India sweeps the team gold medals in South Asian Games tennis
Sriram Balaji provided some hope for Pakistan to make a fight of it, but pulled up his game together after the first set as India subdued Pakistan 2-0 in the men’s tennis final in the South Asian Games in Kathmandu on Wednesday.
After Balaji’s 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 victory over Muzammil Murtaza, Saketh Myneni outplayed Aqeel Khan for the loss of four games, to make the doubles redundant.
The pair of Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi and Aqeel Khan, which was scheduled to play Vishnu Vardhan and Manish Sureshkumar thus got to conserve the energy for the individual competition.
The Indian women did not drop a set in beating Sri Lanka in the final for the gold medal.
Both the Indian men’s and women’s teams had beaten Nepal in the semifinals.
Saketh Myneni and Sowjanya Bavisetti have been seeded No.1 in the singles events for men and women respectively.
Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan and Sriram Balaji are the top seeds in men’s doubles and are likely to play Aqeel Khan and Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi in the semifinals.
Sravya Shivani Chilakalapudi and Bhuvana Kalva are the top seeds in the women’s doubles. Prerna Bhambri and Prarthana Thombare form the second team.
In the mixed doubles, Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan and Prarthana Thombare are the top seeds. Sowjanya Bavisetti and Sriram Balaji form the second seeds.
Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi will parnter Ushna Suhail as the leading mixed doubles team for Pakistan.
The results:
Men (final): India bt Pakistan 2-0 (Sriram Balaji bt Muzammil Murtaza 4-6, 6-3, 6-3; Saketh Myneni bt Aqeel Khan 6-2, 6-2).
Semifinals: India bt Nepal 3-0 (Manish Sureshkumar bt Pranav Khanal 6-1, 6-0; Saketh Myneni bt Samrakshyak Bajracharya 6-1, 6-1; Niki Poonacha & Sriram Balaji bt Pradip Khadka & Santosh Khatri 6-3, 6-2).
Women (final): India bt Sri Lanka 3-0 (Prerna Bhambri bt Anika Seneviratne 6-1, 6-3; Sathwika Sama bt Anjalika Kurera 6-4, 6-3; Sowjanya Bavisetti & Sravya Shivani Chilakalapudi bt Alana Seneviratne & Rukshika Wijesooriya 6-2, 6-1).
Semifinals: India bt Nepal 3-0 (Bhuvana Kalva bt Saloni Tamang 6-2, 6-1; Sathwika Sama bt Prerna Koirala 6-1, 6-0; Prerna Bhambri & Sravya Shivani Chilakalapudi bt Abhilasha Bista & Ira Meharnissa Rawat 7-5, 6-1).
(Courtesy: The Hindu)
