Date:09/02/2004 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2004/02/09/stories/2004020903571800.htm

Sport - Tennis

ITF junior tournament from today

By Our Special Correspondent

CHANDIGARH, FEB. 8. The Indian challenge may be less than formidable as the NTA trainees Tushar Liberhan and Divij Sharan have opted out of the ITF grade `III' junior tennis tournament to be played at the CLTA Complex here from Monday.

However, the absence of the finalists of the previous week may help the other leading Indian players, Rupesh Roy and Navdeep Singh to assert themselves, as they had done for four weeks in Bangladesh and Kolkata. The two had won three of the four singles titles and will be eager to boost their international ranking further to guarantee themselves entries in the Grand Slams in Paris and Wimbledon.

The third-seeded Faris Khatib may be a big stumbling block for the aspirations of many, and there is no dearth of quality players from other countries.

It will be a big challenge for the Indian girls to match wits against the likes of I-Hsuan Hwang of Chinese Taipei and Pichittra Thongdach of Thailand, who had made it to the finals of the last two weeks, with the steady-stroking Taipei girl winning both the times.

With Sandhya Nagaraj having pulled out, the likes of Madura Ranganathan, Kartiki Bhat, Punam Reddy and Vandana Murali can cause a dent to the pride of some of the leading foreign players, if they put their games together with a little more self-belief.

The seedings:

Boys: 1. Rupesh Roy, 2. Navdeep Singh, 3. Faris khatib (GBR), 4. Martin Sayer (Hkg), 5. Naoki Sato (Jpn), 6. Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan, 7. Roman Kelecic (Cro), 8. Abdullah Magdas (Kuw).

Girls: 1. I-Hsuan Hwang (Tpe), 2. Madura Ranganathan, 3. Kartiki Bhat, 4. Pichittra Thongdach (Tha), 5. Yana Nemerovski (Isr), 6. Punam Reddy, 7. Vandana Murali, 8. Jung-Yoon Shin (Kor).

The results (qualifying event): Boys (final round): Kazuya Ono (Jpn) bt Krishank Shah 6-4, 6-0; Kevin Benchetrit (Isr) bt Umarov Jamolhon (Uzb) 6-4, 6-0; Guy Kobi (Isr) bt Gursher Singh Harika 6-2, 6-2; Lior Barbash (Isr) bt Krishna Karsolia 6-4, 6-1.

Girls (final round): Eleonora Sitdjemileva (Uzb) bt Jilke Nelord 6-1, 6-2; Yeon-Ju Kim (Kor) bt Vishaka Sheoran 6-1, 6-2; Iryna Matiychyk (Ukr) bt Chai-Li Chen (Tpe) 6-0, 6-2; Dariya Bykodarova (Rus) bt Sanjana Kapoor 3-6, 6-1, 6-0.