Manush and Diya ecstatic after laying their hands on the trophy they had their eyes on for a decade.
| Photo Credit: Amol Karhadkar
Manush Shah and Diya Chitale joined the elite list of men’s and women’s national champions after outclassing Payas Jain and top seed Sreeja Akula in the singles finals of the 86th senior table tennis championship, which concluded at the Pandit Dindayal Upadhyay Indoor Stadium on Sunday.
Manush, the bespectacled southpaw who hails from Vadodara — not too far from the diamond city, but representing his employer Reserve Bank of India (RBI) instead of his home state Gujarat — continued his clinical run to overcome Payas in five games in the best-of-seven final.
An hour earlier, Mumbai’s Diya, also representing RBI, bounced back after trailing 2-0 against hot favourite Sreeja — India’s top-ranked international paddler — and won a thrilling women’s final that turned out to be the longest match of the final day’s proceedings.
The singles win meant Diya finished the tournament with a double crown, having combined to clinched the doubles crown on Saturday.
Both Manush and Diya took home a kitty of ₹3.20 lakh each. But more than the purse, it was the glittering trophy that the duo was thrilled with. After all, having been crowned sub-junior, junior and youth national champions in their formative years, both the stylish paddlers were ecstatic to have laid their hands on the trophy that they had their eyes on for a decade.
Manush continued from where he had left off during his 4-0 drubbing of the in-form Ankur Bhattacharjee in the semifinal and gave Payas little chance by combining his power and angles to precision. Diya, on the other hand, changed her gameplan midway through the match and started using her backhand topspin more effectively to put Sreeja under pressure.
The results: Men: Final: 3-Manush Shah (RBI) bt 8-Payas Jain (Del) 10-12, 11-6, 11-6, 12-10, 11-8; Semifinals: Payas bt Divyansh Srivastava (UP) 11-9, 11-8, 11-8, 11-7; Manush bt 2-Ankur Bhattacharjee (PSPB) 13-11, 11-4, 11-9, 12-10.
Women: Final: 7-Diya Chitale (RBI) bt 1-Sreeja Akula (RBI) 10-12, 8-11, 13-11, 12-10, 11-8, 9-11, 11-9. Semifinals: Sreeja bt 4-Yashashwini Ghorpade (PSPB) 11-5, 8-11, 11-9, 11-9, 11-9; Diya bt Syndrela Das (Ben) 11-8, 11-8, 11-5, 11-6.
Mixed doubles: Final: Akash Pal & Poymantee Baisya (RSPB) bt Jash Modi & Taneesha Kotecha (Mah) 11-5, 11-6, 11-4. Semifinals: Akash & Poymantee bt Payas Jain (Del) & Suhana Saini (Har) 11-7, 14-12, 7-11, 11-2; Jash & Taneesh bt Abhishek Yadav (BoI) & Aarti Chaudhary (UP) 11-2, 9-11, 13-11, 11-9.
Published – January 27, 2025 10:00 am IST
