Rahul, Nidhi champs

Hyderabad: Nidhi Pargha and Rahul Chandna in under-12, Surya Bansal and Sanjana Sirimalla in under-10, and V. Preetan and P. Lasya in the under-14 age category were crowned champions at the Andhra Pradesh state ranking tennis tournament, organised by the Andhra Pradesh Lawn Tennis Association at Ace Tennis Academy at Begumpet in Hyderabad.

Apart from Surya, Rahul and Nidhi, every player had to work hard for victory. After an initial struggle, Surya took little time in defeating Mukund Reddy 9-4 in the under-10 boys’ final. Rahul, in the under-12 boys’ summit clash, breezed to a 9-2 victory over Harshit Kosaraju.

Nidhi, facing Srujana in the under-12 girls’ title round, registered a comfortable 9-3 win to lift the trophy.

Srujana tried to make amends for her under-12 loss in the under-10 girls’ final. She was locked in a fierce struggle with Sanjana. Both girls traded blows across the court for most of the match. It was only in the end that Sanjana broke her opponent’s serve. She then held her own to wrap up a hard-fought 9-7 victory for the title.

Lasya and Smriti Bhasin locked horns in the girls under-14 final, which was just as keenly-contested. Smriti pushed Lasya hard right from the start of the match. She matched Lasya stroke for ­stroke and even broke ahead but Lasya pulled her way back in.

Just when it seemed like the match was headed for the tie-breaker, Lasya, against the run of play, effected a break of serve to gain a slender advantage. She then closed out a 9-7 victory by holding her own serve and was crowned the girls’ under-14 champion. The most thrilling passage of play was witnessed between Preetam and Kosaraju for the under-14 boys’ championship.

Both boys collided with unmatched ferocity from the very beginning of the match. Each refused to relent, and piled the pressure on the other. Neither player was able to get a break of serve as the match went into the tie-breaker.

Even in the deciding phase of the match, Preetam and Harshit battled to get ahead. When the tie-breaker was tied at 3-3, Preetam pulled ahead and eventually wrapped it up 9-8 (7-4). ­

Bowlers rule roost in one-dayers

Bowlers rule roost in one-dayers

DC Correspondent

It was a bowlers’ day out at the Hyderabad Cricket Association’s Kishan Prasad one-day knock-out championship, being played in Hyderabad, with four of them bagging five wickets or more.  
Rohan Baba (5 for 10, Gowlipura), Manikumar (6 for 40, Natraj), Adil Bin-Moosa (5 for 8, MCH) and Ashok (6 for 46, Bhartiya CC) were the pick of the bowlers.

The only players to  buck the trend were batsmen Ranjith (110 not out, Rohith XI) and Soma Sekhar (95 not out, Bhartiya CC).

City kabaddi  sides for Jr nationals

DC Correspondent

The Andhra Pradesh sides began the team championships at the 75th cadet and sub-junior national table tennis championships, being played at the MC Chouhan Indoor Stadium in Ajmer, Rajasthan.

The sub-junior boys side, comprising S. Fidel R. Snehit, V.S. Hari Krishna, Ali Mohammed and Saroj Siril, crushed Jammu & Kashmir 3-0 while the cadet boys’ team — B. Vishnu, B. Varun Shankar, A. Adwaith and Adarsh Vardhan — thrashed Jharkhand 3-0.

Among girls, the sub-juniors — Naina Jaiswal, V.V. Vaishali, Shailunoor Basha and Nagasravani — registered a comprehensive 3-0 victory ove Punjab.

For the second time in the same round, Jharkhand were subjected to a 0-3 drubbing, this time at the hands of the AP cadet girls’ side, which comprised Kazol, Ayushi Ghia, S. Mahitha and Nazeerabi.

AP paddlers continue to march on

DC Correspondent

The following players are representing Hyderabad in the boys’ and girls’ events at the 40th junior national kabaddi championships, being played in Beng-aluru. S. Kishore is leading the boys’ side while B. Kalpana is the girls’ captain.

The squads: Boys: S. Kishore (captain), Y. Vinay Kumar, Sk Jamal Basha, P. Anvesh, P. Mallikarjun, Sk Shafi, R. Avinash, S. Bhasker, B. Bhupathi, B. Narender Reddy, B. Yankanna, N. Prashanth; Stand-by: M. Nagaraju, B. Sridhar; Coach: J. Chandramohan Goud; Manager: Sridhar Goud.

Girls: B. Kalpana (captain), M. Swathi, K. Maheshwari, G. Adilaxmi, B. Vijaya, Sabreen Begum, Ameena, M. Pallavi, T. Sahithi, K. Bhagyalaxmi, G. Nagalaxmi, Kalyani; Stand-by: Rushali, Uma; Coach: G. Madhavi; Manager: E. Raju.

Chief coach: B. Anil Kumar.