Tennis News

At $2.58M Dongfeng Motor Wuhan Open 2016, China (WTA Premier 5)

[QF] (3) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Barbora Strycova (CZE) bt (6) Timea Babos (HUN)/ Yaroslava Shvedova (KAZ) 63 76(5)
[SF] (3) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Barbora Strycova (CZE) bt (2) Hao-Ching Chan (TPE)/ Yung-Jan Chan (TPE) 64 36 10-7

[F] (3) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Barbora Strycova (CZE) vs (5) Bethanie Mattek-Sands (USA)/ Lucie Safarova (CZE)

Sania and Strycova r in the final after winning two matches with in 5 hours ... After winning the quarters in straight sets Sania and Strycova needed match tie-breaks to beat 2nd seed Chans ... In the final they r facing 5th seed Mattek-Sands and Safarova.

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At $25K Hungary F7 Futures, Balatonboglar (clay)

[SF] (6) Sumit Nagal (IND,372) bt (7) Sebastian Ofner (AUT,399) 60 57 62

[F] (6) Sumit Nagal (IND,372) vs Peter Nagy (HUN, 478)

Sumit in the final after beating talented Belgian in three sets ... After winning the first set comfortably Sumit was 5-3 up in the second after trading early breaks ... But he failed to hole his serve in 10th and again lost his serve in 12th for losing this set ... In the decider from 2-all Sumit won next 4 games for winning the match ... In the final he is facing local Polish player Peter Nagy.

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At $10K ITF Women's Tennis Tournament 2016, Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt

[R1] Zeel DESAI (IND) bt (5) Elena-Teodora CADAR (ROU) 63 26 61
[R1] (8) Sri Vaishnavi PEDDI REDDY (IND) bt Anna ABUALHAJ (JOR) w/o
[R1] Ramya NATARAJAN (IND) bt Victoria Ariadna BECCIO (ARG) 62 62
[R1] Eetee MAHETA (IND) bt Salma ABDEL RAHIM (EGY) 61 61

[R2] Zeel DESAI (IND,UNR) bt Suzy LARKIN (GBR,836) 64 63
[R2] (8) Sri Vaishnavi PEDDI REDDY (IND,736) l Jenny CLAFFEY (IRL,815) 46 67(3)
[R2] Ramya NATARAJAN (IND,NR) l (3) Guadalupe PEREZ ROJAS (ARG,577) 64 16 16
[R2] Eetee MAHETA (IND,758) bt Mitsumi KAWASAKI (JPN,1095) 57 76(5) 61

[QF] Zeel DESAI (IND,UNR) l (1) Anna MORGINA (RUS,369) 63 26 36
[QF] Eetee MAHETA (IND,758) l (2) Dea HERDZELAS (BSN,436) 16 16

Excellent performance by Zeel so she will be definitely into WTA ranking as this is her third week's WTA points earning for Zeel ... In the quarters after winning the first set she failed to keep momentum in next two sets.

Badminton News

At $600K VICTOR Korea Open 2016, Seoul (Superseries)

[QF] Ajay JAYARAM (IND,18) l Hyun Il LEE (KOR,20) 23-25 13-21

Missed opportunity for Ajay going deep in this SuperSeries tournament ... He lost the first game on extra points but failed to challenge his Korean opponent in the second.

Tennis News

At 2016 Junior Fed Cup u16, Budapest, Hungary

Group B
India l Hungary 0-3
[GS2] Shivani AMINENI (IND) l Adrienn HORVATH (HUN) 46 46
[GS1] MAHAK JAIN (IND) l Reka ZADORI (HUN) 63 26 16
[GD] Shivani AMINENI (IND)/ SATHWIKA SAMA (IND) l Fanni GECSEK (HUN)/ Adrienn HORVATH (HUN) 26 16

Girls ended up losing their all matches and managed to win only 2 sets in 9 matches.

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At 2016 Junior Davis Cup u16, Budapest, Hungary

Group A
(8) India l (1) Canada 1-2
[BS2] SIDDHANT BANTHIA (IND) bt Chih Chi HUANG (CAN) 16 62 64
[BS1] ADIL KALYANPUR (IND) l Felix AUGER-ALIASSIME (CAN)36 06
[BD] ADIL KALYANPUR (IND)/ Megh PATEL (IND) l Felix AUGER-ALIASSIME (CAN)/ Chih Chi HUANG (CAN) 67(4) 67(3)

Siddhant started with a win but Adil failed to produce any fighting performance against Canadian #1 ... In the doubles Adil with Megh lost in two tie-breaks.

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At $841K Chengdu Open, China

[QF] Divij Sharan (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) l Nicholas Monroe (USA)/ Artem Sitak (NZL) 46 36
[QF] Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND)/ Rohan Bopanna (IND) l Adil Shamasdin (CAN)/ Andreas Siljestrom (SWE) 46 67(4)

Disappointing losses of both Indian pairs against unseeded pairs.

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At $25K Hungary F7 Futures, Balatonboglar (clay)

[QF] (6) Sumit Nagal (IND,372) bt Lenny Hampel (AUT,475) 75 46 62

[SF] (6) Sumit Nagal (IND,372) vs (7) Sebastian Ofner (AUT,399)

Sumit won close match against his Austrian opponent Lenny Hampel ... In the first set Sumit took crucial break in 12th game for winning the set ... In the second set Lenny took crucial break for winning it ... Sumit controlled the third set and won it with double break ... Next he is facing another talented Austrian Sebastian Ofner.

Badminton News

At $600K VICTOR Korea Open 2016, Seoul (Superseries)

[R2] SAI PRANEETH B. (IND,35) l (6) Wan Ho SON (KOR,8) 9-21 15-21
[R1] Ajay JAYARAM (IND,18) bt Yuxiang HUANG (CHN,34) 21-15 21-18

[QF] Ajay JAYARAM (IND,18) vs Hyun Il LEE (KOR,20)

Ajay scored impressive straight games win over his Chinese opponent Huang ... Next he is facing Hyun Il Lee ... Sai failed to challenge Wan Ho Son in one-sided loss.

Snooker News

At European Masters Qualifiers, Preston, England

[QR1] Aditya Mehta (IND,64) l (4) Judd Trump (ENG,4) 3-4 (46-56, 70(64)-68(68), 17-79, 74(74)-25, 27-86(60), 103(103)-20, 23-53)

Aditya lost really close match against WR #4 Judd Trump in seven games ... Both players were exchanging games one after another but Aditya failed to repeat big break after 100+ break in 6th frame.

Tennis News

At 2016 Junior Fed Cup u16, Budapest, Hungary

Group B
India l Canada 0-3
[GS2] Shivani AMINENI (IND) l Isabelle BOULAIS (CAN) 67(8) 16
[GS1] MAHAK JAIN (IND) l Bianca Vanessa ANDREESCU (CAN) 16 16
[GD] Shivani AMINENI (IND)/ SATHWIKA SAMA (IND) l Isabelle BOULAIS (CAN)/ Layne SLEETH (CAN) 67(7) 67(4)

Indian girls struggle on the clay continues in another loss.

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At 2016 Junior Davis Cup u16, Budapest, Hungary

Group A
(8) India l Hungary 0-3
[BS2] SIDDHANT BANTHIA (IND) l Mate VOROS (HUN) 26 16
[BS1] ADIL KALYANPUR (IND) l Daniel KHIN (HUN) 46 46
[BD] Siddhant BANTHIA (CHI)/ Megh PATEL (CHI) l Daniel KHIN (HUN)/ Mate VOROS (HUN) 64 36 3-10

Disappointing performance against host nation for Indian boys.

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At $841K Chengdu Open, China

[R1] Divij Sharan (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) bt (3) Dominic Inglot (GBR)/ Nenad Zimonjic (SRB) 62 64

[QF] Divij Sharan (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) vs Nicholas Monroe (USA)/ Artem Sitak (NZL)
[QF] Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND)/ Rohan Bopanna (IND) vs Adil Shamasdin (CAN)/ Andreas Siljestrom (SWE)

Really good straight sets win by Divij-Purav against 3rd seed Zimo and Inglot ... Next they r facing Monroe and Sitak ... Rohan and Jeevan r facing Adil and Andreas.

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At $641K Shenzhen Open, China

[R1] (PR) Andre Begemann (GER)/ Leander Paes (IND) l Guillermo Garcia-Lopez (ESP)/ Malek Jaziri (TUN) 64 16 9-11

Lee-Andre lost the match after winning the first set ... Somehow they r getting into habit of losing close match tie-break on extra points.

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At $25K Hungary F7 Futures, Balatonboglar (clay)

[R2] (6) Sumit Nagal (IND,360) bt Marcin Gawron (POL,615) 64 64

[QF] (6) Sumit Nagal (IND,360) vs Lenny Hampel (AUT,475)


Sumit is in the quarters with straight sets win over his Polish opponent ... Next he is facing talented Austrian Hampel, who scored upset win over 3rd seed.

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At $10K ITF Women's Tennis Tournament 2016, Chisinau , Moldova

[R2] (5) Kyra SHROFF (IND,663) l (Q) Georgia Andreea CRACIUN (ROM,1239 16 06

Surprisingly one-sided loss of Kyra against former top-15 Romanian junior.

Badminton News

At $600K VICTOR Korea Open 2016, Seoul (Superseries)

[R1] PRANNOY H. S. (IND,31) l Tzu Wei WANG (TPE,39) 23-21 17-21 15-21
[R1] SAI PRANEETH B. (IND,35) bt Jen Hao HSU (TPE,26) 21-13 12-21 21-15
[R1] Ajay JAYARAM (IND,18) bt Hyeok Jin JEON (KOR,22) 23-21 21-18
[R1] (8) Srikanth KIDAMBI (IND,14) l Wing Ki Vincent WONG (HKG,20) 10-21 24-22 17-21
[R1] (Q) PARUPALLI Kashyap (IND,107) l (4) Houwei TIAN (CHN,6) 22-20 10-21 13-21
[R1] Tanvi LAD (IND,73) l Anna Thea MADSEN (DEN,41) 18-21 21-13 18-21

[R2] SAI PRANEETH B. (IND,35) vs (6) Wan Ho SON (KOR,8)
[R2] Ajay JAYARAM (IND,18) vs Yuxiang HUANG (CHN,34)

Good win by Sai and Ajay against Taipei and Korean players but other hand poor losses of Srikanth and Prannoy against lower ranked opponents.

Squash News

At $100K Men's NetSuite Open 2016, San Francisco, USA

[R1] Saurav Ghosal (IND,21) l (1) Gregory Gaultier (FRA,2) 9-11, 4-11, 1-11 (31m)

Expected loss but disappointing score of final two games against Gaultier.

Badminton News

At $600K VICTOR Korea Open 2016, Seoul (Superseries)

[Q1] PARUPALLI Kashyap (IND,107) bt Gyung Bo KO (KOR,815) 15-21 23-21 21-19
[Q2] PARUPALLI Kashyap (IND,107) bt Pannawit THONGNUAM (THA,100) 15-21 21-16 21-15

[R1] PRANNOY H. S. (IND,31) vs Tzu Wei WANG (TPE,39)
[R1] SAI PRANEETH B. (IND,35) vs Jen Hao HSU (TPE,26)
[R1] Ajay JAYARAM (IND,18) vs Hyeok Jin JEON (KOR,22)
[R1] (8) Srikanth KIDAMBI (IND,14) vs Wing Ki Vincent WONG (HKG,20)
[R1] (Q) PARUPALLI Kashyap (IND,107) vs (4) Houwei TIAN (CHN,6)
[R1] Tanvi LAD (IND,73) vs Anna Thea MADSEN (DEN,41)

Expected qualification by Kashyap but tough matches awaited for Indian players in main-draw.

Tennis News

At 2016 Junior Fed Cup u16, Budapest, Hungary

Group B
India l (4) Poland 0-3
[GS2] SATHWIKA SAMA (IND) l Maja CHWALINSKA (POL) 06 16
[GS1] MAHAK JAIN (IND) l Iga SWIATEK (POL) 06 06
[GD] Shivani AMINENI (IND)/ SATHWIKA SAMA (IND) l Stefania ROGOZINSKA-DZIK (POL)/ Iga SWIATEK (POL) 16 46

Really poor performance by Indian girls against Polish girls ... In singles our girls managed to win a single game ... Other teams in the group r 5th seeds Canada and host Hungary.

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At 2016 Junior Davis Cup u16, Budapest, Hungary

Group A
(8) India bt Chile 3-0
[BS2] SIDDHANT BANTHIA (IND) bt Alan SANSON (CHI) 46 62 64
[BS1] ADIL KALYANPUR (IND) bt Ignacio BECERRA (CHI) 67(2) 76(6) 60
[BD] Siddhant BANTHIA (CHI)/ Megh PATEL (CHI) bt Garizon ABARZUA (CHI)/ Alan SANSON (CHI) 64 64

Boys scored impressive 3-0 win over Chilean boys on the clay ... In the singles our both boys scored comeback win and in that Adil dug deep for coming back in the match ... Other teams in the group r top seeds Canada and host Hungary.

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At $2.58M Dongfeng Motor Wuhan Open 2016, China (WTA Premier 5)

[R2] (3) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Barbora Strycova (CZE) bt Gabriela Dabrowski (CAN)/ Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez (ESP) 36 63 10-5

Sania-Strycova started with comeback win over Canadian-Spanish pair.

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At $841K Chengdu Open, China

[R1] Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND)/ Rohan Bopanna (IND) bt Feliciano Lopez (ESP)/ Juan Monaco (ARG) 62 64

Really good comfortable win by Jeevan-Rohan against very experienced top doubles players.

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At $250K WTA Tashkent Open, Uzbekistan

[R1] Nao HIBINO (JPN)/ Prarthana THOMBARE (IND) l (WC) Polina MERENKOVA (UZB)/ Dayana YASTREMSKA (UKR) 64 36 8-10

Disappointing result for Prarthana as she with her Japanese partner lost against wild-card pair after winning the first set ... Big missed opportunity.

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At $100K Stockton Challenger, California, USA

[R1] Yuki Bhambri (IND,220) l Darian King (BAR,163) 26 63 36

Yuki lost in three sets against Darian King in his comeback match after more than six months injury lay-off ... In the first set Yuki struggled with his service games ... Dariean broke him in 3rd game for leading 1-2 but Yuki immediately broke him for 2-all ... After that Darian broke him in 5th and 7th games for winning this set ... In the second set Yuki started to serve better and with Darian's break of serve in 6th game he won this set ... In the final set Darian broke Yuki in 4th game for 1-4 lead and kept that advantage for winning this match ... Overall good required long match for Yuki, but only need to check that where he will be having any niggle or sor/ inflated after the match.

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At $25K Hungary F7 Futures, Balatonboglar (clay)

[R1] (6) Sumit Nagal (IND,360) bt (Q) David Szintai (HUN,1602) 61 64

[R2] (6) Sumit Nagal (IND,360) vs Marcin Gawron (POL,615)

Sumit started with confident win against local qualifier ... Next he is facing Polish opponent.

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At $25K ITF Women's Tennis Tournament 2016, Hua Hin, Thailand

[R1] (Q) Pranjala YADLAPALLI (IND,668) l (6) Shiho AKITA (JPN,301) 16 06
[R1] (Q) Karman Kaur THANDI (IND,655) l Fang Ying XUN (CHN,392) 57 16

This week our both girls lost in the first round ... Karman was up 5-2 in the first round before losing 11 games of next 12 games against Chinese girl and Pranjala failed to challenge her top-300 Japanese opponent.

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At $10K ITF Women's Tennis Tournament 2016, Chisinau , Moldova

[R1] (5) Kyra SHROFF (IND,663) bt (WC) Ecaterina IVASCO (MDA,UNR) 61 60

[R2] (5) Kyra SHROFF (IND,663) vs (Q) Georgia Andreea CRACIUN (ROM,1239

Kyra started with comfortable win against local wild-card player ... Next she is facing Romanian qualifier.

Golf News

At €300K ANDALUCIA COSTA DEL SOL OPEN DE ESPAÑA FEMENINO, Spain

6 Aditi Ashok (IND) 74 67 75 69 -3 €9,300.00

Aditi gave another top-10 performance on European tour ... In the last round 4 birdies on final 9 helped her to finish 3 under for the tournament.

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At €2M Porsche European Open, Bad Griesbach, Germany

T24 Anirban Lahiri (IND) 68 68 69 -10 €20,500

Decent comeback for Anirban after a month long injury break ... He finished in top-25 in this shorten tournament due to bad weather ... He managed 10 under in this tournament but SSP missed the cut.

Tennis News

At $923K St. Petersburg Open, Russia

Doubles Final
(PR) Andre Begemann (GER)/ Leander Paes (IND) l (1) Dominic Inglot (GBR)/ Henri Kontinen (FIN) 64 36 10-12

Lee's first ATP tour title in 18 months is still waiting ... Lee-Andre lost in match tie-break against top-seed Inglot-Kontinen ... After winning the first set Lee-Andre lost the second when Lee's service got broke in 8th game ... In match tie-break both pairs exchanged mini-breaks but our pair had a match point at 9-8 on opponent's serve ... Inglot-Kontinen saved that and converted 2nd match point.

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At $2.58M Dongfeng Motor Wuhan Open 2016, China (WTA Premier 5)

[R1] (3) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Barbora Strycova (CZE) bye

Sania-Strycova r 3rd seed at Wuhan open and having bye in the first round.

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At $841K Chengdu Open, China

[R1] Divij Sharan (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) vs (3) Dominic Inglot (GBR)/ Nenad Zimonjic (SRB)
[R1] Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND)/ Rohan Bopanna (IND) vs Feliciano Lopez (ESP)/ Juan Monaco (ARG)

Rohan and Jeevan r facing Lopez-Monaco in the first round ... Purav-Divij r facing 3rd seed Zimo-Inglot in the first round.

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At $641K Shenzhen Open, China

[R1] (PR) Andre Begemann (GER)/ Leander Paes (IND) vs Guillermo Garcia-Lopez (ESP)/ Malek Jaziri (TUN)

Lee is playing at Shenzhen open with Andre and they r facing pairing of Garcia-Lopez and Jaziri in the first round.

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At $250K WTA Tashkent Open, Uzbekistan

[Q2] Ankita Raina (IND,293) l (7) Ipek Soylu (TUR,172) 61 16 26

Doubles
[R1] Nao HIBINO (JPN)/ Prarthana THOMBARE (IND) vs (WC) Polina MERENKOVA (UZB)/ Dayana YASTREMSKA (UKR)

Ankita failed to build on her first round upset win over top-150 Russian Ekatetina Alexandrova ... After winning the first set against Ipek Ankita failed to keep momentum and lost next two sets cheaply.

In the doubles Prarthana is playing with Japanese partner Nao Hibino and they r facing wild-card Uzbek-Ukrainian pair.

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At $100K Stockton Challenger, California, USA

[R1] Yuki Bhambri (IND,220) vs Darian King (BAR,163)

After six months injury break Yuki is coming back on the tour at Stockton Challenger.

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At $25K ITF Women's Tennis Tournament 2016, Hua Hin, Thailand

[Q2] (13) Pranjala YADLAPALLI (IND,668) bt (2) Jia-Qi KANG (CHN,473) 64 46 76(5)
[Q2] (10) Natasha PALHA (IND,634) l (3) Na Ri KIM (KOR,501) 06 26
[Q2] (12) Karman Kaur THANDI (IND,655) bt (8) Emilie FRANCATI (DEN,578) 61 62

[R1] (Q) Pranjala YADLAPALLI (IND,668) vs (6) Shiho AKITA (JPN,301)
[R1] (Q) Karman Kaur THANDI (IND,655) vs Fang Ying XUN (CHN,392)

Karman scored dominating win over higher ranked Danish player to qualify for main-draw ... Pranjala also joined her with good win over talented top-475 Chinese girl ... After sharing first 2 sets Pranjala was double break up in the third, 4-1 ... But Pranjala failed to keep advantage and scored became 5-all ... In tie-break Pranjala took 4-0 lead but Kang came back, 4-3 ... Pranjala converted 2nd match point for a win.

Karman is facing top-400 Chinese girl Xun and Pranjala is facing top-300 Japanese girl Akita.

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At $10K ITF Women's Tennis Tournament 2016, Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt

Singles Final
(2) Riya BHATIA (IND,615) bt (6) Ana Bianca MIHAILA (ROM,611) 36 64 60

Riya scored another comeback win again in-form Mihaila for lifting her first ITF title ... After losing the first set Riya fought back for winning the second and then just breezed through in the third for a win.

Squash News

At $100K Men's NetSuite Open 2016, San Francisco, USA

[R1] Saurav Ghosal (IND,21) vs (1) Gregory Gaultier (FRA,2)

Tough first round for Saurav against Gregory Gaultier.

Tennis News

At $1M Toray Pan Pacific Open, Tokyo, Japan (WTA Premier)

From Sania's facebook page

Doubles Final
(2) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Barbora Strycova (CZE) bt Chen Liang (CHN)/ Zhaoxuan Yang (CHN)

Sania and Strycova crushed their Chinese opponents for lifting Japan Open title in 51 minutes ... This is their 2nd title in their 3rd tournament as pair and overall 40th title for Sania ... This is also 3rd title of Japan open for Sania before this she had couple of title with Cara Black ... In the first set our pair broke Chinese pairs four times and lost their service game once ... In the second set our pair broke Chinese pair twice.

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At $250K WTA Tashkent Open, Uzbekistan

[Q1] Ankita Raina (IND,293) bt (2) Ekatetina Alexandrova (RUS,143) 16 60 63

[Q2] Ankita Raina (IND,293) vs (7) Ipek Soylu (TUR,172)

Terrific comeback upset win by Ankita over top-150 Russian Ekatetina Alexandrova, this must be her career best win on pro tour ... After losing the first set Ankita made strong comeback for winning the second without losing a single game and kept that momentum in the final ... In the final qualifying she is facing top-175 Turkish player Ipek Soylu.

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At $25K ITF Women's Tennis Tournament 2016, Hua Hin, Thailand

[Q1] (13) Pranjala YADLAPALLI (IND,668) bt (WC) Thitirat KANAPHUET (THA,UNR) 61 62
[Q1] (10) Natasha PALHA (IND,634) bt Wushuang ZHENG (CHN,909) 75 63
[Q1] (12) Karman Kaur THANDI (IND,655) bt Supapitch KUEARUM (THA,UNR) 46 60 61

[Q2] (13) Pranjala YADLAPALLI (IND,668) vs (2) Jia-Qi KANG (CHN,473)
[Q2] (10) Natasha PALHA (IND,634) vs (3) Na Ri KIM (KOR,501)

Good win by Natasha against junior top-20 Chinese player but next she is having tough match against top-500 Korean opponent ... Pranjala also started with expected comfortable win ... Next she is having tough challenge of young Chinese top-475 player Kang ... Other hand surprised to see Karman lost first set against 14 yrs old Thai player before dominating next two sets.

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At $10K ITF Women's Tennis Tournament 2016, Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt

[SF] (2) Riya BHATIA (IND,615) bt (7) Britt GEUKENS (BEL,613) 26 63 62

[F] (2) Riya BHATIA (IND,615) vs (6) Ana Bianca MIHAILA (ROM,611)

Really good comeback win from Riya against talented young Belgian Britt Geukens ... After losing the first set Riya made strong comeback for winning next two ... In the final she is facing in-form Mihaila, last week who won the title and before that week she was runner up.

Tennis News

At $1M Toray Pan Pacific Open, Tokyo, Japan (WTA Premier)

[QF] (2) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Barbora Strycova (CZE) bt Miyu Kato (JPN)/ Yifan Xu (CHN) 62 62
[SF] (2) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Barbora Strycova (CZE) bt Gabriela Dabrowski (CAN)/ María José Martinez Sanchez (ESP) 46 63 10-5

[F] (2) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Barbora Strycova (CZE) vs Chen Liang (CHN)/ Zhaoxuan Yang (CHN)

Sania-Strycova r in another final with back to back wins in the quarters and the semis ... After winning the quarters easily they needed comeback win over Canadian-Spanish pair in the semis after losing the first set ... In the final they r facing unseeded Chinese pair, who scored upset win over top-seed in first round.

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At $923K St. Petersburg Open, Russia

[SF] (PR) Andre Begemann (GER)/ Leander Paes (IND) bt (WC) Mikhail Elgin (RUS)/ Alexander Kudryavtsev (RUS) 63 76(5)

Lee-Andre were early double break up 4-0, but while serving for the set at 5-2 they failed to hold their service game ... But our pair again broke Kudryavtsev in 9th game for winning the first set ... In the second set both pairs failed to take a break ... In tie-break Lee-Andre was 2-5 down from here they won next 5 points for winning the set and match.

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At $250K WTA Tashkent Open, Uzbekistan

[Q1] Ankita Raina (IND,293) vs (2) Ekatetina Alexandrova (RUS,143)

Tough qualifying match for Ankita against top-150 player.

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At $10K ITF Women's Tennis Tournament 2016, Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt

[QF] (2) Riya BHATIA (IND,615) bt (8) Sri Vaishnavi PEDDI REDDY (IND,733) 64 63

[SF] (2) Riya BHATIA (IND,615) vs (7) Britt GEUKENS (BEL,613)

Riya scored straight sets win over Sri for entering another semis ... In the semis she is facing in-form Belgian girl Britt Geukens.

Badminton News

At $300K Yonex Open Japan 2016, Tokyo (Superseries)

[QF] (8) Kidambi Srikanth (IND,14) l Marc Zwiebler (GER,15) 21-18 14-21 19-21

This was disappointing loss of Srikanth against German veteran ... Srikanth failed to keep momentum after winning the first game.

Squash News

At $100K Women's Al-Ahram International NewGiza 2016, Giza, Egypt

[R1] Joshana Chinappa (IND,10) vs (3) Raneem El Welily (EGY,5) 8-11, 2-11, 7-11 (26m)

WR #5 Raneem proved too strong to Joshana in the first round.

Tennis News

At Davis Cup Asia/ Oceania 1st Round 2017,

Draw is out and India is 2nd seed ... We are hosing New Zealand and if we wins then in the 2nd round we will face winner between Korea (away tie) and Uzbekistan (home tie).

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At $923K St. Petersburg Open, Russia

[QF] (PR) Andre Begemann (GER)/ Leander Paes (IND) bt Divij Sharan (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) 63 75

Andre-Lee broke Divij-Purav in 4th game and then kept that advantage for winning the first set ... In the second set also Divij-Purav failed to overcome challenge of Lee-Andre and lost crucial service game in 11th game for losing this match ... This was good showcase match for Divij-Purav to check their progress on the tour against seasoned doubles players.

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At $125K Kaohsiung Challenger, Taiwan

[R1] Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND)/ Tsung-Hua Yang (TPE) l (WC) Tung-Lin Wu (TPE)/ Ze Zhang (CHN) 67(9) 36

Jeevan lose in the first round win his Taipei partner in Kaohsiung challenger.

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At $25K ITF Women's Tennis Tournament 2016, Hua Hin, Thailand

[QF] (Q) Karman Kaur THANDI (IND,655) l Noppawan LERTCHEEWAKARN (THA,451) 36 46

Noppawan proved too strong to Karman in her quarter final match ... In the second set Karman was leading 4-2 before losing next 4 games.

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At $10K ITF Women's Tennis Tournament 2016, Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt

[R1] Shweta Chandra RANA (IND,1072) bt Theiviya SELVARAJOO (MAS,UNR) 64 62
[R1] Anastasiia GEVEL (UKR,UNR) bt Angella RAMAN (IND,UNR) 63 60
[R1] (6) Ana Bianca MIHAILA (ROU,611) bt Akshara ISKA (IND,UNR) 63 61
[R1] (5) Ola ABOU ZEKRY (EGY,648) bt Eetee MAHETA (IND,775) 64 63
[R1] (7) Britt GEUKENS (BEL,613) bt Teertha ISKA (IND,UNR) 60 60
[R1] Zeel DESAI (IND,UNR) bt Jelena STOJANOVIC (AUS,1148) 64 63
[R1] (8) Sri Vaishnavi PEDDI REDDY (IND,733) bt Elisabeth CHANTRAINE (BEL,UNR) 4-0 retd.
[R1] (2) Riya BHATIA (IND,615) bt Akiho KAKUYA (JPN,UNR) 61 64

[R2] Shweta Chandra RANA (IND,1072) l (1) Guadalupe PEREZ ROJAS (ARG,581) 16 36
[R2] Zeel DESAI (IND,UNR) l (7) Britt GEUKENS (BEL,613) 36 06
[R2] (8) Sri Vaishnavi PEDDI REDDY (IND,733) bt Eden D'OLIVEIRA (RSA,1239) 63 64
[R2] (2) Riya BHATIA (IND,615)) bt Pei Hsuan CHEN (TWN,UNR) 75 75

In the first round on ranking wise Zeel started with upset win over Aussie player ... Next she faced in-form Belgian girl Britt Geukens, whom Zeel defeated her in last week match but interested to see how Zeel perform against her in repeat match ... And my doubt was right as in repeat match Britt blown away challenge of Zeel for dominating win.

Shweta also failed to challenge Argentine ... Expected wins for Sri and Riya in the second round and next they r facing each other.

Badminton News

At $300K Yonex Open Japan 2016, Tokyo (Superseries)

[R2] (8) Kidambi Srikanth (IND,13) bt Ajay Jayaram (IND,19) 21-16 retd.
[R2] H. S. Prannoy (IND,29) l (2) Victor Axelsen (DEN,4) 16-21 19-21

[QF] (8) Kidambi Srikanth (IND,14) vs Marc Zwiebler (GER,15)

Ajay retired from the match after Srikanth winning the first game ... In other match Axelsen proved strong for Prannoy ... Srikanth is facing experienced German player Marc Zwiebler.

Tennis News

At $923K St. Petersburg Open, Russia

[R1] (PR) Andre Begemann (GER)/ Leander Paes (IND) bt (PR) Janko Tipsarevic (SRB)/ Viktor Troicki (SRB) 62 64
[R1] Divij Sharan (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) bt (4) Andres Molteni (ARG)/ Hans Podlipnik-Castillo (CHI) 64 64

[QF] Divij Sharan (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) vs (PR) Andre Begemann (GER)/ Leander Paes (IND)

Really good straight sets upset win by Divij and Purav against 4th seed South American pair ... In the quarters they r facing Lee-Andre, who also started with comfortable win against Serbian pair.

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At $25K ITF Women's Tennis Tournament 2016, Hua Hin, Thailand

[R2] (Q) Karman Kaur THANDI (IND,655) bt (WC) Patcharin CHEAPCHANDEJ (THA,1148) 76(4) 63

[QF] (Q) Karman Kaur THANDI (IND,655) vs Noppawan LERTCHEEWAKARN (THA,451)

Karman is in the quarters after more than two hours match win over Thai qualifier ... In the quarters she is facing former top-150 Thai player and former junior Wimbledon champion Noppawan Lertcheewakarn.

Football News

At AFC u-16 Championship, Goa, India

Group A
India l Iran 0-3 (0-1)
Goal Scored - Mohammad Gharedi (IRI) 26', Mohammad Sharifi (IRI) 81' P and 90+' P

Iranian boys proved stronger team than our boys on the field ... We managed to hold them in the first half where they managed to score only one goal ... But in the beginning of the second half Boris Singh received his second yellow card of the match so we played with 10 players for last 35 minutes ... Still we hold them till 80' minute ... Iranian skipper scored 2 goals through penalty in last ten minutes for comfortable win for them ... So after this loss we r out of quarter final contention.

Badminton News

At $300K Yonex Open Japan 2016, Tokyo (Superseries)

[R1] B. Sai Praneeth (IND,36) l NG Ka Long Angus (HKG,11) 21-9 21-23 10-21
[R1] Ajay JAYARAM (IND,19) bt Sony Dwi KUNCORO (INA,31) 21-19 23-21
[R1] (8) KIDAMBI Srikanth (IND,13) bt (Q) PARUPALLI Kashyap (IND,74) 14-21 21-14 23-21
[R1] H. S. Prannoy (IND,29) bt Iskandar Zulkarnain ZAINUDDIN (INA,28) 23-21 19-21 21-18

[R2] (8) Kidambi Srikanth (IND,13) bt Ajay Jayaram (IND,19)
[R2] H. S. Prannoy (IND,29) vs (2) Victor Axelsen (DEN,4)

No upset and expected victorious in the first round ... Prannoy was stretched to fullest by similar ranked Indonesian ... As expected close match between Kashyap and Srikanth, though Srikanth won in the end still happy about improving match fitness of Kashyap .. Next another match for Srikanth against Indian opponent Ajay ... Prammoy is facing top-5 Danish player Axelsen.

Tennis News

At $1M Toray Pan Pacific Open, Tokyo, Japan (WTA Premier)

[R1] (2) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Barbora Strycova (CZE) bt Misaki Doi (JPN)/ Kurumi Nara (JPN) 67(3) 75 10-8

Sania and Strycova started with really tight comeback win against local pair ... After losing the first they needed to dig deep for completing win in match tie-break.

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At $25K ITF Women's Tennis Tournament 2016, Hua Hin, Thailand

[R1] (Q) Natasha PALHA (IND,633) l (1) Shiho AKITA (JPN,297) 26 26
[R1] (Q) Karman Kaur THANDI (IND,655) bt Jia-Qi KANG (CHN,485) 64 57 64

[R2] (Q) Karman Kaur THANDI (IND,655) vs (WC) Patcharin CHEAPCHANDEJ (THA,1148)

Karman started with a win against in-form Chinese girl Kang ... Next she is facing Thai girl, who scored upset win over 4th seed Russian ... Other hand expected loss of Natasha against top-seed Japanese.

Badminton News

At $300K Yonex Open Japan 2016, Tokyo (Superseries)

[Q1] PARUPALLI Kashyap (IND,74) bt David OBERNOSTERER (AUT,70) 11-3 Retd
[Q2] PARUPALLI Kashyap (IND,74) bt (4) Anders ANTONSEN (DEN,43) 21-18 21-12

[R1] B. Sai Praneeth (IND,36) vs NG Ka Long Angus (HKG,11)
[R1] Ajay JAYARAM (IND,19) vs Sony Dwi KUNCORO (INA,31)
[R1] (8) KIDAMBI Srikanth (IND,13) vs (Q) PARUPALLI Kashyap (IND,74)
[R1] H. S. Prannoy (IND,29) vs Iskandar Zulkarnain ZAINUDDIN (INA,28)

Good to see dominating winning start for Kashyap after his long injury break ... But in main-draw he is facing compatriot Srikanth.

Basketball News

At FIBA Asia Challenge 2016, Tehran, Iran

For 7th Position
India bt Chinese Taipei 80-68 (Q1 17-22, Q2 16-10, Q3 19-18, Q4 28-18)

Indian men surprised everyone to finish on 7th position after beating higher ranked Chinese Taipei in classification match ... For us Vishesh Bhriguvanshi scored 22 pts and also 4 assist ... In group stage Chinese Taipei convincingly defeated us so this was sweet revenge.

Before that in Classification 5th–8th match Japan defeated us 66-77 and in the quarters eventual champion Iran toyed with us for 47-77 victory.

Football News

At AFC u-16 Championship, Goa, India

Group A
India dw Saudi Arabia 3-3 (2-1)
Goal Scored - Aniket Jadhav (IND) 6', Aman Chetri (IND) 23', Suresh Singh 90+' P and Aldhuwayhi (KSA) 36', Albrikan (KSA) 82' and 83'

In both matches our boys struggled in last 20-25 mins ... Our high-energy style of game took toll on our players ... Today we were lucky as we managed to squeeze penalty in dying seconds for equalizer ... In this match first 30 mins we dominated but after that Saudi was better team on the field.

In this match Indians started usual dominant style scoring two goals in first 25 minutes ... After that Saudi hit back with their controlled game and our boys struggled in later part of the match ... But in end survived with their never die attitude for earning penalty of last kick of the match.

Tennis News

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

India l Spain 0-5

Day one
[R1] Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,203) l Feliciano Lopez (ESP,26) 46 46 63 16
[R2] Saketh Myneni (IND,137) l David Ferrer (ESP,13) 16 26 16

Day Two
[R3] Leander Paes (IND)/ Saketh Myneni (IND) l Feliciano Lopez (ESP)/ Marc Lopez (ESP) 64 67(2) 46 46

Day Three
[R4] Sumit Nagal (IND,380) l Marc Lopez (ESP,UNR) 36 61 36
[R5] Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,203) l David Ferrer (ESP,13) 26 26

In reverse singles India gave chance to Sumit for debut against doubles specialist Marc Lopez ... Sumit gave encouraging performance in first 2 sets but in the third he struggled with humid condition ... Marc took full advantage of it for winning it ... In the last rubber David Ferrer proved too strong to RamK.

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At $1M Toray Pan Pacific Open, Tokyo, Japan (WTA Premier)

[R1] (2) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Barbora Strycova (CZE) vs Misaki Doi (JPN)/ Kurumi Nara (JPN)

Sania and Strycova r facing Japanese pair in the first round.

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At $923K St. Petersburg Open, Russia

[R1] (PR) Andre Begemann (GER)/ Leander Paes (IND) vs (PR) Janko Tipsarevic (SRB)/ Viktor Troicki (SRB)
[R1] Divij Sharan (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) vs (4) Andres Molteni (ARG)/ Hans Podlipnik-Castillo (CHI)

This week three Indians players r playing at St. Petersburg Open ... Purav and Divij r facing 4th seed South American pair in the first round ... Lee and Andre r facing Serbian pair.

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At $125K Kaohsiung Challenger, Taiwan

[R1] Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND)/ Tsung-Hua Yang (TPE) vs (WC) Tung-Lin Wu (TPE)/ Ze Zhang (CHN)

Jeevan is playing with Tsung-Hua and they r facing Zhang-Wu.

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At $25K ITF Women's Tennis Tournament 2016, Hua Hin, Thailand

[Q2] (5) Natasha PALHA (IND,633) bt (16) Ramu UEDA (JPN,1040) 62 64
[Q2] (7) Karman Kaur THANDI (IND,655) bt (12) Nozomi FUJIOKA (JPN,940) 60 62

[R1] (Q) Natasha PALHA (IND,633) vs (1) Shiho AKITA (JPN,297)
[R1] (Q) Karman Kaur THANDI (IND,655) vs Jia-Qi KANG (CHN,485)

Tough first round for Natasha against top-seed and top-300 Japanese girl ... Karman is facing top-500 Chinese player.

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At $10K ITF Women's Tennis Tournament 2016, Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt

Singles Final
Zeel DESAI (IND,UNR) l (3) Ana Bianca MIHAILA (ROU,664) 63 57 46

Zeel lost close match against Romanian Ana Bianca Mihaila in three sets ... Zeel won the first set but afterwards Zeel and Ana exchanged multiple breaks in the second ... Zeel was up 5-4 with a break but she failed to hold her serve while serving for the match ... Zeel lost 3 games in a row from 5-4 losing this set ... In the final set also repeated same story ... Firstly Zeel was break down 0-2 but she fought back for 2-all ... Zeel took break in 7th game for leading 4-3 but after that Mihaila won next 3 games, in that she broke Zeel in 8th and 10th games for a win.

Squash News

At $50K Men's Macau Open 2016, Taipa, Macau

[SF] (2) Saurav Ghosal (IND,21) l (4) Daryl Selby (ENG,19) 11-8, 7-11, 4-11, 0-11 (64m)

Saurav lost in four games against Britisher Daryl Selby ... After winning the first game Saurav failed to keep momentum and frankly I surprised to see score of last two games ... Hopefully not another big injury scare for Saurav.

Tennis News

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

India l Spain 0-3

Day one
[R1] Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,203) l Feliciano Lopez (ESP,26) 46 46 63 16
[R2] Saketh Myneni (IND,137) l David Ferrer (ESP,13) 16 26 16

Day Two
[R3] Leander Paes (IND)/ Saketh Myneni (IND) l Rafael Nadal (ESP)/ Marc Lopez (ESP) 64 67(2) 46 46

In the doubles tie Rio Gold medalist Spanish pair of Rafael Nadal and Marc Lopez defeated Indian pairing of Saki and Lee in very entertaining match and book their place in next year's Davis cup World Group ... Indians started slowly and Saki was struggling early ... Spanish pair took advantage of Saki's poor net game for breaking Lee in 4th game ... Indians were 1-4 down, from here suddenly Indians started returning superbly ... Indians won five games in a row and in that they broke Lopez in 7th game and Rafa in 9th game for winning the set ... In second set in third game superb returning by Indians on Lopez serve from 40-15 we won four points in a row for breaking him ... In that two exclusive shots by Saki to pass Rafa on returning of serve, first one was down the line and second one was cross-court backhand ... But Saki lost his serve in 10th game while serving for the set, Saki made couple of mistakes with superb returning by Spanish pair ... On next game Indians missed 2 break points on Lopez's serve ... In tie-break Spanish pair took double break on Saki's serve for leading 5-0 and kept that advantage for winning this set ... In the third set Saki struggled near the net and Spanish took full advantage and broke Lee in 3rd game and kept that advantage for winning this set ... In the fourth Indians again started positively ... They broke Rafa in 2nd game for taking 3-0 lead ... At 4-2 Saki again straggled on his service game as he failed to put first serve in ... And Spanish pair was targeting Saki near the net ... After multiple deuce they broke him and again broke Lee in 9th game for winning the set and tie ... In this match Lee showed his class with as usual superb net game and Saki was good in patches from baseline but he struggled more on the net ... What I liked our pair's chemistry ... They were showing lot of understanding for each other's game and complimenting ... For Saki this is learning experience of playing with these many grand slam winners ... Tomorrow I m hoping Sumit Nagal will make debut in one of return singles.

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At $50K ITF Women's Tennis Tournament 2016, Zhuhai, China

Doubles Final
Ankita Raina (IND)/ Emily Webley-Smith (GBR) bt Hanyu Guo (CHN)/ Xinyu Jiang (CHN) 64 64

Ankita lifts the doubles title with her British partner Emily Webley-Smith ... They defeated local Chinese pair in straight sets ... This is Ankita's first $50K level title and this will help her to climb inside top-225 of doubles ranking.

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At $10K ITF Women's Tennis Tournament 2016, Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt

[R1] (1) Riya BHATIA (IND,611) bt Maria GOMEZ (ECU,UNR) 61 60
[R1] (6) Sri Vaishnavi PEDDI REDDY (IND,699) bt Anastasiya SAITOVA (RUS,1067) 67(5) 61 64
[R1] (7) Eetee MAHETA (IND,755) bt Beatrice LOMBARDO (ITA,1038) 36 76(5) 62
[R1] Akshara ISKA (IND,UNR) bt Preethi SRINIVASAN (IND,UNR) 63 60
[R1] Zeel DESAI (IND,UNR) bt (4) Britt GEUKENS (BEL,687) 63 63
[R1] Ramya NATARAJAN (IND,UNR) bt Anastasiia GEVEL (UKR,UNR) 46 63 62

[R2] (1) Riya BHATIA (IND,611) bt Melissa MORALES (GUA,967) 64 64
[R2] (6) Sri Vaishnavi PEDDI REDDY (IND,699) l Giada CLERICI (ITA,UNR) 16 46
[R2] (7) Eetee MAHETA (IND,755) bt Minami AKIYAMA (JPN,UNR) 26 62 75
[R2] Zeel DESAI (IND,UNR) bt Akshara ISKA (IND,UNR) 61 61
[R2] Ramya NATARAJAN (IND,UNR) l Akilah JAMES (GRN,UNR) 36 36

[QF] (1) Riya BHATIA (IND,611) bt Giada CLERICI (ITA,UNR) 64 62
[QF] (7) Eetee MAHETA (IND,755) l (3) Ana Bianca MIHAILA (ROU,664) 57 46
[QF] Zeel DESAI (IND,UNR) bt (8) Clothilde DE BERNARDI (FRA,839) 61 26 64

[SF] (1) Riya BHATIA (IND,611) l (3) Ana Bianca MIHAILA (ROU,664) 36 62 46
[SF] Zeel DESAI (IND,UNR) bt (5) Elena-Teodora CADAR (ROU,626) 62 57 61

Excellent run by Zeel Desai for entering into the final beating Romanian Cadar in three sets ... After winning the first set Zeel lost the second but she broke Cadar three times for winning the final set ... Before that she scored couple of big win, over Belgian Britt Geukens and former top-300 French girl Clothilda De Bernardi ... Other hand Riya Bhatia failed to perform as per her seeding and lost in the semis against Romanian player.

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At $25K ITF Women's Tennis Tournament 2016, Hua Hin, Thailand

[Q1] (5) Natasha PALHA (IND,633) bt Shannon COX (RSA,NR) 62 61
[Q1] (7) Karman Kaur THANDI (IND,655) bt Thitirat KANAPHUET (THA,NR) 60 61

[Q2] (5) Natasha PALHA (IND,633) vs (16) Ramu UEDA (JPN,1040)
[Q2] (7) Karman Kaur THANDI (IND,655) vs (12) Nozomi FUJIOKA (JPN,940)

Good to see Karman back on the tour and winning her match comfortably ... She and Natasha having winnable final qualifying matches.

Squash News

At $50K Men's Macau Open 2016, Taipa, Macau

[QF] (2) Saurav Ghosal (IND,21) bt (Q) Harinder Pal Singh Sandhu (IND,79) 11-9, 11-6, 3-11, 11-8

[SF] (2) Saurav Ghosal (IND,21) vs (4) Daryl Selby (ENG,19)

As expected close match between Saurav and Harinder ... Saurav completed win in four games ... Next he is facing top-20 British player Daryl Selby.

Tennis News

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

India vs Spain 0-2

Day one
[R1] Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,203) l Feliciano Lopez (ESP,26) 46 46 63 16
[R2] Saketh Myneni (IND,137) l David Ferrer (ESP,13) 16 26 16

Rafa decided to not play in the first match but still Spain had enough talent to slaughter us in first 2 matches ... RamK's backhand was exposed against Lopez, he kept ball to RamK's backhand and then RamK did required unforced errors ... He took advantage of Lopez's mistake in the third but afterwards it was one way traffic in favor of Lopez ... In the second match Saki struggled with his own serve and Ferrer kept ball low which Saki failed to adjust/ understand ... Saki was no match to Ferrer's match though Saki broke Ferrer in 6th game of the second set after 0-5 down ... Overall both players were too superiors from our players .. Hoping for better scoreline in tomorrow's doubles match.

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At $75K+H Nanchang Challenger, China

[SF] Jeevan Neduncheziyan (IND)/ Amir Weintraub (ISR) l Nicolas Barrientos (COL)/ Ruben Gonzales (PHI) 57 62 4-10

Jeevan-Amir lose their match in match tie-break after winning the second set.

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At $50K ITF Women's Tennis Tournament 2016, Zhuhai, China

[SF] Ankita Raina (IND)/ Emily Webley-Smith (GBR) bt Kamonwan Buayam (THA) / Pei-Chi Lee (TPE) 64 06 10-6

[F] Ankita Raina (IND)/ Emily Webley-Smith (GBR) vs Hanyu Guo (CHN)/ Xinyu Jiang (CHN)

Ankita and Emily in the final after winning their semis in match tie-break against Thai-Taiwani pair ... After winning the first set they lost the second without winning a game but recovered for winning match tie-break ... In the final they r facing local Chinese pair.

Squash News

At $50K Men's Macau Open 2016, Taipa, Macau

[Q1] Ravi Dixit (IND,167) l Elvin Keo (MAS,119) 2-11, 4-11, 11-8, 11-13 (35m)
[Q1] Harinder Pal Singh Sandhu (IND,79) bt Tang Ming Hong (HKG,156) 11-5, 9-11, 11-9, 13-11

[Q2] Harinder Pal Singh Sandhu (IND,79) bt James Huang (TPE,97) 11-8, 8-11, 11-7, 7-11, 11-8 (60m)

[R1] (Q) Harinder Pal Singh Sandhu (IND,79) bt (6) Nicolas Müller (SUI,32) 11-8, 10-12, 12-10, 11-8 (48m)
[R1] (2) Saurav Ghosal (IND,21) bt (Q) Elvin Keo (MAS,119) 11-7, 11-5, 11-7 (34m)

[QF] (2) Saurav Ghosal (IND,21) vs (Q) Harinder Pal Singh Sandhu (IND,79)

In the first round Harinder Pal Singh Sandhu scored huge upset win over top-30 type Swiss opponent Nicolas Müller in four tight games after qualifying for main-draw ... Next we r having interesting match between Indians as Saurav also won his first round against Malaysian qualifier in straight games.

Football News

At AFC u-16 Championship, Goa, India

Group A
India l United Arab Emirates 2-3 (2-1)
Goal Scored - Sanjeev Stalin 13', Boris Thangjam (IND) 35' and Manea Aydh (UAE) 34', Majid Rashid (UAE) 54', Ahmad Fawzi (UAE) 75'

Iran bt Saudi Arabia 3-2

Our boys lost their match despite dominating most of the part with their high energy game ... UAE fought back two times from goal down to win it ... We took early lead through excellent indirect free kick from outside the D from Sanjeev ... On 34th mins we conceded penalty through reckless tackle but our goal-keeper saved ... We conceded corner and UAE scored through Manea Aydh due to poor marking by our defender ... Our team immediately responded in 30 secs through Boris Thangjam ... So at half-time we were in lead 2-1 ... In the second half despite chances we failed to score ... UAE scored another goal after mistake by our defenders ... Aman Chetri headed over from close in before the hour-mark ... But our high-energy approach appeared to take its toll as the half wore on and UAE went in front for the first time on 74 minutes, again mistake from defenders and goal-keeper ... After that UAE defended well for a win.

Tennis News

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

Day One
[R1] Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,203) vs Rafael Nadal (ESP,4)
[R2] Saketh Myneni (IND,137) vs David Ferrer (ESP,13)

Day Two
[R3] Leander Paes (IND)/ Saketh Myneni (IND) vs Feliciano Lopez (ESP)/ Marc Lopez (ESP)

Day Three
[R4] Saketh Myneni (IND,137) vs Rafael Nadal (ESP,4)
[R5] Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,203) vs David Ferrer (ESP,13)

RamK is facing Rafa in the first match and Saki is facing Ferrer in the second ... Yesterday Saki asked his girlfriend Sri Lakshmi Anumolu to marry him and she accepted it at Davis cup team dinner ... Congratulation to Saki and his fiancee Sri.

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At $125K+H Szczecin Challenger, Poland (clay)

[QF] (4) Divij Sharan (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) l Andre Begemann (GER)/ Alezander Bury (BLR) 36 76(2) 6-10

Divij-Purav lost in the quarters against tricky pairing of Begemann and Bury ... After losing the first set Divij-Purav fought back to win the second in tie-break but they failed to keep same momentum in match tie-break.

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At $75K+H Nanchang Challenger, China

[QF] Jeevan Neduncheziyan (IND)/ Amir Weintraub (ISR) bt Toshihide Matsui (JPN)/ Yasutaka Uchiyama (JPN) 64 67(5) 10-6

[SF] Jeevan Neduncheziyan (IND)/ Amir Weintraub (ISR) vs Nicolas Barrientos (COL)/ Ruben Gonzales (PHI)

Jeevan-Amir continue with their good form and scored upset win over experienced Japanese pair ... After winning the first set they lost second in tie-break but Jeevan-Amir recovered for winning match tie-break ... In the semis they r facing another unseeded pair Barrientos and Gonzales.

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At $50K ITF Women's Tennis Tournament 2016, Zhuhai, China

[QF] Ankita Raina (IND)/ Emily Webley-Smith (GBR) bt (4) Olga Govortsova (BLR)/ Lidziya Marozava (BLR)

[SF] Ankita Raina (IND)/ Emily Webley-Smith (GBR) vs Kamonwan Buayam (THA) / Pei-Chi Lee (TPE)

Ankita and her British partner Emily scored superb upset win over Belarus pair in straight sets ... Next they r facing Thai-Taipei pair.

Tennis News

At $125K+H Szczecin Challenger, Poland (clay)

[R1] (4) Divij Sharan (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) bt (LL) Sander Arends (NED)/ Adam Majchrowicz (POL) 63 61

They faced lucky loser pair in the first round and comfortable winning start for Divij-Purav.

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At $50K ITF Women's Tennis Tournament 2016, Zhuhai, China

[R1] Ankita Raina (IND,292) l Shuai Peng (CHN,248) 67(2) 26

Doubles
[QF] Ankita Raina (IND)/ Emily Webley-Smith (GBR) vs (4) Olga Govortsova (BLR)/ Lidziya Marozava (BLR)

Ankita lost in straight sets against Peng ... In the first set after 0-4 down Ankita was serving for the set at 5-4 before losing it.

Paralympics News

At Rio Paralympics 2016, Brazil

Courtesy of Twitter

Men's Javelin Throw F46
Gold - Devendra Jhajharia (IND) 63.97m (WR)
Silver - Chunliang Guo (CHN) 59.93m
Bronze - Dinesh Priyantha Herath Herath Mudiyanselage (SRI) 58.23m

Javelin thrower Devendra Jhajharia created history and became the first Indian to win two gold medals at the Paralympics after he broke his own world record to clinch the Gold medal at the Rio Games ... Devendra, who won his previous gold in the 2004 Athens Games, bettered his own world record to finish on top in the men's F46 event ... Devendra, whose previous best was 62.15 metres (achieved in the 2004 Games), improved the mark with an attempt of 63.97 metres on his third attempt at the Olympic Stadium (Engenhao) ... He last participated in the Paralympics 12 years ago as the F46 event did not feature in the 2008 and the 2012 editions ... India's Rinku Hooda finished on 5th with 54.39m throw ... India now have two gold, one silver and one bronze in the ongoing edition of the Games.

Devendra Jhajharia Wins Gold In Rio Paralympics 2016

Tennis News

At $125K+H Szczecin Challenger, Poland (clay)

[R1] (4) Divij Sharan (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) vs Radu Albot (MDA)/ Teymuraz Gabashvili (RUS)

Divij-Purav r 4th seed in big Polish challenger.

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At $75K+H Nanchang Challenger, China

[R1] Jeevan Neduncheziyan (IND)/ Amir Weintraub (ISR) bt Yuva Kibi (JPN)/ Hiroki Moriya (JPN) 63 62

This week comfortable winning start for Jeevan-Amir against Japanese pair.

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At $50K ITF Women's Tennis Tournament 2016, Zhuhai, China

[R1] Ankita Raina (IND,292) vs Shuai Peng (CHN,248)

Doubles
[R1] Ankita RAINA (IND)/ Emily WEBLEY-SMITH (GBR) bt Jia-Qi KANG (CHN)/ Xu Liu SUN (CHN) 46 63 10-8

Ankita is having tough match against local top-250 player ... In the doubles with her British partner she scored comeback win against Chinese pair.

Paralympics News

At Rio Paralympics 2016, Brazil

Women's Shot Put- F53
Gold - Fatema Nedham (BRN) 4.76m
Silver - Deepa Malik (IND) 4.61m (PB)
Bronze - Dimitra Korokida (GRE) 4.28m

Deepa Malik Becomes The First Indian Woman To Win Medal At Paralympics ... 45 yrs old Deepa Malik won the Silver in Women's Shot Put- F53 throwing her personal best throw of 4.61m ... This is our third medal in Rio Paralympics 2016, so we are having one each Gold, Silver and Bronze.

Golf News

At € 500K Ladies European Masters, Germany

T9 Aditi Ashok (IND) 73 69 70 69 -7 € 11,500.00

In the final round Aditi scored three under to finish tied 9th position with seven under ... This is her first top-10 finish on European tour, which earned her Euro 11.5K.

Tennis News

At $75K+H Nanchang Challenger, China

[Q3] (6) Jeevan Neduncheziyan (IND,612) l (3) Shuichi Sekiguchi (JPN,402) 46 26

Doubles
[R1] Jeevan Neduncheziyan (IND)/ Amir Weintraub (ISR) vs Yuva Kibi (JPN)/ Hiroki Moriya (JPN)

Jeevan failed to challenge Sekiguchi in the singles ... In the doubles Jeevan and Amir r facing Japanese pair.

Snooker News

At SangSom 6Red World Championship 2016, Bangkok, Thailand

[R32] Pankaj Advani (IND) bt Lukas Kleckers (GER) 6-0 (37-00, 61-00, 54-07, 48-06, 49-25, 51-07)
[R16] Pankaj Advani (IND) bt Yuan Sijun (CHN) 6-4 (75(75)-00, 39-17, 01-32, 41-00, 02-49, 34-25, 76(72)-00, 00-41, 00-62(62), 39-28)
[QF] Pankaj Advani (IND) bt Michael Holt (ENG) walkover

[SF] Pankaj Advani (IND) l Ding Junhui (CHN) 4-7 (37-00, 00-68(64), 00-73(73), 26-49, 15-49, 57-07, 63-00, 00-67, 00-67(67), 34-20, 09-69)

Pankaj become the first ever Indian to win a medal in any edition of Sangsom World 6Reds Championship since its start in 2008.

Pankaj had a great run throughout the tournament and reached till the medals round without losing any match ... This includes an outstanding victory over former World Pro Champion Ding Junhui in the first round-robin match ... But in semis, he couldn't repeat the same result and lost 4-7 against Ding to settle-down for Bronze.

Before that Panakaj qualified for knock-out stage after winning Group C.

Tennis News

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

Rohan Bopanna pulled out of the Davis Cup World Group Play-off tie, claiming that he suffered a knee injury during the US Open ... Sumit Nagal, who was named as a reserve in the side, will now be making his Davis Cup debut and will be a playing member of the squad.

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At $75K+H Nanchang Challenger, China

[Q1] (6) Jeevan Neduncheziyan (IND,612) bye
[Q2] (6) Jeevan Neduncheziyan (IND,612) bt (WC) Xi Qi (CHN,1212) 62 62

[Q3] (6) Jeevan Neduncheziyan (IND,612) vs (3) Shuichi Sekiguchi (JPN,402)

Jeevan is playing in qualifying of Nanchang challenger ... In the final qualifying round he is facing top-400 Sekiguchi.

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At $10K+H Italy F28 Futures, Reggio Emilia (clay)

[SF] (1) Sumit Nagal (IND,394) l (4) Stefano Travaglia (ITA,483) 67(0) 67(5)

Sumit lost his match in two tie-breaks against former top-200 player Travaglia ... In the first set both players hold their respective service games for taking set into tie-break ... Travaglia dominated tie-break for winning it without losing a single point ... In the second set Sumit took early break but Travaglia broke back ... In tie-break Sumit was leading 5-2 but Travaglia won next five points for completing win in two sets.

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At $10K India F4 Futures, Chennai

Singles Final
(1) Prajnesh GUNNESWARAN (IND) bt (4) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND) 36 75 76(3)

Prajnesh lifted his fourth futures title beating Bala in comeback win ... Bala was serving for the match at 5-4 of third set but failed to hold ... In tie-break Prajnesh dominated for this fighting win.

Before that in the doubles Bala won his 35th futures doubles title partnering Vijay Sundar Prashanth.

Basketball News

At FIBA Asia Challenge 2016, Tehran, Iran

Group B
India l Chinese Taipei 66-90 (Q1 20-26, Q2 35-41, Q3 50-67, Q4 66-90)

As per report our last match opponent Philippine team was full of amateurs directly taken from collegiate ... If that was the case then expected result in second match ... Chinese Taipei convincingly defeated Indian men.

Paralympics News

At Rio Paralympics 2016, Brazil

India's Mariyappan Thangavelu (L) and Varun Bhati celebrate their gold and bronze medals (AFP)

Men's High Jump T42
Gold - Mariyappan Thangavelu (IND) 1.89m
Silver - Sam Grewe (USA) 1.86m (PB)
Bronze - Varun Singh Bhati (IND) 1.86m (PB)

Mariyappan Thangavelu is also the third Indian to win a gold at Paralympics after Murlikant Petkar (Swimming, 1972 Heidelberg) and Devendra Jhajharia (Javelin Throw, 2004 Athens).

Mariyappan Thangavelu won Gold medal in High Jump T42 Varun Singh won Bronze with 1.86m jump ... In same event Sharad Kumar finished on 6th with 1.77m ... Yesterday Ranbir Narender finished 4th in Javelin Throw - F42/44 with his personal best 54.30m throw ... Farman Basha also finished on 4th with 140kg lift in 49kg Powerlifting event.

Shockingly the Rio Paralympics website has showing a blank instead of the names of the three Indian Athletes.

And also video link from Rio.
Mariyappan Thangavelu Gold medal winning jump 1.89m

Basketball News

At FIBA Asia Challenge 2016, Tehran, Iran

Group B
India bt Philippines 91-83 (Q1 16-25, Q2 47-46, Q3 68-58, Q4 91-83)

Big win for our boys against fancied Philippines team in Asia challenge ... Philippines is WR #28 and Indian is WR #53 so this was huge win for us ... We dominated 2nd and 3rd quarters of the match, we were more than 50% in 2 Points FG ... From us Amjyot Singh was hero as he scored 24 points, 18 rebounds and 5 assists, he was supported well by Vishesh Bhriguvanshi, who scored 20 pts.

Tennis News

At $10K+H Italy F28 Futures, Reggio Emilia (clay)

[QF] (1) Sumit Nagal (IND,394) bt Johan Sebastien Tatlot (FRA,832) 61 76(5)

[SF] (1) Sumit Nagal (IND,394) vs (4) Stefano Travaglia (ITA,483)

Sumit is in the semis with straight sets win over talented Frenchman Johan Sebastien Tatlot ... Sumit started well after winning the first set comfortably ... In the second set he was 3-1, 4-2 then 5-3 up but from here Tatlot tried fight back ... He broke Sumit in 10th and 12th games when Sumit was serving for the match saving 2 match points ... In tie-break both players exchanged mini-break but this time Sumit converted third match point for excellent win ... Next Sumit is having tough challenge of former top-200 player Stefano Travaglia.

Tennis News

At $125K+HK Genova Challenger, Italy

[QF] (ALT) Andrea Arnaboldi (ITA)/Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND) l Riccardo Ghedin (ITA)/ Dino Marcan (CRO) 46 46

RamK and Andrea failed to build on their upset win over 2nd seed Argentine pair and lost in straight set against Ghedin and Marcan.

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At $10K+H Italy F28 Futures, Reggio Emilia (clay)

[R2] (1) Sumit Nagal (IND,394) bt (Q) Federico Maccari (ITA,960) 64 62

[QF] (1) Sumit Nagal (IND,394) vs Johan Sebastien Tatlot (FRA,832)

Sumit enters into quarters with straight sets win over Maccari ... Next he is facing former top-5 junior and also former top-300 type young Frenchman.

Tennis News

At US Open 2016, New York, USA

Juniors
[R2] (Q) Pranjala Yadlapalli (IND,77) l (16) Alexandra Sanford (USA,20) 75 57 26

In the first set it was dog-fight as most of the games went to deuce ... Sanford took first break in 7th game, 3-4, but Pranjala immediately broke her next game for 4-all ... Pranjala missed couple of set points in 10th game but she broke Sanford in 12th game for winning this set after 67 minutes ... In the second set same story repeated but Pranjala was generating more break point chances but she was failing to convert it ... Sanford broke Pranjala in3rd game for leading 1-2, Pranjala was getting break points but failed to convert .... She broke Sanford in 8th game for 4-all, Sanford immediately broke her for 4-5 but this time also Pranjala broke Sanford when she was serving for the set, 5-all ... Sanford again broke Pranjala in 11th game and then hold for winning this set ... From here tide was turned in favor of Sanford as she broke Pranjala in 1st game for leading 0-2 and then with another break she won final set with comfortably scoreline ... Pranjala had 23 break points and converted only 4, other hand Sanford had 10 break points and she converted 6 ... This match was going on for more than 3 hours so hats off for both players endurance in this demanding US heat.

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At $125K+HK Genova Challenger, Italy

[R1] (ALT) Andrea Arnaboldi (ITA)/Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND) bt (2) Guillermo Duran (ARG)/ Andres Molteni (ARG) 64 64

[QF] (ALT) Andrea Arnaboldi (ITA)/Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND) vs Riccardo Ghedin (ITA)/ Dino Marcan (CRO)

RamK is playing doubles with Italian Andrea Arnaboldi as alternate pair and they started with upset with over 2nd seed Argentine pair ... While serving for the match they saved 3 break points before converting 1st match point ... Next he is facing his last week's partner Ghedin and Croatian Dino Marcan.

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At $$50K St. Remy Challenger, France

[R1] (1) Divij Sharan (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) l David O'Hare (IRL)/ Joe Salisbury (GBR) 63 26 5-10

Surprising loss of Divij-Purav against Irish-British pair in the first round after winning first set.

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At $10K+H Italy F28 Futures, Reggio Emilia (clay)

[R1] (1) Sumit Nagal (IND,394) bt (Q) Matteo Tinelli (ITA,1086) 61 60

[R2] (1) Sumit Nagal (IND,394) vs (Q) Federico Maccari (ITA,960)

Expected comfortable winning start for Sumit ... In the second round also he is facing another Italian qualifier.

Tennis News

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

Spanish Team - Rafael Nadal, David Ferrer, Feliciano Lopez, Marc Lopez
Captain - Conchita Martinez

Spain is coming win their full strength team for our Davis cup tie ... Frankly against this quality team not sure of doubles point but these quality players will be playing Delhi is definitely huge boost for Indian tennis.

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At US Open 2016, New York, USA

Doubles
[QF] (7) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Barbora Strycova (CZE) l (1) Caroline Garcia (FRA)/ Kristina Mladenovic (FRA) 67(3) 16

Sania-Strycova lose their match in straight sets against top-seed French pair ... IN the first set Sania-Strycova were leading 5-2 and had couple of set points but French pair saved those ... After that one-way traffic as our pair managed to win couple of games from next twelve games ... With that our challenge is over from men and women draw ... Only Pranjala is remaining in girls singles ... Sania was defending champion so she is going to lose chunk of ranking points.

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At $125K+HK Genova Challenger, Italy

[R1] Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,202) l (6) (WC) Denis Istomin (UZB,107) 36 46

RamK failed to overcome challenge of Istomin and lost in straight sets.

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At $50K Shanghai Challenger , China

[R1] Jeevan Neduncheziyan (IND)/ Amir Weintraub (ISR) l Ti Chen (TPE)/ Jason Jung (TPE) 26 67(1)

Taipei pair proved better of Jeevan and Amir.

Tennis News

At US Open 2016, New York, USA

Doubles
[R3] (7) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Barbora Strycova (CZE) bt Nicole Gibbs (USA)/ Nao Hibino (JPN) 64 75

[QF] (7) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Barbora Strycova (CZE) vs (1) Caroline Garcia (FRA)/ Kristina Mladenovic (FRA)

Mixed Doubles
[R2] (1) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Ivan Dodig (CRO) l Barbora Krejcikova (CZE)/ Marin Draganja (CRO) 36 46

[QF] Gabriela Dabrowski (CAN)/ Rohan Bopanna (IND) l Anna-Lena Groenefeld (GER)/ Robert Farah (COL) 61 26 8-10

Juniors
[R1] (Q) Pranjala Yadlapalli (IND,77) bt Wiktoria Kulik (POL,41) 26 63 62

[R1] Zhima Du (CHN)/ Pranjala Yadlapalli (IND) l I-Hsuan Cho (TPE)/ Yuki Naito (JPN) 46 63 5-10

[R2] (Q) Pranjala Yadlapalli (IND,77) vs (16) Alexandra Sanford (USA,20)

Sania-Strycova entered into the quarters with straight sets win over Gibbs-Hibino ... After winning the first set our pair were down 3-5 but Sania-Strycova won next four games for completing victory in two sets ... Now their real test is in next match against top-seed French girls.

After winning the first set Rohan-Gabriela lost the second ... In match tie-break they were 3-0 and then 7-5 up before losing the match ... These type of losses r becoming story for us in this US open ... Before that surprisingly Sania-Dodig lost in straight sets against unknown pair.

Pranjala scored comeback win against her Polish opponent ... She ws totally off-color in the first set where she managed to win only 12 pts ... In the second set after 3-all she broke Kulik in 7th and 9th games for winning the set ... In the final set Pranjala broke Kulik in 4th and 8th games for comfortably winning it ... In the second round she is facing top-550 WTA ranked American Alexandra Sanford.

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At $$125K Dalian Women's Tennis Open 2016, China

[Q2] (6) Ankita Raina (IND,288) l (2) Kai-Chen Chang (TPE,199) 16 46

As expected former top-100 Kai-Chen Chang proved too strong for Ankita.

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At $125K+HK Genova Challenger, Italy

[R1] (4) Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,202) vs (6) (WC) Denis Istomin (UZB,107)

Unlucky to see RamK is facing Istomin in the first round.

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At $$50K St. Remy Challenger, France

[R1] (1) Divij Sharan (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) vs David O'Hare (IRL)/ Joe Salisbury (GBR)

Divij-Purav r playing in French challenger and they r top-seed.

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At $50K Shanghai Challenger , China

[R1] Jeevan Neduncheziyan (IND)/ Amir Weintraub (ISR) vs Ti Chen (TPE)/ Jason Jung (TPE)

Jeevan is partnering Amir Weintraub and they r facing Taipei pair in the first round.

Tennis News

At US Open 2016, New York, USA

Doubles
[R2] (7) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Barbora Strycova (CZE) bt Viktorija Golubic (SUI)/ Nicole Melichar (USA) 62 76(5)

[R3] (7) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Barbora Strycova (CZE) vs Nicole Gibbs (USA)/ Nao Hibino (JPN)

Mixed Doubles
[R2] Martina Hingis (SUI)/ Leander Paes (IND) l (7) Coco Vandeweghe (USA)/ Rajeev Ram (USA) 67(1) 63 11-13
[R2] Gabriela Dabrowski (CAN)/ Rohan Bopanna (IND) bt (6) Andrea Hlavackova (CZE)/ Lukasz Kubot (POL) 57 63 10-7

[QF] Gabriela Dabrowski (CAN)/ Rohan Bopanna (IND) vs Anna-Lena Groenefeld (GER)/ Robert Farah (COL)

Juniors
[Q2] (12) Pranjala Yadlapalli (IND,77) bt Kariann Pierre-Louis (USA,133) 64 64

[R1] (Q) Pranjala Yadlapalli (IND,77) vs Wiktoria Kulik (POL,41)

Sania-Strycova moved into the third round with straight sets win over Golubic-Malichar ... Next they r facing Gibbs-Hibino for place in the quarters.

In MXD, defending champion Martina-Lee lost to Coco-Ram in match tie-break ... After losing the first set in tie-break Lee-Martina made strong comeback for winning the second set ... In match tie-break they were 4-2 and then 8-4 up but after that they were in trouble due to unforced errors and three double faults ... They saved 3 match points but Ram-Coco converted fourth match point ... Rohan-Gabriela also needed comeback for winning their match against 6th seed Kubot-Hlavackova ... After losing the first set Rohan-Gabriela fought back for winning the second ... In match tie-break after 7-all our pair won next 3 points for winning the match ... In the quarters they r facing Farah-Groenefeld.

Pranjala qualified for US open Junior main-draw with straight sets victory over American Pierre-Louis ... In the first set Pranjala was 2-4 down before winning next four games for winning this set and continued same momentum for winning the match ... In the first round she is facing unseeded Polish girl Wiktoria Kulik.

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At $$125K Dalian Women's Tennis Open 2016, China

[Q1] (6) Ankita Raina (IND,288) bt Anastasia Gasanova (403,RUS) 64 76(5)

[Q2] (6) Ankita Raina (IND,288) vs (2) Kai-Chen Chang (TPE,199)

Ankita is playing qualifying of $125K tournament in China ... Winning start for her against Russian player Gasanova in straight sets ... Next she is facing former top-100 Taipei player Kai-Chen Chang for place in main-draw.

Football News

At FIFA International Friendly 2016, Mumbai, India

India bt Puerto Rico 4-1 (3-1)
Goal Scored - Narayan Das (IND) 18’, Sunil Chhetri (IND) 26’, Jeje Lalpekhlua (IND) 34’, Jackichand Singh (IND) 58’ and Emmanuel Sanchez (PUR) 8' PS

In this match Puerto Rico team was without 5-6 regulars from first team as their respective European/ South American clubs didn't release them for this International friendly ... Puerto Rico team reached late for this tie due to goof-up in their flight schedule ... But I think these weren't only reasons for their loss ... Our team executed Constantine's plan perfectly on the field ... Impressed with our improved passing, our midfielders looked good, our wingers managed to give some good crosses, strikers looks improved and Gurpreet was amazing in-front of the goal ... I think this was Jeje's 7th goal in 7 matches so some terrific hot streak is going on ... I am also impressed with our dead ball skill, Constantine is working on that and Sunil Chhetri is responding with some smart/ opportunist dead ball kicking ... Still need lot of work on our defending but today's was deserving win against WR #114 Puerto Rico.

First 10 mins Puerto Rico team was superb and in that they scored a goal through spot kick but after that Indians raised their game and also played with high intensity ... We scored three excellent goals in psan of 17 minutes for taking full control of the match ... At half-time we were 3-1 leading which could be more ... We added one more goal in the second half and then gave more time on the field for our bench ... Gurpreet Singh Sandhu showed his experience of playing in Europe, he was solid in-front of the goal ... Stephen Constantin is working hard on this team and positive results are showing as we have now registered nine wins in their last eleven matches.

Tennis News

At US Open 2016, New York, USA

Doubles
[R1] Andre Begemann (GER)/ Leander Paes (IND) l Stephane Robert (FRA)/ Dudi Sela (ISR) 62 57 46

[R2] Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Frederik Nielsen (DEN) l Brian Baker (USA) / Marcus Daniell (NZL) 26 67(5)

Mixed Doubles
[R1] (1) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Ivan Dodig (CRO) bt Taylor Townsend (USA)/ Donald Young (USA) 64 64
[R1] Gabriela Dabrowski (CAN)/ Rohan Bopanna (IND) bt (WC) Jamie Loeb (USA)/ Noah Rubin (USA) 75 64

[R2] (1) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Ivan Dodig (CRO) vs Barbora Krejcikova (CZE)/ Marin Draganja (CRO)
[R2] Martina Hingis (SUI)/ Leander Paes (IND) vs (7) Coco Vandeweghe (USA)/ Rajeev Ram (USA)
[R2] Gabriela Dabrowski (CAN)/ Rohan Bopanna (IND) vs (6) Andrea Hlavackova (CZE)/ Lukasz Kubot (POL)

Juniors
[Q1] (12) Pranjala Yadlapalli (IND,77) bt Victoria Emma (USA,93) 63 62

[Q2] (12) Pranjala Yadlapalli (IND,77) vs Kariann Pierre-Louis (USA,133)

Lee-Andre lost in the first round after winning the first set ... In the third they were break up before losing the match ... I m not sure if these results going to help Lee for keep burning desire of playing on the tour.

Rohan-Frederik lost in straight sets against Brian Baker and Daniell ... So with that Indian challenge is over in men's doubles ... Missed participation of our in-form pair of Divij and Purav, who didn't got opportunity to play in this US open.

Good winning start for Pranjala in US junior qualifying as she is coming out of injury ... Pranjala is having another American challenge of Kariann Pierre-Louis in second qualifying.

In MXD, our respective pairs started with straight sets victory ... In second round Lee and Martina having tough match against American pair of Vandeweghe and Ram ... Rohan and his Canadian partner r also facing 6th seed Kubot and Hlavackova.

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At $10K Thailand F2 Futures 2016, Hua Hin

[R1] (5) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND,547) bt Ryota TANUMA (JPN,790) 63 62
[R2] (5) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND,547) bt (WC) Punn BODHIDATTA (THA,NR) 61 63
[QF] (5) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND,547) bt (2) Antoine ESCOFFIER (FRA,460) 76(2) 62
[SF] (5) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND,547) bt (4) Kuan-Yi LEE (TPE,527) 64 63

Singles Final
(5) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND,547) bt (1) Seong Chan HONG (KOR,365) 64 76(3)

Bala win a double crown in Thailand futures this week ... He won his 7th singles title and 34th doubles title ... In the singles final he defeated talented Korean kid Seong Chan Hong in straight sets.

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At $10K Indonesia F3 Futures 2016, Jakarta

[R1] (6) Sasi Kumar MUKUND (IND,648) bt Su Hao ZHONG (CHN,1459) 63 retd.
[R2] (6) Sasi Kumar MUKUND (IND,648) bt ANAND, Kunal (IND,911) 63 62
[QF] (6) Sasi Kumar MUKUND (IND,648) bt (2) Kento TAKEUCHI (JPN,466) 63 64
[SF] (6) Sasi Kumar MUKUND (IND,648) bt (5) Chuhan WANG (CHN,609) 76(3) 62

Singles Final
(6) Sasi Kumar MUKUND (IND,648) bt (8) Masato SHIGA (JPN,719) 62 62

19 year old Sasi Kumar Mukund wins his 2nd futures title and which is first one outside India when he won $10K futures in Indonesia this week ... In the final he convincingly defeated his Japanese opponents Masato Shiga.

Squash News

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

[QF] Saurav Ghosal (IND,21) l (6) Karim Abdel Gawad (EGY,6) 9-11, 3-11, 11-8, 11-5, 9-11 (76m)

Saurav lost very close match to the world number 6 Gawad in five games ... He fought back from 2-0 down but in end couldn't pull it off as losing the fifth 9-11.

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

[QF] (5) Joshana Chinappa (IND,10) l (1) Laura Massaro (ENG,2) 7-11, 5-11, 6-11 (30m)

Joshana failed to overcome challenge of Laura Massaro ... She lost in straight three games.