 "Sathiyan Gnanasekaran and Akash Pal pose with their trophies after being crowned men's doubles champions at the WTT Contender event in Lagos, Nigeria. Image credit: Reliance Foundation")
India’s Sathiyan Gnanasekaran and Akash Pal won the men’s doubles title beating French pair of Leo De Nodrest and Julles Rolland in straight games in just under 22 minutes at the WTT Contender event in Lagos, Nigeria on Saturday.
However, ace woman paddler Sreeja Akula went down 1-4 to second seed Honoka Hashimoto in a 48-minute battle. Hashimoto won 11-7, 11-3, 11-4, 9-11, 13-11 in a hard-fought encounter.
Sreeja didn’t find her rhythm in the first three games as she was nearly down and out in just 20 minutes, losing three games on trot.
However, she fought back winning the fourth game and also took the fifth game to the tie-breaker.
Earlier, Indian men’s doubles pair brushed aside the challenge from the French in quick time winning 11-9, 11-4, 11-9 at the Sir Molade Okoya Thomas Indoor Sports Hall in the Nigerian capital.
The Indian pair dominated the summit clash from start to finish winning 19 points on their own service and another 14 on the opposition serve.