OU beat eight-time champion SRM to clinch South Zone Table Tennis title

Hyderabad: The young national table tennis champion SFR Snehit led Osmania University from the front to clinch the South Zone inter-university Table Tennis Championships. This victory comes almost two decades later, by beating defending champions SRM University in the finals by 3-1 on December 23.

Hindustan University in Chennai has been playing host to the South Zone tournament from December 18. The Osmania team faced a turbulent quarterfinal against Anna University, with OU boys almost losing the match, but thankfully, they picked the win for 3-2. They faced a relatively weak opposition from Karnataka University, securing a clean 3-0 victory.

The OU team comprises of SFR Snehit, Mohd Ali, B Vrishin, M Raghuram, K Sashi Kiran, and their head coach M Shivanand and team manager Dr K Sridhar Reddy. Speaking on the victory, Shivanand said that the team showed a lot of maturity in defeating the eight-time champions SRM University.

Speaking on the same, Sridhar Reddy said, “The quarterfinal was a litmus test for us. Snehit saved the team by taking two singles though he was down 5-9 in the decider of the fourth rubber. Had he not handled the pressure well, we would have sealed our fate at the earliest stage.”

The victorious OU team will now participate at the All India Inter-University Tournament, which SRM University in Chennai will conduct from December 25-27, 2019. St Joseph Degree and PG college management is particularly happy as three of its top players (Snehit, Vrishin and Mohd Ali) made an impossible task, possible.

The final scores read:

SFR Snehit (OU) beat Nikhil Suresh (SRM) 3-2 (12-14, 11-5, 11-9, 7-11, 11-3)

Mohd Ali (OU) beat Abhinay (SRM) 3-1 (6-11, 11-5, 11-9, 11-9)

Vrishin (OU) lost to Saroj (SRM) 1-3 (11-9, 7-11, 11-7, 11-6)

SFR Snehit (OU) beat Abhinay (SRM) 3-0 (11-7, 11-9, 11-8)