Upsets galore in AITA Championship Series

LUCKNOW: As many as five upsets marked the Day Three at the AITA Championship Series here on Wednesday.

Unseeded Nihar Kumar from Karnataka shocked top seed Aditya Acharya of Odisha in the boys under-16 quarterfinal, winning the tie in a thriller 4-6, 7-6 (2) and 6-4, at the LPG Tennis Academy.

In other quarterfinals in the category, Sanidhya Dwivedi beat compatriot Kshitiz Sinha 6-2, 6-1, Karnataka’s Abhishek Subramanian beat local challenger Aarav Bhaskar 6-0, 6-0, whereas second seed Saatvik Ashwin of Tamil Nadu beat Odisha’s Anshuman Acharya 6-1, 6-3.

The boys under-14 also witnessed an upset when Karnataka’s Abhishek Subramanian defeated compatriot and second seed Nihar Kumar 6-3, 3-6, 6-4. UP’s best bet Sanidhya Dwivedi outplayed statemate Kshitiz Sinha 6-1, 6-0, Rishi Yadav beat Aarav Bhaskar 6-2, 6-0 and top seed aditya Acharya of Odisha beat Arjun Dixit 6-1, 6-0 to make it to the semi-finals.

The very first match of the day in the girls under-16 category saw top seed Shakti Mishra losing to unseeded Aleena Farid of West Bengal in straight sets 1-6, 1-6.

The UP girl had no response to some fine play by Farid. In other quarterfinals in the category, Krishna Rai beat Isha Sharma 6-0, 6-0, Shatakshika Sahayak beat Vibha Khadka 6-4, 6-2 and Vaishnavi Chauhan beat Prerna Santra of West Bengal 6-1, 6-1.

There were two upsets in the girls under-14 category on Wednesday. Gujarat’s Trisha Thakkar struggled a bit in the first set before outplaying second seed Arundhati Dagur 7-6 (3), 6-2, whereas MP’s Vibha Khadka defeated fourth seed Aairah 7-6 (4), 6-4. In other two quarterfinals, Aleena Farid beat Aashi Shamshery 6-0, 6-1, and Krishna Rai beat Prerna Santra 6-0, 6-0.

DEATH CONDOLED

Several organizations along with Purvanchal Cricket Association on Wednesday condoled the sad demise of Anshul Sharma, president of Purvanchal Cricket Association, who died on Wednesday.

Sharma, 34, was suffering from kidney problem for the last one year. Sharma is survived by his wife a kid. “It’s a big loss to the PCA as Sharma was fighting for its existence for a long time,” PCA’s secretary, SM Arshad said.*