Indian tennis stars face Herculean task in Asian Games

Doha, Dec 3 (UNI) For Indian tennis spearheads Leander Paes and Sania Mirza, it is going to be a herculean task to garner medals as they and their teammates face the best of the continents players in the event starting at the Asian Games here tomorrow.

With Prakash Amritraj opting out due to wrist injury and in the women's section, Sania Mirza having in her company nine of the top ten players of Asia, the task ahead for India is nothing but ardous.

Though Asia's number one women player Ai Sugiyama is not coming here but other big names including Chinese number one Li Na, ranked 21st in the world will be here.

India's hopes rest on Sania Mirza ranked sixth in Asia and 67th in the World but Li Na has several impressive wins over the world top 10 players including her stunning display in the Wimbledon this year.

The Indian on the other hand has struggled most of this year but comes here with a morale boosting victories in the Hopman Cup last week at Hyderabad.

However, China is clear favourite to dominate the women's section as another strong contender for the Gold Zheng Jie, a specialist in doubles, has also confirmed her participation .

Ranked 33rd in the world, the 23-year-old partnered another Chinese Yan Zi to crown at six tournaments this year including the Australian Open and Wimbledon, becoming the first Chinese Grand Slam champions in tennis history.

Apart from Sania, other player capable of challenging the Chinese is Aiko Nakamura. The 23-year-old Japanese, who is ranked fifth in Asia and 58th in the world, posed main threat following Ai Sugiyama's absence.

In the men's section, India's hopes suffered as Prakash Amritraj has pulled out. He was to play in singles and pair with Rohan Bopanna in the doubles and his opting out has created problem for the Indians not only in the singles but also in doubles.

Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi are the other doubles pair for India in this competition. The Koreans are also sending strong side and Indians will find hard to get past them.

In Singles, Thailand's Paradon Srichaphan is rated to be the hot favourite. Paes and Bhupathi had won a gold in doubles and Vishal Uppal/Mustafa Ghouse had settled for a bronze at Busan in 2002, then Bhupathi had paired with Manisha Malhotra for a silver in the mixed doubles, while Paes/Sania took the bronze.

But given the field, including Paradorn Srichaphan, and form Indians will be lucky if they are able to retain that four-medal tally. In such a situation there are lots of expectations from Sania Mirza and the Hyderabadi girl admitted that there was a lot of pressure on her but promised that she will go all out for a medal here.

''When all hopes are on you, it is rather more difficult. I just try to block all the pressure and it makes me work harder. It is really tough sometimes but it is my duty,'' Sania told Indian mediapersons.

''I am looking forward to the team event and that depends on the draw.'' About her chances in the singles, Sania said: ''In the singles, it is hard to say. There will probably be some unknown players coming up and there are some good players from Japan.'' But she was optimistic about her chances. ''It is really not going to be easy but we have to do our best both in the singles and team event. But my aim is to win a medal, may be a gold, for my country in singles,'' she said.

Sania will be partnering Leander Paes in the mixed doubles. ''I played with him four years back when we won a bronze medal. After that we went on to achieve our separate goals. But now we are more complete and it is really going to be exciting.'' Meanwhile Asia's No one women player Li Na has also exuded confidence of finishing at the medal podium.

''Hopefully I will play my best tennis and win a medal. I played in Doha earlier this year and reached the quarterfinals. I hope to do better now,'' said the 23-year-old, who beat Russian Vera Zvonareva and Slovakia's Daniela Hantuchova in Doha last March but lost to the eventual champion Nadia Petrova of Russia.

''I have played the whole year and this will be the last tournament. The Asian Games are held once every four years and that makes it very exciting.'' Li leads a dream Asiad Chinese squad which also includes Asian number two and Grand Slam doubles winner Zheng Jie, rising star Peng Shuai, Zheng's doubles partner Yan Zi, and Olympic champions Li Ting/Sun Tiantian.

India Team: Men: Leander Paes,Mahesh Bhupathi,Rohan Bopanna,Harsh Mankad,Karan Rastogi.

Women:Sania Mirza,Shikha Oberoi,Ankita Bhambri,Isha Lakhani,Rushmi Chakravarthi,Sandhya Nagraj.

UNI