Top seed Harmeet Desai defeated second seed G Sathiyan 4-3 to claim his second men's singles title in the 85th UTT Senior Nationals and Inter-State Table Tennis Championships at the Tau Devi Lal Indoor Stadium in Panchkula on Friday. (Table Tennis News)
The women's singles crown went to Poymantee Baisya of the Railways, another new face to claim it with some authority. She defeated Ayhika Mukherjee 4-2.
The PSPB paddler, who won his first crown at the Jammu Nationals last season, is tied with Sathiyan. It was a just reward for his perseverance. But the win was not easy because at the other end of the table was Sathiyan, looking for his third title.
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The final witnessed excellent rallies in a fast-paced match and went neck and neck.
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.
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The Railways made amends for the lesser 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.
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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.
