Lowther not concerned with lack of practice

THE IRISH women's tennis team have an excellent chance of beating the odds against them due to a lack of competition in next week's Federation Cup Group Two series at the Israel Tennis Centre.

Team manager Peter Lowther, who flies out with his four strong squad this evening, yesterday made his usual honest assessment of his teams prospects.

"I don't believe that a lack of competitive practice will be a major factor. Sometimes when players come home, after living out of a suitcase, to play in a competition like this, the danger of them being fatigued is always a huge threat. I am happy to see that Gina (Niland) Claire (Curran) and Lesley (O'Halloran) are going out fresh. Phillipa (Palmer) figured in a $10,000 tournament in the States earlier this year," he said

Given the circumstances, however, Lowther admits the he would not wish to meet the strongest team in the group at the outset of the competition. "I am optimistic that we can win our group given the knowledge I have from last year of likely opponents whom we beat previously," he added.

Up to six teams are believed to have opted out of the competition. These include Kenya and Egypt. This has given rise to a different format which will now entail four groups of five nations. The top two in each group will contest play offs at the conclusion of the round robin. From this, four teams will qualify for promotion.

Depending on the draw, Poland and the hosts are favourites to clinch two of those places. Both squads have players ranked in the world's top 200.

Schoolgirl Curran was the only player in the squad to miss yesterday's practice. She is in her Leaving Certificate year and was duly excused.

Putting the books down has made it the most difficult week of all for the young Belfast girl but her record in these tournaments are encouraging. "She won three matches off the cuff against her opponents last year and is ranked 85th in the world in the Junior rankings," revealed Lowther.

Karen Nugent will be a huge loss to the Irish team. She is currently on the injured list. "As the week moves on I expect our team to settle in and give a good account of themselves," said Lowther. Play begins on Monday and the play offs are down for Saturday week.