India, Jan. 25 -- Men's singles top seed Rahul Belwal defeated fellow Delhi player Santosh Bhagat in three games to win the 35+ category title of the fourth IPA Pickleball Nationals at the Bennett University campus here on Saturday.

The match between Belwal and unseeded Bhagat was expected to be one-way traffic, but the giant-killer Bhagat turned up brilliantly and fought till the end before Belwal completed a 11-4, 10-11, 12-10 victory.

Belwal, with a DUPR (Dynamic Universal Pickleball Rating) rank of 4.924, who had come into the final with a 15-3 win over fourth-seed Yuvraj Singh, was brilliant in the opening game and denied any space to Bhagat.

But the latter, who had come into the summit showdown after a brilliant 15-11 victory ove...