Navin stars for Kakatiya

CHENNAI, JAN. 6. Navin J. Manjooran performed the star turn for Kakatiya University as it defeated N.T.R. Health Sciences 3-1 in a first round duel of the South West Zone inter-university men's tennis tournament, conducted by the Sports Board, Anna University, here, on Saturday.

The lanky Navin, a fourth year engineering student of REC Warangal, was solid from the back of the court as he won his two singles matches with ease, and played a dominant hand in the doubles.

After Kiran Kumar Reddy gave N.T.R. Health Sciences an early lead by beating Suresh Kumar 6-2, 6-4 in the first match, Navin levelled the scores in the second, outplaying Munawar Raja 6-2, 6-0.

He then teamed up with Vamsi, as the pair breezed past Kiran Kumar Reddy and Munawar Raja 6-1, 6-3. Navin clinched it for Kakatiya in the fourth encounter, blowing away Kiran Kumar Reddy 6-0, 6-2, coming up with some fluent forehand winners in the process.

Navin had been a part of the National junior circuit till 1997 - he has scalped bigger names like Kamala Kannan too - before deciding to concentrate on his studies.

Earlier, the tournament was inaugurated by Mr. S. Ganapathy, Registrar, Anna University. Mr. A.N. Sachithanandan, Chairman, Sports Board, Anna University, presided.

The results (first round): Kakatiya bt N.T.R. Health Sciences 3- 1, Krishnadevaraya bt Baba Sahib Marathwada 3-0, Bharathiar, Coimbatore bt South Gujrat 3-0, Sardar Patel w/o Alagappa, Sri Venkateshwara w/o Argiculture, Udaipur, Nagpur w/o Calicut, M.D.S.V., Ajmer bt North Maharashtra 3-0, Nagarjuna bt Barkatullah Vidyalaya, Bhopal 3-0.

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