Aadarsh claims 2nd title, Kavyashree her 1st in TT meet

Thiruvananthapuram, Aug 21 (IANS) Delhi's Aadarsh Om Chetri kept his date with destiny and earned his second Sub-Junior Boys title of the season beating UP's Divyansh Srivastava 4-3 in the UTT National Ranking (South Zone) Table Tennis Championships which concluded at the Jimmy George Indoor Stadium on Wednesday.

It was a nail-biting final in which the pendulum of fortunes swung from one end to another as the two players, knowing each other's game so well, did everything possible -- from slowing down to driving powerfully and even dropping close to the next.

The only thing that separated the two was who played the mind game better. And, undoubtedly, the Delhi boy came out triumphant, particularly in the decider as he not only ran up a good lead but also sustained to mount pressure on Divyansh.

This was in contrast to the match-levelling sixth game in which the UP lad led 9-1 before conceding four points and then at 10-5, he was guilty of conceding three more negatives to his opponent. But realising his mistake, he corrected his game and won to take the issue to the decider where Aadarsh's attacking posture undid the UP boy.

In the other semis, Divyansh Srivastava, also from UP, was somewhat rusty against Anshuman Agarwal but steadied to win the first game after losing two game points. From there onwards, he never looked back, including in the fourth game which he won on the fourth match-point when an unexpected resistance came from the Goa boy.

Kavyashree first put an end to her struggling form and then overcame Taneesha Kotecha, who failed win the crown in her second successive final.