Ajay and Rushmi are champions

KAMESH SRINIVASAN

A STRONG game backed by a strong mind is what is required to win any game these days. Tennis is no exception.

Ajay Ramaswami and Rushmi Chakravarti exhibited the trait in good measure in clinching the men's and women's gold medals in the National Games tennis in Chandigarh.

Short but strongly-built Ajay, who has strengthened his game with a long stint in the collegiate tennis in the US, had to fight it out both against the defending champion Vinod Sridhar and Manoj Mahadevan in the final. Yet, there was no doubt that when he put his mind, Ajay was able to dictate the course of the match.

Ajay had a lucky start as Vasudeva Reddy gave a walkover in the first round, because of the cramped programme in which the players slogged it out in the team and individual events. The fourth-seed then capitalised on an easy second round against Harshit Sharma, before propelling himself for the big matches.

Vinod was hampered by a knee injury and thus was unable to capitalise on the start when he won the first set against Ajay. Similarly, Manoj was unable to work on the favourable flow when he turned the match around after losing the first set in the final.

Manoj had it easier, as Tushar Gautam conceded at 3-1 in the first round, and he got a walkover in the second as his opponent, Kamlesh Shukla, had been defaulted by the referee during the doubles match. Manoj played a good match in beating the top-seeded Nitin Kirtane in the semifinals, but did not have the right temperament in the final on the centre-court in front of the television cameras.

In the women's section, Rushmi Chakravarti played the way a No.1 seed should, as she dropped a mere 17 games in winning her four matches in the 16-member draw.

With Radhika Tulpule, Sai Jayalakshmy and Sania Mirza figuring in the other half, Rushmi hardly had any opposition in the initial rounds.

Sonal played well throughout, especially in her 6-4, 6-3 victory over Sania Mirza in the second round, after having lost to the same player in the team event in a match that spanned two hours and 57 minutes.

Sonal went on to stop S. K. Tara who had put out the second-seeded Radhika Tulpule in the first round, but lacked the weapons to make a fight of it against Rushmi.

The 14-year-old Sania had too many matches to handle and thus could not build on her victory over Sai Jayalakshmy in the first round.

As was expected, the Kirtane cousins, Nitin and Sandeep won the men's doubles title while Sai Jayalakshmy and Rushmi Chakravarti clinched the women's doubles crown.

In the team championship, it was a tricky affair in both the men's and women's sections as Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu pulled through on the strength of their doubles teams.

In the last edition in Manipur, it was the Tamil Nadu men and the Maharashtra women who had clinched the title, and that clearly shows the domination of these two States.

It was Sandeep Kirtane who played a key role in Maharashtra's triumph as he won his singles match comfortably against Shivang Mishra and went on to play solid doubles in the company of his cousin Nitin Kirtane.

Vishaal Uppal played a flawless serve and volley game in dismissing the challenge from Ajay Ramaswami, and gave a good account of himself in the doubles in the company of the bespectacled Vishal Gupta, but the duo erred at key points in losing 4-6 in the decider.

Delhi was particularly impressive in its 2-0 triumph over the defending champion Tamil Nadu, as Shivang Mishra and Vishaal Uppal defeated Manoj Mahadevan and Vinod Sridhar with a rare touch of assurance. Vishaal especially did well to recover from 1-4 and 0-3 in the first and second sets to beat Vinod in straight sets.

In the women's final, Sai Jayalakshmy's indifferent form put Tamil Nadu in trouble, as she lost the first singles to the in-form Sonal Phadke. However, Rushmi controlled the show in her singles against Radhika Tulpule and the deciding doubles. It was a thriller in the climax as Radhika and Sonal recovered after losing the first 0-6 to stretch the second best Indian doubles pair to its wit's end in the climax.

Considering the fact that both Sonal and Radhika had been busy for three weeks in the Philippines, before the National Games, they did well to pull their weight, especially during the team event.

Sania Mirza masterminded Andhra Pradesh's bronze win in the women's section, and it was Punna Vishal who got the bronze for the Andhra Pradesh men with his crucial victory over Vinod Sridhar in the second singles.

The competition could have been a lot better had the officials not rejected the case of Sunil Kumar, Amanjot Singh and Shruti Dhawan, on the pretext that Chandigarh did not qualify to figure in the National Games. Even if the team could not be entertained, there was enough scope for the three to make it lively in the individual events.

It was a joke that only 16 players could be taken for singles, while 32 were given the chance in the doubles.

In the National Games, quality is the first casualty. Tennis was no exception.

The results:Men:

Singles (final): Ajay Ramaswami (Mah) bt Manoj Mahadevan (TN) 6-4, 4-6, 7-5; Third place: Nitin Kirtane (Mah) bt Vinod Sridhar (TN) 6-0, 6-2; Semifinals: Manoj Mahadevan (TN) bt Nitin Kirtane (Mah) 6-3, 6-4; Ajay Ramaswami (Mah) bt Vinod Sridhar (TN) 2-6, 6-1, 6-1.

Doubles (final): Sandeep Kirtane and Nitin Kirtane (Mah) bt Manoj Mahadevan and Rishi Sridhar (TN) 6-2, 6-4; Third place: Vijay Kannan and Vinod Sridhar (TN) bt Ajay Ramaswami and Vijayendra Laad (Mah) 6-4, 6-3.

Team (final): Maharashtra beat Delhi 2-1 (Sandeep Kirtane bt Shivang Mishra 6-1, 6-2; Ajay Ramaswami lost to Vishaal Uppal 5-7, 2-6; Sandeep Kirtane and Nitin Kirtane bt Vishaal Uppal and Vishal Gupta 6-4, 5-7, 6-4).

Third place: Andhra Pradesh beat Tamil Nadu 2-1 (P. Ravikrishna lost to Vijay Kannan 2-6, 0-6; Punna Vishal bt Vinod Sridhar 6-2, 4-6, 6-2; P. Vishal and Vasudeva Reddy bt Vijay Kannan and Rishi Sridhar 6-3, 2-6, 6-2).

Women:

Singles (final): Rushmi Chakravarti (TN) bt Sonal Phadke (Mah) 6-0, 6-3; Third place: S. K. Tara (Kar) bt Sheetal Goutham (Kar) 6-7 (3-7), 3-2 (retired).

Doubles (final): Sai Jayalakshmy and Rushmi Chakravarti (TN) bt Sonal Phadke and Liza Pereira (Mah) 6-1, 3-6, 6-2; Third place: Radhika Tulpule and Radhika Mandke (Mah) w.o. Sheetal Goutham and S. K. Tara (Kar).

Team (final): Tamil Nadu beat Maharashtra 2-1 (Sai Jayalakshmy lost to Sonal Phadke 4-6, 2-6; Rushmi Chakravarti bt Radhika Tulpule 6-3, 6-4; Sai Jayalakshmy and Rushmi Chakravarti bt Radhika Tulpule and Sonal Phadke 6-0, 2-6, 6-4).

Third place: Andhra Pradesh beat Karnataka 2-1 (Sania Mirza bt S. K. Tara 6-3, 6-1; Geeta Manohar lost to Sheetal Goutham 5-7, 1-6; Sania Mirza and Geeta Manohar bt S. K. Tara and Sheetal Goutham 6-0, 7-5).

Mixed doubles (final): Radhika Tulpule and Sandeep Kirtane (Mah) bt Rushmi Chakravarti and Vijay Kannan (TN) 6-4, 7-5; Third place: Ankita Bhambri and Shivang Mishra (Del) w.o. Sheetal Goutham and S. K. Shivshankar (Kar).