The Hindu : Sport / Tennis : An opportunity for Indians to compete with the best

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Nov 19, 2004

Sport

Sport - Tennis

An opportunity for Indians to compete with the best

By Our Special Correspondent

MUMBAI, NOV. 18. Some of the great tennis players who have won the ABN Amro indoor tennis event in Rotterdam are Arthur Ashe, Jimmy Connors, Bjorn Borg, Boris Becker, Stefan Edberg, Richard Krajicek, Goran Ivanisevic, Yevgeny Kafelnikov and Lleyton Hewitt.

On Thursday, Krajicek announced the conduct of a "unique'' event in Mumbai next month that will facilitate a wild card entry for an Indian into the tournament to be held in Rotterdam from February 14 to 20.

Krajicek said the winner of the Tennis Challenge to be held at the Cricket Club of India on December 10 and 11 will be awarded a direct entry for the 2005 ABN Amro World tennis tournament for which World No. 1 Roger Federer has already confirmed his participation. The tournament in Mumbai will carry a total prize money of $15,000.

Wild cards

The top six Indian players, Prakash Amritraj, Harsh Mankad, Sunil Kumar Sipaeya, Vinod Sridhar, Vijay Kannan and Vishaal Uppal will figure in the eight-man field. Karan Rastogi has been awarded the first wild card. The eighth player will be decided after the ongoing Satellite circuit.

"We are delighted to create an opportunity for Indian players to be exposed to world class competitions,'' said Mr. Ramesh Sobti, Executive Vice President and Country Representative (India), ABN Amro Bank. "India has the distinction of having a very good tennis lineage. I had the pleasure of knowing many Indian tennis stalwarts personally. They compare with the best in the world. With more exposure and more competitive tennis at the international level, it's only a matter of time before we get to see more Indians featuring in the tennis top league. This tournament is a step in the right direction,'' said Krajicek.

Captain of the Indian Davis Cup team Leander Paes said it was his dream to see two or many Indian players in the big league. "The fact that this event gives an Indian player the opportunity to compete with the best of global talent is commendable.''

In the course of the two-day event, Leander will partner Vijay Amritraj against Mahesh Bhupathi and Krajicek in a celebrity match. When asked if he and Vijay Amritraj have been partners on a tennis court before, Paes said: "Good things are worth waiting for a long time. This will be the first time we will be partners.''

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