Table tennis: Karia-Kumar clinch doubles, Saurav-Mouma win mixed doubles

KOLKATA - Rajasthan’s Devesh Kariya and Zubin Kumar claimed the men’s doubles title while Saurav Chakraborty and Mouma Das of Petroleum Sports Promotion Board bqgged the mixed doubles honours at the 72nd senior national and interstate table tennis championships here Saturday.

In the doubles final, Kumar and Kariya accounted for West Bengal’s Souvik Kar and Saurav Saha in a four-setter at the Netaji indoor Stadium. The Rajashtan pair won 11-8, 8-11, 11-5, 11-7.

The mixed double title round saw the PSPB combination getting the better of Aman Balgu and Mamta Prabhu of Maharashtra A in three straight games 11-8, 11-6, 11-8.

In women’s singles, PSPB’s Nandita Saha stunned teammate Mouma Das after a thrilling seven setter to march into the semi final.

Down 2-3 after the fifth game, Saha raised her display to bag two back-to-back games and coast to victory 3-11, 11-3, 12-10, 9-11,11-8,10-12,11-6. Mamta Prabhu of Maharashtra A, Madhurika Patkar and K.Shamini of PSPB also made it to the last four.

In men’s section, defending champion A.Sharath Kamal of PSPB crushed Anirban Nandi of West Bengal 4-0 (11-5, 11-3, 13-11, 11-9), while R.Abishek of Tamil Nadu prevailed over Sourav Chakraborty of PSPB 4-2 (5-11,12-14,11-6,11-5,11-8,11-9) onway to the semifinal.

Soumyajit Ghosh of North Bengal stormed past Gujarat’s Pathik Mehta 11-4, 11-5, 11-7, 11-7), while Soumyadeep Roy of PSPB beat Sanil Shetty of Maharashtra A 9-11,12-10, 11-5, 12-10, 5-11, 15-13 to reach the pre-summit round.