Goemkarponn desk
Panaji: In an interesting quirk of fate, upcoming under-14 and under- 18, Tennis star Tithee Bhoomkar will face one of her closest friends Vidhi Naik in the finals of the TNS PG Open Tennis tournament at the Panjim Gymkhana, while Darsh Pai will face-off with Vivaan Agarwal in the boys under-14 years category.
Tithee demolished Ahana Kumar (6-0) to reach the finals of the girls under-14 years event, while her friend and competitor Vidhi overcame a challenge from Gargi Oak (6-4) to set up a summit clash in their category.
In the boys under-14 years category, Darsh Pai swept away his semi-final opponent Arhan Gaonkar without dropping a game winning (6-0), while Vivaan Agarwal beat Kyan Mavany (6-3) in the semi-finals.
Darsh also entered the finals in the boys’ under-18 years category defeating Kabir Gadre (6-2), while Gauraang Phutankar had a relatively easy outing against Krishna Volvoikar (6-1). Darsh and Gauraang will face each other in the final match to decide the winner of the category in the ongoing TNS PG Open Tennis tournament.
In the men’s 45 years plus category, Mano Chhabra will meet Richard in the finals. Chhabra defeated Ashwin Chandiok (6-4, 6-2), while Richard had to overcome a resurgent Manoj, eventually winning the three-setter. Richard won the first set (6-3), before losing the next one to Manoj (2-6). The two had to endure a tenacious super tie-breaker, but Richard held his nerve, winning the last leg (10-7).
In the mixed doubles event semi-final match Bulu, and Tanya defeated Prajat and Tashina (4-0, 4-1) in a best-of-three mini-sets format. In the same category, Santosh/Archana beat Prithvi/Atika (4-2; 4-1) to reach the finals.
Sachin/Kevin defeated Anupam/Rakesh (6-1, 6-0) to enter the finals of the men’s 45 years plus doubles event, while Sameer/Sandeep beat Avinash/Gurudas (6-1, 6-0) to enter finals of the 55 years plus men’s doubles category.
Nearly 140 Tennis players across eleven categories are participating in the state ranking Tennis tournament.
The tournament, which is co-organised by the Goa State Tennis Association and the Panjim Gymkhana, is critical for Goan professional Tennis players keen on enhancing their state ranking.
