Unseeded Swastika Ghosh gatecrashed into her maiden women semifinals with three impressive victories in the National ranking table tennis championship on Wednesday.
On a day of major upsets when the top four women seeds — Sreeja Akula, Olympian Sutirtha Mukherjee, Ayhika Mukherjee and Reeth Rishya — fell before the quarterfinals, the men’s top-four seeds Sharath Kamal, Manav Thakkar, Soumyajit Ghosh and Sanil Shetty entered the last four.
The day’s biggest newsmakers at Panchkula's Devi Lal Stadium were the Airports Authority of India’s duo of Swastika and Surabhi Patwari.
Swastika, 18, avenged the loss suffered to former National champion Madhurika Patkar four days ago in the Maharashtra State championship with a 11-3, 11-6, 8-11, 9-11, 6-11, 11-7, 11-6 victory in the round of 32. She then proceeded to end the dream run of the talented Karnataka-girl Kushi Viswanath — the conqueror of second seed Sutirtha — in six sets.
Surabhi, who knocked out top seed Sreeja Akula 4-1, lost to eighth-seeded Prapti Sen in the quarterfinals. Earlier, Kushi stunned a jittery Sutirtha 11-8, 11-6, 5-11, 8-11, 11-8, 11-4 before Varuni Jaiswal packed off third seed Ayhika 6-11, 11-8, 11-9, 13-11, 9-11, 12-10.
Diya Chithale, among the rising stars, downed fourth seed Reeth in six sets.
The results:
Men: Quarterfinals: Sharath Kamal bt Sudhanshu Grover 11-5, 12-14, 11-4, 11-6, 11-9; Harmeet Desai bt Sanil Shetty 14-12, 6-11, 12-10 11-6, 11-7; Soumyajit Ghosh bt Deepit Patil 11-5, 9-11, 11-7, 11-6, 11-7; Manav Thakkar bt Sarthak Seth 11-7, 11-9, 11-5, 11-7.
Pre-quarterfinals: Sharath bt Jeet Chandra 3-11, 9-11, 11-7, 11-3, 11-2, 11-7; Grover bt Wesley Do Rosario 11-7, 9-11, 11-3, 10-12, 17-15, 12-14, 11-7; Harmeet bt Abhishek Yadav 11-7, 11-5, 7-11, 11-5, 11-4; Sanil bt Payas Jain 11-8, 14-12, 11-7, 11-3, 11-4, 3-11; Soumyajit bt Manush Shah 7-11, 15-17, 11-8, 11-8, 11-9, 6-11, 11-6; Deepit bt Arjun Ghosh 11-7, 5-11, 4-11, 13-11, 14-12, 5-11, 11-5; Sarthak bt Ronit Bhanja 11-8, 10-12, 11-8, 12-10, 8-11, 12-10; Manav bt Shubh Goel 11-7, 11-8, 11-5, 11-7.
Women: Quarterfinals: Prapti Sen bt Surbhi Patwari 8-11, 11-9, 10-12, 11-8, 11-8, 11-9; Takeme Sarkar bt Diya Chitale 8-11, 11-9, 12-10, 11-6, 4-11, 11-13, 11-9, Anusha Kutumbale bt Shruti Amrute 11-7, 11-5, 16-14, 10-12, 11-5, Swastika Ghosh bt Krittwika Sinha Roy 11-6, 11-6, 11-7, 11-3.
Pre-quarterfinals: Surbhi bt Sreeja Akula 12-10, 9-11, 11-9, 11-9, 11-9; Prapti bt Sagarika Mukherjee 13-11, 11-7, 11-4, 9-11, 11-8; Takeme bt Yashaswini Ghorpade 11-9, 11-9, 11-7, 12-10; Diya bt Reeth Rishya 11-9, 3-11, 11-5, 11-6, 5-11, 11-6; Shruti bt Varuni Jaiswal 12-10, 9-11, 11-4, 7-11, 11-8, 11-5; Anusha bt Risha Mirchandani 11-6, 9-11, 11-8, 9-11, 11-5, 11-8; Krittwika bt S. Selenadeepthi 11-3, 11-8, 9-11, 11-9, 11-3; Swastika bt Kushi Viswanath 6-11, 14-12, 11-3, 11-6, 8-11, 12-10 .
