Both the boys’ and girls’ teams of Nepal along with India qualified for the ITF Asia U-12 Team Tennis Championships on Thursday securing passages to finals of the South Asian Regional Qualifiers at the Satdobato tennis courts in Lalitpur.

In the eliminator rounds, Nepal’s boys’ team defeated Pakistan 2-1 before the girls’ team eased to a 2-0 win over Sri Lanka. The Indian boys’ team thumped Sri Lanka 2-0 and their girls’ team saw off Bhutan 2-0. In the boys’ singles, Nepal’s Aki Zubeen Rawat beat Muhammad Huzaifa Khan 6-3, 6-3 while Aarav Samrat Hada lost 5-7, 7-6, 0-6 to Hamid Israr to level the match at 1-1. In the doubles, Hada and Rawat registered a convincing 6-2, 6-2 win over Israr and Khan to seal their tickets to final as well as for the Asia event.

In the girls’ event, Nepal’s Azaa Regmi defeated Ruvi Rajakaruna 6-3, 3-6, 6-2 in the singles before Subhangee Laxmi Shah won the another singles match after her opponent TA Hasali R Gajaba retired hurt trailing 4-1. In other boys’ game, Harsh Fogaat of India inflicted a double bagel on Thilina W Dissanayake and Vansh Nandal dispatched Vichinthya SR Nilaweera 6-2, 6-2. The girls’ event also saw the Indian players sweep aside Bhutan. Both Durganshi and Anjali Rathi inflicted a double bagel on Bhutan. Durganshi defeated Karma Yuden Dorji and Rathi beat Tenzin Wangsel Lahden. 

Earlier, Nepal’s boys’ team advanced to semi-finals as the runners-up in the five-team round robin league behind India. Pakistan and Sri Lanka had secured third and fourth place to qualify for eliminator round while Bhutan had crashed out finishing at the bottom of the table.  Nepal’s girls’ team had also finished runners-up behind India in the event contested by four teams. Sri Lanka had secured third place ahead of Bhutan. 

ITF Asia U-12 Team Tennis Championships will be held in Kazakhstan in November. The finalists of both boys’ and girls’ were assured of tickets to the Kazakhstan event.