They have been playing for nearly two decades now. And the two have shown no signs of throwing in the towel yet. Just when you believed that youngsters have closed in on the aeging stars, Mouma Das (30 years) and Poulomi Ghatak (32) announced their resurgencewith a confident march into the final of the senior National table tennis championships here.
Mouma was going for her fifth title from five finals, while Poulomi was keen to equal Indu Puri’s eight National titles. Mouma, however, had the last laugh as she came back from a two-game deficit to win 7-11, 7-11, 11-3, 14-12, 11-7, 11-6. Mouma’s last National title came way back in 2006 (held in ’07) in Ajmer while Poulomi win in 2012 in Lucknow.
In the men’s final Soumyajit Ghosh and G. Sathiyan played an enthralling match with Ghosh emerging winner 11-7, 9-11, 11-3, 13-11, 13-15, 11-9 regaining the title he had won in Raipur in 2013.
Trailing by two games, Mouma found her touch once she got her flat forehand smashes and her backhand flips going. In the crucial fourth game, Poulomi had three game points at 10-7 to go up by three games to one, but Mouma kept her nerves with some good service, and went on to win the game and equalise the scores. Poulomi never recovered after that.
The Ghosh-Sathiyan contest was gripping. Attacking from the back of the table, Ghosh and Sathiyan entertained the spectators with wonderful touch and anticipation.
Ghosh was always one step ahead. Sathiyan, in fact, fought back brilliantly in the fifth game. Serving for the match at 12-11, Ghosh fluffed a backhand return. From there on, the top seed showed his spirit to clinch the game at 15-13.
Ghosh was always ahead in the sixth game, and when Sathiyan’s forehand hit the net, Ghosh’s joy knew no bounds.
Ghosh received Rs. 2 lakh and Mouma, who was challenging Poulomi for the fourth time since their first final appearance in 1998 (held in ’99) in Chennai, had to be content with Rs. 1.40 lakh.
Ghosh, Mouma for Asian Cup The TTFI’s selection committee, which met here on Saturday included the National champions, Soumyajit Ghosh and Mouma Das for the Asian Cup to be held in Jaipur from March 13 to 15. The stand-byes are the runners-up G. Sathiyan and Poulomi Ghatak.
Three players banned Bengal’s Oishwarya Deb, Sutirtha Mukherjee and Priyadarshni Das have been banned for two years and fined Rs. 25,000 each for misrepresenting their age.
The three players, who are already under suspension, will face the ban until January 2016 Nationals.
This, along with other decisions, was taken at the Executive Board meeting held here on Saturday. TTFI president Prabhat C Chaturvedi said Ayhika Mukherjee was also probed but the player did not derive any benefit unlike the other three. “Accordingly, we let her off with this season’s ban (one-year) and no fine was imposed on her,” he said.
The results: Men: Final: Soumyajit Ghosh (PSPB) bt G. Sathiyan (PSPB) 11-7, 9-11, 11-3, 13-11, 13-15, 11-9; Semifinals: Sathiyan bt Harmeet Desai (PSPB) 11-9, 11-8, 11-7, 11-5; Soumyajit bt Raj Mondal (RBI) 8-11, 11-5, 4-11, 4-11, 11-4, 12-10, 11-8.
Doubles: (Final): Sanil Shetty & Anthony Amalraj (PSPB) bt Jubin Kumar & Sourav Chakraborty (Har) 11-8, 7-11, 11-6, 11-7.
Women: Final: Mouma Das (PSPB) bt Poulami Ghatak (PSPB) 7-11, 7-11, 11-3, 14-12, 11-7, 11-6; Semifinals: Mouma bt K. Shamini (PSPB) 7-11, 13-11, 11-7, 8-11, 11-6, 6-11, 11-5; Poulomi bt Ankita Das (PSPB) 11-1, 11-9, 7-11, 11-3, 11-1.
Doubles: Final: Mouma & Shamini (PSPB) bt Mallika Bhandarkar & Vedika Garga (Mah ‘B’) 11-8, 11-3, 11-5; Mixed Doubles: Final: Raj Mondal & Krittwika Sinha Roy (RBI) bt Sourav Saha & Mousumi Paul (WB) 7-11, 11-2, 11-1, 11-7.
