Ankur, Yashaswini come up trumps with contrasting wins

Ankur Bhattacharjee and Yashaswini Ghorpade emerged as the men’s and women’s singles champions as India capped a dominant campaign by winning four of the five gold medals at the 22nd Commonwealth Table Tennis Championships at the Thyagaraj Sports Complex here on Sunday.

The men’s final, featuring two of the brightest prospects in Indian table tennis, lived up to the expectations. In a pulsating 70-minute contest, Ankur staged a stirring comeback to overcome Payas Jain, making a strong statement after narrowly missing out on a place in India’s Asian Games squad.

Yashaswini, meanwhile, added a major title to her growing resume by defeating the fancied Sreeja Akula. Both the finalists had been pushed to the limit in the semifinals earlier in the day. Yashaswini had edged teenager Syndrela Das 11-9 in the deciding game, while Sreeja had survived an equally stern examination from Olympian Sutirtha Mukherjee to win by the same margin.

The draining last-four match, however, left little trace on Yashaswini. She quickly settled into the final, repeatedly finding the mark with her forehand topspins to deny Sreeja any rhythm. The victory served as redemption after she and Divyanshi Bhowmick had gone down to Sreeja and Syndrela in the women’s doubles summit clash earlier on Sunday.

Yashaswini added a major title to her growing resume.
| Photo Credit:
Shashi Shekhar Kashyap

While the women’s title battle was largely one-sided, the men’s final ebbed and flowed throughout. Payas’ powerful forehand topspins initially outweighed Ankur’s trademark backhand winners as the Delhi paddler moved within a game of the crown at 3-2.

But Ankur showed remarkable improvement while receiving, reeling off nine consecutive points in the sixth game to force a decider.

The seventh game brought another twist. A yellow card for protesting Payas’ service appeared to disrupt Ankur’s concentration as he slipped 4-7 behind. But the Kolkata youngster used his timeout to regroup, returned with renewed purpose and completed a memorable comeback to earn the biggest title of his career.

The results (Indians unless specified):

Men: Singles: Final: Ankur Bhattacharjee bt Payas Jain 11-8, 9-11, 7-11, 11-8, 4-11, 11-4, 11-9; Semifinals: Payas bt Manush Shah 11-9, 11-7, 5-11, 12-10, 11-9; Ankur bt Manav Thakkar 8-11, 11-8, 11-8, 11-8, 11-8. Doubles: Final: Shen Qi Wong & Javen Choong (Mas) bt Manav & Manush 11-9, 12-10, 11-7.

Women: Singles: Final: Yashaswini Ghorpade bt Sreeja Akula 11-6, 11-1, 8-11, 11-7, 13-11; Semifinals: Sreeja bt Syndrela Das 10-12, 11-7, 11-8, 12-10, 9-11, 9-11, 11-9; Yashaswini bt Sutirtha Mukherjee 6-11, 11-5, 7-11, 11-9, 5-11, 11-4, 11-9. Doubles: Final: Sreeja & Syndrela bt Yashaswini & Divyanshi Bhowmick 11-8, 11-13, 11-8, 11-6.

Mixed doubles: Final: Taneesha Kotecha & Manav bt Ai Xin Tee & Richard Rui Zhe Yap (Mas) 11-8, 10-12, 10-12, 11-9, 11-5.