Thiruvananthapuram: Top seeds M.R. Balamurugan from Tamil Nadu and Sayanika Maji from Delhi emerged worthy winners of the Under-17 Boys and Girls titles in the second UTT National Ranking Championships at the Jimmy George Indoor Stadium here today.
Balamurugan beat No. 3 seed P.B Abhinand 3-2, and Sayanika downed Kavya Bhatt from Maharashtra 3-1 in the finals. The title-winners took home Rs. 24,000 each in prize money, and the runners-up Rs. 12,000 each.
Balamurugan's approach against Abhinand was simple and straightforward, despite knowing his opponent in the final had accounted for the top-ranked Indian in the world and the men's top seed Harmeet Desai a couple of days ago.
Balamurugan began on a wrong note and lost his first game. But he soon caught up and did well to lead 2-1 before conceding an extended fourth game to Abhinand. His several unforced errors on the day, too, put paid to his title ambitions as his state mate approached the decider with great caution and won with minimal points.
But the defensive Sayanika did not make a false claim and knew the significance of winning the title after losing in the semifinals of the Under-19 Girls yesterday. The Delhi girl played to her strength, and the confused sixth-seeded Kavya, who could not cope with the slow pace, faltered whenever she tried to launch the attack. That was her undoing, and she could have taken a leaf out of the book of Subhankrita of NCOE, who outsmarted Sayanika yesterday.
Balamuragan had an excellent outing until the quarterfinals, where he encountered Atherva Gupta of Delhi, who stretched full before the Tamil Nadu boy emerged triumphant. After weathering the early storm, a confident Balamurugan had little difficulty putting it across Punit Biswas of the Airports Authority of India in the first semifinal.
As the Tamil Nadu boy seized a 2-0 lead, the writing was all the wall for Punit. But the latter did exceedingly well to pull a game back in the third, giving a glimpse of the fight that brewed. However, Balamurugan returned to the table with determination in the fourth game—he allowed a solitary point to his opponent—and completed the task with clinical precision.
Abhinand, also from Tamil Nadu, who made heads stir in the men's singles on the second day when he toppled top seed, Harmeet Desai, needed no second invitation in his age group match. He defeated Oishik Ghosh of West Bengal in straight games in the semifinal. Though he made it look like a one-sided clash, the West Bengal boy attacked well in the third and managed to stretch Abhinand a bit.
In the U-17 Girls semifinals, Sayanika Maji wore down Saanvi Roy of West Bengal, while Kavya Bhatt downed Diya Brahmachari of Delhi also in style. In the first semifinal, the defensive Sayanika was not tired of repeating her slow action whenever the offensive Saanvi tried to make a match of it through her attacks. Similarly, Kavya proved too good for the Delhi youngster, who lost her match after putting up some resistance in all three games.
Results:
Under-17 Boys Singles: Final: M.R. Balamurugan (TN) bt P.B. Abhinand (TN) 5-11, 11-9, 11-6, 10-12, 11-9.
Semifinals: Balamuragan bt Punit Biswas (AAI) 11-8, 11-8, 6-11, 11-1; P.B. Abhinand bt Oishik Ghosh (WB) 11-8, 11-9, 12-10.
Under-17 Girls Singles: Final: Sayanika Maji (Del) bt Kavya Bhatt (Mah) 11-7, 9-11, 11-8, 11-7.
Semifinals: Sayanika Maji bt Saanvi Roy (WB) 11-7, 11-6, 11-8; Kavya Bhatt bt Diya Brahmachari (Del) 11-8, 11-8, 11-8.
