Good start for India in
Jr. Fed Cup tennis

India won their first match against The Philippines in the Asia-Oceania girls' qualifying tournament for the junior Federation Cup tennis event, at the Gelora Senayam tennis stadium in Jakarta, Indonesia, on Tuesday.

Seeded fourth in the tournament, India are placed in Group 3 along with sixth seeds Uzbekistan, The Philippines and Indonesia. Australia are the top seeds, while China are No. 2.

Indian blanked The Philippines 3-0, with India No. 2 Ankita Bhambri defeating Alyssa Anne Labay 6-0, 6-1, and Sania Mirza winning her match against Bernardine Aurell Sepulveda 6-0, 6-4.

Bhambri then teamed up with Sania Mirza in the doubles to beat Labay / Sepulveda 6-0, 6-2 and complete the sweep.

In another Group 3 match, Indonesia beat Uzbekistan 2-1.

In Group 1, Malaysia defeated China Hong Kong 2-1.

In Group 2, Korea defeated Japan 2-1 and Thailand beat Sri Lanka 3-0.

Chinese Taipei blanked New Zealand 3-0 in a Group 4 match.

The 2002 Junior Federation Cup finals will take place in La Baule, France, from September 9.

Four teams will qualify from the Asia-Oceania group for the finals. France, as host nation, are automatic qualifiers.

The international team competition for players aged 16 and under was launched by the ITF in 1985 as the "World Youth Cup" between 1988 and 2001.

This year the ITF re-branded the boys' competition as "Junior Davis Cup". The girls' competition was also changed to "Junior Fed Cup".