Manika bags a double; Sanil wins men’s crown

New Delhi, December 18, 2013: Third-seeded Sanil Shetty defeated Sourav Saha 4-0 in the men’s singles final while team mate Manika Batra made the Vatika North Zone National Ranking Table Tennis Championships a memorable one to win a grand double at the Hansraj Model School hall here on Wednesday.

Seeded 13th, the Delhi girl made a fine comeback in the women’s singles to beat fifth-seed Ankita Das 4-3 and before that in the morning she had won the Youth Girls title, beating Suthirtha Mukherjee 4-1. Manika carried home a fat purse of Rs. 75,000 from both the triumphs.

Southpaw Shetty was as usual in his attacking self and, despite trailing very early, quickly made up to close out on Saha. This was the indication of things to come as Shetty maintained his attacking posture throughout and sent down several forehand winners which brooked little challenge from Saha. The Mumbai lad just took less than 25 minutes to complete the rout. The title triumph was worth Rs. 66,000 which Sanil pocketed.

Ankita Das didn’t show the kind of intensity she displayed in the earlier matches and began in a subdued manner only to up the ante from the second game. Even though Ankita and Manika were going neck and neck in the second, the former broke one of Manika’s serves and served out on her chance. The Siliguiri girl then surged ahead in the third and fourth to finish them off quickly. But Manika made a valiant attempt to push Ankita on the back foot. Her efforts yielded results as she took the next games, which saw quite a few rallies, to take the final to the decider.

In the decider, Manika was on a roll. Egged on by the local support, the Delhi girl played brilliantly to run up a 4-1 lead, forcing Ankita to take timeout. Soon after Ankita managed a couple of points, but Manika weathered the storm to make it a grand double.

Earlier, the Delhi girl beat Suthirtha Mukherjee 4-1 to win the Youth Girls title.

Suthirtha, normally an enterprising paddler, was not in her elements and gave up rather quickly. As expected, Abhishek Yadav won the Youth Boys crown but after spending some anxious moments in the first two games. The PSPB Academy boy came to terms with his PSPB opponent Sourav Saha to stop him early and win the last four games on the trot. 

      

Results:

Men Final: Sanil Shetty bt Sourav Saha 4-0 (11-7, 11-3, 11-9, 11-9); Semifinals: Sourav Saha bt Jignesh Jaiswal 4-2 (8-11, 11-5, 11-7, 11-5, 10-12, 13-11), Sanil Sehtty bt G. Sathiyan 4-0 (11-5, 11-6, 11-6, 11-8).

Women Final: Ankita Das bt Manika Batra (4-3) 11-4, 9-11, 7-11, 6-11, 11-7, 11-9, 11-8);Semifinals: Ankia Das bt Madhurika Patkar 4-0 (11-6, 11-8, 11-9, 11-9), Manika Batra bt Poulomi Ghatak 4-0 (11-8, 11-9, 11-6,11-5).

Youth Boys: Final: Abhishek Yadav b Sourav Saha 4-2 (9-11, 4-11, 11-7, 11-8, 11-7, 12-10);Semifinals: Sourav Saha bt Nishaad Shah 4-0 (11-3, 119, 11-8, 11-5), Abhishek Yadav bt Sudhanshu Grover 4-3 (8-11, 11-13, 11-4, 8-11, 11-3, 13-11, 11-6).

Youth Girls: Final: Manika Batra bt Suthirtha Mukherjee 4-1 (13-11, 11-9, -11, 11-7, 11-8)

A TTFI release