Dehradun, December 13: Vishwa Deenadayalan of Tamil Nadu and Swastika Ghosh of Maharashtra lifted the Youth Under-19 Boys and Girls trophies in the UTT National Ranking Championships at the Multipurpose Hall here today.

Vishwa and Deepit went neck and neck until the fourth game, sharing two games apiece. It was then that the Tamil Nadu boy decided to shift gears and cleaned up Deepit. But, despite leading 2-1, the Maharashtra boy could not raise his game as Vishwa was adept and made a few unforced errors. In comparison, Deepit was unable to control his game, leaving the table for Vishwa to dominate.

Diya Chitale seemed to have one hand on the trophy when she was on the match point at 10-9. But she squandered the advantage, allowing Swastika Ghosh to deuce to keep herself floating. With service back with Diya, one expected Diya to go up. But Swastika took a point off her opponent’s service and finished off in style when she got the chance to serve. In the final rally, Swastika seized the moment. Game, match, and title for Swastika.

But what raised hopes was the way Diya fought her way back into the decider. Trailing 2-6, the third seed pressured her rival with an excellent recovery. Yet, the intent of Swastika was never to give up and she showed it when it mattered the most. Her effort this evening fetched her Rs. 40,00 in the enhanced prize money.

Top-seed Payas was 1-2 down in the first semifinal. However, he managed to take the fourth game to level the score. Then began the real battle for a place in the final, as Deepit took the fifth to go up before Payas pulled on the level in the next. In the decider, Deepit hit the groove and stopped Payas well short.

In the second semifinal, Vishwa Deenadayalan had a fairly easy outing against Yashansh Malik, also from Delhi. The two lanky paddlers fought well, particularly Vishwa, after dropping the opening game. In the second both missed quite a few game points before the Tamil Nadu boy won the marathon 19-17. Though he lost the next to Payas, he managed to put it across the Portugal World Championships bronze medallist, winning the next two.

Tamil Nadu’s Nithyashree Mani, who felled second-seed Yashaswini Ghorpade yesterday in the pre-quarterfinals, failed to go past third-seed Diya Chitale. The girl from Maharashtra, except for the second game, had the measure of Nithyashree to win 4-1 and seal her place in the final.

She will be taking on fifth seed Swastika Ghosh, also from Maharashtra, in the semifinals. Swastika, too, scored a 4-1 win after dropping the second game.

In the men’s singles, all the eight seeds moved into the pre-quarterfinals and they will play their quarters later today. In the women’s singles, too, top-eight seeds had no problems as they all moved into the quarterfinals. They will complete the quarterfinal fixtures later tonight.

RESULTS:

Youth Boys U-19: Final: Vishwa Deenadayalan (TTTA) bt Deepit Rajesh Patil (Mah) 6-11, 11-8, 8-11, 11-8, 11-6, 11-8.

Semifinals: Deepit Patil Rajesh bt Payas Jain (Del) 12-10, 6-11, 12-10, 5-11, 13-11, 6-11, 11-7; Vishwa Deenadayalan bt Yashansh Malik (Del) 9-11, 19-17, 12-10, 11-9, 11-9.

Youth Girls U-19: Final: Swastika Ghosh (Mah) bt Diya Chitale (Mah) 9-11, 11-9, 9-11, 5-11, 11-6, 12-10, 12-10.

Semifinals: Diya Chitale bt Nithyashree Mani (TTTA) 8-4, 15-13, 11-8, 11-9, 11-6; Swastika Ghosh bt Taneesha Kotecha (Mah) 11-7, 6-11, 11-6, 11-6, 11-4.