The Hindu : Sport / Tennis : Indian girls finish ninth

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, May 09, 2004

Sport

Sport - Tennis

Indian girls finish ninth

NEW DELHI, MAY 8. The Indian girls defeated host Thailand 2-1 and finished ninth in the Asia-Oceania junior Fed Cup (under-16) tennis tournament in Nakorn Ratchasima, Thailand, on Saturday.

Madura Ranganathan and Sanaa Bhambri won the singles, and the Indian team gave a walkover in the inconsequential doubles.

Third-seeded India had missed qualifying for the knockout phase on the basis of an inferior sets quotient after having been locked in a three-way tie with Indonesia and Korea in the league.

It was indeed a disappointment for the Indian team, especially after the boys' team had won the title in a field of 17 countries a week earlier in Colombo. The consolation for captain Nitin Kirtane was that the Indian girls put up a good fare despite the absence of Tara Iyer.

Second-seeded China beat top-seeded Chinese Taipei in the final. The top three teams from the tournament made it to the World Group final to be held in Barcelona in September.

The results:

Final: China beat Chinese Taipei 2-1 (Wang-Ting Liu bt I-Hsuan Hwant 6-4, 4-3 (retired); Shuai Zhang lost to Yung-Jan Chan 3-6, 3-6; Wang-Ting Liu/Shuai Zhang bt Yung-Jan Chan/Szu-Yu Lin 6-3, 6-3).

Ninth place: India beat Thailand 2-1 (Madura Ranganathan bt Porntip Mulsap 6-3, 6-3; Sanaa Bhambri bt Punjaporn Ditthim 6-3, 2-6, 6-3; Sandhya Nagaraj/Madura Ranganathan w/o Porntip Mulsap/Punjaporn Ditthim).

Final placings: 1. China, 2. Chinese Taipei, 3. Japan, 4. Australia, 5. Korea, 6. Indonesia, 7. New Zealand, 8. Hong Kong, 9. India, 10. Thailand, 11. Uzbekistan, 12. Philippines, 13. Malaysia and 14. Sri Lanka.

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