Charvi upsets Poulomi; Anirban, Payal win Junior crowns

Gandhidham: Qualifier Charvi Kawle of Maharashtra caused the biggest upset of the championships when she sent women’s top seed Poulomi Ghatak packing in what was a Generation Next blow to the old order in the Indian Oil National Ranking (West Zone) Table Tennis Championships at the KDTTA indoor stadium here on Thursday.

Charvi defeated the No. 1 seed from Petroleum 12-10, 6-11, 11-6, 11-8, 11-8 in the first round of the main draw to turn the entire attention towards her on a day which also had on its menu two finals—Junior Boys and Junior Girls.

But the Chavi-Poulomi match became the cynosure of all eyes with Poloumi losing the first game to the youngster. Though the six-time national champion came back in the second to win it at 11-6, she was already on the back foot, thanks to an excellent display of strokes by Charvi.

Poulomi would want to forget what happened after the second game for the rest of her life as the Maratha warrior reeled out winners after winners to damage Poulomi’s long-standing reputation as well as her rhythm.

Double for Sereha

Airport Authority of India’s Sereha Jacob had everything going for her until she faltered after two deuces in the decider of the Junior Girls final as she went down to Maharashtra’s Payal Bohra 3-4. In Junior Boys final, it was West Bengal’s Anirban Ghosh who beat PSPBA’s Manav Thakkar 4-1.

The left-handed Payal was on Cloud Nine after levelling the score in the sixth game even as Sereha had a nice rhythm going for her. Unfortunately for the AAI girl, who had a better feet movement and used her blocks and backhand to perfection, it came as a big shock when she let Payal off the hook in the sixth as well as in the decider. In fact, the latter was unable to keep the ball on the table and that told a sorry state for the Maharashtra girl who had played brilliantly so far. Payal, the eventual winner, was able to withstand pressure in the decider.

On the other hand, Sereha had to only wait for her opponent to commit mistakes which she cashed in on initially. But Payal grabbed the chances that came her way with both hands to outwit Sereha to receive the winner’s purse of Rs. 10,000 while runner-up Sereha got Rs. 5,000.

Anirban had come into his groove after a long time. It was reflecting in the final against Manav. What clinched the issue in Anirban’s favour was that he was able to play both defensively whenever the occasion demanded and also attack as is his wont. Manav, generally an attacking player, was somewhat off colour and was unable to pick those spin-imparted strokes from Anirban, who got the cash prize of Rs. 12,000. Manav had to be satisfied with half the prize money.

Earlier, Manav Thakkar, kept himself in line for double with a semifinal win over Delhi’s Utkarsh Gupta 4-2, but it was a double blow for Delhi as the only surviving seed in the top half of the Junior Girls, Riti Shankar, followed Utkarsh after entering the semifinals.

Manav was leading comfortable at 3-1 when Utkarsh challenged him with all his might and pulled one back by winning the fifth game. But a clever Manav read his rival’s threat of a good fifth game and decided to attack from flanks. It helped the Gujarat boy surge ahead with a sizeable lead and after that Utkarsh was on the back foot. Unable to cope with the little boy’s onslaught of blistering forehands, the Delhi lad gave up.

Results:

Junior Boys: Final: Anirban Ghosh (WB) bt Manav Thakkar 4-1 (11-7, 4-11, 11-5, 11-6, 11-7); Semifinals: Anirban Ghosh (WB) bt Lalrin Puia (PSPBA) 4-2 (12-10, 11-7, 13-15, 13-15, 11-3, 13-11), Manav Thakkar (PSPBA) bt Utkarsh Gupta (Del) 4-2 (11-5, 7-11, 12-10, 11-8, 7-11, 11-5).

Junior Girls: Final: Payal Bohra (Mah) bt Sereha Jacob (AAI) 4-3 (12-0, 5-11, 3-11, 5-11, 11-9, 11-4, 14-12); Semifinals: Payal Bohra (Mah) bt Riti Shankar (Del) 4-2 (6-11, 11-1, 11-9, 8-11, 11-6, 11-5), Sereha Jacob (AAI) bt Shruti Amrute (Mah) 4-1 (6-11, 11-9,11-8, 12-10, 11-4).