Sutirtha, Mouma fall on a bad day for seeds

February 04, 2017 09:56 pm | Updated February 05, 2017 02:28 am IST - MANESAR (HARYANA):

Archana Kamath.

Archana Kamath.

Given the competition at the domestic level these days, the seeded players, in singles, can never be sure of taking their allotted places in the quarterfinals.

In keeping with the expectations, reputations took a beating as second seed Sutirtha Mukherjee, five-time winner Mouma Das, Mousumi Paul, Reeth Rishya and former National champion Ankita Das, seeded two, three, four, seven and eight, found the going too tough for their liking and exited from the second round of the National table tennis championship here on Saturday.

AAI’s Archana Kamath upstaged Sutirtha, while the Institutional champion Shreya Ghosh continued her run with the conquest of Mouma.

She went on to stop young Swetha Kumaravel 10-12, 6-11, 11-8, 11-8, 12-10, 11-7 to enter the quarterfinals. Even in men’s singles, eighth seed Manav Thakkar realised that in spite of his impressive run in the age-group competitions, he still has a long way to go in the senior ranks as he fell at the second hurdle.

The seventh-seeded local hero Jubin Kumar was the last seed to fall among the men after running into fellow left-hander Devesh Karia and losing a thriller.

Back to where it began

Sharath Kamal, looking for his seventh National title, seemed to be settling down well to the conditions here. Returning to the venue that fetched him the first senior National title in December 2003, Sharath did win 4-0 against North Bengal’s Raja Kundu in the opener but looked a bit rusty.

In the second round, T. Nitin conceded the match to Sharath after two sets owing to a knee injury.

In the pre-quarterfinals, Sharath produced flashes of brilliance in stopping Sarthak Gandhi, who also trains in Chennai, under former National champion S. Raman.

Though several seeds survived the day, none took a more dramatic route to stay alive in the competition than fifth seed Harmeet Desai.

Spectacular rally

In a match involving two Gujarat players, Desai scripted a spectacular rally after losing the first three sets to win 4-3 against Jignesh Jaiswal.

Defending champion A. Amalraj, seeded three, also needed seven sets to prevail over West Bengal’s Sougata Sarkar, the conqueror of former champion Soumyadeep Roy.

Defending champion Manika Batra faced strong resistance from veteran Anindita Chakraborty in posting a 11-8, 11-8, 10-12, 11-5, 8-11, 11-5. Former champion but unseeded Poulomi Ghatak quietly slipped into the quarterfinals with a 11-4, 11-9, 14-12, 11-9 triumph over North Bengal’s Takeme Sarkar.

Important results (prefix denotes seeding):Men (pre-quarterfinals): 1-Sharath Kamal bt Sarthak Gandhi 11-9, 11-9, 11-4, 11-8; Subhajit Saha bt Sourav Saha 11-9, 5-11, 11-9, 11-9, 11-9; 5-Harmeet Desai bt Jignesh Jaiswal 6-11, 9-11, 5-11, 11-5, 11-7, 11-5, 11-7; 4-Sanil Shetty Ronit Bhanja 11-7, 11-9, 11-8, 11-6. 3-A. Amalraj bt Sougata Sarkar 8-11, 7-11, 11-7, 11-6, 10-12, 11-4, 11-5; 6-Soumyajit Ghosh bt Abhishek Yadav 11-9, 11-4, 14-12, 8-11, 8-11, 11-6; Devesh Karia bt 7-Jubin Kumar 13-11, 11-6, 8-11, 7-11, 13-11, 9-11, 11-9; 2-G. Sathiyan bt Raj Mondal 11-9, 11-9, 11-8, 11-9.

Second round: Sourav Saha bt 8-Manav Thakkar 6-11, 11-7, 11-5, 13-15, 11-7, 11-8.

Women (pre-quarterfinals): 1-Madhurika Patkar bt Moumita Datta 11-8, 9-11, 8-11, 13-11, 11-7, 11-3; Krithwika Sinha Roy bt 8-Ankita Das 11-6, 13-11, 3-11, 11-8, 12-10; 5-Manika Batra bt Anindita Chakraborty 11-8, 11-8, 10-12, 11-5, 8-11, 11-5; Nikhat Banu bt Sreeja Akula 11-4, 11-3, 8-11, 11-8, 11-8; Shreya Ghosh bt Swetha Kumaravel 10-12, 6-11, 11-8, 11-8, 12-10, 11-7; 6-Pooja Sahasrabudhe bt Ayhika Mukherjee 11-7, 11-6, 7-11, 11-5, 6-11, 11-9; Poulomi Ghatak bt Takeme Sarkar 11-4, 11-9, 14-12, 11-9; Archana Kamath bt 2-Sutirtha Mukherjee 11-7, 12-14, 11-7, 12-10, 7-11, 11-6.

Second round: Sreeja Akula bt 4-Mousumi Paul 9-11, 11-7, 9-11, 11-8, 11-5, 7-11, 11-8; Shreya Ghosh bt 3-Mouma Das 15-13, 8-11, 11-7, 11-8, 7-11, 11-9; Takeme Sarkar bt 7-Reeth Rishya 13-11, 11-6, 4-11, 11-9, 11-9 .

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