Rana takes veteran's title

Post Report

KATHMANDU, Nov 25 - Manoj Rana defeated Karma Gurung in a tight two setter to clinch the veteran’s singles title (over 40 years) in the third Carlsberg Open Tennis Tournament played at the All Nepal Lawn Tennis Association Complex in Satdobato.

Rana, showing fine skills with backhand and top-spin took the match 6-3, 6-3. Karma who had entered final after defeating second seed Deepak Shrestha, started well breaking Rana’s first serve in the first set but Rana came back well breaking Gurung twice to take the set.

Second set saw Rana take the initiative with a lead at 3-0. However, Gurung gave Rana a tough fight coming back in the game 3-3. Rana, known for his aggressive style of game used his fitness to his advantage taking the second set as well.

Speaking after the match Rana said that the result gave him confidence to participate in the Veteran’s ATP championship in Bangkok coming August.

In the final of men’s doubles category, the pair of Kaptan Karsoliya and Kamlesh Shukla won the title defeating the pair of Krishna Ghale and Sanu Gurung 6-3, 6-3. The pair of Ghale and Gurung were seeded second for the championship.

It may be ironical that the winning pair had to face each other in the men’s semi-final in which Shukla defeated Karsoliya 6-2, 6-4. Kaptan Could not show his usual game against his doubles partner and got overshadowed by Shukla who dominated the first set to lead the match. Karsoliya tried to come back in the game but Shukla had already got the mental edge winning the first set. Shukla is set to play Sanu Gurung, the second seed, who defeated Raju Chhetri 6-4, 4-6, 6-3.

Women’s doubles category saw the pair of S Dayanand and E Nott take the title defeating M Schultz and E Osterby 6-2, 6-0 in the final.

In the women’s singles category, top seed Vindiya Dayanand advanced to the final beating Cathy Hunt in a gruelling three setter 6-2, 4-6, 6-1. Another title contender and the winner of sub-junior section Nayana Karsoliya continued her good form looking for second title. She defeated Mallika Rana 6-2, 6-2. She had earlier defeated Rana in the title match of the sub-junior section.

Bal Mandir Cup into 5th day

KATHMANDU, Nov 25 (PR) -In the fifth day of the Bal Mandir Cup Inter-School football tournament today, Aditya Boarding School, Balaju beat L.R.I. School, Kalanki 3-2.

In the second match, Bhaktapur English Secondary School beat Brihasapati Vidhya Sadan, Naxal 4-0. Surendra Kumar Yadav of Bhaktapur English Secondary School’s hat trick came in the 2nd minute, 13th minute and 25th minute of the first half. Deepak Joshi scored Bhaktapur’s fourth goal.

In the most even match today, St. Xavier’s clashed with RIBS. "It was one of the most eye-catching matches of the last five days," said Bam Bahadur, the organizer of the Bal Mandir Cup. Xavier’s strikers, Ritesh Gurung and Rupan Gurung scored a goal each and it was enough to see off RIBS whose Jang Bahadur Rai scored his team’s only goal.

In the fourth match, Shree Mansingh Dharma School beat Elite Co-ed School 3-1.

The preliminary round will end tomorrow. A total of eight teams will clash then and today’s winners and tomorrow’s winners will play against the district level teams in the second round.