The Hindu : Sport / Tennis : Yuki Bhambri in focus

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Monday, Apr 28, 2008
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Sport - Tennis

Yuki Bhambri in focus

NEW DELHI: Yuki Bhambri will once again attempt to assert his class in the region, in the Asia-Oceania Junior Davis Cup tennis tournament to be played at the DLTA Complex here from Monday.

The Australian Open semifinalist, the 15-year-old Yuki is the player to watch. He had emphasised his authority at the same venue by crowning himself as the Asia-Oceania under-18 champion in a strong field in November last year.

Yuki had made the semifinals of the Asian junior championship at Indore recently to leap-frog to the No.5 rank in the world. The big question is whether the other two boys, Saurabh Singh and Samip Mehta would support Yuki well to help India qualify for the World Group final.

India has been seeded No.4 and clubbed with Singapore, Pakistan and Thailand.

India will open its campaign against Saingpaore on Monday, and will clash with Pakistan and Thailand over the subsequent two days.

The top two teams in each of the four groups will make it to the knock-out stage.

The top four teams from the zone will make it to the World Group final to be staged in Mexico from September 23 to 28.

The seedings: 1. Australia, 2. Japan, 3. New Zealand, 4. India, 5. Philippines, 6. Thailand, 7. Chinese Taipei, 8. China.

The draw: Group-I: Australia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Chinese Taipei. Group-II: New Zealand, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Philippines. Group-III: India, Singapore, Pakistan, Thailand. Group-IV: Japan, Korea, Indonesia, China.