Kabir Hans created history as he became the first tennis player from Odisha to win an ITF Junior doubles title at Chennai today. Kabir achieved the feat in the YMCA TTT-ITF Junior (Grade-4) Tournament with Megh Patel of Gujarat as his partner.

In the hard-fought final, top seeds Hans and Patel beat Haryana-Delhi combination of Deepender Grewal and Dipin Wadhwa 6-7(8) 6-2 (13-11). Earlier, Hans and Patel defeated fellow Indians Yash Chaurasia and Tushar Madan 6-4, 7-6(4) in the quarterfinals and Ajay Malik and Fardeen Qamar 6-2, 6-1 in the semifinals.

Hans and Patel reached quarterfinals with one win and a bye. After getting the bye in the first round, they prevailed over Indian opponents Shivank Bhatnagar and Vansh Kapoor 6-1, 6-1 in the second round.

In singles event, Hans retired in the quarterfinals after losing the first set 5-7 against top seed Megh Patel. On his way to quarterfinals, ninth seed Hans got bye in the first round, beat Naresh Badgujar (India) 6-4, 6-4 in the second and eighth seed Bikramjeet Singh Chawla (USA) 6-4, 6-3 in the third.
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PHOTO: Kabir Hans (Centre) and his doubles partner Megh Patel (Left) after winning the doubles title in Chennai on August 24, 2018.