The Hindu : Sport / Table Tennis : Players from Bengal dominate; sweep titles, save one

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Sunday, Dec 30, 2007
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Sport - Table Tennis

Players from Bengal dominate; sweep titles, save one

Special Correspondent

— Photo: K.V. Srinivasan

VICTORIOUS: Avik Das and Anushree Hazra, who won the sub junior boys’ and girls’ final.

CHENNAI: Barring one title, it was Bengal all the way in the Velammal-National sub-junior table tennis championship which concluded at the Nehru indoor stadium on Saturday.

Only the cadet girls’ winner Jagriti Virmani happened to be from another State (Delhi) and, for once, the Petroleum Sports Board Academy in Ajmer did not get a mention in the final awards list.

From Tamil Nadu’s point of view, there was expectation that the unseeded S. Sudarshan would cap his good show with a great finale in the sub-junior boys’ section. Having reached the final by getting past North Bengal’s Rajib Sarkar, he became victim to his own indecisive approach and fell to another North Bengal player from Siliguri, Avik Das, the second seed.

Sudarshan has the height, reach and the game to carry him on but this Sishya pupil was too tense for the occasion. The times he opened out, his forehand had the fire. The backhand pushes had thrust but no consistency. In comparison, Avik was surer with his forehand smashes and he did not miss many opportunities in finishing a rally. Sudarshan began promisingly but once the former Cadet National champion Avik settled down the tide changed totally.

Authoritative win

Lot more authoritative was the girls’ winner Anushree Hazra over the second-seeded C. Charvi Kawle of Maharashtra. Anushree did not seem to have too many options in her repertoire but played with lot of focus and determination. The backhand worked well for her and the occasional forehand flourishes added to her power. But more than anything else it was Charvi who was helping her opponent to finish off quickly because of her error-filled game. Charvi rarely was able to get her forehand smash land on the table and in the end she was hardly able to hold her tears back as the Kolkata girl made it a straight-game victory for her first big win in her career.

Charvi had the consolation of winning the doubles, partnering Mallika Bhandarkar. The pair ended the Tamil Nadu hope, Krithicka and Reeth Rishya.

The results: Sub junior boys: Final: Avik Das (NB) bt S. Sudarshan (TN) 7-11, 11-5, 15-13, 12-10, 11-6. Semifinals: S. Sudarshan bt Rajib Sarkar (NB) 5-11, 11-13, 11-5, 12-10, 8-11, 11-9, 12-10; Avik Das bt Devdutta Phadnavis (Mah A) 12-10, 11-7, 11-6, 11-6. Doubles: Final: Rajib Sarkar & Subham Basak (NB) bt Arnab Adhikari & Avik Das (NB) 6-11, 11-6, 12-10, 12-10.

Sub junior girls: Final: Anushree Hazra (WB) bt C. Charvi Kawle (Mah A) 11-9, 12-10, 11-8, 11-9. Semifinals: Anushree Hazra bt S. Krithicka (TN) 8-11, 11-8, 8-11, 11-6, 10-12, 11-9, 12-10; Charvi Kawle bt Meghna (Chd) 5-11, 11-5, 5-11, 10-12, 11-8, 11-9, 11-8; Doubles: Final: Mallika Bhandarkar & Charvi Kawle (Mah A) bt S. Krithicka & Reeth Rishya (TN) 11-2, 11-7, 9-11, 12-10.

Cadet boys: Final: Suvendu Shaw (WB) bt Aditya Moitra (WB) 5-11, 13-11, 11-5, 11-3. Semifinals: Suvendu Shaw bt Sandip Pal (WB) 12-10, 11-5, 10-12, 11-13, 12-10; Aditya Moitra bt Sourav Ghosh (WB) 9-11, 11-8, 11-8, 11-4.

Cadet girls: Final: Jagriti Virmani (Del) bt Oisarja Deb (NB) 11-7, 11-8, 11-6; Semifinals: Jagriti Virmani bt Anuska Dutta (NB) 6-11, 11-6, 11-9, 9-11, 11-7; Oisarja Deb bt Maitreyee Bailoor (Kar) 11-5, 6-11, 11-2, 11-7.

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