New Delhi, Dec 20 (Tennis News) The lack of depth in Indian tennis is due to the lack of a structured programme, Davis Cup captain Rohit Rajpal said on Monday but, along with coach Zeeshan Ali, expressed optimism that the establishment of National Tennis Centre will soon start producing players to take the game forward.

The NTC has started functioning at the Delhi Lawn Tennis Association (DLTA) but arranging funds for the ambitious project, which offers scholarships to top junior players and aims to provide stat-of-the-art training facilities to the best men and women Indian players, is still keeping the national federation, AITA, worried.

India does not have a single top-100 players in the singles format and the best-ranked player is 27-year-old Ramkumar Ramanathan, who is placed 184 on the ATP chart. Prajnesh Gunneswaran, at 32, is not getting any younger and Rohan Bopanna has already touched 41.

Yuki Bhambri, 29, has lost precious time to injuries and the 24-year-old Sumit Nagal too has his own limitations.

Currently, the next Davis Cup players are nowhere to be seen.

India does not have a single junior player in top-5 even among Asians. Nishant Dabas at 97, is the only player in top-100 juniors in the world. Players from Namibia, Morocco, Kazkahstan and Brazil are ranked much higher than the Indians.

"We must do something. It's a worrisome situation. We used to dominate in Asia at least but it's not the case any more. This is because of lack of a structured programme," rued Rajpal, who was present during the launch of the second season of Pro Tennis League.

"But now NTC is there. Consistent pipeline is a necessity, something that badminton has done, is needed for tennis." Zeeshan, who is heading the coaching programme of the NTC, said "nothing happens overnight." Zeeshan left his base in Bangalore and moved to Noida along with his family to head the NTC.

"The objective of the NTC is not just giving training to the juniors but create a base for all top players of the country, where they can come and use the facilities," said Zeshan.

"The physios, the fitness trainers, gym, pool, restaurant and more importantly a sports science centre where the players and can have their injury issues addressed in a scientific manner." The NTC has, as of now, taken Karan Singh, Ajay Malik, Nishant Dabas, Riya Sachdeva (U14) under its wings, taking care of all the expenses of their training and stay at DLTA.

Suraj Prabodh, Nitin Sinha have also made NTC their base as about 35 players, including from Singapore and Middle East, now train at the centre.

NTC will also tie up with Open schools for online class of its trainees so that their education does not suffer.

"We have lost a lot of players to the US College system. I am sure, given a choice the players will like to turn Pro than play college tennis. And 70-80 per cent of Indian players can't afford to train in Spain or Germany.

"We are trying to bridge the gap. For the first time we have a programme, and hopefully, it will make a difference," said Rajpal. 

Also Read : India to host Denmark on grass courts in Delhi

News Source : PTI

New Delhi, Dec 19 (Tennis News) India will host Denmark on grass courts at the Delhi Gymkhana Club in a bio-security bubble in the Davis Cup World Group I tie on March 4-5 next year, AITA sources confirmed on Sunday.

The Indian team management after consulting the players decided to have the matches on grass courts, where the Danish players won't be comfortable.

"A home tie means that you can create conditions that suit your players. The players and the management felt that Indian team will be stronger on grass courts against Denmark players since they are more used to playing on slow hard courts and clay courts," an AITA source privy to the developments told PTI.

The PTI had reported on December 9 that hosting the tie on grass courts is a possibility.

India's top-ranked singles player Ramkumar Ramanathan, of late, has developed a decent serve and volley game and comeback-man Yuki Bhambri is also comfortable playing on grass courts.

The other Indian singles players Sumit Nagal and Prajnesh Gunneswaran are not grass court players but still they are more experienced on grass than their Danish rivals.

"There is no grass court left at the DLTA, so the matches will be held at the Delhi Gymkhana Club," the source added.

The International Tennis Federation wants the tie to be held in bio-secure environment, so a bubble will be created for the players and the officials.

The source said the fans will be allowed to watch the matches but proximity with the players won't be allowed, keeping in mind the health safety of all involved.

However, media will be allowed to interact with the players.

"The players will not allowed to meet with the fans and go outside but the players can speak with the media following certain protocols," the source added.

India have got a home tie after three years and Delhi will host Davis Cup matches after more than five years.

The last time Delhi had Davis Cup matches was in September 2016 when Rafael Nadal led Spain had blanked India 5-0 in the World Group Play-off round at the DLTA.

The March 4-5 tie will be first between India and Denmark since September 1984 when India won 3-2 at Aarhus.

The two teams have not clashed much as the only other time they played was in 1927 when Denmark whitewashed India 5-0 in the quarterfinal in Copenhagen. 

Also Read : Hyderabad Strikers to meet Mumbai Leon Army in TPL final

News Source : PTI

New Delhi, Dec 9 (Tennis news) India will host Denmark either on grass courts or fast hard courts for their next Davis Cup World Group I tie in March next year with top player Yuki Bhambri set to resume national duty.

The process to identify the venue and surface for the tie began on Thursday with the All India Tennis Association (AITA) reaching out to players to know their preferred surface and potential state associations which could host the matches on March 4-5 next year.

Since Denmark players are used to playing more on slow hard courts and clay courts, India would like to create conditions that help them in home tie. Yuki plays well on grass and Ramkumar Ramanathan too of late is playing well with serve and volley style.

Also, Prajnesh Gunneswaran and Sumit Nagal may not be better at playing on grass courts than Yuki and Ramkumar but both of them are still better than Denmark players when it comes to playing on grass or fast hard courts.

"It seems we will settle on either grass courts or fast hard courts. Yuki is our top player and he loves to play on grass," said a source, who is privy to the discussions.

If the tie is held on grass, the likely options would be Delhi, Chandigarh Jaipur and Lucknow and if the players choose to play on fast hard court, Indore will be hot favourite to host the match.

India were handed a home tie after three years after the draw pitted them against Denmark for the World Group I tie.

AITA Secretary General Anil Dhupar said captain Rohit Rajpal is discussing the issue with the players.

"We will know in two days' time where we are going to host this tie. Once we know the players' choice for surface, we will see which venue would be best for the purpose," Dhupar told PTI from Indore.

"I feel Delhi will host matches since Delhi has not hosted any big event in recent past. They must be keen to have this tie," said an AITA official.

The Karnataka association is hosting two Challenger events, so it is highly unlikely that the tie will be held in Bengaluru but an official said they can still "consider".

It will be the first tie between the two nations since September 1984 when India won 3-2 at Aarhus.

The two teams have not clashed much as the only other time they played was in 1927 when Denmark whitewashed India 5-0 in the quarterfinal in Copenhagen.

Also Read : Rafael Nadal and Domnic Thiem look to start strong in 2022 season

News Source : PTI

Manama (Bahrain), Nov 28 (Tennis news) Indian tennis player Ramkumar Ramanathan won his maiden Challenger level singles title on Sunday, 12 years after turning a Pro, when he outplayed Evgeny Karlovskiy in the summit clash of the ATP80 Manama event, here.

The 27-year-old Ramkumar, who had lost six Challenger finals in his career before, beat his Russian rival 6-1 6-4 in 68 minutes.

Ramkumar, seeded sixth and ranked 222 in the world, sealed the first set when the Russian's backhand return sailed over the baseline.

This was after Ramkumar saved a breakpoint against Karlovskiy, ranked 302 in the world. That was the only time he faced a break point in the contest.

The Indian served extremely well and his net game too was sharp.

The 80 ranking points earned will push Ramkumar back into top-200 and also make him the highest-ranked Indian on the ATP singles ranking chart.

He is likely to be ranked 186 and will surpass Prajnesh Gunneswaran (215) and out-of-action Sumit Nagal (219) when the chart is updated.

Also Read : Feliciano Lopez and Carreno Busta deliver as Spain begins title defence with victory at Davis Cup

NNews Source : PTI

New Delhi, Sep 9 (Tennis news): Sumit Nagal excused himself from the upcoming Davis Cup tie against Finland, citing a hip injury, but the young tennis player continues to play on the ATP Challenger tour, upsetting the national federation, which will soon take up the matter with him.

Nagal wrote to All India Tennis Association (AITA) on August 28 that due to a hip injury he won't be able to compete against Finland because playing on the hard courts would aggravate his injury.

Finland will host India on indoor hard court from September 18.

The AITA then replaced Nagal with Saketh Myneni.

However, Nagal has competed in two Challenger events since then on clay courts -- Meerbusch (Germany) and Banja Luka (Bosnia & Herzegovina) -- which took the AITA by surprise.

Experts say it's impossible to play either on hard courts or clay courts if a player is carrying a hip injury. They say irrespective of the surface, the player can't escape from running which is not possible in case of a hip injury. Before reaching out to Myneni, the AITA also approached Sasi Kumar Mukund to take the place of Nagal in the national team but he also refused to play since he wanted to defend points in Pro Tour.

The lack of commitment of the young tennis players for the national team has stumped the AITA, which says it will speak to Nagal once the Finland tie is over.

"To see our player Sumit Nagal playing other tournaments and not playing Davis Cup is upsetting. We definitely want our best players to play for the country, no doubt about it. We are definitely going to take this matter up once we are back (from Finland)," AITA Secretary General Anil Dhupar told PTI.

"We want him in the Davis Cup team. Let's see what appropriate action we can take once we are back. We expect our top players to make themselves available (for national team)," he added.

Non-playing captain Rohit Rajpal also did not appreciate Nagal's decision.

"Obviously any captain will like his best players available. It's disappointing to go without our best team. Yuki Bhambri is injured," said Rajpal.

The 24-year-old Nagal could not be reached for a comment and his manager did not respond to messages.

Somdev Devvarman, who is also part of Nagal's team in a mentor's role, also did not respond to messages.

However, Mukund gave his reasons for not joining the Indian team.

"I am not as high ranked as Prajnesh and Ramkumar, so I don't have the liberty to choose tournaments, so I have two main draws in the states (USA) so I need to play it.

"I have made 30 points this year and I worked really hard to come back to form and now would be tough for me to break momentum," Mukund said.

The talented young player said his Austrian coach also advised him against playing the upcoming Davis Cup tie.

"My coach (Martin Spottl) said it's better for me to stay on Tour. Even though it was his decision to send me 15 days to Kolkata to practice on grass but this time it was a tough call for him to do that," he said.

Mukund, 24, also said that it would have been extremely difficult for him to get the appropriate visa. "I will just not be able to be in Europe unless they get me a new visa which when I asked the German ambassador he said it's nearly impossible. So I would have to exit EU to either India or Tunisia or somewhere which my coach can't come because someone in his family has a surgery.

"And I am not ready to forego my existing visa for new short term visa," he said.

It may be mentioned that Mukund had made himself unavailable for the tie much before the selection committee meeting took place but the AITA reached out to him again after Nagal pulled out.

Also read: Novak Djokovic books semifinal showdown against Alexander Zverev at the US Open, Emma Raducanu breaks into the last four

News source: PTI

New York, Sep 7 (Tennis news) Veteran Indian tennis player Rohan Bopanna and his Croatian partner Ivan Dodig fought their hearts out before losing their men's doubles third round to fourth seeds Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury at the US Open here.

Bopanna and Dodig, seeded 13th, lost 7-6(4) 4-6 6-7(3) to the Australian Open runners-up in a gruelling contest that lasted two hours and 30 minutes on Monday night.

With this defeat, India's challenge has ended at the last Grand Slam of the season.

Also read: Emma Raducanu breezes past Shelby Rogers at the US Open, Matteo Berrettini seeks Wimbeldon revenge against Novak Djokovic

Sania Mirza lost her both women's doubles and mixed doubles first rounds and Ankita Raina also lost in the women's doubles.

Prajnesh Gunneswaran, Sumit Nagal and Ramkumar Ramanathan could not not qualify for the singles main draw, falling in the Qualifiers. 

News source: PTI

New York, Aug 27 (Tennis news) India's singles challenge came to an end at the US Open qualifiers after Prajnesh Gunneswaran was handed a straight-set defeat by American Christopher Eubanks in the second round here.

The world no.156 Indian, who was looking to make his second appearance in the US Open main draws, went down 3-6 4-6 to Eubanks, ranked 216th, in a 50-minute showdown on Thursday night.

Also read: Prajnesh advances to second round of US Open qualifiers

The 31-year-old Gunneswaran had qualified for the main draw in 2019, when he had lost to Russia's Danil Medvedev in the opening round.

The two other Indian players in fray in the men's singles qualifiers, Sumit Nagal and Ramkumar Ramanathan, made opening-round exits earlier in the week.

Nagal lost 5-7 6-4 3-6 to Argentina's Juan Pablo Ficovich while Ramkumar frittered away a one-set advantage to lose 6-4 6-7 (1) 4-6 to Russia's Evgeny Donskoy.

Ankita Raina was also ousted from the tournament after losing her first round match in women's singles qualifiers 3-6 6-2 4-6 to American Jamie Loeb.

News source: PTI

New York, Aug 26 (Tennis news) India's top-ranked tennis player Prajnesh Gunneswaran progressed to the second round of the US Open qualifiers with a straight set win over Brayden Schnur of Canada here.

Gunneswaran got the better of the world no. 232 Canadian 6-4 7-6 in one hour 37 minutes on Wednesday night.

The 31-year-old Indian will lock horns with American Christopher Eubanks in the next round.

Also read: Serena Williams pulls out of US Open due to injured right hamstring

Gunneswaran had qualified for the main draw of the tournament in 2019, when he had gone down to Russia's Danil Medvedev in the opening round.

The world no 156. is the only Indian left in the men's singles qualifiers as Sumit Nagal and Ramkumar Ramanathan made opening round exits.

Ankita Raina also exited after losing her first round in women's singles qualifiers to American Jamie Loeb. 

News source: PTI

New York, Aug 25 (Tennis news) Indian tennis players' struggle at the Grand Slam events continued as both Sumit Nagal and Ramkumar Ramanathan lost their respective first round singles matches to make an exit from the US Open qualifiers, here.

Nagal lost 5-7 6-4 3-6 to Argentina's Juan Pablo Ficovich in two hours and 22 minutes on Tuesday night.

Nagal had played in the Australian Open main draw early this year and had lost in the first round. He could not qualify for the French Open and missed the Wimbledon qualifiers due to an unrevealed injury.

Also read: Bopanna retains place in Indian team for Davis Cup tie against Finland in September

Ramkumar frittered away a one-set advantage to lose 6-4 6-7(1) 4-6 to Russia's Evgeny Donskoy in two hours and 35 minutes in his opening round.

It was Ramkumar's 21st attempt to qualify for the singles main draw of a Grand Slam since 2014.

Prajnesh Guneswaran is the only Indian left in the men's singles qualifiers. The left-hander is up against Canadian Brayden Schnur.

Ankita Raina has also exited after losing her first round in women's singles qualifiers to American Jamie Loeb. 

News source: PTI

New Delhi, Aug 6 (Tennis news) Doubles exponent Rohan Bopanna on Friday retained his place in the Indian Davis Cup team despite his recent run-in with the national federation, which named a five-member squad for the upcoming World Group I away tie against Finland.

Expectedly, all top three singles players of the country -- Prajnesh Gunneswaran (ranked 158), Sumit Nagal (159) and Ramkumar Ramanathan (204) -- have been picked for the September 17-18 tie, which will be held on indoor courts in Espoo Metro Areena in Espoo city.

The AITA selection committee had a virtual meeting on Thursday to decide on the team.

Rohit Rajpal will be the non-playing captain of the side and Zeeshan Ali the coach.

Bopnna, ranked 40, will have his doubles partner in Divij Sharan, ranked 82.

The duo could not qualify for the ongoing Tokyo Olympics due to low combined rank.

In the last tie against Croatia which India lost 1-3, Bopanna had paired with Leander Paes. Rest is the same squad.

Bopanna had accused the All Indian Tennis Association (AITA) secretary general Anil Dhupar of misleading him and the nation by claiming that the ITF had accepted his and Sumit Nagal's entry for the doubles competition of the Tokyo Games.

Bopanna made public his telephonic conversation with Dhupar, putting the audio recording on his twitter page.

Finland has one higher-ranked singles player in Emil Ruusuvuori, who is placed 69th in the ATP chart, while it does not have a player inside top-100.

Finland also has two decent doubles players in Henri Kontinen and Harri Heliovaara, who are ranked 39 and 38 respectively.

Also read: Sania and Ankita lose to Ukranian Twins as World number one shocked in Singles

Selection committee member Balram Singh told PTI that the recent controversy regarding Bopanna was not discussed by the members.

"There are former players in the committee and they know the value of a doubles rubber point in Davis Cup. Rohan, being our top player, was a natural choice," Balram said.

"It was just a matter of misunderstanding that a controversy erupted," he said.

The winner of the tie will qualify for the Qualifiers in 2022 while the losing teams will compete in the play-offs to retain their place in World Group I next year.

News source: PTI 

Highs:

India reaches Men’s Archery quarter-finals with win over Kazakhstan

India’s trio of Atanu Das, Tarundeep Rai and Pravin Jadhav put up an impressive display to defeat Kazakhstan 6-2 to progress into the quarter-finals where they will face World Champions Korea.

Bhavani Devi beats Tunisia’s Ben Azizi to win India’s first ever fencing match in Olympic history

Indian fencer CA Bhavani Devi created history at her Olympic Games debut by defeating Tunisia’s Nadia Ben Azizi 15-3 to reach the Individual Sabre Round of 16. She is also India’s first ever fencer to represent the country in the Olympics and the 27 year old showcased a commanding performance.

Starting strong despite a delay in her bout, Bhavani Devi gave nothing away and raced to an 8-0 lead. Tunisia’s Azizi, being a lower ranked opponent was not given any space or time to regain momentum and remained on the backfoot with precise attacks.

Indian paddler Sharath Kamal progresses to third round after win against Portugal's Tiago Apolonia

Sharath Kamal progressed into the third round of table tennis men’s singles with a 4-2 (2-11 11-8 11-5 9-11 11-6 11-9) over Tiago Apolonia. Despite losing the first game 2-11, Kamal fought back with grit and determination to win the next two rounds. However, Apolonia did not give up without a fight and levelled the match in the fourth round with a score of 9-11.

Sharath’s coach Saumadeep Roy called for a timeout when the scores were tied 4-4 in the fifth set, which worked in the Indian’s favor as the veteran Indian paddler went on to lead 8-5, winning the fifth set and making it 3-2.

Lows:

Indian fencer Bhavani Devi’s journey ends at the Tokyo Olympics after defeat against Brunet in Round of 32

Despite Bhavani Devi’s journey at the Tokyo Olympics coming to an end, it seems like the beginning for her and Indian fencing after the 27 year old became the first Indian to win a fencing bout in Olympic history.

Facing World Number 3 and fourth seed Manon Brunet of France was always going to be a tough task but Bhavani Devi gave her a good fight, going into the break trailing 2-8 but collecting 5 more points in the 2nd round before eventually succumbing to a 7-15 loss.

Sutirtha loses in straight games the 2nd Round in Tokyo

After securing a hard fought win in the 1st round, Sutirtha Mukherjee lost to Fu Yu from Portugal in the Tokyo Olympics.

The Chinese born 42 year old secured victory taking the first four games in 23 minutes, each game lasting around 5 minutes. The score line read 11-3,11-3,11-5 and 11-5. With this result, Sutirtha’s Olympic campaign has come to an end and now there are two players left in the ray.

Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy lose to the world no 1 pair of Gideon and Sukamuljo of Indonesia

The Indian pair of Chirag Shetty and Rankireddy began the match well but the world number 1 pair of Gideon and Sukamuljo of Indonesia started asserting dominance over them and won the first set quite comfortably 21-13. The second set began in similar fashion with the Indian pair taking an early lead but the Indonesian pair overwhelmed them with a tremendous display of skill and won the second set 21-12.

Chirag Shetty and Rankireddy will now face Lane Ben and Vendy Sean of Great Britain in their final group match tomorrow

Indian men’s archery team outclassed by South Korea in the quarter-finals

It was always going to be a tough task for the Indian trio of Atanu Das, Pravin Jadhav and Tarundeep Rai to overcome South Korea in the quarter-finals of the men’s archery event, but few predicted such a whitewash.

In a one sided contest at the Yumenoshima Ranking Field, the South Korean team consisting of Kim Je Deok, Kim Woojin, and Oh Jinhyek reached the semifinals by defeating the Indian team 6-0.

India out of men’s skeet shooting; Angad Bajwa places 18th in qualification

Both Indian shooters who competed in the Tokyo Olympics today were unable to qualify for the final. Angad Bajwa finished 18th in the Men's Skeet qualification round, while Mairaj Khan came in 25th. With their exit, Indian sports fans will have to wait a little longer to see their country earn its first Olympic medal in the sport in Tokyo.

Despite competing in five events in three days, India has yet to win a single medal in Shooting, a sport they were anticipated to dominate at the Tokyo Olympics.

Sumit’s run comes to an end as Medvedev clinches victory in straight sets

After beating Denis Istomin in the first round, Sumit Nagal created history as the first Indian to secure a win in Olympic Singles in 25 years. Today in the 2nd round he faced Danii Medvedev from Russia and lost 6-2,6-1 in an hour and six minutes. The Russian is the current world number 2 and has good chances of winning a medal here.

Medvedev is also playing doubles this time partnering with Aslan Karatsev but lost their opening match to Lukas Klein and Filip Polasek from Slovakia. With his loss India has ended its Tennis run as Sania Mirza and Ankita Raina lost their opening match yesterday in Women’s Doubles.

Manika Batra loses to Austria’s Sofia Polcanova 4-0

Manika, world ranked at 63, lost four straight games to the 17 seeded table tennis player; 11-8, 11-2, 11-5, 11-7. Batra had earlier impressed on Sunday by beating world number 32 Margaryta Pesotska to reach the women's singles third round at the Tokyo Olympics.

Indian boxer Ashish Kumar loses 5-0 to China's Erbieke Tuoheta

Indian boxers have performed rather poorly at the Tokyo Olympics with Ashish Kumar becoming the third male boxer to lose in the first round alongside Vikas Krishna & Manish Kumar. The 27 year old boxer from Haryana started poorly in the first round but gradually improved his performance in the second. However, it was too little too late for Ashish Kumar who fell prey to Tuoheta’s combination punches.

Indian swimmer Sajan Prakash fails to qualify for semifinals at the Tokyo Olympics

Sajan Prakash finished fourth in the Men’s 200 metre butterfly stroke event with a timing of 1.57.22. With this result, Prakash finished 24th overall and failed to qualify for the semifinals at the Tokyo Olympics as only the top 16 move forward after all the heats are done.

Also read: Day 3: Mary Kom,PV Sindhu and Manika Batra keeping up India’s medal hopes

Germany beats India 2-0 in women's hockey at the Tokyo Olympics

The Indian Women’s hockey team lost 2-0 to  Germany in their second pool A match at the Oi Hockey Stadium South Pitch. The Germans are off to a strong start as they have won their second successive match, beating Britain in their first match by two goals to one. The first quarter saw Nike Lorenz strike in the 12th minute in a penalty corner. The second quarter did not see any goals from both teams, the third quarter saw Anne Katarina Schroder scoring the second goal for Germany in the 35th minute to give them a 2-0 win.
 

(Tennis sport news) Olympic 2021 Live Update: After beating Denis Istomin in the first round, Sumit Nagal created history as the first Indian to secure a win in Olympic Singles in 25 years. Today in the 2nd round he faced Danii Medvedev from Russia and lost 6-2,6-1 in an hour and six minutes. The Russian is the current world number 2 and has good chances of winning a medal here. He is also one of the few players expected to give Novak Djokovic a shock in the Tokyo Olympics. Medvedev is also playing doubles this time partnering with Aslan Karatsev but lost their opening match to Lukas Klein and Filip Polasek from Slovakia.

Also read: Indian men’s archery team outclassed by South Korea in the quarter-finals

With his loss India has ended its Tennis run as Sania Mirza and Ankita Raina lost their opening match yesterday in Women’s Doubles. 

Highs:

1) India’s first medal at Tokyo Olympics, credits to weightlifter Mirabai Chanu

Weightlifter Mirabai Chanu gave India its first medal at the Tokyo Olympics as she won silver in the 49 kg category. Despite failing to lift 89 kg successfully, Chanu lifted 84kg and 87 kg for the second spot.

With this accomplishment, Chanu ended India’s 21 year old wait for an Olympic medal in weightlifting and set a new record by improving on Karnam Malleswari’s bronze medal at the 2000 Olympic Games.

2) India’s win against New Zealand hockey team

Eight time Olympic champions India defeated New Zealand 3-2 thanks to Harmanpreet Singh’s brace from penalty corners and Rupinder Singh’s penalty stroke conversion, to begin their Olympics campaign with a win.

Despite trailing due to Kane Russell’s opening goal, the Indian men’s hockey team showed true spirit and teamwork not just in attack but also in defense to ward off the New Zealand attempts. Indian goalkeeper PR Sreejesh displayed some fantastic saves to deny the Kiwi’s an opportunity for a late equalizer in a compact defensive performance.

India will now face Australia with rejuvenated confidence after this solid performance.

3) Table tennis Manika Batra and Sutirtha Mukherji’s separate wins in women’s singles Tennis

Indian table tennis player Sutirtha Mukherjee had a nail biting fight for the win against Sweden’s Linda Bergström wherein the former was losing 3 games to 1 and made a mindblowing comeback.

Batra cruised to victory with the score of 4-0. Manika, the top Indian Table Tennis player is ranked at 63 in the world, beat British paddler Tin Tin Ho.

4) Nagal’s win in men’s singles badminton

Sumit Nagal started off his Olympic Campaign with a win over Dennis Istomin at Tokyo. It's perfect for Indian tennis as he is the only Singles player from India in the Tokyo Olympics, although he joined in late and has impressed us with his win over the former world number 33. It was a 2 and half hour three setter and gave us our first victory in Singles since 25 years when Leander Paes won the Bronze at Atlanta in 1996. Nagal will next play Danii Medvedev and will need to play at his best to topple the Russian in the Second Round.

5) Indian duo Chirag Shetty/Satwiksairaj Rankireddy beating world no. 3 

Good news for India in the men’s doubles. Chinese Taipei Y Lee and CL Wang lost the match to Indian duo C Shetty and S Rankireddy. The teams each took a win in the first two games and then there was a close fight for the game that ended in 25-27 in favour of the Indian team. The Indians Satwiksairaj Rankireddy/Chirag Shetty stunned the World No. 3 Chinese Taipei's Lee Yang/Wang Chi-Lin in a spectacular display of strength.

Lows:

1) Indian women’s hockey team’s grim score against the Netherlands 

The Netherlands women’s hockey team beat the Indian Women 5-1 at Oi Hockey Stadium North Pitch in Tokyo. The goal scoring started early as Felice Albers scored in the 6th minute but that was short lived as India’s Captain Rani Rampal scored the equaliser in the 10th minute. The second quarter did not see goals by either team.

The Indian team then went on to concede 4 consecutive goals to their opponent. There are more matches to come and they will come away stronger from this; we believe in them to do better.

2) Archers Pravin Jadhav, Deepika Kumari out of mixed doubles quarter finals

To say that South Korea have set the archery stage alight would be an understatement and the last minute pairing of Deepika Kumari and Pravin Jadhav were always going to be the underdogs against top seed Korean duo of An San and Kim Je Deok.

Playing together for the first time in an International event, Deepika and Jadhav lost 2-6 in a woefully inconsistent performance where World Number 1 Deepika failed to notch a single perfect 10 from eight arrows while Jadhav could not capitalize on the crucial fourth set by misfiring six despite getting three perfect 10s.

3) Judoka Sushila Devi defeated 

Indian Judoka Sushila Devi’s path to an Olympic medal was cut short when she lost her fight to  Hungarian Eva Csernoviczki, who qualified for Saturday's round of 16 match against Funa Tonaki of Japan. Sushila stood strong for the majority of the fight until she made a minor slip that proved costly for the Indian and cost her the contest.

Csernoviczki, a bronze medalist at the 2012 London Olympics, pinned Sushila for a full 20 seconds to win the Ippon and the round of 32 match.

4) Saurabh Chaudhary disappoints after raising expectations; Elavenil Valarivan and Apurvi Chandela fail to qualify in shooting event

Saurabh Chaudhary, an Indian medal contender, could not repeat his qualifying performance and finished seventh in the men's 10m air pistol final at the Tokyo Olympics on Saturday. An hour after topping the qualifiers with a mind-blowing performance at the Asaka Range, the Indian ace shot 137.4 and was eliminated in seventh place.

Indian shooters Aprurvi Chandela and Elavenil Valarivan endured a difficult start in their Tokyo Olympics campaign after failing to qualify for the finals of women’s 10m air rifle. Despite being world number 1, Elavenil finished 16th in the qualifications after shooting 626.5 over six series of 10 shots each in her debut Olympics while the more experienced Apurvi finished 36th after shooting 621.9 at the Asaka range.

5) Badminton player Sai Praneeth loses to lower ranked Zilberman

India's B Sai Praneeth suffered a demoralising straight-game defeat against lower ranked opponent. In a 40-minute encounter, Israel’s Misha Zilberman won 21-17, 21-15. The Indian badminton team is off to a tough start, having lost their first group stage match in men's singles.

Praneeth, who won bronze at the 2019 World Championships and is now ranked 15th, was too irregular in a 41-minute match against world number 47 Zilberman.

6) Indian boxer Vikas ousted from Olympics

Vikash Krishnan has lost his first match to Okazawa Sewonrets Quincy Mensah of Japan in the Men’s Welter 63-69kg Boxing at the Tokyo Olympics. He lost 5-0, at the end of the second round he started bleeding from his right eye and needed treatment. The Indian team will have to wait a little longer for an Olympic medal as there are few others who will fight it out for a podium finish.

7) Indian paddlers duo Manika Batra and Sharath Kamal out of the running for TT mixed doubles

In a game that lasted only 27 minutes, Indian paddlers Sharath Kamal and Manika Batra were knocked out by Chinese Taipei’s Lin Yun-ju and Cheng I-Ching in straight games 8-11, 6-11, 5-11, 4-11.

The 12th seed pairing of Sharath and Manika could not handle 19 year old Lin Yun-ju’s forehand and backhand topspin drives as the Chinese Taipei duo didn’t allow them to play their game. Despite leading the first two games 5-1 in the first game, Lin and Ching eased past Sharath and Manika with eight consecutive points.

Also read: Weightlifter Mirabai Chanu becomes first Indian to receive medal at the Tokyo Olympics

Tokyo, Jul 24 (Olympics news) Sumit Nagal on Saturday became only the third Indian tennis player to win a men's singles match at the Olympic Games and the first in 25 years, when he edged past Denis Istomin in a three-setter, here.

Nagal got the better of Istomin 6-4 6-7(6) 6-4 in two hours and 34 minutes on court 10 at the Ariake Tennis Centre to set up a second round clash with world number two Daniil Medvedev.

Zeeshan Ali was the first Indian to win a singles match at the 1988 Seoul Games when he beat Victo Caballero from Paraguay.

After that, the legendary Leander Paes won the historic men's singles bronze at the 1996 Atlanta Games, beating Brazil's Fernando Meligeni.

No Indian could win a singles match after Paes' heroic feat even as Somdev Devvarman and Vishnu Vardhan competed at the 2012 Games in London but did not manage to cross the first round hurdle.

"To lose second set from 5-3 and then comeback in the third set in a weather like this, is not easy. Playing for my country gave me the push. I am not sure what I would have done If I were playing at the Challenger, I came out happy from the court," said Nagal after the match.

"It was really hot and humid, weather was terrible, specially when you play around 12 (noon). So we were trying to focus on our serves, it's challenging and I am trying to adpat from clay to hard courts," he added.

Nagal now faces a herculean task as he takes on Australian Open runner-up Medvedev, who beat Kazakhstan's Alexander Bubilk 6-4 7-6(8).

"I am very excited for this match to play the world number two on a big court. That's why we play tennis for, to live for these moments. I am looking forward to it," he said.

The 23-year-old Nagal, who did not come into the Games in his best form, had a break opportunity in the sixth game of the opening set but could not convert.

Also read : Nagal comes through in three sets against Istomin in Tokyo

The Indian, though, did not squander the opportunity when Istomin was serving to stay in the set.

An early break pushed Nagal ahead 2-0 in the second set in which he raced to a 4-1 lead but perhaps nerves got the better of him when he was serving for the match, up 5-3, and dropped his serve.

The experienced Istomin forced a decider by prevailing in the tie-breaker.

The final set was on serve till Nagal got the decisive break.

News source: PTI 

Sumit Nagal started off his Olympic Campaign with a win over Dennis Istomin at Tokyo. It's perfect for Indian tennis as he is the only Singles player from India in the Tokyo Olympics, although he joined in late and has impressed us with his win over the former world number 33. He started off strong winning the first set in 42 minutes,in the second set Nagal  was leading 5-2 but Istomin fought back and at one stage Nagal was two points away from a victory. The second set was a long one as only a tiebreak could finish it, in the tiebreak Istomin was leading 5-2 but Nagal this time made a comeback and made it 6 all. Istomin finally took the set in over an hour and 11 minutes.

Also read: Weightlifter Mirabai Chanu becomes first Indian to receive medal at the Tokyo Olympics

The third set both the players were going head to head until Nagal broke Istomin's serve and served out the match by finishing it in 41 minutes. It was a 2 and half hour three setter and gave us our first victory in Singles since 25 years when Leander Paes won the Bronze at Atlanta in 1996. In olympic 2021 live update, Nagal will next play Danii Medvedev and will need to play at his best to topple the Russian in the Second Round.

Tokyo, Jul 23 (Olympics news) Following is India's schedule on the second day of the Tokyo Olympics on Saturday.

Archery: *Deepika Kumari and Pravin Jadhav vs Chia-En Lin and Chih-Chun Tang (Chinese Taipei) in Mixed Team 1/8 Eliminations: 6:00am IST.

*Bronze Medal Match: 12:55pm IST.

*Gold Medal Match: 1:15pm IST.

Badminton: *Satwiksairaj Rankireddy/Shetty Chirag) vs Yang Lee/Chi-Lin Wang (Chinese Taipei) in Men's Doubles Group A match: 8:50am IST.

*B Sai Praneeth vs Misha Zilberman (Israel) in Men's Singles Group D match: 9:30am IST Boxing: *Vikash Krishan vs Sewonrets Quincy Mensah Okazawa (JPN): 69kg Round of 32 match: 3:54pm IST.

Hockey: *India vs New Zealand in Men's Pool A match: 6:30am IST *India vs Netherlands in Women's Pool A match: 5:15pm IST Judo: *Likmabam Sushila Devi vs Eva Csernoviczki (Hungary) in Women's 48kg Round of 32 elimination bout: 10th bout after 7:30am start.

Rowing: *Arjun Lal Jat and Arvind Singh in Men's Lightweight Double Sculls Heat 2: 7:30am IST.

Shooting: *Apurvi Chandela and Elavenil Valarivan in Women's 10m Air Rifle Qualification: 5:00am IST *Women's 10m Air Rifle Final: 7:15am IST *Abhishek Verma and Saurabh Chaudhary in Men's 10m Air Rifle Qualification: 9:30am IST *Men's 10m Air Rifle Final: 12pm IST Table Tennis: *Achanta Sharath Kamal and Manika Batra vs Yun Ju Lin and Ching Cheng (Chinese Taipei) in Mixed Doubles Round of 16 match: 8:30am IST.

*Manika Batra vs Tin-Tin Ho (Great Britain) in Women's Singles Round 1 match 12:15pm IST.

*Sutirtha Mukherjee vs Linda Bergstroem of Sweden in Women's Singles Round 1 match 1:00pm IST.

Tennis: *Sumit Nagal vs Denis Istomin (Uzbekistan) in Men's Singles Round 1 match: 2nd match after 7:30am IST start.

Weightlifting: *Mirabai Chanu in women's 49kg: 10:20am IST.

Also read: Day 1 at at Olympics underwhelming for Indian archers

News source: TI 

Tokyo, Jul 23 (Tennis news) Indian tennis players need no less than a miraculous performance to get close to the medal rounds as an under-prepared team of Sania Mirza and debutant Ankita Raina faces a tough Ukrainian challenge in the opener while Sumit Nagal has got a tough draw in the singles competition starting Saturday. Mirza, who is making a record fourth Olympic appearance, and debutant Raina are going into the Olympics without playing a single competitive match together this year, which is far from ideal preparation for the biggest sporting event on earth.

The last time Mirza and Raina shared the court was in March 2020 during the Billie Jean King Cup.

They will open their campaign against Ukraine's twin sisters Nadiia and Lyudmyla Kichenok.

"Every match is going to be a challenge and we will take one match at a time. Because Of pandemic and quarantine rules we were playing different tournaments. So after Fed Cup we didn’t get a chance to play together," Raina told PTI.

However, Mirza has tons of experience and she is playing with a player who is known to punch above her weight while representing the nation.

Raina has a big heart for fight but it will all depend on the performance of Mirza, who has not been in the best of form with her serve being an issue.

During the recent Wimbledon championships, Mirza gradually upped her game from the baseline but her feeble serve was easily tackled by the rivals.

Interestingly, when Mirza returned to competitive tennis after the COVID-19 induced break in March this year, she and her Sloveinan partner Andreja Klepac had faced the same Ukrainian sister pair and had prevailed. Ranked as low as 137 post maternity break, 34-year-old Mirza has played only eight matches this season with a 4-4 win-loss record.

Also read: Deemed 'extreme risk' nation, India denied entry into ITF World Junior Finals

The 28-year-old Raina, ranked 100, has just one singles main draw victory to show since the beginning of the 2021 season.

In the doubles, she grabbed her first ever WTA title with partner Kamila Rakhimova at the Phillip Island Trophy in Melbourne in February and broke into doubles top-100 but suffered five straight first round defeats after that.

Had it not been for Mirza's Protected Ranking of nine, India would not have a women's doubles team at the Games.

In complete contrast, Nadiia, ranked 44, had played eight WTA Tour events with her sister Lyudmyla Kichenok, ranked 48, in 2020 and one this year.

Together they did not enjoy much success but Nadiia otherwise had decent results with Romania's Raluca Olaru in 2021.

They won the won St Petersburg (WTA 500) in March and reached the semifinals in Stuttgart (WTA 500) in April and ended runners-up in Bad Homburg last month.

If Mirza and Raina win their opener, they could face American eighth seeds Nicole Melichar (doubles world number 9) and Alison Riske (singles world number 36) in the next round.

In the men's singles, Nagal is extremely lucky to get an entry into the Olympics as with a rank of 144 on the cut-off date of June 14, he was far away from making the cut.

However, a spate of withdrawals pushed him inside.

Nagal's recent performances do not inspire confidence though at the start of the season he had pulled off the biggest victory of his career when he beat then world number 22 Cristian Garin.

However, after that he has managed only two quarterfinal appearances at the Challenger level, struggling badly on the Tour.

Nagal had hinted that he was struggling with some health issues and that was the reason for him not getting the desired results.

He faces Asian Games champion Denis Istomin in his first round. The Uzbekistan veteran had won the quota from the 2018 Jakarta Games by taking the men's singles title.

The grinder that Nagal is, there is a possibility of him getting past the 34-year-old Uzbek but the Indian may next face world number two and Australian Open runner-up Danill Medvedev from Russia and that could be end of the road for him.

News source: PTI 

New Delhi, Jul 22 (Tennis news) The Indian team has been denied entry into the upcoming ITF World Junior Tennis Finals in Prostejov as India has been classified as 'extreme risk' nation in COVID times.

The Czech Republic Embassy here has refused to issue visas to the players.

The All India Tennis Association (AITA) earlier this month named a three-member Under-14 boys team comprising of Rethin Pranav RS, Kriish Ajay Tyagi and Tejas Ahuja for the prestigious tournament, scheduled to be held from August 2 to 7.

The AITA reached out to the Sports Ministry on July 17, seeking intervention in the matter and the SAI subsequently approached the External Affairs Ministry on July 19.

But the matter remained unresolved. "It's unfortunate. The boys needed exposure. If they had to deny us visas, why did the ITF enter our team in the tournament," said AITA secretary General Anil Dhupar.

Also read: Tennis player Sumit Nagal to face Denis Istomin in opening round at Tokyo Olympics

India reeled under a horrific second wave of coronavirus but the situation has improved now, prompting the central and state and governments to re-open the economy.

News Source: PTI 

Tokyo, Jul 22 (Tennis news) Indian tennis player Sumit Nagal will face Uzbekistan's Denis Istomin in the opening round of the men's singles event at the Tokyo Olympics, starting here on Friday.

Nagal, who qualified for the Games last week after large-scale withdrawals, was pitted against the lower-ranked Uzbek in the draw on Thursday.

A first-round win for the 23-year-old Indian, ranked 160, could see him face second-seeded Russia's Daniil Medvedev, who takes on Alexander Bublik in his opening round match.

In women's doubles, six-time Grand Slam champion Sania Mirza and Ankita Raina will lock horns with the Kichenok twins -- Nadiia and Lyudmyla -- of Ukraine in the opening round.

Interestingly, Mirza had paired up with Nadiia after returning from her maternity leave to win the Hobart Open last year.

Also read: AITA Secretary General Anil Dhupar rues Bopanna and Mirza comments on social media, calls it inappropriate and misleading

News source: PTI 

New Delhi, Jul 20 (Sports news) Rohan Bopanna's act of making public his conversation with All India Tennis Association (AITA) secretary general Anil Dhupar will be referred to its ethics and managing committee, the sports body said on Tuesday.

AITA also released its complete correspondence with the International Tennis Federation (ITF) concerning the qualification of India's men doubles team for the Tokyo Olympics.

Seeking to clear the air around the negative perception created by comments of Bopanna and Sania Mirza, the AITA put on record how it aggressively pursued the case of Bopanna and Divij Sharan for an entry into the Games, between June 28 and July 16.

The e-mail correspondence revealed that on July 2, AITA demanded a clarification from ITF on how the world body gave entry to USA (CR 118), Spain (CR 170) and Portugal (CR 204) in the men's doubles despite the fact that their combined rank was below Bopanna and Sharan's rank of 113.

Another correspondence revealed that AITA pleaded with ITF to consider Bopanna and Sharan's feat of the 2018 Asian Games for an entry.

The ITF, though, back in 2018, had announced that only the singles winners would be given the Asian Continental quota.

AITA made public the correspondence after Bopanna tweeted a video of a call-recording in which Dhupar was heard saying the ITF had accepted Bopanna and Sharan's entry in the men's doubles.

Dhupar was heard telling Bopanna to "keep his fingers crossed, maybe we get good news (of qualification) tomorrow." When specifically asked by Bopanna if his and Sharan's entry has been accepted, Dhupar replied in an affirmative.

Bopanna's contention was that why the AITA gave him false hopes of qualification.

"This act of recording a call and making it public will not be accepted. The matter will be looked into by AITA's managing committee and the ethics committee," Dhupar told PTI.

"The two committees will decide if a disciplinary action is required against Bopanna." Dhupar said the "unfortunate" episode may change the way the federation deals with the players.

"I am afraid that it is a possibility we will interact with the players only through e-mails, so that everything is crystal clear. They can't go on recording calls and making it public.

"I will not be surprised if other sports federation also take note of what Bopanna did and start communicate with their players in a different way," he said.

Asked if Bopanna would be considered for selection in India's Davis Cup team, Dhupar refused to comment.

"I can't say what will happen but if an action is recommended against him, his name will not be given to the selection committee for consideration." The selection committee is usually given 15 names after checking availability of the players to pick a five-man squad.

India next take on Finland in an away tie in September.

The controversy began when it to came light that AITA said it has withdrawn Sharan and has paired Bopanna with Sumit Nagal so that India can have a better chance to qualify for the men's doubles.

Also read: AITA says why did Bopanna not qualify on his own after player accuses it of misleading on nomination

The ITF cited rules to say that a change was not possible and that even if India were to pair Bopanna with Nagal, the new pairing would not qualify.

The AITA though remained optimistic that more withdrawals may push the Indian team in the competition. Dhupar said they even had asked for a wild card for Leander Paes so that the legendry player could get a record eighth appearances at the Olympic Games.

"We wanted that Leander gets this unprecedented feat but ITF told us that there were no wild cards this time. We fought for Bopanna and Sharan also but unfortunately they could not get in. It was not our fault that they could not qualify due to their rankings," he said.

In the release, AITA also did not appreciate Sania saying that a medal chance in the mixed team has been sacrificed.

"Even the comments of Sania Mirza are most inappropriate, because there was no possibility of her being able to partner Rohan in the Mixed Doubles event till he qualified.

"Ranking of Rohan with Divij or Sumit Nagal were not good enough for qualification. So how did we we lose an opportunity to win medals either in men’s doubles or mixed doubles.

"This tweets and statements of Mr. Bopanna are condemned unequivocally by the AITA," the statement read.

News source: PTI

With the Tokyo Olympics just around the corner, controversy surrounding veteran Indian tennis player Rohan Bopanna and AITA continues over the Tokyo 2020 Olympics qualification. Taking to Twitter, Bopanna accused the Indian body of misleading him, resulting in a public exchange between the two parties.

In an exclusive interaction with SPOGO, the Hon’ Secretary General of AITA Mr. Anil Dhupar clarified the controversy that has made waves on social media and condemned the tweets by Indian senior tennis players Rohan Bopanna and Sania Mirza.

Full statement below:

“These tweets by Rohan Bopanna and Sania Mirza are most inappropriate and misleading. They are without facts, in fact I’m shocked that they don’t know the basic knowledge about the guidelines regarding the ITF rules about getting entry into the Olympics. I don’t understand Rohan and Sania’s frustration and they are most unwarranted. To make things clear, it’s up to the players who get good ranking who get into the qualifying of the Olympics. The Federation does not have a wild card to make our own kids enter into the Olympic qualifying.”

“Till 16th of July, Divij (Sharan) and Rohan (Bopanna), who are our best doubles players, were on the waiting list. All of a sudden, we received the good news from ITF on the 16th of July that Sumit Nagal has qualified to play singles. Anybody in the tennis fraternity who understands the sport knows that when a doubles player participates in the Olympics, they are also entitled to play the mixed doubles, the entry is not separate. We were very happy that we will be able to get doubles entry now with the singles entry of Sumit Nagal as the IOC has already mentioned in their rules that singles players will have priority over doubles players. Everyone is aware of this, including Mr. Rohan Bopanna”

“Since 16th of July was a Friday, we sent a note to the ITF that since our singles player has been included, we would like to change our nomination from Rohan - Divij to Rohan Bopanna and Sumit Nagal, if the rules permit. They wrote back to us on the 16th itself that there is no provision to change the nomination unless a player is injured, illness or due to special circumstances. However, this proposal will be open for seven hours and even if the nomination is accepted, the new player will not qualify as there are two better singles players already in the pipeline, so they became number three.”

“If Mr. Rohan Bopanna does not have a better ranking and he is not getting qualification because of that, then what is he talking about? Our job is to promote tennis, send recommendations which we are doing day in and out and instead of appreciating the efforts of the Federation, there are words being used that are not appreciated at all. We at AITA condemn his (Rohan Bopanna) and Sania Mirza’s statements. Sania doesn’t know if there is no men’s double entry, how does one win the medal? We feel proud that she is the only Indian lady to feature in the Olympics for the fourth time, but she is supporting a cause that she’s well aware of, despite that she is still writing things for reasons I don’t know.”

“If a men’s doubles team is not entered into the Olympics qualifying, no mixed doubles can be played. Everyone is aware of this, including Sania (Mirza) so why is she saying that we lost an opportunity to win a medal? No you have not lost, because losing is when we are not able to send the team. It is the ITF rules and it’s a sad thing for Indians as tennis players who have been supported by TOPS, who have been funding Indian players are unable to qualify. It’s bad luck.”

“Making such comments will not help the tennis fraternity or the sport at all. The fact is that we tried our best, despite the lack of time. The good news is, Sumit Nagal is playing singles and we applied for accreditation, invitation and other formalities for him on Saturday which needs to be done because of COVID. We only had Saturday and Monday where his application needed to be approved and I’m thankful to the Indian Olympic Association, the Deputy Chief Dr Prem Verma who worked very hard on Saturday evening and Monday to get Nagal his accreditation and invitation and he is flying to Tokyo today (20th July).”

“Through good teamwork we have managed to secure his entry in 24 hours, so allegations and words are only showing their frustration, we are all feeling bad that India is not playing doubles. For senior players to speak out, tweeting, retweeting, deleting and recording is not showing maturity. Nobody in the world can record without their consent, it’s against the law. Stop all these things Mr. Rohan Bopanna, we all feel proud of your achievements, you still have the age to accomplish more things and we can do that together.”

Also read: The Golden Slam Awaits Novak Djokovic at the Tokyo Olympics

New Delhi, Jul 19 (Tennis news) Doubles player Rohan Bopanna, who failed to make the cut for the Tokyo Olympics along with Divij Sharan because of their low combined rank, on Monday accused AITA of misleading everyone by claiming it had changed the combination by pairing him with Sumit Nagal for a shot at qualification.

The All India Tennis Association (AITA) hit back at Bopanna by saying that it only tried to help him since he could not qualify on his own.

The AITA had announced the nomination of Bopanna and Sharan for the men's doubles event of the Tokyo Games.

However, Bopanna (38) and Sharan (75), with a low combined rank of 113 missed out on qualification. According to the International Tennis Federation (ITF), a few days before the July 16 deadline, they were the fifth alternate.

But, after Nagal made the cut for the men's singles on July 16 following large-scale withdrawals, AITA saw hope in getting a men's doubles team's entry since singles players were being given the priority to fill the doubles draws.

The AITA announced that it had changed the combination by pairing Bopanna with Nagal.

Also read: Tennis player Nagal makes singles cut for Tokyo Olympics; AITA pairs him with Bopanna, withdraws Sharan

"ITF has never accepted an entry for Sumit Nagal & myself. ITF was clear that no changes were allowed after the nomination deadline (22nd June) unless Injury/Illness. AITA has mislead the players, government, media and everyone else by stating we still have a chance," Bopanna tweeted.

AITA secretary general Anil Dhupar said they reached out to the ITF for changing the nomination.

"We wrote to the ITF that we want to change the nomination and now want to pair Bopanna with Nagal, so please advise us how to go forward. While they said changing the nomination was possible only in case of injury and illness and also under special circumstances, they said they would keep us posted even as only seven hours are left for deadline to expire," Dhupar told PTI.

"So, where is the question of misleading anyone. How are we supposed to gain by it? The fact is that Bopanna's ranking was not good enough for qualification. We only tried to help him so that he could compete in the Games. Why he did not qualify on his own?" Reacting to Bopanna's tweet, Sania Mirza wrote, "Whaaattt??? If this is true then it's absolutely ridiculous and shameful..by this it also means that we have sacrificed a very good shot at a medal in the mixed doubles if you and I would have played as planned. We were both told that you and Sumit's names have been given." However, the question of missing out on a shot at medal in the mixed doubles does not arise since Bopanna could not qualify for the men's doubles.

Only those players can play the mixed event who are are already part of the singles or doubles draw.

The tennis competition opens on July 24.

News source: PTI

New Delhi, Jul 16 (Tennis news) Indian tennis player Sumit Nagal on Friday made the cut for the men's singles event of the Tokyo Olympics as large-scale withdrawals pushed him inside the qualification mark.

The All India Tennis Association (AITA) promptly paired him with Rohan Bopanna for the men's doubles competition by withdrawing Divij Sharan's nomination.

The International Tennis Federation (ITF) communicated to the AITA that Nagal was eligible for men's singles, hours before the deadline for entries expires.

Nagal was ranked 144 on June 14, when ATP rankings were to be considered for direct entries.

Till Thursday, the cut-off was in the range of 130 as Yuki Bhambri, with his protected ranking of 127, made the cut.

However, since he recently underwent a procedure on his right knee in the US, he has made himself unavailable and confirmed it to the PTI.

The stringent protocols under which the Games are being held and the fear of contracting the coronavirus has pushed many to withdraw, forcing the authorities to keep lowering the cut-off mark.

Prajnesh Gunneswaran was ranked 148 on June 14 and it remains to be seen if he also makes the cut by the time the deadline ends at 8:30pm IST.

"ITF has confirmed Nagal's entry for singles. We spoke to him and he accepted his entry. We have approached IOA and requested to arrange for his accreditation," Anil Dhupar, AITA's secretary general, told said.

Since the ITF is giving priority to singles players for filling up the men's doubles draw, AITA sniffed a chance to get a spot by fielding Nagal with Bopanna, who was earlier nominated with Divij Sharan.

Bopanna and Sharan, with a combined rank of 113, till Friday morning formed the fourth alternate team.

"We have withdrawn Divij Sharan's nomination and sent a new team to ITF. Let' see if Bopanna and Nagal can enter," Dhupar added.

It is imperative that Bopanna makes the cut for the men's doubles because it is highly unlikely that Nagal and Sania Mirza would make it to the mixed doubles event, which is a 16-team affair.

Also read: Tennis player Nagal now eligible for Tokyo singles draw, Yuki misses out due to injury

The ITF, as of now, has not confirmed if Bopanna and Nagal can enter the men's doubles.

"We are not in a position to speculate on doubles scenarios. Gunneswaran is still a few places below the cut-off," an ITF official told PTI.

As of now only Sania Mirza and Ankita Raina are certain to compete in the women's doubles draw. Sania used her protected rank of nine to enter with Ankita.

All top-10 players get direct entry and have the privilege to choose a partner of their choice, who is ranked inside top-300.

News source: PTI

New Delhi, Jul 16 (Tennis news) Indian tennis player Sumit Nagal is now eligible to compete in the men's singles event at the Tokyo Olympics, the world governing body ITF has communicated to the AITA, a source in the national tennis body said on Friday.

Nagal was ranked 144 on June 14, when ATP rankings were to be considered for direct entries.

Another specialist singles player Prajnesh Gunneswaran was ranked 148 and it remains to be seen if he also makes the cut as the deadline for accepting tennis entries is closing in a few hours from now.

The stringent protocols under which the Games are being held and the fear of contracting coronavirus has forced many withdrawals that kept lowering the cut-off mark.

"We have received a mail from the ITF that Sumit is now eligible. They have asked for his details. We have started the process of getting him in," an AITA official told PTI.

Yuki Bhambri, with his Protected Ranking of 127, also made the cut but since he recently underwent a procedure on his right knee in the US, he has made himself unavailable.

Also read: Touching 40s, India's Table Tennis great Sharath Kamal hits peak ahead of Tokyo Olympics

"I won't be playing," Bhambri told PTI in a terse message.

If Nagal can make it to Tokyo by completing all the required formalities, it remains to be seen if he makes the doubles draw with Rohan Bopanna, who could not enter with Divij Sharan till now.

Bopanna and Sharan's combined rank is 113 and they were still fifth alternate recently.

ITF is giving priority to the singles players to fill the doubles draw.

Nagal's entry would also mean that India can now have a team in the mixed doubles draw as well.

As of now only Sania Mirza and Ankita Raina are certain to compete in the women's doubles draw. Sania used her protected rank of nine to enter with Ankita.

All top-10 players get direct entry and have the privilege to choose a partner of their choice, who is ranked inside top-300.

News source: PTI

London, Jul 11 (Tennis news) Indo-American tennis player Samir Banerjee lifted the Wimbledon boys' singles title on Sunday, a remarkable triumph for the youngster who was testing his skills in a Grand Slam for only the second time in his fledgling career.

All of 17, the player from New Jersey just wanted to win a match at the biggest stage in the junior circuit, but little did he know that he would be the last boy standing at the hallowed grass courts.

And that too when he did not have his coach Carlos Esteban with him since his wife had reportedly tested positive for COVID-19.

Up against compatriot Victor Lilov, the teenager won 7-5 6-3 in the summit clash that lasted one hour 22 minutes. He broke his rival thrice and dropped serve only once in the facile triumph.

"It's going to be amazing, this trophy is going to be my centrepiece, I'm going to look at this and be inspired to keep playing and hopefully come back here as a pro," he was quoted as saying by the Wimbledon website.

"I really just wanted to win a round, I didn't expect this. I had a tough French Open, lost to a good player.

"So here I just wanted to keep my expectations low so that if I passed them, then I'd be happy. But this was way beyond my wildest dreams," he said to a round of applause from the crowd.

Since the coach was unavailable, Banerjee 's uncle Kanad accompanied him.

"My uncle is here, he's not technically a tennis coach, but if these results keep happening then I should start travelling with him more," he said jokingly.

As Lilov's backhand sailed over the baseline on match-point, Banerjee dropped his racquet, put both his hands on his head in disbelief as if to say that this was not what he expected to do but still accomplished.

"Remember the name - Samir Banerjee. The American wins his first junior Grand Slam singles title by beating Victor Lilov in the boys' singles final," the official twitter handle of the Championships posted.

Legendary Indian tennis player Vijay Amritraj congratulated Banerjee.

"Wonderful win for Indian American 17 yr old Samir Bannerjee in the boys singles at Wimbledon 2021. Wish him well for a great future," the 67-year old who reached singles quarterfinals at Wimbledon and US Open tweeted.

Banerjee's father Kunal was born in Assam, and his mother Usha was brought up in Andhra Pradesh before both migrated to the USA in the mid-1980s and got married there.

The youngster, reportedly, will take a break from the tour to enroll for a degree in either economics or political science at the Columbia University in the coming months.

Also read: Mirza-Bopanna pair ousted from Wimbledon Championships

While Banerjee's victory is a testament to the system that US Tennis Association has put in place, India has been struggling to field a worthy contender at junior Grand Slams for some time now.

Due to the lack of a robust domestic circuit and not having enough competitions at home to earn world ranking points, India has been struggling to create the next crop of youngsters.

Yuki Bhambri was the last Indian to win a junior singles title when he triumphed at the Australian Open in 2009 while Sumit Nagal won the Wimbledon boys' doubles event in 2015 with Vietnam's Ly Hoang Nam.

Ramanathan Krishnan was the first Indian to win a junior major when he won the 1954 Junior Wimbledon championship.

His son Ramesh Krishnan won the 1970 junior Wimbledon and junior French Open titles while Leander Paes won the 1990 junior Wimbledon and junior US Open.

Paes was also a runner-up at the junior Australian Open.

News source: PTI

New Delhi, Jun 26 The national tennis federation has requested the ITF to consider Ankita Raina's bronze-medal winning performance at the 2018 Asian Games for a place in the women's singles draw of the Tokyo Olympics since the gold and silver medallists from China are eligible for a direct entry due to their higher ranks.

Ankita had won a bronze at the 2018 Asian Games, where the winner was assured of a Continental qualification place in the women's singles draw at the Tokyo Olympics.

Wang Qiang had won the gold while her Chinese compatriot Zhang Shuai took silver at the Games held in Jakarta and Palembang.

As per the June 14 WTA rankings, both Zhang (world number 36) Shuai (world number 38) are eligible for direct entry.

The ITF rules for the eligibility criteria state that athletes who achieve both a Continental Games qualification place and subsequently a Direct Acceptance ranking, will qualify using the Continental Qualification quota place.

As per the ITF rules, if the winner does not accept the quota or becomes ineligible for it, the Continental place can be given to the silver medallist and so on.

However, the All India Tennis Association (AITA) has written to the International Tennis Federation (ITF) that Ankita be considered for an entry so that the country can have representation at the Games in the singles event. "We wrote to them about Ankita's entry through the Continental route and they said they will let us know," a senior AITA official told PTI.

"It makes sense that the Continental place is given to the next best performer if gold and silver medal winners can make it to the draw basis their higher rank." Ankita was ranked 181 on June 14 when the rankings were considered for direct entries.

With such a low rank even mass withdrawal won't help in the draw of 64.

Ankita, though, will make her Olympic debut in Tokyo in the women's doubles after being picked as partner by Sania Mirza, who was assured of direct entry due to her top-10 rank.

Sania has used her protected ranking (9) to enter the Olympics.

Meanwhile, reliable sources have said India will not be able to have representation in the men's singles since the cut fell at 105 and India's best players -- Sumit Nagal (144) and Prajnesh Gunneswaran (148) are not even close to the mark.

It remains to be seen if Rohan Bopanna (38) and Divij Sharan (75) will get entry in the men's doubles. Their combined rank of 113 as of June 14 means that their qualification would depend on withdrawal of teams from other nations.

Bopanna and Sharan had won the gold at the Asian Games but the quota was kept only for the singles winners.

If India won't be able to field a team in the men's doubles, then the country will also go unrepresented in the mixed doubles event since the 16-team competition will have players only from main draws of other events. News source PTI

Paris, Jun 7 India's campaign in the French Open came to an end as Rohan Bopanna and his Croatian partner Franko Skugor lost their men's doubles quarterfinal here on Monday.

The 41-year-old Bopanna and Skugos went down 5-7 3-6 to the Spanish duo of Pablo Andujar and Pedro Martinez in a match that lasted one hour and 17 minutes.

The unseeded Indo-Croat pairing had received a walkover in the pre-quarters on Sunday against Netherlands' Matwe Middelkoop and Marcelo Arevalo of El Salvador.

Last week, Divij Sharan and Ankita Raina had lost their opening round matches of men's and women's doubles events respectively In the singles events, Sumit Nagal, Ramkumar Ramanathan, Prajnesh Guneswaran and Ankita had failed to enter the main draw. New source PTI 

Paris, May 27 India's top player Sumit Nagal could not make a hat-trick of Grand Slam main draw appearances following a straight-set defeat in the second round of the French Open Qualifying event here.

The Haryana youngster crashed out of the Clay Court major with a 3-6 3-6 loss to Alejandro Tabilo from Chile, last night.

In the engrossing contest that lasted one-and-a-half-hours, Nagal could break the serve of his rival, ranked 23 places below him at 146, only twice while he himself dropped his serve five times.

With the defeat of the 23-year-old from Jhajjar, India's challenge has ended in the Qualifiers.

Ramkumar Ramanathan, Prajnesh Guneswaran and Ankita Raina have already exited from the tournament.

Now India will be represented through Rohan Bopanna and Divij Sharan in the men's doubles main draw.

It is crucial for both of them to earn ranking points by going deep in the draw since the official rankings of June 10 will decide which players make the cut for the Tokyo Olympics.

Sania Mirza has decided not to compete in this tournament as she wanted to use her 'special ranking' to enter the Wimbledon Championships. New source PTI

Paris, May 26 Ankita Raina's yet another attempt to qualify for the singles main draw of a Grand Slam failed as she bowed out of the French Open Qualifiers with a second-round defeat, here on Wednesday.

Ankita, up against higher-ranked German Greet Minnen, could win only two games in the entire match that lasted one hour and 21 minutes.

The 125th ranked Indian could convert only one of the three break points and eventually lost 2-6 0-6.

It was Ankita's seventh attempt to crack the singles main draw of a major. She had reached the final round of the Australian Open qualifying event early this year, falling at the final stage.

Ramkumar Ramanathan also crashed out with a tame 1-6 2-6 defeat against Uzbekistan's Denis Istomin.

Sumit Nagal is now the only Indian left in fray for a main draw berth. He will take on Alejandro Tabilo in his second round. New source PTI

Paris, May 26 Ankita Raina's yet another attempt to qualify for the singles main draw of a Grand Slam failed as she bowed out of the French Open Qualifiers with a second-round defeat, here on Wednesday.

Ankita, up against higher-ranked German Greet Minnen, could win only two games in the entire match that lasted one hour and 21 minutes.

The 125th ranked Indian could convert only one of the three break points and eventually lost 2-6 0-6.

It was Ankita's seventh attempt to crack the singles main draw of a major. She had reached the final round of the Australian Open qualifying event early this year, falling at the final stage.

Later Wednesday, Ramkumar Ramanathan and Sumit Nagal will take court for their respective men's singles second round matches. New source PTI 

Paris, May 25 India's Ramkumar Ramanathan advanced to the men's singles second round of the French Open Qualifiers but Prajnesh Gunneswaran crashed out following his first-round defeat, here on Tuesday.

Ramkumar erased a one-set deficit to beat American Michael Mmoh 2-6 7-6(4) 6-3 in his opening round that lasted one hour and 54 minutes.

He will next take on Uzbekistan's veteran Denis Istomin, who also recorded a three-set win against Bosnia's Damir Dzumhur.

However, left-handed Prajnesh, seeded 32nd, suffered a rather tame 2-6 2-6 loss to Germany's Oscar Otte.

India's top singles player Sumit Nagal, seeded 27th, will open his campaign against Roberto Marcora. New source PTI 

Buenos Aires, Mar 6 (PTI) Playing a fearless brand of tennis, India's Sumit Nagal ran world number 46 Albert Ramos-Vinolas close before exiting the ATP Argentina Open after suffering a three-set defeat in the men's singles quarter-final here. His relentless hitting kept Nagal in the match despite trailing 2-5 in the decider. Eventually, errors at key moments spelled his ouster, losing 6-4 2-6 5-7 in the quarter-final contest that lasted two hours and 26 minutes. It is Nagal's best performance on the ATP tour after entering the event as a Qualifier. The gutsy show earned Nagal 45 main draw ranking points that will push him to 132 from the current 150th slot. Yet again Nagal's trademark inside-out forehand was at work as he put the Spaniard under the pump. Had it not been for some marginal errors from Nagal and luck that favored Ramos-Vinolas, it would have been a different result for the Indian, who had shocked world number 22 Christian Garin in the previous round. Nagal said the performance has strengthened his belief that he can compete at this level. "I always felt that. I have had a lot of close matches with top-60 players recently. So I am there and I am glad I am playing at a higher level," Nagal told PTI. Asked about the powerful shots that he kept producing in the marathon match, Nagal said, "I thought that was the right thing to do." "I still need to improve a lot and be able to keep hitting those with fewer errors. I am building it (fitness) back as it is different from practice. Mental stress also affects your body a lot," he said. Nagal admitted that on clay courts, he expresses himself better but he won't put himself under pressure to get into top-100 in this clay-court season. "Definitely, it suits my game. I enjoy it more on clay but at the same time, I am getting better on hard courts day by day. It was unfortunate I was so rusty during the Australian trip but those were the circumstances," he said. "I just want to keep competing and be well. I am not putting myself under any pressure (for breaking into top-100). Let's see," he said. Nagal earned USD 9240 as prize money for his effort.

Buenos Aires, Mar 4 (PTI) India's Sumit Nagal registered the biggest win of his career when he stunned second seed Cristian Garin of Chile in straight sets to enter the quarterfinals of the Argentina Open ATP 250 tournament here. Nagal, ranked 150, produced high-class tennis on Wednesday to register an impressive 6-4 6-3 second-round win over his Chilean rival, who has ranked way above at the 22nd spot in the ATP chart. Nagal will play Spain's Albert Ramos-Vinolas, in what will be the Indian's maiden quarterfinal appearance at the ATP Tour level. Ramos-Vinolas had defeated Dominik Koepfer of Germany 7-5 6-4.

Melbourne, Feb 1 (PTI) India's Sumit Nagal began his 2021 season with an opening round defeat at the Murray River Open, losing in straight sets to Ricardas Berankis, here on Monday in the run up to the Australian Open. Nagal, who does not give up easily, suffered a rather tame 2-6 2-6 defeat in the USD 320775 ATP250 event. The Indian, ranked 139 in the ATP singles chart could convert none of the two break chances he earned while dropped his serve four times in the match against the world number 72 from Lithuania. It is first competitive event for all the players who have assembled in Melbourne for season's first Grand Slam and have completed quarantine. Bopanna, who served a hard quarantine, has been paired with Denmark's Frederik Nielsen for the Murray River Open and they will open their campaign against Australian wild card pair of James Duckworth and Marc Polmans. Bopanna is going into the event without much practice as protocols required him to stay inside his room for 14 straight days. He stepped out only on January 30. Divij Sharan and Igor Zelenay will clash with Guillermo Duran and Albert Ramos-Vinolas in their opening round.

Melbourne, Jan 30 (PTI) Indian tennis star Rohan Bopanna's search to look for a partner for the men's doubles competition at the Australian Open ended on Saturday as he tied up with Japan's Ben McLachlan for the season's first Grand Slam. Bopanna had originally paired with Joao Sousa but the Portuguese contracted coronavirus virus, forcing them to pull out. Bopanna, who served a 14-day hard quarantine after arriving in Melbourne on January 16, informed that Ben and he were in the same boat. "I got lucky there. Unfortunately Ben's partner Raven Klassen had to pull out and Ben was looking for a partner, so we finally decided to commit and sign up together. I am looking forward to see how it goes. Definitely was not easy to find partners, happy to have found one," Bopanna told PTI. Australian Open will begin on February 8 under strict COVID-19 protocols. Apart from Bopanna, India will have Divij Sharan in the men's doubles event while Sumit Nagal will compete in the men's singles on a wild card. Ankita Raina is waiting to find out if she gets 'lucky loser' spot in the women's singles.

New Delhi, Jan 27 (PTI) The hotel room wall is helping him get some practice and an online course keeping boredom at bay. Rohan Bopanna's build-up to the season-opening Australian Open has been far from ideal so far as he waits for his day of freedom -- January 30. The 40-year-old was on one of the three flights out of a total of 17 Tennis Australia-arranged chartered planes, that landed in Melbourne with positive cases on board. He is in his 10th straight day of hard 'quarantine' ever since -- confined to his room. However, the veteran, who left Bangalore on January 15 and had a 25-hour layover in Doha before reaching Melbourne, would not call it an ordeal just yet. "If you test positive, you would be in hard quarantine but what we did not know that if someone on your flight tests positive then everyone also had to be in hard quarantine. That's what happened," Bopanna told PTI from Melbourne. "My coach Scott Davidoff was also in one of those three flights and they also told him that he can't leave for 14 days and follow hard quarantine." Bopanna has empathy for the organisers, who, he says, are facing a huge challenge in ensuring a smooth run for the competition but can't hide his own frustration either. "We still are not allowed in any circumstances. Practice is out (of question). Maximum I have done is against the wall in this small room. Whatever fitness I can do in this room. Luckily Tennis Australia helped with Uber Eats (app) that delivers nice food," he said. "They have done their very best to help the players. Craig Tiley (Tournament Director) is extremely hard working. Everyday they have zoom calls, speaking to the players who are in hard quarantine. It's been extremely difficult (for players)," he explained. It's not the same for other Indians though. Ankita Raina, Sumit Nagal and Divij Sharan are getting five hours outside their rooms for on-court practice, gym sessions, eating and travelling to courts. Bopanna said he was not prepared for such the situation he is in. What is worse is that his partner for the Australian Open -- Portugal's Joao Sousa -- tested positive for coronavirus, forcing him to pull out. The Indian is now looking for a partner from among the players who are already in Melbourne. "Ideally, to get into a Grand Slam, it's not the situation you want to be in. I had a good off-season and a training camp at the academy. (N Sriram) Balaji and Riya (Bhatia) had come down from Delhi. Former national champion Niki Poonacha, was also there. "That was unfortunate that you are getting prepared and now you are not able to step out of your room for 14 days. I get out on 30th and 31st is when the first ATP event of the season starts. "I don't know how I will be in that situation, I have never been in this situation before, where I have not practised and gotten straight into a tournament. It will be new experience. "I am looking for a partner who I can get in with as an alternate. I need to find someone high enough to play with me. I am sure I will get but going into a Grand Slam, it's not the best preparation." The rules specified that players could only choose between coach and physio for travel to Melbourne and Bopanna thought having coach would be better. "Looking back I would have loved to have physio with me. That's where I am at now." So, what else he is doing apart from hitting against the wall. "I am doing some online courses, keeping myself busy." Bopanna had completed a course in International Entertainment and Sports Marketing from Yonsei University before enrolling himself to a new one. "I am doing a lot of video calls back home with my wife, daughter, friends, I am talking to them. A few players have also been talking to me, asking how I am doing." "Interesting past 8-9 days. 30th is the day, I get my freedom."

Melbourne, Jan 13 (PTI) Ankita Raina's bid to qualify for a Grand Slam singles main draw failed yet again when she lost the final round of the Australian Open qualifying event to Serbian Olga Danilovic on Wednesday. In the women's singles qualifiers being held in Dubai, Ankita lost the third and final round 2-6 6-3 1-6 to her Serbian opponent in almost two hours. Not being able to win points on her first serve hurt Ankita. It was the Indian's sixth attempt to qualify for a competition at the grand stage. Her defeat means that Sumit Nagal will be the only Indian to compete in the singles event of the first Grand Slam of the season. Nagal has been awarded a wild card entry into the men's singles. Ramkumar Ramanathan had lost in the first round of the men's singles event while Prajnesh Gunneswaran lost his second round to French player Constant Lestienne 2-6 3-6.