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

Men's - February 23rd, 2013
India bt China 4-0(2-0)
Goal Scorers - VR Raghunath (IND) 12' PC and 28', Dharamvir Singh (IND) 39', Rupinderpal Singh (IND) 43' PC

Bangladesh bt Fiji 8-4 (3-2)
Ireland bt Oman 7-2 (3-1)

Indian men showed impressive game to beat China ... With this win Indian men almost secured top spot and qualification for Round 3.

Tennis News
At Davis Cup - the Asia/Oceania Zone Group I relegation play-off, Bangalore, India

Indian Team
Somdev Devvarman, Yuki Bhambri, Leander Paes and Sanam Singh
Non-playing captain - SP Misra
Coach - Zeeshan Ali

Happy to see strong Indian Davis cup team for the tie against Indonesia in Bangalore from April 5-7 ... Also AITA selected Vijayant Malik and N Sriram Balaji as reserves while Ram Kumar Ramnathan was picked for practice ... Interestingly AITA stick with SP Misra as captain for the tie, initially AITA announced the Korea tie was supposed to be Misra's farewell tie.
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At $2M Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championship, UAE


Doubles Final
Bethanie Mattek-Sands (USA)/ Sania Mirza (IND) bt (2) Nadia Petrova (RUS)/ Katarina Srebotnik (SLO) 64 26 10-7

Sania and Bethanie won the doubles title at the Dubai Tennis Championships defeating Petrova and Srebotnik in super tie-break ... After winning the first set Sania and Bethanie lost the second set easily ... In match tie-break Sania and Bethanie won it after coming back from 3-6 ... Sania and Bethanie has played 20 tournaments together and they have now won all four finals they have entered, including Brisbane last month ... It was the 12th title for Bethanie Mattek-Sands and the 16th title for Sania Mirza.

Sania Mirza - “When you play a final, it's not really just about tennis, it's a lot about nerves and it's about trying to keep positive. When we went down 0-4 [in the second set], I think we went a little passive and defensive. When you play people like Nadia and Kata, you have to be offensive. In the super tiebreak, anything can happen.”

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

Women's - February 22nd, 2013
India l Japan 2-2 (0-2) (2-3 PS)
Goal Scorers - Soundraya Yendala (IND) PC 62', Napa Barla (IND) 64' and Shiho Sakai (JPN) 4' PC, Akiko Ota (JPN) 31' PC

Russia bt Kazakhstan 8-1 (2-0)
Malaysia bt Fiji 12-0 (4-0)

Indian women fought back in the second half after 0-2 down ... They made 2-all but lost against Japanese women in penalties ... Before last round both teams r tied with 10 points ... But India remain on top of the table by virtue of having won more games in the competition to date and so they r having chance of winning the competition on Sunday if they beat Russia.

Japan dominated the first half ... They were attacking and got 2 goals from penalty corners ... In the second half our team played more organised and were attacking on Japanese goal ... India scored their first goal through deflection by Soundraya in Jaspreet's hit ... In 2 minutes we equalized through Barla who received excellent pass from Rani ... In penalty shoot-out Soundarya Yendala and Rani Rampal scored while Chanchan Devi, captain Ritu Rani and Vandana Katariya were off target for India ... Mazuki Arai, Yuri Nagai and captain Rika Komazawa scored for Japan.

Tennis News
At €598,535 Open 13, Marseille, France

[SF] (2) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Colin Fleming (GBR) bt (3) Julian Knowle (AUT)/ Filip Polasek (SVK) 75 61

Rohan and Colin had 2 break points (set points) at 4-5 but failed to convert but they didn't miss chance in 12th game and after breaking 3rd seed won the first set ... After winning the first set Rohan and Colin gave dominating performance in the second ... They broke opponents in 4th and 6th games and won the match in an hour.
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At $2M Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championship, UAE

[SF] Bethanie Mattek-Sands (USA)/ Sania Mirza (IND) bt Cara Black (ZIM)/ Anastasia Rodionova (AUS) 62 75

Sania and Bethanie r in 2nd final of the year, this time this big Premier tournament ... In the semis after winning the first set comfortably they were 2-3 break down ... But Sania and Bethanie broke opponent in 6th game to make it 3-all and then again broke them when their opponents were serving for remain in the set ... Another straight sets victory over good pairing.
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At $25K Women's ITF Tournament, Muzzafarnagar, India

[QF] (Q) Prerna Bhambri (IND,639) l (2) Noppawan Lertcheewakarn (THA,264) 26 36

Prerna lost against Lertcheewakarn but still encouraging performance from her in this $25K tournament.

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

Men's - February 21st, 2013
India bt Ireland 3-2 (1-1)
Goal Scorers - Rupinderpal Singh (IND) 16' PC, RV Raghunath (IND) 39' PC, Dharamvir Singh (IND) 56' and Conor Harte (IRL) 27' PC, Eugene Magee (IRL) 51'

China bt Fiji 4-1 (1-0)
Bangladesh bt Oman 4-1 (0-0) (3-2)

Women's - February 21st, 2013
India bt Fiji 10-0 (4-0)
Goal Scorers - Soundarya Yendala (IND) 8' PC, Joydeep Kaur (IND) 12' PC, Roselin Dung Dung (IND) 14' and 46', Rani Rampal (IND) 22' and 61', Navjot Kaur (IND) 38', Jaspree Kaur (IND) 59' PS and 69' PC, Chanchan Devi (IND) 66'

Malaysia bt Kazakhstan 3-1 (3-0)
Japan bt Russia 1-1 (0-1) (3-2 PS)

Another expected win for Indian women but they fumbled lot in penalty corners drill ... Indian coach Hawgood need to work on penalty corners drill with our team as in last two matches those will be very important ... Russia hold Japan in the full-time before losing in tie-break.

Indian men were lucky to beat gritty Irish team ... In this match our players lacked in coordination and looked tired Other hand the Irishmen displayed fine exhibition in defending ... In this match our set pieces ratio was poor, we managed to convert only 2 from 6 penalty corners ... Irish team also earned 6 penalty corners ... Again our forwarders failed to score after so many D penetrations by Sardara Singh and Mandeep Singh.

Tennis News
At €598,535 Open 13, Marseille, France

[QF] (2) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Colin Fleming (GBR) bt James Cerretani (USA)/ Adil Shamasdin (CAN) 63 67(2) 10-7

[SF] (2) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Colin Fleming (GBR) vs (3) Julian Knowle (AUT)/ Filip Polasek (SVK)

Rohan and Colin won the first set comfortably ... In the second our pair had couple of break points in the 1st game but failed to convert ... After that both pairs hold their serves comfortably to take the set in tie-break but Rohan and Colin lost tie-break easily ... Rohan and Colin were down with mini-break at 5-7 but after that they won next 5 points winning 2 points on opponent's serve ... Good victory, next they r facing 3rd seed Julian Knowle and Filip Polasek.
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At $2M Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championship, UAE

[QF] Bethanie Mattek-Sands (USA)/ Sania Mirza (IND) bt Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (RUS)/ Lucie Safarova (CZE) 64 64

[SF] Bethanie Mattek-Sands (USA)/ Sania Mirza (IND) vs Cara Black (ZIM)/ Anastasia Rodionova (AUS)

Again straight sets win for Sania and Bethanie in the quarters and with this win they qualify for the semis Next they r facing experienced Cara Black and her partner Anastasia Rodionova.
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At $25K Women's ITF Tournament, Muzzafarnagar, India

[R2] Rishika Sunkara (IND,545) l (8) Nicha Lertpitaksinchai (THA,356) 46 46
[R2] (Q) Nidhi Chilumula (IND,742) l (3) Aleksandrina Naydenova (BUL,275) 76(5) 26 36
[R2] (Q) Prerna Bhambri (IND,639) bt (6) Dalila Jakupovic (SLO,321) 57 61 63

[QF] (Q) Prerna Bhambri (IND,639) vs (2) Noppawan Lertcheewakarn (THA,264)

Terrific comeback win by Prerna against top-325 Jakupovic ... Simply impressive stuff and definitely first-time she is in the quarters of $25K tournament ... Next she is facing 2nd seed Noppawan Lertcheewakarn.

In other matches Nidhi started well after winning the first set against top-275 Bulgarian player Aleksandrina Naydenova but failed to keep momentum.

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

Men's - February 20th, 2013
India bt Oman 9-1 (4-1)
Goal Scorers - VR Raghunath (IND) 3' PC and 39' PC, Dharamvir Singh (IND) 13' PC, Rupinder Pal Singh (IND) 20' and 37' PC, Nithin Thimmaiah (IND) 15' and 60', Mandeep Singh (IND) 42', Gurjinder Singh (IND) 65' PC and Mohamed Hubais (OMA) 34' PC

Ireland bt Fiji 13-0 (5-0)
Bangladesh bt China 3-2 (2-2)

Expected win for Indians but we had a chance of scoring dozen more ... Disappointed that our players didn't go for big win and more over very lethargic defense in that Oman scored through penalty corner.

Bangladesh scored upset win over Chinese team.

Tennis News
At €598,535 Open 13, Marseille, France

[R2] (PR) Somdev Devvarman (IND,354) l Bernard Tomic (AUS,46) 36 57

Tomic started positively breaking Somi in 1st game ... Somi needed to save 3 break points from 0-40 in 3rd game before holding the serve ... Somi missed 3 break points on Tomic's serve in 4th game ... Some broke back breaking Tomic's serve in 6th game, 3-all ... But after that Tomic blitzed through next three games breaking Somi twice and won the first set in 35 minutes ... In the second set both players were holding respective serves still 5th game ... Tomic broke Somi's serve in 6th game after converting 2nd break point to lead 4-2 ... In 9th game when Tomic was serving for the match at 5-3 Somi take break to bring set on the serves, 4-5 ... After that both players hold their respective service games but at 5-6 when Somi was serving for staying in the match Tomic take crucial break and won this match in 1 hour 13 minutes.
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At $2M Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championship, UAE)

[R1] Bethanie Mattek-Sands (USA)/ Sania Mirza (IND) bt (5) Su-Wei Hsieh (TPE)/ Liezel Huber (USA)

[QF] Bethanie Mattek-Sands (USA)/ Sania Mirza (IND) vs Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (RUS)/ Lucie Safarova (CZE)

Happy to see Sania and Bethanie take advantage of lucky break as top-seed Vesnina-Makarova have withdrawn ... After straight sets win they r facing Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Lucie Safarova in the quarters.
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At $25K Women's ITF Tournament, Muzzafarnagar, India

(1) Tadeja Majeric (SLO) bt (Q) Sharon Sanchana Paul (IND) 62 61
(Q) Varunya Wongteanchai (THA) bt (Q) Eetee Maheta (IND) 62 64
Rishika Sunkara (IND) bt Nicole Clerico (ITA) 63 63
(8) Nicha Lertpitaksinchai (THA) bt (Q) Prarthana G. Thombare (IND) 57 62 76(5)

(3) Aleksandrina Naydenova (BUL) bt (WC) Resha Chandak (IND) 60 60
(Q) Nidhi Chilumula (IND) bt (WC) Sharmada Balu (IND) 75 60
Nicole Rottmann (AUT) bt (Q) Shweta Rana (IND) 63 60
(7) Veronika Kapshay (UKR) bt (WC) Ankita Raina (IND) 46 64 61

(5) Basak Eraydin (TUR) bt Melis Sezer (TUR) 64 63
Melanie Klaffner (AUT) bt Justyna Jegiolka (POL) 62 64
Peangtarn Plipuech (THA) bt (Q) Napatsakorn Sankaew (THA) 60 75
Tamara Curovic (SRB) bt (4) Sung-Hee Han (KOR) 61 64

(6) Dalila Jakupovic (SLO) bt (WC) Grisha Arora (IND) 60 60
(Q) Prerna Bhambri (IND) bt Kyra Shroff (IND) 63 61
So-Ra Lee (KOR) bt Anna Shkudun (UKR) 46 75 75
(2) Noppawan Lertcheewakarn (THA)bt Keren Shlomo (ISR) 64 36 75

Really good win by Rishika against higher ranked Italian Clerico ... Prerna also scored upset win over Kyra ... Prarthana and Ankita gave fighting performance against their seeded opponents.

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

Women's - February 19th, 2013
India bt Malaysia 3-0 (1-0)
Goal Scorers - Vandana Katariya (IND) 9' PC and 38', Rani Rampal (IND) 65'

Japan vr Kazakhstan 11-0 (6-0)
Russia bt Fiji 9-0 (4-0)

Tired looking Indian women struggled to beat Malaysian girls but favourite Japanese team scored dominating win against Kazakhs.

Tennis News
At €598,535 Open 13, Marseille, France

[R1] (PR) Somdev Devvarman (IND,354) bt Benoit Paire (FRA,38) 76(6) 67(7) 64

[R2] (PR) Somdev Devvarman (IND,354) vs Bernard Tomic (AUS,46)

Doubles
[R1] (2) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Colin Fleming (GBR) bt Robin Haase (NED)/ Dick Norman (BEL) 64 62

Somdev played excellent match against in-form local player Benoit Paire ... After winning the first set in tight tie-break Somi had 3 match points in the second set tie-break, 6-3 ... But failed to convert on 2 Paire's serve and one on his serve to eventually lost the set ... In the final set Somi take a break in 5th game to lead 4-2 ... Somi missed break point in 7th game and then lost his serve in 8th game, 4-4 ... Somi again broke Paire in 9th game but this time he hold to scripted huge win in 2 hours 37 minutes ... Huge win for Somi as Benoit Paire was in top form this year making semi-final at Chennai ATP and final at Montpellier ATP ... Next he is facing Aussies youngster, Tomic.

Winning start for Rohan with his new partner, Fleming ... They scored comfortable win over Haase and Norman.
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At $15K Australia F2 Futures, Mildura (Grass)

[R1] (5) Sanam Singh (IND,300) l Chris Guccione (AUS,598) 57 26
[R1] Divij Sharan (IND,1008) l James Lemke (AUS,492) 57 46

Doubles
[R1] Divij Sharan (IND)/ Sanam Singh (IND) l (WC) Daniel Byrnes (AUS)/ Daniel Ferretti (AUS) 26 67(3)

Turned horrible day for Sanam and Divij ... They lost in the singles matches with their doubles match ... Sanam failed to raise his game against former top-70 player Chris Guccione.

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

Men's - February 18th, 2013
India bt Fiji 16-0 (7-0)
Goal Scorers - V. R. Raghunath (IND) 3' PC, 15' PC and 41' PC, Rupinderpal Singh (IND) 5' PC and 35' PC, Nitin Thimmaiah (IND) 17', Gurjinder Singh (IND) 20' PC, Danish Mujtaba (IND) 28', 38' and 57', Kothajit Singh (IND) 47', Manpreet Singh (IND) 50', Malak Singh (IND) 51', Chenglensana Singh (IND) 54', Dharamvir Singh (IND) 56', Akashdeep Singh (IND) 62'

China bt Oman 4-0 (2-0)
Ireland bt Bangladesh 5-2 (0-0)

Women's - February 18th, 2013
India bt Kazakhstan 8-0 (4-0)
Goal Scorers - Jaspreet Singh (IND) 8' PC, 21' PC, 54' PC and 70' PS, Rani Rampal (IND) 15', 26' and 41', Soundarya Yendala (IND) 48' PC

Japan bt Fiji 14-0 (8-0)
Malaysia bt Russia 3-1 (1-0)

Indian women started with comfortable win over Kazakhs scoring four goals In each half ... But still they missed chance of big win as we had 15 penalty corners in the match.

Expected comfortable win For Indian men against Fijians ... Indians scored six goals through penalty corners ... Overall good match practice before bigger test in next matches.

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

10th round - 17 February 2013
GM Daniel Fridman (GER,2667) ½-½ GM Fabiano Caruana (ITA,2757)
GM Michael Adams (ENG,2725) ½-½ GM Georg Meier (GER,2640)
GM Arkadij Naiditsch (GER,2716) 0-1 GM Viswanathan Anand (IND,2780)

Viswanathan Anand lifted GRENKE Chess Classic title with last-round black-pieces win over German Arkadij Naiditsch, with 6.5/10 points and a 2808 performance ... Fridman holding co-leader after 9th round Caruana helped Anand but still Anand produced back-to-back wins for this long waited title ... Before this reasonably successful tournament for Anand was Wijk aan Zee 2011, where he finished sole second position behind Nakamura.

In this game Anand went for the Sicilian ... Anand take full advantage of mid-game mistake from Naiditsch ... He shocked Naiditsch with his variation, who resigned after 49 moves ... Other two games ended in a draw.


Final Standing
1. Viswanathan Anand (IND) 6½ pts
2. Fabiano Caruana (ITA) 6 pts
3. Michael Adams (ENG) 5 pts
4. Georg Meier (GER) 5 pts
5. Arkadij Naiditsch (GER) 4 pts
6. Daniel Fridman (GER) 3½ pts

Viswanathan Anand - “After Wijk aan Zee 2011 basically I went over a cliff and the next five tournaments were pretty awful”. Wijk aan Zee this year also went well until the last round, with the champion commenting, “I was hoping I wouldn’t do a Wang Hao today!”

“After Bilbao 2011 my big problem was getting interesting positions where I had chances. This year the new problem has been exploiting those chances – against Fridman here, Hou Yifan in Wijk aan Zee or last year against Nakamura and Adams at the London Chess Classic I’ve been gifting people half points. If it wasn’t for that my results would be much better. Still, it’s a hundred times better to have the second problem! I need to work on my technique.”

Tennis News
At €598,535 Open 13, Marseille, France

[R1] (PR) Somdev Devvarman (IND,357) vs Benoit Paire (FRA,38)

Doubles
[R1] (2) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Colin Fleming (GBR) vs Robin Haase (NED)/ Dick Norman (BEL)

Somi is receive last direct entry in the main-draw ... In the first round he is facing in-form Frenchman Benoit Paire.

Rohan is playing with Britisher Colin Fleming at Marseille ... They r 2nd seed and facing Haase/Dick Norman in the first round.

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

9th round - 16 February 2013
GM Viswanathan Anand (IND,2780) 1-0 GM Daniel Fridman (GER,2667)
GM Fabiano Caruana (ITA,2757) 0-1 GM Michael Adams (ENG,2725)
GM Georg Meier (GER,2640) 1-0 GM Arkadij Naiditsch (GER,2716)

First time all decisive games in the round ... Anand played perfect game against Fridman to won it in 46 moves and Adams helped him with win over leader Caruana in complex Catalan battle ... Adams take advantage of mid-game error from Caruana and won it in 54 moves ... Meier defeated Naiditsch after 47 moves ... After this round Anand is sharing top position with Caruana, 5½ points.

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

8th round - 15 February 2013
GM Daniel Fridman (GER,2667) ½-½ GM Michael Adams (ENG,2725)
GM Viswanathan Anand (IND,2780) ½-½GM Georg Meier (GER,2640)
GM Arkadij Naiditsch (GER,2716) 0-1 GM Fabiano Caruana (ITA,2757)

Fabiano Caruana once again defeated Arkadij Naiditsch from a lost position and now in position to win the title as he is full point ahead of Anand ... Anand managed only draw against Georg Meier after 56 moves.

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

[QF] Pankaj Advani (IND,71) l Judd Trump (ENG,2) 2-5 (20-73, 19-72, 3-69, 78-39, 18-62 59-66, 98-0)

Pankaj's terrific run ended in the quarter-final against highly rated young Judd Trump ... Trump started confidently and take 3-0 lead quickly ... Trump won 4th frame also but in that Pankaj scored 39 points break ... Pankaj gained momentum and managed to win his first frame ... In 6th Trump take 59-1 lead but Pankaj had different plans ... He played tactical snooker game and with help of 2 small breaks of 26 and 33 points won this frame ... Trump played flawless game in 7th and with help of 69 points break he won the match comfortably.

Creditable performance by Pankaj to reached in quarters of this big quality tournament where he back to back defeated former world champions ... He also picked up highest pay cheque of his career, 10,000 pounds.

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

7th round - 14 February 2013
GM Georg Meier (GER,2640) 1-0 GM Daniel Fridman (GER,2667) 0-1
GM Fabiano Caruana (ITA,2757) ½-½ GM Viswanathan Anand (IND,2780)
GM Michael Adams (ENG,2725) ½-½ GM Arkadij Naiditsch (GER,2716)

In this round only Georg Meier scored his first win of the tournament ... Fabiano Caruana managed to hold Anand after 44 moves and keep his ½ point lead over 2nd place Anand and Naiditsch.

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

[R2] Pankaj Advani (IND,71) bt Graeme Dott (SCO,15) 4-1 (73-7, 74-1, 39-84, 75-37, 100-1)

[QF] Pankaj Advani (IND,71) vs Judd Trump (ENG,2)

Pankaj continued with his terrific run and defeated another former World champion, this time Graeme Dott ... Pankaj started well he scored 63 points break in the first frame to won it ... In the second frame Pankaj's 73 points break was enough to gave him 2-0 lead ... Dott tried fightback winning the third frame but Pankaj again take control of 4th game ... Winning this frame he take 3-1 lead ... In the fifth frame Pankaj scored only century break of the match and completed comfortable win.

This is by far the best performance by Indian on professional snooker tour ... First Indian quarter-finalist, he will face in-form 23 yrs old young WR #2 Judd Trump ... Few weeks back Trump was WR #1 for 5 weeks ... Trump was finalist at the 2011 World Snooker Championship ... Also at the age of 14 he became the youngest player ever to make a competitive 147 points break.

Tennis News
At $15K Australia F1 Futures, Melbourne

[R2] Sanam Singh (IND,297) l Andrea Arnaboldi (ITA,354) 61 26 67(4)

Sanam failed to build on his first round upset win over Rungkat ... He started well against Italian Arnaboldi after winning the first set comfortably ... Arnaboldi came back strongly winning the second set with double break ... In the decider Sanam tried but Arnaboldi kept his advantage to win the tie-break.

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

6th round - 13 February 2013
GM Daniel Fridman (GER,2667) 0-1 GM Arkadij Naiditsch (GER,2716)
GM Viswanathan Anand (IND,2780) ½-½ GM Michael Adams (ENG,2725)
GM Georg Meier (GER,2640) ½-½ GM Fabiano Caruana (ITA,2757)

In this tournament Naiditsch is playing very entertaining chess ... In 6th round he defeated Fridman in 45 moves playing with Black ... He played brilliant knight sacrifice on his 21st move to take control ... Anand commented on Arkadij Naiditsch - “The guy’s on fire – he’s been like this for weeks!”.

Anand managed draw with Adams after 41 moves ... He is still on the second position but sharing with Naiditsch.