Volleyball News
At 3rd Asian Senior men’s Volleyball Championship (Central Zone) , Kolkata, India

India bt Kazakhstan 3-0 (25-18 25-11 25-22)
Iran bt Pakistan 3-0 (25-21 25-19 25-18)

This is 4 nations round-robin tournament ... Indians are favorite as top contenders Iran have sent a second string side to be led by Arash Sadeghiani as their top side is preparing for the World Championship to be held in Italy (September 24-October 10).

Good start with straight sets victory for us.

Tennis News
At US Open 2009, New York

[R2] Sania Mirza (IND)/ Daniel Nestor (Canada) l Carly Gullickson (USA)/ Travis Parrott (USA) 16 46

Junior
[R1] (1) Yuki Bhambri (IND,1) bt Jordan Cox (USA,38)

With this one-sided loss Sania's challenge got over in US Open ... She must be disappointed with her performance in this final grand slam of the year.

What a start for Yuki to dismissed this year's Junior Wimbledon finalist in the first round ... He literally thrashed his opponent with his improved game ... He broke Cox's serve twice in the first set and thrice in second set.
-----------------------------------------------------------
At $35K+H Como Challenger, Italy (clay)

Final
(3) Harsh Mankad (IND)/ Treat Huey (PHI) l (4) Marco Crugnola (ITA)/ Alessandro Motti (ITA) 67(3) 26

Missed title by Harsh and Huey ... Though creditable performance by this pair but was hoping title from them after reaching the final.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Volleyball News
At 2009 FIVB Boys Youth Volleyball World Championship, Jesolo - Bassano del Grappa, Italy

For 7th Position
India bt Italy 26-28 25-23 25-21 25-16

So again we defeated host Italy to grab 7th position, I would luv if we finished on higher position as we had our chances in matches against Argentina and Spain ... But still creditable finish on 7th position, this finish was our second best result in u-17 World Championship after we finished on 2nd position in 2003 championship.

Boxing News
At the XV AIBA World Championships, Milan, Italy

75 Kg
[R2] Vijender (IND) bt Azamat Belgibayev (KAZ) 14-8

48 Kg
[R2] Nanao Singh Thokchom (IND) l Kaeo Pongprayoon (THA) 4-16

Slow start for Vijender against Kazak opponent, he was down on points after first round 3-5 ... Second round he won 6-3 to lead 9-8 and in last round didn't give any chance to his opponent to win points with his smart tactics.

Again Nanao Singh lost to same Thai opponent Kaeo Pongprayoon, whom he lost at Asian Championship final ... But this time Kaeo Pongprayoon scored very dominating victory ... In second round Kaeo outclassed Nanao Singh 10-1 and that sealed the match outcome.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Volleyball News
At 2009 FIVB Boys Youth Volleyball World Championship, Jesolo - Bassano del Grappa, Italy

5-8 Positions
India l Spain 21-25 19-25 25-21 25-16 11-15

We lost against Spain 2-3, consider our previous matches performance we should not lost this match ... Its again proven once we fail to reached for next level then our players (and coaches) play lethargic game in position matches without giving their 100%.

But in other match Tunisia also defeated Italy 3-1 ... So we r facing Italy in next match but for 7th position.

Boxing News
At the XV AIBA World Championships, Milan, Italy

57 Kg
[R1] Akhil Kumar (IND) l Roberto Navarro Gonzalez (DOM) 2-16

48 Kg
[R1] Nanao Singh Thokchom (IND) bt Elvin Mamishzade (AZE) 21-6

[R2] Nanao Singh Thokchom (IND) vs Kaeo Pongprayoon (THA)

Nanao Singh scored very convincing win over Elvin to positive start for his first world championship on senior level ... He didn't give much chance to his opponent with his in ring skill.

Today Akhil also lost poorly but this result I was expecting ... Just for info, Jitender and Akhil r moved to higher weight category from their original one ... In Olympics 2008 Jitender participated in 51 kg and Akhil was participated in 54 kg ... In this new category Jitender was played couple of international tournaments but this was Akhil's first tournament in 57 kg category as last few months he was nursing on his old wrist injury. They need some time for adjusting to higher weight category and new opponents.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Volleyball News
At 2009 FIVB Boys Youth Volleyball World Championship, Jesolo - Bassano del Grappa, Italy

Group E
Italy bt Argentina 25-16 23-25 25-20 13-25 15-10
India l Serbia 17-25 14-25 21-25

India lost tamely to Serbia with their error-prone game ... With that India lose chance of reaching semis so in end anti-climax for Indain boys ... Hopefully they will find their winning ways in last 2 matches to finish on 5th position.

Despite victory over Argentina Italy finished on last position of Group E ... So we r facing Spain for 5th-8th position match

Boxing News
At the XV AIBA World Championships, Milan, Italy

54 Kg
[R1] Jitender Kumar (IND) l Anvar Yunusov (TJK) DSQ R3 0:35 secs

60 Kg
[R1] Jai Bhagwan (IND) bt Angel Rodriguez (VEN) 10-4

[R2] Jai Bhagwan (IND) vs Eric Donovan (IRL)

Jai Bhagwan opened Indian victory account with easy win over Venezuelan boxer ... He didn't played attacking boxing instead played very smart defensive boxing ... Next he is facing Irish boxer.

Jitender Kumar disqualified against Yunusov and our woeful performance at World Championship continue ... Vijender is having top-billing in his category, Nanao Singh is 4th seed, Dinesh Kumar is also 4th seed and Akhil Kumar is 7th seed ... We r having real hopes from these boxers ... But I was expecting Jitender Kumar at least wins 2/3 bouts.

Match report - Jitender Kumar was first warned for clinching his opponent in the opening minute of the eventful bout. The second warning came in the next round when he was penalised for “pushing and downing” Anvar. The third one, which led to his disqualification, was given in the deciding round for a right upper cut. Jitender was trailing 7-17 when the referee disqualified him.

“It’s heartbreaking. It’s difficult to keep your composure once you have been warned. I am very disappointed,” Jitender said.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Volleyball News
At 2009 FIVB Boys Youth Volleyball World Championship, Jesolo - Bassano del Grappa, Italy

Group E
Serbia bt Italy 25-21 25-23 25-14
India l Argentina 12-25 25-16 26-28 25-19 12-15

After losing first set with poor error-prone game Indian boys played well in the match ... After winning second set easily they were holding good lead several time in 3rd set but still they managed to lost it and that costed us the match ... Again we won 4th set with easy manner but this time we failed to win 5th set ... Now tomorrow winer between us and Serbia will joing Argentina, Iran and Russia in semis.

Volleyball News
At 2009 FIVB Boys Youth Volleyball World Championship, Jesolo - Bassano del Grappa, Italy

Pool E
Argentina bt Serbia 23-25 25-23 23-25 25-21 15-10
India bt Italy 21-25 25-23 25-19 25-20

Great performance after slow start by our team ... This is excellent win considering Italy, who were undefeated to top their pool and on their home court ... From us Ravikumar (22), Jhon Christopher (18) and Omveer Mann (17) were the topscorers ... Today also errors were high scorer but now I m feeling our team is playing with some strategy where they managed their opponents make numerous errors through their game.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Boxing News
At the XV AIBA World Championships, Milan, Italy

51kg
[R1] Suranjoy Mayengbam (IND) l Tugstsogt Nyambayar (MON) 10-10 (won on body punches)

64 Kg
[R1] Manoj Kumar (IND) l Myka Carvaho (BRA) 4-5

Suranjoy had his chances in the match he was leading 6-4 and 7-5 but then suddenly he started unnecessary attacking and that gave Mongolian boxer chance who scored imporant points with body punches ... In end that cost dearly to Suranjoy.

In second match Manoj Kumar also lost close bout against Brazilian opponent ... So somewhat bad start for Indians in this world championship.

Badminton News
At $170K the Chinese Taipei Grand Prix Gold 2009,

Final
V. Diju (IND)/ Jwala Gutta (IND) bt Hendra Arpida Gunawan (INA)/ Vita Marissa (INA) 24-22, 21-18

[SF] V. Diju (IND)/ Jwala Gutta (IND) bt Peng Soon Chan (MAS)/ Liu Ying Goh (MAS) 21-11 17-21 24-22
before that,
V. Diju (IND)/ Jwala Gutta (IND) bt Hong-Ling Chen (TPE)/ Pie Chen Hsien (TPE) 25-23 21-15

Diju and Jwala won Chinese Taipei Grand Prix Gold tournament ... This was the first time any Indian pair winning such high status tournament ... The GP Gold is just one level below the Super Series tournament and the title victory at the Chinese Taipei GP Gold is certainly the best-ever result in Indian doubles badminton.

Diju and Jwala lost against same Indonesian WR #4 pair, Hendra Arpida Gunawan and Vita Marissa, at Hyderabad in World Championship quarter-final ... So this win was big revenge for them ... Diju and Jwala take early lead in first game 15-7 but Indonesian pair fought back to 14-17 ... Then Indonesian pair also grabbed game point at 21-22 but Diju and Jwala play coolly to won next 3 points to win first game ... In second game Indonesian pair started well and take early lead of 5-11 but this time Diju and Jwala played excellent game ... They lost only 7 more points to Indonesian pair in this game to won match and their first major title ... In this match they avoided their regular attacking game and played long rallies ... Other hand Indonesian pair made numerous unforced errors when they tried to finish points.

Jwala Gutta - “We are delighted at the way things are going on now. I believe that at least now people will take note of what we have achieved and have faith in what we can achieve. Our immediate target is to break into the top five at the earliest. When we beat the reigning world champions Nova Widianto and Liliyana Natsir in the Asian circuit recently, there were many who thought it was a flash in the pan. But, we decided to just focus on the game and let our performances speak for us.”
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Volleyball News
At 2009 FIVB Boys Youth Volleyball World Championship, Jesolo - Bassano del Grappa, Italy

Group D
Brazil bt Poland 25-21 25-23 24-26 25-19
India l Russia 20-25 18-25 13-25

Very one sided loss, our team couldn't produce any fight to Russian side ... So now here are the quarterfinal pools, We r in Pool E with host Italy, Argentina and Serbia and in Pool F Russia, Spain, Iran and Tunisia.

Volleyball News
At 2009 FIVB Boys Youth Volleyball World Championship, Jesolo - Bassano del Grappa, Italy

Group D
Russia bt Poland 25-20 25-23 21-25 25-11
India bt Brazil 19-25 25-23 20-25 26-24 15-12

This was huge win which I wasn't expected from our team ... After losing first set they fought well winning next ... But Brazil won third set easily and had match point at 24-23 but Indian boys kept cool to won next 3 points to take it in 5th set ... In 5th set after early hiccup Indian boys kept upper hand to scored impressive win ... This was their second win in 2 matches so they also secure place in 2nd round of top teams ... Today they r facing Russia to decide who will top the group.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Football News
Nehru Cup Football Tournament 2009, New Delhi, India

India l Syria 0-1

Goal Scored - Ali Dyab (SYR) 19'

Bob Hougton rested our 5 players from starting line-up but they failed to lift their game in absence of senior and we lost by a single goal ... Syria had chance to scored more but they couldn't finish ... More important goal scored in 19th minute when on free-kick Syrian defender Ali Dyab headed this goal.

Final will be repeat match between these two teams.

Volleyball News
At 2009 FIVB Boys Youth Volleyball World Championship, Jesolo - Bassano del Grappa, Italy

India is in tough Group D with Russia, Brazil and Poland ... Reaching top 8 big task for our boys.

Group D
Russia bt Brazil 25-22 25-23 25-23
India bt Poland 18-25 26-24 25-18 18-25 15-13

We started with close win against Poland but if u check stat Poland was better team on the court ... I think we were plain lucky to win this match ... Today we r facing tough challenge of Brazil.

Volleyball News
At the Asian Qualifying Final round for 2010 world Championships, Chengdu, China

Asia Pool G

India bt Thailand 25-22 25-20 25-19

At last Indian team performed as per their potential (though I m still considering their performance below their true potential) scoring straight sets victory over Thailand, both matches they lose but I was thinking our team had potential to play lot more close match.

Volleyball News
At the Asian Qualifying Final round for 2010 world Championships, Chengdu, China

Asia Pool G

China bt India 25-16 25-26 25-16

Host China gave our team lesson of how to play ... Very comfortable win for them ... Sad part was our coach conceded this match before our team was on court saying we couldn't win aginst Chinese team.

Volleyball News
At the Asian Qualifying Final round for 2010 world Championships, Chengdu, China

Four teams r in the pool #8 China, #14 Australia, #32 Thailand and #44 India ... Top 2 teams will qualify for next stage.

Asia Pool G

Australia bt India 25-15 25-22 25-19

Australian side hammered Indian side in first match .. Frankly with this loss we r not in position to qualify for next round ... So after good performances by our youth and junior sides, our seniors give us reality check with their poor performance.

Volleyball News
At 2009 FIVB Men's Junior Volleyball World Championship, Pune, India

Bronze Medal match
India l Argentina 19-25 16-25 22-25

Gold Medal Match
Brazil bt Cuba 30-28 21-25 25-22 23-25 15-8

Final Standing
1 Brazil
2 Cuba
3 Argentina
4 India
5 Russia
6 Belgium
7 Iran
8 USA
9 Poland
10 France
11 China
12 Canada
13 Egypt
14 Tunisia
15 Belarus
16 Greece

After yesterday's high energy match today our boys played tentatively and somewhat dejectedly ... Frankly it was very difficult for them to come out from yesterday's match, they were looking drained out ... They take their loss against Brazil very seriously, few players were crying and nobody was in mood of talking to media after their match against Brazil.

So after seeing their body language I was expecting this result but this bad match doesn't lessen their achievement and performance in this u-21 World Championship.

In the final Brazil defeated fellow South American Cuba in tightly contested match but this time again Brazilian side dominated 5th set showing their mastery in close matches ... So Brazilian successfully defended title which they won in last edition.

Volleyball News
At 2009 FIVB Men's Junior Volleyball World Championship, Pune, India

Semi Finals

India l Brazil 19-25 25-17 19-25 25-23 9-15
Cuba bt Argentina 25-19 25-18 24-2625-20

Indiaan boys produced valiant effort against defending u-21 World Champion Brazil ... Though they lost this match but received praising from Brazilian team, Brazilian team coach Percy Oncken called 'Indians r champion in making.' and Brazilian team captain Murilo Radke called Indian team as killers on the court in semi-final match ... Brazilian showed their experience of playing semi-finals and finals, this difference was more visible in fifth set ... But Indian boys won heart of more than 4500 people who attended this semi-final match

Indian boys fought back twice in the match after a set down to take match into decider ... But they failed to won crucial points in fifth set and in end that proved costly ... Still very heartening performance by our boys, who never looked bogged down against their fancied opponent ... Brazilian used tactics smartly, in 4th set they substituted Isac Santos and Renan Buiatti for longer time and used them in 5th set ... Their game in 5th set turned crucial for Brazil.

Impressed with Brazilian side who handled pressure of more than 4500 Indian supporters quite well ... Today we r facing Argentina for 3rd place.

Volleyball News
At 2009 FIVB Men's Junior Volleyball World Championship, Pune, India

Pool E
India bt Belgium 18-25 25-19 25-16 22-25 15-11
Argentina bt Russia 25-19 25-23 25-18

India made MORE history reaching semi-final of ongoing Junior Volleyball World Championship at Pune ... Before this first-time they reached second level first time and today they shocked everyone reaching semifinal beating Belgium boys 3-2.

Indian boys started slowly and Belgium boys take full advantage of winning first set easily but that turned to be wake up call for our boys ... They won next 2 sets with solid all court game with excellent blocking and exceptional smashes ... But in 4th set they lost focus, may be they were thinking too early about victory celebration, and managed to lose this set which they should win ... In crucial 5th set both teams started evenly but at 4-all Indian boys cut loose, I think turning point of the set was 2 service winners from Naveen Jacob Raja and before that also from Gurinder Singh.

Gurinder Singh scored highest 26 points and in combination with Naveen Raja who scored 20 points ... Very interesting stats where Belgium won nearly every statistical category with slim margins of 60-59 in spikes, 14-11 in blocks and even at 3-all in aces ... But India take advantage of 32 Belgium errors and made only 19 of its own to make up the difference.

Argentina won Pool E with another easy victory ... They r facing Cuba who finished 2nd in Pool F ... Indian side will be facing tough Brazilian side who topped Pool F.

Volleyball News
At 2009 FIVB Men's Junior Volleyball World Championship, Pune, India

Pool E
India l Argentina 14-25 21-25 17-25
Russia bt Belgium 25-21 25-13 25-17

Today Argentine side outplayed us in 1 hour 16 minutes match ... They were too good and showing why they supposed to be best blockers side ... They were better in all aspects of game against India ... Argentina connected for 40 spikes on 77 attempts and held a commanding 15-3 block advantage ... Also Argentina produced a 4-1 edge in aces ... Facundo Conte lead with a match-high 19 points for Argentina and for India Naveen Raja scored 11 points.

From Pool F, Brazil and Cuba already qualified for semi-final ... But for Pool E tomorrow will be judgement day as winners between India & Belgium and Argentina & Russia will move to semis.

Volleyball News
At 2009 FIVB Men's Junior Volleyball World Championship, Pune, India

Pool E (final 8)

India bt Russia 25-22 26-28 33-31 22-25 15-11
Belgium bt Argentina 22-25 25-21 28-26 21-25 15-9

India scored their biggest win in team event, they upset WR #4 Russian team in evenly matched match in 2 hours and 20 minutes ... Today we won by our team effort but still hero of the day was Naveen Raja Jacob, , who scored 26 points with very smart thinking ... Gurinder Singh also supported well with scoring 29 points ... For Russia Levan Kalandadze was amazing, who alone scored 41 points for them ... In our group Belgium upset WR #2 Argentinian team in 5 sets.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hockey News
At Women's Junior World Cup Hockey 2009, Boston, USA

Pool D - Australia, Belarus, USA and India

India bt Australia 3-2

Goal Scored - Poonam Rani (IND) 45', Monika Badran (IND) 53', Asem Monorama Devi (IND) 70' PC and Casey Eastham (AUS) 31' PC, Marnie Hudson (AUS) 60'

India and Australia played excellent match, Indian girls scored huge upset win in their first Pool D match ... In last edition Australian team finished on 4th and Indian on 11th ... Australin take lead at the end of the first half ... Indian girls scored 2 quick goals in second half to take lead but Australia equalized in 60th minute and match was moving towards draw ... But Indian girls scored a goal in last minute to give us winning start.

Volleyball News
At 2009 FIVB Men's Junior Volleyball World Championship, Pune, India

Pool A
India bt USA 25-23 25-22 25-18 (85m)
Belarus bt Tunisia 24-26 26-24 25-17 25-17 (107m)

India made history Sunday night by defeating USA to first time enter into final 8 ... Yesterday we played poor match and today when needed our boys showed their best performance ... Against USA they were almost flawless ... Superb blocking and smashes by our players, our players played like oiled team unit ... Gurinder Singh was player of the day, he scored 19 points but he was also very good with blocking.

With this win India topped Pool A and now they will grouped in Pool E with Belgium, Argentina and last edition's runner-up Russia.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Swimming News
At 13th FINA World Championship, Rome, Italy

Day 8
Men's 400m Individual Medley
42 Rehan Poncha IND 4:31.34sec +21.30 secs (new National record)

Women's 400m Individual Medley
44 Pooja Raghava Alva IND 5:28.37sec +53.75 secs

Men's 4x 100m Medley Relay
30 India 3:48.85sec +19.37 secs
Ashwin Menon 1:00.83sec
Sandeep Sejwal 1:02.28sec
Rehan Poncha 55.52sec
Virdhawal Khade 50.22sec

Rehan Poncha bettered his own national record by more than 2 seconds in Men's 400m Individual Medley, he created record in 2007 of 4:33.59sec.

Tennis News
At Legg Mason Classic ATP Tournament, Washington, USA

[Q1] (9)Somdev Devvarman (IND,152) bt Tatsuma Ito (JPN,270) 63 63

Ito started breaking Somi's serve in the 1st game but then Somi broke Ito's serve in 2nd and 4th game ... After that both hold their serve and Somi won first set in 49 mins ... In second set dominating performance by SOmi, who broke Ito's serve in 3rd and 9th games but more importantly he didn't lose a single point on his own serve.

Mostly in final qualifying round Somi will face 110th rannked Frenchman Josselin Ouanna.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Volleyball News
At 2009 FIVB Men's Junior Volleyball World Championship, Pune, India

Pool A
India l Belarus 21-25 25-22 23-25 25-20 11-15
USA bt Tunisia 21-25 25-19 25-15 25-21

But today I m very disappointed by our performance ... There was a huge difference between our team's performance in 2 days ... With miserable performance our body language wasn't good on court ... In today's match Indian team never looked into rhythm against Belarus which they showed against Tunisia.

Our players were hitting smashes on Belarus blockers and too many unnecessary soft touches near the net ... We played exceptional in patches ... Though we won 2 sets but we never looked the team who was going to win.

Need all game improvement for our team against US team.

Volleyball News
At 2009 FIVB Men's Junior Volleyball World Championship, Pune, India

Pool A
India bt Tunisia 25-11 25-15 25-13 (61m)
USA bt Belarus 32-30 21-25 25-18 30-28 (119m)

Impressive start for Indian boys, who scored thumping victory over Tunasian side ... They combined well on court but Tunisian struggled, our 4 players scored 7 points or more topped by captain Mandeep Singh with 12 pts.