Indore (Madhya Pradesh): With the main actors staying off stage, the players in both the sections had a field day in the UTT 82nd Junior and Youth National Table Tennis Championships, which got underway at Abhay Prashal here on Monday.
In the junior boys, Swayam Ibrampurkar of Maharashtra showed character to fight back and post a 3-2 win over Naman Sharma of Rajasthan. Swayam was down 0-2 but his morale was never low. Changing his strategy, he followed an attacking game and got success as the Rajasthan boy wilted under pressure. Ansh Goyal of Madhya Pradesh gathered himself up nicely after losing the first game to go 2-1 up.
Even though he dropped the fourth game to TTFI wildcard entrant P Yeshwanth, he was careful not to goof up the chance in the decider to win 3-2. His statemate Anuj Soni was stuck in a similar position in the match against Gautam Bhargo of Punjab. But he fought well in the second and third set and won. Despite losing next very closely, he ensured a quick wrap-up of the crucial fifth game to register a 3-2 triumph.
Santosh Peetam of Odisha fought well to win the extended opening game before losing the second and third. However, Pranay Chawan from Chhattisgarh failed to capitalize and let Santosh rally and take the last two games. Harshul Kweera from Uttarakhand beat Ishan Kapoor of Chandigarh 3-2 in the Junior Boys.He, however, could not repeat the performance against Rohan Lalwani from Chhattisgarh in the Youth Boys section. The Uttarakhand lad kept his chances alive after winning the third and fourth games. In the decider, Rohan beat him by a mile. Shriram Kannan (TTFI) had a tough beginning against Rakshit Mohala of Punjab to lose the first two games 15-13, 9-11. From that position, Shriram played a measured game to outwit his Punjab opponent. It was, more or less, the case with other Youth Boys winners.
The event was inaugurated by IG Police Indore Harinarayan Chari Mishra. The programme was chaired by Arun Kumar Benerjee, general secretary of Indian Table Tennis Federation. Principal of Daly College Neeraj Kumar Bedhotia, vice president of Indian Table Tennis Federation Om Soni, and President of Indore Table Tennis Trust Vinay Chhajlani were especially present.Yashpal Rana, joint secretary of the Indian Table Tennis Federation, Jayesh Acharya, general secretary of MPTTA, Councilor Deepak Jain (Tinu), Rinku Acharya, Pramod Gangarade, Gaurav Patel were also present.The program was conducted by Neeelesh Vaid and vote of thanks was proposed by RC Morya.
