Avilash wins Talent Series tennis title with ease

Local favourite and top seed Avilash Mishra justified his reputation by emerging boys’ singles champion in the AITA-OTA Under-16 Talent Series Tennis Tournament at Bhubaneswar Club courts here today. A trainee of S S Tennis Academy, Avilash trounced second seed and his academy partner Nishant Kumar in the lop-sided final 6-0, 6-0.

Earlier in the semifinals, Avilash beat sixth seed Pratyush Chhotray, while Nishant got the better of eighth seed Nishant Mohanty in straight sets. Only two players from outside the state joined the tournament and both were elimited in the first round.

Organised by Khurda District Tennis Association, the tournament lost some of its importance as the girls’ singles event was cancelled due to insufficient entry.

RESULTS:
Boys Singles (Odisha players unless mentioned): First round: Sharthak S Panda bt Suvankit Sahoo 8-7(3), Kabir Hans bt Siddhant Patnaik 8-1, Mahesh Mohapatra bt Rahul Behera 8-0, Pratyush Mohanty bt Ashish K Parida 8-3, Abhilash Chandra Sahoo bt Govind Lada Tudu 8-1, Aditya Satpathy bt Aryan Bal 8-1, Pratyush Chhotray Rishab Shah (WB) 8-7(2), Nishant Mohanty bt Abhirup Sahoo 8-6, Amrutjay Mohanty bt Abhishek Mohapatra 8-1, Rakesh Sethy bt Priyam Nayak 8-3, Swostik S Pradhan bt Justin Panmei w/o Kumar Anurag Saran bt Samarjit Sethy 8-3, Swastik Pattanayak bt D Aryan Swamy 8-1, Saurav Kumar Sahoo bt Kumar Sahil 8-7(5), Nishant Kumar bt Anant Arora (WB) 8-3.
Second round (PQFs): Avilash Mishra bt Sharthak S Panda 4-0, 4-0; Mahesh Mohapatra bt Kabir Hans 4-0, 4-1; Abhilash Chandra Sahoo bt Pratyush Mohanty 4-2, 4-0; Pratyush Chhotray bt Aditya Satpathy 4-2, 4-0; Nishant Mohanty bt Amrutjay Mohanty 4-0, 4-1; Swostik Pradhan bt Rakesh Sethy 5-4(0), 4-0; Kumar Anurag Saran bt Swastik Pattanayak 4-1, 4-1; Nishant Kumar bt Saurav Kumar Sahoo 4-0, 4-0.
Quarterfinals: A Mishra bt Mahesh Mohapatra 4-1, 4-1; P Chhotray bt AC Sahoo 5-4(3), 4-1; N Mohanty bt SS Pradhan 5-3, 4-2; Nishant Kumar bt KA Saran 4-2, 4-1.
Semifinals: A Mishra bt P Chhotray 6-0, 6-0; N Kumar bt N Mohanty 6-2, 6-1.
Final: A Mishra bt N Kuamr 6-0, 6-0.
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PHOTO: Title winner Avilash Mishra (Left) with runner-up Nishra Kumar (Right) and tournament referee Jatin Vatsya in Bhubaneswar on Nov 4, 2013.