Down and almost out, Subhajit Saha scripted a comeback tale that will be remembered and recalled for long by those present at the Netaji Subhash SAI Sub-Centre here.
In a 65-minute battle involving two former National champions, Saha bounced back from 2-8 to win the deciding game 11-9 and left Soumyadeep Roy in a daze for a place in the men's singles semifinals of the National table tennis championship here on Saturday.
For a place in the final, third seed Saha meets the energetic second seed A. Amalraj. In the other semifinal, favourite Sharath Kamal will take on National youth champion and rising talent, fifth seed Soumyajit Ghosh.
In the ladies section, the Petroleum brigade — Poulomi Ghatak, K. Shamini and Mouma Das — took a revenge of sorts by knocking the out three Maharashtra ‘A' girls — Divya Deshpande, Madhurika Patkar and Mamta Prabhu — who had combined to inflict a stunning defeat in the team championship earlier in the week.
Ankita Das made her maiden Nationals semifinal by stopping another Maharashtra girl, Pooja Sahastrabudhe. In the semifinals, Poulomi faces Ankita and Shamini takes on Mouma.
On Friday, the match of the day was surely the one involving Saha and Roy. Staring at defeat in the final game, Saha attacked furiously on both the flanks and steadily bridged the gap with Roy committing a series of uncharacteristic errors.
In fact, Roy almost waited passively for Saha to err. An unstoppable Saha won the last seven points and left a visibly shocked Roy in the arena to deal with the disappointment.
Sharath was generous enough to drop two games to Anirban Nandi without flirting with danger.
Amalraj won an intense battle against Chennai-mate G. Sathiyan after Ghosh rallied to down Shetty who started off well.
Later, Shetty had the consolation of winning the mixed doubles title with Manika Batra at the expense of Ghosh and Ankita.
The results: Men: Quarterfinals: Sharath Kamal (Pet) bt Anirban Nandi (Rlys) 11-4, 8-11, 11-4, 11-9; Soumyajit Ghosh (NB) bt Sanil Shetty (Pet) 8-11, 11-4, 11-9, 9-11, 11-5, 11-3; Subhajit Saha (Pet) bt Soumyadeep Roy (Pet) 11-8, 4-11, 11-9, 6-11, 12-14, 11-8, 11-9; A. Amalraj (Pet) bt G. Sathiyan (Pet) 11-6, 11-9, 5-11, 9-11, 11-6, 11-8.
Pre-quarterfinals: Sharath bt V. Nitin (Pet) 11-9, 11-8, 11-1, 11-8; Nandi bt Sourav Chakraborty (WB) 11-6, 11-4, 15-13, 11-3; Ghosh bt Jubin Kumar 11-8, 11-1, 12-10, 11-4; Shetty bt Devesh Karia (Guj) 6-11, 11-9, 12-10, 11-9, 9-11, 14-16, 11-3; Saha bt Raj Mondal 11-8, 11-7, 11-4, 11-7; Roy bt Souvik Kar (WB) 11-5, 9-11, 6-11, 11-6, 11-9, 11-7; Sathiyan bt Harmit Desai 11-5, 11-9, 11-8, 11-9; Amal Raj bt Aman Balgu 11-7, 11-8, 9-11, 11-5, 11-7.
Women singles: Quarterfinals: Poulomi Ghatak (Pet) bt Divya Deshpande (Mah ‘A') 11-7, 11-4, 9-11, 14-12, 5-11, 11-5; Ankita Das (NB) bt Pooja Sahastrabudhe (Mah ‘B') 11-4, 11-6, 11-9, 12-10; Mouma Das (Pet) bt Mamta Prabhu (Mah ‘A') 10-12, 11-1, 11-5, 12-10, 11-8; K. Shamini (Pet) bt Madhurika Patkar (Mah ‘A') 13-11, 11-9, 12-10, 11-6.
Pre-quarterfinals: Poulomi bt Mallika Bhandarkar (Mah ‘A') 6-11, 4-11,
11-2, 11-8, 11-6, 9-11, 11-3; Divya bt Kasturi Chakraborty (Pet) 1-11, 3-11, 12-10, 11-3, 11-9, 11-9; Ankita bt Soumi Mondal (Pet) 11-5, 11-5, 11-5, 11-6; Pooja bt Sukanya Bose (NB) 16-14, 3-11, 11-7, 11-8, 11-8; Mouma bt Tanya Das (NB) 11-9, 11-7, 11-3, 11-8; Mamta bt Manika Batra (Pet) 6-11, 11-5, 11-7, 12-10, 11-3; Madhurika bt Neha Agarwal (Pet) 9-11, 11-9, 15-13, 115, 11-7; Shamini bt Shweta Parte (Mah ‘A') 11-9, 11-8, 11-1, 8-11, 11-13, 11-7.
Mixed doubles (final): Sanil Shetty and Manika Batra (Pet) bt Soumyajit Ghosh and Ankita Das (NB) 11-8, 11-4, 12-10.
