Before the men’s team final, if anyone had suggested that Petroleum’s formidable trio of G. Sathiyan, Harmeet Desai and Manav Thakkar could be taken to deciders by little-known rivals from Delhi, many would have scoffed at the idea.
The difference
As it turned out, Parth Virmani, Sudhanshu Grover and Payas Jain did last five sets before exposure and experience made the difference in the National table tennis championship here.
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Eventually, the scoreline read 3-0 in Petroleum’s favour without reflecting the closeness of the contest. Of the lot, Sathiyan lived most dangerously against Virmani. Facing three match-points at 7-10 in the decider, Sathiyan pulled off five straight points.
The women’s final witnessed proceedings contrary to expectations of a close clash.
Railways’ Sagarika Mukherjee, Takeme Sarkar and Moumita Dutta joined hands for a resounding 3-0 victory over defending champion Bengal-A.
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For the record, the title was the 11th for Railway women and first since January 1999, when they triumphed in Chennai. Since its last win, Railways finished runner-up six times.
For Petroleum men, it was the 24th occasion as champion.
Delhi, playing the final after 1983, came up with a gallant display. Grover, struggling for the better part of the team event, took the first two sets against Harmeet to inject the much-needed self-belief in the Delhi camp.
But as the match progressed, Harmeet proved stronger and raced away with the last three sets.
Fighter
Sathiyan, expected to brush aside Virmani in quick time, dropped the second and fourth sets in contrasting ways before staring at defeat in the fifth. Serving at match-point, Virmani played it safe with a short serve and Sathiyan was quick to finish the point. Thereafter, Sathiyan gave nothing away.
Payas, 16, touted as the most promising talent in the country, made the most of the big stage by winning the close first and fourth sets, before Thakkar broke away from 3-3 in the decider to win eight of the last nine points.
The results (Team championship finals):
Men: Petroleum bt Delhi 3-0 [Harmeet Desai bt Sudhanshu Grover 7-11, 8-11, 11-5, 11-4, 11-6; G. Sathiyan bt Parth Virmani 11-8, 9-11, 11-5, 6-11, 12-10; Manav Thakkar bt Payas Jain 9-11, 11-6, 11-6, 11-13, 11-4].
Women: Railways bt Bengal-A 3-0 [Sagarika Mukherjee bt Prapti Sen 11-8, 8-11, 11-9, 9-11, 11-6; Takeme Sarkar bt Mousumi Paul 13-11, 7-11, 11-8, 11-4; Moumita Dutta bt Surbhi Patwari 11-4, 9-11, 11-6, 12-10].