Chess News

At The 3rd Sinquefield Cup 2015, Saint Louis, USA

Round 8 - 31.08.2015
Alexander Grischuk (RUS,2771) - Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (FRA,2731) ½-½
Anish Giri (NED,2793) - Fabiano Caruana (ITA,2808) ½-½
Wesley So (USA,2779) - Veselin Topalov (BUL,2816) ½-½
Levon Aronian (ARM,2765) - Viswanathan Anand (IND,2816) ½-½
Magnus Carlsen (NOR,2876) - Hikaru Nakamura (USA,2814) ½-½

All five games are ended in a draw ... But in that Carlsen missed winning opportunity against Nakamura and agreed draw after long 95 moves.

Tennis News

At US Open 2015, New York

Doubles
[R1] (1) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Martina Hingis (SUI) vs (WC) Kaitlyn Christian (USA)/ Sabrina Santamaria (USA)
[R1] Fernando Verdasco (ESP)/ Leander Paes (IND) vs Florian Mayer (GER)/ Frank Moser (GER)
[R1] (6) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Florin Meargea (ROM) vs Austin Krajicek (USA)/ Nicholas Monroe (USA)

Doubles draw is out ... Lee-Verdasco r facing German pair in the first round and if they win this then they can face Bryans in the second ... Rohan-Florin r in bottom draw and facing American pair.

Sania-Martina r facing American wild-card pair.

---

At $50K Bangkok Challenger, Thailand

[R1] (2) Somdev Devvarman (IND,152) bt (WC) Puriwat Chatpatcharoen (THA,882) 64 62

Expected winning start for Buji against lowly ranked Thai opponent.

Chess News

At The 3rd Sinquefield Cup 2015, Saint Louis, USA

Round 7 - 30.08.2015
Magnus Carlsen (NOR,2876) - Alexander Grischuk (RUS,2771) 0-1
Hikaru Nakamura (USA,2814) - Levon Aronian (ARM,2765) 0-1
Viswanathan Anand (IND,2816) - Wesley So (USA,2779) ½-½
Veselin Topalov (BUL,2816) - Anish Giri (NED,2793) ½-½
Fabiano Caruana (ITA,2808) - Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (FRA,2731) ½-½

Anand manages another draw with So playing with white ... His early mistakes kept him from controlling the game ... But day's upset score by Grischuk and sole leader Aronian, who defeated Carlsen and Nakamura respectively playing with blacks ... Aronian took advantage of mistakes by Nakamura but other hand Grischuk troubled Carlsen with his end game and Carlsen made blunder to resign after 68 moves.

Athletics News

At 15th IAAF World Championships, Beijing, China

Women's Marathon
18. O. P. Jaisha (IND) 2:34:43 NR
19. Sudha Singh (IND) 2:35:35 PB

In Women's marathon, O. P. Jaisha finishes creditable 18th place with new national record of 2:34:43 bettering her own record of 2:37:29 ... Sudha Singh also timed her personal best of 2:35:35 for creditable 19th place ... With this timing Sudha Singh also qualify for 2016 Rio Olympics, her timing was well below qualifying mark of 2:42:00, O. P. Jaisha already qualified for Rio Olympics.

Tennis News

At $50K Bangkok Challenger, Thailand

[Q2] Divij Sharan (IND,878) l (6) Ricardo Ghedin (ITA,491) 57 26

Doubles
[R1] James Cluskey (IRL)/ Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND) vs Dane Propoggia (AUS)/ Jordan Thompson (AUS)
[R1] (3) N. Sriram Balaji (IND)/ Divij Sharan (IND) vs Cheng-Peng Hsieh (TPE)/ Andrew Whittington (AUS)
[R1] Somdev Devvarman (IND)/ Jimmy Wang (TPE) vs Yan Bai (CHN)/ Riccardo Ghedin (ITA)

Give fighting performance in his loss by Divij.

Our three pairs r in the doubles ... Interesting to watch Bala-Divij performance as a pair.

Chess News

At The 3rd Sinquefield Cup 2015, Saint Louis, USA

Round 6 - 29.08.2015
Alexander Grischuk (RUS,2771) - Fabiano Caruana (ITA,2808) 1-0
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (FRA,2731) - Veselin Topalov (BUL,2816) 1-0
Anish Giri (NED,2793) - Viswanathan Anand (IND,2816) ½-½
Wesley So (USA,2779) - Hikaru Nakamura (USA,2814) 0-1
Levon Aronian (ARM,2765) - Magnus Carlsen (NOR,2876) ½-½

In sixth round total three decisive games but for Anand another draw, this time against Anish Giri ... Anand played solid Slav defense to hold Anish after 32 moves ... Maxime surprised Topalov with his perfect Berlin endgame ... Nakamura played excellent game with black to beat So ... Grischuk took advantage of mistake by Caruana for superb victory.

Hockey News

At 2016 Rio Olympics,

Congratulations to Indian Women Team on officially making it to Rio Olympics 2016, so after 36 years our women will be part of Olympics ... Netherlands and England women teams are entered into the final of European championship ... Both teams are already qualified for Rio Olympics so available European champion place our women team qualify as they were the best ranked team in Women's Hockey World League after qualified teams.

Tennis News

At $50K Bangkok Challenger, Thailand

[Q1] Divij Sharan (IND,878) bt Jirat Navasirisomboon (THA,1108) 63 76(3)

[Q2] Divij Sharan (IND,878) vs (6) Ricardo Ghedin (ITA,491)

[R1] N. Sriram Balaji (IND,427) vs Nicolas Meister (USA,378)
[R1] Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,226) vs Ze Zhang (CHN,217)
[R1] (2) Somdev Devvarman (IND,152) vs (WC) Puriwat Chatpatcharoen (THA,882)

Good draw for our players ... RamK is facing top Chinese player Ze Zhang.

---

At $10K India F11 Futures , Chennai

Singles Final
Sumit NAGAL (IND) bt Ronit Singh BISHT (IND) 63 64

[SF] Sumit NAGAL (IND) bt (6) Ranjeet VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND) 63 61
[QF] Sumit NAGAL (IND) bt (2) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND) 36 63 64
[R2] Sumit NAGAL (IND) bt (8) Vinayak Sharma KAZA (IND) 62 62
[R1] Sumit NAGAL (IND) bt Timur KHABIBULIN (KAZ) 62 61

Doubles Final
(1) Jeevan NEDUNCHEZHIYAN (IND)/ N. Vijay Sundar PRASHANTH (IND) bt (2) Mohit Mayur JAYAPRAKASH (IND)/ Vinayak Sharma KAZA (IND) 64 76(5)

In young players final between 18 year old Sumit Nagal and 19 year old Ronit Bisht, Sumit lifts his second futures title ... In this futures Sumit gave dominated performance, his only tough match was against 2nd seed Balaji which went to 3 sets.

Athletics News

At 15th IAAF World Championships, Beijing, China

Men's Discuss Throw
9. Vikas Gowda (IND) 62.24m

Poor throw from Vikas Gowda in the final of the Men's Discuss Throw ... He was out of the final after first 3 throws.

In Men's 50km walk, Sandeep Kumar finishes at 26th place with his season best timing of 3:57:03 while Manish Singh finishes at 27th place with his personal best timing of 3:57:11 ... Their timing is below 2016 Rio Olympics qualifying mark of 4:03:00, so two more quota places are earned by our athletes for Rio Olympics.

Our women 4x400m relay team posted a season best 3:29:08s but finished lowly 14th out of the 16 teams.

Chess News

At The 3rd Sinquefield Cup 2015, Saint Louis, USA

Round 5 - 27.08.2015
Levon Aronian (ARM,2765) - Alexander Grischuk (RUS,2771) ½-½
Magnus Carlsen (NOR,2876) - Wesley So (USA,2779) 1-0
Hikaru Nakamura (USA,2814) - Anish Giri (NED,2793) ½-½
Viswanathan Anand (IND,2816) - Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (FRA,2731) ½-½
Veselin Topalov (BUL,2816) - Fabiano Caruana (ITA,2808) 0-1

Another draw for Anand, this time against Maxime Vachier-Lagrave playing with white ... Anand had an advantage against Maxime but in end forced to draw ... In shocking result Caruana upset Topalov playing with black ... So Carlsen joins Aronian in the top with win over So.

Tennis News

At US Open 2015, New York

[Q2] Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,226) l (30) Facundo Bagnis (ARG,137) 36 62 67(4)

RamK gives fighting performance in his loss against top-140 Argentine Facundo Bagnis ... After losing the first set RamK made strong comeback and won the second set with double break ... In the decider both players were holding their service games though RamK hold in 9th game after multiple deuce ... In tie-break RamK started well with mini-break he was up 4-1 but from here Bagnis won next six points in a row in that he won 2 points on RamK's serve for completing the victory ... As per stat RamK was better that Bagnis in all stats expect win % on 1st serve ... That means Bagnis return game was better that RamK and he played important points well ... RamK needs to learn from these experience but overall above expectation performance by RamK.

2015 Athletics

At 15th IAAF World Championships, Beijing, China

Vikas Gowda qualify for the finals of the Men's Discuss Throw in 7th position ... He qualified with 63.86m throw ... Frankly below par performance as I m hoping for 65m throw from him.

Chess News

At The 3rd Sinquefield Cup 2015, Saint Louis, USA

Round 4 - 26.08.2015
Alexander Grischuk (RUS,2771) - Veselin Topalov (BUL,2798) ½-½
Fabiano Caruana (ITA,2808) - Viswanathan Anand (IND,2816) ½-½
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (FRA,2731) - Hikaru Nakamura (USA,2814) ½-½
Anish Giri (NED,2793) - Magnus Carlsen (NOR,2876) ½-½
Wesley So (USA,2779) - Levon Aronian (ARM,2765) 0-1

Another draw for Anand ... In an Anti-Meran Gambit game where Anand seemed to be doing well but he was concerned with inaccuracies creeping into his game again, so he decided to avoid the risk ... Only Aronian score win with a black against So and joins leader Topalov in the top position.

Tennis News

At US Open 2015, New York

[Q1] Yuki Bhambri (IND,144) l (23) Yoshihito Nishioka (JPN,127) 46 61 26
[Q1] Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,226) bt (PR) Pedro Sousa (POR,768) 62 63

[Q2] Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,226) vs Facundo Bagnis (ARG,137)

Yuki struggled against no-nonsense game from Nishioka ... In the first set both players hold their respective service games till 8th game though Yuki was struggling ... In 9th game Nishioka broke Yuki and in 10th game Yuki had couple of break points opportunity but he failed to convert ... In the second set Yuki started well as he broke Nishioka in 2nd game to lead 3-0 ... Yuki again broke him in 6th game and then hold for winning this set comfortably ... In the third set Nishioka broke Yuki in 2nd game to lead 3-0 ... Nishioka again broke Yuki when he was serving for staying in the match in 8th game ... Very disappointing performance by Yuki and Buji in US qualifying.

At last RamK gives a win for us against weakest player in the draw still in end win is a win ... Moreover this is RamK's first win in the grand slam ... RamK won the first set comfortably with double service break ... In the second set he was up with a break at 4-2 when Pedro broke his serve, 4-3 ... RamK immediately broke Pedro in 8th game and then hold his serve for completing his victory ... Next he is facing top-140 Argentine Facundo Bagnis.

Athletics News

At 15th IAAF World Championships, Beijing, China

Women's 3000m Steeplechase
8 Lalita Babar (IND) 9.29.64

Lalita Babar finishes creditable 8th place in the final ... Almost till 2000m she was leading but couldn't continue in the end ... But really good experience for Lalita on this big stage which is good for her development.

Tintu Luka runs her season best timing of 2.00.95 sec in Women's 800m, but that was way down for qualifying for semi-final but still with this timing she qualify for 2016 Rio Olympics.

Chess News

At The 3rd Sinquefield Cup 2015, Saint Louis, USA

Round 3 - 25.08.2015
Wesley So (USA,2779) - Alexander Grischuk (RUS,2771) 1-0
Levon Aronian (ARM,2765) - Anish Giri (NED,2793) ½-½
Magnus Carlsen (NOR,2876) - Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (FRA,2731) 1-0
Hikaru Nakamura (USA,2814) - Fabiano Caruana (ITA,2808) ½-½
Viswanathan Anand (IND,2816) - Veselin Topalov (BUL,2798) ½-½

At last Anand manage to open his account at Sinquefield Cup ... Anand hold in-form Topalov with white in a Sicilian opening ... They agreed truce after 31 moves.

Tennis News

At US Open 2015, New York

[Q1] Somdev Devvarman (IND,152) l (20) Norbert Gambos (SVK,124) 75 57 16
[Q1] Saketh Myneni (IND,199) l (13) Jan-Lenard Struff (GER,111) 64 46 16
[Q1] Yuki Bhambri (IND,144) vs (23) Yoshihito Nishioka (JPN,127)
[Q1] Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,226) vs (PR) Pedro Sousa (POR,768)

Good to see Yuki,Buji and Saki r playing against seeded opponents in their first qualifying matches ... Frankly if they want to qualify then they have to win these matches ... In three matches Yuki and Buji having chance against their opponents with their US hard court experience but Saki having really tough match against former top-40 German opponent.

Somi again hit by his regular three sets loss syndrome against Norbert ... In the first set Somi was struggling with his serve but his returning game was quite well ... He broke Norbert in 3rd game to lead 3-1 but Norbert broke Buji in 6th game to make it 3-all ... Buji again broke Norbert in 7th game but again failed to hold his serve in next game, 4-all ... Buji saved 3 set points on his serve in 10th game from 0-40 ... Then he broke Norbert in 11th game before holding to win the first set ... The second set started badly as Norbert broke Buji in 2nd game to lead 3-0 but Buji broke back in 5th game to make it 3-all ... After that Buji missed 4 break points in 7th game and 2 more in 9th game ... Norbert took advantage of it and broke Buji in 12th game for winning this set ... In the final set one way traffic for Norbert as he broke Buji in 2nd and 4th games to lead 4-0 ... Buji broke back in 5th game but Norbert again broke Buji in 6th game before holding his serve while serving for the match ... Buji failed to hold his serve single time in final set ... So disappointing to see Buji again messed up after having chance of finishing match in his favor in two sets.

Saki started positively and was serving well ... He broke Struff in 3rd game to take early lead 3-1 ... Saki kept that lead for winning the first set ... The second set also started in favor of Saki as he broke Struff 1st and 3rd game to lead 3-0 ... And from here everything changed, as Struff made remarkable comeback he broke Saki in 4th game to make it, 1-3 ... From 2-4 down Struff won next four games breaking Saki in 8th and 10th games for winning this set ... In the final set also from 1-all Struff showed dominance and won next five games for completing solid victory ... Big learning curve for Saki from this match.

Chess News

At The 3rd Sinquefield Cup 2015, Saint Louis, USA

Round 2 - 24.08.2015
Veselin Topalov (BUL,2798) - Hikaru Nakamura (USA,2814) 1-0
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (FRA,2731) - Levon Aronian (ARM,2765) ½-½
Anish Giri (NED,2793) - Wesley So (USA,2779) ½-½
Fabiano Caruana (ITA,2808) - Magnus Carlsen (NOR,2876) 0-1
Alexander Grischuk (RUS,2771) - Viswanathan Anand (IND,2816) 1-0

Terrible start for Anand in this Sinquefield Cup ... He loses his second match in two rounds, this time against Grischuk with black ... Grischuk scored his first win against Anand in 12 years of classical chess with London system (1. d4 Nf6 2. Bf4) ... Caruana had advantage against Carlsen but lost match in time trap ... Topalov continued with his terrific form and scored another convincing win over Nakamura to lead after two rounds.

Athletics News

At 15th IAAF World Championships, Beijing, China

Lalita Babar become the first Indian athlete ever to qualify for the final of a track and field event in the World Championships ... In the 3000m steeplechase event Lalita clocked a national record of 9:27.86s, 7+ secs better than previous record ... She finished 4th in her heat and overall 8th in three heats to qualify for the final.

Chess News

At The 3rd Sinquefield Cup 2015, Saint Louis, USA

Round 1 - 23.08.2015
Anish Giri (NED,2793) - Alexander Grischuk (RUS,2771) 1-0
Wesley So (USA,2779) - Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (FRA,2731) 0-1
Levon Aronian (ARM,2765) - Fabiano Caruana (ITA,2808) 1-0
Magnus Carlsen (NOR,2876) - Veselin Topalov (BUL,2798) 0-1
Hikaru Nakamura (USA,2814) - Viswanathan Anand (IND,2816) 1-0

Undoubtedly best start to the 2015 Sinquefield Cup ... Matches full of brilliance, attacks and some confusing moves ... Five decisive games.

Nakamura and Anand were almost even as Anand was defending well but he made a poor move 35...f5 ... After that Anand lose his match in next 8 moves ... Topalov surprised Carlsen by the move 7...g5 in the Sicilian and kept pressure on Carlsen who resigned under time pressure after 40 moves.

Tennis News

At $100 Vancouver Challenger, Canada

Doubles Final
Yuki Bhambri (IND)/ Michael Venus (NZL) l (3) Treat Huey (PHI)/ Frederik Nielsen (DEN) 67(4) 76(3) 5-10

Yuki lose closely fought doubles final with his partner Michael Venus against 3rd seed Treat Huey and Frederik Nielsen ... Both sets went to tie-break, first won by Huey-Nielsen and second won by Yuki-Venus ... Treat Huey and Frederik Nielsen played solid match tie-break without giving any chance to Yuki and Michael Venus ... So this is 2nd runner up trophy for Yuki in two weeks at $100K challenger doubles event.

Athletics News

At 15th IAAF World Championships, Beijing, China

Men's 20 kilometres walk
36 Gurmeet Singh (IND) 1:25:22
42 Chandan Singh (IND) 1:26:40
Baljinder Singh (IND) DNF

Men's Shot Put
11 Inderjeet Singh (IND) 19.52m

In 20km walk, Baljinder Singh thought he finished on his personal best timing 1:21:44 and respectable 12th position but at that time the referees signaled other athlete that he completed race but Baljinder thought they were telling him ... So he stopped but he needed to complete one more round in the stadium for completing so his result displayed did not finish ... Our other two walkers finished race below 30 in the standings.

In Men's shot put event, Inderjeet Singh qualified for the final with 20.47m throw ... Qualification mark was 20.65m but only three throwers managed to cross that mark ... Inderjeet Singh qualified for the final in 8th position of 12 finalists ... He also become only third Indian athlete, who qualify for the final ... But in the final he failed to repeat similar or better throw and finishes on 11th position with only 19.52m throw.

Tennis News

At $2.7M Western and Southern Open, Cincinnati, USA (WTA Premier 5)

[SF] (1) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Martina Hingis (SUI) l Hao-Ching Chan (TPE)/ Yung-Jan Chan (TPE) 46 60 6-10

Surprising loss against unseeded Taiwani pair for Sania and Martina ... After losing the first set Sania-Martina made strong comeback to win the second set without losing a single game ... But they failed to keep momentum in the match tie-break which they lost without much fight.

---

At $100 Vancouver Challenger, Canada

[SF] Yuki Bhambri (IND,149) l Dudi Sela (ISR,130) 26 46

Doubles
[F] Yuki Bhambri (IND)/ Michael Venus (NZL) vs (3) Treat Huey (PHI)/ Frederik Nielsen (DEN)

Expecting tough match for Yuki against Dudi Sela but in end Dudi proved too good for Yuki ... In both sets Yuki failed to challenge Dudi but overall really good tournament for Yuki before US open qualifying.

---

At $50K+H Cordenons Challenger, Italy

[SF] (2) Purav Raja (IND)/ Fabrice Martin (FRA) l (3) Dino Marcan (CRO)/ Antonio Sancic (CRO) 46 36

Purav-Fabrice face surprising loss against Croatian pair in straight sets on thee clay.

---

At $695K Winston-Salem Open, USA

[Q1] Sanam Singh (IND,304) bt Mischa Zverev (GER,286) 6 3-1 retd.

[Q2] Sanam Singh (IND,304) l (8) Ryan Harrison (USA,126) 63 76(2)

Sanam plays in tough Winston-Salem qualifying ... He won the first match against German Mischa Zverev, when Mischa retired in the second set due to neck strain though Sanam was leading in this match ... In the second round despite fighting performance Sanam lost in two sets against Ryan ... Sanam needs to play futures with mixture of challengers before playing ATP qualifying.

Tennis News

At $2.7M Western and Southern Open, Cincinnati, USA (WTA Premier 5)

[QF] (1) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Martina Hingis (SUI) bt (WC) Christina Mchale (USA)/ CoCo Vandeweghe (USA) 64 61

[SF] (1) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Martina Hingis (SUI) vs Hao-Ching Chan (TPE)/ Yung-Jan Chan (TPE)

Expected comfortable win for Sania and Martina against American wild-card pair ... In the semis they r facing Taipei pair.

---

At $4.45M Western and Southern Open - Master 1000, Cincinnati, USA

[QF] (5) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Florin Meargea (ROM) l (2) Ivan Dodig (CRO)/ Marcelo Melo (BRA) 16 61 12-14
[QF] Stanislas Wawrinka (SUI)/ Leander Paes (IND) l Feliciano Lopez (ESP)/ Max Mirnyi (BLR) 63 26 12-14

Our both pairs lose closely fought match tie-break in extra points ... Lee-Stan started well winning the first set but failed to keep momentum in the second ... Stan-Lee tried hard after down 5-9 in match tie-break but lost 26 points long match tie-break, in that they also had couple of match points.

Rohan-Fabrice lost the first set easily but fought back to win the second set dominantly ... But they also lost 26 points long match tie-break against 2nd seeds.

---

At $100 Vancouver Challenger, Canada

[QF] Yuki Bhambri (IND,149) bt Farrukh Dustov (UZB,161) 64 64

[SF] Yuki Bhambri (IND,149) vs Dudi Sela (ISR,130)

Doubles
[QF] Yuki Bhambri (IND)/ Michael Venus (NZL) bt (2) Ausitn Krajicek (USA)/ Nicolas Monroe (USA) 63 62

[SF] Yuki Bhambri (IND)/ Michael Venus (NZL) bt (4) Marius Copil (ROU)/ Jurgen Melzer (AUT) w/o (Melzer shoulder injury)

Straight sets win for Yuki against Uzbek Farrukh Dustov ... In this match Farrukh failed to stretch Yuki ... In the semis Yuki is facing former top-30 and veteran Israeli Dudi Sela.

In the doubles Yuki-Venus show how potent pairing they are with comfortable win against 2nd seed American pair .. In the semis also they receive walkover by 4th seed Melzer-Copil due to shoulder injury to Melzer.

---

At $50K+H Cordenons Challenger, Italy

[QF] (2) Purav Raja (IND)/ Fabrice Martin (FRA) bt James Cerreani (USA)/ Costin Paval (ROU) 63 62

[SF] (2) Purav Raja (IND)/ Fabrice Martin (FRA) vs (3) Dino Marcan (CRO)/ Antonio Sancic (CRO)

Comfortable win for Purav and Fabrice against Cerreani and Paval pairing ... In the semis they r facing 3rd seed Croatian pair.

Tennis News

At $4.45M Western and Southern Open - Master 1000, Cincinnati, USA

[R2] (5) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Florin Meargea (ROM) bt Pierre-Hugues Herbert (FRA)/ Nicolas Mahut (FRA) 16 76(5) 13-11

Rohan-Florin score superb comeback win over French pair in tight match saving four match points ... After losing the first set easily Rohan-Florin were a break down in 11th game, 5-6 ... They were couple of match points down at 40-30 on French pair's serve ... They broke French pair saving both match points to take the set into tie-break ... They won tie-break and took the match in match tie-break ... In match tie-break also Rohan-Florin faced couple of match points at 8-9 and then at 10-11 but again our pair saved both and won this match converting their second match point.

---

At $100 Vancouver Challenger, Canada

[R1] Yuki Bhambri (IND,149) bt Marius Copil (ROU,189) 36 76(3) 62

[QF] Yuki Bhambri (IND,149) vs Farrukh Dustov (UZB,161)

Doubles
[R1] Yuki Bhambri (IND)/ Michael Venus (NZL) bt Ruben Bemelmans (BEL)/ Philip Bester (CAN) 76(4) 63

[QF] Yuki Bhambri (IND)/ Michael Venus (NZL) vs (2) Ausitn Krajicek (USA)/ Nicolas Monroe (USA)

Yuki needs to dig deep after losing the first set for winning this match ... After losing the first set Yuki struggled in the second set with rhythm but he recovered to win tie-break ... In the final set Yuki dominated Marius and broke him twice for winning this set comfortably ... In the quarters he is facing Uzbek Farrukh Dustov.

Yuki-Venus start their campign in the doubles with straight sets victory ... Next they r facing 2nd seed Krajicek and Monroe.

---

At $50K+H Cordenons Challenger, Italy

[R1] (2) Purav Raja (IND)/ Fabrice Martin (FRA) bt Pedro Cachin (ARG)/ Roberto Carballes Baena (ESP) 76(2) 36 10-8

[QF] (2) Purav Raja (IND)/ Fabrice Martin (FRA) vs James Cerreani (USA)/ Costin Paval (ROU)

Purav-Fabrice face tough resistance from Argentine-Spanish pair, still they prevail in match tie-break ... Next they r facing Cerreani-Paval.

Tennis News

At $2.7M Western & Southern Open, Cincinnati, USA (WTA Premier 5)

[R2] (1) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Martina Hingis (SUI) bt Julia Goerges (GER)/ Klaudia Jans-Ignacik (POL) 76(3) 63

Winning start for Sania-Martina though this time Julia-Klaudia gave close run.

---

At $4.45M Western & Southern Open - Master 1000, Cincinnati, USA

[R2] Stanislas Wawrinka (SUI)/ Leander Paes (IND) bt (8) Vasek Pospisil (CAN)/ Jack Sock (USA) 76(4) 36 10-3

Another good win by Stan and Lee against former Wimbledon champions Pospisil-Sock ... After winning the first set in tie-break Lee-Stan lost the second set easily ... But they recovered in match tie-break to win it convincingly.

---

Tennis News

At $2.7M Western & Southern Open, Cincinnati, USA (WTA Premier 5)

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

Here Sania-Martina receive first round bye.

---

At $4.45M Western & Southern Open - Master 1000, Cincinnati, USA

[R1] Stanislas Wawrinka (SUI)/ Leander Paes (IND) bt Kevin Anderson (RSA)/ Jeremy Chardy (FRA) 16 61 10-6
[R1] (5) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Florin Meargea (ROM) bye

[R2] Stanislas Wawrinka (SUI)/ Leander Paes (IND) vs (8) Vasek Pospisil (CAN)/ Jack Sock (USA)

This week Lee is partnering Stan ... In the first round they scored excellent comeback win after losing the first set lopsidedly ... Next they r facing 8th seed Pospisil and Sock.

---

At $100 Vancouver Challenger, Canada

[R1] Yuki Bhambri (IND,149) bt Alejandro Falla (COL,124) 63 60

[R2] Yuki Bhambri (IND,149) vs Marius Copil (ROU,189)

Doubles
[R1] Yuki Bhambri (IND)/ Michael Venus (NZL) vs Ruben Bemelmans (BEL)/ Philip Bester (CAN)

Only Yuki is playing at Vancouver ... Dominating winning start for Yuki against experienced Colombian Falla ... I was expecting close match but Yuki didn't gave any chanc to Falla in this match ... Next Yuki is facing Romanian Marius Copil.

Also this time Yuki is back with his ex-partner Michael Venus.

---

At $50K+H Cordenons Challenger, Italy

[R1] (2) Purav Raja (IND)/ Fabrice Martin (FRA) vs Pedro Cachin (ARG)/ Roberto Carballes Baena (ESP)

This week Purav and Fabrice r playing in Italy.

Golf News

At $10M 97th PGA Championship, Sheboygan County, Wisconsin, USA - Final Standing

T5 Anirban Lahiri (IND) 70 67 70 68 -13 $367,500

Anirban Lahiri created a history for Indian golf by finishing tied for fifth at the PGA Championship ... This is the first time an Indian golfer has finished in the top-five of one of golf's four Majors ... Before this Jeev Milkha Singh was achieved the tied ninth finish in the PGA Championships in 2008.

Anirban Lahiri produced one of good round with six birdies and two bogeys ... At one time he was tied for third position but on 10th hole he three-putted from around five feet ... He recovered from that bogey but again finished his round with bogey on 18th hole ... He shared fifth position with American golfer Brooks Koepka.

Anirban Lahiri - "This gives me a massive amount of confidence, knowing that I can be out here mixing it up with the best, knowing that I need to get just a little bit better to maybe get closer or over the line in the future. So it's been a huge week for me."
"It feels great. It's a bit of a relief, really. I've never really gotten into contention. I won't really say I was in contention here, because I was a long ways out. But I was in the mix. It's a great feeling."
"I've loved the golf course right from the first day and first look. But obviously a little disappointed with that finish. I think a couple of shots better would have got my card on the PGA TOUR. So a little disappointed about that."
"I think that I was playing -- I was really in a good zone. I was playing well, I was hitting it good. Then I think the 3-putt on 10 from five or six feet, I think that was like a kick in the stomach for me. It just knocked the wind out of me."
"I did really well to gather myself from a difficult position, I made birdie on 11. Kind of steadied the boat a little bit. But again, kind of disappointed to finish in the end. But I wasn't really looking at the leaderboard much because it was so bunched up, guys were going back and forth, so there was no point."
"I putted a lot better today. But it's obviously the scoring aspect that I feel is lacking a little bit. I think that's where I need to tighten it up, just around the greens and make a few more 10- and 12-footers. That should do the trick."

Tennis News

At $100 Aptos Challenger, USA

Doubles Final
Yuki Bhambri (IND)/ Matthew Ebden (AUS) l (1) Chris Guccione (AUS)/ Artem Sitak (NZL) 46 67(2)

Yuki-Matthew lose the final against top-seed pairing of Guccione and Sitak in straight sets ... After losing the first set with a single break Yuki-Matthew tried hard in the second ... But Guccione-Sitak proved too strong in tie-break ... Still good performance by Yuki and Matthew as they r runner-up as unseeded pair.

Badminton News

At BWF World Championships 2015, Jakarta, Indonesia

Women's Singles Final
(2) Saina NEHWAL (IND,2) l (1) Carolina MARIN (ESP,1) 16-21 19-21

Saina lose in straight games against defending champion Spanish girl Caroline Marin in the final ... With this Saina become first Indian player to win Silver medal in World badminton championship.

In this match Saina made numerous unforced errors like hitting out of the court or missing simple flicks near the net ... In the first game Saina kept couple of points lead from the start but from 7-5 Saina lost next 6 points due to unforced errors to down 7-11 ... Carolina increased lead to 20-13 ... After that Saina saved three game points but Carolina converted fourth point for winning this game ... In the second game we saw again repeat of first game ... Saina was leading by a point early and then won four points in a row from 6-5 to lead 10-5 ... Saina increased lead to 12-6 but this time also Carolina won seven points in a row to lead 13-12 ... Again Saina take couple of points lead 15-13, 16-14 and 17-15 ... Carolina caught Saina at 17-all and then gave herself couple of championship points after winning three points in a row from 17-18 to lead 20-18 ... Saina saved a championship point but failed to save second one ... Saina lost her match in 59 minutes.

Golf News

At $10M 97th PGA Championship, Sheboygan County, Wisconsin, USA

T8 Anirban Lahiri (IND) 70 67 70 -9

Anirban slides to tied for 8th position from top 5 position after two under third round ... In my view overall disappointing round for Anirban in favorable condition ... He managed five birdies and three bogeys ... In that 2 bogeys were in last four holes including one on last 18th hole ... He needs to put better performance for top 5 finish.

Tennis News

At $2.5M Rogers Cup, Toranto, Canada (WTA Premier 5)

[SF] (1) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Martina Hingis (SUI) l Caroline Garcia (FRA)/ Katarina Srebotnik (SLO) 36 26

Garcia-Srebotnik beat Sania-Martina convincingly in the semis of Rogers Cup ... With their recent performance this is a shocking result for Sania and Martina.

---

At $100 Aptos Challenger, USA

[SF] Yuki Bhambri (IND)/ Matthew Ebden (AUS) bt (2) Ausitn Krajicek (USA)/ Nicolas Monroe (USA) 57 64 10-8

[F] Yuki Bhambri (IND)/ Matthew Ebden (AUS) vs (1) Chris Guccione (AUS)/ Artem Sitak (NZL)

Excellent comeback win by Yuki-Matthew against 2nd seed Krajicek-Monroe for entering into the final ... Yuki-Matthew lost the first set with late break but they fought back to win the second set ... In closely fought match tie-break Krajicek-Monroe tried hard but Yuki-Matthew kept momentum for winning it ... In the final they r facing top-seed pair of Guccione and Sitak.

---

At $15K USA F25 Futures, Champaign

[SF] (1) Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,234) l (4) Kevin King (USA,389) 26 26

RamK fails to challenge Kevin King in his one-sided disappointing loss.

Golf News

At $10M 97th PGA Championship, Sheboygan County, Wisconsin, USA

T4 Anirban Lahiri (IND) 70 67 -7

At last major of the year Anirban is in good position at halfway stage ... In the first round he was 4 under but on 18th hole he double bogeyed to remain at 2 under ... On the second round when play suspended due to rain at 13th hole he was 2 under for the day and 4 under overall ... Today on the morning green was soft and he scored 3 more birdies at 14th, 15th and 16th holes to push him inside top 5.

Badminton News

At BWF World Championships 2015, Jakarta, Indonesia

[SF] (2) Saina NEHWAL (IND,2) bt Lindaweni FANETRI (INA,29) 21-17 21-17

[F] (2) Saina NEHWAL (IND,2) vs (1) Carolina MARIN (ESP,1)

Saina in her first Word championship final after straight games win over local girl Lindaweni Fanetri ... In this match Saina wasn't convincing but at crucial points she raised her game for winning this match ... In the final she is facing her Spanish compatriot and WR #1 Carolina Marin.

Tennis News

At Davis Cup - World Group Play-off 2015, New Delhi, India

Indian Team
Yuki Bhambri, Somdev Devvarman, Rohan Bopanna and Leander Paes
Non-playing Captain - Anand Amritraj
Reserved Players - Saketh Myneni, Ramkumar Ramanathan
Coach - Zeeshan Ali

Indian team is announced for Czech Republic tie and this time we are giving important to experienced players ... Lee is making comeback in the team and that pushes our average age to whooping 32.5 yrs. :-)

---

At $2.5M Rogers Cup, Toranto, Canada (WTA Premier 5)

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

[SF] (1) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Martina Hingis (SUI) vs Caroline Garcia (FRA)/ Katarina Srebotnik (SLO)

Sania-Martina r in the semis with straight sets win over Taipei pair ... Next they r facing 4th seed Caroline Garcia and Katarina Srebotnik.

---

At $50K Tilia Slovenia Open, Portoroz

Doubles Final
(2) Purav Raja (IND)/ Fabrice Martin (FRA) bt (1) Aliaksandr Bury (BLR)/ Andreas Siljestrom (SWE) 76(5) 46 18-16

Purav-Fabrice pass real test in really exciting match against top-seed Bury and Siljestrom ... Interestingly first challenger title as pair for Purav and Fabrice and overall sixth challenger title for Purav.

Purav-Fabrice won the first set in tie-break but after that Bury and Siljestrom fought back to win the second set ... In match tie-break both pairs didn't give other pair cakewalk so it was well earned victory for Purav and Fabrice as they completed win after winning 34 points long match tie-break.

---

At $100 Aptos Challenger, USA

[QF] Yuki Bhambri (IND)/ Matthew Ebden (AUS) bt Malek Jaziri (TUN)/ Zhe Zhang (CHN) 75 62

[SF] Yuki Bhambri (IND)/ Matthew Ebden (AUS) vs (2) Ausitn Krajicek (USA)/ Nicolas Monroe (USA)

Yuki in the doubles semis with his Aussie partner Matthew with straight sets win over Jaziri-Zhang ... Next they r facing 2nd seeds Krajicek-Monroe.

---

At $15K USA F25 Futures, Champaign

[QF] (1) Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,234) bt Daniel Garza (MEX,545) 63 64

[SF] (1) Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,234) vs (4) Kevin King (USA,389)

This time straight sets win for RamK ... Next he is facing in-form Kevin King.

Badminton News

At BWF World Championships 2015, Jakarta, Indonesia

[QF] (11) P. V. Sindhu (IND,13) l (8) Ji Hyun SUNG (KOR,8) 17-21 21-19 16-21
[QF] (2) Saina NEHWAL (IND,2) bt (6) Yihan WANG (CHN,6) 21-15 19-21 21-19

[QF] (13) Jwala GUTTA (IND)/ Ashwini PONNAPPA (IND) l Naoko FUKUMAN (JPN)/ Kurumi YONAO (JPN) 23-25 14-21

[SF] (2) Saina NEHWAL (IND,2) vs Lindaweni FANETRI (INA,29)

At last Saina wins her first World championship medal and hoping for yellow color medal ... As usual in entertaining match Saina beats her nemesis Yihan Wang in superb comeback victory in the third game ... In the first game both players were close to eachother but in later part of the game Saina opened 4 points lead 18-14 ... And won this game keeping that advantage ... In the second game Saina was keeping lead in early stage ... She was leading 13-9 but from here Yihan raised her game ... First she caught Saina at 13-all anf then took 13-16 lead ... Yihan kept that couple of points advantage for winning this game ... Yihan started final game positively and kept couple of points lead through beginning ... From 6-8 Saina made it 8-all ... Yihan regained lead 10-12 then 12-14 and 16-18 ... Saina caught her at 18-all and took lead first time at 19-18 ... From 19-all Saina won next two points for excellent win in 72 minutes ... In the semis Saina is facing unseeded Indonesian girl Lindaweni Fanetri, who beats WR #4 Taipei player Tzu Ying Tai.

Sindhu fails to show consistency and lose in three games against Ji Hyun Sung ... With that she also miss hat-trick of World championship medal ... In the first game both players were neck to neck till 13-all ... Ji Hyun won next 7 points in a row to lead 13-20 ... Sindhu saved four game points but order was tall and Ji Hyun won next point for winning this game ... In the second game also both players were close to eachother ... Sindhu had 3 game points at 20-17 and she converted third game point for taking match in the final game ... In the third game from beginning Sindhu was doing catching game ... Ji Hyun took 7-11 lead and kept that advantage for completing the victory.

For Jwala-Ashwini their Japanese opponents prove too strong as they lose their match in straight games ... In the first game they tried hard and saved four game points but Japanese pair won this game in extra points ... After that our pair failed to challenge Japanese pair in the second.

Shooting News

At ISSF World Cup Rifle / Pistol / Shotgun, Gabala, Azerbaijan

50m Rifle 3 positions Men
8 Chain Singh (IND) 403.7 points

25m Rapid Fire Pistol Men
5 Gurpreet Singh (IND) 14 hits

Chain Singh becomes the 7th Indian shooter to qualify for Rio Olympics 2016 in the 50m Rifle 3 Position as he entered in the final with a score of 1174 pts ... Only 2 quota places were available and six out of eight finalists already qualify for Rio so he gets it before starting the final ... This was Chain's first final at the ISSF World Cup ... In the final he became first player to get eliminated.

Gurpreet with a overall 586 pts finished top in 25m Rapid Fire qualifications but failed to keep that momentum and finished on 5th position ... He already secure quota place for Rio.

Tennis News

At $2.5M Rogers Cup, Toranto, Canada (WTA Premier 5)

[R2] (1) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Martina Hingis (SUI) bt Julia Goerges (GER)/ Klaudia Jans-Ignacik (POL) 63 62

[QF] (1) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Martina Hingis (SUI) vs Chan Hao-ching (TPE)/ Chan Yung-jan (TPE)

Sania-Martina score comfortable straight sets win over Goerges and Jans-Ignacik ... In the quarters they r facing un-ranked Taipei pair.

---

At $4.17M ATP World Tour Master 1000 Canada, Montreal

[R2] Andy Murray (GBR)/ Leander Paes (IND) l (7) Jamie Murray (GBR)/ John Peers (AUS) 46 67(9)

Jamie Murray proves better of brother Andy in their doubles match ... Jamie-John won the first set with a service break ... In the second set Lee-Andy tried hard but failed to win the set in 20 points long tie-break.

---

At $50K Tilia Slovenia Open, Portoroz

[SF] (2) Purav Raja (IND)/ Fabrice Martin (FRA) bt (PR) Thiemo de Bakker (NED)/ Stephan Fransen (NED) 62 61

Purav-Fabrice in the final with another dominating performance, this time against Dutch pair ... Purav and Fabrice are really gelling well and we can hope much better performance from them in the future.

---

At $15K USA F25 Futures, Champaign

[R2] (1) Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,234) bt (WC) Aron Hiltzik (USA,2129) 75 67(6) 64
[R2] (2) Sanam Singh (IND,308) l Alex Rybakov (USA,849) 36 57

[QF] (1) Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,234) vs Daniel Garza (MEX,545)

Doubles
[SF] (1) Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND)/ Sanam Singh (IND) l (4) Evan KING (USA)/ Kevin KING (USA) 16 26

RamK struggle in his win against American wild-card Aron Hiltzik ... After losing the first set Aron fought back to win the second in extra points of tie-break ... RamK recovered for winning the third ... In the quarters he is facing Mexican Daniel Garza ... In shocking result Sanam lose his match against 18 yrs old Alex Rybakov in straight sets.

In the doubles our pair lose one-sided match against King brothers.

Badminton News

At BWF World Championships 2015, Jakarta, Indonesia

[R3] (11) H. S. PRANNOY (IND,12) l Viktor AXELSEN (DEN,7) 16-21 21-19
[R3] (3) Srikanth KIDAMBI (IND,3) l (13) Yun HU (CHN,15) 21-14 17-21 21-23

[R3] (11) P. V. Sindhu (IND,13) bt (3) Xuerui LI (CHN,3) 21-17 14-21 21-17
[R3] (2) Saina NEHWAL (IND,2) bt (14) Sayaka TAKAHASHI (JPN,17) 21-18 21-14

[R3] (13) Jwala GUTTA (IND)/ Ashwini PONNAPPA (IND) bt (8) Reika KAKIIWA (JPN)/ Miyuki MAEDA (JPN) 21-15 18-21 21-19

[QF] (11) P. V. Sindhu (IND,13) bt (8) Ji Hyun SUNG (KOR,8)
[QF] (2) Saina NEHWAL (IND,2) bt (6) Yihan WANG (CHN,6)

[QF] (13) Jwala GUTTA (IND)/ Ashwini PONNAPPA (IND) vs Naoko FUKUMAN (JPN)/ Kurumi YONAO (JPN)

Impressive win by Sindhu against top Chinese player Xuerui Li in three games for entering her third consecutive World championship quarter finals ... In the first game Sindhu took early 11-4 lead ... Xuerui reduced it to 14-16 but Sindhu kept her cool for winning this game ... In the second game Xuerui took 11-7 lead and kept that for winning this game ... In the final game Sindhu took early 8-4 lead which she increased to 11-6 but Xuerui fought back to catch Sindhu at 13-all ... From 14-all Sindhu won next 3 points to lead 17-14 and then gave herselft 4 match points at 20-16 ... Sindhu converted second match point for excellent win ... Next she is facing Korean girl Ji Hyun Sung for her third World championship medal.

Saina score straight games win over her Japanese opponent Takahashi for entering into the quarters ... Saina struggled early and was down 0-7 then 3-11 ... She reduced lead to 9-11 but again Saina was down 9-14 ... Saina caught Takahashi at 16-all and from 18-all won three points in a row for winning this game after terrific comeback ... In the second game both players were neck to neck but Saian kept 2 points lead at 11-9 ... Which she kept increasing before winning this game comfortably ... Saina is facing her nemesis Chinese Yihan Wang for place in the semis.

Jwala-Ashwini also join them in the quarters with impressive win over top-10 Japanese pair in three games ... After winning the first game easily Jwala-Ashwini lost the second game after failing to win crucial points ... In the final game Jwala-Ashwini played smart game and won closely fought this game for entering into the quarters ... Next they r facing unseeded Japanese pair.

Srikanth lack of form/ confidence cost him a match against Yun Hu ... Srikanth started well and won the first game comfortably ... In the second game Yun took couple of points lead which he kept for winning this game ... In the final game both players were neck to neck but Srikanth opened lead at 12-9 ... Yun Hu caught him at 13-all and after that both players were locked in and exchanging one point after another ... from 19-21 Srikanth saved 2 match points before failed to save the third.

Prannoy also lose his match in three games against higher ranked Swede opponent Viktor Axelsen ... In the first game from 9-5 Prannoy lost 9 points in a row to give advantage to Viktor ... Viktor won this game without much problem ... In the second game Prannoy took 17-13 lead and converted second game point for taking match into the decider ... Prannoy was early down at 5-8, from 14-17 Prannoy tried fightback to 17-19 ... Viktor converted 2nd match point and completed the victory.

Tennis News

At $2.5M Rogers Cup, Montreal, Canada (WTA Premier 5)

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

[R2] (1) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Martina Hingis (SUI) vs Julia Goerges (GER)/ Klaudia Jans-Ignacik (POL)

Sania and Martina r back on the court after their Wimbledon triumph and facing German-Polish pair after receiving bye in the first round.

---

At $4.17M ATP World Tour Master 1000 Canada, Montreal

[R2] (4) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Florin Meargea (ROM) l (PR) Novak Djokovic (SRB)/ Janko Tipsarevic (SRB) 36 75 3-10

Match against Djokovic and Tipsarevic was tricky one and that proves ... Rohan-Florin lose their match in match tie-break ... After losing the first set they tried fightback but failed to challenge Serbian opponents in match tie-break.

---

At $100 Aptos Challenger, USA

[R1] Somdev Devvarman (IND)/ Carsten Ball (AUS) l Karen Khachanov (RUS)/ Elias Ymer (SWE) 76(3) 16 8-10
[R1] Yuki Bhambri (IND)/ Matthew Ebden (AUS) bt (4) Julio Peralta (CHI)/ Matt Seeberger (USA) 76(5) 76(3)

[QF] Yuki Bhambri (IND)/ Matthew Ebden (AUS) vs Malek Jaziri (TUN)/ Zhang Ze (CHN)

Turn to be disappointing Aptos challenger for Buji as after his singles loss he lose the doubles with his Aussie partner Carsten Ball against talented youngsters Russian Karen Khachanov and Swedish Elias Ymer in match tie-break ... After winning the first set in tie-break Buji-Ball failed to keep momentum in the second ... In match tie-break Buji-Ball tried but Ymer-Khachanov proved better pair.

Yuki with Ebden score tight two sets victory over 4th seed pairing of Peralta and Seeberger ... Both sets went to tie-break but both time our pair took control for winning it ... In the quarters they r facing Chinese-Tunisian pair.

---

At $50K Tilia Slovenia Open, Portoroz

[QF] (2) Purav Raja (IND)/ Fabrice Martin (FRA) bt Andrea Arnaboldi (ITA)/ Hsin-Han Lee (TPE) 63 60

[SF] (2) Purav Raja (IND)/ Fabrice Martin (FRA) vs (PR) Thiemo de Bakker (NED)/ Stephan Fransen (NED)

Another dominating win by Purav and Fabrice against Arnaboldi and Lee ... In the semis they r facing Dutch pair.

---

At $15K USA F25 Futures, Champaign

[R1] (1) Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,234) bt (Q) Hunter Callahan (USA,1588) 46 62 61
[R1] (2) Sanam Singh (IND,308) bt (Q) Konrad Zieba (USA,UNR) 46 76(5) 62

[R2] (2) Sanam Singh (IND,308) vs Alex Rybakov (USA,849)

Doubles
[QF] (1) Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND)/ Sanam Singh (IND) bt Aron Hiltzik (USA)/ Stephen Madonia (USA) 63 60

Our both players start their campaign slowly in the singles ... After losing the first set they make comeback in their matches against qualifiers ... RamK wins last two sets easily but Sanam needs to dig deep to win the second in tie-break before winning the final set comfortably ... Next Sanam is facing former top-15 junior and 18 yrs old American Alex Rybakov.

In the doubles RamK-Sanam r in the semis with dominating win.

Badminton News

At BWF World Championships 2015, Jakarta, Indonesia

[R2] (10) PARUPALLI Kashyap (IND,10) l Tien Minh NGUYEN (VIE,34) 21-17 13-21 18-21
[R2] (11) H. S. PRANNOY (IND,12) bt Edwin EKIRING (UGA,137) 21-14 21-19
[R2] (3) Srikanth KIDAMBI (IND,3) bt Jen Hao HSU (TPE,24) 21-14 21-15

[R2] (2) Saina NEHWAL (IND,2) bt Ngan Yi CHEUNG (HKG,23) 21-13 21-9

[R2] Pranaav Jerry CHOPRA (IND)/ Akshay DEWALKAR (IND) l (10) Mads CONRAD-PETERSEN (DEN)/ Mads PIELER KOLDING (DEN) 16-21 12-21

[R2] (13) Jwala GUTTA (IND)/ Ashwini PONNAPPA (IND) bt Pei Chen HSIEH (TPE)/ Ti Jung WU (TPE) 21-10 21-18
[R2] Pradnya GADRE (IND)/ Sikki N. REDDY (IND) l (14) Shizuka MATSUO (JPN)/ Mami NAITO (JPN) 17-21 19-21

[R3] (11) H. S. PRANNOY (IND,12) vs Viktor AXELSEN (DEN,7)
[R3] (3) Srikanth KIDAMBI (IND,3) vs (13) Yun HU (CHN,15)

[R3] (11) P. V. Sindhu (IND,13) vs (3) Xuerui LI (CHN,3)
[R3] (2) Saina NEHWAL (IND,2) vs (14) Sayaka TAKAHASHI (JPN,17)

[R3] (13) Jwala GUTTA (IND)/ Ashwini PONNAPPA (IND) vs (8) Reika KAKIIWA (JPN)/ Miyuki MAEDA (JPN)

Saina and Srikanth score comfortable win over top-25 opponents ... Prannoy also joins them with comfortable win ... But shocking loss of Kashyap after winning first game ... In the doubles only Jwala-Ashwini continue with their winning run.

Interesting third round matches for our players.

Shooting News

At ISSF World Cup Rifle / Pistol / Shotgun, Gabala, Azerbaijan

50m Pistol Men
4 Jitu Rai (IND) 150.1 pts
8 Prakash Nanjappa (IND) 70.1 pts

Prakash Nanjappa secure sixth quota place for India for Rio 2016 Olympics ... Prakash and Jitu qualified for the final on 2nd and 8th places respectively with 567 pts and 562 pts ... But in the final Prakash must be relieved after securing Olympic quota place as only 2 quota places were available but six shooters of eight already qualified ... He eliminated first but that also means he turned out to be the second-best athlete in the qualifications ... Jitu eliminated 5th to finish on 4th position.

India's Asab Mohd misses Olympics quota in the men's double trap ... In the final 5 shooters hit 29 targets from possible 30 ... After that he eliminated 20-19 in the place for Bronze medal match and missed quota place.

Badminton News

At BWF World Championships 2015, Jakarta, Indonesia

[R1] (3) Srikanth KIDAMBI (IND,3) bt Michael FARIMAN (AUS,206) 21-10 21-13

[R2] (11) P. V. Sindhu (IND,13) bt Line KJAERSFELDT (DEN,35) 11-21 21-17 21-16

[R1] Manu ATTRI (IND)/ Sumeeth B. REDDY (IND) l Yun CAI (CHN)/ LU Kai (CHN) 9-21 7-21

[R1] Mohita SAHDEV (IND)/ Dhanya NAIR (IND) l Delphine LANSAC (FRA)/ Emilie LEFEL (FRA) 18-21 17-21

[R2] (10) PARUPALLI Kashyap (IND,10) vs Tien Minh NGUYEN (VIE,34)
[R2] (11) H. S. PRANNOY (IND,12) vs Edwin EKIRING (UGA,137)
[R2] (3) Srikanth KIDAMBI (IND,3) vs Jen Hao HSU (TPE,24)

[R2] (2) Saina NEHWAL (IND,2) vs Ngan Yi CHEUNG (HKG,23)

[R2] Pranaav Jerry CHOPRA (IND)/ Akshay DEWALKAR (IND) vs (10) Mads CONRAD-PETERSEN (DEN)/ Mads PIELER KOLDING (DEN)

[R2] (13) Jwala GUTTA (IND)/ Ashwini PONNAPPA (IND) vs Pei Chen HSIEH (TPE)/ Ti Jung WU (TPE)
[R2] Pradnya GADRE (IND)/ Sikki N. REDDY (IND) vs (14) Shizuka MATSUO (JPN)/ Mami NAITO (JPN)

Srikanth start with comfortable win over lowly ranked Aussie player ... Sindhu score comeback win over her Danish opponent Kjaersfldt ... After losing the first game Sindhu recovered t win next two.

Our other two pairs lose their first round matches.

Tennis News

At $4.17M ATP World Tour Master 1000 Canada, Montreal

[R1] Andy Murray (GBR)/ Leander Paes (IND) bt Kevin Anderson (RSA)/ Jeremy Chardy (FRA) 63 61

[R2] Andy Murray (GBR)/ Leander Paes (IND) vs (7) Jamie Murray (GBR)/ John Peers (AUS)
[R2] (4) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Florin Meargea (ROM) vs (PR) Novak Djokovic (SRB)/ Janko Tipsarevic (SRB)

Solid winning start for Lee and Andy against Anderson and Chardy ... Next they r facing 7th seed Andy's brother Jamie and Peers ... Rohan and Florin r facing tricky Serbian pair of Djokovic and Tipsarevic.

---

At $100 Aptos Challenger, USA

[R1] Somdev Devvarman (IND,142) l Gulherme Clezar (BRA,153) 26 61 36
[R1] Yuki Bhambri (IND,145) l Elias Ymer (SWE,138) 26 26

Doubles
[R1] Somdev Devvarman (IND)/ Carsten Ball (AUS) vs Karen Khachanov (RUS)/ Elias Ymer (SWE)
[R1] Yuki Bhambri (IND)/ Matthew Ebden (AUS) vs (4) Julio Peralta (CHI)/ Matt Seeberger (USA)

Turn to be disappointing day in the singles for Indians ... Yuki fails to challenge talented Swede opponent Ymer and lose one-sided match ... Other hand after losing first set easily Buji fightback to win the second ... But Buji fails to keep momentum in the third for losing his match.

Somi and Yuki r also playing in the doubles but with different partners.

---

At $50K Tilia Slovenia Open, Portoroz

[R1] (2) Purav Raja (IND)/ Fabrice Martin (FRA) bt (WC) David Gorsic (SLO)/ Tilen Zitnik (SLO) 62 62

Comfortably winning start for Purav and Fabrice against local wild-card pair.

---

At $15K USA F25 Futures, Champaign

[R1] (1) Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,234) vs (Q) Hunter Callahan (USA,1588)
[R1] (2) Sanam Singh (IND,308) vs (Q) Konrad Zieba (USA,UNR)

Doubles
[R1] (1) Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND)/ Sanam Singh (IND) bt Jared Hiltzik (USA)/ Aleksandar Vukic (AUS) 76(4) 61

[QF] (1) Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND)/ Sanam Singh (IND) vs Aron Hiltzik (USA)/ Stephen Madonia (USA)

RamK and Sanam r top two seeds in this US futures ... Hopefully both will perform as per their rankings ... In the doubles also they r top-seed and start with straight sets win.

Badminton News

At BWF World Championships 2015, Jakarta, Indonesia

[R1] (10) PARUPALLI Kashyap (IND,10) bt Erik MEIJS (NED,81) 21-17 21-10
[R1] (11) H. S. PRANNOY (IND,12) bt Alex Yuwan TJONG (BRA,109) 21-12 21-16

[R1] Pranaav Jerry CHOPRA (IND)/ Akshay DEWALKAR (IND) bt Nikita KHAKIMOV (RUS)/ Vasily KUZNETSOV (RUS) 16-21 21-15 21-14

[R1] Pradnya GADRE (IND)/ Sikki N. REDDY (IND) bt Isabel HERTTRICH (GER)/ Birgit MICHELS (GER) 17-21 21-11 21-11

[R1] Tarun KONA (IND)/ Sikki N. REDDY (IND) l LIAO Min Chun (TPE)/ CHEN Hsiao Huan (TPE) 13-21 17-21
[R1] Arun VISHNU (IND)/ Aparna BALAN (IND) l Evgenij DREMIN (RUS)/ Evgenia DIMOVA (RUS) 18-21 21-10 22-24

Expectedly easy wins for Prannoy and Kashyap ... In the doubles our pairs Pranaav-Akshay and Pradnya-Sikki win their first round matches after losing first game ... But our both mixed doubles pairs lose their matches in different way.

Swimming News

At FINA World Championships 2015, Kazan, Russia

Though not a great World championship for our swimmers but still our following swimmers have officially attained the Olympic Selection "B" Time.

Men's 50m Freestyle - Virdhawal Khade (IND) 23.01sec (38 out of 113 participants) - The Olympic 'B' qualifying standard time is 23.05sec.
Also he was participating after two years in any international event.

Men's 100m Breaststroke - Sandeep Sejwal (IND) 1:02.17sec (36 out of 75 participants) - The Olympic 'B' qualifying standard time is 1:02.69sec.

Men's 1500m Freestyle - Sajan Prakash (IND) 15:45.29sec (35 out of 45 participants) - The Olympic 'B' qualifying standard time is 15:46.79sec.

Badminton News

At BWF World Championships 2015, Jakarta, Indonesia

[R1] (10) PARUPALLI Kashyap (IND,10) vs Erik MEIJS (NED,81)
[R1] (11) H. S. PRANNOY (IND,12) vs Alex Yuwan TJONG (BRA,109)
[R1] (3) Srikanth KIDAMBI (IND,3) vs Michael FARIMAN (AUS,206)

[R1] (11) P. V. Sindhu (IND,13) bye
[R1] (2) Saina NEHWAL (IND,2) bye

[R1] Pranaav Jerry CHOPRA (IND)/ Akshay DEWALKAR (IND) vs Nikita KHAKIMOV (RUS)/ Vasily KUZNETSOV (RUS)
[R1] Manu ATTRI (IND)/ Sumeeth B. REDDY (IND) vs Yun CAI (CHN)/ LU Kai (CHN)

[R1] (13) Jwala GUTTA (IND)/ Ashwini PONNAPPA (IND) bye
[R1] Pradnya GADRE (IND)/ Sikki N. REDDY (IND) vs Isabel HERTTRICH (GER)/ Birgit MICHELS (GER)
[R1] Mohita SAHDEV (IND)/ Dhanya NAIR (IND) vs Delphine LANSAC (FRA)/ Emilie LEFEL (FRA)

[R1] Tarun KONA (IND)/ Sikki N. REDDY (IND) vs LIAO Min Chun (TPE)/ CHEN Hsiao Huan (TPE)
[R1] Arun VISHNU (IND)/ Aparna BALAN (IND) vs Evgenij DREMIN (RUS)/ Evgenia DIMOVA (RUS)

Big Indian contingent for this World championship ... Hopefully we will see creditable performances from our players.

Tennis News

At $4.17M ATP World Tour Master 1000 Canada, Montreal

[R1] Andy Murray (GBR)/ Leander Paes (IND) vs Kevin Anderson (RSA)/ Jeremy Chardy (FRA)
[R1] (4) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Florin Meargea (ROM) bye

This week at Rogers Master Lee is again playing with Andy and they r playing with Anderson-Chardy ... Rohan-Florin r 4th seed and they r in bottom draw.

---

At $100 Aptos Challenger, USA

[R1] Somdev Devvarman (IND,142) vs Gulherme Clezar (BRA,153)
[R1] Yuki Bhambri (IND,145) vs Elias Ymer (SWE,138)

In this big challenger our both players facing tricky matches but they need to win these type of matches to move ahead in their career.

---

At $50K Tilia Slovenia Open, Portoroz

[R1] (2) Purav Raja (IND)/ Fabrice Marting (FRA) vs (WC) David Gorsic (SLO)/ Tilen Zitnik (SLO)

This week Purav-Fabrice r playing in challenger at Slovenia ... They r 2nd seed and facing local wild-card pair.

---

Squash News

At $50K Men's Club el Nogal Colombian Open 2015,, Bogota

Final
(6) Saurav Ghosal (IND,19) l (Q) Alfredo Avila (MEX,54) 9-11 11-8 4-11 8-11 (55m)

Alfredo Avila completed his dream run as he become first qualifier to win Colombian Open ... In the final he defeated Saurav in four games ... Avila again showed his agility and quickness on the court ... He outperformed Saurav with his superior fitness ... After losing first game Saurav tried fightback after winning the second ... Avila took fast lead in the third to win it ... In the fourth again Saurav tried but Avila's fitness proved better than Saurav.

Tennis News

At $1.75M CITI Open, Washington, USA

[SF] (3) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Florin Meargea (ROM) l (1) Bob Bryan (USA)/ Mike Bryan (USA) 36 46

Rohan-Florin fail to repeat their performance from Wimbledon to beat Bryans ... Bryans win this match comfortably in straight sets.

Squash News

At $50K Men's Club el Nogal Colombian Open 2015,, Bogota

[R1] (6) Saurav Ghosal (IND,19) bt (WC) Sebastian Laguna (COL,439) 11-3, 11-1, 11-3 (18m)
[QF] (6) Saurav Ghosal (IND,19) bt Diego Elias (PER,42) 8-11, 11-9, 11-6, 11-3 (48m)
[SF] (6) Saurav Ghosal (IND,19) bt (1) Miguel Angel Rodriguez (COL,4) 11-8, 12-10, 7-11, 4-11, 12-10 (101m)

[F] (6) Saurav Ghosal (IND,19) vs (Q) Alfredo Avila (MEX,54)

Saurav in the final of big Colombian open with huge upset win over WR #4 local Colombian Miguel Angel Rodriguez ... Saurav won first two games but Miguel Angel fought back to win next two for making 2-all ... In the final set both players were neck to neck and Saurav completed victory in extra points after long match of 101 minutes ... In the final he is facing surprised finalist Mexican qualifier Alfredo Avila.

Tennis News

At ITF World Junior Tennis Finals - Girls (G14), Prostejov, Czech Republic

9th-12th Positions
India bt China 2-1
Shivani AMINENI bt Jiagi WANG 64 61
Mahak JAIN bt Xiyu WANG 63 64
Shivani AMINENI/ Mahak JAIN l Jia Yu CHU/ Xiyu WANG 16 26

Superb win by Indian girls against higher ranked Chinese girls ... Against similar opponents we lost in Asia-Oceania qualifying ... Here our both singles players scored comfortable win on European clay ... Now our girls face Canadian girls for 9th place.

---

At ITF World Junior Tennis Finals - Girls (G14), Prostejov, Czech Republic

For 9th Position
India l Canada 1-2
Shivani AMINENI l Ariana ARSENEAULT 26 63 36
Mahak JAIN bt Leylah FERNANDEZ 63 62
Mahak JAIN/ Prinkle SINGH l Ariana ARSENEAULT/ Viktoriya TABUNSHCHYK 67(5) 67(4)

Our girls finish on 10th position as they lose close match against Canadian girls ... Shivani lost in three sets but Mahak equalled the tie with comfortable straight sets win over Canadian top player ... In the doubles Mahak partnered Prinkle but they lose closely fought match in two tie-breaks ... Still overall decent performance by our girls to finish inside top 10.

---

At $15K USA F24 Futures, Decatur

[R2] (2) Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,235) l Dominic Cotrone (USA,1099) 62 46 67(2)

Surprising loss for RamK against American qualifier ... RamK lost third set in tie-break.

Tennis News

At $1.75M CITI Open, Washington, USA

[QF] (3) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Florin Meargea (ROM) bt (PR) Grigor Dimitrov (BUL)/ Mardy Fish (USA)

Easy passage to semi-final for Rohan-Florin as their opponents give walkover.

---

At ITF World Junior Tennis Finals - Girls (G14), Prostejov, Czech Republic

India bt Egypt 3-0
Shivani Amineni bt Sara Elghazouly 62 61
Mahak Jain bt Hala Khaled 63 62
Shivani Amineni/ Prinkle Singh bt Hala Khaled/ Omara N 61 63

Expected easy win by Indian girls against Egyptian girls ... They will play in 9-12 positions but first match with tough Chinese girls.

---

At $50K+H Segovia Challenge, Spain

[R1] Divij Sharan (IND)/ Konstantin Kravchuk (RUS) bt Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND)/ Horoki Moriya (JPN) 64 76(4)

[R1] Divij Sharan (IND)/ Konstantin Kravchuk (RUS) l (2) Aliaksandr Bury (BLR)/ Andreas Siljestorm (SWE) 67(4) 36

With Russian partner Divij won his first round against Jeevan and Moriya but they lose against 2nd seed Bury and Siljestorm in the quarters.

---

At $15K USA F24 Futures, Decatur

[R1] (2) Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,235) bt Ante Pavic (CRO,593) 76(5) 76(4)

[R2] (2) Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,235) vs Dominic Cotrone (USA,1099)

Superb win by RamK against former top-120 player in tight two sets ... Next he is facing American qualifier.

Tennis News

At ITF World Junior Tennis Finals - Girls (G14), Prostejov, Czech Republic

Group B
India l Italy 0-3
Shivani AMINENI l Federica ROSSI 16 46
Mahak JAIN l Elisabetta COCCIARETTO 36 46
Shivani AMINENI/ Prinkle SINGH l Federica ROSSI/ Elisabetta COCCIARETTO 16 46

Expected loss against clay court specialist Italian team but hoping winning performance in their last group match against Egypt.

Tennis News

At $1.75M CITI Open, Washington, USA

[R1] (3) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Florin Meargea (ROM) bt Andy Murray (GBR)/ Daniel Nestor (CAN) 26 61 10-3

[QF] (3) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Florin Meargea (ROM) vs (PR) Grigor Dimitrov (BUL)/ Mardy Fish (USA)

IExcellent comeback win by Rohan-Florin against Andy and Nestor ... After losing first set easily they made strong comeback to win second set and match tie-break comfortably ... Next another interesting match between big servers.

---

At ITF World Junior Tennis Finals - Girls (G14), Prostejov, Czech Republic

Group B
India l Czech Republic 1-2
Shivani AMINENI bt Anna SISKOVA 64 64
Mahak JAIN l Ivana SEBESTOVA 46 57
Shivani AMINENI/ Mahak JAIN l Vanesa NIKOLOVOVA/ Anna SISKOVA 26 36

Shivani started with a good win but after that Czech challenge was too good for our players ... Next they will face tough Italian and Egyptian challenge.

Archery News

At World Archery Championships - 2015, Copenhagen, Denmark

Recurve Women Team - Final
India l Russia 4-5 (56-54, 54-53, 52-56, 50-54, 27-28)

Compound Men's Individual - Final
Rajat Chauhan (IND) l Stephan Hansen (DEN) 144-147

Our women's Recurve team fail to win Gold medal as they lose close match against Russian girls ... After winning first 2 sets our women failed to keep momentum and lost next three sets ... Our third archer Rimil Buriuly struggled in the final ... Still creditable performance ... Laxmirani Majhi lose in Bronze medal match in individual event against Taiwani archer.

Rajat Chauhan lose final against three times World champion and local player Stephan Hansen in close match ... Other hand importantly Mangal Singh Champa reached in the quarters of Recurve Men's individual to assure us of an individual quota in Mens Recurve event.

Squash News

At $16K Women's Victorian Open 2015, Melbourne, Australia

Final
(3) Joshana Chinappa (IND,27) bt (2) Line Hansen (DEN,28) 3-0 (11-5, 11-4, 11-9) (32m)

[SF] (3) Joshana Chinappa (IND,27) bt (8) Christine Nunn (AUS,52) 3-0 (11-7, 11-5, 11-9) (34m)
[QF] (3) Joshana Chinappa (IND,27) bt (7) Megan Craig (NZL,43) 3-1 (11-6, 11-4, 8-11, 11-9) (47m)
[R2] (3) Joshana Chinappa (IND,27) bt (14) Selena Shaikh (AUS,100) 3-0 (11-5, 11-5, 11-2) (17m)
[R1] (3) Joshana Chinappa (IND,27) bye

Joshana lifts Victorian Open title beating similar ranked Danish player in the final ... Overall dominating performance by Joshana in this tournament ... Only in the quarters Megan Craig stretched her in the quarters ... In Men's side Mahesh Mangaonkar lost in the semis.

Tennis News

At $50 Lexington Challenger, USA

[R2] (6) Yuki Bhambri (IND,151) bt Brydan Klein (GBR,170) 62 62

[QF] (6) Yuki Bhambri (IND,151) l (4) Bjorn Fratangelo (USA,120) 26 76(3) 46

Doubles
[QF] Saketh Myneni (IND)/ Dimitar Kutrovsky (BUL) bt Sekou Bangoura (USA)/ Frank Dancevic (CAN) 62 60
[QF] Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND)/ John Millman (AUS) bt (2) Ruben Gonzales (PHI)/ Darren Walsh (GBR) 36 75 10-5

[SF] Saketh Myneni (IND)/ Dimitar Kutrovsky (BUL) l (4) Carsten Ball (AUS)/ Bryden Klein (GBR) 75 46 9-11
[SF] Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND)/ John Millman (AUS) l (3) Dean O'brien (RSA)/ Ruan Roelofse (RSA) 67(3) 26

After thrashing Brydan in the second round Yuki lost close quarter final against Bjorn.

In the doubles Saki with Bulgarian partner and RamK with his Aussie partner lost in the semis.