The Hindu : Sport : Tara Iyer, Akash Wagh lift crowns

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Aug 27, 2006

Sport

Sport

Tara Iyer, Akash Wagh lift crowns

Sports Reporter

CHAMPION: Tara Iyer, who won the junior National tennis championship in Chennai.

CHENNAI: Tara Iyer won the girls' under-18 final of the MCC-adidas junior National tennis championships at the Madras Cricket Club courts here on Saturday. But she expressed disappointment at not being able to produce her best. The 18-year-old wild card entrant defeated Rashmi Teltumbde 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 in a contest that dragged on for an hour and 35 minutes.

Akash Wagh beat local boy M. Fariz in the boys' under-18 final. Serving well and coming up with right angles the 16-year-old left-hander, a trainee of Mahesh Bhupathi Tennis Academy, scripted a 7-6(3), 6-4 win.

Easy

A much taller and fitter Tara had it easy against Rashmi in the first set. Serving steadily and finding the lines, the Delhi girl had no problems, breaking Rashmi in the third game and then running away with the match.

Tara attacked Rashmi's first serves at will from the baseline. To be fair to Rashmi, she did put up a good show, and especially in the second set. She had the upperhand in most of the rallies. Getting a hang of Tara's game, the 14-year-old, a great granddaughter of Dr. Ambedkar, dared to go for the lines and got them right most of the time.

Volleying when the situation demanded and making her shots count, Rashmi it seemed would make a match out of it. But the fifth game of the third set turned out to be very crucial. Returning well and hitting winners from the backcourt, Tara broke Rashmi's serve. That sole break was enough for Tara, coached by her father Parameshwaran Iyer, to run away with the match.

Quick learner

Ever a quick learner, Akash said he learnt quite a few things the last time he lost to Fariz in straight sets in the championship series in Chennai the week before the Nationals. Akash's first serves were on target, and never did he make an effort to play it safe. His huge backlift and the power he generated on both flanks proved to be more than a handful for Fariz. The Maharashtra boy simply gave no chance for the smooth-stroking Chennai lad in the first set tiebreaker, racing away after taking a 4-2 lead. Fariz had two set points at 6-5 in the first set. But in a match where service played a main part, the break in the fifth game of the second set was sufficient for Akash to win the title.

Most promising player: Boys: Irfan Hussain (TN); Girls: Kelsey Sundaram (TN).

The results (finals):

Girls' under-18: Tara Iyer (Del) bt Rashmi Teltumbde (Mah) 6-3, 3-6, 6-3; Doubles: Sandri Gangotri / G.K. Sweta bt Grace Hannah / Shalini Sahoo 6-4, 7-5; Under-14: Rashmi Teltumbde (Mah) bt V. Archana (AP) 6-4, 6-1; Doubles: Novo Patel / Shivani Singh bt Sweta Rana / Ankita Raina 6-3, 6-1.

Boys' under-18: Akash Wagh (Mah) bt M. Fariz (TN) 7-6(3), 6-4; Doubles: Karun Day Singh / Venkat Iyer bt Tariq Jacob / Priyank Gangadaran 6-0, 6-3; Under-14: Vaidik Munshaw (Guj) bt Mohit Mayur (TN) 6-0, 6-4; Doubles: Jugal Marfatia / Sumit Shinde bt Rithwik Sunkara / S.V. Abhishek 6-4, 4-6, 6-2.