Tennis News

At 2019 AO Asia-Pacific Wildcard Play-off, Guangdong Province, China

[R1] Arjun Kadhe (IND,352) l (7) Renta Tokuda (JPN,298) 67(3) 16

Doubles
[QF] (3) N.Sriram Balaji (IND)/ Arjun Kadhe (IND) bt Rigele Te (CHN)/ Di Wu (CHN) 61 46 16-14

[SF] (3) N.Sriram Balaji (IND)/ Arjun Kadhe (IND) vs (1) Mao-Xin Gong (CHN)/ Zhang Ze (CHN)

Boys' 18/u Singles
[R1] (1) Mann Shah (IND,99) bye
[QF] (1) Mann Shah (IND,99) bt Jian Keong, Takeshi Koey (MAS,594) 61 76(5)

[SF] (1) Mann Shah (IND,99) vs (7) Baoluo Zheng (CHN,568)

Arjun lost in straight sets against the top-300 Japanese player, Renta Tokuda.
Mann Shah playing in the boys singles and he started with straight sets win over the Malaysian opponent ... In the semis, he is facing a local boy Baoluo Zheng.

Bala and Arjun saved multiple match points to beat a local pairing of Di Wu and Rigele Te in the long match tie-break ... In the semis, they r facing the local top-seeds Gong and Ze.

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At $25K ITF Women's Tournament 2018, Pune, India

[QF] (4) Karman Kaur Thandi (IND,223) bt Valeriya Strakhova (UKR,291) 76(9) 62
[QF] (2) Ankita Raina (IND,198) bt Kai-Lin Zhang (CHN,260) 60 60

[SF] (2) Ankita Raina (IND,198) vs (4) Karman Kaur Thandi (IND,223)

Doubles
[SF] (1) Ankita Raina (IND)/ Karman Kaur Thandi (IND) bt Amina Anshba (RUS)/ Paula Kania (POL) 63 63

[F] (1) Ankita Raina (IND)/ Karman Kaur Thandi (IND) vs Aleksandrina Naydenova (BUL)/ Tamara Zidansek (SLO)

Ankita double bageled the former #103 ranked Chinese girl, Kai-Lin Zhang in 53 minutes ... I am surprised by the score, so taking this result with a pinch of salt, thinking Zhang may be injured ... ;-)
Karman will face Ankita in the semis, the better player on the day wins ... She defeated the Ukrainian Strakhova in straight sets, but Strakhova stretched her in the first set.

Ankita and Karman scored a comfortable win over Polish-Russian pair ... In the final, they r facing Aleksandrina Naydenova and Tamara Zidansek.

Hockey News

At FIH Odisha Hockey Men's World Cup 2018, Bhubaneswar, India

Pool C
India bt South Africa 5-0 (2-0)
Goal Scorers - Mandeep Singh (IND) 10' PC, Akashdeep Singh (IND) 12', Simranjeet Singh (IND) 43' and 46' PC, Lalit Upadhyay (IND) 45'

We started with a comfortable win against South Africans, but our next match against Belgium will be crucial to deciding the Pool winner.

My observations from this match were, our game looked dis-oriented ... Usual cases of losing the possession, failing to trap the ball, unnecessary hits inside the D and missed opportunities.

Tennis News

At 2019 AO Asia-Pacific Wildcard Play-off, Guangdong Province, China

[R1] Siddharth Rawat (IND,688) l (2) Zhe Zhang (IND,220) 46 26
[R1] Arjun Kadhe (IND,370) vs (7) Renta Tokuda (JPN,300)

[R1] (7) Pranjala Yadlapalli (IND,280) bt Mana Ayukawa (JPN,422) 62 26 76(3))

[QF] (7) Pranjala Yadlapalli (IND,280) vs Chihiro Muramatsu (JPN,412)

Doubles
[R1] (3) N.Sriram Balaji (IND)/ Arjun Kadhe (IND) bye

[QF] (3) N.Sriram Balaji (IND)/ Arjun Kadhe (IND) vs Rigele Te (CHN)/ Di Wu (CHN)

Pranajla stretched to three sets by her lower ranked Japanese opponent ... Next, she is facing another Japanese girl, Chihiro Muramatsu, who scored an upset win over the 3rd seed.

Sid failed to challenge Zhang in his loss ... Arjun is also facing the 7th seed Tokuda in the first round.
In the doubles, Bala and Arjun r the 3rd seeds and received a bye in the first round ... In the quarters, they r facing a local pairing of Di Wu and Rigele Te.

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At $25K ITF Women's Tournament 2018, Pune, India

[R2] (4) Karman Kaur Thandi (IND,223) bt Reka Luca Jani (HUN,304) 63 62
[R2] (2) Ankita Raina (IND,198) bt (Q) Ekaterina Yashina (RUS,369) 61 57 61

[QF] (4) Karman Kaur Thandi (IND,223) vs Valeriya Strakhova (UKR,291)
[QF] (2) Ankita Raina (IND,198) vs Kai-Lin Zhang (CHN,260)

Doubles
[QF] (1) Ankita Raina (IND)/ Karman Kaur Thandi (IND) bt Chieh-YU Hsu (TPE)/ Jia-Jing Lu (CHN) 75 62

[SF] (1) Ankita Raina (IND)/ Karman Kaur Thandi (IND) vs Amina Anshba (RUS)/ Paula Kania (POL)

Karman enters into the quarters with straight sets win over the Hungarian girl, Reka Luca Jani ... Next, she is facing Ukrainian Strakhova.
Ankita lost concentration in the second set to lost the set against the Russian qualifier ... Otherwise, she dominated the match ... Next, she is facing the former #103 ranked Chinese girl, Kai-Lin Zhang.

Ankita and Karman scored straight sets win over Hsu and Lu ... In the semis, they r facing Polish-Russian pair.

Tennis News

At $25K ITF Women's Tournament 2018, Pune, India

[R1] (4) Karman Kaur Thandi (IND,223) bt (Q) Aleksandrina Naydenova (BUL,448) 46 75 75
[R1] (WC) Riya Bhatia (IND,634) l (Q) Katharina Gerlach (GER,350) 06 36
[R1] (WC) Jennifer LUIKHAM (IND,1117) l Marina Melnikova (RUS,343) 67 36
[R1] (WC) Snehal Mane (IND,UNR) l (6) Deniz Khazaniuk (ISR,245) 36 16
[R1] Rutuja Bhosale (IND,377) l Kai-Lin Zhang (CHN,262) 67 67
[R1] (2) Ankita Raina (IND,198) bt Amina Anshba (RUS,327) 62 61

[R2] (4) Karman Kaur Thandi (IND,223) vs Reka Luca Jani (HUN,304)
[R2] (2) Ankita Raina (IND,198) vs (Q) Ekaterina Yashina (RUS,369)

Doubles
[R1] (1) Ankita Raina (IND)/ Karman Kaur Thandi (IND) bt Pei-Chi Lee (TPE)/ Kaylah Mcphee (AUS) 62 64
[R1] Snehal Mane (IND)/ Ching Wu Ho (HKG) l Chieh-Yu Hsu (TPE)/ Jia-Jing Lu (CHN) 26 46
[R1] Natasha Palha (IND)/ Rishika Sunkara (IND) l Amina Anshba (RUS)/ Paula Kania (POL) 06 26

[QF] (1) Ankita Raina (IND)/ Karman Kaur Thandi (IND) vs Chieh-YU Hsu (TPE)/ Jia-Jing Lu (CHN)

Not happy with the wild cards distribution ... The organizers need to give it to most promising players, who can utilize this opportunity ... Here Mahak and Zeel were the candidates, but they lost in the qualifying.
Karman needed to dig deep to complete victory in three hours after losing the first set against the Bulgarian qualifier ... Next, she is facing the Hungarian girl, Reka Luca Jani.
Ankita also joins her in the second round with a straight-sets win over the Russian Anshb ... Next, she is facing the Russian qualifier.
Rutuja gave fighting performance against the top-275 ranked Chinese girl, Zhang, but lost in the two tie-breaks ... Snehal also pushed her top-350 opponent in the first set before losing in straight sets.

Ankita and Karman r playing the doubles and started with straight sets win ... In the quarters, they r facing Hsu and Lu.

Gymnastic News

At 43rd Turnier der Meister FIG Individual Apparatus World Cup 2018, Cottbus, Germany

P.C. to Dipa Karmakar twitter handle

Gold - Rebeca Andrade (BRA) 14.728 pts.
Silver - Jade Carey (USA) 14.516 pts.
Bronze - Dipa Karmakar (IND) 14.316 pts.

Dipa Karmakar won a Bronze in Artistic Gymnastics World Cup at Germany ... She improved her score to 14.316 pts. and before that, she qualified for the final with 14.100 pts on the 6th position ... The Cottbus meet is part of an eight-event qualifying system for the 2020 games, under which the gymnasts will make a cut with their best three scored or performances.

Badminton News

At $150K Syed Modi International Badminton Championships 2018, Lucknow, India (HSBC BWF World Tour Super 300)

Men's Singles Final
(3) Sameer Verma (IND,16) bt (6) Guangzu Lu (CHN,36) 16-21 21-19 21-14

Women's Singles Final
(2) Saina Nehwal (IND,9) l (4) Yue Han (CHN,27) 18-21 8-21

Men's Doubles Final
(8) Satwiksairaj Rankireddy (IND)/ Chirag Shetty (IND) l (2) Fajar Alfian (INA)/ Muhammad Rian Ardianto (INA) 11-21 20-22

Women's Doubles Final
(4) Ashwini Ponnappa (IND)/ N. Sikki Reddy (IND) l (3) Mei Kuan Chow (MAS)/ Meng Yean Lee (MAS) 15-21 13-21

Sameer Verma scored a comeback win over his Chinese opponent to defend his title ... With this win he qualifies for the year-ending BWF World Tour Finals.

Our all other players lost in the final ... A surprising loss of Saina against the lower ranked Chinese opponent ... In the doubles, our both pairs lost in straight game against higher ranked pairs.

Golf News

At $7M ISPS Handa Melbourne World Cup of Golf 2018, Australia

T10 Anirban Lahiri (IND)/ Gaganjeet Bhullar (IND) 64 72 70 70 -12 $102,333

Anirban and Gaganjeet represented the Indian team in the World Cup of Golf ... They started well after scoring 8-under the first round ... But failed to repeat such performance in next three rounds but 12-under score gave them the top-10 finish.

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At $2M The Hong Kong Open 2018, Hong Kong (European Tour 2019)

T6 Shubhankar Sharma (IND) 69 68 67 67 -9 € 52,622
T36 Arjun Atwal (IND) 66 72 68 71 -3 € 11,402
T45 Shiv Kapur (IND) 73 67 67 71 -2 € 7,718
T57 Ajeetesh Sandhu (IND) 70 67 70 72 -1 € 5,087
T67 Khalin Joshi (IND) 68 71 73 69 +1 € 3,508
T67 Viraj Madappa (IND) 73 68 71 69+1 € 3,508

Shubhankar scored back to back 3-under rounds which helped him to finish inside the top-10 of the new season opener on the European tour.

Boxing News

At 2018 AIBA Women's World Boxing Championships, New Delhi, India

P.C. to OGQ FB page

Light flyweight (45-48 kg) - Gold Medal match
MC Mary Kom (IND) bt Hanna Okhota (UKR) 5-0

[SF] MC Mary Kom (IND) bt Kim Hyang-mi (PKR) 5-0
[QF] MC Mary Kom (IND) bt Wu Yu (CHN) 5-0
[R16] MC Mary Kom (IND) bt Aigerim Kassenayeva (KAZ) 5-0

Featherweight (54-57 kg) - Gold Medal match
Sonia Chahal (IND) l Ornella Wahner (GER) 1-4

[SF] Sonia Chahal (IND) bt Jo Son-hwa (PKR) 5-0
[QF] Sonia Chahal (IND) bt Yeni Arias (COL) 4-1
[R16] Sonia Chahal (IND) bt Rianna Rios (UAS) 3-2
[R32] Sonia Chahal (IND) bt Doaa Toujani (MOR) 5-0

Light welterweight (64 kg)
[SF] Simranjit Kaur (IND) l Dou Dan (CHN) 1-4

[QF] Simranjit Kaur (IND) bt Amy Broadhurst (IRL) 3-1
[R16] Simranjit Kaur (IND) bt Megan Reid (SCO) 5-0
[R32] Simranjit Kaur (IND) bt Amelia Moore (USA) 4-1

Welterweight (64-69 kg)
[SF] Lovlina Borgohain (IND) l Chen Nien-chin (TPE) 0-4

[QF] Lovlina Borgohain (IND) bt Kaye Scott (AUS) 5-0
[R16] Lovlina Borgohain (IND) bt Atheyna Bylon (PAN) 5-0

India ended their campaign with a Gold, a Silver and 2 Bronze medals in the AIBA Women's World Championship.

The legendary Mary Kom lifted her sixth World Championship gold medal and overall the 7th World Championship medal ... The last time she won the Gold medal in 2010, so after 8 yrs she managed to win another gold medal ... She won the gold medals in the 2002, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2010 and 2018 World Championships ... Here, she won all her bouts showing her experience ... In the final bout, she defeated Ukrainian boxer, Hanna Okhota.

The young Sonia Chahal won a Silver as she lost the final against the superior German boxer, Ornella Wahner ... Before that, she had good wins over boxers from America and Colombia.

We won two Bronze medals by Simranjit Kaur and Lovlina Borgohain in their weight categories ... Simranjit scored good wins against Irish and American boxers.
Also impressed with a performance from a young boxer Manisha Maun in Bantamweight (54 kg) category ... She had a tough draw, she defeated the World Championship bronze medalist, American boxer Christina Cruz in the round of 32 ... Then defeated the regaining World champion, Kazakh boxer Dina Zholaman in the round of 16 ... But lost against the Bulgarian boxer in the quarters ... So Manisha is another boxer from whom we can expect a medal in the major events.

Tennis News

At $50K+H Pune Challenger 2018, India

P.C. to the KPIT Challenger FB page

Singles Final
(4) Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,110) l (3) Elias Ymer (SWE,132) 26 57

Doubles Final
N. Vijay Sundar Prashanth (IND)/ Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND) bt (3) Cheng-Peng Hsieh (TPE)/ Tsung-Hua Yang (TPE) 76(3) 67(5) 10-7

Prajnesh failed to cross the final hurdle and misses to seal the ticket of the Australian Open< main-draw ... On the court, Prajnesh was looking tired as this was his 2nd final in two weeks ... Ymer took advantage of it and won the first set easily ... In the second set, both players held their respective service games till the 11th game ... Prajnesh saved multiple break points but Ymer broke him in the 12th game for completing the victory ... Still, good couple of weeks for Prajnesh as he will inside to the top-110 ranking in new 2019 rankings.

VSP and Ram lifted the doubles title beating the seeded Taipei pair in the marathon match ... Our pair won the first set in the tie-break but lost the second set in the tie-break ... They recovered to win the match tie-break for winning the title.

Tennis News

At $50K+H Pune Challenger 2018, India

[SF] (4) Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,110) bt (1) Radu Albot (MDA,102) 16 64 64

[F] (4) Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,110) vs (3) Elias Ymer (SWE,132)

Doubles
[SF] N. Vijay Sundar Prashanth (IND)/ Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND) bt (4) Andrej Martin (SVK)/ Hans Podlipnik-Castillo (CHI) 76(7) 60

[F] N. Vijay Sundar Prashanth (IND)/ Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND) vs (3) Cheng-Peng Hsieh (TPE)/ Tsung-Hua Yang (TPE)

Prajnesh playing quality tennis with his new found confidence ... He made a superb fightback to beat Albot in three sets ... In the final, he is having the Swedish challenge of Elias Ymer.
In the first set Prajnesh struggled with Albot's ground strokes and lost this set cheaply ... But he recovered in the second set and took a crucial break in the 7th game to lead 4-3 ... He held his service games to win the set ... In the third set, he took an early break to lead 2-1 ... Prajnesh faced stiff challenge from Albot in next service games, hesaved a break point in the 6th game to lead 4-2 and he again needed to save 2 break points in the 8th game before holding to lead 5-3 ... Prajnesh held his serve comfortably in the 10th game and completed an excellent comeback win.

Ram and VSP r in the final with straight sets win over the 4th seeds ... After winning the first set in the close tie-break, Ram and VSP won the second set without losing a single game ... In the final, they r facing the 3rd seeds Taipei pair.

Squash News

At $164.5K Women's Everbright Sun Hung Kai Hong Kong Open 2018, Hong Kong China (PSA World Tour Platinum)

[R3] (14) Joshna Chinappa (IND,14) l (3) Nour El Tayeb (EGY,3) 6-11, 4-11, 12-10, 8-11 (41m)

Joshna gave fighting performance against WR #3 Nour El Tayeb in her loss ... Joshna lost in straight games against El Tayeb in her previous matches, but this time she stretched El Tayeb to 4 games.

Tennis News

At $50K+H Pune Challenger 2018, India

[QF] (WC) Sasi Kumar Mukund (IND,355) l (1) Radu Albot (MDA,102) 36 64 16
[QF] (4) Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,110) bt Aleksandr Nedovyesov (KAZ,186) 64 64

[SF] (4) Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,110) vs (1) Radu Albot (MDA,102)

Doubles
[QF] (WC) Siddanth Banthia (IND)/ Anvit Bendre (IND) l (4) Andrej Martin (SVK)/ Hans Podlipnik-Castillo (CHI) 46 46

[SF] N. Vijay Sundar Prashanth (IND)/ Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND) vs (4) Andrej Martin (SVK)/ Hans Podlipnik-Castillo (CHI)

Prajnesh enters into the semis with straight sets win over Nedo ... He is facing the top-seed Radu Albot.
Mukund gave fighting performance against Albot ... After losing the first set he fought back to win the second but Albot was lot better in the third ... Very encouraging last few weeks for Mukund.

Anvit and Siddanth lost in straight sets against the 4th seeds pair ... Ram and VSP r facing the 4th seed pair in the semis.

Squash News

At $164.5K Men's Everbright Sun Hung Kai Hong Kong Open 2018, Hong Kong China (PSA World Tour Platinum)

[R2] (9/16) Saurav Ghosal (IND,11) l (9/16) Diego Elias (PER,12) 2-11, 3-11, 11-13 (35m)

Saurav failed to find his rhythm against the similar ranked rising Peruvian player, Diego Elias ... Diego took advantage of it and won the 1st two games comfortably ... Saurav tried fightback but Diego make sure that match didn't extend to the 4th game.

Tennis News

At $50K+H Pune Challenger 2018, India

[R2] (WC) Sasi Kumar Mukund (IND,355) bt (6) Jay Clarke (GBR,181) 57 64 4-1 Ret'd
[R2] (4) Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,110) bt (Q) Lucas Gerch (GER,794) 61 63
[R2] (WC) Arjun Kadhe (IND,370) l Brayden Schnur (CAN,189) 57 26

[QF] (WC) Sasi Kumar Mukund (IND,355) vs (1) Radu Albot (MDA,102)
[QF] (4) Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,110) vs Aleksandr Nedovyesov (KAZ,186)

Doubles
[R1] (WC) Siddanth Banthia (IND)/ Anvit Bendre (IND) bt (Alt) Kunal Anand (IND)/ Shahbaaz Khan (IND) 62 64

[QF] (1) Purav Raja (IND)/ Antonio Sancic (CRO) l Max Purcell (AUS)/ Luke Saville (AUS) 75 36 11-13
[QF] Arjun Kadhe (IND)/ Saketh Myneni (IND) l (3) Cheng-Peng Hsieh (TPE)/ Tsung-Hua Yang (TPE) 36 67(9)
[QF] N. Vijay Sundar Prashanth (IND)/ Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND) bt Sanjar Fayziev (UZB)/ Aleksandr Nedovyesov (KAZ) 63 64
[QF] (WC) Siddanth Banthia (IND)/ Anvit Bendre (IND) vs (4) Andrej Martin (SVK)/ Hans Podlipnik-Castillo (CHI)

Mukund continues with his terrific run as his opponent, Jay Clarke, retired after falling behind in the third set due to dizziness ... After losing the first set Mukund made an excellent comeback to win the second and was in an early lead with a break when Jay retired ... Next, he is having a tough match against the top-seed Radu Albot.
Prajnesh scored an expected comfortable win over the German qualifier Gerch ... Next, he is facing Nedo.
Arjun failed to keep the level of the game which he showed against Ram and lost in straight sets against Schnur.

In the doubles, Ram and VSP r in the semis with straight sets win over Nedo and Fayziev ... The top-seed Purav and Sancic lost in the match tie-break against the in-form Aussie pair ... After winning the first set tie-break Purav and Sancic lost the second but they fought back and missed match point before losing the match ... Arjun and Saki also lost in straight sets against the 3rd seeds Taipei pair.

Squash News

At $164.5K Men's Everbright Sun Hung Kai Hong Kong Open 2018, Hong Kong China (PSA World Tour Platinum)

[R2] Ramit Tandon (IND,68) l Tom Richards (ENG,28) 7-11, 6-11, 9-1 (32m)

Ramit Tandon lost in straight games against the former top-15 British player, Tom Richards.

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At $164.5K Women's Everbright Sun Hung Kai Hong Kong Open 2018, Hong Kong China (PSA World Tour Platinum)

[R2] (14) Joshna Chinappa (IND,14) bt Milou van der Heijden (NED,34) 9-11, 11-5, 11-9, 11-3 (36m)

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

Joshna had a slow start against her Dutch opponent ... She lost the first game but then recovered to win next three games ... Next, she is facing WR #3 Nour El Tayeb.

Tennis News

At $50K+H Pune Challenger 2018, India

[R1] Sumit Nagal (IND,291) l (1) Radu Albot (MDA,102) 57 26
[R1] (WC) Sasi Kumar Mukund (IND,355) bt (SE) Saketh Myneni (IND,265) 64 76(1)
[R1] (4) Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,110) bt Tsung-Hua Yang (TPE,267) 64 64
[R1] (WC) Arjun Kadhe (IND,370) bt (2) Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,130) 63 62

[R2] (WC) Sasi Kumar Mukund (IND,355) vs (6) Jay Clarke (GBR,181)
[R2] (4) Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,110) vs (Q) Lucas Gerch (GER,794)
[R2] (WC) Arjun Kadhe (IND,370) vs Brayden Schnur (CAN,189)

Doubles
[R1] (1) Purav Raja (IND)/ Antonio Sancic (CRO) bt Daniel Masur (GER)/ Tristan-Samuel Weissborn (AUT) 46 76(6) 10-8

[QF] (1) Purav Raja (IND)/ Antonio Sancic (CRO) vs Max Purcell (AUS)/ Luke Saville (AUS)

Ram's season ended on a disappointing note as he lost in the first round ... But other hand a career's best win for Arjun as he took full advantage of error-prone Ram to beat him convincingly ... Next, he is facing the top-200 Canadian, Brayden Schnur.
Mukund scored another upset win over the last week's finalist Saki in straight sets ... Next, he is facing the 6th seed Jay Clarke.
Prajnesh also enters into the second round with straight sets win over Tsung-Hua Yang ... Next, he is facing the German qualifier, Lucas Gerch.
Sumit lost after giving fighting performance in the first set against the top-seed Radu Albot.

The top-seeds Purav and Sancic started with a hard fought win over Masur and Weissborn after losing the first set ... Next, they r facing the last week's winner Aussie pair.

Squash News

At $164.5K Men's Everbright Sun Hung Kai Hong Kong Open 2018, Hong Kong China (PSA World Tour Platinum)

[R1] (9/16) Saurav Ghosal (IND,11) bye
[R1] Ramit Tandon (IND,68) bt Alan Clyne (SCO,40) 11-7, 11-9, 9-11, 11-6 (47m)

[R2] (9/16) Saurav Ghosal (IND,11) vs (9/16) Diego Elias (PER,12)
[R2] Ramit Tandon (IND,68) vs Tom Richards (ENG,28)

As the seeded player, Saurav received bye but having a tricky match against the similar ranked rising Peruvian player, Diego Elias.
Ramit Tandon entered as a lowest ranked player, but he started with an upset win over top-40 Scottish player Clyne in four games ... Next, he is facing the former top-15 British player, Tom Richards.

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At $164.5K Women's Everbright Sun Hung Kai Hong Kong Open 2018, Hong Kong China (PSA World Tour Platinum)

[R1] (14) Joshna Chinappa (IND,14) bye

[R2] (14) Joshna Chinappa (IND,14) vs Milou van der Heijden (NED,34)

Joshna has received a bye in the big Hong Kong Open and facing a Dutch opponent in the second round.

Billiards News

At IBSF World Billiards Championship 2018, Yangon, Myanmar

P.C. to Pankaj Advani's twitter handle

Final of Points Format (150-Up)
Pankaj Advani (IND) bt Nay Thway Oo (MYA) 6-2

Final of Time Format (Long-Up)
Pankaj Advani (IND) (190, 171, 86, 92, 66, 134, 62, 198, 165, 66, 89) 1500 - 299 (64, 58) Bhaskar Balachandra (IND) 1500-299

Pankaj Advani added the longer format title to the points format crown he won a couple of days back in the IBSF World Billiards Championships at Yangon, Myanmar, to take his world title count to an unbelievable No. 21 ... Pankaj won the final against B.Bhaskar comfortably by 1200+ points ... In the 150-up points format the local player, Nay Thway Oo, gave the fighting performance but Pankaj was in the control ... This was the 4th doubles for Pankaj.

Tennis News

At $50K+H Pune Challenger 2018, India

[R1] (WC) Aryan Goveas (IND,797) l Brayden Schnur (CAN,233) 36 46
[R1] (WC) Manish Sureshkumar (IND,522) l (3) Elias Ymer (SWE,132) 46 06

Doubles
[R1] Arjun Kadhe (IND)/ Saketh Myneni (IND) bt (WC) Parikshit Somani (IND)/ Dhakshineswar Suresh (IND) 61 61
[R1] N. Vijay Sundar Prashanth (IND)/ Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND) bt (WC) Aryan Goveas (IND)/ Dhruv Sunish (IND) 76(3) 61
[R1] (2) N. Sriram Balaji (IND)/ Vishnu Vardhan (IND) l Sanjar Fayziev (UZB)/ Aleksandr Nedovyesov (KAZ) 26 26

[QF] Arjun Kadhe (IND)/ Saketh Myneni (IND) vs (3) Cheng-Peng Hsieh (TPE)/ Tsung-Hua Yang (TPE)
[QF] N. Vijay Sundar Prashanth (IND)/ Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND) vs Sanjar Fayziev (UZB)/ Aleksandr Nedovyesov (KAZ)

Aryan played a decent match against Schnur but Ymer was too good for Manish in their singles matches.

Expected wins for Arjun-Saki and Ram-VSP pairing against the wildcard pairs ... But a poor run of Vishnu and Bala continue ... I think Vishnu is struggling due to lack of match practice but really surprising scoreline in their loss ... Next, Arjun-Saki r facing the 3rd seeds Taipei pair and Ram and VSP r facing Nedo and Fayziev, who defeated Bala and Vishnu.

Golf News

At $2.5M CME Group Tour Championship 2018, Naples, Florida, USA (LPGA Tour 2018)

T55 Aditi Ashok (IND) 72 73 70 77 +4 $6,884

The 5-over last round ended Aditi's dream of finishing in the top-25 in this season-ending Tour Championship ... Still, overall decent first season on the LPGA tour for Aditi.

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At $10.5M DP World Tour Championship 2018, Dubai, UAE

T41 Shubhankar Sharma (IND) 73 67 66 80 -2 € 44,559

Shubhankar was tied 9th position after three rounds but the final 8-over round put him out of contention of strong finish ... In the final round, he scored 2 birdies, a triple bogey on the 14th hole and 7 bogeys.

Good news is, Shubhankar Sharma has won the Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year Award to top off a remarkable debut campaign on the European Tour.

Wrestling News

At 2018 World U23 Wrestling Championship, Bucharest, Romania

P.C. to Olympic Gold Quest FB page

Freestyle Men U23 - 57 kg - Gold Medal match
Ravi Kumar (IND) l Toshihiro Hasegawa (JPN) 0-6

[SF] Ravi Kumar (IND) bt Jahongirmirza Turobov (UZB) 10-8
[QF] Ravi Kumar (IND) bt Taras Markovych (UKR) 12-4
[R16] Ravi Kumar (IND) bt Razvan Marian Kovacs (ROU) 7-5

Ravi Kumar wins the Silver, the first medal for India in this ongoing World U23 Wrestling Championship ... He lost in the final against superior the Japanese wrestler, Toshihiro Hasegawa ... Before the final, Ravi scored couple of good wins against Uzbek and Romanian wrestlers.

Tennis News

At $125K Taipei OEC Open 2018, Taipei City, Chinese Taipei

P.C. to Ankita's FB page

Doubles Final
Ankita Raina (IND)/ Karman Kaur Thandi (IND) bt (4) Olga Doroshina (RUS)/ Natela Dzalamdze (RUS) 63 57 ret.

Ankita and Karman lift their first $125K WTA tournament title ... In the final of the Taipei Open, they started well and won the first set but their Russian opponents fightback to win the second set ... The Russians retired after winning the second set and gave the title to the Indians.

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At $50K+H Pune Challenger 2018, India

[R1] (1) Purav Raja (IND)/ Antonio Sancic (CRO) vs Daniel Masur (GER)/ Tristan-Samuel Weissborn (AUT)
[R1] Arjun Kadhe (IND)/ Saketh Myneni (IND) vs (WC) Parikshit Somani (IND)/ Dhakshineswar Suresh (IND)
[R1] Sumit Nagal (IND)/ Elias Ymer (SWE) vs (WC) Siddanth Banthia (IND)/ Anvit Bendre (IND)
[R1] N. Vijay Sundar Prashanth (IND)/ Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND) vs (WC) Aryan Goveas (IND)/ Dhruv Sunish (IND)
[R1] (2) N. Sriram Balaji (IND)/ Vishnu Vardhan (IND) vs Sanjar Fayziev (UZB)/ Aleksandr Nedovyesov (KAZ)

The doubles draw is out ... Purav and Sancic r the top seeds and Bala and Vishnu r the 2nd seeds ... Arjun and Saki r again playing together, RamK is partnering VSP ... Sumit is playing with Elias Ymer.

Badminton News

At LI NING BWF World Junior Championship 2018, Markham, Canada

P.C. to Lakshya Sen's twitter handle

[SF] (4) Lakshya Sen (IND,90) l (1) Kunlavut Vitidsarn (THA,213) 22-20 16-21 13-21

[QF] (4) Lakshya Sen (IND,90) bt Aidil Sholeh Ali Sadikin (MAS,455) 21-8 21-18
[R4] (4) Lakshya Sen (IND,90) bt (9) Shiau Cheng Chen (TPE,290) 15-21 21-17 21-14
[R3] (4) Lakshya Sen (IND,90) bt Giovanni Toti (ITA,324) 21-7 21-13
[R2] (4) Lakshya Sen (IND,90) bt Armando Gaitan (MEX,788) 21-13 21-9
[R1] (4) Lakshya Sen (IND,90) bye

Lakshya Sen lifted the Bronze in the BWF World Junior Championship ... He lost in the semis against the top-seed Thai, Kunlavut Vitidsarn, after winning the first game ... He defeated the same opponent in his title match at Asia Junior Championships 2018 in July.

Football News

At the FIFA International Friendly 2018, Amman, Jordan

Jordan bt India 2-1 (1-0)
Goal Scored - Amer Shafi (JOR) 25' Ehsan Haddad (JOR) 58' and Nishu Kumar (IND) 61'

India lost against Jordan in the friendly ... We conceded both goals from goalkeeping errors ... Jordan's opener, a freak goal from their own goalkeeper, was entirely Gurpreet Singh Sandhu's fault ... First he sent a freekick straight into Amer Shafi's hands and then did not get back in goal in time ... He misjudged the bounce on Amer Shafi's long punt upfield and could only palm the ball into his own net while backtracking ... The second goal saw Ehsan Haddadi's shot beat him at his near post .. Gurpreet should have done better in that situation ... Other hand Nishu Kumar scored on his debut.

Tennis News

At $150K+H Bangalore Challenger 2018, India

P.C. to Kamesh Srinivasan FB page

Singles Final
(4) Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,141) bt (WC) Saketh Myneni (IND,315) 62 62

I was expecting some fireworks but Prajnesh scored a comfortable win over Saki inside an hour ... Prajnesh had a solid service games as he didn't face a single break point on his serve ... Other hand he managed to put pressure on Saki's serve as Prajnesh had 10 break points chances and he converted 4 of them ... With this win, Prajnesh will be our new #1 singles player on the tour ... A well deserving achievement considering his overall 2018 performance.

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At $125K Taipei OEC Open 2018, Taipei City, Chinese Taipei

[SF] Ankita Raina (IND)/ Karman Kaur Thandi (IND) bt (3) Misaki Doi (JPN)/ Danka Kovinic (MNE) 67(2) 64 10-8

[F] Ankita Raina (IND)/ Karman Kaur Thandi (IND) vs (4) Olga Doroshina (RUS)/ Natela Dzalamdze (RUS)

Ankita and Karaman continue with their terrific run in Taipei Open ... They r in the doubles final with a comeback win over the 3rd seeds Doi and Kovinic ... After losing the first set tie-break they made fighting comeback for completing the win ... In the final, they r facing the 4th seeds Russian pair.

Tennis News

At $150K+H Bangalore Challenger 2018, India

[SF] (WC) Saketh Myneni (IND,315) bt Aleksandr Nedovyesov (KAZ,211) 46 64 64
[SF] (4) Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,141) bt Brayden Schnur (CAN,233) 64 61

[F] (4) Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,141) vs (WC) Saketh Myneni (IND,315)

Doubles Final
(2) Purav Raja (IND)/ Antonio Sancic (CRO) l Max Purcell (AUS)/ Luke Saville (AUS) 67(3) 36

All Indian final in the biggest Indian challenger!
Saki is in the final beating Nedo in three sets ... A slow start for Saki, as he lost the first set ... But from mid of the second set, Saki reduced his unforced errors and raised his game ... He was down 1-3 but he fought back to break Nedo twice for winning the set ... In the third set, Saki was double break up at 5-0, but while serving for the match at 5-1 he lost his serve ... In the 9th game, Saki missed 3 match points, at 40-15 he committed 2 double faults in a row ... But he managed to break Nedo in the 10th game as Nedo made unforced errors to help Saki to convert 5th match point.

Prajnesh scored a comfortable win over the Canadian Brayden Schnur ... After winning the first set with a single break advantage Prajnesh dominated the match.

Purav and Sancic lost the final against the Aussie pairing of Purcell and Saville.

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At $150K+H Houston Challenger 2018, Texas, USA

[SF] (2) Leander Paes (IND)/ Miguel Angel Reyes-Varela (MEX) l (3) Marcelo Arevalo (ESA)/ Jamie Cerretani (USA) 46 67(7)

Lee and Miguel lost in the semis against Cerretani and Arevalo, so no comeback in this match.

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At $125K Taipei OEC Open 2018, Taipei City, Chinese Taipei

[QF] Ankita Raina (IND)/ Karman Kaur Thandi (IND) bt (WC) Ya-Hseun Lee (TPE)/ En Liang (TPE) 46 64 10-8

[SF] Ankita Raina (IND)/ Karman Kaur Thandi (IND) vs (3) Misaki Doi (JPN)/ Danka Kovinic (MNE)

Ankita and Karman scored an excellent comeback win over the local pair after losing the first set ... Next, they r facing the 3rd seeds Doi and Kvinic.

Badminton News

At $400K YONEX-SUNRISE Hong Kong Open 2018, Kowloon (HSBC BWF World Tour Super 500)

[QF] (4) Kidambi Srikanth (IND,8) l (8) Kenta Nishimoto (JPN,11) 17-21 13-21
[QF] Sameer Verma (IND,18) l Cheuk Yiu Lee (HKG,47) 15-21 21-19 11-21

Srikanth lost in straight games against Nishimoto ... Srikanth struggled in this match may be didn't recover fully from yesterday's marathon match against Prannoy.

Sameer also failed to take advantage of a weak draw ... He lost against the local player Lee in 3 games ... After losing the first game Sameer fought hard to win the second ... But Lee convincingly won the third game.

Tennis News

At $150K+H Bangalore Challenger 2018, India

[QF] (WC) Saketh Myneni (IND,315) bt (WC) Sumit Nagal (IND,309) 64 64
[QF] (4) Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,141) bt (Q) Sasi Kumar Mukund (IND,418) 0-0 retd.

[SF] (WC) Saketh Myneni (IND,315) vs Aleksandr Nedovyesov (KAZ,211)
[SF] (4) Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,141) vs Brayden Schnur (CAN,233)

Doubles
[SF] (2) Purav Raja (IND)/ Antonio Sancic (CRO) bt Arjun Kadhe (IND)/ Saketh Myneni (IND) 36 62 10-8

[F] (2) Purav Raja (IND)/ Antonio Sancic (CRO) vs Max Purcell (AUS)/ Luke Saville (AUS)

Saki scored straight sets win over the defending champion Sumit and will face Nedo in the semis ... Mukund gave a walkover to Prajnesh due to his back injury ... Prajnesh will face the Canadian Brayden Schnur.

Purav and Sancic enter into the another final with a comeback win over Saki and Arjun ... After losing the first set they made a strong comeback to win this match into the match tie-break ... In the final, they r facing the Aussie pairing of Max Purcell and Luke Saville.

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At $150K+H Houston Challenger 2018, Texas, USA

[QF] (2) Leander Paes (IND)/ Miguel Angel Reyes-Varela (MEX) bt Luke Bambridge (GBR)/ Tennys Sandgren (USA) 16 76(3) 10-8

[SF] (2) Leander Paes (IND)/ Miguel Angel Reyes-Varela (MEX) vs (3) Marcelo Arevalo (ESA)/ Jamie Cerretani (USA)

Lee-Miguel scored another comeback win in the match tie-break against Bambridge and Sandgren ... In the semis, they r facing the 3rd seeds Cerretani and Arevalo.

Football News

At the 2020 AFC Women's Olympic Qualifying Tournament - First Round, Myanmar

Group C
India dw Nepal 1-1 (1-1)
India bt Bangladesh 7-1 (3-0)
India l Myanmar 1-2 (1-1)

A terrific feat by our women's football team, who qualified for the Olympic Qualifiers second round for the first time ... The Indian women's team advanced to the second round after finishing second in Group C with four points from three matches, behind table toppers Myanmar ... The second round of the Olympic Qualifiers will be played in April next year.

Badminton News

At $400K YONEX-SUNRISE Hong Kong Open 2018, Kowloon (HSBC BWF World Tour Super 500)

[R2] (4) Kidambi Srikanth (IND,9) bt Prannoy H. S. (IND,23) 8-21 30-29 21-18
[R2] Sameer Verma (IND,17) bt (5) Chen Long (CHN,5) w/o

[R2] (3) Pusarla V. Sindhu (IND,3) l Ji Hyun Sung (KOR,10) 24-26 20-22

[R2] Manu Attri (IND)/ B. Sumeeth Reddy (IND) l Jhe-Huei Lee (TPE)/ Yang Lee (TPE) 16-21 15-21

[R2] Satwiksairaj Rankireddy (IND)/ Ashwini Ponnappa (IND) l Yang Lee (TPE)/ Ya Ching Hsu (TPE) 17-21 11-21

[QF] (4) Kidambi Srikanth (IND,8) vs (8) Kenta Nishimoto (JPN,11)
[QF] Sameer Verma (IND,18) vs Cheuk Yiu Lee (HKG,47)

Srikanth scored a hard-fought win over Prannoy in three games ... After losing the first game Srikanth faced a tough challenge from Prannoy in the second ... Both players were neck to neck throughout the game ... Srikanth saved the three match-points and converted the 7th game point for winning the game in extra points ... In the third game, Srikanth took an early lead 11-4 and 16-12, but Prannoy caught him at 16-all ... Srikanth kept his cool and regained couple of points lead and maintained for an exciting win ... Next, he is facing the Japanese challenge of .Kenta Nishimoto

Sameer enters into the quarters as his opponent the former WR #1 Chen Long gave a walkover ... Next, Sameer is facing Hong Kong's Cheuk Yiu Lee.

A disappointed loss for Sindhu against the former WR #2 Korean, Ji Hyun Sung in two games ... In both games, Sung took an early lead and Sindhu caught up ... In the first game, Sindhu missed a game point and Sung converted the fifth one ... In the second game, Sindhu saved two match points but Sung converted the third match point.

In the doubles, Manu and Sumeeth lost in straight games against Taipei pair.
In MXD, Satwik and Ashwini lost in straight games against Taipei pair.

Tennis News

At Davis Cup 2019 - Qualifiers 1st Round, Kolkata, India

The AITA announced the venue for our tie against the Italian team ... The tie will be played on the grass at South Club in Kolkata ... Kolkata was chosen as the venue only after the AITA secured two key exemptions from the ITF ... The rules require that World Group and Play-off ties be played at a venue where the space behind the baseline is 27 feet and there is a seating capacity of 4000 ... Only DLTA and the center court at MSLTA (Shree Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex, Pune) fulfill both requirements but they don't have the grass courts.

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At $150K+H Bangalore Challenger 2018, India

[R2] (WC) Saketh Myneni (IND,315) bt (Q) Youssef Hossam (EGY,483) 61 36 61
[R2] (WC) Sumit Nagal (IND,309) bt James Ward (GBR,199) 63 76(4)
[R2] (Q) Sasi Kumar Mukund (IND,418) bt Blaz Kavcic (SLO,196) 76(2) 3-1 retd.
[R2] (4) Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,141) bt (Q) Sebastin Fanselow (GER,431) 46 64 75

[QF] (WC) Sumit Nagal (IND,309) vs (WC) Saketh Myneni (IND,315)
[QF] (4) Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,141) vs (Q) Sasi Kumar Mukund (IND,418)

Doubles
[QF] (3) N. Sriram Balaji (IND)/ Vishnu Vardhan (IND) l Max Purcell (AUS)/ Luke Saville (AUS) 67(3) 36
[QF] Arjun Kadhe (IND)/ Saketh Myneni (IND) bt (WC) S.D. Prajwal Dev (IND)/ Niki Kaliyanda Poonacha (IND) 63 76(5)
[QF] (2) Purav Raja (IND)/ Antonio Sancic (CRO) bt Blaz Kavcic (SLO)/ Tristan-Samuel Weissborn (AUT) w/o

[SF] (2) Purav Raja (IND)/ Antonio Sancic (CRO) vs Arjun Kadhe (IND)/ Saketh Myneni (IND)

Mukund enters into the quarters after his opponent the top-200 Slovak, Blaz Kavcic retired in the second set ... Mukund was down in the first set but he broke Kavcic when he was serving for the set at 4-5 ... Mukund won the tie-break comfortably and when he was a break up in the second Kavcic conceded the match.
Saki stretched to three sets by the Egyptian qualifier, Youssef Hossam ... After winning the first set comfortably Saki lost focus in the second, he recovered and won the third set convincingly ... Next, he is facing Sumit.
Sumit scored another good win over the British experienced player, James Ward ... After winning the first set Sumit faced resistance from James Ward in the second but he completed the win in two sets after winning this set in the tie-break.
Prajnesh made a tough match as he started slowly and a German qualifier Fanselow took advantage of it to win the first set ... Prajnesh fought back and won the second set ... Fanselow started well and broke Prajnesh in the 6th game to lead 2-4 in the final set, which he increased after holding his serve 2-5 ... From here, Prajnesh made an excellent comeback, he won next 5 games breaking Fanselow twice for completing the win ... In the quarters, Prajnesh is facing Mukund.

Purav and Sancic receive a walkover from Kavcic and Weissborn ... They r meeting Saki and Arjun in the semis, who defeated Prajwal and Niki in straight sets ... But Vishnu and Bala had a disappointing loss in straight sets against the Aussie pair.

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At $150K+H Houston Challenger 2018, Texas, USA

[R1] (2) Leander Paes (IND)/ Miguel Angel Reyes-Varela (MEX) bt Luca Margaroli (SUI)/ David Vega Hernandez (ESP) 46 75 10-6

[QF] (2) Leander Paes (IND)/ Miguel Angel Reyes-Varela (MEX) vs Luke Bambridge (GBR)/ Tennys Sandgren (USA)

Lee-Miguel scored a comeback win over Margaroli and Vega Hernandez after losing the first set ... Next, they r facing Bambridge and Sandgren.

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At $125K Taipei OEC Open 2018, Taipei City, Chinese Taipei

[R1] Ankita Raina (IND)/ Karman Kaur Thandi (IND) bt (Alt) Joanna Garland (TPE)/ Hua Chen Lee (TPE) 63 63
[R1] Ji-Hee Choi (KOR)/ Prarthana Thombare (IND) l Junri Namigata (JPN)/ Peangtarn Plipuech (THA) 46 57

[QF] Ankita Raina (IND)/ Karman Kaur Thandi (IND) vs (WC) Ya-Hseun Lee (TPE)/ En Liang (TPE)

Ankita and Karman started with a comfortable win against the alternate pair ... Next, they r facing the local wildcard pair, they defeated the top-seeds in the first round.
Prarthana and her Korean partner lost in the first round.

Badminton News

At $400K YONEX-SUNRISE Hong Kong Open 2018, Kowloon (HSBC BWF World Tour Super 500)

[Q1] Parupalli Kashyap (IND,52) bt Iskandar Zulkarnain (MAS,74) w/o
[Q2] Parupalli Kashyap (IND,52) bt (1) Jen Hao Hsu (TPE,40) 21-7 12-21 21-18

[R1] (Q) Parupalli Kashyap (IND,52) l (7) Anthony Sinisuka Ginting (INA,7) 16-21 13-21
[R1] Sai Praneeth B. (IND,24) l Khosit Phetpradab (THA,15) 21-16 11-21 15-21
[R1] Prannoy H. S. (IND,23) bt Anders Antonsen (DEN,19) 21-14 13-21 21-19
[R1] (4) Kidambi Srikanth (IND,9) bt Wing Ki Vincent Wong (HKG,34) 21-11 21-15
[R1] Sameer Verma (IND,17) bt Suppanyu Avihingsanon (THA,21) 21-17 21-14

[R1] (3) Pusarla V. Sindhu (IND,3) bt Nitchaon Jindapol (THA,14) 21-15 13-21 21-17
[R1] Saina Nehwal (IND,11) l (2) Akane Yamaguchi (JPN,2) 21-10 10-21 19-21

[R1] Satwiksairaj Rankireddy (IND)/ Chirag Shetty (IND) l Mathias Boe (DEN)/ Carsten Mogensen (DEN) 19-21 21-23
[R1] Manu Attri (IND)/ B. Sumeeth Reddy (IND) bt Bodin Isara (THA)/ Maneepong Jongjit (THA) 21-12 21-18

[R1] Ashwini Ponnappa (IND)/ N. Sikki Reddy (IND) l (2) Misaki Matsutomo (JPN)/ Ayaka Takahashi (JPN) 21-18 10-21 8-21

[R1] Satwiksairaj Rankireddy (IND)/ Ashwini Ponnappa (IND) bt Chi-Lin Wang (TPE)/ Chia Hsin Lee (TPE) 21-16 19-21 21-14

[R2] (4) Kidambi Srikanth (IND,9) vs Prannoy H. S. (IND,23)
[R2] Sameer Verma (IND,17) vs (5) Chen Long (CHN,5)

[R2] (3) Pusarla V. Sindhu (IND,3) vs Ji Hyun Sung (KOR,10)

[R2] Manu Attri (IND)/ B. Sumeeth Reddy (IND) vs Jhe-Huei Lee (TPE)/ Yang Lee (TPE)

[R2] Satwiksairaj Rankireddy (IND)/ Ashwini Ponnappa (IND) vs Yang Lee (TPE)/ Ya Ching Hsu (TPE)

Srikanth started with a comfortable win over the Hong Kong player ... Next, he is facing Prannoy, who defeated Antonsen in three games.
Sameer scored straight games win over Avihingsanon, but next, he is having a tough match against the former WR #1 Chen Long.
Sindhu stretched to three games by Jindapol in the first round ... Next, she is facing the former WR #2 Korean, Ji Hyun Sung.
Sai won the first game against Phetpradab, but failed to keep momentum in next two games.
Kashyap qualifies for the main draw with a win over Hsu ... But he lost in the first round against in-form Indonesian and WR #7 Anthony Sinisuka Ginting.
Saina started well against the WR #2 Akane Yamaguchi in the first round ... She won the first game but Yamaguchi fought back to win the second comfortably ... Yamaguchi kept momentum in the third game and kept lead for winning the match.

In the doubles, Manu and Sumeeth scored a comfortable win over their Thai opponents ... Next, they r facing Taiwani pair ... But Satwik and Chirag lost in well fought straight games against experienced Danish pair ... Ashwini and Sikki won the first game but after that the WR #2 Japanese pair dominated the match.
In MXD, Satwik and Ashwini started with three games win over the higher ranked Taipei pair ... Next, they r facing another Taipei pair, who scored an upset win over the 4th seeds Danish pair.

Tennis News

At $150K+H Bangalore Challenger 2018, India

[R1] (WC) Saketh Myneni (IND,315) bt (WC) Adil Kalyanpur (IND,1034) 63 76(3)
[R1] (Q) Sasi Kumar Mukund (IND,418) bt Collin Altamirano (USA,286) 76(6) 63
[R1] (4) Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,141) bt Ivan Nedelko (RUS,264) 62 62
[R1] (WC) Suraj R. Prabodh (IND,841) l (6) Quentin Halys (FRA,145) 36 16

[R2] (WC) Saketh Myneni (IND,315) vs (Q) Youssef Hossam (EGY,483)
[R2] (WC) Sumit Nagal (IND,309) vs James Ward (GBR,199)
[R2] (Q) Sasi Kumar Mukund (IND,418) vs Blaz Kavcic (SLO,196)
[R2] (4) Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,141) vs (Q) Sebastin Fanselow (GER,431)

Doubles
[R1] (1) Kevin Krawietz (GER)/ Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND) l Andrej Martin (SVK)/ Hans Podlipnik-Castillo (CHI) 36 63 7-10
[R1] (3) N. Sriram Balaji (IND)/ Vishnu Vardhan (IND) bt (WC) Sumit Nagal (IND)/ Brayden Schnur (CAN) 64 63
[R1] (2) Purav Raja (IND)/ Antonio Sancic (CRO) bt Romain Arneodo (MON)/ Quentin Halys (FRA) 64 67(6) 11-9

[QF] (3) N. Sriram Balaji (IND)/ Vishnu Vardhan (IND) vs Max Purcell (AUS)/ Luke Saville (AUS)
[QF] Arjun Kadhe (IND)/ Saketh Myneni (IND) vs (WC) S.D. Prajwal Dev (IND)/ Niki Kaliyanda Poonacha (IND)
[QF] (2) Purav Raja (IND)/ Antonio Sancic (CRO) vs Blaz Kavcic (SLO)/ Tristan-Samuel Weissborn (AUT)

Mukund continues with his terrific run and defeated Altamirano in straight sets ... Next, he si facing the top-200 Slovak, Blaz Kavcic.
Adil gave decent fighting performance against Saki in his straight sets loss ... Next, Saki is facing the Egyptian qualifier, Youssef Hossam, who defeated the top-seed Radu Albot in the first round.
Prajnesh scored a dominating win against the Russian ... Next, he is facing the German qualifier.
Suraj failed to challenge the top-150 Frenchman Halys.

In the doubles, Bala and Vishnu scored straight sets win and they r facing the Aussie pair in the quarters ... Purav and Sancic scored a fighting win in the match tie-break against Arneodo and Halys ... Next, they r facing Kavcic and Weissborn ... But a surprising loss for Jeevan and his German partner Krawietz in the match tie-break.

Tennis News

At $150K+H Bangalore Challenger 2018, India

[Q3] Siddharth Vishwakarma (IND,1223) l Youssef Hossam (EGY,480) 46 46
[Q3] (7) Sasi Kumar Mukund (IND,418) bt Mick Lescure (FRA,494) 61 61

[R1] (WC) Sumit Nagal (IND,309) bt (7) Jay Clarke (GBR,174) 64 75
[R1] (Q) Sasi Kumar Mukund (IND,418) vs Collin Altamirano (USA,286)

[R2] (WC) Sumit Nagal (IND,309) vs James Ward (GBR,199)

Doubles
[R1] (WC) Chandril Sood (IND)/ Lakshit Sood (IND) l Max Purcell (AUS)/ Luke Saville (AUS) 26 26
[R1] (WC) S.D. Prajwal Dev (IND)/ Niki Kaliyanda Poonacha (IND) bt Alexander Pavlioutchenkov (RUS)/ Filip Peliwo (CAN) 16 76(3) 10-2
[R1] Arjun Kadhe (IND)/ Saketh Myneni (IND) bt (4) Sanchai Ratiwatana (THA)/ Sonchat Ratiwatana (THA) 63 36 11-9

[QF] Arjun Kadhe (IND)/ Saketh Myneni (IND) vs (WC) S.D. Prajwal Dev (IND)/ Niki Kaliyanda Poonacha (IND)

This time, the last year's finalists met each other in the first round and last year's result repeated again ... Sumit scored straight sets win over the top-175 ranked Jay Clarke ... In the first set, Sumit was a break up at 3-2 but Jay broke back at 3-all ... Sumit took a crucial break in the 9th game on Jay's serve and held his serve for winning the set ... In the second set Sumit broke Jay in the 3rd game to lead 3-1 but this time also Jay broke back for 3-all ... Sumit took a crucial break in the 11th game and then held his serve for an exciting win ... Next, he is facing a British veteran, James Ward.

Mukund qualified for the main draw with a comfortable win over Frenchman Lescure ... In the main draw, he is facing the American Collin Altamirano.
Siddharth Vishwakarma lost in straight sets against Youssef Hossam.

In the doubles, the youngsters Dev-Niki started with an excellent comeback win against Pavlioutchenkov and Peliwo ... Next, they r facing Saki and Arjun ... They scored an exciting win over the experienced Ratiwatanas in the match tie-break ... The Sood twins failed to challenge the Aussie pair.

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At $150K+H Houston Challenger 2018, Texas, USA

[R1] (2) Leander Paes (IND)/ Miguel Angel Reyes-Varela (MEX) vs Luca Margaroli (SUI)/ David Vega Hernandez (ESP)

Lee and Miguel r facing Margaroli and Vega Hernandez in the first round.

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At $125K Taipei OEC Open 2018, Chinese Taipei

[Q1] (2) Karman Kaur Thandi (IND,198) bt (WC) Kwan Yau NG (HKG,841) 64 64

[Q2] (2) Karman Kaur Thandi (IND,198) l (6) Yuxuan Zhang (CHN,213) 26 26

[R1] Ankita Raina (IND,197) l (5) Nao Hibino (JPN,119) 67(6) 16

Disappointing results for Indian girls ... Karman failed to overcome the Chinese challenge in the final qualifying round ... Ankita gave a fighting performance in the first set against the top-125 player Hibino but proved too strong in the second.

Golf News

At $7.2M Mayakoba Golf Classic 2018, Playa del Carmen, Mexico (PGA Tour 2019)

T10 Anirban Lahiri (IND) 65 66 69 68 -16 $165,600.00

Anirban showed consistency on the course to finish inside the top-10 ... After the first 2 rounds expectations were the top-5 finish but in end, he finished on the tied 10th position.

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At $7M Nedbank Golf Challenge 2018, Sun City, South Africa (European Tour 2018)

T27 Shubhankar Sharma (IND) 74 75 71 68 PAR € 57,511.00

Shubhankar finished with the PAR score, which helped him the top-30 finish ... He recovered after the first 2 rounds and scored a 4-under final round for a decent finish.

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At $2.1M Blue Bay LPGA 2018, China (LPGA Tour 2018)

76 Aditi Ashok (IND) 80 79 80 75 +26 $3,948.00

Aditi had a terrible tournament ... She struggled throughout the tournament, her best round was a 3-over, which she managed in the final round ... A forgettable performance.

Squash News

At $28K Men's Kolkata International 2018, India (PSA 30)

P.C. to Squashsite.co.uk site

Final
(1) Saurav Ghosal (IND,11) bt (2) Zahed Salem (EGY,27) 11-5, 8-11, 11-8, 11-13 11-5 (86m)

Saurav lifted the Kolkata open title in an 86 minutes marathon match against Egyptian, Zahed Salem.

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At $11K Men's APM Kelowna Open 2018, Canada (PSA 10)

Final
(2) Vikram Malhotra (IND,66) bt (4) Robertino Pezzota (ARG,76) 11-9, 6-11, 11-7, 11-13, 11-7 (98m)

Vikram lifted another PSA-10 title beating Robertino Pezzota ... Vikram needed to dig deep for completing this hard fought win over the Argentine.

Tennis News

At $150K+H Bangalore Challenger 2018, India

[Q2] Siddharth Vishwakarma (IND,1223) bt (5) Antoine Escoffier (FRA,396) 76(3) 36 63
[Q2] (WC) Ranjeet Virali-Murugesan (IND,971) l Khumoyun Sultanov (UZB,563) 46 16
[Q2] (7) Sasi Kumar Mukund (IND,418) bt Lucas Gerch (GER,785) 61 64
[Q2] Aryan Goveas (IND,794) l (8) Zizou Bergs (BEL,419) 57 64 36

[Q3] Siddharth Vishwakarma (IND,1223) vs Youssef Hossam (EGY,480)
[Q3] (7) Sasi Kumar Mukund (IND,418) vs Mick Lescure (FRA,494)

Doubles
[R1] (1) Kevin Krawietz (GER)/ Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND) vs Andrej Martin (SVK)/ Hans Podlipnik-Castillo (CHI)
[R1] (3) N. Sriram Balaji (IND)/ Vishnu Vardhan (IND) vs (WC) Sumit Nagal (IND)/ Brayden Schnur (CAN)
[R1] (WC) Chandril Sood (IND)/ Lakshit Sood (IND) vs Max Purcell (AUS)/ Luke Saville (AUS)
[R1] (WC) S.D. Prajwal Dev (IND)/ Niki Kaliyanda Poonacha (IND) vs Alexander Pavlioutchenkov (RUS)/ Filip Peliwo (CAN)
[R1] Arjun Kadhe (IND)/ Saketh Myneni (IND) vs (4) Sanchai Ratiwatana (THA)/ Sonchat Ratiwatana (THA)
[R1] (2) Purav Raja (IND)/ Antonio Sancic (CRO) vs Romain Arneodo (MON)/ Quentin Halys (FRA)

The national champion Siddharth Vishwakarma continues with his good performance ... He defeated the top-400 Frenchman in well-contested three sets ... In the final qualifying, he is facing Egypt's Youssef Hossam.
Mukund scored a comfortable win over his German opponent and facing Frenchman Lescure, who defeated Arjun in the first qualifying, for a place in the main draw.
Ranjeet lost in straight sets ... Aryan stretched the top-425 Belgian opponent to three sets.

The doubles draw is out ... Jeevan is the top seeds with Kevin Krawietz ... Bala is back with Vishnu and they r the 3rd seeds ... Sood brothers and Dev-Niki pairs have received wild cards ... Purav and Sancic r the 2nd seeds ... Also, Saki and Arjun r playing together.

Squash News

At $28K Men's Kolkata International 2018, India (PSA 30)

[R1] (1) Saurav Ghosal (IND,11) bye
[R1] Abhay Singh (IND,112) l (9/16) Mohd Syafiq Kamal (MAS,84) 3-11, 11-8, 11-6, 9-11, 13-15
[R1] (WC) Aadit Zaveri (IND,205) l (9/16) Christopher Gordon (USA,85) 6-11, 6-11, 11-13
[R1] (9/16) Mahesh Mangaonkar (IND,64) bt Guhan Senthilkumar (IND,274) 11-1, 11-5, 11-3
[R1] Aditya Jagtap (IND,127) l (9/16) Carlos Cornes (ESP,96) 3-11, 16-14, 5-11, 9-11
[R1] (8) Ramit Tandon (IND,68) bye
[R1] (7) Harinder Pal Singh Sandhu (IND,59) bye

[R2] (1) Saurav Ghosal (IND,11) bt (9/16) Mohd Syafiq Kamal (MAS,84) 11-9, 11-7, 11-1
[R2] (9/16) Mahesh Mangaonkar (IND,64) l (6) Nathan Lake (ENG,49) 6-11, 8-11, 8-11
[R2] (8) Ramit Tandon (IND,68) l (9/16) Carlos Cornes (ESP,96) 11-7, 11-4, 5-11, 6-11, 7-11
[R2] (7) Harinder Pal Singh Sandhu (IND,59) bt (9/16) Ahmed Hosny (EGY,86) 11-1, 12-10, 12-14, 5-11, 11-8

[QF] (1) Saurav Ghosal (IND,11) bt (5) Karim El Hammamy (EGY,51) 11-5, 11-7, 11-2
[QF] (7) Harinder Pal Singh Sandhu (IND,59) l (2) Zahed Salem (EGY,27) 11-7, 4-11, 11-9, 8-11, 4-11

[SF] (1) Saurav Ghosal (IND,11) bt (4) Todd Harrity (USA,48) 11-4, 11-7, 11-3 (41m)

[F] (1) Saurav Ghosal (IND,11) vs (2) Zahed Salem (EGY,27)

As expected Saurav is in the final of the Kolkata International ... He won his matches in straight games and facing the 2nd seed Egyptian, Zahed Salem, for the title ... But other hands other Indians failed to take advantage of the home court.

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At $11K Men's APM Kelowna Open 2018, Canada (PSA 10)

[R1] (2) Vikram Malhotra (IND,66) bye
[R2] (2) Vikram Malhotra (IND,66) bt (9/16) Hugo Varela (ESP,182) 11-9, 11-5, 11-4 (25m)
[QF] (2) Vikram Malhotra (IND,66) bt (5) Leonel Cardenas (MEX,110) 9-11, 12-10, 15-13, 13-11 (68m)

[SF] (2) Vikram Malhotra (IND,66) bt (9/16) Leandro Romiglio (ARG,165) 10-12, 11-8, 11-4, 11-9 (60m)

[F] (2) Vikram Malhotra (IND,66) vs Robertino Pezzota (ARG,76)

Vikram continues with his good run in the North American tournaments ... He is in the final and facing the Argentine, Robertino Pezzota ... In the semis he defeated another Argentine Romiglio after losing the first game ... In the quarters, the 18 yrs Mexican kid, Cardenas gave him a tough time.

Table Tennis News

At $251K Seamaster 2018 ITTF World Tour Platinum LIEBHERR Austrian Open 2018, Linz, Austria

[PR1] Sathiyan Gnanasekaran (IND,35) bye
[PR2] Sathiyan Gnanasekaran (IND,35) bt Chuqin Wang (CHN,103) 4-1 (11-8, 12-14, 11-8, 11-7, 18-16)
[PR3] Sathiyan Gnanasekaran (IND,35) bt Lubomir Pistej (SVK,70) 4-0 (13-11, 12-10, 13-11, 12-10)
[PR4] Sathiyan Gnanasekaran (IND,35) bt Sangeun Jeong (KOR,17) 4-2 (6-11, 11-13, 11-3, 11-8, 11-6, 11-6)

[R32] Sathiyan Gnanasekaran (IND,35) bt Marcos Freitas (POR,16) 4-3 (4-11, 11-9, 11-9, 8-11, 6-11, 11-9, 11-7)

[R16] Sathiyan Gnanasekaran (IND,35) l Xin Xu (CHN,2) 1-4 (1-11, 7-11, 11-7, 2-11, 4-11)

Sathiyan Gnanasekaran had a terrific Austrian Open ... He scored a couple of big wins over the WR #17 Korean Sangeun Jeong and the WR #16 Marcos Freitas before losing to the WR #2 Chinese legend Xin Xu ... In the preliminary second round, he defeated the current Youth Olympic Games champion, Chuqin Wang, in a close match.

Tennis News

At $125K+H Bratislava Challenger 2018, Slovakia

Doubles Final
Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND)/ Andrei Vasilevski (BLR) l (3) Denys Molchanov (UKR)/ Igor Zelenay (SVK) 26 63 9-11

RamK and Vasilevski lost in the final against Zelenay and Molchanov ... After losing the first set RamK and Vasilevski tried fightback winning the second ... But they failed to keep momentum in the match tie-break.

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At $150K+H Bangalore Challenger 2018, India

[Q1] (WC) S D Prajwal Dev (IND,1075) l Youssef Hossam (EGY,480) 67(3) 36
[Q1] Siddharth Vishwakarma (IND,1223) bt Chien-hsun Lo (TPE,664) 62 26 75
[Q1] (WC) Ranjeet Virali-Murugesan (IND,971) bt Niki Kaliyanda Poonacha (IND,641) 75 63
[Q1] Manish Sureshkumar (IND,522) l Sebastian Fanselow (GER,435) 16 26
[Q1] Sidharth Rawat (IND,623) l (6) Benjamin Hassan (GER,409) 67(1) 64 36
[Q1] (3) Arjun Kadhe (IND,362) l Mick Lescure (FRA,494) 46 64 26
[Q1] (WC) Nitin Kumar Sinha (IND,877) l Lucas Gerch (GER,785) 36 46
[Q1] (7) Sasi Kumar Mukund (IND,418) bt Michael Zhu (USA,758) 62 60
[Q1] Aryan Goveas (IND,794) bt (WC) Karunuday Singh (IND,757) 63 67(4) 4-1 retd.
[Q1] (WC) Vasisht Cheruku (IND,1467) l (8) Zizou Bergs (BEL,419) 46 36

[Q2] Siddharth Vishwakarma (IND,1223) vs (5) Antoine Escoffier (FRA,396)
[Q2] (WC) Ranjeet Virali-Murugesan (IND,971) vs Khumoyun Sultanov (UZB,563)
[Q2] (7) Sasi Kumar Mukund (IND,418) vs Lucas Gerch (GER,785)
[Q2] Aryan Goveas (IND,794) vs (8) Zizou Bergs (BEL,419)

[R1] (WC) Saketh Myneni (IND,315) vs (WC) Adil Kalyanpur (IND,1034)
[R1] (WC) Sumit Nagal (IND,310) vs (7) Jay Clarke (GBR,174)
[R1] (4) Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,141) vs Ivan Nedelko (RUS,264)
[R1] (WC) Suraj R. Prabodh (IND,841) vs (6) Quentin Halys (FRA,145)

I was hoping much stronger performance from Indians ... Mukund started with a solid win but a disappointing loss for Arjun.

In the main draw, Saki is facing against Adil ... Suraj having a tough match against the top-150 Frenchman, Quentin Halys ... Prajnesh is facing Russian Ivan Nedelko ... The defending champion Sumit needs to start with an upset win against the top-175 Britisher, Jay Clarke.

Hockey News

At FIH Odisha Hockey Men's World Cup 2018, India

The Indian Squad
Goalkeepers: PR Sreejesh, Krishan Bahadur Pathak
Defenders: Harmanpreet Singh, Birendra Lakra, Varun Kumar, Kothajit Singh, Surender Kumar, Amit Rohidas
Midfielders: Manpreet Singh (captain), Chinglensana Singh (vice-captain), Nilakanta Sharma, Hardik Singh, Sumit
Forwards: Akashdeep Singh, Mandeep Singh, Dilpreet Singh, Lalit Kumar Upadhyay, Simranjeet Singh

The Indian squad for the Men's World Cup is announced ... The seniors like Ramandeep and Sunil have been left out on the fitness and Rupinder Pal Singh has been left out on his poor form ... Some selections are dodgy considering repeated poor performance from Akashdeep and Mandeep ... In the defense also we have a better option than Amit Rohidas, now penalty corner conversion solely depends upon Harmanpreet and he is not convincing with his PC conversion rate ... on the midfielder position also we look weak ... Despite this, hoping for a better performance from our team.

Badminton News

At $700K Fuzhou China Open 2018, China (HSBC BWF World Tour Super 750)

[QF] (5) Kidambi Srikanth (IND,9) l (4) Tien Chen Chou (TPE,3) 14-21 14-21

[QF] (3) Pusarla V. Sindhu (IND,3) l (8) Bingjiao He (CHN,7) 17-21 21-17 15-21

[QF] Satwiksairaj Rankireddy (IND)/ Chirag Shetty (IND) l Mohammad Ahsan (INA)/ Hendra Setiawan (INA) 11-21 21-16 12-21

Srikanth failed to challenge the WR #3 Tien Chen Chou, I was expecting a better result from Srikanth.
Sindhu's struggle continues against Bingjiao He ... She had a third consecutive loss against He.
Satwik-Chirag failed to repeat their performance of previous matches and lost in three games against the experienced Indonesian pair.

Tennis News

At $125K+H Bratislava Challenger 2018, Slovakia

[SF] Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND)/ Andrei Vasilevski (BLR) bt (4) Gerard Granollers (ESP)/ David Marrero (ESP) 75 46 10-6

[F] Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND)/ Andrei Vasilevski (BLR) vs (3) Denys Molchanov (UKR)/ Igor Zelenay (SVK)

RamK and Vasilevski r in the final with a win over the 4th seed Spaniards in the match tie-break ... In the final, they r facing the 3rd seeds Molchanov and Zelenay.

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At $15K Kuwait F2 Futures 2018, Meshref

[R1] Adil Kalyanpur (IND,1034) bt Ali Alshti (KUW,UNR) 60 61
[R2] Adil Kalyanpur (IND,1034) bt (6) Aidan McHuge (GBR,706) 26 61 64

[QF] Adil Kalyanpur (IND,1034) l (3) Constantin Bittoun Kouzmine (FRA,637) 46 06

Adil lost in the quarters against the top-650 ranked Frenchman ... But before that in the second round, he scored an upset win over the last week's winner, Britisher Aidan McHuge.

Badminton News

At $750K Fuzhou China Open 2018, China (HSBC BWF World Tour Super 750)

[R2] (5) Kidambi Srikanth (IND,9) bt Tommy Sugiarto (INA,10) 10-21 21-9 21-9

[R2] (3) Pusarla V. Sindhu (IND,3) bt Busanan Ongbamrungphan (THA,26) 21-12 21-15

[R2] Satwiksairaj Rankireddy (IND)/ Chirag Shetty (IND) bt Wahyu Nayaka Arya Pangkaryanira (INA)/ Ade Yusuf Santoso (INA) 16-21 21-14 21-15

[QF] (5) Kidambi Srikanth (IND,9) vs (4) Tien Chen Chou (TPE,3)

[QF] (3) Pusarla V. Sindhu (IND,3) vs (8) Bingjiao He (CHN,7)

[QF] Satwiksairaj Rankireddy (IND)/ Chirag Shetty (IND) vs Mohammad Ahsan (INA)/ Hendra Setiawan (INA)

Srikanth scored an excellent comeback win over Sugiarto ... Srikanth had a tough outing against Sugiarto, so good to see this time he managed to win it ... Next, he is facing the WR #3 Tien Chen Chou.

An expected comfortable win for Sindhu against Ongbamrungphan ... Next, she is facing the Chinese girl, Bingjiao He, with her Sindhu has lost last couple of matches including in the French Open in October.

Satwik-Chirag scored a fighting comeback win over the similar ranked Indonesian pair ... In the quarters, they r facing another experienced Indonesian pair.

Tennis News

At $125K+H Bratislava Challenger 2018, Slovakia

[R2] (6) Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,122) l Matthias Bachinger (GER,139) 36 63 26

Doubles
[QF] Purav Raja (IND)/ Antonio Sancic (CRO) l (1) Jonny O'Mara (GBR)/ Ken Skupski (GBR) 64 46 6-10
[QF] Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND)/ Andrei Vasilevski (BLR) bt (WC) Andrej Martin (SVK)/ Filip Polasek (SVK) 46 63 10-8

[SF] Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND)/ Andrei Vasilevski (BLR) vs (4) Gerard Granollers (ESP)/ David Marrero (ESP)

RamK's patchy performance continues, he lost in three sets against the German Matthias Bachinger.

In the doubles, RamK and Vasilevski enter into the semis with a comeback win over local experienced players after losing the first set ... Next, they r facing the 4th seed Spaniards ... Purav and Sancic lost after winning the first set against the top seeds British pair.

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At $100K Mumbai Open 2018, India

[R2] Ankita Raina (IND,197) l (1) Saisai Zheng (CHN,46) 36 16

Saisai Zheng proved too strong for Ankita.

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At $75 Knoxville Challenger 2018, Tennessee, USA

[QF] (1) Leander Paes (IND)/ Miguel Angel Reyes-Varela (MEX) l Alex Lawson (USA)/ Jackson Withrow (USA) 36 46

Lee and Miguel had a disappointing straight sets loss against the American pair.

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Badminton News

At $750K Fuzhou China Open 2018, China (HSBC BWF World Tour Super 750)

[R1] Prannoy H. S. (IND,23) l Jonatan Christie (INA,12) 11-21 14-21
[R1] (5) Kidambi Srikanth (IND,9) bt Lucas Corvee (FRA,42) 21-12 21-16

[R1] Vaishnavi Reddy Jakka (IND,59) l Pornpawee Chochuwong (THA,22) 12-21 16-21
[R1] (3) Pusarla V. Sindhu (IND,3) bt Evgeniya Kosetskaya (RUS,30) 21-13 21-19

[R1] Manu Attri (IND)/ B. Sumeeth Reddy (IND) vs (6) Kim Astrup (DEN)/ Anders Skaarup Rasmussen (DEN) 16-21 25-27
[R1] Satwiksairaj Rankireddy (IND)/ Chirag Shetty (IND) bt (7) Mads Conrad-Petersen (DEN)/ Mads Pieler Kolding (DEN) 23-21 24-22

[R1] Ashwini Ponnappa (IND)/ N. Sikki Reddy (IND) l (7) Peng Soon Chan (MAS)/ Liu Ying Goh (MAS) 21-18 19-21 17-21

[R1] Satwiksairaj Rankireddy (IND)/ Ashwini Ponnappa (IND) vs (6) Shiho Tanaka (JPN)/ Koharu Yonemoto (JPN) 19-21 21-15 17-21

[R2] (5) Kidambi Srikanth (IND,9) vs Tommy Sugiarto (INA,10)

[R2] (3) Pusarla V. Sindhu (IND,3) vs Busanan Ongbamrungphan (THA,26)

[R2] Satwiksairaj Rankireddy (IND)/ Chirag Shetty (IND) vs Wahyu Nayaka Arya Pangkaryanira (INA)/ Ade Yusuf Santoso (INA)

Satwik and Chirag started with an upset win over the 7th seed Danish pair ... Next, they r facing the Indonesian pair.

Srikanth and Sindhu scored straight games win over their respective opponents ... Next, Srikanth is having a tricky match against Sugiarto and Sindhu is facing Ongbamrungphan.

Our other players and pairs failed to overcome their higher ranked opponents.

Tennis News

At $125K+H Bratislava Challenger 2018, Slovakia

[R1] (6) Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,122) bt Sergio Gutierrez-Ferrol (ESP,161) 63 75

[R2] (6) Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,122) vs Matthias Bachinger (GER,139)

Doubles
[R1] Purav Raja (IND)/ Antonio Sancic (CRO) bt Marc-Andrea Huesler (SUI)/ Stephane Robert (FRA) 64 64
[R1] Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND)/ Andrei Vasilevski (BLR) bt (2) Marcin Matkowski (POL)/ Philipp Oswald (AUT) 63 36 10-6

RamK started with a good win, considering his recent patchy form, against Gutierrez-Ferrol in the first round ... Next, he is facing the top-140 German Matthias Bachinger.

In the doubles, RamK partnering Belarusian Vasilevski started with an upset win over the 2nd seeds experienced players, Matkowski and Oswald ... Purav and Sancic also started with a win over Huesler and Robert.

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At $100K Mumbai Open 2018, India

[R1] Ankita Raina (IND,197) bt Fang Ying Xun (CHN,206) 76(7) 63

[R2] Ankita Raina (IND,197) vs (1) Saisai Zheng (CHN,46)

This is a good win for Ankita as she lost her last two matches against Xun ... Next, she will faced the top-50 ranked Saisai Zheng.

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At $75 Knoxville Challenger 2018, Tennessee, USA

[R1] (1) Leander Paes (IND)/ Miguel Angel Reyes-Varela (MEX) bt Hans Hach Verdugo (MEX)/ Ruan Roelofse (RSA) 64 62

Lee and Miguel started with a comfortable win against Hach Verdugo and Roelofse.

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Badminton News

At $75K SaarLorLux Open 2018 2018, Saarbrucken, Germany (BWF Tour Super 100)

Men's Singles Final
Subhankar Dey (IND,64) bt (5) Rajiv Ouseph (ENG,37) 21-11 21-14

Subhankar lifts his first Super 100 title beating an experienced Rajiv Ouseph ... Subhankar dominated the final and won it comfortably in 33 minutes ... Good to see Subhankar lifted the title after his win over Lin Dan.

Golf News

At $7M Turkish Airlines Open 2018, Antalya, Turkey

T43 Shubhankar Sharma (IND) 70 72 70 67 -5 € 32,777

The last 4-under round helped Shubhankar to finish inside the top-50 standing.

Badminton News

At $75K SaarLorLux Open 2018 2018, Saarbrucken, Germany (BWF Tour Super 100)

[SF] Subhankar Dey (IND,64) bt Pengbo Ren (CHN,208) 21-18 11-21 24-22

[F] Subhankar Dey (IND,64) vs (5) Rajiv Ouseph (ENG,37)

Subhankar enters into the final with hard fought win over Pengbo Ren in 68 mins ... After winning the first game Shubhankar lost the focus and Ren took full advantage of it to win the second game comfortably ... In the third game, both players were keeping pace with each other ... Shubhankar had two match points at 20-18, which he failed to convert ... Ren also missed a couple of match points at 20-21 and 21-22, but Shubhankar converted the 3rd match point and book the title match against experienced British shuttler, Rajiv Ouseph.

Tennis News

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

Doubles Final
(1) N. Sriram Balaji (IND)/ Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND) l (2) Cheng Peng Hsieh (TPE)/ Christopher Rungkat (INA) 46 26

Bala and Jeevan failed to raise their game against Rungkat and Hsieh in the final.

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Badminton News

At $75K SaarLorLux Open 2018 2018, Saarbrucken, Germany (BWF Tour Super 100)

[QF] Subhankar Dey (IND,64) bt (7) Toby Penty (ENG,43) 21-16 21-9
[QF] (8) Parupalli Kashyap (IND,59) l Toma Junior Popov (FRA,61) 16-21 18-21
[QF] Saili Rane (IND,114) l (5) Line Højmark Kjaersfeldt (DEN,21) 14-21 9-21

[SF] Subhankar Dey (IND,64) Pengbo Ren (CHN,208)

Subhankar enters into the semis with a comfortable win over the top-50 British shuttler ... This win also confirmed his win against Lin Dan wasn't a fluke ... Next, he is facing lower ranked The Chinese opponent, Pengbo Ren.
But Kashyap lost in straight games against his French opponent ... Saili also failed to challenge the top-25 Danish player.