Thiruvananthapuram, October 26: Eighth seed Soham Mukherjee continued his excellent form during the tournament to beat Rupam Sardar and lift the Under-15 Boys title in the second UTT National Ranking Championships at the Jimmy George Indoor Stadium here today.

Riana Bhoota showed the skills of a left-hander in good measure in the Under-15 Girls final to wear the crown when she outsmarted top-seed Avisha Karmakar 3-2. 

Soham's 3-1 win in the all-Bengal final came easy and quick. Rupam, who put up a semblance of a fight in the third game, squandered two game points in the third, allowing Soham to go 2-1 up. The loss affected his rhythm so much that he faltered in the next, paving the way for Soham to emerge a winner.

The left-handed Maharashtra girl gave some torrid moments for Avisha, the title favourite. After the first game loss, Riana sized up her opponent's weakness and played as the situation demanded. She took a 2-1 lead but let slip the fourth game of her hands as Avisha restored parity. But in the decider, the left-hander was aggressive enough to tame the top seed to finish the job in style. Soham was more perfect than any of the top seeds in his age group here, and he proved it when he defeated Aditya Das 3-1 to enter the final. In the semifinals, Soham made fewer mistakes, and it reflected in the way he approached the match and in the scoreline. But Aditya failed to find his rhythm and played into his opponent's hands, committing too early.

Taking advantage of the flaws, Soham kept the lead throughout the first two games and won comfortably. But Aditya displayed his skills in adequate measure and pulled one back to give a scare to Soham. But the latter was up for it and hit the groove again to wrap it up quickly.

Rupam Sardar, also from West Bengal, had no hiccups in the second semifinal against Rajdip Sen of NCOE. After winning the first game with utmost ease, Rupam faced a challenge from Rajdip in the second and third. But it did not derail his plans, as Rupam quelled the challenges early.

Avisha Karmakar was caught on the wrong foot in the first game when Ahona Ray made most of the chances. However, the Delhi girl did not provide any leeway in the subsequent games to Ahona. She made far too many unforced mistakes that didn't help her either.

Bhoota Riana outplayed Divyanshi Bhowmick in the second all-Maharashtra semifinal despite Divyanshi posing problems and stretching Riana in two games. Divyanshi won the second but missed a trick or two in the first and third games after the deuce. It allowed Bhoota to scrape through to the final.

Results:

Under-15 Boys Singles: Final: Soham Mukherjee (WB) bt Rupam Sardar (WB) 11-6, 8-11, 13-11, 11-5.

Semifinals: Soham Mukherjee bt Aditya Das (WB) 11-8, 11-8, 8-11, 11-7; Rupam Sardar bt Rajdip Sen (NCOE) 11-2, 11-8, 11-7.

Under-15 Girls Singles: Final: Riana Bhoota (Mah) bt Avisha Karmakar (Del) 9-11, 11-6, 11-9, 9-11, 11-2.

Semifinals: Avisha Karmakar bt Ahona Ray (WB) 9-11, 11-4, 11-5, 11-9; Riana Bhoota bt Divyanshi Bhowmick (Mah) 12-10, 7-11, 12-10, 11-5.