Friday, June 09, 2017

Tennis News

At $125K Bol Open 2017, Croatia

[QF] (4) Alexandra Cadantu (ROU)/ Prarthana Thombare (IND) l Tereza Mrdeza (CRO)/ Tamara Zidansek (SLO) w/o

In the quarters, Prarthana and Alexandra Cadantu gave a walkover to their opponents.

At $150K Surbiton Challenger 2017, Great Britain (Grass)

[QF] Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND)/ Dustin Brown (GER) l (1) Marcus Daniell (NZL)/ Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (PAK) 26 67(3)

Jeevan-Dustin lost against top-seed pairing of Aisam and Marcus in straight sets.

At $25K ITF Women Tournament 2017, Namangan, Uzbekistan

[SF] Karman Kaur Thandi (IND,480) l (2) Polina Monova (RUS,181) 63 16 57

Karman gave fighting performance against top-200 Russian player in her loss ... After winning the first set, Karmanlost the second easily but she recovered and fought hard in the third.

Thursday, June 08, 2017

Tennis News

At Roland Garros 2017, Paris, France

Courtesy of French Open site
Mixed Doubles Final
(7) Gabriela Dabrowski (CAN)/ Rohan Bopanna (IND) bt Anna-Lena Groenefeld (GER)/ Robert Farah (COL) 26 62 12-10

Juniors
[R2] Zeel Desai (IND)/ Fernanda Labrana (CHI) l Ayumi Miyamoto (JPN)/ Xiyu Wang (CHN) 57 26

Rohan and Gabriela Dabrowski have each lifted their maiden Grand Slam trophy having won the Roland-Garros mixed doubles title ... Rohan-Gabriela gained revenge for a US Open quarter-finals loss at the hands of their French Open final opponents ... In this match, they turned the table on their opponent after a set and a break down ... In the match tie-break, they were two championship points down, 7-9 ... They saved those and converted their 2nd match point when Anna-Lena committed a double fault.

Other hand with Zeel's loss in the doubles our interest got over in this French open.


At $150K+H Prostejov Challenger 2017, Czech Republic (Red clay)

[SF] (1) David Marrero (ESP)/ Leander Paes (IND) l (3) Roman Jebavy (CZE)/ Hans Podlipink-Castillo (CHI) 36 46

Lee-David lost in straight sets against Jebavy and Podlipink-Castillo.

At $150K Surbiton Challenger 2017, Great Britain (Grass)

[R1] (PR) Yuki Bhambri (IND,245) bt Duckhee Lee (KOR,131) 63 61

[R2] (PR) Yuki Bhambri (IND,245) l (5) Dustin Brown (GER,76) 67(6) 62 57

Yuki started with a very dominating win over top-150 ranked Korean Duckhee Lee .... In the second match, Yuki faced grass court specialist Dustin Brown ... Dustin struggled with his overall game but he was serving well ... In the first set, Yuki had a set point in the tie-break which he failed to convert ... In the second set, Yuki took early break and then again broke Dustin in 8th game for winning it comfortably ... In the final set, both players hold their respective service games till 10th game ... In 11th game, Yuki hit couple of wayward shots and gave 3 break points, 0-40 ... Yuki saved those but on 6th break point of the game Dustin broke him and then hold his serve for a win.

At $25K ITF Women Tournament 2017, Namangan, Uzbekistan

[QF] Karman Kaur Thandi (IND,480) bt (3) Nigina Abduraimova (UZB,193) 76(5) 63

[SF] Karman Kaur Thandi (IND,480) vs (2) Polina Monova (RUS,181)

Karman scored straights sets win over top-200 and local favorite Abduraimova ... This was her first win over top-200 player and that's also in some style ... Next, she is facing another top-200 Russian player.

Wednesday, June 07, 2017

Tennis News

At Roland Garros 2017, Paris, France

Mixed Doubles
[SF] (7) Gabriela Dabrowski (CAN)/ Rohan Bopanna (IND) bt (3) Andrea Hlavackova (CZE)/ Edouard Roger-Vasselin (FRA) 75 63

[F] (7) Gabriela Dabrowski (CAN)/ Rohan Bopanna (IND) vs Anna-Lena Groenefeld (GER)/ Robert Farah (COL)

Juniors
[R1] Zeel Desai (IND)/ Fernanda Labrana (CHI) bt (4) Marta Kostyuk (UKR)/ Katarina Zavatska (UKR) w/o

[R2] Zeel Desai (IND)/ Fernanda Labrana (CHI) vs Ayumi Miyamoto (JPN)/ Xiyu Wang (CHN)

Rohan and Gabriela r in the final with straight sets win over 3rd seed pair Andrea Hlavackova and Edouard Roger-Vasselin ... In the final, they r facing unseeded pairing of Anna-Lena Groenefeld and Robert Farah ... Tomorrow hoping for first grand slam title for Rohan.

Zeel and her Chilean partner received walkover from their 4th seed Ukrainian opponents ... Next, they r facing Asian pair.


At $125K Bol Open 2017, Croatia

[R1] (4) Alexandra Cadantu (ROU)/ Prarthana Thombare (IND) bt Olga Govortsova (BLR)/ Alexandra Panova (RUS) 61 36 10-8

[QF] (4) Alexandra Cadantu (ROU)/ Prarthana Thombare (IND) vs Tereza Mrdeza (CRO)/ Tamara Zidansek (SLO)

Prarthana-Alexandra started with a win in the match tie-break ... Next, they r facing Tereza Mrdeza and Tamara Zidansek.

At $150K+H Prostejov Challenger 2017, Czech Republic (Red clay)

[QF] (1) David Marrero (ESP)/ Leander Paes (IND) bt Radu Albot (MDA)/ Denys Molchanov (UKR) 76(3) 36 10-7

[SF] (1) David Marrero (ESP)/ Leander Paes (IND) vs Roman Jebavy (CZE)/ Hans Podlipink-Castillo (CHI)

Good fighting win by Lee-David against clay court specialist European pair in the match tie-break ... Next they r facing another clay court specialists, Roman Jebavy and Hans Podlipink-Castillo.

At $150K Surbiton Challenger 2017, Great Britain (Grass)

[R1] Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND)/ Dustin Brown (GER) bt Ken Skupski (GBR)/ Neal Skupski (GBR) 76(5) 67(3) 11-9

Very close win for Jeevan and Dustin in the match tie-break ... After losing the second set in the tie-break, Jeevan-Dustin saved a match point at 8-9 before converting their first match point ... Good win against big serving experienced Skupski brothers.

At $100K ITF Women Tournament 2017, Surbiton (Grass)

[R1] Ankita Raina (IND)/ Emily Webley-Smith (GBR) l Anna Blinkova (RUS)/ Alla Kudryavtseva (RUS) 46 57

Ankita-Emily lost in straight sets against Russian pair.

At $25K ITF Women Tournament 2017, Namangan, Uzbekistan

[R2] Karman Kaur Thandi (IND,480) bt (6) Olga Doroshina (RUS,301) 16 76(3) 61
[R2] (Q) Dhruthi Tatachar Venugopal (IND,634) l (4) Ksenia Lykina (RUS,245) 67(3) 36

[QF] Karman Kaur Thandi (IND,480) vs (3) Nigina Abduraimova (UZB,193)

Excellent comeback upset win by Krman against top-300 Russian player ... Next, she is facing tough challenge of local top-200 player ... Dhruthi also gave fighting performance against her top-250 Russian opponent.

Tuesday, June 06, 2017

Football News

At FIFA International Friendly 2017, Mumbai, India

India bt Nepal 2-0 (0-0)
Goal Scored - Sandesh Jhingan (IND) 60', Jeje Lalpekhlua (IND) 78'

The Indian team beat Nepal 2-0 in an international friendly match ... Stephen Constantine went in with a familiar 4-1-3-2 formation without injured Sunil Chhetri and Udanta Singh ... After a slow first half, our players lifted their game into the second ... Robin missed almost half-dozen chances in this match ... India won their 6th consecutive international game ... Next Tuesday, they r playing 2019 AFC Asian Cup qualifier against the Kyrgyz Republic in Bengaluru.

Tennis News

At $150K+H Prostejov Challenger 2017, Czech Republic (Red clay)

[R1] (1) David Marrero (ESP)/ Leander Paes (IND) bt Julian Knowle (AUT)/ Igor Zelenay (SVK) 76(4) 16 10-6

[QF] (1) David Marrero (ESP)/ Leander Paes (IND) vs Radu Albot (MDA)/ Denys Molchanov (UKR)

After winning the first set, Lee-David were a break up in the second, 1-0 ... After that they lost next 6 games for giving favor to their opponents ... But they recovered in the match tie-break for good win ... Next, they r facing Albot and Molchanov.

At $125K Bol Open 2017, Croatia

[R1] (Q) Prarthana Thombare (IND,939) l Tereza Mrdeza (CRO,254) 06 06

Forgettable scoreline for Prarthana in the singles against top-275 local player.

At $25K ITF Women Tournament 2017, Namangan, Uzbekistan

[R1] (Q) Dhruthi Tatachar Venugopal (IND,634) bt (Q) Ksenia Palkina Ulukan (KGZ,670) 61 62

[R2] Karman Kaur Thandi (IND,480) vs (6) Olga Doroshina (RUS,301)
[R2] (Q) Dhruthi Tatachar Venugopal (IND,634) vs (4) Ksenia Lykina (RUS,245)

Dhruthi started with dominating win over former top-200 player, Palkina ... Next, both players having tough Russian opponents.

Monday, June 05, 2017

Tennis News

At Roland Garros 2017, Paris, France

Mixed Doubles
[QF] (7) Gabriela Dabrowski (CAN)/ Rohan Bopanna (IND) bt (2) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Ivan Dodig (CRO) 63 64

Rohan with Gabriela scored a comfortable upset win over Sania and Ivan for entering into the semis of MXD.

At $150K Surbiton Challenger 2017, Great Britain (Grass)

[R1] (PR) Yuki Bhambri (IND,245) vs Duckhee Lee (KOR,131)

Doubles
[R1]Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND)/ Dustin Brown (GER) vs Ken Skupski (GBR)/ Neal Skupski (GBR)

Yuki is facing Duckhee in the first round ... Jeevan having really good partner in grass couert specialist Dustin Brown and they r facing Skupski brothers.

At $125K Bol Open 2017, Croatia

[Q1] (4) Prarthana Thombare (IND,939) bt Ema Mulalic (BIH,UNR) 60 63

[R1] (Q) Prarthana Thombare (IND,939) vs Tereza Mrdeza (CRO,254)

Doubles
[R1] (4) Alexandra Cadantu (ROU)/ Prarthana Thombare (IND) vs Olga Govortsova (BLR)/ Alexandra Panova (RUS)

Prarthana is playing in the singles and seeded 4th in the doubles with her Romanian partner Alexandra Cadantu in Bol open ... Prarthana took advantage of weaker singles qualifying draw for qualifying ... Facing tough challenge of local top-250 player in the first round ... In the doubles, they r facing Eastern European pair.

At $100K ITF Women Tournament 2017, Surbiton (Grass)

[R1] Ankita Raina (IND)/ Emily Webley-Smith (GBR) vs Anna Blinkova (RUS)/ Alla Kudryavtseva (RUS)

Ankita-Emily r facing Russian pair in the first round.

At $25K ITF Women Tournament 2017, Namangan, Uzbekistan

[R1] (Q) Dhruthi TATACHAR VENUGOPAL (IND,634) vs (Q) Ksenia PALKINA (KZG,670)
[R1] Karman Kaur THANDI (IND,474) bt (WC) Yasmina KARIMJANOVA (UZB,UNR) 76(1) 62

Karman started with straight sets victory against local wildcard player ... Dhruthi qualified and facing fellow qualifier in the first round.

Athletics News

At the 21st Federation Cup National Senior Athletics Championships 2017, Patiala, India

Javelin thrower Anu Rani smashed her own national record to win the gold, Rani threw the javelin to a distance of 61.86m to better her own earlier national mark of 60.01m. In the process, she also qualified for the World Championships to be held in London in August. The qualifying mark for the World Championships stands at 61.40m.

Nirmala Devi also qualified for the World Championships as she won the gold in women's 400m race with a timing of 51.28 seconds. The World Championships qualifying mark for women's 400m stands at 52.10 seconds.

Before that in May, Neeraj Chopra also qualified for world championships with a throw of 83.32 in the second leg of the Asian grand prix in China.

Sunday, June 04, 2017

Golf News

At $8.7M The Memorial Tournament 2017, Dublin, Ohio, USA

Courtesy of Asian Tour
T2 Anirban Lahiri 74 70 69 65 -10 $765,600.00

Anirban Lahiri fired the day’s best of seven-under-par 65 to finish tied second at The Memorial Tournament ... This is his best finish on PGA tour ... He had an unblemished final round with 7 birdies ... This result gave him a big payday and also push his ranking inside top-70.

At €1.5M Nordea Masters 2017, Barsebäck, Sweden

T30 SSP Chawrasia (IND) 71 73 71 75 -2
T41 Shiv Kapur (IND) 73 73 71 75 PAR

Chawrasia and Shiv managed 2 over final round, so they missed top-20 and top-30 finish respectively.

Badminton News

At $120K SCG Thailand Open 2017, (Grand Prix Gold)

Men's Singles Final
(3) Sai Praneeth B. (IND,24) bt (4) Jonatan Christie (INA,27) 17-21 21-18 21-19

Sai scored a superb comeback win over Christie in 71 mins for lifting the title ... In the first game, Christie opened 11-14 lead but Sai won next 5 points for leading 16-14 ... After that, he managed to win a point for losing this game ... In the second game, Sai opened a 9-3 lead but Christie made it 9-all ... After that, both players were neck to neck till 15-all ... From here Sai opened a couple of points lead 17-15 and kept that for taking the match into decider ... In the final game, Christie opened early 3-7 but Sai made it 9-all ... Again both players were neck to neck till 17-all ... Sai won next 2 points but Christie responded winning next two, 19-all ... Sai won last two points for lifting this title, this was really good win against young Indonesian, who was hitting powerful smashes.

Tennis News

At Roland Garros 2017, Paris, France

[R3] Divij Sharan (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) l Ryan Harrison (USA)/ Michael Venus (NZL) 64 67(5) 26
[R3] (9) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Pablo Cuevas (URU) l (5) Jamie Murray (GBR)/ Bruno Soares (BRA) 67(5) 26

Mixed Doubles
[R2] (7) Gabriela Dabrowski (CAN)/ Rohan Bopanna (IND) bt Chloe Paquet (FRA)/ Benoit Paire (FRA) 63 62
[R2] (2) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Ivan Dodig (CRO) bt Elina Svitolina (UKR)/ Artem Sitak (NZL) 62 64

[QF] (2) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Ivan Dodig (CRO) vs (7) Gabriela Dabrowski (CAN)/ Rohan Bopanna (IND)

Juniors
[R1] (WC) Abhimanyu Vannemreddy (IND,352) l (WC) Clement Tabur (FRA,122) 06 16
[R1] Zeel Desai (IND,21) l Daniela Vismane (LAT,34) 06 26

Turned to be a miserable day for Indians as our challenge is remained in MXD only ... In men's doubles, Purav-Divij broke Ryan in 5th game and kept that advantage for winning this set ... But after that our pair failed to keep momentum and lost the second set in a tie-break ... They were break up at 6-5 but Purav (and Divij also) choked while serving for the match ... After that Ryan-Micjael were too good for our pair in the final set ... Rohan-Pablo also out-performed against 5th seed in the second set after losing the first set in a tie-break.

Sania-Ivan entered into the mixed doubles quarter-final with comfortable straight sets win over Svitolina-Sitak ... Rohan-Gabriela also scored comfortable win over French pair for entering in the quarters and they r facing Sania and Ivan.

Our challenge in the junior singles got over on the first day ... Zeel managed to win 2 games in her match and Abhimanyu managed to win only one ... Our players received hammering and lesson of playing on the clay courts.


At $100K ITF Women Tournament 2017, Surbiton (Grass)

[Q3] (3) Ankita Raina (IND,266) l (7) Dayana Yastremska (UKR,325) 36 46

Ankita gave decent performance against last year's junior Wimbledon finalist Dayana in her loss.

At $150K+H Prostejov Challenger 2017, Czech Republic (Red clay)

[R1] (1) David Marrero (ESP)/ Leander Paes (IND) vs Julian Knowle (AUT)/ Igor Zelenay (SVK)

Leander has extended his clay court season as he is playing with David Marrero at Prostejov Challenger.

At $15K Singapore F2 Futures 2017,

Singles Final
(1) Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND,269) bt (2) Raymond SARMIENTO (USA,371) 62 62

Expected comfortable the futures title win for RamK against lowly ranked American Raymond Sarmiento losing only four games.

Golf News

At $8.7M The Memorial Tournament, Dublin, Ohio, USA

T27 Anirban Lahiri 74 70 69 -3

Anirban scored better third round as he managed 6 birdies and 3 bogeys to improve his standing ... He is in top-30 standing after three rounds with 3 under.

At $1.6M Shoprite LPGA Classic, Galloway, New Jersey, USA

Missed the cut
Aditi Ashok 70 79 +7
Sharmila Nicollet 76 78 +12

Our both players missed the cut as both failed to score birdie in the second round ... Aditi scored a triple bogey, a double bogey and three bogeys in her round ... Other hand Sharmila struggled with couple of double bogeys and three bogeys in her round.

Saturday, June 03, 2017

Tennis News

At Roland Garros 2017, Paris, France

[R3] Divij Sharan (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) vs Ryan Harrison (USA)/ Michael Venus (NZL) 1-2

The match is delayed due to rain.

At $100K ITF Women Tournament 2017, Surbiton (Grass)

[Q1] Ankita Raina (IND,266) bt Laura Deigman (GBR,999) 62 62
[Q2] Ankita Raina (IND,266) bt Monique Adamczak (AUS,694) 75 76(5)

[Q3] Ankita Raina (IND,266) vs (7) Dayana Yastremska (UKR,325)

Ankita scored real tight win against Aussie player, Monique Adamczak ... Before that she started with a comfortable win on her grass season opener against local player ... In the final qualifying round, she is facing last year's junior Wimbledon finalist Dayana Yastremska ... This is a real tough match for Ankita.

At $25K Uzbekistan F3 Futures 2017, Andijan,

[R1] (2) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND,310) bt Mohit Mayur JAYAPRAKASH (IND,996) 62 76(7)
[R2] (2) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND,310) bt Denis YEVSEYEV (KAZ,743) 64 61
[QF] (2) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND,310) bt (Q) Daniiar DULDAEV (KZG,1634) 67(6) 62 63
[SF] (2) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND,310) bt Vitaly KOZYUKOV (RUS,560) 62 64

[F] (2) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND,310) l (1) Sanjar FAYZIEV (UZB,306) 36 36

Doubles
[R1] (1) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND)/ Vishnu VARDHAN (IND) bt Botir SAPAEV (UZB)/ Pavel TSOY (UZB) 62 62
[QF] (1) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND)/ Vishnu VARDHAN (IND) bt Temur ISMAILOV (UZB)/ Markos KALOVELONIS (RUS) w/o
[SF] (1) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND)/ Vishnu VARDHAN (IND) bt (4) Mikhail FUFYGIN (RUS)/ Alexander PAVLIOUTCHENKOV (RUS) 63 16 10-5
[F] (1) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND)/ Vishnu VARDHAN (IND) bt (2) Vladyslav MANAFOV (UKR)/ Denis MATSUKEVITCH (RUS) 63 62

Bala reached the final of Uzbek futures but disappointing loss in the singles final against similar ranked Uzbek player.

In the doubles, another title for Bala and Vishnu ... It was their the sixth doubles title of the season as a pair.


At $15K Singapore F2 Futures 2017,

[R1] (1) Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND,269) bt (WC) Shaheed ALAM (SGP,UNR) 61 60
[R1] (5) N. Vijay Sundar PRASHANTH (IND,586) bt (WC) Roy HOBBS (SGP) 61 62

[R2] (1) Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND,269) bt Ken ONODA (JPN,1452) 61 62
[R2] (5) N. Vijay Sundar PRASHANTH (IND,586) bt (Q) Marc-Andrea HUESLER (SUI,971) 63 62

[QF] (1) Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND,269) bt Sidharth RAWAT (IND) 75 63
[QF] (5) N. Vijay Sundar PRASHANTH (IND,586) bt (4) Masato SHIGA (JPN) 60 62

[SF] (1) Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND,269) bt (5) N. Vijay Sundar PRASHANTH (IND,586) 63 62

[F] (1) Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND,269) vs (2) Raymond SARMIENTO (USA,371)

RamK is playing in Singapore futures and he is inthe final beating VSP comfortably.

Badminton News

At $120K SCG Thailand Open 2017, (Grand Prix Gold)

[R1] (3) Sai Praneeth B. (IND,24) bt Nathaniel Ernestan Sulistyo (INA,204) 21-10 18-9 retd.
[R2] (3) Sai Praneeth B. (IND,24) bt Satheishtharan R. (MAS,126) 21-15 21-13
[R1] (2) Saina Nehwal (IND,11) bt Martina Repiska (SLO,112) 21-5 21-10

[R3] (3) Sai Praneeth B. (IND,24) bt (9) Iskandar Zulkarnain (MAS,39) 21-13 21-18
[R2] (2) Saina Nehwal (IND,11) bt Ying Ying Lee (MAS,52) 21-11 21-14

[QF] (3) Sai Praneeth B. (IND,24) bt Kantaphon Wangcharoen (THA,102) 21-16 21-17
[QF] (2) Saina Nehwal (IND,11) bt Haruko Suzuki (JPN,132) 21-15 20-22 21-11

[SF] (3) Sai Praneeth B. (IND,24) bt Pannawit Thongnuam (THA,71) 21-11 21-15
[SF] (2) Saina Nehwal (IND,11) l (4) Busanan Ongbamrungphan (THA,13) 19-21 18-21

[F] (3) Sai Praneeth B. (IND,24) vs (4) Jonatan Christie (INA,27)

Sindhu has rightly skipped this tournament but Saina and Sai r taking full advantage of weaker draw ... Sai is in the final without losing a game and facing Indonesian Jonatan Christie for the title ... Otherhand Saina lost in the semis against Thai girl, Busanan Ongbamrungphan, this was Saina's first loss against her ... Other Indians players lost in first 2 rounds.

Golf News

At $1.3M LPGA Volvik Championship, Ann Arbor, Michigan

T65 Aditi Ashok (IND) 71 70 73 73 -1 $2,721.00

Last week, Aditi ended with a lowly T65 position on LPGA tour as she managed identical 1 over in her last two rounds.

At $1.6M Shoprite LPGA Classic, Galloway, New Jersey, USA

T28 Aditi Ashok 70 -1
T124 Sharmila Nicollet 76 +5

This week, Sharmila also joined Aditi on the tour for one of the tournament as the winner of Twitter polling, but she struggled in the first round and can miss the cut ... Aditi has started decently, so hoping better finish for her.

At $8.7M The Memorial Tournament, Dublin, Ohio, USA

T40 Anirban Lahiri 74 70 PAR

Anirban has made the cut for the prestigious Memorial Tournament ... On firs day, he managed only 2 over and in the second round, he had rollercoaster round ... He scored 7 birdies, 3 bogeys, and a double-bogey for 2 under round, 3 birdies in last 6 holes.

Friday, June 02, 2017

Tennis News

At Roland Garros 2017, Paris, France

[R2] Scott Lipsky (USA)/ Leander Paes (IND) l David Marrero (ESP)/ Tommy Robredo (ESP) 67(3) 26
[R2] (9) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Pablo Cuevas (URU)bt Treat Huey (PHI)/ Denis Istomin (UKR) 57 76(4) 64

[R3] Divij Sharan (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) vs Ryan Harrison (USA)/ Michael Venus (NZL)
[R3] (9) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Pablo Cuevas (URU) vs (5) Jamie Murray (GBR)/ Bruno Soares (BRA)

Mixed Doubles
[R1] Martina Hingis (SUI)/ Leander Paes (IND) l (4) Katarina Srebotnik (SLO)/ Raven Klaasen (RSA) 46 61 2-10
[R1] (2) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Ivan Dodig (CRO) bt Darija Jurak (CRO)/ Mate Pavic (CRO) 75 63

[R2] (7) Gabriela Dabrowski (CAN)/ Rohan Bopanna (IND) vs Chloe Paquet (FRA)/ Benoit Paire (FRA)
[R2] (2) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Ivan Dodig (CRO) vs Elina Svitolina (UKR)/ Artem Sitak (NZL)

Rohan-Pablo needed to dig deep for coming out of the hole for winning this match ... After losing the first set, Rohan-Pablo fought hard to win the second set in the tie-break ... And they kept momentum in the third for winning this match ... Next, they r facing 5th seed Murray and Soares ... Other hand, Divij-Purav r facing Harrison and Venus, who scored upset win over 4th seed.

Spanish pairing of Marrero and Robredo proved strong for Lee and Scott ... After losing the first set in the tie-break they failed to challenge them in the second.

Sania-Ivan started with straight sets win over Croatian pair ... Next, they r facing Sitak and Svitolina and Rohan-Gabriela r facing French pair.

But defending champion Lee and Martina lost in the first round ... After losing the first set they tried a strong comeback with winning the second set comfortably ... In the match tie-break, 4th seed Srebotnik-Klaasen proved too strong for this veteran pair.

Thursday, June 01, 2017

Tennis News

At Roland Garros 2017, Paris, France

[R2] Divij Sharan (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) bt (15) Oliver Marach (AUT)/ Mate Pavic (CRO) 64 36 64

Mixed Doubles
[R1] (7) Gabriela Dabrowski (CAN)/ Rohan Bopanna (IND) bt Jessica Moore (AUS)/ Matt Reid (AUS) 60 61

Fabulous win by Divij-Purav against 15th seed Marach-Pavice for entering into the third round of French open ... Purav-Divij started confidently matching experienced Marach-Pavic game ... Got crucial break in 9th for winning the first set ... But they lost the second set after giving early break ... In the final set, both pairs were holding their respective service games ... In 10th game, our pair took crucial break when Marach was serving for staying in the match with some superb returning of the serves.

In MXD, Rohan and Gabriela had dominating start as they won their match losing only a game against Aussie pair.

Wednesday, May 31, 2017

Tennis News

At Roland Garros 2017, Paris, France

[R1] (4) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Yaroslava Shvedova (KAZ) l Daria Gavrilova (AUS)/ Anastasi Pavlyuchenkova (RUS) 67(5) 61 26

[R1] Scott Lipsky (USA)/ Leander Paes (IND) bt (ALT) Radu Albot (MDA)/ Hyeon Chung (KOR) 76(5) 46 62
[R1] Divij Sharan (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) bt Nicolas Almagro (ESP)/ Steve Johnson (USA) 67(5) 64 60
[R1] (9) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Pablo Cuevas (URU) bt (WC) Mathias Bourgue (FRA)/ Paul-Henri Mathieu (FRA) 61 61

[R2] Scott Lipsky (USA)/ Leander Paes (IND) vs David Marrero (ESP)/ Tommy Robredo (ESP)
[R2] Divij Sharan (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) vs (15) Oliver Marach (AUT)/ Mate Pavic (CRO)
[R2] (9) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Pablo Cuevas (URU) vs Treat Huey (PHI)/ Denis Istomin (UKR)

Disappointing loss of Sania-Yaroslava against Gavrilova and Pavlyuchenkova in three sets ... After losing the first set in tie-break, Sania-Yaroslava fought back to win the second set comfortably ... But they failed to keep momentum in the third and lost it convincingly.

Rohan-Pablo started with a confident win over French pair ... They lost only 2 games in the match ... In the second round, they r facing Huey and Istomin.

Lee-Scott scored 3 sets win over Radu Albot and Hyeon Chung ... Not a confident start but at least they started with a win ... Next, they r meeting experienced Spanish pair, who scored upset win over top-seed pair.

Divij-Purav scored their first win in the French open beating Almagro and Johnson ... They should had win this match in two sets but after leading 5-3 they missed a set point ... Afterlosing the tie-break they recovered well and made excellent comeback for winning the second set with an early break ... Then domnated the final set as they bagel their opponents ... Next, they r facing 15th seed Oliver Marach and Mate Pavic.


At $25K ITF Women Tournament 2017, Andijan, Uzbekistan

[R2] Karman Kaur Thandi (IND,474) l Anastasia Gasanova (RUS,438) 57 26

Karman failed to challenge Russian girl in the second set after giving close fight in the first.

At $15K+H Italy F15 Futures 2017, Reggio Emilia

[R2] Sumit Nagal (IND,405) l (7) Michael Linzer (AUT,279) 36 36

Sumit had a real fight on his hands against Lizner but he failed to challenge him ... But I am hoping that his game is improving.

Tuesday, May 30, 2017

Tennis News

At Roland Garros 2017, Paris, France

Mixed Doubles
[R1] Martina Hingis (SUI)/ Leander Paes (IND) vs (4) Katarina Srebotnik (SLO)/ Raven Klaasen (RSA)
[R1] (7) Gabriela Dabrowski (CAN)/ Rohan Bopanna (IND) vs Jessica Moore (AUS)/ Matt Reid (AUS)
[R1] (2) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Ivan Dodig (CRO) vs Darija Jurak (CRO)/ Mate Pavic (CRO)

Mixed doubles draw is out ... Defending champion Lee-Martina having tough opener against 4th seed Srebotnik and Klaasen.

At $25K ITF Women Tournament 2017, Andijan, Uzbekistan

[R1] (Q) Dhruthi Tatachar Venugopal (IND,629) l (WC) Komola Umarova (UZB,851) 46 67(6)

[R2] Karman Kaur Thandi (IND,474) vs Anastasia Gasanova (RUS,438)

Tough loss for Dhruthi against local wildcard player ... Karman is facing Gasanova, who scored upset win over 2nd seed Russian.

At $15K Italy F15 Futures 2017, Reggio Emilia

[R1] Sumit Nagal (IND,405) bt Dragos Dima (ROU,316) 60 60

Frankly never experienced these type of scoreline by Indian player consistently against players between 300 to 350 ... Another double bagel win for Sumit, this time against top-325 ranked Dragos Dima.

Monday, May 29, 2017

Tennis News

At $25K ITF Women Tournament 2017, Andijan, Uzbekistan

[R1] (Q) Kyra SHROFF (IND,736) l (8) Kamila KERIMBAYEVA (KAZ,365) 75 36 26
[R1] Karman Kaur THANDI (IND,474) bt Melis SEZER (TUR,448) 46 75 76(2)

Karman scored fighting comeback win over Turkish girl, Sezer ... After losing the first set, Karman dug deep for fightback ... In the third set, Sezer two times served for the match but both time Karman broke her and then comfortably won the tie-break ... Other hand, Kyra started well after winning the first set but failed to keep momentum in next two.

At $15K Italy F15 Futures 2017, Reggio Emilia

[R1] Sumit Nagal (IND,405) vs Dragos Dima (ROU,316)

This is tricky match as Sumit lost against Dima in beginning of the month.

Sunday, May 28, 2017

Tennis News

At Roland Garros 2017, Paris, France

[R1] (4) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Yaroslava Shvedova (KAZ) vs Daria Gavrilova (AUS)/ Anastasi Pavlyuchenkova (RUS)

[R1] Scott Lipsky (USA)/ Leander Paes (IND) vs Marcos Baghdatis (CYP)/ Gilles Muller (LUX)
[R1] Divij Sharan (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) vs Nicolas Almagro (ESP)/ Steve Johnson (USA)
[R1] (9) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Pablo Cuevas (URU) vs (WC) Mathias Bourgue (FRA)/ Paul-Henri Mathieu (FRA)

Doubles draw is out ... 4th seed Sania-Yaroslava r in bottom draw.

Lee-Scott can face top-seed Kontinen and Peers, if they win their first round ... Overall our pairs having winnable first round matches.

Abhimanyu Vannem Reddy secured the French Open junior wild card by beating Hikaru Shiraishi of Japan, 61 46 61, in the final of the Rendezvous Roland Garros tournament in Paris on Saturday.


At $60K ITF Womens Tournament 2017, Luan, China

Courtesy of Ankita Raina's FB page
Singles Final
Ankita Raina (IND,321) l (1) Lin Zhu (CHN,124) 36 63 46

Ankita lost in the final against top-125 Lin Zhu in three sets ... Still this was excellent week for her as she reached her first ITF tournament in $50K and above event.

After losing the first set, Ankita was break down 2-3 in the second but she made superb fightback for winning next 4 games to win this set ... In the final set, Zhu took 5-0 lead and from here Ankita tried comeback ... She won next 4 games saving 4 match points but failed to hold her serve in 10th for the loss.


At $25K Romania F2 Futures 2017, Bacau

Singles Final
(5) Sumit Nagal (IND,405) l (3) Goncalo Oliveira (POR,379) 63 36 06

Sumit started well and broke Oliveira in 2nd to lead 3-0 ... He kept that advantage for winning the first set ... In the second set, Sumit was early break down 1-4, he broke Oliveira to make it 3-4 but Oliveira again broke him in next game for winning the set .... In the final set, Sumit failed to challenge Oliveira, hoping no injury scare ... Oliveira broke Sumit in 1st, 3rd and 5th games for winning it comfortably ... So other than these final two sets this week was good for Sumit.

At $25K ITF Women Tournament 2017, Andijan, Uzbekistan

[R1] (Q) Kyra SHROFF (IND,736) vs (8) Kamila KERIMBAYEVA (KAZ,365)
[R1] (Q) Dhruthi TATACHAR VENUGOPAL (IND,629) vs (WC) Komola UMAROVA (UZB,851)
[R1] Karman Kaur THANDI (IND,474) vs Melis SEZER (TUR,448)

Kyra and Dhruthi qualified for main-draw to join Karman ... Karman and Kyra having tough matches in the first round.

Saturday, May 27, 2017

Tennis News

At $60K ITF Womens Tournament 2017, Luan, China

[SF] Ankita Raina (IND,321) bt (5) Sofia Shapatava (GEO,244) 64 61

[F] Ankita Raina (IND,321) vs (1) Lin Zhu (CHN,124)


Another excellent win by Ankita for entering her first final of $50K and above tournament ... After winning the first set she dominated last against top-250 ranked Shapatava ... In the final, she is having big challenge of top-125 Chinese girl, Lin Zhu.

At $25K Romania F2 Futures 2017, Bacau

[SF] (5) Sumit Nagal (IND,405) bt (7) Frederico Ferreira Silva (POR,406) 62 62

[F] (5) Sumit Nagal (IND,405) vs (3) Goncalo Oliveira (POR,379)

After a long time Sumit lost his service game in the 7th game after taking 5-0 lead but he again immediately broke Ferreira Silva in 8th game for winning the first set ... In the second set, Sumit broke Ferreira Silva in the 6th and 8th games for completing dominated victory ... Next, he is facing another Portuguese player, Goncalo Oliveira, for the title.

Friday, May 26, 2017

Tennis News

At €540K Banque Eric Sturdza Geneva Open 2017, Switzerland (Red clay)

[SF] Scott Lipsky (USA)/ Leander Paes (IND) l (1) Jean-Julien Rojer (NED)/ Horia Tecau (ROU) 36 63 3-10

Lee-Scott lost in the match tie-break against top-seed pairing of Jean-Julien Rojer and Horia Tecau.

At $60K ITF Womens Tournament 2017, Luan, China

[QF] Ankita Raina (IND,321) bt (3) Fangzhou Liu (CHN,139) 46 63 62

[SF] Ankita Raina (IND,321) vs (5) Sofia Shapatava (GEO,244)

Ankita scored huge comeback win over top-150 Chinese girl Fangzhou Liu ... After very long time she has scored this top-150 win, here after losing the first set she made excellent comeback for winning next two sets ... Next, she is facing Georgian girl Sofia Shapatava.

At $25K Romania F2 Futures 2017, Bacau

[QF] (5) Sumit Nagal (IND,405) bt (1) Gregoire Jacq (FRA,367) 60 60

Sumit made a mockey of seedings and handed a double bagel to a top-seed Frenchman Gregoire Jacq in 53 mins.

Badminton News

At BWF Sudirman Cup 2017, Gold Coast, Australia

Quarter Final
(9/12) India l (1) China 0-3

[XD] Ashwini Ponnappa (IND)/ Satwiksairaj Rankireddy (IND) l Kai Lu (CHN)/ Yaqiong Huang (CHN) 21-16 13-21 16-21
[MS] Kidambi Srikanth (IND,24) l Long Chen (CHN,12) 16-21 17-21
[MD] Satwiksairaj Rankireddy (IND)/ Chirag Shetty (IND) l Haifeng Fu (CHN)/ Nan Zhang (CHN) 9-21 11-21

This was the second time we qualified for the quarter finals of Sudiram cup and both time we faced #1 seed Chinese team ... Despite this loss, we can say overall good performance and some positives to take.

Again impressive performance from our new MXD pair, Ashwini and 16 yr old Satwiksairaj, as they stretched WR #2 Chinese team to three games .. In every match, they gave impressiv showing in this tournament ... Need to keep eye on the progress of Satwiksairaj.

Srikanth failed to challenge fromer WR #1 Long Chen in his loss .. In men's doubles, young Chirag and Satwiksairaj got doubles trainning from former WR #1 and very experienced Chinese pair.

Thursday, May 25, 2017

Tennis News

At €540K Banque Eric Sturdza Geneva Open 2017, Switzerland (Red clay)

[QF] Scott Lipsky (USA)/ Leander Paes (IND) bt Rogerio Dutra Silva (BRA)/ Paolo Lorenzi (ITA) w/o (Dutra Silva: Right Ankle)

[SF] Scott Lipsky (USA)/ Leander Paes (IND) vs (1) Jean-Julien Rojer (NED)/ Horia Tecau (ROU)

Lee and Scott r in the semis without hitting the ball as they received walkover ... Next, they r facing top-seed pairing of Jean-Julien Rojer and Horia Tecau.

At $60K ITF Womens Tournament 2017, Luan, China

[R2] Ankita Raina (IND,321) bt (6) Jing-Jing Lu (CHN,297) 62 57 63

[QF] Ankita Raina (IND,321) vs (3) Fangzhou Liu (CHN,139)

After longtime Ankita scored top-300 win and this was her first win over top-300 in 2017 ... In well contested match, Ankita defeated Lu in three sets in more than 2 hours long match ... Next, she is facing top-150 Chinese girl Fangzhou Liu.

At $25K Romania F2 Futures 2017, Bacau

[R2] (5) Sumit Nagal (IND,405) bt Carls Gomez-Herrera (ESP,576) 76(3) 62

[QF] (5) Sumit Nagal (IND,405) vs (1) Gregoire Jacq (FRA,367)

This is good win by Sumit against experienced Spansh Carlos Gomez-Herrera ... It also shows Sumit is getting his confidence back and gaining momentum ... Next, he is facing top-seed Frenchman Gregoire Jacq, winnable match if he shows consistency.

Wednesday, May 24, 2017

Tennis News

At $60K ITF Womens Tournament 2017, Luan, China

[R1] Ankita Raina (IND,321) bt (WC) Zhanlan Wei (CHN,521) 62 63

[R2] Ankita Raina (IND,321) vs (6) Jing-Jing Lu (CHN,297)

Ankita started with comfortable win against local wild-card player .. Next, she is facing similar ranked Chinese opponent Lu.

At $25K Romania F2 Futures 2017, Bacau

[Q1] (1) Sumit Nagal (IND,405) bye
[Q2] (1) Sumit Nagal (IND,405) bt Iulian Mihai Crisan Zara (ROU,UNR) 61 75
[Q3] (1) Sumit Nagal (IND,405) bt (10) Sergey Dorozhkin (RUS,1855) 61 60

[R1] (5) Sumit Nagal (IND,405) bt Nicolae Frunza (ROU,580) 62 retd.

[R2] (5) Sumit Nagal (IND,405) vs Carlos Gomez-Herrera (ESP,576)

This week Sumit qualified as an qualifier and started with a win as his opponent retired after losing the first set ... Next, he is facing Spanish player Carlos Gomez-Herrera.

Tuesday, May 23, 2017

Tennis News

At €540K Banque Eric Sturdza Geneva Open 2017, Switzerland (Red clay)

[R1] Scott Lipsky (USA)/ Leander Paes (IND) bt (PR) David Marrero (ESP)/ Tommy Robredo (ESP) 67(3) 76(3) 10-4

[QF] Scott Lipsky (USA)/ Leander Paes (IND) vs Rogerio Dutra Silva (BRA)/ Paolo Lorenzi (ITA)

Lee-Scott scored tight comeback win over Spanish pair in the first round ... After losing the first set, Lee-Scott fought back to win the second set in the tie-break ... But they dominated match tie-break from the start ... Next, they r facing another unseeded pair, who scored upset win over 4th seed.

At €540K Open Parc Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes Lyon 2017, France

[R1] Divij Sharan (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) l (WC) Benoit Paire (FRA)/ Thomas Paire (FRA) 63 26 2-10

Disappointing loss for Purav-Divij against Paire brothers, one was an amateur player, after their last week's title win.

At €226K NÜRNBERGER Versicherungs Cup 2017, Germany

[R1] (1) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Yaroslava Shvedova (KAZ) l Chia-Jung Chuang (TPE)/ Misaki Doi (JPN) 57 26

This was a tough loss for Sania-Yaroslava against Doi-Chuang in straight sets.

At $226K Internationaux de Strasbourg 2017, France

[QF] Vera Lapko (BLR)/ Prarthana Thombare (IND) l Chantal Skamlova (SVK)/ Eva Wacanno (NED) 36 57

Prarthana-Vera failed to score back to back wins in this WTA tournament ... This was an upset loss as their opponents were lower ranked, so missed an opportunity for Prarthana.

At $50K+H Mestre Challenger 2017, Italy (Red clay)

[R1] Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,270) l (8) Blake Mott (AUS,256) 57 36

Very disappointing result for Prajnesh against similar ranked Aussie opponent ... Morover, he was 3-1 up in the first set before losing this match.

Badminton News

At BWF Sudirman Cup 2017, Gold Coast, Australia

Group 1D
(9/12) India bt (5/8) Indonesia 4-1

[XD] Ashwini Ponnappa (IND)/ Satwiksairaj Rankireddy (IND) bt Tontowi Ahmad (INA)/ Gloria Emanuelle Widjaja (INA) 22-20 17-21 21-19
[MS] Kidambi Srikanth (IND,26) bt Jonatan Christie (INA,28) 21-15 21-16
[MD] Satwiksairaj Rankireddy (IND)/ Chirag Shetty (IND) l Marcus Fernaldi Gideon (INA)/ Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo (INA) 9-21 16-21
[WS] Pusarla V. Sindhu (IND,4) bt Fitriani Fitriani (INA,23) 21-8 21-19
[WD] Ashwini Ponnappa (IND)/ N. Sikki Reddy (IND) bt Della Destiara Haris (INA)/ Rosyita Eka Putri Sari (INA) 21-12 21-19

Indians completed victory after winning women's doubles, MXD and 2 singles for entering into the quarters (Group1) ... Ashwini was the a hero of this win as she was in mixed in our two important wins.

Ashwini has repeated or bettered her yesterday's performance with 16 yrs Satwiksairaj, as they scored an upset win over Indonesian pair in MXD in a closely fought match ... Srikanth scored comfortable straight games win over similar ranked Indonesian to give a 2-0 lead.

After that expected results, as our young doubles pair lost against WR #1 Indonesian pair but Sindhu scored straight games win over Fitriani. In the final match, Ashwini and Sikki scored superb straight games win over WR #15 Indonesian pair for our dominating win over Indonesian team.

Monday, May 22, 2017

Tennis News

At Roland Garros 2017, Paris, France

[Q1] Yuki Bhambri (IND,241) l (25) Peter Polansky (CAN,132) 67(5) 67(5)
[Q1] Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,265) l (13) Guido Pella (ARG,114) 26 16

Our both players were playing against seeded but RamK had a real tough match against clay court specialist and former top-50 Argentine Guido Pella ... In his match, Yuki was up early break 3-0 but Polansky fought back to make it 4-all ... And in tie-break, he took early lead 2-5 but Yuki caught up at 5-all ... Polansky won next 2 points for winning the set .... In the second set, Polansky broke Yuki in 7th game, 3-4, but Yuki immediately broke back, 4-all ... Again in tie-break Polansky took early lead and had 3 match points at 3-6 ... Yuki saved 2 match points but failed to save 3rd ... RamK failed to challenge superior Guido Pella in his match ... So early exit for us in the singles but big cheque for them.

At €540K Open Parc Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes Lyon 2017, France

[R1] (WC) Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND)/ Christopher Rungkat (INA) l Nick Kyrgios (AUS)/ Matt Reid (AUS) 36 63 5-10

Jeevan-Chris lost in the match tie-break against more experienced Aussie pair.

At $226K Internationaux de Strasbourg 2017, France

[R1] Vera Lapko (BLR)/ Prarthana Thombare (IND) bt Chen Liang (CHN)/ Katarzyna Piter (POL) 63 64

Prarthana and her Belarus partner Lapko started with straight sets victory over their opponents ... This is her first main-draw win in WTA tournament.

Badminton News

At BWF Sudirman Cup 2017, Gold Coast, Australia

Group 1D
(9/12) India l (2) Denmark 1-4

[XD] Ashwini Ponnappa (IND)/ Satwiksairaj Rankireddy (IND) l Joachim Fischer Nielsen (DEN)/ Christinna Pedersen (DEN) 15-21 21-16 17-21
[MS] Ajay Jayaram (IND,13) l Viktor Axelsen (DEN,3) 12-21 7-21
[MD] Manu Attri (IND)/ B. Sumeeth Reddy (IND) l Mathias Boe (DEN)/ Carsten Mogensen (DEN) 17-21 15-21
[WS] Pusarla V. Sindhu (IND,4) bt Line Kjærsfeldt (DEN,26) 21-18 21-6
[WD] Ashwini Ponnappa (IND)/ N. Sikki Reddy (IND) l Kamilla Rytter Juhl (DEN)/ Christinna Pedersen (DEN) 21-18 15-21 21-23

Bad start for us, as we manged to win a single match against 2nd seed Denmark ... In the second match, Ajay lost one-sided match against Axelsen after Ashwini-Satwiksairaj lost in three games in MXD ... Our men's doubles pair lost in stright games against fancied Danish pair ... Sindhu scored expeted comfortable win against Danish girl ... Ashwini-Sikki started well after winning the first game ... Danish pair won the second game comfortably ... In the third, our pair tried hard, they saved 4 match points from 16-20 and had a match point at 21-20 but failed to convert ... Danish pair converted 5th match point for completing the win ... Next, in our last group match we r facing (5/8) ranked Indonesian team.

Squash News

At $5K Men's Malaysian Tour No9 2017, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

[R1] (Q) Abhay Singh (IND,493) bt (6) Ravi Dixit (IND,180) 11-5, 11-8, 11-8 (50m)
[R1] (2) Harinder Pal Singh Sandhu (IND,89) bt (Q) Vijay Kumar (IND,323) 15-13, 11-9, 11-8 (31m)

[QF] (Q) Abhay Singh (IND,493) l (1) Elvinn Keo (MAS,102) 8-11, 4-11, 13-15 (40m)
[QF] (2) Harinder Pal Singh Sandhu (IND,89) bt (7) Yuen Tsun Hei (HKG,191) 11-9, 11-4, 11-3 (28m)

[SF] (2) Harinder Pal Singh Sandhu (IND,89) bt (4) Tang Ming Hong (HKG,123) 11-5, 11-7, 11-6

[R1] (2) Harinder Pal Singh Sandhu (IND,89) bt (3) Mohd Syafiq Kamal (MAS,105) 11-5, 11-7, 11-7 (36m)

Back to bac titles for Harinder Pal Singh, as he lifted his 7th PSA title and 2nd outside India ... Here he won all is matches comfortably including the final against Malaysian Mohd Syafiq Kamal.

Sunday, May 21, 2017

Tennis News

At €106K+H Bordeaux Challenger 2017, France (Red clay)

Divij's FB page
Doubles Final
(3) Divij Sharan (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) bt (4) Santiago Gonzalez (MEX)/ Artem Sitak (NZL) 64 64

Divij Sharan and Purav Raja scored a straight sets victory in the final of the Bordeaux Challenger, beating 4th seed Santiago Gonzalez and Artem Sitak.

At €540K Banque Eric Sturdza Geneva Open 2017, Switzerland (Red clay)

[R1] Scott Lipsky (USA)/ Leander Paes (IND) vs (PR) David Marrero (ESP)/ Tommy Robredo (ESP)

Lee with Scott Lipsky, r playing in the Geneva open ... And they r facing experienced Spanish players, David Marrero and Tommy Robredo, in the first round.

At $50K+H Mestre Challenger 2017, Italy (Red clay)

[R1] Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,270) vs (8) Blake Mott (AUS,256)

This week important for Prajnesh for Wimbledon qualifying tournament qualification ... He needs to reach at least semis for giving himself some chance.

Saturday, May 20, 2017

Tennis News

At $2.77M Internazionali BNL d'Italia 2017, Rome, Italy (Premier 5)

[SF] (3) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Yaroslava Shvedova (KAZ) l (2) Yung-Jan Chan (TPE)/ Martina Hingis (SUI) 36 67(7)

Sania-Yaroslava tried hard in the second set but Hingis-Chan managed to complete win in straight sets.

At €540K Open Parc Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes Lyon 2017, France

[R1] Divij Sharan (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) vs (WC) Benoit Paire (FRA)/ Thomas Paire (FRA)
[R1] (WC) Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND)/ Christopher Rungkat (INA) vs Nick Kyrgios (AUS)/ Matt Reid (AUS)

Divij-Purav r playing in Lyon open and having a winnable first round match ... Jeevan-Chris managed to get a wildcard but facing a tough match against Aussie pair.

At €226K NÜRNBERGER Versicherungs Cup 2017, Germany

[R1] (1) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Yaroslava Shvedova (KAZ) vs Chia-Jung Chuang (TPE)/ Misaki Doi (JPN)

Sania-Yaroslava playing in Germany, mostly for honing their partnership before French open.

At $226K Internationaux de Strasbourg 2017, France

[R1] Vera Lapko (BLR)/ Prarthana Thombare (IND) vs Chen Liang (CHN)/ Katarzyna Piter (POL)

In Strasbourg tournament, Prarthana getting chance to participate with her Belarus partner Vera Lapko ... Hoping for a decent outing for her.

Friday, May 19, 2017

Tennis News

At €4.5M Rome Masters 2017, Italy

[QF] Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Pablo Cuevas (URU) l (4) Pierre-Hugues Herbert (FRA)/ Nicolas Mahut (FRA) 67(5) 76(2) 10-12

Rohan-Pablo lost in really close match against 4th seed French pair ... After losing the first set in tie-break, ROhan-Pablo fought back for winning the second set tie-break ... Again both pairs were neck to neck in the match tie-break which French pair won on extra points.

At $2.77M Internazionali BNL d'Italia 2017, Rome, Italy (Premier 5)

[QF] (3) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Yaroslava Shvedova (KAZ) bt (WC) Sara Errani (ITA)/ Martina Trevisan (ITA) 64 61

[SF] (3) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Yaroslava Shvedova (KAZ) vs (2) Yung-Jan Chan (TPE)/ Martina Hingis (SUI)

Sania-Yaroslava entered into the semis with comfortable win over wildcard Italian pair ... In the semis, they r facing 2nd seed Hingis and Chan.

At €106K+H Bordeaux Challenger 2017, France (Red clay)

[SF] (3) Divij Sharan (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) bt (2) Scott Lipsky (USA)/ Leander Paes (IND) 62 63

[F] (3) Divij Sharan (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) vs (4) Santiago Gonzalez (MEX)/ Artem Sitak (NZL)

Divij-Purav scored comfortable win over Lee-Scott for entering into the final.

At $75K+H Samarkand Challenger 2017, Uzbekistan (Red clay)

Doubles Final
Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND)/ Vishnu Vardhan (IND) l Laurynas Grigelis (LTU)/ Zdenek Kolar (CZE) 67(2) 36

Prajnesh-Vishnu failed to lift the title against Kolar and Grigelis but overall really good performance by them.

Hockey News

At The Men's Hockey World League Semi-Finals 2017, London, England

Goalkeepers - Akash Chikte, Vikas Dahiya

Defenders - Pardeep Mor, Kothajit Singh, Surender Kumar, Rupinderpal Singh, Harmanpreet Singh

Midfielders - Chinglensana Singh Kangujam (Vice-captain), S.K. Uthappa, Satbir Singh, Sardar Singh, Manpreet Singh (Captain), Harjeet Singh

Forwards - Ramandeep Singh, SV Sunil, Talwinder Singh, Mandeep Singh, Akashdeep Singh

Indian team has been selected for Hockey World League Semi-Finals ... Sreejesh has missed as he is still recovering from injury ... Our forward line looks susceptible, I am surprised why didn't selectors selected players like Affan, Sumit, Nikkin etc.

Thursday, May 18, 2017

Tennis News

At €4.5M Rome Masters 2017, Italy

[R2] Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Pablo Cuevas (URU) bt (7) Feliciano Lopez (ESP)/ Marc Lopez (ESP) 46 76(7) 10-8

[QF] Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Pablo Cuevas (URU) vs (4) Pierre-Hugues Herbert (FRA)/ Nicolas Mahut (FRA)

Rohan-Pablo's encouraging performance on clay continues ... They scored superb comeback victory after saving match point against 7th seed Spanish pair ... In the second set, they needed to dig deep for winning the tie-break and kept their upperhand in the match tie-break for a victory ... Next, they r facing 4th seed Mahut and Herbert.

At $75K+H Samarkand Challenger 2017, Uzbekistan (Red clay)

[SF] Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND)/ Vishnu Vardhan (IND) bt (1) Hans Podlipnik-Castillo (CHI)/ Andrei Vasilevski (BLR) 76(5) 36 10-2
[SF] Toshihide Matsui (JPN)/ Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND) l Laurynas Grigelis (LTU)/ Zdenek Kolar (CZE) 36 46

[F] Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND)/ Vishnu Vardhan (IND) vs Laurynas Grigelis (LTU)/ Zdenek Kolar (CZE)

Prajnesh-Vishnu scored huge upset win over top-seed Podlipnik-Castillo and Vasilevski for entering into the final ... After winning the first set in tie-break our pair lost the second but they recovered in the match tie-break for winning it comfortably ... Next, they r facing Grigelis-Kolar, who proved too strong for RamK-Toshihide.

At $75K Heilbronn Challenger, Germany (Red Clay)

[QF] Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND)/ Christopher Rungkat (INA)l (1) Roman Jebavy (CZE)/ Antonio Sancic (CRO) 36 36

Jeevan-Chris lost in straight sets against top-seed pair.

At $25K Nigeria F3 futures 2017, Abuja

[QF] Haadin BAVA (IND,796) l (1) Calvin HEMERY (FRA,283) 36 26

Haadin failed to challenge his top-300 French opponent.

Wednesday, May 17, 2017

Tennis News

At $2.77M Internazionali BNL d'Italia 2017, Rome, Italy (Premier 5)

[R2] (3) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Yaroslava Shvedova (KAZ) bt (ALT) Olga Savchuk (UKR)/ Elina Svitolina (UKR) w/o

Sania-Yaroslava enter into the quarters without hitting the ball.

At €106K+H Bordeaux Challenger 2017, France (Red clay)

[QF] (3) Divij Sharan (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) bt Alex Bolt (AUS)/ Thanasi Kokkinakis (AUS) 62 67(4) 10-6
[QF] (2) Scott Lipsky (USA)/ Leander Paes (IND) bt (WC) Maxime Janvier (FRA)/ Laurent Lokoli (FRA) 64 64

Lee-Scott scored comfortable victory over local wildcard pair ... Divij-Purav scored tight win over Aussie pair for entering into the semis ... Next, they r facing Lee and Scott.

At $75K+H Samarkand Challenger 2017, Uzbekistan (Red clay)

[QF] Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND)/ Vishnu Vardhan (IND) bt Denys Molchanov (UKR)/ Sergiy Stakhovsky (UKR) 75 76(5)
[QF] Toshihide Matsui (JPN)/ Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND) bt (WC) Farrukh Dustov (UZB)/ Sanjar Fayziev (UZB) 75 46 10-7

[SF] Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND)/ Vishnu Vardhan (IND) vs (1) Hans Podlipnik-Castillo (CHI)/ Andrei Vasilevski (BLR)
[SF] Toshihide Matsui (JPN)/ Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND) vs Laurynas Grigelis (LTU)/ Zdenek Kolar (CZE)

Prajnesh-Vishnu entered in the semis with two tight sets win against good pair ... Other hand RamK-Toshihide needed the match tie-break for the victory.

At $25K Nigeria F3 futures 2017, Abuja

[R2] Haadin BAVA (IND,796) bt Karim HOSSAM (EGY,1057) 62 4-1 retd.
[R2] Kunal ANAND (IND,1346) l (7) Takanyi GARANGANGA (ZIM,432) 26 26
[R2] (5) Sasi Kumar MUKUND (IND,426) l Christopher DIAZ-FIGUEROA (GUA,754) 46 67(1)

[QF] Haadin BAVA (IND,796) vs (1) Calvin HEMERY (FRA,283)

Only Haadin managed to enter into the quarters but facing top-300 French opponent in the quarters ... Sasi lost against lower ranked opponent.

Tuesday, May 16, 2017

Tennis News

At €4.5M Rome Masters 2017, Spain

[R1] Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Pablo Cuevas (URU) bt (WC) Simone Bolelli (ITA)/ Andreas Seppi (ITA) 64 62

[R2] Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Pablo Cuevas (URU) vs (7) Feliciano Lopez (ESP)/ Marc Lopez (ESP)

Comfortable win for Rohan-Pablo ... After winning the first set they were 0-2 down before winning next 6 games in a row ... Next, they r facing 7th seed Lopezs.

At €106K+H Bordeaux Challenger 2017, France (Red clay)

[R1] (2) Scott Lipsky (USA)/ Leander Paes (IND) bt (WC) Gregoire Barrere (FRA)/ Mathias Bourgue (FRA) 62 75

[QF] (2) Scott Lipsky (USA)/ Leander Paes (IND) vs (WC) Maxime Janvier (FRA)/ Laurent Lokoli (FRA)

Lee-Scott started with straight sets win over local pair ... Next, they r facing another local wildcard pair.

At $75K+H Samarkand Challenger 2017, Uzbekistan (Red clay)

[R1] Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND)/ Vishnu Vardhan (IND) bt Joris De Loore (BEL)/ Aldin Setkic (BIH) 3-1 retd.
[R1] Toshihide Matsui (JPN)/ Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND) bt Nikola Milojevic (SRB)/ Michael Mmoh (USA) 76(3) 36 10-5

[QF] Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND)/ Vishnu Vardhan (IND) vs Denys Molchanov (UKR)/ Sergiy Stakhovsky (UKR)
[QF] Toshihide Matsui (JPN)/ Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND) vs (WC) Farrukh Dustov (UZB)/ Sanjar Fayziev (UZB)

RamK-Matsui entered into the quarters after winning their match in the match tie-break ... Next, they r facing local wild card pair, who scored upset win over 2nd seed ... Vishnu-Prajnesh also joined them as their opponents retired after De Loore neck injury ... Next, they r facing Ukrainian pair, who also scored upset win over 3rd seed.

At $75K Heilbronn Challenger 2017, Germany (Red Clay)

[R1] Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND)/ Christopher Rungkat (INA) bt James Cerretani (USA)/ Andreas Mies (GER) 61 57 10-7

[QF] Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND)/ Christopher Rungkat (INA) vs (1) Roman Jebavy (CZE)/ Antonio Sancic (CRO)

Jeevan-Chris started with the match tie-break win over experienced Cerretani and Mies ... Next, they r facing top-seed pairing of Jebavy and Sancic.

At $25K ITF Women Tournament 2017, Qujing, China

[R1] (3) Ankita Raina (IND,325) l (Q) Meiling Wang (CHN,1013) 26 26

Poor loss for Ankita against 17 yrs old Chinese girl.

At $25K Nigeria F3 futures 2017,

[R1] Haadin BAVA (IND,796) bt (8) Fernando ROMBOLI (BRA,486) 76(4) 67(6) 64
[R1] Kunal ANAND (IND,1346) bt (WC) Christian PAUL (NGR,UNR) 61 61
[R1] (5) Sasi Kumar MUKUND (IND,426) bt Anvit BENDRE (IND,UNR) 64 61
[R1] Mohit JAIN (IND,UNR) l (2) Brayden SCHNUR (CAN,264) 16 06

[R2] Haadin BAVA (IND,796) vs Karim HOSSAM (EGY,1057)
[R2] Kunal ANAND (IND,1346) vs (7) Takanyi GARANGANGA (ZIM,432)
[R2] (5) Sasi Kumar MUKUND (IND,426) vs Christopher DIAZ-FIGUEROA (GUA,754)

Haadin has started to show some consistency in his results ... Here he started with hard fought upset win over top-500 Brazilian opponent Romboli ... Sasi and Kunal also joined him with straight sets win.

Monday, May 15, 2017

Squash News

At $5K Men's SYS Open 2017, Southampton, New York, USA

[R1] (3) Kush Kumar (IND,165) bt Timothy Lasusa (USA,280) 11-4, 11-4, 11-8
[R1] (Q) Ramit Tandon (IND,493) bt (6) Scott Young (ENG,279) 11-4, 11-3, 11-2

[QF] (3) Kush Kumar (IND,165) bt Spencer Lovejoy (USA,339) 11-4, 8-11, 10-12, 11-5, 11-9 (75m)
[QF] (Q) Ramit Tandon (IND,493) bt (4) Noah Browne (BER,231) 11-2, 11-2, 11-8 (38m)

[SF] (3) Kush Kumar (IND,165) bt (Q) Timothy Brownell (USA,452) 14-12, 11-5, 7-11, 3-11, 11-7 (63m)
[SF] (Q) Ramit Tandon (IND,493) bt (2) Clinton Leeuw (RSA,143) 11-5, 11-9, 11-8 (32m)

[F] (Q) Ramit Tandon (IND,493) bt (3) Kush Kumar (IND,165) 11-3, 11-2, 11-3 (31m)

Ramit Tandon won the $5K title in the US beating another Indian Kush Kumar in the final ... Ramit has joined US college so last few years he participated in very few tournaments ... Here, he won all his matches convincingly as a qualifier for lifting his 1st PSA title.

At $5K Men's Malaysian Tour No9 2017, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

[R1] (8) Ravi Dixit (IND,180) bt (Q) Muhammad Shoaib Hassan (PAK,315) 3-11, 11-8, 11-8, 11-4 (40m)
[R1] (2) Harinder Pal Singh Sandhu (IND,89) bt (Q) Darren Rahul Pragasam (MAS,382) 8-11, 11-3, 15-13, 11-1 (45m)

[QF] (2) Harinder Pal Singh Sandhu (IND,89) bt (8) Ravi Dixit (IND,180) 11-4, 11-8, 11-3 (27m)

[SF] (2) Harinder Pal Singh Sandhu (IND,89) bt (4) Mohd Syafiq Kamal (MAS,105) 11-7, 7-11, 11-2, 6-11, 11-4 (66m)

[F] (2) Harinder Pal Singh Sandhu (IND,89) bt Henry Leung (HKG,161) 11-0, 11-6, 11-7 (30m)

Harinder Pal Singh lifted his 6th PSA title but 1st outside India on Malaysian tour ... In the final he defeated Henry Leung convincingly.

Tennis News

At $75K+H Samarkand Challenger 2017, Uzbekistan (Red clay)

[Q3] (8) Vishnu Vardhan (IND,418) l (1) Danilo Petrovic (SRB,295) 46 46

[R1] Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,262) l (4) Adrian Menendez-Maceiras (ESP,176) 63 36 67(2)
[R1] Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,270) l (3) Jason Jung (TPE,173) 63 67(1) 46

Again first round loss for Prajnesh but his losses were against higher ranked players and he gave fighting performance in those ... Here also, he started aftr winning the first set but Jung came back in the match after winning the tie-break comfortably and then completed win in the third.

With RamK's loss Indian challenge got over in the singles ... RamK also started with winning the first set but in the second set from 3-all he lost his serve in 8th game for losing the set ... In the final set, he took match into the tie-break but Adrian took 0-5 lead before winning it comfortably.

Vishnu lost in straight sets against Petrovic in the final qualifying.


At €106K+H Bordeaux Challenger 2017, France (Red clay)

[R1] (3) Divij Sharan (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) bt (WC) Maxime Hamou (FRA)/ Romain Jouan (FRA) 75 60
[R1] (2) Scott Lipsky (USA)/ Leander Paes (IND) vs (WC) Gregoire Barrere (FRA)/ Mathias Bourgue (FRA)

[QF] (3) Divij Sharan (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) vs Alex Bolt (AUS)/ Thanasi Kokkinakis (AUS)

Purav-Divij r playing in Bordeaux challenger with Lee ... Lee is back with Scott Lipsky, so maybe he is planning to participate in French open with Scott ... Both pairs r in bottom draw and can face each other in the semis.

Purav-Divij started with a comfortable win over local wild card pair ... Next, they r facing Aussie pair in the quarters ... Lee-Scott will also face local wild card pair in the first round.


At $25K ITF Women Tournament 2017, Qujing, China

[R1] (3) Ankita Raina (IND,325) vs (Q) Meiling Wang (CHN,1013)

Ankita is back in China for ITF tournament.

Sunday, May 14, 2017

Tennis News

At €4.5M Rome Masters 2017, Italy

[R1] Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Pablo Cuevas (URU) vs (WC) Simone Bolelli (ITA)/ Andreas Seppi (ITA)

Rohan-Pablo r facing local wild-card pair.

At $2.77M Internazionali BNL d'Italia 2017, Rome, Italy (Premier 5)

[R1] (3) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Yaroslava Shvedova (KAZ) bye

Sania-Yaroslava r having bye in the first round.

At $75K+H Samarkand Challenger 2017, Uzbekistan (Red clay)

[Q1] (8) Vishnu Vardhan (IND,420) bt (WC) Grigoriy Lomakin (KAZ,1856) 61 62
[Q2] (8) Vishnu Vardhan (IND,420) bt (WC) Sharobiddin Abzalov (UZB,1536) 61 63

[Q3] (8) Vishnu Vardhan (IND,420) vs (1) Danilo Petrovic (SRB,292)

[R1] Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,217) vs (4) Adrian Menendez-Maceiras (ESP,177)
[R1] Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,269) vs (3) Jason Jung (TPE,167)

Doubles
[R1] Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND)/ Vishnu Vardhan (IND) vs Joris De Loore (BEL)/ Aldin Setkic (BIH)
[R1] Toshihide Matsui (JPN)/ Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND) vs Nikola Milojevic (SRB)/ Michael Mmoh (USA)

Prajnesh and RamK having tough first round matches ... Vishnu is playing in the final qualifying round against top-300 Serbian.

At $75K Heilbronn Challenger, Germany (Red Clay)

[R1] Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND)/ Christopher Rungkat (INA) vs James Cerretani (USA)/ Andreas Mies (GER)

This week Jeevan-Rungkat r unseeded and they r facing Cerretani-Mies.

Friday, May 12, 2017

Tennis News

At $75K+H Karshi Challenger 2017, Uzbekistan

[SF] Yuki Bhambri (IND,273) l Egor Gerasimov (BLR,225) 16 46

Yuki lost comprehensively against Gerasimov ... Gerasimov overpowered and took full advantage of unforced errors from Yuki ... Still turned up as a good week for Yuki.

At $15K ITF Women Tournament 2017, Hua Hin, Thailand

[SF] Karman Kaur Thandi (IND,522) l (2) Peangtarn Plipuech (THA,270) 63 16 46

Courtesy to Ankita's FB page
Doubles
[R1] (1) Ankita RAINA (IND)/ Emily WEBLEY-SMITH (GBR) bt Punnin KOVAPITUKTED (THA)/ Si Qi LIU (CHN) 64 61
[QF] (1) Ankita RAINA (IND)/ Emily WEBLEY-SMITH (GBR) bt Kamonwan BUAYAM (THA)/ Shanshan GUO (CHN) 64 62
[SF] (1) Ankita RAINA (IND)/ Emily WEBLEY-SMITH (GBR) bt Patcharin CHEAPCHANDEJ (THA)/ Sung-Hee HAN (KOR) 61 61

Doubles Final
(1) Ankita RAINA (IND)/ Emily WEBLEY-SMITH (GBR) bt Nudnida LUANGNAM (THA)/ Yukun ZHANG (CHN) 62 60

Karman lost against local top-275 player in three sets ... After winning the first set Karman failed to keep same momentum in last two sets.

Ankita lifted her 10th ITF doubles title with her British partner Emily Webley-Smith ... They scored dominating win in the final against Thai-Chinese pair and here they won their all matches comfortably.

Thursday, May 11, 2017

Tennis News

At $5.9M Mutua Madrid Open 2017, Spain

[QF] (3) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Yaroslava Shvedova (KAZ) l Irina-Camelia Begu (ROU)/ Simona Halep (ROU) 36 63 6-10

Not as such a great start for Sania-Yaroslava as they lost in the quarters against Romanian pairing of Begu and Halep in the match tie-break.

At $75K+H Karshi Challenger 2017, Uzbekistan

[QF] Yuki Bhambri (IND,283) bt (1) Sergiy Stakhovsky (UKR,96) 62 64

[SF] Yuki Bhambri (IND,273) vs Egor Gerasimov (BLR,225)

Yuki scored dominating win over top-100 Sergiy Stakhovsky in two sets, also first top-100 win of season 2017 ... This is a huge win for Yuki before French open qualifying and simply showing that he is coming back to his form after injury break ... In the first set, after 2-all he dominated Stakhovsky ... He broke Stakhovsky in 5th and 7th games for winning this set comfortably after converting 4th set point ... In the second set, Yuki broke Stakhovsky in 3rd game and then hold his service games for winning this match ... In this match, Yuki played attacking game and his ground strokes had power, authority and placement ... Next, he is facing Belarus player Egor Gerasimov.

At $15K ITF Women Tournament 2017, Hua Hin, Thailand

[QF] Karman Kaur Thandi (IND,522) bt Giuliana Olmos (MEX,514) 61 63

[SF] Karman Kaur Thandi (IND,522) vs (2) Peangtarn Plipuech (THA,270)

Karman moved to the semi-final with dominating win over Mexican girl Olmos, who defeated Ankita in the second round ... Next, she is having tough match against local top-275 player for place in the final.

Wednesday, May 10, 2017

Tennis News

At $75K+H Karshi Challenger 2017, Uzbekistan

[R2] Yuki Bhambri (IND,283) bt (8) Aldin Setkic (BIH,231) 75 75
[R2] N.Sriram Balaji (IND,318) l Egor Gerasimov (BLR,225) 36 46

[QF] Yuki Bhambri (IND,273) vs (1) Sergiy Stakhovsky (UKR,96)

Yuki scored impressive win over Aldin Setkic in straight sets ... In the first set, he saved 3 set points at 4-5 and 0-40 before breaking Setkic in 11th game for winning it ... In the second set also, Yuki was break up at 4-3 but then failed to hold his serve in 8th game ... Again he broke Setkic in 11th game and then hold comfortably for a win .. Next, he is having tough challenge of top-100 Ukrainian Sergiy Stakhovsky.

At $15K ITF Women Tournament 2017, Hua Hin, Thailand

[R2] Karman Kaur Thandi (IND,522) bt Chihiro Muramatsu (JPN,583) 63 36 75
[R2] (4) Ankita Raina (IND,319) l Giuliana Olmos (MEX,514) 63 57 26

[QF] Karman Kaur Thandi (IND,522) vs Giuliana Olmos (MEX,514)

Nice to see Karman beating a Japanese girl Muramatsu whom she had lost in the previous week ... Karman scored impressive win in 3 hours 30 mins long match ... Next, she will facing Mexican girl Giuliana Olmos, who scored upset win over Ankita ... Moreover Ankita had a match point in the second set before losing this match ... Bad loss for Ankita.

Tuesday, May 09, 2017

Table Tennis News

At Challenge Seamaster Brazil Open 2017, Sao Paulo (3-5 May 2017)

[R16] Soumyajit Ghosh (IND) l Eric Jouti (BRA) 1-4 (11-7, 6-11, 9-11, 9-11, 7-11)
[R16] Amalraj Anthony (IND) bt Massao Kohatsu (BRA) 4-1 (11-4, 12-10, 11-6, 8-11, 11-6)

[QF] Amalraj Anthony (IND) bt Hunor Szocs (ROU) 4-0 (11-6, 13-11, 11-8, 11-7)

[SF] Amalraj Anthony (IND) bt Philipp Floritz (BUL) 4-3 (6-11, 6-11, 11-9, 11-9, 8-11, 11-9, 11-9)

Men's Singles Final
Amalraj Anthony (IND) l Hugo Calderano (BRA) 1-4 (12-14, 11-9, 7-11, 7-11, 5-11)

Turned out to be two terrific weeks for Amalraj as he was finalists in back to back South American ITTF Challenge tournaments, though he missed winning the title.

At Challenge Seamaster Chile Open 2017, Santiago de Chile (26-30 April 2017)

[R16] Soumyajit Ghosh (IND) bt Juan Daher (ARG) 4-0 (11-6, 11-9, 11-6, 11-2)
[R16] Amalraj Anthony (IND) bt Pablo Tabchnik (ARG) 4-0 (11-4, 11-5, 11-5, 11-9)

[QF] Soumyajit Ghosh (IND) bt Horacio Cifuentes (ARG) 4-1 (7-11, 16-14, 11-7, 11-4, 11-4)
[QF] Amalraj Anthony (IND) bt Gaston Alto (ARG) 4-2 (7-11, 11-7, 11-5, 11-5, 5-11, 11-6)

[SF] Soumyajit Ghosh (IND) bt Philipp Floritz (BUL) 4-0 (13-11, 11-9, 11-6, 11-6)
[SF] Amalraj Anthony (IND) bt Hunor Szocs (ROU) 4-1 (4-11, 11-6, 11-9, 11-7, 11-6)

Men's Singles Final
Soumyajit Ghosh (IND) bt Amalraj Anthony (IND) 4-2 (8-11, 13-11, 11-6, 11-9, 4-11, 11-7)

In this Chilean Challenge tournament, Soumyajit lifted the title beating Amalraj in the final.

Tennis News

At €6.4M Madrid Masters 2017, Spain

[R1] Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Pablo Cuevas (URU) vsl Fabrice Martin (FRA)/ Daniel Nestor (CAN) 36 26

A one-sided loss for Rohan-Pablo against Martin-Nestor.

At $5.9M Mutua Madrid Open 2017, Spain

[R2] (3) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Yaroslava Shvedova (KAZ) bt Christina Mchale (USA)/ Monica Niculescu (ROU) 61 75

Sania and Yaraslova started with straight sets win over Mchale and Niculescu.

At $75K+H Karshi Challenger 2017, Uzbekistan

[R1] Yuki Bhambri (IND,283) bt Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,269) 64 62
[R1] N.Sriram Balaji (IND,315) bt (WC) Farrukh Dustov (UZB,883) 63 61
[R1] (7) Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,217) l Cem Ilkel (TUR,323) 46 46

[R2] Yuki Bhambri (IND,273) vs (8) Aldin Setkic (BIH,231)
[R2] N.Sriram Balaji (IND,318) vs Egor Gerasimov (BLR,225)

Doubles
[R1] Toshihide Matsui (JPN)/ Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND) l (1) Hans Podlipnik-Castillo (CHI)/ Andrei Vasilevski (BLR) 67(7) 36
[R1] Yuki Bhambri (IND)/ Jason Jung (TPE) l Aslan Karatsev (RUS)/ Aldin Setkic (BIH) 46 62 4-10
[R1] N. Sriram Balaji (IND)/ Vishnu Vardhan (IND) l (4) Sergey Betov (BLR)/ Yaraslav Shyla (BLR) 67(8) 67(8)

In the battle of Indians, Yuki showed supremecy over his fellow Indian ... He defeated Prajnesh convincingly ... In the first set, Yuki broke Prajnesh in 7th game to take 4-3 lead and kept this break advantage for winning the set ... In the second set, he broke Prajnesh 5th and 7th games for winning it comfortably ... In the second round, he is facing 8th seed Aldin Setkic.

Bala took full advantage of a weak draw and scored dominating win over Uzbek Davis cupper Farrukh Dustov ... Next, he is facing Egor Gerasimov, who defeated his seeded countryman in the first round.

RamK failed to challenge Ilkel in his loss, may be struggling with jet lag ... He also lost in the first round of the doubles with his Japanese partner.

It was a terrible day in the doubles as our other two pairs also lost in the first round ... Yuki-Jung lost in the match tie-break ... And Vishnu-Bala lost against 4th seed Belarus pair in two tight tie-breaks.


At $75K Rome Challenger, Italy (Red Clay)

[R1] (3) Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND)/ Christopher Rungkat (INA) l Kimmer Coppejans (BEL)/ Marton Fucsovics (HUN) 67(3) 36

Jeevan and Rungkat lost in the first round against Coppejans and Fucsovics.

At $15K ITF Women Tournament 2017, Hua Hin, Thailand

[R1] (4) Ankita Raina (IND,319) bt (Q) Yukun Zhang (CHN,710) 61 61

[R2] Karman Kaur Thandi (IND,522) vs Chihiro Muramatsu (JPN,583)
[R2] (4) Ankita Raina (IND,319) vs Giuliana Olmos (MEX,514)

Ankita started with dominating win over Chinese qualifier ... Next, she is facing Mexican girl Olmos and Karman is facing Japanese girl Muramatsu.

Monday, May 08, 2017

Tennis News

At $75K+H Karshi Challenger 2017, Uzbekistan

[R1] Vishnu Vardhan (IND,381) l Vladyslav Manafov (UKR,348) 36 75

Doubles
[R1] Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND)/ Marek Jaloviec (CZE) l (2) Mikhail Elgin (RUS)/ Alexander Kudryavtsev (RUS) 57 46

Disapopinting loss of vishnu in the singles against similar ranked player.

Prajnesh and his Czech partner Marek Jaloviec lost in the doubles against 2nd seed Russian in close two sets.


At $15K ITF Women Tournament 2017, Hua Hin, Thailand

[R1] Karman Kaur THANDI (IND,538) bt (WC) Mananchaya SAWANGKAEW (THA,UNR) 62 67(4) 62

Surprising struggle for Karman against 14 yrs old thai girl but at least she started with a win.

Boxing News

At the Asian Championships 2017, Tashkent, Uzbekistan

India have seven boxers confirmed for the World Championships in Germany scheduled from August 25 ... The top six boxers from each weight category in the Asian event qualified for the championship.

Our four boxers have qualified after winning the medals, are the silver-medallists Shiva Thapa (60kg) and Sumit Sangwan (91kg) along with the bronze medal winning duo of Vikas Krishan (75kg) and Amit Phangal (49kg) ... Satish Kumar (+91kg), Manoj Kumar (69kg) and Kavinder Singh Bisht (52kg), who qualified for the World Championships after winning their respective box-offs ... Kavinder Singh Bisht (52kg) got a walkover against Malaysia's Salam Abdul Kasim ... Manoj prevailed in a split decision against second-seeded Chinese Liu Wei ... Satish sailed past China's Mu Haipeng in a unanimous verdict ... Before that Bisht, Manoj and Satish had lost in the quarterfinals of the Asian championships.

Sunday, May 07, 2017

Tennis News

At €6.4M Madrid Masters 2017, Spain

[R1] Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Pablo Cuevas (URU) vs Fabrice Martin (FRA)/ Daniel Nestor (CAN)


Rohan-Pablo can face Bryans in the second round.

At $75K+H Karshi Challenger 2017, Uzbekistan

[R1] Toshihide Matsui (JPN)/ Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND) vs (1) Hans Podlipnik-Castillo (CHI)/ Andrei Vasilevski (BLR)
[R1] Yuki Bhambri (IND)/ Jason Jung (TPE) vs Aslan Karatsev (RUS)/ Aldin Setkic (BIH)
[R1] N. Sriram Balaji (IND)/ Vishnu Vardhan (IND) vs (4) Sergey Betov (BLR)/ Yaraslav Shyla (BLR)
[R1] Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND)/ Marek Jaloviec (CZE) vs (2) Mikhail Elgin (RUS)/ Alexander Kudryavtsev (RUS)

Our all players r playing in the doubles and having tough first round matches.

At $75K Rome Challenger, Italy (Red Clay)

[R1] (3) Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND)/ Christopher Rungkat (INA) vs Kimmer Coppejans (BEL)/ Marton Fucsovics (HUN)

This week Jeevan is back with Rungkat in Rome challenger.

At $15K ITF Women Tournament 2017, Hua Hin, Thailand

[R1] Karman Kaur THANDI (IND,538) vs (WC) Mananchaya SAWANGKAEW (THA,UNR)
[R1] (4) Ankita RAINA (IND,313) vs (Q) Yukun ZHANG (CHN,710)

Favorable first round matches for Karman and Ankita.

Table Tennis News

At $70K ITTF Challenge Plus Oman Open 2020 , Muscat, Oman [R32] Harmeet Desai (IND,87) bt Jeremy Hazin (CAN,164) 4-0 (12-10, 11-8, 11-4,...