KOLKATA: Syndrela Das hates to travel on her birthday. But she made her 17th birthday away from home memorable by bagging a ‘double’ winning the Under-19 and women’s singles titles at the UTT National Ranking Table Tennis Championships that concluded in Kanpur on Sunday.It was a day devoted totally on the board as the rising Bengal table tennis star played seven matches throughout the day without a defeat, beating Tamil Nadu’s Ananya Muralidharan 4-1 in the U-19 final and then overcoming Maharashtra’s Divyanshi Bhowmick 4-2 in a closely fought title-clash in the women’s final.The victories could not have come at a better time for Das, who will become the youngest Indian athlete in the upcoming Asian Games a month later. Das, who finished runner-up at the Senior Nationals in Indore in March, had to toil hard to edge past PSPB’s Swastika Ghosh 4-3 (11-9, 5-11, 11-8, 8-11, 11-8, 8-11, 11-9) in the women’s semifinal. In a topsy-turvy battle, Das was trailing 4-7 in the decider before recovering to seal the match 11-9.Das had to bring her best against her friend and biggest rival on the domestic circuit Bhowmick in the final as the Maharashtra paddler won the opening game 11-9. Das responded with two straight games but Bhowmick levelled at 2-2 with an 11-5 win in the fourth game, only for Das to regain the lead winning the fifth 11-7. She then held her nerve in a tight sixth game to bag the title.However, the U-19 final went much smoother for Das.Final ResultsWomen’s singles: Syndrela Das (WB) bt Divyanshi Bhowmick (Mah) 9-11, 11-8, 11-8, 5-11, 11-7, 11-9.Youth Girls U-19 singles: Syndrela Das (WB) bt Ananya Muralidharan (TN) 11-8, 10-12, 11-9, 11-9, 11-4.
