India draw tough rivals

India draw tough rivals
VINEETA PANDEY

NEW DELHI, DECEMBER 18: After a tough final in World Doubles at Bangalore, India would definitely liked to have an easy draw, to begin with, in the Asia Cup. But it did not happen so. Toughest of the opponents, South Korea has been drawn to play with Indian men in the opening rubber on Wednesday.

Armed with their formidable Davis Cup squad, South Korea has big names like Hyung-taik Lee, ranked 99 in ATP Tour list, and Yong-il Yoon in their line-up.

Lee’s best has been reaching fourth round of US Open this year where he lost to Pete Sampras. In his quest for Olympic medal, Lee lost to Spaniard Juan Carlos Ferrero in the first round.

But India will be more watchful against China whom they meet in Beijing in February for the Davis Cup first round of the Asia-Oceania Group I Zonal rubber. Chinese too are cautious in their approach and have thus got their main squad. So, it will be a dress-rehearsal of their Davis Cup clash.

But India’s Nitin Kirtane and Harsh Mankad seemed least bothered about the draw. ‘‘It is going to be an interesting tournament and we are looking forward to it,’’ said Kirtane.

Meanwhile, Indian ladies, who will be making debut in the tournament have been drawn to play with Thailand on the opening day before they play China on Wednesday.

‘‘It will be fun playing as a team in front of home crowd,’’ said Shruti Dhawan while Rushmi Chakravarty informed that since they have already played against many of the players in the ITF circuit, they knew almost everyone’s game.

The draw for the $90,000 event was made by Union Law Minister Arun Jaitley with tournament referee Nao Kawatei of Japan assisting him. The tournament will be played on round-robin basis with top two teams making it to the final in each category.

Each team with play two singles and a doubles, almost like Davis Cup.

SCHEDULE
MEN
December 19: Thailand vs China
December 20: India vs Korea
December 21: China vs Korea, India vs Thailand
December 22: India vs China
December 23: Korea vs Thailand
December 24: final

WOMEN
December 19: India vs Thailand
December 20: India vs China
December 21: Rest day
December 22: China vs Thailand
December 23: Final

TEAMS
MEN:
India: Mahesh Bhupathi, Harsh Mankad, Syed Fazaluddin, Nitin Kirtane,Ramesh Krishnan (captain)
Thailand: Attapol Rithiwattanapon, Danai Udomchok, Supparat Chukwan, Col Yudthana Sirisuka (official)
Korea: Hyung-Taik Lee, Yong-Il Yoon, Seung-Hun Lee, Won Hong Joo (captain)China: Zhu Ben Qiang, Zhang yu, Wang Yu, Wu Bin, Sun peng, Xuan Hai Yang (official), Wang Fu Zhang (official)
WOMEN: India: Manisha Malhotra, Sai Jailakshmy, Rushmi Chakravarty, Shruti Dhawan, Nandan Bal (captain)
Thailand: Suchanan Viratprasert, orwan Lamangthong, Napaporn TongsaleeChina: Li Ting, Li Na, Sun Tian Tian, Zhang Qi (official)