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| Saturday, 1 May 2004 |
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India in junior Davis Cup final by Dinesh Weerawansa Bottom seed India booked their place in today's final and hosts Sri Lanka accounted for a consolation win over unseeded Thailand on the penultimate day of the Junior Davis Cup Asia/Oceania Zone tournament continued at the National Tennis Centre courts, Colombo yesterday The tournament is hosted by the Sri Lanka Tennis Association on behalf of the International Tennis Federation. Top seed Australia, expected to join India in the final, were tied at 1/1 with a gallant Chinese Taipei team and had won the first set in the decisive doubles at the time of our going to press. India's advance to final, however, was swifter, disposing off fourth seed Japan, three matches to nil, winning all their matches in straight sets. The main purpose of the event, however, has been fulfilled with the four-team line up from Asia/Oceania for the World Group decided: India, Australia, Taiwan and Japan. However, Lanka's dreams of a place in the last four was shattered by fourth seeded Japan on Thursday. Franklyn Emmanuel and Sivendrian Nishendiran yesterday atoned for the previous day's disappointment with masterly straight-sets wins that assured Sri Lanka a place in the play-off for fifth place today. They will meet Korea, 2/0 winners over Uzbekistan yesterday. Nishendiran, the 16-year-old Thomiam set the tone for the hosts with a 6/1, 6/1 triumph over Napat Tentawach. Nishendiran established early dominance by taking a 4/0 lead in the first set. The Thai, serving, won the fifth game, but the Thomian then reeled off the next two games totake the set. The second set followed the same pattern with Tentawach managing to win only the second game as Nishendiran wrapped up the match in only 51 minutes. Emmanuel's triumph over Thai junior no.1 Peerachat Chaiyapan, too, was emphatic, 6/1,6/2, in one hour. The 16-year-old National champion might have spent less time on court, but lapses in concentration now and then delayed the inevitable win. With an unbeatable lead obtained from the singles in the morning, Emmanuel and Nishendiran were clearly lacking in motivation in doubles match in the afternoon, losing 2/6, 6/3, 3/6 in 98 minutes. Sri Lanka's non-playing captain Arjan Perera looked somewhat dejected after Sri Lanka failed to make it to the last four and book a place in world group. "It's obviously disappointing not to have qualified for the World Group, but the way we played the singles against the Thais showed we rank well in the Asia and Oceania region. All teams have an off day and ours unfortunately was against Japan (on Thursday),'' said Perera. |
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