Vadodara, January 8: Arjun Ghosh was the toast of West Bengal today as he helped his team defeat a strong Petroleum Sports Promotion Board 3-2 to lift the Youth Boys trophy, while Airports Authority of India downed Tamil Nadu 3-1 in Youth Girls team final for the crown in the 11Even Sports 78th Junior and Youth National Championships at the SAMA Indoor Complex here on Sunday.

Earlier, Tamil Nadu’s junior girls beat the stuffing out of West Bengal 3-1 to win team gold even as PSPB Academy beat Maharashtra A 3-1 for the boys title.

In what turned out to be an equal contest, PSPB’s overdependence on Manav Thakkar was offset by Arjun’s clear targets—he first defeated lefty Abhishek Yadav and then the dangerous Manav in the reverese singles—when he lifted his game several notches above Manav’s.

After accounting for Abhishek, who is woefully out of form this season, Arjun targeted Manav. In the five-game fourth rubber Manav led 2-1 but Arjun upped the ante with his fierce attacking backhand strokes to upset his rival. Rattled as he was, Arjun kept Manav pushing him away from the table with excellent rallies and blistering forehands. When Arjun won the fourth rubber, it was all over bar the shouting for PSPB as Ronit proved to be a better player against Abhishek who was playing the decider. No doubt, the rubber went down to the wire but Ronit was unstoppable on the day.

AAI could have been in trouble if only Selenadeepthi Selvakumar, who played brilliantly to lead 2-1 in the opener, let Archana Girish Kamath off the hook. What followed was expected as Ayhika Mukherjee, in her best form, accounted for Amrutha Pushpak though with some struggle to put AAI 2-0 up. Yasini Sivashankar pulled off a blinder against Chipia Frenaz in another marathon, but Archana was ready for Amrutha in reverse singles, without giving the latter a semblance of chance disposing of 3-0.

TN GILS CLAIM CROWN

After helping her team win the crucial doubles in the company of Yashini Sivashankar, Selenadeepthi made amends with a fantastic comeback win in her reverse singles after being down 0-2. This was the match that was to decide the fate of Tamil Nadu as Prapti Sen, warming up in the bench, could have changed it in a matter of time.

Fortunately, Selena played on Moumita Datta’s patience and slowed down the game to steadily make inroads. Yet, she lacked the punch in her strokes which she was capable and also let the pressure take her over. So much so, the Tamil Nadu girl committed far too many mistakes and game four was slipper off her hand. Selena kept her cool at the right juncture after letting her opponent ride away with crucial negative points to pull it off. With confidence returning, she made it just a formality to demolish Moumita and stopped her with just three points, finishing the last point with a solid, confident kill. Earlier, Yashini had restored parity beating Moumita 3-1 in her singles after Selena opened on a false note.

In Youth Boys’ first semifinal PSPB, led by Manav Thakkar and Abhishek Yadav, completed a 3-0 rout against Delhi. Except for Himanshu Jindal, who put up some resistance, both Parth Virmani and Nishad Shad were only up to scratch against Manav and Abhishek and it reflected in their game scores. For West Bengal, who struggled past Gujarat 3-2, Anirban Ghosh’s win over Harsh Sachanandani and Manu Shah mattered in the end since Arjun Ghosh lost both his singles with their third player Ronit Bhanja accounting for Ishaan Hingorani.

LANGUID MAHARASHTRA

When PSPB Academy has a most reliable player in Manav Thakkar, he makes for the folly of others and it was very much evident in the final of the Junior Boys. After Anukram Jain, not at his best in this tournament, lost the opening singles to Aniruddha Marathe in straight games, the responsibility fell on Manav’s shoulders and he was up for the challenge.

He first levelled while stopping the march of Shaurya Padnekar and then rediscovered themselves in the doubles, thanks to Maharashtra pair’s languid approach. If only Maharashtra had taken the doubles—they took the first game, led comfortably in the second and even in the third—it could have put pressure on their rivals. But it was not to be as Manav and Anukram first established lead and in his reverse singles the former simply demolished Aniruddha to leave Maharashtra fretting and fuming yet another title loss in successive years.

Results (Team Events):

Junior Boys: Final: PSPB Academy bt Maharashtra 3-1 (Anukram Jain lost to Aniruddha Marathe 11-13, 10-12, 12-14, Manav Thakkar bt Shaurya Pednekar 11-5, 13-11, 11-4, Anukram/Manav bt Shaurya/Shubham Ambre 6-11, 11-8, 11-6, 11-7, Manav Thakkar bt Aniruddha Marathe 11-5, 11-9, 8-11, 11-8); Semifinals: Maharashtra A bt West Bengal 3-2, PSPBA bt Gujarat 3-1; Quarterfinals: West Bengal bt Karnataka 3-0, Maharashtra A bt Tamil Nadu 3-0, Gujarat bt Delhi 3-0, PSPBA bt Mizoram 3-0.

Junior Girls: Final: Tamil Nadu bt West Bengal 3-1 (Selenadeepthi Selvakumar lost to Prapti Sen 9-11, 11-4, 3-11, 11-5, 5-11, Yashini Sivashankar bt Moumita Datta 11-5, 11-7, 2-11, 11-8, Selena/Yashini bt Moumita/Surbhi Patwari 12-10, 11-7, 11-8, Selenadeepthi bt Moumita 4-11, 9-11, 11-7, 11-8, 11-3); Semifinals: Tamil Nadu bt Telangana 3-0, West Bengal bt Maharashtra A 3-1; Quarterfinals: Telangana bt Andhra 3-1, Tamil Nadu bt Hryana 3-0, West Bengal bt Karnataka 3-0, Maharashtra A bt Rajasthan 3-0.

Youth Boys: Final: West Bengal bt PSPB 3-2 (Arjun Ghosh bt Abhishek Yadav 5-11,11-5, 11-9, 6-11, 11-7, Ronit Bhanja lost to Manav Thakkar 6-11, 7-11, 13-15, Anirban Ghosh lost to Birdie Boro 6-11, 5-11, 14-16, Arjun Ghosh bt Manav Thakkar 11-2, 8-11, 9-11, 11-7, 11-7, Ronit Bhanja bt Abhishek Yadav 12-10, 5-11, 11-6, 6-11, 11-4); Semifinals: PSPB bt Delhi 3-0, West Bengal bt Gujarat 3-2; Quarterfinals: Delhi bt Rajasthan 3-0, PSPB bt Mizoram 3-0, Gujarat bt UP 3-2, West Bengal bt Maharashtra A 3-2.

Youth Girls: Final: Airports Authority of India bt Tamil Nadu 3-1 (Archana Girish Kamath bt Selenadeepthi Selvakumar 11-7, 12-14, 6-11, 11-7, 11-4, Ayhika Mukherjee bt Amfrutha Pushpak 11-9, 10-12, 12-10, 6-11, 11-6, Chipia Frenaz lost to Yashini Sivashankar 9-11, 8-11, 11-4, 11-4, 7-11, Archana G. Kamath bt Amrutha Pushpak 11-9, 11-3, 11-3);Semifinals: AAI bt Kerala 3-0, Tamil Nadu bt West Bengal 3-1; Quarterfinals: Kerala bt North Bengal 3-2, AAI bt Telangana 3-0, Tamil Nadu bt Maharashtra A 3-2, West Bengal bt Maharashtra B 3-0.