NEWS
SCHEDULES
COLUMNS
PREVIOUS TOURS
OTHER SPORTS
STATISTICS
INTERVIEWS
SLIDE SHOW
ARCHIVES

Rediff Shopping

Shop & gift from thousands of products!   Books     Music       Apparel   Jewellery   Flowers   More..      Safe Shopping

Raman, Das reign supreme

Suresh Parekh in Rajkot

Top seeded S Raman of Tamil Nadu and Mauma Das of Bengal clinched the men's and women's singles titles respectively in the National ranking table tennis championships at the Indoor stadium in Rajkot on Monday.

Raman began on a slow note, hardly justifying his ranking in the first game, but he was simply irresistible later on to beat Arup Basak 12-21, 21-7, 21-15, 22-20.

Mauma won even more comfortably, whipping Tamil Nadu's M S Mithilli 21-12, 21-18, 21-14 in the women's final.

Basak exploited Raman's slow approch in the first game and won it comfortably. However, that reverse only served to bring out the best from the top seed in the second. Basak was given no chance as it was over in quick time, with just seven point going to him.

One game each ensured a good fight in the third game. Both players waited for each other to make the errors, but Raman's experience and staying power made the difference as he comitted fewer mistakes. He won the third game at 21-15 and though Basak gave it all in the fourth, keeping abreast 14-14, 17-17 and 19-19 to stay in the match, Raman kept his cool over extra points to emerge a deserving winner.

After the match, Raman said, "I was not happy with my game today. I think I should have finished the match early but the floor here was not to my liking. Anyway, a win is win and that's what counts."

Much was expected in the women's final after Mithilli shocked second seed Paulami Ghatak in the semi-finals. However, it turned out to be a one-sided affair. Mithilli was so spellbound by the sheer power of Das's shots that the match was over in just 29 minutes.

Raman got Rs 20,000 for his victory while Mauma got Rs 15,000.