India overwhelmed Sri Lanka 3-0, dropping just nine games in all in winning two singles and a doubles match within a span of three hours, in a league match of little consequence in the Asia-Oceania Junior Fed Cup under-16 tennis tournament here on Thursday.
It was little consolation after India's defeat at the hands of seeded teams, Australia and Thailand, but it provided the host a chance to finish ninth or closer in a field of 16 teams.
Except for Chinese Taipei which qualified ahead of the seventh-seeded Hong Kong, the rest of the seven seeded teams, Japan, Korea, New Zealand, Thailand, Indonesia, Kazakhstan and Australia made the knock-out. The top four from the zone will qualify for the World Group competition.
India, on its part, will meet Malaysia which finished fourth in Group ‘D', in the first match for minor placings.
RESULT: Group A: Chinese Taipei bt China 3-0; Japan bt Hong Kong 2-1; Group B: Australia bt Thailand 3-0; India bt Sri Lanka 3-0 (Jasmine Kaur Bajaj bt Shankari Thayakaran 6-4, 6-1; Tahira Bhatti bt Vinuri Wickramaratne 6-1, 6-0; Jasmine Kaur Bajaj-Snehadevi Reddy bt Dinushki Ranasinghe-Shankari Thayakaran 6-1, 6-2);Group C: Uzbekistan bt Singapore 3-0; Indonesia bt Korea 2-1; Group D: Philippines bt Malaysia 2-1; Kazakhstan bt Malaysia 3-0; New Zealand bt Kazakhstan 2-1. — source: www.thehindu.com
