India Makes It To The 2013 SAFF Championship Semi-Finals

The South Asian Football Federation Championship has commenced on August 31st. The tournament is between Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bhutan, Maldives, and Sri Lanka. India was part of Group A in the Group phase of the tournament facing off against Nepal (home team), Bangladesh, and Pakistan. You can get the schedules of the tournament on this link.

India's First Match: Against Pakistan

The match took place on September 1st, India ended up winning the match 1-0 while earning itself 3 points in the group phase.

You can watch the complete game here:

India's Second Match: Against Bangladesh

This match ended up being a draw with a score of 1-1. India and Bangladesh both ended up earning 1 point each for the draw.

You can watch the complete game here:

India's Third Match: Against Nepal

Nepal ended up beating India with a score of 2-1, India didn't earn any points for this game but ended up making it to the Semi-finals of the tournament with a total of 4 points. Pakistan also had 4 points, but India had a higher goal differential so it got the Indian team over the hump to reach the Semifinals.

You can watch the game against Nepal here:

India will face Maldives in the Semi-final game on September 9th. I will post the results going forward and also the complete match videos.

Somdev Devvarman Reaches Second Round of US Open

http://sports.inquirer.net/116779/us-open-indian-marathon-man-devvarman-wins-after-eight-hours

NEW YORK– Indian qualifier Somdev Devvarman needed five sets over eight hours between rain delays and a determined foe, but he reached the second round of the US Open on Wednesday with a clutch late performance.

The 28-year-old former US college star defeated Slovakia’s Lukas Lacko 4-6, 6-1, 6-2, 4-6, 6-4 in three hours and 11 minutes of match time, although rain halted the match for more than four hours after he won the third set.

“Bummer for me, momentum switch,” Devvarman said. “But you have to pull your pants up and deal with it. Just the nature of the beast.”

Devvarman made 36 unforced errors, fewer than half of Lacko’s 73 such mistakes, and hung tough at the finish

“When you are playing in the fifth set, a lot of it is you play with adrenaline at that point. I know both of us were dying at the end,” Devvarman said ”I was pretty antsy and he was too. The nervous energy affected the both of us. We were just trying to do our best.”

Devvarman had just battled back to secure the third set when showers began to fall, sending him into the locker room. After a tease of returning quicker, more rain left him to sit and the marathon wait continue.

“I got two quarters of a meal at different times,” Devvarman said. “You just take a shower, eat and try to relax. You are in there with a bunch of your friends, playing games and the time passes pretty quickly.”

So did his momentum.

“Stopping and starting, it was a little unlucky to stop there,” he said. “You can’t control the weather. It changed the momentum. He came out and played well, changed his tactics. He played a great fourth and fifth sets.”

But at 4-4 in the final set, Devvarman came through with a break and held to book a second-round date with Italian 20th seed Andreas Seppi.

“I’m very happy with the way I played. It was an incredibly tough match,” Devvarman said. “I played a few great scramble points there in the fifth set at 4-4. I’m happy with that last bit of effort out there.”

Devvarman said having to fight through three qualifying matches has been an advantage.

“Less time on the court is better but you do what you can to take advantage of what you have,” Devvarman said. “I’m familiar with the speed of the courts. I’ve played a lot of matches.

“I’m match sharp. I hope I can take advantage of that in the next match. The only way I can improve is to fight through every match and I feel like I’ve done that.”

India Team and Individual Sports Rankings

Indian Team Sports Ranking             World Rank                                     Date: 8/15/13

1. Test Cricket                                     2nd 
2. One Day International Cricket            1st  
3. Twenty20                                         3rd
4. Tennis Davis Cup                             26th
5. Men's Football (Soccer)                    145th (improved)
6. Women's Football (Soccer)               50th 
7. Men's Basketball                              58th
8. Women's Basketball                         40th
9. Boys Basketball                               43rd
10. Girls Basketball                                39th
11. Men's Volleyball                                30th 
12. Women's Volleyball                           103rd
13. Junior Boys Volleyball                       16th 
14. Junior Girls Volleyball                        29th
15. Men's Rugby                                    74th
16. Men's Field Hockey                          11th
17. Women's Field Hockey                     12th

Individual Sports ranking:

Men's Single's Tennis: India's Top 3            World Rank

1. Somdev Devvarman                                     113th (improved)
2. Saketh Myeni                                             267th 
3. Prakash Amritraj                                         312th 

   

   

Men's Double's Tennis: India's Top 3          World Rank

1. Rohan Bopanna                                           5th 
2. Mahesh Bhupathi                                         6th 
3. Leander Paes                                              10th 

   

Women's Single's Tennis: India's Top 3        World Rank

1. Ankita Raina                                               352nd (improved) 
2. Rishika Sunkara                                          531st                                                   
3. Prerna Bhambri                                           592nd

   

Women's Double's Tennis: India's Top 3      World Rank

1. Sania Mirza                                                 18th (improved)
2. Rishika Sunkara                                           377th (improved) 
3. Kyra Shroff                                                   512th (improved) 

Men's Single's Badminton: India's Top 3       World Rank

1. P. Kashyap                                                   14th
2. R.M.V Gurusaidutt                                         20th (improved)
3. Ajay Jairam                                                   24th 

Men's Double's Badminton: India's Top 2      World Bank

1. Pranav Jerry Chopra                                       40th
2. Akshay Divalkar                                             40th

Women's Single's Badminton: India's Top 3     World Rank 

1. Saina Nehwal                                                  4th
2. P.V Sindhu                                                     10th (improved)
3. Arundhati Pantawane                                       54th 

Women's Double's Badminton: India's Top 2      World Rank

1. Pradnya Gadre                                                29th 
2. Ashwini Ponnappa                                           29th 

If you think there is any other sport that should be added to this, please let me know and if you could provide me the source of where I can find the rankings it will be of great help. Thank you.

Somdev Devvarman loses to John Isner

During the Citi Open Somdev Devvarman and John Isner (USA) played each other in the 3rd round of the tournament today. It was a decently contested match which ended with a score of 7-5,7-5 in Isner's favor. Both the players were rivals in college, in their last encounter Somdev beat Isner and as a result ended up clinching the 2007 NCAA Championship. Isner went on to play in the professional circuit after that loss while Somdev decided to finish off his college career by playing in his senior year, he ended up winning the 2008 NCAA Championship to become the second player to do it in back to back years.

This time around though Isner got to redeem himself in the professional circuit. Six years after their last encounter John Isner clearly ended up becoming a more refined pro, he always had more upside compared to Somdev due to his strong serve and height advantage. It was evident during the match that both the players are much improved from the past, hopefully we will end up seeing another match up between the two in the future.

All in all it was a good tournament for Somdev, he is currently playing at a Top-75 level and came short against a Top-25 Isner. The final result could have been sweeter for him but Somdev should gain a lot of confidence from his performance in this tournament and carry it into the rest of the tennis season. I will keep you updated with his endeavors going forward in the hard court season.

2013 U-16 SAFF Championship: India vs. Nepal

The Complete Game

The event took place on 7/30/13 in Nepal. It was a great match, and I want you to see for yourself the quality and the outcome of the game. I am personally pretty impressed with the talent on both of these teams. 

Somdev Devvarman upsets Alexandr Dolgopolov!!

As a continuation to yesterday's post...

Somdev Devvarman ends up beating the World No. 25 and last year's Citi Open Champion, Alexandr Dolgopolov, with a score of 6-3, 7-6. This is definitely one of the best victories Somdev accomplished to date and he did it in a very decisive fashion.

Somdev has earned around 100 ATP points so far in this tournament and this will put him closer to the Top-100 range. As I have mentioned yesterday Somdev will most likely end up playing against John Isner, they were both rivals in the NCAA tennis circuit and faced each other in the 2007 NCAA Championship. Somdev was the underdog in 2007 and he ended up upsetting Isner who was a No. 1 seed. I am sure this will be an awesome match up to watch, mainly because Isner knows Somdev's game and he will be ready for this re-match.

To Isner's credit he is much improved since his college days (as is Somdev), he is currently ranked No. 22 in the world so we can certainly consider him to be the favorite in this match up. If Somdev can muster up enough energy from his tank to beat Isner this will be an amazing run for the Indian.

Win or lose in the next match, we know for sure that Somdev is back!!! May be even as a better player...

Here is the draw for the tournament: Citi Open Draw
Here is the tournament page, you can get the live scores as the match progresses: Citi Open

Somdev Devvarman is set to get back into the Top-100

Somdev Devvarman, India's No. 1 tennis player, is about to enter back into the Top-100 world ranking. In 2012 he had shoulder surgery and had a long lay off from the tennis tour, as a result his ranking dropped and he fell way bellow the Top-100. His career high was 62 towards the middle of 2011.

His official ranking at the moment is 129 but currently he is playing in the Citi Open in Washington D.C and ended up winning through the qualifier rounds which will end up earning him 10 ATP points. Today he played against Rhyne Williams (USA, ranked 116), Somdev won the match decisively with a 7-5, 6-1 scoreline and notched himself 35 ATP points. With a total earned points during this tournament he would move into the 115 range in the world rankings. If he can muster up a win or two in this tournament he would comfortably move himself into a Top-100 spot.

Somdev has a tough player ahead of him in Alexandr Dolgopolov, who is currently ranked 25th in the world and was the champion last year at the Citi Open. The chances of Somdev winning this match going forward is low but if he can pull it off it would boost his confidence and propel him with a momentum into the US Open.

In case Somdev beats Dolgopolov his next opponent will most likely be his old college rival John Isner who is ranked 20th in the world. This tournament is a tough climb going forward but lets hope Somdev will be able to do something unimaginable for the Indian tennis fans. The match against Dolgopolov is tomorrow (July 30th) at 4:00 PM (EST). I will post an update about the outcome of the game.

Here is the tournament page, you can get the live scores as the match progresses: Citi Open