Sriram steals the show

“He was too good for me. He would draw me forward on the forehand and then play the ball back on the backhand,” is what Ramaswamy, who is ranked seventh in the country, had to say of his opponent.

While Sriram dominated the final, it was only in the second game that he faced some resistance while trailing Ramaswamy. But that was quickly wiped out and he went on to win the match comfortably.

The womens’ title went to top seed Chaitali Hate, who beat seventh seed Sharmila Kelkar 21-15 22-20 21-19 in a disappointing final.

The junior finals provided semblence of excitement as Swapnil Namjoshi and Shalmali Mhatre won after dropping a game each.

Namjoshi, the gangling fourth seed, overcame a spirited resistance from third seed Santosh Wakhardkar before winning 21-17 27-25 14-21 21-17, while Shalmali conceded the first game against unseeded Janhavi Deshpande before winning 17-21 21-19 21-12 21-14.

Chaitali’s superior all-round game was too good for Sharmila, who conceeded far too many errors in the first game. She cut down the mistakes and played a percentage game but still did not have the arsenal to upset the top-seed.In the girls final, Janhavi after winning the first game through brilliant counter attacks, was drawn into errors by Shalmali’s stroke variations.

In the boys final, Namjoshi’s superior reach and attacking instincts helped him win the first two games in a jiffy.

But his opponent, Wakhardkar employed the jab to counter Namjoshi’s attacks and won the third. In the fourth game, Namjoshi was back to his attacking self to win the title.

RESULTS

Men’s singles (final): S Sriram (MSD) bt S Ramaswamy (MSD) 21-12, 21-19, 21-18. Semis: Sriram bt BS Thakur (Pune) 21-17, 19-21, 21-14, 21-19; Ramaswamy bt Nachiket Chawathe (MSD) 21-12, 21-15, 6-21, 21-8.

Junior boys singles (final): Swapnil Namjoshi (Thane) bt Santosh Wakhardkar (Nanded) 21-17, 27-25, 14-21, 21-16 Women’s Singles (final): Chaitali Hate (Thane) bt Sharmil Kelkar (Thane) 21-15, 22-20, 21-19.

Junior Girls (final): Shalmali Mhatre (MSD) bt Jhanvi Deshpande (MSD) 17-21, 21-19, 21-12, 21-14.

Ashwini extends Manasi

Second seed Manasi Bhagwat and top seed Madhurika Patkar will sweat it out in the finals of the (Cadet Girls) Bombay YMCA Maharashtra State Ranking Table Tennis Tournament being played at the Sachivalaya Gymkhana.

In the semi-finals today, Madhurika outplayed third seed Ruhi Chawla 21-18 22-20 21-18 while Manasi was stretched to four games by fourth seed Ashwini Mokashi The final scores read 21-11 19-21 21-19 21-18 in favour of Manasi.Madhurika had earlier defeated Shweta Joshi 20-22 21-18 21-13 while Ashwini Mokashi beat Neeraja Kukdey 21-10 21-13 in the quarter-finals.

Ruhi Chawla had scored an emphatic 21-12 21-15 win over Gauri Karve to enter the semis.