Togo captain Alisama Agnamba, left, talks to his players M’lapa Akomlo, Liova Ajavon and Thomas Setodji during a training session ahead of the Davis Cup in New Delhi on Monday.
| Photo Credit: Kamesh Srinivasan
The Togo team arrived for the Davis Cup World Group play-off tie at the DLTA Complex, without much fanfare. Its players may not have any impressive world rank to boast, but once they got to business on the hard court for a spell of training, they showed that they could hit the ball as well as anyone.
Strong and athletic, the Togolese stars Thomas Setodji, Liova Ajavon and M’lapa Akomlo were quite fluid with their game and very impressive with the intensity of their training, under the guidance of captain Alisama Agnamba.
The president of the Togo Tennis Federation, Mawuli Ahialey, expressed delight about visiting India for Davis Cup. He hoped for a large audience for the tie on February 1 and 2, even if they all be Indian fans, so that Togo could show its African style of play.
“We know that India is a strong team, and has rich history in Davis Cup, having reached the World Group finals a few times. Our players are not professional tennis players, but they teach and coach tennis. One of our players is coming tonight from the USA. We will try to play our best,” said Ahialey.
Even though Togo had entered the Davis Cup in 1990, it was off the circuit after 2003 till it returned to the World Cup of tennis in 2022.
Quite remarkably, Togo has won 10 of its 11 ties on return, reaching the World Group play-off this time, after beating Latvia (4-0) and Indonesia (3-2).
Thomas Setodji is its main player, and the only player with a world rank, a modest 1258 in singles and 1688 in doubles.
Quite understandably, the Togo squad was happy to be playing on hard courts, which provides a level playing field for both the teams, figuratively speaking.
The Indian team went about its task efficiently, with Ramkumar Ramanathan, S. Mukund and Karan Singh sharpening their singles game, while Sriram Balaji and Rithvik Bollipalli played doubles against a few combination of players on different courts, including the centre court.
Aryan Shah, Yuvan Nandal and Chirag Duhan were keenly involved in helping the team prepare, and coach Ashutosh Singh utilised the resources and available courts to best use, allowing the captain Rohit Rajpal handle numerous responsibilities as the host.
The bright sunshine was welcome for both the teams, as they tried to work out a sweat in the pleasant conditions.
Talking to the media, the experienced Ramkumar Ramanathan, who was ranked a career-best 111 in 2018, assured that the Indian team would not underestimate Togo and would take up the challenge one rubber at a time.
Published – January 27, 2025 07:07 pm IST
