Badminton News
At $50K Yonex Dutch Open 2008,

[R1] Rupesh Kumar (IND)/ Sanave Thomas (IND) bt Watson Briggs (SCO)/ Marcus Ellis (ENG) 21-5 21-19

[R2] Aditi Mutatkar (IND,45) bt Rachel Van Cutsen (NED,57) 21-18 21-10

[R3] (16) Anand Pawar (IND,68) l (3) Andre K. Tedjono (INA,27) 19-21 22-20 17-21
[R3] (14) Kashyap Parupalli (IND,58) bt (7) Yu Hsin Hsieh (TPE,35) 21-17 15-21 21-15
[R3] (6) Chetan Anand (IND,22) bt Dyonisius H. Rumbaka (INA,119) 21-16 19-21 21-19

[R2] Jwala Gutta (IND)/ Diju V. (IND) bt (4) Nathalie Descamps (GER)/ Wouter Claes (GER) 21-19 21-23 21-15

[R2] (3) Jwala Gutta (IND)/ Shruti Kurian (IND) bt Rachel Van Cutsen (NED)/ Paulien Van Dooremalen (NED) 21-17 21-19

[R2] Rupesh Kumar (IND)/ Sanave Thomas (IND) bt (2) Wouter Claes (GER)/ Frederic Mawet (GER) 21-12 21-11

Aditi reached another four star events quarter-finals and now she is on verge of entering into top-40 ... Diju and Jwala's golden run contuinued, they r already near top-50 MXD pair.

Anand Pawar produced fighting performance against top-30 Indonesian Tedjono in ah hour long match.

Impressive win by Kashyap over top-35 Taiwani player in 3 games ... Chetan surprisingly stretched by Indonesian player.

Rupesh Kumar and Sanave scored upset win against 2nd rank German pair ... And as expected Jwala-Shruti moved into quarters.

Tennis News
At € 2.27M Madrid ATP Masters, Spain

[R2] (3) DLOUHY Lukas (CZE)/ PAES Leander (IND) l (WC) ANDUJAR Pablo (ESP)/ GRANOLLERS Marcel (ESP) 16 63 (7)10

[R2] (4) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Mark Knowles (BAH) bt Carlos Moya (ESP)/ Rafael Nadal (ESP) W/O (slight pain in Nadal's lower back)

Due to Nadal's minor injury Hesh and Mark received walkover to quarters.

Surprising loss against Spanish wild-card players ... In this amtch Lee and Lukas were struggled to hold their serves.

Performing better in Masters tournaments will help them to secure ticket to Beijing in year end tournament.
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At $50K Calabasas Challenger, USA

[R2] Prakash Amritraj (IND,227) bt Ivan Miranda (PER,222) 64 63

[QF] Prakash Amritraj (IND,227) vs (1) Vincent Spadea (USA,89)

Doubles -
[R1] (1) John Isner (USA)/ Rajeev Ram (USA) l Brian Battistone (USA)/ Dann Battistone (USA) 46 46
[R1] Harsh Mankad (IND)/ Ashutosh Singh (IND) bt (WC) Scott Oudsema (USA)/ Ryan Sweeting (USA) 75 63
[R1] (4) Stephen Amritraj (IND)/ Daniel King-Turner (NZL) l (WC) Lester Cook (USA)/ Shane La Porte (USA) 06 36
[R1] (Q) Somdev Devvarman (IND)/ Nathan Healeay (AUS) bt (3) Izak Van Der Merwe (RSA)/ Todd Widom (USA) 67(1) 63 10(6)

[QF] Prakash Amritraj (IND)/ Alex Kuznetsov (USA) vs (Q) Somdev Devvarman (IND)/ Nathan Healeay (AUS)
[QF] Harsh Mankad (IND)/ Ashutosh Singh (IND) vs (WC) Lester Cook (USA)/ Shane La Porte (USA)

Prakash continued with his good performance in singles, now he is having good chance against aging top-seed & #89 Spadea.

Qualifier Somi and Healeay upset 3rd seed pair and now they will face Kash and his partner in quarters ... Harsh and Ashutosh also moved to quarters with win over wild-card pair, they will face another wild-card pair who upset Stephen and his partner in the first round.
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At $125K Tashkent Challenger, Uzbekistan

[R2] (Q) Rohan Bopanna (IND,347) l (1) Yen-Hsun Lu (TPE,69) 63 57 06

Doubles -
[QF] Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) l (1) Lukasz Kubot (POL)/ Oliver Marach (AUT) 67(4) 36

After winning first set that was surprising melt-down by Rohan from 5-5 second set ... But still creditable performance against top-70 player ... In doubles also Rohan challenge got over against top-seeds.

Now move to next week's the St. Petersburg Open.
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At $25K Nigerian Womens Tournament, Lagos

[R2] (3) Isha LAKHANI (IND,328) l Vivienne VIERIN (ITA,622) 36 61 36
[R2] Ankita BHAMBRI (IND,509) bt (6) Julia GLUSHKO (ISR,387) 75 61
[R2] Rushmi CHAKRAVARTHI (IND,531) bt (Q) Valeria SAVINYKH (RUS,778) 64 36 61

[QF] Rushmi CHAKRAVARTHI (IND,531) vs Palma KIRALY (HUN,501)
[QF] Ankita BHAMBRI (IND,509) vs Vivienne VIERIN (ITA,622)

Doubles -
[QF] (4) Rushmi CHAKRAVARTHI (IND)/ Isha LAKHANI (IND) bt Valeria SAVINYKH (RUS)/ Vivienne VIERIN (ITA) 62 62
[QF] (3) Sanaa BHAMBRI (IND)/ Ankita BHAMBRI (IND) bt Bojana JOVANOVSKI (SRB)/ Zuzana KUCOVA (SVK) 64 64

[SF] (4) Rushmi CHAKRAVARTHI (IND)/ Isha LAKHANI (IND) vs (2) Tamaryn HENDLER (BEL)/ Lisa SABINO (ITA)
[SF] (3) Sanaa BHAMBRI (IND)/ Ankita BHAMBRI (IND) vs Surina DE BEER (RSA)/ Agnes SZATMARI (ROU)

17 yrs old Italian Vivienne upset Isha ... But Rushmi won her match against qualifier.

Ankita scored upset win against 6th seed & top-400 Israeli ... Nice to see her dominance in second set ... In doubles also our both pairs moved in to semis.
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At $15K+H Nigerian F3, Lagos

[R2] Vignesh PERANAMALLUR-CHANDRASEKHAR (IND,1065) l (1) Pavel CHEKHOV (RUS,287) 67(5) 46
[R2] Ranjeet VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND,895) l (WC) Jonathan IGBINOVIA (NGR,UNR) 36 16
[R2] Divij SHARAN (IND,806) l (2) Boy WESTERHOF (NED,303) 67(5) 67(12)

Doubles -
[QF] (3) Rohan GAJJAR (IND)/ Divij SHARAN (IND) bt Daouda NDIAYE (SEN)/ Ranjeet VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND) 61 63

[SF] (3) Rohan GAJJAR (IND)/ Divij SHARAN (IND) vs Komlavi LOGLO (TOG)/ Valentin SANON (CIV)

Our challenge got over in singles but Divij and Vignesh produced very fighting performances against top 2 seeds.
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At $10K Pakistan F1, Islamabad 

[R2] (2) SIPAEYA Sunil-Kumar (IND,503) l SIKORA Adrian (SVK,1019) 36 36
[R2] (LL) GIDE Rohan (IND,1340) l (5) LEE Hsin-Han (TPE,653) 36 26

Doubles -
[R1] MOHAZEBNIA Mohammed (IRI)/ NELORD Yannick (IND) l KHAN Jalil (PAK)/ KHAN Shahzad (PAK) 36 64 (9)11

Very disappointing stuff from Sunil, these days he is losing his match to any hanky-panky player.

Chess News
At World Chess Championship, Bonn, Germany October 14 to 30, 2008

Viswanathan Anand (IND) vs Vladimir Kramnik (RUS) 1-1

Game 2 -
Viswanathan Anand (IND) - Vladimir Kramnik (RUS) ½-½

Anand surprised Kramnik starting with opening move d4 considering his usual opening move is e4 ... Kramnik replied with Nimzo Indian ... This game was more exciting than previous one but in end Anand got into time trouble and feeling that he lost his track, decided to split the point with Russian ... So now 3rd game will be played after Thrusday rest.

Badminton News
At $50K Yonex Dutch Open 2008,

[R1] (14) Kashyap Parupalli (IND,58) bt Robert Mann (LUX,595) 21-9 21-8
[R1] Ajay Jayaram (IND,99) bt Hans Van Os (NED,UNR) 18-21 21-9 21-8
[R1] (16) Anand Pawar (IND,68) bt (Q) Dave Veerman (NED,UNR) 21-7 21-1
[R1] (10) Arvind Bhat (IND,36) bt Sebastian Rduch (GER,291) 21-11 21-14
[R1] Sourabh Verma (IND,UNR) l Petr Koukal (CZE) 19-21 12-21
[R1] Abhimanyu Singh (IND,UNR) l Kestutis Navickas (LTU,45) 13-21 17-21
[R1] (6) Chetan Anand (IND,22) bt Erik Meijs (NED,UNR) 21-5 21-7

[R1] Shruti Kurian (IND,191) l Camilla Sorensen (DEN,66) 19-21 16-21
[R1] Aditi Mutatkar (IND,45) bt Diana Dimova (BUL,187) 21-13 21-19

[R1] (3) Jwala Gutta (IND)/ Shruti Kurian (IND) Bye

[R1] Jwala Gutta (IND)/ Diju V. (IND) bt Monique Van Der Wouden (NED)/ Tim Vaessen (NED) 21-13 21-7

[R2] (14) Kashyap Parupalli (IND,58) bt Endra Kurniawan (INA,226) 21-17 21-17
[R2] Ajay Jayaram (IND,99) l (3) Andre K. Tedjono (INA,27) 16-21 21-18 9-21
[R2] (16) Anand Pawar (IND,68) bt Saber Afif (NED,203) 19-21 21-12 21-15
[R2] (10) Arvind Bhat (IND,36) l Carl Baxter (ENG,64) 22-20 11-21 16-21
[R2] (6) Chetan Anand (IND,22) bt Daniel Benz (GER,386) 21-12 21-13

So big Indian contingent participating in Dutch Open ... So with recent good performances by our players it's interesting to follow them.

So only Arvind Bhat's upset loss against British Carl Baxter ... Otherwise expected results.

Tennis News
At $50K Calabasas Challenger, USA

[R1] Somdev Devvarman (IND,242) l Alex Bogomolov Jr. (USA,218) 64 46 36
[R1] Rajeev Ram (USA,183) l (Q) Izak Van Der Merwe (RSA,263) 63 46 26

Doubles -
[R1] Prakash Amritraj (IND)/ Alex Kuznetsov (USA) bt Colin Ebelthite (AUS)/ Peter Polansky (CAN) 62 46 11(9)

So another loss for Somi after winning first set ... After Romanian Davis Cup tour it looks Somi having dented confidence on his own game ... So in my opinion it would be great if he takes few weeks off to go back to drawing board, recharging batteries and chat with his college coaches about his game.

Kash started well in doubles with tight super tie-break victory.
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At $25K Nigerian Womens Tournament, Lagos

[R1] Rushmi CHAKRAVARTHI (IND,531) bt (Q) Nevena SELAKOVIC (SRB,996) 61 63
[R1] Ankita BHAMBRI (IND,509) bt (Q) Alexandra RILEY (USA,928) 60 61

[R2] (3) Isha LAKHANI (IND,328) vs VIERIN Vivienne (ITA,622)
[R2] Ankita BHAMBRI (IND,509) vs (6) GLUSHKO Julia (ISR,387)
[R2] Rushmi CHAKRAVARTHI (IND,531) vs (Q) Valeria SAVINYKH (RUS,778)

Doubles -
[R1] Lisa MARSHALL (RSA)/ Prerana-Mythri APPINENI (IND) l Chen ASTROGO (ISR)/ Keren SHLOMO (ISR) 46 26
[R1] (3) Sanaa BHAMBRI (IND)/ Ankita BHAMBRI (IND) bt (WC) Elena CHALOVA (RUS)/ Parija MALOO (IND) 63 61

[QF] (3) Sanaa BHAMBRI (IND)/ Ankita BHAMBRI (IND) vs Bojana JOVANOVSKI (SRB)/ Zuzana KUCOVA (SVK)

Good win by Ankita and Rushmi.
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At $15K+H Nigerian F3, Lagos

[R1] Ranjeet VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND,895) bt (7) Valentin SANON (CIV,553) 64 63
[R1] Rohan GAJJAR (IND,809) l (5) Ilya BELYAEV (RUS,477) 26 26
[R1] Divij SHARAN (IND,806) bt Mario TUPY (AUT,904) 63 64

[R2] Vignesh PERANAMALLUR-CHANDRASEKHAR (IND,1065) vs (1) CHEKHOV Pavel (RUS,287)  
[R2] Ranjeet VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND,895) vs (WC) IGBINOVIA Jonathan (NGR,UNR)
[R2] Divij SHARAN (IND,806) vs (2) WESTERHOF Boy (NED,303)

Doubles -
[R1] Rahil MAKHARIA (IND)/ Vignesh PERANAMALLUR-CHANDRASEKHAR (IND) l (4) Kamil CAPKOVIC (SVK)/ Alexander SOMOGYI (SVK) 06 62 (1)10

Good upset win by Ranjeet over Russian Belyaev.
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At $10K Pakistan F1, Islamabad

[Q1] (1) GIDE Rohan (IND,1340) Bye
[Q1] (5) NELORD Yannick (IND,1760) Bye
[Q1] MOHAMMED Fariz (IND,UNR) bt YADAV Mandeep (IND,UNR) 75 61
[Q1] REDDY B Vikram (IND,UNR) bt RAZA Syed Zohair (PAK,UNR) 60 60
[Q1] BAINS Deepinder (IND,UNR) bt JAMSHED Usamah (PAK,UNR) 60 60
[Q1] MISHRA Pulkit (IND,UNR) bt CRAMER Rutger (NED) 26 63 61
[Q1] CHAUHAN Vikas (IND,UNR) l KIM Sang-Gyun (KOR,UNR) 36 57

[Q2] (1) GIDE Rohan (IND,1340) l JELLALI Issam (TUN,UNR) 62 16 06
[Q2] MOHAMMED Fariz (IND,UNR) bt (2) KHAN Yasir (PAK,1437) 16 76(2) 76(5)
[Q2] REDDY B Vikram (IND,UNR) l (3) SIRIBUTWONG Peerakit (THA,1517) 16 36
[Q2] (5) NELORD Yannick (IND,1760) bt BAINS Deepinder (IND,UNR) 62 76(6)
[Q2] MISHRA Pulkit (IND,UNR) bt EJAZ Usman (PAK,UNR) 46 63 62

[R1] (LL) GIDE Rohan (IND,1340) bt (Q) KHAN Shahzad (PAK,1658) 63 64
[R1] (2) SIPAEYA Sunil-Kumar (IND,503) bt (WC) ASHIQ Tanveer (PAK,1760) 61 61
[R1] ROY Rupesh (IND,977) l TAUBERT Patrick (GER,955) 46 46
[R1] (Q) NELORD Yannick (IND,1760) l (Q) KIM Sang-Gyun (KOR,UNR) 75 57 46
[R1] (Q) MISHRA Pulkit (IND,UNR) l FITZPATRICK Andrew (GBR,1271) 26 26
[R1] (Q) MOHAMMED Fariz (IND,UNR) l BAINS Maniel (GBR,1206) 16 26

[R2] (2) SIPAEYA Sunil-Kumar (IND,503) vs SIKORA Adrian (SVK,1019)
[R2] (LL) GIDE Rohan (IND,1340) vs (5) LEE Hsin-Han (TPE,653)

Doubles -
[R1] MOHAZEBNIA Mohammed (IRI)/ NELORD Yannick (IND) vs KHAN Jalil (PAK)/ KHAN Shahzad (PAK)
[R1] GIDE Rohan (IND)/ ROY Rupesh (IND) bt KIM Sang-Gyun (KOR)/ LIM Hyun-Soo (KOR) 60 64
[R1] (WC) MOHAMMED Fariz (IND)/ REDDY B Vikram (IND) l SIKORA Adrian (SVK)/ TAUBERT Patrick (GER) 36 46
[R1] (4) KHAN Aqeel (PAK)/ SIPAEYA Sunil-Kumar (IND) l CHEN I-Ta (TPE)/ LEE Hsin-Han (TPE) 16 36

[QF] GIDE Rohan (IND)/ ROY Rupesh (IND) vs (3) ALEKSEENKO Gleb (UKR)/ ALEKSEENKO Vadim (UKR)

Lots of Indians r playing in 3 weeks of back to back $10K futures in Pakistan ... Sunil is back on court after break.

Chess News 
At World Chess Championship, Bonn, Germany October 14 to 30, 2008

The twelve games championship between current World Champion India's Viswanathan Anand and his challenger from Russia's Vladimir Kramnik began, which is played under classical time controls.

Game 1 -
Vladimir Kramnik (RUS) - Viswanathan Anand (IND) ½-½

Anand managed to draw playing with Slav Defence in 32 moves ... So expected start for this Championship match as Kramnik played cautiously in this game and didn't pose any real problems to Anand.

Tennis News
At $125K Tashkent Challenger, Uzbekistan

[Q3] (1) Rohan Bopanna (IND,347) bt Michael Kohlmann (GER,UNR) 63 67(3) 63

[R1] (Q) Rohan Bopanna (IND,347) bt Ilia Marchenko (UKR,209) 76(6) 64

[R2] (Q) Rohan Bopanna (IND,347) vs (1) Yen-Hsun Lu (TPE,69)

Doubles -
[R1] Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) bt Alexey Kedriouk (KAZ)/ Yuri Schukin (KAZ) 61 26 10(8)

[QF] Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) vs (1) KUBOT, Lukasz Kubot (POL)/ Oliver Marach (AUT)

Good fighting win by Rohan against former top-100 tricky German player ... Now he need to go deep in this Challenger to move back inside top-300.

In maindraw also Bops scored excellent upset win ... This win will helped him to move inside top-325 but he need big upset win in second round to move back inside top-300 ... Go Bops.

In doubles also Rohan and Purav had winning start ... Nice to see our pair winning such closely fought match.

In singles and doubles Rohan is playing against top-seeds in next round, so tough matches for him.

In interesting development, 7 time Grand Slam winner Max Mirnyi of Belarus agreed to pair up with Rohan in next week's St. Petersburg Open ... It is showing good sign that top doubles players r noticing him.

Rohan Bopanna - “I called up Max after he broke up with Jim Murray and he immediately agreed to play with me. I’m looking forward to playing with Max, it will be a great experience for me to play with someone like him.”
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At $50K Calabasas Challenger, USA

[R1] Prakash Amritraj (IND,227) bt Robert Smeets (AUS,172) 64 63

[R2] Prakash Amritraj (IND,227) vs Ivan Miranda (PER,222)

[Q1] Somdev Devvarman (IND)/ Nathan Healeay (AUS) bt (1) Erik Chvojka (CAN)/ Rylan Rizza (USA) 64 63
[Q2] Somdev Devvarman (IND)/ Nathan Healeay (AUS) bt (2) Luigi D'Agord (ITA)/ Nima Roshan (USA) 46 64 10(7)

[R1] (Q) Somdev Devvarman (IND)/ Nathan Healeay (AUS) vs (3) Izak Van Der Merwe (RSA)/ Todd Widom (USA)

Excellent start for Kash beating Australian ... Hopefully he will handle this tricky Peruvian in next round, who has won 2 Challengers this year and reached the final of Humacao Challenger.

Good wins by Somi and Healey to qualify for doubles maindraw.
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At $50K Toronto Challenger, Canada

[R1] (6) Sunitha Rao (IND,212) l Aniko Kapros (HUN,318) 16 26

Doubles -
[R1] (4) Alina Jidkova (RUS)/ Sunitha Rao (IND) l Nikola Frankova (CZE)/ Carmen Klaschka (GER) 26 36

Another disappointing results for Sunitha ... Very early end in singles and doubles ... Though Aniko Kapros was former top-50 player and recently playing good tennis, still Sunitha need to start winning matches as her ranking is already dropping ... She is now outside top-200 in singles and near top-175 in doubles.
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At $25K Nigerian Womens Tournament, Lagos

[R1] Rushmi CHAKRAVARTHI (IND,531) vs (Q) Nevena SELAKOVIC (SRB,996)
[R1] Ankita BHAMBRI (IND,509) vs (Q) Alexandra RILEY (USA,928)
[R1] (3) Isha LAKHANI (IND,328) bt Chen ASTROGO (ISR,587) 63 76(5)
[R1] Sanaa BHAMBRI (IND,498) l (5) Lisa SABINO (ITA,339) 26 76(5) 57
[R1] Prerana-Mythri APPINENI (IND,687) l Keren SHLOMO (ISR,567) 46 16

Doubles -
[R1] Lisa MARSHALL (RSA)/ Prerana-Mythri APPINENI (IND) vs Chen ASTROGO (ISR)/ Keren SHLOMO (ISR)
[R1] (3) Sanaa BHAMBRI (IND)/ Ankita BHAMBRI (IND) vs (WC) Elena CHALOVA (RUS)/ Parija MALOO (IND)
[R1] (4) Rushmi CHAKRAVARTHI (IND)/ Isha LAKHANI (IND) bt Eden D'OLIVEIRA (RSA)/ Nevena SELAKOVIC (SRB) 62 61

[QF] (4) Rushmi CHAKRAVARTHI (IND)/ Isha LAKHANI (IND) vs Valeria SAVINYKH (RUS)/ Vivienne VIERIN (ITA)

Good start for Isha in singles and doubles with Rushmi ... But very impressive fighting performance by Sanaa against top-350 Italian player.
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At $15K+H Nigerian F3, Lagos

[R1] Vignesh PERANAMALLUR-CHANDRASEKHAR (IND,1065) bt Henry ATSEYE (NGR,UNR) 62 62
[R1] Ranjeet VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND,895) vs (7) Valentin SANON (CIV,553)
[R1] Rohan GAJJAR (IND,809) vs (5) Ilya BELYAEV (RUS,477)
[R1] Divij SHARAN (IND,806) vs Mario TUPY (AUT,904)

Doubles -
[R1] Rahil MAKHARIA (IND)/ Vignesh PERANAMALLUR-CHANDRASEKHAR (IND) vs (4) Kamil CAPKOVIC (SVK)/ Alexander SOMOGYI (SVK)
[R1] Daouda NDIAYE (SEN)/ Ranjeet VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND) bt Gilad BERMAN (ISR)/ Noam YITZHAKI (ISR) 76(2) 64
[R1] (3) Rohan GAJJAR (IND)/ Divij SHARAN (IND) bt Gilad BEN ZVI (ISR)/ Tomer HODOROV (ISR) 61 64

[QF] (3) Rohan GAJJAR (IND)/ Divij SHARAN (IND) vs Daouda NDIAYE (SEN)/ Ranjeet VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND)

Winning start for Indian players in singles and doubles.

Badminton News
At $50K Bulgarian Grand Prix 2008

[F] (3) Jwala Gutta (IND)/ Shruti Kurian (IND) bt (2) Shendy Puspa Irawati (INA)/ Meiliana Jauhari (INA) 21-11 21-19

[F] Jwala Gutta (IND)/ Diju V. (IND) bt (5) Shendy Puspa Irawati (INA)/ Fran Kurniawan (INA) 15-21 21-18 21-19

Jwala had double crown in this 4 star event ... She won womens doubles title with Shruti in 28 mins defeating 2nd seend Indonasian pair ... In MXD she defeated another seeded Indonasian pair with Diju in another comeback victory in 40 mins ... This was their 4th consecutive win over seeded pair ... Congrats to them for back to back titles.
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Football News
At I-League 2008/09 - 12th October

Chirag United SC dw Churchill Brothers SC 0-0
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Air-India bt East Bengal 2-0

Goal Scored - Surojit Roy (AI) 48', Michael Segum Tayo (AI) 79'
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Dempo SC bt Vasco SC 2-1

Goal Scored - Roberto Mendes Silva (DSC), Ranty Martins Soleye (DSC) and Ravshan Teshabaev (VSC)

This win against Kolkata giant helped Air-India to move to 4th position after 3rd round.

Tennis News
At € 2.27M Madrid ATP Masters, Spain

[R1] (3) DLOUHY Lukas (CZE)/ PAES Leander (IND) Bye
[R1] (4) BHUPATHI Mahesh (IND)/ KNOWLES Mark (BAH) Bye
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At $50K Sacramento Challenger, Northern California, USA

[SF] Prakash Amritraj (IND)/ Frank Dancevic (CAN) l (WC) Brian Battistone (USA)/ Dann Battistone (USA) 63 36 (6)10

[F] (1) John Isner (USA)/ Rajeev Ram (USA) l (WC) Brian Battistone (USA)/ Dann Battistone (USA) 61 36 (4)10

Kash's doubles challenge ended in semis and unorthodox pair of Battistone brothers grabbed doubles title beating top-seeds.
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At $125K Tashkent Challenger, Uzbekistan

[Q1] (1) Rohan Bopanna (IND,348) Bye
[Q1] Purav Raja (IND,900) bt (WC) Djanibe Orazoliev (UZB,UNR) 63 64

[Q2] (1) Rohan Bopanna (IND,348) bt Sardor Pulatov (UZB,UNR) 64 62
[Q2] Purav Raja (IND,900) l (6) Nathan Thompson (USA,484) 46 67(2)

[Q3] (1) Rohan Bopanna (IND,348) vs Michael Kohlmann (GER,UNR)

Doubles -
[R1] Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) vs Alexey Kedriouk (KAZ)/ Yuri Schukin (KAZ)

Rohan having good chance to qualify for maindraw and in doubles he is participating with Purav Raja.
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At $50K Calabasas Challenger, USA

[Q1] Ashutosh Singh (IND,662) l (3) Ivo Klec (SVK,362) 16 63 46

[R1] Prakash Amritraj (IND,228) vs Robert Smeets (AUS,170)
[R1] Somdev Devvarman (IND,240) vs Alex Bogomolov Jr. (USA,234)
[R1] Rajeev Ram (USA,182) vs Qualifier

Doubles -
[R1] (1) John Isner (USA)/ Rajeev Ram (USA) vs Brian Battistone (USA)/ Dann Battistone (USA)
[R1] Prakash Amritraj (IND)/ Alex Kuznetsov (USA) vs Colin Ebelthite (AUS)/ Peter Polansky (CAN)
[R1] Harsh Mankad (IND)/ Ashutosh Singh (IND) vs (WC) Scott Oudsema (USA)/ Ryan Sweeting (USA)
[R1] (4) Stephen Amritraj (IND)/ Daniel King-Turner (NZL) vs (WC) Lester Cook (USA)/ Shane La Porte (USA)

So last week's doubles finalists facing eachother in doubles first round ... Harsh/ Ashutosh and Stephen r in same draw like last week and they can face eachother in quarters.

Badminton News
At $50K Bulgarian Grand Prix 2008

[SF] (5) Aditi Mutatkar (IND,45) l (2) Petya Nedelcheva (BUL,19) 21-12 19-21 10-21

[SF] (8) Rupesh Kumar (IND)/ Sanave Thomas (IND) l (2) Fran Kurniawan (INA)/ Wijaya Rendra (INA) 17-21 20-22
[SF] (3) Jwala Gutta (IND)/ Shruti Kurian (IND) bt (1) Valeri Sorokina (RUS)/ Nina Vislova (RUS) 15-21 22-20 21-15
[SF] Jwala Gutta (IND)/ Diju V. (IND) bt (6) Meiliana Jauhari (INA)/ Wijaya Rendra (INA) 21-14 17-21 21-17

[F] (3) Jwala Gutta (IND)/ Shruti Kurian (IND) vs (2) Shendy Puspa Irawati (INA)/ Meiliana Jauhari (INA)
[F] Jwala Gutta (IND)/ Diju V. (IND) vs (5) Shendy Puspa Irawati (INA)/ Fran Kurniawan (INA)

Aditi had opportunity of scoring another top-20 upset win after winning first game easily .. But she couldn't maintained momentum from second game ... Still creditable performance from her.

Jwala Gutta and Shruti Kurian scored superb comeback win against top-seed Russian pair ... Heartening to see good performance from them after disappointing last week's performance.

Jwala and Diju's remarkable run continued ... Today they scored another upset win over seeded Indonesian pair to reach another final.
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Tennis News
At € 674K Vienna ATP Open, Austria

[SF] (2) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Mark Knowles (BAH) l (4) Max Miryni (BLR)/ Andy Ram (ISR) 62 36 (8)10

Hesh and Mark started well breaking opponent's serve twice to win the first set ... In second set our pair managed to break Miryni and Ram's serve once but lost their service twice to lose second set.

In super tie-break Hesh and Mark were up with mini-break ... Leading 2-0 but then Miryni and Ram take initiative to break back and lead with mini-break at 3-2 ... Then they hold serve to lead 5-2, Hesh and Mark managed to hold serve to reduce it at 5-4 ... Miryni and Ram hold to kept lead at 7-4 ... Miryni and Ram managed another couple of mini-breaks to lead 9-4 ... Hesh and Mark won couple of points on opponent's serve to make it 9-6 ... And then hold their couple of service to make it 9-8 ... But Miryni and Ram converted 5th match-point to seal this match.

Football News
At I-League 2008/09 - 11th October

JCT bt Mohammedan Sporting SC 2-0

Goal Scored - Baljit Sahni (JCT) 45', Eduardo Da Silva (JCT) 68'
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Sporting clube de Goa bt Mohun Bagan 2-0

Goal Scored - Wilton Gomes (SCG) 26', Nathaniel Amos (SCG) 47'
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Mahindra United l Mumbai FC 0-1

Goal Scored - Kalia Kulothungan (MFC) 23'

So impressive performance from Sporting clube de Goa and Mumbai FC continued ... They won first 3 matches of second I-League but Sporting clube de Goa leading on goals difference.

Other hand power houses Mahindra United, who still need to open their point account after 3 games, and Mohun Bagan, who having only 1 pt after 3 games, r struggling at bottom of the table.

Badminton News
At $50K Bulgarian Grand Prix 2008

[QF] (7) Kashyap P. (IND,58) l (4) Yu Hsin Hsieh (TPE,35) 13-21 20-22

Kashyap lost against top-35 Taiwani player.
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Tennis News
At $50K Sacramento Challenger, Northern California, USA

[SF] (4) Stephen Amritraj (IND)/ Daniel King-Turner (NZL) l (1) John Isner (USA)/ Rajeev Ram (USA) 64 46 (4)10

Rajeev and Isner scored super tie-break win over Stephen and his partner.

Badminton News
At $50K Bulgarian Grand Prix 2008

[R3] (12) Ajay Jayaram (IND,101) l (1) Joachim Persson (DEN,11) 14-21 14-21
[R3] (7) Kashyap P. (IND,58) bt (Q) Abhimanyu Singh (IND,UNR) 21-16 21-9
[QF] (5) Aditi Mutatkar (IND,45) bt (4) Maria Elfira Christina (INA,42) 14-21 21-14 21-18

[QF] (3) Jwala Gutta (IND)/ Shruti Kurian (IND) bt Uchida Shizuka (JPN)/ Ayane Kurihara (JPN) 21-16 21-15
[QF] (8) Rupesh Kumar (IND)/ Sanave Thomas (IND) bt (3) Robert Adcock (ENG)/ Robin Middleton (ENG) 21-12 21-13
[QF] Jwala Gutta (IND)/ Diju V. (IND) bt (3) Suzanne Rayappan (ENG)/ David Lindley (ENG) 13-21 21-11 21-9

Aditi scored very exciting comeback victory over fellow Asian ... She is definetly moving towards top-25 ranking ... As expected Kashyap in mens quarters.

Rupesh and Sanave scored easy victory against 3rd seed British pair ... Jwala and Shruti also scored easy victory against Japanese pair ... But Jwala and Diju r played very quality game to score comeback victory over 3rd seed British pair in MXD quarters.

In newly declared BWF world ranking Chetan rose to #22 after his last week's 4 star tournament title win ... Arvind also become India's no.2 with final appearance with moving on #36, one place ahead of Anup.

Tennis News
At € 674K Vienna ATP Open, Austria

[QF] (2) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Mark Knowles (BAH) bt Martin Damm (CZE)/ Pavel Vizner (CZE) 76(1) 76(6)

In the first set both pair traded breaks one time but in tie break Hesh and Mark were too powerful for Czech pair ... In second set also Hesh and Mark were leading with early break but Czech pair fought back with back to back breaks ... But Hesh and Mark again broke opponent's serve to bring set back on the serve ... In tie-break both pair traded multiple mini-breaks, Hesh and Mark got 1st match-point on 6-5 but Czech pair saved that on their serve ... But with another mini-break Hesh and Mark got their 2nd match point and this time they converted to win this close match.
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At $50K Sacramento Challenger, Northern California, USA

[QF] (4) Stephen Amritraj (IND)/ Daniel King-Turner (NZL) bt Harsh Mankad (IND)/ Ashutosh Singh (USA) 26 63 10(6)
[QF] (1) John Isner (USA)/ Rajeev Ram (USA) bt (Q) Matthew Ebden (AUS)/ Brydan Klein (AUS) 63 61

[SF] Prakash Amritraj (IND)/ Frank Dancevic (CAN) vs (WC) Brian Battistone (USA)/ Dann Battistone (USA)
[SF] (4) Stephen Amritraj (IND)/ Daniel King-Turner (NZL) vs (1) John Isner (USA)/ Rajeev Ram (USA)

Harsh and Ashutosh lost match after winning the first set.
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Football News
At AFC U16 Championship, Uzbekistan

Group B
India bt Indonesia 1-0

Goal Scored - Manandeep (IND) 43'

So our U-16 boys managed consolation win against Indonesian to finished 3rd in group standing ... This tournament turned into very crucial learning experiance for our boys.

Badminton News
At $50K Bulgarian Grand Prix 2008

[R2] (12) Ajay Jayaram (IND,101) bt Misha Zilberman (ISR,204) 16-21 21-18 21-18
[R2] (Q) Abhimanyu Singh (IND,UNR) bt Sune Gavnholt (DEN,128) 21-18 13-21 21-18
[R2] (7) Kashyap P. (IND,61) bt Tomas Kopriva (CZE,398) 21-14 21-18

[R2] Shruti Kurian (IND,180) l Anastasia Prokopenko (RUS,92) 11-21 19-21
[R2] (5) Aditi Mutatkar (IND,51) bt Olga Golovanova (RUS,150) 21-18 21-6

[R2] (3) Jwala Gutta (IND)/ Shruti Kurian (IND) bt Elisa Chanteur (FRA)/ Laura Choinet (FRA) 21-11 21-11
[R2] (8) Rupesh Kumar (IND)/ Sanave Thomas (IND) bt Tichomir Kirov (BUL)/ Konstantin Kostadinov (BUL) W/O
[R2] Jwala Gutta (IND)/ Diju V. (IND) bt (8) Laura Choinet (FRA)/ Baptiste Careme (FRA) 21-13 18-21 21-12

[R3] (12) Ajay Jayaram (IND,101) vs (1) Joachim Persson (DEN,11)
[R3] (7) Kashyap P. (IND,62) vs (Q) Abhimanyu Singh (IND,UNR)

[QF] (5) Aditi Mutatkar (IND,46) vs (4) Maria Elfira Christina (INA,42)

[QF] (3) Jwala Gutta (IND)/ Shruti Kurian (IND) vs Uchida Shizuka (JPN)/ Ayane Kurihara (JPN)
[QF] (8) Rupesh Kumar (IND)/ Sanave Thomas (IND) vs (3) Robert Adcock (ENG)/ Robin Middleton (ENG)
[QF] Jwala Gutta (IND)/ Diju V. (IND) vs (3) Suzanne Rayappan (ENG)/ David Lindley (ENG)

Indians continued with their good performance ... Today only Shruti lost her match against top-100 player ... Qualifier Abhimanyu Singh produced another upset but in round 3 he is facing compatriot P. Kashyap ... Ajay having tough match against top-seed Joachim Persson ... Aditi also having tricky quarter-final match against similar rank Indonesian Maria Elfira Christina ... Our doubles pair r also performing well.

After reaching final in last week's 4 star event Aditi moved to #46 in latest ranking.

Tennis News
At € 674K Vienna ATP Open, Austria

[R1] (2) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Mark Knowles (BAH) bt (ALT) Ashley Fisher (AUS)/ Travis Parrott (USA) 61 62

[QF] (2) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Mark Knowles (BAH) vs Martin Damm (CZE)/ Pavel Vizner (CZE)

Hesh and Mark started with very dominating win ... They r facing veteran Czech pair in quarters.
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At $50K Sacramento Challenger, Northern California, USA

[R1] (1) John Isner (USA)/ Rajeev Ram (USA) bt Alberto Francis (USA)/ Izak Van Der Merwe (RSA) 75 62
[R1] Harsh Mankad (IND)/ Ashutosh Singh (USA) bt Benedikt Dorsch (GER)/ Todd Widom (USA) 63 60

[QF] Prakash Amritraj (IND)/ Frank Dancevic (CAN) bt Robert Kendrick (USA)/ Ryan Sweeting (USA) 67(4) 63 10(6)

[QF] (4) Stephen Amritraj (IND)/ Daniel King-Turner (NZL) vs Harsh Mankad (IND)/ Ashutosh Singh (USA)
[QF] (1) John Isner (USA)/ Rajeev Ram (USA) vs (Q) Matthew Ebden (AUS)/ Brydan Klein (AUS)

As per report, Somi is still recovering from flu-like illness ... Still his confidence looks dented after Romanian tour, may be I m wrong ... But now he need to build confidence with consistent wins/game at challenger level.

Good start for Harsh and Ashutosh ... They r favorite against 3rd seed Stephen and Daniel King-Turner ... Kash and Dancevic showing solid result in doubles ... They look formidable.
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At $50K the Pittsburgh Women's Challenger, PA, USA

[R1] Sunitha Rao (IND,193) l (Q) Asia Muhammed (USA,407) 36 36

Doubles -
[R1] Sunitha Rao (IND)/ Angela Haynes (USA) l Olga Puchkova (RUS) Ahsha Rolle (USA) 36 36

This was poor result ... Match against Asia Muhammed was winnable, I m truly disappointed with Sunitha's performance.
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At France F18 Futures, Saint Dizier

[QF] (3) KLIER David (GER)/ SINGH Navdeep (IND) l BOTTI Kevin (FRA)/ SICHEZ Romain (FRA) W/O (due to Navdeep injury)

Badminton News
At $50K Bulgarian Grand Prix 2008

[R1] (12) Ajay Jayaram (IND,101) bt Vasil Paskov (BUL,476) 21-8
[R1] (7) Kashyap P. (IND,61) bt (Q) Gordey Kosenko (RUS,563) 21-19 21-15
[R1] (Q)Abhimanyu Singh (IND,UNR) bt Krasimir Yankov (BUL,263) 21-19 21-16
[R1] (Q) Sourabh Verma (IND,UNR) l (4) Yu Hsin Hsieh (TPE,35) 14-21 15-21

[R1] Shruti Kurian (IND,180) bt (Q) Gabriela Stefanikova (SLO,UNR) 21-10 21-17
[R1] (5) Aditi Mutatkar (IND,51) bt Dimitria Popstoykova (BUL,250) 21-14 21-6

[R1] (8) Rupesh Kumar (IND)/ Sanave Thomas (IND) bt Andrey Ivanov (RUS)/ Sergey Shumilkin (RUS) 21-11 21-15
[R1] (3) Jwala Gutta (IND)/ Shruti Kurian (IND) bt Bistra Maneva (BUL)/ Victoria Zheleva (BUL) 21-10 21-7
[R1] Jwala Gutta (IND)/ Diju V. (IND) bt Alesia Zaitsava (BLR)/ Aleksei Konakh (BLR) 21-16 21-15

[R2] (12) Ajay Jayaram (IND,101) vs Misha Zilberman (ISR,204)
[R2] (Q)Abhimanyu Singh (IND,UNR) vs Sune Gavnholt (DEN,128)
[R2] (7) Kashyap P. (IND,61) vs Tomas Kopriva (CZE,398)

[R2] Shruti Kurian (IND,180) vs Anastasia Prokopenko (RUS,92)
[R2] (5) Aditi Mutatkar (IND,51) vs Olga Golovanova (RUS,150)

Change in the draw and Sourabh needed to play against 4th seed Yu Hsin Hsieh ... Tough luck ... Aditi also faced local player due to change in the draw ... So other than Sourabh had winning start in the Bulgarian Grand Prix.

Football News 
At AFC Cup 2008 - Semi-finals (First Leg)

Safa SC, Lebanon bt Dempo SC 1-0

Goal Scored - Hamze Aboud (Saf) 90'

So this last minute goal gives Safa a narrow advantage before second leg of semi-final on 21st October ... Yesterday Safa were better side on the field so deserving win for them.
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Tennis News 
At $50K Sacramento Challenger, Northern California, USA

[R1] Somdev Devvarman (IND,240) l (5) Ilia Bozoljac (SRB,119) 57 26
[R1] Prakash Amritraj (IND,228) l (2) Robert Kendrick (USA,101) 46 67(6)
[R1] Rajeev Ram (USA,182) l (4) Wayne Odesnik (USA,107) 16 46

Doubles -
[R1] Prakash Amritraj (IND)/ Frank Dancevic (CAN) bt (2) Ilia Bozoljac (SRB)/ Dusan Vemic (SRB) 63 62
[R1] (4) Stephen Amritraj (IND)/ Daniel King-Turner (NZL) bt Santiago Gonzalez (MEX)/ Ivan Miranda (PER) 63 16 12(10)

[QF] Prakash Amritraj (IND)/ Frank Dancevic (CAN) vs Robert Kendrick (USA)/ Ryan Sweeting (USA)

Bozoljac was tough cookie as in last few weeks he won couple of challengers but still somewhat disappointing performance from Somi ... Kash fought but ended on to losing side.

Kash and Dancevic started with easy victory on 2nd seed in double.
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At $10k Spain F38, Barcelona

[R1] (Q) GUNNESWARAN Prajnesh (IND,981) l (WC) SAMPER-MONTANA Jordi (ESP,1134) 67(5) 62 57

Hoping for win from Prajnesh but lost in very close match.
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At France F18 Futures, Saint Dizier

[R1] SINGH Navdeep (IND,924) l (2) DESEIN Niels (BEL,333) 0-5 Retd

Badminton News
At $50K Bulgarian Grand Prix 2008

[Q1] Abhimanyu Singh (IND,UNR) bt Ivan Trakov (BUL,UNR) 21-4 21-10
[Q1] Sourabh Verma (IND,UNR) bt Sarkis Agopyan (BUL,UNR) 21-17 21-11

[Q2] Sourabh Verma (IND,UNR) bt Theodor Zhekov (BUL,UNR) 21-6 21-7
[Q2] Abhimanyu Singh (IND,UNR) bt Ivan Rusev (BUL,UNR) 21-13 21-13

[R1] (12) Ajay Jayaram (IND,101) vs Vasil Paskov (BUL,476)
[R1] (7) Kashyap P. (IND,61) vs (Q) Gordey Kosenko (RUS,563)
[R1] (Q)Abhimanyu Singh (IND,UNR) vs Krasimir Yankov (BUL,263))
[R1] (Q) Sourabh Verma (IND,UNR) vs Shai Geffen (ISR,351)

[R1] Shruti Kurian (IND,180) vs (Q) Gabriela Stefanikova (SLO,UNR)
[R1] (5) Aditi Mutatkar (IND,51) vs Masayo Nojirino (JPN,146)

[R1] (8) Rupesh Kumar (IND)/ Sanave Thomas (IND) vs Andrey Ivanov (RUS)/ Sergey Shumilkin (RUS)

[R1] (3) Jwala Gutta (IND)/ Shruti Kurian (IND) vs Bistra Maneva (BUL)/ Victoria Zheleva (BUL)

[R1] Jwala Gutta (IND)/ Diju V. (IND) vs Alesia Zaitsava (BLR)/ Aleksei Konakh (BLR)
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Tennis News
At France F18 Futures, Saint Dizier

[R1] SINGH Navdeep (IND,924) vs (2) DESEIN Niels (BEL,333)

Doubles -
[R1] (3) KLIER David (GER)/ SINGH Navdeep (IND) bye
[QF] (3) KLIER David (GER)/ SINGH Navdeep (IND) vs BOTTI Kevin (FRA)/ SICHEZ Romain (FRA)

Football News
At AFC U16 Championship, Uzbekistan

Group B
India l Syria 0-3

Goal Scored - Asaad Al Khadr (SYR) 44', Deepak Devrani (IND) 66' OG, Ashish Chhetri (IND) 72' OG

So with this loss our boys challenge got over in AFC U16 Championship 2008 ... Own goals from our defenders while clearing the ball didn't help our cause as Syria was superior side on the field ... Considering our preparation before AFC Championship this is disappointing performance by our U-16 boys.
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Tennis News 
At $10k Spain F38, Barcelona

[Q3] (5) GUNNESWARAN Prajnesh (IND,981) bt RODRIGUEZ-NAVARRO Emilio (ESP,1919) 57 63 62

[R1] (Q) GUNNESWARAN Prajnesh (IND,981) vs (WC) SAMPER-MONTANA Jordi (ESP,1134)

Doubles -
GUNNESWARAN Prajnesh (IND)/ ROSSET Claret (ESP) l (2) FORNELL-MESTRES Marc (ESP)/ MARSE-VIDRI Jordi (ESP) 26 67(3)

Nice comeback victory over local player by Prajnesh ... In Main draw he is facing wildcard Spanish player.

In doubles Prajnesh played with 38 yrs old Spanish Claret Rosset, who was top-150 doubles player in 1995 ... Mostly Prajnesh training under him in Spain.