Back-to-back title triumphs for Manushree; Anukram makes amends for Jamnagar loss

Thane, October 15, 2015: PSPBA’s Anukram and Maharashtra’s Manushree Patil claimed the Sub-Junior Boys and Girls trophies, respectively, in the ongoing Thane Mayor Cup 2015 National Ranking (West Zone) Table Tennis Championship played here at the Dadoji Kondev Stadium today.

Anukram, who won the season’s second title after his first in Chennai, beat teammate Jeho Hinakulhpuingheta 4-1, while Manushree defeated Swastika Ghosh, also of Maharashtra, in what was a complete whitewash.

Both the finals failed to raise the bar in comparison to the semifinals which had all the thrills.

In semifinals Anukram Jain was down 0-2 and made most of the situation when Jayabrata Bhattacharjee switched himself off from attacking mode to slow down the game. This allowed Anukram to make an excellent recovery and change gears when needed the most as he never looked back after taking the third game. After that the West Bengal boys was never in the game. In the last zonal, Anukram lost in the semifinals to Manush Shah.

On the other hand, Jeho played on the patience of Gujarat’s Manush Shah to outwit him. In a way, it was also a sweet revenge for Jeho who was denied the title by Manush at Jamnagar in the last zonal.

The PSPB boy played and returned well from back while Manush preferred playing close to the table. The Gujarat boy did manage to take a game off his PSPB rival but the latter was too good to wear him out. However the match was worth watching for excellent rallies, thanks to Jeho’s ability to return whatever was sent to him.

Manushree proved too good for her state rival Swastika in the fina. With better strokes and a reliable backhand, Manushree ran into a good lead of 2-0. However, in the third she was behind 5-7 and then 7-9 but the gutsy Manushree overcame that phase to win the game. Then in the fourth, she was up 9-6 but Swastika managed to take three points to level the game. But Manushree, without making any fuss, finished the game taking both points on her serve to put an end to her rival’s ordeal.   

Similarly, the sub-junior Girls semifinals saw a good fight emerging between West Bengal’s Prapti Sen and Maharashtra’s Swastika Ghosh, which was a repeat of Central Zone semifinal. For the second time in succession the Maharashtra girl outwitted Prapti, the holder of South Zone title this season.

The semifinals were contested in right earnest, particularly the one between Manushree Patil, the Central Zone winner, and Delhi’s Ishita Gupta. But the latter lacked the killer instinct—she made it 3-3 from a precarious position--which the Maharashtra girl had to see her through. As for Swastika, it was equally difficult but she overcame her West Bengal opponent by the sixth game itself.

Cadet titles for TN

Tamil Nadu’s Kavyasree Baskar did an encore, annexing the Cadet Girls crown for the second time in succession when she beat Delhi’s Lakshita Narang 4-1 in an interesting battle. Kavyahree was too good with both her backhand and forehand winners and she also shocked her Delhi opponent with good service variations. But credit must go to Delhi girl, too, as she did not give up. 

In the second game particularly she came from far behind to level the score 1-1. In the third, Lakshita missed one game point but saved three before the TN girl winning it to go 2-1 up. And that was end of road for Lakshita.

Deenadayalan, who missed his first title by a whisker at Jamnagar, won it here beating his state mate Varun Ganesh in straight games. The 4-0 verdict was a foregone conclusion against a strutting Varun as Deenadaalan stamped his authority. After taking the first two games rather easily, Varun seemed putting up a good fight, but Deenadayalan’s scorching forehands brooked little challenge from his opponent.

The Cadet section saw three Tamil Nadu paddlers entering the finals—two in Cadet Boys and one in the Girls category. Deenadayalan was unlucky to lose the title to Divyansh Srivastava of UP at Jamnagar while Kavyasree wore the crow beating Karnataka’s Anargya Manjunath in the final. The other Tamil Nadu boy who made it to the final was Varun Ganesh. In the second semifinal,

Delhi’s Lakshita Narang struggled to beat Namna Jayswal of Gujarat 3-2 in the other semifinal.

In the evening, the process of qualification matches began I the Junior Boys and Girls sections.

Results:

Sub-Junior Boys: Final: Anukram Jain (PSPBA) bt Jeho Hinakulhpuingheta (PSPBA) 4-1 (11-8, 11-3, 12-14, 12-10, 11-9); Semifinals: H. Jeho bt Manush Shah (Gujarat) 4-2 (11-8, 11-8, 6-11, 11-7, 7-11, 11-9), Anukram Jain bt Jayabrata Bhattacharjee (NB) 4-2 (7-11, 6-11, 11-8, 11-5, 11-8, 11-7).

Sub-Junior Girls: Final: Manushree Patil (Mah) bt Swastika Ghosh (Mah) 4-0 (11-4, 11-4, 11-9, 11-9); Semifinals: Swastika Ghosh bt Prapti Sen (WB) 4-2 (11-9, 3-11, 11-7, 13-11, 7-11, 11-8, Manushree Patil bt Ishita Gupta (Del) 4-3 (11-7, 11-4, 11-7, 8-11, 3-11, 8-11, 11-8).

Cadet Boys: Final: Vishwa Deenadayalan (TN) bt Varun Ganesh (TN) 4-0 (11-6, 11-3, 11-8,11-9); Semifinals: Vishwa Deenadayalan bt Payas Jain (Del) 3-1 (11-5, 9-11, 11-8, 11-3, Varun Ganesh bt Tharun Shanmugam (TN) 3-0 (11-7, 11-7, 11-3). 

Cadet Girls: Final: Kavyasree (TN) bt Lakshita Narang (Del) 4-1 (11-2, 5-11, 16-14, 11-9, 11-4); Semifinals: Lakshita Narang  bt Namna Jayswal (Guj) 3-2 (11-8, 8-11, 11-5, 8-11, 11-4, Kavyasree Baskar bt Suhana saini (Har) 3-1 (14-12, 14-12 5-11, 12-10).

TTFI Press release