Squash News

At $28K Men's 5R Montpellier Metropole Open 2019, Montpellier, France (PSA Challenger Tour 30)

[QF] (7) Mahesh Mangaonkar (IND,61) l (4) Chris Simpson (ENG,40) 5-11, 11-5, 11-8, 8-11, 9-11 (58m)

Mahesh lost in five games against Simpson ... After taking a lead of 2-1 games he had chances but unforced errors cost him the match ... In the final game, he was 6-10 down but he saved 3 match-balls but made unforced errors when he was in the control of the rally to lose the match.

Tennis News

At French Open 2019, Roland Garros, Paris, France

[R1] Leander Paes (IND)/ Benoit Paire (FRA) bt Dominic Inglot (GBR)/ Martin Klizan (SVK) 64 64

[R2] Marcelo Demoliner (BRA)/ Divij Sharan (IND) l (8) Henri Kontinen (FIN)/ John Peers (AUS) 36 46
[R2] Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Marius Copil (ROU) bt (WC) Benjamin Bonzi (FRA)/ Antoine Hoang (FRA) 64 64
[R2] Leander Paes (IND)/ Benoit Paire (FRA) vs (3) Juan Sebastian Cabal (COL)/ Robert Farah (COL)

[R3] Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Marius Copil (ROU) vs Dusan Lajovic (SRB)/ Janko Tipsarevic (SRB)

Today Lee and Benoit played their first round match ... They started with a win over Inglot and Klizan ... Next, they r having a tough match against the 3rd seed Colombians ... With this win, Lee became the oldest man to win a Roland Garros men's doubles match in the Open era.
An expected straight sets win for Rohan and Marius over a French wild-card pair ... Next, they r facing a Serbian pairing of Tipsarevic and Lajovic.
Divij and Marcelo lost in straight sets against the 8th seed pair.

Shooting News

At ISSF World Cup Rifle / Pistol 2019, Munich, Germany

P.C. to OGQ twitter handle

10m Air Pistol Mixed Team - Gold Medal Match
Manu Bhaker (IND)/ Saurabh Chaudhary (IND) bt Olena Kostevych (UKR)/ Oleh Omelchuk (UKR) 17-9

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P.C. to NRAI twitter handle

10m Air Rifle Mixed Team - Gold Medal Match
Anjum Moudgil (IND)/ Divyansh Singh Panwar (IND) bt Apurvi Chandela (IND)/ Deepak Kumar (IND) 16-2

The Indian shooters had a field day ... They won both mixed events gold medal ... In 10m Air Pistol Mixed Team event, Manu Bhaker and Saurabh Chaudhary comfortably defeated the Ukrainian pair for lifting Gold ... Before that in the qualifying, Manu and Saurabh dominated and qualified with 591 pts, which was 8 pts more than the 2nd place Ukrainian pair.
In the 10m Air Rifle Mixed Team event, our both pairs qualified for the final ... Anjum Moudgil and Divyansh Singh Panwar won their 2nd mixed team's gold beating Apurvi Chandela and Deepak Kumar convincingly ... In the qualifying, Anjum and Divyansh Singh qualified on the top position with 631.9 pts and Apurvi and Deepak Kumar finished the 2nd position with 630.2 pts.

This was our most successful World Cup, as we won five gold medals and a silver medal ... Also, our 2 shooters finished on the 4th position and one ended on the 5th position.

Squash News

At $28K Men's 5R Montpellier Metropole Open 2019, Montpellier, France (PSA Challenger Tour 30)

[R1] (7) Mahesh Mangaonkar (IND,61) bye
[R2] (7) Mahesh Mangaonkar (IND,61) bt Miko Aijanen (FIN,109) 11-6, 11-9, 11-6 (43m)

[QF] (7) Mahesh Mangaonkar (IND,61) vs (4) Chris Simpson (ENG,40)

The expected win for Mahesh against a young Finnish opponent ... Next, he is facing the top-40 Britisher, Chris Simpson.

Tennis News

At French Open 2019, Roland Garros, Paris, France

[R1] Shuko Aoyama (JPN)/ Divij Sharan (IND) l Lyudmyla Kichenok (UKR)/ Santiago Gonzalez (MEX) 36 62 7-10

Divij with Shuko lost in the match tie-break against Gonzalez and Kichenok ... So with this loss, our challenge in the MxD get over.

Shooting News

At ISSF World Cup Rifle / Pistol 2019, Munich, Germany

10m Air Pistol Women
4. Manu Bhaker (IND) 201.0 pts

An excellent bounce back by Manu after heartbreaking the 25m Air Pistol event ... Manu Bhaker finished in the fourth place and took the second Olympic quota for India ... When she eliminated with a score of 201.0, all four players were within 0.5 pts ... Before that, Manu qualified for the final after finishing 3rd with a score of 582 pts.
In the 50m Rifle 3 Positions Women event, a young Sunidhi Chauhan tied with 4 shooters with 1175 pts but missed the final with less 10x shots ... She finished on the 9th position.

Tennis News

At French Open 2019, Roland Garros, Paris, France

[R1] Marcelo Demoliner (BRA)/ Divij Sharan (IND) bt Marton Fucsovics (HUN)/ Robert Lindstedt (SWE) 63 46 62
[R1] Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND)/ Mischa Zverev (GER) l (4) Oliver Marach (AUT)/ Mate Pavic (CRO) 67(2) 46

[R2] Marcelo Demoliner (BRA)/ Divij Sharan (IND) vs (8) Henri Kontinen (FIN)/ John Peers (AUS)
[R2] Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Marius Copil (ROU) vs (WC) Benjamin Bonzi (FRA)/ Antoine Hoang (FRA)

Mixed Doubles
[R1] Lucie Hradecká (CZE)/ Rohan Bopanna (IND) l (1) Nicole Melichar (USA)/ Bruno Soares (BRA) 57 16

Divij with Marcelo started with a win over Fucsovics and Lindstedt ... Next, they r facing the former WR #1 pairing of Peers and Kontinen ... Rohan and Marius r facing a local wild-card pair in the second round.
But Jeevan and Mischa lost in straight sets against the 4th seeds Marach and Pavic ... In MxD also, Rohan and his partner Lucie lost against the top-seeds.

Hockey News

At the FIH Hockey Series Final 2019, Bhubaneswar, India

Indian Team
Goalkeepers: PR Sreejesh, Krishan B Pathak
Defenders: Harmanpreet Singh, Birendra Lakra (Vice Captain), Surender Kumar, Varun Kumar, Amit Rohidas, Gurinder Singh
Midfielders: Manpreet Singh(Captain), Hardik Singh, Vivek Sagar Prasad, Sumit, Nilakanta Sharma
Forwards: Mandeep Singh, Akashdeep Singh, Ramandeep Singh, Gursahibjit Singh, Simranjit Singh

Again usual deadwood r in the team; likes of Amit Rohidas, Mandeep and Akashdeep ... A surprising inclusion of Ramandeep but we will be missing youngsters like Dipsan Tirkey, Sumit Kumar and Shilanand Lakra.

The FIH Hockey Series Final is announced is the first step in the Tokyo Olympic qualification process ... The top 2 teams from this Bhubaneswar tournament will progress to the Olympic qualifiers, which is scheduled for later this year.

India is in the Pool A with Russia, Poland and Uzbekistan and Japan, Mexico, US and South Africa r in the Pool B ... India will play their first match against Russia on the 6th of June.

Tennis News

At French Open 2019, Roland Garros, Paris, France

[R1] Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Marius Copil (ROU) bt (6) Raven Klaasen (RSA)/ Michael Venus (NZL) 63 76(4)

Mixed Doubles
[R1] Lucie Hradecká (CZE)/ Rohan Bopanna (IND) vs (1) Nicole Melichar (USA)/ Bruno Soares (BRA)
[R1] Shuko Aoyama (JPN)/ Divij Sharan (IND) vs Lyudmyla Kichenok (UKR)/ Santiago Gonzalez (MEX)

Rohan with Marius Copil started with an upset win over the 6th seeds Klaasen and Venus in straight sets.

The MxD draw is out, Rohan and Divij playing with an experienced doubles players ... A tough match for Rohan and Lucie against the top-seeds.

Shooting News

At ISSF World Cup Rifle / Pistol 2019, Munich, Germany

P.C. to Viren Rasquinha's twitter handle

25m Pistol Women Women
Gold - Rahi Sarnobat (IND) 37
Silver - Olena Kostevych (UKR) 36
Bronze - Antoaneta Noneva (BUL)
5. Manu Bhaker (IND) 21

P.C. to Viren Rasquinha's twitter handle

10m Air Pistol Men
Gold - Saurabh Chaudhary (IND) 246.3 pts (WR, WRJ)
Silver - Artem Chernousov (RUS) 243.8 pts
Bronze - Wei Pang (CHN) 220.7 pts
5. Shahzar Rizvi (IND) 177.6 pts

Rahi Sarnobat claimed victory in the 25m Pistol Women's Final at the ISSF World Cup in Munich and claiming an Olympic quota place for Tokyo 2020 ... Other hands, a disappointing end for Manu as she was looking in good nick after qualifying for the final with strong finish ... She was leading with Rahi after the 6 rounds with 21 hits ... After that, her pistol malfunctioned and she failed to hit a single shot in her next 5 shots ... She was on the brink of qualifying but was in tears ... Hard on her confidence, wishing for a strong response from Manu in the next tournament ... Before that, Rahi qualified for the final on the 4th position with 586 pts and Manu on the 5th with 585 pts.

What a performance! 17-year-old Saurabh Chaudhary took gold at the 10m Air Pistol competition beating his own world record ... He scored 246.3 pts. in the final was 1.3 pts. better than his score in New Dehli earlier this year ... No quota for us in this event as we already grabbed full 2 quota places from previous World cups ... Shahzar finished on the 5th position ... Before that in the qualifying, Saurabh qualified on the 2nd position with consistent shooting and scored 586 pts ... Shahzar Rizvi scored a final 100 pts round to qualify on the 5th position with 583 pts.

Golf News

At $7.3M Charles Schwab Challenge 2019, Fort Worth, Texas (PGA Tour)

T53 Anirban Lahiri (IND) 68 71 72 73 +4 $16,819

After excellent first round Anirban struggled to finish outside the top-50 final standing.

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At $3M Made in Denmark presented by FREJA 2019, Farso, Denmark (European Tour)

T18 SSP Chawrasia (IND) 70 71 73 65 -5 € 35,100
T62 Gaganjeet Bhullar (IND) 70 73 71 75 +5 € 7,350
T73 Shubhankar Sharma (IND) 72 70 77 74 +9 € 4,493

SSP scored an excellent 6-under final round to finish inside the top-20 ... But Gagan and Shubhankar struggled on this course ... Shubhankar finished on the last place, I am worrying about his long stretch bad patch.

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At $1.8M LPGA Mediheal Championship 2019, Daly City, California

T35 Aditi Ashok (IND) 74 73 72 71 +2 $10,638

At $1.5M HUGEL-AIR PREMIA LA Open 2019, Los Angeles, California

T30 Aditi Ashok (IND) 70 71 71 71 -1 $10,627

At $2M LOTTE Championship 2019, Ko Olina, Oahu, Hawaii

T54 Aditi Ashok (IND) 70 74 75 71 +2 $5,449

This week, Aditi missed a cut in the Pure Silk Championship ... But before this she showed consistency in making cut in the 3 tournaments in a row to win some decent prize money.

Shooting News

At ISSF World Cup Rifle / Pistol 2019, Munich, Germany

P.C. to ISSF site

10m Air Rifle Women
Gold - Apurvi Chandela (IND) 251.0 pts
Silver - Luyao Wang (CHN) 250.8 pts
Bronze - Hong Xu (CHN) 229.4 pts
4. Elavenil Valarivan (IND) 208.3 pts

Apurvi Chandela won the 10m Air Rifle Women’s Final at the 2019 ISSF World Cup in Munich today ... This was her 2nd World Cup Gold medal, as earlier she won her first World Cup Gold medal in New Delhi ... Apurvi scored 633.0 points in qualification and ranked first ... A young Elavenil Valarivan finished on the 4th position, before that, she qualified for the final on the 2nd position with 632.7 pts ... India has already won 2 quota places from this event, so no new quota got added.

Tennis News

At French Open 2019, Roland Garros, Paris, France

[R1] Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,86) l Hugo Dellien (BOL,92) 16 36 16

Doubles
[R1] Marcelo Demoliner (BRA)/ Divij Sharan (IND) vs Marton Fucsovics (HUN)/ Robert Lindstedt (SWE)
[R1] Leander Paes (IND)/ Benoit Paire (FRA) vs Dominic Inglot (GBR)/ Martin Klizan (SVK)
[R1] Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Marius Copil (ROU) vs (6) Raven Klaasen (RSA)/ Michael Venus (NZL)
[R1] Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND)/ Mischa Zverev (GER) vs (4) Oliver Marach (AUT)/ Mate Pavic (CRO)

A tough lesson of the clay court game for Prajnesh by Hugo Dellien ... Prajnesh failed to challenge him in this 75 mins match ... I hope he is fully recovered from his injury.

The doubles draw is out and our pairs having tough matches ... Rohan and Jeevan r facing the seeded pairs with their respective partners ... Lee and Benoit r facing Inglot and Klizan ... Divij and Demoliner r facing Lindstedt and Fucsovics.

Squash News

At $11K Men's Sekisui Open 2019, Kriens, Switzerland (PSA Challenger Tour 10)

[R1] (1) Mahesh Mangaonkar (IND,61) bye
[R2] (1) Mahesh Mangaonkar (IND,61) bt Valentin Rapp (GER,129) 11-9, 11-6, 11-8 (45m)
[QF] (1) Mahesh Mangaonkar (IND,61) bt (7) Reiko Peter (SUI,113) 12-10, 11-6, 11-6 (44m)
[SF] (1) Mahesh Mangaonkar (IND,61) bt (4) Daniel Mekbib (CZE,83) 11-4, 6-11, 11-4, 11-8 (52m)

[F] (1) Mahesh Mangaonkar (IND,61) bt (3) Bernat Jaume (ESP,85) 11-9, 3-11, 11-5, 11-5 (48m)

Mahesh lifted another PSA challenger level title ... He was the top-seed and he completed the win with a four games win over his Spanish opponent, Jaume.

Tennis News

At $54K+H Jerusalem Challenger 2019, Israel

[SF] (4) Saketh Myneni (IND,246) l (9) Filip Peliwo (CAN,302) 36 16

A one-sided loss for Saki against Peliwo ... He failed to challenge the Canadian in this match.

Tennis News

At French Open 2019, Roland Garros, Paris, France

[R1] Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,86) vs Hugo Dellien (BOL,92)

The Fench Open draw is out, Prajnesh is facing a similar ranked Hugo Dellien ... Prajnesh is coming out of injury and Hugo had a good clay court season with consistent performance ... In the Madrid Master after qualifying, he defeated a Frenchman Gilles Simon in the first round before losing to Nishikori ... Also made the quarter-final in Geneva before losing to Sascha ... So not an easy match for Prajnesh.

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At $54K+H Jerusalem Challenger 2019, Israel

[QF] (4) Saketh Myneni (IND,246) bt (WC) Edan Leshem (ISR,478) 64 63
[QF] (14) Sasi Kumar Mukund (IND,295) l (9) Filip Peliwo (CAN,302) 76(2) 67(5) 26

[SF] (4) Saketh Myneni (IND,246) vs (9) Filip Peliwo (CAN,302)

Saki scored a comfortable win over a local favorite Leshem ... With this win, he also secures his place in Wimbledon qualifying ... Next, he is facing a Canadian Filip Peliwo, who defeated Mukund.
Mukund lost in a close match against a similar ranked Canadian Peliwo ... After winning the first set in the tie-break, he failed to complete win in the second ... Mukund lost the second set in the tie-break and got overpowered by Peliwo in the third.

Squash News

At $162K Women's Allam British Open 2019, Hull, England (PSA World Tour Platinum)

[R3] (15) Joshna Chinappa (IND,15) l (6) Sarah-Jane Perry (ENG,6) 6-11, 11-9, 5-11, 8-11 (47m)

Joshna also gave fighting performance against the WR #6 Sarah-Jane Perry in the third round.

Tennis News

At € 586K Open Parc Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes Lyon 2019, France

[SF] Leander Paes (IND)/ Benoit Paire (FRA) l (3) Ken Skupski (GBR)/ Neal Skupski (GBR) 36 63 8-10

Lee and Benoit lost in the match tie-break against Skupski brothers ... After losing the first set Lee and Benoit tried fightback after winning the second but they failed to keep momentum in the match tie-break.

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At € 586K Geneva Open 2019, Switzerland

[SF] Philipp Oswald (AUT)/ Divij Sharan (IND) l Matthew Ebden (AUS)/ Robert Lindstedt (SWE) 36 26

Divij and Philipp failed to challenge Lindstedt and Ebden in their semi-final loss.

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At $54K+H Jerusalem Challenger 2019, Israel

[R3] (4) Saketh Myneni (IND,246) bt (16) Tak Khunn Wang (FRA,321) 64 64
[R3] (14) Sasi Kumar Mukund (IND,299) bt (2) John-Patrick Smith (AUS,239) 16 63 63

[QF] (4) Saketh Myneni (IND,246) vs (WC) Edan Leshem (ISR,478)
[QF] (14) Sasi Kumar Mukund (IND,295) vs (9) Filip Peliwo (CAN,302)

Mukund scored an excellent comeback win over the top-250 Aussie, John-Patrick Smith ... After losing the first set easily Mukund made a strong comeback for winning the next two sets comfortably ... Next, he is facing a similar ranked Canadian Peliwo.
Saki scored a routine straight sets win over Wang ... Next. he is facing a local favorite Leshem.

Tennis News

At € 586K Open Parc Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes Lyon 2019, France

[QF] Leander Paes (IND)/ Benoit Paire (FRA) bt (1) Raven Klaasen (RSA)/ Michael Venus (NZL) w/o
[QF] Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) l (4) Luke Bambridge (GBR)/ Jonny O'Mara (GBR) 46 16

[SF] Leander Paes (IND)/ Benoit Paire (FRA) vs (3) Ken Skupski (GBR)/ Neal Skupski (GBR)

Lee and Benoit received a walkover due to an illness of Venus ... In the semis, they r facing the 3rd seed Skupski brothers.
Jeevan and Purav lost in straight sets against the 4th seed British pair.

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At € 586K Geneva Open 2019, Switzerland

[QF] Philipp Oswald (AUT)/ Divij Sharan (IND) bt Taro Daniel (JPN)/ Marton Fucsovics (HUN) 64 36 10-8

[SF] Philipp Oswald (AUT)/ Divij Sharan (IND) vs Matthew Ebden (AUS)/ Robert Lindstedt (SWE)

Divij-Philipp started with winning the first set after taking a 5-1 lead but Daniel and Fucsovics took a second set ... Divij-Philipp recovered to win the match tie-break ... In the semis, they r facing Lindstedt and Ebden.

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At $54K+H Jerusalem Challenger 2019, Israel

[R2] (4) Saketh Myneni (IND,246) bt Andrea Vavassori (ITA,402) 76(4) 63
[R2] (14) Sasi Kumar Mukund (IND,299) bt Gonzalo Escobar (ECU,323) 61 64

[R3] (4) Saketh Myneni (IND,246) vs (16) Tak Khunn Wang (FRA,321)
[R3] (14) Sasi Kumar Mukund (IND,299) vs (2) John-Patrick Smith (AUS,239)

Mukund scored a comfortable win over Escobar ... Next, he is facing the 2nd seed, John-Patrick Smith.
Saki scored a straight-sets win in a bit tighter match against Vavassori ... Next, he is facing a Frenchman Tak Khunn Wang.

Badminton News

At Total BWF Sudirman Cup 2019, Nanning, China (Grade 1 - Team Tournaments)

Group 1 D
India l China 0-5

[XD] Pranaav Jerry Chopra (IND)/ N. Sikki Reddy (IND) l Yilyu Wang (CHN)/ Dongping Huang (CHN) 5-21 11-21
[MS] Sameer Verma (IND) l Long Chen (CHN) 17-21 20-22
[MD] Satwiksairaj Rankireddy (IND)/ Chirag Shetty (IND) l Chengkai Han (CHN)/ Haodong Zhou (CHN) 21-18 15-21 17-21
[WS] Saina Nehwal (IND) l Yufei Chen (CHN) 12-21 17-21
[WD] Ashwini Ponnappa (IND)/ N. Sikki Reddy (IND) l Qingchen Chen (CHN)/ Yifan Jia (CHN) 12-21 15-21

The Indian team's challenge got over in the Sudirman Cup with a one-sided loss against the Chinese team ... Yesterday's loss against the Malaysian team ended their chances of moving to the quarters.

The Chinese players proved too strong to our players ... Only, Satwik and Chirag managed to win a game against a Chinese pair.