India romp into World Under-14 tennis finals

Sumit Prakash and Rupesh Roy did India proud by making it a brilliant finish in the Asia-Oceania qualifying tournament for the World junior (under-14) tennis tournament, at the Sri Lanka Tennis Association courts in Colombo on Sunday.

Having already made sure of qualifying for the World Group on Saturday, the Indian squad won their final against Australia 2-0 on Sunday.

Both Rupesh and Sumit won their respective singles, after routing China earlier in the day, by an identical margin.

Sumit defeated Stephen Fotakis 6-2, 6-2, while Rupesh overcame a stiff challenge from Todd Ley, winning 7-5, 6-4.

The duo had an easy win in the semi-finals against China. Prakash Gupta, the Indian No.2 from Utttar Pradesh, came out with an outstanding performance to oust Peiji A of China 6-2, 7-6 (5) while his team mate Rupesh Roy won his match against Hao Zhu in style 6-1, 6-4.

The 2002 World Junior Tennis finals will take place in Prostejov, the Czech Republic, during the week of August 12.

Four teams, India, Australia, Korea and China qualified from the Asia-Oceania group for the finals. The Czech Republic, as host nation, has automatically qualifed for the finals.

In the tournament, the most notable performance came from India. They secured the No.1 place, defeating China and then Australia twice, in style. The Indians were ranked No.5 prior to the championships.

Earlier reports:
India enter the knock-out stage
India takes 2-0 lead