Harshali Mandavkar, 15, of Bombay Scottish (Mahim) sealed her maiden girls' U-16 crown in the MSSA inter-school tennis tournament at the Cricket Club of India courts on Monday. Harshali's opponent in Tuesday's summit clash, Kashish Bote of Don Bosco International (Matunga), has informed the organisers that she will not be present for the final as she will be leaving on Monday night for Karnal, Haryana to participate in the School Games Federation of India (SGFI) tennis tournament. Harshali has been making it to the finals of the MSSA tennis competition for the last six years. She finished runner-up to Bhumika Tripathi in the U-16 final last year, has won the U-14 title twice and the U-12 title once.

The Bombay Scottish student was mighty pleased to win the senior title in her final year at school. "Winning this title was always something that I wanted to do. I am overwhelmed to finish my school career with this title. But, I did not want to win it this way, so I'm a bit disappointed. I would have loved to play against Kashish as we enjoy a great rivalry and have beaten each other a couple of times in the past though I don't remember the exact head-to-head statistics. Anyway, this is a perfect way to finish my school," an excited Harshali told mid-day.