Sarbojit Bhowmick (above) and Amrita Mukherjee, who won the men’s and women’s state badminton titles respectively, at SAI on Monday. Picture by Santosh Ghosh

Calcutta: Amrita Mukherjee completed a hattrick of titles as the IBP Red state badminton championships concluded at the SAI Eastern Centre on Monday. The top seed shrugged off a lapse in concentration to quell Shampa Saha’s challenge 11-8, 11-13, 11-6.

The feelings of Sarbojit Bhowmick were quite different as he tasted success at this level for the first time. In a clash with Garfa Sabuj Sangha sparring mate Sanjay Das, the younger man overcame a slow start to triumph 6-15, 15-13, 15-9.

Sanjay, looking for his maiden state crown after having lost to Arup Baidya a few seasons ago, looked very much on course in the opening 20 minutes before two things happened. The lights went off with Sanjay a point away from pocketing the first game.

The power supply was restored about 40 minutes later. When the men’s final resumed, Sarbojit was back at his fighting best. He ran down to anything Sanjay had to offer and refused to cave in at crucial junctures. Bagging the tight second game 15-13, Sarbojit was more convincing in the decider.

The ladies’ final didn’t throw up much excitement. Amrita, another Garfa Sabuj Sangha product, struggled to reach the level she is capable of, but still looked the superior player. “This is my first tournament after April… in between I was busy with my college exams and then got busy with my new job with Eastern Railway,” explained the B. Com. student of City College.

That explained her rustiness in the second game which she surrendered from a 10-5 advantage.

Shampa, daughter of former state champion Kajal Saha, has just graduated to the senior level and her lack of experience showed. She did well to capitalise on Amrita’s mistakes and push the match to a third game, but the latter had far too much in her armoury to be seriously tested.

Shampa gained some consolation later in the evening when she paired with Pallabi Sengupta to lift the women’s doubles crown. They beat Debosree Dey and Mampia Sengupta 15-8, 15-12.