Goemkarponn desk
Panaji: Fourteen-year-old tennis prodigy Tithee Bhoomkar defeated Anjali Phillip (6-2) in the ladies singles category to proceed to the next round of the ongoing debut edition of the Bandodkar Panjim Gymkhana Open 2024.
Bhoomkar, a student of Sharada Mandir School in Miramar, who represented Goa in the recent National Games, made easy work of her opponent, as did Tashina Singh, Vidhi Naik and Aastha, who defeated their rivals Sania Lotliker, Julia Shakirova and Avni Lotlikar, respectively, without losing a game. In other games in the ladies singles category, Anna VK beat Marisa Colaco (6-1), Atika defeated Hazel Fernandes (6-1) and Archana Desai beat Smita Soni (6-4).
144 tennis players have signed up to participate in the seven-day state ranking tournament, which is 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 are being held at the Panjim Gymkhana courts.
In the open men’s singles category, Pankaj Naik and Lyndon Pinto were engaged in a head-to-head battle, winning six games each, before the former pipped the latter 11-9 in the ensuing tiebreaker. In other games in the same category, Prince De Silva trounced Malvino Pereira without losing a game, while Cherian, Siddharth N, Raviraj, Caetano Fernandes and Shay Walke defeated their rivals Kedar T, Bhalchandra Gaitonde, Sanjay Varak, Dunstan Dais and Gary Steele respectively, losing just one game in the process.
Sreenath Sreenivasan also beat Anant (6-3), Prajat Halankar beat Jai Gill (6-4), ,Pankaj Naik beat Allan Fernandes (6-4), Santosh Gorawar beat Prthvir Solanki (6-2), Ganesh beat Prithvi Naik (6-3).
In a tough match in the girls’ u-14 category, Urvi Panandikar stretched her opponent Sofia Sánchez 7-2 in a tiebreaker, after they both won six games each, even as Tvisha Sardesai beat Saanj Kunde (6-1) and Ahana Kumar beat Naimah Sharma (6-0).
The boys u-14 event also witnessed closely contested encounters like the match between Christian Fernandes and Tarshish Zolmi. Both players won six games each, before Fernandes managed to outlast Zolmi 7-4 in a tiebreaker. Samik Satardekar was also tested by Ivan game by game, before Satardekar managed to clinch a 7-5 victory. In other matches in the same category, Shaurya Verlekar and Vedant Naik defeated Isaac Carvalho and Kaivalya Devaraya, respectively, without losing a game, while Aymer Fernandes beat Arsh Sardesai (6-4), Noah Carvalho beat Devaansh Naik (6-2) Vivaan Agrawal beat Vidaal De Menezes (6-1), Adarsh Salkar beat Aarav (6-1) and Alec Barreto beat Vihaan Agrawal (6-2).
In the men’s doubles event, Sreenath Sreenivasan/Laxman Alway beat Saurabh Khanna/Raviraj (6-1), Krishna Volvoikar/Darsh Pai beat Samir Toraskar/Kedar T (6-4), Gary Steele/Rishabh Beria beat Sunil Signapurkar/Wayne (6-4), while the match between Sachin Ambre/Pankaj Naik and Prthvir Solanki/Pankaj Nanoskar turned out to be a thriller, lasting 22 games, with the former pair eventually winning the match (12-10).
Veteran players also took to the courts in the veterans’ 55+ singles category, with Savio defeating Santosh Fondekar (6-4), Jude Cardozo beat Vikrant Karandikar (6-2), Sandeep Verlekar beat Swapnil (6-0), while David Mendonsa beat Sandeep Verlekar (6-4) and Manoj Pandey won against Savio Vales (6-3). In the 45+ men’s singles category, Laxman Iyer beat Savio Vales (6-2), Dimitry beat Vinod Chandra (6-0), Sunil Signapurkar beat Valentin Fernandes (6-3), Rajnish Dhall beat Wilfred Mascarenhas (6-0), Kishor Metry beat Venctexa Burye in a tiebreaker of 6-all with 8-6, Sachin Dukle beat Anup Sardesai (6-0) and Rajesh Bundela beat Mervin Soares (6-1). In the 55+ men’s doubles event, Sadguru Desai/Kevin Rebello beat Santosh Fondekar/Rajeev Marathe (6-1).
