Sharath Kamal beats Sathiyan, wins 10th senior national title
Sharath Kamal bagged his 10th National title with an impressive 4-3 win over arch rival G. Sathiyan in the men's final of the Senior National table tennis championships.
Published : Apr 25, 2022 19:22 IST
It was the turn of the star veteran and a newbie to bag the National crown in the Senior National table tennis championships here on Monday. PSPB’s Sharath Kamal bagged his 10th title and Akula Sreeja of RBI won her maiden crown, defeating G. Sathiyan (PSPB) and Mouma Das (PSPB) in the men’s and women’s finals, respectively. After overcoming Sathiyan 7-11, 12-10, 9-11, 7-11, 12-10, 11-9, 11-6, Sharath quickly congratulated one and all and ran halfway around the stadium, and was congratulated by a few officials and the entire crowd rose in unison to cheer the champion. Sreeja’s 11-8, 11-13, 12-10, 11-8, 11-6 victory over five-time champion Mouma Das proved that she has overcome the shackles and fear of Nationals in all categories and has now come of her own. Speaking to Sportstar , Sharath said: “Winning the 10th title is like reaching Mount Everest. I am sure someone will beat my record as records are meant to be broken.” The 23-year-old Sreeja said: “I have always not done well in all the Nationals across age categories. This time I was focussed and was prepared for long pushes of Mouma and did what my coach (Somnath Ghosh) suggested."
A special award in memory of the late paddler D. Vishwa was given to 19-year-old Diya Chitale of Maharashtra. Conrad Sangma, Chief Minister of Meghalaya, gave away the prizes.
Meanwhile, Gita Mittal, Chairperson of Committee of Administrators, announced that the National junior & youth championships would be held in Alappuzha from June 17 to 23.
Proposal to CoA Sharath said that he has given a proposal to the Committee of Administrators for him and the Indian teams to train in Europe - either with the German National team, or French National team and the Portugese National team ahead of the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham. “I would like to dedicate the Trophy to D. Vishwa, who died in an accident here,” he said. The 39-year-old said he would love to win the men's team gold and a doubles gold with Sathiyan at CWG. |
The results (finals): Men: singles: Sharath Kamal (PSPB) bt G. Sathiyan (PSPB) 7-11, 12-10, 9-11, 7-11, 12-10, 11-9, 11-6; doubles: Sourav Saha & Do Rosario Wesley (Har) bt Soumyajit Ghosh & Jubin Kumar (Har) 11-5, 4-11,11-9, 7-11, 11-8. Women: singles: Akula Sreeja (RBI) bt Mouma Das (PSPB) 11-8, 11-13, 12-10, 11-8, 11-6; doubles: Akula Sreeja & Ayhika Mukherjee (RBI) bt Prapti Sen & Takeme Sarkar (RBI) 3-11, 11-9, 11-5, 12-10. Mixed doubles: Akash Pal & Prapti Sen (RSPB) bt Soumyajit Ghosh & Suhana Saini (Har) 9-11, 11-7, 11-9, 11-7.