Bengal’s Aditya and Ankolika wear U-13 crowns
Vadodara, November 27: Aditya Das from West Bengal, despite his early struggle, overcame Akash Rajavelu of Tamil Nadu 3-1 to lift the Youth Boys U-13 title, while Ankolika Chakraborty, also from West Bengal, defeated Advika Agrawal from Madhya Pradesh by the same margin to wear the Girls’ crown in the third UTT National Ranking Table Tennis Championships at the Sama Indoor Stadium here today.
In the Under-11 finals, Lakshya Kumar of UP struggled past Krish Vinodh of Tamil Nadu 3-2 for the title, while Debanshi Chakraborty from West Bengal beat Avni Dua from Haryana 3-0 for the crown.
Aditya Das dropped a game but steadied himself to beat Vivaan Dave of PSPBA 3-1 in the U-13 Boys semis. The West Bengal paddlers began well, but Vivaan fought back to level the score. Yet, Aditya went ahead in the next before wrapping it up in the fourth game.
Dulkan Vatsal of Haryana took Akash Rajavelu of Tamil Nadu the distance before faltering in the decider, which Dulkan lost narrowly. It was one match that aroused interest as Akash found a good match in the Haryana boy, who led 2-1. But the extended fourth game provided the lifeline to Akash, and he used it cleverly to reach home in the 3-2 triumph.
In the all-Bengal semifinal, Ankolika Chakraborty won 3-0 against Sreejani Chakraborty, who failed to show aggression throughout the match. But Ranjini Saha of NCOE did that against Advika Agrawal before the MP girl mustered the courage to turn the tables against her opponent.
The NCOE paddler was in a strong position with a 2-0 advantage. The two extended games soon after kept Advika alive in the match, and the MP girl cashed in on the situation to win the decider after the deuce and enter the final.
In the U-11 Boys’ semifinals, Lakshya Kumar had little difficulty putting it across Andhra’s Maanvith as the former took less than 20 minutes to dispose of the latter. However, it was not as easy for Krish Vinod of Tamil Nadu, who encountered a tough nut in Dhrityaman Pandey of Delhi.
The match kept swinging from one extreme to another as the two won the alternate games, taking the match to the decisive fifth game, which went the Tamil Nadu boy’s way.
In contrast, the Girls’ semifinals turned out as one-sided affairs as Aavni Dua and Debanshi Chakraborty blanked out their opponents Dipti Das and Siddhi Singh in an identical fashion to win 3-0. Neither the West Bengal paddler nor the Delhi player showed any resistance against their rivals.
In the U-11 quarterfinals, Ansh Kumal of Gujarat lost 1-3 to Dhrityaman Pandey of Delhi. Ansh is the only player to have made it to the last eight stages of the championships, even as the rest of the paddlers could not do what Ansh did in his age-category event.
Results:
Youth Boys U-13 Singles: Final: Aditya Das (WB) bt Akash Rajavelu (TN) 13-11, 12-10, 7-11, 11-4.
Semifinals: Aditya Das bt Vivaan Dave (PSPBA) 11-0, 8-11, 11-7, 12-10; Akash Rajavelu bt Duklan Vatsal (Har) 8-11, 11-7, 7-11, 12-10, 11-9.
Quarterfinals: Aditya Das bt Aarav Acharya (TTFI1) 3-1; Vivaan Dave bt Nilay Pattekar (Mah) 3-1; Vatsal Duklan bt Param Bhiwandkar (Mah) 3-0; Akash Rajavelu bt Veer Balmiki (UP) 3-0.
Youth Girls U-13 Singles: Final: Ankolika Chakraborty (WB) bt Advika Agrawal (MP) 11-7, 11-8, 7-11, 11-5.
Semifinals: Ankolika Chakraborty bt Sreejani Chakraborty (WB) 11-5, 11-6, 11-6; Advika Agrawal bt Ranjini Saha (NCOE) 11-2, 11-6, 11-13, 11-13, 12-10.
Quarterfinals: Ankolika Chakraborty bt Tanishka Kalbhairav (Kar) 3-1; Sreejani Chakraborty bt Prateei Paul (WB) 3-2; Ranjini Saha bt Shreya Dhar (QB) 3-2; Advika Agrawal bt Pranavi Seth (WB) 3-0.
Youth Boys U-11 Singles: Final: Lakshya Kumar (UP) bt Krish Vinodh (TN) 7-11, 11-3, 11-9, 9-11, 11-9.
Semifinals: Lakshya Kumar bt T.S. Maanvith (AP) 11-8, 11-8, 11-5; Krish Vinodh bt Dhrityaman Pandey (Del) 11-7, 8-11, 11-4, 5-11, 11-7.
Quarterfinals: Krish Vinodh bt Gem Mahalanabish (WB) 3-1; Dhrityaman Pandey bt Ansh Khamar (Guj) 3-1; Lakshya Kumar bt Aakarshan Yadav (Mah) 3-2; T. S Maanvith bt M. Ashvajith (TN) 3-2.
Youth Girls U-11 Singles: Final: Debanshi Chakraborty (WB) bt Avni Dua (Har) 11-5, 11-7, 11-8.
Semifinals: Avni Dua bt Dipti Das (WB) 11-4, 11-1, 11-6; Debanshi Chakraborty bt Siddhi Singh (Del) 11-3, 11-0, 11-6.
Quarterfinals: Debanshi Chakraborty bt Zakiya Sultan (MP) 3-0; Siddhi Singh bt Titash Chatterjee (WB) 3-2; Avni Dua bt Sreosree Chakraborty (WB) 3-2; Dipti Das bt Divija Paul (Asm) 3-1.