Monday, Apr 14, 2003
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Tennis
By Kamesh Srinivasan
Equally, it will be a tough exercise for the 15 foreigners in the main draw of the Bhavana Swarup $10,000 ITF women's tennis tournament, to make a positive impact on the unpredictable surface. Having done very well over a fortnight in Mumbai in two successive tournaments, which includes a final appearance in the first week, the top-seeded Rushmi will be keen to add to her collection of four titles at this level. She has pushed her ranking to an impressive 434, the third best in the country behind Manisha Malhotra (336) and Sania Mirza (424) who are not playing this event, as they are ready to leave for the Fed Cup in Japan. Rushmi may have been upset that her rightful place in the Indian team has been gifted to players like Megha Vakharia and Isha Lakhani who at 584 and 899 on the WTA list, do not have any ranking to speak about. However, on the flip side, it should not be that exciting an exercise to compete in the Asia Oceania group `II' league, and Rushmi would be more fruitfully occupied in the professional circuit. Rushmi will start against qualifier Orawan Lamangthong of Thailand, after a day's rest, on Tuesday. Actually, the qualifying event here has been a cruel joke on the hard-working organisers. With few entries, there were only four matches in all, and only one of the losers managed to win a game. In the same breath, it has to be conceded that it was a surprise that Marutha Devi, who has improved quite a bit in recent months, could not win a game against Ludmila Rozsivalova of the Czech Republic this afternoon. Marutha may have conserved her energy for the main draw, quite confident about gaining a lucky-loser's spot! Sai Jayalakshmy who had lost to the eventual champion Manisha Malhotra in the semifinal last week, will take on Geeta Manohar. Shruti Dhawan, the finalist in a $5000 event last year at this place, will play Georgette Wright of the US. It would have been interesting to see Sheethal Goutham in such a strong field, after her gutsy effort in winning a double crown in the $5000 event here, but the Bangalore girl has opted to appear for her college examinations back home. Ankita Bhambri will play Sasha Abraham in the first round, while her sister Sanaa Bhambri, expected to reach here on Tuesday, will be tested by Archana Venkataraman. It has been a fabulous effort by the 15-year-old Sanaa to be ranked 50th in the world in the junior circuit, and she wound up on a brilliant note in Japan by clinching the doubles title with Sania Mirza on Sunday. She will be the player to watch here. Iciri Rai, who played some good matches on these grasscourts a year back, will be up against the third-seeded Wilawan Choptang of Thailand in the first round. If she sports a positive attitude and plays to her potential, the tall girl from Bangalore would have entertained the crowd on the morrow. Overall, it should be an interesting week, when the Indian players can call the shots and make the powerful foreigners dance to their tune. That should be some entertainment for the local crowd, that is hardly occupied with sporting activities in these parts. The seedings: 1. Rushmi Chakravarti, 2. Sai Jayalakshmy, 3. Wilawan Choptang (Tha), 4. Franziska Etzel (Ger), 5. Carly Homewood (GBR), 6. Sonal Phadke, 7. Ankita Bhambri and 8. Diana Costa (Por). The results: Qualifying event (first and final round): Pallavi Sharma bt Amanat Thind 6-1, 6-0; Ludmila Rozsivalova (Cze) bt Marutha Devi 6-0, 6-0.
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