Inter-institutional TT: PSPB retain men's, women's team titles

Kolkata, Aug 24 - Petroleum Sports Promotion Board (PSPB) retained the men’s and women’s team crowns at the 42nd All India Inter-Institutional Table Tennis Championships here Friday to complete a clean sweep of the tournament.

On Thursday, PSPB’s boys and girls successfully defended their titles after an all-win record they posted in the round-robin matches.

Incidentally, this was the tenth consecutive title triumph for the PSPB men’s team and one less for their women’s squad.

The Railway Sports Promotion Board (RSPB) finished runners up.

Anthony Amalraj, employing a close-to-the-table game plan, began aggressively taking the first two sets. But braveheart Soumajit Sarkar, matching his rival’s wits, played superbly to take lead for the first time at 5-6 and then went on to win the set 11-7. However, Amalraj didn’t waste any time in the next to wrap it up quickly for a 3-1 win.

Sharath Kamal began cautiously against Railways stalwart Anirban Nandi. But the world No. 73 executed some scorching backhand long shots, and unsettled Nandi, who was able to pace up his game and win the third set 11-7.

The appreciative crowd was also witness to some long rallies which brought out the good, long returns from Sharath during the game. Soon after Sharath settled the issue with a 11-7 win to give PSPB a 2-0 lead.

In the left-hander versus left-hander third rubber, Souvik Basu Roy proved right against Sanil Shetty with great deception and forcing PSPB to play the fourth rubber. The tall and lanky Roy won 12-14, 11-6, 11-9, 8-11, 11-9. Amalraj won his second match against Nandi to put the title issue beyond RSPB.

In the women’s final, K. Shamini provided the spark with her cool head to beat Takeme Sarkar 3-0. She was trailing 5-10 in the second set but staged a fine comeback taking seven points on the trot to go 2-0 up.

After that, Shamini toyed with her opponent to finish off the deciding game in quick time. Old warhorse Mouma Das was rusty against veteran Anindita Chakraborty, yet the former managed to put it across her RSCB rival, despite losing the second set 10-12.

Then it was left to reigning national champion Poulomi Ghatak to complete the demolition despite being stretched by Shweta Parte.

The focus now shifts to individual slugfests for the coveted singles crown in men and women’s sections, besides the doubles and mixed doubles titles.

RESULTS: (ALL FINALS): MEN: PSPB bt RSPB 3-1 (A Amalraj bt Soumajit Sarkar 11-4, 11-7, 7-11, 11-3, A Sharath Kamal bt Anirban Nandi 12-10, 11-7, 7-11, 11-7, Sanil Shetty lost to Souvik Basu Roy 14-12, 6-11, 9-11, 11-8, 9-11, A Anthony bt Anirban Nandi 11-8,11-7,12-10). WOMEN: PSPB bt RSPB 3-0 (K. Shamini bt Takeme Sarkar 11-9, 12-10, 11-8, Mouma Das bt Anandita Chakraborty 12-10, 11-6, 10-12, 11-5, Poloumi Ghatak bt Shweta Parte 17-19, 11-5, 11-7, 13-11).