Sudarshan, Tanu wrest singles titles
LUCKNOW: Young Sudarshan Prabhakar of Agra on Sunday proved his supremacy in the 62nd UP State Table Tennis Championship in memory of RN Srivastava in style, winning the men’s singles crown by beating Allahabad’s Shivam Singh 4-1 at Noida.
Allahabad’s Tanu Gupta emerged as the new women’s singles championship after she defeated Suhana Narginari of Moradabad also in a thriller by 12-8, 8-11, 13-11, 12-10, 11-7.
The only former champion left in the fray Atin Rastogi of Lucknow went down fighting to Sudarshan in the semi-final. After winning the first two games with identical margins of 11-7, 11-7 against Shivam in the final, Sudarshan lost his rhythm and surrendered in the next game at 11-13. But he bounced back superbly and won the next two games by 15-13, 11-7 and title too.
Two youngsters from Lucknow underlined their potential once again in the state circuit. Adrasha Srivastava defeated city mate Divyansh Srivastava 11-1, 11-9, 11-7 in the sub-junior boys final, but Divyansh in the cadet boys final out played Vihbor Garg of Ghaziabad 11-7, 11-3, 11-4.
Young paddler from Moradabad Suhana Nargirnari was in her usual touch, completing a golden double. First she won the youth girls title, brushing aside Allahabad’s Tanu Gupta 11-6, 11-5, 11-6, before beating Adwita Bhatia of Agra 11-3, 11-6, 11-7 in the sub-junior girls final.