Sathiyan weathers Desai storm, wins youth boys title

New Delhi, November 30, 2012:  After all, G. Sathiyan of Petroleum Sports Promotion Board (PSPB) had a good day in office when he emerged champion in the Youth Boys category of the National Ranking (North Zone) Table Tennis championships underway at the Thyagraj Stadium here today. He defeated team mate Harmeet Desai 4-11, 11-8, 4-11, 11-8, 8-11, 11-6, 11-5 in the best of seven games final.

In a way, it was the second successive title loss for Harmeet who was outwitted in the men’s singles final yesterday by Sanil Shetty. Incidentally, Sathiyan had won the crown in the same category at the South Zone championships in September.

As for the Youth Girls crown, it went to Ankita Das, representing in North Bengal. The London Olympian finally managed to win a title this season when she beat Suthirtha Mukherjee of West Bengal 4-2. However, the hard-working Suthirtha Mukherjee, who played superbly in the women’s singles, too, managed to win her singles final in the Junior Girls section after downing the scrappy Karnath Spoorthy of Airport Authority of India 4-1.

The Junior Boys crown was taken by Abhishek Yadav of the PSPB Academy. He accounted for Delhi’s Utkarsh Gupta 4-2 in the final that lasted nearly 50 minutes.

The Sathiyan-Desai final had all the ingredients of a thrilling final. Though Sathiyan showed his dominating position more often than not during the match, the attacking game of both the players kept everybody interested. With none of the players willing to pull the shutters down, the match saw the usual ups and downs during its course.

 The see-saw battle, which consumed nearly 70 minutes, kept swinging from one extreme to another with the score being level at 3-3 until the decider. After taking it to the wire, Sathiyan was more attacking even as his rival Desai was seemingly on the back foot. That only helped the former’s cause as he did not allow more than five points to Desai. Keeping the lead throughout, Sathiyan shut out whatever little challenge his rival could pose in the decider.

Ankita should consider herself lucky against Suthirtha who was up to the task and played brilliant back and forehand shots to unsettle her opponent. Nevertheless, the experience of Ankita stood her in good stead.  But the West Bengal girl compensated her loss of title in the junior girls section with a complete demolition of Spoorthy.

Delhi boy Utkarsh could have been a winner here but for his defensive tactics against an attacking Abhishek Yadav. No doubt, the Delhi lad managed to take two games of his rival but the Academy boy was always in control of the final, showing his skills in executing scorching forehands.

Overall, the tough games here should help the juniors as they now move on to the bigger stage called the World Junior Championships at Hyderabad, beginning December 9.

The Results:

Youth Boys: Final: G. Sathiyan (PSPB) bt Harmeet Desai (PSPB) 4-3 (4-11, 11-8, 4-11, 11-8, 8-11, 11-6, 11-5; Semifinals: G. Sathiyan (PSPB) bt Nithin Thiruvengadam (AAI) 4-3 (11-5, 11-4, 11-3, 15-17, 9-11, 14-16, 11-2), Harmeet Desai (PSPB) bt Sourav Saha (PSPB) 4-1 (9-11, 11-8, 11-5, 11-3, 11-9).

Youth Girls: Final: Ankita Das (NB) bt Suthirtha Mukherjee (WB) 4-3 (12-10, 11-2, 9-11, 11-9, 11-13, 9-11, 11-3); Semifinals: Suthirtha Mukjerjee (WB) bt Krittwika Sinha Roy (AAI) 4-2 (8-11, 11-8, 11-6, 9-11, 11-8, 11-8), Ankita Das (NB) bt Manika Batra (Del) 4-2 (11-7, 11-8, 11-8, 10-12, 7-11, 11-7).

Junior Boys: Final: Abhishek Yadav (PSPBA) bt Utkarsh Gupta (Del) 4-2 (11-9, 11-8, 11-9, 6-11, 9-11, 11-6); Semifinals: Abhishek Yadav (PSPB) bt Sabhay Virmani (Del) 4-0 (11-5, 12-10, 11-2, 14-12, Utkarsh Gupta (Del) bt K.R. Rohit (TN) 4-1 (11-9, 13-11, 9-11, 11-9, 11-9).

Junior Girls: Final: Suthirtha Mukherjee (WB) bt Karnam Spoorthy (AAI) 4-1 (11-8, 11-4, 9-11, 11-9, 11-4); Semifinals: Suthirtha Mukherjee (WB) bt Manika Batra (Del) 4-2 (11-7, 11-9, 7-11, 6-11, 11-9, 11-6), Karnam Spoorthy (AAI) bt T. Reeth Rishya (PSPB) 4-3 (11-8, 5-11, 11-6, 2-11, 11-6, 1-11, 11-9). 

Press release