Indians on a challenging mission

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, MAY 5. The Indian squad, though wilting under the soaring temperature, exuded confidence on the eve of its departure for the Asia- Oceania NEC World Youth Cup qualifying tennis tournament to be held at the Gelora Senayan Stadium, Jakarta, from May 8 to 15.

Coming close on the heels of the happy tidings from Thailand, where the Indian under-14 boys confirmed their entry into the World event on Friday, it will be a challenge for the under-16 teams to play to their potential and assert their class in Indonesia.

The coach of the Indian team, Kawaljeet Singh, said that he was confident of both the boys and girls teams giving a good account of themselves, as the players had the experience to back their claims.

Understandably the coach placed a lot more faith on the boys team of P. Vishal, Amanjot Singh and Jaco T. Mathew, all of whom looked good as they sweated it out on the clay courts of the DLTA Complex.

``I am very happy with the standard of the boys. This team may not be of the same class of the one in 1998 when Kamala Kannan and Akshay Vishal Rao along with Karan Doctor, not only qualified from the zone but finished ninth in the world. But the heartening factor is that all the three current players are equal in strength, with P. Vishal having a wealth of experience'', said Kawaljeet Singh.

Though the boys team looked much better in comparison to the girls team of Megha Vakharia, Isha Lakhani and Samrita Sekhar, the coach said that he was not ruling out the possibilities of the girls pulling off surprises.

Megha Vakharia had been part of the team last year as the third member but could not do much as the team finished 10th in the regional qualifying tournament. The left-hander, however, of late has been in good touch, as she made the quarterfinals of the $ 10,000 ITF women's circuit tournament in Mumbai recently. Of course, a couple of players could have further strengthened the boys and girls teams. Prantap Chaturvedi and Nishant Mishra opted to stay on the ITF under-18 circuit abroad rather than attend the trials to select the team, and Nandita Chandrasekar was unable to be at her best during the trials.

``Nandita has the temperament and the strokes, but I am sure Megha and Isha will be able to play a gritty game'', said Kawaljeet.

The coach has made it clear to the players that they would not be allowed to take their positions for granted and that they had to be on their toes to retain their spots in the priority list.

Australia and New Zealand were viewed as the toughest teams, as 18 countries will fight for three qualifiers spots each in the boys and girls sections.

``P. Vishal has got the game to beat anyone, but a lot depends on his mind, and how he focuses during the matches. He can really do well. Amanjot needs to mature and will do so with exposure. It is the same with Jaco Mathew, who has the strokes, but lacks the consistency'', said Kawaljeet, as he supervised the boys practising with the national junior champion Akshay Vishal Rao and the AITA trainee Chandrashekar Mohanty.

It will be his maiden tour with the national team for experienced Kawaljeet Singh, who has already done two similar assignments for the International Tennis Federation. He will be accompanying the international team on the European circuit as an ITF coach a few weeks on return from Indonesia.

``I am proud to take the national team. It is a honour, though I am used to travelling with individual players'', said the 42-year-old Kawaljeet Singh, whose trainees Sunil Kumar, Akshay Vishal Rao and Amanjot Singh swept the senior, junior and sub- junior titles in the DSCL national championships here last year.

If the teams finish among the top three they will book their berth in the World Youth Cup final to be held in Hiroshima from October 2.

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