Paddlers Sathiyan, Suthirtha win national rankings title

Top seed G. Sathiyan defeated Gujarats Devesh Karia 4-0 to claim his seasons first mens singles title in the National Ranking (West Zone) Table Tennis Championships at the Veer Savarkar Municipal Corporation Stadium here on Sunday.

West Bengal's Suthirtha Mukherjee went on to bag her second women's singles title from zonal events when she defeated PSPB's Mousumi Paul 4-2.

But, overall, this was her season's third title, including the Institutional crown she had won in July in Jaipur.

Unexpectedly, it was a cakewalk for Sathiyan against Karia who was completely rendered helpless against a hot Sathiyan who executed his blistering strikes to unsettle the Gujarat man.

In the face of a mounting offensive approach, Devesh wilted very early in the final never to recover.

In the women's final, Mukherjee had the measure of her opponent except for the first marathon game which Paul won after nine deuces and three game points.

Paul did win the fourth game as well, but Mukherjee was way ahead in the next and wrapped up the issue quickly.

Meanwhile, Airports Authority of India's Ronit Bhanja blanked out PSPB's Birdie Boro 4-0 to take home the Youth Boys singles trophy while West Bengal's Priyadarshini Das claimed her maiden Youth Girls title beating Tamil Nadu's Amrutha Pushpak 4-3 in what was both paddlers' first appearance in a final.

Pushpak had her chance in the decider as she led 9-5 only to give away six points on the trot to her West Bengal opponent to her own disappointment and that of the crowd after having put up a nice fight to lead 3-2.

--IANS

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