New Delhi: Petroleum Academy's Abhishek Yadav defeated teammate Birdie Boro 4-1 to take the junior boys title while Bengal's Sagarika Mukherjee blanked Delhi's Riti Shankar 4-0 to annex the girls' crown at the Vatika North Zone National Ranking Table Tennis Championships at the Hansraj Model School hall here Tuesday.
Though the score-line in the final between Abhishek and Birdie tells a one-sided story, the latter played superbly, particularly saving four match points in the fourth game, to match his opponent stroke for stroke, besides indulging in excellent rallies. Yet, the superiority of Abhishek and his experience came to the fore eventually.
The girls' final was a complete washout for the Delhi girl as Sagarika taught a lesson how to play around the table, executing both her forehand and backhand with equal ease.
In the men's singles, unseeded Jignesh Jaiswal, who beat top-seed V. Nitin, moved into the semifinals, along with Sanil Shetty, G. Sathiyan and Sourav Saha. Nitin, who got the top billing in the absence of top paddlers, has failed to use the golden chance to emerge the champion.
In the women's fare, Poloumi Ghatak, Ankita Das, Madhurika Patkar and Manika Batra entered the semifinals. But the other Delhi girl, Neha Aggarwal lost tamely to Ankita Das.
Earlier, both Poulomi Ghatak and Mouma Das escaped pre-quarterfinal defeats.
Poulomi had to summon all her experience to outwit Krittwicka Sinha Roy after being down 0-3 while Mouma was let off the hook by Reeth Rishya, who was leading 10-6 in the decider after the scores were level at 3-3. Mouma won 9-11, 11-13, 11-6, 11-5, 12-11, 11-5, 12-10.
Almost on the verge of losing out to a younger opponent, Poulomi played her best match of the season but credit must go to Krittwicka, who first toyed with the former national champion before being subdued 3-4. Poulomi won 9-11, 8-11, 6-11, 11-2, 11-9, 11-4, 11-7.
Meanwhile, reigning national champion and No. 1 seed K Shamini, has been docked 20 ranking points after she failed to inform the federation about her non-availability for the event in time.
