Karti, the son of union minister P Chidambaram, rooted for gold medallist Somdev Devvarman before treating him to some much-needed Indian food
Karti, the son of union ministeru00a0P Chidambaram, rooted for gold medallist Somdev Devvarman before treating him to some much-needed Indian food
Somdev Devvarman had a special guest fly in from Chennai to China yesterday only to watch his Asian Games men's singles gold medal match against Uzbekistan's Denis Istomin at the Aoti Sports Complex.
Karti Chidambaram, son of Union Home Minister P Chidambaram and vice president of the All India Tennis Association told MiD DAY that he would not have missed the final at any cost. "It's the first time an Indian has reached the Asian Games singles final, which is great for Indian tennis. I had to be here," the 39-year-old politician, who is also the president of the Indian Bowling Association and patron of the Indian Karate Association, said moments after Somdev beat World No 44 Istomin 6-1, 6-2 in what proved to be a lop-sided affair. It was the 25-year-old Somdev's second gold having partnered Sanam Singh to clinch the men's doubles title 24 hours earlier.
Somdev knows Karti from his junior days in Chennai, before he went to the United States for his college. No wonder then that Karti was the first man the player hugged after his historic triumph. This, of course, just after he went over to hug his much senior opponent Istomin on court.
"Somdev and me go a long way. He's been part of Chennai tennis from his younger days, even before he went to University of Virginia. The Association has always helped him out in a number of ways like in travel, training. He is a fine Davis Cup player and today he has proved that he is the best singles player in Asia.
"In fact, the way he and Sanam won the doubles a day before was also very impressive. After Somdev won the gold at the Commonwealth Games in Delhi, people said that the level of competition was not that great due to the number of pull outs. But here, the competition was much higher and tougher, so this is surely well earned," said Karti.
Somdev's medal was only India's fourth in singles tennis at the Asiad after Leander Paes won a bronze in the 1994 Hiroshima Games, followed by two bronze medals won by Mahesh Bhupathi and Prahlad Srinath in the 1998 Bangkok Games. "Somdev's achievement is even better than Leander's. This is the gold medal after all. Somdev should get the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna for his feat," added Karti, who now has another important task at hand ufffd that of taking Somdev out to dinner.
"The first thing he told me when we met was that the food here is really bad. So I'm taking him out to dinner to the Tandoor (one of Guangzhou's best Indian restaurants). The entire Indian tennis contingent will join us too.
Five medals at the Asian Games is a fantastic achievement. More importantly they have shown us that the future of Indian tennis is secured," he signed off.
