Featured Events

• Functions
• Club Tournaments
• Schedule
• Press Release & Result
• Guest Visit
• Homage

Press Release (Saturday, December 26, 2009 )

Sports Editor

Vishwarupa Tubes National Grasscourt Tennis Championship - 2009

Kolkata 26th December 2009 : Qualifier Ashutosh Singh of Delhi and Wild Card Ankita Raina of Gujarat became National champions at the Vishwarupa Tubes National Grasscourt Tennis Championship 2009 on the lawns of Calcutta South Club. Hon’ble Mayor, Shri Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharjee gave away the prizes.

City girls Shivika Burman and Treta Bhattacharyya annexed the Women’s Doubles title at the expense of Sheethal Goutham of Karnataka and Sweta Solanki of Delhi. Treta and Shivika won 7-6(7-2),1-6,10-7.

Qualifier Ashutosh Singh made a terrific comeback to become the new National Champion. Down one set at 0-6 Ashutosh recovered to take the second set. The second set incidentally had no breaks with both players holding on to their serves. Ashutosh took the tie break 7-3. In the decider Ashutosh moved into top gear, broke P.C. Vignesh, the fifth seed from Andhra Pradesh,in the fourth and eighth game and became richer by Rs. 35,100. He gets 60 AITA points. Vignesh has to console himself with Rs. 24,300 and 45 points.

Wild card Ankita Raina of Gujarat is the new Women’s National Champion. She defeated fourth seeded Karnataka girl, Sheethal Goutham in 105 minutes in straight sets 7-6(7-2),6-2. In the first set Ankita broke Sheethalin the second game to race to a 4-1 lead. Sheethal then fought back and broke Ankita in the seventh and ninth games while conceding the eighth to Ankita and helped herself in equalizing the set score. In the ninth game Ankita served two double faults at 30-40 to lose the game. The tie break went Ankita’s way 7-2. Ankita was more careful in her shot selections in the second set and took five straight games to take a 5-0 lead. She could have wrapped it up at love had she not squandered a 40-15 advantage at 5-0 and let her serve get broken. She eventually made no mistake in the eighth to win the title. Ankita gets Rs.23,400 and 25 AITA points. Sheethal is richer by Rs.16,200 and 20 AITA points.

Vijay Sundar Prashanth and Mithun Murali of Tamil Nadu, the second seeds walked away with the Men’s Doubles title. They defeated the top seeded Delhi pair of Divij Sharan and Vivek Shokeen in a keenly fought encounter 6-4,6-7(4-7),11-9 in 107 minutes. The match was tied yesterday at one set all when play stopped because of failing lights. The first set had alone break as Shokeen was broken in the fifth game. The second set Mithun got broken in the second game and Divij and Vivek got a 4-1 lead. The second seeds broke Shokeen in the seventh game and the set went to tie breaker. In the tie breaker Prashanth and Muraliu managed to save two set points at 2-6 before finally succumbing to a 4-7 defeat. The match tie break was won by Prashanth and Murali 11-9.

Results of matches played today :

Men’s Singles Finals : Ashutosh Singh (Dli)(Q) beat P.C. Vignesh (AP)(5) 0-6,7-6(7-3),6-2.

Women’s Singles Finals : Ankita Raina (Guj)(WC) beat Sheethal Goutham (Kar)(4) 7-6(7-2),6-2.

Men’s Doubles Finals : Vijay Sundar Prashant (TN) & Mithun Murali (TN)(2) beat Divij Sharan (Dli) & Vivek Shokeen (Dli)(1) 6-4,6-7(4-7),11-9.

Women’s Doubles Finals : Shivika Burman (WB) & Treta Bhattacharyya (WB)(1) beat Sheethal Goutham (Kar) & Shweta Solanki (Dli)(4) 7-6(7-2),1-6,10-7.