Tennis News

At $610K Tata Open Maharashtra 2020, Pune, India

[R1] (WC) Sasikumar Mukund (IND,263) l Taro Daniel (JPN,102) 26 67(7)

Doubles
[R1] (WC) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Arjun Kadhe (IND) l Antoine Hoang (FRA)/ Benoit Paire (FRA) 63 57 7-10
[R1] Purav Raja (IND)/ Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND) bt (Alt) Egor Gerasimov (BLR)/ Sumit Nagal (IND) 76(6) 63

[QF] Purav Raja (IND)/ Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND) vs (WC) Matthew Ebden (AUS)/ Leander Paes (IND)

A decent fighting performance by Mukund in the second set against Taro.

In the doubles, Purav and Ram scored a straight-sets win over Sumit and Egor ... Next, they r facing Lee and Ebden.
Rohan and Arjun started confidently and won the first set comfortably ... With an early break, 2-0, they were cruising towards victory but a French pair caught them at 4-all and broke Arjun again in the 12th game to take the set in the match tie-break ... Arjun struggled with his shots and our pair lost this match tie-break to lose the match.

Tennis News

At $610K Tata Open Maharashtra 2020, Pune, India

[R1] Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,122) bt Yannick Maden (GER,131) 76(4) 76(5)
[R1] (WC) Arjun Kadhe (IND,612) l Jiri Vesely (CZE,107) 26 46

[R2] Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,122) vs (4) Soonwoo Kwon (KOR,88)

Doubles
[R1] Purav Raja (IND)/ Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND) vs (Alt) Egor Gerasimov (BLR)/ Sumit Nagal (IND)
[R1] (WC) Matthew Ebden (AUS)/ Leander Paes (IND) bt (2) Divij Sharan (IND)/ Artem Sitak (NZL) 62 76(5)

Prajnesh is in the second round with winning both tie-breaks against a similar ranked Maden ... Prajnesh played a consistent game throughout the match ... He broke Maden in the first set and was serving for the set at 5-3 ... Prajnesh failed to hold his serve and in the tie-break, he came back from 0-3 to win it ... In the second set tie-break, from 4-5 he won the next 3 points for winning the set and match ... Next, he is facing a 22 yrs-old Soonwoo Kwon.

An expected loss for Arjun against Jiri Vesely in his straight-sets loss.

Lee's #OneLastRoar continues in the Tata Open ... I am hoping one last title for him ... He and Ebden started strongly and win the first set comfortably ... In the second set, both pairs held their respective service games but again, Lee and Ebden played smart tennis and completed win against the 2nd seed Divij and Artem ... Next, they will play against a winner between Purav-Ram and Sumit-Egor ... Sumit is playing in the doubles as an alternate pair with Gerasimov.

Tennis News

At $610K Tata Open Maharashtra 2020, Pune, India

[R1] (WC) Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,182) l (7) Salvatore Caruso (ITA,98) 63 46 57
[R1] Sumit Nagal (IND,125) l (Q) Viktor Troicki (SRB,191) 26 76(4) 16

Ram gave a fighting performance but failed to complete the win against the top-100 player ... He started positively and won the first set, Caruso made a comeback after winning the second set ... In the third, both players held their respective service games till 10th games, 5-all ... Ram missed a break-point opportunity in the 11th game and Caruso took full advantage of it, breaking Ram in the 12th game for a win.

Sumit had a tough match against a former top-15 Viktor Troicki ... After losing the first set easily Sumit was a break-down, 1-3, he raised his game and broke back to make it 3-all ... And won the tie-break, but he failed to keep the momentum ... He made a lot of unforced errors in the final set and Troicki played a consistent game for a win.

Squash News

At $51.25K Women's Cleveland Classic 2020, Cleveland, Ohio, USA (World Tour Bronze)

[R1] (5) Joshna Chinappa (IND,12) bye
[R2] (5) Joshna Chinappa (IND,12) bt (9/16) Menna Nasser (EGY,52) 12-10, 3-0 rtd (21m
[QF] (5) Joshna Chinappa (IND,12) bt (4) Annie Au (HKG,11) 3-11, 11-6, 6-11, 11-8, 11-6 (54m)

[SF] (5) Joshna Chinappa (IND,12) l (1) Nour El Tayeb (EGY,5) 4-11, 8-11, 3-11 (26m)

Joshna lost in the semis against a top-seed Nour El Tayeb ... After losing the first game, Joshna took 8-5 lead in the second which she failed to capitalize ... Before that, she scored a fighting win over Annie Au in the quarters.

Tennis News

At $25K ITF Women's Tournament 2020, Nonthaburi, Thailand

Singles Final
(3) Ankita Raina (IND,171) bt (4) Chloe Paquet (FRA,178) 63 75

Ankita wins her 6th $25K ITF title ... She took a revenge for her previous 2 matches against Chole ... Ankita defeated her in a straight-sets to win the title in Thailand.

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At $610K Tata Open Maharashtra 2020, Pune, India

[R1] Sumit Nagal (IND,131) vs (Q) Viktor Troicki (SRB,159)

Sumit has a tricky first round against a former top-15 Serbian Viktor Troicki.

Tennis News

At Tata Open Maharashtra 2020, Pune, India

[Q1] (WC) Saketh Myneni (IND,416) l (4) Nikola Milojevic (SRB,156) 36 26

[R1] (WC) Sasikumar Mukund (IND,267) vs Taro Daniel (JPN,110)
[R1] Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,123) vs Yannick Maden (GER,125)
[R1] (WC) Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,185) vs (7) Salvatore Caruso (ITA,97)
[R1] (WC) Arjun Kadhe (IND,618) vs Jiri Vesely (CZE,109)
[R1] Sumit Nagal (IND,131) vs Qualifier

Doubles
[R1] (WC) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Arjun Kadhe (IND) vs Antoine Hoang (FRA)/ Benoit Paire (FRA)
[R1] Purav Raja (IND)/ Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND) vs (PR) Peter Gojowczyk (GER)/ Cedrik-Marcel Stebe (GER)
[R1] (2) Divij Sharan (IND)/ Artem Sitak (NZL) vs (WC) Matthew Ebden (AUS)/ Leander Paes (IND)

All 3 wild-cards given to Indians ... Prajnesh is facing a similar ranked Maden, Sumit is facing a qualifier ... Mukund is facing Taro and Ram is facing the top-100 Caruso ... Arjun is facing Vesely in the first round.

In the doubles, Rohan is playing with Arjun and they r facing a French pair, Paire, and Hoang ... Purav and Ram r facing a German pair ... Lee receives a wild-card with Ebden and they r facing the 2nd seeds Divij and Artem.

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At $25K ITF Women's Tournament 2020, Nonthaburi, Thailand

[SF] (3) Ankita Raina (IND,171) bt Leonie Kung (SUI,324) 63 61

[F] (3) Ankita Raina (IND,171) vs (4) Chloe Paquet (FRA,)

P.C. to ITD FB page

Doubles Final
(1) Ankita Raina (IND)/ Bibiane Schoofs (NED) bt (WC) Supapitch Kuearum (THA)/ Mananchaya Sawangkaew (THA) 64 62

Ankita enters into the final with a dominating win over a Swiss teenager Leonie Kung ... In the final, she is facing the 4th seed French girl, Chloe Paquet, Ankita has lost her previous matches against Chole.
In the doubles final, Ankita and Bibiane scored a comfortable win over a Thai pair to win the title.

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At €46.6K+H Quimper Challenger 2020, France

[SF] (3) Purav Raja (IND)/ Adil Shamasdin (CAN) l Ivan Sabanov (CRO)/ Matej Sabanov (CRO) 26 36

The one-sided loss to Sabanov twins for Purav and Adil.

Tennis News

At $25K ITF Women's Tournament 2020, Nonthaburi, Thailand

[QF] (3) Ankita Raina (IND,171) bt Simona Waltert (SUI,279) 64 46 64

[SF] (3) Ankita Raina (IND,171) vs Leonie Kung (SUI,324)

Doubles
[SF] (1) Ankita Raina (IND)/ Bibiane Schoofs (NED) bt (4) Akgul Amanmuradova (UZB)/ Nicoleta-Catalina Dascalu (ROU) 62 64

[F] (1) Ankita Raina (IND)/ Bibiane Schoofs (NED) vs Supapitch Kuearum (THA)/ Mananchaya Sawangkaew (THA)

Ankita is in the semis with three sets win over a 19-yrs old Simona Waltert ... Next, she is facing another Swiss teenager Leonie Kung.
In the doubles, Ankita and Bibiane Schoofs r in the final with a dominating win over the 4th seed Dascalu and Amanmuradova ... In the final, they r facing a Thai pair.

Tennis News

At the Australian Open 2020, Melbourne

Mixed Doubles
[QF] Nadiia Kichenok (UKR)/ Rohan Bopanna (IND) l (5) Nikola Mektić (CRO)/ Barbora Krejčíková (CZE) 06 26

Rohan and Nadiia were blown away by the 5th seeded Mektić and Krejčíková.

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At €46.6K+H Quimper Challenger 2020, France

[R1] (3) Purav Raja (IND)/ Adil Shamasdin (CAN) bt (Alt) Altug Celikbilek (TUR)/ Cem Ilkel (TUR) 64 57 11-9
[QF] (3) Purav Raja (IND)/ Adil Shamasdin (CAN) bt Zdenek Kolar (CZE)/ Szymon Walkow (POL) 64 75

[SF] (3) Purav Raja (IND)/ Adil Shamasdin (CAN) vs Ivan Sabanov (CRO)/ Matej Sabanov (CRO)

Purav and Adil r in the semis with a straight-sets win over Walkow and Kolar and will face Sabanov twins ... Before that in the first round, an alternate Turkish pair stretched Purav and Adil to the match tie-break.

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At $25K ITF Women's Tournament 2020, Nonthaburi, Thailand

[R1] (3) Ankita Raina (IND,171) bt Channel Simmonds (RSA,351) 61 61
[R1] Riya Bhatia (IND,369) l (Q) Kai-Chen Chang (TPE,601) 26 16

[R2] (3) Ankita Raina (IND,171) bt Nicoleta-Catalina Dascalu (ROM,280) 76(1) 62

[QF] (3) Ankita Raina (IND,171) vs Simona Waltert (SUI,279)

Doubles
[R1] (1) Ankita Raina (IND)/ Bibiane Schoofs (NED) bt Miyabi Inoue (JPN)/ Jia-Qi Kang (CHN) 64 75
[QF] (1) Ankita Raina (IND)/ Bibiane Schoofs (NED) bt Moyuka Uchijima (JPN)/ Ying Zhang (CHN) 63 26 10-7

[SF] (1) Ankita Raina (IND)/ Bibiane Schoofs (NED) vs (4) Akgul Amanmuradova (UZB)/ Nicoleta-Catalina Dascalu (ROU)

Ankita is playing in Thailand, she started with back to back wins over good players ... In the quarters, she is facing a Swiss girl, Simona Waltert.
In the doubles, Ankita is playing with a Dutch partner, Bibiane Schoofs ... They scored a couple of wins over Chinese-Japanese pairs ... Next, they r facing the 4th seed Dascalu and Amanmuradova.

Athletics News

At the Athletics Central Nort East League Meet 2020, Potchesfrom, South Africa

1. Neeraj Chopra (IND) 87.86m (qualified for Tokyo Olympic, as qualification mark is 85m)

Our star Javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra made a comeback after a gap of of 15 months, due to injury-operation-rehab, in style ... He qualified for Tokyo Olympics with a throw of 87.86m in a competition held in Potchesfrom, South Africa, after crossing benchmark of 85m..

Tennis News

At the Australian Open 2020, Melbourne

Mixed Doubles
[R2] (WC) Jelena Ostapenko (LAT)/ Leander Paes (IND) l Bethanie Mattek-Sands (USA)/ Jamie Murray (GBR) 26 57

Lee's journey in the Australian Open ended with a straight-sets loss against Mattek-Sands and Murray ... He and Jelena were leading 5-3 in the second set, but they lost next 4 games to lose the match.

Squash News

At $52.5K Men's Pittsburgh Open 2020, Pittsburgh, USA (World Tour Bronze)

Final
(2) Saurav Ghosal (IND,13) l (1) Fares Dessouky (EGY,11) 7-11, 4-11, 9-11 (34m)

Saurav failed to challenge the top-seed Fares Dessouky in his straight games loss.

Tennis News

At the Australian Open 2020, Melbourne

Junior
[R1] Gustavo Heide (BRA)/ Dev Javia (IND) l Egor Agafonov (RUS)/ Evgeny Philippov (RUS) 36 36

Dev Javia and his Brazilian partner, Heide, lost in straight sets against a Russian pair.

Golf News

At $3.25M Omega Dubai Desert Classic 2020, Emirates GC, Dubai, UAE (European Tour)

T50 Gaganjeet Bhullar (IND) 73 71 74 75 +5 €11,767.90

Gaganjeet struggled on the course and managed 3 over par rounds to finish on the tied-50th position.

Squash News

At $52.5K Men's Pittsburgh Open 2020, Pittsburgh, USA (World Tour Bronze)

[R1] (9/16) Ramit Tandon (IND,46) l Nathan Lake (ENG,55) 3-11 1-6 retd. (12m)
[R1] (2) Saurav Ghosal (IND,13) bye

[R2] (2) Saurav Ghosal (IND,13) bt Nathan Lake (ENG,55) 11-13, 14-12, 11-6, 11-9 (66m)
[QF] (2) Saurav Ghosal (IND,13) bt (6) Cesar Salazar (MEX,23) 11-8, 11-6, 11-8 (40m)
[SF] (2) Saurav Ghosal (IND,13) bt (5) Omar Mosaad (EGY,16) 11-6, 16-18, 11-7, 12-10 (73m)

[F] (2) Saurav Ghosal (IND,13) vs (1) Fares Dessouky (EGY,11)

Saurav reaches to the final of the Pittsburgh Open ... He scored a couple of impressive wins over the top-25 Salazar and the WR #16 Omar Mosaad ... In the final, he is facing the top-seed Fares Dessouky.

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At $51.25K Women's Carol Weymuller Open 2020, New York, USA (World Tour Bronze)

[R1] (6) Joshna Chinappa (IND,12) bye

[R2] (6) Joshna Chinappa (IND,12) l (9/16) Mariam Metwally (EGY,30) 9-11, 6-11, 12-10 11-9, 9-11 (62m)

Joshna lost a close long match against an Egyptian Metwally ... After losing the first 2 games she tried fightback winning next 2 games but failed to complete the win.

Tennis News

At the Australian Open 2020, Melbourne

Mixed Doubles
[R1] (WC) Jelena Ostapenko (LAT)/ Leander Paes (IND) bt (WC) Storm Sanders (AUS)/ Marc Polmans (AUS) 67(4) 63 10-6

[R2] (WC) Jelena Ostapenko (LAT)/ Leander Paes (IND) vs Bethanie Mattek-Sands (USA)/ Jamie Murray (GBR)
[R2] Nadiia Kichenok (UKR)/ Rohan Bopanna (IND) bt Nicole Melichar (USA)/ Bruno Soares (BRA) 64 76(4)

Lee and Jelena scored a comeback victory over a local wild-card pair ... After losing the first set they fought back and won the next 2 sets comfortably ... Next, they r facing a tough challenge of Mattek-Sands and Murray.
Rohan and Nadiia enter into the quarters with a straight-sets win over Soares and Melichar.

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At €46.6K+H Quimper Challenger 2020, France

[R1] (3) Purav Raja (IND)/ Adil Shamasdin (CAN) vs (WC) Manuel Guinard (FRA)/ Arthur Rinderknech (FRA)

This week, Purav and Adil r facing a local wild-card pair.

Table Tennis News

At ITTF World Olympic Team Qualification - Tokyo 2020, Gondomar, Portugal

Men's Teams - Stage 2 Quarter-Final
(5) India l (16) Czech Republic 1-3
[M1] Harmeet Desai (IND)/ Sharath Kamal Achanta (IND) l Tomas Polansky (CZE)/ Lubomir Jancarik (CZE) 1-3 (14-12, 5-11, 9-11, 9-11)
[M2] Sathiyan Gnanasekaran (IND,30) l Pavel Sirucek (CZE,45) 0-3 (10-12, 11-13, 9-11)
[M3] Sharath Kamal Achanta (IND,33) bt Lubomir Jancarik (CZE,89) 3-1 (6-11, 11-7, 11-8, 11-8)
[M4] Sathiyan Gnanasekaran (IND,30) l Tomas Polansky (CZE,166) 2-3 (16-14, 10-12, 14-12, 8-11, 9-11)

Women's Teams - Stage 2 Quarter Final
(17) India l (18) France 2-3
[M1] Sutirtha Mukherjee (IND)/ Ayhika Mukherjee (IND) bt Stephanie Loeuillette (FRA)/ Jia Nan Yuan (FRA) 3-2 (11-7, 6-11, 10-12, 11-4, 11-8)
[M2] Manika Batra (IND,61) l Marie Migot (FRA,195) 2-3 (7-11, 11-3, 9-11, 11-3, 7-11)
[M3] Sutirtha Mukherjee (IND,157) l Jia Nan Yuan (FRA,161) 0-3 (7-11, 8-11, 6-11)
[M4] Manika Batra (IND,61) bt Stephanie Loeuillette (FRA,99) 3-0 (11-7, 12-10, 11-4)
[M5] Ayhika Mukherjee (IND,121) l Marie Migot (FRA,195) 2-3 (11-6, 8-11, 11-5, 9-11, 9-11)

Our men's team lost their match against the Czech Republic team ... In the first doubles match, a Czech pair defeated Sharath and Harmeet in 4 games ... Sathiyan's poor run continued, he lost the second match against Sirucek in straight games and afterward, lost against a lowly ranked Tomas Polansky in 5 games ... Sathiyan's erratic form cost a place for the Indian team in Tokyo Olympic ... Sharath scored a comeback win after losing the first game and gave India their only point of the tie.

Our women's team challenge got over with a loss against the French team ... Again we lost our singles matches against lower-ranked French girls... Marie Migot defeated Manika Batra and Ayhika Mukherjee in 5 games for a thrilling win.

Tennis News

At the Australian Open 2020, Melbourne

Mixed Doubles
[R1] Nadiia Kichenok (UKR)/ Rohan Bopanna (IND) bt (Alt) Lyudmyla Kichenok (UKR)/ Austin Krajicek (USA) 75 46 10-6

[R2] Nadiia Kichenok (UKR)/ Rohan Bopanna (IND) vs Nicole Melichar (USA)/ Bruno Soares (BRA)

Junior
[R1] Dev Javia (IND,60) l Luca Nardi (IND,50) 36 36

[R1] Gustavo Heide (BRA)/ Dev Javia (IND) vs Egor Agafonov (RUS)/ Evgeny Philippov (RUS)

Rohan and Nadiia in the second round with a match tie-break win over an alternate pairing of Nadiia's twin sister Lyudmyla and Austin Krajicek ... Next, they r facing Soares and Malichar.

Dev Javia played in the junior singles and lost in straight sets against an Italian boy, Nardi ... He is playing doubles with a Brazilian Heide and they r facing a Russian pair.

Table Tennis News

At ITTF World Olympic Team Qualification - Tokyo 2020, Gondomar, Portugal

Men's Teams - Round of 16
(5) India l (11) Slovenia 1-3
[M1] Harmeet Desai (IND)/ Sharath Kamal Achanta (IND) bt Deni Kozul (SLO)/ Bojan Tokic (SLO) 3-0 (11-9, 11-7, 11-5)
[M2] Sathiyan Gnanasekaran (IND,30) l Darko Jorgic (SLO,40) 0-3 (9-11, 10-12, 3-11)
[M3] Harmeet Desai (IND,86) l Bojan Tokic (SLO,62) 2-3 (11-5, 10-12, 11-6, 5-11, 6-11)
[M4] Sharath Kamal Achanta (IND,33) l Darko Jorgic (SLO,40) 1-3 (12-10, 7-11, 10-12, 8-11)

Women's Teams - Round of 32
(17) India l (5) Romania 2-3
[M1] Sutirtha Mukherjee (IND)/ Ayhika Mukherjee (IND) l Daniela Monteiro Dodean (ROU)/ Elizabeta Samara (ROU) 2-3 (12-10 10-12, 11-7, 5-11, 6-11)
[M2] Manika Batra (IND,61) bt Bernadette Szocs (ROU,19) 3-1 (7-11, 12-10, 11-9, 11-7)
[M3] Ayhika Mukherjee (IND,121) l Elizabeta Samara (ROU,31) 1-3 (10-12, 11-5, 2-11, 7-11)
[M4] Sutirtha Mukherjee (IND,157) bt Bernadette Szocs (ROU,19) 3-2 (8-11, 11-7, 11-9, 3-11, 11-4)
[M5] Manika Batra (IND,61) l Daniela Monteiro Dodean (ROU,134) 1-3 (8-11, 4-11, 11-3, 2-11)

Both Indian teams need to win the ITTF Olympic Team Qualification tournaments stage 2 for the qualification of Tokyo 2020 after their round of 16 losses.

Our men's team faced a surprising loss against the #11 seeded Slovenia men's team ... After winning the doubles match, Sathiyan and Sharath lost their singles matches against Darko Jorgic and Harmeet lost against Bojan Tokic ... In Stage 2 quarter-final, they r facing the Czech Republic team.

Our women's team missed a big chance of scoring an upset win over the #5 seeded Romanian women's team ... Manika and Sutirtha defeated the top-20 Bernadette Szocs and increased our chances ... But in the last match, Manika lost one-sided against a lower-ranked Daniela Montiro Dodean ... In Stage 2 quarter-final, they r facing a French team.

Tennis News

At the Australian Open 2020, Melbourne

Doubles
[R2] Divij Sharan (IND)/ Artem Sitak (NZL) l (10) Mate Pavic (CRO)/ Bruno Soares (BRA) 67(2) 36

An early end of the doubles challenge for us, Divij and Artem failed to overcome a challenge of the 10th seeds, Pavic and Soares ... Now, only Lee and Rohan r remaining in the mixed doubles.

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At $54K+H Bangkok 2 Challenger 2020, Thailand

[QF] (15) Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,185) l (10) Robin Haase (NED,161) 67(5) 26

Ram also failed to take advantage and lost in straight sets against Robin Haase.

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At €46.6K+H Rennes Challenger 2020, France

[QF] (2) Purav Raja (IND)/ Adil Shamasdin (CAN) l Teymuraz Gabashvili (RUS)/ Lukas Lacko (SVK) 67(5) 46

I always feel that Purav and Adil partnership is a weak partnership ... Here, they lost in straight sets against Gaba and Lacko.

Table Tennis News

At ITTF World Olympic Team Qualification - Tokyo 2020, Gondomar, Portugal

Men's Teams - Round of 32
(5) India bt (32) Luxembourg 3-0
[M1] Harmeet Desai (IND)/ Sharath Kamal Achanta (IND) bt Gilles Michely (LUX)/ Eric Glod (LUX) 3-0 (11-9, 16-14, 11-6)
[M2] Sathiyan Gnanasekaran (IND,30) bt Luka Mladenovic (LUX,211) 3-2 (8-11, 9-11, 11-3, 13-11, 11-6)
[M3] Sharath Kamal Achanta (IND,33) bt Eric Glod (LUX,209) 3-1 (11-3, 11-3, 12-14, 11-5)

Women's Teams - Round of 32
(17) India bt (16) Sweden 3-2
[M1] Archana Girish Kamath (IND)/ Ayhika Mukherjee (IND) l Christina Kallberg (SWE)/ Matilda Ekholm (SWE) 0-3 (7-11, 10-12 15-17)
[M2] Manika Batra (IND,61) bt Linda Bergstrom (SWE,75) 3-1 (11-4, 6-11, 11-7, 11-7)
[M3] Ayhika Mukherjee (IND,121) l Matilda Ekholm (SWE,35) 1-3 (5-11, 13-11, 6-11, 7-11)
[M4] Manika Batra (IND,61) bt Christina Kallberg (SWE,197) 3-2 (10-12, 11-7, 9-11, 11-4, 11-7)
[M5] Archana Girish Kamath (IND,135) bt Linda Bergstrom (SWE,75) 3-2 (11-8, 8-11, 9-11, 11-7, 13-11)

Both Indian teams are playing in the ITTF Olympic Team Qualification tournaments ... The top 9 teams will be qualified for Olympic, so every team needs to win 2 matches for the qualification.

Our men's team is the 5th seed, they started with a win over #32 seeded Luxembourg ... Sathiyan started slowly as he lost the first 2 games but he fought back to win the next 3 games ... For Olympic qualifications, Indian men are facing #11 seeded Slovenia men's team.

Our women's team scored an upset win over the higher-seeded Swedish women's team ... Manika Batra won her both matches and our young paddler, Archana Girish Kamat, scored a comeback win over a top-75 ranked Linda Bergstrom in the final match ... Archana saved a couple of tie points (match points) before winning the tie for India ... Qualifying for Olympic, our women need to beat the #5 seeded Romanian women's team.

Tennis News

At the Australian Open 2020, Melbourne

Doubles
[R1] Nadiia Kichenok (UKR)/ Sania Mirza (IND) l Xinyun Han (CHN)/ Lin Zhu (CHN) 26 0-1 retd.
[R1] Divij Sharan (IND)/ Artem Sitak (NZL) bt Pablo Carreno Busta (ESP)/ Joao Sousa (POR) 64 75
[R1] Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Yasutaka Uchiyama (JPN) l (13) Bob Bryan (USA)/ Mike Bryan (USA) 16 63 36

[R2] Divij Sharan (IND)/ Artem Sitak (NZL) vs (10) Mate Pavic (CRO)/ Bruno Soares (BRA)

Mixed Doubles
[R1] (WC) Jelena Ostapenko (LAT)/ Leander Paes (IND) vs (WC) Storm Sanders (AUS)/ Marc Polmans (AUS)
[R1] Nadiia Kichenok (UKR)/ Rohan Bopanna (IND) vs (2) Shuai Zhang (CHN)/ Nicolas Mahut (FRA)

Divij and Artem started with a straight-sets win over Carreno Busta and Sousa ... Next, they r facing the 10th seeds, Pavic and Soares ... But Rohan with Uchiyama lost in three sets against Bryans.
Sania retired in the second set due to calf injury, which happened during practice, Sania struggled on the court to move freely against a Chinese pair.
In MXD, Lee has received a wild-card with a Latvian Jelena Ostapenko and they r facing a local wild-card pair ... Sania decided to skip the mixed event, so Rohan is partnering her doubles partner Nadiia Kichenok ... They r facing the 2nd seeds, Mahut and Zhang.

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At $54K+H Bangkok 2 Challenger 2020, Thailand

[R3] Sasikumar Mukund (IND,250) l (14) Dmitry Popko (KAZ,184) 57 46
[R3] (15) Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,185) bt (2) Go Soeda (JPN,110) 75 75

[QF] (15) Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,185) vs (10) Robin Haase (NED,161)

Doubles
[QF] N. Sriram Balaji (IND)/ Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND) l (2) Gonzalo Escobar (ECU)/ Miguel Angel Reyes-Verela (MEX) 67(4) 63

Ram scored an impressive hard-fought win over a 110-ranked Go Soeda ... Ram completed the win in 100 mins in a close match, though he struggled with his 1st-serve percentage, 47% ... Next, he is facing another experienced player, Robin Haase.
I was hoping for a good run for Mukund after his big second-round win ... But he lost in straight sets against Dmitry Popko.
Bala and Jeevan lost in straight sets against the 2nd seed South American pair.

Badminton News

At $270K Princess Sirivannavari Thailand Masters 2020, Bangkok (HSBC BWF World Tour Super 300)

[R1] Prannoy H. S. (IND,27) l Daren Liew (MAS,41) 17-21 22-20 19-21
[R1] Sameer Verma (IND,29) l (7) Zii Jia Lee (MAS,13) 16-21 15-21
[R1] (5) Kidambi Srikanth (IND,14) l Shesar Hiren Rhustavito (INA,20) 21-12 14-21 11-21

[R1] (5) Saina Nehwal (IND,18) l Line Højmark Kjaersfeldt (DEN,29) 13-21 21-17 15-21

[R1] Venkat Gaurav Prasad (IND)/ Juhi Dewangan (IND) l Kyohei Yamashita (JPN)/ Naru Shinoya (JPN) 10-21 10-21

Terrible performance by Indians in the Thai Masters ... Our players' performance shows in their drop in the rankings.

Tennis News

At the Australian Open 2020, Melbourne

[R1] (LL) Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,122) l (WC) Tatsuma Ito (JPN,145) 46 26 57

A very lackluster performance by Prajnesh against a 31-year-old, Ito ... In the first 2 sets, he played a loose game and didn't fight much on the court ... He tried little more in the third but that wasn't enough ... Disappointed by Prajnesh efforts in this match.

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At $54K+H Bangkok 2 Challenger 2020, Thailand

[R1] Sasikumar Mukund (IND,267) bt Duckhee Lee (KOR,233) 61 63

[R2] Sasikumar Mukund (IND,267) bt (3) Paolo Lorenzi (ITA,114) 63 62
[R2] (15) Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,185) bt JC Aragone (USA,262) 76(5) 10 retd.

[R3] (15) Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,185) vs (2) Go Soeda (JPN,110)

Doubles
[R1] N. Sriram Balaji (IND)/ Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND) bt Sadio Doumbia (FRA)/ Fabien Reboul (FRA) 64 75

Terrific performance from Mukund as he comfortably defeated a former top-35 Italian player, Paolo Lorenzi ... Before that, Mukund started with a dominating win over Duckhee in the first round.
Ram got a lucky-break as his opponent Aragone retired at the beginning of the second set ... Next, he is facing an experienced Go Soeda.

Bala and Jeevan started with a straight-sets win over a French pair.

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At €46.6K+H Rennes Challenger 2020, France

[R1] (2) Purav Raja (IND)/ Adil Shamasdin (CAN) bt (WC) Quentin Gueydan (FRA)/ Mathis Moysan (FRA) 75 61

[QF] (2) Purav Raja (IND)/ Adil Shamasdin (CAN) vs Teymuraz Gabashvili (RUS)/ Lukas Lacko (SVK)

Purav with Adil started with a straight-sets win over a local wild-card pair ... Next, they r facing Gaba and Lacko.

Hockey News

At the FIH Hockey Pro League 2020, Bhubaneswar, India

India bt The Netherlands 3-3 (HT 1-3) (3-1 shoot-out)
Goal Scorers - Lalit Upadhyay (IND) 25', Mandeep Singh (IND) 51' PC, Rupinder Pal Singh (IND) 55' PC and Mink van der Weerden (NED) 23' PC, Jeroen Hertzberger (NED) 26', Bjorn Kellerman (NED) 27'

India made it 5 points from a possible 6 points on the opening weekend of the men’s FIH Hockey Pro League, with our team fighting back from 3-1 down against the Netherlands to tie the match before winning the shoot-out in another superb match ... At the half-time, the Dutch side took 3-1 lead and we played almost all 3rd quarter with 10 players only due to yellow-card ten-minute suspension for captain Manpreet Singh ... We avoided to concede more and scored 2 goals in the final quarter for drawing the match ... Vivek Prasad, Gurjant Singh, and Akashdeep Singh successfully converted their opportunities in the one-on-ones, giving India a 3-1 shoot-out victory.

Golf News

At $7M Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship 2020, Abu Dhabi, UAE

T59 Shubhankar Sharma (IND) 71 70 69 75 -3 €17,602.16

Shubhankar had a poor 3-over final round to finished outside the top-50 in the final standing.

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At $1M Singapore Open 2020, Sentosa Golf Club, Serapong Course

T8 Rashid Khan (IND) 70 66 69 70 -9 $21,666.67
T32 SSP Chawrasia (IND) 72 71 69 71 -1 $7,400.00
T37 Rahil Gangjee (IND) 71 70 72 71 PAR $6,500.00
T48 Khalin Joshi (IND) 70 73 72 72 +3 $4,800.00
63 Shiv Kapur (IND) 72 71 74 73 +6 $3,000.00

Rashid Khan misses a direct qualification for the British Open but gave another good performance for the top-10 finish.

Tennis News

At the Australian Open 2020, Melbourne

[R1] (LL) Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,122) vs (WC) Tatsuma Ito (JPN,145)

The best possible draw for Prajnesh as he is facing a wild-card Tatsuma Ito, who also trains at the Schüttler Waske Tennis-University ... The winner will be facing DJoker in the second round, so a big opportunity of playing on the show court, the Rod Laver Arena or the Margaret Court Arena.

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At $252K Hobart International 2020, Australia

P.C. to WTA twitter page
Doubles Final
Nadiia Kichenok (UKR)/ Sania Mirza (IND) bt (2) Shuai Peng (CHN)/ Shuai Zhang (CHN) 64 64

What a memorable comeback for Sania!
After 27 months away on maternity leave for her son Izhaan (who is now 18 months), Saina made a title-winning comeback with her new partner, Nadiia Kichenok ... They defeated the 2nd seed Chinese pair in straight-sets to win the Hobart International title ... This is her 42nd WTA doubles title from 62 finals, a true legend.

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At $54K+H Bangkok 2 Challenger 2020, Thailand

[R1] Sasikumar Mukund (IND,250) vs Duckhee Lee (KOR,233)
[R1] (15) Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,185) bye

Doubles
[R1] N. Sriram Balaji (IND)/ Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND) vs Sadio Doumbia (FRA)/ Fabien Reboul (FRA)

Ram is seeded and Mukund is playing against Duckhee.

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At €46.6K+H Rennes Challenger 2020, France

[R1] (2) Purav Raja (IND)/ Adil Shamasdin (CAN) vs (WC) Quentin Gueydan (FRA)/ Mathis Moysan (FRA)

Purav with Adil playing in the French challenger.

Hockey News

At the FIH Hockey Pro League 2020, Bhubaneswar, India

India bt The Netherlands 5-2 (2-2)
Goal Scorers - Gurjant Singh (IND) 1', Rupinder Pal Singh (IND) 12' PC and 46' PC, Mandeep Singh (IND) 34', Lalit Upadhyay (IND) 36' and Jip Janssen (NED) 14' PC, Jeroen Hertzberger (NED) 28'

India has the perfect start to their FIH Hockey Pro League campaign, taking a 5-2 victory over the Netherlands in their first-ever match in the competition ... Till the half-time, both teams were squared 2-2 but Indians took control in the third quarter scoring 2 goals in 2 minutes ... A superb display of attacking game from our boys in this match.

Squash News

At $195K Women's JP Morgan Tournament of Champions 2020, New York, USA (PSA World Tour Platinum)

[R1] (12) Joshna Chinappa (IND,12) bye
[R2] (12) Joshna Chinappa (IND,12) bt Tinne Gilis (BEL,22) 11-7, 11-6, 11-9 (33m)

[R3] (12) Joshna Chinappa (IND,12) l (6) Joelle King (NZL,6) 11-9, 6-11, 7-11, 3-11 (48m)

Joshna gave a decent fight against Joella King in her third-round loss ... Before that, she scored an impressive win over a young Belgian Tinne Gilis.

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At $195K Men's JP Morgan Tournament of Champions 2020, New York, USA (PSA World Tour Platinum)

[R1] (9/16) Saurav Ghosal (IND,13) bye
[R1] Ramit Tandon (IND,46) l Mostafa Asal (EGY,21) 8-11, 3-11 7-11 (53m)
[R1] Mahesh Mangaonkar (IND,50) l Yip Tsz Fung (HKG,37) 6-11, 6-11, 5-11 (44m)

[R2] (9/16) Saurav Ghosal (IND,13) bt Cesar Salazar (MEX,23) 11-2, 12-10, 5-11, 8-11, 11-9 (73m)

[R3] (9/16) Saurav Ghosal (IND,13) l (6) Simon Rösner (GER,7) 8-11, 2-11 9-11 (38m)

Saurav failed to challenge Rösner in his third-round loss ... He also stretched to 5 games after winning the first 2 games against Cesar Salazar ... Ramit and Mahesh lost in the first round.

Tennis News

At the Australian Open 2020, Melbourne

[Q3] (17) Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,122) l Ernests Gulbis (LAT,254) 67(2) 26

Prajnesh lost against a former top-10 player, Ernests Gulbis ... Prajnesh took the first set in the tie-break, but from there Gulbis took a control and won it with ease ... Prajnesh still has a chance, as there are 3 lucky-loser places are available ... The AO organizers will be making a draw of the top 5 highest ranked players and 3 players will be chosen.

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At $252K Hobart International 2020, Australia

[SF] Nadiia Kichenok (UKR)/ Sania Mirza (IND) bt Marie Bouzkova (CZE)/ Tamara Zidansek (SLO) 76(3) 62

[F] Nadiia Kichenok (UKR)/ Sania Mirza (IND) vs (2) Shuai Peng (CHN)/ Shuai Zhang (CHN)

Sania and Nadiia enter into the final with straight sets win over Bouzkova and Zidansek ... In the final, they r facing the 2nd seed Chinese pair.

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At $54K+H Bangkok 1 Challenger 2020, Thailand

[SF] N. Sriram Balaji (IND)/ Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND) l Sanchai Ratiwatana (THA)/ Christopher Rungkat (INA) 46 76(2) 7-10

In the semis, Bala and Jeevan lost a close match against Rungkat and Ratiwatana.

Tennis News

At the Australian Open 2020, Melbourne

[Q1] (20) Sumit Nagal (IND,128) l Mohamed Safwat (EGY,172) 67(2) 26

[Q2] (17) Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,122) bt Yannick Hanfmann (GER,167) 16 62 61

[Q3] (17) Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,122) vs Ernests Gulbis (LAT,254)

Another disappointing loss ... Sumit lost in straight sets against Safwat in the first qualifying round ... Sumit started well and was leading 4-1 with a double break, but afterward, he struggled with his overall game, poor shots selection, unforced errors and poor returning game, etc.

Prajnesh scored a superb comeback win over a German big-server Hanfmann ... In the first set, Prajnesh struggled with his game and Hanfmann capitalized to win it comfortably ... From the second set, Prajnesh adjusted and raised his game, he dominated the match ... He won the next 2 sets losing only 3 games ... In the final qualifying, he is facing a former top-10 Latvian player, Ernests Gulbis.

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At $610K ASB Classic, Auckland, New Zealand

[QF] Divij Sharan (IND)/ Artem Sitak (NZL) l Sander Gille (BEL)/ Joran Vliegen (BEL) 75 67(3) 9-11
[QF] (3) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Henri Kontinen (FIN) l Luke Bambridge (GBR)/ Ben McLachlan (JPN) 36 46

Divij and Artem lost a very close match against their Belgian opponents in the match tie-break ... Rohan and Kontinen also failed to overcome the challenge of Bambridge and McLachlan.

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At $252K Hobart International 2020, Australia

[QF] Nadiia Kichenok (UKR)/ Sania Mirza (IND) bt Vania King (USA)/ Christina Mchale (USA) 62 46 10-4

[SF] Nadiia Kichenok (UKR)/ Sania Mirza (IND) vs Marie Bouzkova (CZE)/ Tamara Zidansek (SLO)

Another fighting win for Sania and Nadiia for entering into the semis ... They defeated an American pair in the match tie-break ... Next, they r facing Bouzkova and Zidansek.

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At $54K+H Bangkok 1 Challenger 2020, Thailand

[QF] N. Sriram Balaji (IND)/ Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND) bt JC Aragone (USA)/ Luis David Martinez (VEN) 76(3) 61

[SF] N. Sriram Balaji (IND)/ Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND) vs Sanchai Ratiwatana (THA)/ Christopher Rungkat (INA)

Bala and Jeevan r in the semis with a straight-sets win over an American pair ... Next, they r facing Rungkat and Ratiwatana.

Badminton News

At $400M DAIHATSU Indonesia Masters 2020, Jakarta (HSBC BWF World Tour Super 500)

[R2] (5) Pusarla V. Sindhu (IND,6) l Sayaka Takahashi (JPN,14) 21-16 16-21 19-21

Takahashi completed back to back comeback wins over the top 2 Indian players ... But forgettable outing for Indian players in the Indonesian Masters.

Tennis News

At $610K ASB Classic, Auckland, New Zealand

[R1] Divij Sharan (IND)/ Artem Sitak (NZL) bt (1) John Peers (AUS)/ Michael Venus (NZL) 76(4) 76(3)
[R1] (3) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Henri Kontinen (FIN) bt (WC) Cameron Norrie (GBR)/ Rhett Purcell (NZL) 64 62

[QF] Divij Sharan (IND)/ Artem Sitak (NZL) vs Sander Gille (BEL)/ Joran Vliegen (BEL)
[QF] (3) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Henri Kontinen (FIN) vs Luke Bambridge (GBR)/ Ben McLachlan (JPN)

Divij and Artem scored an upset win over the top-seeds Venus and Peers in 2 tie-breaks ... Next, they r facing a Belgian pair.
Rohan and Kontinen started with a comfortable win over a wild-card pair ... Next, they r facing Bambridge and McLachlan.

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At $54K+H Bendigo 2 Challenger 2020, Australia

[R3] (11) Sasikumar Mukund (IND,272) l (7) Marcos Giron (USA,112) 46 36

Doubles
[QF] Sasikumar Mukund (IND)/ Fajing Sun (CHN) l (3) Sander Arends (NED)/ Cheng-Peng Hsieh (TPE) w/o

Mukund failed to challenge Marcos Giron and lost in straight sets ... In the doubles, Mukund and Sungave a walkover to the 3rd seed pairing of Hsieh and Arends.

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At $54K+H Bangkok 1 Challenger 2020, Thailand

[R1] (4) Purav Raja (IND)/ Adil Shamasdin (CAN) l Evan King (USA)/ Hunter Reese (USA) 67(5) 63 6-10

Purav and Adil lost in the match tie-break against an American pair.

Badminton News

At $400M DAIHATSU Indonesia Masters 2020, Jakarta (HSBC BWF World Tour Super 500)

[Q1] Subhankar Dey (IND,45) l Suppanyu Avihingsanon (THA,47) 16-21 12-21
[Q1] Lakshya Sen (IND,30) l Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk (THA,34) 13-21 12-21

[Q1] Pooja Dandu (IND)/ Sanjana Santosh (IND) l Siti Fadia Silva Ramadhanti (INA)/ Ribka Sugiarto (INA) 16-21 6-21

[R1] Prannoy H. S. (IND,27) l Jonatan Christie (INA,6) 17-21 14-21
[R1] Parupalli Kashyap (IND,25) l (7) Anthony Sinisuka Ginting (INA,7) 14-21 12-21
[R1] Sameer Verma (IND,29) l Tommy Sugiarto (INA,22) 17-21 21-19 10-21
[R1] B. Sai Praneeth (IND,11) l (8) Yu Qi Shi (CHN,9) 21-16 18-21 10-21
[R1] Sourabh Verma (IND,28) l Guang Zu Lu (CHN,21) 21-17 15-21 10-21
[R1] Kidambi Srikanth (IND,12) l Shesar Hiren Rhustavito (INA,19) 21-18 12-21 14-21

[R1] Saina Nehwal (IND,11) l Sayaka Takahashi (JPN,14) 21-19 13-21 5-21
[R1] (5) Pusarla V. Sindhu (IND,6) bt Aya Ohori (JPN,20) 14-21 21-15 21-11

[R1] Satwiksairaj Rankireddy (IND)/ Chirag Shetty (IND) l (2) Mohammad Ahsan (INA)/ Hendra Setiawan (INA) 20-22 15-21

[R1] Pranaav Jerry Chopra (IND)/ N. Sikki Reddy (IND) l (Q) Sung Hyun Ko (KOR)/ Hye Won Eom (KOR) 8-21 14-21

[R2] (5) Pusarla V. Sindhu (IND,6) vs Sayaka Takahashi (JPN,14)

Massacre of our players in this Indonesian Masters ... Only Sindhu managed to win her first-round match ... This week also, Lakshya and Shubhankar failed to win their qualifying matches ... In the main-draw, most of the male players faced local higher ranked players in the first round ... Srikanth again lost against Rhustavito after winning the first game ... Sourabh and Sai also lost against their respective Chinese opponents after winning the first game ... Prannoy and Kashyap lost in straight games against Christie and Ginting ... Sameer also lost against Sugiarto in 3 games.
Saina won the first game but afterward, blown away by Takahashi.
Sindhu had a slow start but after losing the first game she made a strong comeback in the match ... Next, she is facing Takahashi.

Tennis News

At the Australian Open 2020, Melbourne

[Q1] Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,183) l (14) Fredrico Coria (ARG,118) 64 46 16
[Q1] (17) Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,124) bt (WC) Harry Bourchier (AUS,286) 62 64
[Q1] (20) Sumit Nagal (IND,128) vs Mohamed Safwat (EGY,172)

[Q1] Ankita Raina (IND,175) l Victoria Tomova (BUL,146) 26 67(3)

[Q2] (17) Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,124) vs Yannick Hanfmann (GER,167)

Sania is partnering Rohan in the MxD as Rajeev Ram withdrew from the tournament.

Indians started their AO qualifying on a losing note ... Ankita lost in straight sets against Tomova and after that, Ram lost his match against Coria from a good position ... He won the first set and had 3 breakpoints on Coria's serve at 4-3 but he failed to convert ... Coria broke him in the next game and held his serve for taking the match into the decider ... Coria broke him in the 1st game and this pattern continued ... Ram caved in and managed to win a single game in the final game.

Prajnesh started with a clinical win over a local wild-card player ... He played within his strength and easily moved into the second round ... Next, he is facing a German big-server Hanfmann.

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At $610K ASB Classic, Auckland, New Zealand

[R1] Divij Sharan (IND)/ Artem Sitak (NZL) vs (1) John Peers (AUS)/ Michael Venus (NZL)
[R1] (3) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Henri Kontinen (FIN) vs (WC) Cameron Norrie (GBR)/ Rhett Purcell (NZL)

A tough match for Divij and Artem against the top-seeds Venus and Peers ... Rohan is playing with Kontinen and they r facing a wild-card pair.

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At $252K Hobart International 2020, Australia

[R1] Nadiia Kichenok (UKR)/ Sania Mirza (IND) bt Oksana Kalashnikova (GEO)/ Miyu Kato (JPN) 26 76(3) 10-3

[QF] Nadiia Kichenok (UKR)/ Sania Mirza (IND) vs Vania King (USA)/ Christina Mchale (USA)

Sania's comeback started with a win ... Our pair was tentative and missed a chance of winning the second set on their serve at 5-3 ... But from the tie-break, they raised their game and won both tie-breaks losing only 6 points ... Next, they r facing an American pair.

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At $54K+H Bendigo 2 Challenger 2020, Australia

[R1] (11) Sasikumar Mukund (IND,272) bye
[R2] (11) Sasikumar Mukund (IND,272) bt (Q) Yoshihito Nishioka (JPN,71) 5-2 retd.

[R3] (11) Sasikumar Mukund (IND,272) vs (7) Marcos Giron (USA,112)

Doubles
[R1] Sasikumar Mukund (IND)/ Fajing Sun (CHN) bt Luca Margaroli (SUI)/ Andrea Vavassori (ITA) 63 64

[QF] Sasikumar Mukund (IND)/ Fajing Sun (CHN) vs (3) Sander Arends (NED)/ Cheng-Peng Hsieh (TPE)

Mukund has a positive start as his top-75 opponent Nishioka retired when Mukund was leading 5-2 in the first set ... Next, he is facing the top-120 ranked American, Marcos Giron.
In the doubles also, Mukund has a winning start with his partner Fajing Sun, they defeated Margaroli and Vavassori ... Next, they r facing the 3rd seed pairing of Hsieh and Arends.

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At $54K+H Bangkok 1 Challenger 2020, Thailand

[Q1] Siddharth Rawat (IND,501) bt Tomislav Brkic (CRO,547) 75 63

[R1] (Q) Siddharth Rawat (IND,501) bt Sadio Dombia (FRA,361) 62 64

[R2] (Q) Siddharth Rawat (IND,501) l (13) Santiago Giraldo (COL,272) 63 67(5) 46

Doubles
[R1] (3) Purav Raja (IND)/ Adil Shamasdin (CAN) vs Evan King (USA)/ Hunter Reese (USA)
[R1] N. Sriram Balaji (IND)/ Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND) bt Goncalo Oliveira (POR)/ Yang Tsung-Hua (TPE) 63 63

Sid started this new season with a couple of good wins but lost his second-round match after winning the first set against Giraldo.

In the doubles, Bala and Jeevan begin their campaign with a comfortable win over Tsung-Hua and Oliveira.

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Volleyball News

At The Men's Continental Tokyo Volleyball Qualification - Asian Confederation, Jiangmen, China

Pool B
India l Australia 1-3 (27 - 25, 21 - 25, 21 - 25, 22 - 25)

India lost all 3 matches against these higher ranked opponents, but this was a great exposure for our team to play against these teams.

Tennis News

At Qatar ExxonMobil Open 2020, Doha, Qatar

P.C. to Rohan's twitter handle

Doubles Final
(3) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Wesley Koolhof (NED) bt Luke Bambridge (GBR)/ Santiago Gonzales (MEX) 36 62 10-6

[SF] (3) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Wesley Koolhof (NED) bt (2) Henri Kontinen (FIN)/ Franko Skugor (CRO) 75 62

What a start of the 2020 season for Rohan! He captured the Qatar Open title partnering his Dutch partner, Wesley Koolhof ... In the final, they defeated Bambridge and Gonzales in the match tie-break after losing the first set.

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At $25K ITF Women's Tournament 2020, Bendigo, Australia

[R2] Ankita Raina (IND,180) bt (Q) Irina Falconi (USA,443) 26 64 64
[QF] Ankita Raina (IND,180) bt (3) Sachia Vickery (USA,155) w/o

[SF] Ankita Raina (IND,180) l (1) Patricia Maria Tig (ROM,113) 36 46

Ankita's preparation for the AO qualifying started well ... She scored a comeback win over a former top-100 American player, Irina Falconi, after losing the first set and gave a decent fight to a top-120 player, Patricia Maria Tig, in the semis.

Badminton News

At $400M PERODUA Malaysia Masters 2020, Kuala Lumpur (HSBC BWF World Tour Super 500)

[R2] Prannoy H. S. (IND,26) l (1) Kento Momota (JPN,1) 14-21 16-21
[R2] Sameer Verma (IND,33) l Zii Jia Lee (MAS,14) 19-21 20-22

[R2] Saina Nehwal (IND,11) bt (8) Se Young An (KOR,9) 25-23 21-12
[R2] (6) Pusarla V. Sindhu (IND,6) bt Aya Ohori (JPN,19) 21-10 21-15

[QF] Saina Nehwal (IND,11) l Carolina Marin (ESP,10) 8-21 7-21
[QF] (6) Pusarla V. Sindhu (IND,6) l (1) Tai Tzu Ying (TPE,2) 16-21 16-21

Our challenge got over in the quarters ... Sindhu lost against Tai in straight games, but Saina faced humiliating defeat against the former WR #1 Carolina Marin as she managed to win only 15 points in the 2 games.

Volleyball News

At The Men's Continental Tokyo Volleyball Qualification - Asian Confederation, Jiangmen, China

Pool B
India l Korea 0-3 (19-25, 20-25 23-25)

India lost in 3 sets against a higher ranked Korean team.

Tennis News

At Qatar ExxonMobil Open 2020, Doha, Qatar

[R1] Divij Sharan (IND)/ Artem Sitak (NZL) l (4) Jeremy Chardy (FRA)/ Fabrice Martin (FRA) 67(4) 26

[QF] (3) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Wesley Koolhof (NED) bt Frances Tiafoe (USA)/ Stan Wawrinka (SUI) 63 64

[SF] (3) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Wesley Koolhof (NED) vs (2) Henri Kontinen (FIN)/ Franko Skugor (CRO)

Rohan and Koolhof enter into the semis with a straight-sets win over Wawrinka andTiafoe ... But Divij and Artem lost in the first round.

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At $25K ITF Women's Tournament 2020, Bendigo, Australia

[R1] Ankita Raina (IND,180) bt Martina Di Giuseppe (ITA,201) 61 75

[R2] Ankita Raina (IND,180) vs (Q) Irina Falconi (USA,443)

Ankita started with a simple win in straight sets ... Next, she is facing a former top-100 American, Irina Falconi.

Badminton News

At $400M PERODUA Malaysia Masters 2020, Kuala Lumpur (HSBC BWF World Tour Super 500)

[Q1] Subhankar Dey (IND,45) l (3) Daren Liew (MAS,30) 15-21 15-21
[Q1] Lakshya Sen (IND,32) l (4) Hans-Kristian Solberg Vittinghus (DEN,31) 21-11 18-21 14-21

[Q1] Pooja Dandu (IND)/ Sanjana Santosh (IND) l Siti Fadia Silva Ramadhanti (INA)/ Ribka Sugiarto (INA) 15-21 10-21

[R1] Parupalli Kashyap (IND,23) l (1) Kento Momota (JPN,1) 17-21 16-21
[R1] Prannoy H. S. (IND,26) bt Kanta Tsuneyama (JPN,10) 21-9 21-17
[R1] Sai Praneeth B. (IND,11) l Rasmus Gemke (DEN,18) 11-21 15-21
[R1] Sameer Verma (IND,33) bt Kantaphon Wangcharoen (THA,13) 21-16 21-15
[R1] Kidambi Srikanth (IND,12) l (2) Tien Chen Chou (TPE,2) 17-21 5-21

[R1] Saina Nehwal (IND,11) bt (Q) Lianne Tan (BEL,45) 21-15 21-17
[R1] (6) Pusarla V. Sindhu (IND,6) bt Evgeniya Kosetskaya (RUS,27) 21-15 21-13

[R1] Satwiksairaj Rankireddy (IND)/ Chirag Shetty (IND) l Yew Sin Ong (MAS)/ Ee Yi Teo (MAS) 15-21 21-18 15-21

[R1] Pranaav Jerry Chopra (IND)/ N. Sikki Reddy (IND) l (1) Si Wei Zheng (CHN)/ Ya Qiong Huang (CHN) 10-21 10-21

[R2] Prannoy H. S. (IND,26) vs (1) Kento Momota (JPN,1)
[R2] Sameer Verma (IND,33) vs Zii Jia Lee (MAS,14)

[R2] Saina Nehwal (IND,9) vs (8) Se Young An (KOR,9)
[R1] (6) Pusarla V. Sindhu (IND,6) vs Aya Ohori (JPN,19)

Lakshya and Shubhankar lost in their first qualifying matches in the contrasting style ... Kashyap and Srikanth lost against the top 2 players in contrasting matches .. Sai also lost against a lower-ranked Gemke in the first round.
Prannoy and Sameer scored upset wins over the top-15 opponents in straight games ... Prannoy is facing the WR #1 Momota and Sameer is facing a Malaysian Zii Jia Lee.
Saina and Sindhu started with straight games win over their respective opponents ... Saina is facing the 8th seed Korean, Se Young An, and Sindhu facing a Japanese girl, Aya Ohori.

Volleyball News

At The Men's Continental Tokyo Volleyball Qualification - Asian Confederation, Jiangmen, China

Pool B
India l Qatar 0-3 (22-25, 20-25 23-25)

India is the lowest-ranked team in this Asian continental tournament, where only a single Tokyo Olympic place is available ... Not expecting anything special, but good to judge our team's improvement against these top teams ... In the first match, we lost in straight sets against Qatar ... Next, we will play 2 more matches in our Pool against Korea and Australia.

Tennis News

At $162.5K+H Canberra (Bendigo 1) Challenger 2020, Australia

[R2] Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,124) l (13) Taro Daniel (JPN,106) 46 67(4)

Prajnesh lost in 2 tight sets against Daniel, but with that, his challenge got over in this challenger ... After losing the first set Prajnesh was a break down at 1-3 ... He broke Daniel in the 5th game to make it 3-all ... In the tie-break, with a single mini-break, Daniel completed the win.

Tennis News

At Qatar ExxonMobil Open 2020, Doha, Qatar

[R1] Divij Sharan (IND)/ Artem Sitak (NZL) vs (4) Jeremy Chardy (FRA)/ Fabrice Martin (FRA)
[R1] (3) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Wesley Koolhof (NED) bt Marco Cecchinato (ITA)/ Lorenzo Sonego (ITA) 63 62

Rohan and Divij r starting their 2020 season from Doha as the Maharashtra ATP has moved to February due to the ATP Cup ... Rohan and Koolhof started with a comfortable win over an Italian pair.
Divij and Artem r facing the 4th seed French pair.

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At $162.5K+H Canberra (Bendigo 1) Challenger 2020, Australia

[R1] Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,124) bt (WC) Jason Kubler (AUS,261) 75 63
[R1] Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,174) l Emil Ruusuvuori (FIN,123) 63 26 36

[R2] Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,124) vs (13) Taro Daniel (JPN,106)

Prajnesh scored a really good win against a former top-100 Aussie, Jason Kubler ... Kubler had won his last challenger, which he played ... Prajnesh is facing the 13th seed, Taro Daniel, in the second round ... Ram lost in 3 sets against Ruusuvuori after winning the first set ... Ram failed to capitalize on his good start.

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At $25K ITF Women's Tournament 2020, Bendigo, Australia

[R1] Ankita Raina (IND,180) vs Martina Di Giuseppe (ITA,201)

Ankita is playing in Australia before the AO 2020 qualifying.

Tennis News

Year-end WTA Singles rankings (2018 year-end rankings in bracket)

180 Ankita Raina (205)
368 Riya Bhatia (555)
465 Rutuja Bhosale (344)
568 Karman Kaur Thandi (207)
619 Sowjanya Bavisetti (746)
649 Pranjala Yadlapalli (288)
746 Zeel Desai (769)
788 Mahak Jain (521)
890 Sathvika Sama
904 Jeniffer Luikham (809)

Not a great year, as our 2 promising youngsters, Karman and Pranjala sidelined due to long injury ... Hoping a better 2020 for them ... Karman has made a cut in the AO 2020 qualifying with her protected ranking, #208 ... She joins Ankita in the qualifying list ... Ankita had a steady year but she looks stagnant in her current position ... She also jumps inside the top-150 in the 2020 season.

Chess News

At the World Women's Rapid Championship 2019, Moscow, Russia

Final standings in women's section

1 GM Koneru Humpy (IND,2438) 9,0
2 GM Lei Tingjie (CHN,2498) 9,0
3 IM Atalik Ekaterina (RUS,2360) 9,0

13 GM Harika Dronavalli (IND,2425) 8,0

Koneru Humpy's scored an amazing comeback to win the Women's world rapid title ... After twelve rounds it all ended in a three-way tie; Lei Tingjie, who was leading the event, lost her last round to Ekaterina Atalik and also Humpy who beat Tan Zhongyi in the final round ... Atalik, Humpy, and Lei all ended on 9.0/12 ... Because Koneru Humpy and Lei Tingjie had the best tiebreak, a playoff was organized between the two ... In the blitz, Humpy had a slow start and lost the first game with white pieces ... Lei needed to hold Humpy in the 2nd game for the championship ... Lei had chances to win this game but she made mistakes under pressure and Humpy took advantage of it and won this game with black pieces ... With the momentum firmly on her side, Humpy was all pumped up for the Armageddon ... She lost the toss and Lei decided to take the white pieces and an extra minute ... The Armageddon game was one-way traffic as Humpy played solidly and Lei was unable to make any headway ... Very soon, the Indian GM built up a winning position and agreed to a draw via threefold repetition.

In the Blitz World Championship, Humpy finished on the 12th position with 10.5 points ... After 13 rounds, Humpy and Lagno were leading with 10 points each, but Humpy lost the last 3 rounds to finish with 10.5 points after 17 rounds ... Harika finished in the 25th position.

Tennis News

A Leander Paes announcement,

P.C. to Leander's twitter handle

#OneLastRoar!!!

Leander Paes has announced that 2020 will be his farewell year on the ATP World Tour ... He will be participating in the selected tournaments with the hope of representing India in the Tokyo Olympic and the Davis Cup for the last time ... He is playing for 30 yrs. on the tour and gave some memorable moments to the fans ... On the personal note, he won 8 doubles and 10 mixed doubles Grand Slam titles ... In that, he completed career Grand Slam in the men's doubles and the mixed doubles ... His high point playing for the country was, winning a bronze medal for India in singles in the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games ... He competed in consecutive Olympics from 1992 to 2016, making him the first Indian and only tennis player to compete at seven Olympic Games ... He also holds the record for the most Davis Cup doubles win with 44 victories ... One of my favorite Lee's Davis Cup memory is, his performance in the away tie against France at Frejus in 1993 ... Lee defeated Henri Leconte and Arnaud Boetsch on clay and helped India to win this tie 3-2 ... There are mixed emotions but definitely, this will be a fun-filled farewell year ... Thank you Lee for everything!

Tennis News

At Fed Cup 2020 - Asia Oceania Group 1, Dongguan, China

Indian Team: Sania Mirza, Ankita Raina, Karman Kaur Thandi, Riya Bhatia, Rutuja Bhosale
Reserve Player: Sowjanya Bavietti
Captain: Vishal Uppal
Coach: Ankita Bhambri

Our Fed Cup team is announced for the 4-8 February 2020 event ... After 4 years Sania is back in the team with a super-mom title ... Karman also joins our team after her long injury break, so this is our strongest team in the last few years ... Six teams are playing; China, Taiwan, India, Indonesia, South Korea, and Uzbekistan r participating ... The format is, top 2 teams will be promoted and the bottom 2 teams will be relegated.

Weightlifting News

At the 6th Qatar International Cup 2019, Doha

The women's 48kg category

Gold - Saikhom Mirabai Chanu (IND) (Snatch 83kg + Clean and jerk 111kg) 194 kg

The men's 67kg category

Silver - Jeremy Lalrinnunga (IND) (Snatch 140kg + Clean and jerk 166kg) 306 kg (YWR) (YAR)

To qualify for Tokyo, a weightlifter must compete in at least one event in each of the three periods of six months (spread over November 2018 to April 2020), at least six events overall and in at least one gold and another silver level event.

The 25-year-old Chanu won gold with an effort of 194kg in the Olympic qualifying silver level event, the points from which will come in handy when the final rankings for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics cut are done.

Youth Olympic gold medallist weightlifter Jeremy Lalrinnunga went on a record-breaking spree, claiming three world marks in a remarkable performance, on the way to a silver in the men’s 67kg category at the 6th Qatar International Cup here.
the 17-year-old smashed his own Youth World and Asian record in snatch, clean and jerk and total lift with an effort of 306kg to win the silver medal Friday night.

Jeremy broke 27 records in total all under his name, combining national and international marks.
He smashed 12 international records -- three youth world, three youth Asian and six Commonwealth records -- and 15 national records -- five youth nationals, five junior nationals and five senior nationals.

Hockey News

At Tokyo Olympics 2020, Japan

Men's Schedule - Pool A (timing in IST)
Saturday, July 25 - India vs New Zealand - 6.30 am
Sunday, July 26 - India vs Australia - 3 pm
Tuesday, July 28 - India vs Spain - 6.30 am
Thursday, 30 July - India vs Argentina - 6 am
Friday, 31 July - India vs Japan - 3 pm

Sunday, 2 August - Quarterfinals - 6 am, 8.30 am, 3 pm, 5.30 pm
Tuesday, 4 August - Semifinals - 7 am, 3.30 pm
Thursday, 6 August - Bronze medal match (7 am), Final (3.30 pm)

Women's Schedule - Pool A (timing in IST)
Saturday, July 25 - India vs Netherlands - 5.15 pm
Monday, 27 July - India vs Germany - 5.45 pm
Wednesday, 29 July - India vs Great Britain - 6.30 am
Friday, 31 July - India vs Ireland - 8.15 am
Saturday, 1 August - India vs South Africa - 8.45 am

Monday, 3 August - Quarterfinals - 6 am, 8.30 am, 3 pm, 5.30 pm
Wednesday, 5 August - Semifinals - 7 am, 3.30 pm
Friday, 7 August - Bronze medal match (7 am), Final (3.30 pm)

The schedule for Olympic hockey matches is declared in the last week ... In the men's Pool A, we are starting with the Black sticks before playing against a mighty Kookaburras ... In the women's Pool A, we are having first 3 tough matches against mighty Dutch women, German women, and British women.

Football News

At the U17 Women's Football Tournament 2019, Mumbai, India

Final
India l Sweden 0-4 (0-3)
Goal Scored - Rusul Kafaji (SWE) 4', Elma Nelhage (SWE) 16', Monica Bah (SWE) 70'

The Swedish girls clinched victory in the final of the U17 Women's Football Tournament 2019 with a 4-0 win against hosts India ... Inside the first 20 minutes, Sweden took 3-0 lead, but after that, our girls gave a spirited performance ... But they failed to score and Sweden added the 4th goal.

Badminton News

2019 Year-end rankings of the Indian top-50 players (last year's rankings in bracket),

Men's Singles
11 B. Sai Praneeth (22)
12 Srikanth Kidambi (8)
23 Purupalli Kashyap (44)
26 H. S. Prannoy (20)
28 Saurabh Varma (54)
32 Lakshya Sen (109)
33 Sameer Varma (12)
44 Subhankar Dey (49)

Women's Singles
6 P. V. Sindhu (3)
11 Saina Nehwal (9)

Men's Doubles
12 Satwiksairaj Ranikreddy / Chirag Shetty (16)
30 Manu Attri / B. Sumeeth Reddy (25)
49 Arjun M.R/ Shlok Ramchandran (40)

Women's Doublesv 30 Sikki Reddy / Ashwini Ponnappa (23)
46 Pooja Dandu / Sanjana Santoshv 50 Meghana Jakkampudi /Poorvisha S Ram (31)

Mixed Doubles
28 Sikki Reddy / Pranav Chopra (23)
36 Ashwini Ponappa / Satwiksairak Ranikreddy (22)
47 K. Manisha / MR Arjun

In the singles, India having most players, 8, in the top-50 ... China and Japan have 7 each but our, not a single player produced any world-beater performance ... We need a lot of improvement from our players for hoping any chance in Tokyo 2020 ... The jury is out for Lakshya as his higher ranking through winning $25K tournaments ... In the women singles, Sindhu becoming a World Champion was only a bright spot ... Otherwise, forgetting year for Sindhu ... Saina's performance is on the declining and her injuries also not helping her.
Satwik and Chirag showing a lot of improvement after Satwik's 6+ months injury break ... They r currently performing like the top-8 doubles pair ... Having a lot of hopes from them ... Ashwini-Sikki looks stagnant and remains in the top-30 ... After Satwik's comeback, interesting to see how he and Ashwini perform in the mixed-doubles.

Football News

At the U17 Women's Football Tournament 2019, Mumbai, India

India bt Thailand 1-0 (0-0)
Goal Scored - Kritina Devi (IND) 90+'

Our u-17 girls scored an upset win over the Thai girl and enter into the final ... The injury-time goal from Kritina Devi, she scored from a long-range, helped our team for this fighting win ... In the final, we are facing a big challenge of the u-17 Swedish girls, who reached final after winning both matches ... They defeated us 3-0 in the first match and Thai girls 3-1 in their second match.

Badminton News

At $25K YONEX SUNRISE Bangladesh International Challenge 2019, Dhaka (International Challenge)

[R1] (1) Lakshya Sen (IND,41) bt Rajesh Verma (IND,UNR) 21-5, 21-10
[R2] (1) Lakshya Sen (IND,41) bt Muhammad Ziyad Md Tah (MAS,324) 21-13, 21-6
[R3] (1) Lakshya Sen (IND,41) bt Aidil Sholeh Ali Sadikin (MAS,154) 21-17, 21-9
[QF] (1) Lakshya Sen (IND,41) bt NG Tze Yong (MAS,156) 21-9, 21-11
[SF] (1) Lakshya Sen (IND,41) bt (3) Ikhsan Leonardo Imanuel Rumbay (INA,82) 21-18, 21-16

Singles Final
(1) Lakshya Sen (IND,41) bt Jun Hao Leong (MAS,239) 22-20, 21-18

Lakshya needs to play higher level tournaments... He has achieved his current ranking playing these lower-level $25K tournaments ... Currently, he is dominating these tournaments as he won his 5th $25K tournament in the last 10 weeks.

Golf News

At $750K BNI Indonesian Masters 2019, Jakarta, Indonesia

T8 Shiv Kapur (IND) 70 65 71 69 -13 $17,212.50
T10 Rashid Khan (IND) 73 65 71 68 -11 $12,741.00
T15 Jyoti Randhawa (IND) 71 69 72 67 -9 $9,313.00
T21 Ajeetesh Sandhu (IND) 69 67 74 70 -8 $7,725.00
T33 Aman Raj (IND) 69 73 72 68 -6 $5,325.00
T33 Viraj Madappa (IND) 69 69 71 73 -6 $5,325.00
T33 SSP Chawrasia (IND) 72 69 74 67 -6 $5,325.00
T64 Arjun Atwal (IND) 72 71 75 75 +5 $2,100.00

Shiv failed to produce the good final round as he had a chance of finishing in the top-5 ... Overall good performance by the Indian golfers in this Indonesian tournament.

Badminton News

At $1.5M HSBC BWF World Tour Finals 2019, Guangzhou, China

Group A
[M3] Pusarla V. Sindhu (IND,6) bt Bing Jiao He (CHN,7) 21-19 21-19

Sindhu ended her BWF World Tour Finals campaign with a consolation win in the final group match ... She defeated a local girl, Bing Jiao He, in tight 2 games ... In the first game, Sindhu was 9-18 down but she made an exceptional comeback in the match ... She won the next 9 points for 18-all and won the game after winning the last 3 points ... In the second game, Sindhu opened 3-4 points lead from the beginning and kept that advantage through-out this game ... Bing saved a couple of match points but Sindhu converted 3rd for a win.

Football News

At the U17 Women's Football Tournament 2019, Mumbai, India

India l Sweden 0-3 (0-2)
Goal Scored - Matilda Vinberg (SWE) 4' P, Ida Weidenberg (SWE) 25', Monica Bah (SWE) 90+'

The AIFF organizing the u-17 women's tournament ... This is considering our girls better preparation and build-up for the FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup next year ... Our India U-17 team is facing a higher ranked Sweden and Thailand.

In the first match, the Swedish girl scored a convincing win over our girls ... Our team struggled with poor marksmanship in-front of the goal ... A good overall learning experience for Thomas Dennerby's team.

Badminton News

At $1.5M HSBC BWF World Tour Finals 2019, Guangzhou, China

Group A
[M2] Pusarla V. Sindhu (IND,6) l Yu Fei Chen (CHN,2) 22-20 16-21 12-21

Another loss for Sindhu after winning the first game ... She had a 6-3 win-loss record against Yu Fei Chen but her recent lack of form let her down.

Golf News

At LET Order of Merit 2019,

13 Aditi Ashok (IND) 233.47 pts (7 tournaments) € 77,696.79
14 Diksha Dagar (IND) 231.89 pts (from 19 tournaments) € 57,944.56
45 Tvesa Malik (IND) 113.52 pts (12 tournaments) € 28,420.89
75 Astha Madan (IND) 51.80 pts (13 tournaments) € 12,130.38
90 Vani Kapoor (IND) 29.00 pts. (6 tournaments) € 6,611.28

Aditi finished the Ladies European tour season on the creditable 13th position, playing in only 7 tournaments ... The Ladies South African Open winner, Diksha Dagar, finished behind Aditi and Tvesa Malik also finished inside the top-50 ... So first-time our 3 girls finished inside on the top-50 of the European tour ... Also Diksha and Tvesa finished on the 2nd and the 3rd positions on the Rookie of the year list.

Badminton News

At $1.5M HSBC BWF World Tour Finals 2019, Guangzhou, China

Group A
[M1] Pusarla V. Sindhu (IND,6) l Akane Yamaguchi (JPN,4) 21-18 18-21 8-21

Sindhu qualified for the BWF World Tour Finals as a World Champion, despite having overall poor season ... She received a favorable draw but Sindhu lost in her first match against Yamaguchi after winning the first game.

Squash News

At $12K Men's Life Time Betty F Griffin Memorial Florida Open 2019, Boca Raton, USA (PSA Challenger Tour 10)

[R1] (1) Vikram Malhotra (IND,58) bt Anthony Rogal (ENG,180) 11-6, 11-4, 11-5 (35m)
[QF] (1) Vikram Malhotra (IND,58) bt Leandro Romiglio (ARG,166) 11-4, 6-11, 11-9, 11-7 (40m)
[SF] (1) Vikram Malhotra (IND,58) bt (3) Mazen Gamal (EGY,64) 11-9, 12-14, 11-3, 11-9 (84m)

Final
(1) Vikram Malhotra (IND,58) bt (6) Jesus Camacho (MEX,89) 11-6, 11-6, 11-4 (39m)

Vikram won the title in Florida beating a Mexican youngster Camacho in straight games ... Before that in the semis, he scored a win in the marathon match against a similar ranked Gamal.

Golf News

At € 300K Magical Kenya Ladies Open 2019, Vipingo Ridge, Kenya

2 Aditi Ashok (IND) 73 70 67 65 -13 € 27,000.00
T16 Diksha Dagar (IND) 77 73 70 69 +1 € 4,725.00
T27 Tvesa Malik (IND) 72 71 73 76 +4 € 3,195.00
T53 Astha Madan (IND) 74 76 76 71 +9 € 1,290.00

Aditi scored an excellent 7-under final round but a German Esther Henseleit scored a superb 8-under to win the title ... But a still creditable performance by Aditi to finish on the 2nd position.

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At € 1M AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open 2019, Mauritius

T17 Jyoti Randhawa (IND) 70 69 70 65 -14 € 12,475.00
T54 Abhijit Chadha (IND) 69 70 71 73 -5 € 3,450.00
T54 Udayan Mane (IND) 73 68 74 68 -5 € 3,450.00
71 Viraj Madappa (IND) 71 70 75 75 +3 € 1,600.00

Jyoti scored an excellent 7-under final round to finish in the top-20 in the Mauritius Open.

Tennis News

At $25K ITF Women's Tournament 2019, Solapur, India

[R1] (2) Ankita Raina (IND,188) bt Valeriya Strakhova (UKR,366) 63 60
[R2] (2) Ankita Raina (IND,188) bt Riya BHatia (IND,376) 63 64
[QF] (2) Ankita Raina (IND,188) bt Sandra Samir (EGY,368) 16 64 61
[SF] (2) Ankita Raina (IND,188) bt Katie Boulter (GBR,342) 57 62 62

Singles Final
(2) Ankita Raina (IND,188) bt (5) Naiktha Bains (GBR,249) 63 63

Doubles
Naiktha Bains (GBR)/ [R1] (1) Ulrikke Eikeri (NOR)/ Ankita Raina (IND) bye
[QF] (1) Ulrikke Eikeri (NOR)/ Ankita Raina (IND) bt Prathiba Narayan prasad (IND)/ Soha Sadiq (IND) 61 61
[SF] (1) Ulrikke Eikeri (NOR)/ Ankita Raina (IND) bt Sandra Samir (EGY)/ Ekaterina Yashina (RUS) 26 60 10-8

Doubles Final
(1) Ulrikke Eikeri (NOR)/ Ankita Raina (IND) bt Berfu Cengiz (TUR)/ Despina Papamichail (GRE) 57 64 10-3

Ankita wins a double crown at Solapur ... In the singles final, she defeated an Indian origin Naiktha Bains in straight sets but before that she scored an excellent comeback win over the former top-100 player, Katie Boulter.
She also won the doubles title with her Norwegian partner Ulrikke Eikeri.

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At $100K+H ITF Women's Tournament 2019, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

[Q1] Rutuja Bhosale (IND,421) l (2) Aleksandra Krunic (SRB,167) 63 06 3-10

A decent performance by Rutuja against a former top-40 ranked Krunic.

Tennis News

At Australian Open 2020 Asia-Pacific Wildcard Play-off, Zhuhai, China

[QF] (7) Sasikumar Mukund (IND,271) l Yunseong Chung (KOR,320) 46 36

Indian challenge got over with a straight-sets loss of Mukund against a Korean Yunseong Chung.

Tennis News

At Australian Open 2020 Asia-Pacific Wildcard Play-off, Zhuhai, China

[R1] (3) Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,176) l Ze Zhang (CHN,358) 36 06

Doubles
[QF] (3) Arjun Kadhe (IND)/ Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND) l Yuki Mochizuki (JPN)/ Sho Shimabukuro (JPN) 36 63 11-13

A bad day for Indians ... Expected a win from Ram against Ze Zhang, but he managed to win only 3 games in his loss.
In the doubles, the seeded Ram and Arjun lost a close match in the long super tie-break against a Japanese pair.

Tennis News

At Australian Open 2020 Asia-Pacific Wildcard Play-off, Zhuhai, China

[R1] (3) Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,176) vs Ze Zhang (CHN,358)
[R1] (7) Sasikumar Mukund (IND,271) bt (Q) Sidharth Rawat (IND,498) 63 62

[QF] (7) Sasikumar Mukund (IND,271) vs Yunseong Chung (KOR,320)

Doubles
[R1] (3) Arjun Kadhe (IND)/ Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND) bye

[QF] (3) Arjun Kadhe (IND)/ Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND) vs Yuki Mochizuki (JPN)/ Sho Shimabukuro (JPN)

Mukund scored a comfortable win over Sid ... In the quarters, he is facing a Korean Yunseong Chung, who scored an upset win over Istomin ... Ram is having a tricky match against a local favorite, Ze Zhang.
In the doubles, Ram is playing with Arjun and they r having a bye in the first round ... In the quarters, they r facing a Japanese pair.

Tennis News

At Australian Open 2020 Asia-Pacific Wildcard Play-off, Zhuhai, China

[FQ] (3) Sidharth Rawat (IND,498) bt Arjun Kadhe (IND,596) 57 63 61

The expected win for Sid against Arjun in 3 sets ... With this win, he has joined Ram and Mukund in the main-draw ... In the doubles, Ram is playing with Arjun.

Golf News

At €300K Andalucia Open de Espana 2019, Málaga, Spain (Ladies European Tour)

T2 Aditi Ashok (IND) 70 67 69 70 -12 € 22,500.00
T32 Tvesa Malik (IND) 72 71 75 72 +2 € 2,520.00
T39 Diksha Dagar (IND) 72 69 77 73 +3 € 1,930.00

Aditi gave a strong performance to finish for the tied 2nd position with an excellent score of 12-under ... Tvesa and Diksha also made a cut and played 4 rounds.

Badminton News

At $150K Ecogreen Syed Modi International Badminton Championships 2019, Lucknow, India (HSBC BWF World Tour Super 300)

[R1] Sourabh Verma (IND,36) bt Xiaodong Sheng (CAN,84) 21-11 21-16
[R2] Sourabh Verma (IND,36) bt Alap Mishra (IND,163) 21-11 21-18
[QF] Sourabh Verma (IND,36) bt Kunlavut Vitidsarn (THA,41) 21-19 21-16
[SF] Sourabh Verma (IND,36) bt Kwang Hee Heo (KOR,44) 21-17 16-21 21-18

Men's Singles Final
Sourabh Verma (IND,36) l (8) Tzu Wei Wang (TPE,22) 15-21 17-21

Sourabh reached the final in this Indian Super 300 tournament ... He lost the final against the top-25 ranked Tzu Wei Wang ... Before this, he scored an impressive win over a multiple junior World champion Thai, Kunlavut Vitidsarn ... Other hands, his all seniors; Shrikanth, Sai, Sameer Verma, and Kashyap lost in first 2 rounds ... Satwik and Chirag also lost in the first round as a 2nd seed pair.
In the women's singles, Rituparna Das reached in the semis after her pro-long injury break ... Sindhu and Saina skipped this tournament due to injury.