Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) won the men’s team championship title in the 23rd PSPB inter-unit tennis tournament, organised by IBP Co. Ltd, at the BTA Tennis Complex, here on Saturday. In the final, IOC beat ONGC A. IBP retained their third position by defeating OIL A 2-1 in the play-off. Top seeds IOC and second seeds ONGC A were tied 1-all after their singles encounters. Rohan Bopanna (IOC) disposed of Vinod Sridhar (ONGC) 7-5, 6-3 and Vijay Kannan levelled with a 6-7, 6-2, 6-3 win over Sunil Kumar Sipaeya (IOC). In the doubles, Bopanna and Sunil Kumar beat Kannan and Ajay Ramaswami 6-3, 6-4.
IBP and OIL A too were 1-1 after the singles — Anshuman Dutta of OIL A beat Enrico Piperno 6-2 (conceded) and IBP’s Saurav Panja beat Chandra Sekhar Mohanty 6-2, 6-4. In the doubles Panja and Piperno beat Dutta and C. S. Mohanty 6-7, 6-4, 7-5. In the men’s open singles, top seed Bopanna, third seed Sridhar and fourth seed Kannan are in the quarter finals.
RESULTS: Men’s team championship final — IOC beat ONGC ‘A’ 2-1 (Rohan Bopanna beat Vinod Sridhar 7-5,6-3); Sunil Kumat Sipaeya lost 7-6,2-6,3-6 to Vijay Kannan; R. Bopanna & S.K. Sipaeya beat V. Kannan & Ajay Ramaswami 6-3,6-4. 3rd/4th placing : IBP beat OIL ‘A’ 2-1 (Enrico Piperno lost 2-6 conceded to Anshuman Dutta; Saurav Panja beat C.S. Mohanty 6-2,6-4; Piperno & Panja beat Dutta & Mohanty 6-7,6-4,7-5. Men’s singles (pre-quarterfinals): Rohan Bopanna (IOC) bt Rajiv Rajkhowa (OIL) 6-1, 6-1; Sridhar (ONGC) BT Prahlad Srinath (IOC) 6-1, 6-2; Kannan (ONGC) w/o D.P. Sen (GAIL); Ajay Ramaswami (ONGC) BT Abdul Hakim (OIL) 6-2, 6-2; Vasudev Reddy (IOC) BT Ramanuj Dutta (OIL) 6-3, 6-3; S. Palani (ONGC) w/o Vishal Uppal (GAIL).
At a condolence meeting at the East Bengal club lawn on Saturday, in memory of journalist and commentator Ajoy Bose who died on February 9, CMC mayor Subrata Mukherjee said a posthumous award would be given to honour Bose’s contribution to sport.
Karnataka had it big Saturday when they beat Assam 6-0 in their 17th all-India postal football meet match at the SAI complex ground. EF Nesline Xavier scored a brace. The other scorers were Vijay Kumar, B. Venkatesh, S. Prabhu and D. Kothandapani.
In another match Uttar Pradesh beat Rajasthan 2-0, S. Manoj and M Harish being the scorers. Karnataka meet Bengal in the first semi-final tomorrow, while Tamil Nadu and Kerala meet in the other.
Shyamnagar Tarun Sangha beat Narayanpur United 4-2 via the tie-breaker in their North 24 Parganas district first division football league final in Barasat Friday.
In the Mercantile mixed basketball meet at the Rangers Club courts Saturday JFR & Co. beat ITC 34-16, while RPG pipped Grindlays 43-42. Matches again come off Monday.
Hatkhola Sabuj Patra will organise a marathon on February 22. Twenty of the state’s top marathoners are expected to take part in the run that offers a first prize of Rs 10,000 and 10gm of gold. The marathon will start at Kankinada (in North 24 Parganas) and enter the city via BT Road and through the Shyambazar five-point crossing, moving on Bhupen Bose Avenue and BK Pal Avenue to end at the club.
FOOTBALL: 17th all-India postal meet semi-finals at the SAI complex grounds — both from 10am.
GOLF: All-India amateur meet, final day’s tee-off at the RCGC.
TENNIS: 23rd PSPB inter-unit meet at BTA Tennis Complex — Men’s singles quarters from 9 am.
