Siliguri, October 25: There was a commonality among the three title winners—Dev Shroff and Pritha Vartikar of Maharashtra and Trisha Gogoi of Assam—in the 11Even Sports National Ranking (East Zone) Table Tennis Championships at the SMC Indoor Stadium here today.

All three were the first-time finalists and they ensured that their efforts were rewarded. Dev beat Deepit Rajesh Patil, also of Maharashtra, in straight games to win his maiden title while state-mate Pritha Vartikar defeated Tamil Nadu’s Nehal Venkatasamy, also 4-0, to claim her first crown in Cadet Girls. Similarly, Trisha Gogoi of Assam downed Delhi’s Lakshita Narang 4-1 to emerge winner in Sub-Junior Girls. Incidentally, this was the first singles gold for Assam in several years in a national ranking event. 

But none could break the charming spell that Tamil Nadu’s Suresh Presh Raj weaved in Cadet Boys final as he thrashed Goa’s Shantesh Mapsekar 4-0 to complete a hat-trick of titles this season.

Dev, who failed to overcome Deepit in the final of the state championships last week, avenged the loss with a superior performance here. Serving and attacking well on both flanks, the Mumbai boy kept his tall opponent glued to the centre, hampering his movement. Yet, Deepit managed to go 8-3 up in the third game giving a glimmer of hope. But Deve, pulling up his socks, did well to level the score and then stop him at that point. Even in the fourth game, Deepit resisted a bit but could not stop Dev from winning the extended game and the title.

Trisha, on the other hand, ran up a 3-0 lead against the Delhi girl who was totally off-colour today.  The Assam girl, who showed early promises three years ago at Rajamundhry nationals helping Assam to the quarterfinals in team event, hit the groove nicely and pushed Lakshita on the back foot. With her backhand working wonderfully well with occasional forehand scorchers built her game step by step to outwit the Delhi girl. Lakshita did come back in the fourth game but it was too late for here to make up the lost ground.

Pritha proved too hot for the Tamil Nadu girl Nehal, who had to satisfy with the silver for the second tournament running. At Dharwad, too, she had reached the final but failed to win the crown. Here, the Maharashtra girl hardly allowed her any liberty and it did not help her in any way. 

Raj hat-trick again: There was hardly any boy to challenge the supremacy of Preyesh Raj for the second consecutive season. The left-handed Tamil Nadu boy, who won five zonal titles last year, was unlucky not to become the singles champion in the Sub-Junior and Cadet Nationals, held at the same venue last December, as he bowed out in the semifinals. 

Putting that loss aside, he played true to his potential to outsmart his Goan opponent, who was stopped midway through in each game with Preyesh allowing him the luxury of just 20 points in the entire match.  

Results: 

Cadet Boys: Final: Suresh Preyesh Raj (TN) bt Shantesh Mapsekar (Goa) 11-5, 11-5, 11-4, 11-6; Semifinals: Suresh Preyesh Raj bt Ankur Bhattacharjee (WB) 11-7, 11-3, 11-1; Shantesh Mapsekar bt Oishik Ghosh (WB) 13-11, 8-11, 8-11, 11-9, 11-8; Quarterfinals: Suresh Preyesh Raj bt Havish Asrani (Mah) 3-2, Ankur Bhattacharjee bt Emon Adhikary (WB) 3-1, Oishik Ghosh bt Ayan Ghosh (WB) 3-1, Shantesh Mapsekar bt Anirban Mani (WB) 3-0.

Cadet Girls: Final: Pritha Vartika (Mah) bt Nehal Venkatasamy (TN) 11-7, 11-9, 11-6, 11-8; Semi-finals: Pritha Vartikar bt Suhana Saini (HRN) 11-1, 11-9, 11-9, Nehal Venkatasamy bt Sayani Panda (WB)11-9, 11-7, 11-9; Quarterfinals: Suhana Saini bt Ananya Chande (Mah) 3-0, Pritha Vartikar bt Sreyasree Dutta (WB) 3-0, Sayani Panda bt Nandini Saha (WB) 3-2, Nehal Venkatasamy bt Vartica Bharat (UP) 3-1.

Sub-Junior Boys: Final: Dev Shroff (Mah) bt Deepit Rajesh Patil (Mah) 13-11, 11-6, 11-8, 12-10; Semifinals: Dev Shroff bt Yashansh Malik (Del) 9-11, 11-7, 11-6, 7-11, 11-5, 9-11, 11-8, Deepit R. Patil bt Payas Jain (Del) 5-11, 10-12, 11-9, 11-7, 8-11, 11-3, 11-8; Quarterfinals: Yashansh Malik bt H. Hejo 3-2, Dev Shroff bt Arush Dutt (Del) 3-2, Deepit R Patil 3-0, Payas Jain bt Hrishikesh Malhotra (Mah) 3-1.

Sub-Junior Girls: Final: Trisha Gogoi (ASM) bt Lakshita Nrang (Del0 11-7, 11-6, 13-11, 5-11, 11-7; Semi-finals: Trisha Gogoi bt Munmun Kundu 12-10, 11-7, 11-9, 9-11, 11-8, Lakshita Narang bt Nithyashree Mani (TN) 11-7, 11-8, 6-11, 11-9, 3-11, 11-8; Quarterfinals: Munmun Kundu bt Kavyashree Baskar (TN) 3-0, Trisha Gogoi bt Vanshika Bhargava (Del) 3-1, Lakshita Narang bt Suhana Saini (HRN) 3-0, Nithyashree Mani bt Anargaya Manjunat (KNT) 3-2.