Soumyajit Ghosh won both the singles and doubles gold in the Seamaster 2017 ITTF (International Table Tennis Federation) Chile Open.
Ghosh defeated Indian tennis star, Anthony Amalraj, 4-2 (8-11 13-11 11-6 11-9 4-11 11-7) in the men’s singles final to clinch the title. Also, he combined with Anthony Amalraj to win the doubles title.
Amalraj became the fourth Indian to reach a final of such a competition, and Soumyajit Ghosh became the third Indian to win a men’s singles title at an ITTF Challenge Series.
Previously, Sharath Kamal had won the ITTF Egypt Open tour in 2010, while at the 2016 ITTF World Tour Belgian Open, G Sathiyan claimed the gold.
In the Ghosh-Amalraj clash, Amalraj got off to a great start as he clinched the opening game easily. But failed to sustain his form and went down in the second, third and fourth games. Then, Amalraj made a good comeback in the fifth game. Eventually, Ghosh won the final game, and the score ended with 4-2.
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The overjoyed Ghosh told the PTI that the pressure was on him to perform well,
AdvertisementI’m the third Indian to win such a tournament. I’m really happy. But being the top seed, I felt the pressure all through,” said Ghosh.“This is big for us. It’s the first time we have won such a title and a first for India, too,”
Twice before India had gone down in the doubles final. Hence, It was a proud win for Amalraj as well, he said
For me, it was the first final and first gold. In more than 10 years of my international career, it has always been China, Japan or Germany. Now that India has won, it is good for the future of table tennis in India.
Congrats to the duo!
