The Hindu : Praveen pockets a double

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Dec 28, 2002

Sport

Sport - Tennis

Praveen pockets a double

By Our Sports Reporter

Karnataka's R.K. Praveen who won both the boys' under-16 and under-14 titles in the Bharat Petroleum AITA all-India ranking tennis tournament in Kochi on Friday.

KOCHI DEC. 27. Midway through the first set, Karnataka's R.K. Praveen suddenly turned tense. No, his game was not going coming apart, rather he was just getting into the groove.

Praveen had just broken his racquet strings and that was the reason for his worry. He only had a spare racquet in his bag. What if that failed too?

Despite such things occupying his mind, Praveen upset the under-16 top-seed and State-mate Manu Bajpai 6-2, 7-5 to completed a fine double in the Bharat Petroleum AITA all-India ranking tennis tournament which concluded at the Cochin Tennis Trust's floodlit courts here on Friday.

The under-16 title was his first one in the `senior' age-group. The 14-year-old Mysore youngster, a ninth standard student with the Rotary West School, had won the under-14 crown earlier, drubbing Karnataka's Kaustub Inamdar 6-0, 6-1.

Tennis is an expensive sport and Praveen's game and tours have clearly become a strain on his parents' finances. "It's very tough for us, he needs a sponsor very badly,'' said his dad R. Krishnakumar.

Praveen and Manu began the under-16 final trading breaks. That almost set the trend for the evening as the two broke each other in six of the eight first-set games. But the Mysore youngster held serve twice to win the first set comfortably at 6-2.

Manu enjoyed a 4-2 lead in the second set but he gave away too many negative points. And just when the match seemed set for a three-setter and a long evening, Praveen recovered smartly with some heavy top-spinners, naughty lobs and shrewd crosscourt play. He levelled at five and a little later, Manu gave up the fight.

The under-14 title was a cakewalk for the top-seeded Praveen. His opponent was a beaten boy a few minutes after the match began and just went through the motions for a major part of the final.

The tournament's chief referee, R. Nagaraj, had a happy outing here. The USPTR coach runs the Nagaraj Tennis Centre in Mysore and three of the four titles in the Kochi event went to his two trainees, R.K. Praveen and Poojashree. Mr. B.K. Menon, CMD, Kochi Refineries Limited, gave away the prizes.

The results (finals):

Boys' under-16: R.K. Praveen (Kar) bt Manu Bajpai (Kar) 6-2, 7-5.

Boys' under-14: R.K. Praveen (Kar) bt Kaustub Inamdar (Kar) 6-0, 6-1.

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