Golf News

At $500K Royal Cup 2017, Pattaya, Thailand

Photo Credit to AsianTour.com

1 Shiv Kapur (IND) 67 68 68 67 -14 $90,000.00
3 Gaganjeet Bhullar (IND) 67 71 69 66 -11 $30,000.00
6 Khalin Joshi (IND) 70 68 71 67 -8 $16,600.00
T41 Jyoti Randhawa (IND) 70 73 72 72 +3 $2,700.00

Shiv Kapur completed victory at the US$500,000 Royal Cup after he closed the tournament with a four-under-par 67 to finish 14-under-par 270 ... Interestingly, Shiv Kapur is the only golfer to win three Asian Tour tournaments this year. In fact, he is the only golfer to win multiple Asian Tour titles in 2017 ... Before this, he won at the Yeangder Heritage, Panasonic Open India and the Royal Cup.

Tennis News

At $561K Tata Open Maharashtra 2018, Pune, India

[Q2] (8) Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,243) l (1) Thiago Monterio (BRA,124) 57 57
[Q2] (6) Sumit Nagal (IND,223) bt (2) Adrian Menendez-Mceiras (ESP,127) 62 36 64

[R1] (Q) Sumit Nagal (IND,223) vs (Q) Ilya Ivashka (BLR,230)

Sumit qualifies for his first ATP main draw with an upset win over top-130 Spanish Menendez-Mceiras ... In their last three meetings Menendez-Mceiras defeated Sumit but this time Sumit managed to turn table on him ... Sumit started confidently and won the first set comfortably but Menendez-Mceiras made comeback in the match winning the second set ... In the decider, Menendez-Mceiras broke Sumit early and was leading 1-3 ... Sumit made an amazing comeback in the match from 1-3 and 15-40 down ... Sumit hold his serve and broke Menendez-Mceiras in 6th game for 3-all ... Sumit saved another break point in the 9th game and then after medical break broke Menendez-Mceiras for memorable victory ... In luck of the draw, Sumit is facing another qualifier Ilya Ivashka in the main draw ... Other hand Prajnesh stretched Monterio in both sets but failed to overcome.

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At $50K+H Bangkok Challenger, Thailand

[Q2] Sidharth Rawat (IND,542) l (5) Dominik Koepfer (GER,305) 46 46

Sid lost in the straight sets against Koepfer.

Chess News

At FIDE World Blitz Championship 2017, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Photo Credit to Vishy's twitter

1 GM Magnus Carlsen (NOR,2986) 16 pts
T2 GM Sergey Karjakin (RUS,2854) 14½ pts
T2 GM Viswanathan Anand (IND,2736) 14½ pts

After winning the Rapid World Championship Viswanathan Anand finished tied 2nd position in the Blitz World Championship ... Another excellent performance by 48 yrs old Anand to finish inside top 3 with 14½ pts from 21 games for winning the Bronze and $100,000 prize money ... Carlsen won the title comfortably with 16 pts ... Young Vidit Gujrathi gave solid performance to finished on 21st position with 12½ pts and Harikrishna finished on 25th with 12½ pts.

Tennis News

At $561K Tata Open Maharashtra 2018, Pune, India

[Q1] N. Sriram Balaji (IND,374) l (1) Thiago Monterio (BRA,124) 63 36 57
[Q1] (8) Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,243) bt (ALT) Jayesh Pungliya (IND,1009) 64 61
[Q1] (WC) Shahbaz Khan (IND,1377) l (2) Adrian Menendez-Mceiras (ESP,127) 26 06
[Q1] (6) Sumit Nagal (IND,223) bt (WC) Divij Sharan (IND,UNR) 62 63
[Q1] Sasi Kumar Mukund (IND,426) l (5) Richardo Ojera Lara (ESP,198) 26 16
[Q1] Vishnu Vardhan (IND,511) l (4) Carlos Taberner (ESP,185) 75 26 67(3)

[Q2] (8) Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,243) vs (1) Thiago Monterio (BRA,124)
[Q2] (6) Sumit Nagal (IND,223) vs (2) Adrian Menendez-Mceiras (ESP,127)

[R1] (WC) Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,148) vs Roberto Carballes Baena (ESP,106)
[R1] Yuki Bhambri (IND,116) vs (WC) Arjun Kadhe (IND,603)

Doubles
[R1] Yuki Bhambri (IND)/ Divij Sharan (IND) vs Laslo Djere (SRB)/ Blaz Kavcic (SLO)
[R1] (4) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND) vs Leander Paes (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND)
[R1] (WC) N. Sriram Balaji (IND)/ Vishnu Vardhan (IND) vs Adil Shamasdin (CAN)/ Neal Skupski (GBR)
[R1] (WC) Arjun Kadhe (IND)/ Benoit Paire (FRA) vs (2) Robin Haase (NED)/ Matwe Middelkoop (NED)

Arjun is unlucky in the draw as he is facing Yuki in the singles and in the doubles, he is facing 2nd seed Dutch pair with Paire ... RamK is facing Spanish Carballes Baena and winner will be faced top-seed Cilic.

In the doubles, another cruel draw for Indians as Lee and Purav r facing last year's Chennai open champions Rohan and Jeevan ... Divij is playing with Yuki and they r facing Djere-Kavcic ... Bala and Vishnu start their year against Skupski and Shamasdin.

In the qualifying, only expected wins for Indians as Sumit and Prajnesh won their respective matches against Indian opponents easily ... Sumit will be facing top-130 Spanish Menendez-Mceiras for place in the main draw ... Prajnesh is facing top-125 Brazilian Monterio.

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At $50K+H Bangkok Challenger, Thailand

[Q1] Vijay Sundar Prashanth (IND,526) l (5) Dominik Koepfer (GER,305) 76(7) 26 16
[Q1] Sidharth Rawat (IND,542) bt (WC) Chaleechan Tanasugarn (THA,UNR) 62 60

[Q2] Sidharth Rawat (IND,542) vs (5) Dominik Koepfer (GER,305)

Sid and VSP r playing in Bangkok ... Mixed results for them, as VSP lost after winning the first set against his German opponent and Sid scored expected easy win against local unranked player ... Next, Sid is facing German Koepfer.

Chess News

At the FIDE World Rapid Men 2017 Championship, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Photo Credit to riyadh2017.fide.com

GM Viswanathan Anand (IND,2758) bt GM Vladimir Fedoseev (RUS,2771) 1½-½

Tie-break 1 - GM Viswanathan Anand (IND,2758) vs GM Vladimir Fedoseev (RUS,2771) 1-0 (in 29 moves)
Tie-break 2 - GM Vladimir Fedoseev (RUS,2771) vs GM Viswanathan Anand (IND,2758) ½-½ (after 39 moves)

Round 1 - GM Varuzhan Akobian (USA,2620) vs GM Viswanathan Anand (IND,2758) 0-1
Round 2 - GM Viswanathan Anand (IND,2758) vs Peter Leko (HUN,2671) 1-0
Round 3 - GM Gabriel Sargissian (ARM,2673) vs GM Viswanathan Anand (IND,2758) ½-½
Round 4 - GM Viswanathan Anand (IND,2758) vs GM Anton Demchenko (RUS,2667) 1-0
Round 5 - GM Ivan Cheparinov (FID,2694) vs GM Viswanathan Anand (IND,2758) ½-½
Round 6 - GM Viswanathan Anand (IND,2758) vs GM Pavel Ponkratov (RUS,2673) ½-½
Round 7 - GM Luke J McShane (ENG,2697) vs GM Viswanathan Anand (IND,2758) 0-1
Round 8 - GM Viswanathan Anand (IND,2758) vs GM Vladimir Fedoseev (RUS,2771) ½-½
Round 9 - GM Magnus Carlsen (NOR,2908) vs GM Viswanathan Anand (IND,2758) 0-1
Round 10 - GM Viswanathan Anand (IND,2758) vs GM Hao Wang (CHN,2770) ½-½
Round 11 - GM Peter Svidler (RUS,2743) vs GM Viswanathan Anand (IND,2758) ½-½
Round 12 - GM Viswanathan Anand (IND,2758) vs GM Ian Nepomniachtchi (RUS,2780) ½-½
Round 13 - GM Vladimir Onischuk (UKR,2748) vs GM Viswanathan Anand (IND,2758) ½-½
Round 14 - GM Viswanathan Anand (IND,2758) vs GM Alexander Grischuk (RUS,2813) 1-0
Round 15 - GM Xiangzhi Bu (CHN,2654) vs GM Viswanathan Anand (IND,2758) ½-½

48 yrs old Viswanathan Anand turned back the clock and lifted the World Rapid Championship ... In a a thrilling finale in which Anand claimed the title after the blitz tie-break with Vladimir Fedoseev ... He came from behind to win it in a three-way tie with Ian Nepomniachtchi and Vladimir Fedoseev ... Fedoseev and Anand had the better tiebreaks and so they played a two-game blitz matches, which won by Anand ... All three players split the prize money for the first three places.

Squash News

At $15K Men's Qatar Circuit #5 2017, Doha

[SF] Mahesh Mangaonkar (IND,73) l (1) Abdulla Mohd Al Tamimi (QAT,37) 11-8, 11-9, 10-12, 7-11, 2-11 (59m)

Mahesh missed a huge opportunity of beating top-40 Al Tamini ... Mahesh won the first 2 games and had a match ball into the third ... Al Tamini made a strong comeback after winning the third game ... In the last game, he didn't give any chance to Mahesh.

Tennis News

Year end rankings of Indian players - 2017,

Men's singles players
116 Yuki Bhambri
148 Ramkumar Ramanathan
223 Sumit Nagal
243 Prajnesh Gunneswaran
374 N. Sriram Balaji
426 Sasi Kumar Mukund
511 Vishnu Vardhan
526 N Vijay Sundar Prashanth
542 Sidharth Rawat
597 Karunuday Singh
608 Arjun Kadhe

Men's doubles players (Top-200)
18 Rohan Bopanna
47 Divij Sharan
60 Purav Raja
63 Leander Paes
102 Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan
116 Vishnu Vardhan
133 N. Sriram Balaji

Women's singles players (Top-800)
276 Ankita Raina
288 Karman Thandi
482 Pranjala Yadlapalli
525 Rutuja Bhosale
611 Riya Bhatia
628 Zeel Desai
736 Mahak Jain
740 Dhruthi Tatachar Venugopal
780 Kanika Vaidya

Women's doubles players (Top-600)
12 Sania Mirza
144 Prarthana Thombare
193 Ankita Raina
309 Karman Thandi
487 Pranjala Yadlapalli
556 Kanika Vaidya
588 Dhruthi Tatachar Venugopal
595 Rutuja Bhosale

In 2017, Yuki and Ramk showed good progress including, RamK's win over Dominic Thiem and Yuki's win over Gael Monfils ... Both r having good chance of entering into top-100 ... Sumit Nagal is also showing heartening progress and can be in top-150 very soon ... In the doubles, Divij and Purav r establishing as regular tour players ... Vishnu-Bala r trying their luck and having good chance of entering into top-100.

In women's side, Ankita looks stagnant but Karman is showing lot of improvement and challenging Ankita for India's #1 ... Pranjala also improving and Mahak looks exceptional talent.

Squash News

At $15K Men's Qatar Circuit #5 2017, Doha

[R1] Abhay Singh (IND,150) bt Sandeep Ramachandran (IND,424) 11-3 retd.
[R1] Mahesh Mangaonkar (IND,73) bt Ahmad Al Mudhaf (KUW,334) 11-6, 11-1, 11-2 (23m)
[R1] (Q) Guhan Senthilkumar (IND,308) l Enzo Corigliano (FRA,163) 11-5, 3-11, 6-11, 8-11 (40 m)

[R2] Mahesh Mangaonkar (IND,73) bt Abhay Singh (IND,150) 11-5, 11-7, 11-5 (25m)

[QF] Mahesh Mangaonkar (IND,73) bt (8) Matias Tuomi (FIN,142) 11-6, 11-3, 11-6 (29m)

[SF] Mahesh Mangaonkar (IND,73) vs (1) Abdulla Mohd Al Tamimi (QAT,37)

Mahesh is in the semis with comfortable three wins in Qatar ... In the semis, he will be faced a tough challenge of local top-40 player.

Tennis News

At $447K The Tata Open Maharashtra 2018, Pune, India

The Singles Wild-cards - Yuki Bhambri (IND,116), Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,142) and Arjun Kadhe (IND,610)

The Tata open organizers broke the trend and announced all wild-cards to Indians - Yuki, RamK and Arjun ... In the doubles, the defending champions Rohan and Jeevan r back together for this tournament ... Lee and Purav r playing together and Divij is starting with his confirmed partner for 2018 season, American Scott Lipsky ... Vishnu and Bala r in to the alternate list.

Snooker News

At £367K German Masters Qualifiers 2017, Barnsley, England

[FQ] Aditya Mehta (IND,81) l Matthew Selt (ENG,45) 4-5 (45-66, 70(70)-0, 73(51)-42, 73-0, 97(66)-4, 23-90(63), 40-59, 45-82(66), 1-104

Aditya had a tense match against higher ranked Selt ... But in end, a big missed opportunity as he lost after losing last four frames ... An early, Aditya was in a driving seat ... He scored a three 50+ breaks in first 5 frames and was leading 4-1 ... Selt made a strong comeback winning next four frames in a row ... In the seventh frame, Aditya missed chance to complete the win.

Badminton News

Year end rankings of Indian players - 2017,

Men's Singles
3 Srikanth Kidambi
10 H. S. Prannoy
16 B. Sai Praneeth
30 Sameer Varma
38 Ajay Jayaram
49 Sourabh Varma

Women's Singles
3 P. V. Sindhu
10 Saina Nehwal
58 Sri Krishna Priya Kudaravalli
80 Ruthvika Shivani Gadde

Men's Doubles
31 Satwiksairaj Ranikreddy/ Chirag Shetty
32 Manu Attri/ B. Sumeeth Reddy
41 Arjun M.R./ Shlok Ramchandran
44 Alwin Francis/ Tarun Kona

Women's Doubles
28 Sikki Reddy/ Ashwini Ponnappa
48 Meghana Jakkampudi/ Poorvisha S Ram
53 Sanjana Santosh/ Arathi Sara Sunil

Mixed Doubles
18 Pranav Chopra/ Sikki Reddy
43 Yogendran Khrishnan (MAS)/ Prajakta Sawant
71 Saurabh Sharma/ Anoushka Parikh
72 Satwiksairaj Ranikreddy/ Ashwini Ponnappa

This year, we have some amazing performance ... Sindhu won Silver at World Championship and Superseries Finals ... Srikanth won four Superseries titles in a year ... Prannoy winning his first Superseries title ... Saina showed consistency but needs to improve on her fitness for coming back into to-5 ... In the doubles also, we are showing huge improvement under Malaysian Tan Kim Her ... Having lots of hope from young Satwiksairaj Ranikreddy.

Tennis News

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

[SF] (5) Ankita Raina (IND,276) l Diana Marcinkevica (LAT,294) 46 46

Doubles Final
Pranjala Yadlapalli (IND)/ Tamara Zidansek (SLO) l (2) Georgina Garcia Perez (ESP)/ Diana Marcinkevica (LAT) 06 16

[SF] Pranjala Yadlapalli (IND)/ Tamara Zidansek (SLO) bt (1) Olga Doroshina (RUS)/ Polina Monova (RUS) 64 26 13-11
[QF] Pranjala Yadlapalli (IND)/ Tamara Zidansek (SLO) bt Ganna Poznikhirenko (UKR)/ Valeriya Strakhova (UKR) 63 62
[R1] Pranjala Yadlapalli (IND)/ Tamara Zidansek (SLO) bt (WC) Akanksha Dileep Nitture (IND)/ Saumya Vig (IND) 61 60

I was hoping a win for Ankita but she lost in the straight sets against Latvian Marcinkevica.

Pranjala and Tamara failed to challenge the 2nd seed Marcinkevica and Garcia Perez in their one-sided loss in the final ... Before that in the semis, they defeated the top-seed Russian pair in marathon match tie-break.

Tennis News

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

[QF] (5) Ankita Raina (IND,276) bt Karman Kaur Thandi (IND,288) 75 75

[SF] (5) Ankita Raina (IND,276) vs Diana Marcinkevica (LAT,294)

Ankita scored a hard fought win over Karman for entering in to the semis ... In the both sets, Karman was 4-2 lead but both times Ankita made a comeback and won the sets 7-5 ... Next, she is facing Latvian Marcinkevica, who scored an upset win over 2nd seed.

Snooker News

At £367K German Masters Qualifiers 2017, Barnsley, England

[Q1] Aditya Mehta (IND,81) bt (A) Ben Jones (WAL) 5-1 (82-59, 62-8, 14-84(84), 63-23, 110(59)-19, 96(83)-40)

[QF] Aditya Mehta (IND,81) vs Matthew Selt (ENG,45)

Aditya in the final qualifier with easy win over an armature players from Wales ... Not a clean performance but still good start ... In the final qualifying, he is facing top-50 British player Selt.

Tennis News

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

[R2] (5) Ankita Raina (IND,276) bt (Q) Ekaterina Yashina (RUS,546)
[R2] Karman Kaur Thandi (IND,288) bt (3) Jia-Jing Lu (CHN,200) 63 60

[QF] (5) Ankita Raina (IND,276) vs Karman Kaur Thandi (IND,288)

Karman scoed a huge upset against top-200 Chinese girl Lu losing only three games ... Ankita also joined her into the quarters with comfortable win over russian girl ... So, all Indians quarter final is planned.

Tennis News

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

[R1] (5) Ankita Raina (IND,276) bt (WC) Rutuja Bhosale (IND,571) 63 75
[R2] Karman Kaur Thandi (IND,288) bt (Q) Sarah Beth Grey (GBR,604) 64 63
[R1] (WC) Pranjala Yadlapalli (IND,484) l (3) Jia-Jing Lu (CHN,200) 26 06
[R1] (WC) Dhruthi Tatachar Venugopal (IND,740) l Estelle Cascino (FRA,415) 16 06
[R1] (WC) Akanksha Nitture (IND,UNR) l (2) Polina Monova (RUS,176) 06 06

[R2] (5) Ankita Raina (IND,276) vs (Q) Ekaterina Yashina (RUS,546)
[R2] Karman Kaur Thandi (IND,288) vs (3) Jia-Jing Lu (CHN,200)

As expected, only two Indians scored a win in the first round ... This week, Ankita scored a win over Rutuja and also, the straight sets win for Karman against British qualifier ... Ankita will be faced Russian qualifier and Karman having a tough match against top-200 Chinese girl Lu, who scored a dominated win over Pranjala losing only two games.

Badminton News

At $1M Dubai World Superseries Finals 2017, United Arab Emirates (Superseries Premier)

Women's Singles Final
Pusarla V. Sindhu (IND,3) l Akane Yamaguchi (JPN,2) 15-21 21-12 21-19

Yamaguchi won another match against Sindhu on better stamina and patience ... Sindhu took a 13-8 lead from 5-8 down, Yamaguch reduced it to 14-13 but Sindhu won next 6 points and converted the 2nd game point ... In the second game, Sindhu was leading 8-5, but from here Yamaguchi took a control of the game and won it comfortably ... In the final game, some excellent long rallies played between Sindhu and Yamaguchi ... Yamaguchi executed her plan perfectly as she tired Sindhu playing long rallies ... Sindhu took an early 4-0 lead and kept a couple of points lead until 13-11 ... Yamaguchi caught her at 13-all and took a crucial lead at 15-17 ... After that, she kept the lead and won the match converting the first match point in 94 minutes... Both players were visibly tired while playing last 8-10 points and in that, Yamaguchi showed patience and Sindhu committed unforced errors.

Tennis News

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

[R1] (5) Ankita Raina (IND,275) vs (WC) Rutuja Bhosale (IND,571)
[R2] Karman Kaur Thandi (IND,285) vs (Q) Sarah Beth Grey (GBR,604)
[R1] (WC) Pranjala Yadlapalli (IND,484) vs (3) Jia-Jing Lu (CHN,201)
[R1] (WC) Dhruthi Tatachar Venugopal (IND,740) vs Estelle Cascino (FRA,415)
[R1] (WC) Akanksha Nitture (IND,UNR) vs (2) Polina Monova (RUS,176)

Another match between Ankita and Rutuja, last week Rutuja defeated her in three sets ... Pranjala again having a tough match against top-200 Chinese opponent ... Karman is facing British qualifier ... Dhruthi and Akanksha having tough opponents.

Golf News

At $750K Indonesian Masters 2017, Jakarta (Asian Tour)

T8 Ajeetesh Sandhu (IND) 72 68 67 67 -14 $17,212.50
T11 Shubhankar Sharma (IND) 71 67 67 71 -12 $12,638.00
T13 Gaganjeet Bhullar (IND) 67 71 72 67 -11 $10,631.75
T20 Shiv Kapur (IND) 70 67 73 69 -9 $7,942.60
T20 Chikkarangappa S. (IND) 68 67 69 75 -9 $7,942.60
T51 Jyoti Randhawa (IND) 75 67 70 74 -2 $2,970.00
T59 Honey Boisoya (IND) 72 69 71 76 PAR $2,325.00
T69 Rashid Khan (IND) 72 70 75 74 +3 $1,650.00

Chika missed a big opportunity to finish inside top-5 and ended in tied 20th position and ended season on 61st position ... Only Ajeetesh managed to finish inside top 10 with 14 under.

Badminton News

At $1M Dubai World Superseries Finals 2017, United Arab Emirates (Superseries Premier)

[SF] Pusarla V. Sindhu (IND,3) bt Yufei Chen (CHN,8) 21-15 21-18
[SF] Akane Yamaguchi (JPN,2) bt Ratchanok Intanon (THA,6) 17-21 21-12 21-19

Sindhu is in her first final of the Superseries Finals ... She defeated Chinese Yufei Chen in the straight games ... After winning the first game Sindhu took early lead, but after 11-15 down Chen tried fight back to take 16-15 lead ... Sindhu kept her composure and won the match converted first match point ... In the final, Sindhu will be facing Yamaguchi, whom she defeated comfortably in her group match.

Tennis News

At $15K Egypt F38 Futures 2017, Cairo

[R1] Arjun Kadhe (IND)/ Aryan Goveas (IND) bt Anwar Elkamony (EGY)/ Yacoub Makzoume (SYR) 60 60
[QF] Arjun Kadhe (IND)/ Aryan Goveas (IND) bt Thomas Statzberger (AUT)/ David Szintai (HUN) 61 62
[SF] Arjun Kadhe (IND)/ Aryan Goveas (IND) bt Mateusz Kowalczyk (POL)/ Lukasz Kozielski (POL) 64 63

Doubles Final
Arjun Kadhe (IND)/ Aryan Goveas (IND) bt Oleksandr Bielinskyi (UKR)/ Ronald Slobodchikov (RUS) 67(1) 61 10-7

Arjun and Aryan lifted their second doubles futures title in two weeks ... They scored a comeback win over Russian-Ukrainian pair to win in the match tie-break.

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At Australian Open 2018, Melbourne

Sania Mirza will not be taking part in the Australian Open due to a right knee injury ... She is taking call on surgery for a jumper's knee injury.

Badminton News

At $1M Dubai World Superseries Finals 2017, United Arab Emirates (Superseries Premier)

Men's Singles - Group B
Kidambi Srikanth (IND,4) l Shi Yuqi (CHN,8) 17-21 21-19 14-21
Viktor Axelsen (DEN,1) bt Chou Tien Chen (TPE,7) 21-16 14-21 21-15

Women's Singles - Group A
Pusarla V. Sindhu (IND,3) bt Akane Yamaguchi (JPN,2) 21-9 21-13
Sayaka Sato (JPN,15) bt He Bingjiao (CHN,9) 21-18 21-16

[SF] Pusarla V. Sindhu (IND,3) vs Yufei Chen (CHN,8)
[SF] Akane Yamaguchi (JPN,2) vs Ratchanok Intanon (THA,6)

Sindhu scored a dominating win against World Champion Yamaguchi losing only 22 points ... With this she won the group and facing Chinese Yufei Chen in the semis ... Tzu Ying Tai's challenge got over in the group.

Srikanth lost his third match in a row, though this time he won the second game before losing the final game to Yuqi.

Tennis News

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

[QF] (WC) Rutuja Bhosale (IND,569) l Olga Doroshina (RUS,398) 46 46
[QF] (7) Karman Kaur Thandi (IND,286) l (2) Georgina Garcia Perez (ESP,238) 46 36

Karman and Rutuja gave decent performance against their higher ranked opponents in their losses.

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At $15K Egypt F38 Futures 2017, Cairo

[R2] Aryan Goveas (IND,757) l Pavel Krainik (CAN,899) 26 36
[R2] (4) Arjun Kadhe (IND,612) l (Q) Dominik Barton (CZE,UNR) 26 46

Disappointing losses of Aryan and Arjun against lowly ranked players ... Arjun's loss was more shocking against unranked Czech qualifier.

Badminton News

At $1M Dubai World Superseries Finals 2017, United Arab Emirates (Superseries Premier)

Men's Singles - Group B
Kidambi Srikanth (IND,4) l Chou Tien Chen (TPE,7) 18-21 18-21
Shi Yuqi (CHN,8) bt Viktor Axelsen (DEN,1) 13-21 21-18 21-17

Women's Singles - Group A
Pusarla V. Sindhu (IND,3) bt Sayaka Sato (JPN,15) 21-13 21-12
Akane Yamaguchi (JPN,2) bt He Bingjiao (CHN,9) 21-14 13-21 21-8

With a second loss in two days means Srikanth's challenge got over from Superseries Finals.

Sindhu scored a comfortable win over Sato and qualify for the semi-final with Yamaguchi ... Now, winner between them will be topped theis group.

Squash News

At $325K Men's AJ Bell PSA World Championship 2017, Manchester, England

[R3] Saurav Ghosal (IND,16) l (2) Karim Abdel Gawad (EGY,4) 12-14, 11-5, 11-6, 11-7 (59m)

Saurav lost in the four games against defending champion Gawad after winning the first game ... After a long first game both players were tired ... Gawad raised his game after 0-4 down in the second and Saurav failed to match his game ... Overall, a good performance by Saurav in this Worlds.

Badminton News

At $1M Dubai World Superseries Finals 2017, United Arab Emirates (Superseries Premier)

Men's Singles - Group B
Kidambi Srikanth (IND,4) l Viktor Axelsen (DEN,1) 13-21 17-21
Shi Yuqi (CHN,8) bt Chou Tien Chen (TPE,7) 21-19 21-17

Women's Singles - Group A
Pusarla V. Sindhu (IND,3) bt He Bingjiao (CHN,9) 21-11 16-21 21-18
Akane Yamaguchi (JPN,2) bt Sayaka Sato (JPN,15) 21-12 21-19

Sindhu won the first match beating Bingjiao in three games ... But Srikanth lost easily against Axelsen, may be his lack of match practice hampered his performance.

Tennis News

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

[R2] (WC) Rutuja Bhosale (IND,569) bt (Q) Kaja Juvan (SLO,529) 46 62 63
[R2] (7) Karman Kaur Thandi (IND,286) bt Valeriya Strakhova (UKR,348) 61 61

[QF] (WC) Rutuja Bhosale (IND,569) vs Olga Doroshina (RUS,398)
[QF] (7) Karman Kaur Thandi (IND,286) vs (2) Georgina Garcia Perez (ESP,238)

Rutuja scored an upset comeback win over junior WR #5 Kaja Juvan and showed her first round win wasn't a fluke ... Next, she will be faced a tough challenge of in-form Russian Olga Doroshina, who was a winner and finalist in the last two weeks.

Karman scored a dominating win over top-350 Strakhova ... Next, she will be faced top-250 and former top-200 Spanish girl, Garcia Perez.

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At $15K Egypt F38 Futures 2017, Cairo

[R1] Aryan Goveas (IND,757) bt (6) Olexiy Kolisnyk (UKR,638) 61 76(5)
[R1] (4) Arjun Kadhe (IND,612) bt Mazen Osama (EGY,908) 61 76(3)

Aryan started with the straight sets win over his seeded Ukrainian opponent ... Arjun also started with the straight sets win against former top-500 local player.

Snooker News

At £366K Scottish Open 2017, Glasgow, Scotland

[R1] Aditya Mehta (IND,80) l Peter Ebdon (ENG,47) 2-4 (73(69)-2, 70-14, 57-66, 0-89(89), 15-90, 7-86(86))

Aditya failed to capitalize on his good start against former World champion Peter Ebdon ... Aditya started with scoring a 50+ break for winning the first frame ... He continued with his good putting and took 2-0 lead ... In the third, Aditya missed chances of winning the frame and Peter fought back to win it by 9 points ... After that, it was Ebdon's show and he won next three frames comfortably to complete the victory.

Squash News

At $325K Men's AJ Bell PSA World Championship 2017, Manchester, England

[Q1] Vikram Malhotra (IND,69) bt Charlie Lee (ENG,116) 11-8, 11-5, 13-11 (35m)
[Q1] Mahesh Mangaonkar (IND,73) bt Reiko Peter (SUI,152) 11-6, 7-11, 11-9, 11-4 (49m)
[Q1] Harinder Pal Singh Sandhu (IND,52) bt Miles Jenkins (ENG,171) 11-7, 11-8, 12-14, 11-5 (49m)

[Q2] Vikram Malhotra (IND,69) l Karim El Hammamy (EGY,74) 11-13, 6-11, 6-11 (43m)
[Q2] Mahesh Mangaonkar (IND,73) bt Mohamed Elsherbini (EGY,84) 11-7, 8-11, 11-9, 11-3 (62m)
[Q2] Harinder Pal Singh Sandhu (IND,52) bt Andrew Schnell (CAN,83) 12-14, 11-2, 11-4, 13-11 (49m)

[R1] (Q) Mahesh Mangaonkar (IND,73) l (13) Daryl Selby (ENG,15) 8-11, 5-11, 5-11 (36m)
[R1] Saurav Ghosal (IND,16) bt (9) James Willstrop (ENG,10) 11-6 ret. (10m)
[R1] (Q) Harinder Pal Singh Sandhu (IND,52) l Ben Coleman (ENG,53) 4-11, 6-11, 6-11 (43m)

[R2] Saurav Ghosal (IND,16) bt Ben Coleman (ENG,53) 11-4, 11-3, 11-4 (45m)

[R3] Saurav Ghosal (IND,16) vs (2) Karim Abdel Gawad (EGY,4)

Saurav continues with his recent terrific form as he reached into the third round of the Worlds ... Saurav got lucky break in the first round as former WR #1 James Willstrop retired after losing the first game ... Saurav comfortably won the second round beating Britisher Ben Coleman ... In the third round, he will faced tough match against 2nd seed Karim Abdel Gawad.

Harry and Mahesh qualified for the main-draw but lost in the first round ... Harry lost against similar ranked Coleman in four games and Mahesh lost against former top-10 Selby in straight games.

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At $279K Women's AJ Bell PSA World Championship 2017, Manchester, England

[R1] (14) Joshna Chinappa (IND,15) l Salma Hany (EGY,19) 9-11, 13-11, 5-11, 9-11 (44m)
[R1] Dipika Pallikal Karthik (IND,20) l (13) Olivia Blatchford (USA,12) 7-11, 11-5, 9-11, 14-12, 8-11 (56m)

Joshna and Dipika failed to cross first hurdle of the Worlds ... Joshna lost in four games against young Egyptian Salma Hany ... Dipika lost in a close match against WR #12 Blatchford ... Dipika saved match-balls in the fourth before winning it but failed to keep momentum in the fifth.

Tennis News

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

[R1] (Q) Dhruthi Tatachar Venugopal (IND,751) l (8) Mai Minokoshi (JPN,291) 67(4) 46
[R1] (WC) Riya Bhatia (IND,541) l (Q) Kaja Juvan (SLO,529) 06 46
[R1] (WC) Rutuja Bhosale (IND,569) bt (3) Ankita Raina (IND,275) 63 67(6) 62
[R1] (7) Karman Kaur Thandi (IND,286) bt (WC) Mahak Jain (IND,813) 62 64
[R1] (WC) Pranjala Yadlapalli (IND,502) l Valeriya Strakhova (UKR,348) 46 36

[R2] (WC) Rutuja Bhosale (IND,569) vs (Q) Kaja Juvan (SLO,529)
[R2] (7) Karman Kaur Thandi (IND,286) vs Valeriya Strakhova (UKR,348)

Rutuja scored a huge upset beating her senior compatriot Ankita in three sets ... Next, she is having real tough match against junior WR #5 Kaja Juvan, who proved too strong for Riya ... Karman also started with a comfortable win over Mahak and next, she will be facing Strakhova, who defeated Pranjala in the straight sets ... Dhruthi lost in straight sets in respectable score against top-300 Japanese opponent ... Zeel Desai withdrew from the tournament as her ankle twisted in the doubles match.

Golf News

At € 1M Joburg Open 2017, Johannesburg, South Africa (European Tour 2018)

Picture Credit to Asian Tour

1 Shubhankar Sharma (IND) 69 61 65 69 -23 € 161,790

Shubhankar Sharma produced a brilliant, nerveless performance in the final round to win his first European Tour title at the weather-delayed Joburg Open and with that, he punched his ticket to The Open (British Open) in 2018 ... Before this, Shubhankar has five wins on the Professional Golf Tour of India and can now add a European Tour victory in just his tenth event, having achieved eight top tens on the Asian Tour including the co-sanctioned UBS Hong Kong Open two weeks ago ... Shubankar is now the first Indian to win in South Africa ... He also holds the record as the first Asian to lift the Joburg Open trophy ... With this win, Shubhankar also sealed the European tour card for next three years and the Asian tour card for two years.

Badminton News

At $1M Dubai World Superseries Finals 2017, United Arab Emirates (Superseries Premier)

Men's Singles - Group B
1. Viktor Axelsen (DEN,1)
2. Kidambi Srikanth (IND,4)
3. Chou Tien Chen (TPE,7)
4. Shi Yuqi (CHN,8)

Women's Singles - Group A
1. Akane Yamaguchi (JPN,2)
2. Pusarla V. Sindhu (IND,3)
3. He Bingjiao (CHN,9)
4. Sayaka Sato (JPN,15)

As expected, Srikanth and Sindhu qualified for year-end Superseries Finals ... Srikanth is in a Group B with Axelsen and Sindhu is in a Group A with Yamaguchi.

Hockey News

At Odisha Hockey World League Final 2017, Bhubaneswar, India

Bronze Medal match
India bt Germany 2-1 (1-0)
Goal Scorers - SV Sunil (IND) 20' Harmanpreet Singh (IND) 54' PC, and Mark Appel (GER) 36'

India beat Germany 2-1 to win a second straight bronze at the last edition of HWL Final ... German players won the heart as they played with only available 11 players (other missed due to illness), means no rotation through substitution ... They fought throughout the match ... Both teams showed intensity on the field, despite our first goal, Germans were compact in the defence and superior in the attack ... They had a seven penalty corners which goalkeeper Suraj Karkera's blocks and moreover their first choice dragflicker and captain Martin Haner was missing in action due to illness ... After conceding a goal we converted the 4th penalty corner in the last quarter through Harmanpreet and then kept a goal advantage for a win.

Australia defeated Olympics champion Argentina 2-1 for winning the HWL Final and also Australia replaced Argentina at the top spot in team's rankings.

Tennis News

At $15K Egypt F37 Futures 2017, Cairo

Doubles Final
Arjun Kadhe (IND)/ Aryan Goveas (IND) bt Adrian Exposito (ESP)/ Diego Matos (BRA) 75 63

[SF] Arjun Kadhe (IND)/ Aryan Goveas (IND) bt (1) Karol Drzewiecki (POL)/ Szymon Walkow (POL) 76(5) 64
[QF] Arjun Kadhe (IND)/ Aryan Goveas (IND) bt Roman Boychuk (UKR)/ Oleg Khotkov (UKR) 36 62 10-8
[R1] Arjun Kadhe (IND)/ Aryan Goveas (IND) bt Ivan Krivic (CRO)/ Neven Krivokuca (CRO) 63 62

Arjun and Aryan lifted their first futures doubles title ... In the final, they defeated Spanish-Brazilian pair in the straight sets on the clay.

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

Doubles Final
(2) Pranjala Yadlapalli (IND)/ Ching-Wen Hsu (TPE) bt Maya Jansen (USA) / Erin Routliffe (NZL) 75 16 10-6

[SF] (2) Pranjala Yadlapalli (IND)/ Ching-Wen Hsu (TPE) bt (4) YeXin Ma (CHN)/ Kaylah McPhee (AUS) 63 67(7) 10-8
[QF] (2) Pranjala Yadlapalli (IND)/ Ching-Wen Hsu (TPE) bt Qianxin Kong (CHN)/ Jiakang Li (CHN) 61 76(4)
[R1] (2) Pranjala Yadlapalli (IND)/ Ching-Wen Hsu (TPE) bt Sindhu Janagam (IND)/ Arthi Muniyan (IND) 60 61

Pranjala lifted her 4th ITF doubles title of the year in Solapur partnering Ching-Wen Hsu ... They fought hard in the last two matches to come victorious.

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

[Q1] (16) Zeel Desai (IND,610) bt Snehal Mane (IND,1223) 63 63
[Q1] Dhruthi Tatachar Venugopal (IND,751) bt (14) Albina Khabibulina (UZB,604) 26 63 64

[Q2] (16) Zeel Desai (IND,610) bt (2) Samantha Murray (GBR,435) 75 26 64
[Q2] Dhruthi Tatachar Venugopal (IND,751) bt Emily Webley-Smith (GBR,545) 62 26 75

Zeel and Dhruthi qualified for the main-draw with an upset wins over British players ... Zeel defeated former WR #165 Samantha Murray and Dhruthi defeated top-550 Emily Webley-Smith in the three sets.

Golf News

At $500K Omega Dubai Ladies Classic 2017, Dubai, UAE (LET 2017)

T5 Aditi Ashok (IND) 71 68 68 69 -12 € 13,428.88

After so-so first round Aditi responded strongly in next three rounds to finish in top-5 in this year-end LET tournament.

Hockey News

At Odisha Hockey World League Final 2017, Bhubaneswar, India

Semi Finals
India l Argentina 0-1 (0-1)
Goal Scorers - Gonzalo Piellat (ARG) 17' PC

Australia bt Germany 3-0 (0-0)

Argentina converted their lone penalty corner of the night to edge past fighting India 1-0 ... Argentina adjusted to these demanding, persistent rain, wet conditions and defended exceptionally well ... After scoring a goal in an early part of the second quarter, they used crowding defense tactic ... And that gave them desired results ... In the fourth quarter, our players tried hard and did seven circle penetrations but their goalkeeper and defenders were solid ... In this quarter, we had more than 80% possession but failed to score goal ... Still, fighting and quality performance by our team and showing us, they r belong in these top teams ... We r playing against Germany for the Bronze medal.

Tennis News

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

[QF] Rutuja Bhosale (IND,570) l (5) Olga Doroshina (RUS,439) 26 16

The last week's winner Doroshina proved too strong for Rutuja..

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At $15K Egypt F37 Futures 2017, Cairo

[R1] (8) Arjun Kadhe (IND,613) bt Aryan Goveas (IND,759) 61 60

[R2] (8) Arjun Kadhe (IND,613) l Alexander Weis (ITA,1147) 61 36 67(8)

Arjun needs to win these matches to underline his improved game ... He missed few match points in his loss against Italian Weis after winning the first set ... Before that, he defeated his countryman Aryan losing a single game.

Hockey News

At Odisha Hockey World League Final 2017, Bhubaneswar, India

Quarter Final
India bt Belgium 3-3 (0-0) 3-2 Suddendeath Shootout
Goal Scorers - Gurjant Singh (IND) 31', Harmanpreet Singh (IND) 35' PC, Rupinder Pal Singh (ND) 46' PC and Loick Luypaert (BEL) 39' PC and 46' PC, Amaury Keusters (BEL) 53'

Australia bt Span 4-1 (1-1)
Argentina bt England 3-2 (2-1)
Germany bt The Netherlands 3-3 (1-2) 4-3 Penalty Shootout

The Indians surprised everyone with their unpredictable performance to beat Olympics silver medalist Belgium in the sudden death shootout to enter their only second ever semi-final of the Hockey World League Final ... The match ended 3-3 in regulation time and in shootout also the teams ended on an even at 2-2 ... The result was then decided by sudden death with Akash Chikte denying Belgium after Harmanpreet Singh scored, which turned out to be the winner ... In the semis, we r facing WR #1 Argentine team.

Tennis News

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

[R2] Rutuja Bhosale (IND,570) bt (4) Ana Veselinovic (MNE,425) 46 64 5-2 retd.
[R2] (7) Pranjala Yadlapalli (IND,498) l Bunyawi Thamchaiwat (THA,596) 67(3) 75 26
[R2] Zeel Desai (IND,611) l (3) Dea Herdzelas (BIH,393) 26 75 36
[R2] (Q) Nandini Sharma (IND,UNR) l (6) Samantha Murray (GBR,440) 46 16

[QF] Rutuja Bhosale (IND,570) bt (5) Olga Doroshina (RUS,439)

Rutuja scored a comeback win over last week's finalist Veselinovic after losing the first set ... In the quarters, she is facing last week's winner Doroshina.

In the second round, Pranjala and Zeel lost in the three sets after losing the first set ...Murray proved better player for Nandini.

Tennis News

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

[R1] (Q) Jennifer Luikham (IND, 1094) l (1) Diana Marcinkevica (LAT,287) 36 06
[R1] (7) Pranjala Yadlapalli (IND,498) bt (Q) Snehal Mane (IND,1222) 61 46 61
[R1] (WC) Mihika Yadav (IND,1057) l (8) Ching Wen Hsu (TPE,569) 76(5) 26 06
[R1] (Q) Nandini Sharma (IND,UNR) bt (Q) Maya Jansen (USA,UNR) 61 60
[R1] Natasha Palha (IND,746) l (6) Samantha Murray (GBR,440) 26 36
[R1] Ramya Natarajan (IND,1011) l (Q) Ho Ching Wu (HKG,1216) 57 64 46
[R1] (WC) Soha Sadiq (IND,UNR) l (2) Panna Udvardy (HUN,350) 16 26

[R2] Rutuja Bhosale (IND,570) vs (4) Ana Veselinovic (MNE,425)
[R2] (7) Pranjala Yadlapalli (IND,498) vs Bunyawi Thamchaiwat (THA,596)
[R2] Zeel Desai (IND,611) vs (3) Dea Herdzelas (BIH,393)
[R2] (Q) Nandini Sharma (IND,UNR) vs (6) Samantha Murray (GBR,440)

Nandini scored much needed win and as this is the third tournament where she has earned ranking points, she will be in the ranking on 18th December's list ... Snehad surprised Pranjala after winning the second set but Pranjala responded winning the third set easily.

In the second round, the tough matches for our players ... On the paper, Pranjala having winnable match against thai girl ... Rutuja is facing last week's finalist Veselinovic and Zeel is facing top-400 Dea Herdzelas ... Nandini is facing former-175 ranked Britisher Murray.

Hockey News

At Odisha Hockey World League Final 2017, Bhubaneswar, India

Pool B
India l Germany 0-2 (0-2)
Goal Scorers - Martin Häner (GER) 17', Mats Grambusch (GER) 20'

India lost 0-2 to Germany and finished last in Pool B with two defeats and one draw ... And mostly we will be facing in-form Belgium in the quarters.

Tennis News

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

[R1] Zeel Desai (IND,611) bt Snehadevi S. Reddy (IND,1094) 62 36 4-2 retd.
[R1] (WC) Bhuvana Kalva (IND,UNR) l Bunyawi Thamchaiwat (THA,596) 36 63 16
[R1] Rutuja Bhosale (IND,570) bt Yexin Ma (CHN,759) 63 62
[R1] (WC) AkankshaDileep Nitture (IND,UNR) l Ksenia Palkina (KGZ,606) 16 36

Good win by Rutuja against in-form Chinese player, Yexin Ma ... Zeel was up with the a break in the third set when Snehadevi retired from the match.

Golf News

At €1M AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open 2017, Mauritius (European Tour 2018)

2 Arjun Atwal (IND) 62 70 68 68 € 110,000
T16 Shiv Kapur (IND) 69 69 68 70 -8 € 12,950
T27 SSP Chawrasia (IND) 69 67 73 70 -5 € 9,020
T27 Shubhankar Sharma (IND) 68 72 71 68 -5 € 9,020
T40 Gaganjeet Bhullar (IND) 70 71 67 73 -3 € 6,400

From the first round, Arun was leading this Mauritius Open and was moving towards his first title after a long time ... But in the play-off on the PAR-5 18th hole, he managed PAR but South African golfer Dylan Frittelli scored a birdie for winning the title.

Archery News

At Indoor Archery World Cup Stage 2 - Bangkok 2017, Thailand

Recurve Women’s
Gold - Sim Yeji (KOR)
Silver - Kim Surin (KOR)
Bronze - Deepika Kumari (IND)

Recurve Women’s Bronze medal match
(3) Deepika Kumari (IND) bt (13) Sayana Tsyrempilova (RUS) 7-3 (29-29, 30-27, 30-27, 28-29, 30-28)

[SF] (3) Deepika Kumari (IND) l (2) Kim Surin (KOR) 5-6 (30-30, 30-29, 29-30, 29-29, 30-30, 9-10)
[QF] (3) Deepika Kumari (IND) bt Ankita Bhakat (IND) 6-2 (30-27, 30-28, 29-29, 30-30)
[R2] (3) Deepika Kumari (IND) bt Laishram Bombayla Devi (IND) 7-3 (27-28, 30-28, 29-29, 30-28, 30-25)
[R1] (3) Deepika Kumari (IND) bt Nivetha Ganesan (IND) 6-0 (30-24, 29-28, 30-27)

Deepika Kumari won the Bronze in the Indoor Archery World Cup beating Russian archer Tsyrempilova 7-3 ... Before that, Deepika reached into the semis beating three Indian archers ... In the semis, Kim Surin scored a thrilling 6-5 win over Deepika in the shoot-off (10-9) ... This match had very high-quality arrows hitting.

Snooker News

At £850K UK Championship 2017, York, England

[R2] Aditya Mehta (IND,81) l Luca Brecel (BEL,13) 3-6 (16-74(70), 6-76(55), 40-73(52), 84(57)-78, 38-72, 72(68)-1, 73(59)-0, 0-107(107), 0-118(114))

Aditya tried hard but Luca was a lot better on the green ... In this match, Luca Brecel scored two centuries and three 50+ breaks and Aditya managed three 50+ breaks.

Tennis News

At $25K Indonesia F8 Futures 2017, Jakarta

Singles Final
(2) Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,256) l (1) Duckhee Lee (KOR,217) 36 64 67(6)

Doubles Final
(1) Justin Barki (INA)/ N. Vijay Sundar Prashanth (IND) bt (2) Sora Fukuda (JPN)/ Scott Puodziunas (AUS) 46 76(5) 10-4

Prajnesh lost close match against Duckhee Lee in the three sets ... After losing the first set he tried fightback winning the second ... In the final set also, he was an early break down 0-2 but broke back in the 4th game for 2-all ... In the tie-break, Prajnesh was leading 5-3 but lost focus from here to lose the match ... With these points he will be climbed around #245 ... So chances r high that he will be making cut for Australian open qualifying.

In the doubles, VSP with his Indonesian partner lifted the title ... They made an excellent comeback after losing the first set ... After winning the tie-break they dominated the match tie-break for the win.

Hockey News

At Odisha Hockey World League Final 2017, Bhubaneswar, India

Pool B
India l England 2-3(0-1)
Goal Scorers - Akashdeep Singh (IND) 47' PC, Rupinder Pal Singh (IND) 50' PC and David Goodfield (ENG) 25', Samuel Ward (ENG) 43' and 56'

Samuel Ward struck twice as England beat India 3-2 to record their first win ... Australia allowed us several chances to score on Friday but they couldn't as the forwards and the drag-flickers failed to apply the finishing touches ... Against England those opportunities were fewer for the majority of the game ... A mistake from India captain Harmanpreet Singh in the 43rd minute cost India dearly as England doubled their lead and that goal proved a crucial in end.

Winter Games News

At the Asian Luge Championships 2017, Altenberg, Germany

Picture Credit to Shiva Keshavan's FB page and Denistrapp.de

Gold - Shiva Keshavan (IND) 55.60 secs
Silver - Lien Te-An (TPE) 56.12 secs
Bronze - Kim Dong Kyu (KOR) 56.50 secs

Shiva Keshavan retained his Asian championship title with a time of 55.60 seconds ... Due to technical reasons, the Asian Luge Championships took place at Altenberg in Germany ... Keshavan will represent India at the 2018 Winter Olympic Games at Pyeongchang in South Korea for his record sixth Olympics.

Tennis News

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

Men's Doubles Final
(2) Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND)/ Christopher Rungkat (INA) l (1) Sanchai Ratiwatana (THA)/ Sonchat Ratiwatana (THA) 67(6) 36

Jeevan and Chris missed an opportunity of winning the wild-card for the Australian Open 2018 as they lost in the straight sets against Ratiwatanas.

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At $25K Indonesia F8 Futures 2017, Jakarta

[SF] N. Vijay Sundar Prashanth (IND,588) l (1) Duckhee Lee (KOR,217) 62 16 16
[SF] (2) Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,256) bt Renta Tokuda (JPN,603) 61 36 63

[F] (2) Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,256) vs (1) Duckhee Lee (KOR,217)

Prajnesh defeated in-form last week's winner Tokuda in the three sets, so now only one win away from a cementing Australian Open qualifying place ... VSP lost against Duckhee Lee after winning the first set.

Hockey News

At Odisha Hockey World League Final 2017, Bhubaneswar, India

Pool B
India dw Australia 1-1 (1-1)
Goal Scorers - Mandeep Singh (IND) 20' and Jeremy Hayward (AUS) 21' PC

Germany bt England 2-0 (2-0)

India played out a 1-1 draw with defending champions Australia in their opening match ... In this match, our players had their chances but mis-trapping inside the circle cost us a full three points ... India next face England while Australia lock horns with Germany.

Tennis News

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

[QF] (Q) Vishnu Vardhan (IND,506) l (1) Soon Woo Kwon (KOR,168) w/o

Doubles
[SF] (2) Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND)/ Christopher Rungkat (INA) bt (3) Vishnu Vardhan (IND)/ N. Sriram Balaji (IND) 62 63

[F] (2) Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND)/ Christopher Rungkat (INA) vs (1) Sanchai Ratiwatana (THA)/ Sonchat Ratiwatana (THA)

Bad day for Vishnu as he gave walkover to top-seed Korean in the singles ... And in the doubles, he and Bala lost one-sided match against Jeevan and Chris ... Jeevan and Chris will be facing experienced Ratiwatana for winning the main draw wild-card.

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At $25K Indonesia F8 Futures 2017, Jakarta

[R2] (2) Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,256) bt (Q) Manish Sureshkumar (IND,1188) 64 64

[QF] N. Vijay Sundar Prashanth (IND,588) bt Cheng-Yu Yu (TPE,657) 76(4) 64
[QF] (2) Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,256) bt (6) Kento Takeuchi (JPN,605) 62 64

[SF] N. Vijay Sundar Prashanth (IND,588) vs (1) Duckhee Lee (KOR,217)
[SF] (2) Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,256) vs Renta Tokuda (JPN,603)

Prajnesh in the semis with two comfortable wins and facing in-form last week's winner tokuda .. VSP also jopins him with a win over Taipei player and will be facing top-225 Duckhee Lee.

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

[SF] Mahak JAIN (IND,809) l (3) Ana VESELINOVIC (MNE,425) 36 16
[SF] (4) Pranjala YADLAPALLI (IND,498) l (2) Olga DOROSHINA (RUS,439) 36 57

Our both girls lost in the semis against higher ranked opponents