The Hindu : Sport / Tennis : Vinay, Poojashree triumph

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Oct 16, 2004

Sport

Sport - Tennis

Vinay, Poojashree triumph

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, OCT. 15. Top-seeded Vinay Kamineni recovered from a slow start to outsmart the second-seeded Sriram Balaji 2-6, 6-4, 6-3 in the final of the DSCL National mini-junior tennis championship at the DLTA Complex here on Friday.

It was Balaji who looked the better player as he served and stroked with authority, but only till he lost his way in the fifth game of the second set. It was Vinay who called the shots thereafter as the lad from Vishakapatnam counter-attacked to regain the initiative and played quite sensibly in the climax to emerge a worthy winner.

Balaji had his chances despite being broken in that fifth game of the second set as he broke back in the eighth game. The Tamil Nadu lad erred repeatedly in the ninth game in dropping serve and with it surrendered the advantage that he had held over his opponent with his all-round game.

Vinay served out the second set, and broke Balaji in the first game of the decider in providing a decisive twist to the course of the contest. Balaji was tentative in the climax and resorted to a defensive game even as Vinay pushed his level up by a notch for a smooth finish.

In the girls' event, the second-seeded Poojashree Venkatesh was not tested much by the seventh-seeded G. S. Janaki Rao.

In fact, none of the players were able to check the progress of Poojashree, a trainee with the National Tennis Academy (NTA), as she dropped a mere 12 games in all in five matches, in walking away with the trophy.

From that viewpoint, Janaki can take solace from the fact that she could eke out five games in the final.

In the veterans' doubles final, the fourth-seeded Sanjeev Kassal and R. I. Singh tamed Sudhir Batra and Naresh Vatwani in straight sets.

Ajay Shriram, chairman, DCM Shriram Consolidated Limited, gave away the prizes and assured the participants that efforts would be made to further improve the profile of the tournament.

The results (finals):

Boys under-14: Vinay Kamineni bt Sriram Balaji 2-6, 6-4, 6-3.

Girls under-14: Poojashree Venkatesh bt G. S. Janaki Rao 6-3, 6-2.

Veterans doubles: Sanjeev Kassal & R.I. Singh bt Sudhir Batra & Naresh Vatwani 6-4, 6-4.

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