MARGAO
Seventeen-year-old Simran Bundela won a hat-trick of titles in the recently concluded Baale BPS Open 2024, coming up trump in the prestigious ladies singles, mixed doubles and girls under-18 events, while 49-year-old Mano Chhabra won the men’s 45+ doubles title and the coveted men’s singles title.
Born in Delhi and raised in Goa, Simran, who has been playing tennis since the age of eight years, paired up with tennis coach Nishad Shevde to defeat Anna VK and Prince de Silva in a relatively easy final match in the mixed doubles event, 6-1, 6-1.
In the girls under-18 event, Simran Bundela defeated Vidhi Naik 4-0, 4-1, even as the former got a walkover in the ladies singles final, after her rival Anna developed an injury.
In the men’s singles final, Mano Chhabra defeated Nishad Shevde in a tough encounter, 6-3, 7-5, with the former, who was once ranked number two in the state ranking, finally managing to overcome the Margao-based Shevde, a tennis coach.
In the 45+ men’s doubles final, Ashwin Chandiok paired up with Mano Chhabra to defeat Sameer Kakodkar and Laxman Iyer 6-0, 6-2. In the men’s doubles finals, Raju Kundaikar and Santosh Gorawar teamed up to defeat Anurag Agrawal and Nishad Shevde 6-4, 6-4.
The newly introduced under-10 event, which received a tremendous response at the state ranking tournament, saw Urvi Panandiker and Ethan de Ataide crowned winners in the girls and boys singles category, respectively. Both the winners did not break a sweat in their respective final matches, with Urvi defeating Ammiel 4-0, while Ethan trounced Devaansh Naik 4-0.
In the girls under-14 final, Tvisha Sardesai beat Avni Lotlikar 4-0, 4-1, while in the boys event in the same age category, Arhan Gaunkar beat Ethan de Ataide 4-0, 4-1. Shreyas Patil won the boys under-18 crown, defeating Darsh Pai 4-1, 4-1.
The men’s 55+ singles final in the veteran’s category was a gruelling affair, with Manoj Pandey facing off against Sameer Kakodkar. Manoj won the first set 7-5, before Sameer fought back to win the next one 6-4, before eventually bowing out 10-8 in the final set.
The men’s 55+ doubles final was also a tough contest between Sameer Kakodkar/Sandeep Verlekar, who faced Jude Cardozo/Caetano Feranandes. Sameer and Sandeep came back from a lost first set to eventually defeat Jude and Caetano Fernandes 3-6, 6-3, 10-4.
The men’s 45+ singles final was another three-set extravaganza, with Dmitry Smirnov coming back from a one-set loss to defeat Ashwin Chandiok 3-6, 6-2 and 10-7.
