Badminton News

At $120K Macau Open 2016, Macau (Grand Prix Gold)

[R1] Sameer Verma (IND,43) bt Milan Ludik (CZE,70) 21-11 21-16
[R1] (7) H. S. Prannoy (IND,25) l Chun-Wei Chen (TPE,213) 2-6 retd.
[R1] Sai Praneeth B. (IND,36) bt Hou Him Lam (MAC,833) 21-3 21-8
[R1] Kashyap Parupalli (IND,110) bt Guo Zheng Sim (MAS,UNR) w/o

[R2] Sameer Verma (IND,43) l Muhammad Bayu Pangisthu (INA,126) 18-21 13-21
[R2] Sai Praneeth B. (IND,36) bt Feixiang Sun (CHN,247) 21-12 21-15
[R2] Kashyap Parupalli (IND,110) bt Chun-Wei Chen (TPE,213) 21-19 21-8

[R1] (1) Saina Nehwal (IND,11) bt Hanna Ramadini (INA,44) 21-23 21-14 21-18

[R1] (3) Manu Attri (IND)/ B. Sumeeth Reddy (IND) bt Alan Yun Lung Chan (HKG)/ Kuen Hon Li (HKG) 21-11 17-21 21-9

[R3] Sai Praneeth B. (IND,36) vs (5) Wing Ki Vincent Wong (HKG,18)
[R3] Kashyap Parupalli (IND,110) vs Yu Hsien Lin (TPE,54)

[R2] (1) Saina Nehwal (IND,11) vs Dinar Dyah Ayustine (INA,50)

[R2] (3) Manu Attri (IND)/ B. Sumeeth Reddy (IND) vs Danny Bawa Chrisnanta (SIN)/ Hendra Wijaya (SIN)

Disappointing loss of Sameer in the second round against lowly ranked Indonesian opponent ... Good to see Sai and Kashyap r taking advantage of weaker draw ... Tough comeback win for Saina against Indonesian girl Hanna Ramadini.

Tennis News

At AO Asia-Pacific Wildcard Play-off 2016, Zhuhai, China

[R1] N. Vijay Sundar Prashanth (IND,559) bt Zhao-Tai Li (CHN,1999) 76(6) 60
[R1] (5) Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,284) vs Xiao Gong (CHN,1218)
[R1] (8) Ankita Raina (IND,270) bt Jia-Qi Kang (CHN,457)

Doubles
[R1] (4) Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND)/ N Vijay Sundar Prashanth (IND) bye
[R1] (4) Ankita Raina (IND)/ Sabina Sharipova (UZB) bye

[QF] (4) Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND)/ N Vijay Sundar Prashanth (IND) bt Xin Gao (CHN)/ Fajing Sun (CHN) w/o

[SF] (4) Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND)/ N Vijay Sundar Prashanth (IND) vs Peng-Xiang Gong (CHN)/ Xi Qi (CHN)

VSP started with a win against local player ... Ankita also won her first round match against top-500 local player ... In the doubles our both pairs had bye in first round and Jeean-VSP received walkover in the quarters ... In the semis they r facing unseeded Chinese pair.

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At $10K Indonesia F4 Futures 2016, Jakarta

[R1] Rishab AGARWAL (IND,760) bt (5) Masato SHIGA (JPN,532) 76(5) 62
[R1] Sidharth RAWAT (IND,613) bt Ryota TANUMA (JPN,782) 75 26 62
[R1] (6) Sasi Kumar MUKUND (IND,533) bt Renta TOKUDA (JPN,730) 64 63

[R2] Rishab AGARWAL (IND,760) vs Lingxi ZHAO (CHN,UNR)
[R2] Sidharth RAWAT (IND,613) vs (3) Yusuke TAKAHASHI (JPN,453)
[R2] (6) Sasi Kumar MUKUND (IND,533) vs Yecong HE (CHN,635)

Good winning start for Rishab against top-550 Japanese opponent in straight sets ... Sasi and Sid also joined him in the second round with contrasting win.

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At $10K Qatar F4 Futures 2016, Doha

[R1] (1) Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,249) bt Mousa Shanan Zayed (QAT,UNR) 60 60

[R2] (1) Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,249) bt Marcin Gawron (POL,671) 63 62

RamK is playing in Qatar futures and started with comfortable wins in first 2 rounds.

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At $10K ITF Women's Tournament, Cairo, Egypt

[R1] Bhuvana KALVA (IND,UNR) bt (5) Fiona CODINO (FRA,711) 63 75

Bhuvana is back on ITF circuit after long injury break ... She started with a win against top-725 French girl in the first round.

Badminton News

At $350K Hong Kong Open Badminton Championships 2016, Kowloon (Superseries)

Men's Singles Finall
Sameer Verma (IND,43) l Ka Long Angus Ng (HKG,14) 14-21 21-10 11-21

Women's Singles Final
Pusarla V. Sindhu (IND,9) l (4) Tzu Ying Tai (TPE,3) 15-21 17-21

In the women's singles final Taipei's Tzu Ying Tai proved too strong to Sindhu ... Sindhu tried hard but Tai was too good with her shot-making ... For me Tai was deserving winner in this match.

Sameer tried hard against local player Ka Long Angus Ng but lost in three games ... After losing the first game Sameer tried fightback winning the second comfortably ... Sameer failed to keep momentum in the third with raised game by Ka and lost it easily ... Still creditable performance by Sameer as he reached his first final of SuperSeries.

Boxing News

At the AIBA Youth World Championships 2016, Saint Petersburg, Russia

Courtesy Lakshy facebook page

Men's Light flyweight (46-49kg)
[R64] Sachin Singh (IND) bye
[R32] Sachin Singh (IND) bt Gustavo Antonio Perez Alvarez (MEX) 5-0 (30-27, 30-27, 30-27, 30-27, 30-28)
[R16] Sachin Singh (IND) bt Cosmin Petre Girleanu (ROU) 5-0 (30-27, 30-27, 30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
[QF] Sachin Singh (IND) bt Cheng-Yu Hsu (TPE) 3-2 (29-28, 28-29, 28-29, 30-27, 30-27)
[SF] Sachin Singh (IND) bt Carlo Paalam (PHI) 4-1 (29-28, 27-30, 30-27, 30-27, 29-28)

For Gold Medal
Sachin Singh (IND) bt Jorge Grinan (CUB) 5-0

Men's Heavyweight 91 kg
[R32] Naman Tanwar (IND) bye
[R16] Naman Tanwar (IND) bt Marijan Brnic (CRO) 5-0 (30-26, 30-27, 30-27, 30-27, 30-26)
[QF] Naman Tanwar (IND) bt Cristian Razvan Filip (ROU) 5-0 (30-27, 30-27, 29-28, 29-28, 30-27)

[SF] Naman Tanwar (IND) l Dainier Christian Pero Justiz (CUB) 0-5 (27-30, 27-30, 27-30, 27-30, 27-30)

Sachin Singh won Gold in Light flyweight category with a stunning unanimous victory over Cuban national champion Jorge Grinan in Youth World Boxing Championship at St Petersburg, Russia ... With this Sachin becomes the youngest Junior World Champion at age of 17 ... The 17-year-old outpunched his more fancied rival 5-0 to record a rare Indian win over a Cuban boxer ... In the final, Sachin once again put his powerful left jab to good use, displayed brilliant ringcraft against his shorter and often clueless opponent.

India thus finished the tournament on tied 4th position with one gold and a bronze, a marked improvement from the solitary bronze won in the 2014 edition ... Naman Tanwar (91kg) had settled for a bronze after losing in the semifinal against his Cuban boxer.

Golf News

At $500K Qatar Ladies Open 2016, Doha, Qatar

Courtesy of Qatar open twitter

1 Aditi Ashok (IND) 70 66 68 69 -15 € 75,000.00
T23 Neha Tripathi (IND) 74 70 72 70 -2 € 6,180.00

Aditi has won the Qatar open, this is her back to back title on European tour ... Aditi showed consistency in all four rounds ... In the first round she managed 2 under, in the second 6 under, in the third 4 under and in the final round 3 under score ... In end Aditi won the title by three strokes ... This win put her at the 2nd spot on the 2016 European Order of Merit list.

Badminton News

At $350K Hong Kong Open Badminton Championships 2016, Kowloon (Superseries)

[SF] Sameer Verma (IND,43) bt (3) Jan O Jorgensen (DEN,3) 21-19 24-22

[SF] Pusarla V. Sindhu (IND,9) bt Ngan Yi Cheung (HKG,26) 21-14 21-16

[F] Sameer Verma (IND,43) vs Ka Long Angus Ng (HKG,14)

[F] Pusarla V. Sindhu (IND,9) vs (4) Tzu Ying Tai (TPE,3

Sindhu enters into the final with comfortable win over Hong Kong's Ngan Yi Cheung ... In both games Sindhu took control from middle of the game for a win ... In the final she is facing Taipei's Tzu Ying Tai for back to back second SuperSeries title.

Sameer scored impressive win over in-form Danish player Jan O Jorgensen in straight games ... In the first game Sameer took 7-1 early lead but Jan caught with him at 9-all ... From 16-17 Sameer won next 4 points for 20-17 lead, Jan won next 2 points but Sameer converted 3rd game point for winning first game ... In the second game Sameer was 5-11 down but he fought back for catching Jan at 12-all ... Again Sameer was 17-20 down but this time also he saved 3 game points to take 21-20 lead ... Jan saved first match point and gave himself another game point, 21-22 ... Sameer saved 4th game point and won three points for winning this match ... In the final he is facing Hong Kong's Ka Long Angus Ng for his first SuperSeries title.

Badminton News

At $350K Hong Kong Open Badminton Championships 2016, Kowloon (Superseries)

[QF] Sameer Verma (IND,43) bt Wei Feng Chong (MAS,53) 21-17 23-21
[QF] Ajay Jayaram (IND,19) l Ka Long Angus Ng (HKG,14) 15-21 14-21

[QF] (5) Saina Nehwal (IND,11) l Ngan Yi Cheung (HKG,26) 8-21 21-18 19-21
[QF] Pusarla V. Sindhu (IND,9) bt Xiaoyu Liang (SIN,32) 21-17 21-23 21-18

[SF] Sameer Verma (IND,43) vs (3) Jan O Jorgensen (DEN,3)

[SF] Pusarla V. Sindhu (IND,9) vs Ngan Yi Cheung (HKG,26)

Sindhu needed to dig deep for her three games win over her Singaporean opponent ... After losing second game Sindhu was 6-12 down in the decider but she kept fighting and won couple of big consecutive points, 8 and 6 for a win ... Next she is facing Hong Kong's Ngan Yi Cheung, who scored upset win over Saina in three games ... Saina fought back for winning second after losing first game lopsidedly ... In the decider Saina took 9-3 early lead which she failed to keep ... Saina also tried comeback in final game after winning 6 points in a row from 11-18 to 17-18 but Cheung kept advantage for winning it.

Sameer continued with his good run and scored straight games win over Malaysian Chong for entering into the semis ... In the semis he is facing in form Danish player Jan O Jorgensen.

Ajay failed to challenge his Hong Kong opponent Ka Long Angus Ng.

Tennis News

At $50K+H Astana Challenger, Kazakhstan

[QF] Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,291) l (4) Alexander Nedovyesov (KAZ,189) 26 36

Nedo proved too strong for Prajnesh in his straight sets loss ... Overall decent week for Prajnesh but not enough for securing place in Australian open qualifying.

Badminton News

At $350K Hong Kong Open Badminton Championships 2016, Kowloon (Superseries)

[R2] Sameer Verma (IND,43) bt Kazumasa Sakai (JPN,59) 19-21 21-15 21-11
[R2] H.S. Prannoy (IND,27) l Wei Feng Chong (MAS,53) 21-15 11-21 15-21
[R2] Ajay Jayaram (IND,19) bt Yuxiang Huang (CHN,24) 21-18 21-19

[R2] (5) Saina Nehwal (IND,11) bt Sayaka Sato (JPN,14) 21-18 9-21 21-16
[R2] Pusarla V. Sindhu (IND,9) bt Ya Ching Hsu (TPE,28) 21-10 21-14

[QF] Sameer Verma (IND,43) vs Wei Feng Chong (MAS,53)
[QF] Ajay Jayaram (IND,19) vs Ka Long Angus Ng (HKG,14)

[QF] (5) Saina Nehwal (IND,11) vs Ngan Yi Cheung (HKG,26)
[QF] Pusarla V. Sindhu (IND,9) vs Xiaoyu Liang (SIN,32)

Another really good fighting win by Saina against experienced Sato ... these back to back three games win r showing Saina's comeback in on right track ... Sameer also showed good fighting spirit in his comeback win over Japanese Kazumasa Sakai ... Sindhi scored comfortable straight games win over her Taipei opponent Hsu ... Ajay scored good tight straight games win over similar ranked Chinese Yuxiang Huang for entering into quarters ... But somewhat disappointed by Prannoy's loss against lower ranked Malaysian after winning the first game.

Tennis News

At $50K+H Astana Challenger, Kazakhstan

[R2] Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,291) bt Soon Woo Kwon (KOR,293) 63 46 61

[QF] Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,291) vs (4) Alexander Nedovyesov (KAZ,189)

Prajnesh scored impressive win over 18 yrs old Korean Soon Woo Kwon in three sets ... After winning the first set Prajnesh lost the second ... Prajnesh recovered and dominated h=the third for winning it losing a game ... In the quarter he is facing local top-200 experienced Nedo.

Badminton News

At $350K Hong Kong Open Badminton Championships 2016, Kowloon (Superseries)

[R1] Sameer Verma (IND,43) bt Takuma Ueda (JPN,52) 22-20 21-18
[R1] H.S. Prannoy (IND,27) bt Qiao Bin (CHN,26) 21-16 21-18
[R1] Ajay Jayaram (IND,23) bt Anthony Ginting (INA,39) 21-15 13-21 21-16
[R1] B. Sai Praneeth (IND,36) l (3) Jan O Jorgensen (DEN,6) 18-21 18-21

[R1] (5) Saina Nehwal (IND,6) bt Porntip Buranaprasertsuk (THA,12) 12-21 21-19 21-17
[R1] Pusarla V. Sindhu (IND,11) bt Susanta Yulia Yosephin (INA,119) 21-13 21-16

[R1] Manu Attri/ B. (IND)/ Sumeeth Reddy (IND) l Soigyu Choi (KOR)/ Ko Sung Hyun (KOR) 15-21 8-21

[R2] Sameer Verma (IND,43) vs Kazumasa Sakai (JPN,59)
[R2] H.S. Prannoy (IND,27) vs Wei Feng Chong (MAS,51)
[R2] Ajay Jayaram (IND,23) vs Yuxiang Huang (CHN,24)

[R2] (5) Saina Nehwal (IND,6) vs Sayaka Sato (JPN,14)
[R2] Pusarla V. Sindhu (IND,11) vs Ya Ching Hsu (TPE,28)

Last week Saina and Prannoy lost against same opponents but this week both managed to turn table against their respective opponent ... Saina scored her first win after operation beating Thai girl Porntip Buranaprasertsuk in comeback win after losing the first game ... Prannoy scored straight sets win over similar ranked Chinese opponent ... Sameer Verma also started with win against former top-15 Japanese Takuma Ueda ... Ajay needed three games for beating his Indonesian opponent ... Sindhu started with straight games win over Indonesian girl.

Tennis News

At $50K+H Astana Challenger, Kazakhstan

[R1] Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,291) bt (8) Andrey Golubev (KAZ,232) 64 62
[R1] Sasi Kumar Mukund (IND,533) l Sanjar Fayziev (UZB,384) 46 46

[R2] Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,291) vs Soon Woo Kwon (KOR,293)

Doubles
[R1] Yunseong Chung (KOR)/ Sasi Kumar Mukund (IND) l Yuya Kibi (JPN)/ Soon Woo Kwon (KOR) 16 57

Prajnesh scored impressive comfortable straight sets win over former top-50 Golubev ... Next he is facing similar ranked Korean Kwon.

Sasi lost in straight sets against Fayziev and in the doubles also he lost in straights sets with his partner Yunseong Chung.

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At $50K+H Andria Challenger, Italy

[R1] (4) Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND)/ Joran Vliegen (BEL) l Roman Jebavy (CZE)/ Zdenek Kolar (CZE) 36 63 8-10

RamK played doubles with Vliegen but they lost tricky match against Czech pair in match tie-break.

Badminton News

At $700K China Open 2016, Fuzhou (Superseries Premier)

Courtesy PV Sindhu facebook page

[R1] Ajay JAYARAM (IND,23) bt Siyuan ZHU (CHN,235) 21-19 20-22 21-17
[R1] PRANNOY H. S. (IND.28) bt Ka Long Angus NG (HKG,14) 21-13 21-13
[R1] SAI PRANEETH B. (IND,36) l Marc ZWIEBLER (GER,15) 16-21 9-21
[R1] (4) Saina NEHWAL (IND,6) l Porntip BURANAPRASERTSUK (THA,13) 16-21 21-19 14-21
[R1] (7) PUSARLA V. Sindhu (IND.11) bt Chia Hsin LEE (TPE,55) 21-12 21-16

[R2] Ajay JAYARAM (IND,23) bt Nan WEI (HKG,30) 20-22 21-19 21-12
[R2] PRANNOY H. S. (IND.28) l Bin QIAO (CHN,24) 17-21 19-21
[R2] (7) PUSARLA V. Sindhu (IND.11) bt Beiwen ZHANG (USA,16) 18-21 22-20 21-17

[QF] Ajay JAYARAM (IND,23) l (2) Long CHEN (CHN,2) 15-21 14-21
[QF] (7) PUSARLA V. Sindhu (IND.11) bt Bingjiao HE (CHN,10) 22-20 21-10

[SF] (7) PUSARLA V. Sindhu (IND,11) bt (6) Ji Hyun SUNG (KOR,7) 11-21 23-21 21-19

Women's Singles Final
(7) PUSARLA V. Sindhu (IND,11) bt (8) Yu SUN (CHN,9) 21-11 17-21 21-11

PV Sindhu lifts her first Superseries title beating local Chinese opponent Yu Sun in the final ... Superseries title was still missing from Sindhu's cabinet so with this win she has added missing piece in her cabinet ... In the semis Sindhu needed to save 3 match points against Sung before completing a win.

Golf News

At $400K Hero Women’s Indian Open 2016, Gurgaon, India

Courtesy of http://ladieseuropeantour.com/

1 Aditi Ashok (IND) 72 69 72 -3 $60,000

Rookie professional Aditi Ashok wrote her name into the history books as she was crowned as the first home winner of the Hero Women’s Indian Open at DLF Golf and Country Club in Gurgaon on Sunday ... The 18-year-old from Bangalore became the first Indian player to win on the Ladies European Tour ... Aditi scored birdie on last hole to avoid play-off and becoming winner.

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At $300K BANK BRI-JCB Indonesia Open 2016, Jakarta

Courtesy of Asian Tour

1 Gaganjeet Bhullar (IND) 71 65 68 68 -16 $54,000.00
T2 Jeev Milkha Singh (IND) 71 66 66 72 -13 $19,800.00
T14 Jyoti Randhawa (IND) 73 70 68 68 -9 $4,155.00
T24 Khalin Joshi (IND) 65 70 74 73 -6 $2,910.00
T27 Shubhankar Sharma (IND) 74 65 71 73 -5 $2,456.25
T27 Chikkarangappa S. (IND) 74 68 73 68 -5 $2,456.25
T36 Chirag Kumar (IND) 68 72 73 71 -4 $1,982.14
T52 Himmat Rai (IND) 71 71 75 71 PAR $1,207.50
64 Abhinav Lohan (IND) 70 72 77 72 +3 $870.00

Gaganjeet Bhullar of India won the Indonesia Open for the second time in his career after closing with a four-under-par 68 ... Gaganjeet also won the event in 2013, sealed his seventh Asian Tour victory and a second title this season with a 16-under-par 272 total ... Jeev Milkha Singh, a two-time Asian Tour number one, settling for tied second place, his best result since 2012, after making bogey on the 17th hole to finish on 72.

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At $6M The RSM Classic 2016, Georgia, USA

T13 Anirban Lahiri (IND) 68 67 70 65 -12 $99,750.00

Anirban produced excellent 5 under final round to finish on top-15 on PGA tour.

Tennis News

At $100K+H Bratislava Challenger, Slovakia

[SF] (3) Divij Sharan (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) bt Mikhail Elgin (RUS)/ Denis Istomin (UZB) 36 76(3) 10-3

Doubles Final
(3) Divij Sharan (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) l (4) Ken Skupski (GBR)/ Neal Skupski (GBR) 64 36 5-10

Divij-Purav lost the final against their good friends Skupski brothers after winning the first set ... Still this performance helped them to achieve their highest career ranking ... Divij is finished on #61 and Purav is on #65 ... As pair they have finished #35 on the tour.

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At $50K+H Kobe Challenger, Japan

[SF] (4) Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND)/ Christopher Rungkat (INA) bt Sergey Betov (BLR)/ Yaraslav Shyla (BLR) 63 61

Doubles Final
(4) Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND)/ Christopher Rungkat (INA) l Ante Pavic (CRO)/ Daniel Masur (GER) 64 36 6-10

Jeevan-Rungkat reached in the final but lost the final after winning the first set.

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At $25K Australia F9 Futures, Wollongong

[QF] (6) N. Sriram Balaji (IND,439) bt (2) Sumit Nagal (IND,350) 57 62 76(8)

[SF] (6) N. Sriram Balaji (IND,439) l (4) Jarmere Jenkins (USA,421) 16 16

Bala upset Sumit in the quarters before losing one-sided semi-final against American Jenkins.

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At $25K+H ITF Women's Tennis Tournament 2016, Pune, India

[SF] Ankita Raina (IND,284) l (1) Irina Khromacheva (RUS,93) 46 46

Ankita lost in straight sets against top-100 Russian opponent.

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At $50K+H Brescia Challenger, Italy

[R1] Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,239) bt (8) Marko Tepavac (SRB,187) 75 63

[R2] Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,239) l Salvatore Caruso (ITA,274) 46 57

In the first round RamK scored impressive win over top-200 Serbian opponent but failed to continue same momentum in the next ... He lost is straight sets against lower ranked local player.

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At $50K+H Toyota Challenger, Japan

[R1] (3) Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND)/ Christopher Rungkat (INA) bt Jui-Chen Hung (TPE)/ Cheong-Eui Kim (KOR) 62 67(6) 10-5
[QF] (3) Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND)/ Christopher Rungkat (INA) bt Laurent Lokoli (FRA)/ Luke Saville (AUS) w/o
[SF] (3) Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND)/ Christopher Rungkat (INA) bt (2) Sonchat Ratiwatana (THA)/ Chu-Huan Yi (TPE) 63 76(1)

Doubles Final
(3) Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND)/ Christopher Rungkat (INA) l (1) Matt Reid (AUS)/ John-Patrick Smith (AUS) 36 46

This week also Jeevan reached in the final with Rungkat in Japanese challenger, which has helped him to reach his career high doubles ranking #100.

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At $25K Australia F10 Futures, Blacktown

[R1] (3) Sumit NAGAL (IND,348) bt Harry BOURCHIER (AUS,1034) 67(4) 62 62
[R1] (7) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND,439) bt Jeremy BEALE (AUS,877) 64 61
[R1] Sanam SINGH (IND,647) l (WC) Kody PEARSON (AUS,1532) 16 67(7)

[R2] (3) Sumit NAGAL (IND,348) bt Steven DE WAARD (AUS,707) 62 62
[R2] (7) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND,439) bt Maciej SMOLA (POL,918) 63 67(3) 75

[QF] (3) Sumit NAGAL (IND,348) bt (8) Gavin VAN PEPERZEEL (AUS,486) 64 63
[QF] (7) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND,439) bt (2) Dayne KELLY (AUS,339) 76(3) 62

[SF] (3) Sumit NAGAL (IND,348) l (1) Christopher O'CONNELL (AUS,265) 26 64 67(3)
[SF] (7) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND,439) l (4) Max PURCELL (AUS,350) 67(5) 57

Another good week for Sumit and Bala in Australian futures, where they reached in the semis before losing to their higher ranked local opponents.

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At Kuwait F3 Futures,

[R1] (8) Aryan GOVEAS (IND,1076) bt Fouad BEHBEHANI (KUW,UNR) 60 61
[R2] (8) Aryan GOVEAS (IND,1076) bt Naru SHIRAFUJI (JPN,UNR) 76(3) 64
[QF] (8) Aryan GOVEAS (IND,1076) bt (2) Evgeny KARLOVSKIY (RUS,474) 64 76(4)

[SF] (8) Aryan GOVEAS (IND,1076) l (3) Daniel ALTMAIER (GER,476) 46 26

18 yrs old Aryan Goveas gave really good performance in Kuwait futures beating top-500 Russian in the quarters.

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At $50K+H Andria Challenger, Italy

[R1] (7) Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,233) l Gianluca Mager (ITA,338) 67(5) 63 26

RamK lost in the first round against lower ranked Italian ... After remaining competitive in first 2 sets RamK was off-color in the third ... He really needs to take break from the tour and work on his game under coaches in this off-season.

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At $50K+H Astana Challenger, Kazakhstan

[R1] Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,291) vs (8) Andrey Golubev (KAZ,232)
[R1] Sasi Kumar Mukund (IND,533) vs Sanjar Fayziev (UZB,384)

Tough draw for Prajnesh and Sasi.

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Squash News

At $150K Men's Qatar Classic 2016, Doha

[R1] Saurav Ghosal (IND,22) l (Q) Alan Clyne (SCO,35) 10-12, 11-9, 7-11, 1-11 (47m)

Disappointing loss for Saurav against Scottish qualifier in four games.

Tennis News

At $100K+H Bratislava Challenger, Slovakia

[QF] (3) Divij Sharan (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) bt Julian Knowle (AUT)/ Jurgen Melzer (AUT) 61 62

[SF] (3) Divij Sharan (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) vs Mikhail Elgin (RUS)/ Denis Istomin (UZB)

Divij and Purav scored impressive dominating win over veteran but former top-10 doubles Austrian players (Jurgen was top-10 in the singles also) ... Next they r facing pairing of Istomin and Elgin.

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At $25K Australia F9 Futures, Wollongong

[R2] (6) N. Sriram Balaji (IND,439) bt (WC) Benard Bruno Nkomba (AUS,UNR) 63 75
[R2] (2) Sumit Nagal (IND,350) bt (Q) Dimitri Vidin (AUS,UNR) 64 61

[QF] (2) Sumit Nagal (IND,350) vs (6) N. Sriram Balaji (IND,439)

Expected comfortable wins for Bala and Sumit ... Next they r facing each other in the quarters.

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At $25K+H ITF Women's Tennis Tournament 2016, Pune, India

[QF] Ankita Raina (IND,284) bt Jaqueline Adina Cristian (ROU,363) 64 62

[SF] Ankita Raina (IND,284) vs (1) Irina Khromacheva (RUS,93)

Ankita is in the semis with another good win against Polish girl ... Next she is having real tough match against top-100 Russian girl.

Tennis News

At $50K Knoxville Challenger, USA

[R1] (Q) Yuki Bhambri (IND,546) l Michael Mmoh (USA,268) 46 67(8)

Yuki struggled with his game in this match ... No zip was in his serve and he made numerous unforced errors ... In the first set both players exchanged early breaks in 1st two games ... In the second set Yuki was 1-4 down before he tried comeback ... He broke Mmoh in 7th game for making 4-all ... In tie-break Yuki had set point at 7-6 but then his serve let him down ... Mmoh converted 5th match point for completing a win.

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At $75K Ortisei Challenger, Italy

[QF] Alessandro Motti (ITA)/ Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND) l (3) Riccardo Ghedin (ITA)/ Dino Marcan (CRO) 46 67(7)

RamK and Motti lost in closely fought two sets against 4th seeds.

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At $50K+H Kobe Challenger, Japan

[QF] (4) Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND)/ Christopher Rungkat (INA) bt Ruben Gonzales (PHI)/ Toshihide Matsui (JPN) 26 75 10-8

Jeevan and Rungkat scored comeback win after losing the first set against Gonzales and Matsui for entering into the semis.

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At $25K Australia F9 Futures, Wollongong

[R1] (6) N. Sriram Balaji (IND,439) bt Maciej Smola (POL,936) 46 63 64

[R2] (6) N. Sriram Balaji (IND,439) vs (WC) Benard Bruno Nkomba (AUS,UNR)
[R2] (2) Sumit Nagal (IND,350) vs (Q) Dimitri Vidin (AUS,UNR)

Bala needed comeback win against her Polish opponent after losing the first set ... Next Bala and Sumit having winnable matches as Bala is facing 17 yrs old Aussie wild-card Nkomba and Sumit is facing Aussie qualifier Vidin.

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At $25K+H ITF Women's Tennis Tournament 2016, Pune, India

[R2] Karman Kaur Thandi (IND,602) l (1) Irina Khromacheva (RUS,92) 26 16
[R2] Ankita Raina (IND,284) bt Magdalena French (POL,320) 62 63

[QF] Ankita Raina (IND,284) vs Jaqueline Adina Cristian (ROU,363)

Ankita scored comfortable win over her Polish opponent ... Next she is facing 18 yrs old Romanian Jaqueline Adina Cristian in the quarters ... Karman failed to challenge top-100 Russian in her second round match.

Tennis News

At $100K+H Bratislava Challenger, Slovakia

[R1] (3) Divij Sharan (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) bt Andrej Martin (SVK)/ Tristan-Samuel Weissborn (AUT) 64 60

Dominating win by Divij and Purav in the first round.

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At $75K Ortisei Challenger, Italy

[R1] Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,228) l (SE) Kevin Krawietz (GER,391) 46 46

Doubles
[R1] Alessandro Motti (ITA)/ Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND) bt Adrian Menendez-Maceiras (ESP)/ Luca Vanni (ITA) 67(10) 63 16-14

[QF] Alessandro Motti (ITA)/ Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND) vs (3) Riccardo Ghedin (ITA)/ Dino Marcan (CRO)

RamK needs to work on his game, importantly on his backhand ... With this weakness it is difficult to be successful on the tour ... He lost in straight sets against his German opponent.

RamK-Motti scored a win in 30 pts long match tie-break after saving multiple match points ... After losing the first set in long tie-break RamK-Motti fought back for winning the second with a break ... Then both pairs tried hard in match tie-break but RamK-Motti prevailed ... Next they r facing 3rd seed Italian-Croatian pair.

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At $50K+H Kobe Challenger, Japan

[R1] Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,286) l Laurent Lokoli (FRA,325) 36 67(0)

Doubles
[R1] (4) Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND)/ Christopher Rungkat (INA) bt Ti Chen (TPE)/ Amir Weintraub (ISR) 60 64

[QF] (4) Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND)/ Christopher Rungkat (INA) vs Ruben Gonzales (PHI)/ Toshihide Matsui (JPN)

Prajnesh lost against Frenchman in straight sets ... After losing the first set Prajnesh tried fightback in the second ... He was break up and serving for the set at 6-5 but Prajnesh failed to hold and then lost tie-break without winning a point.

Easy winning start for Jeevan and Rungkat in the doubles ... Next they r facing Filipino-Japanese pair.

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At $50K Knoxville Challenger, USA

[Q3] Yuki Bhambri (IND,546) bt (3) Tim Van Rijthoven (NED,334) 75 63

[R1] (Q) Yuki Bhambri (IND,546) vs Michael Mmoh (USA,268)

Yuki qualified for main-draw with straight sets win over talented young Dutch player Tim ... In the first set Yuki was double break down at 1-4 after that he made excellent comeback for winning 6 games from next 7 games to win this set ... After that Yuki controlled next set for winning this match ... In main-draw he is facing 18 yrs old young American Michael Mmoh.

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At $25K Australia F9 Futures, Wollongong

[R1] (2) Sumit Nagal (IND,350) bt Daniel Nolan (AUS,696) 61 61

Doubles
[R1] (4) N. Sriram Balaji (IND)/ Sumit Nagal (IND) l Nathan PASHA (USA)/ Darren Polkinghorne (AUS) 36 67(4)

Dominating winning start for Sumit against local player ... But in the doubles Sumit lost with Bala against American-Australian pair.

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At $25K+H ITF Women's Tennis Tournament 2016, Pune, India

[R1] Prerna Bhambri (IND,488) l (1) Irina Khromacheva (RUS.92) 36 46
[R1] Karman Kaur Thandi (IND,602) bt (Q) Sowjanya Bavisetti (IND,868) 46 64 50 retd.
[R1] (Q) Nidhi Chilumula (IND,867) l (8) Jia-Jing Lu (CHN,261) 26 16
[R1] Ankita Raina (IND,284) bt Chieh-Yu Hsu (TPE,420) 64 16 61
[R1] (Q) Eetee Maheta (IND,754) l Laura Pigossi (BRA,378) 36 46
[R1] (WC) Riya Bhatia (IND,549) l Ana Veselinovic (MNE,429) 06 06

[R2] Karman Kaur Thandi (IND,602) vs (1) Irina Khromacheva (RUS,92)
[R2] Ankita Raina (IND,284) vs Magdalena French (POL,320)

Expected win for Ankita, though in three sets ... Next she is facing Polish opponent Magdalena French ... Karman also scored good win over in-form Sowjanya, after Sowjanya retired in the third set ... Next she is having tough match against top-100 Russian player Irina Khromacheva.

Tennis News

At $100K+H Bratislava Challenger, Slovakia

[R1] (3) Divij Sharan (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) vs Andrej Martin (SVK)/ Tristan-Samuel Weissborn (AUT)

Divij and Purav r playing in Slovak challenger.

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At $50K Knoxville Challenger, USA

[Q2] Yuki Bhambri (IND,546) bt (8) Luke Bambridge (GBR,509) 61 76(5)

[Q3] Yuki Bhambri (IND,546) vs (3) Tim Van Rijthoven (NED,334)

Yuki got stretched to tie-break in the second set by Luke Bambridge ... Next he is facing 19 yrs old Dutchman, good test for Yuki to check his progress.

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At $25K Australia F9 Futures, Wollongong

[R1] (6) N. Sriram Balaji (IND,439) vs Maciej Smola (POL,936)
[R1] (2) Sumit Nagal (IND,350) vs Daniel Nolan (AUS,696)

Doubles
[R1] (4) N. Sriram Balaji (IND)/ Sumit Nagal (IND) vs Nathan PASHA (USA)/ Darren Polkinghorne (AUS)

Sumit and Bala r seeding in the singles and both r in bottom draw and can face each other in the quarters ... In the doubles they r paying together and r 4th seed.

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At $25K+H ITF Women's Tennis Tournament 2016, Pune, India

[R1] (WC) Dhruthi Tatachar Venugopal (IND,573) l (Q) Stefanie Tan (SGP,493) 26 57
[R1] (WC) Kyra Shroff (IND,625) l (Q)Amina Anshba (RUS,701) 46 46
[R1] (WC) Prarthana G. Thombare (IND,641) l Harmony Tan (FRA,400) 36 26

Hoping for bettr performance by Kyra and Dhruthi ... Dhruti was 5-0 up in the second after losing the first set but afterwards she lost next 7 games for losing the match.

Badminton News

At $120K Bitburger Badminton Open 2016, Saarbrucken, Germany (Grand Prix Gold)

Men's Singles Final
Sourabh Varma (IND,57) l (4) Yuqi Shi (CHN,16) 19-21 20-22

Sourabh lost in closely fought two games against in-form top-20 Chinese Yuqi Shi ... Still good to see Sourabh is showing consistency in his results after long injury break.

Tennis News

At €3.7M BNP Paribas Masters 2016, Paris, France

[SF] Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Daniel Nestor (CAN) l (1) Pierre-Hugues Herbert (FRA)/ Nicolas Mahut (FRA) 46 63 6-10

This time Rohan-Nestor failed to complete comeback after losing the first set against WR #1 French pair ... After losing first set they tried comeback with winning second set but French pair recovered in match tie-break for winning it comfortably.

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At $75K Ortisei Challenger, Italy

[R1] Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,227) vs (SE) Kevin Krawietz (GER,391)

RamK is facing German Kevin Krawietz in the first round.

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At $50K+H Kobe Challenger, Japan

[R1] Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,287) vs Laurent Lokoli (FRA,325)

Prajnesh having winnable match against Frenchman Laurent Lokoli.

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At $25K+H ITF Women's tournament, Pune, India

[R1] Prerna Bhambri (IND,488) vs (1) Irina Khromacheva (RUS.92)
[R1] (Q) Sowjanya Bavisetti (IND,868) vs Karman Kaur Thandi (IND,602)
[R1] (WC) Dhruthi Tatachar Venugopal (IND,573) vs (Q) Stefanie Tan (SGP,493)
[R1] (Q) Nidhi Chilumula (IND,867) vs (8) Jia-Jing Lu (CHN,261)
[R1] Ankita Raina (IND,284) vs Chieh-Yu Hsu (TPE,420)
[R1] (WC) Kyra Shroff (IND,625) vs (Q)Amina Anshba (RUS,701)
[R1] (Q) Eetee Maheta (IND,754) vs Laura Pigossi (BRA,378)
[R1] (WC) Riya Bhatia (IND,549) vs Ana Veselinovic (MNE,429)
[R1] (WC) Prarthana G. Thombare (IND,641) v. Harmony Tan (FRA,400)

Swojanya, Nidhi and Eetee joined in main-draw .... In-form Swojanya is facing Karman in the first round ... Other hand decent draw for our players in this higher lever tournament.

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At $50K Knoxville Challenger, USA

[Q1] Yuki Bhambri (IND,552) bt Alexander Ritschard (SUI,1089) 61 62

[Q2] Yuki Bhambri (IND,552) vs (8) Luke Bambridge (GBR,509)

Yuki started with dominating win in the qualifier ... Next he is facing 500+ ranked Britisher.

Badminton News

At $120K Bitburger Badminton Open 2016, Saarbrucken, Germany (Grand Prix Gold)

[SF] Sourabh Varma (IND,57) bt (15) Anders Antonsen (DEN,39) 21-15 21-18
[SF] (12) Sameer Verma (IND,44) l (4) Yuqi Shi (CHN,16) 18-21 15-21

Sourabh reached in the final with straight games win over top-40 ranked Danish player Anders Antonsen ... Next he is facing top-20 Chinese Yuqi Shi, who defeated his younger brother Sameer Verma in straight games.

Hockey News

At 4th Women's Asian Champions Trophy 2016, Singapore

Courtesy of Stick2Hockey

Championship Match
India bt China 2-1 (1-0)
Goal Scorers - Deep Grace Ekka (IND) 13' PC, Deepika Thakur (IND) 60' PC and Zhong Mengling (CHN) 44'

Indian women becomes first time winner of Asian Champions Trophy beating China in the final ... Though here China were with u-21 and , Korea and Japan teams with lot of newbies in their squad but still creditable performance by our women ... Indian women started positively and were attacking ... They converted penalty corner for leading 1-0 after first quarter and kept that lead till half-time ... We conceded in last minute of third quarter due to defensive lapse by defender and goalie ... Deepika scored on penalty corner with 17 secs to go, China protested but referee stood up to their decision ... Indians were matching young Chinese team on the turf and created ore chances for them ... So deserving winner as per performance on the turf.

Before this in Pool, Indian women held Japanese women 2-all, defeated Malaysian women 2-0 and also scored one impressive win over Korean women 2-0 ... In their last pool match they lost against Chinese women accepting goal in last minute, 2-3.

Golf News

At $550K Fatima Bint Mubarak Ladies Open 2016, Abu Dhabi, UAE

T46 Aditi Ashok 69 73 74 69 -3 €2,527.00

This week Aditi played in Abu Dhabi ... After first round she was in top 15 but after that in next two rounds she score over PAR rounds that pushed her outside top-50 ... In the final round Aditi managed 3 under for finishing inside top-50 ... Overall good experience for Aditi.

Badminton News

At $120K Bitburger Badminton Open 2016, Saarbrucken, Germany (Grand Prix Gold)

[R1] Siril Verma (IND,128) l (6) Ihsan Maulana Mustofa (INA,38) 17-21 16-21
[R1] Subhankar Dey (IND,117) l (5) Jonatan Christie (INA,21) 19-21 18-21
[R1] Sourabh Varma (IND,57) bt Rüdiger Gnedt (AUT,506) 21-16 21-11
[R1] (12) Sameer Verma (IND,44) bt Alexander Roovers (GER,317) 21-11 21-11
[R1] Tanvi Lad (IND,64) l Gayle Mahulette (FRA,108) 14-21 17-21
[R1] Ruthvika Shivani Gadde (IND,54) bt Soraya De Visch Eijbergen (FRA,147) 21-11 21-13

[R2] Sourabh Varma (IND,57) bt (14) Song Xue (CHN,43) 16-9 retd.
[R2] (12) Sameer Verma (IND,44) bt Eetu Heino (FIN,89) 21-10 21-16
[R2] Ruthvika Shivani Gadde (IND,54) l (1) Bingjiao He (CHN,10) 16-21 13-21

[R3] Sourabh Varma (IND,57) bt (6) Ihsan Maulana Mustofa (INA,38) 21-11 22-20
[R3] (12) Sameer Verma (IND,44) bt Kieran Merrilees (SCO,78) 21-17 21-17

[QF] Sourabh Varma (IND,57) bt (3) Marc Zwiebler (GER,13) 21-15 16-21 21-15
[QF] (12) Sameer Verma (IND,44) bt Artem Pochtarov (UKR,68) 21-14 21-16

[SF] Sourabh Varma (IND,57) vs (15) Anders Antonsen (DEN,39)
[SF] (12) Sameer Verma (IND,44) vs (4) Yuqi Shi (CHN,16)

Sourabh and Sameer r in the semis of Bitburger open ... In that both scored some impressive wins but I loved the most Sourabh's win over local favorite and experienced Marc Zwiebler.

On other note this week 16 yrs old Siril Verma becomes JR WR #1 in lastest BWF ranking.

Tennis News

At €3.7M BNP Paribas Masters 2016, Paris, France

[QF] Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Daniel Nestor (CAN) bt Nicholas Monroe (USA)/ Jack Sock (USA) 26 63 10-5

[SF] Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Daniel Nestor (CAN) vs (1) Pierre-Hugues Herbert (FRA)/ Nicolas Mahut (FRA)

Rohan-Nestor scored another win in match tie-break over American pair for entering into the semis ... After losing the first set easily Rohan-Nestor were leading 3-1 in the second ... American pair made it 3-all but after that Rohan_nestor took control of the match ... They won next 3 games for winning the second set and then dominated match tie-break ... In the semis they r facing top-seed French pair.

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At $50K+H Eckental Challenger, Germany

[QF] (2) Purav Raja (IND)/ Divij Sharan (IND) l Kevin Krawietz (GER)/ Albano Olivetti (FRA) 46 26

Surprising straight sets loss for Divij-Purav against French-German combination.

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At $50K Canberra 2 Challenger, Australia

[SF] (4) N. Sriram Balaji (IND)/ N Vijay Sundar Prashanth (IND) l (2) Luke Saville (AUS)/ Jordan Thompson (AUS) 67(4) 57

VSP and Bala lost in the semis against 2nd seed Aussie pair in closely fought sets.

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At $10K Vietnam F9 Futures, Thu Dau Mot City

[QF] (3) Sasi Kumar MUKUND (IND,527) l (6) Evan SONG (USA,719) 67(3) 57

Sasi needs to win these matches for moving ahead in his career ... I am disappointed by his loss against Song.

Tennis News

At €3.7M BNP Paribas Masters 2016, Paris, France

[R1] (8) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Daniel Nestor (CAN) bye
[R2] (8) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Daniel Nestor (CAN) bt Lucas Pouille (FRA)/ Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (FRA) 76(6) 67(2) 14-12

After long time seeing some fighting performance by Rohan and Nestor as pair ... They r in quarters of the Paris Masters with very hard fought close win against tricky French pair ... They won the first set in extra points of tie-break but French pair fought back winning the second set tie-break ... Our pair prevailed in 26 points long match tie-break after saving match points.

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At $50K Canberra 2 Challenger, Australia

[R2] N Vijay Sundar Prashanth (IND,598) l (8) John-Patrick Smith (AUS,234) 16 26
[R2] Sumit Nagal (IND,358) l (5) James Duckworth (AUS,160) 36 36

Doubles
[QF] (4) N. Sriram Balaji (IND)/ N Vijay Sundar Prashanth (IND) bt Dayne Kelly (AUS)/ Max Purcell (AUS) 61 36 10-7

[SF] (4) N. Sriram Balaji (IND)/ N Vijay Sundar Prashanth (IND) vs (2) Luke Saville (AUS)/ Jordan Thompson (AUS)

Sumit showed some glimpse of his talent but Duckworth proved better player for him ... VSP was over-powered by JPS in one-sided loss.

Bala-VSP scored another win in match tie-break against local pair for entering into the semis.

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At $50K+H Eckental Challenger, Germany

[R1] (2) Purav Raja (IND)/ Divij Sharan (IND) bt (WC) Maximilian Marterer (GER)/ Andreas Mies (GER) 36 63 11-9

[QF] (2) Purav Raja (IND)/ Divij Sharan (IND) vs Kevin Krawietz (GER)/ Albano Olivetti (FRA)

Purav-Divij needed comeback win after losing the first set against local wild-card pair ... Next they r facing French-German combination.

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At $10K Vietnam F9 Futures, Thu Dau Mot City

[R2] Niki KALIYANDA POONACHA (IND,1011) l (6) Evan SONG (USA,719) 36 76(8) 36
[R2] (3) Sasi Kumar MUKUND (IND,527) bt Vinayak Sharma KAZA (IND,1084) 64 64
[R2] Rishab AGARWAL (IND,846) l Francis Casey ALCANTARA (PHI,1340) 06 64 06

[QF] (3) Sasi Kumar MUKUND (IND,527) vs (6) Evan SONG (USA,719)

Sasi scored straight sets win over Vinayak ... Next he is facing American Evan Song, who scored three sets win over Niki ... Rishab lost in weird looking scoreline ... He lost first and third set 0-6 and won the second set.

Tennis News

At $50K Canberra 2 Challenger, Australia

[R1] N Vijay Sundar Prashanth (IND,598) bt Luke Saville (AUS,254) 64 62
[R1] Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,287) l Maverick Banes (AUS,436) 36 57
[R1] Sumit Nagal (IND,352) bt Dayne Kelly (AUS,328) 64 16 62
[R1] N. Sriram Balaji (IND,442) l (9) Marc Polmans (AUS,262) 26 46

[R2] N Vijay Sundar Prashanth (IND,598) vs (8) John-Patrick Smith (AUS,234)
[R2] Sumit Nagal (IND,358) vs (5) James Duckworth (AUS,160)

Doubles
[R1] Omar Jasika (AUS)/ Sumit Nagal (IND) l (1) Matt Reid (AUS)/ John-Patrick Smith (AUS) 26 16
[R1] (4) N. Sriram Balaji (IND)/ N Vijay Sundar Prashanth (IND) bt Jarmere Jenkins (USA)/ Anderson Reed (USA) 75 46 10-7

[QF] (4) N. Sriram Balaji (IND)/ N Vijay Sundar Prashanth (IND) vs Dayne Kelly (AUS)/ Max Purcell (AUS)

Really good straight sets win by VSP against talented and top-250 caliber Luke Saville ... Sumit also started with three sets win over higher ranked local player but other hand it seems Prajnesh struggled with jet-lag for his straight sets loss against lower ranked Aussie player ... Bala also failed to challenge Polmans in his straight sets loss ... Sumit and VSP having tough second round matches against local seeded players.

Bala-VSP started with tight match tie-break win over American pair ... Next they r facing Aussie pair ... Other hand top-seed proved too strong for Sumit and his partner.

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At $50K Charlottesville Challenger, USA

[R1] (Q) Yuki Bhambri (IND,552) l (6) Henri Laaksonen (SUI,134) 36 67(3)

Yuki lost in straight sets against Swiss player Laaksonen ... In the first set Yuki made load of unforced errors for losing the set ... In the second set he raised level of game but in end that wasn't enough as Laaksonen won tie-break for winning the match ... As per analysis, Yuki is failing to generate more power in his shots (like before injury) and also failing to give depth in his shots ... Similarly his serve is becoming liability ... His approaches to the net r on wrong selection of shots so he is struggling on the net ... Need more match practice and importantly hard work on his serve before next season.

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At $10K Vietnam F9 Futures, Thu Dau Mot City

[R1] (3) Sasi Kumar MUKUND (IND,527) bt Maciej SMOLA (POl,1005) 46 63 76(5)
[R1] Rishab AGARWAL (IND,846) bt Kittiphong WACHIRAMANOWONG (THA,1156) 57 63 76(4)
[R1] Vinayak Sharma KAZA (IND,1084) bt (Q) Congsup CONGCAR (THA,1404) 60 63
[R1] Niki KALIYANDA POONACHA (IND,1011) bt Siyu LIU (CHN,UNR) 2-0 retd.

[R2] (3) Sasi Kumar MUKUND (IND,527) vs Vinayak Sharma KAZA (IND,1084)
[R2] Rishab AGARWAL (IND,846) vs Francis Casey ALCANTARA (PHI,1340)
[R2] Niki KALIYANDA POONACHA (IND,1011) vs (6) Evan SONG (USA,719)

Our all four players r started with win but in contrasting style ... Sasi and Rishab needed comeback win after losing the first set and they both won their respective last set in tie-break ... Niki and Vinayak faced no such trouble in their respective matches, as Niki's Chinese opponent retired after 2nd game only.