The Hindu : Sport : Subhajit's National quest finally ends

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Feb 27, 2006

Sport

Sport

Subhajit's National quest finally ends

K. Keerthivasan

THE CHAMPIONS: Subhajit Saha (left) won his maiden National title and Mouma Das took the honours in the women's category. — Photo: Rajeev Bhatt

JAIPUR: Subhajit Saha overcame two former National champions on his way to a maiden title in the Oil India 67th Senior National table tennis championships at the Sawai Maan Singh Indoor Stadium here on Sunday. In the men's singles final, Subhajit produced a stunning display to overcome the favourite and top-seed Sharath Kamal 11-5, 4-11, 8-11, 11-9, 9-11, 11-9, 11-6. Earlier in the semifinals, Subhajit convincingly beat S. Raman, losing just one game.

Mouma Das claimed her third women's title beating Montu Ghosh 11-2, 11-7, 11-9, 7-11, 11-6. Mouma put it across the No.1 seed and defending champion Poulomi Ghatak in four games in the semifinals.

No leeway for Sharath

The men's summit clash was tipped in favour of the Sharath because of his success rate — six consecutive wins — against Subhajit. But the third seed hardly allowed Sharath the leeway to unleash his shots, and more importantly, received Sharath's serves quite well thus not giving him the first chance to attack. The plan worked to perfection as Sharath kept going for his shots, which ended up either long or into the net.

The decider ended quite tamely. With some fine forehand top-spin winners away from the table, Subhajit dashed Sharath's hopes.

Racquet problem

Sharath later revealed that there was a problem with the racquet. "At 3-3 in the third game, there were four-five bubbles on the rubber (forehand side), and I didn't have a replacement with me. But Subhajit played really well, didn't commit many mistakes."

An elated Subhajit said, "I have reached the semifinals from 2001-2004, and the quarterfinals last year. I was waiting for this for the last five years."

The women's singles champion was more or less confirmed the moment Mouma trounced defending champion Poulomi and Montu Ghosh prevailed over K. Shamini in the last four clash.

A veteran of two National titles from four finals, the 31-year-old Montu had little chance against Mouma's aggressive play. Though Montu is now more into coaching in Siliguri, she showed her mettle by overcoming the second seed K. Shamini in the semifinal. The Chennai lass squandered a 9-5 lead in the crucial sixth game and lost the match.

The men's singles winner received Rs.1,20,000 while the runner-up got Rs.60,000. The women's singles champion and runner-up got Rs. 70,000 and 35,000 respectively.

The results:

Men singles (final): Subhajit Saha (PSPB) bt A. Sharath Kamal (PSPB) 11-5, 4-11, 8-11, 11-9, 9-11, 11-9, 11-6.

Semifinals: Sharath Kamal bt A. Amalraj (RSPB) 11-6, 11-6, 6-11, 11-5, 11-1; Subhajit Saha bt S. Raman (IOC) 11-5, 9-11, 11-9, 11-4, 11-9.

Men's doubles winner: Shubham Choudhary/Arunava Ganguly.

Mixed doubles winner: Sharath Kamal/Poulomi Ghatak (PSPB) bt Arunava Ganguly/Sushmita Roy (WB) 11-7, 11-8, 11-9.

Women singles (final): Mouma Das (PSPB) bt Montu Ghosh (PSPB) 11-2, 11-7, 11-9, 7-11, 11-6.

Semifinals: Mouma Das bt Poulomi Ghatak (PSPB) 11-9, 12-10, 11-8, 11-9; Montu Ghosh bt K. Shamini (PSPB) 11-9, 7-11, 15-13, 11-9, 4-11, 13-11.

Women's doubles winner: Kasturi Chakraborty/Nandita Saha (NB).

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