Divya falters in final, Sathiyan wins U-21 title

New Delhi, October 9, 2012: Divya Deshpande went down fighting to Sara Ramirez of Spain 1-4 in the women’s singles final of the Egypt Open at Cairo. Nevertheless Divya became the first Indian women to reach the finals of a World Pro tour.

But there was a silver lining when G. Sathiyan downed Mohammed Shouman of Egypt 11-8, 11-5, 11-7, 6-11, 10-12, 11-7 in the final to win the Under-21 boys singles title. Thus Sathiyan, who was seeded No. 2 here justified his billing and became the second Indian after Harmeet Desai to win the U-21 boys singles title.

Divya began well against No. 1 seed at this ITTF Euro Africa Circuit event, but could not sustain the pace set by her opponent, who is ranked 88 in the world, as the Indian went down 11-9, 5-11, 7-11, 8-11, 7-11. But the Pune girl had her moments during the final, particularly when she managed to catch the Spaniard on the wrong foot in the in the last three games. However, the superiority of the Spaniard in backhand jabs and scorching smashes off the forehand brooked little challenge from the Indian.

Earlier, Divya who lost to Galila of Egypt in stage 1 qualification, finished No. 2 in the group to make it to the main draw where she first beat Dina Meshref, also from Egypt, 12-10, 11-9, 8-11,6-11, 11-8, 9-11, 14-12 to qualify for the quarterfinals.

In the quarterfinals, she accounted for compatriot K. Shamini 9-11, 16-18, 11-9, 12-10, 16-14, 11-4 and then defeated Hungarian Rita Kertai, ranked 212 in the world, 9-11, 20-18, 11-8, 8-11, 9-11, 11-4, 11-9 in an interesting contest t'hat went to the wire.

Apart from Shamini, the other Indian girl to bow out in the quarterfinals was Poulomi Ghatak. The reigning national champion had a bad day in office like the men paddlers—Soumyadeep  Sanil Shetty, Jubin Kumar and G. Sathiyan—all of whom could not go beyond the round of 16.

In the boy’s quarterfinals, Sathiyan beat Egyptian Mohamoud Zaghloul 11-8, 11-9, 11-9, 11-5 and locked horns with another Egyptian Omar Bedair in the semi-final which the Indian won in straight games of 11-3, 11-7, 11-7, 11-9. But Harmeet Desai, the top-seed in the U-21 boys category, failed to go beyond the quarterfinal stage as he went down to Karim El Shaarawy 7-11, 7-11, 11-3, 11-7, 6-11, 9-11.

In the men’s singles, Desai fought well before losing to Vasily Lakeev of Russia 8-11, 9-11, 12-10, 11-5, 11-7, 1-11, 3-11. The Indian put up a good fight to come back in the match to go 3-2 up after being down 0-2 only to lose steam in the best-of-seven games as the Russian took the last two crucial games to shut out Desai’s chances.

A TTFI release