BHUBANESWAR 24-Feb-2018
Tennis in Odisha received a major boost as two of the promising talents of the state _ Kabir Hans and Pratyush Mohanty _ got the opportunity to compete in the OTA-ITF Futures-1, the Men’s Pro Circuit Tournament, which commenced here at the Kalinga Stadium Tennis Complex today.
It is different matter that both the local teenagers lost in the first round of the qualifying competition. But the exposure they got by playing in an international event through wild cards should do a world of good to their confidence. There is no denying the fact that, it was possible because of Odisha Tennis Association hosting an International Tennis Federation (ITF) men’s event for the first time in the state with the support of the State Sports & Youth Services Department.
Meanwhile, three out of the top eight seeds in the qualifying round, went down on the opening day of the $15,000 tournament. Second seed Anurag Nenwani went down fighting to unseeded Sai Saran Reddy Byreddy 5-7, 5-7, while unseeded Abhinansu Borthakur drubbed 4th seeded Niki Kaliyanda Poonacha 6-3, 6-2.
Shahbaaz Khan, seeded 7th, was also shown the exit door by Dakshineshwar Suresh by 5-7, 3-6. However, top seed Abhinav Sanjeev Shanmugam did not have to sweat much for white-washing wild card entrant Tarun Anirudh 6-2, 6-3.
RESULTS (Singles Qualifying):
ROUND-1: Abhinav Sanjeev Shanmugam (IND, 1) bt Tarun Anirudh Chilakalapudi (IND, WC) 6-2, 6-3. Vasisht Cheruku (IND) bt Anirudh Chandrasekar (IND, 10) 7-6(4), 3-6, 6-1. Sai Saran Reddy Byreddy (IND, WC) bt Anurag Nenwani (IND,2) 7-5, 7-5. Ankit Chopra (IND) bt Lluis Dolz (ESP,16) 6-3, 3-6, 7-6(4). Tyler Hochwalt (USA,3) bt Kabir Hans (IND,WC) 6-1, 6-1. Dhruv Sunish (IND,12) bt Jatin Dahiya (IND,WC) 6-3, 6-2. Abhinansu Borthakur (IND) bt Niki Kaliyanda Poonacha (IND,4) 6-3, 6-2. Jarryd Woog (USA,15) bt Harris Trisman (USA,WC) 5-7, 6-3, 7-6(8). SD Prajwal Dev (IND,5) bt Amarnath Arora (IND) 6-3, 6-4. Hardeep Singh Sandhu (IND) bt Siva Deep Kosaraju (IND,14) 7-5, 6-4. Vinayak Sharma Kaza (IND,6) bt Pratyush Mohanty (IND, WC) 6-0, 6-1. Stefan Skadarka (AUS) bt Lawrence Bataljin (AUS,13) 6-2, 6-4. Dhakshineswar Suresh (IND) bt Shahbaaz Khan (IND,7) 7-5, 6-3. Nicholas Bybel (USA,9) bt Alex Solanki (IND) 7-6(2), 6-2. Vijayant Malik (IND,8) bt Adil Kalyanpur (IND) 6-3, 6-2. Paramveer Singh Bajwa (IND,11) bt Abhishek Gaur (IND) 6-2, 7-5.
