PDMBA thrash JBC Juniors three-love

B D Narayankar

bapun@sakalherald.com

PUNE: PDMBA thrashed JBC Junior 3-0 after Manas Mokashi, Pranav Bapat and Janak Wakankar pulled off victories against their respective opponents without any contest in U-16 Team Events of Inter-Club League Badminton Tournament on Monday.

While Manas thumped Aditya Disa 21-7, 21-10, Pranav beat Akshay Madkare 21-12, 21-6. Janak defeated Shantanu Ekbote 21-8, 21-4.

In yet another team event, Pranav Group beat Yashashri 2-1 after Pranav Shahigram, Adwait Madulkar prevailing upon Gaurav Joshi 21-2, 21-3 and Prem Joshi 21-13, 21-6 respectively.

However, the team had to face defeat at the hands of Yashashri’s Rugved Joshi who trounced Chinmay Naval 21-18 and 21-18 in an exhilarating game.

RESULTS: PDMBA bt JBC Junior 3-0: Manas Mokashi bt Aditya Disa 21-7, 21-10; Pranav Bapat beat Akshay Madkare 21-12, 21-6; Janak Wakankar bt Shantanu Ekbote 21-8, 21-4; Pranav Group bt Yashashri 2-1: Pranav Shahigram bt Gaurav Joshi 21-2, 21-3; Adwait Madulkar bt Prem Joshi 21-13, 21-6; Chinmay Naval lt Rugved Joshi 18-21, 18-21

Rohit, Natasha lift U-14 PYC Asian Tennis Cup

Photo by Mukund Bhute

B D Narayankar

bapun@sakalherald.com

PUNE: No matter who wins. It wasn’t a concern for Rajinder Bisht as the coveted cup would anyway come to his house. But, for the two brothers, emotions ran high on court one, when both of them battled it out to lift the PYC ATF U-14 Series Title and collect some vital points to break into the international arena. Ultimately Rohit Bisht it was who bagged the honors after defeating younger brother Ronit Bisht 6-3, 3-6, 6-2 in the finals played here on Saturday.

Rohit played his rallies to perfection and never looked to miss the ball. This gave ample insight into Rohit’s gameplan, adopting a different strategy to blunt Ronit’s attack. Just the other day, in the quarterfinals, he had played an attacking game against the slow-paced R Ramkumar. “I adopt different strategies for different players,” Rohit told Maharashtra Herald.

After winning the first set 6-3, Rohit went down 3-6 in the second. Ronit appeared ominous, making Rohit stretch for the returns on either sides of the court. The sheer timing and pace in the shots shook Rohit’s concentration and finally he won the set 6-3.

Rohit broke thrice in the final set pouring water onto Ronit’s dream to win. The latter played far too many extravagant shots with most of them landing out. After conceding the first game, Ronit hinted at a tough set ahead after he broke Rohit’s first serve.

Somehow Ronit lost his focus, losing his third serve, giving a boost to Rohit, finishing his fourth serve 3-2 ahead.

Rohit again broke Ronit’s fourth serve, going up 5-2, nailing his brother completely.

“It was disappointing. I don’t feel I played my best tennis today. Most of the time I was hitting the ball into the net or outside. I did get my rhythm back in the second set, but I could not hold on it,” Ronit said.

NATASHA MAUL’S ANKITA

Natasha Palha emerged clear winner in the finals when she steamrolled Ankita Raina 6-0, 6-0 in a rather one-sided match.

Natasha emerged clear favorite when she trounced Namita Bal, daughter of Davis Cupper Nandan Bal, in the quarterfinals. Thereafter, Natasha did not have any problem in defeating Zainab Ali Sajjad in semi-finals.

RESULTS: Boys finals: Rohit Bisht bt Ronit Bisht 6-3, 3-6, 6-2; Girls finals: Natasha Palha 6-0, 6-0

Natasha, Namita win ATF doubles final

Photo: Anand Chaini

CONCENTRATION PERFECT: Namita (right), Natasha
waiting for Vaidehi and Prarthana's return

B D Narayankar

bapun@sakalherald.com

PUNE: Natasha Palha and her partner Namita Bal clawed their way out down under to overpower Vaidehi Bhagvat and Prarthana Thombre 2-6, 6-3, 6-4 to win the doubles title of the PYC ATF U-14 Series played here on Friday.

Namita and Natasha took some time to gather some momentum, in the process losing their first set 2-6 to their rivals who were in murderous form, reeling off some smashing volleys, chips and shots across the corner.

But, they wriggled out of the rut soon and played some exhilarating tennis, breaking their rivals twice in the first and third game of the second set. Namita was wonderful to watch with her intelligent chip and volleys near the net and Natasha was fabulous on her serves and returns from the base line.

Leading the second set 6-0, Natasha and Namita lost their cool and committed many errors and double faults to concede the next two games. This, however, did not hamper their celebrations to win the second set when Namita crunched past Vaidehi a lovely volley on Natasha’s serve.

‘Point-by-point girls’, the yell from the egging India player and a grade-three coach Nandan Bal would have boosted Namita and Natasha’s confidence to go for the kill in the decider. And they exactly did that.

They broke Vaidehi and Prarthana in the very first game when Namita produced a great volley past the stranded duo. However, Vaidehi and Prarthana broke Namita and Natasha on their serves, coasting past their rivals 4-2.

Their celebrations was short-lived as Natasha and Namita forced them into the rallies and waited for them to commit errors and broke them 3-4, catching them up. Natasha and Namita won the next three games and the match after a grueling effort.

RESULT: Girls U-14 Doubles Final: Natasha Palha-Namita Bal bt Vaidehi Bhagvat-Prarthana Thombre 2-6, 6-3, 6-4.

Rohit aims to break into top 100

Rohit on the right

B D Narayankar

bapun@sakalherald.com

DECCAN: The 14-year-old right-hander Rohit Bisht hopes to have a better season on the traditional surface, including the finals of PYC ATF U-14 Series to be played on Saturday against his 12-year-old brother Ronit Bisht.

He goes into the finals as the favorite to win the title. He is in excellent form and his confidence has shot up an extra yard after finishing an impressive second in overall standings in the recently concluded ITF Asian U-14 Championship held in Jakarta, Indonesia.

Rohit, however, have to play extremely well if he wants to continue his form to compete at the highest levels. He is gearing up to reel off some exhilarating stuff from his racket when meets Ronit in the finals. He has lost to him only twice in the 28 times that he had met him before.

After this tournament, Rohit is aiming to leave a trail among his Asian U-16 squad members in the forthcoming Euro Tour.

Known for his precision and control over, Rohit, prior to this tournament, managed to claw his way out of trouble to post a win over Sameep Mehta in the Boys U-16 singles finals of the DHFL and IOC All-India Series Junior Tennis Tournament at Mumbai’s Practennis courts.

He also finished second after losing to Vaidik Munshaw in the finals of Mumbai Gymkhana TCS All-India National Super Series Junior Tennis Tournament 2007. The result, however, did not dampen his spirits.

Speaking to Maharashtra Herald here on Friday, Rohit said: “Being top seeders in most of the tournament, I and Ronit meet either in the semi-final or finals, but I do not regret to lose to him because at the end of the day, the cup comes to the Bisht family.”

What are your chances against Ronit? He said: “I have a great chance because I have won 26 times against him. My brother apes Roger Federer, believing in an attacking game, and I believe in Rafael Nadal’s approach. I like playing in the ball all the time, without making mistakes. That exactly I will be doing in the finals.”

Behind Rohit and Ronit, there is their father Rajinder Bisht, a former national hockey player, who wanted his sons to play individual game than team game where an individual’s performance got overshadowed. “I asked them to play tennis instead,” Rajinder said.

“Papa is a perfect coach. He taught us tennis with a desi andaz of putting two cones at the baseline and asking us to keep the ball in all the time you connect the ball,” Rohit said.

However, Ronit has a different story to tell – why not he is a diehard Federer fan.

Poona Police whack Green Meadows

Photo by Parag Jadav

A Rakshak striker dribbling away into Metro XI's circle

B D Narayankar

KHADKI: They are known for one thing certain -- whacking. Poona Police did the same, but in a different style at the Ammunition Factory Ground defeating Green Meadows in Rosary Education Group nine-a-side hockey tournamanet on Friday.

After the early flourish by Poona Police, the first half did not add that much zing to the excitement. However, Poona Police cherished the first goal four minutes into the match through ebullient Prakash Sapkal when he deftly deflected the ball into the net rolled on to him by his teammate from the circle.

Poona Police made several moves into Green Meadows’ circle and nearly got a couple of goals, but for the faulty trappings of their players positioned at key positions.

Nothing should also be taken away from Green Meadows’ defense that guarded the box, restricting Poona Police forwards and mid-fielders to unlock them.

Both teams took the field with renewed enthusiasm and vigour in the second half, resulting in quick and attacking game. In just two minutes, Harish Kulkarni jammed an equalizer for Green Meadows.

The 34th minute goal by Mark Anthony through a penalty corner brought curtains down to the Green Meadows chances of winning in the dying moments of the game.

RESULTS: Super XI 2 (Santosh Musale 2) bt Hockey Lovers 1 (Ritesh Telangi); Metro Sports 1 (Sanjay Pollaiah) bt Rakshak Sports 0; Vikram Pillay Academy 1 (Cyril Bernard) bt Priyadarshini Sports Centre 0; Poona Police 2 (Prakash Sapkal, Mark Anthony) bt Green Meadows 1 (Harish Kulkarni)

(bapun@sakalherald.com)

Bisht brothers in summit clash

Ronit (L), Rohit (R)
B D Narayankar

bapun@sakalherald.com

PYC GYMKHANA: Rohit Bisht clawed his way out of trouble to post a stunning victory against city lad Tushal Thawani 5-7, 6-1, 6-3 to storm into the finals of the PYC ATF U-14 Series here on Thursday.

Rohit, who is enjoying a brilliant campaign here, is a student of Amity International School and trainee at the Shanti Sports Club in Delhi, is looking to grab more opportunities at the international level during the forthcoming Euro Tour with the Asian under-16 squad.

Seconds after his match ended on court two, Rohit swayed his racket to his father who celebrated his son’s win with a loud yell ‘come on son, come on’.

Rohit, a slightly-built player known for his control and rallies, rushed through the second and third sets, furiously trying to finish so as to maintain his rythm, which he had lost in the first set.

The best part of Rohit was he hardly missed any balls and kept on hitting them into the playing areas with great finesse.

After going down fighting in the first half, Rohit gathered his momentum and stuck to his rallying strength and waited for his rival to commit mistakes.

In the second set, Rohit broke Tushal on his very serve with a beautiful drop shot across the court. Thereafter, he won two games continuous.

Tushal, however, bounced back in the fourth game of the second set breaking Rohit with a magnificent forehand winner down the line. But was not enough for him to make noise.

Tushal began his third set by breaking Rohit on his first serve. But Rohit broke Tushal in the next when his rival smashed the ball hard out of the court.

Rohit sealed Tushal’s fate, breaking him, taking 3-2 lead in the sixth game of the final set. He ultimately won the match and set easily.

In another match, Ronit Bisht made mincemeat of unseeded Devpriya Jaiswal 6-2, 6-2.

Rohit favorite to lift title: Rohit is tipped to win the finals against his 12-year-old brother Ronit.

In the last 24 times both have met, Rohit has trounced his Ronit on 23 occasions.

Rohit said: ‘’My brother stands a good chance to win as he is more calm and focused player. I am bit like Tushal.”

In the girl’s section, fourth-seed Natasha Palha and third-seed Ankita Raina reached the finals beating their opponents Zainab Ali Sajjad and Vaidehi Bhagwat 6-4, 6-4 and 6-2, 6-0, respectively. They hardly had to sweat it out to register victories.

Natasha ready for the noise; to meet Ankita Raina in finals

Natasha with Juhi Chawla

B D Narayankar

PYC GYMKHANA: After a superb display, Natasha Palha completed the victory with a scintillating shot before sinking into the mirth of delight and nearly breaking into tears.

“I like to give my best in the semi-finals as that transfers you to the other planet. I have stormed into PYC ATF finals is incredible,” she told Maharashtra Herald after beating Zainab Ali Sajjad on Thursday.

Reminiscing some good moments of the game, Natasha said she had a very good outing and mixed up her game according to match situation. “I had all my serves going well today,” she said.

Zainab put me in a bit of bother in the first set as she was getting her serves right. “At one stage I was down 2-3, but hurried on to catch her in the next three games, which I eventually won,” Natasha said.

Even the second set was not an easy ball game. “I was down 2-3, but I broke her service on right time and finished the match comfortably,” she said.

Natasha came into this tournament with tons of confidence behind her boasting of claiming U-14 and U-16 Championship Series played at Mumbai this month. “I had good outings in Super Series too where I reached semi-finals before going down to Sonia Dayal,” she said.

With this sort of confidence were you expecting to reach the finals here? “Yes. The upper draw was much easier than the lower,” she quipped.

Do you fancy beating third seed Ankita Raina in finals? “I had played her once three years ago. Then I was new and lost the game 6-3, 6-1. She played with lot more power, but made lot of mistakes. Now she has mended her game. She will be tough a customer,” Natasha said.

What will be your strategy to subdue Ankita? “Play as she plays – attack. Being tit-for-tat sometimes pays. I too have a good range of shots, including forehand and service,” a die-hard Roger Federer and Justin Henin fan said.

(bapun@sakalherald.com)