Tennis News
At French Open 2009,

[R1] Sania Mirza (IND,95) vs Galina Voskoboeva (KAZ,81)

Doubles
[R1] (3) Lukas Dlouhy (CZE)/ Leander Paes (IND) vs Sebastien De Chaunac (FRA)/ Benoit Paire (FRA)
[R1] Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Jonathan Erlich (ISR) vs Guillermo Garcia-Lopez (ESP)/ Sergio Roitman (ARG)
[R1] (4) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Mark Knowles (BAH) vs Josselin Ouanna (FRA)/ Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (FRA)
[R1] Rajeev Ram (USA)/ Bobby Reynolds (USA) vs Andrei Pavel (ROU)/ Horia Tecau (ROU)

[R1] (14) Chia-Jung Chuang (TPE)/ Sania Mirza (IND) vs Ipek Senoglu (TUR)/ Yanina Wickmayer (BEL)

Sania having relatively easy opponent in the first round but can face 7th seed Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova in second round if she crosses the first hurdle ... In doubles she is seeded with Chia-Jung Chuang, they can meed second seeded Lisa Raymonds and Kveta Peschke in third round.

Lee and Lukas r in top draw with top seed Nestor and Zimo ... mahesh and Mark r in bottom draw with Bryans ... Rohan get very good partner in former top-5 and 2008 Australian Open doubles champion Israeli Jonathan Erlich ... Rohan and Erlich can meet Mahesh and Mark in thrid round if they wins their first 2 rounds.
-----------------------------------------------------------
At $50K Carson Challenger II, California, USA

[R1] Harsh Mankad (IND)/ Frederik Nielsen (DEN) vs (WC) Lester Cook (USA)/ Jesse Witten (USA)

Harsh is playing with new partner this week.
-----------------------------------------------------------
At $15K Kuwait F2 Futures, Meshref

[Q1] (1) MALIK Vijayant (IND,1315) bye
[Q1] (4) TIWARI Abhijeet (IND,1529) bye
[Q1] SOOD Chandril (IND,UNR) bt AL BITAR AbdelRahman (EGY,UNR) 61 61
[Q1] NARAYANASWAMY Srirambalaji (IND,UNR) bt SOOD Lakshit (IND,UNR) 61 61

[Q2] (1) MALIK Vijayant (IND,1315) bt AL ABDULLH Zaki (KSA,UNR) 75 62
[Q2] (4) TIWARI Abhijeet (IND,1529) bt ABBAS Saad (GBR,UNR) 62 62
[Q2] SOOD Chandril (IND,UNR) l (5) KISLYANSKIY Roman (RUS,1538) 26 26
[Q2] NARAYANASWAMY Srirambalaji (IND,UNR) bt ALI Ahmed (KUW,UNR) 63 61

[R1] (Q) NARAYANASWAMY Srirambalaji (IND,UNR) vs LEE Hsin-Han (TPE,612)
[R1] (Q) MALIK Vijayant (IND,1315) vs (Q) MAAROUF Hayan (SYR,1844)
[R1] GAJJAR Rohan (IND,773) vs (4) KROTIOUK Sergei (RUS,544)
[R1] (PR) SHOKEEN Vivek (IND,1202) vs RICE David (GBR,884)
[R1] SINGH Navdeep (IND,949) vs THORNLEY Sean (GBR,825)
[R1] (8) VARDHAN Vishnu (IND,583) vs SHARAN Divij (IND,717)
[R1] VIRALI-MURUGESAN Ranjeet (IND,847) vs (3) YSERN Pierrick (FRA,539)
[R1] (Q) TIWARI Abhijeet (IND,1529) vs (2) GOFFIN David (BEL,521)

Doubles
[R1] SHARAN Divij (IND)/ VARDHAN Vishnu (IND) vs (WC) JANAHI Hamad Abbas (UAE)/ SULTAN Ziad (KUW)
[R1] NARAYANASWAMY Srirambalaji (IND)/ VIRALI-MURUGESAN Ranjeet (IND) vs KROTIOUK Sergei (RUS)/ MANEGIN Anton (RUS)
[R1] (3) GAJJAR Rohan (IND)/ GHAREEB Mohammad (KUW) vs MALIK Vijayant (IND)/ TIWARI Abhijeet (IND)
[R1] SHOKEEN Vivek (IND)/ SINGH Navdeep (IND) vs RICE David (GBR)/ THORNLEY Sean (GBR)

So again 3 Indians qualified for maindraw ... But Yuki is missing from the list due to ankle injury ... Last week in doubles quarter-final he twisted his ankle while playing over head shot, though injury isn't serious but due to this injury he is going to miss Junior French Open 2009 as doctor asked him to took rest for 2 to 3 weeks before playing on the tour.

In between good news r keep coming for Yuki Bhambri ... He recieved invitation of playing with American teen age sensation Ryan Harrison to play with Andre Agassi and Pete Sampras in the Venetian Macao Tennis Showdown, an exhibition event this October.

Yuki Bhambri - “I’ll have to be there to believe it. I think I still wouldn’t believe it if I was right there with them. You dream of watching them play, but to actually play with them is huge.”

Badminton News
At $15K XXII Spanish International 2009, Madrid

Current national champion Sayali Gokhale won her first international title ... She scored upset victories to won this title without losing a single game ... She had couple of top-100 victory and also scored big upset win over top-45 British player Jill Pittard in semis.

Kashyap Parupalli lost in the final against Danish player ... Also good performance by new pairs of Aparna Balan/ Shruti Kurian and Arun Vishnu/ Aparna Balan, who also reached final at this International series.

Also interesting to note P. Kashyap is currently on his personal best singles ranking.

Finals
Sayali Gokhale (IND,203) bt Lianne Tan (BEL,102) 21-9 21-18
(2) Kashyap Parupalli (IND,33) l (5) Hans-Kristian Vittinghus (DEN,43) 10-21 16-21

Aparna Balan (IND)/ Shruti Kurian (IND) l (2) Line Damkjær Kruse (DEN)/ Mie Schjøtt-Kristensen (DEN) 14-21 21-17 15-21
Arun Vishnu (IND)/ Aparna Balan (IND) l Robin Middleton (ENG)/ Mariana Agathangelou (ENG) 16-21 15-21

[SF] (2) Kashyap Parupalli (IND,33) bt (4) Brice Leverdez (FRA,41) 21-12 21-10
[SF] Sayali Gokhale (IND,203) bt (2) Jill Pittard (ENG,43) 21-18 21-16

[SF] Aparna Balan (IND)/ Shruti Kurian (IND) bt Mariana Agathangelou (ENG)/ Heather Olver (ENG) 21-13 21-19
[SF] Arun Vishnu (IND)/ Aparna Balan (IND) bt (1) Wouter Claes (BEL)/ Nathalie Descamps (BEL) 19-21 21-10 21-19

[QF] (2) Kashyap Parupalli (IND,33) bt R. M. V. Gurusaidatt (IND,132) 21-19 11-21 21-18
[QF] Sayali Gokhale (IND,203) bt Beatriz Corrales (ESP,317) 21-13 22-20

[QF] Abantika Deka (IND)/ Vania Leça (POR) l Johanna Goliszewski (GER)/ Inken Wienefeld (GER) 14-21 15-21
[QF] Aparna Balan (IND)/ Shruti Kurian (IND) bt Lotte Bonde (DEN)/ Louise Hansen (DEN) 21-11 21-8
[QF] Arun Vishnu (IND)/ Aparna Balan (IND) bt Andrew Ellis (ENG)/ Heather Olver (ENG) 15-21 21-18 21-16

[R2] Ajay Jayaram (IND,81) l Pablo Abian (ESP,169) 22-24 15-21
[R2] R. M. V. Gurusaidatt (IND,132) bt Kasper Ipsen (DEN,77) 21-11 16-21 21-18
[R2] (2) Kashyap Parupalli (IND,33) bt (Q) Ernesto Velazquez (ESP,403) 21-18 21-18

[R2] Abantika Deka (IND,203) l (7) Camilla Overgaard (DEN,95) 19-21 21-19 16-21
[R2] Sayali Gokhale (IND,203) bt (5) Nathalie Descamps (BEL,86) 21-8 21-15

[R2] Tarun Kona (IND)/ Arun Vishnu (IND) l Dean George (ENG)/ Chris Langridge (ENG) 9-21 21-16 14-21
[R2] Abantika Deka (IND)/ Vania Leça (POR) bt (4) Laura Molina (ESP)/ Haidee Ojeda (ESP) 21-18 17-21 22-20
[R2] Aparna Balan (IND)/ Shruti Kurian (IND) bt Milaine Cloutier (CAN)/ Valerie St. Jacques (CAN) 21-16 21-17
[R2] Tarun Kona (IND)/ Shruti Kurian (IND) l Peter Mørk (DEN)/ Maria Helsbøl (DEN) 22-24 21-18 11-21
[R2] Arun Vishnu (IND)/ Aparna Balan (IND) bt (4) Joe Morgan (WAL)/ Kerry Ann Sheppard (WAL) 21-18 21-16

[R1] Ajay Jayaram (IND,81) bt Kaveh Mehrabi (IRI,99) 21-10 21-10
[R1] R. M. V. Gurusaidatt (IND,132) bt (Q) Vidre Wibowo (SWE,320) 21-10 21-15
[R1] (2) Kashyap Parupalli (IND,33) bt Marcel Reuter (GER,108) 16-21 21-15 21-6

[R1] Abantika Deka (IND,203) bt Alexandra Langley (ENG,359) 21-17 21-17
[R1] (4) Neha Pandit (IND,69) l Valerie St. Jacques (CAN,216) 15-21 16-21
[R1] Sayali Gokhale (IND,203) bt Claudia Mayer (AUT,97) 21-14 21-7

[R1] Tarun Kona (IND)/ Arun Vishnu (IND) bye
[R1] Abantika Deka (IND)/ Vania Leça (POR) bye
[R1] Aparna Balan (IND)/ Shruti Kurian (IND) bt Carolina Marin (ESP)/ Ana Maria Martin (ESP) 21-13 21-8
[R1] Tarun Kona (IND)/ Shruti Kurian (IND) bye
[R1] Arun Vishnu (IND)/ Aparna Balan (IND) bt (Q) Sam Magee (IRL)/ Chloe Magee (IRL) 21-16 21-11

[Q3] Aditya Prakash (IND,UNR) l (3) Pedro Martins (POR,194) 15-21 21-15 14-21
[Q2] Aditya Prakash (IND,UNR) bt Pablo Mendez (ESP,UNR) 21-17 21-9
[Q1] Aditya Prakash (IND,UNR) bt Igor Cimbur (CRO,363) 21-15 21-14

Tennis News
At French Open 2009,

[Q3] (26) Somdev Devvarman (IND,138) l (3) Marcos Daniel (BRA,96) 06 16

Som lost in one-sided match against Brazilian No. 1 winning only 1 game in the match in 58 minutes ... After reaching final qualifying round Som increased hopes of his followers but he couldn't do much against his superior clay court opponent ... Daniel didn't give any chance to Som in this match.

But considering his first French Open qualifying I would say satisfying performance to reached final qualifying but in that match scoreline was distrubing.
-----------------------------------------------------------
At $15K Kuwait F1 Futures, Meshref

[SF] (Q) VIRALI-MURUGESAN Ranjeet (IND,857) l (4) GHAREEB Mohammad (KUW,496) 26 26

[QF] (Q) NARAYANASWAMY Srirambalaji (IND,UNR) l JAZIRI Malek (TUN,572) 26 36
[QF] (Q) VIRALI-MURUGESAN Ranjeet (IND,857) bt GAJJAR Rohan (IND,775) 26 61 64

Doubles
[F] SHOKEEN Vivek (IND)/ SINGH Navdeep (IND) l (3) KONTINEN Henri (FIN)/ RIESCHICK Sebastian (GER) 46 26

[SF] SHOKEEN Vivek (IND)/ SINGH Navdeep (IND) bt (4) BHAMBRI Yuki (IND)/ GAJJAR Rohan (IND) 76(4) 64

[QF] SHARAN Divij (IND)/ VARDHAN Vishnu (IND) l (3) KONTINEN Henri (FIN)/ RIESCHICK Sebastian (GER) 26 57
[QF] (4) BHAMBRI Yuki (IND)/ GAJJAR Rohan (IND) bt AHMADVAND Saeid (IRI)/ AL GHAREEB Ali (KUW) 62 75
[QF] SHOKEEN Vivek (IND)/ SINGH Navdeep (IND) bt (2) FILENKOV Alexei (RUS)/ SLABINSKY Alexander (GBR) 63 62

Ranjeet performed well to reach singles semis as qualifier and our unseeded pair of Vivek Shokeen and Navdeep Singh lost in the doubles final.
------------------------------------------------------------
At $10K ITF Womens Futures, Mumbai

Final
Seo-Kyung KANG (KOR) bt (8) Chun-Yan HE (CHN) 61 60

Semi Finals
(8) Chun-Yan HE (CHN) bt (1) Anastasia MALHOTRA (JPN) 67(6) 61 61
Seo-Kyung KANG (KOR) bt (Q) Moe KAWATOKO (JPN) 61 63

Quarter Finals
(1) Anastasia MALHOTRA (JPN) bt (5) Yoon-Young JEONG (KOR) 64 62
(8) Chun-Yan HE (CHN) bt (4) Rushmi CHAKRAVARTHI (IND) 61 76(4)
Seo-Kyung KANG (KOR) bt Alisa OGORODOVA (UZB) 63 61
(Q) Moe KAWATOKO (JPN) bt (2) Isha LAKHANI (IND) 75 75

Indian challenge got over in quarters ... In doubles top-seed pair of Rushmi Chakravarthi and Isha Lakhani won title beating their Chinese-Australian pair in super tie-break, 26 63 10(7)

Next update on blog will be on Sunday evening as going on vacation for 3 days ... Sorry for ur inconvenience, hoping same support from u guys in the future.

Hopefully will post good news of Som qualifying for French Open 2009.

Tennis News
At French Open 2009,

[Q2] (26) Somdev Devvarman (IND,138) bt Alex Bogdanovic (GBR,198) 62 67(3) 64
[Q2] Rajeev Ram (USA,169) l (4) Victor Crivoi (ROU,99) 46 46

[Q3] (26) Somdev Devvarman (IND,138) vs (3) Marcos Daniel (BRA,96)

Som started well against serve and volleyer Britisher ... In first set Som only face a single break point in 8th game while serving for the set and he broke Bogdanovic's serve twice in 3rd game and 7th game to won it in 30 minutes ... But second set started other way around as Bogdanovic broke Som's serve in 2nd game to take early lead but Som came back breaking Bogdanovic's serve in next game ... But they they again exchanged breaks in next 2 games and then they hold their serves until 6-6 ... Bogdanovic dominated tie-break to won second set in 70 minutes ... In third set Bogdanovic started breaking Som's serve in first game ... Som break back in 4th game but he again got broken but he made another comeback in match breaking Bogdanovic's serve in 8th game to make it 4-all ... After holding his serve in 9th game he created 3 match points on Bogdanovic's serve, 0-40 ... Bogdanovic saved one match point but Som sealed match winning second match point to moved into final qualifying of French Open 2009 ... He won third set on 61 minutes, total almost 2 hours 45 minutes battle.

This is the best performance by Indian on European clay after Lee made the main draw 2nd round in the 1997 French Open ... Tomorrow Som having tough match but when challenge rises somehow Som having tendency of raising his game so in my view upset is on the card.

Tennis News
At $35K Fergana Challenger, Uzbekistan

[R1] Purav Raja (IND)/ Samuel Groth (AUS) l (3) Evgeny Kirillov (RUS)/ Alexandre Kudryavtsev (RUS) 64 16 (9)11

Very close loss in super tie-break for Purav and Groth against 3rd seed Russians.
------------------------------------------------------------
At $15K Kuwait F1 Futures, Meshref

[R2] (Q) NARAYANASWAMY Srirambalaji (IND,UNR) bt VARDHAN Vishnu (IND,590) 63 2-1 Retd
[R2] (PR) SHOKEEN Vivek (IND,1205) l (6) GOFFIN David (BEL,526) 46 16
[R2] SHARAN Divij (IND,723) l (4) GHAREEB Mohammad (KUW,496) 26 75 26
[R2] GAJJAR Rohan (IND,775) bt (8) YSERN Pierrick (FRA,559) 76(4) 64
[R2] (Q) VIRALI-MURUGESAN Ranjeet (IND,857) bt (Q) RICE David (GBR,897) 75 75

[QF] (Q) NARAYANASWAMY Srirambalaji (IND,UNR) vs JAZIRI Malek (TUN,572)
[QF] GAJJAR Rohan (IND,775) vs (Q) VIRALI-MURUGESAN Ranjeet (IND,857)

Good upset win by Gajjar, he will nmeet Ranjeet for place in semis ... Hoping nothing serious injury worry for Vishnu.
------------------------------------------------------------
At $10K ITF Womens Futures, Mumbai

Second Round
(1) Anastasia MALHOTRA (JPN) bt (WC) Rashmi TELTUMBDE (IND) 62 ?
(5) Yoon-Young JEONG (KOR) bt (WC) Tanvi SHAH (IND) 60 75
(4) Rushmi CHAKRAVARTHI (IND) bt (Q) Prerna BHAMBRI (IND) 63 63
(8) Chun-Yan HE (CHN) bt Soon-Mi SEO (KOR) 62 63
(6) Parul GOSWAMI (IND) l Seo-Kyung KANG (KOR) 63 ?
Alisa OGORODOVA (UZB) bt (3) Keren SHLOMO (ISR) ?
(Q) Moe KAWATOKO (JPN) bt (7) Kumari-Sweta SOLANKI (IND) 75 64
(2) Isha LAKHANI (IND) bt Renee BINNIE (AUS) 36 62 62

No upset by any Indians in second round .. Isha needed almost 2 hours 45 minutes to scored win against her Australian Opponent.

Tennis News
At French Open 2009,

[Q1] Prakash Amritraj (IND,163) l (3) Marcos Daniel (BRA,96) 46 46
[Q1] (26) Somdev Devvarman (IND,138) bt João Souza (BRA,223) 62 26 75
[Q1] Rajeev Ram (USA,169) bt (WC) Julien Obry (FRA,941) 64 62

[Q2] Rajeev Ram (USA,169) vs (4) Victor Crivoi (ROU,99)
[Q2] (26) Somdev Devvarman (IND,138) vs Alex Bogdanovic (GBR,198)

Very clinical performance from Marcos Daniel, after winning first set in second set his serve was under pressure all the time but he managed to hold his serve ... Other hand Kash's was holding his serve easily but Marcos Daniel take crucial break in 9th game to win this match.

Som started with breaking Souza's serve but Souza broke immediately to make it 1-1 ... But again Som broke Souza's serve to take 2-1 lead ... Som broke again Souza in 7th game to take 2 break lead and won first set 6-2.

In 2nd set from 2-2 once again Som lost his focus and one way traffic for Souza as he won next 4 games to won second set 6-2.

In third set match was on serve until 7 games but in 8th game Souza broke Som's serve and was serving for the match on 5-3 ... But Som had another plan he broke back @ 30 and then saved 1 match point on his own serve to make it 5-5 ... Then 11th game was going for longer time, after couple of duece Som managed crucial break to lead 6-5 ... Souza saved couple of match point from 40-15 but Som converted 3rd match point to score important win.

In 2nd qualifying he is facing Britisher Alex Bogdanovic.
------------------------------------------------------------
At $10K ITF Womens Futures, Mumbai

First Round
(1) Anastasia MALHOTRA (JPN) bt Nupur KAUL (IND) 75 63
Rashmi TELTUMBDE (IND) bt Stephanie THEILER (SUI) 76(6) 64
Tanvi SHAH (IND) bt Anushree THAMMANNA (IND) 60 60
(5) Yoon-Young JEONG (KOR) bt Kristina PEJKOVIC (AUS) 75 63
(4) Rushmi CHAKRAVARTHI (IND) bt Jung-Yoon SHIN (KOR) 62 61
Prerna BHAMBRI (IND) bt Ashvarya SHRIVASTAVA (IND) 62 61
Soon-Mi SEO (KOR) bt Sonya DAYAL (IND) 63 63
(8) Chun-Yan HE (CHN) bt Rishika SUNKARA (IND) 64 60
(6) Parul GOSWAMI (IND) bt Treta BHATTACHARYYA (IND) 57 76(6) 63
Seo-Kyung KANG (KOR) bt Adnya NAIK (IND) 62 64
Alisa OGORODOVA (UZB) bt Aishwarya AGRAWAL (IND) 75 61
(3) Keren SHLOMO (ISR) bt Shivika BURMAN (IND) 64 64
(7) Kumari-Sweta SOLANKI (IND) bt Ankita RAINA (IND) 46 63 64
Moe KAWATOKO (JPN) bt Yui-Lynn MIAO (TPE) 26 63 75
Renee BINNIE (AUS) bt Lisa MARSHALL (RSA) 63 60
(2) Isha LAKHANI (IND) bt Marisa GIANOTTI (AUS) 62 46 61

Football News
At the AFC Cup 2009,
Group E
Dempo SC bt Al Faisaly, Jordan 3-1

Goal Scored - Ranty Martins Soleye (DSC) 1' & 52'P, Beto (DSC) 61' and Moayad Abukeshek (AlF) 35'P

Dempo scored impressive win over Al Faisaly to qualify for knock out stage ... They needed win to qualify to final 16 and they delivered when count most.
------------------------------------------
Group D
Mohun Bagan l Al Karamah, Syria 0-4

Goal Scored - Haani Al Taiar (AlK) 11'& 72', Alaa Al Shbli (AlK) 39', Mohamad Alhamwi (AlK) 60'
Mohun Bagan's poor run in this edition ended on poor note with another one sided defeat.

Tennis News
At $15K Kuwait F1 Futures, Meshref

[R1] (Q) NARAYANASWAMY Srirambalaji (IND,UNR) bt (WC) AL GHAREEB Ali (KUW,1770) 64 63
[R1] VARDHAN Vishnu (IND,590) bt (7) LEJNIEKS Karlis (LAT,558) 76(3) 62
[R1] (PR) SHOKEEN Vivek (IND,1205) bt (Q) AL TAWEEL Issam (SYR,1499) 64 67(5) 63
[R1] SHARAN Divij (IND,723) bt (WC) JANAHI Hamad Abbas (UAE,UNR) 63 62
[R1] (Q) TIWARI Abhijeet (IND,1540) l (4) GHAREEB Mohammad (KUW,496) 16 46
[R1] (JE) BHAMBRI Yuki (IND,664) l (8) YSERN Pierrick (FRA,559) 64 46 26
[R1] GAJJAR Rohan (IND,775) bt CHERNOV Artur (RUS,620) 63 63
[R1] (Q) VIRALI-MURUGESAN Ranjeet (IND,857) bt (Q) SINGH Navdeep (IND,960) 75 63

[R2] VARDHAN Vishnu (IND,590) vs (Q) NARAYANASWAMY Srirambalaji (IND,UNR)
[R2] (PR) SHOKEEN Vivek (IND,1205) vs (6) GOFFIN David (BEL,526)
[R2] SHARAN Divij (IND,723) vs (4) GHAREEB Mohammad (KUW,496)
[R2] GAJJAR Rohan (IND,775) vs (8) YSERN Pierrick (FRA,559)
[R2] (Q) VIRALI-MURUGESAN Ranjeet (IND,857) vs (Q) RICE David (GBR,897)

Was hoping win from Yuki but he couldn't continue his tempo of first set ... But Gajjar scored good upset win over Russian ... Six Indians in second round.

Tennis News
At French Open 2009,

[Q1] (26) Somdev Devvarman (IND,138) vs João Souza (BRA,223)
[Q1] Prakash Amritraj (IND,163) vs (3) Marcos Daniel (BRA,96)

Kash having tough opener against Brazilian No. 1 Marcos Daniel, who is #96 on ATP ranking ... Last week Marcos won Zagreb Challenger on clay and having some good wins in last 2 weeks over players like Ivan Ljubicic, Guillermo Canas, Olivier Rochus, etc.

Som is also playing against Brazilian but winnable match for him ... Though no gurantee with his curren On/ Off playing form.
------------------------------------------------------------
At $35K Fergana Challenger, Uzbekistan

[R1] (Q) Purav Raja (IND,922) l Ti Chen (TPE,375) 62 16 26

Doubles
[R1] Purav Raja (IND)/ Samuel Groth (AUS) vs Evgeny Kirillov (RUS)/ Alexandre Kudryavtsev (RUS)

Purav started well against Ti Chen winning first set but it looks then Chen didn't give him any chance in next 2.
------------------------------------------------------------
At $15K Kuwait F1 Futures, Meshref

[R1] VARDHAN Vishnu (IND,590) bt (7) LEJNIEKS Karlis (LAT,558) 76(3) 62

Doubles
[R1] VIRALI-MURUGESAN Ranjeet (IND)/ NARAYANASWAMY Srirambalaji (IND) l AL MOUSA Hassan (KUW)/ MUHAMMAD Ahmad Rabeea (KUW) 36 62 (2)10
[R1] SHARAN Divij (IND)/ VARDHAN Vishnu (IND) bt AL TAWEEL Issam (SYR)/ MAAROUF Hayan (SYR) 62 61
[R1] (4) BHAMBRI Yuki (IND)/ GAJJAR Rohan (IND) bt KROTIOUK Sergei (RUS)/ MANEGIN Anton (RUS) 62 63
[R1] SHOKEEN Vivek (IND)/ SINGH Navdeep (IND) bt GHAREEB Mohammad (KUW)/ ORTEGREN Johan (SWE) 64 57 10(8)

[QF] SHARAN Divij (IND)/ VARDHAN Vishnu (IND) vs (3) KONTINEN Henri (FIN)/ RIESCHICK Sebastian (GER)
[QF] (4) BHAMBRI Yuki (IND)/ GAJJAR Rohan (IND) vs AHMADVAND Saeid (IRI)/ AL GHAREEB Ali (KUW)
[QF] SHOKEEN Vivek (IND)/ SINGH Navdeep (IND) vs (2) FILENKOV Alexei (RUS)/ SLABINSKY Alexander (GBR)

So expected start for Vishnu, this upset was on card considering Vishnu's recent good run in Indian futures.

Tennis News
At $35K Fergana Challenger, Uzbekistan

[Q1] (6) Purav Raja (IND,922) bt Artem Tarasov (UZB,UNR) 61 64
[Q2] (6) Purav Raja (IND,922) bt Aziz Yuldashev (UZB,UNR)63 60
[Q3] (6) Purav Raja (IND,922) bt (2) Irakli Labadze (GEO,509) 46 61 62

[R1] (Q) Purav Raja (IND,922) vs Ti Chen (TPE,375)

Doubles
[R1] Purav Raja (IND)/ Samuel Groth (AUS) vs Evgeny Kirillov (RUS)/ Alexandre Kudryavtsev (RUS)

While qualifying for maindraw Purav scored one of his best comeback win over top-500 type player, who was top-50 on tour in 2004.
------------------------------------------------------------
At $15K Kuwait F1 Futures, Meshref

[Q1] (1) VIRALI-MURUGESAN Ranjeet (IND,857) bye
[Q1] (3) SINGH Navdeep (IND,960) bye
[Q1] (6) TIWARI Abhijeet (IND,1540) bt REDA Mohammed (KUW,UNR) 60 60
[Q1] NARAYANASWAMY Srirambalaji (IND,UNR) bt (10) MANEGIN Anton (RUS,1914) 63 62

[Q2] (1) VIRALI-MURUGESAN Ranjeet (IND,857) bt AL BITAR Ahmed (EGY,UNR) 62 62
[Q2] (3) SINGH Navdeep (IND,960) bt MUBARAK Abdulhamid (KUW,UNR) 63 62
[Q2] NARAYANASWAMY Srirambalaji (IND,UNR) bt (7) KISLYANSKIY Roman (RUS,1548) 63 76(4)
[Q2] (6) TIWARI Abhijeet (IND,1540) bt AL ABDULLH Zaki (KSA,UNR) 61 60

[R1] (Q) NARAYANASWAMY Srirambalaji (IND,UNR) vs (WC) AL GHAREEB Ali (KUW,1770)
[R1] VARDHAN Vishnu (IND,590) vs (7) LEJNIEKS Karlis (LAT,558)
[R1] (PR) SHOKEEN Vivek (IND,1205) vs (Q) AL TAWEEL Issam (SYR,1499)
[R1] SHARAN Divij (IND,723) vs (WC) JANAHI Hamad Abbas (UAE,UNR)
[R1] (Q) TIWARI Abhijeet (IND,1540) vs (4) GHAREEB Mohammad (KUW,496)
[R1] (JE) BHAMBRI Yuki (IND,664) vs (8) YSERN Pierrick (FRA,559)
[R1] GAJJAR Rohan (IND,775) vs CHERNOV Artur (RUS,620)
[R1] (Q) VIRALI-MURUGESAN Ranjeet (IND,857) vs (Q) SINGH Navdeep (IND,960)

Doubles
[R1] VIRALI-MURUGESAN Ranjeet (IND)/ NARAYANASWAMY Srirambalaji (IND) vs AL MOUSA Hassan (KUW)/ MUHAMMAD Ahmad Rabeea (KUW)
[R1] SHARAN Divij (IND)/ VARDHAN Vishnu (IND) vs AL TAWEEL Issam (SYR)/ MAAROUF Hayan (SYR)
[R1] (4) BHAMBRI Yuki (IND)/ GAJJAR Rohan (IND) vs KROTIOUK Sergei (RUS)/ MANEGIN Anton (RUS)
[R1] SHOKEEN Vivek (IND)/ SINGH Navdeep (IND) vs GHAREEB Mohammad (KUW)/ ORTEGREN Johan (SWE)

Big Indian contingent is playing next 2 weeks in Kuwait ... Though Yuki and Vishnu r playing against seeded but they having good draw to go deep inthis futures.

Tennis News
At $50K Sarasota Open, Longboat Key, Florida, USA

[F] (3) Harsh Mankad (IND)/ Kaes Van't Hof (USA) l Victor Estrella (DOM)/ Santiago Gonzalez (MEX) 26 46

And in second week in a row Harsh and Kaes failed to lift doubles title ... Estrella and Gonzalez overpowered this pair in straight sets.
------------------------------------------------------------
At $75K+H Izmir Cup, Turkey

[F] (2) Prakash Amritraj (IND)/ Rajeev Ram (USA) l (1) Jonathan Erlich (ISR)/ Harel Levy (ISR) 36 36

But they lost against top seed pair in that very experienced Jonathan Erlich was partnering Levy ... Still good run till final for them.

Tennis News
At €3.7M Mutua Madrilena Madrid Open, Spain

[SF] Chia-Jung Chuang (TPE)/ Sania Mirza (IND) vs (3) Kveta Peschke (CZE)/ Lisa Raymond (USA) 67(4) 46

Sania and Chia-Jung's fine run ended in semis against WR #3 pair of Peschke and Raymond ... Match was close but 3rd seed pair played important point quiet well to sealed the victory but very encouragin tournament for Sania and Chia-Chung.
------------------------------------------------------------
At $75K+H Izmir Cup, Turkey

[SF] (2) Prakash Amritraj (IND)/ Rajeev Ram (USA) bt (3) Michail Elgin (RUS)/ Alexandre Kudryavtsev (RUS) 76(8) 16 10(5)

[F] (2) Prakash Amritraj (IND)/ Rajeev Ram (USA) vs (1) Jonathan Erlich (ISR)/ Harel Levy (ISR)

Prakash and Rajeev won their semifinal match in super tie-break to face top-seed local pair in the final ... After winning first set in tight tie-break they lost focus from the match but played solid super tie-break to won this match.
------------------------------------------------------------
At $50K Sarasota Open, Longboat Key, Florida, USA

[SF] (3) Harsh Mankad (IND)/ Kaes Van't Hof (USA) bt (1) Carsten Ball (AUS)/ Travis Rettenmaier (USA) 26 63 10(5)

[F] (3) Harsh Mankad (IND)/ Kaes Van't Hof (USA) vs Victor Estrella (DOM)/ Santiago Gonzalez (MEX)

Harsh and Kaes scored excellent comeback victory against top-seed pair against whom they lost in last week's final ... After losing first set they cameback strongly ... Harsh is gelling well with young 21 yrs old Kaes Van't Hof, he needs these good results as next week he is defending 110 points ... In the final they r facing 2nd seed pair.

Tennis News
At €3.7M Mutua Madrilena Madrid Open, Spain

[QF] Chia-Jung Chuang (TPE)/ Sania Mirza (IND) bt Victoria Azarenka (BLR)/ Elena Vesnina (RUS) 2-0 Retd. (due to left knee injury to Azarenka)

[SF] Chia-Jung Chuang (TPE)/ Sania Mirza (IND) vs (3) Kveta Peschke (CZE)/ Lisa Raymond (USA)

Without playing match Sania and Chia-Jung entered into semis of Madrid Masters ... In semis they r facing 3rd seed pair of Lisa Raymond and Kveta Peschke ... This semi-final appearence in Madrid Masters will help Sania to re-enter into top-50 in next week's doubles ranking.

Leander Paes and Lukas Dlouhy withdraw from Madrid Masters due to illness to Dlouhy.
------------------------------------------------------------
At $75K+H Izmir Cup, Turkey

[QF] (2) Prakash Amritraj (IND)/ Rajeev Ram (USA) bt Frederik Nielsen (DEN)/ Ken Skupski (GBR) 63 64

[SF] (2) Prakash Amritraj (IND)/ Rajeev Ram (USA) vs (3) Michail Elgin (RUS)/ Alexandre Kudryavtsev (RUS)

So Ram participated in doubles with Kash and they had easy victory in quarters.
------------------------------------------------------------
At $50K Sarasota Open, Longboat Key, Florida, USA

[QF] (3) Harsh Mankad (IND)/ Kaes Van't Hof (USA) bt (Q) Ty Braswell (USA)/ Ryan Harrison (USA) 63 76(3)

So Harsh and Kaes captured another win against qualifiers, who were good collegian doubles players, to move into semis.
------------------------------------------------------------
At $50K Raleigh Tournament, USA (Clay)

[R2] (LL) Shikha Uberoi (IND,583) l Lilia Osterloh (USA,234) 46 26

Badminton News
At the Sudirman Cup 2009, Guangzhou, China - 10th to 17th May 2009

Group 3 - For First Position

India bt Bulgaria 3-0

Sanave Thomas/ Rupesh Kumar bt Vladimir Metodiev/ Yulian Hristov 21-13 21-11
Saina Nehwal bt Linda Zetchiri 21-14 21-17
Arvind Bhat bt Krasimir Yankov 16-21 21-16 21-19

So first-time Indian team qualified for Group 2 of the Sudirman Cup ... Our mens doubles team and Saina started with straight games victory .. Arvind's win was expected against #238 ranked Bulgarian but he surprised Arvind winning first game ... Arvind needed to play very consistent game in next 2 games to pulled match ... In final game he kept 2 points lead from mid-game to won this match in 58 minutes ... Congrats to Indian team for their promotion to Group 2.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tennis News
At $75K+H Izmir Cup, Turkey

[R2] (8) Prakash Amritraj (IND,163) l Pavel Snobel(CZE,174) 36 46

Was hoping good outing at this Challenger as 6 seeded players were already lost .. But Snobel kept that trend continue beating seeded Kash in straight sets.

Tennis News
At €3.7M Mutua Madrilena Madrid Open, Spain

[R2] Chia-Jung Chuang (TPE)/ Sania Mirza (IND) bt (2) Anabel Medina Garrigues (ESP)/ Virginia Ruano Pascual (ESP) 76(4) 46 10(7)
[R2] (4) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Mark Knowles (BAH) l Stephen Huss (AUS) / Ross Hutchins (GBR) 46 57

[QF] Chia-Jung Chuang (TPE)/ Sania Mirza (IND) vs Victoria Azarenka (BLR)/ Elena Vesnina (RUS)

This pair of Chia-Jung and Sania is cooking ... They scored their second win over WR # 2 pair in 3 meetings ... In this match our pair won crucial points as Garrigues and Ruano Pascual won more points than their opponents, 80 to 71 ... After winning first set in tie-break Sania and Chia-Jung lost second set but they again played well in super tie-break to pulled of upset win in almost 2 hours.

Yesterday in mens doubles 5 upsets scored and in those losses pair of Mahesh and Mark were their with Bryans.
------------------------------------------------------------
At $50K Raleigh Tournament, USA (Clay)

[R1] (LL) Shikha Uberoi (IND,583) bt (6) Soledad Esperon (ARG,249) 46 63 61

[R2] (LL) Shikha Uberoi (IND,583) vs Lilia Osterloh (USA,234)

Doubles
[R1] Florencia Molinero (ARG)/ Shikha Uberoi (IND) l Melanie Oudin (USA)/ Allie Will (USA) 64 26 (7)10

Very good comeback upset win for Shikha against top-250 Argentine player on clay ... I wasn't expecting this so very sweet win but lost her doubles match in super tie-break.
------------------------------------------------------------
At $25K Tanjung Selor Tournament, Indonesia

[R1] Ankita BHAMBRI (IND,391) l Cynthia MELITA (INA,UNR) 26 46
[R1] Rushmi CHAKRAVARTHI (IND,550) l (6) Montinee TANGPHONG (THA,374) 46 76(6) 06
[R1] (7) Isha LAKHANI (IND,460) l Sarah-Rebecca SEKULIC (GER,1071) 36 57
[R1] Poojashree VENKATESHA (IND,457) bt Mi-Rae HAM (KOR,1020) 60 75

[R2] Poojashree VENKATESHA (IND,457) l (Q) Sarah-Rebecca SEKULIC (GER,1071) 57 26

Disappointing stuff from senior players like Ankita and Isha ... Poojashree won first round but lost against lowly ranked German qualifier.

Tennis News
At $75K+H Izmir Cup, Turkey

[R1] (8) Prakash Amritraj (IND,163) bt Rik De Voest (RSA,191) 63 76(6)

[R2] (8) Prakash Amritraj (IND,163) vs Pavel Snobel(CZE,174)

Good straight sets victory for Kash ... Rik De Voest tried comeback in second set but Kash made sure match not entered into third set ... Second round against #174 Czech player is winnable for Kash with his current form.
------------------------------------------------------------
At $50K+H Zagreb Open, Croatia (Red clay)

[R2] Somdev Devvarman (IND,140) l Ricardo Hocevar (BRA,169) 46 67(4)

Som's inconsistent performance is going on ... But atleast Som started to win some matches though his performance is going up and down ... If some positivies from this match then he fought until end but again lost due to not able to win crucial points.

Badminton News
At the Sudirman Cup 2009, Guangzhou, China - 10th to 17th May 2009

Group 3 - B

India bt Scotland 5-0

V Diju/ Jwala Gutta bt Andrew Bowman/ Emma Mason 21-17 21-12
Arvind Bhat bt Gordon Thomson 21-15 21-16
Saina Nehwal bt Susan Hughes 18-21 21-13 21-19
Sanave Thomas/ Rupesh Kumar bt Andrew Bowman/ Thomas Bethel 21-18 25-23
Shruti Kurien/ Aparna Balan bt Emma Mason/ Jillie Cooper 21-12 21-15

As expected 5-0 win for Indian team but surprisingly very close match for Saina ... Bulgaria topped 3 - A group on more games won than USA, both had 2 wins and a loss.

So tomorrow we will play to Bulgaria for first-time advancing to Group 2 in the Sudirman Cup.

Tennis News
At $50K Sarasota Open, Longboat Key, Florida, USA

[R1] (3) Harsh Mankad (IND)/ Kaes Van't Hof (USA) bt Vladimir Obradovic (SRB)/ Adam Vejmelka (CZE) 63 62

[QF] (3) Harsh Mankad (IND)/ Kaes Van't Hof (USA) vs (Q) Ty Braswell (USA)/ Ryan Harrison (USA)

Easy winning start for Harsh and Kaes ... In quarters facing qualifiers.
------------------------------------------------------------
At $75K+H Izmir Cup, Turkey

Doubles
[R1] Purav Raja (IND)/ Joseph Sirianni (AUS) l Andrea Stoppini (ITA)/ Todd Widom (USA) 36 46

Rajeev withdraw from singles due to illness, lets see if he able to play doubles with Kash.
------------------------------------------------------------
At $50K Raleigh Tournament, USA (Clay)

[Q1] Sandhya Nagraj (IND,UNR) bt Parija Maloo (IND,661) 64 61
[Q1] Shikha Uberoi (IND,583) bt Alex Martin (USA,UNR) 63 61

[Q2] Sandhya Nagraj (IND,UNR) l (7) Sabine Klaschka (GER,504) 36 46
[Q2] Shikha Uberoi (IND,583) bt (5) Natalia Guitler (BRA,480) 64 60

[Q3] Shikha Uberoi (IND,583) l (4) Ashley Weinhold (USA,472) 36 16

[R1] (LL) Shikha Uberoi (IND,583) vs (6) Soledad Esperon (ARG,249)

Doubles
[R1] Florencia Molinero (ARG)/ Shikha Uberoi (IND) vs Melanie Oudin (USA)/ Allie Will (USA)

After longtime saw Sandhya's name in the draw ... Shikha is entering into maindraw as a luckyloser but having tough task of facing top-250 South American player on clay.

Tennis News
2009 Davis Cup World Group Play-offs

The draw for the 2009 Davis Cup World Group Play-offs has been made at the ITF ... And India is having away tie against South Africa on 18-20 September, 2009 ... This is evenly matched tie, so we r having good chance to make it into World Group with winning this tie.

Badminton News
At the Sudirman Cup 2009, Guangzhou, China - 10th to 17th May 2009

Group 3 - B

India bt Ukraine 5-0

Sanave Thomas/ Rupesh Kumar bt Vitaly Konov/ Dmytro Zavadsky 21-14 21-6
Saina Nehwal bt Mariya Diptan 21-18 21-9
Arvind Bhat bt Valeriy Atrashchenkov 21-16 21-11
Shruti Kurien/ Aparna Balan bt Larisa Griga/ Elena Prus 21-7 21-14
V Diju/ Jwala Gutta bt Dmytro Zavadsky/ Mariya Diptan 21-15 22-20

Another easy victory by Indian team against Ukraine without dropping much sweat ... Tomorrow in last group match they will face Scotland team.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hockey News
At Asia Cup 2009, Kuantan, Malaysia

India dw China 2-2

Goal Scored - Sandeep Singh (IND) 31' PC & 34' PC and ? (CHN) 45' PC, Yu Yang (CHN) 59'

Indians again blown up 2-0 half-time lead to drew their match against China ... With that defending champion India r out of semifinals as we required win to qualify for Semis after losing first match against Pakistan ... Sandeep Singh 2 goals through penalty corners in last 5 minutes of first-half ... But in 2nd half we missed some scoring opportunities and faulty defense costed us match ... China scored their first goal through penalty corner with indirect variation ... Then due to Indian defensie lapse China scored 2nd goal through free-hit outside 'D' ... We earned penalty corner when 50 seconds were remaining but Sandeep Singh's flick was blocked by Chinese goalie and that ended our challenge from this edition of Asia Cup.

Tennis News
At $50K+H Zagreb Open, Croatia (Red clay)

[R1] Somdev Devvarman (IND,140) bt (3) Leonardo Mayer (ARG,96) 46 62 62

Unexpected win from Som after his recent drop of confidence and form ... But this was huge comeback win over top-100 South American clay court specialist player ... Now Som should build on this win to go deep in this Croatian challenger.

Somdev's coach Jacek Wolicki - " Som continues to get better on clay with each match. He started of really well and got up to a 4-2 lead in the first set. Unfortunately he let that set slip away but showed some incredible toughness to win the next two sets. Leonardo Mayer is an incredibly good clay player with some great results in the recent past. Som Focused on the thing that he could do today and came up with an impressive win."
------------------------------------------------------------
At $75K+H Izmir Cup, Turkey

[R1] (2) Prakash Amritraj (IND)/ Rajeev Ram (USA) bt (WC) Sami Beceren (TUR)/ Baris Erguden (TUR) 76(3) 62

[QF] (2) Prakash Amritraj (IND)/ Rajeev Ram (USA) vs Frederik Nielsen (DEN)/ Ken Skupski (GBR)

Surprisingly close first set for this 2nd seed pair.

Badminton News
At the Sudirman Cup 2009, Guangzhou, China - 10th to 17th May 2009

Group 3-B

India bt Australia 4-1

V Diju/ Jwala Gutta bt Benjamin Walkate / Kate Wilson Smith 21-19 21-15
Chetan Anand bt Jeff Tho 21-14 21-14
Sanave Thomas/ Rupesh Kumar bt Glenn Warfe/ Benjamin Mccarthy 21-12 21-15
Saina Nehwal bt Leisha Cooper 21-11 21-5
Shruti Kurien/ Aparna Balan l Eugenia Tanaka/ Kate Wilson Smith 21-16 18-21 19-21

Expected winning start against Austalian team ... But only black spot on this win was our newly formed womens doubles team loss ... Tomorrow our team play against Ukraine.

Tennis News
At €3.7M Mutua Madrilena Madrid Open, Spain

[R1] (3) Leander Paes (IND)/ Lukas Dlouhy (CZE) bye
[R1] (4) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Mark Knowles (BAH) bye
[R1] Chia-Jung Chuang (TPE)/ Sania Mirza (IND) bt (WC) Ma. Emilia Salerni (ARG)/ Silvia Soler Espinosa (ESP) 63 64

[R2] Chia-Jung Chuang (TPE)/ Sania Mirza (IND) vs (2) Anabel Medina Garrigues (ESP)/ Virginia Ruano Pacual (ESP)

Winning start for Sania and Chia-Jung against wild-card pair, but now they r facing 2nd seed Spanish pair in next round ... Lee and Lukas r in top draw with Bryans ... Mahehs and Mark r with Nestor and Zimo in bottom draw.
------------------------------------------------------------
At $75K+H Izmir Cup, Turkey

[R1] (8) Prakash Amritraj (IND,163) vs Rik De Voest (RSA,191)
[R1] Rajeev Ram (USA,167) vs (4) Benedikt Dorsch (GER,131)

Doubles
[R1] Purav Raja (IND)/ Joseph Sirianni (AUS) vs Andrea Stoppini (ITA)/ Todd Widom (USA)
[R1] (2) Prakash Amritraj (IND)/ Rajeev Ram (USA) vs (WC) Sami Beceren (TUR)/ Baris Erguden (TUR)

Praksh should only play if he is feeling injury free from his leg strain.
------------------------------------------------------------
At $50K Sarasota Open, Longboat Key, Florida, USA

[R1] (3) Harsh Mankad (IND)/ Kaes Van't Hof (USA) vs Vladimir Obradovic (SRB)/ Adam Vejmelka (CZE)

This week also Harsh partnering Kaes Van't Hof and they r again 3rd seeds.
------------------------------------------------------------
At $50K+H Zagreb Open, Croatia (Red clay)

[R1] Somdev Devvarman (IND,140) vs (3) Leonardo Mayer (ARG,96)

Som having tough match on red clay considering his lack of form.

Archery News
At World Cup Stage 2, Porec, Croatia - 4th to 9th May 2009

Jayanta Talukdar repeated his 2006 performance after winning Recurve Men individual final, he won the first ever World Cup Stage in Porec in 2006 and also participated in the 2006 World Cup Final in Mexico.

Jayanta Talukdar won his second gold medal with Rahul Banerjee and Mangal Singh Champia ... They defeated Russian team to lift gold medal in Recurve Team Final.

Individual Recurve Men Final
Jayanta Talukdar (IND) bt Marco Galiazzo (ITA) 110 - 108

Recurve Men Team Final
(1) India bt (3) Russia 220 - 218

Recurve Women Team Bronze Medal
(9) India l (3) Ukraine 197 - 212
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Golf News
THE PLAYERS Championship - Final Standing

T64 Jeev Milkha Singh 68 74 76 76 +6 $20,045.00

After excellent first round Jeev struggled in remaining 3 rounds to finished bottom half of standing.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hockey News
At Asia Cup 2009, Kuantan, Malaysia

India l Pakistan 2-3

Goal Scored - Prabjot Singh (IND0 15' PC, Rajpal Singh (IND) 45' and Hasneem Khan (PAK) 33', Rehan Butt (PAK) 36', Sohail Abbas (PAK) 55' PC

Disastrous start for defending champion Indian team ... They were disarray on the field and Pakistani team take full advantage of it ... Captain Sandeep Singh was off-color and wasted 3 penalty corners in last 10 minutes ... Now Indians having big task of beating chinese team to book their place in semi-final.

Tennis News
At €450K BMW Open, Munich, Germany (Red clay)

[SF] (4) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Travis Parrott (USA) l (2) Ashley Fisher (AUS)/ Jordan Kerr (AUS) 67(2) 46

Rohan and Parrott fine run ended in semis against Australian pair ... Overall good performance for Rohan in his first tournament on red clay.
------------------------------------------------------------
At €3.7M Mutua Madrilena Madrid Open, Spain

[Q1] (18) Sania Mirza (IND,92) l Aravane Rezai (FRA,108) 36 36

Sania's struggled continue ... Worrying more of lack of practice due to first round losses.
------------------------------------------------------------
At $50K Savannah Challenger, USA (Green clay)

[SF] (3) Harsh Mankad (IND)/ Kaes Van't Hof (USA) bt (WC) Alex Kuznetsov (USA)/ Fritz Wolmarans (RSA) 64 61

[F] (3) Harsh Mankad (IND)/ Kaes Van't Hof (USA) vs (1) Carsten Ball (AUS)/ Travis Rettenmaier (USA) 67(4) 46

Harsh and Kaes scored good easy victory in doubles semis against wild-card pair, who defeated second seed pair earlier ... But in the final they couldn't overcome top-seed pair challenge and lost in 2 tight sets.

So with this Harsh climb to his personal best doubles ranking and first-time break into top-150 doubles raning, he is on #145.
------------------------------------------------------------
At Asia-Oceania u-14 Boys Qualifying, Kuching, Malaysia

Quarter Finals - (7) India l (3) Australia 0-3

Vishal Passi l Nicholas Kyrgios 26 36
Abhishek Alla l Jay Andrijic 16 26
Divgijay Singh Naruka/ Vishal Passi l Nicholas Kyrgios/ Daniel Talens 26 26

Disappointing stuff from our U-14 boys ... Nobody gave any decent fight to their respective opponents.
------------------------------------------------------------
Junior French Open 2009,

As expected Yuki Bhambri is top-seed in Roland Garros acceptance list .. Kaza Vinayak Sharma is only other Indian boy or girl in qualifying.

Archery News
At World Cup Stage 2, Porec, Croatia - 4th to 9th May 2009

In Recurve Men Team Qualifying India finished top with 3993 pts, 56 pts ahead of second place Chinese team ... And for individual event Jayanta Talukdar qualified on 2nd position, Mangal Singh Champia on 6th and Rahul Banerjee on 7th position.

Namita Yadav also reached into quarter-final individual Compound Women event before losing close match to Croatian Ivana Buden, who is in the final.

Jayanta Talukdar entered into final of Individual Recurve Men knock-out event and Recurve Men Team reached final in team event ... Our women team lost in semis against France after beating top-seed team Italy in quarters ... They face Ukraine team for bronze medal.

These all matches will be played tomorrow.

Recurve Women Team Knock-out event
[R16] (9) India bt (8) Great Britain 217 (T28) - 217 (T23)
[QF] (9) India bt (1) Italy 217 - 212
[SF] (9) India l (4) France 206 - 209

For Bronze Medal
(9) India vs (3) Ukraine

Recurve Men Team Qualifying
1 India - 3993 pts

Rahul Banerjee - 1328 pts
Mangal Singh Champia - 1329 pts
Jayanta Talukdar - 1336 pts

Recurve Men Team Knock-out event
[R16] (1) India bt (16) Slovakia 224 - 193
[QF] (1) India bt (9) USA 227 - 218
[SF] (1) India bt (5) Italy 225 - 220

Recurve Men Team Final
(1) India vs (3) Russia

Individual Recurve Men knock-out
[R1] Viswash (IND) bt Rafael Poppenborg (GER) 112 - 107
[R1] Mangal Singh Champia (IND) bt Chris Marsh (SUI) 110 - 103
[R1] Rahul Banerjee (IND) bt Tyler Domenech (USA) 112 - 102
[R1] Jayanta Talukdar (IND) bt Luis Felipe Paulinyi (BRA) 113 - 105

[R2] Viswash (IND) bt Mangal Singh Champia (IND) 113 (T9,10) - 113 (T9,9)
[R2] Rahul Banerjee (IND) bt Damian Goly (POL) 111 - 101
[R2] Jayanta Talukdar (IND) bt Hai Feng Xue (CHN) 112 - 111

[R3] Viswash (IND) bt Bair Badenov (RUS) 104 - 99
[R3] Rahul Banerjee (IND) l Baljinima Tsyrempilov (RUS) 110-113
[R3] Jayanta Talukdar (IND) bt Yu xing (CHN) 113 - 111

[QF] Viswash (IND) l Jean-Charles Valladont (FRA) 104 (T8) - 104(T9)
[QF] Jayanta Talukdar (IND) bt Baljinima Tsyrempilov (RUS) 112 - 110

[SF] Jayanta Talukdar (IND) bt Jean-Charles Valladont (FRA) 112 - 101

Individual Recurve Men Final
Jayanta Talukdar (IND) vs Marco Galiazzo (ITA)

Badminton News
At the Sudirman Cup 2009, Guangzhou, China - 10th to 17th May 2009

Indian Team -

Men - Chetan Anand, Aravind Bhat, Rupesh Kumar, Sanave Thomas, V Diju, K Tarun and Arun Vishnu
Women - Saina Nehwal, Aparna Balan, Sayali Gokhale, Jwala Gutta and Shruti Kurien
Chief coach - Gopi Chand

India having very good chance of first-time advancing to Group 2 in this mixed team championships ... The last time we came close to making it to Group 2 was in 2007 when we lost to France in the play-off final in Scotland ... This time Saina is highest ranked player in our group ... Chetan Anand and Aravind Bhat r also in good form in singles ... Our huge plus is performance of V. Diju and Jwala Gutta in mixed doubles ... In past we were struggling in doubles matches to score point but this top-10 MXD team will give us huge push as in this mixed event each tie will have five matches — men’s and women’s singles, men’s doubles, women’s doubles and mixed doubles ... In women's doubles mostly Shruti Kurien will play with Aparna Balan due to differences with Jwala Gutta, they already decided to split after this event.

We r having good draw in Group 3 ... We r pooled with Scotland, Ukraine, Australia, Sweden, US, Czech Republic and Bulgaria ... We will start with playing Australia on Monday.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Chess News
GM Viswanathan Anand won the sixth Chess Oscar, which is awarded by the Russian chess magazine “64 – Chess Review” on the basis of a poll carried out amongst chess journalists and experts from all over the world ... The Oscar comes in the form of a statuette also called the "Fascinated Wanderer" ... Viswanathan Anand is the only non-Russian to have won the award more than five times (Fischer won it three times, Kasparov eleven times).

Tennis News
At €450K BMW Open, Munich, Germany (Red clay)

[QF] (4) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Travis Parrott (USA) bt James Cerretani (USA)/ Jeremy Chardy (FRA) 64 64

[SF] (4) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Travis Parrott (USA) vs (2) Ashley Fisher (AUS)/ Jordan Kerr (AUS)

Rohan continued with his good run on red clay with Travis Parrott to reached in semis with straight sets victory.
------------------------------------------------------------
At $50K Savannah Challenger, USA (Green clay)

[QF] (3) Harsh Mankad (IND)/ Kaes Van't Hof (USA) bt Ryler Deheart (USA)/ Treat Conrad Huey (PHI) 26 64 10(5)

[SF] (3) Harsh Mankad (IND)/ Kaes Van't Hof (USA) vs (WC) Alex Kuznetsov (USA)/ Fritz Wolmarans (RSA)

Another super tie-break but they produced good comeback victory ... In semis they r facing wild-card pair who upset 2nd seed.
------------------------------------------------------------
At $10K Tarakan Futures, Indonesia

[R2] (7) Isha LAKHANI (IND,380) l Erika SEMA (JPN,527) 57 26

With lack of match practice was expecting such loss.
------------------------------------------------------------
At Asia-Oceania u-14 Boys Qualifying, Kuching, Malaysia

(7) India l (2) Korea 0-3

Vishal Passi l Min-Guk Cho 36 36
Abhishek Alla l In-Kyo Jeong 26 36
Divgijay Singh Naruka/ Vishal Passi l Min-Guk Cho/ Hyeon Chung 67(3) 64 06

Disappointing performance by our boys, match was tough but scoreline was one-sided ... Now they r having tough challenge of 3rd seed Australia in quarter-final for booking their place in World group.

Tennis News
At $100K Israel Open, Ramat Hasharon

[R2] Prakash Amritraj (IND,166) l Harel Levy (ISR,250) W/O

Kash conceded match due to his last week's left leg muscle strain ... And he withdrawn from doubles.
-----------------------------------------------------
At $10K Tarakan Futures, Indonesia

[R1] (7) Isha LAKHANI (IND,380) bt Anna LIVADARU (GER,UNR) 64 16 62

[R2] (7) Isha LAKHANI (IND,380) vs Erika SEMA (JPN,527)

Good to see Isha back on tour after long almost 6 months illness break ... It looks she was rusty but atleast she managed win.
-----------------------------------------------------
At Asia-Oceania u-14 Boys Qualifying,

Team - Vishal Passi, Abhishek Alla, Divgijay Singh Naruka

India is 7th seed in this tournament ... they r in group with 2nd seed korean team ... They started well winning first 2 matches but today they r facing 2nd seed Korean team.

(7) India bt Philippines 3-0

Vishal Passi bt Calvin Charles Canlas 62 63
Abhishek Alla bt Jurence Zosimo Mendoza 62 62
Divgijay Singh Naruka/ Vishal Passi bt Calvin Charles Canlas/ Juan Alfonso Opulencia 60 61

(7) India bt Myanmar 3-0

Vishal Passi bt Zin Soe Thaw 62 60
Abhishek Alla bt Sit Thu Zae Naung 62 62
Digvijay Singh Naruka/ Vishal Passi bt Sit Thu Zaw Naung/ Zin Soe Thaw 60 60

Tennis News
At $100K Israel Open, Ramat Hasharon

[R1] Prakash Amritraj (IND,166) bt (WC) Grigor Dimitrov (BUL,380) 76(3) 61

[R2] Prakash Amritraj (IND,166) vs Harel Levy (ISR,250)

So last week's leg injury doesn't look serious as Prakash played his first round match in Israeli challenger ... 17 yrs old Dimitrov is very talented, who is WR #2 behind Yuki and was #1 in 2008 September ... So good win by Kash, dominating second seed after winning first set in tie-break.
------------------------------------------------------------
At €30K San Remo Tennis Cup, Italy (Red clay)

[R1] (2) Purav Raja (IND)/ Olivier Charroin (FRA) l Tomasz Bednarek (POL)/ Boy Westerhof (NED) 67(4) 64 (3)10

Purav and Charroin didn't manage to produce comeback win and lost in super tie-break.

Football News

AIFF announced the list of 27 players who will attend the Senior team camp at Delhi from June 22nd to July 7 for 2011 AFC Asian cup ... After that all these players r going to Spain or Portugal for month's camp in Europe for preparation for Nehru Cup, which will be played from August 19th to 31st.

As such no new faces in the team.

Goal Keeper - Arindam Bhattacharya, Subrata Paul, Subhashish Roy Choudhary

Defenders - Govin Singh, Gourmangi Singh, Mahesh Gawli, Samir Naik, Surkumar, Anwar, Deepak Mondal, NS Manju, Mohanraj, Rakesh Masih

Midfielders - Anthony Pereira, Clifford Miranda, Climax Lawrence, Meharjuddin Wadoo, Syed Rahim Nabi, Renedy Singh, Baldip Singh, Jagpreet Singh, NP Pradeep, Steven Dias

Forward - Sunil Chettri, Sushil Singh, Baichung Bhutia, Abhishek Yadav

Officials - Bob Houghton (Chief coach), Savio Medeira (assistan coach), Antonio Marcos Pacheco (Goalkeeper coach)
------------------------------------------
At the AFC Cup 2009,

Group D
Al Weehdat, Jordan bt Mohun Bagan 5-0

Goal Scored - Nanjangud Shivananju Manju (MB) 26' OG, Issa Husamaldean Issa Alsapah (AlW) 29' & 40', Hasan Abdel-Fattah Hasan Mahmoud (AlW) 66' P, Rafat Ali Ahmad Jaber (AlW) 85'
------------------------------------------
Group E
Al Maged, Syria bt Dempo SC 2-1

Goal Scored - Abdulhadi Al Sharoua Al Hariri (AlM) 41', Kenan A. Alnama (AlM) 63' and Rpberto Mendes Silva (DSC) 67'

Again disappointing outing for Bagan with one-sided loss and also for Dempo who lost their away tie against Syrian team.

Tennis News
At €450K BMW Open, Munich, Germany (Red clay)

[R1] (4) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Travis Parrott (USA) bt Nicolas Almagro (ESP)/ Sebastian Prieto (ARG) 64 57 10(8)

So winning start for Rohan on red clay with Parrott ... Good fighting win against clay court specialist pair.
------------------------------------------------------------
At $50K Savannah Challenger, USA (Green clay)

[R1] (3) Harsh Mankad (IND)/ Kaes Van't Hof (USA) bt (WC) Paul Bishop (GBR)/ Mikk Irdoja (EST) 76(2) 64

Harsh started with win with new partner.
-------------------------------------------------------------
At $ 50K Indian Harbour Beach, FL , USA

[Q1] (7) Shikha UBEROI (IND,605) l Gabriela DABROWSKI (CAN,910) 16 16

Terrible loss cosidering their ranking.

Tennis News
At €450K BMW Open, Munich, Germany (Red clay)

[R1] (4) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Travis Parrott (USA) vs Nicolas Almagro (ESP)/ Sebastian Prieto (ARG)

Nice to see Rohan is playing on tour with decent partner and r seeded.
------------------------------------------------------------
At $50K Savannah Challenger, USA (Green clay)

[R1] (3) Harsh Mankad (IND)/ Kaes Van't Hof (USA) vs (WC) Paul Bishop (GBR)/ Mikk Irdoja (EST)

Harsh is very near to his personal best doubles ranking of #152 which he achieved in 2004, currently he is on#154 .. This week he is having chance of improve his personal best ranking.
------------------------------------------------------------
At €30K San Remo Tennis Cup, Italy (Red clay)

[R1] (2) Purav Raja (IND)/ Olivier Charroin (FRA) vs Tomasz Bednarek (POL)/ Boy Westerhof (NED)
------------------------------------------------------------
At $100K Israel Open, Ramat Hasharon

[R1] Prakash Amritraj (IND,166) vs (WC) Grigor Dimitrov (BUL,380)

Doubles
[R1] Prakash Amritraj (IND)/ Sebastian Rieschick (GER) vs Joshua Goodall (GBR)/ Brydan Klein (AUS)

Prakash name is still in the draw of this Israeli challenger .. Hopefully his leg injury isn't serious, otherwise he should take break and give rest to his body before his favourite grass season.

Motor Sports
At A1GP 2009, Brands Hatch, Great Britain (May 1-3, 2009)
Sprint Race
1 Ireland - Adam Carroll - 22'32.704
2 India - Narain Karthikeyan - 22'39.934 7.230
3 Mexico - Salvador Durán - 22'45.044

Narain Karthikeyan qualified 7th in the sprint race and 10th place in the feature race feature race ... Narain drove superbly for podium finish but in the feature race due to China car big crash happened on first lap and that take Chinese and our Indian car out of the race ... Narain must be cursing as he was hoping for another strong finish.

Narain Karthikeyan - “It was difficult after a small mistake in qualifying as we should have been further up the grid. The car is working well so I think we are looking good for another podium this afternoon.”

Tennis News
At €450K BMW Open, Munich, Germany (Red clay)

[Q2] (4) Somdev Devvarman (IND,147) l Sascha Kloer (GER,495) 26 61 67(6)

Som lost first set losing his service twice but in second set Som broke Kloer's serve twice to won that ... In third set Som started well breaking Kloer's serve in first game but Kloer came back broking Som's serve in next game ... Then again Som broke in 11th game and was serving for the match ... But Kloer played excellent under pressure breaking Som's serve ... In tie-break Som got early mini-break to lead 3-0 but Kloer cameback winning 4 next points, 3-4 ... Som saved first match point but Kloer converted second match point to scored upset win in 2 hours 42 minutes.

Somewhat disappointed after excellent first round qualifying win by Som ... Was hoping for better result.

Badminton News
At $5K Smiling Fish International Series Championships 2009, TungJang, Thailand

In womens doubles pair of Thulasi P. C. and Sikki N. Reddy surprised everyone reaching into the final ... In mens singles Kashyap reached final but lost against 2nd seed.

[F] (1) Kashyap Parupalli (IND,35) l (2) Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk (THA,41) 21-23 14-21

[F] Thulasi P. C. (IND)/ Sikki N. Reddy (IND) l Porntip Buranaprasertsuk (THA)/ Sapsiree Taerattanachai (THA) 9-21 17-21

[SF] (1) Kashyap Parupalli (IND,35) bt (4) Pakkawat Vilailak (THA,104) 19-21 21-16 21-10

[SF] (2) Akshay Dewalkar (IND)/ Jishnu Sanyal (IND) l (4) Songpol Anugritayawan (THA)/ Nitipong Saensila (THA) 17-21 16-21
[SF] Thulasi P. C. (IND)/ Sikki N. Reddy (IND) bt Jirachaya Rachamontri (THA)/ Pijitjan Wangpaiboonkij (THA) 21-13 21-1

[QF] (1) Kashyap Parupalli (IND,35) bt Iskandar Zulkarnain Zainuddin (MAS,UNR) 21-12 21-13

[QF] (7) Trupti Murgunde (IND,136) l (1) Porntip Buranaprasertsuk (THA,41) 19-21 21-23
[QF] (2) Neha Pandit (IND,76) l (6) Chanida Julrattanamanee (THA,143) 18-21 13-21

[QF] (2) Akshay Dewalkar (IND)/ Jishnu Sanyal (IND) bt Sarayut Saetang (THA)/ Sermsin Wongyaprom (THA) 21-19 14-21 17-10 Retd
[QF] Thulasi P. C. (IND)/ Sikki N. Reddy (IND) bt Mei Kuan Chow (MAS)/ Meng Yean Lee (MAS) 21-15 21-19

[R3] (1) Kashyap Parupalli (IND,35) bt Fang Yang Lim (MAS,345) 21-8 21-7
[R3] (7) Gurusaidatt R. M. V. (IND,131) l Prinyawat Thongnuam (THA,215) 13-21 13-21

[R2] (1) Kashyap Parupalli (IND,35) bt Rachata Chandawan (THA,UNR) 21-11 21-17
[R2] Sai Praneet B. (IND,261) l Azwan Mat Yusoff (MAS,496) 21-18 19-21 22-24
[R2] Abhimanyu Singh (IND,181) l (5) Suppanyu Avihingsanon (THA,109) 13-21 14-21
[R2] Rohit Yadav (IND,UNR) l Tinn Isriyanate (THA,UNR) 21-19 13-21 20-22
[R2] (7) Gurusaidatt R. M. V. (IND,131) bt Muhd Adib Haiqal Nurizwan (MAS,UNR) 21-7 21-8

[R2] (7) Trupti Murgunde (IND,136) bt (Q) Sikki N. Reddy (IND,287) 21-12 21-10
[R2] (2) Neha Pandit (IND,76) bt Patchanut Krajangjit (THA,UNR) 21-13 21-18

[R2] (5) K. S. Hersen (IND)/ Jayan James (IND) l Kah Ming Chooi (MAS)/ Zheng Lin Pang (MAS) 16-21 11-21
[R2] (2) Akshay Dewalkar (IND)/ Jishnu Sanyal (IND) bt (Q) Suraj P H (IND)/ Ram Vijay C (IND) 21-10 21-15

[R2] Pradnya Gadre (IND)/ Prajakta Sawant (IND) l Rojjana Chuthabunditkul (THA)/ Artima Serithammarak (THA) 16-21 21-12 12-21
[R2] Thulasi P. C. (IND)/ Sikki N. Reddy (IND) bt (4) Chanida Julrattanamanee (THA)/ Leena Tirapongpatana (THA) 17-21 21-15 21-13

[R2] Akshay Dewalkar (IND)/ Pradnya Gadre (IND) l Siriwat Matayanumat (THA)/ Thanpakanan Ampansuwan (THA) 22-20 17-21 16-21
[R2] Pranav Chopra (IND)/ Prajakta Sawant (IND) l Nipitphon Puangpuapech (THA)/ Artima Serithammarak (THA) 16-21 13-21

[R1] (1) Kashyap Parupalli (IND,35) bye
[R1] Sai Praneet B. (IND,261) bt Gee Chong Tew (MAS,UNR) 13-21 21-8 21-11
[R1] Jagadish Yadav (IND,UNR) l Wei Sheng Loh (MAS,UNR) 13-21 8-21
[R1] Venkatesh Prasad (IND,UNR) l Giap Chin Goh (MAS,UNR) 10-21 10-21
[R1] Abhimanyu Singh (IND,181) bt Kah Zhan Tan (MAS,UNR) 21-16 21-16
[R1] Rohit Yadav (IND,UNR) bt Siripong Getwong (THA,UNR) 15-21 22-20 21-19
[R1] (7) Gurusaidatt R. M. V. (IND,131) bt Therapat Kongdee (THA,UNR) 21-15 21-10

[R1] (7) Trupti Murgunde (IND,136) bt Li Lian Yang (MAS,333) 18-21 21-8 21-15
[R1] (Q) Sikki N. Reddy (IND,287) bt Salinee Somsri (THA,UNR) W/O
[R1] Thulasi P. C. (IND,231) l Stephanie Shalini Sukumaran (THA,UNR) 16-21 18-21
[R1] (Q) Arundhati Pantawane (IND,325) l (4) Ratchanok Inthanon (THA,109) 10-21 10-21
[R1] (2) Neha Pandit (IND,76) bt Swee Wenn Ooi (MAS,214) 21-16 22-20

[R1] Sai Praneet B. (IND)/ Pranav Chopra (IND) l (3) Yao Han Ow (MAS)/ Hong Kheng Yew (MAS) 9-21 22-24
[R1] (5) K. S. Hersen (IND)/ Jayan James (IND) bt Kritti Cholprasertsuk (THA)/ Samatcha Tovannakasem (THA) 16-21 21-16 21-19
[R1] Alwin Francis (IND)/ Sanker Gopan (IND)n l Siripong Getwong (THA)/ Trawut Poteang (THA) 18-21 19-21
[R1] (6) Sabhyasachi Ghosh (IND)/ Vidyadhar J. B. S. (IND) l Sarayut Saetang (THA)/ Sermsin Wongyaprom (THA) 10-21 6-21
[R1] (Q) Suraj P H (IND)/ Ram Vijay C (IND) bt Wannawat Ampansuwan (THA)/ Tinn Isriyanate (THA) 21-16 21-15
[R1] (2) Akshay Dewalkar (IND)/ Jishnu Sanyal (IND) bt Win Hwi Lau (MAS)/ Choong Yee Yeoh (MAS) 21-17 21-19

[R1] Pradnya Gadre (IND)/ Prajakta Sawant (IND) bye
[R1] Thulasi P. C. (IND)/ Sikki N. Reddy (IND) bt Yong Sian Chang (MAS)/ Jia Lin Yan (MAS) 21-10 21-5

[R1] Akshay Dewalkar (IND)/ Pradnya Gadre (IND) bye
[R1] Pranav Chopra (IND)/ Prajakta Sawant (IND) bye

[Q] Suraj P H (IND)/ Ram Vijay C (IND) bt Juan Shen Low (MAS)/ Jagdish Singh (MAS) 18-21 21-16 21-18
[Q] Venkatesh Prasad (IND)/ Jagadish Yadav (IND) l Kwong Beng Chan (MAS)/ Chong Chieh Lok (MAS) 15-21 19-21

[Q2] Sikki N. Reddy (IND,287) bt Kanchana Pollakan (THA,) 21-18 21-15
[Q2] Arundhati Pantawane (IND,325) bt Boonsita Thumpanichwong (THA,UNR) 21-13 21-13

[Q1] Sikki N. Reddy (IND,287) bye
[Q1] Arundhati Pantawane (IND,325) bt Chia Vern See To (MAS,UNR) 18-21 21-10 21-14

Tennis News
At €2.75M ATP World Tour Rome Masters 1000, Italy

[SF] (4) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Mark Knowles (BAH) l (2) Daniel Nestor (CAN)/ Nenad Zimonjic (SRB) 46 76(6) (8)10

Mahesh and Mark gave their best but couldn't overcome stiff challenge of hot pair on clay ... After losing first set they won second set in tie-break ... Zimo and Nestor won tight super tie-break to clinch the match.
------------------------------------------------------------
At BMW Open, Munich, Germany (Red clay)

[Q1] (4) Somdev Devvarman (IND,147) bt Peter Luczak (AUS,211) 64 64

[Q2] (4) Somdev Devvarman (IND,147) vs Sascha Kloer (GER,495)

Som started well on clay scoring straight sets victory in 1 hr 39 mins ... In each set Som converted 1 break point chance and that was enough to won this match.
------------------------------------------------------------
At $100K+H Aegean Tennis Cup 2009, Rhodes, Greece (Hard court)

[SF] Prakash Amritraj (IND,178) l (7) Benjamin Becker (GER,126) 16 2-4 Retd

Kash was struggling with injury and that showed in his first set performance ... Becker broke Kash service thrice to won it in 26 minutes ... But after got broken in second set Kash decided to retire from the match ... Disappointing end for fine run by Kash.

Tennis News
At $15k India F4, New Delhi

Singles Final
(SE) Yuki BHAMBRI (IND,1458) bt (1) Raven KLAASEN (RSA,324) 76(5) 76(5)

Yuki scored huge victory of his small career beating top-325 South African player in 2 tie-breaks in almost 100 minutes match ... In complete match both players were serving hard and gave very few chances to their opponent ... First set went to tie-break without any break of serve ... In tie-break both players exchange mini-break but Yuki won crucial point to captured first set in 52 mins ... In second set Yuki started strongly and Raven was lokking under pressure ... Yuki broke Raven's serve in 4th game to lead 4-1 but after that Yuki lost focus ... Raven take full advantage of Yuki's unforced errors to broke his serve in 7th game ... After that both hold their serve ... In tie-break Yuki was up with early mini-break but he again gifted mini-break to Raven with double fault ... Then on 6-5 Yuki take important point on Raven's serve to won this match.

So this was Yuki's second title in 2 weeks and he showed his last week's performance wasn't fluke ... He won 10 matches on trot importantly without losing a set and played 4 tie-breaks ... These 2 titles win gives him 50 ATP points ... That will push his ranking inside top-700 ... Simplay great work from Yuki.

Impressed with Yuki's game ... He is having very good first serve, which ngive him lot of free points and he also use lot of kick on his second serve ... Having powerful forehand shots as a weapon and reliable backhand shots ... In my view this improvement due to hard work he put at NBTA in last few months, where he got chance of playing with good quality players ... If he continues to improve like this we can see him on challenger level very early than we expect but right now he should concentrate more on futures level and try to dominate that playing on different surfaces ... He is only 16 yrs 10 months old so time is on his side ... So I believe his family members and coaches will take right decision for his career.

Tennis News
At €2.75M ATP World Tour Rome Masters 1000, Italy

[QF] (4) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Mark Knowles (BAH) bt (6) Mariusz Fyrstenberg (POL)/ Marcin Matkowski (POL) 63 64
[QF] (3) Leander Paes (IND)/ Lukas Dlouhy (CZE) l (5) Bruno Soares (BRA)/ Kevin Ullyett (ZIM) 57 36

[SF] (4) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Mark Knowles (BAH) vs (2) Daniel Nestor (CAN)/ Nenad Zimonjic (SRB)

Mahesh and Mark scored straight sets victory without losing much sweat to moved into semis ... But Lee and Lukas lost their quarters against 5th seed ... They r showing very patchy performance.
------------------------------------------------------------
At $100K+H Aegean Tennis Cup 2009, Rhodes, Greece (Hard court)

[QF] Prakash Amritraj (IND,178) bt (1) Dudi Sela (ISR,56) 64 46 63
[QF] (Q) Rohan Bopanna (IND,326) l Simon Stadler (GER,173) 57 26

[SF] Prakash Amritraj (IND,178) vs (7) Benjamin Becker (GER,126)

Kash produced huge upset scoring win over top-50 type Israeli player, who himself was in best form of his career ... In first set both traded breaks 2 times but Kash grabbed important break in 10 the game to won this set in 38 mins ... In second set Dudi played more solid game and grabbed important break in 7th game to won set in 41 mins ... But in third set Kash played unbelievable solid service games and grabbed importnat break in 4th game ... And won this match in 1 hour in 48 minutes.

Rohan's fine run ended in quarters but very fine run where he needed to qualify.
------------------------------------------------------------
At $15k India F4, New Delhi

Singles Semi Finals
(1) Raven KLAASEN (RSA) bt (6) Vishnu VARDHAN (IND) 63 64
(SE) Yuki BHAMBRI (IND) bt (Q) Weerapat DOAKMAIKLEE (THA) 61 64

Doubles Final
(3) Divij Sharan (IND)/ J. Vishnu Vardhan (IND) bt Tushar Liberhan (IND)/ Vishal Punna (IND) 61 63

Yuki reached second final in 2 weeks but here he is having tought challenge of top-seeded Raven to repeat last week's title win performance ... After winning first set easily Yuki lost concentration in second set and did lots of unforced errors but after 3-4 down he cameback strongly to won last 3 games ... Other hand Vishnu couldn't repeat last week's performance of upsetting Raven, today Raven scored somewhat easy victory.

In doubles pair of Divij and Vishnu dominated final to captured the title.

Table Tennis News
At 2009 World Table Tennis Championships, Yokohama, Japan

[R3] ACHANTA Sharath Kamal (IND,85) l GIONIS Panagiotis (GRE,50) 12-10 9-11 11-13 13-11 8-11 8-11

[R2] ACHANTA Sharath Kamal (IND)/ SAHA Subhajit (IND) l MONTEIRO Thiago (BRA)/ TSUBOI Gustavo (BRA) 13-11 7-11 12-10 5-11 11-8 9-11 8-11

Sharath Kamal lost in singles and doubles but gave valiant efforts ... Creditable performance by Sharath Kamal in this World Table Tennis Championships.

Tennis News
At €2.75M ATP World Tour Rome Masters 1000, Italy

[R2] (3) Leander Paes (IND)/ Lukas Dlouhy (CZE) bt (ALT) Ivo Karlovic (CRO)/ Dusan Vemic (SRB) 61 61
[R2] (4) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Mark Knowles (BAH) bt (ALT) Simone Bolelli (ITA)/ Andreas Seppi (ITA) 76(5) 26 10(3)

Lee and Lukas made solid strong start in this Rome Masters scoring very one-sided win to move into quarters.

Mahesh and Mark scored fighting win in super tie-break to moved into quarters.
------------------------------------------------------------
At $100K+H Aegean Tennis Cup 2009, Rhodes, Greece (Hard court)

[R2] Rajeev Ram (USA,170) l Simon Stadler (GER,173) (5)67 (5)67
[R2] (Q) Rohan Bopanna (IND,326) bt Alex Bogdanovic (GBR,180) 26 76(2) 75

[QF] Prakash Amritraj (IND,178) vs (1) Dudi Sela (ISR,56)
[QF] (Q) Rohan Bopanna (IND,326) vs Simon Stadler (GER,173)

Doubles
[QF] Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Harel Levy (ISR) l Karol Beck (SVK)/ Jaroslav Levinsky (CZE) 62 36 (12)14

Rohan scripted remarkable comeback victory after losing first set easily where he struggled to retun Bogdanovic's big serve ... But from second set Rohan matches Bogdanovic and won set in tie-break ... In decider he take important break in 11 games to scored win in 2 hours ... Next he is facing German, who defeated Rajeev.

But Rohan lost into doubles semi-final with Harel Levy ... After 1 set-all, in super tie-break Rohan and Levy were up with 2 mini-breaks but experienced Beck and Levinsky came back to 5-all from 2-5 down ... After that Beck and Levinsky take mini-break to lead 7-6 but this time Rohan and Levy broke back to make it 7-8 ... And then holding their serve they grabbed their first match point at 9-8 but Beck and Levinsky make it 9-all with winning next point on their serve they created their 1st match point ... But this time Rohan and Levy's turned to save it and holding serve to lead 11-10 ... Again Beck and Levinsky saved match point on their own serve and gave them 2 second chance to win match ... Rohan and Levy saved that to make in 12-all but Beck and Levinsky take crucial mini-break to lead 12-13 ... They hold their serve to win this close contested super tie-break.
------------------------------------------------------------
At $15k India F4, New Delhi

Singles Quarter Finals
(1) Raven KLAASEN (RSA) bt (PR) Vivek SHOKEEN (IND) 62 62
(6) Vishnu VARDHAN (IND) bt (Q) N. Vijay Sundar PRASHANTH (IND) 76(3) 60

(Q) Weerapat DOAKMAIKLEE (THA) bt Ranjeet VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND) 62 1-0 Retd
(SE) Yuki BHAMBRI (IND) bt (Q) Peerakit SIRIBUTWONG (THA) 63 62

Doubles Semi Finals
(3) Divij Sharan (IND)/ J. Vishnu Vardhan (IND) bt (1) Rohan Gajjar (IND)/ Yuki Bhambri (IND) 63 64

Tushar Liberhan (IND)/ Vishal Punna (IND) bt (2) Jiri Krkoska (CZE)/ Navdeep Singh (IND) 76(6) 76(4)

So like last week our same 2 players reached in semis and this time also Vishnu having tough challenge of top-seed in semis ... Yuki scored another easy win and facing another Thai qualifier in semis.

In doubles all Indians final is on card.
------------------------------------------------------------
At $25K Namangan ITF Tournament, Uzbekistan

[QF] Poojashree Venkatesha (IND,534) l (6) Cagla Buyukakcay (TUR,361) 26 61 36

Fighting performance by Poojashree in her loss against this top-350 type player.

Table Tennis News
At 2009 World Table Tennis Championships, Yokohama, Japan

Sharath Kamal scored upset victory in round 2 of World Table Tennis Championships against WR top-40 German player to moved into third round ... He is also in doubles second round with Subhajit Saha ... But otherwise our disappointing performance at World Table Tennis Championships is continue.

[R3] ACHANTA Sharath Kamal (IND,85) vs GIONIS Panagiotis (GRE,50)

[R2] ACHANTA Sharath Kamal (IND)/ SAHA Subhajit (IND) vs MONTEIRO Thiago (BRA)/ TSUBOI Gustavo (BRA)

[R2] ACHANTA Sharath Kamal (IND,85) bt STEGER Bastian (GER,39) 11-8 11-9 11-3 6-11 11-8

[R1] ACHANTA Sharath Kamal (IND)/ SAHA Subhajit (IND) bt GRUJIC Slobodan (SRB)/ KARAKASEVIC Aleksandar (SRB) 11-7 11-9 13-11 13-11
[R1] DAS Mouma (IND)/ GHATAK Poulomi (IND) l CAO Zhen (CHN)/ LIU Shiwen (CHN) 8-11 3-11 9-11 4-11
[R1] SAHA Subhajit (IND)/ GHATAK Poulomi (IND) l HENZELL William (AUS)/ MIAO Miao (AUS) 7-11 9-11 5-11 9-11
[R1] (Q) ARPUTHARAJ ANTHONY Amalraj (IND)/ PATKAR Madhurika (IND) l ZENG Cem (TUR)/ HU Melek (TUR) 2-11 15-13 10-12 6-11 6-11
[R1] ACHANTA Sharath Kamal (IND)/ KUMARESAN Shamini (IND) l STEGER Bastian (GER)/ BARTHEL Zhenqi (GER) 9-11 10-12 12-14 11-3 11-9 14-16
[R1] CHAKRABORTY Sourav (IND)/ DAS Mouma (IND) l MACHADO Carlos (ESP)/ RAMIREZ Sara (ESP) 13-11 9-11 8-11 4-11 11-9 4-11
[R1] (Q) MEHTA Pathik (IND)/ CHAKRABORTY Kasturi (IND) l DRINKHALL Paul (ENG)/ PARKER Joanna (ENG) 7-11 8-11 4-11 4-11

[R1] (Q) GHATAK Poulomi (IND,207) l GUO Yue (CHN,2) 8-11 3-11 3-11 7-11
[R1] (Q) CHAKRABORTY Kasturi (IND,381) l FENG Tianwei (SIN,6) 3-11 7-11 7-11 7-11
[R1] (Q) DAS Mouma (IND,213) l KIM Kyung Ah (KOR,8) 10-12 7-11 10-12 5-11
[R1] (Q) KUMARESAN Shamini (IND,331) l ISHIGAKI Yuka (JPN,53) 11-13 11-7 11-13 5-11 8-11
[R1] ACHANTA Sharath Kamal (IND,85) bt WANG Jianfeng (NOR,95) 11-2 11-6 8-11 8-11 11-5 12-10

[Q1] CHAKRABORTY Kasturi (IND) bt PETROVA Zhana (BUL) 11-7 11-9 11-6 11-2

[Q2] SAHA Subhajit (IND) l FEGERL Stefan (AUT) 11-8 5-11 11-9 11-4 3-11 3-11 9-11
[Q2] ARPUTHARAJ ANTHONY Amalraj (IND) l ABRAMOV Isaak (ISR) 8-11 7-11 11-3 11-8 8-11 9-11
[Q2] CHAKRABORTY Sourav (IND) l ZHMUDENKO Yaroslav (UKR) 11-8 10-12 9-11 11-5 9-11 9-11
[Q2] MEHTA Pathik (IND) l PAPAGEORGIOU Konstantinos (GRE) 9-11 11-13 11-8 11-8 8-11 11-6 10-12

[Q1] SAHA Subhajit (IND) bye
[Q1] ARPUTHARAJ ANTHONY Amalraj (IND) bye
[Q1] CHAKRABORTY Sourav (IND) bye
[Q1] MEHTA Pathik (IND) bt MENGE Gencay (TUR) 8-11 11-9 9-11 11-8 6-11 11-9 11-8

[Q2] ARPUTHARAJ ANTHONY Amalraj (IND)/ PATKAR Madhurika (IND) bt WU Kevin (NZL)/ SINGH Armindeep (NZL) 11-2 11-2 11-6
[Q2] MEHTA Pathik (IND)/ CHAKRABORTY Kasturi (IND) bt KARTUZOVS Olegs (LAT)/ KURMELOVA Anzela (LAT) 11-2 6-11 9-11 11-6 11-5

[Q1] MEHTA Pathik (IND)/ CHAKRABORTY Kasturi (IND) bye
[Q1] ARPUTHARAJ ANTHONY Amalraj (IND)/ PATKAR Madhurika (IND) bye

[Q3] CHAKRABORTY Sourav (IND)/ MEHTA Pathik (IND) l JEVTOVIC Marko (SRB)/ PETE Zolt (SRB) 10-12 5-11 11-7 11-2 6-11

[Q2] CHAKRABORTY Sourav (IND)/ MEHTA Pathik (IND) bt BEN ARI Omry (ISR)/ TAUBER Michael (ISR) 11-6 7-11 11-8 11-4

[Q1] CHAKRABORTY Kasturi (IND)/ KUMARESAN Shamini (IND) l KASABOVA Asya (BUL)/ PETROVA Zhana (BUL) 12-10 9-11 11-9 6-11 7-11
[Q1] CHAKRABORTY Sourav (IND)/ MEHTA Pathik (IND) bye

Womens
Qualifying Group 3
GHATAK Poulomi (IND) bt NYBERG Hanna (FIN) 11-8 11-3 11-5 11-8
GHATAK Poulomi (IND) bt MADRID Mercedes (MEX) 9-11 9-11 11-7 11-6 9-11 11-5 11-4

Qualifying Group 5
DAS Mouma (IND) bt HOPPERT Andrea (HON) 11-2 11-7 11-7 11-2
DAS Mouma (IND) bt MAAL Sameera (RSA) 11-8 11-3 11-7 11-6

Qualifying Group 22
KUMARESAN Shamini (IND) bt GARRETT Debbie (NZL) 11-2 11-4 11-9 11-6
KUMARESAN Shamini (IND) bt HASSAN Sara (EGY) 7-11 8-11 11-9 11-6 11-7 11-6

Qualifying Group 26
PATKAR Madhurika (IND) bt VASTAVUO Milla-Mari (FIN) 11-5 11-4 11-5 11-6
PATKAR Madhurika (IND) l AGERHOLM Pernille (DEN) 10-12 9-11 12-14 11-8 11-3 12-14

Qualifying Group 30
CHAKRABORTY Kasturi (IND) bt SOUTHAMMAVONG Thiphakone (LAO) 11-7 11-9 11-6 11-7 CHAKRABORTY Kasturi (IND) bt LINDMAE Karin (EST) 11-8 11-5 11-7 11-6

Mens
Qualifying group 36
SAHA Subhajit (IND) bt MOHED Osama Ahmed (SUD) 11-2 11-2 11-4 11-2
SAHA Subhajit (IND) bt BEN ARI Omry (ISR) 9-11 13-15 11-4 9-11 11-5 18-16 11-6

Qualifying group 41
ARPUTHARAJ ANTHONY Amalraj (IND) bt JIMENEZ Daniel (CRC) 11-4 11-4 11-5 11-2
ARPUTHARAJ ANTHONY Amalraj (IND) bt AL-MOHANNADI Ahmad Khalil (QAT) 11-4 11-3 9-11 12-10 11-3

Qualifying Group 48
CHAKRABORTY Sourav (IND) bt MAHARJAN Rakesh (NEP) 11-5 11-3 11-2 11-5
CHAKRABORTY Sourav (IND) bt COELLO Geovanny (ECU) 8-11 11-5 12-10 12-10 11-2

Qualifying Group 63
MEHTA Pathik (IND) bt BAJADA Daniel (MLT) W/O
MEHTA Pathik (IND) bt SHAO Yu (USA) 11-9 11-13 11-9 11-9 11-4