Nagoya, Sept. 25 -- India have been handed a challenging draw in the Asian Games men's singles tennis competition, with seventh seed Sumit Nagal facing a particularly demanding route to the medal rounds, while 11th seed Dhakshineswar Suresh too has a tricky path in his half featuring top seed Coleman Wong.
Nagal seeded seventh, has received a first-round bye and will open his campaign against South Korea's Hong Seongchan, who is is now ranked way below the Indian but is a tough nut to crack.
Both Nagal and Hong were part of the recent India-Korea Davis Cup tie. Hong is returning to the competitive tennis after serving in Korean Army and is a very formidable rival. A win would put the Indian in the third round against either Tajikistan's Somon Amonov or ninth seed Sergey Fomin of Uzbekistan.
The road gets considerably tougher thereafter, with third seed Wu Yibing and eighth seed Hayato Matsuoka of Japan among the seeded players in Nagal's quarter of the draw. Wu, ranked 113, is the highest-ranked player in that section.
For Nagal, for a likely presence in the potential medal round, he will need to get past Hong Seongchan in the second round, Amonov or Fomin in the third, followed by a potential quarterfinal against Wu or Matsuoka.
Nagal will need to reach the semifinals to assure himself of a medal, making the route especially demanding given the quality of players placed in his section.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.