Manushree Patil of Maharashtra crashed at the final hurdle going down tamely 2-4 to West Bengal’s Moumita Datta in the junior girl’s final of the 11even Sports National Ranking (Central Zone) Table Tennis Championships, being played at the Abhay Prashal Indoor Stadium.
Moumita Datta of West Bengal (right) and Manav Thakkar of PSPB, winners of the Junior Girls & Boys’ singles titles
The 15-year-old Manushree was unable to match the performance of Moumita and completely lost the plot. Moumita, who turns 17 next month, completed a deserving 12-10, 9-11, 11-9, 11-6, 9-11, 11-5 victory.
The intense final began with the players matching each other with strokes and the first game went to the wire before Moumita won it on extended points. Then it was the turn of Manushree to win the next with the minimal point. It was then that the West Bengal paddlers upped the ante and took the next two games to take a 3-1 lead. But the Maharashtra girl fought back well to lead 8-0 in the fifth and although Moumita closed the gap she could not prevent Manushree from winning the game (2-3). In the sixth, Moumita was again in total control and surged into a good lead by hitting some forehand winners and went on wrap up the match.
Earlier in the semi-finals, Moumita Datta defeated Shailu Noorbasha (AP) 4-1 (9-11, 11-6, 11-8, 11-5, 11-5), while Manushree prevailed over her state mate Srushti Haleangadi (Mah) 4-1 (5-11, 11-8, 11-4, 11-9, 12-10).
Meanwhile, top seed Manav Thakkar of PSPB outplayed West Bengal’s Jeet Chandra to lift the Junior Boys’ title with a 4-0 verdict. Manav played with solid determination and was aggressive throughout as he raced to a fluent 11-9, 11-4, 11-7, 12-10 with plenty to spare.
There was more disappointment for Manushree as she lost to Sagarika Mukherjee (RSPB) in the quarter-final round of the Youth Girls’ event. Sagarika called the shots from the start before closing out the match, winning at 4-1 (6-11, 11-6, 12-10, 11-8, 11-5).
Results – Junior girls’ singles (finals): Moumita Datta (WB) bt Manushree Patil (Mah) 4-2 (12-10, 9-11, 11-9, 11-6, 9-11, 11-5). Semi-finals: Moumita Datta bt Shailu Noorbasha (AP) 4-1 (9-11, 11-6, 11-8, 11-5, 11-5); Manushree Patil (Mah) bt Srushti Haleangadi (Mah) 4-1 (5-11, 11-8, 11-4, 11-9, 12-10).
Junior Boys’ (final): Manav Thakkar (PSPB) bt Jeet Chandra (WB) 4-0 (11-9, 11-4, 11-7, 12-10). Semi-finals: Manav Thakkar (PSPB) bt Manush Shah (Guj) 4-1 (9-11, 11-3, 11-8, 11-9, 12-10); Jeet Chandra (WB) bt Parth Virmani (Del) 4-1 (6-11, 11-9, 11-6, 11-8, 14-12).
Youth girls’ singles (quarter-finals): Archana Kamath (AAI) bt Calan Harsha Vardhini (AAI) 4-3 (9-11, 6-11, 9-11, 11-6, 11-5, 14-12, 11-9); Sagarika Mukherjee (RSPB) bt Manushree Patil (Mah-A) 4-1 (6-11, 11-6, 12-10, 11-8, 11-5); Sreeja Akula (AAI) bt Priyadarshani Das (WB) 4-0 (11-4, 11-8, 11-4, 11-4); Priyanka Pareek (Raj) bt Monica Manohar (Telg) 4-1 (11-7, 11-8, 9-11, 12-10, 11-7).
Youth Boys’ (quarter-final): Manav Thakkar (PSPB) bt Kotiyan Ravindra (RSPB) 4-1 (14-16, 14-12, 11-3, 11-7, 11-4); Arjun Ghosh (WB) bt Abhishek Yadav (PSPB) 4-2 (11-13, 11-8, 12-10, 11-2, 7-11, 11-9); Ronit Bhanja (AAI) bt Utkarsh Gupta (Del) 4-1 (11-9, 22-20, 11-13, 11-4, 11-5); Jeet Chandra (WB) bt Siddesh Pande (Mah-A) 4-1 (11-7, 11-6, 9-11, 11-8, 11-9).