Atithee wrote: -- Anyone's guess why I am banging my head against the wall. Hint -- it has nothing to do with Poojashree's loss!
Because: 1. you have a head, 2. it is your head, 3. you felt like banging it, 4. the wall was the close by to your head when you felt like banging it (the head, not the wall that is, well, actually both your head and the wall were near your head, so I take it back), 5. did I say it was not Jay's head? 6. you are a masochist, 7. everyone following Indian sports is a masochist (by definition) and like banging their heads periodically, without which they have withdrawal symptoms, 8. you are too polite to be banging sameer's head, 9. sameer is too far away from you anyway, and, 10. there is this small issue about a girl named Nicha who fought someone somewhere and who is considered a talented player ...
Need more guesses, my friend?
Well, looks like this matter is coming to a head .. Rather than meet it head on, I think I will use my head .. I am heading out ..
Well, 17 yr old Khabibulina is probably the most talented junior player in our region .. She is in the UZB fed cup team and had beaten Sanaa Bhambri 61 63 when India played them, and beaten Poojashree 67 63 61 in the Kazakh 10K final a few months back. She has not played ITF junior events away from UZB/KAZ, but has gone 38-2 with 6 titles and 2 runner-up finishes in the last three years of juniors since age 14 (and she even has a win, in Thailand, against Noppawan, the world junior #1) .. So, she is of course good. Probably going to top-400 in pro singles very soon.
But I have to agree with the excuse police here -- if Poojashree wants to make a move up the rankings into top-350, well, she has to start beating these players. Not improving from the previous match against this kid Khabibulina won't do.
jayakris wrote:
But I have to agree with the excuse police here -- if Poojashree wants to make a move up the rankings into top-350, well, she has to start beating these players. Not improving from the previous match against this kid Khabibulina won't do.
Jay
Jay gets a "medal of bravery" for his proclamation.
Signed,
CEPF-SI (Chief of the Excuse Police Force - SI Forum)
(Self-appointed)
So, Poojashree won without dropping a set here. With this title , she will move inside top 400 & will be tied at 101 points with Ankita Bhambri for India no.2.
Poojashree has the courage to go for the angles and she can even make those but she needs more punch in those shots if we want to see another Sania Mirza. Her first serve quite impressive even in wta standard. But She needs to become much much faster on court and also grow physically stronger. Nice to see lot of tennis lovers in the stands of a beautiful stadium considering it was only an ITF event.
Yes, Poojashree is the #2 behind Sania. Ahead of Ankita Bhambri at #392 and Isha Lakhani at #456. Shikha Uberoi at #518, and Sanaa Bhambri at #536 follow, before Rushmi at #584 .. Some more points will go in next week. Rushmi will move up a bit closer to #500.
Jus to keep this thread updated, Poojashree won her fourth title & third in last one month in Indian. She is really dominating the Indian circuit this year.
Again , like two weeks ago she did not drop a set in the entire week. When 12 points from this week & 6 points from last week are added to her total , she will move inside top 350 . ( close to 340)
sameerph wrote:Jus to keep this thread updated, Poojashree won her fourth title & third in last one month in Indian. She is really dominating the Indian circuit this year.
Again , like two weeks ago she did not drop a set in the entire week. When 12 points from this week & 6 points from last week are added to her total , she will move inside top 350 . ( close to 340)
Go Pooja.
These are great results.....very impressive.
Who is coaching her at the moment? It would be gr8 to get to watch a video of her play - this would be very indicative of where she is right now and the skills that need to be developed to move into the world stage. The key would be to stay injury-free and motivated, consistent, perhaps we are seeing another Oudin?
Poojashree needs to plan the next stage of her career carefully, hopefully with some corporate sponsorships enabling her to play regularly abroad at the Challenger-type level.
Yes, I agree with PKB. This is definitely one case where I would say lack of sponsorhip has impeded her progress. I remember talking at length with her dad few years ago about how she was passed over many times to other "deserving" candidates. Her dad mentioned at that time that GVK group had showed some interest but a deal was alteast 8 months away (I think she has a deal with them now, not exactly sure on the specifics though). That basically is 8 months less travel to other countries to play tournaments. I would still like to see her do well outside India. I think with the food and the change in environment, she is going to find it a bit challenging. She is a vegetarian, from what I recall. Well, I am glad to see her translate that talent into some positive results and hopefully the only way now is up.
gbelday wrote:Yes, I agree with PKB. This is definitely one case where I would say lack of sponsorhip has impeded her progress. I remember talking at length with her dad few years ago about how she was passed over many times to other "deserving" candidates. Her dad mentioned at that time that GVK group had showed some interest but a deal was alteast 8 months away (I think she has a deal with them now, not exactly sure on the specifics though). That basically is 8 months less travel to other countries to play tournaments. I would still like to see her do well outside India. I think with the food and the change in environment, she is going to find it a bit challenging. She is a vegetarian, from what I recall. Well, I am glad to see her translate that talent into some positive results and hopefully the only way now is up.
If we are able to contact her dad, maybe we can point him to tournaments in the US where Poojashree can start playing. Also, they need to consider a training program at Bolletieri's where she gets exposure to players at a different level. All this costs money, but proposals need to be put in front of GVK to get the funding needed to move forward. Sania's dad I'm sure worked diligently to get these proposals in place - things dont happen automatically anywhere - one has to work to get the money, and before they do that, they need to have a plan. Without a plan, nothing happens.