Thursday, November 30, 2017

Snooker News

At £850K UK Championship 2017, York, England

[R1] Aditya Mehta (IND,81) bt Sam Baird (ENG,58) 6-5 (51-65, 44-76, 64(56)-17, 38-78, 78(77)-24, 83(65)-49, 110(95)-0, 83(83)-0, 27-95(91), 26-61, 75(53)-69)

[R2] Aditya Mehta (IND,81) vs Luca Brecel (BEL,13)

Aditya scored fighting win over higher ranked British player, Sam Baird ... Aditya was 1-3 down before scoring four 50+ breaks in a row for taking 5-3 lead ... Sam tried a fightback as he won next two frames and in the decider he took early lead ... But Aditya scored his sixth 50+ break of the match for winning this seesaw battle by 6 pts ... Next, he will be facing in-form young Belgian Luca Brecel.

Weightlifting News

At the World Weightlifting Championships 2017, Anaheim, United States

Picture Credit to IWF site
Picture Credit to The Bridge
Women's 48 kg
Gold - Saikhom Mirabai Chanu(IND) (85+109) 194 kg
Silver - Thunya Sukcharoen (THA) (86+107) 193 kg
Bronze - Ana Iris Segura (COL) (81+101) 182 kg

Mirabai Chanu becomes only the 2nd Indian after Karnam Malleshwari to win a GOLD at the Weightlifting World Championships ... Her total lift of 194kg is also the new National Record.

After the Snatch round, Thai girl Sukcharoen was leading by one kilogram after lifting 86 kg, but Chanu lifted 109 kg in the Clean and Jerk, those were two kilograms more than Thai girl for winning a Gold.

Tennis News

At Australian Open 2018 - Asia-Pacific Wildcard Play-off, Zhuhai, China

[R1] (6) Sumit Nagal (IND,225) l Jurabek Karimov (UZB,614) 57 46

Doubles
[QF] (3) Vishnu Vardhan (IND)/ N. Sriram Balaji (IND) bt (WC) Ye Du (CHN)/ Qun Gao (CHN) 62 64
[QF] (2) Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND)/ Christopher Rungkat (INA) bt Hiroki Moriya (JPN)/ Yusuke Takahashi (JPN) 36 63 10-5

[SF] (2) Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND)/ Christopher Rungkat (INA) vs (3) Vishnu Vardhan (IND)/ N. Sriram Balaji (IND)

Very surprising loss of Sumit against former top-10 junior player Karimov ... In the first set, Karimov broke Sumit in 6th game to lead 2-4 but Sumit immediately broke him ... When serving for staying in the set, Sumit failed to hold his service game and lost the set ... In the second set, Sumit broke Karimov in 1st and 3rd games to lead 4-0 ... But something went wrong from 4-1 and 40-0 as he lost six games in a row for losing the match ... He made too many unforced errors in this match ... So hopefully he wil end his season this week and take time off before taking off-season training.

Bala-Vishnu r in the semis with a comfortable win over local pair ... they will be facing Jeevan-Chris, who scored a comeback win over experienced Japanese players in the match tie-break.


At $25K Indonesia F8 Futures 2017, Jakarta

[R2] Sidharth Rawat (IND,524) l (1) Duckhee Lee (KOR,216) 36 75 46
[R2] (2) Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,256) vs (Q) Manish Sureshkumar (IND,1188) 64 1-2 (interrupted)

[QF] N. Vijay Sundar Prashanth (IND,588) vs Cheng-Yu Yu (TPE,657) 76(4) (interrupted)

Sid failed to complete the victory and lost in the three sets against Duckhee.

At $15K ITF Women's Tennis Tournament 2017, Indore, India

[QF] Mahak JAIN (IND,809) bt (1) Dea HERDZELAS (BIH,393) 63 64
[QF] (4) Pranjala YADLAPALLI (IND,498) bt (8) Albina KHABIBULINA (UZB,605) 64 64

[SF] Mahak JAIN (IND,809) vs (3) Ana VESELINOVIC (MNE,425)
[SF] (4) Pranjala YADLAPALLI (IND,498) vs (2) Olga DOROSHINA (RUS,439)

Mahak scored a huge win over top-400 Herdzelas in the straight sets ... In the semis, she is facing top-425 player Veselinovic ... Pranjala also scored a comfortable straight sets win over Khabibulina ... She will be facing Russian player Doroshina.

Wednesday, November 29, 2017

Tennis News

At Australian Open 2018 - Asia-Pacific Wildcard Play-off, Zhuhai, China

[R1] (Q) Vishnu Vardhan (IND,506) bt (5) Tsung-Hua Yang (TPE,262) 64 57 64
[R1] N. Sriram Balaji (IND,372) l (8) Hiroki Moriya (JPN,343) 57 06
[R1] (6) Sumit Nagal (IND,225) vs Jurabek Karimov (UZB,614)

[QF] (Q) Vishnu Vardhan (IND,506) vs (1) Soon Woo Kwon (KOR,168)

Doubles
[R1] (3) Vishnu Vardhan (IND)/ N. Sriram Balaji (IND) bye
[R1] (2) Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND)/ Christopher Rungkat (INA) bye

[QF] (3) Vishnu Vardhan (IND)/ N. Sriram Balaji (IND) vs (WC) Ye Du (CHN)/ Qun Gao (CHN)
[QF] (2) Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND)/ Christopher Rungkat (INA) vs Hiroki Moriya (JPN)/ Yusuke Takahashi (JPN)

A superb upset win by Vishnu against top-275 Taipei player in the first round ... Next, he is facing top-seed and top-175 Korean, Soon Woo Kwon ... Bala lost in the straight sets against former top-150 Japanese Hiroki Moriya ... Sumit will be starting his campaign from tomorrow.

In the doubles, our both pairs received bye in the first round ... In the quarters, Bala-Vishnu r facing local pair and Jeevan-Chris r facing experienced Japanese players.


At $25K Indonesia F8 Futures 2017, Jakarta

[R2] Sidharth Rawat (IND,524) vs (1) Duckhee Lee (KOR,216) 36 75 2-3 (interrupted)
[R2] N. Vijay Sundar Prashanth (IND,588) bt (3) Ti Chen (TPE,320) 63 36 63
[R2] (7) Sasi Kumar Mukund (IND,429) l Cheng-Yu Yu (TPE,657) 26 76(2) 57
[R2] (2) Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,256) vs (Q) Manish Sureshkumar (IND,1188)

[QF] N. Vijay Sundar Prashanth (IND,588) vs Cheng-Yu Yu (TPE,657)

VSP scored superb upset win over experienced Ti Chen ... In the quarters, VSP is facing Cheng-Yu Yu, who scored an upset win over Sasi in the three sets.

At $15K ITF Women's Tennis Tournament 2017, Indore, India

[R2] Mahak JAIN (IND) bt (5) Riya BHATIA (IND) 63 36 76(3)
[R2] (Q) Shrivalli Rashmikaa BHAMIDIPATY (IND) l (3) Ana VESELINOVIC (MNE) 26 36
[R2] (Q) Bhuvana KALVA (IND) vs (8) Albina KHABIBULINA (UZB) 61 16 16
[R2] (4) Pranjala YADLAPALLI (IND) bt Dhruthi TATACHAR VENUGOPAL (IND) 64 46 63

[QF] Mahak JAIN (IND,809) vs (1) Dea HERDZELAS (BIH,393)
[QF] (4) Pranjala YADLAPALLI (IND,498) vs (8) Albina KHABIBULINA (UZB,605)

Pranjala defeated Dhruthi in the three sets ... Mahak scored an excellent upset win over her senior Riya in the second round ... In the third set, Mahak broke Riya in 12th game when she was serving for the match and then dominated the tie-break for the win ... Mahak will be facing top-400 Herdzelas and Pranjala is facing Uzbek challenge of Khabibulina.

Tuesday, November 28, 2017

Hockey News

At the Gold Coast 2018 - XXI Commonwealth Games, Gold Coast, Australia

Men's Pool A
Australia (WR #2), New Zealand (WR #8), Canada (WR #11), South Africa (WR #15), Scotland (WR #23)

Men's Pool B
India (WR #6), England (WR #7), Pakistan (WR #12), Malaysia (WR #13), Wales (WR #24)

Indian Men's Matches Schedule
India vs Pakistan - 7th April 2018
India vs Wales - 8th April 2018
India vs Malaysia - 10th April 2018
India vs England - 11th April 2018

The Pools and match schedule have been released for men's event ... India is in the Pool B and will be playing their first match against Pakistan ... The top 2 ranked teams from each pool will advance to Semifinals.

At the Gold Coast 2018 - XXI Commonwealth Games, Gold Coast, Australia

Women's Pool A
England (WR #2), India (WR #10), South Africa (WR #14), Malaysia (WR #22), Wales (WR #26)

Women's Pool B
Australia (WR #4), New Zealand (WR #5), Scotland (WR #18), Canada (WR #21), Ghana (WR #30)

Indian Women's Matches Schedule
India vs Wales - 5th April 2018
India vs Malaysia - 6th April 2018
India vs England - 8th April 2018
India vs South Africa - 10th April 2018

The Pools and match schedule have been released for Commonwealth ... Indian women will received a chance of facing WR #2 England women's team in their World Cup preparation ... As both teams r in the same group in World Cup also ... The top 2 ranked teams from each pool will advance to Semifinals.

Tennis News

At $25K Indonesia F8 Futures 2017, Jakarta

[R1] N. Vijay Sundar Prashanth (IND,588) bt Aryan Goveas (IND,694) 26 76(5) 64
[R1] (7) Sasi Kumar Mukund (IND,429) bt (Q) Rio Niguchi (JPN,1065) 64 46 61
[R1] Arjun Kadhe (IND,758) l (5) Sora Fukuda (JPN,380) 76(4) 67(6) 67(3)
[R1] (Q) Manish Sureshkumar (IND,1188) bt Jui-Chen Hung (TPE,870) 63 75
[R1] (2) Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,252) bt (WC) David Agung Susanto (INA,1412) 36 63 62

[R2] Sidharth Rawat (IND,524) vs (1) Duckhee Lee (KOR,216)
[R2] N. Vijay Sundar Prashanth (IND,588) vs (3) Ti Chen (TPE,320)
[R2] (7) Sasi Kumar Mukund (IND,429) vs Cheng-Yu Yu (TPE,657)
[R2] (2) Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,256) vs (Q) Manish Sureshkumar (IND,1188)

Expected but tight wins for Sasi, Prajnesh and VSP ... Manish scored an excellent upset win over top-900 Taipei player ... Arjun missed couple of match points in the second set tie-break, 6-4, before losing in the three tie-breaks ... I was hoping an upset win for him.

At $15K ITF Women's Tennis Tournament 2017, Indore, India

[R1] (WC) Sara YADAV (IND) l (1) Dea HERDZELAS (BIH) 26 06
[R1] (Q) Ramya NATARAJAN (IND) l YeXin MA (CHN) 16 26
[R1] Mahak JAIN (IND) bt Sai Samhitha CHAMARTHI (IND) 46 61 62
[R1] (5) Riya BHATIA (IND) bt (Q) Alexandra GRINCHISHINA (KAZ) 75 75
[R1] (Q) Shrivalli Rashmikaa BHAMIDIPATY (IND) bt (Q) Humera Begum SHAIK (IND) 36 62 64
[R1] (WC) Mihika YADAV (IND) l (7) Bunyawi THAMCHAIWAT (THA) 63 26 26
[R1] Nidhi CHILUMULA (IND) l (8) Albina KHABIBULINA (UZB) 61 26 16
[R1] (4) Pranjala YADLAPALLI (IND) bt Zeel DESAI (IND) 62 62
[R1] (Q) Amrita MUKHERJEE (IND) l (6) Ching-Wen HSU (TPE) 06 36
[R1] (LL) Jennifer LUIKHAM (IND) l Ksenia PALKINA (KGZ) 26 76(4) 36
[R1] Rishika SUNKARA (IND) l (2) Olga DOROSHINA (RUS) 46 16

[R2] (5) Riya BHATIA (IND) vs Mahak JAIN (IND)
[R2] (Q) Shrivalli Rashmikaa BHAMIDIPATY (IND) bt (3) Ana VESELINOVIC (MNE)
[R2] (Q) Bhuvana KALVA (IND) vs (8) Albina KHABIBULINA (UZB)
[R2] (4) Pranjala YADLAPALLI (IND) vs Dhruthi TATACHAR VENUGOPAL (IND)

Pranjala scored dominating win over Zeel and she will be facing Dhruthi in the second round ... Mahak will be facing Riya in the second round.

Monday, November 27, 2017

Tennis News

At $25K Indonesia F8 Futures 2017, Jakarta

[R1] Sidharth Rawat (IND,524) bt Scott Puodziunas (AUS,926) 62 63
[R1] (Q) Manish Sureshkumar (IND,1188) vs Jui-Chen Hung (TPE,870)

[R2] Sidharth Rawat (IND,524) vs (1) Duckhee Lee (KOR,216)

Sid started with comfortable win, but facing top-seed Duckhee Lee in the second round ... Manish qualified for the main-draw and facing Hung.

At $15K ITF Women's Tennis Tournament 2017, Indore, India

[R1] (WC) Ganeshi Aniya (IND) l (Q) Jiakang Li (CHN) 63 26 06
[R1] (Q) Bhuvana Kalva (IND) bt Prerna Bhambri (IND) 63 63
[R1] Dhruthi Tatachar Venugopal (IND) bt (Q) Sathwika Sama (IND) 46 63 61
[R1] (WC) Prakriti Banwani (IND) l (LL) Yuqi Sheng (CHN) 16 06

Bhuvana started with a comfortable win over Prerna ... Dhruthi won in the three sets against Sama.

Wrestling News

At Senior U23 World Championships 2017, Bydgoszcz, Poland

Men's Freestyle wrestling 65 kg
Gold - Nachyn Sergeevitch Kuular (RUS)
Silver - Bajrang (IND)
Bronze - Joseph Christopher McKenna (USA) and Yones Aliakbar Emamichoghaei (IRI)

Gold Medal match
Bajrang (IND) l Nachyn Sergeevitch Kuular (RUS) 6-17

[SF] Bajrang (IND) bt Yones Aliakbar Emamichoghaei (IRI) 9-4
[QF] Bajrang (IND) bt Haydar Yavuz (TUR) 7-5
[R1] Bajrang (IND) bt Panah Ilyasli (AZE) 5-0

Men's Freestyle wrestling 70 kg
Gold - Richard Anthony Lewis (USA)
Silver - Vinod Kumar Omprakash (IND)
Bronze - Muhammet Akdeniz (TUR) and Mirza Skhulukhia (GEO)

Gold Medal match
Vinod Kumar (IND) l Richard Anthony Lewis (USA) 1-3

[SF] Vinod Kumar (IND) bt Nobuyoshi Takojima (JPN) 2-1
[QF] Vinod Kumar (IND) bt Ali Zakariiev (UKR) 5-2
[R1] Vinod Kumar (IND) bt Mirza Skhulukhia (GEO) 3-0

We won two more Silver medals in ongoing u23 Worlds ... In Men's Freestyle, Bajrang lost one-sided match against Russian Kuular in 65kg category ... In 70kg category, Vinod Kumar lost in the close match against American wrestler, Richard Anthony Lewis ... So until now, we are having three Silver medals in this World Championship.

Hockey News

At FIH Hockey Women's World Cup 2018, London, Great Britain

Pool A
The Netherlands (WR #1), China (WR #8), Korea (WR #9) and Italy (WR #17)

Pool B
England (WR #2), USA (WR #7), India (WR #10) and Ireland (WR #16)

Pool C
Argentina (WR #3), Germany (WR #6), Spain (WR #11) and South Africa (WR #14)

Pool D
Australia (WR #4), New Zealand (WR #5), Japan (WR #12) and Belgium (WR #13)

Indian Pool Matches Schedule
Against England - 21st July 2018
Against Ireland - 26th July 2018
Against USA - 29th July 2018

The FIH announced grouping and schedule for Women's World Cup 2018 ... Indian women r in Group B with host nation England, USA and Ireland.

Athletics News

At the 16th Asian Marathon Championship 2017, Dongguan, China

Rio Olympian Gopi Thonakal became the first Indian man to win Asian Marathon Championship ... He clocked 2:15:48 timing to win the Gold.

Boxing News

At the AIBA World Women's Youth Boxing Championships 2017, Guwahati, India

First time Indians girls won five gold medals in this marquee event ... Nitu (48kg), Jyoti Gulia (51kg), Sakshi choudhury (54kg), Shashi Chopra (57kg) and Ankushita Boro (64kg) won the Gold medals in the finals ... Neha Yadav (+81kg) and Anupama (81kg) won the Bronze medals ... This was our best performance as before this we won just one bronze medal at the previous edition of the event and had not won a gold since 2011 when Sarjubala Devi secured the Gold.

Sunday, November 26, 2017

Badminton News

At $400K Yonex-Sunrise Hong Kong Open 2017, Kowloon (World Superseries)

Women's Singles Final
(2) Pusarla V. Sindhu (IND,2) l (1) Tzu Ying Tai (TPE,1) 18-21 18-21

Both players played quality match but TYT was better player on the court ... In both games, Sindhu did catching game ... TYT played some excellent drop shots and half smashes with superior court coverage to beat Sindhu ... This was TTY's 5th Superseries title of the year.

Golf News

At $2M UBS Hong Kong Open 2017, Hong Kong Golf Club (EPGA Tour 2018)

T7 SSP Chawrasia (IND) 65 66 69 72 -8 $51,600.00
T10 Shubhankar Sharma (IND) 66 71 69 67 -7 $33,900.00
T31 Rashid Khan (IND) 71 68 70 69 -3 $15,350.00
T62 Mukesh Kumar (IND) 72 70 70 73 +5 $5,200.00

SSP must be blaming himself for missing chance of lifting the title in Hong Kong ... He was leading the tournament after 8th hole with 13 under but afterwards he scored a triple bogey, 4 bogeys and 2 birdies ... Before that, all three days he was the leader ... But he produced 2 over the final round and slipped to tied 7th position ... Shubhankar scored 3 under round on the final day for top-10 finish.

Tennis News

At $15K Vietnam F3 Futures 2017, Thu Dau Mot City

Singles Final
(8) Arjun Kadhe (IND,758) bt (1) Andrew Harris (AUS,494) 75 63

Arjun lifted his first Futures title in the style beating top-500 Australian Andrew Harris in the straight sets ... In the first set, Arjun was leading 5-3 but he failed to hold while serving for the set ... He recovered and broke Harris in 12th game for winning the set ... In the second set, Arjun was an early break down 1-2 but Arjun made strong comeback in the set ... He broke Harris in 4th and 6th games to lead 4-2 ... He kept that advantage for winning the match ... This title win will help him to move inside top-625 in the ranking.

At $25K Indonesia F8 Futures 2017, Jakarta

[R1] Sidharth Rawat (IND,524) vs Scott Puodziunas (AUS,926)
[R1] N. Vijay Sundar Prashanth (IND,588) vs Aryan Goveas (IND,694)
[R1] (7) Sasi Kumar Mukund (IND,429) vs Qualifier
[R1] Arjun Kadhe (IND,758) vs (5) Sora Fukuda (JPN,380)
[R1] (2) Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,252) vs (WC) David Agung Susanto (INA,1412)

This week, Prajnesh will be trying for securing his Australian Open qualifying place ... Arjun faces tough challenge of top-400 Japanese player Fukuda.

Wrestling News

At Senior U23 World Championships 2017, Bydgoszcz, Poland

Women's wrestling 48 kg
Gold - Evin Demirhan (TUR)
Silver - Ritu Phogat (IND)
Bronze - Turkan Nasirova (AZE) and Jiang Zhu (CHN)

Gold Medal match
Ritu Phogat (IND) l Evin Demirhan (TUR) 4-4 (by VPO1)

[SF] Ritu Phogat (IND) bt Jiang Zhu (CHN) 4-3
[QF] Ritu Phogat (IND) bt Miglena Georgieva Selishka (BUL) 4-2

The caution point costed a Gold medal to Ritu in u23 Worlds ... Turkish girl Evin Demirhan declared winner after 4-4 tie at the end of two rounds as Ritu had a caution point against her during the bout ... Ritu crawled back in the match after 2-4 down but that wasn't enough ... Before that, Ritu won a close match against Chinese girl, Jiang Zhu, in the semis.

Squash News

At $15K Men's Qatar Circuit No4 2017, Doha

[R1] Ramit Tandon (IND,201) bt (2) Nathan Lake (ENG,49) 8-11, 11-6, 6-11, 11-4, 11-4 (60m)
[R2] Ramit Tandon (IND,201) bt Syed Azlan Amjad (QAT,174) 11-5, 11-1, 11-0 (13m)

[QF] Ramit Tandon (IND,201) l Sanjay Singh (MAS,140) 11-8, 2-11, 2-11 (retd.)

Ramit retired in the quarters against Malaysian, Sanjay Singh ... Before that, he continued with his recent good form as he scored an upset win over top-50 Britisher Nathan Lake in the first round and then trounced local player in 15 mins in the second round.

Saturday, November 25, 2017

Tennis News

At $100K+H Bangalore Challenger 2017, Karnataka, India

Picture Credit to Bengaluru Open - ATP Challenger FB page
Singles Final
Sumit Nagal (IND,321) bt Jay Clarke (GBR,279) 63 36 62

Sumit wins his first challenge title in the style ... With this win he will be climbed to #225 in the ranking and that also means, he has secured his place in the Australian Open qualifying.

In the first set, Sumit lost his service game in the 1st game to down 0-2 ... From 2-3 down he won next four games, breaking Jay in the 6th and 8th games for winning the set ... In the second set, Jay was putting extra pressure on Sumit's serve ... Sumit saved 3-4 break points in the 4th game but Jay broke him in the 8th game and hold for winning the set ... In the final set, Jay broke Sumit in the 1st game but Sumit immediately broke back for 1-all ... Sumit again broke Jay in the 4th game for leading 3-1 ... And he once again broke Jay in the 8th game when he was serving for staying in the match ... Sumit was looking flat from the middle of second set but he suddenly raised his game after get broken in the 1st game of the third.


At $15K Vietnam F3 Futures 2017, Thu Dau Mot City

[SF] (8) Arjun Kadhe (IND,758) bt Issei Okamura (JPN,1075) 61 61

[F] (8) Arjun Kadhe (IND,758) vs (1) Andrew Harris (AUS,494)

Arjun scored dominating win over his Japanese opponent Okamura losing only two games ... In the final, he faces former collegiate Australian player, Andrew Harris, who also turned pro from June this year and is already in top-500.

Badminton News

At $400K Yonex-Sunrise Hong Kong Open 2017, Kowloon (World Superseries)

[SF] (2) Pusarla V. Sindhu (IND,2) bt (6) Ratchanok Intanon (THA,6) 21-17 21-17

[F] (2) Pusarla V. Sindhu (IND,2) vs (1) Tzu Ying Tai (TPE,1)

In end, comfortable victory for Sindhu against Intanon in the straight games ... In both games, she took early lead and Intanon was doing catching game ... Sindhu showed good court coverage, smart body smashes, half smashes and net game for controlling the match ... In the final, she is facing WR #1 Tzu Ying Tai.

Friday, November 24, 2017

Tennis News

At $100K+H Bangalore Challenger 2017, Karnataka, India

[SF] Sumit Nagal (IND,321) bt (3) Yuki Bhambri (IND,122) 64 60

[F] Sumit Nagal (IND,321) vs Jay Clarke (GBR,279)

Picture Credit to Bengaluru Open - ATP Challenge FB page
Doubles Final
(1) Mikhail Elgin (RUS)/ Divij Sharan (IND) bt Ivan Sabanov (CRO)/ Matej Sabanov (CRO) 63 60

What a win by Sumit! Sumit scored an impressive win over his senior Yuki ... In the first set, both players hold their respective service games until 5th game and after that, it was a break feast ... Sumit broke Yuki him in the 6th game, Yuki immediately broke back, again Sumit broke Yuki in the 8th game but again Yuki broke him when Sumit was serving for the set ... Sumit once again broke Yuki in the 10th game for winning the set ... Both players traded five breaks in a row ... Sumit played exceptional second set ... He retrieving everything which Yuki was throwing at him and didn't making any errors ... Yuki wasn't able to do much and received bagel ... In the final, Sumit will faced Jay Clarke.

Divij lifted another challenger title with Elgin ... They scored dominating win over Sabanov twins in 50 mins ... With this win, Divij will be end year inside top-50 in the ranking.


At $115K L&T Mumbai Open 2017, Maharashtra, India

[QF] (WC) Ankita Raina (IND,281) l Amandine Hesse (FRA,256) 36 67(4)

Ankita had her chances in this match ... She had a game to beat Hesse, but today, she struggled with her shots and made numerous unforced errors for losing it ... She tried hard in the second but unforced errors kept coming to lose the tie-break ... It was a good tournament but it can be great.

At $15K Vietnam F3 Futures 2017, Thu Dau Mot City

[R1] (8) Arjun Kadhe (IND,758) bt (WC) Artem Vu (VIE,UNR) 61 64
[R2] (8) Arjun Kadhe (IND,758) bt (Q) Arata Onozawa (JPN,1983) 75 62
[QF] (8) Arjun Kadhe (IND,758) bt (2) Nam Hoang Ly (VIE,522) 63 75

[SF] (8) Arjun Kadhe (IND,758) vs Issei Okamura (JPN,1075)

This week, Arjun is participated in Vietnam futures ... He is in the semis with couple of good wins ... In the quarters, he defeated local favorite Nam Hoang Ly in the straight sets ... Before that, he defeated former top-500 Onozawa in the straight sets ... In the semis, he faces another Japanese challenge of Issei Okamura.

Badminton News

At $400K Yonex-Sunrise Hong Kong Open 2017, Kowloon (World Superseries)

[QF] (2) Pusarla V. Sindhu (IND,3) bt (5) Akane Yamaguchi (JPN,2) 21-12 21-19

[SF] (2) Pusarla V. Sindhu (IND,2) vs (6) Ratchanok Intanon (THA,6)

Sindhu is in the semis with the straight games win over in-form Yamaguchi ... This was really a good win by Sindhu as these days our girls struggled against Yamaguchi ... In the semis, Sindhu will faced Intanon, against her Sindhu having 1-4 win-loss record, but they didn't face each other from August 2016.

Thursday, November 23, 2017

Tennis News

At $100K+H Bangalore Challenger 2017, Karnataka, India

[QF] Sumit Nagal (IND,321) bt (1) Blaz Kavcic (SLO,102) 63 64
[QF] (3) Yuki Bhambri (IND,122) bt Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,252) 75 62

[SF] (3) Yuki Bhambri (IND,122) vs Sumit Nagal (IND,321)

Doubles
[SF] (1) Mikhail Elgin (RUS)/ Divij Sharan (IND) bt (3) N.Sriram Balaji (IND)/ Vishnu Vardhan (IND) 64 46 10-8

[F] (1) Mikhail Elgin (RUS)/ Divij Sharan (IND) vs Ivan Sabanov (CRO)/ Matej Sabanov (CRO)

Expected the straight sets win for Yuki against Prajnesh ... In the first set, both players hold their respective service games until 10th game ... Yuki took a crucial break in the 11th game and while serving for the set, Yuki saved a couple of break point before winning it ... In the second set, Yuki took 4-1 lead with double break and kept that advantage for easy win.

Sumit joined Yuki in the semis and guaranteed Indian finalist ... He defeated top-seed Blaz Kavcic in the straight sets ... In the first set, Sumit broke Kavcic in the 4th game to lead 4-1 ... Sumit kept one break advantage for winning the set ... In the second set, Sumit started with a breaking Kacic's serve but in the next game, Kavcic broke Sumit for 1-all ... Sumit again broke him in the 3rd game, 3-1, and then hold his service games for completing victory ... Superb win, which will help him to re-enter into top-300.

Divij with Elgin scored win in the match tie-break against Vishnu and Balaji ... In the final, they r facing Sabanov twins.


At $115K L and T Mumbai Open 2017, Maharashtra, India

[R2] (WC) Ankita Raina (IND,281) bt Peangtam Plipuech (THA,245) 62 62

[QF] (WC) Ankita Raina (IND,281) vs Amandine Hesse (FRA,256)

Doubles
[QF] Karman Kaur Thandi (IND)\ Pranjala Yadlapalli (IND) l (2) Dalila Jakupovic (SLO)/ Irina Khromacheva (RUS) 46 26

Ankita scored very convincing win over Plipuech ... Ankita played attacking game in this match ... In the first set, she broke Plipuech in the 6th and the 8th games for winning it comfortably ... In the second set, Ankita broke Plipuech in the 2nd game to lead 3-0 ... She again broke Plipuech in the 6th game to lead 5-1 but lost her serve in the next game ... Ankita again broke Plipuech in the 8th game when she was serving for staying in the match and completed victory ... In the quarters, Ankita will face French girl, Amandine Hesse.

Young Pranjala and Karman lost in the straight sets against experienced 2nd seed pair.

Badminton News

At $400K Yonex-Sunrise Hong Kong Open 2017, Kowloon (World Superseries)

[R2] Prannoy H.S. (IND,10) l Kazumasa Sakai (JPN,23) 21-11 10-21 15-21

[R2] Saina Nehwal (IND,10) l (8) Yufei Chen (CHN,8) 21-18 19-21 10-21
[R2] (2) Pusarla V. Sindhu (IND,2) bt Aya Ohori (JPN,13) 21-14 21-17

[QF] (2) Pusarla V. Sindhu (IND,3) vs (5) Akane Yamaguchi (JPN,2)

Comfortable win for Sindhu against Japanese top-15 player, Aya Ohori ... Next, she will face new WR #2 Japanese player, Akane Yamaguchi.

Another loss for Prannoy against Sakai after winning the first game ... With this loss, Prannoys chances of qualifying for Dubai Final got over.

Saina also lost in three games after winning the first game against Yufei Chen ... After winning the first game Saina lost closely fought the second but in the third, Chen dominated her.

Wednesday, November 22, 2017

Tennis News

At $100K+H Bangalore Challenger 2017, Karnataka, India

[R2] Sumit Nagal (IND,321) bt Brydan Klein (GBR,282) 64 46 75
[R2] Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,252) bt Marc Polmans (AUS,322) 62 67(1) 61
[R2] (3) Yuki Bhambri (IND,122) bt Pedro Martinez (ESP,258) 62 76(0)
[R2] (5) Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,139) l Jay Clarke (GBR,279) 76(3) 26 46

[QF] Sumit Nagal (IND,321) vs (1) Blaz Kavcic (SLO,102)
[QF] (3) Yuki Bhambri (IND,122) vs Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,252)

Doubles
[QF] (1) Mikhail Elgin (RUS)/ Divij Sharan (IND) bt Sumit Nagal (IND)/ Elias Ymer (SWE) 63 63
[QF] (3) N.Sriram Balaji (IND)/ Vishnu Vardhan (IND) bt Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND)/ Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND) 63 63

[SF] (1) Mikhail Elgin (RUS)/ Divij Sharan (IND) vs (3) N.Sriram Balaji (IND)/ Vishnu Vardhan (IND)

Prajnesh is in the quarters with a good win over young Polmans ... After comfortably winning the first set Prajnesh had an opportunity for completing win in the two sets ... He broke Polmans in 11th game but failed to hold while serving for the set ... Polmans won the tie-break comfortably ... Prajnesh recovered, he broke Polmans in 2nd game to lead 3-0 ... Prajnesh again broke him in 6th game and then hold to complete the victory.

Sumit also joined Prajnesh in the quarters of this big challenger with topsy-turvy win ... After exchanging an early breaks Sumit took crucial break for winning the first set ... In the second set, Sumit was 4-2 up and moving towards a win, but he lost next four games and lost the set ... In the third set also, he was up 4-2 and had a couple of break points on Brydan's serve in the 7th game ... Sumit failed to break and Brydan broke him in 8th game for 4-all ... Sumit took a crucial break in 11th game and this time he hold after saving a break point for a win after almost 3 hours ... In the quarters, Sumit will be facing top-seed Kavcic.

Yuki entered into the quarters with the straight sets win over Spaniard ... After winning the first set comfortably Yuki faced resistant from Martinez in the second ... Martinez broke him in 8th game for 3-5 lead but Yuki broke him immediately when Martinez was serving for the set ... Yuki played near perfect the tie-break and book his match with Prajnesh.

In the first set, RamK and Jay failed to create a break point opportunity on other's serve but RamK dominated the tie-break for winning it comfortably ... In the second set, RamK struggled with his service games and Jay took advantage of it ... He broke RamK twice for winning it comfortably ... In the third set, RamK missed five break point chances on Jay's serve but Jay with a single break advantage completed the victory.

In the doubles, top-seed Divij-Elgin scored the straight sets victory over Sumit-Ymer ... Vishnu-Bala also scored a win with similar scoreline against Prajnesh-RamK ... Next, they r facing top-seed Divij-Elgin.


At $115K L and T Mumbai Open 2017, Maharashtra, India

[R1] (WC) Ankita Raina (IND,281) bt Veronika Kudermetova (RUS,255) 76(2) 63

[R2] (WC) Ankita Raina (IND,281) vs Peangtam Plipuech (THA,245)

Ankita gave much needed win for Indians in the singles ... Ankita started positively and broke Kudermetova in 2nd and 4th game for 4-0 lead ... Kudermetova broke Ankita in 5th game but Ankita immediately broke her in the next, 5-1 ... From here, Ankita lost four games in a row, 5-all ... Ankita recovered to win the tie-break comfortably ... In the second set also, Ankita kept pressure on her serve and broke her three times for winning it ... Next, she will be facing Thai girl, Plipuech.

Badminton News

At $400K Yonex-Sunrise Hong Kong Open 2017, Kowloon (World Superseries)

[R1] (Q) Parupalli Kashyap (IND,47) l Dong Keun Lee (KOR,52) 21-15 9-21 20-22
[R1] Sourabh Verma (IND,58) l Tommy Sugiarto (INA,27) 15-21 9-21
[R1] Prannoy H.S. (IND,10) bt Yun Hu (HKG,24) 19-21 21-17 21-15
[R1] Sai Praneeth B. (IND,16) l (2) Wan Ho Son (KOR,3) 8-21 16-21

[R1] Saina Nehwal (IND,11) bt Mette Poulsen (DEN,44) 21-19 23-21
[R1] (2) Pusarla V. Sindhu (IND,2) bt (Q) Yuet Yee Leung (HKG,786) 21-18 21-10

[R1] Manu Attri (IND)/ B. Sumeeth Reddy (IND) l (Q) Khim Wah Lim (MAS)/ Yeon Seong Yoo (KOR) 17-21 17-21
[R1] Ashwini Ponnappa (IND)/ N. Sikki Reddy (IND) l Dongping Huang (CHN)/ Wenmei Li (CHN) 11-21 21-19 19-21

[R2] Prannoy H.S. (IND,10) vs Kazumasa Sakai (JPN,25)

[R2] Saina Nehwal (IND,11) vs (8) Yufei Chen (CHN,9)
[R2] (2) Pusarla V. Sindhu (IND,2) vs Aya Ohori (JPN,14)

Sindhu scored comfortable win over a local qualifier ... Saina won in the straight games, but Mette troubled her in both games ... In the second round, Saina will be facing Chinese girl, Yufei Chen and Sindhu will be facing Japanese Aya Ohori.

Prannoy scored a comeback win over a local player, Yun Hu ... After losing the first game Prannoy fought back for winning next two games ... Next, his opponent is Japanese Kazumasa Sakai, who have winning record against Prannoy, 0-2.

Kashyap lost to similar ranked Korean ... In the final game, Kashyap missed three match points before losing it ... Sourabh also lost in the straight games against Sugiarto ... Son proved too strong for Sai.
In the doubles, Ashwini-Sikki lost in the three games against their Chinese opponents ... Manu-Sumeeth lost in the straight games against Lim-Yoo.

Tuesday, November 21, 2017

Tennis News

At $100K+H Bangalore Challenger 2017, Karnataka, India

[R1] (WC) Vishnu Vardhan (IND,509) l Mario Vilella Martinez (ESP,403) 36 36
[R1] (3) Yuki Bhambri (IND,122) bt N.Sriram Balaji (IND,355) 63 63
[R1] (5) Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,139) bt Hugo Grenier (FRA,412) 46 64 63
[R1] (WC) Suraj R. Prabodh (IND,1208) l (4) Elias Ymer (SWE,147) 46 67(2)
[R1] (LL) Antoine Escoffier (FRA,420) l (WC) Dalwinder Singh (IND,1015) 36 46

[R2] (3) Yuki Bhambri (IND,122) vs Pedro Martinez (ESP,258)
[R2] (5) Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,139) vs Jay Clarke (GBR,279)

Doubles
[R1] (1) Mikhail Elgin (RUS)/ Divij Sharan (IND) bt Geoffrey Blancaneaux (FRA)/ Jay Clarke (ENG) 57 64 10-5
[R1] Sumit Nagal (IND)/ Elias Ymer (SWE) bt N. Vijay Sundar Prashanth (IND)/ Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND) 64 16 7-10

[QF] (1) Mikhail Elgin (RUS)/ Divij Sharan (IND) vs Sumit Nagal (IND)/ Elias Ymer (SWE)

Saketh withdrew due to injury and Yuki took a medical time-out in his match .. So injury concrens for Indian players continue.

Yuki scored the straight sets win over Bala, though it wasn't straightforward ... RamK scored a comeback win over Frenchman ... After losing the first set RamK recovered for winning next two sets ... Next, Yuki faces Martinez and RamK faces Clarke.

Terrific fighting performance by Suraj against in-form Ymer in his loss ... Vishnu lost in the straight sets against Spanish opponent.

In the doubles, Divij-Elgin scored comeback win over Blancaneaux-Clarke ... Sumit-Ymer scored upset win over Jeevan-VSP.


At $115K L and T Mumbai Open 2017, Maharashtra, India

[R1] (WC) Rutuja Bhosale (IND,604) l (Q) Deniz Khazaniuk (ISR,270) 46 36

Doubles
[R1] (WC) Riya Bhatia (IND)/ Natasha Palha (IND) l (1) Oksana Kalashnikova (GEO)/ Veronika Kudermetova (RUS) 16 26
[R1] Hiroko Kuwata (JPN)/ Prarthana Thombare (IND) l (4) Julia Glushko (ISR)/ Priscilla Hon (AUS) 26 36
[R1] Karman Kaur Thandi (IND)\ Pranjala Yadlapalli (IND) bt Naiktha Bains (AUS)/ Fanny Stollar (HUN) 63 75

[QF] Karman Kaur Thandi (IND)\ Pranjala Yadlapalli (IND) vs (2) Dalila Jakupovic (SLO)/ Irina Khromacheva (RUS)

Rutuja gave spirited performance against top-300 Israeli opponent ... In the doubles, Karman-Pranjala gave a first win for Indians a they defeated Bains-Stollar after converting 10th match point ... But, Prarthana failed to take home court advantage.

Badminton News

At $400K Yonex-Sunrise Hong Kong Open 2017, Kowloon (World Superseries)

[Q1] Parupalli Kashyap (IND,47) bt Chao Yu Kan (TPE,293) 21-12 21-10
[Q1] (2) Arjun M.R. (IND)/ Ramchandran Shlok (IND) bt Kuen Hon Li (HKG)/ Shing Choi Yeung (HKG) 21-14 21-18
[Q1] Satwiksairaj Rankireddy (IND)/ Ashwini Ponnappa (IND) l Hafiz Faizal (INA)/ Gloria Emanuelle Widjaja (INA) 18-21 11-21

[Q2] Parupalli Kashyap (IND,47) bt Cheuk Yiu Lee (HKG,50) 21-13 21-19
[Q2] (2) Arjun M.R. (IND)/ Ramchandran Shlok (IND) l Won Ho Kim (KOR)/ Seung Jae Seo (KOR) 19-21 17-21

[R1] (Q) Parupalli Kashyap (IND,47) vs Dong Keun Lee (KOR,52)

[R1] (2) Pusarla V. Sindhu (IND,2) vs (Q) Yuet Yee Leung (HKG,786)

Kashyap won the final qualifying in the straight games against a similar ranked opponent ... Next, he is facing similar ranked Korean and Sindhu is facing a lowly ranked local qualifier.

Before that, Surprising loss of Satwik and Ashiwini in the first qualifying round ... Kashyap and Arjun-Ramchandran easily moved into the final qualifying round.

Monday, November 20, 2017

Tennis News

At $100K+H Bangalore Challenger 2017, Karnataka, India

[R1] Sumit Nagal (IND,321) bt (Q) N. Vijay Sundar Prashanth (IND,588) 62 60
[R1] Prajnesh Gunneswaran(IND,252) bt (6) Evan King (USA,197) 64 64
[R1] (Q) Sidharth Rawat (IND,524) l Jay Clarke (GBR,279) 36 36

[R2] Sumit Nagal (IND,321) vs Brydan Klein (GBR,282)
[R2] Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,252) vs Marc Polmans (AUS,322)

Doubles
[R1] (3) N.Sriram Balaji (IND)/ Vishnu Vardhan (IND) bt (ALT) Mario Vilella Martinez (ESP)/ Bernabe Zapata Miralles (ESP) 60 63
[R1] Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND)/ Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND) bt (WC) Suraj R. Prabodh (IND)/ Nitin Kumar Sinha (IND) 62 62
[R1] (WC) Kunal Anand (IND)/ Anvit Bendre (IND) l Ivan Sabanov (CRO)/ Matej Sabanov (CRO) 76(3) 46 7-10
[R1] (WC) Chandril Sood (IND)/ Lakshit Sood (IND) l (2) Brydan Klein (GBR)/ Marc Polmans (AUS) 26 57

[QF] (3) N.Sriram Balaji (IND)/ Vishnu Vardhan (IND) vs Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND)/ Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND)

Prajnesh took revenge of his last week's loss and defeated King in the straight sets ... In the both sets, with a single break advantage he completed a win ... Prajnesh needs these points as Austalian open qualifying cut-off is near on 4th December.

Sumit demolished VSP inside an hour for a win ... Next, Sumit and Prajnesh r facing Klein and Polmans respectively.

Sid lost in the straight sets against superior Jay Clarke.

In the doubles, expected comfortable wins for our higher ranked doubles pair ... Bala-Vishnu scored comfortable win over their Spanish opponents ... RamK-Prajnesh also scored dominating win over Suraj and Nitin ... Next, RamK-Prajnesh r facing Vishnu-Bala ... Kunal-Anvit started well against Sabanov twins but failed to keep the momentum until end ... Sood twins gave fighting performance against 2nd seed pair.


At $115K L&T Mumbai Open 2017, Maharashtra, India

[R1] (WC) Zeel Desai (IND,790) l (7) Carol Zhao (CAN,150) 36 16
[R1] (WC) Karman Kaur Thandi (IND,312) l Dalila Jakupovic (SLO,242) 26 46

Doubles
[R1] Rutuja Bhosale (IND)/ Ankita Raina (IND) l Victoria Rodriguez (MEX)/ Bibiane Schoofs (NED) 46 36

Carol Zhao proved too strong to Zeel in her match ... Karman also failed to overcome the challenge of 'retriever' Jakupovic.

In the doubles also, our pair lost against Mexican-Dutch pair in the straight sets.

Sunday, November 19, 2017

Golf News

At $2.5M CME Tour Championship 2017, Naples, Florida, USA (LPGA Tour 2017)

61 Aditi Ashok (IND) 71 75 75 72 +5 $5803.00

After the first round, Aditi struggled in the Tour Championship and finished below 60 in the final standing.

Saturday, November 18, 2017

Tennis News

At $50K+H Pune Challenger 2017, Maharashtra

Courtesy of Kamesh Srinivasan FB page
Singles Final
(3) Yuki Bhambri (IND,137) bt (4) Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,150) 46 63 64

This was Yuki's 1st Challenger title of 2017 and overall the 6th Challenger title ... It was an interesting match between India's top 2 players, Yuki scored a comeback win over RamKafter losing the first set ... In the first set, after exchanging early breaks RamK took crucial break in the 10th game when Yuki was serving for staying in the set ... In the second set, RamK committed five double faults to get broken in the 3rd game ... Yuki again broke RamK when he served for staying in the set in the 9th game for winning this set ... RamK played much control game in the third set ... At 5-4 Yuki took a medical timeout and after restarting he completed a win breaking RamK in the 10th game.

In this match, RamK tried too many things on the court ... He tried to finish point as early as possible, and tried to serve big ... Trying that he made a lot of unforced errors and committed double faults ... Other hand, Yuki played his normal game ... He constructed points and was hitting some excellent passing shots ... A medical time out was worrying sign but hopefully, that was minor injury issue ... So hoping for another cracking final between these two in Banglore.


At $75K Champaign Challenger 2017, Illinois, USA

Doubles Final
(1) Leander Paes (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) bt (3) Ruan Roelofse (RSA)/ Joe Salisbury (GBR) 63 67(5) 10-5

Lee-Purav lifted their second Challenger title in two weeks ... They defeated Roelofse-Salisbury in the match tie-break ... These two titles will keep Lee and Purav around 60s in the ranking ... This was Lee's 5th challenger title of the year and Purav's 3rd Challenger title.

At $100K+H Bangalore Challenger 2017, Karnataka, India

[R1] (WC) Vishnu Vardhan (IND,513) vs Mario Vilella Martinez (ESP,395)
[R1] Sumit Nagal (IND,328) vs (Q) N. Vijay Sundar Prashanth (IND,622)
[R1] (3) Yuki Bhambri (IND,137) vs N.Sriram Balaji (IND,352)
[R1] Prajnesh Gunneswaran(IND,253) vs (6) Evan King (USA,197)
[R1] (5) Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,150) vs Hugo Grenier (FRA,431)
[R1] (Q) Sidharth Rawat (IND,527) vs Jay Clarke (GBR,288)
[R1] (WC) Suraj R. Prabodh (IND,1219) vs (4) Elias Ymer (SWE,146)
[R1] (WC) Saketh Myneni (IND,912) vs (WC) Dalwinder Singh (IND,1015)

Doubles
[R1] (1) Mikhail Elgin (RUS)/ Divij Sharan (IND) vs Geoffrey Blancaneaux (FRA)/ Jay Clarke (ENG)
[R1] N. Vijay Sundar Prashanth (IND)/ Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND) vs Sumit Nagal (IND)/ Elias Ymer (SWE)
[R1] (3) N.Sriram Balaji (IND)/ Vishnu Vardhan (IND) vs Pedja Krstin (SRB)/ Tsung-Hua Yang (TPE)
[R1] Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND)/ Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND) vs (WC) Suraj R. Prabodh (IND)/ Nitin Kumar Sinha (IND)
[R1] (WC) Kunal Anand (IND)/ Anvit Bendre (IND) vs Ivan Sabanov (CRO)/ Matej Sabanov (CRO)
[R1] (WC) Chandril Sood (IND)/ Lakshit Sood (IND) vs (2) Brydan Klein (GBR)/ Marc Polmans (AUS)

The main draw is out, this week also Yuki and RamK r different draw and can meet in the final only ... Prajnesh is again facing Evan King ... Saki is facing another wildcard entrant Dalwinder ... Vishnu is facing Spaniard Vilella Martinez ... RamK is facing below 400 ranked Frenchman Hugo ... Yuki is facing Bala in the first round ... VSP and Sidharth qualified for the main draw taking advantage of a weaker draw ... VSP is facing Sumit and Sid is facing Jay Clarke.

In the doubles, our seeded pairs and all top doubles players r in the top draw ... So, chances r high of Indian pair in the final from the top draw ... Sood twins have received a wild card but facing 2nd seed pair.


At $115K L&T Mumbai Open 2017, Maharashtra, India

[Q1] Pranjala Yadlapalli (IND,497) l (1) Ana Bogdan (ROU,110) 06 06
[Q1] (WC) Natasha Palha (IND,767) l (2) Deniz Khazaniuk (ISR,270) 16 06
[Q1] Nidhi Chilumula (IND,871) l (7) Anna Morgina (RUS,330) 16 36
[Q1] Riya Bhatia (IND,544) l (5) Alize Lim (FRA,305) 36 06

[R1] (WC) Rutuja Bhosale (IND,604) vs (Q) Deniz Khazaniuk (ISR,270)
[R1] (WC) Ankita Raina (IND,281) vs Veronika Kudermetova (RUS,255)
[R1] (WC) Zeel Desai (IND,790) vs (7) Carol Zhao (CAN,150)
[R1] (WC) Karman Kaur Thandi (IND,312) vs Dalila Jakupovic (SLO,242)

Doubles
[R1] (WC) Riya Bhatia (IND)/ Natasha Palha (IND) vs (1) Oksana Kalashnikova (GEO)/ Veronika Kudermetova (RUS)
[R1] Rutuja Bhosale (IND)/ Ankita Raina (IND) vs Victoria Rodriguez (MEX)/ Bibiane Schoofs (NED)
[R1] Hiroko Kuwata (JPN)/ Prarthana Thombare (IND) vs (4) Julia Glushko (ISR)/ Priscilla Hon (AUS)
[R1] Karman Kaur Thandi (IND)\ Pranjala Yadlapalli (IND) vs Naiktha Bains (AUS)/ Fanny Stollar (HUN)

In main draw, we can hope upsets from Karman and Ankita ... Zeel and Rutuja having lot tougher matches considering their current level of play.

In the doubles, Prarthana and her Japanese partner r facing 4th seed pair ... Rutuja and Ankita can be a good pair, let's see how they perform ... Another interesting pairing is of Karman and Pranjala, they r facing Bains-Stollar.

Feeling bad that the organizers didn't give main draw wild card to Pranjala ... She faced a tough match against the last-minute enterant top-100 type Bogdan and bagelled by her ... Our all players lost in the one-sided matches.


At $15K Vietnam F2 Futures 2017, Thu Dau Mot City

[SF] (4) Sasi Kumar Mukund (IND,426) l Jonathan Gray (GBR,650) 16 16

The one-sided bad loss for Sasi.

Friday, November 17, 2017

Hockey News

At Hockey World League Final 2017, Bhubaneswar, India

Indian Team
Goalkeepers - Akash Anil Chikte, Suraj Karkera
Defenders - Harmanpreet Singh, Amit Rohidas, Dipsan Tirkey, Varun Kumar, Rupinderpal Singh, Birendra Lakra
Midfielders - Manpreet Singh (Capt), Chinglensana Singh (Vice-Capt), SK Uthappa, Sumit, Kothajit Singh
Forwards - SV Sunil, Akashdeep Singh, Mandeep Singh, Lalit Kumar Upadhyay, Gurjant Singh.

The Indian team for HWL Final announced ... Rupinder Pal Singh and Birendra Lakra made comebacks for the tournament, but experienced mid-fielder Sardar Singh was dropped from India's 18-member squad ... Some good mixture of youth and experience in the team ... But, I am still not convinced by couple of selections; like Akashdeep, Mandeep and Uthappa.

India are grouped with Australia, England and Germany in Pool B

Badminton News

At $700K TAHOE China Open 2017, Fuzhou (World Superseries Premier)

[QF] (2) Pusarla V. Sindhu (IND,2) l (Q) Fangjie Gao (CHN,89) 11-21 10-21

So with this poor result, Indian challenge got over in this on-going Chinese Superseries .. Hoping for better performance in Hong Kong Superseries.

Tennis News

At $75K Champaign Challenger 2017, Illinois, USA

[SF] (1) Leander Paes (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) bt Christopher Eubanks (USA)/ Mackenzie McDonald (USA) 64 64

[F] (1) Leander Paes (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) vs (3) Ruan Roelofse (RSA)/ Joe Salisbury (GBR)

Another comfortable outing for Lee-Purav against Eubanks and McDonald ... In the final, they r facing 3rd seed Roelofse and Salisbury.

At $50K+H Pune Challenger 2017, Maharashtra

[SF] (4) Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,150) bt (WC) Saketh Myneni (IND,912) 63 62
[SF] (3) Yuki Bhambri (IND,137) bt (2) Adrian Menendez-Maceiras (ESP,127) 62 64

[F] (3) Yuki Bhambri (IND,137) vs (4) Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,150)

Doubles
[SF] (PR) Saketh Myneni (IND)/ Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND) l Pedro Martinez (ESP)/ Adrian Menendez-Maceiras (ESP) 46 46

Yuki scored convincing win over Spaniard Adrian Menendez-Maceiras in the straight sets ... In the first set, Yuki broke Adrian in 5th and 7th games to win it comfortably ... In the seond set Adrian gave fight, Yuki saved a break point in 4th game and he immediately broke Adrian in 5th game ... Adrian saved 4 match points in 9th game but Yuki hold for completing win.

RamK joins Yuki in the final with very dominating win ... He played perfect match against Saki ... In this match, he played percentage tennis and kept ball into play ... He served big and used passing shots smartly ... Saki struggled with fitness aa this was his fourth match in the singles and he already played two doubles matches this week ... He wasn't looking match-fit but still, this was great week for him as next week, he will be rising 300 places, around #615.

I was expecting this result after seeing struggled of Saki in the singles ... Spanish pair played smart tennis to beat Indians ... After losing the first set our pair were 2-0 up but Spanish pair won next four games, 2-4, and kept that break advantage for winning the match.


At $15K Vietnam F2 Futures 2017, Thu Dau Mot City

[QF] (4) Sasi Kumar Mukund (IND,426) bt (Q) Jakub Paul (SUI,1184) 63 64

[SF] (4) Sasi Kumar Mukund (IND,426) vs Jonathan Gray (GBR,650)

Sasi moved to the semis with the straight sets win over Swiss qualifier ... Next, he is facing Britisher Jonathan Gray.

Thursday, November 16, 2017

Squash News

At $140K Women's Hong Kong Open 2017, Hong Kong China

[R1] (11) Joshna Chinappa (IND,14) bt (Q) Hollie Naughton (CAN,32) 11-5, 8-11, 11-5, 8-11, 11-6 (46m)
[R1] Dipika Pallikal Karthik (IND,20) l (13) Nour El Tayeb (EGY,8) 4-11, 4-11, 8-11 (17m)

[R2] (11) Joshna Chinappa (IND,14) l Nouran Gohar (EGY,5) 8-11, 11-7, 8-11, 11-9, 1-11 (50m)

Joshna stretched WR #5 Nouran Gohar to five games in the second round ... Before that, she needed five games to beat Canadian qualifier ... Dipika failed to challenge El Tayeb in a one-sided loss.

At $165K Men's Hong Kong Open 2017, Hong Kong China

[Q1] Harinder Pal Singh Sandhu (IND,69) bt (4) Karim Ali Fathi (EGY,33) 18-16, 11-5, 11-3 (51m)
[Q2] Harinder Pal Singh Sandhu (IND,69) bt Youssef Soliman (EGY,56) 11-8, 11-8, 3-11, 11-5 (59m)

[R1] (Q) Harinder Pal Singh Sandhu (IND,69) l Paul Coll (NZL,9) 11-9, 3-11, 5-11, 1-11 (44m)
[R1] Saurav Ghosal (IND,21) l (Q) Declan James (ENG,35) 9-11, 6-11,9-11 (49m)

I expected a better result from Saurav with his recent form but he lost in the straight games against British qualifier ... Harry qualified for the main draw with back to back upset wins over higher ranked Egyptian players and in the main draw he took WR #9 Paul Coll to four games.

Tennis News

At $125K Taipei OEC Open 2017, Taipei, Taiwan

[QF] Luksika Kumkhum (THA)/ Prarthana Thombare (IND) l (3) Monique Adamczak (AUS)/ Naomi Broady (GBR) 26 64 8-10

Prarthana and her Thai partner Kumkhum gave fighting performance against 3rd seed Aussie-British pair ... They lost in the match tie-break.

At $75K Champaign Challenger 2017, Illinois, USA

[QF] (1) Leander Paes (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) bt Nathaniel Lammons (USA)/ Alex Lawson (USA) 63 61

[SF] (1) Leander Paes (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) vs Christopher Eubanks (USA)/ Mackenzie McDonald (USA)

Another comfortable outing on the court for Lee-Purav ... Next, they r facing paring of Eubanks and McDonald.

At $50K+H Pune Challenger 2017, Maharashtra

[QF] (WC) Saketh Myneni (IND,912) bt (1) Blaz Kavcic (SLO,102) 76(5) 76(5)
[QF] (4) Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,150) bt (5) Nikola Milojevic (SRB,161) 61 75
[QF] (3) Yuki Bhambri (IND,137) bt Jay Clarke (GBR,288) 64 60

[SF] (4) Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,150) vs (WC) Saketh Myneni (IND,912)
[SF] (3) Yuki Bhambri (IND,137) vs (2) Adrian Menendez-Maceiras (ESP,127)

Doubles
[QF] (PR) Saketh Myneni (IND)/ Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND) bt (WC) Sumit Nagal (IND)/ Naoki Nakagawa (JPN) 60 63

[SF] (PR) Saketh Myneni (IND)/ Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND) vs Pedro Martinez (ESP)/ Adrian Menendez-Maceiras (ESP)

Turned to be a terrific day for our players ... I think this is the first time 3 of 4 semi-finalists r Indian players.

Saki scored an excellent upset win over top-seed Blaz Kavcic ... But the match had usual ups and downs, Saki was up 3-1 but got broken in the next, then he was up 5-3 but while serving for the set he failed to hold ... In the tie-break, he was 5-2 up but lost next 3 points before winning next two points to win the set ... The second set was almost similar liked the first set ... In this set also both players exchanged a couple of breaks ... In the tie-break, he was up 5-1 but Kavcic made it 5-4 ... Saki converted 2nd match point for entering into the semis.

Yuki played some beautiful tennis in his convincing win over Clarke ... In this match, Yuki broke Clarke in the 1st game but he made unforced errors to lose the 4th game, 2-all ... Yuki took a crucial break in 7th game for winning the set ... In the second set, Yuki dominated with superb tennis and cut unforced errors ... He broke Clarke 1st, 3rd and 5th games for a convincing win ... Next, he is facing experienced Adrian Menendez-Maceiras.

RamK scored straight sets win over Milojevic ... In the first set, RamK ran 5-0 lead and won the set losing only a single game ... In the second set, Milojevic put solid fight ... He was matching with RamK until 10th game but RamK broke him in the 11th game and held to win the match ... Next, he is facing Saki.

An expected dominating win by Saki and Jeevan against Sumit and his partner ... In the semis, Saki-Jeevan r facing Spanish pair.


At $60K+H ITF Women's Tournament 2017, Toyota, Japan

[R2] Ankita Raina (IND,283) l (5) Miharu Imanishi (JPN,223) 36 26

Ankita lost in the straight sets against Imanishi.

Badminton News

At $700K TAHOE China Open 2017, Fuzhou (World Superseries Premier)

[R2] Prannoy H.S. (IND,11) l Cheuk Yiu Lee (HKG,53) 19-21 17-21

[R2] Saina Nehwal (IND,11) l (5) Akane Yamaguchi (JPN,4) 18-21 11-21
[R2] (2) Pusarla V. Sindhu (IND,2) bt (Q) Yue Hen (CHN,105) 21-15 21-13

[QF] (2) Pusarla V. Sindhu (IND,2) vs (Q) Fangjie Gao (CHN,89)

Only Sindhu managed to win her match as she convincingly defeated Chinese qualifier ... In the quarters, she is facing another Chinese qualifier.

Disappointing loss of Prannoy against Hong Kong's Cheuk Yiu Lee in the straight games ... Maybe Prannoy was tired after yesterday's long match but still poor result from his standard.

Saina also lost in the straight games against Yamaguchi ... After running close, in the first game, Saina was outperformed by Yamaguchi in the second.

Wednesday, November 15, 2017

Tennis News

At $125K Taipei OEC Open 2017, Taipei, Taiwan

[R1] Luksika Kumkhum (THA)/ Prarthana Thombare (IND) bt Lizette Cabrera (AUS)/ Fanny Stollar (HUN) 64 75

[QF] Luksika Kumkhum (THA)/ Prarthana Thombare (IND) vs (3) Monique Adamczak (AUS)/ Naomi Broady (GBR)

Prarthana started with the straight sets win with her new Thai partner Kumkhum ... Next, they r facing 3rd seed Aussie-British pair.

At $75K Champaign Challenger 2017, Illinois, USA

[R1] (1) Leander Paes (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) bt (LL) Alexander Brown (USA)/ Ezekiel Clark (USA) 64 61

[QF] (1) Leander Paes (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) vs Nathaniel Lammons (USA)/ Alex Lawson (USA)

Lee-Purav started with a comfortable win over a lucky-loser pair ... Next, they r facing another American pair.

At $50K+H Pune Challenger 2017, Maharashtra

[R2] (LL) N. Vijay Sundar Prashanth (IND,622) l (1) Blaz Kavcic (SLO,102) 36 26
[R2] (WC) Saketh Myneni (IND,912) bt (8) Pedja Krstin (SRB,221) 46 62 60
[R2] (4) Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,150) bt Brydan Klein (GBR,292) 76(7) 63
[R2] (3) Yuki Bhambri (IND,137) bt Ante Pavic (CRO,313) 64 76(4)
[R2] N.Sriram Balaji (IND,352) l (9) Aleksandr Nedovyesov (KAZ,245) 75 46 57
[R2] Sumit Nagal (IND,328) l (2) Adrian Menendez-Maceiras (ESP,127) 36 46

[QF] (WC) Saketh Myneni (IND,912) vs (1) Blaz Kavcic (SLO,102)
[QF] (4) Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,150) vs (5) Nikola Milojevic (SRB,161)
[QF] (3) Yuki Bhambri (IND,137) vs Jay Clarke (GBR,288)

Doubles
[R1] (1) Mikhail Elgin (RUS)/ Divij Sharan (IND) l Evan King (USA)/ Lucas Miedler (AUT) 67(9) 46
[R1] (PR) Saketh Myneni (IND)/ Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND) bt (3) N.Sriram Balaji (IND)/ Vishnu Vardhan (IND) 63 64

[QF] (PR) Saketh Myneni (IND)/ Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND) vs (WC) Sumit Nagal (IND)/ Naoki Nakagawa (JPN)

Saki scored an excellent comeback win over top-225 Pedja Krstin ... I like the way he handled Pedja after losing the first set ... Saki dominated next two sets as he won the second set losing 2 games and bagelled Pedja in the third ... Saki having real test in the next match against top-seed Blaz Kavcic.

Yuki took an early break against Pavic to lead 3-1 and kept that advantage for winning the first set ... In the second set, Pavic broke Yuki in the 2nd game when Yuki played a loose game ... But from 0-3 down Yuki made comeback as he broke Pavic in the 5th game to make it 3-all ... In the 9th game, Yuki missed a break point ... In the tie-break, Yuki was a mini-break down, 0-2, but after that Yuki took control of the tie-break and won it convincingly ... Next, he is facing young Britisher Jay Clarke.

Again an erratic game by RamK in this match ... RamK dropped his serve at 2-all but he broke back in the 10th game when Brydan was serving for the set after saving a set point ... In the tie-break also, RamK was double mini-breaks down at 1-4 but again he fought back to make it 5-4 ... He saved another set point at 5-6 and converted 2nd set point for winning this set ... This was his fourth tie-break in a row ... In the second set, Ramk broke Brydan in 1st and 3rd games to take a 4-0 lead ... In the 6th game, RamK committed 2 double faults and got broken, 4-3 ... RamK again broke Brydan when he was serving for staying in the match and completed the victory ... Next, he is facing Serbian Nikola Milojevic.

From the beginning, Bala was matching Nedo's game ... Till the 11th game, both players hold their respective service games ... Bala took a crucial break in the 12th game for winning the first set ... In the second set also both players hold their respective service games until the 8th game ... This time Nedo broke Bala in the 9th game and then hold his serve for winning this set ... In the third, Bala broke Nedo in the 2nd game to lead 3-0, but while serving for the match at 5-3 Bala failed to hold under pressure ... In the 10th game, Bala missed a couple of match points and lost his serve in the 11th game committing a couple of double faults and again Nedo holds his serve for completing the victory.

Sumit failed to challenge Adrian as he won both sets with a single break ... Kavcic proved too strong for VSP.

Saki and Jeevan scored comfortable straight sets win over 3rd seed Vishnu and Bala ... In the quarters, they will be facing Sumit and his Japanese partner ... But the top-seed Divij-Mikhail Elgin lost in the straight sets against Miedler and King.


At $60K+H ITF Women's Tournament 2017, Toyota, Japan

[R1] Ankita Raina (IND,283) bt (Q) Megumi Nishimoto (JPN,718) 26 61 61

[R2] Ankita Raina (IND,283) vs (5) Miharu Imanishi (JPN,223)

Good to see Ankita managed to score a win in the singles ... After losing the first set she made a strong comeback for winning next two sets losing only a couple of games ... Next, she is faci g top-225 Imanishi.

At $15K Vietnam F2 Futures 2017, Thu Dau Mot City

[R1] (4) Sasi Kumar Mukund (IND,426) bt (WC) Phongsapak Kerdlaphee (THA,1944) 63 62
[R2] (4) Sasi Kumar Mukund (IND,426) bt Nathan Pasha (USA,632) 60 61

[QF] (4) Sasi Kumar Mukund (IND,426) vs (Q) Jakub Paul (SUI,1184)

Sasi in the quarters with couple of easy wins ... He is facing Swiss qualifier for place in the semis.

Badminton News

At $700K TAHOE China Open 2017, Fuzhou (World Superseries Premier)

[R1] Sourabh Verma (IND,57) l Brice Leverdez (FRA,30) 14-21 21-15 11-21
[R1] Prannoy H.S. (IND,11) bt (Q) Dong Keun Lee (KOR,51) 18-21 21-16 21-19

[R1] Saina Nehwal (IND,11) bt Beiwen Zhang (USA,12) 21-12 21-13
[R1] (2) Pusarla V. Sindhu (IND,2) bt Sayaka Sato (JPN,13) 24-22 23-21

[R1] Manu Attri (IND)/ B. Sumeeth Reddy (IND) l (1) Marcus Fernaldi Gideon (INA)/ Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo (INA) 18-21 15-21
[R1] Satwiksairaj Rankireddy (IND)/ Chirag Shetty (IND) l (5) Liu Cheng (CHN)/ Zhang Nan (CHN) 13-21 13-21
[R1] Ashwini Ponnappa (IND)/ N. Sikki Reddy (IND) l Ha Na Baek (KOR)/ Chae Yoo Jung (KOR) 14-21 15-21

[R1] (Q) Satwiksairaj Rankireddy (IND)/ Ashwini Ponnappa (IND) l Mathias Christiansen (DEN)/ Christinna Pedersen (DEN) 19-21 21-17 13-21

[R2] Prannoy H.S. (IND,11) vs Cheuk Yiu Lee (HKG,53)

[R2] Saina Nehwal (IND,11) vs (5) Akane Yamaguchi (JPN,4)
[R2] (2) Pusarla V. Sindhu (IND,2) vs (Q) Yue Hen (CHN,105)

Saina started with a confident win against similar ranked Zhang ... She dominated the match, but next, she is facing a tough match against in-form Japanese girl, Akane Yamaguchi, who defeated Saina three times in 2017 and last two losses were in the last month in Denmark and French Superseries.

Experienced Dong Keun Lee stretched Prannoy for a long match, which ended after almost 90 mins ... After losing the first game Prannoy required digging deep for making comeback in the match ... Lee kept fighting in the third game but Prannoy prevailed ... Next, he is facing Hong Kong's Cheuk Yiu Lee.

Sindhu got stretched by her Japanese opponent, Sayaka Sato ... Both games won by Sindhu on extra points, in the second game she needed to save one game point ... Next, she is facing Chinese qualifier.

Sourabh lost in three games against Frenchman Leverdez.

Satwik and Ashwini gave fighting performance against higher ranked Danish pair but lost in three games.

Manu-Sumeeth gave decent performance against WR #1 Indonesian pair ... Chinese WR #4 pair proved too strong to Satwik and Chirag ... Ashwini-Sikki also failed to challenge their Korean opponents.

Golf News

At LPGA Tour 2017,

Aditi becomes the first Indian to qualify for the season-ending CME Group Tour Championship on the LPGA and she has also secured her LPGA card for 2018 season.

Tuesday, November 14, 2017

Football News

At the 2019 AFC Asian Cup - Third Round Qualification, Macau

Group A
India vs Myanmar 2-2 (1-2)
Goal Scored - Sunil Chhetri (IND) 13' P, Jeje Lalpekhlua (IND) 69' and Yan Naing Oo (MYA) 1', Kyaw Ko Ko (MYA) 19'

Myanmar shocked us after taking lead after only 14 seconds ... Indians equalized through a penalty conversion by Sunil, who was brought down in the box ... Our goalkeeper Gurpreet made rare miscalculation (mistimed the jump) to concede a soft goal in 19th minute ... The first half was mostly dominated by Myanmar side ... In the second half, we played an attacking game and putting extra pressure on Myanmar team ... Jeje equalized on an assist by Lyngdoh ... After that, we created multiple chances but failed to convert ... The referee disallowed a goal scored by Sunil (as that was an indirect kick but the ball did not move after Jeje touched it before Sunil's kick) and after that match ended in a draw ... We are now unbeaten for 13 games with 11 wins.

Tennis News

At $50K+H Pune Challenger 2017, Maharashtra

[R1] (LL) N. Vijay Sundar Prashanth (IND,622) bt (WC) Aryan Goveas (IND,698) 63 64
[R1] (4) Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,150) bt Marc Polmans (AUS,322) 67(5) 76(5) 76(9)
[R1] (WC) Arjun Kadhe (IND,755) l Ante Pavic (CRO,313) 67(5) 67(4)
[R1] (3) Yuki Bhambri (IND,137) bt (Q) Kaichi Uchida (JPN,356) 62 75
[R1] Sumit Nagal (IND,328) bt Lucas Miedler (AUT,326) 76(1) 60

[R2] (LL) N. Vijay Sundar Prashanth (IND,622) vs (1) Blaz Kavcic (SLO,102)
[R2] (WC) Saketh Myneni (IND,912) vs (8) Pedja Krstin (SRB,221)
[R2] (4) Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,150) vs Brydan Klein (GBR,292)
[R2] (3) Yuki Bhambri (IND,137) vs Ante Pavic (CRO,313)
[R2] N.Sriram Balaji (IND,352) vs (9) Aleksandr Nedovyesov (KAZ,245)
[R2] Sumit Nagal (IND,328) vs (2) Adrian Menendez-Maceiras (ESP,127)

Sumit scored an excellent win over Miedler in the straight sets ... The first set was well contested, till 9th game both players hold their respective service games with an ease ... Sumit saved a couple of set points in the 10th game while serving to stay in the set, in next game he missed few break points on Miedler's serve ... But from the tie-break he dominated the proceedings, he won the tie-break losing a single point and then gave the bagel to Miedler in the second set.

VSP scored expected victory over Aryan with a single break in both sets ... Next, VSP and Sumit having tough matches as they r facing top 2 seeds in the second round.

Expected win by Yuki against Japanese qualifier ... After winning the first set Yuki lost focus in the second set and was 2-4 down ... But he staged an excellent comeback winning 5 games from next 6 games played, in that he broke Uchida twice, for completing the victory.

RamK scraped through in three hours match against in-form Australian Marc Polmans ... RamK was coming back on the court after almost a month and after five matches losing streak, so he was under a lot of pressure ... Marc didn't give him a chance to settle in the match ... Moreover, RamK also missed huge opportunities like he converted only 1 break point from 13 chances ... After losing the first set in the tie-break RamK dug deep for a winning the second set tie-break ... The third set also went to tie-break ... RamK was up 4-1 and 5-2 but wasted mini-break advantage ... He missed a match point at 6-5 and then faced three match points on 6-7, 7-8 and 8-9 ... He saved all those three match points and converted second match point for much-needed win.

Arjun played a really well match against big-serving Croatian, he lost in the two tie-breaks ... The difference was, Pavic served 18 aces in the match and both players failed to break other's service game in the match.


At $60K+H ITF Women's Tournament 2017, Toyota, Japan

[R1] (3) Ankita Raina (IND)/ Erika Sema (JPN) l Rika Fujiwara (JPN)/ Ayano Shimizu (JPN) 46 76(5) 4-10

Ankita's awful form continues ... She lost in the doubles with Sema in the match tie-break ... Hopefully, she will be giving better results in the singles.

Monday, November 13, 2017

Badminton News

At $700K TAHOE China Open 2017, Fuzhou (World Superseries Premier)

[Q1] Satwiksairaj Rankireddy (IND)/ Ashwini Ponnappa (IND) bt Lee Jhe-Huei (TPE)/ Wu Ti Jung (TPE) 24-22 21-7
[Q2] Satwiksairaj Rankireddy (IND)/ Ashwini Ponnappa (IND) bt (4) Niclas Nohr (DEN)/ Sara Thygesen (DEN) 21-16 19-21 22-20

[R1] Sourabh Verma (IND,57) vs Brice Leverdez (FRA,30)
[R1] Prannoy H.S. (IND,11) vs (Q) Dong Keun Lee (KOR,51)

[R1] Saina Nehwal (IND,11) vs Beiwen Zhang (USA,12)
[R1] (2) Pusarla V. Sindhu (IND,2) vs Sayaka Sato (JPN,13)

[R1] Manu Attri (IND)/ B. Sumeeth Reddy (IND) vs (1) Marcus Fernaldi Gideon (INA)/ Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo (INA)
[R1] Satwiksairaj Rankireddy (IND)/ Chirag Shetty (IND) vs (5) Liu Cheng (CHN)/ Zhang Nan (CHN)
[R1] Ashwini Ponnappa (IND)/ N. Sikki Reddy (IND) vs Ha Na Baek (KOR)/ Chae Yoo Jung (KOR)

[R1] (Q) Satwiksairaj Rankireddy (IND)/ Ashwini Ponnappa (IND) vs Mathias Christiansen (DEN)/ Christinna Pedersen (DEN)

Our men's doubles pairs r facing top-4 world ranked pairs ... Winnable matches for our players in the singles.

Satwik-Ashwini qualified for the main-draw and facing another top-notch Danish pair in the first round ... In the final qualifying, they faced experienced Danish pair, who defeated them in the last month's Denmark Superseries in the straight games ... But here, our pair defeated them in three games and before that they scored the straight games win over Taipei pair.

Tennis News

At $50K+H Pune Challenger 2017, Maharashtra

[R1] (WC) Saketh Myneni (IND,907) bt Tomislav Brkic (BIH,248) 63 46 62
[R1] Prajnesh Gunneswaran(IND,253) l (7) Evan King (USA,197) 36 36
[R1] (WC) Vishnu Vardhan (IND,513) l (9) Aleksandr Nedovyesov (KAZ,245) 36 64 67(6)
[R1] N.Sriram Balaji (IND,352) bt Karim-Mohamed Maamoun (EGY,235) 64 62
[R1] (LL) N. Vijay Sundar Prashanth (IND,622) vs (WC) Aryan Goveas (IND,698)
[R1] (3) Yuki Bhambri (IND,137) vs (Q) Kaichi Uchida (JPN,356)

[R2] N.Sriram Balaji (IND,352) vs (9) Aleksandr Nedovyesov (KAZ,245)

Doubles
[R1] (WC) Arjun Kadhe (IND)/ N. Vijay Sundar Prashanth (IND) l Ivan Sabanov (CRO)/ Matej Sabanov (CRO) 36 57
[R1] (WC) Sumit Nagal (IND)/ Naoki Nakagawa (JPN) bt (WC) Siddanth Banthia (IND)/ Jayesh Pungliya (IND) 75 60

The lucky break for our players as VSP is facing Aryan as a lucky-loser ... Yuki is facing Japanese qualifier.

Saki scored his first win over top-250 player after coming out of injury ... Saki comfortably won the first set ... In the second set, he struggled with his backhand and serve ... Brkic broke him in the 8th game, 3-5, but Saki immediately broke back when Brkic was serving for the set ... But again Saki failed to hold in the 10th game for losing the set ... In the third set, Saki again started serving big and his backhands were too good ... He broke Brkic in 1st and 3rd games to lead 3-0 ... Brkic took a break back bur Saki again broke him to win this set comfortably.

Bala scored an excellent upset win over top-250 Egyptian opponent ... Bala was a break down early but after that, he took control of the match and dominated Maamoun ... Next, he is facing Nedo, who was lucky to beat Vishnu.

Vishnu missed huge opportunity to complete comeback victory ... After losing the first set Vishnu made comeback and won the second set ... In the third set tie-break, he was up 4-1 but from here he missed overhead and made some silly mistakes for losing the match.
Prajnesh was looking good against Evan ... But he showed unnecessary aggression and some loose shots for losing the service games and match.

In the doubles, Sumit-Naoki won their match in the straight sets ... I still feel Sood twins were more deserving for the wild-card instead of Jayesh-Siddanth ... Arjun and VSP also lost in the straight sets against Sabanov twins.


At $60K+H ITF Women's Tournament 2017, Toyota, Japan

[R1] Ankita Raina (IND,283) vs (Q) Megumi Nishimoto (JPN,718)

Doubles
[R1] (3) Ankita Raina (IND)/ Erika Sema (JPN) vs Rika Fujiwara (JPN)/ Ayano Shimizu (JPN)

A winnable match for Ankita against Japanese qualifier ... In the doubles, she is 3rd seed with Sema.

Golf News

At $7.1M OHL Classic at Mayakoba 2017, Playa del Carmen, Mexico (PGA Tour 2018)

T14 Anirban Lahiri (IND) 67 69 67 71 -10 $117,150.00

Anirban managed only PAR final round and with that he missed opportunity of top-10 finish ... Yesterday, they played the third and fourth rounds and after three rounds Anirban was on T6 position.

Sunday, November 12, 2017

Tennis News

At $75K Knoxville Challenger 2017, USA

Courtesy of Knoxville Challenger FB page
Doubles Final
(1) Leander Paes (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) bt (2) James Cerretani (USA)/ John-Patrick Smith (AUS) 76(4) 76(4)

Lee-Purav lifted the title in a well-fought match against 2nd seed Cerretani-Smith ... In this match, both sets went to tie-breaks and both pairs managed to break other's serve only once and that also in the second set.

At $125K Taipei OEC Open 2017, Taipei, Taiwan

[R1] Luksika Kumkhum (THA)/ Prarthana Thombare (IND) vs Lizette Cabrera (AUS)/ Fanny Stollar (HUN)

This week, Prarthana is playing with Thai girl, Luksika Kumkhum ... They r facing Prarthana's last week's partner Fanny Stollar and Lizette Cabrera.

At $50K+H Pune Challenger 2017, Maharashtra

[R1] (1) Mikhail Elgin (RUS)/ Divij Sharan (IND) vs Evan King (USA)/ Lucas Miedler (AUT)
[R1] (WC) Arjun Kadhe (IND)/ N. Vijay Sundar Prashanth (IND) vs Ivan Sabanov (CRO)/ Matej Sabanov (CRO)
[R1] (WC) Siddanth Banthia (IND)/ Jayesh Pungliya (IND) vs (WC) Sumit Nagal (IND)/ Naoki Nakagawa (JPN)
[R1] (3) N.Sriram Balaji (IND)/ Vishnu Vardhan (IND) vs (PR) Saketh Myneni (IND)/ Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND)

Divij is top-seed with Elgin ... VSP is partnering Arjun and they r facing Sabanov twins ... In the match between two wild-card pairs, Banthia-Pungliya r facing Sumit and his Japanese partner ... Vishnu-Bala r having a tricky match against Jeevan and Saki ... Feel bad for Sood twins as they failed to make the cut and didn't receive wild-card.

At $75K Champaign Challenger 2017, Illinois, USA

[R1] (1) Leander Paes (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) vs Sebastian Fanselow (GER)/ Alexander Sarkissian (USA)

At Champaign Challenger, Lee and Purav r top-seed and facing Fanselow-Sarkissian.

Golf News

At $1M Resorts World Manila Masters 2017, Philippines (Asian Tour 2017)

T5 Jyoti Randhawa (IND) 70 64 67 71 -16 $37,150.00
T10 SSP Chawrasia (IND) 66 68 69 71 -14 $17,600.00
T13 Ajeetesh Sandhu (IND) 72 67 69 67 -13 $14,175.00
T17 Arjun Atwal (IND) 67 67 71 71 -12 $12,350.00
T20 Shiv Kapur (IND) 71 68 69 69 -11 $10,750.00
T20 Gaganjeet Bhullar (IND) 67 71 69 70 -11 $10,750.00
T26 Honey Baisoya (IND) 71 71 66 70 -10 $9,400.00
T29 Khalin Joshi (IND) 70 70 70 69 -9 $7,740.00
T39 Himmat Rai (IND) 72 69 69 70 -8 $6,220.00
T47 Chirag Kumar (IND) 69 70 71 72 -6 $5000.00
T68 Sujjan Singh (IND) 72 68 74 72 -2 $2,450.00

Jyoti managed only 1 under final round and finished in T5 position ... He was leading after the third round ... SSP also finished inside top-10 and Ajeetesh, Arjun, Shiv and Gaganjeet finished inside top-20.

At $400K Hero Women's Indian Open 2017, Las Vegas, Nevada (LET 2017)

T6 Vani Kappor (IND) 69 68 72 -7 €9,638.97
T13 Aditi Ashok (IND) 70 70 72 -4 €6,110.42
T44 Gaurika Bishnoi (IND) 70 73 77 +4 €1,858.94

Today, Vani and Aditi managed PAR rounds ... So they slide in the standing and finished on T6 and T13 respectively.

Saturday, November 11, 2017

Tennis News

At $50K+H Kobe Challenger 2017, Japan

Doubles Final
(4) Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND)/ Christopher Rungkat (INA) l Ben McLachlan (JPN)/ Yasutaka Uchiyama (JPN) 64 36 8-10

Jeevan and Chris lost in the match tie-break against the local unseeded pair in the final ... Jeevan-Chris won the first set but afterward, they failed to keep momentum.

At $25K ITF Women's Tennis Tournament 2017, Pune, India

Singles Final
(3) Karman Kaur Thandi (IND,310) l (2) Jaqueline Adina Cristian (ROU,254) 36 61 06

Jaqueline overpowered Karman in the third, but still a credible fighting performance by Karman against top-250 Romanian player ... After losing the first set Karman tried strong comeback with easily winning the second set ... I feel, her overall performance in this Pune ITF was encouraging.

At $50K+H Pune Challenger 2017, Maharashtra

[R1] (WC) Aryan Goveas (IND,697) vs Qualifier
[R1] (WC) Saketh Myneni (IND,912) vs Tomislav Brkic (BIH,272)
[R1] (4) Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,148) vs Marc Polmans (AUS,329)
[R1] Prajnesh Gunneswaran(IND,255) vs (7) Evan King (USA,197)
[R1] (WC) Arjun Kadhe (IND,767) vs Ante Pavic (CRO,314)
[R1] (3) Yuki Bhambri (IND,140) vs Qualifier
[R1] (WC) Vishnu Vardhan (IND,494) vs (9) Aleksandr Nedovyesov (KAZ,227)
[R1] N.Sriram Balaji (IND,350) vs Karim-Mohamed Maamoun (EGY,234)
[R1] Sumit Nagal (IND,331) vs Lucas Miedler (AUT,327)

The Pune challenger draw is out ... As expected, RamK and Yuki r seeded and can meet only in the final ... Sumit having similar ranked Austrian in the first round and if he wins then can face 2nd seed ... Overall, decent draw for our players ... Due to Ymer's late withdrawal, Vishnu is facing Nedo in the first round.

Friday, November 10, 2017

Squash News

At $50K Men's CCI International 2017, Mumbai, India

Courtesy of CCI International FB page
Final match
(3) Saurav Ghosal (IND,21) bt (5) Nicolas Müller (SUI,27) 11-6, 11-8, 11-8 (44m)

Saurav lifted his biggest PSA title beating Swiss player, Nicolas Müller, in the CCI International final ... Müller gave fighting performance but Saurav kept control of the match playing important points better.

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,...