Indore: National champion in Cadet Boys, Vishwa Deenadayalan from Tamil Nadu, graduated to the next level this year and could feel the pressure straight as he exited in Sub-Junior Boys’ second round of the 11Even Sports National Ranking (Central Zone) Table Tennis Championships at the Abhay Prashal here today.
Normally a fluent player with excellent attacking strokes, the Chennai boy was ill at east when he took on Sahil Joshi of Maharashtra who, after some initial struggle, won 3-2 and move into the pre-quarterfinals. In contrast, Delhi’s Payas Jain, who finished the runner-up at the Kolkata Nationals, absorbed the higher category demands to move into the pre-quarterfinals beating Abhirup Paul Roy of North Bengal 3-1.
This exemplified the need for right exposure that one needs to get at this age and stage as did Payas, thanks to his participation in ITTF global circuit events earlier his season. Vishwa has to partly own the blame for, after having taken a 2-0 lead, he let his Maharashtra opponent off the hook. No doubt, he lost the third game very badly (5-11) but he had his chances in the next which he lost by minimal points and also the decider after being 5-5 at one time. Sahil won 6-11, 9-11, 11-5, 11-9, 11-8.
Payas, despite losing the third game, had hit the groove nicely to win 11-7, 12-10, 7-11, 11-3. In another interesting second round outing, Siddhant Sur Roy of North Bengal beat Delhi boy Krishna Jain 9-11, 8-11, 14-12, 14-12, 11-7. The North Bengal had the pass the muster in games third and fourth which saw a couple of deuces and dropping two match-points.
Anargya Manjunath, a promising paddler from Karnataka, is yet to live up to her reputation this season as she went down in the second round to Maharashtra’s Diya Chitale 2-3. Diya, a bronze medal winner at the ITTF’s World Hopes Week last year at Shanghai, had a distinct advange and with her clean stroke-making ability, outwitted Anargaya.
With players divided into 32 groups in respective events of the sub-junior boys and girls sections, as many players in each category qualified for Stage 2, the knockout phase. However, 24 byes in each section meant some players went through a further sifting with only the best among qualifiers moving into the second round of the main draw where they were joined by the eight top-ranked players who got direct Stage 2 entry.
With the Central Zone championships approaching the business end tomorrow, it was a little harsh on the players, some of whom had to play as many as five rounds on a single day. With number of Cadet and Sub-Junior paddlers growing, the competition department is equally puzzled without knowing how to make things easy for the young players.
These two being TTFI’s promotional events of national ranking championships, the tendency among players is to enter in both categories. The Cadet Boys and Girls are allowed to play in Sub-Junior events. This, in turn, helps the players get better exposure good competition when they play in a higher category.
Results:
Sub-Junior Boys: Round 1: Ahir Roy (WB) bt Varun Shankar (Telg) 3-2, Krishna Jain (Del) bt Rajveer Shah (Mah) 3-0, Sahil Joshi (Mah) bt Ritesh Thomas (Telg) 3-0, Darshil Jariwala (Guj) bt Jash Jobalia (Mah) 3-0, Preyesh Suresh Raj (TN) bt Soumyadeep Sarkar (NB) 3-1, Sourajit Halder (WB) bt Shriyash Bhosale (Mah) 3-2, Riswav Dey (WB) bt Aadarsh Om Cherti (Del) 3-0, Shounak Shinde (Mah) bt Abhilash Raval (Guj) 3-1.
Round 2: Yashansh Malik (Del) bt Preyesh Suresh Raj (TN) 3-1, Deepit Patel (Mah) bt Keshavan Kannan (Telg) 3-0, Harshil Kothari (Guj) bt Lalroluahpuia (Har) 3-1, Chinmaya Kapil (PSPBA) bt Sourajit Halder (WB) 3-0, Dev Shroff (Mah) bt Rishway Dey (WB) 3-1, Mainak Das (NB) bt Arka Kumar Gogoi (Asm) 3-0, Shreyans Goel (Del) bt Harish Kusel (TN) 3-1, Alberto Lrruata (PSPBA) bt Shounak Shinde (Mah) 3-0, Jeho H. bt Ahir Roy (WB) 3-0, Shivam Das (Mah) bt Rathim Kumar (KNT) 3-0, Ayaz Murad (Guj) bt Tamal Ballav (WB) 3-2, Siddhant Sur Roy (NB) bt Krishna Jain (Del) 3-2, Sahil Joshi (Mah) bt Vishwa Deenadayalan (TN) 3-2, Payas Jain (Del) bt Abhirup Paul Roy (NB) 3-1, Satyamgiri Gupta (PSPBA) bt Hrishikesh Malhotra (Mah) 3-1, Jayabrata Bhattacharjee (NB) bt Darshil Jariwal (Guj) 3-1.
Sub-Junior Girls: Round 1: Suhana Narjinary (UP) 3-0, Shreya Shiva Kumar (TN) bt Jheel Toshniwal (Raj) 3-0, Mouli Modak (WB) bt Anjali Naineni (Telg) 3-0, Anargya Manjunath (KNT) bt Radhapriya Goel (UP) 3-1, Vidhi Ameet Shah (Mah) bt Nithyashree Mani (TN) 3-2, Koushiki Dasgupta (WB) bt Malpani Sanskruti (Guj) 3-0, Vaishnavi Vijaya Kumar (TN) bt Srivalli Ramya Tadepalli (Telg) 3-2, Maria Ancy John (TN) bt Kheya Shah (Mah) 3-2.
Round 2 (Incomplete): Anusha Kutumbale (MP) bt Suhana Narjinany (UP) 3-1, Sataporni De (NB) bt Fatema Filzah Kadri (Guj) 3-1, Anubha Bajan (Del) bt Ananya Santra (WB) 3-1, Swatistika Ghosh (Mah) bt Shreya Shiva Kumar (TN) 3-0, Sharmistha Srinivasan (TN) bt Mouli Modak (WB) 3-1, Poymantee Baisya (WB) bt Lakshita Narang (Del) 3-0, Diya Chitale (Mah) bt Anargya Manjunath (KNT) 3-2.
