Journalism of Courage
Pune lad Jayesh Pungaliya and Mysore girl Varunya Chandrashekar clinched double crowns winning the boys and girls singles and doubles titles,respectively,at the fifth edition of the P&S Janvas Trophy Om Dalvi Memorial under-18 Championship Series National Ranking Tennis tournament. Organised by the PYC Hindu Gymkhana,the tournament was held under the auspices of the All India Tennis Association and the Maharashtra State Lawn Tennis Association.
Unseeded Chandrashekhar,a first year bachelor of business administration student at the Karnataka State Open University,upset seventh seed Hyderabad girl Neharika Rama 6-4,(5)6-7,6-2 in a two-hour battle. Chandrashekhar built on her success in the singles category,combining with Devanshi Bhimjiyani of Maharashtra to score a 6-2,6-0 win over Priyangan and Ishwari Seth to claim the doubles title.
In an all-Pune final,Jayesh Pungaliya avenged his loss in the finals of the inter-school tournament to Yash Agarwal,registering a 6-2,2-6,6-1 win and claiming his third singles title of the year. Pungaliya,a Class XII student of the Rasiklal Dhariwal College,displayed aggressive tennis to clinch the final. Having easily taken the first set,Pungaliya seemed to have lost some momentum,which allowed Agarwal to stage a resounding fightback. Employing his powerful serve to good effect,Agarwal won the second set to set up a tense showdown in the third. However,Pungaliya completely dominated the third set,pulling out a number of powerful strokes from the baseline to comprehensively take the third set 6-1.
He then teamed up with another Pune boy Aditya Gokhale to score a close 7-6(4),7-6(4) win over Siddharth Ponnala of Andhra Pradesh and Nandish Vora of Maharashtra to claim the doubles title.
