Tennis tourney: Anushka triumphs in U-16 group

Our Sports Correspondent

Ludhiana, May 20

Anushka Sharma from Delhi registered an upset victory over top seed Ritu Rai of Uttar Pradesh to lift the title in the girls’ Under-16 group in the AITA-CS 7 Lawn Tennis Tournament that concluded at ACE Tennis Academy, Sarabha Nagar, here last evening.

After getting better of her competitors in the league and knock-out phase, Anushka gave a sterling performance in the summit clash. Following some hiccups, she managed to overpower her rival, the top ranked, Ritu Rai. The final turned out to be a marathon one which lasted for over four hours.

Anushka won the opening set with as ease (6-1) but, had to toil hard in the next one as Ritu, not only wiped out the deficit, but also scraped past to win it 7-6 to square it up.

In the deciding game, Anushka kept her composure at crucial moments to wrap it up 6-4 that also fetched her title.

A large number of participants drawn from seven states, including Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Chandigarh, Telengana and Maharashtra, besides those from the hosts Punjab took part in different age group matches of the tournament.