Manush claims Youth Boys title at Trivandrum

Trivandrum, August 19: Manush Shah of Gujarat, making amends for his loss in the season-opener at Sonepat, overcame the tricky Raegan Albuquerque of Maharashtra 7-11, 11-9, 3-11, 11-9, 6-11, 11-4, 11-4 (4-3) to lift the Youth Boys trophy in the UTT National Ranking (South Zone) Table Tennis Championships at the Jimmy George Indoor Stadium here today.

The normally free-flowing left-hander, who lost the final to Manav Thakkar in the North Zone, was stopped on his tracks for a while when Raegan slowed down the game, taking pace off the ball. So much so, Manush was not only on the back foot but found to be making far too many mistakes. This helped the Maharashtra boy lead 2-1 and then 3-2.

But the hard-hitting Gujarat lad came into his own while pushing Raegan to the corner with his blistering forehands. Yet, the match saw some fine, long rallies as the final hung in balance with none yielding. Manush took the crucial sixth game and from there pursued the same relentless attacking path to win the title in style.

In the semi-finals this morning, Manush beat another Maharashtra rival Mandar Hardikar without dropping a sweat (4-0) while Raegan got stretched by Haryana’s Jeet Chandra before he put it across for a hard-earned 4-1 victory.

Youth Boys Results:

Final: Manush Shah (Guj) bt Raegan Albuquerque (Mah) 7-11, 11-9, 3-11, 11-9, 6-11, 11-4, 11-4; Semi-finals: Manush Shah bt Mandar Hardikar (Mah) 11-7, 11-,9, 11-3, 11-5; Raegan Albuquerque bt Jeet Chndra (Har) 11-9, 5-11, 13-11, 12-10, 11-7.