Ghosh, Sutirtha make it a grand Haryana affair
Bhavnagar, November 11: Haryana reigned supreme as Soumyajit Ghosh, showing intent and purpose, claimed his first title in three years, while Sutirtha Mukherjee, also her first this season, in the UTT National Ranking (Central Zone) Table Tennis Championships at the SAG Sports Complex here today.
In all-Haryana men singles final, Soumyajit defeated Jeet Chandra 4-1 and Sutirtha laboured a 4-3 win against West Bengal’s Prapti Sen in women singles title match.
With bigger seeds out of reckoning, things became rather easy for Soumyajit but had to cross the Jeet hurdle. Fortunately for the former national champion, his rival suffered a side back strain with Soumyajit leading 2-0. Yet, the youngster managed to take a game off him before being subdued.
Soumyajit had reached the final of the 2017 Senior Nationals at Ranchi, held in January 2018. Before that, he had made a token appearance in one national ranking event in 2017 without making any impression.
If Jeet was in sublime form, Soumyajit was definitely returning to his old self with consistency. It was very much visible throughout when the two deservingly made it to the final, especially Soumyajit, who has been trying to pick up the thread from where he had left it off.
Sutirtha, trailing 1-2, proved a better player in the final when a tired Prapti—she is in Youth final as well—could not rise to the occasion in the fourth, just about managing a couple of points. Even though she came back in the next, she had lost her tempo which allowed the Haryana woman claw her way back. In a neck-and-neck decider she was able to stop the West Bengal girl two points short of the target to log her first full points.
Mixed Day for Gujarat paddlers
It was win some lose some moment for Gujarat paddlers on Monday at SAG Sports Complex. Ishaan Hingorani, Harshil Kothari and Dhairya Parmar lost but Namna Jaiswal, Aafrien Murad and Chitrax Bhatt cruised into pre-quarterfinals of their respective categories.
Competing in the Junior Girls section local girl Namna defeated Sayaali Wani of Maharashtra 11-7 9-11 12-10 11-8 to enter pre-quarters. Namna will be joined by Surat-based Aafrien, who had a few anxious moments before overcoming Shriya Anand of Tamil Nadu 11-7 9-11 11-3 9-11 11-9.
“My first ball attack fetched me good points and so did service. This is first time I have entered Pre-Quarters of a National Ranking competition. I am excited,” said Aafrien, sounding confident as she warmed-up for her match in the evening.
Meanwhile, Chitrax, an Amdavadi, also advanced. In Junior Boys event the lanky paddler defeated Aniket Sen Chowdhary of West Bengal. Chitrax dropped first game but as match advanced he warmed up and produced series of forehand winners to script a 7-11 11-9 11-7 11-9 win.
However, another Amdavadi Dhairya Parmar couldn’t keep his winning momentum as he crashed out of Junior Boys event. He lost to Shreyaans Goel 2-11 9-11 1-11. Following his footsteps was Bhavnagar’s Harshil Kothari, who lost to Deenadayalan Vishwa 4-11 6=11 5-11.
Ishaan lost his Round of 32 Youth Boys match to Yashansh Malik of Delhi 7-11 8-11 1-11 5-11.
Jeet, Anusha win gold
In Youth Boys final, brushing aside his troubled back, Jeet blanked out Deepit R. Patil of Maharashtra 4-0 to lift the trophy and the Youth Girls crown went the way of Anusha Kutumbale of Madhya Pradesh who downed her West Bengal opponent, Prapti Sen, also by the same margin.
Payas Jain in the company of Vanshika Bhargava beat Railways’ Anirban Ghosh and Shruti Amrute 3-2 in a tight mixed doubles final, after leading 2-0.
Results:
Men: Final: Soumyajit Ghosh (Har) bt Jeet Chandra (Har) 13-11, 11-5, 7-11, 11-1, 11-8; Semi-finals: Jeet Chandra bt Birdie Boro (PSPB) 13-15, 11-6, 11-5, 11-8, 11-3; Soumyajit Ghosh bt Sushmit Sriram (TN) 16-14, 9-11, 11-9, 11-9, 11-8.
Women: Final: Sutirtha Mukherjee (Har) bt Prapti Sen (WB) 11-3, 8-11, 10-12, 11-2, 5-11, 11-6, 11-9; Semi-finals: Sutirtha Mukherjee bt Anusha Kutumbale (MP) 8-11, 11-13, 11-8, 11-7, 6-11, 11-8, 12-10; Prapti Sen bt Ayhika Mukherjee (RBI) 11-8, 11-3, 11-3, 11-3.
Youth Boys: Final: Jeet Chandra (Har) bt Deepit Rajesh Patil (Mah) 11-4, 11-6, 12-10, 14-12; Semi-finals: Deepit R Patil bt Prth Virmani (Del) 11-6, 11-5, 11-6, 12-14, 13-11; Jeet Chandra bt Payas Jain (Del) 11-9, 11-8, 11-7, 12-10.
Youth Girls: Final: Anusha Kutumbale (MP) bt Prapti Sen (WB) 11-5, 11-4, 16-14, 11-9; Semi-finals: Prapti Sen bt Kaushani Nath (Rlys) 11-9, 12-10, 7-11, 11-6, 13-11; Anusha Kutumbale bt Swastika Ghosh (Mah) 11-8, 11-5, 11-6, 11-8.
Mixed Doubles: Final: Payas Jain/Vanshika Bhargava (Del) bt Anirban Ghosh/Shruti Amrute (Rlys) 11-8, 11-6, 7-11, 6-11, 11-9.