AITA Fenesta Nationals

[sameerph]

Results of the other finals-

Mens singles- Dalwinder Singh d. Suraj Prabodh 63 64

Boys Singles - Sacchitt Sharrma d. Dhruv Sunish 63 64

Girls singles - Vaidehi Chaudhari d. Akansha Bhan 63 60

21 year old Dalwinder has had limited success so far on the mens tour. He has had a futures final and SF in India in last 1 year or so. Hope this result will spur him to do well on pro tour.

For 17 year old Vaidehi Chaudhari under 18 title may not mean much. But, she needs to now translate that into good results in ITF juniors where she is ranked 179.

16 year old Sachhit Sharma has 2 more years left on the junior circuit He is ranked 215 in ITF junior rankings and has of late won a grade 5 title and reached a couple of grade 4 finals and a grade 3 SF.

[sameerph]

This week Fenesta nationals is being played in Delhi.

These are the top 8 seeds in mens and womens singles -

Mens singles-
1. Arjun Kadhe
2. Manish Sureshkumar
3. Siddharth Rawat
4. Suraj Prabodh
5. Nitin Kumar Sinha
6. Siddharth Wishvakarma
7. Faisal Qamar
8. Mohit Mayur Jayaprakash

Womens singles -
1. Zeel Desai
2. Mahak Jain
3. Sai Samitha Chamarthi
4. Prerna Bhambri
5. Humeira Sheikh
6. Ramya Natarajan
7. Rishika Sunkara
8. B. Nithyaraj.

in men 3 of our top 10 men are playing while in women too 3 of our top 10 are playing.

[Atithee]

Please help me understand the point of these championships if so few of the top players participate.

[sameerph]

I guess it will be a requirement of sports ministry that nationals be held every year for them to continue to get govt. aid.

Apart, it does have decent prize money and an opportunity for younger players to showcase themselves.

Almost of none of the top cricketers play Ranji trophy. But, it is nonetheless important that it be held every year.

[suresh]

In Singles, the winner gets 3 lakhs and the runner-up gets 2 lakhs. So this gives our second rung players a good chance to earn some money that might let them play a couple of ITF tournaments. The eight seeds don't look shabby to me. The doubles prize money is ten times less and not worth a trip.

[sameerph]

These are the QF line ups in men and women singles.

Mens Singles-

(1) Arjun Kadhe vs. Ishaque Iqbal
(3) Siddharth Rawat vs. Ranjit V.M.
(5) Nitin Kumar Sinha vs. Siddarth Banthia
(2) Manish Sureshkumar vs. (6) Siddharth Wishwakarma

Siddharth Banthia had a good upset win over Suraj Prabodh in first round and Ranjit beat Mohit Mayur in second round.

Womens Singles -

(1) Zeel Desai vs. Sathwika Sama
Natasha Palha vs. (6) Ramya Natrajan
(5) Humera Sheikh vs. (4) Prerna Bhambri
(2) Mahak Jain vs. Shivani Sravya

Sathwika Sama had a good win over Rishika Sunkara.

[jaydeep]

Expected wins in women ... A surprising straight sets loss for Manish.

Mens Singles

(1) Arjun Kadhe bt Ishaque Iqbal 60 63
(3) Siddharth Rawat bt V.M. Ranjeet 75 60
(5) Nitin Kumar Sinha bt Siddarth Banthia 62 62
(6) Siddharth Wishwakarma bt (2) Manish Sureshkumar 64 76(4)

Womens Singles

(1) Zeel Desai bt Sathwika Sama 63 63
Natasha Palha bt (6) Ramya Natrajan 62 57 76(2)
(4) Prerna Bhambri bt (5) Humera Sheikh 75 61
(2) Mahak Jain bt Shivani Sravya 62 64

[sameerph]

Semi Final results -

Mens Singles

(1) Arjun Kadhe d. (3) Siddharth Rawat 26 76(2) 62
(6) Siddharth Wishwakarma d. (5) Nitin Kumar Sinha 63 62

Womens Singles

Natasha Palha d. (1) Zeel Desai 46 64 60
(2) Mahak Jain d. (4) Prerna Bhambri 76(7) 46 63

Siddharth Wishwakarma is doing well in mens singles while in womens singles good for Natasha to pull off an upset win but Zeel's game seems to have stagnated in last 1 year. Good to see Mahak winning against experienced Prerna.

[sameerph]

Womens Singles Final -

(2) Mahak Jain d. Natasha Palha 61 62

So, Mahak easily defends her nationals title. She really needs to step it up and play more on the ITF circuit now.

[sameerph]

Siddharth Wishwakarma is the new national champion.

(6) Siddharth Wishwakarma d. (1) Arjun Kadhe 62 67(2) 63

Good effort by him to beat 3 higher ranked players from QF to final.

[sameerph]

This is a nice article on Siddharth Vishwakarma -

How the new national champion Vishwakarma is whacking the ball so hard?

[knarayen]

I'm encouraged. His coach should not be satisfied with the immediate past training program - his ward should be put through boot camp at the NDA or with the indian marines 3 month boot camp. Rathore is a former military man and he is now the indian sports minister, and he should be approached with this idea. Anyone have shukla's contact info?

If it can be arranged, wishvakarma should be included as an alternate into the DC team by Mahesh and sprung as a surprise against Italy. Nothing to lose. Maybe brought in for 2nd singles as a shock treatment.

Prof

[PKBasu]

Very impressive work by the coach to enable Vishwakarma to leapfrog to the national title. Let’s hope he can replicate it in ITF Futures too.

[Varma]

It's very encouraging to see someone ranked so low beating an in-form Khade. I hope coach Shukla is exposed to "new-age" coaching techniques. It's good that he was thinking out of the box to buy a ball machine that hurls bullets. If Siddharth's growth is not uni-dimensional, his results will show up pretty quick. If he can replicate the form he had shown in the nationals, he should start dominating at the futures level soon. It will be exciting to see another bright prospect making it at least to the Challenger level. Good luck, Siddharth!

- Varma

[knarayen]

Some of you may know the scriptural reference to Vishwakarma in the Rigveda


Prof