Bhat in line for double crown in dist-level T T championship

Pune, Aug 30 (UNI) Top seeded junior international Divya Deshpande outplayed her traditional rival second seeded Deepti Chaphekar in straight games 11-8, 11-3, 11-5, 11-6 today and lifted the under-20 youth girls singles title in the Le Meridien district ranking prize money table tennis championship being hosted by Deccan Gymkhana Club, as part of their centenary celebration here.

Third seeded Sruja Bhat brought off a stunning upset by scalping top seeded Sayali Deshpande 11-6, 11-2, 7-11, 11-7, 11-8 and set up a title clash against unseeded Devika Bhide in the sub-junior girls singles final. She has thus lined herself up for a double in the championship.

In the other semi-final, Devika defeated yet another unseded Prachi Ghumatkar 11-9, 11-5, 12-10, 11-5.

As expected the number one seed Shubhankar Renavikar affirmed his top billing in no uncertain terms outwitted second seeded Shubhankar Ranade with a degree of comfort 11-7, 11-8, 11-4 and pocketed the under-12 Cadet boys singles title.

The corresponding cadet girls singles was bagged by top seed Sruja Bhat who put a stop to the winning streak of unseeded Fauzia Meheralli 11-3, 11-6, 6-11, 11-5.

Divya who has been in fine form since the RCBC and Darode trophy district ranking meets once again showed her class and added one more title to her bag.

On the other hand, Chaphekar put up a token resistence and could hardly match Divya in all court craft. Divya combining agression with defence, specially her top spin drives on either flank, was in no trouble. Chaphekar tried hard to counter the rival but lacked penetration and to make matters worse, she conceded many negative points. It was a cake walk for Divya in the final analysis of the match.

Fauzia, the younger sibling of Meheralli arose some vision of fight back while she was pitted against Bhat. After dropping the first two, Fauzia came back to clinch the third game 11-6. She however failed to put pressure on the rival. Bhat then came back and polished off the fourth game 11-5 and claimed the title.

Following are the results : Youth Girls Single (Finals) Divya Deshpande beat Deepti Chaphekar 11-8, 11-3, 11-5, 11-6 Cadet Boys Singles (Finals) Shubhankar Renavikar beat Shubhankar Ranade 11-7, 11-8, 11-4.

Cadet Girls (Finals) Sruja Bhat beat Fauzia Meheralli 11-3, 11-6, 6-11, 11-5 Sub Junior Girls Single (under-14 Semi-finals) Devika Bhide beat Prachi Ghumatkar 11-9, 11-5, 12-10, 11-5.

Sruja Bhat beat Sayali Deshpande 11-6, 11-2, 7-11, 11-7, 11-8.

Sub-junior Boys Singles (Under-14 Semi-finals ) Aniket Gulavni beat Nitish Sapre 10-12, 11-5, 11-9, 11-6, 7-11, 6-11, 11-8 UNI IS KU PA VV2216