Tennis News

At French Open 2015, Roland Garros, Paris

Doubles
[R3] (1) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Martina Hingis (SUI) bt (14) Karin Knapp (ITA)/ Roberta Vinci (ITA) 61 64
[R3] (10) Daniel Nestor (CAN)/ Leander Paes (IND) l (6) Simone Bolelli (ITA)/ Fabio Fognini (ITA) 26 46
[R3] (9) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Florin Mergea (ROU) l (5) Jean-Julien Rojer (NED)/ Horia Tecau (ROU) 36 76(7) 36

Juniors
[R1] Pranjala Yadlapalli (IND,20) l (Q) Priscilla Hon (AUS,135) 67(1) 46

Juniors Doubles
[R1] (7) Pranjala Yadlapalli (IND)/ Wushuang Zheng (CHN) vs Cindy Castille (FRA)/ Carla Hassaine (FRA)

Sania-Martina continues with their terrific run and with straight sets win over Italian pair they r in the quarters ... In this third round win they lost only five games.

In men's doubles our challenge is over with losses of Lee and Rohan with their respective partners ... Lee-Nestor had a tough match against in-form Italian pair and they failed to give much fight to Italian pair ... Rohan-Florin tried fightback after losing the first set ... They saved match points before winning the second set on extra points tie-break but failed to keep momentum in the third.

Pranjala lose after giving fighting performance against former junior top-15 Australian girl Priscilla Hon, who is already around top-500 in WTA ranking ... In the doubles Pranjala is 7th seed with her Chinese partner and they r facing French girls.

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Shooting News

At ISSF World Cup Rifle / Pistol, Munich, Germany

10m Air Pistol Men
4. Gurpreet Singh (IND) 154.8 pts

Gurpreet Singh capture Rio 2016 Quota Place after finishing fourth in 10m Air Pistol event ... This was his second final in two days ... He qualified for the final on 8th position with 579 pts ... Total 3 quota places were available and 4 out of 8 finalist already captured quota ... Gurpreet shoots steady to earn quota despite missing medal ... Jitu Rai missed final by a point as he finished on 9th position with 578 pts ... So with this our five shooters are qualify for Rio in that two each in Men's rifle and Men's Pistol and one in Women's Rifle.

Before that our another young shooter Susan Elezabeth Koshy missed winning quota in 50m Rifle 3 Positions Women ... She failed to qualify for the final as she, American Amy Sowash and Korean Eunseo Lee had similar 586 pts but Amy Sowash hit bulls-eye 26 times and Susan 25 times ... And in the final five of shooters already captured quota places so qualifying to the final have given her quota place ... Tough luck for Susan.

Archery News

At Archery World Cup 2015 Stage 2 - 2015, Antalya, Turkey

Recurve Women Individual

Bronze Medal Match
Deepika Kumari (IND) bt Hye Jin Chang (KOR) 6-2 (26-25, 29-26, 26-28, 28-27)

[SF] Deepika Kumari (IND) l Bo Bae Ki (KOR) 4-6 (26-29, 27-29, 27-26, 29-27, 28-29)
[QF] Deepika Kumari (IND) bt Shih-Chia Lin (TPE) 7-3 (27-26, 26-28, 28-28, 28-27, 27-23)
[R4] Deepika Kumari (IND) bt Kaori Kawanaka (JPN) 6-4 (28-27, 29-30, 26-27, 29-28, 28-27)
[R3] Deepika Kumari (IND) bt La Nola Pritchard (USA) 6-5 T.10*-T.10 (26-30, 27-26, 28-29, 29-26, 28-28)
[R2] Deepika Kumari (IND) bt Anastasia Pavlova (UKR) 7-3 (29-29, 28-26, 27-28, 27-24, 29-28)
[R1] Deepika Kumari (IND) bt BJERENDAL Christine Bjerendal (SWE) 6-0 (30-26, 28-22, 28-24)

Deepika Kumari lifts bronze beating in-form Korean Hye Jin Chang ... Deepika adjusted better than Hye Jin in windy condition and won first two sets ... Korean fought back to win the third but Deepika kept focus to won tight fourth set.

Before this in the semis Deepika lost close match against Korean Olympics gold medalist Bo Bae Ki ... In this World cup stage all top archers participated so field was very tough ... Deepika faced tough battle in almost all matches but she prevented and come back winning ways ... Overall good result for Deepika.

Shooting News

At ISSF World Cup Rifle / Pistol, Munich, Germany

25m Rapid Fire Pistol Men
4. Gurpreet Singh (IND) 19

Gurpreet Singh misses quota place as he finished on 4th position in the final ... Two quota places were available so Gurpreet needed to finish inside top-2 but he failed to achieve that ... Before that in qualifying also Gurpreet finished on 4th with 581 pts.

Tennis News

At French Open 2015, Roland Garros, Paris

Mixed Doubles
[R2] (8) Martina Hingis (SUI)/ Leander Paes (IND) l Katarina Srebotnik (SLO)/ Horia Tecau (ROU) 76(6) 36 6-10

Juniors
[R1] Sumit Nagal (IND,32) vs Yosuke Watanuki (JPN,48)
[R1] Pranjala Yadlapalli (IND,20) vs (Q) Priscilla Hon (AUS,135)

Lee-Martina lose their MXD match in match tie-break and with that Indian challenge get over in mixed doubles ... Lee-Martina won the first set in tight tie-break ... In the second set Lee-Martina were down 0-5 before winning three games in the set ... In match tie-break Lee-Martina took 4-2 lead but afterwards they lost 8 points from next 10 points to lose this match.

Junior draw is out and our both players playing against lower ranked players in their first round matches ... But Priscilla Hon is former top-15 junior player, who is playing very little juniors but she is already #510 on WTA ... So Priscilla will be favorite in this match.

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At $50K ITF Women's Tournament, Xuzhou, China (Clay)

[SF] (4) Ankita RAINA (IND,235) l (1) Luksika KUMKHUM (THA,141) 64 36 26

Ankita gives fighting performance in her loss against top-seed Luksika Kumkhum ... Ankita won the first set against former top-100 player but afterwards Luksika proved better player than Ankita.

Squash News

At $25K Women's HKFC International 2015 , Hong Kong China

[SF] (4) Joshana Chinappa (IND,24) l (1) Annie Au (HKG,11) 1-3 (11-9, 10-12, 6-11, 9-11) (48m)

[QF] (4) Joshana Chinappa (IND,24) bt (7) Delia Arnold (MAS,29) 3-0 (11-5, 11-7, 11-8) (37m)
[R1] (4) Joshana Chinappa (IND,24) bt Deon Saffery (WAL,42) 3-1 (9-11, 11-8, 11-3, 11-7) (37m)

Joshana also play as per her seeding before losing to top-seed local player Annie Au in four games ... She also started winning firs game and missed to win the second ... After that Annie won next two frames.

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At $25K Men's HKFC International 2015 , Hong Kong China

[F] (2) Saurav Ghosal (IND,21) l (1) Max Lee (HKG,17) 1-3 (11-9, 6-11, 1-11, 9-11) (70m)

[SF] (2) Saurav Ghosal (IND,21) bt (4) Laurens Jan Anjema (NED,28) 3-0 (11-3, 11-4, 11-9) (38m)
[QF] (2) Saurav Ghosal (IND,21) bt (7) Nafiizwan Adnan (MAS,35) 3-0 (11-4, 11-4, 11-7) (41m)
[R1] (2) Saurav Ghosal (IND,21) bt Harinder Pal Singh Sandhu (IND,60) 3-0 (11-3, 11-7, 11-5) (38m)

Till final Saurav scored convincing win in straight games ... In the final he started well against top-seed local player Max Lee but after winning first game he failed to keep momentum and Max Lee wins next three frames.

Tennis News

At French Open 2015, Roland Garros, Paris

Doubles
[R2] (1) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Martina Hingis (SUI) bt Stephanie Foretz (FRA)/ Amandine Hesse (FRA) 63 64
[R2] (10) Daniel Nestor (CAN)/ Leander Paes (IND) bt Andre Begemann (GER)/ Julian Knowle (AUT) 76(3) 62
[R2] (9) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Florin Mergea (ROU) bt Austin Krajicek (USA)/ Donald Young (USA) 36 63 75

[R3] (1) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Martina Hingis (SUI) vs (14) Karin Knapp (ITA)/ Roberta Vinci (ITA)
[R3] (10) Daniel Nestor (CAN)/ Leander Paes (IND) vs (6) Simone Bolelli (ITA)/ Fabio Fognini (ITA)
[R3] (9) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Florin Mergea (ROU) vs (5) Jean-Julien Rojer (NED)/ Horia Tecau (ROU)

All our pairs win their respective doubles matches ... Sania-Martina score comfortable straight sets win over French girls ... Next they r facing Italian pair in thew third round, in that playing former WR #1 doubles player Roberta Vinci.

Lee-Nestor also score straights sets win though in the first set they stretched to tie-break before comfortably winning second set ... Next they r facing Lee's nemesis 6th seed Italian pair of Bolelli-Fognini.

Rohan-Florin lose the first set before scoring comeback win over American pair ... Next they r facing 5th seed pair of Rojer-Tecau.

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At $50K ITF Women's Tournament, Xuzhou, China (Clay)

[QF] (4) Ankita RAINA (IND,235) bt (WC) Siqi CAO (CHN,UNR) 64 75

[SF] (4) Ankita RAINA (IND,235) vs (1) Luksika KUMKHUM (THA,141)

Good to see Ankita reaches semi-final in $50K event outside Indian ... Ankita needed to play well to beat 16 yrs old Chinese in tight two sets ... Next she is having tough challenge of top-seed and top-150 Thai girl Luksika KumKhum.

Badminton News

At $750K The STAR Australian Open 2015, Sydney (Superseries)

[QF] (2) Saina Nehwal (IND,1) l Shixian Wang (CHN,6) 15-21 13-21

Saina Nehwal receive shocked defeat against her Chinese counterpart Shixian Wang in the quarterfinal ... Shixian proved too strong for Saina in this match ... With this loss Saina is going to lose her WR #1 ranking next week.

Shooting News

At ISSF World Cup Rifle / Pistol, Munich, Germany

10m Air Rifle Men
6 Abhinav Bindra (IND) 122.4 points

Abhinav Bindra become fourth shooter for grabbing Rio 2016 Quota Place ... In the final four players already booked their Rio ticket so battle was between four shooters ... One of them Romania’s Alin George Moldoveanu eliminated first so other guaranteed their places after that ... Abhinav eliminated third to finish on sixth position ... Before that Abhinav qualified for the final for 7th position with 627.5 pts.

Tennis News

At French Open 2015, Roland Garros, Paris

Mixed Doubles
[R1] (1) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Bruno Soares (BRA) l Anna-Lena Groenefeld (GER)/ Jean-Julien Rojer (NED) 26 26
[R1] Yaroslava Shvedova (KAZ)/ Rohan Bopanna (IND) l Lucie Hradecka (CZE)/ Marcin Matkowski (POL) 67(5) 60 3-10
[R1] (8) Martina Hingis (SUI)/ Leander Paes (IND) bt Alla Kudryavtseva (RUS)/ Juan Sebastian Cabal (COL) 62 63

[R2] (8) Martina Hingis (SUI)/ Leander Paes (IND) vs Katarina Srebotnik (SLO)/ Horia Tecau (ROU)

Shocking loss of Sania in MXD as she was favorite with Soares ... Moreover they failed to put any fight in this match.

Rohan also lose his MXD first round match ... After losing first set in tie-break Rohan-Shvedova fought back to win the second set comfortably ... But in match tie-break they failed to keep momentum and lose it cheaply.

For Indians only Lee partnering Martina wins their first round MXD match ... They won both sets comfortably ... In the second round they r facing Srebotnik-Tecau.

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At $50K ITF Women's Tournament, Xuzhou, China (Clay)

[R2] (4) Ankita RAINA (IND,235) bt Danielle LAO (USA,408) 62 62

[QF] (4) Ankita RAINA (IND,235) vs (WC) Siqi CAO (CHN,UNR)

Ankita score really comfortable dominating win over American girl ... In the quarters she is facing 16 yrs old Chinese girl Siqi Cao.

Hockey News

At Hockey World League 2015 - Semi Finals, Belgium

Men's team
GOALKEEPERS - PR Sreejesh, Harjot Singh
DEFENDERS - Manpreet Singh, Birendra Lakra, Kothajit Singh, VR Ragunath, Jasjit Singh Kular, Gurmail Singh
MIDFIELDERS - Gurbaj Singh, Dharamvir Singh, Sardar Singh, Chinglensana Singh, Lalit Upadhyay
FORWARDS - SV Sunil, Nikkin Thimmaiah, Yuvraj Walmiki, Akashdeep Singh, Ramandeep Singh

Women's team
GOALKEEPERS - Savita, Rajini Etimarpu
DEFENDERS - Deep Grace Ekka, Deepika, Sunita Lakra, Namita Toppo, Sushila Chanu
MIDFIELDERS - Ritu Rani, Lilima Minz, Lily Chanu, Navjot Kaur, Monika, Renuka Yadav
FORWARDS - Rani, Poonam Rani, Vandana Kataria, Anuradha Devi, Soundarya Yendala

Our teams for the HWL semi-finals in Belgium starting on the 20th of June are declared ... Some surprising exclusion but overall good selection.

Badminton News

At $750K The STAR Australian Open 2015, Sydney (Superseries)

[R2] (4) K. Srikanth (IND,4) l Houwei Tian (CHN,10) 21-18 17-21 13-21

[R2] (2) Saina Nehwal (IND,1) bt Sun Yu (CHN,9) 21-19 19-21 21-14

[R2] Jwala Gutta (IND)/ Ashwini Ponnappa (IND) l (4) Nitya Krishinda Maheswari (INA)/ Greysia Polii (INA) 14-21 10-21

[QF] (2) Saina Nehwal (IND,1) vs Shixian Wang (CHN,6)

Saina stretch to three games by Sun Yu before Saina completing victory in 78 minutes ... After winning first game Saina faced tough challenge from Sun Yu ... Yu won the second game but after that Saina took control ... She took 12-3 lead and that was too big lead for Yu and Saina won final game comfortably ... Next she is facing another Chinese opponent in Shixian Wang.

Srikanth lose his match against Chinese Houwei Tian after winning first game ... After losing first game Houwei Tian overpowered Srikanth with his excellent game.

Tennis News

At French Open 2015, Roland Garros, Paris

[R1] (1) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Martina Hingis (SUI) bt Julia Goerges (GER)/ Barbora Krejcikova (CZE) 63 60
[R1] (10) Daniel Nestor (CAN)/ Leander Paes (IND) bt James Duckworth (AUS)/ Chris Guccione (AUS) 62 57 75
[R1] (9) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Florin Mergea (ROU) bt Filip Krajinovic (SRB)/ Viktor Troicki (SRB) 57 63 64

[R2] (10) Daniel Nestor (CAN)/ Leander Paes (IND) vs Andre Begemann (GER)/ Julian Knowle (AUT)
[R2] (9) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Florin Mergea (ROU) vs Austin Krajicek (USA)/ Donald Young (USA)

Sania-Martina start their French open campaign with solid win losing only three games.

In men's doubles our both pairs complete their win three sets ... In that happy with Lee-Nestor win and hoping for deeper run for them.

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At $50K ITF Women's Tournament, Xuzhou, China (Clay)

[R1] (4) Ankita RAINA (IND,235) bt Shangqing YANG (CHN,UNR) 61 63

[R2] (4) Ankita RAINA (IND,235) vs Danielle LAO (USA,408)

Ankita start with comfortable win over Chinese girl ... Next she is facing top-400 type American girl.

Badminton News

At $750K The STAR Australian Open 2015, Sydney (Superseries)

[R1] (Q) R. M. V. Gurusaidutt (IND,45) l (1) Chen Long (CHN,1) 21-15 9-21 17-21
[R1] (4) K. Srikanth (IND,4) bt Hans-Kristian Vittinghus (DEN,14) 14-21 21-8 22-20
[R1] Parupalli Kashyap (IND,13) l (6) Wang Zhengming (CHN,7) 26-24 18-21 20-22

[R1] P. V. Sindhu (IND,12) l (8) Yihan Wang (CHN,8) 21-18 15-21 23-25
[R1] (2) Saina Nehwal (IND,1) bt (Q) Cheah Lyddia Yi Yu (MAS,67) 21-12 21-10

[R1] Pranaav Jerry Chopra (IND)/ Akshay Dewalkar (IND) l Cai Yun (CHN)/ Kang Jun (CHN) 15-21 15-21
[R1] Jwala Gutta (IND)/ Ashwini Ponnappa (IND) bt Samantha Barning (NED)/ Iris Tabeling (NED) 21-13 21-13

[R1] (Q) Pranaav Jerry Chopra (IND)/ Ashwini Ponnappa (IND) l Choi Solgyu (KOR)/ Eom Hye Won (KOR) 19-21 14-21

[R2] (4) K. Srikanth (IND,4) vs Houwei Tian (CHN,10)

[R2] (2) Saina Nehwal (IND,1) vs Sun Yu (CHN,9)

[R2] Jwala Gutta (IND)/ Ashwini Ponnappa (IND) vs (4) Nitya Krishinda Maheswari (INA)/ Greysia Polii (INA)

We win three matches but overall really delightful performance by our players ... As expected Saina score dominating win over Malaysian qualifier ... Next she is facing tricky Chinese opponent Sun Yu.

Srikanth also start with a win in nail-biting match ... After losing first game Srikanth stormed into the second and won it losing only 8 points ... In the third Srikanth was doing catching game ... He was 15-20 down but afterwards Srikanth won next seven points to win this match after saving five match points ... Next he is having tough match against top-10 Chinese opponent Houwei Tian.

Jwala-Ashwini also start with a win against Dutch pair ... Next they r facing 4th seed Indonesian pair ... In MXD Ashwini lose with Pranaav against Korean pair.

In other singles matches our players give fighting performance in their losses ... Guru started with winning first game against WR #1 Chen Long but lost the second set easily ... In the third game he tried but Long proved better player than him ... Kashyap lost golden opportunity of beating Zhengming ... He won the close first game in extra points before losing the second to Zhengming ... In the third Kashyap was matching Zhengming and had 2 match points at 20-18 ... Kashyap failed to convert and Zhengming won 4 points in a row for victory ... Sindhu also started with winning the first game against Yihan Wang ... Wang won the second game comfortably ... In the decider both players were neck to neck ... Sindhu had a match point at 20-19 but after failing to convert she saved three match points before Wang converting 4th match point.

Tennis News

At French Open 2015, Roland Garros, Paris

[R1] Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Nick Kyrgios (AUS) l Thanasi Kokkinakis (AUS)/ Lucas Pouille (FRA) 36 16

I was expecting this loss due to lack of match practice by Mahesh ... If he is planning to play more then he should regularly participate in more tournaments instead turning for only grand slams.

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At $50K ITF Women's Tournament, Xuzhou, China (Clay)

[R1] Jasmin JEBAWY (GER)/ Ankita RAINA (IND) l Anastasia PIVOVAROVA (RUS)/ Nina STOJANOVIC(SRB) 63 16 6-10

Ankita and her partner lose the match after winning the first set.

Badminton News

At $750K The STAR Australian Open 2015, Sydney (Superseries)

[Q1] R. M. V. Gurusaidutt (IND,45) bt Ai Wei Jian (MAS,185) 21-13 21-9
[Q1] Pranaav Jerry Chopra (IND)/ Ashwini Ponnappa (IND) bt Cham Chen (AUS)/ Susan Wang (AUS) 21-14 21-6

[Q2] R. M. V. Gurusaidutt (IND,45) bt (4) Kazumasa Sakai (JPN,35) 21-15 21-8
[Q2] Pranaav Jerry Chopra (IND)/ Ashwini Ponnappa (IND) bt Mark Lamsfuss (GER)/ Isabel Herttrich (GER) 21-19 21-17

[R1] (Q) R. M. V. Gurusaidutt (IND,45) vs (1) Chen Long (CHN,1)
[R1] (4) K. Srikanth (IND,4) vs Hans-Kristian Vittinghus (DEN,14)
[R1] Parupalli Kashyap (IND,13) vs (6) Wang Zhengming (CHN,7)

[R1] P. V. Sindhu (IND,12) vs Wang Yihan (CHN,8)
[R1] (2) Saina Nehwal (IND,1) vs (Q) Cheah Lyddia Yi Yu (MAS,67)

[R1] Pranaav Jerry Chopra (IND)/ Akshay Dewalkar (IND) vs Cai Yun (CHN)/ Kang Jun (CHN)
[R1] Jwala Gutta (IND)/ Ashwini Ponnappa (IND) vs Samantha Barning (NED)/ Iris Tabeling (NED)

[R1] (Q) Pranaav Jerry Chopra (IND)/ Ashwini Ponnappa (IND) vs Choi Solgyu (KOR)/ Eom Hye Won (KOR)

Guru qualify for main-draw with win over higher ranked Japanese opponent ... But having tough match against WR #1 Chinese opponent Chen Long ... Kashyap also facing top-8 Chinese opponent Zhengming and Shrikanth facing Danish opponent Vittinghus.

Saina is defending champion so defending this title is important for her to retain WR #1 ranking.

Tennis News

At French Open 2015, Roland Garros, Paris

Doubles
[R1] (1) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Martina Hingis (SUI) vs Julia Goerges (GER)/ Barbora Krejcikova (CZE)
[R1] Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Nick Kyrgios (AUS) vs Thanasi Kokkinakis (AUS)/ Lucas Pouille (FRA)
[R1] (10) Daniel Nestor (CAN)/ Leander Paes (IND) vs James Duckworth (AUS)/ Chris Guccione (AUS)
[R1] (9) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Florin Mergea (ROU) vs Filip Krajinovic (SRB)/ Viktor Troicki (SRB)

Mixed Doubles
[R1] (1) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Bruno Soares (BRA) vs Anna-Lena Groenefeld (GER)/ Jean-Julien Rojer (NED)
[R1] Yaroslava Shvedova (KAZ)/ Rohan Bopanna (IND) vs Lucie Hradecka (CZE)/ Marcin Matkowski (POL)
[R1] (8) Martina Hingis (SUI)/ Leander Paes (IND) vs Alla Kudryavtseva (RUS)/ Juan Sebastian Cabal (COL)

Sania is in top seed in both event and definitely having high chances of winning both.

In men's draw only Rohan having real chance of going deep as Lee is partnering Nestor, they having dismal 1-5 win-loss ratio as a pair in 2015 ... Mahesh is partnering talented Nick Kyrgios but Mahesh is rusty due to lack of match practice.

In MXD, Lee again partnering Hingis so hoping good result from them with their electrifying technique on the net.

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At $50K ITF Women's Tournament, Xuzhou, China (Clay)

[R1] (4) Ankita RAINA (IND,235) vs Shangqing YANG (CHN,UNR)

Doubles
[R1] Jasmin JEBAWY (GER)/ Ankita RAINA (IND) vs Anastasia PIVOVAROVA (RUS)/ Nina STOJANOVIC(SRB)

Winnable match for Ankita.

Tennis News

At French Open 2015, Roland Garros, Paris

[Q2] Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,245) l Jarred Donaldson (USA,156) 26 06
[Q2] (7) Yuki Bhambri (IND,158) l Tim Puetz (GER,203) 46 36

And turn to be terrible day for Indians ... Yuki and RamK both loss against their respective opponents without doing much ... Their opponents were too strong for them on clay ... So Indian challenge get over in the singles.

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At $50K Eskisehir Challenger, Turkey

[R2] (4) Saketh Myneni (IND,196) l Pedja Krstin (SRB,299) 46 26

Disappointing loss for Saki ... As per report he played very casually in this match ... Hoping no injury issue before grass season.

Tennis News

At French Open 2015, Roland Garros, Paris

[Q1] Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,245) bt Guido Andreozzi (ARG,182) 64 76(4)
[Q1] (7) Yuki Bhambri (IND,158) bt (14) Alexandr Nedovyesov (KAZ,116) 63 36 9-7

[Q2] Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,245) vs Jarred Donaldson (USA,156)
[Q2] (7) Yuki Bhambri (IND,158) vs Tim Puetz (GER,203)
[Q2] Somdev Devvarman (IND,172) l Evgeny Donskoy (RUS,177) 26 46

And RamK and Yuki join Buji in the second round with contrasting wins ... After resuming their matches RamK broke Andreozzi to up with a break ... But when RamK was serving for the match at 5-4 he failed to hold his serve at that time he was only 2 points away from win, 30-0 ... RamK recovered and played excellent tie-break ... He was up double mini-break and three match points at 6-3 ... RamK converted second for his first grand slam level victory ... Next he is facing American clay court specialist Jarred Donaldson.

Yuki also got immediate break and hold his service games for winning first set ... In the second set Nedo broke Yuki in 4th game to lead 3-1 and this time he hold his service games for winning it ... In the third set both players exchanged early breaks ... After that both players hold respective service games without much hiccups ... At 8-7 Yuki had three match points and he converted third for breaking Nedo's serve and completed victory ... With his first win at French open Yuki gives him good chance of qualifying for main-draw ... Next he is facing German Tim Puetz.

Somi fail to continue with winning form and lose his match in straight sets ... In his second round match Buji got dominated by Donskoy in the first set ... Buji lost the first set with double break ... In then second set Buji got broken in first game and then he failed to recover ... Donskoy hold his service games without facing break point for a win.

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At $50K ITF Women's Tournament, Wuhan, China (Clay)

[R2] (5) Ankita RAINA (IND,235) l Alexa GUARACHI (USA,425) 57 26

Doubles
[QF] Natasha PALHA (IND)/ Ran TIAN (CHN) l (1) Chang LIU (CHN)/ Jia-Jing LU (CHN) 16 57

Very disappointing loss for Ankita in the singles.

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At $50K Eskisehir Challenger, Turkey

[QF] (2) Divij Sharan (IND)/ Saketh Myneni (IND) l Adrien Bossel (SUI)/ Marco Chiudinelli (SUI) 46 64 8-10

Divij's poor run in the doubles continue ... He and Saki lose their quarters against Swiss pair in match tie-break.

Tennis News

At French Open 2015, Roland Garros, Paris

[Q1] Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,245) vs Guido Andreozzi (ARG,182) 64 3-4 (stopped due to rain)
[Q1] (7) Yuki Bhambri (IND,158) vs (14) Alexandr Nedovyesov (KAZ,116) 3-3 (stopped due to rain)
[Q1] Somdev Devvarman (IND,172) bt Enzo Coucaud (FRA,217) 62 46 75

[Q2] Somdev Devvarman (IND,172) vs Evgeny Donskoy (RUS,177)

Buji need three sets to complete win against Frenchman ... After winning the first set easily Buji was 3-1 up in the second set but from here suddenly Buji lost the plot ... He lost the set winning only one more game in that set ... In the final set he was 0-3 and 15-40 down when rain stopped the match ... After restarting he hold his serve and then made real comeback from 3-5 ... Buji saved a match point on Couacaud's serve before breaking him in 9th game and again broke Couacaud in 11th game before serving for the match ... Next he is having tricky match against Russian Donskoy.

RamK took early break and kept that advantage for winning the first set ... Match stopped due to rain.

Yuki is struggling holding his serve as all games went to duece before rain break.

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At $50K Eskisehir Challenger, Turkey

[R1] (4) Saketh Myneni (IND,196) vs Nikola Mektic (CRO,354) 75 75

[R2] (4) Saketh Myneni (IND,196) vs Pedja Krstin (SRB,299)

Doubles
[R1] (2) Divij Sharan (IND)/ Saketh Myneni (IND) bt (WC) Altug Celikbilek (TUR)/ Sefa Suluoglu (TUR) 63 63

[QF] (2) Divij Sharan (IND)/ Saketh Myneni (IND) vs Adrien Bossel (SUI)/ Marco Chiudinelli (SUI)

Saki is stretch in his straight sets victory over his Croatian opponent ... After winning the first set Saki was down 1-3 ... From 3-5 he fought back to win next four games and the match ... Next he is facing Serbian opponent Krstin.

In the doubles Saki and Divij score straight sets win over local pair ... Next they r facing Swiss pair.

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At $50K ITF Women's Tournament, Wuhan, China (Clay)

[R1] (5) Ankita RAINA (IND,235) bt Alison BAI (AUS,371) 75 61

[R2] (5) Ankita RAINA (IND,235) vs Alexa GUARACHI (USA,425)

Doubles
[QF] Natasha PALHA (IND)/ Ran TIAN (CHN) vs (1) Chang LIU (CHN)/ Jia-Jing LU (CHN)

Ankita is in the second round with straight sets win ... Next she is having another winnable match against American.

Tennis News

At $50K ITF Women's Tournament, Wuhan, China (Clay)

[R1] Natasha PALHA (IND,557) l Qiu Yu YE (CHN,540) 57 46
[R1] Nidhi CHILUMULA (IND, 620) l Yuxuan ZHANG (CHN,362) 46 16

Doubles
[R1] Natasha PALHA (IND)/ Ran TIAN (CHN) bt Lauren EMBREE (USA)/ Alexa GUARACHI (USA) 64 63
[R1] Nidhi CHILUMULA (IND)/ Jasmin JEBAWY (GER) l (3) Zhaoxuan YANG (CHN)/ Qiu Yu YE (CHN) 57 26
[R1] Aleksandrina NAYDENOVA (BUL)/ Ankita RAINA (IND) l (4) Danielle LAO (USA)/ Noppawan LERTCHEEWAKARN (THA) 46 57

Though disappointed by these losses but overall expected results for our girls.

Tennis News

At $2.2M Internazionali BNL d'Italia, Rome, Italy (WTA Premier Mandatory)

[F] (1) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Martina Hingis (SUI) l (3) Timea Babos (HUN) / Kristina Mladenovic (FRA) 46 36

[SF] (1) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Martina Hingis (SUI) bt (4) Caroline Garcia (FRA)/ Katarina Srebotnik (SLO) 62 76(5)
[QF] (1) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Martina Hingis (SUI) bt Julia Goerges (GER) / Sa­lvia Soler-Espinosa (ESP) 64 63
[R2] (1) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Martina Hingis (SUI) bt Irina-Camelia Begu (ROU)/ Monica Niculescu (ROU) 64 61
[R1] (1) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Martina Hingis (SUI) bye

Sania-Martina lose in the final against third seed Babos-Mladenovic ... Though they lost in straight sets but it was well fought match ... So Sania-Martina r in good preparation for French open ... Before this Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza reclaimed the No.1 spot on the Road To Singapore doubles leaderboard from Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Lucie Safarova after reaching their fourth final in six tournaments together.

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At €3.29M Internazionali BNL d'Italia, Rome, Italy

[R2] Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Florin Mergea(ROU) l (3) Jean-Julien Rojer (FRA)/ Horia Tecau (ROU) 26 75 8-10
[R2] (6) Daniel Nestor (CAN)/ Leander Paes (IND) l Pablo Cuevas (URU)/ David Marrero (ESP) 26 46

[R1] Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Florin Mergea(ROU) bt Leonardo Mayer(ARG)/ Juan Monaco (ARG) 63 64
[R1] (6) Daniel Nestor (CAN)/ Leander Paes (IND) bye

Rohan-Florin lose in closely fought match against third seed but other hand Lee and Nestor's partnership is not giving any result ... They r having 1-5 win-loss record ... From this week at Geneva open Raven is making comeback, hopefully Lee and Raven will start replaying together.

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At At €494K Geneva Open 2015, Switzerland

[Q3] (6) Somdev Devvarman (IND,173) l (1) Adrian Mannarino (FRA,29) 57 16

[Q2] (6) Somdev Devvarman (IND,173) bt Lorenzo Giustino (ITA,448) 61 64

[Q1] (6) Somdev Devvarman (IND,173) bt Oliver Marach (AUT,1182) 75 76(5)
[Q1] N Vijay Sundar Prashanth (IND,401) l Gleb Alekseenko (UKR,836) 36 63 26

Buji and Vijay Sundar play in Geneva open qualifying ... Vijay Sundar lost in the first round but Buji make good use of practice on clay as he won first 2 qualifying matches before losing to top-30 Frenchman after giving fighting performance in the first set.

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At €439K Open de Nice Côte d’Azur 2015, Nice, France

[R1] Fabrice Martin (FRA)/ Purav Raja (IND) vs Martin Emmrich (GER)/ Andreas Siljestrom (SWE)

This week Purav and Fabrice r playing at Geneva open and facing German-Swedish pair ... Interestingly Daniel Nestor is also playing there with Peya.

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At $100K+H Bordeaux Challenger, France

[R1] Somdev Devvarman (IND,169) l (7) Norbert Gombos (SVK,109) 36 64 46

Last week Buji failed to start with win against top-110 player on clay.

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At $50K+H Samarkand Challenger, Uzbekistan (clay)

[F] (7) Yuki Bhambri (IND,180) l (1) Teymuraz Gabashvilli (RUS,82) 36 16

[SF] (7) Yuki Bhambri (IND,180) bt Saketh Myneni (IND,229) 64 75

[QF] Saketh Myneni (IND,229) bt (8) Bryden Klein (GBR,205) 64 16 61
[QF] (7) Yuki Bhambri (IND,180) bt (3) Adrian Menendex-Maceiras (ESP,120) 64 64

[R2] Saketh Myneni (IND,229) bt (Q) Luke Bambridge (GBR,732) 63 62
[R2] (7) Yuki Bhambri (IND,180) bt Laslo Djere (SRB,209) 16 75 76(1)

[R1] (Q) Divij Sharan (IND,952) l (WC) Djurabeck Karimov (UZB,1113) 64 46 67(6)
[R1] Saketh Myneni (IND,229) bt Vladimir Ivanov (EST,450) 63 67(8) 63
[R1] (7) Yuki Bhambri (IND,180) bt (Q) Ivan Gakhov (RUS,535) 64 63

Doubles
[QF] (1) Divij Sharan (IND)/ Saketh Myneni (IND) l Laslo Duere (SRB)/ Pedja Krstin (SRB) 46 67(4)

[R1] (1) Divij Sharan (IND)/ Saketh Myneni (IND) bt Vladimir Ivanov (EST)/ Dzmitry Zhyrmont (BLR) 63 36 10-8

Turn to be terrific week for Indians on clay ... Yuki and Saki were playing their first clay court challenger but they performed above expectations .. Saki took full advantage of weak draw to reach the semi-final ... Other hand Yuki played some excellent tennis ... Needed to dig deep to reached final ... In the final Gabashvilli prove too good but overall Yuki must be happy with his performance.

With this performance Yuki will be India's #1 player with his ranking in 160s and Saki will be join Yuki and Buji after entering into top-200.

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At $50K Eskisehir Challenger, Turkey

[Q1] Divij Sharan (IND,955) l (8) Filip Veger (CRO,560) 26 26

[R1] (4) Saketh Myneni (IND,229) vs Nikola Mektic (CRO,354)

Doubles
[R1] (2) Divij Sharan (IND)/ Saketh Myneni (IND) vs (WC) Altug Celikbilek (TUR)/ Sefa Suluoglu (TUR)

This week Divij fails to provide any upset ... In the singles Saki is 4th seed and facing Croatian opponent ... In the doubles with Divij he is facing local wild-card pair.

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At $50K ITF Women's Tournament, Wuhan, China (Clay)

[R1] (5) Ankita RAINA (IND,235) vs Alison BAI (AUS,371)
[R1] Natasha PALHA (IND,557) vs Qiu Yu YE (CHN,540)
[R1] Nidhi CHILUMULA (IND, 620) vs Yuxuan ZHANG (CHN,362)

Doubles
[R1] Natasha PALHA (IND)/ Ran TIAN (CHN) vs Lauren EMBREE (USA)/ Alexa GUARACHI (USA)
[R1] Nidhi CHILUMULA (IND)/ Jasmin JEBAWY (GER) vs (3) Zhaoxuan YANG (CHN)/ Qiu Yu YE (CHN)
[R1] Aleksandrina NAYDENOVA (BUL)/ Ankita RAINA (IND) vs (4) Danielle LAO (USA)/ Noppawan LERTCHEEWAKARN (THA)

Only Ankita is having winnable match ... Otherwise tough matches for our players.

Shooting News

At The ISSF Shooting World Cup Rifle/ Pistol, Fort Benning, USA

50 m Rifle Prone Men
Gold - Michael Mcphail (USA) 208.8 pts FWR
Silver - Ole Kristian Bryhn (NOR) 206.3 pts
Bronze - Gagan Narang (IND) 185.8 pts

Gagan Narang wins world cup bronze and Rio 2016 Quota Place for India ... He becomes third shooter who grabs Olympics quota.

Before that Gagan qualified for the final on final eighth place with 626.3 points ... Our other shooters fail to qualify for the final in any event.

Badminton News

At VIVO BWF Sudirman Cup 2015, Dongguan, China

Sudirman Cup - Level 1 Grop D

India l Malaysia 2-3

Manu Attri Arya Pankaryanira (IND)/ Sumeeth Reddy B. (IND) l Goh V Shem (MAS)/ Tan Wee Kiong (MAS) 15-21 16-21
Saina Nehwal (IND,2) bt Tee Jing Yi (MAS,56) 24-22 21-13
Srikanth Kidambi (IND,4) l Lee Chong Wei (MAS,46) 16-21 15-21
Ashwini Ponnappa (IND)/ Jwala Gutta (IND) bt Vivian Kah Mun Hoo (MAS)/ Woon Khe Wei (MAS) 21-18 19-21 21-15
Siki Reddy N. (IND)/ Arun Vishnu (IND) l Chan Peng Soon (MAS)/ Goh Liu Ying (MAS) 14-21 18-21

India l Korea 1-4

Pranaav Jerry Chopra (IND)/ Akshay Dewalkar (IND) l Kim Gi Jung (KOR)/ Kim Sa Rang (KOR) 10-21 19-21
Saina Nehwal (IND,2) bt Bae Yeon Ju (KOR,13) 22-20 17-21 21-13
Kashyap Parupalli (IND,13) l Son Wan Ho (KOR,5) 21-13 14-21 13-21
Ashwini Ponnappa (IND)/ Jwala Gutta (IND) l Chang Ye Na (KOR)/ Jung Kyung Eun (KOR) 21-18 12-21 12-21
Siki Reddy N. (IND)/ Manu Attri (IND) l Kim Ha Na (KOR)/ Ko Sung Hyun (KOR) 12-21 20-22

Overall disappointing results for Indians in Sudirman cup as they failed to win a single tie ... We were in tough group with Korea and Malaysia ... In first tie Saina won her match and then Jwala-Ashwini gave unexpected win ... But we failed to take advantage as Srikanth lost against former WR #1 Lee Chong Wei, who is making comeback after a year ban and frankly speaking our mixed doubles team is non-existent ... In second tie against Korea, only Saina managed to win her match and we lost all other matches of the tie.

Squash News

At Women's Allam British Open 2015, , Hull, England

[R1] Joshana Chinappa (IND,24) l (3) Laura Massaro (ENG,4) 1-3 (11-13, 13-11, 8-11, 7-11) (50m)
[R1] (9) Dipika Pallikal (IND,18) bt Emily Whitlock (ENG,23) 3-2 (9-11, 11-8, 11-7, 9-11, 11-4) (57m)

[R2] (9) Dipika Pallikal (IND,18) l (6) Camille Serme (FRA,6) (5-11, 3-11, 2-11) (26m)

Joshana gives fighting performance against top-5 player Massaro in her loss ... Other hand Dipika gets stretched to fullest against young British girl Whitlock in the first round before she receive thrashing from French girl Serme in the second round ... Dipika managed to win mere 10 points in that match.

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At Men's Allam British Open 2015, , Hull, England

[Q1] Mahesh Mangaonkar (IND,46) l Greg Lobban (SCO,52) 0-3 retd. (5-11, 5-11, 3-9) (30m)

[R1] (2) Saurav Ghosal (IND,21) l Borja Golan (ESP,12) 0-3 (9-11, 9-11, 6-11) (56m)

Overall forgettable outing for our men players ... Mahesh wasn't fully recovered from injury and he conceded match in the third frame ... Saurav got match as his Spanish opponent Golan plays same style game ... Saurav lost in three frames but the match was going for almost an hour.

Tennis News

At €4.2M Mutua Madrid Open, Spain

Doubles Final
Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Florin Mergea(ROU) bt (5) Marcin Matkowski (POL)/ Nenad Zimonjic (SRB) 62 67(5) 11-9

New pairing of Rohan Bopanna and Florin Mergea stopped spirited fightback from Marcin Matkowski and Nenad Zimonjic to capture their first ATP World Tour team title in Madrid ... Rohan-Florin saved a match point in match tie-break before winning this title ... After winning the first set Rohan-Florin were leading 4-1 in the second set tie-break but Zimo-Marcin won six points from next seven for winning this set ... In match tie-break also Rohan-Florin took early lead of 6-0 but again Zimo-Marcin caught them at 7-all ... Our pair saved a match point at 8-9 before converting on their first match point at 10-9 ... This is Rohan's 12th ATP tour title and third ATP Masters title.

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At $50K+H Samarkand Challenger, Uzbekistan (clay)

[Q2] Divij Sharan (IND,952) bt (8) Denis Yevseyev (KAZ,803) 62 75

[Q3] Divij Sharan (IND,952) bt (1) Denis Matsukevich (RUS,454) 61 36 62

[R1] (Q) Divij Sharan (IND,952) vs (WC) Djurabeck Karimov (UZB,1113)
[R1] (7) Yuki Bhambri (IND,186) vs (Q) Ivan Gakhov (RUS,535)

Once again Divij qualify for main-draw ... This time he beats top-500 Russian player for qualification ... He is facing tricky first round against local wild-card player ... Other hand Yuki is facing Russian qualifier in the first round.

Tennis News

At €4.2M Mutua Madrid Open, Spain

[SF] Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Florin Mergea (ROU) bt (6) Marcel Granollers (ESP)/ Marc Lopez (ESP) 67(4) 63 11-9

[F] Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Florin Mergea (ROU) vs (5) Marcin Matkowski (POL)/ Nenad Zimonjic (SRB)

Rohan and Florin score impressive comeback win over seeded Spanish pair in match tie-break ... In the final they r facing experienced doubles players, Marcin and Zimo.

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At $50K+H Karshi Challenger, Uzbekistan

Doubles Final
Yuki Bhambri (IND)/ Adrian Menendez-Maceiras (ESP) bt (2) Sergey Betov (BLR)/ Mikhail Elgin (RUS) 57 63 10-8

Yuki lifts doubles title with his Spanish partner Adrian Menendez-Maceiras beating 2nd seed Betov and Elgin ... Yuki-Adrian score comeback win after losing the first set.

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At $50K+H Samarkand Challenger, Uzbekistan (clay)

[Q1] Divij Sharan (IND,952) bt Dmitry Resnyanskiy (KAZ,1967) 64 60

[Q2] Divij Sharan (IND,952) vs (8) Denis Yevseyev (KAZ,803)

[R1] Saketh Myneni (IND,239) vs Vladimir Ivanov (EST,450)
[R1] (7) Yuki Bhambri (IND,186) vs Qualifier

Divij is in the qualifying and in main-draw Yuli is 7th seed.

Tennis News

At €4.2M Mutua Madrid Open, Spain

[QF] Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Florin Mergea(ROU) bt Juan Sebastian Cabal (COL)/ Adrian Mannarino (FRA) 63 62

Rohan-Florin win their semi-final against Cabal-Mannarino comfortably in straight sets.

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At $75K+H Aix en Provence Challenger, France

[SF] Fabrice Martin (FRA)/ Purav Raja (IND) l (2) Nicholas Monroe (USA)/ Artem Sitak (NZL) 46 46

Purav-Fabrivce lose their semi-final against 2nd seed Monore-Sitak in straight sets.

Tennis News

At €4.2M Mutua Madrid Open, Spain (WTA Premier Mandatory)

[QF] (1) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Martina Hingis (SUI) l (7) Bethanie Mattek-Sands (USA)/ Lucie Safarova (CZE) 76(5) 36 9-11

In the match between top 2 teams on the Road To Singapore doubles leaderboard Mattek-Sands and Safarova beat Sania and Martina in epic match to become No.1 on the post-Madrid leaderboard.

Sania-Martina saved a set point before winning the first set in tie-break but afterwards they failed to keep momentum ... After losing the secnd set they fought back in the match tie-break but Mattek-Sands and Safarova converted 2nd match point for famous win.

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At €4.2M Mutua Madrid Open, Spain

[R2] (7) Daniel Nestor (CAN)/ Leander Paes (IND) l (WC) Feliciano Lopez (ESP)/ Max Mirnyi (BLR) 67(4) 36

Lee-Daniel lose in their first match at Madrid open in straight sets against Mirnyi-Lopez.

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At $50K+H Karshi Challenger, Uzbekistan

[QF] (8) Yuki Bhambri (IND,186) l (3) Teymuraz Gabshiavilli (KAZ,93) 16 36

Doubles
[SF] Yuki Bhambri (IND)/ Adrian Menendez-Maceiras (ESP) bt Yaraslav Shyla (BLR)/ Andrei Vasilevski (BLR) 36 63 10-7

[F] Yuki Bhambri (IND)/ Adrian Menendez-Maceiras (ESP) vs (2) Sergey Betov (BLR)/ Mikhail Elgin (RUS)

Yuki lose one-sided match against Gabshiavilli in the singles ... In this match Yuki made numerous unforced errors and his service wasn't working ... Other hand In the doubles he and his Spanish partner score comeback win in match tie-break ... In the final they r facing 2nd seed Russian-Belarus pair.

Tennis News

At €4.2M Mutua Madrid Open, Spain

[R2] Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Florin Mergea(ROU) bt (8) Nicolas Mahut (FRA)/ Edouard Roger-Vasselin (FRA) 64 46 10-5

Rohan-Florin score superb upset win over 8th seed Frenchmen in match tie-break for entering into the quarters.

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At $50K+H Karshi Challenger, Uzbekistan

[R2] (8) Yuki Bhambri (IND,186) bt Lurynas Grigelis (LIT,381) 76(2) 61
[R2] Saketh Myneni (IND,239) l (3) Adrian Menendez-Maceiras (ESP,121) 67(12) 26

[QF] (8) Yuki Bhambri (IND,186) vs (3) Teymuraz Gabshiavilli (RUS,93)

Doubles
[QF] Yuki Bhambri (IND)/ Adrian Menendez-Maceiras (ESP) bt (3) Divij Sharan (IND)/ Saketh Myneni (IND) 36 64 10-7
[QF] (4) Riccardo Ghedin (ITA)/ Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND) l Brydan Klein (GBR)/ Ruan Roelofse (RSA) 36 63 6-10

[SF] Yuki Bhambri (IND)/ Adrian Menendez-Maceiras (ESP) vs Yaraslav Shyla (BLR)/ Andrei Vasilevski (BLR)

After winning the first set in tie-break Yuki dominated the second set against Grigelis for straight sets win ... In the quarters he is facing top-seed and top-100 Russian player Teymuraz Gabshiavilli.

Other hand Saki lose the second set easily after playing first set marathon tie-break ... And he lose doubles with Divij against same opponent Adrian Menendez-Maceiras and Yuki in match tie-break ... 4th seed RamK and Ghedin also lose their match in match tie-break.

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At $75K+H Aix en Provence Challenger, France

[QF] Fabrice Martin (FRA)/ Purav Raja (IND) bt (4) Johan Brunstrom (SWE)/ Jonathan Erlich (ISR) 61 64

These days Purav and Fabrice r showing consistency in their performance ... In the quarters they beat 4th seed pair of Erlich and Brunstrom convincingly.

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At $75K ITF Women's Tournament, Anning, China (Clay)

[R2] Ankita RAINA (IND,235) l (1) Saisai Zhang (CHN,76) 16 26

Expected loss of Ankita's against Zhang.

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At $10K Croatia F1 futures, Bol

[R2] Sumit NAGAL (IND,1115) l (6) Kevin KRAWIETZ (GER,516) 61 57 67(7)

Sumit fail to convert his excellent start in a win against Krawietz ... Though this was superbly fighting performance by Sumit but he lost due to failing to win important points.

Tennis News

At €4.2M Mutua Madrid Open, Spain (WTA Premier Mandatory)

[R2] (1) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Martina Hingis (SUI) bt Janette Husarova (SVK)/ Raluca Olaru (ROU) 62 63

[QF] (1) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Martina Hingis (SUI) vs (7) Bethanie Mattek-Sands (USA)/ Lucie Safarova (CZE)

Winning start for Sania-Martina in Madrid ... In the quarters they r facing 7th seed Mattek-Sands and Safarova.

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At €4.2M Mutua Madrid Open, Spain

[R1] (WC) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND) Nick Kyrgios (AUS) l Kevin Anderson (RSA)/ Jeremy Chardy (FRA) 57 36

Mahesh is playing one of the tournament and these losses are expected.

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At $50K+H Karshi Challenger, Uzbekistan

[R1] Ramkumar Ramanathan(IND,228) vs (5) Evgeny Donskoy (RUS,196) 16 16
[R1] (8) Yuki Bhambri (IND,186) bt Pedja Kristin (SRB,322) 46 64 63
[R1] Saketh Myneni (IND,239) bt (Q) Denis Matsukevitch (RUS,455) 76(5) 64

[R2] (8) Yuki Bhambri (IND,186) vs Lurynas Grigelis (LIT,381)
[R2] Saketh Myneni (IND,239) vs (3) Adrian Menendez-MacEiras (ESP,121)

Yuki need comeback performance after losing the first set against Serbian opponent ... Next he is facing Lurynas Grigelis ... Saki joins him the second round but needs tight win against Russian qualifier ... Next he is having tough match against top-125 Spanish player Adrian Menendez-MacEiras.

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At $75K ITF Women's Tournament, Anning, China (Clay)

[R1] Ankita RAINA (IND,235) bt (Q) Alexa GUARACHI (USA,446) 61 64

[R2] Ankita RAINA (IND,235) vs (1) Saisai Zhang (CHN,76)

Ankita start with comfortable straight sets win against American qualifier but next she is facing top-75 local Chinese girl Saisai Zhang.

Squash News

At Women's Asian Championship 2015, , Kuwait

[SF] (4) Joshana Chinappa (IND,24) l (1) Nicol David (MAS,1) 0-3 (6-11, 9-11, 7-11)

Joshna gives fighting performance against WR #1 Nicol David but in end Nicol prove too strong for her ... With this loss Indian challenge is over from Asian championship.

Tennis News

At €4.2M Mutua Madrid Open, Spain

[R1] Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Florin Mergea(ROU) bt Marin Draganja (CRO)/ Henri Kontinen (FIN) 57 76(5) 10-6

[R2] Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Florin Mergea(ROU) vs (8) Nicolas Mahut (FRA)/ Edouard Roger-Vasselin (FRA)

Excellent comeback win by Rohan-Florin against Marin-Henri after losing first set ... Next they r facing 8th seed French pair.

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At $75K+H Aix en Provence Challenger, France

[R1] Fabrice Martin (FRA)/ Purav Raja (IND) bt Norbert Gombos (SVK)/ Jurgen Zopp (EST) 61 76(5)

Good winning start for Purav-Fabrice against Gombos-Zopp in straight sets.

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At $50K+H Karshi Challenger, Uzbekistan

[R1] (3) Divij Sharan (IND)/ Saketh Myneni (IND) bt Temur Ismailov (UZB)/ Shonigmatjon Shofayziyev (UZB) 63 62
[R1] Yuki Bhambri (IND)/ Adrian Menendez-Maceiras (ESP) bt (WC) Sagadat Ayap (KAZ)/ Timur Khabibulin (KAZ) 75 61
[R1] (4) Riccardo Ghedin (ITA)/ Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND) bt Dennis Novak AUT)/ Anton Zaitcev (RUS) 63 76(5)

[QF] (3) Divij Sharan (IND)/ Saketh Myneni (IND) vs Yuki Bhambri (IND)/ Adrian Menendez-Maceiras (ESP)
[QF] (4) Riccardo Ghedin (ITA)/ Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND) vs Brydan Klein (GBR)/ Ruan Roelofse (RSA)

Our all pairs start with win against their respective opponents.

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At $10K Croatia F1 futures, Bol

[R1] Sumit NAGAL (IND,1115) bt (WC) Domagoj BILJESKO (CRO,UNR) 62 62

[R2] Sumit NAGAL (IND,1115) vs (6) Kevin KRAWIETZ (GER,516)

Sumit start with comfortable win against similar junior local player ... Next he is facing 6th seed German player.

Squash News

At Women's Asian Championship 2015, , Kuwait

[R1] (4) Joshana Chinappa (IND,24) bye
[R1] (2) Dipika Pallikal (IND,18) bye

[R2] (4) Joshana Chinappa (IND,24) bt (11) Li Dongjin (CHN,UNR) 3-1 (10-12, 11-7, 11-4, 11-4) (35m)
[R2] (2) Dipika Pallikal (IND,18) bt (9) Vanessa Raj (MAS,68) 3-0 (11-6, 11-5, 11-4) (25m)

[QF] (4) Joshana Chinappa (IND,24) bt (5) Joey Chan (HKG,27) 3-2 (11-8, 11-13, 9-11, 11-9, 11-7) (70m)
[QF] (2) Dipika Pallikal (IND,18) l (6) Delia Arnold (MAS,29) 2-3 (7-11, 12-14, 13-11, 11-8, 9-11) (95m)

As expected Joshana and Dipika were in the quarters in on-going Asian championship, though Joshna struggled against un-ranked Chinese player in the second round.

In the quarters both matches went to distance ... Dipika lose marathon match against Delia Arnold ... She lost closely fought first 2 frames but she fought back to win the third after saving match balls ... Dipika won the fourth won to make 2-all ... But in the fifth Dipika failed to win crucial points in lost this long match ... Other hand Joshana make amazing comeback after 1-2 frames down to win her match.

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At Men's Asian Championship 2015, , Kuwait

[R1] (2) Saurav Ghosal (IND,21) bye
[R1] (8) Harinder Pal Singh Sandhu (IND,60) bye
[R1] (6) Mahesh Mangaonkar (IND,46) bye

[R2] (2) Saurav Ghosal (IND,21) bt Abdulrahman Al-Malki (QAT,438) 3-0 (11-4, 11-3, 11-2) (18m)
[R2] (8) Harinder Pal Singh Sandhu (IND,60) bt Fallah Mohammed (KUW,UNR) 3-0 (11-5, 11-9, 11-1)
[R2] (6) Mahesh Mangaonkar (IND,46) bt Jong Myoung Park (KOR,438) 3-1 (11-7, 11-13, 11-7, 11-1) (55m)

[R3] (2) Saurav Ghosal (IND,21) bt (12) Danish Atlas Khan (PAK,65) 3-0 (11-4, 11-9, 11-8) (45m)
[R3] (8) Harinder Pal Singh Sandhu (IND,60) l (11) Farhan Zaman (PAK,71) 2-3 (11-8, 11-4, 9-11, 4-11, 4-11) (55m)
[R3] (6) Mahesh Mangaonkar (IND,46) l (10) Tsz Fung Yip (HKG,70) 0-3 (10-21, 4-11, 2-11) (35m)

[QF] (2) Saurav Ghosal (IND,21) l (7) Nasir Iqbal (PAK,45) 1-3 (15-13, 7-11, 4-11, 5-11) (75m)

Saurav was pissed off with referees standard as so many wrong decision given against him in the quarters ... He was robbed from win against Nasir Iqbal.

Here I was expecting three quarter-finalist but instead only Saurav managed to reach with straight games victory ... Harinder Pal Singh lost after winning first 2 frames ... Mahesh was looking injured in his loss.

Athletics News

At Federation Cup athletics meet 2015, Mangaluru

Shot putter Inderjeet Singh became the first Indian to qualify for the Olympics in track and field events by winning the men's shot put gold with a stunning effort of 20.65m ... The Olympic qualification period commenced only yesterday and is 20.50m for the men's shot put.

So far only the walkers -Khushbir Kaur, Manish Rawat, Sandeep Kumar - and OP Jaisha in women's marathon have made the grade for the Rio Olympics after the qualification period for the road races began on January 1.

Tennis News

At $75K+H Taipei Challenger, Taiwan

[SF] Yuki Bhambri (IND,216) l (2) Sam Groth (AUS,85) 46 57

Yuki's excellent run ended in the semis against big serving Groth ... Yuki fought in both sets ... Groth was up with a break and serving for the set at 5-3 but Yuki broke him in 9th game, 5-4 ... After that Yuki failed to hold in 10th game for losing the set ... In the second set both players hold their respective service games till 11th games ... While serving for remained in the match Yuki lost his serve and match ... This performance will push Yuki's ranking in 180s in the singles.

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At $50K+H An-Ning Challenger, China (red clay)

Doubles Final
Karunuday Singh (IND)/ Andrew Whittington (AUS) l Yan Bai (CHN)/ Di Wu (CHN)36 46

Chinese pair prove better for KU and his Aussie partner ... Still encouraging show from KU.

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At $50K Tallahassee Challenger, Florida, USA

Doubles Final
Somdev Devvarman (IND)/ Sanam Singh (IND) l Dennis Novikov (USA)/ Julio Peralta (CHI) 26 46

Buji-Sanam fail to challenge Novikov-Peralta in one-sided loss.

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At €4.2M Mutua Madrid Open, Spain (WTA Premier Mandatory)

[R1] (1) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Martina Hingis (SUI) bye

As top-seed Sania-Martina having bye in the first round.

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At €4.2M Mutua Madrid Open, Spain

[R1] Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Florin Mergea(ROU) vs Marin Draganja (CRO)/ Henri Kontinen (FIN)
[R1] Mahesh Bhupathi (IND) Nick Kyrgios (AUS) vs Kevin Anderson (RSA)/ Jeremy Chardy (FRA)
[R1] (7) Daniel Nestor (CAN)/ Leander Paes (IND) bye

Lee-Daniel r back together and 7th seed, they receive bye in the first round ... Rohan-Florin r facing Croatian-Finnish pair ... Mahesh is back on tour and he is pairing young Aussie Nick Kyrgios ... They r having tough first round against Chardy and Anderson.

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At $50K+H Karshi Challenger, Uzbekistan

[R1] Ramkumar Ramanathan(IND,228) vs (5) Evgeny Donskoy (RUS,196)
[R1] (8) Yuki Bhambri (IND,216) vs Pedja Kristin (SRB,322)
[R1] Saketh Myneni (IND,244) vs Qualifier

Doubles
[R1] (3) Divij Sharan (IND)/ Saketh Myneni (IND) vs Temur Ismailov (UZB)/ Shonigmatjon Shofayziyev (UZB)
[R1] (4) Riccardo Ghedin (ITA)/ Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND) vs Dennis Novak AUT)/ Anton Zaitcev (RUS)
[R1] Yuki Bhambri (IND)/ Adrian Menendez-Maceiras (ESP) vs Sagadat Ayap (KAZ)/ Timur Khabibulin (KAZ)

Tough draw for RamK and good to see Yuki is seeded in the singles ... Saki is also having favorable draw as he is facing qualifier ... In the doubles Yuki is unnecessarily playing ... Divij and Saki can be formidable pair.

Tennis News

At $75K+H Taipei Challenger, Taiwan

[QF] Yuki Bhambri (IND,216) bt (3) Go SoedA (JPN,87) 64 36 63

[QF] Yuki Bhambri (IND,216) vs (2) Sam Groth (AUS,85)

Doubles
[QF] Yuki Bhambri (IND)/ Saketh Myneni (IND) vs (2) Sanchai Ratiwatana (THA)/ Sonchat Ratiwatana (THA) 67(3) 64 7-10

Yuki score his biggest win of this year when he beats top-100 Go Soeda in three sets ... In the first set Yuki broke Soeda in 3rd game and kept that advantage for winning this set ... In the second set Soeda broke Yuki in 2nd and 4th games to lead 4-0 ... Yuki reduced margin breaking him in 5th game, 1-4, but Soeda kept one break advantage for winning this set ... In the final set Yuki took crucial break in 6th game to lead 4-2 and then hold his serves for completing exciting win ... In the semis he is facing big serving Aussie Sam Groth.

In the doubles Saki-Yuki pairing lose their match against 2nd seed Ratiwatana twins in match tie-break.

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At $50K+H An-Ning Challenger, China (red clay)

[SF] Karunuday Singh (IND)/ Andrew Whittington (AUS) bt Luke Saville (AUS)/ Jordan Thompson (AUS) 62 67(4) 10-7

[F] Karunuday Singh (IND)/ Andrew Whittington (AUS) vs Yan Bai (CHN)/ Di Wu (CHN)

KU and his Aussie partner in the final after beating another Aussie pair in match tie-break ... In the final they r facing Chinese pair.

Snooker News

At Asian Snooker Championships 2015, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

[F] Hamza Akbar (PAK) bt Pankaj Advani (IND) 7-6 (66-43, 43-55, 79-18, 70-02, 28-72, 63-59, 57-64, 79--21, 00-116, 05-78, 08-80, 63-28, 61-52)

And another loss in the final for Pankaj as he lose thriller against Pakistani Hamza Akbar ... At one time Hamza Akbar was leading 5-3 frames ... Pankaj won next three frames to take back lead 6-5 and one frame away from the title ... But again Hamza Akbar won next frame to 6-all ... The last frame was closely fought and Hamza nicked Pankaj for the title.

Tennis News

At ITF Junior Girls (u14) - Asia/ Oceania Final Qualifying,

[QF] (5) India bt (3) Australia 2-1

Shivani AMINENI l Amber MARSHALL 16 16
Mahak JAIN bt Olivia GADKI 62 61
Shivani AMINENI / Mahak JAIN bt Olivia GADECKI / Amber MARSHALL 64 57 64

Group A
(5) India l (1) China 0-3

Prinkle SINGH l Jia Yu CHU 36 36
Mahak JAIN l Xiyu WANG 36 26
Shivani AMINENI / Prinkle SINGH l Jia Yu CHU / Jia Qi WANG 46 46

Group A
(5) India bt Kyrgyzstan 3-0/b>

Shivani AMINENI bt Saara KUNAKUNOVA 62 60
Mahak JAIN bt Emma NURGAZIEVA 61 63
Shivani AMINENI / Prinkle SINGH bt Saara KUNAKUNOVA / Emma NURGAZIEVA 64 62

Group A
(5) India bt Kazakhstan 3-0

Prinkle SINGH bt Zakharova ANASTASSIYA 64 61
Mahak JAIN bt Zhamila TAITELI 61 64
Mahak JAIN / Shivani AMINENI bt Gaini IBRASHEVA / Zhamila TAITELI 63 61

Indians u-14 girls once again qualify for u-14 World Junior Tennis Championship beating 3rd seed Australia in the quarters ... In that Mahek Jain scored important victory in the singles and then winning tight doubles with Shivani.

Before that Indian girls had tough draw as they were in same group with top-seed China and 3rd seed Australia were looming in the quarters ... But they overcome odds and qualify for championship.

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At €439K BMW Open, Munich, Germany

[QF] Radek Strepanek (CZE)/ Leander Paes (IND) l (1) Alexander Peya (AUT)/ Bruno Soares (BRA) 26 16

One-sided loss for Lee-Radek against top-seed Peya-Soares.

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At $75K+H Taipei Challenger, Taiwan

[R2] Yuki Bhambri (IND,216) bt (8) Jimmy Wang (TPE,133) 63 61

[QF] Yuki Bhambri (IND,216) vs (3) Go SoedA (JPN,87)

Yuki give humiliating defeat to Jimmy Wang in one-sided win ... Yuki showed his talent when he is fully fit and kept control of the match from start for this win ... Next he is facing top-100 Japanese Go Soeda, in their last meeting Yuki lost it easily.

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At $50K Tallahassee Challenger, Florida, USA

[SF] Somdev Devvarman (IND)/ Sanam Singh (IND) bt Facundo Arguello (ITA)/ Andrea Collarini (ITA) 76(10) 64

Buji and Sanam are in the final after beating their Italian opponents in two sets ... Buji-Sanam won 22 points long first set tie-break and then completed win after winning second set more comfortably.

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At $50K+H An-Ning Challenger, China (red clay)

[R2] (PR) Karunuday Singh (IND,777) l Duckhee Lee (KOR,391) 26 67(5)
[R2] (Q) Divij Sharan (IND,UNR) l Yan Bai (CHN,423) 63 26 36

Divij started well after winning first set but failed to keep momentum in next two sets ... KU gave fighting performance against talented 16 yrs old Duckhee Lee but that wasn't enough.