Asian Challengers 2024

[PKBasu]

[R1] Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND, 358) d. Bang Shuo Yin (TWN, 813) 64 64
[R1] Q-Sasikumar Mukund (IND, 471) l. 2-James Duckworth (AUS, 102) 36 46

Doubles:
[R1] Ramkumar Ramanathan/Remy Bertola (IND/SUI) d. Blake Bayldon/Colin Sinclair (AUS/USA) 16 63 10-6

[PKBasu]

[R2] Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND, 358) l. 2-James Duckworth (AUS, 102) 26 67(2)

[Dinesh]

What’s the need for a thread when the only tournament is said and done? There are no Challengers in Asia for the month of June and July

[PKBasu]

Georgia says that it's in Europe (and aspires to join the EU), but the vast majority of its territory was considered to be in Asia, all the way from the time of Herodotus.(Georgia is also a member of the Asian Development Bank, and the ADB's annual meetings were held in Tbilisi this year -- a couple of weeks ago). So Ramkumar's run there is technically in an Asian challenger:

[QF] Ramkumar Ramanathan/Yanki Erel (IND/TUR) d. 3-Pruchya Isaro/Kelsey Stevenson (THA/CAN) 63 67(12) 10-7
[SF] Ramkumar/Erel (IND/TUR) l. 1-Charles Broom/Ben Jones (GBR/GBR) 57 67(6)

Singles:

[R1] 8-Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND, 343) d. Yishai Oliel (ISR, 368) 63 75
[R2] Ramkumar d. Ulises Blanch (USA, 501; CH 236) 61 64
[QF] 8-Ramkumar Ramanathan l. 1-Philip Sekulic (AUS, 238) 67(6) 64 67 (0)

That run has taken Ramkumar back up to 329 in singles this week.

[Rajiv]

Don't quite understand the need to post last week results and repeat the results as already discussed in RR thread since it was he only who was playing.

[prasen9]

And Georgia passed a Russian-style foreign aid law moving it away from the EU and NATO.

I think PKB wanted to claim Georgia is part of Asia (as it rightly perhaps is) and thus posted the results here, notwithstanding, that he was the only one in the tournament, etc.

[Rajiv]

That's fine about the geographic location , as my query was mainly about repetitions of results , the results which all of us were aware and happened one week ago.
And when I had told him to enter this tournament he innocently said "Uncle where is Kachreti" , and then followed the history lessons on Edward Shevardnadze..... the break up from Soviet Union and all.... .

But still ruing how the first TB was messed 6-3 up could have finished the match in straight sets , and then would have been the semis and who knows could have been a title.

[prasen9]

My guess is that PKB wanted to make the point that Georgia is in Asia and thus wanted to put the results here even if it has been reported elsewhere.

I think the gravedigger of the Soviet empire wrote his name as Eduard.

[sameerph]

Haha. On a serious note, I think PKB does not visit the forum as frequently these days as he used to do earlier. So, he did not read all the posts of last week in RamK thread and posted this in Asian challengers thread.

[PKBasu]

Unfortunately true. Ever since I became a member of ITD, I have obtained a lot of my regular daily dose there (and contribute to it also). Additionally, I have only one laptop on which sports-india.com is regularly available (the office computer has restrictions which stand in the way), so that reduces the regularity of my participation here. Anyway, yes, I wanted to assert that Georgia is in Asia -- as Ramkumar's long flight to Arkansas showed quite clearly. And also wanted to celebrate RamK's fine performance in that west Asian challenger...

[jayakris]

At the ITF M25 in Tianjin, CHN (Hard):

[R1] (4) Mukund Sasikumar (IND,472) vs Aliaksandr Liaonenka (RUS,851)

[PKBasu]

Could a Moderator please change the name of the thread to "Asian Challengers 2024"? We have similar ones for European and North American Challengers. The season for Asia is ending, but not quite over...

[SF] 1-Arjun Kadhe/Rithvik Bollipalli (IND/IND) d. 4-Ramkumar Ramanathan/Toshihide Matsui (IND/JPN) 64 64

It is 3-4 on serve in the second set. Arjun/Rithwik 40-15, game. 4-4
Ram/Toshi 30-15, 30-all, 30-40 (BP), Deuce, Ad-out, game (broken). 4-5
Kadhe/Bollipalli serving for the match. 0-15, 15-15, 30-15...game, set and match. That ended rather quickly!

[PKBasu]

So, by making the final at the Nonthaburi Challenger, Arjun Kadhe moves to a new career high of 92, Rithvik to a new career-high of 102.

[jayakris]

At the ATP Challenger 125 in Hangzhou, China (Hard)

[Q1] (3) Mukund Sasikumar (IND,405) vs Zura Tkemaladze (GEO,734), 10 am IST, Sunday

[jayakris]

At the ATP Challenger 125 in Hangzhou, China (Hard):

[R1] (ALT) Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,332) vs Illya Marchenko (UKR,316)

Marchenko was top-50 at one time but at age 37, he is no longer what he once was. Since the Taipei challenger final in May, he has gone 0-5 in his matches (losses to players ranked 235,145,251,285,139)... RamK is the lowest ranked player he is facing in a while, so he may fancy his chances too, though! I think RamK can beat him if he stays focused and plays confidently like last week. No forehand slices, please, and hit the damn top spin shots