Merwyn Fernandis and Khotu emerge champions

by Suman Gupta

Mumbai, January : Rafik Khotu and Merwyn Fernandis, both from Mumbai combined perfectly as a team to emerge champions winning the 55+ age category title in the C.P. Club Senior Circuit All-India Tennis Tournament 2020.

In the final, the seventh-seeded Mumbai pair produced a strong performance to record a sensational and shock win against the second seeds M. Suresh (Hyderabad) and Raju Menon (Nagpur) by smoothly coasting to an 8-4 win in the best-of-15 point contest at the C.P. Club, Nagpur on Sunday evening.

Olympian Fernandis, who was a member of the Indian hockey team that won the gold medal at the 1980 Moscow summer games, has now retained his crown. Fernandes who partnered M. Suresh last year had won the title in the same age category.

In the penultimate round, the Fernandis and Khotu duo sidelined the third-seeded pairing of Paul Manohar and Sanjoy Shyam and earlier in the quarter-finals, they stunned the top seeds Rakesh Andhare and Dr. Bhushan Sutavane.

Results – Men’s 55+ (final): 7-Rafik Khotu (Mumbai) and Merwyn Fernandis (Mumbai) beat 2-M. Suresh (Hyderabad) and Raju Menon (Nagpur) 8-4.