Ankur Bhattacharjee, Diya Chitale win titles in National Ranking TT C’ships

FILE PHOTO: Diya Chitale won the women’s singles title at the National Ranking Table Tennis Championships. | Photo Credit: BISWARANJAN ROUT

Ankur Bhattacharjee and Diya Chitale produced impressive performances to clinch the men’s and women’s singles titles, respectively, at the second National Ranking Table Tennis Championships at the Tau Devi Lal Indoor Hall here.

Bhattacharjee fought hard to beat Maharashtra’s Raegan Albuquerque 4-3 in the men’s final, while Diya got the better of West Bengal’s Syndrela Das by an identical margin.

Bhattacharjee trailed 1-2 at one stage against Raegan, but prevailed in a see-saw seven-game final to claim his first title of the season. He had earlier lost to Manav Thakkar in the semifinals of the Kanpur leg.

Diya and Syndrela went neck and neck before the former edged ahead from a 3-3 scoreline to emerge victorious 4-3.

The 17-year-old Syndrela was particularly impressive with her backhand and showed no hesitation in taking the initiative whenever opportunities arose. She capitalised on Diya’s dip in form to stage a memorable comeback.

However, Diya held on to her slender advantage in the decider to clinch the title.

In the men’s semifinals, Bhattacharjee beat Jeet Chandra of Railways 4-1, while Albuquerque defeated second seed Thakkar 4-2.

In the women’s singles semifinals, Syndrela got the better of Sutirtha Mukherjee 4-3 in a seven-game thriller, while Diya swept aside Swastika Ghosh 4-1.

Meanwhile, Priyanuj Bhattacharyya clinched the U-19 boys’ singles title with a straight-games victory over Tamil Nadu’s PB Abhinand in the final, while Divyanshi Bhowmick claimed the girls’ title in the same age category with a 4-1 victory over Syndrela.

Results:

Men’s singles final: Ankur Bhattacharjee (Har) bt Raegan Albuquerque (Mah) 11-8, 3-11, 6-11, 11-8, 11-9, 6-11, 11-5.

Semifinals: Ankur Bhattacharjee bt Jeet Chandra (RSPB) 13-11, 8-11, 11-7, 12-10, 11-6; Raegan Albuquerque bt Manav Thakkar (PSPB) 5-11, 11-5, 11-9, 8-11, 12-10, 11-8.

Women’s singles final: Diya Chitale (RBI) bt Syndrela Das (WB) 11-6, 11-8, 11-7, 6-11, 9-11, 8-11, 11-9.

Semifinals: Syndrela Das bt Sutirtha Mukherjee (RSPB) 9-11, 7-11, 11-4, 11-4, 12-10, 9-11, 11-6; Diya Chitale bt Swastika Ghosh (PSPB) 11-4, 8-11, 11-6, 11-9, 11-9.