Delhi’s Utkarsh Gupta wins junior title; Akula is girls’ champion

Durgapur, October 31, 2014: Utkarsh Gupta, the boy from Delhi, won the season’s first title beating Maharashtra’s Ravindra Kotiyan in the final of the Junior Boys category at theNational Ranking (East Zone) Table Tennis Championships at the Sidhu Kanu Indoor Stadium, City Centre here today.

The win, coming after a long period for the Delhi lad, has not only reiterated the talent he possesses but must have upped his confidence to a different level. Utkarsh won 4-3 in a battle in which he was 2-3 down.

The Junior Girls crown went to Telengana’s Sreeja Akula who beat Kerala’s Mariya Rony 4-1. The final did not meet the expectations as Mariya had really fought well in the semifinals. Except for the first game, where showed the same promise failed against a sustained Sreeja onslaught to end runner-up. It was similar to what happened at West Zone event at Gandhidham where Kerala’s Sreha Jacob promised so much only to capitulate in the Junior Girls final.

After losing the fifth game so badly at 3-11, one thought the Delhi lad had very little chance of a comeback. But he did so wonderfully to first level the score before outplaying Ravindra in the decider which Utkarsh won with a lot to spare as he stopped the Maharashtra boys at just eight points.

“The sixth game was important for me. The moment I won, I knew I had to target his weak backhand. My gamble worked and I am really happy,” said Utkarsh, who received the winner’s purse of Rs. 16,500.

Earlier, the two semifinals in the boys’ section had all trappings of a final as eventual finalists Utkarsh Gupta of Delhi and Ravindra Kotiyan of Maharashtra had to bring in all their experience and courage to outwit their rivals Anirban Ghosh of West Bengal, also the top-seed, and PSPBA’s Lalrin Puia, an excellent defensive player. That both matches went down to the wire explains the intensity as well as the never-say-die attitude of the winners.

In boys’ quarterfinals, top-seeded Anirban Ghosh of West Bengal made mincemeat of state mate Abhimanyu Mitra, winning the contest 4-0 while Delhi’s Utkarsh Gupta won against Maharashtra’s Siddesh Pande 4-1 from the top-half. From the other half, PSPBA’s Lalrin Puia downed Haryana’s Ayush Tayal in straight games and Maharashtra’s Ravindra Kotiyan ousted second-seed and PSPB’s Manav Thakkar 4-2, the only match keeping the spectators interest alive with a semblance of fight.

With several seeds making early departure in girls’ section yesterday, the curiosity and focus shifted to Kerala’s Mariya Rony and Delhi’s Harsha Kalra, who eliminated No. 1 seed Payal Bohra yesterday. After a good fight Mariya managed to beat Harsha 4-2 and Shruti Amrute from Maharashtra beat West Bengal’s Sumana Saha 4-1. In the bottom half, both Telengana qualifiers Naina Jaiswal and Sreeja Akula made it to the quarterfinals, beating their rivals Aishwarya Pathak (UP) and Selenadeepthi Selvakumar (TN). Naina won 4-1, while Sreeja took a game more against the Tamil Nadu girl.

In the women’s singles main draw, all top seeded and ranked players made it to the quarterfinals without a hassle. No. 1 seed Mouma Das, No. 2 Pooja Sahasrabudhe, former national champion Poulomi Ghatak, who exited in the first round at the West Zone, Manika Batra, Suthirtha Mukherjee and others will resume their quarterfinal encounters tomorrow.  But Ankita Das was sent packing by Takeme Sarkar 4-2 like West Zone semifinalist and Delhi’s Riti Shankar bowed out tamely as she lost to AAI’s Ayhika Mukherjee 1-4.

Results:

Junior Boys Singles: Final: Utkarsh Gupta (Del) bt Ravindra Kotiyan (MHR) 4-3 (11-7, 8-11, 8-11, 11-8, 3-11, 11-8, 11-8); Semifinals: Utkarsh Gupta bt Airban Ghosh (WB) 4-3 (11-8, 9-11, 9-11, 5-11, 11-4, 11-7, 11-8), Ravindra Kotiyan (MHR) bt Lalrin Puia (PSPBA) 4-3 (8-11, 11-13, 12-10, 11-3, 11-7, 9-11, 11-4).

Junior Girls Singles: Final: Sreeja Akula (Telg) bt Mariya Rony (Ker) 4-1 (7-11, 14-12, 11-9, 11-4, 11-7); Semifinals: Mariya Rony (Ker) bt Shruti Amruti (MHR) 4-3 (10-12, 8-11, 11-7, 11-4, 12-10, 9-11, 11-6), Sreeja Akula (Telg) bt Naina Jaiswal (Telg) 4-1 (11-9, 11-8, 9-11, 11-5, 12-10).

A TTFI Press release