Saturday, Aug 10, 2002
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Table Tennis
By Our Special Correspondent
The Petroleum men's team and the Railways' women's team (right) which won the titles in the inter-Institutional table tennis championship in New Delhi on Friday.
After Anindita Chakraborty squandered a `tie-point' against Mouma Das and let Petroleum force the fifth singles, the diminutive Susmita raised her level of play and pulled off a sensational victory. She came up with some remarkable retrieves against Indu on way to a 9-11, 8-11, 11-8, 11-9, 11-5 victory. This result also helped Railways avenge the 1-3 loss suffered in the National team final in February. Likewise, the Petroleum men had their revenge after belting Railways 3-1 and regained the title. Petroleum was looking to redeem its prestige after finishing second best to Railways in the previous edition of the meet, as well as in the National championship. On Friday, the men came out stronger in two of the three five-game battles before Subhajit Saha defeated Saurav Chakraborty in four games to complete Petroleum's campaign on a triumphant note. More than the close matches of the men's team final, what held the attention of those watching was the women's final.
Petroleum looked on course for a predictable triumph after Mouma stopped Susmita in four games and Indu led Anindita 11-8 and 6-1. From this point, the tide changed in favour of Railways as Anindita cut down on her percentage of unforced errors and caught up with Indu. Though Indu led 9-7, she never looked too sure of closing the game. Indu's tentative play, in turn, raised Anindita's confidence and soon the score stood at one game apiece. Again in the third game, Indu was up 8-6 but her lack of self-belief again showed up and she squandered the next five points and with it, the game. In the fourth, Anindita jumped to a 8-2 lead and easily closed the match. What followed was the biggest surprise of the day. Poulomi struggled all the way to a four-game loss to Mousumi Paul. All credit to Mousumi for retrieving superbly and keeping Poulomi guessing right through this match, which otherwise never rose beyond mediocrity. Still, at this stage, Poulomi's loss did not exactly upset Petroleum's calculations as Mouma was expected to pull it off against Anindita. But the way Anindita started and raced away with the first two games, Petroleum found itself precariously placed, but Mouma came back strongly to claim the match. Now the pressure was on Indu to deliver the knockout blow. Against Susmita, Indu found her rhythm early and looked in command while winning the first two games. But she had not reckoned with Susmita's fighting abilities. Susmita opened a 10-5 lead in the third and 6-3 in the fourth as Indu struggled to get her forehand drive, finally Susmita won the fifth set to clinch the title for Railways. On the adjacent table, the men's team final, too, was closely fought though the eventual margin did not reflect this fact. Though not much separated the two teams, Petroleum remained ahead right through the contest. Arup Basak had to use all his experience to down Saurav Chakraborty, the left-hander who had won both his matches in the National team final against Petroleum. Subhajit Saha overpowered a spirited Sarat Kamal, also in five games, to double Petroleum's lead. However, Soumyadeep Roy did not do his reputation any good on this day. His attitude has been under scrutiny by his employers after he failed to deliver in the team matches, especially in the last National championship. Today, watched by the senior officers of the Petroleum sector, Roy blew up a 2-1 lead against Ranbir Das and lost the next two games. Fortunately, Roy's defeat did not affect Petroleum's chances on this day because Saha came good in both his matches.Meanwhile, 10 qualifiers made it to the main draw in the men's section. They are, Prithviraj Bose (Rlys), Mukul Bora (RBI), N. Ravi Chandran (Central Revenue), Vikas Mahajan (Electricity Board), Swapnil Joshi (Mah), Nachiket Chawate (Rlys), Tanmoy Dutta (COE), Nishant Kulkarni (Mah), Amit Das (Rlys) and Dipankar Adhikari (Central Revenue). The results: Team championships: Men: Final: Petroleum bt Railways 3-1 (Arup Basak bt Sourav Chakraborty 8-11, 10-12, 11-9, 11-6, 11-9; Subhajit Saha (Sr.) bt Sarat Kamal 13-15, 11-6, 11-7, 9-11, 11-6; Soumyadeep Roy lost to Ranbir Das 5-11, 11-8, 13-11, 6-11, 9-11; Saha bt Chakraborty 8-11, 11-8, 11-7, 11-8). Semifinals: Railways bt Life Insurance Corporation 3-0 (Ranbir Das bt R. Rajesh 9-11, 11-5, 6-11, 11-5, 12-10; Saurav Chakraborty bt Vinay Baiswade 11-7, 11-5, 11-4; Sarat Kamal bt Ranjan Chakraborty 11-13, 9-11, 13-11, 11-9, 11-8). Petroleum bt Banks Sports Board 3-0 (Arup Basak bt Jignesh Jaiswal 11-5, 5-11, 8-11, 11-7, 12-10; Soumyadeep Roy bt Deepak Thukral 11-6, 11-8, 11-5; Subhajit Saha (Sr.) bt Vineet Chopra 10-12, 11-5, 11-7, 11-5). Women: Railways bt Petroleum 3-2 (Susmita Ray lost to Mouma Das 13-15, 0-11, 14-12, 10-12; Anindita Chakraborty bt N.R. Indu 8-11, 11-9, 11-8, 11-5; Mousumi Paul bt Poulomi Ghatak 15-13, 10-12, 11-8, 12-10; Anindita lost to Mouma Das 11-3, 11-9, 12-14, 7-11, 6-11; Susmita bt Indu 9-11, 8-11, 11-8, 11-9, 11-5).
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