Wrestling News

At 2013 Senior World Wrestling Championship, Budapest, Hungary

66 kg Greco-Roman

Gold - Han-su Ryu (KOR)
Silver - Islam-Beka Albiev (RUS)
Bronze - Frank Staebler (GER) and Sandeep Tulsi Yadav (IND)

Bronze Medal Match
Sandeep Tulsi Yadav (IND) bt Aleksandar Maksimovic (SRB) 4-0

Repechage
[R-R1] Sandeep Tulsi Yadav (IND) bt Sharur Vardanyan (SWE) 6-4

[QF] Sandeep Tulsi Yadav (IND) l Han-su Ryu (KOR) 0-7

[R3] Sandeep Tulsi Yadav (IND) bt Mihail Cosniceanu (MDA) 6-2

[R2] Sandeep Tulsi Yadav (IND) bt Ismael Navarro Sanchez (ESP) 5-0

[R1] Sandeep Tulsi Yadav (IND) bye

74 kg Greco-Roman
[R1] Chhikara Rajbir (IND) bye

[R2] Chhikara Rajbir (IND) l Veli-Karri Osvald Suominen (FIN) 0-5

120 kg Greco-Roman
[R1] Naveen (IND) l Riza Kayaalp (TUR) 0-4

On the last day of World Wrestling Championship Sandeep Yadav won the Bronze medal for India ... He won the second and third rounds on the points but in the quarter-final he lost in one-sided match against Korean wrestler Ryu ... Ryu went to win the Gold medal so Sandeep got chance of playing in Repechage ... He won closely fought bout against Swedish wrestler Sharur Vardanyan by 2 points and entered in the Bronze medal match ... In the Bronze medal match Sandeep didn't give a chance to his Serbian opponent with his defensive style ... Sandeep scored with a gut wrench in the second period and added a go-behind takedown from an under-arm spin to defeat 2012 European bronze medal winner Serbian Aleksandar Maksimovic ... Sandeep Yadav became India’s first medalist in Greco-Roman at a senior world championships.

Our other two wrestlers failed to overcome their opponents challenge.

Hockey News

At Asia Cup Hockey Tournament 2013, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Pool A
India l China 0-1 (0-0)
Goal Scorers - Wang Meng Yu (CHN) PC 50'

India girls fought valiantly against higher-ranked Chinese girls before going down by a single goal in their second Pool A match ... After ending first half goalless draw Chinese scored through penalty corners ... After trailing Indians pressed hard for the equalizer and created quite a few scoring chances but the Chinese defended well ... Indians were looking toothless in Chinese circle ... Still good performance by Indian girls ... Now they will play important match against host Malaysia for semis qualification.

Tennis News

At $2.37M Toray Pan Pacific Open, Tokyo, Japan

[R1] Sania Mirza (IND)/ Cara Black (ZIM) bt Kristina Mladenovic (FRA)/ Flavia Pennetta (ITA) 26 60 10-7

This week Sania is participating with multiple grand slam winners Cara Black ... In the first round they faced unseeded pair Mladenovic-Pennetta ... Sania-Cara lost the first set but gave bagel to their opponents in the second set and then won match tie-break to enter into the second round.
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At $984K Malaysian Open, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

[Q2] (2) Somdev Devvarman (IND,101) bt Eric Butorac (USA,UNR) 61 63

[Q3] (2) Somdev Devvarman (IND,101) vs Jean-Julien Rojer (NED,UNR)

Buji scored comfortable win over American doubles specialist Eric Butorac in 44 minutes ... In the final qualifying round he is facing another doubles specialist Dutch player Jean-Julien Rojer.
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At $567.5K Thailand Open, Bangkok

[Q2] (8) Karunuday Singh (IND,684) bt Warit Sornbutnark (THA,1246) 46 75 76(4)

[Q3] (8) Karunuday Singh (IND,684) vs (4) Marco Chiudinelli (SUI,165)

Doubles
[R1] (1) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Robert Lindstedt (SWE) vs Daniel Gimeno-Traver (ESP)/ Paolo Lorenzi (ITA)
[R1] Divij Sharan (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) vs Juan Sebastian Cabal (COL)/ Robert Farah (COL)
[R1] (2) Leander Paes (IND)/ Daniele Bracciali (ITA) vs James Cerretani (USA)/ Adil Shamasdin (CAN)

Karunuday needed comeback win in his 2 hours and 22 minutes against lowly ranked Thai player ... After losing the first set Karunuday needed to dig deep for his comeback win ... In the final qualifying match he is facing experienced Swiss player and WR #165 Marco Chiudinelli.

In the doubles our three pairs r playing ... Divij-Purav getting another opportunity of playing in ATP maindraw ... Mahesh and Lee r top 2 seeded with their respective new partners.
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At $125K+H Kaohsiung Challenger, Taiwan

[SF] (Q) Yuki Bhambri (IND,477) bt (2) Jack Sock (USA,88) 67(10) 75 63

[F] (Q) Yuki Bhambri (IND,477) l Yen-Hsun Lu (TPE,64) 46 36

Doubles
[F] (WC) Yuki Bhambri (IND)/ Chieh-Fu Wang (TPE) l (1) Juan Sebastian Cabal (COL)/ Robert Farah (COL) 46 26

In the semi-final Yuki scored big win over WR #88 Jack Sock in well fought three sets after 2 hours and 49 minutes match ... In the first set Yuki missed 5 set points in tie-break before losing it ... In the second set Yuki was early break down, 1-3, but he fought back and broke Sock on in 8th game and made it 4-all ... Yuki had a set point in 10th game but Sock saved it ... Yuki broke Sock in 12th game for winning the second set ... In the final set both players hold their respective service games till 7th game ... Yuki broke Sock in 8th game and then hold his service game comfortably for exciting win ... He needed to play the final after only 90 minutes break.

In the final Yuki lost his serve in 1st game and then both players hold their respective service games and so that single break gave Lu the first set ... In the second set Lu broke Yuki in 3rd game and then again broke Yuki in 9th game for straight sets win in 66 minutes ... Yuki must be tired after his long singles semi-final and didn't recover in 90 minutes ... But with 80 points which he earn from this tournament will help Yuki to re-enter into top-300 ... He was also schedule to play the doubles final after 30 minutes rest

I think Yuki played the double final in respect to his doubles partner and spectators ... As after playing almost 4 hours on the court he played doubles final and frankly result was expected ... Yuki must be drained after playing long singles semi-final and then singles finalthat was reflected in his doubles final ... Still creditable week for Yuki as he reached in the final as an qualifier and also reached the final with his Taiwani partner as wild-crad pair.
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At $50K Napa Challenger, USA

[R1] Sanam Singh (IND,375) vs Bobby Reynolds (USA,145)
[R1] Vijayant Malik (IND,446) vs (2) Tim Smyczek (USA,104)

Sanam and Vijayant having tough first round matches.

Wrestling News

At 2013 Senior World Wrestling Championship, Budapest, Hungary

60 kg Greco-Roman
[R1] Ravinder Singh (IND) bye

[R2] Ravinder Singh (IND) bt Erbol Kalabaeyu (BLR) fall 4:03

[R3] Ravinder Singh (IND) l Jesse David Thielke (USA) fall 4:40

84 kg Greco-Roman
[R1] Harpreet Singh (IND) bye

[R2] Harpreet Singh (IND) l Eerik Aps (EST) 0-6

96 kg Greco-Roman
[R1] Hardeep Singh (IND) bye

[R2] Hardeep Singh (IND) l Marin Czac (MDA) 1-3

Still no special performance in Greco-Roman division by Indian wrestlers ... Ravinder Singh started well winning his match with fall against Belarus wrestler ... In the third round he was up with points against American wrestler Thielke but Thielke won the bout with fall ... Our other two wrestlers lost in their respective first bout.

Hockey News

At Asia Cup Hockey Tournament 2013, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Pool A
India bt Hong Kong 13-0 (9-0)
Goal Scorers - Ritu Rani (IND) 2', 6', 23', 24', 26', 34' and 58', Kirandeep Kaur (IND) 5', Vandana Katariya (IND) 13', 18' and 39', Poonam Rani (IND) 69', Joydeep Kaur (IND) 70'

Indians girls scored comfortable win against Hong Kong team on the first day ... This was expected result ... Ritu Rani scored 7 goals in this match ... At half-time we were 9-0 up but then only managed 4 more goals in the second half ... In the second match we r facing mighty Chinese team.

Tennis News

At $984K Malaysian Open, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

[Q1] (2) Somdev Devvarman (IND,101) bye

[Q2] (2) Somdev Devvarman (IND,101) vs Eric Butorac (USA,UNR)

Doubles
[R1] (WC) Yuki Bhambri (IND)/ Syed Mohd Agil Syed Naguib (MAS) vs (2) Julien Benneteau (FRA)/ Nenad Zimonjic (SRB)

Buji is 2nd seed in the qualifying ... After receiving bye in the first round Buji is facing American doubles specialist Eric Butorac ... Other hand Yuki missed chance of getting special exemption at Fergana challenger after reaching semis at Kaohsiung Challenger ... He added his name for Malaysian qualifying but missed as he still playing at Kaohsiung Challenger ... He is in the doubles maindraw as wild-card with Malaysian partner and facing tough match against 2nd seed Benneteau-Zimo.
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At $567.5K Thailand Open, Bangkok

[Q1] (8) Karunuday Singh (IND,684) bt Pruchya Isarow (THA,821) 62 46 76(8)

[Q2] (8) Karunuday Singh (IND,684) vs Warit Sornbutnark (THA,1246)

Karunuday is playing qualifying at Thailand open ... He stretched to fullest in the first round by local player as he won the final set tie-break in extra points ... Next he is facing another local Thai player.
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At $10K Kuwait F1 Futures, Meshref

Singles Final
(1) Saketh Myneni (IND,312) l (7) Mohammad Ghareeb (KUW,726) 46 16

Saketh lost against experienced Mohammad Ghareeb in the final ... Disappointed to see Saketh loses in this one-sided match.
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At $10K ITF Women's Tournament, Alger, Algeria

Singles Final
(2) Shweta Rana (IND) l (1) Sherazad Benamar (FRA) 16 63 16

Good fighting performance by Shweta Rana against top-400 French girl ... Shweta stretched her to three sets after losing the first set.
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At $10K ITF Women's Tournament, Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt

[SF] (1) Prarthana G. THOMBARE (IND) l (4) Julia VALETOVA (RUS) 64 46 26

Surprising loss of Prarthana against 4th seed Russian girl and her doubles partner ... I was expecting the title from Prarthana after excellent last week but here after winning the first set she failed to keep momentum and lost next two sets ... Prarthana won the doubles title with Russian Julia Valetova.

Wrestling News

At 2013 Senior World Wrestling Championship, Budapest, Hungary

Women - 67 kg Freestyle
[R1] Najot Kaur (IND) bt Gilda De Oliviera (BRA) 11-4

[R2] Najot Kaur (IND) l Leidy Izquierdo Mendez (COL) 0-9

Women - 72 kg Freestyle
[R1] Jyoti (IND) l Yaemin Adar (TUR) 5-9

Men - 55 kg Greco-Roman
[R1] Gaurav Sharma (IND) bye

[R2] Gaurav Sharma (IND) bt Lazaros Karathanasis (GRE) 8-0

[R3] Gaurav Sharma (IND) l Orkhan Ahmadov (AZE) 0-8

Women's performance ended on disappointing note and they finished last in overall standing ... Gaurav Sharma lost in the third round of his Greco-Roman category.

Tennis News

At €410K Moselle Open, Metz, France

[SF] (1) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Edouard Roger-Vasselin (FRA) l Johan Brunstrom (SWE)/ Raven Klaasen (RSA) 46 76(8) 6-10

In a serve-dominated encounter Rohan-Edouard lost against another big server pair Brunstrom-Klaasen in match tie-break ... After losing the first set Rohan-Edouard fought back and won the tie-break in extra points ... But they failed to keep momentum in the match tiebreak.
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At $125K+H Kaohsiung Challenger, Taiwan

[QF] (Q) Yuki Bhambri (IND,477) bt (4) Alejandro Gonzalez (COL,114) 63 26 62

[SF] (Q) Yuki Bhambri (IND,477) vs (2) Jack Sock (USA,88)

Doubles
[SF] (WC) Yuki Bhambri (IND)/ Chieh-Fu Wang (TPE) bt Matthew Ebden (AUS)/ Danai Udomchoke (THA) 63 64

[F] (WC) Yuki Bhambri (IND)/ Chieh-Fu Wang (TPE) vs (1) Juan Sebastian Cabal (COL)/ Robert Farah (COL)

Yuki's dream run is continued in the singles and the doubles ... In the singles, Yuki broke Gonzalez in the first game and take 2-0 lead ... Yuki kept that advantage and again broke him in 9th game for winning the first set ... In the second set Gonzalez take advantage of Yuki's mistake and broke him in 3rd and 5th games ... Gonzalez won this set comfortably ... In the final set both players hold their respective service games till 5th game but after that Yuki became more aggressive and broke Gonzalez in 6th and 8th games for excellent victory ... Next he is facing top-100 and 2010 Junior US open champion American Jack Sock.

Yuki and Chieh-Fu Wang continues their good run in the doubles and scored straight sets victory over experienced doubles players ... In the final they r facing Colombian pair.
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At $10K Kuwait F1 Futures, Meshref

[SF] (1) Saketh Myneni (IND,312) bt (6) Abdullah Maqdas (KUW,757) 36 64 63

[F] (1) Saketh Myneni (IND,312) vs (7) Mohammad Ghareeb (KUW,726)

Doubles Final
(2) Patrick Davidson (USA)/ Saketh Myneni (IND) l (1) Lewis Burton (GBR)/ Marcus Willis (GBR) 46 57

Again Saketh struggled with his service games but he fought back after losing the first set against local player ... In the final he is facing most experienced and former top-350 Kuwaiti player Mohammad Ghareeb.

Saketh and Davidson lost in the doubles final against top-seed British pair.
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At $10K Egypt F24 Futures , Sharm El Sheikh

[QF] (4) Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,543) l (5) Karim-Mohamed Maamoun (EGY,542) 67(5) 64 0-1 Retd.

Prajnesh retired from his match in the third set ... After losing the first set Prajnesh foght back to won the second ... But Prajnesh retired from his match after one game of the third set.
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At $10K ITF Women's Tournament, Alger, Algeria

[SF] (2) Shweta Rana (IND) bt (6) Alina Wessel (GER) 4-0 Retd.

[F] (2) Shweta Rana (IND) vs (1) Sherazad Benamar (FRA)

Shweta's German opponent retired from the match when she was 0-4 down ... In the final Shweta is facing top-seed French girl Sherazad Benamar.
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At $10K ITF Women's Tournament, Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt

[QF] (1) Prarthana G. THOMBARE (IND) bt Samantha POWERS (USA) 62 63

[SF] (1) Prarthana G. THOMBARE (IND) vs (4) Julia VALETOVA (RUS)

Prarthana scored comfortable win over Samantha Powera and in the semis she is facing 4th seed Russian.

Badminton News

At $200K Yonex Open Japan 2013, Tokyo (Superseries)

[QF] Ajay Jayaram (IND,23) l (5) Tien Minh Nguyen (VIE,8) 18-21 13-21
[QF] Prannoy H. S. (IND,56) l Huan Gao (CHN,32) 11-21 22-20 13-21
[QF] K Srikanth (IND,39) l (7) Kenichi Tago (JPN,5) 18-21 9-21

Indian challenge got over in Japan open as our all three players lost in the quarter final ... Srikanth stretched Tago in the first game but after that Tago dominated the match and won it in 39 minutes ... Ajay also fought in the first game but afterwards Nguyen proved strong for 40 minutes win ... Prannoy lost the first game easily against Gao after losing 9 points in a row from 8-all ... In the second game both players exchanged lead, from 12-all Prannoy opened 4 points lead, 16-12 ... Prannoy missed 3 game points from 20-17 before converting 4th game point and won this game ... In the third game Prannoy tried fightback winning 6 points in a row from 2-6 to lead 8-6 ... But after that Gao gave only 5 points to Prannoy before completing victory.

Wrestling News

At 2013 Senior World Wrestling Championship, Budapest, Hungary

Women - 55 kg Freestyle
[R1] Pooja (IND) l Iryna Husyak (UKR) 0-8

Women - 59 kg Freestyle
Geeta (IND) l Yuliya Ratkevich (AZE) 0-5

Women - 63 kg Freestyle
[R1] Geetika Jakhar (IND) l Maria Mamashuk (BLR) 0-5

Our women wrestlers disappointing outing continued on the second day ... All wrestlers lost in the first round.

Tennis News

At €410K Moselle Open, Metz, France

[QF] (1) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Edouard Roger-Vasselin (FRA) bt Nicholas Monroe (USA)/ Simon Stadler (GER) 63 62

[SF] (1) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Edouard Roger-Vasselin (FRA) vs Johan Brunstrom (SWE)/ Raven Klaasen (RSA)

Rohan-Edouard scored comfortable win over German-American pair and enter into the semis ... Next they r facing unseeded pairing of Brunstrom-Klaasen, who scored upset win over 3rd seed in the first round.
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At $125K+H Kaohsiung Challenger, Taiwan

[R2] (Q) Yuki Bhambri (IND,476) bt (7) Yuichi Sugita (JPN,146) 76(5) 75

[QF] (Q) Yuki Bhambri (IND,477) vs (4) Alejandro Gonzalez (COL,114)

Doubles
[QF] (WC) Yuki Bhambri (IND)/ Chieh-Fu Wang (TPE) bt Arata Onozawa (JPN)/ Yuichi Sugita (JPN) 63 64

[SF] (WC) Yuki Bhambri (IND)/ Chieh-Fu Wang (TPE) vs Matthew Ebden (AUS)/ Danai Udomchoke (THA)

Yuki continues with his excellent run in this big Kaohsiung Challenger ... Today he defeated Japanese Davis cupper Yuichi Sugita in two tight sets ... Interestingly this was Yuki's first win against Sugita after two losses in their previous meeting ... In the first set both players traded early breaks but in tie-break Yuki converted first set point after winning point on Sugita's serve at 6-5 ... In the second set Yuki lost his serve in third game, 1-2 ... From 3-5 Yuki won next 4 games ... In 10th game Yuki converted 4th break point and made it 5-all ... Yuki won next game on love and then in 12th game Yuki had 3 match points at 0-40 on Sugita's serve ... Yuki converted 2nd match point for excellent win ... Next he is facing 4th seed Colombian Alejandro Gonzalez. In the doubles also Yuki and his Taiwani partner Chieh-Fu Wang comfortably defeated Sugita and his partner Onozawa ... In the semi-final they r facing experienced players Udomchoke and Ebden.
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At $15K Canada F8 Futures, Toronto

[R2] (3) Sanam Singh (IND,375) l Milan Pokrajac (CAN,630) 26 16

Surprised by this one-sided loss of Sanam against Milan.
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At $10K Egypt F24 Futures , Sharm El Sheikh

[R2] (4) Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,543) bt Sebastian Rivera (ECU,1381) 60 61

[QF] (4) Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,543) vs (5) Karim-Mohamed Maamoun (EGY,542)

Prajnesh scored very dominating win over Sebastian Rivera losing only a single game ... Next he is facing local similar ranked player, interesting match.
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At $10K Kuwait F1 Futures, Meshref

[QF] (1) Saketh Myneni (IND,312) bt Thomas Statzberger (AUT,1313) 75 76(2)

[SF] (1) Saketh Myneni (IND,312) vs (6) Abdullah Maqdas (KUW,757)

Doubles
[SF] (2) Patrick Davidson (USA)/ Saketh Myneni (IND) bt (4) Matias Castro (ARG)/ Thomas Statzberger (AUT) 63 64

[F] (2) Patrick Davidson (USA)/ Saketh Myneni (IND) vs (1) Lewis Burton (GBR)/ Marcus Willis (GBR)

Surprisingly tough match for Saketh ... Expected easy win but Austrian Statzberger stretched Saketh to fullest in both sets but importantly Saketh completed victory ... Next he is facing local 6th seed player Maqdas ... Saketh is in the doubles final also with Davidson, the defeated Statzberger and his Argentine partner Castro in straight sets ... In the final they r facing top-seed British pair.
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At $10K USA F24 Futures, Costa Mesa

[QF] (4) Evan Song (USA)/ Ashwin Vijayragavan (IND) l Deiton Baughman (USA)/ Joseph Digiulio (USA) 26 57

Ashwin and his partner lost in quarter-final.
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At $10K ITF Women's Tournament, Alger, Algeria

[QF] (8) Shivika Burman (IND) l Harmony Tan (FRA) 26 36
[QF] (2) Shweta Rana (IND) bt Mia Nicole Eklund (FIN) 61 61

[SF] (2) Shweta Rana (IND) vs (6) Alina Wessel (GER)

Shweta scored dominating win against her Finnish opponent but Shivika lost against lower ranked French girl ... In the semis Shweta r facing German girl.
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At $10K ITF Women's Tournament, Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt

[R2] (1) Prarthana G. THOMBARE (IND) bt Linda DUBSKA (CZE) 60 64

[QF] (1) Prarthana G. THOMBARE (IND) vs Ola ABOU ZEKRY (EGY)

Good start for Prarthana in this week's tournament ... In the quarter she is facing Egyptian girl.

Badminton News

At $200K Yonex Open Japan 2013, Tokyo (Superseries)

[R2] Anand Pawar (IND,37) l (1) Chong Wei Lee (MAS,1) 12-21 16-21
[R2] Ajay Jayaram (IND,23) bt (Q) Yuichi Ikeda (JPN,354) 21-13 11-21 21-18
[R2] Prannoy H. S. (IND,56) bt Jan O Jorgensen (DEN,9) 21-14 13-21 21-17
[R1] K Srikanth (IND,39) bt (Q) Kazuteru Kozai (JPN,287) 21-12 21-16
[R2] (8) P. V. Sindhu (IND,10) l (Q) Akane Yamaguchi (JPN,207) 6-21 17-21

[R2] Sumeet Reddy (IND)/ Manu Attri (IND) l (4) Xiaolong Liu (CHN)/ Zihan Qiu (CHN) 17-21 16-21

[QF] Ajay Jayaram (IND,23) vs (5) Tien Minh Nguyen (VIE,8)
[QF] Prannoy H. S. (IND,56) vs Huan Gao (CHN,32)
[QF] K Srikanth (IND,39) vs (7) Kenichi Tago (JPN,5)

I think IBL's effect is showing in our male players performance, our three players r in the quarters of Superseries ... Prannoy scored huge upset win over top-10 Danish player Jan O Jorgensen in 53 minutes ... In the first game Jan take early lead 8-5, but Prannoy won 6 points in a row from 6-9 to take a lead ... Jan managed to reduce it to 12-13 but after that Prannoy lost only couple of points before winning this game ... In the second game both players were exchanging lead till 9-all ... From 8-9 Jan won next 7 points to take 15-9 lead and didn't gave any chance to Prannoy for comeback ... After losing the second game Prannoy kept his nerve and opened 2 points lead from 7-all in the decider ... After that Prannoy kept his lead till the last ... At 15-18 Jan tried fightback winning next 2 points but Prannoy won next 3 points and completed victory ... Next he is facing Chinese Huan Gao.

Srikanth scored comfortable win over Japanese qualifier in 32 minutes ... Next he is facing Japanese top player and WR #5 Kenichi Tago ... Ajay surprisnglu stretched by another Japanese qualifier Yuichi Ikeda in 55 minutes match ... Ajay won the first game easily before losing concentration in the second and lost it poorly ... In the decider Yuichi take 4-0 lead but after that Ajay recovered and won next 5 points to lead 5-4 ... After that both players were exchanging lead ... From 13-15 Yuichi won 4 points in a row to take lead, 17-15, but Ajay won next 3 point to lead 18-17 ... Yuichi made it 18-all but again Ajay kept his cool and won next 3 points for completing the victory ... Next he is facing Vietnamese WR #8 Tien Minh Nguyen.

Other hand shocking one-sided loss of Sindhu against below 200 ranked Japanese qualifier Akane Yamaguchi in 32 minutes ... In the first game Sindhu managed to win only 6 points ... In the second game Sindhu take 7-3 then 10-5 early lead but failed to kept that advantage ... Akane won next 6 points to take lead 11-10 ... Then from 11-12 Akane opened couple of points lead and kept increasing for upset win ... In the doubles Sumeet-Manu gave decent performance against Chinese seeded pair.

Wrestling News

At 2013 Senior World Wrestling Championship, Budapest, Hungary

74 kg Freestyle
Bronze Medal match
Narasingh Yadav (IND) l Ali Shabanov (BLR) 1-6

Repechage
[R-R2] Narasingh Yadav (IND) bt Gamid Dzhalilov (TJK) 7-0
[R-R1] Narasingh Yadav (IND) bt Yabrail Hasanov (AZE) 13-4

[R3] Narasingh Yadav (IND) l Jordan Burroughs (USA) 0-7
[R2] Narasingh Yadav (IND) bt Kakhaber Khubezhty (RUS) 10-2
[R1] Narasingh Yadav (IND) bye

Women - 48 kg Freestyle
[R1] Nirmala Devi (IND) l Alyssa Rae Nicole Lampe (USA) 0-7

Women - 51 kg Freestyle
[R1] Vinesh (IND) bt Wendy Martinez (MEX) 7-0
[R2] Vinesh (IND) l Isabelle Sambou (SEN) 3-6

Narasingh Yadav missed opportunity of winning the Bronze as he lost easily again Belarusian wrestler in the medal match ... Narasingh scored good win against Russian wrestler in the second round but lost easily against eventual American wrestler in the next round ... In Repechage he scored two dominating wins but failed to repeat that performance in the medal match.

Disappointing start in Women's freestyle as our both wrestlers lost in first 2 rounds.

Tennis News

Davis Cup 2014 - Group I,

Davis cup draw is out and India is having home tie against Chinese Taipei but if they win this tie then they r having real test in away match against seeded Koreans.
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At $125K+H Kaohsiung Challenger, Taiwan

[R1] (Q) Yuki Bhambri (IND,476) bt Amir Weintraub (ISR,190) 76(8) 61

[R2] (Q) Yuki Bhambri (IND,476) vs (7) Yuichi Sugita (JPN,146)

Yuki scored upset win over Israeli Davis cupper Amir Weintraub in straight sets ... In the first set Yuki was up with early break, 3-1, but Amir broke back in 8th game to made it 4-all ... In long tie-break Yuki kept his nerve and won it after 18 points ... In the second set Yuki dominated and won it with double break ... In the second round he is facing Japanese top-150 and 7th seed Yuichi Sugita.
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At $15K Canada F8 Futures, Toronto

[R1] (4) Vijayant Malik (IND,446) l George Jecminek (CAN,855) 16 67(3)
[R1] (3) Sanam Singh (IND,375) bt Daniel Chu (CAN,1999) 62 16 63

[R2] (3) Sanam Singh (IND,375) vs Milan Pokrajac (CAN,630)

Surprisingly Sanam stretched to three sets by Canadian journeyman Chu but other hand Vijayant wasn't so lucky and lost in straight sets against lower ranked Canadian ... Sanam is facing another Canadian in the second round.
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At $10K Egypt F24 Futures , Sharm El Sheikh

[R1] Sasi Kumar Mukund (IND,UNR) l (Q) Maxim Kravtsov (RUS,UNR) 26 64 57
[R1] (4) Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,543) bt Dmitry Surchenko (RUS,1463) 63 62
[R1] (5) Ranjeet Virali-Murugesan (IND,582) l Dariusz Lipka (POL,UNR) 4-4 Retd.

[R2] (4) Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,543) vs Sebastian Rivera (ECU,1381)

Prajnesh started with win but Ranjeet got injured in his match ... 16 yrs old Sasi gave fighting performance in his loss.
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At $10K Kuwait F1 Futures, Meshref

[R2] (1) Saketh Myneni (IND,312) bt Jordan Ubiergo (FRA,1491) 64 63
[R2] (Q) Akash Wagh (IND,1787) l Soichiro Moritani (JPN,1990) 26 16

[QF] (1) Saketh Myneni (IND,312) vs Thomas Statzberger (AUT,1313)

Saketh scored straight sets win but Akash's inconsistency in his performance continued.
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At $10K USA F24 Futures, Costa Mesa

[R1] (LL) Ashwin Vijayragavan (IND,1131) l Alex Blumenberg (BRA,708) 06 62 67(5)

After losing the first set without winning a single game Ashwin gave fighting performance in next two sets against higher ranked Brazilian.
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At $10K ITF Women's Tournament, Alger, Algeria

[R2] (8) Shivika Burman (IND) bt Fatima Zohra Boukezzi (ALG) 61 60
[R2] (WC) Victoria Chehal (IND) l Mia Nicole Eklund (FIN) 36 57
[R2] (2) Shweta Rana (IND) bt Nikita Deshmukh (IND) 61 60

[QF] (8) Shivika Burman (IND) vs Harmony Tan (FRA)
[QF] (2) Shweta Rana (IND) vs Mia Nicole Eklund (FIN)

Expected wins for Shivika and Shweta ... Next they r facing French and Finnish girls respectively.
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At $10K ITF Women's Tournament, Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt

[R1] Ashmitha EASWARAMURTHI (IND) l Parris TODD (USA) 46 57

Ashmitha lost against American girl in tight two sets.

Badminton News

At $200K Yonex Open Japan 2013, Tokyo (Superseries)

[R1] Anand Pawar (IND,37) bt Sony Dwi Kuncoro (INA,12) 21-17 7-21 21-18
[R1] B. Sai Praneeth (IND,38) l (8) Yun Hu (HKG,8) 21-23 18-21
[R1] Saurabh Verma (IND,36) l (Q) Jun Takemura (JPN,319) 24-22 19-21 14-21
[R1] Ajay Jayaram (IND,23) bt Tien Chen Chou (TPE,25) 21-11 21-18
[R1] Prannoy H. S. (IND,56) bt Wing Ki Wong (HKG,14) 15-21 21-17 24-22
[R1] K Srikanth (IND,39) bt Sho Sasaki (JPN,22) 22-20 22-24 21-18
[R1] (8) P. V. Sindhu (IND,10) bt (Q) Yukino Nakai (JPN,550) 21-12 21-13
[R1] Tanvi Lad (IND,77) l Sayaka Takahashi (JPN,20) 15-21 10-21

[R1] Sumeet Reddy (IND)/ Manu Attri (IND) bt Hiroyuki Saeki (JPN)/ Ryota Taohata (JPN) 21-17 21-15

[R2] Anand Pawar (IND,37) vs (1) Chong Wei Lee (MAS,1)
[R2] Ajay Jayaram (IND,23) vs (Q) Yuichi Ikeda (JPN,354)
[R2] Prannoy H. S. (IND,56) vs Jan O Jorgensen (DEN,9)
[R1] K Srikanth (IND,39) vs (Q) Kazuteru Kozai (JPN,287)
[R2] (8) P. V. Sindhu (IND,10) vs (Q) Akane Yamaguchi (JPN,207)

[R2] Sumeet Reddy (IND)/ Manu Attri (IND) vs (4) Xiaolong Liu (CHN)/ Zihan Qiu (CHN)

Some superb upsets by our Indian players ... Day's first upset started by Anand Pawar, who previously three times lost against Kuncoro ... This time Anand kep his nerve in the third game after losing the second game easily ... In next round Anand will facing Malaysian WR #1 Chong Wei Lee.

Ajay scored dominating straight games victory over similar ranked Taiwani player ... In the second round he is facing Japanese qualifier ... Sindhu also scored very comfortable win against her Japanese qualifier and in the second round also she is facing another local qualifier.

K Srikanth scored huge win against very experienced Sho Sasaki in hard fought 68 minutes match ... In the first game Srikanth kept close to Sho and converted 2nd game point for winning the first game ... In the second game Sho was in control most of the game ... Srikant saved 4 game points from 16-20 and then he had match point at 22-21 but failed to convert ... Sho converted 6th game point for winning the second game ... In the second game from 4-5 Srikanth won next 7 points to opened huge gap, 11-5 ... Sho tried fight back but failed to catch Srikanth ... Sho made it 13-14, 14-15 then 15-16 but Srikanth kept his composure and converted his third match point for memorable victory ... Next he is facing Japanese qualifier Kozai, who scored upset win against Chinese WR #2 Long Chen.

Prannoy scored comeback win against Hong Kong WR #14 Wing Ki Wong in 67 minutes ... After losing the first game Prannoy was trailing in the second game ... From 14-16 Prannoy won next 4 points to take lead and kept that for winning the second game ... In the third game also Wong take early lead, at one time Prannoy was trailing him 8-14 ... Prannoy caught him at 16-all and then Prannoy had 2 match points at 20-18 which he missed ... Wong saved another match point at 20-21 ... Prannoy saved match point at 21-22 and then converted 4th match point for excellent win ... Next he is facing top Danish player and WR #9 Jan O Jorgensen.

In the doubles Sumeet-Manu started with win against local pair but next they r facing 4th seed Chinese pair.

Wrestling News

At 2013 Senior World Wrestling Championship, Budapest, Hungary

60kg Freestyle
Gold - Bekhan Goigereev (RUS)
Silver - Vladimir Dubov (BUL)
Bronze - Masoud Esmaeilpoor (IRI) and Bajrang (IND)

Bronze medal Match
Bajrang (IND) bt Nyam-Ochir Enkhsai Khan (MGL) 9-2

Repechage
[R-R2] Bajrang (IND) bt Shogo Maeda Defaulted (w/o)
[R-R1] Bajrang (IND) bt Ivan Guidea (ROU) 10-3

[R1] Bajrang (IND) bye
[R2] Bajrang (IND) l Vladimir Dubov (BUL) 0-7

84 kg Freestyle
[R1] Pawan Kumar (IND) bye
[R2] Pawan Kumar (IND) l Feng Zhang (CHN) 8-9

120 kg Freestyle
[R1] Hitender (IND) bye
[R2] Hitender (IND) l Geno Petriashvili (GEO) 0-8

Bajrang lost in his first bout against Bulgarian Vladimir Dubov ... Vladimir Dubov reached in the final and Bajrang got chance to play in Repechage ... He take full advantage of it ... He started with 10-3 win over Romanian wrestler ... In next round his Japanese wrestler defaulted and then in Bronze medal match Bajrang kept his attacking approach ... He scored 9-2 win over Mongolian wrestler Nyam-Ochir Enkhsai Khan and won the second medal for India ... Impressive performance considering our top 2 wrestlers Sushil Kumar and Yogeshwar Dutt r missed this World championship due to injury ... In 84 kg and 120 kg categories our wrestlers failed to cross the second round.

Tennis News

At €410K Moselle Open, Metz, France

[R1] (1) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Edouard Roger-Vasselin (FRA) bt Eric Butorac (USA)/ Sam Querrey (USA) 61 76(4)

[QF] (1) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Edouard Roger-Vasselin (FRA) vs Nicholas Monroe (USA)/ Simon Stadler (GER)

Rohan-Edouard started with straight sets win though after winning the first set easily their American opponents strtched them to tie-break ... In the quarter they r facing German-American pair.
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At $520K St.Petersburg Open, Russia

[R1] Divij Sharan (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) l (WC) Victor Baluda (RUS)/ Konstantin Kravchuk (RUS) 67(6) 46

Divij-Purav lost in the first round against Russian wild-card pair ... After losing close tie-break our pair failed to produce comeback in the second ... Expected victory for our pair.
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At $10K Kuwait F1 Futures, Meshref

[R1] (Q) Akash Wagh (IND,1787) bt Sidharth Rawat (IND,1089) 76(2) 75

[R2] (1) Saketh Myneni (IND,312) vs Jordan (ubiergo (FRA,1491)
[R2] (Q) Akash Wagh (IND,1787) vs Soichiro Moritani (JPN,1990)

Doubles
[R1] Vinayak Sharma Kaza (IND)/ Akash Wagh (IND) l Sadio Doumbia (FRA)/ Jordan Ubiergo (FRA) 26 36

[QF] (2) Patrick Davidson (USA)/ Saketh Myneni (IND) bt Carlos Capel (ESP)/ Jaume Santo-Valdivieso (ESP) 63 60

Qualifier Akash produced excellent hard fought win over countryman Sidharth Rawat ... Really good win by Akash against big server Sidharth ... Next he is facing similar ranked Japanese opponent, his 3rd seed French opponent retired from the match ... Good opportunity for Akash to go deep in this tournament.

In the doubles Saketh and his American partner r in the semis with comfortable win but Kaza-Wagh pair lost in the first round.
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At $10K ITF Women's Tournament, Alger, Algeria

[R1] (8) Shivika Burman (IND) bt (WC) Sanaa Benkaddour (ALG) 60 62
[R1] (2) Shweta Rana (IND) bt (Q) Doria Khetib (ALG) 60 60

[R2] (8) Shivika Burman (IND) vs Fatima Zohra BOUKEZZI (ALG)
[R2] (WC) Victoria Chehal (IND) vs Mia Nicole EKLUND (FIN)
[R2] (2) Shweta Rana (IND) vs Nikita Deshmukh (IND)

Expected easy wins for Shivika and Shweta.
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At $10K USA F24 Futures, Costa Mesa

Doubles
[R1] (4) Evan Song (USA)/ Ashwin Vijayragavan (IND) bt Andrew Diefenbach (USA)/ Brett Van Linge (USA) 61 46 11-9

[QF] (4) Evan Song (USA)/ Ashwin Vijayragavan (IND) vs Deiton Baughman (USA)/ Joseph Digiulio (USA)

Turned to be tough first round win for 4th seed pair of Evan Song-Ashwin as they won match tie-break on extra points ... In the quarters they r facing another American pair.

Wrestling News

At 2013 Senior World Wrestling Championship, Budapest, Hungary


55 kg Freestyle


Gold - Hassan Rahimi (IRI)
Silver - Amit Kumar (IND)
Bronze - Sezer Akgul (TUR) and Nariman Israpilov (RUS)

[R1] Amit KUMAR (IND) bye
[R2] Amit KUMAR (IND) bt Yasuhiro Inaba (JPN) 8-2
[R3] Amit KUMAR (IND) bt Zoheir EL OUARRAQE (FRA) 8-0
[QF] Amit KUMAR (IND) bt Angel Alesmo ESCOBEDO (USA) 6-0
[SF] Amit KUMAR (IND) bt Sezar AKGUL (TUR) 8-0

[F] Amit KUMAR (IND) l Hassan RAHIMI (IRN) 1-2

66 kg Freestyle
[R1] Arun KUMAR (IND) bye
[R2] Arun KUMAR (IND) l Levan KELEKHSASHVILI (GEO) 0-8

96 kg Freestyle
[R1] Satywart KADAYAN (IND) bye
[R2] Satywart KADAYAN (IND) bt Gamini MADASING ACHCHILLAGE (SRI) 10-0
[R3] Satywart KADAYAN (IND) l Nicolai CEBAN (MDA) 2-5

Senior World championship is started in Hungary ... Sushil Kumar and Yogeshwar Dutt missed this tournament due to injury ... On the first day we had high hope from young Amit Kumar in 55 kg freestyle, who recently won Asian championships gold in April ... As expected with some solid one-sided wins he reached in the final ... In the final both wrestlers were looking tired and Iranian didn't gave chance to attack for Amit Kumar ... In the end Iranian won the bout on the less cautions ... Still creditable performance by Amit Kumar in his first Senior World championship ... Hopefully he will keep himself motivated for Olympics medal in Rio and Tokyo.

Our other two wrestlers lost in their first and second matches in their respective weight categories..

Tennis News

At €410K Moselle Open, Metz, France

[R1] (1) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Edouard Roger-Vasselin (FRA) vs Eric Butorac (USA)/ Sam Querrey (USA)

Rohan-Edouard r playing at Metz.
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At $125K+H Kaohsiung Challenger, Taiwan

[Q3] (3) Yuki Bhambri (IND,476) bt (5) Arata Onozawa (JPN,674) 75 61
[Q3] (6) Karunuday Singh (IND,687) l (1) Yasutaka Uchiyama (JPN,358) 26 16

[R1] (Q) Yuki Bhambri (IND,476) vs Amir Weintraub (ISR,190)

Doubles
[R1] (WC) Yuki Bhambri (IND)/ Chieh-Fu Wang (TPE) bt (2) Sanchai Ratiwatana (THA)/ Sonchat Ratiwatana (THA) 76(5) 76(1)

Yuki qualify for main-draw of Kaohsiung Challenger with straight sets win ... In the first set he was 0-2 down after losing the serve in 1st game but he broke Onozawa in 6th game to made it 3-all ... Yuki missed a set point in 10th game before breaking Onozawa in 12th game for winning the first set ... In the second set Yuki dominated from the start and broke Onozawa twice for comfortable win ... In the main-draw he is facing Israeli experienced Davis Cupper Amir Weintraub ... Other hand Karunuday failed to produce challenge against Yasutaka Uchiyama.

Yuki and his Taiwani partner Chieh-Fu Wang produced huge upset against 2nd seed Ratiwatana brothers ... Both sets were closely fought but Indian-Taiwani wild-card pair played tie-breaks perfectly for huge win.
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At $15K Canada F8 Futures, Toronto

[R1] (4) Vijayant Malik (IND,446) vs George Jecminek (CAN,855)
[R1] (3) Sanam Singh (IND,375) vs Daniel Chu (CAN,1999)

This week Sanam and Vijayant r playing in the singles only ... Both r facing Canadian opponent in the first round.
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At $10K Kuwait F1 Futures, Meshref

[Q1] (1) Akash Wagh (IND,1787) bye
[Q2] (1) Akash Wagh (IND,1787) bt Phillip Gresk (POL,UNR) 63 61

[R1] (1) Saketh Myneni (IND,312) bt Mohammed Reda (KUW,1999) 61 61
[R1] (8) Vinayak Sharma Kaza (IND,942) l Ali Ghareeb (KUW,1522) 26 57
[R1] Sidharth Rawat (IND,1089) vs (Q) Akash Wagh (IND,1787)

Doubles
[R1] Vinayak Sharma Kaza (IND)/ Akash Wagh (IND) vs Sadio Doumbia (FRA)/ Jordan Ubiergo (FRA)
[R1] (2) Patrick Davidson (USA)/ Saketh Myneni (IND) bye

Akash Wagh qualified for main-draw but facing tough match against fellow Indian Sidharth Rawat ... Saketh is favorite to dominated these Kuwait futures and he started with comfortable win ... But poor loss of Kaza against local player.
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At $10K ITF Women's Tournament, Tlemcen, Algeria

[R1] (8) Shivika Burman (IND) vs (WC) Sanaa Benkaddour (ALG)
[R1] (WC) Victoria Chehal (IND) bt (Q) Samara Amour (ALG) 60 61
[R1] Nikita Deshmukh (IND) bt (Q) Ines Belkis Alimoussa (ALG) 62 63
[R1] (2) Shweta Rana (IND) vs (Q) Doria Khetib (ALG)

This week winnable first round matches for all players as they r facing local players ... So expected wins for Victoria Chehal and Nikita Deshmukh.
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At $10K USA F24 Futures, Costa Mesa

[Q1] (3) Ashwin Vijayragavan (IND,1131) bye
[Q2] (3) Ashwin Vijayragavan (IND,1131) bt Jonas Meinzer (GER,UNR) 63 63
[Q3] (3) Ashwin Vijayragavan (IND,1131) bt Andrew Diefenbach (USA,UNR) 61 64
[Q4] (3 )Ashwin Vijayragavan (IND,1131) l (11) Ziad Sultan (KUW,1787) 26 46

[R1] (LL) Ashwin Vijayragavan (IND,1131) vs Alex Blumenberg (BRA,708)

Doubles
[R1] (4) Evan Song (USA)/ Ashwin Vijayragavan (IND) vs Andrew Diefenbach (USA)/ Brett Van Linge (USA)

Ashwin Vijayragavan is playing in tough US futures but he lost in the final qualifying ... He is main-draw as luckyloser and facing Brazilian ... Also in the doubles he is 4th seed with his American partner.
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At $10K Egypt F24 Futures , Sharm El Sheikh

[R1] (Q) Sasi Kumar Mukund (IND,UNR) vs (Q) Maxim Kravtsov (RUS,UNR)
[R1] (4) Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,543) vs Dmitry Surchenko (RUS,1463)
[R1] (5) Ranjeet Virali-Murugesan (IND,582) vs Dariusz Lipka (POL,UNR)

This week Prajnesh join Ranjeet and Sasi for Egypt futures.
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At $10K ITF Women's Tournament, Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt

[R1] (1) Prarthana G. THOMBARE (IND) bye
[R1] Ashmitha EASWARAMURTHI (IND) vs Parris TODD (USA)

This week Prarthana is top-seed and receive bye in the first round ... Ashmitha is having tricky match against young 15 yrs old talented American girl, who is ranked in 1000s.

Tennis News

At $520K St.Petersburg Open, Russia

[R1] Divij Sharan (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) vs (WC) Victor Baluda (RUS)/ Konstantin Kravchuk (RUS)

Divij-Sharan r playing at St.Petersburg Open and facing wild-card pair in the first round.
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At $125K+H Kaohsiung Challenger, Taiwan

[Q2] (3) Yuki Bhambri (IND,476) bt Punn Bodidatta (THA,2122) 61 61
[Q2] (6) Karunuday Singh (IND,687) bt Hao-Yang Hu (TPE,1787) 63 60

[Q3] (3) Yuki Bhambri (IND,476) vs (5) Arata Onozawa (JPN,674)
[Q3] (6) Karunuday Singh (IND,687) vs (1) UCHIYAMA, Yasutaka Uchiyama (JPN,358)

Doubles
[R1] (WC) Yuki Bhambri (IND)/ Chieh-Fu Wang (TPE) vs (2) Sanchai Ratiwatana (THA)/ Sonchat Ratiwatana (THA)

Yuki and Karunuday scored comfortable win and in the final qualifying they r facing real test.
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At $15K Canada F8 Futures, Toronto

Singles Final
(2) Sanam Singh (IND,379) l (1) Peter POLANSKY (CAN,235) 26 26

Top-seed Peter Polansky proved too strong for Sanam in the final ... Still creditable performance by Sanam in his first tournament after long injury break.
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At $10K ITF Women's Tournament, Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt

Singles Final
(2) Prarthana G. THOMBARE (IND,556) l (1) Yana SIZIKOVA (RUS,386) 67(7) 63 57

Prarthana lost in very close match against top-seed Russian ... She had opportunity to won the first set but missed in tie-break ... After that Prarthana fought back and won the second set but lost closely fought final set.
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At $10K Egypt F24 Futures , Sharm El Sheikh

Doubles Final
(1) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND)/ Ranjeet VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND) bt (4) Karim HOSSAM (EGY)/ Karim-Mohamed MAAMOUN (EGY) 64 76(10)

Bala and Ranjeet lifted doubles title after beating 4th seed Egyptian pair ... After winning the first set they won the second set after long tie-break.