Sathiyan wins West Zone table tennis title

West Bengal’s Suthirtha Mukherjee went on to bag her second women’s singles title from zonal events when she defeated PSPB’s Mousumi Paul 4-2. But overall, this was her season’s third, including the Institutional crown she had won in July at Jaipur. 

Unexpectedly, it was a cakewalk for Tamil Nadu’s Sathiyan against Devesh who was completely rendered helpless against a hot Sathiyan who executed his blistering strikes to unsettle the Gujarat man. In the face of a mounting offensive approach, Devesh wilted very early in the final never to recover. 

In contrast, Sathiyan scored a 4-3 laboured win in the semifinals to oust North Zone finalist and southpaw Sanil Shetty who, after leading 2-1, gave in to the pressure tactics of his PSPB rival which proved to be Sanil’s undoing. In a roller-coaster ride of sorts, Shetty did win the sixth to level 3-3 but was visibly losing steam and it only helped the semifinalist at Chandigarh to step on the gas pedal to a 6-1 lead and finish off in style. 

Men: G. Sathiyan (PSPB) bt Devesh Karia (Guj) 11-5, 11-2, 11-3, 13-11. 

Women: Suthirtha Mukherjee (WB) bt Mousumi Paul (PSPB) 18-20, 11-9, 11-5, 6-11, 11-9, 11-3.