Ahmedabad, Sep 29 (Tennis News) Gujarat began their defence of the National Games women's team tennis title with a commanding win over Telangana while West Bengal women's lawn bowls team registered a stunning 12-11 victory over Assam to maintain its winning momentum in the 36th National Games on Thursday. Gujarat women tennis team dropped just four games in securing a 2-0 verdict against Telangana at the picturesque Sabarmati Riverfront Sports Complex.
They will now meet Karnataka for a place in the final.
In the other semifinal, Maharashtra will lock horns with Tamil Nadu, who wriggled out of a tight spot against Haryana. Maharashtra had defeated Delhi 2-0.
At the Kensville Golf and Country Club where lawn bowls action is taking place, the West Bengal team held its nerves to quell Assam's fightback to register its second win in the Group.
The Assam Fours team, led by Birmingham Commonwealth Games participant Tania Choudhary, and comprising Bangita Hazarika, Adinita Kakoty and Ananya Saikia, was trailing 1-5 after the first two ends, but clawed back to level 7-7.
Bengal, who fielded Renu Mohfa, Manisha Srivastava, Reema Pawa and Anchor Malhotra, held their nerves to regain a slender 11-10 lead in the penultimate 11th end and kept their noses ahead at the finish.
In other matches, hosts Gujarat dominated the proceedings against Manipur to register a 12-10 win while Jharkhand made light work of Odisha to record a 33-3 win. In another contest, Delhi got the better of Bihar by a 20-9 margin.
At the shooting range, 2012 Olympic Games silver medallist Vijay Kumar (Himachal Pradesh) soaked in the pressure well to be placed second behind Ankur Goel (Uttarakhand) and ahead of the in-form Anish Bhanwala (Haryana) after the first stage of the men's 25m Rapid Fire Pistol competition.
Sri Karthik Sabari Raj (Tamil Nadu) topped the men's 10m Air Rifle qualification charts with 632.2 points, leaving the likes of Aishwary PS Tomar (Madhya Pradesh) Rudranksh B Patil (Maharashtra), Divyansh Singh Panwar (Rajasthan), Hriday Hazarika (Assam) and Arjun Babuta (Punjab) in his wake.
Similarly, in the women’s 10m Air Rifle qualification, Tilottama Sen (Karnataka) finished on top with 633.6 points. Sriyanka Sadangi (Odisha), Yukthi Rajendra (Karnataka) 629.3 and Nancy (Haryana) were placed above Elavenil Valarivan (Gujarat) and Mehuli Ghosh (West Bengal) but the final will come with its own set of challenges.
In the men's Netball semifinals in Bhavnagar, Gujarat stretched Telangana to the limit, losing by a wafer-thin margin after opening up a 30-28 lead at the half-time.
Telangana turned the tables on the home side by pressing hard in the third quarter for a 45-42 advantage. Gujarat fought lion-heartedly and held the upper-hand in the final quarter but lost 53-55.
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News Source : PTI
