PINAKI MAJUMDAR
Jamshedpur, June 7: Local lad Prosenjit Paul won the opening match to enter the pre-quarter finals of the ongoing Tata Steel AITA Men’s National Ranking 1 Lac Prize Money Tennis Tournament 2023, being held at the synthetic courts of the JRD Tata Sports Complex.
Jamshedpur’s Prosenjit, a prominent name from the state during his junior playing days, made a stunning come-back after dropping the opening set by 4-6 to level the match at one set all.
As Prosenjit won the second set by a close 7-5 against Tamil Nadu’s Sagar S Kalyan and the match progressed to a deciding set, it was Kalyan who did not continue after losing the first game, citing muscle cramps.
Prosenjit will play 6th-seeded Md Fardeen from Bengal in the pre-quarter finals.
Unseeded Raj Rishi Keshari created the first upset of the tournament as he breezed past 8th-seeded Vashu Gupta of Uttar Pradesh by a straight 7-5,6-3 to enter the pre-quarter finals.
Avneesh Gupta, VP (TQM and Engineering & Projects), who inaugurated the event on Monday spoke a few encouraging words for the players and appreciated the efforts of the Tata Steel Sports Department in organizing a national ranking tennis tournament.
