Five players from Bengal have been selected in India’s national youth team for the World Youth Championship, to be held from November 23rd to 30th in Cluj-Napoca, Romania. The five are Syndrela Das, Ankolika Chakrabarty, Aditya Das, Punit Biswas, and Ankur Bhattacharya. Among the five paddlers, only Ankur and Syndrela have experience playing in a major competition, such as the World Youth Championship, in the last year.
Syndrila, who competed in the under-15 category in the last World Youth Championship, lost in the quarterfinal. Susmita Das, Syndrela’s mother, said, “We are expecting a better performance from her this time in the World Youth Championship. She lost in the quarterfinal last time. I feel she has improved now, winning competitions at the national level in both the under-17 and under-19 age groups. That is why she has ensured a berth in the under-19 category also.”
Syndrela recently won a silver in the women’s singles, gold in the under-19 singles and and a bronze in the under-17 singles in the national ranking championship.
Susmita also feels playing in the Austrian league last year helped Soumyadip Roy and Poulami Ghatak’s student to develop her game.
