Rushil Khosla and Bushan Haobam underlined their potential as they helped India win the gold in the Asia-Oceania Junior Davis Cup under-16 boys’ tennis tournament at the DLTA Complex here on Thursday.
Even though qualifying for the World Group as one of the top three teams in the region was the basic goal, it was an icing on the cake as India beat Japan 2-1 in the final, with Rushil and Bushan winning the decisive doubles 6-3, 6-4.
Reviving fortunes
Rushil, playing the best tennis of his fledgling career so far, put up a high-quality fare in reviving India’s fortunes in the final, by beating Yuta Tomida 6-3, 3-6, 6-0. Bushan had earlier lost the first singles in three sets to Naoya Honda.
After five hours of battle, the teams were on par when Rushil and Bushan played an inspiring spell, especially in the second set of doubles when they recovered from being down 1-4 to close out the match in straight sets.
Captain Sajid Lodi played a splendid role in pepping up Bushan with constant encouragements, and cajoling Rushil to keep a cool head during their singles matches. Rushil tended to get carried away in the second set, but recovered remarkably to play a superlative game in the decider of the singles in affixing his stamp of authority on the contest.
Australia took the third qualification spot by beating Kazakhstan 2-0, thanks to the efforts of Charlie Camus and Hayden Jones.
The results:
Final: India bt Japan 2-1 (Bushan Haobam lost to Naoya Honda 3-6, 6-3, 2-6; Rushil Khosla bt Yuta Tomida 6-3, 3-6, 6-0; Bushan & Rushil bt Naoya & Yuta 6-3, 6-4).
Third place: Australia bt Kazakhstan 2-0 (Charlie Camus bt Vitaliy Zatespin 6-1, 6-1; Hayden Jones bt Amir Omarkhanov 0-6, 7-6(1), 6-4).
Fifth place: Korea bt Vietnam 2-1 (Ko Min Ho bt Phat Nguyen Minh 7-5, 6-2; Kim Se Hyun bt Anh Phamla Hoang 6-3, 6-0; Kim Se Hyun & Ko Min Ho lost to Khanh Nguyen Dai & Phat Nguyen Minh walkover).
Seventh place: Singapore bt Iran 2-0 (Maximum Wong bt Sam Pazoki 6-4, 6-4; Michael Jimenez bt Kasra Rahmani 3-6, 6-3, [12-10]).
