Saurabh Verma reaches Finals of Syed Modi Memorial India Open grand prix gold

               Saurabh Verma continues to beat the biggies, confirming the tag of indian giant killer, by beating Suppanyu Avihingsanon with 26-24, 21-13 to reach the finals of india open grand prix gold. With, Jwala & Diju losing their semi finals with 21-15, 21-12 against md rijal/ susanto, saurabh turns out to be the only indian hope at the tournament.

                  Saurabh will now play world No.11 Taufik Hidayat in the finals of the tournament.

Source: Tournament Software

Watch it live(finals) today at around 05:00 PM on DD sports.

Saurabh, Jwala&Diju reach semi finals of India Open Grand Prix Gold

        Saurabh Verma, elder among the verma brothers(indian giant killers of the tournament) has beat the world no.23 Yun Hu with 23-21, 21-19 to reach the semi finals of Syed Modi Memorial India Open Grand Prix Gold.

           
             Best Indian mixed double's pair Jwala & Diju also reached semi finals of the tournament, by beating Wai Hong Hong & Hoi Wau Chai with 21-8, 21-16.

Source: Tournament Software

Syed Modi Memorial India Open Grand Prix Gold -Day 2 report

                saurab verma, sameer verma, guru saidutt and rohit yadav make it to the last 16 of the mens singles of indian open grand prix, after all top ranked indian men's players made an early exit in the tournament. whereas, only p.v.sindhu and neha pandit made it to the last 16 in women's single's of the tournament, after saina left the tournament because of fever and injury.

Sameer verma

                 Among all, Sameer verma has stolen show with his athletic game by beating much higher ranker(18) Hans christian vittinghus with 11-21, 21-14,25-23. Earlier in the day, india saw setbacks with no.1 indian player ajay jayaram losing his first round match against pakkawat villailak with 21-19, 21-19 and another top indian ranker kashyap parupalli choosing to walkover his second round game.

P V Sindhu

                     In women's singles, only sindhu and neha pandit made it to last 16 of the tournament. Earlier, Saina had chosen to skip the tournament as she was suffering with fever and hamstring injury.

Source: Tournament Software

Links: BWF Badminton

Live Matches are telecasted on DD Sports.

Dipika pallikal wins the Crocodile Challenge cup in Hongkong

       Dipika pallikal beat local favourite Joey chan(hong kong) with 12-10, 8-11, 10-12, 11-8, 14-2 to win the finals of Crocodile Challenge Cup.

      Dipika, who was seeded third for the Hong Kong event, had a tough opponent in fourth-seeded Chan in the final. Chan had the advantage as the final match progressed into the fifth and deciding game. The Hong Kong World No 20 seemed to make her home advantage count, rushing to a 7-4 lead in the decider. But Dipika clawed things back to seal the game in tie-breaker and capture the title with a 12-10, 8-11, 10-12, 11-8, 14-2 win.


Source: Times of India

Deepika pallikal in the finals of Crocodile Challenge Cup(squash)

        Deepika pallikal keeps on growing in confidence and has beat Sarah Kippax with 11/5, 4/11, 12/10,

11/3 to enter the finals of Crocodile Challenge Cup(squash) in Hongkong.

Sources: Squash Site , The Hindu

Saina's back in form.. Beats Tine Baun to enter the BWF Super Series Finals.. :)

          Hurray!! Saina Nehwal is back in form and enters the finals of bwf world super series finals by beating Tine Baun with 21-17, 21-18. She will now play the world no.1 chinese player yihan wang in the finals.

             Saina has been showing great form at the super series finals by beating xin wang, youn joo bae and sayaka sato in the league matches of group B toping the group.

Source: Tournament Software

Winners of the Week : Sania, Saina and Somdev

        Congratulations to both Sania and Saina for keeping the indian flag high and winning titles at Bnp Paribas Open and Swiss Open Grandprix respecively. And it was just great to see the way Somdev went on to fourth round of Bnp paribas open and the way he played the world No.1(he had his chances to win the game).

          It was really stunning to see the way Sania along with doubles partner Vesnina(rus) easing past the much higher ranked Mattek Sands & Shaughnessy with 6-0, 7-5. In Total, Sania & Vesnina broke their opponents 6 times(which is really grt display). They were just simply on top of their much famed opponents.

          And as always, most consistent performer of india, Saina nehwal has won the singles title at Swiss Open Grand prix and it feels happy to see the way she defeated her opponent Ji Hyun Sung with 21-13, 21-14. That was just a complete domination but nothing else.

          I strongly wish to see more and more such performances from all the S's(Sania, Saina and Somdev).

Thats it for the week.
(next tournaments to be covered: Sony Ericsson Open(miami))

WILSON Swiss Open Grand Prix Gold 2011 - Day1

Synopsis:

Men's Singles(first round):
Anand Power defeated Eetu Heino with 21-14, 21-11
Ajay Jayaram defeated Keigo Sonoda with 21-19, 10-21,21-10 

BNP Paribas Open, Indian Wells : Day-9

Synopsis:

Men's Doubles(second round)"
Bopanna & Quereshi defeated Mahesh Bhupathi & Leander Paes with 6-3, 6-4

BNP Paribas Open, Indian Wells : Day-8

Synopsis:

Men's Singles(third round):
Somdev devvarman defeated Xavier malisse with 6-1, 3-6, 7-6(5)

Women's Doubles(second round):
Sania Mirza & E Vesnina defeated Benesova I & Zahlavova B with 6-2, 6-3

BNP Paribas Open, Indian Wells : Day-7

Synopsis:
                The Indian express started their campaign with an easy win in the first round doubles match.

Men's Doubles:
Mahesh Bhupathi & Leander paes defeated Aspelin S & Knowle J with 7-5, 6-4

BNP Paribas Open, Indian Wells : Day-6

Synopsis:
              BNP Paribas Open is proving to be a great tournament for indians so far. Somdev has defeated world 19th ranker marcos baghdatis with 7-5, 6-0 in his second round match, on the other side bopsy(bopanna) & pair have won their first round match

Men's Singles:
Somdev devvarman defeated Marcos baghdatis with 7-5, 6-0

Men's Doubles:
Rohan Bopanna & Quereshi defeated Butoric E & Rojer J with 7-6(4), 6-4

BNP Paribas Open, Indian Wells : Day-5

Synopsis:
                  It wasn't a great day, as indians haven't won a single match today. Bopanna and Sania lost thier respective first & second round matches today. Even though, i am surprised by the way bopanna is playing in singles.

Men's Singles(first round):
Rohan bopanna lost to Bernard Tomic with 7-6(5), 6-7(1), 4-6

Women's Singles(second round):
Sania Mirza lost to D Cibulkova with 6-3, 6-3

All England Open Badminton Championship 2011: Day 4 Update(last)

Synopsis:
               Indian campaign in all england open badminton championship 2011 has ended with saina nehwal's loss against eriko hirose in women's singles quarter finals.

Women's singles(quarter finals):
Saina Nehwal lost to Eriko hirose with 11-21, 20-22

BNP Paribas Open, Indian Wells : Day-4

Synopsis:

               Another unbeatable day for indian players in BNP Paribas open.  Somdev and Sania win their respective singles and doubles matches with a lot of ease. This is surely a great sign for indian tennis. I am rooting for the win of bopanna, mirza in their respective first and second round matches.

Men's Singles:

Somdev Devvarman defeated Adrian Mannarino with 6-2, 6-3

Women;s Doubles:

Sania Mirza & E Vesnina defeated A Hlavackova & L Hradecka with 6-4, 6-1

BNP Paribas Open, Indian Wells : Day-3

Synopsis:

               Another great day for indian tennis stars at bnp paribas open 2011. Somdev and Bopanna entered main draw of singles event here in indian wells at bnp paribas open 2011. This is the first time ever in indian tennis that 2 of the indians qualify for main draw of ATP Masters 1000 tournament.

               On the other side, Sania mirza crusised into second round of main draw in women's singles event.

Men's Singles:

Second Round Qualifyings:

Somdev Devvarman defeated G Jones with 6-2, 6-4

Rohan Bopanna defeated Brands Daniel with 7-6(5), 7-6(4)

Women's Singles:

First Round - Main Draw:

Sania Mirza defeated R oprandi with 2-1(retired)

BNP Paribas Open, Indian Wells : Day-2

Synopsis:  
                India is going great guns in BNP Paribas Open, Indian wells so far. In Men's & Women's singles, Both somdev devvarman and rohan bopanna won 1st round of qualifying matches to enter main draw.

Men's singles:

First Round Qualifyings:
Somdev Devvarman defeated Michael Mcclune with 6-3, 6-1
Rohan Bopanna defeated Peter Polansky with 7-6(6), 3-6, 7-5

All England Open Badminton Championship 2011: Day 3 Update

Synposis:

               It was a bad day for india except saina nehwal.  All other indian players have lost their respective second round matches. Thus, Saina, who entered quarter finals, will be the only hope for india going forward.

Men's Singles:

Indian campaign ended in first round itself

Men's Doubles:

Rupesh Kumar & Sanave Thomas lost to Mohammed Ahsan & Bona Septano with 16-21, 16-21

Women's Singles:
Saina Nehwal defeated Tzu Ying Tai with 21-17, 21-17

Women's Doubles:

Jwala Gupta & Ashwini Ponnappa lost to Kruse L D & Roepke M wiith 21-17, 19-21, 18-21

Mixed Doubles:

Diju Valiyaveetil & Jwala Gutta lost to Tao Jiaming & Qing Tian with 11-21, 12-21

Source: http://www.tournamentsoftware.com 

All England Open Badminton Championship 2011: Day 2 Update

Synopsis:
              On Day 2, India had mixed results on the court.  India started with the women's doubles win by Jwala and Ashwini, but then ajay, anand and kashyap lost their men's singles matches. It took Saina to get the favour back into india's quarter. Saina won her first round women's singles match with ease and then the rupesh kumar & Sanave Thomas, Diju & jwala won their corresponding doubles matches.

Details:
Men's Singles(first round):

Anand Power lost to Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk with 16-21, 18-21
Ajay Jayaram lost to Rumbaka D H  with 17-21, 19-21

P Kashyap lost to Mark Zwiebler with 11-21, 21-8, 17-21

Women's Singles(first round):
Saina Nehwal defeated Seung Hee Bee with 21-13, 21-16

Men's Doubles(first round):
Rupesh Kumar & Sanave Thomas defeated Teik Cgai Gan & Bin Shen Tan with 21-13, 21-18

Women's Doubles(first round):

Jwala Gutta & Aswini Ponnappa  defeated Maria Helsbol & Anne Skelbaek with 21-11, 21-18

Mixed Doubles(first round):
Jwala Gutta & Diju Valiyaveetil defeated Yeon Seong Yoo & Min Jung Kim with 21-23, 21-13, 25-23

source: www.tournamentsoftware.com

Dubai and Doha Open 2011: Indian campaign comes to an end

     In dubai open 2011, both the doubles pairs(paes&bhupathi, bopanna&quereshi ) from india have lost their second round matches and that ends the indian campaign in this year's Dubai Open.  Somdev and Sania were already crashed out of the tournament.

     In doha ladies open 2011,Sania lost her second round match to the top ranked serbian Jelena Jankovic with 0-6, 1-6. Sania along with her double's partner E Vesnina went through their first round double's match, but again they failed in quarter finals.  

     That ends the Indian campaign in both dubai and doha.

Doha Ladies Open 2011: Sania moves to 2nd round by beating Bojana Jovanovski(serbia)

Sania Mirza defeated Bojana Jovanovski of Serbia to reach the second round of Qatar Ladies Open.

The Indian tennis star, who was awarded a wild card to take part in the tournament, needed one hour and 24 minutes to get past the promising Serbian star in two straight sets 6-2 7-5.

The experience of the Mirza and the huge support for her fans in the center court were influential in her victory. She will now face another Serbian player in the second round.

Her next opponent will be former World Number One Jelena Jankovic who made it to the second round after a 6-1 6-3 win over Fatma Al Nabhany of Oman.

Dubai Duty Free Championship: Somdev out, Paes & Bhupathi forward

           In Dubai Duty Free Championship,  Somdev has crashed out of single's event by loosing his first match to the mighty Roger federer with 3-6, 3-6 .

           whereas, The Indian express(paes and bhupathi) has moved onto second round double's event by beating the pair of Marko/Novan Djocovic with 6-4, 6-1. The pair of bopanna/quereshi is yet to play their first round match.

Korean Open Super Series 2011, One more disappointing tour for Saina and Kashyap

Kashyap and Saina lost their second round matches in Korean Open Super Series 2011 today. Mixed dooubles pair of Diju and Jwala also crashed out of the tournament by loosing their second round match.

The only remaining hope in the series is the women's double's pair of Ashwini and Jwala , who entered quarter finals of the tournament by beating Mizuki fujii and Reika kakiiwa with 21-18, 14-21, 21-15.

Paes and Bhupathi are just one step away from clinching Maiden Australian Open Doubles

Paes and Bhupathi had to fight really hard to surpass the 2nd seed max mirnyi and Daniel Nestor and reach the finals of 2011 Australian Open doubles event. They beat the 2nd seeds with 7-6(7-5), 4-6, 6-3.

Paes and Bhupathi will now play against World no.1 pair bryan brothers in the finals of Australian Open doubles event.

Australian Open 2011, Paes and Bhupathi cruise into Men's Doubles semis

It looks like, Paes and Bhupathi are back to their best form. They have cruised into semi finals of Australian Open 2011 Men's Doubles event by beating 8th seed pair of Micheal Llodre and Nenad Zimonjic with 6-4, 6-4.

The Indian Master double's pair will play against 2nd seed max mirnyi and Daniel Nestor in the semis and may have to face world no.1 pair bryan brothers in Final.

Korean Open Super Series 2011, Hope for some good shows with saina and kashyap in battle

After the disppointing peeformance indian shuttlers in Malaysian Open, I have ssome serious hopes of good performances from india Korean Open super series with top indian players saina and kashyap in the battle.

The first round matches have started today and keep following the updates here.

Malaysia Open 2011, India ends it's campaign with a disappointing note

All the indians have lost their matches in Malaysia Open 2011. with Saina, Kashyap and Ajay jayaram opting out of the tournament and an out of form Chetan anand, the fight in men's and women's single's has ended in first round of matches of remaining players.

In women's doubles, Jwala gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa lost their first round match against to Jing Du and Pan Pan(CHN) with 11-21, 21-16, 5-21. It was only the mixed doubles' that the indian pair of  Diju and Jwala won their first round match against Johannes Schoettler & Sandra Marinello(GER) with 21-12, 21-13.

But, the happiness didn't last long as they lost their second round match to Hung Ling Chen and Wen Hsing Cheng with 22-20, 15-21, 19-21.

Thus, India ends its campaign in Malaysia Open 2011 with a very disappointing note. 

Australian Open 2011: India continues to perform in doubles

India has shown that, it's much better in doubles competitions, with several grandslams winner Leander paes and Mahesh Bhupathi edging out Ivo Karlovic(CRO) and Dusan Vemic(SRB) with 5-7, 6-3, 6-0 in their first round of double's  event.

Rohan Bopanna(Ind) along with Aisam-ul-haq Qureshi(pak) also won the first round of their double's  match against Franco Ferreiro(BRA) and Andre sa(bra) with 6-3, 6-0.


Let us hope to see the both against each other in this year's final of Australian Open Men's Doubles.

Sania and Somdev crashed out of Australian Open 2011, but only after a tough fight

Both Sania and Somdev last their Australian Open first round matches to Justin Henin and Tommy Robredo respectively after a very good fight, but have proven that they are competent enough to beat the biggies in tennis.

Sania has won her first set with 7-5 against former world no.1 Justin Henin and almost threatened to win the match, before loosing second set to Henin with 3-6.When it has come to the decider, Henin just showed why she is a champion and won it easily with 6-1, as sania was tired and slow. But, The way sania played the match shows that she is back to her form, which brought her to world no.27 ranking.

Somdev also gave a good competition to tommy robredo by taking the first set to tie-breaker. But, he lost it there and the remaning sets with 6-3 and 6-4. Even though he lost the match, he has played really well and proved to be the future star of indian tennis.

it was like asking kenya to win against India in first round of cricket world cup and india just winning through a couple of runs, doesn't kenya will be really happy abt it.

So, let us wait for the doubles matches, to see paes, bhupathi and sania in action again.I hope they will have a better draw this time.

ASIA CUP FOOTBALL 2011 : INDIA vs KOREA REPUBLIC ON 18th JANUARY

In Asia Cup Football 2011, india will play it's last league match against Korea Republic on 18th January.

In it's previous league matches in the tournament, india lost to Australia with 0-4 and to bahrain with 2-5.

MALAYSIA OPEN SUPER SERIES 2011: Starts from 18th January

MALAYSIA OPEN SUPER SERIES 2011 is starting from 18th january. So, get ready to see some good performances from several indian badminton stars.



Indians in Competition:
Men's Singles: P.Kashyap, Chetan Anand, Anand Power, Ajay jayaram
Women's Singles: No one(saina has left out of tournament with injury)
Women's Doubles: Jwala Gutta & Ashwini Ponnappa
Mixed Doubles: Jwala Gutta & Diju Valiyaveetil

Matches on 18th January:

Qualifying matches:-

Anand Power(IND) vs Yong Zhao Ashton CHEN(SIN)

Ajay Jayaram(IND) vs Tommy Sugiarto(INA)

Matches on 19th January:

First round Matches:-

Chetan Anand(IND) vs Kazushi Yamada(JPN)

P. Kashyap(IND) vs Yun HU(HKG)

Jwala Gutta & Diju Valiyaveetil(IND) vs Johannes Schoettler & Sandra Marinello(GER)

Jwala Gutta & Ashwini Ponnappa(IND) vs Jing Du & Pan Pan(CHN)

For Further updates, follow Tournament Software website

Tough Draw for Somdev and Sania in first round of Australian Open 2011

Both, Somdev devvarman(wild card entry) and Sania Mirza(entered main draw by winning 3 rounds of qualifying matches) have got the tough draw in Australian Open 2011.

Somdev will be playing World No.51 Ranked Tommy Robredo(ESP) in his first round of clash at Australian Open 2011. Whereas, After winning 3 qualifying matches convincingly, Sania Mirza has got to play World No.13 Ranked Justin Henin(BEL)(one time World No.1 and several grandslams winner). It would be hard to expect them to go ahead, but I would like to see them giving tough competition to their much higher ranked opponents.

One more interesting thing for India at this Australian Open is that, their much proved and several grandslam winner pair of Leander paes and Mahesh Bhupathi are going to compete together. I surely have great expectations on them, after seeing the way they won the recent Chennai Open in india.

Both the matches will be played tomorrow(16th Jan 2011)

Sania enters Main draw of Australian Open 2011 by beating Stephanie Dubois(CAN) in third round of qaulifying match

Sania enters Main draw of Australian Open 2011 by beating Stephanie Dubois(CAN) in third round of qaulifying match with 6-2, 6-3.



Thus, india comfirms it's participation in both men's(somdev) and women's(sania) singles and men's doubles(paes and bhupathi) in Australian Open 2011. I hope for some good results going forward.

Here is a snippet about the match from Australian Open 2011:
"In a match almost entirely made up of short and sharp rallies, Mirza's awesome power shone through. After a close start, the Indian elevated her tennis, swiftly taking a 5-2 lead, and promptly closed out the following game to take the set. Opening the second set with a trademark cross court forehand winner, Mirza oozed confidence off her more lethal wing.


She wasted little time in between points, badgering herself for the occasional miss but getting on with the task at hand without difficulty. Her only hiccup came when her opponent broke back at 4-1 in the second, which momentarily stemmed the flow of games for the talented Indian. A third round loser only to Serena Williams at Australian Open 2005, Mirza's experience was on display when she held her nerve to go ahead 5-3. A game later, she was into the main draw of the Australian Open for the seventh time. While it remains uncertain whom Mirza will face in the opening round of the Open, one thing is certain: she will continue to go after her forehand relentlessly."

Sania Mirza wins her second round Qualifying match at Australian Open 2011

Today, Sania Mirza won her second round qualifying match at Australian Open 2011 by beating Vitalia Diatchenko(RUS) with 6-4, 6-7(7-9),6-3. She will be playing against Stephanie Dubois(CAN) in third round of Australian Open tomorrow (16th january, 2011) to qualify for Women's Singles Mains at Australian Open 2011.

Now, Sania Mirza is just one step away from making her appearence at Australian Open 2011 Mains. Let us show our support by follwing her match live at here

Theme of the Blog

Recent revolution of indians in sports have tempted me to start this blog, as it was becoming really difficult for me to catch up with all sports updates as they happen(except cricket, which is covered very well).

I hope this blog will help you all to know as many indian sports updates as possible.