Lalitpur, February 18

Penjyu Lu of China and Vaidehi Chaudhary of India won the singles titles of the Nepal ITF juniors U-18 Circuit-II Tennis Championship here at the Satdobato Tennis Complex today.

Lu defeated Indian opponent Mritunjay Badola 6-3, 7-5 in the boys’ singles final. Lu went straight 3-0 up in the first set before Badola claimed fourth game but Lu hit back to make it 4-1. Badola then won two straight games to cut the deficit to 5-3 but Lu won his service game to claim the set 6-3.

The second set was quite competitive as both the players went neck-to-neck until Badola took a 5-4 lead. But Lu was too strong for the Indian player as he went on to win the next three games to claim the second set and the championship. In girls’ singles final match, Chaudhary saw off fellow Indian player Shivani Swarup Ingle 6-3, 6-1. On Friday, the Indian pair of Chaudhary and Ingle had won the girls’ double title, while Aditya Iyer and Piyush S Salekar claimed the boys’ doubles crown.

A total of 58 boys and 38 girls from 11 countries took part in the competition which was the first International Tennis Federation sanctioned event hosted by the All Nepal Lawn Tennis Association.ANLTA Vice-presidents Keshab Raj Pandey, Binod Kayastha, Dinesh Tuladhar and Raju Shrestha handed over the prizes to the winners.

Meanwhile, ANLTA President Jyoti Rana said organising the tournament was a huge achievement itself. “Although we could not win a title in this tournament, our players got the exposure and an opportunity to compete against foreign players on home soil,” said Rana. “The tournament will also help our players to enter into the main draw through wild cards. Otherwise, it was difficult for the Nepali players to get entry in such events,” added Rana, who also informed the association would hold similar event next year as well.