When Aarav Samrat Hada and Aki Zuben Rawat won the boys’ doubles title in the ITF J5 Juniors Tennis Championships in Pakistan last week, it hardly made to the news in Nepal and went largely unnoticed.

Unseeded Hada and Rawat overcame homegrown top-ranked pair of Muhammad Shoaib and Ahmed Kamil in a three-set final. On the girls’ side, Nepal’s Abhilasha Bista paired up with Russian Arina Valitova to lift the doubles title. The 17-years-old Bista also made it to the girls single finals before she was beaten by her doubles partner.

This was the first International Tennis Federation (ITF) title win for Nepali’s boys outside home soil, and also for the girls double category. The Nepali juniors were up against players from Japan, Pakistan, Estonia, Russian and Ukraine, among others in the tournament.

https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepals-tennis-shines-in-covid-times/