Heyball National Championships: Natasha Chethan Retains Junior Girls' Title With Dominant Win

Dehradun, July 2, 2026: Dominant Natasha Chethan of Karnataka retained her junior girls’ (U-19) title with an authoritative 5-1 win over Tamil Nadu’s Padmakshee C in the second Heyball National Championships late on Wednesday.

Fresh off a splendid bronze medal campaign at the World Junior Championships in Norway two weeks ago, Natasha carried that form into the premier tournament here, hardly putting a foot wrong en route to the title.

Commanding Final Performance

Both cueists started tentatively in the race-to-five final. Once Natasha took the opening rack, she discovered her rhythm and range, running through the next three racks in double-quick time and reducing her rival to a mere spectator.

Following an error by Padmakshee midway through the second rack, the Bengalurean made a brilliant run. In the third, she got lucky twice, fluking a striped ball into the top right-hand pocket. With a wave of her hand to her rival, she continued her run, capitalising on another lucky fluke into the bottom right-hand pocket.

In the fourth rack, Padmakshee began to find her touch but missed the last ball to the bottom left-hand pocket to let Natasha off the hook. Not looking a gift horse in the mouth, the tall teenager took the rack.

The Tamil Nadu cueist made a last-ditch effort by pulling one back in the fifth, capitalising on Natasha’s error. However, she failed to maintain the tempo and committed far too many errors, allowing Natasha to close out the match in the next rack.

Also Watch:

Women’s Event Next

The champion cueist from Bengaluru is set to be a major contender in the women’s event that begins on Sunday.

Results

Junior girls – Final: Natasha Chethan (Kar) bt Padmakshee C (TN) 5-1.

Final standings: 1. Natasha Chethan (Kar); 2. Padmakshee C (TN); 3. Gianna Rego (Mah); 4. Aleina Khanna (Del); 5. Usha Jyothi (AP); 6. Angel Kamboj (Har); 7. Harleen Kaur (Pun); 8. Leisha Reddy (Tel).