Hat- trick of titles for Manav
Manav Thakkar completed a hat- trick of men’s singles titles and added the youth boys’ singles crown in the 11Sports national ranking ( central zone) table tennis tournament in Indore on Sunday.
His other two titles came at Greater Noida ( 2017) and Panchkula ( 2018) and both were North Zone events.
In the men’s singles final, he decimated his Haryana rival Jeet Chandra 4- 0 and beat Gujarat’s Manush Shah 4- 1 in the youth boys final. Chandra, who pulled off a fine win over Shah in the semi- final, was no match to Manav in the summit clash.
Earlier, third seed Pooja Sahasrabudhe defeated Archana Kamath 4- 1 to clinch the women’s singles crown.
Pooja started the match on a shaky note but soon gain momentum to lead 2- 1. She consolidated on the lead to wrap- up the match after reeling off another two games.
In the youth boys final, Manav began badly before regrouping himself well not to give any further leeway to the left- hander. Manush, who seemed drained out after a gruelling semi- final against Chandra, was not impressive in the final.
SELENA LIFTS YOUTH GIRLS CROWN
In the youth girls’ final, upcoming start Selenadeepthi Selvakumar beat statemate Yashini Sivashankar 4- 2. Selena led comfortably 3- 1 but Yashini fought back to take the fourth game. However, several unforced errors pushed her on the back foot and Selena cashed in on the opportunities to stop her first crown this season.
In the men’s semi- finals, Chandra edged past Shah 4- 3 while Thakkar hardly allowed any liberty to his RBI opponent Raj Mondal. The Gujarat boy won 4- 1.
Both Kamath and Sahasrabudhe played true to their reputations and seedings to send the two teenagers, Surbhi Patwari of West Bengal and Diya Chitale of Maharashtra, respectively, home with 4- 1 verdicts.
Results: Men’s final: Manav Thakkar ( PSPB) bt Jeet Chandra ( Har) 11- 6, 113, 11- 5, 11- 5; Semi- finals: Manav Thakkar bt Raj Mondal ( RBI) 16- 14, 116, 12- 10, 6- 11, 11- 8; Jeet Chandra bt Manush Shah ( Guj) 9- 11, 11- 8, 11- 4, 11- 8, 7- 11, 5- 11, 11- 8. Women’s final: Pooja Sahasrabudhe ( PSPB) bt Archana Kamath ( PSPB) 8- 11, 11- 8, 11- 8, 12- 10, 11- 8; Semi- finals: Archana Kamath bt Surbhi Patwari ( WB) 13- 15, 11- 8, 12- 10, 12- 10, 11- 5; Pooja Sahasrabudhe bt Diya Chitale ( Mah) 5- 11, 12- 10, 11- 9, 114, 11- 6. Youth boys’ final: Manav Thakkar ( PSPB) bt Manush Shah ( Guj) 7- 11, 11- 7, 11- 6, 11- 6, 11- 6. Youth girls’ final: Selenadeepthi. S ( TN) bt Yashini Sivashankar ( TN) 11- 9, 11- 6, 411, 11- 5, 10- 12, 11- 9.