ITF Team Juniors (u16 Davis/Fed Cup, u14 World Jun. Tennis)

This is a forum where users can follow various tournaments that have Indian participation or are held in India. GrandSlams and Davis Cup should also be discussed here.

Moderator: Moderators

Post Reply
User avatar
jayakris
Moderators
Moderators
Posts: 34757
Joined: Mon Dec 16, 2002 7:24 am
Antispam: No
Please enter the middle number: 5
Location: Irvine, CA, USA
Has thanked: 10 times
Been thanked: 1 time
Contact:

ITF Team Juniors (u16 Davis/Fed Cup, u14 World Jun. Tennis)

Post by jayakris »

OK, the first event is next week at Kuching, Malaysia - The Asian qualifying for the u16 boys - Junior Davis Cup.

The Indain team is:
Sriram Balaji (TN)
Vijayant Malik (CHD)
Venket Iyer (DLI)

Cocah - Arun Kumar

Vijayant and Sriram are the #2 and #3 ranked domestic u16 players. The #1 player, Vikram Reddy (AP) and the #4 player Priyank Gangadharan (KER) were not selected. Not exactly sure why. Venkat Iyer is Tara Iyer's brother. He is quite talented and I like his selection though - he was born in 1991 (other two are from 1990) and is eligible for one more year of junior Davis Cup next year.

The team was to have left for Malaysia today.

Jay
User avatar
jayakris
Moderators
Moderators
Posts: 34757
Joined: Mon Dec 16, 2002 7:24 am
Antispam: No
Please enter the middle number: 5
Location: Irvine, CA, USA
Has thanked: 10 times
Been thanked: 1 time
Contact:

ITF Team Juniors (u16 Davis/Fed Cup, u14 World Jun. Tennis)

Post by jayakris »

In fact, here are the teams AITA had selected earlier.
______________________________________

ITF Under 14 Asian Group 1 - Bangkok, 25 Mar – 08 Apr 2006

BOYS: Yuki Bhambri, Jugal Marfatia, Sumeet Shinde
Res – Samip Mehta
Girls: Prerna Bhambri, Rashmi Teltumbde, Adnya Naik
Res – Likita Devraj
Coach – Saurabh Sharma
______________________________________

World Juniors Competition - Jakarta, Week of 15 May 2006

Yuki Bhambri, Jugal Marfatia, Sumeet Shinde
Res – Samip Mehta
Coach – T Chandrasekaran

Prerna Bhambri, Rashmi Teltumbde, Adnya Naik
Res – Likita Devraj
Coach – TBC
_______________________________________

Junior Davis Cup – Kuala Lumpur, Week of 01 May 2006

Sriram Balaji, Vijayant Malik, B Vikram Reddy, Venkat Iyer
(Final Three will be decided after National Series in Delhi on 10 Apr 2006)
Coach - TBC
_______________________________________

Junior Fed Cup - Bangkok, Week of 08 May 2006

Poojashree Venkatesh, Sweta Kumari Solanki, Prerna Mythri Appineni
Tejeswini Datla - Reserve
Coach – Hemant Bhendre
Last edited by jayakris on Thu Apr 27, 2006 5:12 pm, edited 1 time in total.
User avatar
PKBasu
Member
Member
Posts: 36869
Joined: Fri Jan 03, 2003 6:04 pm
Please enter the middle number: 1
Location: New Delhi / Kolkata
Been thanked: 8 times

ITF Team Juniors (u16 Davis/Fed Cup, u14 World Jun. Tennis)

Post by PKBasu »

With little Yuki Bhambri in the side, we should do very well in the under-14 world championship (although he is only 12 I think)...
User avatar
jayakris
Moderators
Moderators
Posts: 34757
Joined: Mon Dec 16, 2002 7:24 am
Antispam: No
Please enter the middle number: 5
Location: Irvine, CA, USA
Has thanked: 10 times
Been thanked: 1 time
Contact:

ITF Team Juniors (u16 Davis/Fed Cup, u14 World Jun. Tennis)

Post by jayakris »

Yuki is about to turn 14 in a couple of months, PKB .. Jay
User avatar
jayakris
Moderators
Moderators
Posts: 34757
Joined: Mon Dec 16, 2002 7:24 am
Antispam: No
Please enter the middle number: 5
Location: Irvine, CA, USA
Has thanked: 10 times
Been thanked: 1 time
Contact:

ITF Team Juniors (u16 Davis/Fed Cup, u14 World Jun. Tennis)

Post by jayakris »

AITA said, about the u16 boys team -- "Sriram Balaji, Vijayant Malik, B Vikram Reddy, Venkat Iyer (Final Three will be decided after National Series in Delhi on 10 Apr 2006)"

Nothing changed at the Nationals

QF
Yuki Bhambri d. Vikram Reddy 76(1) 75
Shriram Balaji d. Venkat Iyer 75 64
(Q) KU Singh d. Gagan Verma 75 62
Vijayant Malik d. Bibaswab Deb 61 62
SF
Shriram Balaji d. Yuki Yuki Bhambri 61 6?
(Q) KU Singh d. Vijayant Malik 75 57 64
F
Shriram Balaji d. (Q) KU Singh 61 6?

Priyank did not play. So, the only thing that it proved is that Shriram is probably in better form than the others! .. OK, all the best to the team selected by AITA to go to the junior davis cup.

Jay
Prashant
Member
Member
Posts: 2813
Joined: Wed Aug 18, 2004 3:48 pm
Please enter the middle number: 1
Location: Houston TX

ITF Team Juniors (u16 Davis/Fed Cup, u14 World Jun. Tennis)

Post by Prashant »

I assume Prerna is another of the same Bhambri clan? They seem to be quite the tennis family...
User avatar
amr090
Authors
Authors
Posts: 4371
Joined: Fri Jan 03, 2003 10:31 pm
Please enter the middle number: 1
Location: Baltimore, MD

ITF Team Juniors (u16 Davis/Fed Cup, u14 World Jun. Tennis)

Post by amr090 »

I'm looking for Yuki to be our messiah in terms of a top 100 player...I hope this guy is well funded and gets everything he needs to maximize his talent. The last thing we need is another talent like Sunil Kumar wasted.
User avatar
jayakris
Moderators
Moderators
Posts: 34757
Joined: Mon Dec 16, 2002 7:24 am
Antispam: No
Please enter the middle number: 5
Location: Irvine, CA, USA
Has thanked: 10 times
Been thanked: 1 time
Contact:

ITF Team Juniors (u16 Davis/Fed Cup, u14 World Jun. Tennis)

Post by jayakris »

Oh no, waaaaay toooo early to say anything about Yuki. He is quite a small built kid from all reports. Need to wait for him to physically develop a bit too before we can say things.

We cannot put all our eggs on Yuki. Need to identify some 5-6 guys and help them all improve. One or two of them might end up becoming big. I always worry a bit when we focus on just one guy - because often we end up relaxing on pushing other kids. More importantly, we end up discouraging a lot of kids from thinking they matter, when we keep talking about only a Rupesh or a Yuki. This happened when LP was coming up - and only he came up. If we are to become a serious tennis nation, we need to have our eyes on more kids. To that extent, I would rather not talk about Yuki :) .. Rather let is also follow the Shiram Balajis and Venkat Iyers and Vijayant Maliks out there. We

Jay
User avatar
amr090
Authors
Authors
Posts: 4371
Joined: Fri Jan 03, 2003 10:31 pm
Please enter the middle number: 1
Location: Baltimore, MD

ITF Team Juniors (u16 Davis/Fed Cup, u14 World Jun. Tennis)

Post by amr090 »

Oh I'm not saying we JUST focus on Yuki. I am saying we should definitely focus on him. Of course it is important we support all the top players. My point is that we cannot afford to waste talent as we did with Sunil Kumar Sipaeya. This guy had unlimited potential winning Nationals at age 16! Now he is floundering and his career is most likely over in terms of reaching the top 100. In my opinion a lot of this was due to the total lack of support.

So, just dont want to see that happening to Yuki. Btw, I saw a picture of him recieve an Apollo Tyres sponsor ship...and he didnt look overly small or anything. Looked like a fairly average Indian 14 year old.
User avatar
jayakris
Moderators
Moderators
Posts: 34757
Joined: Mon Dec 16, 2002 7:24 am
Antispam: No
Please enter the middle number: 5
Location: Irvine, CA, USA
Has thanked: 10 times
Been thanked: 1 time
Contact:

ITF Team Juniors (u16 Davis/Fed Cup, u14 World Jun. Tennis)

Post by jayakris »

I know Arun .. Most of us here, like you and I, don't just focus on one name or two - but we need to do our bit to talk about everybody, so that many of the casual readers will keep getting reminded that there are others out there who could all be quite good.

Jay
Last edited by jayakris on Tue May 02, 2006 12:33 pm, edited 1 time in total.
User avatar
jayakris
Moderators
Moderators
Posts: 34757
Joined: Mon Dec 16, 2002 7:24 am
Antispam: No
Please enter the middle number: 5
Location: Irvine, CA, USA
Has thanked: 10 times
Been thanked: 1 time
Contact:

ITF Team Juniors (u16 Davis/Fed Cup, u14 World Jun. Tennis)

Post by jayakris »

Pretty sad to see that our u16 junior Fed Cup team of Shriram, Vijayant and Venkat are not even seeded among the top 9 in the field of 21 Asian teams at the Asian qualies in Malaysia. AUS, JPN, KOR, CHN, THA, PHI, TPE, UZB and INA are the nine seeds. I am not sure how the heck they seed the teams, but this looks quite bad.

We are drawn with 4th seed China and Singapore in one of the three 3-team pools (the other 3 pools have 4 teams each). If I am not mistaken, the 6 pool toppers and 2 other teams make the QFs. Not sure how the other two are picked... I think we will just have to upset China to make the QF.

First day's results:

Group 2 India d. Singapore 3-0
#2 Vijayant Malik d. Abdul Hakim Jamaluddin, 61 62
#1 Sriram Balaji Narayanaswamy d. Min Sylvester Wee, 36 64 63
V.Malik/ S.Balaji.N d. A-H.Jamaludin/ Chee-Jun Leong, 62 36 64

That turned out to be tougher than we would have expected (heck, perhaps we didn't deserve to be seeded??), but good comeback from Sriram to take care of business. I hope the two dropped sets would not come back to bite us in some tiebreaker (it probably will!). I think we definitely have to beat China now.

China plays Singapore tomorrow, and then India plays China on Thursday.

Jay
sameerph
Moderators
Moderators
Posts: 32794
Joined: Mon Feb 28, 2005 4:26 pm
Antispam: No
Please enter the middle number: 5
Location: MUMBAI
Has thanked: 1 time
Been thanked: 11 times

ITF Team Juniors (u16 Davis/Fed Cup, u14 World Jun. Tennis)

Post by sameerph »

I am not sure how the heck they seed the teams, but this looks quite bad.
The ITF circular for this event states "that seedings will be based on results from the regional qyalifying zones, ITF junior rankings, professional rankings, regional rankings and results from ITF & regional association indvidual tournaments "

If the ITF junior rankings are the main criteria then perhaps it may be right that we are not seeded. Our 3 players ranking is very low :-
Shreeram Balaji ( 1347) , Vijayant Malik ( 1664) & Venkat Iyer ( unranked)

There are quite a few Indian players who are in the same age group who are ranked higher . So, it perhaps raises quastions on the selection of the team or perhaps the above players have not played much at ITF jnior tournaments.

In comparision, China's top 2 players are ranked 156 & 227 respectively. Thus, Indians will have to produce huge upsets to win against China.
User avatar
jayakris
Moderators
Moderators
Posts: 34757
Joined: Mon Dec 16, 2002 7:24 am
Antispam: No
Please enter the middle number: 5
Location: Irvine, CA, USA
Has thanked: 10 times
Been thanked: 1 time
Contact:

ITF Team Juniors (u16 Davis/Fed Cup, u14 World Jun. Tennis)

Post by jayakris »

Actuyally it raises questions on the PISS POOR advising that has been going on in the last 2-3 years to our junior players. So many of our 14 and 15 year olds (the talented ones) are not playing enough international events like ITF juniors (there are some 7 or 8 of them in the subcontinent in the grade-5 through grade-3 levels that the 14 and 15 year olds should be playing. A lot of so-so players show up, but many of the good ones are not playing enough. So their junior ranks are quite poor.

Everybody talks about Sania and Karan but fail to see what exactly those like SM and KR did from when they were just 14 years old. And there seems to be no attempt to advice them.

We have seriously regressed in our junior program for 2-3 years .. I have been saying it pretty much a few months into our step-back started.

I wanted to comment on this and decided against it .. But you brought up the issue ... You are right sameer, that it probably shouldn't surprise us that we are not seeded even among top-9 in Asia. But that is probably not an indication of the talent of our u16 players. They will just have to prove themselves out there, or we will have to keep quiet.

Jay
User avatar
jayakris
Moderators
Moderators
Posts: 34757
Joined: Mon Dec 16, 2002 7:24 am
Antispam: No
Please enter the middle number: 5
Location: Irvine, CA, USA
Has thanked: 10 times
Been thanked: 1 time
Contact:

ITF Team Juniors (u16 Davis/Fed Cup, u14 World Jun. Tennis)

Post by jayakris »

Group 2 India l. (4) China 0-3
#2 Vijayant Malik l. Sa Chen, 26 16
#1 Sriram Balaji Narayanaswamy l. Chen Yu Wu, 46 36
V.Malik/ S.Balaji.N l. Sa Chen/ Chian Juang, 57 16

We lay down and died in front of the Chinese (and our players going down like that against no other country bothers me more!)

We missed being among the two second place teams who could have made the final 8 with that kind of a loss without even taking a set (and it is a very poor format they are using to to select the final 2 QF teams). We will now fight for the 9th place in Asia, in a knockout draw where we face Vietnam first.

Jay
sameerph
Moderators
Moderators
Posts: 32794
Joined: Mon Feb 28, 2005 4:26 pm
Antispam: No
Please enter the middle number: 5
Location: MUMBAI
Has thanked: 1 time
Been thanked: 11 times

ITF Team Juniors (u16 Davis/Fed Cup, u14 World Jun. Tennis)

Post by sameerph »

I wonder what was the criteria for picking 2 best placed teams ?

But bad loss for Indian kids & they would not have expected to make any futher progress even if they would have made to the quarter finals . After a good group of juniors for 3-4 years in Karan, Somdev & then Vivek, Sanam , Jeevan, Rupesh the talent pipeline suddenly seems to be totally dry . AITA must find out reasons & try to reverse this trend. I hope this is cyclical & we soon find some talented junior players.
Post Reply