Nepali players face defeats

Lalitpur, February 7

Nepal’s Pranav Khanal, Mahika Rana, Ira Mehernissa Rawat, Anne Mathema and Prerana Koirala lost their singles pre-quarters matches of the Nepal ITF Juniors U-18 Circuit-I Tournament here at the Satdobato Tennis Complex today.

In boys’ section, Khanal faced a 6-3, 6-0 defeat against India’s Jaishvin Sidana. In other matches, India’s Vansh Bhagtani saw off Laos’ Phathikone Kanyaphan 6-2, 6-1, while his teammates Prasanna Pravin Bagade beat Tanapatt Nirundorn of Thailand 6-4, 6-2 and Naithaolin Calvin Golmei thrashed Pakistan’s Muhammad Nauman Aftab 6-2, 6-2 to advance to the quarter-finals.

Similarly, Japan’s Taiyo Hirano beat India’s Rishab Agrawal 6-0, 6-1, while his teammate Taisei Kageyama saw off China’s Gaunglin Wen 6-1, 2-6, 6-1.

In girls’ singles round of 16 matches, Nepal’s Mahika Rana went down to China’s Yiming Dang 6-0, 6-2, Ira Rawat faced a 6-3, 6-0 defeat against Hong Kong’s Chui Kei Leung, Anne Mathema was beaten by Srinidhi Sridhar of India 7-6 (5), 6-3 and Prerana Koirala suffered a 6-2, 6-3 loss at the hands of Rutuja Chaphalkar of USA.

In all-India matches, Prinkle Singh beat Sana Khanna 6-2, 7-6 (3) and Divya Vaani saw off Archita Mahalwal 6-2, 6-1, while Japan’s Kanon Yasumoto recorded a 6-1, 6-4 win over Ma CarmencitaIsabela Carlos of the Philippines and her teammate Manami Ukita beat India’s Smriti Bhasin 6-1, 6-3.

In boys’ doubles quarter-final matches, Indian pair of Vansh Bhagtani and Jaishvin Sidana beat Phathikone Kanyaphan of Laos and Tanapatt Ninundorrn of Thailand 4-6, 7-6 (4), 10-7, Japanese duo of Daisuke Inagawa and Taisei Kageyama defeated Indian pair of Tarush Bagai and Rohan Srivastava 6-2, 6-1 and Japan’s Taiyo Hirano, who teamed up with Chia-Fan Tsao of Chinese Taipei, outplayed Indian duo of Bhupendra Dahiya and Krishan Gooda 6-4, 6-1.

In girls’ doubles, Nepali pair of Mahika Rana and Mayanka Rana went down 6-3, 6-3 to Indian pair of Ashpreet Kaur Bajwa and Punyatoya Mohapatra, while Prerana Koirala and American Rutuja Chaphalkar lost 6-3, 6-2 against Chui Kei Leung of Hong Kong and Sanya Singh of India, and Prakriti Shrestha, who teamed up with India’s Srinidhi Sridhar, lost 6-4, 6-3 against Indian pair of Smriti Bhasin and Hrudaya Shah.

Likewise, Japanese pair of Ayumi Hama and KanonYasumoto beat China’s Yiming Dang and Qianyu Liu 3-6, 6-1, 10-8 to move to semi-finals.