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Senior Indian men's paddler Harmeet Desai and youngster Archana Kamath continued their tremendous show on the domestic circuit after clinching the UTT National Ranking Table Tennis Championships at the Tau Devi Lal Indoor Stadium in Panchkula on Thursday.
The achievement came for both PSPB players just more than a fortnight after they lifted the third UTT National Ranking Table Tennis Championships in men's and women's events, respectively, in Vadodara.
Harmeet Desai got the better of statemate Manush Shah 4-0 (13-11, 11-7, 11-9 & 11-6). Although Harmeet was leading the first game at 10-5, valiant efforts from Manush forced the game to decide on deuce and advantage by saving five game points.
But the senior Indian player took the game home before comfortably pocketing the next three to add another feather to his crown in more than a decade of playing domestic table tennis.
Bengaluru-born Archana Kamath, meanwhile, stunned Asian Games medalist Ayhika Mukherjee in a splendid show with a 4-1 (11-8, 11-6, 11-8, 7-11 & 11-8) scoreline. It was a repeat of the final in Vadodara, with Archana emerging victorious on both occasions.
Elsewhere, Maharashtrian players Jash Modi and Pritha Vartikar won the titles in the U19 boys and U19 girls categories, respectively. Prtiha stood tall against emerging sensational player Suhana Saini to finish top of the podium with 11-8, 11-13, 12-10, 6-11, 11-9 & 11-5.
Meanwhile, sixth-seed Jash was in a commanding position at 3-2 after going down in the first two games against West Bengal's Ankur Bhattacharjee. As he led 5-0 in the fourth game, Ankur conceded the match.
Harmeet Desai, Archana Kamath to ride high on confidence moving into Senior Nationals
Harmeet Desai will set his eyes on a second national title in the upcoming 85th Senior National & Inter-State Table Tennis Championships-2023, starting just two days later on Saturday at the same venue in Panchkula.
The Surat-born player won his first national championship in January 2020 in a seven-set thrilling encounter against his city mate Manav Thakkar 4-3. Harmeet became the first player from Gujarat to lay hands on the prestigious national trophy in either male or female category.
At the age of 18, Archana Kamath won her first senior national title in 2018 in Cuttack, including a semi-final upset against rising player Manika Batra. She will also ooze confidence when she steps into the court for a second national title against top and emerging players of the country.
