt Michael Leslie (SCO,94) 4-3 (78(77)-17, 88-53, 25-68, 50-76, 55(53)-6, 1-80, 71(54)-39)

[R2] Pankaj Advani (IND,67) l Rory McLeod (ENG,45) 2-4 (0-98(63), 38-79(70), 68-1, 56-49, 0-80, 4-96(74))
[R2] Aditya Mehta (IND,63) bt Ryan Causton (ENG,A) 4-1 (62-9, 72-13, 77-42, 31-75, 75-57)

[R3] Aditya Mehta (IND,63) bt Alfie Burden (ENG,46) 4-3 (46-74, 115(81)-0, 8-81(63), 69(55)-0, 72-32, 45-79(53), 65-37)

[R4] Aditya Mehta (IND,63) bt Mark J Williams (WAL,18) 4-2 (7-75(70), 60-68, 92-12, 93(53)-16, 69(63)-8, 60-2)

[QF] Aditya Mehta (IND,63) l Jack Lisowski (ENG,39) 0-4 (14-70(54), 6-63, 16-69(52), 27-82))

Really happy to see our players r showing consistency on snooker pro-tour ... Aditya responded well after his bad Euro tour 6 ... He reached in the quarters before losing one-sided match against Lisowski but before that he scored exciting win over former WR #1 and double World champion Mark J Williams ... In that match against Mark after losing first 2 frames Aditya made strong back and won next four frames.

Pankaj also showed consistency ... He won the first round before losing the second round against Rory McLeod.
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At £100K Euro Tour 6, Gloucester, England (7-10 Nov 2013)

[R1] Pankaj Advani (IND,67) bt Sydney Wilson (ENG,A) 4-0 (84-19, 132(132)-0, 70-23, 92(84)-40))
[R1] Aditya Mehta (IND,63) l Zhang Anda (CHN,77) 3-4 (87-12, 39-65, 57-67, 87(58)-23, 67(56)-55, 43-63, 9-65(50))

[R2] Pankaj Advani (IND,67) bt Gerard Greene (ENG,59) 4-1 (65-62, 0-68, 74(74)-4, 68(68)-0, 86(56)-0))

[R3] Pankaj Advani (IND,67) l Michael Holt (ENG,20) 3-4 (45-65, 69-62, 24-75(56), 69-41, 35-102, 69(53)-39, 44-58(58))

Pankaj scored couple of good wins before losing close match against top-20 British player Michael Holt.

Chess News

At the FIDE World Chess Championship 2013, Chennai, India (November 9th to 28th, 2013)

Game Six
GM Viswanathan Anand (IND,2775) 0-1 GM Magnus Carlsen (NOR,2870) (2-4)

Magnus Carlsen is looking in total control of World championship ... Today he defeated Anand with Black pieces following his yesterday's win with White pieces ... So after six games Carlsen is leading 4-2 and only 2½ points away from World championship in six remaining games.

The game was a solid, uninspiring Ruy Lopez ... The position simplified and an endgame arose with draw predictions from all sides ... Carlsen got a slight initiative, won a pawn, then another one but the rook ending was probably still drawn ... However this time also Anand again failed to find the best defense and had to resign after 67 move.

Tennis Newa

At $15K ITF Tournament, Mumbai, India

Singles Final
(1) Prarthana G. Thombare (IND) bt Ching-Wen Hsu (TPE) 63 67(10) 64

Prarthana lifted her first ITF title with hard fought win over talented Taiwani girl 17 yrs old Ching-Wen Hsu ... After winning the first set Prarthana was serving for the match at 5-4 ... Hsu saved 4 match points before breaking Prarthana ... In tie-break also Prarthana had 2 match points which she failed to convert ... Hsu won this set after very long tie-break ... In the final set both players were breaking other's serve ... Prarthana broke Hsu to lead 5-3 but Hsu broke Prarthana in 9th game when she was serving for the match ... Again in next game at 5-4 Prarthana broke Hsu for lifting the title.
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At $10K India F9 Futures, Delhi

Singles Final
(1) Yuki BHAMBRI (IND) bt (3) Sriram BALAJI (IND) 62 62

Yuki showed his class in one-sided win over 2nd seed Bala in the final ... He lost only four games in the final ... Very good tune-up tournament before Asia-Pacific Australian Open 2014 - WildCard PlayOff Tournament in China.

Football News

At FIFA International Friendlies 2013, Siliguri, India

India dw Philippines 1-1 (1-1)
Goal Scored - Sunil Chhetri (IND) 41' and Philip Younghusband (PHI) 42'

In well contested match Sunil Chhetri scored first goal but his goal was cancelled out by Philip Younghusband as the two sides could only manage a draw.

Chess News

At the FIDE World Chess Championship 2013, Chennai, India (November 9th to 28th, 2013)

Game Five
GM Magnus Carlsen (NOR,2870) 1-0 GM Viswanathan Anand (IND,2775) (3-2)

In game five, Magnus Carlsen broke defense of Anand in a Semi-Slav defense ... Carlsen wasn't too ambitious in opening play and happy with the tiniest of advantages ... He kept on pressing and trying before grabbing the first opportunity from small inaccuracies by Anand ... For a long time the game did seem to be heading to a draw ... After the first time control Carlsen was a pawn up but the position was still very drawish ... Surprisingly Anand played several inaccurate moves in the fifth hour and he failed to hold ... So with this Carlsen takes the lead in this Championship match.

Tennis News

At $50K Champaign Challenger, USA

[SF] Sanam Singh (IND)/ Michael Shabaz (USA) l (2) Austin Krajicek (USA)/ Tennys Sandgren (USA) 76(3) 36 7-10

Sanam-Shabaz started well and won the tight first set in tie-break ... But after that they failed to kept momentum and lost the second set ... In the match tie-break Krajicek-Sandgren proved strong to Sanam-Shabaz.
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At $15K ITF Tournament, Mumbai, India

Singles Semi Finals
(1) Prarthana G. Thombare (IND) bt (7) Anamika Bhargava (USA) 67(8) 64 61
Ching-Wen Hsu (TPE) bt (8) Prerna Bhambri (IND) 16 64 62

Doubles Final
(1) Anamika BHARGAVA (USA)/ Emily WEBLEY-SMITH (GBR) bt Ching-Wen HSU (TPE)/ Eden SILVA (GBR) 64 75

Good fightback by Prarthana after losing long tie-break against Anamika ... But other hand Prerna lost after winning the first set against Taiwani player.
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At $10K India F9 Futures, Delhi

Singles Semi Finals
(1) Yuki BHAMBRI (IND) bt (5) Torsten WIETOSKA (GER) 63 61
(3) Sriram BALAJI (IND) bt Vishnu VARDHAN (IND) 57 63 76(4)

Doubles Final
(1) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND)/ Ranjeet VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND) bt (2) Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND)/ Ashwin VIJAYRAGAVAN (IND) 76(3) 63

Yuki scored comfortable win against his German opponent losing only 4 games ... Other hand Bala faced spirited challenge from fit-again Vishnu ... Vishnu won the first set but Bala fought back to won the second ... The third set went to tie-break and Bala proved better against Vishnu.

Bala having chance of winning double crown as he with Ranjeet lifted the doubles title in straight sets.
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At $10K USA F31 Futures, Bradenton, Florida

[R2] (WC) Sumit Nagal (IND,UNR) l (3) Romain Arneodo (MON,556) 57 46

Sumit gave decent performance against top-550 type Monaco player ... He lost in close two sets against this experienced player.
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At $10K ITF Women's Tournament, Sant Jordi, Spain (clay)

[QF] Sowjanya Bavisetti (IND,788) l (6) Paula Badosa (ESP,634) 46 67(3)

Doubles Final
(1) Sowjanya Bavisetti (IND)/ Lucia Cervera-Vazquez (ESP) l (2) Barbara Luz (POR)/ Nuria Parrizas-Diaz(ESP) 57 46

Sowjanya again lost against Paula but this time she gave decent fighting performance against Paula.

In the third week in a row Sowjanya missed lifting the doubles title with her partner ... This week she was top-seed with Spanish Lucia Cervera-Vazquez but in the final they lost in straight sets against 2nd seed Pair.

Badminton News

At $350K China Open 2013, Shanghai (Superseries Premier)

[R2] Kashyap Parupalli (IND,12) l Kento Momota (JPN,28) 11-21 12-21
[R2] (6) Saina Nehwal (IND,7) l Sun Yu (CHN,30) 21-16 15-21 17-21
[R1] Arundhati Pantawane (IND,47) l (3) Yihan Wang (CHN,3) 13-21 10-21

Turned to be disappointing day for Indians ... Really forgettable performance by Saina and Kashyap in their respective matches.

Kashyap lost in one-sided match against Japanese Kento Momota in 30 minutes ... Arundhati also failed to produce any opposition against Yihan Wang and lost easily in 29 minutes.

Saina lost in long match against 19 yrs old Sun Yu in 75 minutes after winning the first game ... In the first game Saina opened couple of points lead from 4-all and which she kept increasing for winning this game ... In the second game Sun won 11 points in a row from 5-all to lead 16-5 ... Saina reduced that to 14-17 but Sun regained her composure and won the game converting 2nd game point ... In the decider Sun 8-5 lead but Saina made it 8-all ... After that Sun won next 7 points to lead 15-8 but this time also Saina fought back and won next 8 points to made it 15-all ... But from 17-all Sun won next 4 points for the upset win ... Sun outperformed Saina in the net game.

Tennis News

At $50K Champaign Challenger, USA

[R2] Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,509) l (Q) Daniel Smethurst(GBR,485) 62 67(5) 26
[R2] (ALT) Sanam Singh (IND,368) l (8) John-Patrick Smith (AUS,224) 36 46

Doubles
[QF] Sanam Singh (IND)/ Michael Shabaz (USA) bt (3) Rik De Voest (RSA)/ Rajeev Ram (USA) 64 64

Yuki missed too many break point chances in this match and John-Patrick was better on the court in this two college players ... The first set won by John-Patrick with a single break ... In the second set John-Patrick broke Sanam in 5th game to lead 3-2 but this time Sanam broke back immediately to make 3-all ... John-Patrick take crucial break in 9th game and then hold his serve for straight sets win.

Prajnesh started positively and won the first set easily after breaking Daniel twice ... In the second set Daniel raised his game and the set went into tie-break ... In the tie-break Prajnesh was up 4-3 but after that everything changed ... Prajnesh lost 4 points from next 5 points to lost the set ... In the third set Daniel didn't gave much chance to Prajnesh and broke him twice for winning the set from 2-all.

Sanam scored huge upset win in the doubles over former top-50 doubles player Rajeev Ram and his South African partner Rik De Voest with his ex-UVa partner Michael Shabaz.
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At $15K ITF Tournament, Mumbai, India

Singles Quarter Finals
(1) Prarthana G. Thombare (IND) bt (6) Natasha Palha (IND) 63 63
(7) Anamika Bhargava (USA) bt (3) Rishika Sunkara (IND) 62 26 75
(8) Prerna Bhambri (IND) bt (Q) Riya Bhatia (IND) 63 61
Ching-Wen Hsu (TPE) bt (5) Nidhi Chilumula (IND) 64 75

Doubles Semi Finals
(1) Anamika BHARGAVA (USA)/ Emily WEBLEY-SMITH (GBR) bt Prerna BHAMBRI (IND)/ Mahitha DADI REDDY (IND) 63 62
Ching-Wen HSU (TPE)/ Eden SILVA (GBR) bt (3) Sharmada BALU (IND)/ Prarthana G. THOMBARE (IND) 46 62 10-8

Only Prarthana and Prerna managed to win their matches but Rishika and Nidhi lost their respective matches against lower ranked opponents.
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At $10K India F9 Futures, Delhi

Singles Quarter Finaks
(1) Yuki BHAMBRI (IND) bt (7) Karunuday SINGH (IND) 60 63
(5) Torsten WIETOSKA (GER) bt Sidhart RAWAT (IND) 63 62
(3) Sriram BALAJI (IND) bt Jui-Chen HUNG (TPE) 36 63 75
Vishnu VARDHAN (IND) bt (2) Jeevan NEDUNCHEZHUYAN (IND) 63 62

Doubles Semi Finals
(1) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND)/ Ranjeet VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND) bt (WC) Ashutosh SINGH (IND)/ Vishnu VARDHAN (IND) 61 36 10-7
(2) Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND)/ Ashwin VIJAYRAGAVAN (IND) bt Daniiar DULDAEV (KGZ)/ Timur KHABIBULIN (KAZ) 61 75

Good dominating win by Yuki and upset win by Vishnu ... Deserving win over Jeevan ... Bala scored comeback win over his Taiwani opponent.

In the doubles contrasting wins for top 2 seeds Indian pairs in the semi-finals.
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At $10K USA F31 Futures, Bradenton, Florida

[R1] (WC) Sumit Nagal (IND,UNR) bt Catalin-Ionut Gard (ROU,772) 60 76(5)

[R2] (WC) Sumit Nagal (IND,UNR) vs (3) Romain Arneodo (MON,556)

Doubles
[R1] Sumit Nagal (IND)/ Naoki Nakagawa (JPN) bt Oleg Dmitriev (RUS)/ Mohd Assri Merzuki (MAS) 76(6) 61

[QF] Sumit Nagal (IND)/ Naoki Nakagawa (JPN) l Maxim Lunkin (RUS)/ Andrey Rublev (RUS) 76(6) 46 7-10

Sumit received wild-card for Bradenton futures and he utilized to his advantage ... Sumit earned his first ATP point with upset win over top-800 ranked Romanian player Gard ... Sumit bageled Gard in the first set ... In the second set Gard fought back but Sumit won the set in tie-break ... Next he is facing 3rd seed Monaco player Romain Arneodo.

In the doubles also Sumit started with win against Dmitriev-Merzuki with his Japanese partner Naoki Nakagawa ... But they lost in super tie-break against Russian pair.
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At $10K ITF Women's Tournament, Sant Jordi, Spain (clay)

[R1] Sowjanya Bavisetti (IND,788) bt (WC) Eva Martinez Regalado (ESP,UNR) 63 61

[R2] Sowjanya Bavisetti (IND,788) bt (3) Olga Saez Larra (ESP,475) 36 62 61

[QF] Sowjanya Bavisetti (IND,788) vs (6) Paula Badosa (ESP,634)

Doubles
[R1] (1) Sowjanya Bavisetti (IND)/ Lucia Cervera-Vazquez (ESP) bye

[QF] (1) Sowjanya Bavisetti (IND)/ Lucia Cervera-Vazquez (ESP) bt Emma Ek (SWE)/ Elke Tiel (NED) 60 76(8)

[SF] (1) Sowjanya Bavisetti (IND)/ Lucia Cervera-Vazquez (ESP) vs Ksenija Sharifova (RUS)/ ANNA Shepita (RUS)

Sowjanya started with comfortable win against local wild-card player ... In the second round she scored huge upset over top-500 Spanish player Olga Saez Larra after losing the first set.

In the doubles Sowjanya is top-seed with Spanish girl Lucia Cervera-Vazquez and they r in the semis-final.

Chess News

At the FIDE World Chess Championship 2013, Chennai, India (November 9th to 28th, 2013)

Game Four
GM Viswanathan Anand (IND,2775) ½-½ GM Magnus Carlsen (NOR,2870) (2-2)

As per expectation another excellent battle between Anand and Carlsen ... And in this match also trend of trouble for White continues ... Carlsen played his favorite Berlin defense and troubled Anand in this game ... In this match also Black had advantage but this time Anand saved the game after long 64 moves ... So deserving break for them after such exciting matches.

Badminton News

At $350K China Open 2013, Shanghai (Superseries Premier)

[R1] Kashyap Parupalli (IND,12) bt (8) Boonsak Ponsana (THA,8) 22-20 21-15
[R1] Anand Pawar (IND,30) l Takuma Ueda (JPN,14) 21-18 10-21 11-21
[R1] Ajay Jayaram (IND,26) l (Q) Wan Ho Son (KOR,72) 18-21 19-21
[R1] (6) Saina Nehwal (IND,7) bt (Q) Nozomi Okuhara (JPN,108) 21-14 21-19
[R1] Arundhati Pantawane (IND,47) bt Eriko Hirose (JPN,14) 21-14 21-18
[R1] (Q) Manu Attri (IND)/ Sumeeth Reddy B. (IND) l Vladimir Ivanov (RUS)/ Ivan Sozonov (RUS) 14-21 6-21

[R2] Kashyap Parupalli (IND,12) vs Kento Momota (JPN,28)
[R2] (6) Saina Nehwal (IND,7) vs Sun Yu (CHN,30)
[R1] Arundhati Pantawane (IND,47) vs (3) Yihan Wang (CHN,3)

Kashyap scored upset win over WR #8 Thai Boonsak Ponsana ... In the first game both players were neck to neck till 14-all ... Here Boonsak opened couple of points lead and he had 2 game points at 20-18 ... But Kashyap won the game winning next 4 points in a row saving 2 game points against him ... In the second game Boonsak opened 10-13 lead but after that Kashyap gave him only 2 points before winning the match ... Next he is facing Japanese Kento Momota.

Saina started confidently taking 5-2 lead which she increased to 15-5 ... Nozomi tried fightback but Saina won the first game comfortably ... In the second game Saina started with 3-0 lead which she extended to 10-6 ... Nozomi fought back winning next 5 points to lead 11-10 ... After that both players were neck to neck till 19-all and then Saina won next 2 points for completing the victory ... Next Saina is facing tricky Chinese girl challenge.

Arundhati surprised everyone with her straight games win against experienced and top-15 Japanese Eriko Hirose ... In the first game Arundhati opened 7-3 lead which she kept increasing for comfortable win ... In the second game both players were neck to neck 10-all ... From 14-all Arundhati opened 5 points lead, 19-14 ... Hirose tried fightback winning next 4 points, 18-19 but Arundhati won next 3 points for straight games win ... Next she is facing former WR #1 Yihan Wang.

In other matches Anand started confidently and won the tight first game against Ueda but after than Ueda dominated the match and won last two games comfortably ... Ajay also lost close two games against Korean qualifier Son ... In their previous meeting also Son troubled Ajay and that trend continued in this match.

Tennis News

At $50K Champaign Challenger, USA

[R1] (ALT) Sanam Singh (IND,368) bt (Q) Evan King (USA,603) 63 62

[R2] Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,509) vs (Q) Daniel Smethurst(GBR,485)
[R2] (ALT) Sanam Singh (IND,368) vs (8) John-Patrick Smith (AUS,224)

Expected solid win from Sanam against local qualifier ... Next he is facing 8th seed Australian top-225 player John-Patrick Smith ... Prajnesh is facing British qualifier Smethurst, who scored upset win over 5th seed Polansky.
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At $15K ITF Tournament, Mumbai, India

Singles Second Round
(1) Prarthana G. Thombare (IND) bt Smriti Joon (IND) 62 63
(6) Natasha Palha (IND) bt (Q) Adnya Naik (IND) 60 62
(3) Rishika Sunkara (IND) bt Sharmada Balu (IND) 16 64 63
(7) Anamika Bhargava (USA) bt Rushmi Chakravarthi (IND) 62 62
(8) Prerna Bhambri (IND) bt Mahitha Dadi Reddy (IND) 63 61
(Q) Riya Bhatia (IND) bt Vaniya Dangwal (IND) 61 61
(5) Nidhi Chilumula (IND) bt (Q) Likitha Shetty (IND) 60 61
Ching-Wen Hsu (TPE) bt (2) Emily Webley-Smith (GBR) 76(3) 36 61

Doubles Quarter Finals
(1) Anamika BHARGAVA (USA)/ Emily WEBLEY-SMITH (GBR) bt Sagarika PHADKE (IND)/ Sahan SHETTY (IND) 60 63
Prerna BHAMBRI (IND)/ Mahitha DADI REDDY (IND) bt Ayaka OKUNO (JPN)/ Natasha PALHA (IND) 63 64
(3) Sharmada BALU (IND)/ Prarthana G. THOMBARE (IND) bt Riya BHATIA (IND)/ Adnya NAIK (IND) 64 63
Ching-Wen HSU (TPE)/ Eden SILVA (GBR) bt (2) Nidhi CHILUMULA (IND)/ Rishika SUNKARA (IND) 67(1) 63 10-5

Riya continues with her impressive run with easy win over Vaniya.
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At $10K India F9 Futures, Delhi

Singles Second Round
(1) Yuki BHAMBRI (IND) bt (WC) Arjun KADHE (IND) 75 61
(7) Karunuday SINGH (IND) bt Vinayak Sharma KAZA (IND) 61 61
Sidhart RAWAT (IND) bt (Q) Akash WAGH (IND) 63 46 64
(5) Torsten WIETOSKA (GER) bt Luca MARGAROLI (SUI) 64 64
Jui-Chen HUNG (TPE) bt (8) Daniiar DULDAEV (KGZ) 26 63 63
(3) Sriram BALAJI (IND) bt Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND) 46 63 62
Vishnu VARDHAN (IND) bt (Q) Abdullah SHAIKH (IND) 62 63
(2) Jeevan NEDUNCHEZHUYAN (IND) bt Vijay Sundar PRASHANTH (IND) 67(2) 61 63

Doubles Quarter Finals
(1) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND)/ Ranjeet VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND) bt Chandril SOOD (IND)/ Lakshit SOOD (IND) 64 63
(WC) Ashutosh SINGH (IND)/ Vishnu VARDHAN (IND) bt Timon REICHELT (GER)/ Torsten WIETOSKA (GER) 62 76(4)
Daniiar DULDAEV (KGZ)/ Timur KHABIBULIN (KAZ) bt (4) Jui-Chen HUNG (TPE)/ Warit SORNBUTNARK (THA) 16 76(1) 10-8
(2) Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND)/ Ashwin VIJAYRAGAVAN (IND) bt Vinayak Sharma KAZA (IND)/ Akash WAGH (IND) 63 62

Vijay, Ramkumar and Akash stretched their higher ranked Indian opponents to three sets but otherwise expected results for Indians.

Chess News

At the FIDE World Chess Championship 2013, Chennai, India (November 9th to 28th, 2013)

Game Three
GM Magnus Carlsen (NOR,2870) ½-½ GM Viswanathan Anand (IND,2775) (1½-1½)

This game fulfilled the promise of a thrilling fight for the World championship which ended in a draw after 51 moves ... Anand handled Carlsen's Reti opening strongly and had a chance of winning the game but he missed opportunity ... After that Calsen gave example of great defense under pressure of time control for salvaging the draw.

Squash News

At $150K Qatar Classic 2013, Doha

[R1] Saurav Ghosal (IND,17) l (6) Amr Shabana (EGY,10) 1-3 (9-11, 6-11, 11-6, 7-11) (55m)

Former WR #1 Amr Shabana proved strong for Saurav despite giving fighting performance ... In the first game both players were neck to neck but Amr won this close game ... Amr won the second game comfortably but Saurav faught back to won the third game ... Again Amr won the fourth game after close game for a win.

Badminton News

At $350K China Open 2013, Shanghai (Superseries Premier)

[R1] Kashyap Parupalli (IND,12) vs (8) Boonsak Ponsana (THA,8)
[R1] Anand Pawar (IND,30) vs Takuma Ueda (JPN,14)
[R1] Ajay Jayaram (IND,26) vs (Q) Wan Ho Son (KOR,72)
[R1] (6) Saina Nehwal (IND,7) vs (Q) Nozomi Okuhara (JPN,108)
[R1] Arundhati Pantawane (IND,47) vs Eriko Hirose (JPN,14)

[R1] (Q) Manu Attri (IND)/ Sumeeth Reddy B. (IND) vs Vladimir Ivanov (RUS)/ Ivan Sozonov (RUS)

Hopefully Indians give better performance in this premier event.

Tennis News

At $50K Champaign Challenger, USA

[R1] Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,509) bt Denys Molchanov (UKR,266) 64 62
[R1] (ALT) Sanam Singh (IND,368) vs (Q) Evan King (USA,603)

Doubles
[R1] Sanam Singh (IND)/ Michael Shabaz (USA) bt Milan Pokrajac (CAN)/ Denis Zivkovic (USA) 64 64

Prajnesh scored terrific upset with over top-275 Ukrainian Denys Molchanov for his first win at challenger level ... He scored comfortable win over Denys in the first round ... In the doubles former UVa teammates Sanam and Shabaz started with win.
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At $15K ITF Tournament, Mumbai, India

Singles First Round
(1) Prarthana G. Thombare (IND) bt Sai Samhitha Chamarthi (IND) 60 46 61
Smriti Joon (IND) bt (Q) Preethi Ujjini (IND) 60 64
(Q) Adnya Naik (IND) bt (Q) Anushka Sathe (IND) 61 60
(6) Natasha Palha (IND) bt Nikita Deshmukh (IND) 64 40 retd.
(3) Rishika Sunkara (IND) bt (WC) Jeni Patel (IND) 63 61
Sharmada Balu (IND) bt Eden Silva (GBR) 61 26 64
Rushmi Chakravarthi (IND) bt (WC) Snehadevi S Reddy (IND) 64 75
(7) Anamika Bhargava (USA) bt (WC) Varunya Chandrashekar (IND) 61 61
(8) Prerna Bhambri (IND) bt (Q) Sagarika Phadke (IND) 61 61
Mahitha Dadi Reddy (IND) bt (Q) Amreen Naaz (IND) 61 61
Vaniya Dangwal (IND) bt (Q) Manya Nagpal (IND) 63 75
(Q) Riya Bhatia (IND) bt (4) Shweta Rana (IND) 62 62
(5) Nidhi Chilumula (IND) bt Sneha Padamata (IND) 62 61
(Q) Likitha Shetty (IND) bt (WC) Sanya Madan (IND) 62 63
Ching-Wen Hsu (TPE) bt Ayaka Okuno (JPN) 76(5) 62
(2) Emily Webley-Smith (GBR) bt (Q) Supriya Zende (IND) 60 60

Doubles First Round
(1) Anamika BHARGAVA (USA)/ Emily WEBLEY-SMITH (GBR) bye
Sagarika PHADKE (IND)/ Sahan SHETTY (IND) bt Varunya CHANDRASHEKAR (IND)/ Smriti JOON (IND) 75 63
Prerna BHAMBRI (IND)/ Mahitha DADI REDDY (IND) bt (4) Rushmi CHAKRAVARTHI (IND)/ Shweta RANA (IND) 75 62
Ayaka OKUNO (JPN)/ Natasha PALHA (IND) bt (WC) Anushka SATHE (IND)/ Diana Abi SEKAR (IND) 60 60
Riya BHATIA (IND)/ Adnya NAIK (IND) bt Sneha PADAMATA (IND)/ Likitha SHETTY (IND) 60 63
(3) Sharmada BALU (IND)/ Prarthana G. THOMBARE (IND) bt Vaniya DANGWAL (IND)/ Manya NAGPAL (IND) 61 61
Ching-Wen HSU (TPE)/ Eden SILVA (GBR) bt Sai Samhitha CHAMARTHI (IND)/ Snehadevi S REDDY (IND) 46 60 10-6
(2) Nidhi CHILUMULA (IND)/ Rishika SUNKARA (IND) bye

Good upset win by Riya over Shweta.
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At $10K India F9 Futures, Delhi

Singles First Round
(1) Yuki BHAMBRI (IND) bt Shonigmatjon SHOFAYZIYEV (UZB) 61 64
(WC) Arjun KADHE (IND) bt (Q) Garvit BATRA (IND) 64 36 76(3)
Vinayak Sharma KAZA (IND) bt (WC) Dineshkanthan THANGARAJAH (SRI) 62 63
(7) Karunuday SINGH (IND) bt Mohit Mayur JAYAPRAKASH (IND) 63 62
Sidhart RAWAT (IND) bt (4) Vijayant MALIK (IND) 62 4-4 Retd.
(Q) Akash WAGH (IND) bt (Q) Timon REICHELT (GER) 63 46 76(3)
Luca MARGAROLI (SUI) bt (Q) Ronak MANUJA (IND) 60 64
(5) Torsten WIETOSKA (GER) bt (Q) Warit SORNBUTNARK (THA) 62 46 61
(8) Daniiar DULDAEV (KGZ) bt (Q) Jannis LINIGER (SUI) 63 26 62
Jui-Chen HUNG (TPE) bt Ashwin VIJAYRAGAVAN (IND) 62 63
Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND) bt (WC) Garry TOKAS (IND) 63 61
(3) Sriram BALAJI (IND) bt (WC) Rishab AGARWAL (IND) 63 64
Vishnu VARDHAN (IND) bt (6) Ranjeet VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND) 76(4) 63
(Q) Abdullah SHAIKH (IND) bt Jatin DAHIYA (IND) 76(3) 64
Vijay Sundar PRASHANTH (IND) bt (Q) Lakshit GOOD (IND) 75 76(3)
(2) Jeevan NEDUNCHEZHUYAN (IND) bt Vignesh PERANAMALLUR (IND) 62 62

Doubles First Round
(1) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND)/ Ranjeet VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND) bt Amrit NARASIMHAN (USA)/ Karunuday SINGH (IND) 63 62
Chandril SOOD (IND)/ Lakshit SOOD (IND) bt Sagar AHUJA (IND)/ Rakshit RISHI (IND) 61 64
(WC) Ashutosh SINGH (IND)/ Vishnu VARDHAN (IND) bt (3) Jannis LINIGER (SUI)/ N. Vijay Sundar PRASHANTH (IND) 46 76(5) 10-8
Timon REICHELT (GER)/ Torsten WIETOSKA (GER) bt Ronak MANUJA (IND)/ Abhijeet TIWARI (IND) 61 64
Daniiar DULDAEV (KGZ)/ Timur KHABIBULIN (KAZ) bt Kunal ANAND (IND)/ Jatin DAHIYA (IND) 64 63
(4) Jui-Chen HUNG (TPE)/ Warit SORNBUTNARK (THA) bt Mohit Mayur JAYAPRAKASH (IND)/ Arjun KADHE (IND) 64 62
Vinayak Sharma KAZA (IND)/ Akash WAGH (IND) bt Luca MARGAROLI (SUI)/ Shonigmatjon SHOFAYZIYEV (UZB) 76(6) 61
(2) Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND)/ Ashwin VIJAYRAGAVAN (IND) bt Kumara P Saradhi ADAVELLY (IND)/ Vignesh PERANAMALLUR (IND) 61 62

Good to see Akash managing tight win against fellow qualifier ... Also good win by Vishnu against Ranjeet.

Shooting News

At ISSF World Cup Final 2013, Munich, Germany


10M AIR PISTOL WOMEN
Gold - Heena Sindhu (IND) 203.8 pts
Silver - Zorana Arunovic (SRB) 198.6 pts
Bronze - Viktoria Chaika (BLR) 176.8 pts

Heena Sidhu take advantage of getting lucky break of participation in this year's World Cup Final and won her first Gold medal in a world-level competition ... She had not even been shortlisted among the 8 qualified athletes but when 3 other international athletes withdrew their participation, she was called to compete thanks to the points she had gained in Changwon and Munich from 8th place finish ... Also Heena had never won a world-level competition medal before so really surprising win for her.

Heena qualified for the final on 3rd place with 384 points ... In the final after first 3 shots she was on the last place but after that she showed amazing consistency and shot 10 or more in 16 of her next 17 shots ... Which helped Heena for her first World cup Final title beating the reigning World Champion, Zorana Arunovic from Serbia.

In women’s 50m rifle 3-position event, our Lajja Gauswami missed Bronze medal by 0.3 points ... She qualified for the final on 5th position with 581 points ... In the final after falling behind Lajja tried hard to caught three-time World Cup Final gold medalist Wu Liuxi of China but her effort came short by 0.3 points as she finished on 435.5 points and at the same time Wu was on 435.8 points.

Chess News

At the FIDE World Chess Championship 2013, Chennai, India (November 9th to 28th, 2013)

Game Two
GM Viswanathan Anand (IND,2775) ½-½ GM Magnus Carlsen (NOR,2870) (1-1)

This time more moves but quicker draw after 25 moves ... This game played with sharp Caro-Kann Defense ... Anand mentioned that he was surprised by his opponent's opening play ... Game was very sharp but after queens were traded and the position’s tension vanished ... It is clear the players are still cautiously prodding and studying each other ... Still today's game was moral victory for Carlsen ... Next game is after tomorrow's rest day.

Tennis News

At $50K Champaign Challenger, USA

[R1] Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,509) vs Denys Molchanov (UKR,266)
[R1] (ALT) Sanam Singh (IND,368) vs Qualifier

Sanam is having favorable draw and hopefully with Prajnesh he will took advantage of it.

Squash News

At $150K Qatar Classic 2013, Doha

[Q1] Harinderpal Sandhu (IND,84) bt Christopher Gordon (USA,49) 3-2 (11-7, 12-10, 11-13, 4-11, 11-9) (75m)
[Q2] Harinderpal Sandhu (IND,84) l Mohd Nafiizwan Adnan (MAS,34) 2-3 (11-9, 3-11, 8-11, 11-5, 1-11) (61m)

[R1] Saurav Ghosal (IND,17) vs (6) Amr Shabana (EGY,10)

Harinderpal Sandhu played in the qualifying ... In the first round he upset top-50 American in very tight match ... But in the second qualifying round he lost tight match against top-35 Malaysian in another long match.

Saurav is playing in the main-draw but facing tough match against top-10 and former WR #1 Egyptian Shabana.

Chess News

At the FIDE World Chess Championship 2013, Chennai, India (November 9th to 28th, 2013)

Game One
GM Magnus Carlsen (NOR,2870) ½-½ GM Viswanathan Anand (IND,2775) (½-½)

The FIDE World Chess Championship match between current champion Viswanathan Anand and his challenger world #1 Magnus Carlsen is started in the the Hyatt Regency, Chennai, India ... The match is over twelve classic games, with time controls of 120 minutes for the first 40 moves, 60 minutes for the next 20 moves and then 15 minutes for the rest of the game, with an increment of 30 seconds per move starting from move 61.

In the first match Carlsen started with black ... Carlsen tried to surprise Anand with his innovative opening ... He chose an offbeat double fianchetto to face Anand’s Gruenfeld ... But Anand handled this opening confidently and hold his position on the board ... Carlsen offered draw after 16 moves which Anand accepted ... Moral victory for Anand but it is too early to speculate.

Tennis News

At Barclays ATP World Tour Finals, London, England

Doubles Group B
[M5] (7) Leander Paes (IND)/ Radek Stepaneck (CZE) l (4) Marcel Granollers (ESP)/ Marc Lopez (ESP) 64 67(5) 8-10
[M6] (2) Alexander Peya (AUT)/ Bruno Soares (BRA) bt (6) David Marrero (ESP)/ Fernando Verdasco (ESP) 63 75

Qualifying for the semis-final Lee-Radek needed win in two sets and then hoped at least Peya-Soares got stretch to the match tie-break ... But instead Lee-Radek lost their match in the match tie-break ... Lee-Radek won the first set with a single break but they lost the second set in tie-break ... And in the match tie-break Spanish pair proved better than them ... But Soares-Peya won their match in the straight sets and topped the group so removing any permutation and combination ... It also means end of 2013 season for Leander.
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At $50K Knoxville Challenger, USA

[QF] (Q) Sanam Singh (IND,368) l Peter Polansky (CAN,150) 36 36

As per report the first set was close than what scoreline suggested ... Polansky won the first set with a single break ... In the second set Sanam had a break point on Polansky's serve in 4th game but failed to convert ... Polansky broke Sanam in next game to take 3-2 lead and he again broke Sanam in 9th game when Sanam was serving for staying in the match ... So with that excellent run of Sanam ended in the quarter final.
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At €64K Ortisei Challenger, Italy

[SF] (1) Divij Sharan (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) l (4) Christopher Kas (GER)/ Tim Puetz (GER) 67(2) 26

In the first set both pairs traded early breaks then German pair broke Purav in 11th game to lead 6-5 ... But Purav-Divij broke them in 12th game to take the set in tie-break ... In the tie-break with early double mini-break German pair take 6-1 lead and converted their 3rd set point ... In the second set again German pair broke Purav in 4th game to take 3-1 lead and they again broke Purav in 8th game when he was serving for staying in the match for straight sets win.

This was the last tournament of the season for Divij ... In next week he is attending workshop at the ATP university in London with Purav.
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At $10K ITF Women's Tournament, Vinaroz , Spain (clay)

Doubles Final
(2) Sowjanya Bavisetti (IND)/ Ai Wen Zhu (CHN) l (1) Tatiana Bua (ARG)/ Lucia Cervera-Vazquez (ESP) 36 26

And this week also Sowjanya failed to won the doubles title with Ai ... So in the two weeks they finished runner-ups in both tournaments.

Tennis News

At $50K Knoxville Challenger, USA

[R2] (Q) Sanam Singh (IND,368) bt (5) Donald Young (USA,97) 60 63

[QF] (Q) Sanam Singh (IND,368) vs Peter Polansky (CAN,150)

Sanam surprised everyone with his performance against top-100 experienced player American Donald Young ... He bagelled Young in the first set and kept pressure on the second for comfortable win ... Next he is facing Canadian Peter Polansky, who scored upset win over 3rd seed Jack Sock in the first set ... In their last meeting at Canadian futures final Polansky easily defeated Sanam so tough match for Sanam.
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At $10K ITF Women's Tournament, Vinaroz , Spain (clay)

[R2] Sowjanya Bavisetti (IND,786) l Paula Badosa (ESP,678) 16 36

Doubles
[SF] (2) Sowjanya Bavisetti (IND)/ Ai Wen Zhu (CHN) bt Ana Belzunce-Crompin (ESP)/ Olga Parres Azcoitia (ESP) 76(3) 64

[F] (2) Sowjanya Bavisetti (IND)/ Ai Wen Zhu (CHN) vs (1) Tatiana Bua (ARG)/ Lucia Cervera-Vazquez (ESP)

Paula dominated the first set and broke Sowjanya 3 times to won it .. Paula take early break in 3rd game in the second set and she again broke Sowjanya in 9th game for comfortable win.

But in the doubles Sowjanya and her Chinese partner Ai scored tight straight sets win over 3rd seed Spanish pair ... In the final they r facing top-seed Argentine-Spanish pair.

Tennis News

At Barclays ATP World Tour Finals, London, England

Doubles Group B
[M3] (7) Leander Paes (IND)/ Radek Stepaneck (CZE) l (6) David Marrero (ESP)/ Fernando Verdasco (ESP) 46 67(5)
[M4] (2) Alexander Peya (AUT)/ Bruno Soares (BRA) bt (4) Marcel Granollers (ESP)/ Marc Lopez (ESP) 36 64 10-5

Now last match is very important for Lee-Radek for the semi-final qualification ... In their second match they lost against in-form Spanish pair Marrero-Verdasco in straight sets ... After losing the first set Lee-Radek stretched Spanish pair to tie-break but failed to won it.
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At $50K Knoxville Challenger, USA

[R1] Saketh Myneni (IND,289) l (5) Donald Young (USA,97) 46 26
[R1] (Q) Sanam Singh (IND,368) bt Nils Langer (GER,357) 61 64

[R2] (Q) Sanam Singh (IND,368) vs (5) Donald Young (USA,97)

Doubles
[R1] (Q) Saketh Myneni (IND)/ Sanam Singh (IND) l (1) Samuel Groth (AUS)/ John-Patrick Smith (AUS) 36 46

Sanam continues with his excellent form from qualifying and scored impressive win against similar ranked Nils Langer in straight sets ... Sanam dominated the first set and was leading 5-2 but lost his serve at 5-3 but he again broke Langer in 10th game for winning the match ... Next he is facing American Donald Young, who defeated Saketh in straight sets ... This week Saketh failed to overcome top-100 challenge and lost easily against Young.

Saketh lost in the doubles with Sanam against top-seed ... Top-seed Aussie pair proved strong for our pair.
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At €64K Ortisei Challenger, Italy

[QF] (1) Divij Sharan (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) bt Martin Fischer (AUT)/ Peter Gojowczyk (GER) 76(6) 62

In the first set Purav-Divij missed 6 break point chances but they won tight tie-break ... They dominated the second set and won it with double break ... So they r in the semis.
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At $10K ITF Women's Tournament, Vinaroz , Spain (clay)

[QF] (2) Sowjanya Bavisetti (IND)/ Ai Wen Zhu (CHN) bt Carmen Lopez-Rueda (ESP)/ Alice Savoretti (ITA) 2-0 Retd.

[SF] (2) Sowjanya Bavisetti (IND)/ Ai Wen Zhu (CHN) vs Ana Belzunce-Crompin (ESP)/ Olga Parres Azcoitia (ESP)

Easy win as their opponents retired after two games ... In the semis Sowjanya and Zhu r facing 3rd seed Spanish pair.

Tennis News

At Barclays ATP World Tour Finals 2013, London, England

Doubles B
[M2] (7) Leander Paes (IND)/ Radek Stepaneck (CZE) bt (2) Alexander Peya (AUT)/ Bruno Soares (BRA) 63 57 10-8

Lee-Radek scored tight win against 2nd seed Peya-Soares in the match tie-break in 1 hour and 42 minutes match ... In the first set Lee-Radek broke opponent in 6th game to take 4-2 lead and kept that one break advantage for winning the second set ... In the second set both pairs hold their respective service games till 11th game ... In 12th game Lee was leading 40-15 but Peya-Soares won next three points and won the set breaking Lee's serve ... In match tie-break Lee-Radek take 3-0 lead which they increased to 9-5 but after that Peya-Soares tried fightback and saved 3 match points ... Lee converted 4th match point for important win in the group.
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At $50K Knoxville Challenger, USA

[Q3] (1) Sanam Singh (IND,366) bt Fares Ghasya (LIB,2030) 62 61

[R1] (Q) Sanam Singh (IND,368) vs Nils Langer (GER,357)

Doubles
[Q2] (1) Saketh Myneni (IND)/ Sanam Singh (IND) bt (2) Edward Corrie (GBR)/ Daniel Smethurst (GBR) 62 76(1)

[R1] (Q) Saketh Myneni (IND)/ Sanam Singh (IND) vs (1) Samuel Groth (AUS)/ John-Patrick Smith (AUS)

With doubles break Sanam won the first set comfortably against Ghasya ... Same pattern repeated in the second and Sanam won the second set losing only a single game ... In the main-draw he is facing similar ranked German Langer.

Saki-Sanam won their final qualifying in straight sets and in the main-draw theyn r facing top-seed Aussie pair.
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At $10K ITF Women's Tournament, Vinaroz , Spain (clay)

[R1] Sowjanya Bavisetti (IND,786) bt (5) Tatiana Bua (ARG,490) 63 63

[R2] Sowjanya Bavisetti (IND,786) vs Paula Badosa (ESP,678)

Doubles
[R1] (2) Sowjanya Bavisetti (IND)/ Ai Wen Zhu (CHN) bye

[QF] (2) Sowjanya Bavisetti (IND)/ Ai Wen Zhu (CHN) vs Carmen Lopez-Rueda (ESP)/ Alice Savoretti (ITA)

Superb upset win by Sowjanya over top-500 South American opponent on clay ... She comfortably defeated Argentine opponent ... Next she is facing local player.