Indore, June 1: Priyanuj Bhattacharya of Assam withstood the pressure tactics of Naman Bhatnagar of Himachal Pradesh to win the final of the Under-15 Youth Boys singles 4-2 and lift the trophy in the 83rd Cadet and Sub-Junior National Table Tennis Championships at the Abhay Prashal here today.

Both the boys, training at TTF in Delhi, know each other’s game well, and it was hardly surprising that they dished out a healthy fight. Priyanuj held a match-point, but Naman came too close for his comfort. In the end, the Assam boy prevailed to win the sixth game 12-10 to win the National crown.

In the Under-13 singles final, Karnataka’s Teshub Dinesh toppled fourth seed Arya Katariya 4-1 to lift his maiden trophy. The Karnataka boy, who controlled the match, had his opponent on the mat for most of the time. Although the Gujarat boy managed to win the third game, Teshub felt never threatened. After making it 3-1, Teshub sealed Arya’s fate without fuss.

In the Under-11 Boys, S. Karmeghakannan of Tamil Nadu defeated Aditya Das of Bengal in straight games to win the title and take home the winner’s purse. The TTTA’s paddler led 2-0 before letting Aditya stage a comeback and level the score. In the decider, Krmeghakannan matched his rival’s stroke for stroke and clinched the last two points in the nick of time.

Balamurugan Muthu of Tamil Nadu was the favourite to win the title in the U-15 category. But Himachal Pradesh’s Naman Bhatnagar’s counter rattled the No. 1 seed so much that he could not recover, despite opening well. The HP paddler dropped the fourth game but soon recovered to take the next two to send his Tamil Nadu rival packing. It also enabled qualifier Naman to enter his maiden final, perhaps the first from his state to do in several years.

Third-seed Priyanuj Bhattacharya, too, struggled in the second semifinal. But he overcame qualifier Neil Mulye from Maharashtra to win 4-2. The boy from Assam, however, staved off the threat. Neil won the first and fourth games but lost his steam to go any further or stretch his rival a bit more.

In the Under-13 Boys, Arya Kataria will take on Dinesh Teshub in the final, while S. Karmeghakannan will meet Aditya Das in the trophy showdown.

Several seeded players could not make it to the medal rounds in the three categories. In the U-15 Youth Boys, except for the top and third-seeded Balamurugan Muthu of Tamil Nadu and Priyanuj Bhattacharya of Assam, the rest bowed out of contention.

The players that failed the test in the U-11 section included top-seed Vatsal Duklan, fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth seeds Vivaan Dave of Gujarat, Parsh Yadav of Haryana, Viren Patil of Delhi and Param Bhiwandkar of Maharashtra. In this melee, second seed Akash Rajavelu beat Parsh Yadav, third seed Aditya Das downed Viren Patel and fourth seed S. Karmeghakannan moved into the semifinals, registering authoritative wins.

In the Under-13 section, the first to exit was top seed Sarthak Arya, followed by second and third seeds Pratiyush Bauva and S. Mukherjee. The fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth also made their exits, going down to unseeded players.

Results:

U-15 Youth Boys: Final: Priyanuj Bhattacharya (Asm) bt Naman Bhatnagar (HP) 8-11, 11-7, 11-4, 8-11, 11-7, 12-10; Semifinals: Naman Bhatnagar bt Balamurugan Muthu (TNTTA) 9-11, 11-5, 15-13, 4-11, 11-7, 15-13; Priyanuj Bhattacharya bt Neil Mulye (Mah) 3-11, 15-13, 11-7, 7-11, 11-8, 11-6; Quarterfinals: Balamurugan Muthu bt Oishik Ghosh (Ben) 12-10, 11-8, 14-12, 11-5; Naman Bhatnagar bt Siddhant Kataria (Har) 11-7, 11-9, 6-11, 11-5, 11-2; Priyanuj Bhattacharya bt M. Nikkhil Menon (TNTTA) 11-9, 11-5, 11-13, 11-6, 11-6; Neil Mulye (Mah) bt Aashay Yadav (Mah) 11-1, 11-9, 11-7, 11-8.

U-13 Youth Boys: Final: Dinesh Teshub (Kar) bt Arya Kataria (Guj) 11-4, 11-9, 8-11, 11-6, 11-4; Semifinals: Arya Kataria bt Vishal Garg (Chd) 11-4, 9-11, 11-6, 11-6, 12-10; Dinesh Teshub bt Dhananjay Singh Thakur (PSPBA) 16-14, 11-4, 11-1, 12-10; Quarterfinals: Vishal Garg bt Seshaanth Ramasamy (Kar) 11-9, 11-6, 11-9; Arya Kataria bt Dhairya Rawat (PSPBA) 11-8, 11-7, 11-5; Teshub Dinesh bt Sahil Rawat (PSPBA) 9-11, 11-7, 11-6, 11-8; Dhananjay Thakur bt M. Nikkhil Menon (TNTTA) 11-9, 12-10, 8-11, 11-6.

U-11 Youth Boys: Final: S. Karmeghakannan (TTTA) bt Aditya Das (Ben0 11-5, 11-9, 9-11, 9-11, 11-9; Semifinals: S. Karmeghakannan bt Samriddha Bhattacharya (Ben) 11-7, 9-11, 12-10, 11-3; Aditya Das bt Akash Rajavelu (TNTTA) 6-11, 11-8, 11-4, 11-4; Quarterfinals: Samriddha Bhattacharya bt Avikshit Changmai (Asm) 11-8, 14-12, 11-7; S. Karmeghakannan bt Vivaan Dave (Guj) 11-9, 11-8, 11-9; Aditya Das bt Viren Patel (Del) 11-3, 11-9, 11-1; Akash Rajavelu bt Parsh Yadav (Har) 12-10, 13-11, 11-7.