Surat, Sept 21: Gujarat and West Bengal had to wait seven years for the National Games titles, after having finished runners-up at the Kerala Games held way back in 2015. And the wait was worth the weight in gold.

On Wednesday, Gujarat defeated Delhi 3-0 and West Bengal toppled Maharashtra 3-1 for the crown. However, West Benga had some anxious moments before crossing the line. Delhi and Maharashtra return home with silver.

The bronze medals went to  Maharashtra and West Bengal (men), Tamil Nadu and Telangana (women).

After Manav huffed and puffed his way against Sudhanshu Grover--he got stretched in two games--one could witness the genius of another local man, Harmeet Desai, playing a flawless tie against Payas Jain.  Harmeet relived the memories of his match in the men's team event during the Birmingham CWG, where he outwitted Clarence Chew of Singapore after Sharath had lost to him.

The Gujarat men's table tennis winners at the 36th National Games, Gujarat 2022 held at the PDDU Stadium, Surat

It was no surprise that Harmeet was in his zone and whatever he did had a touch of gold. The Delhi boy, who will be 19 in five days, seemed lost. Yet, he must have admired the big-ticket player's seamless efforts on an important evening. In the third game, Harmeet dared to return deep at 10-9, and finish 12-10 in the next to put Gujarat 2-0 up.

Picking up from where teammate Harmeet left off, Manush Shah's flair for being a left-hander was not misplaced. He continued with the demolition job as a lost Yashansh Malik all at sea. Unable to figure a way out, he went through the motions presenting a win in the third game on a platter.

Maharashtra introduced an element of surprise in the final line-up, opening with Swastika Ghosh instead of Diya Chitale, who was pushed down to play the third singles. Maybe, it was because of Diya’s performance in the semifinals. Yet the ploy did not work as Swastika lost tamely to Ayhika Mukherjee.

Surprisingly, however, Reeth Rishya played her part to perfection and restored parity when she beat Sutirtha Mukherjee in straight games. But Mouma Das, playing the third singles, accounted for Diya in a thrilling tie that went down to the wire. Diya held two match points at 10-9 and 11-10 which she squandered in the fourth game as Mouma won 14-12.

The decider became a mere formality for the veteran who, playing her first competitive match at the Meghalaya Nationals after motherhood earlier this year, ended up the runner-up. One could see the same tenacity of her heydays, and she was as sharp as she used to be when the going got tough.

With the 2-1 cushion provided by Mouma, Sutirtha returned to the table for her reverse singles against Swastika. Both traded punches, winning alternate games but the West Bengal paddler seemed to have conserved her energy and tactics for the decider. And, she deployed all the weapons from her arsenal, and they hit the targets slowly but surely, as Swastika was forced into far too many errors in the crucial game. Game, set and match for West Bengal.

The West Bengal women's team pose for a selfie after their win

Results (Team Finals):

Men: Gujarat bt Delhi 3-0 (Manav Thakkar bt Sudhanshu Grover 11-3, 13-11, 14-12, Harmeet Desai bt Payas Jain 11-7, 11-3, 12-10, Manush Shah bt Yashansh Malik 11-4, 11-9, 11-4).

Women: West Bengal bt Maharashtra 3-1 (Ayhika Mukherjee bt Swastika Ghosh 11-3, 11-5, 11-3; Sutirtha Mukherjee lost to Reeth Rishya 9-11, 11-13, 9-11; Mouma Das bt Diya Chitale 6-11, 16-14, 10-12, 14-12, 11-6; Sutirtha Mukherjee bt Swastika Ghosh 11-4, 11-13, 11-9, 10-12, 11-6).