The Hindu : Coach confident of junior Fed Cup team

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, May 02, 2003

Sport

Sport - Tennis

Coach confident of junior Fed Cup team

NEW DELHI MAY 1. The coach and captain of the Indian girls under-16 team, Sunil Yajaman expressed confidence that the team would perform well in the Asia-Oceania junior Fed Cup qualifying tennis tournament to be held in Kuala Lumpur next week.

Watching the final preparation of the trio of Sanaa Bhambri, Tara Iyer and Kartiki Bhat, at the DLTA Complex here, the coach stated that all three were capable of coming good, both in singles and doubles.

``We will play according to the situation. We are not having any definite combination in mind at the moment'', said Sunil.

Tara Iyer had made it to the final of a group `I' ITF junior tennis tournament recently, and Sanaa Bhambri had made it to the semifinals of a similar tournament, beating some of the best girls in the world.

The left-handed Sanaa in partnership with Sania Mirza had also won the doubles title in another group `I' junior tournament in Japan.

Kartiki, another left-hander, has been part of the team that made it to the World Group competition and eventually finished fifth, in an overall field of more than 80 countries. Of course, Sania Mirza and Ankita Bhambri were the main architects of that effort last year.

``We leave for Chennai tomorrow evening and take a connecting flight to Kuala Lumpur in the early hours of Saturday. We will have enough time to get acclimatised to the conditions'', said Sunil.

The fact that the Indian girls had played against most of the players of other countries expected to compete in the tournament, apart from facing the challenge with considerable success in the international under-18 circuit, should provide the edge to the Indian team's challenge in the zonal competition.

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