Tennis News

At $400K Aircel Chennai Open 2014, India

[R1] (WC) Yuki Bhambri (IND,195) bt Pablo Carreño Busta (ESP,65) 64 63
[R1] (Q) Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,519) bt Somdev Devvarman (IND,90) 46 63 64

[R2] (WC) Yuki Bhambri (IND,195) vs (3) Fabio Fognini (ITA,16)
[R2] (Q) Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,519) vs (6) Marcel Granollers (ESP,38)

Doubles
[R1] (1) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (PAK) bt Benoit Paire (FRA)/ Stanislas Wawrinka (SUI) 64 46 11-9

[QF] (1) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (PAK) vs (WC) Karen Khachanov (RUS) / Saketh Myneni (IND)

Yuki scored super straight sets win over top-65 Pablo Carreño Busta in 76 minutes ... In the first set Yuki broke Pablo in 3rd game taking advantage of mistakes from him but Pablo immediately broke Yuki and made it 2-all ... After that till 8th game both players hold their respective service games easily ... In 9th game Yuki broke Pablo with some solid ground-stroke play and then hold his serve for winning this set ... In the second set Yuki again broke Pablo in 3rd game to lead 2-1 but this time Yuki hold in next game to kept his advantage, 3-1 ... After that Yuki kept pressure on Pablo's serve and holding his service games comfortably ... Yuki again broke Pablo in 9th game when he was serving for staying in the match and completed solid game ... In this match Yuki played excellent game from baseline with solid ground-strokes ... Next he is facing top-20 Italian player Fabio Fognini.

As expected match between Buji and RamK was cracker as two Indians were playing in home tournament and crowd was supporting both local players ... In this match RamK played super aggressive game with his huge forehand and very effective services ... In the first set both players traded early break to 2-all but then Buji kept control and winning important points ... Witl late break of serve Buji won the first set ... Instead of coming under pressure RamK came out all cylinders blazing in the second set His aggressive game started to gave dividends as with his super aggressive game he won the second set with a single break ... In the third set RamK broke Buji in 3rd game to take 2-1 lead but with unforced errors he gave break back to Buji, 2-all ... Buji needed to save 2 break points in 5th game before holding his serve ... RamK was pressuring Buji with his shot making and take important break in 9th game and then served for the match ... He converted 1st match point for his first win over top-100 player ... Buji was annoyed with himself and that was visible ... In this match Buji failed to play his regular game and he wasn't looking match-fit ... And then he faced a player, who is player on a hot streak ... Happy for RamK but next he is facing big challenge of top-40 ranked Spanish player, Marcel Granollers.

Rohan-Aisam rekindled their partnership on positive note ... They defeated defending champions Stanislas Wawrinka-Benoit Paire in well fought match which went to extra points in the match tie-break ... Next they r facing wild-card pairing of Saketh-Karen.

Leander Paes withdrew from the tournament when Fabio Fognini pulled out of the doubles event citing a left leg strain though Fognini is planning to play the singles.
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At $25K Hongkong ITF Women's Tournamen, Hongkong

[R1] Ankita RAINA (IND,295) l (3) Olga SAVCHUK (UKR,187) 36 06

Ankita failed to raise her game against her top-200 opponent.

Tennis News

At $400K Aircel Chennai Open 2014, India

[Q3] Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,519) bt Norbert Gombos (SVK,197) 76(3) 36 63

[R1] Somdev Devvarman (IND,90) vs (Q) Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,519)
[R1] (WC) Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND,312) l Jiri Vesely (CZE,84) 57 26

Doubles
[R1] (WC) Karen Khachanov (RUS) / Saketh Myneni (IND) bt Pablo Carreno Busta (ESP)/ Albert Ramos (ESP) 61 76(6)

RamK struggled with his 1st serve percentage but still didn't face a single break point in the first set .. RamK had a set point (only break point of the first set) on Norbert's serve but failed to convert ... RamK dominated tie-break and won it convincingly losing only 3 points ... RamK started tentatively in the second set and lost his serve in 2nd game to down 0-3 ... Norbert kept this single break advantage despite facing few break points to won the second set ... In the third set RamK started positively and turned table ... He broke Norbert in 2nd game and take 3-0 lead ... This time RamK kept that advantage for the victory in 2 hours and 6 minutes ... Really good performance by 19 yrs old RamK to qualify for main-draw of Chennai open ... RamK having tough match against Buji in the first round but I m counting tricky match for Buji against in-form RamK.

Saketh-Karen scored huge upset win over experienced Spanish players in straight sets ... After winning the first set easily Saketh-Karen stretched to tie-break by Spanish pair but our pair won the tight tie-break.

Jeevan started well and was break up early leading 4-1 but after that Jiri proved too strong to him ... Jiri won 12 games from next 15 games and completed victory in straight sets.
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At $25K Hongkong ITF Women's Tournamen, Hongkong

[R1] Ankita RAINA (IND,295) vs (3) Olga SAVCHUK (UKR,187)

Doubles
[R1] Ankita RAINA (IND)/ Prarthana G. THOMBARE (IND) l Hao Chen TANG (CHN)/ Ran TIAN (CHN) 26 57

In the doubles Ankita-Prarthana lost against Chinese pair in straight sets ... In the singles also Ankita is facing tough challenge of 3rd Ukrainian Savchuk, who is top-100 doubles player and former top-100 singles player.

Tennis News

At $400K Aircel Chennai Open 2014, India

[Q2] Sanam SINGH (IND,391) l Frederik NIELSEN (DEN,617) 57 57
[Q2] Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND,519) bt Mikhail ELGIN (RUS,958) 63 75

[Q3] Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND,519) vs Norbert GOMBOS (SVK,197)

RK in the final qualifying round beating experienced former top-125 singles player and current top-75 type doubles player Russian Mikhail Elgin ... After winning the first set RK faced stiff resistant from Elgin ... In 11th game RK saved 2 break points on his serve and then take crucial break on Eligin serve in 12th game for straight sets victory ... Next he is facing top-200 Slovakian Norbert Gombos, who scored upset win over 3rd seed Serbian Lajovic.

But other hand Sanam failed to live up of challenge from another doubles specialist Frederik Nielsen ... In the first set Frederik broke Sanam early to lead 2-1 but Sanam fought back and broke him, 5-all ... Frederik take crucial break in 11th game before holding his serve for winning the set ... Same story repeated in the second set as Frederik take crucial break in 11th game and then hold his serve for completing the win.
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At $25K Hongkong ITF Women's Tournament, Hongkong

[Q1] (4) Prarthana G. THOMBARE (IND,401) bt Miki KOBAYASHI (JPN,UNR) 62 36 61

[Q2] (4) Prarthana G. THOMBARE (IND,401) l (13) Kai-Lin ZHANG (CHN,757) 26 36

Bad loss for Prarthana in the second qualifying round against her lower ranked Chinese opponent.

Tennis News

At $400K Aircel Chennai Open 2014, India

[Q1] Sanam SINGH (IND,391) bt (WC) Ajai SELVARAJ (IND,1454) 60 60
[Q1] (WC) Mohit Mayur JAYAPRAKASH (IND,1606) vs. (2) Go SOEDA (JPN,103) 67(2) 57 46
[Q1] N.Sriram BALAJI (IND,385) vs. Henri LAAKSONEN (SUI,245) 16 75
[Q1] (WC) Sasi Kumar MUKUND (IND,2050) l (3) Dusan LAJOVIC (SRB,116) 36 46
[Q1] Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND,519) bt (WC) Sumit NAGAL (IND,1675) 62 60
[Q1] Saketh MYNENI (IND,315) l Philipp OSWALD (AUT,979) 36 46
[Q1] N. Vijay Sundar PRASHANTH (IND,708) l Ze ZHANG (CHN,255) 46 16

[Q2] Sanam SINGH (IND,391) vs Frederik NIELSEN (DEN,617)
[Q2] Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND,519) vs Mikhail ELGIN (RUS,958)

[R1] (WC) Yuki Bhambri (IND,195) vs Pablo Carreño Busta (ESP,65)
[R1] Somdev Devvarman (IND,90) vs Qualifier
[R1] (WC) Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND,312) vs Jiri Vesely (CZE,84)

Doubles
[R1] (1) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (PAK) vs Benoit Paire (FRA)/ Stanislas Wawrinka (SUI)
[R1] (WC) Karen Khachanov (RUS) / Saketh Myneni (IND) vs Pablo Carreno Busta (ESP)/ Albert Ramos (ESP)
[R1] Purav Raja (IND)/ Dudi Sela (ISR) vs Nicholas Monroe (USA)/ Frank Moser (GER)
[R1] Yen-Hsun Lu (TPE)/ Divij Sharan (IND) vs Guillermo Garcia-Lopez (ESP)/ Philipp Oswald (AUT)
[R1] (WC) N.Sriram Balaji (IND)/ Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND) vs Scott Lipsky (USA)/ Rajeev Ram (USA)
[R1] (2) Fabio Fognini (ITA)/ Leander Paes (IND) vs Marin Draganja (CRO)/ Mate Pavic (CRO)

Mohit Mayur was 1-5 down before he tried excellent comeback ... He managed to made it 5-all before losing the set in tie-break ... Mohit Mayur broke Soeda in 7th game to take 4-3 lead but failed to hold when serving for the set at 5-4 ... In 11th game on Soeda's serve Mohit Mayur had 3 break points, 0-40, which he failed to convert ... After that Soeda broke Mohit Mayur when he was serving for staying in the match and completed victory.

Balaji lost the first set without much fight ... In the second set Bala fought neck to neck and take crucial break of serve in 11th game on Henri's serve ... And then hold his service game for winning this set ... In the third set also both players fought hard but this time Henri broke Bala in 10th game when he was serving for staying in the match for completing the victory.

Young Sasi Kumar gave decent performance in his loss against top-125 Serbian opponent Lajovic ... Vijay Sundar lost in one-sided match against Zhang ... I was hoping better performance by Saketh bu he struggled with his serve in this match and big serving 6'7" tall Oswald take full advantage of it ... After losing the first set Saketh tried fightback but his serve cost him the match ... In the second set Saketh broke Oswald in 1st game but failed to hold his serve in next game, 1-1 ... Saketh again broke Oswald in 5th game, 3-2, but lost his serve in 6th and 8th games to falling behind 3-5 ... Saeth broke Oswald in 9th game when he was serving for the match, 4-5, but again lost his serve in 10th game for losing the match.

RK scored very dominating win over young Sumit losing only two games ... Next he is facing top-75 type doubles player, who was top-125 singles player before, Russian Mikhail Elgin ... Sanam crushed Ajai Selvaraj as he he double bageled Ajai ... Sanam is facing experienced Danish player, who was top-200 in the singles, who is former top-20 and current top-60 doubles player Frederik Nielsen.

The singles draw is out and Buji having favorable draw as he is facing an qualifier in the first round ... Yuki and Jeevan r also facing unseeded players but having real hope from Yuki only.

The doubles draw is also out ... Rohan-Aisam r top-seed pair and Lee is partnering Italian Fabio Fognini ... Divij is playing with Yen-Hsun Lu in preparation for Australian open ... Happy to see Purav find higher ranked partner in Dudi Sela to participate in Chennai open.

Tennis News

2013 Year-end singles rankings of our male tennis players, India

90 Somdev Devvarman
195 Yuki Bhambri
312 Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan
315 Saketh Myneni
363 Prakash Amritraj
385 N.Sriram Balaji
391 Sanam Singh
483 Prajnesh Gunneswaran
488 Karunuday Singh
517 Vijayant Malik
519 Ramkumar Ramanathan (796)

Buji is back in top-100 with consistent performance ... Injury-free Yuki is bound to join him in top-100 ... This year some encouraging performance by Prajnesh Ramkumar and Karunuday ... Hoping for at least 10 players around or over top-350 after end of March 2014.
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At $400K Aircel Chennai Open 2014, India

So new season will start with Chennai open ... This is 19th edition of the tournament ... Bravo to organizers!!!

Buji made a cut with his current rankings, #90 ... Usual controversy with wild-cards ... Singles wild-card are given to deserving Yuki and second goese to Jeevan, instead of him RK was better candidate ... In the doubles wild-cards given to pairing of Sriram Balaji-Ramkumar Ramanathan and Saketh Myneni with Russian Karen Khachanov ... Here Purav with Buji were better option but TNTA promote their players through Chennai open ... Hopefully our wild-card players took advantage of their chances.

Squash News

At PSA Challenger $5K Imet Open 2013, Bratislava, Slovakia


Final
(3) Mahesh Mangaonkar (IND,98) bt (2) Greg Lobban (SCO,82) 3-2 (7-11, 11-8, 11-4, 6-11, 11-7) (77m)

[SF] (3) Mahesh Mangaonkar (IND,98) bt (1) Jan Koukal (CZE,73) 3-2 (13-11, 11-8, 9-11, 7-11, 13-11) (98m)
[QF] (3) Mahesh Mangaonkar (IND,98) bt Christophe Andre (FRA,177) 3-0 (11-3, 11-4, 13-11) (40m)
[R1] (3) Mahesh Mangaonkar (IND,98) bt Anthony Brindle (GIB,212) 3-2 (7-11, 11-5, 9-11, 11-3 11-6 (66m)

19 yrs old Mahesh Mangaonkar lifted his 2nd PSA title in Slovakia ... Mahesh was stretched in the first round by Brindle but he won quarter-final comfortably ... In the semis-final he defeated top-seed Czech player Koukal in well fought match ... He was leading 2-0 before Koukal fought back and won next two games ... In the decider both players were neck to neck which Mahesh won in extra points after saving match ball.

In the final he faced 2nd seed and defending champion Scottish Greg Lobban ... Despite playing long match in the semis Mahesh again produced solid performance in this long match ... After losing the first game Mahesh made strong comeback ... Mahesh won next two games but lost fourth game ... In the decider Mahesh kept his nerve and completed victory in 77 minutes.

Snooker News

At Haikou World Open Qualifiers, Barnsley, England

[QR1] Pankaj Advani (IND,66) bt (A) Mitchell Travis (ENG) 5-2 (71-29, 53-48, 0-71(58), 72-33, 54-67, 67-28, 67-16)

[R1] Pankaj Advani (IND,66) vs Xiao Guodong (CHN,26)

I was hoping easier passage to main-draw for Pankaj but amature player Travis stretched Pankaj ... Pankaj needed to play well to beat Travis ... So he is join Aditya at Haikou World Open ... Pankaj having tough match against local favorite and top-25 type player Xiao Guodong in the first round.

Chess News

At The London Super Sixteen rapid tournament (under London Chess Classic) 2013, England (December 11th to 15th, 2013)

Quarter Finals 1
GM Vladimir Kramnik (RUS,2794) ½-½ GM Viswanathan Anand (IND,2775)
GM Michael Adams (ENG,2761) 1-0 GM Peter Svidler (RUS,2746)
GM Fabiano Caruana (ITA,2779) ½-½ GM Boris Gelfand (ISR,2764)
GM Nigel Short (ENG.2684) 0-1 GM Hikaru Nakamura (USA,2772)

Quarter Finals 2
GM Viswanathan Anand (IND,2775) 0-1 GM Vladimir Kramnik (RUS,2794)
GM Peter Svidler (RUS,2746) 1-0 GM Michael Adams (ENG,2761)
GM Boris Gelfand (ISR,2764) ½-½ GM Fabiano Caruana (ITA,2779)
GM Hikaru Nakamura (USA,2772) ½-½ GM Nigel Short (ENG,2684)

Quarter Finals Tie-break
[T1] GM Michael Adams (ENG,2761) 1-0 GM Peter Svidler (RUS,2746) (2-1)
[T1] GM Fabiano Caruana (ITA,2779) 0-1 GM Boris Gelfand (ISR,2764) (1-2)

[T2] GM Peter Svidler (RUS,2746) 0-1 GM Michael Adams (ENG,2761)(1-3)
[T2] GM Boris Gelfand (ISR,2764) 1-0 GM Fabiano Caruana (ITA,2779) (3-1

Anand draw first game with Black pieces ... But in the second game Anand used a relatively passive opening and Kramnik countered with an aggressive pawn sacrifice ... Anand did not accept and quickly lost after 27 moves ... So disappointing end of 2013 for Anand.

Hockey News

At the Junior Hockey World Cup 2013, New Delhi, India

For 9th position
India l Pakistan 1-1 (0-1) 2-4 SO
Goal Scorers - Gurjinder Singh (IND) PC 66' and Rizwan Ali (PAK) 7'

Indian boys ended on disappointing 10th position after they lost penalty shoot-out against Pakistan ... Indians boys had support from vocal crowd but Pakistan take early lead ... After that our boys were doing catching game and they created few chances but were too hasty in trying to conclude ... After missing few penalty corners Gurjinder Singh converted when 5 minutes were remaining ... In shoot-out Pakistani players proved too good to Indian goal-keeper and completed memorable victory.

Snooker News

At Haikou World Open Qualifiers, Barnsley, England

[QR1] Aditya Mehta (IND,63) bt Jak Jones (WAL,122) 5-2 (71-51(50), 67-20, 76(76)-0, 5-82(82), 82-5, 54(54)-65, 79-30)

After qualifying for prestigious German Masters Aditya continues with his good run ... He is qualify for Haikou World Open, which will be play from 10th to 16th March 2014 at Haikou, China, beating Wales player Jak Jones ... After losing the first 3 frames Jak tried fight back but Aditya kept focus and completed victory ... In man-draw of Haikou World Open he is playing another Wales player, WR #32 Michael White.

Chess News

At The London Super Sixteen rapid tournament (under London Chess Classic) 2013, England (December 11th to 15th, 2013)

Group A
Round Five
GM Viswanathan Anand (IND,2775) ½-½ GM Andrei Istratescu (FRA,2709)
GM Luke McShane (ENG,2697) 0-1 GM Michael Adams (ENG,2761)

Round Six
GM Michael Adams (ENG,2761) ½-½ GM Viswanathan Anand (IND,2775)
GM Andrei Istratescu (FRA,2709) 1-0 GM Luke McShane (ENG,2697)

Quarter Finals
GM Vladimir Kramnik (RUS,2794) - GM Viswanathan Anand (IND,2775)
GM Michael Adams (ENG,2761) - GM Peter Svidler (RUS,2746)
GM Fabiano Caruana (ITA,2779) - GM Boris Gelfand (ISR,2764)
GM Nigel Short (ENG.2684) - GM Hikaru Nakamura (USA,2772)

In the fifth round Anand played safe against Istratescu for draw ... In the last match of group Adams and Anand played an interesting game in which surely Anand was simply winning as he was up a piece but however his technique was faulty and Adams escaped with a draw.

So Anand and Adama qualified for quarterfinal from Group A ... Anand having dangerous quarter-final opponent, Vladimir Kramnik, who finished on 2nd position from Group B.

Badminton News

At $500K BWF Superseries Final 2013, Kuala lumpur, Malaysia

WS - Group B
Saina Nehwal (IND,6) bt Yeon Ju Bae (KOR,7) 21-11 17-21 21-13

For qualifying for the semis Saina needed to win this match in straight games but she failed to did that ... Still moral-boosting win for Saina against Korean Bae, who troubled her through out the year, in 60 minutes ... In the first game Saina take 4-0 lead but Bae caught up with her at 6-all ... Saina won next 6 points in a row to lead 12-6 and that proved crucial ... Bae reduced lead to 10-15 but again Saina won next 5 points, 20-10, and converted 2nd game point for winning it ... In the second game both players were neck to neck till 10-all ... Bae opened 13-10 lead which Saina reduced to 12-13 but Bae kept single point advantage ... At 17-16 Bae won next 3 points, 20-16, and converted 2nd game point to won it ... In the final game Saina opened 4-0 lead and kept increasing it ... At one time Saina was leading 14-5 though Bae tried fight back winning 4 points in a row from 7-16 but gap was too large ... Saina converted 1st match point for completing her first win of 2013 Superseries Final.

Tennis News

At $10K Cambodia F3 Futures, Phnom Penh

[SF] (6) Karunuday Singh (IND,581) l (1) Ti Chen (TPE,325) 64 36 67(3)
[SF] (8) Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,580) l (4) Toshihide Matsui (JPN,509) 26 57

Doubles Final
Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND)/ Karunuday SINGH (IND) bt (1) Takuto NIKI (JPN)/ Arata ONOZAWA (JPN) 64 63

KU gave fighting performance against his experienced Taiwani opponent, Ti Chen ... After winning the first set KU failed to kept momentum in the second set ... In the third set KU tried but Ti Chen completed victory after winning tie-break ... RK must be tired as he was 13 singles matches winning streak in last three weeks ... Japanese Matsui proved tough challenge for RK and he lost in straights sets ... Still superb performance by our both players in this futures and some terrific wins for RK in last two weeks of Cambodian futures.

Their singles losses didn't affected RK-KU's mentality in the doubles final ... They scored comfortable win over top-seed Japanese pair to lift the title.

Snooker News

At German Masters Qualifiers, Barnsley, England

[R1] Pankaj Advani (IND,67) l Mark Selby (ENG,2) 1-5 (65(53)-45, 67-45, 71-22, 34-51, 79(79)-8, 115(115)-1))

Pankaj gave decent performance against WR #2 Mark Selby ... First 4 frames were closely fought but after losing 4th frame Selby showed his class ... So with that Pankaj fails to qualify for German Masters ... So only Aditya is in the main-draw.

Chess News

At The London Super Sixteen rapid tournament (under London Chess Classic) 2013, England (December 11th to 15th, 2013)

Group A
Round Three
GM Andrei Istratescu (FRA,2709) 0-1 GM Viswanathan Anand (IND,2775)
GM Michael Adams (ENG,2761) ½-½ GM Luke McShane (ENG,2697)

Round Four
GM Viswanathan Anand (IND,2775) 1-0 GM Luke McShane (ENG,2697)
GM Michael Adams (ENG,2761) 1-0 GM Andrei Istratescu (FRA,2709)

Anand showed his mastery in Rapid chess and scored two dominating wins over Istratescu after 50 moves and McShane after 38 moves ... So after four rounds Anand leading with 10 points and Adams is in 2nd position with 8 points in Group A.

Hockey News

At the Junior Hockey World Cup 2013, New Delhi, India

For 9 / 12 positions
India bt Argentina 4-2 (3-0)
Goal Scorers - Ramandeep Singh (IND) 4' and 31', Amit Rohidas (IND) PC 7', Gurjinder Singh (IND) PC 40' and Lucas Martinez (ARG) 38', Lautaro Diaz (ARG) 69'

Indian boys started confidently scoring 2 goals in first 10 minutes ... Then they scored another goal before half-time hooter ... In the second half Argentina scored a goal but Indians responded immediately to retake 3 goals lead ... Afterwards Indians had many chances including hit the crossbar but in end Argentina manged another goal.

Pakistan defeated South Africa 4-0, which set up much anticipated match between India-Pakistan but only for 9th place.

Chess News

At The London Super Sixteen rapid tournament (under London Chess Classic) 2013, England (December 11th to 15th, 2013)

Group A
Round One
GM Luke McShane (ENG,2697) 0-1 GM Viswanathan Anand (IND,2775)
GM Andrei Istratescu (FRA,2709) 0-1 GM Michael Adams (ENG,2761)

Round Two
GM Viswanathan Anand (IND,2775) ½-½ GM Michael Adams (ENG,2761)
GM Luke McShane (ENG,2697) 1-0 GM Andrei Istratescu (FRA,2709)

The London Super Sixteen rapid tournament has started ... Players are divided into four groups initially, to play a double round robin between them and determine two qualifiers to the knock out stages ... Points calculation - 3 points for a win and 1 point for draw.

In the first round Anand defeated McShane playing with black pieces after 46 moves ... In the second round Anand and Adams played a "real game" instead of a rapid and played some theory, exchanged some pieces and solidly drew ... So after two rounds Anand and Adams r leading with 4 points from Group A.

Badminton News

At $500K BWF Superseries Final 2013, Kuala lumpur, Malaysia

WS - Group B
Saina Nehwal (IND,6) l Xuerui Li (CHN,1) 9-21 14-21

After yesterday's poor loss wasn't expected any firework from Saina ... And today she didn't disappointed and lost easily against Li in 27 minutes ... In the first game Li take 8-1 lead which Saina reduced it to 8-10 but Li won last 8 points in a row for winning it comfortably ... In the second round both players were neck to neck till 5-all but after that Li opened 3 points lead which she kept increasing until winning the match.

Tennis News

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

[SF] Ankita RAINA (IND)/ Prarthana G. THOMBARE (IND) l Jocelyn RAE (GBR)/ Anna SMITH (GBR) 57 36


Ankita-Prarthana lost in the semis and with that Indian challenge got over form this ITF tournament.
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At $10K Cambodia F3 Futures, Phnom Penh

[QF] (6) Karunuday Singh (IND,581) bt (Q) Harry Meehan (GBR,1423) 64 64
[QF] (8) Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,580) bt (2) Robin Kern (GER,412) 76(6) 64

[SF] (6) Karunuday Singh (IND,581) vs (1) Ti Chen (TPE,325)
[SF] (8) Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,580) vs (4) Toshihide Matsui (JPN,509)

Doubles
[SF] Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND)/ Karunuday SINGH (IND) bt Robin KERN (GER)/ Maxi PONGRATZ (AUT) 64 76(5)

[F] Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND)/ Karunuday SINGH (IND) vs (1) Takuto NIKI (JPN)/ Arata ONOZAWA (JPN)

RK's impressive form continues ... In the quarter-final he defeated top-400 type German youngster Kern in straight sets ... After winning the first set in tight tie-break RK won the next one with a single break advantage ... KU also join him in the semis with comfortable straight sets win over young British qualifier ... In the semis our both players r facing experienced and higher ranked Asian players ... KU is facing top-seed and former top-200 Ti Chen ... RK is facing former top-260 and 4th seed Toshihide Matsui.

In the doubles also RK and KU r in the final ... They defeated German-Austrian pair of Kern-Pongratz in straight sets ... In the final they r facing top-seed Japanese pair.

Snooker News

At German Masters Qualifiers, Barnsley, England

[QR] Pankaj Advani (IND,67) vs Mark Selby (ENG,2)
[QR] Aditya Mehta (IND,63) bt Li Yan (CHN,83) 5-0 (64-51, 66(61)-42, 68-0, 62-48, 86(68)-1)

[R1] Aditya Mehta (IND,63) vs Joel Walker (ENG,86)

Aditya qualified for German Masters, which will be played from 29th January, 2014 to 2nd February, 2014, with comfortable win over his Chinese opponent Li Yan ... Aditya will face Britisher Joel Walker in the first round of German Master.

But Pankaj having really tough match to qualify for German Masters .. He is facing fromer WR #1 and current WR #2 Mark Selby in the qualifying round.