Surat: The Delhi team of paddlers, who failed to bring home a medal from Kochi during the 2-15 National Games in Kerala entered the final for a showdown with hosts Gujarat at the 36th National Games at the Pt. Deendayal Upadhyaya Indoor Stadium here today.
Delhi defeated Maharashtra 3-2 in a tricky semifinal, while Gujarat, led by CWG team gold medallist Harmeet Desai, blanked out West Bengal 3-0.
The onus was on Payas Jain to see Delhi through. He took the responsibility in his stride and performed to perfection winning both his singles, first against Sanil Shetty and then Deepit R. Patil in the decider.
The tie was tantalizingly poised when Sanil beat Delhi’s No. 1 player, Sudhanshu Grover, in the reverse singles 3-2, after Siddhesh Pandey brought all his experience to the table against Yashansh Malik in the third singles to bring Maharashtra level at 2-2. But Payas pooh-poohed any possible threat, executing his strokes and attacking well against Patil.
After the West Bengal women posted an easy 3-0 win over Telangana in the first semifinal, Tamil Nadu’s women debutants did the unthinkable against Maharashtra. With Reeth Rishya as the only experienced player having played the National Games, the other girls had their tasks cut out. But then they had two quality players in Diya Chitale and Swastika Ghosh—both will be seen in action in the Chengdu World Championships later this month—and the edge over Tamil Nadu.
However, S. Yashini gave the first jolt when she cornered Diya to put Tamil Nadu ahead with a 3-2 triumph. Leading 2-0, and with a 5-1 advantage in the third game, Diya went down fighting. Once Yashini made it 5-all, she never looked back as Diya made too many unforced errors while the TN girl used the flanks cleverly to finish with clinical precision.
Then Swastika Ghosh and Reeth Rishya, despite the latter being rusty, put Maharashtra 2-1 ahead.
But V. Kowshika showed her gritty side against Diya in the reverse singles to stretch her full. Diya, who should have sewed it up when she led 8-6 found herself staring at defeat in the fourth game after Kowshika made it 10-9, holding a game point, and take the game 12-10. That brought enormous pressure on the 19-year-old who changed her strategy to pin her opponent down in the decider.
When National Champion Sreeja Akula failed to pull it off against Ayhika Mukherjee in the second rubber of their rubber against West Bengal, the tie seemed going only one way. It eventually happened when Sreeja could not find her rhythm. Mouma Das, with loads of experience and playing the third rubber, outsmarted a resolute Nikhat Banu.
The finals will be played later this evening.
Results:
Men’s Team (Semifinals): Gujarat bt West Bengal 3-0 (Harmeet Desai bt Anirban Ghosh 11-6, 8-11, 6-11, 11-4, 11-3; Manav Thakkar bt Ronit Bhanja 11-9, 11-9, 12-10; Manush Shah bt Jeet Chandra 11-5, 11-9, 4-11, 11-1); Delhi bt Maharashtra 3-2 (Sudhanshu Grover bt Deepit Patil 11-8, 9-11, 11-7, 11-7; Payas Jain bt Sanil Shetty 6-11, 11-8, 10-12, 11-5, 11-7; Yashansh Malik lost to Siddesh Pande 11-4, 9-11, 9-11, 9-11; Grover lost to Shetty 11-8, 6-11,9-11, 11-7, 15-17; Payas Jain bt Deepit Patil 11-9, 11-6, 12-10).
Women’s Team (Semifinals): Maharashtra bt Tamil Nadu 3-1 (Diya Chitale lost to S. Yashini 11-6, 11-9, 9-11, 9-11, 5-11; Swastika Ghosh bt V. Kowshika 13-11, 11-5, 11-6; Reethrishya Tennison bt C.R.Harshvardhini 11-9, 14-16, 11-9, 9-11, 11-9; Diya Chitale bt V.Kowshika 11-7, 4-11, 11-8, 10-12, 11-4); West Bengal bt Telangana 3-0 (Sutirtha Mukherjee bt Varuni Jaiswal 11-7, 13-11, 11-4; Ayhika Mukherjee bt Akula Sreeja 11-9, 7-11, 13-11, 9-11, 14-12; Mouma Das bt Nikhat Banu 12-10, 8-11, 11-4, 11-13, 11-9).
TTFI
