NEW DELHI, August 24: Anshu Adlakha and Leena Kalra played vital roles for Manav Sthali (Rajinder Nagar) and Vidya Niketan (Faridabad) in boys and senior girls finals respectively in the 13th Campa Cola inter-school table tennis tournament which concluded at the Talkatora Indoor Stadium here on Monday morning.In boys' team final, Manav Sthali beat Modern School (Barakhamba Road) 3-1 and Vidya Niketan handed Hans Raj Model School (Punjabi Bagh) defeat by an identical margin in senior girls final.
Other than the identical margin of victory recorded by the two winners in the two categories, another similarity in the two finals scheduled for the day was that both teams recovered after losing the first match of the tie.
In the boys final, Modern School began well when their No. 1 player Ishwak Singh beat Amit Jain in straight games to give them the lead. But it was soon nullifeid as Anshu Adlakha downed Ankit Anand. Aditya Puri then beat Jitin Tandon to give Manav Sthali a 2-1 lead. The Adlakha-Ishwak match was expected to be a close affair. But the Manav Sthali boy did not allow his Modern School opponent to take liberties and closed the match with a straight-game victory.
Similarly, Vidya Niketan lost their first match to hans Raj Model School when Tarun Wadhwa was beaten 20-22, 17-21 by Ritu Rana. But Leena Kalra and Geeta Grover won their next two singles against Apna Bhalla and Ankita Babbar to forge ahaed. It was then left to Leena to record her second win, at the expense of Ritu Rana to clinch the issue in favour of the Faridabad team.
Results
Boys: Manav Sthali bt Modern School (Barakhamba Road) 3-1 (Amit Jain lost to Ishwak Singh 17-21, 11-21; Anshu Adlakha bt Ankit Anand 21-11, 21-16; Aditya Puri bt Jitin Tandon 21-18, 21-17; Anshu Adlakha bt Ishwak Singh 21-17, 21-12).
Sr Girls: Vidya Niketan (Far) bt Hans Raj Model School 3-1 (Tarun Wadhwa lost to Ritu Rana 20-22, 17-21; Leena Kalra bt Apna Bhalla 21-18, 21-11; Geeta Grover bt Ankita Babbar 21-10, 21-14; Leena Kalra bt Ritu Rana 21-16, 21-10).
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.