Panchkula: Unseeded Swastika Ghosh toppled seventh-seed Krittwika Sinha Roy 4-0 to enter her maiden medals round in the women’s singles of the UTT National Ranking North Zone Table Tennis Championships at the Tau Devi Lal Multipurpose Indoor Stadium here today.
On a day that saw several seeds tumbling out, including the top two seeds, Swastika’s remarkable rise in recent times has caught the imagination of fellow players. The 18-year-old, who won the gold in WTT Youth Contender in Tunis a month ago, blanked out Krittiwika with her superior display. The Airports Authority of India girl, who was stretched the full distance in the earlier round by Karnataka’s Kushi Viswanath sailed through without breaking a sweat.
Fifth, sixth and eighth seeds Takeme Sarkar, Anusha Kutumbale, and Prapti Sen had it easy against their opponents to join Swastika in the semifinals.
Earlier, top-seeded Sreeja Akula bowed out, losing to Surbhi Patwari of AAI 1-4 to enter the quarterfinals. Joining her by the wayside was fourth-seeded Reeth Rishya who went down to unseeded Diya Chitale 4-2 but other seeds survived to move ahead.
Second and third seeds, Sutirtha Mukherjee and Ayhika Mukherjee made their exits in the Round of 32. Kushi Viswanath from Karnataka felled Sutirtha 11-8, 11-6, 5-11, 8-11, 11-8, 11-4 and Varuni Jaiswal of Telangana downed Ayhika 6-11, 11-8, 11-9, 13-11, 9-11, 12-10. Four-seeded Reeth Rishya struggled before overcoming Poymantee Baisya of Bengal 11-5, 5-11, 5-11, 11-8, 11-8, 9-11, 11-6. In another tough battle, Diya Chitale of Maharashtra beat Nithyashree Mani of TTTA 8-11, 12-10, 8-11, 15-17, 11-5, 11-5, 11-5.
Top-seeded Sharath Kamal, second-seeded Manav Thakkar, third-seed Soumyajit Ghosh, and fifth-seed Harmeet Desai all moved into the semifinals of the men’s singles.
Earlier, Sharath dropped a couple of games before pulling the plug on the 16th seed Jeet Chandra. The PSPB veteran won 3-1, 9-11, 11-7, 11-3, 11-2, 11-7 for a quarterfinal showdown with Sudhanshu Grover, who is seeded nine. But seventh seed Ronit Bhanja’s exit was a surprise as he went down to qualifier Sarthak Seth, a TTFI wildcard, 11-8, 10-12, 11-8, 12-10, 8-11, 12-10 in a grim pre-quarterfinal battle. The rest of the seeds sealed their passage into the quarterfinals.
In Round 32 of the men’s singles, Wesley Do Rosario of Haryana trounced eighth seed Sushmit Sriram 11-6, 8-11, 11-4, 11-8, 11-5 and Payas Jain defeated Jubin Kumar, also of Haryana, 11-5, 11-9, 12-14, 11-8, 11-7. Last night, sixth seed Anthony Amarlaj bowed out to lesser-known Saidul Alem Ahmed of IA&AD in the Round of 64 matches that lasted nearly an hour. Saidul won 11-7, 11-8, 8-11, 11-9, 8-11, 5-11, 11-2.
Results:
Men: Quarterfinals: Sharath Kamal bt Sudhanshu Grover 11-5, 12-14, 11-4, 11-6, 11-9; Harmeet Desai bt Sanil Shetty 14-12, 6-11, 12-10 11-6, 11-7; Soumyajit Ghosh bt Deepit R Patil 11-5, 9-11, 11-7, 11-6, 11-7; Manav Thakkar bt Sarthak Seth 11-7, 11-9, 11-5, 11-7.
Pre-quarterfinals: Sharath Kamal bt Jeet Chandra 3-11, 9-11, 11-7, 11-3, 11-2, 11-7; Sudanshu Grover bt Wesley Do Rosario 11-7, 9-11, 11-3, 10-12, 17-15, 12-14, 11-7; Harmeet Desai bt Abhishek Yadav 11-7, 11-5, 7-11, 11-5, 11-4; Sanil Shetty bt Payas Jain 11-8, 14-12, 11-7, 11-3, 11-4, 3-11; Soumyajit Ghosh bt Manush Shah 7-11, 15-17, 11-8, 11-8, 11-9, 6-11, 11-6; Deepit R. Patil bt Arjun Ghosh 11-7, 5-11, 4-11, 13-11, 14-12, 5-11, 11-5; Sarthak Seth bt Ronit Bhanja 11-8, 10-12, 11-8, 12-10, 8-11, 12-10; Manav Thakkar bt Shubh Goel 11-7, 11-8, 11-5, 11-7.
Women: Quarterfinals: Prapti Sen bt Surbhi Patwari 8-11, 11-9, 10-12, 11-8, 11-8, 11-9; Takeme Sarkr bt Diya Chitale 8-11, 11-9, 12-10, 11-6, 4-11, 11-13, 11-9, Anusha Kutumbale bt Shruti Amrute 11-7, 11-5, 16-14, 10-12, 11-5, Swastika Ghosh bt Krittiwika Sinha Roy 11-6, 11-6, 11-7, 11-3.
Pre-quarterfinals: Surbhi Patwari bt Sreeja Akula 12-10, 9-11, 11-9, 11-9, 11-9; Prapti Sen bt Sagarika Mukherjee 13-11, 11-7, 11-4, 9-11, 11-8; Takeme Sarkar bt Yashaswini Ghorpade 11-9, 11-9, 11-7, 12-10; Diya Chitale bt Reeth Rishya 11-9, 3-11, 11-5, 11-6, 5-11, 11-6; Shruti Amrute bt Varuni Jaiswal 12-10, 9-11, 11-4, 7-11, 11-8, 11-5; Anusha Kutumbale bt Risha Mirchandani 11-6, 9-11, 11-8, 9-11, 11-5, 11-8; Krittwika Sinha Roy bt S. Selenadeepthi Selvakumar 11-3, 11-8, 9-11, 11-9, 11-3; Swastika Ghosh bt Kushi Viswanath 6-11, 14-12, 11-3, 11-6, 8-11, 12-10.
