JOIN US Second seed Soumyajit Ghosh was crowned men's singles champion on the concluding day of the 45th All-India Institutional Table Tennis Championship held at Thyagaraja Sports Complex here on Sunday.
In the women's singles event, fourth seed Manika Batra won the title, beating her Petroleum Sports Promotion Board team-mate and third seed Ankita Das in the final. Ghosh collected Rs 75,000, while Batra took away Rs 58,000 as the winner's prize purse.
National champion Ghosh outwitted his doubles partner Harmeet Desai in the final 4-2 (8-11, 11-5, 13-11, 9-11, 11-6, 18-16). The match, however, was a much closer affair. Ghosh lost the first game, but made a comeback by winning the second and third games. Desai looked up for the contest and made it 2-2. But, Ghosh with his vast experience stepped it up a notch, taking the fifth game.
The sixth game went deep, but Desai was always playing a catch-up game. Finally, at 17-16, with Desai hitting his forehand wide, Ghosh pumped his fists and yelled, capping a superb week for his third singles title. His previous victories were in Kolkata (2011) and Dharwad (2013).
Results: Men’s singles final: Soumyajit Ghosh (PSPB) bt Harmeet Desai (PSPB) 4-2 (8-11, 11-5, 13-11, 9-11, 11-6, 18-16).
Semifinals: Harmeet Desai (PSPB) bt Anthony Amalraj (PSPB) 4-1 (12-10, 11-7, 9-11, 11-4, 12-10); Soumyajit Ghosh (PSPB) bt Sanil Shetty Shankar (PSPB) 4-0 (11-6, 11-3, 11-9, 11-9).
Doubles final: Abhishek Yadav/ Sudhanshu Grover (PSPB) bt Soumyajit Ghosh/ Harmeet Desai (PSPB) 3-2 (5-11, 11-9, 12-14, 11-8, 15-13).
Women singles final: Manika Batra (PSPB) bt Ankita Das (PSPB) 4-1 (11-7, 5-11, 11-9, 11-9, 11-7).
Semifinals: Manika Batra (PSPB) bt Madhurika Patkar (PSPB) 4-3 (3-11, 8-11, 11-9, 3-11, 11-7, 11-4, 20-18); Ankita Das (PSPB) bt K. Shamini (PSPB) 4-2 (11-8, 8-11, 8-11, 11-8, 11-8, 11-8).
Doubles final: Krittwika Sinha Roy/Shweta Parte (RBI) bt Anindita Chakraborty/Pallabi Kundu (RSPB) 3-2 (11-6, 6-11, 11-8, 8-11, 11-6).