Date:05/07/2009 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2009/07/05/stories/2009070555721300.htm

Sport - Table Tennis

Omkar Torgalkar stars for Central Railway

Special Correspondent

HUBLI: Talented Omkar Torgalkar caused a sensational upset beating former India No. 1 Sourav Chakraborthy to pave the way for Central Railway’s stunning 3-0 verdict over oft-crowned champion Eastern Railway in the quarterfinals of the men’s team event on the second day of the 57th all-India inter-Railway table tennis championship at the Chalukya Institute hall here on Saturday.

Omkar won 16-14, 13-11, 7-11, 10-12, 12-10 in a marathon contest and thereafter it turned out to be easy going for the Mumbai-based Railway side.

The holder relied largely on Sourav, who needed to win both his singles.

But Omkar dealt a body blow from which Eastern Railway just could not recover.

SER holds out

Host South Western Railway took fancied South Eastern the full distance with Kerala paddler Adarsh winning a crucial match against S. Kundu in five games.

But Anirban Roy squandered a winning chance against Soumyadeep Sarkar in the fourth tie and then Jaideep Das proved no match for C. Choudhary in the decider.

G. Vinod a former top four player led Southern to a comprehensive 3-0 win over ICF, while Western completed the semifinal line-up with a hard fought 3-2 win over South Central. In the semifinals Western takes on Southern, while Central clashes with South Eastern.

Bumpy ride

In the women’s round robin Eastern had a bumpy ride but nevertheless put it across Central 3-1 and South Eastern edged past a fighting Western 3-2.

The results: Men: Quarterfinals: Southern Rly bt ICF 3-0 (Subash bt Sudhakar 8-11, 11-7, 14-12, 11-9; G. Vinod bt N. Senthil 9-11, 11-7, 7-11, 12-10, 11-5; Sachin bt R. Jaiprabhu Ram 11-1, 11-7, 13-11).

Western bt South Central 3-2 (Harmeet Desai bt Somnath Ghosh 14-12, 11-7, 11-13, 11-6; Arit B. bt Naveen Kumar 11-4, 11-6, 8-11, 12-10; Miler Basak lost to Arundhar 12-14, 11-13, 11-6, 8-11; Arpit lost to Somnath Ghosh 11-13, 6-11, 6-11; Harmeet Desai bt Naveen Kumar 11-5, 11-5, 11-7).

Central bt Eastern 3-0 (Omkar Torgalkar bt Sourav Chakraborthy 16-14, 13-11, 7-11, 10-12, 12-10; Aman Balgu bt S. Basu Roy 11-6, 11-7, 11-9; M. Biniwale bt Sayan Pol Roy 11-9, 13-11, 11-9).

South Eastern bt South Western 3-2 (C. Choudhary lost to Anirban Roy 7-11, 11-6, 8-11, 7-11, 9-11; S. Sarkar bt Jaideep Das 11-4, 11-8, 11-6; S. Kundu lost to Adarsh P. 9-11, 11-9, 9-11, 11-7, 9-11;S. Sarkar bt Anirban Roy 11-9, 11-8, 8-11, 11-6; C. Choudhary bt Jaideep Das 11-8, 18-16, 10-12, 11-2).

Women: Round robin league: Eastern bt Central 3-1; South Eastern bt Western 3-2.