Table Tennis: Maiden Nationals title win for Harmeet; Sutirtha wins her second

It has been a long wait for Harmeet Desai. In 2013, he had reached the finals of the national’s men’s singles event but had conceded a defeat. Seven years later, Harmeet pulls off a strong comeback to win his maiden nationals title on Sunday at the UTT 81st National Table Tennis Championship at the Saroornagar Indoor Stadium.

In an all-Gujarat final, Desai toppled sixth seed Manav Thakkar 4-3 to lay over his hands on the coveted trophy. Thakkar, who defeated an error-prone top seed G. Sathiyan in the semi-finals, bounced back three times to in the final, but Desai overcame the challenge 11-4, 11-13, 14-12, 9-11, 11-8, 5-11, 11-5. Sathiyan’s semi-final exit and Sharath Kamal’s early departure provided Desai with the golden opportunity and he grabbed it with both hands. Desai had defeated Soumyajit Ghosh in the semis.

Also Read: Unfair to say we lost because of the absence of foreign coach — Sathiyan

After taking a 2-1 lead, Manav kept coming at Desai and levelled to take the game to the deciding set. But in the last set, Desai slowed down the pace to deny Manav the leverage he was looking for.

In women’s category, Haryana’s Sutirtha Mukherjee clinched her second national crown with a 4-0 victory over last year’s finalist Krittwika Sinha Roy of PSPB. She had earlier won the title at Ranchi in 2018. The tournament proved to be a memorable one for Mukherjee. She had also won gold medals in the team event for Harayana and women’s doubles event. In the mixed event Mukherjee won a silver.

Roy, featuring in her third finals – her previous appearances were in 2013, 2019 – had no answers to Mukherjee’s strong backhands. Mukherjee, who looked promising during India’s outing at the Team Qualifying Event in Portugal, was up 2-0, displayed some incredible backhand shots and occasional forehand blitzes. Mukherjee had earlier defeated compatriot Ayhika Mukherjee in the semis.

Sathiyan bows out in semis

India’s top-ranked shuttle G. Sathiyan was not lucky and his

error-prone playing raised some eyebrows. He didn’t look confident even taking

on Rohit Bhanja in the quarters and somehow managed a win. However, Sathiyan

did not have any answer to Manav’s clever game in the semis.

Results:

Men’s singles (final): Harmeet Desai (PSPB) bt Manav

Thakkar (PSPB) 11-4, 11-13, 14-12, 9-11, 11-8, 5-11, 11-5. SFs: Manav Thakkar bt

G Sathiyan (PSPB) 11-9, 16-14, 7-11, 15-13, 6-11, 11-9; Harmeet Desai bt

Soumyajit Ghosh (Har) 11-9, 11-7, 11-4, 8-11, 14-12. Doubles (final): Jubin

Kumar/Soumyajit Ghosh (Har) bt Manush Shah/Ishaan Hingorani (Guj) 11-7, 8-11,

11-3, 11-7.

Women’s singles (final): Sutirtha Mukherjee (Har) bt

Krittwika Sinha Roy (PSPB) 11-4, 11-5, 11-8, 11-4. SFs: Sutirtha Mukherjee bt

Ayhika Mukherjee (RBI) 12-10, 8-11, 11-9, 11-5, 11-5; Krittwika Sinha Roy bt

Ankita Das (Ben B) 11-9, 11-6, 15-13, 11-7.

Doubles (final): Sutirtha Mukherjee/Riti Shankar (Har) bt

Surbhi Patwari/Poymantee Baisya (Ben A) 11-7, 11-7, 8-11, 11-8.Mixed doubles (final): Ronit Bhanja/Mousumi Paul

(Ben A) bt Sourav Saha/Sutirtha Mukherjee (Har) 15-13, 8-11, 12-10, 13-11.