National Games TT: Harmeet, Sutirtha clinch men's and women's singles titles

Local hero Harmeet thrashed Haryana's Soumyajit Ghosh 4-0, while Sutirtha proved too good for national champion Sreeja Akula, with the Olympian winning 4-1 in the women's final. Sutirtha ended the National Games with three gold medals -- women's singles, doubles and team -- while Harmeet and another Gujarat paddler Manush Shah won two each. Gujarat men had won the team gold, with Harmeet and Manush playing stellar roles in front of the home crowd.

Manush also clinched the mixed doubles title, partnering Krittwika Sinha Roy. West Bengal emerged as the overall champions in table tennis, bagging four gold, one silver and three bronze. Gujarat finished second with three gold and three silver.

Maharashtra was third with one silver and four bronze medals. The final day well and truly belonged to Harmeet and Sutirtha as they vanquished top seeds G Sathiyan and Manika Batra in their respective semifinals before dominating the gold medal matches. Harmeet, who had won the silver medal in Kerala seven years ago, wasn't going to let go of another chance of standing atop the podium and began the match with an aggressive mindset.

He kept Ghosh on the defensive by finding angles from both forehand and backhand shots to win 11-8, 11-4, 11-7, 11-8. Sutirtha was equally clinical in quelling the attacking instinct of 2022 Commonwealth Games mixed doubles champion Sreeja, who had thrashed the likes of Ayhika Mukherjee and Diya Chitale on her way to the final. Sreeja also ended up on the losing side in the mixed doubles final as she and partner FR Snehit were beaten in straight sets by Shah and Krittwika.