Wheelchair duo Gamini and Upali excel in New Delhi
Anuradha ABEYSEKERA
Sri Lankan wheelchair tennis duo D M Gamini and Upali Rajakaruna
registered straight set victories in the finals to win both men’s
singles and doubles titles in the AITA Open Wheelchair Tennis Tournament
which concluded on September 24 in New Delhi, India.
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D. M. Gamini (without a cap) and Upali Rajakaruna (wearing a
cap) during the doubles finals |
The tournament is one of the main events of the International Tennis
Federation (ITF) Future Series Asia Oceania Region Championship and was
commenced on September 22 at the R K Khann Stadium hard courts.
Two fellow Sri Lankan players met in the singles final where the
local second seed Gamini out pointed the local number one Rajakaruna in
straight sets to claim the title (6-4, 6-3). With this victory D M
Gamini has lifted up to number 88 in the latest ITF Wheelchair Tennis
singles world rankings.
He has participated in eight ranking events in this year so far and
obtained 216 total points. Rajakaruna qualified for the singles final by
beating Indian player M. Durai in easy straight sets (6-1, 6-0) in the
first semi final while Gamini booked his place in the final by defeating
his Indian opponent Subramanian Balachandar in the same fashion as
Rajakaruna (6-1, 6-1) in the other semi final.
Gamini and Rajakaruna posted a straight set win over Indian duo Durai
Mariappan and Subramanian Balachandar (6-4, 6-3) in the men’s doubles
final.
They beat Indian players Bist Harish and Yadev Neeraj in their semi
final match (6-1, 6-0) while the other doubles semi final was an all
Indian game won by Mariappan and Subramanian against Choudhary Sunil and
Ranal Raajesh (6-0, 6-3). |
