Badminton News

At TOTAL BWF World Championships 2018, Nanjing, China (Grade 1 - Individual Tournaments)

[R1] (5) Kidambi Srikanth (IND,6) bt Nhat Nguyen (IRL,87) 21-15 21-16

[R2] (10) Saina Nehwal (IND,10) bt Aliye Demirbag (TUR,72) 21-17 21-8

[R2] (5) Kidambi Srikanth (IND,6) vs Pablo Abian (ESP,48)

[R3] (10) Saina Nehwal (IND,10) vs (4) Ratchanok Intanon (THA,4)

[R1] Satwiksairaj Rankireddy (IND)/ Chirag Shetty (IND) bt Marcus Ellis (ENG)/ Chris Langridge (ENG) 21-19 12-21 21-19
[R1] Arjun M.R. (IND)/ Ramchandran Shlok (IND) l Yew Sin Ong (MAS)/ Ee Yi Teo (MAS) 14-21 15-21
[R1] Tarun Kona (IND)/ Saurabh Sharma (IND) l Chin Chung Or (HKG)/ Chun Man Tang (HKG) 20-22 21-18 17-21

[R1] Jakkampudi Meghana (IND)/ Poorvisha S Ram (IND) l Debora Jille (NED)/ Imke Van Der Aar (NED) 15-21 21-19 18-21
[R1] Ashwini Ponnappa (IND)/ N. Sikki Reddy (IND) bt Kai Hsin Chiang (TPE)/ Shih Han Hung (TPE) 19-21 21-10 21-17
[R1] Kuhoo Garg (IND)/ Ningshi Block Hazarika (IND) l Ching Hui Chang (TPE)/ Ching Tun Yang (TPE) 19-21 11-21

[R2] Pranaav Jerry Chopra (IND)/ N. Sikki Reddy (IND) l (12) Hafiz Faizal (INA)/ Gloria Emanuelle Widjaja (INA) 16-21 4-21
[R2] Saurabh Sharma (IND)/ Anoushka Parikh (IND) l (8) Peng Soon Chan (MAS)/ Liu Ying Goh (MAS) 18-21 11-21
[R2] Rohan Kappor (IND)/ Kuhoo Garg (IND) l (6) Chris Adcock (ENG)/ Gabrielle Adcock (ENG) 12-21 12-21
[R2] Satwiksairaj Rankireddy (IND)/ Ashwini Ponnappa (IND) bt (15) Mark Lamsfuss (GER)/ Isabel Herttrich (GER) 10-21 21-17 21-18

[R2] Satwiksairaj Rankireddy (IND)/ Chirag Shetty (IND) vs (8) Kim Astrup (DEN)/ Anders Skaarup Rasmussen (DEN)

[R2] Ashwini Ponnappa (IND)/ N. Sikki Reddy (IND) vs (2) Yuki Fukushima (JPN)/ Sayaka Hirota (JPN)

[R3] Satwiksairaj Rankireddy (IND)/ Ashwini Ponnappa (IND) vs (7) Soon Huat Goh (MAS)/ Shevon Jemie Lai (MAS)

Expected comfortable wins for Srikanth and Saina in their respective matches .. Saina is facing Ratchanok Intanon in the pre-quarter-final and Srikanth is facing Pablo Abian in the second round.
After yesterday's terrific start our MXD pairs struggled against seeded pairs ... Only Satwik and Ashwini continue with their superb run ... They defeated WR #15 German pair in a comeback win for entering into the third round ... Next, they r facing WR #7 Malaysian pair, Soon Huat Goh and Shevon Jemie Lai, who they defeated in Commonwealth Games.
In the doubles, Satwik-Chirag scored an excellent win over higher ranked British pair, they r having a tough secound round against WR #8 Danish pair ... Ashwini and Sikki also started with a win, they fought back after losing the first game against Taipei pair ... Next, they r facing WR #2 Japanese pair.

Tennis News

At $125K Chengdu Challenger 2018, China

[R1] Arjun Kadhe (IND,345) l (Q) Miliaan Niesten (NED,635) 26 46

Doubles
[R1] Arjun Kadhe (IND)/ Hiroki Moriya (JPN) bt Alexander Bublik (KAZ)/ Alexander Pavlioutchenkov (RUS) 61 64

[QF] Arjun Kadhe (IND)/ Hiroki Moriya (JPN) vs (4) Mikhail Elgin (RUS)/ Yaraslav Shyla (BLR)

Poor loss for Arjun against the below-600 Dutch player Niesten.

In the doubles, Arjun and Moriya started with a comfortable win ... Next, they r facing the 4th seed Elgin and Shyla.

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At $75K Lexington Challenger 2018, Kentucky, USA

[R1] Saketh Myneni (IND,342) bt (3) Norbert Gombos (SVK,171) 75 76(5)

[R2] Saketh Myneni (IND,342) vs (LL) Ronnie Schneider (USA,529)

Doubles
[R1] Saketh Myneni (IND)/ N. Vijay Sunder Prashanth (IND) bt (1) Ruan Roelofse (RSA)/ Luke Saville (AUS) 76(5) 26 10-6

[QF] Saketh Myneni (IND)/ N. Vijay Sunder Prashanth (IND) vs Lloyd Harris (RSA)/ Max Purcell (AUS)

Saki started with an upset win over the top-175 Slovakian Gombos ... Saki completed the win in tight two sets and next, he is facing American lucky loser Ronnie Schneider.

In the doubles also, Saki started with an upset win partnering VSP ... They defeated the top-seed pair of Ruan Roelofse and Luke Saville in the match tie-break ... Next, they r facing another South African-Aussie pair, Lloyd Harris and Max Purcell.

Badminton News

At TOTAL BWF World Championships 2018, Nanjing, China (Grade 1 - Individual Tournaments)

[R1] (11) Prannoy H. S. (IND,11) bt Abhinav Manota (NZl,109) 21-12 21-11
[R1] Sameer Verma (IND,19) bt Lucas Corvee (FRA,41) 21-13 21-10
[R1] Sai Praneeth B. (IND,26) bt (4) Wan Ho Son (KOR,4) w/o
[R1] (5) Kidambi Srikanth (IND,6) vs Nhat Nguyen (IRL,87)

[R1] (3) Pusarla V. Sindhu (IND,3) bye
[R1] (10) Saina Nehwal (IND,10) bye

[R2] (11) Prannoy H. S. (IND,11) vs Ygor Coelho (BRA,39)
[R2] Sameer Verma (IND,19) vs (9) Lin Dan (CHN,9)
[R2] Sai Praneeth B. (IND,26) vs Luís Enrique Penalver (ESP,115)

[R2] (3) Pusarla V. Sindhu (IND,3) vs Fitriani Fitriani (INA,41)
[R2] (10) Saina Nehwal (IND,10) vs Aliye Demirbag (TUR,72)

[R1] Manu Attri (IND)/ B. Sumeeth Reddy (IND) bt Daniel Nikolov (BUL)/ Ivan Rusev (BUL) 21-13 21-18
[R1] Satwiksairaj Rankireddy (IND)/ Chirag Shetty (IND) vs Marcus Ellis (ENG)/ Chris Langridge (ENG)
[R1] Arjun M.R. (IND)/ Ramchandran Shlok (IND) vs Yew Sin Ong (MAS)/ Ee Yi Teo (MAS)
[R1] Tarun Kona (IND)/ Saurabh Sharma (IND) vs Chin Chung Or (HKG)/ Chun Man Tang (HKG)

[R1] Sanyogita Ghorpade (IND)/ Prajakta Sawant (IND) l Bengisu Ercetin (TUR)/ Nazlican Inci (TUR) 20-22 14-21
[R1] Jakkampudi Meghana (IND)/ Poorvisha S Ram (IND) vs Debora Jille (NED)/ Imke Van Der Aar (NED)
[R1] Ashwini Ponnappa (IND)/ N. Sikki Reddy (IND) vs Kai Hsin Chiang (TPE)/ Shih Han Hung (TPE)
[R1] Kuhoo Garg (IND)/ Ningshi Block Hazarika (IND) vs Ching Hui Chang (TPE)/ Ching Tun Yang (TPE)

[R1] Pranaav Jerry Chopra (IND)/ N. Sikki Reddy (IND) bt Jakub Bitman (CZE)/ Alzbeta Basova (CZE) 21-17 21-15
[R1] Saurabh Sharma (IND)/ Anoushka Parikh (IND) bt Enejoh Abah (NGR)/ Peace Orji (NGR) 21-13 21-12
[R1] Rohan Kappor (IND)/ Kuhoo Garg (IND) bt Toby Ng (CAN)/ Rachel Honderich (CAN) 21-19 21-6
[R1] Satwiksairaj Rankireddy (IND)/ Ashwini Ponnappa (IND) bt Niclas Nohr (DEN)/ Sara Thygesen (DEN) 21-9 22-20

[R2] Manu Attri (IND)/ B. Sumeeth Reddy (IND) vs (7) Takuto Inoue (JPN)/ Yuki Kaneko (JPN)

[R2] Pranaav Jerry Chopra (IND)/ N. Sikki Reddy (IND) vs (12) Hafiz Faizal (INA)/ Gloria Emanuelle Widjaja (INA)
[R2] Saurabh Sharma (IND)/ Anoushka Parikh (IND) vs (8) Peng Soon Chan (MAS)/ Liu Ying Goh (MAS)
[R2] Rohan Kappor (IND)/ Kuhoo Garg (IND) vs (6) Chris Adcock (ENG)/ Gabrielle Adcock (ENG)
[R2] Satwiksairaj Rankireddy (IND)/ Ashwini Ponnappa (IND) vs (15) Mark Lamsfuss (GER)/ Isabel Herttrich (GER)

A huge Indian contingent participating in this World Championship ... On a first day, an expected winning start for our players ... In the singles, Sameer and Prannoy started with a comfortable wins ... Sameer is facing a legendary Lin Dan in the second round ... Sai received a walkover from former Korean WR #1 Wan Ho Son.

In the doubles, Manu and Sumeeth started with a win but Prajakta and Sanyogita lost their match against Turkish pair.

In MXD, our all pairs started with a win ... A notable win scored by Satwik and Ashwini against higher ranked and experienced Danish pair ... In the second round, all our pairs r facing seeded pairs.

Hockey News

At Women's World Cup 2018, London, England

Pool B
India dw USA 1-1 (0-1)
Goal Scorers - Rani Rampal (IND) 31' PC and Margaux Paolino (USA) 13'

Indian women secured a much-needed draw and capture a single point, which helped them for qualifying for knock-out stage ... American women took a lead in the first quarters ... Our women tried hard but failed to score until the half-time, they missed four penalty corners ... After the half-time, they earned a fifth penalty corner and Rani scored with a direct hit ... After that, both teams failed to convert the chances ... In this match, once again our defense was credible ... In the cross-over match, we are facing Italy for the place in the quarter-final.

Badminton News

At $75K Russian Open 2018, Vladivostok (BWF Tour Super 100)

[R1] (8) Sourabh Verma (IND,65) bt Rahul Yadav Chittaboina (IND,132) 23-21 21-11
[R1] (2) Rohan Kappor (IND)/ Kuhoo Garg (IND) bye

[R2] (8) Sourabh Verma (IND,65) bt Sergey Sirant (RUS,91) 21-11 21-9
[R2] (2) Rohan Kappor (IND)/ Kuhoo Garg (IND) bt Alexey Panov (RUS)/ Polina Makkoveeva (RUS) 21-10 21-14

[QF] (8) Sourabh Verma (IND,65) bt (3) Misha Zilberman (ISR,50) 21-14 21-16
[QF] (2) Rohan Kappor (IND)/ Kuhoo Garg (IND) bt Andrej Loginov (RUS)/ Liliia Abibulaeva (RUS) 21-13 21-9

[SF] (8) Sourabh Verma (IND,65) bt Mithun Manjunath (IND,143) 21-9 21-15
[SF] (2) Rohan Kappor (IND)/ Kuhoo Garg (IND) bt Tang Jie Chen (MAS)/ Yen Wei Peck (MAS) 21-19 11-21 22-20

Men's Singles Final
(8) Sourabh Verma (IND,65) bt Koki Watanabe (JPN,119) 18-21 21-12 21-17

Mixed Doubles Final
(2) Rohan Kappor (IND)/ Kuhoo Garg (IND) l Vladimir Ivanov (RUS)/ Min Kyung Kim (KOR) 19-21 17-21

Sourabh Verma lifted Super 100 title in Russia scoring a comeback win over his Japanese opponent Koki in three games ... Good to see, Sourabh's progress after his long injury break ... Young Rohan Kapoor and Kuhoo Garg lost in the final against experienced players Vladimir Ivanov and Min Kyung Kim in the MXD final.

Tennis News

At $1.8M Citi Open 2018, Washington DC, USA

[Q2] (2) Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,115) l (7) Mitchell Krueger (USA,214) 36 36

Doubles
[Q2] (1) Divij Sharan (IND)/ Artem Sitak (NZL) bt (2) Ilya Ivashka (BLR)/ Daniil Medvedev (RUS) 75 76(6)

[R1] (Q) Divij Sharan (IND)/ Artem Sitak (NZL) vs (WC) Jamie Cerretani (USA)/ Leander Paes (IND)

Disappointing straight sets loss for RamK against American Mitchell Krueger.

Divij and Artem qualified for the main-draw with tight two sets win over Ilya Ivashka and Daniil Medvedev ... In the main draw, they r facing Leander and Jamie Cerretani.

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At $715K Los Cabos Open 2018, Mexico

[Q2] (3) Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,186) bt (6) Evan Song (USA,389) 63 61

[R1] (Q) Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,186) vs Cameron Norrie (GBR,74)

Prajnesh qualified for the main draw with dominating win over Evan Song ... He is having a tough match against Atlanta Open semi-finalist Britisher Cameron Norrie.

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At $125K Chengdu Challenger 2018, China

[Q3] Manish Sureshkumar (IND,584) l (5) Makoto Ochi (JPN,422) 46 62 36

[R1] Arjun Kadhe (IND,345) vs (Q) Miliaan Niesten (NED,635)

Doubles
[R1] Arjun Kadhe (IND)/ Hiroki Moriya (JPN) vs Alexander Bublik (KAZ)/ Alexander Pavlioutchenkov (RUS)

Manish lost in the final qualifying in three sets against the top-425 Japanese player, Makoto Ochi.

Arjun is having a winnable first round match against the below-600 Dutch player Niesten.
This week, Arjun is partnering Hiroki Moriya and they r facing Alexanders in the first round.

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At $100K+H Open Castilla Leon Villa de El Espinar Challenger 2018, Segovia, Spain

[R1] (1) N. Sriram Balaji (IND)/ Vishnu Vardhan (IND) vs Ivan Nedelko (RUS)/ Aldin Setkic (BIH)

Vishnu and Bala r the top-seeds in Spanish challenger and they r facing Ivan Nedelko and Aldin Setkic in the first round.

Golf News

At $1.5M Ladies Scottish Open 2018, East Lothian, Scotland

T59 Aditi Ashok (IND) 70 69 75 73 +3 $4,391

After couple of good round Aditi struggled on the final two days ... She managed four over in the third and two over in the final round, which pushed her below 50 in the standing from the top-20 after first 2 rounds.

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At $500K The Royal Cup 2018, Angus, Scotland

T2 Shiv Kapur (IND) 66 68 67 71 -8 US$33,000
T10 Gaganjeet Bhullar (IND) 71 65 69 70 -5 US$8.493
T14 Viraj Madappa (IND) 70 69 69 68 -4 US$6,240
T14 Chikka S (IND) 72 70 67 67 -4 US$6,240
T36 Himmat Rai (IND) 68 72 70 70 PAR US$3,254
T42 Khalin Joshi (IND) 70 69 71 71 +1 US$2,760
T56 Rashid Khan (IND) 73 69 72 71 +5 US$1,750
T59 Honey Baisoya (IND) 67 70 72 77 +6 US$1,550

Shiv Kapur struggled on the final day and managed one over ... So instead of challenging for the title he managed to finish on the tied 2nd position, total six shots behind winner South African Justin Harding ... Still, a good week for Shiv Kapur for a top-5 finish.

Tennis News

At $668K Atlanta Open 2018, Georgia, USA

[SF] Purav Raja (IND)/ Ken Skupski (GBR) l (2) Ryan Harrison (USA)/ Rajeev Ram (USA) 36 46

Purav and Ken lost against the 2nd seed American pair in straight sets ... In both sets, American pair had a single break and which was enough for completing the win.

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At $1.8M Citi Open 2018, Washington DC, USA

[Q1] (2) Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,115) bye

[Q2] (2) Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,115) vs (7) Mitchell Krueger (USA,214)

Doubles
[Q1] (1) Divij Sharan (IND)/ Artem Sitak (NZL) bye
[Q1] (1) Divij Sharan (IND)/ Artem Sitak (NZL) vs (2) Ilya Ivashka (BLR)/ Daniil Medvedev (RUS)

[R1] (WC) Jamie Cerretani (USA)/ Leander Paes (IND) vs Qualifiers

RamK received a bye in the first qualifying round ... He is facing Mitchell Krueger in the final qualifying round.

In the doubles, Lee and Jamie has received a wild-card and they will be faced qualifiers ... In qualifying, Artem and Divij r facing Ivashka and Medvedev for the place in the main-draw.

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At $715K Los Cabos Open 2018, Mexico

[Q1] (3) Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,186) bt Miguel Angel Reyes-Varela (MEX,UNR) 64 60

[Q2] (3) Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,186) vs (6) Evan Song (USA,389)

Doubles
[R1] Austin Krajicek (USA)/ Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND) vs Purav Raja (IND)/ Jackson Withrow (USA)

Prajnesh started with expected comfortable win over Mexican doubles specialist in the first qualifying round ... In the final qualifying round, he is facing lower ranked American, Evan Song.

A bad draw for Indians in the doubles, as Jeevan and Austin r facing Purav and Jackson Withrow in the first round.

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At $125K Chengdu Challenger 2018, China

[Q1] Manish Sureshkumar (IND,584) bt Wei Quiang Zhang (CHN,1207) 63 64
[Q1] Sidharth Rawat (IND,552) l Tak Khunn Wang (TPE,559)36 46

[Q2] (3) Sasi Kumar Mukund (IND,375) l Harry Bouchier (AUS,542) 26 26
[Q2] Manish Sureshkumar (IND,584) bt (4) Yan Bai (CHN,405) 46 75 60

[Q3] Manish Sureshkumar (IND,584) bt (5) Makoto Ochi (JPN,422)

[R1] Arjun Kadhe (IND,345) vs Qualifier

Manish scored an excellent upset against top-400 type Chinese Yan Bai in a comeback win, but disappointing loss of Mukund against lowly ranked Australian ... In the final qualifying, Manish is facing top-425 ranked Makoto Ochi ... In the main-draw, Arjun will be faced an qualifier.

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At $75K Lexington Challenger 2018, Kentucky, USA

[Q1] (5) N. Vijay Sunder Prashanth (IND,518) l Jesse Witten (USA,1201) 46 46

[R1] Saketh Myneni (IND,339) vs (3) Norbert Gombos (SVK,182)

VSP lost in straight sets against experienced Jesse Witten.

Saki is facing top-200 Slovakian Norbert Gombos in the first round.

Hockey News

At Women's World Cup 2018, London, England

Pool B
India l Ireland 0-1 (0-1)
Goal Scorers - Anna O'Flanagan (IRL) 13' PC

Yesterday Indian women faced a surprising loss against lowly ranked Irish women ... Irish women converted penalty corner in the first quarter ... Other hand Indian women missed numerous chances ... They managed 27 circle penetrations and grabbed 7 penalty corners but failed to take advantage of it ... In their final league match, they needs a draw against American women to qualify for knock-out ... An unnecessary tough proposition due to lackluster performance.

Tennis News

At $668K Atlanta Open 2018, Georgia, USA

[QF] Purav Raja (IND)/ Ken Skupski (GBR) bt Taylor Fritz (USA)/ Cameron Norrie GBR) 36 61 11-9

This is a good comeback win for Purav and Ken against the young American-British pair.

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At $250K Jiangxi Open 2018, Nanchang, China

[R2] (Q) Karman Kaur Thandi (IND,216) l (6) Saisai Zheng (CHN,112) 46 06

Doubles
[QF] (3) Jacqueline Cako (USA)/ Prarthana Thombare (IND) l Xinyu Jiang (CHN)/ Qianhui Tang (CHN) 46 46

Karman failed to showcase her game against Zheng and after a decent performance in the first set, she lost the second set tamely.

In the doubles, Prarthana and her partner Cako lost against lower ranked Chinese pair.

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At $75K Binghamton Challenger 2018, New York, USA

[R1] Saketh Myneni (IND,339) l Marcelo Tomas Barrios Vera (CHI,346) 63 36 46

With his recent good performance, this was a surprising loss for Saki against young Chilean Barrios Vera after winning the first set.

Tennis News

At $668K Atlanta Open 2018, Georgia, USA

[R1] (1) Divij Sharan (IND)/ Artem Sitak (NZL) l Romain Arneodo (MON)/ Jeremy Chardy (FRA) 46 57

Disappointed by Divij and Artem's straight-sets loss against Chardy and Arneodo.

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At €501K Swiss Open 2018, Gstaad, Switzerland

[R1] N. Sriram Balaji (IND)/ Vishnu Vardhan (IND) l (ALT) Guido Andreozzi (ARG)/ Jaume Munar (ESP) 76(7) 36 9-11
[R1] Austin Krajicek (USA)/ Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND) l (2) Santiago Gonzalez (MEX)/ Joao Sousa (POR) 16 06

Bala-Vishnu lost in a close match against the alternate pairing of Guido Andreozzi and Jaume Munar ... I feel they should have played American hardcourt series instead of playing on the clay ... Also a surprisingly one-sided loss to Jeevan and Austin.

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At $250K Jiangxi Open 2018, GNanchang, China

[R1] Sabina Sharipova (UZB)/ Karman Kaur Thandi (IND) l Xinyu Jiang (CHN)/ Qianhui Tang (CHN) 46 16
[R1] Jia-Jing Lu (CHN)/ Ankita Raina (IND) l Momoko Kobori (JPN)/ Ayano Shimizu (JPN) 36 64 8-10

Karman and Ankita had contrasting losses against their respective partners.

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At $75K Binghamton Challenger 2018, New York, USA

Doubles
[R1] (4) Saketh Myneni (IND)/ N. Vijay Sundar Prashanth (IND) l (WC) Ludovico Cestarollo (ITA)/ Karl Poling (USA) 76(2) 57 10-12

Saki-VSP lost in the close match against the Italian-American wild-card pair.

Tennis News

At $668K Atlanta Open 2018, Georgia, USA

[R1] (SE) Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,115) l Taylor Fritz (USA,65) 46 46

Doubles
[R1] Jamie Cerretani (USA)/ Leander Paes (IND) l Mike Bryan (USA)/ Frances Tiafoe (USA) 57 16

After big high, this was a low week for RamK ... He lost in straight sets against Taylor Fritz in the first round ... In the doubles, Lee and Jamie lost in the first round against Mike Bryan and Tiafoe.

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At $250K Jiangxi Open 2018, GNanchang, China

[R1] (Q) Karman Kaur Thandi (IND,216) bt Jia-Jing Lu (CHN,175) 63 36 75

[R2] (Q) Karman Kaur Thandi (IND,216) vs (6) Saisai Zheng (CHN,112)

Doubles
[R1] (3) Jacqueline Cako (USA)/ Prarthana Thombare (IND) bt (WC) Xuliu Sun (CHN)/ Wushuang Zheng (CHN) 63 75

In a messy match, Karman managed to pull an upset against top-175 ranked Chinese opponent Lu ... In this match, Karman struggled with her serve and managed below 50% first serve percentage ... They had multiple breaks and Lu won the second set ... Karman was down 2-4 in the third before she fought back to score her first WTA win ... This win also guarantees her entry into top-200 rankings ... Next, she is facing former top-60 player Saisai Zheng.

Prarthana with her American partner Cako started with straight sets win over local wild-card pair.

Tennis News

At $668K Atlanta Open 2018, Georgia, USA

[R1] (Q) Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,186) l Lukas Lacko (SVK,71) 26 26

Doubles
[R1] Purav Raja (IND)/ Ken Skupski (GBR) bt Ricardas Berankis (LTU)/ Malek Jaziri (TUN) 64 63

Prajnesh failed to lift his game against Lacko and lost rather easily.

In the doubles, Purav and Ken started with a comfortable straight sets win over Jaziri and Berankis.

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At $250K Jiangxi Open 2018, GNanchang, China

[R1] Ankita Raina (IND,191) l (2) Qiang Wang (CHN,78) 26 16

I was expecting a decent performance by Ankita but Wang blew her away.

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At $75K Binghamton Challenger 2018, New York, USA

[R1] (4) Saketh Myneni (IND)/ N. Vijay Sundar Prashanth (IND) vs (WC) Ludovico Cestarollo (ITA)/ Karl Poling (USA)

Saki is also playing the doubles with VSP and they r facing American-Italian wild-card pair in the first round.

Badminton News

At Asia Junior Championships 2018, Jakarta, Indonesia

P.C. to BAI twitter handle

[R1] (6) Lakshya Sen (IND) bt Hyeong Jung Kim (KOR) 21-13 21-11
[R2] (6) Lakshya Sen (IND) bt Riku Hatano (JPN) 21-6 18-21 21-15
[R3] (6) Lakshya Sen (IND) bt (11) Saran Jamsri (THA) 21-15 21-16
[QF] (6) Lakshya Sen (IND) bt (2) Shifeng Li (CHN) 21-14 21-12
[SF] (6) Lakshya Sen (IND) bt (4) Ikhsan Leonardo Imanuel Rumbay (INA) 21-7 21-14

u-19 Boys Final
(6) Lakshya Sen (IND) bt (1) Kunlavut Vitidsarn (THA) 21-19 21-18

Lakshya Sen lifted junior Asian Championship beating regaining junior World Champion and WR #1 Thai Kunlavut Vitidsarn in closely fought straight games ... He becomes only the second Indian in the men's singles category since Gautam Thakkar's gold in the 1965 ... Before in the quarters, Lakshya defeated JR WR #2 Chinese player, Shifeng Li in straight games and in the semis defeated #4 seeds local player, Ikhsan Leonardo Imanuel Rumbay convincingly.

Golf News

At $10.5M The Open Championship 2018, Angus, Scotland - After third round

T51 Shubhankar Sharma (IND) 73 71 71 74 +4 $27,161.00

Shubhankar failed to improve on his final standing but the experience of making his first cut in the major will definitely go to help in his career ... In the final round, he started well and was 2 under for the day ... But he struggled on the back-9, where he conceded 3 bogeys.

Tennis News

At $623K Hall of Fame Open 2018, Newport, USA

Singles Final
Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,161) l (3) Steve Johnson (USA,48) 57 63 26

Our wait for finding Indian singles champion on the tour waits as RamK lost in the Newport final after giving a fighting performance ... RamK failed to take advantage of poor first serve percentage (43%) of Steve and lost the first set on a single break ... Steve took a crucial break in the 11th game ... RamK fought back in the second set, he broke Steve in the 4th game to lead 4-1 ... After that, both players held their respective service games so RamK kept that advantage for winning the set ... A bad start in the third set as RamK had poor service game and Steve broke him to take a 0-2 lead ... After that Steve raised his game and RamK struggled with his first serve ... Steve again broke RamK in the 8th game when RamK was serving for staying in the match for completing the win.

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At $668K Atlanta Open 2018, Georgia, USA

[Q2] Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,184) bt Tommy Paul (USA,214) 63 63

[R1] (SE) Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,161) vs Taylor Fritz (USA,65)
[R1] (Q) Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,184) vs Lukas Lacko (SVK,71)


Doubles
[R1] (1) Divij Sharan (IND)/ Artem Sitak (NZL) vs Romain Arneodo (MON)/ Jeremy Chardy (FRA)
[R1] Jamie Cerretani (USA)/ Leander Paes (IND) vs Mike Bryan (USA)/ Frances Tiafoe (USA)
[R1] Purav Raja (IND)/ Ken Skupski (GBR) vs Ricardas Berankis (LTU)/ Malek Jaziri (TUN)

Prajnesh qualifies for the main draw with a comfortable win over American Tommy Paul ... In the main draw, he is facing top-75 Lukas Lacko.

RamK receives Special Exemption after reaching the final of Newport ... In the first round, he is facing young American Taylor Fritz.

In the doubles, Divij is back with Artem and they r the top-seeds ... They r facing Chardy and Arneodo in the first round ... Purav and Ken r facing Berankis and Jaziri ... Lee and Cerretani r facing Bryan and Tiafoe.

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At €501K Swiss Open 2018, Gstaad, Switzerland

[R1] N. Sriram Balaji (IND)/ Vishnu Vardhan (IND) vs Federico Delbonis (ARG)/ Guido Pella (ARG)
[R1] Austin Krajicek (USA)/ Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND) vs (2) Santiago Gonzalez (MEX)/ Joao Sousa (POR)

In Swiss open, Bala and Vishnu r facing Argentine pair ... Jeevan-Austin r playing against the 2nd seeds Gonzalez-Sousa.

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At $250K Jiangxi Open 2018, GNanchang, China

[Q2] (2) Karman Kaur Thandi (IND,216) bt (8) Valeria Savinykh (RUS,288) 62 63

[R1] (Q) Karman Kaur Thandi (IND,216) vs Jia-Jing Lu (CHN,175)

Doubles
[R1] (3) Jacqueline Cako (USA)/ Prarthana Thombare (IND) vs (WC) Xuliu Sun (CHN)/ Wushuang Zheng (CHN)
[R1] Sabina Sharipova (UZB)/ Karman Kaur Thandi (IND) vs Xinyu Jiang (CHN)/ Qianhui Tang (CHN)
[R1] Jia-Jing Lu (CHN)/ Ankita Raina (IND) vs Momoko Kobori (JPN)/ Ayano Shimizu (JPN)

Karman qualifies for the main draw with a comfortable straight sets win against former top-100 Russian player, Valeria Savinykh ... She won the first set with a double break and won the second set with a single break ... In this match despite only 50% first serve percentage she didn't face a single break point ... In the main draw, Karman has a decent draw, she is facing Chinese girl Jia-Jing Lu.

In the doubles, our three players r playing with different partners ... Prarthana is the third seeds with American Jacqueline Cako and they r playing against local wild-card pair ... Karman is playing with Sabina Sharipova and they r also playing Chinese pair ... Ankita is partnering Chinese Jia-Jing Lu and they r facing Japanese pair.

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At $75K Binghamton Challenger 2018, New York, USA

[R1] Saketh Myneni (IND,357) vs Marcelo Tomas Barrios Vera (CHI,348)

Saki is playing in Binghamton Challenger ... In the first round, he is facing similar ranked young Chilean player.

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At $15K ITF Women's Tennis Tournament 2017, Jakarta, Indonesia

Singles Final
(8) Mahak Jain (IND,838) l (Q) Arianne Hartono (NED,UNR) 46 16

The in-form current NCAA champion Arianne Hartono proved too strong for Mahak in the final.

Golf News

At $10.5M The Open Championship 2018, Angus, Scotland - After third round

T56 Shubhankar Sharma (IND) 73 71 71 +2

Shubhankar had another PAR round which consisted of 3 birdies and 3 bogeys ... This round didn't help him to move in the standing.

Hockey News

At Women's World Cup 2018, London, England

Pool B
India dw England 1-1 (1-0)
Goal Scorers - Neha Goyal (IND) 25' and Lily Owsley (ENG) 54' PC

Indian women started their campaign on a positive note ... They managed to hold WR #2 and host British women in 1-all draw ... In this match British women were dominating, they had a big possession, more D penetrations and had 9 penalty corners ... Indian took a lead in the 2nd quarter through Neha Goyal ... British women tried hard but they were failing to convert chances ... They converted on the 9th penalty corner through Owsley ... In last 7 minutes they tried hard but our women managed to hold and grab a point.

Tennis News

At $623K Hall of Fame Open 2018, Newport, USA

[SF] Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,161) bt Tim Smyczek (USA,123) 64 75

[F] Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,161) vs (3) Steve Johnson (USA,48)

RamK becomes the first Indian player to reach the final of ATP tournament after Somedev's final appearance in Johannesburg ATP in 2011 ... This title win would see him to break voodoo of the singles title for India as last singles title won by Leander Paes exactly 20 years ago in Newport in 1998 ... Ramanathan, who is projected to rise inside top-120 in the ATP Rankings, would make his Top 100 debut in the ATP Rankings with a title win.

Against Smyczek, Ramk started calmely and won the first set with a single break ... In the second set, Smyczek tried hard to break RamK's rhythm ... RamK broke him the 3rd game to lead 2-1, but after that Smyczek broke RamK in the 4th and the 6th games to lead 2-4 ... RamK immediately broke in the 7th game, 3-4, after that both players held their respective service games ... RamK took a crucial break in the 11th game and then served huge to held his serve comfortably to win this match ... In this match he showed exclusive volleying skill and hit some breath-taking shots ... The top-50 Steve Johnson isn't a pushover but RamK has nothing to lose ... The final will be started @7:30 IST.

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At $668K Atlanta Open 2018, Georgia, USA

[Q1] Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,184) bt (6) Mohamed Safwat (EGY,168) 06 61 63

[Q2] Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,184) vs Tommy Paul (USA,214)

An excellent comeback win by Prajnesh against Safwat ... He got bagled in the first set, but recovered to win the second ... In the final set, Prajnesh took a control from the start, 3-0, and won the set comfortably ... In the final qualifying round, he is facing American Tommy Paul, who scored an upset win over Bernard Tomic.

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At $250K Jiangxi Open 2018, GNanchang, China

[Q1] (2) Karman Kaur Thandi (IND,216) bt Nika Kukharchuk (RUS,387) 63 61

[Q2] (2) Karman Kaur Thandi (IND,216) vs (8) Valeria Savinykh (RUS,288)

[R1] Ankita Raina (IND,194) vs (2) Qiang Wang (CHN,80)

I think, this is the first time we are seeing our 2 singles players r playing $250K WTA event outside India ... Ankita is in the main-draw, but having a tough match against former top-50 Chinese player, Qiang Wang.

Karman is playing in the qualifying ... She started with a confident win over lower ranked Russian player ... In the final qualifying, she is facing former top-100 Russian player, Valeria Savinykh.

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At $125K Astana Challenger 2018, Kazakhstan

P.C. to Arjun Kadhe's FB page

Doubles Final
Arjun Kadhe (IND)/ Denis Yevseyev (KAZ) l (3) Mikhail Elgin (RUS)/ Yaraslav Shyla (BLR) 57 67(6)

Arjun and his partner Denis Yevseyev lost in two tight sets against the 3rd seeds experienced pairing of Mikhail Elgin and Yaraslav Shyla ... Still, a good week for Arjun with Yevseyev as they reached into the final of this big challenger.

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At $15K ITF Women's Tennis Tournament 2017, Jakarta, Indonesia

[R1] (3) Zeel Desai (IND,608) bt Mi Zhuoma You (CHN,863) 63 75
[R1] (8) Mahak Jain (IND,838) bt (Q) Bhuvana Kalva (IND,UNR) 61 76(4)

[R2] (3) Zeel Desai (IND,608) bt Zhuoma Ni Ma (CHN,863) 62 60
[R2] (8) Mahak Jain (IND,838) bt Fitriana Sabrina (INA,UNR) 63 36 63

[QF] (3) Zeel Desai (IND,608) bt (5) Ayaka Okuno (JPN,721) 62 76(3)
[QF] (8) Mahak Jain (IND,838) bt (4) Kanika Vaidya (IND,687) 60 4-4 retd.

[SF] (3) Zeel Desai (IND,608) l (Q) Arianne Hartono (NED,UNR) 06 57
[SF] (8) Mahak Jain (IND,838) bt (6) Aldila Sutjiadi (INA,745) 36 61 76(4)

[F] (8) Mahak Jain (IND,838) vs (Q) Arianne Hartono (NED,UNR)

Doubles Final
(1) Mana Ayukawa (JPN)/ Zeel Desai (IND) l Arianne Hartono (NED)/ Aldila Sutjiadi (INA) 16 26

Mahak continues with her terrific run and she is in the final in Indonesia ... In the semis, she defeated last week's winner Aldila Sutjiadi, with whom she lost, after losing the first set ... In the final, she is facing Dutch qualifier, Arianne Hartono, who defeated Zeel in straight sets ... Arianne Hartono is the 2018 NCAA singles champion.

In the final, the top-seed Zeel and her Japanese partner, Mana Ayukawa, lost in straight sets against Sutjiadi and Hortono.

Golf News

At $10.5M The Open Championship 2018, Angus, Scotland - After second round

T52 Shubhankar Sharma (IND) 73 71 +2
-------------- Cut@ +3 --------------
Anirban Lahiri (IND) 76 74 +8

The 22 yrs old Shubhankar Sharma became the youngest Indian golfer to make the cut in any majors ... Anirban Lahiri missed the cut as he managed 3 over in the second round.

Tennis News

At $623K Hall of Fame Open 2018, Newport, USA

[SF] Austin Krajicek (USA)/ Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND) l (4) Marcelo Arevalo (ESA)/ Miguel Angel Reyes-Varela (MEX) 75 57 11-13
[SF] (2) Divij Sharan (IND)/ Jackson Withrow (USA) l Jonathan Erlich (ISR)/ Artem Sitak (NZL) 36 46

Jeevan and Divij lost their respective matches in contrasting style ... Jeevan-Austin lost close match after winning the first set ... They lost the match tie-break on extra points ... Divij-Withrow lost in straight sets against Sitak-Erlich.

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At $125K Astana Challenger 2018, Kazakhstan

[QF] (Q) Saketh Myneni (IND,357) l Daniel Brands (GER,252) 46 76(10) 57

Doubles
[SF] Arjun Kadhe (IND)/ Denis Yevseyev (KAZ) bt (2) Timur Khabibulin (KAZ)/ Volodoymyr Uzhylovsky (UKR) 26 61 10-5

[F] Arjun Kadhe (IND)/ Denis Yevseyev (KAZ) vs (3) Mikhail Elgin (RUS)/ Yaraslav Shyla (BLR)

Not a bad match for Saki against former top-50 caliber Daniel Brands ... Saki played a close match and had his chances which he failed to convert, but still overall very good performance by Saki ... Brands won the first set with a single break ... In the second set, Brands broke Saki in the 5th game to lead 2-4 but Saki broke him in the 8th game for 4-all ... In the tie-break, Saki saved a 5 match points, in couple of those Brands double faulted, before taking the match into the decider ... In the final set, Saki was a break up at 4-2 but this time Brands broke him in the 8th game for 4-all ... Brands took a crucial break after breaking Saki in the 12th game when he was serving for staying in the match and completed victory in almost 2 hours and 30 minutes.

Arjun continues with improving his doubles expertise with Yevseyev, they defeated the 2nd seed pair in a comeback win ... After losing the first set easily they dominated last two sets ... They r facing the 3rd seeds Elgin and Shyla in the final.

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At $25K ITF Women Tournament 2018, Nonthaburi, Thailand

[QF] Rutuja Bhosale (IND,396) l (6) Hiroko Kuwata (JPN,291) 26 16

P.C. to Pranjala Yadlapalli's twitter account @pranjalay

Doubles Final
Rutuja Bhosale (IND)/ Pranjala Yadlapalli (IND) bt (2) Pei Hsuan Chen (TPE)/ Fang-Hsien Wu (TPE) 75 62

Rutuja failed to challenge former top-150 Japanese player, Hiroko Kuwata, and lost in one-sided match.

But in the doubles, Rutuja and Pranjala lifted the title beating the 2nd seed Taipei pair in straight sets ... After winning closely fought first set our pair dominated the second.

Tennis News

At $623K Hall of Fame Open 2018, Newport, USA

[QF] Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,161) bt Vasek Pospisil (CAN,98) 75 62

[SF] Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,161) vs Tim Smyczek (USA,123)

Doubles
[QF] Austin Krajicek (USA)/ Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND) bt Jamie Cerretani (USA)/ Leander Paes (IND) 63 76(3)
[QF] (3) Purav Raja (IND)/ Ken Skupski (GBR) l Jonathan Erlich (ISR)/ Artem Sitak (NZL) 64 36 8-10
[QF] (2) Divij Sharan (IND)/ Jackson Withrow (USA) bt Matthew Ebden (AUS)/ Sergiy Stakhovsky (UKR) 76(4) 63

[SF] Austin Krajicek (USA)/ Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND) vs (4) Marcelo Arevalo (ESA)/ Miguel Angel Reyes-Varela (MEX)
[SF] (2) Divij Sharan (IND)/ Jackson Withrow (USA) vs Jonathan Erlich (ISR)/ Artem Sitak (NZL)

RamK is in his first ATP tournament semi-final with an impressive win over Vasek Pospisil ... After winning the first set Ramk broke Vasek in the 2nd game to lead 3-0 ... After that, both players held respective service games till 5-2 ... RamK again broke him when Vasek was serving for staying in the match for completing the win ... In the semis, he is facing American Tim Smyczek.

Divij and Jackson in the semis with straight sets win over Stakhovsky and Ebden ... In the semis, Divij-Jackson pair facing Artem and Jonathan Erlich, who defeated Purav and Ken in the match tie-break after losing the first set.
Jeevan and Austin continue with their good form and defeated experienced pairing of Lee and Cerretani in straight sets ... Next, they r facing the 4th seeds.

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At $125K Astana Challenger 2018, Kazakhstan

[R2] (LL) Arjun Kadhe (IND,361) l (WC) Aleksandr Nedovyesov (KAZ,283) 36 75 46

Doubles
[QF] Arjun Kadhe (IND)/ Denis Yevseyev (KAZ) bt Alejandro Gonzalez (COL)/ Benjamin Lock (ZIM) 46 76(4) 10-2

[SF] Arjun Kadhe (IND)/ Denis Yevseyev (KAZ) vs (2) Timur Khabibulin (KAZ)/ Volodoymyr Uzhylovsky (UKR)

Arjun played a superb match but failed to overcome experienced Nedo in the final set ... After losing the first set Arjun was 3-5 down in the second ... He broke Nedo in the 9th game when he was serving for the match, 4-5 ... Arjun missed a couple of break points in the 11th game but took the tie-break ... He failed to keep momentum in the final set and lost the close match ... Later in the doubles, he scored a comeback win with his partner Yevseyev over Gonzalez and Lock ... They dominated the match tie-break ... Next, they r facing the 2nd seeds Khabibulin and Uzhylovsky.

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At $25K ITF Women Tournament 2018, Nonthaburi, Thailand

[R2] Rutuja Bhosale (IND,396) bt (3) Ankita Raina (IND,201) 64 63

[QF] Rutuja Bhosale (IND,396) vs (6) Hiroko Kuwata (JPN,291)

Doubles
[R1] Rutuja Bhosale (IND)/ Pranjala Yadlapalli (IND) bt (WC) Punnin Kovapitukted (THA)/ Tamachan Momkoonthod (THA) 62 62
[R1] Rutuja Bhosale (IND)/ Pranjala Yadlapalli (IND) bt Chompoothip Jundakate (THA)/ Chanikam Silakul (THA) 61 63

[SF] Rutuja Bhosale (IND)/ Pranjala Yadlapalli (IND) bt (1) Jia-Qi Kang (CHN)/ Peangtarn Plipeuch (THA) 62 63

[F] Rutuja Bhosale (IND)/ Pranjala Yadlapalli (IND) vs (2) Pei Hsuan Chen (TPE)/ Fang-Hsien Wu (TPE)

Rutuja gave a pleasant surprise with a win over fancied Ankita in straight sets ... I really hope, she will be built on this win and go deep in this tournament... Next, she is facing former top-150 Japanese player, Hiroko Kuwata.
Rutuja played three matches in a day and won all three matches including an upset win over fancied Ankita and the top-seeds pair.

In the doubles also, Rutuja is in the final with a couple of good wins partnering Pranjala ... In the semis, they scored a dominating win over the top-seed pair ... In the final, they r facing the 2nd seed Taipei pair.

Hockey News

At FIH Rankings - July 2018,

FIH Men's Hero World Ranking

After finishing second in just concluded Champions Trophy we have climbed to the fifth position in the newly updated FIH ranking with 1484 points and Germany is in the sixth place with 1456 points ... Indian women retain their 10th place with 1040 points.

Tennis News

At $623K Hall of Fame Open 2018, Newport, USA

[R2] Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,161) bt (8) Denis Kudla (USA,86) 46 63 64

[QF] Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,161) vs Vasek Pospisil (CAN,98)

Doubles
[R1] Austin Krajicek (USA)/ Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND) bt (1) Nicholas Monroe (USA)/ John-Patrick Smith (AUS) 57 61 10-8
[R1] Jamie Cerretani (USA)/ Leander Paes (IND) bt Luke Bambridge (GBR)/ Jonny O'Mara (GBR) 64 63

[QF] Austin Krajicek (USA)/ Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND) vs Jamie Cerretani (USA)/ Leander Paes (IND)
[QF] (3) Purav Raja (IND)/ Ken Skupski (GBR) vs Jonathan Erlich (ISR)/ Artem Sitak (NZL)
[QF] (2) Divij Sharan (IND)/ Jackson Withrow (USA) vs Matthew Ebden (AUS)/ Sergiy Stakhovsky (UKR)

RamK scored an impressive comeback win over top-100 American, Denis Kudla ... After losing the first set RamK fought back to win next two ... In the decider, he broke Kudla in the 1st game and then held his serve to win the match ... He served 14 aces but he struggled with his 1st serve percentage which was 46% ... Good to see he was still managed to win ... Next, he is facing a tricky customer in Vasek Pospisil, who defeated Mischa Zverev.

Our doubles pairs continue with their terrific wins in Newport ... Jeevan with Krajicek scored a superb comeback win over the top-seeds Monroe-Smith ... They will face comeback kid Lee and Jamie Cerretani, who defeated British pair comfortably ... Divij-Withrow r facing Stakhovsky and Ebden.

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At €501K SkiStar Swedish Open 2018, Bastad, Sweden

[R1] N. Sriram Balaji (IND)/ Vishnu Vardhan (IND) l (PR) Jurgen Melzer (AUT)/ Philipp Petzschner (GER) 75 46 8-10

Bala-Vishnu lost in the match tie-break against experienced players Petzschner and Melzer ... Bala and Vishnu won the first set and they were up with a break in the second, but after that Petzschner and Melzer fought back to win this ... They continued controlling the match tie-break.

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At $125K Astana Challenger 2018, Kazakhstan

[R2] (Q) Saketh Myneni (IND,357) bt (1) Mikhail Youzhny (RUS,105) 36 64 63

[QF] (Q) Saketh Myneni (IND,357) vs Daniel Brands (GER,252)

Doubles
[R1] Arjun Kadhe (IND)/ Denis Yevseyev (KAZ) bt (4) Cam Ilkel (TUR)/ Roberto Ortega-Olmedo (ESP) 75 26 10-1

[QF] Arjun Kadhe (IND)/ Denis Yevseyev (KAZ) vs Alejandro Gonzalez (COL)/ Benjamin Lock (ZIM)

What a comeback win by Saki in a close match against former top-10 player Mikhail Youzhny ... In the first set, Youzhny broke Saki in the 6th game to lead 4-2 and kept this advantage for winning the set ... In the second set, Saki broke Youzhny in the 4th game to lead 3-1 but Youzhny immediately broke back in the next for 3-2 ... Saki broke Youzhny in the 10th game when Youzhny was serving for staying in the set ... In the decider, Saki broke Youzhny in the 2nd game to lead 2-0 but this time also Youzhny broke back in the next, 2-1 ... Saki again broke Youzhny in the 6th game to lead 4-2 ... After that Saki held his service games for a memorable win ... Next, he is facing former top-50 player, Daniel Brands.

Arjun and Yevseyev continued with their terrific form as a pair ... They scored a win in the match tie-break against the fourth seeds ... Next, they r facing Locak and Gonzalez.

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At $25K ITF Women Tournament 2018, Nonthaburi, Thailand

[R1] Pranjala Yadlapalli (IND,411) l (Q) Kaylah McPhee (AUS,434) 26 36
[R1] Rutuja Bhpsale (IND,396) bt Bunyawi Thamcchaiwat (THA,431) 62 62
[R1] (3) Ankita Raina (IND,201) bt (WC) Chompoothip Jundakate (THA,975) 46 62 62

[R2] (3) Ankita Raina (IND,201) vs Rutuja Bhpsale (IND,396)

Ankita and Rutuja started with a contrasting win... But Pranjala lost in the first round ... Next, Ankita and Rutuja r facing each other.

Tennis News

At $623K Hall of Fame Open 2018, London, Great Britain

[R1] Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,161) bt (Q) Victor Estrella Burgos (DOM,198) 64 61

[R2] Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,161) vs (8) Denis Kudla (USA,86)

Doubles
[R1] (3) Purav Raja (IND)/ Ken Skupski (GBR) bt Ruben Bemelmans (BEL)/ Denis Kudla (USA) 75 64

RamK started with straight sets win over veteran Estrella Burgos in straight sets ... Next, he is facing the 8th seed Denis Kudla.

Purav-Ken started with a good win against Bemelmans and Kudla.

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At $125K Astana Challenger 2018, Kazakhstan

[R1] (LL) Arjun Kadhe (IND,361) bt (LL) Dzmitry Zhyrmont (BLR,422) 62 3-3 retd.

[R2] (Q) Saketh Myneni (IND,357) vs (1) Mikhail Youzhny (RUS,105)
[R2] (LL) Arjun Kadhe (IND,361) vs (WC) Aleksandr Nedovyesov (KAZ,283)

Doubles
[R1] (1) Toshihide Matsui (JPN)/ Saketh Myneni (IND) l Ivan Gakhov (RUS)/ Roman Safiullin (RUS) 26 26

Arjun got entry as a lucky-loser and luckily he faced another lucky loser ... After winning the first set easily Ajun struggled in the second, but his opponent retired after the 6th game ... In the second round, Arjun is facing an experienced Nedovyesov ... And Saki is facing former top-10 player Mikhail Youzhny.

A poor result for Saki and Toshihide as the top-seeds ... They lost in the straight sets against Russian pair.

Tennis News

At $623K Hall of Fame Open 2018, Newport, USA

[R1] (2) Divij Sharan (IND)/ Jackson Withrow (USA) bt (WC) Martin Redlicki (USA)/ Evan Zhu (USA) 63 63

Again Divij shows amazing ability to adjust with a new partner as he and Jackson Withrow started with a comfortable win over American wild-card pair.

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At $125K Astana Challenger 2018, Kazakhstan

[R1] (2) Saketh Myneni (IND,357) bt Aldin Setkic (BIH,273) 76(5) 46 64

I was expecting smooth sailing against Setkic, but Saki needed to dig deep for this victory due to his first serve struggle ... After winning the first set in the tie-break Saki was up with a break in the second ... Setkic fought back and break Saki twice for winning the set ... Saki recovered in the third and saved four break points ... He broke Setkic for completing win.

Golf News

At $5.8M John Deere Classic 2018, Silvis, Illinois, USA (PGA Tour)

T65 Arjun Atwal (IND) 69 70 70 71 -4 $12,006.00

After a longtime Arjun played on the tour in John Deere Classic and managed to make a cut ... He finished lower in the final standing with four under.

Aditi Ashok's struggle continues after returning on LPGA tour ... She missed another cut at Marathon Classic ... Shubhankar Sharma failed to make the cut at Scottish Open ... For the Open, Anirban will join Shubjankar ... Hoping for a better week at The Open for our players.

Badminton News

At $350K TOYOTA Thailand Open 2018, Bangkok (HSBC BWF World Tour Super 500)

Women's Singles Final
(2) Pusarla V. Sindhu (IND,3) l (4) Nozomi Okuhara (JPN,8) 15-21 18-21

Sindhu lost in straight games against Okuhara ... It seems after Mulyo Handoyo's exit our singles players r struggling.

Tennis News

At $623K Hall of Fame Open 2018, Newport, USA

[Q1] (3) Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,163) l Alessandro Bega (ITA,310) 46 75 46

[R1] Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,140) vs Qualifier

Doubles
[R1] Austin Krajicek (USA)/ Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND) vs (1) Nicholas Monroe (USA)/ John-Patrick Smith (AUS)
[R1] Jamie Cerretani (USA)/ Leander Paes (IND) vs Luke Bambridge (GBR)/ Jonny O'Mara (GBR)
[R1] (3) Fabrice Martin (FRA)/ Purav Raja (IND) vs Ruben Bemelmans (BEL)/ Denis Kudla (USA)
[R1] (2) Divij Sharan (IND)/ Jackson Withrow (USA) vs (WC) Martin Redlicki (USA)/ Evan Zhu (USA)

Prajnesh faced Italian Bega, but lost in straight sets ... After losing the first set Prajnesh was a break down in the second ... He tried fightback and won the second set but failed to keep momentum in the third ... In the main draw, RamK is waiting for a qualifier.

Big Indian contingent in the doubles, Divij is the 2nd seed with American Jackson Withrow and they r facing American wild-card pair ... Purav and Fabrice r the 3rd seed and they r facing Kudla and Bemelmans ... Lee is back on the court after completing family commitments ... He is playing with Cerretani and they r facing British pair ... Jeevan and Austin having a tough match against the top-seeds Monroe and Smith.

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At $125K Astana Challenger 2018, Kazakhstan

[Q3] (2) Saketh Myneni (IND,357) bt (7) Konstantin Kravchuk (RUS,496) 46 63 64
[Q3] (3) Arjun Kadhe (IND,364) l (8) Khumoyun Sultanov (UZB,583) 16 63 26

[R1] (2) Saketh Myneni (IND,357) vs Aldin Setkic (BIH,273)

Doubles
[R1] (1) Toshihide Matsui (JPN)/ Saketh Myneni (IND) vs Ivan Gakhov (RUS)/ Roman Safiullin (RUS)
[R1] Arjun Kadhe (IND)/ Denis Yevseyev (KAZ) vs (4) Cam Ilkel (TUR)/ Roberto Ortega-Olmedo (ESP)

Saki qualified for the main draw with three sets win over Russian Konstantin Kravchuk ... But Arjun lost against local player Sultanov ... In the main draw, Saki is facing Setkic.

In the doubles, Saki is the top-seeds with Toshihide Matsui and they r facing Russian pair ... Arjun is back with Denis Yevseyev and they r facing the 4th seeds Ilkel and Ortega-Olmedo.

Badminton News

At $350K TOYOTA Thailand Open 2018, Bangkok (HSBC BWF World Tour Super 500)

[SF] (2) Pusarla V. Sindhu (IND,3) bt Gregoria Mariska Tunjung (INA,29) 23-21 16-21 21-9

[F] (2) Pusarla V. Sindhu (IND,3) vs (4) Nozomi Okuhara (JPN,8)

A surprisingly tough match for Sindhu against this Indonesian girl ... In the first game, Sindhu did a catching game and converted the second game point after saving one ... She lost the second game against Tunjung but afterwards Sindhu dominated the third for entering into the final ... In the final, she is facing Nozomi Okuhara, both sharing 5-all win-loss record.

Tennis News

At $150K+H Braunschweig Challenger 2018,Germany

Doubles Final
N. Sriram Balaji (IND)/ Vishnu Vardhan (IND) l (1) Santiago Gonzalez (MEX)/ Wesley Koolhof (NED) 36 36

Bala and Vishnu lost against the top-seeds Gonzalez and Koolhof in straight sets ... But still they had a good week in this tough challenger.

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At $100K ITF Women's Tournament 2018, Contrexeville, France

Doubles Final
(3) Eva Wacanno (NED)/ Prarthana Thombare (IND) l An-Sophie Mestach (BEL)/ Saisai Zheng (CHN) 63 26 7-10

Prarthana and her Dutch partner Eva Wacanno lost against Belgian-Chinese combination of An-Sophie Mestach and Saisai Zheng after winning the first set.

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At $75K Winnetka Challenger 2018, Illinois, USA

Doubles Final
(1) Austin Krajicek (USA)/ Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND) bt (2) Roberto Maytin (VEN)/ Christopher Rungkat (INA) 67(4) 64 10-5

Jeevan-Austin lifted another title as a pair in a superb comeback win over Rungkat and Maytin ... Jeevan and Austin lost the first set in the tie-break but they fought back to win the second and then kept momentum for winning the match tie-break comfortably.

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At $25K ITF Women's Tournament 2018, Nonthaburi, Thailand

Singles Final
(2) Ankita Raina (IND,214) bt (4) Risa Ozaki (JPN,243) 62 63

Ankita lifted her 7th ITF title beating former top-70 Japanese player, Risa Ozaki. in the final ... Ankita scored a comfortable win to lift her 3rd $25K title..

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At $125K Astana Challenger 2018, Kazakhstan

[Q1] (2) Saketh Myneni (IND,357) bye
[Q1] (3) Arjun Kadhe (IND,364) bye

[Q2] (2) Saketh Myneni (IND,357) bt Volodoymyr Uzhylovskyi (UKR,756) 4-1 retd.
[Q2] (3) Arjun Kadhe (IND,364) bt Anton Chekhov (RUS,1412) 63 61

[Q3] (2) Saketh Myneni (IND,357) vs (7) Konstantin Kravchuk (RUS,496)
[Q3] (3) Arjun Kadhe (IND,364) vs (8) Khumoyun Sultanov (UZB,583)

Saki and Arjun r playing Astana qualifying ... Arjun is in the final qualifying with a comfortable win and Saki's opponent retired in the middle of the first set ... In the final qualifying, Saki is facing Konstantin Kravchuk and Arjun is facing Khumoyun Sultanov.

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At $25K ITF Women's Tournament 2018, Tianjin, China

[SF] (3) Karman Kaur Thandi (IND,225) l (1) Fangzhou Liu (CHN,153) 36 26

Karman had a tough match against top-150 type Chinese girl, Fangzhou Liu ... She lost it with a decent fight.

Badminton News

At $350K TOYOTA Thailand Open 2018, Bangkok (HSBC BWF World Tour Super 500)

[QF] (2) Pusarla V. Sindhu (IND,3) bt Soniia Cheah (MAS,35) 21-17 21-13

[SF] (2) Pusarla V. Sindhu (IND,3) vs Gregoria Mariska Tunjung (INA,29)

An expected comfortable win for Sindhu against lowly ranked Malaysian opponent ... In the semis, she is facing Indonesian girl, Gregoria Mariska Tunjung.

Tennis News

At $150K+H Braunschweig Challenger 2018,Germany

[SF] N. Sriram Balaji (IND)/ Vishnu Vardhan (IND) bt (WC) Nicola Kuhn (ESP)/ Casper Ruud (NOR) 46 76(5) 12-10

[F] N. Sriram Balaji (IND)/ Vishnu Vardhan (IND) vs (1) Santiago Gonzalez (MEX)/ Wesley Koolhof (NED)

Bala and Vishnu scored an excellent comeback win over Ruud and Kuhn ... After losing the first set our pair needed to dig deep for this win ... In the final, they r facing the top-seeds Gonzalez and Koolhof.

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At $100K ITF Women's Tournament 2018, Contrexeville, France

[R1] (3) Eva Wacanno (NED)/ Prarthana Thombare (IND) bt Sophie Muntean (FRA)/ Victoria Muntean (FRA) 64 62
[QF] (3) Eva Wacanno (NED)/ Prarthana Thombare (IND) bt Anna Maria Jovanovic (FRA)/ Constance Sibille (FRA) 62 64
[SF] (3) Eva Wacanno (NED)/ Prarthana Thombare (IND) bt (2) Ysaline Bonaventure (BEL)/ Oksana Kalashnikova (GEO) 62 63

[F] (3) Eva Wacanno (NED)/ Prarthana Thombare (IND) vs An-Sophie Mestach (BEL)/ Saisai Zheng (CHN)

Good run by Prarthana win her Dutch partner Eva Wacanno on the clay ... In the semis, they scored a good comfortable win over the 2nd seed pair ... In the final, they r facing Belgian-Chinese combination of An-Sophie Mestach and Saisai Zheng.

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At $75K Winnetka Challenger 2018, Illinois, USA

[SF] (1) Austin Krajicek (USA)/ Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND) bt (WC) Jared Hiltzik (USA)/ Toim Kopinski (USA) 76(2) 64

[F] (1) Austin Krajicek (USA)/ Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND) vs (2) Roberto Maytin (VEN)/ Christopher Rungkat (INA)

Jeevan-Austin r in the final with straight sets win over Hiltzik-Kopinski ... In the final they r facing 2nd seed pair, which having Jeevan's former partner Rungkat and Maytin.

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At $25K ITF Women's Tournament 2018, Nonthaburi, Thailand

[SF] (2) Ankita Raina (IND,214) bt (3) Na-Lae Han (KOR,232) 16 75 60

[F] (2) Ankita Raina (IND,214) vs (4) Risa Ozaki (JPN,243)

Ankita needed another comeback win after losing the first set against Korean Na-Lae Han ... After winning the close second set she bageled Han in the third ... In the final, she is facing the 4th seed Risa Ozaki.

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At $25K ITF Women's Tournament 2018, Tianjin, China

[QF] (3) Karman Kaur Thandi (IND,225) bt (5) Fang Ying Xun (CHN,287) 61 36 61

[SF] (3) Karman Kaur Thandi (IND,225) vs (1) Fangzhou Liu (CHN,153)

Karman won in three sets against Chinese girl Xun ... In this match, Karman big serving helped to dominate in the final set ... In the semis, she is facing the top-seed and top-150 type Chinese girl, Fangzhou Liu.

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At $15K ITF Women's Tennis Tournament 2017, Solo (Surakarta), Indonesia

[SF] (5) Mahak Jain (IND,772) l (4) Aldila Sutjiadi (INA,751) 67(0) 62 36

Mahak lost in three sets against Indonesian Sutjiadi ... After losing the first set Mahak won the next comfortably ... In the third, she was leading 3-1 but from here she lost next 5 games to lose the match.

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At $15K ITF Women Tournament 2017, Hong Kong, China

[R1] (2) Zeel Desai (IND)/ Akari Inoue (JPN) bt Haine Ogata (JPN)/ Chihiro Takayama (JPN) 46 61 10-2
[QF] (2) Zeel Desai (IND)/ Akari Inoue (JPN) bt Yan-Tung Ki (HKG)/ Wing Kiu Jacqueline Lam (HKG) 64 61
[SF] (2) Zeel Desai (IND)/ Akari Inoue (JPN) bt Eudice Chong (HKG)/ Man Ying Maggie Ng (HKG) 75 63

Doubles Final
(2) Zeel Desai (IND)/ Akari Inoue (JPN) l (4) Kwan Yau Ng (HKG)/ Ho Ching Wu (HKG) 46 46

After losing in the singles quarter final Zeel reached in the final of the doubles with her Japanese partner Akari Inoue ... But they lost the final against local pair in straight sets.

Athletic News

At the IAAF World U20 Championships 2018, Tampere, Finland

400 Meters Women
Gold - Hima Das (IND) 51.46s
Silver - Andrea Miklos (ROU) 52.07s PB
Bronze - Taylor Manson (USA) 52.28s

Hima Das wins the gold in 400m and becomes the first Indian to do in a track event in a U-20 Worlds (or any World Championship) ... She started slowly but timed her run beautifully, after 250 meters she increased her speed and was in the total control in the last 100 meters to win the race with some distance.

Tennis News

At $150K+H Braunschweig Challenger 2018,Germany

[QF] . Sriram Balaji (IND)/ Vishnu Vardhan (IND) bt (2) Roman Jebavy (CZE)/ Andres Molteni (ARG) 67(7) 64 10-8

[SF] N. Sriram Balaji (IND)/ Vishnu Vardhan (IND) vs (WC) Nicola Kuhn (ESP)/ Casper Ruud (NOR)

Really a good comeback upset win by Bala and Vishnu against the 2nd seeds ... After losing the long tie-break our pair fought back to win the second ... Our pair won the tight match tie-break ... In the semis, they r facing the wild-card pairing of Ruud and Kuhn.

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At $75K Winnetka Challenger 2018, Illinois, USA

[R1] (1) Austin Krajicek (USA)/ Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND) bt Mitchell Krueger (USA)/ Alex Lawson (USA) 63 63

[QF] (1) Austin Krajicek (USA)/ Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND) bt Hunter Johnson (USA)/ Yates Johnson (USA) 64 62

[SF] (1) Austin Krajicek (USA)/ Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND) vs (WC) Jared Hiltzik (USA)/ Toim Kopinski (USA)

Jeevan-Austin started with a comfortable win over American pair ... In the quarters, they defeated Johnson twins with an ease ... In the semis, the r facing another American pair, Hiltzik-Kopinski.

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At $25K ITF Women's Tournament 2018, Nonthaburi, Thailand

[QF] (2) Ankita Raina (IND,214) bt Tamaryn Hendler (BEL,383) 61 64

[SF] (2) Ankita Raina (IND,214) vs (3) Na-Lae Han (KOR,232)

Ankita scored a comfortable win over top-200 Belgian Tamaryn Hendler ... Next, she is facing similar ranked Korean Na-Lae Han.

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At $25K ITF Women's Tournament 2018, Tianjin, China

[R2] (3) Karman Kaur Thandi (IND,225) bt Xu Liu Sun (CHN,428) 62 64

[QF] (3) Karman Kaur Thandi (IND,225) vs (5) Fang Ying Xun (CHN,287)

With an easy win over Zhanlan Wei, Karman is in the quarters ... Next, she is facing Chinese girl Xun.

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At $15K ITF Women's Tennis Tournament 2017, Solo (Surakarta), Indonesia

[R1] (5) Mahak Jain (IND,772) bt (Q) Mary Ann Liu (AUS, UNR) 60 62
[R2] (5) Mahak Jain (IND,772) bt Ani Vangelova (BUL,1137) 62 62
[QF] (5) Mahak Jain (IND,772) bt (1) YeXin Ma (CHN,554) 63 61

[SF] (5) Mahak Jain (IND,772) vs (4) Aldila Sutjiadi (INA,751)

Mahak Jai in the semis with a comfortable upset win over the top-seed Chinese player, Yekin Ma ... Next, she is facing Indonesian Sutjiadi.

Badminton News

At $350K TOYOTA Thailand Open 2018, Bangkok (HSBC BWF World Tour Super 500)

[R2] Parupalli Kashyap (IND,54) l Kanta Tsuneyama (JPN,33) 18-21 21-18 19-21
[R2] (4) Prannoy H. S. (IND,11) l Sony Dwi Kuncoro (INA,80) 18-21 14-21

[R2] (2) Pusarla V. Sindhu (IND,3) bt Pui Yin Yip (HKG,32) 21-16 21-14

[R2] Manu Attri (IND)/ B. Sumeeth Reddy (IND) l Hiroyuki Endo (JPN)/ Yuta Watanabe (JPN) 24-22 13-21 19-21

[R2] Satwiksairaj Rankireddy (IND)/ Ashwini Ponnappa (IND) l Yuki Kaneko (JPN)/ Mayu Matsumoto (JPN) 11-21 16-21

[QF] (2) Pusarla V. Sindhu (IND,3) vs Soniia Cheah (MAS,35)

Our disappointing run continues as only Sindhu reaches to the quarters ... Sindhi scored straight games win over Yip ... Next, she is facing Malaysian girl, Sonia Cheah.

Kashyap lost in a close match against Japanese Tsuneyama ... But a poor loss for Prannoy against former top-5 player Sony Dwi Kuncoro ... In the doubles, Manu and Sumeeth gave another fighting performance against top-20 Japanese pair ... But Satwik and Ashwini lost a one-sided match against their top doubles Japanese players.

Tennis News

At $150K+H Braunschweig Challenger 2018,Germany

[QF] N. Sriram Balaji (IND)/ Vishnu Vardhan (IND) vs (2) Roman Jebavy (CZE)/ Andres Molteni (ARG)

Bala and Vishnu will be faced the 2nd seeds Molteni and Jebavy.

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At $25K ITF Women's Tournament 2018, Nonthaburi, Thailand

[R2] (2) Ankita Raina (IND,214) bt (Q) Gabriella Da Silva Fick (AUS,806) 62 36 60

[QF] (2) Ankita Raina (IND,214) vs Tamaryn Hendler (BEL,383)

Again Ankita needed three sets to win over Aussie qualifier .. Next, she is facing top-200 Belgian Tamaryn Hendler.

Badminton News

At $350K TOYOTA Thailand Open 2018, Bangkok (HSBC BWF World Tour Super 500)

[R1] Parupalli Kashyap (IND,55) bt Jason Anthony Ho-Shue (CAN,66) 21-15 21-17
[R1] (4) Prannoy H. S. (IND,14) bt Pablo Abian (ESP,43) 21-16 21-19
[R1] (8) Sameer Verma (IND,20) l Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk (THA,36) 18-21 16-21

[R1] Vaishnavi Reddy Jakka (IND,53) l (8) Sayaka Sato (JPN,20) 13-21 17-21
[R1] (2) Pusarla V. Sindhu (IND,3) bt Linda Zetchiri (BUL,43) 21-8 21-15

[R1] Manu Attri (IND)/ B. Sumeeth Reddy (IND) bt (4) Hung Ling Chen (TPE)/ Chi-Lin Wang (TPE) 21-18 15-21 21-17
[R1] (8) Satwiksairaj Rankireddy (IND)/ Chirag Shetty (IND) l Bodin Isara (THA)/ Maneepong Jongjit (THA) 11-21 15-21
[R1] Anilkumar Raju Mandiraju (IND)/ Venkat Gaurav Prasad (IND) l Yonny Chung (HKG)/ Chun Hei Tam (HKG) 21-14 12-21 14-21
[R1] Tarun Kona (IND)/ Saurabh Sharma (IND) l (5) Min Chun Liao (TPE)/ Ching Heng Su (TPE) 6-21 6-21
[R1] Arjun M.R. (IND)/ Ramchandran Shlok (IND) l Wahyu Nayaka Arya Pangkaryanira (INA)/ Ade Yusuf Santoso (INA) 18-21 21-13 16-21
[R1] Jakkampudi Meghana (IND)/ Poorvisha S Ram (IND) l Hsiao Huan Chen (TPE)/ Ling Fang Hu (TPE) 21-23 8-21
[R1] Saurabh Sharma (IND)/ Anoushka Parikh (IND) l Hee Chun Mak (HKG)/ Nga Ting Yeung (HKG) 19-21 15-21
[R1] Satwiksairaj Rankireddy (IND)/ Ashwini Ponnappa (IND) bt Akbar Bintang Cahyono (INA)/ Winny Oktavina Kandow (INA) 19-21 21-14 21-17

[R2] Parupalli Kashyap (IND,55) vs Kanta Tsuneyama (JPN,42)
[R2] (4) Prannoy H. S. (IND,14) vs Sony Dwi Kuncoro (INA,80)

[R2] (2) Pusarla V. Sindhu (IND,3) vs Pui Yin Yip (HKG,32)

[R2] Manu Attri (IND)/ B. Sumeeth Reddy (IND) vs Hiroyuki Endo (JPN)/ Yuta Watanabe (JPN)
[R2] Satwiksairaj Rankireddy (IND)/ Ashwini Ponnappa (IND) vs Yuki Kaneko (JPN)/ Mayu Matsumoto (JPN)

Srikanth and Saina r not playing in Thailand.

Only Sindhu, Kashyap and Prannoy managed to win their respective matches in the singles.
Manu and Sumeeth scored three games upset win over top-15 Taipei pair but other all pairs lost poorly in their matches.
In MXD, Satwik-Ashwini started with a comeback win over local pair after losing the first game ... But Satwik's poor run with Chirag continues as they r lost against lowly ranking Thai pair.

Tennis News

At Wimbledon 2018, London, Great Britain

[QF] Divij Sharan (IND)/ Artem Sitak (NZL) l (7) Mike Bryan (USA)/ Jack Sock (USA) 67(4) 67(5) 76(3) 46

Again slow start for Divij and Artem as they lost the first 2 sets in the tie-breaks against Bryan and Sock ... Both pairs saved a lot of break points but Sock and Bryan played better tie-breaks ... The third set also went to the tie-break, but this time Divij and Artem took control for the start to lead 6-2 ... They converted the 2nd set point for taking the match into the fourth set ... The first break of the match came into the 1st game of the fourth set when Bryan and Sock broke Artem ... Divij and Artem broke back in the 4th game breaking Bryan when he committed foot fault and the double fault on last 2 points ... I felt Artem choked in the 9th game on his serve, after 13 mins of the game he committed two double faults after 6th deuce to lose the game ... Sock held it comfortably for a win ... In this match, Artem struggled with his serve and it cost them dearly in this close match.

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At $150K+H Braunschweig Challenger 2018, Germany

[R1] N. Sriram Balaji (IND)/ Vishnu Vardhan (IND) bt Fabricio Neis (BRA)/ Ruan Roelofse (RSA) 64 63

Vishnu and Bala adjusted to the clay and started with a straight-sets win over Roelofse and Neis.

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At $75K Winnetka Challenger 2018, Illinois, USA

[R1] (3) Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,140) l Evgeny Karlovskiy (RUS,355) 06 46

Doubles
[R1] (1) Austin Krajicek (USA)/ Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND) vs Mitchell Krueger (USA)/ Alex Lawson (USA)

It seems RamK failed to adjust to the hard courts after the grass court season ... Still, this was a bad loss for RamK.

Jeevan-Austin r the top-seed and facing Americans Lawson-Krueger.

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At $50K+H Bastad Challenger 2018, Sweden

[R1] Sumit Nagal (IND,253) l (Q) Filip Horansky (SVK,287) 26 retd.

Sumit retired after losing the first set ... Sometimes I get confused why some of the players risk playing when they are injured.

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At $25K ITF Women's Tournament 2018, Tianjin, China

[R1] (3) Karman Kaur Thandi (IND,225) bt Zhanlan Wei (CHN,627) 64 57 60
[R1] Rutuja Bhosale (IND,421) l Yue Yuan (CHN,353) 26 06

[R2] (3) Karman Kaur Thandi (IND,225) vs Xu Liu Sun (CHN,428)

Karman started with three sets win over Zhanlan Wei ... Next, she is facing the top-450 Chinese girl, Xu Liu Sun ... Other hands, surprised by the one-sided loss of Rutuja after her last week's performance.

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At $25K ITF Women's Tournament 2018, Nonthaburi, Thailand

[R1] (2) Ankita Raina (IND,214) bt Pranjala Yadlapalli (IND,384) 63 67(5) 63

[R2] (2) Ankita Raina (IND,214) vs (Q) Gabriella Da Silva Fick (AUS,806)

A really bad draw for Pranjala as she faced her senior compatriot Ankita in the first round ... She gave a fighting performance but Ankita managed to win it in three sets ... Ankita is facing Aussie qualifier in the second round.

Tennis News

At Wimbledon 2018, London, Great Britain

[R3] Divij Sharan (IND)/ Artem Sitak (NZL) bt Jonathan Erlich (ISR)/ Marcin Matkowski (POL) 16 67(3) 64 64 64

[QF] Divij Sharan (IND)/ Artem Sitak (NZL) vs (7) Mike Bryan (USA)/ Jack Sock (USA)

What a comeback win for Divij and Artem for entering into the quarters, Divij's first grand slam quarter final ... Erlich-Matkowski used their vast experience to won the first 2 sets ... Divij-Artem made a fightback after winning next two sets to take the match into the decider ... In the final set, Divij-Artem took a crucial break in the 7th game and then held their respective service games for hard fought win after 3 hours and 50 minutes ... Next, they r facing the 7th seed pairing of Mike Bryan and Jack Sock.

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At $75K Winnetka Challenger 2018, Illinois, USA

[R1] (3) Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,140) vs Evgeny Karlovskiy (RUS,355)

In month of July, RamK is defending a load of ranking points ... So he needs to be performing as per his ranking.

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At $50K+H Bastad Challenger 2018, Sweden

[R1] Sumit Nagal (IND,253) vs (Q) Filip Horansky (SVK,287)

These days don't know what to expect from Sumit.

Golf News

At $7.3M A Military Tribute at The Greenbrier 2018, White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia, USA (PGA Tour)

T39 Anirban Lahiri (IND) 67 61 71 76 -5 $27,740.00

A disastrous last round wiped out any chance of the top-3 finish for Anirban ... He scored a six-over-par round which consisted of a double bogey, six bogeys and only couple of birdies ... Anirban finished the T39 position in the final standing ... Before that, he scored his best round of 9 under on PGA Tour in the second round.

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At $2M Thornberry Creek LPGA Classic 2018, Oneida, Wisconsin, USA (LPGA Tour)

T35 Aditi Ashok (IND) 69 67 69 71 -12 $10,494.00

Aditi produced four under par rounds and ended with 12 under par score ... But that wasn't enough for a strong finish on this easy playing course ... Aditi finished on the T35 position and whopping 19 strokes behind the winner, Sei Young Kim ... The 25 yrs. old Sei Young Kim created a new LPGA the 72-hole record with the 31-under-par score ... She bettered record of the 27-under-par which scored by Annika Sorenstam in 2001.

Tennis News

At Wimbledon 2018, London, Great Britain

Doubles
[R2] (Q) N. Sriram Balaji (IND)/ Vishnu Vardhan (IND) l (14) Ben McLachlan (JPN)/ Jan-Lennard Struff (GER) 67(2) 76(3) 67(3) 36
[R2] Divij Sharan (IND)/ Artem Sitak (NZL) bt Julio Peralta (CHI)/ Horacio Zeballos (ARG) 67(5) 46 63 76(5) 64

[R3] Divij Sharan (IND)/ Artem Sitak (NZL) vs Jonathan Erlich (ISR)/ Marcin Matkowski (POL)

Mixed Doubles
[R1] Divij Sharan (IND)/ Alicja Rosolska (POL) l Marcin Matkowski (POL)/ Mihaela Buzarnescu (ROU) 36 57

A superb comeback win by Divij-Artem against South American pair in 3 hours and 22 minutes match ... After losing the first 2 sets Divij-Artem made an excellent fightback for winning next three sets ... Next, they r facing veteran pairing of Jonathan Erlich and Marcin Matkowski, who defeated the 2nd seed pair ... In MXD, Divij and his partner lost against Matkowski and his partner in straight sets.

Bala-Vishnu lost in the tight match ... The first three sets went to the tie-breaks but German-Japanese pair won two of it and they completed victory after winning the fourth.

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At $25K ITF Women's Tournament 2018, Naiman, China,

[SF] (3) Karman Kaur Thandi (IND,225) l (2) Yuxuan Zhang (CHN,254) 26 16

Karman struggled with her serve in this match and Zhang took a full advantage of it for dominating win.

Tennis News

At Wimbledon 2018, London, Great Britain

Doubles
[R2] (12) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Edouard Roger-Vasselin (FRA) l Frederik Nielsen (DEN)/ Joe Salisbury (GBR) 46 67(4) 1-2 retd.

Rohan and Roger-Vasselin had a tricky math against Frederik Nielsen and Joe Salisbury ... Our pair lost the first 2 sets and at 2-1 down in the third they retired ... So an early end of challenge for Rohan.

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At $25K ITF Women's Tournament 2018, Naiman, China,

[QF] Rutuja Bhosale (IND,421) l (4) Fang Ying Xun (CHN,287) 46 46
[QF] (3) Karman Kaur Thandi (IND,225) bt Meiling Wang (CHN,606) 64 62

[SF] (3) Karman Kaur Thandi (IND,225) vs (2) Yuxuan Zhang (CHN,254)

An expected comfortable win for Karman against Wang ... In the semis, she is facing another Chinese challenge of Yuxuan Zhang.

Rutuja's good run ended against the top-300 Chinese girl, Fang Ying Xun ... But still a decent run for her in this $25K tournament.

Badminton News

At $1.25M BLIBLI Indonesia Open 2018, Jakarta (HSBC BWF World Tour Super 1000)

[QF] (8) Prannoy H. S. (IND,14) l (3) Yuqi Shi (CHN,3) 17-21 18-21

[QF] (3) Pusarla V. Sindhu (IND,3) l (8) Bingjiao He (CHN,7) 14-21 15-21

Our both players lost their respective matches to Chinese opponents ... Prannoy gave a decent fight to WR#3 Yuqi Shi ... Other hand Sindhu failed to repeat result of last two matches against Bingjiao He and lost easily.

Tennis News

At Wimbledon 2018, London, Great Britain

Doubles
[R1] (Q) N. Sriram Balaji (IND)/ Vishnu Vardhan (IND) bt Marcus Daniell (NZL)/ Wesley Koolhof (NED) 76(5) 64 76(4)
[R1] (12) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Edouard Roger-Vasselin (FRA) bt Alex De Minaur (AUS)/ John Millman (AUS) 62 62 64
[R1] (Q) Austin Krajicek (USA)/ Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND) l Sander Arends (NED)/ Matwe Middelkoop (NED) 67(5) 67(3) 67(2)
[R1] Divij Sharan (IND)/ Artem Sitak (NZL) bt Radu Albot (MDA)/ Malek Jaziri (TUN) 76(4) 67(8) 63 62

[R2] (Q) N. Sriram Balaji (IND)/ Vishnu Vardhan (IND) vs (14) Ben McLachlan (JPN)/ Jan-Lennard Struff (GER)
[R2] (12) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Edouard Roger-Vasselin (FRA) vs Frederik Nielsen (DEN)/ Joe Salisbury (GBR)
[R2] Divij Sharan (IND)/ Artem Sitak (NZL) vs Julio Peralta (CHI)/ Horacio Zeballos (ARG)

Mixed Doubles
[R1] Divij Sharan (IND)/ Alicja Rosolska (POL) vs Marcin Matkowski (POL)/ Mihaela Buzarnescu (ROU)

Divij-Artem started with a win over Albot-Jaziri in four sets ... Both pairs split the first 2 sets which went to the tie-breaks ... After losing the second set Divij-Artem won next two sets comfortably ... Next, they r facing South American team, who defeated the 16th seed pair.
Vishnu and Bala matched against the experienced pairing of Daniell-Koolhof from the start ... They won the first set in the tie-break and pocked the second set with a single break advantage ... They saved break points before completing win in three sets after winning the third set in the tie-break ... Next, they r facing the 14th seed Ben McLachlan and Jan-Lennard Struff.
Rohan and Roger-Vasselin started with a comfortable win against Aussie pair ... Next, they r facing a tricky pairing of Frederik Nielsen and Joe Salisbury.
I was hoping better result from Jeevan-Austin pairing ... They lost in three tie-breaks against Dutch pairing of Arends and Middelkoop ... Both pairs failed to break each other but in the tie-breaks, Dutch pair served better.

In MXD, Only Divij is playing with his Polish partner, Alicja Rosolska ... They r facing experienced Matkowski and his partner Buzarnescu in the first round ... This time, Rohan has skipped the MXD.

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At $25K ITF Women's Tournament 2018, Naiman, China,

[R2] Rutuja Bhosale (IND,421) bt (7) Yue Yuan (CHN,353) 26 61 62

[QF] Rutuja Bhosale (IND,421) vs (4) Fang Ying Xun (CHN,287)

Rutuja scored an excellent upset win over seeded Chinese opponent, Yue Yuan ... After losing the first set easily Rutuja made a strong comeback for winning next two sets convincingly ... Next, she is facing the top-300 Chinese girl, Fang Ying Xun.