Saurav Ghosal wins his 11th national title; Dipika gets the better of Joshna

Both the winners achieved their target in contrasting fashion with Dipika who was all poise and balance as compared to her famed rival Joshna Chinappa. Saurav was driven to his wits end by his best friend and teammate Harinder Pal Sandhu and won by the skin of his teeth.

For long has the rivalry between Dipika and Joshna going rounds. The two had hardly met over the years and certainly not in a national arena. Thus there were high expectations of a cracking contest only it fizzled out to a tame affair. Part reason was Joshna's inability to translate her perceived superiority but a bigger point was Dipika's steady and calculated approach. So though Joshna shot ahead, she found too many hurdles en route where Dipika stuck to the simple theory of playing accurately.

On the other hand, Saurav after a draining encounter with Vikram Malhotra where he had to come back from a 1-2 game situation, it proved another herculean task against an inspired Harinder, who incidentally had won his maiden title two years ago in Mumbai. Harinder too looked charged up after a heart-stopping semi-final win over second seed Mahesh Mangonkar. Leading 2-1 against Saurav and displaying energy that looked ominous, Harinder appeared in the driver's seat. Saurav, however, managed to tie the scores and in the decider, points went neck and neck and into extended points to make it an edge-of-seat affair before the seasoned pro proved no match is won or lost until the last point is settled.

There were other winners too in the day in other categories and with increased prize money and modern technology in place what with live-streaming, this was a championship that has set the trend for the future.

*Report courtesy SRFi