Manisha, Nirupama routed by Aussie pair

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Sydney: It took Nirupama Vaidyanathan and Manisha Malhotra very little time to realise that they have a long way to go before they can make a mark in the higher echelons of the game.

A little over half an hour was how long they lasted in their unexpected appearance at the Sydney Olympic Games. What's more they will have to wait at least for another four years before they can win a game at this stage.

The Indian pair was lucky to get a last-minute call, as another pair pulled out. Today the local pair, Jelena Dokic and Rennae Stubbs handed them a "double bagel" as the Americans call a 6-0, 6- 0 defeat.

The Australians seeded sixth showed no mercy and simply steamrollered over the Indians. So one-sided was the match, it turned embarrassing at stages.

The Indians won a mere seven points in the first set, and two of them came via double faults from the Australians. In the second set, things were only marginally better as the Indian pair scrambled to collect 11 points, but no game.

The Indians thus won a total of 18 points as against 50 by the Australians and that should give some indication of the massacre on show court. Clinical in their approach, the Australians converted their break points at the first available opportunity and did not waste any.

It was not as if the Australians played any super tennis, but it was just that the outclassed Indians were also overawed by the occasion. Not even in their wildest dreams had they thought they would get a chance to play the Olympics and had separate plans on the Satellite and Challenger Tours.

Nirupama was in US and Manisha in France, on way to playing to some club tennis, when news of an Olympic entry trickled in. The Indian pair got an entry at the very last minute when German player, Anke Huber, pulled out and so her partner, Jana Kandarr, too, could not figure in the doubles.

India Abroad News Service



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