Jamnagar, October 11: In a battle between two Chennai men, both representing the Petroleum Sports Promotion Board, the old fox tricked the younger one as former national champion Anthony Amalraj beat G. Sathiyan 4-2 to enter the men’s singles final in the JMC National Ranking (Central Zone) Table Tennis Championships, being held at the JMC Indoor Stadium, here today.

Amalraj will now take on Sanil Shetty, also of PSPB, in the final to be played this evening. Shetty beat Canara Bank’s Nitin Thiruvengadam 4-1 in the first one-sided semifinal. Sanil proved too good for Nitin as the latter found trouble brewing all the time except in the fourth which he managed to win.

But the men's final will follow the women's, Youth Boys and Youth Girls singles finals.

However, both Amalraj and Sathiyan produced displayed best table tennis which was fast and furious, embedded with excellent rallies and sharp cross-court feasts and down-the line winners.

Both Amalraj and Sathiyan played ‘catch-me’ up games until the fourth but the fifth changed it all for Amalraj as he won by minimal point. Sathiyan did well to keep himself alive in the sixth but after a deuce Amalraj sealed it his way winning it on extended points. In fact, there were three extended-point games in the match.

It was a surprise women’s singles semifinal win for Divya Deshpande over Manika Batra, the girl in form who lost 1-4. Divya, despite potential had been the up-and-down kind. But this season she is in a remarkable form and it reflected in her win over Manika.

The girl from Maharashtra will run into Pooja Sahasrabudhe of PSPB, who accounted for teammate K. Shamini 4-2 in a hard-fought duel. The clincher was the fourth game which Pooja won to level 2-2 and from there Shamini went out of the picture.

In Youth Boys, PSPB’s Birdie Boro stropped the run of West Bengal’s Ronit Bhanja 4-1 even as Maharashtra’s Ravindra Kotiyan shut out Karnataka’s Shreyal Telang in straight games to make another final entry.  

But Youth Girls’ first semifinal produced an interesting duel between Reeth Rishya and Priyanka Pareek of Rajasthan. Considering the former’s experience, who is also the holder of the title, it was Priyanka’s first appearance in a semifinal match. The Rajasthan lefthander, who fought and exploited the angles well, deserves a pat on her back.

Down 2-3 and hopelessly placed in the sixth game, Priyanka battled it out to level the score. In the decider, she could have clinched it in her favour but the role of dice ditched her at crucial moment when she was about to sew it up. Taking advantage of the point, Reeth breathed fresh and after three deuces won on extended points.

For Manika, Airports Authority of India’s Sreeja Akula was no match as the lanky PSPB girl won 4-1.

Results:

Men: Semifinals: Sanil Shankar Shetty bt Nitin Thiruvengadam (CB) 12-10, 11-7, 11-6, 9-11, 11-6; Anthony Amalraj bt G. Sathiyan (PSPB) 10-12, 12-10, 9-11, 11-8, 11-9, 12-10.

Women: Semifinals: Divya Deshpande bt Manika Batra (PSPB) 11-5, 11-8, 11-9, 9-11, 11-8; Pooja Sahasrabudhe bt K. Shamini (PSPB) 11-9, 8-11, 11-7, 8-11, 11-7, 11-7.

Youth Boys: Semifinals: Birdie Boro bt Ronit Bhanja (WB) 11-8, 11-8, 8-11, 11-2,11-8; Ravindra Kotiyan bt Shreyal Telang (KNT) 11-6, 11-8, 11-5, 11-6.

Youth Girls: Semifinals: Manika Batra bt Sreeja Akula (AAI) 11-5, 11-2, 11-9, 6-11, 11-9; Reeth Rishya bt Priyanka Pareek (Raj) 11-6, 11-4, 8-11, 11-7, 5-11, 8-11, 14-12.