Table Tennis: Manav Thakkar, Yashaswini Ghorpade crowned national champions

The Petroleum Sports Promotion Board's (PSPB) Manav Thakkar and Yashaswini Ghorpade were crowned the men's and women's singles champions respectively at the 87th Table Tennis Senior National Championships in Indore on Friday.

Up against a teenaged Syndrela Das in the women's singles final, Ghorpade was made to work hard for a 4-3 win to lift the title in a match which lasted over an hour.

Ghorpade raced to lead thrice in the match, winning the first, third, and fifth games but Das, who had taken out reigning champion Diya Chitale in the semi-finals, always fought back to equalise.

The decider also saw leads exchange hands multiple times before Ghorpade held her nerves in the final moments to secure the title.

Later in the day, Thakkar had a rather straightforward run to the title as he took down Railways Sports Promotion Board's (RSPB) Jeet Chandra 4-1 in the men's singles final.

Thakkar raced to a 2-0 lead in the contest before Chandra put up a fightback in the next two games. Having lost the third game and with the fourth fast slipping away, Thakkar raised his game to take a 3-1 lead.

In the final game, Thakkar once again displayed why he is ranked among the top-35 paddlers in the world as he cruised to the title in under 35 minutes.

Earlier in the day, Ankur Bhattacharjee and Suhana Saini had combined to win the mixed doubles title with a 3-2 win over Ankit Bose and Sampriti Roy.

Meanwhile, Jeet Chandra-Anirban Ghosh and Sutirtha Mukherjee-Kaushani Nath were crowned the men's doubles and women's doubles champions respectively on Friday.