Ankur, Suhana emerge U-19 singles table tennis champions

Itanagar, May 17:  Ankur Bhattacharjee and Suhana Saini on Wednesday grabbed gold medals in their respective U-19 boys and U-19 girls’ singles categories in the South Asian Youth Table Tennis tournament here.

It was a successful day for the Indian contingent which bagged all gold medals that were on offer, here on the final day of the event at the Dorjee Khandu Indoor Stadium.

The Indian players, in fact, also claimed four silver medals in the singles’ events while those from Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Maldives were also among medal winners.

However, Bhutan could not manage any medal with its players participating only in the singles events.

Indian players won three gold medals in the U-15 boys, U-19 girls and U-15 girls categories on the second day of the championship whereas Nepal claimed the U-19 boys gold.

In the U-19 boys singles, Ankur defeated Payas Jain 4-2 to win the summit clash. After both the players made an aggressive start, Ankur took a 3-1 lead and despite Payas claiming the fourth game, Ankur closed out the sixth with minimal points to wrap up the final.

In the U-19 girls singles final, Suhana defeated Yashaswini Ghorpade 4-1 in a one-sided contest. Yashaswini was off-colour and could never pick Suhana’s service.

In the U-19 girls’ doubles, Yashaswini and Suhana combined to beat the Maldivian pair of Mishka Ibrahim and Fathimath Dheema Ali 3-0 and won the gold medal.

The Indian pair of Divyansh Srivastava and Jash Modi blanked Ridoy Mohutassin Ahmed and Bawn Rahim Lian 3-0 to win the boys’ doubles final.

In the U-15 boys singles, Priyanuj Bhattacharya defeated PB Abhinand 3-1, while in the U-15 girls singles, Jennifer Varghese defeated Avisha Karmakar 3-1 in the final.

Jennifer and Avisha teamed up to defeat the Nepal pair of Sushmita Khadka and Subhashree Shrestha to take top spot in the podium.

In the mixed doubles, Payas and Yashaswini defeated the pair of Akhyar Ahmed Khalid and Fathimath Dheema Ali from Maldives.

On the other hand, Abhinand and Jennifer got the better of Sri Lanka’s Mohamed Akram Shafiullah and Kavindya Tamadi to clinch the gold medal.

Results (all finals):

U-19 boys singles: Ankur Bhattacharjee (Ind) bt Payas Jain (Ind) 11-7, 2-11, 11-9, 11-9, 8-11, 11-9. U-19 boys doubles: Divyansh Srivastava/Jash Modi (Ind) by Ridoy Mohutasin Ahmed/Bawm Ramhim Lian (Ban) 11-9, 11-7, 6-11, 11-5.

U-19 girls singles: Suhana Saini (Ind) bt Yashashwini Ghorpade (Ind) 11-8, 11-9, 13-11, 6-11, 11-8.

U-19 girls doubles: Yashaswini Ghorpade/Suhana Saini (Ind) Mishka Mohamed Ibrahim/Fathimath Dheema Ali (Mdv) 11-8, 11-5, 11-4.

U-19 mixed doubles: Payas Jain/Yashaswini Ghorpade (Ind) bt Akhyar Ahmed Khalid/Fathimath Dheema Ali (Mdv) 11-4, 11-2, 6-11, 11-8.

U-15 boys singles: Priyanuj Bhattacharya (Ind) bt P.B. Abhinand (Ind) 6-11, 11-9, 11-7, 11-9.

U-15 boys doubles: PB Abhinand/Priyanuj Bhattacharya (Ind) bt Hasib Abul Hashem/Rahman Mohd. Mahtabur (Ban) 11-8, 11-5, 13-11.

U-15 girls singles: Jennifer Varghese (Ind) bt Avisha Karmakar (Ind) 14-16, 12-10, 11-8, 11-4. U-15 girls doubles: Jennifer Varghese/Avisha Karmarkar (Ind) bt Sushmita Khadka/Subhashree Shrestha (Nep) 11-7, 11-6, 11-5.

U-15 mixed doubles: PB Abhinand/Jennifer Varghese (Ind) bt Mohammed Akram Md. Shafiullah/Kavindya Tamadi Alagiyawadu 11-9, 12-10, 12-10.  (PTI)