Tennis News

At € 5.4M Rolex Paris Masters 2018, France

[R1] Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Edouard Roger-Vasselin (FRA) bt Robin Haase (NED)/ Matwe Middelkoop (NED) 76(3) 57 10-5

[R2] Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Edouard Roger-Vasselin (FRA) vs (1) Oliver Marach (AUT)/ Mate Pavic (CRO)
[R2] (Alt) Divij Sharan (IND)/ Artem Sitak (NZL) l (2) Mike Bryan (USA)/ Jack Sock (USA) 46 36

Rohan and Edouard move into the second round with a hard-fought win over the Dutch pair ... Next, they r facing the top-seeds Pavic and Marach.

Divij and Artem lost in the second round against the 2nd seeds Bryan and Sock in straight sets ... With this, Divij has finished with a season and taking longish off-season for working on his game and fitness ... In the off-season, he and Artem will also take a call on their partnership for 2019.

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At $125K Mumbai Open 2018, India

[R1] Karman Kaur Thandi (IND,215) l (1) Saisai Zheng (CHN,47) 26 46
[R1] (Q) Pranjala Yadlapalli (IND,280) l (5) Luksika Kumkhum (THA,103) 63 57 16
[R1] Ankita Raina (IND,195) bt (WC) Rutuja Bhosale (IND,368) 46 62 76(5)

[R2] Ankita Raina (IND,195) vs Danka Kovinic (MNE,194)

Doubles
[R1] (WC) Mahak Jain (IND)/ Mihika Yadav (IND) l (3) Natela Dzalamidze (RUS)/ Veronika Kudermetova (RUS) 16 16

What a match between Rutuja and Ankita ... Ankita prevailed over Rutuja using her experience ... Rutuja started well and won the first set with a break ... Ankita fought back in the second to win it with a double break ... In the third, Rutuja started positively and was up 3-0, but again Ankita showed her fighting quality and made a comeback in the match ... In the tie-break, Ankita took a 5-2 lead, Rutuja tried hard to make it 5-all but Ankita kept her cool and completed victory after winning next two points ... In the second round, she is facing similar ranked Danka Kovinic, who scored an upset win over the 4th seed.
A tough loss for Pranjala as she was 5-2 and 5-3 up in the second set, just two points away from her biggest win ... After winning the first set Pranjala broke Kumkhum in the 4th game to lead 3-1 but failed to hold her serve in the next game, 3-2 ... Pranjala again broke Kumkhum in the 6th game, 4-2 and then held her serve to lead 5-2 ... In the 8th game she was 30-30 on Kumkhum's serve and while serving for the match she saved six break points but failed to hold ... After that, it was one-way traffic in favor of Kumkhum as Pranjala made a lot of unforced errors under pressure ... A big learning experience for Pranjala.
Karman failed to challenge the top-50 Zheng but managed to decent score.

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At $75K+H Shenzhen-2 Challenger 2018, China

[R2] (3) Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,121) l Mohamed Safwat (EGY,202) 67(3) 46

Doubles
[R1] (1) N. Sriram Balaji (IND)/ Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND) bt Aleksandr Nedovyesov (KAZ)/ Mohamed Safwat (EGY) 75 26 10-7
[R1] Saketh Myneni (IND)/ Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND) bt (3) Mao-Xin Gong (CHN)/ Ze Zhang (CHN) 63 36 10-8

[QF] (1) N. Sriram Balaji (IND)/ Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND) vs Miomir Kecmanovic (SRB)/ Zhe Li (CHN)
[QF] Saketh Myneni (IND)/ Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND) vs (WC) Rigele Te (CHN)/ Di Wu (CHN)

Disappointing Chinese challengers for RamK ... In these three weeks, he managed to win a single match, which was against Sumit ... He needs to regroup before Indian challengers leg.

In the doubles, RamK and Saki scored an impressive win over the last week's Liuzhou challenger winners, Gong and Zhang ... They defeated the top Chinese pair in the match tie-break ... Next, they r facing the local wild-card pair.
The top-seeds Bala and Jeevan needed the match tie-break for completing their win over Nedo and Safwat ... Next, they r facing Li and Kecmanovic.

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At $50K+H Eckental Challenger 2018, Germany

[QF] Purav Raja (IND)/ Antonio Sancic (CRO) l (2) Hugo Nys (FRA)/ Jonny O'Mara (GBR) 76(4) 57 7-10

Purav and Sancic lost in the match tie-break against the 2nd seeds ... After winning the first set tie-break they failed to keep momentum to lose this match.

Squash News

At $177K Men's Qatar Classic 2018, Doha, Qatar (PSA World Tour Platinum)

[R1] (9/16) Saurav Ghosal (IND,11) bye
[R2] (9/16) Saurav Ghosal (IND,11) bt Leo Au (HKG,22) 11-2, 11-3, 11-5 (29m)

[R3] (9/16) Saurav Ghosal (IND,11) l (2) Ali Farag (EGY,2) 10-12, 4-11, 6-11 (39m)

Saurav continued with his consistent performance... He defeated the top-25 Leo Au in straight games ... In the third round, he gave a decent fight to the WR #2 Ali Farag.

Tennis News

At € 5.4M Rolex Paris Masters 2018, France

[R1] (Alt) Divij Sharan (IND)/ Artem Sitak (NZL) bt Feliciano Lopez (ESP)/ Marc Lopez (ESP) 64 63

[R2] (Alt) Divij Sharan (IND)/ Artem Sitak (NZL) vs (2) Mike Bryan (USA)/ Jack Sock (USA)

Divij and Artem entered in the Paris Masters as an alternate pair and started with a victory over Spanish pair in straight sets ... Next, they r having a tough match against the in-form pairing of Sock and Bryan.

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At $75K+H Shenzhen-2 Challenger 2018, China

[R1] (3) Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,121) bt (Q) Sumit Nagal (IND,311) 36 64 76(2)
[R1] (4) Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,146) l Alejandro Davidovich Fokina (ESP,268) 36 46
[R1] (Q) Saketh Myneni (IND,316) l Johan Tatlot (FRA,254) 06 retd.
[R1] (Q) Sasi Kumar Mukund (IND,494) bt (WC) Yibing Wu (CHN,328) 76(4) 62

[R2] (3) Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,121) vs Mohamed Safwat (EGY,202)
[R2] (Q) Sasi Kumar Mukund (IND,494) vs (8) Filip Peliwo (CAN,183)

Doubles
[R1] Arjun Kadhe (IND)/ Sanchai Ratiwatana (THA) bt Mikhail Elgin (RUS)/ Yaraslav Shyla (BLR) 63 64

[QF] Arjun Kadhe (IND)/ Sanchai Ratiwatana (THA) vs (4) Hsien-Yin Peng (TPE)/ Sonchat Ratiwatana (THA)

Mukund continues with his good run as he defeated the local higher ranked, Yibing Wu ... In the second round, he is facing the top-200 Canadian, Filip Peliwo
RamK scored a comeback win over Sumit after losing the first set ... RamK won the third set in the tie-break ... Next, he is facing the Egyptian, Mohamed Safwat.
Prajnesh lost in straight sets against the Spanish youngster, may be due to tiredness after going deep in the last two challengers ... Saki conceded the match after losing the first set 6-0 due to a blister on the right foot.

Arjun started with straight sets win over Shyla and Elgin partnering Sanchai Ratiwatana ... Next, they r facing other Ratiwatana and Hsien-Yin Peng.

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At $125K Mumbai Open 2018, India

[R1] Rutuja Bhosale (IND)/ Hiroko Kuwata (JPN) bt Tereza Mrdeza (CRO)/ Ankita Raina (IND) 75 36 11-9
[R1] Luksika Kumkhum (THA)/ Prarthana Thombare (IND) l Shu-Ying Hsieh (TPE)/ Natalija Kostic (SRB) 26 62 7-10

Rutuja and Hiroka started with hard fought win in the match tie-break against Ankita and Tereza ... But Prarthana with Kumkhum lost in the match tie-break against Hsieh and Kostic..

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At $50K+H Eckental Challenger 2018, Germany

[R1] Purav Raja (IND)/ Antonio Sancic (CRO) bt Simone Bolelli (ITA)/ Sergiy Stakhovsky (UKR) 67(4) 76(6) 10-0

[QF] Purav Raja (IND)/ Antonio Sancic (CRO) vs (2) Hugo Nys (FRA)/ Jonny O'Mara (GBR)

Purav and Sancic started with a tough win against an experienced players, Stakhovsky and Bolelli ... After losing the first set tie-break they needed to dig deep in the second ... After saving match points they won the second set tie-break but then surprisingly dominated the match tie-break, which they won without losing a single point ... Next, they r facing the 2nd seeds Nys and O'Mara.

Tennis News

At $75K+H Shenzhen-2 Challenger 2018, China

[Q3] (2) Sumit Nagal (IND,312) bt (6) Arjun Kadhe (IND,356) 64 76(4)
[Q3] (3) Saketh Myneni (IND,316) bt Sidharth Rawat (IND,623) 63 36 76(5)
[Q3] Sasi Kumar Mukund (IND,494) bt Yaraslav Shyla (BLR,567) 64 75

[R1] (3) Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,121) vs (Q) Sumit Nagal (IND,311)
[R1] (Q) Saketh Myneni (IND,316) vs Johan Tatlot (FRA,254)
[R1] (Q) Sasi Kumar Mukund (IND,494) vs (WC) Yibing Wu (CHN,328)

Mukund qualifies for the main draw with straight sets win over Shyla ... He is facing the local youngster in the first round.
Sid stretched Saki in the final qualifying ... Saki completed huffing and puffing victory in the third set tie-break ... Next, he is facing Frenchman Tatlot.
This week also Sumit defeated Arjun to qualify for the main draw ... He is facing RamK in the main draw.

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At $75 Charlottesville Challenger 2018, Virginia, USA

[R1] (1) Leander Paes (IND)/ Miguel Angel Reyes-Varela (MEX) vs qualifiers

Leander is traveling all over the world with Miguel ... They r back in the US and playing the Charlottesville Challenger.

Billiard News

At WBL World Open Billiards Championship - Timed 2018, Leeds, England

P.C. to Sourav Kothari FB handle

Final
Sourav Kothari (IND) bt Peter Gilchrist (SIN) (63, 65, 105, 305, 76, 163, 51, 93) 1134 - 944 (83, 216, 63, 110, 59, 79)

[SF] Sourav Kothari (IND) bt David Causier (ENG) (76, 89, 88, 169, 194, 128, 338, 54, 85) 1317 - 1256 (181, 53, 308, 58, 91, 161, 90, 83)
[QF] Sourav Kothari (IND) bt Martin Goodwill (ENG) (53, 98, 210, 378, 52) 933 - 551 (54, 172, 77, 51, 82)
[R2] Sourav Kothari (IND) bt Ryan Mears (ENG) (110, 169, 97) 532 - 375 (53)
[R1] Sourav Kothari (IND) bt Jonathan Marwood (ENG) (196, 59) 480 - 196

Saurav Kothari lifted his first World Billiards Championship beating the multiple times World Champion and a legend Peter Gilchrist in the final ... His one break over 300+ helped him to take the lead, which he maintained with the consistency on the board ... Before that, he fought back from more than 500+ points deficit to beat another ex-World Champion David Causier in well-contested semi-final match ... After falling behind he scored few 100+ breaks including one 338 pts. break.

Golf News

At $10M WGC HSBC Championship 2018, Shanghai, China

T46 Gaganjeet Bhullar (IND) 72 72 81 71 +8 $59,000.00
T69 Shubhankar Sharma (IND) 80 80 72 72 +16 $45,750.00

Shubhankar and Gaganjeet played in the WGC tournament in China ... Shubhankar started with back to back 8-over rounds and that ended his chance of any decent finish ... Gaganjeet scored a couple of PAR round but his third 9-over round ended his chance of the top-25 finish.

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At $2.2M LPGA Taiwan Championship 2018, Taoyuan City, Taiwan (LPGA Tour)

T20 Aditi Ashok (IND) 75 69 73 71 PAR $23,436.00

After 3-over first-round Aditi played consistent rounds to finish inside the top-20.

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At $400K Panasonic Open India 2018, New Delhi, India (Asian Tour)

P.C. to Asian tour site

1 Khalin Joshi (IND) 71 68 64 68 -17 $72,000.00
T3 Ajeetesh Sandhu (IND) 67 67 70 70 -14 $22,600.00
5 Aman Raj (IND) 70 68 68 69 -13 $16,400.00
T6 Kshitij Naveed Kaul (IND) 72 66 70 68 -12 $11,506.00
T10 M Dharma (IND) 70 67 70 71 -10 $6,592.00
T10 Mukesh Kumar (IND) 71 67 72 68 -10 $6,592.00

Khalin Joshi lifted the India Open title with an excellent 4-under final round ... This was his first title on Asian tour ... He won by a stroke but his third round of 8-under put him on course of this victory ... I have posted only the top-10 Indian results.

Tennis News

At $125K+H Brest Challenger 2018, France

Doubles Final
(1) Leander Paes (IND)/ Miguel Angel Reyes-Varela (MEX) l Sander Gille (BEL)/ Joran Vliegen (BEL) 63 46 2-10

The Belgian pair proved a better in the final as Lee and Miguel lost the match after winning the first set.

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

P.C. to Virat Kohli Foundation FB page

Singles Final
Karman Kaur Thandi (IND,215) l (4) Xinyun Han (CHN,167) 46 62 46

Karman lost in a close match against Han ... After losing the first set she tried to fight back after winning the second comfortably ... But Han used her experience to pull victory as she played key points better ... Still, a good week for Karman.

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At $125K Mumbai Open 2018, India

[Q2] (3) Pranjala Yadlapalli (IND,280) bt Oksana Kalashnikova (GEO,UNR) 63 63
[Q2] (WC) Mahak Jain (IND,658) l (2) Hiroko Kuwata (JPN,272) 36 46

[R1] (Q) Pranjala Yadlapalli (IND,280) vs Luksika Kumkhum (THA,102)

Doubles
[R1] Rutuja Bhosale (IND)/ Hiroko Kuwata (JPN) vs Tereza Mrdeza (CRO)/ Ankita Raina (IND)
[R1] (WC) Mahak Jain (IND)/ Mihika Yadav (IND) vs (3) Natela Dzalamidze (RUS)/ Veronika Kudermetova (RUS)
[R1] Luksika Kumkhum (THA)/ Prarthana Thombare (IND) vs Shu-Ying Hsieh (TPE)/ Natalija Kostic (SRB)

Pranjala qualifies for the main draw with a convincing win over Kalashnikova ... In the maindraw, Pranjala is facing Thai the top-100 type girl, Luksika Kumkhum ... Mahak gave decent performance against the top-275 ranked Kuwata in her loss.

The doubles draw is out, again Rutuja and Ankita playing against each other with their respective partners ... Prarthana is playing with Kumkhum ... Mahak is playing with Mihika as a wild-card pair.

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At $75K+H Shenzhen-2 Challenger 2018, China

[Q2] (2) Sumit Nagal (IND,312) bt Xin Gao (CHN,706) 64 62
[Q2] (6) Arjun Kadhe (IND,356) bt Wishaya Trongcharoenchaikul (THA,455) 76(1) 64
[Q2] (3) Saketh Myneni (IND,316) bt Khumoyun Sultanov (UZB,562) 75 62
[Q2] Sidharth Rawat (IND,623) bt Zsombor Piros (HUN,374) 75 75
[Q2] Sasi Kumar Mukund (IND,494) bt Matej Sabanov (CRO,1068) 63 75

[Q3] (2) Sumit Nagal (IND,312) vs (6) Arjun Kadhe (IND,356)
[Q3] (3) Saketh Myneni (IND,316) vs Sidharth Rawat (IND,623)
[Q3] Sasi Kumar Mukund (IND,494) vs Yaraslav Shyla (BLR,567)

Doubles
[R1] (1) N. Sriram Balaji (IND)/ Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND) vs Aleksandr Nedovyesov (KAZ)/ Mohamed Safwat (EGY)
[R1] Arjun Kadhe (IND)/ Sanchai Ratiwatana (THA) vs Mikhail Elgin (RUS)/ Yaraslav Shyla (BLR)
[R1] Saketh Myneni (IND)/ Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND) vs (3) Mao-Xin Gong (CHN)/ Ze Zhang (CHN)

Another good outing for Indians in the Shenzhen-2 Challenger ... Sid scored an impressive win over the top-375 ranked Hungarian ... So, our two players have guaranteed their places in the main-draw ... Saki is facing Sid and Arjun is facing Sumit ... Mukund is also having a chance as he is facing Shyla.

In the doubles, Bala and Jeevan r the top-seeds and they r facing Nedo and Safwat ... Arjun is playing Sanchai Ratiwatana and they r facing Shyla and Elgin ... Saki is playing with RamK and they r having a tough match against the local favorites.

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At $50K+H Eckental Challenger 2018, Germany

[R1] Purav Raja (IND)/ Antonio Sancic (CRO) vs Simone Bolelli (ITA)/ Sergiy Stakhovsky (UKR)

Purav keeps playing in Germany with Sancic and they r facing Stakhovsky abd Bolelli in the first round.

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At $15K ITF Women's Tennis Tournament 2018, Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt

[R1] (Q) Vaidehi Chaudhari (IND,UNR) bt (5) Jelena Stojanovic (AUS,767) 63 26 60
[R2] (Q) Vaidehi Chaudhari (IND,UNR) bt (LL) Yu Shan (CHN,UNR) 61 26 63
[QF] (Q) Vaidehi Chaudhari (IND,UNR) bt (3) Linnea Malmqvist (SWE,781) 76(2) 63

[SF] (Q) Vaidehi Chaudhari (IND,UNR) l (1) Anna Morgina (RUS,607) 16 46

Really a good run for Vaidehi Chaudhari as a qualifier ... She scored couple of good wins over the top-800 players before losing in the semis against the top-seed.

Badminton News

At $750K YONEX French Open 2018, Paris, France (HSBC BWF World Tour Super 750)

[SF] Satwiksairaj Rankireddy (IND)/ Chirag Shetty (IND) l (1) Marcus Fernaldi Gideon (INA)/ Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo (INA) 12-21 24-26

Satwik and Chirag's run ended in the semis against the WR #1 Indonesian pair ... After losing the first game easily our pair gave fighting performance in the second ... Both pairs were neck to neck through out the game ... The Indonesian had a match point at 19-20, which our pair saved ... Then, our pair failed to convert a couple of game points at 21-20 and 22-21 ... Our pair saved two more match points but the Indonesian pair converted the 4th one to complete the victory.

Tennis News

At € 2.4M Swiss Indoors 2018, Basel, Switzerland

[SF] Divij Sharan (IND)/ Artem Sitak (NZL) l Alexander Zverev (GER)/ Mischa Zverev (GER) 16 36

Zverev brothers proved too strong for Divij and Artem ... They targeted Divij's serve and succeeded ... Still, good to see Divij reached his first ATP500 semi-final.

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At $50K+H Liuzhou Challenger 2018, China

[SF] (7) Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,146) l (1) Radu Albot (MDA,89) 36 36

Prajnesh lost in straight sets against the top-90 player, Radu Albot ... In the first set, Prajnesh was an early break 2-0 up, Radu broke him the 3rd and 5th game to lead 2-3 ... Prajnesh also tried to fight and immediately broke him in the next game, 3-all ... After that Radu proved consistent and Prajnesh struggled with his game as made lots of unforced errors ... Still, another good week for Prajnesh, who has cemented his the top-150 rankings.

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

[SF] Karman Kaur Thandi (IND,215) bt (2) Julia Glushko (ISR,123) 63 63

[F] Karman Kaur Thandi (IND,215) vs (4) Xinyun Han (CHN,167)

Karman is in a terrific form and that she showed her straight sets win over the former top-80 Israeli player, Julia Glushko ... Karman played her powerful style of game and Julia struggled to adjust with that ... After winning the first set Karman was serving for the match at 5-2 ... She lost her serve but immediately broke Julia in the next for a win ... So this is her 2nd $25K final ... In the final, she is facing the current top-75 doubles player and the former top-105 singles ranked Xinyun Han.

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At $125K Mumbai Open 2018, India

[Q1] (3) Pranjala Yadlapalli (IND,280) bt (WC) Mihika Yadav (IND,998) 63 60
[Q1] (WC) Mahak Jain (IND,658) bt (6) Yana Sizikova (RUS,374) 36 63 75
[Q1] (WC) Sowjanya Bavisetti (IND,918) l (2) Hiroko Kuwata (JPN,272) 36 16
[Q1] (WC) Ashmitha Easwaramurthi (IND,1167) l (7) Sofia Shapatava (GEO,484) 06 36

[Q2] (3) Pranjala Yadlapalli (IND,280) vs Oksana Kalashnikova (GEO,UNR)
[Q2] (WC) Mahak Jain (IND,) vs (2) Hiroko Kuwata (JPN,272)

[R1] Karman Kaur Thandi (IND,215) vs (1) Saisai Zheng (CHN,47)
[R2] Ankita Raina (IND,195) vs (WC) Rutuja Bhosale (IND,368)

A crappy draw for Karman in the Mumbai open ... She is facing the top-50 Chinese girl, Saisai Zheng ... Ankita is facing Rutuja in the first round.

In the qualifying, Mahak Jain scored an excellent upset win over the top-375 Russian Sizikova ... After losing the first set Mahak made a strong comeback to win next two sets ... In the final qualifying, she is facing the top-275 Japanese girl, Hiroko Kuwata, who had an easy match against Sowjanya Bavisetti.
An expected dominating win for Pranjala against Mihika Yadav ... In the final qualifying, she is facing the WR #76 doubles player, Oksana Kalashnikova.

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At $75K+H Shenzhen-2 Challenger 2018, China

[Q1] N. Sriram Balaji (IND,680) l Fajing Sun (CHN,646) 36 46
[Q1] (2) Sumit Nagal (IND,312) bt (WC) Hanyi Liu (CHN,1293) 62 60
[Q1] (6) Arjun Kadhe (IND,356) bt (Alt) Mikhail Elgin (RUS,1142) 76(1) 1-1 retd.
[Q1] (3) Saketh Myneni (IND,316) bt Natthasith Kunsuwan (THA,1316) 64 75
[Q1] Sidharth Rawat (IND,623) bt (WC) Jianhui Li (CHN,1432) 63 63
[Q1] Sasi Kumar Mukund (IND,494) bt (4) Emil Ruusuvuori (FIN,318) 67(13) 76(3) 64

[Q2] (2) Sumit Nagal (IND,312) vs Xin Gao (CHN,706)
[Q2] (6) Arjun Kadhe (IND,356) vs Wishaya Trongcharoenchaikul (THA,455)
[Q2] (3) Saketh Myneni (IND,316) vs Khumoyun Sultanov (UZB,562)
[Q2] Sidharth Rawat (IND,623) vs Zsombor Piros (HUN,374)
[Q2] Sasi Kumar Mukund (IND,494) vs Matej Sabanov (CRO,1068)

[R1] (3) Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,127) vs Qualifier
[R1] (4) Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,146) vs Alejandro Davidovich Fokina (ESP,268)

Prajnesh is facing the Spanish youngster, Alejandro Davidovich Fokina and RamK is facing a qualifier in the first round.

In the qualifying, expected results for Indians ... Only Mukund scored a hard-fought upset win over the top-325 Finnish player, Emil Ruusuvuori.

Badminton News

At $750K YONEX French Open 2018, Paris, France (HSBC BWF World Tour Super 750)

[QF] (5) Kidambi Srikanth (IND,6) l (1) Kento Momota (JPN,1) 16-21 19-21

[QF] Saina Nehwal (IND,9) l (1) Tzu Ying Tai (TPE,1) 20-22 11-21
[QF] (3) Pusarla V. Sindhu (IND,2) l (7) Bingjiao He (CHN,7) 13-21 16-21

[QF] Satwiksairaj Rankireddy (IND)/ Chirag Shetty (IND) bt Manu Attri (IND)/ B. Sumeeth Reddy (IND) 21-17 21-11

[SF] Satwiksairaj Rankireddy (IND)/ Chirag Shetty (IND) vs (1) Marcus Fernaldi Gideon (INA)/ Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo (INA)

Srikanth gave a decent fight to the in-form WR #1 Kento Momota, but lost in straight games.

Saina missed an opportunity against the WR #1 Tzu Ying Tai ... In the first game, Saina opened 12-6 lead which increased to 16-9, but from here Tai started fightback ... Tai reduced lead to 16-15 but still, Saina kept control and had a 4 game points at 20-16 ... Tai won next 6 points in a row for winning this game ... Saina never came out of these missed opportunity and Tai took advantage of it after winning the second game comfortably.

A disappointing loss for Sindhu against Bingjiao He ... Sindhu failed to raise her game against He.

Considering their current form and consistency I was expecting win for Manu and Sumeeth ... But Satwik and Chirag played an excellent match to complete win in straight games little over a half hour ... Next, they r facing the WR #1 Indonesian pair.

Tennis News

At € 2.4M Swiss Indoors 2018, Basel, Switzerland

[QF] Divij Sharan (IND)/ Artem Sitak (NZL) bt (WC) Marc-Andrea Huesler (SUI)/ Sem Verbeek (AUT) 16 76(8) 10-5

[SF] Divij Sharan (IND)/ Artem Sitak (NZL) vs Alexander Zverev (GER)/ Mischa Zverev (GER)

Divij and Artem needed to dig deep to beat the wild-card pairing of Huesler and Verbeek ... After losing the first set they saved the match points in the second set long tie-break ... After that, they dominated the match tie-break ... In the semis, they r facing Sascha and Mischa Zverev.

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At $125K+H Brest Challenger 2018, France

[SF] (1) Leander Paes (IND)/ Miguel Angel Reyes-Varela (MEX) bt Simone Bolelli (ITA)/ Daniele Bracciali (ITA) 75 76(5)
[SF] (2) Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND)/ Austin Krajicek (USA) l Sander Gille (BEL)/ Joran Vliegen (BEL) 26 46

[F] (1) Leander Paes (IND)/ Miguel Angel Reyes-Varela (MEX) vs Sander Gille (BEL)/ Joran Vliegen (BEL)

Lee and Miguel scored hard-fought straight sets win over an experienced Italian pairing of Simone Bolelli and Daniele Bracciali ... Next, they r facing Belgian pair, who surprisingly defeated Jeevan and Austin with ease.

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At $50K+H Liuzhou Challenger 2018, China

[QF] (7) Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,146) bt (3) Thomas Fabbiano (ITA,106) 67(4) 61 63

[SF] (7) Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,146) vs (1) Radu Albot (MDA,89)

Doubles
[SF] (4) N. Sriram Balaji (IND)/ Saketh Myneni (IND) l (2) Mao-Xin Gong (CHN)/ Ze Zhang (CHN) 75 06 5-10

Prajnesh scored an impressive comeback win over the last week's winner Fabbiano ... In the first set, both players exchanged a break, in the tie-break, Fabbiano took a 2-6 lead and Prajnesh saved 3 set points but Fabbiano converted the 4th set point ... From the second set, Fabbiano played a loose game and Prajnesh took full advantage of it ... He comfortably won the second set ... In the decider, both players held their respective service games till the 7th game, in that Prajnesh saved 3 break points in the 7th game ... Prajnesh broke Fabbiano in the 8th game to lead 5-3 and then served big to hold his serve and completing the win ... In the semis, he is facing the top-90 player, Radu Albot.

Bala and Saki lost in the match tie-break after winning the first set against the 2nd seeds Chinese pair.

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

[QF] Karman Kaur Thandi (IND,215) bt (3) Katie Swan (GBR,163) 63 76(4)

[SF] Karman Kaur Thandi (IND,215) vs (2) Julia Glushko (ISR,123)

Doubles
[SF] Katie Swan (GBR)/ Karman Kaur Thandi (IND) l (4) Na Ri Kim (KOR)/ Qiu Yu Ye (CHN) w/o

Karman continues with her terrific run and scored an upset win over the WR #164 Katie Swan in straight sets ... After losing the first set Katie tried hard in the second but Karman kept her composure to win the match after winning the tie-break ... Next, a tough match against the former top-100 Israeli player, Julia Glushko.
In the doubles, Karman and Katie gave a walkover to their opponents.

Wrestling News

At 2018 World Wrestling Championships, Budapest, Hungary

Women's Freestyle 57 kg - Bronze Medal match
Pooja Dhanda (IND) bt Grace Bullen (NOR) 10-7

[Repechage R2] Pooja Dhanda (IND) bt Alyona Kolesnik (AZE) 9-8

[QF] Pooja Dhanda (IND) l Rong Ningning (CHN) 3-4
[R16] Pooja Dhanda (IND) bt Odunayo Adekuoroye (NGR) 7-6
[R32] Pooja Dhanda (IND) bt Olga Khoroshavtseva (RUS) 10-4

Women's Freestyle 50 kg - Bronze Medal match
Ritu Phogat (IND) l Oksana Livach (UKR) 5-10

[Repechage R2] Ritu Phogat (IND) bt Alina Vuc (ROU) 8-8

[QF] Ritu Phogat (IND) l Yui Susaki (JPN) 0-11
[R16] Ritu Phogat (IND) bt Nguyễn Thị Xuân (VIE) 10-0

In Women's Freestyle 57 kg, young Pooja Dhanda won a Bronze beating the Norwegian wrestler, Grace Bullen, in a close bout ... Before that, she won the very close bout against Alyona Kolesnik in the repechage round ... Pooja had a tough draw as she defeated Russian and Nigerian wrestlers in first 2 rounds before losing to eventual Gold medalist Chinese wrestler, Rong Ningning, in the quarters.

Ritu Phogat lost a Bronze medal match to the Ukrainian wrestler, Oksana Livach ... Before that in repechage round, she was 2-8 down against Alina Vuc ... Ritu fought back and won next 6 points to win this match ... In the quarters, she lost against an eventual Gold medalist Yui Susaki.

India wins 1 Silver and 1 Bronze medals in this World Wrestling Championships.

Badminton News

At $750K YONEX French Open 2018, Paris, France (HSBC BWF World Tour Super 750)

[R2] (5) Kidambi Srikanth (IND,6) bt Dong Keun Lee (KOR,29) 12-21 21-16 21-18
[R2] Sai Praneeth B. (IND,26) l Jonatan Christie (INA,13) 16-21 14-21

[R2] Saina Nehwal (IND,11) bt (8) Nozomi Okuhara (JPN,7) 10-21 21-14 21-17
[R2] (3) Pusarla V. Sindhu (IND,3) bt Sayaka Sato (JPN,17) 21-17 21-16

[R2] Manu Attri (IND)/ B. Sumeeth Reddy (IND) bt (3) Cheng Liu (CHN)/ Nan Zhang (CHN) 21-14 21-16
[R2] Satwiksairaj Rankireddy (IND)/ Chirag Shetty (IND) bt Jiting He (CHN)/ Qiang TAN (CHN) 21-13 21-19

[R2] Jakkampudi Meghana (IND)/ Poorvisha S Ram (IND) l (4) Greysia Polii (INA)/ Apriyani Rahayu (INA) 15-21 13-21

[QF] (5) Kidambi Srikanth (IND,6) vs (1) Kento Momota (JPN,1)

[QF] Saina Nehwal (IND,9) vs (1) Tzu Ying Tai (TPE,1)
[QF] (3) Pusarla V. Sindhu (IND,2) vs (7) Bingjiao He (CHN,7)

[QF] Manu Attri (IND)/ B. Sumeeth Reddy (IND) vs Satwiksairaj Rankireddy (IND)/ Chirag Shetty (IND)

A good comeback win for Srikanth against the Korean, Dong Keun Lee ... Srikanth lost against him in their previous two meetings ... So here, after losing the first game he fought back to win the next two games ... In the quarters, he is again facing in-form WR #1 Kento Momota.
Sai failed to challenge Jonathan in his straight games loss.

Saina continued with her newfound upper hand against her Japanese opponents ... She scored another comeback win over Okuhara after losing the first game easily ... She is also again facing the WR #1 Tzu Ying Tai.
Sindhu scored straight games win over an experienced Japanese opponent, Sayaka Sato ... Next, she is facing a Chinese challenge of Bingjiao He.

What a day for the Indian doubles ... Our two pairs scored impressive wins over higher ranked Chinese pairs ... Manu and Sumeeth scored a huge win over the WR #5 Chinese pair, Liu and Zhang, in straight games ... Also, Satwik and Chirag defeated WR #16 Chinese pair in straight games to book the quarter-final match against fellow countrymen ... Our both pairs won their matches inside 40 minutes.
Meghana and Poorvisha lost in straight games against the 4th seeds Indonesian pair.

Tennis News

At $125K+H Brest Challenger 2018, France

[QF] (1) Leander Paes (IND)/ Miguel Angel Reyes-Varela (MEX) bt (WC) Elliot Benchetrit (FRA)/ Geoffrey Blancaneaux (FRA) 76(3) 61
[QF] (2) Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND)/ Austin Krajicek (USA) bt Tomislav Brkic (BIH)/ Ante Pavic (CRO) 57 63 10-5

[SF] (1) Leander Paes (IND)/ Miguel Angel Reyes-Varela (MEX) vs Simone Bolelli (ITA)/ Daniele Bracciali (ITA)
[SF] (2) Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND)/ Austin Krajicek (USA) vs Sander Gille (BEL)/ Joran Vliegen (BEL)

Lee and Miguel scored straight sets win over the local French pair ... In the semis, they r having a tricky match against an experienced Italian pairing of Simone Bolelli and Daniele Bracciali.
Jeevan and Austin scored a comeback win after losing the first set against Pavic and Brkic ... Next, they r facing the Belgian pair.

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At $50K+H Liuzhou Challenger 2018, China

[QF] Aleksandr Nedovyesov (KAZ)/ Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND) l (1) Cheng Peng Hsieh (TPE)/ Christopher Rungkat (INA) 26 26
[QF] (4) N. Sriram Balaji (IND)/ Saketh Myneni (IND) bt Arjun Kadhe (IND)/ Yaraslav Shyla (BLR) 76(5) 61

[SF] (4) N. Sriram Balaji (IND)/ Saketh Myneni (IND) vs (2) Mao-Xin Gong (CHN)/ Ze Zhang (CHN)

Bala and Saki r in the semis with straight sets win over Arjun and Shyla ... In the semis, they r facing the 2nd seeds Chinese pair.
RamK and Nedo lost easily against the top-seeds pair.

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

[R2] Karman Kaur Thandi (IND,215) bt Yue Yuan (CHN,403) 61 62

[QF] Karman Kaur Thandi (IND,215) vs (3) Katie Swan (GBR,163)

Doubles
[QF] Katie Swan (GBR)/ Karman Kaur Thandi (IND) bt So-Ra Lee (KOR)/ Nudnida Luangnam (THA) 62 61

[SF] Katie Swan (GBR)/ Karman Kaur Thandi (IND) vs (4) Na Ri Kim (KOR)/ Qiu Yu Ye (CHN)

Karman crushed the Chinese challenge of Yue Yuan in the second round ... In the quarters, she is facing her doubles partner Katie Swan
In the doubles, Karman and Katie comfortably defeated Lee and Luangnam ... In the semis, they r facing the 4th seeds Korean and Chinese pair.

Wrestling News

At 2018 World Wrestling Championships, Budapest, Hungary

Women's Freestyle 65 kg - Bronze Medal match
Ritu Malik (IND) l Ayana Gempei (JPN) 3-7

[Repechage R2] Ritu Malik (IND) bt Sofiya Georgieva (BUL) 9-8

[QF] Ritu Malik (IND) l Petra Olli (FIN) 26
[R16] Ritu Malik (IND) bt Ilona Prokopevniuk (UKR) 5-4

In Women's Freestyle 65 kg, Ritu Malik lost a Bronze medal bout against the superior Japanese wrestler, Ayana Gempei ... Ritu lost the quarter-final against the World champion, Petra Olli ... In the repechage, she won the close bout against the Bulgarian wrestler before losing to Gempei..

Tennis News

At € 2.4M Swiss Indoors 2018, Basel, Switzerland

[R1] Divij Sharan (IND)/ Artem Sitak (NZL) bt Matthew Ebden (AUS)/ Daniil Medvedev (RUS) 64 67(3) 10-7

[QF] (4) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Marcel Granollers (ESP) l Dominic Inglot (GBR)/ Franko Skugor (CRO) 62 67(6) 3-10
[QF] Divij Sharan (IND)/ Artem Sitak (NZL) vs (WC) Marc-Andrea Huesler (SUI)/ Sem Verbeek (AUT)

Divij and Artem completed a win in the match tie-break against Ebden and Medvedev ... Next, they r facing the wild-card pairing of Huesler and Verbeek.

A bad loss for Rohan and Marcel ... After winning the first set comfortably they were cruising in the second and were up 4-1 ... From this position, they lost this match in the match tie-break.

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At $125K+H Brest Challenger 2018, France

[R1] (2) Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND)/ Austin Krajicek (USA) bt Stefano Travaglia (ITA)/ Luca Vanni (ITA) 63 62

[QF] (2) Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND)/ Austin Krajicek (USA) vs Tomislav Brkic (BIH)/ Ante Pavic (CRO)

Jeevan and Austin scored a comfortable win against the Italian pair ... In the quarters, they r facing Pavic and Brkic.

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At $50K+H Liuzhou Challenger 2018, China

[R2] (7) Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,146) bt Mohamed Safwat (EGY,205) 64 64

[QF] (7) Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,146) vs (3) Thomas Fabbiano (ITA,106)

Doubles
[R1] Aleksandr Nedovyesov (KAZ)/ Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND) bt (WC) Xin Gao (CHN)/ Fajing Sun (CHN)

[QF] Aleksandr Nedovyesov (KAZ)/ Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND) vs (1) Cheng Peng Hsieh (TPE)/ Christopher Rungkat (INA)

Prajnesh is in the quarters with another victory over Safwat ... In both sets, Safwat was a break-up but both times Prajnesh roared back to win the sets ... Next, he is facing the last week's winner Fabbiano ... Let's see how Prajnesh performs.

RamK and Nedo won in the match tie-break against a local wild-card pair ... Next, they r facing the top-seeds pair.

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

[R2] Karman Kaur Thandi (IND,215) vs Yue Yuan (CHN,403)

Doubles
[R1] Katie Swan (GBR)/ Karman Kaur Thandi (IND) bt (Alt) Jiahui Chen (CHN)/ Yuqi Sheng (CHN) 46 61 10-5

[QF] Katie Swan (GBR)/ Karman Kaur Thandi (IND) vs So-Ra Lee (KOR)/ Nudnida Luangnam (THA)

In the singles, Karman will be facing Yue Yuan ... In the doubles, Karman and Katie started with a comeback win over the local alternate pair ... Next, they r facing Lee and Luangnam.

Badminton News

At $750K YONEX French Open 2018, Paris, France (HSBC BWF World Tour Super 750)

[R1] (5) Kidambi Srikanth (IND,6) bt Wing Ki Vincent Wong (HKG,22) 21-19 21-13
[R1] Sai Praneeth B. (IND,26) bt Ygor Coelho (BRA,38) 21-13 21-17
[R1] Sameer Verma (IND,23) l Jonatan Christie (INA,13) 21-16 17-21 15-21

[R1] Saina Nehwal (IND,11) bt Saena Kawakami (JPN,37) 21-11 21-11
[R1] (3) Pusarla V. Sindhu (IND,3) bt Beiwen Zhang (USA,11) 21-17 21-8

[R1] Manu Attri (IND)/ B. Sumeeth Reddy (IND) bt Min Hyuk Kang (KOR)/ Won Ho Kim (KOR) 21-18 21-17
[R1] Satwiksairaj Rankireddy (IND)/ Chirag Shetty (IND) bt Jones Ralfy Jansen (GER)/ Josche Zurwonne (GER) 21-13 21-15
[R1] Arjun M.R. (IND)/ Ramchandran Shlok (IND) l (2) Junhui Li (CHN)/ Yuchen Liu (CHN) 14-21 17-21

[R1] Jakkampudi Meghana (IND)/ Poorvisha S Ram (IND) bt Lise Jaques (BEL)/ Flore Vandenhoucke (BEL) 21-12 21-12

[R1] Rohan Kapoor (IND)/ Kuhoo Garg (IND) l (1) Siwei Zheng (CHN)/ Yaqiong Huang (CHN) 5-21 10-21
[R1] Satwiksairaj Rankireddy (IND)/ Ashwini Ponnappa (IND) l Chris AdCock (ENG)/ Gabrielle AdCock (ENG) 22-24 21-18 19-21

[R2] (5) Kidambi Srikanth (IND,6) vs Dong Keun Lee (KOR,29)
[R2] Sai Praneeth B. (IND,26) vs Jonatan Christie (INA,13)

[R2] Saina Nehwal (IND,11) vs (8) Nozomi Okuhara (JPN,7)
[R2] (3) Pusarla V. Sindhu (IND,3) vs Sayaka Sato (JPN,17)

[R2] Manu Attri (IND)/ B. Sumeeth Reddy (IND) vs (3) Cheng Liu (CHN)/ Nan Zhang (CHN)
[R2] Satwiksairaj Rankireddy (IND)/ Chirag Shetty (IND) vs Jiting He (CHN)/ Qiang TAN (CHN)

[R2] Jakkampudi Meghana (IND)/ Poorvisha S Ram (IND) vs (4) Greysia Polii (INA)/ Apriyani Rahayu (INA)

Sindhu took a revenge of her last week's loss against Zhang ... After winning the first game Sindhu dominated the second ... Next, she is facing Sayaka Sato.
A comfortable win for Saina against Kawakami ... Next, she is facing Okuhara.
Srikanth and Sai started with straight games wins ... Next, Srikanth is facing Korean Dong Keun Lee and Sai is facing Jonatan Christie ... This week, Sameer failed to repeat the last week's winning performance against Christie ... He lost after winning the first game.

Manu-Sumeeth and Satwik-Chirag started with a win ... Next, both pairs r facing the Chinese pairs ... Arjun and Shlok played a decent match against the WR #2 Chinese pair.
Meghana and Poorvisha scored a dominating win over the Belgian pair ... Next, they r facing the 4th seeds Indonesian pair.
In MXD, Satwik-Ashwini lost a close match in 80 mins against AdCocks and the Chinese WR #1 pair proved too strong to Rohan-Kuhoo.

Tennis News

At $125K+H Brest Challenger 2018, France

[R1] (1) Leander Paes (IND)/ Miguel Angel Reyes-Varela (MEX) bt Gerard Granollers (ESP)/ Enrique Lopez Perez (ESP) 46 64 10-7

[QF] (1) Leander Paes (IND)/ Miguel Angel Reyes-Varela (MEX) vs (WC) Elliot Benchetrit (FRA)/ Geoffrey Blancaneaux (FRA)

Lee and Miguel scored a comeback win over Granollers and Lopez Perez after losing the first set ... Next, they r facing the local wild-card pair.

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At $50K+H Liuzhou Challenger 2018, China

[R1] (Q) Sumit Nagal (IND,312) l (8) Tatsuma Ito (JPN,165) 26 36
[R1] (7) Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,146) bt Johan Tatlot (FRA,236) 64 75
[R1] (2) Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,124) l (Q) Alejandro Davidovich Fokina (ESP,268) 67(3) 36

[R2] (7) Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,146) vs Mohamed Safwat (EGY,205)

Doubles
[R1] Arjun Kadhe (IND)/ Yaraslav Shyla (BLR) bt Liam Broady (GBR)/ Duckhee Lee (KOR) 64 63

[QF] (4) N. Sriram Balaji (IND)/ Saketh Myneni (IND) vs Arjun Kadhe (IND)/ Yaraslav Shyla (BLR)

Prajnesh in the second round with a straight-sets win over the French youngster Tatlot ... Next, he is facing the challenge of Safwat.
Another bad loss for RamK against a qualifier Davidovich Fokina in straight sets ... Sumit failed to challenge Ito in his loss

Arjun and Shyla started with a straight-sets win over Duckhee Lee and Broady ... In the quarters, they r facing the 4th seeds Indian pair.

Wrestling News

At 2018 World Wrestling Championships, Budapest, Hungary

P.C. to Bajrang Punia twitter handle

Men's Freestyle 65 kilograms - Gold Medal match
Bajrang Punia (IND) l Takuto Otoguro (JPN) 9-16

In Men's Freestyle 65 kg, Bajrang Punia lost the final bout against a Japanese wrestler, Otoguro Takuto ... Takuto started the bout aggressively and took a 5-0 lead, which Bajrang reduced to 5-4 ... But from 7-6, Takuto showed his superiority to win a gold ... This is Bajrang's second medal in the World Championships ... The last time he won a Bronze and this time he won a Silver.

Tennis News

At € 2.4M Swiss Indoors 2018, Basel, Switzerland

[R1] (4) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Marcel Granollers (ESP) bt (Q) Guillermo Garcia-Lopez (ESP)/ David Marrero (ESP) 61 64

Rohan and Marcel Granollers started with a comfortable win over the Spanish qualifiers.

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At $50K+H Liuzhou Challenger 2018, China

[Q3] (4) Sumit Nagal (IND,312) bt (7) Arjun Kadhe (IND,356) 64 64

[R1] (Q) Sumit Nagal (IND,312) vs (8) Tatsuma Ito (JPN,165)
[R1] (2) Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,124) vs (Q) Alejandro Davidovich Fokina (ESP,268)

Doubles
[R1] (4) N. Sriram Balaji (IND)/ Saketh Myneni (IND) bt Miomir Kecmanovic (SRB)/ Zhe Li (CHN) 61 36 10-8

This was expected straight sets win for Sumit against Arjun ... In the main draw, he is facing the top-170, Tatsuma Ito and RamK is facing the Spanish qualifier Davidovich Fokina.

Bala and Saki started with the match tie-break win over Kecmanovic and Li.

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

[R1] Karman Kaur Thandi (IND,215) bt (7) Carol Zhao (CAN,194) 63 64

Karman started with straight sets win over the top-200 Canadian in the first round.

Wrestling News

At 2018 World Wrestling Championships, Budapest, Hungary

Men's Freestyle 65 kilograms - Gold Medal match
Bajrang Punia (IND) vs Takuto Otoguro (JPN)

[SF] Bajrang Punia (IND) bt Alejandro Valdés (CUB) 4-3
[QF] Bajrang Punia (IND) bt Tömör-Ochir Tulga (MGL) 5-3
[R16] Bajrang Punia (IND) bt Seung-chul Lee (KOR) 4-0
[R32] Bajrang Punia (IND) bt Roman Asharin (HUN) 9-4

Men's Freestyle 125 kilograms - Bronze Medal match
Sumit Malik (IND) l Nick Gwiazdowski (USA) 2-7

[SF] Sumit Malik (IND) l Deng Zhiwei (CHN) 0-5
[QF] Sumit Malik (IND) bt Yermukambet Inkar (KAZ) 6-1
[R16] Sumit Malik (IND) bt Taiki Yamamoto (JPN) 4-1

In Men's Freestyle 65 kg, Bajrang Punia is in the final ... He is facing a challenge of the Japanese wrestler, Takuto Otoguro ... Before that, he scored an upset win over the Cuban wrestler, Alejandro Valdés, in a close bout ... In Men's Freestyle 125 kg category, Sumit lost the Bronze medal match against an American wrestler ... In the semis, he lost against the Chinese wrestler Deng.

Golf News

At $2.1M Buick LPGA Shanghai 2018, China

T47 Aditi Ashok (IND) 71 73 75 72 +3 $7,853.00

Aditi managed to make the cut but struggled on the course ... She finished inside the top-50 in the final standing.

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At $9.5M The C.J. Cup 2018, Jeju Island, Korea

T55 Shubhankar Sharma (IND) 74 75 64 74 -1 $19,095.00

Shubhankar had a superb 8-under third round but he struggled in remaining three rounds ... He finished on 1-under and outside the top-50.

Badminton News

At $775K DANISA Denmark Open 2018, Odense (HSBC BWF World Tour Super 750)

Women's Singles Final
Saina Nehwal (IND,10) l (1) Tzu Ying Tai (TPE,1) 13-21 21-13 6-21

Saina's search for a win over the WR #1 Tzu Ying Tai continues ... She lost her 11th match in a row against Tai ... After losing the first game Saina tried to fight back and won the second game, but Tai was too good in the third and completed win in the 52 mins.

Tennis News

At $150K Ningbo Challenger 2018, China

Men's Singles Final
(7) Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,170) l (3) Thomas Fabbiano (ITA,122) 67(4) 64 36

A tough loss for Prajnesh against the top-125 ranked Thomas Fabbiano ... In the first set, Prajnesh failed to convert 8 break points and Fabbiano took advantage of it after winning the tie-break ... In the second set also, Prajnesh missed a couple of break points but converted the 11th break point in the 7th game to lead 4-3 ... Prajnesh kept that advantage for winning this set ... In the final set, Prajnesh missed a couple of break points in the 1st game and got broken in the 4th game to down 1-3 ... When Fabbiano was serving for the match in the 9th game, Prajnesh created 3 break point chances but again failed to convert ... There were a lot of deuces and Fabbiano converted the 6th match point for a win.

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At $50K+H Ismaning Challenger 2018, Germany

Doubles Final
(1) Purav Raja (IND)/ Antonio Sancic (CRO) bt (2) Rameez Junaid (AUS)/ David Pel (NED) 57 64 10-5

Purav lifted another challenger title partnering Antonio ... They scored a superb comeback win after losing the first set against Junaid and Pel to complete win in the match tie-break ... This is his 12th challenger title and the 2nd of the year.

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At $125K+H Brest Challenger 2018, France

[R1] (1) Leander Paes (IND)/ Miguel Angel Reyes-Varela (MEX) vs Gerard Granollers (ESP)/ Enrique Lopez Perez (ESP)
[R1] (2) Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND)/ Austin Krajicek (USA) vs Stefano Travaglia (ITA)/ Luca Vanni (ITA)

Lee and Jeevan r playing in the French challenger with their respective partners and they r the top 2 seeds ... Lee and Miguel r playing against the Spanish pair and Jeevan and Austin r playing against the Italian pair.

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At $50K+H Liuzhou Challenger 2018, China

[Q2] (4) Sumit Nagal (IND,312) bt Khumoyun Sultanov (UZB,519) 64 64
[Q2] (7) Arjun Kadhe (IND,356) bt Sasi Kumar Mukund (IND,492) 61 62

[Q3] (4) Sumit Nagal (IND,312) vs (7) Arjun Kadhe (IND,356)

Doubles
[R1] Aleksandr Nedovyesov (KAZ)/ Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND) vs (WC) Xin Gao (CHN)/ Fajing Sun (CHN)
[R1] Arjun Kadhe (IND)/ Yaraslav Shyla (BLR) vs Liam Broady (GBR)/ Duckhee Lee (KOR)
[R1] (4) N. Sriram Balaji (IND)/ Saketh Myneni (IND) vs Miomir Kecmanovic (SRB)/ Zhe Li (CHN)

Sumit confirms that the Indian will be a qualifier for the main-draw with straight sets win over Sultanov ... He will play Arjun for a place in the main draw, as Arjun scored a dominating win over Mukund.

The doubles draw is out, RamK is playing with Nedo and they r facing a local wild-card pair ... Arjun is playing with Yaraslav Shyla and they r facing Duckhee Lee and Broady ... Bala and Saki r the 4th seeds and facing Kecmanovic and Li.

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

[R1] Karman Kaur Thandi (IND,215) vs (7) Carol Zhao (CAN,194)

Doubles
[R1] Katie Swan (GBR)/ Karman Kaur Thandi (IND) vs (1) Fang Ying Xun (CHN)/ Xiaodi You (CHN)

Karman is playing in China and facing the top-200 Canadian in the first round.

Squash News

At $51K Women's Carol Weymuller Open 2018, New York, USA (World Tour Bronze)

[QF] (8) Joshna Chinappa (IND,14) l (1) Nour El Tayeb (EGY,3) 4-11, 11-4, 3-11, 2-11 (31m)

Joshna lost in four games against the WR #3 Nour El Tayeb ... A decent fight from Joshana to win the second game but Nour was ruthless in the next two games.

Badminton News

At $775K DANISA Denmark Open 2018, Odense (HSBC BWF World Tour Super 750)

[SF] (7) Kidambi Srikanth (IND,6) l (2) Kento Momota (JPN,1) 16-21 12-21

[SF] Saina Nehwal (IND,10) bt Gregoria Mariska Tunjung (INA,19) 21-11 21-12

[F] Saina Nehwal (IND,10) vs (1) Tzu Ying Tai (TPE,1)

Saina toyed with her Indonesian opponent, Gregoria Mariska Tunjung to win this match comfortably inside 30 mins ... Next, she is facing her toughest competitor, the WR #1 Tzu Ying Tai.

Srikanth lost in straight games against the WR #1 Kento Momota ... But, considering his recent form this was a good result for Srikanth.

Tennis News

At € 686K European Open 2018, Antwerp, Belgium

[SF] (4) Divij Sharan (IND)/ Artem Sitak (NZL) l (2) Nicolas Mahut (FRA)/Edouard Roger-Vasselin (FRA) 57 67(3)

Divij and Artem lost in close two sets against the 2nd seeds French pair.

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At € 2.4M Swiss Indoors 2018, Basel, Switzerland

[R1] Divij Sharan (IND)/ Artem Sitak (NZL) vs Matthew Ebden (AUS)/ Daniil Medvedev (RUS)
[R1] (4) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Marcel Granollers (ESP) vs Qualifiers

Next, Divij is playing in a big Basel open with Artem ... They r facing Ebden and Medvedev ... Rohan is the 4th seeds with Marcel Granollers and they will face the qualifiers.

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At $150K Ningbo Challenger 2018, China

[SF] (7) Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,170) bt (5) Miomir Kecmanovic (SRB,161) 62 62

[F] (7) Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,170) vs (3) Thomas Fabbiano (ITA,122)

A dominating win by Prajnesh against the 19 yrs. old talented Serbian, Miomir Kecmanovic ... Prajnesh didn't give a chance to Kecmanovic in this match ... In the final, he is facing the top-125 ranked Thomas Fabbiano

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At $50K Liuzhou Challenger 2018, China

[Q1] Sidharth Rawat (IND,617) l (2) Yunseong Chung (KOR,291) 57 62 63
[Q1] (4) Sumit Nagal (IND,312) bt Zihao Xia (CHN,539) 62 62
[Q1] Sasi Kumar Mukund (IND,492) bt (WC) Hanyl Liu (CHN,1286) 63 62
[Q1] (7) Arjun Kadhe (IND,356) bt Ryota Tanuma (JPN,518) 76(4) 62

[Q2] (4) Sumit Nagal (IND,312) vs Khumoyun Sultanov (UZB,519)
[Q2] (7) Arjun Kadhe (IND,356) vs Sasi Kumar Mukund (IND,492)

[R1] (7) Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,170) vs Johan Tatlot (FRA,236)
[R1] (2) Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,127) vs Qualifier

Expected winning start for Sumit, Mukund and Arjun in the qualifying ... They r in same part of the draw ... Arjun is facing Mukund and Sumit is facing Uzbek Sultanov ... Sid lost after winning the first set against Yunseong.

In the main draw, Prajnesh is facing French youngster, Johan Tatlot and RamK will be facing a qualifier.

Squash News

At $106K Men's St George's Hill Classic 2018, Weybridge, Surrey, England (World Tour Gold)

[QF] (7) Saurav Ghosal (IND,11) l (4) Karim Abdel Gawad (EGY,10) 7-11, 3-11, 8-11 (39m)

Karim Abdel Gawad didn't give much chance to Saurav in this match and played a quality squash for winning in three games.

Badminton News

At $775K DANISA Denmark Open 2018, Odense (HSBC BWF World Tour Super 750)

[QF] (7) Kidambi Srikanth (IND,6) bt Sameer Verma (IND,23) 22-20 19-21 23-21

[QF] Saina Nehwal (IND,10) bt (8) Nozomi Okuhara (JPN,7) 17-21 21-16 21-12

[QF] Ashwini Ponnappa (IND)/ N. Sikki Reddy (IND) l (1) Yuki Fukushima (JPN)/ Sayaka Hirota (JPN) 14-21 12-21

[SF] (7) Kidambi Srikanth (IND,6) vs (2) Kento Momota (JPN,1)

[SF] Saina Nehwal (IND,10) vs Gregoria Mariska Tunjung (INA,19)

Saina is in the semis and facing Indonesian girl, Gregoria Mariska Tunjung ... In the quarters, she broke 3 matches losing streak against Nozomi Okuhara ... After losing the first game Saina made a strong comeback to win next two games.

Sameer and Srikanth played really long match of almost 80 mins and Srikanth managed to prevail ... In the first game, both players were exchanging the leads ... Srikanth took 18-15 lead but Sameer caught him at 20-all, Srikanth won next two points for winning the game ... In the second game, from 9-all Srikanth took lead and at one time, he was leading 16-11 ... Sameer fought back to lead 17-16 and won this game ... In the final game, from 5-all Sameer opened small lead and kept increasing to lead 17-13 ... This time Srikanth fought back and caught him at 18-all ... Sameer saved two match points at 20-19 and 21-20 but Srikanth converted the 3rd match point ... Next, he is having a tough match against in-form and WR #1 Kento Momota ... I doubt how much fight Srikanth can give him after this long match.

The WR #1 Japanese pair proved too strong for Ashwini and Sikki in their quarter-final match.

Tennis News

At $150K Ningbo Challenger 2018, China

[QF] (7) Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,170) bt Yunseong Chung (KOR,291) 62 61

[SF] (7) Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,170) vs (5) Miomir Kecmanovic (SRB,161)

Doubles
[SF] Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,169)/ Arjun Kadhe (IND) l (2) Mao-Xin Gong (CHN)/ Ze Zhang (CHN) 67(4) 26

Prajnesh scored a comfortable win over Chung losing only 3 games ... In the semis, he is facing the 19 yrs. old talented Serbian, Miomir Kecmanovic.

In the doubles semis, Arjun and Prajnesh lost in straight sets against the 2nd seeds Chinese pair.

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At $50K+H Ismaning Challenger 2018, Germany

[SF] (1) Purav Raja (IND)/ Antonio Sancic (CRO) bt (4) Luca Margaroli (SUI)/ Tristan-Samuel Weissborn (AUT) 64 64

Purav and Antonio r in the final with straight sets win over Margaroli and Weissborn.

Squash News

At $106K Men's St George's Hill Classic 2018, Weybridge, Surrey, England (World Tour Gold)

[R1] (7) Saurav Ghosal (IND,11) bye
[R2] (7) Saurav Ghosal (IND,11) bt (9/16) Mathieu Castagnet (FRA,26) 11-5, 11-7, 11-5 (42m)

[R3] (7) Saurav Ghosal (IND,11) vs (4) Karim Abdel Gawad (EGY,10)

Saurav played a fluid match against the former top-10 French player, Mathieu Castagnet for straight games win ... Next, he is having a match against Egyptian Karim Abdel Gawad.

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At $51K Women's Carol Weymuller Open 2018, New York, USA (World Tour Bronze)

[R1] (8) Joshna Chinappa (IND,14) bye
[R2] (8) Joshna Chinappa (IND,14) bt (9/16) Mariam Metwally (EGY,22) 11-3, 6-11, 11-8, 11-5

[R3] (8) Joshna Chinappa (IND,14) vs (1) Nour El Tayeb (EGY,3)

Joshna started with a four games win over her Egyptian opponent, Mariam Metwall ... In the third round, she is facing WR #3 Nour El Tayeb.

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At $28K Men's Chicago Open 2018, USA

[R1] (9/16) Vikram Malhotra (IND,72) bt (WC) Chris Fuller (ENG,319) 11-5, 11-8, 11-4 (49m)

[R2] (9/16) Vikram Malhotra (IND,72) l (3) Campbell Grayson (NZL,41) 9-11, 11-4, 8-11, 7-11 (56m)

Vikram lost in four games against the top-50 Campbell Grayson ... Before that, he started with straight games win over the former top-100 British player, Chris Fuller.

Badminton News

At $775K DANISA Denmark Open 2018, Odense (HSBC BWF World Tour Super 750)

[R2] Sameer Verma (IND,23) bt Jonatan Christie (INA,13) 23-21 6-21 22-20
[R2] (7) Kidambi Srikanth (IND,6) bt Lin Dan (CHN,14) 18-21 21-17 21-16

[R2] Saina Nehwal (IND,11) bt (2) Akane Yamaguchi (JPN,2) 21-15 21-17

[R2] Ashwini Ponnappa (IND)/ N. Sikki Reddy (IND) bt (7) So Hee Lee (KOR)/ Seung Chan Shin (KOR) 18-21 22-20 21-18

[QF] (7) Kidambi Srikanth (IND,6) vs Sameer Verma (IND,23)

[QF] Saina Nehwal (IND,10) bt (8) Nozomi Okuhara (JPN,7)

[QF] Ashwini Ponnappa (IND)/ N. Sikki Reddy (IND) vs (1) Yuki Fukushima (JPN)/ Sayaka Hirota (JPN)

Saina scored an impressive win over WR #2 Yamaguchi in straight games, this was her first win against Yamaguchi in six years ... In the first game, from 10-all Saina took a control to win it ... In the second game, both players exchanged leads but from 16-17 Saina won next 5 points to complete the win ... In the quarters, she is facing another top-10 Japanese girl, Nozomi Okuhara.

Sameer scored a hard-fought win over in-form Jonatan Christie in 70 mins ... In the first game, both players were neck to neck before Sameer took 19-16 lead ... Christie won next 4 points for 19-20 lead, Sameer saved this game point and converted the second for winning this game ... Sameer didn't try much in the second game and lost lopsidedly ... In the third game, from 3-8 down he started his fightback ... He won 7 points in a row to take 15-10 lead from 8-10 down ... Christie caught him at 15-all, Sameer had 3 match points at 20-17 but Christie saved all those ... Sameer converted the 4th for a fighting win.

After a longtime Ashwini and Sikki scored the top-10 win, they scored a comeback win over WR #7 Korean pair ... Ashwini and Sikki matched the Koreans in this match ... In the first game also they were neck to neck with the Koreans and were leading 3 points in the middle of the game ... The Koreans took lead from a 16-all and kept that advantage of winning it ... In the second game, Ashwini and Sikki took an early lead but the Koreans caught them at 18-all from 18-15 down ... Our pair kept their nerve and converted the 2nd game point to take the match into decider ... In the final game, from 3-6 down our pair opened a 9-6 lead and our pair kept that till the end of the game ... The Koreans came close at 19-18 but Ashwini and Sikki won next 2 points for completing win in 61 mins ... Next, they r facing WR #1 Japanese pair.

Srikanth completed a terrific day for the Indians ... He scored a comeback win over the legendary Lin Dan after losing the first game.

Tennis News

At € 686K European Open 2018, Antwerp, Belgium

[QF] (4) Divij Sharan (IND)/ Artem Sitak (NZL) bt Mackenzie McDonald (USA)/ Cameron Norrie (GBR) 61 62

[SF] (4) Divij Sharan (IND)/ Artem Sitak (NZL) vs (2) Nicolas Mahut (FRA)/ Edouard Roger-Vasselin (FRA)

A comfortable win for Divij and Artem against Norrie and McDonald ... Next, they r facing the 2nd seeds French pair for a place in the final.

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At $150K Ningbo Challenger 2018, China

[QF] Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,169)/ Arjun Kadhe (IND) bt N. Sriram Balaji (IND)/ Saketh Myneni (IND) 63 26 10-7

[SF] Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,169)/ Arjun Kadhe (IND) vs (2) Mao-Xin Gong (CHN)/ Ze Zhang (CHN)

Arjun and Prajnesh r in the semis beating more fancied Bala and Saki in the match tie-break ... Next, they r facing the 2nd seeds Chinese pair.

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At $100K ITF Women's Tournament 2018, Suzhou, China

[QF] (4) Jacqueline Cako (USA)/ Prarthana Thombare (IND) l Hanyu Guo (CHN)/ Fang Ying Xun (CHN) 46 76(4) 8-10

Prarthana and Cako lost in the match tie-break against local Chinese pair.

Youth Olympic Games 2018

At Youth Olympic Games 2018, Buenos Aires, Argentina

P.C. to IOAIndia twitter handle

Archery - Boys' Recurve Individual Gold Medal match
Akash Malik (IND) l Trenton Cowles (USA) 0-6 (26-28, 27-29, 26-28)

[SF] Akash Malik (IND) bt Senna Roos (BEL) 6-0 (27-25, 29-25, 27-26)
[QF] Akash Malik (IND) bt Carlos Daniel Vaca Cordero (MEX) 6-4 (29-28, 21-26, 29-24, 26-26, 28-28)
[R16] Akash Malik (IND) bt Jose Manuel Solera (ESP) 6-2 (29-26, 29-28, 27-27, 28-28)
[R32] Akash Malik (IND) bt Benjamen Lee (CAN) 6-5 (26-28, 27-25, 28-28, 25-27, 28-25) (Shoot-off 9*-9)

Akash Malik became the first Indian to win a silver medal in archery at the Youth Olympic Games ... The 16-year-old archer suffered a defeat in the final to American Trenton Cowles 0-6 in the boy's recurve final at the Youth Olympics Games.

India finished on the 17th position with 3 Gold and 9 Silver and a Bronze medals ... This is India's biggest medals haul in any Olympic ... The first-time we crossed a double figure in the medals ... Frankly, few positive signs as we won 13 medals from 8 different sports.

Tennis News

At € 686K European Open 2018, Antwerp, Belgium

[R1] Yuki Bhambri (IND,100) l (LL) Salvatore Caruso (ITA,167) 67(6) 75 16

Doubles
[R1] (4) Divij Sharan (IND)/ Artem Sitak (NZL) bt Leander Paes (IND)/ Miguel Angel Reyes-Varela (MEX) 75 64

[QF] (4) Divij Sharan (IND)/ Artem Sitak (NZL) vs Mackenzie McDonald (USA)/ Cameron Norrie (GBR)

Yuki lost in three sets against the lucky-loser Caruso ... Yuki was a rusty on the court and struggled with his usual fluent game ... He was two breaks up but failed to convert set point and then lost the first set tie-break ... He won the second set but then, he struggled with the match fitness in the third ... Good to see he played three sets and hopefully we will see positive results in next few weeks.

Divij and Artem started with straight sets win over Lee and Miguel ... Next, they r facing Norrie and McDonald.

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At € 686K Intrum Stockholm Open 2018, Sweden

[R1] Ariel Behar (URU)/ Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND) l Julien Benneteau (FRA)/ Lucas Pouille (FRA) 06 64 3-10

Jeevan and Ariel Behar lost in the match tie-break against French pair in the first round.

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At $100K ITF Women's Tournament 2018, Suzhou, China

[R1] Ankita Raina (IND,201) l Jana Cepelova (SVK,243) 16 26
[R1] Karman Kaur Thandi (IND,215) l (6) Lin Zhu (CHN,116) 06 06

A terrible day for Karman and Ankita ... Karman got double bageled by Zhu, really a shocking result ... Ankita also managed to win only 3 games against the former top-50 Cepelova in this one-sided loss.

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At $150K Ningbo Challenger 2018, China

[R2] (7) Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,170) bt Zhe Li (CHN,253) 63 26 76(0)

[QF] (7) Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,170) vs Yunseong Chung (KOR,291)

Doubles
[R1] N. Sriram Balaji (IND)/ Saketh Myneni (IND) bt Hiroki Moriya (JPN)/ Rubin Statham (NZL) 60 63
[R1] Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,169)/ Arjun Kadhe (IND) bt (3) Enrique Lopez Perez (ESP)/ Goncalo Oliveira (POR) 61 36 10-7
[R1] Sumit Nagal (IND)/ Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND) l Alejandro Davidovich Fokina (ESP)/ Federico Gaio (ITA) 64 57 9-11

[QF] N. Sriram Balaji (IND)/ Saketh Myneni (IND) vs Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,169)/ Arjun Kadhe (IND)

Prajnesh scored a patchy win over Chinese experienced player, Zhe Li ... After winning the first set Prajnesh lost the second set easily ... In the third, he was a break up but failed to his serve when he was serving for the match at 5-4 ... He dominated the tie-break as he won without losing a single point ... In the quarters, he is facing Korean Yunseong Chung, who defeated RamK in the first round.

Bala and Saki scored a dominating win over Moriya and Statham ... Next, they r facing Arjun and Prajnesh, who scored an upset win over the 3rd seeds pair ... Sumit and RamK lost in the close match tie-break against Gaio and Davidovich Fokina ... Our pair had chances which they failed to grab ... In the second set they failed to hold when serving for the set and in the match tie-break they had couple of match points which they failed to convert.

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At $50K+H Ismaning Challenger 2018, Germany

[QF] (1) Purav Raja (IND)/ Antonio Sancic (CRO) bt Tomislav Brkic (BIH)/ Ante Pavic (CRO) 75 62

Purav and Antonio r in the semis with straight sets win over Pavic and Brkic.

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Youth Olympic Games 2018

At Youth Olympic Games 2018, Buenos Aires, Argentina

P.C. to Rahul Pawar twitter handle

Athletics - Boys' Triple Jump
Gold - Jordan Alejandro Diaz Fortun (CUB) (17.14m + 17.04m) 34.18m
Silver - Ineh Emmeanuel Oritsemeyiwa (NGR) (16.34m + 15.51m) 31.85m
Bronze - Praveen Chitravel (IND) (15.84m + 15.68m) 31.52m

Praveen Chitravel won a bronze in the Boys' Triple Jump ... Praveen jumped the 4th best jump in the group but his stage 1 and stage 2 total was better than the Belarusian jumper to win a medal.

India is in the 14th position with 3 Gold, 8 Silver and a Bronze medals.

Badminton News

At $775K DANISA Denmark Open 2018, Odense (HSBC BWF World Tour Super 750)

[R1] Sai Praneeth B. (IND,26) l Yuxiang Huang (CHN,34) 21-12 14-21 15-21
[R1] Sameer Verma (IND,23) bt (3) Yuqi Shi (CHN,2) 21-17 21-18
[R1] (7) Kidambi Srikanth (IND,6) bt Hans-Kristian Solberg Vittinghus (DEN,27) 21-16 21-10

[R1] (3) Pusarla V. Sindhu (IND,3) l Beiwen Zhang (USA,10) 17-21 21-16 18-21
[R1] Saina Nehwal (IND,11) bt Ngan Yi Cheung (HKG,24) 20-22 21-17 24-22

[R1] Manu Attri (IND)/ B. Sumeeth Reddy (IND) l Kim Astrup (DEN)/ Anders Skaarup Rasmussen (DEN) 23-25 21-18 16-21

[R1] Jakkampudi Meghana (IND)/ Poorvisha S Ram (IND) l Emma Karlsson (SWE)/ Johanna Magnusson (SWE) 17-21 11-21
[R1] Ashwini Ponnappa (IND)/ N. Sikki Reddy (IND) bt Ariel Lee (USA)/ Sydney Lee (USA) 21-7 21-11

[R1] Satwiksairaj Rankireddy (IND)/ Ashwini Ponnappa (IND) l Seung Jae Seo (KOR)/ Yujung Chae (KOR) 17-21 18-21

[R2] Sameer Verma (IND,23) vs Jonatan Christie (INA,13)
[R2] (7) Kidambi Srikanth (IND,6) vs Lin Dan (CHN,14)

[R2] Saina Nehwal (IND,11) vs (2) Akane Yamaguchi (JPN,2)

[R2] Ashwini Ponnappa (IND)/ N. Sikki Reddy (IND) vs (7) So Hee Lee (KOR)/ Seung Chan Shin (KOR)

Sameer scored an excellent straight games win over WR #2 Chinese Yuqi Shi ... This was his first win over Yuqi after two losses ... Next, he is facing in-form Indonesian Jonatan Christie.
Srikanth also started with a comfortable win over Vittinghus ... Next, he is facing the legend, Lin Dan.
After winning the first game Sai failed to keep momentum and lost next two easily against Huang.

A disappointing loss of Sindhu against Zhang in three games.
Saina scored a hard-fought win over Cheung ... In the third game, Saina saved 2 match points and converted her second match point ... Next, she is facing WR #2 Yamaguchi.

In the doubles, Ashwini-Siki took advantage of weaker opponents to score a comfortable win ... Next, they r facing the 7th seeds Korean pair.
In MXD, Satwik and Ashwini lost in straight games against Korean pair ... In the doubles, Manu and Sumeeth lost in three games against Danish pair ... Meghana and Poorvisha also lost in straight games against the Swedish pair.

Tennis News

At € 686K Intrum Stockholm Open 2018, Sweden

[R1] Ariel Behar (URU)/ Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND) vs Julien Benneteau (FRA)/ Lucas Pouille (FRA)

Jeevan is playing with Ariel Behar in the Stockholm Open ... They r facing a tough challenge of French pair in the first round.

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At $150K Ningbo Challenger 2018, China

[R1] Sumit Nagal (IND,316) l (3) Thomas Fabbiano (ITA,122) 64 46 26
[R1] (Q) Saketh Myneni (IND,328) l Renta Tokuda (JPN,307) 36 26

Sumit lost after winning the first set against the top-125 Fabbiano ... These days this has been a trend with Sumit, he starts well and after that, his challenge gets fizzle out ... And this match also wasn't the difference.

Saki struggled with his game against Renta Tokuda and Tokuda took full advantage of it to beat him convincingly.

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At $100K ITF Women's Tournament 2018, Suzhou, China

[R1] Ankita Raina (IND,201) vs Jana Cepelova (SVK,243)
[R1] Karman Kaur Thandi (IND,215) vs (6) Lin Zhu (CHN,116)

Doubles
[R1] Ankita Raina (IND)/ Emily Webley-Smith (GBR) l (1) Natela Dzalamidze (RUS)/ Veronika Kudermetova (RUS) 06 46
[R1] Jia-Jing Lu (CHN)/ Karman Kaur Thandi (IND) l Jiaxi Lu (CHN)/ Mei Xu Wu (CHN) 36 64 8-10
[R1] (4) Jacqueline Cako (USA)/ Prarthana Thombare (IND) bt Yi Yuan (CHN)/ WanNing Zhu (CHN) 61 60

Our both players having tough matches ... Karman facing top-120 Chinese girl, Lin Zhu and Ankita is facing the former top-50 Jana Cepelova.

Prarthana and Cako started with a win but Ankita and Karman lost their matches with their respective matches.

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At $50K+H Ismaning Challenger 2018, Germany

[R1] (1) Purav Raja (IND)/ Antonio Sancic (CRO) bt Andre Begemann (GER)/ Filip Polasek (SVK) 64 76(5)

[QF] (1) Purav Raja (IND)/ Antonio Sancic (CRO) vs Tomislav Brkic (BIH)/ Ante Pavic (CRO)

Purav and Antonio started with straight sets win over Begemann and Polasek ... Next, they r facing Brkic and Pavic,

Youth Olympic Games 2018

At Youth Olympic Games 2018, Buenos Aires, Argentina

P.C. to SAIMedia twitter handle

Athletics - Boys' 5000 metre walk
Gold - Oscar Patin (ECU) (20:13.69s + 20:38.17s) 40:51.86s
Silver - Suraj Panwar (IND) (20:23.30s + 20:35.87s) 40:59.17s
Bronze - Jan Moreu (PUR) (21:05.25s + 20:54.04s) 41:59.29s

Suraj Panwar won India's first athletics medal by claiming silver in the men's 5000m race walk ... He won the stage 2 with the timing of 20:35.87s, following the disqualification of initial winner Xin Wang for a lane infringement ... Patin finished just 2.3 seconds behind Suraj to win a gold as he had an advantage of almost 10 seconds after stage 1.

India is in the 12th position with 3 Gold and 8 Silver medals.

Badminton News

At $75K YONEX Dutch Open 2018, Almere, The Netherlands (BWF Tour Super 100)

[R1] Sourabh Verma (IND,62) bt Henri Aarnio (HIN,101) 21-16 21-10
[R2] Sourabh Verma (IND,62) bt Dimitar Yanakiev (BUL,253) 21-15 21-12
[R3] Sourabh Verma (IND,62) bt Niluka Karunaratne (SRI,103) 21-9 21-16
[QF] Sourabh Verma (IND,62) bt Thomas Rouxel (FRA,68) 21-16 16-21 21-17
[SF] Sourabh Verma (IND,62) bt (1) Mark Caljouw (NED,33) 21-18 21-19

Men's Singles Final
Sourabh Verma (IND,62) bt June Wei Cheam (MAD,93) 21-19 21-13

Sourabh Verma lifted BWF Tour Super 100 series Dutch open title ... This was his the 2nd title of the year as before this he won in Russia in January ... Here, he scored a really good win in the semis against the top-35 local player Caljouw ... In the final, he defeated his Malaysian opponent in straight games.

Tennis News

At $150K Ningbo Challenger 2018, China

[Q3] Saketh Myneni (IND,328) bt Ryota Tanuma (JPN,520) 60 63
[Q3] (4) Arjun Kadhe (IND,355) l (8) Yusuke Takahashi (JPN,446) 46 16

[R1] (4) Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,127) l Yunseong Chung (KOR,294) 61 67(7) 67(2)
[R1] (7) Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,169) bt Mohamed Safwat (EGY,198) 76(7) 62
[R1] (Q) Saketh Myneni (IND,328) vs Renta Tokuda (JPN,307)

Prajnesh started his Ningbo campaign with a good straight sets victory over top-200 ranked Safwat.
Disappointing loss for Ramk after winning the first set against Chung ... After dominating the first set he lost next two sets in the tie-breaks ... As per the report, in the second set, he was serving for the match at 5-4 and then, in the third set he was serving for the match at 5-3 but both time he failed to hold his serve ... Also, he had a couple of match points in the second set tie-break, including one on his serve, which he failed to convert.

In the final qualifying, Saki scored a dominating win over Tanuma ... Next, he is facing Japanese youngster, Renta Tokuda, in the first round ... Considering Arjun's struggle against his Chinese opponent I was expecting this loss against Takahashi, but not this one-sided

Youth Olympic Games 2018

At Youth Olympic Games 2018, Buenos Aires, Argentina

P.C. to Hockey India twitter handle

Field hockey 5s - Girls' Gold Medal match
India l Argentina 1-3

[SF] India bt China 3-0
[QF] India bt Poland 2-1

Group A
[M1] India bt Austria 4-2
[M2] India bt Uruguay 2-1
[M3] India bt Vanuatu 16-0
[M4] India l Argentina 2-5
[M5] India bt South Africa 5-2

P.C. to Hockey India twitter handle

Field hockey 5s - Boys' Gold Medal match
India l Malaysia 2-4

[SF] India bt Argentina 3-1
[QF] India bt Poland 4-2

Group B
[M1] India bt Bangladesh 10-0
[M2] India bt Austria 9-1
[M3] India bt Kenya 7-1
[M4] India l Australia 3-4
[M5] India bt Canada 5-2

Our boys' and girls' hockey 5s teams ended with a Silver medal ... Our girls' team had a tough match against the host, Argentina ... I expected a gold from our boys' team but Malaysian boys' proved better in hockey 5s ... Overall good performance in the hockey but missing a gold in boys' will trouble for a few days.

India r in the 10th position with 3 Gold and 7 Silver medals.