Led by Sharath Kamal, Tamil Nadu's men underlined their superiority scripting a 3-1 win over Gujarat in the men's table tennis final of the 34th Jharkhand National Games at the Thakur Vishwanath Shahdeo Indoor Stadium here on Wednesday.
Earlier, Mamta Prabhu gave Maharashtra the required momentum to put it across West Bengal 3-1 in the women's team final.
Sharath raced past 17-year-old Harmeet Desai for the loss of one game in the opening tie. Pathik Mehta huffed and puffed to overcome R. Abishek to level the scores.
Tamil Nadu State champion Sivananda Seshadri showed no signs of nerves, when he defeated Jignesh Jaiswal. In the fourth match, Sharath provided a few jitters to the TN camp in his four-game win over Pathik that fetched Tamil Nadu the gold.
Ravi Venkatesh, TN coach, said, “the victory was due to the consistent performance by Sharath and others. It was a final of perseverance.”
After Madhurika Patkar gave Maharashtra a head-start with a five-game win over Nandita Saha, it was Mamta, India No.3, who gave the team the momentum to move forward with confidence. Mamta's victory over Mouma Das, two-time National champion, in the second rubber certainly changed the scenario.
West Bengal's Ankita Das's victory over Pooja Sahasradabuddhe in the third tie must have given some hope for the team. However, Madhurika put an end to it by overcoming Mouma in an engrossing five game match.
It was match full of emotions. Mouma was given a red card and docked a point for throwing the racquet on the table (in the fourth game), while coach Jayant Pushilal and Ankita, on the bench, were shown a red card by the umpire for “unauthorised coaching”.
The men's semifinal hockey match on Wednesday between Maharashtra and host Jharkhand at the Astroturf Stadium was abandoned due to crowd unrest.
Fifteen minutes into the second half — the teams hadn't score a goal yet — International hockey umpire Raghu Prasad awarded a penalty stroke to Maharashtra. The Jharkhand players protested.
Following this spectators, who had turned up in large numbers to see the host compete, turned restless and started throwing water bottles into the Stadium.
Despite Jharkhand hockey players and officials making a public announcement to stop, the spectators refused to pay heed. The match will be held on Thursday, but it will not be a full-time contest. Instead, it will resume from the time the match stopped on Wednesday.
In fact, the penalty stroke, which triggered the chaos, will take place, according to the Tournament Committee.
The results: Table tennis: Men: Final: Tamil Nadu bt Gujarat 3-1 (Sharath Kamal bt Harmeet Desai 11-5, 13-11, 3-11, 11-5; R. Abishek lost to Pathik Mehta 7-11, 14-12, 11-5, 9-11, 9-11 ; Sivananda Seshadri bt Jignesh Jaiswal 6-11, 14-12, 12-10, 11-8 ; Sharath bt Pathik 7-11, 11-6, 11-9, 11-1). Semifinals: TN bt West Bengal 3-2; Gujarat bt Haryana 3-0.
Women: Final: Maharashtra bt West Bengal 3-1 (Madhurika Patkar bt Nandita Saha 12-10, 11-6, 9-11, 9-11, 11-8; Mamta Prabhu bt Mouma Das 12-10, 13-11, 9-11, 11-5; Pooja Sahasrabuddhe lost to Ankita Das 7-11, 11-5, 5-11, 2-11; Madhurika Patkar bt Mouma Das 5-11, 8-11, 12-10, 11-8, 14-12).
Semifinals: Maharashtra bt Tamil Nadu 3-1; West Bengal bt Gujarat 3-0.
Hockey: Semifinals: Men: Punjab bt Services 3-2. Women: Haryana bt Orissa 3-1; Jharkhand bt Madhya Pradesh 3-1.
