Domestic Junior Circ./ Upcoming u15 players

[Varma]

Could it be Bosnia-Herzegovina?

- Varma

[Atithee]

Domagoj Biljesko (HRV) -- Checked this player's bio. He is from Croatia.

[ankit1407]

Sumit wins the R3 beating the 14th seed in the process...
R3] Sumit Nagal (IND) DEF (14) Domagoj Biljesko (HRV) 6-2; 3-1 Ret (inj)

Next he faces #4 seed from USA....The kid seems to have won his matches comfortably as well so it will be a tough match for Sumit..Hope he pulls off a good win
R4] S. Nagal Vs S. Kozlov (4)
While looking around seems like Kozlov has played in under 18 tournaments as well and managed to win few matches too...so must be a good player..

Go Sumit

[ankit1407]

great win by Basil....this kid is surely someone to watch out for...

Basil Q Khuma d. Michael Mmoh 7-6(8); 5-7; 7-5

His opponent was one of the 3 kids at 13 yrs to be ranked under 1000 at ITF junior level , he is considered to be one of the most talented kid to be part of IMG Academics...He won the Orange Bowl last year and was a finalist in the Under 12s at Eddie Herr last year..

Michael Mmoh beat Basil in Eddie Herr International 7-5,6-1 so great to see Basil to beat a guy to whom he lost in straight sets just recently.

I am so happy Basil pulled of a very very tight match going by the scoreline....Hope he still has lot left in the tank...he has played 4 Q's matches and 3 main draw matches continuously.

Next he is facing #2 seed from USA

R4] Basil Q Khuma v/s C. Klinger (2)

Good luck

[jayakris]

This is some seriously good stuff. It's great to see that our boys' telent pipeline does not seem to be drying up or showing big gaps... Basil seems to be a good one. Jay

[ankit1407]

found some report on the match

"The US could have had exactly half of the boys remaining had 12s Junior Orange Bowl champion Michael Mmoh been able to close out qualifier Basil Khuma of India. Mmoh couldn't convert his set points in the opening set, which Khuma won in a tiebreaker 7-8(8). Khuma served for the second set at 5-4, but Mmoh broke, held and broke to send the match into a third set, and he had a 2-0 lead to start the final set, but Khuma hung tough, despite the disappointment of again failing to serve the match out at 5-4 in the third. Using some deft drop shots and uncannily accurate lobs, Khuma served for the match for a third time after breaking Mmoh for a 6-5 lead. Again Khuma, who trains at the IMG Bollettieri Academy, as does Mmoh, fell behind when attempting to serve it out, but he survived a long rally at 30-40 when he combined a drop shot with a passing shot to bring it to deuce. Mmoh missed a return to give Khuma his first match point, and he converted it with a down the line backhand winner to claim the victory, which ended under the lights, three and a half hours after it began."

Wow 3 and half hour :O this kid has played 3 tough 3 sets main draw match and now he has to face #2 seed...
source
http://tenniskalamazoo.blogspot.com/201 ... oTennis%29

[ankit1407]

seems like am the only one covering this tournament or am the only one available on the holiday schedule lol...either way...

I was lazy to look around for all Indian playing in this tournament, just read on a blog about an Indian U12 girl beating the #1 seed.

she also came through the qualifying round and now in the R3 beat the #1 seed(seems like country wise seeding or whatever..I see lots of #1 ), Again she lost to the same player in Eddie Err not so long ago much the same as Basil

Girls' 12 Q
128 Shweta Q Sangwan d. Brianna Gomez 6-0; 6-1
64 Shweta Q Sangwan d. Sasha Belaya 6-1; 6-1
32 Shweta Q Sangwan d. Vasilisa LL Belonog 6-2; 6-4

Girls' 12 Main (Draw Line - 108)
128 Shweta Q Sangwan d. Heidy Doldan-Viales 6-0; 6-0
64 Shweta Q Sangwan d. Sara Ismail 6-2; 6-1
32 Shweta Q Sangwan d. (1) Dominique Schaefer 6-4; 5-7; 6-4

Now next up
R4 S. Q Sangwan vs C. Bellis (1)

[sameerph]

Very good stuff by Indian juniors out there in a tough tournament where many of the world's top juniors are participating. Excellent performance by Basil who has now won 7 matches & had his best in the last round. Shweta Sangwan is another one who is part of the Reliance-IMG programme training at NBTA. These kids who are on long term training stint seem to be doing much better then the ones who go there for a shorter 2-3 month stint.

Hopefully, our kids will go further in this tournament although they will be facing some tough competition in next round.

[jaydeep]

Yes, exciting stuff from Indian juniors in Orange Bowl ... Terrific upset win by Basil in 3 and 1/2 hrs marathon match after playing 6 matches already ...

[ankit1407]

Shweata lost in R4
(1) Catherine Bellis d. Shweta Q Sangwan 6-3; 6-2
But amazing display to come thru qualifier and win 7 matches in a row....

Now hoping for better news on the boy's side

[ankit1407]

I guess not to be..both our Kids lost in R4 of Single (U14)

16 (2) Cameron Klinger d. Basil Q Khuma 7-5; 4-6; 6-3
16 (4) Stefan Kozlov d. Sumit Nagal 7-6(2); 6-2

Still great creditable performance specially Basil coming from Qualifying and winning 7matches in a row.... Expected Sumit to win

[Varma]

Absolutely heartening performances from our kids. My personal favorite here got to be Khuma. He must really be something good in the making. To stretch the second seed all the way on his eighth straight match is really commendable. His 7th match yesterday lasted for 3.5 hours, which means his young body hardly had any time to recover. Can't wait to hear more and more of these kids' exploits.

- Varma

[bujilover]

Good news!!!

Foreign coach for AITA junior programme

The Sports Authority of India (SAI) agreeing to All India Tennis Association's (AITA) request for a foreign coach for its junior development programme. SAI has approved the appointment of Swedish coach Henrik Ekersund at a monthly salary of $8,000 for a period of one year at the moment

"Apart from him, the others in the fray were Sweden's David Ekeort and Andreas Gimeno Jr. from Spain. But Ekersund's name was unanimously agreed."

AITA officials are delighted by the development. "Ekersund comes highly recommended by everyone in the International Tennis Federation. Most of his work will be in Delhi, but he'll be available to officials all over India. We know he's not Brad Gilbert, but then we don't have millions of dollars to splurge on a coach like Gilbert," the official said.

[sameerph]

Yes, that is good news. Something was needed to be done desparately for junior devlopment. Now, I hope AITA uses the sevices of the coach well.

[jayakris]

I am sorry, I am pretty lukewarm about this. Nothing against Ekersund, as I would have said the same even if it was Brad Gilbert. Going around the country and organizing coaching camps is not what we badly need somebody for. If AITA wants to run a junior academy (bad idea; it won't work and the best won't go there), he could be a very good coach too, but the duties expected of an effective junior development officer are different. The model for that was clearly set by Sunil Yajaman, though the Indian tennis fraternity will never give him any credit for that. We need somebody who is truly sincere about following every detail of the juniors coming up around the country and offering help and advice. We don't need to improve scouting in tennis a whole lot, as the system is quite decent in unearthing talent. Coaching camps around the country is of no use for top talents that emerge. What is urgent is to prevent so many of them falling by the wayside because of poor planning and poor advice. What we need is somebody who understands the Indian parents and the unique issues they face, and give them advice on what to do with thier kids. He needs to help develop appropriate plans on a case by case basis for the top few juniors without being stubborn or too set on any ideas on tennis, and he also needs to organize AITA help for them for coaching and tour travel. He needs to give the parents the kind of advice that would be less probable for them to get from the coaches, who have their axes to grind. He also needs to command some respect (which is probably the toughest qualification for Indian candidates).

So I have to disagree with sameer's hopeful note that "something had to be done on junior development" for which this appointment should help. For the purposes I think sameer has in mind, I am not sure if such a foreigner is the answer. Having said that, if they have the money to bring a coach and do some coaching around the country, well, it can't hurt. He cannot easily be a junior development officer, which IMHO has to be an Indian. For a bit less than the money we are offering him, I think we could have had a top-notch and sincere Indian to do the job more effectively. I don't know who that would be, but they didn't even interview anybody from India offering some decent remuneration, did they?

In fact, an Indian junior development officer working with Ekersund (who can be the junior tennis technical advisor and national junior coach) could be a great idea that could really work -- if matching personalities can be found.

Jay