Unseeded Sreeja Akula has been causing the odd upsets since her junior days. But this week, this Telangana girl stitched them all together to walk away with the women singles honours in the National-ranking table tennis (North Zone) tournament here on Thursday.
Sreeja continued her sensational winning streak by knocking out fourth seed Sutirtha Mukherjee in the final. Sutirtha had blanked top seed Archana Kamath in the semifinal.
Second seed and former National champion A. Amalraj proved he had lost none of the hunger of old as he overpowered young top seed Manav Thakkar in five sets to regain the men’s singles title, in style.
“It was unexpected. But the win against Anusha (Kutumbale) gave me the confidence. After winning the third and fourth games in the final, I knew I needed a bit of luck to clinch it,” said Sreeja, the champion from Reserve Bank of India.
Indeed, it was the 4-3 triumph over Anusha, in the semifinals that truly underlined the great spirit of the new champion. She had held her nerves to win the decider 12-10 in a marathon battle.
Similarly, Amalraj needed seven sets to down a fighting Sudhanshu Grover squandering a 3-1 lead in the semifinal. “I took it a bit easy and let him come back into the match,” said Amalraj and continued, “I was really determined in the decider and allowed him just two points.”
In the final involving the top two seeds, Amalraj raced away with the first three sets before letting Manav pull one back. But Amalraj was not to be denied as he kept his errors in check and marched to another zonal crown.
The results:
Men: Final: A. Amalraj (Pet) bt Manav Thakkar (Pet) 11-9, 12-10, 11-8, 9-11, 11-8; Semifinals: Manav bt Sanil Shetty (Pet) 11-7, 11-9, 6-11, 11-9, 11-6; Amalraj bt Sudhanshu Grover (Pet) 8-11, 11-6, 11-3, 11-8, 11-13, 8-11, 11-2.
Women: Final: Sreeja Akula (RBI) bt Sutirtha Mukherjee (Har) 6-11, 7-11, 14-12, 13-11, 11-9, 11-9. Semifinals Sutirtha bt Archana Kamath (Pet) 12-10, 12-10, 11-8, 11-5, Sreeja bt Anusha Kutumbale (MP) 11-8, 8-11, 11-7, 5-11, 11-7, 3-11, 12-10 .
Published - June 27, 2019 10:47 pm IST
