Nikhat Banu and Karnam Spoorthy win Women's Sourav Chakraborty and Sathiyan win men's doubles

Congratulations to Nikhat Banu, Karnam Spoorthy Karnam for Women's Doubles National Table Tennis title and Sourav Chakraborty and Sathiyan Gnanasekaran for Men's doubles National crown!

Editor

India's Best Pro Tour show at Santiago continues

The great news is pouring in from the Chile Pro Tour Table Tennis tournament at Santiago. India returns with a rich haul from the competition at the South American nation.

Sanil Shetty and Sourav Chakraborty

Sourav Chakraborty and Sanil Shetty won the bronze medal in the Men's doubles. Sourav and Sanil played clinically and blanked all their opponents until they ran into the pair who had upset the top seeds in the first round. Cillis Javier and Liu Song beat Sourav and Sanil 4-1 in the semi finals. They had a win over the No. 1 pair Benjamin Rogiers and Yannick Vostes of Belgium.

Sourav and Sanil fought valiantly before bowing down in a close encounter (closer than the score suggests, it had two deep deuce games).

Earlier, Soumyajit sensationally won the U 21 title, a very rare occurrence for an Indian in a Pro Tour. Soumyajit beat Harmeet Desai 4-1, even though he had lost the Men's singles pre quarter tussle with the same player. Hats off to Harmeet too for the great performance in the Men's singles, finals in the U 21 Boys, and a medal in the Men's doubles.

Manika gave a good account of herself by reaching the girls U 21 and upsetting a truly world class player in the bargain.

K Shamini and Madhurika Patkar finished runners up in the Women's doubles, capping an already impressive show by India at the tournament.

All the players will see a good rise in the world rankings that will be released in September.

Timo Boll runner-up in German Athlete of the Year Poll

Timo Boll came second in the race for Germany's athlete of the year. Sebastian Vettel topped the poll in which 1,300 journalists participated. The event was held at the ZDF Gala evening in Kuhaus, Baden Baden. Golfer Martin Kaymer finished third.

Timo Boll's achievements:

• Led Germany to the Silver medal at the Liebherr World Team Championships at Moscow
• Third at Liebherr Men's World Cup
• Three titles at European Championships (Men's singles, Men's Doubles and Team)
• Men's Singles winner at German Open, Europe Top 12, Volkswagen Cup
• Main player at Borussia Dusseldorf in Bundesliga. Won German Cup and European Champions League