The number one seed Indian Soumyajit Ghosh registered a hearty win over compatriot third seed Amalraj in the final of the IITF Chile Open final. It was a sweet and sour tournament for Amalraj where he lost the Men’s singles but pairing with Soumyajit won the double’s title.
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Ghosh defeated Amalraj 4-2 (8-11 13-11 11-6 11-9 4-11 11-7). It is the third time that an Indian has won an ITTF Challenge Series or ITTF World Tour. The double’s title shared by Soumyajit and Amalraj was the first for India in an IITF Tour.
“I’m the third Indian to win such a tournament. I’m really happy. But being the top seed, I felt the pressure all through,” exclaimed Ghosh.
The final match started with Amalraj taking the first game. He was looking in fine touch with majorly defensive moves. But to his misfortune could not maintain this streak. Soumyajit won the next three consecutive games. Amalraj recovered in the fifth do-or-die set winning it by a margin of 7 points, the highest of the match. But Soumyajit gave nothing out in the sixth set to win it 11-7.
The only two Indians who have proved their mettle on the stage before this were Sharath Kamal and G Sathiyan. Sharath clinched the Egypt Open defeating Hong Kong’s Li Ching in 2010. Sathiyan won the ITTF World Tour Belgian Open in 2016.
India also acclaimed its first double’s gold after 2 unsuccessful tries previously by duos of Sharath Kamal and Subhajit Saha in 2009 and Soumyajit Ghosh and Harmeet Desai in Australia 2015. Ghosh and Amalraj took down the Bulgarian pair of Philipp Floritz and Hunor Szocs in straight sets 4-0 in the double’s finals.
“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.” said Amalraj.
