Jamshedpur: State players bowed out in the first round of the men's singles event of Beldih Club All India Tennis Association (AITA) national ranking tennis championship being held for the first time in the steel city.
The competition, with total prize money of Rs 50,000, has been organised by Beldih Club under the auspices of Jharkhand Tennis Association. It is being played at United Club and Beldih Club tennis courts (both in Northern Town, Bistupur).
All the four Jharkhand players - Vishwajeet Anand, Varun Raisurana, Kanhaiya Kumar and Vivek Sinha-- lost on the opening day itself.
While Ranchi's Kanhaiya Kumar, who was the sole player from the state to get a direct entry to the main round (by virtue of points), lost out tamely to Ayush Mintri of Punjab in straight sets (2-6, 0-6), the lone qualifier, Varun Raisurana of Jamshedpur, lost to Rishabh Shah of Bengal 2-6, 2-6.
Others like Vishwajeet Anand of Ranchi was drubbed by Vashu Gupta of Uttar Pradesh 0-6, 0-6, and Vivek Sinha of Jamshedpur lost to Roshan Kumar of Bihar 3-6, 1-6.
Eighth seed Vashu Gupta (UP) romped into the pre-quarters finals with a rather easy outing against Vishwajeet.
Among the others who entered pre-quarters on the opening day were seventh seed Hemant Kumar of Delhi, who had a easy match against Mohammed Arham Siddiqui of Uttar Pradesh (6-0, 6-0), Preston Vaz of Maharashtra, who defeated Kishan Kumar of Bihar 6-1, 6-0, Arpit Sharma of Rajasthan, who beat Aakash Patil of Chhattisgarh 6-2 and 6-0, and Umar Shaikh of Andhra Pradesh, who beat Sarthak Deoras of Chattisgarh in a keenly contested encounter 7-6 and 6-2.
Significantly, top six seeds Taha Kapadia (Telangana), Rohit Rampuria (Bengal), Abhinansu Borthakur (Bengal), Arghya Das (Bengal), Shubham Malhotra (Delhi) and Varun Tiwari (Chhattisgarh) earned a walkover in the first round. They will play in the pre-quarter finals on Tuesday.
The finals will be held on Friday, November 17.
DAV games
Hazaribagh Zone emerged overall winners at the three-day national sports (zonal level) of DAV schools held in Dhanbad with 105 points.
Dhanbad Zone secured the runners up trophy with 103 points. Among boys, Dhanbad zone emerged winners by securing 60 points, while Hazaribagh zone emerged runners up with 52 points.
Among girls, Hazaribagh zone emerged winners with 53 points, while host Dhanbad bagged the runners up trophy with 41 points.
Mehul Kumar and Nisha Kumari, both belonging to Hazaribagh zone, picked up the best athlete trophies. More than 1,000 DAV students of Jharkhand took part in 23 events held during the meet.
CMD of BCCL A.K Singh, who was chief guest, distributed the prizes.
"Games and sports inculcate a sense of discipline in a a person and also help develop a winner's instinct," he said.
Among the others present were GM (welfare) of BCCL S. Kudadah and DAV schools regional director K.C. Srivatava.
