Tennis News
At Cincinnati Masters, USA (ATP Masters 1000 tournament)

[R2] (4) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Mark Knowles (BAH) bt Feliciano Lopez (ESP)/ Fernando Verdasco (ESP) 57 64 12(10)

Tight comeback victory for last week's Rogers Cup winning pair ... Spanish pair gave them tough time in super tie-break also.
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At $10K India F7 Futures, New Delhi

Singles Quarter Finals
(1) Vishnu VARDHAN (IND) bt (7) Rupesh ROY (IND) 63 62
(5) Peter LUCASSEN (NED) bt N. Vijay Sundar PRASHANTH (IND) 76(3) 2-0 Retd
(3) Chris EATON (GBR) bt (8) Sean THORNLEY (GBR) 61 61
(2) Young-Jun KIM (KOR) bt (6) Ranjeet VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND) 60 62

So only top-seed Vishnu Vardhan kept Indian interest alive ... Peter Lucassen again found lucky as his opponent retired ... With his recent form surprisingly easy loss for Ranjeet.

Football News
Nehru Cup Football Tournament 2009, New Delhi, India

India l Lebanon 0-1

Goal Scored - Ali Al Saadi (LEB) 4'

Lebanonan Ali Al Saadi scored early goal through free-kick still defending champion Indians gave inspiring performance but that wasn't enough to scored goals ... In this match also Indians faced old problem of finishing ... Indians had ample chances of scoring goals but they couldn't manage.
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Tennis News
At $10K India F7 Futures, New Delhi

Singles Second Round
(1) Vishnu VARDHAN (IND) bt Max JONES (GBR) 61 36 63
(7) Rupesh ROY (IND) bt (WC) Ronak MANUJA (IND) 76(3) 2-0 Retd
N. Vijay Sundar PRASHANTH (IND) bt Ashutosh SINGH (IND) 63 64
(5) Peter LUCASSEN (NED) bt (WC) Jeevan NEDUNCHEZHIYAN (IND) 67(6) 64 4-1 Retd
(8) Sean THORNLEY (GBR) bt Tim BRADSHAW (GBR) 63 76(6)
(3) Chris EATON (GBR) bt Seong-Yoon CHUNG (KOR) 62 75
(6) Ranjeet VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND) bt (Q) Sudanwa SITARAM (IND) 61 63
(2) Young-Jun KIM (KOR) bt Shane LA PORTE (USA) 67(5) 75 62

Vijay Sundar Prashanth continued with his upset wins beating very experienced Ashutosh Singh ... Otherwise expected results though few players retired from their matches.
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At $10K ITF Thailand Futures, Nothanburi

[R2] (2) Poojashree VENKATESHA (IND,459) l Nicha LERTPITAKSINCHAI (THA,921) 46 26

So last week good performance didn't help Poojashree to overcome local lass ... Hopefully she will perform as per her ranking in next 2 weeks.
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At $10K Thailand F1, Nothanburi

[R2] (Q) SINGH, Karunuday (IND,1430) l (4) Laurent ROCHETTE (FRA,469) 36 46

Managed to produce decent performance against top-500 player.

Badminton News
At Macau Grand Prix Gold 2009,

[R1] Sayali GOKHALE (IND,107) l Kristina LUDIKOVA (CZE,51) 17-21 19-21
[R1] Aditi MUTATKAR (IND,32) l (2) Lin WANG (CHN,2) 11-21 14-21

[R2] (14) Kashyap PARUPALLI (IND,33) l Huan GAO (CHN,161) 21-17 17-21 11-21
[R2] (7) Chetan ANAND (IND,15) bt Jen Hao HSU (TPE,129) 21-10 21-14
[R2] (10) Arvind BHAT (IND,24) bt Gurusaidatt RMV (IND,78) 21-16 18-21 21-15

[R3] (7) Chetan ANAND (IND,15) vs Hans-Kristian VITTINGHUS (DEN,)

Kashyap lost against lowly ranked Chinese opponent after winning first game ... Other hand Chetan scored easy victory against Taiwanian ... Guru gave tough fight to more experienced Arvind.

Tennis News
At Cincinnati Masters, USA (ATP Masters 1000 tournament)

[R1] (4) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Mark Knowles (BAH) bye
[R1] (3) Leander Paes (IND)/ Lukas Dlohy (CZE) bye
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At $35K+H Karshi Challanger, Uzbekistan

[R1] Purav RAJA (IND)/ Sadik KADIR (AUS) bt (WC) Djakhongir DJALALOV (UZB)/ Sergey SHIPILOV (UZB) 62 60

Expected very easy victory for Purav and Sadik.
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At $10K India F7 Futures, New Delhi

Singles First Round
(1) Vishnu VARDHAN (IND) bt Vignesh PERANAMALLUR-CHANDRASEKHAR (IND) 62 76(2)
Max JONES (GBR) bt (Q) Ankit SACHDEVA (IND) 61 64
(WC) Ronak MANUJA (IND) bt (Q) Yew-Ming SI (MAS) 63 64
(7) Rupesh ROY (IND) bt (WC) Vijayant MALIK (IND) 76(5) 63
N. Vijay Sundar PRASHANTH (IND) bt (4) Rohan GAJJAR (IND) 76(5) 64
Ashutosh SINGH (IND) bt Srirambalaji NARAYANASWAMY (IND) 75 57 62
(WC) Jeevan NEDUNCHEZHIYAN (IND) bt (Q) Yannick NELORD (IND) 63 63
(5) Peter LUCASSEN (NED) bt (Q) Hyun-Soo LIM (KOR) 63 36 61
(8) Sean THORNLEY (GBR) bt (WC) Vivek SHOKEEN (IND) 64 64
Tim BRADSHAW (GBR) bt (Q) Chandril SOOD (IND) 61 62
Seong-Yoon CHUNG (KOR) bt Krishananth BALAKRISHNAN (AUS) 75 36 60
(3) Chris EATON (GBR) bt (Q) Mithun MURALI (IND) 62 62
(6) Ranjeet VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND) bt Kyle BRASSINGTON (GBR) 46 63 61
(Q) Sudanwa SITARAM (IND) bt Seung-Jae LEE (KOR) 26 64 60
Shane LA PORTE (USA) bt Vikram REDDY B (IND) 60 62
(2) Young-Jun KIM (KOR) bt (Q) Aditya MADKEKAR (IND) 61 1-0 Retd

Nice to see Sudanwa won his first maindraw match ... Ronak Manuja started with win against Malaysian ... Jeevan is also showing his college stint improving him as a player ... But Vijay Sundar Prashanth scored upset win over 4th seed Rohan Gajjar.
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At $10K Thailand F1, Nothanburi

[R1] (Q) SINGH Karunuday (IND,1430) vs (Q) KIM Woo-Ram (KOR,1061) 64 63

[R2] (Q) SINGH, Karunuday (IND,1430) vs (4) Laurent ROCHETTE (FRA,469)

Good start with win by Karunuday against higher ranked Korean ... But next facing tough challenge from top-500 Frenchman.

Badminton News
At Macau Grand Prix Gold 2009,

[R1] (14) Kashyap PARUPALLI (IND,33) bt Chun Seang TAN (MAS,63) 21-16 22-20
[R1] (7) Chetan ANAND (IND,15) bt Kay Bin YEOH (MAS,134) 21-16 21-16
[R1] Anup SRIDHAR (IND,38) l (11) Long CHEN (CHN,26) 12-21 15-21
[R1] Ajay JAYARAM (IND,68) l Suppanyu AVIHINGSANON (THA,132) 13-21 17-21
[R1] Gurusaidatt RMV (IND,78) bt Wing Ki WONG (HKG,50) 22-20 14-21 21-17
[R1] (10) Arvind BHAT (IND,24) bt Daren LIEW (MAS,92) 17-21 21-11 21-9

[R1] Sayali GOKHALE (IND,107) vs Kristina LUDIKOVA (CZE,51)
[R1] Aditi MUTATKAR (IND,32) vs (2) Lin WANG (CHN,2)

[R1] Rupesh K. T. KUMAR (IND)/ Sanave THOMAS (IND) l Howard BACH (USA)/ Tony GUNAWAN (USA) 15-21 18-21

[R2] (14) Kashyap PARUPALLI (IND,33) vs Huan GAO (CHN,161)
[R2] (7) Chetan ANAND (IND,15) vs Jen Hao HSU (TPE,129)
[R2] (10) Arvind BHAT (IND,24) vs Gurusaidatt RMV (IND,78)

Guru scored upset win over top-50 Hong Kong player.

Tennis News
At $50K+H Trani Challanger, Italy (clay)

[R1] (1) Rohan BOPANNA (IND)/ Frank MOSER (GER) bt (WC) Carlos BERLOCQ (ARG)/ Nicolas TODERO (ARG) 63 64

Good start in doubles after coming out of injury ... I think Rohan selected clay tournament for comeback to test his knee on less demanding clay court than hard court.
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At $10K ITF Thailand Futures, Nothanburi

[R1] (2) Poojashree VENKATESHA (IND,459) bt (WC) Satjaporn MAHAJAROENKUL (THA,1065) 62 61
[R1] Kumari-Sweta SOLANKI (IND,791) l Beatrice GUMULYA (INA,895) 16 26

[R2] (2) Poojashree VENKATESHA (IND,459) vs Nicha LERTPITAKSINCHAI (THA,921)

Good easy winning start for Poojashree in Thailand.

Tennis News
At the Rogers Cup, Montreal, Canada (ATP Masters 1000 tournament)

[F] (3) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Mark Knowles (BAH) bt (7) Max Mirnyi (BLR)/ Andy Ram (ISR) 64 63

Considering their tough fighting victory in semis this win in the final looks cackwalk ... :-) ... So with this victory Mahesh lifted his record breaking 5th Rogers Cup doubles title with 4 different partners.

So pair of Mahesh and Mark r peaking right time for US Open.
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At $2M the Rogers Cup, Montreal, Canada

[Q2] Sania Mirza (IND,74) l Heidi El-Tabakh (CAN,195) 16 63 36

This was great opportunity for Sania to qualified for big WTA event but she couldn't take this opportunity ... Very rarely player faced 200 ranked player in final qualifying on big WTA event ... This was definitely winnable match but again Sania played old record of bad service games ... In final game of the match Sania had 3 break points, 0-40, but she couldn't managed to convert will tell us whole story of the match.
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At $35K+H Karshi Challanger, Uzbekistan

[Q1] (4) Yuki BHAMBRI (IND,502) bt Syrym ABDUKHALIKOV (KAZ,625) 63 60
[Q1] Purav RAJA (IND,1013) bt (7) Toshihide MATSUI (JPN,516) 63 64

[Q2] Purav RAJA (IND,1013) l Murad INOYATOV (UZB,607)
[Q2] (4) Yuki BHAMBRI (IND,502) l Andrei CIUMAC (MDA,1289) 67(0) 46

Doubles
[R1] Purav RAJA (IND)/ Sadik KADIR (AUS) vs (WC) Djakhongir DJALALOV (UZB)/ Sergey SHIPILOV (UZB)

Very surprising and shocking loss below 1250 ranked player for Yuki ... Hoping one of bad day in the office without any injury issue ... Purav also scoring good upset win in first round lost to local player in second round.
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At $10K ITF Thailand Futures, Nothanburi

[R1] (2) Poojashree VENKATESHA (IND,459) vs (WC) Satjaporn MAHAJAROENKUL (THA,1065)

[R1] Kumari-Sweta SOLANKI (IND,791) vs Beatrice GUMULYA (INA,895)
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At $10K Thailand F1, Nothanburi

[Q1] (6) SINGH Karunuday (IND,1430) bt HOLLAND-SMITH Samuel (AUS,UNR) 60 61
[Q2] (6)SINGH Karunuday (IND,1430) bt SUWANASANG Tas (THA,UNR) 62 62

[R1] (Q) SINGH Karunuday (IND,1430) vs (Q) KIM Woo-Ram (KOR,1061)

Good to see Karunuday qualified for maindraw but why he is playing in Thailand when 3 weeks Indian futures started this week.

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.

Tennis News
At the Rogers Cup, Montreal, Canada (ATP Masters 1000 tournament)

[SF] (3) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Mark Knowles (BAH) bt (2) Daniel Nestor (CAN)/ Nenad Zimonjic (SRB) 57 62 10(4)

[F] (3) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Mark Knowles (BAH) vs (7) Max Mirnyi (BLR)/ Andy Ram (ISR)

Superb comeback victory by Mahesh and Mark against WR #2 Nestor and Zimo ... With their current form this was huge win, these days they were struggling with their game ... But they r peaking at right time for US hard court season, hoping record 5th title for Mahesh.
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At $2M the Rogers Cup, Montreal, Canada

[Q1] Sania Mirza (IND,74) bt (WC) Marie-Eve Pelletier (CAN,308) 26 64 62

[Q2] Sania Mirza (IND,74) vs Heidi El-Tabakh (CAN,195)

Sania scored another win over Canadian girl in last 2 weeks, this time also she needed 3 sets ... In second qualifying round she is facing another Canadian Heidi ... Sania having some score to settle with Heidi, she lost against her 6 yrs back at 2003 Junior French Open when Heidi was representing Egypt.
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At $35K+H Karshi Challanger, Uzbekistan

[Q1] (4) Yuki BHAMBRI (IND,502) vs Syrym ABDUKHALIKOV (KAZ,625)
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At $50K+H Trani Challanger, Italy (Clay)

[Q1] (6) BOPANNA Rohan (IND,506) l PASKVAN Federico (ARG,1244) 76(1) 26 26

Happy to see Rohan back on court but surprised to see that he choose clay court event as comeback tournament ... After winning first set in tie-break Rohan looks tired from scoreline.

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.

Tennis News
At the Rogers Cup, Montreal, Canada (ATP Masters 1000 tournament)

[QF] (3) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Mark Knowles (BAH) bt (6) Mariusz Fyrstenberg (POL)/ Marcin Matkowski (POL) 63 64

[SF] (3) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Mark Knowles (BAH) vs (2) Daniel Nestor (CAN)/ Nenad Zimonjic (SRB)

Good easy straight sets victory against Polish pair ... But in semis they r facing tougher challenge of Nestor and Zimo.
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At $2M the Rogers Cup, Montreal, Canada

[Q1] Sania Mirza (IND) vs (WC) Marie-Eve Pelletier (CAN)

Sania is playing qualifying at Rogers cup.
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At $50K Binghamton Challenger, USA

[SF] (3) Prakash Amritraj (IND)/ Aisam-UL-Haq Qureshi (PAK) l (1) Rik de Voest (RSA)/ Scott Lipsky (USA) 67(4) 36

No upset in doubles semis for Kash and Aisam.
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At $10K New Delhi 2009, India

Singles Final
(2) Poojashree VENKATESHA (IND,459) bt (1) Emily WEBLEY-SMITH (GBR,324) 76(8) 62

Superb, superb win by Poojashree over top-seed British player ... This was Poojashree's second ITF futures title, first she won in April at Islamabad ... I really wish and hope this title turn up as a perfect medicine for her to push herself to achieve more success on tour.

Badminton News
At Yonex Sunrise BWF World Championships - 09, Hyderabad, India

[QF] (8) Diju Valiyaveetil (IND)/ Jwala Gutta (IND) l (2) Nova Widianto (INA)/ Liliyana Natsir (INA) 16-21 14-21
[QF] (6) Saina Nehwal (IND,6) l (2) Lin Wang (CHN,2) 16-21 19-21

After her recent win over Lin Wang at Indonesian Super series expections were high from Saina ... But she couldn't repeat same performance in front of home crowd ... She gave more fighting performance in second game that wasn't enough to stop Lin Wang from victory ... Also decent performance by our pair against WR #2 Indonesian pair.

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.

Tennis News
At $50K Binghamton Challenger, USA

[R2] (WC) Prakash Amritraj (IND,261) l Sergei Bubka (UKR,186) 36 2-4 Retd

Doubles
[QF] (3) Prakash Amritraj (IND)/ Aisam-UL-Haq Qureshi (PAK) bt Sergei Bubka (UKR)/ Alexandre Kudryavtsev (RUS) 63 76
[QF] (4) Harsh Mankad (IND)/ David Martin (USA) l Kevin Anderson (RSA)/ Ryler DeHeart (USA) 36 57

[SF] (3) Prakash Amritraj (IND)/ Aisam-UL-Haq Qureshi (PAK) vs (1) Rik de Voest (RSA)/ Scott Lipsky (USA)

This was second time Kash retired from the match after coming near to losing his match ... Reason is he played doubles match afterwards and won it ... In doubles he and Aisam defeated Bubka and Kudryavtsev ... But Harsh and Martin lost their doubles match ... In semis Kash and Aisam facing topseed pair Lipsky and de Voest.
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At $15K Iran F6 futures, Tehran (Clay)

[F] (6) Ranjeet Virali-Murugesan (IND,706) l (5) Haithem Abid (TUN,665)

So with that Ranjeet failed to lift his first futures title but very promising performance by him in these 2 weeks at Iranian futures ... Last week also Abid defeated him in semis and thie time he repeated that in the final.
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At $10K New Delhi 2009, India

Singles Semi Finals
(1) Emily WEBLEY-SMITH (GBR) bt (8) Dalila JAKUPOVIC (SLO) 76(4) 46 62
(2) Poojashree VENKATESHA (IND) bt (4) Isha LAKHANI (IND) 57 62 64

Very impressive win by Poojashree over more experienced Isha Lakhani, I liked the way she fought back in the match after losing first set ... Poojashree already lifted doubles title with Sanaa, so tomorrow she is lined up for double crown.

Badminton News
At Yonex Sunrise BWF World Championships - 09, Hyderabad, India

[R3] (8) Diju Valiyaveetil (IND)/ Jwala Gutta (IND) bt (12) Robert Mateusiak (POL)/ Nadiezda Kostiuczyk (POL) 21-11 22-20
[R3] (15) Chetan Anand (IND,15) l (6) Sony Dwi Kuncoro (INA,6) 16-21 16-21
[R3] (6) Saina Nehwal (IND,6) bt (10) Petya Nedelcheva (BUL,13) 18-21 21-18 21-10

[QF] (8) Diju Valiyaveetil (IND)/ Jwala Gutta (IND) vs (2) Nova Widianto (INA)/ Liliyana Natsir (INA)
[QF] (6) Saina Nehwal (IND,6) vs (2) Lin Wang (CHN,2)

Our first match on court was MXD, Diju and Jwala started well and easily won first game against Polish pair ... In second game also they started positively and moving towards easy victory ... But suddenly Polish pair improved their game and our pair started to make few errors ... Both were equalled ar 18-all, Diju and Jwala won next 2 points but Polish pair saved both match points ... Indian pair managed to convert 3rd match point to scored straight games victory to moved into semis.

Against Chetan Indonasian Sony Dwi Kuncoro gave very clinical performance ... In both games Chetan and Sony were neck to neck but in end Sony excellently played crucial points to scored victory.

Saina was dominating from the start ans she was dictating the game ... But due to lapse in concentration she started to make unforced errors and that gave Petya chance to fightback in the game ... Saina was leading 18-16 but lost next 5 points to lose firsr game ... Second game also started same like first one, Saina was dominating her Bulgarian opponents and moving towards comfortably capturing second game but from 18-11 again due to loss of concentration she started to make unforced errors and misjudgement of line calls ... Petya won next 7 points to came near of 3 points of upset victory but Saina hold her nerves and won next 3 points to captured second game ... Third game also wasn't different from first 2 ... Saina take control of the match and lead 11-3 at side change ... But again due to lapse in concentration after side change she lost next 5 points but this time Saina didn't take long to back in match to comfortably won third game ... This match was going on for 57 minutes and Saina didn't look tired in third game.

Tennis News
At $15K Iran F6 futures, Tehran (Clay)

[SF] (6) Ranjeet Virali-Murugesan (IND,706) bt (3) Murad Inoyatov (UZB,609) 63 64

[F] (6) Ranjeet Virali-Murugesan (IND,706) vs (5) Haithem Abid (TUN,665)

Doubles
[QF] (3) Srirambalaji Narayanswamy (IND)/ Ranjeet Virali-Murugesan (IND) bt (WC) Alborz Akhavan Roufigar (IRI)/ Mohsen Hossein Zade (IRI) 63 64
[QF] Vijayant Malik (IND)/ Yannick Nelord (IND) l Murad Inoyatov (UZB)/ Stepan Khotulev (RUS) 36 36

[SF] (3) Srirambalaji Narayanswamy (IND)/ Ranjeet Virali-Murugesan (IND) l (1) Paris Gemouchidis (GRE)/ Bogdan-Victor Leonte (ROU) 46 36

Good exciting straight sets victory by Ranjeet against Uzbek Davis cup player Murad Inoyatov ... I m still wondering what went wrong for Vignesh against Murad Inoyatov in quarters to face double bagled.

I m rooting for Ranjeet to grab his first future title, that's also away and on clay ... He also reached in doubles semis.
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At $10K New Delhi 2009, India

Singles Quarter Finals
(1) Emily WEBLEY-SMITH (GBR) bt Elodie ROGGE-DIETRICH (FRA) 63 62
(8) Dalila JAKUPOVIC (SLO) bt (3) Anastasia MALHOTRA (JPN) 64 61
(4) Isha LAKHANI (IND) bt (6) Alexandra KOLESNICHENKO (UZB) 75 63
(2) Poojashree VENKATESHA (IND) bt (5) Sanaa BHAMBRI (IND) 62 26 64

Isha's win over Alexandra confirmed Indian in the final ... But also happy for Poojashree's win over experienced Sanaa ... Interesting semi-final matches.

Tennis News
At the Rogers Cup, Montreal, Canada (ATP Masters 1000 tournament)

[R1] (3) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Mark Knowles (BAH) bye
[R2] (3) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Mark Knowles (BAH) bt Jeff Coetzee (RSA)/ Jurgen Melzer (AUT) 76(2) 64

[QF] (3) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Mark Knowles (BAH) vs (6) Mariusz Fyrstenberg (POL)/ Marcin Matkowski (POL)

Mahesh and Mark won very tight match as in this match they saved all 10 break point chances on their serve ... In quarters they r facing 6th seed Polish pair ... Interestingly Mahesh won 4 doubles titles at the Rogers Cup, highest than anyone else.
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At $2M Cincinnati WTA Tournament, USA

[R2] Sania Mirza (IND)/ Francesca Schiavone (ITA) l (1) Cara Black (ZIM)/ Liezel Huber (RSA) 46 36

Somewhat expected loss against WR #1 pair.
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At $50K Binghamton Challenger, USA

[R1] (3) Prakash Amritraj (IND)/ Aisam-UL-Haq Qureshi (PAK) bt (WC) Lester Cook (USA)/ John Paul Fruttero (USA) 63 62
[R1] Somdev Devvarman (IND)/ Treat Conrad Huey (PHI) l Kevin Anderson (RSA)/ Ryler DeHeart (USA) 36 26

[QF] (4) Harsh Mankad (IND)/ David Martin (USA) vs Kevin Anderson (RSA)/ Ryler DeHeart (USA)

So early exit from singles and doubles for Somi ... Other hand Kash having good start in doubles with Aisam.
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At $15K Iran F6 futures, Tehran (Clay)

[QF] Yannick Nelord (IND,1347) l (4) Matteo Volante (ITA,612) 36 26
[QF] (8) Vignesh Peranamallur-Chandrasekhar (IND,904) l (3) Murad Inoyatov (UZB,609) 06 06
[QF] (6) Ranjeet Virali-Murugesan (IND,706) bt (Q) Marc Abdulnour (SYR,UNR) 60 62

[SF] (6) Ranjeet Virali-Murugesan (IND,706) vs (3) Murad Inoyatov (UZB,609)

So Ranjeet in second semi-final on clay in 2 weeks at Iranian futures ... Surprised by Vignesh's one-sided loss against Inoyatov.
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At $10K New Delhi 2009, India

Singles Second Round
(1) Emily WEBLEY-SMITH (GBR) bt Ankita RAINA (IND) 63 62
Elodie ROGGE-DIETRICH (FRA) bt (7) Parija MALOO (IND) 76(4) 36 63
(3) Anastasia MALHOTRA (JPN) bt (Q) Shweta RANA (IND) 75 61
(8) Dalila JAKUPOVIC (SLO) bt Jasmin STEINHERR (GER) 63 63
(6) Alexandra KOLESNICHENKO (UZB) bt Sowjanya BAVISETTI (IND) 62 61
(4) Isha LAKHANI (IND) bt Parul GOSWAMI (IND) 63 63
(5) Sanaa BHAMBRI (IND) bt Prerna BHAMBRI (IND) 63 61
(2) Poojashree VENKATESHA (IND) bt (Q) Nupur KAUL (IND) 61 61

Badminton News
At Yonex Sunrise BWF World Championships - 09, Hyderabad, India

[R2] (6) Saina Nehwal (IND,6) bt Anastasia Prokopenko (RUS,62) 21-10 21-17
[R2] (15) Chetan Anand (IND,15) bt Stilian Makarski (BUL,127) 21-9 21-17
[R2] Kashyap P (IND,33) l (2) Jin Chen (CHN,2) 21-14 10-21 7-21

[R2] Akshay Dewalkar (IND)/ Jishnu Sanyal (IND) l (16) Vitalij Durkin (RUS)/ Alexandr Nikolaenko (RUS) 21-17 13-21 18-21
[R2] Aparna Balan (IND)/ Shruti Kurian (IND) l (2) Shu Cheng (CHN)/ Yunlei Zhao (CHN) 16-21 16-21

[R3] (6) Saina Nehwal (IND,6) vs (10) Petya Nedelcheva (BUL,13)
[R3] (15) Chetan Anand (IND,15) vs (6) Sony Dwi Kuncoro (INA,6)

So expected winning start for Saina against Russian, hopefully she is fully recover and match-fit (three games) after her bout against chicken-pox ... Also our young doubles pair Akshay Dewalkar and Jishnu Sanyal produced good fight against seeded pair.

As expected easy victory for Chetan, next he is facing Indonasian WR #6 Sony Kuncoro ... Kashyap started well against WR #2 Jin Chen winning first game but after that Jin Chen adjusted his game to Kashyap and toyed with him to score comfortable victory in next 2 games.

Tennis News
At $2M Cincinnati Masters, USA

[R1] Sania Mirza (IND)/ Francesca Schiavone (ITA) bt Mariya Koryttseva (UKR)/ Tatiana Poutchek (BLR) 16 64 10(6)

[R2] Sania Mirza (IND)/ Francesca Schiavone (ITA) vs (1) Cara Black (ZIM)/ Liezel Huber (RSA)

This week Sania is playing in doubles at CinCinnati Masters with Italian partner Francesca Schiavone ... They won first round match in super tie-break after losing first set easily but in second round they r facing WR #1 pair.
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At $50K Binghamton Challenger, USA

[R1] (8) Somdev Devvarman (IND,140) l Sergei Bubka (UKR,186) 67(3) 57
[R1] (WC) Prakash Amritraj (IND,261) bt Ryler DeHeart (USA,201) 67(2) 63 63

[R2] (WC) Prakash Amritraj (IND,261) vs Sergei Bubka (UKR,186)

Doubles
[R1] (4) Harsh Mankad (IND)/ David Martin (USA) bt (WC) Laurynas Grigelis (LTU)/ Andrea Stoppini (ITA) 36 63 10(6)

Somdev's poor run in challenger continue, he lost in close 2 sets against Bubka ... Other hand Prakash is showing consistency in his game and scored comeback victory over DeHeart ... In next round he is facing Bubka.

Harsh and Martin also needed comeback in the match after losing first set to win their first round doubles match.
-----------------------------------------------------------
At $ 35K+H Brasilia Challenger

[R1] Nikolay Nesterov (RUS)/ J. Vishnu Vardhan (IND) l (2) Ricardo Hocevar (BRA)/ Andre Miele (BRA) 26 67(1)
[R1] Raven Klaasen (RSA)/ Ashutosh Singh (IND) l Marcelo Demoliner (BRA)/ Rodrigo Guidolim (BRA) 46 63 (5)10

In doubles our both pairs lost in first round against Brazilian pairs.
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At $15K Iran F6 futures, Tehran (Clay)

[R2] (Q) Abhijeet Tiwari (IND,1460) l (5) Haythem Abid (TUN,673) 67(5) 46
[R2] Yannick Nelord (IND,1347) bt Marco Sattanino (ITA,1298) 63 62
[R2] (8) Vignesh Peranamallur-Chandrasekhar (IND,904) bt (Q) Khachatur Khachataryan (ARM,1765) 76(6) 61
[R2] Vijayant Malik (IND,995) l (3) Murad Inoyatov (UZB,609) 26 76(8) 36
[R2] (6) Ranjeet Virali-Murugesan (IND,706) bt (WC) Amir-Soheil Mohseni (IRI,1465) 76(4) 62

[QF] Yannick Nelord (IND,1347) vs (4) Matteo Volante (ITA,612)
[QF] (8) Vignesh Peranamallur-Chandrasekhar (IND,904) vs (3) Murad Inoyatov (UZB,609)
[QF] (6) Ranjeet Virali-Murugesan (IND,706) vs (Q) Marc Abdulnour (SYR,UNR)

Doubles
[R1] Ronak Manuja (IND)/ Vignesh Peranamallur-Chandrasekhar (IND) l (WC) Alborz Akhavan Roufigar (IRI)/ Mohsen Hossein Zade (IRI) 16 75 (6)10
[R1] Vikram Reddy B (IND)/ Abhijeet Tiwari (IND) l (WC) Anoosha Shahgholi (IRI)/ Ashkan Shokppfi (IRI) 64 26 (9)11

[QF] (3) Srirambalaji Narayanswamy (IND)/ Ranjeet Virali-Murugesan (IND) vs (WC) Alborz Akhavan Roufigar (IRI)/ Mohsen Hossein Zade (IRI)
[QF] Vijayant Malik (IND)/ Yannick Nelord (IND) vs Murad Inoyatov (UZB)/ Stepan Khotulev (RUS)

Impressive win by Yannick Nelord against Italian opponent ... Also Ranjeet and Vignesh continued with their recent good perfromance ... After long time seeing 3 Indians in quarters on clay.

Badminton News
At Yonex Sunrise BWF World Championships - 09, Hyderabad, India

[R1] Arvind Bhat (IND,24) l (9) Yu Hsing Hsieh (TPE,19) 14-21 21-19 22-24
[R1] Kashyap P (IND,33) bt Ali Shahhosseini (IRI,137) 21-9 21-13
[R1] Sayale Gokhale (IND,107) l Jie Yao (NED,26) 15-21 14-21

[R1] Akshay Dewalkar (IND)/ Jishnu Sanyal (IND) bt Patipat Chalardchaleam (THA)/ Nuttaphon Narkthong (THA) W/O
[R1] Tarun Kona (IND)/ Arun Vishnu (IND) l (13) Hung Ling Chen (TPE)/ Yu Lang Lin (TPE) 12-21 14-21

[R2] Kashyap P (IND,33) vs (2) Jin Chen (CHN,2)

[R2] Akshay Dewalkar (IND)/ Jishnu Sanyal (IND) vs (16) Vitalij Durkin (RUS)/ Alexandr Nikolaenko (RUS)

[R3] (8) Diju Valiyaveetil (IND)/ Jwala Gutta (IND) vs (12) Robert Mateusiak (POL)/ Nadiezda Kostiuczyk (POL)

Very heartbreaking loss for Arvind, after losing first game he fought back bravely and was very close to win this match ... Other hand expected one-sided victory for Kashyap against Iranian but in second round he is facing WR #2 Chinese player.

Tennis News
At $15K Iran F6 futures, Tehran (Clay)

[R1] Vikram Reddy B (IND,1243) l (1) Adam Vejmelka (CZE,411) 46 06
[R1] (Q) Abhijeet Tiwari (IND,1460) bt Shahin Khaledan (IRI,1238) 63 60
[R1] Yannick Nelord (IND,1347) bt (WC) Christopher Rungkat (INA,1249) 64 16 76(0)
[R1] (8) Vignesh Peranamallur-Chandrasekhar (IND,904) bt (Q) Sunu-Wahyu Trijati (INA,UNR) 62 63
[R1] Vijayant Malik (IND,995) bt Srirambalaji Narayanswamy (IND,1457) 61 62
[R1] (6) Ranjeet Virali-Murugesan (IND,706) bt Rouzbeh Kamran (IRI,1333) 62 64
[R1] Ronak Manuja (IND,1209) l (2) Bogdan-Victor Leonte (ROU,526) 26 36

[R2] (Q) Abhijeet Tiwari (IND,1460) vs (5) Haythem Abid (TUN,673)
[R2] Yannick Nelord (IND,1347) vs Marco Sattanino (ITA,1298)
[R2] (8) Vignesh Peranamallur-Chandrasekhar (IND,904) vs (Q) Khachatur Khachataryan(ARM,1765)
[R2] Vijayant Malik (IND,995) vs (3) Murad Inoyatov (UZB,609)
[R2] (6) Ranjeet Virali-Murugesan (IND,706) vs (WC) Amir-Soheil Mohseni (IRI,1465)

Doubles
[R1] (3) Srirambalaji Narayanswamy (IND)/ Ranjeet Virali-Murugesan (IND) bt Issam Al Taweel (SYR)/ Hayan Maarouf (SYR) 63 61
[R1] Vijayant Malik (IND)/ Yannick Nelord (IND) bt (2) Alexei Filenkov (RUS)/ Christoph Lessiak (AUT) 76(3) 36 10(6)

Very good start by Indian players on clay ... After long time I m seeing our 5 players r winning their first round matches with few upsets on foreign soil ... Also in doubles Malik and Nelord started with big upset.
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At $10K New Delhi 2009, India

First Round
(1) Emily WEBLEY-SMITH (GBR) bt (Q) Adnya NAIK (IND) 63 61
Ankita RAINA (IND) bt (Q) Arantxa ANDRADY (IND) 60 60
Ankita RAINA (IND) bt (Q) Arantxa ANDRADY (IND) 60 60
Elodie ROGGE-DIETRICH (FRA) bt Subbadharmi SUNDARAM (USA) 63 60
(7) Parija MALOO (IND) bt Trang HUYNH PHUONG DAI (VIE) 64 64
(3) Anastasia MALHOTRA (JPN) bt Ani AMIRAGHYAN (ARM) 62 63
(Q) Shweta RANA (IND) bt (Q) Garima VATWANI (IND) 67(5) 63 60
Jasmin STEINHERR (GER) bt Shivika BURMAN (IND) 62 63
(8) Dalila JAKUPOVIC (SLO) bt Rashmi TELTUMBDE (IND) 16 62 60
(6) Alexandra KOLESNICHENKO (UZB) bt Kumari-Sweta SOLANKI (IND) 61 57 61
Sowjanya BAVISETTI (IND) bt (Q) Aishwarya AGRAWAL (IND) 62 63
Parul GOSWAMI (IND) bt (Q) Sindhu Nila PARTHEEPAN (IND) 63 61
(4) Isha LAKHANI (IND) bt Chutharat RUNGTEIN (THA) 62 61
(5) Sanaa BHAMBRI (IND) bt (Q) Ashvarya SHRIVASTAVA (IND) 64 62
Prerna BHAMBRI (IND) bt Treta BHATTACHARYYA (IND) 46 64 63
(Q) Nupur KAUL (IND) bt Alina TSEPLUKHOVA (RUS) 63 64
(2) Poojashree VENKATESHA (IND) bt Rishika SUNKARA (IND) 36 62 64

Final Qualifying Round
Nupur KAUL (IND) bt Ikttesh CHAHAL (IND) 60 61
Shweta RANA (IND) bt Nova PATEL (IND) 64 46 76(4)
Ashvarya SHRIVASTAVA (IND) bt Sagarika PHADKE (IND) 36 61 61
Arantxa ANDRADY (IND) bt Nithya Raj BABU RAJ (IND) 64 64
Aishwarya AGRAWAL (IND) bt Anushree THAMMANNA (IND) 60 63
Sindhu Nila PARTHEEPAN (IND) bt Asha NANDA KUMAR (IND) 63 61
Adnya NAIK (IND) bt Sayali BHILARE (IND) 61 63
Garima VATWANI (IND) bt Ankita BHATIA (IND) 64 75

First Qualifying Round
Nupur KAUL (IND) bt Renuka KESWANI (IND) 61 62
Ikttesh CHAHAL (IND) bt Tanvi GUPTA (IND) 60 62
Shweta RANA (IND) bt Deepna VAZIRANI (IND) 57 60 75
Nova PATEL (IND) bt Chika TERASAWA (JPN) 63 62
Ashvarya SHRIVASTAVA (IND) bt Prerana PRATHAP (IND) 63 60
Sagarika PHADKE (IND) bt Rani Smita JAIN (IND) 26 75 3-0 Retd
Nithya Raj BABU RAJ (IND) bt Dipti SRIVASTAVA (IND) 64 60
Arantxa ANDRADY (IND) bt Prathana PRATHAP (IND) 63 61
Aishwarya AGRAWAL (IND) bt Shivani MYSORE SREEKANTIAH (IND) 60 60
Anushree THAMMANNA (IND) bt Smriti JOON (IND) 63 62
Sindhu Nila PARTHEEPAN (IND) bt Seema KUMARI (IND) 60 60
Asha NANDA KUMAR (IND) bt Jeni PATEL (IND) 62 63
Sayali BHILARE (IND) bt Likitha SHETTY (IND) 61 61
Adnya NAIK (IND) bt Ashmitha EASWARAMURTHI (IND) 62 60
Ankita BHATIA (IND) bt Lavanya NATH (IND) 62 61
Garima VATWANI (IND) bt Zainab ALI SAJJAD (IND) 61 26 63

Badminton News
At Yonex Sunrise BWF World Championships - 09, Hyderabad, India

[R1] (15) Chetan Anand (IND,15) bt Ji Hoon Hong (KOR,43) 21-8 21-16
[R1] Arvind Bhat (IND,24) vs (9) Yu Hsing Hsieh (TPE,19)
[R1] Kashyap P (IND,33) vs Ali Shahhosseini (IRI,137)
[R1] Aditi Mutatkar (IND,32) l (11) Juliane Schenk (GER,14) 8-21 12-21
[R1] Sayale Gokhale (IND,107) vs Jie Yao (NED,26)
[R1] (6) Saina Nehwal (IND,6) bye

[R1] Rupesh Kumar (IND)/ Sanave Thomas (IND) l (14) Kenichi Hayakawa (JPN)/ Kenta Kazuno (JPN) 13-21 21-23
[R1] Akshay Dewalkar (IND)/ Jishnu Sanyal (IND) vs Patipat Chalardchaleam (THA)/ Nuttaphon Narkthong (THA)
[R1] Tarun Kona (IND)/ Arun Vishnu (IND) vs (13) Hung Ling Chen (TPE)/ Yu Lang Lin (TPE)
[R1] Aparna Balan (IND)/ Shruti Kurian (IND) bye
[R1] Arun Vishnu (IND)/ Aparna Balan (IND) l Noriyasu Hirata (JPN)/ Shizuka Matsuo (JPN) 14-21 20-22
[R1] (8) Diju Valiyaveetil (IND)/ Jwala Gutta (IND) bye

[R2] (15) Chetan Anand (IND,15) vs Stilian Makarski (BUL,127)
[R2] (6) Saina Nehwal (IND,6) vs Anastasia Prokopenko (RUS,62)

[R2] Aparna Balan (IND)/ Shruti Kurian (IND) vs (2) Shu Cheng (CHN)/ Yunlei Zhao (CHN)
[R2] (8) Diju Valiyaveetil (IND)/ Jwala Gutta (IND) bt Nathan Robertson (ENG)/ Jenny Wallwork (ENG) WDN

Pair of Jwala and Diju r in pre-quarterfinal as after first round bye they received walkover due to withdrawal of English pair.

In singles only Saina having bye as seeded, I m hoping tough time for others except Kashyap in first round.

Chetan proved me wrong scoring easy victory against Korean player.

Tennis News
At $75K ITF Vancouver Women's Tournament, Canada

[F] (1) Sania Mirza (IND,83) l (2) Stephanie Dubois (CAN, 106) 61 46 46

After winning first set easily both players exchanged early breaks and Sania was down 2-3 ... With another break Stephanie lead 2-5 then Sania tried fight back but at 4-5 Stephanie hold her serve to won second set ... In third set Stephanie broke Sania's serve in first game to lead 0-2 but Sania broke her serve in 4th game to brought set on serve 2-all ... Then only crucial service break Stephanie take in 9th game to lead 4-5 and then hold her serve to won this final.

So at last Sania's luck end against third local player she was facing in 3 days ... This was Stephanie's second win against Sania, before this 6 yrs back she defeated Sania in Toronto ... Reaching final will helped Sania to bring her ranking inside top-75.
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At $50K Binghamton Challenger, New York, USA

[R1] (8) Somdev Devvarman (IND,140) vs Sergei Bubka (UKR,186)
[R1] (WC) Prakash Amritraj (IND,261) vs Ryler DeHeart (USA,201)

Doubles
[R1] (3) Prakash Amritraj (IND)/ Aisam-UL-Haq Qureshi (PAK) vs (WC) Lester Cook (USA)/ John Paul Fruttero (USA)
[R1] Somdev Devvarman (IND)/ Treat Conrad Huey (PHI) vs Kevin Anderson (RSA)/ Ryler DeHeart (USA)
[R1] (4) Harsh Mankad (IND)/ David Martin (USA) vs (WC) Laurynas Grigelis (LTU)/ Andrea Stoppini (ITA)

This week Somi back to play challenger and facing young talented Bubka in first round ... Prakash received wilcard for this tournament and facing American DeHeart in first round ... Also our 3 pairs r playing in doubles and two r seeded.
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At $ 35K (+ H) Brasilia challanger

[Q3] (5) J. Vishnu Vardhan (IND,458) l (1) Daniel King-Turner (NZL,356) 36 62 67(5)

Doubles
[R1] Nikolay Nesterov (RUS)/ J. Vishnu Vardhan (IND) vs (2) Ricardo Hocevar (BRA)/ Andre Miele (BRA)
[R1] Raven Klaasen (RSA)/ Ashutosh Singh (IND) vs Marcelo Demoliner (BRA)/ Rodrigo Guidolim (BRA)

After winning first 2 qualifying round easily against local players Vishnu faces top-seed King-Turner ... Very close loss for Vishnu in the third set tie-break against experienced player ... Playing more abroad will definitely going to help Vishnu to improve his game.

In doubles Vishnu having tough match with his Russian partner against 2nd seed local pair ... Ashutosh is also facing local pair with his South African partner.
-----------------------------------------------------------
At $15K Iran F6 futures, Tehran (Clay)

[R1] Vikram Reddy B (IND,1243) vs (1) Adam Vejmelka (CZE,411)
[R1] (Q) Abhijeet Tiwari (IND,1460) vs Shahin Khaledan (IRI,1238)
[R1] Yannick Nelord (IND,1347) vs (WC) Christopher Rungkat (INA,1249)
[R1] (8) Vignesh Peranamallur-Chandrasekhar (IND,904) vs (Q) Sunu-Wahyu Trijati (INA,UNR)
[R1] Vijayant Malik (IND,995) vs Srirambalaji Narayanswamy (IND,1457)
[R1] (6) Ranjeet Virali-Murugesan (IND,706) vs Rouzbeh Kamran (IRI,1333)
[R1] Ronak Manuja (IND,1209) vs (2) Bogdan-Victor Leonte (ROU,526)

Doubles
[R1] (3) Srirambalaji Narayanswamy (IND)/ Ranjeet Virali-Murugesan (IND) vs Issam Al Taweel (SYR)/ Hayan Maarouf (SYR)
[R1] Ronak Manuja (IND)/ Vignesh Peranamallur-Chandrasekhar (IND) vs Alborz Akhavan Roufigar (IRI)/ Mohsen Hossein Zade (IRI) (WC)
[R1] Vikram Reddy B (IND)/ Abhijeet Tiwari (IND) vs (WC) Anoosha Shahgholi (IRI)/ Ashkan Shokppfi (IRI)
[R1] Vijayant Malik (IND)/ Yannick Nelord (IND) vs (2) Alexei Filenkov (RUS)/ Christoph Lessiak (AUT)

Big Indian contingent playing in Iranian futures ... Hopefully some of them will take advantage with going deep.

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.

Tennis News
At $75K ITF Vancouver Women's Tournament, Canada

[SF] (1) Sania Mirza (IND,83) bt Sharon Fichman (CAN,195) 67(6)

[F] (1) Sania Mirza (IND,83) vs (2) Stephanie Dubois (CAN, 106)

In first set Sania had opportunities but she couldn't convert ... She was leading 4-1 and in tie-break she had 2 set points at 6-4 ... In second set Sania was down early 0-2 but from here Sania turned match around ... She won next 6 games of 7 to won second set ... And in third set from 2-all Sania won next 4 games to finished match ... In the final she is facing another Canadian girl.
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Hockey News
At Women's Junior World Cup Hockey 2009, Boston, USA

Pool E

India l England 0-1

Goal Scored -

This loss against England will cost us dearly, this dented our semi-final chances.

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.

Tennis News
At $75K ITF Vancouver Women's Tournament, Canada

[QF] (1) Sania Mirza (IND,83) bt Rebecca Marino (CAN,207) 76(2) 67(3) 64

[SF] (1) Sania Mirza (IND,83) vs Sharon Fichman (CAN,195)

Another see-saw match for Sania, very close than expected ... First 2 sets went to tie-break and both players shared a set each ... In decider Sania had bad start, her serve broke in 2nd game and was down 0-3 but Sania broke back in 5th game to bring back on serve at 2-3 ... Again Marino broke her serve in 6th game to lead 2-4 but again Sania also broke back breaking Marino's serve in 7th game and hold her serve to 4-all ... Sania again broke her serve in 9th game and hold her serve to scored win ... In final set she won final 4 games on a row that must be pleasing thing for Sania in this match.

In semis Sania is facing another unseeded 19 yrs old Canadian.
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At $15K Iran F5 futures, Tehran (Clay)

[SF] (7) Ranjeet VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND,713) l (6) Haithem ABID (TUN,677) 26 36

Ranjeet lost in semis but good performance on clay for him.

Tennis News
At $1.4M Legg Mason Classic ATP Tournament, Washington, USA

[R3] (Q)Somdev Devvarman (IND,153) l (11) Ivo Karlovic (CRO,33) 57 16

Somi saved break point in 2n game but got broken in 12th game at 15 to lose first set ... In second set Ivo steamrolled over Somi breaking his serve in 4th and 6th games to won second set and match easily.

Still satisfying tournament for Somi, who qualified for this tournament ... He is showing improvement and also maturing on tour.
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At $75K ITF Vancouver Women's Tournament, Canada

[R2] (1) Sania Mirza (IND,83) bt (WC) Laura Granville (USA,401) 64 75

[QF] (1) Sania Mirza (IND,83) vs Rebecca Marino (CAN,207)

Another close match for Sania but importantly she is winning those and gaining good winning momentum for US hardcourt season.
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At $10K New Delhi 2009, India

Singles Final
(1) Emily WEBLEY-SMITH (GBR) bt (7) Alexandra KOLESNICHENKO (UZB) 61 61

Singles Semi Final
(1) Emily WEBLEY-SMITH (GBR) bt (3) Isha LAKHANI (IND) 63 64
(7) Alexandra KOLESNICHENKO (UZB) bt (5) Sanaa BHAMBRI (IND) 63 62

Doubles Final
(2) Alexandra KOLESNICHENKO (UZB)/ Emily WEBLEY-SMITH (GBR) bt Ashmitha EASWARAMURTHI (IND)/ Dalila JAKUPOVIC (SLO) 62 64

Singles winner will be win double crown.
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Hockey News
At Women's Junior World Cup Hockey 2009, Boston, USA

Pool D
Australia bt Belarus 7-0
India l USA 2-4

Goal Scored - Rani Devi (IND)' 44'PC, Ritu Rani (IND) 70' PC and Laura Gebhart (USA) 24', Melissa Gonzalez (USA) 31', Michelle Vittese (USA) 38' & 46' PC

Host USA brought Indian girls down to earth with easy victory ... USW team was leading 2-0 at half time and then scored another goal in first 3 minutes to take match beyond Indians ... But on better goal average Indian girls r in medal round.

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.

Tennis News
At $1.4M Legg Mason Classic ATP Tournament, Washington, USA

[QF] (3) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Mark Knowles (BAH) l Martin Damm (CZE)/ Robert Lindstedt (SWE) 64 16 (14)16

Mahesh and Mark lost very close super tie-break after winning first set.
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At $75K ITF Vancouver Women's Tournament, Canada

[R1] (1) Sania Mirza (IND,83) bt (Q) Mallory Cecil (USA,410) 64 75

[R2] (1) Sania Mirza (IND,83) vs (WC) Laura Granville (USA,401)

Sania's first round opponent was below top-400 ranked player but match was tricky as Mallory Cecil is reigning NCAA women's champion ... Sania managed straight sets victory but Mallory Cecil stretched her ... Next match is also interested match for Sania against former top-30 player, who is coming out of injury.
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At $100K Vancouver Challenger, Canada

[R2] Prakash Amritraj (IND,264) l (3) Marcos Baghdatis (CYP,136) 46 16

Was hoping better fighting performance by Kash with his current form as we all knows these days Baghdatis is struggling with his game and form.
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At $15K Iran F5 futures, Tehran (Clay)

[QF] (7) Ranjeet VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND,713) bt (Q) Paris GEMOUCHIDIS (GRE,UNR) 62 75
[QF] Srirambalaji NARAYANASWAMY (IND,1461) l (2) Adam VEJMELKA (CZE,415) 0-4 Retd.

[SF] (7) Ranjeet VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND,713) vs (6) Haithem ABID (TUN,677)

Ranjeet kept his good run to reached semi-final on clay at Iranian futures.
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At $10K New Delhi 2009, India

Singles Quarter Final
(1) Emily WEBLEY-SMITH (GBR) bt (Q) Rishika SUNKARA (IND) 62 62
(3) Isha LAKHANI (IND) bt (6) Parija MALOO (IND) 62 64
(5) Sanaa BHAMBRI (IND) bt Parul GOSWAMI (IND) 62 60
(7) Alexandra KOLESNICHENKO (UZB) bt Dalila JAKUPOVIC (SLO) 62 46 63

Doubles Semi Final
Ashmitha EASWARAMURTHI (IND)/ Dalila JAKUPOVIC (SLO) bt Parul GOSWAMI (IND)/ Trang HUYNH PHUONG DAI (VIE) 60 06 10(6)

(2) Alexandra KOLESNICHENKO (UZB)/ Emily WEBLEY-SMITH (GBR) bt Isha LAKHANI (IND)/ Anastasia MALHOTRA (JPN) 36 62 10(5)

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.

Tennis News
At $1.4M Legg Mason Classic ATP Tournament, Washington, USA
From Tennisserver.com

[R2] (Q) Somdev Devvarman (IND,153) bt (6) Marin Cilic (CRO,15) 75 64

Doubles
[R1] (3) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Mark Knowles (BAH) bt Max Mirnyi (BLR)/ Andy Ram (ISR) 76(6) 26 10(7)

[QF] (3) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Mark Knowles (BAH) vs Martin Damm (CZE)/ Robert Lindstedt (SWE)

Somdev created history upsetting WR #15 Marin Cilic at Legg Mason Classic ATP tournament ... This was Somi's first win over top-15 ATp player ... I think this would be the biggest victory by an Indian male tennis player since Lee defeated Pete Sampras almost 11 years ago in Pen Pilot ATP tournament ... Sania Mirza scored victory over Kuznetsova in Dubai tournament when Kuznetsova was the reigning US Open champion.

From start Somdev returning well on Cilic service and that put extra pressure on Cilic sere ... In first set Somi take first break in 9th game but Cilic broke back immediately ... Again Somi take crucial break in 11th game and then hold his serve to won first set ... In second set Somi was in control from the start ... After easy few service games for both players Somi broke Cilic's serve in 5th game after duece to take lead 3-2 and again broke Cilic's serve after duece in 7th game to lead 5-2 ... But while serving for the set Somi came under pressure and Cilic broke his serve on luv in 8th game and hold his serve after few duece ... Somi played very solid service game in 10th game, he hold his serve at 15 and converted first match point to scored huge upset win.

In second round Somi can meet another big server Croatian WR #33 Ivo Karlovic.

Mahesh and Mark also started with super tie-breaker win in US hardcourt season.

Somdev Devvarman - "When I'm playing well, I like hitting the ball deep. I felt like today I did that very well."

"“This wasn’t the final of a tour event, so I wasn’t as nervous coming out, and it was the first match for him this week and I already had three under my belt. That’s always a good feeling going into a match."

“Today, my gameplan was to just go out there and compete as hard as possible and just let the chips fall where they may. I just wanted to stay calm and focused and play as hard as I could.”
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At $100K Vancouver Challenger, Canada

[R1] Harsh Mankad (IND)/ David Martin (USA) l Amir Hadad (ISR)/ Harel Levy (ISR) 67(7) 26
[R1] Stephen Amritraj (IND)/ Rajeev Ram (USA) l Kevin Anderson (RSA)/ Rik De Voest (RSA) 36 26
[R1] (3) Prakash Amritraj (IND)/ Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (PAK) l Kyu Tae Im (KOR)/ Merinko Matosevic (AUS) 26 26

Very disappointing stuff from Indian pairs in doubles.
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At $75K ITF Vancouver Women's Tournament, Canada

[R1] (1) Sania Mirza (IND,83) vs (Q) Mallory Cecil (USA,410)

Sania is facing American qualifier in first round.
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At $50K ITF Astana Women's Tournament, Kazakhstan

[QF] Daria KUCHMINA (RUS)/ Poojashree VENKATESHA (IND) l Eugeniya PASHKOVA (RUS)/ Anastasiya VASYLYEVA (UKR) 16 26
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At $15K Iran F5 futures, Tehran (Clay)

[R1] Vijayant MALIK (IND,1004) bt Kiarash SOURI (IRI,UNR) 63 61
[R1] (7) Ranjeet VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND,713) bt Marko DANIS (SVK,1216) 76(4) 62
[R1] Mohammed MOHAZEBNIA (IRI,991) bt Ronak MANUJA (IND,1211) 67(5) 63 62
[R1] (5) Murad INOYATOV (UZB,632) bt Abhijeet TIWARI (IND,1462) 62 63
[R1] Anoosha SHAHGHOLI (IRI,1590) bt Vikram REDDY B (IND,1247) 64 63
[R1] Srirambalaji NARAYANASWAMY (IND,1461) bt Marco SATTANINO (ITA,1299) 63 64

[R2] (7) Ranjeet VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND,713) bt Vijayant MALIK (IND,1004) 26 63 76(1)
[R2] Srirambalaji NARAYANASWAMY (IND,1461) bt (Q) Ashkan DABIRI (IRI,UNR) 26 63 75

[QF] (7) Ranjeet VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND,713) vs (Q) Paris GEMOUCHIDIS (GRE,UNR)
[QF] Srirambalaji NARAYANASWAMY (IND,1461) vs (2) Adam VEJMELKA (CZE,415)

Happy to see our players playing on clay at Iranian futures and our 2 players in quarter-finals.
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At $10K New Delhi 2009, India

Singles Second Round
(1) Emily WEBLEY-SMITH (GBR) bt (WC) Adnya NAIK (IND) 60 60
(Q) Rishika SUNKARA (IND) bt (8) Victoria LARRIERE (FRA) 62 63
(3) Isha LAKHANI (IND) bt (Q) Sheethal GOUTHAM (IND) 63 60
(6) Parija MALOO (IND) bt Treta BHATTACHARYYA (IND) 75 26 60
(5) Sanaa BHAMBRI (IND) bt Chutharat RUNGTEIN (THA) 63 64
Parul GOSWAMI (IND) bt (Q) Ankita RAINA (IND) 61 36 61
(7) Alexandra KOLESNICHENKO (UZB) bt Rashmi TELTUMBDE (IND) 62 62
Dalila JAKUPOVIC (SLO) bt (2) Anastasia MALHOTRA (JPN) 75 26 63

Doubles Quarter Final
Ashmitha EASWARAMURTHI (IND)/ Dalila JAKUPOVIC (SLO) bt Aishwarya AGRAWAL (IND)/ Subbadharmi SUNDARAM (USA) 64 64

Isha LAKHANI (IND)/ Anastasia MALHOTRA (JPN) bt (WC) Ashvarya SHRIVASTAVA (IND)/ Rashmi TELTUMBDE (IND) 64 16 10(6)
(2) Alexandra KOLESNICHENKO (UZB)/ Emily WEBLEY-SMITH (GBR) bt Sheethal GOUTHAM (IND)/ Sonal PHADKE (IND) 62 62

Good upset win by 16 yrs old Rishika Sunkara.

Hockey News
At Women's Junior World Cup Hockey 2009, Boston, USA

Pool D
Australia bt USA 2-1
India bt Belarus 6-0

Goal Scored - Roselin Dung (IND) 16', Poonam Rani (IND) 38', Ritu Rani (IND) 51' PC, Rani Devi (IND)' 53'. 54' & 58' PC

In second match Indian girls needed to show their first match victory over Australian side wasn't fluke and they didn't disappoint ... Indian scored in 16th minutes and kept 1-0 lead until first half ... But in second half Indians were on rampage and scored 4 goals in 8 minutes ... Rani Devi scored hattrick scoring last 3 goals.

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.
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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.

Tennis News
At $1.4M Legg Mason Classic ATP Tournament, Washington, USA

From Tennisserver.com

[R1] (Q)Somdev Devvarman (IND,153) bt (Q) Yuichi Sugita (JPN,255) 60 76(6)

[R2] (Q)Somdev Devvarman (IND,153) vs (6) Marin Cilic (CRO,15)

Doubles
[R1] (3) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Mark Knowles (BAH) vs Max Mirnyi (BLR)/ Andy Ram (ISR)

Somi started well winning the first set in 20 minutes and he take first 9 games of the match before his rival fightback winning next 4 games in a row before Somi controlled to won tie-breaker ... Somi was down 4-6 in tie-breaker but won next 4 points to won match in 85 minutes.

I m not expecting much from Somi against Marin Cilic, I feel Somi still not ready to face top-25 players ... But then many time I prove wrong with my prediction so hoping same this time.

Somdev Devvarman - "I should have done a better job finishing off the match," Devvarman said. "I definitely let my foot off the pedal. I let him into the match but give him some credit too, fighting back to give himself some good looks at a third set."

About next match against Marin Cilic ...
"I'm looking forward to facing him again. I'm a better player than last year."
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At $100K Vancouver Challenger, Canada

[R1] Prakash Amritraj (IND,264) bt Ivan Dodig (CRO,184) 75 63
[R1] (1) Rajeev Ram (USA,110) l Scoville Jenkins (USA,269) 67(4) 46

[R2] Prakash Amritraj (IND,264) vs (3) Marcos Baghdatis (CYP,136)

Doubles
[R1] Harsh Mankad (IND)/ David Martin (USA) vs Amir Hadad (ISR)/ Harel Levy (ISR)
[R1] Stephen Amritraj (IND)/ Rajeev Ram (USA) vs Kevin Anderson (RSA)/ Rik De Voest (RSA)
[R1] (3) Prakash Amritraj (IND)/ Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (PAK) vs Kyu Tae Im (KOR)/ Merinko Matosevic (AUS)

Good win by Kash against Croatian Ivan Dodig in straight sets ... Prakash can fancy his chances against Marcos Baghdatis, who looks shadow of the past.
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At $75K ITF Vancouver Women's Tournament, Canada

[R1] (1) Sania Mirza (IND,83) vs Qualifier
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At $50K+H Campos do Jordão Challenger, Brazil

[R1] Ashutosh Singh (IND)/ Raven Klaasen (RSA) l Marcelo Demoliner (BRA)/ Rodrigo Guidolin (BRA) 63 67(7) (10)12

Ashutosh participated with South African Raven Klaasen, but they lost in super tie-break against local pair.
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At $50K ITF Astana Women's Tournament, Kazakhstan

[R1] Poojashree VENKATESHA (IND,464) l Naomi CAVADAY (GBR,251) 16 06

Doubles
[R1] Daria KUCHMINA (RUS)/ Poojashree VENKATESHA (IND) bt (3) Ekaterina DZEHALEVICH (BLR) / Anastasia PIVOVAROVA (RUS) ) 75 16 10(7)

[QF] Daria KUCHMINA (RUS)/ Poojashree VENKATESHA (IND) vs Eugeniya PASHKOVA (RUS)/ Anastasiya VASYLYEVA (UKR)

Though disappointing result in singles but good upset win in doubles with her Russian partner.

Tennis News
At $10K New Delhi 2009, India

Singles First Round
(1) Emily WEBLEY-SMITH (GBR) bt (Q) Abhilasha AHUJA (IND) 60 62
(WC) Adnya NAIK (IND) bt (LL) Anushree THAMMANNA (IND) 61 63
(Q) Rishika SUNKARA (IND) bt (Q) Likitha SHETTY (IND) 62 61
(8) Victoria LARRIERE (FRA) bt (Q) Sowjanya BAVISETTI (IND) 64 62
(3) Isha LAKHANI (IND) bt (WC) Shweta RANA (IND) 64 62
(Q) Sheethal GOUTHAM (IND) bt (Q) Aishwarya AGRAWAL (IND) 46 60 75
Treta BHATTACHARYYA (IND) bt Jasmin STEINHERR (GER) 67(4) 62 63
(6) Parija MALOO (IND) bt (Q) Prerna BHAMBRI (IND) 63 63
(5) Sanaa BHAMBRI (IND) bt Ani AMIRAGHYAN (ARM) 60 76(3)
Chutharat RUNGTEIN (THA) bt Subbadharmi SUNDARAM (USA) 63 61
(Q) Ankita RAINA (IND) bt Shivika BURMAN (IND) 63 61
Parul GOSWAMI (IND) bt (4) Rushmi CHAKRAVARTHI (IND) 5-2 Retd
(7) Alexandra KOLESNICHENKO (UZB) bt Elodie ROGGE-DIETRICH (FRA) 62 64
Rashmi TELTUMBDE (IND) bt Gopika KAPOOR (IND) 62 61
Dalila JAKUPOVIC (SLO) bt Kumari-Sweta SOLANKI (IND) 61 64
(2) Anastasia MALHOTRA (JPN) bt Nova PATEL (IND) 62 63

Doubles First Round
(1) Sanaa BHAMBRI (IND)/ Rushmi CHAKRAVARTHI (IND) bt Elodie ROGGE-DIETRICH (FRA)/ Jasmin STEINHERR (GER) 1-0 Retd
Parul GOSWAMI (IND)/ Trang HUYNH PHUONG DAI (VIE) bt (WC) Adnya NAIK (IND)/ Rishika SUNKARA (IND) 75 64
Aishwarya AGRAWAL (IND)/ Subbadharmi SUNDARAM (USA) bt (3) Parija MALOO (IND)/ Kumari-Sweta SOLANKI (IND) 76(4) 36 10(7)
Ashmitha EASWARAMURTHI (IND)/ Dalila JAKUPOVIC (SLO) bt Deepna VAZIRANI (IND)/ Chutharat RUNGTEIN (THA) 60 61

Isha LAKHANI (IND)/ Anastasia MALHOTRA (JPN) bt Abhilasha AHUJA (IND)/ Sindhu Nila PARTHEEPAN (IND) 60 63
(WC) Ashvarya SHRIVASTAVA (IND)/ Rashmi TELTUMBDE (IND) bt (4) Treta BHATTACHARYYA (IND)/ Shivika BURMAN (IND) 46 62 10(6)
Sheethal GOUTHAM (IND)/ Sonal PHADKE (IND) bt (WC) Ankita RAINA (IND)/ Shweta RANA (IND) 61 36 10(8)
(2) Alexandra KOLESNICHENKO (UZB)/ Emily WEBLEY-SMITH (GBR) bt Nithya Raj BABU RAJ (IND)/ Jeni PATEL (IND) 60 60

Doubles Quarter Final
Parul GOSWAMI (IND)/ Trang HUYNH PHUONG DAI (VIE) bt (1) Sanaa BHAMBRI (IND)/ Rushmi CHAKRAVARTHI (IND) W/O

Qualifying Final Round
Abhilasha AHUJA (IND) bt Nupur KAUL (IND) 63 64
Rishika SUNKARA (IND) bt Garima VATWANI (IND) 60 61
Likitha SHETTY (IND) bt Anushree THAMMANNA (IND) 26 64 75
Prerna BHAMBRI (IND) bt Trang HUYNH PHUONG DAI (VIE) 62 36 63
Ankita RAINA (IND) bt Sayali BHILARE (IND) 61 75
Aishwarya AGRAWAL (IND) bt Sonya DAYAL (IND) 62 1-2 Retd
Sowjanya BAVISETTI (IND) bt Sonal PHADKE (IND) 76(2) 62
Sheethal GOUTHAM (IND) bt Sindhu Nila PARTHEEPAN (IND) 64 46 60

Qualifying First Round
Abhilasha AHUJA (IND) bt Ikttesh CHAHAL (IND) 75 75
Nupur KAUL (IND) bt Aarzoo MALIK (IND) 60 75
Garima VATWANI (IND) bt Nithya Raj BABU RAJ (IND) 64 75
Rishika SUNKARA (IND) bt Jeni PATEL (IND) 61 61
Likitha SHETTY (IND) bt Prerana PRATHAP (IND) 63 64
Anushree THAMMANNA (IND) bt Sagarika PHADKE (IND) 62 75
Trang HUYNH PHUONG DAI (VIE) bt Rani Smita JAIN (IND) 60 60
Prerna BHAMBRI (IND) bt Ashvarya SHRIVASTAVA (IND) 63 63
Ankita RAINA (IND) bt Ankita BHATIA (IND) 63 63
Sayali BHILARE (IND) bt Prathana PRATHAP (IND) 62 62
Sonya DAYAL (IND) bt Deepna VAZIRANI (IND) 60 62
Aishwarya AGRAWAL (IND) bt Asha NANDA KUMAR (IND) 75 46 61
Sowjanya BAVISETTI (IND) bt Natasha KANVINDE (GBR) 61 60
Sonal PHADKE (IND) bt Dipti SRIVASTAVA (IND) 63 62
Sindhu Nila PARTHEEPAN (IND) bt Smriti JOON (IND) 60 64
Sheethal GOUTHAM (IND) bt Chika TERASAWA (JPN) 63 62

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

[R1] (Q)Somdev Devvarman (IND,153) vs (Q) Yuichi Sugita (JPN,255)

Doubles
[R1] (3) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Mark Knowles (BAH) vs Max Mirnyi (BLR)/ Andy Ram (ISR)

Somdev is facing another qualifier, Japanese Yuichi Sugita, in the first round ... In second round he can face Mario Cilic.
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At $100K Vancouver Challenger, Canada

[R1] Prakash Amritraj (IND,264) vs Ivan Dodig (CRO,184)
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At $50K+H Brazil Challenger, Campos do Jordão

[Q2] Vishnu VARDHAN (IND,444) l (7) Guido Pella (ARG,419) 46 67(4)

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

[Q1] (9)Somdev Devvarman (IND,152) bt Josselin Ouanna (FRA,110) 26 61 75

Doubles
[R1] (3) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Mark Knowles (BAH) vs Max Mirnyi (BLR)/ Andy Ram (ISR)

Ouanna started positively breaking Somi's serve in 2nd game and then again broke Somi's serve in 8th game to won first set 2-6 ... In first set Somi was struggling scoring point on Ouanna's first serve ... But in second set Somi figured out Ouanna's serve ... Somi broke Ouanna's serve thrice to captured second set 6-1 ... Third set started on serve, Somi had 2 break points in 6th game but he failed to convert ... In next game Ouanna jumpe 0-40 lead and converted third break poin to take lead ... But Somi roared back breaking Ouanna's serve to make it 4-all ... Then again both players hold their respective serves ... But in 12th game Somi showed urgency to finished match and he broke Ouanna's serve at 30 to won match in 1 hour and 55 minutes.

So Congrats to Somi for qualifying for Washington ATP maindraw with comeback win against #110 Frenchman.
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At $50K Vancouver Challenger, Canada

[R1] Prakash Amritraj (IND) vs Ivan Dodig (CRO)
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At $50K Brazil Challenger, Campos do Jordão

[Q1] Vishnu VARDHAN (IND) bt Ashutosh SINGH (IND) 63 63
[Q1] Rodrigo GUIDOLIN (BRA) bt Divij SHARAN (IND) 64 62

[Q2] Vishnu VARDHAN (IND,444) vs (7) Guido Pella (ARG,419)

It was unlucky for Ashutosh to faced Vishnu in first round.
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Golf News
At the US$300K Brunei Open - Final Standing

T2 Gaganjeet Bhullar 67 71 64 69 -13 $25,425.00
T13 C. Muniyappa 69 72 62 72 - 9 $ 4,617.00
T18 Anirban Lahiri 67 73 70 67 - 7 $ 3,485.00
T29 Chiragh Kumar 72 68 68 71 - 5 $ 2,422.50
T49 Gaurav Ghei 68 73 72 70 - 1 $ 1,320.00

Gaganjeet came close to winning his second title in a row in the regular play but missed the birdie putt on the 18th hole. In playoff, Darren Beck captured the victory from Bhullar in the 3rd playoff hole.

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.
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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.

Hockey News
Test series, Birmingham, England

India l England 2-3

Goal Scored - (IND) 3' PS, (IND) 18' and Ashely Jackson (ENG) 30' PC & 50' PC, (ENG) 64'

India started well dominating match from the start ... They earned penalty stroke after English goalkeeper fouled while stopping penalty corner ... Then they increased lead to 2-0 before 20 mins but from that point English team started fightback with keeping ball possession ... They scored 2 goals through penalty corner specialist Ashely Jackson to equal the score ... Again Indian team conceded goal in last 10 minutes to lose this match and test series 1-2.
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Football News
Barcelona Training match, Spain

India dw Club Esportiu Europa 1-1

Goal Scored - Baichung Bhutia (IND) 32' and Alberto Padilla (CEE) 71' P

First time on this training tour our first eleven were given full 90 minutes by coach Bob Houghton ... Our team dominated first half but CE Europa changed their complete team in second half and they dominated second half ... In end Indian team were lucky to run away with draw.

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.
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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.

Badminton News
At $50K New Zealand Open Grand Prix 2009, North Shore, Auckland

[F] (1) Rupesh K. T. Kumar (IND)/ Sanave Thomas (IND) bt (4) Hirokatsu Hashimoto (JPN)/ Noriyasu Hirata (JPN) 21-16 15-21 21-13

Rupesh and Sanave performed to their top-billing in this New Zealand Grand Prix to lift Mens doubles title ... They defeated Japanese 4th seed pair in three games, after losing second game they comeback strongly to won 3rd game easily.
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Swimming News
At 13th FINA World Championship, Rome, Italy

Day 7
Men's 1500m Freestyle
32 Mandar Divase IND 16:12.28 mins +1:17.74 mins (new National record)

Women's 50m Freestyle
97 Chittaranjan Shubha IND 28.04 secs +03.80 secs
110 Talasha Prabhu IND 28.53 secs +04.29 secs

Women's 50m Breaststroke
93 Murugaperumal Mercy Venpa IND 40.67 secs +10.43 secs

Women's 4x 100m Medley Relay
33 India 4:53.02 mins +1:09.81 mins
Fariha Zaman 1:11.89 mins
Murugaperumal Mercy Venpa 1:28.78 mins
Pooja Raghava Alva 1:08.24 mins
Chittaranjan Shubha 1:04.11 mins

Mandar Divase bettered his own national record by almost 5 seconds, previous record of 16:17.07sec which he made in last year's Senior National Swimming Championships.

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.

Hockey News
Test series, Birmingham, England

India bt England 4-3

Goal Scored - Arjun Halappa (IND) 35' PC, Dhananjay Mahadhik (IND) 41' PC, Rajpal Singh (IND) 43', Gurvinder Chandi (IND) 66' and Ashely Jackson (ENG) 22' PC & 69' PC, Jonty Clarke (ENG) 26'

In exciting match Indian team defeated English team in closely fought contest ... England started well dominating early part of match leading 2-0 but Indian fought back with speed and skill and scored their first goal in dying seconds of first half ... In second half Indians take lead scoring 2 goals in 3 minutes ... After that English side tried hard but were unlucky, Indian side take advantage of counter attack to increased their lead to 2 goals ... But again English side showed their never-die-attitude to scored another goal when 2 minutes remaining ... But Indian side defended well to level the series ... Goalkeeper Adrian D’Souza was impressive under the net as in this match also we conceded too many penalty corners, 9.

Adrian D’Souza - “It feels good to have leveled the series tonight and to make the saves I did against a side with the quality that England has was great.”

India’s Spanish coach Jose Brasa - “We’re not worried about the result tonight. We haven’t come here to win, we’ve come to learn. They are trying new things that they are not used to. In the second half, we gave the players more confidence to play how they know.”

Badminton News
At $50K New Zealand Open Grand Prix 2009, North Shore, Auckland

[SF] (1) Rupesh K. T. Kumar (IND)/ Sanave Thomas (IND) bt (3) Teik Chai Gan (MAS)/ Bin Shen Tan (MAS) 21-15 21-14
[SF] Aparna Balan (IND)/ Shruti Kurian (IND) l (1) Tsz Ka Chan (HKG)/ Ying Suet Tse (HKG) 19-21 15-21

[F] (1) Rupesh K. T. Kumar (IND)/ Sanave Thomas (IND) vs (4) Hirokatsu Hashimoto (JPN)/ Noriyasu Hirata (JPN)

Rupesh Kumar and Sanave Thomas take revenge of last week's loss against Malayasian team with easy straight games victory to moved in to final ... But our ladies team lost against top-seed Hong Kong pair.
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Swimming News
At 13th FINA World Championship, Rome, Italy

Day 6
Men's 50m Freestyle
44 Virdhawal Khade IND 22.79 secs +01.42 secs
111 Arjun Jayaprakash IND 24.37 secs +03.00 secs

Men's 100m Butterfly
85 Virdhawal Khade IND 55.28 secs +04.72 secs
86 Rehan Poncha IND 55.29 secs +04.73 secs

Women's 50m Butterfly
74 Chittaranjan Shubha IND 29.48 secs +04.04 secs
96 Vandita Dhariyal IND 30.65 secs +05.21 secs

Men's 4x 200m Freestyle
22 India 8:07.84
Mandar Divase 2:00.23
Virdhawal Khade 2:01.54
Rehan Poncha 2:04.98
Ashwin Menon 2:01.09

Today Vir needed to participate in 3 events and that reflected in his performance.