Tennis News
At €2.75M Internazionali BNL d'Italia, Rome

[R1] (3) Lukas Dlouhy (CZE)/ Leander Paes (IND) bye
[R1] (4) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Max Mirnyi (BLR) bye
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At $125K+H Tunis Challanger, Tunisia (Clay)

[Q2] Rohan Bopanna (IND,405) bt (6) Rameez Junaid (AUS,366) 63 57 63

[Q3] Rohan Bopanna (IND,405) l (2) Inigo Cervantes-Huegun (ESP,262) 76(12) 36 46

Doubles
[R1] (1) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (PAK) vs Thierry Ascione (FRA)/ Arnaud Clement (FRA)

Good win by Rohan in second qualifying ... In final qualifying he started well winning marathon first set in tie-break but then Spanish guys showed his mastery over clay to won next two.

Rohan and Aisam r top-seed in doubles facing tricky first round against experienced Frenchman Arnaud Clement and his partner.
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At $15K Uzbekistan F2 Futures, Namangan

[Q1] (1) SHARAN Divij (IND,847) bt LISKA Pavel (CZE,UNR) 61 20 retd.
[Q1] (10) MARQUIS Christopher (IND,1264) l KAMILJANOV Bobur (UZB,UNR) 36 46

[Q2] (1) SHARAN, Divij (IND,847) vs (16) STRELKOV, Sergey (RUS,1659)

[R1] (5) VARDHAN Vishnu (IND,359) vs RESHETNIKOV Vitali (RUS,809)
[R1] RASTOGI Karan (IND,649) vs (4) KEDRYUK Alexey (KAZ,349)
[R1] (8) GAJJAR Rohan (IND,456) vs Qualifier

Chess News
At World Championship Match 2010, Sofia, Bulgaria

Game One - 24th April
Veselin Topalov (2805) - Viswanathan Anand (2787) 1-0

Topalov won first game in just 30 moves ... I think this was one of the shortest but most decisive opening games in World Championship history ... As per report Anand made blunder on 23rd move.

Here is small update on first game
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.e4 Nxc3 6.bxc3 Bg7 7.Bc4 c5 8.Ne2 Nc6 9.Be3 0-0 10.0-0 Na5 11.Bd3 b6 12.Qd2 e5 13.Bh6 cxd4 14.Bxg7 Kxg7 15.cxd4 exd4 16.Rac1 Qd6 17.f4 f6 18.f5 Qe5 19.Nf4 g5 20.Nh5+ Kg8 21.h4 h6 22.hxg5 hxg5 23.Rf3. Everything was looking dangerous, but basically okay for Black. The only defence looked like 23...Bd7 followed by Rg3 and then maybe Kf7. However Anand blunders with 23...Kf7??
This loses immediately to 24.Nxf6! Now the game ends very quickly: 24...Kxf6 25.Rh3 Rg8 26.Rh6+ Kf7 27.Rh7+ Ke8 28.Rcc7 Kd8 29.Bb5 Qxe4 30.Rxc8+ 1-0

Hockey News
At Azlan Shah Cup, Ipoh, Malaysia

Indian selectors selected very young looking team for Azlan Shah Cup ... They dropped non-performers from World Cup squad like Sandeep Singh, Prabhjot Singh, Diwakar Ram, Adrian D' Souza and Gurvinder Singh Chandi.

Goalkeepers - Sreejesh PR, Bharat Chetri.

Defenders - Sardar Singh, Dhananjay Mahadik, Amit Prabhakar, Rupinder Pal Singh.

Midfielders - Gurbaj Singh, Ravi Pal Singh, Prabodh Tirkey, Bharat Chikara, Vikas Pillay, Danish Mujtaba.

Forwards - Rajpal Singh (Capt), Tushar Khandker, Shivendra Singh, Mandip Antil, Arjun Halappa, Sarvanjit Singh.

Standbys - Jaswinder Singh, Ajitesh Roy, Vikas Sharma, Bikas Toppo.

Officials - Jose Brasa (Head Coach), Harendra Singh (National Coach), Clarence Lobo (Coach), Gundeep Kumar (Coach)
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Tennis News
At $125K+H Tunis Challanger, Tunisia (Clay)

[Q1] Rohan Bopanna (IND,405) bt Maher Boughnimi (TUN,UNR) 61 63

[Q2] Rohan Bopanna (IND,405) vs (6) Rameez Junaid (AUS,366)

Good to see Rohan playing singles and that also on clay.

Football News
At AFC Asian Cup 2011, Qatar - January 7th to 29th 2011 (Draw)

India are in Group C and have got one of the toughest group as we r sharing group with South Korean. Australian and Bahrain.

Group A - Qatar, Kuwait, China and Uzbekistan

Group B - Saudi Arabia, Japan, Jordan and Syria

Group C - South Korea, India, Australia and Bahrain

Group D - Iraq, North Korea, UAE and Iran

These were seedings for the draw, as host Qatar was seeded so 3 times champion Japan was added in Pot two ... As expected we were in Pot four.

Seeding of teams
Pot 1 (teams ranked 1-4): *Qatar, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Korea Republic
Pot 2 (teams ranked 5-8): Japan, Australia, Iran, Uzbekistan
Pot 3 (teams ranked 9-11): China, UAE, Bahrain, Jordan

Pot 4 (teams ranked 12-16): Syria, Kuwait, India, DPR Korea

Tennis News
At u16 Boys Junior Davis Cup Asia Oceania Qualifying, Kuching, Malaysia

Semi-Finals
(2) India l (4) Australia 1-2

Vinod Gowda l Jay Andrijic 36 36
Ronit Bisht bt Jack Schipanski 62 61
Ronit Bisht/ Arjun Kadhe l Jay Andrijic/ Jordan Thompson 46 64 62

Australian boys defeated us 2-1 ... After yesterday Arjun lost in singles sudden unnecessay changes in team composition ... Vinod played in singles and lost easily ... Then our captain also changed our yesterday's doubles winning combination of Ronit and Vinod ... Arjun and Ronit lost after winning first set ... So after qualifying for World group we against messed up chance of getting seeded at Mexico.
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At $15K Uzbekistan F1 Futures, Andijan

[SF] (4) Vishnu VARDHAN (IND,359) l (5) Mikhail ELGIN (RUS,416) 26 64 46

Fighting performance by Vishnu against Elgin, he fought well after losing first set.

Tennis News
At $2.7M Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell, Spain

[R2] (3) Lukas Dlouhy (CZE)/ Leander Paes (IND) l Julian Knowle (AUT)/ Andy Ram (ISR) 26 06

Really forgettable performance by Lee and Lukas ... So now they lost back to back matches in straight sets without giving much fight.
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At $50K Tallahassee Challenger, Florida, USA

[R1] (4) Harsh Mankad (IND)/ Treat Huey (PHI) l Alex Kuznetsov (USA)/ Ryan Sweeting (USA) 46 36

Another disappointing stuff from Harsh and Treat.
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At u16 Boys Junior Davis Cup Asia Oceania Qualifying, Kuching, Malaysia

Quarter-Finals
(2) India bt (8) Thailand 2-1

Ronit Bisht bt Krittin Koaykul 62 62
Arjun Kadhe l Tas Suwanasang 57 67(5)
Ronit Bisht/ Vinod Gowda bt Nattan Benjasupawan/ Tas Suwanasang 26 64 64

Good win to moved qualify for World group but surprised with loss of Arjun Kadhe ... Now crucial match against Australia in semis ... We need to win this match to get seeding at World group.
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At $15K Uzbekistan F1 Futures, Andijan

[QF] (4) Vishnu VARDHAN (IND,359) bt (8) Sergei KROTIOUK (RUS,508) 61 75

[SF] (4) Vishnu VARDHAN (IND,359) vs (5) Mikhail ELGIN (RUS,416)

Good to see that Vishnu winning matches outside India and performing as per his ranking to moved into semis.

Match against Mikhail Elgin is tough one as 8-9 months back Elgin was top-125 player.

Football News
At I League 2009-10, India - Round XXII

Salgaocar SC dw Air India FC 1-1

Goal Scored - Eneke Ikenwa (SSC) 26' and Opara (AI) 90'

Air men managed draw after late equaliser from Opara to earned a important point.
-----------------------------------------

Sporting Clube de Goa l Dempo SC 1-2

Goal Scored - Aadil Khan (SCG) 21' and Beto (DSC) 50' & 90+'

Beto scored injury time winner to gave leader Dempo 7 pts lead over 2nd place Mahindra.
-----------------------------------------

Pune FC bt Viva Kerala 3-1

Goal Scored - Kutti Mani (PFC) 10', Edmar Figueira (PFC) 20'P & 24' and Raman Patrick Sisupalan (VK) 48'

Pune FC scored their biggest win at home against Viva
-----------------------------------------

Mohun Bagan bt Mahindra United 3-1

Goal Scored - Sueoka Ryuji (MB) 10', Edeh Chidi (MB) 45+'P, Snehashish Chakraborty (MB) 68' and Mohammed Rafi (MU) 24'P

Mohun Bagan scored important win against Mahindra to moved on to 3rd position, but now Dempo having chance of making almost certain their title win if they wins today against Sporting Clube de Goa
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JCT Mills FC bt Chirag United SC 1-0

Goal Scored - Henry Ezeh (JCT) 54'

JCT scored huge win to stay away from relegation battle.
-----------------------------------------

Shillong Lajong FC dw Mumbai FC 1-1

Goal Scored - Aibor Khonjee (SL) 80' and Pradeep Mohanraj (MFC) 16'

Shillong hold Mumbai FC 1-all after late strike.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
At AFC Cup 2010,

Group D

Al Ittihad (SYR) bt East Bengal (IND) 2-1

Goal Scored - Ahmmad Kalasi (AlI) 14', Tamer Rasheed (AlI) 58' and Beingaichho Beikhokhei (EB) 83'

East Bengal fielded an inexperienced team in this match, they performed lot better but still couldn't avoided East Bengal's 5th loss in a row.

Tennis News
At u16 Boys Junior Davis Cup Asia Oceania Qualifying, Kuching, Malaysia

Group 4
(2) India bt (7) Chinese Taipei 2-1

Ronit Bisht bt Li-Lun Lee 63 62
Arjun Kadhe bt Chih-Jen Ho 63 62
Ronit Bisht/ Vinod Gowda l Li-Lun Lee/ Chih-Jen Ho 36 46

Our boys won both singles beating Li-Lun Lee and Chih-Jen Ho but lost doubles against same players.

So we r qualified for quarter-final as Group 4 winner and will face 8th seed Thailand.
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At $15K Uzbekistan F1 Futures, Andijan

[R2] (4) Vishnu VARDHAN (IND,359) bt Murad INOYATOV (UZB,528) 61 76(3)
[R2] (PR) Karan RASTOGI (IND,649) l (8) Sergei KROTIOUK (RUS,508) 36 64 67(4)

[QF] (4) Vishnu VARDHAN (IND,359) vs (8) Sergei KROTIOUK (RUS,508)

Doubles
[QF] GAJJAR (IND)/ RASTOGI (IND) l (4) KROTIOUK (RUS)/ RESHETNIKOV (RUS) 46 57

Match lasted more than 3 hours, Karan played excellent match against Krotiouk though he lost ... Many positives to took from this match for 2nd week.

Other hand good straight sets victory by Vishnu over local Uzbek Davis-cupper.

Tennis News
At u16 Boys Junior Davis Cup Asia Oceania Qualifying, Kuching, Malaysia

Group 4
(2) India bt Philippines 3-0

Ronit BISHT bt Calvin Charles CANLAS 60 61
Arjun KADHE bt Jurence Zosimo MENDOZA 64, 60
Ronit BISHT/ Vinod GOWDA bt Jacob LAGMAN/ Jurence Zosimo MENDOZA 62 60

Another easy outing for Indian boys ... Today they r facing Chinese Taipei to decide who will be the group winner.
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At $15K Uzbekistan F1 Futures, Andijan

[R1] (4) Vishnu VARDHAN (IND,359) bt Aleksandr AGAFONOV (UKR,837) 64 76(4)
[R1] (PR) Karan RASTOGI (IND,649) bt (Q) Alexander ZHURBIN (RUS,1576) 60 46 61
[R1] (7) Rohan GAJJAR (IND,456) l Julien DUBAIL (BEL,765) 64 26 67(6)

[R2] (4) Vishnu VARDHAN (IND,359) vs Murad INOYATOV (UZB,528)
[R2] (PR) Karan RASTOGI (IND,649) vs (8) Sergei KROTIOUK (RUS,508)

Doubles
[R1] GAJJAR (IND)/ RASTOGI (IND) bt (WC) DUBINSKY (RUS)/ ISAKOV (UZB) 61 61

[QF] GAJJAR (IND)/ RASTOGI (IND) vs (4) KROTIOUK (RUS)/ RESHETNIKOV (RUS)

Surprisingly close match for Karan against Russian qualifier ... Vishnu also had winning start but seeded Rohan lost in 3rd set tie-break.

Tennis News
At $2.7M Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell, Spain

[R1] (3) Lukas Dlouhy (CZE)/ Leander Paes (IND) bye

As per Barcelona Open draw Lee/Lukas could face Hesh/Max in quarters but Hesh/Max withdrew from the tournament due to Hesh's injury ... After getting bye in the first round Lee/Lukas will face winner between Pablo Cuevas (URU)/ Fernando Gonzalez (CHI) and Julian Knowle (AUT)/ Andy Ram (ISR).
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At $100K+H Athens Challenger, Greece

Somi had tough first round against #70 Dudi Sela but he withdrew as no flight were available from Chicago airport to Greece due to Iceland volcano cloud.
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At $50K Tallahassee Challenger, Florida, USA

[R1] (4) Harsh Mankad (IND)/ Treat Huey (PHI) vs Alex Kuznetsov (USA)/ Ryan Sweeting (USA)

Need to go deep to earn important ranking points to improve their rankings.
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At u16 Boys Junior Davis Cup Asia Oceania Qualifying, Kuching, Malaysia

Seedings -
1. Japan
2. India
3. China
4. Australia
5. Korea
6. Uzbekistan
7. Chinese Taipei
8. Thai land

India is second seeded and r in group 4 with 7th seed Chinese Taipei, Pakistan & Philippines.

Group 4
(2) India bt Pakistan 3-0

Vinod GOWDA bt Ahmed BABAR 60 61
Arjun KADHE bt Aadil Azeem KOHARI 60 60
Vinod GOWDA/ Arjun KADHE bt Ahmed BABAR/ Nameer Muhammad SHAMSI 61 64

Expected very easy victory for our boys.

Tennis News
At €2.5M Monte-Carlo Masters, Monaco

Doubles Final
(5) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Max Mirnyi (BLR) l (1) Daniel Nestor (CAN) / Nenad Zimonjic (SRB) 36 0-2 Retd

Mahesh retired in second set due to right leg injury after losing first set ... So Hesh and Max remained runner-up in back to back Masters but showing improvement in their results.
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At $50K Baton Rouge Challenger, LA, USA

[SF] (3) Harsh Mankad (IND)/ Treat Huey (PHI) l (2) Chris Guccione (AUS)/ Frank Moser (GER) 64 26 9-11

Harsh and Treat lost semis after winning first set ... They lost in close super tie-break.
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At u16 Boys Junior Davis Cup, Kutching, Malaysia

Indian team

1. Arjun Kadhe
2. Ronit Bisht
3. Vinod Gowda

Indian u-16 team is participating in Davis Cup at Malaysia.

Tennis News
At €2.5M Monte-Carlo Masters, Monaco

[QF] (5) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Max Mirnyi (BLR) bt (2) Bob Bryan (USA)/ Mike Bryan (USA) 36 63 11-9

[SF] (5) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Max Mirnyi (BLR) bt (7) Simon Aspelin (SWE) / Paul Hanley (AUS) 63 76(3)

Mahesh and Max r in their back to back 2nd final in Masters tournament ... Hopefully they will lift title at Monte-Carlo ... They scored win in very close super tie-break against Bryans in quarter-finals ... Had much easier match in semis.
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At $35K+H Leon Challenger, Mexico

[QF] (4) Prakash Amritraj (IND,198) l (6) Santiago Gonzalez (MEX,216) 67(11) 61 46

Prakash lost close match against local player ... He lost first set in long tie-break but won second set easily ... Santiago Gonzalez take important break to won third set.

Badminton News
At $150K Yonex-Sunrise Badminton Asia Championships 2010, New Delhi

[SF] (1) Saina Nehwal (IND,6) l (Q) Xuerui Li (CHN,145) 17-21 11-21

It turned tricky and Saina lost easily against Chinese qualifier in 32 mins ... 2nd seed Mi Zhou also lost against another Chinese qualifier, so womens final between 2 Chinese qualifiers ... Mens final also all Chinese affair.

Badminton News
At $150K Yonex-Sunrise Badminton Asia Championships 2010, New Delhi

[QF] (1) Saina Nehwal (IND,6) bt (7) Mew Choo Wong (MAS,19) 21-5 21-13
[QF] Aditi Mutatkar (IND,43) l (Q) Xin Liu (CHN,231) 14-21 11-21

[QF] (3) Rupesh K T Kumar (IND)/ Sanave Thomas (IND) l Sang Hoon Han (KOR)/ Ji Man Hwang (KOR) 21-17 16-21 15-21

[QF] (1) Diju Valiyaveetil (IND)/ Jwala Gutta (IND) l Zihan Qiu (CHN)/ Qing Tian (CHN) 21-15 11-21 14-21

[SF] (1) Saina Nehwal (IND,6) vs (Q) Xuerui Li (CHN,145)

Saina streamed-roll over her top-20 Malaysian opponent, against whom she struggled in the past ... She scored very convincing win over to moved into the semis ... She will face unknown Chinese qualifier, that sounds tricky match.

Aditi couldn't continue her run against Chinese qualifier and our 3rd seed pair lost their match against unseeded Koreans after winning the first game.

Top seed Diju and Jwala also lost against Chinese opponents after winning first game ... Had a good chance of lifting title but again missed opportunity.

Football News
At I League 2009-10, India - Round XXI


Pune FC dw Salgaocar SC 1-1

Goal Scored - Izumi Arata (PFC) 39' and Ekene Ikenwa (SSC) 89'

Salgaocar hold Pune FC with very late equaliser.
-----------------------------------------

Shillong Lajong FC bt Mahindra United 2-1

Goal Scored - Boithang Haokip (SL) 53', Daniel Bademi (SL) 86' and Mohammed Rafi (MU) 8'

Lajong scored upset win over Mahindra with late strike and their win gave a big boost to Dempo's title hope.
------------------------------------------

Pune FC vs Salgaocar SC

Goal Scored -


-----------------------------------------
Mohun Bagan bt Air India FC 4-0

Goal Scored - Ryuji Sueoka (MB) 5', Marcos Pereira (MB) 20', Jose Ramirez Barreto (MB) 60' & 68'

Bagan scored big win over Airmen.
-----------------------------------------

Sporting Clube de Goa bt Churchill Brothers SC 2-1

Goal Scored - Elijah Junior (SCG) 21'P & 88' and Felix (CB) 87',

Sporting Clube de Goa scored upset win over Churchill, Churchill scored a equaliser when 3 minutes remained of regular time but Sporting's Elijah Junior winner in next minute.
-----------------------------------------

JCT Mills FC bt Viva Kerala 5-1

Goal Scored - Henry Ezeh (JCT) 4', 26' & 75', Emmanuel Okoro (JCT) 55' & 65' and Ruben Senyo (VK) 90+'

JCT handed huge defeat to Viva.
------------------------------------------

Dempo SC bt Chirag United SC 3-1

Goal Scored - Beto (DSC) 42', Ranty Martins (DSC) 52', Joaquim Abranches (DSC) 84' and Josimar Da Silva Martins (CU) 16'

Dempo scored win to remain top of the standing.
-----------------------------------------

East Bengal bt Mumbai FC 1-0

Goal Scored - Yusif Yakubu (EB) 59' P

East Bengal managed to break their 7 matches win less streak with penalty conversion by Yakubu ... This win helped them to increase distance from relegation zone.

Tennis News
At €2.5M Monte-Carlo Masters, Monaco

[QF] (5) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Max Mirnyi (BLR) vs (2) Bob Bryan (USA)/ Mike Bryan (USA)

Mahesh and Max r facing Bryans in quarters.
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At $35K+H Leon Challenger, Mexico

[R2] (4) Prakash Amritraj (IND,198) bt Alexander Sadecky (SUI,346) 62 1-0 Retd.

[QF] (4) Prakash Amritraj (IND,198) vs (6) Santiago Gonzalez (MEX,216)

Prakash moved into quarters easily as his opponent retired from his match after losing first set.
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At $50K Baton Rouge Challenger, LA, USA

[SF] (3) Harsh Mankad (IND)/ Treat Huey (PHI) vs (2) Chris Guccione (AUS)/ Frank Moser (GER)

Badminton News
At $150K Yonex-Sunrise Badminton Asia Championships 2010, New Delhi

[R1] (3) Rupesh K T Kumar (IND)/ Sanave Thomas (IND) bt (Q) Rais Md Uddin (BAN)/ Jabed Mostafa Md (BAN) 21-10 21-2
[R1] Tarun Kona (IND)/ Jishnu Sanyal (IND) l Nguyen Khang Huynh (VIE)/ Hoang Nam Nguyen (VIE) 18-21 21-12 16-21
[R1] Akshay Dewalkar (IND)/ Arun Vishnu (IND) l (2) Hirokatsu Hashimoto (JPN)/ Noriyasu Hirata (JPN) 18-21 15-21

[R1] Jwala Gutta (IND)/ Ashwini Ponnappa (IND) l Meiliana Jauhari (INA)/ Greysia Polii (INA) 21-18 15-21 17-21
[R1] Aparna Balan (IND)/ Shruti Kurian (IND) bt Aiying Xing (SIN)/ Beiwen Zhang (SIN) 21-14 21-9

[R3] (13) Kashyap Parupalli (IND,30) l (7) Yun Hu (HKG,16) 16-21 21-18 13-21

[R2] Aditi Mutatkar (IND,43) bt Hsiao Huan Chen (TPE,55) 23-21 21-11
[R2] (1) Saina Nehwal (IND,6) bt Julia Pei Xian Wong (MAS,141) 21-14 21-16

[R2] (1) Diju Valiyaveetil (IND)/ Jwala Gutta (IND) bt Sheng Mu Lee (TPE)/ Yu Chin Chien (TPE) 24-22 21-15

[R2] (3) Rupesh K T Kumar (IND)/ Sanave Thomas (IND) bt Patipat Chalardchaleam (THA)/ Thitipong Lapoe (THA) 21-14 21-15
[R2] Aparna Balan (IND)/ Shruti Kurian (IND) l (6) Pan Pan (CHN)/ Qing Tian (CHN) 10-21 12-21

[QF] (1) Saina Nehwal (IND,6) vs (7) Mew Choo Wong (MAS,19)
[QF] Aditi Mutatkar (IND,43) vs (Q) Xin Liu (CHN,231)

[QF] (3) Rupesh K T Kumar (IND)/ Sanave Thomas (IND) vs Sang Hoon Han (KOR)/ Ji Man Hwang (KOR)

[QF] (1) Diju Valiyaveetil (IND)/ Jwala Gutta (IND) vs Zihan Qiu (CHN)/ Qing Tian (CHN)

Good to see Aditi taking full advantage of weaker draw of her side to moved into quarter-finals .. Her next match is against qualifier but not easy as her Chinese opponent defeated seeded Japanese player in second round.

Saina produced clinical performance to score easy victory over her tricky opponent ... Next in quarters she is facing another opponent who scored wins against her in their previous meetings, Malaysian Mew Choo Wong ... Nice to see Diju/Jwala and Rupesh/Sanave performing as per their rankings.

Tennis News
At €2.5M Monte-Carlo Masters, Monaco

[R2] (3) Lukas Dlouhy (CZE)/ Leander Paes (IND) l David Ferrer (ESP)/ Marc Lopez (ESP) 36 26

Spanish pairs r always tough on clay courts, but still very disappointing start of clay season for last year's French Open champions.
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At $50K Baton Rouge Challenger, LA, USA

[R2] (1) Rajeev Ram (USA,93) l (PR) Kai Nishikori (JPN,UNR) 36 76(3) 36

Doubles
[R1] Purav Raja (IND)/ Tatsuma Ito (JPN) l (2) Chris Guccione (AUS)/ Frank Moser (GER) 67(6) 16

[QF] (3) Harsh Mankad (IND)/ Treat Huey (PHI) bt Martin Emmrich (GER)/ Andreas Siljestrom (SWE) 75 64

Good to see Harsh and Treat r back on performing as per their ranking to moved into semis ... Purav and Ito gave good fight in first set but didn't continue that in second set.

Rajeev also lost in singles against Nishikori, who is making comeback after long injury-break.
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At $35K+H Leon Challenger, Mexico

[R1] (3) Prakash Amritraj (IND)/ Lester Cook (USA) l (WC) Daniel Garza (MEX)/ Jean-Noel Insausti (FRA) 63 16 10-12

Third seed pair lost in the first round.

Badminton News
At $150K Yonex-Sunrise Badminton Asia Championships 2010, New Delhi

[R1] Ajay Jayaram (IND,71) l (11) Yan Kit Chan (HKG,20) 21-14 13-21 17-21
[R1] Anup Sridhar (IND,42) bt Ye Wook Rho (KOR,123) 16-21 21-13 21-8
[R1] (16) Arvind Bhat (IND,36) bt Bikash Shrestha (NEP,UNR) 21-14 21-11
[R1] Nandagopal K (IND,UNR) l Nugroho Andi Saputro (INA,202) 15-21 15-21
[R1] Gurusaidatt Rajah Manuri Venkata (IND,54) l Ho Jin Choi (KOR,268) 19-21 22-20 19-21
[R1] (13) Kashyap Parupalli (IND,30) bt Wing Ki Wong (HKG,48) 21-14 21-15
[R1] Anand Pawar (IND,55) bt Sophorn Noun (CAM,UNR) 21-3 21-6

[R1] (1) Saina Nehwal (IND,6) bt Porntip Buranaprasertsuk (THA,35) 21-10 21-13
[R1] Trupti Murgunde (IND,59) l Julia Pei Xian Wong (MAS,141) 17-21 12-21
[R1] Sayali Gokhale (IND,54) l Beiwen Zhang (SIN,32) 11-21 21-9 18-21
[R1] Aditi Mutatkar (IND,43) bt Mingtian Fu (SIN,48) 21-11 17-21 21-18
[R1] Neha Pandit (IND,86) l Lydia Li Ya Cheah (MAS,52) 14-21 19-21

[R1] (1) Diju Valiyaveetil (IND)/ Jwala Gutta (IND) bt (Q) Wai Hong Wong (HKG)/ Hoi Wah Chau (HKG) 21-13 21-12
[R1] Jishnu Sanyal (IND)/ Jyotshna P (IND) l Sang Hoon Han (KOR)/ Ye Na Jang (KOR) 14-21 9-21
[R1] Tarun Kona (IND)/ Shruti Kurian (IND) l (5) Devin Lahardi Fitriawan (INA)/ Liliyana (INA) 9-21 9-21
[R1] Arun Vishnu (IND)/ Aparna Balan (IND) l Yohan Hadikusumo Wiratama (HKG)/ Ying Suet Tse (HKG) 15-21 15-21

[R2] Anup Sridhar (IND,42) l Chong Chieh Lok (MAS,281) 19-21 15-21
[R2] (16) Arvind Bhat (IND,36) l Ji Hoon Hong (KOR,95) 15-21 21-13 6-21
[R2] (13) Kashyap Parupalli (IND,30) bt Tommy Sugiarto (INA,138) 21-14 21-16
[R2] Anand Pawar (IND,55) l (2) Dan Lin (CHN,4) 14-21 12-21

[R3] (13) Kashyap Parupalli (IND,30) vs (7) Yun Hu (HKG,16)

[R2] Aditi Mutatkar (IND,43) vs Hsiao Huan Chen (TPE,55)
[R2] (1) Saina Nehwal (IND,6) vs Julia Pei Xian Wong (MAS,141)

[R2] (1) Diju Valiyaveetil (IND)/ Jwala Gutta (IND) vs Sheng Mu Lee (TPE)/ Yu Chin Chien (TPE)

Till now forgettable performance by Indian players on home court ... Only Aditi scored good win and Kashyap having chance to win his second round match.

Expected win from Saina, Kashyap and Diju/Jwala ... Also Sayali produced excellent fighting performance against top-30 type player Zhang.

Tennis News
At € 2.5M Monte-Carlo Masters, Monaco

[R2] (5) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Max Mirnyi (BLR) bt Mariusz Fyrstenberg (POL)/ Marcin Matkowski (POL) 76(3) 76(7)

Very good tight win for Mahesh and Max against clay court specialist Polish team to moved into quarter-finals of Monte-Carlo Masters.
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At $35K+H Leon Challenger, Mexico

[R1] (4) Prakash Amritraj (IND,198) bt (WC) Cesar Ramirez (MEX,465) 36 62 61

[R2] (4) Prakash Amritraj (IND,198) vs Alexander Sadecky (SUI,346)

Good solid performance by Kash after losing first set to tricky local teenager ... Next he is facing Swiss opponent.

Tennis News
At Monte-Carlo Masters, Monaco

[R1] (3) Lukas Dlouhy (CZE)/ Leander Paes (IND) bye
[R1] (5) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Max Mirnyi (BLR) bye

[R2] (3) Lukas Dlouhy (CZE)/ Leander Paes (IND) vs David Ferrer (ESP)/ Marc Lopez (ESP)
[R2] (5) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Max Mirnyi (BLR) vs Mariusz Fyrstenberg (POL)/ Marcin Matkowski (POL)

Our both pairs r in bottom draw with Bryans ... Mahesh and Max can meed Bryans in quarters.
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At $35K+H Leon Challenger, Mexico

[R1] (4) Prakash Amritraj (IND,198) vs (WC) Cesar Ramirez (MEX,465)

Doubles
(3) Prakash Amritraj (IND)/ Lester Cook (USA) vs (WC) Daniel Garza (MEX)/ Jean-Noel Insausti (FRA)

Prakash having tricky match against 19 yrs old local boy, who consider next big hope of Mexico ... Cesar Ramirez recently won Maxican national championship, was also youngest champion.
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At $50K Baton Rouge Challenger,, LA, USA

[R1] (1) Rajeev Ram (USA,93) bt Ryler DeHeart (USA,191) 36 76(6) 64

[R2] (1) Rajeev Ram (USA,93) vs (PR) Kai Nishikori (JPN,UNR)

Doubles
[R1] (3) Harsh Mankad (IND)/ Treat Huey (PHI) bt (WC) Robert Kendrick (USA)/ Bobby Reynolds (USA) 76(4) 46 10-7
[R1] Purav Raja (IND)/ Tatsuma Ito (JPN) vs (2) Chris Guccione (AUS)/ Frank Moser (GER)

[QF] (3) Harsh Mankad (IND)/ Treat Huey (PHI) vs Martin Emmrich (GER)/ Andreas Siljestrom (SWE)

Good win by Harsh and Treat against experienced pair, hopefully they will extend their run here for good result.

Badminton News
At $150K Yonex-Sunrise Badminton Asia Championships 2010, New Delhi

[Q1] Gayatri Vartak (IND,224) bt Chandrika De Silva (SRI,UNR) 21-17 21-12
[Q1] Thulasi PC (IND,299) bt Sara Khan (PAK,UNR) 21-8 21-9

[Q2] Gayatri Vartak (IND,224) l Xin Liu (CHN,231) 12-21 11-21
[Q2] Thulasi PC (IND,299) l Hsiao Ma Pai (TPE,158) 8-21 9-21

Chetan Anand withdrew from Asia Championship due to injury.

Gayatri and Thulasi failed to qualify for maindraw.

Badminton News
At $150K Yonex-Sunrise Badminton Asia Championships 2010, New Delhi

[Q1] Gayatri Vartak (IND,224) vs Chandrika De Silva (SRI,UNR)
[Q1] Thulasi PC (IND,299) vs Sara Khan (PAK,UNR)

[R1] Ajay Jayaram (IND,71) vs (11) Yan Kit Chan (HKG,20)
[R1] (9) Chetan Anand (IND,18) vs Chong Chieh Lok (MAS,281)
[R1] Anup Sridhar (IND,42) vs Ye Wook Rho (KOR,123)
[R1] (16) Arvind Bhat (IND,36) vs Bikash Shrestha (NEP,UNR)
[R1] Nandagopal K (IND,UNR) vs Nugroho Andi Saputro (INA,202)
[R1] Gurusaidatt Rajah Manuri Venkata (IND,54) vs Ho Jin Choi (KOR,268)
[R1] (13) Kashyap Parupalli (IND,30) vs Wing Ki Wong (HKG,48)
[R1] Anand Pawar (IND,55) vs Sophorn Noun (CAM,UNR)

[R1] (1) Saina Nehwal (IND,6) vs Porntip Buranaprasertsuk (THA,35)
[R1] Trupti Murgunde (IND,59) vs Julia Pei Xian Wong (MAS,141)
[R1] Sayali Gokhale (IND,54) vs Beiwen Zhang (SIN,32)
[R1] Aditi Mutatkar (IND,43) vs Mingtian Fu (SIN,48)
[R1] Neha Pandit (IND,86) vs Lydia Li Ya Cheah (MAS,52)

[R1] (3) Rupesh K T Kumar (IND)/ Sanave Thomas (IND) vs Qualifier
[R1] Tarun Kona (IND)/ Jishnu Sanyal (IND) vs Nguyen Khang Huynh (VIE)/ Hoang Nam Nguyen (VIE)
[R1] Akshay Dewalkar (IND)/ Arun Vishnu (IND) vs (2) Hirokatsu Hashimoto (JPN)/ Noriyasu Hirata (JPN)

[R1] Jwala Gutta (IND)/ Ashwini Ponnappa (IND) vs Meiliana Jauhari (INA)/ Greysia Polii (INA)
[R1] Aparna Balan (IND)/ Shruti Kurian (IND) vs Aiying Xing (SIN)/ Beiwen Zhang (SIN)

[R1] (1) Diju Valiyaveetil (IND)/ Jwala Gutta (IND) vs Qualifier
[R1] Jishnu Sanyal (IND)/ Jyotshna P (IND) vs Sang Hoon Han (KOR)/ Ye Na Jang (KOR)
[R1] Tarun Kona (IND)/ Shruti Kurian (IND) vs (5) Devin Lahardi Fitriawan (INA)/ Liliyana (INA)
[R1] Arun Vishnu (IND)/ Aparna Balan (IND) vs Yohan Hadikusumo Wiratama (HKG)/ Ying Suet Tse (HKG)

This week Asia Championship playing at New Delhi ... Saina is top-seed in women draw ... She is having tricky draw facing Buranaprasertsuk, who defeated her in the past and then may be Julia Pei Xian Wong who also defeated her in the past.

Tennis News
At € 398,250 Grand Prix Hassan II, Casablanca, Morocco (Red Clay)

Doubles Final
Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (PAK) l (3) Robert Lindstedt (SWE)/ Horia Tecau (ROU) 26 63 7-10

Rohan and Aisam failed to lift their second ATP title of year 2010 ... They lost in the final against 3rd seed after giving fighting performance.
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At $10K Ain Elsokhna-Sui, Egypt (Clay)

[QF] (2) Poojashree VENKATESHA (IND) l (8) Tatia MIKADZE (GEO) 26 26

Doubles
[SF] CHAKRAVARTHI (IND)/ VENKATESHA (IND) l (1) BRAZHNIKOVA (SWE)/ SIROTKINA (RUS) 06 16

Disappointing one-sided losses.

Badminton News
At $15K Yonex Dutch International 2010,

[QF] (2) Arvind Bhat (IND,36) l (5) Scott Evans (IRL,61) 21-23 28-26 15-21

In first 2 games Arvind was in control but then he gave chance to Scott comeback in the game ... Arvind lost first game and managed to win second but Scott didn't give him chance in third controlling from the start.

Badminton News
At $15K Yonex Dutch International 2010,

[R1] (2) Arvind Bhat (IND,36) bt (Q) Marco de Jager (NED,UNR) 21-18 21-16

[R2] (2) Arvind Bhat (IND,36) bt Jakub Bitman (CZE,167) 21-14 21-9

Surprised to see Arvind is playing here instead of big Asian championship in India ... May be he is testing his fitness here after coming out of small injury ... Arvind started with win but lot more points won by his unranked opponent than expected ... But performed well in second round to reach in quarters.

Tennis News
At $442.5K US Men's Clay Court Championships, Houston, USA (Red clay)

[R2] (LL) Somdev Devvarman (IND,116) l (4) Lleyton Hewitt (AUS,27) 61 06 67(2)

Somdev started well against Hewitt, breaking him in 4th and 6th game to won first set easily ... Somi take full advantage of rustiness of Hewitt, who had hip surgery and was playing his first match after his loss at Australian Open against Federer ... But after losing first set Hewitt played like man on the mission ... In second set Somi needed to wait until 4th game to won his first point of this set ... Hewitt broke Somi thrice and in that 2 times on luv to gave bageled ... Somi won only 2 points in this set of 26 points, simply shows how much Hewitt dominated .. In third set Somi played better tennis but first break was taken by Hewitt when he broke Somi in 6th game to take lead 2-4 .. But Somi broke back when Hewitt was serving for the match at 5-3 to bring back set on the serve, Hewitt was 2 points away from the win at 30-all ... And created huge opportunity breaking Hewitt's serve in 11th game and needed to hold his serve but Hewitt used all his experience to broke back to take set in tie-break ... Interestingly Somi was also only 2 points away from the win at 30-all in 12th game ... In tie-break Somi started with mini-break but then Hewitt broke 3 times to captured tie-break and match.

Somi had opportunities to won this match but he failed to take it ... But still very creditable by Somi to fight back after got bageled in second set ... Its learning curve for Somi.
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At € 398,250 Grand Prix Hassan II, Casablanca, Morocco (Red Clay)

[SF] Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (PAK) bt Philipp Marx (GER)/ Igor Zelenay (SVK) 63 64

[F] Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (PAK) vs (3) Robert Lindstedt (SWE)/ Horia Tecau (ROU)

Another excellent win by Rohan and Aisam to moved into the ATP final on clay ... In the final they r facing 3rd seed pair.
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At $10K Ain Elsokhna-Sui, Egypt (Clay)

[R2] (2) Poojashree VENKATESHA (IND) bt Diana MARCU (ROU) 76(5) 62

[QF] (2) Poojashree VENKATESHA (IND) vs (8) Tatia MIKADZE (GEO)

Doubles
[QF] CHAKRAVARTHI (IND)/ VENKATESHA (IND) bt FOKINA (RUS)/ GASANOVA (RUS) 60 46 10-1

[SF] CHAKRAVARTHI (IND)/ VENKATESHA (IND) vs (1) BRAZHNIKOVA (SWE)/ SIROTKINA (RUS)

Poojashree moved into singles quarters with straight sets victory over Romanian player ... In doubles also she moved into semis with Rushmi.

Tennis News
At € 398,250 Grand Prix Hassan II, Casablanca, Morocco (Red Clay)

[QF] Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (PAK) bt Simon Greul (GER)/ Peter Luczak (AUS) 63 62

[SF] Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (PAK) vs Philipp Marx (GER)/ Igor Zelenay (SVK)

Rohana and Aisam scored another comfortable win to moved into semis of Casablanca ATP.
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At $10K Ain Elsokhna-Sui, Egypt (Clay)

[R1] (2) Poojashree VENKATESHA (IND) bt Aliaa FAKHRY (EGY) 61 62
[R1] Rushmi CHAKRAVARTHI (IND) l (5) Anna BRAZHNIKOVA (SWE) 36 26

[R2] (2) Poojashree VENKATESHA (IND) vs Diana MARCU (ROU)

Doubles
[R1] CHAKRAVARTHI (IND)/ VENKATESHA (IND) bt (4) MARCU (ROU)/ MATEI (ROU) 61 76(2)

[QF] CHAKRAVARTHI (IND)/ VENKATESHA (IND) vs FOKINA (RUS)/ GASANOVA (RUS)

This week also Poojashree won her first round match but Rushmi lost ... They started with upset win over 4th seed in doubles.

Tennis News
At $$442.5K US Men's Clay Court Championships, Houston, USA (Red clay)

[R1] (LL) Somdev Devvarman (IND,116) bt (Q) Conor Niland (IRL,228) 64 62

[R2] (LL) Somdev Devvarman (IND,116) vs (4) Lleyton Hewitt (AUS,27)

Somdev entered as lucky loser replacing Marty Fish, who withdrew due to a lower back injury and take full advantage to scored win ... In first set Somi was a break down early when Conor broke his serve in 4th game but Somi immediately broke him in next game to bring set back on serve ... Somi take crucial break in 9th game and hold his sere after couple of deuce to won first set ... In second set from 2-all Somi won 4 games on trot breaking Conor's serve twice to won match easily.

Next Somi is facing former WR #1 Australian Lleyton Hewitt ... With this win Somi increased hope of getting direct entry in to French Open.
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At € 398,250 Grand Prix Hassan II, Casablanca, Morocco (Red Clay)

[R1] Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (PAK) bt (WC) Rabie Chaki (MAR)/ Reda El Amrani (MAR) 46 62 10-8

[QF] Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (PAK) vs Simon Greul (GER)/ Peter Luczak (AUS)

Surprisingly local wild-card pair stretched Rohan and Aisam to super tie-break after winning the first set ... In quarters they r facing pair of Gruel and Luczak, who upset seeded pair ... In top-draw no seeded pairs r remaining.

Football News

Group B

Churchill Brothers (IND) bt Al Hilal (YEM) 1-0

Goal Scored - Felix Chimakowu (CB) 43'

Churchill scored victory due to Felix goal in the first-half ... With this victory they r leading Group B and also assured their place in knock-out stage.
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Group D

Al Qadsia (KUW) bt East Bengal (IND) 4-1

Goal Scored - Al Mejmed (AlQ) 30', Abdulaziz Al Mehsan (AlQ) 36', Ahmad Ajab (AlQ) 39', Bader Al Motawaa (AlQ) 85' and Mehtab Hossain (EB) 59'

In first half Al Qadsia scored 3 goals in 9 minutes to blow any chances of fightback from East Bengal.

Tennis News
At $$442.5K US Men's Clay Court Championships, Houston, USA (Red clay)

[Q3] (2) Somdev Devvarman (IND, 120) l Nick Lindahl (AUS, 228) 26 67(3)

Again day of bad service games for Somdev, Somi struggled with his service and Nick broke hime 2 times to won first set ... Second set also went like first but this time Nick struggled with Somi ... They were traded service break, Somi was down 1-3 then he made 3-all ... Was again break down 3-4 this time also he made 4-all ... Nick again broke him in 9th game but Somi broke him while he was serving for the match to make it 5-all ... Then both hold their serves to take set in tie-break ... Nick played strong tie-break taking mini-break on 1st point and then double his mini-break in 5th point and that was enough to won second set and match.

Football News
At I League 2009-10, India - Round XX

East Bengal l Dempo SC 0-1

Goal Scored - Peter Carvalho (DSC) 47'

Dempo scored victory to again moved top of the standing.
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Churchill Brothers SC bt Shillong Lajong FC 1-0

Goal Scored - Odafe Onyeka Okolie (CB) 41'

Churchill scored win over Lajong to moved on third place.
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Mohun Bagan dw Salgaocar SC 1-1

Goal Scored - Chidi Edeh (MB) 62' and Mandjou Keita (SSC) 76'

Salgaocar gained important point holding Mohun Bagan.
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Chirag United dw Pune FC 1-1

Goal Scored - Edmilson Marques (CU) 19' P and Jeje Lalpekhlua (PFC) 35'

Pune FC hold Chirag United to 1-all draw, this was good result for Pune FC as their custodian Subroto Paul was out due to booking.
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Mumbai FC dw Mahindra United 0-0

Mumbai FC hold table leader Mahindra in their Mumbai derby.
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Sporting Clube De Goa bt JCT 1-0

Goal Scored - Lalrenjam Bisheswor Singh (SCG) 32'

Plot is getting thicker for relegation as Sporting won another match and they r moved on 17 pts.
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Air India dw Viva Kerala 1-1

Goal Scored - N D Opara (AI) 81' P and MP Sakeer (VK) 6' P

Viva and Air men played draw and both goals scored through penalties.

Tennis News
At $$442.5K US Men's Clay Court Championships, Houston, USA (Red clay)

[Q2] (2) Somdev Devvarman (IND,116) bt Jose de Armas (VEN, 415) 61 75

[Q3] (2) Somdev Devvarman (IND, 120) vs. Nick Lindahl (AUS, 228)

Somi started well breaking Jose in first game ... Jose hold his serve in 3rd game but Somi again broke Jose in 5th and 7th games to won first set easily ... In second set Somi played bad opening game and Jose take advantage of it breaking Somi's serve ... Somi broke him to bring back set on serve and take important break in 12th game to won match and moved into final qualifying round.

This week Somi's singles ranking moved to his career best.

Motor Sports
At Malaysian Grand Prix Formula1,

Adrian Sutil finished 5th after qualifying on 4th position for Force India ... He defended challenge from McLaren Lewis Hamilton in last 20 laps.


HRT must be happy as their both drivers managed to finish the race ... Karun Chandhok finished on 15th ahead of team-mate Bruno Senna.


Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel won the race ahead of his team-mate Mark Webber ... Nico Rosberg finished 3rd for Mercedes GP and Michael Schumacher retired early.

Tennis News
At $2.6M Miami ATP Masters, USA

Doubles Final
(3) Lukas Dlouhy (CZE)/ Leander Paes (IND) bt (4) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Max Mirnyi (BLR) 62 75

[SF] (4) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Max Mirnyi (BLR) bt (8) Mariusz Fyrstenberg (POL)/ Marcin Matkowski (POL) 76(4) 64

Lee and Lukas lifted Miami ATP Masters with straight sets victory over Mahesh and Max ... Before this no one from India won this title ... Before this Lee was runner-up at the Sony Ericsson Open in 2003 (with Rikl) and 2007 (with Damm) ... This is Lee and Lukas's first title of the 2010, they were runner-up in Brisbane and Dubai earlier this season.

Lee and Lukas started well taking an early 2-0 lead after winning sudden-death points at deuce and after that they didn't lose control to won first set easily ... In second set also they were up with early break but Mahesh and Max broke back to make it 3-all ... Again Lee and Lukas take important break at 5-all and hold their serve to won this Masters title ... Lee was his typically aggressive self at the net.

Lukas Dlouhy - “Playing with (Lee), it's always great because he has my back always. When I'm struggling with something, he's always with me on the same side and always tells me that nothing happened. We make it like a team. So it always helps you when you know that you are together, you are like brothers. That's the magic of the team, I think.”

Leander Paes - “What's great actually about doing well this week is there's no pressure now for the rest of the clay court season. We've got to a final in Brisbane and got to quarters at the Aussie Open. Now there's no pressure. Now we're just playing for cream on the top.”
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At $35K+H Napoli Challenger, Italy

Doubles Final
(1) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (PAK) l Dustin Brown (JAM)/ Jesse Witten (USA) 67(4) 57

Rohan failed to lift 2nd challenger doubles title in 2 weeks ... He and Aisam lost very closely fought final against Dustin and Jesse ... But still good performance by Rohan and Aisam on clay, next week they r playing in Grand Prix Hassan II at Casablanca.
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At $$442.5K US Men's Clay Court Championships, Houston, USA (Red (clay)

[Q1] (2) Somdev Devvarman (IND,120) bye

[Q2] (2) Somdev Devvarman (IND,120) vs Jose de Armas (VEN, 415)

This week Somdev is 2nd seed in qualifying at US clay court ATP tournament ... In second round he is facing Venezuelean, who defeated Somi on clay in 2004 US futures, but currently Somi is playing on lot more higher level.
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At $10K India F3 Futures, Vijayawada

Singles Final
(7) Rupesh ROY (IND,595) bt (2) Vishnu VARDHAN (IND,360) 16 64 75

Doubles Final
(1) Divij SHARAN (IND)/ Vishnu VARDHAN (IND) bt Srirambalaji NARAYANASWAMY (IND)/ Vignesh PERANAMALLUR-CHANDRASEKHAR (IND) 26 63 10-3

[SF] (7) Rupesh ROY (IND) bt (5) Ranjeet VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND) 64 64
[SF] (2) Vishnu VARDHAN (IND) bt (4) Rohan GAJJAR (IND) 75 76(2)

Rupesh lifted his first ITF futures singles title beating more than 225 places higher rank countryman Vishnu Vardhan ... At Kolkata he missed chance after losing final to Nathan but in third week Rupesh lifted title with excellent performance ... Vishnu won doubles title with Divij.

Football News
At I League 2009-10, India - Round XIX

Mumbai FC l Pune FC 1-2

Goal Scored - Daren Caldeira (MFC) 55' and Edmar Figueira (PFC) 59' & 73'

Pune FC scored 1st victory over Mumbai team in this ongoing I League ... Edmar Figueira scored 2 goals with excellent headers to helped Pune FC to move on 5th position.
-----------------------------------------

Salgaocar SC l Sporting Clube de Goa 1-3

Goal Scored - Adil Khan (SSC) 57' and Elijah Junior (SCG) 44' & 90+', Mandjou Keita (SCG) 74'

Sporting Clube de Goa first time scored back to back victory in this I League.
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Mahindra United bt Dempo SC 3-1

Goal Scored - Mohammed Rafi (MU) 57', Muritala Ali (MU) 66' & 90+' and Ranty Martins (DSC) 14'

Mahindra scored important win over another title contender in exciting match ... They were a goal down after half-time but fought back scoring 3 goals in last 35 mins ... With this win now they r leading the standing.
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Churchill Brothers bt JCT 6-0

Goal Scored - Nascimento Silveira (CB) 9', Felix (CB) 11', Lalrindika Ralte (CB) 38', Odafa Onyeka Okolie (CB) 79' & 89', Ogba Kalu Nanna (CB) 90+'

Churchill scored huge win with scoreline like tennis match ... JCT couldn't do much and were on receiving end.
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Chirag United dw Viva Kerala 1-1

Goal Scored - Ashim Biswas (CU) 36' and Sirajuddeen C (VK) 27'

Viva managed to hold Chirag and moved to 6th position in standing.
------------------------------------------

Air India dw Shillong Lajong FC 1-1

Goal Scored - N D Opara (AI) 19' P and Wailadmi Passah (SL) 83'

Lajong managed to hold Air men after late equalizer.

Tennis News
At $2.6M Miami ATP Masters, USA

[SF] (3) Lukas Dlouhy (CZE)/ Leander Paes (IND) bt Nicolas Almagro (ESP)/ Tommy Robredo (ESP) 63 60

[QF] (4) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Max Mirnyi (BLR) bt Arnaud Clement (FRA)/ Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (FRA) 64 67(5) 10-4

[SF] (4) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Max Mirnyi (BLR) vs (8) Mariusz Fyrstenberg (POL)/ Marcin Matkowski (POL)

Lee and Lukas scored very dominating win over Spanish pair to moved into Miami Masters final ... In this match they only lost 3 games ... Mahesh and Max also won their quarter-final match in super tie-break against French pair ... They r facing Polish pair in semis.
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At $35K+H Napoli Challenger, Italy

[SF] (1) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (PAK) bt Diego Junqueira (ARG)/ Martin Vassallo Arguello (ARG) 76(6) 64

[F] (1) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (PAK) vs Dustin Brown (JAM)/ Jesse Witten (USA)

Rohan and Aisam scored good victory on red clay against Argentine pair to moved into another final at challenger level.
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At $10K India F3 Futures, Vijayawada

Singles Quarter Finals
(7) Rupesh ROY (IND) bt (1) Yuki BHAMBRI (IND) 76(3) 2-0 Retd.
(5) Ranjeet VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND) bt (WC) Kaza Vinayak SHARMA (IND) 46 62 63
(4) Rohan GAJJAR (IND) bt (6) Roman JEBAVY (CZE) 64 75
(2) Vishnu VARDHAN (IND) bt (8) Nathan THOMPSON (USA) 63 67(5) 61

Doubles Semi Finals
(1) SHARAN (IND)/ VARDHAN (IND) bt (4) CHEN (TPE)/ ROY (IND) 63 62
NARAYANASWAMY (IND)/ PERANAMALLUR-CHANDRASEKHAR (IND) bt (3) JEBAVY (CZE)/ SIKORA (SVK) 76(10) 64

Terrific result for Rupesh to moved in semis ... Though Yuki retired from the match in second set but Rupesh matched him in first set before winning in tie-break ... Ranjeet stopped Kaza's run in 3 sets ... Vishnu also scored win over Nathan in 3 sets .. So from here on all Indian matches.
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At $10K Cairo, Egypt (Clay)

[R2] (2) Poojashree VENKATESHA (IND,348) l Margit RUUTEL (EST,921)

Doubles
[QF] (3) CHAKRAVARTHI (IND)/ VENKATESHA (IND) bt JANDOVA (CZE)/ KANAKOVA (CZE) 36 62 10-3

[SF] (3) CHAKRAVARTHI (IND)/ VENKATESHA (IND) l (1) GERLOVA (CZE)/ KRIEGSMANNOVA (CZE) 62 46 7-10

Disappointing loss in singles for Poojashree.

Tennis News
At $2.6M Miami ATP Masters, USA

[QF] (3) Lukas Dlouhy (CZE)/ Leander Paes (IND) bt Benjamin Becker (GER)/ Michael Kohlmann (GER) 64 64

[SF] (3) Lukas Dlouhy (CZE)/ Leander Paes (IND) vs Nicolas Almagro (ESP)/ Tommy Robredo (ESP)

Lee and Lukas scored another straight sets victory to moved into semis ... Hopefully this week they will overcome on this Spanish pair.

Tennis News
At $10K India F3 Futures, Vijayawada

Singles Second Round
(1) Yuki BHAMBRI (IND) bt (Q) Akash WAGH (IND) 61 61
(7) Rupesh ROY (IND) bt N. Vijay Sundar PRASHANTH (IND) 76(4) 63
(WC) Kaza Vinayak SHARMA (IND) bt (3) Juan-Pablo VILLAR (ARG) 76(4) 60
(5) Ranjeet VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND) bt Almog MASHIACH (ISR) 61 61
(6) Roman JEBAVY (CZE) bt (Q) Sebastian LAVIE (NZL) 62 76(3)
(4) Rohan GAJJAR (IND) bt Stephan FRANSEN (NED) 75 2-0 Retd.
(8) Nathan THOMPSON (USA) bt (Q) Kamala KANNAN (IND) 16 60 63
(2) Vishnu VARDHAN (IND) bt Yannick NELORD (IND) 62 62

Doubles Quarter Finals
(1) SHARAN (IND)/ VARDHAN (IND) bt NELORD (IND)/ THOMPSON (USA) 67(4) 76(4) 11-9
(4) CHEN (TPE)/ ROY (IND) bt JAYAPRAKASH (IND)/ KHAN (IND) 64 62
(3) JEBAVY (CZE)/ SIKORA (SVK) bt MARQUIS (IND)/ SHARMA (IND) 63 64
NARAYANASWAMY (IND)/ PERANAMALLUR-CHANDRASEKHAR (IND) bt FILENKOV (RUS)/ FRANSEN (NED) 64 36 13-11

Terrific performance by Indians, 6 r in singles quarter-finals and 3 doubles semi-finalist pair having Indian players in it.

Young Kaza Vinayak scored only upset win ... He defeated 3rd seed Argentine in straight sets, won 2nd set 6-0 after winning first set in tie-break ... In doubles top-seed pair of Divij and Vishnu won marathon match after huge battle.
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At $10K Cairo, Egypt (Clay)

[R1] (2) Poojashree VENKATESHA (IND,348) bt Elina GASANOVA (RUS,678) 63 62
[R1] Rushmi CHAKRAVARTHI (IND,579) l Claudia LORENZO FERNANDEZ (ESP,898) 36 16

[R2] (2) Poojashree VENKATESHA (IND,348) vs Margit RUUTEL (EST,921)

Doubles
[R1] (3) CHAKRAVARTHI (IND)/ VENKATESHA (IND) bt CERVERA-VAZQUEZ (ESP)/ LORENZO FERNANDEZ (ESP) 46 63 10-8

Good start Poojashree but other hand very one-sided defeat of Rushmi.

Tennis News
At $2.6M Miami ATP Masters, USA

[R2] (4) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Max Mirnyi (BLR) bt John Isner (USA)/ Sam Querrey (USA) 63 62

[QF] (3) Lukas Dlouhy (CZE)/ Leander Paes (IND) vs Benjamin Becker (GER)/ Michael Kohlmann (GER)
[QF] (4) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Max Mirnyi (BLR) vs Arnaud Clement (FRA)/ Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (FRA)

Hesh and Max scored very convincing win over American big servers to moved into quarters.
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At $35K+H Napoli Challenger, Italy

[R1] (1) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (PAK) bt (WC) Thomas Fabbiano (ITA)/ Enrico Fioravante (ITA) 63 76(5)
[QF] (1) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (PAK) bt (WC) Biaz Kavcic (SLO)/ Franco Skugor (CRO) W/O

After tight win in first round against wildcard pair our pair got walkover in quarter-final ... So with one win they r in semis.
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At $35K+H Saint-Brieuc Challenger, France

[R1] Harsh Mankad (IND)/ Treat Conrad Huey (PHI) l (2) Jonathan Marray (GBR)/ Jamie Murray (GBR) 36 36

This European challenger tour is turning into toughest for Harsh, with bad draw or with performance.

Football News

Probables are announced for the AFC Asian Cup 2011.

Goalkeepers - Subrata Paul, Subhashish Roy Choudhury, Arindam Bhattacharya
Defenders - I Surkumar Singh, N S Manju, Samir Naik, Mohanraj, Mahesh Gawli, Gouramangi Singh, Anwar, Govin Singh, Deepak Mondal, Rakesh Masih
Midfielders - Steven Dias, Climax Lawrence, N P Pradeep, Anthony Pereira, Lukram James Singh, Rennedy Singh, Mehrajuddin Wadoo, Syed Rahim Nabi, Baldeep Singh, Clifford Miranda, Jagpreet Singh
Strikers - Bhaichung Bhutia, Sunil Chhetri, Abhishek Yadav, Mohammed Rafi, Sushil Kumar Singh, Baljit Sahni

Tennis News
At $2.6M Miami ATP Masters, USA

[R2] (3) Lukas Dlouhy (CZE)/ Leander Paes (IND) bt Thomaz Bellucci (BRA)/ Marc Lopez (ESP) 46 63 10-8

After losing first set Lee and Lukas scored victory in super tie-break to moved into quarters ... They r only seeded pair remaining in top draw after top-seed Nestor and Zimo lost in second round.
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At $10K India F3 Futures, Vijayawada

Singles First Round
(1) Yuki BHAMBRI (IND) bt (WC) Christopher MARQUIS (IND) 62 62
(Q) Akash WAGH (IND) bt (SE) Romain SICHEZ (FRA) 64 57 62
N. Vijay Sundar PRASHANTH (IND) bt (Q) Igor KARPOV (RUS) 64 46 63
(7) Rupesh ROY (IND) bt (WC) Mohit Mayur JAYAPRAKASH (IND) 62 62
(3) Juan-Pablo VILLAR (ARG) bt Ashutosh SINGH (IND) 4-1 Retd.
(WC) Kaza Vinayak SHARMA (IND) bt Vignesh PERANAMALLUR-CHANDRASEKHAR (IND) 64 75
Almog MASHIACH (ISR) bt Christopher RACZ (USA) 64 5-2 Retd
(5) Ranjeet VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND) bt (Q) Peter AARTS (USA) 76(2) 64
(6) Roman JEBAVY (CZE) bt (WC) Vikram REDDY B (IND) 63 26 75
(Q) Sebastian LAVIE (NZL) bt Srirambalaji NARAYANASWAMY (IND) 62 64
Stephan FRANSEN (NED) bt (Q) Abhishek S.V. (IND) 60 62
(4) Rohan GAJJAR (IND) bt Adrian SIKORA (SVK) 61 76(2)
(8) Nathan THOMPSON (USA) bt Divij SHARAN (IND) 36 75 64
(Q) Kamala KANNAN (IND) bt Karan RASTOGI (IND) 64 76(4)
Yannick NELORD (IND) bt (Q) Alexei FILENKOV (RUS) 75 75
(2) Vishnu VARDHAN (IND) bt (Q) Ilia STARKOV (RUS) 76(4) 46 64

Doubles First Round
(1) SHARAN (IND)/ VARDHAN (IND) bt KANNAN (IND)/ MOHAMMED (IND) 62 64
NELORD (IND)/ THOMPSON (USA) bt MURALI (IND)/ PRASHANTH (IND) 76(4) 76(4)
(4) CHEN (TPE)/ ROY (IND) bt MANUJA (IND)/ REDDY B (IND) 62 64
JAYAPRAKASH (IND)/ KHAN (IND) bt TIWARI (IND)/ WAGH (IND) 64 63
MARQUIS (IND)/ SHARMA (IND) bt KARPOV (RUS)/ STARKOV (RUS) 16 76(4) 10-4
(3) JEBAVY (CZE)/ SIKORA (SVK) bt GARZELLI (ITA)/ VILLAR (ARG) 62 62
FILENKOV (RUS)/ FRANSEN (NED) bt AARTS (USA)/ RACZ (USA) 76(1) 75
NARAYANASWAMY (IND)/ PERANAMALLUR-CHANDRASEKHAR (IND) bt (2) GAJJAR (IND)/ SINGH (IND) 64 76(3)

Day of upsets, Last week both finalists lost in first round against qualifiers ... Kamala Kannan defeated last week winner Karan in first round and other hand Akash Wagh scored upset win over last week's finalist Frenchman Romain Sichez ... Kaza Vinayak also scored upset win over higher ranked Vignesh.

2nd seed pair Rohan and Ashutosh got upset in doubles first round.

Tennis News
At $2.6M Miami ATP Masters, USA

[R1] (3) Lukas Dlouhy (CZE)/ Leander Paes (IND) bt Ross Hutchins (GBR)/ Jordan Kerr (AUS) 64 76(4)
[R1] (4) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Max Mirnyi (BLR) bt Stephen Huss (AUS)/ Wesley Moodie (RSA) 64 75

[R2] (3) Lukas Dlouhy (CZE)/ Leander Paes (IND) vs Thomaz Bellucci (BRA)/ Marc Lopez (ESP)
[R2] (4) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Max Mirnyi (BLR) vs John Isner (USA)/ Sam Querrey (USA)
Good start for Mahesh and Max, this was their supposed to be first win of the year over proper doubles pair ... Lee and Lukas also started with straight sets win.
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At $35K+H Napoli Challenger, Italy (Red clay)

[R1] (1) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (PAK) vs (WC) Thomas Fabbiano (ITA)/ Enrico Fioravante (ITA)

Rohan is top-seed with Aisam in this Napoli challenger.
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At $35K+H Saint-Brieuc Challenger, France (Red clay)

[R1] Harsh Mankad (IND)/ Treat Conrad Huey (PHI) vs (2) Jonathan Marray (GBR)/ Jamie Murray (GBR)

Very tough first round match for Harsh and Treat on the clay.

Motorsports News
At 2010 FIA Formula One World Championship, Australia

So this week also Force India earned points as Vitantonio Liuzzi finished on 7th position ... Importantly Karun Chandhok finished his and the HRT team’s first-ever finish, at the second attempt.

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Tennis News
At $10K India F3 Futures, Vijayawada

Singles First Round
(1) Yuki BHAMBRI (IND) vs (WC) Christopher MARQUIS (IND)
(SE) Romain SICHEZ (FRA) vs (Q) Akash WAGH (IND)
N. Vijay Sundar PRASHANTH (IND) vs (Q) Igor KARPOV (RUS)
(7) Rupesh ROY (IND) vs (WC) Mohit Mayur JAYAPRAKASH (IND)
(3) Juan-Pablo VILLAR (ARG) vs Ashutosh SINGH (IND)
Vignesh PERANAMALLUR-CHANDRASEKHAR (IND) vs (WC) Kaza Vinayak SHARMA (IND)
Almog MASHIACH (ISR) vs Christopher RACZ (USA)
(5) Ranjeet VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND) vs (Q) Peter AARTS (USA)
(6) Roman JEBAVY (CZE) vs (WC) Vikram REDDY B (IND)
Srirambalaji NARAYANASWAMY (IND) vs (Q) Sebastian LAVIE (NZL)
Stephan FRANSEN (NED) vs (Q) Abhishek S.V. (IND)
(4) Rohan GAJJAR (IND) vs Adrian SIKORA (SVK)
(8) Nathan THOMPSON (USA) bt Divij SHARAN (IND)
Karan RASTOGI (IND) vs (Q) Kamala KANNAN (IND)
Yannick NELORD (IND) vs (Q) Alexei FILENKOV (RUS)
(2) Vishnu VARDHAN (IND) vs (Q) Ilia STARKOV (RUS)

Doubles First Round
(1) SHARAN (IND)/ VARDHAN (IND) vs KANNAN (IND)/ MOHAMMED (IND)
MURALI (IND)/ PRASHANTH (IND) vs NELORD (IND)/ THOMPSON (USA)
(4) CHEN (TPE)/ ROY (IND) vs MANUJA (IND)/ REDDY B (IND)
JAYAPRAKASH (IND)/ KHAN (IND) vs TIWARI (IND)/ WAGH (IND)
MARQUIS (IND)/ SHARMA (IND) vs KARPOV (RUS)/ STARKOV (RUS)
(3) JEBAVY (CZE)/ SIKORA (SVK) vs GARZELLI (ITA)/ VILLAR (ARG)
AARTS (USA)/ RACZ (USA) vs FILENKOV (RUS)/ FRANSEN (NED)
(2) GAJJAR (IND)/ SINGH (IND) vs NARAYANASWAMY (IND)/ PERANAMALLUR-CHANDRASEKHAR (IND)

Final Qualifying Round
Akash WAGH (IND) bt (1) Mikhail PAVLOV (RUS) 06 62 1-0 Retd.
Igor KARPOV (RUS) bt (2) Vijay KANNAN (IND) 76(3) Retd.
Kamala KANNAN (IND) bt (3) Mithun MURALI (IND) 63 57 61
Abhishek S.V. (IND) bt (4) Ronak MANUJA (IND) 75 75
(5) Peter AARTS (USA) bt (14) I-Ta CHEN (TPE) 64 61
(9) Sebastian LAVIE (NZL) bt (6) Abhijeet TIWARI (IND) 63 60
(13) Ilia STARKOV (RUS) bt (7) Vinod SRIDHAR (IND) 75 62
(8) Alexei FILENKOV (RUS) bt (10) Fariz MOHAMMED (IND) 67(5) 64 75

First Qualifying Round
(1) Mikhail PAVLOV (RUS) bye
Akash WAGH (IND) bt Krishik DIVAKAR (IND) 60 3-0 Retd
(2) Vijay KANNAN (IND) bye
Igor KARPOV (RUS) bt Bharath-Srinivasan PARTHASARATHY (IND) 62 62
(3) Mithun MURALI (IND) bye
Kamala KANNAN (IND) bt (12) Francesco GARZELLI (ITA) 76(7) 61
(4) Ronak MANUJA (IND) bye
Abhishek S.V. (IND) bt (11) Himananshu MALI (IND) 64 64
(5) Peter AARTS (USA) bye
(14) I-Ta CHEN (TPE) bt Muddappa APPANERVANDA (IND) 61 26 63
(6) Abhijeet TIWARI (IND) bye
(9) Sebastian LAVIE (NZL) bt Shahbaaz KHAN (IND) 64 67(6) 63
(7) Vinod SRIDHAR (IND) bye
(13) Ilia STARKOV (RUS) bt Chanakya BHARGAVA (IND) 61 62
(8) Alexei FILENKOV (RUS) bye
(10) Fariz MOHAMMED (IND) bt Viju GEORGE JR (USA) 76(3) 46 64

So now last week of Indian futures leg ... Yuki is playing this week.


This week 3 Indians qualified for maindraw ... At last Akash is in maindraw ... But Akash qualified for maindraw and facing last week's finalist in first round ... Yuki can face Rupesh in quarters ... Karan is in bottom draw with Vishnu, they can face eachother in quarters ... But before that Karan need to overcome Nathan in second round.

Tennis News
At $50K Jersey Challenger, Great Britain

Doubles Final
(1) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Ken Skupski (GBR) bt (2) Jonathan Marray (GBR)/ Jamie Murray (GBR) 62 16 10-6

Another challenger doubles title for Rohan, this time with Ken Skupski ... Good they pulled this match against 2nd seed British pair in super tie-break ... Don't know about his next week schedule but he is playing with Aisam at Grand Prix Hassan II ATP tournament, Casablanca, Morocco from 5th April.
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At $10K India F2 Futures, Chandigarh

Singles Final
Karan RASTOGI (IND,933) bt (Q) Romain SICHEZ (FRA,1445) 46 64 64

Romain was attacking on Karan's serve from the start ... Karan was struggling to hold his serve and after creating numerous chances Romain managed to break Karan's serve in 7th game ... And that break was enough to won first set ... In second set also Karan lost his serve in first game but in 6th game Romain played loose game to gave break back and Karan take advantage of it ... In this set Karan played more free flowing game and was attacking on the net ... He kept pressure on Romain serve's and managed to break him in 10th game to make it 1 set-all ... In third set also Romain broke Karan's serve in 1st game but again Karan broke him in the next ... Both players were playing quality tennis and powerful serving in this set ... After holding his serve on luv in 9th game Karan broke Romain's serve on luv in 10th game with down the line forehand winner to lift the title.

Happy for Karan ... He put lot of efforts and pain to come out of this career threatening shoulder injury and 4th futures title but this is his first title since return from long injury layoff ... Big moral boosting title win for him.

Football News

It's official now that Indian forward Sunil Chettri has signed up 4 years deal with Major League Soccer (MLS) club Kansas City Wizards in the USA ... Now Chettri is waiting for the P-1 Visa and the International Transfer Certificate, which will take next 4-5 days ... That's why he is going to miss the Kansas City Wizards opener versus DC United at home on Saturday but will be available for their second match.
------------------------------------------------------------------
At I League 2009-10, India - Round XVIII

Salgaocar SC bt East Bengal 4-1

Goal Scored - Cajetan Fernandes (SSC) 10', Rouhollah Samieinia (SSC) 15', Ekene Ikenwa (SSC) 52' & 59' and Sanju Pradhan (EB) 27'

Another shocking performance by East Bengal to lose tamely to Salgaocar.
-----------------------------------------

Chirag United SC l Mahindra United 0-1

Goal Scored - Muritala Ali (MU) 56'

Mahindra scored important win to remain with leader Dempo.
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Sporting Clube de Goa vs Viva Kerala

Goal Scored - Agnelo Colaco (SCG) 71' and Sabeeth CS (VK) 15', Sirajudden (VK) 70'

Viva continued their winning run beating Sporting in away match.
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Dempo SC bt JCT Mills Football Club 2-1

Goal Scored - Ranty Martins (DSC) 22' & 83' and Baljit Sahni (JCT) 45+' P

Ranty Martins scored late winner for Dempo to helped them to remain top of the standing.
-----------------------------------------

Mohun Bagan l Lajong FC 1-4

Goal Scored - Surkumar Singh (MB) 38' and Seikhohao Tuboi (SL) 10', Okoye S (SL) 20', Niwano Gatpoh (SL) 90+', Anil Gurung (SL) 90+'

Lajong handed one of worst defeat to Mohun Bagan at home ... Last 2 goals they scored in injury time.
-----------------------------------------

Mumbai F.C dw Air India 0-0

Air men hold Mumbai FC to goalless draw.

Tennis News
At $35K+H Rimouski Challenger, Canada


[QF] Prakash Amritraj (IND,217) l Rik De Voest (RSA,301) 16 36

Another lost opportunity for Kash ... He is still searching for his first challenger singles title.
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At $50K Jersey Challenger, Great Britain

[SF] (1) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Ken Skupski (GBR) bt Martin Fischer (AUT)/ Philipp Oswald (AUT) 63 67(4) 10-6

[F] (1) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Ken Skupski (GBR) vs (2) Jonathan Marray (GBR)/ Jamie Murray (GBR)

Good win by Rohan and Ken over experienced Austrian pair in super tie-break ... In the final they facing 2nd seed British pair.

Tennis News
At $2.6M Miami ATP Masters, USA

[R1] (3) Lukas Dlouhy (CZE)/ Leander Paes (IND) vs Ross Hutchins (GBR)/ Jordan Kerr (AUS)
[R1] (4) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Max Mirnyi (BLR) vs Stephen Huss (AUS)/ Wesley Moodie (RSA)

Our both pairs having tricky matches against regular pair on the tour.
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At $50K Jersey Challenger, Great Britain

[QF] (1) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Ken Skupski (GBR) bt (WC) Brian Battistone (USA)/ Ryler DeHeart (USA) 76(1) 64

[SF] (1) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Ken Skupski (GBR) vs Martin Fischer (AUT)/ Philipp Oswald (AUT)

Good to see Rohan and Ken kept their winning momentum though match was closer than expected against American wildcard pair ... In semis they r facing experienced Austrian pair, who defeated Harsh and Treat in first round.
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At $35K+H Rimouski Challenger, Canada

[QF] (3) Prakash Amritraj (IND)/ Martin Slanar (AUT) l (ALT) Andrew Anderson (RSA)/ Goran Tosic (MNE) 26 61 8-10

Prakash and Slanar lost in doubles quarter-final in super tie-break.
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At $10K India F2 Futures, Chandigarh

Singles Semi Finals
(Q) Romain SICHEZ (FRA) bt (3) Ranjeet VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND) 36 63 63
Karan RASTOGI (IND) bt (7) Adrian SIKORA (SVK) 75 63

Doubles Final
(4) GONZALES (USA)/ THOMPSON (USA) vs MALIK (IND)/ SINGH (IND)

Karan continued his good run to reach final ... He scored 3rd win over seeded player in this futures ... So now he is in line of winning his first futures after long injury break ... In the final he is facing French qualifier Romain, who also having good week ... He defeated all higher ranked Indians to reach in the final.

Tennis News
At $35K+H Rimouski Challenger, Canada

[R2] Prakash Amritraj (IND,217) bt (Q) Amir Weintraub (ISR,524) 63 36 64

[R2] Prakash Amritraj (IND,217) vs Rik De Voest (RSA,301)

Though Israeli 500+ ranked Israeli qualifier stretched Kash to 3 sets still win is a win ... :-) So Kash is in semis and facing South African Davis Cup player Rik De Voest.
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At $50K Jersey Challenger, Great Britain

[R1] (1) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Ken Skupski (GBR) bt (WC) Oliver Golding (GBR)/ Neil Pauffley (GBR) 61 63
[R1] Harsh Mankad (IND)/ Treat Huey (PHI) l Martin Fischer (AUT)/ Philipp Oswald (AUT) 36 57

[QF] (1) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Ken Skupski (GBR) vs (WC) Brian Battistone (USA)/ Ryler DeHeart (USA)

Bops and Skupski scored easy convincing win over local wildcard pair ... But Harsh and Treat lost against experienced Austrian pair in first round.
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At $10K India F2 Futures, Chandigarh

Singles Quarter Finals
(Q) Romain SICHEZ (FRA) bt Vivek SHOKEEN (IND) 62 67(5) 63
(3) Ranjeet VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND) bt (Q) Patrik BRYDOLF (SWE) 76(5) 3-1 Retd.
(7) Adrian SIKORA (SVK) bt Ruben GONZALES (USA) 64 62
Karan RASTOGI (IND) bt (6) Nathan THOMPSON (USA) 63 63

Doubles Semi Finals
(4) GONZALES (USA)/ THOMPSON (USA) bt MURALI (IND)/ PRASHANTH (IND) 62 63
MALIK (IND)/ SINGH (IND) bt NARAYANASWAMY (IND)/ PERANAMALLUR-CHANDRASEKHAR (IND) 64 46 10-8

Terrific win by Karan in end very solid win over last week winner Nathan ... Ranjeet was in control when his opponent decided to retire from the match ... But after yesterday's performance was hoping Vivek's win ... May be tired after long match against top-seed ... In doubles only Malik and Ashutosh Singh reached in the final.

So first-time Karan wins back to back 3 matches after coming out of injury ... Go Karan.

Shooting News
At ISSF World Cup Rifle/ Pistol, Sydney, Australia

50m Rifle Prone - Men
Gold Warren CPOTENT AUS (600 +103.7) 703.7
Silver Joydeep KARMAKAR IND (599+103.4) 702.4
Bronze Sergei MARTYNOV BLR (597+103.7) 700.7

10m Air Pistol - Men
Gold Jong Oh JIN KOR (583 + 99.4) 682.4
Silver Omkar SINGH IND (584+97.2) 681.2
Bronze Sergey CHERVYAKOVSKIY RUS (581+98.5) 679.5

10m Air Rifle - Men
Gold Yifei CAO CHN (596 +102.8) 698.8
Silver Sanjeev RAJPUT IND (594+103.9) 697.9
Bronze Mario KNOEGLER AUT (595+101.9) 696.9

Good performance by our shooters, who win 3 silvers in ongoing ISSF World Cup at Sydney ... Sanjeev Rajput, Omkar Singh and Joydeep Karmakar won silvers ... Gagan Narang finished on 4th and Raghunath on 7th position in 10m Air Rifle - Men ... Samsher Jung finished on 6th position in 10m Air Pistol - Men ... Shweta Chaudhry also finished on 6th position in 10m Air Pistol - Women.

Also Joydeep Karmarkar missed chance of equaling world record of perfect 600 pts by 1 point in the 50m rifle prone men's event qualification ... Gold medal winner Australian Warren Cpotent achieved that.

Football News

As per report Indian striker Sunil Chhetri is on verge of getting sign by Kansas City Wizards in MLS ... Sunil would be only the 3rd Indian player to play in foreign league after Mohamed Salim’s successful stint with Celtic in the pre-Independent India and Bhaichung Bhutia’s famous Bury FC years.
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AIFF is planning to field their own team in I-League from next season ... In an effort to improve India’s chances in the 2018 World Cup qualifiers, they r planning to recruit a group of talented young players from different clubs and field them as its own team in the I-League for the next four years.
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At AFC Cup 2010,

Group B

Al Hilal (YEM) l Churchill Brothers (IND) 1-2

Goal Scored - Yaser Bashuai (AlH) 37' and Odafe Onyeka Okolie (CB) 15', Felix Chimaokwu (CB) 56'

Churchill scored crucial away victory over Yemeni side to lead Group B ... Felix scored winner in early of second-half after first-half ended 1-all.
------------------------------------------

Group D

East Bengal (IND) l Al Qadsia (KUW) 2-3

Goal Scored - Subhas Singh (EB) 24', Yusif Yakubu (EB) 68' and Bader Almotawaa (AlQ) 2' & 84', Jehad Al Hussein (AlQ) 20'

In this match East Bengal fought hard after down 0-2 in first 20 mins ... But Almotawaa scored winner in late of the match, so with this de3rd defeat East Bengal side is out of contention to reach knock-out stage.