Gandhidham, October 1: West Bengal’s Ronit Bhanja and Andhra Pradesh’s A. Naina emerged as the boy’s and girl’s champions respectively in the sub-junior categories of the Central Zone National Table Tennis Championships here on Tuesday.

Bhanja defeated Manav Thakkar of PSPBA 4-2 (18-16, 6-11, 11-5, 11-8, 4-11, 11-4) in a thrilling boys’ singles final while Naina had a relatively easy outing in the girls’ singles final against Aishwarya Pathak of UP, winning it 4-0 (11-7, 11-5, 12-10,11-8) to complete the formality.

In the Cadet boys’ final, Soham Bhattacharaya from West Bengal downed compatriot Udit Bhattacharya 11-2, 11-8, 11-2, 11-8 to claim the title while it was Maharashtra’s Swasthika Ghosh who defeated Anusha Kutumbale from Madhya Pradesh 4-2 (9-11, 11-6, 12-10, 9-11, 11-9, 11-9) in a hard fought final.

With Gujarat and the Saurashtra regions experiencing unprecedented rains this season, the championships could not begin on September 29 as originally schedule as floods had entered the area surrounding the KDTTA stadium. The events had to be put off by a day which, in turn, forced the organisers conduct the sub-junior events on a knockout fashion, doing away with the regular dose of group stage matches.

The Results:

SUB JUNIOR : (Boys Final): Ronit Bhanja (WB) bt Manav Thakkar (PSPB-A) 18 – 6-11, 11-5, 11-8, 4-11, 11-4; Semi-finals: Manav Thakkar (PSPB A) bt Shaurya Pednek (MHR) 11-7, 11-7, 11-5, 9-11, 11-8, Ronit Bhanja (WB) bt Niladeep Das ( WB) 11-3, 8-11, 11-8, 11-6, 8-11, 11-1.

Girls Final: A Naina (AP) bt Aishwarya Pathak (UP) 11-7, 11-5, 12-10, 11-8; Semi-finals: Aishwarya Pathak (UP) bt Moumita Dutta(WB) 11-8, 11-5, 12-10, 12-10, A Naina (AP) bt Shruti Amrute (AI) 11-3, 7-11, 11-3, 11-9, 11-9.

CADET: Boys Final: Soham Bhattacharaya (WB) bt Udit Bhattacharya (WB) 11-2, 11-8, 11-2, 11-8

Girls Final: Swasthika Ghosh (Mah) bt Anusha Kutumbale (MP) 9-11, 11-6, 12-10, 9-11, 11-9, 11-9.