Sharath, Madhurika win West Zone titles

Sharath Kamal showed his class in the 11Sportswest Zone Nationalranking table tennis tournament in Pune, defeating qualifier Anirban Ghosh 116, 11■, 113, 115 in a completely onesided summit clash to bag his first title of the season.

“For me, the semifinals [against Amal] was the final. He [Anirban] had too much respect for me and I used it completely. But I must say he has a bright future,” said Sharath.

The reigning National champion escaped from the jaws of defeat in the semifinals, staving off two match points. Trailing 49 and ■10 in the seventh game against Anthony Amalraj, Sharath roared back in style to win the game and the match.

Madhurika Patkar triumphed with a 711, 1012, 11■, 119, 1210, 115 scoreline over Divya Deshpande in a drab women’s final. Earlier, Madhurika put it across Manika Batra, the second seed, in six games in the semifinals.

In the youth boys’ final Manush Shah beat Jeet Chandra 116, 1210, 1210, 1311, while Sreeja Akula took the youth girls’ title with a 117, 511, 119, 1416, 119, 911, 1210 victory over Prapti Sen.

K. KEERTHIVASAN