Vadodara, November 24: Top seed Harmeet showed his class and why he is the top-ranked Indian in the world when he beat ninth-seed Jeet Chandra in the men’s singles final 4-2 of the third UTT National Ranking Table Tennis Championships at the Sama Indoor Stadium here today.

Just before that, Archana Kamath lifted her maiden title when she triumphed over Ayhika Mukherjee, the second seed, with a 4-0 verdict.

When Jeet led 2-0, it looked as if the title was sealed by the Airports Authority of India (AAI) player. With his reputation at stake, the CWG medallist and world No. 73 launched himself to take the next four games on the trot and lift the trophy. Jeet, who took the first two extended games, was searching for the ball on the table, and Harmeet, with his loads of experience, just rolled him over. Along the way, the senior pro taught him a few lessons about keeping a cool head in an important final.

Eighth seed Archana Kamath redeemed herself with authority in a one-sided women’s singles final. But the first title win was sweeter for the Bengaluru girl, who was almost there but could never win the national ranking crown despite showing a lot of promise since her title at the Cuttack Nationals in 2018. 

Full credit to the PSPB paddler, who shed all inhibitions and self-doubts of recent times to beat the in-form RBI player, who won the first national ranking crown in Hyderabad in June. It was a patchy start for Ayhika, who tried to pull herself back in the stretched second game. But Archana was on song and never allowed the RBI paddler to come anywhere close, keeping her at a distance to clinch the gold medal. A happy Archana was all smiles as her struggle over a couple of years has borne fruit.

Archana may not have been in the best form, but her gritty character came to the fore in back-to-back matches. After leading 3-0 in the semifinals against Kavyashree Baskar of Tamil Nadu, the former national champion dropped three consecutive games, putting herself in deep trouble. But she raised the level in the decider and won. In the quarterfinal against Sreeja, Archana trailed 0-2 before outsmarting the top seed from RBI to win the last three games.

Second-seeded G. Sathiyan bowed out of the medal reckoning when he fell 4-1 to the guile of ninth-seeded Jeet Chandra in the singles quarterfinals.

It was no different in the women’s singles as Ayhika Mukherjee and Archana Kamath were the only seeds that made it to the final after No. 5 Diya Chitale and No. 3 Sutirtha Mukherjee departed in the quarterfinals.

Sathiyan was playing his first domestic tournament this season, and one expected him to give a good account of himself as the reigning national champion in the quarterfinals. But after the tricky first game, which Jeet won, Sathiyan managed to level the score 1-1. But the AAI player was more accurate in attack and defence and scored quick points to put Sathiyan under pressure.

Top-seeded Sreeja Akula and Diya Chitale went down to Archana and unseeded Kavyashree Baskar, respectively. As though that was not enough, Pritha Vartikar, another unseeded paddler, sent third-seed Sutirtha packing in the quarters.

Results:

Men’s Singles: Final: Harmeet Desai (PSPB) bt Jeet Chandra (AAI) 10-12, 10-12, 11-9, 11-6, 11-6, 11-8.

Semifinals: Harmeet Desai bt Raj Mondal (RBI)11-5, 7-11, 14-12, 11-6, 11-5; Jeet Chandra bt Anthony Amalraj (PSPB) 11-7, 11-7, 14-12, 11-6.

Quarterfinals: Harmeet Desai bt Sudhanshu Grover (Del) 11-5, 10-12, 11-6, 4-11, 11-6; Raj Mondal bt Payas Jain (Del) 13-11, 9-11, 11-9, 8-11, 12-10; Anthony Amalraj bt Manush Shah (RBI) 11-7, 12-10, 14-16, 11-13, 11-7; Jeet Chandra bt G. Sathiyan (PSPB) 12-10, 8-11, 11-6, 11-8.

Women’s Singles: Final: Archana Kamath (PSPB) bt Ayhika Mukherjee (RBI) 11-7, 12-10, 11-5, 11-7.

Semifinals: Archana Kamath bt Kavyashree Baskar (TN) 11-8, 12-10, 11-7, 9-11, 9-11, 9-11, 11-5; Ayhika Mukherjee bt Pritha Vartikar (Mah) 11-3, 11-8, 11-4, 11-2.

Quarterfinals: Archana Kamath bt Akula Sreeja (RBI) 4-11, 9-11, 11-6, 11-3, 11-8; Kavyashree Baskar bt Diya Chitale (RBI) 8-11, 11-7, 11-3, 6-11, 11-6; Pritha Vartikar (Mah) 11-8, 9-11, 12-10, 4-11, 11-9; Ayhika Mukherjee bt Trisha Gogoi (Asm) 12-10, 11-5, 11-3.