Tennis News

After 18 years we r having World Junior #1 again ... As expected Yuki climbed to #1 position after AO Junior title win ... #2 and #3 r concentrating more on seniors, so he is having 800 points lead over his nearest rival ... Last year Yuki accumulated maximum points after Junior US Open, so we can safely say that Yuki will remain No. 1 until end of all junior grandslams ... Hopefully this year he also achieve #1 year-end ranking.

Yuki defeated the current #100, #30, #41, #11, #25 on the way to the AO junior title.

Ronak Manuja is #68 and Kaza Vinayak Sharma is #77 in newly published ranking.

ITF Junior Boys' Ranking (02 Feb 2009)
1 Yuki BHAMBRI IND 1508.75
2 Grigor DIMITROV BUL 1087.5
3 Tsung-Hua YANG TPE 911.25
4 Jose PEREIRA BRA 705
5 Julen URIGUEN GUA 690
------------------------------------------------------------
At Group I Asia/Oceania Zone, Perth, Australia

Pool A
India l New Zealand 0-3

[M1] Rushmi Chakravarthi (IND) l Dianee Hollands (NZL) 36 06
[M2] Ankita Bhambri (IND) l Marina Eracovic (NZL) 26 36
[M3] Ankita Bhambri (IND)/ Sanaa Bhambri (IND) l Marina Eracovic (NZL)/ Kairangi Vano (NZL) 26 36

Anyway expected start for our women team ... New Zealand girls thrashed us 0-3 ... Rushmi lost against unranked player, who had her best ranking #699, without giving any fight ... In other match from our group, Indonesian girls upset Uzbekistan girls.

Team Captain Enrico Piperno - "The girls did not play to their potential. The opposition was tough but our girls played bad. It makes the job tougher for India now. Indonesia surprised everyone today. Now we have another tough tie."
------------------------------------------------------------
At $50K Dallas Challenger, Texas, USA

[R2] Prakah Amritraj (IND,204) vs (6) Ricardo Mello (BRA,176)
[R2] (7) Rajeev Ram (USA,220) vs (Q) Luis Manuel Flores (MEX,598)

Doubles
[R1] (4) Hiroki Kondo (JPN)/ Ashutosh Singh (IND) bt Ramon Delgado (PAR)/ Ricardo Mello (BRA) 62 63

Easy winning start for Ashutosh and Kondo.
------------------------------------------------------------
At $10K Ivory Coast F1 futures, Abidjan, Cote D'Ivoire

[R2] SHARAN Divij (IND,702) vs DE BONNEVIE Philippe (FRA,461)

Doubles
[R1] BONDARENKO Vladislav (UKR)/ SHARAN Divij (IND) bt VANDENBULCKE Yannick (BEL)/ WITMEUR Alec (BEL) 63 64

[QF] BONDARENKO Vladislav (UKR)/ SHARAN Divij (IND) vs FRANSEN Stephan (NED)/ GOVAERTS Bart (BEL)

Divij and his Ukranian partner started well with straight sets victory ... In the singles second round Divij facing top-500 Frenchman he upset 6th seed Russian.
------------------------------------------------------------
At $25K Rancho Mirage Tournament, CA, USA

[R1] (5) RAO Sunitha (IND,196) vs (Q) PIOPPO Elena (ITA,379)

Doubles
[R1] (2) PELLETIER Marie-Eve (CAN)/ RAO Sunitha (IND) l (WC) GIBBS Nicole (USA)/ TAN Stacey (USA) 16 63 (8)10

Sunitha is facing veteran Italian qualifier in the singles first round ... But she and her Canadian doubles top-100 partner lost in the first round against wild-card pair.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hockey News
At the four-nation Punjab Gold Cup Hockey Tournament, India

India bt Germany 2-0

Goal Scored - Dilip Tirkey (IND) 2' PC, Prabhjot Singh (IND) 53' PC

India were damn lucky to defeat this young German side ... Our win was due to goalkeeper Baljit Singh' stupendous show, who had amazing day under the bar ... He saved 8 penalty corners from German side, other hand we converted both penalty corners ... Its worrying sign that we r conceding 8 penalty corners in the match and superior side will take full advantage of it ... Now we need another win from remaining 3 matches to move into the final.