Radhika will be a formidable opposition

By Nandakumar Marar

PUNE, APRIL 22 Radhika Tulpule on hardcourts is a difficult opponent, using the pace and bounce off the court to slip into the serve-and-charge mode. This Deccan Gymkhana trainee and seeded eighth in the women's singles draw, will be a formidable opposition on home turf, despite her 671st ranking, in the $ 10,000 NECC International Tennis Federations women's championships. The main draw commences on Monday.

She will be facing fellow Indian Sheetal Goutham in her opening match and be played at the Deccan Gymkhana courts. Tulpule trains under Nandan Bal, the Davis Cup coach here. India's Rushmi Chakravarthi, ranked 465th in the world and winner of the Chandigarh leg of the ITF women's event, will be expected to consolidate her mental hold over the opposition, which includes 12 foreign entries from 12 countries. She is seeded fourth.

India's Sai Jailakshmy (ranked 356), Sonal Phadke (424) and America's Andrea Nathan (431) have been given the top three seedings , sponsored to the extent of Rs 7.5 lakhs by the National Egg Co-ordination Committee (NECC), a voluntary organisation of egg producers. Jyotsana Vashisht and Archana Venkataraman are the other two Indians included in the seedings list. Pune's Sheetal Iyer, Mumbai's Payal Kannamwar and Reetu Sethi have been designated as the chair umpires.

Pune's Radhika Mandke leads the Indian challenge in the qualifying rounds, knocking out fourth seed Pichaya Laosirichon of Thailand 6-1, 7-6 (7-1) to advance into the singles main draw. In another interesting tussle, Mumbai's Medini Sharma outplayed last week's quarterfinalist Karen Paterson of Britain 1-6, 6-4, 6-2 to also make the grade. Other Indians qualifying for the main draw include Liza Pereira, Nandini Perumal, Isha Lakhani, Samrita Sekhar and Marutha Devi, while local girl Ashlesha Lokhande lost to Mojca Mileta of Slovakia 4- 6, 3-6.

The seedings: 1. Sai Jailakshmy (Ind), 2. Sonal Phadke (Ind), 3. Andrea Nathan (USA), 4. Rushmi Chakravarthi (Ind), 5. Nicola Payne (Great Britain), 6. Jyotsana Vashisht (Ind), 7. Archana Venkataraman (Ind), 8. Radhika Tulpule (Ind).

The results (qualifying final round): Liza Pereira (Ind) bt Preeti Rao (Ind) 6-1, 6-1; Nandini Perumal (Ind) bt Chirashanti Rajur (Ind) 6-3, 6-3; Isha Lakhani (Ind) bt Lata Assudani (Ind) 6-3, 6-0; Radhika Mandke (Ind) bt Pichaya Laosirichon (Thai) 6-1, 7-6 (7-2); Samrita Sekhar (Ind) bt Kamini Murugabhoopathy (Ind) 6-3, 6-0; Marutha Devi (Ind) bt Kalpita Raje 6-1, 6-3; Medini Sharma (Ind) bt Karen Paterson (Great Britain) 1-6, 6-4, 6-2; Moica Mileta (Slovakia) bt Ashlesha Lokhande (Ind) 6-4, 6-3.

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Section  : Sport
Previous : Do we really need the Afro-Asian Games?
Next     : Nirupama and Manisha win title