SHILLONG: The Petroleum Sports Promotion Board (PSPB) teams, both men and women, asserted their supremacy yet again, lifting the trophies in the 83rd Senior National and Inter-State Table Tennis Championships on Thursday.
For PSPB men, it was their 25th title. But their women's team regained the title -- winning it for the 16th time -- after missing in Hyderabad. Both PSPB men and women defeated Maharashtra 3-0 in the finals.
Yet, it was not easy for the PSPB men, particularly after captain A Sharath preferred to bench himself to give a chance to Manav Thakkar in the final.
Maharashtra's Deepit R Patil, Siddhesh Pandey and young Jass Modi had the firepower to stretch their opponents.
Deepit played brilliantly in the first game, taking two games off Sathiyan. The latter's experience saved the day as he staved off the threat to put PSPB 1-0 up.
Harmeet also dropped a game before shutting out an in-form Siddhesh Pandey. But Jash Modi got his act together to put Manav under pressure straight away.
Manav lost the opener on extended points before hitting a nice rhythm. Still, when the teenager stretched him again in the fourth, it became a little dicey for Manav's reputation.
Results (Team):
Men (Final): PSPB bt Maharashtra A 3-0 (G. Sathiyan bt Deepit R Patil 11-0, 10-12, 9-11, 11-5, 11-8, Harmeet Desai bt Siddhesh Pande 11-3, 11-3, 2-11, 11-7, Manav Thakkar bt Jash Modi 10-12, 11-1, 11-4, 12-10).
Women (Finals): PSPB bt Maharashtra A 3-0 (Archana Kamath bt Diya Chitale 11-2, 11-7, 11-5, Manika Batra bt Swastika Ghosh 11-4, 11-7, 15-13, Reeth Rishya bt Anannya Basak 11-6, 5-11, 11-8, 11-7).
