Commonwealth Games 2010
At XIX Commonwealth Games 2010, New Delhi

On second day Indians lifted all 3 wrestling Gold medals with 2 shooting Gold medals ... As expected India is on 2nd position with 5 Golds, 4 Silvers and 2 Bronze.

In tennis Lee and Hesh r in doubles quarters ... Somi is singles second round ... Nirupama and Poojshree also moved into ladies doubles next round.

In hockey after yesterday our women team managed draw against Scotland, on second day men had tough day in their first match ... 2 times they fought from a goal down to scored important winning goal when only 5 minutes were remaining ... Good match for Indians before tougher test against Australian and Pakistan.

In swimming first time our team reached final of any international event in 4 x 100m Freestyle Relay Men ... They finished on 6th position ... On second day Virdhawal Khade qualified for 50m Butterfly Men final finishing on 4th place with 24.38 sec timing.

In Archery also we r well in contention of medals in individual and team events.

In squash our challenge got over in 3rd round as GHOSAL Saurav Ghosal lost against higher ranked Britisher Peter Barker abd Joshna Chinappa lost against WR #1 Malaysian Nicol David.

Day 2
Wrestling -Greco-Roman 96 kg Men
Gold - Anil Kumar (IND)
Silver - Kakoma Hugues Bella-Lufu (RSA)
Bronze - Eric Feunekes (CAN)

Wrestling - Greco-Roman 74 kg Men
Gold - Sanjay (IND)
Silver - Richard Brian Addinall (RSA)
Bronze - Hassan Shahsavan (AUS)

Wrestling - Greco-Roman 60 kg Men
Gold - Ravinder Singh (IND)
Silver - Terence Christopher Bosson (ENG)
Bronze - Romeo Joseph (NGR)

Shooting - Pairs 10 m Air Rifle Men Finals
Gold - India 1193 pts CGR
Gagan Narang (99 100 100 99 100 100) 598 pts
Abhinav Bindra (100 98 99 100 99 99) 595 pts

Silver - England 1174 pts
James Huckle (100 98 100 98 96 97) 589 pts
Kenny Parr (99 99 97 96 97 97) 585 pts

Bronze - Bangladesh 1173 pts
Md. Asif Hossain Khan (99 100 98 97 98 98) 590 pts
Abdul lah Hel Baki (95 97 99 98 96 98) 583 pts

Shooting - Pairs 25 m Pistol Women
Gold - India 1156 pts CGR
Rahi Sarnobat (Precision - 96 94 98 = 288, Prone - 99 99 98 = 296)
Anisa Sayyed (Precision - 95 95 94 = 284, Prone - 95 95 98 = 288)

Silver - Australia 1146 pts
Linda Ryan (Precision - 95 91 98 284, Prone - 95 95 91 = 281)
Lalita Yauhleuskaya (Precision - 99 96 98 = 293, Prone - 97 97 94 = 288)

Bronze - England 1122 pts
Gorgs Geikie (Precision - 94 96 92 = 282, Prone - 88 94 92 = 274)
Julia Lydall (Precision - 94 96 98 = 288, Prone - 94 92 92 = 278)

Shooting - Pairs 50 m Pistol Men
Gold - Singapore 1094 pts
Bin Gai (95 90 85 95 91 88)
Swee Hon Lim (95 92 90 90 90 93)

Silver - India 1087 pts
Deepak Sharma (84 93 89 93 89 91)
Omkar Singh (93 92 92 93 91 87)

Bronze - Trinidad and Tobago 1081 pts
Rhodney Richard Allen (90 85 87 90 88 93)
Roger Peter Daniel (91 90 90 90 92 95)

Shooting - Pairs 50 m Rifle 3 Positions Women
Gold - Singapore 1149 pts CGR
Aqilah Sudhir - (Prone - 100 99 = 199, Standing - 94 96 = 190, Kneeling - 95 97 = 192)
Xiang Wei Jasmine Ser (Prone - 96 98 = 194, Standing - 91 96 = 187, Kneeling - 97 90 = 187)

Silver - India 1143 pts
Tejaswini Sawant (Prone - 97 97 = 194, Standing - 95 95 = 190, Kneeling - 94 97 = 191)
Lajjakumari Gauswami (Prone - 96 97 = 193, Standing - 98 90 = 188, Kneeling - 95 92 = 187)

Bronze - Scotland
Kay Copland (Prone - 97 98 = 195, Standing - 93 93 = 186, Kneeling - 96 97 = 193)
Jen McIntosh (Prone - 97 99 = 196, Standing - 94 89 = 183, Kneeling - 96 93 = 189)

Hockey - Pool A

India bt Malaysia 3-2

Goal Scored - Dhananjay Mahadik (IND) 27' PC, Sandeep Singh (IND) 35' PC, Bharat Chikara (IND) 66' and Hafifihafiz Hanafi (MAS) 15', Azlan Misron (MAS) 34'

Day 1
Weightlifting - 48kg Women
Gold - Augustina Nkem Nwaokolo (NGR) (77.0 + 98.0) 175.0 KG CGR
Silver - Soniya Chanu (IND) (73.0 + 94.0) 167.0 KG
Bronze - Sandhya Rani Devi Atom (IND) (70.0 + 95.0) 165.0 KG

Weightlifting - 56kg Men
Gold - Amirul Hamizan Ibrahim (MAS) (116.0 + 141.0) 257.0 KG
Silver - Sukhen Dey (IND) (112.0 + 140.0) 252.0 KG
Bronze - VS Rao (IND) (107.0 + 141.0) 248 KG

Football News
At FIFA International Friendly, Pune, India

India l Hong Kong 0-1

Goal Scored - Haiqiang Li (HKG) 78'

Hong Kong scored well deserving victory over Indian side with excellent strike by their captain Haiqiang Li ... Though Indians played without their regular 5 in starting XI due to injury, still they were struggling in keeping possession ... Other hand Hong Kong side penetrating Indian defence at their will but couldn't manage to break deadlock until Li's strike.

Tennis News
At $15K Spain F35 Futures, Martos

[F] (1) Vishnu Vardhan (IND)/ Divij Sharan (IND) l (2) BOJE-ORDONEZ (ESP)/ MARTIN-ADALIA (ESP) 63 67(2) 8-10

Vishnu and Divij lost after winning first set ... Losing second set in tie-break, they lost close super tie-break.

Tennis News
At 2010 Junior Davis Cup Finals, San Luis Potosi, Mexico

Group C
(5) Czech Republic bt Brazil 2-1
India l (4) Great Britain 0-3

Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND) l Kyle Edmund (GBR) 26 57
Ronit Bisht (IND) l Luke Bambridge (GBR) 62 36 68
Arjun Kadhe (IND)/ Ramkumar Ramanahan (IND) l Kyle Edmund (GBR)/ Evan Hoyt (GBR) 67(7) 75 36

Though we lost against 4th seed Great Britain 0-3 still our boys produced superb fight in last 2 matches ... Ronit started well winning first set comfortably but lost second set ... In decider he had 2 match points but in end lost it ... In doubles our captain Uppal tried another pairing, who were also unlucky to lose their match ... This loss cost us finish in final ranking matches as we ended up on last place in the group.
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At $50K Napoli Challenger, Italy

[SF] (3) Harsh Mankad (IND)/ David Martin (USA) l Daniel Munoz-De La Nava (ESP)/ Simone Vagnozzi (ITA) 57 26

In the first set Harsh and Martin were leading 5-3 and had a set point from there they lost next 4 games to lose first set ... In second set this unseeded pair was too strong for Harsh and Martin.
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At $15K Spain F35 Futures, Martos

[R2] (5) Vishnu VARDHAN (IND,369) bt Pablo MARTIN-ADALIA (ESP,457) 67(1) 64 64

[QF] (5) Vishnu VARDHAN (IND,369) l (3) Pedro CLAR-ROSSELLO (ESP,283) 46 16

Doubles
[SF] (1) Vishnu Vardhan (IND)/ Divij Sharan (IND) bt (3) CLAR-ROSSELLO (ESP)/ SOUSA (POR) 63 26 10-7

[F] (1) Vishnu Vardhan (IND)/ Divij Sharan (IND) vs (2) BOJE-ORDONEZ (ESP)/ MARTIN-ADALIA (ESP)

Good comeback win by Vishnu against similar ranked opponent but lost in quarter-final against top-300 player ... In doubles also Vishnu and Divij pulled super tie-break victory to moved into the final.

Tennis News
At $850K Malaysian Open, Kuala Lumpur

[R2] (WC) Yuki Bhambri (IND,532) l (5) David Ferrer (ESP,11) 26 26

Yuki got a very tough lesson of playing on the professional tour by Ferrer.

Yuki started positively breaking Ferrer's serve in 2ng game to take 2-0 lead but after that Ferrer won next 6 games breaking Yuki's serve thrice to won first set30 mins ... In second set in few minutes Ferrer was up 0-5 ... But Yuki broke Ferrer's serve when he was serving for the match and avoided same fate which he delivered to Malaysian wild-card player Yew-Ming Si in the first round, after winning first 2 games lost next 12 games ... Yuki lost match in 59 minutes ... But good to see he showed some fight-back after down 0-5 in the second set.
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At $50K Napoli Challenger, Italy

[QF] (3) Harsh Mankad (IND)/ David Martin (USA) bt (ALT) Alberto Brizzi (ITA)/ Fabio Colangelo (ITA) 64 61

[SF] (3) Harsh Mankad (IND)/ David Martin (USA) vs Daniel Munoz-De La Nava (ESP)/ Simone Vagnozzi (ITA)

In end very convincing win by Harsh and Martin against alternate pair who upset Purav and Sadil in the first round ... Now they r facing another unseeded pair in the semis for place in the final ... Go guys.
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At 2010 Junior Davis Cup Finals, San Luis Potosi, Mexico

Group C
(4) Great Britain bt (5) Czech Republic 2-1
India l Brazil 1-2

Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND) bt Pedro Dumont (BRA) 36 63 75
Ronit Bisht (IND) l Thiago Monteiro (BRA)26 36
Ronit Bisht (IND)/ Arjun Kadhe (IND) l Pedro Dumont (BRA)/ Thiago Monteiro (BRA) 36 36

After first day's upset win over seeded Czech, on second day unseeded Brazilian boys brough down Indian team down scoring convincing win in last 2 matches and with that our hope of reaching semis r almost over.
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At $15K Spain F35 Futures, Martos

[R2] (5) Vishnu VARDHAN (IND,369) vs Pablo MARTIN-ADALIA (ESP,457)

Doubles
[QF] (1) Vishnu Vardhan (IND)/ Divij Sharan (IND) bt ESTRUCH (ESP)/ SANCHIS-HERNANDEZ (ESP) 64 63

[SF] (1) Vishnu Vardhan (IND)/ Divij Sharan (IND) vs (3) CLAR-ROSSELLO (ESP)/ SOUSA (POR)

Tennis News
At 2010 Junior Davis Cup Finals, San Luis Potosi, Mexico

Our u-16 Davis Cup is playing finals at Mexico ... We r in group C with 4th seed Great Britain, 5th seed Czech Republic and Brazil ... Vishal Uppal in non-playing captain.

Group C
(4) Great Britain bt Brazil 2-1
India bt (5) Czech Republic 2-1

Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND) l Vaclav Safranek (CZE) 26 63 26
Ronit Bisht (IND) bt Marek Jaloviec (CZE) 63 64
Ronit Bisht (IND)/ Arjun Kadhe (IND) bt Marek Jaloviec (CZE)/ Vaclav Safranek (CZE) 64 62

With excellent performance by Ronit Bisht in singles and doubles we upset 5th seed Czech team in the first match ... Huge upset by our young team.
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At $850K Malaysian Open, Kuala Lumpur

[R2] (WC) Yuki Bhambri (IND,532) vs (5) David Ferrer (ESP,11)

Doubles
[R1] (WC) Yuki Bhambri (IND)/ Kei Nishikori (JPN) l (3) Marcelo Melo (BRA)/ Bruno Soares (BRA) W/O (due to Nishikori wrist injury)
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At $50K Napoli-2 Challenger, Italy

[R1] Sadik Kadir (AUS)/ Purav Raja (IND) l (ALT) Alberto Brizzi (ITA)/ Fabio Colangelo (ITA) 26 46

Oops, match was postpone due to bad light and I thought Purav was leading ... But that wasn't the case Purav and Sadik lost in straight sets in the first round.
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At $15K Spain F35 Futures, Martos

[R1] (5) Vishnu VARDHAN (IND,369) bt Javier VALENZUELA-GONZALEZ (ESP,1049) 64 64

[R2] (5) Vishnu VARDHAN (IND,369) vs Pablo MARTIN-ADALIA (ESP,457)

Doubles
[R1] (1) Vishnu Vardhan (IND)/ Divij Sharan (IND) bye

[QF] (1) Vishnu Vardhan (IND)/ Divij Sharan (IND) vs ESTRUCH (ESP)/ SANCHIS-HERNANDEZ (ESP)

Tough second round against similar ranked local player for Vishnu.
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At $10K Iran F4 Futures, Tehran (clay)

[R1] (3) Ranjeet VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND,520) l Christoph LESSIAK (AUT,990) 46 57
[R1] Abhijeet TIWARI (IND,1253) bt (Q) Mo NIAKI (CAN,1694) 64 76(5)

[R2] Abhijeet TIWARI (IND,1253) l (2) Murad INOYATOV (UZB,496) 26 36

Doubles
[R1] (4) SIE (INA)/ VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND) bt NEDELKO (RUS)/ PULATOV (UZB) 64 64
[R1] HOBBS (SIN)/ TIWARI (IND) l ALTUNA (TUR)/ KUZIN (UKR) 36 46

[QF] (4) SIE (INA)/ VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND) l LESSIAK (AUT)/ PROPST (AUT) 46 46

Ranjeet lost his match in straight sets but other hand Abhijeet earned his second ATP point in 2 weeks.

Tennis News
At $850K Malaysian Open, Kuala Lumpur

[R1] (WC) Yuki Bhambri (IND,532) bt (WC) Yew-Ming Si (MAS,UNR) 62 60

Yuki lost his first service game and was down 0-2 but after that he won next 12 games to crushed unranked local player in 46 minutes to scored his first ATP maindraw win ... Happy to see he managed to take advantage of weak opponent ... Next he will face winner between WR #11 David Ferrer and his nemesis from junior level Australian Bernard Tomic.
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At $551K PTT Thailand Open, Bangkok

[R1] (1) Leander Paes (IND)/ Mahesh Bhupathi (IND) l Daniel Brands (GER)/ Ivan Dodig (CRO) 67(5) 76(5) 4-10

Shocking defeat for our formidable pair against rookie pair ... ry bad preparation for CWG 2010, though as we know they raise their game on different level when playing for nation.

Brands and Dodig kept pressure on our seasoned pair from the start ... After winning first set in tie-break in second set they had couple of break points on Mahesh's serve in 9th game but Mahesh managed to save them and in tie-break our pair fought back from 3-5 down to won it ... But in super tie-break Brands and Dodig proved too strong for this veteran pair.

Frankly speaking Brands and Dodig outplayed our pair winning 91 pts to 80 pts ... They had 12 break point chances and converted 1, other hand our pair had 5 and converted 1 ... Aces also Brands and Dodig hit more, 11 aces in comparison of our pair his 6 aces.
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At $50K Napoli Challenger, Italy

[R1] (3) Harsh Mankad (IND)/ David Martin (USA) bt (WC) Enrico Fioravante (ITA)/ Filip Krajinovic (SRB) 76(3) 75

Very tight win for Harsh and David Martin against local Italian wild-card pair to moved into quarters.

Tennis News
At $75K+H Izmir Cup 2010, Turkey

Singles Final
(2) Somdev Devvarman (IND,113) bt (4) Marcel Ilhan (TUR,102) 64 63

In this match Somdev showed very good atheleticism while running around ... Played some excellent passing shots, some lobs, Powerful winners from middle of the court and usual solid baseline game in the final ... This win brought his ranking back inside top-100, exactly at #100.

Somi started well breaking Ilhan's serve in 4th game but Ilhan immediately broke Somi's serve in next game to bring set back on serve ... Somdev take crucial break in 10th game breaking Ilhan's serve at 15 to won first set.

In second set Somi saved break point before holding his serve ... Somi broke Ilhan's serve in 4th game to take lead and then mananged to hold his serve to won his first title of 2010 ... While serving for the match Somi saved 1 break point before converting 2nd match point.
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At $50K Napoli Challenger, Italy

[R1] (3) Harsh Mankad (IND)/ David Martin (USA) vs (WC) Enrico Fioravante (ITA)/ Filip Krajinovic (SRB)
[R1] Sadik Kadir (AUS)/ Purav Raja (IND) vs Andrey Kuznetsov (RUS)/ Yuri Schukin (KAZ)

This week Harsh and Purav r playing at Napoli with their respective partners ... They could play each other in quarters if wins their respective first round matches.

Tennis News
At $75K+H Izmir Cup 2010, Turkey

[SF] (2) Somdev Devvarman (IND,113) bt Matthias Bachinger (GER,310) 67(3) 76(5) 64

[F] (2) Somdev Devvarman (IND,113) vs (4) Marcel Ilhan (TUR,102)

In first set both players were holding their serves comfortably ... Bachinger got first chance at 4-5 when he had set point but Somi managed to save it ... In tie-break Somi was up 3-0 but from there Bachinger won next 7 points to take that comfortably.

In second set also Bachinger got first chance in 5th game but Somi saved break point to hold his serve ... Then in 6th game Somi had a break point but he failed to convert ... Bachinger broke Somi's serve in 7th game but immediately Somi broke Bachinger in next game to make it 4-all ... Then both hold to take second set in tie-break ... Bachinger take early lead with mini-break, 1-3 ... But Somi fought back to take tie-break with couple of mini-break to make it 1 set-all.

Somi started third set positively breaking Bachinger's serve on luv in 1st game ... But Bachinger broke back in next game to make it 1-all ... Somi saved break point in 6th game and take crucial break in 9th game ... Then hold his serve to complete superb comeback victory to moved into first challenger final of year 2010.

In the final Somi facing local favorite Ilhan ... Tough match but Somi having game and willpower to face this challenge.
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At $850K Malaysian Open, Kuala Lumpur

[R1] (WC) Yuki Bhambri (IND,527) vs (WC) Yew-Ming Si (MAS,UNR)

Doubles
[R1] (WC) Yuki Bhambri (IND)/ Kei Nishikori (JPN) vs (3) Marcelo Melo (BRA)/ Bruno Soares (BRA)

Good draw for Yuki in Malaysian tournament facing local unranked player ... In doubles with Nishikori having tough match against 3rd seed Brazilian pair.
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At $551K PTT Thailand Open, Bangkok

[R1] (1) Leander Paes (IND)/ Mahesh Bhupathi (IND) vs Daniel Brands (GER)/ Ivan Dodig (CRO)

In preparation for CWG 2010 Lee and Mahesh playing together on tour after long-time.

Tennis News
At $75K+H Izmir Cup 2010, Turkey

[QF] (2) Somdev Devvarman (IND,113) bt Yannick Mertens (BEL,223) 61 26 64

[SF] (2) Somdev Devvarman (IND,113) vs Matthias Bachinger (GER,310)

Somdev started well with couple of breaks in 1st and 5th games to take 4-1 lead ... In 6th game Somi saved 2 break points before holding his serve ... In 7th game Somi again broke Mertens's serve @30 to won first set ... But second set started exactly opposite of first set ... Somi lost his serve in 1st and 5th game and lost second set with these 2 breaks ... In decider both players were struggling to hold their serve after Somi hold 1st game on luv ... Mertens take important break in 5th game and was leading 2-4 ... But Somi fought back from there, he broke Mertens serve in 8th game on luv ... Then managed to hold his serve in 9th game after multiple deuce and again broke Mertens serve in 10th game to book his place in semis ... Excellent comeback in third set after break down winning last 4 games.
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At $75k Trnava Challenger, Slovakia (clay)

[SF] (2) Harsh Mankad (IND)/ Guillermo Olaso (ESP) l (3) Karol Beck (SVK)/ Lukas Rosol (CZE) 16 64 7-10

Harsh lost with his Spanish partner in super tie-break ... After losing first set easily they fought back winning second set but Beck and Rosol proved too strong in super tie-break.
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At $15K France F15 Futures, Plaisir

Doubles Final
Ashutosh Singh (IND)/ Nicolas Grammaire (FRA) bt (3) Jeremy Blandin (FRA)/ Romain Jouan (FRA) 76(4) 75

Ashutosh Singh lifted another doubles ITF title this time with French partner ... In the final this unseeded pair defeated 3rd seed French pair in very tight match.
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At $15K Australia F7 Futures, Alice Springs

[QF] (4) Karan Rastogi (IND,460) l Michael LOOK (AUS,771) 16 16

Disappointing scoreline for Karan ... Aussies r tough in their home country but Karan need to produce some fighting performance in these matches.

Tennis News
At $75K+H Izmir Cup 2010, Turkey

[R2] (2) Somdev Devvarman (IND,113) bt (WC) Haluk Akkoyun (TUR,850) 61 61

[QF] (2) Somdev Devvarman (IND,113) vs Yannick Mertens (BEL,223)

Doubles
[QF] Sadik Kadir (AUS)/ Purav Raja (IND) l (3) Treat Conrad Huey (PHI)/ Dominic Inglot (GBR) 63 36 9-11

Crushing victory over local wild-card player to moved into quarters ... Only lost couple of games ... In quarters he is facing Belgium player Mertens.

Purav and Sadik started well against pair in-form winning first set but lost match in tight super tie-break.
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At $220K Tashkent Open, Uzbekistan

[QF] Sania Mirza (IND)/ Maria Elena Camerin (ITA) l Alexandra Dulgheru (ROU)/ Magdalena Rybarikova (SVK) 57 16

They managed to produce some fight in first set but lost second set badly.
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At $35K+H Bangkok-2 Challenger, Thailand

[QF] Yuki Bhambri (IND)/ Thiago Alves (BRA) l (3) Chris Eaton (GBR)/ Joshua Goodall (GBR) 67(4) 16

After losing first set in tie-break they couldn't produce much fight.
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At $15K France F15 Futures, Plaisir

[R2] (4) Vishnu Vardhan (IND,368) l Gregoire Burquier (FRA,345) 36 36

Doubles
[SF] Ashutosh Singh (IND)/ Nicolas Grammaire (FRA) bt Kenny De Schepper (FRA)/ Alexandre Penaud (FRA) 67(4) 64 10-6

[F] Ashutosh Singh (IND)/ Nicolas Grammaire (FRA) vs (3) Jeremy Blandin (FRA)/ Romain Jouan (FRA)

Vishnu lost his match in straight sets against similar ranked French player ... But in doubles Ashutosh reached in the final with his French partner.

Tennis News
At $75k Trnava Challenger, Slovakia (clay)

[QF] (2) Harsh Mankad (IND)/ Guillermo Olaso (ESP) bt Pavol Cervenak (SVK)/ Ivo Klec (SVK) 75 61

Solid win against good local pair for Harsh and his Spanish partner to place in semis.
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At $15K Australia F7 Futures, Alice Springs

[R2] (4) Karan Rastogi (IND,460) bt Mikal Statham (NZL,1053) 63 60

[QF] (4) Karan Rastogi (IND,460) vs Michael LOOK (AUS,771)

Comfortable win for Karan against New Zealander but now important for him to keep focus in next matches.
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At $10K Iran F3, Tehran (clay)

[R2] Abhijeet TIWARI (IND,1248) l Sebastian FITZ (GER,UNR) 63 46 57

After winning first set Abhijeet lost against experienced Fitz.
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At $10K Uganda F1 Futures 2010, Kampala (clay)

[R2] Vijayant MALIK (IND,880) l Takanyi GARANGANGA (ZIM,768) 57 16
[R2] Kaza Vinayak SHARMA (IND,1245) l (8) Gerald MELZER (AUT,761) 67(1) 26

Doubles
[QF] ENOSOREGBE (NGR)/ MANUJA (IND) l MELZER (AUT)/ SAFWAT (EGY) 1-2 Retd

Disappointing end for African tour.

Tennis News

Davis cup World Group draw is out for 2011 first round ... All 8 seeded teams r tough top teams, so I was hoping for home tie ... But we received worst draw as another away world group tie for us ... We r playing Serbia in Serbia

Davis Cup World Group First round 2011

Serbia (s) (c) vs India
Russia (s) (c) vs Sweden
Czech Republic (s) (c) vs Kazakhstan
Argentina (s) (c) vs Romania
Chile (c) vs USA (s)
Belgium (c) vs Spain (s)
Germany (c) vs Croatia (s)
Austria (c) vs France (s)
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At $75K+H Izmir Cup 2010, Turkey

[R1] (2) Somdev Devvarman (IND,113) bt (WC) Tuna Altuna (TUR,965) 63 63

[R2] (2) Somdev Devvarman (IND,113) vs (WC) Haluk Akkoyun (TUR,850)

Doubles
[R1] Sadik Kadir (AUS)/ Purav Raja (IND) bt Somdev Devvarman (IND)/ Theodoros Angelinos (GRE) 63 61

[QF] Sadik Kadir (AUS)/ Purav Raja (IND) vs (3) Treat Conrad Huey (PHI)/ Dominic Inglot (GBR)

Expected straight sets victory for Somi ... He reached yesterday evening at Izmir, so fatigue was the worry but he managed to complete victory ... Tomorrow he is facing another local wild-card player to place in quarters.

Comfortable win for experienced pair of Purav and Sadik against Somi and his UVa teammate ... Next Purav and Sadik playing against another UVa pair, who is on roll recently.
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At $220K Tashkent Open, Uzbekistan

[R1] Sania Mirza (IND)/ Maria Elena Camerin (ITA) bt Lyudmyla Kichenok (UKR)/ Nadiya Kichenok (UKR) 62 63

[QF] Sania Mirza (IND)/ Maria Elena Camerin (ITA) vs Alexandra Dulgheru (ROU)/ Magdalena Rybarikova (SVK)

Sania started with comfortable win against Kichenok twins in doubles with Camerin ... Next they r facing another unseeded pair, who upset 3rd seed in tight match.
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At $35K+H Bangkok-2 Challenger, Thailand

[R1] Yuki Bhambri (IND)/ Thiago Alves (BRA) bt (Alt) Tomislav Peric (CRO)/ Yoav Schab (ISR) 75 64

[QF] Yuki Bhambri (IND)/ Thiago Alves (BRA) vs (3) Chris Eaton (GBR)/ Joshua Goodall (GBR)

Bogomolov withdrew from doubles draw due to exhaustion so alternate pair played against Yuki and Alves ... They scored straight sets victory to face 3rd seed British pair in quarters.

Tennis News
At $75k Trnava Challenger, Slovakia (clay)

[R1] (2) Harsh Mankad (IND)/ Guillermo Olaso (ESP) bt (WC) Michal Konecny (CZE)/ Radim Urbanek (CZE) 64 62

[QF] (2) Harsh Mankad (IND)/ Guillermo Olaso (ESP) vs Pavol Cervenak (SVK)/ Ivo Klec (SVK)

Good start for Harsh with his new Spanish partner, so next match against local Slovakian pair.
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At $15K France F15 Futures, Plaisir

[R1] (4) Vishnu Vardhan (IND,368) bt (Q) Jeremie CAYLA (FRA,UNR) 63 61

[R2] (4) Vishnu Vardhan (IND,368) vs Gregoire Burquier (FRA,345)

Doubles
[R1] GRAMMARE (FRA)/ SINGH (IND) bt HAMARD (FRA)/ VENTURINO (FRA) 62 64
[QF] GRAMMARE (FRA)/ SINGH (IND) bt (1) CHARROIN (FRA)/ MITSUHASHI (JPN) Walkover

Vishnu comfortably won first round match against unseeded local qualifier ... But next he is facing tough match against similar ranked opponent.

Ashutosh and Nicolas started with win and they also received walkover against top-seed, so they r in semis.
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At $10K Iran F3, Tehran (clay)

[R1] Abhijeet TIWARI (IND,1248) bt Ashkan DABIRI (IRI,1517) 62 75

[R2] Abhijeet TIWARI (IND,1248) vs Sebastian FITZ (GER,UNR)

Doubles
[R1] HOBBS (SIN)/ TIWARI (IND) l FITZ (GER)/ KEPLER (GER) 26 67(3)

Good start for Abhijeet ... His next round German opponent now largely play doubles but Sebastian Fitz is former top-250 around singles and doubles player so good test for Abhijeet.

Sebastian Fitz and his German partner defeated Abhijeet and his Singaporean partner in doubles.
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At $10K Uganda F1 Futures 2010, Kampala (clay)

[R1] Vijayant MALIK (IND,880) bt Mauricio ALVAREZ-GUZMAN (CHI,1095) 60 61
[R1] Kaza Vinayak SHARMA (IND,1245) bt (Q) Mark FYNN (ZIM,UNR) 76(2) 76(2)

[R2] Vijayant MALIK (IND,880) vs Takanyi GARANGANGA (ZIM,768)
[R2] Kaza Vinayak SHARMA (IND,1245) vs (8) Gerald MELZER (AUT,761)

Good to see Kaza winning 1st ATP point in 3 weeks but second round against Melzer is tough one, who is in form winning back to back these African futures last 2 weeks ... Vijayant scored very convincing win over Chilean and next play Zimbabwean, who upset top-seed top-300 Dutch player in first round.

Tennis News
At $220K Tashkent Open, Uzbekistan

[R1] Sania Mirza (IND,129) l Ekaterina Bychkova (RUS,175) 16 64 57

Sania struggled with her service in this match ... In first set her service got broken 4 times and she managed to break Bychkova's serve once ... In second set she lost her serve once and broke Bychkova's serve twice from 2-4 down ... So Sania won 4 games in a row to won second set ... In third set Sania got broken in 2nd game as Bychkova converted 5th break point to lead 0-2 ... Sania immediately broke her in next game to make it 1-2 ... Sania again broke Bychkova in 5th game and 7th game to take 5-2 lead ... Sania lost her serve when she was serving for the match, 5-3 ... Again Sania lost her serve after serving double fault on break point to make it 5-all ... In 11th game Sania had a break point which she couldn't conver and in 12th game Sania was up 40-15 and after that she committed couple of double faults to lose game and match ... Shocking serving by Sania who lost from winning position in third set losing straight 5 games.
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At $35K+H Bangkok-2 Challenger, Thailand

[R1] (LL) Yuki Bhambri (IND,527) l James Ward (GBR,230) 76(4) 67(1) 1-1 Retd

Yuki entered as lucky loser as many withdrawals from main-draw ... He played excellent match against Britisher Ward before retiring due to cramps in third set.
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At $15K Australia F7 Futures, Alice Springs

[R1] (4) Karan Rastogi (IND,460) bt Andrew Thomas (AUS,1021) 76(3) 63

[R2] (4) Karan Rastogi (IND,460) vs Mikal Statham (NZL,1053)

Surprisingly little tough win against below 1000 rank player.
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At $10K Uganda F1 Futures 2010, Kampala (clay)

Doubles
[R1] MALIK (IND)/ SHARMA (IND) l MELZER (AUT)/ SAFWAT (EGY) 67(2) 46
[R1] ENOSOREGBE (NGR)/ MANUJA (IND) bt (3) FILENKOV (RUS)/ VOVK (RUS) 67Z(8) 75 10-4

[QF] ENOSOREGBE (NGR)/ MANUJA (IND) vs MELZER (AUT)/ SAFWAT (EGY)

Good hard fought win for Ronak Manuja in doubles with Nigerian partner against 3rd seeded Russian pair.

Shooting News
At ISSF World Cup Final Izmir 2010, Turkey

From ISSF site
Double Trap Men Final
Gold - Ronjan Sodhi IND 143 (48+46+49) + 49 = 192 pts
Silver - Junjie Mo CHN 141 (43+50+48) + 47 = 188 pts
Bronze - Qiang Pan CHN 144 (49+48+47) + 43 = 187 pts

Ronjan Sodhi qualified for the final with a score of 143 hits out of 150 targets behind Chinese shooter Qiang Pan ... In the final Ronjan took advantage of his Chinese opponents’ numerous mistakes, winning the Gold medal with a final tally of 49 hits, and a total score of 192 targets.

Ronjan Sodhi - “This has been a long and intense season. I took part in five different international competition, and the balance of the year is definitively positive.”


“I won the World Cup stage in Lonato, and the World Cup Final here in Izmir. And at the beginning of the year, in Acapulco, I also scored a world record… unluckily I was shooting as MQS, so that was not registered.”


“No holidays – he said - I will give my best for the Commonwealth Games, now. I am getting ready, and I feel extremely motivated. Australian and English shooters will be the toughest opponents to beat, there.“

Volleyball News
At 3rd Asian Senior men’s Volleyball Championship (Central Zone) , Kolkata, India

Final
India l Iran 0-3 (19-25 22-25 27-29)

Again poor blocking and back-court defense cost us match ... Poor result for us against this second string Iranian team.

Archery News
At Archery World Cup 2010 Final, Edinburgh, Great Britain

Men's Individual Recurve
Gold - Brady Ellison (USA)
Silver - Dong-Hyun Im (KOR)
Bronze - Jayanta Talukdar (IND)

For Bronze Medal
Jayanta Talukdar (IND) bt Marco Galiazzo (ITA) (30,29,26,29) 6-2 (29,28,27,28)

[SF] Jayanta Talukdar (IND) l Brady Ellison (USA) (28,29,27,25,26-T9) 5-6 (28,28,25,29,27-T9*)

[R1] Jayanta Talukdar (IND) bt Michele Frangilli (ITA) (26,25,28,30,29) 6-4 (26,27,26,26,29)

Women's Individual Recurve
[R1] Deepika Kumari (IND) l Victoriya Koval (UKR) (27,26,29,22,25) 4-6 (25,29,26,23,26)
[R1] Dola Banerjee (IND) l Justyna Mospinek (POL) (20,23,23) 0-6 (23,26,25)

First time in archery history 3 Indian archers qualified for World Cup Finals ... And in that Jayanta Talukdar won his first medal in the Archery World Cup Final.

In first round he defeated Frangilli with superiority skill ... His semi-final against young American archer was cracker, best match of the Archery Finals ... Ellison made comeback from 1-5 down to make it 5-all ... Match was decided on a 1-arrow shoot-off with a breath-taking end of semi-final match ... Ellison first released a mid-9 and then Jayanta also scored a mid-9 ... But Ellison's arrow was measured 1cm closer to the centre to win this match.

In Bronze medal match Jayanta scored comfortable win over defending champion Italian Marco Galiazzo to win his first World Cup Final medal.

In women's event Deepika Kumari managed to produce fighting performance against Silver medalist Ukrainian archer but other hand Dola had disappointing outing.

Tennis News
At Davis Cup World Group Play-Off 2010, Chennai, India

India bt Brazil 3-2

Day 3
[R4] Somdev Devvarman (IND,113) bt Thomaz Bellucci (BRA,27) 76(3) 4-0
[R5] Rohan Bopanna (IND,479) bt Ricardo Mello (BRA,75) 63 76(2) 63

Bellucci was serving solidly from the start and holding his serve easily ... Other hand Somi served percentage serving and holding his serves without much problem ... In 9th game Somi had 4 break point chances but he failed to convert ... In tie-break Somi started with mini-break then Bellucci take mini-break back to 2-1 but Somi broke Bellucci's serve twice to to take 5-1 lead ... And comfortably won tie-break ... In second set Somi broke Bellucci's serve in 2nd game ... At 3-0 Bellucci take medical break for his left shoulder ... He played next game and Somi again broke him to take 4-0 lead ... Bellucci decided to retired from the match and gave tie to Somi.

Somi played excellent in this match ... He kept Bellucci on the baseline moving around him from one corner to another ... Bellucci tired playing running around the court and that affected his game ... Now this win give amazing opportunity to India to complete comeback win against Brazil.

Rohan take early break against Ricardo Mello and kept that break to won first set ... As usual Rohan's service was working in this set ... Ricardo Mello serving well after losing his serve early in the first set ... In second set Rohan was struggling with his first serve, he had couple of break points on Mello's serve but failed to convert it ... At 4-5 Rohan saved couple of set points from 15-40 down and then in tie-break he controlled from the start to take 2-0 lead ... In third set Rohan broke Mello's serve in 4th game with some nice shots and volley to take 3-1 lead ... Rohan saved couple of break points to keep his break ... On 8th game Rohan had couple of match points but he failed to convert it ... But he converted 3rd match point to complete victory for him and India ... And with that we qualify for World group again.

This is our first victory for coming down from 0-2 deficit ... All players gave their best in this victory and what one can say about Leander, after the match he carries Roahn all around the court at age of 37 yrs.

Rohan Bopanna - For his part Bopanna said that despite playing the decisive rubber, he felt no pressure. “I had decided that I would go ahead and play my game.”

Somdev Devvarman - Devvarman said that he “didn’t see it coming”, referring to Bellucci conceding the match. However, he admitted that he had tried to make the points as long as possible and it was a strategy that worked. Referring to the 11.30 start, Devvarman said it was, “a team decision and a good call to start the matches at this time. I was happy to see the sun out this morning.” The Indian ace confirmed that he had recovered fully from Friday’s five set match against Bellucci. “I ate well, slept well and had my massages and was feeling good. This is the best team effort I have been part of.”

Mahesh Bhupathi - “We are back where we belong.”
From Davis cup site
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At $220K Guangzhou International Women's Open, Guangzhou, China

Doubles Final
Sania Mirza (IND)/ Edina Gallovits (ROU) bt Xinyun Han (CHN)/ Wanting Liu (CHN) 75 63

Sania and Edina won first set but were early break down in second set ... They were down 1-3 in second set but then won next 5 games to complete victory against local pair ... So after long time Sania lifting WTA doubles title ... Congrats Sania, she is truly coming back to her game which we missed for last couple of years.
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At $220K Tashkent Open, Uzbekistan

[R1] Sania Mirza (IND,129) vs Ekaterina Bychkova (RUS,175)

Doubles
[R1] Sania Mirza (IND)/ Maria Elena Camerin (ITA) vs Lyudmyla Kichenok (UKR)/ Nadiya Kichenok (UKR)

In singles Sania climb inside top-130 and in doubles she is back inside top-70 after Guangzhou International Women's Open.

This week Sania is having Italian partner Maria Elena Camerin in doubles and they r facing 18 yrs old Kichenok twins in the first round.
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At $75K+H Izmir Cup 2010, Turkey

[R1] (2) Somdev Devvarman (IND,113) vs (WC) Tuna Altuna (TUR,965)

Doubles
[R1] Sadik Kadir (AUS)/ Purav Raja (IND) vs Somdev Devvarman (IND)/ Theodoros Angelinos (GRE)

Somdev is not taking break this week, so less time to celebrate famous Davis cup play-off comeback victory against Brazil.

This week he is playingTurkish challenger ... He is 2nd seed and facing local wild-card opponent ... In doubles he is partnering Greece player but facing tough match against Purav and Sadik.
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At $75k Trnava Challenger, Slovakia (clay)

[R1] (2) Harsh Mankad (IND)/ Guillermo Olaso (ESP) vs (WC) Michal Konecny (CZE)/ Radim Urbanek (CZE)

This week Harsh is playing at Slovakian challenger and having good Spanish partner ... They r 2nd seed and facing local wild-card pair in the first round.
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At $35K+H Bangkok-2 Challenger, Thailand

[Q2] Yuki Bhambri (IND,526) bt (7) Ze Zhang (CHN,296) 76(8) 64

[Q3] Yuki Bhambri (IND,526) l (4) Frederik Nielsen (DEN,269) 67(2) 26

Doubles
[SF] Yuki Bhambri (IND)/ Thiago Alves (BRA) vs Alex Bogomolov Jr (USA)/ Evgeny Kirillov (RUS)

Good win against top-300 Chinese player ... But Yuki lost in the final qualifying, though Yuki managed to take experienced Frederik Nielsen to tie-break into first set but couldn't produce much fight in second set.

This week he is partnering Brazilian Thiago Alves, so he is getting good doubles partner in these challengers.-----------------------------------------------------------
At $15K France F15 Futures, Plaisir

[R1] (4) Vishnu Vardhan (IND,355) vs Qualifier

Doubles
[R1] GRAMMARE (FRA)/ SINGH (IND) vs HAMARD (FRA)/ VENTURINO (FRA)
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At $15K Australia F7 Futures, Alice Springs

[R1] (4) Karan Rastogi (IND,460) vs Andrew Thomas (AUS,1021)

This week also Karan is 4th seed and only playing in singles.
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At $10K Uganda F1 Futures 2010, Kampala (clay)

[R1] Vijayant MALIK (IND,880) vs Mauricio ALVAREZ-GUZMAN (CHI,1095)
[R1] Kaza Vinayak SHARMA (IND,1245) vs (Q) Mark FYNN (ZIM,UNR)

Doubles
[R1] MALIK (IND)/ SHARMA (IND) vs MELZER (AUT)/ SAFWAT (EGY)
[R1] ENOSOREGBE (NGR)/ MANUJA (IND) vs (3) FILENKOV (RUS)/ VOVK (RUS)

This week Rupesh must be decide to take care of the ear infection so missing from the action at Kampala.

Volleyball News
At 3rd Asian Senior men’s Volleyball Championship (Central Zone) , Kolkata, India

India bt Pakistan 3-0 (25-17 25-15 25-22)
Iran bt Kazakhstan 3-0 (25-20 25-10 25-19)

Indians showed improved performance in their last league match beating Pakistan in straight sets ... So with that Indians qualified for the final against Iran, which will be played on Monday.