The Hindu : Sport / Tennis : Soujanya stuns Zainab

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Thursday, Sep 27, 2007
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Sport - Tennis

Soujanya stuns Zainab

BANGALORE: Unseeded B. Soujanya stunned the second-seeded Zainab Sajjad Ali in a a marathon tussle, which lasted nearly three hours at 6-7(5), 7-6 (4), 6-3 and entered the girls’ singles semifinals of the ATF under-14 junior ranking tennis championship at Bowring Institute courts here on Wednesday . Soujanya also made the doubles semifinals, partnering Anushka Bhargava.

Ankita Bhatia knocked out the third seed in the girls’ singles, V.K.C. Visesh 6-3, 4-6, 6-1. Anushka Bhargava and Ravina Shetty filled the remaning two slots in the girls’ semifinals.

The results (all quarterfinals):

Boys’ singles:

Tushal Thawani bt Ronit Bhist 7-5, 7-5; Digvijay Singh bt Vinod Gowda 6-1, 6-4; Moghit J. Mayur bt Sharan Patil 6-0, 6-4 ; Rohit Bhist bt Advait Sadwilkar 6-1, 7-6 (3).

Doubles (mini sets): Rohit Bhist & Ronit Bhist bt Rohit Raje & Jay Sonu 4-1, 4-1; R. Vigenshwaran & Sharan Patil bt S. Karan & Rohan Gaonkar 4-2, 4-1; Vishal Passi & R. Ram Kumar bt Rithvik Anand & S. Raghavendra 4-1, 4-1..

Girls’ singles:

Anushka Bhargava bt K. Bhuvana 6-4,7-6(4); Ravina Shetty bt Sukhmani 6-1, 7-5; B. Soujanya bt Zainab Sajjad Ali 6-7(5), 7-6(4), 6-3; Ankita Bhatia bt V.K.C. Visesh 6-3, 4-6, 6-1.

Doubles (mini sets): B. Soujanya Anuskha Bhargava w/o. P. Tamabare & Neena Reddy 4-1, 4-1; Sivani & P. Kaur bt Alla & Gungati 4-1, 4-1; Ravina Shetty & Gauri Baindoor bt Sai Samhita & NItya Raj 2-4, 4-2, 10-1.

SFI hopes for more qualifiers

Virendra Nanavati, the secretary general of the The Swimming Federation of India was hopeful of few more Indian swimmers joining Virdhwal Khade for the 2008 Olympics, though they failed to make the Olympic cut at in the senior National championship which concluded on Sunday at Panaji.

In a chat with The Hindu, Mr. Nanavati complimented the Indian swimmers for the excellent performances at the senior Nationals and the recent South Asian championship and Asian Age Group championship,

Though no swimmer made the Olympic qualifying cut at senior Nationals here, Mr. Nanvati expressed the hope that few like Sandeep Sejwal, Rehan Poncha and Shikha Tandon have a reasonable chance of achieving it in the next few months.

We will decide in what international meets they could possibly do it”, said the SFI official.

Mr. Nanavati disclosed that the Union Government has granted Rs. 45 lakhs for the training purposes of Khade, the lone Indian qualifier so far.

SFI will also conduct a long-term camp for swimmers next month for the Commonwealth Youth Championship, scheduled to be held in Pune in 2008.

The selection for the camp is being based on the performances in the junior Nationals held at Bhopal and the senior Nationals here. About 35 probables will be selected for the camp likely to be held either at Bangalore or Gandhi Nagar.

The South Zone Swimming Council, which held its executive committee meeting during the course of the senior Nationals, has decided to conduct the first South Zone course championship and the Karnataka Swimming Association will host the event at Mysore in December, said the KSA Secretary, T.D. Vijayaraghavan.

Sindhu to lead

A.K. Sindhu will lead the State team for the junior National women’s hockey championship scheduled to be held at Gwalior from September.30 to October.10.

The team: A.K. Sindhu (captain), Dechamma, Niita, Saraswathi, C.S. Shruthi, Prerna, Leelavathi, Shalini, Sukhi, P.N. Shruthi, Munirathnamma, Kritika, Boliamma, Saira Banu, Chandini, Ranjitha, Kavyashree, Trupthi and Ponnamma. Offcials: Mrs. Pankajaveni (manager) and Mr. Prasad (coach).

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