PSPB teams emerge champs

Petroleum Sports Promotion Board (PSPB) retained men and women’s team championship titles, albeit in contrasting style, in the 45th All India Institutional table tennis championship at Thyagaraj sports complex on Thursday.

PSPB men defeated Railways Sports Promotion Board (RSPB) 3-0 while the women’s team edged past Reserve Bank of India (RBI) 3-2. With this title, the PSPB men claimed the championships for the 14th time while the women’s team has completed a dozen titles.

In the women's final, RBI started brightly and took the lead. PSPB’s Ankita Das continued to struggle in the tournament and lost the opening game to Krittwika Sinha Roy 8-11, 7-11, 7-11. Mouma Das then levelled the tie beating Shweta Parte in five sets 11-8, 5-11, 11-5, 7-11, 11-7.

Experienced Shamini Kumaresan gave PSPB the lead by showing the door to Shruti Talnikar with 11-7, 11-10, 11-5 win. A trailing RBI came back strongly in the fourth game and took the contest to the decider after Krittwika Sinha Roy accounted for Mouma Das in a four-set thriller. The game drew boisterous applause from the sparse crowd as Roy countered Das' attacking strokes to win crucial points. An out-of-form Ankita then redeemed herself in the fifth game to win in straight sets against Shweta 11-8, 11-7, 11-7 and sealed the championship title for PSPB.

In the men's team final, Olympian Soumyajit Ghosh didn't give a sniff to the promising Ravindra Kotiyan during his dominating 11-4, 13-11, 11-4 win. In the second game, G Sathiyan consolidated the lead by winning against Pinto Noel 11-7, 13-11, 12-10. Harmeet Desai displayed a solid game against Anirban Nandi, closing out the contest at 11-5, 11-8, 12-10.

Earlier, Dena Bank completed the formalities in youth boys section to win their maiden title after beating RSPB in their fourth and final encounter. Shreyal Telang, Piyush Prasad and Harsh Sachanandani performed remarkably to upset the applecart.

The star performer of the team Sachanandani said: “Everything clicked for us. The service and returning was of very high quality.”
DH News Service

Results: Men: Final: PSPB bt RSPB 3-0 (Soumyajit Ghosh bt Ravindra Kotiyan 11-4, 13-11, 11-4, G. Sathiyan bt Noel Pinto 11-7, 13-11, 12-10, Harmeet Desai bt Anirban Nandi 11-5, 11-8, 12-10).

Women: Final: PSPB bt RBI 3-2 (Ankita Das lost to Krittwika Sinha Roy 8-11, 7-11,7-11, Mouma Das bt Sweta Parte 11-8, 5-11, 11-5, 7-11, 11-7, K. Shamini bt Shruti Talnikar 11-7, 12-10, 11-5, Mouma Das lost to Krittwika Sinha Roy 4-11, 8-11, 12-10, 13-15, Ankita Das bt Sweta Parte 11-8, 11-7, 11-7).