Deepit, Munmun seal crowns
Maharashtra’s Deepit R. Patil defeated Yashansh Malik of Delhi 4-1 (11-8, 118, 7-11, 11-8, 11-8) to claim his maiden sub-junior boys title in the 11Sports National Ranking Championships (North) at the Gautam Buddha University hall in Greater Noida on Saturday.
In sub-junior girls, Munmun Kundu of West Bengal emerged the winner, beating South Zone champion Nithyashree Mani of Tamil Nadu 4-1 (15-17, 11-9, 11-9, 11-8, 11-9) for her first crown this season, despite being in the final in successive championships.
In the East zone championships, Munmun lost to Trisha Gogoi of Assam but she went one better here, against the Tamil Nadu girl.
Nithyashree could not match the power the West Bengal girl as she raced to a 3-1 lead. That put enormous pressure on the Chennai Achievers Academy girl who failed to measure up to the expectations.
Patil, who downed Dev Shroff in the semis, made most of his maiden appearance in the championships final, forcing Malik to settle for silver.
He was also second in the East Zone championships at Siliguri, going down to Dev.
Patil was aggressive from the beginning. Malik found it difficult to adjust to his gameplan to suit it to the pace of the match.
By the time he managed to regroup and win the third, the Maharashtra boy was in no mood to let the opportunity slip as he stopped his opponent at eight points.
In cadet boys, Preyesh Raj wrapped up the final in style, despite losing the third game to first time finalist, Ankur Bhattacharjee of West Bengal with a 4-1 (11-9, 11-7, 3-11, 11-3, 116) verdict for his fourth successive gold.
Maharashtra’s Pritha Vartikar retained the cadet girls’ singles title, outsmarting Suhana Saini of Haryana 4-3 (11-7, 4-11, 11-6, 1012, 13-11, 9-11, 11-9) in a thrilling battle. Results: Sub-junior boys: Final: Deepit R. Patil (MHR) bt Yashansh Malik (DLI) 11-8, 11-8, 7-11, 11-8, 11-8. Sub-junior girls: Final: Munmun Kundu (WB) bt Nithyshree Mani (TN) 15-17, 11-9, 11-9, 11-8, 11-9. Cadet boys: Final: Preyesh Raj (TN) bt Ankur Bhattacharjee (WB) 11-9, 11-7, 311, 11-3, 11-6. Cadet girls: Final: Pritha Vartikar (MHR) bt Suhana Saini (HRN) 11-7, 4-11, 11-6, 10-12, 13-11, 9-11, 11-9.