Sreeja retains National TT title, Sathiyan triumphs

JAMMU: Defending champion Sreeja Akula of RBI retained the women’s singles crown after beating Sutirtha Mukherjee from West Bengal 4-2 (9-11, 14-12, 11-7, 13-11, 6-11, 12-10) in the 84th UTT Inter-State Senior National Table Tennis Championships final here on Monday.

The Chennai-based Sathiyan Gnanasekaran earned his second men’s singles National title, defeating Harmeet Desai in straight games (11-9, 11-7, 11-8, 11-5) in a battle between two PSPB players at the Gymnasium Hall of the Jammu University. Sreeja and Sathiyan were richer by Rs. 2.75 lakh each following their victories.

Sreeja was scratchy in the women’s singles final. But, whenever in trouble, she found a way to extricate herself from depth to do the unexpected. In other words, Sutirtha let her opponent off the hook as she could not make the most of the best situations. When Sutirtha delivered some unbelievable cross-court shots, Sreeja neither relented from her attacking posture nor went into a shell.

While Sutirtha won the first game, she held two game points in each of the next three games only to lose them. Sreeja’s boldness and passive play helped her to eventually record a title-clinching win. In the men’s title decider, Sathiyan was in his zone, exemplifying it with a fast-paced strategy against Harmeet.

The former’s superiority was visible as he stroked his way with thundering forehands. Except for the first game that became too close for his comfort, Sathiyan dominated the show and inched his way up with wins in every game.