Kolkata, December 26 : Gujarat boys and West Bengal girls smiled from ears-to-ears when they lifted the Sub-Junior Boys and Sub-Junior Girls team trophies afloat and stood on the podium for a longer period for a photo-op in the 77th Cadet and Sub-Junior National Table Tennis Championships at the Netaji Indoor Stadium here this afternoon.
It was a proud moment for both as Gujarat, who beat PSPA boys 3-1 in the final, have done it for the first time in 77 editions, while West Bengal, who thrashed Maharashtra A 3-0, could do it again before the home crowd in 13 years.
Much water has flowed down the Hooghly since 1992 when West Bengal had made a clean sweep of all titles at home and their previous title had come three years ago at Ajmer.
Even as the two teams celebrate their sub-junior title success, there was a tensed but quiet festivity in the Tamil Nadu benches as their Cadet Boys and Cadet Girls, particularly the latter, achieved what looked impossible minutes before the finals ended.
If the Tamil Nadu girls had to endure a 24-game final to beat Karantaka 3-2, their boys had to play only six games fewer to overcome a resilient Delhi by the same margin. In the end, their boys and girls came out of the arena triumphant after the two and a half hours duels, beaming all the way last night.
No doubt, Gujarat boys deserved to wear the crown today more than the PSPBA boys for just simple reason. It was Gujarat’s strong willpower that carried the day for them as PSPBA’s H. Jeho and Anukram Jain, better, capable and higher-ranked players, didn’t have the steely nerves in them to make a match of it.
Starting trouble
Their beginning was as bad as it can get when Jeho went down to Manush Shah 1-3 despite winning the first game. The left-handed Manush drove and served better with good display of variations seizing the moments that were presented by his rival. Anukram Jain, who has had two titles this season, had a nervous start against Soham Pandya, Gujarat’s second singles player. The normally average Soham played beyond his capability, executing excellent shots to the bewilderment of his PSPBA opponent. Yet, Anukram levelled after being stretched the full distance.
But the Gujarat duo of Manush and Soham outsmarted PSPBA’s Anukram and Alberto Lrrutta to go 2-1 up. Anukram, who played the reverse singles, went in for the fourth rubber of the final with drooping shoulders and completely exhausted. The result was palpable when Manush, who by then had touched his peak with a nice rhythm, took the first two games as he completed the onslaught with a game loss to Anukram.
Scrappy Manushree
When Shrubabati Moitra won 3-1 in the opening rubber against Maharashtra’s Manushree Patil, things became crystal clear. Manushree, a resolute player with all shots in the book to boot with two national ranking crowns, was just scrappy today. But Swastika Ghosh was brilliant to begin with against Prapti Sen but she faltered to deceive as the West Bengal girl came from behind after being 0-2 down to win 3-2 and put the hosts 2-0 up. Next, in the doubles, both Manushree and Swastika squashed the momentary resistance from Manushree and Diya Chitale to blank out Maharashtra.
The V-factor
The V-factor worked well for Tamil Nadu Cadet Boys as Vishwa Deenadayalan and Varun Ganesh, despite being taken the full distance by Delhi’s Payas Jain—Delhi’s real game changer. It was Payas who restored order raised vision of a comeback when he won his reverse singles too against Vishwa. But Varun rolled over Tejas Narang, a promising player, to pull down the shutters on Delhi. Coaches R. Ramnath Prasad and R. Jai Prabhuram had their hands in shaping the careers of both Vishwa and Varun.
Fascinating display
But what made everyone awestruck was the showing put up by Shreya Shiva Kumar. Tamil Nadu’s Cadet Girls title fortunes heavily hinged on her reverse singles against Karnataka’s second player Yashaswini Ghorpade who first equalized 2-2 in the decider and in the last game was 9-5 up. Ten out of 10 times, one would expect the Karnataka girl to win, not just the rubber but with it the title.
Unfortunately, she netted three times and the sixth standard student of Sri Shakara Senior Secondary School, Adyar (Chennai) served to level nine-each and went 10-9 up at the first opportunity. To her and Coach Subin Kumar’s relief, Shreya returned well and low but her rival Yashaswini only managed to put the ball back on the net again. A quiet hug from the coach and players followed at the bench but the Tamil Nadu supporters sitting in the galleries on both sides went wild with celebrations of hi-fives.
Meanwhile, singles qualification group matches in all sections began soon after the medal ceremonies. The nationals conclude on Monday.
Results:
Sub-Junior Boys: Final: Gujarat bt PSPBA 3-1 (Manush Shah bt H. Jeho 5-11, 11-8, 11-8, 11-4, Soham Pandya lost to Anukram Jain 11-6, 8-11, 11-6, 10-12, 12-14, Manush/Soham bt Alberto Lrruata/Anukram 11-8, 11-4, 11-9, Manush Shah bt Anukram Jain 11-8, 11-9, 8-11, 11-5).
Sub-Junior Girls: Final: West Bengal bt Maharashtra A 3-0 (Shrubabati Moitra bt Manushree Patil 11-7, 11-1, 5-11, 11-4, Prapti Sen bt Swastika Ghosh 9-11, 6-11, 11-2, 11-4, 11-6, Shrubabati/Prapti bt Manushree/Swstika 8-11, 11-7, 11-8, 11-2).