Vadodara, November 25: M.R. Balamurugan of Tamil Nadu completed a hat-trick of title wins in the Youth Boys Under-17 when he blanked out Kushal Chopda of Maharashtra in in the third UTT National Ranking Table Tennis Championships at the Sama Indoor Stadium here today.
Syndrela Das of West Bengal, making most of the early exits of top two seeds, defeated state mate Saanvy Roy 3-1 to lift her maiden Youth Girls U-17 title. Both winners laughed their way to the bank with the winner’s cheque of Rs. 24000 each. The runners-up in both sections received half the amount in prize money.
After his fine showing in the semifinal, one expected Kushal to put up some resistance. Though it came in the second game, he missed two game points, allowing Balamurugan to go 2-0 up. The third game was a mere formality for the lanky Tamil Nadu player, who accomplished the task without a fuss.
Syndrela was too good for Saanvy. Though the latter managed a game off her, Sannvy was hardly in the match as Syndrela relentlessly attacked, shattering the confidence of her statemate. In the semifinals, Balamurugan Muthu Rajasekaran and Kushal Chopda spent torrid moments at the table before overcoming Priyanuj Bhattacharyya and Punit Biswas, respectively. The Tamil Nadu and the Maharashtra paddlers identically won 3-2 to enter the final.
Top seed Rajasekaran was in trouble as the fourth seed Priyanuj from Assam started on a bright note to win the first game. But the Tamil Nadu boy fought back resolutely to go 2-1 up. Yet, he failed to sustain the onslaught of the boy from Assam as the latter levelled the score. In the decider, the TN player turned the table to outwit his rival as he ran up a sizeable lead that would see him through. Unable to cope with the pressure, Priyanuj made unforced mistakes, which hastened his downfall.
The match between third seed Kushal Chopda and second seed Punit Biswas was nicely poised when Punit restored parity (2-2). At that point, it was difficult to say who would be the eventual winner, as Maharashtra and the AAI players had it in them to topple one another on a given day.
In a match, which went down to the wire, the Maharashtra boy played cautiously but cleverly forced Punit into committing himself early and scoring his points. Kushal worked his way up quietly against an impatient Punit and kept asking questions which elicited no answers.
In the first semifinal between Saanvi Roy from West Bengal and Diya Bramhachary of Delhi earlier, the latter was on the verge of closing out Saanvy when she led 2-0. Nobody would have expected the Delhi girl to go into a shell, letting the West Bengal paddler sneak through a narrow opening after winning the third game.
As if on cue, the eighth seed from Bengal clinically did that and levelled the score in the next. From there, she never looked back as she pounced on the opportunity provided by the fourth seed to seal her place in the final, especially after the top two seeds, Kavya Bhatt from Maharashtra and Avani Tripathi from UP, exited in the second round. Third seed Syndrela Das cemented her place in the final with an easy win over Vanshika Mudgal of Delhi.
The two Delhi girls had to be content with the bronze medals.
Results:
Youth Boys U-17 Singles: Final: Balamurugan M. Rajasekaran (TN) bt Kushal Chopda (Mah) 11-6, 14-12, 11-8.
Semifinals: M. Rajasekaran bt Priyanuj Bhattacharyya (Asm)7-11, 11-9, 11-8, 3-11, 11-6; Kushal Chopda bt Punit Biswas (AAI) 11-6, 9-11, 11-6, 9-11, 11-7.
Youth Girls U-17 Singles: Final: Syndrela Das (WB) bt Saanvi Roy (WB) 11-2, 9-11, 11-5, 11-6.
Semifinals: Saanvi Roy bt Diya Bramhachary (Del) 8-11, 10-12, 11-8, 11-9, 11-6; Syndrela Das bt Vanshika Mudgal (Del) 11-4, 11-6, 11-4.
