Gritty Anuska clinches title

Bengal girl scrapes past K Spoorthy to grab Sub-junior crown

Anuska scored a 11-8, 15-13, 11-9 win over Andhra Pradesh’s K Spoorthy to retain the number one ranking in the country.

Trailing 1-5 in first game, the 13-year-old from Silliguri in Bengal was a bundle of nerves and barely showed the class she displayed in her semifinal match against fifth-seeded Sanika Divekar of Maharashtra, which she won 11-5, 12-10, 11-9. However, Anuska managed to level scores at 7-7 before going on to bag the game.

With the scores tied at 10-10 in the second game, the paddlers kept the tempo up and notched up some very good points, but Anuska did enough towards the end to win the game and rushed to a 2-0 lead.

Spoorthy chose to go aggressive in the third game but her plan backfired as most her shots landed off the table, handing Anuska a 10-8 lead and a clear shot at a win.  Anuska was in no mood to squander her chance as she completed a hard-fought win.

In the Junior boys’ category, Karnataka, finally, made its presence felt through VP Charan and Vedanth M Urs.

Charan and Vedanth defeated Assam’s Subhajit Bhattacharjee 11-4, 11-6, 6-11, 11-6 and West Bengal’s Adita Moitra 11-8, 13-11, 11-6 to make it to the main draw.

Meanwhile, the men’s singles field took another hit, as PSPB’s ninth seed Subajith Saha and eleventh-seeded Aniket Koparkar withdrew from the event.

Results: Sub-junior: Boys (main draw first round): Utkarsh Gupta (Del) bt Sundarsanane V (Pon) 11-7, 9-11, 11-7, 11-5; Ananth D (TN) bt Rahul D (AP) 11-5, 11-5, 11-5; Solank Chakraborty (NB) bt Sanish Ambedkar (Mah) 12-10, 7-11, 5-11, 11-9, 12-10; Rohit Binu Mathew (Ker) bt Abhilash Boro (PSPB ‘A’) 11-7, 5-11, 11-9, 11-1; Arjun Ghosh (WB) bt Vedanth M Urs (Kar) 11-7, 13-11, 11-6; Nikhil S (TN) bt Siddharth B (Goa) 11-5, 12-10, 11-7; Henil Shah (Guj) bt Gogoi ZK (NB) 11-9, 4-11, 4-11, 11-7, 15-13; Berdi Boro (PSPB ‘A’) bt Ayush Tayal (Har) 11-8, 11-5, 11-5; Subhankar Saha (NB) bt Shivam Singh (UP) 10-12, 11-9, 15-13, 11-6; Aravindh B (TN) w/o Ajitabh Katta (Ori); Shaun Rebello (Mah) bt Himanshu Jindal (Del) 11-5, 12-10, 11-9; Soumyadri Bhattacharji (WB) w/o Jagadeesh Krishna (AP); Sachin Viswanath (TN) bt Keshav Raj (Kar) 11-9, 6-11, 11-8, 11-6; Sayan Das (WB) bt Ajay Singh Patil (Mah) 11-3, 11-7, 7-11, 6-11, 11-5; Karthikeyan B (TN) w/o Tanmoy Kundu (Har); Shubhendu Shah (PSPB ‘A’) bt Rushal Rawat (MEG) 11-7, 15-13, 11-2; Anirudh M (TN) bt Kh Banta Kr SI (Mnp) 13-15, 11-9, 11-5, 11-4; Arnab Sarkar (WB) bt Adwait Brahme (Mah) 11-6, 10-12, 11-5, 11-7; Subhajit Bhattacharya (Asm) bt Rahul Krishna (TN) 11-4, 11-9, 10-12, 11-9; Lalrin Puia (PSPB ‘A’) bt Sarabjit Guha (NB) 7-11, 11-9, 12-10, 11-9; Ravindra Kotiyan (Mah) bt Suraj D (Kar) 11-7, 11-9, 8-11, 13-11; Naren Kumar (TN) bt Nakul (Har) 11-7, 11-3, 11-5; Lalhunlua (PSPB ‘A’) bt Anas Irshad (Ker) 11-4, 11-6, 7-11, 11-8; Peeyush Prasad (Del) bt Varun Gupta (UP) 11-5, 10-12, 11-8, 11-2; Anirban Ghosh (WB) bt Jishunu Vakaria (AP) 11-8, 11-4, 11-3; Subhankar Sarkar (NB) bt Tejas Sheude (Goa) 11-7, 11-8, 9-11, 11-8.
Girls, final: 1-Anuska Dutta (Ben) bt 3-K Spoorthy (AP) 11-8, 15-13, 11-9.
Semifinals: Anuska (Ben) bt 5-Sanika Divekar (Mah) 11-5, 12-10, 11-9; Spoorthy bt 2-Priyadarshini Das (WB) 11-2, 11-3, 11-6.