PANAJI
Rachith Aiyappa prevailed over Santosh Gorawar to win the men’s finals of the Cidade de Goa Open tennis tournament in a riveting match held at the tennis courts at Cidade de Goa on Sunday. Rachith beat Santosh in straight sets 6-2, 6-3 to lift the coveted trophy.
With the recently concluded Clube Tennis de Gasper Dias Open it has been a flood of tennis activities in the state. The Cidade de Goa Open, organised in association with the Goa State Tennis Association (GSTA) and Cidade de Goa, was held over the last two weeks as tennis enthusiasts battled it out on court while the Goan tennis fraternity cheered them on. This year’s tournament saw over 90 entries from participants across age groups.
The tournament included ten categories “ under-12 (Girls and Boys), under-16 (Girls and Boys), men’s singles, ladies singles, men’s doubles, mixed doubles, veteran singles and veteran doubles. With tennis gaining popularity, the objective of the Cidade de Goa Open is to promote the sport and continue to offer a platform to budding tennis players across the state. The tournament players were offered the tennis courts and other facilities at Cidade de Goa.
President of Goa State Tennis Association (GSTA) Nathan Chowgule observed that the quality of tennis in the state has improved. “I congratulate all the winners of the Cidade de Goa Open. In its third edition, the tournament has seen tremendous participation and has brought players together in a competitive yet familiar environment. For a state that has hardly any tennis infrastructure, its overwhelming to see so much talent on the court. The number of players have increased and there are more tournaments that are organised now in the state," he said.
"This year the standard of play was much higher and we had players coming from outside the state. We truly appreciate the effort the members of the GSTA have put into organising this tournament and the support from Cidade de Goa in particular. All the players brought in enthusiasm and a great sporting spirit to this tournament. And that’s what sport is all about,” he added.
Rajendra Godinho, secretary of GSTA said: "Cidade de Goa Open was a tremendous success. In its third edition, Cidade de Goa has come forward to support the association to have summer camp for children and adults and regular tennis coaching classes after the monsoons. This will only help in more players coming forward and we thank Cidade de Goa for this."
In the women's singles category, Simran Khan bageled Saumya Sukhthankar 6-0,6-0 for the title. In the U-12 category (boys), Arnav Oruganty won against Felix Craven 4-1, 4-2, while Rutuja Prabhudessai won against Simran Bundela 4-2, 4-1 in the U-12 (girls) category. Similarly, in the U-16 (boys), Werner Fernandes went up against Arlindo Gomindes (6-0, 6-3) to win the top spot while Ibtisam Shaikh took down Saumya Sukhthankar 1-6, 7-6, 6-1 in the U-16 girls category.
The men’s doubles finals saw Tejas Shevde and Rachith Aiyappa take on the team of Rajendra Godinho and Nathan Chowgule to win the title 6-2,7-6. The mixed doubles was won by Bulu Godinho and Charmaine Godinho as they won 6-3,6-2 against the team of Santosh Gorawar and Melanie Chowgule. In the veteran singles category, Surresh Kadam beat Manoj Pandey to secure the top spot while in the veteran doubles match, Kevin Rebello and David Mendonza lifted the trophy defeating Manoj Pandey and Glen D’silva.
The winners and runners-up trophies were handed out by the chief guest Vineet Soni, resident manager of Cidade de Goa.
Meanwhile, in an effort to encourage young players to take up the sport and enjoy it, a special tennis carnival was organised for children aged below 10 years. Goa’s young tennis enthusiasts had an opportunity to play a fun game of tennis with professional players, try out their strokes and learn tips and tricks from the senior players.
