The Hindu : It's Gangotri's day

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, May 26, 2002

Sport

Sport - Tennis

It's Gangotri's day

By Our Sports Reporter

HYDERABAD MAY 25. Fourteen-year-old Sandri Gangotri bagged an impressive double, winning the girls under-14 and under-16 singles titles, in the AITA South Zone junior tennis tournament for boys and girls, organised by Tennis Players Parents Association and sponsored by T.L. Prasad Foundation at Hyderabad Public School (Begumpet), here on Saturday.

Gangotri crushed a wayward D. Tejaswini 6-1, 6-0 in the under-14 final in the morning and later fought back brilliantly to down another State-mate K. Pooja 0-6, 7-5, 6-2 to win the under-16 title.

In boys section, Saketh Sai of Andhra Pradesh won the boys under-16 title defeating Nityesh Nataraj of Tamil Nadu 6-4, 6-3 after the latter had won the under-14 title with a hard-fought 7-5, 6-1 win over top-seeded Siddarth Alapati in the morning.

It was clearly Gangotri's day. The 10th standard student of Hill Top High School was in her elements in both the finals. There was little resistance from Tejaswini in the under-14 category. With every aspect of her game clicking, Gangotri was clearly the superior player and all her opponent could do was to watch in admiration.

The girls under-16 final was a real contest. The way Pooja wrapped up the first set, it looked as if Gangotri might have just met her match. For Pooja, incidentally Gangotri's practice partner in the Park View Tennis Academy of Ganesh Ramon, was in irrepressible mood.

Her powerful forehand repeatedly brooked no return. This she coupled with some stunning cross-court backhand passing shots that had the angle and the placement. Just when it looked Pooja was on a song, her rhythm was upset by a disputed line call.

That was the beginning of her loss of poise in the match. Unable to resist herself from questioning the chair umpire's decisions, which no doubt were erratic, Pooja let this overcome her natural game. If only she had put aside these minor aberrations, Pooja would have dished out an object lesson for her opponent.

But that was not to be and Gangotri, like a champion, capitalised on the chances that came her way. She quickly jumped into a 4-0 lead in the second set with Pooja's return of serve also going awry.

Though Pooja rallied well with her trademark groundstrokes, Gangotri raised the level of her game when it mattered most, with a vintage display of a perfect blend of backhand and forehand cross court returns.

Pinning her rival to the baseline, Gangotri also had the fortune of seeing her rival committing too many unforced errors, including a double fault at 4-5, 40-30. A clear lapse in concentration made the task of Gangotri much more easy though it should be said that she also showed the desire and the game to get on top in a crisis.

Saketh Sai, who always gives an impression of a reluctant performer on the court, for once dished out quality fare to get the better of Nityesh Nataraj in the under-16 final. Clearly using his height to telling effect and placing his superb backhand returns where he wanted, Saketh proved to be too good.

The Davis Cup captain Ramesh Krishnan, former Davis Cupper S.P. Misra, Mr. S.R. Rama Rao, trustee of TLP Foundation (sponsors), were among those who graced the valedictory function.

The results (all finals):

Boys: Under-16: Saketh Sai (AP) bt Nityesh Nataraj (TN) 6-4, 6-3; Under-14: Nityesh Nataraj (TN) bt Siddarth Alapati 7-5, 6-1.

Girls: Under-16: S. Gangotri (AP) bt K. Pooja 0-6, 7-5, 6-2; Under-14: S. Gangotri bt D. Tejaswini (AP) 6-1, 6-0.

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