Tennis News -
At $1.401M Dubai Tennis Championships, UAE

[SF] (4) BHUPATHI Mahesh (IND)/ KNOWLES Mark (BAH) bt (2) ASPELIN Simon (SWE)/ KNOWLE Julian (AUT) 62 60

[F] (4) BHUPATHI Mahesh (IND)/ KNOWLES Mark (BAH) vs (3) Martin DAMM (CZE)/ Pavel VIZNER (CZE)

Very dominating performance by Hesh and Mark against higher seeds ... They crushed Knowle and Aspelin ... They won 50 points of total 77 points which played in this match.

So now in the final they will play against 3rd seeds Damm and Vizner, who upset top seeds in other semi.
---------------------------------------------------------------
Badminton News -
At $5K Croatian International 2008, Zagreb

[Q1] Ajay JAYARAM (IND,246) bt David OBERNOSTERER (AUT,624) 21-6 19-21 21-6
[Q2] Ajay JAYARAM (IND,246) l (8) Kristian NIELSEN (DEN,128) 14-21 17-21

Maindraw -
[R1] P KASHYAP (IND,100) bt Klaus RAFFEINER (ITA,108) 21-16 21-10
[R1] Anand PAWAR (IND,111) bt Brice LEVERDEZ (FRA,77) 21-10 21-16

[R1] Trupti MURGUNDE (IND,63) l Nanna BROSOLAT JENSEN (DEN,78) 18-21 11-21
[R1] Aditi MUTATKAR (IND,89) bt Maja KERSNIK (SLO,79) 21-12 21-17

[R1] (1) Rupesh KUMAR (IND)/ Sanave THOMAS (IND) Bye
[R1] Akshay DEWALKAR (IND)/ Diju V (IND) Bye

[R2] (1) Rupesh KUMAR (IND)/ Sanave THOMAS (IND) vs Rene NICHTERWITZ (AUT)/ David OBERNOSTERER (AUT)

[R2] Anand PAWAR (IND,111) bt P KASHYAP (IND,100) 23-21 21-14
[R2] Aditi MUTATKAR (IND,89) bt (4) Claudia RIVERO (PER,49) 21-15 19-21 21-13

[QF] Anand PAWAR (IND,111) vs Ville LANG (FIN,88)
[QF] Aditi MUTATKAR (IND,89) vs (Q) Patty STOLZENBACH (NED,113)

Anand continue to impressed with his performance ... Today he scored 2 quality win against top 100, though second win was against his team-mate P Kashyap.

Aditi also scored quality wins against higer ranked players, importantly her tight win against top-50 Peruvian player.

Tennis News -
At $1.401M Dubai Tennis Championships, UAE

[QF] (4) BHUPATHI Mahesh (IND)/ KNOWLES Mark (BAH) bt LOPEZ Feliciano (ESP)/ NADAL Rafael (ESP) 61 61

[QF] (WC) BOPANNA Rohan (IND)/ QURESHI Aisam-Ul-Haq (PAK) l (1) NESTOR Daniel (CAN)/ ZIMONJIC Nenad (SRB) 62 67(5) (6)10

[SF] (4) BHUPATHI Mahesh (IND)/ KNOWLES Mark (BAH) vs (2) ASPELIN Simon (SWE)/ KNOWLE Julian (AUT)

Hesh and Mark r on roll scoring another dominating victory ... But I m more impressed by performance by ‘Rookie pair’ (on ATP tour) of Bops and Aisam against seasoned pair of Nestor and Zimo ... This rookie pair almost pulled huge upset against top seeds ... This performance will definitely help them to perform better in future matches against these top teams.
-------------------------------------------
At $15K Ivory Coast F1, Abidjan, Cote D'Ivoire

[R2] (7) RASTOGI Karan (IND,514) bt (Q) NEDELKO Ivan (RUS,986) 62 61

[QF] (7) RASTOGI Karan (IND,514) vs SANON Valentin (CIV,629)

Doubles -
[QF] (1) RASTOGI Karan (IND)/ SATSCHKO Alexander (GER) bt BAJOT Jean-Pierre (FRA)/ COCO Rudy (FRA) 62 67(5) 10(7)

[SF] (1) RASTOGI Karan (IND)/ SATSCHKO Alexander (GER) vs BELYAEV Ilya (RUS)/ KROTIOUK Sergei (RUS)

These wins will help Karan to bring back his confidence on his own game and give him much required momentum while participating in bigger and tougher tournaments.
---------------------------------------------------------------
Chess News -
At Morelia-Linares 2008, Mexico & Spain

Round 13 - Thursday, March 6th
Vassily Ivanchuk ½-½ Anand
Teimour Radjabov 1-0 Alexei Shirov
Levon Aronian ½-½ Magnus Carlsen
Veselin Topalov 1-0 Peter Leko

Anand began with the Najdorf against Ivanchuk but game was drawn in just 23 moves ... Carlsen and Aronian agreed to draw in 28 moves ... With win Topalov joined Aronian on 3rd position with 7 pts.

Now only last round is remaining and Anand is leading with ½ pt against Carlsen ... In last round both r playing with white-pieces against Topalov and Radjabov respectively.

Round 14 -
Anand vs Veselin Topalov
Peter Leko vs Levon Aronian
Magnus Carlsen vs Teimour Radjabov
Alexei Shirov vs Vassily Ivanchuk
---------------------------------------------------------------
Hockey News -
At 2008 Olympic Qualifier, Santiago, Chile

India l Great Britain 2-3 (1-1)

Goal Scored -
India - V.R. Raghunath (PC) 3' & (PC) 64'
Mexico - Richard Mantell (PC) 15', Jonty Clarke 45', Rob Moore 69'

Other Matches -
Russia bt Chile 2-1
Austria bt Mexico 3-1

India and English side played entertaining hockey ... But Indian were extra physical and they paid penalty for that when Vickram Kanth was out due to yellow card, British side scored equalizer.

Yesterday Prabhjot Singh was off color and missed many crosses inside D ... But it was good to see Raghunath's improved PC conversion skill ... In end India again paid price of not keeping intensity for full 70 mins and allowed opponent to score goal in last couple of minutes.

Tennis News -
At $15K Ivory Coast F1, Abidjan, Cote D'Ivoire

Doubles -
[R1] (1) RASTOGI Karan (IND)/ SATSCHKO Alexander (GER) bt BLANDIN Jeremy (FRA)/ TASSART Antoine (FRA) 64 36 10(4)

[QF] (1) RASTOGI Karan (IND)/ SATSCHKO Alexander (GER) vs BAJOT Jean-Pierre (FRA)/ COCO Rudy (FRA)

Tennis News -
At $1.401M Dubai Tennis Championships, UAE

[R1] (4) BHUPATHI Mahesh (IND)/ KNOWLES Mark (BAH) bt (ALT) KERR Jordan (AUS)/ WASSEN Rogier (NED) 64 63

[QF] (4) BHUPATHI Mahesh (IND)/ KNOWLES Mark (BAH) vs LOPEZ Feliciano (ESP)/ NADAL Rafael (ESP)

Hesh and Mark played against alternate pair of Kerr and Wassen ... In first set Hesh and Mark was down 2-4 but from their they showed dominance to win this match easily ... In quarters they r facing tricky pair of Rafa and Lopez.
---------------------------------------------------------------
Hockey News -
At 2008 Olympic Qualifier, Santiago, Chile

India bt Mexico 18-1 (8-0)

Goal Scored -
India - Prabhjot Singh 9', 50', 60' & 61', Rajpal Singh 11', 21', 30', 39' & 69', Shivendra Singh 16' & 24', Tushar Khandekar 19', V.R. Raghunath (PC) 29', (PC) 37', 54', (PC) 57' & (PC) 62', Sardar Singh 65'
Mexico - Pol Moreno Quiroz 70'

Other Matches -
Austria bt Russia 5-4
Great Britain bt Chile 4-1

After complaining after first 2 matches about performance of our team atlast they give me chance to write some positive about them ... :) Yesterday India performed to their true potential (that’s attacking) to hammered Mexico ... We were playing full attacking game and grabbed rich dividends ... This performance will hugely benefited in round robin and final matches against Great Britain.
---------------------------------------------------------------
Badminton News -
At $200K All England Super Series 2008, Birmingham

[Q1] Arvind BHAT (IND,43) l Weijie GONG (CHN,80) 21-18 19-21 19-21
[Q1] Chetan ANAND (IND,53) l Seung Mo SHON (KOR,54) 17-21 19-21

Maindraw -
[R1] Anup SRIDHAR (IND,26) l (1) Dan LIN (CHN,1) 21-16 8-21 11-21

[R1] Saina NEHWAL (IND,28) l Yu HIRAYAMA (JPN,22) 18-21 21-18 18-21

[R1] Jwala GUTTA (IND)/ Shruti KURIAN (IND) l (1) Yili WEI (CHN)/ Yawen ZHANG (CHN) 3-21 9-21

So our men’s challenge got over in first round as Arvind and Chetan already lost in qualifying ... Anup started well winning first game against WR No. 1 Dan Lin, but again Dan showed his class in next two games.
After losing first game Saina showed heart to fight back in second game but in end Hirayama's experiance proved strong to win this closely fought match.
And No. 1 Chinese pair literally crushed pair of Jwala and Shruti in first round.

So with that very early end of Indian challenge in All England Super Series ... Arvind, Chetan and Saina had realistic chances ... But Arvind and Saina lost in closely fought matches.

Anup again managed to extend Dan Lin to 3 games, but still this tournament shows our players need to make lot more improvement to challenge the best.

Chess News -
At Morelia-Linares 2008, Mexico & Spain

Round 12 - Tuesday, March 4th
Anand ½-½ Peter Leko
Magnus Carlsen 1-0 Veselin Topalov
Alexei Shirov ½-½ Levon Aronian
Vassily Ivanchuk ½-½ Teimour Radjabov

Anand agreed to another draw this time against Leko ... But Carlsen again upset Topalov this time with white-pieces to close gap to ½ pt ...So now battle is hot for Morelia-Linares title between Anand and Carlsen with Aronian having outside chance.

After today's rest day next in 13th round Anand will play with black-pieces against Vassily Ivanchuk ... But in same round match between Aronian and Carlsen is also important.

Standing after 12th Round -
1 Vishwanathan Anand IND 7½ pts
2 Magnus Carlsen NOR 7 pts
3 Levon Aronian ARM 6½ pts
4 Veselin Topalov BUL 6 pts
T5 Teimour Radjabov AZE 5½ pts
T5 Vassily Ivanchuk UKR 5½ pts
T7 Peter Leko HUN 5 pts
T7 Alexei Shirov ESP 5 pts
---------------------------------------------------------------
Tennis News -
At $15K Ivory Coast F1, Abidjan, Cote D'Ivoire

[R1] (7) RASTOGI Karan (IND,514) bt (Q) ZORLU Ergun (TUR,985) 63 63

[R2] (7) RASTOGI Karan (IND,514) vs (Q) NEDELKO Ivan (RUS,986)

Doubles -
[R1] (1) RASTOGI Karan (IND)/ SATSCHKO Alexander (GER) vs BLANDIN Jeremy (FRA)/ TASSART Antoine (FRA)

Karan having winning start in singles at Cote D'Ivoire ... In second round he is facing another qualifier.
-------------------------------------------
At $15K USA F6, McAllen, TX

[R1] SIPAEYA Sunil-Kumar (IND,418) l (4) CHEKHOV Pavel (RUS,287) 26 67(6)
-------------------------------------------
At $10K Sabadell Futures, Spain

[Q1] (2) NAGARAJ Sandhya (IND,588) bt STANCULESCU Andra (ROU,UNR)

[Q2] (2) NAGARAJ Sandhya (IND,588) l (WC) BOADA-PLADE LLORENS Anna (ESP,UNR) 67(3) 26

Doubles -
[R1] NAGARAJ Sandhya (IND)/ SOLSONA-CARCASONA Sheila (ESP) l POLJAKOVA Katarina (SVK)/ ZLOCHOVA Zuzana (SVK) 26 26

Tennis News -
At $1.401M Dubai Tennis Championships, UAE

[R1] (WC) BOPANNA Rohan (IND)/ QURESHI Aisam-Ul-Haq (PAK) bt ANDREEV Igor (RUS)/ MATHIEU Paul-Henri (FRA) 75 64

[R1] HANLEY Paul (AUS)/ PAES Leander (IND) l (2) ASPELIN Simon (SWE)/ KNOWLE Julian (AUT) 16 36

Really powerful start for our wildcard pair in this big tournament ... Now they will face top seeds Nestor and Zimo in quarters ... But shocking one sided loss of Lee and Paul.
--------------------------------------
At US$600K WTA Bangalore Open, India

[R1] (WC) Isha Lakhani (IND,357) l (Q) Agnes Szatmari (ROU,271) 26 26

Doubles -
[R1] Sunitha Rao (IND)/ Monique Adamczak (AUS) l (4) Anastasia Rodionova (RUS)/ Yaroslava Shvedova (RUS) 06 16

With that Indian challenge is over from this edition of Banglore Open.
-------------------------------------------
At $35K+H Kyoto Challenger, Japan (Spuckturf)

[R1] (PR) Harsh Mankad (IND,1283) l (6) Brendan Evans (USA, 206) 36 46

Doubles -
[R1] Harsh Mankad (IND) / Michael Ryderstedt (SWE) l Matthias Bachinger (GER) / Daniel Brands (GER) 57 36

With first round doubles loss very early end of a week for Harsh.
-------------------------------------------
At $15K Ivory Coast F1, Abidjan

[R1] (7) RASTOGI Karan (IND,514) vs (Q) ZORLU Ergun (TUR,985)

Doubles -
[R1] (1) RASTOGI Karan (IND)/ SATSCHKO Alexander (GER) vs BLANDIN Jeremy (FRA)/ TASSART Antoine (FRA)
-------------------------------------------
At $15K USA F6, McAllen, TX

[R1] SIPAEYA Sunil-Kumar (IND,418) vs (4) CHEKHOV Pavel (RUS,287)
---------------------------------------------------------------
Chess News -
At Morelia-Linares 2008, Mexico & Spain

Round 11 - Monday, March 3rd
Teimour Radjabov ½-½ Anand
Levon Aronian ½-½ Vassily Ivanchuk
Veselin Topalov 1-0 Alexei Shirov
Peter Leko 1-0 Magnus Carlsen

In end quick 18 moves draw against Teimour Radjabov turned to be great result for Anand, as Carlsen lost against Leko to give 1 pt lead and only 3 rounds remaining means advantage Anand ... After 11 round Anand is leading with 7 pts and Aronian, Carlsen & Topalov r tied 2nd with 6 pts.

In 12th round Anand will play with white-pieces against Peter Leko.

Tennis News -
At US$769K Memphis Open, TN, USA

[F] (1) BHUPATHI Mahesh (IND)/ KNOWLES Mark (BAH) bt RATIWATANA Sanchai (THA)/ RATIWATANA Sonchat (THA) 76(5) 62

Great finish from top seeds to won their first ATP title together at Memphis Championships ... Also this was Hesh's 42nd career title and Knowles' 48th ... And they also didn't lose a set in whole tournament.

Mahesh Bhupathi - "It's good to have the first title of the year. We started off really well in Melbourne feeling pretty confident. We both served well, focused hard because we knew if we played well we could have a shot at the title."
--------------------------------------
At US$600K WTA Bangalore Open, India

[Q3] Sunitha Rao (IND,181) l Tiantian Sun (CHN,229) 26 16
[Q3] (3) Monica Niculescu (ROU) bt (7) Anne Keothavong (GBR) 62 60
[Q3] (9) Angelika Bachmann (GER) bt (5) Mathilde Johansson (FRA) 63 75
[Q3] Agnes Szatmari (ROU) bt Melanie South (GBR) 64 26 76(6)

[u]Maindraw[/u] -
[R1] (WC) Shikha Uberoi (IND,989) l Agnes Szavay (HUN,18) 16 46

Doubles -
[R1] (WC) Ankita Bhambri (IND)/ Sanaa Bhambri l Ayumi Morita (JPN)/ Junri Namigata (JPN) 63 46 (4)10

Tiantian Sun scored surprisingly one-sided victory over Sunitha.
---------------------------------------------------------------
Hockey News -
At 2008 Olympic Qualifier, Santiago, Chile

India bt Austria 7-3 (2-2)

Goal Scored -
India - Dilip Tirkey (PC) 9' & 23', Ignace Tirkey 41', Shivendra Singh 51' & 55', Bharath 53', Rajpal Singh 54'
Austria - Robert Buchta 2', Christian Minar (PC) 28' & 60'

Other Matches -
Great Britain bt Russia 8-0
Chile bt Mexico 4-0

Another unconvincing victory ... India struggled against Austria, who hold them 2-2 at half-time ... Indian still not able to produce polish performance ... They really need to work hard and sorted out problems which they r facing before matches against Great Britain.

Cricket News -

INDIA WIN U-19 CRICKET WORLD CUP BY 12 RUNS (D/L Method) ... Ajitesh Argal won man of the match award with his excellent bowling effort, 5-2-7-2.

Senior Indian side also won first final (best of 3 finals) by six wickets at the SCG against Australia in CB series.
---------------------------------------------------------------
Tennis News -
At US$600K WTA Bangalore Open, India

Qualifying Second Round -
Melanie South (GBR) bt Ekaterina Dzehalevich (BLR) 67(8) 62 63
Agnes Szatmari (ROU) bt Khrystyna Antoniychuk (UKR) 63 64

(9) Angelika Bachmann (GER) bt Alexandra Stevenson (USA) 63 64
(5) Mathilde Johansson (FRA) bt Monique Adamczak (AUS) 63 76(9)

(3) Monica Niculescu (ROU) bt Debbrich Feys (BEL) 76(3) 61
(7) Anne Keothavong (GBR) bt Kathrin Woerle (GER) 06 64 64

Tiantian Sun (CHN,231) bt Corinna Dentoni (ITA) 36 75 62
Sunitha Rao (IND,181) bt Junri Namigata (JPN,169) 62 46 62

In 2008 this must be Sunitha's best back to back quality wins .. Go Sunitha, now 1 more hurdle before maindraw.

Chess News -
At Morelia-Linares 2008, Mexico & Spain

Round 10 - Saturday, March 1st
Anand ½-½ Magnus Carlsen
Alexei Shirov ½-½ Peter Leko
Vassily Ivanchuk ½-½ Veselin Topalov
Teimour Radjabov ½-½ Levon Aronian

Another quick draw in 22 moves for Anand before rest day ... All other matches also ended in draw so Anand managed to hold ½ pt lead over Carlsen ... On Monday Anand is playing with black-pieces against Teimour Radjabov.
---------------------------------------------------------------
Golf News -
At Johnnie Walker Classic, New Delhi, India

T5 KAPUR Shiv 69 65 72 68 -14 € 59368.93
8 RANDHAWA Jyoti 70 65 68 72 -13 € 41458.75
T11 SINGH Jeev Milkha 68 70 70 69 -11 € 28578.90
T17 ATWAL Arjun 69 72 67 71 - 9 € 19775.82
T30 GANGJEE Rahil 68 71 70 72 - 7 € 14013.06
T44 KUMAR Mukesh 73 69 67 75 - 4 € 8955.09
T53 SINGH Arjun 69 70 73 75 - 1 € 5804.22
T58 BHULLAR Gaganjeet 72 69 73 74 PAR € 4726.30
63 SINGH Digvijay 70 70 73 78 + 3 € 4145.87
64 GANAPATHY, Rahul 73 69 74 77 + 5 € 3980.04
---------------------------------------------------------------
Hockey News -
At 2008 Olympic Qualifier, Santiago, Chile

India bt Russia 8-0

Goal Scored - Dilip Tirkey (PC) 14', Prabhjot Singh 19' 29' & 65', Shivendra Singh 30', Tushar Khandekar 36', Sardar Singh 45', V.R. Raghunath (PC) 54'

Other matches -
Great Britain bt Mexico 11-0
Austria bt Chile 4-3

Ok we won ... But frankly I wasn't happy with our performance in this match ... Considering our whole dominance in the match we should won this match (atleast) with 20-0 scoreline ... But our forward line missed too many chances ... No variation in penalty corner drills on field but what was shocking 2 times our player couldn't manage to stop ball cleanly.

Then our usual problem of sloppy passing and unrequited fouls ... Also problem of player holding ball for extra time to give opponent chance of winning it back.

We need major improvement on all this issue if we r hoping to match and beat England.

It was interesting to see Sardara playing as defensive mid-field position and Raghunath was playing in left-flanks.
---------------------------------------------------------------
Tennis News -
At US$769K Memphis Open, TN, USA

[SF] (1) BHUPATHI Mahesh (IND)/ KNOWLES Mark (BAH) bt HAGGARD Chris (RSA)/ MELZER Jurgen (AUT) 76(9) 62

[F] (1) BHUPATHI Mahesh (IND)/ KNOWLES Mark (BAH) vs RATIWATANA Sanchai (THA)/ RATIWATANA Sonchat (THA)

Another straight sets victory for top seeds ... Now good match up against talented Ratiwatana twins for title.
--------------------------------------
At US$436K Las Vegas Open, NV, USA

[Q1] AMRITRAJ Prakash (IND,265) l ANDERSON Kevin (RSA,179) 16 57

Tennis Nows -
At US$600K WTA Bangalore Open, India

Qualifying First Round -
Melanie South (GBR) bt (1) Ayumi Morita (JPN) 46 60 60
Ekaterina Dzehalevich (BLR) bt Magda Mihalache (ROU) 61 64
Khrystyna Antoniychuk (UKR) bt [WC] Aurelie Vedy (FRA) 36 63 61
Agnes Szatmari (ROU) bt (6) [WC] Emmanuelle Gagliardi (SUI) 61 36 64

(9) Angelika Bachmann (GER) bt Iroda Tulyaganova (UZB) 64 36 61
Alexandra Stevenson (USA) bt Shengnan Sun (CHN) 75 63
Monique Adamczak (AUS) bt [WC] Sanaa Bhambri (IND) 63 67(4) 61
(5) Mathilde Johansson (FRA) bt I-Hsuan Hwang (TPE) 75 61

(3) Monica Niculescu (ROU) bt Neha Uberoi (USA) 64 62
Debbrich Feys (BEL) bt Jie Zheng (CHN) 62 3-2 Retd.
Kathrin Woerle (GER) bt [WC] Ankita Bhambri (IND) 62 61
(7) Anne Keothavong (GBR) bt Chanelle Scheepers (RSA) 62 64

Corinna Dentoni (ITA) bt (4) Andreja Klepac (SLO) 46 64 76(5)
Tiantian Sun (CHN) bt [WC] Akshitha Basavaraju (IND) 61 60
Junri Namigata (JPN,169) bt Rushmi Chakravarthi (IND) 62 62
Sunitha Rao (IND,181) bt (8) Vesna Manasieva (RUS,150) 64 26 75

Huge win for Sunitha over talented Russian top-150 girl, more over considering injustice from Bangalore Open organizers towards Sunitha, who didn't give wildcard to India's no. 2.

Chess News -
At Morelia-Linares 2008, Mexico & Spain

Round 9 - Friday, February 29th
Levon Aronian ½-½ Anand
Veselin Topalov ½-½ Teimour Radjabov
Peter Leko 0-1 Vassily Ivanchuk
Magnus Carlsen 1-0 Alexei Shirov

Quick draw after 27 moves for Anand ... But Carlsen scored thrilling victory over Shirov to reduce gap between him and Anand for mere ½ pt.

So after 9 rounds Anand is leading with 6 pts ... Today Anand having match with white-pieces against 'hot' Magnus Carlsen.
---------------------------------------------------------------
Tennis News -
At US$436K Las Vegas Open, NV, USA

[Q1] AMRITRAJ Prakash (IND,265) vs ANDERSON Kevin (RSA,179)

Kash is playing at Las Vegas Open qualifying ... Having tricky match against South African Anderson.
--------------------------------------
At $10K Sant Boi Futures, Spain

[QF] NAGARAJ Sandhya (IND,594) l (LL) DOBRA Simona (CZE,668) 16 16

Tennis News -
At US$769K Memphis Open, TN, USA

[QF] (1) BHUPATHI Mahesh (IND)/ KNOWLES Mark (BAH) bt KUNITSYN Igor (RUS)/ THOMAS Jim (USA) 63 62

[SF] (1) BHUPATHI Mahesh (IND)/ KNOWLES Mark (BAH) vs HAGGARD Chris (RSA)/ MELZER Jurgen (AUT)

Hesh and Mark r scoring dominating victories.
--------------------------------------
At $10K Sant Boi Futures, Spain

[R2] NAGARAJ Sandhya (IND,594) bt (5) BOU-NOGUEIRO Rebeca (ESP,342) 76(5) 64

[QF] NAGARAJ Sandhya (IND,594) vs (LL) DOBRA Simona (CZE,668)

Creditable victory considering its against top 350 Spanish player and importantly on clay.
-------------------------------------------
At $15K India F2 Futures, New Delhi

Singles Semi Finals -
KEDRYUK Alexey (KAZ,606) bt (Q) GAJJAR Rohan (IND,1103) 62 63
(2) SATSCHKO Alexander (GER,331) bt (Q) IVANOV Simeon (BUL,942) 61 64

Singles Final -
(2) SATSCHKO Alexander (GER,331) bt KEDRYUK Alexey (KAZ,606) 64 64

Doubles Final -
(3) Vivek SHOKEEN (IND)/ ASHUTOSH SINGH (IND) bt (2) Vijay KANNAN (IND)/ Alexey KEDRYUK (KAZ) 36 76(5) 10(5)

Still good outing for Rohan considering 6 wins in a row, 3 in qualifying and 3 in maindraw.

Watched doubles final, it was fun to see frustrated Alexey ... :-) Very good comeback victory by Vivek and Ashutosh ... They continue to impress as a pair.
---------------------------------------------------------------
Chess News -
At Morelia-Linares 2008, Mexico & Spain

Round 8 - Thursday, February 28th

Anand 1-0 Alexei Shirov
Vassily Ivanchuk 0-1 Magnus Carlsen
Teimour Radjabov ½-½ Peter Leko
Levon Aronian 1-0 Veselin Topalov

Viswanathan Anand started with Sveshnikov Sicilian to win in 57 moves ... Superb result for Anand as he started out ½ pts ahead of Alexei Shirov and Veselin Topalov, but both lost their games and giving a full point lead to Anand after 8 rounds.

Now today in 9th round Anand is playing against Levon Aronian with black-pieces.

Standing after 8th Round -

1 Vishwanathan Anand IND 5½ pts
T2 Levon Aronian ARM 4½ pts
T2 Magnus Carlsen NOR 4½ pts
T4 Veselin Topalov BUL 4 pts
T4 Alexei Shirov ESP 4 pts
6 Teimour Radjabov AZE 3½ pts
T7 Peter Leko HUN 3 pts
T7 Vassily Ivanchuk UKR 3 pts

Tennis News -
At $1.5M Dubai Tennis Championships, UAE

[QF] Sania Mirza (IND)/ Francesca Schiavone (ITA) l (1) Cara Black (ZIM)/ Liezel Huber (USA) 26 76(4) (10)12

Very close match ... Sania and Francesca showed superb comeback but couldn't converted in win ... So yesterday Sania played well but still had heart-breaking day.

Now move over to US harrdcourt season.
--------------------------------------
At US$769K Memphis Open, TN, USA

[R1] (1) BHUPATHI Mahesh (IND)/ KNOWLES Mark (BAH) bt (WC) ISNER John (USA)/ YOUNG Donald (USA) 64 62

[QF] (1) BHUPATHI Mahesh (IND)/ KNOWLES Mark (BAH) vs KUNITSYN Igor (RUS)/ THOMAS Jim (USA)

Good easy victory against pair of Isner and Young ... Now Hesh and Mark will face a pair who conquered Bops and Sela.
-------------------------------------------
At $15K India F2 Futures, New Delhi

Singles Quarter Finals -
KEDRYUK Alexey (KAZ,606) bt SINGH Navdeep (IND,737) 60 75
(Q) GAJJAR Rohan (IND,1103) bt (3) ALCAIDE Guillermo (ESP,342) 76(6) 64

(Q) IVANOV Simeon (BUL,942) bt (6) SUN Peng (CHN,497) 75 63
(2) SATSCHKO Alexander (GER,331) bt (7) SAVIC David (SRB,503) 63 62

Doubles Semi Finals -
(3) Vivek SHOKEEN (IND)/ ASHUTOSH SINGH (IND) bt (1) (WC) Mustafa GHOUSE (IND)/ Purav RAJA (IND) 67(3) 63 10(4)

(2) Vijay KANNAN (IND)/ Alexey KEDRYUK (KAZ) bt David SAVIC (SRB)/ Todor ENEV (BUL) 64 62

Rohan scored biggest victory of his career beating top-350 player ... These 2 Indian futures turn to be his breakout tournaments ... Now I only wish with proper planning and right selection of tournaments he utilize this opportunity to achieve more on circuit.

Alexey again turned out thorn to Indian player’s path ... Hopefully Rohan will take care of him in semis.
--------------------------------------
At $10K Sant Boi Futures, Spain

[R1] NAGARAJ Sandhya (IND,594) bt (Q) RODIER Charlotte (FRA,788) 62 26 63

[R2] NAGARAJ Sandhya (IND,594) vs (5) BOU-NOGUEIRO Rebeca (ESP,342)
-------------------------------------------
At $10K Nigeria F2 2008, Benin City

[R2] (WC) BURMAN Shivika (IND,UNR) l (3) ROSSI Nathalia (BRA,707) 36 76(5) 16

Doubles -
[R1] (2) APPINENI Prerana-Mythri (IND)/ GOSWAMI Parul (IND) l SELAKOVIC Nevena (SRB)/ SHLOMO Keren (ISR) 26 26
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Squash News -
At $80K Davenport Pro Champs 2008, Richmond, USA

[R1] Saurav Ghosal (IND,49) l (6) Karim Darwish (EGY,8) 11-6 13-11 (4-2) 6-11 6-11 4-11 (55m)

Very promising performance in loss by Saurav against top 10 player, Karim Darwish.

Cricket News -

Indian U-19 team reached final of U-19 Cricket World Cup final beating New Zealand in tense match ... India won by 3 wickets and 1.3 overs margin ... Captain Virat Kohli declared Man of the Match becoz of his all-round performance.
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Tennis News -
At $1.5M Dubai Tennis Championships, UAE

[R2] (WC) Sania Mirza (IND,32) l (4) Jelena Jankovic (SRB,4) 64 36 46

Sania had opportunity in this match as Jelena was struggling with her game ... In third set also 2 times Sania was leading with break of Jelena's serve but everytime Jelena made comeback breaking Sania's weak serve ... But overall this match gave more positives about improvement in Sania's game and importantly she was playing without any injury scare.
--------------------------------------
At $15K India F2 Futures, New Delhi

Singles Second Round -
SINGH Navdeep (IND,737) bt SHARAN Divij (IND,659) 64 75
KEDRYUK Alexey (KAZ,606) bt (8) RASTOGI Karan (IND,512) 36 63 61

(3) ALCAIDE Guillermo (ESP,342) bt (Q) UZAKOV Vaja (UZB,904) 67(9) 62 63
(Q) GAJJAR Rohan (IND,1103) bt (Q) PENG Hsien-Yin (TPE,1219) 76(2) 76(7)

(6) SUN Peng (CHN,497) bt (WC) SRIDHAR Vinod (IND,1158) 46 62 62
(Q) IVANOV Simeon (BUL,942) bt (4) ENEV Todor (BUL,458) 63 60

(7) SAVIC David (SRB,503) bt (Q) LIN Tzu-Yang (TPE,1271) 63 64
(2) SATSCHKO Alexander (GER,331) bt SHOKEEN Vivek (IND,757) 57 64 76(5)

Doubles Quarter Finals -
(1) (WC) Mustafa GHOUSE (IND)/ Purav RAJA (IND) bt Hsin-Han LEE (TPE)/ Tsung-Hua YANG (TPE) 63 67(5) 10(8)
(3) Vivek SHOKEEN (IND)/ ASHUTOSH SINGH (IND) bt Vinod SRIDHAR (IND)/ Vishnu VARDHAN (IND) 76(5) 76(6)

David SAVIC (SRB)/ Todor ENEV (BUL) bt (ALT) N. Vijay Sundar PRASHANTH (IND)/ Ranjeet VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND) 36 75 10(7)
(2) Vijay KANNAN (IND)/ Alexey KEDRYUK (KAZ) bt KHAN Aqeel (PAK)/ Yannick NELORD (IND) 64 64

So Navdeep and Rohan managed to keep Indian interest alive ... But look at another close loss of Vivek against 2nd seed ... He almost pulled victory but in end again find him at losing side ... Really tough luck for Vivek.
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Badminton News -
At $80K Yonex German Open 2008, Mulheim (GP Series)

[R1] (WC) Anand Pawar (IND,124) l (8) Andre Kurniawan Tedjono (INA,25) 10-21 21-12 15-21
[R1] (9) Anup Sridhar (IND,27) l Seung Mo Shon (KOR,61) 11-21 5-21
[R1] Arvind Bhat (IND,46) vs Erwin Kehlhoffner (FRA,65) 16-21 21-17 18-21

Disappointing performance by Indians, importantly Anup and Arvind ... Hopefully his new travelling coach, Thomas John, Anup perform better in coming tournaments.

Tennis News -
At $1.5M Dubai Tennis Championships, UAE

[R1] (WC) Sania Mirza (IND,32) bt (Q) Vera Dushevina (RUS,44) 76(5) 62

[R2] (WC) Sania Mirza (IND,32) vs (4) Jelena Jankovic (SRB,4)

Doubles -
[QF] Sania Mirza (IND)/ Francesca Schiavone (ITA) vs (1) Cara Black (ZIM)/ Liezel Huber (USA)

Good start for Sania against tricky Russian opponent ... Right now I m happy with finished matches without any injury scare ... Now interesting to see how she perform against WR No. 4.
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At US$769K Memphis Open, TN, USA

[R1] BOPANNA Rohan (IND)/ SELA Dudi (ISR) l KUNITSYN Igor (RUS)/ THOMAS Jim (USA) 57 46

Rohan is struggling to adjust with different partners ... He need to stick with one ... As Aisam is giving more important to singles in his bid to break inside top 100 before June 2008 to qualify for Beijing Olympics, Rohan need to find more permanent partner.
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At $ 15 K USA F5 , Harlingen, TX, USA

[R1] SIPAEYA Sunil-Kumar (IND)/ YOO Daniel (KOR) l (4) MONROE Nicholas (USA)/ SIMMONDS Phillip (USA) 5-2 Retd.
--------------------------------------
At $10K Sant Boi Futures, Spain

[R1] NAGARAJ Sandhya (IND,594) vs (Q) RODIER Charlotte (FRA,788)

Doubles -
[R1] NAGARAJ Sandhya (IND)/ SOLSONA-CARCASONA Sheila (ESP) l (3) BALSAMO Elisa (ITA)/ SULPIZIO Valentina (ITA) 46 16

Tennis News -
At $1.5M Dubai Tennis Championships, UAE

[R1] (WC) Sania Mirza (IND,32) vs (Q) Vera Dushevina (RUS,44)

Doubles -
[R1] MIRZA Sania (IND)/ SCHIAVONE Francesca (ITA) bt (WC) KUZNETSOVA Svetlana (RUS)/ MAURESMO Amelie (FRA) 64 64

Good to see Sania is back on court and winning matches without any injury scare ... Go Sania.
--------------------------------------
At $175K Memphis WTA Open, TN, USA

[R1] LEFEVRE Sophie (FRA)/ RAO Sunitha (IND) l GULLICKSON Carly (USA)/ PERRY Shenay (USA) 06 46
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At $ 15 K USA F5 , Harlingen, TX, USA

[Q3] (1) SIPAEYA Sunil-Kumar (IND,416) l (16) KUMANTSOV Andrey (RUS,831) 26 36

Doubles -
[R1] SIPAEYA Sunil-Kumar (IND)/ YOO Daniel (KOR) vs (4) MONROE Nicholas (USA)/ SIMMONDS Phillip (USA)

Sunil need to regroup and should not lose these matches.
-------------------------------------------
At $10K Nigeria F2 2008, Benin City

[R1] (WC) BURMAN Shivika (IND,UNR) bt MINIERI Giannina (CHI,UNR) 57 16
[R1] (4) APPINENI Prerana-Mythri (IND,724) l SHEMON Alison (AUS,UNR) 36 26
[R1] (8) GOSWAMI Parul (IND,895) l (Q) VIEIRA Gabriela (BRA,UNR) 46 36
[R1] EASWARAMURTHI Ashmitha (IND,1024) l CONFALONIERI Valentine (ITA,1003) 06 26
[R2] (WC) BURMAN Shivika (IND,UNR) vs (3) ROSSI Nathalia (BRA,707)

Very poor outing for our players other than Shivika.

Tennis News -
At $1.5M Dubai Tennis Championships, UAE

[R1] (WC) MIRZA Sania (IND,32) vs Qualifier

Doubles -
[R1] MIRZA Sania (IND)/ SCHIAVONE Francesca (ITA) vs (WC) KUZNETSOVA Svetlana (RUS)/ MAURESMO Amelie (FRA)
--------------------------------------
At US$769K Memphis Open, TN, USA

[R1] (1) BHUPATHI Mahesh (IND)/ KNOWLES Mark (BAH) vs (WC) ISNER John (USA)/ YOUNG Donald (USA)
[R1] BOPANNA Rohan (IND)/ SELA Dudi (ISR) vs KUNITSYN Igor (RUS)/ THOMAS Jim (USA)

Mahesh and Mark r top seeds at Memphis Open ... They r having tough first round match against talented Isner and Young.

This week Rohan is playing with Dudi Sela at Memphis Open ... He is in chance of playing against Hesh and Mark in quarters if they win their respective first round matches.
--------------------------------------
At $175K Memphis WTA Open, TN, USA

[R1] LEFEVRE Sophie (FRA)/ RAO Sunitha (IND) vs GULLICKSON Carly (USA)/ PERRY Shenay (USA)
--------------------------------------
At $ 15 K USA F5 , Harlingen, TX, USA

[Q1] (1) SIPAEYA Sunil-Kumar (IND,416) bt WOOTEN Bryan (USA,NR) 67(4) 63 64
[Q2] (1) SIPAEYA Sunil-Kumar (IND,416) bt JENKINS Jarmere (USA,1204) 46 75 62

[Q3] (1) SIPAEYA Sunil-Kumar (IND,416) vs (16) KUMANTSOV Andrey (RUS,831)
-------------------------------------------
At $10K Nigeria F2 2008, Benin City

[Q1] BASAVARAJU Akshitha (IND,UNR) l MOSKAL Ksenia (RUS,UNR) 57 36

Maindraw -
[R1] (WC) BURMAN Shivika (IND,UNR) vs MINIERI Giannina (CHI,UNR)
[R1] (4) APPINENI Prerana-Mythri (IND,724) vs SHEMON Alison (AUS,UNR)
[R1] (8) GOSWAMI Parul (IND,895) vs (Q) VIEIRA Gabriela (BRA,UNR)
[R1] EASWARAMURTHI Ashmitha (IND,1024) vs CONFALONIERI Valentine (ITA,1003)

Doubles -
[R1] (2) APPINENI Prerana-Mythri (IND)/ GOSWAMI Parul (IND) vs SELAKOVIC Nevena (SRB)/ SHLOMO Keren (ISR)

Tennis News -
At $15K India F2 Futures, New Delhi

Singles First Round -
SINGH Navdeep (IND,737) bt (1) IM Kyu-Tae (KOR,315) 63 64
SHARAN Divij (IND,659) bt (Q) CHANG Huai-En (TPE,1016) 64 64
KEDRYUK Alexey (KAZ,606) bt LEE Hsin-Han (TPE,719) 62 76(6)
(8) RASTOGI Karan (IND,512) bt (WC) MANKAD Harsh (IND,1287) 36 63 61

(3) ALCAIDE Guillermo (ESP,342) bt SINGH Ashutosh (IND,593) 62 36 63
(Q) UZAKOV Vaja (UZB,904) bt WANG Yu Jr. (CHN,610) 63 57 75
(Q) PENG Hsien-Yin (TPE,1219) bt (Q) KANNAN Kamala (IND,1494) 76(6) 76(0)
(Q) GAJJAR Rohan (IND,1103) bt (5) VOLANTE Matteo (ITA,460) 76(3) 36 63

(6) SUN Peng (CHN,497) bt YANG Tsung-Hua (TPE,682) 61 64
(WC) SRIDHAR Vinod (IND,1158) bt (WC) VARDHAN Vishnu (IND,1009) 76(6) 64
(Q) IVANOV Simeon (BUL,942) bt KHAN Aqeel (PAK,540) 57 62 64
(4) ENEV Todor (BUL,458) bt Q RAJA Purav (IND,837) 64 64

(7) SAVIC David (SRB,503) bt NAM Hyun-Woo (KOR,586) 63 64
(Q) LIN Tzu-Yang (TPE,1271) bt KANNAN Vijay (IND,723) 60 46 64
SHOKEEN Vivek (IND,757) bt MADKEKAR Aditya (IND,665) 61 64
(2) SATSCHKO Alexander (GER,331) bt (WC) VIRALI-MURUGESAN Ranjeet (IND,1219) 62 57 60

Doubles First Round -
(1) (WC) Mustafa GHOUSE (IND)/ Purav RAJA (IND) bt Huai-En CHANG (TPE)/ Hsien-Yin PENG (TPE) 63 61
Tzu-Yang LIN (TPE)/ Hyun-Woo NAM (KOR) bt Hsin-Han LEE (TPE)/ Tsung-Hua YANG (TPE) 67(4) 76(4) 11(9)

(3) Vivek SHOKEEN (IND)/ ASHUTOSH SINGH (IND) bt Alexander SATSCHKO (GER)/ Matteo VOLANTE (ITA) 61 64
Vinod SRIDHAR (IND)/ Vishnu VARDHAN (IND) bt Rohan GAJJAR (IND)/ Aditya MADKEKAR (IND) 62 62

David SAVIC (SRB)/ Todor ENEV (BUL) bt Divij SHARAN (IND)/ NAVDEEP SINGH (IND) 67(3) 75 10(3)
(ALT) N. Vijay Sundar PRASHANTH (IND)/ Ranjeet VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND) bt (WC) Kamala KANNAN (IND)/ Srirambalaji NARAYANASWAMY (IND) 63 64

KHAN Aqeel (PAK)/ Yannick NELORD (IND) bt (WC) Arjun GOUTHAM (IND)/ Kaushik RAJU (IND) 63 61
(2) Vijay KANNAN (IND)/ Alexey KEDRYUK (KAZ) bt Shuang-Qiang LIANG (CHN)/ Yu Jr. WANG (CHN) 63 75

Huge upset win over top seed by Navdeep Singh ... Now he should use this opportunity to go deep into this futures ... Due to current lackluster performance from Karan, I was expecting win from Harsh ... But it looks Harsh having some mind block against Karan with whom this was his 3rd (or 4th?) consecutive loss.

Another huge upset win by Rohan Gajjar over top 475 player ... Really good to see when our players pull such upset wins ... Also nice to see Divij taking advantage of weak draw ... So our 6 players r in the second round ... Our 1 QF place is secure, hopefully we will see few more in quarters.
--------------------------------------
At $15K Brownsville futures, Texas, USA

[F] SIPAEYA Sunil-Kumar (IND)/ YOO Daniel (KOR) l (1) CHEKHOV Pavel (RUS)/ SIMMONDS Phillip (USA) 36 36

Good performance by Sunil and Yoo to reached finals.

Badminton News -
At $5K Austrian International Championships 2008, Vorchdorf

[R1] Anand Pawar (IND,124) bt Magnus Sahlberg (SWE,75) 21-14 21-13
[R2] Anand Pawar (IND,124) bt Juergen Koch (AUT,66) 22-20 Retired
[QF] Anand Pawar (IND,124) bt Ville Lang (FIN,89) 21-12 21-11
[SF] Anand Pawar (IND,124) bt (Q) Nathan Rice (ENG,151) 21-14 21-8

[Final] Anand Pawar (IND,124) bt (7) Vladislav Druzchenko (UKR,60) 21-16 21-15

Anand Pawar used this opportunity as many Asian players were missing due to Thomas Cup ... He won Austrian Internationals beating 3 top-75 players ... This was his first international title.

This was also only second occurrence when Indian player wins Austrian Internationals ... Last time 24 yrs back Syed Modi won this title in 1984.
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Chess News -
At Morelia-Linares 2008, Mexico & Spain

Round 7 - Saturday, February 23rd

Anand ½-½ Vassily Ivanchuk
Alexei Shirov 1-0 Teimour Radjabov
Magnus Carlsen 1-0 Levon Aronian
Peter Leko 0-1 Veselin Topalov

Anand agreed to quick draw against Ivanchuk in 31 moves ... Other 3 games were decesive but
Aronian lost his match so Anand managed to keep his slender ½ pt lead over his opponents after end of Morelia leg ... Now Linares leg will began on 28th February.

Standing after 7th Round -

1 Vishwanathan Anand IND 4½ pts
T2 Alexei Shirov ESP 4 pts
T2 Veselin Topalov BUL 4 pts
T4 Levon Aronian ARM 3½ pts
T4 Magnus Carlsen NOR 3½ pts
T6 Teimour Radjabov AZE 3 pts
T6 Vassily Ivanchuk UKR 3 pts
8 Peter Leko HUN 2½ pts

Badminton News -
At Thomas & Uber Cups Preliminaries Asia Zone 2008, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
Women's Team - Group Z

India l Malaysia 1-4

[QF] India l Korea 1-3

Women's Team - play off 5th-8th

India l Thailand 2-3

Team - Nehwal Saina, Murgunde Trupti, Mutatkar Aditi, Balan Aparna, Gokhale Sayali, Gutta Jwala, Kurian Shruti, P. Jyotsna
-------------------------------------------------
Men's Team - Group C

India bt Pakistan 5-0

India l Japan 0-5

[QF] India l Malaysia 0-3

Men's Team - play-off 5th-8th

India bt Singapore 3-2

For 5th position

India bt Hong Kong 3-0

Team - Sridhar Anup, Anand Chetan, Bhat Arvind, Dewalkar Akshay, Diju V., Kashyap P, Kumar Rupesh, Thomas Sanave, Vidyadhar J.B.S.

After cancelled national camp due to non-availability of shuttlecocks, our shuttlers performed well in Thomas & Uber Cups Preliminaries Asia Zone 2008.

Our Men's side finished on creditable 5th position ... And our Women's side must be disappointed after finishing 8th.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Tennis News -
At $15K India F2 Futures, New Delhi

Qualifying Second Round -
Yuvraj HARAL (IND) bt Tushar LIBERHAN (IND) (1) W/O
Kamala KANNAN (IND) (13) bt Alon MOSES (IND) 64 63
Purav RAJA (IND) (2) bt Jitender MEHLDA (IND) 60 60
Rohan GIDE (IND) (14) bt Divyanshu SINGH (IND) 63 62
Vaja UZAKOV (UZB) (3) bt Ravi-Krishna PALIVELA (IND) 61 60
Mustafa GHOUSE (IND) bt Vijayant MALIK (IND) (9) 76(4) 62
Simeon IVANOV (BUL) (4) bt N. Vijay Sundar PRASHANTH (IND) 63 61
Valentin DIMOV (BUL) (11) bt Joel ANDRIOLO (AUS) 75 60
Huai-En CHANG (TPE) (5) bt Matthew CURIC (AUS) 61 76(5)
Yu CHANG (CHN) (12) bt Ankit SACHDEVA (IND) 61 62
Rohan GAJJAR (IND) (6) bt Jason ALPEN (AUS) 61 62
Vignesh PERANAMALLUR-CHANDRASEKHAR (IND) (10) bt Saurav SUKUL (IND) 63 60
Hsien-Yin PENG (TPE) (7) bt Prashant SAWANT (IND) 61 62
Yannick NELORD (IND) (16) bt Shuang-Qiang LIANG (CHN) 62 46 61
Tzu-Yang LIN (TPE) (8) bt Shrikant RATHI (IND) 60 61
Srirambalaji NARAYANASWAMY (IND) (15) bt Vidhan VYAS (IND) 64 61

Qualifying Third Round -
Kamala KANNAN (IND) (13) bt Yuvraj HARAL (IND) 61 61
Purav RAJA (IND) (2) bt Rohan GIDE (IND) (14) 62 62
Vaja UZAKOV (UZB) (3) bt Mustafa GHOUSE (IND) 76(5) 26 63
Simeon IVANOV (BUL) (4) bt Valentin DIMOV (BUL) (11) 67(4) 75 64
Huai-En CHANG (TPE) (5) bt Yu CHANG (CHN) (12) 46 64 76(6)
Rohan GAJJAR (IND) (6) bt Vignesh PERANAMALLUR-CHANDRASEKHAR (IND) (10) 36 64 75
Hsien-Yin PENG (TPE) (7) bt Yannick NELORD (IND) (16) 63 76(3)
Tzu-Yang LIN (TPE) (8) bt Srirambalaji NARAYANASWAMY (IND) (15) 61 76(3)