Mysuru: For the first time in the history of Karnataka, the state team has entered the finals in the U-17 girls’ national level inter school tennis tournament organised by the Department of Public Instruction in association with School Games Federation of India at Mysuru Tennis Club.
(L-R) Coach M K Mamatha, players R V Koushika, Parvi Patil, Amar Vidula, S B Apoorva and General Manager of Karnataka team MG Biradar.
On Thursday, during semi-finals, the Karnataka girls displayed class, temperament and discipline on the court to defeat compatriot Gujarat state by 2-0. In the first singles, top seed S B Apoorva came out with a brilliant all round game to beat compatriot Bhakthi Parvan by 6-3. Both the players displayed a good game of tennis but Apoorva with her outstanding backhand skills routed Bhakthi. Later in the second singles, Amar Vidula, backed with good service defeated Divya Bharad by 6-3. Karnataka will play against Chhattisgarh in the finals which will be held on Saturday. In the other semi-finals, Chhattisgarh defeated Maharashtra by 2-1.
Apoorva, sharing her happiness with newskarnataka said, “Before coming to this competition we had put in lot of hard work. Really we are delighted to enter the finals and we assure people of Karnataka that we will go all out in our efforts to win the title for our state.” Amar Vidula said, “As we are in tenth standard, this was our last chance to perform in the inter school competition. We had come here with a firm decision to win this tournament. I am glad that our hard work has yielded good result and everything is going on as per our plan.”
M K Mamatha, proud coach of the team said, “The girls came out with a great performance. We have talented tennis players but we need more facilities for them. If the government starts providing more facilities definitely in days to come, we can consistently do well in the competitions.” M G Biradar, General Manager of Karnataka team and Mariyappa, Mysuru District Physical Education officer expressed joy over the state’s performance and achievement.
Other matches:
In the other semifinals, though Gujarat girls lost in the semis, boys kept Gujarat flag flying high by entering finals in both U-17 and U-14. In U-17 semifinals, Gujarat registered 2-0 win over Tamil Nadu while in U-14 semis, Gujarat defeated Maharashtra by 2-0. Delhi boys played well to beat Maharashtra by 2-0 to enter finals in the U-17 category.
