Poulomi silences detractors

TABLE TENNIS: Sathiyan wins his biggest title, beating Soumyajit

August 23, 2014 02:24 am | Updated 02:24 am IST - NEW DELHI:

DOUBLE DELIGHT: G. Sathiyan announced his return to top-flight domestic competition by bagging a double, while Poulomi Ghatak, dismissed as a spent-force at Glasgow, staked her claim for an Asian Games berth with a singles win. Photo: Sandeep Saxena

DOUBLE DELIGHT: G. Sathiyan announced his return to top-flight domestic competition by bagging a double, while Poulomi Ghatak, dismissed as a spent-force at Glasgow, staked her claim for an Asian Games berth with a singles win. Photo: Sandeep Saxena

For seven-time National champion Poulomi Ghatak, the success at the 44th All India inter-institutional table tennis championship could not have come at a more opportune time.

Almost dismissed as a spent-force during the Commonwealth Games at Glasgow, Poulomi silenced her detractors within the selection committee and staked her claim for a place in the Asian Games squad.

For G. Sathiyan the ‘double crown’ on Friday, to go with the team title, was a great way to announce his return to top-flight domestic competition.

The 21-year old won his biggest men’s title by beating his long-time friend and title-favourite Soumyajit Ghosh.

Earlier, in the doubles final, Sathiyan and Sourav Saha surprisingly blanked the fancied duo of Ghosh and Harmeet Desai.

Tentative start

In the final against fourth seed Pooja Saharabudhe, Poulomi started tentatively.

After the players shared the first two games, Pooja fought valiantly to save three game-points in the third.

In the fourth, Pooja rallied from 7-10 to hold a game-point before Poulomi regained control to win 13-11. Undeterred, Pooja broke away from 7-7 to win the fifth.

Thereafter, Poulomi opened a 7-2 lead and ended Pooja’s resistance on the second match-point.

Later, Sathiyan collared a ‘tired’ Ghosh by running up handy leads in most of the games.

Sathiyan, playing to a plan drawn by his coach and former National champion S. Raman, raced away to a 10-0 lead in the opening game before pushing a backhand out on Ghosh’s serve. Ghosh showed his displeasure over Sathiyan’s charity and served out to lose the first game 1-11.

Ghosh bounced right back to take the second game but appeared unhappy with his play.

In the third game, an-all attacking Sathiyan jumped to 6-1 and in the fourth, moved ahead to 6-2 before closing them out.

It looked all over for Ghosh in the fifth game when Sathiyan led 9-3.

At this point, Sathiyan chose to play defensively and eventually dropped the game after Ghosh saved two match-points.

The sixth game almost followed the progression of the fifth with Sathiyan leading 9-2.

Once again Ghosh fought back gallantly and saved four match-points before a backhand down-the-line winner from Sathiyan sealed the contest.

The results:

Men: Singles: Final: G. Sathiyan (Pet) bt Soumyajit Ghosh (Pet) 11-1, 6-11, 11-7, 11-9, 10-12, 11-9.

Semifinals: Ghosh bt Sanil Shetty (Pet) 11-8, 11-6, 11-7, 12-10; Sathiyan bt Sarthak Gandhi (FCI) 11-8, 8-11, 11-5, 11-8, 11-7.

Doubles: Final: Sathiyan and Sourav Saha (Pet) bt Ghosh and Harmeet Desai (Pet) 11-7, 11-9, 11-9.

Women: Singles: Final: Poulomi Ghatak (Pet) bt Pooja Sahasrabudhe (Pet) 12-10, 9-11, 11-9, 13-11, 8-11, 11-8.

Semifinals: Pooja bt Mousumi Paul (Pet) 11-8, 9-11, 7-11, 11-3, 14-12, 11-6; Poulomi bt Madhurika Patkar (Pet) 2-11, 12-10, 11-13, 5-11, 11-3, 11-6, 11-3.

Doubles: Final: Nikhat Bhanu and Kritwikka Sinha Roy (AAI) bt Reeth Rishya and Narasimha Priya (Pet) 11-7, 11-8, 11-9.

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