Tamil Nadu’s Velavan, Sunanya reign supreme

Tamil Nadu’s Velavan Senthilkumar kept his stable mate and ISA colleague Adhitya Raghavan under a tight leash all throughout the match. Though he suffered a nasty cut on his nose after Adhitya's bat-swing caught him awkwardly and spent some time off court to attend to the bloody nose, the talented young man did not lose focus. Showing all round control, Velavan won in style. Similar was Sunayna Kuruvilla's effort over top seed and state-mate Ashita Pranaya Bhengera in the U-17 section.

Among the other finals, the U-17 boys’ tie went the closest and the distance with five games played to decide the winner. Top seed Tushar Shahani of Mahashtra, easily one of the brightest among the junior crop, showed his growing stature by wearing down the ebullience of the highly talented Veer Chotrani. The former national champion Veer proved to be the dark horse in this section with his cool and collected approach that led him to a dream run. In the title-round too, the young boy still qualified to play in U-15 but preferring to play in the higher category, seemed in the mood to do more. The way he wove his way past Tushar with deft drops and wristy drives he looked in positive frame.

But Tushar, who had lost many a match against Veer in recent past has come a long way since. The top seed came back from arrears to have his way before Veer again surprised by grabbing one more game. The tussle for supremacy went to the wire but the deciding game was a let-down in which Veer's sharpness faded while Tushar's hunger to finish off grew.

In the lower age category, much was expected of Sankalp Anand in the U-15 boys section. The Delhi lad had a fine run and looked good for the final show as well but seemed to lack the aggression to check his Delhi mate Gautam Nagpal. But there was high cheers for little Rohan Arya Gondi of Telengana who was ¾ seed but ousted the second seed Shaurya Bawa of Delhi in four games in the U-11.

Boys: Rohan Arya Gondi (TS) bt Shaurya Bawa (DLI) 11-8 9-11 11-4 11-8 ; Athrva Yadav (DLI) bt Aaryaman Jaising (MH) 11-5 11-8 11-6; Gautam Nagpal (DLI) bt Sankalp Anand (DLI) 15-13 11-7 11-8; Tushar Shahani (MH) bt Veer Chotrani (MH) 8-11 11-7 11-6 8-11 11-3; Velavan Senthilkumar (TN) bt Adhitya Raghavan (TN) 11-8 11-7 11-4.

Girls: Gitanjali Vasudevan (TN) bt Kaavya Bansal (MH) 11-5 11-6 11-7; Diksha Aurobindo (TN) bt Abhisheka Shannon (TN) 13-11 4-11 11-6 11-7; Megha Bhatia (DLI) bt Samita S (TN) 11-9 11-9 9-11 11-7; Sunayna Kuruvilla (TN) bt Ashita Pranaya Bhengra (TN) 12-10 12-10 11-6.