Harmeet Becomes National TT Champion, Sutirtha Wins Her Second Crown

Hyderabad, Feb 2 (PTI) Sixth-seed Harmeet Desai defeated fourth-seed Manav Thakkar 4-3 in the men's singles final to claim his maiden title at the 81st National Table Tennis Championships here on Sunday.

Haryana's Sutirtha Mukherjee claimed her second National crown, beating PSPB's Krittwika Sinha Roy, a three-time finalist, 4-0 in the women's singles final. In the process, she bagged three gold, including in the team event and women's doubles apart from getting a silver in the mixed event.

Harmeet, who had reached his first final in 2013, pocketed Rs. 2.5 lakh for his fantastic efforts, while Sutirtha, had won her first title at Ranchi in 2017, received Rs. 1.65 lakh in prize money.

Harmeet, who trains at Axton Centre in Germany, attributed his success to the training he has received there.

"Ever since I started training at the centre (in Germany) where I get to play with world's top paddlers, I have improved in my blocks and shot selections," he said.

"Manav I have been travelling together and when he engages you in long rallies, more often than not he wins. And the mistakes I made in the sixth set forced me rethink and I decided to keep my cool in the decider."

Haryana made their presence felt as their paddlers won both gold medals in men and women doubles before closely losing the third gold in mixed event.

After Jubin Kumar and Soumyajit Ghosh combined well to beat Gujarat's Manush Shah and Ishaan Hingorani 3-1 in men doubles, it was the turn of Sutirtha and Riti Shankan to beat Bengal 'A' duo of Surbhi Patwari and Poymantee Baisya in women doubles.

Later, Sutirtha and Sourav Saha settled with the silver in a tough mixed doubles, losing 1-3 to the Bengal pair of Ronit Bhanja and Mousumi Paul.

Results:

Men Singles: Harmeet Desai (PSPB) bt Manav Thakkar (PSPB) 11-4, 11-13, 14-12, 9-11, 11-8, 5-11, 11-5.

Semifinals: Manav Thakkar bt G. Sathiyan (PSPB) 11-9, 16-14, 7-11, 15-13, 6-11, 11-9; Harmeet Desai bt Soumyajit Ghosh (Har) 11-9, 11-7, 11-4, 8-11, 14-12.

Doubles: Jubin Kumar/Soumyajit Ghosh (Har) bt Manush Shah/Ishaan Hingorani (Guj) 11-7, 8-11, 11-3, 11-7.

Women Singles: Sutirtha Mukherjee (Har) bt Krittwika Sinha Roy (PSPB) 11-4, 11-5, 11-8,11-4.

Doubles: Sutirtha Mukherjee/Riti Shankar (Har) bt Surbhi Patwari/Poymantee Baisya (Ben A) 11-7, 11-7, 8-11, 11-8.

Semifinals: Sutirtha Mukherjee bt Ayhika Mukherjee (RBI) 12-10, 8-11, 11-9, 11-5, 11-5; Krittwika Sinha Roy bt Ankita Das (Ben B) 11-9, 11-6, 15-13, 11-7.

Mixed Doubles: Ronit Bhanja/Mousumi Paul (Ben A) bt Sourav Saha/Sutirtha Mukherjee (Har) 15-13, 8-11, 12-10, 13-11. PTI

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