Thaindian News

New Delhi, Feb 7 (IANS) India’s top paddler Sharath Kamal avenged his loss to Anthony Amalraj at the National Table Tennis Championships last month by beating him in the final of the PSPB Inter-Unit Championship at the Thyagaraj Stadium here Tuesday.

Six-time national champion Sharath got the better of Amalraj 11-8, 11-9, 7-11, 5-11, 13-11, 11-5 in an intense battle.

Amalraj had upset Sharath in the Lucknow event for his maiden national title and later celebrated the finest win of his career by jumping on the table and forgetting to shake hands with his opponent and the umpires. Amalraj’s unsporting act forced the umpires to red card him.

ONGC’s Amalraj was the receiving end Tuesday as Sharath, playing for Indian Oil Corporation, showed that he was still the country’s best player.

Sharath looked a bit tentative, hitting winners as frequently as he was committing unforced errors. That allowed Amalraj to come back into the match as he reaped the benefits of keeping the ball in play, levelling the match at two games apiece.

The momentum seemed to be with Amalraj in the fifth game where he fought back to make it 8-8 from a 3-5 deficit. But Sharath, the 2010 Commonwealth Games doubles gold medallist, played a blinder of a point for 13-11, giving him the much need confidence going into the next game which he won comfortably.

Indian Oil’s Manika Batra defeated Mouma Das of Oil India 9-11, 11-9, 6-11, 11-6, 12-10, 11-8 for the women’s crown.