Abhishek, Manika hit form before Youth Nationals, win second titles

Guwahati, November 19, 2015: Abhishek Yadav returned to form in time for the Youth and Junior Nationals, to be held at Dharamsala, when he wrested the Youth Boys title beating PSPB team mate Sudhanshu Grover 4-3 in the final of the National Ranking (East Zone) Table Tennis Championships at the Deshbakhta Tarunram Phukan Indoor Stadium here last evening.

In Youth Girls final, Manika Batra overcame a 1-3 deficit to beat Reeth Rishya 4-3 and retain the crown she won at the North Zone championships at New Delhi early this month. Incidentally, Manika faced the same opponent in New Delhi too.

For Abhishek, who won his first title this season at Chennai, against the same opponent the going was not easy. For Sudhanshu, who won the title at New Delhi beating Arjun Ghosh, had all the firepower in his arsenal and the players know each other’s game, too well. But in the end, the southpaw struck form as was evident. Grover, on the other hand, could up the ante when it mattered as Abhishek had taken a sizeable lead of 3-1. Though Sudhanshu managed to win the fifth game, it was too late and too little.

There has not only been a healthy rivalry brewing between Manika and Reeth, both representing PSPB, but also there has been little to separate the two in win-loss ratio. No doubt, Manika has a few more titles to her credit, but what makes the two different is the temperament in crunch situations as Manika displayed yesterday evening.

Woefully down and out at 1-3, nobody would have given even an iota of chance to Manika. More so, when in the fifth game, Reeth was up 7-4 and then 9-5. Four straight points to Manika, brought her closer to the first task of levelling the score which she did in the next. From there, the drooping shoulders of Reeth told a success story gone awry and Manika finished off in style to win the decider, just giving away a solitary point to her rival!  

Nevertheless, it was not a bad bargain for both, like Abhishek, as they all ended up winning two titles each this season. Manika is slated to represent Delhi at the Himachal nationals while Abhishek and Sudhanshu could turn out for Rajasthan as PSPB did not qualify for the nationals.

  

It’s Payas again

Delhi’s Payas Jain huffed and puffed his way to second successive Cadet Boys crown when he beat UP’s Divyash Srivastava 4-3. At 3-1 lead, Divyansh was cruising towards his second title, but Payas had other ideas as was evident with his attacking posture which brought him the desired results. Once under attack, Divyansh wilted and succumbed to the guile of the Delhi boy, who also won the North Zone singles.

Maiden win for Prithoki

The best part about Prithoki was her little cool head. From 2-5 down she not only closed in on Anargaya playing quietly and unmindful of the noise from her supporters. At 9-7 the Karnataka girl faulted did with her service and when it changed hands, Prithoki first equalled at 9-9 and went 10-9 up. Then she on the first match-point opportunity she served and waited for her rival’s return go wide to claim her first title. For Anargaya, it was a wasted effort on her maiden appearance in a final, particularly when she led 2-0.    

Earlier in the day, two Tamil Nadu boys—Vishwa Deenadayalan and Varun Ganesh—bowed out in Cadet Boys semifinals. Particularly for Vishwa, it was a disappointment since it presented him with an opportunity to win his second title after Chennai. Varun, a promising paddler, it was so near and yet so far.

In Cadet Girls, it was an encouraging sign to see two new faces in the final as title-favourite Kavyasree Baskar of Tamil Nadu and Sneha Bowmick of West Bengal were eliminated in the semifinals.  

                                                                                                                                 

Results:

Youth Boys: Final: Abhishek Yadav (PSPB) bt Sudhanshu Grover (PSPB) 4-2 (11-8, 5-11, 11-4, 11-8, 6-11, 11-8).

Youth Girls: Final: Manika Batra (PSPB) bt Reeth Rishya (PSPB) 4-3 11-3, 8-11, 8-11, 9-11, 11-9, 11-9, 11-1).

Cadet Boys: Final: Payas Jain (Del) bt Divyash Srivastava (UP) 4-3 (11-9, 12-14, 11-13, 8-11, 12-10, 11-7, 11-7); Semifinals: Divyansh Srivastava bt Vishwa Deenadayalan (TN) 3-1 (9-11, 14-12, 11-6, 11-4), Payas Jain bt Varun Ganesh (TN) 3-0 (13-11, 11-8, 11-7);Quarterfinals: Vishwa Deenadayalan bt Preyesh Suresh Raj (TN) 3-1 (11-8, 9-11, 13-11, 11-3), Divyansh Srivastava bt Tharun Shanmugam (TN) 3-1 (11-5, 10-12, 11-5, 11-7), Varun Ganesh bt Soumyadeep Sarkar (NB) 3-2 (11-8, 5-11, 8-11, 11-9, 11-9), Payas Jain bt Anuj Mahipal (TN) 3-0 (11-9, 11-7, 11-9).

Cadet Girls: Final: Prithoki Chakraborty (WB) bt Anargaya Manjunath (KNT) 4-3 (4-11, 8-11, 11-5, 11-8, 6-11, 12-10, 13-11); Semifinals: Prithoki Chakraborty bt Sneha Bowmick (WB) 3-1 (5-11, 11-5, 11-7, 11-6), Anargya Manjunath bt Kavyasree Baskar (TN) 3-1 (11-7, 7-11, 11-4, 14-12); Quarterfinals: Kavyasree Baskar bt Tiyasa Chatterjee (WB) 3-0 (11-5, 11-9, 11-4), Anargya Manjunath bt Shreya Shivakumar (TN) 3-0 (11-8, 11-2, 11-7), Sneha Bhowmick bt Oishiki Joarder (NB) 3-0 (11-7, 11-9, 11-7), Prithoki Chakraborty bt Suhana Saini (Har) 3-1 (4-11, 15-13, 11-8, 11-7).

TTFI Press release