The GenNext of Indian paddlers took centrestage with a plethora of talented youngsters storming into the last four of men’s and women’s singles in the 11Sports Central Zone National-ranking table tennis tournament on Saturday.
Manush Shah, the youngster from Gujarat, emerged as a giant-killer in men’s to keep on course for a double crown along with fancied Manav Thakkar.
Southpaw Manush, having accounted for title contender Sanil Shetty in the round of 32, continued the momentum to stun Sarthak Gandhi and sixth seed Sushmit Sriram in a flawless manner.
Fluent strokeplay
So fluent was Manush in his strokeplay against Sriram in the quarterfinals that the lanky Tamil Nadu paddler was left with no answer.
In the women’s draw, promising paddlers Archana Kamath, Surbhi Patwari and 15-year-old Diya Chitale continued their form to enter the top-four.
While Archana didn’t drop her guard against Yashini Sivashankar, Diya continued her dream run by coming on top against Takeme Sarkar in an enthralling quarterfinal.
Patwari, having stunned top seed Sutirtha Mukherjee in the round of 16, accounted for Olympian Ankita Das to set up a semifinal date with Archana.
Diya will face Pooja Sahasrabudhe, the only survivor among the top eight seeds, in the other semifinals.
The results (quarterfinal):
Youth girls: Naina (Tel) bt Vanshika Bhargava (Del) 9-11, 11-5, 3-11, 11-9, 9-11, 11-4, 12-10; S. Selenadeepthi (TN) bt Shailu Noorbasha (AP) 3-11, 11-2, 11-8, 11-9, 12-7; Yashini Sivashankar (TN) bt Tisha Kohli (Del) 5-11, 11-7, 6-11, 10-12, 11-2, 11-3, 12-10; Prapti Sen (WB) bt Sreeja Akula (RBI) 4-11, 11-4, 11-8, 14-12, 11-8.
Youth boys: Manav Thakkar (PSPB) bt Raja Kundu (NB) 11-5, 11-6, 11-5, 11-7; Anirban Ghosh (RSPB) bt Abhimanyu Mitra (WB) 11-9, 11-6, 11-3, 11-2.
Siddhesh Pande (Mah) bt Jeet Chandra (Har) 12-10, 12-10, 11-8, 11-6; Manush Shah (Guj) bt Ananth Devarajan (TN) 11-7, 11-9, 11-6, 11-5.
Women: Surbhi Patwari (WB) bt Ankita Das (PSPB) 11-6, 11-8, 6-11, 11-5, 11-7; Archana Kamath (PSPB) bt Yashini Sivashankar (TN) 12-10, 11-2, 11-9, 7-11, 13-11; Pooja Sahasrabudhe (PSPB) bt Ayhika Mukherjee (RBI) 7-11, 12-10, 11-9, 11-6, 6-11 11-1; Diya Chitale (Mah) bt Takeme Sarkar (RSPB) 8-11, 11-5, 12-14, 11-4, 3-11, 11-6, 11-7.
Men: Manav Thakkar (PSPB) bt Jubin Kumar (Har) 11-7, 11-9, 11-7, 14-12; Raj Mondal (RBI) bt Vivek Bhargava (Raj) 5-11, 11-4, 6-11, 15-13, 8-11, 11-5, 11-9; Manush Shah (Guj) bt Sushmit Sriram (TN) 11-5, 11-5, 11-8, 11-8; Jeet Chandra (Har) bt Sudhanshu Grover (PSPB) 11-3, 11-8, 11-3, 8-11, 8-11, 12-10.
