Favourite Sharath Kamal, recently-crowned National champions A. Amalraj and Poulomi Ghatak along with National Games champion K. Shamini suffered shock losses on a sensational opening day of the Petroleum inter-unit table tennis tournament at the Thyagraj Sports Complex here on Friday.
The defeats of the elite players in the team championship came on a day when the loss of defending champion Indian Oil to Hindustan Petroleum threw open the title race in the women’s section.
Former National champion Subhajit Saha stunned Sharath Kamal in five games but could not save Oil India from a 2-3 defeat. Amalraj lost to National Youth champion Soumyajit Ghosh but returned to complete ONGC’s 3-1 victory over Bharat Petroleum.
Seven-time National champion Poulomi Ghatak went down to Divya Deshpande for the second time in three meetings over 10 days as ONGC surprisingly blanked Bharat Petroleum 3-0. Two-time former National champion Shamini shockingly lost to Krittwika Sinha Roy and Senora D’Souza as Hindustan Petroleum stunned Indian Oil 3-2.
The results: Men; Group ‘A’: Indian Oil beat Oil India 3-2 (Sharath Kamal bt Anal Kashyap 11-4, 11-6, 11-9; Soumyadeep roy lost to Subhajit Saha 8-11, 11-6, 6-11, 3-11; Sourav Chakraborty bt Birdie Boro 11-4, 7-11, 11-4, 11-4; Sharath lost to Saha 11-7, 9-11, 11-2, 9-11, 8-11; Roy bt Kashyap 11-8, 11-3, 11-8). Hindustan Petroleum bt Oil India 3-1.
Group ‘B’: ONGC beat Bharat Petroleum 3-1 (G. Sathiyan bt Sanil Shetty 11-7, 9-11, 11-2, 11-1; Amalraj lost to Soumyajit Ghosh 11-13, 11-5, 10-12, 9-11; Zubin Kumar bt Kishore Ghatwani 11-2, 11-2, 11-3; Amalraj bt Sanil Shetty 8-11, 10-12, 11-7, 12-10, 14-12). BPCL bt EIL 3-1; EIL bt GAIL 3-0; ONGC bt GAIL 3-0.
Women (league): Hindustan Petroleum beat Indian Oil 3-2 (Krittwika Sinha Roy lost to Manika Batra 9-11, 9 11, 5-11; Senora D’Souza bt K. Shamini 4-11, 11-7, 7-11, 11-6, 11-5; S. Priya lost to Reeth Rishya 11-4, 7-11, 9-11, 13-11, 8-11; Krittwika bt Shamini 11-9, 8-11, 13-11, 11-9; Senora bt Manika 14-12, 11-8, 5-11, 5-11, 11-8). Oil India bt ONGC 3-0 (Ankita Das bt Madhurika Patkar 11-9, 8-11, 11-7, 11-5; Mouma Das bt Mausami Paul 12-10, 9-11, 11-9, 11-9; Nandita Saha bt Divya Deshpande 7-11, 11-6, 8-11, 11-6, 11-9). ONGC bt Bharat Petroleum 3-0 (Madhurika bt Neha Agarwal 13-11, 15-13, 9-11, 9-11, 13-11; Divya Deshpande bt Poulami Ghatak 9-11, 11-7, 9-11, 11-8, 11-9; Mousmi Paul bt Susmita Roy 10-12, 9-11, 11-8, 11-3, 11-7). OIL beat Hindustan Petroleum 3-0 (Mouma Das bt Senhora D’Souza 11-5, 10-12, 12-10, 12-10; Nandita Saha bt Krittwika Roy 10-12, 11-7, 11-6, 4-11, 12-10; Ankita Das bt S. Priya 11-5, 11-4, 11-2).
