CHANDIGARH, JULY 29 :It will be an all-West Bengal affair in the men’s singles final of the All-India AI and AD Inter-Zonal Table Tennis Tournament being conducted by Accountant General Haryana at the Sector 23 Table Tennis Hall here. Sourav Sengupta will challenge Samit Biswas, both of Accountant General West Bengal for the prestigious title tomorrow at 3 p.m.
Top seed Sourav Sengupta ousted GR Dodhi of AG Gujarat by 4-1 (11-8, 11-5, 11-9, 6-11, 13-11) while Samit struggled to overcome a stiff resistance from second seed Basab Chaudhary of AG Nagpal by 4-3. Samit won the first game at 11-9. However, Basab won the next three games at 11-9, 11-7, 12-10 to gain a 3-1 lead. Samit Biswas then staged a grand rally to win three next games in a row at 11-6, 11-7, 11-7 to pull off a mild upset.
Top seed Gurvinder Kaur of AG Punjab and Barnali Royof AG West Bengal qualified for the women’s singles title. North Zone winner Gurvinder ended the challenge of Anita Modi of AG Rajasthan by 11-6, 11-6, 11-8, 11-7 in the semi-final match. In the second semi-final Barnali Roy of AG West Bengal upset second seed Leena Khare of AG Uttar Pradesh by 11-13, 11-9, 11-9, 11-7, 17-15.
There is a good news for hosts AG Haryana as the oldest Audit player, +59 years old Patanjali Kumar, the top seed, took his appointed place in the men’s veteran singles final. The star AG Haryana player defeated Asok Manjrekar of AG Madhya Pradesh by 11-8, 11-5, 11-4 in the semi-final encounter. His opponent in the final will be K Jairam of AG Andhra Pradesh who beat Somnath Parmanik of AG Himachal Pradesh 11-5, 11-2, 11-4 in the second semi-final.
Results: Men’s singles (semi-finals): Sourav Sengupta (AG West Bengal) bt GR Dodhi (AG Gujarat) 11-8, 11-5, 11-0, 6-11, 13-11. Samit Biswas (AG WB) bt Basab Chaudhary (AG Nagpur) 11-9, 9-11, 7-11, 10-12, 11-6, 11-7, 11-7.
Q-finals: GR Doshi (AG Guj) bt Amit Srivastav (AG UP) 11-9, 11-7, 7-11, 11-8, 12-10, Samit Niswas (AG WB) bt Sikander Jam (AG Gujarat) 10-12, 11-5, 12-14, 11-6, 11-9, 11-8, Basab Chaudhary (AG Nagpur) bt Santanu Banerje (AG WB) 6-11, 6-11, 11-7, 8-11, 12-10, 11-7, Sourav Sengupta (AG WB) bt Prasant Bhambri (Delhi Audit) 11-6, 11-9, 9-11, 11-4, 11-3.
5th and 6th positions: Santanu Banerjee (AG WB) bt Sikander Jam (AG Guj) 11-4, 10-12, 11-8, 11-9.
Women’s singles (semi-finals): Gurinder Kaur (AG Punjab) bt Anita Modi (AG Raj) 11-6, 11-6, 11-8, 11-7. Barnali Roy (AG WB) bt Leena Khare (AG UP) 11-13, 11-9, 11-9, 11-7, 17-15.
Q-finals: Anita Modi (AG Raj) bt bt Lathika Poojalingam (AG Kar) 11-9, 8-11, 11-9, 11-3, 11-8. Barnali Roy (AG WB) bt Jyoti Singh (AG MP) 11-6, 11-7, 11-1, 11-7.
Men’s veterans singles (semi-finals): Patanjali Kumar (AG Haryana) bt Asok Manjrekar (AG MP) 11-8, 11-5, 11-4, K Jairam (AG AP) bt Somnath Parmanik (AG HP) 11-5, 11-2, 11-4.
Q-finals: Asok Manjrekar (AG MP) Ramakrishna (AG Kar) 11-5, 11-5, 11-6, K Jairam (AG AP) bt Vinod Prakash Pandey (Gorakhpur) 11-9, 11-1, 11-3, Somnath Parmanik (AG HP) bt Debashish Mukerjee (AG Chattisgarh) 11-6, 13-11, 11-3.