Vadodara, January 11: Manav Thakkar of PSPB was well on course to make a complete sweep of the national titles but just ended sans one, winning Youth Boys and Junior Boys singles and then adding the Junior Doubles for his best ever collection of silverwares at the 11Even Sports 78th Junior and Youth National Championships at the SAMA Indoor Complex, which concluded here today.

In Junior Boys final, Delhi’s Parth Virmani was no match to a rampaging Manav who unleashed attacking strokes, varying his services cleverly, pushed Parth on the back foot to win 4-0. Parth, equally attacking, gasped for breath with Manav continuing with his rhythm that he gained in the morning during quarterfinals, after a tough match against Akash Pal of West Bengal who stretched him 4-3. In the semifinal, Shivaji Roy was an easy meat whom he disposed of 4-0. This was Manav’s second national title after he won his first at the Alleppey nationals two years ago. He narrowly missed both Junior and Youth singles titles at Dharamsala after reaching the finals.

In Youth Boys final, it was a tough ask for Manav when he had to return to the table after the Junior Boys final. Facing PSPB team mate, Abhishek Yadav, who showed his true form in the semifinal against Birdie Boro, also of PSPB, Manav made his intent loud and clear. Earlier, Manav had accounted for Pankaj Vishwakarma of Rajasthan in straight games.

Abhishek Yadav, with a fantastic semifinal win against teammate Boro to boot, was exposed to the hilt when Manav started the onslaught. No doubt, both executed fierce forehands and indulged in long rallies, but it was Manav who once again dominated match.

Asserting his superiority right from the word go, Manav came into groove straightaway to torment Abhishek, who had his occasions—he led 4-0 in the second and 3-0 in the third—but Manav would fight his way back into the game and match as he did today, absolutely undeterred.

Incidentally, this was his maiden Youth title and he had made the championships his own, having helped his team win the Junior Boys title. But for Arjun Ghosh, who was exemplary and was the real hurdle, the Youth team trophy, too, could have come the PSPB way. Manav is known to have an elephantine memory and is bound to exact his revenge sooner than later.

ANOTHER ARCHANA SPECIAL

Archana Kamath, after winning the second national doubles title in the company of Sreeja Akula, did not waste any time to outsmart an in-form Moumita Datta of West Bengal to claim her maiden Junior Girls crown. It must have been disappointing for Moumita, who reached three finals here, to bow out in the fashion she did against Archana. Indeed, it was a hard-fought match which the AAI girl won 4-0 but by no stretch or imagination it was all that easy.

Except for the second game which Archana won with a difference of three points, in the other three games she was extended and after a couple of fumbles Archana managed to put it across her rival. Every time Moumita deuced, the AAI girl came back with confidence to clinch it in her favour. Both were attacking and used most of their backhands to score winners and what separated the two was the experience which Archana had aplenty.

MOUMITA MAKES AMENDS

However, the West Bengal girl ensured she returned home with at least the Youth Girls trophy in her kitty when she beat Tamil Nadu’s Harshavardhini Ravichandran 4-0. After running into a 3-0 lead in the final, including an easy third game, she was pushed back somewhat by the Tamil Nadu girl in the fourth.

In fact, Harshavardhini looked like taking the issue to the next with a comfortable four-point lead at 7-4 but all that she managed was one more point during the course as Moumita slowly clawed her way back to win with a lot to spare. Of course, her Junior Girls final loss must have weighed her down a bit when she started the Youth final as was evident from the struggle in her first game. But her determination in the end paid off and it was a well deserving title win.

Results:

Junior Boys Singles: Final: Manav Thakkar (PSPB) bt Parth Virmani (Del) 11-8, 11-9, 11-7, 11-3; Semifinals: Manav Thakkar bt Shivaji Roy 4-0, Parth Virmani bt Snehit Suravajjula 4-0; Quarterfinals: Manav Thakkar bt Akash Pal 4-3, Shivaji Roy bt Jeet Chandra 4-2,Parth Virmani bt AnukramJain4-1, Snehit SuravajjulaS bt Manush Shah 4-3.  

Doubles Final: Manav Thakkar/Chinmaya Somaiya (PSPB) bt Jeet Chandra/Soham Bhattacharya (WB) 3-0.

Junior Girls Singles: Final: Achana G.Kamath (AAI) bt Moumita Datta (WB) 12-10, 11-8, 12-10, 12-10; Semifinals: Achana G.Kamath bt Selenadeepthi 4-2, Moumita Datta bt Priyanka Pareek 4-0; Quarterfinals: Priyanka Pareek bt V.Laasya 4-0, Moumita Datta bt Yasini Sivashankar 4-3, Archana G. Kamath bt Ishita Gupta 4-0, Selenadeepthi Selvakumar bt Naina 3-2.

Doubles Final: Selenadeepthi.S/Yashini Sivakumar bt Priyanka Pareek/Bhuwaneshwari R 3-2.

Youth Boys Singles: Final: Manav Thakkar (PSPB) bt Abhishek Yadav (PSPB) 11-7, 11-7, 11-5, 11-3; Semifinals: Abhishek Yadav bt Birdie Boro 4-2, Manav Thakkar bt Pankaj Vishwakarma 4-0; Quarterfinals: Manav Thakkar bt Anirban Ghosh 4-0, Pakaj Vishwakarma bt Abhinav Belwal 4-1, Birdie Boro bt Shubham Ojha 4-0, Abhishek Yadav bt Ronit Bhanja 4-3.

Doubles Final: Arjun Ghosh/Ronit Bhanja (WB) bt Manav Thakkar/Abisht ek Yadav (PSPB) 3-1.

Youth Girls Singles: Final: Moumita Datta (WB) bt Harshavardhini Ravichandran (TN) 12-10, 11-9, 11-2, 11-8;Semifinals: Harshavardhini bt Sagarika Mukherjee 4-2, Moumita Datta bt Amrutha Pushpak 4-3; Quarterfinals: Moumita Datta bt Archana Kamath 4-2, Amrutha Pushpak bt Ayhika Mukherjee 4-0, Sagarika Mukherjee bt Selenadeepthi Selvakumar 4-3, Harshavardhini bt Prapti Sen 4-0.

Doubles Final: Archana Kamath/Sreeja Akula (AAI) bt Moumita Datta/Priyadarshini Das (WB) 3-0.