Sanil Shetty of Bharat Petroleum and Madhurika Patkar of ONGC won the men’s and women’s titles in the Vatika North Zone National ranking table tennis championship at the Thyagaraj Stadium here on Thursday.
It was an impressive effort from the 23-year-old left-hander Sanil Shetty, as the Mumbai lad dominated the final against Harmeet Desai, who incidentally had knocked-out the top-seeded Soumyadeep Roy in the semifinals.
Though he lost the third game from 9-9 to lose a bit of momentum, after having won the first two, Sanil kept his cool to pull off the next two games in a thrilling fashion. In fact, Harmeet who had beaten Sanil the last time in the South Zone championship semifinals, had two game points in the fifth game at 10-8, but Sanil reeled off the next four points to wind up the match in just about 30 minutes.
“After winning the pre-quarterfinals by saving three match points and from 1-3 set score against Sathiswaran, I was very confident. I am thrilled to win this title,” said Sanil, as he won the winner’s cheque for Rs.66,000.
Tough battles
Madhurika has had many tough battles against A. V. Niveditha and looked to be in trouble as the latter played an attacking game to race away with the first two games. In the third, Madhurika pulled it off from 9-9. Thereafter, she took early leads in the next three games to make it a smooth sailing to the finish.
“'I was playing her type of game initially. I just about managed to win the third. I grew in confidence and played a lot better later,” said Madhurika, who was presented Rs.55,000 for her first title in nearly three years.
Madhurika too had gained a lot of confidence in beating the top-seeded Poulomi Ghatak, only for the second time in her career, that too in straight games, in the semifinals.
The results:
Men (final) : Sanil Shetty bt Harmeet Desai 11-8, 11-7, 9-11, 11-9, 12-10; Semifinals : Harmeet bt Soumyadeep Roy 11-6, 4-11, 11-8, 11-5, 13-11; Sanil bt Aman Baigu 7-11, 11-7, 12-10, 5-11, 10-12, 11-4, 11-5. Quarterfinals : Soumyadeep bt G. Sathiyan 11-9, 11-9, 11-9, 11-9; Harmeet bt Martand Biniwale 11-6, 11-8, 11-4, 11-5; Aman bt Jubin Kumar 11-5, 4-11, 8-11, 11-4, 12-10, 2-11, 11-6; Sanil bt Nithin Thiruvengadam 11-13, 4-11, 11-6, 11-7, 12-10, 11-8.
Women (final) : Madhurika Patkar bt A.V. Niveditha 9-11, 4-11, 11-9, 11-8, 11-3, 11-7; Semifinals : Madhurika bt Poulomi Ghatak 11-6, 11-7, 11-5, 12-10; A. V. Niveditha bt K. Shamini 11-9, 12-10, 11-9, 3-11, 12-10, 11-8. Quarterfinals : Poulomi bt Sutirtha Mukherjee 11-8, 8-11, 11-5, 11-5, 11-8; Madhurika bt Mamata Prabhu 11-7, 13-11, 12-10, 11-8; A. V. Niveditha bt Soumi Mondal 5-11, 11-8, 11-7, 9-11, 8-11, 13-11, 11-9; K. Shamini bt Neha Aggarwal 11-8, 7-11, 11-4, 11-6, 11-9.
