SUBHASH MISHRA
Dhanbad, Aug 27: In an epic match between two champions Saarah Sharma of Jamshedpur beat Yogita Bora of Ranchi in the quarter-final of the Jharkhand State sub junior boys and girls championship being played at Dhanbad indoor stadium.
In the match which finished in 1 hour 59 minutes, Saarah beat Yogita 18-21, 21- 17, 21-19.
Yogita won the first set and Saarah equalized by winning the second set. In the third and decider set Yogita was leading 11-4 at a time when the side was changed. Saarah rallied back and levelled the score 11 all by taking 7 points in a row.
Both the players fought for each point in all three sets and finally, victory smiled in favour of Saarah. She has an unbeaten record against Yogita.
Yogita, who was sick and vomited during games several times, again took the lead 14-12, But Saarah again levelled the score 14-14 and took the lead 16-14 and maintained it till last.
Saarah was under-19 champion in a competition held at Gooda in August while Yogita emerged as champion at Dumka in a competition held in July.
In the girls under-15 final Anishka Tyagi of Jamshedpur will meet Viabhavi Srivastava. In the semifinal, Anishka beat Eeshi Verma 21-13, 21-14 while Vaibhavi defeated Anushka Kachhap 21-15, 21-15.
In the girls’ under-17 final Saarah Sharma would meet Pihu Singh of Dhanbad. Saarah beat Sharon E Kujur 21-06, 21-08 in the semifinal while in the second semifinal Pihu beat Anishka 21-17, 21-19.
In the boys’ under -17 final Niraj Kesri of Ranchi will meet Anushu Gopal of Ranchi. Niraj beat Krish Dubey 21-16, 21-16 while Gopal beat Suraj Pratap 21-19, 08-21, 21-16 in the second semifinal.
Krish Dubey of Jamshedpur will meet Swapneel Nayak in the final. In the first semifinal, Dubey beat Manas Ranjan 21-08, 21-15 while in the second semifinal, Nayak defeated Sree Ram Ratan 21-07, 21-15.
The final matches will be played in the evening today. Organizing secretary Samrat Choudhary said that the sports minister of the state would be the chief guest.
