Wednesday, May 08, 2002
Wednesday, May 08, 2002 |
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Tennis
``It was great to win the tournament. Sumit Prakash Gupta played really well, and gave us a 1-0 start in every match. Rupesh Roy also played well. Actually, both are very good match players'', said the coach of the Indian team, Hemant Bendre, here on Tuesday. India won all its six matches in the tournament, two of them on the last day against China and Australia, as rain had played havoc with the programme. In fact, India won all its 15 individual matches, conceding a mere three sets to the opponents. ``The good thing was that we never had to wait for the doubles, as we ensured a win with the singles itself. The first match against Indonesia was crucial, but we were prepared for it. Sumit won the first set 15-13 in the tie-break, after which it became easy'', the coach said. India was in the toughest group in the tournament. Eventually, the top two teams were from the same group, and those two which did not qualify for the quarterfinal knock-out stage, Indonesia and Chinese Taipei also did well to finish ninth and tenth. The real test for India was against Australia in the league. Both Sumit Gupta and Rupesh Roy passed that test by winning their matches in three sets against Anthony Tuong and Todd Ley respectively. Later, when India met Australia in the final, the boys proved too good. The tournament was played with `no ad' rule, by which you just have to play one point after deuce. Thus the players had to be alert, as the match could take a turn any moment. ``Our boys never complained about the change of surface or any other thing. They just focused on playing their matches'', said Bendre. India sought to complete the programme by playing the final, though the organizers were not too keen about it because of the rain delays. The referee Hany El Khafief was considerate and ensured that India played its final. The champion of the Asia-Oceania will have the advantage of being seeded in the World Group competition to be held in the Czech Republic in August. ``Sumit is going to be part of the ITF team in Europe for five weeks, and thus he will get used to playing on clay. Rupesh and Jeevan Nedunchezian will be playing tournaments here apart from the national championship. They will be playing doubles together, because in the next level, doubles may be decisive'', said the coach. Hemant Bendre pointed out that Rupesh needed to work on his returns and improving his first serve consistency, while Sumit had to strengthen his forehand. The presence of the Indian High Commissioner and the First Secretary for some matches, was a morale-boosting experience for the Indian team in Sri Lanka. The team also got good crowd support especially during the semifinals and the final. ``It was a beautiful complex and the organizers did a very good job'', said Bendre. Obviously, this was the best effort by an Indian under-14 team at this level, as the previous best was by the trio of Tushar Liberhan, Karan Rastogi and Divij Sharan, who had finished runner-up two years back.— Our Special Correspondent
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