Inter Institutional C'ship: Sathiyan, Sutirtha clinch titles

Coming back from a two-year ban after being found guilty of age violation, unseeded Sutirtha Mukherjee signed off a determined campaign by getting the better of Rio-bound Mouma Das and emerged as the surprise winner of the women singles title in the 46th All India inter-institutional table tennis championship.

Sutirtha ended the dream run of Mousumi Paul in the semifinals and then overpowered Mouma to show that she was ready to stay in the big league.

Coming back from a two-year ban after being found guilty of age violation, unseeded Sutirtha Mukherjee signed off a determined campaign by getting the better of Rio-bound Mouma Das and emerged as the surprise winner of the women singles title in the 46th All India inter-institutional table tennis championship here on Saturday.

Another unseeded finalist, Manav Thakkar was not so lucky in the men’s final. After upstaging top seed A. Amalraj in the semifinals, Thakkar ran into former champion G. Sathiyan. The second seed showed no mercy to the teenager and carved out a comfortable victory to regain the title won in 2014.

For the record, besides the glittering trophies, Sathiyan received Rs 75,000, Thakkar settled for Rs. 37,500, Sutirtha collected Rs. 58,000 and Mouma’s share was Rs. 29,000.

Special day

This was surely a special day for Sutirtha. This Bengal girl ended the dream run of Mousumi Paul in the semifinals and then overpowered Mouma to show that she was ready to stay in the big league.

Sutirtha’s flat returns countered Mouma’s feared forehand well and once she ran away with the third game, it was clear that the veteran would find it tough to survive the day.

Mouma just about managed to get it right on the big points of the fourth game but in the following two games, Sutirtha’s all-attacking game proved too much for Mouma.

The Sathiyan-Thakkar final, too, was expected to be a battle between two attacking players. As expected, the rallies were short but the match produced some thrilling shot-making from both players. Sathiyan’s self-belief made the difference as he produced an array of strokes and despite dropping the second game, never allowed Thakkar to look threatening.

The results:

Men singles (final): G. Sathiyan (Pet) bt Manav Thakkar (Pet) 11-6, 8-11, 11-6, 11-6, 11-2; (semifinals): Thakkar bt A. Amalraj (Pet) 11-4, 5-11, 9-11, 11-4, 12-10, 11-9; Sathiyan bt Sanil Shetty (Pet) 8-11, 12-10, 11-7, 11-6, 11-5.

Women singles: Sutirtha Mukherjee (WB) bt Mouma Das (Pet) 9-11, 13-11, 11-3, 9-11, 11-6, 11-6; Mouma bt Madhurika Patkar (Pet) 11-6, 11-6, 9-11, 10-12, 11-6, 11-4; Sutirtha bt Mousumi Paul (Pet) 11-9, 9-11, 11-7, 11-7, 11-9.

Men doubles (final): Sudhanshu Grover and Abhishek Yadav (Pet) bt Devesh Karia and Aman Balgu (CR) 11-8, 9-11, 11-8, 11-1.

Women doubles (final): Mouma Das and K. Shamini (Pet) bt Mousumi Paul and Krittwika Sinha Roy (PSPB) 11-7, 4-11, 11-6, 11-7.