PANAJI
A. Shrath Kamal yet again proved the adage that old is gold, when the 36-year-old beat top-seeded Anthony Amalraj 4-1 to win the men singles title for the eighth time, equalling the feat of Kamlesh Mehta in the 79th edition of the 11Even Sports Senior Nationals at the Mega Sports Complex in Ranchi.
The win was worth Rs. 2 lakhs, but what Sharath would have cherished more on the evening was the warm hug that he received from the man, who held the record for so many years watching him perform from close quarters. As the last point was won, Kamlesh stood and applauded the modern icon’s efforts and without wasting time crossed the surrounds to applaud the Chennai man as photographers captured the rare moment.
“It’s a proud moment for me personally, Sharath deserves all the accolades,” said the former eight-time national champion. But Sharah was equally humble when he said: “What he (Kamlesh) did was more praiseworthy because I am two levels above the current lot of players. But Kamlesh had to fight with players of same caliber to accomplish the honour.”
Coo-l Suthirta
Suthirta Mukehrjee from West Bengal emerged the new womens champion, beating Hyderabad Nationals winner Manika Batra 4-3. Her maiden effort fetched Rs. 1.5 lakh and Manika received 50 percent less in prize money.
In what was essentially a back-handers’ final, Suthirta cashed in on Manika’s numerous mistakes, particularly when she missed the match point at 10-9. Earlier, she was woefully down 1-4 but the timeout at that time revived her confidence before change over for a 4-5 score. From there she went 8-6 up and then at 8-9 she levelled scores to give her a glimmer of hope. But at 10-9 she wasted the opportunity and Suthirtha, keeping a cool head, won 12-10.
In earlier games, the block-push-and prod games of the finalists did help the one that did fewer mistakes as there were several negatives to be offered to the opponents. But with great struggle Manika made it 3-3 to take the issue to the decider and deny Manika her second title.
If Suthirta Mukherjee defeated Ayhika Mukherjee with ease in the women singles first semi-final, it was a big struggle for Manika Batra with strong response coming from qualifier Mallika Bhandarkar pushing her to the wall.
In an all-Haryana men doubles, the left-right combination of Jubin Kumar and Soumyajit Ghosh decimated rivals Mohit Verma and Sourav Sha 3-0.
In the tough women doubles final, Krittwika Sinha Roy and Mousumi Paul defeated the PSPB combine of Mouma Das and Archana Kamath 3-2.
RBI’s Raj Mondal and Akula Sreeja beat North Bengal’s Akaash Nath and Ankita Das to claim the mixed doubles gold.
