Chennai, August 15, 2015: It was first year, first show
box-office hits for both Ronit Bhanja of West Bengal and Airports Authority of
India’s Archana Kamath Girish as they demolished their opponents in the Junior
Boys and Junior Girls finals, respectively, to wear the crowns today.
On a qualifiers’ day out at the ongoing National Ranking
(South Zone) Table Tennis Championships here at the Jawaharlal Nehru
multi-purpose Indoor Stadium, Ronit beat his state mate Abhimanyu Mitra 4-0 and
Archana repeated the score line against Tamil Nadu’s R. Harshavardhini. Their
triumphs earned them each Rs. 16,500 and Rs. 13,200 for their efforts.
However, putting the final loss behind Harshavardhini made
her day somewhat memorable by accounting for top-seeded Manika Batra in the
Youth Girls section’s pre-quarterfinals. The Tamil Nadu girl won 6-11, 11-9,
11-7, 14-12, 5-11, 3-11, 12-10. For the record, Manika was leading 7-0 in the
decider! Other seeded players in the section went through to the quarterfinals.
But what was even more worth in weight was how they
approached their maiden appearance in a junior event and made most of the first
opportunity. Of course, both were sub-junior champions, but when they were
taking a fresh step, they were not afraid and it reflected in their game plans,
particularly in the semifinals.
However, in comparison, the finals turned out to be mere
formalities as they simply bulldozed their opponents within no time.
Qualifiers’ day out
Qualifier Ronit Bhanja, matching and countering every stroke
of top-seed Manav Thakkar made the last three games count to outwit the PSPBA
boy 4-3. Leading 3-1, the boy from Gujarat was kept engaged with long rallies
and counter attacks by the West Bengal lad.
Once he pulled his second game back he grew in confidence while Manav was
feeling the pressure.
Ronit enjoyed some largesse from his rival who, in a hurry
to finish the game, was making far too many mistakes and that too at crucial
junctures. But Ronit can neither be blamed for that nor be denied praise for
his resolve. With all the shots in his book, he was often overpowering the
opponent with some brilliants deep forehand shots.
In the other second final, Ronit’s state mate Abhimanyu
Mitra beat Siddhesh Pande from Maharashtra 4-2
A lot of hope was pinned on local favourite and No. 2 seed
Selenadeepthi Selvakumar to pass the muster against qualifier Archana Kamath of
AAI. But it was a disappointing end for Selena yet a satisfying one. For,
Selena came back strongly after being 1-3 down to level the score and again in
the decider went 8-6 up from 4-6 down.
She played brilliantly, with perfect execution of some good
backhands, to hold the leash. But on match point at 10-8 she squandered the
opportunity. Both Selena and Archana saved two match points each, but when the
third came, the AAI girl held on. For the other Tamil Nadu girl, R.
Harshavardhini, it was not a cakewalk against AP’s Shailu Noorbasha as the
former had to bring in all his resources to win 4-2 for her maiden final entry.
Seeds sprout slowly
Men’s No. 1 seed Soumyajit Ghosh huffed and puffed his way
into the quarterfinals with a 4-3 verdict against West
Bengak ’s Souvik Kar, a qualifier, while it was a cakewalk for No
2. G. Sathiyan who made mincemeat of qualifier Sanish Ambekar from Maharashtra . Though from the other top eight players had,
more or less, easy quarterfinal passage, both Devesh Karia from Gujarat and PSPB’s Harmeet Desai were made to work hard
for their victories. Abhishek Yadav stretched Karia the full distance but
Harmeet who, in his second meeting against West Bengal ’s
Anirban Ghosh, struggled before overcoming the hurdle. The match between Nitin
Thiruvengadam and Jubin Kumar, too, had spectators on the edge of their seats
and Nitin came up 4-3 triumphant in the tense match.
However, it was the women’s ties that aroused passion as
well as curiosity. At the adjacent table, Nitin’s wife K. Shamini was not so
lucky and went down 2-4 to one of the oldest and most determined players from
the Railways, Anindita Chakraborty. A seasoned campaigner, playing for nearly a
quarter of a century now, straightaway stepped on the gas pedal and made
Shamini earn her points. But against her guiles, the former national champion
was found wanting.
In contrast, both national champion Mouma Das and Olympian
Ankita Das raised their games when it mattered the most to beat their rivals
Shweta Parte and Reeth Rishya. The latter two named frittered their good
winning chances away. Surprisingly, Shweta’s team mate from RBI, Krittwika
Sinha Roy went down to Divya Deshpande of Maharashtra
without a fight.
The men and women quarterfinals are slated for later tonight but
in the Youth section paddlers will play their quarterfinals tomorrow morning.
Results:
Junior Boys singles: Final: Ronit Bhanja (WB) bt
Abhimanyu Mitra (WB) 11-7, 11-9, 11-6, 11-7; Semifinals: Ronit Bhanja (WB)
bt Manav Thakkar (PSPBA) 8-11, 13-11, 6-11, 6-11, 11-7, 11-6, 11-6, Abhimanyu
Mitra (WB) bt Siddhesh Pande (Mhr-A) 11-8, 5-11, 3-11, 11-6, 11-9, 11-8;Quarterfinals:
Manav Thakkar (PSPBA) btAnirban Ghosh (WB) 14-12, 11-8, 9-11, 9-11, 11-3, 11-8,
Ronit Bhanja (WB) bt Ananth Devarajan (TN) 6-11, 11-0, 7-11, 11-8, 7-11, 11-6,
13-11, Abhimanyu Mitra (WB) bt Shreyas Kulkarni (KNT) 11-9, 11-7, 11-4, 11-8,
Siddesh Pande (Mhr-A) bt Sarthak Seth (UP) 11-6, 11-6, 12-10, 11-6.
Junior Girls: Final: Archana Kamath (AAI) bt R.
Harshavardhini (TN) 11-8, 11-2, 11-9, 11-9; Semifinals: R. Harshavardhini
(TN) bt Shailu Noorbasha (AP) 11-8, 11-5, 11-5, 9-11, 7-11, 11-5, Archana
Kamath (AAI) bt Selenadeepthi Selvakumar (TN) 11-8, 11-2, 11-13, 10-12, 11-4,
9-11, 15-13; Quarterfinals: Shailu Noorbasha (AP) bt Priyanka Pareek (Raj) 11-7, 11-9,
11-9, 8-11, 11-5, R. Harshavardhini (TN) bt Abhinaya Ramesh (TN) 10-12, 11-7,
10-12, 11-5, 3-11, 11-5, 12-10, Archana Kamath (AAI) bt YashiniSivashankar (TN)
11-9, 7-11, 11-9, 12-10, 7-11, 11-5, Selenadeepthi Selvakumar (TN) bt Tanisi
Kirtane (Goa) 11-5, 11-3, 6-11, 11-7 9-11, 11-8.
Men’s singles: PQF: Soumyajit Ghosh (PSPB) bt Souvik
Kar (WB) 11-7, 12-10, 7-11, 11-5, 8-11, 10-12, 11-3, Nithin Thiruvenkadam (CB)
bt Jubin Kumar (PSPB) 10-12, 13-11, 11-7, 11-6, 2-11, 8-11, 11-4, Devesh Karia
(Guj) bt Abhishek Yadav (PSPB) 11-8, 11-7, 4-11, 8-11, 12-10, 11-2, G. Sathiyan
(PSPB) bt Sanish Ambekar (Mhr-A) 11-5, 11-3, 11-5, 11-6, Sanil Shetty (PSPB) bt
Anirban Nandi (RSPB) 11-9, 11-6, 11-7, 11-8, Anthony Amalraj (PSPB) bt Subhajit
Saha (PSPB) 11-5, 11-4, 11-7, 11-9, Sudhanshu Grover (PSPB) bt Raj Mondal (RBI)
11-2, 11-8, 11-5, 8-11, 11-8, Harmeet Desai (PSPB) Anirban Ghosh (WB) 11-9,
12-10, 9-11, 6-11, 12-10, 11-5.
Women’s singles: PQF: Manika Batra (PSPB) bt Shreya
Ghosh (RSPB) 11-9, 11-2, 11-6, 11-7, Pooja Sahasrabudhe (PSPB) bt Maria Rony
(AAI) 11-6, 11-2, 11-3, 11-8, Divya Deshpande (Mhr-A) bt Krittwika Sinha Roy
(RBI) 11-3, 10-12, 12-10, 9-11, 11-8, 11-8, Anindita Chakraborty (RSPB) bt K.
Shamini (PSPB) 12-10, 9-11, 11-6, 11-7, 13-15, 11-5, Mouma Das (PSPB) bt Reeth
Rishya (PSPB) 9-11, 11-8, 7-11, 11-9, 3-11, 11-4, 11-9, Ayhika Mukherjee (AAI)
bt Madhurika Patkar (Mhr-A) 11-13, 6-11, 8-11, 15-13, 11-4, 11-7, 13-11, Nikhat
Banu (AAI) bt Mousumi Paul (PSPB) 11-7, 11-9, 14-16, 11-8, 6-11, 12-10, Ankita
Das (PSPB) bt Shweta Parte (RBI) 11-6, 9-11, 11-13, 4-11, 15-13, 11-9, 11-9.
TTFI Press release
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