Table Tennis News

At $70K ITTF Challenge Plus Oman Open 2020, Muscat, Oman

[R32] Harmeet Desai (IND,87) bt Jeremy Hazin (CAN,164) 4-0 (12-10, 11-8, 11-4, 11-4)
[R32] Sharath Kamal Achanta (IND,38) bt Manush Utpalbhai Shah (IND,761) 4-0 (11-6, 11-4, 11-9, 11-8)

[R16] Harmeet Desai (IND,87) bt (3) Omar Assar (EGY,35) 4-3 (7-11, 11-13, 11-9, 11-6, 8-11, 11-5, 11-8)
[R16] Sharath Kamal Achanta (IND,38) bt Aliaksandr Khanin (BLR,156) 4-1 (5-11, 11-5, 11-3, 11-5, 11-7)

[QF] Harmeet Desai (IND,87) bt Alvaro Robles (ESP,79) 4-1 (11-9, 11-5, 11-8, 8-11, 11-1)
[QF] Sharath Kamal Achanta (IND,38) bt Benedek Olah (FIN,95) 4-1 (11-7, 10-12, 11-3, 11-8, 11-6)

[SF] Harmeet Desai (IND,87) l (1) Marcos Freitas (POR,26) 3-4 (11-5, 9-11, 11-6, 11-6, 8-11, 11-13, 5-11)
[SF] Sharath Kamal Achanta (IND,38) bt Kirill Skachkov (RUS,66) 4-3 (11-13, 11-13, 13-11, 11-9, 13-11, 8-11, 11-7)

[F] Sharath Kamal Achanta (IND,38) bt (1) Marcos Freitas (POR,26) 4-2 (6-11, 11-8, 12-10, 11-9, 3-11, 17-15)

37-yeard old Sharath lifted the Oman Open title beating a WR #26 Marcos Freitas in the final ... This is a first title for Sharath after 10 years, previously he won the Egypt Open in 2009 ... Here in the final, he saved 5 game points before winning the 6th game for a win.

Harmeet also had an excellent outing ... He scored a couple of good wins like; he defeated Wr #35 Omar Assar and the top-80 Spaniard, Alvaro Robles.

Badminton News

At $1.1M YONEX All England Open 2020, Birmingham (HSBC BWF World Tour Super 1000)

[QF] (6) Pusarla V. Sindhu (IND,6) l (4) Nozomi Okuhara (JPN,4) 21-12 15-21 13-21

Sindhu again lost in a long mach against Nozomi Okuhara after winning the first game ... With this loss Indian challenge got over in the All England Open.

Athletic News

At the ACNW meeting 2020, Potchefstroom, South Africa

Shivpal Singh (IND) 85.47m (85m qualification mark)

24-year-old Shivpal Singh becomes a second javelin thrower to qualify for Tokyo Olympic after Neeraj Chopra ... In the South Africa event, Shivpal crossed the qualifying distance on his 5th attempt throw.

Tennis News

At $35K+H Potchefstroom Challenger 2020, South Africa

[R2] Sidharth Rawat (IND,445) l (1) Benjamin Bonzi (FRA,241) 36 57

A decent performance by Sid against his top-250 opponent, Bonzi.

Badminton News

At $1.1M YONEX All England Open 2020, Birmingham (HSBC BWF World Tour Super 1000)

[R2] Lakshya Sen (IND,29) l (2) Viktor Axelsen (DEN,7) 17-21 18-21

[R2] (6) Pusarla V. Sindhu (IND,6) bt Ji Hyun Sung (KOR,12) 21-19 21-15

[R2] Ashwini Ponnappa (IND)/ N. Sikki Reddy (IND) l (7) Misaki Matsutomo (JPN)/ Ayaka Takahashi (JPN) 13-21 14-21

[QF] (6) Pusarla V. Sindhu (IND,6) vs (4) Nozomi Okuhara (JPN,4)

Another good win by Sindhu against a Korean Ji Hyun Sung in straight games ... Next, she is facing a WR #4 Nozomi Okuhara.
Lakshya gave a decent performance against an experienced Viktor Axelsen in his loss.
In the doubles, Ashwini and Sikki lost easily against the 7th seed Japanese pair.

Boxing News

At 2020 Asia and Oceania Boxing Olympic Qualification Tournament, Amman, Jordan

Women Lightweight (60 kg) (4 quota places)
[F] Simranjit Kaur (IND) l Oh Yeon-ji (KOR) 0-5

Men Lightweight (63 kg) (6 quota places)
[Olympic box-off match] Manish Kaushik (IND) bt Harrison Garside (AUS) 4-1

Men Welterweight (69 kg) (5 quota places)
[F] Vikas Krishan Yadav (IND) l (4) Zeyad Ishaish (JOR) WO

Men Light heavyweight (81 kg) (5 quota places)
[Olympic box-off match] Sachin Kumar (IND) l Shabbos Negmatulloev (TJK) 0-5

Manish Kaushik becomes the 9th boxer to capture Olympic quota from the men Lightweight category ... He defeated a seeded Australian boxer, Harrison Garside, in the Olympic box-off match.

Vikas Krishan gave a walkover to a local boxer, Zeyad Ishaish, in the men Welterweight final.
In the women's Lightweight category final, Simranjit Kaur lost easily against a Korean Oh Yeon-ji.

A surprising one-sided loss of Sachin Kumar against Shabbos Negmatulloev in the Olympic box-off match.

India ended with healthy haul of the 2 silver medals and the 6 bronze medals with 9 Olympic quota places.

Badminton News

At $1.1M YONEX All England Open 2020, Birmingham (HSBC BWF World Tour Super 1000)

[R1] Parupalli Kashyap (IND,24) l Shesar Hiren Rhustavito (INA,17) 0-3
[R1] Sai Praneeth B. (IND,10) l Jun Peng Zhao (CHN,36) 12-21 13-21
[R1] (3) Kidambi Srikanth (IND,14) l (3) Long Chen (CHN,5) 14-21 17-21
[R1] Lakshya Sen (IND,29) bt Cheuk Yiu Lee (HKG,18) 17-21 21-8 21-17

[R1] Saina Nehwal (IND,20) l (3) Akane Yamaguchi (JPN,3) 11-21 8-21
[R1] (6) Pusarla V. Sindhu (IND,6) bt Beiwen Zhang (USA,14) 21-14 21-17

[R1] Ashwini Ponnappa (IND)/ N. Sikki Reddy (IND) bt Jenny Moore (ENG)/ Victoria Williams (ENG) 5-4 retd.

[R1] Pranaav Jerry Chopra (IND)/ N. Sikki Reddy (IND) l (1) Si Wei Zheng (CHN)/ Ya Qiong Huang (CHN) 13-21 21-11 17-21

[R2] Lakshya Sen (IND,29) vs (2) Viktor Axelsen (DEN,7)

[R2] (6) Pusarla V. Sindhu (IND,6) vs Ji Hyun Sung (KOR,12)

[R2] Ashwini Ponnappa (IND)/ N. Sikki Reddy (IND) vs (7) Misaki Matsutomo (JPN)/ Ayaka Takahashi (JPN)

Sindhu started with straight games win over Zhang ... Next, she is facing a Korean Ji Hyun Sung, both players share an 8-all win-loss record.
A young Lakshya scored an excellent comeback win over a top-20 Cheuk Yiu Lee ... Next, he is facing a former WR #1 Danish player, Viktor Axelsen.
Srikanth and Saina had tough matches ... Srikanth lost in straight games against Long Chen and Saina also failed to challenge Akane Yamaguchi in the one-sided loss ... Sai also lost poorly against his Chinese opponent.
In the doubles, Ashwini and Sikki got a lucky break as their local opponents retired in the first game ... In the second round, they r facing the 7th seed Japanese pair.
In MXD, Pranaav and Sikki gave a fighting performance against a WR #1 Chinese pair.

Tennis News

At $54K+H Nur-Sultan Challenger 2020, Kazakhstan

[R2] (10) Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,185) l Jesper De Jong (NED,400) 26 26

A bad loss for Ram against a lower-ranked De Jong ... Ram and Purav gave a walkover in the doubles as Purav failed to reach Nur-Sultan.

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At $35K+H Potchefstroom Challenger 2020, South Africa

[R1] Sidharth Rawat (IND,445) bt Danylo Kalenichenko (UKR,463) 57 63 62

[R2] Sidharth Rawat (IND,445) vs (1) Benjamin Bonzi (FRA,241)

Doubles
[QF] Sidharth Rawat (IND)/ Mick Veldheer (NED) l (2) Dustin Brown (GER)/ Lucas Miedler (AUT) 67(2) 26

Sid lost the first set against Kalenichenko but produced an excellent comeback for winning the next 2 sets ... In the second round, he is facing a top-seed Frenchman Benjamin Bonzi.
But in the doubles, Sid and Veldheer lost in straight sets against the 2nd seed pair.

Boxing News

At 2020 Asia & Oceania Boxing Olympic Qualification Tournament, Amman, Jordan

Women Flyweight (51 kg) (6 quota places)
[SF] (2) Mangte Chungneijang Mary Kom (IND) l Chang Yuan (CHN) 0-5

Women Lightweight (60 kg) (4 quota places)
[SF] Simranjit Kaur (IND) bt (3) Wu Shih-yi (TPE) 3-2

[F] Simranjit Kaur (IND) vs Oh Yeon-ji (KOR)

Women Welterweight (69 kg) (4 quota places)
[SF] (2) Lovlina Borgohain (IND) l (3) Gu Hong (CHN) 0-5

Women Middleweight (75 kg) (4 quota places)
[SF] (4) Pooja Rani (IND) l (1) Li Qian (CHN) 0-5

Men Flyweight (52 kg) (6 quota places)
[SF] (1) Amit Panghal (IND) l Hu Jianguan (CHN) 2-3

Men Welterweight (69 kg) (5 quota places)
[SF] Vikas Krishan Yadav (IND) bt (2) Ablaikhan Zhussupov (KAZ) 3-2

[F] Vikas Krishan Yadav (IND) vs (4) Zeyad Ishaish (JOR)

Men Middleweight (75 kg) (5 quota places)
[SF] Ashish Kumar (IND) l (1) Eumir Marcial (PHI) 1-4

Men Light heavyweight (81 kg) (5 quota places)
[Olympic box-off R1] Sachin Kumar (IND) bt Nguyễn Mạnh Cường (VIE) 4-1

[Olympic box-off R2] Sachin Kumar (IND) vs Shabbos Negmatulloev (TJK)

Men Super heavyweight (+91 kg) (4 quota places)
[SF] (4) Satish Kumar (IND) l (1) Bakhodir Jalolov (UZB) 0-5

In the women's Lightweight category, Simranjit Kaur enters into the final with an upset fighting win over a seeded Taipei boxer, Wu Shih-yi ... In the final bout, she is facing a Korean Oh Yeon-ji

Our all other women boxers; Mary Kom, Lovlina Borgohain and Pooja Rani; lost one-sided matches to their Chinese opponents.

Vikas Krishan continues with his good form and he scored an upset win over his 2nd seed Kazakh boxer, Ablaikhan Zhussupov, in a close match ... In the final, he is facing a local boxer, Zeyad Ishaish.

In this tournament, Amit Panghal struggled in his all matches and in the semis, he lost his bout 2-3 against his Chinese opponent.
Sachin Kumar enters into the final box-off in the Light heavyweight category ... He defeated his Vietnamese opponent 4-1 and he will face Shabbos Negmatulloev for an Olympic quota place.
Ashish Kumar gave a fighting performance against the top-seed Filipino Eumir Marcial in his loss ... Satish Kumar failed to challenge his superior Uzbek opponent, Bakhodir Jalolov.

Tennis News

At $35K+H Potchefstroom Challenger 2020, South Africa

[R1] Sidharth Rawat (IND)/ Mick Veldheer (NED) bt (WC) Gerhardt Marius Becker (RSA)/ Pierre Malan (RSA) 63 3-2 retd.

[QF] Sidharth Rawat (IND)/ Mick Veldheer (NED) vs (2) Dustin Brown (GER)/ Lucas Miedler (AUT)

Sia and Mick r in the quarters and r facing the 2nd seed Brown and Miedler.

Boxing News

At 2020 Asia & Oceania Boxing Olympic Qualification Tournament, Amman, Jordan

Women Flyweight (51 kg) (6 quota places)
[QF] (2) Mangte Chungneijang Mary Kom (IND) bt Irish Magno (PHI) 5-0

[SF] (2) Mangte Chungneijang Mary Kom (IND) vs Chang Yuan (CHN)

Women Featherweight (57 kg) (4 quota places)
[QF] Sakshi Chaudhary (IND) l Im Ae-ji (KOR) 0-5

Women Lightweight (60 kg) (4 quota places)
[QF] Simranjit Kaur (IND) bt (2) Monkhoryn Namuun (MGL) 5-0

[SF] Simranjit Kaur (IND) vs (3) Wu Shih-yi (TPE)

Men Flyweight (52 kg) (6 quota places)
[QF] (1) Amit Panghal (IND) bt Carlo Paalam (PHI) 4-1

[SF] (1) Amit Panghal (IND) vs Hu Jianguan (CHN)

Men Lightweight (63 kg) (6 quota places)
[QF] Manish Kaushik (IND) l (3) Baatarsükhiin Chinzorig (MGL) 2-3

[Olympic box-off R1] Manish Kaushik (IND) vs Harrison Garside (AUS)

Amit Panghal gives a sixth Olympic quota for India when he defeated a Filipino Carlo Paalam ... In the semis, he is facing a Chinese boxer, Hu Jianguan.
Mary Kom becomes the 7th Indian boxer to qualifies for the Olympic ... She defeated her Filipino opponent convincingly ... In the semis, she is facing a Chinese boxer, Chang Yuan.
And Simranjit Kaur captures the 8th Olympic quota for India as she convincingly defeated the 2nd seed Mongolian boxer ... In the semis bout, she is facing the 3rd seed Taipei boxer, Wu Shih-yi.
Manish lost a close bout against his seeded Mongolian opponent, 2-3 ... He is facing the 2nd seed Aussie boxer, Harrison Garside, for an Olympic quota in the Olympic box-off bout.

Sakshi lost easily against her Korean opponent.

Tennis News

At $54K+H Nur-Sultan Challenger 2020, Kazakhstan

[R1] (10) Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,182) bye

Doubles
[R1] (1) Purav Raja (IND)/ Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND) vs Denis Yevseyev (KAZ)/ Alexey Zakharov (RUS)

Ram is playing in the Nur-Sultan Challenger ... As a seeded player, he has a bye in the first round ... In the doubles, he is the top-seed with Purav and they r facing Yevseyev and Zakharov.

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At $35K+H Potchefstroom Challenger 2020, South Africa

[R1] Sidharth Rawat (IND,501) vs Danylo Kalenichenko (UKR)

Doubles
[R1] Sidharth Rawat (IND)/ Mick Veldheer (NED) vs (WC) Gerhardt Marius Becker (RSA)/ Pierre Malan (RSA)

Sid is playing in the South African challenger ... He faces Kalenichenko in the first round ... In the doubles, he is playing with Veldheer and facing a local wild-card pair.

Golf News

At $1.75M Commercial Bank Qatar Masters 2020, Doha, Qatar (European Tour)

T28 SSP Chawrasia (IND) 67 69 68 74 -6 € 12,741.66
------ Cut @ PAR ------
T126 Shubhankar Sharma (IND) 71 78 +7

SSP's last 3-over round ended his chance of the top-10 finish on the European tour ... Shubhankar still not able to find his touch on the course.

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At $1M Bandar Malaysia Open 2020, Shah Alam, Selangor, Malaysia (Asian Tour)

T16 Chikkarangappa S (IND) 68 73 67 -8 $11,383.33
T31 Rashid Khan (IND) 76 67 67 -6 $7,614.29
T38 Shiv Kapur (IND) 71 70 70 -5 $6,038.89
T53 Aman Raj 69 72 72 -3 $3,820
T53 Rahil Gangjee 71 69 73 -3 $3,820

A decent finish for Chikka as he finished in the top-20 in this Malaysia Open.

Boxing News

At 2020 Asia & Oceania Boxing Olympic Qualification Tournament, Amman, Jordan

Women Welterweight (69 kg) (4 quota places)
[QF] (2) Lovlina Borgohain (IND) bt Maftunakhon Melieva (UZB) 5-0

[SF] (2) Lovlina Borgohain (IND) vs (3) Gu Hong (CHN)

Women Middleweight (75 kg) (4 quota places)
[QF] (4) Pooja Rani (IND) bt Pornnipa Chutee (THA) 5-0

[SF] (4) Pooja Rani (IND) vs (1) Li Qian (CHN)

Men Welterweight (69 kg) (5 quota places)
[QF] Vikas Krishan Yadav (IND) bt (3) Sewon Okazawa (JPN) 5-0

[SF] Vikas Krishan Yadav (IND) vs (2) Ablaikhan Zhussupov (KAZ)

Men Middleweight (75 kg) (5 quota places)
[QF] Ashish Kumar (IND) bt Michael Roberrd Muskita (INA) 5-0

[SF] Ashish Kumar (IND) vs (1) Eumir Marcial (PHI)

Men Light heavyweight (81 kg) (5 quota places)
[QF] Sachin Kumar (IND) l Chen Daxaing (CHN) 2-3

[Olympic box-off R1] Sachin Kumar (IND) vs Nguyễn Mạnh Cường (VIE)

Men Super heavyweight (+91 kg) (4 quota places)
[QF] (4) Satish Kumar (IND) bt Daavii Otgonbayar (MGL) 5-0

[SF] (4) Satish Kumar (IND) vs (1) Bakhodir Jalolov (UZB)

Our boxers won 5 of 6 quarter-final bouts in which they participated to seal 5 Olympic quotas for India.

In the women's Middleweight category, Pooja Rani became the first Indian boxer to win an Olympic quota When she defeated Thai boxer Chutee with a unanimous verdict... In the semis, she is facing the top-seed Chinese boxer, Li Qian. In the women's Welterweight category, Lovlina Borgohain captured an Olympic quota beating her Uzbek opponent with a unanimous verdict ... In the semis, she is facing the 3rd seed Chinese boxer, Gu Hong.

In the Welterweight category, Vikas Krishan Yadav won an Olympic quota when he defeated the 3rd seed Japanese boxer Sewon Okazawa with a unanimous verdict ... In the semis, he is facing the 2nd seed Kazakh boxer, Ablaikhan Zhussupov.
In the Middleweight category, Ashish Kumar became the 4th Indian boxer to win an Olympic quota ... He scored a win over an Indonesian boxer Muskita with a unanimous verdict ... In the semis, he is facing the top-seed Filipino boxer, Eumir Marcial.
In the Super heavyweight category, Satish Kumar took a fifth Olympic quota, when he defeated his Mongolian opponent with a unanimous decision ... In the semis, he is facing the top-seed Uzbek boxer, Bakhodir Jalolov.
Sachin Kumar lost a close bout against his Chinese opponent in the Light heavyweight category ... He still has a chance but needs to win the next 2 bouts ... He is facing a Vietnamese boxer, Nguyễn Mạnh Cường.

Tennis News

At Fed Cup 2020 - Asia/ Oceania Group I, Dubai, UAE

P.C. to Sunil Yajaman FB page

Group A
India bt Indonesia 2-1

[R1] Rutuja Bhosale (IND,433) l Priska Madelyn Nugroho (INA,UNR) 36 60 36
[R2] Ankita Raina (IND,160) bt Aldila Sutjiadi (INA,370) 63 63
[R3] Sania Mirza (IND)/ Ankita Raina (IND) bt Priska Madelyn Nugroho (INA)/ Aldila Sutjiadi (INA) 76(4) 60

What a gift by our Fed Cup team on the Women's Day!
Our women created a history in the Fed Cup, for the first-ever time in history, (last evening in Dubai) Indian Fed Cup Team qualified for the World Group Play-offs ... Congratulation to Sania Mirza, Ankita Raina, Rutuja Bhosale, Sowjanya Bavisetti, and Riya Bhatia for making the country proud ... Also a terrific job by our captain Vishaal Uppal and coach Ankita Bhambri.

Rutuja lost her first match in this Fed Cup when she lost in 3 sets against a talented junior WR #15 Indonesian girl, Priska Madelyn Nugroho ... Ankita raised to an occasion after her previous 2 losses in the last 2 ties, she defeated Sutjiadi comfortably and made this tie 1-all ... In the doubles, Sania and Ankita were 1-4 down before making an excellent comeback in the match ... After winning the first set in the tie-break they trounced their Indonesian opponents in the second set ... With this win, we finished the 2nd behind a solid Chinese team and qualify for the World Group Play-offs as a top 2 teams.

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At the 2020 Davis Cup Qualifiers, Dom Sportova, Zagreb, Croatia

India l Croatia 1-3
[R1] Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,132) l Borna Gojo (CRO,277) 63 46 26
[R2] Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,182) l Marin Cilic (CRO,37) 67(8) 67(8)

[R3] Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Leander Paes (IND) bt Mate Pavic (CRO)/ Franko Skugor (CRO) 63 67(9) 75

[R4] Sumit Nagal (IND,127) l Marin Cilic (CRO,37) 06 16

After first day results as an expected loss against a superior Croatian team ... But there was a silver lining, in his last Davis Cup appearance Leander scored a victory with Rohan against a higher-ranked Croatian pair in an exciting match ... With this win, Leander ended his World record doubles wins in the Davis Cup to 45 wins.

Lee and Rohan won the first set, but the second set was a lot closer and our pair missed 2 match-points before losing the set in a long 20 points tie-break ... In the third set, our pair was 2-4 down before they dug deep and fought back to win this match. In the reverse singles, our non-playing captain made a change and played Sumit in the place of Prajnesh ... That was a wrong move considering Sumit's lack of service speed and the game which suited to the clay ... Cilic destroyed him in 56 minutes losing a single game.

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At $108K+H Monterrey Challenger 2020, Mexico

[QF] (5) N. Sriram Balaji (IND)/ Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND) bt Federico Gaio (ITA)/ Paolo Lorenzi (ITA) 26 63 15-13

[SF] (5) N. Sriram Balaji (IND)/ Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND) l (4) Orlando Luz (BRA)/ Rafael Matos (BRA) 57 46

Bala and Jeevan won their quarter-finals against an Italian pair, but they lost in the semis against the 4th seed Brazilian pair.

Boxing News

At 2020 Asia & Oceania Boxing Olympic Qualification Tournament, Amman, Jordan

Women Flyweight (51 kg) (6 quota places)
[R16] (2) Mangte Chungneijang Mary Kom (IND) bt Tasmyn Benny (NZL) 5-0

[QF] (2) Mangte Chungneijang Mary Kom (IND) vs Irish Magno (PHI)

Women Featherweight (57 kg) (4 quota places)
[R16] Sakshi Chaudhary (IND) bt (4) Nilawan Techasuep (THA) 4-1

[QF] Sakshi Chaudhary (IND) vs Im Ae-ji (KOR)

Women Lightweight (60 kg) (4 quota places)
[R16] Simranjit Kaur (IND) bt Rimma Volossenko (KAZ) 5-0

[QF] Simranjit Kaur (IND) vs (2) Monkhoryn Namuun (MGL)

Women Welterweight (69 kg) (4 quota places)
[QF] (2) Lovlina Borgohain (IND) vs Maftunakhon Melieva (UZB)

Women Middleweight (75 kg) (4 quota places)
[QF] (4) Pooja Rani (IND) vs Pornnipa Chutee (THA)

Men Flyweight (52 kg) (6 quota places)
[R16] (1) Amit Panghal (IND) bt Kharkhüügiin Enkhmandakh (MGL) 3-2

[QF] (1) Amit Panghal (IND) vs Carlo Paalam (PHI)

Men Featherweight (57 kg) (6 quota places)
[Pre] Gaurav Solanki (IND) bt Akylbek Esenbek Uulu (KGZ) 5-0

[R16] Gaurav Solanki (IND) l (1) Mirazizbek Mirzakhalilov (UZB) 1-4

Men Lightweight (63 kg) (6 quota places)
[R16] Manish Kaushik (IND) bt John Ume (PNG) 5-0

[QF] Manish Kaushik (IND) vs (3) Baatarsükhiin Chinzorig (MGL)

Men Welterweight (69 kg) (5 quota places)
[R16] Vikas Krishan Yadav (IND) bt Nursultan Mamataly (KGZ) 5-0

[QF] Vikas Krishan Yadav (IND) vs (3) Sewon Okazawa (JPN)

Men Middleweight (75 kg) (5 quota places)
[Pre] Ashish Kumar (IND) bt Kan Chia-wei (TPE) 5-0

[R16] Ashish Kumar (IND) bt (4) Omurbek Bekzhigit Uulu (KGZ) 5-0

[QF] Ashish Kumar (IND) vs Michael Roberrd Muskita (INA)

Men Light heavyweight (81 kg) (5 quota places)
[R16] Sachin Kumar (IND) bt Dee Ioapo (SAM) 5-0

[QF] Sachin Kumar (IND) vs Chen Daxaing (CHN)

Men Heavyweight (91 kg) (4 quota places)
[R16] Naman Tanwar (IND) l Alaa Aldin Ghousoon (SYR) 0-5

Men Super heavyweight (+91 kg) (4 quota places)
[QF] (4) Satish Kumar (IND) vs Daavii Otgonbayar (MGL)

Excited to see our 11 boxers from 13 boxers (all categories) r still in a chance of capturing Olympic quota places ... All boxers are one win away fro a direct qualification.

Some interesting results, our main hope Amit Panghal had a tough draw as he faced a Mangolian Kharkhüügiin Enkhmandakh ... In their last bout at Military World Games, he lost against Enkhmandakh ... Here, Amit started aggressively and scored a lot of points in counter-attacking in the first 2 rounds, but Kharhuu put pressure in the final round but Amit prevailed in this close bout.

In men Middleweight, Ashish Kumar created an upset after convincingly beating the 4th seed Kyrgyzstani boxer, Omurbek Bekzhigit Uulu.

In women Featherweight, Sakshi Chaudhary created an upset after beating the 4th seed Thai boxer, Nilawan Techasuep.

Tennis News

At Fed Cup 2020 - Asia/ Oceania Group I, Dubai, UAE

Group A
India bt Chinese Taipei 2-1

[R1] Rutuja Bhosale (IND,433) bt Ya Yi Yang (TPE,852) 63 36 76(8)
[R2] Ankita Raina (IND,160) l En Shuo Liang (TPE,205) 63 26 36
[R3] Sania Mirza (IND)/ Ankita Raina (IND) bt Latisha Chan (TPE)/En Shuo Liang (TPE) 64 46 64

What a fighting win by our Indian women's over talented Taipei women ... Rutuja again raised to occasion and delivered when required ... She defeated a talented 15 yrs old Ya Yi Yang in a closely fought 2 hours and 46 minutes match ... Rutuja saved 3 match-points before converting her 2nd match-point for an important win ... Ankita again lost her match after winning the first set against En Shuo Liang ... In the important doubles rubber, Sania and Ankita raised to their game to complete win in 3 sets which lasted for 2 hours and 35 minutes ... The WR #14 Latisha Chan with En Shuo Liang pushed Sania and Ankita to the fullest.

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At the 2020 Davis Cup Qualifiers, Dom Sportova, Zagreb, Croatia

India vs Croatia 0-2
[R1] Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,132) l Borna Gojo (CRO,277) 63 46 26
[R2] Ramkumar Ramanathan (182) l Marin Cilic (CRO,37) 67(8) 67(8)

Prajnesh started with winning the first set, but after that, he failed to complete win as a lowly-ranked Borna Gojo made a strong comeback for a win.

Ram gave a strong performance against Cilic and didn't lose a single game on his serve ... Cilic used his vast experience to win this match in the 2 tie-breaks which went to 18 points ... He didn't fail a single break-point on his serve but he also failed to break Cilic and lost the first set in a long tie-break ... The second set was the same story, here Ram saved a couple of break-points but again Cilic prevailed in the tie-break to give a huge advantage to the Croatian side after 2 rubbers.

Tennis News

At Fed Cup 2020 - Asia/ Oceania Group I, Dubai, UAE

Group A
India bt Korea 2-1

[R1] Rutuja Bhosale (IND,433) bt Su Jeong Jang (KOR,309) 75 64
[R2] Ankita Raina (IND,160) l Na-Lae Han (KOR,184) 46 06
[R3] Sania Mirza (IND)/ Ankita Raina (IND) bt Na-Lae Han (KOR)/ Na Ri Kim (KOR) 64 64

Another good win by our girls against the Korean girls ... Rutuja again gave a superb start with a win over her higher-ranked Korean opponent, Su Jeong Jang ... But Na-Lae Han proved too strong to Ankita ... Sania and Ankita won a closely fought doubles match to help us for winning this tie ... Both pairs faced a multiple service breaks but or pair prevailed to give us an important win.

Tennis News

At Fed Cup 2020 - Asia/ Oceania Group I, Dubai, UAE

Group A
India bt Uzbekistan 3-0

[R1] Rutuja Bhosale (IND,433) bt Akgul Amanmuradova (UZB,398) 26 62 75
[R2] Ankita Raina (IND,160) bt Sabina Sharipova (UZB,355) 75 61
[R3] Sowjanya Bavisetti (IND)/ Riya Bhatia (IND) bt Yasmina Karimjanova (UZB)/ Sitora Normuradova (UZB) 63 61

A good solid win by the Indian women against the Uzbek women ... Rutuja scored a superb comeback win over a former top-50 Akgul Amanmuradova to give us a winning start ... Ankita scored a straight-sets win over Sharipova and then, Riya and Sowjanya scored a comfortable win in the doubles.

Tennis News

At Fed Cup 2020 - Asia/ Oceania Group I, Dubai, UAE

Group A
India l China 0-3

[R1] Rutuja Bhosale (IND,433) l Shuai Zhang (CHN,35) 46 26
[R2] Ankita Raina (IND,160) l Qiang Wang (CHN,29) 61 26 46
[R3] Sowjanya Bavisetti (IND)/ Riya Bhatia (IND) l Shuai Peng (CHN)/ YiFan Xu (CHN) 06 16

The expected loss against a higher-ranked Chinese team ... Moreover, Karman withdrew from the team due to injury ... Rutuja gave a decent performance against her WR #35 opponent ... Ankita showed improvement in her game as she won the first set against the top-30 Qyang Wang, she lost the next 2 sets but gave a fighting performance.

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At $108K+H Monterrey Challenger 2020, Mexico

[R1] (5) N. Sriram Balaji (IND)/ Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND) bt Milledge Cossu (USA)/ Adrian Mannarino (FRA) 46 63 10-6

Bala and Jeevan started with a comeback win after losing the first set against Mannarino and Cossu.

Golf News

At €210K Women's NSW Open 2020, Australia (Ladies European Tour)

T4 Aditi Ashok (IND) 73 68 70 67 -10 € 8,505.00
T7 Diksha Dagar (IND) 69 68 71 74 -6 € 5,565.00

Aditi scored a superb final 5-under round to finish inside the top-5 in the final standing ... Diksha also had a chance of the top-5 finish, but she managed 2-over final round ... Still, a good top-10 finish for Diksha.

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At $1.75M Oman Open 2020, Muscat, Oman (European Tour)

T25 SSP Chawrasia (IND) 68 75 72 67 -6 € 15,589.49
------ Cut @ +1 ------
T110 Shubhankar Sharma (IND) 74 74 +4

SSP scored an excellent 5-under final round to finish inside the top-25 ... But Shubhankar's struggle continues on the course, as he again missed a cut.