India to play Pakistan in Asia Cup

NEW DELHI, Nov 23: Early this morning, the amused laughter that rang through the Crystal Ballroom at Hotel Inter Continental when India was ...

NEW DELHI, Nov 23: Early this morning, the amused laughter that rang through the Crystal Ballroom at Hotel Inter Continental when India was picked to play Pakistan in the first round of the 84,000 Asia Cup was far louder than the polite cheers that peppered the opening Korea-Thailand tie later on the RK Khanna Stadium showcourt.

And, though the thin turnout on a chilly November evening wasn8217;t really a surprise, the quiet rescheduling of the originally scheduled India-Pakistan tie to Tuesday was the real dampener.

With the frills of an inaugural ceremony and other stuff cut out this time around, the second edition of the Asian team championship got off to a nice and quiet start with Korea swamping Thailand in straight sets.

In the first tie, Korea8217;s Hueng Keon Song No 1103 held serve throughout and stroked cleanly to romp to a 6-2, 6-1 win over Attapol Rithiwatanapom. The second rubber featuring 259th ranked Hyung Taik Lee against Narathorn Srichaphan, promised more classy tennis, but there wasnothing more than the ordinary on offer today.

Broken in the very first game, Lee took all of the first set just to loosen up, and was lucky that his opponent never really got into the match. Keeping the ball safe and deep, Lee gratefully wrapped it up on Srichaphan8217;s unforced errors. Late in the second set, Srichaphan set off visions of a Thai revival holding serve to set up a 4-5 scoreline. But Lee held serve and closed it out on his first volley 8212; the only time he moved in on his first serve throughout the match.

Three other quarter-finals 8212; Chinese Taipei vs Indonesia, China vs Uzbekistan and India vs Pakistan 8212; will be played on Tuesday.

Results: 1st quarter-final

Korea bt Thailand

Singles: Hyeong-Keun Song Korea bt Attapol Rithiwatanpom Thai 6-2, 6-1

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Hyung Taik Lee Korea bt Narathorn Srichaphan Thai 6-3, 6-4

Uncertainty over women8217;s team for Asiad

NEW DELHI: The fate of the women8217;s tennis team for the Asian Games is still in a limbo even as the AITA topbrass is caught up with the second edition of the Asia Cup at the DTA courts.While all six players 8211; Leander Paes, Mahesh Bhupathi, Syed Fazaluddin, Prahlad Srinath, Vijay Kannan and Nitin Kirtane 8211; have been cleared for the men8217;s team, only three women 8212; Nirupama, Uzma Khan and Sai Jayalakshmi 8212; have been cleared in the original list of six.So the young Shruti Dhawan, who had a wonderful run at the recently concluded ITF Future Circuit, Rushmi Chakravarty and Manisha Malhotra may not board the Bangkok flight.According to a source in the Indian Olympic Association, a recent ministerial meeting came round to the view that the girls are a medal prospect only in the mixed doubles event but not in the singles and doubles event.