Friday, December 30, 2016

Tennis News

At $10K ITF Women's Tennis Tournament 2016, Hong Kong, China

[SF] Karman Kaur THANDI (IND,568) l (Q) Nudnida LUANGNAM (THA,683) 36 26

Surprised by this scoreline in Kamran's loss against Thai veteran Luangnam ... After losing the first set Karman was up 2-0 but after that she lost next 6 games.

Thursday, December 29, 2016

Tennis News

At $10K ITF Women's Tennis Tournament 2016, Hong Kong, China

[QF] Karman Kaur THANDI (IND,568) bt Yuki Kristina CHIANG (USA,648) 62 64

[SF] Karman Kaur THANDI (IND,568) vs (Q) Nudnida LUANGNAM (THA,683)

Good win by Karman against experienced American girl Chiang in straight sets ... Next she is facing Thai veteran Luangnam, this will be some test for Karman.

Wednesday, December 28, 2016

Tennis News

At $10K ITF Women's Tennis Tournament 2016, Hong Kong, China

[R2] Karman Kaur THANDI (IND,568) bt (WC) Kwan Yau NG (HKG,1033) 61 62

[QF] Karman Kaur THANDI (IND,568) vs Yuki Kristina CHIANG (USA,648)

Another comfortable win for Karman against local wild-card player losing only 3 games ... Next she is facing American girl Chiang for place in the semis..

Monday, December 26, 2016

Tennis News

At $10K ITF Women's Tennis Tournament 2016, Hong Kong, China

[R1] Karman Kaur THANDI (IND,568) bt (WC) Ching WU (HKG,1249) 63 63

[R2] Karman Kaur THANDI (IND,568) vs (WC) Kwan Yau NG (HKG,1033)

Expected comfortable winning start for Karman against local wild-card player ... Next she is facing another local wild-card player, who scored upset win over 3rd seed Chinese player in the first round.

Sunday, December 25, 2016

Tennis News

At $10K Hong Kong F4 Futures, Hong Kong, China

Singles Final
(3) Yuki Bhambri (IND,530) bt (2) Shintaro Imai (JPN,499) 64 75

Yuki lifted another futures level title with straight sets win over his Japanese opponent ... Yuki wasn't in his fluent best but raised his game whenever it was required ... Still long way from achieving his pre-injury game and fitness.

Saturday, December 24, 2016

Tennis News

At $10K Hong Kong F4 Futures, Hong Kong, China

[SF] (3) Yuki Bhambri (IND,530) bt (1) Shuichi Sekiguchi (JPN,337) 63 64

[F] (3) Yuki Bhambri (IND,530) vs (2) Shintaro Imai (JPN,499)

Yuki in the final with comfortable win over top-seed Japanese oppoent Shuichi Sekiguchi ... In both sets Yuki did not tested by Shuichi ... In the final, he is facing 2nd seed Japanese oppoent Shintaro Imai.

Friday, December 23, 2016

tennis News

At $10K Hong Kong F4 Futures, Hong Kong, China

[QF] (3) Yuki Bhambri (IND,530) bt (6) Yecong He (CHN,631) 62 60

[SF] (3) Yuki Bhambri (IND,530) vs (1) Shuichi Sekiguchi (JPN,337)

Yuki continues with his dominance over his opponents in this futures ... He won comfortable against Yecong losing only 2 games in the match ... Next he will face his first test against Sekiguchi, who is top-350 player and former top-275 player.

Thursday, December 22, 2016

Tennis News

At Davis Cup 2017 - Asia/ Oceania Group I - 1st Round, Pune, India

Indian Team - Saketh Myneni, Ramkumar Ramanathan, Yuki Bhambri, Leander Paes, Prajnesh Gunneswaran
Non-playing Captain - Anand Amritraj
Coach - Zeeshan Ali

In big change All India Tennis Association has appointed Mahesh Bhupathi as the non-playing captain for the India Davis Cup team ... Anand Amritraj will continue to hold the post for first Davis Cup tie of the year against New Zealand in the Asia Oceania zone in Pune ... So after this tie Mahesh will take helm of the team.

The committee also announced team for New Zeland, giving Lee and Saki pairing another chance to play togather ... This 5 members team will trimmed down to 4 members before the tie.


At $10K Hong Kong F4 Futures, Hong Kong, China

[R2] (3) Yuki BHAMBRI (IND,530) bt (WC) Ching LAM (HKG,UNR) 61 61
[R2] Karunuday SINGH (IND,1433) l (8) Kento TAKEUCHI (JPN,635) 36 46
[R2] (WC) Karan RASTOGI (HKG,UNR) l (2) Shintaro IMAI (JPN,499) 75 46 67(4)

[QF] (3) Yuki Bhambri (IND,530) vs (6) Yecong He (CHN,631)

Yuki scored dominating win over local wild-card player ... In the quarters he is facing former top-500 Chinese player ... Other hand Karan lost really close match against top-500 Japanese player after winning the first ... KU must be disappointed with his performance after his loss.

Wednesday, December 21, 2016

Tennis News

At $25K ITF Women's Tennis Tournament 2016, Navi Mumbai, India

[R2] (WC) Rutuja BHOSALE (IND,NR) l (8) Jia-Jing LU (CHN,259) 26 36
[R2] Ankita RAINA (IND,271) l (Q) Na Ri KIM (KOR,446) 57 26

Our singles challenge got over in the second round ... Disappointed by Ankita's loss after her excellent upset win.

Tuesday, December 20, 2016

Tennis News

At $25K ITF Women's Tennis Tournament 2016, Navi Mumbai, India

[R1] (WC) Snehadevi S REDDY (IND,546) l Noppawan LERTCHEEWAKARN (THA,418) 16 57
[R1] (WC) Rutuja BHOSALE (IND,UNR) bt (Q) Karman Kaur THANDI (IND,582) 62 46 62
[R1] Ankita RAINA (IND,271) bt (3) Conny PERRIN (SUI,181) 60 46 61

[R2] (WC) Rutuja BHOSALE (IND,NR) vs (8) Jia-Jing LU (CHN,259)
[R2] Ankita RAINA (IND,271) vs (Q) Na Ri KIM (KOR,446)

Superb upset win by Ankita over top-200 Swiss player Conny Perrin ... After comfortably winning the first set Ankita lost the second set but she recovered well for winning the final set dominantly ... Next she is facing Korean qualifier.

For me Rutuja's win over Karman is big upset considering Karman's recent performance but still much needed win for Rutuja ... Now hoping that she will build on this ... Next she is facing 8th seed Chinese opponent.


At $10K Hong Kong F4 Futures, Hong Kong, China

[R1] Karunuday SINGH (IND,1433) bt (Q) Kazuma KAWACHI (JPN,2015) 75 62

[R2] (3) Yuki BHAMBRI (IND,530) vs (WC) Ching LAM (HKG,UNR)
[R2] Karunuday SINGH (IND,1433) vs (8) Kento TAKEUCHI (JPN,635)
[R2] (WC) Karan RASTOGI (HKG,UNR) vs (2) Shintaro IMAI (JPN,499)

Expected win for KU but next he and Karan having tough match against seeded Japanese players.

Monday, December 19, 2016

Tennis News

At $25K ITF Women's Tennis Tournament 2016, Navi Mumbai, India

[R1] (WC) Mihika YADAV (IND,885) l Valentyna IVAKHNENKO (UKR,321) 64 46 26
[R1] (WC) Prerna BHAMBRI (IND,619) l (Q) Ji-Hee CHOI (KOR,450) 46 06

Expected losses but Mihika gave fighting performance against top-325 Ukrainian player.

At $10K Hong Kong F4 Futures, Hong Kong, China

[R1] (3) Yuki BHAMBRI (IND,530) bt Rhett PURCELL (GBR,1128) 63 61
[R1] Koonwar GUPTA (IND,UNR) l Jack WONG (HKG,948) 16 26
[R1] (WC) Karan RASTOGI (HKG,UNR) bt (Q) Denton HO (HKG,UNR) 63 62

[R2] (3) Yuki BHAMBRI (IND,530) vs (WC) Ching LAM (HKG,UNR)

Good to see winning start for Yuki, though as per onlooker he was rusty in the beginning ... He needs more match practice before Australian open qualifying.

Sunday, December 18, 2016

Hockey News

At Junior Hockey World Cup 2016, Lucknow, India

Coutesy to Akashwani
Championship Match
India bt Belgium 2-1 (2-0)
Goal Scorers - Gurjant Singh (IND) 8', Simranjeet Singh (IND) 22' and Fabrice Van Bockrijck (BEL) 70' PC

INDIAN BOYS ARE JUNIOR WORLD CHAMPIONS!!

Our boys gave a stunning performance for lifting our 2nd Junior World Championships trophy ... We deserved to lift the trophy after a superb performance in the final ... After 15 yrs we managed to lift the second title and with this, we become first host nation to lift Junior World Championship.

Our boys started putting pressure on Belgian side from that start and earned a couple of penalty corners but failed to capitalized ... India took lead through MoM of the final, Gurjant smashed through a reverse hit over the right shoulder of the Belgian goalkeeper, that was amazing hit ... Indian kept putting pressure and in 22nd minute Simranjeet's reverse hit went low from the right of Belgian goalkeeper to give 2-0 lead ... After that, Belgium tried hard but our defense managed to keep the 2-0 advantage at half-time ... The second half was well contested as Belgian players were trying but our boys also gave a splendid performance ... We missed few chances but our player's intensity was very high ... In dying moments we conceded penalty corner and Belgium converted but it was too late.

Tennis News

At $25K ITF Women's Tennis Tournament 2016, Navi Mumbai, India

[R1] (WC) Snehadevi S REDDY (IND,546) vs Noppawan LERTCHEEWAKARN (THA,418)
[R1] (Q) Karman Kaur THANDI (IND,582) vs (WC) Rutuja BHOSALE (IND,NR)
[R1] Ankita RAINA (IND,271) vs (3) Conny PERRIN (SUI,181)
[R1] (WC) Mihika YADAV (IND,885) vs Valentyna IVAKHNENKO (UKR,321)
[R1] (WC) Prerna BHAMBRI (IND,619) vs (Q) Ji-Hee CHOI (KOR,450)

Only Karman managed to qualify for main-draw and facing Rutuja in the first round ... Our all other players having tough first round matches.

At $10K Hong Kong F4 Futures, Hong Kong, China

[R1] (3) Yuki BHAMBRI (IND,530) vs Rhett PURCELL (GBR,1128)
[R1] Karunuday SINGH (IND,1433) vs (Q) Kazuma KAWACHI (JPN,2024)
[R1] Koonwar GUPTA (IND,UNR) vs Jack WONG (HKG,948)

Good to see Yuki and KU r playing here ... Karan Rastogi is also playing here from Hong Kong.

Saturday, December 17, 2016

Badminton News

At Dubai World Superseries Finals 2016, UAE

[SF] PV Sindhu (IND,8) l Ji Hyun Sung (KOR,5) 15-21 21-18 15-21

Sindhu lost in three games against Sung in the semis of Superseries Finals ... In the first game, Sung took a 0-4 lead and kept that advantage throughout the game for winning it ... In the second game, Sindhi fought back and managed to play her game ... With the good net game and attacking game she managed to win it ... In the final game, Sung played smartly and managed to keep Sindhu back of the court so Sindhu failed to use her attacking game plan ... Sung again took 0-4 lead which she extended to 4-10 and then she kept the advantage for winning this game comfortably.

Tennis News

At $10K Qatar F6 Futures, Doha

Singles Final
(1) Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND,248) bt (2) Sebastian OFNER (AUT,302) 75 63

Back to back titles for RamK in Qatar after again beating Ofner ... RamK won the first set with a single break when he broke Ofner in 12th game ... In the second set, Ofner broke RamK in 3rd game to lead 1-3 ... After that RamK won consecutive five games for winning the match in that he broke Ofner twice in 6th and 8th games.

Friday, December 16, 2016

Hockey News

At Junior Hockey World Cup 2016, Lucknow, India

Semi Finals
India bt Australia 2-2 (0-1) 4-2 shoot-out
Goal Scorers - Gurjant Singh (IND) 42' and Mandeep Singh (IND) 48' and Tom Craig (AUS) 14', Lachlan Sharp (AUS) 57'

Indian boys came from a goal down to pip Australia 4-2 via shootout in a thrilling contest and enter the final of the men's Junior Hockey World Cup after 15 years ... In the final Indian boys r facing Belgium.

Indians were down early as Tom Craig scored in first 15 mins and Aussie boys kept that lead till half-time ... In the second-half, our boys started positively ... We scored two skillful field goals through Gurjant Singh and Mandeep Singh in six minutes ... But we conceded a soft goal due to miscommunication between our defense to equalize ... So the score was 2-all at the end of regulation time ... In the shoot-out, goalkeeper Vikas Dahiya rose to the occasion and made two fantastic saves to deny Australia's Matthew Bird and Sharp ... On the other hand the Indians, were clinical in the shoot-out with skipper Harjeet Singh, Harmanpreet Singh, Sumit and Manpreet (Jr) finding the back of the net past the Australian custodian.

Badminton News

At Dubai World Superseries Finals 2016, UAE

Group B
[M3] PV Sindhu (IND,8) bt Carolina Marin (ESP,7) 21-17 21-13

[SF] PV Sindhu (IND,8) vs Ji Hyun Sung (KOR,5)

Sindhu qualifies for the semis with coonvincing win over former WR #1 Carolina Marin ... After wiinning the first game Sindhu dominated the second ... She is facing Group A winner Korean Ji Hyun Sung.

Tennis News

At $10K Qatar F6 Futures, Doha

[SF] (1) Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND,248) bt (3) Edoardo EREMIN (ITA,362) 3-0 retd.

[F] (1) Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND,248) vs (2) Sebastian OFNER (AUT,302)

Due to injury Eremin retired from the match after three games ... Again last week's final repeat between RamK and Ofner.

Thursday, December 15, 2016

Hockey News

At Junior Hockey World Cup 2016, Lucknow, India

Quarter Finals
India bt Spain 2-1 (0-1)
Goal Scorers - Simranjeet Singh (IND) 57' PC, Harmanpreet Singh (IND) 66' PC and Marc Serrahima (ESP) 22' PC

India were lucky for completing this win as they struggled against solid Spanish defence ... Spain took early lead through penalty corner and other hand our struggled on converting PC continued in this match ... From the start I m saying, this poor PC conversion rate can cost us in big matches, till now we managed to convert only 5 from 26 PCs ... Next we r facing Aussie boys for place in the final.

Badminton News

At Dubai World Superseries Finals 2016, UAE

Group B
[M2] PV Sindhu (IND,10) l Sun Yu (CHN,3) 15-21 17-21

Sindhu lost in straight games against Sun Yu and now tough challenge of beating WR #1 Carolina Marín in her last match for any hope on the semis..

Tennis News

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

[QF] (WC) Karman Kaur THANDI (IND,582) l Polina MONOVA (RUS,341) 36 67(3)

Karman lost in straight sets against her Russian opponent, in both sets she was break up but failed to take advantage ... So with that her decent run ended in the quarters.

At $10K Qatar F6 Futures, Doha

[QF] (1) Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND,248) bt Scott CLAYTON (GBR,721) 61 75

[SF] (1) Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND,248) vs (3) Edoardo EREMIN (ITA,362)

Another comfortable win in the quarters against British player ... Next he is facing 3rd seed Italian Eremin.

Snooker News

At £366K Scottish Open 2016, Glasgow, Scotland

[R2] Aditya Mehta (IND,103) l Noppon Saengkham (THA,75) 2-4 (8-91, 94(60)-14, 14-78(72), 67-24, 60(56)-69, 27-69)

Aditya ended the season on a sour note as he again failed to score back to back wins ... Both players shared early four frames for 2-all but afterward Noppon Saengkham played smartly for winning the fifth and kept that momentum for winning the sixth.

Wednesday, December 14, 2016

Badminton News

At Dubai World Superseries Finals 2016, UAE

Group B
[M1] PV Sindhu (IND,10) bt Akane Yamaguchi (JPN,8) 12-21 21-8 21-15

After losing the first game Sindhu made strong comeback for winning next two games in her first group match against Japanese Yamaguchi ... Tomorrow she is facing Chinese girl Sun Yu, who today defeated WR #1 Carolina Marín.

Tennis News

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

[R2] (Q) Nidhi CHILUMULA (IND,852) l (1) Conny PERRIN (SUI,181) 26 26
[R2] (WC) Karman Kaur THANDI (IND,582) bt Anastasia GASANOVA (RUS,387) 62 16 62
[R2] (WC) Natasha PALHA (IND,758) l Polina MONOVA (RUS,341) 26 46

[QF] (WC) Karman Kaur THANDI (IND,582) vs Polina MONOVA (RUS,341)

Karman scored another three sets upset win over Russian top-400 player Gasanova for entering into the quarter finals ... Next she is facing another Russian Polina Monova, who defeated Natasha in straight sets ... Conny proved too strong for Nidhi.

At $10K Qatar F6 Futures, Doha

[R2] (1) Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND,248) bt Mateusz TERCZYNSKI (POL,995) 63 63

[QF] (1) Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND,248) vs Scott CLAYTON (GBR,721)

Expected comfortable straight sets win for RamK against Polish opponent ... Next he is facing Britisher Scott Clayton.

Snooker News

At £366K Scottish Open 2016, Glasgow, Scotland

[R1] Aditya Mehta (IND,103) bt Yan Bingtao (CHN,70) 4-1 (62-34, 72(64)-74, 61-10, 74-41, 67-61)

[R2] Aditya Mehta (IND,103) vs Noppon Saengkham (THA,75)

Aditya started with the upset win over top-70 Chinese opponent Bingtao ... Almost all frames were closely fought but Aditya managed to win crucial points for a win in 5 frames ... Next, he is facing Thai opponent Noppon Saengkham.

Tuesday, December 13, 2016

Tennis News

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

[R1] (WC) Karman Kaur THANDI (IND,582) bt (8) Valeriya STRAKHOVA (UKR,275) 26 62 64
[R1] (7) Ankita RAINA (IND,271) l Katy DUNNE (GBR,316) 36 62 26
[R1] (WC) Rutuja BHOSALE (IND,UNR) l (Q) Anastasia PRIBYLOVA (RUS,481) 57 57
[R1] (WC) Dhruthi TATACHAR VENUGOPAL (IND,577) l Ana VESELINOVIC (MNE,415) 57 16

[R2] (Q) Nidhi CHILUMULA (IND,852) vs (1) Conny PERRIN (SUI,181)
[R2] (WC) Natasha PALHA (IND,758) vs Polina MONOVA (RUS,341)
[R2] (WC) Karman Kaur THANDI (IND,582) vs Anastasia GASANOVA (RUS,387)

Today only Karman managed to score upset win over top-275 Ukrainian player ... After losing the first set Karman made excellent comeback for winning next two sets ... Next she is facing top-400 Russian player Gasanova.

Surprising loss of Ankita against Britisher Katy ... After losing the first set Ankita tried comeback winning the second but Katy again took control in the third for winning this match ... Previously Ankita gave better performance in Pune tournaments, that's why it is surprising ... Rutuja gave fighting performance against top-500 player in her loss ... Dhruti also gave decent performance in her loss.


At $10K Qatar F6 Futures, Doha

[R1] (1) Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND,248) bt Aoxiong WANG (CHN,1341) 61 60

[R2] (1) Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND,248) vs Mateusz TERCZYNSKI (POL,995)

Unnecessarily RamK is playing this week's futures ... He needs to rest his body and work on his game under coaches instead he continues playing in Qatar.

Monday, December 12, 2016

Hockey News

At At Junior Hockey World Cup 2016, Lucknow, India

Group D
India bt South Africa 2-1 (1-1)
Goal Scorers - Harjeet Singh (IND) 11', Mandeep Singh (IND) 55' and Kyle Lion-Cachet (RSA) 28' PC

In this match also .our struggle on penalty corner conversion and in trapping continued ... I really hope this will not cost us in knock-out ... We r facing Spain in the quarter-finals.

Our captain Harjeet gave us early lead but we failed to take advatage of extending lead despite so many circle pentrations and couple of penalty corners ... South African eqalized in the late of second half through penalty corner conversion ... In the second half, again our players missed many chances before Mandeep scored to give us alead ... We defnded last 15 mins for completing win and winning this Group D

Tennis News

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

[R1] (Q) Nidhi CHILUMULA (IND,852) bt Ji-Hee CHOI (KOR,451) 76(3) 57 64
[R1] (WC) Natasha PALHA (IND,758) bt (Q) Stefanie TAN (SGP,465) 76(2) 63
[R1] (WC) Karman Kaur THANDI (IND,582) vs (8) Valeriya STRAKHOVA (UKR,275)
[R1] (7) Ankita RAINA (IND,271) vs Katy DUNNE (GBR,316)
[R1] (WC) Rutuja BHOSALE (IND,UNR) vs (Q) Anastasia PRIBYLOVA (RUS,481)
[R1] (WC) Dhruthi TATACHAR VENUGOPAL (IND,577) vs Ana VESELINOVIC (MNE,415)

Nidhi and Natasha started with contrasting upset wins over top-500 players ... Nidhi won really colse match against top-450 Korean player and Natasha defeated her Singaporean opponent in straight sets.

Saturday, December 10, 2016

Golf News

At €500K Omega Dubai Ladies Masters 2016, UAE

Courtesy of http://ladieseuropeantour.com/
T3 Aditi Ashok (IND) 70 70 70 -6 € 26,250.00

Aditi scored consistent three 2 under rounds for finishing on tied 3rd in this season-ending Dubai Masters ... So very solid end for a fantastic rookie season for Aditi .. Aditi also finished on 2nd position with € 206,664.97 prize money in 2016 Order of Merit on the European Ladies tour ... Also, Aditi sealed her sensational first season on the Ladies European Tour by collecting her Omega watch as the winner of the LET’s Rookie of the Year Award.

At $2M UBS Hong Kong Open 2016, Hong Kong

T29 Arjun Atwal (IND) 70 70 66 71 -3 $16,628.57
T45 Gaganjeet Bhullar (IND) 69 69 71 71 PAR $10,000.00
T54 Shiv Kapur (IND) 68 69 68 77 +2 $7,000.00

After the third round, Shiv Kapur was in top-15 with 5 under but 7 over last round dumped him out of top-50 finish ... Arjun needed good positioning to retain his Asian tour card so with the top-30 finish he managed to retain his Asian tour card for 2017 season.

Squash News

At $100K Men's St George's Hill Classic 2016, Weybridge, Surrey, England

[R2] Saurav Ghosal (IND,22) l Daryl Selby (ENG,16) 5-11, 3-11, 6-11 (45m)

Surprisingly Britisher Daryl Selby proved too strong for Saurav in this match.

Hockey News

At Junior Hockey World Cup 2016, Lucknow, India

Group D
India bt England 5-3 (2-1)
Goal Scorers - Parvinder Singh (IND) 24', Armaan Qureshi (IND) 35', Harmanpreet Singh (IND) 37' PC, Simranjeet Singh (IND) 47', Varun Kumar (IND) 59' PC and Jack Clee (ENG) 10', Will Calnan (ENG) 63', Edward Horler (ENG) 67' PC

British boys took early lead through brilliant chip from Clee over the goalkeeper ... After that Our boys kept trying and equalized through Parvinder's field goal ... Before stroke of half-time Armaan scored opportunist goal to give us lead ... Harmanpreet gave us 2 goals cushion after converting 4th penalty corner in early of the second half ... Our boys kept playing attacking game and they scored another to extend lead through Simranjeet ... Before hour mark Varun converted another penalty corner for inasseccible lead to us ... Again a lapse of concentration in the final ten minutes as England scored two goals to reduce the lead .. We need to avoid this in big matches.

Tennis News

At $10K Qatar F5 Futures 2016, Doha

Singles Final
(1) Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,249) bt (2) Sebastian Ofner (AUT,312) 75 63

RamK justified his ranking and won the final in straight sets ... With that RamK defended much needed 18 ranking points from last year to remain inside top-250 ... And I feel that will be enough for him to find himself in Australian open 2017 qualifying list.

Badminton News

At $120K Korea Masters Championships, Seogwipo, South Korea (Grand Prix Gold)

[SF] Parupalli Kashyap (IND,95) l (1) Son Wan Ho (KOR,6) 21-23 16-21

Kashyap lost in straight games against WR #6 Korean Son Wan Ho ... Kashyap had his chances as he was leading most part of the first game ... He also had 2 game points at 20-19 and 21-20 but failed to convert ... Son took advantage of that for winning the game and then comfortably winning the second game ... Still good performance from Kashyap as he reached his first Grand Prix Gold event semi-final after his long injury return.

Snooker News

At German Masters Qualifiers 2016, Barnsley, England

[QR2] Aditya Mehta (IND,103) l Thepchaiya Un-Nooh (THA,32) 4-5 (118(86)-0, 0-123(122), 21-66, 82-9, 77-70(64), 28-101(63), 55-21, 21-112(112), 37-84)

Aditya had a close loss against #31 ranked Thai player Thepchaiya Un-Nooh in 9 frames ... In this match both players scored 100+ breaks but after taking 4-3 frames lead Aditya failed to close this match ... Other hand Un-Nooh scored another 100+ break and managed pressure on Aditya for winning the match.

Friday, December 09, 2016

Badminton News

At $120K Korea Masters Championships, Seogwipo, South Korea (Grand Prix Gold)

[R1] Parupalli Kashyap (IND,95) bt Kang Min Woo (KOR,UNR) w/o
[R2] Parupalli Kashyap (IND,95) bt (4) Wang Tzu Wei (TPE,30) 21-15 9-21 21-19
[R3] Parupalli Kashyap (IND,95) bt Zhou Zeqi (CHN,277) 21-11 13-21 21-8

[QF] Parupalli Kashyap (IND,95) bt (6) Jeon Hyeok Jin (KOR,44) 18-21 21-8 21-16

[SF] Parupalli Kashyap (IND,95) vs (1) Son Wan Ho (KOR,6)

Kashyap is in the semis of Korean GP Gold tournament ... In the quarter he scored impressive comeback win over top-50 Korean Jeon Hyeok Jin ... Before that he scored good win against top-30 Taiwani player in the second round ... Next, he is having tough challenge of Korean top-10 player Son Wan Ho.

Tennis News

At $10K ITF Women's Tennis Tournament 2015, Solapur, India

[SF] Zeel DESAI (IND) l (2) Anastasia GASANOVA (RUS) 57 57

Zeel's creditable run ended against Gasanova in the semis ... She was leading 4-2 in the first before Gasanova took control of the set ... After losing the first set Zeel kept fighting but in end Gasanova proved better player on the court.

At $10K Qatar F5 Futures 2016, Doha

[SF] (1) Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,249) bt (Q) Matthieu Roy (FRA,1271)

[F] (1) Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,249) vs (2) Sebastian Ofner (AUT,312)

RamK scored comfortable win over Frenchman Matthieu Roy for entering into the final ... In the final he is facing 2nd Austrian Sebastian Ofner.

Snooker News

At German Masters Qualifiers 2016, Barnsley, England

[QR1] Aditya Mehta (IND,103) bt Nigel Bond (ENG,71) 5-4 (0-71, 9-59(53), 67(62)-12, 19-71, 115(102)-0, 91(51)-28, 47-67, 67-31, 69(50)-20)

[QR2] Aditya Mehta (IND,103) vs Thepchaiya Un-Nooh (THA,32)

Aditya scored an impressive comeback win over veteran and former top-5 British player Nigel Bond in a tight match ... Aditya was 0-2 and 1-3 down but he caught with Nigel, 3 frames all ... Nigel won 7th frame to lead 3-4, again Aditya kept his cool for winning final two frames for completing victory ... Next, he is facing #31 ranked Thai player Thepchaiya Un-Nooh.

Squash News

At $100K Men's St George's Hill Classic 2016, Weybridge, Surrey, England

[R1] Saurav Ghosal (IND,22) bt (7) Borja Golan (ESP,17) 11-5, 11-7, 10-12, 11-8 (64m)

[R2] Saurav Ghosal (IND,22) vs Daryl Selby (ENG,16)

Saurav started with the upset win over 7th seed Borja in four games ... Next, he is facing Britisher Daryl Selby, who scored the upset win over WR #1 Mohamed Elshorbagy in a marathon match.

Hockey News

At Junior Hockey World Cup 2016, Lucknow, India

Pool D
India bt Canada 4-0 (1-0)
Goal Scorers - Mandeep Singh (IND) 35', Harmanpreet Singh (IND) 46' PC, Varun Kumar (IND) 60', Ajit Pandey (IND) 66'

India started their campaign with a win over Canadian boys ... This match we had to win by at least 10 goals but our forward line struggled in-front of the goal ... We missed numerous chances and waited till last minute of the first half for scoring first goal ... Other worrying part lack of penalty corner specialist as we managed to score only one goal from seven penalty corners ... Our goalkeeper and defenders didn't tested in this match but I feel we need to show improvement by leaps and bounds for winning the World cup.

Tennis News

At $10K ITF Women's Tennis Tournament 2015, Solapur, India

[R1] (1) Diana MARCINKEVICA (LAT) bt Dhruthi TATACHAR VENUGOPAL (IND) 75 61
[R1] Kyra SHROFF (IND) bt (Q) Arthi MUNIYAN (IND) 60 60
[R1] Ola ABOU ZEKRY (EGY) bt Pareen SHIVEKAR (IND) 61 61
[R1] (8) Prerna BHAMBRI (IND) bt Amrita MUKHERJEE (IND) 75 62
[R1] (3) Chieh-Yu HSU (TPE) bt Eetee MAHETA (IND) 61 64
[R1] Prarthana G. THOMBARE (IND) bt Sowjanya BAVISETTI (IND) 63 06 61
[R1] Ramya NATARAJAN (IND) bt (Q) Anusha KONDAVEETI (IND) 61 62
[R1] (7) Snehadevi S REDDY (IND) bt Malaika Alex FERNANDES (IND) 61 61
[R1] Nidhi CHILUMULA (IND) bt (Q) Soha SADIQ (IND) 64 63
[R1] Zeel DESAI (IND) bt Kanika VAIDYA (IND) 26 63 75
[R1] (4) Anastasia PRIBYLOVA (RUS) bt (Q) Preethi UJJINI (IND) 63 63
[R1] Karman Kaur THANDI (IND) bt (Q) Vasavi GANESAN (IND) 63 62
[R1] (Q) Sai Samhitha CHAMARTHI (IND) bt (Q) Dakshata GIRISHKUMAR PATEL (IND) 63 75
[R1] (2) Anastasia GASANOVA (RUS) bt Natasha PALHA (IND) 63 60

[R2] (1) Diana MARCINKEVICA (LAT) bt Kyra SHROFF (IND) 61 63
[R2] Ola ABOU ZEKRY (EGY) bt (8) Prerna BHAMBRI (IND) 16 64 61
[R2] (3) Chieh-Yu HSU (TPE) bt Prarthana G. THOMBARE (IND) 64 61
[R2] (7) Snehadevi S REDDY (IND) bt Ramya NATARAJAN (IND) 63 64
[R2] Chanelle VAN NGUYEN (USA) bt Nidhi CHILUMULA (IND) 64 60
[R2] Zeel DESAI (IND) bt (4) Anastasia PRIBYLOVA (RUS) 61 75
[R2] Karman Kaur THANDI (IND) bt Britt GEUKENS (BEL) 36 75 61
[R2] (2) Anastasia GASANOVA (RUS) bt (Q) Sai Samhitha CHAMARTHI (IND) 63 64

[QF] Zeel DESAI (IND) bt Chanelle VAN NGUYEN (USA) 61 5-5 retd
[QF] (2) Anastasia GASANOVA (RUS) bt Karman Kaur THANDI (IND) 75 75

[SF] Zeel DESAI (IND) vs (2) Anastasia GASANOVA (RUS)

Terrific run by Zeel in this ongoing ITF tournament ... She is in the semis with really good upset win over 4th seed Russian player Anastasia Pribylova and former top-20 collegiate player Chanelle Van Nguyen ... In the semis she is facing 2nd seed Russian Anastasia Gasanova, who ended good run of Karman in the quarters.

At $10K Qatar F5 Futures 2016, Doha

[R1] (1) Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,249) bt Marek Semjan (SVK,1283) 64 64
[R2] (1) Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,249) bt Marcin Gawron (POL,671) 76(3) 60
[QF] (1) Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,249) bt Geoffrey Blancaneaux (FRA,624) 62 62

[SF] (1) Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,249) vs (Q) Matthieu Roy (FRA,1271)

This week better performance by RamK as top-seed ... Reaching into the semis without dropping the set ... Next he is facing French qualifier.

Sunday, December 04, 2016

Golf News

At $400K Panasonic Open India 2016, New Delhi

Courtesy Asian tour
1 Mukesh Kumar (IND) 67 69 70 -10 $72,000.00
T2 Jyoti Randhawa (IND) 67 72 68 -9 $34,600.00
T2 Rashid Khan (IND) 67 72 68 -9 $34,600.00
5 Honey Baisoya (IND) 73 69 67 -7 $16,400.00
6 Shankar Das (IND) 71 67 72 -6 $13,320.00
T7 Shamim Khan (IND) 67 74 70 -5 $9,350.00
T7 Sanjeev Kumar (L) (IND) 71 69 71 -5 $9,350.00
T7 Kapil Kumar (IND) 68 72 71 -5 $9,350.00
T7 Khalin Joshi (IND) 67 71 73 -5 $9,350.00
Showing only top-10 Indians from the list.

The veteran Mukesh Kumar had a two-shot advantage heading into the third and final round, closed with a two-under-par 70 for a winning total of 10-under-par 206 at the US$400,000 Asian Tour event, which was earlier reduced to 54 holes due to fog disruptions to claim his first Asian Tour title by one shot ... Mukesh Kumar’s victory made him the oldest winner on the Asian Tour at the age of 51 years and 126 days ... Indian duo Jyoti Randhawa and Rashid Khan closed with matching 68s to share second place.

At LPGA and Symetra Tour Qualifying School 2016 - Stage III, Daytona Beach, Florida, USA

T24 Aditi Ashok (IND) 73 70 71 71 73 -2

As per rule, Players that finish in the top 20 (no ties) will earn LPGA Tour membership in category 12 while those that finish 21-45 (including ties) will earn membership in category 17. If necessary, there will be a playoff for the final spots in category 12 (full membership) only.

Aditi failed to take advantage of the easier Jones course so she struggled to finish in top-20 for securing full membership ... In the final round she required 2 under round for finishing inside top-20 but in end she managed 1 over round ... So with that she has earned conditional membership in category 17 on LPGA tour.

Saturday, December 03, 2016

Tennis News

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

[SF] (5) Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,284) l (1) Denis Istomin (UZB,121) 26 61 9-11

Doubles
[F] (4) Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND)/ N Vijay Sundar Prashanth (IND) l (3) Cheng Peng Hsieh (TPE)/ Tsung-Hua Yang (TPE) 16 46

Prajnesh missed big opportunity of entering in the final after missing 3 match points in the decider ... After losing the first set easily Prajnesh made strong comeback dominating the second set ... In the decider he took early break in 3rd game, 2-1, but while serving for the match at 5-4 he failed to convert 3 match points ... After that it was game of fitness and Istomin was better ... He broke Prajnesh in 20th game for completing victory ... At 7-all Prajnesh twisted his ankle while returning, so after that he was hobbling.

Jeevan-VSP also missed chance AO wildcard as they lost in straight sets against Taipei pair.


At $10K Indonesia F4 Futures 2016, Jakarta

[QF] Sidharth Rawat (IND,613) bt (7) Kento Takeuchi (JPN,575) 64 67(2) 62
[QF] (6) Sasi Kumar Mukund (IND,533) bt (Q) Cing-Yang Meng (TPE,1302) 62 64

[SF] Sidharth Rawat (IND,613) l Shintaro Imai (JPN,598) 46 57
[SF] (6) Sasi Kumar Mukund (IND,533) l (4) Enzo Couacaud (FRA,527) 26 26

Sid scored three sets win over his seeded Japanese opponent for entering into the semis ... Sasi scored comfortable straight sets win over Taipei qualifier ... But in the semifinal our both players failed to overcome challenge of their respective opponents ... Sasi was overpowered by former top-200 type Frenchman and this time Sid failed to overcome challenge of his Japanese opponent ... Still good week for Sid and Sasi.

Friday, December 02, 2016

Badminton News

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

[QF] Sai Praneeth B. (IND,37) l Jun Peng Zhao (CHN,125) 19-21 9-21

[QF] (1) Saina Nehwal (IND,10) l Yiman Zhang (CHN,226) 12-21 17-21

Our both players lost against unknown Chinese players ... Unheard Yiman Zhang proved surprise package for Saina as Zhang defeated her convincingly in straight games.

Sai also lost in straight games against unheard Jun Peng Zhao in straight games.

Tennis News

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

[QF] (8) N. Vijay Sundar Prashanth (IND,559) l (3) Di Wu (CHN,159) 64 36 46
[QF] (5) Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,284) bt Francis Casey Alcantara (PHI,929) 64 61
[QF] (8) Ankita Raina (IND,270) l (2) Kai-Chen Chang (TPE,131) 16 16

[SF] (5) Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,284) vs (1) Denis Istomin (UZB,121)

Doubles
[SF] (4) Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND)/ N Vijay Sundar Prashanth (IND) bt Peng-Xiang Gong (CHN)/ Xi Qi (CHN) 61 62

[F] (4) Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND)/ N Vijay Sundar Prashanth (IND) vs (3) Cheng Peng Hsieh (TPE)/ Tsung-Hua Yang (TPE)

Prajnesh scored comfortable win against his Filipino opponent for entering into the semis ... He is having tough match against top-seed Denis Istomin.

VSP started well after winning the first set but then failed to keep same level of game in next two for losing the match ... Ankita failed to challenge top-150 Chang in one-sided loss.

In the doubles, Jeevan and VSP scored comfortable win over unseeded Chinese pair for entering into the final ... They r facing 3rd seed Taipei pair for winning wildcard for Australian open.

Thursday, December 01, 2016

Badminton News

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

[R3] Sai Praneeth B. (IND,37) bt (5) Wing Ki Vincent Wong (HKG,18) 21-15 21-17
[R3] Kashyap Parupalli (IND,116) l Yu Hsien Lin (TPE,52) 13-21 20-22

[R2] (1) Saina Nehwal (IND,10) bt Dinar Dyah Ayustine (INA,51) 17-21 21-18 21-12

[R2] (3) Manu Attri (IND)/ B. Sumeeth Reddy (IND) l Danny Bawa Chrisnanta (SIN)/ Hendra Wijaya (SIN) 20-22 19-22

[QF] Sai Praneeth B. (IND,37) vs Jun Peng Zhao (CHN,125)

[QF] (1) Saina Nehwal (IND,10) vs Yiman Zhang (CHN,226)

Saina needed another comeback win over another Indonesian girl after losing the first game, good to see she is winning these tight matches ... Next, she is facing young Chinese opponent, Yiman Zhang.

Sai scored comfortable win over 5th seed Hong Kong's Wing Ki Vincent Wong for entering into the quarters ... Next he is also facing young Chinese opponent Jun Peng Zhao.

Kashyap failed to overcome a challenge of Taipei's Yu Hsien Lin ... Manu-Sumeeth also lost in tight two games against former top-20 doubles players.

Tennis News

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

[R1] (5) Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,284) bt Xiao Gong (CHN,1218) 46 64 62

[QF] (8) N. Vijay Sundar Prashanth (IND,559) vs (3) Di WU (CHN,159)
[QF] (5) Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,284) vs Francis Casey ALCANTARA (PHI,929)
[QF] (8) Ankita Raina (IND,270) vs (2) Kai-Chen CHANG (TPE,131)

Doubles
[QF] (4) Ankita Raina (IND)/ Sabina Sharipova (UZB) l Chin-Wei Chan (TPE)/ Junri Namigata (JPN) 63 26 8-10

Prajnesh scored comeback win over lowly ranked Chinese opponent after losing the first set ... In the doubles, Ankita with Sabina lost in super tie-break after winning the first set.

At $10K Indonesia F4 Futures 2016, Jakarta

[R2] Rishab AGARWAL (IND,760) l (Q) Lingxi ZHAO (CHN,UNR) 46 67(4)
[R2] Sidharth RAWAT (IND,613) bt (3) Yusuke TAKAHASHI (JPN,453) 64 62
[R2] (6) Sasi Kumar MUKUND (IND,533) bt Yecong HE (CHN,635) 63 63

[QF] Sidharth RAWAT (IND,613) vs (7) Kento TAKEUCHI (JPN,575)
[QF] (6) Sasi Kumar MUKUND (IND,533) vs (Q) Cing-Yang MENG (TPE,1302)

Sid scored impressive win over top-450 type Japanese opponent in straight sets ... Sasi also joined him in the quarters with comfortable win over Chinese opponent ... But disappointing loss of Rishab against top-50 junior Chinese player.

At $10K Qatar F4 Futures 2016, Doha

[QF] (1) Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,249) l (8) Jonny O'Mara (GBR,544) 75 26 57

Disappointing loss for RamK against 500+ British player after winning the first set.

At $10K ITF Women's Tennis Tournament 2016, Cairo, Egypt

[R2] Bhuvana KALVA (IND,UNR) l Akiho KAKUYA (JPN,UNR) 63 46 36

Failed to continue with her good performance as Bhuvana lost after winning the first set.

Table Tennis News

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