Brothers Aadvik, Aarush set up U-12 title clash after identical 3-1 wins in semis
Twins Aadvik (left) and Aarush Khanna. Pic/Rufus Vedanayagam
It’s all in the family as twin brothers Aadvik Khanna and Aarush Khanna of Nita Mukesh Ambani Junior School (Bandra) stormed into the final of the Mumbai Schools Sports Association (MSSA) boy’s U-12 Inter-School Lawn Tennis at the Bombay Gymkhana on Tuesday.
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The Khanna brothers won their matches 3-1 in similar fashion. Aadvik put it across Krish Saroj of Vibgyor Roots and Rise School (Malad) while Aarush went past Kreshiv Shah, also of Vibgyor Roots and Rise School (Malad).
The matches witnessed a tight battle in the best-of-five games with a distinct similarity of long rallies of 19 shots, with the siblings taking the lead at 2-1. They emerged strong winners through a variety of shots including forehand winners, dropshots and cross court hits.
Earlier in the quarter-finals, Aarush defeated Viraj Naryani of Utpal Sanghvi Global School 3-1 while Aadvik, born a minute later, beat Pratik Konar of Sir JJ Fort Boys High School 3-0.
Aadvik who had injured himself two days before the tournament while playing football, showed no signs of fatigue. He won the tournament last year in the U-10 boy’s category, outwitting Aarush in the semi-finals.
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The twins have an elder sister — Samika — who was crowned champion in the U-14 girl’s tournament last year. Samika will be seen in action in the U-16 girl’s event. The final will be held on October 25 at the same venue.
“Our whole family plays tennis and that got us interested in the sport. We idolise our dad for introducing us to the sport. Even Samika is an inspiration. We would love to continue and hope to someday play for India,” said the twins.
Sitakshi Khanna, mother of the twins, was seen praying and cheering for her boys. “I am so happy to see both my sons in the final. I know it’s not going to be easy for me to choose [the winner] between them. I wish them luck and it [result] won’t matter as both the winners and runner-up trophy will be at our home,” Sitakshi said.
In the boy’s U-10 semi-finals, Abir Sukhani of Vibgyor High (Goregoan) sailed into the final, beating Aarav Panikar of Oberoi International School (Goregoan) 3-0, while Yuvaan Bajaj of Jamnabai Narsee (Juhu) got past Vivaan Mehra of Oberoi International School (Goregoan) 3-1 in their matches played at the MSSA tennis court, Azad Maidan.
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