Olympics News

At Rio Olympics 2016, Brazil

Athletics (36+3)

Men -
200M - Dharambir Singh
400M - Muhammad Anas
800M - Jinson Johnson
50KM walk - Sandeep Kumar, Manish Singh Rawat
20KM walk - Baljinder Singh, Gurmeet Singh, Irfan Kolothum Thodi
Marathon - Thonakal Gopi, Kheta Ram, Nitender Singh Rawat
Long Jump - Ankit Sharma
Triple Jump - Renjith Maheshwary
Discus - Vikas Gowda
Shot Put - Inderjeet Singh
4x400 relay - R Mohan Kumar, Ayyasamy Dharun, Mohammed Kunhi, Arokia Rajiv, Sumit Kumar, Jithin Paul (may be we send only 5 athletes and add already qualified Muhammad Anas in roster)

Women -
100M - Dutee Chand
200M - Srabani Nanda
400M - Nirmala Sheoran
800M - Tintu Luka
3000M steeplechase - Lalita Babar, Sudha Singh
Marathon - Kavita Raut, O. P. Jaisha
20KM walk - Khushbir Kaur, Sapna Punia
Shot Put - Manpreet Kaur
Discus - Seema Antil
4x400 relay - Jisna Mathews, M. R. Poovamma, Anilda Thomas, Debashree Majumdar, Ashwini Akkunji, Priyanka Panwar (may be we send only 4 athletes and add already qualified Nirmala Sheoran and Tintu Luka in roster)

Archery (4)

Mens individual - Atanu Das
Womens individual - Deepika Kumari, Laxmirani Majhi, Bombayla Devi

Badminton (7)

Mens singles - Srikanth Kidambi
Womens singles - Saina Nehwal, Pusarla Sindhu
Mens doubles - Manu Attri/ B. Sumeeth Reddy
Womens doubles - Jwala Gutta/ Ashwini Ponnappa

Boxing (3)

Mens 60 Kg - Shiva Thapa
Mens 64 kg - Manoj Kumar
Mens 75 kg - Vikas Krishnan

Hockey (32)

Mens team - PR Sreejesh (captain and GK), Harmanpreet Singh, Rupinder Pal Singh, Kothajit Singh, Surendar Kumar, VR Raghunath, SK Uthappa, Danish Mujtaba, Devender Walmiki, Manpreet Singh, Sardar Singh, Chinglensana Singh, SV Sunil (vice-captain), Akashdeep Singh, Ramandeep Singh, Nikkin Thimmaiah

Womens team - Savita (GK), Deep Grace Ekka, Sunita Lakra, Sushila Chanu (captain), Deepika (vice-captain), Namita Toppo, Navjot Kaur, Renuka Yadav, Monika, Rani Rampal, Preeti Dubey, Lilima Minz, Nikki Pradhan, Anuradha Devi, Poonam Rani, Vandana Kataria

Gymnastics (1)

Womens individual - Dipa Karmakar

Rowing (1)

Mens single Sculls - Dattu Baban Bhokanal

Shooting (12)

Men -
Rifle - Abhinav Bindra, Gagan Narang, Chain Singh
Pistol - Jitu Rai, Prakash Nanjappa, Gurpreet Singh
Shotgun - Manavjit Singh Sandhu, Kynan Chenai, Mairaj Ahmad Khan

Women -
Rifle - Apurvi Chandela, Ayonika Paul
Pistol - Heena Siddhu

Table Tennis (4)

Men - Sharath Kamal Achanta, Soumyajit Ghosh
Women - Manika Batra, Mouma Das

Swimming (2)

200m butterfly - Sajan Prakash
200m freestyle - Shivani Kataria

Golf (3)
Men - Anirban Lahiri, Shiv Chawrasia
Women - Aditi Ashok

Judo (1)

Men's 90 kg - Avtar Singh

Tennis (4)

Men - Leander Peas, Rohan Bopanna
Women - Sania Mirza, Prarthana Thombre

Wrestling (8)

Mens freestyle - Sandeep Tomar, Yogeshwar Dutt, Narsingh Yadav
Women - Vinesh, Babita , Sakshi Malik
Greco Roman - Ravinder Khatri, Hardeep Singh

Weight lifting (2)

Men's 77 kg - Sathish Sivalingam
Women's 48 kg - Saikhom Mirabai Chanu

This is India's biggest contingent for Olympics ... We are sending 120 athletes (can be 123) to Rio ... Still not sure about medal contenders but hoping to crack in double figure in medal hauls for the first time

Tennis News

At $578K Hall of Fame Tennis Championships, Newport, USA

[QF] (4) Divij Sharan (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) bt Marcos Baghdatis (CYP)/ Giles Muller (LUX) 64 64

This is really good win in straight sets by Divij-Purav against very experienced players, who r having plenty of experience of playing on grass.

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At $25K ITF Women's Tennis Tournament 2016, Aschaffenburg, Germany (Clay)

[R1] Ankita RAINA (IND,312) bt (Q) Guadalupe PEREZ ROJAS (ARG,563) 57 64 61

[R2] Ankita RAINA (IND,312) vs Giulia GATTO-MONTICONE (ITA,431)

Ankita scores comeback win over Argentine qualifier after losing the first set in the first round ... Next she is facing challenge of Italian girl.

Olympics News

At Rio Olympics 2016, Brazil

Men’s squad
PR Sreejesh (captain and GK), Harmanpreet Singh (defender), Rupinder Pal Singh (defender), Kothajit Singh (defender), Surendar Kumar (defender), VR Raghunath (defender), SK Uthappa (midfielder), Danish Mujtaba (midfielder), Devender Walmiki (midfielder), Manpreet Singh (midfielder), Sardar Singh (midfielder), Chinglensana Singh (midfielder), SV Sunil (forward and vice-captain), Akashdeep Singh (forward), Ramandeep Singh (forward), Nikkin Thimmaiah (forward)
On standby - Pardeep Mor, Vikas Dahiya

Women’s squad
Savita (GK), Deep Grace Ekka (defender), Sunita Lakra (defender), Sushila Chanu (captain and defender), Deepika (vice-captain and defender), Namita Toppo (defender), Navjot Kaur (midfielder), Renuka Yadav (midfielder), Monika (midfielder), Rani Rampal (forward), Preeti Dubey (forward), Lilima Minz (midfielder), Nikki Pradhan (forward), Anuradha Devi (forward), Poonam Rani (forward), Vandana Kataria (forward),
On standby - Rajani Etimarpu & H. Lalruat Feli

India’s 16-member squads for Men and Women for Rio Olympics was announced.

In women's India’s forward line will be held by Rani Rampal with Deepika named vice-captain ... Sushila Chanu will captain the team in the absence of Ritu Rani.

In the men’s side, PR Sreejesh will be in goal and will lead the side with SV Sunil the vice captain ... Sardar Singh has released from the role of captain

Tennis News

At $578K Hall of Fame Tennis Championships, Newport, USA

[R1] (4) Divij Sharan (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) bt (PR) Victor Estrella-Burgos (DOM)/ John Paul Fruttero (USA)) 26 63 10-6

[QF] (4) Divij Sharan (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) vs Marcos Baghdatis (CYP)/ Giles Muller (LUX)

Good comeback win for Divij-Purav against Estrella-Burgos and Fruttero ... After losing the first set easily our pair made strong comeback for winning the second ... They kept their momentum in match tie-break for completing victory ... Next they r facing seasoned players pairing of Baghdatis and Muller.

Olympics News

At Rio Olympics 2016, Brazil

Anirban Lahiri (WR #62)
SSP Chawrasia (WR #207)

Aditi Ashok WR #439

Anirban Lahiri and SSP Chawrasia had already sealed a spot for Rio Olympics earlier in the year but it has an official stamp on it now ... But newest and youngest entrant to the Indian contingent will be 18-year-old Aditi Ashok who qualifies with her ranking of 57 as of July 11 – the cutoff date for the Summer Games.

Olympics News

At Rio Olympics 2016, Brazil

In Men's Triple Jump - Renjith Maheswary 17:30m (Qualification mark - 16:85m)

In Men's 200m - Dharanbir Singh 20:45s (Qualification mark - 20:50s)

In Men's 800m - Jinson Johnson 1:45:98s (Qualification mark - 1:46:00s)

In the 3rd Indian Grand Prix our three more players qualify for Rio ... Also Indian men's 4x400 team qualifies for Rio clocking 3:00:91s joining Indian women's 4x400 team.
Frankly I am frightened by our players SO MUCH improved performance in Olympic year by our athletes ... For example 17.30m jump by Ranjit Maheshwari is a new national record and is the third best mark in the world this year behind 2 Americans ... But we know in Olympics he will be sick or fouled out like last time ... I really don't know what WADA is doing ... Sick and sucks!

Tennis News

At $578K Hall of Fame Tennis Championships, Newport, USA

[R1] (4) Divij Sharan (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) vs (PR) Victor Estrella-Burgos (DOM)/ John Paul Fruttero (USA))
[R1] Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND)/ Ariel Behar (ISR) l Marcos Baghdatis (CYP)/ Giles Muller (LUX) 26 36

Divij-Purav r 4th seed at Newport ... Jeevan played with Israeli partner Behar but they faced tough first round against seasoned players ... Baghdatis-Muller pair dominated in their win over Jeev and his partner.

Olympics News

At Rio Olympics 2016, Brazil

Sajan Prakash (Men's 200m Butterfly) and Shivani Singh (Women's 200m Freestyle) are selected to represent India at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games on wild-cards.

Tennis News

At Wimbledon Open 2016, London, Great Britain

Doubles
[QF] (1) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Martina Hingis (SUI) l (5) Tímea Babos (HUN)/ Yaroslava Shvedova (KAZ) 26 46

Mixed Doubles
[R3] (16) Leander Paes (IND)/ Martina Hingis (SUI) l Henri Kontinen (FIN)/ Heather Watson (GBR) 63 36 26

Junior
[R1] Charlotte Robillard-Millette (CAN)/ Karman Kaur Thandi (IND) l (1) Olesya Pervushina (RUS)/ Anastasia Potapova (RUS) 67(4) 64 9-11

Indian challenge is over with Lee-Martina's loss in MXD ... They started well after winning the first set but in this match Martina was struggling with her game ... And from second set their opponents targeted Martina and she was making numerous errors from near net or missing simple overheads or hitting outside.

Surprisingly one-sided loss of Sania-Martina against Babos-Shvedova.

Karman-Charlotte started well against top-seed Russian pair after taking 4-2 lead but top-seed broke back and then won the first set in tie-break ... Karman-Charlotte fought back for winning the second set with a break ... In the final set both pairs tried hard as per match stat but Karman-Charlotte mostly had chance of closing the match as they broke Russian couple of times ... In 20th game Karman-Charlotte served back to back double faults from 30-all to lost the match ... Tough loss.

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At $50K+H Todi Challenger, Italy

[R2] (Q) Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,231) l (2) Marco Cecchinato (ITA,130) 67(6) 46

RamK give good fighting performance against Cecchinato in this match ... In the first set both players were neck to neck till tie-break ... In tie-break RamK had 2 set points at 6-4 but he lost next 4 points for losing the set ... In the second set Cecchinato took crucial break in 5th game, 2-3 and that break was enough for winning this set.

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At $25K France F13 Futures, Bourg-En-Bresse (Clay)

[R2] (8) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND,488) bt Laurent LOKOLI (FRA,523) w/o

[QF] (8) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND,488) l (4) Jonathan EYSSERIC (FRA,347) 46 36

Doubles Final
[QF] (1) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND)/ Marat DEVIATIAROV (UKR) l Maxime HAMOU (FRA)/ Calvin HEMERY (FRA) 61 67(5) 8-10

Bala lost in the quarters against higher ranked Frenchman after receiving walkover from another French opponent ... In the doubles she and her doubles Ukrainian partner lose in match tie-break after winning the first set against French pair.

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At $50K Winnetka Challenger, USA

[QF] (1) Divij Sharan (IND)/ Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND) l Stefan Kozlov (USA)/ John-Patrick Smith (AUS) 64 57 9-11

But our top-seed pair of Divij-Jeev lost in the quarters in closely fought match.

Tennis News

At Wimbledon Open 2016, London, Great Britain

[QF] (1) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Martina Hingis (SUI) vs Tímea Babos (HUN)/ Yaroslava Shvedova (KAZ)

Mixed Doubles
[R3] (16) Leander Paes (IND)/ Martina Hingis (SUI) vs Henri Kontinen (FIN)/ Heather Watson (GBR)

Juniors
[R1] Charlotte Robillard-Millette (CAN) Karman Kaur Thandi (IND) bt (WC) Georgina Axon (GBR)/ Lauryn John-Baptiste (GBR) 67(6) 64 64

[R2] Charlotte Robillard-Millette (CAN) Karman Kaur Thandi (IND) vs (1) Olesya Pervushina (RUS)/ Anastasia Potapova (RUS)

Good fighting comeback win by Karman with her Canadian partner Charlotte against local pair ... Next they r facing Russian pair.

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At $50K+H Todi Challenger, Italy

[R1] (Q) Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,231) bt Enrique López-Pérez (ESP,211) 63 64

[R2] (Q) Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,231) vs (2) Marco Cecchinato (ITA,130)

Doubles
[R1] Riccardo Ghedin (ITA)/ Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND) bt Steven Diez (CAN)/ David Pérez Sanz (ESP) 76(1) 61

[QF] Riccardo Ghedin (ITA)/ Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND) vs (1) Marcelo Demoliner (BRA)/ Fabricio Ness (BRA)

RamK starts with straight sets win over his Spanish opponent ... After winning the first set he was down 2-4 in the second ... He fought back and won next four games in a row for completing win in straight sets ... Tough second round against in-form Marco.

In the doubles also winning start for RamK with his Italian partner.

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At $50K Winnetka Challenger, USA

[R1] (1) Divij Sharan (IND)/ Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND) bt (WC) Strong Kirchheimer (USA)/ Konrad Zieba (USA) 64 64

[QF] (1) Divij Sharan (IND)/ Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND) vs Stefan Kozlov (USA)/ John-Patrick Smith (AUS)

Expected winning start for Divij and Jeev.

Tennis News

At Wimbledon Open 2016, London, Great Britain

Mixed Doubles<
[R2] (1) Ivan Dodig (CRO)/ Sania Mirza (IND) l (WC) Neal Skupski (GBR)/ Anna Smith (GBR) 64 36 57
[R2] (16) Leander Paes (IND)/ Martina Hingis (SUI) bt Artem Sitak (NZL)/ Laura Siegemund (GER) 64 64

[R2] (13) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Anastasia Rodionova (AUS) l Juan Sebastián Cabal (COL)/ Mariana Duque (COL) 67(5) 36

Junior
[R1] Karman Kaur Thandi (IND,88) l Mariam Bolkvadze (GEO,UNR) 64 26 26

Turning to be disappointing day for Indians as our players but only saving grace was Lee's win with Martina in MXD ... Sania-Ivan fail to cross second round and lost in three sets against British pair after winning the first set ... Olympic bound Colombian pair prove better pair than Rohan-Rodionova in MXD third round ... Karman had tough match against top-500 WTA ranked Bolkvadze ... After winning the first set Karman failed to keep momentum in next two sets.

Lee-Martina scored comfortable straight sets win over Sitak and Siegemund.

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At $25K ITF Women's Tennis Tournament 2016, Versmold, Germany

[R1] Ankita RAINA (IND,311) l Tereza SMITKOVA (CZE,224) 36 36

Ankita fails to challenge top-225 Czech player to lose in straight sets.

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At $25K France F13 Futures, Bourg-En-Bresse (Clay)

[R1] (8) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND,488) bt Florent DIEP (FRA,905) 64 46 62

[R2] (8) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND,488) vs Laurent LOKOLI (FRA,523)

Doubles
[R1] (1) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND)/ Marat DEVIATIAROV (UKR) bt Benjamin PIETRI (FRA)/ Johan Sebastien TATLOT (FRA) 64 64

[QF] (1) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND)/ Marat DEVIATIAROV (UKR) vs Maxime HAMOU (FRA)/ Calvin HEMERY (FRA)

Bala is playing in France and start with win in the singles and the doubles.

Tennis News

At Wimbledon Open 2016, London, Great Britain

Doubles
[R3] (6) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Florin Meargea (ROM) l (10) Henri Kontinen (FIN)/ John Peers (AUS) 62 36 46 76(6) 6-8
[R3] (1) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Martina Hingis (SUI) bt Christina McHale (USA)/ Jelena Ostapenko (LAT) 61 60

Mixed Doubles
[R2] (13) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Anastasia Rodionova (AUS) bt Treat Huey (PHI)/ Alicja Rosolska (POL) 63 75
[R2] (16) Leander Paes (IND)/ Martina Hingis (SUI) bt Artem Sitak (NZL)/ Laura Siegemund (GER) 64 64

[R3] (13) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Anastasia Rodionova (AUS) vs Juan Sebastián Cabal (COL)/ Mariana Duque (COL)

Sania-Martina reach into quarters lsoing only single game against McHale-Ostapenko ... Very dominating win by Sania-Martina, now hoping they will continue with same form in remaining match.

Rohan-Florin lose in five sets against 10th seed Kontinen-Peers ... After winning the first set easily Rohan-Florin lost next two sets ... They fought back for winning the fourth in tie-break but failed to keep momentum in the fifth and lost in extra games.

Rohan-Rodionova r in the third round with straight sets victory and next they r facing Olympic bound Colombian pair for place in the quarters ... Lee-Martina r also in the third round with straight sets win over German pair.

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At $50K+H Bastad Challenger, Sweden

[R1] (Q) Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,406) l Andrey Rublev (RUS,203) 76(3) 57 67(3)

Creditable fighting performance by Prajnesh against top-200 type Russian Rublev in very close match ... Prajnesh won the first set in tie-break but was break down in the second ... He fought back but again Rublev broke him on crucial stage for taking match into decider ... In the final set also Prjnesh lost his serve but again he fought back and took set into tie-break ... Here Prajnesh became tight and made few errors for losing the set but still encouraging performance.

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At $50K+H Todi Challenger, Italy

[Q2] (1) Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,231) bt Sergio Galdos (PER,UNR) 63 67(2) 62

[Q3] (1) Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,231) bt Benjamin Bonzi (FRA,447) 64 61

[R1] (Q) Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,231) vs Enrique López-Pérez (ESP,211)

Doubles
[R1] Riccardo Ghedin (ITA)/ Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND) vs Steven Diez (CAN)/ David Pérez Sanz (ESP)

RamK qualifies for main-draw with comfortable win over top-500 Frenchman Benjamin Bonzi ... But before that surprisingly he was stretched to three sets by un-ranked player ... In first round he is facing Spanish player Enrique López-Pérez and in the doubles he is partnering Italian Riccardo Ghedin.

Badminton News

At $55K Canada Open Grand Prix 2016, Calgary

[PQF] (1) Ajay Jayaram (IND,24) bt David OBERNOSTERER (AUT,68) 21-10 21-12
[PQF] (4) B. Sai Praneeth (IND,37) bt Wenchao SHI (CAN,NR) 21-19 21-12
[PQF] R. M. V. Gurusaidutt (IND,108) l (8) Raul MUST (EST,38) 12-21 21-7 17-21
[PQF] (2) H. S. Prannoy (IND,28) bt B. R. Sankeerth (CAN,294) 21-18 18-21 21-12
[PQF] Harsheel DANI (IND,112) bt Pratul JOSHI (IND,191) 21-9 21-18

[PQF] Tanvi Lad (IND,79) bt Maya CHEN (USA,460) 21-14 21-15
[PQF] Gadde Ruthvika Shivani (IND,110) bt Elisabeth BALDAUF (AUT,74) 24-22, 21-18

[QF] (1) Ajay Jayaram (IND,24) bt Harsheel DANI (IND,112) 21-18 19-21 21-8
[QF] (4) B. Sai Praneeth (IND,37) bt (8) Raul MUST (EST,38) 21-14 21-16
[QF] (2) H. S. Prannoy (IND,28) l (7) Brice LEVERDEZ (FRA,39) 22-20 21-23 18-21

[QF] Tanvi Lad (IND,79) l (3) Iris WANG (USA,36) 16-21 15-21
[QF] Gadde Ruthvika Shivani (IND,110) l (4) Linda ZETCHIRI (BUL,39) 16-21 12-21 10-21

[QF] (1) Manu ATTRI (IND)/ REDDY B. Sumeeth (IND) bt Ted (Chin Tai) CHEN (CAN)/ Chao Hsiang LIAO (CAN) W/o

[QF] (1) Jwala GUTTA (IND)/ Ashwini PONNAPPA (IND) l Leanne CHOO (AUS)/ Rachel HONDERICH (CAN) W/o
[QF] JAKKAMPUDI Meghana (IND)/ S. Poorvisha Ram (IND) l Hsiang Ling SU (TPE)/ Yi-Ting HUNG (TPE) 21-18 16-21 20-22

[QF] Manu ATTRI (IND)/ Ashwini PONNAPPA (IND) l (4) Nico RUPONEN (SWE)/ Amanda HOGSTROM (SWE) w/o

[SF] (1) Ajay Jayaram (IND,24) l (3) Hyun Il LEE (KOR,44) 9-21 8-21
[SF] (4) B. Sai Praneeth (IND,37) bt (7) Brice LEVERDEZ (FRA,39) 22-20 19-21 21-12

[SF] (1) Manu ATTRI (IND)/ REDDY B. Sumeeth (IND) bt Andrei ADISTIA (INA) / Adam (Xingyu) DONG (CAN) 21-15 21-19

Men's Singles Final
(4) B. Sai Praneeth (IND,37) bt (3) Hyun Il LEE (KOR,44) 21-12 21-10

Men's Doubles Final
(1) Manu ATTRI (IND)/ REDDY B. Sumeeth (IND) bt Adrian LIU (CAN)/ Toby NG (CAN) 21-8 21-14

Good to see Sai lifts his first Grand Prix title in Canada ... More importantly he defeated seeded foreigners, who defeated Ajay, Guru and Prannoy ... In the doubles our top-seed pair of Manu and Sumeeth performed as per their top-seeding for lifting the title.

Golf News

At $9.5M World Golf Championship, Akron, Ohio, USA (PGA Tour)

T33 Anirban Lahiri (IND) 68 74 73 70 +5 $76,000.00

Anirban failed to keep his first round putting in next two rounds and finished outside top-25 in this World championship ... But still good to see he is fighting for keeping his PGA card for 2017.

Tennis News

At Wimbledon Open 2016, London, Great Britain

Doubles
[R2] Leander Paes (IND)/ Marcin Matkowski (POL) l (10) Henri Kontinen (FIN)/ John Peers (AUS) 36 26

[R2] (1) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Martina Hingis (SUI) bt Eri Hozumi (JPN)/ Miyu Kato (JPN) 63 61

[R3] (6) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Florin Meargea (ROM) vs (10) Henri Kontinen (FIN)/ John Peers (AUS)
[R3] (1) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Martina Hingis (SUI) vs Christina McHale (USA)/ Jelena Ostapenko (LAT)

Junior
[R1] Karman Kaur Thandi (IND,88) bt Lara Escauriza (PAR,37) 76(1) 75

Comfortable win for Sania-Martina against Japanese pair ... In this match our pair were proved too strong for Japanese pair ... Next they r facing McHale-Ostapenko.

One-sided loss of Lee-Marcin against 10th seed Kontinen and Peers.

Karman score really tight win over Paraguayan girl Lara Escauriza in the first round ...

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At $125K Braunschweig Challenger, Germany (Clay)

[Q3] (8) Sumit Nagal (IND,409) l Cedrik-Marcel Stebe (GER,733) 36 26

Former top-100 player Cedrik-Marcel Stebe proves too strong for young Sumit.

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At $50K+H Bastad Challenger, Sweden

[Q3] (4) Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,406) bt (6) Fred Simonsson (SWE,678) 46 75 63

[R1] (Q) Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,406) vs Andrey Rublev (RUS,203)

Excellent comeback win by Prajnesh against local player ... After losing the first set both players were neck to neck in the second ... Prajnesh broke Fred in 12th game for winning the second set and then in the third Prajnesh saved whooping 11 break points on his serve and broke Fred's serve on one chance he got for winning this set ... He is having tough match against top-200 type Russian.

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At $50K+H Todi Challenger, Italy

[Q1] (1) Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,231) bye
[Q2] (1) Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,231) vs Sergio Galdos (PER,UNR)

RamK is top-seed in Todi challenger qualifying.

Hockey News

At Valancia Six Nation Cup 2016, Spain

India dw Spain 1-1 (1-1)
Goal Scorers - VR Raghunath (IND) 20' PC and Pau Quemada (ESP) 11' PS

Again unimpressive performance by Indians against host Spain ... Match ended on an equal term but our struggle in front of the goal continues ... Frankly speaking this is really not an ideal performance by our team ... In all matches we awarded many penalty corners and in this match we awarded five penalty corners but managed to score off one; so the team’s problems with conversion continue ... I am really hoping this would not be an issue ahead of Rio Olympics.

Tennis News

At Wimbledon Open 2016, London, Great Britain

[R2] (6) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Florin Meargea (ROM) bt Andrej Martin (SVK)/ Hans Podlipnik-Castillo (CHI) 75 62

[R1] (1) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Martina Hingis (SUI) bt Anna-Lena Friedsam (GER)/ Laura Siegemund (GER) 62 75

[R2] (1) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Martina Hingis (SUI) vs Eri Hozumi (JPN)/ Miyu Kato (JPN)

Expected straight sets win for Rohan and Florin against challenger level pair.

Sania-Martina at last starts their title defense with straight sets victory over German pair ... Next they r facing Japanese pair.

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At $125K Braunschweig Challenger, Germany (Clay)

[Q2] (8) Sumit Nagal (IND,409) bt Petr Michnev (CZE,540) 67(3) 76(5) 63

[Q3] (8) Sumit Nagal (IND,409) vs Cedrik-Marcel Stebe (GER,733)

Very hard fought win for Sumit against his Czech opponent Michnev ... After losing the first set in tie-break Sumit needed to dig deep for winning the second set in tie-break ... And then with multiple breaks he won the final set ... Next he is facing former top-100 German player Cedrik-Marcel Stebe, who is continue with his comeback after long injury layoff.

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At $50K+H Bastad Challenger, Sweden

[Q2] (4) Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,406) bt Jonathan Mridha (SWE,971) 75 64

[Q3] (4) Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,406) vs (6) Fred Simonsson (SWE,678)

Straight sets win for Prajnesh against local player ... In the final qualifying he is facing another Swedish player.

Hockey News

At Valancia Six Nation Cup 2016, Spain

India dw Argentina 3-3(1-3)
Goal Scorers - Rupinder Pal Singh (IND) 16' PS, Ramandeep Singh (IND), Devinder Walmiki (IND) 57' and Matias Paredes (ARG) 15', Gonzalo Peillat (ARG) PC, Lucas Vila (ARG)

Indians manage to draw with Argentina in entertaining match ... We started slowly so Argentinian players took control ... At half-time Argentina were leading 1-3 and they managed to keep that lead till end of third quarter ... In the final quarter our players were pressing hard .. Ramandeep scored tap-in and then Devinder scored excellent equalizer ... Again today our players were playing out of their regular positions but umpiring in this match was below average ... They failed to awards couple of penalty corners and gave unnecessary cards to our players.

Tennis News

At Davis Cup Asia/ Oceania Group I 2016 - Second Round, Chandigarh, India

Indian Team - Saketh Myneni, Ramkumar Ramanathan, Rohan Bopanna and Leander Paes
Non-playing captain - Anand Amritraj
Coach - Zeeshan Ali

Sensible team selection by AITA for our Davis cup tie against Korea ... Yuki is still recovering from tennis elbow so no fully match fit but I m still worrying about Saki's shoulder injury ... We require him fit for this tie as here we r playing with two doubles specialists.

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At Wimbledon Open 2016, London, Great Britain

Doubles
[R1] Leander Paes (IND)/ Marcin Matkowski (POL) bt Yen-Hsun Lu (TPE)/ Janko Tipsarevic (SRB) 61 63
[R1] (6) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Florin Meargea (ROM) bt Marin Draganja (CRO)/ Nikola Mektic (CRO) 75 76(6)

[R2] (6) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Florin Meargea (ROM) vs Andrej Martin (SVK)/ Hans Podlipnik-Castillo (CHI)

Junior
[Q1] Zeel Desai (IND,87) l (12) Siqi CAO (CHN,78) 36 64 36

[R1] Karman Kaur THANDI (IND,88) vs Lara Escauriza (PAR,37)

Lee-Marcin score comfortable win over Lu-Tipsarevic ... Rohan-Florin start with tight two sets win over Croatian pair.

Zeel loses in first qualifying round so only Karman is playing in junior Wimbledon.

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At $125K Braunschweig Challenger, Germany (Clay)

[Q1] (8) Sumit Nagal (IND,409) bye
[Q2] (8) Sumit Nagal (IND,409) vs Petr Michnev (CZE,540)

Sumit is playing in another tough German big challenger.

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At $50K+H Bastad Challenger, Sweden

[Q1] (4) Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,406) bye
[Q2] (4) Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,406) vs Jonathan Mridha (SWE,971)

Prajnesh decides to play in Sweden challenger and having good opportunity of qualifying in mai-draw.

Olympics News

At the 56th National Inter State Senior Athletics Championships, Hyderabad, India

Nirmala Sheoran has become the first Indian to qualify for Women’s 400 m at Rio Olympics ... Nirmala Sheoran has clocked a brilliant 51:48 seconds in Women’s 400 metres, she has thus beaten the qualification mark of 52:20 seconds for Rio by a fair margin.