National Table Tennis Championships 2025: Railways women, PSPB men clinch titles

National Table Tennis Championships 2025: Railways women, PSPB men clinch titles

The Petroleum Sports Promotion Board (PSPB) and the Railway Sports Promotion Board (RSPB) shared honours in the team championship of the 86th Senior National Table Tennis Championship on Wednesday.

While the PSPB men survived their biggest scare from RSPB to extend their unbeaten title streak to 23 editions, the Railways women – inspired by Sutirtha Mukherjee’s stellar performance – reclaimed the title after a five-year gap by edging past the fancied PSPB side. Both finals ended with identical 3-2 scorelines, with all five rubbers delivering enthralling duels.

Sutirtha began the women’s final by defeating an in-form Yashaswini Ghorpade in straight games and capped it off with a tense five-game triumph over her arch-rival T. Reeth Rishya, sparking celebrations in the Railways camp. Railways head coach Anindita Chakraborty took a calculated risk by fielding Kaushani Nath as the third player, and she delivered by defeating Pritha Vartikar in a key rubber.

In the men’s final, PSPB started shakily. With G. Sathiyan waking up with a sore knee, the onus fell on young sensation Ankur Bhattacharjee to rise to the occasion. However, he succumbed to Akash Pal, who exploited Ankur’s forehand corner with precision in a clash of emerging talents.

When local favourite Harmeet Desai was stunned by Anirban Ghosh, Railways sensed its best chance to halt PSPB’s dominance. However, Manav Thakkar – another local favourite – inspired a comeback. Egged on by the presence of stalwart A. Sharath Kamal, who joined the team bench at the last minute, Manav thwarted Jeet Chandra with a dominant display.

Ankur then redeemed himself in a high-intensity match by overcoming Anirban, and Harmeet sealed the title with a commanding victory over Akash in the decider.

The women’s final was briefly interrupted by a 20-minute electricity outage, which delayed the start of the men’s final. The men’s final also saw controversy during the Ankur-Anirban clash. Leading 10-9 in the second game, Ankur raised his hand and verbally communicated during the point. Despite protests from the Railways bench, the umpire awarded the point to Ankur after Anirban missed the table.