Tennis News
At $75K Charlottesville Challenger, USA

[R1] (WC) Somdev Devvarman (IND,733) bt (4) Mischa Zverev (GER,137) 46 75 64

[R2] (WC) Somdev Devvarman (IND,733) vs (Q) Taro Daniel (JPN,337)

In the first set Zverev take first break in 5th game but Somi broke back in the next game to make it 3-all ... Zverev take crucial break in 9th game and then hold his serve to win the first set ... In the second set Somi broke Zverev in 4th game to lead 3-1 but then failed to hold his serve in next game ... Again Somi broke Zverev in 8th game to lead 5-3 but failed to hold his own service game while serving for the set ... Somi won the set when he take crucial break on Zverev serve in 12th game ... In the final set Zverev take early break breaking Somi in 3rd game ... Suddenly Somi was making too many unforced errors ... Zverev take advantage of it and again broke Somi in 5th game to lead 1-4 ... Somi raised his game from this game and comeback strongly ... Somi won next 5 games and in that broke Zverev's serve 3 times; 6th game, 8th game and 10th game ... His best win after his shoulder operation.

Next he is facing Japanese qualifier, who defeated Prakash three weeks ago in Tiburon Challenger.
-----------------------------------------------------------
At $15K India F14 Futures, Pune

[R2] (1) Christopher RUNGKAT (INA,299) bt (WC) Vignesh PERANAMALLUR (IND,1181) 61 61
[R2] (7) Mate PAVIC (CRO,467) bt Vivek SHOKEEN (IND,1188) 64 75
[R2] (4) Saketh MYNENI (IND,374) bt James MARSALEK (GBR,568) 63 62
[R2] (5) Jeevan NEDUNCHEZHIYAN (IND,398) bt (WC) Chandril SOOD (IND,1174) 63 62
[R2] Prakash AMRITRAJ (IND,806) bt Mohit Mayur JAYAPRAKASH (IND,1077) 75 60
[R2] (3) Liang-Chi HUANG (TPE,368) bt (WC) Arjun KADHE (IND,1408) 76(3) 36 57
[R2] (8) Nicolas REISSIG (AUT,504) bt Chieh-Fu WANG (TPE,935) 63 63
[R2] (2) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND,328) bt (Q) Ting Yu CHUANG (TPE,UNR) 61 76(2)

Doubles
[QF] (1) Saket Myneni (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) bt Mohit Mayur Jayaprakash (IND)/ Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND) 63 64
[QF] (3) N. Vijay Sundar Prashanth (IND)/ Ranjeet Virali-Murugesan (IND) bt Kaza Vinayak Sharma (IND)/ Arjun Kadhe (IND) 62 75
[QF] (4) Mate Pavic (CRO)/ Nicolas Reissig (AUT) bt Chandril Sood (IND)/ Lakshit Sood (IND) 62 64
[QF] (2) N Sriram Balaji (IND)/ Arun Prakash Rajagopalan (IND) bt Sidharth Rawat (IND)/ Rakshay Thakkar (IND) 63 62

Overall expected results in the singles and the doubles but really impressive fight by young Arjun against 3rd seed Huang ... Huang won this match in the decider on his experience.

Tennis News
At €2.95M BNP Paribas Masters, Paris, France

[R1] (6) Jurgen Melzer (AUT)/ Leander Paes (IND) vs
[R1] (5) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Rohan Bopanna (IND) bye

This week Lee is playing with Jurgen ... For Mahesh and Rohan their performance in this Masters count for qualifying for ATP Tour Finals ... They r fighting for 2 places with 4th seed Poles Mariusz Fyrstenberg and Marcin Matkowski, who r in their draw and can meet in the quarters, other pair is 7th seed Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi and Jean-Julien Rojer.
-----------------------------------------------------------
At $15K India F14 Futures, Pune

[R1] (1) Christopher RUNGKAT (INA,299) bt (WC) Purav RAJA (IND,1279) 76(4) 62
[R1] (WC) Vignesh PERANAMALLUR (IND,1181) bt Ajai SELVARAJ (IND,1115) 62 46 61
[R1] Vivek SHOKEEN (IND,1188) bt (Q) Tejas CHAUKULKAR (IND,1475) 64 62
[R1] (7) Mate PAVIC (CRO,467) bt Kaza Vinayak SHARMA (IND,904) 63 61
[R1] (4) Saketh MYNENI (IND,374) bt Sidharth RAWAT (IND,921) 62 61
[R1] James MARSALEK (GBR,568) bt (Q) Jui-Chen HUNG (TPE,1521) 62 64
[R1] (WC) Chandril SOOD (IND,1174) bt (Q) Abhijeet TIWARI (IND,1196) 76(9) 61
[R1] (5) Jeevan NEDUNCHEZHIYAN (IND,398) bt (Q) William KENDALL (USA,UNR) 63 64
[R1] Prakash AMRITRAJ (IND,806) bt (6) Ranjeet VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND,460) 75 62
[R1] Mohit Mayur JAYAPRAKASH (IND,1077) bt (Q) Rakshay THAKKAR (IND,1360) 63 62
[R1] (WC) Arjun KADHE (IND,1408) bt (Q) Peng Chih HSUEH (TPE,UNR) 60 63
[R1] (3) Liang-Chi HUANG (TPE,368) bt Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND,1042) 61 61
[R1] (8) Nicolas REISSIG (AUT,504) bt (Q) Sebastian OFNER (AUT,UNR) 46 62 62
[R1] Chieh-Fu WANG (TPE,935) bt Ashwin VIJAYRAGAVAN (IND,823) 64 76(3)
[R1] (Q) Ting Yu CHUANG (TPE,UNR) bt (LL) Lakshit SOOD (IND,UNR) 75 63
[R1] (2) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND,328) bt N. Vijay Sundar PRASHANTH (IND,543) 76(2) 57 64

Doubles
[R1] (1) Saket Myneni (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) bt Neeraj Elangovan (IND)/ Abhijeet Tiwari (IND) 63 63
[R1] Mohit Mayur Jayaprakash (IND)/ Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND) bt Vivek Shokeen (IND)/ Chieh-Fu Wang (TPE) 64 76(6)
[R1] (3) N. Vijay Sundar Prashanth (IND)/ Ranjeet Virali-Murugesan (IND) bt Ajai Selvaraj (IND)/ Ashwin Vijayragavan (IND) 64 64
[R1] Kaza Vinayak Sharma (IND)/ Arjun Kadhe (IND) bt (WC) Tejas Chaukulkar (IND)/ Fariz Mohammed (IND) 63 64
[R1] Chandril Sood (IND)/ Lakshit Sood (IND) bt Vignesh Peranamallur (IND)/ Akash Wagh (IND) 75 75
[R1] (4) Mate Pavic (CRO)/ Nicolas Reissig (AUT) bt (WC) Rohan Gide (IND)/ Nitten Kirrtane (IND) 64 64
[R1] Sidharth Rawat (IND)/ Rakshay Thakkar (IND) bt (WC) Jatin Dahiya (IND)/ Sagar Manjanna (IND) 63 62
[R1] (2) N Sriram Balaji (IND)/ Arun Prakash Rajagopalan (IND) bt Kunal Anand (IND)/ Ronak Manuja (IND) 64 36 10-7

Comfortable winning start for Saketh ... Chandril also scored good win against similar ranked Abhijeet but surprised loss of Ashwin against lower ranked Taipei player ... Expected results in the doubles.

Arjun started with a comfortable win but next he is facing 3rd seed Taipei player ... Happy to see Prakash's winning start against Ranjeet ... Vijay Sundar stretched Balaji in tough three sets.

Golf News
At $6.1M CIMB Classic, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (Co-sanctioned by PGA and Asian Tours)

Final Standing
T10 Gaganjeet Bhullar (IND) 65 72 65 67 -15 $102,500.00
T26 Anirban Lahiri (IND) 71 66 68 69 -10 $60,600.00

Gaganjeet Bhullar finished creditable tied for 10th position ... Gaganjeet managed 4 under final round which helped him to finish in top-10 and also best Asian player's finish this year.

Billiard News
At the 2012 World Billiards Championship, Leeds, England

World Billiards Championship 2012 - Time format Final
(1) Pankaj Advani (IND) bt (6) Mike Russell (QAT) 1895-1216

Pankaj defeated hot favorite and defending multiple times World champion Mike Russell to lift this first unification Billiard World Championship ... Pankaj won the final by 650+ points ... Huge victory for Pankaj.

So both titles, Point and Time formats, won by Indians.

Badminton News
At $200K French Open 2012, Paris

[F] (1) Saina Nehwal (IND,3) l Minatsu Mitani (JPN,26) 19-21 11-21

In this match Saina played some beautiful points but after that was making couple of errors and she was looking very tired ... In the first game she lost 4 points making unforced errors from 19-17 to lose it ... In the second game also she lost 10 points from final 12 points from 9-10 ... Disappointing performance for Saina ... Other hand Minatsu Mitani won her first Super series title in her first Super series final.

Billiard News
At the 2012 World Billiards Championship, Leeds, England

World Billiards Championship 2012 - 150up format - Final
Rupesh Shah (IND) bt (3) Matthew Bolton (AUS) 6-2

World Billiards Championship 2012 - Time format
[SF] (1) Pankaj Advani (IND) bt (4) Dhruv Sitwala (IND) 1381-867
[SF] (6) Mike Russell (QAT) bt (2) Matthew Bolton (AUS) 1562-1028

Rupesh Shah continued with his giant killing and lifted this first unification World Billiards Championship title in Point format beating Australian Matthew Bolton in the final.

Pankaj started well with big breaks in the first session ... He scored three breaks of 167, 205 and 257, which built a lead of 600 points by the session break ... That lead proved too big for Dhruv to overcome as finally Pankaj won the match by 514 points ... In the second semi-final Bolton tried hard to catch Russell but Mike Russell's huge 740 points break in the first session proved decisive.

Badminton News
At $200K French Open 2012, Paris

[SF] (1) Saina Nehwal (IND,3) bt (4) Juliane Schenk (GER,6) 21-19 21-8

[F] (1) Saina Nehwal (IND,3) vs Minatsu Mitani (JPN,26)

Saina scored straight games win over Juliane Schenk in 36 minutes for another Super Series final ... In the first game Saina was leading by couple of points from the start but Juliane managed to catch with her at 6-all ... From 9-all Saina extended 13-9 lead but again Juliane caught her 16-all and then after falling behind 16-19 Juliane managed to make it 19-all ... Saina won next 2 points to win this game ... In the second game Saina opened 8-0 lead and she didn't give any chance of fightback to Juliane ... Saina won this game easily ... In the final Saina is facing Japanese Minatsu Mitani, last week at Denmark open Saina defeated her in the straight games.

Tennis News
At $15K India F13 Futures, Mumbai

Singles Final
(6) Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND,400) bt Mate Pavic (CRO,463) 61 61

Jeevan scored very dominating win over Pavic to win $15K futures title, his 4th futures title ... Though Pavic tried but failed to generate a single break point on Jeevan's serve ... Other hand Jeevan toyed with Pavic's serve breaking twice in the first set and thrice in the second.
-----------------------------------------------------------
At $75K Charlottesville Challenger, USA

[Q1] (3) Sanam Singh (IND,355) bt Nicolas Meister (USA,543) 64 64

[Q2] (3) Sanam Singh (IND,355) l Edward Corrie (GBR,507) 46 16

[R1] (WC) Somdev DevVarman (IND,733) vs (4) Mischa Zverev (GER,140)

Doubles
[Q1] (PR) Somdev Devvarman (IND)/ Sanam Singh (IND) l (1) James Andersen (RSA)/ Izak van der Merwe (RSA) 46 63 10-5

Sanam started with straight sets victory in the first qualifying round ... But in the second qualifying round he faced British player and lost easily in two sets ... In the doubles qualifying Somi and Sanam lost against top-seed South African team in match tie-break ... So turned to be disappointing day for Sanam.

Somi received wild-card for the main-draw ... He is facing tough match-up against German top-150 Mischa Zverev.

Badminton News
At $200K French Open 2012, Paris

[QF] (1) Saina Nehwal (IND,4) bt (7) Ratchanok Intanon (THA,10) 22-20 22-20

[SF] (1) Saina Nehwal (IND,4) vs (4) Juliane Schenk (GER,6)

Saina needed her all experience to beat Thai youngster Ratchanok Intanon in 42 minutes ... In the first game Saina opened 5-2 lead which she maintained and then increased ... From 14-19 Ratchanok started fightback ... She won next 4 points to make it 18-19 and then saved 2 game points from 18-20 but Saina converted 3rd game point ... Almost same story repeated in the second game ... Saina take 4-0 lead but Ratchanok caught with her at 5-all ... Then both exchanged lead till 16-all ... THen Saina opened 2 points lead 18-16 ... Saina had 3 match points at 20-17 but this time also Ratchanok saved all 3 match points to make it 20-all ... Again Saina converted 4 match point for hard fought victory ... Next Saina is facing German Juliane Schenk ... Last week in the Danish open final Saina defeated her convincingly.

Billiard News
At the 2012 World Billiards Championship, Leeds, England

World Billiards Championship 2012 - 150up format
[SF] Rupesh Shah (IND) bt (8) Peter Gilchrist (SIN) 5-2
[SF] (3) Matthew Bolton (AUS) bt (2) David Causier (ENG) 5-3

World Billiards Championship 2012 - Time format
[QF] (1) Pankaj Advani (IND) bt (9) Rupesh Shah (IND) 1647-705
[QF] (4) Dhruv Sitwala (IND) bt (5) Sourav Kothari (IND) 562-558
[QF] (3) Geet Sethi (IND) l (6) Mike Russell (QAT) 739-1345
[QF] (2) Matthew Bolton (AUS) bt (10) David Causier (ENG) 927-581

After scoring back to back win against Geet and Pankaj in previous matches Peter Gilchrist failed to overcome Indian challenge in third match ... Rupesh Shah defeated him comfortably in the semis ... Rupesh is meeting Aussie Matthew Bolton in World championship match in point format.

Another closely fought match in the quarters of time format ... Sourav Kothari was leading most of the part until last minute when Dhruv managed to put important balls for the victory ... Pankaj showed ruthless form to beat Rupesh Shah ... Geet and Mike were neck to neck until the break but after that Mike put 485 points break which ended Geet's hope.

Tennis News
At $15K India F13 Futures, Mumbai

[SF] Mate Pavic (CRO,463) bt (4) Liang-Chi Huang (TPE,372) 16 64 62
[SF] (6) Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND,400) bt (WC) Purav Raja (IND,1272) 63 64

Doubles Final
(1) Saketh Myneni (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) bt (3) N Sriram Balaji (IND)/ Arun Prakash Rajagopalan (IND) 60 46 10-8

[SF] (1) Saketh Myneni (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) bt Kaza Vinayak Sharma (IND)/ Arjun Kadhe (IND) 60 67(5) 10-5

Jeevan scored comfortable win over over Purav ... In both sets he broke Purav's serve early and kept that advantage to win this match ... In the final Jeevan is facing young unseeded Croatian Mate Pavic.

In doubles final Saketh and Purav lifted title beating compatriots Balaji and Arun Prakash in match tie-break ... Before that in the semis after losing the first set 6-0 Kaza and Arjun fought back to win the second in tie-break but in match tie-break Purav and Saketh scored their experience for the win.

Billiard News
At the 2012 World Billiards Championship, Leeds, England

World Billiards Championship 2012 - 150up format
[QF] (1) Pankaj Advani (IND) l (8) Peter Gilchrist (SIN) 1-4
[QF] Rupesh Shah (IND) bt (5) Ashok Shandilya (IND) 4-2
[QF] (6) Devendra Joshi (IND) l (3) Matthew Bolton (AUS) 0-4
[QF] (2) David Causier (ENG) bt Martin Goodwill (ENG) 4-1

Peter Gilchrist scored back to back upset win over Indians ... After defeating former world champion Geet Sethi last night he knocked out Pankaj Advani, another world champion in point format quarter final match ... Devendra Joshi outplayed by Matthew Bolton in other quarters.

Only Rupesh Shah manage to keep Indian interest in point format ... He defeated Ashok Shandilya in well fought match ... Next he is facing Peter Gilchrist.

Tennis News
At $15K India F13 Futures, Mumbai

[QF] (8) Ranjeet Virali-Murugesan (IND,446) l Mate Pavic (CRO,463) 67(2) 16
[QF] (4) Liang-Chi Huang (TPE,372) bt Nicholas Reissig (AUT,505) 46 61 62
[QF] (WC) Purav Raja (IND,1272) bt James Marsalek (GBR,572) 63 64
[QF] (6) Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND,400) bt (2) Christopher Rungkat (INA,303) 76(3) 62

Doubles
[SF] (3) N Sriram Balaji (IND)/ Arun Prakash Rajagopalan (IND) bt Mate Pavic (CRO)/ Nicolas Reissig (AUT) 63 62

[QF] (1) Saket Myneni (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) bt Mohit Mayur Jayaprakash (IND)/ Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND) 62 63
[QF] Kaza Vinayak Sharma (IND)/ Arjun Kadhe (IND) bt (WC) Vijayant Malik (IND)/ Sunil-Kumar Sipaeya (IND) 62 62
[QF] (3) N Sriram Balaji (IND)/ Arun Prakash Rajagopalan (IND) bt Kunal Anand (IND)/ Ronak Manuja (IND) 62 64
[QF] Mate Pavic (CRO)/ Nicolas Reissig (AUT) bt (2) Christopher Rungkat (INA)/Liang-Chi Huang (TPE) 63 64

Jeevan scored superb win over top-300 type in-form top Indonesian player, Christopher Rungkat ... After winning the first set in tie-break Jeevan won the second set with double break ... Purav's excellent run in the singles continued ... In the quarters he surprised British James Marsalek with his serve and volley game to win this match in the straight set ... Ranjeet failed to overcome challenge of Mate Pavic.

In the doubles Kaza and Arjun moved into the semis with comfortable win ... Balaji and Arun Prakah make sure that all Indians final in the doubles with their doubles semi-final comfortable win over Mate Pavic and Nicolas Reissig.

Badminton News
At $200K French Open 2012, Paris

[R2] Ajay Jayaram (IND,27) vs (3) Peter Hoeg Gade (DEN,8) 21-18 17-21 14-21
[R2] (1) Saina Nehwal (IND,4) bt Sapsiree Taerattanachai (THA,27) 21-16 21-13

[QF] (1) Saina Nehwal (IND,4) vs (7) Ratchanok Intanon (THA,10)

After the first round hiccup Saina won this round match more comfortably ... She controlled the match and scored straight games over her Thai opponent ... Next she is facing Thai top player, Ratchanok Intanon.

Ajay started well taking early control in the first game and won it keeping that lead ... But from the second game despite leading he lost advantage in crucial juncture and lost next 2 games.

Billiard News
At the 2012 World Billiards Championship, Leeds, England

World Billiards Championship 2012 - Time format
[R16] (1) Pankaj Advani (IND) bt Martin Goodwill (ENG) 1303-425
[R16] (9) Rupesh Shah (IND) bt Robert Hall (ENG) 571-569
[R16] (5) Sourav Kothari (IND) bt Matthew Sutton (ENG) 574-389
[R16] (4) Dhruv Sitwala (IND) bt Ashok Shandilya (IND) 626-494
[R16] (3) Geet Sethi (IND) bt Robin Wilson (ENG) 776-615
[R16] (6) Mike Russell (QAT) bt (11) Peter Gilchrist (SIN) 1033-627
[R16] (10) David Causier bt (7) Balachandra Bhaskar (IND) 1115-617
[R16] (2) Matthew Bolton (AUS) bt Siddharth Parikh (IND) 1127-342

[R32] (1) Pankaj Advani (IND) bt Phil Davis (ENG) 1063-199
[R32] Martin Goodwill (ENG) bt (16) Manish Jain (IND) 578-380
[R32] (9) Rupesh Shah (IND) bt Steve Brookshaw (ENG) 525-342
[R32] (5) Sourav Kothari (IND) bt Alok Kumar (IND) 855-373
[R32] Matthew Sutton (ENG) bt (12) Arun Agrawal (IND) 427-408
[R32] Ashok Shandilya (IND) bt (13) Nalin Patel (ENG) 535-313
[R32] (4) Dhruv Sitwala (IND) bt Dhvaj Haria (IND) 679-300
[R32] (3) Geet Sethi (IND) bt Revanna Umadevi (IND) 1016-193
[R32] (7) Balachandra Bhaskar (IND) bt Devendra Joshi (IND) 451-436
[R32] Siddharth Parikh (IND) bt (15) John Hartley (ENG) 645-346

World Billiards Championship 2012 - 150up format

[R16] (1) Pankaj Advani (IND) bt (16) Robin Wilson (ENG) 4-1
[R16] (8) Peter Gilchrist (SIN) bt (9) Geet Sethi (IND) 4-1
[R16] (5) Ashok Shandilya (IND) bt (12) Michael Pearson (AUS) 4-0
[R16] Rupesh Shah (IND) bt (4) Mike Russell (QAT) 4-2
[R16] (6) Devendra Joshi (IND) bt (11) Alok Kumar (IND) 4-1
[R16] (7) Martin Goodwill (ENG) bt Sourav Kothari (IND) 4-1
[R16] (2) David Causier (ENG) bt (15) Siddharth Parikh (IND) 4-1

[R32] (1) Pankaj Advani (IND) bt S. Venkateswaran (IND) 4-0
[R32] (9) Geet Sethi (IND) bt Dhruv Sitwala (IND) 4-0
[R32] (5) Ashok Shandilya (IND) bt Steve Brookshaw (ENG) 4-1
[R32] (12) Michael Pearson (AUS) bt Balachandra Bhaskar (IND) 4-2
[R32] Rupesh Shah (IND) bt (12) Robert Hall (ENG) 4-1
[R32] (11) Alok Kumar (IND) bt Aidan Murray (IRL) 4-0
[R32] (6) Devendra Joshi (IND) bt Christopher Taylor (ENG) 4-0
[R32] Sourav Kothari (IND) bt (10) Arun Agrawal (IND) 4-1
[R32] (15) Siddharth Parikh (IND) bt Dhvaj Haria (IND) 4-0

The newly formed World Billiards Ltd has brought together the International Billiards & Snooker Federation (IBSF) and World Professional Billiards & Snooker Association (WPBSA) events for a unified World Championship ... So 65 players from 15 countries participated for the first ever unified World Billiards Championship.

In time format, Balachandra Bhaskar (Group B), Dhruv Sitwala (Group C), Arun Agarwal (Group E), Geet Sethi (Group F), Pankaj Advani (Group G), Sourav Kothari (Group I) and Rupesh Shah (Group J) were group winners.

In 150up (point) format, Pankaj Advani (Group B), Devendra Joshi (Group D), Alok Kumar (Group F), Geet Sethi (Group G), Ashok Shandilya (Group I) and Arun Agrawal (Group J) were group winners.

In Point and Time formats Pankaj qualified as top-seed for knock-out stage with his superior scoring.

Our eight players r in thr round of 16 in time format knock-out stage ... In round of 32 matches only 3 players crossed 1000 points; Pankaj Advani (1063), Mike Russell (1046) and Geet Sethi (1016).

Five Indians in the quarter-final of time format including Pankaj and Geet ... Pankaj continued with his terrific form and scored dominating win ... Geet struggled against young Robin Wilson ... Sourav Kothari was lucky as last 13 minutes remaining he was leading 111 points until time end Hall managed unfinished 109 points and lost by 2 points ... Our finalist is guaranteed as in top draw all Indian players r remaining ... In the quarters Geet having tough test against defending champion and favorite Mike Russell .

In 150up (point) format knock-out stage, former world champion Rupesh Shah scored biggest upset when he defeated the defending champion Mike Russell in round of 16 ... Geet also lost against former world champion Peter Gilchrist ... Four Indians r in the quarter-finals in this category.

After losing 1st game to Rupesh, Russell fought back winning next 2 games where he produced two consecutive breaks over 100 points, 150 (unfinished) and 101 to take 2 games to 1 lead over Rupesh ... Rupesh scored 71 points break at crunch time to make it 2 games-all ... In 5th game Rupesh scored 127 points break and lead 3 games to 2 ... In 6th game Rupesh scored 72 and 61 points break but Mike fought back scoring 67 points break ... Rupesh kept his nerve in final momemnts and completed his dream victory.

Rupesh Shah - “It was not easy to make a comeback from 2-1 down and that against a legendary player like Russell. When I got a break of 71 and 127 in third and fourthframe, I started looking for a positive result. In the last game I was going well but when I missed on the score of 131, there was a feeling of so near yet so far. But finally I managed to win.”

Badminton News
At $200K French Open 2012, Paris

[R1] Sourabh Varma (IND,32) l Sony Dwi Kuncoro (INA,23) 20-22 16-21
[R1] Ajay Jayaram (IND,27) bt (Q) Suppanyu Avihingsanon (THA,64) 21-16 21-17
[R1] (1) Saina Nehwal (IND,4) bt Li Han (CHN,23) 21-11 16-21 21-19

[R1] Tarun Kona (IND)/ Arun Vishnu (IND) l (4) Ki Jung Kim (KOR)/ Sa Rang Kim (KOR)12-21 7-21
[R1] Tarun Kona (IND)/ Ashwini Ponnappa (IND) l Patiphat Chalardchaleam (THA)/ Savitree Amitrapai (THA) 18-21 15-21

[R2] Ajay Jayaram (IND,27) vs (3) Peter Hoeg Gade (DEN,8)
[R2] (1) Saina Nehwal (IND,4) vs Sapsiree Taerattanachai (THA,27)

Another loss for Sourabh against Sony ... In the first game Sourabh produced fight and had a game point at 20-19 but after that Sony proved too strong for him.

Tarun and Ashwini's struggle of finding footing on international stage continue ... In men's double 4th seed Koreans trounced our Indian pair in 23 minutes.

In the first game from 4-all Saina opened small lead and then from 11-9 she won 6 points in a row to win this game comfortably ... In the second game Li Han started with winning first 6 points ... Saina tried hard to catch Li but this lead proved crucial to Li for winning the second game ... In the decider Saina take 3-0 lead which she increased to 11-5 but Li Han caught with her at 14-all then again at 17-all ... Saina won next couple of points to lead 19-17 but again Li Han managed to make it 19-all ... This time Saina won next 2 points to complete victory in 59 minutes ... Surprisingly tough match for Saina after her excellent title win at Denmark open ... Next Saina is facing Thai girl Sapsiree Taerattanachai.

Ajay scored straight games win over Thai qualifier ... In the first game couple of times Ajay take a lead and both time Suppanyu made it equal but from 11-all Ajay take control and won this game ... In the second game Ajay opened 7-2 lead and kept it till end despite efforts from Suppanyu ... In the second round Ajay is facing veteran Peter Gade.

Tennis News
At $100K+H Seoul Challenger, South Korea

[R2] Yuki Bhambri (IND,181) l (WC) Ji Sung Nam (KOR,612) 0-1 Retd. ( Left foot arch bruised)

Doubles
[R1] (3) Yuki Bhambri (IND)/ Divij Sharan (IND) l Yuichi Sugita (JPN)/ Jimmy Wang (TPE) w/o

Yuki retired from his singles match after playing a single game ... Don't know about seriousness of his injury ... He and Divij also give walkover in the doubles ... Tough luck for Yuki.
-----------------------------------------------------------
At $25K Lagos Women's ITF Tournament, Nigeria

[R2] Kyra Shroff (IND,540) l (6) Cristina Dinu (ROU,319) 16 26

Doubles
[QF] Nidhi Chilumula (IND)/ Sofia Dmitrieva (RUS) l (1) Conny Perrin (SUI)/ Chanel Simmonds (RSA) 26 16
[QF] Ester Masuri (ISR)/ Rishika Sunkara (IND) l (3) Jia Xiang LU (CHN)/ Jia-Jing LU (CHN) 26 67(6)

Rishika and her Israeli partner had some respected score in their loss against 3rd seed Chinese pair ... In other 2 matches our players managed to win only 3 games in their matches.
-----------------------------------------------------------
At $15K India F13 Futures, Mumbai

[R2] (1) Vishnu VARDHAN (IND,272) l Mate PAVIC (CRO,463) 57 Retd.
[R2] (8) Ranjit VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND,446) bt Kaza Vinayak SHARMA (IND,907) 61 64
[R2] (4) Liang-Chi HUANG (TPE,372) vs (Q) Jui-Chen HUNG (TPE,1880)
[R2] (5) Saketh MYNENI (IND,387) l Nicolas REISSIG (AUT,505) 26 64 57
[R2] (WC) Purav RAJA (IND,1272) bt (7) Vijayant MALIK (IND,421) 75 46 64
[R2] (3) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND,321) l James MARSALEK (GBR,572) 62 26 46
[R2] (6) Jeevan NEDUNCHEZHIYAN (IND,400) bt Mohit Mayur JAYAPRAKASH (IND,1082) 46 63 62
[R2] (WC) Arjun KADHE (IND,1404) l (2) Christopher RUNGKAT (INA,303) 46 36

Proved terrible day for seeded Indians who played against foreigners ... Only 3 Indians in the quarters.

Tennis News
At Asia/Oceania Zone Group I - Davis Cup 2013,

Draw is out for Asia/Oceania Zone Group I and we r 4th seeded ... In the first round India is facing South Korea ... Luckily this time we r having all home matches to qualify to the World Group Playoffs ... If we win against Korea from February 1-3, 2013 then we mostly face Japan (or Indonesia) from April 5-7, 2013.

AITA announced to hold the tie in New Delhi at the R K Khanna Tennis Stadium from February 1 to 3.
-----------------------------------------------------------
At €1.9M Swiss Indoors Basel, Switzerland

[R1] (2) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Rohan Bopanna (IND) l (ALT) Robin Haase (NED)/ Dick Norman (BEL) 57 62 12-14

Another shocking loss for Rohan and Mahesh against alternate pairing of Haase and Norman ... After losing the first set Rohan and Mahesh made strong comeback winning the second set easily ... In match tie-break they failed to keep momentum and lost in extra points.
-----------------------------------------------------------
At $100K+H Seoul Challenger, South Korea

[R1] Yuki Bhambri (IND,181) bt (3) Dmitry Tursunov (RUS,119) 64 76(5)
[R1] (Q) Divij Sharan (IND,1310) l (6) Yuichi Sugita (JPN,135) 26 75 46

[R2] Yuki Bhambri (IND,181) vs (WC) Ji Sung Nam (KOR,612)

Yuki scored big win against Dima, who was in great form after winning back to back challengers in Turkey last month and reaching QF at Tokyo ATP this month.

In the first set Yuki faced 6 break points on his serve but he saved 5 but he broke Dima's serve twice from 4 break points to win this set ... In the second set Yuki didn't face a single break point but he failed to convert 5 break points on Dima's serve ... In tie-break Dima double faulted to give Yuki min-break, 5-3 ... While serving for the match Yuki double faulted at 6-4 but Yuki again take mini-break on Dima's serve converting 2nd match point ... Next Yuki is facing Korean wild-card youngster, who scored easy upset win against Alexander Kudryavtsev.

Divij started with breaking Sugita in 2nd game to lead 2-0 but after that Sugita won next 6 games to win the set breaking Divij thrice ... In the second set Divij saved 7 break points and converted only break point in 12th game to win this set ... In the final set Sugita take crucial break in 7th game and kept that advantage to win this match.
-----------------------------------------------------------
At $25K Lagos Women's ITF Tournament, Nigeria

[R1] Kyra Shroff (IND,540) bt (Q) Chinenye Ndidi Izuogo (NGR,UNR) 60 60
[R1] Nidhi Chilumula (IND,675) l (7) Jia-Jing Lu (CHN,346) 26 67(4)
[R1] Shivika Burman (IND,861) l (5) Dalila Jakupovic (SLO,299) 36 36
[R1] Rishika Sunkara (IND,634) l Viktoriya Tumova (BUL,599) 26 36
[R1] (Q) Arantxa Andrady (IND,UNR) l Anja Prislan (SLO,520) 06 16
[R1] (Q) Nikita Deshmukh (IND,UNR) l (2) Channel Simmonds (RSA,177) 06 06

[R2] Kyra Shroff (IND,540) vs (6) Cristina Dinu (ROU,319)

Doubles
[R1] Nidhi Chilumula (IND)/ Sofia Dmitrieva (RUS) bt Osariemen Airhunmwunde (NGR)/ Rita Obasigie (NGR) 61 61
[R1] Ester Masuri (ISR)/ Rishika Sunkara (IND) bt Nour Azzouz (EGY)/ Ushna Suhail (PAK) 64 60
[R1] Dalila Jakupovic (SLO)/ Kyra Shroff (IND) l (2) Cristina Dinu (ROU)/ Tadeja Majeric (SLO) 62 57 3-10

[QF] Nidhi Chilumula (IND)/ Sofia Dmitrieva (RUS) vs (1) Conny Perrin (SUI)/ Chanel Simmonds (RSA)
[QF] Ester Masuri (ISR)/ Rishika Sunkara (IND) vs (3) Jia Xiang LU (CHN)/ Jia-Jing LU (CHN)

Expected easy win for Kyra, who won without losing a single game ... In doubles Rishika and her Israeli partner Ester started with easy win ... Next they r facing 3rd seed Chinese pair.
-----------------------------------------------------------
At $15K India F13 Futures, Mumbai

[R1] (1) Vishnu VARDHAN (IND,272) bt Ashwin VIJAYRAGAVAN (IND,823) 64 57 63
[R1] Mate PAVIC (CRO,463) bt (Q) Rakshay THAKKAR (IND,1358) 36 62 62
[R1] Kaza Vinayak SHARMA (IND,907) bt (Q) Sebastian OFNER (AUT,UNR) 60 64
[R1] (8) Ranjit VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND,446) bt Reid CARLETON (USA,511) 4-1 Retd.
[R1] (4) Liang-Chi HUANG (TPE,372) bt N Vijay Sunder PRASHANTH (IND,534) 62 67(2) 62
[R1] (Q) Jui-Chen HUNG (TPE,1880) bt Chieh-Fu WANG (TPE,941) 61 64
[R1] Nicolas REISSIG (AUT,505) bt Ajai SELVARAJ (IND,1122) 63 63
[R1] (5) Saketh MYNENI (IND,387) bt (Q) Neeraj ELANGOVAN (IND,1917) 62 61
[R1] (7) Vijayant MALIK (IND,421) bt (Q) William KENDALL (USA,UNR) 64 75
[R1] (WC) Purav RAJA (IND,1272) bt (Q) Jatin DAHIYA(IND,1668) 61 60
[R1] James MARSALEK (GBR,572) bt (Q) Lakshit SOOD (IND,1900) 61 62
[R1] (3) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND,321) bt Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND,1044) 75 64
[R1] (6) Jeevan NEDUNCHEZHIYAN (IND,400) bt (WC) Vignesh PERANAMALLUR (IND,1178) 62 63
[R1] Mohit Mayur JAYAPRAKASH (IND,1082) bt (Q) Peng Chih HSUEH (TPE,UNR) 63 62
[R1] (WC) Arjun KADHE (IND,1404) bt (WC) Kunal ANAND (IND,1267) 63 60
[R1] (2) Christopher RUNGKAT (INA,303) bt Sidharth RAWAT (IND,926) 63 61

Doubles
[R1] (1) Saketh MYNENI (IND)/ Purav RAJA (IND) bt (WC) Anvit BENDRE (IND)/ Tejas CHAUKULKAR (IND) 60 64
[R1] Mohit Mayur JAYAPRAKASH (IND)/ Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND) bt Rakshay THAKKAR (IND)/ Abhijeet TIWARI (IND) 63 62
[R1] Arjun KADHE (IND)/ Kaza Vinayak SHARMA (IND) bt (4) N. Vijay Sundar PRASHANTH (IND)/ Ranjeet VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND) 62 67(4) 10-8
[R1] (WC) Vijayant MALIK (IND)/ Sunil-Kumar SIPAEYA (IND) bt Ajai SELVARAJ (IND)/ Ashwin VIJAYRAGAVAN (IND) 62 75
[R1] Kunal ANAND (IND)/ Ronak MANUJA (IND) bt Neeraj ELANGOVAN (IND)/ Fariz MOHAMMED (IND) 75 64
[R1] (3) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND)/ Arun-Prakash RAJAGOPALAN (IND) bt Jui-Chen HUNG (TPE)/ James MARSALEK (GBR) 61 75
[R1] Mate PAVIC (CRO)/ Nicolas REISSIG (AUT) bt (wC) Sagar AHUJA (IND)/ Lakshit SOOD (IND) 62 63
[R1] (2) Liang-Chi HUANG (TPE)/ Christopher RUNGKAT (INA) bt Vignesh PERANAMALLUR (IND)/ Vivek SHOKEEN (IND)

Impressive start for young Arjun Kadhe in the singles and doubles ... Bala won tricky match against Ramkumar ... Other hand expected easy win for Jeevan.

Badminton News
At $200K French Open 2012, Paris

[Q1] Arvind Bhat (IND,77) l Matthieu Lo Ying Ping (FRA,90) 16-21 22-20 14-21
[Q1] Anand Pawar (IND,51) bt Scott Evans (IRL,67) 21-14 21-10

[Q2] Anand Pawar (IND,51) l Suppanyu Avihingsanon (THA,64) 21-16 24-26 29-30

[R1] Sourabh Varma (IND,32) vs Sony Dwi Kuncoro (INA,23)
[R1] Ajay Jayaram (IND,27) vs (Q) Suppanyu Avihingsanon (THA,64)
[R1] (1) Saina Nehwal (IND,4) vs Li Han (CHN,23)

[R1] Tarun Kona (IND)/ Arun Vishnu (IND) vs (4) Ki Jung Kim (KOR)/ Sa Rang Kim (KOR)
[R1] Tarun Kona (IND)/ Ashwini Ponnappa (IND) vs Patiphat Chalardchaleam (THA)/ Savitree Amitrapai (THA)

Arvind Bhat lost match due to rustiness and tiredness ... After losing the first game he was match point down at 19-10 ... He won this game after saving match point but Frenchman blown away his challenge from 12-all in the final game.

Other hand Anand Pawar started with comfortable win over Irish top player in 30 minutes ... In the first game Anand take control from 9-all and in the second game he take control from 5-all for this comfortable win ... But Anand lost in the final qualifying in a long match which was lasted for 82 minutes ... After winning the first game Anand faced big challenge from Suppanyu ... Anand saved couple of game points from 18-20 but failed to convert 3 match points and Suppanyu converted 4th game point to take match into decider ... In the third game Anand opened early lead and was leading 13-8, 15-11 and 17-15 ... Suppanyu made it 17-all afterwards both players traded lead one after another ... Anand had 3 more match points in extra points, importantly at 28-27 then 29-28 but Suppanyu saved those and converted his 6 match point for his terrific comeback victory.

Tennis News
At $100K+H Seoul Challenger, South Korea

[Q3] Divij Sharan (IND,1312) bt Woong-Sun Joon (KOR,735) 64 76(10)

[R1] (Q) Divij Sharan (IND,1310) vs (6) Yuichi Sugita (JPN,135)

Divij won the weird final qualifying match where both players shared 13 service breaks ... In the first set 1st 7 service games got broken but Divij managed to keep his one break advantage to win it ... In the second set also first 5 service games got broken ... Divij was leading 4-2 but while serving for the match at 5-4 he got broken ... In tie-break also Divij was leading 5-2 before Korean made it 5-all ... Korean missed 3 set points which he failed to convert and Divij managed to convert 3rd match point for a win ... In main-draw he is having tough match against 6th seed Japanese Yuichi Sugita.
-----------------------------------------------------------
At $25K Lagos Women's ITF Tournament, Nigeria

[R1] Kyra Shroff (IND,540) vs (Q) Chinenye Ndidi Izuogo (NGR,UNR)
[R1] (Q) Nikita Deshmukh (IND,UNR) vs (2) Channel Simmonds (RSA,177)
[R1] Nidhi Chilumula (IND,675) vs (7) Jia-Jing Lu (CHN,346)
[R1] (Q) Arantxa Andrady (IND,UNR) vs Anja Prislan (SLO,520)
[R1] Shivika Burman (IND,861) vs (5) Dalila Jakupovic (SLO,299)
[R1] Rishika Sunkara (IND,634) vs Viktoriya Tumova (BUL,599)

Doubles
[R1] Nikita Deshmukh (IND)/ Alexandra Riley (USA) vs Anastasia Meglinskaya (RUS)/ Alexandra Romanova (RUS)
[R1] Ester Masuri (ISR)/ Rishika Sunkara (IND) vs Nour Azzouz (EGY)/ Ushna Suhail (PAK)
[R1] Dalila Jakupovic (SLO)/ Kyra Shroff (IND) vs (2) Cristina Dinu (ROU)/ Tadeja Majeric (SLO)

Hopefully this week Kyra will take advantage of good draw ... Other than her only Rishika having match which she can wins.