Panaji, Jan 26 – Hemanshu Vernekar defeated Parthasarthi Mohapatra (6-0) and Hiren Bheda beat Vikrant Karandikar (6-2) in the 45+ and 55+ veteran men’s categories respectively on Day 2 of the ongoing Gadre Gaspar Dias Open 2024, which got underway in Panaji on Thursday.
The state ranking tournament features more than 450 registered players across various age groups, who will vie for the top prizes on the tennis courts at the Clube Tennis de Gaspar Dias and the Panjim Gymkhana in the state capital.
In the other matches in the 45+ veteran men’s grouping Vivek beat Nikunj (6-0), Vijay Meher beat Pralay Bakshi (6-1), Armugam M beat Siddhu Bharamgonde (6-0), Prafful Nagwani beat Srivattsa Rao (6-2), Sandeep Agate beat Saumil Sheth (6-4), Parthasarthi Mohapatra beat Anand Jakati (6-0), Nikunj Gupta beat Anirudha Kore (6-3), Siddhu Bharamgonde beat Vijay M (6-1), Vivek Chaurasia beat Sidharth Sikard (6-1), Vijay beat Dmitry (6-0), Ashwin Chandhiok beat Sanjiv (6-4), Sandeep Agate beat Sidharth Nimbalkar (6-0), Pralay Bakshi beat Raghuram Nidavanda (6-1), Krishna Devendra beat Pawan (6-0) and Umesh Bhide beat Anand Rao (6-2).
In the 55+ veteran men’s category, Alok Mishra beat Rajnish Dhall (6-3), Vivekanand Aparaj beat Yashwant (6-3) Gordon Lewis beat R. Kohli (7-5), Parag Shedbale beat Ujwal Sakri (6-3), Sanjay Ashar beat Ramesh Karande (6-3) and Biswajit Roy beat Sameer Kakodkar (6-2).
In the 60+ veteran men’s division, Desmond beat Srinivasa Kalyanram (6-1), Gopal Dev beat Arvind T (7-6(2), Basappa Raga beat Srivasthsa Rao (6-1), Thulasiramu BS beat Milind Wagle(6-0), Srikrishna beat Anilkumar (6-4), Torsten Schlueter beat Raosaheb (6-0), Girish beat Santram (6-1), Dhanaraj beat Dareed (6-0) and Uttam Mane beat Thomas Mathew (6-1).
Slugging it out for the honours in the 90+ veteran men’s doubles category, Prafful Nagwani/Parth beat Kapse/Rajesh (6-2), Sachin/Kevin beat Mukesh/Gangadhar (6-2), Bruce/Vinoy beat Ashish/Shrikumar (6-2), Jeetsingh/Gopal beat Vishvanatha/Shrikumar, Anand/Ashwin beat Joy/Govind (6-3), Sanjeev/Siddharth beat Jijesh/Davendra (6-0), Jaydeep/Sumar beat Somsekhar/Nikunj (6-1), Sujith/Aadip beat Majid/Vijay (6-3), Raghuram/Anand beat Arup/Vikrant (7-6)(4).
In another veteran men’s doubles category in the 120+ group, David Mendonsa/Manoj Pandey beat Dhanraj/Sundarpandian ( 6-1), Mahesh Keshav/Basappa beat Robert Dsouza/Caetano Fernandes (6-1), Hiren Bheda/Rajendra Mandlik beat Sujith S/Ramkrishnan G (7-6)(5), Girish Kandpal/Santram beat Thangavel Balasubramanian/Ummer Koya KM (6-1), Prasad N/Venkatesh S beat Hansraj/Roongta (7-6(3), Sheetal Bhonsale/Bharat Patil beat Suhas Parsodkar/Deepak Pathak (6-0).
In all, 479 tennis players have registered for the event, out of which 234 players have registered under the veteran’s category, while 245 players have registered for the open category.
The annually held Gadre Gaspar Dias Open tournament, is considered an essential milestone for tennis players keen to improve their state rank in the racquet sport.
