~ Rahul Kapse, Amit Tambe, Pavan Mokashi, Vikas Aswani, Nitesh Bhansali, Bulu and Sattyam defeated their opponents 6-0 in the first round of the men’s singles 45+ in the Masters category.
The tenth edition of the prestigious Gadre Gaspar Dias Open tournament got underway at Clube Tennis de Gaspar Dias premises in Miramar on Thursday, with a series of matches in the tournament’s Masters division held on the inaugural day.
In the opening day fixtures, Rahul Kapse, Amit Tambe, Pavan Mokashi, Vikas Aswani, Arun Kataria, Nitesh Bhansali, Bulu and Sattyam defeated their opponents, namely Shubert Colaco, Vinit Dixit, Santosh Ganjikar, Nikunj Gupta, Stendhal Pereira, Anup Sardesai, Rajesh Jaiswal and Dnyaneshwar Surushe, respectively, in the first round of the men’s singles 45+ in the Masters category.
In other first round matches, Natraj Gujran defeated Dhananjay Sahasrabudhe (6-3), while Sagar Pattekari beat Saurab Khanna (6-4), Rohan Lotlikar outwitted Nilesh Daine (6-3), Yuvraj Patil defeated Pralay Bakshi (6-4), Srivathsa Rao edged out Karl Rebeiro (7-5), Ashutosh Pednekar trounced Shivkumar Savadi (6-1), Naveen Cardoza vanquished Kishor Metry (6-2), Sandeep Agate beat Siddu Hulloli (6-2) and Vivek Chaurasiya beat Devendra Hoshing (6-4).
In the two second round matches in the same category, Amit Tambe beat Neenad Desai (6-0), while Dmitry Smirnov easily outdid Rahul Kapse’s challenge (6-0).
In the Masters 90 + men’s doubles category, Nisar S M/Mahesh C N beat Shivkumar Savadi/ Raju Karehonna (6-0), even as Lyndon Pinto/Basavaraj Pattanshetty defeated Subhani Bawakha/Iliyas Baikwadi (6-3), Rajesh Jaiswal/Eknathrao Ghodekar overcame a tough challenge from Amol Gaikwad/Ashish Maniyar (7-6) (4), Nitesh Bhansali/Saumil Sheth beat Surjit Lamba/Prithvi Naik (6-4), Amit Mete/Shrikant Tambe trounced Ravi/Dnyaneswar Surushe (6-1), Sachin Indulkar/Mahesh Kachare defeated Ganesh Badi/ Mukesh Kothari (6-4), Anand Jakati /Turamari overcame a tough challenge from Simon/Vijay Venkateswaran (7-6) (4) and Sandeep Agate/Abhijeet Marathe easily outdid Kapil Nair/Swapnil Bugde (6-1).
Organised jointly by Clube Tennis de Gaspar Dias, Goa’s first tennis club and the Gadre Group, in collaboration with the Goa State Tennis Association (GSTA), the Gadre Gaspar Dias Open 2025 has garnered tremendous interest this year in the tennis fraternity.
The tenth edition of the tournament has received a record-breaking 533 entries. In the tournament’s Masters segment, the 45+ category has received the highest number of entries, 61, followed by 55 entries in the Masters doubles 90+ and 40 in the Masters doubles 110+ category. Other entries include 30 in the Masters doubles 120+, 32 in the Masters singles 60+ and 30 in the Masters singles 55+ category. The 35+ mixed doubles, the only mixed category in the Masters segment, has recorded 11 entries.
The Open category also boasts significant participation, led by 118 entries in the men’s singles and 43 teams in the men’s doubles. The ladies’ singles category has drawn 28 entries, while the Open mixed doubles segment has 23 teams. In the junior divisions, the boys under-16 category has 26 entries, the girls under-16 category has 15 entries and the boys under-12 category has 13 entries, while eight players have registered to participate in the girls under-12 category.
According to Arjun Gadre, owner of the Gadre Group, the event’s main associate, the record-breaking entries registered to participate in the tournament’s 10th edition, underscore the popularity of the event, not just in Goa, but across the country, with numerous players from various other Indian states signing up for the event.
“The growth of the Gadre Gaspar Dias Open tournament has been phenomenal. It only goes to underscore the popularity of the event, whose vision is to nurture young talent and promote competitiveness in sports across age groups and all barriers,” Gadre said.
The tournament began with Masters category matches on Thursday (January 23) and the tournament’s highly anticipated Open category matches will begin from January 27 and last up to February 2.
