Tennis News
At $35K+H Toyota Challenger, Japan

[SF] (PR) Prakash Amritraj (IND)/ James Cerretani (USA) l (4) Philipp Oswald (AUT)/ Mate Pavic (CRO) 67(1) 46

Prakash and James lost in well fought match against 4th seed Oswald and Pavic in the semi-final ... So with this mostly end of the season for Prakash as challenger season is over this week ... Hoping for much more stronger and fitter Prakash in 2013 season.

Chess News
At Women’s World Chess Cup 2012, Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia

Quarter Final
TB1 - (4) Xue Zhao (CHN) l Dronavalli Harika (IND) 0-1 (1-2)
TB2 - Dronavalli Harika (IND) dw (4) Xue Zhao (CHN) ½-½ (2½-1½)

After amazing escape yesterday Harika take advantage of that to upset 4th seed Chinese Xue Zhao in the quarter-final ... In the first tie-break game she defeated Xue Zhao in 33 moves playing with the Black ... In the second tie-break game Xue Zhao tried hard for comeback but Harika hold her after marathon game which ended in draw after 85 moves ... In the semis Harika is facing former women's world champion Bulgarian Antoaneta Stefanova.

Badminton News
At $350K Yonex Sunrise Hong Kong Open 2012, Kowloon (Superseries)

[R2] Ajay Jayaram (IND,27) l (1) Chong Wei Lee (MAS,1) 18-21 19-21
[R2] Kashyap Parupalli (IND,23) l Tommy Sugiarto (INA,29) 6-11 Retd.
[R2] (3) Saina Nehwal (IND,3) l (Q) Lin Wang (CHN,72) 19-21 15-21

[R2] Pranaav Jerry Chopra (IND)/ Akshay Dewalkar (IND) l (2) Yun Cai (CHN)/ Haifeng Fu (CHN) 21-23 21-19 6-21
[R2] Pradnya Gadre (IND)/ Ashwini Ponnappa (IND) l Duanganong Aroonkesorn (THA)/ Kunchala Voravichitchaikul (THA) 17-21 18-21
[R2] Pranaav Jerry Chopra (IND)/ Siki Reddy N. (IND) l (1) Chen Xu (CHN)/ Jin Ma (CHN) 16-21 10-21

Ashwini and Pradnya Gadre lost against Thai pair in the second round ... Decent performance by Pranaav and Siki in MXD against WR #1 Chinese pair ... Pranaav and Akshay gave tremendous fighting performance against WR #2 Chinese pair before melt-down in the third ... In the first game they missed 2 game points against Chinese pair at 20-19 and 21-20 if they converted that then result could be different.

In the singles we had terrible days as our all players lost against their respective opponents ... Kashyap retired against Sugiarto in the first game ... In both games Ajay matched his game with Lee but in the end Lee played crucial points better than Ajay ... Saina agains failed to overcome challenge of Wang, this time Lin Wang ... After little resistant in the first game Lin won the second game comfortably.

Chess News
At Women’s World Chess Cup 2012, Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia

Quarter Final
G2 - Dronavalli Harika (IND) dw (4) Xue Zhao (CHN) ½-½ (1-1)

Amazing escape for Harika against Zhao after early blunders in 70 moves ... Harika managed draw from hopeless situation but she played excellent defensive game in the end and created multiple traps for the Black ... Today they will play Tie-breaker.

At $35K+H Toyota Challenger, Japan

[QF] (PR) Prakash Amritraj (IND)/ James Cerretani (USA) bt Jamie Baker (GBR)/ Henri Laaksonen (SUI) 60 63

Prakash with his American partner Cerretani scored very dominating win in 43 minutes in the quarter-final ... They won the first 8 games in a row before giving chance to their opponents to hold their serve ... In the first set they broke opponents thrice and in the second set they broke opponents serve in 1st and 9th games for remarkable victory.
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At $10K Cambodia F1 futures, Phnom Penh

[R1] (1) Jeevan NEDUNCHEZHIYAN (IND,330) l Wan GAO (CHN,984) 36 26

Very poor result for top-seed Jeevan in Cambodian futures losing to Chinese in the first round.

Badminton News
At $350K Yonex Sunrise Hong Kong Open 2012, Kowloon (Superseries)

[R1] Ajay Jayaram (IND,27) bt Zhengming Wang (CHN,17) 22-20 23-21
[R1] Kashyap Parupalli (IND,23) bt (7) Jan O Jorgensen (DEN,10) 24-22 20-22 22-20
[R1] (3) Saina Nehwal (IND,3) bt Aprilla Yuswandari (INA,34) 22-20 21-8
[R1] Sindhu P.V. (IND,25) l (Q) Belaetrix Manuputi (INA,40) 12-21 21-18 15-21

[R1] Tarun Kona (IND)/ Arun Vishnu (IND) l Chris Adcock (ENG)/ Andrew Ellis (ENG) 18-21 14-21
[R1] (Q) Manu Attri (IND)/ Sumeeth Reddy B. (IND) l Alvent Yulianto Chandra (INA)/ Markis Kido (INA) 21-11 11-21 15-21
[R1] Pranaav Jerry Chopra (IND)/ Akshay Dewalkar (IND) bt Hafiz Faisal (INA)/ Purta Eka Rhoma (INA) 21-16 21-23 21-17
[R1] Pradnya Gadre (IND)/ Ashwini Ponnappa (IND) bt Audrey Fontaine (FRA)/ Emilie Lefel (FRA) 21-10 21-16)
[R1] Aparna Balan (IND)/ Siki Reddy N. (IND) l (2) Xiaoli Wang (CHN)/ Yang (F) Yu (CHN) 3-21 7-21
[R1] Tarun Kona (IND)/ Ashwini Ponnappa (IND) l (1) Chen Xu (CHN)/ Jin Ma (CHN) 15-21 16-21
[R1] Pranaav Jerry Chopra (IND)/ Siki Reddy N. (IND) bt Philip Chew (USA)/ Jamie Subandhi (USA) 21-19 21-15
[R1] Akshay Dewalkar (IND)/ Pradnya Gadre (IND) l (6) Fran Kurniawan (INA)/ Shendy Puspa Irawati (INA) 18-21 21-23
[R1] Arun Vishnu (IND)/ Aparna Balan (IND) l Riky Widianto (INA)/ Puspita Richi Dili (INA) 13-21 11-21

[R2] Ajay Jayaram (IND,27) vs (1) Chong Wei Lee (MAS,1)
[R2] Kashyap Parupalli (IND,23) vs Tommy Sugiarto (INA,29)
[R2] (3) Saina Nehwal (IND,3) vs (Q) Lin Wang (CHN,72)

[R2] Pranaav Jerry Chopra (IND)/ Akshay Dewalkar (IND) vs (2) Yun Cai (CHN)/ Haifeng Fu (CHN)
[R2] Pradnya Gadre (IND)/ Ashwini Ponnappa (IND) vs Duanganong Aroonkesorn (THA)/ Kunchala Voravichitchaikul (THA)
[R2] Pranaav Jerry Chopra (IND)/ Siki Reddy N. (IND) vs (1) Chen Xu (CHN)/ Jin Ma (CHN)

Saina was stretched in the first game by Indonesian Aprilla Yuswandari ... From 8-all Saina take couple of points lead which she maintained till 20-17 ... Aprilla saved 3 game points , 20-all, but Saina won next 2 points to win this game ... In the second game Saina was 0-3 and 1-4 down but after that Saina didn't give chance to Aprilla winning 20 points from next 24 points ... From 1-4 Saina won 8 points in a row to lead 9-4 then she lost couple of points before winning next 10 points to lead 19-6 ... Saina converted 2nd match point for victory in 33 minutes.

Superb upset win by Ajay against higher ranked Chinese Zhengming Wang in 36 minutes, Wang was finalist in last week's Superseries Premier tournament Li Ning China Open ... Both games went to extra points but Ajay kept his cool to win this match ... In the first game Ajay take early lead from 7-all after winning 7 points in a row ... Wang tried fight back from 8-15 and he saved 4 game points from 16-20 to catch Ajay but Ajay won next 2 points to win this game ... Somewhat similar story repeated in the second game ... Ajay take early 9-5 lead but Wang caught him at 14-all ... Again Ajay take 18-15 lead but this time also Wang caught with him at 19-all ... After that Wand had couple of game points at 2019 and 21-20 but both game points saved by Ajay ... He won next 2 points from 21-all for excellent win.

Kashyap scored another excellent win against top 10 Danish player in 68 minutes in closely fought match ... In the first game Jan take early 6-4 and 9-5 lead but Kashyap caught with him at 13-all ... Then Kashyap opened the lead of 17-15 and 20-17 but Jan scored all 3 game points ... Jan saved 4th game point at 20-21 and he had a game point at 22-21 but this time Kashyap saved and converted 5th game point for winning this game ... In the second game from 6-all Jan opened lead of 3 points but whenever Jan opened lead Kashyap caught with him ... Like from 7-10 Kashyap made 10-all then from 11-14 to 14-all ... After this Jan opened 3 points lead but Kashyap tried fight back from 18-20 ... He saved couple of game points but this time Jan converted 3rd game point and won this game ... This see-saw battle continued in the decider ... Jan take 5-2 lead but Kashyap caught with him at 7-all ... At 13-all Kashyap opened 2 points lead which he increased to 19-15 ... Jan won next 5 points and gave himself a match point ... Kashyap saved this match point and won 3 points in a row for hard fought victory.

Ashwini and Tarun gave creditable performance against WR #1 Chinese pair ... Pranaav and Siki Reddy scored straight games victory over American pair ... Next they r facing WR #1 Chinese pair ... Akshay Dewalkar and Pradnya Gadre gave fighting performance against 6th seed Indonesian pair.

Young Pranaav Jerry Chopra and Akshay Dewalkar scored their first win in Superseries main-draw.

Ashwini started with win against French pair with her new partner Pradnya Gadre in women's doubles ... Next they r facing Thai pair who upset 8th seed Singaporean pair in the first round.

Ajay having very tough match against Malaysian WR #1 Chong Wei Lee ... Saina is facing tricky match against her old nemesis, former WR #1 Lin Wang ... Saina is sharing 2-3 win-loss record against her but won their last match in 2011.

Chess News
At Women’s World Chess Cup 2012, Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia

Quarter Final
G1 - (4) Zhao Xue (CHN) dw Dronavalli Harika (IND) ½-½

Good result for Harika against higher rated Chinese opponent in the quarter-final ... Playing with Black she managed to hold Xue after 35 moves.

Tennis News
At $35K+H Toyota Challenger, Japan

[R1] (PR) Prakash Amritraj (IND,806) l (Q) Julien Obry (FRA,421) 62 36 57

Kash lost after winning the first set easily ... After losing the second set in decider at 5-all Kash was leading 40-15 on his serve ... He lost 4 points in a row to lost his serve and then Obry hold comfortably for a win ... I was hoping win for Kash after his good performances in recent weeks.

Badminton News
At $350K Yonex Sunrise Hong Kong Open 2012, Kowloon (Superseries)

[Q1] Sai Praneeth B. (IND,65) bt Chun Hei Tam (HKG,280) 21-15 21-16
[Q1] (3) Gurusaidutt R. M. V. (IND,44) bt Po Wei Cheng (TPE,172) 21-15 21-16
[Q1] Manu Attri (IND)/ Sumeeth Reddy B. (IND) bt Chien Cheng Lai (TPE)/ Joe Wu (AUS) 21-11 21-14

[Q2] Sai Praneeth B. (IND,65) l Ka Long Ng (HKG,237) 17-21 21-12 15-21
[Q2] (3) Gurusaidutt R. M. V. (IND,44) l Yan Kit Chan (HKG,55) 18-21 19-21
[Q2] Manu Attri (IND)/ Sumeeth Reddy B. (IND) bt (3) Chun Hei Lee (HKG)/ Ka Long Ng (HKG) 21-13 13-21 21-15

[R1] Ajay Jayaram (IND,27) vs Zhengming Wang (CHN,17)
[R1] Kashyap Parupalli (IND,23) vs (7) Jan O Jorgensen (DEN,10)
[R1] (3) Saina Nehwal (IND,3) vs Aprilla Yuswandari (INA,34)
[R1] Sindhu P.V. (IND,25) vs (Q) Belaetrix Manuputi (INA,40)

[R1] Tarun Kona (IND)/ Arun Vishnu (IND) vs Chris Adcock (ENG)/ Andrew Ellis (ENG)
[R1] (Q) Manu Attri (IND)/ Sumeeth Reddy B. (IND) vs Alvent Yulianto Chandra (INA)/ Markis Kido (INA)
[R1] Pranaav Jerry Chopra (IND)/ Akshay Dewalkar (IND) vs Hafiz Faisal (INA)/ Purta Eka Rhoma (INA)
[R1] Pradnya Gadre (IND)/ Ashwini Ponnappa (IND) vs Audrey Fontaine (FRA)/ Emilie Lefel (FRA)
[R1] Aparna Balan (IND)/ Siki Reddy N. (IND) vs (2) Xiaoli Wang (CHN)/ Yang (F) Yu (CHN)
[R1] Tarun Kona (IND)/ Ashwini Ponnappa (IND) vs (1) Chen Xu (CHN)/ Jin Ma (CHN)
[R1] Pranaav Jerry Chopra (IND)/ Siki Reddy N. (IND) vs Philip Chew (USA)/ Jamie Subandhi (USA)
[R1] Akshay Dewalkar (IND)/ Pradnya Gadre (IND) vs (6) Fran Kurniawan (INA)/ Shendy Puspa Irawati (INA)
[R1] Arun Vishnu (IND)/ Aparna Balan (IND) vs Riky Widianto (INA)/ Puspita Richi Dili (INA)

As expected big Indian contingent at the Yonex Sunrise Hongkong open ... Saina is back on circuit after knee injury break ... Guru and Sai Praneeth lost against local players in the final qualifying, in that Sai Praneeth's loss was shocking against doubles specialist ... But Manu Attri and Sumeeth Reddy qualified for main-draw upsetting local 3rd seed pair in the qualifying.

In the singles Ajay and Kashyap having tough opening matches but Sindhu and Saina facing weaker Indonesian opponents.

Happy to see Ashwini is playing doubles with Pradnya ... Jwala Gutta is still out due to her sabbatical after the Olympics.

Tennis News
At $35K+H Toyota Challenger, Japan

[R1] (PR) Prakash Amritraj (IND)/ James Cerretani (USA) bt (WC) Bumpei Sato (JPN)/ Shota Tagawa (JPN) 64 63
[R1] (2) Divij Sharan (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) l Jamie Baker (GBR)/ Henri Laaksonen (SUI) 57 67(6)

[QF] (PR) Prakash Amritraj (IND)/ James Cerretani (USA) vs Jamie Baker (GBR)/ Henri Laaksonen (SUI)

Sad to see 2 wasted weeks for Purav and Divij ... Missed good opportunity of cementing their respective doubles rankings before year-end.

Other hand Prakash is showing excellent touch, this week with experienced American James Cerretani.

Chess News
At Women’s World Chess Cup 2012, Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia

Round Three
G1 - Lela Javakhishvili (GEO) dw Dronavalli Harika (IND) ½-½
G2 - Dronavalli Harika (IND) bt Lela Javakhishvili (GEO) 1-0 (1½-½)

Yesterday Harika drew playing with Black after 31 moves against Lela ... Again this time Harika scored crucial victory playing with White in the second game after 47 moves ... With this win Harika enters into the quarter-final ... She will face Chinese 4th seed Zhao Xue.

Hockey News
At 2nd Sultan of Johar Cup, Malaysia

Final
India l Germany 2-3
Goal Scorers - Satbir Singh (IND) 24', Akashdeep Singh (IND) 67' and Jonas Gomoll (GER) 11' PC, Joshua Delarber (GER) 30' PC, Florian Adrians (GER) 49'

Indians were undefeated in this tournament but lost match which matter the most ... Germany defeated us in the final ... We conceded 6 penalty corners and Germany scored 2 goals from that ... We were unlucky as ball hit to German post and German goalkeeper Victor was excellent under the post, who saved few ... Disappointing result for us but today German were better team on the field.

Tennis News
At $35K+H Toyota Challenger, Japan

[Q2] Purav Raja (IND,909) l (WC) Kaichi Uchida (JPN,1768) 26 46

[R1] (PR) Prakash Amritraj (IND,806) vs (Q) Julien Obry (FRA,421)

Doubles
[R1] (PR) Prakash Amritraj (IND)/ James Cerretani (USA) vs (WC) Bumpei Sato (JPN)/ Shota Tagawa (JPN)
[R1] (2) Divij Sharan (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) vs Jamie Baker (GBR)/ Henri Laaksonen (SUI)

Purav lost in the second qualifying against talented Japanese youngster ... In main-draw Prakash having tricky match against former top-275 type 21 yrs old French qualifier.

In the doubles this week Prakash is playing with American partner, James Cerretani ... They can face Indian pair is both pair wins the first round.

Squash News
At Women's World Team Champs 2012, Nimes, France

For 5th Position
(10) India bt (7) Ireland 2-1

Joshana Chinappa (IND,32) bt Aisling Blake (IRL,26) 3-1 (10-12 11-8 11-7 11-9)
Dipika Pallikal (IND,13) l Madeline Perry (IRL,10) 0-3 (7-11 5-11 13-15)
Anaka Alankamony (IND,64) bt Laura Mylotte (IRL,UNR) 3-0 (11-8 11-7 11-8)

Indian girls managed to repeat their win over Ireland and finished on 5th position their best-ever finish in World Team Champs ... Creditable performance by our team who were seeded 10th in this tournament.

Last time Dipika scored upset win over Madeline Perry but this time Madeline Perry scored straight games victory ... Dipika managed to stretch her only in 3rd game ... Other hand Joshana take revenge win over Aisling Blake ... After losing the first game she won next three games ... Anaka again scored straight games win over Laura Mylotte for team win.

Hockey News
At 2nd Sultan of Johar Cup, Malaysia

Saturday 17 November 2012
India dw Malaysia 3-3
Goal Scorers - Akashdeep (IND) 19', ?, Gurmail Singh (IND) 63' and Mohd Noor Faeez Ibrahim (MAL) 28' PC and 69', Firhan Ashaari (MAL) 45',

In the last match against host Malaysia we managed 3-3 draw ... Indians take lead 3 times in the match and all 3 times Malaysians equalized, last goal they scored in 69 minutes.

In the final we r facing Germany, who defeated Pakistan 3-0 in other match.

Tennis News
At $50K Yokohama Challenger, Japan

Doubles Final
(PR) Prakash Amritraj (IND)/ Philipp Oswald (AUT) bt (1) Sanchai Ratiwatana (THA)/ Sonchat Ratiwatana (THA) 63 64

Good straight sets victory for Prakash with Philipp Oswald against top-seed Ratiwatanas, who won 8 challengers title this year ... This is terrific result for Prakash, who won the $50K challenger doubles title in his 2nd doubles tournament after long injury break.
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At $35K+H Toyota Challenger, Japan

[Q1] Purav RAJA (IND,909) bt (3) Mate PAVIC (CRO,419) 64 46 62 [Q1] Divij SHARAN (IND,1009) l Dane PROPOGGIA (AUS,508) 36 57
Good win by Purav against talented young Croatian.

Squash News
At Women's World Team Champs 2012, Nimes, France

For 5th-8th Position
(10) India bt (4) Hong Kong 2-0

Dipika Pallikal (IND,13) bt Annie Au (HKG,9) 3-2 (11-5 11-8 5-11 9-11 11-5)
Anaka Alankamony (IND,64) bt Tong Tsz-Wing (HKG,55) 3-0 (11-5 11-7 11-9)

Indian women scored upset win over higer ranked Hong Kong women ... They will face Ireland for 5th place position.

Dipika started well against top-10 player Annie Au winning first 2 games ... Annie Au fought back winning next 2 games but Dipika brought back her composure to win the decider ... Anaka scored straight games victory over Tong Tsz-Wing in other match.

Badminton News
At $400K Li Ning China Open 2012, Shanghai, China (Superseries Premier)

[QF] Kashyap Parupalli (IND,23) l Zhengming Wang (CHN,17) 17-21 7-21

Kashyap tried hard in the first game but after winning the first game Wang proved too strong for Kashyap.

Tennis News
At $50K Yokohama Challenger, Japan

[SF] (PR) Prakash Amritraj (IND)/ Philipp Oswald (AUT) bt Andrea Arnaboldi (ITA)/ Matteo Viola (ITA) 61 64

[F] (PR) Prakash Amritraj (IND)/ Philipp Oswald (AUT) vs (1) Sanchai Ratiwatana (THA)/ Sonchat Ratiwatana (THA)

Prakash and Philipp scored comfortable win over unseeded Italian pair in the semis ... In the final they r facing Thai top-seeds Ratiwatana brothers.

Squash News
At Women's World Team Champs 2012, Nimes, France

[QF] (10) India l (2) Egypt 0-3
Dipika Pallikal (IND,13) l Raneem El Weleily (EGY,2) 0-3 (14-16 4-11 7-11)
Joshana Chinappa (IND,32) l Nour El Sherbini (EGY,8) 0-3 (7-11 6-11 9-11)
Anaka Alankamony (IND,68) l Nour El Tayeb (EGY,24) 0-2 (6-11 3-11)

Egyptian girls defeated our girls without losing a single game in the quarter-final ... Though our top 2 players gave decent performance against top-10 players and Dipika managed to stretch WR #2 Raneem El Weleily to extra points in the first game ... For 5 yo 8th placing our girls will be playing against Hong Kong.