Manav wins maiden title; Archana retains sub-junior girls’ crown

Rajahmundry, December 27, 2014: Manav Thakkar of Petroleum Sports Promotion Board Academy (PSPBA) beat Parth Virmani of Delhi 4-1 to win the sub-junior boys’ title while Archana Kamath Girish of Karnataka downed Varuni Jaiswal of Andhra Pradesh 4-2 to retain the sub-junior girls’ crown in the 76th Cadet and Sub-Junior National Table Tennis Championships at the Cherukuri Convention Centre here today.

PSPBA’s Jeho Himnakulhpuingheta defeated team mate Alberto Lrruta 4-2 for the Cadet Boys and Delhi’s Vanshika Bhargava downed Diya Chitale of Maharashtra 4-2 in the Cadet Girls final for their maiden title-trophies.

Manav, having missed a golden opportunity at Ajmer, went on a cruise mode despite his opponent matching him both in speed and agility to sew it up rather nicely. The final saw fast-paced rallies and good strokes being played as the full-to-the-brim hall witnessed a gripping final. Manav, who had a fantastic season—he won all the four national ranking championships—and it was showing in his game today. No doubt, Parth played a brave game but Manav was a notch above him all the way through. Manav received a cash prize of Rs. 29,000 for his effort.

Triple for Archana

Archana Kamath Girish added the singles gold to the doubles title that she won earlier in the day in the company of Kushi Viswanath. Three days before she had annexed the team gold to complete a triple-crown feat here. Today’s win was worth Rs. 24,000 in prize money.

The top-seed from Karnataka girl was under pressure as compared to Varuni Jaiswal. With the crowd support behind the latter, Archana had to muster courage after being 0-2 and come good against the Andhra girl who had nothing to lose.

Archana, after losing the first two extended games, came into herself to take the third game rather easily. That was the warning bells for Varuni and understandably was forced into the back foot when Archana started attacking, beautifully unleashing her forehand weapon and using the flanks intelligently.

Yet, she was guilty of giving away some easy points to her opponent. Nevertheless, she had the measure of her rival and levelled the score 2-2. Having accomplished the first task, she went on a rampage taking the fifth and sixth without a fuss.

“The expectations were high and I was under pressure, to start with. I am happy I was able to come back and retain the title. No doubt, the doubles and team gold had given me confidence. It was a great experience and a good season, too,” said the 14-year-old from Archana, who won her first national title last year at Ajmer, brought back Karnataka on track. That was the first title for the state in 13 years.

Nail-biting finials

Earlier, in a fantastic nail-biting Cadet Boys final that went down to the wire,Jeho Himnakulhpuingheta his PSPBA team mate Alberto Lrruta 4-3 to justify his top-seed billing. Since the two boys, playing at the Ajmer Academy, knew each other’s game so well the final was played in the same spirit. If Jeho was good in attack, Alberto counted it with good defence. When Alberto, with serve on, misjudged the trajectory of the ball at 10-11 in the decider, he sunk to the floor in frustration and remained there until Jeho stretched his arm to lend a helping hand to shake hand.

Delhi’s Vanshika Bhargava won her maiden Cadet Girls title beating Maharashtra A’s Diya Chitale in a tough final. Vanshika picked her momentum after the third game and went 3-1 up before losing the extended fifth at 14-16. Yet, what made the difference to her title victory was that Vanshika won those crucial points, including in the sixth game at 12-10.

The Results:

Sub Junior Boys: Final: Manav Thakkar (PSPBA) bt Parth Virmani (DLI) 4-1 (11-9, 15-13, 10-12, 11-4, 11-13); Semifinals: Parth Virmani (DLI) bt Manush Shah (GUJ) 3-2 (11-8, 11-7, 11-8, 8-11, 12-10), Mananav Thakkar (PSPB-A) bt Sarthek Seth (UP) 3-1 (11-6, 11-4, 11-8, 11-4); Quarter Finals:  Manav Thakkar (PSPB-A) bt Subbramanian Ashwin (MHR-A)11-8, 11-5 , 11-1, Sarthak Seth (UP) bt Shivjit Singh Lamba(DLI) 11-5, 11-5, 7-11, 7-11, 12-10, Parth Virmani (DLI) bt Gurumurthy Chithresh (TN) 6-11, 11-3, 11-9, 11-3, Manush Shah (GUJ) bt Shaurya Pednekar (MHR-A) 11-3, 11-3, 10-12, 11-8.

Doubles: Final:Manav Thakkar/Anukram Jain (PSPBA) bt Shaurya Pednekar/Ashwin Subramaniam (Mah-A) 3-1 (11-6, 10-12, 11-7, 11-5).

Sub Junior Girls: (Final): Archana Kamath Girish (KNT) bt Varuni Jaiswal (AP) 4-2 (11-13, 11-13, 11-7, 11-7, 11-6, 11-4, 11-8); Semifinals: Kamat Archanga (KNT) bt Srushti Haleangadi (MHR-A) 3-2 (14-12, 11-5, 11-8, 4-11, 11-4), Varuni Jaiswal (TEL) bt Anusha Anusha Kutumbale(MP) 3-1 (11-5, 11-7, 11-5, 11-7); Quarterfinals: Kamath Archana(KNT) bt Patwari Surabhi (WB) 8-11, 11-7, 11-13, 11-7, 11-3, Srushti Haleangadi (MHR-A) bt Vanshika Bhargava (DLI) 11-5, 15-13, 11-4, Varuni Jaiswal (TELG) bt Priyanka Pareek (RAJ) 11-5, 11-4, 7-11, 13-11, Anusha Kutumbale(MP) bt Snehal Patil (MHR-B) 3-11, 12-10, 11-7, 11-5.

Doubles: Final: Archana Kamath/Kushi Viswanath (MNT) bt Selenaddepthi S/Yashini S (TN) 3-0 ( 14-12, 11-4, 11-7).

Cadet Boys (Final): Jeho Himnakulhpuingheta (PSPB-A) Alberto Lrruta (PSPB-A) 4-2 (10-12, 11-9, 11-6, 8-11, 11-4, 8-11, 12-10); Semifinals: Jeho Himnakulhpuingheta (PSPB-A) bt Jayabrata Bhattcharjee (NB) 3-0 (11-5, 11-9, 11-5), Alberto Lrruta (PSPB-A) bt Satyam Giri Gupta (UP)  3-2 (11-9, 7-11, 11-2, 3-11, 13-11); Quarter Finals:  Jeho Himnakulhpuingheta (PSPB-A) bt Sourajit Halder (WB) 12-10, 11-6, 11-9, Jayabrata Bhattcharjee (NB) bt Varun Shankar Balusuri (TELG) 11-9, 11-8, 11-6, Gupta Satyam Giri (UP) bt Riswav Dey (WB) 6-11, 8-11, 11-7, 11-5, 11-5, Alberto Lrruta (PSPB-A) bt Dev Shroff (MHR-A) 11-8, 10-12, 11-8, 11-8.

Cadet Girls: (Final): Vanshika Bhargava (DLI) bt Diya Chitale (MHR-A) 4-2 (11-6, 5-11, 11-8, 11-8, 14-16, 12-10); Semifinals: Vanshika Bhargava (DLI) bt Sharmitha Srinivasan (TN) 3-2 (16-14, 5-11, 11-3, 8-11, 12-10), Diya Chitale (MHR-A) bt Swastika Ghosh (MHR-A) 11-8, 13-15, 14-12, 14-16, 11-9; Quarter Finals:  Vanshika Bhargava (DLI) bt Nithyashree Mani (TN) 11-9, 11-9, 3-11, 11-7, Sharmitha Srinivasan (TN) bt Suhana Saini (HRN) 11-2, 11-6, 11-9, Swastika Ghosh (MHR-A) bt Narang Laksita (DLI) 11-5, 11-7, 11-6, Diya Chitale (MHR-A) bt Kavyasree Bhaskar (TN) 11-2, 11-6, 11-9.

A TTFI Press release