Tennis News -
At Australian Open 2008,

[R1] Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Rajeev Ram (USA) bt James Auckland (GBR)/ Sam Querrey (USA) 61 76(4)

[R1] (6) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Alicia Molik (AUS) bt Eleni Daniilidou (GRE)/ Jasmin Woehr (GER) 63 46 64

[R2] (6) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Alicia Molik (AUS) vs Nadia Petrova (RUS)/ Elena Vesnina (RUS)

Mixed Doubles -
[R1] Agnes Szavay (HUN)/ Leander Paes (IND) vs Renata Voracova (CZE)/ David Skoch (CZE)
[R1] Sania Mirza (IND)/ Mahesh Bhupathi (IND) vs Alicia Molik (AUS)/ Nathan Healey (AUS)

So this is first victory for Rohan at grandslam level ... We friends calling pair of Rohan and Rajeev as "Bangalore Bombers" as their huge services and connection to Banglore (Rohan Bopanna is from Bangalore and Rajeev Ram's father is from Bangalore and his mother is from UP) ... It was a hard fought win for Bangalore Bombers in the second set considering they wasted 4 match points when they were leading 5-4 ... But a victory should give them the required confidence to do well in the second round.
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At $25k Surprise challanger, AZ, USA

[R1] (5) RAO Sunitha (IND,194) vs (Q) KARATANTCHEVA Sesil (BUL,UNR)

Doubles -
[R1] (1) DEKMEIJERE Liga (LAT)/ RAO Sunitha (IND) l NAGLE Courtney (USA)/ STEPHENSON Robin (USA) 36 36
[R1] UBEROI Neha (USA)/ UBEROI Shikha (IND) l (WC) GULLICKSON Carly (USA)/ PERRY Shenay (USA) 06 57

Remember Bulgarian Sesil Karatantcheva?
ITF banned Sesil Karatantcheva for 2 yrs from 1st Jan, 2006 to 31st Dec, 2007 for the use of banned steroid nandrolone ... Karatantcheva tested positive twice in 2005 - at the French Open and in Tokyo where she was playing a Fed Cup tie ... In 2005 at age of 16 yrs she was #35 in WTA ranking and already scored win against players like Jelena Jankovic and Venus Williams ... She was Junior WR #1 in 2004 after winning Junior French Open.

For qualifying for this ongoing Surprise challanger, Sesil needed to play pre-qualifying tournament and as the winner of that tournament recieved qualifying WC and then won 3 more matches to qualify for maindraw.
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At $10k USA F2, North Miami Beach, Florida, USA

Doubles -
[R1] INBAR Amit (ISR)/ ROY Rupesh (IND) bt POKRAJAC Milan (CAN)/ VODICKA Lance (USA) 63 63

[QF] INBAR Amit (ISR)/ ROY Rupesh (IND) vs (2) BATTISTONE Brian (USA)/ BATTISTONE Dann (USA)
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At $15k China F1, Shenzhen

[R1] RASTOGI Karan (IND,469) l (4) OUANNA Josselin (FRA,275) 46 26
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Badminton News -
At $200K Proton Malaysia Open Super Series

[Q1] Chetan ANAND (IND,50) l Tien Minh NGUYEN (VIE,42) 21-16 20-22 12-21
[Q1] Arvind BHAT (IND,45) bt Roman SPITKO (GER,71) 21-15 21-12

[Q1] Shruti KURIAN (IND,123) l Li Ya Lydia CHEAH (MAS,110) 7-21 19-21
[Q1] Jwala GUTTA (IND,154) l Jeanine CICOGNINI (SUI,52) 15-21 17-21

[Q1] Saina NEHWAL (IND)/ Anna RICE (CAN) l Li Ying CHANG (TPE)/ Shih Chieh HUNG (TPE) 15-21 21-18 10-21

[Q2] Arvind BHAT (IND,45) bt Mohd Arif ABDUL LATIF (MAS,111) 21-19 21-10

[Q3] Arvind BHAT (IND,45) l Tien Minh NGUYEN (VIE,42) 10-21 20-22

Maindraw -
[R1] Anup SRIDHAR (IND,26) bt (Q) Chun Seang TAN (MAS,57) 16-21 21-18 21-14
[R1] Saina NEHWAL (IND,27) l Juliane SCHENK (GER,17) 21-23 9-21

[R1] Shruti KURIAN (IND)/ Jwala GUTTA (IND) l Joanne NICHOLAS (ENG)/ Natalie MUNT (ENG) 12-21 21-14 17-21

[R2] Anup SRIDHAR (IND,26) vs Hyun Ii LEE (KOR,28)

Anup is taking advantage of favourable draw ... Now in second round facing Korean player who defeated WR #6 Indonasian player, Sony Dwi Kuncoro, in first round.
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Chess News -
At Corus 2008, 11-27 January, 2008

Round 4 - Tuesday the 15th (grandmaster group A)
L. van Wely - V. Topalov 1-0
B. Gelfand - J. Polgar 0-1
P. Leko - V. Ivanchuk ½-½
M. Carlsen - L. Aronian ½-½
V. Anand - M. Adams ½-½
V. Kramnik - P. Eljanov 1-0
T. Radjabov - S. Mamedyarov ½-½

Standings after round 4 (grandmaster group A)
1. L. Aronian 3
1. M. Carlsen 3
3. V. Kramnik 2½
3. T. Radjabov 2½
3. J. Polgar 2½
3. L. van Wely 2½
7. M. Adams 2
7. V. Ivanchuk 2
7. P. Leko 2
10. S. Mamedyarov 1½
10. V. Anand 1½
12. P. Eljanov 1
12. V. Topalov 1
12. B. Gelfand 1

Round 4 - Tuesday the 15th (grandmaster group B event)
P. Harikrishna - W. Spoelman 1-0
N. Short - H. Koneru ½-½

Today is rest day ... Anand needs to regroup himself to perform better in remaining rounds ... Currently Anand is 1½ pts behind leaders.

In grandmaster group B event, Hari continued with his fine form scoring another victory over IM Wouter Spoelman and Humpy recovered to draw her match against GM Nigel Short ... So after 4 rounds Hari is leading with GM Jan Smeets and GM Etienne Bacrot with 3 pts ... Humpy is on 13th position with 1 pts.

In grandmaster group C event, Parimarjan Negi scored consecutive 2nd win beating Chinese GM Shilong Li ... So after 4 round he is on T7 th position with 2 pts.