Table tennis nationals: Sreeja Akula clinches singles, doubles titles; G Sathiyan wins singles gold

Sreeja Akula had a fruitful campaign at the 84th UTT Inter-State Senior National table tennis championships, successfully defending her singles title as well as winning the women’s doubles title with RBI teammate Diya Chitale.

Sathiyan Gnanasekaran won his second men’s singles title after beating Harmeet Desai in straight game as the Gymnasium Hall of the Jammu University.

The women’s singles final was a rather scratchy affair, as both Akula and her opponent Sutirtha Mukherjee played an attacking-style. But while Akula stayed inconsistent, Mukherjee was guilty of not taking advantage.

Eventually it was Akula, who won gold in the mixed doubles event at the Commonwealth Games 2022 with Achanta Sharath Kamal, who came up 9-11, 14-12, 11-7, 13-11, 6-11, 12-10 winner.

Sathiyan, meanwhile, was in his zone in the final, exemplifying it with a fast-paced game against Desai. But the former’s superiority on the day was visible as he stroked his way with thundering forehands. His backhand, too, cooperated with him without brooking any challenges to run cruise to a 11-9, 11-7, 11-8, 11-5.

In men’s doubles, Jeet Chandra and Ankur Bhattacharjee of West Bengal defeated Mohammed Ali and Vansh Singhal of Telangana in straight games to lift the trophy. Akula and Chitale combined well to beat the pair from Maharashtra,...

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