Kanpur: After winning three titles in the Under-11 and Under-13 categories, West Bengal paddlers are now eyeing further success in the Under-15 events of the UTT National Ranking Table Tennis Championship being held at TSH.West Bengal’s Rajdeep and Satya have entered the boys’ and girls’ finals respectively. Rajdeep will face Maharashtra’s Prateek in the boys’ final, while Satya will take on Karnataka’s Tanishka in the girls’ title clash.Rajdeep survived a five-game battle against Punjab’s Trijal Vohra in the semifinals, winning 14-12, 13-11, 7-11, 6-11, 13-11. After trailing by two games, Trijal fought back to level the contest, but Rajdeep held his nerve in the deciding game.Prateek, meanwhile, booked his place in the final with a comfortable 13-11, 11-8, 11-6 victory over West Bengal’s Rishan Chattopadhyay.In the girls’ semifinals, Satya overcame Tamil Nadu’s Varnika 13-11, 7-11, 12-10, 11-8. Karnataka’s Tanishka defeated West Bengal’s Sharika Shahid 11-5, 11-9, 13-11 to reach the final. Satya had earlier battled past Assam’s Divija Paul in a five-game quarterfinal, winning 11-3, 11-9, 8-11, 6-11, 11-4. Tanishka defeated West Bengal’s Titash Chatterjee 11-1, 11-7, 11-6. In the other quarterfinals, Sharika Shahid beat Sreosri Chakraborty 11-7, 11-9, 11-7, while B Varnika defeated PSPBA’s Arya Redkar 13-11, 6-11, 11-8, 11-2.With the youth and higher age-group events getting underway, the championship witnessed increased competition and excitement. The performances of the young paddlers also provided an opportunity for local and state-level players to learn and improve their skills.Former IAS officer Alok Sinha, Sir Padampat Singhania School principal Bhavna Gupta, CHS School director Mohit Yadav, Arun Banerjee, Piyush Agrawal and Dronacharya Awardee Sandeep Gupta were among those present and encouraged the players.
