Tennis News

At the World Group Qualifier 2019, Kolkata, India

The Indian Davis Cup Team
Prajnesh Gunneswaran, Ramkumar Ramanathan, Divij Sharan, Rohan Bopanna, Saketh Myneni and Sasi Kumar Mukund
Non-playing Captain: Mahesh Bhupathi
Coach: Zeeshan Ali

The Indian Fed Cup Team
Ankita Raina, Karman Thandi, Pranjala Yadlapalli, Rutuja Bhosale and Prarthana Thombare
Non-playing Captain: Vishaal Uppal
Coach: Ankita Bhambri

The new AITA selection committee has announced the team for the World Group Qualifier tie against Italy ... The announcement is more than a month before the tie and the selection was as per current rankings of the players ... As expected, Divij Sharan makes a return in place of Balaji, also Mukund is included in place of Arjun as a reserve player ... Yuki doesn't consider for the tie due to his on-going recovery from the knee injury ... Sumit Nagal, Arjun Kadhe, and Siddharth Vishwakarma will train with the team at a preparatory camp from January 22 to 30, 2019.

The Fed Cup team has also announced for the Asia-Oceania Group-1, which will be played in Astana, Kazakhstan, in the first week of February ... No surprises, as our top four singles players get selected for the tournament with our top doubles player, Prarthana Thombare.

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ATP Singles Rankings with the new formula on 31st Dec 2018, (Old formula rankings r in the bracket)

110 Gunneswaran, Prajnesh (107)
133 Ramkumar Ramanathan (132)
137 Bhambri, Yuki (137)
259 Saketh Myneni (259)
295 Sasi Kumar Mukund (338)
340 Sumit Nagal (477)
392 Arjun Kadhe (389)
401 N.Sriram Balaji (726)
432 Siddharth Rawat (693)
511T Abhinav Sanjeev Shanmugam (847)
574T Vishnu Vardhan (1205T)
581T Manish Sureshkumar (523)
608T Niki Kalouanda Poonacha (645)
650T Suraj R Prabodh (876)

2018 year-end WTA Singles Rankings, (The last year's rankings in brackets)
205 Ankita Raina (276)
207 Karman Thandi (288)
288 Pranjala Yadlapalli (482)
344 Rutuja Bhosale (558)
521 Mahak Jain (750)
555 Riya Bhatia (577)
746 Sowjanya Bavisetti (1099)
769 Zeel Desai (632)
794 Sai Samhitha Chamarthi (865)
809 Jennifer Luikham (1099)

Our 14 players make a cut in newly introduced the top-650 ATP rankings ... So few surprising entries into the list ... Bala, Vishnu, Niki, Suraj, and Abhinav sneaked in with their challenger level points ... Sumit has jumped to the top-350 but he will slide down outside top-350 as next week his last year's Tata Open qualifying points will be removed ... Yuki will also fall outside the top-150 as he is also going to lose 20 ranking points in the next week.
In the doubles, Rohan remains our top player but slide down to the #37 ... Divij showed promising performance and he is in the top-40, #39 ... This year, we will see Divij and Rohan r partnering on the tour so we can experience an interesting ride from the Indian duo ... Leander is showing the age is the only number and he is our the 3ranked player, #63 ... Jeevan is in the top-75, #74, and Purav is also in the top-100, #90 ... Bala and Vishnu failed to capitalize and remain outside the top-100 rankings, Bala is on the #110 and Vishnu is on the #124.

In 2018, we experienced significant improvement in our women tennis ... Our top five players show a really good jump in their rankings ... Ankita and Karman were in the top-200 and they will return there in the early part of the year ... Pranjala has broken into the top-300 and Rutuja is also showing spark to be there ... Mahak is very near to break in into the top-500 after her an excellent run in the $25K Navi Mumbai tournament ... In the doubles, everything depends upon Sania Mirza's comeback after pregnancy ... Prarthana Thombare is stagnant with her ranking ... Karman and Ankita showing promises as a pair, but it will be early to judge.

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At $590K Tata Open Maharashtra 2019, Pune, India

[R1] (WC) Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,110) l Michael Mmoh (USA,103) 57 36

Doubles
[R1] Nicholas Monroe (USA)/ Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND) l (4) Gerard Granollers (ESP)/ Marcel Granollers (ESP) 46 46
[R1] (WC) Purav Raja (IND)/ Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND) l Luke Bambridge (GBR)/ Jonny O'Mara (GBR) 67(4) 36
[R1] (WC) N.Sriram Balaji (IND)/ Arjun Kadhe (IND) bt (2) Philipp Oswald (AUT)/ Tim Puetz (GER) 76(1) 46 10-8

[QF] (WC) N.Sriram Balaji (IND)/ Arjun Kadhe (IND) vs Luke Bambridge (GBR)/ Jonny O'Mara (GBR)

I was hoping a winning start for Prajnesh against similar ranked Mmoh ... But Mmoh completed the win in straight sets ... Prajnesh struggled with his game and was looking rusty on the court.

In the doubles, the only win for Indians came from Arjun and Bala ... They defeated the 2nd seeds Oswald and Puetz in the match tie-break ... Next, they r facing the British pairing of Bambridge and O'Mara, who defeated Purav and Ram in the first round ... Jeevan and Monroe lost in straight sets against the 4th seeds Granollers brothers.

Tennis News

At $590K Tata Open Maharashtra 2019, Pune, India

[Q2] (WC) Saketh Myneni (IND,259) bt (8) Egor Gerasimov (BLR,163) 64 67(4) 76(4)

[R1] (WC) Saketh Myneni (IND,259) vs (5) Benoit Paire (FRA,52)

Saki scored a hard-fought win over Gerasimov in more than 2 hours 30 minutes match ... After winning the first set Saki failed to put pressure on Gerasimov's serve ... Gerasimov won the tie-break for taking the match into the third set ... Saki started confidently in the third and was doubles break up at 4-1 ... But Gerasimov broke him in the 6th and the 8th games, 4-all ... Saki recovered and afterward served well to held next 2 service games ... In the tie-break, Saki used huge serve on his advantage for qualifying for the main draw ... He is having a tough match against the 5th seed Frenchman, Benoit Paire.

Football News

At the AFC Asian Cup 2019, UAE

India's 23-man final team
Goalkeepers: Gurpreet Singh Sandhu, Vishal Kaith, Amrinder Singh
Defenders: Pritam Kotal, Sarthak Golui, Sandesh Jhingan, Anas Edathodika, Salam Ranjan Singh, Subhasish Bose, Narayan Das
Midfielders: Udanta Singh, Jackichand Singh, Germanpreet Singh, Pronay Halder, Anirudh Thapa, Vinit Rai, Rowllin Borges, Ashique Kuruniyan, Halicharan Narzary
Forwards: Sumeet Passi, Balwant Singh, Sunil Chhetri, Jeje Lalpekhlua

A good combination of youth and experienced players in the Indian team ... Our team is the 2nd youngest team in the Asian Cup with 25 yrs of average age ... These days our defenders are putting a decent show in all matches.

India is in Group A along with Thailand, Bahrain and hosts UAE ... The Indians will start their campaign on January 6, 2019, against Thailand in Abu Dhabi.

Tennis News

At $590K Tata Open Maharashtra 2019, Pune, India

[Q1] (WC) Sasi Kumar Mukund (IND,336) l (7) Gianluigi Quinzi (ITA,146) 16 16
[Q1] (WC) Saketh Myneni (IND,259) bt (4) Jason Jung (TPE,124) 61 57 62

[Q2] (WC) Saketh Myneni (IND,259) vs (8) Egor Gerasimov (BLR,163)

[R1] (WC) Arjun Kadhe (IND,392) vs Laslo Djere (SRB,94)
[R1] (WC) Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,107) vs Michael Mmoh (USA,103)
[R1] (WC) Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,133) vs Marcel Granollers (ESP,97)

Doubles
[R1] (1) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Divij Sharan (IND) vs Radu Albot (MDA)/ Malek Jaziri (TUN)
[R1] Leander Paes (IND)/ Miguel Angel Reyes-Varela (MEX) vs David Marrero (ESP)/ Hans Podlipnik-Castillo (CHI)
[R1] Nicholas Monroe (USA)/ Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND) vs (4) Gerard Granollers (ESP)/ Marcel Granollers (ESP)
[R2] (WC) Purav Raja (IND)/ Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND) vs Luke Bambridge (GBR)/ Jonny O'Mara (GBR)
[R1] (WC) N.Sriram Balaji (IND)/ Arjun Kadhe (IND) vs (2) Philipp Oswald (AUT)/ Tim Puetz (GER)

Saki started with an impressive win over the top-125 ranked Jason Jung in three sets ... After winning the first set comfortably Saki missed few break point chances in the second to lose it ... But he recovered and won the third set comfortably for entering into the final qualifying ... He is facing the 8th seed Egor Gerasimov for a place in the main draw ... Other hand Mukund failed to challenge the Italian Quinzi.

A decent draw for our players in the singles main draw, as all avoided the seeded players and are facing lower ranked players from the draw.
In the doubles, as expected Rohan and Divij r the top-seeds ... They can meet Lee and Miguel if both pairs win their respective first round matches ... Jeevan and Monroe r facing the 4th seeds Granollers brothers ... Purav is playing with Ram and they r facing the British pair ... Bala is playing with Arjun and they r having a tough match against the 2nd seeds Oswald and Puetz.

Football News

At the FIFA Intercontinental Friendly 2018, Abu Dhabi, UAE

India dw Oman 0-0 (0-0)

The Indian men held the higher ranked Oman side a goalless draw ... A good result considering our team halted Oman's 3 matches winning streak.

Squash News

At PSA World Squash Rankings December 2018,

Men's Rankings (Top 100)
12 Saurav Ghosal
60 Mahesh Mangaonkar
61 Vikram Malhotra
68 Harinder Pal Sandhu
70 Ramit Tandon

Women's Rankings (Top 100)
15 Joshna Chinappa
24 Dipika Pallikal Karthik
99 Sunayna Kuruvilla

In 2018, Saurav showed a terrific consistency ... In this month, he reached his first Platinum class event quarter-final in Cairo ... He rose to #11 and ending his season on #12 ... I think he will climb inside the top-10 in the new year ... Other players failed to show consistency as Mahesh, Vikram, Harry, and Ramit remain around the top-60s.

In the women, Joshna and Dipika remained stagnant and inconsistency slides their rankings ... Dipika is outside the top-20.

Badminton News

At 2018 BWF Year-end Rankings of Indian Players, (only top 50 players)

Men's Singles
8 Srikanth Kidambi
12 Sameer Verma
20 H. S. Prannoy
22 B. Sai Praneeth
44 Parupalli Kashyap
49 Subhankar Dey

Women's Singles
3 Pusarla V. Sindhu
9 Saina Nehwal

Men's Doubles
16 Satwiksairaj Rankireddy / Chirag Shetty
25 Manu Attri / B. Sumeeth Reddy
40 Arjun M.R/ Ramchandran Shlok

Women's Doubles
23 N. Sikki Reddy / Ashwini Ponnappa
31 Meghana Jakkampudi /Poorvisha S Ram

Mixed Doubles
22 Ashwini Ponnappa / Satwiksairaj Rankireddy
23 N. Sikki Reddy / Pranaav Jerry Chopra
43 Rohan Kapoor /nKuhoo Garg
49 Saurabh Sharma / Anoushka Parikh

After seeing the year-end rankings of our players, it seems our singles players r stagnant or declined in 2018 ... The only notable rise is from Sameer Verma inside the top-15 ... All other players failed to take the next step ... Hopefully, they will show more consistency in their game and rise in their rankings in 2019.

In the doubles, Satwik showing a superb improvement with his partners ... With Chirag, they r in the top-20 in the men's double and the top-25 in the mixed doubles with Ashwini ... His next target will be the top-10 in the men's doubles and the top-15 in the mixed doubles in 2019.

Tennis News

At Tata Open Maharashtra 2019, Pune, India

The wild card entries are announced for the Tata Open Maharashtra ... A good selection of the main draw wild-cards: Prajnesh Gunneswaran and Ramkumar Ramanathan ... And for the qualifying, the wild-cards goes to Saketh Myneni and Sasi Kumar Mukund.
The organizers r not decided on the 3rd wild-card ... As Yuki's participation is not confirmed and they r hoping for a last minute entry from the quality player ... Otherwise, most probably Arjun Kadhe will be the candidate for it.

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

[SF] (WC) Mahak Jain (IND,682) l (2) Barbara Haas (AUT,219) 46 63 36

Mahak produced a superb performance ... After losing the first set she fought back against the top-225 ranked Haas and won the second set ... In the third set, Mahak was 3-2 up with a break but Barbara raised her game and broke Mahak in the 6th and the 8th games and won next 4 games to complete the win ... Still, creditable fighting performance from young Mahak.

Tennis News

At Tata Open Maharashtra 2019, Pune, India

The entry list is out for the Tata Open Maharashtra ... In the singles, no Indian players get a direct entry ... But in the doubles, our players r in three pairing.

From 2019 season, Rohan and Divij have planned to play together and their first tournament will be in Pune ... They will most probably the top-seed pair ... Lee will continue partnering his last few months Mexican partner, Miguel Angel Reyes-Varela ... Jeevan also having a good experienced partner in the American Nicholas Monroe.

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

[QF] (WC) Mahak Jain (IND,682) bt (8) Tessah Andrianjafitrimo (FRA,339) 63 75

[SF] (WC) Mahak Jain (IND,682) vs (2) Barbara Haas (AUT,219)

Really happy to see Mahak is taking advantage of these home ITF tournaments ... She scored a straight-sets upset win over the top-350 French girl Andrianjafitrimo ... Next, she is facing the top-225 ranked Austrian player, Barbara Haas.

Tennis News

At Australian Open 2019, Melbourne

Prajnesh Gunneswaran (#110), Ramkumar Ramanathan (#132) and Yuki Bhambri (#137) will be seeded players for the Australian Open qualifying ... They r in the initial list declared by Australian Open organizers.

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

[R1] (WC) Jennifer Luikham (IND,1049) l (4) Hiroko Kuwata (JPN,269) 36 57
[R1] (Q) Zeel Desai (IND,650) l (Q) Maria Marfutina (RUS,540) 67(3) 64 46
[R1] (WC) Mahak Jain (IND,682) bt (3) Ya-Hsuan Lee (TPE,267) 63 retd.
[R1] (Q) Sowjanya Bavisetti (IND,814) l (Q) Emily Webley-Smith (GBR,557) 67(2) 63 67(1)
[R1] (WC) Akanksha Dileep Nitture (IND,UNR) l (LL) Naho Sato (JPN,662) 16 75 26
[R1] (WC) Mihika Yadav (IND,1139) l (2) Barbara Haas (AUT,218) 26 75 46

[R2] (WC) Mahak Jain (IND,682) bt Ekaterina Yashina (RUS,362) 76(5) 61

[QF] (WC) Mahak Jain (IND,682) vs (8) Tessah Andrianjafitrimo (FRA,339)

A cruel draw for the Indian players as many of them faced seeded opponents ... Mahak got a lucky break as her top-275 Taipei opponent retired after losing the first set ... But she scored an upset win over the top-375 Russian player, Ekaterina Yashina, in straight sets ... Next, she is facing the former top-250 French girl.

Swojanya lost in a tight match against the experienced Emily Webley-Smith ... Also 15 yrs. old Akanksha Nitture gave a fighting performance against the top-700 Japanese girl in her three sets loss.

Badminton News

At $1.5M HSBC BWF World Tour Finals 2018, Guangzhou, China

P.C. to All England Open twitter handle

Women's Singles Final
Pusarla V. Sindhu (IND,6) bt Nozomi Okuhara (JPN,5) 21-19 21-17

What 2018 for P.V. Sindhu!
Gold 🥇- World Tour Grand Finals
Silver 🥈- World Championships
Silver 🥈- Asian Games
Silver 🥈- Commonwealth Games

Sindhu becomes the first Indian to win the BWF World Tour Finals ... After so many near misses at the World Championships, the Olympic, the Asian Games and the Commonwealth Games, she managed to win this big title ... In the final, she defeated Nozomi Okuhara in straight games.

In the first game, Sindhu took an early control and was leading 14-6 ... But she gave chance to Okuhara for a fightback, Okuhara caught her at 16-all ... Sindhu retained her composure and took a 20-17 lead and converted the 3rd game point for winning this game ... In the second game, Sindhu kept a couple of points lead throughout the game ... Okuhara caught her at 7-all, but Sindhu regained control and kept her nose ahead ... Sindhu converted the first match-point for a deserving win in 62 mins. long match ... Here, she defeated four top-10 players including the WR #1 Tzu Ying Tai and the WR #2 Akane Yamaguchi before lifting the title.

Table Tennis News

At the 2018 ITTF Star Awards 2018, Incheon, Korea

P.C. to Manika Batra twitter handle

The 2018 Breakthrough Star - Manika Batra

A breakthrough year for Manika Batra has culminated in the 23-year-old Indian talent winning the 2018 Breakthrough Star award tonight in Incheon ... Batra enjoyed a sensational outing at the 2018 Commonwealth Games, earning India its first-ever gold medal in the Women’s Singles category, and she went on to leave the Gold Coast with three further medals to her name from the Women’s Team, Women’s Doubles and Mixed Doubles events ... Also, Batra becomes the first Indian athlete to be honored at the ITTF Star Awards and she is also the first player from outside of Japan to be named the Breakthrough Star.

Badminton News

At $1.5M HSBC BWF World Tour Finals 2018, Guangzhou, China

Men's Singles
[SF] Sameer Verma (IND,14) l (3/4) Yuqi Shi (CHN,2) 21-12 20-22 17-21

Women's Singles
[SF] Pusarla V. Sindhu (IND,6) bt Ratchanok Intanon (ThA,) 21-16 25-23

Sindhu enters her second final in the BWF World Tour Finals ... She defeated the Thai girl, Ratchanok Intanon, in straight games ... After winning the first game she faced resistance from Intanon ... Sindhu saved 3 game points before converting her 2nd match-point ... In the final, she is facing the Japanese challenge of Nozomi Okuhara.

But Sameer failed to match Sindhu's performance and lost against Chinese Yuqi Shi ... Sameer started well and won the first game comfortably ... In the second game, both players were matching each other, Sameer missed a match-point at 20-19 and Yuqi won next 3 points for winning this game ... In the third game, Yuqi took a control from 9-all and won it keeping the advantage ... Still, a good performance from Sameer to reach the semis in the BWF World Tour Finals.

Badminton News

At $1.5M HSBC BWF World Tour Finals 2018, Guangzhou, China

MS - Group B
[M3] Sameer Verma (IND,14) bt Kantaphon Wangcharoen (THA,17) 21-9 21-18

WS - Group A
[M3] Pusarla V. Sindhu (IND,6) bt Beiwen Zhang (USA,12) 21-9 21-15

Our both players qualified for the semi-final with straight games win in their respective matches ... Sindhu scored a comfortable win over the American Beiwen Zhang to win a Group A ... This was a good win considering Sindhu lost last three matches against Zhang ... In the semis, she is having a challenge of the Thai girl, Ratchanok Intanon.

Sameer also scored a straight-games win over his Thai opponent, Kantaphon Wangcharoen, to qualify for the semis behind Kento Momota ...In the semis, he is facing a Chinese Yuqi Shi.

Hockey News

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

Quarter Finals
India l The Netherlands 1-2 (1-1)
Goal Scorers - Akashdeep Singh (IND) 12' PC and Thierry Brinkman (NED) 15', Mink van der Weerden (NED) 50' PC

India's wait for the World Cup medal continues after 43 yrs ... They lost in a close match against the Dutch side ... The Indians started well scoring the 1st goal in the 12th minute but the Dutch side immediately responded scoring in 2 minutes to equalized before the end of the first quarter ... After that, both teams failed to score in the next two quarters ... The Dutch side was looking more superior but the Indians managed to keep the pressure on them ... In the 4th quarter, the Dutch side took a lead after the penalty corner conversion in the 50th minute ... Immediately Amit Rohidas made an unnecessary infringement on the Dutch player after hitting with a stick on his hand ... He received the yellow card so the Indians played last 10 mins with only 10 players ... We tried hard and earned penalty corner and saved one without a goalkeeper on the field ... But over players failed to score despite multiple circle penetrations and the Dutch defended well for completing the victory.

Badminton News

At $1.5M HSBC BWF World Tour Finals 2018, Guangzhou, China

MS - Group B
[M2] Sameer Verma (IND,14) bt Tommy Sugiarto (INA,10) 21-16 21-7

WS - Group A
[M2] Pusarla V. Sindhu (IND,6) bt (1) Tzu Ying Tai (TPE,1) 14-21 21-16 21-18

Sameer scored an excellent dominating win over Indonesian Tommy Sugiarto ... Sameer took full advantage of a slower court against Sugiarto.

Sindhu scored a superb comeback win over the regaining WR #1 Tzu Ying Tai ... After losing the first game easily Sindhu made a strong comeback in the match to win the second ... In the third game, Tai took an early lead and was leading till 8-12 ... Sindhu won 7 points in a row from 11-13 to gran 18-13 lead ... Tai saved two match points from 20-16 but Sindhu converted the 3rd match point ... This was Sindhu's first win against Tai after six consecutive losses ... Her last win was in the Olympic on the 15th August 2016 ... Also with this win, Sindhu has secured her place in the semis.

Tennis News

At $100K+H ITF Women's Tournament 2018, Dubai, UAE

[R2] Ankita Raina (IND,213) l (6) Stefanie Voegele (SUI,83) 26 26

Stefanie Voegele proved too strong for Ankita.

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

[R2] (WC) Mahak Jain (IND,655) l (1) Jia-Jing Lu (CHN,227) 36 57

Mahak gave fighting performance against the top-seed Jia-Jing Lu in her loss ... But the Indian challenge got over with Mahak's loss.

Badminton News

At $1.5M HSBC BWF World Tour Finals 2018, Guangzhou, China

MS - Group B
[M1] Sameer Verma (IND,14) l (1) Kento Momota (JPN,1) 18-21 6-21

WS - Group A
[M1] Pusarla V. Sindhu (IND,6) bt (2) Akane Yamaguchi (JPN,2) 24-22 21-15

Sameer lost in a straight-games against the WR #1 Kento Momota ... He stretched Kento in the first game but Kento was too good in the second ... Also, Indonesian Tommy Sugiarto and Thai Kantaphon Wangcharoen are in the group.

In the women, Sindhu started with a superb win over the WR #2 Akane Yamaguchi in a straight-games ... This is a tough group as WR #1 Tzu Ying Tai and the top-10 Beiwen Zhang.

Tennis News

At $100K+H ITF Women's Tournament 2018, Dubai, UAE

[R1] Ankita Raina (IND,213) bt (WC) Tereza Mihalikova (SVK,351) 76(3) 63

[R2] Ankita Raina (IND,213) vs (6) Stefanie Voegele (SUI,83)

Ankita is in the second round with a straight-sets win over Tereza Mihalikova ... In the first set, it was a dogfight as both players were breaking opponent's serve ... After winning the first set Ankita took control and won last 3 games in a row to complete the victory ... Next, she is facing the top-100 Swiss girl, Stefanie Voegele.

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

[R1] (WC) Mahak Jain (IND,655) bt (LL) Ksenia Palkina (KAZ,499) 63 62
[R1] (WC) Snehal Mane (IND,1284) l (5) Junri Namigata (JPN,287) 06 06
[R1] (LL) Natasha Palha (IND,1165) l Mariam Bolkvadze (GEO,355)46 46
[R1] (WC) Zeel Desai (IND,653) l (6) Valeriya Strakhova (UKR,291) 16 46
[R1] (WC) Bhuvana Kalva (IND,960) l Marina Melanikova (RUS,340) 26 26

[R2] (WC) Mahak Jain (IND,655) vs (1) Jia-Jing Lu (CHN,227)

This week, Rutuja withdrew due to injury ... But an excellent winning start for Mahak against the former top-175 player, Ksenia Palkina, in straight sets ... Next, having a tough match against the top-seed ... Otherwise expected losses for our players.

Golf News

At the Asian Tour 2018,

P.C. to Asian tour

2018 Earnings (USD)
1 Shubhankar Sharma (IND) $755,994
2 Sanghyun Park (KOR) $561,898
3 Justin Harding (RSA) $479,816
4 Gaganjeet Bhullar (IND) $422,935
5 Scott Vincent (ZIM) $420,886
6 John Catlin (USA) $387,932
7 Sihwan Kim (USA) $373,008
8 Kurt Kitayama (USA) $352,711
9 Yuta Ikeda (JPN) $338,671
10 Rahil Gangjee (IND) $302,628

Shubhankar Sharma has captured the Asian Tour Habitat for Humanity Standings title ... The 22-year-old Shubhankar emerged as the 2018 Asian Tour Order of Merit champion following a dream season in Asia ... He becomes the fifth and youngest Indian to top the Asian Tour money list in a particular season ... He joins the exclusive club of Indians who have achieved the feat in the past - Jyoti Randhawa (2002), Arjun Atwal (2003), Jeev Milkha Singh (2006 and 2008) and Anirban Lahiri (2015) ... With this, Shubhankar automatically qualifies for the next year's British Open and WGC Mexico Championship as a winner of the Asian Tour Order of Merit.

Next week, he will be playing the last event of 2018 the BNI Indonesian Masters.

Hockey News

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

Pool C
India bt Canada 5-1 (1-0)
Goal Scorers - Harmanpreet Singh (IND) 12' PC, Chinglensana Kangujam (IND) 46', Lalit Upadhyay (IND) 47' and 57', Amit Rohidas (IND) 51' PC and Floris van Son (CAN) 39'

India qualifies for the quarter-final after winning the Pool C ... In their final match, they required a win over Canada and in end, they gave a dominating display for winning comfortably with 5-1 score ... We started well and scored through the penalty corner in the first quarter, but after dominating the second quarter we failed to score due to poor finishing in the circle ... The Canadian took advantage of our poor finishing and equalized in the third quarter ... In the fourth quarter, we came out all guns blazing and gave one of the best attacking performance ... We scored two goals in the first 2 minutes to restore the lead ... Then an excellent execution of the penalty corner drill to increase the lead and won this match comfortably ... We need to wait for knowing our opponent from the cross-over match ... But most probably we will be facing the Netherlands.

Squash News

At $180.5K Men's Black Ball Open 2018, Cairo, Egypt (PSA World Tour Platinum)

[QF] (9/16) Saurav Ghosal (IND,12) l (2) Ali Farag (EGY,2) 6-11, 9-11, 3-11 (34m)

A decent performance by Saurav against the in-form WR #2 Ali Farag.

Tennis News

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

[SF] (WC) Rutuja Bhosale (IND,375) l (4) Jia-Jing Lu (CHN,227) 36 26

Rutuja failed to build on her excellent top-100 win in the previous round ... She lost in straight sets against Jia-Jing Lu ... Still, overall a good week for Rutuja.

Squash News

At $180.5K Men's Black Ball Open 2018, Cairo, Egypt (PSA World Tour Platinum)

[R3] (9/16) Saurav Ghosal (IND,12) bt (9/16) Omar Mosaad (EGY,18) 11-6, 12-10, 11-1 (36m)

[QF] (9/16) Saurav Ghosal (IND,12) vs (2) Ali Farag (EGY,2)

Saurav enters his first Platinum class event quarter-final in Cairo ... In the third round, he defeated the former WR #3, Omar Mosaadin straight games ... After winning the first game Saurav was down four game-balls in the second, 6-10 ... Saurav played a smart squash and made Omar play an extra ball ... Omar made a lot of unforced errors, Saurav took advantage of it and won 17 points from next 18 points for completing win in the three games ... Next, he is facing in-form WR #2 Ali Farag.

Tennis News

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

[QF] (WC) Rutuja Bhosale (IND,375) bt (1) Tamara Zidansek (SLO,86) 26 64 63

[SF] (WC) Rutuja Bhosale (IND,375) vs (4) Jia-Jing Lu (CHN,227)

Doubles
[R1] (WC) Rutuja Bhosale (IND)/ Kai-Lin Zhang (CHN) bt Mariam Bolkvadze (GEO)/ Albina Kabhibulina (UZB) 36 76(5) 11-9
[QF] (WC) Rutuja Bhosale (IND)/ Kai-Lin Zhang (CHN) bt Paula Kania (POL)/ Valeria Savinykh (RUS) 46 63 10-6

[SF] (WC) Rutuja Bhosale (IND)/ Kai-Lin Zhang (CHN) l Miyabi Inoue (JPN)/ Jia-Jing Lu (CHN) 1-4 retd.
What a huge win for Rutuja, undoubtedly the best in her career by a long way ... After losing the first set Rutuja made an excellent comeback against Tamara Zidansek for her first top-100 win ... Next, she is having a Chinese challenge of Jia-Jing Lu.

In the doubles, Rutuja and her Chinese partner Zhang gave a walkover to their opponents in the semis after winning first 2 matches in the match tie-break.

Squash News

At $180.5K Men's Black Ball Open 2018, Cairo, Egypt (PSA World Tour Platinum)

[R1] (9/16) Saurav Ghosal (IND,12) bye
[R2] (9/16) Saurav Ghosal (IND,12) bt Karim Ali Fathi (EGY,44) 11-3, 11-1, 13-11 (36m)

[R3] (9/16) Saurav Ghosal (IND,12) vs (9/16) Omar Mosaad (EGY,18)

Saurav is playing a big Platinum event in Cairo ... After receiving a bye in the first round he started with straight games win over a local player ... In the third round, he is facing the former WR #3, Omar Mosaad, who scored an upset win over the WR #6 Colombian player.

Tennis News

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

[R2] (WC) Rutuja Bhosale (IND,375) bt (Q) Miyabi Inoue (JPN,390) 46 76(4) 61
[R2] (WC) Riya Bhatia (IND,636) l (4) Jia-Jing Lu (CHN,227) 16 16
[R2] (2) Ankita Raina (IND,213) l Marina Melnikova (RUS,340) 46 63 16

[QF] (WC) Rutuja Bhosale (IND,375) vs (1) Tamara Zidansek (SLO,86)

Rutuja scored a fighting comeback win over a similar ranked Japanese girl Inoue ... Next, she is having a real test against the top-100, Tamara Zidansek.
A surprising loss for Ankita against the Russian Melnikova in three sets ... Riya failed to challenge her 4th seed Chinese opponent.

Table Tennis News

At The ITTF Rankings - December 2018,

The Men's Rankings
#30 Sharath Kamal Achanta (IND)
#31 Sathiyan Gnanasekaran (IND)
#100 Harmeet Desai (IND)

The Women's Rankings
#52 Manika Batra (IND)

Our veteran player Sharath Kamal has first-time broken into the top-30 of the ITTF rankings and G. Sathiyan has also achieved career-best ranking ... In the women's ranking also, Manika Batra rises to her career-best ranking and nearing to the top-50 of the ITTF rankings.

Tennis News

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

[R1] (WC) Zeel Desai (IND,653) l (1) Tamara Zidansek (SLO,86) 26 36
[R1] Pranjala Yadlapalli (IND,280) l (Q) Miyabi Inoue (JPN,390) 26 retd.
[R1] (WC) Rutuja Bhosale (IND,375) bt (8) Ya-Hsuan Lee (TPE,269) 6-5 retd.
[R1] (WC) Riya Bhatia (IND,636) bt (Q) Anna Morgina (RUS,496) 64 63
[R1] (WC) Mihika Yadav (IND,1137) l Diana Marcinkevica (LAT,285) 36 36
[R1] (2) Ankita Raina (IND,213) bt Jaqueline Adina Cristian (ROM,338) 63 61

[R2] (WC) Rutuja Bhosale (IND,375) vs (Q) Miyabi Inoue (JPN,390)
[R2] (WC) Riya Bhatia (IND,636) vs (4) Jia-Jing Lu (CHN,227)
[R2] (2) Ankita Raina (IND,213) vs Marina Melnikova (RUS,340)

Rutuja's the top-275 opponent retired in the late of first set ... Next, Rutuja is facing the Japanese qualifier Inoue, as her opponent Pranjala retired after losing the first set ... Riya also started with an upset straight sets win over a Russian qualifier ... Next, she is facing the 4th seed Chinese girl.
Ankita started with a comfortable win over the Romanian girl ... Next, she is facing the Russian Melnikova ... Zeel and Mihika lost against their higher ranked opponents in straight sets.

Hockey News

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

Pool C
India dw Belgium 2-2 (0-1)
Goal Scorers - Harmanpreet Singh (IND) 39' PS, Simranjeet Singh (IND) 47' and Alexander Hendrickx (BEL) 8' PC, Simon Gougnard (BEL) 56'

The Indians conceded a late goal and drew with the higher ranked Belgian team ... This was deserving result considering the dominating performance by the Belgian team in the first half ... We were lucky that the Belgian side managed a single goal ... From the third quarter, we lifted our game and attacked the Belgian goal ... We equalized through the penalty stroke and in the fourth quarter, Simranjeet gave a lead through a field goal ... After that, we tried to defend but the Belgian equalized when 4 mins were remaining ... After that, both teams failed to score but well fought a 2-all draw.

Golf News

At €1M Afrasia Bank Mauritius Open 2018, Mauritius (Co-sanctioned Asian Tour and European Tour)

T2 Chikkarangappa S. (IND) 64 68 71 67 -18 $104,365.00
T28 Ajeetesh Sandhu (IND) 69 70 68 74 -7 $9,561.00
T55 Viraj Madappa (IND) 68 74 75 69 -2 $3,739.00
61 Udayan Mane (IND) 70 72 73 72 -1 $3,286.00

Chikka scored the five-under final round to finished for the tied second position ... He started the tournament well after scoring the eight-under first round ... With this result, Chikka secures his playing card for next season at the Asian Tour.

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At $1.5M Australian PGA Championship 2018, Australia

T40 Gaganjeet Bhullar (IND) 69 70 78 71 PAR $5,664.00

The third round of six-over messed up any chance of finishing in the top-10 for Gaganjeet.

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At $500K Queen's Cup hosted by Jaidee Foundation 2018, Thailand (Asian Tour)

T6 Shiv Kapur (IND) 69 68 65 67 -11 $15,450.00
T28 M Dharma (IND) 68 66 71 70 -5 $3,922.00
T28 Abhijit Chadha (IND) 69 66 72 68 -5 $3,922.00
T38 Rashid Khan (IND) 68 70 69 69 -4 $3,033.00
T48 Kshitij Naveed Kaul (IND) 68 71 68 70 -3 $2,352.00
T48 Honey Baisoya (IND) 72 67 72 66 -3 $2,352.00
T62 Amardip Malik (IND) 66 65 71 78 PAR $1,600.00

Shiv Kapur finished in the top-10 with the final 3-under round.

Tennis News

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

Singles Final
(4) Karman Kaur Thandi (IND,223) l (1) Tamara Zidansek (SLO,86) 36 46

The top-100 player, Tamara Zidansek, proved a strong for Karman as she lost in straight sets ... Karman fought hard but Zidansek used her experience to win important points and completed win in the two sets ... Still, a notable performance from Karman.

Tennis News

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

[QF] (7) Pranjala Yadlapalli (IND,280) l Chihiro Muramatsu (JPN,412) 26 57

Doubles
[SF] (3) N.Sriram Balaji (IND)/ Arjun Kadhe (IND) l (1) Mao-Xin Gong (CHN)/ Zhang Ze (CHN) 46 26

Boys' 18/u Singles
[SF] (1) Mann Shah (IND,99) l (7) Baoluo Zheng (CHN,568) 75 46 46

Turned to be a bad day for the Indians as our all players lost their respective matches and chance of getting the wild card for AO 19 ... Pranjala struggled with her game and lost in straight sets against her Japanese opponent.

I was hoping spirited performance by Bala and Arjun but they lost easily against the local top-seeds Gong and Ze.

Mann started well after winning the first set but then failed to capitalize against the lowly ranked local player.

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

P.C. to Karman's FB page

[SF] (4) Karman Kaur Thandi (IND,223) bt (2) Ankita Raina (IND,198) 26 62 64

[F] (4) Karman Kaur Thandi (IND,223) vs (1) Tamara Zidansek (SLO,86)

Doubles Final
(1) Ankita Raina (IND)/ Karman Kaur Thandi (IND) bt (WC) Aleksandrina Naydenova (BUL)/ Tamara Zidansek (SLO) 62 67(5) 11-9

The battle of becoming the India's #1 in the year-end ranking is intensified ... Karman drew a first blood as she scored a fighting comeback win over her senior partner Ankita in three sets ... With this win she will sneak ahead of Ankita but there are still 3 more tournaments to decide ... In the final, Karman is facing a tough challenge of the top-100 player, Tamara Zidansek.

Ankita and Karman captured the women's doubles title against experienced players, Aleksandrina Naydenova and Tamara Zidansek ... After winning the first set they faced stiff resistant from Naydenova and Zidansek but managed to complete win in a closely fought the match tie-break.