Soumyajit bags a double in Chile

Somyajit beat Amalraj 4-2 (8-11, 13-11, 11-6, 119, 4-11, 11-7) to become the third Indian to win a men’s singles title at an ITTF Challenge Series or ITTF World Tour tournament while Amalraj became the fourth Indian to reach such a final. 

Soumyajit and Amalraj later combined brilliantly to win the men’s doubles title when the Indian pair accounted for the Bulgarian combine of Philipp Floritz and Romania’s Hunor Szocs 4-0 (13-11, 10-12, 14-12, 11-9).

In the singles final, third seed Amalraj made a better start winning the opening game but lost a close second which helped the momentum to swing towards his adversary. Undoubtedly the second game was crucial. But Amalraj had another chance coming his way in the fourth which, like the second, he could have turned to his advantage.

Trailing 8-9 in the fourth, Amalraj opted for time-out and even managed to win the next point to level the score only to let the opportunity slip by. Yet to Amalraj’s credit, he won the fifth game being the more consistent player but in the sixth Soumyajit emerged on top, all guns blazing.

“I had to start the sixth game aggressively because I kept thinking about my first big international title,” said Soumyajit.