Football News

At the 2019 AFC Asian Cup - Qualifying, Yangon, Myanmar

Group A
Myanmar l India 0-1 (0-0)
Goal Scored - Sunil Chhetri (IND) 90'

India scored a labored 1-0 win against Myanmar at the Thuwanna YTC Stadium in Yangon, courtesy a goal in dying minutes by Sunil Chhetri ... In this match, Myanmar forwards tested Indian defense and our goalkeeper Gurpreet Singh ... They failed to score from created chances and in end, they paid a heavy price as Sunil scored a sole goal in the last minute of the game ... So with that winning start for us in Group A.

Tennis News

At Davis Cup 2017 - Asia/ Oceania Group I - 2nd Round, Bengaluru, India

Indian team - Ramkumar Ramanathan, Yuki Bhambri, Prajnesh Gunneswaran and Sriram Balaji. Reserves - Rohan Bopanna and Leander Paes.

The AITA with Mahesh Bhupathi has kept both Rohan and Leander in the reserves for the Asia Oceania Davis Cup tie against Uzbekistan ... But it should not be a surprise if the final four announce prior to the tie is different.

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At $7.9M Miami Open 2017, Florida, USA

[QF] (3) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Barbora Strycova (CZE) bt (6) Vania King (USA)/ Yaroslava Shvedova (KAZ) 64 61

Good to see comfortable win for Sania-Barbora against seeded pair.

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At $15K ITF Women Tournament 2017, Heraklion, Greece (clay)

[R1] (6) Karman Kaur THANDI (IND) bt Julyette Maria Josephine STEUR (GER,609) 61 36 60

[R2] (6) Karman Kaur THANDI (IND,554) vs Camila GIANGRECO CAMPIZ (PAR,665)

This week good start for Karman after losing in the first round last week ... She started with three sets win over in-form German girl Steur ... Next, she is facing another clay court specialist.

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At $15K Indonesia F4 Futures 2017, Jakarta

[R1] Karunuday SINGH (IND,1039) bt (8) Hugo VOLJACQUES (FRA,720) 76(2) 61

[R2] Karunuday SINGH (IND,1039) vs Jake DELANEY (AUS,845)

KU started with upset win over seeded Frenchman in straight sets ... Next he is facing Aussie player.

Tennis News

At $7.9M Miami Open 2017, Florida, USA

[R2] (3) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Barbora Strycova (CZE) bt Timea Babos (HUN)/ Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (RUS) 16 61 10-4

[QF] (3) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Barbora Strycova (CZE) vs (6) Vania King (USA)/ Yaroslava Shvedova (KAZ)

Sania-Barbora scored a comeback win over Babos-Pavlyuchenkova ... After losing the first set cheaply they made a strong comeback for winning next set comfortably ... They kept the same momentum for winning the match tie-break comfortably ... Next, they r facing 6th seed King and Shvedova.

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At $75K+H Leon Challenger, Mexico

[Q1] Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,269) l Danilo Petrovic (SRB,326) 36 63 16

Disappointing loss of RamK against Petrovic in three sets ... After losing the first set RamK tried fightback but failed to challenge Petrovic in the third.

Tennis News

At $7.9M Miami Open 2017, Florida, USA

[R1] (3) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Barbora Strycova (CZE) bt Demi Schuurs (NED)/ Renata Voracova (CZE) 63 76(3)

[R2] (3) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Barbora Strycova (CZE) vs Timea Babos (HUN)/ Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (RUS)

Sania-Barbora r in the second round with straight sets win, though they were stretched to a tie-break in the second by this unknown pair ... Next, they r facing pairing of Timea Babos and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.

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At $75K+H Leon Challenger, Mexico

[Q1] Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,269) vs Danilo Petrovic (SRB,326)

Tennis News

At $7.9M Miami Open 2017, Florida, USA

[R1] Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Pablo Cuevas (URU) l (WC) Nick Kyrgios (AUS)/ Matt Reid (AUS) 57 63 7-10

Rohan-Pablo lost in the first round against Aussie wildcard pair in the match tie-break.

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At $15K India F6 Futures, Trivendrum

Courtesy Kamesh Srinivasan FB page

[R1] (1) Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND) bt Kunal Anand (IND) 61 63
[R2] (1) Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND) bt Jui-Chen Hung (TPE) 63 64
[QF] (1) Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND) bt (6) N. Vijay Sundar Prashanth (IND) 62 62
[SF] (1) Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND) bt Dalwinder Singh (IND) 60 63

Singles Final
(1) Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND) bt (2) N. Sriram Balaji (IND) 75 63

Doubles Final
(1) N. Sriram Balaji (IND)/ Vishnu Vardhan (IND) bt (4) Jui-Chen Hung (TPE)/ Hong Kit Wong (HKG) 63 75

This was third final between Prajnesh and Bala and second time Prajnesh became winner in their three meetings ... Prajnesh scored straight sets win over Bala for lifting another futures title and this 6 weeks of Indian futures truly dominated by Indian players ... Prajnesh and Bala lifted two titles and one title each by Yuki and Sasi.

In the doubles, Bala and Vishnu lifted their 4th title in these 6 futures.

Tennis News

At $50K+H Quanzhou Challenger 2017, China

[R2] (PR) Yuki Bhambri (IND,307) bt (4) Blaz Kavcic (SLO,136) 26 63 64

[QF] (PR) Yuki Bhambri (IND,307) l (5) Maximilian Marterer (GER,143) 36 26

Doubles
[QF] (4) Christopher Rungkat (INA)/ Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND) bt Ruan Roelofse (RSA)/ Chu-Huan Yi (TPE) 46 76(3) 10-8

[SF] (4) Christopher Rungkat (INA)/ Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND) vs (1) Andre Begemann (GER)/ Aliaksandr Bury (BLR)

Maximilian Marterer proved too strong for exhausted Yuki ... Marterer dominated in both sets for comfortable win over Yuki ... Still good three weeks for Yuki as he has re-entered into top-300.

Before that in the second round, in the first set, Kavcic broke Yuki twice for winning it comfortably ... In the second set, both players exchanged multiple breaks ... When Yuki was serving for the set at 5-2 he failed to hole but immediately he broke Kavcic for winning the set ... In the final set, Yuki saved multiple break points (7 exactly) but was early break up ... Yuki had a match point on his serve at 5-3 and 40-30 but he failed to hold his serve ... Yuki immediately broke Kavcic converting 3rd match point for hard-fought comeback win in 2 hours 17 minutes ... In few hours Yuki is facing top-150 German Maximilian Marterer, tough task.

Jeevan-Chirs scored comeback win over Roelofse-Yi in the match tie-break ... In the semis, they r facing top-seed Begemann-Bury.

Football News

At FIFA International Football Friendly 2017, Phnom Penh, Cambodia

India br Cambodia 3-2 (1-1)
Goal Scored - Sunil Chhetri (IND) 36', Jeje Lalpekhlua (IND) 50', Sandesh Jhinghan (IND) 54' and Khuon Laboravy (CAM) 37', Chan Vathanaka (CAM) 62'

Indian team (132nd) struggled to beat lowly ranked Cambodian team (173rd) at Phnom Penh ... Sunil gave us a lead but Khuon scored equalizer on next minute ... In the second half we scored 2 goals in five minutes from JeJe and Sandesh but they reduced margin by one when Chan scored ... Last 25 minutes Cambodian side tried hard to equalize but we managed to keep our lead ... Last time we thrashed them 6-0 so this time spirited performance by Cambodian team ... Next, India will play Myanmar in their AFC Asian Cup qualifiers opener on March 28.

Squash News

At $150K Women's Allam British Open 2017, Hull, England

[R2] (12) Joshana Chinappa (IND,14) l (3) Raneem El Welily (EGY,3) 8-11, 7-11, 7-11 (27m)

Joshana lost in straight games against WR #3 Raneem El Welily ... Joshana gave decent fight in this match.

Tennis News

At $6.9M Miami Open 2017, Florida, USA

[R1] Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Pablo Cuevas (URU) vs (WC) Nick Kyrgios (AUS)/ Matt Reid (AUS)

[R1] (3) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Barbora Strycova (CZE) vs Demi Schuurs (NED)/ Renata Voracova (CZE)

Sania and Barbora are in top draw and facing little unknown pair in the first round ... Rohan-Pablo r facing Aussie wild-card in the first round.

Squash News

At $150K Women's Allam British Open 2017, Hull, England

[R1] Dipika Pallikal Karthik (IND,21) l (5) Laura Massaro (ENG,5) 4-11, 5-11, 13-11, 1-11 (39m)
[R1] (12) Joshana Chinappa (IND,14) bt (Q) Rachael Grinham (AUS,31) 11-6, 8-11, 11-6, 12-10 (40m)

[R2] (12) Joshana Chinappa (IND,14) vs (3) Raneem El Welily (EGY,3)

Joshana faced veteran and former WR #1 Rachael Grinham in the first round ... She completed the win in four games in the tightly played match ... Next, she is facing WR #3 Raneem El Welily.

Dipika failed to challenge her opponent other than a third game which she won.

Tennis News

At $50K+H Quanzhou Challenger 2017, China

[R1] (PR) Yuki Bhambri (IND,307) bt Tatsuma Ito (JPN,171) 76(2) 62

[R2] (PR) Yuki Bhambri (IND,307) vs (4) Blaz Kavcic (SLO,136)

Doubles
[R1] (4) Christopher Rungkat (INA)/ Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND) bt (WC) Di Wu (CHN)/ Zhizhen Zhang (CHN) 76(5) 76(5)

[QF] (4) Christopher Rungkat (INA)/ Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND) vs Ruan Roelofse (RSA)/ Chu-Huan Yi (TPE)

Yuki scored impressive win over Tatsuma Ito in straight sets ... In the first set, Yuki broke Ito in 9th game for leading 5-4 but he failed to hold while serving for the set ... He recovred for dominating tie-break ... In the second set, after 2-all Yuki won next four games breaking Ito in 6th and 8th games for a victory ... Next, he is facing Blaz Kavcic.

Jeevan and Rungkat started with expected tight win over Chinese pair ... Both sets won by Jeevan-Chris on identical tie-break score ... Next, they r facing Taipei-South African pair.

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At $50K+H Guadalajara Challenger, Mexico

[Q3] (5) Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,269) l (1) Alex De Minaur (AUS,233) 67(2) 75 46

RamK lost against talented Aussie teenager Alex De Minaur in very close match ... After losing the first set in tie-break, RamK fought back for winning the second but failed to keep momentum in the third.

Squash News

At $150K Women's Allam British Open 2017, Hull, England

[R1] Dipika Pallikal Karthik (IND,21) vs (5) Laura Massaro (ENG,5)
[R1] (12) Joshna Chinappa (IND,14) v Qualifier

Tough match for Dipika and Joshna will start with a qualifier.

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At $150K Men's Allam British Open 2017, Hull, England

[Q1] (1) Saurav Ghosal (IND,26) bt Joe Lee (ENG,43) 12-10, 11-9, 7-11, 11-5 (67m)

[Q2] (1) Saurav Ghosal (IND,26) l (9) Alan Clyne (SCO,32) 7-11, 4-11, 4-11 (42m)

Saurav is still finding his rhythm after his long break ... He lost in the final qualifying round against Scotsman Alan Clyne in straight games.

Tennis News

At $50K+H Quanzhou Challenger 2017, China

[R1] (PR) Yuki Bhambri (IND,307) vs Tatsuma Ito (JPN,171)

Doubles
[R1] (4) Christopher Rungkat (INA)/ Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND) vs (WC) Di Wu (CHN)/ Zhizhen Zhang (CHN)

Yuki is facing top-175 ranked Tatsuma Ito ... Good to see Yuki si skipping the doubles and Jeevan is back with Rangkat but they r having tricky match against Chinese wildcard pair.

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At $50K+H Guadalajara Challenger, Mexico

[Q1] (5) Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,269) bt Daniel Elahi Galan (COL,390) 75 62

[Q2] (5) Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,269) bt Juan Ignacia Londero (ARG,377) 63 61

[Q3] (5) Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,269) vs (1) Alex De Minaur (AUS,233)

RamK has started with comfortable back to back straight sets win over his South American opponents ... Next he is facing former junior WR #2 and last year's junior Wimbledon singles runner-up Alex De Minaur for the place in the main-draw.

Tennis News

At $75K+H Shenzhen Challenger 2017, China

[SF] (PR) Yuki Bhambri (IND,341) l (2) Yuichi Sugita (JPN,115) 64 46 36

Yuki lost in the semis against Sugita after winning the first set ... Yuki was tired due to yesterday's long match and Sugita kept ball in play so tiring further ... In the first set, Yuki broke Sugita in 2nd game but lost his serve in the next ... Yuki again broke Sugita in 6th game but this time also Sugita broke him in the next ... Yuki broke Sugita in 10th game for winning the set ... From second set Sugita was trying to play long rallies ... Both players were on the serve till 8th game, 4-all ... Sugita broke Yuki in 9th game and then hold for winning the set ... In the final set, Yuki was looking very tired and Sugita took full advantage of it ... Sugita broke him 5ht and 9th games for winning this match.

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At $15K India F5 Futures, Bangalore

[R1] (2) N. Sriram Balaji (IND) bt Ranjeet Virali-Murugesan (IND) 76(2) 75
[R2] (2) N. Sriram Balaji (IND) bt Siddharth Vishwakarma (IND) 62 75
[QF] (2) N. Sriram Balaji (IND) bt (7) Sidharth Rawat (IND) 63 63
[SF] (2) N. Sriram Balaji (IND) bt Karunuday Singh (IND) 46 63 75

Singles Final
(2) N. Sriram Balaji (IND) bt (1) Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND) 26 63 64

Doubles Final
(2) Chandril Sood (IND)/ Lakshit Sood (IND) bt (1) N. Sriram Balaji (IND)/ Vishnu Vardhan (IND) 26 64 10-6

Bala takes revenge of his last week's defeat against Prajnesh with comeback win in this futures ... Bala has been showing consistency in these futures series with 2 titles and 2 finals.

Sood brothers defeated in-form Bala and Vishnu in the final for lifting the title.

Tennis News

At $75K+H Shenzhen Challenger 2017, China

[QF] (PR) Yuki Bhambri (IND,341) bt (7) Maximillian Marterer (GER,152) 63 36 75

[SF] (PR) Yuki Bhambri (IND,341) vs (2) Yuichi Sugita (JPN,115)

Yuki needed to dig deep for beating German Maximillian Marterer in three sets ... In the first set, he broke Marterer in 4th game for leading 3-1 and kept that advantage for winning the set ... In the second set, Marterer took crucial break in 8th game for leading 3-5 and then hold to take the match into the decider ... In the final set Marterer was looking better player but Yuki managed to hold his service games ... In 11th game Yuki was down 0-40 on his serve, he saved all break points for holde his serve, 6-5 ... And then broke Marterer at crucial moment in 12th for winning this match ... Next he is facing top-120 Japanese opponent Yuichi Sugita.

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At $150K+H Irving Challenger, Texas, USA

[QF] Purav Raja (IND)/ Divij Sharan (IND) l Marcelo Demoliner (BRA)/ Marcus Daniell (NZL) 62 36 4-10

Purav and Divij lost in the quarters after winning the first set ... they failed to keep momentum in next two against Demoliner and Daniell.

Squash News

At $25K Men's Wimbledon Club Open 2017, London, England

[SF] (1) Saurav Ghosal (IND,26) l (4) Alan Clyne (SCO,32) 3-11, 10-12, 9-11 (60m)

Disappointing loss for Saurav against Scotsman Alan Clyne in straight games.

Squash News

At $25K Men's Wimbledon Club Open 2017, London, England

[QF] (1) Saurav Ghosal (IND,26) bt Joe Lee (ENG,43) 12-10, 11-5, 11-5 (47m)
[QF] (Q) Mahesh Mangaonkar (IND,70) l (3) Tom Richards (ENG,35) 9-11, 10-12, 7-11 (48m)
[QF] (Q) Vikram Malhotra (IND,69) l (2) Nafiizwan Adnan (MAS,30) 10-12, 7-11, 11-8, 8-11 (52m)

[SF] (1) Saurav Ghosal (IND,26) vs (4) Alan Clyne (SCO,32)

Saurav continued with his good performance as with another straight games victory he is in the semis and facing Scotsman Alan Clyne ... Tom defeated Mahesh in tight three games ... Vikram also gave valiant efforts against top-30 Malaysian Adnan.

Tennis News

At $75K+H Shenzhen Challenger 2017, China

[R2] (PR) Yuki Bhambri (IND,341) bt Nikola Milojevic (SRB,194) 63 61

[QF] (PR) Yuki Bhambri (IND,341) vs (7) Maximillian Marterer (GER,152)

Yuki scored dominating win inside an hour over Mijolevic ... He is also a former junior #1 like Yuki but Yuki stremrolled over him ... He broke Mijolevic twice for winning the first set ... In the second set, Yuki was playing with him and took 5-0 lead before winning the match ... Next he is facing German top-150 Maximillian Marterer.

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At $150K+H Irving Challenger, Texas, USA

[R1] (WC) Dustin Brown (GER)/ Leander Paes (IND) l (1) Oliver Marach (AUT)/ Fabrice Martin (FRA) 16 63 4-10
[R1] Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Yen-Hsun Lu (TPE) l (WC) Philipp Petzschner (GER)/ Alexander Peya (AUT) 46 46

The first round losses for ROhan and Lee with their respective partners in contrasting style.

Squash News

At $25K Men's Wimbledon Club Open 2017, London, England

[R1] (1) Saurav Ghosal (IND,26) bt Olli Tuominen (FIN,61) 11-4, 11-9, 11-8 (32m)
[R1] (Q) Mahesh Mangaonkar (IND,70) bt (8) Ivan Yuen (MAS,40) 11-6, 12-10, 10-12, 10-12, 11-7 (107m)
[R1] (Q) Vikram Malhotra (IND,69) bt (7) Mohamed Reda (EGY,41) 11-8, 11-4, 11-2

[QF] (1) Saurav Ghosal (IND,26) vs Joe Lee (ENG,43)
[QF] (Q) Mahesh Mangaonkar (IND,70) vs (3) Tom Richards (ENG,35)
[QF] (Q) Vikram Malhotra (IND,69) vs (2) Nafiizwan Adnan (MAS,30)

Mahesh and Vikram scored contrasting upset wins over seeded player ... Vikram scored straight games win over Mohamed Reda ... Mahesh won his match in really long battle against Malaysian Ivan Yuen ... After winning first 2 games Mahesh struggled to close this match ... He missed few match balls in the third and fourth games but he recovered well for winning the fifth after 107 minutes ... Saurav also started with straight games win over his Finnish opponent.

Tennis News

At $7.7M BNP Paribas Open 2017, Indian Wells, California, USA

[QF] (4) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Barbora Strycova (CZE) l (6) Yung-Jan Chan (TPE)/ Martina Hingis (SUI) 46 46

Sania and Barbora lost in straight sets against Hingis and Chan ... So next is Miami Masters.

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At $75K+H Shenzhen Challenger 2017, China

[R1] (PR) Yuki Bhambri (IND,341) bt Stefano Napolitano (ITA,175) 75 62

[R2] (PR) Yuki Bhambri (IND,341) vs Nikola Milojevic (SRB,194)

Yuki scored really god straight sets win over consistent challenger level player Napolitano ... In the first set, Yuki broke Napolitano in the 7th game but he failed to hold his serve in next game ... He saved 2 set points in 10th game while serving and then took crucial break in 11th game for winning this set ... In the second set Yuki took early break and extended that advantage for double break for winning this set and match comfortably .. Next, he is facing Serbian Nikola Milojevic, who scored an upset win over 3rd seed Baena.

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At $150K+H Irving Challenger, Texas, USA

[Q3] Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,277) l (6) Andrey Rublev (RUS,134) 63 36 26

Doubles
[R1] Purav Raja (IND)/ Divij Sharan (IND) bt (2) Brian Baker (USA)/ Nicholas Monroe (USA) 36 76(3) 10-5

RamK lost in three sets against Andrey Rublev after winning the first set ... As per report, RamK has very one dimension game as he is not mixing well ... Need a some good work under decent coach for improving this and also need to work on transitioning from defense to attack but this thing lack in our most of the players ... In this match RamK failed to attack and keep pressure on Rublev after winning the first set.

Superb hard fought comeback win for Divij and Purav against 2nd seed American pair Baker-Monroe ... After losing the first set they needed to dig deep for winning next in tie-break and then dominating the match tie-break.