Sathiyan retains title in style
West Bengal’s Suthirtha Mukherjee saw off fifth seed Mouma Das 4- 2 to clinch the women’s singles title
G. Sathiyan stopped giant killer Manav Thakkar in his tracks 4- 1 to regain the men’s singles title in the AAI 46th all- India inter- institutional championships in Jaipur on Friday. For Sathiyan, it was the second institutional title, the first of which came at New Delhi in 2012.
Earlier, West Bengal’s Suthirtha Mukherjee saw off fifth seed Mouma Das 4- 2. The winners collected prize purses of ` 75,000 and ` 58,000, respectively.
Sathiyan, showing variety in all aspects of the game, was way ahead of the inexperienced Manav in the final. Though the boy from Surat managed to take a game off his rival, Sathiyan was full of strokes against which Manav had no answers.
Suthirtha, returning to active table tennis after a two- year ban, made Olympic- bound Mouma earn every point.
With good counters she tamed the six- time national champion, particularly in the third game. Though Mouma did come back to level at 2- 2, Suthirtha went on a cruise mode to complete the task.
In the semi- finals, Manav shocked top- seed Anthony Amalraj to add another seed to his list of scalps.
The rampaging PSPB youngster began on a healthy note to go 3- 1 up before letting the reigning national champion pull back one, in the fifth game on extended points.
But Manav, with a nice rhythm and flowing strokes, eventually tamed Amalraj 4- 2.
The second semi- final saw Sathiyan dismissing former national champion Sanil Shetty by a 4- 1 margin.
RESULTS
Men’s singles final: G. Sathiyan ( PSPB) bt Manav Thakkar ( PSPB) 11- 6, 8- 11, 11- 6, 11- 6, 11- 2; semifinals: Manav Thakkar bt Anthony Amalraj ( PSPB) 11- 4, 5- 11, 9- 11, 11- 4, 12- 10, 11- 9, G. Sathiyan bt Sanil Shetty ( PSPB) 8- 11, 12- 10, 11- 7, 116, 11- 5. Women’s singles final: Suthirtha Mukherjee ( WB) beat Mouma Das ( PSPB) 9- 11, 13- 11, 11- 3, 9- 11, 11- 6, 11- 6; semi- finals: Mouma Das beat Madhurika Patkar ( PSPB) 11- 6, 116, 9- 11, 10- 12, 11- 6, 11- 4, Suthirtha Mukherjee beat Mousumi Paul ( PSPB) 11- 9, 11- 4, 11- 8, 11- 7.