Squash News

At $5K Men's Northumbria Open 2014, Newcastle, England (Challenger 5)

[F] (3) Mahesh Mangaonkar (IND,74) l (1) Shaun le Roux (RSA,55) 1-3 (7-11, 8-11, 11-7, 3-11) (56m)

Mahesh gave fighting performance against top-55 South African in the final ... He lost closely fought first 2 games before winning the third game ... But he was tired in the fourth game due to his very long semi-final and Shaun take advantage of it ... Still creditable performance by Mahesh against these top-60 players.

Shooting News

At ISSF Rifle/Pistol World Cup 2014, Fort Benning, USA

50m Rifle 3 Positions Men
5. Sanjeev Rajput (IND) 422 pts.

Sanjeev Rajput tied for 7th position with four other shooters and he qualified on 8th place for the final in 50m Rifle 3 Positions for men ... In the final Sanjeev finished 5th position.

Chess News

At Candidates Tournament 2014, Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia (March 13 to March 30, 2014)

Round fourteen – 30.03.2014
GM Levon Aronian (ARM,2830) 0-1 GM Sergey Karjakin (RUS,2766)
GM Viswanathan Anand (IND,2770) ½-½ GM Peter Svidler (RUS,2758)
GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (AZE,2757) ½-½ GM Vladimir Kramnik (RUS,2787)
GM Veselin Topalov (BUL,2785) ½-½ GM Dmitry Andreikin (RUS,2709)

Anand play safe and agree draw after 34 moves against Svidler ... Yesterday only he secured his rematch for World Championship against Carlsen ... In other matches Mamedyarov and Kramnik agreed draw after 30 nmoves ... Topalov and Andreikin played long match which ended in draw after 69 moves ... Aronian's opening backfired and lost against Karjakin after long 94 moves.

Final Standing
1. GM Viswanathan Anand (IND,2770) 8½ pts
2. GM Sergey Karjakin (RUS,2766) 7½
T3. GM Vladimir Kramnik (RUS,2787) 7 pts
T3. GM Dmitry Andreikin (RUS,2709) 7 pts
T3. GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (AZE,2757) 7 pts
T6. GM Levon Aronian (ARM,2830) 6½ pts
T6. GM Peter Svidler (RUS,2758) 6½ pts
8. GM Veselin Topalov (BUL,2785) 6 pts

Squash News

At $5K Men's Northumbria Open 2014, Newcastle, England (Challenger 5)

[R1] (3) Mahesh Mangaonkar (IND,74) bt Adam Auckland (ENG,123) 3-1 (9-11, 11-3, 11-7, 11-3) (51m)
[QF] (3) Mahesh Mangaonkar (IND,74) bt (7) Nathan Lake (ENG,114) 3-0 (11-8, 14-12, 11-6) (48m)
[SF] (3) Mahesh Mangaonkar (IND,74) bt (2) Kristian Frost Olesen (DEN,59) 3-2 (11-13, 8-11, 11-6, 11-3, 11-3) (102m)

[F] (3) Mahesh Mangaonkar (IND,74) vs (1) Shaun le Roux (RSA,55)

Mahesh continues with his good form and he is inn the final of $5K challenger in England ... In the semi-final he defeated top-60 Danish player Kristian Frost Olesen in hard fought 102 minutes match ... In this match Mahesh showed terrific fighting spirit and maturity ... He lost first 2 games but then he dominated next three games for memorable win ... In the final he is facing top-seed South African Shaun le Roux.

Before semi-final Mahesh defeated two British players in well fought matches.

Badminton News

At $120K Malaysian Gold GP 2014, Johor Bahru, Malaysia

[F] (8) Sourabh Varma (IND) l (15) Simon Santoso (INA,56) 21-15 16-21 19-21

Sourabh fails to lift Gold GP title as he lost in the final despite winning the first game ... Sourabh won the first game comfortably but Santoso won the second game without much fuss ... In the final game both players traded leads ... Sourabh was leading 19-18 but after that Santoso won next three points for the title win after 69 minutes.

Tennis News

At Davis Cup 2014 - Asia/Oceania 2nd Round, Busan, Korea

Indian team
Somdev Devvarman, Rohan Bopanna, Saketh Myneni, Sanam Singh
Non-playing captain - Anand Amritraj
Coach - Zeeshan Ali

Reserved player - Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan

Indian announced same team which won against Chinese Taipei in the first round ... But couple of days back Yuki Bhambri announced his unavailability due to injury ... So now team's balance is little off and Indians add Sanam Singh in the team in the place of Yuki ... So tough outing for this young team as we never beat them in away tie.
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At $15K Philippines F1 Futures, Manila

Singles Final
(8) Karunuday SINGH (IND,486) bt (3) Shuichi SEKIGUCHI (JPN,297) 64 57 63

Karunuday wins double crown at Philippines Futures beating another top-300 player, Shuichi Sekiguchi ... This is his 2nd futures title before this he won $10K futures title in 2011 so this is his first $15K futures title.

In the final KU started confidently and won the first set ... In the second set both players matched others game but Shuichi take crucial break for winning it ... KU kept his composure in the final set and won it comfortably for winning the title.

Shooting News

At ISSF Rifle/Pistol World Cup 2014, Fort Benning, USA

10 m Women’s Air Rifle
6. Ayonika Paul (IND) 122.9 pts

Ayonika Paul qualified for the final of 10 m Women’s Air Rifle on 6th position scoring 417.0 pts but in the final she became 3rd shooter, who eliminated ... Still good experience of playing in the final for Ayonika Paul.

Chess News

At Candidates Tournament 2014, Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia (March 13 to March 30, 2014)

Round thirteen – 29.03.2014
GM Dmitry Andreikin (RUS,2709) 1-0 GM Levon Aronian (ARM,2830)
GM Sergey Karjakin (RUS,2766) ½-½ GM Viswanathan Anand (IND,2770)
GM Peter Svidler (RUS,2758) ½-½ GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (AZE,2757)
GM Vladimir Kramnik (RUS,2787) 1-0 GM Veselin Topalov (BUL,2785)

It's official, Anand-Carlsen rematch!

Anand earn right to play World championship with Magnus Carlsen after winning Candidates tournament ... Today he hold Karjakin in semi-Slav after long 91 moves topsy-turvy match ... Aronian take extra risk which backfired on him and he lost against Andreikin after 44 moves ... Kramnik defeated Topalov after 55 moves ... Svidler and Mamedyarov played draw after 42 moves.

So after 13 rounds Anand is leading with 8 points ... Levon Aronian, Vladimir Kramnik, Dmitry Andreikin, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and Sergey Karjakin are tied on 2nd place with 6.5 points.

Shooting News

At ISSF Rifle/Pistol World Cup 2014, Fort Benning, USA

10m Women’s Air Pistol
Gold - Antoaneta Boneva (BUL) 203.6 pts
Silver - Heena Sidhu (IND) 200.8 pts
Bronze - Zorana Arunovic (SRB) 180.9 pts

6. Malaika Goel (IND) 119.4 pts

Pistol shooter Heena Sidhu won a silver medal in the 10 m Women’s Air Pistol event ... Heena was second in the qualification round with a score of 386/400 ... She shot a score of 200.8 in the final to clinch the silver medal but her last two shots weren't the perfect and Bulgarian was too good ... Young Malaika Goel also gave creditable performance as she qualified for the final and finished on 6th position ... Still good positive start for Heena and India in this World cup.

In Men's 10m Air Rifle, London Olympic Bronze medalist Gagan Narang failed to qualify for the final as he finished on 12th position.

Badminton News

At $120K Malaysian Gold GP 2014, Johor Bahru, Malaysia

[R1] (8) Sourabh Varma (IND,43) bt Yan Kit Chan (HKG,67) 21-12 21-17
[R2] (8) Sourabh Varma (IND,43) bt Chetan Anand (IND,84) 21-14 21-17
[R3] (8) Sourabh Varma (IND,43) bt (9) Kazumasa Sakai (JPN,42) 21-15 17-21 21-19
[QF] (8) Sourabh Varma (IND,43) bt (3) Tien Chen Chou (TPE,25) 22-20 18-21 21-15
[SF] (8) Sourabh Varma (IND,43) bt (2) Wei Feng Chong (MAS,14) W/o

[F] (8) Sourabh Varma (IND) vs (15) Simon Santoso (INA,56)

Sourabh Varma is in the final of big Malaysian Grand Prix Gold tournament when his Malaysian opponent 2nd seed Wei Feng Chong gives walkover ... Before this Sourabh defeated 3rd seed Chou in 70 minutes long match ... Guru lost against Chong in the quarter final.

Tennis News

At $5.42M Sony Open Tennis, Miami, USA

[SF] (5) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Cara Black (ZIM) l (WC) Martina Hingis (SUI)/ Sabine Lisicki (GER) 36 46

Sania again fail to overcome challenge of Hingis, this time with Cara... Hingis-Lisicki scored comfortable win in straight sets against Sania and Cara.
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At $10K India F5 Futures , Madurai (clay)

Singles Semi Finals
(1) Enrique LOPEZ-PEREZ (ESP) bt (4) Mathias BOURGUE (FRA) 64 46 62
Lucas RENARD (SWE) bt Vinayak Sharma KAZA (IND) 76(4) 63

Singles Final
(1) Enrique LOPEZ-PEREZ (ESP) bt Lucas RENARD (SWE) 62 60

Doubles Final
(4) Giorgio PORTALURI (ITA)/ Lucas RENARD (SWE) bt (1) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND)/ Ranjeet VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND) 64 62

In end disappointing tournament for Indians as they failed to lift any title here.
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At $15K Philippines F1 Futures, Manila

[QF] (8) Karunuday SINGH (IND,486) bt (2) Ti CHEN (TPE,266) 67(3) 63 76(5)

[SF] (8) Karunuday SINGH (IND,486) bt (WC) Patrick-John TIERRO (PHI,UNR) 62 46 62

[F] (8) Karunuday SINGH (IND,486) vs (3) Shuichi SEKIGUCHI (JPN,297)

Doubles
[R1] Karunuday SINGH (IND)/ Ivo KLEC (SVK) bt Punn BODHIDATTA (THA)/ Chayanon KAEWSUTO (THA) 61 61

[QF] Karunuday SINGH (IND)/ Ivo KLEC (SVK) bt (2) Benjamin MITCHELL (AUS)/ Andrew WHITTINGTON (AUS) 76(1) 26 12-10

[SF] Karunuday SINGH (IND)/ Ivo KLEC (SVK) bt (3) Ti CHEN (TPE)/ Christopher RUNGKAT (INA) 63 76(4)

[F] Karunuday SINGH (IND)/ Ivo KLEC (SVK) bt (1) Ruben GONZALES (PHI)/ Sonchat RATIWATANA (THA) 64 36 10-8

In the quarters KU scored excellent comeback win over 2nd seed Ti Chen in tight match ... In the semis local wild-card Tierro stretched him to three sets ... In the final he is facing another top-300 player, Japanese Shuichi Sekiguchi for the double crown.

In the doubles KU lifts the title win Slovaks Ivo Klec beating top three pairs in their last three matches.

Chess News

At Candidates Tournament 2014, Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia (March 13 to March 30, 2014)

Round twelve – 27.03.2014
GM Viswanathan Anand (IND,2770) ½-½ GM Dmitry Andreikin (RUS,2709)
GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (AZE,2757) ½-½ GM Sergey Karjakin (RUS,2766)
GM Veselin Topalov (BUL,2785) ½-½ GM Peter Svidler (RUS,2758)
GM Levon Aronian (ARM,2830) ½-½ GM Vladimir Kramnik (RUS,2787)

In Caro-Kann opening Anand played attacking game and Anand surprised everyone accepting draw after 41 moves from the winning position ... Mamedyarov tried hard against Karjakin but had lucky escape ... Topalov defeated Svidler after 35 moves ... Aronian hold draw by Kramnik after 31 moves ... So two rounds r remianing and Anand is still leading by 1 point (1,5 points virtually).

Tennis News

At $100K+H Gudalajara Challenger, Mexico (clay)

[R1] (2) Divij Sharan (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) l Gero Erkretschmer (GER)/ Jan-Lennard Struff (GER) 46 63 12-14

I was expected win for Divij-Purav but they lost match despite having match points in the match tie-break.
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At $15K Philippines F1 Futures, Manila

[R2] (8) Karunuday SINGH (IND,486) bt Punn BODHIDATTA (THA,1659) 63 64

[QF] (8) Karunuday SINGH (IND,486) vs (2) Ti CHEN (TPE,266)

Expected win for KU but in the quarters he is facing 2nd seed Ti Chen.
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At $10K India F5 Futures , Madurai (clay)

Singles Quarter Finals
(1) Enrique LOPEZ-PEREZ (ESP) bt (5) Pol TOLEDO BAGUE (ESP) 61 62
(4) Mathias BOURGUE (FRA) bt (7) Ranjeet VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND) 64 63
Vinayak Sharma KAZA (IND) bt Giorgio PORTALURI (ITA) 76(5) 46 64
Lucas RENARD (SWE) bt (2) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND) 62 60

Doubles Semi Finals
(1) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND)/ Ranjeet VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND) bt (3) Arun-Prakash RAJAGOPALAN (IND)/ Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND) 61 75
(4) Giorgio PORTALURI (ITA)/ Lucas RENARD (SWE) bt Sergio MARTOS GORNES (ESP)/ Pol TOLEDO BAGUE (ESP) 36 63 10-6

Shocking loss of Bala in the quarters so only Vinayak is in remaining in the singles.

Squash News

At $50K Men's Canary Wharf Classic 2014, London, England (International 50)

[R1] Saurav Ghosal (IND,18) bt (3) Peter Barker (ENG,9) 3-0 (11-5, 11-3, 11-4) (37m)

Saurav failed to raise his game against Barker ... I was expecting much better performance from him.

Chess News

At Candidates Tournament 2014, Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia (March 13 to March 30, 2014)

Round eleven – 26.03.2014
GM Dmitry Andreikin (RUS,2709) ½-½ GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (AZE,2757)
GM Veselin Topalov (BUL,2785) ½-½ GM Sergey Karjakin (RUS,2766)
GM Peter Svidler (RUS,2758) ½-½ GM Levon Aronian (ARM,2830)
GM Vladimir Kramnik (RUS,2787) ½-½ GM Viswanathan Anand (IND,2770)

Anand comfortably hold Kramnik in the Catalan game after 31 moves ... All other matches also ended in draw.

Tennis News

At $5.42M Sony Open Tennis, Miami, USA

[QF] (5) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Cara Black (ZIM) bt (4) Kveta Peschke (CZE)/ Katarina Srebotnik (SLO) 64 63

[SF] (5) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Cara Black (ZIM) vs (WC) Martina Hingis (SUI)/ Sabine Lisicki (GER)

Sania-Cara scored comfortable win over 4th seed pair ... In the semis they r facing wild-card pair of legendary Martina Hingis and German Sabine Lisicki.
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At $15K Philippines F1 Futures, Manila

[R1] (8) Karunuday SINGH (IND,486) bt Jui-Chen HUNG (TPE,762) 64 62

[R2] (8) Karunuday SINGH (IND,486) vs Punn BODHIDATTA (THA,1659)

KU scored his first win in main-draw of 2014 ... Hopefully he will continue his good run.
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At $10K India F5 Futures , Madurai (clay)

Singles Second Round
(1) Enrique LOPEZ-PEREZ (ESP) bt Vignesh PERANAMALLUR (IND) 75 62
(5) Pol TOLEDO BAGUE (ESP) bt N. Vijay Sundar PRASHANTH (IND) 64 60
(4) Mathias BOURGUE (FRA) bt Akash WAGH (IND) 61 75
(7) Ranjeet VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND) bt (Q) Niki KALIYANDA POONACHA (IND) 63 60
Vinayak Sharma KAZA (IND) bt Sergey SHIPILOV (UZB) 62 62
Giorgio PORTALURI (ITA) bt (Q) Ronit Singh BISHT (IND) 60 2-0 retd.
Lucas RENARD (SWE) bt Jannis LINIGER (SUI) bt 62 64
(2) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND) bt (Q) Chandril SOOD (IND) 63 62

Doubles Quarter Finals
(1) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND)/ Ranjeet VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND) bt Jatin DAHIYA (IND)/ Arpit SHARMA (IND) 60 60 (3) Arun-Prakash RAJAGOPALAN (IND)/ Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND) bt Vinayak Sharma KAZA (IND)/ Vignesh PERANAMALLUR (IND) 76(3) 67(8) 10-6 (4) Giorgio PORTALURI (ITA)/ Lucas RENARD (SWE) bt Elwin ANTONY (IND)/ Sasi Kumar MUKUND (IND) 75 46 10-5 Sergio MARTOS GORNES (ESP)/ Pol TOLEDO BAGUE (ESP) bt Vivek SHOKEEN (IND)/ Aaditya TEWARI (IND) 62 64

Expected wins by Indians.

Chess News

At Candidates Tournament 2014, Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia (March 13 to March 30, 2014)

Round ten – 25.03.2014
GM Sergey Karjakin (RUS,2766) ½-½ GM Dmitry Andreikin (RUS,2709)
GM Vladimir Kramnik (RUS,2787) 0-1 GM Peter Svidler (RUS,2758)
GM Levon Aronian (ARM,2830) ½-½ GM Veselin Topalov (BUL,2785)
GM Viswanathan Anand (IND,2770) ½-½ GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (AZE,2757)

Anand again repeated Najdorf but his match against Mamedyarov ended in a draw after 30 moves ... Only upset of the day was from Svidler, who surprised Kramnik with Dutch defense and defeated him after 39 moves ... Anand's virtual 1.5 points lead is intact and only four rounds are remaining.

Tennis News

At $5.42M Sony Open Tennis, Miami, USA

[R2] (5) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Cara Black (ZIM) bt Oksana Kalashnikova (GEO)/ Alisa Kleybanova (RUS) w/o

[QF] (5) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Cara Black (ZIM) vs (4) Kveta Peschke (CZE)/ Katarina Srebotnik (SLO)

Lucky break for Sania-Cara in the second round so now they will face 4th seed Peschke-Srebotnik lot fresher.
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At $100K+H Gudalajara Challenger, Mexico (clay)

[R1] (2) Divij Sharan (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) vs Gero Erkretschmer (GER)/ Jan-Lennard Struff (GER)

Hopefully this week they perform as per their seeding in this big challenger.
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At $15K Philippines F1 Futures, Manila

[R1] (8) Karunuday SINGH (IND,486) vs Jui-Chen HUNG (TPE,762)

KU is still searching for first main-draw win of 2014.
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At $10K India F5 Futures , Madurai (clay)

Singles First Round
(1) Enrique LOPEZ-PEREZ (ESP) bt (Q) Aaditya TEWARI (IND) 63 63
Vignesh PERANAMALLUR (IND) bt Sagar AHUJA (IND) 62 62
N. Vijay Sundar PRASHANTH (IND) bt Sergio MARTOS GORNES (ESP) 63 62
(5) Pol TOLEDO BAGUE (ESP) bt (WC) Elwin ANTONY (IND) 61 61
(4) Mathias BOURGUE (FRA) bt Kunal ANAND (IND) 61 62
Akash WAGH (IND) bt (WC) Ronak MANUJA (IND) 36 61 64
(Q) Niki KALIYANDA POONACHA (IND) bt (Q) Suraj R PRABODH (IND) 67(4) 64 62
(7) Ranjeet VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND) bt (Q) Vijay KANNAN (IND) 62 64
Vinayak Sharma KAZA (IND) bt (6) Andre GASPAR MURTA (POR) 63 63
Sergey SHIPILOV (UZB) bt Jatin DAHIYA (IND) 62 36 63
(Q) Ronit Singh BISHT (IND) bt (Q) Rahul Robinson MANOAH (IND) 61 61
Giorgio PORTALURI (ITA) bt (3) Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND) 06 63 5-0 retd.
Lucas RENARD (SWE) bt (8) Sarvar IKRAMOV (UZB) 46 61 60
Jannis LINIGER (SUI) bt (Q) Anvit BENDRE (IND) 62 61
(Q) Chandril SOOD (IND) bt (WC) Shahbaaz KHAN (IND) 61 63
(2) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND) bt (WC)Sasi Kumar MUKUND (IND) 75 62

Doubles First Round
(1) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND)/ Ranjeet VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND) bt Sagar AHUJA (IND)/ Chandril SOOD (IND) 63 46 10-6
Jatin DAHIYA (IND)/ Arpit SHARMA (IND) bt Saurabh PATIL (IND)/ Neishit VAKIL (IND) 62 63
(3) Arun-Prakash RAJAGOPALAN (IND)/ Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND) bt Jannis LINIGER (SUI)/ N. Vijay Sundar PRASHANTH (IND) 36 64 10-8
Vinayak Sharma KAZA (IND)/ Vignesh PERANAMALLUR (IND) bt Sarvar IKRAMOV (UZB)/ Sergey SHIPILOV (UZB) 62 63
Elwin ANTONY (IND)/ Sasi Kumar MUKUND (IND) bt Anvit BENDRE (IND)/ Ronak MANUJA (IND) 46 61 10-5
(4) Giorgio PORTALURI (ITA)/ Lucas RENARD (SWE) bt Kunal ANAND (IND)/ Ronit Singh BISHT (IND) 64 62
Vivek SHOKEEN (IND)/ Aaditya TEWARI (IND) bt Rahul Robinson MANOAH (IND)/ Raswant RAVI (IND) 60 64
Sergio MARTOS GORNES (ESP)/ Pol TOLEDO BAGUE (ESP) bt (2) Romano FRANTZEN (NED) / Enrique LOPEZ-PEREZ (ESP) 36 61 13-11

Other than RamK's loss expected results for Indians ... Kaza scored upset win over 6th seed Gaspar Murta.

Chess News

At Candidates Tournament 2014, Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia (March 13 to March 30, 2014)

Round nine – 23.03.2014
GM Sergey Karjakin (RUS,2766) 1-0 GM Vladimir Kramnik (RUS,2787)
GM Dmitry Andreikin (RUS,2709) ½-½ GM Peter Svidler (RUS,2758)
GM Viswanathan Anand (IND,2770) 1-0 GM Veselin Topalov (BUL,2785)
GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (AZE,2757) 1-0 GM Levon Aronian (ARM,2830)

This can be decisive lead for Anand in Khanty-Mansiysk ... After ninth round Anand holds an effective 1.5 point lead over others as Aronian's tie-break is poor against Anand, who is one point behind ... So chances of rematch of world championship is on the card ... Anand is on 6 points, Aronian is on 5 points and then three players, Vladimir Kramnik, Sergey Karjakin and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov r on 4.5 points.

Anand played unusual version of the h3 Najdorf and kept little advantage from the start ... Topalov made mistakes in middle game and Anand take advantage of it after winning this match after 57 moves ... Karjakin surprised everyone when he opted for a sideline against Kramnik ... Kramnik made mistake early but still managed to stretch Karjakin till 64 moves ... Aronian opted for Nimzo-Indian defense against Mamedyarov but after that in crazy game Aronian lost after 43 moves.

Tennis News

At $4.7M Sony Open Tennis, Miami, USA

[R2] (6) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (PAK) l Juan Sebastian Cabal (COL)/ Robert Farah (COL) 26 46

Colombian pair proved too strong for Rohan-Aisam, who lost in straight sets.

Tennis News

At $4.7M Sony Open Tennis, Miami, USA

[R1] Kevin Anderson (RSA)/ Mahesh Bhupathi (IND) l (2) Alexander Peya (AUT)/ Bruno Soares (BRA) 46 64 6-10

Creditable fighting performance by non-regular pair of Mahesh and Kevin against 2nd seed Peya-Soares.

Chess News

At Candidates Tournament 2014, Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia (March 13 to March 30, 2014)

Round eight – 22.03.2014
GM Vladimir Kramnik (RUS,2787) ½-½ GM Dmitry Andreikin (RUS,2709)
GM Peter Svidler (RUS,2758) 0-1 GM Sergey Karjakin (RUS,2766)
GM Veselin Topalov (BUL,2785) ½-½ GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (AZE,2757)
GM Levon Aronian (ARM,2830) ½-½ GM Viswanathan Anand (IND,2770)

Anand and Aronian decided to play safe and they agreed quick draw after 19 moves ... In this round only Karjakin scored win with black pieces after long 82 moves against Svidler.

Tennis News

At $4.7M Sony Open Tennis, Miami, USA

[R1] (6) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (PAK) bt (PR) Simone Bolelli (ITA)/ Fabio Fognini (ITA) 63 62
[R1] (4) Leander Paes (IND)/ Radek Stepanek (CZE) l Eric Butorac (USA)/ Raven Klaasen (RSA) 36 67(7)

[R2] (6) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (PAK) vs Juan Sebastian Cabal (COL)/ Robert Farah (COL)

Rohan-Aisam started with comfortable win and next they r facing Colombian pair ... Other hand Lee-Radek lost against Butorac-Klaasen in straight sets.
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At $5.42M Sony Open Tennis, Miami, USA

[R1] (5) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Cara Black (ZIM) bt Hao-Ching Chan (TPE)/ Yung-Jan Chan (TPE) 63 67(6) 10-8

[R2] (5) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Cara Black (ZIM) vs Oksana Kalashnikova (GEO)/ Alisa Kleybanova (RUS)

Surprisingly tougher match for Sania-Cara against Taipei pair ... After winning the first set Sania-Cara failed to keep momentum and lost the second set in long tie-break ... But they recovered enough for winning the match tie-break ... Next they r facing Georgian-Russian pair.

Chess News

At Candidates Tournament 2014, Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia (March 13 to March 30, 2014)

Round seven – 21.03.2014
GM Sergey Karjakin (RUS,2766) 0-1 GM Levon Aronian (ARM,2830)
GM Peter Svidler (RUS,2758) ½-½ GM Viswanathan Anand (IND,2770)
GM Vladimir Kramnik (RUS,2787) 1-0 GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (AZE,2757)
GM Dmitry Andreikin (RUS,2709) 1-0 GM Veselin Topalov (BUL,2785)

Aronian ties with Anand on the leader-board, 4 points, as he scored another victory with black pieces against Karjakin after 53 moves ... Anand failed to overcome an anti-Berlin employed by Svidler in yet another Spanish and they agreed draw after 38 moves ... Kramnik take advantage of mistakes from Mamedyarov in middle game for winning it after 53 moves and he his half points behind leaders ... In shocking result Topalov lost against Andreikin after 27 moves.

Tennis News

At $10K India F4 Futures , Trichy (clay)

Singles Semi Finals
(1) Enrique LOPEZ-PEREZ (ESP) bt (4) Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND) 75 57 64
(3) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND) bt (2) Jeevan NEDUNCHEZHIYAN (IND) 64 36 63

Singles Final
(1) Enrique LOPEZ-PEREZ (ESP) bt (3) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND) 64 64

Doubles Final
(3) Arun-Prakash RAJAGOPALAN (IND)/ Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND) bt (4) Giorgio PORTALURI (ITA)/ Lucas RENARD (SWE) 63 46 10-6

In the semis RamK stretched eventual winner and top-seed Spanish Lopez-Perez to fullest before losing it ... Bala scored upset win (ranking wise) over Jeevan but fails to produce similar performance in the final.
Arun-Prakash lift another futures doubles title, this time with RamK ... In the final they needed match tie-break for beating 4th seed European pair.

Squash News

At $120K Women's Penang CIMB World Championship 2014, Malaysia (World Series Platinum)

[R2] (10) Dipika Pallikal (IND,11) l (3) Raneem El Welily (EGY,3) 0-3 (7-11, 7-11, 1-11) (26m)

Dipika failed to raise her game against Welily and lost tamely inside half hour.

Tennis News

At $5.42M Sony Open Tennis, Miami, USA

[R1] (5) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Cara Black (ZIM) vs Hao-Ching Chan (TPE)/ Yung-Jan Chan (TPE)

Easy winnable match for Sania-Cara.
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At $10K India F4 Futures , Trichy (clay)

Singles Quarter Finals
(1) Enrique LOPEZ-PEREZ (ESP) bt (5) Mathias BOURGUE (FRA) 62 67(2) 60
(4) Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND) bt Giorgio PORTALURI (ITA) 63 36 4-2 retd.
(3) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND) bt Lucas RENARD (SWE) 67(5) 76(3) 61
(2) Jeevan NEDUNCHEZHIYAN (IND) bt (6) Vijayant MALIK (IND) 61 76(5)

Doubles Semi Finals
(3) Arun-Prakash RAJAGOPALAN (IND)/ Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND) bt Vinayak Sharma KAZA (IND)/ Vignesh PERANAMALLUR (IND) 64 62
(4) Giorgio PORTALURI (ITA)/ Lucas RENARD (SWE) bt Nitten KIRRTANE (IND)/ Sasi Kumar MUKUND (IND) 36 76(5) 10-5

Bala had tough match but after losing first set in tie-break he fought back ... RamK also stretched to three sets ... Jeevan had easy outing than other players.

Squash News

At $120K Women's Penang CIMB World Championship 2014, Malaysia (World Series Platinum)

[R1] (10) Dipika Pallikal (IND,11) bt (Q) Lisa Aitken (ENG,42) 3-0 (11-2, 11-6, 11-5) (32m)

[R2] (10) Dipika Pallikal (IND,11) bt (3) Raneem El Welily (EGY,3)

As expected easy winning start for Dipika but in next round she is facing WR #3 Egyptian girl Raneem El Welily.

Chess News

At Candidates Tournament 2014, Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia (March 13 to March 30, 2014)

Round six – 19.03.2014
GM Levon Aronian (ARM,2830) ½-½ GM Dmitry Andreikin (RUS,2709)
GM Viswanathan Anand (IND,2770) ½-½ GM Sergey Karjakin (RUS,2766)
GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (AZE,2757) 1-0 GM Peter Svidler (RUS,2758)
GM Veselin Topalov (BUL,2785) 1-0 GM Vladimir Kramnik (RUS,2787)

Aronian missed a decisive advantage against Andreikin to caught Anand and managed only draw after 48 moves ... Svidler had a chance against Mamedyarov using the Dutch opening but he blundered and lost the game after 31 moves ... Topalov used a dubious variation against Kramnik and won after 41 moves ... Other hand Anand smiles, he retains his half point lead with draw after 33 moves.

Tennis News

At $4.7M Sony Open Tennis, Miami, USA

[R1] (6) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (PAK) vs Jamie Murray (ENG)/ John Peers (AUS)
[R1] (4) Leander Paes (IND)/ Radek Stepanek (CZE) vs Eric Butorac (USA)/ Raven Klaasen (RSA)
[R1] Kevin Anderson (RSA)/ Mahesh Bhupathi (IND) vs (2) Alexander Peya (AUT)/ Bruno Soares (BRA)

Our all pairs r in bottom draw.
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At $40K+H Panama Challenger, (clay)

[R1] (2) Divij Sharan (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) l Andreas Haider-Maurer (AUT)/ Gerald Melzer (AUT) 63 67(4) 8-10

As expected turned very tough match for Divij-Purav against Austrian pair ... They started well after winning the first set but after that Austrian pair raised tempo and won next set in tie-break ... Austrian pair kept momentum and won match tie-break also.
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At $10K India F4 Futures , Trichy (clay)

Singles Second Round
(1) Enrique LOPEZ-PEREZ (ESP) bt N. Vijay Sundar PRASHANTH (IND) 60 63
(5) Mathias BOURGUE (FRA) bt (WC) Suraj R PRABODH (IND) 61 61
(4) Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND) bt Sergio MARTOS GORNES (ESP) 76(6) 75
Giorgio PORTALURI (ITA) bt Akash WAGH (IND) 62 61
Lucas RENARD (SWE) bt (WC) Ronit Singh BISHT (IND) 61 62
(3) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND) bt Vinayak Sharma KAZA (IND) 62 63
(6) Vijayant MALIK (IND) bt (Q) Kunal ANAND (IND) 64 62
(2) Jeevan NEDUNCHEZHIYAN (IND) bt Vignesh PERANAMALLUR (IND) 61 61

Doubles Quarter Finals
Vinayak Sharma KAZA (IND)/ Vignesh PERANAMALLUR (IND) bt Jannis LINIGER (SUI)/ N. Vijay Sundar PRASHANTH (IND) 57 76(8) 10-8
(3) Arun-Prakash RAJAGOPALAN (IND)/ Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND) bt Mohit Mayur JAYAPRAKASH (IND)/ Akash WAGH (IND) 62 62
(4) Giorgio PORTALURI (ITA)/ Lucas RENARD (SWE) bt Sergio MARTOS GORNES (ESP)/ Pol TOLEDO BAGUE (ESP) 63 64
Nitten KIRRTANE (IND)/ Sasi Kumar MUKUND (IND) bt Sagar AHUJA (IND)/ Chandril SOOD (IND) 75 36 10-6

Our only four seeded players in quarter-finals ... In the doubles our three pairs in the semi finals.

Chess News

At Candidates Tournament 2014, Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia (March 13 to March 30, 2014)

Round five – 18.03.2014
GM Dmitry Andreikin (RUS,2709) ½-½ GM Viswanathan Anand (IND,2770)
GM Sergey Karjakin (RUS,2766) ½-½ GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (AZE,2757)
GM Peter Svidler (RUS,2758) 1-0 GM Veselin Topalov (BUL,2785)
GM Vladimir Kramnik (RUS,2787) ½-½ GM Levon Aronian (ARM,2830)

Against Andreikin despite playing with black pieces Anand dominated Berlin opening ... But Andreikin defended well in end game to forced draw after 42 moves ... Aronian also hold Kramnik after 60 moves but Svidler scored upset win over Topalov due to his mistakes after 50 moves ... So with this win Svidler joins Kramnik and Aronian on 2nd place with 3 points ... Anand is still leading by half point.

Squash News

At $120K Women's Penang CIMB World Championship 2014, Malaysia (World Series Platinum)

[R1] Joshana Chinappa (IND,19) l (4) Alison Waters (ENG,4) 1-3 (7-11, 7-11, 11-9, 2-11) (32m)
[R1] (10) Dipika Pallikal (IND,11) vs (Q) Lisa Aitken (ENG,42)

Joshana gave fighting performance in first 3 games against WR #4 British girl Waters ... After losing first 2 games Joshana won the third game but after that Waters dominated 4th game for a win.

Dipika is facing British qualifier in the first round.

Tennis News

At $5.65M Sony Open Tennis, Miami, USA

[Q1] (2) Somdev Devvarman (IND,76) l Thiemo De Bakker (NED,162) 67(1) 16

Another poor loss of Buji against lower ranked Dutch player ... He was defending 45 ranking points but really bad preparation for Davis cup tie against Korea.
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At $40K+H Panama Challenger, (clay)

[R1] (2) Divij Sharan (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) vs Andreas Haider-Maurer (AUT)/ Gerald Melzer (AUT)

Tough first round against Austrian pair on the clay for Divij-Purav.
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At $10K India F4 Futures , Trichy (clay)

Singles First Round
(1) Enrique LOPEZ-PEREZ (ESP) bt (Q) Ashwin VIJAYRAGAVAN (IND) 60 1-0 retd.
N. Vijay Sundar PRASHANTH (IND) bt (Q) Vigneshwaran RAMESH (IND) 61 75
(WC) Suraj R PRABODH (IND) bt (WC) Mohit Mayur JAYAPRAKASH (IND) 06 61 63
(5) Mathias BOURGUE (FRA) bt Sarvar IKRAMOV (UZB) 62 61
(4) Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND) bt (WC) Sasi Kumar MUKUND (IND) 63 75
Sergio MARTOS GORNES (ESP) bt Sagar AHUJA (IND) 62 63
Akash WAGH (IND) bt Sergey SHIPILOV (UZB) 63 60
Giorgio PORTALURI (ITA) bt (8) Andre GASPAR MURTA (POR) 64 62
Lucas RENARD (SWE) bt (7) Pol TOLEDO BAGUE (ESP) 26 64 63
(WC) Ronit Singh BISHT (IND) bt (Q) Ajai SELVARAJ (IND) 75 60
Vinayak Sharma KAZA (IND) bt (Q) Nitten KIRRTANE (IND) 62 75
(3) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND) bt Ranjeet VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND) 63 46 64
(6) Vijayant MALIK (IND) bt (Q) Vijay KANNAN (IND) 63 64
(Q) Kunal ANAND (IND) bt (Q) Chandril SOOD (IND) 63 64
Vignesh PERANAMALLUR (IND) bt (Q) Jannis LINIGER (SUI) 46 62 76(1)
(2) Jeevan NEDUNCHEZHIYAN (IND) bt Jatin DAHIYA (IND) 62 61

Doubles First Round
Jannis LINIGER (SUI)/ N. Vijay Sundar PRASHANTH (IND) bt (1) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND)/ Ranjeet VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND) 76(3) 62
Vinayak Sharma KAZA (IND)/ Vignesh PERANAMALLUR (IND) bt Jatin DAHIYA (IND)/ Vijayant MALIK (IND) 75 62
(3) Arun-Prakash RAJAGOPALAN (IND)/ Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND) bt Ronak MANUJA (IND)/ Ashwin VIJAYRAGAVAN (IND) 64 76(4)
Mohit Mayur JAYAPRAKASH (IND)/ Akash WAGH (IND) bt Sarvar IKRAMOV (UZB)/ Sergey SHIPILOV (UZB) 60 61
Sergio MARTOS GORNES (ESP)/ Pol TOLEDO BAGUE (ESP) bt Anvit BENDRE (IND)/ Ronit Singh BISHT (IND) 46 64 11-9
(4) Giorgio PORTALURI (ITA)/ Lucas RENARD (SWE) bt Elwin ANTONY (IND)/ Ajai SELVARAJ (IND) 76(5) 26 10-6
Sagar AHUJA (IND)/ Chandril SOOD (IND) bt Mathias BOURGUE (FRA)/ Andre GASPAR MURTA (POR) 63 36 10-4
Nitten KIRRTANE (IND)/ Sasi Kumar MUKUND (IND) bt (2) Romano FRANTZEN (NED)/ Enrique LOPEZ-PEREZ (ESP) 63 64

Good win by Ronit and also surprised by win from Akash.

Chess News

At Candidates Tournament 2014, Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia (March 13 to March 30, 2014)

Round four – 17.03.2014
GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (AZE,2757) 1-0 GM Dmitry Andreikin (RUS,2709)
GM Sergey Karjakin (RUS,2766) ½-½ GM Veselin Topalov (BUL,2785)
GM Levon Aronian (ARM,2830) 1-0 GM Peter Svidler (RUS,2758)
GM Viswanathan Anand (IND,2770) ½-½ GM Vladimir Kramnik (RUS,2787)

Anand and Kramnik played safe draw after 30 moves ... Aronian defeated Svidler after 57 moves and joins Kramnik on 2nd place with 2½ points ... But Anand keep his ½ point lead after four rounds, 3 points.

Tennis News

At $5.95M BNP Paribas Open, Indian Wells, USA

Doubles Final
(5) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Cara Black (ZIM) l (1) Su-Wei Hsieh (TPE)/ Shuai Peng (CHN) 67(5) 26

Hsieh and Peng beat Cara and Sania in the BNP Paribas Open doubles final and with that they also improving to 11-0 together in WTA doubles finals ... In the first set Sania-Cara was leading 4-2 with the break but Hsieh-Peng broke back to made 4-all ... Sania-Cara again take break in 11th game to lead 6-5 and had a set point on their own serve but they failed to convert it ... Hsieh-Peng broke them and take early lead in tie-break ... After winning the tie-break Hsieh-Peng gave dominating performance and won the second set comfortably ... Still creditable performance for Sania and Cara as this was their first final of 2014.

Chess News

At Candidates Tournament 2014, Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia (March 13 to March 30, 2014)

Round three – 15.03.2014
GM Dmitry Andreikin (RUS,2709) ½-½ GM Sergey Karjakin (RUS,2766)
GM Peter Svidler (RUS,2758) ½-½ GM Vladimir Kramnik (RUS,2787)
GM Veselin Topalov (BUL,2785) ½-½ GM Levon Aronian (ARM,2830)
GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (AZE,2757) 0-1 GM Viswanathan Anand (IND,2770)

Anad regained lead, 2½ points, in third game as he defeated Mamedyarov with black piece in Slav Defense after 31 moves ... All other matches ended in draw and in that Kramnik's produced incredible defense against Svidler as he produced a masterpiece.

Badminton News

At $125K Swiss Open 2014, Basel

[SF] (7) P.V. Sindhu (IND,9) l Sun Yu (CHN,27) 21-18 12-21 19-21
[SF] (3) Parupalli Kashyap (IND,25) l Houwei Tian (CHN,27) 17-21 11-21

Kashyap failed to create challenge against Tian and lost in straight games in 42 minutes.

Sindhu also failed to overcome Chinese challenge in the semis in long 80 minutes match ... Sindhu started confidently after winning the first game but from the second game Yu changed the tactics ... Yu dominated the second game and take early 4-1 lead in the third ... Yu kept that advantage through out the game though Sindhu tried spirited fightback after winning 4 points in a row from 14-19 ... But Yu managed to keep her focus and converted 2nd match point for really good win.

Chess News

At Candidates Tournament 2014, Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia (March 13 to March 30, 2014)

Round two – 14.03.2014
GM Vladimir Kramnik (RUS,2787) 1-0 GM Sergey Karjakin (RUS,2766)
GM Peter Svidler (RUS,2758) 1-0 GM Dmitry Andreikin (RUS,2709)
GM Veselin Topalov (BUL,2785) ½-½ GM Viswanathan Anand (IND,2770)
GM Levon Aronian (ARM,2830) 1-0 GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (AZE,2757)

Anand-Topalov played exciting draw after 54 moves when with their bare kings on the board ... Topalov played a flexible Reti but Anand responded well ... All other three matches won by Kramnik, Svidler and Aronian, who played with white pieces ... After two rounds Anand, Kramnik and Svidler r leading with 1½ points.

Badminton News

At $125K Swiss Open 2014, Basel

[QF] (6) Saina Nehwal (IND,8) l (1) Yihan Wang (CHN,3) 17-21 12-21
[QF] (7) P.V. Sindhu (IND,9) bt (3) Shixian Wang (CHN,2) 21-17 21-15

[QF] (3) Parupalli Kashyap (IND,25) bt (6) Tien Chen Chou (TPE,22) 21-15 21-23 21-18

[SF] (7) P.V. Sindhu (IND,9) vs Sun Yu (CHN,27)
[SF] (3) Parupalli Kashyap (IND,25) vs Houwei Tian (CHN,27)

Sindhu kept her upper-hand over Shixian Wang with dominating win ... Sindhu kept Shixian under control from the start for this win ... In the semis she is facing another Chinese challenge, this time Sun Yu ... Sindhi and Sun Yu r tied 2-2 in their win-loss record and in their last match Sun Yu scored win over Sindhu.

Yihan kept her dominance over Saina and scored straight games victory over her.

Kashyap scored win in three games ... After winning the first game Kashyap saved three game points from 17-20 in the second ... Then he had match point at 21-20 but failed to convert and then Chou converted 4th game point ... In the third game from 3-5 Kashyap take 8-5 lead ... After that he comfortably maintained that lead and converted 4th match point ... In the semis-final he is facing ano

Tennis News

At $5.95M BNP Paribas Open, Indian Wells, USA

[SF] (5) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Cara Black (ZIM) bt (8) Lucie Hradecka (CZE)/ Jie Zheng (CHN) 64 36 10-7

[F] (5) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Cara Black (ZIM) vs (1) Su-Wei Hsieh (TPE)/ Shuai Peng (CHN)

Sania-Cara r in the final ... They scored match tie-break win over tricky pair of Hradecka-Jie Zheng ... After winning the first set Sania-Cara lost the second set but they recovered to win the match tie-break ... In the final they r facing top-seed Taiwani-Chinese pair of Su-Wei Hsieh and Shuai Peng.
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At $10K India F3 Futures , Chennai (clay)

Singles Final
(1) Enrique LOPEZ-PEREZ (ESP) bt (3) (WC) Sanam SINGH (IND) 61 46 62

Singles Semi Finals
(1) Enrique LOPEZ-PEREZ (ESP) bt (4) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND) 76(6) 16 62
(3) (WC) Sanam SINGH (IND) bt (2) Jeevan NEDUNCHEZHIYAN (IND) 60 62

Doubles Final
(2) Jeevan NEDUNCHEZHIYAN (IND)/ Vishnu VARDHAN (IND) bt (1) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND)/ Ranjeet VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND) 76(1) 63

I was hoping title for Sanam after his excellent performance against Jeevan but top-seed Enrique proved better player ... Enrique won the first set comfortably but Sanam recovered and won the second set ... Sanam failed to keep momentum in the third and lost it easily.

Vishnu continued with his terrific doubles form and lifted another futures title with Jeevan beating top-seed Bala-Ranjeet in straight sets.

Chess News

At Candidates Tournament 2014, Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia (March 13 to March 30, 2014)

Round one – 13.03.2014
GM Dmitry Andreikin (RUS,2709) ½-½ GM Vladimir Kramnik (RUS,2787)
GM Sergey Karjakin (RUS,2766) ½-½ GM Peter Svidler (RUS,2758)
GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (AZE,2757) ½-½ GM Veselin Topalov (BUL,2785)
GM Viswanathan Anand (IND,2770) 1-0 GM Levon Aronian (ARM,2830)

This year's Candidates tournament is started at Khanty-Mansiysk to decide World champion Magnus Carlsen's first opponent with whom he defends his title ... As we know Anand is slow starter in big tournament but here he surprises everyone in the first round ... He was having tough opponent WR #2 Levon Aronian in the first round ... Anand started with white pieces and firstly he neutralized Aronian's Marshall with ease ... After that he outplayed Aronian for a fantastic win after 47 moves ... Good start for Anand but this is very long tournament so here I m keeping my excitement under control ... ;-)

Badminton News

At $125K Swiss Open 2014, Basel

[R2] (6) Saina Nehwal (IND,8) bt Sashina Vignes Waran (FRA,42) 21-7 21-13
[R2] (7) P.V. Sindhu (IND,9) bt Li Michelle (CAN,23) 19-21 21-16 21-11

[R3] Anand Pawar (IND,36) l (6) Tien Chen Chou (TPE,22) 21-14 12-21 12-21
[R3] (3) Parupalli Kashyap (IND,25) bt Beryno Jiann Tze Wong (MAS,109) 21-23 21-9 21-14

[QF] (6) Saina Nehwal (IND,8) vs (1) Yihan Wang (CHN,3)
[QF] (7) P.V. Sindhu (IND,9) vs (3) Shixian Wang (CHN,2)
[QF] (3) Parupalli Kashyap (IND,25) vs (6) Tien Chen Chou (TPE,22)

Anand started confidently winning the first game but after that he failed to keep pressure and lost next two games comfortably.

Earlier Sindhu struggled to keep her shots under control and Li take advantage of it winning the first game ... After that Sindhu raised her game in next two games and in end won the final game comfortably to book place in the quarters ... Sindhu is facing WR #2 Shixian Wang, Sindhu is enjoying perfect 2-0 win-loss record against her ... Hopefully she will continue to keep this advantage in this match also.

Saina scored comfortable win against her French opponent Sashina losing total 20 points only ... Next she is facing real tough challenge of former WR #1 Yihan Wang ... Saina having 1-6 win-loss against Yihan, in their last meeting Yihan retired in the match after losing first game.

Kashyap started slowly against below 100 ranked Malaysian Wong but after losing first game Kashyap woke up ... He won last two games convincingly and enter into the quarters ... He is facing similar ranked Tapei player Chou, who defeated Anand in previous round.

Tennis News

At $5.24M BNP Paribas Open, Indian Wells, USA

[QF] (4) Leander Paes (IND)/ Radek Stepanek (CZE) l Roger Federer (SUI)/ Stanislas Wawrinka (SUI) 36 76(6) 4-10

Lee-Radek failed to solve Swiss puzzle and lost in match tie-break ... Federer-Wawrinka won the first set but after that Lee-Radek fought back and won this set in extra points of tie-break ... In match tie-break Swiss pair used their services effectively and won it comfortably.
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At $5.95M BNP Paribas Open, Indian Wells, USA

[QF] (5) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Cara Black (ZIM) bt (2) Ekaterina Makarova (RUS)/ Elena Vesnina (RUS) 64 61

[SF] (5) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Cara Black (ZIM) vs (8) Lucie Hradecka (CZE)/ Jie Zheng (CHN)

Sania-Cara scored comfortable win against #2 Russian pair for entering in to the semis ... After winning the first set with single break advantage they dominated the second set and won it losing a single game ... In the semis Cara-Sania r facing 8th seed Czech-Chinese pair of Lucie Hradecka and Jie Zheng.
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At $10K India F3 Futures , Chennai (clay)

Singles Quarter Finals
(1) Enrique LOPEZ-PEREZ (ESP) bt (8) Ranjeet VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND) 62 67(6) 64
(4) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND) bt (5) Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND) 64 36 63
(3) (WC) Sanam SINGH (IND) bt (6) Vijayant MALIK (IND) 64 64
(2) Jeevan NEDUNCHEZHIYAN (IND) bt (7) Andre GASPAR MURTA (POR) 62 63

Doubles Semi Finals
(1) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND)/ Ranjeet VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND) bt Jannis LINIGER (SUI)/ N. Vijay Sundar PRASHANTH (IND) 64 75
(2) Jeevan NEDUNCHEZHIYAN (IND)/ Vishnu VARDHAN (IND) bt (3) Arun-Prakash RAJAGOPALAN (IND)/ Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND) 64 36 10-6

In this futures last two rounds r ended as per seedings ... All top four seeds in the semis though Ranjeet stretched his top-seed Spanish opponent Lopez-Perez to three sets ... RamK also tried hard but Bala won this match in three sets ... Other hand Sanam and Jeevan scored straight sets win ... In the doubles top two Indian pairs in the final with contrasting wins.

Snooker News

At £478K Haikou World Open 2014, China

[R1] Pankaj Advani (IND,66) bt Xiao Guodong (CHN,25) 5-4 (7-78, 72(55)-44, 61-24, 43-66(62), 0-76(70), 67(56)-51, 19-83(61), 85(63)-15, 119(80)-0)
[R1] Aditya Mehta (IND,61) l Michael White (WAL,33) 3-5 (77(61)-9, 7-78(53), 70(52)-23, 49-74, 8-65, 67(50)-69, 91(80)-0, 29-60)

[R2] Pankaj Advani (IND,66) l (4) Ding Junhui (CHN,3) 4-5 (62-76, 87(51)-15, 0-123(91), 62-53, 86(86)-1, 75(74)-17, 39-94(52), 0-136(136), 17-86(86))

Pankaj played terrific match against WR #3 local player Ding Junhui and take 4-2 lead but in next three frames Ding played almost flawless snooker and winning those without much chance to Pankaj ... Before this match in the first round Pankaj scored upset win over local WR #25 Xiao Guodong ... He won his match from 3-4 down with winning last two frames.

Aditya also gave fighting performance against Michael White ... Missing chance of winning 6th frame cost match to Aditya.

Badminton News

At $125K Swiss Open 2014, Basel

[R1] (5) Srikanth K. (IND,20) l Henri Hurskainen (SWE,42) 21-19 18-21 17-21
[R1] Anand Pawar (IND,34) bt Kok Pong Loke (MAS,196) 21-17 21-10
[R1] (3) Parupalli Kashyap (IND,18) bt Erik Meijs (NED,116) 21-17 21-15
[R1] (6) Saina Nehwal (IND,7) bt (Q) Chisato Hoshi (JPN,333) 21-12 21-12
[R1] (7) P.V. Sindhu (IND,9) bt Sannatasah Saniru (MAS,127) 21-18 21-15
[R1] Saili Rane (IND,66) l (3) Shixian Wang (CHN,3) 8-21 9-21

[R2] Anand Pawar (IND,34) bt Tobias Wadwnka (GER,301) 21-11 21-4
[R2] (3) Parupalli Kashyap (IND,18) bt Lukas Schmidt (GER,85) 21-15 21-14

[R1] Jwala Gutta (IND)/ Ashwini Ponnappa (IND) vs Isabel Herttrich (GER)/ Carla Nelte (GER) 19-21 21-13 18-21
[R1] Tarun Kona (IND)/ Ashwini Ponnappa (IND) l Robert Mateusiak (POL)/ Agnieszka Wojtkowska (POL) 10-21 21-16 13-21

Shocking loss of Srikanth against top-45 Swedish opponent in three games ... But other hand expected wins for Kashyap, Anand, Saina and Sindhu ... Ashwini lose her both matches in three games with Jwala and then Tarun.

Tennis News

At $125K+H Irving Challenger, Texas, USA

[R1] (8) Somdev Devvarman (IND,78) l Daniel Gimeno-Traver (ESP,97) 36 46

Buji need to show consistency in his results ... So with this loss he lost his last two matches against Spanish players.
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At $10K India F3 Futures , Chennai (clay)

Singles Second Round
(1) Enrique LOPEZ-PEREZ (ESP) bt (Q) Ronit Singh BISHT (IND) 61 61
(8) Ranjeet VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND) bt (Q) Sarvar IKRAMOV (UZB) 64 60
(4) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND) bt (Q) Vincent VAN DEN HONERT (NED) 26 62 61
(5) Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND) bt Sergey SHIPILOV (UZB) 75 61
(6) Vijayant MALIK (IND) bt (Q) Ashwin VIJAYRAGAVAN (IND) 76(5) 62
(3) (WC) Sanam SINGH (IND) bt (Q) Ronak MANUJA (IND) 62 63
(7) Andre GASPAR MURTA (POR) bt (Q) SAI SARAN REDDY BYREDDY (IND) 62 63
(2) Jeevan NEDUNCHEZHIYAN (IND) bt Vignesh PERANAMALLUR (IND) 61 62

Doubles Quarter Finals
(1) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND)/ Ranjeet VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND) bt Sarvar IKRAMOV (UZB)/ Sergey SHIPILOV (UZB) 63 61
Jannis LINIGER (SUI)/ N. Vijay Sundar PRASHANTH (IND) bt Ronak MANUJA (IND)/ Ashwin VIJAYRAGAVAN (IND) 36 63 10-7
(3) Arun-Prakash RAJAGOPALAN (IND)/ Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND) bt Jatin DAHIYA (IND)/ Vijayant MALIK (IND) 63 64
(2) Jeevan NEDUNCHEZHIYAN (IND)/ Vishnu VARDHAN (IND) bt Ronit Singh BISHT (IND)/ Abhijeet TIWARI (IND) 61 62

All seeded players win their respective matches in the singles and in the doubles also expected pairs win their matches.
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At $15K China F2 Futures, Guangzhou

[R1] Karunuday SINGH (IND,488) l Ivo KLEC (SVK,427) 46 36

KU need to start winning matches.

Tennis News

At $5.24M BNP Paribas Open, Indian Wells, USA

[R1] (4) Leander Paes (IND)/ Radek Stepanek (CZE) bt Jerzy Janowicz (POL)/ Philipp Kohischreiber (GER) 76(6) 36 10-5

[R2] (4) Leander Paes (IND)/ Radek Stepanek (CZE) bt (WC) Jonathan Erlich (ISR)/ Richard Gasquet (FRA) 63 75

[QF] (4) Leander Paes (IND)/ Radek Stepanek (CZE) vs Roger Federer (SUI)/ Stanislas Wawrinka (SUI)

After winning first match in the match tie-break against big serving pair Lee-Radek scored comfortable straight sets win over Erlich-Gasquet ... In the quarters they r facing tricky Swiss pair of Federer-Wawrinka ... Still overall good performance by Lee-Radek considering this is their first tournament after Australian open as Lee is recovering from injury.
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At $5.95M BNP Paribas Open, Indian Wells, USA

[QF] (5) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Cara Black (ZIM) vs (2) Ekaterina Makarova (RUS)/ Elena Vesnina (RUS)

Sania-Cara r facing 2nd seed Elena-Ekaterina.
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At $125K+H Irving Challenger, Texas, USA

[R1] (8) Somdev Devvarman (IND,78) vs Daniel Gimeno-Traver (ESP,97)

Hopefully Buji will show his Indian challengers form.
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At $10K India F3 Futures , Chennai (clay)

Singles First Round
(1) Enrique LOPEZ-PEREZ (ESP) bt Mohit Mayur JAYAPRAKASH (IND) 62 63
(Q) Ronit Singh BISHT (IND) bt (WC) Vinayak Sharma KAZA (IND) 57 76(8) 75
(Q) Sarvar IKRAMOV (UZB) bt (Q) Shotaro GOTO (JPN) 67(3) 63 63
(8) Ranjeet VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND) bt (Q) Giorgio PORTALURI (ITA) 62 76(1)
(4) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND) bt Lucas RENARD (SWE) 76(5) 63
(Q) Vincent VAN DEN HONERT (NED) bt Vignesh VEERABHADRAN (IND) 63 63
Sergey SHIPILOV (UZB) bt (Q) Abhijeet TIWARI (IND) 62 64
(5) Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND) bt Vishnu VARDHAN (IND) 75 76(1)
(6) Vijayant MALIK (IND) bt Jannis LINIGER (SUI) 57 63 63
(Q) Ashwin VIJAYRAGAVAN (IND) bt Sagar AHUJA (IND) 60 63
(Q) Ronak MANUJA (IND) bt (WC) Chandril SOOD (IND) 76(5) 46 64
(3) (WC) Sanam SINGH (IND) bt (Q) Akash WAGH (IND) 63 63
(7) Andre GASPAR MURTA (POR) bt N. Vijay Sundar PRASHANTH (IND) 62 46 46
(Q) SAI SARAN REDDY BYREDDY (IND) bt (WC) Sasi Kumar MUKUND (IND) 64 63
Vignesh PERANAMALLUR (IND) bt (Q) Suraj R PRABODH (IND) 61 64
(2) Jeevan NEDUNCHEZHIYAN (IND) bt Jatin DAHIYA (IND) 61 60

Doubles First Round
(1) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND)/ Ranjeet VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND) bt (WC) Rahul Robinson MANOAH (IND)/ Raswant RAVI (IND) 63 62
Sarvar IKRAMOV (UZB)/ Sergey SHIPILOV (UZB) bt Vinayak Sharma KAZA (IND)/ Vignesh PERANAMALLUR (IND) 64 36 10-7
Jannis LINIGER (SUI)/ N. Vijay Sundar PRASHANTH (IND) bt (4) Giorgio PORTALURI (ITA)/ Lucas RENARD (SWE) 61 76(5)
Ronak MANUJA (IND)/ Ashwin VIJAYRAGAVAN (IND) bt Suraj R PRABODH (IND)/ Vignesh VEERABHADRAN (IND) 63 63
Jatin DAHIYA (IND)/ Vijayant MALIK (IND) bt Andre GASPAR MURTA (POR)/ Andrew OCHOTTA (CAN) 63 63
(3) Arun-Prakash RAJAGOPALAN (IND)/ Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND) bt (WC) Mohit Mayur JAYAPRAKASH (IND)/ Sasi Kumar MUKUND (IND) 64 76(1)
Ronit Singh BISHT (IND)/ Abhijeet TIWARI (IND) bt Sagar AHUJA (IND)/ Chandril SOOD (IND) 64 75
(2) Jeevan NEDUNCHEZHIYAN (IND)/ Vishnu VARDHAN (IND) bt Anvit BENDRE (IND)/ Akash WAGH (IND) 63 64

Excellent comeback fighting win by Ronit against experienced Vinayak ... RamK also won tough opener against Vishnu but surprised by Sai's win over Sasi.
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At $15K China F2 Futures, Guangzhou

[R1] Karunuday SINGH (IND,488) vs Ivo KLEC (SVK,427)

Tough match for KU considering his current form.

Tennis News

At $5.95M BNP Paribas Open, Indian Wells, USA

[R2] (5) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Cara Black (ZIM) bt Raquel Kops-Jones (USA)/ Abigail Spears (USA) 63 64

Sania-Cara completed another comfortable win against American pair and with this win they r in the quarters.
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At $40K+H Kyoto Challenger, Japan


Doubles Final
(1) Divij Sharan (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) bt (2) Sanchai Ratiwatana (THA)/ Michael Venus (NZL) 57 76(3) 10-4

Divij-Purav retained their Kyoto challenger title after hard fought comeback win against 2nd seed Venus-Ratiwatana ... This is their first title after that Bogota ATP title so this title will give them confidence for future tournaments.

Divij-Purav lost the first set and were under pressure in the second ... But from tie-breaks they dominated and after winning the second set tie-break they comfortably won the match tie-break.
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At $10K+H India F2 Futures , Bhimavaram


Singles Final
(1) (WC) Saketh MYNENI (IND) bt (3) (WC) Sanam SINGH (IND) 46 63 61

Saketh wins double crown when he lifted singles title beating his doubles partner Sanam Singh ... Saketh started slowly and made few unforced errors ... Sanam take advantage of it and won the first set with single break ... From the second set Saketh raised his game and hit some superb deep ground-strokes ... Hit net game was also excellent but other hand Sanam played erratic game making unforced errors ... From 3-all in the second set Saketh won nine games from next ten games to win this title.

Badminton News

At $400K Yonex All England Open 2014, Birmingham

[QF] (7) Saina Nehwal (IND,7) l (4) Shixian Wang (CHN,3) 17-21 10-21

I was hoping upset but in end Shixian proved too strong for Saina in this 43 minutes match ... Shixian take 6-1 lead in the first game and then Saina was trying to catch her ... From 13-20 Saina saved 4 game points but Shixian converted fifth game point for winning it ... In the second game Shixian take 9-2 lead from 2-all and this time Shixian kept control for winning it comfortably.

Tennis News

At $5.24M BNP Paribas Open, Indian Wells, USA

[R1] (6) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (PAK) l Roger Federer (SUI)/ Stanislas Wawrinka (SUI) 26 76(4) 6-10
[R1] (4) Leander Paes (IND)/ Radek Stepanek (CZE) vs Jerzy Janowicz (POL)/ Philipp Kohischreiber (GER)

Good to see Lee is back on the tour but he and Radek r facing trickiest pair of big serving Janowicz-Kohischreiber.

Rohan-Aisam faced legendary former Olympics gold medalist pair of Federer-Wawrinka, who were playing together after 18 months ... But from start they didn't show rustiness and won the first set breaking Rohan-Aisam twice ... The second set close one and Rohan-Aisam won it on tie-break ... In the match tie-break Rohan-Aisam failed to keep momentum and lost it..
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At $5.95M BNP Paribas Open, Indian Wells, USA

[R1] (5) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Cara Black (ZIM) bt (WC) Madison Keys (USA)/ Alison Riske (USA) 62 64

[R2] (5) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Cara Black (ZIM) vs Raquel Kops-Jones (USA)/ Abigail Spears (USA)

Expected easy winning start for Cara-Sania against local wild-card pair ... Next they r facing another American pair of Kops-Jones and Spears.
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At $40K+H Kyoto Challenger, Japan

[SF] (1) Divij Sharan (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) bt (4) Toshihide Matsui (JPN)/ Danai Udomchoke (THA) 76(4) 75

[F] (1) Divij Sharan (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) vs (2) Sanchai Ratiwatana (THA)/ Michael Venus (NZL)

Divij-Purav scored tight two sets win over experienced pairing of Udomchoke-Matsui for entering in the final ... In the final they r facing 2nd seed Ratiwatana-Venus.
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At $10K+H India F2 Futures , Bhimavaram

Singles Semi Finals
(1) (WC) Saketh MYNENI (IND) bt (4) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND) 63 61
(3) (WC) Sanam SINGH (IND) bt (8) Vishnu VARDHAN (IND) 63 63

Doubles Final
(1) Saketh MYNENI (IND)/ Sanam SINGH (IND) bt (2) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND)/ Ranjeet VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND) 76(5) 63

Saketh and Sanam scored comfortable wins in the singles semis for entering in the final ... Interesting to see who is going to lift double crown ... As they won the doubles title beating 2nd seed Ranjeet-Bala in two sets.

Badminton News

At $400K Yonex All England Open 2014, Birmingham

[R2] (7) Saina Nehwal (IND,7) bt Beiwen Zhang (USA,41) 24-22 18-21 21-19

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

Zhang stretched Saina to fullest in this one hour match ... In the first game Saina failed to convert three game points at 20-18 and 21-20 but then she saved a game point at 21-22 and then converted 4th game point for winning it ... In the second game Zhang take 15-11 lead from 9-11 down and kept that advantage to won it ... In the final game Saina opened 4-2 lead which she kept till most of the part but from 16-19 down Zhang caught her at 19-all ... This time also Saina kept her nerves and won next two points for winning this close match ... Next she is Shixian Wang, against her Saina is having 4-2 win-loss record , though in their last meeting Wang defeated her.

Tennis News

At $40K+H Kyoto Challenger, Japan

[QF] (1) Divij Sharan (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) bt Tatsuma Ito (JPN)/ Hiroki Kondo (JPN) 67(7) 63 10-6

[SF] (1) Divij Sharan (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) vs (4) Toshihide Matsui (JPN)/ Danai Udomchoke (THA)

Hard fought comeback win for Purav-Divij against Japanes Davis cup pair ... Next they r facing 4th seed experience players.
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At $10K+H India F2 Futures , Bhimavaram

Singles Quarter Finals
(1) (WC) Saketh MYNENI (IND) bt (Q) Chandril SOOD (IND) 62 63
(4) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND) bt (Q) Ko SUZUKI (JPN) 61 64
(3) (WC) Sanam SINGH (IND) bt (Q) Sasi Kumar MUKUND (IND) 61 61
(8) Vishnu VARDHAN (IND) bt (2) Jeevan NEDUNCHEZHIYAN (IND) 76(4) 64

Singles Second Round
(1) (WC) Saketh MYNENI (IND) bt (Q) Mohit Mayur JAYAPRAKASH (IND) 46 62 61
(Q) Chandril SOOD (IND) bt (Q) Shotaro GOTO (JPN) 63 61
(4) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND) bt Akash WAGH (IND) 62 61
(Q) Ko SUZUKI (JPN) bt (6) Vijayant MALIK (IND) 63 64
(Q) Sasi Kumar MUKUND (IND) bt (7)Ranjeet VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND) 64 76(4)
(3) (WC) Sanam SINGH (IND) bt (Q) Vincent VAN DEN HONERT (NED) 62 62
(8) Vishnu VARDHAN (IND) bt Ronak MANUJA (IND) 61 61
(2) Jeevan NEDUNCHEZHIYAN (IND) bt Elwin ANTONY (IND) 61 61

Doubles Semi Finals
(1) Saketh MYNENI (IND)/ Sanam SINGH (IND) bt (3) Jeevan NEDUNCHEZHIYAN (IND)/ Vishnu VARDHAN (IND) 67(5) 62 10-7
(2) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND)/ Ranjeet VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND) bt (4) Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND) / Gabriel TRUJILLO-SOLER (ESP) 64 63

Doubles Quarter Finals
(1) Saketh MYNENI (IND)/ Sanam SINGH (IND) bt (WC) Mohit Mayur JAYAPRAKASH (IND)/ Ajai SELVARAJ (IND) 62 64
(3) Jeevan NEDUNCHEZHIYAN (IND)/ Vishnu VARDHAN (IND) bt Jatin DAHIYA (IND)/ Vijayant MALIK (IND) 64 75
(4) Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND)/ Gabriel TRUJILLO-SOLER (ESP) bt Giorgio PORTALURI (ITA)/ Lucas RENARD (SWE) 64 76(7)
(2) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND)/ Ranjeet VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND) bt Neeraj ELANGOVAN (IND)/ Vinayak Sharma KAZA (IND) w/o

Expected names in the singles semi-finals and the doubles final is between top-seed pairs, who scored contrasting wins.

Badminton News

At $400K Yonex All England Open 2014, Birmingham

[R1] Srikanth K. (IND,21) l Kento Momota (JPN,15) 11-21 15-21
[R1] Parupalli Kashyap (IND,18) l (5) Kenichi Tago (JPN,5) 21-14 19-21 17-21
[R1] (7) Saina Nehwal (IND,7) bt Kirsty Gilmour (SCO,20) 21-15 21-6
[R1] P.V. Sindhu (IND,9) l Sun Yu (CHN,33) 16-21 15-21

[R1] Tarun Kona (IND)/ Ashwini Ponnappa (IND) l (4) Joachim Fischer Nielsen (DEN)/ Christinna Pedersen (DEN) 13-21 16-21

[R2] (7) Saina Nehwal (IND,7) vs Beiwen Zhang (USA,41)

Kashyap started confidently winning first game but then he failed to keep momentum and lost closely fought next two games ... All our other players lost tamely including Sindhu but only exception was Saina ... She used advantage of weaker Scottish opponent ... Next she is facing American based Chinese girl Beiwen Zhang.

Football News

At FIFA International Friendly, Goa, India

India dw Bangladesh 2-2 (1-0)
Goal Scorers - Sunil Chhetri (IND) 14' and 90+' and Mithun Chowdhury (BAN) 51', Arnab Mondal (IND) 64′ (OG)

Overall disappointing performance by our players against Bangladesh ... We were lucky to draw with injury time goal from Sunil.

Tennis News

At $6.17M BNP Paribas Open, Indian Wells, USA

[Q1] (1) Somdev Devvarman (IND,78) l Daniel Munoz-De La Nava (ESP,287) 26 75 36

Buji had favorable draw for qualifying Masters as top-seed ... But turned to be really disappointing outing for Buji as he lost in three sets against journeyman Daniel Munoz-De La Nava ... In first set Daniel broke Buji twice for winning it ... In the second set Buji tried hard managed to win this close set but again in the decider Daniel proved better player.
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At $10K+H India F2 Futures , Bhimavaram

Singles First Round
(1) (WC) Saketh MYNENI (IND) bt N. Vijay Sundar PRASHANTH (IND) 64 retd.
(Q) Mohit Mayur JAYAPRAKASH (IND) bt (Q) Ankit SACHDEVA (IND) 62 61
(Q) Chandril SOOD (IND) bt (WC) Vaishnav BENDALAM (IND) 60 60
(Q) Shotaro GOTO (JPN) bt (5) Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND) 63 16 16
(4) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND) bt Ashwin VIJAYRAGAVAN (IND) 75 67(1) 63
Akash WAGH (IND) bt Jatin DAHIYA (IND) 63 67(3) 62
(Q) Ko SUZUKI (JPN) bt Vinayak Sharma KAZA (IND) 62 1-0 retd.
(6) Vijayant MALIK (IND) bt (Q) Anvit BENDRE (IND) 60 62
(7)Ranjeet VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND) bt Sagar AHUJA (IND) 26 60 61
(Q) Sasi Kumar MUKUND (IND) bt (WC) Ajai SELVARAJ (IND) 06 62 62
(Q) Vincent VAN DEN HONERT (NED) bt Giorgio PORTALURI (ITA) 64 63
(3) (WC) Sanam SINGH (IND) bt Vignesh PERANAMALLUR (IND) 64 64
(8) Vishnu VARDHAN (IND) bt Lucas RENARD (SWE) 62 61
Ronak MANUJA (IND) bt Abhijeet TIWARI (IND) 63 64
Elwin ANTONY (IND) bt Jannis LINIGER (SUI) 62 76(6)
(2) Jeevan NEDUNCHEZHIYAN (IND) bt Jui-Chen HUNG (TPE) 46 75 76(6)

Doubles First Round
(1) Saketh MYNENI (IND)/ Sanam SINGH (IND) bt Sagar AHUJA (IND)/ Chandril SOOD (IND) 61 75
(WC) Mohit Mayur JAYAPRAKASH (IND)/ Ajai SELVARAJ (IND) bt Ronak MANUJA (IND)/ Ashwin VIJAYRAGAVAN (IND) 46 63 12-10
(3) Jeevan NEDUNCHEZHIYAN (IND)/ Vishnu VARDHAN (IND) bt Shotaro GOTO (JPN)/ Ko SUZUKI (JPN) 63 62
Jatin DAHIYA (IND)/ Vijayant MALIK (IND) bt Anvit BENDRE (IND)/ Akash WAGH (IND) 76(5) 46 12-10
Giorgio PORTALURI (ITA)/ Lucas RENARD (SWE) bt Jannis LINIGER (SUI)/ N. Vijay Sundar PRASHANTH (IND) 46 64 10-7
(4) Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND) / Gabriel TRUJILLO-SOLER (ESP) bt Elwin ANTONY (IND)/ Vignesh PERANAMALLUR (IND) 75 63
Neeraj ELANGOVAN (IND)/ Vinayak Sharma KAZA (IND) bt (WC) Venkat IYER (IND)/ Shahbaaz KHAN (IND) 67(5) 63 10-8
(2) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND) / Ranjeet VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND) bt Jui-Chen HUNG (TPE)/ Andrew OCHOTTA (CAN) 62 62

Shocked to see RamK's loss against 1500+ ranked Japanese opponent ... Otherwise good day for Indians.
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At $15K China F1 Futures, Guangzhou

[R1] Karunuday SINGH (IND,487) l Kittiphong WACHIRAMANOWONG (THA,817) 57 36

KU's disappointing performance continues ... Instead of playing abroad KU should plan of playing in Indian futures.

Badminton News

At $400K Yonex All England Open 2014, Birmingham

[Q1] Saili Rane (IND,71) l Chloe Magee (IRL,44) 21-23 20-22
[Q1] (1) Anand Pawar (IND,34) l Andre Kurniawan Tedjono (INA,58) 21-18 13-21 19-21

[Q1] (2) Jwala Gutta (IND)/ Ashwini Ponnappa (IND) bye
[Q1] Abhishek Ahlawat (IND)/ Kristi Das (IND) l Gideon Markus Fernaldi (INA)/ Rizki Amelia Pradipta (INA) 8-21 8-21

[Q2] (2) Jwala Gutta (IND)/ Ashwini Ponnappa (IND) l Jin Ma (CHN)/ Yuanting Tang (CHN) 21-14 15-21 17-21

[R1] Srikanth K. (IND,21) vs Kento Momota (JPN,15)
[R1] Parupalli Kashyap (IND,18) vs (5) Kenichi Tago (JPN,5)
[R1] (7) Saina Nehwal (IND,7) vs Kirsty Gilmour (SCO,20)
[R1] P.V. Sindhu (IND,9) vs Sun Yu (CHN,33)

[R1] Tarun Kona (IND)/ Ashwini Ponnappa (IND) vs (4) Joachim Fischer Nielsen (DEN)/ Christinna Pedersen (DEN)

Overall tough draw for Indians.

In the qualifying disappointing performance by Anand and Jwala-Ashwini in their respective matches ... Other hand Sayali gave creditable fight to her top-50 opponent.

Tennis News

At $40K+H Kyoto Challenger, Japan

[R1] (1) Divij Sharan (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) bt Liang-Chi Huang (TPE)/ Hiroki Moriya (JPN) 63 64

Good straight sets win for defending champion Purav-Divij.
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At $10K+H India F2 Futures , Bhimavaram

Singles First Round
(1) (WC) Saketh MYNENI (IND) bt N. Vijay Sundar PRASHANTH (IND) 64 retd.
(Q) Mohit Mayur JAYAPRAKASH (IND) bt (Q) Ankit SACHDEVA (IND) 62 61
(Q) Chandril SOOD (IND) vs (WC) Vaishnav BENDALAM (IND)
(5) Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND) vs (Q) Shotaro GOTO (JPN)
(4) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND) vs Ashwin VIJAYRAGAVAN (IND)
Akash WAGH (IND) bt Jatin DAHIYA (IND) 63 67(3) 62
Vinayak Sharma KAZA (IND) vs(Q) Ko SUZUKI (JPN)
(6) Vijayant MALIK (IND) bt (Q) Anvit BENDRE (IND) 60 62
(7)Ranjeet VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND) bt Sagar AHUJA (IND) 26 60 61
(Q) Sasi Kumar MUKUND (IND) vs (WC) Ajai SELVARAJ (IND)
Giorgio PORTALURI (ITA) vs (Q) Vincent VAN DEN HONERT (NED)
(3) (WC) Sanam SINGH (IND) vs Vignesh PERANAMALLUR (IND)
(8) Vishnu VARDHAN (IND) vs Lucas RENARD (SWE)
Ronak MANUJA (IND) bt Abhijeet TIWARI (IND) 63 64
Jannis LINIGER (SUI) vs Elwin ANTONY (IND)
(2) Jeevan NEDUNCHEZHIYAN (IND) bt Jui-Chen HUNG (TPE) 46 75 76(6)

Very tight comeback win for Jeevan ... Also good to see Akash and Mohit Mayur won their respective first round matches.
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At $15K China F1 Futures, Guangzhou

[R1] Karunuday SINGH (IND,487) vs Kittiphong WACHIRAMANOWONG (THA,817)

This week KU is playing tougher Chinese futures.

Badminton News

Badminton News
At $120K Yonex German Open 2014 (Gold GP), Mülheim an der Ruhr

Men's Singles Final
Arvind Bhat (IND,87) bt (12) Hans-Kristian Vittinghus (DEN,25) 24-22 19-21 21-11

34 yrs old Arvind Bhat turned back the clock and lifted big Gold GP German open title beating Danish top-25 Hans-Kristian Vittinghus in 60 minutes match ... His last title win was six years back ... In the first game Arvind take 4-0 lead but Vittinghus recovered and take 10-6 lead ... Arvind caught with him at 13-all but Vittinghus again opened couple of points lead from 14-all ... Vittinghus had 2 game points at 20-18 but Arvind saved these 2 game points ... Vittinghus again had game points at 21-10 and then 22-21 but again both time Arvind saved those game points ... After saving 4 game points Arvind had his first game point at 23-22 and he converted for winning opening game ... In the second game Arvind opened 11-6 and then 16-12 lead but he failed to keep that advantage ... From 16-18 Vittinghus won next 4 points and this time converted 2nd game point for winning this game ... In the final game both players exchanged lead till 10-all ... But from 12-11 Arvind won 9 points in a row for unbelievable victory over Vittinghus.

Squash News

At $115K Men's Windy City Open 2014, Chicago, USA (World Series Gold)

[QF] Saurav Ghosal (IND,18) l (4) Mohamed Elshorbagy (EGY,3) 0-3 (6-11, 11-13, 7-11)

Saurav gave respectable performance against WR #3 Elshorbagy in his straight games loss ... After losing the first game Saurav stretched Elshorbagy to extra points in the second ... In the third game also Saurav gave fighting performance against Elshorbagy.

Badminton News

At $120K Yonex German Open 2014, Mülheim an der Ruhr

[SF] Arvind Bhat (IND,87) bt (15) Tien Chen Chou (TPE,24) 21-12 12-21 22-20

[F] Arvind Bhat (IND,87) vs (12) Hans-Kristian Vittinghus (DEN,25)

Arvind scored another good win against Taipei's Chou in three games to reach the final ... Before this match Tien Chen Chou was leading 2-1 head to head meetings with comfortable win in their last match in 2012 ... In the first game after 1-3 down Arvind take 6-1 lead which he kept increasing for comfortably winning the game ... In the second game from 4-6 down Chou opened 12-6 lead to take control of the game ... Chou kept his advantage and won this game ... In the decider both players were exchanging leads ... Arvind had 2 match points at 20-18 but Chou saved both ... Arvind kept his nerve and converted third match point for entering into the final ... In the final he is facing Danish 12th seed Hans-Kristian Vittinghus.

Tennis News

At $2.36M Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships, UAE


Doubles Final
(2) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (PAK) bt (1) Daniel Nestor (CAN)/ Nenad Zimonjic (SRB) 64 63

Rohan Bopanna and Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi won their fifth ATP World Tour team title – and first since reuniting at the start of 2014 at Dubai Championship ... In both sets Rohan-Aisam broke top-seed once for straight sets win ... In the first set both pairs hold their respective serves till 9th game and then Aisam-Rohan broke top-seeds in 10th for winning it ... After that our pair dominated proceeding for somewhat easy victory.
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At $10K India F1 Futures , Chandigarh

Singles Final
Vishnu VARDHAN (IND) l (4) Antal VAN DER DUIM (NED) 57 36

Antal Van Der Duim proved too strong for Indian players as he denied another futures title to Vishnu ...