Teimuraz Kakulia

Teimuraz Kakulia, born in Tbilisi on 26 April 1947 and died there on 25 August 2006, was a Soviet tennis player and later a Soviet and Georgian tennis coach. He started playing at eleven and spent much of his career in the shadow of his friend Alex Metreveli, losing to him five times in the singles finals of the USSR championships, although together they won five men's doubles titles at the Soviet championships. His highlights include bronze in the mixed doubles exhibition event at the 1968 Olympic Games, three titles at the 1973 Summer Universiade, a men's doubles semifinal at the 1972 Australian Open and a fourth round at the 1976 US Open. He helped the Soviet Davis Cup team win the Europe Zone in 1974 and 1976, and in 1977 he received the rank of Distinguished Master of Sport of the USSR. As a coach he trained Leila Meskhi, a bronze medallist at the 1992 Olympics.