Visakhapatnam: The golden jubilee edition of the Institutional Championships, conducted by the Airports Authority of India, had a few firsts. First, the RBI women entered their final after sending defending champions PSPB packing in the semifinals. In a second surprise, the AAI's men shocked runners-up RSPB to enter their maiden final, and, finally, four different institutions booked their berths in the Inter-state National championships later this season.
However, the RBI girls failed to repeat the performance in the final as RSPB, reserving their best for the trophy match, proved a notch better, notwithstanding the resistance from Diya Chitale, to win 3-0.
But missing a golden opportunity will hurt RBI as much as the PSPB women, whose early exit meant settling for a lesser medal. However, the PSPB men thrashed first-timer AAI 3-1 in the team championship final, lifting the trophy for the 19th time.
Snehit made a brilliant opening against A. Sharath Kamal to lead 2-0. But the CWG multiple medallist fought back to win a game. However, Snehit, showing his skills against the veteran, did well to keep the ball on the table and eventually provide the lead for his team. But Jeet Chandra could have put more pressure on Sathiyan and go 2-1 up when he held four game points for a 2-1 lead. He, however, allowed Sathiyan win 17-15 on his eighth game point, and Sathiyan did not look back. Harmeet struggled against Deepit Patil, but the senior pro held grimly to win and put the PSPB 2-1 ahead. Then Sathiyan beat Snehit 3-0 to wrap it up.
Riding on the form of Sreeja Akula, Ayhika Mukherjee and Diya Chitale, RBI collected the gold medals, leaving the Railways to lick their wounds with the silver medals.
But the semifinals, more than the finals, brought cheers from the crowd, and most of it reserved for Diya Chitale. The teenager's fearless attacking game and counters subdued World No. 36 as Manika Batra's failed in the crucial fifth rubber.
This match changed the script of Archana Kamath, who returned to form on the big day to win her singles, first against Diya and then against Ayhika Mukherjee, who uses the same brand of pimpled rubber as Manika. Archana and Diya, more or less, play the same type of game and use good variations in service. But Ayhika is tough to handle, and Archana managed admirably, putting her RBI rival in spots of bother.
After Archana levelled 2-2, the fifth rubber would send one team in and the other out. Diya had nothing to lose. The onus was on Manika, but she failed to answer Diya's posers.
The RBI ploy worked in the end, as they put Sreeja as their third player, burdening young Diya and experienced Ayhika. Diya passed the acid test with flying colours. Sreeja took on Mouma Das to give the 2-1 lead before Archana neutralised it with a win over Ayhika.
AAI men conceded just four games in their semifinal against Railways, and the latter could not counter the onslaught unleashed by Jeet Chandra, SFR Snehit and Deepit Patil. With young recruits on both sides, AAI boys showed better skills and won crucial games, like the one in the second rubber. After Jeet Chandra provided the lead, their main player Snehit found himself in a hole when Anirban Ghosh restored parity. But the tall and lanky Snehit showed his true worth in the decisive fifth game to put the team 2-0 ahead. Deepit completed the job despite dropping a game to Akash Pal.
Sharath Kamal returned to the arena and played his first match against Vighney P. Reddy of RBI. He dropped a game but provided a 2-0 lead to PSPB after Manav Thakkar accounted for Raj Mondal in straight games. World No. 62 Harmeet Desai provided the finishing touches for PSPB.
