Football News

At the SAFF Championship 2015, Thiruvananthapuram, India

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

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

Tennis News

At $421K Chennai Open, India

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

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

Football News

At the SAFF Championship 2015, Thiruvananthapuram, India

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

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

Football News

At the SAFF Championship 2015, Thiruvananthapuram, India

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

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

Hockey News

At Rio Olympics 2016, Brazil

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

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

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

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

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

Golf News

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

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

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

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

Tennis News

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

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

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

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

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At $10K Qatar F6 Futures, Doha

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

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

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

Tennis News

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

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

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

Athletics News

At Rio Olympics 2016, Brazil

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

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

Tennis News

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

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

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

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

Tennis News

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

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

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

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

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

Chess News

At the London Chess Classic 2015, Great Britain

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

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

Chess News

At the London Chess Classic 2015, Great Britain

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

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

Tennis News

At $10K India F19 Futures, Mumbai

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

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

Chess News

At the London Chess Classic 2015, Great Britain

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

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

Badminton News

At Dubai World Superseries Finals 2015, UAE

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

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

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

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

Tennis News

At $10K India F19 Futures, Mumbai

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

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

Chess News

At the London Chess Classic 2015, Great Britain

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

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

Badminton News

At Dubai World Superseries Finals 2015, UAE

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

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

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

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

Tennis News

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

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

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

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At $10K India F19 Futures, Mumbai

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

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

Badminton News

At Dubai World Superseries Finals 2015, UAE

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

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

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

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

Tennis News

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

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

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

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

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

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At $10K India F19 Futures, Mumbai

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

Jayesh scores upset win over Ranjeet but otherwise expected results.

Chess News

At the London Chess Classic 2015, Great Britain

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

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

Tennis News

At $10K India F19 Futures, Mumbai

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

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

Chess News

At the London Chess Classic 2015, Great Britain

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

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

Hockey News

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

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

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

Chess News

At the London Chess Classic 2015, Great Britain

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

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

Badminton News

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

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

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

Hockey News

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

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

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

Chess News

At the London Chess Classic 2015, Great Britain

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

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

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

Badminton News

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

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

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

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

Badminton News

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

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

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

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

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

Tennis News

At $15K Thailand F9 Futures, Bangkok

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

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

Hockey News

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

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

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

Squash News

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Tennis News

At $15K Thailand F9 Futures, Bangkok

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

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

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

Badminton News

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Squash News

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

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

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

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

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

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

Tennis News

At $15K Thailand F9 Futures, Bangkok

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

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

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

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

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

Badminton News

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Squash News

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

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

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

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

Squash News

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Tennis News

At $15K Thailand F9 Futures, Bangkok

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

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

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

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

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