Date:14/01/2009 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2009/01/14/stories/2009011457582200.htm

Sport - Tennis

Akhil stuns Ramanan, enters last eight

MYSORE: Qualifier I. Akhil of Tamil Nadu shocked fifth-seeded Statemate Venkata N. Ramanan 8-1 and entered the quarterfinals of the boys’ under-14 singles on the second-day of the AITA Talent Series tennis tournament here on Tuesday.

In another upset, unseeded B.R. Niskshep (Karnataka) defeated eighth-seeded K. Ragagopalan of Tamil Nadu 8-1 to sail into the quarterfinals. Meanwhile, seeded players, Suraj R. Prabodh, Rohit R. Gowda and S. Kishen had easy wins.

The results (pre-quarterfinals, Karnataka players unless stated):

Boys: Under-14 singles: Suraj R. Prabodh bt Harish Chakravarthi (TN) 8-3; B.R. Nikshep bt K. Rajagopalan (TN) 8-1; M.S. Rakshith bt Alok Aradhya 8-6; B. Anirudha (TN) bt Tulsiram (TN) 8-6; I. Akhil (TN) bt Venkata N. Ramanan (TN) 8-1; L.D. Hitesh bt Anirudh Jaindhan (Ker) 8-2; Rohit R. Gowda bt C. Vasisht 8-1; S. Kishen bt V. Nithin 8-1.

Under-12 singles: B.R. Nikshep bt K. Hemanth 8-3; C. Vasisht bt R. Pruthvik 8-6; Anirudh Jaindhan (Ker) bt J. Anudeep 8-2; Varun Pathare (Mah) bt Chirag Prasanth 8-0; Vivek bt Kumar Nishok Bharath (TN) 8-6; Dhurv Sunish (Mah) bt M. Arjun 8-5; Arjun Patnaik (AP) bt K. Adil 8-3; C. Srigugan (TN) bt Tanmay Thakkar 8-6.

Girls: Under-14 singles: A. Shameema (TN) bt G. Yashaswini 8-1; C. Tarini bt N. Prajna 8-1; Shloka Kumar bt C.S. Praneetha (TN) 8-2; S.S. Ujwal bt Mariyam 8-6; Shynica bt Lakshmi Nikitha 8-0; U. Nupur bt N. Amoolya 8-1; C. Varunya bt R. Varshini (AP) 8-1; Kavya N. Kumar bt N. Ramya (TN) 8-2.

Under-12 singles: C.S. Praneetha (TN) bt M. Nishi 8-0; Mariyam bt R. Varshini 8-7(6); A. Shameema (TN) bt Anjali Jaindhan 8-6; Dhwani Kumar bt K. Namrathan 8-4; Shika N. Singh bt N. Prajna 8-5; Rashnika Rajan (Ker) w/o Prerna Singal; C. Nupur bt Nisha Shenoy 8-1; N. Ramya (TN) bt Ashika 8-1. — Our Correspondent