The Hindu : Sport / Table Tennis : Thiruvananthapuram stays supreme

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Nov 05, 2004

Sport

Sport - Table Tennis

Thiruvananthapuram stays supreme

ALAPPUZHA, NOV. 4. Despite its top seed Aparna D. Nair losing the opening singles, Thiruvananthapuram comfortably retained the women's team title in the 53rd IOC State table tennis championship at the YMCA here on Thursday evening. Thiruvananthapuram, the strongest women's team in the State for the last two decades, defeated Thrissur 3-1 in the final.

Still, the day belonged to Thrissur's M.R. Ranjana, who has been living on the fringes of big-time for a few years now. Changing flanks smartly and chopping sharply, Ranjana broke Aparna's rhythm and game in the opening singles of the women's team final.

However, Thiruvananthapuram recovered smartly after the opening setback and won the rest of the matches without much fuss. Ranjana's brother, Rajeev, had surprised the men's top seed C.J. Balaji in the team semifinal earlier. Balaji's loss saw Thiruvananthapuram, last year's runner-up, crash to Thrissur 2-3.

The Kerala Tourism Minister K.C. Venugopal gave away the prizes. The Alappuzha District Table Tennis Association honoured N. Ganeshan.

The results (inter-district team championship): Junior boys final: Wayanad bt Kozhikode 3-2 (M.D. Sooraj bt Abhinav Ranjith 11-7, 12-10, 11-4; Naveen Kurian lost to Mathew N. Mathew 8-11, 8-11, 12-10, 7-11; Joice George bt Anitab 11-3, 11-7, 12-10; Sooraj lost to Mathew 9-11,

7-11, 2-11; Naveen bt Abhinav Ranjith 11-5, 11-8, 11-9).

Cadet boys final: Alappuzha bt Wynad 3-0 (S. Sunder bt Nithin Thomas 11-13, 11-5, 11-6, 11-7; Vishnu Narayan bt Jobinson 11-9, 11-4, 11-2; Sharath V. Joy bt Jijo 8-11, 11-6, 11-6, 11-13, 11-5). Semifinals: Alappuzha bt Thiruvananthapuram 3-0; Wayanad bt Thrissur 3-0.

Men: semifinals: Thrissur bt Thiruvananthapuram 3-2; Ernakulam bt Wayanad 3-0.

Women: final: Thiruvananthapuram bt Thrissur 3-1 (Aparna D. Nair lost to M.R. Ranjana 6-11, 10-12, 11-13; Meenu Raj bt Nithya G. Sharma 14-12, 11-7, 11-4; Lakshmi Vijayan bt Merlin Liya 11-8, 11-5, 11-2; Aparna Nair bt Nithya 11-3, 11-6, 11-4). Semifinals: Thrissur bt Kozhikode 3-2; Thiruvananthapuram bt Idukki 3-0.

Junior girls final: Thiruvananthapuram bt Idukki 3-1 (Anjana Gopal bt Chris Winnie James 11-8, 12-10, 12-10; Anju K. Thomas bt Atheena K. Latheef 11-9, 11-9, 12-10; Aswathy lost to M.I. Sareena 9-11, 9-11, 8-11; Anju bt Chris Winnie 11-9, 9-11, 16-14, 9-11, 11-9).

Cadet girls final: Wayanad bt Ernakulam 3-2 (J. Agnes lost to Liya Chacko 6-11, 5-11, 8-11; S. Ambily bt Gayatri Girish 11-3, 11-9, 11-6; M.K. Dhanusha lost to Ganga Girish 7-11, 11-4, 4-11, 5-11; S. Ambily bt Liya 11-2, 11-6, 11-1; Agnes bt Gayatri 11-9, 11-7, 11-13, 6-11, 11-9). — Our Principal Correspondent

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