Date:06/07/2009 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2009/07/06/stories/2009070656371500.htm

Sport - Table Tennis

S.E. Railway women triumph

Special Correspondent

Hubli: South Eastern Railway women ended Eastern Railway’s domination to clinch the title, with an all-win record in the five team round-robin league, in the 57th all-India inter- Railway table tennis championship here on Sunday.

Led by veteran Anandita Chakraborthy, South Eastern won 3-1 over Eastern to top the league.

Eastern finished second best while Central, Western and Metro Railway (New Delhi) finished behind in that order.

Southern meets Central

Meanwhile in the men’s section, Southern Railway ended Western Railways’ run with a 3-1 victory in the semifinal.

In the other semifinal, Central ousted South Eastern Railway (Kolkata) with an identical 3-1 margin.

Losing sheen

The individual events lost some of its sheen with the absence of India No. 1 Sourav Chakraborthy who left for the National camp in progress at Pune. With Anirbhan Nandi (SER) being injured, Aman Balgu of Central Railway is the top seed while Arpit Bhopalkar of Western is seeded second.

In the women’s singles, Anandita Chakraborthy has opted out making the field that much poorer.

The results: Team championship:

Men: Semifinal: Central Railway bt South Eastern Rly 3-1 (Omkar Tolgalkar bt S. Sarkar 4-11, 11-8, 11-8, 11-8; Aman Balgu bt C. Choudhary 11-7, 14-12, 11-8; M. Biniwale lost to S. Kundu 8-11, 6-11, 11-9, 9-11; Aman Balgu bt S. Sarkar 10-12, 4-11, 11-7, 11-7, 11-9).

Southern Railway bt Western Railway 3-1 (G. Vinod bt Harmeet Desai 11-5, 8-11, 11-5, 11-9; M. Subash lost to Arpit Bhopalkar 9-11, 6-11, 12-10, 7-11; L. Sachin bt Niloy Basak 13-11, 11-5, 4-11, 11-8; G. Vinod bt Arpit Bhopalkar 11-7, 10-12, 11-7, 12-10).

Women: Round-robin league (for title): South Eastern Railway bt Eastern Railway 3-1 (Jayeeti Pushilal bt S. Kundu 11-6, 5-11, 11-7, 12-14, 11-7; Anandito Chakraborthy bt A. Saha 11-4, 11-13, 11-7, 11-5; Sumana Bose lost to M. Basak 6-11, 6-11, 8-11; Anandita Chakraborthy bt S. Kundu 11-8, 12-10, 11-7).

For fourth place: Western Railway bt Metro Railway (ND) 3-1 (Mansi Bhagwat lost to Shreya Ghosh 11-7, 8-11, 11-5, 5-11, 11-13; Roona Roy bt Sonali B 11-4, 11-7, 11-8; Janavi Deshpande bt Samarpika Pal 11-2, 11-8, 11-9; Roona Roy bt Shreya Ghosh 11-8, 11-13, 12-10, 11-4).