Kalyani, Pankaj win TT titles

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, September 3

Kalyani and Pankaj Sidana bag titles of women and men category, respectively, on the concluding day of Chandigarh State Ranking Table Tennis Tournament, held at Sector 23 table tennis hall, here today. In the final match of the women's category, Kalyani of Panjab University beat Naina Suri from ESIC after facing a tough competition. In a see-saw battle, Kalyani won the first game 11-9 but Naina levelled the score to 1-1 by winning the next game 8-11. Kalyani was again in lead with 11-7 win victory in the third game. However, she failed to repeat the performance in next games which forced her to trail by 2-3. Naina won fourth and fifth game 8-11 9-11 in a row. Facing acute pressure, Kalyani held her nerves and made good use of the table to collect points with the help of excellent placements. She won the sixth game 11-7 to level the scores to 3-3. In the final game, Kalyani was feeling confident and displayed it on her performance. She won the set with ease 11-6 to win the title.

In the semifinals, Kalyani beat Shally of BSNL 11-9 8-11 11-9 11-7 11-7 and Naina beat Deevanshi of St. Kabir School, Sector 26, 11-9 11-7 9-11 11-8 11-7

Pankaj Sidana of SD College, Sector 32, registered a similar victory over Shaurya Gupta of DAV Public School, Sector 8, before taking home the title. Sidana started with an 11-9 win in the first game. But Gupta retailed with 8-11 win in the next game to level the scores.  Sidana then collected the scattered pieces and performed well to take 3-1 lead by wining next two games 11-7 11-8. But Gupta's never give up attitude placed him to again level the scores at 3-3. He stunned Sidana by winning next two games 8-11 7-11. But it was Sidana who had the final laugh in the next game. Sidana played sensibly and claimed the title with winning the final set 11-6. 

In semis, Sidana beat Divaksh of the same college 11-8 11-7 8-11 11-9 8-11 7-11 11-9 while Gupta overpowered Rishabh 8-11 11-9 11-7 8-11 11-6 11-7.