Chennai: Top-seeded West Bengal, riding on Ankur Bhattacharjee’s form, decimated second-seeded Uttar Pradesh to regain the team trophy in the Under-19 Youth Boys final of the UTT 84th Inter-State Youth and Junior National Championships at the Nehru Indoor Stadium here today.
West Bengal beat UP 3-0, proving their superiority here. UP would not have expected such a one-sided result. But their team members would be proud of what they achieved, particularly after their poor pre-quarterfinal finish in 2019 at Jammu, where the Nationals with team events happened last.
Ankur Bhattacharjee, on whom the team’s fortunes hinged, was in the form of his life. It reflected right from the word go when he rolled down, completely toying with Sarth Mishra for a 3-0 win. However, Divyansh Srivastava, UP’s No. 1 player, hit a rhythm and form after taking the first game of the second tie to put his team 1-0 up against Soumyadeep Sarkar. But the latter pulled level soon after and then went ahead in the third. Constantly engaged in deep rallies and making great use of the flanks, the two played beautifully to keep the spectators interested.
The UP lad fought back well to restore parity and take the issue to the deciding game. Soumyadeep ran into a good lead and maintained it even as Divyansh committed far too many mistakes, netting the ball often. The process only hastened his downfall.
Bodhisatwa, enjoying a 2-0 cushion, played carefree and achieved success straightaway against Akshat Tyagi. In the second game, however, he faced some resistance as he missed a couple of game points before going 2-0 up. The third game was a formality, which he completed quickly with precision to bring the curtains down on the team events.
Earlier in the day, the West Bengal boys dethroned Delhi, the title-holders in Jammu, with a 3-1 verdict. Except for Payas Jain, none of the Delhi players showed any glimpse of a fight before succumbing to pressure. Even Payas could not sustain himself against Ankur. Though the Delhi boy lost the first game to Ankur, he fought back well to take him some distance in the second and the third but couldn’t stop the West Bengal boys or their team from reaching the final.
Maharashtra had a very good semi-final outing against UP, but Jash Modi’s loss to Divyansh must have hurt them a lot. Until that point, Maharashtra led comfortably before Sarth Mishra finished the job for UP, beating Kushal Chopda in straight games.
Results (Team Events):
Youth Boys U-19: Final: West Bengal bt Uttar Pradesh 3-0 (Ankur Bhattacharjee 11-4, 11-1, 11-9, Soumyadeep Sarkar bt Divyansh Srivastava 6-11, 11-9, 11-7, 7-11, 11-7, Bodhisatwa Chaudhury bt Akshat Tyagi 11-3, 13-11, 11-4).
Semi-finals: West Bengal bt Delhi 3-1 (Ankur Bhattacharjee bt Aadarsh Om Chhetri 11-9, 9-11, 11-9, 10-12, 13-11, Bodhisatwa Chaudhury lost to Payas Jain 5-11, 6-11, 11-5, 8-11, Soumyadeep Sarkar bt Arjav Gupta 11-9, 11-3, 11-4, Ankur Bhattacharjee bt Payas Jain 11-6, 14-12, 12-10); Uttar Pradesh bt Maharashtra 3-2 (Divyansh Srivastava bt Kushal Chopda 11-9, 9-11, 11-9, 11-8, Sarth Mishra lost to Jash Modi 13-11, 13-15, 7-11, 2-11, Akshat Tyagi lost to Neil Mulye 11-8, 7-11, 7-11, 9-11, Divyansh Srivastava bt Jash Modi 11-7, 9-11, 11-6, 11-2, Sarth Mishra bt Kushal Chopda 11-7, 11-7, 13-11).
–TTFI
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