Volleyball News
At 16th Asian Jr. Men’s Volleyball Championship, Urumieh, Iran

Bronze Medal
India l Iran 0-3 (21-25 13-25 11-25)

Again we failed to produce fight against Iranians ... We lost in the straight sets.
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At 16th Asian Jr. Women’s Volleyball Championship, Ratchaburi, Thailand

Pool F
India l Chinese Taipei 0-3 (17-25 13-25 18-25)

Our girls having tough time in this final 8 matches ... Today they lost Taipei side in the straight sets.

Tennis News
At 4.8M China Open, Beijing

[SF] (5) Nuria Llagostera Vives (ESP)/ Sania Mirza (IND) bt (6) Katarina Srebotnik (SLO)/ Jie Zheng (CHN) 75 61

[F] (5) Nuria Llagostera Vives (ESP)/ Sania Mirza (IND) vs (3) Ekaterina Makarova (RUS)/ Elena Vesnina (RUS)

In end comfortable win in the second set ... In the first set both pairs were struggling to hold their serves, total 7 break of service games ... In the second set our pair broke opponents 3 times without facing break point ... In the final Sania is facing her rx-Russian doubles partner Elena Vesnina.
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At $3.44M China Open, Beijing

[QF] Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Rohan Bopanna (IND) l Carlos Berlocq (ARG)/ Denis Istomin (UZB) 26 67(6)

Mahesh and Rohan lost against unseeded pair in the straight sets ... After losing the first set easily they tried hard in the second but that wasn't enough.
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At $1.2M Japan Open, Tokyo

[QF] (1) Radek Stepanek (CZE)/ Leander Paes (IND) bt Andy Murray (GBR)/ Jamie Murray (GBR) 64 36 10-2

[SF] (1) Radek Stepanek (CZE)/ Leander Paes (IND) vs Daniele Bracciali (ITA)/ Frantisek Cermak (CZE)

Lee and Radek needed match tie-break to win over Murray brothers ... Both sets won by a single break but in match tie-break our pair take control from the start and won it comfortably ... Next they r facing unseeded Italian-Czech pair.
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At $100K Sacramento Challenger, USA

[QF] Drew Courtney (USA)/ Purav Raja (IND) l Devin Britton (USA)/ Austin Krajicek (USA) 67(4) 76(5) 10-5

Purav and Drew gave fighting performance but lost this close match ... After losing the first set in tie-break they won the second set in tie-break ... But in match tie-break Drew and Purav 0-6 down and never recovered.
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At $15K Australia F9 Futures, Esperance

[QF] (4) Saketh Myneni (IND,385) l Adam Feeney (AUS,451) 36 16

Saketh failed to produce fight against in-form Feeney.

Volleyball News
At 16th Asian Jr. Men’s Volleyball Championship, Urumieh, Iran

Semi Final
India l Japan 2-3 (31-29 25-19 14-25 17-25 9-15
China bt Iran 3-2 (21-25 25-23 25-19 15-25 19-17)

Our boys lost 2 sets advantage against Japan and lost next 3 sets easily in the semi-final ... In other semis China upset Iran 3-2 so we r again facing Iran for bronze medal.

Our boys won hard fought first set in tie-break and then increased lead winning the second set comfortably but after that Japanese dominated the match for superb comeback victory.

Hockey News
At 2012 Women's Champions Challenge 1, Dublin, Ireland

Quarter Final
India l Scotland 1-1 (1-3 PS)
Goal Scorers - Jaspreet Kaur (IND) 41' PS and Samantha Judge (SCO) 56'

We continued with our trend of taking lead and then squandered it ... In the quarter-final we take lead in 41 minutes through penalty stroke but Scottish team equalized through field goal in 56 minutes ... In extra-time both teams failed to score goal but Scottish team won penalty shoot-out comfortably scoring 3 goals and we managed only 1.

Tennis News
At 4.8M China Open, Beijing

[QF] (5) Nuria Llagostera Vives (ESP)/ Sania Mirza (IND) bt Julia Goerges (GER)/ Barbora Zahlavova Strycova (CZE) 46 64 16-14

In the quarters Sania and Nuria faced unseeded pair of Goerges and Zahlavova Strycova, who upset 4th seed King and Shvedova in previous round ... In the first set Sania and Nuria had 10 break point chances abut they managed to convert only 2 ... Other hand Goerges and Zahlavova Strycova had 5 break points and they converted 3 to win this set ... In the second set our pair had 4 break points and converted 2 ... Our pair failed to saved one break point but one break advantage was enough for taking this quarter-final in match tie-break ... In the match tie-break Sania and Nuria take early mini-break and they kept this advantage despite exchanging mini-breaks ... Our pair wasted match point on their serve at 9-8 then Goerges and Zahlavova Strycova saved another match point on their own serve at 9-10 ... More drama when Sania was serving for the match at 13-12, she failed to win a point on both serve and they were down 13-14 ... Sania and Nuria won next 2 points on opponent's serve and converted this 6th match point.
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At $1.2M Japan Open, Tokyo

[R1] (1) Radek Stepanek (CZE)/ Leander Paes (IND) bt Julian Knowle (AUT)/ Filip Polasek (SVK) 64 64

[QF] (1) Radek Stepanek (CZE)/ Leander Paes (IND) vs Andy Murray (GBR)/ Jamie Murray (GBR)

Started with comfortable straight sets win ... In the quarters they r facing Murray brothers, Andy and Jamie.
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At $100K Sacramento Challenger, USA

Doubles
[R1] Drew Courtney (USA)/ Purav Raja (IND) bt Dennis Kudla (USA)/ Tim Smyczek (USA) 61 67(5) 13-11

[QF] Drew Courtney (USA)/ Purav Raja (IND) vs Devin Britton (USA)/ Austin Krajicek (USA)

Happy to see Purav is sticking with Drew ... Good tight win for them in match tie-break against good challenger level American pair.
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At $15K Australia F9 Futures, Esperance

[R2] (4) Saketh Myneni (IND,385) bt Logan Mackenze (NZL,1337) 64 64

[QF] (4) Saketh Myneni (IND,385) vs Adam Feeney (AUS,451)

Doubles
[SF] Patrick Davidson (USA)/ Saketh Myneni (IND) l (3) Adam Feeney (AUS)/ Zach Itzstein (AUS) 16 67(6)

Saketh is in singles quarter-final with straight sets victory and next facing 6th seed local player ... But in doubles he failed to continue with their winning way with his American partner against 3rd seed Aussie pair.

Volleyball News
At 16th Asian Jr. Men’s Volleyball Championship, Urumieh, Iran

Quarter Final
India bt South Korea 3-1 (19-25 25-13 25-22 30-28)

Our boys r in the semis with win over Koreans ... After losing the first set our boys produced strong comeback and won the second set easily ... Then they kept momentum to win the third set ... Koreans tried hard in the fourth but our players kept cool to win it in extra points ... In the semis we r mostly facing in-form Japanese team.

With this win we r qualified for 2013 FIVB Men's Junior World Championship, which will be held in Turkey ... Congrats to our boys.
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At 16th Asian Jr. Women’s Volleyball Championship, Ratchaburi, Thailand

Pool B
India bt Vietnam 3-0 (25–19 25–21 25–18)
India bt Mongolia 3-1 (25-7 24-26 25-5 25-21)
India l China 0-3 (9-25 7-25 8-25)

Women's Asian Junior volleyball is also going on in Thailand ... India was in Pool B in preliminary with #1 seed China, #8 seed Vietnam and Mongolia ... We started with comfortable upset win over Vietnamese in the first match ... Easy win against Mongolians though we lost the second set but in the final group match Chinese girls dominated us and we failed to cross double figure in all three sets ... We finished on the second position ... Next we r in Pool F with China, Japan and Chinese Taipei.

Tennis News
At 4.8M China Open, Beijing

[R1] (5) Nuria Llagostera Vives (ESP)/ Sania Mirza (IND) bt Petra Martic(CRO)/ Heather Watson (GBR) 63 64

[R2] (5) Nuria Llagostera Vives (ESP)/ Sania Mirza (IND) bt Timea Bacsinszky (SUI)/ Maria Jose Martínez Sánchez (ESP) 46 63 11-9

Nuria and Sania entered into the quarters after very close win in match tie-break ... After losing the first set Nuria and Sania were break down in the second ... Nuria and Sania made excellent comeback from 2-3 down winning next 4 games to win the second set ... In the match tie-break Nuria and Sania were leading with mini-break, at 8-5 they were double mini-break up ... Sania lost 2 points on her serve to make it 8-7 and then while serving for the match at 9-8 Nuria double faulted but they converted 2nd match point on opponent's serve.

Before that Nuria and Sania scored straight sets victory in the first round against British-Croatian pair.
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At $15K Australia F9 Futures, Esperance

[QF] Patrick Davidson (USA)/ Saketh Myneni (IND) bt (1) Matthew Barton (AUS)/ Michael Look (AUS) 62 63

[SF] Patrick Davidson (USA)/ Saketh Myneni (IND) vs (3) Adam Feeney (AUS)/ Zach Itzstein (AUS)

Saketh is in doubles semi-final with his American partner Patrick Davidson ... They convincingly defeated top-seed Aussie pair ... Next they r facing another 3rd seed Aussie pair.

Tennis News
At 2.2M China Open, Beijing

[R1] Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Rohan Bopanna (IND) bt (WC) Mao-Xin Gong (CHN)/ Ze Zhang (CHN) 63 60

As expected Mahesh and Rohan scored very comfortable win over local wild-card pair.
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At $15K Australia F9 Futures, Esperance

[R1] (4) Saketh Myneni (IND,385) bt (Q) Vuk Velickovic (AUS,UNR) 61 75

[R2] (4) Saketh Myneni (IND,385) vs Logan Mackenze (NZL,1337)

Doubles
[R1] Patrick Davidson (USA)/ Saketh Myneni (IND) bt Dekel Bar (ISR)/ Ryan Thomas (AUS) 76(2) 61

[QF] Patrick Davidson (USA)/ Saketh Myneni (IND) vs (1) Matthew Barton (AUS)/ Michael Look (AUS)

Saketh started win over local wild-card player after his injury break ... In doubles also he started with win with his American partner.

Hockey News
At 2012 Women's Champions Challenge 1, Dublin, Ireland

Pool A
India l Belgium 2-3
Goal Scorers - Roselin Dungdling (IND) 1', Own Goal (BEL) 14' and Erica Coppey (BEL) 33' PC, Stephanie De Groof (BEL) 63' PC, Alix Gerniers (BEL) 70'

Alix Gerniers scored winner when only 45 seconds remaining on the clock which gave superb comeback victory for Belgium ... Indians were leading 2-0 after first 1 minutes but they really messed up to lose after squandering that lead ... After half-time Indians were leading 2-1 but Belgium scored 2 goals in last 8 minutes for the victory.

Volleyball News
At 16th Asian Jr. Men’s Volleyball Championship, Urumieh, Iran

Quarter Final
India vs South Korea

Pool E (Classification)
India bt Australia 3-2 (20-25 23-25 25-21 25-21 15-11)
India l Iran 0-3 (26-28 13-25 22-25)

Pool C (Preliminary)
India bt Uzbekistan 3-1 (25-15 25-13 22-25 25-17)
India bt Chinese Taipei 3-2 (25-22 18-25 25-18 22-2 17-15)

In this Asian Junior Men's volleyball competition India was in Group C in preliminary with Chinese Taipei, Uzbekistan and Kuwait ... Kuwait withdrew from the tournament ... We won the first match easily against Uzbeks though we gave chance to Uzbeks in the third set ... In our last match of the Pool Taipei gave fighting performance and we managed to win in extra points ... This was important win as next grouping was A1, A2, C1 and C2 for 1 to 8 classification.

So we entered into Pool E with one win over Taipei ... We scored exciting comeback win over Australians ... After losing first 2 sets our boys fought back to win last three sets ... In the last match we faced host Iran for decide group winner but after winning the first set in extra points Iran dominated next 2 sets for comfortable victory.

In the quarter-final we r facing South Korea.

Hockey News
At 2012 Women's Champions Challenge 1, Dublin, Ireland

Pool A
India l Australia 1-8
Goal Scorers - Ritu Rani (IND) 18' and Madonna Blyth (AUS) 3' PC and 57' PC, Casey Eastham (AUS) 21', Jodie Schulz (AUS) 24' PC and 70' PC, Claire Messent (AUS) 50', Georgia Nanscawen (AUS) 64', Emily Hurtz (AUS) 68'

Indians women gave very dispirited performance against favorite Australian team ... After conceding 1st goal in 3rd minute Indians equaled through captain Ritu Rani in 18th minute but after that Australians dominated all match ... Australians scored 5 goals in the second half after leading 3-1 after the first half ... Australian converted 4 penalty corners ... Now our women need to win the last pool match against Belgium for finishing on the second position.

Hockey News
At 2012 Women's Champions Challenge 1, Dublin, Ireland

Pool A
India bt Wales 3-0
Goal Scorers - Ritu Rani (IND) 18', Lily Chanu Mayengbam (IND) 28' PC, Soundarya Yendala (IND) 70' PC

India opened its 2012 Champions Challenge 1 tournament with a 3-0 win against Wales ... Wales gave solid performance but Indians converted their chances ... Next match against WR #7 Australia is very important for Indians.

Tennis News
At 2.2M China Open, Beijing

[Q1] Yuki Bhambri (IND,177) l (7) Donald Young (USA,124) 36 26

Doubles
[R1] Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Rohan Bopanna (IND) vs (WC) Mao-Xin Gong (CHN)/ Ze Zhang (CHN)

Yuki lost his serve in 2nd game and Donald kept that advantage to win the first set ... Donald dominated in the second and broke Yuki twice to win it comfortably.

Mahesh and Rohan r unseeded and facing wild-card Chinese pair.
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At $1.2M Japan Open, Tokyo

[R1] (1) Radek Stepanek (CZE)/ Leander Paes (IND) vs Julian Knowle (AUT)/ Filip Polasek (SVK)

Lee and Radek r top-seed in Japan open as all other top pairs playing in China open.
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At $10K ITF Women's Tournament, Gulbarga, Karnataka

Singles Final
Prerna Bhambri (IND) bt (4) Zi Yang (CHN) 62 62

Superb solid win by Prerna to lift the title against in-form higher ranked Chinese, who double bageled 2 players in this tournament including top-seed Hong Kong playerand our Rutuja Bhosale ... Prerna won this final in 78 minutes.
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At $10K USA F26 Futures, Irvine

[SF] (Q) Prakash Amritraj (IND,945) l (1) Alex Bogdanovic (GBR,333) 57 46

I was hoping upset win for Prakash ... Alex won it in 2 sets but Prakash gave fighting performance against him.

Chess News
At São Paulo / Bilbao Grand Slam Final, São Paulo, Brazil

Round 5 - Saturday, September 29

Francisco Vallejo ½-½ Sergey Karjakin
Viswanathan Anand ½-½ Magnus Carlsen
Levon Aronian ½-½ Fabiano Caruana

Round 4 - Friday, September 28

Fabiano Caruana bt Francisco Vallejo 1-0
Magnus Carlsen dw Levon Aronian ½-½
Serguei Kariakin dw Viswanathan Anand ½-½

In fifth round Anand managed draw against Carlsen after 58 moves ... He was under trouble after making mistake early but managed to hold Carlsen ... So end of São Paulo leg Anand is on 4th position with 4 draw ... 6 points behind leader Fabiano Caruana.

The fourth draw in a row for Anand but Fabiano Caruana secured first leg's title with his third win in 4 matches.
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At 6th Women's Grand Prix, Ankara, Turkey

Final Standing
GM Humpy Koneru (IND,2593) 8½ pts
GM Anna Muzychuk (SLO,2606) 8 pts
GM Xue Zhao (CHN,2549) 7½ pts
GM Viktorija Cmilyte (LTU,2520) 6½ pts
WGM Lufei Ruan (CHN,2492) 6½ pts
IM Batkhuyag Munguntuul (MGL,2434) 6 pts
GM Tatiana Kosintseva (RUS,2524) 5½ pts
WGM Wenjun Ju (CHN,2528) 5 pts
GM Antoaneta Stefanova (BUL,2502) 4½ pts
WGM Betul Cemre Yildiz (TUR,2341) 3½ pts
GM Monika Socko (POL,2463) 2½ pts
WGM Kubra Ozturk (TUR,2294) 2 pts

Round one - Sunday September 16, 2012
IM Munguntuul Batkhuyag (MGL,2434) ½-½ GM Kosintseva Tatiana (RUS,2524)
GM Muzychuk Anna (SLO,2606) ½-½ WGM Ju Wenjun (CHN,2528)
WGM Ozturk Kubra (TUR,2294) 0-1 WGM Ruan Lufei (CHN,2492)
GM Socko Monika (POL,2463) 0-1 GM Cmilyte Viktorija (LTU,2520)
WGM Yildiz Betul Cemre (TUR,2341) 0-1 GM Koneru Humpy (IND,2593)
GM Zhao Xue (CHN,2549) 1-0 GM Stefanova Antoaneta (BUL,2502)

Round two - Monday September 17, 2012
GM Kosintseva Tatiana (RUS,2524) ½-½ GM Stefanova Antoaneta (BUL,2502)
GM Koneru Humpy (IND,2593) ½-½ GM Zhao Xue (CHN,2549)
GM Cmilyte Viktorija (LTU,2520) 0-1 WGM Yildiz Betul Cemre (TUR,2341)
WGM Ruan Lufei (CHN,2492) 1-0 GM Socko Monika (POL,2463)
WGM Ju Wenjun (CHN,2528) 1-0 WGM Ozturk Kubra (TUR,2294)
IM Munguntuul Batkhuyag (MGL,2434) ½-½ GM Muzychuk Anna (SLO,2606)

Round three - Tuesday September 18, 2012
GM Muzychuk Anna (SLO,2606) 1-0 GM Kosintseva Tatiana (RUS,2524)
WGM Ozturk Kubra (TUR,2294) ½-½ IM Munguntuul Batkhuyag (MGL,2434)
GM Socko Monika (POL,2463) ½-½ WGM Ju Wenjun (CHN,2528)
WGM Yildiz Betul Cemre (TUR,2341) 0-1 WGM Ruan Lufei (CHN,2492)
GM Zhao Xue (CHN,2549) 0-1 GM Cmilyte Viktorija (LTU,2520)
GM Stefanova Antoaneta (BUL,2502) bt 0-1 GM Koneru Humpy (IND,2593)

Round four - Wednesday September 19, 2012
GM Kosintseva Tatiana (RUS,2524) 0-1 GM Koneru Humpy (IND,2593)
GM Cmilyte Viktorija (LTU,2520) 1-0 GM Stefanova Antoaneta (BUL,2502)
WGM Ruan Lufei (CHN,2492) ½-½ GM Zhao Xue (CHN,2549)
WGM Ju Wenjun (CHN,2528) 1-0 WGM Yildiz Betul Cemre (TUR,2341)
IM Munguntuul Batkhuyag (MGL,2434) 1-0 GM Socko Monika (POL,2463)
GM Muzychuk Anna (SLO,2606) 1-0 WGM Ozturk Kubra (TUR,2294)

Round five - Friday September 21, 2012
WGM Ozturk Kubra (TUR,2294) ½-½ GM Kosintseva Tatiana (RUS,2524)
GM Socko Monika (POL,2463) 0-1 GM Muzychuk Anna (SLO,2606)
WGM Yildiz Betul Cemre (TUR,2341) ½-½ IM Munguntuul Batkhuyag (MGL,2434)
GM Zhao Xue (CHN,2549) 1-0 WGM Ju Wenjun (CHN,2528)
GM Stefanova Antoaneta (BUL,2502) ½-½ WGM Ruan Lufei (CHN,2492)
GM Koneru Humpy (IND,2593) ½-½ GM Cmilyte Viktorija (LTU,2520)

Round six - Saturday September 22, 2012
GM Kosintseva Tatiana (RUS,2524) 1-0 GM Cmilyte Viktorija (LTU,2520)
WGM Ruan Lufei (CHN,2492) 0-1 GM Koneru Humpy (IND,2593)
WGM Ju Wenjun (CHN,2528) 1-0 GM Stefanova Antoaneta (BUL,2502)
IM Munguntuul Batkhuyag (MGL,2434) 0-1 GM Zhao Xue (CHN,2549)
GM Muzychuk Anna (SLO,2606) 1-0 WGM Yildiz Betul Cemre (TUR,2341)
WGM Ozturk Kubra (TUR,2294) 0-1 GM Socko Monika (POL,2463)

Round seven - Sunday September 23, 2012
GM Socko Monika (POL,2463) 0-1 GM Kosintseva Tatiana (RUS,2524)
WGM Yildiz Betul Cemre (TUR,2341) ½-½ WGM Ozturk Kubra (TUR,2294)
GM Zhao Xue (CHN,2549) ½-½ GM Muzychuk Anna (SLO,2606)
GM Stefanova Antoaneta (BUL,2502) ½-½ IM Munguntuul Batkhuyag (MGL,2434)
GM Koneru Humpy (IND,2593) 1-0 WGM Ju Wenjun (CHN,2528)
GM Cmilyte Viktorija (LTU,2520) ½-½ WGM Ruan Lufei (CHN,2492)

Round eight - Monday September 24, 2012
GM Kosintseva Tatiana (RUS,2524) ½-½ WGM Ruan Lufei (CHN,2492)
WGM Ju Wenjun (CHN,2528) ½-½ GM Cmilyte Viktorija (LTU,2520)
IM Munguntuul Batkhuyag (MGL,2434) ½-½ GM Koneru Humpy 2593)
GM Muzychuk Anna (SLO,2606) ½-½ GM Stefanova Antoaneta (BUL,2502)
WGM Ozturk Kubra (TUR,2294) ½-½ GM Zhao Xue (CHN,2549)
GM Socko Monika (POL,2463) ½-½ WGM Yildiz Betul Cemre (TUR,2341)

Round nine - Wednesday September 26, 2012
WGM Yildiz Betul Cemre (TUR,2341) 1-0 GM Kosintseva Tatiana (RUS,2524)
GM Zhao Xue (CHN,2549) 1-0 GM Socko Monika (POL,2463)
GM Stefanova Antoaneta (BUL,2502) 1-0 WGM Ozturk Kubra (TUR,2294)
GM Koneru Humpy (IND,2593) 0-1 GM Muzychuk Anna (SLO,2606)
GM Cmilyte Viktorija (LTU,2520) ½-½ IM Munguntuul Batkhuyag (MGL,2434)
WGM Ruan Lufei (CHN,2492) ½-½ WGM Ju Wenjun (CHN,2528)

Round ten - Thursday September 27, 2012
GM Kosintseva Tatiana (RUS,2524) 1-0 WGM Ju Wenjun (CHN,2528)
IM Munguntuul Batkhuyag (MGL,2434) ½-½ WGM Ruan Lufei (CHN,2492)
GM Muzychuk Anna (SLO,2606) ½-½ GM Cmilyte Viktorija (LTU,2520)
WGM Ozturk Kubra (TUR,2294) 0-1 GM Koneru Humpy (IND,2593)
GM Socko Monika (POL,2463) ½-½ GM Stefanova Antoaneta (BUL,2502)
WGM Yildiz Betul Cemre (TUR,2341) 0-1 GM Zhao Xue (CHN,2549)

Round eleven - Friday September 28, 2012
GM Zhao Xue (CHN,2549) ½-½ GM Kosintseva Tatiana (RUS,2524)
GM Stefanova Antoaneta (BUL,2502) 1-0 WGM Yildiz Betul Cemre (TUR,2341)
GM Koneru Humpy (IND,2593) 1-0 GM Socko Monika (POL,2463)
GM Cmilyte Viktorija (LTU,2520) 1-0 WGM Ozturk Kubra (TUR,2294)
WGM Ruan Lufei (CHN,2492) ½-½ GM Muzychuk Anna (SLO,2606)
WGM Ju Wenjun (CHN,2528) 0-1 IM Munguntuul Batkhuyag (MGL,2434)

Koneru Humpy won her final round game comfortably and won this GP by half point and now places second in the overall Grand Prix series.

Humpy lost playing with white in 9th game against top-seed Anna Muzychuk but won last two rounds and Anna managed only draw in last two rounds.

Tennis News
At $551K Thailand Open, Bangkok

[SF] (1) Leander Paes (IND)/ Horia Tecau (ROU) l (4) Eric Butorac (USA)/ Paul Hanley (AUS) 76(6) 46 8-10

Lee and Horia Tecau lost in the semis against Butorac and Hanley ... Lee and Horia won the first set in tie-break ... In the second set Butorac and Hanley broke Lee in 7th game, Lee and Horia had a break point in 10th game but Butorac won the set with ace ... In match tie-break Butorac and Hanley kept early mini-break advantage to complete the victory.
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At $10K USA F26 Futures, Irvine

[QF] (Q) Prakash Amritraj (IND,945) bt (6) Dennis Lajola (USA, 552) 63 67(5) 64

[SF] (Q) Prakash Amritraj (IND,945) vs (1) Alex Bogdanovic (GBR,333)

Prakash needed three sets to beat in-form American Dennis Lajola ... With this win he is in the semis, where he meet top-seed British Alex Bogdanovic.
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At $10K ITF Women's Tournament, Gulbarga, Karnataka

[SF] Prerna Bhambri (IND) bt Nan Nan Zhang (CHN) 62 62
[SF] (4) Zi Yang (CHN) bt (1) Wang Yau Venise Chan (HKG) 60 60

[QF] (4) Zi Yang (CHN) bt (WC) Sri Vaishnavi Peddi Reddy (IND) 61 60
[QF] Nan Nan Zhang (CHN) bt (WC) Rushmi Chakravarthi (IND) 76(2) 60
[QF] Prerna Bhambri (IND) bt (2) Emily Webley- Smith (GBR) 75 1-2 Retd.

[R2] (1) Wang Yau Venise Chan (HKG) bt (Q) Sowjanya Bavisetti (IND) 62 64
[R2] (WC) Sri Vaishnavi Peddi Reddy (IND) bt Natasha Palha (IND) 76(2) 36 61
[R2] (WC) Rushmi Chakravarthi (IND) bt (3) Kyra Shroff (IND) 63 60
[R2] Prerna Bhambri (IND) bt (WC) Spruti Shivalingaiah (IND) 64 46 63

[R1] (Q) Sowjanya Bavisetti (IND) bt Sweta Rana (IND) 64 63
[R1] (Q) Oleksandra Korashvili (UKR) bt (6) Ankita Raina (IND) 75 61
[R1] (4) Zi Yang (CHN) bt Rutuja Bhosale (IND) 60 60
[R1] Natasha Palha (IND) bt (Q) Shalaka Uddur Manjunath (IND) 75 62
[R1] (WC) Sri Vaishnavi Peddi Reddy (IND) bt (5) Rishika Sunkara (IND) 76(6) 64
[R1] Ju-Eun Kim (KOR) bt (Q) Riya Bhatia (IND) 61 60
[R1] (WC) Rushmi Chakravarthi (IND) bt Napatsakorn Sankaew (THA) 76(5) 46 64
[R1] (3) Kyra Shroff (IND) bt (WC) Sai Samhitha Chamarthi (IND) 76(2) 61
[R1] (WC) Spruti Shivalingaiah (IND) bt (8) Nidhi Chilumula (IND) 61 36 63
[R1] Prerna Bhambri (IND) bt Ching-Wen Hsu (TPE) 75 62
[R1] Misa Kinoshita (JPN) bt Shivika Burman (IND) 61 60

Excellent result for Prerna, who is in the final in this tough $10K tournament.

Tennis News
At $850K Malaysian Open, Kuala Lumpur

[QF] (ALT) Sanam Singh (IND)/ Vasek Pospisil (CAN) l (1) Mariusz Fyrstenberg (POL)/ Marcin Matkowski (POL) 64 36 5-10

Sanam and Vasek gave terrific fight to top-seed Poles but lost in match tie-break ... After winning the first set they lost momentum and Poles came back to win it.
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At $551K Thailand Open, Bangkok

[QF] (1) Leander Paes (IND)/ Horia Tecau (ROU) bt Janko Tipsarevic (SRB)/ Alexander Waske (GER) 60 36 10-5

[SF] (1) Leander Paes (IND)/ Horia Tecau (ROU) vs (4) Eric Butorac (USA)/ Paul Hanley (AUS)

Leander is in the semis with his new Romanian partner Horia Tecau and they will face 4th seed pair ... In the quarters they defeated Tipsarevic and Waske in match tie-break after winning the first set without losing a single game.
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At $10K Vietnam F6 Futures, Binh Duong

[QF] (4) Vijayant Malik (IND,477) l (6) Shuichi Sekiguchi (JPN,548) 46 16

Doubles
[SF] (3) Weerapat Doakmaiklee (THA)/ Vijayant Malik (IND) l (2) Liang-Chi Huang (TPE)/ Bowen Ouyang (CHN) 46 62 10-12

Vijayant failed to continue with his 7 matches winning streak in the singles and lost against Japanese ... In the doubles he and his Thai partner lost very close match against 2nd seed pair.
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At $10K USA F26 Futures, Irvine

[R2] (Q) Prakash Amritraj (IND,945) bt (4) Reid Carleton (USA,527) 63 60

[QF] (Q) Prakash Amritraj (IND,945) vs (6) Dennis Lajola (USA, 552)

Prakash is definitely playing top-400 type tennis ... Another dominating win against top-525 player losing only 3 games.

Chess News
At São Paulo / Bilbao Grand Slam Final,

Round 3 - Wednesday, September 26
Fabiano Caruana ½-½ Viswanathan Anand
Levon Aronian ½-½ Francisco Vallejo
Magnus Carlsen ½-½ Sergey Karjakin

Another draw for Anand in the third round ... All other boards also ended in draw.

Tennis News
At $850K Malaysian Open, Kuala Lumpur

[R1] (LL) Sanam Singh (IND,373) l Nikolay Davydenko (RUS,44) 57 46

Sanam was lost due to his lack of experience in this top level but he gave creditable fight to Davydenko ... In this match Sanam faced 16 break points.
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At $551K Thailand Open, Bangkok

[R1] (1) Leander Paes (IND)/ Horia Tecau (ROU) bt Robin Haase (NED)/ Jean Julien-Rojer (NED) 64 75

[QF] (1) Leander Paes (IND)/ Horia Tecau (ROU) vs Janko Tipsarevic (SRB)/ Alexander Waske (GER)

So a winning start for this new pair ... Next they r facing Tipsarevic and Waske in the quarters.
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At $10K Vietnam F6 Futures, Binh Duong

[R2] (4) Vijayant Malik (IND,477) bt Maximilian Dinslaken (GER,795) 63 75
[R2] Ashwin Vijayragavan (IND,847) l (2) Liang-Chi Juang (TPE,399) 46 16

[QF] (4) Vijayant Malik (IND,477) vs (6) Shuichi Sekiguchi (JPN,548)

Doubles
[QF] (3) Weerapat Doakmaiklee (THA)/ Vijayant Malik (IND) bt Chih-Jen Ho (TPE)/ Chieh-Fu Wang (TPE) 64 46 10-5
[QF] Andrew Fitzpatrick (GBR)/ Ajai Selvaraj (IND) l (2) Liang-Chi Huang (TPE)/ Bowen Ouyang (CHN) 36 76(5) 7-10

[SF] (3) Weerapat Doakmaiklee (THA)/ Vijayant Malik (IND) vs (2) Liang-Chi Huang (TPE)/ Bowen Ouyang (CHN)

Vijayant continued with his good form and really happy with his consistency.
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At $10K USA F26 Futures, Irvine

[R1] (Q) Prakash Amritraj (IND,945) bt (Q) Sahr Timothy Kpulun (SLE,1498) 64 62

[R2] (Q) Prakash Amritraj (IND,945) vs (4) Reid Carleton (USA,527)

Expected winning start against fellow qualifier ... Next he is facing 4th seed American.

Chess News
At São Paulo / Bilbao Grand Slam Final,

Round 2 - Tuesday, September 25
Francisco Vallejo 0-1 Magnus Carlsen
Sergey Karjakin 0-1 Fabiano Caruana
Viswanathan Anand ½-½ Levon Aronian

Round 1 - Monday, September 24
Viswanathan Anand ½-½ Francisco Vallejo
Levon Aronian 1-0 Sergey Karjakin
Fabiano Caruana 1-0 Magnus Carlsen

Anand is struggling with his form after three month layoff ... But after first round loss Carlsen responded with solid win in the second.

Tennis News
At $850K Malaysian Open, Kuala Lumpur

[R1] (ALT) Sanam Singh (IND)/ Vasek Pospisil (CAN) bt James Cerretani (USA)/ Matthew Ebden (AUS) 64 64

Terrific lucky break for Sanam ... After entering into the singles main-draw as lucky loser he got chance to enter into the doubles as alternate pair with Canadian Pospisil ... This pair started with win against experienced American-Australian pair in the straight sets ... In the quarters they will mostly face top-seed Polish pair.
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At $10K Vietnam F6 Futures, Binh Duong

[R1] (4) Vijayant Malik (IND,477) bt Bowen Ouyang (CHN,733) 62 75
[R1] (Q) Ajai Selvaraj (IND,1110) l Maximilian Dinslaken (GER,795) 46 06
[R1] Ashwin Vijayragavan (IND,847) bt (Q) Jae Hwan Kim (KOR,1397) 63 62

[R2] (4) Vijayant Malik (IND,477) vs Maximilian Dinslaken (GER,795)
[R2] Ashwin Vijayragavan (IND,847) vs (2) Liang-Chi Juang (TPE,399)

Expected wins for Vijayant and Ashwin.
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At $10K USA F26 Futures, Irvine

[Q4] (5) Sunil Kumar Sipaeya (IND,1454) l (10) Thomas Shubert (USA,1653) 63 26 46
[Q4] Prakash Amritraj (IND,UNR) bt Michael Laser (USA,UNR) 60 61

[R1] (Q) Prakash Amritraj (IND,945) vs (Q) Sahr Timothy Kpulun (SLE,1498)

Prakash qualified for the main-draw in third week in a row ... He scored very dominating win losing a single game ... In main-draw he is facing another qualifier.