ITF Junior circuit 2023 India

[knarayen]

It looks like AITA is a lost cause. The State Associations have to take charge and mount their own programs. MSLTA is pouring money and resources behind Manas Dhamne. I’m sure Nandan Bal is involved. Why can’t Harsh, Nandan, Somdev and others build on that momentum by joining together? I know Harsh is focused on his city program in Minneapolis, but he can’t be looking at india as a lost cause?

[knarayen]

Exactly the situation that I was expecting. Thanks, gautam. Pathetic situation, and I do not see much of a change, unless somebody like Somdev can take over and run AITA. But AITA is not the only issue. Harsh, Prakash, Stephen, Somdev, etc, not getting into serious coaching in India is not helping at all. Harsh and Somdev especially, as they were both very cerebral guys with great knowledge on the technical side (and also quality individuals). They would have been great to mold some young players.

Jay, good to see you still going strong! I had some health issues and survived, hope to be posting more here from now on.

Prof

[jayakris]

^^^ Glad to see that you are back in good health, Prof!

[vgan]

MSLTA probably is an association that is doing its best especially people like Sunder Iyer. I also can fully relate to what is written about NTC and coaching. When people talk about next gen tennis in India, they talk about more touranments, infra. Yes they are very important and they still need to be improved but focus should also be on high level coaching for tennis that is prevelant now. Most important aspect in my view is to expose players to high level of competition at the early age (at least 12 and beyond). More tournaments will help only to improve the rankings but it wont help to reach Top 100 and stay there consistently. Many of the kids dont have exposure to play top level competition (Europe & US) and it is quite tough to course correct after 16 or 18. Associations should enable these kids to go out and play tournaments outside India. Unfortunately it is still a dream unless you are lucky to go out on your own

[sameerph]

Much better start to Kolkata J200 than the earlier 2 weeks. 5 Indian boys are in last 16. Big upset win by Hitesh Chauhan over second seeded Kazakh player and wins by Cahir Warik, Aditya Govila and Debasis Sahoo over higher ranked players. Also wins by Forum sons, Rohan Belday and Pranav Karthik.

In girls, only 2 are thru to last 16- Madhurima Sawant and Sonal Patil who upset the fifth seed.

[gbelday]

The organization here (by BTA) is really good. I would say better than what USA does. Delhi and Chandigarh folks should learn from them. Although I didn’t like that they jacked up the entry fee from $70 to $100 on “orders from AITA”.

The free accommodations in the youth hostel next door are really nice and most foreigners who are staying there are also quite happy (on par with decent hotels), they provide breakfast and lunch on site, a professional stringer on site, travel exchange facility on site, the practice court reservation is well organized, there’s a good gym for the players to stretch and do workouts, line judges and chair umpire from first round onwards etc. The best part is that people here care about players.

Quite a few kids are sick (carry over from Delhi I guess). Rohan pulled out of doubles after having some gastro issues . We’ve been super careful with food, water and masking but the last few days in Delhi got to him. He’s on medication but not sure if he’ll play the singles today. We’ll decide closer to the time.

[sameerph]

Surprising that Kolkata has a much better organization in Delhi and Chandigarh. This is in variance with general image of Kolkata.

Rohan Belday played and won against Indian national Debashis Sahoo to make to QF.

But, otherwise it was a poor day for as as only Aditya Govila won thru to QF. Other 3 Indian boys and 2 Indian girls lost in second round.

[sameerph]

Rohan Belday lost in SF against the Korean kid who had won the title last week.

But, Aditya Govila has made it to the singles SF beating 7th seeded Japanese in QF. Aditya will play another Korean who is 14 year old but reached SF in Chandigarh and here .

[arjun2761]

Good to see 16 year old Aditya Govila advance here. He's only lost to Koreans in this series including the guy he plays in the SF. Hopefully, he can reverse the result in this SF.

Also, good performance from Rohan to get as far as he did while battling the Delhi belly!

[gbelday]

Thanks all! We are heading back to US tomorrow. Good couple of weeks here.

Rohan played really well to take the first set but couldn’t sustain the level. He was physically drained. Jungjam Kim is a machine and an incredible athlete.

Thanks Arjun. The medication (for Travellers diarrhea) helped quite a bit he was fine for his last two matches. Just fatigued. Lots of positives to take back from the trip. Strength training is the key and he will continue to focus on it once we get back to the US. After the strength block, Indian Wells (Easter Bowl) is next.

Thanks everyone here for following and supporting!

[jayakris]

^^^ Yes, it sounds like a useful trip to toughen up, even if he didn't pick up a whole lot of points.

[gbelday]

Good to see 16 year old Aditya Govila advance here. He's only lost to Koreans in this series including the guy he plays in the SF. Hopefully, he can reverse the result in this SF.

And he did. Adi beat up the Korean kid that he lost to earlier in straight sets today! Plays the other Korean kid in the finals tomorrow!

[jayakris]

So glad to see Adi coming on now! This is great. I think he will move all the way up from #328 to somewhere inside top 140 as the indian #4 (after Aryan, Yuvan and Manas) after this.

Saw a spark in Adi when he qualified into the the Eddie Herr J1 in Bradenton. Looks like he is no flash in the pan. This is the best new from these events. We have at least one more junior to keep hopes on.

[sameerph]

Adi lost in the final 26 67(4) against the Korean kid won back to back titles here. Still an excellent run from Aditya Govila here.

So glad to see Adi coming on now! This is great. I think he will move all the way up from #328 to somewhere inside top 140 as the indian #4 (after Aryan, Yuvan and Manas) after this.

Are you sure ? I noticed 140 points for runner up here. Net of 10 points ( which are his 6th best points) he will gain 130 points. So, he should go up to 303 points which is a ranking of around 190 and to India #5 behind Kriish Tyagi. Unless I missed something.

[gbelday]

So glad to see Adi coming on now! This is great. I think he will move all the way up from #328 to somewhere inside top 140 as the indian #4 (after Aryan, Yuvan and Manas) after this.

Saw a spark in Adi when he qualified into the the Eddie Herr J1 in Bradenton. Looks like he is no flash in the pan. This is the best new from these events. We have at least one more junior to keep hopes on.

Yeah, Adi has to get a lot stronger to prevent injuries. Based on watching him these past weeks, he is happy to stand back and grind. He has amazing attitude though. He should be around 175 after this (based on resultina’s live scoring).

Of the other Indian junior boys, Pranav and Hitesh are really good ball strikers. Madhurima Sawant in the girls.