Juniors Prapti, Deepit lift maiden TT trophies

Vijayawada, Sep 9: Deepit Rajesh Patil and Prapti Sen won their maiden junior boys and junior girls titles in the National Ranking (South Zone) Table Tennis Championships at the DRM Municipal Indoor Hall here on Sunday.

Both finals went down to the wire and those who kept their cool carried home the winners' purse of Rs. 22,000 and Rs, 19,800, respectively, in what was the first appearance for all finalists.

Deepit overcame a charged Raegan Albuquerque 4-3 and Prapti, with defeat staring at her face at 1-3 fought fervently to triumph 4-3 over Madhya Pradesh's Anusha Kutumbale.

In the boys' final, it was difficult to predict the winner as Deepit and Raegan, knowing each other's game well, indulged in fast rallies and drove well, taking alternate games.

But when Raegan missed his first match-point in the decider, Deepit didn't repeat the mistake. Cashing in on first opportunity, with serve on, Deepit sent down the crucial winner to lift the glittering trophy.

A similar drama was more or less enacted by the two girls but Prapti had to pull herself out of depth before outwitting her MP rival. 

Both players, good at forehand drives, also employed the backhands effectively. But what clinched the final in Prapti's favour was a service fault by the Indore girl besides Prapti's ability to be one-up over Anusha, particularly whenever the chances presented, as she sent down scorching forehands without being challenged.

Among Junior Girls, top-seed Swastika Ghosh of Maharashtra lost to eighth seed Nikita Sarkar 1-4 (17-15, 7-11, 6-11, 10-12, 7-11) in the quarterfinals.

Third-seed Radhapriya Goyal of Uttar Pradesh lost without a fight in the second round itself to Delhi's Lakshita Narang 0-3.