Rajkot, October 16: Top-seed G. Sathiyan defeated Gujarat’s Devesh Karia 4-0 to claim his season’s first men’s singles title in the 11Even Sports National Ranking (West Zone) Table Tennis Championships at the Veer Savarkar Municipal Corporation Stadium here today.
West Bengal’s Suthirtha Mukherjee went on to bag her second women’s singles title from zonal events when she defeated PSPB’s Mousumi Paul 4-2. But overall, this was her season’s third, including the Institutional crown she had won in July at Jaipur.
Unexpectedly, it was a cakewalk for Sathiyan against Devesh who was completely rendered helpless against a hot Sathiyan who executed his blistering strikes to unsettle the Gujarat man. In the face of a mounting offensive approach, Devesh wilted very early in the final never to recover.
In contrast, Sathiyan scored a 4-3 laboured win in the semifinals to oust North Zone finalist and southpaw Sanil Shetty who, after leading 2-1, gave in to the pressure tactics of his PSPB rival which proved to be Sanil’s undoing. In a roller-coaster ride of sorts, Shetty did win the sixth to level 3-3 but was visibly losing steam and it only helped the semifinalist at Chandigarh to step on the gas pedal to a 6-1 lead and finish off in style.
In the other all-lefthanders fight, Devesh was woefully placed at 0-2 and 5-9 in the third game against Jubin. But a few errors both at the net and some away-going shots at that time saw the PSPB paddler concede the ground to the Gujarat man. From there on, Devesh was a different player altogether as he won 8-11, 6-11, 11-9, 11-3, 11-7, 14-12.
POETIC JUSTICE
In the end, a poetic justice was done to her pre-quarterfinal rival Krittwika Sinha Roy who, too, lost because of a change of bat midway through that match. But today, Mousumi was told to change it before the match with one side of her bat’s rubber damaged, as it happened to Krittwika on the second day.
Except for the first marathon game which Mousumi won after nine deuces and three game points, Suthirtha had the measure of her opponent. Mousumi did win the fourth game but Suthirtha was way ahead in the next and wrap it up quickly.
In women’s semifinals, Mousumi Paul continued with her winning ways as she outlasted top seed Madhurika Patkar 4-2 (11-5, 9-11, 11-7, 6-11, 11-9, 13-11) and second seed Suthirtha Mukherjee defeated former national champion and veteran Mouma Das 11-8, 11-8, 11-13, 11-1, 11-8. Madhurkia was the winner at the North Zone event at Chandigarh.
RONIT, PRIYADARSHINI CLAIM TITLES
Airports Authority of India’s Ronit Bhanja blanked out PSPB’s Birdie Boro 4-0 to take home the Youth Boys singles trophy while West Bengal’s Priyadarshini Das claimed her maiden Youth Girls title beating Tamil Nadu’s Amrutha Pushpak 4-3 in what was both paddlers’ first appearance in a final. Amrutha had her chance in the decider as she led 9-5 only to give away six points on the trot to her West Bengal opponent to her own disappointment and that of the crowd after having put up a nice fight to lead 3-2.
JUNIOR CROWN FOR MANAV, ARCHANA
Earlier, PSPB’s Manav Thakkar defeated Telangana’s Snehit Suravajjula 4-1 to retain the Junior Boys singles crown and the Junior Girls title went the way of Airports Authority of India’s Archana Girish Kamath. She downed Rajasthan’s Priyanka Pareek in straight games of 4-0. At Indore, she had won the Youth Girls trophy. Similarly, Manav also had won the Youth title at Indore but had to satisfy himself with the single crown win here.
Results:
Men’s Singles: Final: G. Sathiyan (PSPB) bt Devesh Karia (Guj) 11-5, 11-2, 11-3, 13-11.
Women’s Singles: Final: Suthirtha Mukherjee (WB) bt Mousumi Paul (PSPB) 18-20, 11-9, 11-5, 6-11, 11-9, 11-3.
Youth Boys Singles: Final: Ronit Bhanja (AAI) bt Birdie Boro (PSPB) 11-5, 11-9, 13-11, 11-7.
Youth Girls Singles: Final: Priyadarshini Das (WB) bt Amrutha Pushpak (TN) 4-11, 11-7, 12-14, 11-9, 6-11, 11-6, 11-9.
Junior Boys Singles: Final: Manav Thakkar (PSPB) bt Snehit Suravajjula (TELG) 11-6, 7-11, 11-9, 11-9, 11-8.
Junior Girls Singles: Final: Archana Girish Kamath (AAI) bt Priyanka Pareek (Raj) 11-5, 11-4, 11-7, 11-7.
