Tennis News
At $450K Aircel Chennai Open 2013, India

[Q3] Prakash Amritraj (IND,549) bt (7) James Ward (GBR,250) 57 64 64
[Q3] (5) Rajeev Ram (USA,132) bt (4) Kenny De Schepper (FRA,119) 76(9) 46 61

[R1] (WC) Yuki Bhambri (IND,217) l (6) Robin Haase (NED,56) 57 36
[R1] (Q) Prakash Amritraj (IND,549) vs Guillaume Rufin (FRA,90)
[R1] (Q) Rajeev Ram (USA,132) vs Dudi Sela (ISR,109)

Doubles
[R1] (WC) Sanam Singh (IND)/ Vishnu Vardhan (IND) l Benoit Paire (FRA)/ Stanislas Wawrinka (SUI) 26 75 7-10

In the first set Prakash missed break point in 9th game ... Prakash had 2 more break points at 15-40 in 11th game but he missed those ... Ward broke him in 11th game to win the set ... In the second set Prakash broke Ward in 1st game after that Ward created couple of break point chances On Kash's serve ... Kash hold his serves and kept single break advantage for winning this set ... In the final set again Prakash broke Ward in 1st game but Ward immediately broke Kash to make it 1-all ... Prakash again broke Ward in 3rd game to lead 2-1 ... After that both players hold their respective service games ... Prakash converted 3rd match point in 10th game after saving a break point for a win in 2 hours and 23 minutes ... Happy to see at least one Indian qualify for main-draw through qualifying ... Next he is facing Frenchman Guillaume Rufin in the first round ... Go Kash.

Rajeev won the first set in very long and tight tie-break but De Schepper broke him in 7h game of the second set ... That break helped De Schepper to make it one set all ... Rajeev dominated the final set and won it with double break ... Rajeev is facing Israeli Dudi Sela in the first round.

Yuki was matching his game with seeded Robin from the first game ... Both players had few break point opportunities which they failed to convert ... But Robin take crucial break in 12th game to win the first set when Yuki was serving for the remaining in the set ... After winning the first set Robin started to look better player on the court ... Yuki's body language wasn't encouraging ... Until 7th game both players hold their respective services but Robin take crucial break of serve on Yuki's serve in 8th game ... After this Robin hold comfortably with big four services to won this match ... In the second set Yuki failed to raise his game.

In doubles match in the start Sanam was struggling with his service returns, Paire and Wawrinka take full advantage to win the first set ... In the second set our pair was early break down but they came back strongly in the match breaking opponent's serve twice ... In that crucial break came in 12th break ... In match tie-break one time Paire and Wawrinka were leading 2-5 but Vishnu and Sanam fought back to lead 7-6 ... After that Paire and Wawrinka showed their experience to win next 4 points to clinch the match in their favor.
-----------------------------------------------------------
At $1M Brisbane International 2013, Australia (WTA Premier)

[R1] Sania Mirza (IND)/ Bethanie Mattek-Sands (USA) bt Vera Dushevina (RUS)/ Olga Govortsova (BLR) 64 62

Winning start of new 2013 season for Sania with Bethanie ... They defeated their Russian-Belarus pair in straight sets in Premier event.

Tennis News
At $450K Aircel Chennai Open 2013, India

[Q1] (1) Ruben Bemelmans (BEL,111) bt (WC) Ajai Selvaraj (IND,1127) 61 60
[Q1] Vishnu Vardhan (IND,344) bt Sanam Singh (IND,297) 67(3) 64 63
[Q1] Sidharth Rawat (IND,929) bt (WC) Vignesh Peranamallur (IND,1125) 63 63
[Q1] Vijayant Malik (IND,539) bt N. Vijay Sundar Prashanth (IND,572) 46 63 75
[Q1] Prakash Amritraj (IND,549) bt (3) Yuichi Sugita (JPN,117) 64 36 63
[Q1] Theodoros Angelinos (GRE,502) bt (WC) Neeraj Elangovan (IND,1545) 62 60
[Q1] Saketh Myneni (IND,384) bt Mohit Mayur Jayaprakash (IND,996) 63 64
[Q1] (4) Kenny De Schepper (FRA,119) bt Arjun Kadhe (IND,1106) 61 62
[Q1] N. Sriram Balaji (IND,328) bt (WC) Elwin Antony (IND,1515) 63 64
[Q1] Divij Sharan (IND,1015) bt Ashwin Vijayragavan (IND,812) 75 63
[Q1] (5) Rajeev Ram (USA,132) bt Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,796) 64 61

[Q2] (1) Ruben Bemelmans (BEL,111) bt Vishnu Vardhan (IND,344) 64 46 61
[Q2] Filip Krajinovic (SRB,420) bt Sidharth Rawat (IND,929) 63 62
[Q2] (6) Cedrik-Marcel Stebe (GER,177) bt Vijayant Malik (IND,539) 62 46 75
[Q2] Prakash Amritraj (IND,549) bt Theodoros Angelinos (GRE,502) 64 64
[Q2] (4) Kenny De Schepper (FRA,119) bt N. Sriram Balaji (IND,328) 64 36 61
[Q2] (5) Rajeev Ram (USA,132) bt Divij Sharan (IND,1015) 60 36 61
[Q2] (7) James Ward (GBR,250) bt Saketh Myneni (IND,384) 36 63 64

As expected cracker match between Sanam and Vishnu which lasted for 2 hours and 20 minutes ... Despite struggling with his 1st serve Sanam produced fighting performance against Vishnu ... After a win Vishnu played excellent second qualifying round against top-seed Ruben Bemelmans in first 2 sets before tiredness in the final ... Vijayant also played excellent match against Stebe ... In the fianl set Vijayant was early break down but fought back breaking Stebe in 8th game but Stebe broke him 11th game for a win ... Superb win by Prkash over in-form Sugita in three sets ... In the second qualifying round Prakash scored comfortable straight games with a single break in both sets over Angelinos ... In other match Balaji was break down after losing the first set against De Schepper but Balaji broke back to make it 3-all ... Bala again broke De Schepper in 8th game and won the second set after winning 4 games in a row from 2-3 ... In the final set De Schepper broke Balaji in 2nd game and take 3-0 lead and with another break of serve De Schepper won this set comfortably ... Rajeev started confidently and won the first set without losing a single game against Divij ... Divij fought back in the second and managed to win it despite failing to won a single game in the first set ... In the third Rajeev dominated winning it breaking Divij twice ... Saketh had excellent start against Ward ... He won the first set but then failed to keep momentum in next two sets and lost them with a single break ... In the final set Saketh was up with a break at 4-2 but Ward won next 4 games breaking Saketh's serve twice.

Prakash having a very good chance for qualifying for the main-draw ... In the final qualifying he is facing Britisher James Ward.

Tennis News
At $450K Aircel Chennai Open 2013, India

[Q1] (1) Ruben Bemelmans (BEL,111) vs (WC) Ajai Selvaraj (IND,1127)
[Q1] Vishnu Vardhan (IND,344) vs Sanam Singh (IND,297)
[Q1] Sidharth Rawat (IND,929) vs (WC) Vignesh Peranamallur (IND,1125)
[Q1] (2) Philipp Petzschner (GER,115) vs Ranjeet Virali-Murugesan (IND,518)
[Q1] Vijayant Malik (IND,539) vs N. Vijay Sundar Prashanth (IND,572)
[Q1] (3) Yuichi Sugita (JPN,117) vs Prakash Amritraj (IND,549)
[Q1] Theodoros Angelinos (GRE,502) vs (WC) Neeraj Elangovan (IND,1545)
[Q1] Saketh Myneni (IND,384) vs Mohit Mayur Jayaprakash (IND,996)
[Q1] (4) Kenny De Schepper (FRA,119) vs Arjun Kadhe (IND,1106)
[Q1] N. Sriram Balaji (IND,328) vs (WC) Elwin Antony (IND,1515)
[Q1] Ashwin Vijayragavan (IND,812) vs Divij Sharan (IND,1015)
[Q1] (5) Rajeev Ram (IND,132) vs Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,796)

[R1] (WC) Somdev Devvarman (IND,663) vs Jan Hajek (CZE,106)
[R1] (WC) Yuki Bhambri (IND,217) vs (6) Robin Haase (NED,56)

Doubles
[R1] (1) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Daniel Nestor (IND) vs (WC) N. Sriram Balaji (IND)/ Jeevan Neduchezhiyan (IND)
[R1] (3) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Rajeev Ram (IND) vs Yen-Hsun Lu (TPE)/ Go Soeda (JPN)
[R1] (WC) Sanam Singh (IND)/ Vishnu Vardhan (IND) vs Benoit Paire (FRA)/ Stanislas Wawrinka (SUI)
[R1] (2) Leander Paes (IND)/ Edouard Roger-Vasselin (FRA) vs Sanchai Ratiwatana (THA)/ Sonchat Ratiwatana (THA)

Really crap draw for Sanam and Vishnu ... Both had a decent chance of qualifying for main-draw with little favorable draw but now winner between them will face Belgian top-seed Bemelmans in the qualifying second round ... Prakash is having tough qualifying first round against 3rd seed Japanese Sugita.

Somi having decent first round against Jan Hajek but Yuki had tough match against top-60 Robin Haase.

Tennis News
At $450K Aircel Chennai Open 2013, India

The organizers announced wild-cards for singles and doubles ... In the singles Somdev and Yuki r getting deserving wild-cards ... In the doubles Yuki receive wild-card with Vishnu but second wild-card given to local pair Jeevan and Balaji ... I feel injustice for promising pairing of Purav and Divij as both need some encouragement from local associations to push their rankings inside top-100.

In the doubles, Mahesh will be top-seed with Nestor ... Leander is playing with 43rd ranked Frenchman Edouard Roger-Vasselin and they most probably will be 2nd seed ... Rohan is starting his new year with his new partner Rajeev Ram so they will be 3rd seed in the draw.
-----------------------------------------------------------
At $25K ITF Women's Tournament, Pune, India

Doubles
[SF] (4) Jia Xiang Lu (CHN)/ Jia Jing Lu (Chn) bt Nidhi Chilumula (IND)/ Sheng Nan Sun (CHN) 2-3 Retd.

With this end of the Indian challenge in this tournament.

Hockey News
At Asian Champions Trophy 2012, Doha, Qatar

Final
India l Pakistan 4-5 (2-1)
Goal Scorers - Goal Scorers - SV Sunil (IND) 9', VR Raghunath (IND) 21' PC, Gurvinder Singh Chandi (IND) 55', Rupinderpal Singh (IND) 59' PC and Muhammad Waqas (PAK) 7' PC and 57', Shafqat Rasool (PAK) 42', Mohammad Imran (PAK) 48' PC and 63' PC

Pakistan started with attacking hockey from the start ... We were matching them but Pakistani players were attacking more ... In 7th minute Raghu conceded penalty corner and Waqas converted for Pakistan scoring his 10th goal of the tournament ... In 2 minutes we equalized through field goal from Sunil ... Sunil missed easy chance in front of the goal and Pakistanis also making mess inside our circle ... Indians earned their first penalty corner in 20th minute when ball rises dangerously inside the circle ... Raghu scored from it scoring his 8th goal of the tournament ... Indians earned their second penalty corner just before hooter but this time Pakistanis saved it ... In the second half Pakistan equalized through Rasool in 42nd minute ... Pakistan earned their 2nd penalty corner through their continuous attack and Mohammad Imran converted to gave lead to them ... After that Indians equalized through Chandi in 55th minute ... Pakistan responded within 2 minutes with goal from Waqas, his 11th goal of the tournament ... Indians earned penalty corner in next minute and Rupinderpal converted it ... In 2 minutes Indians earned another penalty corner but this time Rupinderpal missed but after that Pakistan earned another penalty corner and again Mohammad Imran gave lead to Pakistan ... When 3 minutes remaining Indians left the field protesting against Korean umpire who refused to give penalty corner, I think that was unsporting behavior from Indians ... After few minutes match resumed and Pakistan managed to hold lead till the end ... Pakistan was deserving winner of Asian Champions Trophy after this entertaining match.

Badminton News

2012 year-end BWF World Ranking

Women's singles
3 Saina Nehwal
19 P. V. Sindhu (PB)
94 P. C. Thulasi

Men's singles
14 Parupalli Kashyap (PB)
31 Ajay Jayaram
38 R. M. V. Gurusaidutt
40 Sourabh Varma
50 B. Sai Praneeth (PB)
51 Anand Pawar
62 K. Srikanth (PB)
86 H. S. Prannoy

Men's doubles
34 Rupesh Kumar/ Sanave Thomas
42 Tarun Kona/ Arun Vishnu
48 Pranaav Chopra/ Akshay Dewalkar

Women's doubles
25 Jwala Gutta/ Ashwini Ponnappa
61 Aparna Balan/ N. Siki Reddy
71 Pradnya Gadre/ Prajakta Sawant
118 Pradnya Gadre/ Ashwini Ponnappa

Mixed doubles
27 V. Diju/ Jwala Gutta
36 Ashwini Ponnappa/ Tarun Kona
59 Arun Vishnu/ Aparna Balan
78 N. Siki Reddy/ Pranaav Chopra
83 Pradnya Gadre/ Akshay Dewalkar

Here r 2012 year-end rankings of our players ... In men's singles scene r rosy with few emerging young players but worrying sign on women's singles as only Sindhu is looking top talent after Saina.

Happy to see our 4 players r on their personal best ranking at year-end rankings ... In doubles our new pairs need to step up to become top-16 pairs.

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

[R2] (6) Noppawan Lertcheewakarn (THA,283) bt Kyra Shroff (IND,488) 62 61
[R2] (4) Sheng-Nan Sun (CHN,255) bt (Q) Rashmi Teltumbde (IND,UNR) 62 60
[R2] (8) Jia-Jing Lu (CHN,301) bt (WC) Prarthana G. Thombare (IND,825) 63 61

Doubles
[QF] Basak Eraydin (TUR)/ Melis Sezer (TUR) bt Sharmada Balu (IND)/ Nungnadda Wannasuk (THA) W/o
[QF] Nidhi Chilumula (IND)/ Sheng Nan Sun (CHN) bt Natasha Palha (IND)/ Ho Ching Wu (HKG) 46 62 10-5

[SF] (4) Jia Xiang Lu (CHN)/ Jia Jing Lu (Chn) vs Nidhi Chilumula (IND)/ Sheng Nan Sun (CHN)

Indians singles challenge ended without much fight against seeded players ... In the doubles Nidhi in the semis with her Chinese partner.

Hockey News
At Asian Champions Trophy 2012, Doha, Qatar

India l Malaysia 3-5 (0-3)
Goal Scorers - Goal Scorers - Birendra Lakra (IND) 47' PC, SV Sunil (IND) 62', VR Raghunath (IND) 63' PC and Mohd. Fitri Saari (MAS) 18' and 27', Azlan Misron (MAS) 20' PC, Faizal Saari (MAS) 38', ? (MAS) 68'

Lethargic performance by our team against spirited Malaysians ... From start Malaysians were attacking and scored 3 goals in 10 minutes to lead 3-0 at half-time ... They scored 4th goal in first 3 minutes of the second half ... Indians converted 3rd penalty corner through Lakra ... After that we were pushing hard but usual problem of wayward shooting inside the circle were costing us ... We scored 2 goals in two minutes to reduced margin to 3-4 when 7 minutes remaining ... But again sloppy defending cost us 5th goal when 2 minutes were remaining.

In the final we r facing Pakistan who defeated Japan 5-2 in other match.

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

[R1] (1) Nina Bratchikova (RUS,80) bt (WC) Ankita Raina (IND,597) 62 63
[R1] (6) Noppawan Lertcheewakarn (THA,283) bt Rutuja Bhosale (IND,547) 62 60
[R1] (Q) Rashmi Teltumbde (IND,UNR) bt (WC) Dhruthi Tatachar Venugopal (IND,UNR) 63 76(2)
[R1] Oksana Kalashnikova (GEO,416) bt (Q) Natasha Palha (IND,843) 60 75

[R2] (6) Noppawan Lertcheewakarn (THA,283) vs Kyra Shroff (IND,488)
[R2] (4) Sheng-Nan Sun (CHN,255) vs (Q) Rashmi Teltumbde (IND,UNR)
[R2] (8) Jia-Jing Lu (CHN,301) vs (WC) Prarthana G. Thombare (IND,825)

Doubles
[R1] (1) Conny Perrin (SUI)/ Tadeja Majeric (SLO) bt Kyra Shroff (IND)/ Keren Shlomo (ISR) 64 75
[R1] Shiho Akita (JPN)/ Chihiro Takayama (JPN) bt (WC) Adnya Naik (IND)/ Amrita Mukherjee (IND) 64 60

As expected Rashmi won her match against her Indian opponent ... Otherwise disappointing outing for Indians.

Hockey News
At Asian Champions Trophy 2012, Doha, Qatar

India bt Pakistan 2-1 (0-0)
Goal Scorers - Goal Scorers -Rupinderpal Singh (IND) 36' PS, Chinglensana Kangujam (IND) 49' and Muhammad Waqas (PAK) 57' PC

This was typical physical game between India and Pakistan but with win we qualified for the final ... Indians were lucky in this game as Pakistan was better team on the field.

Pakistan dominated the first half as we were under continuous attack from them ... Late in the second hald we received penalty corner but on poor penalty corner (regular) drill we missed the chance ... But in the 1st minute of the second half we got penalty stroke and Rupinderpal Singh converted it ... In 39 minutes Pakistan received their first penalty corner as Raghu fouled inside the circle but he blocked Muhammad Waqas's hit ... Pakistan missed another penalty corner and then Abbasi missed a sitter from front of the goal ... Indians take advantage of missed chances of Pakistan and scored field goal through Chinglensana ... After that Pakistan kept pressing and earned 3rd penalty corner ... This time they scored through Waqas despite Indian protest ... Raghu got yellow card in 61st minute ... Rupinderpal missed ball in 3rd penalty corner when ball was stopped by stopper ... Chandi earned another penalty corner for India in 68th minute ... Indians earned another penalty corner when Pakistani defender raised a stick inside the circle while defending penalty corner ... Rupinderpal's flick deflected from cross-bar ... Pakistan earned their 4th penalty corner in dying moments but this time Rupinderpal cleared the ball ... In the end Pakistan was attacking but we survived due to excellent goal-keeping by Sreejesh ... He saved numerous Pakistani attacks single-handedly.

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

[R1] (1) Nina Bratchikova (RUS,80) vs (WC) Ankita Raina (IND,597)
[R1] Kyra Shroff (IND,488) bt (Q) Eetee Maheta (IND,933) 36 62 61
[R1] (6) Noppawan Lertcheewakarn (THA,283) vs Rutuja Bhosale (IND,547)
[R1] (4) Sheng-Nan Sun (CHN,255) bt (WC) Rishika Sunkara (IND,567) 62 60
[R1] (8) Jia-Jing Lu (CHN,301) bt (LL) Sowjanya Bavisetti (IND,1064) 63 75
[R1] (Q) Rashmi Teltumbde (IND,UNR) vs (WC) Dhruthi Tatachar Venugopal (IND,UNR)
[R1] Oksana Kalashnikova (GEO,416) vs (Q) Natasha Palha (IND,843)
[R1] (WC) Prarthana G. Thombare (IND,825) bt (Q) Nidhi Chilumula (IND,719) 64 63
[R1] (Q) Ya-Hsuan Lee (TPE,1002) bt (Q) Bhuvana Kalva (IND,UNR) 61 61

Doubles
[R1] (1) Conny Perrin (SUI)/ Tadeja Majeric (SLO) vs Kyra Shroff (IND)/ Keren Shlomo (ISR)
[R1] Shiho Akita (JPN)/ Chihiro Takayama (JPN) vs (WC) Adnya Naik (IND)/ Amrita Mukherjee (IND)
[R1] Sharmada Balu (IND)/ Nungnadda Wannasuk (THA) bt (WC) Namita Bal (IND)/ Sowjanya Bavisetti (IND) 62 63
[R1] Ya-Hsuan Lee (TPE)/ Chihiro Nunome (JPN) bt Rutuja Bhosale (IND)/ Rishika Sunkara (IND) 62 64
[R1] (4) Jia Xiang Lu (CHN)/ Jia-Jing Lu (CHN) bt (WC) Vasanti Shinde (IND)/ Dhruti Tatachar Venugopal (IND) 75 75
[R1] Natasha Palha (IND)/ Ho Ching Wu (HKG) bt Ankita Raina (IND)/ Prarthana Thombare (IND) 76(5) 36 10-8
[R1] Nidhi Chilumula (IND)/ Sheng Nan Sun (CHN) bt (ALT) Varunya Chandrashekhar (IND)/ Rashmi Teltumbde (IND) 62 60

Our five girls qualified for main-draw ... In that Rashmi Teltumbde scored impressive win over higher ranked Hong Kong player Ho Ching Wu in the first round qualifying ... Only couple of players r having favorable draw in the first round ... Otherwise our players r facing seeded opponents in the first round.

Hockey News
At Asian Champions Trophy 2012, Doha, Qatar

India bt Oman 11-0 (4-0)
Goal Scorers - SV Sunil (IND) 3' and 44', Dharamvir Singh (IND) 8' and 56', VR Raghunath (IND) 30' PC and 38' PC, Rupinderpal Singh (IND) 33' PC and 43' PC, Akashdeep Singh (IND) 53' PC, Harbir Singh (IND) 65' PC, Danish Mujtaba (IND) 67'

As expected very dominating win by Indians over Omanis ... In this match we converted 6 penalty corners from 10 penalty corners we earned ... We were 2-0 up before first 10 minutes and half-time we were 4-0 up ... We scored 7 more goals in the second half and in that 4 goals were from penalty corners ... Raghu and Rupinder scored a brace from penalty corners ... Sunil and Danish scored a brace (field goals).

Badminton News
At $120K Syed Modi International India GP Gold 2012, Lucknow

Women's Final
(2) Sindhu P. V. (IND,24) l (7) Lindaweni Fanetri (INA,33) 15-21 21-18 18-21

Men's Final
(2) Kashyap Parupalli (IND,20) bt (14) Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk (THA,41) 21-19 14-21 21-17

Sindhu failed to lift women's singles title as she lost the final against Indonesian in 73 minutes ... In this match from the start Indonesian Lindaweni Fanetri didn't give a chance to Sindhu settle in the match ... Both players were making errors but also played some excellent points after long rallies ... Sindhu failed to read overhead cross-court smashes from Fanetri ... In the first game Fanetri opened 4-1 lead which she increased to 11-4 ... Fanetri kept this lead to win the first game ... In the second game Sindhu opened 6-1 lead ... Fanetri tried to reduce it and managed to come near 10-12 and then afterwards 15-16 ... Sindhu converted 2nd game point and take match into the decider ... In the third game Sindhu started with 3-0 lead but Fanetri caught her at 4-all ... After that both players exchanged lead till 10-all ... Fanetri won next 4 points to take 14-10 lead but Sindhu fought back from 14-16 to take 17-16 lead ... Fanetri won next 4 points and gave herself 3 match points ... Fanetri converted 2nd match point for winning the championship.

In the men's final Kashyap defeated Thai Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk for lifting his first GP Gold title in India in 72 minutes ... Kashyap played very patient game and was attacking when needed ... In the third game Kashyap fitness was visible ... He was fittest player on the court.

In the first game Tanongsak take 5-2 lead but Kashyap caught with him at 5-all ... After that Tanongsak opened 9-5 and then 13-7 lead ... Kashyap fought back to reduce it to 12-13 ... Again Tanongsak opened 17-13 lead this time Kashyap won 6 points in a row to take 19-17 lead ... Kashyap converted 2nd game point and won this game ... In the second game Tanongsak was leading from the start ... KAshyap reduced to 6-7 but after that Kashyap made few unforced errors and Tanongsak take advantage of it winning the second game ... In decider Kashyap take 5-2 lead but Tanongsak made it 5-all ... From 6-all Kashyap opened two points lead ... Tanongsak managed to reduce lead to one point at 11-12 ... Kashyap won next 4 points to opened 16-11 lead ... Tanongsak tried fightback from 14-19 after winning next 3 points but Kashyap won next two points for championship win.

Badminton News
At $120K Syed Modi International India GP Gold 2012, Lucknow

[SF] (2) Kashyap Parupalli (IND,20) bt (3) Tommy Sugiarto (INA,27) 21-18 23-21
[SF] (2) Sindhu P. V. (IND,24) bt (3) Sapsiree Taerattanachai (THA,23) 21-12 21-14

[F] (2) Kashyap Parupalli (IND,20) vs (14) Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk (THA,41)
[F] (2) Sindhu P. V. (IND,24) vs (7) Lindaweni Fanetri (INA,33)

Kashyap and Sindhu won their respective semi-finals in men's and women's to enter in the final ... Sindhu scored very comfortable win over similar ranked Thai player in 39 minutes ... Kashyap take 6-0 early lead which he kept until end of the game ... In the second game Kashyap take 8-4 lead but Tommy Sugiarto caught with him at 19-all from 14-19 down ... Kashyap failed to covert match point at 20-19 but he saved a game point at 20-21 ... Kasyap converted 2nd match point for good win in 46 minutes.

In the women's final Sindhu is facing Indonesian Lindaweni Fanetri ... In the men's final Kashyap is facing Thai Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk ... Kashyap having 2-4 win-loss record against him.

Tennis News
At 2013 Fed Cup - Asia-Oceania Group 1, Astana, Kazakhstan

India's Fed Cup Team
Sania Mirza, Kyra Shroff, Rutuja Bhosale, Rishika Sunkara

AITA announced team for Fed cup which will be played in February ... This time team selection was purely on rankings as our top ranked singles and doubles players r selected.
-----------------------------------------------------------
At $10K India F17 Futures, Belgaum

Singles Final
(6) Michael Shabaz (USA) bt (Q) Torsten Wietoska (GER) 60 76(3)

Michael Shabaz won double crown at Belgaum after winning the singles title beating Wietoska ... After losing the first set easily Wietoska fought hard in the second but Shabaz managed to win it in tie-break for his first ITF singles futures title.

Hockey News
At Asian Champions Trophy 2012, Doha, Qatar

India bt Japan 3-1 (1-0)
Goal Scorers - VR Raghunath (IND) 22' PC and 59' PC, Gurvinder Singh Chandi (IND) 51' and Koji Kayukawa (JPN) 50' PS

Japan exposed Indian defense in this match ... We were dis-oriented in this match and Japan tried hard to take advantage ... Japan wasted 2 penalty corners but Raghu scored for Indians on first penalty corner ... We had poor last 5 minutes of the first half where Japanese were attacking and we were struggling to enter in Japanese half ... In the second half we played more physical game and our players received cards for that ... Japan equalised through penalty stroke in 50th minute ... On next minute Chandi scored through field goal to gave lead ... Raghu continued with his good form and scored his 4th goal of the tournament converting 3rd penalty corner.

Tennis News
At $10K India F17 Futures, Belgaum

[SF] (1) N. Sriram Balaji (IND) l (6) Michael Shabaz (USA) 26 57
[SF](Q) Torsten Wietoska (GER) bt Andre Gasper Murta (POR) 76(3) 76(5)

Doubles Final
(1) Vijay Sundar Prashant (IND)/ Arun-Prakash Rajagopalan (IND) l Michael Shabaz (USA)/ Amrit Narasimhan (USA) 67(3) 57

Balaji failed to utilize opportunity of winning this futures and joining Yuki, Vishnu and Sanam in top-300 in end of the year ranking ... He lost in straight sets against Michael Shabaz ... In other semis German qualifier Torsten Wietoska continued with his superb form after entering in the final.

Tomorrow Michael Shabaz having chance of winning double crown after winning the doubles title with Amrit Narasimhan ... They defeated top-seed Vijay Sundar and Arun-Prakash in tight two sets.

Badminton News
At $120K Syed Modi International India GP Gold 2012, Lucknow

[QF] Srikanth K. (IND,69) l (14) Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk (THA,41) 16-21 12-21
[QF] Prannoy H. S. (IND,93) l (5) Alamsyah Yunus (INA,42) 21-18 10-21 12-21
[QF] (12) Gurusaidutt R. M. V. (IND,39) l (3) Tommy Sugiarto (INA,27) 21-19 20-22 16-21
[QF] (2) Kashyap Parupalli (IND,20) bt Soon Huat Goh (MAS,90) 23-21 8-21 21-16
[QF] (2) Sindhu P. V. (IND,24) bt Febby Angguni (INA,144) 21-13 21-17

Prannoy and Srikanth lost in the quarters ... Guru missed opportunity of finishing match in straight games ... He wasted one match point before Sugiarto winning the second game ... In the final game Sugiarto take couple of points lead from 10-all which he manged to increase in end for the victory.

Surprisingly tough match for Kashyap against lower ranked Malaysian .... After winning the first game in extra points he lost the second very easily ... Kashyap needed to raise his game for the victory in the decider ... Sindhu scored straight games victory over almost 150th ranked Indonesian in the quarters.

Tennis News
At $10K India F17 Futures, Belgaum

[QF] (1) N. Sriram Balaji (IND) bt Colin van Beem (NED) 64 57 63
[QF] (6) Michael Shabaz (USA) bt (3) Theodoros Anjelinos (GRE) 64 64

[QF] (7) Ashwin Vijayaraghavan (IND) l (Q) Torsten Wietoska (GER) 46 63 57
[QF] Andre Gasper Murta (POR) bt (8) Jeroen Benard (NED) 75 63

Doubles
[SF] (1) Vijay Sundar Prashant (IND)/ Arun-Prakash Rajagopalan (IND) bt Rupesh Roy (IND)/ Vivek Shokeen (IND) 64 36 10-6
[SF] Michael Shabaz (USA)/ Amrit Narasimhan (USA) bt (2) Sergei Krotiok (RUS)/ Luca Margaroli (SUI) 63 76(4)

Balaji is the only Indian in the singles semis ... Ashwin gave fighting performance against consistent German Wietoska.

In doubles top-seed pair of Vijay Sundar and Arun-Prkash r in the final ... They will face tricky unseeded American pair.

Hockey News
At Asian Champions Trophy 2012, Doha, Qatar

India bt China 4-0 (2-0)
Goal Scorers - SV Sunil (IND) 13' VR Raghunath (IND) 17' PC and 52' PC, Own goal 53'

Comfortable winning start for Indians against Chinese team ... We scored 2 goals each in both half and in that Raghu scored twice through penalty corners.