Indian paddlers reign supreme in SAF table tennis meet

Jaipur: A leaking roof at the Sawai Man Singh Indoor Stadium could not halt India`s medal charge as the defending champions won all the categories at the SAF Table Tennis championships, here today. After wrapping up the team titles in junior boys and girls and cadet girls and boys, which helped them qualify for the Asian Junior meet, to start here from tomorrow, Indian paddlers also clinched the singles and doubles titles to make it a clean sweep. G Sathiyan won the junior boys title and Pooja Sahasrabudhe emerged best in junior girls. Both Sathiyan and Pooja made it a double, winning the junior boys and girls doubles titles with respective partners. Sathiyan overcame a spirited Soumyajit Ghosh 4-1 (15-13, 11-7, 11-8, 9-11, 11-8) in junior boys singles. The match was held up for 15 minutes with rain water seeping through the cracks on the roof. "I had to wait for one and a half hour because of power failure. But that happens in other counties as well. However, interruption due to rain is a first for me," Sathiyan said. In junior girls, Pooja overcame Ankita Das 4-3 (11-8, 8-11, 8-11, 11-4, 11-2, 9-11, 11-9). This match too was held up due to a leaking roof. Abhishek Yadav lifted the cadet boys title while Mallika Bhandarkar emerged best in cadet girls. In doubles, Sathiyan and Soumyajit defeated Pakistan`s Salman Virk and Ayub Sheikh Waqas 3-1 and in junior girls, Ankita and Pooja beat the Sri Lankan pair of W Mudiyan and Gonapinuwala Vithanage 3-0. Earlier, India finished on top in all four categories in team championships and booked their place in the Asian Junior meet. Winning the team events also gave the Indians automatic entry in singles competition of the Asian meet. Up against Sri Lanka in all their final group league fixtures, the junior boys and girls won 3-0 while the cadet boys triumphed 3-1. The cadet girls match witnessed a tough contest before India prevailed 3-2 over the Lankans. Sri Lanka shot into the lead when Gonapinuwala Vithanage beat Rishya Tennison Reeth 11-8, 12-14, 13-11, 11-8. Mallika levelled the score defeating Waruswithana Erandi Dilushika 12-10, 11-7, 11-6. Gonapinuwala and Waruswithana then took the doubles match with a 5-11, 11-9, 11-4, 7-11, 11-8 victory over India`s Mallika and Camelia Sil. However, Mallika and Rishya both won their reverse singles to script a 3-2 victory over Sri Lanka. Mallika hammered Gonapinuwala 11-7, 11-6, 11-4 while Rishya defeated Waruswithana 12-10, 12-10, 12-14, 11-9. The top two in each section qualifies for the Asian Junior championships. India qualified in all four sections. Pakistan qualified in junior boys while Sri Lanka made the cut in junior and cadet girls and cadet boys. Bureau Report