Asian Games tennis event; Kimiko Date Krumm and Tamarine Tanasugarn eying tennis gold
The Chinese tennis sensation Li Na, the forty year old Kimiko Date Krumm along with her compatriot player Tamarine Tanasugarn will lead the charge for the Asian Games tennis gold.
Li however has decided to only take part in the team event and will not feature in the women’s singles at the Asian Games which will begin on Saturday. Li is the highest ranked tennis contender from Asia.
"I hope to give my younger compatriots more opportunities to compete in international games to prepare for the London Olympics. For someone who has played at the Grand Slam and Olympics, the Asian Games seem less important. However,
I will try my best as I am competing for my country on home soil," said Li, who achieved her career high ranking of world number nine on the WTA tour back in August.
Her decision to miss the singles leaves the door open for Date Krumm to capture a second Games gold after sixteen years as she also triumphed in Hiroshima back in 1994. Kimiko, who is currently ranked number 48 in the South African Airways WTA list, will contest
in singles, doubles as well as women's team event.
When asked about her Hiroshima performance, the veteran said that she felt a compulsion to win a medal at that time and felt much relieved after eventually winning it. However, this time, Kimiko is looking to enjoy her game more than feeling any kind of pressure.
She could meet Thai top ranked contender Tanasugarn in the final here, only weeks after they faced each other in the title battle of Japan Open in Tokyo. With a combined age of seventy three, the duo were competing in the oldest
know final ever.
Tamarine is playing in the Asian Games on the fourth occasion in her career. She previously finished as runner up back in 1998 and 2002.
The Indian tennis sensation, Sania Mirza, who was recently toppled in the final of the Commonwealth Games in New Delhi, captured gold and two silver medals at the Asian Games back in 2006 and is therefore looking to add to that
total with at least one more medal.
Mikhail Kukushkin of Kazakhstan, on the other hand, will be among the favourites for the men's crown in the Guangzhou event.
The Kazakhs have destroyed foreign talent in recent seasons with more and more contenders switching allegiance to improve their chances of playing at the Olympics.
The 'guns for hire' policy is paying dividends with the nation earning a debut spot in the elite Davis Cup World Group next year having thrashed out Switzerland in the play-offs back in September.
"I do not have a problem with this as there is an agreement between our tennis federations to help each other out .This has managed to help a lot of tennis players, as they have been able to get extra funding from the Kazakh federation,
which helps them to develop. There were problems in Russia as we were unable to give them the financing they needed since we have so many good players,” said the Russian Davis Cup and Fed Cup skipper, Shamil Tarpischev.
Lu Yen-Hsun is expected to be the number one seed in China with Somdev Devvarman of India also as one of the favourites to win the title.
Mahesh Bhupathi and Leander Paes from India, who won the gold medal back in 2006, are also missing the China trip along with Aisam -ul- Haq Qureshi of Pakistan and his doubles partner Rohan Bopanna.
They are instead all scheduled to take part in the ATP World Tour Barclays in London which clash with the China event.
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