KATHMANDU, Feb 14: Rana siblings Mahika and Mayanka along with Prerana Koirala emerged victorious in the opening day of girls' singles category during Nepal ITF Junior U-18 Tennis Tournament's Circuit Two on Monday.
Mahika and Mayanka defeated Indian opponents Misha Sood and Annika Kannan 6-3, 6-4 and 6-3, 6-1 respectively. Prerana also overcame the challenge of Indian player as she beat Zai Jivan in straight sets of 6-1, 6-2. All the winners advanced to the second round.
Other Nepali players in the same event Bibhuti Karki, Bijisha Shrestha, Anne Mathema and Catherine Mathema faced defeats. Bibhuti faced 6-0, 6-1 defeat at the hands of Vaidehi Chaudhari and Bijisha faced 6-2, 6-3 defeat against Malvika Shukla, both from India. Anne Mathema also was beaten by Indian player Shivani Swarup Ingle in straight sets of 6-1, 6-0 while another Nepali player Catherine Mathema was beaten by China's Zongyu Li 6-0, 6-0.
Meanwhile, Samrakshak Bhusan Bajracharya was the only player to register victory in the boys' category among seven Nepali participants.
Samrakshak overcame Pratyush Mohanty of India 7-5, 6-2 while other Nepali players Pranav Khanal, Samragya Katawal, Saurav Raj Pandey, Abhinav Acharya, Sakchham Karki and Renjan Lama all faced defeats to Indian opponents.
Pranav was beaten by Jaishvin Sidana 4-6, 6-3, 6-1; Samragya was defeated by Mritunjay Badola 6-0, 6-0 and Saurav faced a double bagel defeat to Kabir Manrai.
Similarly, Abhinav and Sakchham were beaten by Atharva Sharma and Theertha Shashank Macherla with the score line of 6-0, 6-1 and 6-1, 6-1 respectively.
Likewise, Renjan was beaten by Aaryan Zaveri 7-5, 6-1 in another match. All the victorious players reached to the second round of the competition.
IME JTI junior lawn tennis from May 20
