BHUBANESWAR 17-Feb-2012 266
Odisha tennis trio Chinmay Pradhan, Santosh Mallik and Adwithiya Patnaik achieved the highest success for the state by reaching both the singles and doubles finals in the AITA-OTA 30K Men`s Ranking Tournament, which was held at Gurukul Tennis Academy, Mendhashal, near here from February 11 to 17.
Pradhan became the first Odisha player to reach the final of any AITA men`s circuit tournament with a thumping 6-1, 6-2 semifinal win over Sunny Dahiya of Haryana. But in the final he gave stiff fight to former ITF junior champion Suraj Konwar (Gujarat) before losing 6-4, 3-6, 3-6.
A key player of Gurukul Tennis Academy (GTA), Pradhan reached the doubles semifinals with Satirtha Patnaik as partner before losing to his coach Santosh Mallik and junior GTA-mate Adwithiya Patnaik in straight sets.
The Mallick-Patnaik duo, however, finished runners-up by losing to Karnataka pair of Nishanth Antony Rebello and Vikram B S Naidu 6-3, 7-6 (7-5) in the final. But Mallick and Patnaik had the credit of becoming the first pair from Odisha to reach the doubles final of an AITA men`s ranking tournament. Teenager Patnaik also missed a place in singles semifinals as he lost to Sunny Dahiya 1-6, 7-5, 7-6 (7-4).
Odisha Tennis Association (OTA) secretary Madhusudan Padhi gave away the trophy and prizes in the presence of eminent athletic coach Arun Kumar Das, veteran tennis player Ashok Kumar Das and GTA found Dr Pratap Kumar Pradhan and tournament referee Prabin Kumar Nayak.
This was the third time in six months that GTA hosted an AITA tournament at its own tennis complex, which possesses three synthetic courts with dormitory facility for 20 players.
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PHOTO: Odisha trio (Left to right) Chinmay Pradhan, Santosh Mallick and Adwithiya Patnaik at Mendhashal in Bhubaneswar on Feb 15, 2012.
