Shekar Veeraswamy bags wheelchair tennis crown
CHENNAI: Shekar Veeraswamy of Karnataka defeated S Balachandar of Tamil Nadu 6-4, 7-5 in straight sets to bag the singles crown at the Marina Open AITA ranking wheelchair tennis tournament.
Shekar served and returned brilliantly to take the first set rather comfortably at 6-2. In the second set, the defending champion Balachandar put up a brave fight. Balachandar used the drop shot to great effect and served four aces but against that he served 12 doubles faults, four of them in the last game which proved his undoing.
The men’s singles winner received prize money of `30,000 and 30 AITA points and the runner-up received Rs 25,000 and 22 AITA points. The women’s singles winner received Rs 13,000 and 15 points and the runner-up got Rs 6,000 and 12 AITA points.
Indian hockey legend V Baskaran and Paneesh Rao, Human Resources head of L&T, gave away the prizes.
Results: (all finals): Singles: Men: Shekar Veeraswamy (KA) bt S Balachandar (TN) 6-4, 7-5. Women: Prathima Rao (KA) bt Shilpa KP (KA) 7-6 (7), 6-1. Doubles: Women: Final round robin round: Prathima Rao (KA)/Shilpa KP (KA) bt Geeta Chouhan (MH)/Khushbu Ganatra (KA) 6-0, 6-0. Men: Final: Shekar Veeraswamy (KA)/Balachandar S (TN) bt D Mariappan(TN)/Sathasivam Kannupayan (TN) 6-2, 6-2.
Harish shines
V Harish’s four-wicket haul (4/4) helped St John’s, Baba Nagar beat Jawahar Vidyalaya B, Ashok Nagar by 73 runs in the TNCA City schools U-14 tournament, for the B Somasundaram Trophy.
Brief scores: AVM Rajeswari MHSS Virugambakkam 113/6 in 17 ovs (K Harentraa Sai 3/9) bt Vidya Mandir SSS ‘B’ Mylapore 57/8 in 17 ovs; Chinmaya Vidyalaya, Anna Nagar 150/7 in 30 ovs (S Sreeshanth 60, J. Charudhathan 3/20) bt SBOA MHSS, Anna Nagar 81 in 19.5 ovs (S Bharath Raj 32, M Poojith 4/16); St John’s MHSS, Baba Nagar 114/7 in 15 ovs (SJ Madan Kumar 52, M Anush 30) bt Jawahar Vidyalaya SSS ‘B’ Ashok Nagar 41 in 12.2 ovs (V Harish 4/4); Nellai Nadar MHSS ‘B’, Kottivakkam 157/2 in 30 ovs (VB Adhvai 76 n.o, M Bharath 48 n.o) bt St Bede’s Academy, Mylapore 153/7 in 30 ovs (P Suyash Sethiya 58, B Sai Karthik 34). MCC HSS, Chetpet 143/5 in 30 ovs (V Ashwathaman 34) bt St Johns English School & Jr College, Besant Nagar 72 in 19.4 ovs (Marvin 5/22). Bala Vidya Mandir SSS, Adyar 111/8 in 30 ovs (S Pranav 4/33) lost to Kola Perumal Chetty Vaishnav SSS, Arumbakkam 112 for no loss in 18.3 ovs (R Prayath 50 n.o, R Madhan 43 n.o). Everwin MHSS, Kolathur 173/3 in 30 ovs (I Massiullah 61 n.o) bt Sir Sivaswami Kalalaya SSS, Mylapore 121 in 27.4 ovs (R Gireeshwaran 56, VK Vineeth 4/13). St Johns Public School, Jalladianpet 99 in 24.1 ovs (R Mike Harrison 30, Madhav Maheswari 4/26) bt Sir Mutha School, Chetpet 81 in 24.2 ovs.
Anirudh scalps seven
Anirudh Balaji’s penetrative bowling of 7 for 29 paved the way for Thiruvallur to bundle out Erode for a paltry 90 on the first day of the pre-quarterfinals of the TNCA inter-districts U-14 tournament. In reply, Thiruvallur were 12 for 1 in five overs at stumps.
Brief scores: Erode 90 in 64.5 ovs (P Ragul 39, Anirudh Balaji 7/29) vs Thiruvallur 12/1 in 5 ovs; Kancheepuram 99 in 39 overs (B Mohamed Jaffar 6/26) and 60/1 in 16 ovs vs Nagapattinam 38 in 30.3 overs (S Sachin 3/24, J Mohamed Naimudin Aashif 5/7).
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