Indore, October 11: Gujarat’s Devesh Karia and PSPB’s Mouma Das emerged the men and women’s singles champions at the National Ranking (Central Zone) Table Tennis Championships which concluded at Abhay Prashal here today.

Karia, who won his maiden senior title, defeated PSPB’s G Sathiyan 4-3 in what was a do-or-die final for the contestants. The pressure was on both and despite leading comfortably at 3-1, Karia let Sathiyan off the hook and allowed him to level the score. However, in the decider, Sathiyan just about managed to save a match point at 9-11, but in Sathiyan’s second serve, Karia got a good top ball which he killed with a forceful forehand to throw his arms up in elation. Karia’s effort fetched him Rs. 66,000 while Sathiyan, who has never won the men’s singles title, had to be contended with half the prize purse.

Sathiyan did well to come back, taking the fifth and sixth games very convincingly but the pressure of winning a maiden title was on and Karia led well 4-1, 5-2 before Sathiyan levelled and from there it was a see-saw battle until Karia got two consecutive points on his serve to go 10-9 to make the final, that had several excellent rallies, his own.

Karia put it succinctly. “I had to wait for the title for 15 years. It was really satisfying as I had a lot of pressure from Sathiyan, who threatened me with a very good come back,” said the Bhavnagar man.

Mouma Das was on a roll here since the main draw events got underway the day before. Running a fine form and carrying a lot of confidence with her, the PSPB’s veteran at 31, played on her rivals patience. On the other hand, a normally attacking Pooja was found wanting, at least in the decider once the two took the final the full distance. The title win was worth Rs. 55,000, the runner-up getting half the amount in reward.

Mouma, as admitted after the match, she only had to take care of her opponent’s forehand. “I knew it was the most important aspect when someone plays against her. We know each other’s game well and I managed to put it across,” said the Arjuna Awardee, who was bestowed with the honour last year.

Mouma had in the morning ousted Ankita Das 4-3 in a tough semifinal battle. Both the PSPB players had the momentum going but it was the experience of Mouma that made the ultimate difference as Ankita also founding to be hitting the net more often than putting the ball across the table. And for Pooja, Suthirtha Mukherjee gave some real headaches until the former’s forehand came to her aid with Suthirtha floundering.

Yadav, Mallika triumph

Abhishek Yadav was in a different zone in the Youth Boys final and he brought out his best against Sudhanshu Grover. Both being attacking players, it was Yadav who took the attack to his rival right from the start, upsetting the rhythm of Grover. Though Grover managed to go 2-1, Yadav thrived on fine placing, clever use of drop shots and blistering forehand winners. That, in the end, made a lot of difference in defining who would go through.

“Sudhanshu played well but I kept attacking all the time. It must have unsettled him and he couldn’t come back,” said Grover after his win and receiving the prize purse of Rs. 24,200.

It was a fantastic win for Mallika who, despite being her personal problems, has been a bright youngster. But what she lacked was consistency. Today she brought a lot of it from her arsenal to outwit thoroughly and deservingly her higher-ranked and championship favourite Manika Batra. Probably, the Nagpur girl’s confidence must have come from the semifinal win against PSPB’s Reeth Rishya. When Mallika, down 1-3 could make a match of it, it was always in the realm of her possibility to beat Manika, who was committing far too many mistakes on the day. Mallika won Rs. 20,000 and Manika just the half of it.

Earlier in what was purely a left-handed affair, second-seeded Sanil Shetty allowed Gujarat’s Devesh Karia to make a firm comeback while the national champion was at a little distance from sewing it up in the semifinal. Shetty led 3-2 but Karia, playing equally an aggressive game, worked on the weakness of Shetty’s backhand and won the crucial last two games to enter the final. The other semifinal saw top-seed Sathiyan struggling a bit before overcoming Subhajit Saha 4-2.

Results:

Men Singles: Final: Devesh Karia (Guj) bt G. Sathiyan (PSPB) 4-3 (11-4, 5-11, 11-2, 11-9, 7-11, 7-11, 11-9); Semifinals: G. Sathiyan bt Subhajit Saha (PSPB) 4-2 (11-9, 11-6, 11-5, 9-11, 4-11, 15-13), Devesh Karia (Guj) bt Sanil Shetty (PSPB) 4-3 (11-9, 10-12, 7-11, 11-7, 9-11, 11-9, 11-8).

Women’s Singles: Final: Mouma Das (PSPB) bt Pooja Sahasrabudhe (PSPB) 4-3 (4-11, 11-9, 9-11, 11-9, 11-7, 8-11, 11-5); Semifinals: Mouma Das (PSPB) bt Ankita Das (PSPB) 4-3 (4-11, 8-11, 11-7, 11-8, 12-10, 8-11, 11-5), Pooja Sahasrabudhe (PSPB) bt Suthirtha Mukherjee (PSPB) 4-3 (11-8, 8-11, 6-11, 11-9, 6-11, 11-5, 13-11).

Youth Boys Singles: Final: Abhishek Yadav (PSPB) bt Sudhanshu Grover (PSPBA) 4-2 (11-9, 5-11, 8-11, 11-7, 11-5, 11-9); Semifinals: Abhishek Yadav (PSPBA) bt Anirban Ghosh (WB) 4-0 (11-6, 11-8, 11-7, 11-6), Sudhanshu Grover (PSPB) bt Nishaad Shah (AI) 4-2 (11-6, 11-5, 11-7, 11-13, 6-11, 11-9).

Youth Girls Singles: Final: Mallika Bhandarkar (AI) bt Manika Batra (PSPB) 4-0 (11-9, 15-13, 11-5, 11-8); Semifinals: Manika Batra (PSPB) bt Ayhika Mukherjee (AAI) 4-0 (11-7, 11-5, 11-5, 11-4), Mallika Bhandarkar (AI) bt Reeth Rishya (PSPB) 4-3 (10-12, 8-11, 12-10, 8-11, 11-6, 11-2, 11-5).