Naisha wins back-to-back crowns; U-15 title for Akshay

Fourth-seeded K Akshay Bhushan, the lone surviving seed in a demanding 128-player draw, rose to the occasion and clinched the boys’ U-15 title at the 4th UTT National Ranking Table Tennis Championships at Tau Devi Lal Multipurpose Indoor Stadium. The Tamil Nadu paddler overcame Maharashtra’s unseeded, but impressive Nilay Pattekar with a 3-1 victory in the final.

In the girls’ U-15 category, top seed Naisha Rewaskar reaffirmed her dominance by successfully defending her title, securing back-to-back championships. The Maharashtra youngster delivered a commanding performance against second-seeded Ankolika Chakraborty of West Bengal, sealing the final with a 3-0 win.

Meanwhile, Bhushan edged out a tight opening game 12-10, but Pattekar bounced back with a 7-11 result. In the next two games, Bhushan posted 11-9, 11-4 win to bag the title.

In the girls’ final, Maharashtra’s Naisha defeated Ankolika Chakraborty 11-7, 11-6, 11-9. In the girls’ category, Naisha and Ankolikha sealed their spots in the championship match following semifinal encounters. Naisha delivered one of the most dominant performances of the day, brushing aside Maharashtra’s Myraa Sangelkar 11-1, 11-7, 11-5. Ankolikha, meanwhile, had to dig deeper in her semifinal clash, defeating Sreejani Chakraborty of West Bengal 11-6, 12-10, 10-12, 11-5.