It was by no means the top drawer stuff as one would have expected. But Telangana men displayed resilience during the second-half of the men’s team final in the UTT-South Zone National ranking table tennis championship at the Jimmy George indoor stadium here on Wednesday.
Tamil Nadu and Telangana clashed in both the finals of the team events and whereas the former kept its favourite billing in the women’s section without much ado, the latter pulled off a major surprise to win the men’s title after a prolonged fight. For Telangana Snehit Rafeeque and Mohammed Ali won the crucial fourth and fifth singles after Tamil Nadu had threatened to sew up a double by gaining an early 2-1 lead.
Perhaps, Tamil Nadu camp could feel disappointed, as the match was interrupted midway through due to a inaugural function — graced by the Kerala Governor, Justice (retd.) P. Sathasivam. It was only coincidental, though, as the officials had all along been confident that the match would be wrapped by one or the either side after its early start at 2.30 p.m.
Winning smiles: Tamil Nadu women won the team title .
Tamil Nadu was given a flying start by Nitin Trivengadam, who won the opening tie against Mohammed Ali in five sets. Snehit, however, brought the match score on par by making short work of Nikhil Suresh before Tamil Nadu went up through Ananth Devarajan with his win over Aman Balgu. The tie between Nitin and Snehit was 2-2 when the break was called and on resumption it was Telangana player who had the last laugh before Mohammed Ali won over Nikhil to complete an enjoyable triumph.
The women’s final, in comparison, went along expected lines as Selanadeepthi Selvakumar won her two matches in favour of Tamil Nadu and Deepika Neelakandan made it an unassailable 3-1 lead over Telangana by marching past Monica Manohar. The only saving grace for Telangana was the win eked out by Varuni Jaiswal over Yashini Sivashankar.
The results (team event):
Men (final): Telangana by Tamil Nadu 3-2 (Mohammed Ali lost to Nitin Thiruvengadam 4-11, 11-9, 9-11, 11-8, 11-13; Snehit Rafeeque bt Nikhil Suresh 11-6, 8-11, 11-9, 4-11, 11-8; Aman Balgu lost to Ananth Devarajan 7-11, 9-11, 11-9, 11-7, 7-11; Snehit bt Nitin 12-10, 11-8, 5-11, 5-11, 11-5; Mohammed Ali bt Nikhil 11-8, 7-11, 12-10, 11-9). Semifinals: Tamil Nadu bt Kerala 3-1, Telangana bt Karnataka 3-1. Quarterfinals : Kerala bt Puducherry 3-0, Telangana bt Andhra Pradesh 3-0.
Women (final): Tamil Nadu bt Telangana 3-1 (Selenadeepthi Selvakumar bt Naina 11-9, 8-11, 11-7, 11-9; Yashini Sivashankar lost to Varuni Jaiswal 4-11, 8-11, 9-11; Deepika Neelakandan bt Monica Manohar 8-11, 11-9, 7-11, 11-4, 11-6; Selanadeepthi bt Varuni 10-12, 11-6, 11-7, 11-8). Semifinals: Telangana bt Andhra Pradesh 3-1, Tamil Nadu bt Karnataka 3-2. Quarterfinals: Andhra Pradesh bt Kerala 3-0, Karntaka bt Puducherry 3-0 .
