New Delhi: Tejas Narang of West District beat Adarsh Chhetri to claim the winner’s trophy in the Cadet Boys singles final while, it was Lakshita Narang, also from West who downed S. Gayatri to wear the Cadet Girls singles crown on the third day of the STAG Inter-District and Delhi State Table Tennis Championships 2016, being played at the Thyagaraj Stadium here today.
Earlier in the day, New Delhi claimed another team trophy when their Youth Girls defeated North East 3-2 in a thrilling final.
If Tejas had made it a one-sided issue in the Cadet Boys final when he beat Adarsh 3-1 (12-10, 8-11, 11-7, 11-7), it was the Cade Girls final between Lakshita and Gayatri that made everyone sit up and take a close look as the title-match went down to the wire. Lakshita won 3-2.
Except for the first game that got extended by a fewer points, Tejas had a complete control over his opponent and it reflected in his quick finishing despite losing the second game to Adarsh. In the semifinals, Tejas had beaten Chhatraj 3-1 while Adarsh downed Veerman S Kalra 3-0.
In the see-saw final, Gayatri began well and even managed to extend Lakshita in the third game which, after several deuces and game points for both, the girl from West won 17-5. But an undeterred Gayatri was up to her task and all concentration when she bounced back to take the next to level the score.
However, it was the decider where she faltered miserable as Lakshita took a breezy lead and kept the momentum going her way to clinch it for a final score of 8-11, 11-8, 17-15, 8-11, 11-5. Both play the national rankings together and know each other fairly well. But Lakshita was apparently in a better frame of mind when it came to giving the final touches as compared to her rival which in the ultimate analysis made Lakshita’s sailing smooth. Earlier, in the semifinals, the girl from the West had beaten Tanzia in straight games while Gayatri accounted for Manika Kesar, also 3-0.
TITLE FOR NEW DELHI
With Kritika Malik, Vanshika Bhargava and Anubha Bajaj in their ranks, it was a foregone conclusion that New Delhi could well finish as the winner. But the way North East, with Vanshika Sachar, Aanchal Malhotra and Srishti Gupta, put up a brave fight, the Youth Girls team final had all the ingredients of a thriller, particularly the edge-of-the-seat kind.
Kritika failed to provide a good start as she went down to Vanshika Sachar 9-11, 5-11 but Vanshika Bhargava made up for the loss when she beat Aanchal 11-9, 4-11, 11-7 to restore parity. In the doubles Anubha and Vanshika again lost to North East’s pair of Shrishti and Anchal 9-11, 12-10, 7-11 to put the team in a spot of bother.
However, Kritika and Vanshika Bhargava and won their reverse singles in straight games against Vanshika Sachar and Aanchal to be the proud winners.
