But all the cheers of people watching him, and his own skill and determination could not help Sunil Kumar from being outplayed by a much more experienced opponent. Croatia's Ivan Vajda beat him 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 in the first round of the BPL-ATP Challenger here on Monday.

It was a disastrous day for India. Sandeep Kirtane conceded his match because of a back problem to Britain's Luke Milligan after four games, Mustafa Ghouse was overpowered by Croatian Ivo Karlovic 3-6, 1-6 and Asian No 1 Paradorn Srichaphan (Thailand) walloped India No 4 Syed Fazaluddin 6-3, 6-3. Two local lads, Lucky Losers Debashish Tilak and Alok Bhatnagar who came in when Britain's James Davidson and Uzbekistan'sAnton Kokurin failed to show up -- were also among the Indian casualty list. Croatia's Ivan Vajda beat Tilak 6-0, 6-1 and Britain's Martin Lee defeated Bhatnagar 6-1, 6-0.

RESULTS

1st round: Luke Milligan (Britain) bt Sandeep Kirtane (India) 4-0 conceded, Ivan Vajda (Croatia) bt Debashish Tilak (India) 6-0, 6-1, Tuomas Ketola (Finland) bt Yuri Schukin (Russia) 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (7-5); Ivo Karlovic (Croatia) bt Mustafa Ghouse (India) 6-3, 6-1; Martin Lee (Britain) bt Alok Bhatnagar (India) 6-1, 6-0; Vladimir Platenik (Slovakia) bt Sunil Kumar (India) 3-6, 6-3, 6-2; Paradorn Srichaphan (Thailand) bt Syed Fazaluddin (India) 6-3, 6-3

Doubles (1st round): J Jimenez Guerra & I Karlovic Bt H Bollich & J Sood 6-1, 6-2, T Anzari & Oleg Ogorodov bt Y Schukin Vajda 6-2, 3-6, 6-3.