Neha stages comeback to win title

Neha Aggarwal has seen upsets of various kinds in the last few days. On Friday, she8217;d pulled off one against the world number 15 at the Junior World Championship in Spain.

Neha Aggarwal has seen upsets of various kinds in the last few days. On Friday, she8217;d pulled off one against the world number 15 at the Junior World Championship in Spain. Unfortunately, the next was an upset stomach that saw her make an early exit in the girls8217; under-21 segment at the North Zone National Ranking Table Tennis tournament in New Delhi.

The latest, however, is a pleasant one for her, with the Delhi paddler defeating top seed and reigning national champion Poulomi Ghatak of Petroleum Sports Promotion Board on Monday to lift the women8217;s title. Neha came back twice after losing the first and the third game and then went all out to win the final 4-2.

8220;I was a bit scared initially,8221; said Neha, who lost the first game 8-11. She won the next 11-9 but lost the third 12-14 after squandering a game point. 8220;I was defending, and I am not good at that. You can8217;t do that against Poulomi. I started attacking, and even when I was blocking, I was aggressive.8221;

It paid dividends as she comfortably won the next three games 11-7, 11-5 and 11-9, retaining the title she had won last year. 8220;I wasn8217;t playing well until a couple of months back. The Commonwealth Youth Games in Pune changed it all. I feel I am on the top of my game right now,8221; she said.

In the men8217;s category, Sourav Chakraborty of the Railway Sports Promotion Board upset top seed Subhajit Saha of PSPB in a keenly contested final. Sourav was on the offensive right from the start but changed his strategy after taking a 2-0 lead. Saha latched on to the opportunity and drew parity but the Railways paddler came back strongly to win the next two, and the title.

Earlier, Sanil Shetty of Maharashtra thrashed state mate Aman Baglu 4-1 to win the boys8217; under-21 championship while Soumi Mondal of RSPB defeated Ankita Das of North Bengal 4-2 in the final of the girls8217; category.