Tennis News

At $721K Abierto Mexicano Los Cabos 2016, Los Cabos, Mexico

[QF] Divij Sharan (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) bt Nicholas Monroe (USA)/ Artem Sitak (NZL) 16 63 10-7

Another good comeback win by Divij-Purav against regular ATP doubles players. After losing first set convincingly Divij-Purav recovered for winning next and then they controlled match te-break for entering into the semis.

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At $100K Aptos Challenger, USA

[QF] Liam Broady (GBR)/ Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND) l (3) Stefan Kozlov (USA)/ Matt Reid (AUS) 26 26

One-sided loss for RamK and his partner against 3rd seed pair.

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At $25K ITF Women's Tennis Tournament 2016, Koksijde, Belgium (Clay)

[R2] Ankita Raina (IND,312) bt Fanni Stollar (HUN,318) 64 75

[QF] Ankita Raina (IND,312) vs Quirine Lemoine (NED,317)

Ankita scored tight straight sets win over similar ranked her Hungarian opponent ... Next she is facing another similar ranked player but this Dutch player defeated top-200 3rd seed German player.

Olympics News

At Rio Olympics 2016, Brazil

Courtesy PTI

Shooting - 50m Men's Pistol
12 Jitu Rai (IND) 554-9x
25 Prakash Nanjappa (IND) 547-10x

Archery - Women's Individual
[R64] (24) Bombayla Devi Laishram (IND) bt (41) Laurence Baldauff (AUT) 6-2 (24-27, 28-24, 27-23, 26-24)
[R32] (24) Bombayla Devi Laishram (IND) bt (9) Lin Shih Chia (TPE) 6-2 (27-24, 27-24, 26-27, 28-26)

[R16] (24) Bombayla Devi Laishram (IND) vs (45) Kristine Esebua (GEO)

Weightlifting - Men's 77 kg - Group B
4 Sathish Kumar Sivalingam (IND) 329kg (148kg in snatch and 181kg in clean and jerk)

Judo - Men's 90 kg
[R32] Avtar Singh (IND) l Popole Misenga (ROT) Seoi-nage 5:00

Women's Hockey - Pool B
India l Australia 1-6 (0-2)
Goal Scored - Thokchom Anuradha (IND) 70' and Kathryn Slattery (AUS) 5' PC, Georgie Morgan (AUS) 9' PC, Jane Claxton (AUS) 35', Georgina Parker (AUS) 36', Jodie Kenny (AUS) 43' PS and 46' PC

Boxing - Men's Light Welter (64kg)
[R1] Manoj Kumar (IND) bt Evaldas Petrauskas (LTU) 2-1 (29-28, 29-28, 28-29)

[R2] Manoj Kumar (IND) vs Fazliddin Gaibnazarov (UZB)

Jitu Rai - "I let my country down. There was wind but I don't want to make any excuses."

Please someone tell this guy we are very proud of him and I m damn sure he will win 2 medals at Tokyo Olympics ... Jitu Rai, you are gentleman and THE champion.

Group B is meant for lower-ranked competitors who have registered lower entry weights and by finishing fourth even in this category, Sivalingam has no chance to be on the podium.

Australia have thrashed Indian women with an emphatic 6-1 win today ... Nothing more to write about it.

Manoj Kumar completed tight win over Evaldas Petrauskas in 2-1 favor ... Next having tough match against Uzbek Fazliddin Gaibnazarov.

Tennis News

At $75K Gatineau Challenger, Canada

[R2] (3) Saketh Myneni (IND,150) bt Blake Mott (AUS,324) 63 62

Doubles
[QF] Saketh Myneni (IND)/ Sanam Singh (IND) bt Filip Peliwo (CAN)/ Brayden Schnur (CAN) 63 64

Saki in the singles quarter with comfortable win over Aussie youngster Blake Mott.

Saki-Sanam scored comfortable straight sets win over local Canadian pair for entering into the semis.

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At $125K Qingdao Challenger, China (clay)

[R2] Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,388) l (6) Pere Riba (ESP,205) 64 06 26

Doubles
[R1] (PR) Karunuday Singh (IND)/ Kento Takeuchi (JPN) l (2) Mao-Xin Gong (CHN)/ Ze Zhang (CHN) 26 06

[QF] (1) Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND)/ Chu-Huan Yi (TPE) l Danilo Petrovic (SRB)/ Tak Khunn Wang (FRA) 67(10) 67(1)

Prajnesh started well after winning the first set but afterwards one way traffic for his Spanish opponent, who dominated last two sets.

Indian challenge got over as our both players lost their respective doubles matches with their respective partners ... Jeevan and his partner lost match in tie-breaks.

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At $100K Aptos Challenger, USA

[R1] Liam Broady (GBR)/ Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND) bt John Lamble (USA)/ Bernardo Sarava (POR) 64 62

[QF] Liam Broady (GBR)/ Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND) vs (3) Stefan Kozlov (USA)/ Matt Reid (AUS)

In the doubles RamK and Broady started with comfortable win ... In the quarters they r facing 3rd seed Aussie-American pair.

Olympics News

At Rio Olympics 2016, Brazil

Rowing - Men's single Scull quarter-final 4
4 Dattu Baban Bokhanal (IND) 6:59.89s

Shooting - Women's 25m Pistol
20 Heena Sidhu (IND) 576-16x

25m Pistol Women's Qualification Precision
Heena Sidhu (IND) 286-8x (95, 95, 96)

25m Pistol Women's Qualification Rapid
Heena Sidhu (IND) 290-8x (97, 97, 96)

Courtesy TOI

Archery - Men's Individual
[R64] (5) Atanu Das (IND) bt (60) Jitbahadur Muktan (NEP) 6-0 (29-26, 29-24, 30-26)
[R32] (5) Atanu Das (IND) bt (37) Adrian Andres Puentes Perez (CUB) 6-4 (28-26, 29-26, 26-27, 27-28, 29-28)

[R16] (5) Atanu Das (IND) vs (12) Seungyun Lee (KOR)

Men's Hockey - Pool B
India bt Argentina 2-1 (1-0)
Goal Scored - Chinglensana Kangujam Singh (IND) 8', Kothajit Khadangbam Singh (IND) 35' and Gonzalo Peillat (ARG) PC 49'

Boxing - Men's Middleweight (75kg) Preliminaries
[R1] Vikas Krishan Yadav (IND) bt Albert shone Charles Conwell (USA) 3-0 (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)

[R2] Vikas Krishan Yadav (IND) vs Sipal Onder (TUR)

Dattu Bokhanal finished inside 7 minutes but that didn't help him to make it to the final ... He will participate in Men's Single Sculls SemiFinal C/D.

Heena Sidhu finished disappointing #30 in Precision and #20 in Rapid in the final standing.

Atanu Das continues with his terrific form ... In the first round he defeated his Nepalese opponent dominantly without losing much sweat ... But in the second round his Cuban opponent stretched him to fullest ... After winning first 2 sets Atanu failed to connect 10 in next two sets and his Cuban opponent took advantage winning these two sets with better scoring ... In the final set Atanu hit 9 on the first shot and his Cuban opponent also replied with 9 ... In the second shot Atanu scored 10 and his Cuban opponent managed 9 ... On the final shot both archers shot 10 giving Atanu this set by a point ... In pre-quarterfinal Atanu having tough match against Korean Seungyun Lee.

Our hockey players continued with their excellent performance despite their loss against Germany ... Today Asian Champions India defeated Pan American Champions Argentina 2-1 ... In this match we played well as our defending were very good ... Again our forward-line missed to many chances but we took early lead through Chinglensana ... We kept that advantage at half-time and after half-time we doubled lead through Kothajit ... In the fourth quarter Argentine team fought back and converted penalty corner ... After that we defended well but we also missed few open goal chances ... Still this is our first win against Argentina in a decade in big FIH event.

Vikas Krishan starts with closely fought win on points over teenager American boxer Charles ... Next he is facing Turkish boxer Sipal Onder.

Tennis News

At $721K Abierto Mexicano Los Cabos 2016, Los Cabos, Mexico

[R1] Divij Sharan (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) bt (1) Feliciano Lopez (ESP)/ Marcel Granollers (ESP) w/o (Granollers - illness)

Another really good lucky break for Divij and Purav as top-seed gave them walkover.

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At $100K Aptos Challenger, USA

[R1] (5) Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,199) l (Q) Cameron Norrie (GBR,423) 36 67(10)

Disappointing loss against British qualifier ... RamK need to avoid such type of dip in the form and losses against these lower ranked players.

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At $125K Qingdao Challenger, China (clay)

[R1] (Q) Jeevan Neduncheziyan (IND,628) l Soon Woo Kwon (KOR,334) 67(3) 46
[R1] (PR) Karunuday Singh (IND,1144) l Xin Gao (CHN,593) 36 26

[R2] Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,388) vs (6) Pere Riba (ESP,205)

Doubles
[R1] (1) Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND)/ Chu-Huan Yi (TPE) bt Xin Gao (CHN)/ Zhe Li (CHN) 46 63 10-6

[QF] (1) Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND)/ Chu-Huan Yi (TPE) vs Danilo Petrovic (SRB)/ Tak Khunn Wang (FRA)

In the singles Jeevan and KU lose their matches in straight sets against their higher ranked opponents.

In the doubles good revenge by Jeevan and Chu-Huan against Chinese pair who scored upset win over them in last week ... Today after losing the first set Jeevan and Chu-Huan scored excellent comeback win ... Next they r facing European pair.

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At $75K Gatineau Challenger, Canada

[R1] (3) Saketh Myneni (IND,150) bt Luke Saville (AUS,247) 75 60

[R2] (3) Saketh Myneni (IND,150) vs Blake Mott (AUS,324)

Doubles
[R1] Saketh Myneni (IND)/ Sanam Singh (IND) bt Edward Corrie (GBR)/ David O'Hare (IRL) 63 57 10-4

[QF] Saketh Myneni (IND)/ Sanam Singh (IND) vs Filip Peliwo (CAN)/ Brayden Schnur (CAN)

Really good dominating win by Saki against talented Aussie Luke Saville in straight sets ... Next he is facing another Aussie youngster Blake Mott.

Saki-Sanam scored a win in match tie-break against British-Irish pair ... Next they r facing local pair.

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At $25K ITF Women's Tournament, Koksijde, Belgium (Clay)

[R1] Ankita RAINA (IND,312) bt (Q) Lisa MATVIYENKO (GER,656) 75 64

[R2] Ankita RAINA (IND,312) vs Fanni STOLLAR (HUN,318)

Expected winning start for Ankita against German qualifier ... Next she is facing similar ranked Hungarian opponent.

Olympics News

At Rio Olympics 2016, Brazil

Shooting - 10m Air Rifle Men's Qualification
7 Abhinav Bindra (IND) 625.7 pts (104.3, 104.4, 105.9, 103.8, 102.1, 105.2)
23 Gagan Narang (IND) 621.7 pts (105.3, 104.5, 102.1, 103.4, 101.6, 104.8)

Courtesy TOI

10m Air Rifle Men's Final
4 Abhinav Bindra (IND) 163.8 pts (shoot-out 10 and scored 10.5)

Shooting - Men's Trap qualification Day 2
16 Manavjit Singh Sandhu 115 (23, 23, 22, 25)
19 Kynan Chenai 114 (22, 23, 22, 24, 23)

Archery - Women's Individual
[R64] (43) Laxmirani Manjhi (IND) l (22) Alexandra Longová (SVK) 1-7 (25-27, 26-28, 26-26, 24-27)

Men's Hockey - Pool B
India l Germany 1-2 (1-1)
Goal Scorers - Rupinder Pal Singh (IND) 23' PC and Niklas Wellen (GER) 18', Christopher Ruhr (GER) 70'

Swimming - Women's 200m Freestyle heats
41 Shivani Kataria 2:09.30s

Swimming - Men's 200m Butterfly heats
28 Sajan Prakash 1:59.37s

Women's Hockey
India l Great Britain 0-3 (0-2)
Goal Scorers - Giselle Ansley (GBR) 25' PC, Nicola White (GBR) 28', Alexandra Danson (GBR) 33'

Turn to be really heartbreaking day for us ... As Abhinav missed a medal in shoot-off and our men's hockey team lost against current Olympics champion Germany.

Abhinav and Gagan started well but they struggled into middle rounds ... At that time both were outside top-8, in the last round Abhinav scored superbly to qualify for the final on 7th position ... Gagan ended outside top-20 ... In the final Abhinav started slowly but then he recovered and scored one after another 10.7s hit ... At one time he was only 0.5 points away from top position ... But in last few shots he struggled and scored couple of 9.8s, which costed him his positions ... In 5th elimination he hit 10.2 and Ukrainian Serhiy Kulish hit 9.9 ... Both were tied for 163.8 pts ... In shoot-off Abhinav hit only 10 and Serhiy Kulish managed 10.5 for moving ahead ... Kulish won the Silver but heartbreaking loss for Abhinav.

Manavjit Singh Sandhu started well managed 25/25 hits in 4th round but managed only 22 hits in the fifth and final to end up on 16th position ... Kynan Chenai remained in 19th position only.

Laxmirani lost one-sided match against Slovak Alexandra Longová.

We played excellent match against Germany ... After matching Germans pace in the first quarter we were down early in 2nd quarter ... But excellent penalty corner conversion from Rupinder brought us on equal ... In the third quarters we missed chances and in the fourth quarter both teams were matching each other ... In the final couple of minutes we became defensive and Germans were trying hard ... One long wild hit in D went in the goal with deflection from Rehr when 3 seconds on the clock ... Next we r facing Argentine team.

Sajjan Prakash finished 28/29 in the 200 mtrs butterfly while Shivani finished 41/42 in the 200 mtrs freestyle.

Indian women hockey team fell short against Great Britain as they lost their second Pool B match 0-3 ... They conceded two quick goals in the second quarter and failed to convert penalty corners in the fourth quarter.

Tennis News

At $125K Qingdao Challenger, China (clay)

[Q3] (4) Jeevan Nendincheziyan (IND,628) bt (6) Sheng Hao Zhou (CHN,1105) 62 64
[Q3] (5) Kunal Anand (IND,881) l (1) Danilo Petrovic (SRB,352) 26 36

[R1] Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,388) bt Evgeny Karlovskiy (RUS,475) 26 64 62
[R1] (Q) Jeevan Neduncheziyan (IND,628) vs Soon Woo Kwon (KOR,334)

Prajnesh scores good comeback win over Russian Karlovskiy ... After losing the first set he made excellent comeback for winning next two sets.

Jeevan joins Prajnesh and KU in main-draw with convincing win over his Chinese opponent ... In main-draw he is having tough challenge of top-350 Korean Soon Woo Kwon.

Olympics News

At Rio Olympics 2016, Brazil

Shooting - Women's 10m Air Pistol
14 Heena Siddhu (IND) (94, 95, 96, 95) 380 pts

Shooting - Men's Trap qualifying Day 1
17 Manavjeet Singh Sandhu (IND) 68 hits
19 Kynan Chenai (IND) 67 hits

Archery - Women's team
[R16] India bt Colombia 5-3 (52-51, 49-50, 52-52, 52-44)

[QF] India l (2) Russia 4-5 (48-55, 53-52, 53-50, 53-55) 23-25 in shoot-off

Courtesy TOI

Women's Hockey
India vs Japan 2-2 (0-2)
Goal Scorers - Rani Rampal (IND) 33' PC, Lilima Minz (IND) 40' PC and Emi Nishikori (JPN) 15' PC, Mei Nakashima (JPN) 28'

Courtesy TOI

All-round Gymnastics Women's qualifications
8 Deepa Karmakar - Women's Vault Qualification Subdivision 3 - 14.850 (In the final)
Deepa Karmakar - Women's Floor Exercise Qualification Subdivision 3 - 12.033
Deepa Karmakar - Women's Uneven Bars Qualification Subdivision 3 - 11.666
Deepa Karmakar - Women's Balance Beam Qualification Subdivision 3 - 12.866
Deepa Karmakar - Women's Individual All-Around Qualification Subdivision 3 - 23:00

Heena Siddhu not able to produced her best performance and her consistent 95 around rounds helped her only to finish on 14th.

In Trap our both shooters started badly ... After end of day 1 Manavjeet Singh Sandhu is on 17th place with 68 hits, he is 3 hits behind top 6 shooters ... Kynan Chenai is one hit behind Manavjeet ... Tomorrow we need our both shooters to hit like 50/50 for having any chance of qualifying for the final.

Indian women managed draw against higher ranked Japanese women in entertaining match ... We scored our both goals through penalty corners so that means our women are still waiting for their first field goal in Olympics ... Early our women were struggling against Japanese women ... We were 0-2 down at half time by goals from Emi Nishikori and Mei Nakashima ... 'As usual we failed to capitalize on chances they created and gave penalty corner when 10 seconds were remaining on the clock in the first quarter ... After half-time our women played attacking hockey and earned panlty corners one after another ... We converted two of them but in last 20 minutes both teams failed to break deadlock ... In the last quarter Japanese women were attacking on our goals ... Savita was excellent in front of the goal and her Japanese counterpart also defended well.

Indian women archers started with victory against Colombian women ... Frankly it was battle between who shoot poor and Colombia won that battle ... Our single archer failed to hit 10 in this match ... Need to improve a lot if we want to play in medal round.

Indian women archer lost to Russian women in shoot-off ... After losing the first set our women made strong comeback winning next two sets but Russian women played excellent fourth set to take match into shoot-off ... In shoot-off Bombayla Devi's 7 cost us dearly ... On the final shot Dipika needed 10 for catching Russian but she managed only 8.

Dipa Karmakar has finished eighth in the qualifying to reach the finals of the vault event ... With that, she also becomes first Indian to make apparatus finals of artistic Gymnastics ... In her first attempt Dipa scored 15.100 (Difficulty 7.000, Execution 8.100) ... In her second Dipa scored - 14.600 (Difficulty 6.000, Execution 8.600).

Tennis News

At $721K Abierto Mexicano Los Cabos 2016, Los Cabos, Mexico

[R1] Divij Sharan (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) vs (1) Feliciano Lopez (ESP)/ Marcel Granollers (ESP)

Tough match but with their recent performance we can expect upset from Divij-Purav.

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At $100K Aptos Challenger, USA

[R1] (5) Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,199) vs Qualifier

RamK is 5th seed and facing qualifier in the first round at Aptos.

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At $125K Qingdao Challenger, China (clay)

[Q1] (4) Jeevan Nendincheziyan (IND,628) bye
[Q1] (5) Kunal Anand (IND,881) bye

[Q2] (4) Jeevan Nendincheziyan (IND,628) bt (WC) Runhao Hua (CHN,NR) 62 61
[Q2] (5) Kunal Anand (IND,881) bt Huxian Wang (CHN,1809) 64 62

[Q3] (4) Jeevan Nendincheziyan (IND,628) vs (6) Sheng Hao Zhou (CHN,1105)
[Q3] (5) Kunal Anand (IND,881) vs (1) Danilo Petrovic (SRB,352)

[R1] Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,388) vs Evgeny Karlovskiy (RUS,475)
[R1] (PR) Karunuday Singh (IND,1144) vs Xin Gao (CHN,593)

Doubles
[R1] (1) Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND)/ Chu-Huan Yi (TPE) vs Xin Gao (CHN)/ Zhe Li (CHN)
[R1] (PR) Karunuday Singh (IND)/ Kento Takeuchi (JPN) vs (2) Mao-Xin Gong (CHN)/ Ze Zhang (CHN)

Hopefully one or both of Jeevan and Kunal qualify for main-draw ... In the doubles Jeevan is top-seed with his Japanese partner but they r facing tough match against in-form Chinese pair Xin Gao-Ze Zhang, who defeated them in semis at last week's Chengdu challenger.

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At $75K Gatineau Challenger, Canada

[R1] (3) Saketh Myneni (IND,150) vs Luke Saville (AUS,247)

Saki is facing Luke in the first round of Gatineau Challenger.

Squash News

At $10K Women's Victorian Open 2016, Melbourne, Australia

[R1] (1) Dipika Pallikal Karthik (IND,19) bt (Q) Teh Min Jie (MAS,65) 11-6, 11-6, 11-2 (24m)

[QF] (1) Dipika Pallikal Karthik (IND,19) bt (8) Megan Craig (NZL,53) 11-6, 11-6, 11-2 (24m)

[SF] (1) Dipika Pallikal Karthik (IND,19) bt Nouran El Torky (EGY,54) 11-4, 11-4, 11-2 (24m)

[F] (1) Dipika Pallikal Karthik (IND,19) l (2) Millie Tomlinson (ENG,44) 11-6, 4-11, 11-3, 7-11, 9-11 (80m)

Disappointing loss for Dipika in the final after leading 2-1 games  ... More importantly Dipika was only player in the tournament who was top-40 ranked player.

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At $10K Men's Victorian Open 2016, Melbourne, Australia

[R1] Ravi Dixit (IND,188) l (Q) Vincent Droesbeke (FRA,162) 10-12, 10-12, 8-11 (33m)
[R1] (3) Harinder Pal Singh Sandhu (IND,84) bt (Q) Connor Sheen (ENG,283) 11-4, 11-7, 11-7 (26m)
[R1] (Q) Sandeep Ramachandran (IND,197) bt Rohan Toole (AUS,248) 8-11, 11-5, 11-6, 11-7 (36m)
[R1] (8) Kush Kumar (IND,102) bt Ko Youngjo (KOR,141) 11-4, 11-2, 7-11, 11-7 (42m)

[R2] (3) Harinder Pal Singh Sandhu (IND,84) bt Lance Beddoes (NZL,110) 11-7, 11-8, 5-11, 11-6 (47m)
[R2] (8) Kush Kumar (IND,102) bt (Q) Sandeep Ramachandran (IND,197) 11-5, 11-8, 11-8 (18m)

[QF] (3) Harinder Pal Singh Sandhu (IND,84) bt (7) Evan Williams (NZL,87) 9-11, 11-2, 11-2, 11-7 (51m)
[QF] (8) Kush Kumar (IND,102) bt (4) Reiko Peter (SUI,80) 10-12, 5-11, 11-3, 11-4, 11-6 (60m)

[SF] (3) Harinder Pal Singh Sandhu (IND,84) l (1) Joe Lee (ENG,52) 8-11, 4-11, 10-12 (59m)
[SF] (8) Kush Kumar (IND,102) l (2) Rex Hedrick (AUS,57) 5-11, 7-11, 5-11 (45m)

Kush Kumar scored nice upset win over top-80 Swiss player in the quarters before losing to top-60 Aussie player in the final ... Harinder Pal Singh Sandhu also performed as per his seeding as he lost in the semis against top-50 type British player Joe Lee.

Olympics News

At Rio Olympics 2016, Brazil

Courtesy TOI

Men's Single Scull (2000 mtrs) - Heat 1
3. Dattu Bhokanal (IND) 7:21.67s

10m Women's Air Rifle - Qualification
34 Apurvi Chandela (IND) 411.6 pts
43 Ayonika Paul (IND) 407 pts

Courtesy TOI

Tennis - Men's Doubles
[R16] Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Leander Paes (IND) l Lukasz Kubot (POL)/ Marcin Matkowski (POL) 46 67(6)

Tennis - Women's Doubles
[R16] Sania Mirza (IND)/ Prarthana Thombare (IND) l Shuai Peng (CHN)/ Shuai Zhang (CHN) (6)67 75 57

Table Tennis - Men's Singles
[R1] Soumyajit Ghosh (IND) l Padasak Tanviriyavechakul (THA) 1-4 (8-11, 6-11, 14-12, 6-11, 11-13)
[R1] Sharath Kamal Achanta (IND) l Adrian Crișan (ROM) 1-4 (8-11, 12-14, 11-9, 6-11, 8-11)

Table Tennis - Women's singles
[R1] Mouma Das (IND) l Daniela Monteiro Dodean (ROM) 0-4 (2-11, 7-11, 7-11, 3-11)
[R1] Manika Batra (IND) l Katarzyna Grzybowska (POL) 2-4 (12-10, 6-11, 12-14, 11-8, 4-11, 12-14)

Courtesy Hockey India

Men's Hockey - Pool B
India bt Ireland 3-2 (2-0)
Goal Scorers - VR Raghunath (IND) 15' PC, Rupinder Pal Singh (IND) 27' PC and 49' PC and Jermyn John (IRL) 45' PC, Conor Harte (IRL) 56'

Courtesy TOI

10m Men's Air Pistol - Qualification
6. Jitu Rai (IND) 580 pts
20. Gurpreet Singh (IND) 576 pts

Final
8. Jitu Rai (IND) 78.7 pts

Wiegtlifting - Womens 48 kg.
11. Saikhom Meerabai Chanu (IND) DNF

Dattu Bhokanal finishes 3rd in Heat 1 of Men's Single Scull and advances to quarter finals.

Poor start in shooting as Apurvi Chandela and Ayonika Paul way outside in qualification for the final.

Raghunath and Rupinder converted three out of seven penalty corners India earned in the match to secure their first win in an opening clash at the Olympics since Sydney Games 2000 ... After dominating first 2 quarters we were scratchy in last two ... We made poor defending inside the circle and gifted many penalty corners to Irish team ... On which they converted for giving us big headache ... We somehow managed to kept the lead for a win.

Lee and Rohan crashed out of the men's doubles event in the first round to end India's hopes ... The duo lost in straight sets to Poland’s Marcin Matkowski and Lukasz Kubot with that Lee' seven Olympics legacy comes to an end ... In the first set from 3-4 Polish pair won next 3 games for winning the set ... In the second set our pair needed to hold their serve when serving for the set at 6-5 but Polish pair broke Indians for taking it into tie-break ... Our pair was down 1-4 but they tried fightback and had a set point at 6-5 but Polish saved that and converted first match point for a win.

Sania-Parthana surprised everyone with their gritty performance as they lose very close match against seasoned Chinese pair in 2 hours and 44 minutes ... After losing close tie-break our pair fought back for winning the second ... Our pair tried hard in the decider but Chinese pair used their experience for completing victory as they targeted Prarthana.

Indian challenge in table tennis ends as all four competitors fall in the first round.

Jitu and Gurpreet struggled early but in end they made amazing comeback ... Gurpreet finished inside top-20 and Jitu hit seven 10 in a row on his last seven shots for qualifying the final on 6th place ... In the final Jitu took pressure of his first Olympics and eliminated first but still good performance from him in his non-favorite event.

India's Saikhom Mirabai Chanu put up a highly disappointing performance as she could not get an overall total in women's 48kg after failing to lift the weight in any of her three attempts in clean and jerk section ... Out of six chances Mirabai could pick the weight up just once, which was in snatch ... Mirabai got only her second attempt correct out of the three chances lifting 82 kg.

Tennis News

At $618K BB&T Atlanta Open 2016, USA

[SF] Divij Sharan (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) l Andres Molteni (ARG) / Horacio Zeballos (ARG) 67(6) 64 7-10

Divij-Purav lost their match against Argentine pair in match tie-break ... After losing the first set our pair fought back for winning the second ... But again Argentine pair proved better pair for our pair in match tie-break.

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At $100K Granby Challenger, Canada

Doubles Final
(3) Saketh Myneni (IND)/ Sanam Singh (IND) l Guilherme Clezar (BRA)/ Alejandro Gonzalez (COL) 63 16 10-12

Saki-Sanam lose in the final against South American pair in closely fought match tie-break ... After winning the first set they failed to keep momentum, though they tried hard in match tie-break but failed to overcome challenge of Clezar and Gonzalez ... Still good to see their performance as both r playing together after long time span.

Olympics News

At Rio Olympics 2016, Brazil

Archery - Men's individual qualification
5 Atanu Das (IND) 683 pts

[R32] (5) Atanu Das (IND) vs Jitbahadur Muktan (NEP)

Archery - Women's individual qualification
20 Deepika Kumari (IND) 640 pts
24 Bombayla Devi Laishram (IND) 638 pts
43 Laxmirani Majhi (IND) 563 pts

Archery - Women's team qualification
7 India 1734 pts

In very high scoring qualifying Atanu Das finished on 5th position in qualification ... Overall great performance in the second half by him ... His scoring was 23 10's 16 X's for 683 Points ... Korean Woojin Kim scored world record in qualification with 700 points ... Atanu is facing Nepalese opponent in knock-out.

Disappointing patchy performance by our women archers ... Dipika was at one time topping the standing but with poor shots and one missed shot ended on 20th place .. But if she perform well then till semis she has avoided Korean archer ... In team event also 7th finish means we can play Korean in the final only but that is too much asking with these performances by our women archers.

Tennis News

At $100K Granby Challenger, Canada

[SF] (3) Saketh Myneni (IND)/ Sanam Singh (IND) bt (2) Jarryd Chaplin (AUS)/ Mitchell Krueger (USA) 63 63

[F] (3) Saketh Myneni (IND)/ Sanam Singh (IND) vs Guilherme Clezar (BRA)/ Alejandro Gonzalez (COL)

Saki-Sanam score dominating win over 2nd seed Chaplin and Krueger in straight sets for entering into the final ... In the final they r facing unseeded South American pair.

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At $125K Chengdu Challenger, China

[QF] (3) Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND)/ Chu-Huan Yi (TPE) bt Alessandro Bega (ITA)/ Ante Pavic (CRO) 61 60

[SF] (3) Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND)/ Chu-Huan Yi (TPE) l Xin Gao (CHN)/ Zhe Li (CHN) 46 36

Jeevan and his partner won quarter final easily but in the semis they fail to overcome local Chinese challenge for losing in straight sets.

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At $10K Vietnam F2 Futures, Thu Dau Mot City

[QF] Sasi Kumar MUKUND (IND,706) l (2) Antoine ESCOFFIER (FRA,473) 57 46

So Frenchman beats three Indians in a row for entering into the semis.

Olympics News

At Rio Olympics 2016, Brazil

Bantamweight - 56kg Men
[R1] Shiva Thapa (IND) vs (1) Robeisy Eloy Ramirez (CUB)

Light welterweight - 64kg Men
[R1] Manoj Kumar (IND) vs Evaldas Petrauskas (LTU)

Middleweight - 75kg Men
[R1] Vikas Krishan Yadav (IND) vs Charles Conwell (USA)

Tough draw in the boxing for Indians ... Shiva Thapa is facing 2012 London Olympics flyweight category Gold medalist Cuban boxer Robeisy Ramirez ... These two boxers having history, in Youth Olympics 2010, Thapa lost to Ramirez in the finals to settle for a silver ... Two months before that bout, Thapa had lost to Ramirez in the 54kg final of the World Youth Championships in Baku, Azerbaijan.

Manoj Kumar is facing 2012 London Olympics Bronze medalist Evaldas Petrauskas in the first round ... Vikas Krishan is facing 18 yrs old American boxer.

Tennis News

At $618K BB&T Atlanta Open 2016, USA

[QF] Divij Sharan (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) bt Alexandr Dolgopolov (UKR)/ Sergiy Stakhovsky (UKR) w/o (Stakhovsky - left leg)

Lucky break for Indian pair as they received walkover from Ukrainian pair for reaching in the semis.

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At $100K Granby Challenger, Canada

[QF] (3) Saketh Myneni (IND)/ Sanam Singh (IND) bt Tristan Lamasine (FRA)/ Vincent Millot (FRA) 67(5) 76(2) 11-9

[SF] (3) Saketh Myneni (IND)/ Sanam Singh (IND) vs (2) Jarryd Chaplin (AUS)/ Mitchell Krueger (USA)

Really hard fought comeback win for Saki-Sanam against French pair in this long match ... In a way this was a good test for assessing Saki's fitness and Sanam's confidence ... After losing the first set in tie-break our pair needed to dig deep before winning the second set tie-break comfortably ... In match tie-break also both pairs were neck to neck before our pair completed win in a tight situation ... Next they r facing 2nd seed Aussie-American pair.

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At $25K USA F26 Futures, Decatur, IL

[R1] (1) Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND,199) l (Q) Dominik KOEPFER (GER,986) 63 36 46

Disappointing loss of RamK against German qualifier.

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At $10K Vietnam F2 Futures, Thu Dau Mot City

[R2] Sasi Kumar MUKUND (IND,706) bt (8) Arata ONOZAWA (JPN,640) 61 63
[R2] Mohit Mayur JAYAPRAKASH (IND,729) l (2) Antoine ESCOFFIER (FRA,473) 46 06

[QF] Sasi Kumar MUKUND (IND,706) vs (2) Antoine ESCOFFIER (FRA,473)

Sasi scores comfortable upset win over Japanese 8th seed but next he is facing top-500 Frenchman, who defeated two Indians in first 2 rounds.

Olympics News

At Rio Olympics 2016, Brazil

Men's Doubles
[R16] Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Leander Paes (IND) vs Lukasz Kubot (POL)/ Marcin Matkowski (POL)

Women's Doubles
[R16] Sania Mirza (IND)/ Prarthana Thombare (IND) vs Shuai Peng (CHN)/ Shuai Zhang (CHN)

With lack of chemistry any match is tough for Lee and Rohan ... Sania-Prarthana having almost no chance against strong Chinese pair.

Also on day one our archers will be on course for qualification in individual and women's team ranking.

Tennis News

At $618K BB&T Atlanta Open 2016, USA

[R1] Divij Sharan (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) bt (4) Jonathan Erlich (ISR)/ Mariusz Fyrstenberg (POL) 63 76(5)

[QF] Divij Sharan (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) vs Alexandr Dolgopolov (UKR)/ Sergiy Stakhovsky (UKR)

Another good win by Divij-Purav against seasoned doubles specialists Erlich and Fyrstenberg ... In this match our pair saved all six break points and converted two on their opponents serve ... Next they r having tricky match against big serving Ukrainian pair.

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At $125K Chengdu Challenger, China

[R1] (3) Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND)/ Chu-Huan Yi (TPE) bt Ti Chen (TPE)/ Enrique Lopez-Perez (ESP) 75 76(5)

[QF] (3) Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND)/ Chu-Huan Yi (TPE) vs Alessandro Bega (ITA)/ Ante Pavic (CRO)

Good tight win by Jeev and Chu-Huan against experienced players like Ti Chen and his partner ... Next they r facing European pair.

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At $10K Vietnam F2 Futures, Thu Dau Mot City

[R1] Sasi Kumar MUKUND (IND,713) bt (WC) Stefan VUJIC (AUS,2133) 64 62
[R1] Mohit Mayur JAYAPRAKASH (IND,729) bt (Q) Hyun-Woo NAM (KOR,1019) 76(3) 63
[R1] (SE) Rishab AGARWAL (IND,965) l (2) Antoine ESCOFFIER (FRA,477) 26 57

[R2] Sasi Kumar MUKUND (IND,706) vs (8) Arata ONOZAWA (JPN,640)
[R2] Mohit Mayur JAYAPRAKASH (IND,729) vs (2) Antoine ESCOFFIER (FRA,473)

So this week Rishab fails to repeat last week's performance of win over Escoffier ... Mohit Mayur starts win a good win against very experienced Nam ... Sasi also starts with expected win.

Tennis News

At $125K Chengdu Challenger, China

[R1] (PR) Karunuday Singh (IND,1443) l (WC) Rigele Te (CHN,971) 57 46

KU also fails to take advantage of weaker field and lost in straight sets against very lowly ranked local player.

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At $100K Granby Challenger, Canada

[R1] (3) Saketh Myneni (IND)/ Sanam Singh (IND) bt Hiroki Moriya (JPN)/ Yasutaka Uchiyama (JPN) 64 62

[QF] (3) Saketh Myneni (IND)/ Sanam Singh (IND) vs Tristan Lamasine (FRA)/ Vincent Millot (FRA)

Comfortable winning start in the doubles for Saki and Sanam against Japanese pair ... Next they r facing French pair, Lamasine is top-100 doubles player.

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At $25K ITF Women's Tennis Tournament 2016, Nonthaburi, Thailand

[R1] Snehadevi S REDDY (IND,450) l (1) Yana SIZIKOVA (RUS,357) 26 61 16

Doubles
[R1] Snehadevi S REDDY (IND)/ Natasha PALHA (IND) l Pei-Chi LEE (TPE)/ Varunya WONGTEANCHAI (THA) 36 36

So our challenge is over in the first round only ... Snehadevi gave fighting performance against top-seed ... But she and Natasha lost easily in the doubles.

Tennis News

At $100K Granby Challenger, Canada

[R1] (3) Saketh Myneni (IND,150) l Andrey Golubev (KAZ,195) 16 36

Doubles
[R1] (3) Saketh Myneni (IND)/ Sanam Singh (IND) vs Hiroki Moriya (JPN)/ Yasutaka Uchiyama (JPN)

As I was predicted this wasn't a easy match for Saki against former top-50 Golubev ... But Wasn't expected this one-sided scoreline ... Saki failed to convert a single break point and other hand Golubev was returning comfortably on Saki's serve.

Saki is playing in the doubles with Sanam ... Hopefully Saki inject confidence in Sanam with few wins in the doubles.

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At $125K Chengdu Challenger, China

[R1] Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,390) l (Q) Takuto Niki (JPN,509) 63 36 26

Though on paper Prajanesh should win this match but Niki is experienced and former top-300 player ... Niki got a chance after losing the first set and he took that opportunity as he won last two sets.

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At $25K ITF Women's Tennis Tournament 2016, Nonthaburi, Thailand

[R1] Snehadevi S REDDY (IND,450) vs (1) Yana SIZIKOVA (RUS,357)

Doubles
[R1] Snehadevi S REDDY (IND)/ Natasha PALHA (IND) vs Pei-Chi LEE (TPE)/ Varunya WONGTEANCHAI (THA)

Snehadevi having tough match against top-seed ... Natasha lost in the final qualifying against experienced Ip ... Natasha and Snehadevi playing in the doubles.

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At $10K Vietnam F2 Futures, Thu Dau Mot City

[R1] (8) Sasi Kumar MUKUND (IND,713) vs (WC) Stefan VUJIC (AUS,2133)
[R1] Mohit Mayur JAYAPRAKASH (IND,729) vs (Q) Hyun-Woo NAM (KOR,1019)
[R1] (SE) Rishab AGARWAL (IND,965) vs (2) Antoine ESCOFFIER (FRA,477)

Not easy matches for our players ... Rishab defeated Escoffier last week but thus week will be more tougher .. Also experienced and former top-450 ranked Hyun-Woo Nam could be tricky one for Mohit Mayur.