Panchkula: Aditya Das and Ankolika Chakrabotry, the two top seeds from West Bengal, lived up to expectations to hoist the Youth Boys and Youth Girls Under-13 trophies in the UTT National Ranking Table Tennis Championships at the Tau Devi Lal Indoor Stadium today.
Aditya defeated Akash Rajavelu of Tamil Nadu 3-1, and Ankolika retained the crown she won in the previous one, thrashing Tanishka Kalbhairav of Karnataka 3-0.
The Tamil Nadu paddler, who won the title at Vijayawada, failed to repeat his performance as he found Aditya a tough nut to crack. He, however, managed to win a game off him, and that was all he could do as the West Bengal boy thumped him.
Ankolika, the title favourite, did what was expected of her. But one expected her Karnataka rival after failing to make it to the final at Vijayawada. But unfortunately, it was not to be as Tanishka surrendered meekly.
Vatsal Dulkan had the game in him to go the distance. But more often than not he has not passed the semifinal hurdle as it happened in Vijayawada. There he faced second-seed Akash, and here the top-seed, Aaditya Das. In his last semifinal outing, he dragged the match to five games, but today he lost in straight games to the West Bengal boy. Yet, he showed his gritty side and saved seven game points in the second before being subdued by Aditya. Aarav failed to avenge his loss in the final at Vijayawada to Akash, as the Tamil Nadu boy beat him 3-1 in the second semifinal.
In the Girls’ semifinals, top seed Anokolika beat Prateeti Paul, the finalist in the last tournament, defeated 3-1. Despite her control over the match, Ankolika lost 0-11 in the second game to Prateeti before picking up steam to win the next two and secure her spot in the final. She will clash with Tanishka Kalbhairav of Karnataka, who lost to Prateeti in the semis at Vijayawada.
Results:
Youth Boys U-13: Final: Aditya Das (WB) bt Akash Rajavelu (TN) 11-9, 5-11, 11-6, 11-9.
Semifinals: Aditya Das bt Vatsal Dulkan (PSPBA) 11-9, 19-17, 11-5; Akash Rajavelu bt Aarav Acharya (TTFI-1) 11-7, 5-11, 11-3, 11-6.
Quarterfinals: Aditya Das bt Veer Balmiki (UP) 11-6, 11-9, 11-8; Vatsal Dulkan bt M. Ashvajith (TN) 11-4, 11-4, 11-4; Aarav Acharya bt Himon Mondal (WB) 11-9, 11-3, 11-13, 9-11, 11-7; Akash Rajavelu bt Rishaan Chattopadhyay (WB) 11-4, 11-9, 9-11, 9-11, 11-4.
Youth Girls U-13: Final: Ankolika Chakraborty (WB) bt Tanishka Kalbhairav (Kar) 11-9, 11-5, 11-6.
Semifinals: Ankolika Chakraborty bt Prateeti Paul (WB) 11-8, 0-11, 11-9, 17-15; Tanishka Kalbhairav bt Ranjini Saha (NCOE) 11-9, 11-6, 11-2.
Quarterfinals: Ankolika Chakraborty bt Sreejani Chakraborti (WB) 11-8, 11-7, 15-13; Prateeti Paul bt Advika Agrawal (MP) 9-11, 11-3, 11-8, 11-8; Ranjiji Saha bt Shreya Dhar (WB) 11-7, 13-15, 8-11, 13-11, 11-7; Tanishka Kalbhairav bt Ahona Ray (WB) 11-9, 3-11, 11-7, 11-9.
-TTFI
