Sagarika Mukherjee kept her cool to stun former National champion Madhurika Patkar and put the finishing touches to Railways’ stunning 3-2 win over fancied Petroleum for a place in the women’s team final of the National table tennis championship here on Wednesday.
In fact, Takeme Sarkar’s twin wins for Railways and Madhurika’s twin losses for Petroleum proved decisive. Railways now faces defending champion Bengal ‘A’ in the final. Bengal also came through a tough 3-2 margin over Haryana.
In the men’s section, after claiming the last of its four titles in 1983, Delhi stunned second seed Gujarat 3-0 to reach the title-clash against Petroleum.
Though the result of the final is a foregone conclusion in favour of the indomitable Petroleum — an easy 3-0 winner over host Telangana that reached the semifinal after 1969 — it was indeed a stellar performance from Delhi.
Finding his form
An otherwise struggling Sudhanshu Grover found his form against Ishaan Hingorani to win in straight sets. Parth Virmani caused a big upset by stunning Manush Shah in five sets.
What followed was a ‘battle of generations’ between 16-year-old Payas Jain and Jignesh Jaiswal, who turned 42 on Wednesday. Jaiswal, a regular at National championships for over two decades, had his moments but lacked the energy to match the alacrity to prove stronger against the reigning National junior champion.
The results: Men: Semifinals: Petroleum bt Telangana 3-0 (Sharath Kamal bt S.F.R. Snehit 11-7, 8-11, 11-4, 11-5; G. Sathiyan bt Aman Balgu 11-3, 11-2, 11-3; Harmeet Desai bt Mohammad Ali 11-5, 11-5, 12-10).
Delhi bt Gujarat 3-0 (Sudhanshu Grover bt Ishaan Hingorani 11-0, 11-4, 11-5; Parth Virmani bt Manush Shah 11-9, 10-12, 11-7, 6-11, 11-8; Payas Jain bt Jignesh Jaiswal 14-12, 11-7, 8-11, 11-5).
Quarterfinals: Petroleum bt Maharashtra ‘A’ 3-0; Telangana bt TTTA 3-1; Delhi bt Bengal ‘A’ 3-1; Haryana bt Gujarat 3-1.
Women: Semifinals: Bengal ‘A’ bt Haryana 3-2 (Prapti Sen bt Riti Shankar 12-10, 11-3, 11-7; Mousumi Paul lost to Sutirtha Mukherjee 7-11, 7-11, 3-11; Surbhi Patwari bt Suhana Saini 2-11, 11-9, 11-9, 11-7; Prapti lost to Sutirtha 11-2, 11-5, 11-7; Mousumi bt Riti 11-4, 14-12, 11-6).
Railways bt Petroleum 3-2 (Sagarika Mukherjee lost to Reeth Rishya 11-8, 12-10, 7-11, 8-11, 7-11; Takeme Sarkar bt Madhurika Patkar 11-7, 7-11, 14-12, 8-11, 11-8; Kaushani Nath lost to Krittwika Sinha Roy 9-11, 6-11, 11-7, 10-12; Takeme bt Reeth 11-9, 11-6, 11-13; Sagarika bt Madhurika 11-9, 12-10, 11-8).
Quarterfinals: Bengal bt TTTA 3-0; Haryana bt Maharashtra ‘A’ 3-2; Railways bt Maharashtra ‘B’ 3-0; Petroleum bt Karnataka 3-0.
