Lalitpur, January 26

Renjan Lama, Sachhyam Karki and Samyak Bhushan Bajracharya advanced to the second round of the ninth Sahabir Memorial Open Lawn Tennis Tournament here today.

In the men’s singles matches held at the Satdobato Tennis Complex, Lama defeated Saurav Raj Pandey 6-0, 6-0, while Karki registered a 6-2, 2-6, 6-4 victory over Pravesh Panta and Bajracharya beat Abhinaya Acharya 6-0, 6-2.

In other matches, Kumar Adhikari outplayed Amit Bista 6-0, 6-1, Pankaj Sharma defeated Nishan Shrestha 6-2, 4-6, 6-3, and Pradip Khadka beat Harshbardhan Chand 6-4, 6-4. Also, Aarabh Samrat Hada outplayed Santosh Khatri 6-1, 6-2, while Jitendra Pariyar and Abhash Malla registered double bagels against Adit Subedi and Nischal Adhikari respectively.

In women’s singles, Sarvani Shrestha defeated Prakriti Shrestha 6-2, 6-2, Lumu Tshiring Lama outplayed Surabhu Katuwal 6-0, 6-0 and Sneh Yadav registered a hard-fought 6-1, 4-6, 6-4 victory over Subhangi Laxmi Shah.

Likewise, Umesh Shahi came from a set down to beat Rameshwor Thapa 1-6, 7-5, 10-9, while Ramu Dhaka earned a walk over win in the above-45 veteran singles category. Also, Rajendra Shrestha advanced without hitting the ball after his opponent did not turn up in the above-35 veteran singles section.

Earlier, Babi Chand defeated Tribhuvan Bista 6-1, 6-3 in the inaugural match of the Inter-government Service category, while Bikash Pandey registered a 6-1, 6-0 victory over Dr Ishwor Lohani and Amulya Singh and Kailash Gurung earned walkover wins. Nepal APF AIG Dr Krishna Kumar Tamang inaugurated the tournament organised by Central Sports Committee of Nepal Armed Police Force. A total of 220 players, including 32 in women’s section, are competing in 13 events of the tournament that carries a total cash purse of Rs 595,000.