MYSORE, June 8: The top two seeds in both men's and women's sections took the allotted slots in the individual final of the table tennis event in the fourth National Games, but in contrasting manner.

Arup Basak among men and NR Indu in women's had an easier entry into the title round, while the top seeds and national champions Chetan Baboor and MS Mythili were stretched to four and five sets respectively.

Defending champion and second seed Basak of West Bengal stopped the giant-killing run of R Rajesh (Tamil Nadu) 21-7, 21-15, 21-14. Top seed Baboor overcame a game's deficit to defeat Tamil Nadu southpaw S Raman 15-21, 21-18, 21-14, 21-17 in the semifinal.

Later, Baboor partnered veteran Bona Thomas John to defeat Delhi's Himanshu Kala and Ajay Jha 21-12, 21-9 in the men's doubles final to win the gold.West Bengal's Subhajit Saha and Amit Mukherjee took the bronze.

In the women's singles, in the all-Tamil Nadu semifinals, second seed Indu routed a clueless B Bhuvaneshwari 21-19, 21-18, 21-15, while national No 1 MS Mythili fought back from a 1-2 deficit to down defending champion N Arul Selvi 21-18, 20-22, 12-21, 21-8, 21-13 in a marathon match.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.