Sourav Chakraborty and K. Shamini produced brilliant comebacks to rescue Petroleum from the brink of a disaster and ensured that it retained the men's and women's team titles in the 72nd senior National and inter-State table tennis. The two finals here at the Netaji Indoor Stadium on Thursday evening went to the wire as a resurgent West Bengal put Petroleum's reputation of relative invincibility under threat with a few upset wins. Petroleum men's team beat West Bengal 3-2, while its women's team prevailed over the other host team 3-1.
Petroleum men's team, which had won the title consecutively for the last eight years, faltered to a point of surrender with India No. 1 and the team's mainstay Soumyadeep Roy losing both his matches. With the final tie locked at 2-2, Sourav Chakraborty played the role of a saviour, winning the deciding rubber after being down two games against his former Railways teammate Anirban Nandi.
Playing in his first year for Petroleum, Sourav Chakraborty proved his merit by hauling up the team from a crisis induced by the absence of its most prized player: Achanta Sharath Kamal.
The world No. 40 and national champion, who was forced to sit out with a bout of flu, missed the final and played the role of a coach to help the team escape from the possibility of losing the title for the first time since 2001.
Error-prone
An error-prone Soumyadeep Roy pushed Petroleum to the point of a debacle losing his matches against Anirban Nadi and young Sourav Saha. Nandi played a brilliant attacking game and sent the top-ranked player of the country packing 3-1. Sourav Chakraborty beat Sourav Saha 3-0 to level the match score 1-1, before Anthony Amal Raj blanked another youngster of West Bengal Souvik Kar 3-0 to put Petroleum 2-1 up after the third match. Sourav Saha forced the other major upset, beating Soumyadeep to make it 2-2 and gave West Bengal hopes of the title.
The deciding match turned out a great contest as the two former Railway colleagues — Sourav and Anirban — matched strength for strength. Finally, Sourav proved the steadier of the two as he erased a two-game deficit to win the match in the decider.
In the women's section, K. Shamini produced a spectacular turn-around as she salvaged four match points against West Bengal's Pallabi Kundu to win the third rubber for Petroleum.
The win became crucial as Petroleum cleared a 2-1 lead after Madhurika Patkar had lost the opening match against seasoned Anindita Chakraborty of West Bengal.
Mouma Das put Petroleum back on the trail beating Krittika Sinha Roy in the second game before Shamini produced the best match of the evening to salvage the rubber from the brink of defeat. Mouma Das beat Anindita Chakraborty in the fourth game to ensure the title for Petroleum for the 12th time in a row.
The women's final reached the heights of tension seeing the ejection of three with red cards. Mouma Das and her Petroleum coach Monalisa Baruah Mehta and the Bengal coach Jayanta Pushilal were all disciplined for giving ‘illegal advice' to players during the matches.
The results: Finals: Men (Barna Bellack Cup): Petroleum bt West Bengal 3-2 (Soumyadip Roy lost to Anirban Nandi 3-11, 11-5, 9-11, 6-11; Sourav Chakraborty bt Sourav Saha 11-7, 11-6, 11-9; Anthony Amalraj bt Souvik Kar 11-8, 11-7, 11-6; Soumyadeep lost to Sourav Saha 12-14, 9-11, 11-9, 13-15; Sourav Chakraborty bt Anirban 13-15, 9-11, 11-6, 11-9, 11-7).
Women (Jayalakshmi Cup): Petroleum bt West Bengal 3-1 (Madhurika Patkar lost to Anindita Chakraborty 3-11, 13-11, 4-11, 9-11; Mouma Das bt Krittika Sinha Roy 11-5, 11-9, 11-2; K. Shamini bt Pallabi Kundu 8-11, 10-12, 13-11, 11-9, 11-6; Mouma bt Anindita 11-7, 11-4, 11-13, 15-13).
