The Hindu : Sanam quells Divij's challenge

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Dec 11, 2003

Sport

Sport - Tennis

Sanam quells Divij's challenge

By Kamesh Srinivasan

Tamil Nadu's R. Ramkumar (right), who captured four wickets, walks back at the end of the Assam innings in the Ranji Trophy Elite Group `B' match at the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium on Wednesday. S. Sriram (left) looks on.

NEW DELHI DEC. 10. They are two lads who make you proud by being among the top-10 in the junior world. The only problem is that they are tough to beat as a doubles pair. When they are out on court on their own, they find their territory too large to defend, like most of the doubles specialists from this land.

Divij Sharan and R. Arun Prakash have had a wonderful season, winning among other titles the Osaka super juniors crown, treated on par with the Grand Slams. However, Divij has not been able to break into the top 100 in singles, and Arun Prakash has been just about threatening to get into the top 50.

The difference in their individual game was very much evident, as Divij was tamed 6-1, 3-6, 3-6 by Sanam Singh. Playing a better quality serve and volley game, Arun Prakash managed to scrape through 2-6, 6-3, 7-5 against Rupesh Roy in another nerve-wracking encounter in the Asian junior tennis championship at the DLTA Complex here on Wednesday.

Sanam will now take on top-seeded Karan Rastogi. Karan played a vibrant game in emphasising his authority over Cheuk Wai Hui of Hong Kong.

Tushar Liberhan and Somdev Dev Varman were the other Indian boys to make the quarterfinals.

The results:

Boys (pre-quarterfinals): Karan Rastogi bt Cheuk Wai Hui (Hkg) 6-3, 6-0; Sanam K. Singh bt Divij Sharan 1-6, 6-3, 6-3; Chu-Huan Yi (Tpe) bt Martin Sayer (Hkg) 6-3, 7-5; Tushar Liberhan bt Sumit Prakash Gupta 6-1, 6-1; Chun-Yuan Chen (Tpe) bt Vijit Sehgal 7-6 (8-6), 6-1; R. Arun Prakash bt Rupesh Roy 2-6, 6-3, 7-5; Sunu Wahyu Trijati (Ina) bt Yannick Nelord 6-4, 6-1; Somdev Dev Varman bt Navdeep Singh 7-5, 6-4.

Doubles (quarterfinals): Sumit Prakash Gupta/Vikram Aditya Menon bt Aditya Madkekar/Wrik Ganguly 6-3, 4-6, 6-4; Martin Sayer/Cheuk Wai Hui (Hkg) bt Siddharth Gulati/Jitin Bishnoi 6-2, 7-6 (7-5); Karan Rastogi/Somdev Dev Varman bt Tushar Liberhan/Saurabh Kohli 7-5, 6-1.

Girls (pre-quarterfinals): Yung-Jan Chan (Tpe) bt Parija Maloo 6-0, 6-2; Kartiki Bhat bt Madura Ranganathan 6-3, 7-5; Liu Wang-Ting (Chn) bt Nungnudda Wannasuk (Tha) 6-4, 6-0; Ayu Fani Damayanti (Ina) bt Krushmi Chheda 6-2, 6-3; Ankita Bhambri bt I-Hsuan Hwang (Tpe) 7-5, 7-5; Wen-Hsin Hsu (Tpe) bt Pooja Kommireddi 6-1, 6-1; Pichittra Thongdach (Tha) bt Shuai Zhang (Chn) 6-2, 6-1; Isha Lakhani bt Punam Reddy 6-0, 6-3.

Doubles (quarterfinals): Shuan Zhang/Liu Wan Ting (Chn) bt Sandri Gangotri/Sandhya Nagaraj 6-2, 6-1; Yung-Jan Chan (Tpe)/Isha Lakhani bt Punam Reddy/Krushmi Chheda 6-4, 6-1; I-Hsuan Hwang/Wen-Hin Hsu (Tpe) bt Pichittra Thongdach/Nudnida Luangnam (Tha) 6-3, 6-3; Ankita Bhambri/Sanaa Bhambri bt Denise Harijanto/Ayu Fani Damayanti (Ina) 6-3, 6-2.

Under-14 (semifinals): Boys: Agung Bagus Dewantoro (Ina) bt Arnav Jain 6-2, 6-1; Agnel Gladwin bt Tariq Jacob 6-1, 6-0.

Girls: Ashmitha Easwaramoorthi bt Poojashree Venkatesh 6-4, 6-2; G.K. Shweta bt Lutfiana Aris Budiharto (Ina) 6-1, 7-6 (7-1); Quarterfinals: Lutfiana Aris Budiharto bt Parija Maloo 6-2, 6-2.

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