Samartha, Haque brothers bag 5 of 10 titles

Haque brothers of Cuttack and local girl Samartha Prusty walked away with five of the 10 titles on offer in the KDTTA All-Orissa Ranking Table Tennis Tournament, which concluded at Unit-1 Indoor Hall in Bhubaneswar today. Asif, the youngest of the three siblings won two titles in junior and youth boys’ singles, while school girl Samartha emerged champion in junior girls’ and women’s singles. Asif’s eldest brother and top seed Tousif Haque overcame fever and an experienced opponent to take home the men’s singles crown, the third for their family. In the exciting men’s singles final, D Debadutta Mohanty of AG Orissa squandered a three-game lead to lose the match 3-4. The remaining five titles of the 10-event tournament were pocketed by Suvendu Dutta (cadet boys), Taniya Gope (cadet girls), Bikash Singh (sub-junior boys), Anjali Agarwal (sub-junior girls), S Parida and S Lala (junior boys doubles). State Sports Director, Prashant Kumar Pradhan and Orissa State Table Tennis Association (OSTTA) president Debi Prasad Bagchi gave away the trophies and cash prizes at the closing ceremony. Indian Oil Corporation General Manager V Ramgopal, OSTTA secretary Rabindra Kumar Parida, host Khurda District Table Tennis Association (KDTTA) president Lokanath Samal and secretary Smruti Ranjan Das were among other guests and officials present on the occasion. Results (all finals): Men’s singles: Tousif Haque beat D Debadutta Mohanty 4-3 (6-11, 8-11, 5-11, 11-8, 11-5, 11-8, 12-10). Women’s singles: Samartha Prusty beat Ankita Kha (Khurda) 4-1 (11-1, 11-9, 9-11, 11-4, 11-5). Youth boys sinlges: Asif Haque beat Mohammad Azhar (Cuttack) 4-0 (12-10, 11-9, 12-10, 11-7). Junior boys singles: Asif Haque beat Sashwat Samal (Khurda) 4-0 (11-4, 11-6, 11-7, 11-8). Junior boys doubles: Sunil Parida-Samarendra Lala (Cuttack) beat A Haque-S Samal 3-0 (11-7, 11-8, 14-12). Junior girls singles: Samartha Prusty beat Ankita Kha 4-1 (11-7, 9-11, 11-7, 11-3, 11-7). Sub-junior boys singles: Bikash Singh (RSP) beat Dishant Parida (Cuttack) 4-1 (13-11, 11-5, 6-11, 11-8, 11-8). Sub-junior girls singles: Anjali Agarwal (Bhubaneswar) champion and Upasana Das (Bhubaneswar) runner-up after round-robin league. Cadet boys singles: Suvendu Dutta (Nalco) champion and Amrit Chakraborty (Bhubaneswar) runner-up after round-robin league. Cadet girls singles: Taniya Gope (Nalco) beat Anjali Agarwal 3-1 (6-11, 11-9, 11-6, 15-13). PHOTO: TOP: Title winners of the KDTTA All-Orissa Ranking Table Tennis Tournament in Bhubaneswar on Oct 4, 2009. BOTTOM: Title winners (L to R) Asif Haque, Samartha Prusty and Tousif Haque at the KDTTA All-Orissa Ranking Table Tennis Tournament in Bhubaneswar on Oct 4, 2009.