Soumyadeep Roy, Poulami Ghatak reign

Rajasthan's Soumyadeep Roy came up with a scintillating display to shock top seed Chetan Baboor of Petroleum Sports Control Board and win the men's singles title in the 62nd Senior National and Inter-State table tennis championships on Thursday.

Roy won the final 21-19, 19-21, 21-19, 12-21, 21-19 to claim the Maharaja Pithapuram Cup.

In the women's singles final played earlier, PSCB's Poulami Ghatak came from behind to beat compatriot M S Mythili 19-21, 20-22, 21-15, 21-12, 21-18.

The second seeded Roy, for whom it was his maiden national title, faced an aggressive Baboor from the beginning though he took the first game at 21-19 after a stiff fight.

Baboor, the four-time national champion who was top seeded, then snatched the second at 19-21 before a ding-dong battle ensued in the third, with Roy leading 18-13 at one point.

Baboor fought back to level the scores at 19-all. However, Roy kept his cool at the crucial points to take the game.

Playing aggressively, Baboor routed Roy in the fourth at 21-12 to level the match scores at two games apiece.

The decider was a thrilling affair and the scores ran neck and neck. Baboor led 12-11, but Roy suddenly unleashed a flurry of strokes to clinch the set at 21-19 and claim the title.

For Roy, it was a memorable championship, as earlier in the day he partnered Subhajit Saha (Sr) of PSCB to lift the men's doubles title at the expense of Tamil Nadu's R.Rajesh and A. Sharath Kamal 21-18, 21-18.

''It is a very nice victory. I admire Baboor a lot and we have played together many times,'' Roy said, adding everyone has a dream to reach the top.

In the men's singles semi-finals on Thursday morning, Baboor easily defeated compatriot Subhajit Saha 21-11, 21-17, 21-14 while Roy downed defending champion S Raman of PSCB 21-18, 14-21, 23-21, 21-6.

In the women's semi-finals, Mythili beat top seed N.R.Indu of PSCB 21-19, 21-15, 6-21, 21-16 while Ghatak beat Bengal's Kasturi Chakraborty 21-12, 21-12, 21-15.

Chakraborty had caused the biggest upset of the tournament on Wednesday by ousting defending champion and second seed Mouma Das of PSCB in the quarter-finals.

In the doubles semi-finals, the champions had beaten K S Chakraborty and M Bhargav (TN) 21-13, 21-18 while Rajesh and Sarath Kamal made it to the final by downing Rajeev Ghai and Gamohan Bisht (Del) 14-21, 21-16, 21-17.

The PSCB combine of N R Indu and M S Mythili won the Khurana Challenge Cup, prevailing over compatriots Mouma Das and Poulami Ghatak 21-16, 21-11 in the women's doubles final.

In the semi-finals, Indu and Mythili had beaten Anindita Chakraborty (Rlys) and Montu Ghosh (PSCB) 21-17, 23-25, 21-12 while Das and Ghatak ousted Kanchan Basak and Minu Dhawan (Pun) 21-13, 21-18.

The Railways finally had something to cheer about in a tournament virtually dominated by PSCB when its mixed doubles duo of Ranabir Das and Anindita Chakraborty defeated Subham Choudhury and Mallika Parekh (also of the Rlys) 23-21, 21-19 in the final.

In the semi-finals, Das and Chakraborty had defeated Swapnil Namjoshi and Rajuta Rege (Mah) 21-11, 21-10 while Choudhury and Parekh had ousted Soumyadeep Roy and Mouma Das (PSCB) 15-21, 21-17, 21-12.

They were presented the Susan Barna Cup.