Tennis News
At €2.95M BNP Paribas Masters, Paris, France

Doubles Final
(5) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Rohan Bopanna (IND) bt (7) Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (PAK)/ Jean-Julien Rojer (NED) 76(6) 63

Mahesh and Rohan lifted their first Masters title together when they defeated 7th seeds Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi and Jean-Julien Rojer in 85 minutes in the final of the BNP Paribas Masters in Paris ... This is Mahesh 50th tour level title and 16th Masters title ... Other hand Rohan win his 7th tour level title and 2nd Masters title.

In the final our pair had couple of set points in 10th game on Aisam's serve then again they had 4 set points on Rojer's serve in 12th game but they failed to convert any of those break points ... In the tie-break Rohan and Aisam were 2-5 down but they recovered to make it 5-all ... Our pair saved a set point at 5-6 and then coverted 7th set point on Rojer's serve ... Our pair dominated the second set ... From 3-all they broke Rojer's in 7th and then Aisam in 9th games to win the final.

Mahesh Bhupathi - “The match could have gone either way, but I felt we played really well on the big points. At this level, at this stage of any big event, that is what counts. We have been very consistent at the Masters 1000s. It has been a little disappointing in the Grand Slams, but we have made up for it here. I am so relieved and happy to have qualified for London."

Rohan Bopanna - “It is definitely the best week we have played all season. We are very happy with the way we played and I hope we can take this form to London. The Barclays ATP World Tour Finals is one of the best events we have in tennis, especially being in England with the public appreciating tennis so much. Hopefully momentum can carry us on to do well next week.
-----------------------------------------------------------
At 2012 Barclays ATP World Tour Finals, London, England

Doubles - Group A
(1) Bob Bryan (USA)/ Mike Bryan (USA)
(3) Radek Stepanek (CZE)/ Leander Paes (IND)
(5) Marcel Granollers (ESP)/ Marc Lopez (ESP)
(7) Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (PAK)/ Jean-Julien Rojer (NED)

Doubles - Group B
(2) Max Mirnyi (BLR)/ Daniel Nestor (CAN)
(4) Robert Lindstedt (SWE)/ Horia Tecau (ROU)
(6) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Rohan Bopanna (IND)
(8) Jonathan Marray (GBR)/ Frederik Nielsen (DEN)

Lee and Radek r in the group A with Bryans ... Mahesh and Rohan r in the group B with Nestor and Mirnyi.
-----------------------------------------------------------
At $125K Royal Indian Open, Pune, India

[Q1] Anushka Bhargava (IND,1158) bt (8) Shivika Burman (IND,829) 75 63
[Q1] (7) Nidhi Chilumula (IND,804) bt (WC) Zainab Ali Sajjad (IND,UNR) 60 61
[Q1] (4) Rishika Sunkara (IND,574) bye
[Q1] (5) Ankita Raina (IND,604) bye

[Q2] Anushka Bhargava (IND,1158) l (1) Andreja Klepac (SLO,446) 16 36
[Q2] (7) Nidhi Chilumula (IND,804) bt (2) Emily Webley-Smith (GBR,447) W/O
[Q2] (4) Rishika Sunkara (IND,574) bt (5) Ankita Raina (IND,604) 62 76(9)

[R1] (WC) Prarthana Thombare (IND,956) vs Chang Liu (CHN,382)
[R1] (WC) Rutuja Bhosale (IND,708) vs So-Ra Lee (KOR,409)
[R1] (Q) Nidhi Chilumula (IND,804) vs Cagla Buyukakcay (TUR,186)
[R1] (Q) Rishika Sunkara (IND,574) vs (5) Kimiko Date-Krumm (JPN,146)
[R1] (WC) Prerna Bhambri (IND,671) vs (2) Misaki Doi (JPN,97)

Doubles
[R1] (WC) Anushka Bhargava (IND)/ Sofia Shapatava (GEO) vs Kimiko Date-Krumm (JPN)/ Kurumi Nara (JPN)
[R1] Nidhi Chilumula (IND)/ Wing-Yau Chan (HKG) vs (4) Julia Glushko (ISR)/ Noppawan Lertcheewakarn (THA)
[R1] Prerna Bhambri (IND)/ Rishika Sunkara (IND) vs (WC) Arantxa Andrady (IND)/ Shivika Burman (IND)
[R1] Rushmi Chakravarthi (IND)/ Ankita Raina (IND) vs (3) Monique Adamczak (AUS)/ Stephanie Bengson (AUS)
[R1] Rutuja Bhosale (IND)/ Prarthana Thombare (IND) vs (2) Nina Bratchikova (RUS)/ Oksana Kalashnikova (GEO)

Good to see our couple of players qualified for main-draw taking advantage of weak draw .. In main-draw our all players facing tough challenge.
-----------------------------------------------------------
At $50K Loughborough Challenger, Great Britain

[R1] (4) Divij Sharan (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) vs James Cluskey (IRL)/ Marcus Daniell (NZL)

This week Purav is playing with Divij in British challenger.
-----------------------------------------------------------
At $10K Thailand F5,

[R1] (2) N Sriram Balaji (IND,327) vs (Q) Evgeny Karlovskiy (RUS,1018)

Doubles
[R1] N Sriram Balaji (IND)/ Evgeny Karlovskiy (RUS) vs (1) Brydan Klein (AUS)/ Dane Propoggia (AUS)

Bala is playing in $10K Thai futures.

Tennis News
At €2.95M BNP Paribas Masters, Paris, France

[SF] (5) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Rohan Bopanna (IND) bt Paul Hanley (AUS)/ Jonathan Marray (GBR) 75 63

[F] (5) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Rohan Bopanna (IND) vs (7) Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (PAK)/ Jean-Julien Rojer (NED)

Rohan and Mahesh scored straight sets win over Hanley and Marray and enter into the final ... Rohan and Mahesh saved all 5 break points faced on serve but converted 2 of their 5 opportunities on opponents serve ... In the final they r facing Aisam and Rojer.
-----------------------------------------------------------
At $15K India F14 Futures, Pune

Singles Final
Prakash AMRITRAJ (IND,806) bt (4) Saketh MYNENI (IND,374) 64 62

Prkash scored comfortable win over Saketh for deserving $15K futures title win ... He was better player on the court and Saketh was struggling to match with him ... In the first set Prakash broke Saketh early and kept that advantage to win it ... In the second set Prakash broke Saketh twice to lead 4-1 and won this match comfortably.

Tennis News
At €2.95M BNP Paribas Masters, Paris, France

[QF] (5) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Rohan Bopanna (IND) bt (4) Mariusz Fyrstenberg (POL)/ Marcin Matkowski (POL) 67(5) 63 10-4

Mahesh and Rohan raised their game when it was matter most to win this match and qualifying for the ATP Tour Finals ... They needed victory against Poles for qualifying and after losing the first set in tie-break they regrouped to win the second ... In match tie-break they were in control form the start.
-----------------------------------------------------------
At $75K Charlottesville Challenger, USA

[QF] (WC) Somdev DevVarman (IND,733) l (8) Denis Kudla (USA,164) 26 06

After excellent performance in last 2 matches where Somi needed comeback to win it ... Somi produced really flat performance to lose against Kudla ... May be Somi was tired after first 2 rounds matches.
-----------------------------------------------------------
At $15K India F14 Futures, Pune

[SF] (4) Saketh MYNENI (IND,374) bt (1) Christopher RUNGKAT (INA,299) 63 63
[SF] Prakash AMRITRAJ (IND,806) bt (8) Nicolas REISSIG (AUT,504) 64 64

Doubles Final
[SF] (1) Saket Myneni (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) bt (2) N Sriram Balaji (IND)/ Arun Prakash Rajagopalan (IND) 75 67(3) 10-5

Very solid wins by Saketh and Prakash against their higher ranked opponents ... Saketh defeated top-seed young Indonesian convincingly ... Prakash win was expected despite his lower ranked considering his huge experience ... He will be favorite for the final.

Saketh and Purav won back to back title again beating Balaji and Arun Prakash in the final ... This time match was very close one as both sets stretched to fullest but Purav and Saketh dominated match tie-break for the victory.

Snooker News
At International Championship 2012, Chengdu, China

[R2] (72) Aditya Mehta (IND) l (3) Judd Trump (ENG) 0-6

[R1] (72) Aditya Mehta (IND) bt (13) Stuart Bingham (ENG) 6-4
[Wild-card Round] (72) Aditya Mehta (IND) bt (A) Zhu Yinghui (CHN) 6-5

Aditya Mehta won wild-card round against local Chinese player and entered in the main-draw.

Aditya scored upset first round win over 13th ranked Stuart Bingham but in the second round 3 rd ranked Britisher Judd Trump proved too strong ... But still very creditable start of professional career for Aditya.

Tennis News
At €2.95M BNP Paribas Masters, Paris, France

[R2] (6) Jurgen Melzer (AUT)/ Leander Paes (IND) l (WC) Josselin Ouanna (FRA)/ Nicolas Renavand (FRA) 67(5) 46
[R2] (5) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Rohan Bopanna (IND) bt (WC) Julien Benneteau (FRA)/ Adrian Mannarino (FRA) 60 64

[QF] (5) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Rohan Bopanna (IND) vs (4) Mariusz Fyrstenberg (POL)/ Marcin Matkowski (POL)

Mahesh and Rohan scored comfortable win over French wild-card pair and keep their hopes alive for qualifying in ATP Tour Finals ... In the quarters they r facing Poles and winner will qualify for ATP Tour Finals grabbing last spot.

Lee lost against French wild-card pair with Jurgen Melzer.
-----------------------------------------------------------
At $75K Charlottesville Challenger, USA

[R2] (WC) Somdev Devvarman (IND,733) bt (Q) Taro Daniel (JPN,337) 46 75 61

[QF] (WC) Somdev DevVarman (IND,733) vs (8) Denis Kudla (USA,164)

Another excellent comeback win by Somi in 2+ hours match ... After losing the first set Somi was a break down in the second before excellent fight back ... Like the way he dominated the final set against young Japanese ... Next Somi is facing 8th seed American Denis Kudla, last year here Somi retired in the third set against same opponent before his long injury/ rehab break.
-----------------------------------------------------------
At $15K India F14 Futures, Pune

[QF] (1) Christopher RUNGKAT (INA,299) bt (7) Mate PAVIC (CRO,467) 62 61
[QF] (4) Saketh MYNENI (IND,374) bt (5) Jeevan NEDUNCHEZHIYAN (IND,398) 76(5) 62
[QF] Prakash AMRITRAJ (IND,806) bt (3) Liang-Chi HUANG (TPE,368) 76(4) 61
[QF] (8) Nicolas REISSIG (AUT,504) bt (2) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND,328) 64 26 64

Doubles
[SF] (1) Saket Myneni (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) bt (3) N. Vijay Sundar Prashanth (IND)/ Ranjeet Virali-Murugesan (IND) 64 76(5)
[SF] (2) N Sriram Balaji (IND)/ Arun Prakash Rajagopalan (IND) bt (4) Mate Pavic (CRO)/ Nicolas Reissig (AUT) 76(7) 76(3)

Prakash continued with his good run and is in the semis ... Saketh showed his upperhand against Jeevan with another win, he is 4-0 up against him in win-loss record ... Balaji failed to overcome challenge from Austrian.

Last week's repeat final in the doubles.

Tennis News
At $75K Charlottesville Challenger, USA

[R1] (WC) Somdev Devvarman (IND,733) bt (4) Mischa Zverev (GER,137) 46 75 64

[R2] (WC) Somdev Devvarman (IND,733) vs (Q) Taro Daniel (JPN,337)

In the first set Zverev take first break in 5th game but Somi broke back in the next game to make it 3-all ... Zverev take crucial break in 9th game and then hold his serve to win the first set ... In the second set Somi broke Zverev in 4th game to lead 3-1 but then failed to hold his serve in next game ... Again Somi broke Zverev in 8th game to lead 5-3 but failed to hold his own service game while serving for the set ... Somi won the set when he take crucial break on Zverev serve in 12th game ... In the final set Zverev take early break breaking Somi in 3rd game ... Suddenly Somi was making too many unforced errors ... Zverev take advantage of it and again broke Somi in 5th game to lead 1-4 ... Somi raised his game from this game and comeback strongly ... Somi won next 5 games and in that broke Zverev's serve 3 times; 6th game, 8th game and 10th game ... His best win after his shoulder operation.

Next he is facing Japanese qualifier, who defeated Prakash three weeks ago in Tiburon Challenger.
-----------------------------------------------------------
At $15K India F14 Futures, Pune

[R2] (1) Christopher RUNGKAT (INA,299) bt (WC) Vignesh PERANAMALLUR (IND,1181) 61 61
[R2] (7) Mate PAVIC (CRO,467) bt Vivek SHOKEEN (IND,1188) 64 75
[R2] (4) Saketh MYNENI (IND,374) bt James MARSALEK (GBR,568) 63 62
[R2] (5) Jeevan NEDUNCHEZHIYAN (IND,398) bt (WC) Chandril SOOD (IND,1174) 63 62
[R2] Prakash AMRITRAJ (IND,806) bt Mohit Mayur JAYAPRAKASH (IND,1077) 75 60
[R2] (3) Liang-Chi HUANG (TPE,368) bt (WC) Arjun KADHE (IND,1408) 76(3) 36 57
[R2] (8) Nicolas REISSIG (AUT,504) bt Chieh-Fu WANG (TPE,935) 63 63
[R2] (2) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND,328) bt (Q) Ting Yu CHUANG (TPE,UNR) 61 76(2)

Doubles
[QF] (1) Saket Myneni (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) bt Mohit Mayur Jayaprakash (IND)/ Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND) 63 64
[QF] (3) N. Vijay Sundar Prashanth (IND)/ Ranjeet Virali-Murugesan (IND) bt Kaza Vinayak Sharma (IND)/ Arjun Kadhe (IND) 62 75
[QF] (4) Mate Pavic (CRO)/ Nicolas Reissig (AUT) bt Chandril Sood (IND)/ Lakshit Sood (IND) 62 64
[QF] (2) N Sriram Balaji (IND)/ Arun Prakash Rajagopalan (IND) bt Sidharth Rawat (IND)/ Rakshay Thakkar (IND) 63 62

Overall expected results in the singles and the doubles but really impressive fight by young Arjun against 3rd seed Huang ... Huang won this match in the decider on his experience.

Tennis News
At €2.95M BNP Paribas Masters, Paris, France

[R1] (6) Jurgen Melzer (AUT)/ Leander Paes (IND) vs
[R1] (5) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Rohan Bopanna (IND) bye

This week Lee is playing with Jurgen ... For Mahesh and Rohan their performance in this Masters count for qualifying for ATP Tour Finals ... They r fighting for 2 places with 4th seed Poles Mariusz Fyrstenberg and Marcin Matkowski, who r in their draw and can meet in the quarters, other pair is 7th seed Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi and Jean-Julien Rojer.
-----------------------------------------------------------
At $15K India F14 Futures, Pune

[R1] (1) Christopher RUNGKAT (INA,299) bt (WC) Purav RAJA (IND,1279) 76(4) 62
[R1] (WC) Vignesh PERANAMALLUR (IND,1181) bt Ajai SELVARAJ (IND,1115) 62 46 61
[R1] Vivek SHOKEEN (IND,1188) bt (Q) Tejas CHAUKULKAR (IND,1475) 64 62
[R1] (7) Mate PAVIC (CRO,467) bt Kaza Vinayak SHARMA (IND,904) 63 61
[R1] (4) Saketh MYNENI (IND,374) bt Sidharth RAWAT (IND,921) 62 61
[R1] James MARSALEK (GBR,568) bt (Q) Jui-Chen HUNG (TPE,1521) 62 64
[R1] (WC) Chandril SOOD (IND,1174) bt (Q) Abhijeet TIWARI (IND,1196) 76(9) 61
[R1] (5) Jeevan NEDUNCHEZHIYAN (IND,398) bt (Q) William KENDALL (USA,UNR) 63 64
[R1] Prakash AMRITRAJ (IND,806) bt (6) Ranjeet VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND,460) 75 62
[R1] Mohit Mayur JAYAPRAKASH (IND,1077) bt (Q) Rakshay THAKKAR (IND,1360) 63 62
[R1] (WC) Arjun KADHE (IND,1408) bt (Q) Peng Chih HSUEH (TPE,UNR) 60 63
[R1] (3) Liang-Chi HUANG (TPE,368) bt Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND,1042) 61 61
[R1] (8) Nicolas REISSIG (AUT,504) bt (Q) Sebastian OFNER (AUT,UNR) 46 62 62
[R1] Chieh-Fu WANG (TPE,935) bt Ashwin VIJAYRAGAVAN (IND,823) 64 76(3)
[R1] (Q) Ting Yu CHUANG (TPE,UNR) bt (LL) Lakshit SOOD (IND,UNR) 75 63
[R1] (2) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND,328) bt N. Vijay Sundar PRASHANTH (IND,543) 76(2) 57 64

Doubles
[R1] (1) Saket Myneni (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) bt Neeraj Elangovan (IND)/ Abhijeet Tiwari (IND) 63 63
[R1] Mohit Mayur Jayaprakash (IND)/ Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND) bt Vivek Shokeen (IND)/ Chieh-Fu Wang (TPE) 64 76(6)
[R1] (3) N. Vijay Sundar Prashanth (IND)/ Ranjeet Virali-Murugesan (IND) bt Ajai Selvaraj (IND)/ Ashwin Vijayragavan (IND) 64 64
[R1] Kaza Vinayak Sharma (IND)/ Arjun Kadhe (IND) bt (WC) Tejas Chaukulkar (IND)/ Fariz Mohammed (IND) 63 64
[R1] Chandril Sood (IND)/ Lakshit Sood (IND) bt Vignesh Peranamallur (IND)/ Akash Wagh (IND) 75 75
[R1] (4) Mate Pavic (CRO)/ Nicolas Reissig (AUT) bt (WC) Rohan Gide (IND)/ Nitten Kirrtane (IND) 64 64
[R1] Sidharth Rawat (IND)/ Rakshay Thakkar (IND) bt (WC) Jatin Dahiya (IND)/ Sagar Manjanna (IND) 63 62
[R1] (2) N Sriram Balaji (IND)/ Arun Prakash Rajagopalan (IND) bt Kunal Anand (IND)/ Ronak Manuja (IND) 64 36 10-7

Comfortable winning start for Saketh ... Chandril also scored good win against similar ranked Abhijeet but surprised loss of Ashwin against lower ranked Taipei player ... Expected results in the doubles.

Arjun started with a comfortable win but next he is facing 3rd seed Taipei player ... Happy to see Prakash's winning start against Ranjeet ... Vijay Sundar stretched Balaji in tough three sets.

Golf News
At $6.1M CIMB Classic, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (Co-sanctioned by PGA and Asian Tours)

Final Standing
T10 Gaganjeet Bhullar (IND) 65 72 65 67 -15 $102,500.00
T26 Anirban Lahiri (IND) 71 66 68 69 -10 $60,600.00

Gaganjeet Bhullar finished creditable tied for 10th position ... Gaganjeet managed 4 under final round which helped him to finish in top-10 and also best Asian player's finish this year.

Billiard News
At the 2012 World Billiards Championship, Leeds, England

World Billiards Championship 2012 - Time format Final
(1) Pankaj Advani (IND) bt (6) Mike Russell (QAT) 1895-1216

Pankaj defeated hot favorite and defending multiple times World champion Mike Russell to lift this first unification Billiard World Championship ... Pankaj won the final by 650+ points ... Huge victory for Pankaj.

So both titles, Point and Time formats, won by Indians.

Badminton News
At $200K French Open 2012, Paris

[F] (1) Saina Nehwal (IND,3) l Minatsu Mitani (JPN,26) 19-21 11-21

In this match Saina played some beautiful points but after that was making couple of errors and she was looking very tired ... In the first game she lost 4 points making unforced errors from 19-17 to lose it ... In the second game also she lost 10 points from final 12 points from 9-10 ... Disappointing performance for Saina ... Other hand Minatsu Mitani won her first Super series title in her first Super series final.

Billiard News
At the 2012 World Billiards Championship, Leeds, England

World Billiards Championship 2012 - 150up format - Final
Rupesh Shah (IND) bt (3) Matthew Bolton (AUS) 6-2

World Billiards Championship 2012 - Time format
[SF] (1) Pankaj Advani (IND) bt (4) Dhruv Sitwala (IND) 1381-867
[SF] (6) Mike Russell (QAT) bt (2) Matthew Bolton (AUS) 1562-1028

Rupesh Shah continued with his giant killing and lifted this first unification World Billiards Championship title in Point format beating Australian Matthew Bolton in the final.

Pankaj started well with big breaks in the first session ... He scored three breaks of 167, 205 and 257, which built a lead of 600 points by the session break ... That lead proved too big for Dhruv to overcome as finally Pankaj won the match by 514 points ... In the second semi-final Bolton tried hard to catch Russell but Mike Russell's huge 740 points break in the first session proved decisive.

Badminton News
At $200K French Open 2012, Paris

[SF] (1) Saina Nehwal (IND,3) bt (4) Juliane Schenk (GER,6) 21-19 21-8

[F] (1) Saina Nehwal (IND,3) vs Minatsu Mitani (JPN,26)

Saina scored straight games win over Juliane Schenk in 36 minutes for another Super Series final ... In the first game Saina was leading by couple of points from the start but Juliane managed to catch with her at 6-all ... From 9-all Saina extended 13-9 lead but again Juliane caught her 16-all and then after falling behind 16-19 Juliane managed to make it 19-all ... Saina won next 2 points to win this game ... In the second game Saina opened 8-0 lead and she didn't give any chance of fightback to Juliane ... Saina won this game easily ... In the final Saina is facing Japanese Minatsu Mitani, last week at Denmark open Saina defeated her in the straight games.

Tennis News
At $15K India F13 Futures, Mumbai

Singles Final
(6) Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND,400) bt Mate Pavic (CRO,463) 61 61

Jeevan scored very dominating win over Pavic to win $15K futures title, his 4th futures title ... Though Pavic tried but failed to generate a single break point on Jeevan's serve ... Other hand Jeevan toyed with Pavic's serve breaking twice in the first set and thrice in the second.
-----------------------------------------------------------
At $75K Charlottesville Challenger, USA

[Q1] (3) Sanam Singh (IND,355) bt Nicolas Meister (USA,543) 64 64

[Q2] (3) Sanam Singh (IND,355) l Edward Corrie (GBR,507) 46 16

[R1] (WC) Somdev DevVarman (IND,733) vs (4) Mischa Zverev (GER,140)

Doubles
[Q1] (PR) Somdev Devvarman (IND)/ Sanam Singh (IND) l (1) James Andersen (RSA)/ Izak van der Merwe (RSA) 46 63 10-5

Sanam started with straight sets victory in the first qualifying round ... But in the second qualifying round he faced British player and lost easily in two sets ... In the doubles qualifying Somi and Sanam lost against top-seed South African team in match tie-break ... So turned to be disappointing day for Sanam.

Somi received wild-card for the main-draw ... He is facing tough match-up against German top-150 Mischa Zverev.

Badminton News
At $200K French Open 2012, Paris

[QF] (1) Saina Nehwal (IND,4) bt (7) Ratchanok Intanon (THA,10) 22-20 22-20

[SF] (1) Saina Nehwal (IND,4) vs (4) Juliane Schenk (GER,6)

Saina needed her all experience to beat Thai youngster Ratchanok Intanon in 42 minutes ... In the first game Saina opened 5-2 lead which she maintained and then increased ... From 14-19 Ratchanok started fightback ... She won next 4 points to make it 18-19 and then saved 2 game points from 18-20 but Saina converted 3rd game point ... Almost same story repeated in the second game ... Saina take 4-0 lead but Ratchanok caught with her at 5-all ... Then both exchanged lead till 16-all ... THen Saina opened 2 points lead 18-16 ... Saina had 3 match points at 20-17 but this time also Ratchanok saved all 3 match points to make it 20-all ... Again Saina converted 4 match point for hard fought victory ... Next Saina is facing German Juliane Schenk ... Last week in the Danish open final Saina defeated her convincingly.

Billiard News
At the 2012 World Billiards Championship, Leeds, England

World Billiards Championship 2012 - 150up format
[SF] Rupesh Shah (IND) bt (8) Peter Gilchrist (SIN) 5-2
[SF] (3) Matthew Bolton (AUS) bt (2) David Causier (ENG) 5-3

World Billiards Championship 2012 - Time format
[QF] (1) Pankaj Advani (IND) bt (9) Rupesh Shah (IND) 1647-705
[QF] (4) Dhruv Sitwala (IND) bt (5) Sourav Kothari (IND) 562-558
[QF] (3) Geet Sethi (IND) l (6) Mike Russell (QAT) 739-1345
[QF] (2) Matthew Bolton (AUS) bt (10) David Causier (ENG) 927-581

After scoring back to back win against Geet and Pankaj in previous matches Peter Gilchrist failed to overcome Indian challenge in third match ... Rupesh Shah defeated him comfortably in the semis ... Rupesh is meeting Aussie Matthew Bolton in World championship match in point format.

Another closely fought match in the quarters of time format ... Sourav Kothari was leading most of the part until last minute when Dhruv managed to put important balls for the victory ... Pankaj showed ruthless form to beat Rupesh Shah ... Geet and Mike were neck to neck until the break but after that Mike put 485 points break which ended Geet's hope.

Tennis News
At $15K India F13 Futures, Mumbai

[SF] Mate Pavic (CRO,463) bt (4) Liang-Chi Huang (TPE,372) 16 64 62
[SF] (6) Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND,400) bt (WC) Purav Raja (IND,1272) 63 64

Doubles Final
(1) Saketh Myneni (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) bt (3) N Sriram Balaji (IND)/ Arun Prakash Rajagopalan (IND) 60 46 10-8

[SF] (1) Saketh Myneni (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) bt Kaza Vinayak Sharma (IND)/ Arjun Kadhe (IND) 60 67(5) 10-5

Jeevan scored comfortable win over over Purav ... In both sets he broke Purav's serve early and kept that advantage to win this match ... In the final Jeevan is facing young unseeded Croatian Mate Pavic.

In doubles final Saketh and Purav lifted title beating compatriots Balaji and Arun Prakash in match tie-break ... Before that in the semis after losing the first set 6-0 Kaza and Arjun fought back to win the second in tie-break but in match tie-break Purav and Saketh scored their experience for the win.

Billiard News
At the 2012 World Billiards Championship, Leeds, England

World Billiards Championship 2012 - 150up format
[QF] (1) Pankaj Advani (IND) l (8) Peter Gilchrist (SIN) 1-4
[QF] Rupesh Shah (IND) bt (5) Ashok Shandilya (IND) 4-2
[QF] (6) Devendra Joshi (IND) l (3) Matthew Bolton (AUS) 0-4
[QF] (2) David Causier (ENG) bt Martin Goodwill (ENG) 4-1

Peter Gilchrist scored back to back upset win over Indians ... After defeating former world champion Geet Sethi last night he knocked out Pankaj Advani, another world champion in point format quarter final match ... Devendra Joshi outplayed by Matthew Bolton in other quarters.

Only Rupesh Shah manage to keep Indian interest in point format ... He defeated Ashok Shandilya in well fought match ... Next he is facing Peter Gilchrist.

Tennis News
At $15K India F13 Futures, Mumbai

[QF] (8) Ranjeet Virali-Murugesan (IND,446) l Mate Pavic (CRO,463) 67(2) 16
[QF] (4) Liang-Chi Huang (TPE,372) bt Nicholas Reissig (AUT,505) 46 61 62
[QF] (WC) Purav Raja (IND,1272) bt James Marsalek (GBR,572) 63 64
[QF] (6) Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND,400) bt (2) Christopher Rungkat (INA,303) 76(3) 62

Doubles
[SF] (3) N Sriram Balaji (IND)/ Arun Prakash Rajagopalan (IND) bt Mate Pavic (CRO)/ Nicolas Reissig (AUT) 63 62

[QF] (1) Saket Myneni (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) bt Mohit Mayur Jayaprakash (IND)/ Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND) 62 63
[QF] Kaza Vinayak Sharma (IND)/ Arjun Kadhe (IND) bt (WC) Vijayant Malik (IND)/ Sunil-Kumar Sipaeya (IND) 62 62
[QF] (3) N Sriram Balaji (IND)/ Arun Prakash Rajagopalan (IND) bt Kunal Anand (IND)/ Ronak Manuja (IND) 62 64
[QF] Mate Pavic (CRO)/ Nicolas Reissig (AUT) bt (2) Christopher Rungkat (INA)/Liang-Chi Huang (TPE) 63 64

Jeevan scored superb win over top-300 type in-form top Indonesian player, Christopher Rungkat ... After winning the first set in tie-break Jeevan won the second set with double break ... Purav's excellent run in the singles continued ... In the quarters he surprised British James Marsalek with his serve and volley game to win this match in the straight set ... Ranjeet failed to overcome challenge of Mate Pavic.

In the doubles Kaza and Arjun moved into the semis with comfortable win ... Balaji and Arun Prakah make sure that all Indians final in the doubles with their doubles semi-final comfortable win over Mate Pavic and Nicolas Reissig.

Badminton News
At $200K French Open 2012, Paris

[R2] Ajay Jayaram (IND,27) vs (3) Peter Hoeg Gade (DEN,8) 21-18 17-21 14-21
[R2] (1) Saina Nehwal (IND,4) bt Sapsiree Taerattanachai (THA,27) 21-16 21-13

[QF] (1) Saina Nehwal (IND,4) vs (7) Ratchanok Intanon (THA,10)

After the first round hiccup Saina won this round match more comfortably ... She controlled the match and scored straight games over her Thai opponent ... Next she is facing Thai top player, Ratchanok Intanon.

Ajay started well taking early control in the first game and won it keeping that lead ... But from the second game despite leading he lost advantage in crucial juncture and lost next 2 games.

Billiard News
At the 2012 World Billiards Championship, Leeds, England

World Billiards Championship 2012 - Time format
[R16] (1) Pankaj Advani (IND) bt Martin Goodwill (ENG) 1303-425
[R16] (9) Rupesh Shah (IND) bt Robert Hall (ENG) 571-569
[R16] (5) Sourav Kothari (IND) bt Matthew Sutton (ENG) 574-389
[R16] (4) Dhruv Sitwala (IND) bt Ashok Shandilya (IND) 626-494
[R16] (3) Geet Sethi (IND) bt Robin Wilson (ENG) 776-615
[R16] (6) Mike Russell (QAT) bt (11) Peter Gilchrist (SIN) 1033-627
[R16] (10) David Causier bt (7) Balachandra Bhaskar (IND) 1115-617
[R16] (2) Matthew Bolton (AUS) bt Siddharth Parikh (IND) 1127-342

[R32] (1) Pankaj Advani (IND) bt Phil Davis (ENG) 1063-199
[R32] Martin Goodwill (ENG) bt (16) Manish Jain (IND) 578-380
[R32] (9) Rupesh Shah (IND) bt Steve Brookshaw (ENG) 525-342
[R32] (5) Sourav Kothari (IND) bt Alok Kumar (IND) 855-373
[R32] Matthew Sutton (ENG) bt (12) Arun Agrawal (IND) 427-408
[R32] Ashok Shandilya (IND) bt (13) Nalin Patel (ENG) 535-313
[R32] (4) Dhruv Sitwala (IND) bt Dhvaj Haria (IND) 679-300
[R32] (3) Geet Sethi (IND) bt Revanna Umadevi (IND) 1016-193
[R32] (7) Balachandra Bhaskar (IND) bt Devendra Joshi (IND) 451-436
[R32] Siddharth Parikh (IND) bt (15) John Hartley (ENG) 645-346

World Billiards Championship 2012 - 150up format

[R16] (1) Pankaj Advani (IND) bt (16) Robin Wilson (ENG) 4-1
[R16] (8) Peter Gilchrist (SIN) bt (9) Geet Sethi (IND) 4-1
[R16] (5) Ashok Shandilya (IND) bt (12) Michael Pearson (AUS) 4-0
[R16] Rupesh Shah (IND) bt (4) Mike Russell (QAT) 4-2
[R16] (6) Devendra Joshi (IND) bt (11) Alok Kumar (IND) 4-1
[R16] (7) Martin Goodwill (ENG) bt Sourav Kothari (IND) 4-1
[R16] (2) David Causier (ENG) bt (15) Siddharth Parikh (IND) 4-1

[R32] (1) Pankaj Advani (IND) bt S. Venkateswaran (IND) 4-0
[R32] (9) Geet Sethi (IND) bt Dhruv Sitwala (IND) 4-0
[R32] (5) Ashok Shandilya (IND) bt Steve Brookshaw (ENG) 4-1
[R32] (12) Michael Pearson (AUS) bt Balachandra Bhaskar (IND) 4-2
[R32] Rupesh Shah (IND) bt (12) Robert Hall (ENG) 4-1
[R32] (11) Alok Kumar (IND) bt Aidan Murray (IRL) 4-0
[R32] (6) Devendra Joshi (IND) bt Christopher Taylor (ENG) 4-0
[R32] Sourav Kothari (IND) bt (10) Arun Agrawal (IND) 4-1
[R32] (15) Siddharth Parikh (IND) bt Dhvaj Haria (IND) 4-0

The newly formed World Billiards Ltd has brought together the International Billiards & Snooker Federation (IBSF) and World Professional Billiards & Snooker Association (WPBSA) events for a unified World Championship ... So 65 players from 15 countries participated for the first ever unified World Billiards Championship.

In time format, Balachandra Bhaskar (Group B), Dhruv Sitwala (Group C), Arun Agarwal (Group E), Geet Sethi (Group F), Pankaj Advani (Group G), Sourav Kothari (Group I) and Rupesh Shah (Group J) were group winners.

In 150up (point) format, Pankaj Advani (Group B), Devendra Joshi (Group D), Alok Kumar (Group F), Geet Sethi (Group G), Ashok Shandilya (Group I) and Arun Agrawal (Group J) were group winners.

In Point and Time formats Pankaj qualified as top-seed for knock-out stage with his superior scoring.

Our eight players r in thr round of 16 in time format knock-out stage ... In round of 32 matches only 3 players crossed 1000 points; Pankaj Advani (1063), Mike Russell (1046) and Geet Sethi (1016).

Five Indians in the quarter-final of time format including Pankaj and Geet ... Pankaj continued with his terrific form and scored dominating win ... Geet struggled against young Robin Wilson ... Sourav Kothari was lucky as last 13 minutes remaining he was leading 111 points until time end Hall managed unfinished 109 points and lost by 2 points ... Our finalist is guaranteed as in top draw all Indian players r remaining ... In the quarters Geet having tough test against defending champion and favorite Mike Russell .

In 150up (point) format knock-out stage, former world champion Rupesh Shah scored biggest upset when he defeated the defending champion Mike Russell in round of 16 ... Geet also lost against former world champion Peter Gilchrist ... Four Indians r in the quarter-finals in this category.

After losing 1st game to Rupesh, Russell fought back winning next 2 games where he produced two consecutive breaks over 100 points, 150 (unfinished) and 101 to take 2 games to 1 lead over Rupesh ... Rupesh scored 71 points break at crunch time to make it 2 games-all ... In 5th game Rupesh scored 127 points break and lead 3 games to 2 ... In 6th game Rupesh scored 72 and 61 points break but Mike fought back scoring 67 points break ... Rupesh kept his nerve in final momemnts and completed his dream victory.

Rupesh Shah - “It was not easy to make a comeback from 2-1 down and that against a legendary player like Russell. When I got a break of 71 and 127 in third and fourthframe, I started looking for a positive result. In the last game I was going well but when I missed on the score of 131, there was a feeling of so near yet so far. But finally I managed to win.”