ALAPPUZHA: With a stunning comeback, Chennai's G. Sathyan lifted his maiden national title at the 68th National sub-junior table tennis championship here on Thursday evening.

In an exciting clash between the top two seeds that went the full distance, the top-seeded Sathyan outwitted Petroleum Academy's Sourav Saha 4-3 in the boys' final.

Sathyan's victory avenged his loss to Sourav in Wednesday's team final. "I knew I couldn't beat him with power, so I beat him with my mind," said the 13-year-old, who is coached by Ashok Kumar and former international V. Chandrasekhar at his Chennai academy.

Sourav had silenced Sathyan with his blinding speed yesterday and this evening, things appeared to run along the same lines with Sourav taking the first two games with his shock treatment.

Sathyan changed his strategy in the next game. He used the block often to good effect and began attacking more. The rewards followed, he won the next two games and levelled the score. A little later, the match moved to the decider. Sourav held the upper hand almost all through, with leads of 3-0, 4-2 and 9-7 but Sathyan bounced back each time, using his stinging backhand jab as a strong weapon.

The scores were level at 10 and soon Sathyan, a ninth standard student at the Kolaperumal Chetty Vaishnav School, celebrated his best day in the sport.

Tamil Nadu's last victory at the sub-junior national came more than 15 years ago, through Chetan Baboor, said the team's coach Suresh Kumar.

The results: Boys: Final: G. Sathyan (TN) bt Sourav Saha (PSPB Academy) 8-11, 8-11, 11-3, 12-10, 6-11, 11-6, 12-10. Semifinals: Sathyan bt Harmeet Desai (Guj) 9-11, 11-3, 11-7, 11-9, 11-7; Sourav Saha bt Sanmay Paranjape (Mah) 11-6, 11-4, 11-6, 11-9. Quarterfinals: Sathyan bt Vivek Bhargava (PSPBA) 11-8, 11-8, 11-3, 11-6; Harmeet bt Avik Das (N.Bengal) 11-9, 11-8, 11-5, 8-11, 11-3; Sanmay bt Sarthak Gandhi (Delhi) 12-10, 11-5, 11-9, 8-11, 11-6; Sourav bt Akash Damle (Maharashtra-B) 11-5, 11-3, 11-7, 11-9).

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