West Bengal paddlers enjoy success at North Zone TT

New Delhi: Ronit Bhanja of West Bengal emerged the champion in the sub-junior boys` category, beating Manav Thakkar of PSPBA 4-3 while his statemate Abhijit Basu defeated Rounak Majumdar 4-2 in a thrilling final in the cadet section of the National Ranking North Zone Table Tennis championships here Saturday.

In the cadet girls` section, it was Tulika Roy, also of West Bengal, who claimed the title outsmarting her Madhya Pradesh rival Anusha Kutumbale 4-1 for what turned out to be more or less a clean sweep for the West Bengal paddlers. However, it remains to be seen whether another West Bengal girl, Moumita Dutta, who is in the final of sub-junior category can wrap it up for her state to complete the sweep. She is slated to meet Andhra Pradesh`s A Naina in the final. But it was a tough fight for Bhanja to overcome the PSPBA boy, Thakkar in the sub-junior section as the match went the full distance with none yielding an inch of advantage to the other. However, what made Bhanja put it beyond Thakkar was the way he played the last two games. After Thakkar levelled the score at 2-2, the onus was back on Bhanja to put his best foot forward and commit minimum of errors both at the net and while blocking. He not only did that competently, but forced some negatives points into his kitty. Though he won the sixth game with a minimal difference, it gave him enough confidence to rout Thakkar in the decider as he allowed only three points to the PSPBA boy. The battle between Basu and Majumdar too kept the audience interested though Basu proved to be a better player on the day in the cadet section, making most of his opponent`s inability to convert easy points on his own returns. For Tulika, however, it was an easy going against Anusha as the girl from MP failed to counter the West Bengal girl as well as she should have.