Goemkarponn desk
Panaji: Seventeen-year-old Simran Bundela emerged as the toast of the Bandodkar Panjim Gymkhana Open 2024, winning titles across the ladies singles, mixed doubles and girls under-18 categories, even as Mano Chhabra won the finals in two other categories, namely the men’s singles and veterans 45+ doubles events.
Raised in Goa, Simran, who started playing tennis when she was eight years old, routed Tithee Bhoomkar (6-0) (6-1) in straight, easy sets, before blanking another challenge from Tithee in the girl’s u-18 finals, defeating the latter (6-0) (6-0). However, despite being only 14 years old, Tithee showed remarkable character throughout the tournament en route to the finals, giving her best in every match along the way. In the ladies singles semifinals, Simran Bundela had defeated Anna VK (6-0) (6-0), while Tithee Bhoomkar beat Astha (6-2) (6-2).
Simran later paired up with Bulu Godinho to beat their rivals Siddharth Nunes and Aishwarya Nunes (6-0) (6-1) in the mixed doubles event. In the semifinals of the same event, Aishwarya Nunes/Siddharth Nunes defeated Marisa Colaco/Santosh Gorawar (6-4) and Simran Bundela/Bulu beat Atika Gaur/Lyndon Pinto (6-0) (6-1) to reach the finals.
In the men’s singles final, Mano Chhabra came back from a set down to defeat Santosh Gorawar (2-6) (6-4) (10-8) in a tough encounter. Gorawar had defeated Prajat Halankar (6-2) (4-6) (10-7) in the semifinal, before losing at the final hurdle. Gorawar, however, managed to secure the men’s doubles title, pairing up with Raju Kundaikar, who defeated Bulu Godinho/Mano Chhabra (6-3) (6-2).
In the veterans 45+ veterans doubles finals, Mano Chhabra and Bulu Godinho managed to defeat Ishan Bakhale/Sadguru Dessai (6-0) (6-0) to win the title in the veteran’s segment. Sachin Dukle beat Kishor Metry (6-0) (6-0) in the veteran’s 45+ men’s singles final.
In the 55+ veterans singles semifinals, Caetano Fernandes beat Manoj Pandey (4-6) (6-3) (10-6) to set up a final encounter with Sameer Kakodkar, who had defeated David Mendonsa (6-2) (6-1). In the final, however, it was Sameer Kakodkar who came up trumps, ousting Caetano Fernandes (3-6) (6-4) (10-3).
In the veterans 55+ men’s doubles finals, Sadguru Dessai/Kevin Rebello defeated Sameer Kakodkar/Sandeep Verlekar (6-0) (6-2) to win the title.
In the boys u-18 final, Shreyas Patil beat Darsh Pai (6-0) (6-1) to win the title, while in the boys u-14 finals, Vedant Naik beat Ethan De Ataide (4-3) (4-0) to emerge as champion. Previously, in the semifinals in the same age category, Vedant Naik had defeated Vivaan Agrawal (7-5), while Ethan De Ataide had beaten Kyan Mavany (6-3) to reach the final.
144 tennis players had signed up to participate in the seven-day state ranking tournament, which was supported by the Goa State Tennis Association, Panjim Gymkhana and the DB Bandodkar & Sons group. The tournament got underway on April 1. All the matches were held at the Panjim Gymkhana and Clube Tennis de Gaspar Dias courts in the state capital.
