Season-end bonanza for Harmeet and Shamini

Guwahati, November 18, 2015: It was the end-of-season bonanza for both Harmeet Desai and Shamini. They completed an unfruitful year not only with top-podium finishes but and the big purses in the National Ranking (East Zone) Table Tennis Championships at the Deshbakhta Tarunram Phukan Indoor Stadium here today.

Harmeet, who was a runner-up in season opening South Zone championships at Chennai, had a satisfying finish to the year, befitting his stature when he outsmarted PSPB colleague Anthony Amalraj 4-1 in the men’s singles final.

In the women’s singles final, K. Shamini who struggled throughout made nice amends to win her first women’s singles crown when beat another PSPB team mate Mouma Das 4-3 in a gripping final for another equally great ending.

Harmeet has had a very bad season unable to come into his groove. But here he made all amends for his earlier folly and played with a purpose. It was visible from the word go despite he was down by a game. But he picked up momentum from the second and continued with it in a match that witnessed excellent, fast rallies and blistering backhand execution by both players.

Never afraid, both traded wonderful strokes and used the flanks well—some shots kissing the edges—to engage each other. But Desai seemed more determined on the day. It paid him rich dividends when, despite missing his first championship-point, managed to overcome the nervy moments and win on the second. Amalraj, too, missed a game point but it did not make any reverse to the final result.

  

Shamini finally

On third match-point, Shamini was lucky. She converted it to her advantage after squandering two at 10-8 and allowing Mouma deuce at 10-all. With serve on, Mouma did the cardinal blunder of going for early shot and only managed to put it out. With a point ahead, Shamini had to serve cool and wait for Mouma to make another mistake. And that is precisely what the national champion did allowing Shamini to win her first crown and a nice comeback at the fag-end of a tough season.

Shamini had, however, shown a glimpse of it in the semifinals against Telangana’s Nikhat Banu. Down 3-1, the PSPB woman fought really well to strike an excellent rhythm which stood her in good stead in the final. In fact, she was leading 2-0 and then 3-1 before Mouma’s perseverance paid off. In the decider, too, Shamini led 5-2 and 8-4 but Mouma was dangerously closing in to the discomfiture of Shamini.

In the end, Shamini’s brief break from national ranking championships—she skipped North Zone at Delhi—paid off with an end-of-season bonanza.

In the midst of a colourful gathering, which watched the two finals, Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi presented the trophies and cash prizes to all the medalists.

In Youth Boys, Abhishek Yadav had to overcome Railways’ Ravindra Kotiyan after the PSPB paddler left Kotiyan go 3-2 up. But the left-hander played brilliantly to take the next two games and win. Sudhanshu Grover, on the other hand, had an easy outing against his semifinal opponent Pankaj Kumr Vishwakarma, also of Railways, who he beat 4-0.

In Youth Girls, Manika Batra made amends for her early loss in the women’s singles to reach the final when she beat Ayhika Mukherjee of AAI 4-1 while ReethRishya, who had a similar quarterfinal verdict against Amrutha Pushpak of Tamil Nadu, defeated Sreeja Akula of Telangana 4-2.

Both the finals are slated for later tonight.

Results:

Men: Final: Harmeet Desai (PSPB) bt Anthony Amalraj (PSPB) 4-1 (7-11, 11-6, 11-8, 11-8, 13-11); Semifinals: Anthony Amalraj bt Jubin Kumar (Har) 4-2 (11-8, 9-11, 7-11, 14-12, 11-7, 11-6), Harmeet Desai bt Devesh Karia (Guj) 4-0 (11-7, 11-9, 11-4, 11-5).

Women: Final: K. Shamini (PSPB) bt Mouma Das (PSPB) 4-3 (11-8, 11-7, 3-11, 11-8, 9-11, 8-11, 12-10); Semifinals: K. Shamini bt Nikhat Banu (Telg) 4-3 (9-11, 10-12, 11-3, 11-6, 13-15, 11-6, 11-8), Mouma Das bt Pooja Sahasrabudhe (PSPB) 4-0 (11-7, 11-7, 11-4, 11-7).

Youth Boys: Semifinals: Abhishek Yadav bt Ravindra Kotiyan (RSPB) 4-3 (7-11, 11-7, 11-9, 7-11, 7-11, 11-7, 11-8), Sudhanshu Grover bt Pankaj Kumar Vishwakarma (RSPB) 4-0 (11-8, 11-6, 11-4, 11-7); Quarterfinals: Ravindra Kotiyan bt Utkarsh Gupta (Del) 4-0 (11-8, 1-4, 14-12, 11-2), Abhishek Yadav bt Manav Thakkar (PSPBA) 4-2 (11-5, 7-11, 12-10, 10-12, 11-8, 11-6), Pankaj Kumar.V bt Arjun Ghosh (WB) 4-3 (3-11,7-11, 11-7, 14-16, 11-9, 11-6, 12-10), Sudhanshu Grover bt Anirban Ghosh (WB) 4-3 (11-9, 8-11, 10-12, 12-10, 5-11, 11-8, 11-3).

Youth Girls: Semifinals: Reeth Rishya bt Sreeja Akula (AAI) 4-2 (11-8, 13-11, 9-11, 5-11, 11-7, 11-9), Manika Batra bt Ayhika Mukherjee (AAI) 4-1 (11-5, 11-7, 11-5, 3-11, 11-6); Quarterfinals: Reeth Rishya bt Amrutha Pushpak (TN) 4-2 (11-8, 11-9, 11-5, 5-11, 8-11, 11-9), Sreeja Akula bt Riti Shankar (Har) 4-0 (11-9, 13-11, 11-6, 11-4), Ayhika Mukherjee bt Frenaz Chipia (Guj) 4-3 (7-11, 5-11, 11-9, 11-9, 12-10, 8-11, 11-8), Manika Batra bt Shailu Noorbasha (AP) 4-0 (11-6, 11-5, 12-10, 11-8).

TTFI Press release