Football News

At the SAFF Championship 2015, Thiruvananthapuram, India

Semi Final
India bt Maldives 3-2 (2-1)
Goal Scored - Sunil Chhetri (IND) 25', Jeje Lalpekhlua (IND) 34', 66' and Ahmed Nashid (MAD) 45'+, Amdaan Ali (MAD) 75'

Indians score narrow win over Maldives in tight match for entering into the final ... We took two goals lead but still Maldives kept fighting ... In end we prevailed over Maldives for the win ... Defense is still worry sign for India as both goals from Maldives came from defense lapses ... In the final we r facing in-form Afghani team.

Tennis News

At $421K Chennai Open, India

I am really disappointed by Chennai open organizers ... Only ATP world tour tournament in the country and they gives only one wild card for Indian ... After Yuki's withdrawal we need some main-draw presence but only RamK has given wild card for the singles ... Balaji partnering RamK and Jeevan partnering Buji r two wild-cards in the doubles ... Lee is playing with Spanish partner Marcel Granollers in the doubles.

In the qualifying Prajnesh and VSP receive wild-card so they will join Saki, Buji and Sanam in the qualifying draw ... Here also surprise by selection of wild-cards as young Sumit Nagal was deserving option.

Football News

At the SAFF Championship 2015, Thiruvananthapuram, India

Group A
India bt Nepal 4-1 (1-1)
Goal Scored - Rowllin Borges (IND) 26', Sunil Chhetri (IND) 68', Chhangte Lallianzuala (IND) 81' and 90' and Bimal Magar (NEP) 3'

Indian side scores convincing second win against Nepal for entering into the semis with topping the group ... In the beginning Nepal took a lead and were controlling the game but our player fought back ... Borges equalized before an half hour so at half-time both teams were 1-all ... In the second half Paul saved couple of attacks from Nepal players before Chhetri giving lead to India ... 18 yrs old Chhangte Lallianzuala become youngest Indian goal scorer in international football when he scored brace in last 10 minutes.

Football News

At the SAFF Championship 2015, Thiruvananthapuram, India

Group A
India bt Sri Lanka 2-0 (0-0)
Goal Scored - Robin Singh (IND) 51' and 73'

India starts with winning start against Sri Lankan ... Robin Singh scored couple of goals with help from Sunil Chhetri ... We were having possession but failed to penetrate in the first half ... In the second half we managed to scored couple of goals but we received big injury blow as Robin picked up an injury and had to be stretchered off ... Next we r facing Nepal.

Hockey News

At Rio Olympics 2016, Brazil

Men's Groups
Pool A - (1) Australia, (4) Great Britain, (5) Belgium, (8) New Zealand, (11) Spain, (32) Brazil
Pool B - (2) Netherlands, (3) Germany, (6) Argentina, (7) India, (12) Ireland, (14) Canada

Women's Groups
Pool A - (1) Netherlands, (4) New Zealand, (5) China, (8) Germany, (9) South Korea, (14) Spain
Pool B - (2) Argentina, (3) Australia, (6) Great Britain, (7) USA, (10) Japan, (13) India

The International Hockey Federation (FIH) has confirmed that Spain women and New Zealand men have officially accepted invitations to participate in the Rio 2016 Olympic Games hockey events ... This now confirms the 12 team line-ups for both the men’s and women’s hockey events for next year’s Olympics, and following last week’s FIH World Rankings update, the pools are now set.

In men's we r in tough Pool B group with Dutch side and Germans ... Also we struggles against Argentine side still this is better group than Pool A for us.

Our women side in Pool B ... Here I am wishing we need to avoid wooden spoon.

Golf News

At Lalla Aicha Ladies European Tour School Final Qualifying 2015, Morocco

1 Aditi Ashok (IND) 68 69 62 68 70 -23

The 17-year-old amateur from Bangalore, Aditi Ashok shoots a final round 70 to finish on -23 for winning the Tour School final in Morocco and capturing European Tour card for 2016 ... She has become the youngest and first Indian to win the Ladies European Tour's Lalla Aicha Tour School Final Qualifier.

Before this Aditi Ashok shot a new women’s course record 62 (-10) including 11 birdies and one bogey in the third round at Samanah, which equaled the men’s professional course record ... The Bangalore high school student, who hopes to represent India at next year’s Olympic Games, started the final round just one stroke behind Lampert.

Tennis News

At $25K ITF Women's Tennis Tournament 2015, Lagos, Nigeria

[R1] (2) Julia TERZIYSKA (BUL)/ Prarthana G. THOMBARE (IND) bt (WC) Ronke AKINGBADE (NGR)/ Patience ONEBAMHOIN (NGR) 60 60
[QF] (2) Julia TERZIYSKA (BUL)/ Prarthana G. THOMBARE (IND) bt Melissa Ishuan IFIDZHEN (RUS)/ Olena KYRPOT (UKR) 62 63
[SF] (2) Julia TERZIYSKA (BUL)/ Prarthana G. THOMBARE (IND) bt (4) Ines MURTA (POR)/ Alexandra RILEY (USA) 64 63

Doubles Final
(2) Julia TERZIYSKA (BUL)/ Prarthana G. THOMBARE (IND) bt (1) Tadeja MAJERIC (SLO)/ Conny PERRIN (SUI) 46 63 10-8

Prarthana lifts her second $25K doubles title of the year ... In the final Prarthana and her Bulgarian partner defeated top-seed pair.

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At $10K Qatar F6 Futures, Doha

[R1] Haadin BAVA (IND)/ Aoxiong WANG (CHN) bt Ameur BEN HASSEN (TUN)/ Mousa Shanan ZAYED (QAT) 61 63
[QF] Haadin BAVA (IND)/ Aoxiong WANG (CHN) bt (3) Yecong HE (CHN)/ Zhuoyang QIU (CHN) 36 76(6) 10-7
[SF] Haadin BAVA (IND)/ Aoxiong WANG (CHN) bt Delf GOHLKE (GER)/ Peter GOLDSTEINER (AUT) 63 64

Doubles Final
Haadin BAVA (IND)/ Aoxiong WANG (CHN) bt Luke BAMBRIDGE (GBR)/ Mats MORAING (GER) 62 36 10-3

Haadin Bava lifts her first futures title ... In the doubles final he and his Chinese partner scored win in super tie-break ... I am hoping terrific 2016 in the singles for Haadin.

Tennis News

At $25K ITF Women's Tournament, Lagos, Nigeria

[QF] (8) Prarthana G. THOMBARE (IND,589) l (4) Tadeja MAJERIC (SLO,357) 26 26

Turn to be no match against Tadeja ... Still good to see that Prarthana taking advantage of weak draw.

Athletics News

At Rio Olympics 2016, Brazil

Recently the qualification standards for Rio Olympics Athletics are lowered by IAAF ... Our three athletes get benefited from it ... In the Men's discus throw the mark was reduced from 66M to 65M, so Vikas Gowda qualified for Rio Olympics as he has thrown over 65M earlier this year after Olympics qualification began.

Also Sapna in Women's 20km race walk and Nitendra Singh Rawat in Men's marathon are benefited, who are also qualify for Rio Olympics ... So now our total 15 athletes are qualify for Rio Olympics.

Tennis News

At $25K ITF Women's Tournament, Lagos, Nigeria

[R2] (8) Prarthana G. THOMBARE (IND,589) bt (Q) Ushna SUHAIL (PAK,UNR) 60 62
[R2] Shivika BURMAN (IND,1101) vs (3) Conny PERRIN (SUI,345)

[QF] (8) Prarthana G. THOMBARE (IND,589) vs (4) Tadeja MAJERIC (SLO,357)

Expected results for Prarthana and loss for Shivika ... Prarthana is facing Tadeja for place in the semis.

Tennis News

At $25K ITF Women's Tournament, Lagos, Nigeria

[R1] (8) Prarthana G. THOMBARE (IND,589) bt (Q) Patience ONEBAMHOIN (NGR,UNR) 60 60
[R1] Shivika BURMAN (IND,1101) bt (WC) Aanu AYEGBUSI (NGR,UNR) 60 63
[R1] Kyra SHROFF (IND,862) l (4) Tadeja MAJERIC (SLO,357) 46 36

[R2] (8) Prarthana G. THOMBARE (IND,589) vs (Q) Ushna SUHAIL (PAK,UNR)
[R2] Shivika BURMAN (IND,1101) vs (3) Conny PERRIN (SUI,345)

Expected comfortable win for Prarthana and Shivika against local unseeded players.

But Kyra falls to top-350 type Majeric in straight sets.

Chess News

At the London Chess Classic 2015, Great Britain

Round 9 - 13 Dec 15
Viswanathan Anand (IND,2796) ½-½ Anish Giri (NED,2778)
Michael Adams (GBR,2737) ½-½ Fabiano Caruana (USA,2787)
Levon Aronian (ARM,2788) ½-½ Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (FRA,2773)
Magnus Carlsen (NOR,2834) 1-0 Alexander Grischuk (RUS,2747)
Hikaru Nakamura (USA,2793) ½-½ Veselin Topalov (BUL,2803)

Anand agrees draw in 33 moves against Anish to finish 9th in the final ranking ... Overall very disappointing London classic for Anand ... Other hand Carlsen scores win for tied for top spot with Giri and Vachier-Lagrave ... This leading to a very exciting three-way playoff ... Due to the nature of the rules, Vachier-Lagrave and Giri first squared off, with MVL prevailing in a dramatic turnaround ... He then faced Carlsen for the title ... In the end Magnus Carlsen claimed both the London Classic title and the Grand Chess Tour.

Chess News

At the London Chess Classic 2015, Great Britain

Round 8 - 12 Dec 15
Anish Giri (NED,2778) 1-0 Hikaru Nakamura (USA,2793)
Veselin Topalov (BUL,2803) ½-½ Magnus Carlsen (NOR,2834)
Alexander Grischuk (RUS,2747) ½-½ Levon Aronian (ARM,2788)
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (FRA,2773) ½-½ Michael Adams (GBR,2737)
Fabiano Caruana (USA,2787) ½-½ Viswanathan Anand (IND,2796)

Anand play safe to draw against Caruana ... Anish scores impressive win to join Maxime top of the leader board.

Tennis News

At $10K India F19 Futures, Mumbai

Singles Final
(1) Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND) bt (5) Prajnesh GUNNESWARAN (IND) 63 63

Comfortable win for RamK for lifts another futures title and securing place in Australian open qualifying ... This is RamK's 11th futures title and 4th of year 2015.

Chess News

At the London Chess Classic 2015, Great Britain

Round 7 - 11 Dec 15
Fabiano Caruana (USA,2787) ½-½ Anish Giri (NED,2778
Viswanathan Anand (IND,2796) 0-1 Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (FRA,2773)
Michael Adams (GBR,2737) ½-½ Alexander Grischuk (RUS,2747)
Levon Aronian (ARM,2788) 1-0 Veselin Topalov (BUL,2803)
Magnus Carlsen (NOR,2834) 1-0 Hikaru Nakamura (USA,2793)

Shocking loss of Anand in hands of Frenchman Maxime Vachier-Lagrave in Sicilian Defence game ... Anand lose this battle in 34 moves playing with white ... Aronian also scores dominating and attacking win over Topalov in 27 moves ... Carlsen scores superb win with excellent end game against Nakamura in 78 moves.

Badminton News

At Dubai World Superseries Finals 2015, UAE

WS - Group A
Saina Nehwal (IND,2) l Tzu Ying Tai (TPE,5) 21-16 18-21 14-21

MS - Group B
K. Srikanth (IND,9) l Tien Chen Chou (TPE,7) 17-21 13-21

Saina misses chance of qualifying for semis with the loss against Taipei's Tzu Ying Tai ... After winning the first game Saina was down 5-13 but she fought back to catch Tai at 16-all ... Tai had four game points at 16-20 but after saving 2 game points Saina failed to save the third ... In the final game Tai again outperformed Saina and her chance of semi-final qualification.

Srikanth loses his third match of the group in straight games to end his tournament.

Tennis News

At $10K India F19 Futures, Mumbai

[SF] (1) Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND) bt (3) Sumit NAGAL (IND) 36 63 64
[SF] (5) Prajnesh GUNNESWARAN (IND) bt (6) Mohit Mayur JAYAPRAKASH (IND) 57 64 61

Expected winners but RamK and Prajnesh were stretched to three sets by Sumit and Mohit Mayur.

Chess News

At the London Chess Classic 2015, Great Britain

Round 6 - 10 Dec 15
Anish Giri ½-½ Magnus Carlsen (NOR,2834)
Hikaru Nakamura (USA,2793) ½-½ Levon Aronian (ARM,2788)
Veselin Topalov (BUL,2803) ½-½ Michael Adams (GBR,2737)
Alexander Grischuk (RUS,2747) 1-0 Viswanathan Anand (IND,2796)
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (FRA,2773) ½-½ Fabiano Caruana (USA,2787)

Alexander Grischuk scored a full point against Anand by playing a highly consistent game. Topalov drew a winning position against Michael Adams. The other three games were not exactly dramatic ... In this match Anand missed golden opportunity of drawing the game.

Badminton News

At Dubai World Superseries Finals 2015, UAE

WS - Group A
Saina Nehwal (IND,2) bt Carolina Marin (ESP,1) 23-21 9-21 21-12

MS - Group B
K. Srikanth (IND,9) l Viktor Axelsen (DEN,6) 13-21 18-21

Saina bounce back to beat WR#1 Carolina Marin after her poor loss against Okuhara ... In the first game both players were neck to neck ... Saina opened 9-3 lead but Marin caught her at 9-all after winning 7 points in a row ... After that both players exchanged the lead ... Saina had a game point at 20-19 but Marin saved and had a game point at 20-21 ... Saina won next 3 points for winning the game ... In the second game from 5-all Marin outperformed Saina for winning it comfortably ... In the decider Saina recovered and from 6-5 and then 10-8 she controlled the game for winning it comfortably ... Still Saina need to win her final match against Tzu Ying Tai in two games for keeping her hope alive for semi-final.

With his current form not expecting anything from Srinath ... At least hoping this matches bring out his A game for 2016 season.

Tennis News

At $25K ITF Women's Tournament, Lagos, Nigeria

[QF] Prarthana G. THOMBARE (IND,589) l (4) Conny PERRIN (SUI,348) 46 26

Prarthana lose her match in straight sets against her top-350 Swiss player.

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At $10K India F19 Futures, Mumbai

[QF] (1) Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND) bt (7) Sidharth RAWAT (IND) 62 63
[QF] (3) Sumit NAGAL (IND) bt Jayesh PUNGLIYA (IND) 63 46 63
[QF] (5) Prajnesh GUNNESWARAN (IND) bt (4) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND) 62 62
[QF] (6) Mohit Mayur JAYAPRAKASH (IND) bt Suraj R PRABODH (IND) 61 26 61

Expected results but surprisingly tougher matches for Sumit and Mohit Mayur ... Expecting final between RamK and Prajnesh.

Badminton News

At Dubai World Superseries Finals 2015, UAE

WS - Group A
Saina Nehwal (IND,2) l Nozomi Okuhara (JPN,9) 14-21 6-21

MS - Group B
K. Srikanth (IND,9) l Kento Momota (JPN,5) 13-21 13-21

Poor start for Saina ... This was Saina's first loss against Okuhara in five matches but the way Saina lost this match was shocking ... Saina still need to play against toughest opponents #1 Carolina Marin and #5 Tzu Ying Tai in the group.

Srikanth also lose easily against his Japanese opponent Kento Momota ... Srikath still need to play #7 Tien Chen Chou and #6 Viktor Axelsen in his group.

Tennis News

At $25K ITF Women's Tournament, Lagos, Nigeria

[R1] Prarthana G. THOMBARE (IND,589) bt Melissa Ishuan IFIDZHEN (RUS,UNR) 62 61
[R1] Kyra SHROFF (IND,862) bt Rita OBASIGIE (NGR) 60 60
[R1] Shivika BURMAN (IND,1101) l (6) Ulrikke EIKERI (NOR,415) 16 36

[R2] Prarthana G. THOMBARE (IND,589) bt Ines MURTA (POR,908) 26 63 67(2)
[R2] Kyra SHROFF (IND,862) l (3) Julia TERZIYSKA (BUL,340) 67(4) 46

[QF] Prarthana G. THOMBARE (IND,589) vs (4) Conny PERRIN (SU,348)

Prarthana is in the quarters ... Other hand Kyra gives fighting performance against top-350 Bulgarian player.

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At $10K India F19 Futures, Mumbai

[R2] (1) Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND) bt Vinayak Sharma KAZA (IND) 2-1 retd.
[R2] (7) Sidharth RAWAT (IND) bt Tushar LIBERHAN (IND) 62 60
[R2] (3) Sumit NAGAL (IND) bt Niki KALIYANDA POONACHA (IND) 64 62
[R2] Jayesh PUNGLIYA (IND) bt (8) Ranjeet VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND) 75 4-0 retd.
[R2] (5) Prajnesh GUNNESWARAN (IND) bt Aryan GOVEAS (IND) 62 60
[R2] (4) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND) bt Vignesh VEERABHADRAN (IND) 62 64
[R2] (6) Mohit Mayur JAYAPRAKASH (IND) bt Rashein SAMUEL (IND) 61 60
[R2] Suraj R PRABODH (IND) bt Bhavesh GOUR (IND) 61 62

Jayesh scores upset win over Ranjeet but otherwise expected results.

Chess News

At the London Chess Classic 2015, Great Britain

Round 5 - 8 Dec 15
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (FRA,2773) ½-½ Anish Giri (NED,2784)
Fabiano Caruana (USA,2787) ½-½ Alexander Grischuk (RUS,2747)
Viswanathan Anand (IND,2796) 1-0 Veselin Topalov (BUL,2803)
Michael Adams (GBR,2737) ½-½ Hikaru Nakamura (USA,2793)
Levon Aronian (ARM,2788) ½-½ Magnus Carlsen (NOR,2834)

Anand bounce back in style and beats Topalov ... Anand’s masterful endgame play against Topalov helped him to secure full point ... All other games ended in a draw.

Tennis News

At $10K India F19 Futures, Mumbai

[R1] (1) Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND) bt (WC) Rian PANDOLE (IND) 64 63
[R1] Vinayak Sharma KAZA (IND) bt Wei-De LIN (TPE) 64 64
[R1] (Q) Tushar LIBERHAN (IND) bt (Q) Anirudh CHANDRASEKAR (IND) 64 62
[R1] (7) Sidharth RAWAT (IND) bt Anvit BENDRE (IND) 62 62
[R1] (3) Sumit NAGAL (IND) bt Vignesh PERANAMALLUR (IND) 67(3) 61 60
[R1] Niki KALIYANDA POONACHA (IND) bt Chandril SOOD (IND) 63 63
[R1] Jayesh PUNGLIYA (IND) bt Nitin Kumar SINHA (IND) 62 64
[R1] (8) Ranjeet VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND) bt (Q) Jaydeep S CHUDASAMA (IND) 62 63
[R1] (5) Prajnesh GUNNESWARAN (IND) bt (Q) Siddharth VISHWAKARMA (IND) 75 63
[R1] (WC) Aryan GOVEAS (IND) bt (LL) Sagar AHUJA (IND) 64 63
[R1] Vignesh VEERABHADRAN (IND) bt (WC) Garry TOKAS (IND) 63 63
[R1] (4) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND) bt S D Prajwal DEV (IND) 63 60
[R1] (6) Mohit Mayur JAYAPRAKASH (IND) bt (Q) Taha KAPADIA (IND) 63 64
[R1] (Q) Rashein SAMUEL (IND) bt (WC) Alex SOLANKI (IND) 76(2) 64
[R1] (Q) Bhavesh GOUR (IND) bt (Q) Faisal QAMAR (IND) 64 64
[R1] Suraj R PRABODH (IND) bt N. Vijay Sundar PRASHANTH (IND) 06 76(5) 63

Last week at F18 futures Prajnesh lifted his third futures title ... This week last futures of 2015 Indian futures Ramk, Sumit and Bala r playing ... Suraj start with upset win over 2nd seed Vijay Sundar.

Chess News

At the London Chess Classic 2015, Great Britain

Round 4 - 7 Dec 15
Anish Giri (NED,2784) ½-½ Levon Aronian (ARM,2788)
Magnus Carlsen (NOR,2834) ½-½ Michael Adams (GBR,2737)
Hikaru Nakamura (USA,2793) 1-0 Viswanathan Anand (IND,2796)
Veselin Topalov (BUL,2803) ½-½ Fabiano Caruana (USA,2787)
Alexander Grischuk (RUS,2747) ½-½ Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (FRA,2773)

Anand receive first loss in London Classic in hands of Hikaru Nakamura ... After a pawn sacrifice by Anand, Nakamura was under pressure most of the game but then consolidated and won.

Hockey News

At Men's Hockey World League - Finals 2015, Raipur, India

Bronze Medal match
India bt Netherlands 5-5 (0-2) 3-2 PS
Goal Scorers - Ramandeep Singh (IND) 39' and 51'', Rupinder Pal Singh (IND) 47' PC and 55' PC, Akashdeep Singh (IND) 56' and Mirco Pruijser (NED) 9', Niek van der Schoot (NED) 25', Mink van der Weerden (NED) 54' PC, 58' PS and 60' PC
Shootouts - Birendra Lakra (IND), Sardar Singh (IND), Manpreet Singh (IND) and Billy Bakker (NED), Seve van Ass (NED)

India wins bronze medal in big international tournament after 33 years ... They defeated WR #2 and European champion Netherlands in drama filled shoot-out ... In this match Netherlands took 2 goals lead and then India were leading by 2 goals when 2 minutes were remaining ... Netherlands dominated first 2 quarters and were up 2-0 at half-time ... In 3rd quarter Ramndeep reduced lead to 1-2 ... In the beginning of 4th quarter Rupinder Pal converted penalty corner to equalized 2-all ... Ramandeep first-time game lead in 51st minute, 3-2 ... After that in last 7 minutes we experienced some crazy goal scoring from both teams ... Dutch side equalized through penalty corner van der Weerden in 54th minute, 3-all ... Rupinder Pal converted penalty stroke on next minute to give 4-3 lead and then another goal immediately by Ramandeep gave 5-3 lead to India and that time it looked like we were cruising for the victory ... But some crazy defending by us in last two minutes, first we gave penalty stroke and then only 40 secs were remaining Akashdeep lost possession by stupid mistake and then Rupinder Conceded penalty corner ... van der Weerden converted it to take match into shoot-out ... Dutch side converted 1st stroke through Bakker, after that both goal keepers saved couple of each strokes ... Birendra converted 3rd Indian stroke for 1-all ... van Ass converted 4th stroke of Dutch side to give lead 2-1 but Sardar converted next stroke for 2-all ... Sreejesh saved important 5th stroke of Dutch side and after that deserving Manpreet converted 5th stroke for important win ... Manpreet played superbly through out the match but I m still worried by our habit of losing 2 goals lead in last 2 minutes.

Chess News

At the London Chess Classic 2015, Great Britain

Round 3 - 6 Dec 15
Alexander Grischuk (RUS,2747) ½-½ Anish Giri (NED,2784)
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (FRA,2773) 1-0 Veselin Topalov (BUL,2803)
Fabiano Caruana (USA,2787) ½-½ Hikaru Nakamura (USA,2793)
Viswanathan Anand (IND,2796) ½-½ Magnus Carlsen (NOR,2834)
Michael Adams (GBR,2737) ½-½ Levon Aronian (ARM,2788)

Vishy and Magnus play draw after 56 moves, in that both players missed chances for completing win ... Only result of the day was upset loss of Topalov playing with black against Vachier-Lagrave.

Badminton News

At $120K Yonex Sunrise Indonesian Masters 2015, Malang (Grand Prix Gold)

Men's Singles Final
(1) K. Srikanth (IND,8) l (2) Tommy Sugiarto (INA,12) 21-17 13-21 22-24

Srikanth lose the final after winning the first game against local boy Tommy Sugiarto ... After winning the first game Srikanth lost the focus and Tommy won next game comfortably ... In the final game Tommy was leading from the start, he was keeping his lead all the time ... Srikanth saved 2 match points at 18-20 and then he had couple of match points at 21-20 and then 22-21 but both time failed to convert ... Tommy converted 3rd match point for completing excellent win ... Good to see after longtime Srikanth having few wins under his belt.

Hockey News

At Men's Hockey World League - Finals 2015, Raipur, India

Semi Final
India l Belgium 0-1 (0-1)
Goal Scorers - Cédric Charlier (BEL) 5'

Though we lose by one goal still I am disappointed by our overall performance ... We failed to get a single penalty corner in this match, this was total failure of our forward line ... They struggled to control ball inside the D and failed to intercept passes ... Our players failed to break Belgium's defense ... Belgium earned three penalty corners but failed to convert but what cost us is early soft goal ... Charlier scores goal due to mistake from our defenders and only one mistake from Sreejesh ... We will face mighty Netherlands for Bronze medal match.

Chess News

At the London Chess Classic 2015, Great Britain

Round 1 - 4 Dec 15
Veselin Topalov (BUL,2803) 0-1 Anish Giri (NED,2784)
Alexander Grischuk (RUS,2747) ½-½ Hikaru Nakamura (USA,2793)
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (FRA,2773) ½-½ Magnus Carlsen (NOR,2834)
Fabiano Caruana (USA,2787) ½-½ Levon Aronian (ARM,2788)
Viswanathan Anand (IND,2796) ½-½ Michael Adams (GBR,2737)

Round 2 - 5 Dec 15
Anish Giri (NED,2784) ½-½ Michael Adams (GBR,2737)
Hikaru Nakamura (USA,2793) ½-½ Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (FRA,2773)
Magnus Carlsen (NOR,2834) ½-½ Fabiano Caruana (USA,2787)
Levon Aronian (ARM,2788) ½-½ Viswanathan Anand (IND,2796)
Veselin Topalov (BUL,2803) ½-½ Alexander Grischuk (RUS,2747)

The London Chess Classic is started from yesterday ... Seven players from top 10 are participating in this tournament ... In the first round Anish defeated Topalov with black ... All other matches ended in draw ... Adams hold Anand with excellent defending in 32 moves ... In the second game also Anand manges to hold Aronian with Black after 34 moves.

Badminton News

At $120K Yonex Sunrise Indonesian Masters 2015, Malang (Grand Prix Gold)

[SF] (1) K. Srikanth (IND,8) bt (11) Ginting Anthony (INA,39) 21-13 21-19

[F] (1) K. Srikanth (IND,8) vs (2) Tommy Sugiarto (INA,12)

Good straight games win by Srikanth against Ginting Anthony inside 40 minutes ... In the final he is facing local favorite 2nd seed Tommy Sugiarto, against whom he lost in their previous meeting in October at Denmark open.

Badminton News

At $120K Yonex Sunrise Indonesian Masters 2015, Malang (Grand Prix Gold)

[QF] (1) K. Srikanth (IND,8) bt (15) Teck Zhi Sod (MAS,65) 21-10 21-5
[QF] (1) P.V. Sindhu (IND,12) l Bingjiao He (CHN,67) 21-23 13-21

[SF] (1) K. Srikanth (IND,8) vs (11) Ginting Anthony (INA,39)

Srikanth scores comfortable win over his Malaysian opponent in 25 minutes ... In the semis he is facing local favorite Ginting Anthony, against whom he lost in their previous meeting at Indonesian open.

Shocking loss of Sindhu in hands of lowly ranked Chinese girl Bingjiao He in straight games.

Tennis News

At $15K Thailand F9 Futures, Bangkok

[SF] (5) Sumit NAGAL (IND,464) l (3) Connor SMITH (USA,238) 57 1-3 retd.

Sumit retired from the match due to injury but he gives fighting performance ... In this match Sumit was break down early but he broke back Connor and was matching him ... Connor took crucial break in 11th game for winning this set ... In that Sumit got injured and then he conceded the match after fourth game of the second set ... Sumit need to work on his fitness and also work on his shot making to be real candidate for top-100.

Hockey News

At Men's Hockey World League - Finals 2015, Raipur, India

Quarter Final
India bt Great Britain 2-1 (1-0)
Goal Scorers - Raghunath Vokkaliga (IND) 19' PC, Talwinder Singh (IND) 39' and Simon Mantell (GBR) 52' PC

I am still not believing that we pull off victory against Great Britain ... These days we regularly loses against them but here we really give disciplined performance in defense ... In this match we saved all penalty corners and scored from only one from Raghunath ... We kept that lead at half-time ... In the third quarter we scored field goal through Talwinder ... In the fourth quarter Mantell reduced lead through penalty corner but we defended well in last 8 minutes for important win though we were lucky that they failed to score from penalty corners ... We need to work on avoiding panic defending which is giving many penalty corner opportunities to our opponents ... In the semis we r facing Belgium, against them also we regularly struggle these days.

Squash News

At $95K Women's Hong Kong Open 2015, Hong Kong China

[R1] (14) Dipika Pallikal (IND,14) l (4) Camille Serme (FRA,4) 11-7, 8-11, 3-11, 8-11 (45m)
[R1] (15) Joshana Chinappa (IND,17) l Joelle King (NZL,15) 11-9, 8-11, 11-9, 10-12, 6-11 (64m)

Joshana misses big opportunity of finishing this match in the fourth game and then she never recover from that to lose the fifth game easily.

Dipika also fails to overcome the challenge after winning first game.

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At $150K Men's Hong Kong Open 2015, Hong Kong China

[R2] Saurav Ghosal (IND,17) l (1) Mohamed Elshorbagy (EGY,1) w/o

Saurav Ghosal's withdrawal from his match due to injury.

Tennis News

At $15K Thailand F9 Futures, Bangkok

[QF] (5) Sumit NAGAL (IND,464) bt Mikelis LIBIETIS (LAT,854) 36 61 3-0 retd.

[SF] (5) Sumit NAGAL (IND,464) vs (3) Connor SMITH (USA,238)

This is really good win by Sumit against former NCAA top 10 player Latvian Mikelis ... From on site report Sumit matched Mikelis in shot making and played really well against powerful Mikelis before he retire ... Next he is having really tough match against top 250 player Connor Smith.

Badminton News

At $120K Yonex Sunrise Indonesian Masters 2015, Malang (Grand Prix Gold)

[R2] 1) K. Srikanth (IND,8) bt Saputra VICKY Angga (INA,402) 21-14 17-21 25-23
[R2] (8) R. M. V. Gurusaidutt (IND,42) bt Kean Yew Loh (SIN,154) 21-19 19-21 21-15
[R2] (3) H. S. Prannoy (IND,20) l Yuqi Shi (CHN,121) 12-21 22-20 13-21

[R3] (1) K. Srikanth (IND,8) bt Bin Qiao (CHN,64) 21-12 21-15
[R3] (8) R. M. V. Gurusaidutt (IND,42) l (12) Iskandar Zulkarnain Zainuddin (MAS,53) 14-21 21-17-21 15-21

[R2] (1) P.V. Sindhu (IND,12) bt (Q) Wulan Cahya Utami Sukoputri (INA,UNR) 21-12 21-9

[QF] (1) K. Srikanth (IND,8) vs (15) Teck Zhi Sod (MAS,65)
[QF] (1) P.V. Sindhu (IND,12) vs Bingjiao He (CHN,67)

Srikanth saved it from big scare in the second round against below 400 ranked Indonesian Angga ... Srikanth saved 4 match points before converting his 1st match point ... After that in the third round he scored straight games win over against his Chinese opponent ... In the quarters he is facing another Chinese challenge of Bingjiao He.

Sindhu is also in the quarter with comfortable win ... Next she is facing Malaysian girl Teck Zhi Sod.

Other hand Guru lose in the third round against his Malaysian opponent after winning his second round against Loh ... Prannoy lose in the second round against his Chinese opponent.

Squash News

At $95K Women's Hong Kong Open 2015, Hong Kong China

[R1] (14) Dipika Pallikal (IND,14) bt Habiba Mohamed (EGY,29) 11-9, 11-2, 11-2 (19m)
[R1] (15) Joshana Chinappa (IND,17) bt (Q) Megan Craig (NZL,39) 11-8, 11-9, 11-6 (25m)

[R2] (14) Dipika Pallikal (IND,14) vs (4) Camille Serme (FRA,4)
[R2] (15) Joshana Chinappa (IND,13) vs Joelle King (NZL,15)

Joshana moves to her best ranking and first-time inside top 15 ... She also becomes India's top player with her #13 rank.

Good dominating win for Dipika against 16 yrs old talented Egyptian girl in 20 minutes ... Next she is facing top-5 French girl Camille Serme.

Joshana also start with straight games win over Megan Craig in 25 minutes ... Next Joshana is facing New Zealand's top player and also former top-5 player Joelle King.

Tennis News

At $15K Thailand F9 Futures, Bangkok

[R2] (5) Sumit NAGAL (IND,464) bt Bowen OUYANG (CHN,788) 61 61

[QF] (5) Sumit NAGAL (IND,464) vs Mikelis LIBIETIS (LAT,854)

Doubles
[QF] (4) Mick LESCURE (FRA)/ Sumit NAGAL (IND) l Punn BODHIDATTA (THA)/ Suthinan TANTHASERANEEWAT (THA) 46 64 8-10

Another dominating win against top-800 Chinese opponent Bowen Ouyang losing only 2 games ... Next Sumit is facing Latvian Mikelis Libietis, who beats top-seed Ti Chen in the second round ... Mikelis Libietis is a top-10 college player and playing regularly on the tour from June ... Last week he reached in the final of Thai futures, so tough match for Sumit.

In the doubles Sumit and his French partner Lescure lose their match in match tie-break.

Badminton News

At $120K Yonex Sunrise Indonesian Masters 2015, Malang (Grand Prix Gold)

[R1] (1) K. Srikanth (IND,8) bt Wibowo Setyaldi Putra (INA,318) 21-6 21-12
[R1] (8) R. M. V. Gurusaidutt (IND,42) bt Muhammad Ahdial Octa Khairulloh (INA,904) 21-10 21-3
[R1] (3) H. S. Prannoy (IND,20) bt Panji Ahmad Maulana (INA,501) 21-16 21-16

[R1] (1) P.V. Sindhu (IND,12) bt Gregoria Mariska (INA,110) 21-16 19-21 21-12

[R2] (1) K. Srikanth (IND,8) vs Saputra VICKY Angga (INA,402)
[R2] (8) R. M. V. Gurusaidutt (IND,42) vs Kean Yew Loh (SIN,154)
[R2] (3) H. S. Prannoy (IND,20) vs Yuqi Shi (CHN,121)

[R2] (1) P.V. Sindhu (IND,12) vs (Q) Wulan Cahya Utami Sukoputri (INA,UNR)

Sindhu and Srikanth r top-seeds here ... But surprisingly Sindhu gets stretched to three games by lowly ranked local player ... After winning the first game Sindhu was leading 10-5 in the second ... From here Sindhu lost concentration and allowed Mariska to catch her at 16-all ... Mariska kept pressure for winning this game ... In the third Sindhu recovered for winning it comfortably.

Srikanth also start with comfortable straight games win ... Prannoy and Guru also score expected straight games win.

Squash News

At $150K Men's Hong Kong Open 2015, Hong Kong China

[R1] Saurav Ghosal (IND,17) bt Stephen Coppinger (RSA,14) 9-11, 11-3, 12-10, 9-11, 11-9 (76m)

[R2] Saurav Ghosal (IND,17) vs (1) Mohamed Elshorbagy (EGY,1)

Saurav scores very tight five games win over higher ranked South African Stephen Coppinger ... After losing the first game Saurav made strong comeback to win the second comfortably ... In the third both players were neck to neck but Saurav won it in extra points but Coppinger won close fourth game ... Saurav recovered to win the decider after close fight ... Next he is facing WR #1 Mohamed Elshorbagy.

Squash News

At $150K Men's Hong Kong Open 2015, Hong Kong China

[Q1] Mahesh Mangaonkar (IND,57) bt Matthew Lai (HKG,UNR) 11-3, 11-2, 11-2 (17m)
[Q1] Harinder Pal Singh Sandhu (IND,71) bt David Clegg (AUS,227) 11-3, 11-2, 11-6 (24m)

[Q2] Mahesh Mangaonkar (IND,57) l Tsz Fung Yip (HKG,64) 4-11, 7-11, 6-11 (34m)
[Q2] Harinder Pal Singh Sandhu (IND,71) l Zahed Mohamed (EGY,29) 11-9, 6-11, 9-11, 5-11 (47m)

[R1] Saurav Ghosal (IND,17) vs Stephen Coppinger (RSA,14)

Mahesh and Harinder fail to qualify for main-draw but in that poor run of Mahesh continues ... Saurav having tricky match against top-15 South African Coppinger.

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At $95K Women's Hong Kong Open 2015, Hong Kong China

[R1] (14) Dipika Pallikal (IND,14) vs Habiba Mohamed (EGY,29)
[R1] (15) Joshana Chinappa (IND,17) vs (Q) Megan Craig (NZL,39)

Joshana is on her new career high ranking after recent consistent performance ... She is facing New Zealand's qualifier in the first round.

Dipika having tricky match against former top-20 but only 16 yrs old talented Egyptian girl.

Tennis News

At $15K Thailand F9 Futures, Bangkok

[R1] (5) Sumit NAGAL (IND,464) bt (Q) Maksim MALYSHEV (UKR,1992) 61 62

[R2] (5) Sumit NAGAL (IND,464) vs Bowen OUYANG (CHN,788)

Doubles
[R1] (4) Mick LESCURE (FRA)/ Sumit NAGAL (IND) bt Satjakon CHALARD (THA)/ Phaninthon PAKPOOMKAMOL (THA) 75 63

[QF] (4) Mick LESCURE (FRA)/ Sumit NAGAL (IND) vs Punn BODHIDATTA (THA)/ Suthinan TANTHASERANEEWAT (THA)

Again dominating winning start for Sumit but hoping such kind of performance against better players.

Hockey News

At Men's Hockey World League - Finals 2015, Raipur, India

Pool B
India l Netherlands 0-0 (1-3)
Goal Scorers - Chinglensana Kangujam (IND) 47' PC and Mink van der Weerden (NED) 36' PC, Mirco Pruijser (NED) 43', Roel Bovendeert (NED) 54'

The Netherlands sealed top spot in Pool B after comfortable 3-1 win over India ... Dutch side were better on the field though we managed to hold them goalless till half-time ... We finishes on the fourth place that means we will have tough match against Pool A group winner.

Snooker News

At £732K 2015 UK Championship, York, England

[R2] Aditya Mehta (IND,64) l (3) Neil Robertson (AUS,3) 2-6 (67-58, 0-84 (51), 51-65, 0-114(114), 11-96(51), 5-93(93), 88-0, 0-120 (120))

Aditya lose his match in 8 frames against WR #3 Neil Robertson ... Aditya had really tough match against regaining Champion of Champions tournament winner Australian Neil Robertson ... Aditya started well after winning tight first frame but afterwards Niel took control of the match ... He won next five frames scoring one 100+, one 90+ and two 50+ breaks in that ... Aditya won 7th frame but against Niel scored 100+ break for completing victory in style.

Badminton News

At $120K 2015 Macau Open,

Women's Singles Final
(5) P.V. Sindhu (IND,12) bt (6) Minatsu Mitani (JPN,18) 21-9 21-23 21-14

Sindhu completes hat-trick of Macau title after final win in 66 minutes against Japanese girl Minatsu Mitani ... In ther only previous meeting Mitani defeated Sindhu so this was tough final ... In the first game Sindhu opened 5-1 lead which she increased to 16-5 ... Sindhu kept that advantage for winning this game comfortably ... In the second game both players were neck to neck and were exchanging lead ... Sindhu had 2 match points at 20-19 and then 21-20 but she missed both and Mitani won 3 points in a row for taking match into the decider ... Sindhu recovered in the third and again took early lead 5-2 and then 9-3 ... Mitani came close to 7-10 but Sindhu didn't gave her any chance ... Mitani saved 3 match points but Sindhu had big lead as she converted 4th match point.

Hockey News

At Men's Hockey World League - Finals 2015, Raipur, India

Pool B
India dw Germany 1-1 (0-1)
Goal Scorers - Akashdeep Singh (IND) 47' and Niklas Wellen (GER) 6'

Lot more improved performance by us against Olympic champion Germany ... But other hand we missed too many chances which could converted this draw in a win ... Germany scored early goal but we kept attacking and got equalizer by Akashdeep in the fourth quarter ... We need to remove deadwood from the team if we want to see consistent performance from this team ... Still we r in danger of finishing bottom of the group and facing mighty Aussie in the quarter-final.

Badminton News

At $120K 2015 Macau Open,

[SF] (5) P.V. Sindhu (IND,12) bt (2) Akane Yamaguchi (JPN,10) 21-8 15-21 21-15

Sindhu scores three games win over top-10 Japanese opponent Akane Yamaguchi in 63 minutes ... In the first game from 5-2 Sindhu won 12 points in a row to lead 17-2 ... Sindhu kept that advantage for winning it ... In the second game Sindhu opened 6-2 lead but Yamaguchi caught her at 11-all after winning 3 points in a row from 8-11 ... Sindhi again took 14-11 lead but this time also Yamaguchi caught her at 14-all ... In that time unforced errors were creeping in Sindhu's game ... And Sindhu lost 7 points in a row from 15-14 to lose the game ... In the decider from 4-2 Sindhu opened 14-5 lead ... After that Yamaguchi tried comeback and she reduced Sindhu's lead to 14-17 ... This time Sindhu kept her cool and converted 2nd match point for important win.

Hockey News

At Men's Hockey World League - Finals 2015, Raipur, India

Pool B
India l Argentina 0-3 (0-2)
Goal Scorers - Gonzalo Peillat (ARG) 3' PC and 60' PC, Joaquin Menini (ARG) 24' PC

Men's Hockey World League Final is started at Raipur ... India are in tough group with Netherlands, Germany and Argentina.

Indians has terrible start as they lose convincingly against Argentine team ... In the match we played poorly and Argentina took advantage of it ... Our players failed to defend which earned 9 penalty corners for Argentina and we managed to earn only single penalty corner ... Argentinian team converted 3 of those for easy win.

Badminton News

At $120K 2015 Macau Open,

[QF] (15) B. Sai Praneeth (IND,34) l Soon Huat Goh (MAS,82) 16-21 23-21 12-21
[QF] (7) H. S. Prannoy (IND,19) l Ihsan Maulana Mustofa (INA,40) 21-18 19-21 11-21

[QF] (5) P.V. Sindhu (IND,12) bt Yufei Chen (CHN,91) 21-13 18-21 21-14

[SF] (5) P.V. Sindhu (IND,12) vs (2) Akane Yamaguchi (JPN,10)

Sindhu needs three games to beat lower ranked her Chinese opponent ... After losing the second game Sindhu came back strongly to beat Chinese ... Next she is facing top-10 Japanese opponent Yamaguchi.

Other hand Sai and Prannoy perform as per their seeding but lose in the quarters against lower ranked opponents ... Prannoy was up with a game before losing next two games.

Snooker News

At £732K 2015 UK Championship, York, England

[R1] Aditya Mehta (IND,64) bt Sam Baird (ENG,67) 6-5 (20-81(81), 12-112(112), 24-68(58), 32-61, 91(90)-2, 72-68, 67(51)-26, 116(87)-0, 70(50)-51, 22-79(74), 97-31)

Much needed moral boosting win for Aditya in this difficult season ... In this match he was 0-4 frames down before making comeback ... He won next five games before losing 10th game ... But Aditya recovered for winning the decider 11th frame.

Badminton News

At $120K 2015 Macau Open,

[R3] (15) B. Sai Praneeth (IND,34) bt Andre Kurniawan TEDJONO (INA,64) 21-15 21-6
[R3] (7) H. S. Prannoy (IND,19) bt Bin QIAO (CHN,81) 12-21 21-11 21-19

[R2] (5) P.V. Sindhu (IND,12) bt Lindaweni FANETRI (INA,26) 21-17 21-18

[QF] (15) B. Sai Praneeth (IND,34) vs Soon Huat GOH (MAS,82)
[QF] (7) H. S. Prannoy (IND,19) vs Ihsan Maulana MUSTOFA (INA,40)

[QF] (5) P.V. Sindhu (IND,12) vs Yufei CHEN (CHN,91)

Terrific convincing win by Prannoy against his tricky opponent Andre Kurniawan Tedjono, who was also former top 20 player ... Sai also scores excellent comeback win against his Chinese opponent ... Sindhu also overcome tricky challenge of Indonesian Fanetri in straight games.

Tennis News

At $75K+H ITF Women's Tennis Tournament 2015, Toyota, Japan

[QF] Elise MERTENS (BEL) / Ankita RAINA (IND) l Akiko OMAE (JPN) / Peangtarn PLIPUECH (THA) w/o

Ankita and her partner give walkover to their opponents.

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At $15K Thailand F8 Futures,

[QF] (3) Sumit NAGAL (IND,463) l (8) Puriwat CHATPATCHAROEN (THA,783) 46 67(3)

Doubles
[SF] (3) Sumit NAGAL (IND)/ Mick LESCURE (FRA) l (1) Pruchya ISAROW (THA)/ Nuttanon KADCHAPANAN (THA) 26 36

Bad loss in straight sets for Sumit against lower ranked Thai opponent ... Sumit needs to improve his overall game for succeed on higher level ... In the doubles also Sumit and his French partner lose against top-seed Thai pair.

Badminton News

At $120K 2015 Macau Open,

[R2] (15) B. Sai Praneeth (IND,34) bt Artyom SAVATYUGIN (UZB,205) 21-11 21-8
[R1] (7) H. S. Prannoy (IND,19) bt Chia Hsuan LIN (TPE,299) 21-19 21-15
[R1] (9) Ajay JAYARAM (IND,24) l Guipu LIN (CHN,149) 11-21 17-21

[R1] (5) P.V. Sindhu (IND,12) bt Hyo Min KIM (KOR,25)

[R1] (2) Jwala GUTTA (IND)/ Ashwini PONNAPPA (IND) l Yuki FUKUSHIMA (JPN)/ Sayaka HIROTA (JPN) 16-21 15-21

[R3] (15) B. Sai Praneeth (IND,34) vs Andre Kurniawan TEDJONO (INA,64)
[R3] (7) H. S. Prannoy (IND,19) vs Bin QIAO (CHN,81)

[R2] (5) P.V. Sindhu (IND,12) vs Lindaweni FANETRI (INA,26)

Disappointing loss of Jwala and Ashwini against lowly ranked Japanese pair in straight games ... They need to pick up their game so preparing on right track for Rio Olympic ... Also disappoint by Ajya's loss against lowly ranked Chinese player ... He need to remove inconsistency from his performance for keeping his Rio dream alive.

Tennis News

At $75K+H ITF Women's Tennis Tournament 2015, Toyota, Japan

[R1] Ankita RAINA (IND,253) l (3) Stefanie VOEGELE (SUI,120) 26 46

Expected loss of Ankita but I also feel she need to play one or two $10K easy tournaments for boosting her confidence and earning enough points to remain in top 300.

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At $75K Toyota Challenger, Japan

[R1] John Paul Fruttero (USA)/ Purav Raja (IND) l (1) Sonchat Ratiwatana (THA)/ Sanchai Ratiwatana (THA) 57 36

So with this loss Purav's 2015 season get over ... He will remains in 90s and hopefully with regular partner move into top 50 in 2016 season.

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At $15K Thailand F8 Futures,

[R2] (3) Sumit NAGAL (IND,463) bt (Q) Maksim MALYSHEV (UKR,1992) 61 60

[QF] (3) Sumit NAGAL (IND,463) vs (8) Puriwat CHATPATCHAROEN (THA,783)

Doubles
[QF] (3) Sumit NAGAL (IND)/ Mick LESCURE (FRA) bt Punn BODHIDATTA (THA)/ Suthinan TANTHASERANEEWAT (THA) 61 63

Another dominating performance by Sumit ... He literally demolished his Ukrainian opponent losing a single game ... In the doubles also he is in the semis ... In the singles quarter next he is facing local top 800 player Puriwat.

Badminton News

At $120K 2015 Macau Open,

[R1] (1) K. Srikanth (IND,7) l Christie JONATAN (INA,40) 16-21 21-23
[R1] (15) B. Sai Praneeth (IND,34) bt Fikri Ihsandi HADMADI (INA,147) 21-18 23-21
[R1] (7) H. S. Prannoy (IND,19) bt Sukamta EVERT (INA,179) 21-15 16-21 21-18
[R1] (9) Ajay JAYARAM (IND,24) bt Chun Hei TAM (HKG,394) 21-6 25-23

[R2] (15) B. Sai Praneeth (IND,34) vs Artyom SAVATYUGIN (UZB,205)
[R1] (7) H. S. Prannoy (IND,19) vs Chia Hsuan LIN (TPE,299)
[R1] (9) Ajay JAYARAM (IND,24) vs Guipu LIN (CHN,149)

[R1] (5) P.V. Sindhu (IND,12) vs Hyo Min KIM (KOR,25)

[R1] (2) Jwala GUTTA (IND)/ Ashwini PONNAPPA (IND) vs Yuki FUKUSHIMA (JPN)/ Sayaka HIROTA (JPN)

Shocking loss of Srikanth in straight games ... He really need to take break and come out of injuries to improve his game.

Tennis News

At $75K+H ITF Women's Tennis Tournament 2015, Toyota, Japan

[R1] Ankita RAINA (IND,253) vs (3) Stefanie VOEGELE (SUI,120)

Doubles
[R1] Elise MERTENS (BEL)/ Ankita RAINA (IND) bt (4) Ksenia LYKINA (RUS)/ Sofia SHAPATAVA (GEO) 62 64

tough first round match against top-125 player in the singles but in the doubles she and her Belgian partner start with upset win over 4th seed pair.

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At $75K Toyota Challenger, Japan

[R1] John Paul Fruttero (USA)/ Purav Raja (IND) vs (1) Sonchat Ratiwatana (THA)/ Sanchai Ratiwatana (THA)

Tough match for Purav and John in the first round.

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At $15K Thailand F8 Futures,

[R1] (3) Sumit NAGAL (IND,463) bt (Q) Punn BODHIDATTA (THA,1719) 60 62

[R2] (3) Sumit NAGAL (IND,463) vs (Q) Maksim MALYSHEV (UKR,1992)

Doubles
[R1] (3) Sumit NAGAL (IND)/ Mick LESCURE (FRA) bt Kazuma KAWACHI (JPN)/ Issei OKAMURA (JPN) 63 46 10-3

[QF] (3) Sumit NAGAL (IND)/ Mick LESCURE (FRA) vs Punn Bodhidatta (THA)/ Suthinan Tanthaseraneewat (THA)

Dominating winning start in the singles for Sumit against local qualifier ... Next he is facing another qualifier ... In the doubles also Sumit and his French partner start with the win.

Tennis News

At $7M Barclays ATP World Tour Finals, London, Great Britain

Final
(8) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Florin Meargea (ROM) l (2) Jean-Julien Rojer (FRA)/ Horia Tecau (ROU) 46 36

Rohan-Florin fail to repeat their earlier matches performance in the final against new #1 pair Tecau and Rojer for losing the final in straight sets ... Still overall creditable performance for Rohan-Florin as they qualified for Tour Finals at last place.

Hockey News

At the 8th Junior Asia Cup 2015, Kuantan, Malaysia

Final
India bt Pakistan 6-2 (3-1)
Goal Scorers - Harmanpreet Singh (IND) 10' PC, 15' PC, 30' PC and 53' PC, Armaan Qureshi (IND) 44', Manpreet Singh (Jr.) 50' and Muhammad Yaqoob (PAK) 28', Muhammad Dilber (PA) 68'

Matching its meticulous planning and methodical approach, India boys won the 8th Junior Asia Cup majestically, thumping Pakistan down to 6-2 at Kuantan ... Our boys dominated match throughout the period .. Again Harmanpreet showed his penalty corner supremacy scoring four goals.

Tennis News

At $7M Barclays ATP World Tour Finals, London, Great Britain

[SF] (8) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Florin Meargea (ROM) bt (3) Ivan Dodig (CRO)/ Marcelo Melo (BRA) 64 62

Rohan-Florin r in their first ATP World Tour Finals final with convincing win over 3rd seed Melo-Dodig ... After winning the first with single break advantage Rohan-Florin dominated the second ... From 2-all they broke Melo in 5th and Dodig in 7th for winning this set and the atch comfortably ... Rohan was very good with his serve and returning and Florin matches him with his shot making ... Almost perfect match for our pair.

Tennis News

At $7M Barclays ATP World Tour Finals, London, Great Britain

Ashe/ Smith Group
(8) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Florin Meargea (ROM) l (5) Simone Bolelli (ITA)/ Fabio Fognini (ITA) 46 61 5-10

In their last group match Rohan-Florin lose against 5th seed Italian pair ... After losing the first set Rohan-Florin made strong comeback for winning the second set comfortably ... But they failed to keep momentum in super tie-break ... Still Rohan-Florin will qualify for the semi-final with topping this group as Italian pair was already out of semi-final contention.

Badminton News

At $350K Yonex Sunrise Hong Kong Open 2015, Kowloon (Superseries)

[R1] (6) K. Srikanth (IND,5) l Houwei Tian (CHN,10) 16-21 21-15 22-24
[R1] Ajay Jayaram (IND,25) l (1) Chen Long (CHN,1) 17-21 12-21
[R1] H. S. Prannoy (IND,21) l Kento Nishimoto (JPN,59) 15-21 21-18 6-21

[R1] PV. Sindhu (IND,13) l (1) Carolina Marin (ESP,1) 17-21 9-21

[R1] Jwala Gutta (IND)/ Ashwini Ponnappa (IND) l (8) Kyun Eun Jung (KOR)/ Seung Chan Shin (KOR) 12-21 15-21

These were tough matches for our players in Hong Kong but wasn't expected all lose their first round matches.

Another heart breaking loss for Srikanth, who is in danger of soon finding himself outside top-10 ... In the first game from 10-all Houwei took control for winning it ... In the second game Srikanth took 4-1 lead and throughout maintained that advantage for winning it ... The third game was close one ...Srikanth was 0-4 down but crawl back to 3-4 and then from 8-10 Srikanth won next 6 points for sizable 14-10 lead ... After that Houwei came back to catch Srikanth on 14-all ... After that both players exchanged lead ... Srikanth save 1 match point at 19-20 and then Srikanth had match point at 21-20 but he failed to convert ... Srikanth saved another at 21-22 but failed to save third match point for losing this match in 73 minutes.

Sindhu and Ajay loses one-sided matches against their respective WR #1 opponents ... Prannoy had realistic chance but he also flattered in the third.

Another disappointing one sided loss for Jwala and Ashwini against Korean pair.

Squash News

At $325K Men's World Squash Championships 2015, Bellevue, Washington, USA

[R2] (16) Saurav Ghosal (IND,17) l James Willstrop (ENG,24) 7-11, 7-11, 7-11 (41m)

Saurav lose in straight game against his training partner and former WR #1 James Willstrop ... I was hoping Saurav's first win over James as he lost all 8 matches which they played previously ... James is coming out of surgery and now 32 yrs old but he had different idea ... The first game was closely fought but James took control after making Saurav run around and keeping him on the back foot ... After winning first game James were control in next two ... He was leading 10-4 when Saurav saved 3 game balls before losing the second ... In the third also James took 10-4 lead and this time also Saurav saved 3 match balls before losing the match..

Tennis News

At $7M Barclays ATP World Tour Finals, London, Great Britain

Ashe/ Smith Group
(8) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Florin Meargea (ROM) bt (4) Jamie Murray (ENG)/ John Peers (AUS) 63 76(5)
(1) Bob Bryan (USA)/ Mike Bryan (USA) vs (5) Simone Bolelli (ITA)/ Fabio Fognini (ITA)

Rohan-Florin score another upset win over 4th seed Murray-Peers to secure semi-final place ... After winning the first set comfortably Rohan-Florin were stretched in the second but they kept composure for winning tie-break.

Tennis News

At $50K Yokohama Challenger, Japan

[R1] Divij Sharan (IND) / Andriej Kapas (POL) l. (3) Yan Bai (CHN)/ Zi Li (CHN) 16 46

What can say? Wrong selection of partner in these Japanese challenger series.

Badminton News

At BWF World Junior Championships 2015, Lima, Peru

Junior Men's Singles Final
Siril Verma (IND,450) l (6) Chia Hung Lu (TPE,106) 21-17 10-21 7-21

Siril Verma loses the final in 50 minutes against Taipei's Chia Hung Lu after winning the first game ... In the first game Siril matched with Lu's game but after that Lu proved too strong for him ... Still creditable performance by Siril, who participated in this World championship as unseeded.

Squash News

At $325K Men's World Squash Championships 2015, Bellevue, Washington, USA

[R1] (16) Saurav Ghosal (IND,17) bt Ryan Cuskelly (AUS,20) 7-11, 11-8, 11-7, 11-3
[R1] (Q) Harinder Pal Singh Sandhu (IND,71) l Nicolas Müller (SUI,25) 5-11, 11-2, 4-11, 9-11

[R2] (16) Saurav Ghosal (IND,17) vs James Willstrop (ENG,24)

Saurav is having tricky match against similarly ranked Aussie opponent Ryan Cuskelly in the first round but he overcome challenge in four games after losing the first game ... Saurav made excellent comeback against Ryan for this win ... In the second round he is facing Britisher James Willstrop ... This is really trickuy match for Saurav against former WR #1.

Harinder Pal gives fighting performance in his loss against top-25 Swiss player ... After losing the first game Harinder made strong comeback for winning the second game convincingly ... He failed to keep momentum in the third which he lost cheaply ... Though he tried in the fourth but Nicolas kept his focus for completing win in four games.

Tennis News

At $7M Barclays ATP World Tour Finals, London, Great Britain

Ashe/ Smith Group
(1) Bob Bryan (USA)/ Mike Bryan (USA)
(4) Jamie Murray (ENG)/ John Peers (AUS)
(5) Simone Bolelli (ITA)/ Fabio Fognini (ITA)
(8) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Florin Meargea (ROM)

(8) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Florin Meargea (ROM) bt (1) Bob Bryan (USA)/ Mike Bryan (USA) 64 63
(4) Jamie Murray (ENG)/ John Peers (AUS) bt (5) Simone Bolelli (ITA)/ Fabio Fognini (ITA 76(5) 36 11–9

Rohan-Florin r in Ashe/ Smith Group ... And they start with impressive win over top-seed Bryans in their first match ... Rohan-Florin score convincing straight sets win to increase their chances of qualifying for semi-final.

Badminton News

At $700K China Open 2015, Fuzhou (Superseries Premier)

Women's Singles Final
(1) Saina Nehwal (IND,2) l (6) Xuerui Li (CHN,7) 12-21 15-21

Saina loses her match easily against her nemesis Xuerui Li in 39 minutes ... In the first game Saina was up 4-1 but after that Xuerui won 6 points in a row to lead 4-7 and after that Xuerui kept increasing lead for winning it comfortably ... In the second game Saina started with 4-0 lead which she increased to 12-6 but Xuerui won next 7 points to catch Saina ... After 15-all Xuerui again won next 6 points to comple the victory ... Considering recent injury stricken performance of Saina we can say this was decent performance from Saina as she was defending lot of points as defending champion.

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At BWF World Junior Championships 2015, Lima, Peru

[R1] Siril Verma (IND,450) bt Niels Veenstra (NED,1485) 21-7 21-9
[R2] Siril Verma (IND,450) bt Thomas Baures (FRA,772) 21-5 21-13
[R3] Siril Verma (IND,450) bt (9) Kantaphon Wangcharoen (THA,161) 21-13 21-13
[R4] Siril Verma (IND,450) bt (3) Anders Antonsen (DEN,152) 21-12 18-21 21-15
[QF] Siril Verma (IND,450) bt (10) Satheishtharan R (MAS,625) 21-15 21-14
[SF] Siril Verma (IND,450) bt (14) Adulrach Namkul (THA,228) 21-15 21-14

[F] Siril Verma (IND,450) vs (6) Chia Hung Lu (TPE,106)

Siril Verma becomes first Indian boy to reach World Junior championship final ... Before this from Indian only Saina Nehwal won in 2008 and she was runner-up in 2006 ... Also Aparna Popat was runner-up n 1996.

Siril score upset win over four seeded players but in the final he is facing Taipei's Chia Hung Lu, he defeated Siril early this year at Asian championship.

Squash News

At $325K Men's World Squash Championships 2015, Bellevue, Washington, USA

[Q2] Mahesh Mangaonkar (IND,57) l Andrew Wagih Shoukry (EGY,72) 6-11, 5-11, 8-11 (34m)
[Q2] Harinder Pal Singh Sandhu (IND,71) bt Chris Hanson (USA,84) 11-4, 12-10, 11-4 (32m)

[R1] (Q) Harinder Pal Singh Sandhu (IND,71) vs Nicolas Müller (SUI,25)

I was thinking our both players will qualify for main-draw but Mahesh has disappointing straight games loss against Shoukry ... Other hand Harinder win his match in straight games ... In the first round he is facing top-25 Swiss player Nicolas Müller.

Squash News

At $325K Men's World Squash Championships 2015, Bellevue, Washington, USA

[Q1] Mahesh Mangaonkar (IND,57) bye
[Q1] Harinder Pal Singh Sandhu (IND,71) bt Faraz Khan (USA,164) 11-4, 12-10, 6-11, 11-6 (47m)
[Q1] Supreet Singh (IND,396) l Jaymie Haycocks (ENG,83) 5-11, 7-11, 8-11 (31m)
[Q1] Ramit Tandon (IND,262) l Steven Finitsis (AUS,86) 7-11, 11-7, 2-11, 9-11 (53m)

[Q2] Mahesh Mangaonkar (IND,57) vs Andrew Wagih Shoukry (EGY,72)
[Q2] Harinder Pal Singh Sandhu (IND,71) vs Chris Hanson (USA,84)

[R1] (16) Saurav Ghosal (IND,17) vs Ryan Cuskelly (AUS,20)

Mahesh and Harinder r in the final qualifying matches for World championships ... Mahesh having tricky match against former top-50 Egyptian opponent and Harinder is facing local player.

Saurav is 16th seed and facing similar ranked Aussie opponent Ryan Cuskelly in the first round.

Badminton News

At $700K China Open 2015, Fuzhou (Superseries Premier)

[SF] (1) Saina Nehwal (IND,2) bt (7) Yihan Wang (CHN,8) 21-13 21-18

[F] (1) Saina Nehwal (IND,2) vs (6) Xuerui Li (CHN,7)

Saina scores straight games solid win over Yihan Wang in 41 minutes ... In the first game Saina opened early 9-5 and then 11-7 lead but Yihan caught her at 11-all ... From 14-13 Saina won next 7 points in a row for winning this game ... The second game was closely fought both players were neck to neck though Saina took couple of points lead couple of times but both time Yihan caught with her ... From 16-17 Saina won next 3 points to open 19-17 lead and then again winning next 2 points after losing another point for important win ... In the final she is facing another former WR #1 Chine girl Xuerui Li.

Tennis News

At $10K USA F32 Futures, Niceville, Florida (clay)

[QF] (SE) Rishab AGARWAL (IND,970) l Jean-Yves AUBONE (USA,571) 63 36 26

Rishab fails to keep momentum after winning the first set against Jean-Yves Aubone ... He lost last two sets quite easily.

Badminton News

At $700K China Open 2015, Fuzhou (Superseries Premier)

[QF] (1) Saina Nehwal (IND,2) bt Nozomi Okuhara (JPN,10) 21-16 21-13

[SF] (1) Saina Nehwal (IND,2) vs (7) Yihan Wang (CHN,8)

Saina scores comfortable win over WR #10 Nozomi Okuhara in 42 minutes ... In both games Saina took control early for straight games win ... Saina was very accurate near the net and played some good smashes ... Next she is facing her nemesis Chinese Yihan Wang for place in the final.

Football News

At the 2018 World Cup Pre Qualifiers, India, Bangalore

Group D
India bt Guam 1-0 (1-0)
Goal Scored - Robin Singh (IND) 10'

Indian registered their first victory in the 2018 World Cup qualifiers ... Robin Singh's early strike was the difference as India had to battle their way to victory after being reduced to ten-men when Sehnaj Singh was sent off in the 41st minute.

Tennis News

At $75K Sparkassen ATP Challenger, Ortisei, Italy

[QF] Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND)/ Matteo Volante (ITA) l (2) Tomasz Bednarek (POL)/ Denys Molchanov (UKR) 36 46

RamK and his Italian partner lose their match in straight sets against 2nd seed opponents.

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At $50K Kobe Challenger, Japan

[QF] Andriej Kapas (POL)/ Divij Sharan (IND) l (1) Sanchai Ratiwatana (THA)/ Sonchat Ratiwatana (THA) 46 36

Divij-Andriej lose in straight sets against Ratiwatana twins.

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At $10K Egypt F39 Futures, Sharm El Sheikh

[R2] (8) Sasi Kumar MUKUND (IND,554) l Santiago Fa RODRIGUEZ TAVERNA (ARG,1088) 67(6) 46

Surprising loss of Sasi against 16 yrs old Argentine.

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At $10K USA F32 Futures, Niceville, Florida (clay)

[R2] (SE) Rishab AGARWAL (IND,970) bt (WC) Patrick DACIEK (USA,1198) 46 63 62

[QF] (SE) Rishab AGARWAL (IND,970) vs Jean-Yves AUBONE (USA,571)

Another impressive comeback win by Rishab after losing the first set ... Some how I feel Rishab likes to play long matches as this match was also played for two and half hours ... In the quarters he is facing top-600 Jean-Yves Aubone.

Badminton News

At $700K China Open 2015, Fuzhou (Superseries Premier)

[R2] (1) Saina Nehwal (IND,2) bt Jing Yi Tee (MAS,34) 21-10 19-21 21-19
[R2] PV Sindhu (IND,13) l (5) Shixian Wang (CHN,6) 21-18 18-21 16-21

[QF] (1) Saina Nehwal (IND,2) vs Nozomi Okuhara (JPN,10)

Saina scores three games victory over Jing Yi Tee ... After comfortably winning the first game Saina and Tee were neck to neck in the second but from 17-18 Tee took control for winning it ... In the decider also both players were neck to neck till 17-all ... Saina won next 3 points and converted 3rd match point for completing win ... Next Saina is facing Japanese girl Nozomi Okuhara in the quarters.

Sindhu blew up a big chance of upsetting Shixian Wang ... After winning the first game she was 13-7 up in the second ... But from here Sindhu lost the plot ... She lost next 8 points to found herself 13-15 and then lose this game ... Shixian kept control in the decider for completing the win.

Tennis News

At $75K Sparkassen ATP Challenger, Ortisei, Italy

[R2] Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,255) l (1) Ricardas Berankis (LTU,82) 57 26

RamK loses in straight sets against Berankis ... In the first set RamK had chances which he failed to convert but after losing this set RamK was outperform by Berankis.

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At $75K ITF Women's Tennis Tournament 2015, Dubai, UAE

[R2] Ankita RAINA (IND,250) l (7) Ipek SOYLU (TUR,166) 57 26

Ankita lose in straight sets against her Turkish opponent but in this match Ankita failed to convert 11 break points and that cost her the match.

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At $10K Egypt F39 Futures, Sharm El Sheikh

[R1] (8) Sasi Kumar MUKUND (IND,554) bt Gibril DIARRA (AUT,1005) 64 62

[R2] (8) Sasi Kumar MUKUND (IND,554) vs Santiago Fa RODRIGUEZ TAVERNA (ARG,1088)

Sasi starts with comfortable win against former top-700 Diarra ... Next he is facing 16 yrs old young Argentine.

Badminton News

At $700K China Open 2015, Fuzhou (Superseries Premier)

[R1] Ajay Jayaram (IND,25) l (1) Long Chen (CHN,1) 12-21 11-21
[R1] (5) K. Srikanth (IND,5) l Yun Hu (HKG,14) 12-21 18-21
[R1] H. S. Prannoy (IND,21) l (Q) Kai Guo (CHN,141) 14-21 21-17 19-21
[R1] (1) Saina Nehwal (IND,2) bt Yu Sun (CHN,11) 22-20 21-18
[R1] PV Sindhu (IND,13) bt Ksenia Polikarpova (RUS,52) 21-14 21-9

[R1] Jwala Gutta (IND)/ Ashwini Ponnappa (IND) l Naoka Fukuman (JPN)/ Kurumi Yonao (JPN) 16-21 11-21

[R2] (1) Saina Nehwal (IND,2) vs Jing Yi Tee (MAS,34)
[R2] PV Sindhu (IND,13) vs (5) Shixian Wang (CHN,6)

Saina scores good and confident boosting win over WR #11 Yu Sun in her opening match ... In the first game both players were neck to neck early but Sun took lead after winning 4 points in a row from 9-10 to 13-10 ... Saina made excellent fightback from 14-18, Saina won 6 points in a row to lead 20-18 ... Sun saved 2 game points but Saina converted 3rd game point for winning this game ... In the second game Saina kept couple of points advantage from the start, at one time she was leading 13-10 ... Sun caught her at 13-all but Saina again opened 4 points lead after winning 4 points in a row from 15-all to 19-15 ... Sun reduced lead to 1 point 19-18 but Saina won next 2 points for winning this match in straight games ... Next Saina is facing Malaysian girl Jing Yi Tee.

Expected comfortable win for Sindhu against her lowly ranked Russian opponent ... Next is challenging match for Sindhu against Shixian Wang in China.

Poor straight games loss for Srikanth against Yun Hu ... Srikanth was defending champion so he was defending 11000 points so with this loss he will be slide down around 8th place in next week's rankings ... Also hoping better fighting performance by Ajay in his loss against Long Chen.

Prannoy lose against below 140 ranked Chinese qualifier Kai Guo in three games ... After losing the first game Prannoy fought back to win the second ... In decider Prannoy took early 8-2 lead but Kai reduced that lead slowly and caught Prannoy at 12-all ... From 12-14 Kai won next 6 points to lead 18-14 but Prannoy also tried fight back from 15-19 to win next 4 points for 19-all ... But Kai won next 2 points for handling Prannoy one of his worst defeat.

Jwala-Ashwini fail to raise their game against Japanese pair and lose the match in straight games.

Tennis News

At $75K Sparkassen ATP Challenger, Ortisei, Italy

[R1] Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,255) bt (Q) Viktor Galovic (CRO,593) 76(6) 75

[R2] Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,255) vs (1) Ricardas Berankis (LTU,82)

Doubles
[R1] Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND)/ Matteo Volante (ITA) bt Mirza Basic (BIH)/ Petru-Alexandru Luncanu (ROU) 62 62

[QF] Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND)/ Matteo Volante (ITA) vs (2) Bednarek (POL)/ Denys Molchanov (UKR)

Hard fought win for RamK against Croatian qualifier Galovic ... In the first set RamK missed three break point chances on Galovic's serve but he kept his cool for winning tie-break ... In the second set both players exchanged break before RamK took crucial break for winning this match Next his is facing top-seed and top-100 Ricardas Berankis.

In the doubles also RamK and his partner Volante start with very comfortable win ... Next they r facing 2nd seed pair.

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At $75K ITF Women's Tennis Tournament 2015, Dubai, UAE

[R1] Ankita RAINA (IND,250) bt Marina MELNIKOVA (RUS,188) 63 62

[R2] Ankita RAINA (IND,250) vs (7) Ipek SOYLU (TUR,166)

After longtime, exactly after 10 matches first round losing streak in international matches,Ankita scores impressive win against top-200 Russian girl ... Before this match Ankita lost two matches against Melnikova bi=ut this time she manages to turn it around ... Next she is facing top-175 Turkish girl Ipek Soylu.

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At $50K Kobe Challenger, Japan

[R1] Andriej Kapas (POL)/ Divij Sharan (IND) bt Yuya Kibi (JPN)/ Takuto Niki (JPN) w/o

Divij-Kapas move into the quarters without playing ball as their opponents give walkover.

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At $10K USA F32 Futures, Niceville, Florida (clay)

[R1] (SE) Rishab AGARWAL (IND,970) bt Leandro PORTMANN (ARG,890) 63 61

[R2] (SE) Rishab AGARWAL (IND,970) vs (WC) Patrick DACIEK (USA,1198)

Dominating winning start for Rishab against his Argentine opponent Leandro Portmann on clay ... Next he is facing American wild-card player Daciek, who scores upset win over 7th seed Japanese player in the first round.

Badminton News

At $700K China Open 2015, Fuzhou (Superseries Premier)

[R1] Ajay Jayaram (IND,25) vs (1) Long Chen (CHN,1)
[R1] (5) K. Srikanth (IND,5) vs Yun Hu (HKG,14)
[R1] H. S. Prannoy (IND,21) vs (Q) Kai Guo (CHN,141)
[R1] (1) Saina Nehwal (IND,2) vs Yu (Sun (CHN,11)
[R1] PV Sindhu (IND,13) vs Ksenia Polikarpova (RUS,52)

[R1] Jwala Gutta (IND)/ Ashwini Ponnappa (IND) vs Naoka Fukuman (JPN)/ Kurumi Yonao (JPN)

Tough matches for our most of the players ... Sania and Srikanth having chunk of points to defend as they r defending champions ... In the doubles also Jwala-Ashwini having tricky match against similarly ranked their Japanese opponents.

Tennis News

At $125K Hua Hin Challenger, Thailand

Doubles Final
(1) Andre Begemann (GER)/ Purav Raja (IND) l(2) Hsin-Han Lee (TPE)/ Yen-Hsun Lu (TPE) w/o

Due to Purav injury top-seed pair gives walkover to Taipei pair in the final.

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At $75K Sparkassen ATP Challenger, Ortisei, Italy

[R1] Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,251) vs Qualifier

RamK is facing qualifier in his first round.

Tennis News

At €3.8M BNP Paribas Masters, Paris, France

[QF] (8) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Florin Meargea (ROM) l (2) Ivan Dodig (CRO)/ Marcelo Melo (BRA) 57 76(4) 10-12

Rohan-Florin lose close match against 2nd seed Melo and Dodig after losing first set ... Their chances of qualifying for ATP World Tour Finals solely depend upon Melo and Dodig ... If Melo-Dodig pair win the Paris Masters then our pair will qualify, otherwise Vasek Pospisil and Jack Sock will qualify.

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At $125K Hua Hin Challenger, Thailand

[SF] (1) Andre Begemann (GER)/ Purav Raja (IND) bt Tristan Lamasine (FRA)/ Nils Langer (GER) 62 60

[F] (1) Andre Begemann (GER)/ Purav Raja (IND) vs (2) Hsin-Han Lee (TPE)/ Yen-Hsun Lu (TPE)

Purav and Andre r in the final with very comfortable win ... In the final they r facing 2nd seed Taipei pair.

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At $10K Egypt F38 Futures, Sharm El Sheikh

[QF] (7) Sasi Kumar MUKUND (IND,551) l (3) Marko TEPAVAC (SRB,391) 16 26

Tepavac prove too strong for Sasi.

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At $10K USA F31 Futures, Alabama

[QF] Rishab AGARWAL (IND,968) l (Q) David BIOSCA GIRVENT (ESP,1880) 62 36 46

Rishabh lose against Spanish qualifier in another long match.

Tennis News

At $10K USA F31 Futures, Alabama

[R2] Rishab AGARWAL (IND,968) bt (7) Jared HILTZIK (USA,581) 46 64 76(1)

[QF] Rishab AGARWAL (IND,968) vs (Q) David BIOSCA GIRVENT (ESP,1880)

Another upset win by Rishab against top-600 American player ... After losing first set Rishab made excellent comeback for winning next two sets in this 3 hours and 12 minutes long match ... Next he is facing Spanish qualifier David Biosca Girvent, who scores upset win over top-500 American player Wil Spencer.

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At $10K Egypt F38 Futures , Sharm El Sheikh

[R1] (7) Sasi Kumar MUKUND (IND,551) bt Federico BONACIA (ITA,1210) 75 63

[R2] (7) Sasi Kumar MUKUND (IND,551) bt (Q) Vit KOPRIVA (CZE,1208) 76(7) 36 63

[QF] (7) Sasi Kumar MUKUND (IND,551) vs (3) Marko TEPAVAC (SRB,391)

Expected winning start for Sasi ... Next he faced talented Czech teenager Kopriva ... After winning first set in dogfight Sasi lost second set ... But he recovered to win the decider ... In the quarters he is facing tough challenge of top-400 Serbian player Tepavac.

Squash News

At $150K Women's Qatar Classic 2015, Doha

[QF] Joshana Chinappa (IND,20) l (5) Omneya Abdel Kawy (EGY,6) 8-11, 11-9, 11-7, 10-12, 6-11 (50m)

Joshana misses opportunity of upsetting Omneya Abdel Kawy in the quarters ... She was up 2-1 games after losing first game ... And she had chance of finishing in fourth game but Kawy took advantage of Joshana's missed chances to win this ... After that Kawy dominated to win the final game.

Tennis News

At €3.8M BNP Paribas Masters, Paris, France

[R1] (8) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Florin Meargea (ROM) bt Juan Sebastián Cabal (COL)/ Robert Farah Maksoud (COL) 67(3) 64 10-5

In Paris Masters Rohan-Florin starts with comeback win over Colombian pair after losing first set in tight tie-break ... This is important win for our pair in respect to their qualification for Tour Finals.

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At $125K Hua Hin Challenger, Thailand

[R1] Yuki Bhambri (IND)/ Divij Sharan (IND) l Tasuma Ito (JPN)/ Toshihide Matsui (JPN) 36 46

[QF] (1) Andre Begemann (GER)/ Purav Raja (IND) bt (PR) Peter Gojowczyk (GER)/ Amir Weintraub (ISR) 64 62

Purav and Andre reach into semi-final with another comfortable win.

Yuki's poor week ends with his doubles loss ... He and Divij lose in straight sets against Japanese pair.

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At $10K USA F31 Futures, Alabama

[R1] Rishab AGRWAL (IND,972) bt Leondro PORTMANN (ARG,888) 75 75

Rishab is showing improvement in his game ... Good win on clay against higher ranked South American.

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At $10K ITF Women's Tournament, El Kantaoui, Tunisia

[R1] Kyra SHROFF (IND,997) l (7) Laetitia SARRAZIN (FRA,657) 57 16

So this week turning into disappointing as Kyra also fails to repeat last week's performance.

Tennis News

At €3.8M BNP Paribas Masters, Paris, France

[R1] Leander Paes (IND)/ Rafael Nadal (ESP) l Dominic Inglot (GBR)/ Robert Lindstedt (SWE) 36 46

Another one of unsuccessful partnership for Lee as he and Rafa lose in straight sets against Inglot and Lindstedt ... Lee need to find regular partner for keeping his Rio Olympic dream alive.

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At $125K Hua Hin Challenger, Thailand

[R1] (3) Yuki Bhambri (IND,89) l Yuichi Sugita (JPN,159) 06 retd.

Doubles
[R1] (1) Andre Begemann (GER)/ Purav Raja (IND) bt Cheng-Peng Hsieh (TPE)/ Tsung-Hua Yang (TPE) 62 64

[QF] (1) Andre Begemann (GER)/ Purav Raja (IND) vs (PR) Peter Gojowczyk (GER)/ Amir Weintraub (ISR)

Yuki retires from his match after losing first set without winning a single game ... In this match he struggled with minor injuries and failed to continue ... So with that most probably he is planning to finish his season after playing the doubles here with Divij

Purav and his German partner Andre start with straight sets win over Taipei pair ... Next they r facing experienced doubles players.

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At $10K ITF Women's Tournament, El Kantaoui, Tunisia

[R1] Kyra SHROFF (IND,997) vs (7) Laetitia SARRAZIN (FRA,657)

Hoping for repeat or better performance from last week ... After reaching semis of the singles Kyra also lifted the doubles title with her partner.

Squash News

At $150K Women's Qatar Classic 2015, Doha

[R2] Joshana Chinappa (IND,20) bt Yathreb Adel (EGY,25) 16-14, 11-8, 11-8

[QF] Joshana Chinappa (IND,20) vs (5) Omneya Abdel Kawy (EGY,6)

Joshana scores straight games win over Yathreb Adel ... Joshana won tightly fought first game in extra points and then won next two tight games for entering into the quarters ... In the quarter final she is facing another Egyptian girl Omneya Abdel Kawy.

Tennis News

At $7M BNP Paribas WTA Finals 2015, Singapore

Women's Doubles Final
(1) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Martina Hingis (SUI) bt (8) Garbine Muguruza (ESP)/ Carla Suarez-Navarro (ESP) 60 63

[SF] (1) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Martina Hingis (SUI) bt (3) Hao-ching Chan (TPE)/ Yung-jan Chan (TPE) 64 62

Sania wins her consecutive second WTA Finals without losing a set ... This time with her evergreen partner and legend Martina Hingis ... After cruising through first set Martina-Sania faced a little resistant in second ... Still with Sania's amazing shot making they completed victory ... Before that they easily overcome challenge of Chan sisters in the semis ... After service down 2-3 in first set they took control of the match for comfortable win.

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At $50K Pune Challenger, India

Singles Final
(1) Yuki Bhambri (IND,105) bt (2) Evgeny Donskoy (RUS,100) 62 76(4)

Yuki scores straight sets win over Evgeny Donskoy to lifts his second challenger title of the year and first title in India ... This overall fifth challenge title for Yuki from nine challenger finals ... In the final Yuki dominated first set for winning it with double break ... In the second set Donskoy took first break in 6th game to lead 2-5 ... Yuki broke back when Donskoy was serving for the set in 9th game, 4-5 ... In tie-break Yuki had 4 sets point with early mini-breaks, 6-2 ... Yuki converted 3rd match point for excellent win ... This title win will push his ranking career high top-90.

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At €3.8M BNP Paribas Masters, Paris, France

[R1] Leander Paes (IND)/ Rafael Nadal (ESP) vs Dominic Inglot (GBR)/ Robert Lindstedt (SWE)
[R1] (8) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Florin Meargea (ROM) bye

In Paris Masters Lee is playing with Rafa and they r facing Inglot and Lindstedt ... Rohan-Florin r 8th seed and they require good performance for qualifying for ATP World Tour Finals.

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At $125K Hua Hin Challenger, Thailand

[R1] (3) Yuki Bhambri (IND,105) vs Yuichi Sugita (JPN,159)

Doubles
[R1] (1) Andre Begemann (GER)/ Purav Raja (IND) vs Cheng-Peng Hsieh (TPE)/ Tsung-Hua Yang (TPE)
[R1] Yuki Bhambri (IND)/ Divij Sharan (IND) vs Tasuma Ito (JPN)/ Toshihide Matsui (JPN)

Yuki is having tricky match against his Japanese opponent Sugita ... In the doubles Yuki is playing with Divij and they r facing Japanese pair ... Purav is top-seed with his German partner Andre Begemann and they r facing Taiwani pair.

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At $10K ITF Women's Tournament, El Kantaoui, Tunisia

[SF] Kyra SHROFF (IND,943) l (3) Yana SIZIKOVA (RUS,544) 36 64 16

Kyra lose her semi-final match but gives fighting performance against top-550 Russian opponent.