Paiasvini Rao and Yatiraj Karhade won the inaugural District Sports Office (DSO) zonal soft tennis titles in the U-19 Girls and Boys categories respectively at the Mumbai Schools Sports Association's tennis courts at Azad Maidan on Saturday
Yatiraj Karhade (left) and Paiasvini Rao. Pic/Suresh KK
Mumbai: Paiasvini Rao and Yatiraj Karhade won the inaugural District Sports Office (DSO) zonal soft tennis titles in the U-19 Girls and Boys categories respectively at the Mumbai Schools Sports Association's tennis courts at Azad Maidan on Saturday.
Yatiraj Karhade (left) and Paiasvini Rao. Pic/Suresh KK
In the girls' final, 13-year-old Paiasvini beat Darsha Shetty of Thane 11-4. Meanwhile, in the boys' final, Yatiraj beat Rahul Baliga 11-9 to emerge winner.
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It was a relatively new experience for players who participated in the tournament. Paiasvini agreed to play the sport for fun but it was during practice she realised that it wasn't as easy.
"I am basically a tennis player, so learning soft tennis wasn't difficult. When I started practicing at the Don Bosco (Matunga) tennis courts under coach Sunil Sainani two weeks ago, I realised that one needs to really bend a lot unlike tennis," said Paiasvini, a Class IX student of JB Vachha High School (Dadar).