Visakhapatnam: Following the mass departure of men seeds in the morning, top-seed Manika Batra joined the gang in the evening when she surrendered meekly to eighth-seed Moumita Dutta of RSPB, going down 0-3 in the quarterfinals of the AAI-50th Inter-state National championships at the Swarna Bharati Stadium today.
In other one-sided quarterfinals, second-seed Sreeja Akula beat Sutirtha Mukherjee of RSPB, and third-seed Diya Chitale downed sixth-seed Reeth Rishya in identical 3-0 wins. However, fourth-seed Archana Kamath faced stiff resistance from Lakshita Narang of Delhi before winning 3-2.
Manika was out of sorts throughout, including in the team championships. But Moumita acquitted well in team championships and carried the form in singles, too. Archana began well but faltered to concede the lead to Lakshita. Nevertheless, the PSPB paddler fought diligently to stay in the medal reckoning. Diya continued her form, and Sreeja joined her teammate to strengthen RBI's presence in the medal round.
Sharath Kamal beat Ronit Bhanja 3-1, while SFR Snehit and Manush Shah won 3-0 against Anirban Ghosh and Akash Pal. But Sanil Shetty struggled before winning 3-2 against Jeet Chandra to form the semifinal line-ups.
It was a hara-kiri that three of the four top seeds committed in the morning without applying their mind to matter. Though the credit must go to Jeet Chandra of AAI, none has a far below-par performance from G. Sathiyan, the No. 3 seed. He was all over the place and failed to keep the ball on the table, but when he did, Jeet was there to kill it. So much so the AAI paddler showed better sense and wrapped up the pre-quarterfinals in less than 15 minutes.
Top-seed Harmeet Desai survived a little longer and even managed to take a game off Anirban Ghosh of the Railways. The latter seized the moment from the third game to seal the fate of Harmeet. Fourth-seed Manav Thakkar, a sensible player, lost his touch and cool to let Akash Pal hold sway over him. The win for Manav in the third game came a little too late, and Akash completed the match in the fourth game.
Second-seeded Sharath Kamal had a strutted start to his pre-quarters, despite winning the first game. Yashansh Malik of Delhi won the second and third games to go 2-1 up, but the veteran did not allow any further to the Delhi youngster.
Despite an extended second game, top-seed Manika Batra took 20 minutes to shut out Swastika Ghosh 3-0. Second seed Sreeja Akula, third seed Diya Chitale, fifth seed Archana Kamath, sixth seed Reeth Rishya, seventh seed Sutirtha Mukherjee and eighth seed Moumita Dutta all advanced to the quarterfinals.
But a few of those who joined the exodus of seeds included Shubh Goel and Sudhanshu Grover of Delhi and Anthony Amalraj and Sourav Saha of PSPB in the pre-quarters of the singles.
Results:
Men’s Singles: Quarterfinals: SFR Snehit (AAI) bt Anirban Ghosh (RSPB) 11-3, 11-6, 11-7, Manush Shah (RBI) bt Akash Pal (RSPB) 12-10, 11-6, 11-9, Sanil Shetty (PSPB) bt Jeet Chandra (AAI) 11-6, 3-11, 13-15, 11-4, 11-8, Sharath Kamal (PSPB) bt Ronit Bhanja (RSPB) 11-5, 11-7, 9-11, 11-3.
Pre-quarterfinals: Anirban Ghosh bt Harmeet Desai (PSPB) 11-3, 4-11, 11-7, 11-9, Snehit bt Shubh Goel (Del) 11-9, 11-13, 11-3, 11-3, Manush Shah bt Anthony Amalraj (PSPB) 12-10, 11-4, 8-11, 11-8, Akash Pal bt Manav Thakkar (PSPB) 11-7, 11-5, 5-11, 11-8, Jeet Chandra bt G. Sathiyan 11-3, 11-8, 11-6, Sanil Shetty bt Sudhanshu Grover (Del) 11-4, 11-8, 13-11, Ronit Bhanja bt Sourav Saha (PSPB) 11-5, 15-13, 11-2, Sharath Kamal bt Yashansh Malik (Del) 12-10, 8-11, 7-11, 11-3, 11-8.
Women’s Singles: Quarterfinals: Moumita Dutta (RSPB) bt Manika Batra (PSPB) 11-9, 11-8, 11-7, Archana Kamath (PSPB) bt Lakshita Narang (Del) 11-5, 7-11, 7-11, 11-4, 11-5, Diya Chitale (RBI) bt Reeth Rishya (PSPB) 11-8, 12-10, 11-9, Sreeja Akula (RBI) bt Sutirtha Mukherjee (RSPB) 11-6, 11-5, 11-3.
Pre-quarterfinals: Manika Batra bt Swastika Ghosh (AAI) 11-6, 12-10, 11-9, Moumita Dutta bt Suhana Saini (Har) 11-8, 13-12, 6-11, 11-5, Archana Kamath bt Anannya Basak (CB) 11-4, 11-2, 11-5, Lakshita Narang bt Nithyashree Mani (BBSCB) 8-11, 11-8, 11-7, 11-5, Diya Chitale bt Sagarika Mukherjee (RSPB) 9-11, 11-9, 11-6, 7-11, 11-5, Reeth Rishya bt Radhapriya Goel (AAI) 11-5, 11-4, 11-7, Sutirtha Mukherjee bt Mouma Das (PSPB) 16-14, 11-8, 11-4, Sreeja Akula bt Takeme Sarkar (RSPB) 11-8, 7-11, 11-7, 11-8.
