Sunday, Dec 21, 2003
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Tennis
By Kamesh Srivinasan
Perhaps, chastened by the experience, the 20-year-old wiry lad, did not take any chances in front of a small gathering, that watched in stunned disbelief as he pounded his way to a 6-3, 6-2, 6-1 victory over local lad Divij Sharan in the final of the DSCL National tennis championship at the DLTA Complex here on Saturday. Serving and stroking with flair and intelligence, playing the points with considerable craft and intensity, Punna Vishal literally toyed with the left-handed Divij who played within his limitations. Divij had possibly played his best a day too soon in overcoming a crafty player like Vinod Sridhar in making it to the final. There was an attempt to preserve Divij on the eve of the final, as his doubles final scheduled for Friday evening was postponed to Saturday, so that he could be at his best for the men's final in the morning. It was a costly decision, as DLTA doled out airfare to the outstation finalists of the men's and women's doubles finals, to assuage their feelings for a last minute change in the programme. The ploy looked to have worked when Divij broke Punna Vishal in the third game of the first set, but the Hyderabad lad was playing far too well to be swayed by the odd setback, like when he was broken for the second time in the seventh game. Once his game fell into a groove, Punna Vishal proved just too good, breaking Divij five times in the second and third sets, and eight times overall. Obviously, Divij was drained, both physically and mentally, and was unable to cope with the overwhelming game of Punna Vishal who had the punch as much as delectable touch, which he combined in good measure to cruise home in an hour and 40 minutes. It was a great credit to Divij, that he came back in the boys' final to put up a brave fight against the Dubai-based Navdeep Singh, who has all the makings of a champion, to say the least. Meanwhile, in a family affair, Ankita Bhambri beat her younger sister Sanaa comfortably to assert her authority. To make the Bhambri family proud, the sisters combined nicely to clinch the women's doubles title also. The Chairman of DSCL, Mr. Ajay Shriram, gave away the prizes. The results (finals): Men: Punna Vishal bt Divij Sharan 6-3, 6-2, 6-1; Doubles: Ajay Ramaswami/Rishi Sridhar bt Somdev Dev Varman/Divij Sharan 7-6 (9-7), 6-1. Women: Ankita Bhambri bt Sanaa Bhambri 6-3, 6-3; Doubles: Sanaa Bhambri/Ankita Bhambri bt Geeta Manohar/Archana Venkataraman 6-1, 6-2. Boys: Navdeep Singh bt Divij Sharan 6-3, 3-6, 6-3; Girls: S. Punam Reddy bt Madura Ranganathan 6-0, 6-7 (3-7), 6-2.
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