Paes-Tipsarevic lose, Hesh-Bopanna advance at Dubai Duty Free Men's Open

India’s Leander Paes and Serbia’s Janko Tipsarevic bowed out of the first round of the doubles, falling 4-6, 5-7 to the second seeded pair of Sweden’s Robert Lindstedt and Romania’s Horia Tecau at the Dubai Duty Free Men's Open. Meanwhile, the Indian pairing of — Mahesh Bhupathi and Rohan Bopanna — moved into the last eight, beating Alexandr Dolgopolov of Ukraine and Lukas Dlouhy of Czech Republic 6-4, 7-5, says a report in The Times Of India. In the quarterfinals Bhupathi and Bopanna play Aussie Paul Hanley and Briton Jamie Murray.

In a column in The Times Of India, Prabhjot Singh writes that Brent Livermore, the Chennai Cheetahs captain, can change the course of any match on his day, and he will be the most dangerous player to watch out for in our first match against Chennai Cheetahs. “The stage is set for Sher-EPunjab’s first clash in the biggest hockey tournament. Our training was good, the visitors have travelled, the fans are excited, and there is a buzz in the air for hockey.  We launch our campaign against Chennai Cheetahs in our opening game in the inaugural Bridgestone World Series Hockey at Surjeet Singh Hockey Stadium in Jalandhar, where there is hockey fever,”  he writes.

“I’m sure both sides are looking to get off to a positive start. Both teams are going into the game on a confident note. The Sher-E-Punjab team has a brilliant forward line comprising of Indian stars Deepak Thakur, Gagan Ajit Singh, Pakistani Tariq Aziz and the tough Malaysian, Mohammad Radzi. The experienced VS Vinaya will spearhead our midfield moves while German Maik Gunther, William Xalco and Harpal Singh will greet the rival forwards and stop their intrusions. The young Canadian custodian, Antoni Kindler, has the knack to excel under pressure, and I’m sure he will prove to be a great asset for the Shers in the tournament,” adds Prabhjot.

Meanwhile, the National Anti-Doping Appeal panel (NADAP) reserved its order on Wednesday in the case relating to four female athletes who are under one-year suspensions for anti-doping rule violations. According to The Hindu, the NADAP, headed by Justice C.K. Mahajan (retd.) heard the concluding arguments of the athletes' counsel, R.K. Anand, and a brief rebuttal by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) lawyer, Rahul Kumar. A decision could be expected within the next fortnight as Justice Mahajan indicated that he would be keen to give the verdict at the earliest when Anand pointed out the urgency of the matter in view of the Olympic qualification deadlines and the need for the athletes to focus on that task.
The WADA had appealed against the decision of the disciplinary panel to suspend the athletes — Ashwini A.C., Sini Jose, Priyanka Panwar and Tiana Mary Thomas — for one year each, seeking an enhancement of the suspension period. The athletes, all 400m runners, had also appealed for either exoneration or reduction of the suspension period.

Coming to the National team chess championship, leader Air India overcame the biggest hurdle in its title-defence by getting past second seed Airports Authority of India in the women's section in a tense four-hour match. Air India heaved a sigh of relief following a 2.5-1.5 win in the crucial third round match on Wednesday, says a report in The Hindu.

Bhakti Kulkarni and S. Meenakshi won their games to set up the triumph before Tania Sachdev wriggled out of an inferior position to hold Mary Ann Gomes to ensure the winning lead. Soon, AAI's spearhead D. Harika defeated former National ladies champion S. Vijayalakshmi to make the margin of defeat appear respectable.

At one point, the Air India camp was worried with Vijayalakshmi and Tania battling difficult positions while Bhakti and Meenakshi faced stiff resistance from lesser-rated rivals — Kiran Manisha Mohanty and Nimmy George.  The tension eased when Air India won on the lower boards and Tania slipped out of Mary's hold. Vijayalakshmi's defeat to Harika thereafter did not impact the match result.