Hockey News

At Valancia Six Nation Cup 2016, Spain

India l New Zealand 0-1 (0-1)
Goal Scorers - Stephen Jenness (NZL) 18'

Black sticks weren't good but we played badly ... May be Oltmans is trying different thing in this tournament but today nothing was working as we were pathetically slow and our defending was poor ... Inside the D our forwarders failed to convert opportunities and again we failed to convert penalty corners.

Tennis News

At Wimbledon Open 2016, London, Great Britain

Mixed Doubles
[R1] (1) Ivan Dodig (CRO)/ Sania Mirza (IND) bye
[R1] (13) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Anastasia Rodionova (AUS) bye
[R1] (16) Leander Paes (IND)/ Martina Hingis (SUI) bye

Our all players r seeded so having first round bye ... Rohan and Lee r in bottom draw and can meet each other in the quarters.

Hockey News

At Valancia Six Nation Cup 2016, Spain

India bt Ireland 2-1 (1-1)
Goal Scorers - Talwinder Singh (IND) 20' PC, Sardar Singh (IND) 34' and Kyle Good (IRL) 4'

Indians scored tight win over Irish team, 2-1, for registering their first win ... Indians fought back after Kyle Good strike in the fourth minute gave the lead to Ireland but goals from Talwinder Singh in 2nd quarter and Sardar Singh in 3rd quarter helped us for a win ... Worrying sign is failure of Rupinder Pal Singh and Raghunath's penalty corner conversion.

Tennis News

At $50K+H Marburg Challenger, Germany (Clay)

[R1] (Q) Sumit Nagal (IND,370) l (6) Daniel Brands (GER,131) 46 63 57

Sumit lose very close match against experienced Brands, who had a win over Federer in 2013 on clay ... In the first set Brands broke Sumit in 1st game and kept that lead for winning it ... In the second set Sumit broke Brands in 8th game for winning it ... In the final set Brands broke Sumit in 6th game to lead 2-4 but while serving for the match at 3-5 Brands got tight ... Sumit took advantage of it breaking Brands but at 5-6 Brands broke Sumit for completing victory.

Shooting News

At ISSF World Cup Rifle / Pistol / Shotgun, Baku, Azerbaijan

50m Rifle 3 Positions Men
Gold - Petar Gorsa (CRO) 457.5 pts
Silver - Sanjeev Rajput (IND) 456.9 pts
Bronze - Hyeonjun Kim (KOR) 445.5 pts

Sanjeev Rajput, who claimed silver with 456.9 points after finishing the kneeling series with 153.5 points and the prone series with 307.6 points ... This is our second Silver medal of this World cup.

Total nine Indian finalists In this World cup, 2 medal winners and these r list of other finalists - Gagan Narang in 2 events, Abhinav Bindra, Heena Siddhu in 25M Pistol, Kynan Chenai in Trap, Man Singh in Skeet and Pooja Ghatkar in 10M Air Rifle

Hockey News

At Valancia Six Nation Cup 2016, Spain

India l Germany 0-4 (0-3)
Goal Scorers - Mats Grambusch (GER) 5' PC and 9' PC, Moritz Furste (GER) 14' PC, Lukas Windfeder (GER) 57' PC

Disappointing start for us in this six nations tournament ... After our performance in Champions trophy hopes were high but German scored 3 goals in 1st 15 minutes ... After that we were playing catching game but we failed to take advantage of extra body on the field ... In lat German scored another goal for convincing win.

Tennis News

At $50K+H Marburg Challenger, Germany (Clay)

[Q3] Sumit Nagal (IND,370) bt Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,406) 63 63

[R1] (Q) Sumit Nagal (IND,370) vs (6) Daniel Brands (GER,131)

Very convincing win by Sumit against Prajnesh for main-draw qualification ... I was expecting win for Sumit but also expected little close match ... Real tough match for Sumit against top-130 German Daniel Brands in the first round.

Rio Olympics News

At Rio Olympics 2016, Brazil

India had earned only 1 quota place in Men's archery through Mangal Singh Champia ... After the trials held today, in-form Atanu Das is selected to represent India in Men's individual archery.

Muhammed Anas clocked 45.40s for national record in 400m at Bydgoszcz ... So Muhammed Anas also made the Olympic qualification standard which was 45.40s itself.

Long jumper Ankit Sharma has created national record as he jumped 8.14m, 8.17m and 8.19m in three consecutive jumps and qualified for Rio, where qualification mark was 8.15m.

In Women's 200M, Srabni Nanda qualify for Rio Olympics when she clocked 23.07s ... For Rio qualification mark was 23.20s.

Tennis News

At $50K+H Marburg Challenger, Germany (Clay)

[Q1] Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,406) bt (5) Alexey Valutin (RUS,274) 62 63
[Q1] Sumit Nagal (IND,370) bt Riccardo Rodriguez Pace (VEN,524) 46 64 61

[Q2] Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,406) bt Sergey Betov (BLR,536) 62 64
[Q2] Sumit Nagal (IND,370) bt (4) Maximilian Marterer (GER,272) 64 64

[Q3] Sumit Nagal (IND,370) vs Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,406)

With upset win over top-275 German Marterer in straight sets Sumil is in the final qualifying and he is playing his fellow countryman Prajnesh Gunneswaran for place in main-draw ... Sumit started well for breaking Marterer in 7th game and kept that advantage for winning the first set ... Sumit continued with his good form in the second and again broke Marterer in 7th game for winning it ... Prajnesh scores straight sets win over Belarus player Sergey Betov showing his first round win wasn't a fluke..

In the first qualifying round, terrific upset win by Prajnesh against top-275 Russian in straight sets for entering into the second qualifying round ... Sumit lost the first set before finding his form for win over Pace in three sets.

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At $10K ITF Women's Tennis Tournament 2016, Grand Baie La Croisette, Mauritius

[R1] (6) Kyra SHROFF (IND,669) bt Emily DOWDESWELL KOTI (GBR,UNR) 60 60
[R1] (2) Snehadevi S REDDY (IND,500) bye

[R2] (6) Kyra SHROFF (IND,669) bt Alexandra WALTERS (AUS,1029) 60 30 retd. [R2] (2) Snehadevi S REDDY (IND,511) bt Claudia WILLIAMS (NZL,1257) 63 60

[QF] (6) Kyra SHROFF (IND,669) bt Pauline PAYET (FRA,683) 63 63
[QF] (2) Snehadevi S REDDY (IND,500) bt Eleonore BARRERE (FRA,966) 76(2) 75

[SF] (6) Kyra SHROFF (IND,669) bt (Q) Vanja KLARIC (SRB,NR) 64 60
[SF] (2) Snehadevi S REDDY (IND,500) l (5) Estelle CASCINO (FRA,603) 26 36

Singles Final
(6) Kyra SHROFF (IND,669) l. (5) Estelle CASCINO (FRA,603) 63 16 36

Kyra lose in the final in three sets against French girl Cascino but still overall good performance by Kyra for reaching her first final ... Sneha also reached in the semis.

Athletics News

At International Athletics Tournament, Almaty, Kazakhstan

Indian sprinter Dutee Chand became the 99th Indian sportsperson to secure a place in the Rio Olympics after meeting the qualification mark in the 100 metres heat in Almaty, Kazakhstan on Saturday. She will represent India in the Women's 100 meter event ... Required to better the 11.32s mark to book an Olympic berth, Dutee Chand clocked 11.30s to secure a berth in the 2016 Rio Summer Olympics.

Shooting News

At ISSF World Cup Rifle / Pistol / Shotgun, Baku, Azerbaijan

10m Air Pistol Men
Gold - Felipe Almeida Wu (BRA) 200.0 pts
Silver - Jitu Rai (IND) 199.5 pts
Bronze - Jongoh Jin (KOR) 178.8 pts

Jitu is showing terrific consistency in his performance lifting his 6th world cup medal in the span of 3 years ... In qualifying he shot 580 pts to qualify for the final on 6th spot ... In the final he shot excellently for winning the Silver.

Before that in Women's 10M Air rifle, Pooja Ghatkar reached the final and missed the bronze by a whisker finishing 4th.

After a long time both Abhinav Bindra and Gagan Narang reached the final in 10 M air rifle ... But they failed to perform in the final finishing 6th and 7th.

Kynan Chenai shot a brilliant 123 of 125 to finish at the top in Men's trap qualifiers ... But he also faltered in the final and finished 6th.

Tennis News

At Wimbledon Open 2016, London, Great Britain

Doubles
[R1] Leander Paes (IND)/ Marcin Matkowski (POL) vs Yen-Hsun Lu (TPE)/ Janko Tipsarevic (SRB)
[R1] (6) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Florin Meargea (ROM) vs Marin Draganja (CRO)/ Nikola Mektic (CRO)

[R1] (1) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Martina Hingis (SUI) vs Anna-Lena Friedsam (GER)/ Laura Siegemund (GER)

Doubles draw is out Lee and Rohan r in same draw and can meet in the third round but both having winnable first round matches with their respective partners ... Sania-Martina r facing German pair in the first round.

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At $50K+H Marburg Challenger, Germany (Clay)

[Q1] Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,406) vs (5) Alexey Valutin (RUS,274)
[Q1] Sumit Nagal (IND,370) vs Riccardo Rodriguez Pace (VEN,524)

Sumit and Prajnesh r playing in German challenger qualifying ... Prajnesh having tough match against top-275 Russian.

Boxing News

At 2016 AIBA World Olympic Qualifying Tournament, Baku, Azerbaijan

Light flyweight (49 kg)
[R1] Devendro Singh (IND) bye
[R2] Devendro Singh (IND) bt Leandro Blanc (ARG) 3-0
[QF] Devendro Singh (IND) bt Sibusiso Bandla (RSA) 3-0

[SF] Devendro Singh (IND) l Samuel Carmona (ESP) 0-3

Light welterweight (64 kg)
[SF] Manoj Kumar (IND) l Pat McCormack (GBR) 0-3

Middleweight (75 kg)
[SF] Vikas Krishan Yadav (IND) l Arslanbek Achilov (TKM) w/o

Devendro needed a win in the semis for grabbing Olympic quota but he loses to Spanish boxer for missing opportunity ... Manoj Kumar also lose his semi-final bout against his British opponent and Vikas gives walkover to his Tajikistan opponent.

Boxing News

At 2016 AIBA World Olympic Qualifying Tournament, Baku, Azerbaijan

Middleweight (75 kg)
[R1] Vikas Krishan Yadav (IND) bye
[R2] Vikas Krishan Yadav (IND) bt Makoto Takahashi (JPN) 3-0
[R3] Vikas Krishan Yadav (IND) bt Zaal Kvachatadze (GEO) 3-0
[QF] Vikas Krishan Yadav (IND) bt Lee Dong-yun (KOR) 3-0

[SF] Vikas Krishan Yadav (IND) vs Arslanbek Achilov (TKM)

Light welterweight (64 kg)
[R1] Manoj Kumar (IND) bt Danielito Zorrilla (PUR) 2-1
[R2] Manoj Kumar (IND) bt Eslam Mohamed (EGY) 3-0
[R3] Manoj Kumar (IND) bt Ayrin Ismetov (BUL) 3-0
[QF] Manoj Kumar (IND) bt Shavkatdzhon Rakhimov (TJK) 3-0

[SF] Manoj Kumar (IND) vs Pat McCormack (GBR)

Light heavyweight (81 kg)
[R1] Sumit Sangwan (IND) bt Andrew Fermin (TTO) 3-0
[R2] Sumit Sangwan (IND) bt Jonathan Esquivel (USA) 2-1
[R3] Sumit Sangwan (IND) bt Sandagsürengiin Erdenebayar (MGL) 3-0
[QF] Sumit Sangwan (IND) l (1) Petr Khamukov (RUS) 0-3

Our two boxers join Shiva Thapa in Rio ... Manoj Kumar and Vikas Krishan have won their quarterfinal bouts 3-0 against boxers from Tajikistan and Korea respectively to grab quota places for India for Rio Olympics ... This is really good result for us ... Sumit Sangwan was in the quarters but faced WR #6 and top-seed Russian boxer for grabbing quota place for Rio ... In that bout Russian boxer proved better boxer.

Tennis News

At Wimbledon Open 2016, London, Great Britain

[Q2] Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,231) l (21) Daniel Brands (GER,130) 67(5) 67(3)

Doubles
[Q1] (4) Divij Sharan (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) l Dustin Brown (GER)/ Jan-Lennard Struff (GER) 76(5) 46 6-8

RamK lose really close match against good grass court player Daniel Brands in two tie-breaks ... RamK had multiple break points which he failed to convert in the match ... Tough loss considering all opportunities.

Sad to see in-form pairing of Divij and Purav lose in first qualifying round after giving fighting performance against really good German grass-court pair ... Divij-Purav lost their serve in 1st game but they broke back German pair in 8th games for 4-all ... In tie-break also Divij-Purav were 0-2 mini-break down but they immediately broke back for 2-all ... They had crucial mini-break on 11th point for leading 6-5 and then won next point on their serve for winning this set ... In the second set both players hold their respective service games till 9th game and in 10th game Divij-Purav failed to hold their serve while serving for the set ... In the third set German pair broke Indians in 8th game to lead 3-5 but our pair fought back and broke Germans when they were serving for the match after saving 2 match points ... But German pair took crucial break in 14th game when Divij-Purav were serving for staying in the match and completed victory.

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At $777K Aegon International Eastbourne 2016, Great Britain (grass) (WTA Premier)

[R1] (1) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Martina Hingis (SUI) bt Lucie Safarova (CZE)/ Samantha Stosur (AUS) 61 26 10-4

[QF] (1) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Martina Hingis (SUI) l Darija Jurak (CRO)/ Anastasia Rodionova (AUS) 36 36

Not a best preparation for Wimbledon for Sania and Martina, as after winning first round match against experienced players they lose in the quarters in straight sets.

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At $25K USA F21 Futures, Tulsa

[R2] Arjun KADHE (IND,1418) l Ryan HAVILAND (USA,1070) 06 16

Arjun fails to raise his game against Ryan.

Tennis News

At Wimbledon Open 2016, London, Great Britain

[Q1] Saketh Myneni (IND,148) l Tristan Lamasine (FRA,206) 64 67(2) 16
[Q1] Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,231) bt Marek Michalicka (CZE,241) 75 67(2) 64

[Q2] Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,231) vs (21) Daniel Brands (GER,130)

RamK starts with a win against his experienced Czech opponent ... In the first set both players exchanged break but RamK took crucial break in 12th game for winning the set ... In the second set both hold respective service games to take in tie-break ... RamK played terrible tie-break for lose this set ... In the final set RamK broke Marek in 5th game for leading 3-2 and then kept this one break advantage for winning the set and match ... In second qualifying he is playing good grass court German player Daniel Brands.

Heartbreaking loss for Saki against Frenchman ...In the first set Saki broke Tristan in 7th game for winning the first set ... In the second set Saki broke Tristan in 1st game and kept that advantage till 5-4 ... While serving for the match Saki was only 2 points away from a win at 30-15 ... Saki lost his serve and after that everything went southward ... I have feeling mostly his right shoulder injury acted up as suddenly his game was worst ... He lost tie-break and managed winning a single game in the final set ... Terrible time to be injured for Saki.

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At $25K USA F21 Futures, Tulsa

[R1] Arjun KADHE (IND,1418) bt (WC) Ezekiel CLARK (USA,1544) 63 64

[R2] Arjun KADHE (IND,1418) vs Ryan HAVILAND (USA,1070)

Good to see Arjun is having winning start in US futures.

Tennis News

At Wimbledon Open 2016, London, Great Britain

[Q1] Saketh Myneni (IND,148) vs Tristan Lamasine (FRA,206)
[Q1] Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,231) vs Marek Michalicka (CZE,241)

Doubles
[Q1] (4) Divij Sharan (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) vs Dustin Brown (GER)/ Jan-Lennard Struff (GER)

Wimbledon qualifying draw is out ... I am going one match by one so on paper Saki and RamK having winnable matches ... Other hand Divij-Purav r facing tough challenge of German pair, which includes grass court specialist Dustin Brown.

Hockey News

At Valancia Six Nation Cup 2016, Spain

Goalkeepers - PR Sreejesh (VC), Vikas Dahiya
Defenders - Rupinderpal Singh, VR Raghunath, Kothajit Singh, Surender Kumar, Harmanpreet Singh, Birendra Lakra
Midfielders - Danish Mujtaba, Chinglensana Singh, Manpreet Singh, Sardar Singh (C), SK Uthappa, Devindar Walmiki, Harjeet Singh
Forwards - Talwinder Singh, SV Sunil, Akashdeep Singh, Ramandeep Singh, Nikkin Thimmaiah

The team is announced for the six nations tournament which is starting from next week ... Sardar Singh, Rupinder Pal Singh, Birendra Lakra and Oltmans favorite Ramandeep Singh r back in the team .. Here we r playing against Argentina, New Zealand, Germany, Spain and Ireland ... So good for us test our metal against Argentina and New Zealand with Germany.

Tennis News

At $777K Aegon International Eastbourne 2016, Great Britain (grass) (WTA Premier)

[R1] (1) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Martina Hingis (SUI) vs Lucie Safarova (CZE)/ Samantha Stosur (AUS)

Sania-Martina r playing at Eastbourne tournament in preparation for Wimbledon.

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At €648K Aegon Open, Nottingham, Great Britain

[Q1] (4) Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,229) l Jan Hernych (CZE,325) 36 16

RamK fails on his first match on the grass and he faced one-sided loss against Hernych.

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At $50K+H Fergana Challenger, Uzbekistan

Doubles Final
Toshihide Matsui (JPN)/ Vishnu Vardhan (IND) l (4) Yannick Jkovits (FRA)/ Luca Margaroli (SUI) 46 67(4)

Vishnu and Toshihide lose in the final in straight sets against 4th seed French-Swiss combination.

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At $25K ITF Women's Tennis Tournament 2016, Fergana, Uzbekistan

Doubles Final
Prerna BHAMBRI (IND)/ Ankita RAINA (IND) l (3) Polina MONOVA (RUS)/ Yana SIZIKOVA (RUS) 67(0) 26

Ankita-Prerna fail to overcome challenge of 3rd seed Russian pair in the final ... Still overall good performance from them.

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At $10K ITF Women's Tennis Tournament 2016, Grand Baie La Croisette, Mauritius

[R2] (1) Snehadevi S REDDY (IND,511) bt Vicky GEURINCKX (BEL,1257) 61 64
[R2] (5) Kyra SHROFF (IND,687) bt Nicole DZENGA (ZIM,NR) 60 64
[R2] (6) Dhruthi TATACHAR VENUGOPAL (IND,695) bt Claudia WILLIAMS (NZ,1257) 76(5) 64
[R2] (7) Nidhi CHILUMULA (IND,715) l Pauline PAYET (FRA,728) 26 16

[QF] (1) Snehadevi S REDDY (IND,511) bt (8) Fiona CODINO (FRA,711) 75 57 75
[QF] (5) Kyra SHROFF (IND,687) l (3) Chayenne EWIJK (NED,596) 57 26
[QF] (6) Dhruthi TATACHAR VENUGOPAL (IND,695) l (4) Estelle CASCINO (FRA,661) 46 26

[SF] (1) Snehadevi S REDDY (IND,511) bt (3) Chayenne EWIJK (NED,596) 64 76(3)

Singles Final
(1) Snehadevi S REDDY (IND,511) bt (2) Valeria BHUNU (ZIM,563) 64 46 63

Good to see as per seeding Snehadevi wins ITF tournament at Mauritius beating her 2nd seed Zimbabwean opponent Valeria in three sets.

Hockey News

At Men's Champions Trophy 2016, London, Great Britain

Final
India l Australia 0-0 (0-0) PS 1-3

Indians fail to win Gold but still this is our best performance in Champions trophy to win Silver ... Very fascinating final match as Indian players matched intensity of Aussie players on the field ... Both teams had multiple opportunities but both failed to score in full time ... For India Sreejesh was rock solid in front of the goal ... Aussie had nine penalty corners, in that 7 was in first half and they also missed one penalty stroke early of second quarter ... Indians also had five penalty corners which they failed to convert ... Aussie players were frustrated and made multiple fouls but Indians failed to take advantage of extra body on the field ... In penalty strokes Indians failed to score through Uthappa and Sunil as both hit wide hits and Aussie players scored on both hits ... Sreejesh saved third Australian hit and then Harmanpreet Singh converted third hit for India ... Again Aussie converted 4th stroke and on fourth chance again Surinder hit wide for giving Aussie team victory ... But today we had more possession than Aussie on the field and in the second half better team on the field ... Tough loss but heart warming performance by our team.

Following an official protest from India against a situation which occurred in the shoot-out, there was a delay in the official confirmation of the result ... The protest - in relation to an unintentional foul that had lead to the shoot-out being retaken - was rejected by the Technical Delegate.