The Hindu : Sport : Contrasting title wins for Petroleum

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Sunday, Mar 11, 2007
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Contrasting title wins for Petroleum

Rakesh Rao

CUP OF JOY: The Petroleum team, which won the men's and women's team titles in the National inter-State table tennis championship at Ajmer on Saturday. — Photo: Sandeep Saxena

AJMER: In the end, Petroleum did manage to keep the inter-State titles, but its star campaigners ended up losing their air of invincibility. If on Friday the Petroleum men just about managed to survive against Rajasthan, Saturday saw the fancied women's team stare at championship point against Railways.

For the record, a much-chastened Petroleum's trio of Sharath Kamal, Subhajit Saha and Soumyadeep Roy kept their errors in check to post a 3-0 triumph over Railways. Earlier, the Petroleum women, K. Shamini, Mouma Das and Poulomi Ghatak, held their nerves to pull off a memorable 3-2 win against Railways, which was propped up by veteran Anindita Chakraborty.

For the Petroleum team in-charge V. K. Bawa, the double in the AAI National table tennis championship was a matter of relief and not a reason to rejoice.

"I never thought we could be run so close," Bawa said about the women's final where Anindita defeated Mouma and then held the championship point against the National Games champion Shamini.

"After we lost the first two singles, we were really very worried," Bawa, who has accompanied the Petroleum teams in the Nationals since 1986, said.

The title was 14th for the Petroleum men and 11th for the ladies. The double crown was Petroleum's seventh and fifth in succession.

On Saturday, there were several moments when the Petroleum women came close to being dethroned. Railways' Soumi Mondal provided a stunning start by defeating a tentative Shamini in the opening singles.

Anindita then doubled Petroleum's troubles by stopping Mouma in straight games. Poulomi's victory over Sayantika Kundu came on expected lines and kept Petroleum alive in the final.

Mouma then raised her level of play to stop Soumi.

Now it was the turn of Shamini to face Anindita, the only undefeated woman in the competition at that point.

What Anindita lacks in movements, she more than makes up by clever shot selection and playing on the patience of her younger rivals. Before Shamini could figure out Anindita's ploy, she was down two games.

Shamini then decided to engage her seasoned rival into long backhand rallies with soft pushes and established leads of 7-3 and 10-7 in the third game to breath easy. But she had not reckoned with Anindita's grit.

Shot of the match

Anindita made it 10-all, and moved to the championship point at 12-11. But it was here that Shamini produced her best shot of the match. She whipped a forehand drive that took Anindita by surprise. A long return from Anindita followed by Shamini's game-winning forehand cross-court kept Petroleum alive.

A confident Shamini returned to level the match with an easy run in the fourth game and never trailed in the nerve-wracking decider that ended at 13-11 with Anindita's netted backhand flick.

The men's final was far less dramatic. Saha overcame early deficit to win the first game in extended points and then led all the way to victory over a flashy left-hander, Sourav Chakraborty.

Sharath took time to settle down against Anirban Nandi, who attacked from the start and raced away with the first game. In the remaining three games, which witnessed some long rallies much to the entertainment of a full house, Sharath raised the bar only when needed.

The results: Team championship: Finals: Men: Petroleum bt Railways 3-0 (Subhajit Saha bt Sourav Chakraborty 12-10, 11-9, 11-3; Sharath Kamal bt Anirban Nandi 5-11, 12-10, 11-9, 11-8; Soumyadeep Roy bt A. Amalraj 11-7, 9-11, 9-11, 11-7, 11-7).

Women: Petroleum bt Railways 3-2 (K. Shamini lost to Soumi Mondal 4-11, 11-6, 7-11, 10-12; Mouma Das lost to Anindita Chakraborty 8-11, 8-11, 8-11; Poulomi Ghatak bt Sayantika Kundu 11-4, 11-5, 11-3; Mouma bt Soumi 11-5, 11-9, 11-4; Shamini bt Anindita 8-11, 9-11, 14-12, 11-7, 13-11).

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