Sathiyan, Pooja triumph

Second-seeded G. Sathiyan and third-seeded Pooja Sahasrabuddhe lifted the men and women singles trophies in the LPS Bossard 47th All India Inter-Institutional Championships at the Table Tennis Foundation hall on Monday.

Their winning efforts fetched them Rs. 80,000 and Rs. 70,000, respectively. It was the successive title wins for Sathiyan, who blanked out Harmeet Desai 4-0, while Pooja claimed her maiden crown in a major tournament after accounting for national champion Madhurika Patkar 4-0.

Sathiyan took a little over 20 minutes to make Harmeet push and prod. Harmeet could do little against an in-form Sathiyan, who kept firing winners with ease. In women singles final, Pooja faced little resistance except when she was stretched in two games, but maintained her tempo throughout the match.

The men and women singles finals were similar to the semi-finals where scoreline of men singles winners was 4-1 whereas it was 4-2 for women singles winners.

Sharath, who had an excellent run this season, was found wanting against Harmeet, Sathiyan proved too good for Arjun, who managed to take a game off his rival.

Ankita Das looked like giving a good fight to the top-seeded Madhurika who dropped two games. But Madhurika gained ascendancy as she kept attacking. Pooja, tooadopt an aggressive approach against Takeme Sarkar, also from Siliguri like Ankita, but representing the Railways.

In men doubles, the PSPB pair of Sudhanshu Grover and Abhishek Yadav combined well to beat teammates Sanil Shetty and Jubin Kumar 3-2. In women doubles, the RBI pair of Akula Sreeja and Ayhika Mukherjee defeated their AAI rivals Moumita Dutta and Kaushani Nath 3-2 in a thriller.

Archana settles for bronze
Meanwhile, Bengaluru’s Archana Kamath clinched two bronze medals on Monday. In the women’s doubles semifinals, PSPB's Archana partnering with Riti Shanker went down 0-3 to Ayhika and Akula Sreeja.

In the mixed doubles last four, Archana and Sourav Saha lost 1-3 to the pair of Raj Mondal and Akula.

Results: Men Singles: (Final): G. Sathiyan (PSPB) bt Harmeet Desai (PSPB) 11-5, 11-1, 11-4, 11-4; Semi-finals: Harmeet Desai bt A. Sharath Kamal (PSPB) 8-11, 11-7, 11-4, 11-4, 11-7, G. Sathiyan bt Arjun Ghosh (AAI) 11-6, 7-11, 11-4, 11-7, 11-6.

Women Singles: (Final): Pooja Sahasrabuddhe (PSPB) bt Madhurika Patkar (PSPB) 11-9, 12-10, 12-10, 11-7; Semi-finals: Madhurika Patkar bt Ankita Das (PSPB) 5-11, 11-6, 4-11, 11-8, 11-5, 11-7, Pooja Sahasrabuddhe bt Take Sarkar (RSPB) 11-1, 8-11, 11-7, 11-13, 11-3, 11-7.

Men Doubles (Final): Sudhanshu Grover/Abhishek Yadav (PSPB) bt Sanil Shetty/Juin Kumar (PSPB) 11-9, 13-11, 10-12, 7-11, 11-3.

Women Doubles (Final): Akula Sreeja/Ayhika Mukheree (RBI) bt Moumita Dutta/Kaushani Nath (AAI) 11-6, 11-5, 8-11, 7-11, 11-5.