"The opposition was better." It was a simple statement but the best to explain India's 0-3 loss to sixth-seeded China in the Asia/Oceania final qualifying stage of the Junior Davis Cup at DLTA on Tuesday.
The Indian under-16 boys cried out loud and threw tantrums on court while their Chinese opponents remained calm and focussed on the job. The defeat means that India are out of contention for a quarterfinal berth and will be fighting to retain a place in the top-15 of the event.
For India No. 2, Fatehdeep Singh, it was the same story as yesterday. Making unforced errors and committing double faults, he was overpowered by Ze-Yu Li 4-6, 3-6 in one-and-a-half hours.
In the second singles, Shaik Abdullah began well. He ran around the court, rallied and forced his opponent, Si-Yu Liu, to make errors. However, his luck ran out soon. The Chinese youngster rectified his mistakes and took control of the match. Even though Abdullah tried hard, he had a problem finishing his shots and finally, after an hour and 15 minutes, the scoreboard read 3-6, 0-6.
The doubles tie proved to be a disaster. Singh and Garvit Batra were simply outplayed by Li and Zhi-Cheng Zhu 1-6, 2-6 in less than an hour. The Indian boys couldn't find their rhythm and, to top it all, didn't make an effort to run for the ball.
{{/usCountry}}The doubles tie proved to be a disaster. Singh and Garvit Batra were simply outplayed by Li and Zhi-Cheng Zhu 1-6, 2-6 in less than an hour. The Indian boys couldn't find their rhythm and, to top it all, didn't make an effort to run for the ball.
{{/usCountry}}"They were better than us," said a visibly disappointed Vishal Uppal, the team captain. "We take on Sri Lanka tomorrow (Wednesday) and must beat them. If we do, we will then play for the 9-12 positions. If we lose, we will fight for the 13-15 positions. Hopefully, tomorrow will yield a better result."