Delhi girls live a dream, win maiden team title

Raipur, January 10, 2013: Delhi women, riding on a great team spirit, defeated Petroleum Sports Promotion Board (PSPB) 3-1 to claim their maiden team title at the 74th National Table Tennis Championships here on Thursday. And, expectedly, PSPB men defeated West Bengal 3-0 to extend their reign over the Barna-Bellack Cup for the eleventh consecutive time.

In fact, Delhi had one hand on the Jayalakshmi Cup even before entering the show court after PSPB decided not to play their No.1 paddler Poulami Ghataka at all, and preferring to open with Pooja Sahasrabudhe and Ankita Das, instead of No. 2 K. Shamini who just got a match to play.

When Manika Batra and Neha Aggarwal put Delhi 2-0, it was all over bar the shouting for PSPB. Delhi knew they would lose the third rubber to Shamini but between Manika and Neha they just had to win one match. Fortunately, Ankita could not spare the blushes and surrendered meekly to Manika, allowing Delhi take a firm grip over the cup.   

This was the second time in succession that PSPB women team has floundered, having been cleaned up by Maharashtra A in the semifinals at the Lucknow nationals last year. Coach Arup Basak offered a feeble defence, saying that Pooja had a better record against Manika while Shamini was less on confidence to start the proceedings. But Delhi coach Sandeep Gupta said they had won half the battle once the line-up was out.

“We knew the title was ours right from the word go. One of our players, Manika or Neha, had to give a good start. But both played brilliantly to make our dream a reality,” he said.

Manika began on a wrong note losing the first to Pooja but upped the ante to roll over her rival in quick time by taking the next three games to put Delhi 1-0 up. Neha, too, began shakily, losing 11-13 to Ankita Das. But the Delhi girl resurrected her game by keeping a cool head when Ankita countered well.  Using the flanks well and employing good blocks, Neha equalled at 12-10. She took the third game rather easily to go up 2-1 before shutting out Ankita 11-9 in the fourth.

Expectedly, Delhi’s Riti Shankar proved no match for Shamini as the latter dumped her in straight sets to give a semblance of chance to PSPB. But the writing on the wall became loud and clear for PSPB the moment Manika took the first game 15-13 after four deuces after being down 0-4 in the fourth rubber.

No doubt, Ankita did try to retrieve the situation in the second but lost 8-11. From that point the Olympian knew she was waging a losing battle. Manika ran up a sizeable lead in the third and allowed two points—one came off Manika’s service error and the other Ankita earned by right. With frustration showing up, Mankia had to simply force Ankita to play into her hands and give her easy points.

In contrast, the men’s team final was a mismatch. The PSPB could rest Achanta Sharath Kamal and yet blank out West Bengal.  Soumyajit Ghosh got extended by Sourav Saha in the first game before settling into a nice rhythm to win in straight sets. But Anthony Amalraj did not even allow that liberty to Sougatha Sarka and disposed him of quickly for a 2-0 lead. The experienced Soumyadeep Roy did drop his third game against Souvik Kar, but the result was never in doubt.  

The Results (Team finals):

Men: PSPB bt West Bengal 3-0 (Soumyajit Ghosh bt Sourav Saha 12-10, 11-5, 11-8; A. Amalraj bt Sougatha Sarkar 11-5, 11-9, 11-5; Soumyadeep Roy bt Souvik Kar 11-3, 11-4, 5-11, 11-4.

Women: Delhi bt PSPB 3-1 (Manika Batra bt Pooja Sahasrabudhe 4-11, 11-7, 12-10, 11-9; Neha Aggarwal bt Ankita Das 11-13, 12-10, 11-5, 11-9; Riti Shankar lost to K. Shamini 6-11, 6-11, 11-13; Manika Batra bt Ankita Das 15-13, 11-8, 11-2.

A TTFI Press release