An evening to remember for Tamil Nadu

By Our Sports Reporter

CHENNAI, DEC. 12. It was an event to cherish for host Tamil Nadu as it claimed the team championship in the sub-junior girls category, after a gap of twelve years, edging out favourite Bengal 3-2 at the multipurpose Indoor stadium here on Tuesday.

The Tamil Nadu team consisting of Bhuvaneshwari, Zamrath, Kavitha and Savitha had won the National sub-junior title way back in 1988 in New Delhi.

Bengal, which made it to the finals in all the four categories had to be content with the sub-junior boys and cadet girls titles.

The crucial final between host Tamil Nadu and Bengal went to the wire. And it was S. Sangeetha, India No.3, cheered by a sizeable home crowd, who helped Tamil Nadu win the title by clinching the deciding match after the two teams were tied at 2- 2.

Sangeetha and J. Swarna won both their matches to put Tamil Nadu ahead. Sangeetha, a left-handed player, gave the lead for Tamil Nadu. She employed the jabs and forehand smashes effectively against the top-seed Moon Moon Basak winning 21-19, 21-16. It was an equally contested match between Anushree Saha and Swarna. In the first game, Anushree came back from a 4-15 deficit to take the first game 23-21. The second and third game saw some long rallies with both players hardly going for the kill. Swarna made a few errors when it mattered most. She finished the final game with a forehand smash winning 21-23, 21- 16, 21-14. Runa Roy pulled one back for Bengal beating K. Shamini 21-12, 21-19.

Moon Moon Basak, the top seed from Bengal, who lost to Sangeetha in the first match, was raring to go. She kept up the pressure on Swarna from the first game by making her go for the smashes, which on many occasions she failed. Swarna was also finding the pressure hard to handle and as a result lost 22-24, 19-21. It was 2-2.

Sangeetha, an inherently attacking player, showed ample evidence of her fighting qualities and the ability to keep cool at crucial points of the game. She also produced winners when the occasion warranted. Sangeetha triumphed in three games against Anushree at 14-21, 21-19, 21-14, making it an evening to remember for Tamil Nadu.

The results:

Team championship: (all finals): Sub-junior boys: Bengal bt Maharashtra `A' 3-1 (Subhadip Das lost to Omkar Targolkar 16-21, 13-21; Niloy Basak bt Aniket Koparkar 21- 19, 21-14; Sourab Pradhan bt Saniket Utagi 21-12, 21-13; Niloy Basak bt Omkar Targolkar 21-10, 21-13).

Cadet boys: PSCBA bt Bengal 3-2 (Aman Balgu lost to Sourab Ghosh 21-16, 19-21, 14-21; Devesh Karia bt Anirban Roy Choudhury 21-18, 21-18; Mahipal Gohil lost to Kankojit Mondal 10-21, 12-21; Devesh Karia bt Sourab Ghosh 21-6, 15-21, 21-11; Aman Balgu bt Anirban Roy Choudhury 14-21, 21-16, 21-19).

Sub-junior girls: TN bt Ben 3-2 (S. Sangeetha bt Moon Moon Basak 21-19, 21-16; J. Swarna bt Anushree Saha 21-23, 21-16, 21-14; K. Shamini lost to Runa Roy 12-21, 19- 21; J. Swarna lost to Moon Moon Basak 22-24, 19-21; S. Sangeetha bt Anushree Saha 14-21, 21- 19, 21-14).

Cadet girls: Bengal bt Delhi 3-2 (Nabanitha Bose lost to Neha Aggarwal 15-21, 13-21; Sukanya Bose bt Shikha Sharma 15-21, 21- 11, 21-12; Pallabi Kundu bt Esha Monga 21-7, 21-7; Sukanya Bose lost to Neha Aggarwal 7-21, 11-21; Nabanitha Bose bt Shikha Sharma 21-18, 21-19).

The Tamil Nadu sub-junior girls team that won the The Sportstar National inter-State table tennis championship in Chennai on Tuesday. Sitting: (L to R): Mr. V. Ramasubramaniam (Manager), Mr. D.V. Sundar (Secretary, TNTTA), Mr. S. Ganesan (President, TNTTA), Mr. R. Ramachandran (Chief Coach), V. Narayana Babu (Assistant Coach). Standing: (L to R): S. Sangeetha, K. Shamini, J. Swarna and A.V. Nivedita.

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