Indore, October 9: Sanish Ambekar emerged the new junior champion, upsetting form book and top-seed Manav Thakkar 4-2 in a gripping Sub-Junior Boys final of the National Ranking (Central Zone) Table Tennis Championships. The boy from Maharashtra ‘B’ received Rs 16,500 for his fantastic effort. Manav took home Rs. 8,200.

Top-seed Sagarika Mukherjee, however, won the Junior Girls final, beating West Bengal’s Moumita Dutta. The North Bengal girl, who disposed of her opponent 4-3, received a cheque of Rs 13,200 and the Maharashtra girl half the amount in prize money.

Manav, leading 2-1 , let a great opportunity go by as Ambekar marched ahead after making it 2-2. In the fifth game, Sanish saved a game point and after a deuce wron 12-10. That, indeed, put Manav off so much that he lost the next game 8-11 and that gave Ambekar the trophy and the big purse.

But it was the girls’ final that kept everyone on toes. The top seed began on a wrong note only to pick up momentum through the second game. She won the next but lost the fourth in an extended game of 12-14. After that it was a match of fluctuating fortunes with each winning a game to take the final to the decider. In the decider, the experience of Sagarika came to the fore and winning some crucial points she stopped her West Bengal rival at mere six points.

Second-seed exits

Earlier, Second seeded Ayhika Mukherjee bowed out in the semifinals, losing to West Bengal’s Moumita Datta at the Abhay Prashal here today. Ayhika lost 3-4 to West Bengal’s Moumita Dutta in a match that had all the trappings of a final10-12.

Though Sagarika Mukherjee survived, she struggled against Maharashtra B’s Shruti Amrute as the No. 1 seed won 8-11, 11-6, 1-11, 11-1, 11-4, 11-8. Sagarika will meet Moumita in the final to be played later this evening.

PSPBA’s Manav Thakkar continued with his good form in the semifinals, beating Railway’s Ravindra Kotiyan 11-5, 12-10, 11-8, 11-8.  Maharashtra B’s Saish Ambekar downed Delhi’s Utkarsh Gupta in a thrilling semifinal which went the full distance. Ambekar won 10-12, 11-5,11-8, 11-13, 6-11, 11-8, 11-6. It was remarkable on Utkarsh’s part to have come back after being 1-2 down to go 3-2 up. But Ambekar kept his momentum going after levelling 3-3 and Utkarsh succumbed to pressure in the decider.

In the quarterfinals, Ravindra Kotiyan (PSPB) defeted Siddhesh Pande of Maharastra B 11-8, 11-7, 11-4, 11-9 to enter the semifinals. Manav Thakkar of the PSPB Academy, after a struggle, managed to beat Anirban Ghosh 2-11, 11-6, 11-1, 11-13, 17-15, 11-6.

Last evening, top-seeded Lalrin Puia was upset when he went down in straight games (9-11, 10-12, 3-11) to unseeded Jeet Chandra of West Bengal, marking an early exit in the second round.

In the main draw matches of the men and women’s singles, hardly a sweat was wasted by the top seeds and ranking players as they made their progress smoothly. But the affair tomorrow may be different with some matches in the women’s pre-quarterfinals becoming a must-watch with top-seed Poulomi Ghatak (PSPB) slated to meet qualifier Sagarika Mukherjee, the winner of the Junior Girls title, Manika Batra taking on Mouma Das and Reeth Rishya clashing with Ayhika Mukhjerjee in the top half.

But the bottom half does may not throw any surprises, nor does it look that there would be some real fight brewing with the ranked players sitting quite pretty. Yet, former national champion K. Shamini, who had to take the route of qualification to reach the main draw in several years, would be running into Mousumi Paul. Earlier, Shamini beat Sayantika Kunda 411-9, 11-7, 7-11, 11-8, 11-9.

Delhi’s Riti Shankar has made it to the pre-quarters and she will take on AAI’s Krittwika Sinha Roy. Riti beat Maharashtra’s Senhora D’Souza 4-1 and Krittwika won over Archana Kamath 4-0.      

Results:

Junior Boys (Final): Sanish Ambekar (MHR B) bt Manav Thakkar (PSPBA) 4-2 (11-9, 9-11, 8-11, 11-9, 12-10, 11-8).

Junior Girls (Final): Sagarika Mukherjee (NB) bt Moumita Dutta (WB) 4-3 (8-11, 11-7, 11-3, 12-14, 11-9, 3-11, 11-6).

Second seeded Ayhika Mukherjee bowed out in the semifinals of the National Ranking (Central Zone) Table Tennis Championships, losing to West Bengal’s Moumita Datta at the Abhay Prashal here today. Ayhika lost 3-4 to West Bengal’s Moumita Dutta in a match that had all the trappings of a final10-12.

Though Sagarika Mukherjee survived, she struggled against Maharashtra B’s Shruti Amrute as the No. 1 seed won 8-11, 11-6, 1-11, 11-1, 11-4, 11-8. Sagarika will meet Moumita in the final to be played later this evening.

Meanwhile, PSPBA’s Manav Thakkar continued with his good form to enter the final in the Junior Boys category. He defeated Railway’s Ravindra Kotiyan 11-5, 12-10, 11-8, 11-8 and clashes with Maharashtra B’s Saish Ambekar. The latter downed Delhi’s Utkarsh Gupta in a thrilling semifinal which went the full distance. Ambekar won 10-12, 11-5,11-8, 11-13, 6-11, 11-8, 11-6. It was remarkable on Utkarsh’s part to have come back after being 1-2 down to go 3-2 up. But Ambekar kept his momentum going after levelling 3-3 and Utkarsh succumbed to pressure in the decider.

In the quarterfinals, Ravindra Kotiyan (PSPB) defeted Siddhesh Pande of Maharastra B 11-8, 11-7, 11-4, 11-9 to enter the semifinals where he will meet Manav Thakkar of the PSPB Academy. Manav, after a struggle, managed to beat Anirban Ghosh 2-11, 11-6, 11-1, 11-13, 17-15, 11-6.

The second semifinal will feature Sanish Ambedkar (Mah) taking on Delhi’s Utkarsh Gupta. Sanish was taken the full distance by Ayush Tayal of Haryana, the former winning it 9-11, 11-9, 11-5, 9-11, 11-7, 9-11, 11-2. The fourth quarterfinal also saw Utkarsh being stretched 4-0 (11-6, 9-11, 11-7, 7-11, 11-6, 9-11, 11-8 by Lalhunhlua Luia of PSPB.

Last evening, top-seeded Lalrin Puia was upset when he went down in straight games (9-11, 10-12, 3-11) to unseeded Jeet Chandra of West Bengal, marking an early exit in the second round.

In the girls section, No. 1 seed Sagarika Mukherjee entered the semifinals beating AAI’s Rony Maria 4-1 and meets Shruti Amruti of Maharashtra who won 4-3 against AAI’s Priyadarshini Das. Shruti, leading 2-0, let Priyadarshini come back and go 3-2 ahead. But Shruti’s experience prevailed as she won the last two games to romp home winners 12-10, 11-5, 6-11, 6-11, 8-11, 11-7, 11-8.   

From the bottom half, it was a struggle for moth No. 2 seed Ayhika Mukherjee (AAI) and Moumita Dutta (West Bengal). Ayhika beat AAI’s Sereha Jacob 21-19, 7-11, 13-11, 11-7, 5-11, 11-6. Sereha’s the winner of All-India School title in the tournament held recently at Hyderabad. Moumita found a real roadblock in Riti Shankar of Delhi but managed to win 5-11, 11-9, 12-19, 9-11, 9-11, 11-3, 11-9.