Date:20/12/2004 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2004/12/20/stories/2004122005291800.htm

Sport - Table Tennis

Roy stops Sharath; Poulomi annihilates Anindita

By Our Special Correspondent

MANESAR (HARYANA), DEC. 19 . Soumyadeep Roy survived six game points in the fifth game to tame National champion A. Sharath Kamal six games to claim the men's singles title in the North Zone All India ranking table tennis championship at the Manesar Club here on Sunday.

After the players shared the first four games, Roy won the last three points of the marathon fifth game and nervously converted his fourth match-point in the sixth to win 7-11, 11-8, 11-7, 9-11, 18-16, 11-9 in 40 minutes Roy's third victory over Sharath in seven meetings this year was worth Rs. 33,000. Sharath received Rs. 16,500.

The men's final was delayed by 75 minutes to accommodate the late arrival the chief guest. It was pity that none spared a thought to the men's finalists who had warmed up keeping in mind the schedule start and accordingly, glued their racquets. The exasperated players could do little as the welcome speech went almost endlessly. As though that was not bad enough, there was a group-dance performance. Sharath threw his hands up in disgust while Roy did not waste a moment in leaving the hall.

Earlier, the women's final was a hopelessly one-sided affair with National champion Poulomi Ghatak stopping gate-crasher Anindita Chakraborty 11-5, 11-6, 12-10, 11-3 in just 15 minutes of playing time. This was Poulomi's third title of the season after her triumphs in the East and West zones. Today's result was worth Rs. 22,000 for Poulomi and Rs. 11,000 for Anindita.

Anindita, seeded seven, had upstaged Mouma Das and N. R. Indu, seeded two and three, on way to the final. But the efforts took its toll on Anindita's reserves. In the final, she just could not get her rhythm against an all-attacking Poulomi. Anindita's blocks failed to keep the ball on the table and Poulomi repeatedly collected easy points. In the third game, Anindita kept pace with Poulomi and was a point away from winning it. Twice in succession, Anindita jabbed the ball out and Poulomi never gave her another chance to get as close.

The boys' title went to third seed Soumyajit Sarkar who dismissed the challenge of fifth seed Sanil Shetty in straight games. The girls' final saw second seed Neha Agarwal stop fourth seed Pallavi Kundu for the honours. Pallavi had surprised top seed K. Shamini in the semifinal.

In the sub-junior section, boys' top seed Sushovan Das bounced back from the loss of the first two games to beat unseeded Mohit Verma for the title. Among the girls, Kakoli Lahkar overpowered Shreya Ghosh in the final featuring unseeded players.

The results:

Men's singles (final): Soumyadeep Roy (IOC) bt A. Sharath Kamal 7-11, 11-8, 11-7, 9-11, 18-16, 11-9. Semifinals: Sharath bt Sourav Chakraborty (Rlys) 7-11, 12-10, 11-7, 11-5, 5-11, 9-11, 11-6; Roy bt Subhajit Saha 11-5, 5-11, 4-11, 11-8, 12-10, 9-11, 11-7. Quarterfinals: Sharath bt Jignesh Jaiswal (Guj) 9-11, 11-6, 11-9, 11-6, 11-2; Chakravarthy bt Arup Basak 9-11, 10-12, 3-11, 11-4, 11-9, 11-3, 11-9; Saha bt Shivaji Dutta (OIL) 11-7, 11-7, 11-8, 13-11; Roy bt Ranbir Das 11-6, 11-7, 8-11, 8-11, 13-11, 11-13, 11-3.

Women's singles (final): Poulomi Ghatak (IOC) bt Anindita Chakraborty (Rlys) 11-5, 11-6, 12-10, 11-3; Semifinals: Poulomi bt Nandita Saha (OIL) 11-6, 10-12, 11-9, 4-11, 11-7, 11-8; Anindita bt N. R. Indu (IOC) 12-10, 7-11, 11-4, 11-9, 12-10. Quarterfinals: Poulomi bt T. Pradeepa (IOC) 12-10, 4-11, 2-11, 11-9, 11-9, 11-4; Nandita bt Vishakha Bijoy (CoE) 12-10, 13-11, 4-11, 11-7, 11-5; Anindita bt Mouma Das (OIL) 8-11, 11-8, 7-11, 8-11, 11-6, 12-10, 11-7; Indu bt Mantu Ghosh (IOC) 11-9, 11-8, 11-6 (conceded).

Junior boys (final): Soumyajeet Sarkar (CoE) bt Sanil Shetty (Mah) 11-6, 12-10, 11-2, 11-6; Semifinals: Shetty bt Soumya Nandi (CoE) 15-13, 12-10, 11-6, 11-9; Sarkar bt Aniket Koparkar (Mah) 11-6, 11-4, 11-7, 8-11, 11-3.

Junior girls (final): Neha Agarwal (Del) bt Pallavi Kundu (CoE) 15-13, 11-6, 11-8, 5-11, 8-11, 11-9. Semifinals: Pallavi bt K. Shamini (BSB) 11-9, 5-11, 11-4, 11-6, 11-5; Neha bt Ashlesha (Mah) 11-5, 11-3, 12-10, 15-13.

Sub-junior boys (final): Sushovan Das (CoE) bt Mohit Verma (PSPBA) 9-11, 5-11, 11-7, 11-6, 11-9, 11-8; Semifinals: Verma bt Rohit Chakraborty (Ben) 11-8, 11-4, 11-7, 11-2; Das bt G. Sathyan (TN) 11-6, 8-11, 11-4, 11-7, 7-11, 11-9.

Sub-junior girls (final): Kakoli Lohkar (Asm) bt Shreya Ghosh (CoE) 11-6, 11-4, 7-11, 12-14, 12-10, 5-11, 11-7; Semifinals: Kakoli bt Kavita Das (Ben) 5-11, 11-9, 11-3, 9-11, 12-10, 11-6; Shreya bt Sanya Sehgal 11-8, 13-11, 11-5, 11-7.