Top-seed G. Sathiyan (PSPB) outshone 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 conducted by the Gujarat State Table Tennis Association at Rajkot Municipal Corporation ‘Veer Savarkar’ Indoor Stadium, Rajkot, Gujarat. In the summit clash Sathiyan played some blistering strokes to unsettle the Gujarat paddler and charge to an easy 11-5, 11-2, 11-3, 13-11 victory without much ado.
From left to right Haresh Sangtani , Hon Secretary, GSTTA, B.S Sarvaiya with the Winner and Top Seed G. Sathiyan collecting the Trophy from Harshad Vora, Additional Collector, Rajkot at the finals of the 11Even Sports National Ranking (West Zone) Table Tennis Championships .
In corresponding women’s final, West Bengal’s Suthirtha Mukherjee went on to bag her second 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.
In contrast to the final, Sathiyan laboured to a 4-3 win against southpaw Sanil Shetty in the semifinals. Shetty started well and after leading 2-1, gave in to the pressure tactics of his PSPB rival Sathiyan which proved to be his undoing. In a roller-coaster ride of sorts, Shetty did win the sixth to level scores at 3-3 but was visibly losing steam and it only helped Sathiyan to step on the gas pedal and race to a 6-1 lead and finish off in style.
In the other semi-final, Devesh after dropping the opening two games to Jubin Kumar (PSPB) fought back to win the third game. 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 player, who played steadily and went on to clinch a 4-2 win.
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.
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.
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 overcame Rajasthan’s Priyanka Pareek in straight games 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 (all finals) – Men’s Singles: G. Sathiyan (PSPB) bt Devesh Karia (Guj) 4-0 (11-5, 11-2, 11-3, 13-11).
Women’s Singles: Suthirtha Mukherjee (WB) bt Mousumi Paul (PSPB) 4-2 (18-20, 11-9, 11-5, 6-11, 11-9, 11-3).
Youth Boys Singles: Ronit Bhanja (AAI) bt Birdie Boro (PSPB) 4-0 (11-5, 11-9, 13-11, 11-7).
Youth Girls Singles: Priyadarshini Das (WB) bt Amrutha Pushpak (TN) 4-3 (4-11, 11-7, 12-14, 11-9, 6-11, 11-6, 11-9).
Junior Boys Singles: Manav Thakkar (PSPB) bt Snehit Suravajjula (TELG) 4-1 (11-6, 7-11, 11-9, 11-9, 11-8).
Junior Girls Singles: Archana Girish Kamath (AAI) bt Priyanka Pareek (Raj) 4-0 (11-5, 11-4, 11-7, 11-7).