P.B. Abhinand of TamilNadu claimed the Youth Boys Under-17 title at the UTT National RankingChampionships, defeating Segal Singh of Manipur 3-1 in the final held today atthe Rainbow Khelo India Residential Academy, while In the Girls' final, DistaRoy beat Nandini Saha 3-0 to make it another one-sided affair.
Abhinand, a seasonedinternational player, started sluggishly but gained momentum in the secondgame, approaching the match with greater perfection. After securing the firstgame, he gave Segal little room to recover, leading to a decisive victory as Segallost two consecutive games.
In the final, Dista Royovercame an early challenge from Nandini Shah in an all-Bengal clash. After atough start and a deuce game, Roy pulled ahead and won comfortably as Shah’sperformance faltered.
In the Youth Boys Under-17semifinals, Tamil Nadu’s P.B. Abhinand defeated West Bengal’s Punit Biswas instraight games. Abhinand led early and, despite a strong fight from Biswas inthe third game, clinched victory after saving a game point.
In the second semifinal,Segal Singh of Manipur faced a tough challenge from Sudhanshu, who had beenplaying exceptionally well and had initially taken a 2-1 lead. DespiteSudhanshu’s efforts to disrupt Singh’s game and showcase his skills as aplayer, Singh’s mental fortitude prevailed. Singh managed to level the scoreand then took control of the match, defeating Sudhanshu decisively.
In the Youth GirlsUnder-17 singles, Dista Roy advanced to the final by defeating Sayanika Maji.Nandini Saha also progressed by overcoming Riana Bhoota 3-1.
The semifinals of theYouth Girls Under-19 singles saw significant upsets as the third-seed SuhanaSaini from Haryana, along with fifth-seed Subhankrita Datta and sixth-seedSyndrela Das, were eliminated. However, other seeded players, particularly thetop two seeds, advanced to the quarterfinals. Notably, Pranati P. Nair fromKerala made a remarkable advance to the last eight by defeating Tanmayee Sahafrom Haryana with scores of 16-14, 11-8, and 11-7. Pranati’s victory washighlighted by her perseverance and tactical play, especially as she won the firstgame on her fifth game point.
Most seeded players movedon in the Youth Boys' pre-quarterfinals. However, a few seeds were disappointedafter their exit. Notably, unseededMiddela Arush Reddy of Telangana advanced after defeating Rohith Shankar ofKarnataka and Harkunwar Singh of Punjab.
Third-seed G. Sathiyan andtop women’s seed Poymantee Baishya were eliminated in the singles of the men’sand women’s sections, respectively.
Results:
Youth Under-17 Boys:Final: P.B. Abhinand (TN) bt Segal Singh (MNP) 7-11, 11-4, 11-4, 11-5.
Semifinals: P.B. Abhinandbt Punit Biswas (WB) 11-5, 11-7, 13-11; Segal Singh bt Sudhanshu Maini (AAI)7-11, 11-3, 7-11, 11-4, 11-4.
Quarterfinals: Sudhanshubt Priyanuj Bhattacharyya (Asm) 3-0, Segal Singh bt Aayush Tanna (Guj) 3-1,Punit Biswas bt Atherva Gupta (Del) 3-1, P.B. Abhinand bt Sarthak Arya (Del)3-0
Youth Under-17 Girls:Final: Dista Roy (WB) bt Nandini Saha (WB) 12-10, 11-6, 11-5.
Semifinals: Dista Roy btSayanika Maji (AAI) 11-8, 11-8, 11-9; Nandini Saha bt Riana Bhoota (Mah) 11-6,7-11, 11-8, 11-7.
Quarterfinals: RianaBhoota bt Pratha Pawar (Guj) 3-2, Nandini Saha bt Kavya Bhatt (Mah) 3-1, DistaRoy bt Himanshi Chowdhary (Kar) 3-0, Sayanika Maji bt Jennifer Verghese (Mah)3-1.
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