GANDHIDHAM, April 20: Manush Shah put up a lone fight but his heroics was the only silver lining as Gujarat’s men’s and women’s teams lost their pre-quarterfinal matches at the 83rd Senior National and Inter State Table Tennis Championships 2021 that is being played in Shillong (Meghalaya).
Gujarat looked in ominous form at the group stage where they beat Punjab, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala and Arunachal Pradesh 3-0.
However, they failed to carry the form to the pre-quarterfinal tie against a spirited Uttar Pradesh. Manush, who is recovering from a shoulder injury, kept hope alive by winning his singles matches against Divyansh Srivastava (11-8, 6-11, 11-4, 11-9) and Abhishek Yadav (11-3, 11-7, 12-10). However, Chitrax Bhatt, who lost both his matches, and Ishaan Hingorani failed to live up to the expectations as Gujarat suffered a 2-3 loss.
Gujarat’s women’s team suffered a similar fate as they were handed a 1-3 loss by TTTA in the pre-quarters.
Kausha Bhairapure handed a 10-12, 9-11, 6-11 loss by Selvakumar Selena Deepti before Frenaz Chipia levelled the score with a 5-11, 11-8, 15-13, 11-9 win over Kowshika Venkatesan.
However, Gujarat fell back after Filzahfatema suffered a 9-11, 11-3, 9-11 loss against Nithyashree Mani. And it was soon over from them after Frenaz lost to Selena Deepti 11-4, 6-11, 4-11, 6-11.
Earlier, Gujarat bounced back from a 1-3 loss against Bengal A in their opening match to finish second in their group with wins over Manipur (3-0) and Assam (3-1).
