TT Nationals: Harmeet Desai wins second title; Poymantee Baisya gets maiden crown

Harmeet Desai won his second men's singles title while Poymantee Baisya bagged her maiden women's singles crown at the 85th UTT Senior Nationals and Inter-State Table Tennis Championships in Panchkula on Friday.

Harmeet got better of his compatriot and second-seeded G Sathiyan as Poymantee Baisya defeated Asian Games medallist Ayhika Mukherjee in the women's singles final.

Harmeet had the upper hand at 7-4 in the decider, but Sathiyan closed in on his rival with his opponent becoming error-prone. However, Harmeet held his nerves and emerged as the champion.

The Railways made amends on its medal tally in the team championships and grabbed four gold in the women's singles and three in doubles.

Harmeet struggled a bit before subduing Manush Shah of RBI in the first semifinal 4-2, but Sathiyan went past Ankur Bhattacharjee of West Bengal in his inimitable style.

After leading 2-1, Harmeet dropped the next game only to regain his hold on the match against the left-handed Manush. But Sathiyan was in complete control despite losing the third game to Ankur, and the fourth and fifth games against the Bengal boy bore testimony to his authority.

Poymantee emerged as the newest singles champion when she beat Ayhika of RBI 4-2.

Poymantee, who has had a fine run in the championships, cashed in on the opportunities and cleverly deployed her weapons. She played according to the situation and quickly got used to the pace of anti-rubbers that Sreeja Akula and Ayhika used. After knocking off Sreeja, it became easy for Poymantee to tackle her colleague, Ayhika.

Defending champion Sreeja went out in the semifinals without a whimper, losing to young Poymantee 2-4.