Sathiyan, Poulomi win Institutional TT singles titles

New Delhi, August 22, 2014: At 10-9 serving for the championship point, G. Sathiyan must have had his foot in the mouth. Luckily, the rally yielded him the last point which came off a backhand flick. It was very badly needed as Sathiyan had goofed it up in the previous game—he missed two championships point—while allowing Soumyajit Ghosh save six.

Thus Sathiyan, a Youth Boys and national ranking champion, graduated to the next level to bocame the men’s singles champion in the AAI 44th Inter-Institutional Table Tennis Championships at the Tyagraj Stadium here on Friday. He defeated PSPB colleague and last year’s champion Soumyajit Ghosh in the final 4-2.

Sathiyan comples a triple:

“A great victory, coming after a long time,” said Sathiyan who also bagged two more crowns here—men’s doubles with Sourav Saha and also the team title three days ago. “I was really delighted to keep my attacking posture right through. Credit to my coach S. Raman (former national champion),” added Sathiyan.

Indeed, Sathiyan was on a rampaging form. It reflected in the final match as well as he went ahead 2-1 before letting Ghosh stage a comeback in the fifth game. 

Leading comfortably at 9-5 he let the chance go by as Ghosh, slowly but surely, closed in on to narrow down the margin to 2-3. But in the decider, Sathiyan surged ahead with a 9-2 lead, only to make a few errors at the net raising doubts about his ability to hold on a bigger stage. But in the end, he came calm and clean to win the crown and with it Rs. 75,000 being the winner’s cheque.

Similarly, fit-again former national champion Poulomi Ghatak demonstrated that all was well with her play to defeat young Pooja Sahasrabudhe in the women’s singles final 4-2 in the evening, after having felled second-seed Madhurika Patkar in the semifinal 4-3 in the morning. Poulomi’s efforts fetched her Rs. 58,000.

Poulomi picks up steam:

Poulomi was slow to begin but picked up steam midway, winning one and losing one. She made several errors in the third and fourth game but managed to win the last to go 3-1 up. Nevertheless, the error-prone Pooja put up a semblance of fight in the fifth to win it 11-8. But that was all she could do as the veteran Poulomi won the next rather easily to claim the title.

In the first semifinal, Ghosh was in good form disposing of national champion Sanil Shetty 4-0 in just 25 minutes. The left-handed Shetty was groping in the dark, unable to answer the questions posed by Ghosh. Shetty came into groove only in the fourth extended game which Ghosh won 12-10 putting any speculation to rest.

Sathiyan, already on a roll in the championships, defeated FCI’s Sarthak Gandhi 4-1 in the second. Gandhi, who had put up a good display so far, found Sathiyan too hot to handle. Sathiyan played an aggressive game throughout giving little room for his opponent to manoeuvre. Keeping the ball short and executing his forehand to perfection, Sathiyan never relaxed his grip over the match.

But credit should go to Poulomi for upping the ante after the fourth game while trailing 1-3. No doubt, Madhurika played into her rival’s hands and was probably overawed by her senior opponent’s aggression. Poulomi won the last three games with greater ease which told the pathetic story of the No. 2 seed letting the former national off the hook.

Pooja too had several anxious moments in her semifinal against Mousumi Paul. The two PSPB girls played a see-saw match with swinging fortunes, particularly in the fifth game which Pooja won 14-12. That gave the confidence to Pooja who just shut out Mousumi’s challenge in the next without wasting any more time.

AAI women win doubles:

For hosts AAI, a consolation title came in the shape of women’s doubles win as Nikhat Bhanu and Kritwikka Sinha Roy combined well against the PSPB pair of Reeth Rishya and Narasimha Priya to win 3-0. The men’s doubles title went to G. Sathiyan and Sourav Saha who beat Ghosh and Harmeet Desai 3-0.

Results:

Men (Final): G. Sathiyan (PSPB) bt Soumyajit Ghosh (PSPB) 4-2 (11-1, 6-11, 11-7, 11-9, 10-12, 11-9); Semifinals: Soumyajit Ghosh (PSPB) bt Sanil Shetty (PSPB) 4-0 (11-8, 11-6, 11-7, 12-10), G. Sathiyan (PSPB) bt Sarthak Gandhi (FCI) 11-8, 8-11, 11-5, 11-8, 11-7).

Doubles (Final): G. Sathiyan/Sourav Saha (PSPB) bt Soumyajit Ghosh/Harmeet Desai (PSPB) 3-0 (11-7, 11-9, 11-9).

Women (Final): Poulomi Ghatak (PSPB) bt Pooja Sahasrabudhe (PSPB) 4-2 (12-10, 9-11, 11-9, 13-11, 8-11, 11-8); Semifinals: Pooja Sahasrabudhe (PSPB) bt Mousumi Paul (PSPB) 4-2 (11-8, 9-11, 7-11, 11-3, 14-12, 11-6), Poulomi Ghatak (PSPB) bt Madhurika Patkar (RSPB) 4-3 (2-11, 12-10, 11-13, 5-11, 11-3, 11-6, 11-3).

Doubles (Final): Nikhat Bhanu/Kritwikka Sinha Roy (AAI) bt Reeth Rishya/Narasimha Priya (PSPB) 3-0 (1107, 11-8, 11-9).

A TTFI Press release