Panaji, Jan 29 — Sixty two-year-old medical professional Dr Manoj Chandiramani won the finals in the men’s singles 60+ veteran category in the ongoing Gadre Gaspar Dias Open 2024, defeating Rafik Khotu (6-2) (6-0), even as the tournament’s open category matches also got underway in the state capital on Monday.
Chandiramani, a former state and national level tennis player, had previously won the men’s singles title in the 60+ category in 2021. He easily brushed aside his opponent’s challenge, losing just two games in the straight-set victory.
Other title winners in the tournament’s veteran’s category are Sumant Paul and Jaydeep Wakankar who beat Vijaykumar Patki and Nilesh Sawant (7-6)(2) (6-3) in the men’s doubles 90+ age grouping.
In men’s singles 55+ category Biswajit Roy defeated Parag Shedbale (6-1)(4-6)(10-8), while Biswajit Roy paired up with Armugam M to win yet another title in the men’s doubles 110+ category by defeating Dinesh Shingte/Nilesh Sawant (6-3)(6-1).
In the open category segment, which kicked off at the Clube Tennis de Gaspar Dias and Panjim Gymkhana tennis courts from Monday, in the men’s singles open category, Shantanu Joshi defeated Sabaridas S (6-0), Tom beat Zyrell Fernandes (6-0), Apoorv Bamba swept Chowgule Prateek’s challenge (6-0), Kedar Tari trounced Javed (6-0).
In other early round matches in the same category, Smital Kamat beat Eugene Dsouza (6-2), Pranav Suvarna defeated Kishor M (6-4), Bhalchandra Gaitonde pummelled Sunil Signapurkar (6-0), Pankaj Naik defeated Rohan Lotlikar (6-0), Nagesh Naik defeated Ganesh Vernekar (7-5), Prathmesh Patil beat Kushal Mamoowala (6-0), Vijay Venkateshwaran beat Vivek Sahni (6-0), Vivek MC beat Shreyas S (6-2), Shantanu Gurav beat Sabaridas S (6-0) and Kuldeep Bhagat beat Sandeep Verlekar (6-1).
Other matches in the men’s singles event in the open category saw Vikramaditya Kohli defeat Punit Fadte (6-4), Prajat beat Siddharth Nimbalkar (6-1), Pramod Umarje beat Gary Steele (6-3), Sreenath S beat Saurabh Trivedi (6-0), Bharat Paul Singh beat Prince D’silva (6-1), Vivek Venkateshwaran beat Sachin Ambre (6-1), Rohish Baraskar beat Prithvi Naik (7-5) and Pankaj Nanoskar beat R. Vikas (6-2).
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.
