Palha-Bal lift doubles title in Asian U-14

Pune, June 1 (UNI) Natasha Palha of Goa put herself in line for a doubles crown as she teamed up with Pune's Namita Bal to lift the girls doubles title, while another Pune player Tushal Thawani teamed up with Hyderabad's Sai Teja Palladugu to beat Bisht brothers Ronit and Rohit for the boys doubles title today in the Asian Under-14 Series Tennis Tournament here.

In the doubles finals played today, Palha and Bal defeat the pair of Vaidehi Bhagwat and Pratharna Thombre 2-6, 6-3, 6-4, while Thawani and Palladugu easily accounted for Bisht brothers winning 6-3, 7-5.

Both pairs won their first ever international titles and won 200 ATF points for their efforts, while the runners-up had to be content with 150 points.

It was a good day for Thawani who secured the third place to earn valuable 120 ATF points in the match for the third and fourth place Thawani had to go through a harrowing time before prevailing over Dev Priya Jaiswal 1-4, 4-2, 5-3.

In the girls section, Zainab Ali Sajjad of Hyderabad defeated Mumbai's Vaidehi Bhagwat 4-2, 2-4, 4-0 to claim the third spot.

The single finals will be played 0830 hrs onwards tomorrow. It will be followed by the prize distribution function.

Following are the results: Girls Doubles (Finals): Natasha Palla / Namita Bal bt Vaidehi Bhagwat / Pratharna Thombre 2-6, 6-3, 6-4.

Girls Doubles (Semi Finals): Sai Teja Palladugu / Tushal Thawani bt Ronit Bisht / Rohit Bisht 6-3, 7-5.

Consolation Matches 3rd / 4th places: (Boys) Tushal Thawani bt Dev Priya Jaiswal 1-4, 4-2, 5-3.

(Girls): Zainab Ali Sajjad bt Vaidehi Bhagwat 4-2, 2-4, 4-0 Other Placings: (Boys) 5. Sai Teja Palladgu, 6. Arjun Kadhe, 7. R Ram Kumar, 8. Aniruddha Darp, 9. Mohit Mayur, 10. Vinod Gowda.

(Girls): 5. Prathana Thombre, 6. Namita Bal, 7. Riddhi Hegde, 8.

Parminder Kaur, 9. Jeni Patel, 10. Shruti Archita.

UNI