Ankur Bhattacharjee from West Bengal, fresh from his Under-19 Boys title in Surat, repeated with another gold-winning performance over Divyansh Srivastava of Uttar Pradesh in the Youth Boys final of the Khelo India Youth Games in Indore on Friday. (More Sports News)
Maharashtra claimed the overall championship, but the second spot went to West Bengal, despite a tie with UP. The former got the jury's unanimous vote, thanks to Ankur, whose gold weighed heavier than the silver that Divyansh won.
Taneesha Kotecha of Maharasa, who beat Lakishita Narang of Delhi 4-2, bagged the Youth Girls gold, pushing the Delhi paddler to the silver medal position on the podium.
Ankur, who won 4-0 in Surat, dropped his fourth game before wrapping it up 4-1 against the same UP rival in what turned out to be a one-sided final. The West Bengal boy's blistering forehands and excellent winners in long rallies put him 3-0 up. But in the fourth game, Divyansh showed some character to pull back once before succumbing to pressure and settling with the silver medal.
The bronze medals went to Jash Modi of Maharashtra and Yashaswini Ghorpade of Karnataka in their respective categories.
Results:
Boys Singles: Final: Ankur Bhattacharjee (WB) bt Divyansh Srivastava (UP) 11-3, 11-8, 11-8, 8-11, 11-4.
Bronze Playoff: Jash Modi (Mah) bt Aadarsh Om Chhetri (Del) 7-11, 11-7, 11-6, 7-11, 13-11, 11-2.
Girls Singles: Final: Taneesha Kotecha (Mah) bt Lakshita Narang (Del) 11-4, 14-12, 11-6, 9-11, 10-12, 11-4.
Bronze Playoff: Yashaswini Ghorpade (Kar) bt Prithoki Chakraborty (Har) 11-7, 8-11, 11-6, 11-8, 12-10.
