Fourth seed Sushmit Sriram of Tamil Nadu and eighth seed Manush Shah were stretched to the hilt by promising youngsters Shubham Ambre of Maharashtra and S. Preyesh Raj of Tamil Nadu respectively in the men’s main draw first round of the UTT West Zone National-ranking table tennis tournament here on Thursday.
Despite the delayed fixtures due to a prolonged inaugural ceremony in the morning, Shubham and Preyesh put up a brave show before going down against fancied opponents at the Smt. Sulochanadevi Singhania School.
In an all-southpaw battle, Manush, a star of India’s bronze medal-winning squad at the recent Asian Junior Championships, had a tough time dealing with Preyesh, who has been one of the consistent performers in the sub-junior category.
Thanks to his powerful forehand top-spins, Manush raced to a 3-0 lead but Preyesh showed his mettle by winning the next two games. Manush, however, raised his game in the sixth to win 11-9, 11-8, 11-9, 7-11, 12-14, 11-8.
Unconventional strokes
Sushmit, meanwhile, was surprised to have seen young the Shubham pose a threat to his unconventional strokes. In fact, had Shubham converted a game-point in the second, he could well have created the first major upset of the tournament.
But Sushmit eventually managed to win 9-11, 12-10, 5-11, 11-3, 11-5, 12-10 and set up a round-of-32 face-off against North Bengal’s Mainak Das.
Important results:
Main draw, first round: Men: Aniket Sen Chowdhary bt Nikhil Suresh (TN) 11-7, 11-7, 11-7, 11-2; Aman Balgu (TS) bt Hrishikesh Malhotra (Mah) 6-11, 7-11, 11-9, 11-3, 11-5, 11-8; Manush Shah (Guj) bt S. Preyesh Raj (TN) 11-9, 11-8, 11-9, 7-11, 12-14, 11-8; Jubin Kumar (Har) bt Mohammed Ali (TS) 11-9, 6-11, 14-12, 11-7, 6-11, 11-6; Sushmit Sriram (TN) bt Shubham Ambre (RSPB) 9-11, 12-10, 5-11, 11-3, 11-5, 12-10; Raj Mondal (RBI) bt Jignesh Jaiswal (Guj) 16-14, 6-11, 11-6, 6-11, 11-7, 11-5; Utkarsh Gupta (Del) bt G. Arvind Kumar (TS) 10-12, 12-10, 13-11, 11-8, 6-11, 11-9; Sanil Shetty (PSPB) bt Ali Mohammed (TS) 8-11, 11-9, 11-7, 10-12, 11-7, 11-6.
Women: Moumita Dutta (RSPB) bt Rony Maria (CB) 11-9, 11-9, 11-9, 3-11, 8-11, 15-13; Premangi Ghosh (RSPB) bt Tamanna Saini (Del) 11-9, 11-4, 11-7, 11-8; Rupsa Bhattacharya (WB) bt Anuska Dutta (RSPB) 14-12, 11-6, 11-7, 12-10; Poymantee Baisya (WB) bt Naina (TS) 11-9, 11-7, 12-10, 13-15, 11-6; Takeme Sarkar (RSPB) bt Yashini Sivashankar (TN) 6-11, 11-8, 11-6, 11-7, 9-11, 11-2; Anannya Basak (Mah) bt Riti Shankar (Har) 11-8, 13-11, 4-11, 9-11, 3-11, 11-4, 11-6; Ankita Das (PSPB) bt Anindita Chakraborty (RSPB) 11-5, 13-11, 13-11, 8-11, 11-4; Frenaz Chipia (Guj) bt Mamata Prabhu (TS) 11-9, 5-11, 8-11, 11-6, 11-8, 11-7.
