National Table Tennis Championship: Double crown for Sharath Kamal

In the women’s second round, fourth seed Divya Deshpande succumbed to Madhya Pradesh’s Anusha Kutumbale 11-6, 4-11, 8-11, 6-11, 10-12.

Manika Batra and Achanta Sharath Kamal of PSPB in action during the mixed doubles final.

Featuring in the mixed doubles event after 11 years, Achanta Sharath Kamal partnered with Manika Batra to outclass top seeded pair of Manav Thakkar and Archana Kamath in an all-Petroleum Sports Promotion Board (PSPB) final and pocket the first individual title of the 11Sports 80th Inter-state and National Table Tennis Championship on Tuesday.

The Asian Games bronze medallist pair, seeded second while going into the event, displayed their experience against the teenagers Thakkar and Kamath to win 11-9, 12-10, 10-12, 11-6 in 20 minutes.

Sharath has thus been assured of a double crown, having earlier helped PSPB defend its men’s team championship title.

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Since winning a quadruple crown in Siliguri in 2007-08, Sharath had skipped the doubles events for the last decade. However, with an eye on the qualification and a possible medal, the veteran participated along with lanky Batra.

And the duo proved to be too good for the younger pair of Thakkar and Kamath, who also gave glimpses of their talent with a few amazing winners.

Upsets galore in singles

Meanwhile, two of the top-eight women and three among the top-eight men failed to justify their billing and exited prematurely at the J.N. Indoor Stadium.

In the men’s fourth round, in what turned out to be the match of the day, West Bengal’s Kiranjoy Pushilal made a remarkable comeback after trailing 3-1 to stun third seed Sudhanshu Grover of PSPB in a thrilling deciding game.

Pushilal, one of only two defensive players to have featured in the men’s main draw, succumbed to West Bengal’s Ronit Bhanja in straight games in the pre-quarter-final.

Uttar Pradesh southpaw Abhishek Yadav continued his scintillating run from the team event to stun send fifth seed Sushmit Sriram 4-2 in the fourth round.

But the southpaw’s run was halted by Maharashtra’s Siddhesh Pande in the round of 16. Seventh seed Sanil Shetty failed to convert a match point against 11th seed Harmeet Desai in the round of 16.

In the women’s second round, fourth seed Divya Deshpande lost to Madhya Pradesh’s Anusha Kutumbale 11-6, 4-11, 8-11, 6-11, 10-12, while Pooja Sahasrabudhe, the fifth seed, was sent packing by Railways’ Shruti Amrute, who won the youth girls’ crown last week, in the third round.