Thane, November 18: S.F.R Senhit was third time lucky. The Airports Authority of India finally overcame the Manav Thakkar blues two win his first Junior Boys final 4-2 in the 11Sports National Ranking Championships (West) for the Mayor Cup at the Dadoji Konddev Stadium here today.

Incidentally, this was their third meeting this season and for once the boy from Telangana put up a brave fight and full credit to him for the way he counter-attacked Manav. The PSPB paddler, who was playing his seventh match on the day, was visibly tired. So was Snehit who, more or less, played as many matches.

Manav, despite dropping the first game came strongly to lead 2-1. But some beautiful, long rallies and good blocks, which were the order of the match, sapped both players’ energy. But, nevertheless, Snehit never dropped guard and his brilliant attacks off both hands, especially the placing, earned him a well-deserved title.

Earlier, Prapti Sen had a satisfactory end to the season with two back-to-back crowns while she was adjudged a joint winner in East Zone at Siliguri. A visibly tired looking Prapti mustered enough courage to come back every time Yashini Sivasankar, the winner of Central Zone at Indore, levelled or went up in the see-saw final that went down to the wire.  Prapti won 4-3.

The match had all thrills with none willing to yield the other an inch of space and playing fast tried to outdo one another. But when the Tamil Nadu girl brought herself back into the match at 3-3, the drooping shoulders of both players said it all. Yet, the West Bengal girl raced into a sizeable lead and stopped Yashini well short of shot what could have been her second title.

Two fast-paced semi-finals in Junior Boys saw exchange of long rallies between Manav and Manush Shah and then between SFR Snehit and Soham Bhattacharya. But it was Manav, who likes spending as little time as possible, was in a hurry to thrash Manush 4-0 and then get ready for the next. For the records, he had played as many as seven matches with little breathing time up to the Junior Boys final with the men singles quarterfinals pending.

Unlike Manav, Snehit took a bit longer than usual and beat Soham Bhattacharya of Kerala 4-1 for the third final against Manav this season.

On the other hand, Prapti who gave a tough time to Madhurika Patkar in women singles pre-quarterfinals had to first finish her Youth Girls pre-quarterfinals and get ready in 10 minutes for the Junior Girls semi-finals. Unfortunately, the players have become overambitious and complete in all higher ones, finishing neither here nor there. What they need to understand is the importance of winning or retaining positions in their own categories. Hopefully, better sense will prevail sooner than later, before they break down.

Manav may be the lone exception because he keeps his focus very much on the junior event—and wins it consistently—while trying out in other sections for better competition. But along the way he would win a few and lose a few. And today was definitely not his.

Pooja, Divya exit

Earlier in the day, RBI’s Ahyhka Mukherjee set up a quarterfinal clash with Poulami Ghatak after packing off third seed Pooja Sahasrabudhe 11-8, 11-7, 8-11, 11-4, 11-3 in women singles even as the six-time national champion beat sixth seed Divya Deshpande 11-9, 11-7, 11-8, 11-7. In men singles round of 16, Anirban Ghosh of West Bengal downed Sushmit Sriram of AAI, seeded seventh, 11-7, 11-3, 7-11, 11-9, 5-11, 11-7.

Results:

Junior Boys Singles: Final: S.F.R. Snehit (AAI) bt Manav Thakkar (PSPB) 11-6, 3-11, 11-9, 9-11, 14-12, 11-6.

Semi-finals: Manav Thakkar bt Manush Shah (AAI)11-6, 11-3, 11-4, 11-9; S.F.R. Snehit bt Soham Bhattacharya (KER) 13-11, 5-11, 11-7, 11-7, 11-8.

Quarterfinals: Manav Thakkar bt Aakash Pal (WB) 11-4, 11-5, 12-10, 11-4; Manush Shah bt Payas Jain (DEL) 11-7, 11-7, 11-5, 11-9; Soham Bhattacharya bt Jeet Chandra (WB) 5-1, 11-8, 12-10, 16-14, 2-11, 5-11, 13-11; S.F.R. Snehit bt Sarthak Seth (UP) 12-14, 11-9, 11-6, 11-9, 12-10.

Junior Girls Singles: Final: Prapti Sen (WB) bt Yashini Sivashankar (TN)4-11, 11-2, 11-7, 12-14, 11-8, 7-11, 11-3.

Semi-finals: Prapti Sen bt Poymantee Baisya (WB) 9-11, 11-7, 12-10, 12-10, 11-7; Yashini Sivashankar bt Surbhi Patwari (WB) 11-8, 11-9, 11-6, 6-11, 12-14, 11-9.

Quarterfinals: Poymantee Baisya bt Swastika Ghosh (MAH) 11-9, 14-12, 11-9, 2-11, 11-9; Prapti Sen bt Anusha Kutumbale (MP) 11-6, 11-4, 11-9, 8-11, 11-7; Surbhi Patwari bt Sataporni De (NB) 11-8, 11-13, 11-7, 11-3, 11-3; Yashini Sivashankar bt Varuni Jaiswal (TEL) 12-10, 13-11, 11-4, 11-13, 9-11, 7-11, 11-9.