Pradeep and Hrithik battle it out for the men's singles title
16-year-old Sunira Thapa of Kathmandu has become the champion in women's singles in the 3rd Mayor's Cup and Butwal Open Lawn Tennis Tournament in Butwal. She defeated the previous winner Abhilasha Bista and won the title of the competition.
In the final held on Wednesday afternoon, Thapa, ranked second, won the title by defeating the number one player and defending champion Bista . Thapa has become back to back champion.
Thapa also became the champion in the women's singles event at the Machhapuchhre Open held in Pokhara last December. After achieving success in the Butwal Open for the first time, Thapa expressed happiness and said, "I have to play a lot for the country in the future". This win is my inspiration.'
At the beginning of the first set, Bisht took the lead with an excellent performance, but Thapa came back and won 6-3. Thapa became the champion after Bisht decided to retire while the second set was being fought hard.
Thapa said that this win will improve her ranking. In women's singles, Bhagwati Bick and Aisa Dolkar Gurung secured the third position. For the men's one-sided title, which has become the attraction of the tournament, Pradeep Khadka, the first seed, has been confirmed to play the final on Friday with Hrithik Rana of Butwal.
Khadka and Rana fought for the title last year as well. Khadka from Pokhara won it. In the first semi-final to enter the final, Pradeep defeated Nihal JB Thapa in 6-4, 6-0 sets. In the second semi-final, Hrithik Rana defeated Nishant Shrestha in a set of 6-3, 6-4 and secured the title. Jeetendra Periyar, Rajan Poudel, Santosh Khatri and Deep JB Rana have entered the semi-finals in men's singles for 35 plus under the
competition. Jeetendra beat Chom Bahadur Shah 6-0, 6-0, Rajan Paudel beat Bhim Bahadur Magar 7-6, 7-6, Santosh Khatri beat Som Rana 6-1, 6-2 and Deep JB Rana got a walkover to enter the last four.
Similarly, Dev Chhetri defeated Rohit Sunuwar 6-2, 6-1 in the 45 plus seagull and entered the last four. Similarly, in 55 plus seagull, Chandra Shahi defeated Uttam Kumar Gurung 6-1, 6-2 and Uttam Bogti defeated Rajkumar Gurung 6-3, 6-4 and entered the next round.
Also, Manoj Rana defeated Victor Rana 6-2, 5-1 in the 65 plus seagull and Rana became the winner, tournament supervisor Bikas Khadka said. In the 35 plus doubles, the pair of Jitendra Periyar and Samir S defeated the pair of Rajan Periyar and Chom Bahadur S in a set of 6-1, 6-0 and entered the next stage.
Tournament Director Rajan Poudel said that more than 100 players are participating in the tournament organized by Rupandehi Tennis Association with the support of Butwal Sub-Metropolitan City till February 9th.
