Soumyajit Ghosh is youngest men’s TT champion; Shamini regains women’s crown

Raipur, January 12, 2013: Soumyajit Ghosh became the newest and youngest men’s champion at 19, denying six-time title holder Achanta Sharath Kamal another shot at the men’s crown and K. Shamini culminated her season on a high note by dethroning Poulami Ghatak from the high pedestal in the women’s event at the National Table Tennis Championships on Saturday.

The top-seed Ghosh beat 30-yearold Sharath 4-2 and took home the Maharaja Pitampura Cup, a bagful of confidence and Rs. 2.30 lakh for his efforts, while No. 2 seed Shamini won 4-1 to receive the Travancore Cup and carry a lot of self-assurance, valuable ranking points and Rs. 1.45 lakh with her.

Both Sharath and Poulami have to do a lot of introspection for the season ahead as they have the Commonwealth championships coming at New Delhi this May. But Ghosh will relish the victory over world No. 70, particularly for the way he came back into the final. After being 1-2 down, it required a lot of guts to do it against a player of Sharath’s experience and caliber.  

The final saw a lot of rallies and counters but the Siliguri boy, who earlier beat last year’s singles champion A. Amalraj in the semifinals, continued with his impressive form. After winning the fifth game by a big margin, he was trailing 1-4 in the crucial sixth. But Sharath made several unforced errors, paving the way for Ghosh’s recovery. From there the match turned only one way.

Shamini was shaky to begin the final and was straightaway down 3-5. However, once she caught up with Poulami at 8-8, glow returned to her face as she went on to win the game 14-12 after three deuces. This really put her opponent down and despite returning and countering well Poulami was definitely pushed to the wall. Yet the Kolkatan managed to take the third game and that was the only consolation for her. Shamini had earlier won the Cup at Patna (2008) and Kolkata (2010) nationals.

Nervous Neha

Neha Aggarwal lost what would have been a golden opportunity of becoming the national champion for the first time when she squandered her semifinal chance against Poulami to go down 3-4. The Delhi girl should have won 4-2 but let Poulami level 3-3 and again in the decider wasted a three-point lead at 8-5 to let the chance slip away. Once Poulami made it 8-8 with her serve on, the PSPB girl cashed in on the prospect to go 10-8 up and on Neha’s second serve returned so well to complete the task.

Neha threw her racquet up in frustration and knocked off a few surroundings after the match. This act of hers warranted an explanation. Neha accepted her mistake and apologized for her misdemeanor to competition manager N. Ganeshan Iyer and was let off with a stern warning and deduction of 15 per cent of her prize money. Luckily, no ranking points were deducted.

Shamini managed to put it across Ankita Das in the other semifinal as he Siliguri girl was more erratic on the day. She started promisingly only to go down 1-2 before picking herself up to lead 3-2. But Shamini countered her PSPB rival well to shut out the challenge.

The Results:

Men: Final: Soumyajit Ghosh (Pet) bt A. Sharath Kamal (Pet) 4-2 (3-11, 11-5, 5-11, 11-8, 11-6, 11-7); (Semifinals): A. Sharath Kamal bt Sanil Shetty 4-0 (11-7, 11-7, 11-5, 11-2), Soumyajit Ghosh bt A. Amal Raj 4-1 (12-10, 5-11, 11-6, 11-7, 11-4).

Women: Final: K. Shamini (Pet) bt Poulami Ghatak (Pet) 4-1 (14-12, 11-9, 9-11, 11-4, 11-8); (Semifinals): Poulami Ghatak bt Neha Aggarwal 4-3 (10-12, 12-10, 12-14, 11-8, 4-11, 12-10, 11-9), K. Shamini bt Ankita Das 4-3 (9-11, 12-10, 12-10, 9-11, 6-11, 11-8, 11-3).

Men doubles (final): Sourav Chakraborty and G. Sathiyan (Pet) bt Aman Balgu
and Noel Pinto (Rlys) 11-5, 11-5, 12-10.

Women doubles (final): K. Spoorthy and Nikhat Banu (AP) bt Madhurika Patkar and Pooja Sahasrabudhe (Pet) 14-12, 3-11, 11-7, 11-5.

Mixed doubles (final): Utkarsh Gupta and Manika Batra (Del) bt Harmeet Desai and Frenaz Chipia (Guj) 11-8, 11-5, 11-6.

A TTFI Press release

Sharath returns to form, enters semifinals

Raipur, January 11, 2013: Achanta Sharath Kamal returned to great form as he decimated Aman Balgu 4-0 in the quarterfinals here on Friday to setup his semifinal showdown in the men’s singles against No. 2 Sanil Shetty at the National Table Tennis Championships. The left-handed Shetty overcame Gujarat’s Devesh Karia 4-2.

In the other quarterfinals, reigning champion Anthony Amal Raj defeated Harmeet Desai 4-1 to earn the second semifinal meeting against No. 1 seed Soumyajit Ghosh, who beat Jubin Kumar 4-0.

Sharath took less than 20 minutes to dispose of Railway’s Balgu despite the latter running the No. 6 seed close in the first game at 11-9. Serving well Sharath put on display a variety of strokes which brooked no answer from Balgu. Gosh too dominated against Haryana’s Jubin Kumar but the No. 8 seed, despite showing glimpses of his fighting quality, surrendered.

The quarterfinal between Amalraj too proved a mismatch with the reigning champion sounding a grim warning to his opponent in the semifinals tomorrow. No. 2 Sanil Shetty did struggle a bit before overcoming his opponent from Gujarat.

In women’s singles, top-seed Poulami Ghatak, No. 2 K. Shamini and No. 3 Ankita Das, all of PSPB, and Delhi’s Neha Aggarwal entered the semifinals. Poulami, who beat Mousmi Paul 4-3 will take on Neha, who downed Divya Deshpande 4-0. In the other semifinal, Ankita, who beat Mallika Bhandarkar 4-3, will clash with K. Shamini, who accounted for Pooja Sahasrabudhe 4-2.    

Earlier, PSPB’s Soumyadeep Roy, seeded No. 3, Delhi’s unseeded Manika Batra and PSPB’s Madhurika Patkar made their exit.  Roy played an aggressive game but the unseeded Aman Balgu matched him to cash in on the chances to win 3-2.  Despite trailing 2-4, Roy seemed well on course to extend Balgu in the sixth but several unforced errors by the erratic Roy foreclosed his options as Balgu won another extended game to seal Roy’s fate.

No. 4 seed Madhurika lost to Neha Aggarwal 3-4 while another Delhi girl and No. 6 seed Manika Batra was dumped by unseeded Karnam Spoorthy from Andhra in the first round. Spoorthy won 4-1 (8-11, 13-11, 11-7, 11-8, 12-10).

As for Manika, who lent a helping hand in Delhi’s title win on Thursday, was sent packing by Spoorthy. The girl from Andhra had been her nemesis and troubled almost all big names, including Manika, in the past. And today was no different.

The Results:

Men (QF): A Sharath Kamal (PSPB) bt Aman Balgu (RSPB) 4-0 (11-9, 11-13. 11-5. 11-5), Soumyajit Ghosh (PSPB) bt Jubin Kumar (Har) 4-0 (11-5, 11-6, 11-7, 11-6), A. Amal Raj (PSPB) bt  Harmeet Desai (Guj) 4-1 (11-8, 11-5, 10-12, 11-7, 11-6), Sanil Shetty (PSPB) bt Devesh Karia 4-2 (11-6, 7-11, 9-11, 17-15, 11-2, 11-9); PQF: Soumyajit Ghosh bt L. Satheeswaran 4-1, Jubin Kumar bt Saurav Chakravarthy 4-3, A. Amalraj bt Sourav Saha 4-0, Harmeet Desai bt T. Nitin 4-0, Aman Balgu bt Soumyadeep Roy 4-2, A. Sharath Kamal bt Jignesh Jaiswal 4-0, Devesh Karia bt G. Sathiyan 4-2, Sanil Shetty bt Sougatha Sarkar 4-1.

Women (QF): Poulami Ghatak (PSPB) bt Mousmi Paul (WB) 4-3 (11-8, 6-11, 11-9, 11-2, 8-11, 9-11, 11-3, Neha Aggarwal (Del) bt Divya Deshpande (Mah-A) 4-0 (15-13, 11-6, 11-8, 11-3); Ankita Das (PSPB) bt Mallika Bhandarkar (Mah-B) 4-0 (11-7, 11-4, 11-3, 11-8), K. Shamini (PSPB) bt Pooja Sahasrabudhe (PSPB) 4-2 (11-7, 11-9, 3-11, 10-12, 11-1, 11-4);  PQF: Poulami Ghatak bt Takeme Sarkar 4-2, Mousmi Pal bt Mamata Prabhu 4-3, Divya Deshpande bt Reeth Rishya 4-3, Neha Aggarwal bt Madhurika Patkar 4-3, Ankita Das bt Soumi Mandal 4-1, Mallika Bhandarkar bt K. Spoorthy 4-3, Pooja Sahasrabhudhe bt Ayhika Mukherjee 4-3, K. Shamini bt Suthirtha Mukherjee 4-2.

A TTFI Press release

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

Soumyajit and Poulami are top seeds

Raipur, January 9, 2013: Soumyajit Ghosh has been rewarded for his excellent form this season with the top slot in men’s singles event at the ongoing National Table Tennis Championships here today. And, for the first time in many nationals, Achanta Sharath Kamal has been denied the top perch, despite being the only Indian paddler in world’s top-100 list.

Sharath, whose current world ranking is 70, was seeded No. 6 at the Institutional Championships last August, which was also the season opener. On the other hand, Soumyajit Ghosh was seeded No. 5 at the Lucknow nationals but has since grown in stature by winning most zonals.  In contrast, national champion Anthony Amal Raj, who was the No. 2 seed at Lucknow, has dropped down to No. 5 here.   

According to the seeding list released today, all the top four seeds are from the Petroleum Sports Promotion Board with both Sanil Shetty at No. 2 and Soumyadeep Roy at No. 3 are ahead of Amal Raj. Harmeet Desai (No. 4), Subhajit Saha (No. 7) and Haryana’s Jubin Kumar at No. 8 complete the top seeding.

In women’s singles, the first four slots have been taken by PSPB paddlers—national champion Poulami Ghatak, K. Shamini, Ankita Das and Madhurika Patkar in that order, followed by Divya Deshpande (Mah-A), Manika Batra (Del), Pooja Sahasrabudhe (PSPB) and veteran Mousmi Paul from West Bengal.

  

All these top players will be seen in action when the main draw events begin tomorrow. That is when the focus will shift to these individuals who will be eying on the coveted men and women’s singles trophies as well as the top prize money. The men’s winner stands to gain Rs 2.30 lakh while the women’s winner will carry home Rs.1.45 lakh from the total prize purse of Rs 9.58 lakh.

PSPB favourites

As for tomorrow’s team championship finals, the moot point would be what plans the Delhi women and West Bengal men are going to adopt to counter the PSPB teams. With such a star power in their arsenal, PSPB paddlers would naturally want to finish off the job quickly. This would also mean that there will be some opening available for Delhi and West Bengal to exploit.

Last year, Maharashtra ‘A’ women did precisely that in the semifinals and Delhi can draw inspiration to repeat what they did. But the PSPB women will approach the final here differently, always thinking to recapture the title. Poulomi Ghatak, Ankita Das, K. Shamini, Madhurika Patkar and Pooja Sahasrabudhe are all beatable and if Delhi manage to pull it off through Neha Aggarwal and Manika Batra—the latter will have to up the ante—it will do a world of good to the morale of the team.

On the other hand, Sharath Kamal, Soumyajit Ghosh and A. Amal Raj are good enough to run through West Bengal, particularly with Sharath in great shape and form. They also have the back-ups in Sanil Shetty and Soumyadeep Roy, but PSPB will hope their top three players accomplish the task. However, the West Bengal team has great warriors in Sougatha Sarkar, Sourav Saha and Souvik Kar who can be handful. Their semifinal match against Gujarat provided a glimpse of their ability last evening.

A TTFI Press release

Delhi women shock Maharashtra A to enter team championship final

Raipur, January 8, 2013: Delhi’s women paddlers caused the biggest upset of the championships, riding their way into the history book by entering the team championship final of the National Table Tennis Championships at the Balbir Juneja Indoor Stadium here today in decades.

Delhi beat Maharashtra A, who won the title last year, 3-2 in an edge-of-the-seat semifinal. In the final to be played on Thursday, they will take on PSPB who beat Tamil Nadu 3-0 in the other semifinal.

Drawing inspiration from Delhi women, Haryana men also walked into the history book with their maiden semifinal entry. They beat Maharashtra B 3-0 in the pre-quarters and then blanked out Assam in the quarterfinals. However, their progress was halted by the rampaging Petroleum Sports promotion Board (PSPB) team, led by Achanta Sharath Kamal, who is ranked 70 in the world.

Neha turns it around

In the semifinals, Delhi’s turnaround was made possible by Neha Aggarwal, who is in the best form of her life, who took both her matches against Divya Deshpande and Mamata Prabhu, the crucial fifth rubber after Maharashtra had rallied to equal at 2-2. Neha beat Mamata 11-7, 13-11, 15-13 to seal the fate of Maharashtra.

Manika began on an excellent note against an off-colour Mamata Prabhu and Neha beat Divya to put Delhi 2-0 up. But Sanya Sehgal lost to Prajakta Tipale and Manika surrendered to Divya to give Maharashtra a semblance of a chance.

However, Neha shut out the challenge from Mamata to put Delhi through. Down 0-5, Neha made an excellent recovery in the third game to level the score at 6-6 and went 10-9 up. But on her serve, Neha returned wide but Mamata blew up her chance. Manika Batra did contribute her might against West Bengal when she won both her matches to beat the team 3-2. Later, Neha, who lost her first match, accounted for the experienced Mousmi Paul in a thrilling four-setter in the decider.

Irrespective of the result in the final—PSPB is expected to wrest the title—Delhi can take heart from the fact that they have already ensured a silver medal for the team.  As for the formidable PSPB, Ankita Das, Madhurika Patkar and K. Shamini made it a one-sided affair against Tamil Nadu.

Superb Haryana

It must be said to the credit of Haryana, led by Jubin Kumar, played superbly against Maharashtra B to earn their quarterfinal berth against Assam. And the quarterfinal proved to be a mismatch with Jubin taking the first match 3-0 against Saidul Alam Ahmed. Mohit Verma and Rajeev Ghai conceded two games each to their opponents, Anil Kashyap and Pankaj P. Chutia, but in the end prevailed over the northeast team to enter the semis for the first time. But the marauding PSPB routed Haryana 3-0 to end their winning streak.

Earlier, RSPB men had their chances in the quarterfinals against Gujarat but a brilliant display by Harmeet Desai, who took both his matches, paved the way for the latter to win 3-2. West Bengal, who beat Gujarat 3-1 in the other semifinal, will join PSPB in the final. As expected, RSPB women lost to PSPB without a fight in the quarterfinals to end their campaign on a disappointing note.

The Results:

Men: (PQF): PSPB bt Orissa 3-0, North Bengal bt Karnataka 3-0, Haryana bt Maharashtra B 3-0, Assam bt Maharashtra A 3-1, Gujarat bt Goa 3-0, RSPB bt Andhra Pradesh 3-0, West Bengal bt Chattisgarh 3-0, Tamil Nadu bt Punjab 3-0; QF: PSPB bt North Bengal 3-0, Haryana bt Assam 3-0, Gujarat bt RSPB 3-2, West Bengal bt Tamil Nadu 3-2; Semi-finals: PSPB bt Haryana 3-0, West Bengal bt Gujarat 3-1.

Women (PQF): Maharashtra A bt Haryana 3-0, Gujarat bt Madhya Pradesh 3-0, Delhi bt Assam 3-0, West Bengal bt Himachal Pradesh 3-0, PSPB bt Maharashtra B 3-0, RSPB bt Chattisgarh 3-0, Tamil Nadu bt Andhra Pradesh 3-1, North Bengal bt Chandigarh 3-0; QF: Maharashtra A bt Gujarat 3-1, Delhi bt West Bengal 3-2, PSPB bt RSPB 3-0, Tamil Nadu bt North Bengal 3-1; Semi-finals: PSPB bt Tamil Nadu 3-0, Delhi bt Maharashtra A 3-2.

A TTFI Press release

Cake-walk for Maharashtra ‘A’ women in National table tennis

Raipur, January 7, 2013:  Maharashtra ‘A’ women, last year’s champions, should walk into the final of the team championships, if one goes by the pre-quarterfinals draw decided at the of the National Table Tennis Championships after Stage 1 matches at the Balbir Singh Juneja Indoor Stadium here today. They beat both Andhra Pradesh and Rajasthan in Group A with an identical 3-0 margin to take the top perch. 

Placed in the top-half, Maharashtra could well run into Delhi in the semifinals as the latter accounted for Maharashtra B, Punjab and Goa in a four-team Group G and they take on Assam in the pre-quarterfinals that begin tomorrow. In almost all second round matches, the results were along expected lines with the favourites making it a one-sided affair.

There could be another interesting match-up in offing in Stage 2 when Tamil Nadu women, in the bottom half of the draw, take on Andhra Pradesh in the last 16-stage. With three experienced girls in their ranks—A.V. Nivedita, N. Vidhya and Sumana R. Krishnan—Tamil Nadu have the ability to reach the semifinals where they could expect to meet North Bengal paddlers.  But before that they have to contend with Andhra Pradesh, who have Nikhat Banu and Karnam Spoorthy, in the pre-quarterfinals.

As for others, the fancied teams should pass the next round test without much sweat. But the real problem could be for the Railways Sports Promotion Board (RSPB). Unless the RSPB put their best foot forward, they could be out in the quarterfinals as they are likely to meet the Petroleum Sports Promotion Board (PSPB) women in the quarters. In any case, one of the two institutional teams would make way for a state team which, in turn, increase the latter’s chance of finishing among medals. 

As for Delhi, who are in top half, this championships present with a great opportunity to reach the final. With Manika Batra and Neha Aggarwal in their forefront and in good form, Delhi should at least reach the semi-finals where they will run into Maharashtra A, who have the likes of Divya Deshpande and Mamata Prabhu. If the former continue with the form they have shown so far, Delhi could topple Maharashtra A.

The teams that qualified for the pre-quarters also include Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, hosts Chattisgarh and Chandigarh.

In the men’s section, PSPB, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra ‘A’, Chattisgarh, Gujarat, Maharashtra ‘B’, RSPB, Orissa, North Bengal and Goa are the team set for a place in the second stage. The league phase will be completed only tomorrow and that will throw up the remaining five teams.

The Results (League):

Women:  Group A: Maharashtra A bt Rajasthan 3-0, Maharashtra A bt Andhra 3-0, Andhra bt Rajasthan 3-0; Group B: North Bengal bt Haryana 3-0, North Bengal bt Jharkhand 3-0, Haryana bt Jharkand 3-0;  Group C: PSPB bt Tripura 3-0, PSPB bt Himachal Pradesh 3-0, Himachal Pradesh bt Tripura 3-1; Group D: West Bengal bt Mizoram 3-0, Chattisgarh bt Uttarakhand 3-1, West Bengal bt Uttarakhand 3-0, Chattisgarh bt Mizoran 3-0, West Bengal bt Chattisgarh 3-0, Uttarakhand bt Mizoram 3-0;  Group E: Tamil Nadu bt Manipur 3-0, Madhya Pradesh bt Manipur 3-1, Tamil Nadu bt Madhya Pradesh 3-0; Group F: Gujarat bt Pondicherry 3-0, Chandigarh bt Pondicherry 3-1, Gujarat bt Chandigarh 3-0; Group G: Maharashtra B bt Goa 3-0, Delhi bt Punjab 3-0, Maharashtra B bt Punjab 3-0, Delhi bt Goa 3-0, Delhi bt Maharashtra B 3-0, Punjab bt Goa 3-2; Group H: RSPB bt Bihar 3-0, Assam bt Meghalaya 3-0, RSPB bt Meghalaya 3-0, Assam bt Bihar 3-0, RSPB bt Assam 3-0, Bihar bt Meghalaya 3-1.

Top paddlers for Chattisgarh nationals

Raipur, January 6, 2013:  The record number of entries from teams for the Senior National Table Tennis Championships, starting here at the Balbir Singh Juneja Indoor Stadium from Monday, is an indication of the growing popularity as well as the importance of the event.

The nationals provide the best opportunity to teams on the fringe as well as those individual paddlers who look for permanent nests, to make a mark for themselves. With a restriction placed on entries per team, this is the best opening for some of the regulars to get a look in. The teams have been divided into eight groups with PSPB men and Maharashtra A women getting the pride of place.

Being the first nationals for all disciplines beginning in the New Year, the championships offer the right buzz—34 men’s teams and 30 women’s squads have confirmed entries—which other sports can emulate. Similarly, there are lessons for lesser teams in fray here to learn.

Tearing a page from Team Maharashtra’s book, they can pose questions on the monopoly of the Petroleum teams. Last year, Maharashtra ‘A’ not only ended the PSPB domination in the women’s semifinals, but went on to the claim the team championships in a most organized way. No doubt, the PSPB team—it has national champion Poulomi Ghatak, K. Shamini, Ankita Das, Madhurika Patkar and Pooja Sahasrabudhe—will come back with a vengeance to wrest the team title here, but they will be wary of Maharashtra and others.  

However, it will be difficult for Maharashtra to repeat the Lucknow performance because Divya Dshpande and Mamata Prabhu will have to share much of the team’s burden with some of their former state mates turning out for other teams. It will also depend on how Prajakta Tipale performs for Maharashtra.  Indeed, Railways Sports Promotion Board (RSPB), who finished runners-up at the Kolkata Inter-Institutional championships last June, will be out to exact revenge from PSPB. The Railways have the resources to upset the best in business.

PSPB’s men, on the other hand, have no such fears. They have been a force to reckon with for several years in a row and there will be no change in the script this time. With the Who’s Who of country’s top paddlers—Sharath Kamal, Soumyajit Ghosh, A. Amal Raj, Sanil Shetty and Soumyadeep Roy— in their ranks, the rest are reduced to mere pretenders.

With all top-ranked players making their appearances for their teams, the meet is the best occasion for them to assess their strengths and weaknesses not only against one another but also collectively as a team.  Of course, in the men’s section there will be teams like Gujarat (Harmeet Desai, Devesh Karia and Jignesh Jaiswal), Haryana (Jubin Kumar and Mohit Verma) and Tamil Nadu (Nithin Thiruvengadam) who can be the party spoilers. Similarly, the Delhi’s women team, spearheaded by Manika Batra and Neha Aggarwal, can pose serious challenges to many a team.

When the focus shifts to individual events from Wednesday, the rivalry among players will be even more intense as prize money will come into play. The men’s singles champion will receive Rs. 2,30,000 while the winner in women’s category will carry home Rs. 1,45,000 from a total prize purse of Rs. 9,58,800, with the losing pre-quarterfinalists too getting their share.  Players like Subhajit Saha, G. Sathiyan and Sourav Chakraborty, who are not part of any team, will walk that extra mile to make most of the championships. For them the sky will be limit.

Incidentally, Chattisgarh Table Tennis Association is hosting the senior nationals for the first time and the enthusiasm of the organisers is palpable to make the championships a grand success. The technical team, comprising 60 officials, is headed chief referee Anil Dubey who will be assisted by Satheese Attoor. 

Press release

PSPB men and Maharashtra ‘A’ women get top billing

New Delhi, January 5, 2013: All top-ranked paddlers of the country, including Achanta Sharath Kamal, will be seen in action at the 74th Senior National and Inter State Tale Tennis Championships that get underway at Raipur from January 7.

As per the draw released here today, Petroleum Sports Promotion Board (PSPB) in the men’s section and Maharashtra A in the women’s category, have been given the top billing for the team championships that marks the beginning of the six-day event, which is followed by the individual match-ups.

Teams have been divided into eight groups with each comprising four or three teams after the draw was made. The teams that have been placed atop of their groups have been the ones that need to be watched as they all got their after putting up a great performance at the Lucknow nationals.

No doubt, the petroleum teams have been ruling the roost for a number of years, thanks to their steady supply line of top players even as other teams have struggled to erode their monopoly. Indeed, the Maharashtra women did their star acts last year at Lucknow to make a dent into PSPB’s pride. This is what the rest of the teams in fray here—34 men’s teams and 32 women’s squads who have confirmed entries—will try to do.

But it is easier said than done because for PSPB winning is a habit of sorts. By recruiting the best of talents in the country in their ranks, only the second or third best set of players are available for other teams to lap up. There is a problem there but the individual brilliance of certain players from other teams cannot be ignored.

Among men, they have the likes of Sharath Kamal, Soumyajit Ghosh, A. Amal Raj, Sanil Shetty and Soumyadeep Roy and among women the team will be comfortably placed with national champion Poulomi Ghatak leading the charge with K. Shamini, Ankita Das, Madhurika Patkar and Pooja Sahasrabudhe.

After the team championships, the interest will be to see if Sharath Kamal redeems himself to wrest the men’s singles title from Anthony Amal Raj, who jumped on to the table to celebrate his victory at the Lucknow nationals.  Amal Raj may want to retain his title but there will be a host of other players, particularly Soumyajit Ghosh, breathing down his neck.

Poulomi Ghatak will certain have to up the ante here if she want to retain the title as more and more youngsters will like to unseat her. Above all, there is a substantial prize purse on offer and every individual will try to make a most of the occasion.

Press release