CHENNAI: Tennis at the Asian Games has been a rich source of medals for Indians. The likes of Leander Paes (five gold, two bronze) and Sania Mirza (two gold, three silver, three bronze) have ensured that India could always rely on the sport. That trend may continue but with a few caveats.
There is no Sania because of impending motherhood while Yuki Bhambri — the best-ranked Indian singles player at No 99 — is skipping the Asian Games for US Open. This has robbed the country of medal prospects. But Zeeshan Ali, captain of the men’s contingent, and Ankita Raina, who will lead the women’s team, expressed confidence in the resources available.
“In singles, I am confident in the abilities of Ramkumar Ramanathan and Prajnesh Gunneswaran,” Ali told Express.
“That’s because both of them are playing some of the best tennis they have ever played.” Ali has a point. Ramkumar touched his career-high ranking of 111 in the last week of July on the back of his run to the final of the Hall of Fame Championships.
He is ninth in Asia but considering that the likes of Hyeon Chung (No 23) and Kei Nishikori (No 22) might skip the Games for the US Open, there is chance for Ramkumar to progress deep. Prajnesh is also riding a similar high. He achieved a career high of 152 in June, two months after winning his maiden ATP Challenger.
He also engineered India’s famous come-from-behind win over China in the Davis Cup in April. But Ali expressed caution when predicting their chances at the event.
“I have to see the draw. The thing is there are players from Japan and South Korea in the top 50 and I don’t know whether they will be playing.
“Then there is China whose top-ranked player is in the 180s (Ze Zhang, No 182) but their government has announced a scheme wherein all gold medal winners will get $100,000. So all these factors come into play.”
India face no such dilemma in doubles, they ought to start as favourites. Reports have suggested Paes will team up with Sumit Nagal, with Divij Sharan and Rohan Bopanna the other pair. Ali, however, says he hasn’t finalised the teams because of Bopanna’s continuing fitness issue. “I will take a call on the combinations after seeing how Rohan has recovered from his shoulder issue. We are reaching Indonesia on the 14th and maybe I will decide then.”
There is a feeling in the fraternity that the men’s doubles teams offer the best avenue for gold. Bopanna (28), Sharan (38) are the second and third best in Asia in rankings with Paes (No 80) the fifth best in that list. While it’s clear that the men’s team will have some sort of expectations placed on them, the women will have to deal with the loss of Sania. The 31-year-old’s experience will be sorely missed but Ankita says she has belief in the young team.
The average age of the six-strong squad is 21.66 but Ankita isn’t too concerned. “For all of them, it’s their first Asian Games. So it’s going to be a great experience,” she said. “(...) these are some events where we come together as a team to play for India. Also, all these girls have been doing well lately on the pro circuit, so I’m confident.” That assertion isn’t off the mark. The 20-year-old Karman Kaur Thandi, who recently won her first ITF title, entered the top- 200, becoming only the sixth Indian woman to achieve the feat. The 25-year-old Ankita, who herself made that journey for the first time earlier this year, has been in a rich vein of form at the ITF level.
On top of that, the World No 180, in the Asia/Oceania Zone Group I Fed Cup earlier this year, won all her singles matches (3/3). One of her victims was Kazakhstan’s Yulia Putintseva, World No 50. This fact wasn’t lost on her.
“My best performances have come when playing for the country. We will definitely miss Sania but will put our best foot forward in Asian Games.” And to get used to the conditions, most of the women’s team are already in South East Asia.
“We are preparing by playing there to get used to the climate and weather. It will be like match practice in those conditions which we will have in Indonesia.”
Considering there are 21 Asians — including 10 from China alone — ranked higher than Ankita in singles, they will need every bit of match practice they get.
Swaroop@newindianexpress.com