Lucknow’s Divyansh rewrites history
LUCKNOW: Lucknow’s young paddler Divyansh Srivastava has unleashed a new chapter in the history of the Uttar Pradesh Table Tennis, becoming only the second player from the state to win a national ranking title.
A disciple of Yogendra Agarwal at the Northern Railway Table Tennis Academy here, 10-year-old qualifier Divyansh defeated Vishnu Deenadayal of Tamil Nadu 11-7, 11-5, 11-7 and 12-10 to emerge as cadet boy’s champion at the JMC National Ranking Championship at Jamnagar (Gujarat) late on Sunday evening.
Allahabad’s Vivek Pandey, who was former junior national champion, was the first one from the state to finish top in the national ranking championship way back in 1985-86.
“Winning was my target so I didn’t leave any stone unturned to achieve this,” an elated Divyansh told HT on Monday, adding, “I had lost to same boy (in semis) in the South Zone ranking just a few days back, and I was eager for a revenge.”
UP Table Tennis Association’s secretary Arun Kumar Banerjee too admired the achievement of Diyansh at the national level. “He (Diyansh) is a good player and I wish him all success in his life,” said Banerjee. “People in the Table Tennis Federation of India too are quite happy with the rise of Divyansh at the national circuit,” he added.
His coach Yogendra admitted that after winning a bronze medal at the South Zone ranking at Chennai, Divyansh had told himself to finish on top at Jamnagar tourney. “He (Divyansh) has a certain character and he never loses his confidence even when trailing. Excelling in those circumstances is the key to his success,” added Yogendra.
Before outplaying the TN rival, Divyansh had a convincing 3-1 win against Payas Jain of Delhi in the semi-finals. Despite losing the first game at 11-13, Divyansh bounced back superbly to win the next three by 11-6, 11-6. In quarters, he had a similar win against Rudra Ghoshal of West Bengal.
Before playing in the next month’s national championship, the current India No 2 in the cadet boys category, Divyansh would be trying for a repeat of his success at the 3rd ranking at Thane, fourth at New Delhi and the fifth and final one at Guwahati.