Sonepat, December 26: Petroleum Sports Promotion Board (PSPB), led by Manav Thakkar, defeated a spirited West Bengal 3-1 to retain the Youth Boys title in the 11Sports 80th Junior and Youth National Table Tennis Championships at the DPS Hall here today.

But West Bengal can be proud of their Youth Girls who beat Telangana 3-0 to lift the team trophy after their Junior Girls failed to defend the crown, bowing out in the quarterfinals yesterday.

PSPB started nervously with Ronit Bhanja providing the lead for West Bengal as he beat Siddesh Pande 3-1 with Manav Thakkar to follow for PSPB. Manav struggled against a pepped up Abhimanyu Mitra as the left-hander won the opening game of the second singles. But Manav, who levelled with a 12-10 win in the next, came back nicely to seize the initiative back.  After that Jeet Chandra, running a good form, accounted for Akash Pal, also a 3-1 verdict, to romp home winners.

The match all the thrills of a final with long rallies and good counters from players of both sides, especially Ronit and Abhimanyu, Manav and Siddesh Pandey. In contrast, Jeet always had the upper hand against Akash Pal, despite slowing down a bit in the fourth game of the tie.

Telangana, after putting up a brave front and upsetting defending champions PSPB in the semifinals, could not find the rhythm and energy to beat a determined West Bengal in the final. Lacking sting in their attack and steam to fight back, they threw in the towel almost instantly, except for Sreeja who showed gumption to take on Kaushani Nath in the second singles. But, the least the Telangana girl could do was to take two games of the West Bengal girl while Varuni managed one against Surbhi Patwari.

Delhi Boys win maiden title

Delhi defeated Gujarat 3-2 in a thrilling final to lift the Junior Boys title while Maharashtra A overcame a fighting Uttar Pradesh 3-1 to win the Junior Girls crown. The title for Delhi was its first such effort and, for Maharashtra, a fine face-saving attempt—after having surrendered the team trophies in Youth Boys and Youth Girls and Junior Boys categories which they won last year.

With Manush Shah in their ranks, he was expected to take the two games for Gujarat. But their second player, Chitrax Bhatt, was weak link which Delhi’s Payas Jain and Yashansh Malik were to exploit. The story went according to the script as Manush and Payas won their first singles to make things even for the two teams.

But what brought twist in the tale was the doubles victory which Delhi scored against Manush and Chitrax. This gave Delhi a big advantage and cashing in on them, despite Payas’ loss to Manush in reverse singles, Yashansh beat Chitrax in the decider to claim their maiden team gold.

As for Maharashtra A girls, with Diya Chitale and Manushree Patil proving to be a good combination, it was always going to be difficult for Uttar Pradesh, whose dependence is too much on Radhapriya Goel, their No. 1 player. But she was unable to give a kind of opening that UP would have wanted against Diya, who was sharp and quick in first singles.

Manushree did struggle a bit before striking pace and form against Suhana Narjinary to consolidate their position. However, the Maharashtra duo lost to the UP pair 2-3 after putting up a good fight. That was all the UP girls could do as Radhapriya resisted Manushree a bit in her reverse singles before caving in under pressure.

Results (Team Events):

Youth Boys: Final: PSPB bt West Bengal 3-1 (Siddesh Pande lost to Ronit Bhanja 8-11, 5-11, 11-8, 8-11, Manav Thakkar bt Abhimanyu Mitra 6-11, 12-10, 11-7, 11-4, Jeet Chandra bt Akash Pal 7-11, 11-6, 11-3, 12-10, Manav Thakkar bt Ronit Bhanja 11-7, 11-8, 11-5); Semifinals: PSPB bt Uttar Pradesh 3-0 (Jeet Chandra bt Sarthak Seth 11-8, 11-9, 11-3, Manav Thakkar bt Abhinav Belwal 1-9, 11-7, 11-1, Siddesh Pande bt Divyan Srivastava 11-7, 11-8, 11-6); West Bengal bt North Bengal 3-0 (Abhianyu Mitra bt Aakash Nath 11-9, 11-9, 11-6, Rnit Bhanja bt Raja Kundu 11-5, 11-8, 11-6, Akash Pal bt Soumyadeep Sarkar 11-3, 11-7, 11-8).

Youth Girls: Final: West Bengal bt Telagnana 3-0 (Surbhi Patwari bt Varuni Jaiswal 12-10, 3-11, 12-10, 11-4, Kaushani Nath bt Sreeja Akula 9-11, 12-10, 11-7, 12-14, 11-6, Poymantee Baisya bt Naina 11-7, 11-7, 11-6);Semifinals: Telangana bt PSPB 3-2 (Varuni Jaiswal lost to Prapti Sen 11-6, 6-11, 17-9, 10-12, Akula Sreeja bt Yashini Sivashankar 11-8, 14-12, 11-8, Naina bt Srushti Haleangadi 12-10, 11-8, 5-11, 11-9, Sreeja Akula lost to Prapti Sen 11-8, 11-8, 8-11, 3-11, 11-13, Varuni Jaiswal bt Yashini Sivashankar 11-7, 13-11, 16-14); West Bengal bt Tamil Nadu 3-2 (Kaushini Nath bt Harshavardhini 11-8, 11-4, 11-6, Surbhi Patwari lost to Deepika Neelakandan 11-2, 12-14, 11-6, 9-11, 8-11, Poymantee Baisya bt Kowshika Venkatesan 14-12, 11-8, 11-9, Surbhi Patwari lost to Harshavardhini 6-11, 11-5, 9-11, 9-11, Kaushani Nath bt Deepika Neelakandan 13-11, 11-8, 8-11, 11-13, 11-7).

Junior Boys: Final: Delhi bt Gujarat 3-2 (Yashansh Malik lost to Manush Shah 8-11, 8-11, 7-11, Payas Jain bt Chitrax Bhatt 11-5, 11-7, 11-7, Payas-Aadarsh Chetri bt Manush-Chitrax 11-9, 11-7, 8-11, 11-6, Payas Jain lost to Manush Shah 11-5, 4-11, 8-11, 7-11, Yashansh Malik bt Chitrax Bhatt 11-5, 11-8, 6-11, 11-6).

Semifinals: Gujarat bt West Bengal 3-1 (Chitrax Bhatt lost to Akash Pal 5-11, 4-11, 10-12, Manush Shah bt Rohan Ghosh 5-11, 11-7, 9-11, 11-3, 11-5, Chitrax-Manush bt Akash-Rohan 11-6, 11-5, 12-10, Manush Shah bt Akash Pal 8-11, 11-8, 4-1, 11-8, 11-6); Delhi bt Mizoram 3-0 (Yashansh Malik bt H. Jeho 9-11, 14-16, 11-7, 11-9, 11-8, Payas Jain bt Alberto Lrruata 13-11, 11-8, 11-6, Aadarsh Chetri-Payas bt J. Zamliana-Alberto 10-12, 9-11, 11-9, 11-8, 11-9).

Junior Girls: Final: Maharashtra A bt Uttar Pradesh 3-1 (Diya Chitale bt Radhapriya Goel 11-6, 11-7, 11-9, Manushree Patil bt Suhana Narjinary 7-11, 11-0, 13-11, 11-2, Diya-Manushree lost to Radhapriya-Suhana 8-11, 9-11, 11-7, 11-7, 17-19, Manushree Patil bt Radhapriya Goel 11-4, 11-2, 6-11, 10-12, 11-5).

Semifinals: Uttar Pradesh bt Delhi 3-0 (Radhapriya Goel bt Vanshika Bhargava 11-6, 11-9, 11-13, 11-6, Suhana Narjinary bt Ishita Gupta 11-3, 13-11, 11-4, Radhapriya-Suhana bt Ishita-Vanshika 6-11, 11-6, 11-9, 6-11, 11-6); Maharashtra A bt Karnataka 3-0 (Diya Chitale bt Yashashwini Ghorpade 12-10, 12-10, 11-9, Manushree Patil bt Anargaya Manjunath 11-7, 15-13, 13-15, 11-8, Diya-Manushree bt Yashaswini-Anargaya 9-11, 12-10, 5-11, 11-5, 11-7).