Coming back from a two-year ban after being found guilty of age-violation, the unseeded Sutirtha Mukherjee finished her determined campaign by getting the better of the Rio-bound Mouma Das and emerged as the surprise winner of the women’s singles title in the 46th all-India inter-institutional table tennis championship here on Friday.
Another unseeded player — Manav Thakkar — was not so lucky in the men’s final. After upstaging top seed A. Amalraj in the semifinals, Manav ran into former champion G. Sathiyan. The second seed showed no mercy on the teenager, carving out a comfortable victory to regain the crown he won in 2014.
Besides the glittering trophies, Sathiyan received Rs. 75,000 and Manav Rs. 37,500. Sutirtha was richer by Rs. 58,000 and Mouma Rs. 29,000.
This, surely, was a special day for Sutirtha. The Bengal girl ended the dream run of Mousumi Paul in the semifinals and overpowered Mouma to show that she was ready to stay in the big league.
Sutirtha’s flat returns countered Mouma’s feared forehand and once she ran away with the third game, it was clear that the veteran would find it tough. Mouma just managed to get it right on the big points during the fourth game, but in the following two, Sutirtha’s all-attacking game proved too much for Mouma.
The Sathiyan-Thakkar final, too, was a battle between two aggressive players.
As expected, the rallies were short but the match produced some thrilling shot-making from both players. Sathiyan’s self-belief made the difference as produced an array of strokes and despite dropping the second game, never allowed Thakkar to look threatening.
The results:
Men’s singles (final): G. Sathiyan (Pet) bt Manav Thakkar (Pet) 11-6, 8-11, 11-6, 11-6, 11-2; Semifinals: Manav bt A. Amalraj (Pet) 11-4, 5-11, 9-11, 11-4, 12-10, 11-9; Sathiyan bt Sanil Shetty (Pet) 8-11, 12-10, 11-7, 11-6, 11-5.
Women’s singles (final): Sutirtha Mukherjee (WB) bt Mouma Das (Pet) 9-11, 13-11, 11-3, 9-11, 11-6, 11-6; Semifinals: Mouma bt Madhurika Patkar (Pet) 11-6, 11-6, 9-11, 10-12, 11-6, 11-4; Sutirtha bt Mousumi Paul (Pet) 11-9, 9-11, 11-7, 11-7, 11-9.
Men’s doubles (final): Sudhanshu Grover & Abhishek Yadav (Pet) bt Devesh Karia & Aman Balgu (CR) 11-8, 9-11, 11-8, 11-1.
Women’s doubles (final): Mouma Das & K. Shamini (Pet) bt Mousumi Paul & Krittwika Sinha Roy (PSPB) 11-7, 4-11, 11-6, 11-7.
