New Delhi, August 3: The men from Petroleum Sports Promotion Board (PSPB) put up yet another title-winning performance, for the 16th occasion, to defeat the Railway Sports Promotion Board (RSPB) 3-0 in the final of the LPS Bossard 47th All India Inter-Institutional Championships at the Table Tennis Foundation hall here today.

Earlier, their women squad added their 14th crown after beating RBI 3-1. Yesterday, PSPB boys had won the Youth championship in what was a profitable venture as the qualified for the nationals to be held at Varanasi. However, the PSPB girls had to be content with the silver as RBI upstaged them to grab the gold and seal their team’s entry in the nationals.

Both finals never reached the dizzy heights as they had turned out to be completely a one-sided affair. If there was some interested generated in the women team finals, thanks to Ayhika Mukherjee’s win over Manika Batra, there was none in the men final.

G. Sathiyan, in a zone of his own, finished his singles against Anirban Nandi in style and in double quick time. The veteran Railways player could not put up even a semblance of resistance against the rampaging Sathiyan. Equally disappointing was the second rubber when Soumyajit Ghosh went through the motions against Ravindra Kotiyan. The tall and lanky RSPB paddler, who promised a lot until a couple of years ago, was unable to shake off his self-doubts and play freely. This was evident against the shrewd Ghosh who disposed of him in straight games.

 The third singles between Harmeet Desai and E. Prabhakaran also went the PSPB way as one had anticipated. Prabhakaran, a gritty fighter, managed to win the second game, but the aggressive Harmeet did not give any liberty in the third and in the next to shut out whatever little challenge seemed to be brewing.

It was unfortunate that Railways had to satisfy yet again with the silver but their performance was far better than the previous edition at Jaipur. That will give them the much-needed confidence for them to do well in the future.

Manika, an aberration

Despite an indifferent start provided by Manika Batra—she lost her opening rubber to Ayhika Mukherjee—PSPB had the bench strength to pulled it off without much ado as Madhurika Patkar, who both her singles, first defeated Akula Sreeja and then accounted for Ayhika. In between Pooja Sahasrabuddhe ensured that she did her job to perfection, beating Amrutha Pushpak.

Manika, who lost to Takeme Sarkar in the semifinal yesterday, seemed to have gone into her shell after taking the first game. Ayhika, relatively inexperienced as compared to the former national champion, not only levelled the score but went on to mount pressure and Manika got buried under its weight. Madhurika, leading the charge like she did yesterday, had to retrieve the situation and she won the second rubber. This gave Pooja the impetus to go for the kill against Amrutha. Yet, the latter took her to some distance in a fighting third game which the former won 16-14. Returning to the table, Madhurika completed the demolition task rather easily.

Results (Team Championships):

Men: Final: Petroleum Sports Promotion Board bt Railway Sports Promotion Board 3-0 (G. Sathiyan bt Anirban Nandi 11-7, 11-7, 11-6, Soumyajit Ghosh bt Ravindra Kotiyan 11-4, 11-6, 11-4, Harmeet Desai bt E. Prabhakaran 11-7, 8-11, 11-5, 11-8).

Women: Final: Petroleum Sports Promotion Board bt Reserve Bank Sports Board 3-1 (Manika Batra lost to Ayhika Mukherjee 11-8, 7-11, 4-11, 4-11, Madhurika Patkar bt Akula Sreeja 11-9, 12-10, 11-4, Pooja Sahasrabuddhe bt Amrutha Pushpak 11-4, 11-7, 16-14, Madhurika Patkar bt Ayhika Mukherjee11-4, 11-4, 11-9).