Tanishka Kalbhairav and Prateek Tulsani win U-15 titles at UTT National Ranking in Kanpur

Tanishka Kalbhairav of Karnataka and Prateek Tulsani of Maharashtra clinched the under-15 girls' and boys' titles at the UTT National Ranking Table Tennis tournament at The Sportz Hub in Kanpur on Thursday. Both secured their finals in contrasting manners: Tanishka after a five-game comeback and Prateek in straight games.

Fourteen-year-old Tanishka recovered from a 1-2 deficit to beat West Bengal’s Saturya Banerjee 9-11, 13-11, 7-11, 11-6, 11-6, overcoming early difficulty with Saturya’s backhand topspins before producing a series of forehand winners; she collected the winner’s purse of ₹22,400. Prateek, representing Maharashtra, overpowered West Bengal’s left-hander Rajdeep Biswas 11-6, 11-9, 11-9 in the boys’ final.

Prateek’s triumph followed a difficult previous season; he trains under Rajendra Sawant in Thane and had been the National U-13 champion in 2024 but struggled to transition last season. The victory was described in the reports as an encouraging start to the new season for Prateek, who topped the National Ranking tournament.

Rajdeep Biswas, described as a promising left-hander, had finished the day after having bowed out in the U-13 semifinals a day earlier and was unable to contain Prateek’s onslaught in the final; the straight-games scoreline was 11-6, 11-9, 11-9. Prateek had reached the final by defeating Rishaan Chattopadhyay (WB) 13-11, 11-8, 11-6 in the semifinals.

In the other boys’ semifinal, Rajdeep Biswas beat Trijal Vohra (Pun) in a five-set match, 14-12, 13-11, 7-11, 6-11, 13-11. Those results completed the boys’ U-15 draw at the National Ranking event.

On the girls’ side, Tanishka advanced to the final after beating Shariqa Shahid (WB) 11-5, 11-9, 13-11 in the semifinals, while Saturya Banerjee reached the final by defeating B. Varnica (TN) 13-11, 7-11, 12-10, 11-8. These outcomes decided the U-15 girls’ bracket at the UTT National Ranking tournament.

The published U-15 results stand with Prateek Tulsani (Mah) defeating Rajdeep Biswas (WB) 11-6, 11-9, 11-9 in the boys’ final and Tanishka Kalbhairav (Kar) defeating Saturya Banerjee (WB) 9-11, 13-11, 7-11, 11-6, 11-6 in the girls’ final, concluding the U-15 events at the National Ranking tournament.