New Delhi 22 April: National Champion G Sathiyan (ONGC) and T Reeth Rishya (IOCL) chalked out contrasting victories to claim the men’s and the women’s singles titles in the 41st PSPB Inter Unit Table Tennis tournament at the Indira Gandhi Stadium Complex here on Friday.

The final between Sathiyan and Commonwealth Games champion A.Sharat Kamal turned out to be a one-sided contest. Sathiyan played an attacking game from the start and won the first two games 11-5 and 11-9. Sharat then pulled one back when he won the third game 11-5. 

Though the next two games were closely contested but Sathiyan  dictated the proceedings, made fewer errors and found the corners when it mattered to win them 11-8 and 12-10 and claimed the title 4-1 (11-5, 11-9, 5-11, 11-8, 12-10)

The Women Finals between the talented Yashaswani Ghorpade (OIL) and T Reeth Rishya went the full distance with the later displaying the same grit with which she won her semi-final match against Jennifer Verghees. Yashaswani won the first game 11-9. Reeth pulled one back comfortably to win the next game 11-4.

She lost the next two games 11-7 and 11-7 and just when it looked like Yashaswani was heading for a win, Reeth staged a fine rally as she raised her game to win the next three games in a row and won the match 4-3. (9-11, 11-4, 7-11, 7-11, 11-9, 11-4, 11-7)

The Veteran Singles Finals between team members of ONGC, Pankaj Gupta and L V L Thakre was played with a lot of intensity and passion. In the best of 5 encounter, Pankaj Gupta kept his nerve in a tense battle to prevail and won 3-2. (11-8, 10-12, 11-3, 8-11, 12-10)

The 3rd position playoffs in all three categories saw one-sided matches. Talented Youngster Ankur Bhattacharjee (OIL) displayed his ample skills and speed to get the measure of Saurabh Saha (ONGC) 4-1 (8-11, 11-8, 11-3, 12-10, 11-6). And in the Women’s contest Divya Deshpande (ONGC) beat the talented Jennifer Verghees (IOCL) 4-1 (11-4, 11-8, 9-11, 11-8, 11-6) In the veterans category Soneshwar Deka (OIL) beat Jayanta Dey 3-1 (11-5, 9-11, 11-6, 12-10)

EIL  CMD  Ms Vartika Shukla and TTFI Secretary General Kamlesh Mehta gave away the prizes,