PSPB sweep team titles at Inter-Institutional TT

The Petroleum Sports Promotion Board (PSPB) retained the men and women team titles in the LIC-sponsored Institutional Table Tennis Championships at the District Indoor Hall here Saturday.

PSPB men defeated Railway Sports Promotion Board (RSPB) 3-1 while the women beat Airports Authority of India (AAI) 3-0.

Aman Balgu upset Amalraj 3-2 to give a grand beginning for Railways. But the pace that Balgu set was somewhat dented by both Soumyajit Ghosh and Harmeet Desai who rolled over their rivals. Ghosh, the crucial link the in the PSPB line-up, then disposed of Balgu in the fourth singles, much to the relief of the PSPB bench.

Amalraj showed patchy brilliance on the day and credit must go to Balgu for the way he staged a nice comeback from 1-2 down to breathe easy at 2-2. But his opponent was certainly not comfortable and Balgu from 2-2 went up 5-2, then 7-4 before allowing Amalraj just a couple of points to win 11-6. Then Ghosh came and demolished Souvik Kar with a straight games win, Harmeet Desai, despite a stutter, provided his team a 2-1 lead and left completion job in the expert hands of Ghosh.

Ghosh, who defeated Balgu 3-1, was under great pressure, particularly in the third game which he won 12-10. The see-saw battle saw some excellent rallies and away-from-the-table game with no quarters given. But some crucial errors on the part of Balgu at 10-10 proved his undoing. Ghosh, despite leading in the fourth, allowed Balgu come close before raising his game a notch higher to clinch it with the minimum margin of 11-9.

Results:

Team finals: Men: PSPB bt RSPB 3-1 (A. Amalraj lost to Aman Balgu 2-3 (11-6, 8-11, 11-6, 7-11, 7-11), Soumyajit Ghosh bt Souvik Kar 3-0 (11-5, 11-8, 11-4), Harmeet Desai bt Noel Pinto 3-1 (8-11, 11-7, 11-5, 11-7), Soumyajit Ghosh bt Aman Balgu 3-1 (11-3, 8-11, 12-10, 11-9).

Women: PSPB bt AAI 3-0 (K. Shamini bt AV Nivedita 3-1 (11-9, 10-12, 11-8, 11-8), Ankita Das bt Kritwika Sinha Roy 3-1 (11-2, 7-11, 11-06, 11-9), Madhurika Patkar bt Nikhat Bhanu 3-1 (2-11, 11-9, 11-7, 11-9).