Tennis News
At $15K Australia F1 Futures, Melbourne

[R1] Sanam Singh (IND,297) bt (6) Christopher Rungkat (INA,252) 63 61

[R2] Sanam Singh (IND,297) vs Andrea Arnaboldi (ITA,354)

This is solid win by Sanam over in-form top-250 Indonesian Christopher Rungkat ... Like the way he dominated the second set after winning the first ... Next he is facing Italian opponent for the place in the quarters.

Snooker News
At £250K Welsh Open 2013, Newport, Wales

[R1] Pankaj Advani (IND,71) bt Shaun Murphy (ENG,4) 4-3 (76-15, 10-100, 121-8, 72-2, 36-103, 28-73, 64-15)

Pankaj scored biggest victory of his professional career ... He defeated #4 ranked Shaun Murphy in exciting match ... Pankaj won the 1st frame but Shaun scored 74 points break to win the 2nd ... In the 3rd frame Pankaj scored only 100+ break of the match, he comfortably won this frame after scoring 121 points break ... In 4th frame with help of 51 points break Pankaj take 3-1 lead ... Shaun fought back in 5th frame scoring 89 points break ... He continued with his momentum to win 6th frame and make it 3-all ... In the final frame Pankaj kept his nerves and with help of small breaks completed important victory of his career.

Wrestling News
At 2020 Olympics,

IOC leaders have dropped wrestling from the 2020 Games.

Really surprised with this decision by IOC ... They r removing one of the oldest sport from list of core sports which was the part of the inaugural modern Olympics in Athens in 1896 ... Shocking!

Now wrestling will fight with seven other sports, baseball and softball, karate, squash, roller sports, sport climbing, wakeboarding and wushu, in applying for inclusion in 2020. Only one sport from these 8 sports will be selected ... The IOC executive board will meet in May in Russia, to decide which sport or sports to propose for 2020 inclusion ... After that the final vote will be made at the IOC general assembly in September in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Tennis News
At €1.57M ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament, Rotterdam, The Netherlands

[R1] Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Rajeev Ram (USA) vs (1) Marcel Granollers (ESP)/ Marc Lopez (ESP) 67(2) 36

In the first set our pair saved 7 break points and wasted 2 break points on Spanish pair's serve ... But Spanish pair proved strong in tie-break ... In the second set our pair had several break points, they wasted 8 break points ... In 5th game they had 4 break points at 0-40 but they wasted and immediately Spanish pair converted break point in 6th game to take 4-2 lead ... That one break was enough for Spanish pair for clinching the set and match in 80 minutes.
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At Qatar Total Open, Doha

[R1] (8) Bethanie Mattek-Sands (USA)/ Sania Mirza (IND) l Lisa Raymond (USA)/ Samantha Stosur (AUS) 46 26

Sania and Bethanie failed to cross first hurdle and lost in the straight sets against experienced tricky pair of Raymond and Stosur ... They were 0-4 down in the second after losing the first set so no chance of fight back.
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At $15K Australia F1 Futures, Melbourne

[R1] Divij Sharan (IND)/ Sanam Singh (IND) l (4) Andrea Arnaboldi (ITA)/ Luca Vanni (ITA) 67(4) 26

I proved wrong ... Sanam and Divij lost in straight sets against Italian pair.

Snooker News
At £250K Welsh Open 2013, Newport, Wales

[R1] (Q) Pankaj Advani (IND,71) vs Shaun Murphy (ENG,4)

[Q2] Pankaj Advani (IND,71) bt Peter Ebdon (ENG,28) 4-3 (19-84, 29-92, 78-47, 67-66, 6-70, 75-49, 65-7)
[Q2] Aditya Mehta (IND,72) l Mark King (ENG,30) 0-4 (32-87, 32-79, 4-66, 47-61)

[Q1] Pankaj Advani (IND,71) bt Peter Lines (ENG,58) 4-1 (88-50, 58-50, 19-69, 70-16, 107-0)
[Q1] Aditya Mehta (IND,72) bt Dave Harold (ENG,44) 4-2 (53-13, 70-26, 7-74, 81-30, 38-77, 78-61)

Pankaj and Aditya continue to try their luck in professional snooker ... They played in Welsh open qualifying ... Aditya started with upset win but lost in the final qualifying ... Pankaj scored dominating win against higher ranked opponent in the first round ... In the final qualifying round he faced former top-5 player Peter Ebdon ... Pankaj scored comeback win against Ebdon, he was 0-2 and 2-3 frames behind before winning this match ... In the main-draw first round he is facing 4th ranked Shaun Murphy.

Chess News
At Baden-Baden GRENKE Chess Classic 2013, Germany

1st round - 07 February 2013
GM Arkadij Naiditsch (GER,2716) ½-½ GM Daniel Fridman (GER,2667)
GM Michael Adams (ENG,2725) ½-½ GM Viswanathan Anand (IND,2780)
GM Fabiano Caruana (ITA,2757) 1-0 GM Georg Meier (GER,2640)

2nd round - 08 February 2013
GM Daniel Fridman (GER,2667) ½-½ GM Georg Meier (GER,2640)
GM Viswanathan Anand (IND,2780) ½-½ GM Fabiano Caruana (ITA,2757)
GM Arkadij Naiditsch (GER,2716) 1-0 GM Michael Adams (ENG,2725)

3rd round - 09 February 2013
GM Michael Adams (ENG,2725) ½-½ GM Daniel Fridman (GER,2667)
GM Fabiano Caruana (ITA,2757) 1-0 GM Arkadij Naiditsch (GER,2716)
GM Georg Meier (GER,2640) ½-½ GM Viswanathan Anand (IND,2780)

4th round - 10 February 2013
GM Daniel Fridman (GER,2667) ½-½ GM Viswanathan Anand (IND,2780)
GM Arkadij Naiditsch (GER,2716) 1-0 GM Georg Meier (GER,2640)
GM Michael Adams (ENG,2725) ½-½ GM Fabiano Caruana (ITA,2757)

5th round - 11 February 2013
GM Fabiano Caruana (ITA,2757) ½-½ GM Daniel Fridman (GER,2667)
GM Georg Meier (GER,2640) ½-½ GM Michael Adams (ENG,2725)
GM Viswanathan Anand (IND,2780) 1-0 GM Arkadij Naiditsch (GER,2716)

After four continuous draw Anand managed to win his 5th game against Naiditsch ... In this game Anand played complex Ruy Lopez and in perfect game he won after 38 moves ... So at half stage of the tournament Anand is on 2nd position with 3 points and ½ point behind leader Fabiano Caruana.

Tennis News
At €1.57M ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament, Rotterdam, The Netherlands

[R1] Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Rajeev Ram (USA) vs (1) Marcel Granollers (ESP)/ Marc Lopez (ESP)

Rohan and Rajeev r playing at Rotterdam but having tough match against top-seed Spanish pair, Granollers and Lopez.
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At $15K Australia F1 Futures, Melbourne

[R1] Sanam Singh (IND,297) vs (6) Christopher Rungkat (INA,252)

Doubles
[R1] Divij Sharan (IND)/ Sanam Singh (IND) vs (4) Andrea Arnaboldi (ITA)/ Luca Vanni (ITA)

Tricky match for Sanam against in-form Rungkat but in a way good match up considering our next Davis cup tie against Indonesia ... Sanam is also playing in the doubles with Divij and they r facing 4th seed Italian in the first round ... Winnable match for them.

Tennis News
At Davis Cup 2013 - Asia/Oceania Group I

A group of India's top tennis pros, led by Somdev Devvarman, send a written acceptance to the All-India Tennis Association (AITA)agreeing to play the Asia-Oceania Group One relegation tie against Indonesia, scheduled to be played at Bangalore subject to the players demands are met by the sports' Indian authorities.
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At Fed Cup - Asia/Oceania Group I, Astana, Kazakhstan

Relegation Play-off
India l Korea 0-3

[R1] Rutuja Bhosale (IND,605) l So-Ra Lee (KOR,389) 67(5) 16
[R2] Rishika Sunkara (IND),548) l Sung-Hee HAN (KOR,296) 46 36
[R3] Ankita Raina (IND)/ Kyra Shroff (IND) l Mi Yoo (KOR)/ Seo-Kyung Kang (KOR) walkover

Another expected loss but this loss will be hurt more as with that Indian team relegates to Group II.
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At $547K SAP Open, San Jose, USA

[Q1] Prakash Amritraj (IND,436) l Jason Jung (USA,551) 36 62 26

After his terrific run in Chennai open Kash failed to use that advantage ... After almost 5 weeks he decided to play in SAP qualifying ... Rustiness and lack of match practice was the reason for his loss in first qualifying.

Tennis News
At €468 PBZ Zagreb Indoors, Zagreb, Croatia

[SF] (PR) Somdev Devvarman (IND)/ Flavio Cipolla (ITA) L (2) Julian Knowle (AUT)/ Filip Polasek (SVK) 26 26

Failed to repeat same magic in the semis and lost convincingly against 2nd seed in the semis ... Still creditable outing for Somi and Cipolla.
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At Fed Cup - Asia/Oceania Group I, Astana, Kazakhstan

Group A
India l Thailand 0-3

[R1] Rutuja Bhosale (IND,605) l Nuddnida Luangnam (THA,212) 16 63 16
[R2] Kyra Shroff (IND,480) l Luksika Kumkhum (THA,148) 06 06
[R3] Ankita Raina (IND)/ Rishika Sunkara (IND) l Noppawan Lertcheewakarn (THA)/ Varatchaya Wongteanchai (THA) 16 36

Another expected loss against Thailand but at least Rutuja managed to win the set against Luangnam.

Tennis News
At €468 PBZ Zagreb Indoors, Zagreb, Croatia

[R2] (PR) Somdev Devvarman (IND,395) l (4) Jurgen Melzer (AUT,29) 61 67(5) 26

Doubles
[QF] (PR) Somdev Devvarman (IND)/ Flavio Cipolla (ITA) bt Benjamin Becker (GER)/ Lukas Rosol (CZE) 62 62

[SF] (PR) Somdev Devvarman (IND)/ Flavio Cipolla (ITA) vs (2) Julian Knowle (AUT)/ Filip Polasek (SVK)

Somi started confidently against top-30 Jurgen Melzer after breaking him in 2nd game to lead 3-0 ... Somi take another break of serve in 6th game to win this set in 25 minutes ... In the second set Somi had few break point chances but he failed to convert those ... In tie-break Melzer take early mini-break to lead 0-2 ... Somi take back mini-break in 5th point for 2-3 ... Somi again take mini-break in 8th point to lead 5-3 ... But Melzer came back strongly winning both points on Somi's serve from 4-5 and then served to win this tie-break ... In the third set Melzer take early break to lead 2-1 and then doubled his lead to win this final set comfortably ... In the end missing break point chances in the second set and failed to win important couple of points while serving after mini-break up at 5-4 in tie-break proved crucial ... Missed opportunity of beating Melzer.

Somi and Cipolla scored very dominating win in doubles quarters ... Next in the semis they r facing 2nd seeds Julian Knowle and Filip Polasek.

Football News
At the FIFA International Friendly 2013, Kochi, Kerala, India

India l Palestine 2-4
Goal Scored - Clifford Miranda (IND) 17', Syed Rahim Nabi (IND) 39' and Ashraf Nu'man Alfawaghra (PAL) 30', 51' (PG) and 66', Hussam Abusalah (PAL) 47'

Ashraf Nu'man Alfawaghra scored a hat-trick to help his side secure an easy victory against the Indians ... Somewhat disapointing result considering this was a depleted Palestine side.

We started brightly Miranda gave lead ... Alfawaghra equalized at half-hour but Nabi again gave Indians which our team managed to keep till half-time ... In the second half our team lost plot and let 2 goals in first 6 minutes.

Hockey News
At the Azlan Shah Cup, Ipoh, Malaysia

Goal Keeper - PR Sreejesh (Vice-Captain), Sushant Tirkey
Fullbacks - Rupinderpal Singh, Harbir Singh, Gurjinder Singh
Half Backs - Amit Rohidas, Gurmail Singh, Manpreet Singh, Kothajit Singh Khadangbam, MB Aiyappa
Forwards - Danish Mujtaba (Captain), Nithin Thimmaiah, Satbir Singh, Mandeep Singh, Akashdeep Singh, Chinglensana Singh Kangujam, Dharamvir Singh, Gurvinder Singh Chandi

Standbys - Keshav Dutt (Goalkeeper), Sandeep Singh (Defender), Pardeep Mor (Midfielder), Surender Kumar (Midfielder), Malak Singh (Forward), Imran Khan (Forward), Amon Mirash Tirkey (Forward), Siddarth Shanker (Forward)

Some bold decision by selection committee ... They announced very young team with few seniors for Azlan Shah Cup under new captain, Danish Mujtaba ... As per selectors this team they selected on the basis of their recent performance in the ongoing HIL ... Good exposure for our young players and much required rest for our senior players.

Interestingly Sandeep Singh is in standbys like Hockey World league team.

Tennis News
At €468 PBZ Zagreb Indoors, Zagreb, Croatia

Doubles
[R1] (PR) Somdev Devvarman (IND)/ Flavio Cipolla (ITA) bt (WC) Mate Delic (CRO)/ Franco Skugor (CRO) 64 62

[QF] (PR) Somdev Devvarman (IND)/ Flavio Cipolla (ITA) vs Benjamin Becker (GER)/ Lukas Rosol (CZE)

Another lucky break for Somi ... In the doubles he got chance with Italian Cipolla as alternate pairing ... In the first round they faced local wild-card pair and defeated them in the straight sets ... Next they r facing Becker and Rosol, who defeated 3rd seeds.
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At Fed Cup - Asia/Oceania Group I, Astana, Kazakhstan

Group A
‌India l Kazakhstan 0-3

[R1] Kyra Shroff (IND,480) l Yaroslava Shvedova (KAZ,32) 16 16
[R2] Rishika Sunkara (IND,548) l Ksenia Pervak (KAZ,73) 06 06
[R3] Rutuja Bhosale (IND)/ Ankita Raina (IND) l Galina Voskoboeva (KAZ)/ Sesil Karatantcheva (KAZ) 36 16

This is tough outing for our young girls ... This all matches will be big learning curve for them playing against top-100/150 players.

In the first match host Kazakhs won their tie losing only six games in the match.

Tennis News
At €468 PBZ Zagreb Indoors, Zagreb, Croatia

[R1] (PR) Somdev Devvarman (IND,395) bt (Q) Michael Berrer (GER,125) 06 76(3) 4-1 Retd.

[R2] (PR) Somdev Devvarman (IND,395) vs (4) Jurgen Melzer (AUT,29)

Somi had slow start and struggled with hard hitting from Berrer ... Somi lost the first in 23 minutes without winning a single game ... In the second set Somi was early break down in 3rd game, 1-2 ... But after that produced excellent comeback, he broke Berrer in 4th game to make it 2-all ... Saved a break point in 11th game ... In tie-break Berrer was up with mini-break and had 2 match points on his serve at 6-4 ... Somi won next four points to win this set ... In the final set Somi broke Berrer in 3rd game to take 2-1 lead ... Somi again broke him in 5th game to take 4-1 lead and at that time Berrer conceded the match.

This is a terrific comeback win by Somi against hard hitter tricky opponent, Berrer ... Next he is facing similar style hard hitter but also huge server Melzer.

Hockey News
At the Hockey World League Round 2, New Delhi, India

Goal Keepers - PR Sreejesh, PT Rao
Fullbacks - VR Raghunath (Vice-Captain), Rupinderpal Singh, Harbir Singh
Half Backs - Birendra Lakra, Manpreet Singh, Kothajit Singh Khadangbam, Sardar Singh (Captain), Gurjinder Singh
Forwards - Danish Mujtaba, Nithin Thimmaiah, Mandeep Singh, Malik Singh, SV Sunil, Chinglensana Singh Kangujam, Dharamvir Singh, Gurvinder Singh Chandi

Standbys - Sushant Tirkey (Goalkeeper), Sandeep Singh (Fullback), MB Aiyappa (Halfback), Gurmail Singh (Halfback), Akashdeep Singh (Forward), Imran Khan (Forward)

The Hero Hockey World League Round 2 to be played at Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium, New Delhi from 18-24 February2013. ... This tournament is a part of the qualification league for the FIH Men’s Hockey World Cup 2014 to be held in The Hague, Netherlands.

18 members team is announced for the tournament where Junior internationals forwards Mandeep Singh and Malak Singh r new faces in the team.

Squash News
At $50K Cleveland Classic 2013, Ohio, USA

[R1] (Q) Joshana Chinappa (IND,28) l (3) Alison Waters (ENG,5) 1-3 (9-11, 11-6, 4-11, 7-11)

[Q2] (Q) Joshana Chinappa (IND,28) bt Latasha Khan (USA,26) 3-1 (11-7, 11-9, 14-16, 13-11)
[Q1] (Q) Joshana Chinappa (IND,28) bt Katja Amir (GER,115) 3-0 (11-3, 11-6, 11-6)

After tow and half years Joshna is back on her personal best ranking ... She lost almost a year due to her prolong knee injury but at last she is showing consistency in her results ... Hoping for our another player in top-20.

She played the qualifying at Cleveland and qualified for main-draw upsetting very experienced American Latasha Khan ... In the main-draw also she gave fighting performance against WR #5 Alison Waters.
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At $15K Meadowood Open 2013, Winnipeg, Canada

[F] (1) Dipika Pallikal (IND,15) bt (2) Joey Chan (HKG,19) 3-0 (11-9, 11-7, 11-4)

[SF] (1) Dipika Pallikal (IND,15) bt (4) Sarah-Jane Perry (ENG,29) 3-1 (11-7, 12-14, 11-5, 11-2)
[QF] (1) Dipika Pallikal (IND,15) bt (7) Amanda Landers-Murphy (NZL,35) 3-0 (11-6, 11-6, 11-7)
[R1] (1) Dipika Pallikal (IND,15) bt (Q) Laura Pomportes (FRA,56) 3-0 (11-6, 11-8, 11-9)

Dipika lifted her first WISPA title of season 2013 ... She played $15K tournament in Canada as a top-seed ... England's Sarah-Jane Perry troubled her in the semis but Dipika scored dominating win for the title over another top-20 player, Hong Kong's Joey Chan

Tennis News
At €468 PBZ Zagreb Indoors, Zagreb, Croatia

[R1] (PR) Somdev Devvarman (IND,395) vs Qualifier

This week Somi is using his protected ranking for Zagreb tournament and he is playing against qualifier in the first round.

Tennis News
At Davis Cup - Group I Asia/Oceania - 1st Round, New Delhi, India

India l South Korea 1-4

Friday - 1st February 2013
[R1] Ranjeet Virali-Murugesan (IND,511) l Min Hyeok Cho (KOR,UNR) 16 06 16
[R2] Vijayant Malik (IND,537) l Suk-Young Jeong (KOR,321) 46 57 0-3 Retd.

Saturday - 2nd February 2013
[R3] Leander Paes (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) bt Young-Kyu Lim (KOR)/ Ji Sung Nam (KOR) 64 76(5) 62

Sunday - 3rd February 2013
[R4] Ranjeet Virali-Murugesan (IND,511) l Suk-Young Jeong (KOR,321) 46 46 26
[R5] Vijayant Malik (IND,537) l Ji Sung Nam (KOR,484) 26 46

Today Indian captain decided to stick with Ranjeet in the reverse singles ... Ranjeet saved early break points but Jeong take crucial break in 9th game ... Then hold his serve to won the first set ... In the second set Jeong take early break to lead 3-1 but Ranjeet broke him in 6th game to make it 3-all ... This time also Jeong take crucial break on Ranjeet's serve in 9th game and then hold his serve to won the second set ... In the final set Jeong take early break and then again broke Ranjeet in 7th game to win this set with double break ... In the final dead rubber Vijayant failed to produce any fighting performance against his Korean opponent.

With this India lost their Davis cup tie against South Korea and need to wait for 2 more years for any hope for World group ties ... Before that our tennis body and players need to resolve issue so we can play regular team in our next ties to avoid relegation in Group II.

Tennis News
At Davis Cup - Group I Asia/Oceania - 1st Round, New Delhi, India

India vs South Korea 1-2

Friday - 1st February 2013
[R1] Ranjeet Virali-Murugesan (IND,511) l Min Hyeok Cho (KOR,UNR) 16 06 16)
[R2] Vijayant Malik (IND,537) l Suk-Young Jeong (KOR,321) 46 57 0-3 Retd.

Saturday - 2nd February 2013
[R3] Leander Paes (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) bt Young-Kyu Lim (KOR)/ Ji Sung Nam (KOR) 64 76(5) 62

After poor first day outing Leander lift young Indian players spirit and defeated Korean pair in straight sets with another debutante Purav Raja ... Lee and Purav were up with early break of Lim's serve but Korean broke back in 7th game breaking Purav's serve, 3-4 ... Indian pair again broke Lim again in 10th game to win the first set ... Koreans fought hard in the second ... They broke Purav in 5th game but Indians fought back breaking Nam's serve in 8th game ... Korean broke Lee's serve in 11th game but again Indian broke Nam's serve to take set in tie-break ... In the tie-break our pair fought back from 0-3 where Lee used his experience to win this set ... After losing the second set Korean failed to raise game so Indians won the third set with double break ... Tomorrow reverse singles will be played.

Tennis News
At Davis Cup - Group I Asia/Oceania - 1st Round, New Delhi, India

India vs South Korea 0-2

Friday - 1st February 2013
[R1] Ranjeet Virali-Murugesan (IND,511) l Min Hyeok Cho (KOR,UNR) 16 06 16
[R2] Vijayant Malik (IND,537) l Suk-Young Jeong (KOR,321) 46 57 0-3 Retd.

Expecting losses after 9 top players boycott this Davis cup tie but shocking melt-down by Ranjeet against Cho ... Cho won this match in 83 minutes losing only 2 games ... Cho missed tour after 2009 as he joined army for 2 yrs ... Last year he scored upset win over talented Taipei youngster Yang Tsung-Hua, WR #213, in their Davis cup tie ... So Ranjeet match wasn't easy but in end horrible scoreline ... I really hope this was his last Davis cup match.

Other hand Vijayant gave fighting performance against Korean top player Suk-Young Jeong ... First 2 sets he lost after fighting hard but he was early double break down in the third and then got injured ... Hoping no serious injury issue.