Vishwa, Yashashwini win TT titles

Chandigarh, December 23 

Vishwa Deenadayalan of Tamil Nadu overpowered Soumyadeep Sarkar of North Bengal without facing much trouble to win the boys’ sub-junior title on the concluding day of the 80th Cadet and Sub-Junior National Table Tennis Championships, at the Sector 42 Sports Complex, on Sunday. 

Deenadayalan logged an impressive 11-8 11-5 11-5 11-2 victory to take home the title.  He overpowered top seed Payas Jain of Delhi, who was down with fever, in one of the semifinals. He won first two games 11-5 11-9 however Jain showed some consistency in effort to make a comeback with a 6-11 win in the third game. In the last two games, Deenadayalan returned 11-9 12-10 to sail into the finals. Sarkar meanwhile faced a tough fight from second seed Aadarsh Om Chetri of Delhi before logging an 11-6 1-8 11-6 10-12 9-11 11-8 victory.

After losing both the semis, the Delhi pair however managed to take home some good news by winning the doubles title. The duo of Jain and Chetri defeated Deenadayalan and Preyesh Raj Suresh (Tamil Nadu) in straight games 11-7 7-11 11-8 11-7. 

Karnataka's Yashashwini Ghorpade won the girls’ sub-junior title by defeating Kavyashree Baskar of Tamil Nadu. Yashashwini pulled off first three games 11-3 15-13 11-9 but Kavyashree gave her a tough challenge in the fourth before registering a 5-11 win. In the next game, Yashashwini kept her calm to win the tile with an 11-9 victory.

Before setting up the title clash, Yashaswini had to overpower Haryana's Suhana Saini. She lost first two games 3-11 8-11 but levelled the score by winning the next two games 13-11 11-7.  Suhana made a brilliant 9-11 comeback in the next game but Yashaswini sailed into the final with an 11-9 11-7 win. In the second semifinal, Kavyashree defeated Anargya Manjunath of Karnataka 9-11 11-5 14-11 11-7 6-11 11-7.

In the doubles final, Karnataka's Anargaya Manjunath and Yashashwini Ghorpade registered a 9-11 11-6 11-8 9-11 11-4 win over Lakshita Narang and Tamanna Gulshan of Delhi to claim the title. 

Oishik, Sayani win cadet titles

Oishik Ghosh and Sayani Panda, both from West Bengal, won the boys and girls cadet title, respectively. Ghosh faced some trouble before defeating his state mate Emon Adhikary in the boys’ final. Ghosh bagged the first game 11-7 however Adhikary went up ahead by winning next two games 8-11 7-11.  Ghosh levelled the scores with an 11-5 win, but Adhikary was again in title fray by winning the next game 5-11. The heart thumping clash finally ended when Ghosh played logged an 11-4 13-11 win in next two games to claim the title. 

Earlier, in semi, Adhikary defeated Punjab's Suhaan Gulati 11-8 11-8 13-11, while Ghosh defeated PB Abhinandh of Tamil Nadu 8-11 11-1 11-7 15-13. Sayani Panda on other hand did not face such gruelling challenge. She defeated Radhika Sakpal of Maharashtra 11-5 11-6 13-15 11-9 4-11 11-6. 

In semis, she defeated Sandika Bhattacharjee of West Bengal 8-11 11-6 13-11 11-8, while the second finalist Radikha defeated Nandini Sakpal of West Bengal 11-8 8-11 11-7 11-4. —TNS