Harmeet lifts second national championship title in Panchkula
Gandhidham 23, December: Gujarat’s pride and India-ranked no. 2 paddler Harmeet Desai held his nerves to pip the title-holder and third seed G Sathiyan 4-3 (10-12, 12-10, 14-16, 11-9, 11-9, 9-11, 11-8) and claimed his second men’s singles title at the 85th UTT Senior Nationals and Inter-State Table Tennis Championships at the Tau Devi Lal Indoor Stadium in Panchkula on Friday.
Vadodara-boy Manush Shah had to settle for the bronze medal after losing to Harmeet in the semi-final.
The second seed Harmeet gave up lead in the opening game and played catch up with the Tamil Nadu paddler in the early parts of the match.
However, a resilient Harmeet rallied from 4-9 down to win the next seven points to level the match by winning the fourth game and turned the tables on his dear friend and old arch-rival Sathiyan.
The match was hanging in perfect balance at three games apiece before the Surti paddler held his nerves better than his opponent and raced ahead to win the seventh and the final game to dethrone Sathiyan and become the new national champion.
The 30-year-old Harmeet won his maiden national championship title in 2019 in Jammu after beating his city-mate Manav Thakkar.
“It’s a special feeling to beat my friend and great opponent Sathiyan in seven games because the deeper the match goes the better Sathiyan plays. Making a comeback from 4-9 to winning the fourth game was the turning point for me as I started taking more risks and put pressure on him,” the 2019 Arjuna Awardee Harmeet said.
“Winning two zonal titles and one national championship in 2023 is good but I am happier that Gujarat’s Manav and Manush Shah too are doing equally well at national level. In 2023, out of seven, six titles at national level has been won by a Gujarat paddler. This says the whole turnaround story for our state,” Harmeet added.
Gujarat State Table Tennis Association (GSTTA) president, Shri Pramod Chaudhary said that it is a very proud moment for GSTTA that Harmeet and Manush finished on the podium of the prestigious tournament.
“We at GSTTA are proud of our star paddlers Harmeet, Manush and Manav. Many thanks to our state sports minister Shri Harsh Sanghvi for supporting our endeavour and helping us set up the Sports Authority of Gujarat-Tapti Valley High-Performance Table Tennis Centre (HPTTC) in Surat where Harmeet and other top 25 paddlers have been practicing for many months,” Shri Chaudhary said.
Secretary, GSTTA, Kushal Sangtani pointed out the camaraderie between Harmeet and HPTTC’s chief French coach Julian Girard as one the reasons behind Harmeet’s recent success.
“I am lucky to have witnessed Harmeet winning his first junior national championship title in Raipur, Commonwealth Championship title in Cuttack in 2019 and this year’s National Championship title,” Sangtani added.