Vadodara: Veer Balmiki of Uttar Pradesh made short work of Prateek Tulsani of Maharashtra in the Youth Boys Under-11 final to lift the trophy with a 3-1 win in the UTT National Ranking Championships at the Sama Indoor Complex here today. His efforts fetched the UP boy Rs. 8,000, and Prateek got half of the winner’s purse.
In the Youth Girls Under-11 final, Saturya Banerjee downed Tanishka Kalbhairav from Karantaka 3-1 to take home the winner’s prize of Rs. 8,000, while Tanishka had to be content with the runner-up purse of Rs. 4,000.
Both finals failed to raise the expectations of the earlier rounds, especially in the boys’ section. In the Girls’ final, last year’s runner-up in the Nationals could not sustain the pace set by her UP opponent, who proved too superior. Yet, Tanishka managed to take a game off her rival and even stretch her a bit in the fourth game.
Saturya Banerjee of Bengal had to pull up her socks when statemate Shariqa Shahid staged a fine comeback to level the score 2-2, taking the issue to the decider. The latter succumbed to pressure to let Saturya win the second semifinal by minimal points.
It was a contrasting first semifinal in which Tanishka Kalbhairav–she dropped the first game–allowed very little space for Bibeshna Saha, also of Bengal, to recover and pose any threat to her survival.
Saturya had another tough outing against Kamarapu Saanvi of Telangana in the quarterfinals, but the West Bengal girl prevailed over her rival 3-2. The Telangana girl, down 1-2, fought well to level the score but her Bengal rival proved a tough nut to crack.
Similarly, Shariqa showed her prowess in her quarterfinal match against Aarya Deepak Redkar to take the last two crucial games to advance. Aarya went 2-1 up after taking the second game 12-10 to put pressure on Shariqa. But the Bengal girl fired on all cylinders in the decider to win. Tanishka and Bibeshna Saha easily beat their rivals in the other quarterfinals to progress.
Prateek Tulsani dropped the second game 12-14 to Kirsh Vinodh of Tamil Nadu in the semifinals and made it up with an easy win in the third and the fifth 14-12. Veer Balmika, too, lost the second game before putting it across Rishaan Chattopadhyay.
Results:
Youth Boys U-11: Final: Veer Balmiki (UP) bt Prateek Tulsani (Mah) 11-4, 11-4, 11-8.
Semi-finals: Prateek Tulsani bt Krish Vinodh (TNTTA) 11-3, 12-14, 11-6, 14-12; Balmiki Veer bt Rishaan Chattopadhyay (Ben) 11-4, 10-12, 11-6, 11-8.
Quarterfinals: Krish Vinod bt Hridan Patel (Guj) 11-6, 11-7, 11-7; Prateek Tulsani bt Srivanth H (TNTTA) 11-0, 11-5, 11-7; Rishaan Chattopadhyay bt Bhavit Bisht Singh (Raj) 11-9, 11-8, 3-11, 11-7; Balmiki Veer bt Zain Shaikh (Mah) 11-1, 11-6, 11-7.
Youth Girls U-11: Final: Saturya Banerjee bt Tanishka Kalbhairav (Kar) 12-10, 11-8, 6-11, 12-10.
Semi-finals: Tanishka Kalbhairav bt Bibeshna Saha (Ben) 9-11, 11-9, 11-8, 11-5; Saturya Banerjee bt Shariqa Shahid (ben) 14-12, 11-6, 2-11, 9-11, 11-9.
Quarterfinals: Tanishka Kalbhairav bt Saranya Kar (Ben) 11-3, 11-4, 11-9; Bibeshana Saha (Ben) 11-8, 11-7, 11-6; Saturya Banerjee bt Kamarapu saanvi (Telg) 2-11, 11-1, 11-6, 8-11, 11-6; Shariqa Shahid bt Aarya Deepak Redkar (Mah) 11-8, 10-12, 8-11, 11-7, 11-9.
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