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Indian boys fail to make ITF World finals

May 22, 2003 18:57 IST

India's boys' team went down to unseeded Indonesia in the quarter-finals of the World junior tennis Asia/Oceania qualifying tournament, at Melbourne Park National Tennis Centre, Melbourne, Australia, on Thursday.

India were shocked 1-2 and thus failed to qualify for the ITF World Junior finals, to be held in the Czech Republic, from August 11-16.

India lost both the singles matches. India No. 1 Arnav Jain went down to Fendy Gunawan of Indonesia 3-6, 5-7, while Agnel Gladwin lost to Indonesian No. 1 Agung Bagus Dewantoro 1-6, 1-6.

Indonesia conceded the doubles match.

In the other quarter-final matches, Japan defeated Chinese Taipei 3-0, Australia defeated Korea 3-0 and The Philippines surprised second seeds Thailand 2-1.

In the semi-finals, to be played on Friday, Japan will face Indonesia while Australia will take on The Philippines.

India now have to play-off for 5/6th places.

In the girls' section, fourth seeds India went down to third seeds Thailand 1-2 in their last round-robin match, but qualified for the quarter-finals as one of the two best third-placed teams from the groups.

In the quarter-final match against Japan on Thursday, they were tied a match apiece when rain halted play.

Shweta Kakhandkli defeated Mayo Kato of Japan 7-5, 6-1 to give her team a flying start. But Japan No. 1 Ayumi Morita defeated Ashmitha Easwaramurthi 4-6, 6-1, 6-0 to restore parity.

The deciding doubles will be played on Friday morning.

In the other quarter-finals, New Zealand defeated Indonesia 2-1; Thailand beat Chinese Taipei 2-1 and Australia defeated Malaysia 3-0.

The teams advancing to last four stage will qualify for the world finals.

The ITF World Junior Tennis competition began in 1991 as an international team competition for boys and girls aged 14 and under.