Victorious Indian tennis team coach Sandeep Kirtane was all praise for the trio of Jeevan Neduncheziyan, Rupesh Roy and Sanam Singh, saying their ability to stay focused throughout the tournament was instrumental in the team winning the Junior Davis Cup Asia Oceania Zone title and qualifying for the World Group.
"Even after blanking Japan 3-0 in semi-finals and qualifying for the World Group Finals, the boys focused well to beat the strong Aussie team of Matt Symons and Steve Goh in the final," Kirtane said in Mumbai on Wednesday.
"Though it was my first official tour as a coach and hardly knowing the boys well initially, I was more than satisfied with the team's performance as only 16 teams make it to the finals," he added.
Praising the performance of each player, the former Davis Cupper said, "Neduncheziyan from Chennai gave us sound starts whenever we needed it. In fact, he never dropped a set throughout the tournament and looked very solid in his approach. He simply demoralized Aussie lad Symons 6-2, 6-4 to give his team a fine start in the final.
"Roy from Kolkata is a bit temperamental but played his heart out against Steven Goh. After dropping the first set 2-6, he went on to win the second singles 2-6, 6-4, 6-4. He just needed a little bit of probing to keep him focused while Singh showed his mettle whenever he got an opportunity," Kirtane added.
"The boys recorded some memorable wins in the tournament. They started off with a 3-0 drubbing of South Korea and an identical win against The Philippines in the league stage," the Pune star said.
"In the quarter-finals, the boys again blanked Thailand 2-0. They were a bit tense before the semi-final clash against Japan as that was very important match to qualify for the Finals but played their heart out to sideline the Japanese 3-0.
"They recorded a creditable win in the final and have really done the country proud by giving me a dream debut as a coach," he added.
