The Hindu : Sport / Tennis : Tamil Nadu, Delhi enter final

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Wednesday, Feb 14, 2007
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Sport - Tennis

Tamil Nadu, Delhi enter final

K. Keerthivasan

GUWAHATI: Kamala Kannan knows the value of Tamil Nadu's 2-1 semifinal win over Maharashtra in the tennis competition of the 33rd National Games at the Chachal Complex here on Tuesday better than any of his younger mates. He perhaps understands the pain of losing for he was part of the State team which went down to Delhi in the final of the last edition of the Games in Hyderabad.

The 25-year-old Kannan with Vijay Sundar Prashanth raised his game by a notch, with the contest tied 1-1 after the two singles matches, in the second set tiebreaker to pull off a 7-5, 7-6(5) win over Nitin Kirtane and Arjun Gautam in an absorbing match.

Earlier, Delhi blanked West Bengal 2-0 and set up a final with Tamil Nadu. It was V.M. Ranjeet who gave Tamil Nadu a head start defeating Arjun Gautam 6-4, 6-3. However, Md. Fariz lost to Aditya Madkekar 6-2, 6-4 to take the match to the decider.

Delhi women advance

In the women's final, Delhi will meet West Bengal.

Delhi thrashed Karnataka 2-0 while top-seed Maharashtra lost to Bengal 2-1 in a well-contested match. Shivika Burman defeated Krushmi Cheda in the first match to put Bengal ahead while Maharashtra pulled one back when Sonal Phadke beat Ragini Vimal. In the doubles, Ragini Vimal and Shivika Burman overcame Sonal Phadke and Krushmi Cheda 6-4, 6-4 to win the tie.

There was a bit of drama in the third and deciding doubles match. Serving to stay in the match at 3-5, 15-30 in the second set, Krushmi Cheda served what looked like an ace. Bengal protested. The chair umpire was unable to take a decision, and the match was held up for around 15 minutes.

Point awarded

Chief referee Dushyant Deo intervened and awarded the point to Maharashtra, which went on to win the game. In the next game, Shivika Burman served for the match at 5-4, 40-30. Krushmi pulled off a fine volley. Ragini argued that she was distracted by the ball boy who, she said, ran during the course of the point. Deo, who was present there, agreed to Ragini's call, terming the decision later as "decision of law" and asked the point to be replayed.

Sonal returned the serve into the net signalling Bengal's entry into the final.

The individual events began on Tuesday.

The results (semifinals):

Men: Tamil Nadu bt Maharashtra 2-1 (V.M. Ranjeet bt Arjun Gautam 6-4, 6-3; Md. Fariz lost to Aditya Madkekar 6-2, 6-4; Kamala Kannan/ Vijay Sundar Prashanth bt Nitin Kirtane/ Arjun Gautam 7-5, 7-6(5); Delhi bt Bengal 2-0 (Navdeep Singh bt Vinod Sewa 6-1, 6-1; Divij Sharan bt Manoj Sewa 6-2, 6-2).

Women: Delhi bt Karnataka 2-0 (Vishika Chetri bt Archana Venkataraman 6-3, 1-6, 6-1; Parul Goswami bt V. Poojashree 3-6, 6-1, 6-3); Bengal bt Maharashtra 2-1 (Shivika Burman bt Krushmi Cheda 6-2, 6-3; Ragini Vimal lost to Sonal Phadke 6-4, 6-1; Shivika Burman/ Ragini Vimal bt Sonal Phadke/ Krushmi Cheda 6-4, 6-4).

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