Tamil Nadu's Vedhalakshmi Devi pulled off her best performance yet win with a come-from-behind victory over former National champion and International Madhurika Patkar (PSPB) in a women's first-round match of the UTT-National ranking South Zone table tennis tournament held at the Rajiv Gandhi Indoor Stadium here on Tuesday.
Representing TNTTA, the 18-year-old from Chennai troubled Madhurika with her funny rubbers (soft pimples) on both flanks, winning in seven games, 9-11, 7-11, 11-9, 12-10, 8-11, 11-9, 11-8.
Qualifier Vedhalakshmi reeled off the last three points in the seventh and deciding game with ease as Madhurika was unable to handle the backhand push of her opponent.
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"I played my natural game and I found out that she was finding it difficult to take my backhand push/block and I capitalised on it," said Vedhalakshmi to The Hindu.
PSPB's Harmeet Desai, one of the contenders for the men's title, dispatched off Divyansh Srivastava of Uttar Pradesh 11-8, 11-9, 11-6, 11-7 in a second-round contest.
Important results (round of 64):
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Men: Mandar Hardikar (Mah) bt Ali Mohammed (TS) 10-12, 11-6, 11-13, 9-11, 11-8, 11-6, 11-7; Sougata Sarkar (LIC) bt Soham Bhattacharya (Ker) 7-11, 11-6, 11-5, 11-8, 4-11, 11-5; Jubin Kumar (PSPB) bt Pankaj Vishwakarma (RSPB) 11-9, 10-12, 4-11, 9-11, 11-9, 11-4, 11-4; Sushmit Sriram (TTTA) bt Arnab Chandra (Ben) 8-11, 11-9, 11-7, 10-12, 12-10, 7-11, 12-10; Abhimanyu Mitra (IAID) bt Vidit Desai (Guj) 8-11, 11-6, 6-11, 4-11, 12-10, 11-3, 13-11; Sudhanshu Grover (Del) bt Shubham Ambre (Mah) 8-11, 9-11, 11-8, 11-7, 11-5, 11-5; Kiranjoy Pushilal (RSPB) bt Sarthak Gandhi (Har) 8-11, 11-8, 10-12, 15-13, 6-11, 11-6, 11-3; Raj Mondal (RBI) bt Utkarsh Gupta (CRSB) 11-6, 11-13, 11-3, 8-11, 9-11, 11-6, 11-7.
Women: Shruthi Ramkumar (TTTA) bt Lakshita Narang (Del) 8-11, 11-4, 14-12, 10-12, 12-10, 11-5; Vidya Narasimhan (CRSB) bt Kaushani Nath (RSPB) 7-11, 5-11, 11-9, 5-11, 11-7, 11-4, 11-9; Vedhalakshmi Devi (TNTTA) bt Madhurika Patkar (PSPB) 9-11, 7-11, 11-9, 12-10, 8-11, 11-9, 11-8; Chipia Frenaz (Guj) bt Harshavardhini (RBI) 11-9, 5-11, 4-11, 7-11, 11-6, 11-4, 11-6; Radhapriya Goel (AAI) bt Seraha Jacob (Ker) 11-7, 11-9, 11-8, 11-9, 11-8, 11-0.