Khelo India 2019, Table tennis: Bengal’s Surabhi and Gujarat’s Manush emerge singles champions in U-21s

Pune, January 20: Surabhi Patwari of West Bengal and Manush Shah of Gujarat emerged individual champions in the Under-21 section in Table Tennis at the Khelo India Youth Games, which came to an end on Sunday.

In an all-West Bengal starrer, the U-21 girls’ singles final went down to the wire as Surbhi Patwari and Kaushani Nath showing exceptional skills. The match was interestingly poised at three sets all, and the decider turned out to be a cracker. Surabhi and Kaushani were locked in a neck-and-neck battle with Surabhi finally overpowering Kaushani 16-14 in the decider to take the gold by a 4-3 margin.

Prapti Sen (WB) and Shrushti Helengadi (MH) were awarded the bronze.

Gujarat’s Manush Shah faced stiff competition from Anirban Ghosh (WB) in the U-21 boys singles final. The battle between the left-handed Shah and the right-handed Ghosh reached its zenith in the third game where Anirban had the last laugh winning 12-10.

Here too the match went down to the decider after six games, but Anirban was left stranded in the final set and lost 4-11.

Ronit Bhanja (WB) and Parth Virmani (Del) took the bronze.

West Bengal and Maharashtra emerged overall winners for the U-21 and U-17 categories in Table Tennis. Gujarat and Maharashtra finished second and third in the U-21 category, while Madhya Pradesh were second and Delhi and Bengal shared third place in the U 17 category in the overall race.

Results

Girls U-21 singles: Final: Surabhi Patwari (WB) bt. Kaushani Nath (WB) 11-8, 11-5, 10-12, 10-12, 11-7, 7-11, 16-14; Bronze: Prapti Sen (WB) and Shrushti Helengadi (MAH)

Boys U-21 singles: Final: Manish Shah (Guj) bt. Anirban Ghosh (WB) 11-8, 7-11, 10-12, 11-9, 11-7, 8-11, 11-4; Bronze: Ronit Bhanja (WB) and Parth Virmani (Del)