The Hindu : Sport / Tennis : IOC men beat ONGC `A', win title

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Thursday, Mar 22, 2007
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IOC men beat ONGC `A', win title

Sports Reporter

CHENNAI: The much-awaited match between two of the country's top ranked players, Rohan Bopanna (IOC) and Karan Rastogi (ONGC `A'), in the men's team final of the Petroleum Sports Promotion Board inter-unit tennis tournament at the SDAT-Nungambakkam Stadium here on Wednesday failed to rise to expectations.

Rastogi couldn't match the consistency, rocket serves and backcourt play of Bopanna and lost 6-4, 6-4. Sanam Singh staved off a stiff challenge from Navdeep Singh 3-6, 6-4, 6-2 to give IOC a 2-0 win and with it the title.

Rastogi got off to a fine start and took a 3-0 lead. Bopanna clawed his way back slowly and steadily to make it 3-3. Bopanna then got the crucial break of serve in the seventh game. Bopanna, India's No.1 player, started to dictate terms quite early in the second set. His serves carried a lot of sting and he also came up with many delectable winners from the baseline.

The results: Men: Team final: IOC bt ONGC `A' 2-0 (Rohan Bopanna bt Karan Rastogi 6-4, 6-4; Sanam Singh bt Navdeep Singh 3-6, 6-4, 6-2. Singles: Pre-quarterfinals: Sunil Kumar (IOC) bt Saurab Panja (IBP) 9-6; Vinod Sridhar (ONGC) bt Anshuman Dutta (OIL) 9-4; Navdeep Singh (ONGC) bt Ramanuja Dutta (OIL) 9-4; Divij Sharan (IOC) bt Hakim Ali (OIL) 9-1; Vijay Kannan (ONGC) bt N.N. Rao (GAIL) 9-0; Karan Rastogi (LNGC) bt C.S. Mohanty (OIL) 9-2.

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