Top seed Manika Batra's shock exit was the only aberration as the rest of the juniors took their allotted spots in the boys' and girls' semifinals of the $10,000 ITTF Global Junior Circuit Indian Open table tennis championship here on Saturday.
Manika, ranked 28th in the junior world rankings after some stupendous performances in the recent past, crashed out of the pre-quarterfinals after running into Nikhat Banu, who in turn surrendered to fifth seed Mallika Bhandarkar in the quarterfinals. Banu won 6-11, 11-6, 8-11, 11-9, 11-8, 11-9.
Manika's nightmarish outing in this championship is sure to cost her a handful of ranking points. She had lost to compatriot Reeth Tennison, too, in the team championship. National coach Bhawani Mukherjee observed that, in the National camps, more and more Indian girls were getting used to Manika's use of a peculiar ‘anti-spin' rubber on the backhand and hence the surprise outcome.
Mallika, who overpowered a resurgent Nikhat in seven games after the latter bounced back from 5-8 in the decider to make it 10-all.
In the junior section, the performances went as per rankings. Top seed Soumyajit Ghosh faces his friend and third seeded arch-rival G. Sathiyan.
The results (quarterfinals, Indians unless stated)
Junior boys: Soumyajit Ghosh bt Peerapol Kunprasert (Tha) 11-7, 11-4, 7-11, 11-6, 11-3; G. Sathiyan bt Utkarsh Gupta 7-11, 11-5, 11-6, 11-3, 11-9; Lee Chun-Lin (Tpe) bt Sourav Saha 11-3, 11-5, 11-8, 14-16, 11-7; Harmeet Desai bt Vivek Bhargava 11-7, 11-4, 11-4, 11-3.
Junior girls: Mallika Bhandarkar bt Nikhat Banu 11-3, 11-9, 10-12, 9-11, 11-9, 11-13, 13-11; Piyaporn Pannak (Tha) bt Anuska Dutta 11-3, 13-15, 11-5, 11-2, 11-3; Yeh Tung-Yi (Tpe) bt Reeth Tennison 11-8, 10-12, 11-8, 8-11, 11-8, 11-4; Ankita Das bt Areeya Sangpao (Tha) 15-13, 11-8, 7-11, 11-9, 11-6.
Cadet boys: Abhishek Yadav bt Krishna Thapa (Nep) 11-8, 11-9, 11-8; X. Lalhunhlua bt Lalrin Puia 11-8, 11-5, 8-11, 11-7; Ayush Tayal bt Birdie Boro 11-9, 11-8, 6-11, 11-9; Utkarsh Gupta bt Pankaj Vishwakarma 14-12, 8-11, 11-5, 10-12, 11-6.
Cadet girls: K. Spoorthy bt Sagarika Mukherjee 11-5, 11-9, 11-8; Ayhika Mukherjee bt Priyadarshini Das 11-7, 9-11, 11-6, 5-11, 11-7; Anuska Dutta bt Sumana Saha 11-4, 10-12, 14-12, 11-4; Naina bt Maria Rony 9-11, 11-5, 11-6, 11-7.
Junior boys (doubles): Soumyajit Ghosh & Harmeet Desai bt K. Peerapol & M. Poungsri (Tha) 11-6, 6-11, 11-3, 13-11; Abhishek Yadav & Utkarsh Gupta bt Sudhanshu Grover & Sushmit Sriram 11-9, 8-11, 11-8, 11-9; Lee Chun-Lin & Lai Yi-Yao (Tpe) bt Vivek Bhargava & Sarayut Tancharoen (Tha) 11-5, 11-9, 11-7; G. Sathiyan & Sourav Saha bt Birdie Boro and Lalrin Puia 11-4, 115, 11-3.
Junior girls (doubles): Manika Batra & Ankita Das bt Nikhat Banu & Areeya Sangpao (Tha) 11-8, 11-7, 9-11, 11-7; R. Rattanavongsa & Priyaporn Pannak (Tha) bt Karnam Spoorthy & Anuska Dutta 11-8, 11-5, 11-4; Mallika Bhandarkar & Reeth Tennison bt Nuwani Vithanage & Tharunnya Shashni (Sri) 11-8, 9-11, 11-1, 11-9; Yeh Tung-Yi & Lee Chun-Hui (Tpe) bt Maria Rony & Priyadarshini Das 11-2, 12-14, 9-11, 11-6, 11-2.
