Manav, Manika annex crowns
Manav Thakkar, 17, outplayed Raj Mondal 4-1 (115,1-11, 16-14, 11-8, 11-8) to win the men’s singles title — his first in the 11Sports national ranking championships (North) at the Gautam Buddha University hall in Greater Noida on Friday. The victory was worth `70,000. Manika Batra laboured to a 4-3 (11-5,1-11, 16-14, 11-8, 11-8) win over Divya Deshpande to wrest the women’s singles crown and pocketed `60,000 for her efforts.
It was so close and yet so far for Divya, who has a lone national ranking title from the Central Zone win at Jamnagar in 2015.
Manav, who lost in the youth boys’ pre-quarter-final, was in no mood this time to let the opportunity slip off his hands.
Despite getting thrashed in the second game 1-11, Manav won the third game point and from there was no stopping him.
“I am happy I could win this time. I had missed the opportunity on an earlier occasion after reaching the final. But today I was determined,” Thakkar said after his victory.
It may have been Manika’s second title this season but her win against Divya Deshpande in the final lacked authority.
She was lucky to come back from a precarious position, twice, and beat Divya, who was on course with a 2-0 and 3-2 lead.
Manika infused life into the dull match through exciting drives and a good of her forehand, interspersed with some fine rallies. In the semi-finals, Sushmit Sriram lost a match from winning position against Mondal, seeded fifth.
Playing in an uncharacteristic way, Mondal was staring at defeat with Sriram leading 3-0 and then 9-7 in the fourth game. But Mondal turned the tide to snatch what looked like an improbable win.
Winning his first game 11-9, Mondal found a new vigour and went on to unsettle Sriram, winning 4-3 (2-11, 7-11, 9-11, 11-9, 11-4, 11-7, 11-3).
In the other semi-final, Thakkar had to bring out his best after he was down 1-2 and 47 in the fourth game against second seed Arjun Ghosh, winning 4-2 (6-11, 11-3, 8-11, 11-9, 11-6, 11-7).
The fourth seed regrouped himself to level score and then went on to win.
In the women’s semis, Divya Deshpande was on a roll against Mousumi Paul, winning 4-1 (8-11, 11-6, 11-8, 11-6, 11-9).
Manika Batra overcame second seed Sutirtha Mukherjee 4-3 (911, 11-5, 11-7, 12-14, 4-11, 6-11, 11-2).
In youth girls section, Prapti Sen beat Naina 4-0 (11-7, 11-6, 115, 11-6) to take home the winner’s trophy.
Siddesh Pande outsmarted Ronit Bhanja 4-3 (11-9, 12-10, 8-11, 9-11, 10-12, 12-10, 12-10) in youth boys final for his maiden title.