Date:30/07/2007 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2007/07/30/stories/2007073054551800.htm

Sport - Table Tennis

Adarsh, Anju win titles

Principal Correspondent

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: P. Adarsh (CPT) and Anju K. Thomas won the men’s and women’s singles titles respectively in the N.Krishnamoorthy memorial all-Kerala Open prize money table tennis tournament at the YMCA hall here on Sunday.

Top seed P. Adarsh tamed a fighting Vishnu Narayan (AYTTA) 11-8, 8-12, 14-12, 11-7, 11-7 to win the men’s title. Vishnu Narayan’s forehands had Adarsh in a spot of bother in the second and third sets. But Vishnu’s game was also littered with errors which frittered away the advantage to the top seed. Adarsh played the big points better to get past his rival.

The women’s final between Anju and Aparna was a timid and error-prone. But of the two players, Anju managed to find the corner of the table more consistently with her forceful strokes. Aparna’s refusal to come out of her defensive mindset didn’t help her cause. Anju bounced back after losing the first set to win the match in five sets.

Anju went on to complete a double by wining the Youth title after defeating Atheena K. Lathif.

In boy’s section S. Sundar won a triple as he annexed the youth, junior and sub-junior titles respectively.

The results:

Men (final): P. Adarsh (CPT) bt Vishnu Narayan (AYTTA) 11-8, 8-11, 14-12, 11-7, 11-7; semifinals: P. Adarsh bt R. Rajesh (SBI) 11-4, 11-7, 11-6, 11-4; Vishu Narayan bt S. Sundar (AYTTA) 12-14, 11-5, 11-9, 11-13, 11-9 , 11-8.

Youth (final): S. Sundar (AYTTA) bt S. Sreekanth (Tvm) 11-8, 11-8, 6-11, 12-10; semifinals: S. Sundar bt S. Arjun (NKM) 11-7, 11-8, 11-9; S. Sreekanth bt Vishnu Narayan (AYTTA) 11-2, 4-11, 11-7, 11-9.

Junior (final): S. Sundar bt S. Arjun 11-7, 6-11, 12-10, 13-11, 11-3; semifinals: S. Arjun (NKM) bt Vishnu Narayan 11-7, 7-11, 11-8, 11-8, 13-11; S. Sundar bt Sarath V. Joy (AYTTA) 11-9, 11-9, 12-10, 11-8.

Women (final): Anju K. Thomas (NKM) bt Aparna D. Nair (NKM) 4-11, 11-8, 11-7, 11-7, 11-9. semifinals: Anju K. Thomas bt M.R. Ranjana (Kzde) 12-10, 11-6, 11-8, 8-11, 11-7; Aparna D. Nair bt Atheena K. Lathif (Idk) 11- 8, 11-6, 9-11, 11-7, 11-7.

Youth (final): Anju K. Thomas bt Atheena K. Lathif (Idu) 6-11, 11-5, 11-7, 11-3; semifinal: Anju K. Thomas bt Shikha Jacob (AYTTA) 9-11, 11-6, 11-9, 12-10; Atheena K. Lathif bt Anjali S. Nair (NKM) 14-12, 11-7, 11-7.

Junior (final): Shikha Jacob (AYTTA) bt Atheena K. Lathif 11-8, 11-7, 11-7, 12-10; semifinal: Shikha Jacob bt Anjali S. Nair 11-8, 11-8, 13-15, 7-11, 11-6, 11-3; Atheena K. Lathif bt Anjali Vasudevan (Kzde) 11-8, 15- 17, 16-14, 11-13, 16-14, 11-5.