Tennis News

At €501K Grand Prix Hassan II 2018, Marrakech, Morocco

[QF] Divij Sharan (IND)/ Jan-Lennard Struff (GER) bt (3) Marcus Daniell (NZL)/ Dominic Inglot (GBR) 67(5) 60 11-9

[SF] Divij Sharan (IND)/ Jan-Lennard Struff (GER) vs (1) Nikola Mectic (CRO)/ Alexander Peya (AUT)

Divij scored a really good win with his in-form partner Struff against the 3rd seed pair ... In the super tiebreak, our pair was 5-9 down .... They saved 4 match point and won the match after winning 6 points in a row.

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At $150K+H Santaizi Challenger 2018, Taipei, Taiwan

[R2] (4) Yuki Bhambri (IND,105) bt Matthias Bachinger (GER,164) 64 64
[R2] (6) Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,132) bt Lloyd Harris (RSA,242) 76(3) 67(3) 76(5)
[R2] (PR) Saketh Myneni (IND,588) l (2) Evgeny Donskoy (RUS,85) 26 46

[QF] (4) Yuki Bhambri (IND,105) vs (Q) Chien-Hsun Lo (TPE,917)
[QF] (6) Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,132) vs (3) Dudi Sela (ISR,98)

Doubles
[QF] (ALT) Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND)/ Saketh Myneni (IND) bt Ruben Gonzales (PHI)/ Christopher Rungkat (INA) 75 64

Expected win for Yuki but good to see he handled Bachinger in straight sets, his next opponent is talented local qualifier.

RamK struggled to win this match against big server ... After winning the first set RamK had a chance to finish in two ... He lost the second set and last set also went to tie-break ... Next, he is facing tricky Dudi Sela.

Saki and Prajnesh scored another good win in the doubles against good doubles pair.

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At $25K ITF Women's Tournament 2018, Osaka, Japan

[R2] (5) Ankita Raina (IND,197) l Na-Lae Han (KOR,282) 63 06 26

Surprising struggled after winning the first set ... I hope, this was only a bad day in the office for Ankita.

XXI Commonwealth Games

At the XXI Commonwealth Games - Gold Coast 2018, Australia

Wrestling - Men's freestyle -57 kg
Gold - Rahul Balasaheb Aware (IND)
Silver - Steven Takahashi (CAN)
Bronze - Muhammad Bilal (PAK) and Ebikewenimo Welson (NGR)

Men's Freestyle 57 kg Gold Medal
Rahul Aware (IND) bt Steven Takahashi (CAN) 15-7 (Victory by Points)

[R16] Rahul Aware (IND) bt George Ramm (ENG) 11-0 (Victory by Technical Superiority)
[QF] Rahul Aware (IND) bt Thomas Cicchini (AUS) 10-0 (Victory by Technical Superiority)
[SF] Rahul Aware (IND) bt Muhammad Bilal (PAK) 12-8 (Victory by Points)

Wrestling - Men's freestyle -74 kg
Gold - Sushil Kumar (IND)
Silver - Johannes Botha (RSA)
Bronze - Curtis Dodge (WAL) and Jevon Balfour (CAN)

Men's Freestyle 74 kg Gold Medal
Sushil Kumar (IND) bt Johannes Botha (RSA) 10-0 (Victory by Technical Superiority)

[R16] Sushil Kumar (IND) bt Jevon Balfour 11-1 (Victory by Technical Superiority)
[QF] Sushi Kumar (IND) bt Muhammad Asad Butt (PAK) 10-0 (Victory by Technical Superiority)
[SF] Sushil Kumar (IND) bt Connor Evans (AUS) (Victory by Fall)

Wrestling - Women's Freestyle 53 kg Nordic
Gold - Diana Weicker (CAN)
Silver - Babit Kumari (IND)
Bronze - Bose Samuel (NGR)

[M1] Babit Kumari (IND) bt Bose Samuel (NGR) 2-1 (Victory by Points)
[M2] Babit Kumari (IND) bt Deepika Dilhani (Victory by Fall)
[M3] Babit Kumari (IND) bt Carissa Holland (AUS) (Victory by Fall)
[M4] Babit Kumari (IND) l Diana Weicker (CAN) 2-5 (Victory by Points)

Shooting - Women's 50m Rifle Prone
Gold - Martina Lindsay Veloso (SGP) 621.0 pts (GR)
Silver - Tejaswini Sawant (IND) 618.9 pts
Bronze - Seonaid McIntosh (SCO) 618.1 pts

Wrestling - Women's freestyle - 76 kg
Gold - Erica Wiebe (CAN)
Silver - Blessing Onyebuchi (NGR)
Bronze - Kiran (IND) and Georgina Nelthorpe (ENG)

Women's Freestyle 76 kg Bronze
Kiran (IND) bt Katouskia Pariadhaven (MRI) 10-0 (Victory by Fall)

[QF] Kiran (IND) bt Danielle Sino Guemde (CMR) 11-1 (Victory by Technical Superiority)
[SF] Kiran (IND) l Blessing Onyebuchi (NGR) 0-10 (Victory by Technical Superiority)

Athletics - Women's Discus Throw
Gold - Dani Stevens (AUS) 68.26m (GR)
Silver - Seema Punia (IND) 60.41m
Bronze - Navjeet Dhillon (IND) 57.43m

Wrestling has started and India picked up two Gold medals in Men's freestyle convincingly ... Sushil Kumar won his third CWG Gold medal in a row in 74 kg category ... Rahul Aware won Gold in 57 kg category beating Canadian wrestler ... Before that in the semis, Rahul had a tough bout against Pakistani wrestler ... In women's category, Babita Kumari won Silver as she lost against Canadian wrestler in Nordic format 53 kg category ... Kiran won Bronze in 76 kg category.

In shooting, Tejaswini won Silver in Women's 50m Rifle Prone category ... Singaporean shooter lifted Gold medal with Game Record.

In the athletics, India won Silver and Bronze .... Seema Punia threw 60m above in the first attempt and Navjeet's last throw helped her to win Bronze.

After eighth day, we are still holding third position wth 14 golds, 7 silvers and 10 Bronze.

Snooker News

At World Championship Qualifying 2018, Sheffield, England

[R1] Aditya Mehta (IND,82) vs Zhao Xintong (CHN,78) 5-4 (70-24, 97(51)-14, 31-67, 61(53)-16, 14-92, 1-90(90), 64-63, 0-128(118), 63-23)

A tough match is going on between Aditya and Xintong ... The match will resume tomorrow, this is a best of 19 frames match.

Tennis News

At €501K Grand Prix Hassan II 2018, Marrakech, Morocco

[R1] Divij Sharan (IND)/ Jan-Lennard Struff (GER) bt Wesley Koolhof (NED)/ Artem Sitak (NZL) 76(3) 63

[QF] Divij Sharan (IND)/ Jan-Lennard Struff (GER) vs (3) Marcus Daniell (NZL)/ Dominic Inglot (GBR)

Divij started with a win with Jan-Lennard against Sitak-Koolhof ... Next, they r facing 3rd seed Daniell-Inglot.

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At $150K+H Santaizi Challenger 2018, Taipei, Taiwan

[R1] (LL) Sasi Kumar Mukund (IND,519) l Lloyd Harris (RSA,242) 46 67(3)

[R2] (4) Yuki Bhambri (IND,105) vs Matthias Bachinger (GER,164)
[R2] (6) Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,132) vs Lloyd Harris (RSA,242)
[R2] (PR) Saketh Myneni (IND,588) vs (2) Evgeny Donskoy (RUS,85)

Doubles
[R1] (ALT) Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND)/ Saketh Myneni (IND) bt (WC) Tung-Lin Wu (TPE)/ Cheng-Yu Yu (TPE) 64 75

[QF] (3) N. Sriram Balaji (IND)/ Vishnu Vardhan (IND) l Matthew Ebden (AUS)/ Andrew Whittington (AUS) 46 46
[QF] (ALT) Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND)/ Saketh Myneni (IND) vs Ruben Gonzales (PHI)/ Christopher Rungkat (INA)

Sasi got a chance as lucky loser and gave fighting performance against service machine Harris ... RamK is facing Harris in the second round ... Yuki also having tricky match against experienced Bachinger ... Saki is having a tough one against Donskoy.

In the doubles, Sak-Prajnesh started with straight sets win ... Next, they r facing experienced doubles players, Rungkat and Gonzales ... But Bala-Vishnu lost in the quarters against Aussie pair.

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At $25K ITF Women's Tournament 2018, Osaka, Japan

[R1] Karman Kaur Thandi (IND,267) l (Q) Makoto Ninomiya (JPN,579) 46 46

[R2] (5) Ankita Raina (IND,197) vs Na-Lae Han (KOR,282)

Karman is struggling with her game as another first round loss against lower ranked Japanese opponent ... Ankita is facing Korean girl Na-Lae Han.

XXI Commonwealth Games

At the XXI Commonwealth Games - Gold Coast 2018, Australia

Shooting - Women's Double Trap
Gold - Shreyasi Singh (IND) (24+25+22+25) 96 hits +2 (S-Off)
Silver - Emma Cox (AUS) (23+28+27+18) 96 hits +1 (S-off)
Bronze - Linda Pearson (SCO) (24+25+18+20) 87 hits

Shooting - Men's 50m Air Pistol
Gold - Daniel Repacholi (AUS) 227.2 pts (GR)
Silver - Shakil Ahmed (BAN) 220.5 pts
Bronze - Om Prakash Mitharval (IND) 201.1 pts

Shooting - Men's Double Trap
Gold - David McMath (SCO) 74 hits (GR)
Silver - Tim Kneale (IOM) 70 hits
Bronze - Ankur Mittal (IND) 53 hits

Shreyasi Singh gave a pleasant as she lifted Gold in Women's Double Trap event ... After the third round, Shreyasi was 7 points behind leader Emma Cox ... In the final round, Shreyasi scored 25/30 hits and Emma managed only 18/30 hits ... So both were finished tied on 96 hits, in the square-off, Shreyasi hits her both targets and Emma managed to hit only one ... Varsha Varman missed a bronze by 1 hit as she finished on the 4th with 86 hits.

Very disappointing performance in the 50m Air Pistol Men's event from our shooters ... Om Prakash Mitharval again topped the qualifying with 549 pts ... Jitu Rai qualified for the final on the 6th position with 542 pts ... In the final, Jitu eliminated 1st due to poor shooting ... Om Prakash started with consisting shooting but again he chocked at a crucial moment ... He was leading with Daniel Repacholi when five shooters were remaining, 168.5 pts, and they had 2.7 pts lead over Shakil Ahmed ... Om Prakash did some pathetic shooting in next four shots - 8.6, 9.2 and in last two shots 7.2 and 7.6 to get eliminated on bronze medal stage.

Ankur Mittal won a Bronze in men's Double Trap event and Mohammad Ashab finished fourth ... Before that in qualifying, Mohammad Ashab tied for the top position with 137 hits and Ankur finished on the 5th with 133 hits.

18 yrs old Hima Das finished 6th in Women's 400M final clocking her personal best 51.32 sec ... Good impressive run ... In Men's high jump, Tejswin Shanker managed to clear 2.24m only for the 6th place, it was a lower jump than his PB of 2.28m.

After seventh day, we are in the third position with 12 golds, 4 silvers and 8 bronzes.

Tennis News

At Davis Cup 2018 - World Group Playoff,

A tough away tie against Serbia in September for us ... So most probably the court will be indoor hard court.

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At U.S. Men's Clay Court Championship 2018, Houston, Texas, USA

[R1] Fabrice Martin (FRA)/ Puraj Raja (IND) l Ken Skupski (GBR)/ Neal Skupski (GBR) 16 67(0)

Purav and Fabrice Martin lost in straight sets against Skupski brothers in the first round.

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At $150K+H Santaizi Challenger 2018, Taipei, Taiwan

[R1] (4) Yuki Bhambri (IND,105) bt Roberto Ortega-Olmedo (ESP,320) 67(5) 63 63
[R1] (6) Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,133) bt (Q) Thomas Funcutt (AUS,643) 76(5) 67(0) 62
[R1] (PR) Saketh Myneni (IND,586) bt Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,264) 46 76(2) 64

Doubles
[R1] Luca Margaroli (SUI)/ Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND) l Matthew Ebden (AUS)/ Andrew Whittington (AUS) 36 57

Yuki started slowly but after losing the first set he took control of the match to win next two sets easily ... RamK also struggled in 1st two sets against Aussie qualifier ... Both sets went to the tie-break and they were split between RamK and Funcutt ... RamK won the decider comfortably ... Most impressive win scored by Saki, though it was against Prajnesh ... After losing the first set Saki fought back to win the second set tie-break ... He kept momentum going for winning the third ...In this match, Saki's first serve worked as he won impressive 84% on the first serve and hit 13 aces with only 2 double faults.

RamK-Luca lost in the first round against Aussie pair.

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At $50K+H Barletta Challenger 2018, Italy

[R1] Sumit Nagal (IND,213) l Goncalo Oliveira (POR,214) 64 36 26

Sumit lost against similar ranked Portuguese player Oliveira in three sets ... Aftr winning the first set Sumit was a break up, 3-1, and had a break point to lead 4-1 but from here he lost the plot (his concentration) and complete meltdown.

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At $25K ITF Women's Tournament 2018, Osaka, Japan

[R1] (5) Ankita Raina (IND,197) bt Hiroko Kuwata (JPN,339) 64 60

Ankita continues with her impressive form and scored straight sets win over Kuwata ... In the first set, Ankita was down double break at 0-3, but from here she turned the table and romped to a dominating victory.

XXI Commonwealth Games

At the XXI Commonwealth Games - Gold Coast 2018, Australia

Shooting - Women's 25m Pistol
Gold - Heena Sidhu (IND) 38 pts (GR)
Silver - Elena Galiabovitch (AUS) 35 pts
Bronze - Alia Sazana Azahari (MAS) 26 pts

Powerlifting - Men's heavyweight
Gold - Abdulazeez Ibrahim (NGR) 191 kg
Silver - Yee Khie Jong (MAS) 188 kg
Bronze - Sachin Chaudhary (IND) 181 kg

Heena Sidhu won a Gold in Women's 25m Pistol event with new Game Record to give Indian their 11th gold medal ... Annu Singh also reached the final but finished on the 6th position ... Before this, Annu and Heena qualified for the final after finishing on 2nd and 3rd positions after Precision and Rapid stages.

In 50m Rifle Prone Men's event, Gagan qualified for the final on the third position with 617 pts and Chain Singh on the 6th with 614.2 pts ... But both shooter failed to win medal in the final, Chain Singh finished on the 4th and Gagan finished on the 7th position.

Sachin Chaudhary won a Bronze in Men's heavyweight Powerlifting ... Good performance by him in tough field.

Muhammad Anas Yahiya finished fourth in the men's 400m finals bettering his national record by 0.01s, with the time of 45.31s ... A superb performance by Anas.

After six day, we are holding the third place with 11 golds, 4 silvers and 6 bronzes.

Tennis News

At $150K+H Santaizi Challenger 2018, Taipei, Taiwan

[Q3] (6) Sasi Kumar Mukund (IND,520) l Thomas Fancutt (AUS,648) 67(3) 63 46

Doubles
[R1] (3) N. Sriram Balaji (IND)/ Vishnu Vardhan (IND) vs Ti Chen (TPE)/ Chu-Huan Yi (TPE) 75 67(5) 10-8

Sasi lost in the final qualifying against Fancutt in three sets ... Fancutt will be facing RamK in the first round.

A hard fought win for Bala and Vishnu against tricky local pair in the match tie-break.

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At $25K ITF Women's Tournament 2018, Osaka, Japan

[R1] (5) Ankita Raina (IND,197) vs Hiroko Kuwata (JPN,339)
[R1] Karman Kaur Thandi (IND,267) vs (Q) Makoto Ninomiya (JPN,579)

The first time in her career Ankita is ranked inside top-200 ... She is 5th seed and facing former top-150 player Kuwata ... Karman is facing local qualifier.

XXI Commonwealth Games

At the XXI Commonwealth Games - Gold Coast 2018, Australia

Badminton - Mixed Team Gold Medal Match

India bt Malaysia 3-1

[M1] Satwik Rankireddy (IND)/ Ashwini Ponnappa (IND) bt Peng Soon Chan (MAS)/ LiuYing Goh (MAS) 21-14 15-21 21-15
[M2] Srikanth Kidambi (IND) bt Lee Chong Wei (MAS) 21-17 21-14
[M3] Satwik Rankireddy (IND)/ Chirag Shetty (IND) l V Shem Goh (MAS)/ Wee Kiong Tan (MAS) 15-21 20-22
[M4] Saina Nehwal (IND) bt Soniia Cheah (MAS) 21-11 19-21 21-9

Table Tennis - Men's Team Gold Medal Match

India bt Nigeria 3-0

[M1] Achanta Sharath Kamal (IND) bt Bode Abiodun (NGR) 3-1 (4-11, 11-5, 11-4, 11-9)
[M2] Sathiyan Gnanasekaran (IND) bt Segun Toriola (NGR) 3-1 (10-12, 11-3, 11-3, 11-4)
[M3] Harmeet Desai (IND)/ Sathiyan Gnanasekaran (IND) bt Olajide Omotayo (NGR)/ Bode Abiodun (NGR) 3-0 (11-8, 11-5, 11-3)

Shooting - Men's 10m Air Pistol
Gold - Jitu Rai (IND) 235.1 pts (GR)
Silver - Kerry Bell (AUS) 233.5 pts
Bronze - Om Prakash Mitharval (IND) 214.3 pts

Shooting - Women's 10m Air Rifle
Gold - Martina Lindsay Veloso (SGP) 247.2 pts (GR) Shoot-off 10.3 pts
Silver - Mehuli Ghosh (IND) 247.2 pts (GR) Shoot-off 9.9 pts
Bronze - Apurvi Chandela (IND) 225.3 pts

Weightlifting - Men's 105 kg
Gold - Sanele Mao (SAM) (154+206) 360 kg
Silver - Pradeep Singh (IND) (152+200) 352 kg
Bronze - Owen Boxall (ENG) (152+199) 351 kg

In Mixed team badminton, a superb upset win over mighty Malaysians by Indians to seal Gold ... In the first match, Satwik and Ashwini scored an upset win over Rio Olympics silver medalist Malaysian pair, Peng Soon Chan and LiuYing Goh, in three games ... In the second match, Srikanth scored his first win over Lee Chong Wei in their five meetings ... Srikanth scored a convincing win to give 2-0 lead ... Satwik and Chirag lost in the third match against their higher-ranked opponents ... But Saina completed a win in three games for clinching the tie for India.

Our men's table tennis team also on Gold medal beating Nigerian team convincingly, 3-0 ... In the semis, our paddlers defeated Singaporean team 3-2 and Nigerian team scored an upset team over British team.

Jitu Rai rose to occassion and won a Gold in the 10m Air Pistol Men's event with new Game Record ... The Aussie shooter, Kerry Bell won Silver and India's Om Prakash Mitharval managed to capture Bronze medal ... In the qualifying, Om Prakash Mitharval qualified for the final in the top position equalling qualifying Game Record of 584 pts.

Mehuli Ghosh won a Silver in very close final against Singaporean shooter Martina Lindsay Veloso ... Mehuli lost in the shoot-off as she managed only 9.9 pts and Veloso scored 10.3 pts ... But before that both players were tied after the final shot with 247.2 pts, which was a new Game Record ... Veloso took a lead in the final after her 6th shot and maintained that till end ... Before last two shots Veloso was 0.8 pts ahead of Mehuli, but Mehuli scored 10.9 pts on the final shot to tied with her at 247.2 pts ... A tough luck for Mehuli ... Apurvi Chandela won a Bronze ... Apurvi qualified for the final with new qualifying Game Record of 423.2 pts but failed to repeat same performance in the final.

In Men's 105 kg weightlifting, Pradeep Singh won Silver as he lifted total 352 kg ... Samoa lifter Sanele Mao won Gold in this event.

Smit Singh reached the final of Skeet but eliminated first in six finalists ... Gurdeep Singh finished on the 4th position with 382 kg total lift in Men's +105kg weightlifting ... Our shot putter, Tejinder Pal Singh Toor finished on the 8th position with a 19.42m throw.

After completion of the fifth day, we are moved to 3rd place with 10 golds, 4 silvers and 5 bronzes.

Tennis News

At €501K Grand Prix Hassan II 2018, Marrakech, Morocco

[R1] Divij Sharan (IND)/ Jan-Lennard Struff (GER) vs Wesley Koolhof (NED)/ Artem Sitak (NZL)

This week, Divij is playing Moroccan tournament and have a good partner in German Davis cupper, Jan-Lennard Struff ... They r facing Sitak and Koolhof in the first round.

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At U.S. Men's Clay Court Championship 2018, Houston, Texas, USA

[R1] Fabrice Martin (FRA)/ Puraj Raja (IND) vs Ken Skupski (GBR)/ Neal Skupski (GBR)

This week, Purav is playing at US Clay Court tournament with his old partner, Fabrice Martin ... They r facing Skupski brothers in the first round.

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At $150K+H Santaizi Challenger 2018, Taipei, Taiwan

[Q2] (6) Sasi Kumar Mukund (IND,520) bt Shao-Fan Liu (TPE,1255) 76(10) 76(4)

[Q3] (6) Sasi Kumar Mukund (IND,520) vs Thomas Fancutt (AUS,648)

Doubles
[R1] Luca Margaroli (SUI)/ Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND) vs Matthew Ebden (AUS)/ Andrew Whittington (AUS)
[R1] (3) N. Sriram Balaji (IND)/ Vishnu Vardhan (IND) vs Ti Chen (TPE)/ Chu-Huan Yi (TPE)

Sasi in the final qualifying with another hard fought win over lower ranked local player ... In the final qualifying, he is facing Australian Thomas Fancutt, who scored an upset win over the 2nd seed.

In the doubles, Vishnu-Bala r the 3rd seed and facing Taiwani pair ... RamK is partnering Margaroli and they r facing Aussie pair ... RamK and his partner can face Bala-Vishnu, is both pairs win their first round matches.

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At $50K+H Barletta Challenger 2018, Italy

[R1] Sumit Nagal (IND,213) vs Goncalo Oliveira (POR,214)

Sumit is playing in Europe and facing similar ranked Portuguese player Oliveira in Barletta Challenger.

XXI Commonwealth Games

At the XXI Commonwealth Games - Gold Coast 2018, Australia

Table Tennis - Women's Team Gold Medal Match

India bt Singapore 3-1

[M1] Manika Batra (IND) bt Tianwei Feng (SGP) 3-2 (11-8, 8-11, 7-11, 11-9, 11-7)
[M2] Madhurika Patkar (IND) l Mengyu Yu (SGP) 0-3 (11-13, 2-11, 6-11)
[M3] Mouma Das (IND)/ Madhurika Patkar (IND) bt Yihan Zhou (SGP)/ Mengyu Yu (SGP) 3-1 (11-7, 11-6, 8-11, 11-7)
[M4] Manika Batra (IND) bt Yihan Zhou (SGP) 3-0 (11-7, 11-4, 11-7)

Weightlifting - Women's 69 kg
Gold - Punam Yadav (IND) (100+122) 222 kg
Silver - Sarah Davies (ENG) (95+122) 217 kg
Bronze - Apolonia Vaivai (FIJ) (100+116) 216 kg

Shooting - Women's 10m Air Pistol
Gold - Manu Bhaker (IND) 240.9 pts (GR)
Silver - Heena Sidhu (IND) 234.0 pts
Bronze - Elena Galiabovitch (AUS) 214.9 pts

Shooting - Men's 10m Air Rifel
Gold - Dane Sampson (AUS) 245 pts (GR)
Silver - Abdullah Hel Baki (BAN) 244.7 pts
Bronze - Ravi Kumar (IND) 224.1 pts

Weightlifting - Men's 94 kg
Gold - Steven Kari (PNG) (154+216 (CR/GR)) 370 kg (equals GR)
Silver - Boady Santavy (CAN) (168(GR)+201) 369 kg
Bronze - Vikas Thakur (IND) (159+192) 351 kg

A terrific upset win by our women paddlers against higher ranked Singaporean team to win Gold ... They defeated mighty Singaporean women 3-1 in the final ... For us, a star performer was WR #58 Manika Batra, who defeated WR #4 Tianwei Feng from 1-2 down to give a solid start for us ... After losing the singles easily Madhurika Patkar paired with Mouma Das to beat higher ranked Singaporean pair ... In the 4th match, Manika defeated Yihan Zhou convincingly for winning the tie for India.

Punam Yadav won the Gold in Women's Weightlifting 69 kg, this was our fifth Gold medal in the Weightlifting ... Punam faced a stiff competition from Sarah, Poonam's second attempt of lifting 122 kg failed in the Clean and Jerk, but Sarah lifted it easily to take a lead ... In the final attempt, Punam lifted 122 kg to retake the lead ... Sarah tried to lift 128 kg in the final lift but couldn't, despite looking sure for the most part.

Our shooters have started their medals quest ... 16 yrs. old Manu Bhaker scripted another glorious chapter in her short career as she won the Gold in her first CWG in Women's 10m Air Pistol ... She won it creating new Game Record in the final and before that she bettered qualification Game Record by 2 points, 388 pts (the previous record was 386 pts) ... Manu was in the control from the start and won it comfortably ... Her senior compatriot, Heena Sidhu, won the Silver after fighting hard with the Aussie shooter, Elena Galiabovitch.

Disappointment in Men's 10m Air Rifel as Ravi Kumar managed to win only Bronze ... Deepak Kumar eliminated 3rd in the final to finish on the 6th position ... Deepak and Ravi dominated the qualifying and both shoot better than previous qualifying record ... Deepak Kumar created new Qualification Game Record with 627.2 pts and Ravi Kumar was behind him with 626.8 pts (the previous record was 623.6 pts by British shooter), but they failed to repeat the same performance in the finals.

In Men's 94 kg weightlifting, Vikas Thakur won the Bronze with his total 351 kg lift ... Other top 2 lifters were too good in this category as they lifted 18 kg and 19 kg more than Vikas.

In Women's Skeet finals, Saniya Sheikh finished on the fourth in the six-member final after shooting 30 successful shots out of 36 ... She missed her last two shots to miss medal round.

Khushbir Kaur finished a commendable fourth in the women's 20km race walk final, clocking 1:39:21, two minutes behind bronze medal winner Bethan Davies ... Our other walkers failed to produce favorable walk in men's and women's.

After the fourth day, we are holding the 4th place with 7 golds, 2 silvers and 3 bronzes.

Tennis News

At Davis Cup 2018 - Asia / Oceania 2nd Round, Tianjin, China

India bt China 3-2

Day One
[R1] Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,132) l Yibing Wu (CHN,332) 67(4) 46
[R2] Sumit Nagal (IND,213) l Ze Zhang (CHN,247) 46 16

Day Two
[R3] Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Leander Paes (IND) bt Mao-Xin Gong (CHN)/ Ze Zhang (CHN) 57 76(5) 76(3)
[R4] Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,132) bt Di Wu (CHN,248) 76(4) 63
[R5] Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,263) bt Yibing Wu (CHN,332) 64 62

What a comeback win by Indian team ... After first day, many of the fans written off our chances (including yours truly) of a win ... On the second day in the doubles, until late of the second set Chinese were in a control ... We were couple of points away (3-5 second set tie-break) from 0-3 drubbing for the first time in the Davis cup history in hands of the Chinese team ... But somehow our pair hangs there and dug really deep to fightback and won the doubles tie ... This was Lee's record breaking 43rd Davis cup doubles victory ... After that Mahesh's motivation made a charm as RamK defeated Di Wu after some hiccups in the middle to square the tie ... For the final rubber, Mahesh took a huge call and brought Prajnesh in place of Sumit ... Prajnesh played almost faultless tennis and dismantled Yibing ... Prajnesh solid start put pressure on Yibing and he never recovered from that ... So another chance for us playing in World group Play-off in September.

The Chinese changed a combination for the doubles and added in-form Ze Zhang in the place of Di Wu ... In the first set, we were early break up at 4-1 ... Chinese pair broke Lee in the 7th game to make it 4-all ... They again broke Lee in the 11th game, 5-6, and held after saving a break point for winning the set ... In the second set, we were up 2-0 but again Lee lost his serve, 2-1 ... Afterwards, both pairs held their respective service games, in the 12th game we missed couple of set points ... In the tie-break, Chinese took a mini-break on the 8th point for 3-5 but our pair showed their experience winning next 4 points, winning the 10th and the 11th points on Chinese serve, to take the match into the decider ... In the final set, we took an early 3-1 lead but this time Rohan lost his serve in the 6th game for 3-all ... After that both pairs held their respective service games for another tie-break ... We took a control from the start, we had a mini-break on the 1st point to lead 3-0 ... Then took another mini-break on the 9th point for 6-3 lead and converted the first match point for the important win ... With this doubles win Leander completes the most Davis cup doubles victories in the history.

In the fourth match, RamK faced Di Wu ... RamK started breaking Di in the 1st game to lead 2-0 ... After that RamK saved few break points on his service games ... He again broke Di in the 7th game to lead 5-2 and suddenly from here RamK's lost his focus ... He lost his serve twice while serving for the set in the 8th and the 10 the games, 5-all ... After that both players held their service game for taking in the tie-break ... RamK recovered and controlled the tie-break for winning the set ... In the second set, both players exchanged an early service breaks, twice ... RamK broke Di third time in the 6th game for taking 4-2 lead ... After that RamK held his service games twice for winning this rubber and bringing the tie to 2-all.

Mahesh took a very smart decision and introduced Prajnesh for the final rubber against in-form youngster Yibing Wu ... And Prajnesh delivered wholeheartedly in this match ... From the start he kept pressure on young Yibing, he broke Yibing in the 5th and the 7th games for 5-2 lead ... But lost his serve in the 8th game when serving for the set, Prajnesh held his serve in the 10th game for winning it ... Dominated start in the second set as Prajnesh broke Yibing in the 1st and thr 3rd games to lead 4-0 ... After that Prajnesh held his service games comfortably for memorable tie win for India.

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At $150K+H Santaizi Challenger 2018, Taipei, Taiwan

[Q1] (6) Sasi Kumar Mukund (IND,520) bt Wei-De Lin (TPE,1399) 76(2) 46 64
[Q1] Vishnu Vardhan (IND,677) l (5) Shiuchi Sekiguchi (JPN,456) 46 57
[Q1] Sriram Balaji (IND,631) l Ray Ho (TPE,UNR) 67(4) 63 16

[Q2] (6) Sasi Kumar Mukund (IND,520) vs Shao-Fan Liu (TPE,1255)

[R1] (4) Yuki Bhambri (IND,105) vs Roberto Ortega-Olmedo (ESP,240)
[R1] (6) Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,132) vs Qualifier
[R1] Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,263) vs (PR) Saketh Myneni (IND,588)

Happy to see Yuki is still sticking to his plan of playing Santaizi challenger ... He will faced Spaniard Roberto Ortega-Olmedo ... RamK will facing an qualifier ... Prajnesh having a match against Saki.

In the qualifying, Sasi is seeded ... He started with a three sets win over local player Lin ... Facing another lower ranked local player in the second qualifying ... Vishnu lost against Sekiguchi in straight sets ... Junior WR #26 Ray Ho proved better against Bala, who lost in three sets.

XXI Commonwealth Games

At the XXI Commonwealth Games - Gold Coast 2018, Australia

Weightlifting - Men's 77 kg
Gold - Sathish Kumar Sivalingam (IND) (144+173) 317 kg
Silver - Jack Oliver (ENG) (145+167) 312 kg
Bronze - Francois Etoundi (AUS) (136+169) 305 kg

Weightlifting - Men's 85 kg
Gold - Ragala Venkat Rahul (IND) (151+187) 338 kg
Silver - Don Opeloge (SAM) (151+180) 331 kg
Bronze - Mohamad Fazrul Azrie Mohdad (MAS) (145+183) 328 kg

Sathish Kumar defended his Glasgow Gold in Men's Weightlifting 77 kg for India's 3rd Gold medal ... After the Snatch he was in the second position behind British lifter Jack Oliver, but in the Clean and Jerk he lifted 6 kg more than Jack to keep Commonwealth title with him.

R.V. Rahul won the fourth Gold medal for India in Men's Weightlifting 85 kg ... Rahul and Don Opeloge were tied for top position after the Snatch with 151 kg lift ... In the Clean and Jerk, Rahul lifted 187 kg which was a far better than Don for a win.

After end of the third day, India is on the 4th position with 4 golds, a silver and a bronze.

Golf News

At $11M The Masters 2018, Augusta, Georgia, USA

T58 Shubhankar Sharma (IND) 77 74 +7

In his first appearance on the Masters, Shubhankar missed a cut ... In the first round, he managed 5 over and in the second round his score was 2 over ... So he missed a cut by 2 shots as the cut applied at 5 over.

Tennis News

At Davis Cup 2018 - Asia / Oceania 2nd Round, Tianjin, China

India vs China 0-2

Day One
[R1] Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,132) l Yibing Wu (CHN,332) 67(4) 46
[R2] Sumit Nagal (IND,213) l Ze Zhang (CHN,247) 46 16

China takes a hold of this tie after winning the first match ... China's gamble of playing Yibing was spot on as he defeated RamK in straight sets ... RamK struggled with his game and he wasn't moving well, may be due to cold weather ... He tried to finish points early but rushing towards net didn't work out.

Ze Zhang convincingly won his match against Sumit ... In the first set, Sumit tried to stretch Zhang, he broke Zhang when he was serving for the set, 3-5 ... Zhang won next six games, in that winning the first set and taking 0-5 lead in the second ... Overall lame performance from Sumit in this match ... A big mountain to climb for Indians on the second day, they need to win all three matches ... With their today's performance I doubt to win it all.

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At $25K ITF Women's Tournament 2018, Kashiwa, Japan

[QF] Ankita Raina (IND,212) l (2) Luksika Kumkhum (THA,103) 06 36

Ankita got overpowered by Thai girl Luksika Kumkhum ... Ankita managed to win only three games in this match ... Still, this quarter-final appearance will cement her place in top-200.

XXI Commonwealth Games

At the XXI Commonwealth Games - Gold Coast 2018, Australia

Weightlifting - Women's 53 kg
Gold - Khumukcham Sanjita Chanu (IND) (84+108) 192 kg (CGR)
Silver - Dika Toua (PNG) (80+102) 182 kg
Bronze - Rachel Leblanc-Bazinet (CAN) (81+100) 181 kg

Weightlifting - Men's 69 kg
Gold - Gareth Evans (WAL) (136+163) 299 kg
Silver - Indika Dissanayake (SRI) (137+160) 297 kg
Bronze - Deepak Lather (IND) (136+159) 295 kg

Sanjita Chanu gave us a second Gold in Women's Weightlifting 53 kg ... She won this event comfortably as she lifted 10 kg more than second place lifter ... Deepak Lather managed to with Bronze in Men's Weightlifting 69 kg category.

India ended the second day on the 5th position with 2 golds, a silver and a bronze.

Tennis News

At Davis Cup 2018 - Asia / Oceania 2nd Round, Tianjin, China

India vs China

Day One
[R1] Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,132) vs Yibing Wu (CHN,332)
[R2] Sumit Nagal (IND,213) vs Ze Zhang (CHN,247)

Day Two
[R3] Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Leander Paes (IND) vs Mao-Xin Gong (CHN)/ Di Wu (CHN)
[R4] Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,132) vs Ze Zhang (CHN,247)
[R5] Sumit Nagal (IND,213) vs Yibing Wu (CHN,332)

Chinese team give surprise and playing young Yibing Wu on the first day ... He is facing RamK in the first rubber ... Sumit is facing an experienced Ze Zhang in the second match ... In the doubles, Gong and Di Wu r facing Lee-Rohan.

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At $25K ITF Women's Tournament 2018, Kashiwa, Japan

[R2] Ankita Raina (IND,212) bt (Q) Chihiro Muramatsu (JPN,390) 62 61

[QF] Ankita Raina (IND,212) vs (2) Luksika Kumkhum (THA,103)

Doubles
[QF] Ankita Raina (IND)/ Chin-Wei Chan (TPE) l Erina Hayashi (JPN)/ Momoko Kobori (JPN) 26 26
[QF] Alina Silich (RUS)/ Karman Kaur Thandi (IND) l Kyoka Okamura (JPN)/ Ayaka Okuno (JPN) 46 76(2) 1-10

Ankita comfortably defeated Japanese Chihiro Muramatsu in straight sets ... I am impressed with Ankita's fitness as yesterday she was 4 hours and 30 mins on the court and still she managed to produce this dominating performance ... Next, she is having a tough match against WTA level player, Thai girl Luksika Kumkhum ... This is a tough match but this will also tell us Ankita's progress.

But in the doubles, Ankita and Chan lost easily against their Japanese opponents ... Karman and Silich lost in the match tie-break ... After winning the second set tie-break their Japanese opponents proved too strong in the match tie-break.

XXI Commonwealth Games

At the XXI Commonwealth Games - Gold Coast 2018, Australia

Weightlifting - Women's 48 kg
Gold - Saikhom Mirabai Chanu (IND) (86+110) 196 kg (CGR)
Silver - Marie Hanitra Roilya Ranaivosoa (MRI) (76+94) 170 kg
Bronze - Dinusha Gomes (SRI) (70+85) 155 kg

Weightlifting - Men's 56 kg
Gold - Azroy Hazalwafie (MAS) (117+144) 261 kg (GR)
Silver - Gururaja Poojary (IND) (111+138) 249 kg
Bronze - Chaturanga Lakmal (SRI) (114+134) 248 kg

As expected, Mirabai Chanu won Gold creating new Commonwealth record in Women's 48 kg weightlifting ... She was a lot better lifter than other lifters and lifted 26 kg more weight than the second place lifter ... Before that, Gururaja gave a first medal to India in 2018 Commonwealth Games, when he won Silver in Men's 56 kg weightlifting.

So after first day, India is on 7th position with a gold and a silver.

Tennis News

At $250K Abierto GNP Seguros 2018, Monterrey, Mexico

[R1] Nadia Podoroska (ARG)/ Prarthana Thombare (IND) l (3) Dalila Jakupovic (SLO)/ Irina Khromacheva (RUS) 26 26

Prarthana and her partner Nadia Podoroska lost one-sided match against the third seed pair.

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At $25K ITF Women's Tournament 2018, Kashiwa, Japan

[R1] Ankita Raina (IND,212) bt (7) Fangzhou Liu (CHN,176) 16 64 75

[R2] Ankita Raina (IND,212) vs (Q) Chihiro Muramatsu (JPN,390)

Doubles
[R1] Ankita Raina (IND)/ Chin-Wei Chan (TPE) bt (1) Ksenia Lykina (RUS)/ Junri Namigata (JPN) 46 76(4) 10-5
[R1] Alina Silich (RUS)/ Karman Kaur Thandi (IND) bt Haruna Arakawa (JPN)/ Ayano Shimizu (JPN) 75 36 10-4

[QF] Ankita Raina (IND)/ Chin-Wei Chan (TPE) vs Erina Hayashi (JPN)/ Momoko Kobori (JPN)
[QF] Alina Silich (RUS)/ Karman Kaur Thandi (IND) vs Kyoka Okamura (JPN)/ Ayaka Okuno (JPN)

Ankita showed her improve confidence and tenacity in her long day on the court, almost 4 hours and 25 mins ... In the singles, she scored a comeback win against higher ranked Fangzhou Liu ... After losing the first set cheaply Ankita was a break down in the second set, 1-4 ... After that, Ankita won next 5 games for taking the match into the decider ... In the final set, Ankita was a break up at 4-2 but Liu tried fightback breaking Ankita in the 8th game and was leading 4-5 ... Ankita held her serve while serving for staying in the match and then broke Liu in the 11th game to lead 6-5 ... Ankita held her serve for winning the match in 2 hours and 35 mins ... Next, she is facing young Japanese Chihiro Muramatsu, who defeated Karman in the final qualifying.
In the doubles, Ankita and Chan scored an upset comeback win over top-seed pair in one hour and 25 mins ... Karman and her Russian partner Silich needed the match tie-break for their win over Japanese pair ... Next, Karman and Ankita r facing Japanese pairs with their respective partners.

Tennis News

At $250K Abierto GNP Seguros 2018, Monterrey, Mexico

[R1] Nadia Podoroska (ARG)/ Prarthana Thombare (IND) vs (3) Dalila Jakupovic (SLO)/ Irina Khromacheva (RUS)

A tough match for Prarthana with her Argentine partner, Nadia Podoroska, against top-75 doubles players.

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At $50K+H Alicante Challenger 2018, Spain

[R1] (2) Andre Begemann (GER)/ Divij Sharan (IND) l Scott Clayton (GBR)/ David Pel (NED) 46 75 6-10

Divij and Begemann lost in the match tie-break against Pel and Clayton.

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At $25K ITF Women's Tournament 2018, Kashiwa, Japan

[R1] Ankita Raina (IND)/ Chin-Wei Chan (TPE) vs (1) Ksenia Lykina (RUS)/ Junri Namigata (JPN)
[R1] Alina Silich (RUS)/ Karman Kaur Thandi (IND) vs Haruna Arakawa (JPN)/ Ayano Shimizu (JPN)

Our both players having tough matches with their respective partners in the doubles.