The Hindu : Sport : Golden double for Divij Sharan

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Feb 18, 2007
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Sport - Sports : General

Golden double for Divij Sharan

K. Keerthivasan

WORTHY CHAMPION: Delhi's Parul Goswami defeated Maharashtra's Sonal Phadke in the final. — Photo: R. Ragu

GUWAHATI: Parul Goswami, the 20-year-old from Delhi, kept up the pressure on Maharashtra's Sonal Phadke to script a 7-6(4), 6-3 win in the women's tennis final of the National Games at the Chachal Complex here on Saturday.

The men's singles champion was pretty much decided before a ball was hit at the tennis complex. True to form and ranking, Delhi's Divij Sharan, the top seed, emerged a deserving 6-1, 6-1 winner over Manoj Sewa of West Bengal in just 60 minutes.

Later Divij Sharan, partnering Ashutosh Singh, won the men's doubles title with a 7-6(5), 6-4 win over Kamala Kannan and Vijay Sundar Prashanth of Tamil Nadu, thereby completing a double. With this win, Delhi bagged three of the four titles.

Parul has based her approach depending on the opponent and the results have been largely positive. From the first point in the final, Parul made her intentions clear. She was prepared to go for the winners. Sonal, in the first set, matched Parul and produced winners from both flanks as much as her opponent. Sonal had her chances, but her forehand deserted her when she needed it the most. Sonal's game started to dip in the third game of the second set when she was broken.

Deft volleys

In the final, Divij served extremely well and his deft volleys had the stamp of authority. Manoj did come up with some fine passing shots and winners from the backcourt, but those were few and far between to trouble Divij.

The results (finals): Men's singles: Divij Sharan (Del) bt Manoj Sewa (WB) 6-1, 6-1.

Women's singles: Parul Goswami (Del) bt Sonal Phadke (Mah) 7-6(4), 6-3; Doubles: V. Poojashree/ Archana Venkataraman (Kar) bt Sonal Phadke/ Krushmi Cheda (Mah) 4-6, 6-0, 6-2.

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