Hyderabad, January 30: Petroleum Sports Promotion Board (PSPB), as expected, beat Delhi 3-0 to lift the men’s team trophy for the 24th occasion, while the Railways women defeated Bengal ‘A’ 3-0 to wear the crown in the UTT 81st National Table Tennis Championships at the Saroonagar Indoor Stadium here today.

The Delhi squad that had reached the final after 37 years had to satisfy itself with the silver medal and yet the players can feel proud of themselves for putting up a good resistance against a reputed side like PSPB. On the other hand, last year’s trophy holders Bengal would be disappointed for failing to measure up against a young Railways team.   

The Railways women, a real happy unit having claimed their 11th crown, would have no qualms about their performance on the day and they would cherish the trophy coming their way after 22 years. They had won the last title at the Chennai Nationals in 1998.

With Sharath Kamal having been rested, the PSPB paddlers opened with Harmeet Desai. However, the Team India was player was a little rusty as Sudhanshu Grover took advantage of it to go 2-0 up. But the false alarm was silenced soon as Harmeet hit the groove to subdue his young opponent to put PSPB on the path of victory.

Top-ranked Indian G. Sathiyan began well against Parth Virman, another youngster from Delhi, but it was no cakewalk for Sathiyan as he would have realised. Parth did stretch the world No. 30 in the rubber and an under pressure Sathiyan dropped two games before overcoming Parth in the decider.

Manav Thakkar, the World No. 1 youth player, struggled against junior champion Payas Jain despite a comfortable 2-1 lead. But in the fourth game, Payas deuced first as an error-prone Manav was unable to keep the ball on the table, conceding the game 11-13. But Manav played like a true champion in the decider and forced Payas into several unforced errors. Unable to counter the PSPB paddler, Payas wilted and it was all over bar the shouting for Delhi.

The probable threat that the Railways women faced before the championships began was from the Petroleum outfit. But having drubbed them in the semi-finals, the Railways were in a position of strength going into the final.

Indeed, their top player Sagarika Mukehrjee was taken the full distance by a junior, Prapti Sen, but the former’s experience and a cool head held her in good stead in the decider. Sagrika’s USP was her blocks and she used them to greater effects with occasional forehand winners against Prapti, an attacking player by nature.

The little girl was overawed by the occasion and could not play her natural game. That, in a nutshell, was her downfall and that of Bengal ‘A’. With a 1-0 cushion, it was for Takeme Sarkar to take on a normally consistent Mousumi Paul. But the latter, despite stretching her rival, could not win the first set.

Yet, she was up to the task in the next and restored parity before Takeme going up using predominantly her powerful forehands with clever use of both flanks. At 1-2, Mousumi had to look for some miracles to stop the rampaging Takeme as she raced into a sizeable lead and maintained it throughout to put Railways in the lead (2-0).

In the third, Moumita Datta shed her usual inhibitions and, for a change, attacked nicely to put Surbhi under tremendous pressure. Though the Bengal girl did manage to take a game off her, the dice were heavily loaded against last year’s championships and the top-seeds.  

Results: (Team Championships):

Men: Final: PSPB bt Delhi 3-0 (Harmeet Desai bt Sudhanshu Grover 7-11, 8-11, 11-5, 11-4, 11-6, G.Sathiyan bt Parth Virmani 11-8, 9-11, 11-5, 6-11, 12-10, Manav Thakkar bt Payas Jain 9-11, 11-6, 11-6, 11-13, 11-4).

Women: Final: RSPB bt Bengal ‘A’ 3-0 (Sagarika Mukherjee bt Prapti Sen 11-8, 8-11, 11-9, 9-11, 11-6,  Takeme Sarkar bt Mousumi Paul 13-11, 7-11, 11-8, 11-4, Moumita Datta bt Surbhi Patwari 11-4, 9-11, 11-6, 12-10.)