Nithyashree rallies to wear crown

Nithyashree Mani of Tamil Nadu fought back from the brink in the final to edge Munmun Kundu 4-3 of West Bengal and lift her maiden sub-junior girls’ singles trophy on the concluding day of the LIC-IOC All India National Ranking Table Tennis Championships (South Zone) here at the District Indoor Stadium on Tuesday.

In the corresponding boys’ final, Payas Jain failed to defend the title he won at Indore, going down to H Jeho of Petroleum Sports Promotion Board Academy 3-4. 

In the sub-junior girls’ final, the Nithyashree was down and out with her opponent holding two match points in the fourth game. From there on, Nithyashree staged a brilliant comeback and went from strength to strength. But nothing was certain as Munmun again held three match points in the fifth game, only to let the Tamil Nadu girl off the hook.

Slowly clawing her way back, Nithyashree won five straight points to win 12-10 and when it came to the decider, it was anybody’s match. Of course, the West Bengal girl had an upper hand as she led 8-4 but Nithyashree was not the one to pull down the shutters yet. Determined as she was, the pressure was palpable on Munmun and a few unforced errors helped Nithyashree get her first match point. But she could not convert it and fortunes started fluctuating.

Results (Finals): Singles: Boys: Sub-Junior: H Jeho (PSPBA) bt Payas Jain (Del) 9-11, 11-9, 9-11, 11-9, 9-11, 11-8, 11-4. Cadet: S Preyesh Raj (TN) bt Shantesh Mapsekar (Goa) 11-4, 9-11, 11-6, 11-2, 11-5.

Girls: Sub-Junior: Singles: Nithyashree Mani (TN) bt Munmun Kundu (WB) 4-11, 2-11, 8-11, 12-10, 11-8, 12-10, 15-13. Cadet: Suhana Saini (Har) bt Nehal Venkatasamy (TN) 11-5, 11-6, 11-1, 11-8.