The Hindu : Time for lesser lights to reap benefits

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Mar 18, 2002

Sport

Sport - Tennis

Time for lesser lights to reap benefits

By Kamesh Srinivasan

NEW DELHI MARCH 17. With Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi fighting in the big league, it is left to the lesser lights to derive maximum benefit from the international tournaments at home.

There are a clutch of talented players like Rohan Bopanna, Prahlad Srinath, Mustafa Ghouse and Vishal Uppal who have it in them to win the $10,000 ITF Futures tennis tournament to be held at the DLTA Complex here from Monday.

While it was the national grasscourt champion Mustafa Ghouse who had the best run in Colombo a week back in a similar tournament, making the semifinals, Prahlad Srinath showed that he still had enough motivation left in him by making the semifinals last week in Chennai.

The case of Srinath may be a little intriguing in the sense that he opted to lie low after winning back to back Futures titles last season. Quite characteristically, the 28-year-old Srinath did not make a noise when his strong case was overlooked for the Davis Cup tie against Lebanon.

Nothing hurts Srinath these days, as he is sporting an `easy go lucky' attitude. In contrast, there may be some pressure on the 22-year-old Bopanna to assert his powerful game, as he was pitchforked into the Indian squad ahead of Srinath and Vijay Kannan, who had beaten him in international and national championship finals.

Bopanna did have a good run last season, when he made two finals and two semifinals in international events, including the semifinals in a $15,000 tournament in Australia, but needs to get on with the winning act now, to boost his morale, more than his ranking.Bopanna along with Vijay Kannan has been doing well in doubles winning the title in Colombo and finishing runner-up in Chennai, missing six matchpoints in the title-clash. But at this level, Bopanna should be able to dominate the field in singles, if he plays to potential.

The rest of the Indian lads have been working hard, without being able to make much headway. It is becoming increasingly difficult to garner ATP points, even at home, and it is admirable how the likes of Sunil Kumar, Mustafa Ghouse, Vishal Uppal and Manoj Mahadevan have been trying to fight their way past the hurdles, without much guidance and support.

The sixth-seeded Bopanna starts against qualifier Febi Widhiyanto of Indonesia, while the eighth-seeded Srinath takes on Josef Nesticky of the Czech Republic. Mustafa Ghouse takes on qualifier Yu-Jr Wang of China and Sunil Kumar runs into the fifth-seeded Dmitri Mazur of Uzbekistan.

Vishal Uppal, who celebrated his return to the professional circuit by making the quarterfinals in Chennai, will seek to have his revenge against David Sherwood of Britain.

Punna Vishal emerged the only Indian to make the main draw through the qualifying event. His job was made easy with his opponent retiring after the first set in the third round. Vishal will meet Meir Deri of Israel.

The wily Nitin Kirtane has been drawn to meet Roberto Alvarez of Argentina who had failed to report in the last tournament. In case, Alvarez continues to hide, his place may go to Vinod Sridhar who lost in the final qualifying round.

Wild card Shivang Mishra will test his development with a first round against the fourth-seeded Anton Kokurin of Uzbekistan. Manoj Mahadevan will be challenged by qualifier Prima Simpatiaji of Indonesia, who revealed his toughness by beating Vinod Sridhar after losing the first set in the third qualifying round.

There was some celebration on the eve of the tournament as the tournament director Brig. R. S. Randev, thoughtfully arranged a cake for the 28th birthday of tournament referee Puneet Gupta.

The Indian tennis players may have to work harder to catch up with the progress of Puneet Gupta — who has qualified to be a silver badge referee and a bronze badge umpire, with two Olympics and a few Grand Slam events already under his belt — let alone catching up with Paes and Bhupathi!

The seedings: 1. Roberto Alvarez (Arg), 2. Lee Childs (G.Br), 3. Mark Hilton (G.Br), 4. Anton Kokurin (Uzb), 5. Dmitri Mazur (Uzb), 6. Rohan Bopanna, 7. Branislav Sekac (Svk) and 8. Prahlad Srinath.

The results (qualifying event): Singles (third and final round): Sanchai Ratiwatana (Tha) bt Eliran Dooyev (Isr) 6-2, 7-6 (7-2); Ben-Qiang Zhu (Chn) bt Marian Leysek (Svk) 4-6, 6-4, 7-5; Febi Widhiyanto (Ina) bt Sonchat Ratiwatana (Tha) 6-1, 6-4; Yu-Jr Wang (Chn) bt Hendri-Susilo Pramono (Ina) 6-0, 1-6, 7-5; Prima Simpatiaji (Ina) bt Vinod Sridhar 3-6, 6-3, 6-2; Peng Sun (Chn) w.o. Remco Pondman (Ned); Punna Vishal bt Mohamed Dakki (Mar) 6-2 (retired); Ti Chen (Tpe) bt Igor Levine (Rus) 6-4, 6-3.

Doubles (first round) : Hendri-Susilo Pramono and Febi Widhiyanto (Ina) bt Shivang Mishra and Anant Sitaram 7-6 (7-3), 6-3; Neil Bamford and Jason Torpey (G.Br) bt Ajay Chowdapalli and Punna Vishal 6-4, 6-4.

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