Gujarat Men, West Bengal Women Clinch TT Gold

SURAT: Favourites Gujarat men's table tennis team gave their fans much to cheer about as they clinched gold without dropping a single set in the final against Delhi while West Bengal beat Maharashtra in the women's final of the 36th National Games here on Wednesday. These were the first Gold medal matches in the National Games being held after seven years.

Maharashtra and West Bengal took the men's bronze medals after their semifinal losses while Tamil Nadu and Telangana claimed the women's bronze medals.

Gujarat, the top seed in the men's tournament, was in roaring form since the start of the competition and the only question was if Delhi could at least put up a fight. The home team's domination was so absolute that they did not drop a single rubber through the competition as they surged to open's Gujarat's account on the medal's table.

Going in to the final, the only change they made was that Manav Thakkar took captain Harmeet Desai's place in the first singles match. Thakkar dominated Sudhanshu Grover in the opening set. Though the Delhi paddler put up a fight in the next two sets, he could find a way past the former junior World No. 1 and went down in straight sets 11-3, 13-11, 14-12.

Delhi would have hoped that Payas Jain could repeat his semi-final heroics but Harmeet Desai proved too strong for him. The Delhi lad managed to save four match points and threatened to make a comeback but the Gujarat skipper was in no mood to relent and clinched the first two extended points to give his team a 2-0 lead.

Manush Shah then defeated Yashansh Malik to wrap up the final and help the silver medallists from the last edition to rise higher on the podium on home turf.

Earlier, in the women's final, the experience of Mouma Das and Sutirtha Mukherjee helped West Bengal get the better of Maharashtra's young guns 3-1. IANS

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