Wednesday, August 31, 2016

Tennis News

At US Open 2016, New York, USA

Doubles
[R1] (7) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Barbora Strycova (CZE) bt (WC) Jada Myii Hart (USA)/ Ena Shibahara (USA) 63 62
[R1] Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Frederik Nielsen (DEN) bt (16) Radek Stepanek (CZE)/ Nenad Zimonjic (SRB) 63 67(3) 63

Mixed Doubles
[R1] Martina Hingis (SUI)/ Leander Paes (IND) bt (WC) Sachia Vickery (USA)/ Frances Tiafoe (USA) 63 62

Good upset win by Rohan-Nielsen against very experienced doubles players Stepanek and Zimo ... In end Rohan raised his game for winning this match ... Other hand expected winning start for Sania-Strycova and Lee-Martina against their respective wild-card opponent pairs.

At $50K Bangkok-4 Challenger , Thailand

[R2] Vishnu Vardhan (IND,479) l (6) Ti Chen (TPE,255) 36 16

Expected Vishnu's loss against Ti Chen ... It is high time that Vishnu needs to consider career in the doubles.

Squash News

At $70K Women's China Open 2016, Shanghai

[Q1] Dipika Pallikal Karthik (IND,19) bt Jenny Peng (CHN,UNR) 11-1, 11-2, 11-2 (14m)
[Q2] Dipika Pallikal Karthik (IND,19) bt Olivia Blatchford (USA,27) 11-4, 2-11, 11-0, 11-4 (31m)

[R1] (5) Joshana Chinappa (IND,12) vs (Q) Heba El Torky (EGY,22)
[R1] (Q) Dipika Pallikal Karthik (IND,19) vs (3) Nouran Gohar (EGY,5)

Dipika qualified for main-draw with couple of wins but in the first round she is facing WR #5 Egyptian ... Other hand Joshana is facing Egyptian qualifier.

At $100K Men's China Open 2016, Shanghai

[R1] Saurav Ghosal (IND,17) vs (4) Miguel Angel Rodriguez (COL,5)

Tough draw for Saurav as he is facing WR #5 Colombian.

Tuesday, August 30, 2016

Tennis News

At Davis Cup World Group Play-off 2016, New Delhi, India

Indian Team - Saketh Myneni, Ramkumar Ramanathan, Rohan Bopanna and Leander Paes

Reserve Players - Sumit Nagal and Prajnesh Gunneswaran
Non Playing Captain - Mr Anand Amritraj
Coach - Mr Zeeshan Ali

The AITA selection committee retained all four playing members of the squad that beat Korea Korea 4-1 last month for the Davis Cup World Group Play-off tie against Spain, scheduled for September 16-18.

At US Open 2016, New York, USA

Mixed Doubles
[R1] (1) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Ivan Dodig (CRO) vs Taylor Townsend (USA)/ Donald Young (USA)
[R1] Martina Hingis (SUI)/ Leander Paes (IND) vs (WC) Sachia Vickery (USA)/ Frances Tiafoe (USA)
[R1] Gabriela Dabrowski (CAN)/ Rohan Bopanna (IND) vs (WC) Jamie Loeb (USA)/ Noah Rubin (USA)

MXD draw is out and our all players in top draw ... Sania with Dodig r top-seed and can meet Lee-Martina in the quarters ... And one of them can meet Rohan-Gabriela in the semis ... Ofcourse if all of them win their respective matches.

At $50K Bangkok-4 Challenger , Thailand

[R1] Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,386) bt (3) Duckhee Lee (KOR,191) 64 60
[R1] Sanam Singh (IND,477) l Norbert Gombos (SVK,345) 36 76(4) 26
[R1] (Q) Sidharth RAWAT (IND,578) l (Q) Xin Gao (CHN,554) 36 46

[R2] Vishnu Vardhan (IND,479) vs (6) Ti Chen (TPE,255)
[R2] Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,386) vs Eden Leshem (ISR,390)

Prajnesh scored huge upset win over talented Korean Duckhee Lee in dominating fashion ... After winning the first Prajnesh bagel Duckhee in the second ... Next he is facing similar ranked Israeli for place in the quarters.

At $50K Como Challenger, Italy

[R1] Riccardo Ghedin (ITA)/ Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND) l (2) Aliaksandr Bury (BLR)/ Andrei Vasilevski (BLR) 46 67(4)

RamK lost in the doubles first round with his Italian partner against 2nd seed Belarus pair.

Snooker News

At Shanghai Masters Qualifying 2016, Barnsley, England

[Q1] Aditya Mehta (IND,116) l Zhang Anda (CHN,80) 0-5 (0-102(102), 24-75, 49-73, 57-68, 1-92(70))

Aditya lost in the first qualifying round but happy to see him back on pro tour ... He was out of tour from February due to neck injury, now he is back after resting the injury and regain fitness.

Olympics News

At London Olympics 2012, Great Britain

Four years after London 2012 Olympics, Yogeshwar Dutt’s bronze for India to turn silver after Russia's Besik Kudukhov's sample tested positive ... Once the upgrade is officially announced, Yogeshwar will join wrestler Sushil Kumar and shooter Vijay Kumar as silver-medallists for India from the London Games.

Kudukhov died in a car accident at the age of 27 in Russia in 2013. However, ahead of the Rio Games this month, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) re-tested the four-time world champion’s sample, which was collected during the London Games. The re-test was part of standard practice, with samples now stored for up to 10 years to allow the use of advanced testing methods to weed out dope cheats.

Monday, August 29, 2016

Tennis News

At US Open 2016, New York, USA

[R1] (Q) Saketh Myneni (IND,143) l Jiri Vesely (CZE,48) 67(5) 64 62 26 57

Doubles
[R1] (7) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Barbora Strycova (CZE) vs (WC) Jada Myii Hart (USA)/ Ena Shibahara (USA)
[R1] Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Frederik Nielsen (DEN) vs (16) Radek Stepanek (CZE)/ Nenad Zimonjic (SRB)
[R1] Andre Begemann (GER)/ Leander Paes (IND) vs Stephane Robert (FRA)/ Dudi Sela (ISR)

In this match Saki matched Jiri Vesely's game and was little better on the court till last few games of the match ... But again luck factor came into picture as he got injured at wrong time ... In the fifth set his quad muscle pulled when he was leading 4-2 and after that he barely managed serve and running on the court ... Still I am really proud of Saki for his fighting performance on debut and also of 'Saki Squad', who were vociferous from court side.

Saki started tentatively and got broken in 2nd game for 0-2 down ... Saki immediately broken back but afterwards lot of service breaks ... In first 8 games there were six service breaks ... In tie-break both players were exchanging mini-breaks but at 5-all Saki committed unforced errors and then Jiri won point on his serve for winning the first set ... With poor service game Saki got broken in 1st game of the second set for 0-2 down ... Saki fought back and broke Jiri in 4th game to bring on 2-all ... Jiri again broke Saki in 7th game, 3-4, but after that Saki won next three games breaking Jiri in 8th and 10th games for winning this set ... In the third set Saki broke Jiri in 4th game for leading 3-1 but Jiri had broken back in next game, 3-2 ... Again Saki won next three games breaking Jiri in 6th and 8th games for comfortably wining this set ... In the third set Jiri broke Saki in 1st game, 0-1, but Saki immediately broke back for 2-1 ... After that Jiri tok control of the set and won next five games breaking Saki in 5th and 7th games for winning this set comfortably ... In the fifth set it was physical test as Saki was struggling with his serving arm ... He arm was hurting and he was grimacing ... Some tight hold from Saki before breaking Jiri in 4th game for leading 3-1 ... At 4-1 he missed 2 break points on Jiri's serve at 15-40 ... At 4-2 Saki took medical time out and physio was on the court for working on his thigh (it seems he pulled Quad muscle) ... After medical break Saki hold at 5-2 and here drama unfolded ... Saki had a match point on Jiri's serve 30-40 and Jiri double faulted but chair umpire overruled ... After that Saki tried but he was struggling while serving as failing to jump and putting pressure on right leg ... Jiri took full advantage of it breaking Saki in 9th and 11th games for completing infamous victory ... Other hand despite his injury Saki was keep fighting and giving all until last point.

Sania-Strycova r 7th seed and they r facing American wild-card pair in the first round ... Rohan-Nielsen having tough first round match against Zimo-Stepanek ... Hopefully Lee-Begemann r coming out of their heartbreaking loss.


After match interview Saki confirmed that no injury, in end he was struggling with cramps as from 4th set he was sweats more ... It started like it was a muscle spasm kind of thing that basically became a cramps in the fifth when he was struggling to jump or run ... Watch this lovely interview of Saki, the good sporting guy and gentleman ... I am now one of biggest fan of Saki.
Saki's interview after US open loss

At $50K Bangkok-4 Challenger , Thailand

[R1] Vishnu Vardhan (IND,479) bt (WC) Phassawit Burapharitta (THA,1066) 75 46 41 Retd

Doubles
[R1] (4) Sanam Singh (IND)/ Jeevan Neduncheziyan (IND) i Lloyd Harris (RSA)/ Amir Weintraub (ISR) 67(4) 76(4) 10-12

Surprisnly tough win for Vishnu against 1000+ ranked Thai opponent ... In the third set Thai player retired due to cramps.

In the doubles Sanam and Jeevan lose in marathon match against Harris and Weintraub.


At $50K Como Challenger, Italy

[R1] Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,202) l Kenny De Schepper (FRA,164) 26 26

Disappointed one-sided loss of RamK ... This is his fourth first round loss in last four tournaments.

Golf News

At LPGA Qualifying Tournament Stage I, California, USA

T20 Aditi Ashok (IND) 72 74 67 74 -1 (qualify for stage II)

T93 Sharmila Nicollet (IND) 73 75 74 73 +7

Aditi qualify for LPGA stage II after finishing T20 position after four rounds of Qualifying I stage ... As per rule top 90 and Ties Advance to the Stage II Qualifying School ... Aditi scored one under final score to finsh in top-20 ... Sharmila missed opportunity of playing in Stage II as she required PAR or below PAR round for qualification but she managed one over .. So she missed Stage II qualification by single stroke.

Our two others golfers, Simi Mehra and Tanya Wadhwa, participated in this tournament but they failed to make cut in the fourth round.

Sunday, August 28, 2016

Tennis News

At $25K Poland F6 Futures, Poznan (clay)

Courtesy gloswielkopolski.pl
Singles Final
Sumit Nagal (IND,404) bt (2) Daniel Masur (GER,280) 64 16 63

Sumit lifts huge title as he won $25K futures on European clay which is his first title abroad ... Sumit is showing tremendous progress considering he is only 19 yrs old ... With this win he will be back inside top-400 around 380.

In the first set Sumit broke Masur in 1st game and kept that advantage for winning this set ... Masur raised his game in the second set ... From 1-all he won next five games breaking Sumit in 4th and 6th games for winning this set comfortably ... Sumit responded tremendously in the third, he broke Masur in 2nd game for taking 3-0 lead ... Sumit again broke Masur in 6th game for 5-1 lead but in next game while serving for the match he failed to hold, 5-2 ... Agin in 9th game while serving for the match Sumit played solid service game and hold it on love for completing superb win.


At $50K Bangkok-4 Challenger , Thailand

[Q1] (3) Sidharth Rawat (IND,578) bye
[Q2] (3) Sidharth Rawat (IND,578) bt Nattan Benjasupawan (THA,1993) 64 62

[R1] Vishnu Vardhan (IND,479) vs (WC) Phassawit Burapharitta (THA,1066)
[R1] Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,386) vs (3) Duckhee Lee (KOR,191)
[R1] Sanam Singh (IND,477) vs Norbert Gombos (SVK,345)
[R1] (Q) Sidharth RAWAT (IND,578) vs (Q) Xin Gao (CHN,554)

Doubles
[R1] (4) Sanam Singh (IND)/ Jeevan Neduncheziyan (IND) vs Lloyd Harris (RSA)/ Amir Weintraub (ISR)

Sidharth joins our other three players in main-draw after winning his qualifying round ... But considering their recent performance I am not hoping any upset from our players ... Prajnesh is in good nick but he is having tough match against talented Korean youngster in the first round.

At $50K Como Challenger, Italy

[R1] Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,202) vs Kenny De Schepper (FRA,164)

Doubles
[R1] Riccardo Ghedin (ITA)/ Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND) vs (2) Aliaksandr Bury (BLR)/ Andrei Vasilevski (BLR)

RamK is facing Frenchman Kenny De Schepper in the singles ... In the doubles RamK is facing 2nd seed Belarus pair partnering Italian Riccardo Ghedin.

Saturday, August 27, 2016

Tennis News

At $761K Connecticut Open 2016, New Haven, USA (WTA Premier)

Courtesy Sania Mirza facebook page
Doubles Final
(2) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Monica Niculescu (ROU) bt Kateryna Bondarenko (UKR)/ Chia-Jung Chuang (TPE) 75 64

Sania lifts her 7th title of 2016 and overall 39th doubles title in New Haven ... She won the title partnering Romanian Monica Niculescu, they defeated Bondarenko and Chuang in cosely fought two sets.

At $721K Winston-Salem Open 2016, USA

Doubles Final
(WC) Andre Begemann (GER)/ Leander Paes (IND) l Guillermo Garcia-Lopez (ESP)/ Henri Kontinen (FIN) 46 67(6) 8-10

In this match Lee and Andre literally pulled defeat from jaws of victory ... Too many missed opportunities for Lee-Andre, in this match they had 15 break points and only 2 converted, from that 11 break points in the second set but our pair converted only 1 ... And then in second set tie-break they had 5 championship points at 6-1 but failed to convert ... In match tie-break their opponents had 33% 1st serve percentage which our players failed to take advantage.

In the first set our pair broke opponent in 3rd game, 2-1, and kept that advantage for winning this set ... In the second set Lee-Andre broke opponent in 1st game, 2-0, but Garcia-Lopez and Kontinen broke them in 8th game, 4-all ... In tie-break Lee-Andre took control with double mini-break but from 6-1 everything changed ... Garcia-Lopez and Kontinen made amazing comeback they won 7 points in a row after saving 5 championship points for winning second set ... In match tie-break they kept couple of points advantage form the start for winning it.


At $25K Poland F6 Futures, Poznan (clay)

[SF] Sumit Nagal (IND,404) bt (8) Maxim Janvier (FRA,390) 63 75

[F] Sumit Nagal (IND,404) vs (2) Daniel Masur (GER,280)

Sumit scored straight sets win over in-form Maxim Janvier in straight sets, Sumit snapped Maxim's 8 match winning streak ... Sumit won the first set with a single break ... In the second set Sumit broke Maxim in 7th game but while serving for the match in 10th game Sumit failed to hold, 5-all ... Sumit immediately broke Maxim in 11th and this time hold his serve for the victory ...

Tennis News

At US Open 2016, New York, USA

Saki with 'Saki Squad' after his win Courtesy of worldtennismagazine.com

[Q3] (26) Saketh Myneni (IND,143) bt Pedja Krstin (SRB,200) 63 60

[R1] (Q) Saketh Myneni (IND,143) vs Jiri Vesely (CZE,48)

SAKI qualify for US open with dominating win against his Serbian opponent Pedja Krstin ... In the first set Saki broke Pedja in 3rd game but failed to hold his serve in next game ... But from 7th game onward everything changed ... Saki won next nine games in a row for amazing win ... Importantly his opponent wasn't injured but Saki was in superb form with his serves, backhand slice and powerful forehands ... His Serbian opponent Pedja Krstin failed to challenge him.

This is Saki's first main-draw appearance in any grand slam ... Ironically Saki becomes only 9th Indian player to make it in singles MD of grand slam in last two decades after Leander Paes, Mahesh Bhupathi, Nirupama Sanjeev, Somdev Devvarman, Yuki Bhambri, Sania Mirza, Shikha Uberai (though at that time Shikha participated under US flag) and Prakash Amitraj ... On usual Indian players luck Saki is having tough match against top-50 Jiri Vesely but what a heck, with his game Saki can surprise Vesely also ... Go Saki.


Saki's interview after the match - Saketh's interview

At $761K Connecticut Open 2016, New Haven, USA (WTA Premier)

[SF] (2) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Monica Niculescu (ROU) bt (3) Andreja Klepac (SLO)/ Katarina Srebotnik (SLO) 26 63 10-8

[F] (2) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Monica Niculescu (ROU) vs Kateryna Bondarenko (UKR)/ Chia-Jung Chuang (TPE)

Sania-Monica scored excellent comeback win over 3rd seed Klepac-Srebotnik ... After losing the first set Sania-Monica made superb comeback for winning the next and kept that advantage for winning match tie-break ... In the final they r facing unseeded pairing of Bondarenko and Chuang, who defeated top-seed pair in the semis.

At $721K Winston-Salem Open 2016, USA

[SF] (WC) Andre Begemann (GER)/ Leander Paes (IND) bt (3) Robert Lindstedt (SWE)/ Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (PAK) 16 76(5) 10-4

[F] (WC) Andre Begemann (GER)/ Leander Paes (IND) vs Guillermo Garcia-Lopez (ESP)/ Henri Kontinen (FIN)

What a comeback win by Lee-Andre against 3rd seed Aisam-Lindstedt ... After losing the first set lopsidedly our pair dig deep ... They won the second set tie-break and then dominated match tie-break for entering into the final ... In the final they r facing unseeded Garcia-Lopez and Kontinen.

At $25K Poland F6 Futures, Poznan (clay)

[QF] Sumit Nagal (IND,404) bt (WC) Adam Majchrowicz (POL,1310) 63 64

[SF] Sumit Nagal (IND,404) vs (8) Maxim Janvier (FRA,390)

Expected comfortable win for Sumit against Polish wild-card player Majchrowicz ... In the semis he is facing 8th seed and in-form Frenchman Maxim Janvier, who is last week's futures winner.

Thursday, August 25, 2016

Tennis News

At US Open 2016, New York, USA

[Q2] (26) Saketh Myneni (IND,143) bt Mitchell Krueger (USA,221) 76(6) 64

[Q3] (26) Saketh Myneni (IND,143) vs Pedja Krstin (SRB,200)

Saki is in the final qualifying round of US open ... He defeated American Mitchell Krueger in straight sets ... In the first set Mitchell was break up earlier but Saki broke back to level it ... In closely fought tie-break Saki converted first set point ... In the second set Saki broke Mitchell in 3rd game to take 2-1 lead ... Mitchell broke Saki in 6th game for 3-all, but Saki immediately broke him in next game to lead 4-3 ... Saki kept that advantage for completing victory ... He is facing Serbian Pedja Krstin for place in main-draw.

At $761K Connecticut Open 2016, New Haven, USA (WTA Premier)

[QF] (2) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Monica Niculescu (ROU) bt Darija Jurak (CRO)/ Anastasia Rodionova (AUS) 61 64

[SF] (2) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Monica Niculescu (ROU) vs (3) Andreja Klepac (SLO)/ Katarina Srebotnik (SLO)

Sania-Monica continue with their good run with another comfortable win against Jurak-Rodionova ... Next they r facing 3rd seed Slovakian pair for place in the final.

At $721K Winston-Salem Open 2016, USA

[QF] (WC) Andre Begemann (GER)/ Leander Paes (IND) bt (1) Lukasz Kubot (POL)/ Nenad Zimonjic (SRB) 64 64

[SF] (WC) Andre Begemann (GER)/ Leander Paes (IND) vs (3) Robert Lindstedt (SWE)/ Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (PAK)

Another superb upset win by Lee-Andre against top-seed pairing of Zimo-Kubot in straight sets ... In the semis they r facing 3rd seed Aisam and Lindstedt.

Squash News

At $95K Women's Hong Kong Open 2016,

[R2] (10) Joshana Chinappa (IND,12) l (8) Omneya Abdel Kawy (EGY,7) 8-11, 10-12, 4-11 (24m)

I was expecting more fighting performance or upset win from Joshana ... But Kawy played important points better than Joshana for straight games win.

Wednesday, August 24, 2016

Tennis News

At US Open 2016, New York, USA

[Q1] Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,202) l Alessandro Giannessi (ITA,247) 57 16

Disappointing loss of RamK against Italian in straight sets ... As per onlooker he was heat exhausted and physical discomfort due to playing in scorching heat ... Till 10th games both players hold their respective service games ... RamK got broken in 11th and then Giannessi hold for winning the first set ... After close first set Ramk capitulated in the second.

At $761K Connecticut Open 2016, New Haven, USA (WTA Premier)

[R1] (2) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Monica Niculescu (ROU) bt (WC) Louisa Chirico (USA)/ Alison Riske (USA) 60 63

[QF] (2) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Monica Niculescu (ROU) vs Darija Jurak (CRO)/ Anastasia Rodionova (AUS)

Expected comfortable winning start for Sania-Monica against local wild-card pair ... Next they r facing Rodionova-Jurak pairing.

At $25K Poland F6 Futures, Poznan (clay)

[R2] Sumit Nagal (IND,404) bt (1) Kamil Majchrzak (POL,306) 63 64

[QF] Sumit Nagal (IND,404) vs (WC) Adam Majchrowicz (POL,1310)

Impressive win by Sumit in straight sets against top-seed Polish opponent Kamil Majchrzak ... This match wasn't easy as score suggested as in both sets Sumit needed to fightback ... In the first set he was break down at 2-3 and he won next four games for winning the set ... In the second set also he was 2-4 down and again he won four game in a row for winning the set and match ... In the quarters he is facing Polish top-200 doubles specialist Adam Majchrowicz.

Squash News

At $95K Women's Hong Kong Open 2016,

[R1] Dipika Pallikal Karthik (IND,19) l (6) Camille Serme (FRA,6) 4-11, 6-11, 11-8, 11-6, 6-11 (52m)

Dipika lost close match against French girl Camille Serme ... After losing first 2 games Dipika tried comeback ... She won 3rd and 4th games but failed to keep momentum in the fifth.

At $150K Men's Hong Kong Open 2016,

[R1] Saurav Ghosal (IND,17) l Ramy Ashour 7-11, 6-11, 10-12 (47m)

Saurav failed to challenge former WR #1 Ramy Ashour and lost his match in straight games.

Tennis News

At US Open 2016, New York, USA

[Q1] (26) Saketh Myneni (IND,143) bt (PR) Albano Olivetti (FRA,510) 63 75
[Q1] Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,202) vs Alessandro Giannessi (ITA,247)

[Q2] (26) Saketh Myneni (IND,143) vs Mitchell Krueger (USA,221)

Saki started with a comfortable win over experienced Frenchman Olivetti in straight sets ... In the first set Saki broke Olivetti in 2nd game to lead 3-0 and kept that lead for winning the first set ... In the second set Saki had numerous break points but he failed to convert ... Saki took crucial break in 11th game and then hold for winning the set and match ... In the second qualifying he is facing American Mitchell Krueger.

RamK having winnable first round against Italian clay courter but in the second qualifying he can meet top-seed and in-form Japanese player Sugita.


At $721K Winston-Salem Open 2016, USA

[R1] (WC) Andre Begemann (GER)/ Leander Paes (IND) bt Chris Guccione (AUS)/ Andre Sa (BRA) 64 64

[QF] (WC) Andre Begemann (GER)/ Leander Paes (IND) vs (1) Lukasz Kubot (POL)/ Nenad Zimonjic (SRB)

Comfortable straight sets win for Lee and Begemann against Guccione and Sa ... In the quarters they r facing top-seed Kubot and Zimo.

At $25K Poland F6 Futures, Poznan (clay)

[R1] Sumit Nagal (IND,404) bt (WC) Michal Dembek (POL,1086) 46 75 60

[R2] Sumit Nagal (IND,404) vs (1) Kamil Majchrzak (POL,306)

Sumit is playing in Polish futures and again taking tough route ... Last week he lost in the second round and this week also he is having big task against top-seed local player ... Before that in the first round Sumit needed comeback victory against local wild-card player.

Squash News

At $95K Women's Hong Kong Open 2016,

[R1] (10) Joshana Chinappa (IND,12) bt (Q) Nadine Shahin (EGY,34) 12-10, 11-3, 11-6 (26m)

[R2] (10) Joshana Chinappa (IND,12) vs (8) Omneya Abdel Kawy (EGY,7)

Joshana started with straight games win over her Egyptian opponent Shahin ... Next she is facing top-8 Egyptian player, Omneya Abdel Kawy, for place in the quarters.

Sunday, August 21, 2016

Tennis News

At $2.8M Western and Southern Open 2016, Cincinnati, USA (WTA Premier 5)

Courtesy Sania Mirza
Doubles Final
(7) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Barbora Strycova (CZE) bt (4) Martina Hingis (SUI)/ Coco Vandeweghe (USA) 75 64

Sania and Barbora Strycova has lifted Cincinnati title in their first outing as pair beating Martina Hingis and Coco Vandeweghe ... In the first Sania-Strycova made amazing comeback ... They were 1-5 down and after Sania-Strycova won next 6 games in a row for winning the first set ... In the second set Sania-Strycova were leading 5-1 after breaking opponent in 3rd and 5th games ... But while serving for the match they failed to hold, 5-3 ... In 10th game Sania-Strycova hold for completing victory.

At $761K Connecticut Open 2016, New Haven, USA (WTA Premier)

[R1] (2) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Monica Niculescu (ROU) vs (WC) Louisa Chirico (USA)/ Alison Riske (USA)

Sania and Monica r playing wild-card local pair in the first round of Connecticut Open.

Olympics News

At Rio Olympics 2016, Brazil

Wrestling - Men's Freestyle 65kg Qualification
[R32] Yogeshwar Dutt (IND) l Mandakhnaran Ganzorig (MGL) 0-3

Athletics - Men's Marathon
25 Thanackal Gopi (IND) 2:15:25 PB
26 Kheta Ram (IND) 2:15:26 PB

Yogeshwar lost in the first round against Mongolian wrestler Ganzorig in boring match ... Yogeshwar made mistake and Ganzorig took advantage of it scoring 2 points, after that Ganzorig successfully defended.

In Men's Marathon our Thanackal Gopi and Kheta Ram run respectfully and gave their personal best time to finish on #25 and #26 in 155 aesthetes.

Squash News

At $150K Men's Hong Kong Open 2016,

[Q1] Mahesh Mangaonkar (IND,61) bt Henry Leung (HKG,279) 8-11, 11-7, 11-4, 11-5 (55m))
[Q1] Harinder Pal Singh Sandhu (IND,84) l Nicolas Mueller (SUI,32) 6-11, 11-4, 11-4, 5-11, 2-11 (50m)

[Q2] Mahesh Mangaonkar (IND,61) l Nicolas Mueller (SUI,32) 7-11, 10-12, 4-11 (35m)

[R1] Saurav Ghosal (IND,17) vs Ramy Ashour (EGY,12)

Sandhu lost in 5 games against top-30 type Swiss Nicolas Mueller ... And in the final qualifying round Mueller defeated Mahesh comfortably ... In main-draw Saurav having tough match against former WR #1 Egyptian Ramy Ashour.

At $95K Women's Hong Kong Open 2016,

[R1] (10) Joshana Chinappa (IND,12) vs (Q) Nadine Shahin (EGY,34)
[R1] Dipika Pallikal Karthik (IND,19) vs (6) Camille Serme (FRA,6)

Dipika is facing top-10 French girl ... Joshana will face Egyptian qualifier in the first round.

Olympics News

At Rio Olympics 2016, Brazil

Women's Golf - Final Standing
41 Aditi Ashok (IND) 68 68 79 76 +7

Aditi must be disappointed over her performance as after first two days she was T6, moreover she was in top 10 till first 57 holes ... Last 15 holes pulled her down below top 40 with more than 10 over score ... Aditi is only 18 yrs so this was learning experience for her ... Hopefully she will continue to work on her game and mental setup so we can see a real medal contender in Tokyo 2020.

Tennis News

At $2.8M Western and Southern Open 2016, Cincinnati, USA (WTA Premier 5)

[SF] (7) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Barbora Strycova (CZE) bt (2) Hao-Ching Chan (TPE)/ Yung-Jan Chan (TPE) 62 75

[F] (7) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Barbora Strycova (CZE) vs (4) Martina Hingis (SUI)/ Coco Vandeweghe (USA)

Sania and Strycova continue with their terrific run and defeated 2nd seed Taipei pair in straight sets ... With that Sania is having interesting final against her former partner Martina Hingis with their respective new partners.

Friday, August 19, 2016

Olympics News

At Rio Olympics 2016, Brazil

Courtesy TOI and Hindustan Times
Badminton - Gold Medal match
Pusarla V. Sindhu (IND,10) l Carolina Marín (ESP,1) 21-19 12-21 15-21

Wrestling - Men's Freestyle 57 kg Qualification
[R16] Sandeep Tomar (IND) l Victor Lebedev (RUS) 3-7

Women's Golf - Day 3
T31 Aditi Ashok (IND) 68 68 79 +2

Athletics - Men's 50km Race Walk
35 Sandeep Kumar (IND) 4:07:55

Athletics - Women's 20km Race Walk
54 Khushbir Kaur (IND) 1:40:33
Sapana Puniya (IND) Did not finish

Athletics - Women's 4 x 400m Relay Round 1 - Heat 2
7 India (Nirmla, Tintu Lukka, Poovamma Raju Machettira, Anilda Thomas) 3:29.53

Athletics - Men's 4 x 400m Relay Round 1 - Heat 2
India Disqualified

Sindhu won Silver after losing to Carolina Marín in well fought match .. So with that she bettered Saina's Bronze medal haul ... Congrats Sindhu and we all are proud of your performance.

In the first game Sindhu was down 5-9 and 6-10 but she fought back to make it 15-16 ... From 16-19 Sindhu won next 5 points for a winning the game ... Marin raised her game from second game and took huge lead 5-0 and 11-2 ... Sindhu tried to reduce the margin but Marin kept that advantage for winning it ... In the third game both players were playing high quality badminton ... Sindhu was down 3-6 but crawled back to 10-all ... Marcin re-opened the lead 10-13, 12-15 to 14-16 ... Marin kept her cool and played solid game for winning 5 points from next 6 points for completing victory ... In this match Marin was better player, she used deceptive drop shots and half smashes smartly ... She also defended also well and half step faster on the court.

Sandeep Tomar fought well against Russian world championship bronze medalist Victor Lebedev ... But failed to overcome Russian defense as Sandeep started with his usual attacking game ... Russian defended well and took early lead through Sandeep's mistake, 5-0 ... From here Sandeep tried fight back and won 3 points in a row for 3-5 ...And Lebedev turned table on Sandeep on his next move to increase lead to 7-3 ... After that Russian wrestler defended well for a win.

Young Aditi failed to adjust for windy condition on the course and managed 8 over which push her outside top-30 but I m still impressed with her performance.

Sandeep Kumar failed to impress in 50km walk race as he finished on 35th position with more than 4 hours time.

In women's 20km walk race only Khushbir Kaur managed to finish but ended outside top-50.

In 4x400m relays our both teams finished overall 13th in their respective groups but Indian men team disqualified in the final result sheet.

Tennis News

At $2.8M Western and Southern Open 2016, Cincinnati, USA (WTA Premier 5)

[R2] (7) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Barbora Strycova (CZE) bt Christina McHale (USA)/ Maria Sanchez (USA) 64 64
[QF] (7) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Barbora Strycova (CZE) bt (3) Timea Babos (HUN)/ Yaroslava Shvedova (KAZ) 76(4) 61

[SF] (7) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Barbora Strycova (CZE) vs (2) Hao-Ching Chan (TPE)/ Yung-Jan Chan (TPE)

Sania and Strycova scored back to back wins on same day ... In the quarters they defeated 3rd seed Shvedova and Babos in straight sets ... After winning the first set in tie-break Sania and Strycova dominated the second ... In the semis they r facing Taipei pair.

Earlier Sania and Strycova scored straight sets win over American youngsters.


At $25K ITF Women's Tennis Tournament 2016, Westende, Belgium

[QF] (8) Ankita Raina (IND,312) l Magdalena Frech (POL,387) 63 36 16

Ankita failed to overcome challenge of young Polish player after winning the first set ... She needs to win these matches for showing progress in her career.

Thursday, August 18, 2016

Olympics News

At Rio Olympics 2016, Brazil

Courtesy TOI
Badminton
[SF] Pusarla V. Sindhu (IND,10) bt Nozomi Okuhara (JPN,6) 21-19 21-10

[F] Pusarla V. Sindhu (IND,10) vs Carolina Marín (ESP,1)

Women's Golf - Day 2
T6 Aditi Ashok (IND) 68 68 -6

Women's Freestyle 53kg Qualification
[R16] Babita Kumari (IND) l Maria Prevolaraki (GRE) 1-5

AND SINDHU CREATED HISTORY AFTER ENTERING INTO THE FINAL OF BADMINTON WOMEN'S SINGLES ... With that Sindhu secure second medal for India and that will be Gold or Silver as she defeated Japanese top player Nozomi Okuhara in straight games.

In first game Sindhu started with attacking game and was leading 6-4 then 11-6 ... From here Sindhu started to play little tentatively on the net and while attacking she was missing line ... Okuhara tried to take advantage of it, 10-12, 12-14 ... From 18-17 both players won a point alternatively, 19-17, 19-18, 20-18, 20-19 and 21-19 ... Both players were playing nervy game and making error but Sindhu kept her lead for converting second game point ... In the second game Sindhu took 3-0 lead but Okuhara caught her at 6-7 ... After that both players were neck to neck till 10-all ... After that Sindhu won 11 points in a row for complating win ... Sindhu played really well but Okuhara suddenly making tight and was looking under pressure .... SHe made numerous unforced errors for gifting hte match ... In the final Sindhu is facing in-form WR #1 Carolina Marín fir the Gold.

Aditi played sublime second round of another three under to remain inside top-10 ... She had 5 birdies and unnecessarily 2 bogeys ... Good to see young Aditi keeping herself in mix.

Disappointing loss Babita Kumari after excellent yesterday on the mat by Sakshi Malik.

In other sad development, Narsingh Yadav is banned for 4 yrs by CAS under doping ... This is huge setback for us and Narsingh ... This is what posted on CAS site.

Rio 2016 - Wrestling (FS 74KG): N. Yadav suspended 4 years (PDF of the decision at the CAS site)

Tennis News

At $4.3M Western & Southern Open 2016, Cincinnati, USA

[R2] (7) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Florin Meargea (ROM) l Treat Huey (PHI)/ Max Mirnyi (BLR) 67(3) 46

As expected Rohan-Florin lose their match in straight sets against Treat and Max.

At $2.8M Western & Southern Open 2016, Cincinnati, USA (WTA Premier 5)

[R1] (7) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Barbora Strycova (CZE) bt Darija Jurak (SRB)/ Anastasia Rodionova (AUS) 62 63

[R2] (7) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Barbora Strycova (CZE) vs Christina McHale (USA)/ Maria Sanchez (USA)

Comfortable winning start for Sania with her new partner Strycova ... In the second round they r facing young American pair.

At $25K ITF Women's Tennis Tournament 2016, Westende, Belgium

[R2] (8) Ankita Raina (IND,312) bt Diana Marcinkevica (LAT,358) 62 63

This is superb dominating win by Ankita against former top-200 Latvian player for reaching into the quarters.

Squash News

At World Doubles Championship 2016,, Darwin, Australia


Mixed Doubles Final
(2) Dipika Pallikal Karthik (IND)/ Saurav Ghosal (IND) l (3) Joelle King (NZL)/ Paul Coll (NZL) 8-11 8-11 (34m)

In MXD, Dipika and Saurav lost the final against New Zealand's Joelle King and Paul Coll in straight games ... Our pair scored very tight win against same pair in the Pool but in the final they failed to execute their plan on the court.

So with this silver we also won couple of bronze medals from women's double and mixed doubles.

Wednesday, August 17, 2016

Olympics News

At Rio Olympics 2016, Brazil

Courtesy Hindustan Times and Deccan Chronicle
Women's Freestyle 58kg - Bronze medal match
Sakshi Malik (IND) bt Aisuluu Tynybekova (KYR) 8-5

Women's Freestyle 58kg Repechage
[R2] Sakshi Malik (IND) bt Orkhon Purevdorj (MGL) 12-3

Wrestling - Women's Freestyle 58kg Qualification
[R32] Sakshi Malik (IND) bt Malin Mattsson (SWE) 5-4
[R16] Sakshi Malik (IND) bt Mariana Cherdivara (MDA) 5-5 (PP- Decision by Points)

[QF] Sakshi Malik (IND) l Valeriia Koblova Zholobova (RUS) 2-9

Badminton
[QF] Srikanth Kidambi (IND,11) l Dan Lin (CHN,3) 6-21 21-11 18-21

Women's Golf - Day 1
T7 Aditi Ashok (IND) -3

Athletics - Women's 800m Round 1 heat 3
6. Tintu Luka (IND) 2:00:58 (SB)

Wrestling - Women's Freestyle 48kg Qualification
[R16] Vinesh Phogat (IND) bt Emilia Vuc (ROM) 11-0

[QF] Vinesh Phogat (IND) l Sun Yunan (CHN) victory by injury

SAKSHI MALIK WON BRONZE MEDAL IN WOMEN'S FREESTYLE 58KG ... First any color medal for us ... What a bout Sakshi played, simply legendary ... I am remembering one famous line for Sakshi - 'Heroes Are Just Ordinary People Who Do Extraordinary Things In Extraordinary Times.'

In Bronze medal match, Sakshi started on back-foot against Aisuluu Tynybekova ... Aisuluu pinned Sakshi couple of times for taking 0-5 lead after first 3 minutes ... With two back-to-back pin down Sakshi made it 4-5 at 4:30 mins mark ... When 15 seconds remaining she captured 1 more point for 5-all ... And then when 2 seconds remaining she earned 2 more points which Aisuluu challenged ... Sakshi earned 1 more point for Aisuluu failed challenge for completing one of the best comeback victory.

In the repechage second round Sakshi faced Mongolian wrestler, who defeated her earlier this year at Asian qualification tournament ... Sakshi was very attacking on the mat ... She multiple times pinned down Purevdorj for convincing win for moving into Bronze medal match.

Earlier Sakshi surprised everyone after reaching in the quarters ... In the first round she was 0-4 down against her WR #3 and European champion Swedish opponent when 2 minutes remaining ... After that she turned table as she took score to 3-4 and then when 7 seconds remaining she scored 2 points for tight win ... In PQF she faced Moldovan wrestler ... In this match also Sakshi was 1-3 down but after that Sakshi won 4 points in a row for 5-3 lead ... This time Moldovan wrestler caught her at 5-all before end of the bout ... Sakshi declared winner as she won more continuous points (four) ... In the quarter Sakshi faced tough Russian opponent ... In this bout she was outperformed but got chance of playing repechage as Russian wrestler into the final.
Srikanth gave valiant efforts against Lin Dan in his loss ... After losing the first game easily Srikanth dominated the second for taking match into decider ... In the final game Srikanth took early couple of points lead, at that time he had 13-10 lead ... Lin Dan used all his experience and took lead ... Lin Dan converted 2nd match point in fighting win.

Aditi Ashok played excellent golfing round for ending first day inside top-10 with three under score.

Tintu Luka gave her season best timing but that wasn't enough for qualifying for semi-final in 800m.

In the quarter-final Vinesh's knee got twisted as her Chinese opponent was getting on top of her ... Vinesh was seriously injured as she stretchered out ... Before that Vinesh scored dominating win over Romanian wrestler when match was stopped in the second period when she took 11-0 lead ... So after this win we had lots hope but Vinesh was unlucky to get injured.

Squash News

At World Doubles Championship 2016,, Darwin, Australia

Women's Doubles
[SF] (1) Joshna Chinappa (IND)/ Dipika Pallikal Karthik (IND) l (2) Rachael Grinham (AUS)/ Donna Urquhart (AUS) 5-11 10-11 (29m)

Mixed Doubles
Pool A
(5) Joshna Chinappa (IND)/ Harinder Pal Singh Sandhu (IND) l (4) Donna Urquhart AUS)/ David Palmer (AUS) 11-7, 5-11, 8-11 (41m)

Pool B
(2) Dipika Pallikal Karthik (IND)/ Saurav Ghosal (IND) bt (6) Catalina Pelaez (COL)/ Miguel Angel Rodriguez (COL) 11-4, 11-5
(2) Dipika Pallikal Karthik (IND)/ Saurav Ghosal (IND) bt (11) Jenny Haley (WAL)/ Joel Makin (WAL) 11-9, 11-7 (21m)
(2) Dipika Pallikal Karthik (IND)/ Saurav Ghosal (IND) bt (3) Joelle King (NZL)/ Paul Coll (NZL) 11-10, 8-11, 11-8 (46m)


[SF] (2) Dipika Pallikal Karthik (IND)/ Saurav Ghosal (IND) bt (5) Joshna Chinappa (IND)/ Harinder Pal Singh Sandhu (IND) 10-11, 11-7, 11-6 (37m)

[F] (2) Dipika Pallikal Karthik (IND)/ Saurav Ghosal (IND) vs (3) Joelle King (NZL)/ Paul Coll (NZL)

In women's doubles semis Dipika and Joshana lost against 2nd seed Aussie pair in straight game.

In MXD, Dipika and Saurav scored comeback win over their Indian compatriots Joshana and Sandhu for entering into the semis ... In the final they r facing New Zealand pair Joelle King and Paul Coll, they defeated same pair in tight match in pool ... Before that Dipika and Saurav scored three more wins in the pool but Joshana and Sandhu lost in their last pool match.

Tuesday, August 16, 2016

Olympics News

At Rio Olympics 2016, Brazil

Courtesy of Google
Badminton
[QF] P. V. Sindhu (IND,10) bt Yihan Wang (CHN,2) 22-20 21-19

[SF] P. V. Sindhu (IND,10) vs Nozomi Okuhara (JPN,6)

Wrestling - Men’s Greco-Roman 98kg Qualification
[R16] Hardeep Singh (IND) l Ildem Cenk (TUR) 1-2

Sindhu is in a medal round with stunning win over London Games silver medalist Yihan Wang of China ... With this win, Sindhu became the second Indian badminton player to reach an Olympic semifinal after Saina Nehwal achieved the feat at London Olympics.

In the first game Yihan was taking couple of points lead 3-0 and 11-8 but Sindhu was catching her ... At 20-18 Sindhun missed couple of game points but she converted third when Yihan missed the line ... In the second game Sindhu took early lead, 8-3, and at break 11-8 ... Yihan tried amazing comeback when Sindhu was leading 18-13, Yihan won next 6 points to lead 18-19 ... Sindhu kept her nerves and won next 3 points for aone of the best win of her career ... In the semis she is facing WR #6 Japanese Nozomi Okuhara.

Turkish wrestler scored early couple of points and after that he defended only ... Hardeep failed to score point and lost bout by a point.

Squash News

At World Doubles Championship 2016,, Darwin, Australia

Women's Doubles
Pool A
(1) Joshna Chinappa (IND)/ Dipika Pallikal Karthik (IND) bt (5) Sarah Cardwell AUS)/ Christine Nunn (AUS) 11-8, 11-8
(1) Joshna Chinappa (IND)/ Dipika Pallikal Karthik (IND) bt (4) Delia Arnold (MAS)/ Rachel Arnold (MAS) 11-7, 11-10 (20m)
(1) Joshna Chinappa (IND)/ Dipika Pallikal Karthik (IND) bt (8) Aika Azman (MAS)/ Teh Min Jie (MAS) 11-5, 11-5

[SF] (1) Joshna Chinappa (IND)/ Dipika Pallikal Karthik (IND) vs (2) Rachael Grinham (AUS)/ Donna Urquhart (AUS)

Men's Doubles
Pool A
(9) Harinder Pal Singh Sandhu (IND)/ Ramit Tandon (IND) l (5) Andrés Herrera & Juan Camilo Vargas (COL) 11-8, 7-11, 10-11
(9) Harinder Pal Singh Sandhu (IND)/ Ramit Tandon (IND) l (1) Ryan Cuskelly (AUS)/ Cameron Pilley (AUS) 6-11, 6,11 (25m)
(9) Harinder Pal Singh Sandhu (IND)/ Ramit Tandon (IND) bt (8) Sanjay Singh Chal MAS)/ Ivan Yuen (MAS) 6-11, 11-4, 11-10
(9) Harinder Pal Singh Sandhu (IND)/ Ramit Tandon (IND) l (4) David Palmer AUS)/ Zac Alexander (AUS) 5-11,8-11

Mixed Doubles
Pool A
(5) Joshna Chinappa (IND)/ Harinder Pal Singh Sandhu (IND) bt (9) Delia Arnold (MAS)/ Sanjay Singh Chal (MAS) 11-9, 10-11, 11-10
(5) Joshna Chinappa (IND)/ Harinder Pal Singh Sandhu (IND) bt (8) Amanda Landers-Murphy (NZL)/ Campbell Grayson (NZL) 11-9, 11-5 (22m)
(5) Joshna Chinappa (IND)/ Harinder Pal Singh Sandhu (IND) bt (1) Rachael Grinham (AUS)/ Cameron Pilley (AUS) 9-11, 11-6, 11-9 (43m)

Pool B
(2) Dipika Pallikal Karthik (IND)/ Saurav Ghosal (IND) bt (7) Tesni Evans (WAL)/ Peter Creed (WAL) 11-8, 5-11, 11-5 (38m)
(2) Dipika Pallikal Karthik (IND)/ Saurav Ghosal (IND) bt (10) Rachel Arnold (MAS)/ Mohd Syafiq Kamal (MAS) 11-7, 11-4 (20m)

In World doubles championship Indian pairs r playing well ... In women's doubles Dipika and Joshana r top-seed and they r in the semis with straight games win over their opponent pairs in the pool.

In MXD, Joshana and Sandhu won three matches of their pool including win over top-seed Aussie pair in three games ... In other pool Dipika and Saurav r second seeds and scored two straight wins.

In men's doubles Sandhu and Tandon managed only one win from four matches.

Monday, August 15, 2016

Olympics News

At Rio Olympics 2016, Brazil

Badminton
[R16] Srikanth Kidambi (IND,11) bt Jan O Jorgensen (DEN,5) 21-19 21-19
[R16] P. V. Sindhu (IND,10) bt Tzu Ying Tai (TPE,8) 21-13 21-15

[QF] Srikanth Kidambi (IND,11) vs Dan Lin (CHN,3)
[QF] P. V. Sindhu (IND,10) vs Yihan Wang (CHN,2)

Athletics - Men’s Triple Jump - Group B
15. Ranjith Maheshwary (IND) 16.13m

Athletics - Women’s 200m Heat 5
6. Srabani Nanda (IND) 23.58s

Athletics - Women’s Discus Throw - Group B
9. Seema Punia Antil (IND) 57.58m

Athletics - Women’s 3000m Steeplechase Final
10. Lalitha Babar (IND) 9:22.74s

Wrestling - Men’s Greco-Roman 85kg Qualification
[R16] Ravinder Khatri (IND) l Viktor Lorincz (HUN) 9-0 (first period)

Boxing - Men's Middleweight (75kg)
[QF] Vikas Krishan Yadav (IND) l Bektemir Melikuziev (UZB) 0-3 (27-30, 27-30, 27-30)

Srikanth scored superb upset win over WR #5 Danish player Jan O Jorgensen in 42 minutes ... Srikanth played very attacking game in this match and kept his cool on important points as both players were neck to neck in both games ... In the quarters he is facing his old foe Dan Lin.

Sindhu also joined Srikanth in quarters with impressive dominating win over Tzu Ying Tai in 40 mins ... In both games Sindhu took control and didn't gave any chance to Tai but Sindhu is also facing big Chinese challenge in next match ... She is facing Chinese top player former WR #1 and current WR #2 Yihan Wang.

In steeplechase final Lalitha failed to better her national record but gave decent time to finish on respectable 10th position ... Our other athletes kept getting out in qualification and first round ... In triple jump Ranjith manged only one jump over 16 mtrs which was only 16.13 mtrs ... In 200m heat Srabani Nanda managed only 23.58s timing to finished 6th in her heat ... Disappointing throw from Seema Punia, who failed to cross 58 mtrs mark in qualifying.

In wrestling bad start as in Greco-Roman, Ravinder Khatri lost bout in the first period as his Hungarian opponent took 9 pts lead.

Uzbek boxer proved too strong for Vikas in quarter final ... Uzbek boxer was former World champion silver medalist and he plaed perfect bout without taking much risk.

Chess News

At 2016 Sinquefield Cup, Saint Louis, USA

Round One - 5 August 2016
Ding Liren (CHN,2755) - Levon Aronian (ARM,2784) ½-½
Wesley So (USA,2771) - Hikaru Nakamura (USA,2791) 1-0
Anish Giri (NED,2769) - Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (FRA,2819) ½-½
Viswanathan Anand (IND,2770) - Fabiano Caruana (USA,2807) ½-½
Veselin Topalov (BUL,2761) - Peter Svidler (RUS,2751) 1-0

Round Two - 6 August 2016
Levon Aronian (ARM,2784) - Peter Svidler (RUS,2751) 1-0
Fabiano Caruana (USA,2807) - Veselin Topalov (BUL,2761) ½-½
Hikaru Nakamura (USA,2791) - Anish Giri (NED,2769) 1-0
Ding Liren (CHN,2755) - Wesley So (USA,2771) ½-½
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (FRA,2819) - Viswanathan Anand (IND,2770) 0-1

Round Three - 7 August 2016
Wesley So (USA,2771) - Levon Aronian (ARM,2784) ½-½
Anish Giri (NED,2769) - Ding Liren (CHN,2755) ½-½
Viswanathan Anand (IND,2770) - Hikaru Nakamura (USA,2791) ½-½
Veselin Topalov (BUL,2761) - Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (FRA,2819) ½-½
Peter Svidler (RUS,2751) - Fabiano Caruana (USA,2807) ½-½

Round Four - 8 August 2016
Levon Aronian (ARM,2784) - Fabiano Caruana (USA,2807) ½-½
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (FRA,2819) - Peter Svidler (RUS,2751) ½-½
Hikaru Nakamura (USA,2791) - Veselin Topalov (BUL,2761) ½-½
Ding Liren (CHN,2755) - Viswanathan Anand (IND,2770) ½-½
Wesley So (USA,2771) - Anish Giri (NED,2769) ½-½

Round Five - 9 August 2016
Anish Giri (NED,2769) - Levon Aronian (ARM,2784) ½-½
Viswanathan Anand (IND,2770) - Wesley So (USA,2771) ½-½
Veselin Topalov (BUL,2761) - Ding Liren (CHN,2755) 1-0
Peter Svidler (RUS,2751) - Hikaru Nakamura (USA,2791) ½-½
Fabiano Caruana (USA,2807) - Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (FRA,2819) ½-½

Round Six - 11 August 2016
Levon Aronian (ARM,2784) - Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (FRA,2819) 0-1
Hikaru Nakamura (USA,2791) - Fabiano Caruana (USA,2807) ½-½
Ding Liren (CHN,2755) - Peter Svidler (RUS,2751) 1-0
Wesley So (USA,2771) - Veselin Topalov (BUL,2761) 1-0
Anish Giri (NED,2769) - Viswanathan Anand (IND,2770) ½-½

Round Seven - 12 August 2016
Viswanathan Anand (IND,2770) - Levon Aronian (ARM,2784) ½-½
Veselin Topalov (BUL,2761) - Anish Giri (NED,2769) ½-½
Peter Svidler (RUS,2751) - Wesley So (USA,2771) ½-½
Fabiano Caruana (USA,2807) - Ding Liren (CHN,2755) ½-½
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (FRA,2819) - Hikaru Nakamura (USA,2791) ½-½

Round Eight - 13 August 2016
Levon Aronian (ARM,2784) - Hikaru Nakamura (USA,2791) 1-0
Ding Liren (CHN,2755) - Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (FRA,2819) ½-½
Wesley So (USA,2771) - Fabiano Caruana (USA,2807) ½-½
Anish Giri (NED,2769) - Peter Svidler (RUS,2751) ½-½
Viswanathan Anand (IND,2770) - Veselin Topalov (BUL,2761) ½-½

Round Nine - 14 August 2016
Veselin Topalov (BUL,2761) - Levon Aronian (ARM,2784) ½-½
Peter Svidler (RUS,2751) - Viswanathan Anand (IND,2770) ½-½
Fabiano Caruana (USA,2807) - Anish Giri (NED,2769) 1-0
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (FRA,2819) - Wesley So (USA,2771) ½-½
Hikaru Nakamura (USA,2791) - Ding Liren (CHN,2755) 1-0

The 2016 Sinquefield Cup is an elite international event, featuring 10 of the strongest chess players in the world. Over the course of nine rounds, these competitors will battle for $300,000 in prize money (first: $75,000, second: $50,000, third: $40,000, last: $15,000) plus points toward the Grand Chess Tour and the coveted title of 2016 Sinquefield Cup Champion

Anand finished on the second position in tie-break with 5 points ... He scored a win over French Grand master Maxime Vachier-Lagrave in the second round with black pieces and drew other matches ... Wesley So won this tournament with 5½ points.


Final Standing
Courtesy of Chasebase

Tennis News

At $4.3M Western & Southern Open 2016, Cincinnati, USA

[R1] (7) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Florin Meargea (ROM) bye

Rohan and Florin r back at Cincinnati Masters in preparation for US open.

At $2.8M Western & Southern Open 2016, Cincinnati, USA (WTA Premier 5)

[R1] (7) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Barbora Strycova (CZE) bye

From Cincinnati tournament Sania and Martina r back on the court with their new respective partners.

At $25K ITF Women's Tennis Tournament 2016, Westende, Belgium

[R1] (8) Ankita Raina (IND,312) bt (Q) Klaartje Liebens (BEL,575) 46 64 64

Ankita scored superb comeback win over local Liebens ... Ankita was 46 0-3 down before she made comeback to win this match.

Olympics News

At Rio Olympics 2016, Brazil

Golf - Men's Individual - Final Standing
T50 Shivsankar Prasad Chawrasia (IND) 71 71 69 78 +5
57 Anirban Lahiri (IND) 74 73 75 72 +10

Badminton - Women's Singles - Group G
Saina Nehwal (IND) l Maria Ulitina (UKR) 18-21 19-21

Badminton - Men's Singles - Group H
Srikanth Kidambi (IND) bt Henri Hurskainen (SWE) 21-6 21-18

Badminton - Women's Singles - Group M
P. V. Sindhu (IND) bt Michelle Li (CAN) 19-21 21-15 21-17

[R16] Srikanth Kidambi (IND,11) vs Jan O Jorgensen (DEN,5)
[R16] P. V. Sindhu (IND,8) vs Tzu Ying Tai (TPE,10)

Shooting - 50m Rifle 3 Pos. Men's Qualification
23 Chain Singh (IND) 1169-52x
33 Gagan Narang (IND) 1162-50x

Athletics - Women’s Marathon
89 O. P. Jaisha (IND) 2:47:19
120 Kavita Raut (IND) 2:59:29

Men's Hockey - Quarter Final
India l Belgium 1-3 (1-0)
Goal Scorers - Akashdeep Singh (IND) 15' and Sebastien Dockier (BEL) 34' and 45', Tom Boon (BEL) 50'

Tennis - Mixed doubles Bronze Medal match
(4) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Rohan Bopanna (IND) l Lucie Hradecka (CZE)/ Radek Stepanek (CZE) 16 57

Boxing - Men's Light Welter (64kg)
[R2] Manoj Kumar (IND) l Fazliddin Gaibnazarov (UZB) 0-3 (27-30, 27-30, 27-30)

Courtesy TOI
Gymnastics - Women's Vault Final
4. Dipa Karmakar (IND) 15.066

DIFFICULTY  EXECUTION  SCORE
  1.  6.000      8.866               14.866
  2.  7.000      8.266               15.266

This was day of missed opportunities and chances ... Most heart breaking was Dipa missing Vault Bronze medal by 0.15 pts ... Sania-Rohan had off-day (avoiding word 'choked') in Bronze medal match ... Men's hockey team no-match to Belgium's solid and perfect defense.

Our both golfers ended on disappointing note ... SSP carded one of worst round of the final day, +7 and Anirban failed to improve on his standing.

In Badminton, shocking loss of Saina against 60+ ranked Ukrainian in straight games citing injury ... So with this loss she missed knock-out stage.

Expected win by Shrikanth against his Swedish opponent, though he stretched Srikanth in the second ... In knock-out Shrikant is facing in-form Danish player Jan O Jorgensen.

Sindhu needed to fightback after losing first game against Michelle Li ... Sindhu played controlled game for winning next two games ... In knock-out she is facing tricky match against Taipei's Tzu Ying Tai.

In shooting, our disappointing performance continued as our bto shooters, Chain Singh and Gaggan Narag, failed to finish inside top-20 in 50m Rifle 3 Pos. Men's Qualification ... With that shooting event finished on sour note as our shooter failed to win a single medal.

For Jaisha and Kavita this Rio Marathon proved too demanding as their timing was off-mark by standard.

In hockey we lost this match due to poor performance by our team ... We failed to repeat performance of our matches against Dutch, Germany and Argentina ... We managed hardly 4/5 attacks on Belgium goal and failed to create single penalty corner chance ... Other hand non-stop attacking by Belgium ... They created so many chances it was surprising that they failed to score in first-half ... After their equalizer in the start of the second half gave clear indication of one way traffic ... Disappointed to see our performance as our team was looking like without any plan on the turf.

Sania-Rohan missed golden opportunity of winning the medal ... Yesterday they squandered big opportunity of closing the match after dominating the first set ... Today our both players were looking too much tensed and failed to control their nerves ... Czech pair took full advantage of it for winning the first set comfortably ... In the second our pair tried matching Czech pair but Sania took pressure in 11th game ... She committed two double faults for losing her serve and then match.

Uzbek boxer was better in the bout and so he won bout against Manoj Kumar after winning all three rounds.

Dipa Karmarkar is true champion and knows when to raise her game/ efforts ... In the final she was having outside chance of medal but in end she came agonizingly close of Bronze medal ... Her first vault was decent but on the second in Prudonova she went a bit deep while landing, if she landed with a perfect standing pose then had huge opportunity of winning the medal ... Dipa is a huge talent and we can hope medal from her in World championships and Tokyo Olympics.

Sunday, August 14, 2016

Tennis News

At $721K Abierto Mexicano Los Cabos 2016, Los Cabos, Mexico


Doubles Final
Divij Sharan (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) bt Jonathan Erlich (ISR)/ Ken Skupski (GBR) 76(4) 76(3)

Divij-Purav won their second ATP tournament of their career ... In the final they defeated seasoned doubles players in two tie-breaks for capturing this title ... Also this title win helped them to secure direct entry in doubles maindraw of US Open 2016.

Saturday, August 13, 2016

Olympics News

At Rio Olympics 2016, Brazil

Golf - Men's Individual Round 3
T22 Shivsankar Prasad Chawrasia (IND) 71 71 69 -2
T57 Anirban Lahiri (IND) 74 73 75 +9

Courtesy TOI

Rowing - Men's Single Sculls Final C
1. Dattu Baban Bhokanlal (IND) 6:54.96s

Shooting - Men's Skeet Qualification - Day 2
T8 Mairaj Ahmed Khan (IND) 121 (in shoot-off eliminated first for 5th/6th place)

Shooting - 25m Rapid Fire Pistol Men’s Qualification - Day 2
7 Gurpreet Singh (IND) 581-24x (289+292)

Women's Hockey - Pool B
India l Argentina 0-5 (0-5)
Goal Scorers - Martina Cavallero (ARG) 16' PC and 29', Maria Granatto (ARG) 23', Carla Rebecchi (ARG) 26' PC, Agustina Albertarrio (ARG) 27'

Courtesy TOI

Athletics - Women’s 3000m steeplechase — Heat 2
4 Lalitha Shivaji Babar (IND) 9:19.76 (NR) (qualified for the final)

Athletics - Women’s 3000m steeplechase Heat 3
9 Sudha Singh (IND) 9:43.29s

Athletics - Women’s 400m Heat 1
6 Nirmala Sheoran (IND) 53.03s

Badminton
Women's Doubles - Group A
Jwala Gutta (IND)/ Ashwini Ponnappa (IND) l Sapsiree Taerattanachai (THA)/ Puttita Supajirakul (THA) 17-21, 15-21

Men's Doubles - Group D
Manu Attri (IND)/ Sumeeth Reddy B. (IND) bt Hiroyuki Endo (JPN)/ Kenichi Hayakawa (JPN) 23-21 21-11

Tennis - Mixed Doubles
[SF] (4) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Rohan Bopanna (IND) l Venus Williams (USA)/ Rajeev Ram (USA) 62 26 3-10

This days bright spot were, Lalitha Babar qualifying for the final of steeplechase event and Dattu Bhokanlal winning Single Sculls Final C event. In the golf SSP was in top-15 till 16th hole with 4 under for the day but scored back to back bogeys on 17th and 18th to finished outside top-20 ... Anirban produced worst round of three rounds to finished on T57 position.

Dattu Bhokanlal gave his best timing in his four races for winning Final C, so with that he finished on 13th place in Men's Single Sculls.

In shooting, our both players finished in top-8 but in these events only top-6 gets qualified for the final ... Gurpreet finished on 7th position with 581 points in 25m Rapid Fire Pistol, his only 90 round in 3rd series cost him dearly ... Mairaj produced 25 and 24 in last two series, he was tied for 5th place with 5 other shooters in Skeet ... In shoot-off he and French shooter eliminated first so he missed reaching the final.

Our women hockey team got outperformed by Argentine team in their one-sided win ... Argentina scored all 5 goals in second quarter and in last two quarters missed to increase winning margin ... So our team ended with four losses and one draw.

In Athletics, Lalitha Babar run a superb race and bettered national record by 7/8 seconds in 3000m Steeplechase ... And while doing that she qualified for the final with 7th best timing in all qualifier ... Sudha Singh struggled and managed time 9:40s ... In 400m Nirmala managed only 53 secs to finish her heat on 6th place.

Jwala-Ashwini failed to end their campaign on winning note and they lost their match in straight sets against Thai pair ... Other hand Manu Attri and Sumeeth scored upset win over WR#8 Japanese pair in straight game ... So with that they ended their Olympics campaign on winning note.

In the tennis Sania and Rohan missed opportunity of playing in Gold medal match as they lost against American pair Venus Williams and Rajeev Ram in match tie-break ... In the first set Indian pair broke Venus two times for winning it ... In the second American pair broke Sania twice for winning it ... In match tie-break from 1-3 American pair won 9 points in a row for this excellent win ... Moon balling backfired on Sania and our pair failed to raise their game on this crucial juncture ... In match tie-break our pair missed couple of easy volleys, missing simple smash or failing to put pressure on their opponent ... Sania-Rohan still having chance of winning medal against Czech pair for Bronze medal.

Football News

At FIFA International Friendly 2016, Thimphu, Bhutan

Bhutan l India 0-3 (0-3)
Goal Scored - Sumit Passi (ND) 15', Jeje Lalpekhlua (IND) 18', Holicharan Narzary (IND) 21'

Dominating win by India against Bhutan ... India took control of the match scoring 3 goals in first 20 minutes ... And kept that lead through out the match for comfortable win.

Squash News

At $15K Women's Australian Open 2016,, Melbourne, Australia


[R1] (1) Dipika Pallikal Karthik (IND,19) bt (WC) Jessica Turnbull (AUS,86) 11-1, 11-5, 11-8 (24m)
[QF] (1) Dipika Pallikal Karthik (IND,19) bt (7) Misaki Kobayashi (JPN,48) 6-11, 11-6, 11-6, 11-6 (37m)
[SF] (1) Dipika Pallikal Karthik (IND,19) bt (Q) Hana Ramadan (EGY,89) 6-11, 11-6, 11-7, 11-4 (35m)

Final
(1) Dipika Pallikal Karthik (IND,19) bt (8) Mayar Hany (EGY,46) 10-12, 11-5, 11-6, 11-4 (40m)

Good to see Dipika is started to winning these types of title ... In her last three matches she needed to make comeback after losing the first game.

Olympics News

At Rio Olympics 2016, Brazil

Archery - Men's Individual
[R16] (5) Atanu Das (IND) vs (12) Seungyun Lee (KOR) 4-6 (28-30, 30-28, 27-27, 27-28, 28-28)

Badminton
Women's Doubles - Group A
Jwala Gutta (IND)/ Ashwini Ponnappa (IND) l Eefje Muskens (NED)/ Selena Piek (NED) 16-21 21-16 17-21

Men's Doubles - Group D
Manu Attri (IND)/ Sumeeth Reddy B. (IND) l Biao Chai (CHN)/ Wei Hong (CHN) 13-21 15-21

Athletics - Men’s 800m Round 1 — Heat 3
5 Jinson Johnson (IND) 1:47:27s

Athletics - Women's Shot Put
23 Manpreet Kaur (IND) 17.06 mtrs.

Athletics - Men's Discuss Throw
16 Vikas Gowda (IND) 58.99 mtrs.

Athletics - Men’s 20km race walk
13 Manish Singh Rawat (IND) 1:21:21s (2:07)
Gurmeet Singh (IND) DQ
Ganapathi Krishnan (IND) DQ

Athletics - Men's Long Jump
24 Ankit Sharma 7.67 mtrs.

Athletics - Men’s 400m Round 1 — Heat 2
6 Mohammad Anas (IND) 45.95s

Athletics - Women’s 100m Round 1 — Heat 5
7 Dutee Chand (IND) 11.69s

Rowing - Men’s Single Sculls Semis C/D 2
2 Dattu Baban Bhokanlal (IND) 7:19.02 mins (Qualified for Final C)

Men's Hockey - Pool B
India dw Canada 2-2 (0-0)
Goal Scorers - Akashdeep Singh (IND) 33' PC, Ramandeep Singh (IND) 40' and Scott Tupper (CAN) 33' PC and 52' PC

Shooting - 50m Rifle Prone Men's Qualification
13 Gagan Narang (IND) 623.1 pts
36 Chain Singh (IND) 619.6 pts

Shooting - Men's Skeet Qualification - Day 1
10 Mairaj Ahmed Khan (IND) 72

Shooting - 25m Rapid Fire Pistol Men’s Qualification - Day 1
13 Gurpreet Singh (IND) 289-10x

Golf - Men's Individual Round 2
T27 Shivsankar Prasad Chawrasia (IND) 71
T50 Anirban Lahiri (IND) 74

Courtesy Ibtimes

Tennis - Mixed Doubles
[QF] (4) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Rohan Bopanna (IND) bt Andy Murray (GBR)/ Heather Watson (GBR) 64 64

[SF] (4) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Rohan Bopanna (IND) vs Venus Williams (USA)/ Rajeev Ram (USA)

Courtesy TOI

Boxing - Men's Middleweight (75kg) Preliminaries
[R2] Vikas Krishan Yadav (IND) bt Sipal Onder (TUR) 3-0 (30-27, 29-28, 29-28)

[QF] Vikas Krishan Yadav (IND) vs Bektemir Melikuziev (UZB)

Atanu Das loses close match against Korean in well fought match ... Atanu was matching Korean but missed his arrows (like 9 instead of 10) at couple of crucial time and that cost him this match ... Tough luck to face Korean in pre-quarterfinal ... So with this loss our challenge got over in Archery.

In shooting till 5th series Gagan was in top-8 but in last series he struggled and managed 102, whch cost him his entry in the final.

Gurpreet and Mairaj needs solid rounds on their tomorrow's series ... Currently Mairaj on 10th position and Gurpreet on 13th in their respective events.

Dattu Bhokanlal finished second in D semi-final and he is qualified for C Final.

In Athletics disappointing start as Vikas failed to cross 59 mtrs mark in qualifying ... Manpreet managed only 17 above mtrs shot put ... Jinson Johnson gave good timing, 1:47.27s ... Manish Singh Rawat performed really well to clock 1:21:21s, which was gave him 13th finish but our other two walkers disqualified ... Dutee Chand finished 50th overall in women's 100m heat ... Ankit Sharma failed to cross 7.70 mtrs in long jump ... In 400m also Mohammad Anas failed to impress with his heat timing.

Disappointing result for Indian hockey ... After giving back to back two performances Indians failed to show similar intensity against Canada ... After first half score remained goalless ... In the third quarter we took lead but conceded immediately ... Then again took lead but Canadian skipper equalized through penalty corner ... Now we r having tough quarter-final against Belgium Group A topper.

Sania-Rohan r in medal round with impressive win over Andy Murray and Heather Watson in straight sets ... In the first set Rohan lost his serve in 2nd game to find 0-2 down ... But after that our pair broke Heather in 3rd and 7th games and kept that advantage for winning the first set ... In the second set only break came when our pair broke Andy's serve in 5th game and kept that advantage for winning the match ... Next they r facing American pair Venus Williams and Rajeev Ram for place in Gold medal match.

Vikas Krishan won the bout comfortably against his Turkish opponent Sipal Onder ... In the quarters he is facing tough challenge on talented Uzbek boxer, who is current Asian champion, Bektemir Melikuziev.

Tennis News

At $721K Abierto Mexicano Los Cabos 2016, Los Cabos, Mexico

[SF] Divij Sharan (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) bt Adil Shamasdin (CAN)/ Jonathan Marray (GBR) 64 64

[F] Divij Sharan (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) vs Jonathan Erlich (ISR)/ Ken Skupski (GBR)

Divij-Purav scored another good win over their Newport ATP conquerors in straight sets for entering into the second ATP doubles final ... After winning the first set with a single break Divij-Purav were double break up at 5-2 ... While serving for the match Divij failed to hold, 5-3 ... Purav were 3 break points down while serving for the match at 15-40 but our pair won next three points on big serve from Purav for entering into the final ... In the final they r facing Erlich and Skupski.

At $75K Gatineau Challenger, Canada

[QF] (3) Saketh Myneni (IND,150) l (5) Vincent Millot (FRA, 183) 67((5) 16

Doubles
[SF] Saketh Myneni (IND)/ Sanam Singh (IND) vs (1) Tristan Lamasine (FRA)/ Franko Skugor (CRO)

In this match Saki was looking injured as he was taped and wasn't looking comfortable while playing his shots ... Frenchman Millot took advantage of it and he dominated the second after winning the first set tie-break ... If he is injured then Saki should skip his doubles semi-final.

At $25K ITF Women's Tennis Tournament 2016, Koksijde, Belgium (Clay)

[QF] Ankita Raina (IND,312) l Quirine Lemoine (NED,317) 16 06

Disappointing loss after two good wins by Ankita ... Frankly baffling scoreline against similar ranked Dutch player.

Thursday, August 11, 2016

Olympics News

At Rio Olympics 2016, Brazil

Archery - Women's Individual
[R16] Deepika Kumari (IND) l Ya-Ting Tan (TPE) 0-6 (27-28, 26-29, 27-30)
[R16] Bombayla Devi Laishram (IND) l Alejandra Valencia (MEX) 2-6 (26-28, 26-23, 27-28, 23-25)

Badminton
Women's Doubles - Group A
Jwala Gutta (IND)/ Ashwini Ponnappa (IND) l Misaki Matsutomo (JPN)/ Ayaka Takahashi (JPN) 15-21 10-21

Men's Doubles - Group D
Manu Attri (IND)/ Sumeeth Reddy B. (ND) l Mohammad Ahsan (INA)/ Hendra Setiawan (INA) 18-21 13-21

Women's Singles - Group M
Pusarla V. Sindhu (IND) bt Laura Sarosi (HUN) 21-8 21-9

Women's Singles - Group G
Saina Nehwal (IND) bt Lohaynny Vicente (BRA) 21-17 21-17

Men's Singles - Group H
Srikanth Kidambi (IND) bt Lino Munoz (MEX) 21-11 21-17

Men's Hockey - Pool B
India l Netherlands 1-2 (0-0)
Goal Scorers - VR Raghunath (IND) 38' PC and Rogier Hofman (NED) 32' PC, Mink van der Weerden (NED) 54' PC

Boxing - Bantamweight - 56kg Men
[R1] Shiva Thapa (IND) l (1) Robeisy Eloy Ramirez (CUB) 0-3 (27-30, 26-30, 26-30)

Golf - Men's Individual Round 1
T27 Shivsankar Prasad Chawrasia (IND) 71
T50 Anirban Lahiri (IND) 74

Women's Hockey - Pool B
India l USA 0-3 (0-1)
Goal Scorers - Katherine Bam (USA) 14' and 42', Melina Gonzalez (USA) 52'

Tennis - Mixed Doubles
[R1] (4) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Rohan Bopanna (IND) bt Samantha Stosur (AUS)/ John Peers (AUS) 75 64

[QF] (4) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Rohan Bopanna (IND) vs Andy Murray (GBR)/ Heather Watson (GBR)

Overall disappointing day as our archers, Shiva Thapa in boxing and our hockey team lost their respective matches.

Deepika Kumari failed to overcome strong challenge of Taipei's Ya-Ting Tan ... In this match Deepika managed only one 10 but other hand Tan scored six 10s.

Bombayla Devi also failed to overcome challenge of Mexican girl Alejandra Valencia and lost in four sets ... With that our challenge got over in women's archery.

In badminton expected results as our both pairs lost their respective matches against higher ranked opponent pairs ... In the singles winning start for Sindhu, Saina and Srikanth in contrasting fashion.

Indians lost in well fought match against Dutch side ... When last 6 seconds were remaining Indians received penalty corner and after that we received four more penalty corners but we failed to convert ... First half was little boring as we were only defending but action picked up in the second half ... Overall impressive performance by our boys ... Next match against Canada is important as that will decide standing for quarter-final.

Comprehensive win by Robeisy Eloy Ramirez against Shiva Thapa ... He was no match to Ramirez, who dominated from the start.

Anirban struggled on the golf course as he managed 74 only and SSP played better for completing round 71 ... But overall disappointing as top-25 managed 70 or lower and leader Marcus Fraser is leading by 11 strokes of Anirban.

USA dominated the proceedings throughout and end the group stage with four wins in four games, while India women r languishing at fifth with one point ... Another disappointing performance by Indian women hockey team.

In mixed doubles Sania-Rohan had a winning start against Aussie pair in straight sets ... Next they r having tricky match against WR #2 Andy Murray and his partner Heather Watson.

Tennis News

At $721K Abierto Mexicano Los Cabos 2016, Los Cabos, Mexico

[QF] Divij Sharan (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) bt Nicholas Monroe (USA)/ Artem Sitak (NZL) 16 63 10-7

Another good comeback win by Divij-Purav against regular ATP doubles players. After losing first set convincingly Divij-Purav recovered for winning next and then they controlled match te-break for entering into the semis.

At $100K Aptos Challenger, USA

[QF] Liam Broady (GBR)/ Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND) l (3) Stefan Kozlov (USA)/ Matt Reid (AUS) 26 26

One-sided loss for RamK and his partner against 3rd seed pair.

At $25K ITF Women's Tennis Tournament 2016, Koksijde, Belgium (Clay)

[R2] Ankita Raina (IND,312) bt Fanni Stollar (HUN,318) 64 75

[QF] Ankita Raina (IND,312) vs Quirine Lemoine (NED,317)

Ankita scored tight straight sets win over similar ranked her Hungarian opponent ... Next she is facing another similar ranked player but this Dutch player defeated top-200 3rd seed German player.

Wednesday, August 10, 2016

Olympics News

At Rio Olympics 2016, Brazil

Courtesy PTI

Shooting - 50m Men's Pistol
12 Jitu Rai (IND) 554-9x
25 Prakash Nanjappa (IND) 547-10x

Archery - Women's Individual
[R64] (24) Bombayla Devi Laishram (IND) bt (41) Laurence Baldauff (AUT) 6-2 (24-27, 28-24, 27-23, 26-24)
[R32] (24) Bombayla Devi Laishram (IND) bt (9) Lin Shih Chia (TPE) 6-2 (27-24, 27-24, 26-27, 28-26)

[R16] (24) Bombayla Devi Laishram (IND) vs (45) Kristine Esebua (GEO)

Weightlifting - Men's 77 kg - Group B
4 Sathish Kumar Sivalingam (IND) 329kg (148kg in snatch and 181kg in clean and jerk)

Judo - Men's 90 kg
[R32] Avtar Singh (IND) l Popole Misenga (ROT) Seoi-nage 5:00

Women's Hockey - Pool B
India l Australia 1-6 (0-2)
Goal Scored - Thokchom Anuradha (IND) 70' and Kathryn Slattery (AUS) 5' PC, Georgie Morgan (AUS) 9' PC, Jane Claxton (AUS) 35', Georgina Parker (AUS) 36', Jodie Kenny (AUS) 43' PS and 46' PC

Boxing - Men's Light Welter (64kg)
[R1] Manoj Kumar (IND) bt Evaldas Petrauskas (LTU) 2-1 (29-28, 29-28, 28-29)

[R2] Manoj Kumar (IND) vs Fazliddin Gaibnazarov (UZB)

Jitu Rai - "I let my country down. There was wind but I don't want to make any excuses."

Please someone tell this guy we are very proud of him and I m damn sure he will win 2 medals at Tokyo Olympics ... Jitu Rai, you are gentleman and THE champion.

Group B is meant for lower-ranked competitors who have registered lower entry weights and by finishing fourth even in this category, Sivalingam has no chance to be on the podium.

Australia have thrashed Indian women with an emphatic 6-1 win today ... Nothing more to write about it.

Manoj Kumar completed tight win over Evaldas Petrauskas in 2-1 favor ... Next having tough match against Uzbek Fazliddin Gaibnazarov.

Table Tennis News

At $70K ITTF Challenge Plus Oman Open 2020 , Muscat, Oman [R32] Harmeet Desai (IND,87) bt Jeremy Hazin (CAN,164) 4-0 (12-10, 11-8, 11-4,...