Rajasthan boys dethrone Maharashtra; North Bengal win Youth Girls title

Dharamshala, November 26, 2015: Rajasthan grabbed their chance with both hands when opportunity presented itself to win their second national title when their Youth Boys dethroned Maharashtra A 3-2 in a thrilling final in the 77th Junior and Youth National Table Tennis Championships at the Indoor Stadium here today.

The Youth Girls title went to North Bengal when they defeated the mighty West Bengal 3-2 in an equally enthralling final to re-launch themselves on the national scene. However, West Bengal made amends in the Junior Boys final to lift the trophy, beating 3-2 in another close encounter. The only team that retained the title in the championships was Telangana who won Junior Girls crown after rolling over Maharashtra A 3-1 in a somewhat one-sided final.

Rajasthan could pit all the PSPB boys with the petroleum institution not qualifying for the nationals here. It was a blessing in disguise for Rajasthan, who had just one—Junior Boys title won in 1986 in Delhi —to show before today. But then Ravindra Kotiyan was the only hurdle they had to overcome. Unfortunately, the tall Maharashtra boy won both this singles but what made the difference to the title was dark horse Vivek Bhargava. He won the crucial third singles against Sanish Ambekar after the scores were level.

Though Kotiyan beat Sudhanshu Grover in their reverse singles, left-handed Abhishek Yadav accounted for Siddhesh Pande 3-1 to seal the fate of Maharashtra, the winners last year at Alleppey.

North Bengal prove a point

Anuska Dutta proved to be the real clincher in the Youth Girls final as she started on a whirlwind fashion to outsmart Kaushani Nath with excellent strokes, particularly severe on her backhand. Then the experienced Sagarika Mukherjee consolidated their positions with an easy 3-0 win over Moumita Datta but what brought West Bengal back in the match was their third singles which Manisha Mukherjee won, beating Puja Paul 3-2. But then Anuska did not waste time to shut out Moumita in her reverse singles to put the issue beyond West Bengal.

West Bengal regain trophy

West Bengal regained the Junior Boys title beating PSPBA 3-2 in a gripping encoutner. In an evenly contested final, what tilted the scales in favour of West Bengal was the crucial doubles which their pair, comprising Anirban Ghosh and Ronit Bhanja, won 3-1. Earlier Ronit had lost to Manav Thakkar but the West Bengal paddler managed to put it across Lalhunhlua, who had lost to Anirban Ghosh giving the advantage to the eventual winners.  

Telangana retain title

Telangana beat Maharashtra A 3-1 to retain the Junior Girls crown. Maharashtra, who had won silver last year, could not stop an in-form Varuni Jaiswal who won both her singles and then combined with Naina to keep the title. If only Naina had not squandered four-rubber points in her singles against Manushree Patil, things would have got settled much earlier. Manushree too squared three chances but on the fourth held to take her first singles. However, she could not overcome the early rhythm that Varuni struck in their reverse singles.   

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Results:

Youth Boys: Final: Rajasthan bt Maharashtra A 3-2 (Abhishek Yadav lost to Ravindra Kotiyan 8-11, 12-10, 9-11, 8-11, Sudhanshu Grover bt Siddhesh Pande 9-11, 11-8, 11-7, 12-10, Vivek hargava bt Sanish Ambekar 8-11,9-11, 11-9, 11-6, 11-8, Sudhanshu Grover lost to Ravindra Kotiyan 9-11, 12-10, 8-11, 14-16, Abhishek Yadav bt Siddhesh Pande 7-11, 11-6, 11-9, 12-10); Semifinals: Maharashtra A bt Uttar Pradesh 3-0 (Sanish Ambekar bt Abhinav Belwal 8-11, 8-11, 12-10, 11-5, 11-6, Ravindra Kotiyan bt Sarthak Seth 5-11, 13-11, 8-11, 11-8, 11-7, Siddhesh Pande bt Arjun Kohli 11-9, 11-8, 9-11, 10-12, 11-7) Rajasthan bt Tamil Nadu 3-1 (Sudhanshu Grover bt Nikhil Suresh 11-6, 13-15, 11-2, 11-6, Abhishek Yadav bt Anandth Devarajan 14-12, 13-15, 11-8, 11-9, Vivek Bhargava lost to Anandh Raj Rajan 4-11, 10-12, 8-11, Abhishek Yadav bt Nikhil Suresh 8-11, 11-7, 11-8,11-7); Quarterfinals: Maharashtra A bt West Bengal 3-1, Uttar Pradesh bt Dena Bank 3-0, Tamil Nadu bt Maharashtra B 3-2, Rajasthan bt Delhi 3-2.  

Youth Girls: Final:  North Bengal bt West Bengal 3-1 (Anuska Dutta bt Kaushani Nath 11-4, 11-4, 7-11, 11-6, Sagarika Mukheree bt Moumita Datta 14-12, 11-8, 11-3, Puja Paul lost to Manisha Mukherjee 11-9, 13-15, 11-6, 8-11, 11-13, Anuska Dutta bt Moumita Datta 11-7, 11-8, 11-7); Semifinals: West Bengal bt Telangana 3-0 (Kaushani Nath bt Naina 11-8, 8-11, 7-11, 11-7, 11-9, Moumita Datta bt Varuni Jaiswal 11-8, 7-11, 5-11, 11-9, 11-6, Manisha Mukherjee bt Monica Manohar 11-8, 11-8, 11-5), North Bengal bt Tamil Nadu 3-1 (Anushka Datta bt Yashini Sivashankar 11-6, 9-11, 11-8, 11-3, Sagarika Mukherjee lost to Amrutha Pushpak 8-11, 9-11, 11-5, 7-11, Puja Paul lost to Selenadeepthi Selvakukmar 1-11, 7-11, 5-11, Anuska Datta bt Amrutha Pushpak 11-9, 9-11, 7-11, 13-11, 11-7, Sagarika Mukherjee bt Yasini Sivashankar 12-10, 11-8, 9-11, 13-11);  Quarterfinals: West Bengal bt AAI 3-0, Telangana bt Delhi 3-2, North Bengal bt Uttar Pradesh 3-0, Tamil Nadu bt Karnataka 3-1.  

Junior Boys: Final: West Bengal bt PSPBA 3-2 (Ronit Bhanja lost to Manav Thakkar 11-8, 8-11, 6-11, 3-11, Anirban Ghosh bt Lalhunhlua 17-15, 11-5, 11-8, Ronit/Anirban bt 11-8, 11-4, 7-11, 11-3, Anitban Ghosh lost to Manav Thakkar 8-11, 11-8, 4-11, 6-11, Ronit Bhanja bt Lalhunhlua 11-6, 11-8, 11-8); Semifinals: West Bengal bt Tamil Nadu 3-0(Ronit Bhanja bt Ananth Devarajan 5-11, 5-11, 11-6, 11-7, 11-2, Anirban Ghosh bt Sachinviswanath Sivaramakrishnan 11-7, 11-8, 11-5, Ronit/Anirban bt Ananth Sachinviswanath 11-8, 11-4, 11-7), PSPBA bt Delhi 3-1 (Manav Thakkar bt Shivjit Singh Lamba 11-2, 11-3, 11-6, Lalhunhlua lost to Parth Virmani 9-11, 11-4, 9-11, 11-8, 10-12, Manav/Lalhunhlua bt Lakshay Suri/Aranya Maghav 11-4, 11-6, 11-5); Quarterfinals: Tamil Nadu bt Karnataka 3-0, West Bengal bt Telangana 3-1, PSPBA bt North Bengal 3-1, Delhi bt Gujarat 3-2.

Junior Girls: Final: Telangana bt Maharashtra A 3-1 (Varuni Jaiswal bt Ashlesha Trehan 11-8, 11-8, 11-8, Naina lost to Manushree Patil 11-4, 4-11, 6-11, 11-6, 15-17, Varuni/Naina bt Manushree/Ashlesha 9-11, 11-5, 11-6, 11-9, Varuni Jaiswal bt Manushree Patil 9-11, 11-6, 11-8, 11-0); Semifinals: Maharashtra A bt West Bengal 3-0(Manushree Patil b Moumita Datta 11-9, 6-11, 12-10, 11-8, Ashlesha Trehan lost to Kaushani Nath 8-11, 8-11, 9-11, Manushree/Ashlesha bt Moumita/Kaushani 11-4, 16-14, 11-8, Manushree Patil bt Kaushani Nath 13-11, 11-9, 11-8), Telangana bt Maharashtra B 3-0 (Varuni Jaiswal bt Dyuti Patki 10-12, 11-7, 11-3, 8-11, 13-11, Naina bt Shruti Amrute 11-9, 13-11, 9-11, 11-5, Naina/Varuni bt Shruti/Manasi Chiplunkar 11-9, 11-9, 11-7);Quarterfinals: Telangana bt Andhra Pradsh 3-0, Maharashtra B bt Delhi 3-1, West Bengal bt Kerala 3-0, Maharashtra A bt Tamil Nadu 3-2.

TTFI Press release