The Hindu : India qualifies for group 'I'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Apr 24, 2003

Sport

Sport - Tennis

India qualifies for group 'I'

NEW DELHI APRIL 23. India wound up its campaign in the Asia-Oceania group `II' Fed Cup tennis tournament with a 2-0 victory over Pacific Oceania in Tokyo on Wednesday.

Having beaten Philippines and Kyrgyzstan earlier, by identical 3-0 margins, India ensured its qualification into group `I' for the next season.

Sania Mirza and Manisha Malhotra dropped seven games between them in winning the two singles matches for India, and the doubles was not played.

The top two teams from group `II' qualify to group `I'. Philippines with a win under its belt and with a match to be played against Kyrgyzstan would stand a good chance to take the second berth.

In group `I', the competition hotted up with the fourth-seeded Thailand beating the second-seeded Indonesia 2-0. Suchanan Viratprasert beat Wynne Prakusya 6-2, 1-6, 6-1 and then the seasoned Tamarine Tanasugarn, in good form this season, beat the talented Angelique Widjaja 6-3, 7-6 (7-2).

The top-seeded Japan beat the third-seeded China 2-0. Shinobu Asagoe beat Sun Tian-Tian 7-6 (7-5), 6-3 and Ai Sugiyama defeated Jie Zheng 7-5, 6-1.

Korea beat New Zealand 2-0, Uzbekistan beat Malaysia 3-0 and Chinese Taipei defeated Kazakhstan 2-0 in other matches in group `I'.

In the five-member pool `A', Japan was leading with three wins from as many matches, while China, New Zealand and Korea had a win each. In the six-member pool `B', Thailand had won three matches, while Indonesia and Chinese Taipei were close behind with two wins each.

The results: India beat Pacific Oceania 2-0 (Sania Mirza bt Gurianna Korinihona 6-2, 6-0; Manisha Malhotra bt Maylani Ah Hoy 6-3, 6-2).

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Sport