Sania Mirza will be eyeing a medal or two from her fourth Asian Games and Yuki Bhambri and company too will aspire for a few medals as the men’s field was weakened by a clash of dates with the ATP-500 events scheduled in Tokyo and Beijing next week.
With the ATP warning of fines ranging upto $100,000, along with a three-year suspension from the professional circuit, if the players competed in a special event like the Asian Games in the same week as that of a ATP-500 event, the Kazakh and Uzbek players pulled out of the individual events.
However, the top-seeded Yen Hsun Lu of Chinese Taipei, ranked 37 in the world, stood committed to the Asian Games, which is scheduled to have the doubles finals on Monday and the singles finals on Tuesday.
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There was no such issue for the women in the WTA circuit. Sania Mirza, who will have a bye in the doubles draw next week in the China Open in Beijing, may get a Wednesday or Thursday start.
The withdrawal of Denis Istomin, Andrey Golubev, Aleksandr Nedovyesov and Farrukh Dustov who fought so hard in the team semifinals, meant that Yuki Bhambri was elevated to be the fourth seed.
He is likely to play Christopher Rungkat of Indonesia in the pre-quarterfinals in a draw of 64, and if he pulls through could meet the seventh-seeded Ze Zhang of China in the quarterfinals. In men’s doubles, Yuki and Divij Sharan have been seeded fourth while Saketh Myneni and Sanam Singh have been seeded fifth.
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In women’s doubles, Sania and Prarthana Thombare have been seeded fifth and get a bye in the first round in a draw of 32. Rishika Sunkara and Shweta Rana will open against the Pakistan pair of Ushna Suhail and Sara Mansoor.Meanwhile, in the team competition, China made both the finals. It will meet Kazakhstan in the men’s section and Chinese Taipei in the women’s event.
The results (semifinals): Men: Kazakhstan bt Uzbekistan 2-1; China bt Japan 2-1; Women: China bt Japan 3-0; Chinese Taipei bt Kazakhstan 2-1.