BHUBANESWAR 13-Dec-2015
Ansu Kumar Bhuyan once again asserted his supremacy in the the 17th All-Odisha Nalco Cup Open Tennis Tournament, retaining the both the men’s singles and doubles titles at Kalinga Stadium here today. Rutuparna Choudhary also maintained her hegemony by retaining the women’s singles crown.
Abhisek Mohapatra and Aditya Satapathy emerged champions in unde-12 and unde-16 boys’ singles events. The three veterans’ doubles titles were claimed by combinations of Dayal Gangwar-Saswat Jena in 40-plus, Biranchi Narayan Mohanty-Rabindra Senapati in 50-plus and Amar Mohanty-Saroj Sahu in 60-plus groups.
Prohibiting players-turned-coaches from participation in the three-day tournament not only kicked up a big controversy, but also created a bad precedent in the tennis history of the state. Protesting against such illogical decision of Bhubaneswar District Tennis Association (BDTA), the organisers of the tournament, Chinmay Pradhan and Shilpi Swarupa Das, the top two players of the state, withdrew from the tournament.
Nalco CMD Tapan Kumar Chand gave away the prizes in the presence of State Sports Secretary Saswat Mishra, Nalco Director (Production) V Balasubramanyam, BDTA President Suresh Chandra Mohapatra and tournament referee Prabin Kumar Nayak.
RESULTS (All final): Women’s singles: Rutuparna Choudhary beat K Bhargavi 6-1, 6-2. Men’s singles: Ansu Kumar Bhuyan beat Abhilash Mishra 6-2, 6-4. Men’s doubles: Ansu Kumar Bhuyan-Abhilash Mishra beat Asutosh Das-Abhilash Chandra Sahoo 6-3, 6-2. U-12 boys’ singles: Abhisek Mohapatra beat Bignesh Nanda 6-1, 6-1. U-16 boys’ singles: Aditya Satapathy beat Kabir Hans 7-5, 2-6, 6-1. 40+ veterans’ doubles: Dayal Gangwar-Saswat Jena beat Jhadeswar Das-Prabhanjan Mallick 7-1. 50+ veterans’ doubles: Biranchi Narayan Mohanty-Rabindra Senapati beat Manas Das-Gangadhar Lenka 7-3. 60+ veterans’ doubles: Amar Mohanty-Saroj Sahu beat Arun Birla-Brahmananda Mishra 7-4.
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PHOTO: Title winners (Left to right) Rutuparna Choudhury, Aditya Satpathy, Abhisehk Mohapatra and Ansu Kumar Bhuyan in Bhubaneswar on Dec 13, 2015.
