Triple treat for Manav in national TT

AHMEDABAD: Manav Thakkar of Petrolem Sports Promotion Board (PSPB) was well on course to make a complete sweep of the national titles but just ended sans one, winning the youth and junior boys singles titles and added junior doubles crown to make it a triple treat at the 78th Junior and Youth National Table Tennis Championship which concluded in Vadodara on Wednesday.
In junior final, Delhi's Parth Virmani was no match to a rampaging Manav who unleashed attacking strokes, varying his services cleverly, pushed Parth on the back foot to ran away with a 4-0 facile win. This was Manav's second junior boy's national title after he won his first at the Alleppey nationals in 2014. He narrowly missed both junior and youth singles titles in Dharamsala in 2015 after reaching the finals of both the events and eventually losing them.
In youth final, it was a tough ask for Manav when he had to return to the table soon after completing the junior boys final. Facing PSPB team-mate, Abhishek Yadav, Manav made his intent loud and clear.
Abhishek was exposed to the hilt when Manav started the onslaught. No doubt, both executed fierce forehands and indulged in long rallies, but it was Manav who once again dominated match.
Asserting his superiority right from the word go, Manav came into groove straightaway to torment Abhishek, who had his occasions-he led 4-0 in the second and 3-0 in the third-but Manav would fight his way back into the game and match as he did today, absolutely undeterred.
Incidentally, this was Manav's maiden youth title and he had made the championships his own, having helped his team win the junior boys team title.
Earlier, in the junior doubles final, Manav combined well with Chinmay Somaiya and defeat Jeet Chandra Soham Bhattacharya in three straight games.
Also, captaining the PSPB side, Manav anchored the junior team to gold medal after beating Maharashtra 'A' 3-1. However, his team lost in final of the youth Team event after losing to West Bengal 2-3 in the final. With this, the Surat-based paddler ended his Vadodara sojourn with six medals (four gold, two silver). An elated Manav spoke to TOI soon after his wins and said the feeling hasn't sunk in yet.
"This is for first time that I am taking home so many medals. The credit goes to our Chinese coach Yinwei who has been working with us since 2014," Manav said.