Thursday, Feb 05, 2004
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Tennis
By Our Special Correspondent
NEW DELHI, FEB. 4. Each one of them is a champion in his own right. Five Indian lads, each capable of outwitting the other, cruised into the quarterfinals of the Adidas ITF grade `II' junior tennis tournament to affix the host's stamp of authority at the DLTA Complex here on Wednesday. Divij Sharan, Sanam Singh, Navdeep Singh, Rupesh Roy and Tushar Liberhan did not drop a set between them, as they handled their opponents, irrespective of them being home-bred or abroad, with a touch of assurance. Divij set up a quarterfinal against Sanam Singh, as the latter upset the seventh-seeded Naoki Sato of Japan with his fluid game. Sanam had drawn attention by beating Divij in the Asian junior championship, but the stock of Divij had gone up considerably since then, thanks to his exploits in the National championship. Navdeep Singh handled an unsteady start to oust Siddharth Gulati. He will be challenged by the fourth-seeded Faris Khatib of Britain. Rupesh Roy played a high quality game, combining his immense talent with an admirable intensity of concentration. In fact, the champion of the last two events, the 61st ranked Rupesh was pushed to his best by the talented left-hander Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan. The latter served and stroked with elan in demonstrating his vibrant game, but Rupesh was just unbeatable this day. Tushar Liberhan has been hitting with a lot of confidence these days, thanks to a string of titles he won last season. The second seed sailed through to meet the sixth-seeded Martin Sayer of Hong Kong. There was a lot of cheer for the host in the girls' event as well, as Madura Ranganathan, Sandhya Nagaraj and Kartiki Bhat made it to the quarterfinals. Local girl Karina Ahuja too could have joined the elite list but for losing her away after winning the first set against the eighth-seeded Jung-Yoon Shin of Korea. Shin's game will be thoroughly scrutinised by the second-seeded Kartiki Bhat, who has dropped a mere seven games in all in winning her first two rounds. Sandhya Nagaraj defeated the National junior champion, the fourth-seeded Punam Reddy, for the second time, with her punchy shots and impressive athleticism. Punam was a shade slow and thus lost her confidence early in the game.
Boys (pre-quarterfinals): Divij Sharan bt Botond Godry (Hun) 6-4, 6-4; Sanam Singh bt Naoki Sato (Jpn) 6-3, 6-4; Faris Khatib (GBR) bt Liran Levy (Isr) 6-4, 6-3; Navdeep Singh bt Siddharth Gulati 7-5, 6-1; Myles Blake (Aus) bt Roman Kelecic (Cro) 6-1, 6-3; Rupesh Roy bt Jeevan
Nedunchezhiyan 6-3, 6-3; Martin Sayer (Hkg) bt Vladislav Shegay (Uzb) 6-2, 7-6 (7-2); Tushar Liberhan bt N. S. Nishendiran (Sri) 6-3, 6-3.
Doubles (quarterfinals): Divij Sharan/Tushar Liberhan bt Umarov Jamolhon/Bagyulov Talgat (Uzb) 6-1, 6-4; Chris Eaton (GBR)/Navdeep Singh bt Lidzar Alexander (Kaz)/Amrit Rupasinghe (Sri) 6-1, 7-6 (8-6); Sanam Singh/Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan bt Naoki Sato (Jpn)/Jitin Bishnoi 6-2, 6-3; Sumit Prakash Gupta/Rupesh Roy bt Vladislav Shegay/Sharipov Akmal (Uzb) 6-4, 6-2.
Girls (pre-quarterfinals): Madura Ranganathan bt Penporn Chantawannop (Tha) 6-3, 6-4; Iryna Matiychyk (Ukr) bt Elina Arutyunova (Uzb) 6-4, 7-6 (7-3); I-Hsuan Hwang (Tpe) bt Xeniya Palkina (Kyr) 6-1, 6-1; Yana Nemerovski (Isr) bt Francesca Kinsella (GBR) 7-5, 6-0; Pichittra Thongdach (Tha) bt Shivika Burman 6-2, 6-2; Sandhya Nagaraj bt Punam Reddy 6-3, 6-2; Jung-Yoon Shin (Kor) bt Karina Ahuja 5-7, 6-3, 6-1; Kartiki Bhat bt Porntip Mulsap (Tha) 6-0, 6-2.
Doubles (quarterfinals): Punam Reddy/Kartiki Bhat bt Daria Bykodarova (Rus)/Francesca Kinsella (GBR) 6-4, 6-1; Yanina Wickmayer (Bel)/Pichittra Thongdach (Tha) bt Eleonora Sitdjemileva (Uzb)/G.K. Shweta 6-1, 6-4; Sandhya Nagaraj/Sandri Gangotri bt I-Hsuan Hwang and Chia-Li Chen (Tpe) 1-6, 6-1, 6-2; Madura Ranganathan and Vandana Murali bt Yekaterina Morozova (Kaz) and Xeniya Palkina (Kyr) 7-6 (7-3), 6-1; Pre-quarterfinal: Yekaterina Morozova/Xeniya Palkina bt Jung-Yoon Shin (Kor)/Shivika Burman 6-1, 6-2.
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