Howrah, October 24: Delhi’s Yashansh Malik defeated Jeet Chandra of Haryana 4-2 to claim the Youth Boys singles trophy while the Youth Girls’ crown went the way of Prapti Sen of West Bengal, who beat Moumita Datta of Railways 4-1, in the UTT National Ranking (East Zone) Table Tennis Championships at the Howrah Indoor Stadium here today.
It was a well-earned title for the Delhi paddler—he won a marathon 22-20 fourth game to level the score—who opened well only to falter in the next two games in which Jeet proved too good and looked like sealing his opponent’s fate.
But then the gutsy Yashansh really fought well in the fourth after several deuces and squandering nearly half a dozen game points to gain his grip back in the final. The 22-20 victory provided him the spark and necessary confidence to take the next two games, thus shutting out whatever chances that Jeet had prior to it.
Despite the dice rolling in favaour of the Delhi paddler and Yashansh gaining his composure, the Haryana boy must be credited for keeping himself going and posing all possible troubles with relentless attack. No doubt, this added a bit of pressure on the Delhi boy but he kept his cool in crucial moments to romp home winners.
In Youth Girls final, a well-rested Prapti disposed of her rival from the Railways as Moumita, despite winning the opening game, failed to stop the rampaging West Bengal girl. Probably, the back-to-back quarterfinal and semi-final mixed doubles matches that Moumita had to play before her final against Prapti sapped her energy and that was telling in her game plan in the title-round.
Day of Upsets
On a day of upsets, quite a few seeds feel by the wayside both in men and women singles. But the biggest upset of them all happened to be top-seeded Anothny Amalraj and second-seed Archana Kamath, both of whom went down to unseeded Soumyajit Ghosh of Haryana and Krittwika Sinha Roy of West Bengal. In between former national champion Madhurika was consumed by young and upcoming star, Prapti Sen, from West Bengal.
Other than these major upsets, other seeds went moved into the quarterfinals in both categories. But several matches in the pre-quarters went down to the wire, making it a thrilling affair.
Of the four Haryana paddlers, who made it to the round of 16, only Ghosh managed to go past the hurdle and that too by causing an upset. Amalraj was not in his usual self but, on the other hand, despite losing the opening game, Ghosh took the extended second game to stamp his authority to go 3-1 up. He, however, lost the fifth and sixth games. But Ghosh increased the tempo in the decider and converted all lose shots from Amalraj to romp home winners.
Archana led 3-1 comfortably before letting the Krittwika take complete control in the last three games which put paid to her ambitions.
In the all-West Bengal finals of the U13-U15 for Boys and Girls, Ankur Bhatacharjee defeated Shankhadip Das 3-0 while Oishiki Joardar overcame Prithoki Chakraborti 3-1 to claim their respective titles.
Results:
Youth Boys Singles: Final: Yashansh Malik (Del) bt Jeet Chandra (Har) 11-7, 5-11, 8-11, 22-20, 11-7, 11-9.
Youth Girls Singles: Final: Prapti Sen (WB) bt Moumita Datta (Rlys) 9-11, 11-7, 11-7, 11-9, 11-6.
Men Singles: Pre-Quarterfinals: Soumyajit Ghosh (Har) bt Anthony Amalraj (PSPB) 7-11, 17-15, 12-10, 11-7, 9-11, 8-11, 11-6; Anukram Jain (Raj) bt Wesely Do Rosaio (Har) 11-5, 7-11, 11-7, 9-11, 11-6, 11-5; Sanil Shetty (PSPB) bt Jubin Kumar (Har) 9-11, 11-9, 7-11, 11-5, 11-7, 14-12; Manav Thakkar (PSPB) bt Ronit Bhanja (WB) 1-8, 11-4, 4-11, 11-6, 11-9; Manush Shah (Guj) bt Akash Pal (WB) 9-11, 11-5, 10-12, 18-16, 11-3; Sushmit Sriram (TN) bt Aman Balgu (Telg) 8-11, 11-2, 11-8, 11-9, 11-9; Arjun Ghosh (WB) bt Sourav Saha (Har) 911, 11-8, 8-11, 11-3, 11-7, 11-8; Harmeet Desai (PSPB) bt Abhishek Yadav (UP) 11-5, 10-12, 7-11, 11-8, 12-10, 11-5.
Women Singles: Pre-Quarterfinals: Sutirtha Mukherjee (Har) bt Mousumi Paul (PSPB) 11-6, 1-7, 9-11, 12-14, 11-8, 11-13, 11-3; Srushti Haleangadi (Mah) bt Mamata Prabhu (BBSCB) 13-11, 11-9, 11-9, 21-19; Ayhika Mukherjee (RBI) bt Seraha Jacob (TN) 11-7, 11-9, 11-4, 11-6; Yashini Sivasankar (TN) bt Shruti Amrute (Rlys) 5-11, 11-9, 11-9, 12-10, 11-13, 8-11, 11-9; Prapti Sen (WB) bt Madhurika Patkar (PSPB) 11-5, 7-11, 11-9, 13-11, 11-7; Naina (Telg) bt Harshavardhini (TN) 11-7, 6-11, 11-7, 5-11, 11-8, 11-7; Sreeja Akula (RBI) bt Moumita Datta (Rlys) 12-10, 8-11, 11-7, 11-7, 9-11, 6-11, 13-11; Krittwika Sinha Roy (WB) Archana G. Kamath (PSPB) 6-11, 7-11, 12-10, 5-11, 11-9, 11-3, 11-8.
Boys Singles (U13-U15): Final: Ankur Bhattacharjee (WB) bt Shankhadip Das (WB) 11-4, 11-8, 11-7.
Girls Singles (U13-U15): Final: Oishiki Joardar (WB) bt Prithoki Chakraborti (WB) 13-11, 8-11, 11-5, 11-8.
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M.P. Singh
Secretary General
Table Tennis Federation of India
Mob: 989944333/9999995040
For detailed results, please visit our website www.ttfi.org