The Hindu : Mousami third time lucky

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Dec 30, 2002

Sport

Sport - Table Tennis

Mousami third time lucky

By Our Sports Reporter

CHENNAI DEC. 29. After tripping twice in the summit clash, Mousami Paul knew the value of a National title. So, this time around, the 16-year-old from Kolkata came well prepared for the final against Maharashtra's Madhurika Patkar.

Never giving Madhurika any leeway, top-seeded Mousami maintained a grip on the match to clinch her maiden junior crown, winning 12-10, 11-7, 11-8, 11-4 in the BSNL junior National and inter-State table tennis championship, which concluded at the Nehru Indoor Stadium on Sunday.

In the boys' final, the No. 1 seed Arunava Ganguly of Petroleum Sports Promotion Board Academy was made to fight hard before scripting a 8-11, 16-14, 10-12, 12-10, 11-8, 12-10 win over doubles partner and friend, Sameer Prabhu, who represented Rajasthan in individual singles and the PSPBA colours in the team event. It was Ganguly's second title after claiming the doubles yesterday.

Except for the first game, when Mousami was stretched till 10 points, the other three were a cakewalk for the top seed whose backhand top spins and smashes proved too good for Madhurika. Mousami took the lead in all the games and sensibly held on to them.

The bespectacled Madhurika, a fluent player with quick movements, made a lot of unforced errors on the forehand side, which on normal occasions she would have hit for winners. In the third game, Madhurika appeared to have overcome her nerves as she fought back from 3-8 down to make it 8-10, but it Mousami who raced to the finish.

The boys' final was better in terms of drama and quality. The two boys knew each other games well as they have been practising together at the PSPB Academy at Ajmer for nearly three years now.

Matching Arunava shot for shot, Sameer went 2-1 games ahead. He had three game points in the fourth at 10-7, but Arunava attacked with gusto to win that game and also took the fifth in double quick time.

The sixth was neck and neck with each player trying to outmanoeuvre each other with top spin forehands and smashes.

Leading 10-9, Sameer messed up a forehand, and Arunava took the opportunity to close out the match at 12-10.

Chinese Yin Wei is the chief coach of PSPBA and the Bengal team is coached by Souvic Dey.

For the record, Mousami had lost to Sushmitha Roy in 2000 and 2001, while for Arunava, this is his second successive junior title. Arunava received Rs. 20,000 and Mousami Rs. 15,000.

Mr. N. Ramachandran, President, Asian Squash Federation, gave away the prizes.

The results:

Boys (final): Arunava Ganguly (PSPBA) bt Sameer Prabhu (Raj) 8-11, 16-14, 10-12, 12-10, 11-8, 12-10; Semifinals: Arunava bt Zubin Kumar (PSPBA) 7-11, 11-7, 11-7, 11-8, 11-7; Sameer bt A. Amal Raj (PSPBA) 11-6, 11-1, 11-7, 11-6.

Girls (final): Mousami Paul (Ben) bt Madhurika Patkar (Mah `A') 12-10, 11-7, 11-8, 11-4; Semifinals: Mousami bt M. Aparna (TN) 7-11, 11-7, 9-11, 11-5, 12-10, 10-12, 11-8; Madhurika (Mah `A') bt S. Sangeetha (TN) 8-11, 11-5, 11-5, 11-5, 8-11, 9-11, 11-6.

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