Mousumi, Krittwika do it for West Bengal
January 7, 2019
Mousumi Paul and Krittwika Sinha Roy failed to make the cut for the Petroleum Sports Promotion Board (PSPB) squad, but the duo helped West Bengal regain the women’s team championship after two years by stunning favourites PSPB on the third day of the 11Sports 80th inter-State and National table tennis championship on Sunday.
Thanks to both the Bengal girls outwitting Manika Batra, West Bengal surprised PSPB in a thrilling women’s final at the JN Indoor Stadium. As much as it suffered due to Manika’s twin losses, PSPB paid dearly by fielding veteran Mouma Das ahead of the in-form youngster Archana Kamath. West Bengal capitalised on this as Ayhika Mukherjee defeated Mouma to go ahead 2-1.
Mousumi began proceedings in a final delayed by a closing ceremony midway through the tournament! Her powerful backhand winners left Manika stunned. Mousumi, however, failed to convert match-points in the third game, letting Manika battle back into the game. However, the spirited Mousumi saved a match-point in the decider to give West Bengal the lead.
The seasoned Madhurika then brought parity with an effortless win over Sinha Roy, but Ayhika hammered Mouma to put West Bengal in front again.
Krittwika bounced back from her defeat to Madhurika to overcome Manika, who hurt her back in the later stages of the match, in five games and burst into tears of joy.
The results:
Women: Final: West Bengal bt PSPB 3-1 (Mousumi Paul bt Manika Batra 11-8, 11-5, 13-15, 6-11, 12-10; Krittwika Sinha Roy lost to Madhurika Patkar 8-11, 3-11, 13-11, 8-11; Ayhika Mukherjee bt Mouma Das 11-9, 14-12, 11-6; Krittwika Sinha Roy bt Manika Batra 11-7, 5-11, 10-12, 12-10, 11-8).
Semifinals: PSPB bt Maharashtra B 3-0; West Bengal bt Airports Authority of India 3-0.
Men: Semifinals: PSPB bt Delhi 3-0; Gujarat bt Uttar Pradesh 3-1.
