Indore, May 25: Nandini Saha of West Bengal defeated Maharashtra’s Hardee Patel 4-2 in the final of the Youth Girls Under-15 to hold aloft the trophy in the Central Zone Championships that concluded at the Abhay Prashal here today.

But the win for the Bengal girl came under trying circumstances. After the first extended game that tested her mentally and physically, the little girl added another misery when she lost the second game to go 0-2 down. But then she mustered the courage to get into her groove and slowly but surely inched her way to success. After making it 2-2, she upped the ante to wrap it up in style.

In their semifinals, Nandini accounted for Jennifer Varghese 4-2—her opponent from Maharashtra led 2-0—and Hardee won 4-1 against Shubha Bhat, also from Maharashtra.

Ankolika Chakraborty claimed the Youth Girls under-11 crown beating Prateeti Paul, also from Bengal, 4-0. Prateeti did well in the opening game but failed to cope with the pressure. Ankolika relentlessly attacked and gained ascendancy over her statemate and, in the end, made the final a one-sided affair. In the semifinals, the Bengal girls managed to win against Aradhya Dhingra of Delhi and Gujarat’s Krisha Patel easily.

In the Under-13 Girls final, Divyanshi Bhowmick of Maharashtra defeated Syndrela Das from West Bengal 4-2 in a thrilling final. Syndrela trailing 0-3, staged a fine comeback to give the Maharashtra girl some anxious moments, taking back-to-back games. Yet, Divyanshi played a controlled sixth game and emerged the winner.

In her semifinal, she beat Nandhini Reena Balaji of TNTTA 4-0, while in the other, Syndrela outsmarted M. Hansini, also representing TNTTA, 4-0.

Results:

Youth Girls U-11 Final: Ankolika Chakraborty (Ben) bt Prateeti Paul (Ben) 11-9, 11-6, 11-7, 11-5; Semifinals: Ankolika Chakraborty bt Aradhya Dhingra (Del) 11-9, 11-1, 11-2; Prateeti Paul bt Krisha Patel (Guj) 11-8, 11-8, 11-6.

Youth Girls U-13 Final: Divyanshi Bhowmick (Mah) bt Syndrela Das (Ben) 11-9, 12-10, 11-8, 7-11, 7-11, 11-7; Semifinals: Syndrela Das bt M. Hansini (TNTTA) 11-9, 11-5, 11-4, 13-11;  Divyanshi Bhowmick bt Nandhini Reena Balaji (TNTTA) 11-9, 11-4, 11-7, 11-5.

Youth Girls U-15 Final: Nandini Saha (Ben) bt Hardee Patel (Mah) 12-14, 6-11, 11-9, 11-8, 11-4, 11-7; Semifinals: Hardee Patel bt Shubha Bhat (Mah) 11-4, 12-10, 11-6, 7-11, 11-9; Nandhini Sahab bt Jennifer Varghese (Mah) 11-13, 5-11, 11-4, 11-4, 11-9, 11-8.