The Hindu : Sport / Table Tennis : Navneeth and Karthik split honours

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Navneeth and Karthik split honours

Special Correspondent

— Photo: G.P. Sampath Kumar

The winners, (top row) C.P. Karthik (youth boys), Navneeth (men), Poojitha (women), Subashree (youth girls) and Shreyal Telang (sub-junior boys and junior boys). (Bottom) Aishwarya (cadet girl), Sucheth P. Shenoy (cadet boys), Medhini R. Bhat (mini-cadet girls), Sudeep (mini-cadet boys) and Madhurya Manjunath (sub-junior girls).

BANGALORE: The new rivals for the top slot in Karnataka table tennis are C.P. Karthik and A.R. Navneeth. The two young lads might not have the same class and flair of former stars C.R. Anand and G.K. Vishwanath, whose duels enthralled fans of an earlier era, but they do come up with their best when pitted against each other.

The IOC State ranking table tennis finals at the KGS Hall provided its share of thrills. Karthik and Navneeth, who played each other in two finals, walked away with a title each. Karthik took the Youth boys title while Navneeth won the men’s singles.

Karthik called the shots in the Youth boys final with an aggressive game. He won 11-8, 11-7, 11-5, 9-11, 11-9. Playing with an immaculate block and heavy topspin, he neutralised Navneeth’s searing flicks and pushes.

Karthik stayed cool under pressure and kept bouncing back. Navneeth tried too hard, stepping up the pace unnecessarily, and suffered a few negative points that sparked his slide.

But stung by the loss, Navneeth, came back with determination in the men’s singles to win at 11-9, 9-11, 11-7, 11-9, 11-8. Varying the pace, he did not allow Karthik to use his strong forehand and kept him tied close to the table as he picked up points with uncanny placements.

When he knew that he had control of the tie, Navneeth opened up, playing some superb smashes away from the table against a shaky rival, who made a series of unforced errors.

N. Poojitha with her steady block-and-push routine, overcame C. Shubashree 5-11, 11-7, 8-11, 11-4,11-6, 11-9 and claimed the women’s singles title.

Former track star, Ashwini Nachappa and Mr. B. Ashok, GM, IOC Karnataka, presided and gave away the prizes.

The results: Men’s, singles, final: A.R. Navneeth (IOC) bt C.P. Karthik 11-9, 9-11, 11-7, 11-9, 11-8. Semifinals: A.R. Navneeth bt Anirban Tarafdar 10-12, 13-11, 11-9, 12-10, 11-4; C.P. Karthik bt Samson Selvakumar 11-7, 12-10, 11-7, 12-10.

Youth boys, singles, final: C.P. Karthik bt A.R. Navneeth 11-8, 11-7, 11-5, 9-11, 11-9. Semifinals: C.P. Karthik bt Vedanath M. Urs 6-11, 11-8, 11-3, 11-8, 11-6; A.R. Navneeth bt S.R. Shreyas 11-9, 11-6, 11-3, 11-5.

Women’s, singles, final: N. Poojitha bt C. Shubhashree 5-11, 11-7, 8-11, 11-4, 11-6, 11-9. Semifinals: N. Poojitha bt Malathi Bhaskar 11-4, 11-3, 11-5, 11-4; C. Shubshree bt B.S. Arpitha 11-7, 12-10, 11-7, 7-11,11-6.

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