Koirala ousts Rana; Khatri stuns Bajracharya
Kathmandu, April 30
Prerna Koirala, Ganga Sharma and Abhilasha Bista advanced to the women's singles semi-finals of the sixth Citizens Bank Open Tennis Tournament here today.
Koirala came from a set down to beat Mahika Rana 3-6, 6-0, 7-6 and set the last four clash with Sharma, a 6-0, 6-0 winner over Indra Kala Shrestha. In another quarter-final match, Bista defeated Prakriti Shrestha 6-0, 6-1 and she will face either Ira Rawat or Anne Mathema. The match between Rawat and Mathema was postponed due to bad light at time when the former was leading 7-5, 2-4.
In men's section, former national champion Jitendra Pariyar entered the semi-finals along with Pradeep Khadka, Kamal Bhandari and Santosh Khatri. The two-time winner of the tournament, Pariyar defeated Pranav Khanal 3-6, 6-4, 6-3 and will face Khadka, who beat Ranjan Shrestha 6-1, 6-3. In other quarter-final matches, Bhandari beat Nabin Magar 6-2, 6-1, while Khatri defeated Samyak Bhushan Bajracharya 6-4, 6-1. Magar and Khatri will play for a place in the final.
In above-65 veteran singles, Deepak Jha, Indrajit Rai, Ashok Bajracharya and Gyanendra Tamrakar made it to the semis, while Kamal Bhandari, Govinda Kasula, Bhisma Jung Gurung, Raju Shrestha, Atmaram Karki, Mahesh Shrestha, Ranjan Shrestha and Rohit Sunuwar advanced to above-35 veteran singles quarter-finals.
Likewise, Bimal Kumar Gurung, Raj Kumar Ghimire, Ashish Sigdel, Kamal Thapa, Krishna Raj Ghale, Dharma Shahi, Raju Rai, Raju Shrestha, Uttam Sherpa, Sudarshan Bista, Uttam Bogati, Bikash Gurung, Manoj Shah, Madhu Pariyar, Bibhu Kayastha and Binod Gurung won their matches in the above-45 singles category.
