Rajkot, October 16: Top-seed G. Sathiyan survived a semifinal scare from No. 4 Sanil Shetty, but it was Gujarat’s Devesh Karia who extracted himself out of depth to beat Jubin Kumar of PSPB 4-2 to meet each other in the men’s singles final of the 11Even Sports National Ranking (West Zone) Table Tennis Championships at the Veer Savarkar Municipal Corporation Stadium here today.

The 4-3 win for Sathiyan was a laboured one as southpaw Sanil Shetty, after leading 2-1, gave in to the pressure tactics of his PSPB rival which proved to be Sanil’s undoing. After letting Sathiyan off the hook in the fourth game which he won on extended points, it became a roller-coaster ride for the lefthander. Shetty did win the sixth to level 3-3 but was visibly losing steam and it only helped Sathiiyan.

For, in the decider, the lanky paddler simply pressed on the gas pedal and surged ahead with a 6-1 lead soon after changing sides. Sathiyan’s blistering forehands brooked little challenge from Sanil who kept adding to his woes with several unforced errors. In the end, it became more and more easy as Sathiyan wrapped it up 8-11, 11-7, 8-11, 12-10, 11-7, 4-11, 11-3.

In all-lefthanders fight, Devesh was woefully placed at 0-2 and 5-9 in the third game against Jubin. But a few errors both at the net and some away-going shots at that time saw the PSPB paddler concede the ground which the Gujarat man was looking for. Winning the game 11-9 gave the much-needed oxygen for Devesh and after that he was a different man altogether.

Playing aggressively and matching his rival stroke for stroke, the Gujarat lefthander took the next two games rather cheaply. Jubin, now under tremendous pressure, failed to come to terms as Devesh piled on his agony of deuces and a loss of match point. Every time he was on the brink, Devesh pulled himself up in front the home crowd to win the match 8-11, 6-11, 11-9, 11-3, 11-7, 14-12.  

MOUSUMI ADVANCES

In women’s semifinals, unseeded Mousumi Paul continued with her winning ways as she outlasted top seed Madhurika Patkar 4-2 for a final showdown with second seed Suthirtha Mukherjee, who sent former national champion and veteran Mouma Das packing with a 4-1 result.

Mousumi defeated Madhurika 11-5, 9-11, 11-7, 6-11, 11-9, 13-11 and Suthirtha rolled past Mouma 11-8, 11-8, 11-13, 11-1, 11-8.

The finals are slated for this evening.