The Hindu : Sport / Table Tennis : Upset wins for Soumyadeep, Mouma

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Dec 09, 2004

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Sport - Table Tennis

Upset wins for Soumyadeep, Mouma

By Our Special Correspondent

BANGALORE, DEC. 8. In a dramatic twist both the National champions, Sharath Kamal of IOC and Poulomi Ghatak of BPCL, lost to Soumyadeep Roy of IOC and Mouma Das of OIL in the finals of 25th Petroleum Sports Promotion Board's inter-unit table tennis championship here on Wednesday.

Soumyadeep, the former National champion, was at his retrieving best in an absorbing seven game duel which he won 11-9,10-12, 7-11, 11-4, 14-12, 8-11, 12-10 while Mouma cruised to a 11-5, 10-12, 11-3, 11-5 victory.

The two champions later completed a double by winning the doubles titles as well. Soumyadeep won the men's doubles partnering Sharath Kamal while Mouma won along with Nandita Saha in the women's section.

"He was the better player today," said Sharath Kamal but the fact remained that he could have certainly done better in crunch situations.

Sharath hardly showed the kind of cool control that he had exhibited against Arup Basak in the semifinals. He was tentative and impatient by turns and tried to keep a fast pace. But Soumyadeep was very much up to the task and countered the big hits of Sharath with aplomb.

Sharath, who took a 2-1 lead despite losing the first, could have tightened the screws but he relaxed his grip and made a hash of his returns allowing Soumyadeep to grab the game easily. Soumaydeep also won the crucial fifth game on extra points. Sharath did well to cut a 7-10 deficit but later netted twice to make it 12-all.Somyadeep held his nerve to take the game.

In the sixth, Sharath Kamal meant business and held on to win at 11-8 after Soumyadeep ran him close till 8-all. The decider saw a keen tussle, with both players trying to push each other away from the table, playing some fierce rallies and it was 10-all when serve changed hands to Somoyadeep. He made Sharath play a backhand out and then caught him again at a difficult angle, snuffing out Sharath's hopes.

Mouma simply outplayed an error prone Poulomi. Mouma kept hitting a stream of winners to the centre of the table and raced to an easy triumph.

Meanwhile Sharath and Poulomi will lead the field in the South Zone championship which begins on Thurday. The five-day meet will begin with the qualifying rounds with the main draw from December 11.

The results (all finals): Men: singles: Soumyadeep Roy (IOC) bt Sharath Kamal ( IOC) 11-9, 10-12, 7-11, 14-12, 8-11, 12-10. Doubles: Soumyadeep Roy/Sharath Kamal (IOC) bt Subham Choudhry/Ranbir Das (ONGC) 12-10, 11-7, 11-6.

Women: singles: Mouma Das (OIL) bt Poulomi Ghatak (BPCL) 11-5, 10-12, 11-3, 11-5. Doubles: Mouma/Nandita Saha (OIL) bt Poulomi /B. Bhuvaneshwari ( BPCL) 9-11, 8-11, 11-9, 11-8, 11-8.

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