Sports News | Rahul, Priyanka Emerge Winners in National Pickleball
Get latest articles and stories on Sports at LatestLY. Top seed Rahul Belwal and Priyanka Mehta emerged winners in men's and women's singles category at the fourth IPA Pickleball Nationals here on Saturday.
Greater Noida, Jan 25 (PTI) Top seed Rahul Belwal and Priyanka Mehta emerged winners in men's and women's singles category at the fourth IPA Pickleball Nationals here on Saturday.
Men's singles top seed Rahul defeated Delhi's Santosh Bhagat 11-4 11-10 12-10 in the 35+ category, while Priyanka beat Monica Menon 11-2 5-11 11-9 in the 35+ women's singles final.
The match between the top seed and the unseeded Santosh was expected to be a one-way traffic but the latter turned up brilliantly and fought till the last minute only for Rahul to trump him in the end.
Rahul, with a DUPR rank of 4.924 who had come into the final with a 15-3 win over fourth seed Yuvraj Singh, was brilliant in the opening game as he didn't give any space to Santosh and bagged it 11-4.
But the Santosh, who was coming into the summit showdown with a 15-11 victory over second-seeded Samrat Ghosh in the semifinal, managed to eke out errors from Rahul's game and bagged the second 11-10 to take the match into a decider.
The third and decisive game was a one-way traffic for the most part as Santosh seemed set to pull off an upset as he led 7-0.
But the top seed turned the tables around and to win the third game 12-10 and clinch the title.
(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)