Baboor gets fourth time quot;luckyquot;

MUMBAI, NOV 15: Chetan Baboor's late burst of fury helped by a piece of champions luck' staved-off PSCB teammate Arup Basak's stout-hearted...

MUMBAI, NOV 15: Chetan Baboor8217;s late burst of fury helped by a piece of champions luck8217; staved-off PSCB teammate Arup Basak8217;s stout-hearted challenge to lift the Western India Table Tennis men8217;s singles title in five games at the Clariant India Workshop, Thane here today.

The No.1 seed and National champion won 20-22, 21-9, 22-20, 18-21, 21-12 leaving Basak behind in the fifth game after winning a luck-edge point at 13-11 in the decider of the 64-minute encounter.

The day, however, surely belonged to little Mouma Das Bengal who tucked away a double with a show of authority that belied her fourteen years.

Eighth-seeded Mouma Clinched the women8217;s title beating India8217;s Ms Consistent8217; Tamil Nadu8217;s sixth seed Arul Selvi in the women8217;s final in four games after beating Paulomi Ghatak also Bengal in straight games in the girl8217;s final of the championships sponsored by BPCL. LIC and SBI.

Selvi, 12 years Mouma senior, faded out after a sprightly first game and Mouma, slowing down and controlling play won16-21, 21-14, 21-13, 21-15.A 21-18, 21-17, 21-15 scoreline against Paulomi in the girl8217;s final suggested victory without much ado, as second seed Mouma traded pre-tournament billings.

India junior star, Bengal8217;s Subhajeet Saha Sr justified his top billing over PSCB Academy8217;s Saumya Deep Roy, the second seed, winning 23-21, 21-15, 21-18.

The boys sub-junior singles title went to top seed Saurav Chakraborty Bengal who beat second seed Aruivan Ganguly PSCB-Academy 21-14, 26-24, 21-17. Bengal completed a sub-junior double when Sushmita Ray beat Debarti Sarkar 21-12, 21-17, 21-15 in an all-Bengal final.

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BABOOR LUCKY8217;: Baboor described his victory as lucky, especially since the top seed, running temperature and suffering from the effects of fatigue, played an error-prone game.

Baboor, who travels back to Sweden tonight to continue playing professional table tennis, accepted his opponent played better as he showed the signs of nausea and fatigue after the match.

Basak looked motivated todayto break his unlucky spell of three previous All-India finals this season looked good enough to deprive Baboor his fourth title with the score 13-11 in his adversary8217;s favour in the decider.

But instead of 12-13 it turned out to be 11-14 when Baboor gained the point after the ball appeared to strike the side of the table.

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A repertoire of breath-taking shots won the match and title for the Bangalore-based engineer. Baboor who is likely to represent India at the forthcoming Asian Games hopes to be absolutely fit in December after a short stay in Sweden where he is attempting to consolidate on a near victory over legendary paddler Jan Owe Waldner in Thailand recently.

Basak hopes to play the Eastern India, to be held in few weeks, but a skin related problem that may warrant surgery may keep him out.