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Gandhidham : Gujarat’s famed paddler Harmeet Desai faltered at the final hurdle and lost to top seed G Sathiyan 0-4 to settle for silver in the men’s final of the 84th Senior National and Inter State Table Tennis Championships 2022 played in Jammu here on Monday.
Representing PSPB, the 30-year-old Harmeet was off the blocks in a hurry in the first game against his fellow PSPB mate and took 8-4 lead. However, his arch-rival and very good friend Sathiyan clawed his way back and took the opening game. From there, the top seed barely gave Harmeet a sniff and finished the match in straight games to win his second senior national title.
Earlier, Surat paddler Manav Thakkar, also representing PSPB, lost his semi-final match to Sathiyan to settle for bronze.
Vadodara’s Manush Shah, representing RBI, lost 3-4 to Harmeet in the semi-final to take the second bronze.
With this, three Gujarat paddlers stood on the podium of the senior national meet.
Meanwhile, Team Gujarat put on a good show in the men’s and women’s doubles categories.
The women’s duo of Frenaz Chipia and Filzah Fatema Kadri made their way into the quarterfinal where to lost to RBI’s Diya Chitale and Sreeja Akula 0-3 while the men’s doubles pairing of Chitrax Bhatt and Soham Bhattacharya lost to RSPB’s Akash Pal and Ravindra Kotiyan in straight games.
Gujarat State Table Tennis Association president Shri Pramod Chaudhary said that it is a matter of immense pride that three out of four top men’s paddlers of this country belong to Gujarat state. “I would like to congratulate our three paddlers for making the state proud with such a stupendous show. I hope we continue to produce more champions like Harmeet, Manav and Manush,” Shri Chaudhary said.
Men’s final: G Sathiyan bt Harmeet Desai (PSPB) 4-0 (11-9, 11-7, 11-8, 11-5)
Men’s Semifinal: Harmeet Desai bt Manush Shah (RBI) 4-3 (11-6, 3-11 , 5-11 ,11-8,11-5,9-11,11-6); G Sathiyan (PSPB) bt Manav Thakkar (PSPB) 4-2 (13-11,11-7,9-11,11-1,9-11,11-5)
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