Tennis News

At $125K+H Kaohsiung Challenger, Taiwan

[Q1] (3) Yuki Bhambri (IND,476) bt Shao-Chi Yang (TPE,UNR) 61 60
[Q1] (6) Karunuday Singh (IND,687) bt (WC) Chien-Hsun Lo (TPE,UNR) 64 61

[Q2] (3) Yuki Bhambri (IND,476) vs Punn Bodidatta (THA,2122)
[Q2] (6) Karunuday Singh (IND,687) vs Hao-Yang Hu (TPE,1787)

Expected wins from Yuki and Karunuday.
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At $15K Canada F8 Futures, Toronto

[SF] (4) Vijayant Malik (IND,450) l (1) Peter POLANSKY (CAN,235) walkover
[SF] (2) Sanam Singh (IND,379) bt (5) Michael SHABAZ (USA,454) 63 36 75

[F] (2) Sanam Singh (IND,379) vs (1) Peter POLANSKY (CAN,235)

Really good win by Sanam against his former UVa team-mate Shabaz in three sets ... Sanam won the first set but Shabaz fought back to won the second ... In the decider Sanam was 1-3 and 3-5 down before winning next 4 games for excellent comeback win and enter into the final ... In the final he is facing Canadian top-seed Peter Polansky, who received walkover in the semis from Vijayant ... Vijayant got injured in the doubles semi-final.
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At $10K ITF Women's Tournament, Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt

[SF] (2) Prarthana G. THOMBARE (IND) bt (3) Alina MIKHEEVA (RUS) 75 76(1)

[F] (2) Prarthana G. THOMBARE (IND) vs (1) Yana SIZIKOVA (RUS)

Really good hard fought win from Prarthana against 3rd seed Russian ... In the final she is facing top-seed Russian.

Squash News

At $50K Malaysian Open 2013, Kuala Lumpur

[QF] Saurav Ghosal (IND,19) l Chris Simpson (ENG,25) 11-6 10-12 9-11 9-11 (76m)

Saurav lost in closely fought four games against Chris ... He failed to take advantage of weaker draw ... After winning the first game in next three games Saurav was close to winning it but failed to won important points and handed win to Chris.

Tennis News

At $15K Canada F8 Futures, Toronto

[QF] (4) Vijayant Malik (IND,450) bt (8) Fritz Wolmarans (RSA,483) 76(3) 62
[QF] (2) Sanam Singh (IND,379) bt Brayden Schnur (CAN,589) 75 61

[SF] (4) Vijayant Malik (IND,450) vs (1) Peter POLANSKY (CAN,235)
[SF] (2) Sanam Singh (IND,379) vs (5) Michael SHABAZ (USA,454)

Doubles
[SF] Vijayant Malik (IND)/ Sanam Singh (IND) l (3) Jason Jung (USA)/ Evan King (USA) 0-2 Retd.

Really good win by Vijayant against similar ranked South African ... Sanam also join him in the quarters with straight sets win ... In the semis Vijayant is facing tough challenge against top-seed and top-250 local player Polansky ... Other hand interesting semi-final between former two UVa team-mates Sanam and Shabaz ... But I m worrying about injury scare as our pair retired from their doubles match.
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At $10K Egypt F24 Futures , Sharm El Sheikh

[QF] (2) N.Sriram Balaji (IND,471) l Mazen Osama (EGY,629) 67(3) 46

Doubles
[SF] (1) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND)/ Ranjeet VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND) bt Marc ABDELNOUR (SYR)/ Issam Haitham TAWEEL (SYR) 61 64
[SF] Pol TOLEDO BAGUE (ESP)/ Arjun KADHE (IND) l (4) Karim HOSSAM (EGY)/ Karim-Mohamed MAAMOUN (EGY) 16 63 0-10

[F] (1) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND)/ Ranjeet VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND) vs (4) Karim HOSSAM (EGY)/ Karim-Mohamed MAAMOUN (EGY)

Bala lost against young Egyptian Osama in close straight sets ... But he is in the doubles final with Ranjeet and they r facing Egyptian pair for title match, who defeated Arjun and his partner in the semis.
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At $10K ITF Women's Tournament, Tlemcen, Algeria

[QF] (1) Shweta RANA (IND) l (7) Natasha BREDL (AUT) 26 26

Disappointing one-sided loss for Shweta.
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At $10K ITF Women's Tournament, Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt

[QF] (2) Prarthana G. THOMBARE (IND) bt (7) Francesca STEPHENSON (GBR) 5-4 Retd.

[SF] (2) Prarthana G. THOMBARE (IND) vs (3) Alina MIKHEEVA (RUS)

Prarthana didn't need to sweat much as her British opponent retired in the first set ... In the semis she is facing 3rd seed Russian.

Squash News

At $70K Malaysian Open 2013, Kuala Lumpur

[R2] (13) Dipika Pallikal (IND,16) l (3) Raneem El Weleily (EGY,3) 4-11 11-9 7-11 2-11 (41m)

Dipika gave decent fight against WR #3 Raneem El Weleily in 41 minutes loss ... After losing the first game Dipika fought hard in the second and won it ... But Raneem El Weleily take control in the third, She won this game and then dominated the fourth which she won losing only 2 points.
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At $50K Malaysian Open 2013, Kuala Lumpur

[R1] Saurav Ghosal (IND,19) bt (Q) Omar Abdel Aziz (EGY,46) 11-5 11-9 11-3 (45m)

[QF] Saurav Ghosal (IND,19) vs Chris Simpson (ENG,25)

Saurav scored comfortable win against his Egyptian qualifier ... After winning the first game Saurav faced stiff resistance in the second from Aziz but after that Saurav dominated the third for straight games victory ... Saurav is facing Britisher Chris Simpson, who stretched top-seed and WR #5 Karim Darwish before Darwish retiring in the fourth game.

Badminton News

At $250K Adidas China Masters 2013, Changzhou, China (Superseries)

[R1] Ajay Jayaram (IND,24) l Yuekun Chen (CHN,30) 14-21 21-23

[R2] Anand Pawar (IND,39) l Sho Sasaki (JPN,21) 21-12 14-21 16-21

Ajay failed to overcome Chinese challenge and lost his match in 36 minutes ... After losing the first game easily Ajay fought hard in the second ... Both players were exchanging lead, then Ajay had 2 game points at 20-19 and 21-20 but both time he failed to convert ... Chen converted first match point for completing win in straight games.

Anand failed to take advantage of his yesterday's lucky break ... He lost in three games against Sho Sasaki in 55 minutes ... This was Anand's third loss against Sasaki and all three times Anand won the first game ... I think some issue with Anand's fitness or mental block as he fails to convert in win against his Japanese opponent Sasaki.

Tennis News

At $15K Canada F8 Futures, Toronto

[R2] (4) Vijayant Malik (IND,450) bt Sekou Bangoura (USA,677) 63 64
[R2] (2) Sanam Singh (IND,379) bt Evan King (USA,952) 64 76(0)

[QF] (4) Vijayant Malik (IND,450) vs (8) Fritz Wolmarans (RSA,483)
[QF] (2) Sanam Singh (IND,379) vs Brayden Schnur (CAN,589)

Doubles
[QF] Vijayant Malik (IND)/ Sanam Singh (IND) bt Sekou Bangoura (USA)/ Eric Quigley (USA) 61 36 11-9

[SF] Vijayant Malik (IND)/ Sanam Singh (IND) vs (3) Jason Jung (USA)/ Evan King (USA)

Though Sanam scored straight sets win still American Evan King stretched him in both sets ... Next he is facing talented Canadian 18 yrs old Brayden Schnur ... Vijayant scored straight sets win over Bangoura ... Next he is facing Similar ranked South African.

Sanam-Vijayant needed match tie-break for their win in the doubles ... In the semis they r facing 3rd seed American pair.
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At $10K Egypt F24 Futures , Sharm El Sheikh

[R2] Arjun Kadhe (IND,1279) l (8) Cristian Rodriguez (COL,661) 57 46
[R2] (2) N.Sriram Balaji (IND,471) bt Rafal Teurer (POR,UNR) w/o

[QF] (2) N.Sriram Balaji (IND,471) vs Mazen OSAMA (EGY,629)

Doubles
[QF] (1) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND)/ Ranjeet VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND) bt Skander MANSOURI (TUN)/ Marlon OLIVEIRA (BRA) 63 62
[QF] Pol TOLEDO BAGUE (ESP)/ Arjun KADHE (IND) bt Mohamed ADNAOUI (MAR)/ Sasi Kumar MUKUND (IND) 62 62

[QF] (1) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND)/ Ranjeet VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND) vs Marc ABDELNOUR (SYR)/ Issam Haitham TAWEEL (SYR)
[SF] Pol TOLEDO BAGUE (ESP)/ Arjun KADHE (IND) vs Karim HOSSAM (EGY)/ Karim-Mohamed MAAMOUN (EGY)

Bala received walkover in the second round ... Next he is facing Egyptian teenager ... Arjun gave decent performance in his second round match against clay court specialist but in the doubles he is in the semis with Ranjeet-Bala.
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At $10K ITF Women's Tournament, Tlemcen, Algeria

[R2] (1) Shweta RANA (IND) bt Harmony TAN (FRA) 36 64 76(5)
[R2] Nikita DESHMUKH (IND) l (7) Natasha BREDL (AUT) 06 06
[R2] Victoria CHEHAL (IND) l (2) Josephine BOUALEM (FRA) 26 26

[QF] (1) Shweta RANA (IND) vs (7) Natasha BREDL (AUT)

Top-seed Shweta needed to dig deep to fightback against French girl after losing the first set ... Next she is facing Austrian Natasha Bredl, who gave double bagel to Nikita Deshmukh in the previous round.
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At $10K ITF Women's Tournament, Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt

[R2] Vishesh VISHNU (IND) l (1) Yana SIZIKOVA (RUS) 06 06
[R2] (2) Prarthana G. THOMBARE (IND) bt Ashmitha EASWARAMURTHI (IND) 63 62

[QF] (2) Prarthana G. THOMBARE (IND) vs (7) Francesca STEPHENSON (GBR)

Prarthana scored straight sets win over Ashmitha but double bagel loss for Vishesh ... Real test start for Prarthana from quarters, she is facing 7th seed British player.

Football News

At SAFF Championship 2013, Nepal

Final
India l Afghanistan 0-2 (0-1)
Goal Scorers - Mustafa Azadzoy (AFG) 9', Sanjdar Ahmadi (AFG) 62'

Frankly Afghanistan was looking more complete side than Indians and they were giving consistent performance in this tournament ... In my view they r deserving SAFF champions ... Afghanistan won their first SAFF title comfortably beating Indians ... This was also Afghanistan's first ever international tournament title.

Afghans scored a goal in each half ... Indians produced some moves but they were never threatening in front of the goal ... India did put in a decent performance but lack of goals and a poor defense saw them missing out on winning their third straight SAFF Championship.

Squash News

At $70K Malaysian Open 2013, Kuala Lumpur

[R1] Joshana Chinappa (IND,26) l (3) Raneem El Weleily (EGY,3) 5-11 4-11 8-11
[R1] (13) Dipika Pallikal (IND,16) bt Aisling Blake (IRL,25) 11-6 3-11 13-11 11-9

[R2] (13) Dipika Pallikal (IND,16) vs (3) Raneem El Weleily (EGY,3)

Winning start for Dipika against Irish girl Aisling Blake, though she stretched Dipika in her loss ... In the second round Dipika is playing against WR #3 Egyptian Raneem El Weleily, who defeated Joshana in straight games in the first round.
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At $50K Malaysian Open 2013, Kuala Lumpur

[Q1] Harinderpal Sandhu (IND,66) l Omar Abdel Meguid (EGY,43) 4-11 11-8 10-12 12-10 4-8 Retd. (95m)

[R1] Saurav Ghosal (IND,19) vs Qualifier

Harinderpal Sandhu gave fight performance against top-50 Egyptian player but he retired in the fifth game after more that one and half hours match ... Saurav is facing qualifier in the first round .

Badminton News

At $250K Adidas China Masters 2013, Changzhou, China (Superseries)

[R1] Anand Pawar (IND,39) bt (1) Long Chen (CHN,2) walkover
[R1] Ajay Jayaram (IND,24) vs Yuekun Chen (CHN,30)

Lucky break for Anand Pawar as WR #2 and top seed Long Chen gave walkover to him ... Ajay is also having tricky first round against similar ranked Chinese opponent.

Tennis News

At $75K Istanbul-2 Challenger, Turkey

[R1] (2) Somdev Devvarman (IND,101) l Konstantin Kravchuk (RUS,175) 26 36

Very poor outing for Buji against Russian ... Kravchuk didn't gave any chance of settling in the match ... He take early break and then broke Buji in 8th game for winning the first set ... In the second set Kravchuk broke Buji in 4th game and take crucial lead ... Buji had only single break point chance in 7th game on Kravchuk's serve but failed to convert ... Kravchuk hold his serve in 9th game for comfortable win.
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At $75K Petange Challenger, Luxembourg

[R1] (3) Divij Sharan (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) l Maximilian Neuchrist (AUT)/ Jurgen Zopp (EST) 36 36

Purav lost in the singles final qualifying ... In the doubles he was back with his in-form partner Divij but they failed to gel as they were playing together after more than 4 weeks break ... They struggled and Neuchrist-Zopp take advantage for winning match comfortably.
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At $50K ITF Women's Tournament, Sanya, China

[R1] Ankita RAINA (IND)/ Zi YANG (CHN) l (WC) Boyan WANG (CHN)/ Yafan WANG (CHN) 36 26

In the doubles Ankita and her Chinese partner Zi Yang lost in one-sided match against Chinese pair.
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At $15K Canada F8 Futures, Toronto

[R1] (4) Viajayant Malik (IND,450) bt (Q) Alexandru Pasareanu (CAN,UNR) 63 60
[R1] (2) Sanam Singh (IND,379) bt Duck Hee Lee (KOR,890) 63 63

[R2] (4) Viajayant Malik (IND,450) vs Sekou Bangoura (USA,677)
[R2] (2) Sanam Singh (IND,379) vs Evan King (USA,952)

Doubles
[R1] Viajayant Malik (IND)/ Sanam Singh (IND) bt (2) Daniel Chu (CAN)/ Erick Chovjka (CAN) 75 64

[QF] Viajayant Malik (IND)/ Sanam Singh (IND) vs Sekou Bangoura (USA)/ Eric Quigley (USA)

Winning start for Sanam against Korean in the singles ... Next he is facing American opponent ... Vijayant started with comfortable win against local qualifier ... Next he is having tricky match against American Sekou Bangoura.

In the doubles Sanam-Vijayant scored upset win over 2nd seed Canadian pair with Vijayant ... Next they r facing American pair.
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At $10K Egypt F24 Futures , Sharm El Sheikh

[R1] (Q) Sasi Kumar Mukund (IND,UNR) vs (6) Pol Toledo Bague (ESP,638) 16 16
[R1] (5) Ranjeet Virali-Murugesan (IND,582) l (Q) Sebastian Rivera (ECU,1487) 67(1) 46
[R1] (2) N.Sriram Balaji (IND,471) bt Eric Vehovec (CAN,UNR) 60 61
[R1] Arjun Kadhe (IND,1279) bt (Q) Youssef Hossam (EGY,1768) 62 60

[R2] Arjun Kadhe (IND,1279) vs (8) Cristian Rodriguez (COL,661)
[R2] (2) N.Sriram Balaji (IND,471) vs Rafal Teurer (POR,UNR)

Doubles
[R1] (1) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND)/ Ranjeet VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND) bt Adham ELGANAINY (EGY)/ Youssef HOSSAM (EGY) 61 62
[R1] Mohamed ADNAOUI (MAR)/ Sasi Kumar MUKUND (IND) bt Dariusz LIPKA (POL)/ Pavel LIPKA (POL) 63 36 10-6
[R1] Pol TOLEDO BAGUE (ESP)/ Arjun KADHE (IND) bt (2) GASPAR MURTA (POR)/ Danyal SUALEHE (POR) 64 62

[QF] (1) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND)/ Ranjeet VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND) vs Skander MANSOURI (TUN)/ Marlon OLIVEIRA (BRA)
[QF] Pol TOLEDO BAGUE (ESP)/ Arjun KADHE (IND) vs Mohamed ADNAOUI (MAR)/ Sasi Kumar MUKUND (IND)

Confident start for Arjun against local qualifier ... Next he is having tough match against last week's finalist Cristian Rodriguez ... Bala started with comfortable win but horrible start for Ranjeet, who lost against qualifier in the singles.

In the doubles our all three pairs won their matches but most impressive by Arjun with his Spanish partner, who scored upset over 2nd seed pair.
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At $10K ITF Women's Tournament, Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt

[R1] (2) Prarthana G. THOMBARE (IND) bye
[R1] Vishesh VISHNU (IND) bt Leciane COMPARIN DA SILVA (BRA) 62 67(6) 62
[R1] Tanisha ROHIRA (IND) l (5) Giulia BRUZZONE (ITA) 26 16
[R1] Ashmitha EASWARAMURTHI (IND) bt Cyrine BEN CHEIKH (TUN) 60 60

[R2] Vishesh VISHNU (IND) vs (1) Yana SIZIKOVA (RUS)
[R2] (2) Prarthana G. THOMBARE (IND) vs Ashmitha EASWARAMURTHI (IND)

Hard fought win for Vishesh Vishnu against Brazilian girl but she is facing top-seed Russian in the second round ... Ashmitha scored one-sided win without losing a single game but next she is facing 2nd seed Prarthana.
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At $10K ITF Women's Tournament, Tlemcen, Algeria

[R1] (1) Shweta RANA (IND) bye
[R1] Nikita DESHMUKH (IND) bt Souha CHIBOUT (ALG) 62 60
[R1] (6) Shivika BURMAN (IND) l Ines IBBOU (ALG) 16 16
[R1] Victoria CHEHAL (IND) bt Saadia BELHADJ (ALG) 60 60

[R2] (1) Shweta RANA (IND) vs Harmony TAN (FRA)
[R2] Nikita DESHMUKH (IND) vs (7) Natasha BREDL (AUT)
[R2] Victoria CHEHAL (IND) vs (2) Josephine BOUALEM (FRA)

Interestingly these days our players r trying different countries foe earning ranking points but shocking loss of Shivika against unranked Algerian girl.

Football News

At SAFF Championship 2013, Nepal

Semi Finals
India bt Maldives 1-0 (0-0)
Goal Scorers - Arnab Mondal (IND) 86'

After poor performance in group stage, where Indians were lucky to enter into the semis, Indians showed much improved performance against Maldives ... Indians played really well as team and gave solid performance ... Maldives were attacking but Indians were also defending well and managed to put extra pressure on Maldives side ... Match was heading towards extra-time when Arnab Mondal scored opportunist goal on the corner ... After that Indians defended well and book the final with Afghanistan, who defeated host Nepal 1-0.

Olympics News

Wrestling has been selected in Olympic Games 2020 and 2024!!!

Tennis News

At US Open 2013, New York, USA


Doubles Final
(4) Leander Paes (IND)/ Radek Stepanek (CZE) bt (2) Alexander Peya (AUT)/ Bruno Soares (BRA) 61 63

Leander won his 8th men's doubles grand slam title and 3rd US open men's doubles title ... This was his 2nd grand slam title with Radek after their victory in 2012 Australian open ... He become one of few player who lifted the grand slam title after completing 40 yrs of age and also manage to win grand slam titles in three decades ... With this win Radek-Lee also qualify for year-end ATP World tour Finals 2013.

In the first game Radek saved a break point before holding his serve ... After that Radek and Leander take control of the match ... They broke Soares and Peya in 2nd and 4th games at love ... At 0-5 Soares hold his serve first time in the match, 1-5 ... After that Lee hold his serve comfortably for winning the first set ... Peya was struggling with lower back pain and he struggled with his serve ... Lee and Radek broke Peya in 1st game of the second set ... After that Lee hold his serve for 2-0 lead ... After that Soares saved 3 break points on his serve before holding his serve ... At 1-3 and 30-15 Peya take long medical break ... After break despite struggling with his serve Peya managed to hold his serve for 1st time in the match ... After that both pairs hold their respective serve before Lee-Radek broke Peya in 9th game for completing the victory.
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At $75K Istanbul-2 Challenger, Turkey

[R1] (2) Somdev Devvarman (IND,114) vs Konstantin Kravchuk (RUS,173)

Buji is 2nd seed at Turkey challenger and facing top-175 Russian.
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At $50K ITF Women's Tournament, Sanya, China

[R1] Ankita RAINA (IND,311) l Yue-Yue HU (CHN,464) 75 36 16

Doubles
[R1] Ankita RAINA (IND)/ Zi YANG (CHN) vs (WC) Boyan WANG (CHN)/ Yafan WANG (CHN)

Really exciting to see Ankita is trying on tougher tournament though she lost in the first round of the singles ... This experience will going to help her in development.
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At $15K Canada F8 Futures, Toronto

[R1] (4) Viajayant Malik (IND,452) vs (Q) Alexandru Pasareanu (CAN,UNR)
[R1] (2) Sanam Singh (IND,339) vs Duck Hee Lee (KOR,890)
Doubles
[R1] Viajayant Malik (IND)/ Sanam Singh (IND) vs Daniel Chu (CAN)/ Erick Chovjka (CAN)

Eager to see Sanam's performance with Vijayant.

Tennis News

At $10K Egypt F23 Futures , Sharm El Sheikh

[SF] (1) N.Sriram Balaji (IND,402) l (7) Cristian Rodriguez (COL,666) 67(4) 16

Doubles Final
(1) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND)/ Ranjeet VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND) l (2) Cristian RODRIGUEZ (COL)/ Ricardo URZUA-RIVERA (CHI) 57 16

Colombian Cristian Rodriguez proved too strong for Bala in the singles and in the doubles with Ricardo for Bala and Ranjeet ... In both matches our players gave fighting performance in the first set before folding in the second.

Squash News

At $15K 38th Maharashtra State Open 2013, Mumbai, India

[SF] Mahesh Mangaonkar (IND,88) l (4) Mazen Hesham Ga Sabry (EGY,45) 1-3 (7-11 8-11 11-3 3-11) (50m)

Young Mahesh gave very encouraging performance against top-50 Egyptian Mazen ... He lost closely fought first 2 sets but made comeback in the third ... Mahesh won the third comfortably but Mazen overpowered in the fourth.

Tennis News

At $10K Egypt F23 Futures , Sharm El Sheikh

[QF] (1) N.Sriram Balaji (IND,402) bt Pol Toledo Bague (ESP,638) 75 60
[QF] (4) Ranjeet Virali-Murugesan (IND) l (8) Ricardo Urzua-Rivera (CHI,676) 16 16

[SF] (1) N.Sriram Balaji (IND,402) vs (7) Cristian Rodriguez (COL,666)

Doubles
[SF] (1) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND)/ Ranjeet VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND) bt Tarek EL ESAWY (EGY)/ Karim-Mohamed MAAMOUN (EGY) 63 61

[F] (1) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND)/ Ranjeet VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND) vs (2) Cristian RODRIGUEZ (COL)/ Ricardo URZUA-RIVERA (CHI)

Good solid win by Bala against 18 yrs old Spanish Bague ... After winning tight first set Bala dominated the second and won it without losing a single game ... In the semis he is facing 7th seed Colombian Cristian Rodriguez ... Other hand Ranjeet failed to raise his game against Chilean and lost his match winning two games ... Bala and Ranjeet r in the doubles final with convincing win ... In the final they r facing 2nd seed South American pair.

Squash News

At $15K 38th Maharashtra State Open 2013, Mumbai, India

[R1] Ravi Dixit (IND,128) bt (Q) Deepak Mishra (IND,UNR) 3-0 (11-5 11-3 11-6) (30m)
[R1] Harinderpal Sandhu (IND,66) bt (Q) Shehab Essam Hosny (EGY,376) 3-0 (11-6 14-12 11-3) (38m)
[R1] Mahesh Mangaonkar (IND,88) bt Kush Kumar (IND,315) 3-1 (11-6 8-11 11-2 11-6) (43m)

[QF] Ravi Dixit (IND,128) l Zahed Mohamed (EGY,90) 8-11 5-11 5-11 (31m)
[QF] Harinderpal Sandhu (IND,66) l (4) Mazen Hesham Ga Sabry (EGY,45) 0-3 (10-12 9-11 8-11) (55m)
[QF] Mahesh Mangaonkar (IND,88) bt (Q) Fares Mohamed Dessouki (EGY,132) 3-1 (14-12 9-11 11-8 11-1) (77m)

[SF] Mahesh Mangaonkar (IND,88) vs (4) Mazen Hesham Ga Sabry (EGY,45)

Good to see Mahesh is in the semi-final beating Egyptian player and next he is meeting top-50 Egypt's player Mazen Hesham Ga Sabry.

Tennis News

At US Open 2013, New York, USA

Doubles
[SF] (10) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Jie Zheng (CHN) l (8) Ashleigh Barty (AUS)/ Casey Dellacqua (AUS) 26 26
[SF] (4) Leander Paes (IND)/ Radek Stepanek (CZE) bt (1) Bob Bryan (USA)/ Mike Bryan (USA) 36 63 64

[F] (4) Leander Paes (IND)/ Radek Stepanek (CZE) vs (2) Alexander Peya (AUT)/ Bruno Soares (BRA)

Little nervy start for Lee-Radek when Radek needed almost 8 minutes to hold his first service game ... Lee was mixed on the net as he hits some great volleys but missed few easy ones also ... He missed crucial volley in 6th game on Radek's serve ... Bryans broke Radek's serve in this game and that single break advantage was enough for winning the first set ... In the second set Lee-Radek broke Bob's serve in 2nd game to lead 2-0 but Bryans broke Lee's serve in next game taking advantage of poor serving by Lee ... Again Lee-Radek broke Bob's serve in 6th game to lead 4-2 ... After that both pairs hold their service games and Lee-Radek won this second set ... In the third set Lee-Radek played energetic game and made sure that Bryans needed to play one extra shots ... Our both players were excellent on the net and from back of the court ... Lee-Radek broke Mike's serve in 3rd game to take 2-1 lead ... Our pair double their advantage when they broke Bob in 5th game to lead 4-1 ... In 6th game our pair was down 3 break points on Radek's serve, 0-40 ... We won next 5 points with excellent overall game from Lee-Radek to kept their double breaks advantage, 5-1 ... Bryans broke Lee's serve in 8th game converting 2nd break point after couple of mistakes from Radek and Lee, 3-5 ... Bob hold his next service game to put some pressure on Radek's next service game, 4-5 ... Radek served brilliantly with excellent net game from our both players helped to won this game easily ... So with that Lee-Radek completed victory in 1 hour and 51 minutes ... And our pair also stopped Bryans from completing their calendar-year Grand Slam as Bryans already won the first 3 slams ... So sweet revenge for Lee-Radek as they lost last year's US open final against Bryans ... In the final they r facing 2nd seed pair of Alexander Peya and Bruno Soares.

Off-day at the office for Sania-Jie ... They lost their match in 65 minutes against young Aussie pair ... In this match Sania-Jie managed to hold their twice that showed their struggle with their own service game ... Still good performance by Sania-Jie in this US opem.
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At $10K Egypt F23 Futures , Sharm El Sheikh

[R2] (1) N.Sriram Balaji (IND,402) bt Martin Rios-Benitez (ARG,1064) 57 62 62
[R2] (4) Ranjeet Virali-Murugesan (IND) bt (Q) Mohamed Adnaoui (MAR,UNR) 62 61

[QF] (1) N.Sriram Balaji (IND,402) vs Pol Toledo Bague (ESP,638)
[QF] (4) Ranjeet Virali-Murugesan (IND) vs (8) Ricardo Urzua-Rivera (CHI,676)

Doubles
[QF] (1) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND)/ Ranjeet VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND) bt Julian TUROSIENSKI (POL)/ Rafal TEURER (POL) 63 63
[QF] Francesco BESSIRE (ITA)/ Arjun KADHE (IND) l Marlon OLIVEIRA (BRA)/ Martin RIOS-BENITEZ (ARG) 16 46

[SF] (1) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND)/ Ranjeet VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND) vs Tarek EL ESAWY (EGY)/ Karim-Mohamed MAAMOUN (EGY)

After losing the first set Bala responded well winning next two sets easily ... Next Bala having tricky match against 18th yrs old Spanish opponent ... Ranjeet scored comfortable win over qualifier ... Next he is facing Chilean opponent, who convincingly defeated Arjun in the first round.
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At $10K ITF Women's Tournament, Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt

[R2] (4) Prarthana G. THOMBARE (IND) l Ekaterina TRETYAK (RUS) 26 62 16

Poor loss against lowly ranked Russian for Prarthana.

Football News

At SAFF Championship 2013, Nepal

Group A
India l Nepal 1-2 (0-0)
Goal Scorers - Syed Rahim Nabi (IND) 90+' and Anil Gurung (NEP) 70', Jumanu Rai (NEP) 81'

Deserving win by Nepal against clueless Indians ... We were losing ball possession regularly and impotent attack ... After holding Nepalese team goalless in the first half we started the second half on disappointing note ... Nepalese team build their attack and scored two goals in ten minutes and we scored a goal in injury time ... Despite this loss we qualified for the semi-final behind Nepal as Pakistan defeated Bangladesh 2-1 in other match but Indians went ahead on their head to head result from the group.

Snooker News

At European Tour Event Four, Fürth, Germany (22-25 Aug 2013)

[R1] Pankaj Advani (IND,72) bt Allan Taylor (ENG,118) 4-0 (69-45, 76-29, 88(68)-2, 76(57)-42)
[R1] Aditya Mehta (IND,73) bt Tony Drago (MAL,82) 4-0 (87(73)-0), 66(49)-6, 66(65)-49, 84(52)-2)

[R2] Pankaj Advani (IND,72) l Jamie Jones (WAL,41) 2-4 (29-71, 67-19, 24-79, 76(66)-49, 5-97(79), 17-62)
[R2] Aditya Mehta (IND,73) bt Alan McManus (SCO,43) 4-0 (69-8, 124(62)-1, 65-55, 57-19)

[R3] Aditya Mehta (IND,73) bt Anthony Hamilton (ENG,36) 4-2 (69(69)-68(68), 61-1, 87(59)-0, 56-64, 0-92(92), 66-58)

[R4] Aditya Mehta (IND,73) l (3) Mark Selby (ENG,2) 1-4 (15-76(63), 21-91, 72-13, 19-58(56), 17-68(63))

Aditya repeated Pankaj's performance in Euro tour 4 tournament where he reached in pre-quarter final ... Aditya scored good fighting win and gave decent fight to current WR #2 Mark Selby in his loss in the fourth round ... In recent interview Aditya told that he set goal of improving his current ranking inside top 50 at the end of year and his desire to crack top 16 in his career ... I feel this is realistic goal.
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At European Tour Event Three, Doncaster, England (14-17 Aug 2013)

[R1] Pankaj Advani (IND,72) bt Peter Ebdon (ENG,28) 4-3 (14-112(112), 1-95(59), 64-15, 74-16, 33-71(61), 71-39, 67-12)
[R1] Aditya Mehta (IND,73) bt Nigel Bond (ENG,44) 4-3 (91-20, 46-70, 68(51)-12, 82(82)-31, 6-106(59), 39-80, 110(68)-1)

[R2] Pankaj Advani (IND,72) bt Ian Burns (ENG,66) 4-0 (85(57)-5, 61-44, 66(57)-7, 54-21)
[R2] Aditya Mehta (IND,73) l (2) John Higgins (SCO,6) 0-4 (42-77, 12-75(70), 64-68, 7-72(64))

[R3] Pankaj Advani (IND,72) bt Rory McLeod (ENG,46) 4-0 (100(48)-22, 75(52)-46, 63-22, 76-40)

[R4] Pankaj Advani (IND,72) l (1) Mark J Williams (WAL,15) 0-4 (43-86(68), 26-69, 51-67, 21-78)

In the first round Pankaj produced superb comeback win from 2-3 against Peter Ebdon ... In the fourth round he lost top-seed Mark J Williams.