Published: October 8, 2026 at 9:19 pm
West Bengal’s Ariv Dutta needed less than 25 minutes to wrap up the Under-13 boys’ title at the second National Ranking Table Tennis Championships at the Tau Devi Lal Indoor Hall in Panchkula on Thursday, defeating Delhi’s Arunim Agarwal 3-1 in the final.
For Ariv, it was a wonderful outing as he showed consistency throughout, and the one-game drop in the final did not deter him, especially after winning the first deuce game with some struggle.
Earlier, Saksya Santosh of Karnataka barely broke a sweat, executing her plan to perfection in the Under-13 girls’ final. Isha Gogoi, her opponent from Assam, struggled to survive the test and failed to mount a challenge. The opening-game victory set the tone, and the Karnataka girl went from strength to strength to complete a comfortable 3-0 win.
Rajvardhan overcomes Debanshu
The Under-11 boys’ final went down to the wire, with Uttar Pradesh’s Rajvardhan Tiwari emerging champion after edging out West Bengal’s Debanshu Chakraborty 3-2. In the all-Haryana Girls’ final, Phalgun Gupta outmanoeuvred statemate Mahi Kumar 3-1 to lift the trophy.
Rajvardhan made a strong start but surrendered the next two games to Debanshu before pulling things back and sealing the title. Phalgun, meanwhile, held firm despite dropping the third game in a deuce, and wrapped up the contest in style.
Haryana paddler Sreeja downs AP’s Mihika; Mahi Kumar and Phalgun Gupta march on
Ariv and Arunim booked their places in the Under-13 boys’ final, with contrasting semifinal victories. Ariv won 3-0 over Raayan Borthakur of PSPBA, taking the opening game 11-3 before getting stretched a bit in the next two. Arunim, meanwhile, survived a gripping five-game battle against Tamil Nadu’s H Tanish, prevailing 3-2 in a match that stretched until the final points.
The Under-13 girls’ semifinals were far more straightforward, though Pehel Gupta of UP made Ishani work hard. Ishani recovered from a 2-1 deficit to defeat Pehel 11-8, 6-11, 8-11, 12-10, 11-6. Sakshya, on the other hand, secured a more comfortable passage in the final, beating Assam’s Divija Paul 3-0.
Considerable drama in semifinals
The Under-11 boys’ semifinals produced two convincing victories. Rajvardhan defeated Maharashtra’s Nakash Mahajan 3-0, while Debanshu was equally dominant against West Bengal’s Arjun Sen, completing an 11-0, 11-5, 12-10 victory to seal his place in the final.
In the Under-11 girls’ semifinals, Mahi defeated Haryana’s Shreeja Aggarwal 3-1, recovering after dropping the third game to close out the contest in four. Phalgun also advanced after a hard-fought four-game encounter with Punjab’s Inaaya, winning 9-11, 14-12, 11-5, 12-10. The win became easy when Phalgun surrendered the opening game and edged a crucial second game that went beyond the regulation 11-point mark.
The Under-13 boys’ quarterfinals provided considerably more drama. Ariv and Arunim both progressed, but their routes to the semifinals were very different. Ariv defeated Suchet Dharennavar 3-0, while Arunim also beat Rajdeep Biswas by the same margin. However, the latter contest was anything but routine. Arunim had to dig deep in the second game before edging it 22-20 after a series of deuces.
The other two quarterfinals went the distance. Raayan Borthakur fought back strongly to defeat his opponent 3-2 and secure his place in the semifinals, while H. Tanish looked in control after taking a 2-0 lead. His opponent, however, mounted a comeback to win the next two games, and then force a deciding fifth game before Tanish eventually prevailed. The contrasting quarterfinals set up a U-13 boys’ semifinal line-up in which Ariv and Arunim ultimately emerged as the finalists.
But the Under-13 girls’ semifinals saw no drama as Ishani and Sakshya each secured identical 3-0 wins to enter the final.
Results: Under-13 boys (final): Ariv Dutta (WB) beat Arunim Agarwal (Del) 12-10, 11-8, 5-11, 11-5. Semifinals: Ariv beat Raayan Borthakur (PSPBA) 11-3, 11-8, 11-9; Arunim beat H Tanish (TN) 12-10, 6-11, 11-7, 9-11, 12-10.
Under-13 girls (final): Sakshya Santosh (Kar) beat Ishani Gogoi (Asm) 11-7, 11-6, 11-7. Semifinals: Ishani beat Pehel Gupta (UP) 11-8, 6-11, 8-11, 12-10, 11-6; Sakshya beat Divija Paul (Asm) 11-5, 11-8, 12-10.
Under-11 boys (final): Rajvardhan Tiwari (Mah) beat Debanshu Chakraborty (WB) 11-8, 5-11, 5-11, 11-7, 11-6. Semifinals: Rajvardhan beat Nakash Mahajan (Mah) 11-8, 11-2, 11-8; Debanshu beat Arjun Sen (WB) 11-0, 11-5, 12-10.
Under-11 girls (final): Phalgun Gupta (Har) beat Mahi Kumari (Har) 11-6, 11-7, 10-12, 11-9. Semifinals: Mahi beat Shreeja Aggarwal (Har) 11-7, 11-4, 9-11, 11-7; Phalgun beat Inaaya (Pun) 9-11, 14-12, 11-5, 12-10.
