SFR Senhit upset top seed Manav Thakkar to win his first junior boys title in the 11Sports National Ranking Championships (West) at the Dadoji Konddev Stadium in Thane.
The Airport Authority of India player was third time lucky against Thakkar as he adopted a counter-attack strategy against the ITTF World Junior Circuit standings leader to come out 11-6, 3-11, 11-9, 9-11, 14-12, 11-6 winner.
It probably helped Snehit cause that Thakkar was playing his seventh match on the day and was visibly tired. However, that should not take away anything from Snehit’s effort as even he had played a couple of matches before the final in the Youth and Men’s category.
Manav, despite dropping the first game came strongly to lead 2-1. But some beautiful, long rallies and good blocks, which were the order of the match, sapped both players’ energy. But, nevertheless, Snehit never dropped guard and his brilliant attacks off both hands, especially the placing, earned him a well-deserved title.
Earlier, Prapti Sen had a satisfactory end to the season when she got the better of Yashini Sivasankar of Tamil Nadu 4-11, 11-2, 11-7, 12-14, 11-8, 7-11, 11-3.
Pooja, Divya exit
Earlier in the day, RBI’s Ahyhka Mukherjee set up a quarterfinal clash with Poulami Ghatak after packing off third seed Pooja Sahasrabudhe 11-8, 11-7, 8-11, 11-4, 11-3 in women singles even as the six-time national champion beat sixth seed Divya Deshpande 11-9, 11-7, 11-8, 11-7.
In men singles round of 16, Anirban Ghosh of West Bengal downed Sushmit Sriram of AAI, seeded seventh, 11-7, 11-3, 7-11, 11-9, 5-11, 11-7.
Results:
Junior Boys Singles: Final: SFR Snehit (AAI) bt Manav Thakkar (PSPB) 11-6, 3-11, 11-9, 9-11, 14-12, 11-6.
Semi-finals: Manav Thakkar bt Manush Shah (AAI)11-6, 11-3, 11-4, 11-9; S.F.R. Snehit bt Soham Bhattacharya (KER) 13-11, 5-11, 11-7, 11-7, 11-8.
Junior Girls Singles: Final: Prapti Sen (WB) bt Yashini Sivashankar (TN)4-11, 11-2, 11-7, 12-14, 11-8, 7-11, 11-3.
Semi-finals: Prapti Sen bt Poymantee Baisya (WB) 9-11, 11-7, 12-10, 12-10, 11-7; Yashini Sivashankar bt Surbhi Patwari (WB) 11-8, 11-9, 11-6, 6-11, 12-14, 11-9.
