Harmeet Desai and Ayhika Mukherjee were all smiles as they took the men’s and women’s singles titles in the UTT-South Zone National ranking table tennis championships at the Jimmy George indoor stadium here on Sunday.
Harmeet was all poise and grace as he accounted for Sushmit Sriram, seeded two rungs below his sixth, 11-6, 11-8, 11-5, 6-11, 12-10 to go home richer by ₹77,000. Ayhika, the lone seed remaining in the fray, came out blazing against a fighting Selenadeepthi Selvakumar 11-6, 10-12, 11-13, 11-9, 11-7, 11-7 in the women’s summit clash.
Sushmit having knocked out fourth seed Sanish Shetty in the semifinals in the morning had raised hopes of providing a good fight to his Gujarat rival, who made the grade with a facile win over Soumyajit Ghosh. However, the Tamil Nadu paddler was nowhere in the picture, but for the third game, as Harmeet kept up the pressure with an attacking display.
“It was easy in the end and I was well prepared for Sushmit and the final,” said Harmet.
Selenadeepthi had picked up a couple of hours prior to the women’s final at the expense of Kaushani Nath 11-5, 17-15, 13-11, 11-7.
But against Ayhika, Selenadeepthi, daughter of former National champion Arul Selvi, lost the first game tamely. She gave a good account of herself in the next two games but Ayhika was quick to employ her potent forehand through the next three games.
She forced Selenadeepthi on the defensive and commit too many unforced errors. Ayhika returned with a purse of ₹66,000.
The results: Men: Final: Harmeet Desai (PSPB) bt Sushmit Sriram (TN) 11-6, 11-8, 11-5, 6-11, 12-10. Semifinals: Harmeet bt Soumyajit Ghosh (Har) 11-3, 11-9, 9-11, 11-2, 10-12, 11-2; Sushmit bt Sanish Shetty (PSPB) 8-11, 11-7, 11-13, 4-11, 11-7, 11-6, 11-6.
Women: Final: Ayhika Mukherjee (RBI) bt Selenadeepthi Selvakumar (TN) 11-6, 10-12, 11-13, 11-9, 11-7, 11-7. Semifinals: Ayhika bt Shruti Amrute (Rlys) 9-11, 11-5, 11-4, 11-3, 11-8; Selenadeepthi bt Senhora D’Souza (BoB) 11-6, 11-7, 11-6, 3-11, 11-9.
Youth girls: Final: Selenadeepthi bt Kaushani Nath (Rlys) 11-5, 17-15, 13-11, 11-7. Semifinals: Selenadeepthi bt Prapti Sen (Ben), 8-11, 11-5, 4-11, 11-4, 11-7; Kaushani bt Shruti 11-9, 10-12, 9-11, 4-11, 12-10, 11-7, 11-9.
