PSPB boys, West Bengal girils win youth TT titles

Petroleum Sports Promotion Board (PSPB) scored an emphatic 3-0 victory over Tamil Nadu to extend their hold on the Youth Boys trophy and West Bengal defeated Andhra Pradesh 3-2 to win the Youth Girls crown in the 74th Junior and Youth National Table Tennis Championships at the Abhay Prashal Indoor Stadium in Indore on Thursday.

In the Junior Boys section, PSPB Academy retained title beating West Bengal 3-0, while in the Junior Girls section, Maharashtra A won the crown defeating Tamil Nadu 3-1. Unlike PSPB boys, the Maharashtra girls had to do a bit of damage control after losing their doubles rubber to Tamil Nadu as Mallika won her reverse singles to complete the formality. But before that both Senhora D' Souza and Mallika had provided their team a 2-0 lead.

Earlier, Andhra caused the biggest upset of the championships when they beat PSPB 3-2 to enter the Youth Girls final. In Youth Boys, PSPB ended Mizoram's run, winning the semifinal 3-0. In Junior Boys category, PSPB defeated North Bengal 3-0 and Maharashtra A accounted for defending champions Andhra in the Junior Girls section in straight games.

In what turned out to be a remarkable fight back, Andhra's recovery in Youth girls was simply mindboggling. After losing their first two singles, the southern state was facing virtual elimination. But A. Sreeja had other ideas as the little girl, taking on Manika Batra, the tallest girl on view here, scripted a new chapter for Andhra. Employing great stroke play, she outwitted Manika and from there Andhra seized the opportunity through Nikhat Banu and Karnam Spoorthy to unseat PSPB from the top perch.

Delhi's Utkarsh Gupta played his heart and soul, taking both his singles against West Bengal's Anirban Ghosh and Arjun Ghosh in the semifinals. But Sabhay Virmani's complete failure on the day cost Delhi dear as they lost 2-3.

Kerala missed out a golden opportunity in the junior girls section as they went down 1-3 to Tamil Nadu in the semifinals. Kerala showed great courage when staring down the barrel at 0-2. Seraha Jacob and Maria Rony provided the spark by outplaying the Tamil Nadu duo of Narsimha Priya and Amrutha Pushpak 3-2 to reduce the margin. But Maria failed to hold her nerves in the reverse singles against Amrutha which put paid to Kerala's ambitions.

To some extent, Kerala coach Rajeev has to share the blame for losing his cool and showing anger at young Maria when she lost the crucial third game to Amrutha. All that was needed was a nice little pat on the back of the girl to restore her confidence. In another incident, Tamil Nadu coach Arul Selvi was warned for illegal advice from the bench for the second day in succession. She was cautioned on Wednesday during their match against Gujarat. Selvi should have been shown the red card for repeating the offence but unfortunately the rules in TT are lenient.

RESULTS:
YOUTH BOYS: Final: PSPB bt Tamil Nadu 3-0 (Sourav Saha bt Nitin Thiruvengadam 11-9, 5-11, 11-9, 11-9, G. Sathiyan bt Sushmit Sriram 11-5, 11-6, 11-5, Abhishek Yadav bt S. Prasanna 6-11, 11-5, 11-13, 11-6, 13-11); SF: PSPB bt Mizoram 3-0 (G. Sathiyan bt Lalhunhlua 11-6, 11-7, 11-2, Sourav Saha bt Lalrinpuia 11-6, 11-5, 11-8, Sudhanshu Grover bt Issac Lalsawmliana 11-5, 11-9, 11-7), Tamil Nadu bt West Bengal 3-1 (Nitin Thiruvengadam bt Arjun Ghosh 11-5, 11-8, 11-7, Sameera Kumar lost to Anirban Ghosh 6-11, 7-11, 9-11, Sushmit Sriram bt Snehamoy Mallick 11-4, 11-3, 11-5, Nitin Thuruvengadam bt Anirban Ghosh 11-5, 12-10, 11-6).

YOUTH GIRLS: Final: West Bengal bt Andhra Pradesh 3-2 (Anushree Hazra lost to Nikhat Banu 7-11, 2-11, 8-11, Krittiwika Sinha Roy bt Karnam Spoorthy 11-5, 2-11, 11-7, 11-7, Ayhika Mukherjee lost to A. Sreeja 11-8, 5-11, 8-11, 11-8, 6-11, Krittiwika Sinha Roy bt Nikhat Banu 11-6, 4-11, 11-8, 8-11, 11-8, Anushree Hazra bt Karnam Spoorthy 14-12, 11-8, 12-10);  SF:Andhra Pradesh bt PSPB 3-2 (Nikhat Banu lost to Suthirtha Mukherjee 3-11, 11-7, 8-11, 3-11, Karnam Spoorthy lost to Ankita Das 8-11, 7-11, 11-13, A. Sreeja bt Manika Batra 3-11, 11-8, 11-8, 4-11, 11-8, Nikhat Banu bt Ankita Das 11-9, 11-5, 13-11, Karnam Spoorthy bt Suthirtha Mukherjee 7-11, 11-6, 8-11, 14-12, 11-9), West Bengal bt Tamil Nadu 3-1 (Anushree Hazra lost to N. vidya 4-11, 6-11, 4-11, Krittiwika Sinha Roy bt Sumana R Krishnan 7-11, 12-10, 11-7, 11-9, Ayhika Mukherjee bt V. Sneha 4-11, 11-9, 11-9, 11-5, Krittiwika Sinha Roy bt N. idhya 11-8, 10-12, 11-3, 11-8).

JUNIOR BOYS: Final: PSPBA bt West Bengal 3-0 (Sudhanshu Grover bt Anirban Ghosh 11-5, 15-13, 11-7, Abhishek Yadav bt Arjun Ghosh 11-7, 11-9, 11-7, Abhishek/Sudhanshu bt Prathikrit Roy/Anirban 11-5, 11-5, 10-12,13-11); SF: PSPBA bt North Bengal 3-0 (Sudhanshu Grover bt Rajib Sarkar 11-7, 11-8, 11-9, Abhishek Yadav bt Raja Kundu 11-7, 11-5, 11-9, Sudhanshu/Abhishek bt Rajib/Subhankar Sarkar 11-5, 11-4, 11-9), West Bengal bt Delhi 3-2 (Arjun Ghosh lost to Utkarsh Gupta 5-11, 11-3, 5-11, 8-11, Anirban Ghosh bt Sabhay Virmani 11-8, 11-8, 11-9, Prathikrit Roy/Anirban bt Utkarsh/Sabhay 8-11, 11-5, 11-9, 11-8, Anirban Ghosh lost to Utkarsh Gupta 11-6, 5-11, 11-9, 8-11, 13-15, Anirban Ghosh bt Sabhay Virmani 11-13, 11-7, 11-7, 11-9).

JUNIOR GIRLS: Final: Maharashtra A bt Tamil Nadu 3-1 (Senhora D'souza lost to Narasimha Priya 10-12, 9-11, 9-11, Mallika Bhandarkar bt Amrutha Pushpak 11-4, 11-9, 11-5, Devika Bhide/Mallika bt Amrutha/Narasimha Priya 9-11, 11-9, 9-11, 11-9, 11-6, Mallika Bhandarkar bt Narasimha Priya 7-11, 7-11, 11-5, 11-8, 11-8); SF: JUNIOR GIRLS: Maharashtra A bt Andhra Pradesh 3-0 (Senhora D'Souza bt Karnam Spoorthy 8-11, 11-5, 8-11, 11-8, 11-9, Mallika Bhandarkar bt A. Sreeja 12-10, 11-7, 13-11, Devika Bhinde/Mallika bt Spoorthy/Sreeja 5-11, 11-1, 8-11, 11-4, 11-6), Tamil Nadu bt Kerala 3-1 (Yukti Roshini bt Maria Rony 11-8, 11-9, 12=12, Amrutha Pushpak bt Seraha Jacob 11-9, 11-7, 11-9, Narasimha Priya/Amrutha lost to Maria/Seraha 6-11, 3-11, 11-6, 13-11, 7-11, Amrutha Pushpak bt Maria Rony 11-9, 7-11, 12-10, 11-6).