Journalism of Courage
Local lad Aayush Prabhune won a hard-fought battle before joining three other Maharashtra players in the main draw of the Walchand Cup All-India Ranking (Under 16) Tournament at the Deccan Gymkhana courts on Sunday.
On the final day of qualifying,a total of five players from Maharashtra made it through. In the boys section,Prabhune needed three sets to get past Rahil Mehta. Prabhune won the first 6-2,before Mehta levelled the scores winning the next set 4-6. Prabhune then came out trumps,clinching the set 6-2 to book a berth in the main draw.
Prabhune was joined by Harshwardhan Kotwal who defeated Vikram Sable 6-3,6-2. Gunjan Jadhav who got the better of Tanay Mehta 6-4,6-1 and Piyush Salekar who had it easy against Kyle Cummings 6-2,6-1,were the other players to seal their spots in the main draw.
In the girls section,two Maharashtra players Pragati Solankar and Sanjivani Patil made it to the main draw. While Solankar had it easy against Kshema Mahuli 6-3,6-0,Patil lost seven games before putting out Kinnary Panchal 6-3,6-4.
Meanwhile,Sanil Jagtiani (West Bengal) and Maharashtra-lass Snehal Mane have been given the place of pride in the seedings of the main draw for the boys and girls singles sections respectively.
The girls section has four state players in the top-eight: third seed Shivani Ingle,fourth seed Nida Kamal and seventh seed Aastha Dargude,apart from Mane.
