PANAJI
Seventeen-year-old Simran Bundela emerged as the toast of the Bandodkar Panjim Gymkhana Open 2024, winning titles across the ladies singles, mixed doubles and girls U-18 categories, even as Mano Chhabra won the finals in two other categories, namely the men’s singles and veterans 45+ doubles events.
Raised in Goa, Simran, who started playing tennis since she was eight-years-old, routed Tithee Bhoomkar (6-0) (6-1) in straight, easy sets, before blanking another challenge from Tithee in the girls U-18 finals, defeating the latter (6-0) (6-0). However, despite being only 14 years old, Tithee showed remarkable character throughout the tournament enroute the finals, giving her best in every match along the way. In the ladies singles semi-finals, Simran Bundela defeated Anna VK (6-0) (6-0), while Tithee Bhoomkar beat Astha (6-2) (6-2).
Simran later paired up with Bulu Godinho to beat their rivals Siddharth Nunes and Aishwarya Nunes (6-0) (6-1) in the mixed doubles event. In the semi-finals of the same event, Aishwarya Nunes/Siddharth Nunes had defeated Marisa Colaco/Santosh Gorawar (6-4) and Simran Bundela/Bulu beat Atika Gaur/Lyndon Pinto (6-0) (6-1) to reach the finals.
In the men’s singles final,Mano Chhabra came back from a set down to defeat Santosh Gorawar (2-6) (6-4) (10-8) in a tough encounter. Gorawar had defeated Prajat Halankar (6-2) (4-6) (10-7) in the semifinal, before losing at the final hurdle. Gorawar, however, managed to secure the men’s doubles title, pairing up with Raju Kundaikar, who defeated Bulu Godinho/Mano Chhabra (6-3) (6-2).
In the veterans 45+ veterans doubles finals, Mano Chhabra and Bulu Godinho managed to defeat Ishan Bakhale/Sadguru Dessai (6-0) (6-0) to win the title in the veteran’s segment. Sachin Dukle beat Kishor Metry (6-0) (6-0) in the veteran’s 45+ men’s singles final.
In the 55+ veterans singles semifinals, Caetano Fernandes beat Manoj Pandey (4-6) (6-3) (10-6) to set up a final encounter with Sameer Kakodkar, who had defeated David Mendonsa (6-2) (6-1). In the final, however, it was Sameer Kakodkar who came up trumps, ousting Caetano Fernandes (3-6) (6-4) (10-3).
In the veterans 55+ men’s doubles finals, Sadguru Dessai/Kevin Rebello defeated Sameer Kakodkar/Sandeep Verlekar (6-0) (6-2) to win the title.
In the boys U-18 final, Shreyas Patil beat Darsh Pai (6-0) (6-1) to win the title, while in the boys U-14 finals, Vedant Naik beat Ethan De Ataide (4-3) (4-0) to emerge as champion. Previously, in the semifinals in the same age category, Vedant Naik had defeated Vivaan Agrawal (7-5), while Ethan De Ataide had beaten Kyan Mavany (6-3) to reach the final.
