Rajkot, October 16: PSPB’s Manav Thakkar defeated Delhi’s Parth Virmani 4-3 (5-11, 10-12, 13-11, 11-9, 11-8, 13-15, 11-5) to earn a meeting in the final of the Junior Boys singles with Telangana’s Snehit Suravajjula, who disposed of Gujarat’s Manush Shah 4-1 (11-3, 11-7, 10-12, 11-9, 11-2) in 11Even Sports National Ranking (West Zone) Table Tennis Championships at the Veer Savarkar Municipal Corporation Stadium here today.

Manav, who held both the Youth and Junior Boys titles which he won in the Central Zone events at Indore, had earlier lost in the quarterfinals of Youth Boys, lived to have a shot at the Junior Boys crown. The see-saw semifinal battle had all trappings of a thriller, thanks to Parth’s persistent positivity. The Delhi lad was comfortably leading 2-0 before Manav unleashed wide range of shots to put his opponent down and go 3-2 up. But Parth fought well and kept himself in the match when he won the sixth game 15-13, saving a couple of match points and winning the second game point.

However, Manav did not yield him any room in the decider and won with ease (5-11, 10-12, 13-11, 11-9, 11-8, 13 -15, 11-5).

In the second semifinal, the Telangana boy showed his abundant ability—he has had a poor season last year—and determination against the local lad Manush Shah, former national champion. Pressing hard from the word go, Snehit hit the target and led 2-0 before allowing some leeway in the third which Manush won on extended points. But Snehit was quick enough to realize his previous game’s folly and arrested all comeback possibilities of his rival to win 11-3, 11-7, 10-12, 11-9, 11-2.

AAI’s Archana Kamath registered a 4-1 (11-7, 13-11, 11-5, 10-12, 11-3 win over West Bengal’s Moumita Datta and will take on in Junior Girls final Rajasthan’s Priyanka Pareek, who blanked out another West Bengal paddler Prapti Sen, 4-0 (11-7, 14-12, 11-7, 11-8).