Maharashtra teenager Diya Chitale created a stir by ousting second seed Madhurika Patkar to enter the women’s pre-quarterfinals in the 11Sports Central Zone National-ranking table tennis tournament at Abhay Prashal on Friday.
In what turned out to be the match of the day, Chitale bettered Madhurika’s reflexes and left the former National champion stunned with the quality of her stroke-play.
The match saw some long counter rallies, a rarity in Indian women’s table tennis, with the young protege of Sachin Shetty emerging supreme on most of the occasions.
Patkar joined fourth seed Divya Deshpande on the sidelines before leaving for Korea Open later in the week. Deshpande, the fourth seed, had lost to Vidya Narasimhan in the second round.
Narasimhan, however, succumbed to Tamil Nadu’s Yashini Sivashankar in the next round.
Third seed Pooja Sahasrabudhe, who was stretched to six games by Maharashtra’s Disha Hulawle in the second round earlier in the day, saved a match-point against Tamil Nadu’s Shanmathi Satyamoorthy to enter the round of 16.
In the men’s singles, former National champion Subhajit Saha was sent packing in the round of 64 by his West Bengal junior Kirar Pushilal.
Important results:
Women’s third round: Pooja Sahasrabudhe (PSPB) bt Shanmathi Satyamoorthy (TN) 11-7, 9-11, 10-12, 11-4, 11-8, 5-11, 13-11; Mousumi Paul (PSPB) bt Annanya Basak (Mah) 11-4, 11-7, 11-9, 11-7; Diya Chitale (Mah) bt Madhurika Patkar (PSPB) 9-11, 11-9, 11-6, 6-11, 12-10, 11-9; Ankita Das (PSPB) bt Seraha Jacob (TN) 11-7, 11-7, 14-12, 11-2.
Men’s second round: Raj Mondal (RBI) bt Reagan Albuquerque (Mah) 10-12, 11-3, 12-10, 11-13, 11-3, 11-7; Siddhesh Pande (Mah) bt Yashansh Malik (Del) 11-7, 7-11, 13-11, 11-9, 11-8; Deepit Patil (Mah) bt Birdie Boro (Asm) 11-8, 7-11, 5-11, 10-12, 12-10, 11-6, 11-6; Utkarsh Gupta (Del) bt Souvik Kar (RSPB) 11-6, 12-14, 8-11, 11-9, 6-11, 12-10, 11-8; Sushmit Sriram (TN) bt Sanmay Paranjape (Del) 9-11, 11-8, 11-7, 13-15, 11-5, 4-11, 11-6; Kirar Pushilal (WB) bt Subhajit Saha (PSPB) 5-11, 15-13, 9-11, 11-7, 11-7, 12-10; Arjun Ghosh (WB) bt Arunachalam Shrikrishna (TN) 12-10, 11-7, 11-9, 10-12, 9-11, 12-10 .
