Payas Jain, Munmun Kundu clinch gold medals the UTT 65th National School Games Table Tennis Championships

Current national champion Delhi paddler Payas Jain and West Bengal’s Munmun Kundu emerged champions in the U-17 boys and girls singles respectively at the UTT 65th National School Games Table Tennis Championships, under the aegis of School Games Federation of India (SGFI) at Sama Indoor Sports Stadium in Vadodara on Wednesday.

While India No. 3 Payas overcame West Bengal’s Aniket Sen Choudhury 12-10, 9-11, 12-10, 11-7 in a hard-fought boys final, Munmun outclassed top-seeded Delhi’s Vanshika Bhargava 11-7, 11-6, 11-4 in the one-sided girls title clash. “I made some errors initially. He (Aniket) was also playing equally well. After the first set, which I overcame from 8-10 down, I decided to play aggressively and that helped me win the match,” Payas said after the match.

Two more gold medals of the individual events were added into Delhi’s medal tally after Shreyaans Goel and Tisha Kohli won their respective U-19 boys and girls matches. Top-seeded Shreyaans beat Haryana’s Wesley Do Rosario 11-3, 11-8, 7-11, 11-7 in the boys’ final. While, Tisha Kohli completed 11-6, 8-11, 11-9, 12-10 victory against Maharashtra’s Vidhi Shah.

Maharashtra’s team comprising Aditi Sinha, Tejal Kamble, Vidhi clinched U-19 girls team championships title with a 3-2 win over Delhi in the final.

The competition, which is jointly organised by UTT and Table Tennis Association of Baroda (TTAB), is supported by the Sports Authority of Gujarat (SAG), Gujarat State Table Tennis Association (GSTTA) and Vadodara Mahanagar Seva Sadan (VMSS). The Championships is also sponsored by IOCL, ONGC, GAIL and GACL.

Results: (individuals finals)

U-17 boys singles: Payas Jain (Delhi) bt Aniket Sen Choudhury (West Bengal) 12-10, 9-11, 12-10, 11-7;

U-17 girls singles: Munmun Kundu (West Bengal) bt Vanshika Bhargava (Delhi) 11-7, 11-6, 11-4;

U-19 boys singles: Shreyaan Goel (Delhi) bt Wesley Do Rosario (Haryana) 11-3, 11-8, 7-11, 11-7.

U-19 girls singles: Tisha Kohli (Delhi) bt Vidhi Shah (Maharashtra) 11-6, 8-11, 11-9, 12-10;

(Team Championships finals):

U-19 girls: Maharashtra bt Delhi 3-2;

U-19 boys: West Bengal bt Maharashtra 3-0;

U-17 girls: West Bengal bt Tamil Nadu 3-2;

U-14 boys singles semi-finals: Havish Asrani (Maharashtra) bt Shlok Bajaj (Gujarat) 16-18, 11-9, 11-4, 11-7; Kushal Chopda (Maharashtra) bt Gavrav Panchangam (Maharashtra) 10-12, 11-8, 11-13, 11-7, 11-3.

U-14 girls singles semi-finals: Pritha Vartikar (Maharashtra) bt Ananya Chande (Maharashtra) 11-9, 11-9, 11-5; Savali Wani (Maharashtra) bt Taneesha Kotecha (Maharashtra) 11-4, 11-5, 7-11, 11-8.