Sport - Table Tennis   

PSPB takes women's title

By Nandakumar Marar

The Petroleum Sports Promotion Board squad of (from left) N.R. Indu, Montu Ghosh, Mouma Das, M.S. Mythili and Poulomi Ghatak, that took top honours in women's team event in the National table tennis championship in Pune on Saturday. — Photo: Vivek Bendre

PUNE Jan. 11. Petroleum Sports Promotion Board's collective strength proved more potent than Anandita Chakraborty's individual brilliance and match temperament in the women's team final of the 64th senior National table tennis championships on Saturday.

Poulomi Ghatak's tricky serves, Montu Ghosh's grit under pressure and above all, Mouma's wristy strokeplay and steely nerves enabled the former wrest the title 3-2 from Railways Sports Promotion Board in an engrossing title clash which went to the decider.

Anandita won on both occasions she was sent into battle by the RSPB management. The well-built paddler took apart Mouma in the opening match, which went to five games and then returned to conquer Olympian Poulomi in four.

After PSPB's Montu Ghosh hung on, after trailing by two games against Mausami Paul, to win and take her team ahead 2-1, Mouma delivered when it mattered most in the decider against young Vishaka Vijay.

"Mouma is capable of such displays so it was not surprising," noted PSPB manager V.K. Bawa after the tense finish. "It was Montu's match which turned things our way. She was down two games and trailing in the third before going on to win. Had she lost our team may have ended up on the wrong side."

A delayed start to the final may have had a hand in Mouma's early reverse as she found it difficult to punch holes in Anandita's aggressive game early on. The PSPB international came into her elements in the decider, banking on a compact defence to pressurise young Vishaka and then hitting rasping forehand winners at every opportunity, the ball whipped across the table out of her rival's reach.

The young Railway paddler showed glimpses of form shown this season, which has won her a lot of attention from peers and contemporaries, by winning the first game, picking up points with excellent positioning and fluent movements across the table, but found herself at the receiving end when Mouma went for broke. Vishaka faced match-point at 5-10 in the decider, then won four more points to raise visions of a fightback which didn't happen.

Earlier, the semifinals showed the chasm in performances between the handpicked internationals from PSPB and RSPB and rest of the pack and both the institutions teams romped into the women's and men's finals via the short route.

The individual events commence from Sunday, January 12 but the seedings are yet to be finalised. The women's singles event promises to be an open affair, with a lot of contenders in the fray to keep established names on their toes.

The results (team championship):

Women's final: PSPB bt RSPB 3-2 (Mouma Das lost to Anandita Chakraborty 11-9, 10-12, 11-8, 8-11, 9-11; Poulomi Ghatak bt Vishaka Vijay 11-8, 6-11, 11-5, 11-6; Montu Ghosh bt Mousami Paul 9-11, 13-15, 11-6, 13-11, 11-3; Anandita bt Poulomi 7-11, 11-9, 11-6, 11-9; Mouma bt Vishaka 14-16, 11-7, 11-7, 11-9).

Women's semifinals: PSPB bt Tamil Nadu 3-0 (Poulomi bt T. Pradeepa 11-5, 11-7, 8-11, 11-8; Mouma bt B. Bhuvaneshwari 12-10, 11-6, 11-3; N.R. Indu bt B. Arul Selvi 11-7, 11-6, 12-10).

RSPB bt Assam 3-0 (Sushmita Roy bt Jupa Borthakur 11-13, 11-8, 11-8, 11-8; Anandita bt Sanjukta Gogoi 11-8, 11-9, 12-10; Mousami bt Mrigakhee Bordoloi 11-4, 12-10, 9-11, 11-6).

Men's semifinals: RSPB bt Tamil Nadu 3-0 (Sourav Chakravarty bt R. Rajesh 11-4, 12-14, 11-3, 11-5; Sharath Kamal bt K. Srivatsa 11-5, 11-7, 11-8; Ranbir Das bt G. Vinod 13-11, 11-9, 11-9).

PSPB bt Bengal 3-0 (Soumyadeep Roy bt Anirban Nandy 11-9, 13-11, 11-5; S. Raman bt Arup Basak 11-7, 11-5, 3-11, 12-10; Subhajit Saha bt Amit Mukherjee 16-14, 11-6, 11-2).

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