Tournament Preview 2009

Preview of US National Championships

Saravanan on the verge of Three-peat!

Report by Shreenivas Mallisetti, August 3, 2009

 

About a year ago in Pennsylvania , at the 13th U.S. National Championships, Saravanan Chandra Babu successfully defended his National Championship title. He drove 500 miles from Cleveland , bringing with him the prestigious D.D. Mehta Rolling Trophy, to arrive at the tournament without much practice. His game appeared a bit sluggish on the first day during the Doubles Championship. Teaming up with Ram Gopal many times he looked to his partner to carry the offense. And Ram delivered repeatedly. They carried on till the Semifinals when they met a strong doubles team in the form of Atul Kharecha & Sanjay Murthy. Saravanan & Ram fought well but lost in straight games. Success in Doubles still eluding Ram since the time he had teamed up with Deepak Raghavan to win tournaments.

 

Atul Kharecha & Sanjay Murthy having teamed up after a long gap have matured into strong team by the time the knockouts started. They defeated veteran pair of Jayadev Suryadevara & Madhusudana Rao in a thrilling 3-gamer in the Quarterfinals. After triumphing over Saravanan & Ram as mentioned above they ran into the perennial Doubles Champions Sekhar Challa & Vishal Karangutkar in the Finals. To the delight of the entire crowd the sensational Finals produced a new Champion team of Atul & Sanjay.

 

In the Singles Championship, Saravanan picked up form as expected and won through his matches comfortably. Having defeated Vishal in the Quarterfinals, he encountered stiff resistance but prevailed over Sekhar Challa in the Semifinals in straight games. After watching a thrilling 3-game match in the other Semifinals producing Madhusudana Rao who edged out Sanjay Murthy, Saravanan made short work of the Finals (25-0, 25-4) by winning the National Championship and the D.D. Mehta Rolling Trophy for the second time. He is now poised for a three-peat as the 14th U.S. National Championships get under way next month in Dallas, Texas. As avid Carrom fans in the US may recall Ram Gopal holds the record of winning the National Championship Singles 3-times in a row. The rumor mill is abuzz with players in good form: Atul Kharecha, Mandava Rao, Neil Khatu, Prakash Kagal, Ram Gopal, Ramesh Srinivasan, Sanjay Murthy, Sekhar Challa, Shibu Jose, Shivaram Gowdagere, Shreenivas Mallisetti, Subba Rao, and Vishal Karangutkar. Many have played well in the recent past but nobody has fared well against Saravanan in a tournament beyond the Round Robin stage.

 

As Atul Kharecha & Sanjay Murthy get ready to defend their Doubles title they will encounter a familiar foe in the form of Sekhar Challa & Vishal Karangutkar who have won the Nationals several times. Former Doubles champion Jayadev Suryadevara is teaming up with Shibu Jose while Mandava Rao is teaming up with Atul Bhave. If Ram Gopal returns as many anticipate, no doubt he and Saravanan will once again be a formidable team.

 

While the ranked teams tend to grab the headlights, the spectators� delight is the Group B championships producing numerous thrilling matches. Players ranked 9 � 16 in Singles and teams ranked 5 � 8 in Doubles play in the Group B knockouts. Last year Mandava Rao lifted the Group B Singles trophy while 80-year old Narayan Pranjape took the Doubles by teaming up with Snehal Mehta in a stunning upset match! So, grab the best seats early on to catch the exciting knockout matches in the upcoming National Championships! (September 18-20, 2009 in Dallas, TX . Visit www.uscarrom.org for more information.)