PANAJI
Defending champion 65-year-old Rafik Khotu beat Girish Kandpal (6-2) to reach the semifinals of the veteran men’s singles 60+ category in the ongoing Gadre Gaspar Dias Open 2024, a top state ranking tournament, which recently got underway in Panaji.
Khotu, who has stood second in the all-India senior's circuit of the All India Tennis Association, joins other semifinalists in the same age category, namely Richard Lockhard Smith who defeated Basappa Raga 7-6 (5), Girish Kandpal who beat Pema (3-2) (retired hurt) and Suresh Murthati who trounced Dhanraj (6-0).
Vijay Meher and Krishna also stormed into the semifinals of the ongoing tournament defeating Md. Hudli (6-1) and Sumant Paul (6-2) respectively in the veteran men’s singles 45+ category.
Other veteran players to reach the semifinals in their respective categories are Sumant Paul/Jaydeep Wakankar, who defeated Santosh Gorawar/Rakesh (4-2) and Vijaykumar Patki/Nilesh Sawant who beat Prafful Nagwani/Parthasarthi Mohapatra (7-5) in the veteran men’s doubles 90+ category.
In other round matches held as part of the state-ranking tournament, in the veteran men’s singles 45+ category, Sumant Paul beat Sandeep Agate (6-0), Mano Chhabra beat Prafful Nagwani (6-1), Mohammad Hudli beat Laxman Autade 7-6 (4), while in the veteran men’s singles 55+ category, Hiren Bheda beat Gordon Lewis 7-6 (3), Parag Shedbale beat Alok Mishra (6-2), Biswajit Roy beat Sanjay Asher (6-1) and Ashok Kolekar beat Ashish Sharma (6-3).
In the veteran men’s singles 60+ category, Rafik Khotu beat Gopal Dev (6-0), Sheetal Bhonsale beat Torsten Schlueter (6-0) and Richard Lockhart Smith beat Thulasiramu B S.
Mladen Petrovic/Milica Rakovic, playing in the veteran mixed doubles 35+ category, beat Laxman/Anjali (6-0).
In the veteran men’s doubles 90+ category, Hemanshu Vernekar/Saumil Sheth beat Amol Atigre/Sachin Khedekar (6-4), Prafful Nagwani/ Parthasarthi Mohapatra beat Kevin Rebelo/Sachin Dukle (7-5), Vijaykumar Patki/Nilesh Sawant beat Raghuram Nidavanda/Anand Jakati (6-5) conceded, Sidharth Joshi/Sanjeev Gholap beat Anand Parchure/ Ashwin Haldankar (6-1) and Jaydeep Wakankar/Sumant Paul beat Adeep Salim/ Sujith S (6-0).
The pair of Amol Atigre and Ramesh Karande made easy work of Jeyram and Laxman Iyer defeating the latter 6-0 in the veteran men’s doubles 110+ category, Suhas Parsodkar/Deepak Pathak beat Raju Yantagoudar/Shivanand Panchannavar (6-4), Dr Dinesh Shingte/Nilesh Sawant beat Darayas Nariman/Srinivasa Gowda (6-0), Anilkumar Bhor/Umesh Bhide beat Amrish Houzwala/Shivaji Chavan (6-3), Ujwal Sakri/Vivekanand Aparaj beat Deepak Vankudre/Sachin Gandhi (6-3), Vijay Meher/Dr Manoj Chandiramani beat Laxman Iyer/Ishaan Bakhale (6-2), Natraj Gujran/Mahesh Keshav beat Ashok Kolekar/Yuvraj Patil (6-4), Biswajit Roy/Armugam M beat Bulu/Richard Lockhart Smith (6-3) and Prasad N/Mahesh C N beat Vijaykumar Patki/Khalil Ansari (7-3).
