The Hindu : Sport / Tennis : Sriram Balaji starts favourite

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Oct 29, 2007
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Sport - Tennis

Sriram Balaji starts favourite

Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI: Sriram Balaji may be languishing at No.777 in the World junior rankings, but he will start the favourite when the Asia-Oceania ITF junior tennis championship kicks off at the DLTA Complex here on Monday.

Returning to the circuit after an injury lay-off, the wiry Balaji, busy in the men’s professional circuit most of the time, has the game and the hunger to stake his claim in a strong fashion.

The question is whether he has the will to go all the way.

After Sanam Singh had won both the Asian junior and Asia-Oceania junior titles, the Indian boys have not been able to assert themselves in the region. The 17-year-old Balaji thus comes as a bright ray of hope.

Talented lot

Though Bernard Tomic of Australia starts as the top seed, a string of Indians led by Yuki Bhambri and followed by Vijayant Malik, Venkat Iyer, Karunuday Singh, Vikram Reddy, Abhijeet Tiwari, Shiva Sangwan and Prateek Bhambri have the potential to beat any player on their day.

Once again, the question is whether they can string a series of matches to lend substance to their challenge.

The absence of the Mahesh Bhupathi Academy trainees, Akash Wagh and Christopher Marquis would be felt, but injudicious planning has led to a situation where they are not able to capitalise on such an event at home.

Prajnesh pulls out

An early blow to the Indian aspirations had been served when the National championship men’s finalist, Prajnesh Gunneswaran, pulled out with a sore arm.

Among the girls, Poojashree Venkatesh would be watched with interest, though it will be difficult to get past the likes of Aleksandra Kolesnichenko of Uzbekistan apart from a clutch of talented girls from Thailand and Indonesia.

The seedings: Boys: 1. Bernard Tomic (Aus), 2. Kittiphong Wachiramanowong (Tha), 3. Matt Reid (Aus), 4. Hiroki Moriya (Jpn), 5. Peerakit Siributwong (Tha), 6. Chen-Yu Wu (Chn), 7. Yuki Bhambri and 8. Mackenzie Logan (Nzl).

Girls: 1. Noppawan Lertcheewakarn (Tha), 2. Poojashree Venkatesh, 3. Aleksandra Kolesnichenko (Uzb), 4. Jessy Priskilla Rompies (Ina), 5. Yang Zi-Jun (Hkg), 6. Sophia Mulsap (Tha), 7. Kanyapat Narattana (Tha) and 8. Shivika Burman.