When India’s opponent for its next Davis Cup fixture was announced, many would have struggled to place the tiny nation of Togo on the world map, leave alone its chances against the home team. Watching its players train at the R.K. Khanna Stadium here, however, makes it clear the Indians may have a fight on their hands.
Captain Rohit Rajpal admits to it and his Togolese counterpart Ali Agnamba hopes for it. At stake is a place in the World Group 1, something the Indians keep flitting in and out of and the Togolese have never reached. Still, coming in on the back of a remarkable run of 10 wins in 11 ties gives the visitors momentum.
“Yes and no. I think every match is different, every country you play has different types of challenges. The good thing for us right now is that we are united as a team and we are playing together. We are excited to be playing against India and we know the home crowd is going to be behind them but we understand,” Agnamba said after an intense training session.
The players were gradually getting used to both the conditions and the courts, shaking off the last remnants of jetlag flying in from different corners of the world.
While three of the four players here — Leova Ayite Ajavon, M’lapa Tingou Akomlo and Thomas Yaka Kofi Setodji — train and coach in France, Hod’abalo Isak Padio is a college student in the USA, where Agnamba is also based.
“That is the worrying part. You have a team that is doing well — and they’ve reached almost where we are at the moment and they’ve beaten Indonesia, Latvia, these are good teams — and we don’t have much information on them.
Normally we have the data and we are much more confident. But now we’re going to spend a lot of time watching them, make notes and take it from there,” Rajpal admitted, keenly observing the Togo training while the Indian players took a short lunch break.
World No. 73 Togo’s last match was against Latvia, ranked 27 places higher, and won 4-0. India is further up, at 38.
Published – January 30, 2025 12:17 pm IST