Hidayat out of Japan Open Badminton Badminton

Athens Olympic gold medallist Taufik Hidayat has crashed out of the Japan Open, having lost his match to Taiwan’s Chou Tien-chen in the opening round on Wednesday.
The fifth seed from Indonesia struggled throughout the 53-minute match before losing 21-17, 12-21, 21-18.
“I couldn’t play well at all. I couldn’t find the way to attack. I’ve lost my confidence,” said the 30-year-old.
“I enjoyed playing badminton in the old days. I want to regain my form, but I’m not sure how long I will continue to play.” He added.
Defending champion and world number one Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia, comfortably eased past Rajiv Ouseph of England 21-13, 21-13.
“I feel good. This is my first match of the tournament.  So I tried to maintain my rhythm and capitalised on the court conditions,” said the top seed, who needed just 25 minutes to win his match against Ouseph.
On the other hand, Chinese star Lin Dan, the winner here in 2005 and 2006, needed three games and 43 minutes to beat 2002 champion Lee Hyun-Il of South Korea 21-16, 11-21, 21-12.
In the women’s singles, Chinese top two seeds Wang Yihan and Wang Shixian moved to the next round with world champion Wang Yihan winning easily against Yao Jie of the Netherlands 21-14, 21-8.
Seventh seed Cheng Shao-chieh of Taiwan became the first seed to abandon her match to Japan’s Sayaka Sato with a foot injury at 15-21, 4-11 down.

Other seeded players — 2007 champion Tine Baun of Denmark, China’s Wang Xin and Liu Xin, Indian star Saina Nehwal and Juliane Schenk of Germany — safely coasted their way into the next round.

Sania Mirza in top ten in the doubles ranking (Tennis)

Hyderabadi Tennis Star, Sania Mirza appears to be upbeat. She along with her Russian partner Elena Vesnina has made it to the top 10 in the international tennis rankings.

Sania Mirza is currently in the USA for the U.S. Open tennis championships.
She and Elena have reached the third round of the competitions. She happens to be the fourth of the current Indian tennis players to be included in the top ten.
Leander Paes, Mahesh Bhupathi and Rohan Bopanna are the other three to have made it to the top 10 based on their recent performances.
Sania has three doubles titles in the current session taking her total number of titles to 12. Sania and Vesnina have already won Indian Wells tournament in Park Yaroslava Shvedova of Kazakhstan.
She wrote on her Twitter page, “When I woke up this morning I was in the world’s top ten players. It is a memorable achievement for me after all these years of hard work and thanks to the support and love of everybody who has contributed to what I have become today.”

Sania Mirza

. They said on Facebook, “Welcome to the Top Ten Club. It is the result of your tireless efforts. Ple

Gayle Storm Aids RCB To Win Against Somerset (Cricket)

Chinnaswamy stadium, Bengaluru was witness to yet another Gayle storm yesterday, as the home team, Royal Challengers Bangalore won their crucial match against the English county Somerset, by 51 runs, to stay in contention for the ICC Champions League Twenty20 (CLT20) title.
RCB set a target of 207 runs, in a must-win game, for Somerset to win, and restricted the English county to 155 for the loss of six wickets.
Chris Gayle announced his return to form with an 86 off 46 balls (8 sixes and 4 fours).
Somerset was on course at the end of ten overs with seven wickets in hand.  Opener Peter Trego, played a cameo innings of 58 in 38 balls (3 sixes and 6 fours), and Craig Kiewwetter too made a small contribution.  But the other Somerset batsmen could not resist the
spirited attack of the Royal Challengers and in the end surrendered tamely.
Trego was at the crease till 16 overs but he did not get support after Craig left in the fifth over on 26 in 19 balls (2 sixes and 3 fours).
RCB skipper Daniel Vettori and Sreenath Arvind shared two wickets each, while Dirk Nannes and Raajoo Bhatkal took one wicket each.
For Somerset, Alfonso Thomas and Steven Kirby shared two wickets each.
Ironically, Trego conceded 50 runs in three overs for no wicket.
After losing its first two games against the Warriors in the tournament’s opening tie and then the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), RCB
is still at the bottom of Group B despite grabbing two points from this tie.
RCB can still hope for a semi-final berth if it wins against South Australia Redbacks tomorrow with a better net run-rate (+0.438) than
KKR, which has four points from four games but +0.306 net run-rate.
Somerset came into the match with a lone win over KKR and shared one point with SAB in a rain-hit abandoned tie.
The outcome of Somerset versus Warriors tomorrow will determine who will be the other team in Group B to walk into the other semis.

HIGUAIN SHINES IN REAL MADRID WIN (Football)

Gonzalo Higuain’s goalscoring prowess came to the fore as Real Madrid won their soccer duel against hosts Espanyol, in the Primera Division table. An elated Read Madrid manager, Jose Mourinho and his players celebrated after Real notched a 4-0 win, spurred by Higuain’s hat-trick.
Higuain scored the first goal of the game after 17 minutes and followed it with two more in the second half, with former Espanyol
midfielder Jose Callejon scoring the fourth.  Real got three points for this victory which took them to the third place in the table with their fourth win of the campaign.
Espanyol too had their chance in the 16th minute when Romaric almost lashed a loose ball at the Real goal from just inside his own half. Iker Casillas, the Real keeper was well off his line and beaten, but the ball went too wide.  A minute later, Real surged ahead – Ronaldo passing the ball on to Higuain, who made no mistake in striking it home.
Real missed scoring one in the 21st minute, when a Xabi Alonso free-kick ricocheted in the six-yard box, enabling Espanyol goalkeeper Cristian Alvarez to defend his net. Espanyol forward Sergio Garcia made an attempt four minutes before the break but Casillas was down quickly to defend it.

Fourth Bilbao Final Masters (*Chess*)

World Champion Vishwanathan Anand slipped to the third position after drawing his second round game against American, Hikaru Nakamura.  Anand had drawn his first round match against Magnus Carlsen of Norway, playing with white.
In the second round game, Nakamura had his moments, where he could have won, had he played a bit more aggressively, but Anand with black, forced a draw. Anand is now joint third as the Ukrainian, Vassily Ivanchuk shot ahead of him, defeating the lowest ranked, Francisco Vallejo Pons of Spain.
Another interesting game of the day was between Carlsen and Levon Aronian of Armenia, which too ended in a draw.
Eight rounds are still remaining in the tournament, being played on a double round robin basis. Ivanchuk and Aronian on four points, are in the lead, while Anand, Carlsen and Nakamura are joint third, on two points. The soccer-like scoring system gives 3 points for a win and a point for a draw.

The game between Anand and Nakamura was quite intense as both are known to never shy away from complexities.  Nakamura opened with the queen pawn and faced the ‘Semi-Slav defense’ which later shaped into a Moscow variation.  After a routine pawn sacrifice to position his strong pieces better, Nakamura went on a rampage and attacked the black queenside. Anand had to sacrifice a piece, but his deft maneuvering helped him stay in the game.  Enough counter play was possible for him after the sacrifice, due to his two commanding passed pawns, which compelled Nakamura to force perpetual checks.  The game lasted 38 moves.

Revenge Is A Harsh Word – Dhoni

Though some Indians may dub the recent one-day series win of India against England a revenge, captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni seems to differ, making him the great captain he is.  India won its third one day international against England at Mohali and thus clinched the five match series with a 3-0 lead.  Dhoni also gave credit to his batsmen who were successful in chasing the formidable total of 298 runs.  Set a target of 299 runs to win by England, team India was able to surpass the total and scored 300 runs with four balls to spare and five wickets in hand.  After the match Dhoni said, “Revenge is a very harsh word in a game.  I don’t think we should resort to using such words in cricket.  On the one hand we talk about sportsman spirit and on the other hand we talk about revenge.  Is it right?” he asked.
Dhoni also complimented the young brigade in his team who were in as substitutes for senior players who had to be rested due to injuries. He said, “As far as the one day format is considered I am quite happy with my team’s performance.  We had scored plenty of runs in England, but since we couldnot win the toss there, we had to bowl first.  On many occasions our efforts were wasted due to rain and dew.  Here in India the climate is favourable to us.  Our bowlers too have bowled well here in familiar conditions.  This is good for us.”
He added, “I will keep promoting the young batsmen up the order as long as they deliver and are well established.  I have always felt
that the young players should be played up the order.  It is always better to keep our youngsters prepared.  These youngsters have to be at the crease atleast till 20 overs.  When they become a part of the regular team, we will be in a position to experiment with them.
Batting at number six or seven is a different ball game altogether. Don’t forget that the youngsters who were promoted up the order have delivered.  When some youngster is not available due to injury we have to look for replacements.  Our upper middle order played an important role in delivering us the last win.”
Dhoni was profuse in his praise for Gautam Gambhir and Ajinkya Rahane. He said, “The way Rahane (91) and Gambhir (58) scored 111 runs for the second wicket, they took the game away from England.  Their partnership was quite crucial for us.  The dew played an important role once again and the ball was coming on to the bat very well.  We lost a wicket at a crucial time, but were able to come back into the game because of this partnership and were able to register a win.”
Dhoni added, “If we had lost one more wicket, the match could have slipped away from us.  Thursday’s game was close and it went into the last over.   We should have won this match easily but it turned out to be an encounter of a close kind.  Losing a wicket in between, put some pressure on us.  I knew that Ravindra Jadeja was with me and together we could eclipse the total.  Because of the dew the bowlers found it difficult to york or reverse-swing the ball.”

Dhoni gave indications to the effect that since the series was ours we could now try our second-rung cricketers in the next two matches.  He said, “We haven’t yet planned about the next two games.  The team management will sit together and discuss the issue.  Pacer Umesh Yadav is out due to injury and hence another bowler may be tried.”

first round match, third-seeded David Ferrer of Spain won against Kei Nishikori of Japan 6-4, 6-3.  The fifth-ranked Ferrer
saved two break points in the final game of the second set, before converting his first match point.  He also saved two break points at
2-2 in the second set, before clinching the next game with a crosscourt forehand winner.
Ivan Dodig of Croatia won his first round match against eighth-seeded Juan Monaco of Argentina 6-3, 2-6, 7-6 (1) in 2 hours and 42 minutes. He will take on David Nalbandian of Argentina, after the 2002 Wimbledon finalist, got the better of Lukas Rosol of the Czech
Republic 6-1, 6-1.
Alex Bogomolov Jr. of the United States won his first round match against Jarkko Nieminen of Finland 6-4, 6-4 to make it to the second round of the tournament.

Second-seeded Andy Murray of Britain is scheduled to meet Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus in a first-round match tomorrow.

Sania Loses In Second Round – French Open Super Series Badminton

India’s ace shuttler Saina Nehwal has lost her second round match against China’s Jurui Lee in straight sets on Thursday in Paris. Thursday was a bad day for India.  India’s Ajay Jairam lost his match in men’s singles while Commong Wealth Games’ gold medallists Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa lost their second round doubles matches too.  With these losses India’s campaign in this tournament comes to an end.
Fourth seeded Saina lost her match in 48 minutes in straight sets 18-21, 29-30.  This is the second time in two weeks that Saina has lost her second round match and has been
eliminated from the finals. Saina had won her first round match in just 29 minutes against Jee Yao, 21-14, 21-19.  Having been eliminated in the second round of the Denmark Open last week Saina was hopeful of a better performance here.
India’s Jairam had defeated compatriot Guruvar.M.V.Saidutt in the first round and had booked his berth in the second round.  In the second round Jairam had lost his match to the sixth seeded China’s Jin Chen in 46 minutes by 19-21, 14-21 and was thus eliminated from the tournament.  In the women’s competition India’s Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa have lost their second round matches to Korea’s Jung Iun Ha and Ming Jung Kim in just 27 minutes by 13-21, 12-21.
 

India Inches Closer To A Clean Sweep

Raina and Kohli

Aided by Varun Aaron’s [3/24] followed by some splendid innings of Virat Kohli [86 not out] and Suresh Raina’s [80] and the 131-run fourth wicket partnership between the two, team India won the fourth one day international against England, at Wankhede stadium yesterday and are now leading 4-0 in the series.  India won the match by six wickets with 59 balls to spare.
The Wankhede stadium, Mumbai saw some fine bowling by the Indians due to which the England team was all out for 220 runs in 46.1 overs.  For
England who have already lost the series and are playing to salvage some pride, the top scorers were Tim Bresnan [45 runs from 45 balls, 6
boundaries] and Kevin Pieterson [41]; Jonathan Trott contributed 39 runs.
Other than Aaron who was making his debut for India, Ashwin too took three wickets conceding 38 runs.  In reply, India’s start was not so good but they came back into the game and achieved the target in just 40.1 overs losing just four wickets.  Virat Kohli was the top-scorer with 86 runs from 99 balls and also struck the winning boundary.  On other hand Raina scored 80 runs from 62 balls with the help of 12 boundaries.  The highest wicket takers of the match (three each) Varun Aaron and Steven Finn got all the wickets by clean bowling out the batsmen.
Despite the low target, India didn’t get a good start and lost three wickets by the time the score was 46 runs.  Finn bowled out Parthiv Patel [8] in the sixth over and struck the first blow to India.  After him Gautam Gambhir too followed suit after scoring just one run. Ajinkya Rahane was the third Indian wicket to fall when the score was close to 50 runs.  Rahane faced 37 deliveries, scored 20 runs, was caught behind by wicket keeper Kieswetter off the bowling of Stuart Meeker.  After the fall of these three, the in-form Rohit Kohli partnered with Suresh Raina to take India closer to the target.  Both played with restraint in the beginning and scored their 50s.  Kohli needed 52 deliveries for his half century while Raina took 50.
After scoring his 50, Suresh Raina changed gears and became his explosive self, scoring 30 runs in the next 12 deliveries.  Finn was the one to scalp Raina, who was clean bowled by him with a yorker. Captain Dhoni who replaced Raina ensured that no further wicket fell and team India sailed comfortably to victory.  Dhoni scored 15 runs from 18 deliveries with the help of a four and a six.

federer

Roger Federer staked his claim as one of the favourites for the Australian Open title later this month by romping into the second round of the Qatar Open, while rival Rafa Nadal survived a scare in windswept Doha on Tuesday.Federer, hoping to win a record 17th grand slam in Melbourne later this month, thumped Russian Nikolay Davydenko 6-2 6-2 in less than hour on a blustery evening.
Top seed Nadal, in contrast, battled back from a break down in the deciding set against Germany's Philipp Kohlschreiber to triumph 6-3 6-7 6-3 in two and a half hours. Third seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga was also wayward in a 7-6 6-7 6-1 win over Tunisian wildcard Malek Jaziri.
Federer said he was glad to get some night-time match practice.
"It was a combination of me playing really well and Nikolay not finding his range like we're used to seeing in the past," Federer told reporters. "This is obviously an important step to get used to the conditions."
The 30-year-old Swiss has failed to win a grand slam title since lifting the 2010 Australian Open trophy but his appetite for tennis remains undimmed.
"If you don't have that (motivation), you will have many losses due to a lack of interest," said Federer.
"Your mindset has to be right and there's a lot of sacrifice during the year and throughout your career, but you get the returns and you just have to remind yourself how lucky you are."
His longtime rival Nadal, who lost the Wimbledon and U.S. Open finals as well as the world number one spot to Novak Djokovic in 2011, said he was pleased with his performance in Doha as he recovers from a shoulder injury and switches to a new racket.
"The only moments I didn't play well were the beginning of the second and after the tiebreak. For the rest, I think I played a very solid match," Nadal said.
"My shoulder is fine. I felt something at the beginning of practice, but later, after three, four minutes, when I got warmed up, I feel the shoulder with perfect condition. The shoulder needs days like today to get the power."
Nadal was in imperious form early on, sealing the first set by ending a furious exchange at the net with a simple volley winner.
The German appeared to be heading for his eighth successive defeat to Nadal but stunned the 10-times grand slam winner by racing into a 3-0 lead in the second set.
At 4-2 up, Kohlschreiber netted a backhand to give Nadal a break back. The relentless power of Nadal's shots left Kohlschreiber scrambling but he clung on to take the set into a tiebreak, which the German won 7-2.
Kohlschreiber broke in the first game of the final set, hammering a forehand winner down the line, but that stirred Nadal from his slumber and the Spaniard broke back immediately before surging into a 4-1 lead that he never looked like relinquishing.
Tsonga traded tiebreaks with the bulky Jaziri in the opening two sets of an error-riddled match.
The Frenchman then broke early in the final set and eased home as his Tunisian opponent tired.