Tennis News
At Davis Cup - Group I Asia/Oceania - 1st Round, New Delhi, India

Friday - 1st February 2013
[R1] Ranjeet Virali-Murugesan (IND,511) vs Min Hyeok Cho (KOR,UNR)
[R2] Vijayant Malik (IND,537) vs Suk-Young Jeong (KOR,321)

Saturday - 2nd February 2013
[R3] Leander Paes (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) vs Young-Kyu Lim (KOR)/ Ji Sung Nam (KOR)

Sunday - 3rd February 2013
[R4] Ranjeet Virali-Murugesan (IND,511) vs Suk-Young Jeong (KOR,321)
[R5] Vijayant Malik (IND,537) vs Min Hyeok Cho (KOR,UNR)

Korean non-playing captain Yong-Il Yoon surprised with his selection ... He selected un-ranked Min Hyeok Cho (highest ranking was #666 in 2010) for a first match against Ranjeet over other top-500 ranked players ... Can we consider this as good fortune for India?

Football News
At FIFA Friendly 2013, Kochi, India

Goalkeepers - Subrata Pal (Prayag United), Sandip Nandy (Churchill Brothers). Karanjit Singh (Salgaocar SC)

Defenders - Nirmal Chhetri (Mohun Bagan), Gouramangi Singh (Prayag United), Shouvik Ghosh (Pailan Arrows), Syed Rahim Nabi (Mohun Bagan), Gurjinder Kumar (Pune FC), Raju Gaikwad (East Bengal), Denzil Franco (Churchill Brothers)

Midfielders - Lenny Rodrigues (Churchill Brothers), Lalkamal Bhowmick (Prayag United), Arata Izumi (Pune FC), Mehtab Hossain (East Bengal), Francis Fernandes (Salgaocar), Anthony Pereira (Dempo SC), Alwyn George (Pailan Arrows), Jewel Raja (Mohun Bagan), Clifford Miranda (Dempo SC), Vineet CK (Prayag United)

Forwards - Sunil Chhetri (Sporting Lisbon), Manandeep Singh (East Bengal), Sushil Kumar Singh (Shillong Lajong FC)

30 yrs old Japanese Arata Izumi became the first foreigner to be selected in the Indian football team for the international friendly against Palestine in Kochi slated for February 6 ... He fulfilled the norms laid down by the Union sports ministry and obtained an Indian passport in August 2012 (received it in November).

Squash News
At $70K Suburban Motor City Open 2013, Detroit, USA

[Q1] Siddharth Suchde (IND,48) bt Mohd Nafizwan Adnan (MAS,33) 3-0 (14-12, 11-4, 11-8)

[Q2] Siddharth Suchde (IND,48) l Abdullah Al Muzayen (KUW,41) 1-3 (13-11, 9-11, 10-12, 4-11)

[R1] Saurav Ghosal (IND,22) bt Alan Clyne (SCO,28) 3-1 (6-11, 11-7, 11-2, 11-3)

[QF] Saurav Ghosal (IND,22) l (3) Omar Mosaad (EGY,9) 0-3 (6-11, 8-11, 8-11)

Saurav played at Suburban Motor City Open ... After winning the first round he lost against top-10 Egyptian Omar Mosaad.
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At 35K glo Greenwich Open 2013, USA

[Q1] Joshana Chinappa (IND,30) bt Lucia Fialova (CZE,38) 3-1 (4-11, 12-10, 11-9, 12-10)

[Q2] Joshana Chinappa (IND,30) l Aisling Blake (IRL,23) 2-3 (9-11, 8-11, 11-9, 11-7, 8-11)

[R1] (6) Dipika Pallikal (IND,14) bt Donna Urquhart (AUS,17) 3-2 (7-11, 9-11, 12-10 14-12, 11-4)

[QF] (6) Dipika Pallikal (IND,14) l (2) Nour El Sherbini (EGY,6) 2-3 (8-11, 11-9, 11-2, 2-11, 5-11)

Dipika slide to #14 in latest ranking updates ... At Greenwich Open, Dipika needed to fought back against Aussie Donna Urquhart after losing the first 2 games ... Dipika saved match points in next 2 games to won them in extra points ... After that won the final game easily ... In the quarters she faced WR #6 Egyptian Nour El Sherbini ... After losing the first game Dipika came back strongly to win next two but Nour El Sherbini dominated last two for fighting win.

Joshna also played in Greenwich Open qualifying ... After winning tight first qualifying round she lost in the second qualifying round against Irish Aisling Blake ... After losing the first 2 games Joshna fought back to win next 2 but failed to keep momentum in the decider.

Chess News
At Tata Steel Chess Tournament (Corus Chess Tournament) 2013, Wijk aan Zee, The Netherlands

Group A - Round Thirteen
Sergey Karjakin - Loek van Wely 1-0
Hou Yifan - Peter Leko ½-½
Erwin L'Ami - Ivan Sokolov ½-½
Wang Hao - Viswanathan Anand 1-0
Hikaru Nakamura - Pentala Harikrishna ½-½
Anish Giri - Magnus Carlsen ½-½
Fabiano Caruana - Levon Aronian ½-½

In the final round the Chinese GM Wang Hao ruined Anand's chances of gaining Silver by beating the World Champion in very strong positional game ... Wang played perfect game without giving any chances to Anand and won it in 49 moves ... Hari managed draw after 66 moves against Nakamura after long game.

Magnus Carlsen lifted the title 1½ points lead over 2nd place Levon Aronian ... Carlsen scored 10 points and Aronian finished on 2nd place with 8½ points ... Anand tied for 3rd position with Sergey Karjakin with 8 points ... Hari finished on creditable sole 7th position with 6½ points in his first participation in this strong tournament.

Chess News
At Tata Steel Chess Tournament (Corus Chess Tournament) 2013, Wijk aan Zee, The Netherlands

Group A - Round Eleven
Peter Leko - Loek van Wely 1-0 Sergey Karjakin - Ivan Sokolov 1-0
Hou Yifan - Viswanathan Anand ½-½
Erwin L'Ami - Pentala Harikrishna ½-½
Wang Hao - Magnus Carlsen ½-½
Hikaru Nakamura - Levon Aronian 0-1
Anish Giri - Fabiano Caruana 1-0

Group A - Round Twelve
Loek van Wely - Fabiano Caruana 1-0
Levon Aronian - Anish Giri ½-½
Magnus Carlsen - Hikaru Nakamura 1-0
Pentala Harikrishna - Wang Hao ½-½
Viswanathan Anand - Erwin L'Ami 1-0
Ivan Sokolov - Hou Yifan 0-1
Peter Leko - Sergey Karjakin ½-½

In eleventh game Hou Yifan hold World champion Anand in an unique Najdorf opening ... Hou Yifan defended well in endgame despite being down a pawn ... The match ended in draw after 52 moves ... Hari's match also ended in a draw against Erwin L'Ami after 54 moves in Queen's Indian Defense despite having upper hand ... After this round Anand slipped to 3rd position as Levon Aronian moved to 2nd position with win over Hikaru Nakamura with Black.

In twelfth round Magnus Carlse secured title when still one round is remaining ... In very entertaining match he defeated Hikaru Nakamura in 31 moves ... Anand moved up to tied 2nd position with Aronian after fighting win over Dutch grand master L'Ami ... Earlier L'Ami handled the Najdorf beautifully but Anand slowly take initiative ... Than take advantage of mistakes by L'Ami to win it in 54 moves ... Hari and Wang Hao played solid game and their game ended in draw after 49 moves.

Tennis News
At Australian Open 2013, Melbourne

Mixed Doubles
[QF] (3) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Bob Bryan (USA) l Lucie Hradecka (CZE)/ Frantisek Cermak (CZE) 57 46
[QF] (5) Nadia Petrova (RUS)/ Mahesh Bhupathi (IND) l (WC) Jarmila Gajdosova (AUS)/ Matthew Ebden (AUS) 36 63 11-13

Sania and Mahesh lost with their respective partners in mixed doubles quarter'finals and with that Indian challenge got over in this ongoing Australian open ... Sania and Bob lost against Czech pair ... And wild-card Australian pair continued with their dream run and scored another upset win over Mahesh and Nadia ... In last round they defeated Lee and Elena easily.

In the first set Czech pair take crucial break on Sania's serve in 11th game to win it ... In the second set they again broke Sania's serve in 3rd game but lost their serve in 4th game ... Again they take crucial break in 5th game and kept that lead to win the set and match.

Mahesh and Nadia started well after breaking Aussie's serve in 3rd game to lead 2-1 ... But after that Aussie pair won 5 games from 6 games played in that they broke Mahesh and Nadia's serve twice and won this set ... In the second set Mahesh and Nadia take crucial break in 8th game and then hold their serve to win this set ... In match tie-break Mahesh and Nadia were leading 4-2 and 7'5 with mini-break but Aussie pair fought back to catch them ... Our pair missed matched point at 10-9 and Aussie pair converted 3rd match point for exciting win.

Chess News
At Tata Steel Chess Tournament (Corus Chess Tournament) 2013, Wijk aan Zee, The Netherlands

Group A - Round Ten
Loek van Wely - Anish Giri ½-½
Fabiano Caruana - Hikaru Nakamura 0-1
Levon Aronian - Wang Hao 1-0
Magnus Carlsen - Erwin L'Ami 1-0
Pentala Harikrishna - Hou Yifan 0-1
Viswanathan Anand - Sergey Karjakin ½-½
Ivan Sokolov - Peter Leko 0-1

Carlsen convincingly defeated L'Ami in 65 moves to increased his lead to 1½ points ... Anand faile capitalized on the advantage and managed draw with Karjakin after 46 moves ... Aronian and Nakamura joined Anand on 2nd position with 6½ points ... Hou Yifan scored upset win with Black over Hari with her faithful Keres Attack against the Scheveningen move ... She completed victory in 55 moves.

Tennis News
At Australian Open 2013, Melbourne

Mixed Doubles
[QF] Su-Wei Hsieh (TPE)/ Rohan Bopanna (IND) l Kveta Peschke (CZE)/ Marcin Matkowski (POL)

Rohan lost in the quarters in MXD with his Taipei partner in 58 minutes ... After losing the first in just 20 minutes they tried to make fightback but failed to win key points ... They had 9 break points but couldn't convert a single point ... Other hand their opponents converted 3 break points from four.

Chess News
At Tata Steel Chess Tournament (Corus Chess Tournament) 2013, Wijk aan Zee, The Netherlands

Group A - Round Nine
Ivan Sokolov - Loek van Wely 0-1
Peter Leko - Viswanathan Anand ½-½
Sergey Karjakin - Pentala Harikrishna ½-½
Hou Yifan - Magnus Carlsen 0-1
Erwin L'Ami - Levon Aronian ½-½
Wang Hao - Fabiano Caruana ½-½
Hikaru Nakamura - Anish Giri ½-½

Anand accepted another quick draw in 25 moves with Najdorf opening ... Carlsen take full advantage of it and take full point lead with win over Chinese girl Hou Yifan ... Hari hold Karjakin in 40 moves where Karjakin again used Berlin opening.

Tennis News
At Australian Open 2013, Melbourne

Mixed Doubles
[R2] (5) Nadia Petrova (RUS)/ Mahesh Bhupathi (IND) bt Katarina Srebotnik (SLO)/ Nenad Zimonjic (SRB) 36 62 10-5
[R2] (2) Elena Vesnina (RUS)/ Leander Paes (IND) l (WC) Jarmila Gajdosova (AUS)/ Matthew Ebden (AUS) 36 26

[QF] (5) Nadia Petrova (RUS)/ Mahesh Bhupathi (IND) vs (WC) Jarmila Gajdosova (AUS)/ Matthew Ebden (AUS)

Superb comeback victory by Mahesh and Nadia against tricky opponents ... In the first set Mahesh and Nadia were double break down 0-5 ... They won next 3 games breaking Srebotnik's serve but Zimo hold his serve for winning the first set ... In the second set Mahesh and Nadia broke Srebotnik's serve in 4th game and take 4-1 lead and again they broke Srebotnik in 8th game to win this set comfortably ... In match tie-break both pairs exchanged early mini-breaks but from 3-all Nadia and Mahesh take control ... They won 7 points from next 9 points and won this match.

Lee and Elena struggled with local wild-card pair and lost in 57 minutes ... After exchanging breaks early Australian take crucial break in 8th game and then hold their serve to win the first set ... In the second set also Aussie pair take early break and then they broke again in 7th game to lead 5-2 ... After that Aussie pair comfortably hold their serve for dominating win over 2nd seed ... Next they r facing Mahesh and Nadia in the quarters.

Tennis News
At Australian Open 2013, Melbourne

Doubles
[R3] (5) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Daniel Nestor (CAN) l Simone Bolelli (ITA)/ Fabio Fognini (ITA) 36 64 36

Mixed Doubles
[R2] Su-Wei Hsieh (TPE)/ Rohan Bopanna (IND) bt Daniela Hantuchova (SVK)/ Fabio Fognini (ITA) 61 75
[R2] (3) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Bob Bryan (USA) bt Abigail Spears (USA)/ Scott Lipsky (USA) 46 61 10-4

[QF] Su-Wei Hsieh (TPE)/ Rohan Bopanna (IND) vs Kveta Peschke (CZE)/ Marcin Matkowski (POL)
[QF] (3) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Bob Bryan (USA) vs Lucie Hradecka (CZE)/ Frantisek Cermak (CZE)

This year terrible results in men's doubles for us in Australian open as Mahesh and Daniel lost against Italian pair ... After losing the first set Mahesh and Daniel fought back to win the second ... But they failed to keep momentum in the decider ... Italians were attacking their serves and take break of serve ... Mahesh and Daniel saved 2 match points on their serves but Italian hold their serve for the victory.

Sania and Bob lost the first set with a single break but they fought back in the second ... They broke Spears and Lipsky service games in 2nd and 4th game to lead 4-0 and kept that advantage to win the second set in 22 minutes ... Sania and Bob didn't give chance to Amrican pair and take control from the start to won match tie-break comfortably ... Sania and Bob Bryan r facing Czech pair in the quarters, who upset 7th seed in the second round.

Dominated start for Rohan and Su-Wei Hsieh ... They won the first set in 19 minutes with double break ... In the second set they were dowm when Su-Wei lost her serve in 4th game ... Our pair responded breaking opponent's serve in next game, 3-3 ... Rohan and Su-Wei Hsieh missed break point chance in 9th game but they broke opponent's in 11th game and then hold their serve to win this match in 55 minutes ... Next in the quarters they r facing another unseeded pair, Peschke and Matkowski, who received walkover in the second round.

Chess News
At Tata Steel Chess Tournament (Corus Chess Tournament) 2013, Wijk aan Zee, The Netherlands

Group A - Round Eight
Loek van Wely - Hikaru Nakamura ½-½ Anish Giri - Wang Hao ½-½
Fabiano Caruana - Erwin L'Ami 1-0
Levon Aronian - Hou Yifan 1-0
Magnus Carlsen - Sergey Karjakin 1-0
Pentala Harikrishna - Peter Leko ½-½
Viswanathan Anand - Ivan Sokolov ½-½

Magnus Carlsen take sole lead after defeating Sergey Karjakin in marathon match ... Carlsen won this match after 92 moves, deserving leader ... Anand missed chance of winning against Sokolov and accepted draw after only 24 moves ... Hari also hold Leko and maintained tied 5th position with 4½ points.

Tennis News
At Australian Open 2013, Melbourne

Mixed Doubles
[R1] (5) Nadia Petrova (RUS)/ Mahesh Bhupathi (IND) bt Anastasia Rodionova (AUS)/ Jean-Julien Rojer (NED) 64 62

[R2] (5) Nadia Petrova (RUS)/ Mahesh Bhupathi (IND) vs Katarina Srebotnik (SLO)/ Nenad Zimonjic (SRB)

As expected Mahesh and Nadia started with comfortable win in 65 minutes ... Next they r facing tricky pairing of Nadia's doubles partner Srebotnik and Zimo.

Chess News
At Tata Steel Chess Tournament (Corus Chess Tournament) 2013, Wijk aan Zee, The Netherlands

Group A - Round Seven
Viswanathan Anand - Loek van Wely 1-0
Ivan Sokolov - Pentala Harikrishna ½-½
Peter Leko - Magnus Carlsen ½-½
Sergey Karjakin - Levon Aronian ½-½
Hou Yifan - Fabiano Caruana ½-½
Erwin L'Ami - Anish Giri ½-½
Wang Hao - Hikaru Nakamura 0-1

Anand take advantage of weak 18th moves of Loek van Wely ... Loek van Wely made a blunder on his 35th move in difficult position ... Anand won this match after 37 moves ... Anand again join Carlsen on top position with 5 pts ... Hari used solid Nimzo-Indian defense against Sokolov ... Their match ended in draw after 45 moves ... Hari is joined 5th position with 4 pts.

Badminton News
At $400K Malaysia Badminton Open, Kuala Lumpur (Super Series)

[SF] (1) Saina Nehwal (IND,2) l (6) Tzu Ying Tai (TPE,12) 20-22 14-21

Sania again messed up when she had a chance of winning the title ... She lost against Tzu Ying Tai in straight games in 35 minutes ... Tai opened 7 points lead after 5-all, 13-6 ... Saina tried fightback in the late of the game ... From 15-20 Saina saved 5 game points but Tai converted 6th for winning this game ... In the second game Tai started with 5-0 lead which she kept increasing ... Saina was also making too many unforced errors and helping Tai ... Tai won this game comfortably.

Tennis News
At Australian Open 2013, Melbourne

Doubles
[R2] (12) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Rajeev Ram (USA) l Simone Bolelli (ITA)/ Fabio Fognini (ITA) 26 67(3)
[R2] (5) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Daniel Nestor (CAN) bt Victor Hanescu (ROU)/ Martin Klizan (SVK) 61 76(8)

[R3] (5) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Daniel Nestor (CAN) vs Simone Bolelli (ITA)/ Fabio Fognini (ITA)

Mixed Doubles
[R1] Su-Wei Hsieh (TPE)/ Rohan Bopanna (IND) bt (WC) Ashleigh Barty (AUS)/ Jack Sock (USA) 63 63
[R1] (2) Elena Vesnina (RUS)/ Leander Paes (IND) bt Sofia Arvidsson (SWE)/ Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (PAK) 67(8) 64 10-7

[R2] (3) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Bob Bryan (USA) vs Abigail Spears (USA)/ Scott Lipsky (USA)
[R2] (2) Elena Vesnina (RUS)/ Leander Paes (IND) vs Jarmila Gajdosova (AUS)/ Matthew Ebden (AUS)

Our struggle in men's doubles continued ... Rohan and Rajeev lost against unseeded Italian pair in straight sets ... Italians dominated the first set winning it with double break ... In the second set Rohan and Rajeev tried fightback but Italians proved strong in tie-break.

Other hand terrific start for Mahesh and Daniel ... After 1-all they won 5 games in a row, in that breaking opponent's serve twice, to won the first set in 22 minutes ... In the second set Mahesh and Daniel saved a break pint on their serve in 4th game ... They had 5 break point chance on Klizan's serve in 9th game but failed to convert ... Mahesh and Daniel played well in tight tie-break to won it and avoided the match going into the final set.

Rohan and Hsieh scored straight sets win over Aussie-American wild-card pair ... Lee and Elena had a tricky match against Aisam and Sofia. As expected match was cracker, Aisam and Sofia won the first set in tight tie-break but Lee and Elena fought back to win the second set ... In match tie-break Lee and Elena's experience of playing together helped to win crucial points.

Chess News
At Tata Steel Chess Tournament (Corus Chess Tournament) 2013, Wijk aan Zee, The Netherlands

Group A - Round Six
Loek van Wely - Wang Hao 1-0
Hikaru Nakamura - Erwin L'Ami ½-½
Anish Giri - Hou Yifan 0-1
Fabiano Caruana - Sergey Karjakin ½-½
Levon Aronian - Peter Leko 1-0
Magnus Carlsen - Ivan Sokolov 1-0
Pentala Harikrishna - Viswanathan Anand ½-½

Hari hold Anand after 41 moves in very complicated game ... Carlsen take lead with convincing win over Sokolov ... Now Carlsen is leading by ½ point over Anand and Karjakin.

Badminton News
At $400K Malaysia Badminton Open, Kuala Lumpur (Super Series)

[QF] (1) Saina Nehwal (IND,2) bt Nozomi Okuhara (JPN,33) 21-11 14-21 2-0 Retd.

[QF] Pradnya Gadre (IND)/ Ashwini Ponnappa (IND) l Aprilsasi Putri Lejarsar Variella (INA)/ Vita Marissa (INA) 21-18 13-21 13-21

[SF] (1) Saina Nehwal (IND,2) vs (6) Tzu Ying Tai (TPE,12)

Okuhara retired in the final game after winning the second game ... Tough luck for teenager but lucky break for Saina, who started well winning the first game but may be lost her focus in the second ... In the first game Saina started with 3-0 lead which she increased to 9-3 ... Saina kept increasing the lead and won this game comfortably ... But story was different in the second ... Okuhara opened big 9-1 lead after winning 8 points in a row ... From 4-16 Saina tried fightback, she won 6 points in a row to reduced lead to 10-16 ... Then from 10-19 to won 4 points in a row to make it 14-19 but Okuhara kept her cool and won the second game ... In the semis Saina is facing Taipei player Tzu Ying Tai.

Ashwini and Pradnya started well winning the first game ... They take early 11-5 lead but Indonesian pair caught with them at 16-all ... After that Indian pair managed to keep 2 points lead to win this game ... In the second game both pairs were going neck to neck until 7-all ... Indonesian pair opened first big lead of the game winning 4 points in a row, 11-7 ... Which they increased to 17-8 again winning 6 points in a row ... That lead was enough for Indonesian pair to win the second game ... In the decider both pairs exchanged lead and were together till 11-all ... Indonesian pair scored 5 points in a row to lead 16-11 and after that they gave only 2 points to Indian pair before completing comeback win in 43 mins.

Tennis News
At Australian Open 2013, Melbourne

Mixed Doubles
[R1] (3) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Bob Bryan (USA) bt Samantha Stosur (AUS)/ Luke Saville (AUS) 62 62

Sania and Bob started with convincing win in 50 minutes over local wild-card pair, which also had Samantha Stosur ... Good start for Sania and Bob.

Boxing News

The AIBA (International Amateur Boxing Association) suspend the Indian boxers and coaches from world events after finding the "lack of progress" in resolving the electoral mess that led to IABF's suspension late last year.

The AIBA provisionally suspended the Indian Amateur Boxing Federation (IABF) in December last year citing the International Olympic Committee's suspension of the Indian Olympic Association and "possible manipulation in its elections".