The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Srichaphan, a big draw at Chennai Open

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Jan 09, 2005

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Srichaphan, a big draw at Chennai Open

By Saptarshi Bhattacharya

A section of Thai supporters at the Chennai open. — Photo: Vino John

CHENNAI, JAN. 8. Flags, face-paints, binoculars and posters ... the spectators who turned up at the Nungambakkam tennis stadium for the Chennai Open today were ready for the big guns to boom.

The day began with Asia's very own Paradorn Srichaphan facing Tomas Zib of the Czech Republic.

A large chunk of the audience was children, many of them waving miniature flags as they rooted for their favourite players. The attendance had certainly picked up for the semi-finals.

Srichaphan had support from home too. A small contingent of Thai supporters in red T-shirts occupied the east pavilion, chanting `Paradorn ... Paradorn' or `Paradorn ... go, go, go' during breaks and waving the Thai flag. A Thai flag fluttered from the west stands too.

A `great shot that' or an `oops,' written on chart paper, popped up in the stands every time a player hit a winner or had an unforced error.

Screams of `C'mon Moya' filled the air, as the top seed played with Guillermo Garcia-Lopez of Spain for a spot in the finals.

Of course, after the two singles outings, was slated the match most of them were waiting for — the one featuring Leander Paes and Nenad Zimonjic against Yen-Hsun Lu and Rainer Schuettler in the doubles semis.

Familiar faces

In the noisy stands, a few familiar faces too were noticed. Film director Maniratnam and his wife, Suhasini, sat through the matches at the east stand.

At the players' stand, former Indian Davis Cupper, Anand Amritraj, and players such as Kristof Vliegen, Christophe Rochus and even chair umpire Mohammed Lahyan attracted autograph hunters.

Late into the night, Srichaphan not only won the semi-final match, but also won a hard-fought car race soon after that.

Amid applause, he competed hard with a young enthusiast, Aditya, to finally win the Mercedes car race on the centre court. Well, if the track was of the size of a tennis court, the cars had to be smaller. Indeed, they were remote-controlled toy cars provided by Daimler Chrysler, makers of Mercedes Benz.

Ravi Krishnan, managing director, IMG, organisers of the tournament, announced a contribution of $40,000 towards the UNICEF Emergency Relief Fund for Tsunami victims, courtesy the ATP and Mercedes Benz.

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