Big monkey off Sharath’s back, returns with a title in six years

Visakhapatnam, October 23, 2016: Achanta Sharaath Kamal, the old wine in a new bottle, was oozing with confidence and class. And it showed in the men’s singles final when he outshined G. Sathiyan to win 4-1 for his first title in six years in the 11Even Sports National Ranking (South Zone) Table Tennis Championships at the Rajiv Gandhi Indoor Stadium here today.

Earlier, Suthirtha Mukherjee beat Krittwika Sinha Roy 4-0 for women’s singles crown.

But today’s evening belonged to Sharath—and Shrath alone! All shots in the book, both close to the table and away from it, were on display and the first three games took everyone’s breath, including that of his rival, away. He needed minimum efforts and they told the different story of perseverance to all his Doubting Thomases.

Sathiyan, normally an attacking player, was rendered motionless. So power-packed were his shots, particularly the ones directed at his body, that they were applauded by a near-packed VPT Stadium.

“A big monkey is off my back. Yes, the last time I won a title was at the 2010 Nationals. A big relief, indeed, and coming as it did at a time when I decided to move into India, the win will definitely motivate me,” said Sharath.

In their third meeting—they met each other last year’s Senior Nationals at Hyderabad and again in the team events of the Petroleum Meet—Sharath was able to avenge his losses to Sathiyan.

Earlier, Sharath blanked out Harmeet Desai 4-0 but he faced the usual opening and end-game blues. But there was no such thing call nervousness in the final. Sathiyan proved to be vulnerable when put under pressure. But Sathiyan had his day earlier when he outscored Jubin Kumar for a 4-0 semifinal win. His Chennai-mate Sharath, for the moment, has put a solid lid on his ambition for a back-to-back title.

SUTHIRTHA UNSTOPPABLE

Suthirtha Mukherjee was unstoppable right from the day she started her season winning the women’s singles title at Jaipur during the Institutional Championships. After her first national ranking trophy at Rajkot last week, the West Bengal girl scored an emphatic win to claim her back-to-back titles.

Krittwika could neither match Suthirtha’s anticipation nor her guile and it reflected in the former’s game. Essentially both are strong backhand players but Suthirtha’s plus point was that she could make swift changes apart from using the flanks to her advantage. Krittiwika tried hard but always fell short of expectations. Earlier in the semifinals, Suthirtha defeated Mousumi Paul 4-1 and Krittwika Sinha Roy followed suit with a similar score line over Ankita Das to sail into the final.

COURAGEOUS BORO

It was courageous of PSPB boy, Birdie Boro, to turn the tables on West Bengal’s Arjun Ghosh to claim the season’s first Youth Boys title. Birdie, who won 4-3, was in the dumps gathered well in what was the finest recovery in recent times. The PSPB lad, like Arjun Ghosh who had finished a runner-up at Chandigarh, managed a second position at Rajkot.

But today, he showed a lot of guts and played like a true champion to outsmart a well-placed Arjun, who remained the bride’s maid once again and never the bride this season. This will definitely hurt him but he should put this loss behind and prepare for the East Zone at Aizawal next month.   

Manav Thakkar retained the Junior Boys title beating Delhi’s Parth Virmani 4-1. The final witnessed good, long rallies and the two enthralled the crow. However, the Delhi boy couldn’t do much in the face of Manav’s percentage game, despite losing his extended first game.

ARCHANA’S GOLDEN DOUBLE

Archana also reclaimed her Youth Girls title to complete the golden double when she beat Tamil Nadu’s Seleenadeepthi Selvakumar 4-2. Just a little while ago, Archana had blanked her West Bengal rival Prapti Sen out 4-0 to retain Junior Girls crown.

It was a profitable zonal for Archana who lost her Youth title at Rajkot. But her determination to maintain consistency surfaced yet again today. Despite Seleena giving her some harrowing time—TN girl took two good games—Archana never lost sight of her title.

Similarly, Prapti fought well and looked on way to recovery in the third game of Junior Girls final. A steady pressure applied by Archana dampened her spirits and the moment the West Bengal girl lost that game after two deuces, she didn’t put her heart and soul in the fourth and just gifted it away committing far too many unforced errors.   

Results:

Men: Semifinals: Final: Sharath Kamal (PSPB) bt G. Sathiyan (PSPB) 11-8, 11-9, 11-3, 8-11, 11-5; G. Sathiyan bt Jubin Kumar 11-8, 11-7, 11-8, 11-5, Sharath Kamal bt Harmeet Desai 14-12, 11-9, 11-9, 14-12.

Women: Final: Suthirtha Mukherjee (WB) bt Krittwika Sinha Roy (PSPB) 11-8, 11-8, 11-8, 11-5; Semifinals: Suthirtha Mukherjee bt Mousumi Paul 11-8, 8-11, 11-8, 11-5, 11-8, Krittwika Sinha Roy bt Ankita Das 9-11, 11-6, 12-10, 11-8, 11-6.

Youth Boys Singles: Final: Birdie Boro (PSPB) bt Arjun Ghosh (WB) 9-11, 9-11, 6-11, 11-6, 12-10, 11-9,11-8; Semifilnals): Birdie Boro bt Rohit Bhanja 10-12, 13-11, 11-6, 11-7, 7-11, 9-11, 11-9, Arjun Ghosh bt Manav Thakkar 11-9, 11-5, 11-4, 11-5.

Youth Girls Singles: Final: Archana Girish Kamath (AAI) bt Seleenadeepthi Selvakumar (TN) 12-10, 7-11, 11-7, 6-11, 11-9, 11-5; Semifinals: Archana Kamath bt Ayhika Mukherjee 9-11, 9-11, 11-5, 11-9, 9-11, 11-2, 11-4, Selenadeepthi Selvakumar bt Amrutha Pushpak 11-4, 9-11, 11-6, 6-11, 11-7, 11-7.

Junior Boys Singles: Final: Manav Thakkar (PSPB) bt Parth Virmani (DEL) 13-15, 11-8, 11-8, 11-9, 11-5; Semifinals: Manav Thakkar bt Wesley Rosario 11-8, 11-3,11-3,11-5, Parth Virmani bt Manush Shah 11-6, 4-11, 8-11, 8-11, 11-4, 11-8, 11-9.

Junior Girls Singles: Final: Archana G. Kamath (AAI) bt Prapti Sen (WB) 11-7, 11-9, 13-11, 11-2; Semifinals: Prapti Sen bt Priyanka Pareek 5-11, 11-7, 9-11, 9-11, 11-7, 11-5, 11-9, Archana Kamath bt Yasini Shivashankar 11-8,11-8,11-3,5-11,11-9.

TTFI Press release

Classy Sharath enters semifinals

Visakhapatnam, October 22, 2016: A. Sharath Kamal showed what a classy player that he is as he inched his way into the semifinals of the 11Even Sports National Ranking (South Zone) Table Tennis Championships at the Rajiv Gandhi Indoor Stadium here today.

Brushing aside his disappointment of having to play the qualifiers, the ace paddler defeated West Zone finalist Devesh Karia 4-2 to mark his fresh beginning in the domestic circuit fruitful and worth-a-while.

It was a classy show because Sharath was down 0-2 against the left-hander. With his determination intact, Sharath launched his attack and went about reducing the margin, slowly but surely, to lead 3-2. In the sixth game, some loose shots almost cost him dear but Sharath kept his date with destiny to win the extended game.

He will meet Harmeet Desai in the semifinal tomorrow. Harmeet beat Raj Mondal 4-1. In other quarterfinals, top-seed Sathiyan beat Manav Thakkar 4-2, Jubin Kumar defeated Sushmit Sriram by the same margin.

Meanwhile, Manika Batra, Mouma Das and Divya Deshpande were sent packing by their opponents in the quarterfinals. The toughest of all was the one between Mousumi Paul, finalist at Rajkot, and Mouma Das. The veteran tried her best but in the end Mousumi went through.

Earlier, Manika Batra was ill at ease in the pre-quarterfinals when she met qualifier Senhora D’Souza of Maharashtra but the No. 3 seed managed to win 11-4, 9-11, 11-6, 9-11, 11-3, 11-6. In other matches, Krittwika Sinha Roy defeated eighth seed Pooja Sahasrabuddhe 4-2, Ankita Das beat K. Shamini 4-2, Madhurika Patkar disposed of Poulomi Ghatak 4-1, Mouma Das downed Ayhika Mukherjee 4-1, Mousumi struggled to overcome Priyanka Pareek 4-2, Divya Deshpande rolled past Reeth Rishya 4-0 and top-seed Suthirtha Mukherjee handed out a 4-0 thrashing to Chipia Frenaz.

TOUGH FOR SATHIYAN

In men’s pre-quarters, top-seed G. Sathiyan faced his toughest challenge before staging his recovery to beat Siddesh Pande 4-2 (7-11, 6-11, 11-6, 11-4, 11-6, 11-9). It was a shock of sorts for the top-seeded paddler when Siddhesh outplayed him in the first two games. Even in the sixth, Sathiyan and Siddesh were 9-all but the former prevailed.

Manav Thakkar was extended 4-3 by Nitin Thiruvengadam, AAI’s Sushmit Sriram made a fine comeback in the decider to beat Subhajit Saha 4-3, Haryana’s Jubin Kumar, a semifinalist at Rajkot, beat Sarthak Gandhi 4-2, Harmeet Desai advanced beating Aman Balgu 4-0, Raj Mondal beat Utkarsh Gupta 4-1, Devesh Karia won over Sougata Sarkar 4-0 and A. Sharatah Kamal decimated Nishaad Shah 4-0. Nishaad had beaten No. 2 seed Sanil Shetty in a second-round match yesterday.

In Youth Girls’ main draw, Abhinaya Ramesh beat Kritika Malik 3-1, Monika Manohar overcame Prati Sen 3-2, Anushka Dutta downed Manushree Patil 3-1, local girl Shailu Noorbasha beat Varuni Jaiswal 3-1, Kaushini Nath defeated Tanisi Kirtani 3-1, Seleenadeepthi outlasted Ishita Gupta 3-2 and Chipia Frenaz blanked out Yashini Sivasankar 3-0. Top players in the section were given first-round byes and they will begin their campaign from pre-quarters later tonight. 

In Youth Boys, Abhimanyu Mitra, Sherayal Telang, Ali Mohammad and Shreyas Kulkarni entered the pre-quarters where they will be joined by those who received first-round byes to play a round tonight.

Trophies and cash prizes in six sections—Men, Women, Youth Boys and Girls, Junior Boys and Girls—will be decided tomorrow when the finals are slated. From the day after, the qualification matches for Sub-Junior and Cadet Boys and Girls will commence.

Results:

Men: Quarterfinals: G. Sathiyan bt Manav Thakkar 11-6, 11-3, 12-14, 11-5, 10-12, 11-9, Jubin Kumar bt Sushmit Sriram 11-13, 11-4, 11-7, 11-5, 6-11, 12-10, Harmeet Desai bt Raj Mondal 6-11, 11-6, 12-10,11-2, 141-12, Sharath Kamal bt Devesh Karia 9-11, 6-11, 11-9,11-7, 11-6, 13-11,

Women: Quarterfinals: Suthirtha Mukherjee bt Divya Deshpande 11-6, 15-13, 11-8, 4-11, 11-6, Mousumi Paul bt Mouma Das 11-7, 8-11, 8-11, 11-9, 13-11, 7-11, 11-8, Krittwika Sinha Roy bt Manika Batra 7-11, 12-10, 11-7, 8-11, 11-8, 12-10, Ankita Das bt Madhurika Patkar 12-10, 11-2, 11-6, 6-11, 11-8. 

Chikkarangappa survives late surge by Rahil Gangjee, prevails in close contest to win title

Bengaluru, October 22, 2016: Reigning Rolex Ranking champion Chikkarangappa S survived a late surge from fellow Bengalurean Rahil Gangjee before prevailing in a close contest at the inaugural TAKE Open Golf Championship at the Karnataka Golf Association (KGA) course. Chikka ended the Rs. 1 crore PGTI event with a persistent final round of one-under-71 that took his tournament tally to 13-under-275.

Rahil Gangjee, tied for the lead till the 16th hole, finished a creditable second at 12-under-276 courtesy his final round of four-under-68.

Home boy Chikkarangappa (69-67-68-71), the overnight leader by three, came up with another unwavering effort at the world-class KGA course to seal his 10th professional title which also accounted for his second win of the current PGTI season.

The 23-year-old Asian Tour regular bagged a handsome cheque of Rs. 15 lakh for his victory and as a result has now zoomed into first position in the Rolex Ranking, taking a leap of 15 places. His season’s earnings stand at Rs. 24,06,640.

Chikka looked set to drive home the advantage when he was two-under for the day through 11 holes. He had holed a 40-footer on the seventh and played a magnificent bunker shot on the 11th for birdies on both holes.

However, it was around this time that Rahil Gangjee (68-70-70-68), who was tied fourth and four off the lead after round three, started making a move.

Gangjee charged into contention as he caught up with Chikka after birdies on the 11th, 14th and 15th holes. The former Asian Tour winner missed an eagle by a whisker on the 11th and made a long conversion on the 14th.

Chikka, who had dropped a bogey on the 14th, survived some anxious moments on the last stretch as he recovered from a tough spot on the 17th salvaging a par with a tremendous chip.

A poor chip by Gangjee, who was playing one group ahead of Chikka, on the 17th, led to a bogey for him and handed the sole lead back to Chikka. Finally, it was a four-foot par conversion on the 18th that saw Chikka come through as the champion.

Chikka, who recently sealed his Asian Tour card, said, “It’s been a satisfying win since I was mentally and physically exhausted coming into the last round, having played four weeks in a row. The last four weeks had taken a toll on me as I was in contention through all these events. My energy levels were low today so I kept telling my caddie to push me to play better.

“I had a bad stretch from the 12th to the 14th where I was not reading the lines well. I then had a nervous last few holes as Rahil made a charge. I got lucky when he bogeyed the 17th. I then decided to play regulation golf. The brilliant chip that set up a par for me on the 17th turned out to be crucial as it kept me ahead.

“This win has brought me back into contention for the Rolex Player of the Year title. I’d love to defend my Rolex Ranking title this year,” added Chikka.

Gangjee, the runner-up, said, “I wasn’t watching the leaderboard but I knew that I had to keep at it till the end since Chikka has been in hot form of late and wouldn’t let go of the lead easily. I enjoyed a superb stretch from the 11th to the 16th. But I missed an important birdie opportunity on the 16th and also got it wrong with my chip shot on the 17th.

“The miss on the 16th turned out to be decisive at the end. Nonetheless, it was a good comeback on the final day,” added Rahil, who recently moved base from Kolkata to Bengaluru.

Indian star Jyoti Randhawa shot the day’s joint best score of 67 to grab a share of third place along with Sri Lankan Anura Rohana (69) and Panchkula’s Shubhankar Sharma (71) at 10-under-278. Shubhankar has now moved into second position in the Rolex Ranking with season’s earnings of Rs. 21,42,513.

Bengaluru’s Jaibir Singh took the prize for the best performance by an amateur as he claimed tied sixth place at eight-under-280 along with Delhi’s Chiragh Kumar.

Sanjay Kumar of Lucknow had a hole-in-one on the eighth during his final round of 72. He finished tied 10th at six-under-282.

Fifteen-year-old amateur Aadil Bedi of Chandigarh, making his first appearance in a professional event, shot a final round of 73 to finish tied 51st at 10-over-298.   

Prize Presentation Picture Caption:

Chikkarangappa receives the winning cheque and trophy from (left to right) Mr. Sandeep Madhavan, Captain, KGA, Mr. Uttam Singh Mundy, Director, PGTI, Mr. Srinivasan H R, Vice Chairman & Managing Director, TAKE Solutions, Mr. Sanjay Nadgouda, President, KGA and Mr. Rajesh Malliya, General Manager, Hotel Royal Orchid.

PGTI release and photo

Chikkarangappa makes a statement with an unyielding 68 in round three

S Chikkarangappa 

Bengaluru, October 21, 2016: Reigning Rolex Ranking champion Chikkarangappa S of Bengaluru made a statement with an unyielding four-under-68 in round three of the TAKE Open Golf Championship, a Rs. 1 crore PGTI event, being played at the Karnataka Golf Association (KGA) course. Chikka’s brilliant third round effort gave him a three-shot lead at 12-under-204.

Noida’s Gaurav Pratap Singh (68) and Panchkula’s Shubhankar Sharma (70) were tied for the second place at nine-under-207.

Chikkarangappa (69-67-68), the overnight joint leader, delighted the home crowd on Friday after he ended the penultimate round with a three-stroke cushion at the top.

The 23-year-old precocious talent was off to a terrific start on day three as he reeled off birdies on the first three holes. Chikka landed it within four feet for the second time during the day for another birdie on the sixth. However, a couple of erratic tee shots on the fourth and ninth resulted in bogeys and saw him make the turn at two-under.

Chikka consolidated his lead with a display of fine putting on the back-nine, nailing birdie putts from a range of 12 to 20 feet on the 11th, 12th and 17th. Although, the winner of nine titles stumbled with a bogey on the closing 18th after finding the hazard, he continues to be the overwhelming favourite going into the final round.

Chikka said, “I enjoyed a great start over the first three holes. Thereafter, my course management wasn’t good. I kept putting myself under pressure trying to hit difficult shots, especially on the par-5s.

“Scoring on the par-5s used to be my strength but for the last few weeks I’ve not been able to capitalize on the par-5s. That’s one issue I need to address immediately.

“I made some long putts today and missed a couple of short ones. I feel the long putts are easier to make here at KGA since your expectations are low. But the short ones that are there for the taking can be quite tricky since reading the greens is not easy here.

“I’m looking to improve on my tee shots in the final round since I missed a few fairways today but was lucky to not get into too much trouble. I must play to a plan and stick to my strategy in round four, especially with regard to the par-5s,” added Chikka.

Gaurav Pratap Singh (67-72-68), made a significant move up the leaderboard, from overnight tied eighth to tied second, on day three, as a result of his 68. Gaurav, a former winner on the PGTI, was two-under through 16 holes but had a late surge with long birdie conversions on the last two holes that helped him close the day in joint second.   

Shubhankar Sharma (68-69-70) moved up one place from overnight third to tied second after a round of 70. Shubhankar, placed second in the Rolex Rankings thanks to his two wins earlier this year, is likely to be a prime contender on the final day.

The other top names in the chasing pack will be Delhi’s Chiragh Kumar, Bengaluru’s Rahil Gangjee and Sujjan Singh of Chandigarh, all of whom ended day three in tied fourth place at eight-under-208.

Bengaluru amateur Jaibir Singh slipped from tied fourth to tied seventh after his third round of 71. Sri Lankan Anura Rohana too shot a 71 to join Jaibir in tied seventh place at seven-under-209.

Indian star Jyoti Randhawa (72) was in tied 11th at five-under-211.

Fifteen-year-old amateur Aadil Bedi (79), making his first appearance at a professional event, closed the day in 54th at nine-over-225.

Leading Scores after Round 3 (54 holes):

204: Chikkarangappa (69-67-68)

207: Gaurav Pratap Singh (67-72-68), Shubhankar Sharma (68-69-70)

208: Chiragh Kumar (70-69-69), Rahil Gangjee (68-70-70), Sujjan Singh (66-70-72)

Shubhankar & Khalin look to make it count in Asia

Indian youngsters Shubhankar Sharma and Khalin Joshi will look to capitalize on their last three events of the Asian Tour season as they strive to follow in the footsteps of compatriot Chikkarangappa, who recently sealed his Asian Tour card with some top-notch finishes.

Shubhankar and Khalin, currently placed 83rd and 108th respectively, in the Asian Tour money list, will need some good finishes in their remaining events scheduled to be played in The Philippines, Indonesia and India (Panasonic Open India), if they are to book a place in the top-60 and thus earn exemption.

Shubhankar, who had two wins on the PGTI in the first half of the year, said, “I haven’t played up to my expectations on the Asian Tour so far. It’s been an up and down year for me. A good result here at the TAKE Open would be very reassuring. I can then hopefully carry forward the form to the Asian Tour and make the last three events count.”

Khalin, also a winner on the PGTI in 2016, said, “I’ve been a little patchy this season. But I’m looking to improve on my hitting before I head to the Asian Tour for my last three events there. I need one really solid week to make it into the top-60, and I feel the event in India will be crucial in that regard. I’m looking to make the most of these opportunities.”

PGTI release

Sharath-Sanil PQF showdown expected

Visakhapatnam, October 21, 2016: With most favourites, including A. Sharath Kamal, taking top spots in men’s singles qualifying group matches, nobody expects anything contrary to happen even in main draw’s first round outings.

However, a few matches witnessed qualifiers under pressure to meet the standards with at least two matches going down to the wire in the 11Even Sports National Ranking (South Zone) Table Tennis Championships at the Rajiv Gandhi Indoor Stadium here today.

The first round outing for Nishaad Shah of Air India was a real tough one, thanks to his rival Suraj Das from West Bengal which the Air India boy won 4-3. But the match was a thriller in the sense it was decided in the seventh game when Nishaad closed out on his opponent 7-11, 11-7, 7-11, 11-4, 11-9, 14-12, 11-6.

Suraj frittered away two match points in the sixth game and so did Nishaad when he lost two game points before winning it to heave a big sigh of relief. Drained out as he was, Suraj failed to motivate himself in the decider which Nishaad won without any trouble.  

In the second, Sanmay Paranjape of West Bengal outwitted Kishore Kumar Divakar of Tamil Nadu 4-3 in a match of equals. The West Bengal boy scored more winners than his rival even as the TN boy failed to capitalize when situated presented him with chances.

EASY FOR SHARATH

There were quite a few matches that threw up 4-2 results like the ones between Harsh Sachnandani of Gujarat who beat Subham Ojha of Rajasthan,Talangana’s Lahoti Harshavardhan defeated Lalathunhlua of Mizoram, AAI’s Sarthak Gandhi downed Souvik Kar of PSPB and Sougata Sarkar of LIC overcame Rakshit Barigidad of Karnataka.

As for Sharath, he had an easy 4-0 passage against Subhra Roy Chouwdhury of MP and will now meet in the second round left-handed Abhishek Yadav of PSPB, who struggled to win 4-2 against Tamil Nadu’s Ananth Devarajan, later today.    

By his standards, Sharath is expected to go through to the pre-quarterfinals where he is slated to meet No. 2 seed Sanil Shetty who will play his first outing this evening when he takes on Nishaad Shah.

SHAIILU’S BRAVE FIGHT

In women’s singles, with a well spread out byes, only 16 players were involved in the eight first-round matches, some of which kept everyone interested. Andhra’s promising prospect Shailu Noorbasha did put up a fight but Tamil Nadu’s Harshavardini won 10-12, 11-8, 11-1, 11-13, 11-7, 11-5 to move into the second round. AAI’s Selenadeepth Selvakumar was taken some distance by Haryana’s Riti Shankar before the former winning it 7-11, 12-10, 11-6, 11-4, 9-11, 11-9. So was the case with RBI’s Shweta Parte who had to bring in all her experience to account for Sikha Jacob of Kerala 11-7, 9-11, 11-8, 7-11, 11-6, 11-8.

NANDITA STRUGGLES

But it was the match between PSPB veteran Nandita Saha and Kritika Malik of Delhi that pushed spectators to the edge of their seats. Nandita squandered a 2-1 lead to trail 2-3 as Kritika put up a brave fight to outscore her rival in the fourth and fifth games. 

The experienced PSPB girl, however, managed to pull it off with two crispy sixth and seventh games to which the Delhi lass had no answer.    

In Youth Girls, there were quite a few upsets in the latter groups. For instance, Shrubabati Moitra of West Bengal upstaged Puja Paul of North Bengal to enter the main draw. Her 3-1 (11-7, 1-14, 11-9, 7-11, 11-8) win against Puja in group 15 saw through to her stage 2 entry. In group 16, it was even worse as Maharashtra’s Shruti Amrute’s 11-6, 9-11, 3-11, 3-11 loss to Delhis Ishita Gupta sent her out of reckoning. Ishita, in fact, had to play a good game against Tulika Roy of West Bengal to win 11-7, 1-11, 9-11, 11-9, 11-6 and seal her main draw spot.

Seraha Jacob of Kerala beat Delhi’s Vanshika Bhargava 10-12, 11-8, 11-2, 11-5 to take the lone qualifier’s slot from group 17 while in group 18, Sumana Saha of West Bengal ousted Shrusti Gupta of Delhi in a clinching match which the Bengal paddler won 11-2, 13-11, 5-11, 11-5. Kushi Viswanath of Karnataka bowed out after a tie ensued between her and Kaushani Nath of West Bengal Despite both having five points, the latter moved in with better average.

But for these abnormalities, every other player from the rest of groups had no problem whatsoever as they sailed into the knockout stage.

TTFI release

Bengaluru amateur Jaibir Singh shines on day two

Bengaluru, October 20, 2016: Reigning Rolex Ranking champion Chikkarangappa S of Bengaluru came into his own in round two of the TAKE Open Golf Championship as he shot a resolute five-under-67 to move into the joint lead along with Chandigarh’s Sujjan Singh at eight-under-136. Sujjan brought in a card of two-under-70 on Thursday.

While Panchkula-based Shubhankar Sharma (69) was one stroke off the pace in third place, four players, including Bengaluru-based amateur Jaibir Singh (69), Bengaluru’s Rahil Gangjee (70), Sri Lankan Anura Rohana (66) and Chandigarh’s Abhijit Singh Chadha (72), were bunched together in tied fourth at six-under-138.

The cut was declared at two-over-146. Fifty-three professionals and two amateurs made the cut.

Local favourite Chikkarangappa (69-67), who was three off the lead in tied ninth after round one, held his front-nine together on Thursday despite struggling with his approach shots and wedge play. He was two-under through seven but then had a quiet spell of six pars till the 13th.

Chikka’s round took off after his 20-feet birdie conversion from the edge on the 14th. He drained another long birdie putt on the next hole before completing his hat-trick of birdies on the 16thwhere his approach from 160 yards out landed within two feet of the flag.

Chikka, who narrowly missed out on a birdie from 25 feet on the 18th, now seems to be in the groove as he hasn’t conceded a bogey for the last 28 holes.

Chikka said, “I wasn’t at my best till the 13th hole today. But after the 20-feet conversion on the 14th, I really got into my stride. I played solid golf over the last five holes. The birdie on the 16th was another morale-booster for me.

“It’s not easy reading the greens here and therefore I was struggling to make putts in the first half of my round. Sometimes you need a little luck on the greens. Today I also found the right side of the holes and thus didn’t have too much of a problem with some of the tight pin positions.

“I’m very comfortable with my new 3-wood and have been striking it to over 280 yards. I’ve therefore used the driver only once in the first 36 holes. I don’t think I’ll need it in the last two rounds either since my 3-wood has been doing the job.

“I’ve been doing well with my new putter as I took 26 putts today. That’s been my putting average over the last few weeks on the Asian Tour as well,” added Chikka, a winner of nine titles, including two on the Asian Development Tour (ADT).

Sujjan Singh (66-70), the round one joint leader, hung on to his overnight position after a steady 70 that saw him make three birdies and a bogey.

Sujjan, also a winner on the ADT, looked set for the sole lead after he drained three birdie putts from 10 to 15 feet on the first 12 holes. However, a misjudgment of line on the 14th green led to his fourth three-putt of the tournament and resulted in a bogey.

“I had it under control till the seventh but lost my way between the eighth and the 14th. I didn’t hit it too well on that stretch and this course gets you if you do that. Nonetheless, I managed to keep it together at the end with pars on the last four holes,” said Sujjan.

He added, “It’s going to be a fun weekend with Chikka in top form. However, I’ll just be focusing on my game rather than thinking of anything else.”

Shubhankar Sharma lurks in third place as he followed up his first round 68 with a fighting 69. He almost holed out from 120 yards on the 18th where he picked up one of his four birdies.

Bengaluru amateur Jaibir Singh, playing at his home course, shot a second successive 69 to be two off the lead in tied fourth. The 26-year-old Jaibir, ranked India’s no. 2 amateur this year, seemed to have been inspired after playing his practice round alongside Indian star Jyoti Randhawa on Tuesday.

Jaibir’s spirited second round effort saw him land it within six feet on four occasions as he came up with six birdies against three bogeys.

Anura Rohana produced the day’s best score of 66 to move up from overnight tied 37th to tied fourth position.

Round one joint leader Abhijit Singh Chadha of Chandigarh slipped to tied fourth place after a 72 on day two. Bengaluru’s Rahil Gangjee (70) was also part of the quartet bunched together in tied fourth place.

Jyoti Randhawa (69-70) was one of six golfers in tied eighth place at five-under-139.

Fifteen-year-old Aadil Bedi of Chandigarh was the second amateur to make the cut. Aadil, one of India’s leading juniors, followed up his opening round 76 with a valiant 70 in round two to be tied 49th at two-over-146.

PGTI release

Naidu announces bonanzas for Vizag and AP

Visakhapatnam, October 20: Group leaders in both the men’s and women’s singles events were, mor or less, well entrenched themselves on the opening day and headed towards securing their top slots in the 11Even Sports National Ranking (South Zone) Table Tennis Championships at the Rajiv Gandhi Indoor Stadium here today.

With the South Zone championships attracting quite a large number of entries, it was a tough job for the competition department, led by N. Ganeshan, to divide players into 48 groups (men) with G. Sathiyan, Sanil Shetty, Harmeet Desai, Jubin Kumar, Manav Thakkar, Subhajit Saha, Utkarsh Gupta and Devesh Karia getting direct entry into the main draw.

Similalry, Suthirtha Mukherjee, Madhurika Patkar, Manika Batra, Mouma Das, Mousumi Paul, Pooja Sahasrabuddhe, Anika Das and Reeth Rishya have been given qualification byes because of their overall rankings.

All the men and women players will play a couple of rounds today and after two days of qualification matches, a clear picture will emerge about who all make the second stage cut before the main draw events begin. Meanwhile, the Youth Boys (32 groups) and Youth Girls (20 groups) will also play one round of matches today.

Earlier in the morning, Andhra Pradesh chief minister Chandrababu Naidu declared the meet open. At his inaugural address, the chief minister, stressing on the need to pursue sports announced a couple of bonanzas which included setting up of an exclusive table tennis academy at Kommadi. He also assured that his government will help Vizag host every year one national and one international table tennis tournament every year.

Naidu made this announcement after TTFI president Prabhat C. Chaturvedi’s made a request to him for a full-fledged academy in the state to nurture talent. The chief minister also gave his nod to the TTFI chief’s suggestion of AP’s continuous support in hosting national and international TT events.

The chief minister asked his Labour, Youth and Sports Minister K. Atcham Naidu, who also graced the occasion, to earmark for land for the academy at Kommadi besides making a fervent appeal to the corporate sector to come forward and assist the government establish different academies in Andhra to make it a model state. “We should be able to produce quality players who can go on to replicate what P.V. Sindhu did at Rio,” he said.

Naidu also announced that Andhra will be too happy to host the National Games in 2019 and his government will extend all help that is needed to create state-of-the art infrastructure in the new state.

TTFI release

A hurt Sharath focuses on 2018 CWG

Visakhapatnam, October 20, 2016: It was rather an uncommon scenario for one and all, including the protagonist, on the opening day of the 11Even Sports National Ranking (South Zone) Table Tennis Championships at the Rajiv Gandhi Indoor Stadium here today.

Achanta Sharatrh Kamal, once the top-ranked Indian in the world, played today his first round qualification match against Syed Kalavath Abdul Kader of IA & AD in 19 years! He was a bit anxious and uncomfortable by his own admission.

No doubt, Sharath won the match 11-9, 12-10, 11-7 in group 13. The three-time Olympian has one more group match against Bharat Krishnan of Kerala later today and there is not an iota of doubt that he will top the group to qualify for the men’s singles main draw.

In a free-wheeling chat, the finest player that India has produced said that he had to take this conscientious decision after he has had a word with the top-brass of TTFI. “My main focus is 2018 Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast (Australia). Towards that end, I have now moved into India by about 50 percent. I have given myself two years initially and decided to revisit myself after a year before arriving at a final decision on whether to shift completely to India or go back to Germany,” he said.

Sharath admitted the problems of a sudden shift as it will be difficult for him to find playing partners as players will be travelling for the national ranking events. “This gives me little option but this is the best I can think of as I want to be at home, giving time to my family,” he added.

But the ace paddler was quick to point out the perils. “All these years I slogged out, playing day in and day out and my worry now is the home comfort I will get used to. It’s a trial and error method and hope to strike a balance,” said Sharath.

Coming back to the issue of having to play the qualifiers, Sharath felt he had no option. “But I definitely felt uncomfortable because when I saw the list of eight players that have been given direct entry to Stage 2. I was a bit upset because I have no problems about the top guys like Sathiyan, Sanil (Shetty) and Harmeet (Desai). But there are quite a few juniors in that list and when I have to play qualifiers, yes it did hurt me.”

But he was quick to come back to his old self and was honest that he needed to adapt to the Indian conditions if he were to continue playing. “Five years ago, it was easy and there was more or less a similar condition in India as well as in Europe. The main reason was the speed glue and it minimized external conditions. The glue was subsequently banned. Another reason is in Europe, balls with seams are used while in India we use seamless balls and both are approved by ITTF. You need two weeks to acclimatize.”

However, one thing he was certain about. “I want to play it the hard way and come through the process. I know of no short cuts,” was the parting shot from a much fitter Sharath.  

TTFI release

Prodigal son Sharath’s return adds zing to South Zone Championships

Visakhapatnam, October 19, 2016: The return of the prodigal son—A. Saharath Kamal—to the domestic circuit, especially for the 11Even Sports National Ranking (South Zone) Table Tennis Championships starting at the Rajiv Gandhi Indoor Stadium at the VPT Sports Complex tomorrow, is the best thing advertisement that can happen to the sport. Incidentally, this will be first zonal meet that the Rio Olympian will be competing in, this season.

Yet, there is still a drawback as top-ranked Indian in the world, Soumyajit Ghosh, and North Zone champion Anthony Amalraj have given another goby to the ranking championships.

However, the presence of Sharath has given the Vizag organizers, who are hosting a national ranking event after 28 years, a big shot in the arm and one expects the crowd to rally behind them as well as Sharath to enjoy his ‘rare’ home appearance. Even his old and friendly Coach Massimo Costantini, who took charge as the national coach on October 1, will be looking forward to the icon’s performance.

With Sharath in the thick of action, it would add the zing that was missing from the men’s singles so far. Of course, G. Sathiyan who won his season’s first title at Rajkot just a week ago will have his task cut out as Sanil Shetty, Jubin Kumar of PSPB and Gujarat’s Devesh Karia, who was a finalist at Rajkot, will also be at his throat.

All said and done, Sharath return also augurs well as the standard of competition will go a few notches higher as one has seen in the women’s singles. Suthirtha, already with three silverwares this season, will give her best shot as the likes of Manika Batra, Madhurika Patkar and Pooja Sahasrabudde have found out to their chagrin. It has been big struggle for former national champions like Mouma Das and K. Shamini. However, it was heart warning to see Poulomi Ghatak, another former national champion, put up a brave front trying to make a comeback in recent times.

Another good thing of these ranking events is that one gets to see a lot of youngsters—the future of India—doing consistently well. Manav Thakkar, Ananth Devarajan, Ronit Bhanja, Birdie Boro and Snehit Suravajjula in Youth and Junior Boys sections and Archana Kamath, Anusha Kutumbale, Varuni Jaiswal, Moumita Datta and Prapti Sen, to name a few, in Girls category have been working hard as the results are proving.

Even in the Sub-Junior and Cadet sections, the boys and girls have shown a lot of promise and it is indicative of the sport growing, though not by leaps and bounds, and getting ready to reap a good harvest in the coming years. The Italian coach has already a good collection of players on his I-Pad, chosen from the Central and West Zone events, and he would like to add a few more names to the list after watching players at the South Zone. The opportunity beckons young paddlers and it is up to them to utilize it and be rest assured of the rewards. The ball is in their court.

Meanwhile, Competition Manager Ganeshan Neelakanta Iyer said that C.L. Thade has been nominated as the chief referee for the competitions here with assistance coming from a team 45 technical officials that include deputy and assistance referees, Blue Badge, International and National umpires.

Equipment from Stag—flooring, tables and balls—will be used for the championships which are organized by the Visakhapatnam District Table Tennis Association and conducted by the Andhra Pradesh State Table Tennis Association.

The Championships, which will be inaugurated by Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu, has received 1100 entries from among 731 paddlers.

TTFI release

Chandigarh boys Sujjan & Abhijit share the spoils on day one

Sujjan Singh

Bengaluru, October 19, 2016: The Chandigarh duo of Sujjan Singh and Abhijit Singh Chadha shared the spoils in round one of the TAKE Open Golf Championship at the Karnataka Golf Association (KGA) course on Wednesday.

Sujjan and Abhijit produced matching scores of six-under-66 to establish a one-stroke lead at the Rs. 1 crore event.

Noida’s Gaurav Pratap Singh and Delhi’s Honey Baisoya were joint third with scores of five-under-67.

Sujjan Singh, a consistent performer in the 2016 PGTI season with four top-10s to his name, had a promising start to the week as he made the turn at two-under on day one thanks to two birdie conversions from 15 to 30 feet.

The 36-year-old Sujjan, a winner of three titles, seemed to be in prime form on the front-nine when he drove the green on the first and followed that up with a 15-feet eagle conversion. He then went on to chip-in for birdie on the next before sinking a 20-footer for another birdie on the fourth.

The bogey on the sixth came against the run of play but was neutralized by Sujjan’s last birdie on the eighth.

Sujjan said, “I drove well and kept it together despite the three three-putts today. I was accurate off the tee and hit my irons close. The greens here at the KGA are very true and receptive.

“I’ve made a few drastic changes in my game in the last few weeks and even though it’s still work in progress, the results have begun to show. I’ve started understanding my swing a little better now and also controlling my ball-flight better.

“We’re now at the business end of the PGTI season and there’s going to be a lot of movement in the Rolex Rankings, so it’s a good time to produce your best,” added Sujjan.

Sujjan’s city-mate Abhijit Singh Chadha posted an error-free 66 to join the former at the top of the heap. Abhijit began the tournament with a birdie, as he too drove the first green like Sujjan.

From there on, the 25-year-old Chadha, added four more birdies to his card, largely thanks to some great wedge shots. He nailed his longest putt of the day, a 25-footer on the 15th, for his last birdie.

Chadha, who last won on the PGTI, exactly a year back, said, “I was stroking it well on the greens today. I also scrambled well, having got up and down on a couple of occasions, after landing it in difficult spots.

“I’ve had a couple of top-10s this year but with my striking and putting coming together, I feel I can really make this week count.”

Gaurav Pratap Singh and Honey Baisoya both delivered bogey-free rounds of 67 to be tied third. Gaurav was one-under till the 12th but then had a late flourish with four birdies on the last six as he got a hang of the green-speed.

Baisoya, the runner-up in Chennai last week, continued his hot streak with another low score. Baisoya got going with four birdies in his second half on the back-nine.

Bengaluru-based Rahil Gangjee, the Panchkula duo of Shubhankar Sharma and Angad Cheema and Noida’s Amardip Sinh Malik were bunched together in tied fifth with identical scores of four-under-68.

Among the 11 players who shared ninth place at three-under-69, were local favourite Chikkarangappa, Jyoti Randhawa, Bengaluru-based amateur Jaibir Singh and Sri Lankan Mithun Perera.

Chikkarangappa was one-over through his back-nine, but then made a grand comeback with four birdies on his front-nine.

Bengalureans Khalin Joshi and Udayan Mane shot scores of 70on Wednesday to be in tied 20th place along with seven other players.

PGTI release

Payas, Diya new sub-junior champs in National Ranking West Zone TT

Rajkot, October 18, 2016: Delhi’s Payas Jain and Maharashtra’s Diya Chitale claimed the season’s maiden titles in the Sub-Junior category of the 11Even Sports National Ranking (West Zone) Table Tennis Championships at the Veer Savarkar Municipal Corporation Stadium here today.

In the process, in all-Delhi Boys final, Payas beat Yashansh Malik 4-1 while Diya stopped Anusha Kutumble from Madhya Pradesh 4-2 from winning the third consecutive Girls’ crown.

Payas and Yashansh, good friends off the table, know each other well and have beaten each other in Delhi State events. But Payas was not the one to let go his first opportunity this year and deservingly won.

Indeed, Payas was the better paddler on view today, executing his shots to perfection. In fact, he hit a nice rhythm straightaway and looked like wrapping it up 4-0 but for his folly of hurrying with the shots in the third. Yashansh won the game on extended points. Payas quickly realized his mistgake and became more clinical in the next two to take home the cash and the glittering trophy.

On the other hand, Diya was picture perfect in the first two games and it unnerved Anusha to the extent that she made a lot of unforced errors. But Diya executed her shots with finesse and employed more of her backhand. Her forehand blistering shots and clever use of angles with good anticipation, too, helped her score more winners than her MP rival. However Anusha tried to make a comeback, Diya was at it to force her on the back foot.

TAMIL NADU’S CADET SWEEP

In what was an all-Tamil Nadu and left-handers final in Cadet Boys, Preyesh completed a hat-trick of titles this season beating Tarun Shanmugam 4-0. Preyesh, who showed consistency in the North and Central Zone events earlier, continued his winning ways with an easy win over his state mate, Tarun.

But Kavyashree Baskar, also from Tamil Nadu, upstaged Haryana’s Suhana Saini to deny her a hat-trick of crowns in Cadet Girls with a 4-0 triumph. Suhana had won the titles at Chandigarh and Indore this season. Kavyashree, who has had a very good season last year, came back nicely to wrest the initiative from the Haryana girl.

After a comfortable 3-0 lead, Kavyashree lost two match points in the fourth when Suhana, with a brilliant fight back, won her first 13-11. Again, in the next, the Haryana youngster saved a match point to put pressure on the TN girl. But it was the sixth, which saw some long rallies, that Suhana showed her real colours—she was down 1-7—but went 10-9 up. However, a bad return cost her dear as Kavyashree deuced and on her first match point in the game, she clinched the title.

It was, indeed, a heartbreak for Suhana but credit to her that she made the final worth a while to watch.

The Sub-Junior Boys final will see yet another clash of two Delhi boys, Payas Jain and Yashansh Malik, both thick friends outside the court. Payas accounted for Shreyans Goel, also of Delhi, 4-1 while Yashansh defeated Hrishikesh Malhotra from Maharashtra by the same margin.

But it was the Girls semifinals that pushed the spectators to the edge of the seat, thanks to the never-say-die attitude of Tanisi Kirtani of Goa and Swastika Ghosh of Maharashtra.

Anusha, gunning for her third successive title, did not have any respite once Tanisi levelled 3-3 after winning the sixth game 12-10. But then Anusha’s experience held her in good stead as she closed out quickly on her Goa opponent in the decider. More or less a similar script was enacted by Swastika but Diya proved a hard nut to crack in the decider.

PROMISING NITYASHREE

Earlier, a notable performance from Tamil Nadu’s Nithyashree Mani grabbed the attention of the audience. The little girl from Chennai Achievers Club, currently training under Subin Kumar, made her maiden quarterfinal appearance, slaying along the way some promising paddlers in the Sub-Junior section. Unfortunately, she ran into Maharashtra’s Swastika who beat the TN girl 12-10, 11-5, 11-5, before being packed off by Diya in the semifinals.

Earlier, Preyesh Suresh Raj and Suhan Saini were on way to adding another title in Cadet Boys and Girls categories when they beat in the semifinals Sujan Bharadwaj and Nehal Suriyanarayanan in straight games. They will take on in the final Tamil Nadu’s Tarun Shanmugam and Kavyashree Baskar who accounted for Navaneet Kutty, also of Tamil Nadu, and Prithoki Chakraborti of West Bengal.  

Results:

Sub-Junior Boys: Final: Payas Jain (Del) bt Yashansh Malik (Del) 11-9, 11-5, 11-13, 11-9, 11-5; Semifinals: Payas Jain bt Shreyans Goel (Del) 11-8, 11-4, 10-12, 11-6, 12-10, Yashansh Malik bt Hrishikesh Malhotra (Mah) 11-7, 11-9, 5-11, 11-5, 11-3.

Sub-Junior Girls: Final: Diya Chitale (Mah) bt Anusha Kutumbale (MP) 11-9, 11-7, 6-11, 10-12, 12-10, 11-9; Semifinals: Anusha Kutumbale bt Tanisi Kirtani (Goa) 6-11, 11-9, 11-9, 8-11, 11-7, 10-12, 11-7, Diya Chitale bt Swastika Ghosh (Mah) 8-11, 11-7, 11-6, 9-11, 13-11, 7-11, 11-6.

Cadet Boys: Final: Preyesh Suresh Raj (TN) bt Tarun Shanmugam (TN) 11-8, 11-3,11-7, 11-9; Semifinals: Preyesh Suresh Raj bt Sujan Bharadwaj (KNT) 11-9, 13-11, 11-7, Tarun Shanmugam bt Navaneet Kutty (TN) 11-7, 4-11, 11-7, 11-4.

Cadet Girls: Final: Kavyashree Baskar (TN) bt Suhana Saini (Har) 11-8, 11-8, 11-7, 11-13, 10-12, 12-10; Semifinals: Suhana Saini bt Nehal Suriyanarayanan (TN) 11-5, 11-4, 12-10, Kavyashree Baskar bt Prithoki Chakraborti (WB) 11-7, 11-2, 11-6.

TTFI release

Local lads Chikkarangappa & Khalin Joshi top contenders along with Jyoti Randhawa & Rashid Khan

Bengaluru, October 18, 2016: The inaugural TAKE Open Golf Championship, the 13th event of the landmark 10th PGTI season, is set to feature some of India’s leading international stars.

The field will be headlined by two of India’s rising stars, Chikkarangappa S and Khalin Joshi, both Bengalureans, along with international winners such as the legendary Jyoti Randhawa as well as Rashid Khan and Rahil Gangjee.

It will be a sweet homecoming for Chikka, who recently secured his Asian Tour card for 2017 after a third straight top-10 in Asia.

A confident Chikka said, “I was struggling with my wedge play till very recently. But after working with my coach, I was able to make a huge improvement in this aspect. As a result, I came up with some low scores over the last one month.

“It’s a big relief that I don’t have to go to the Asian Tour Q School now. The fact that I had to save my card was constantly on my mind, so there was a lot of pressure. But I just told myself to hang in there and be patient.

“It’s a fantastic track here at the KGA which is almost like a second home course to me. I have great memories of the KGA having won here in my junior and amateur days. I also won the LP Cup team and individual event here earlier this year.

“The starting and finishing holes are quite important at KGA. They look easy, but if you’re a little off the mark, you could be in big trouble.

“I’m delighted to be playing this event since I’m part of the TAKE family. TAKE Solutions has done a lot to support the PGTI and Indian professionals over the last few years. The launch of the TAKE Open Golf Championship is yet another boost for the PGTI and Indian professional golf,” added Chikka, the reigning Rolex Ranking champion.  

Like Chikka, Khalin too was part of the TAKE Chennai team that won the LP Cup team event at KGA earlier this year. Khalin will be one of the pre-tournament favourites as he is playing at his home course.

Khalin said, “It’s a special week for me since I’m playing at my home course and the event is sponsored by TAKE Solutions which also sponsors me.

“I’m quite excited to be back at KGA since I won my last event here earlier this year. I also won on the PGTI two months back so that too adds to my confidence.

“It’s a course that favours good ball-striking. The rough is up so there will be a premium on hitting the fairways. One has to be patient here as you will make mistakes.

“I’m in contention for the Rolex Player of the Year title along with the likes of Ajeetesh, Shubhankar and Rashid. I feel the competition for the No. 1 position will get really intense from here on,” added Joshi.

Former Asia No. 1 Jyoti Randhawa returns to the PGTI after 10 months. A fully fit Jyoti, who recently recovered from a foot injury, can’t wait to tee it up at one of his favourite venues, the KGA.

Randhawa said, “I love coming back to Bengaluru to play. The KGA course is in great shape and the weather is ideal. The KGA, one of the top courses in Asia, demands good ball-striking and putting. You’ve got to play your best golf here.

“The addition of the TAKE Open Golf Championship to the PGTI schedule is great news. We need more such events. I thank Mr. H R Srinivasan for this initiative. He has been a big supporter of Indian golf over the years.

“With the PGTI getting stronger, you can see the difference with more Indian players coming through at the international level. The more sponsors we have, the more the potential to produce top players.

“I’ve totally recovered from the injury to my right foot. But I’ve not played too much of late so the swing has been on and off. I’ve played four weeks in a row after a long time. So that’s got me into the playing mode. Now I just need to put four good rounds together and find my rhythm,” added the seasoned Randhawa.

The other big names in the field are, Ajeetesh Sandhu, Shubhankar Sharma and Rashid Khan, the top-3 in the Rolex Ranking at the moment, as well as the Bengaluru-based duo of Rahil Gangjee and Udayan Mane.

If one goes by recent form, Mukesh Kumar, last week’s winner in Chennai, will also be a contender. The international challenge will be led by Sri Lankan Mithun Perera.

PGTI release

Sathiyan, Suthirtha crowned champs

Rajkot, October 16, 2016: Top-seed G. Sathiyan defeated Gujarat’s Devesh Karia 4-0 to claim his season’s first men’s singles title in the 11Even Sports National Ranking (West Zone) Table Tennis Championships at the Veer Savarkar Municipal Corporation Stadium here today.

West Bengal’s Suthirtha Mukherjee went on to bag her second women’s singles title from zonal events when she defeated PSPB’s Mousumi Paul 4-2. But overall, this was her season’s third, including the Institutional crown she had won in July at Jaipur.  

Unexpectedly, it was a cakewalk for Sathiyan against Devesh who was completely rendered helpless against a hot Sathiyan who executed his blistering strikes to unsettle the Gujarat man. In the face of a mounting offensive approach, Devesh wilted very early in the final never to recover.

In contrast, Sathiyan scored a 4-3 laboured win in the semifinals to oust North Zone finalist and southpaw Sanil Shetty who, after leading 2-1, gave in to the pressure tactics of his PSPB rival which proved to be Sanil’s undoing. In a roller-coaster ride of sorts, Shetty did win the sixth to level 3-3 but was visibly losing steam and it only helped the semifinalist at Chandigarh to step on the gas pedal to a 6-1 lead and finish off in style.

In the other all-lefthanders fight, Devesh was woefully placed at 0-2 and 5-9 in the third game against Jubin. But a few errors both at the net and some away-going shots at that time saw the PSPB paddler concede the ground to the Gujarat man. From there on, Devesh was a different player altogether as he won 8-11, 6-11, 11-9, 11-3, 11-7, 14-12.

POETIC JUSTICE

In the end, a poetic justice was done to her pre-quarterfinal rival Krittwika Sinha Roy who, too, lost because of a change of bat midway through that match. But today, Mousumi was told to change it before the match with one side of her bat’s rubber damaged, as it happened to Krittwika on the second day.

Except for the first marathon game which Mousumi won after nine deuces and three game points, Suthirtha had the measure of her opponent. Mousumi did win the fourth game but Suthirtha was way ahead in the next and wrap it up quickly.

In women’s semifinals, Mousumi Paul continued with her winning ways as she outlasted top seed Madhurika Patkar 4-2 (11-5, 9-11, 11-7, 6-11, 11-9, 13-11) and second seed Suthirtha Mukherjee defeated former national champion and veteran Mouma Das 11-8, 11-8, 11-13, 11-1, 11-8. Madhurkia was the winner at the North Zone event at Chandigarh.

RONIT, PRIYADARSHINI CLAIM TITLES

Airports Authority of India’s Ronit Bhanja blanked out PSPB’s Birdie Boro 4-0 to take home the Youth Boys singles trophy while West Bengal’s Priyadarshini Das claimed her maiden Youth Girls title beating Tamil Nadu’s Amrutha Pushpak 4-3 in what was both paddlers’ first appearance in a final. Amrutha had her chance in the decider as she led 9-5 only to give away six points on the trot to her West Bengal opponent to her own disappointment and that of the crowd after having put up a nice fight to lead 3-2.  

JUNIOR CROWN FOR MANAV, ARCHANA

Earlier, PSPB’s Manav Thakkar defeated Telangana’s Snehit Suravajjula 4-1 to retain the Junior Boys singles crown and the Junior Girls title went the way of Airports Authority of India’s Archana Girish Kamath. She downed Rajasthan’s Priyanka Pareek in straight games of 4-0. At Indore, she had won the Youth Girls trophy. Similarly, Manav also had won the Youth title at Indore but had to satisfy himself with the single crown win here.

Results:

Men’s Singles: Final: G. Sathiyan (PSPB) bt Devesh Karia (Guj) 11-5, 11-2, 11-3, 13-11.

Women’s Singles: Final: Suthirtha Mukherjee (WB) bt Mousumi Paul (PSPB) 18-20, 11-9, 11-5, 6-11, 11-9, 11-3.  

Youth Boys Singles: Final: Ronit Bhanja (AAI) bt Birdie Boro (PSPB) 11-5, 11-9, 13-11, 11-7.

Youth Girls Singles: Final:  Priyadarshini Das (WB) bt Amrutha Pushpak (TN) 4-11, 11-7, 12-14, 11-9, 6-11, 11-6, 11-9.

Junior Boys Singles: Final: Manav Thakkar (PSPB) bt Snehit Suravajjula (TELG) 11-6, 7-11, 11-9, 11-9, 11-8.

Junior Girls Singles: Final: Archana Girish Kamath (AAI) bt Priyanka Pareek (Raj) 11-5, 11-4, 11-7, 11-7.

TTFI release

Harmeet loses cushion and pre-quarterfinal match

 Harmeet Desai

Varuni Jaiswal

Rajkot, October 15, 2016: Consistency is a problem which PSPB’s Harmeet Desai has not been able to 

surmount despite being on the circuit for a long time. The Gujarat paddler, who recaptured the national ranking title at Indore—his last title win came at Guwahati in the previous season—went down 3-4 to West Bengal’s Arjun Ghosh in the men's singles pre-quarterfinals of 11Even Sports National Ranking Table Tennis Championships at the Veer Savarkar Municipal Corporation Stadium here today.

Harmeet lost a 3-1 cushion, his form and rhythm as Arjun Ghosh raised the level of his game a notch higher to win the match 8-11, 11-8, 6-11, 8-11, 11-9, 11-8, 11-9 and march into the quarters. No doubt, credit should go to the West Bengal youngster who showed a lot of verve and kept prodding himself despite being down and out.

He upped the ante in the fifth game, winning it by minimal points and gradually kept himself floating to take the issue to the decider. In the decider, it seemed a touch-and-go affair as the two matched each other with great strokes, using the flanks well. A few blunders, especially when he netted the ball as Arjun was serving for the match and a service error just before that, cost Harmeet dear.

But Manav Thakkar and Devesh Karia fought well to keep the hosts’ flag high when the former outlasted AAI’s Sarthak Gandhi 4-2 and Karia rolled over PSPB’s Sourav Saha 4-1 to advance to the quarterfinals. Manav played a controlled and yet aggressive game despite Sarthak giving him a good fight.

In other matches, top seed G. Sathiyan beat Soumyadeep Roy 4-0, AAI’s Vivek Bhargava downed Rohit Chakraborth of LIC 4-1 and another AAI boy Ronit Bhanja outplayed PSPB’s Birdie Boro to win 4-2. For Santil Shetty, it was a cakewalk as he beat Nitin Thuruvengadam of Canara Bank 4-1 and Jubin Kumar repeated the score against Telangana’s Aman Balgu.

VARUNI SLAYS SHAMINI

Earlier, Varuni Jaiswal of Telangana made another giant killing when she humbled former national champion K. Shamini with a 4-3 verdict in women's singles pre-quarterfinals. Down 0-5 and then 3-6 in the decider, Varuni never lost hope against a seasoned Shamini who is normally good in end games.

Varuni narrowed down the lead with the execution of her backhand drives and nice placements to go 7-6 up and then inched towards writing history. At 10-8 she missed a match point but recovered soon, when Shamini served, to shut her rival out at 10-9 as the 15-year-old eventually wrapped it up 11-9, 6-11, 11-6,8-11, 9-11,11-6, 11-9.

In other pre-quarters, fourth-seeded Manika beat Divya Deshpande 4-2, Ankita Das beat Nikhat Banu 4-0, Madhurika Patkar won 4-0 against Shruti Amrute, but in another upset Amrutha Pushpak of Tamil Nadu downed third seed Pooja Sahasrabudde 11-9, 11-8, 6-11, 11-6, 8-11, 11-9. In a clash of veterans, Mouma Das defeated Poulomi Ghatak 4-3, after the latter led 3-2. Mouma had to win the last two games to stay in contention.

UNLUCKY KRITTWIKA

PSPB’s Krittwika Sinha Roy was unlucky to bow out in the pre-quarters as the change of bat did her in when she was leading 2-1. The damaged rubber of her bat had to be changed midway through and it came as a blessing in disguise to her opponent Mousumi Paul who went on to lead 3-2. Yet it was really brave of her to level and in the decider lost a match point as Mousumi won 6-11, 11-13, 11-9, 11-6, 11-3, 10-12, 12-10.

A visibly upset Krittwika said: “I couldn’t get the ply of my choice (in India) though I have the rubbers. If only I had the right ply, I would have carried an additional bat which I normally do. The borrowed bat didn’t suit my style of play.”

TTFI Press release

Rampaging Mukesh Kumar cruises to 11-shot win at Chennai Open

Chennai, October 14, 2016: The seasoned Mukesh Kumar cruised to a comfortable 11-shot win at the inaugural Express Exclusive presents Chennai Open Golf Championship being played at the Madras Gymkhana Club (MGC) Golf Course at Guindy.

The golfer from Mhow, Madhya Pradesh, completed his total domination at the MGC on Friday thanks to a final round of four-under-66 that saw him post a grand tournament tally of 20-under-260.

Honey Baisoya of Delhi finished runner-up at nine-under-271 as a result of his last round of two-under-68 at the Rs. 40 lakh event.

Mukesh Kumar (61-68-65-66), who began the day with an almost unassailable lead of nine shots, consolidated on his lead with two birdies against a lone bogey on the front-nine in round four.

With the title all but sealed, Mukesh then went on a rampage with a hat-trick of birdies from the 10th to the 12th. He then recovered well from the bushes and went on to sink his longest putt of the day, a 25-footer, for birdie on the 14th.

It was then a matter of formality as Mukesh finally registered an astounding 11-stroke victory despite a bogey on the last hole.

Mukesh, who hails from the small cantonment town of Mhow which is known for its various military institutions, has set many a record with his latest victory.

While he is well past 100 titles on the Indian domestic circuit, Mukesh’s win in Chennai handed him a record 18thtitle on the PGTI. Delhi’s Ashok Kumar is next best on the PGTI with 13 wins against his name.

Mukesh, who is currently 51 years and two months of age, also broke his own record of being the oldest player to win on the PGTI. He set the record with his last win on the PGTI in December 2015 when he was 50 years and four months old.

Besides it was also Mukesh’s third straight win at the MGC. He had won the previous two PGTI events staged at the MGC in 2008 and 2009. Incidentally, on Friday, Mukesh matched his 11-stroke victory margin from the 2008 event at MGC.

Mukesh said, “I’m delighted to have bagged my first win of the year. This gets me into contention for the Rolex Ranking title. I had narrowly lost out in the Rolex Ranking last year, having finished second. My first round of 61 had set up the tournament nicely for me.

“Today, it was just a matter of hanging in there. I had planned to play safe on the first six holes in order to keep the errors out and I managed to do that. I had a good day with the putter as I converted three birdies from a distance of 15 to 25 feet.

He added, “I love coming back to the MGC every time as this course is almost like a home course to me. I’ve won here so many times and am quite familiar with the course conditions. The size and speed of the greens is the same as my home course in Mhow. I must compliment the officials and staff of the MGC for providing us with excellent playing conditions this week. I look forward to playing in Chennai soon in the future, especially at the MGC.”

  

Mukesh has now moved up from 15th place to sixth position in the Rolex Ranking as his winning purse of Rs. 6,00,000 took his season’s earnings to Rs. 13,62,783.

Honey Baisoya (67-66-70-68) hung on to his overnight second place with a two-under-68 on day four. It was Baisoya’s career-best finish and also his fourth top-10 of the year.

The 20-year-old Honey, who struck an eagle, a birdie and a bogey in round four, moved up from 17th to 12th place in the Rolex Ranking as a result of his second place finish.

Bengalureans Udayan Mane and Mari Muthu R took a share of third place at six-under-274 along with Delhi’s Shamim Khan and Bangladesh’s Md Zamal Hossain Mollah. Mari Muthu registered his career-best finish.

Bengaluru’s C Muniyappa, Gurgaon’s Veer Ahlawat and Sanjay Kumar of Lucknow were a further shot back in tied seventh.

C Arul (70-73-73-72), the only Chennai player to make the cut, shot a two-over-72 on Friday to end up in tied 40th at eight-over-288.

Rd 4 Final Scores:

260: Mukesh Kumar (61-68-65-66)

271: Honey Baisoya (67-66-70-68)

274: Udayan Mane (67-70-69-68), Mari Muthu R (68-70-68-68), Md Zamal Hossain Mollah (69-66-69-70), Shamim Khan (70-67-68-69)        

Prize Presentation Picture Caption:

Mukesh Kumar (3rd from left) receives the cheque from (left to right) Mr. Uttam Singh Mundy, Director, PGTI, Mrs. Kavita Singhania, Managing Director, Express Group and Mr. G Suresh, Captain, Madras Gymkhana Club Golf Annexe (Guindy)

PGTI release and photo

Easy for Madhurika; Manika, Poulomi struggle

Rajkot, October 14, 2016: Top-seeded Madhurika Patkar made a short work of Shweta Parte to sail into the women’s singles pre-quarterfinals of the 11Even Sports National Ranking Table Tennis Championships at the Veer Savarkar Municipal Corporation Stadium here today.

The PSPB paddler defeated her RBI rival 8-11, 11-5, 11-5, 11-8, 11-9. Madhurika will next take on Maharashtra’s Shruti Amrute, who accounted for West Bengal’s Moumita Datta 11-5, 5-11, 11-9, 13-11, 11-7 in the round of 16.

For fourth-seeded Manika Batra, who won the singles crown at Indore, it was a setback or sorts as the Tamil Nadu girl Vidya Narasimhan took two games off her before the PSPB girl won 11-4, 5-11, 9-11, 11-4, 11-7, 11-8 to go through. Former national champions Mouma Das and Poulomi Ghatak, too advanced, but Ghatak struggled against Haryana’s Sanya Sehgal. The PSPB woman won 11-6, 9-11, 6-11, 11-3, 8-11, 11-3, 11-6. For Mouma it was an easy 4-1 win against RBI’s Pallabi Kundu.

Madhurika was rusty to begin with and it was showing in her first game as Shweta didn’t have to labour much to win it. Nevertheless, the top seed soon settled down and started unleashing her combination strokes which proved to Shweta’s undoing. Unable to contend even with innocuous blocks, the RBI woman lost her grip. She, however, put up some resistance in the fourth and fifth games but it was too late for a comeback.

Moumita, who axed Archana Kamath in group stages yesterday, was found wanting against the left-handed Shruti. Despite restoring parity, the West Bengal girl was unable to cope with the Maharashtra paddlers steady but crisp forehands.

Nikhat Banu, who survived a good scare from Tanisi Kirtani of Goa on the opening day, moved into the pre-quarters after some initial hiccups when she defeated AAI’s Chipia Frenaz 7-11, 14-12, 11-5, 11-6, 11-9. The girls from Gujarat not only took the first game but also managed to extend Nikhat in the second. But the Telangana girl won the second after three deuces which propelled her to the next round. She will run into PSPB’s Ankita Das who blanked Delhi’s Garima Goyal.

Though Mouusumi Paul struggled against RSPB’s Ashlesha Trehan in hter 4-2 win, she will have to contend with PSPB’s Krittwika Sinha Roy in the pre-quarters. Krittwika rolled over Rajasthan’s Priyanka Pareek 4-0.

BORO FIGHTS BACK

The men’s singles draw, which is of 64 players, saw a liberal spread of byes but among the ones that had failed to go past the first round included AAI’s Anirban Ghosh, who was outwitted by West Bengal’s Surajit Das. He played brilliantly and pinned Anirban to a distance from the table which enabled the West Bengal boy stage a fine recovery after being 1-2 down and win 4-2.

Maharashtra’s Anish Ambekar, too, entered the second round of the main draw beating Delhi’s Peeyush Prasad 11-4, 16-14, 11-6, 10-12, 11-9. The young paddler from Mumbai outlasted his Delhi opponent, particularly in the second game, which saw several deuces and both squandering three game points each.  

Promising Birdie Boro from PSPB really struggled against State Bank of Patiala’s Vineet Chopra before subduing him 9-11, 5-11, 11-12, 6-11, 11-9, 11-5, 11-7. No doubt, Boro had to bring in all his experience to the table but the marathon match certainly enhanced Chopra’s reputation from a non-entity to something special.

In Youth Boys and Youth Girls, the second stage matches of which will start tomorrow, 24 qualifiers from each section made the cut. Manav Thakkar and Archana Girish Kamath have been given the top seeding slots as they lead the ranking table with highest points. Besides, the two had won the titles in the Central Zone events held at Indore just a fortnight ago.

Ronit Bhanja, Arjun Ghosh and Jeet Chandra follow Manav in the Youth Boys seeding list while Sreeja Akula, Manushree Patil and Priyanka Pareek in the You Girls chart.

TTFI release

Dominant Mukesh pulls away into nine-stroke lead on day three

Chennai, October 13, 2016: Mukesh Kumar continued in the lead for the third straight day at the inaugural Express Exclusive presents Chennai Open Golf Championship being played at the Madras Gymkhana Club (MGC) Golf Course at Guindy.

The man from Mhow, Madhya Pradesh, with over a 100 titles to his credit on the Indian domestic circuit, put up yet another dominant display in round three at the MGC as he posted a bogey-free five-under-65 to build an almost insurmountable nine-shot lead with this total reading 16-under-194.

Honey Baisoya of Delhi was a distant second at seven-under-203 after his third round of even-par-70 at the Rs. 40 lakh event.

Mukesh Kumar (61-68-65) extended his lead by five shots in round three courtesy some brilliant wedge shots. Mukesh, a winner of a record 17 titles on the PGTI, had a steady start to the third day as he made pars on the first six holes.

Mukesh’s round took flight with consecutive birdies on the seventh and eighth where he landed it within three feet. When he set up another birdie putt from five feet on the 10th, it looked more and more like a one-horse race with no one in sight to challenge for the lead.   

Mukesh’s 15-feet birdie conversion on the 14th helped him add to his burgeoning lead. However, his excellent recovery from the rough on the 18th where he extracted another birdie was the proverbial ‘icing on the cake’.

Mukesh said, “My wedge-play and chipping was really sharp today. I used my sand-wedge to great effect. I looked at playing safe to maintain my lead but the birdies still kept coming. I missed a few short putts but I won’t complain considering the position I’m in at the moment.

“I had set out to achieve a score of four to five under over the last two rounds but I’ve already achieved that in round three. So now the focus will be on keeping it simple and playing percentage golf. Honey Baisoya could be the only competition on the final day since he’s striking it really well. I also have to guard against being complacent as ‘it’s never over till it’s over’ in golf.

“The greens here at the MGC suit my game. That’s one of the reasons why I always play well here. The first round 61 set up the tournament for me as it gave me a huge psychological boost. I now hope to win a record 18th title on the PGTI,” added Mukesh, who is currently 15th in the Rolex Ranking.

Mukesh, who is currently 51 years and two months old, is now also in line to break his own record of being the oldest player to win on the PGTI. He set the record with his last win on the PGTI in December 2015 when he was 50 years and four months old.

Honey Baisoya (67-66-70) was one-over for the day through 17 holes but birdied the last from 10 feet to promote himself from joint second to sole second at the end of the day. Baisoya, currently 17th in the Rolex Ranking with three top-10s this season, now looks set to improve upon his previous best finish of the year which was fourth.

Lucknow’s Sanjay Kumar (69) and Bangladesh’s Md Zamal Hossain Mollah (69) were in joint third place at six-under-204.

Bengalureans Udayan Mane (four-under-206) and C Muniyappa (three-under-207) were in tied ninth and tied 13th respectively.

Gurgaon-based Digvijay Singh’s seven-under-63 was the day’s best card and it catapulted him from overnight tied 49th to tied 15th place at two-under-208.

C Arul (70-73-73), the only Chennai player to make the cut, shot a three-over-73 on Thursday to lie tied 44th at six-over-216.

Rd 3 Leading Scores:

194: Mukesh Kumar (61-68-65)

203: Honey Baisoya (67-66-70)

204: Md Zamal Hossain Mollah (69-66-69), Sanjay Kumar (68-67-69)        

PGTI release