New Delhi: Team Radiant lifts the trophy in the third edition of Centena Pro Tennis league. In a nail-biting encounter, Radiant beat Bangalore Challengers by 22-18 at DLTA Complex, R K Khanna Stadium.
Arjun Uppal and Prerna Bhambri steered their team through the semi-finals and finals showing consistency and brilliant performance. After five suspenseful matches the scores tied to 17 – 17, thus the sixth match was the Championship decider.
National Champion Niki Poonacha after upsetting India Rank 1 player Ramkumar Ramanathan in the semi-finals could not replicate his win against Team Radiant’s Saketh Myneni. Niki Poonacha along with Paras Dahiya rose to the occasion and defeated Team Radiant’s Saketh Myneni and Suraj Prabodh by a thrilling score of 5-3. In the Men- Pro 2 category of the Grand Finale Paras Dahiya continued his winning streak and outperformed Suraj Prabodh of Team Radiant in a close fight by 5-3. Radiant’s star duo of Prerna Bhambri and Arjun Uppal overpowered their opponents, Sai Samhitha and Dilip Mohanty with a score of 5-1.
It was a major comeback for Team Radiant as it fought back in the league from the verge of elimination at the group stage and went on to become the Champions of the League.
On this occasion Mr Anil Dhupar Secretary General AITA, Mr Suman Kapoor Joint Secretary AITA, Mr Rohit Rajpal President DLTA and Indian Davis Cup Team Captain, Mr Rajiv Khanna Secretary General DLTA, Lt. General Arvind Mahajan were also present. The other awards are as follows:
Player of the Tournament – 35+ : Arjun Uppal by Mr. Rohit Rajpal
Player of the Tournament – next gen : Parv Nage by Mr. Rohit Rajpal
Player of the Tournament – Women: Prerna Bhambri by Mr. Rohit Rajpal
Player of the Tournament – Pro 2: Paras Dahiya by Mr. Rajiv Khanna
Player of the Tournament – Overall: Niki Poonacha by Gen. Arvind Mahajan