GANDHIDHAM, Dec. 14: Top seed Manav Thakkar suffered a heartbreaking loss to the third seed Sanil Shetty in the men’s singles final of the UTT National Ranking Championships in Dehradun today.
It was a one-sided affair as Surat-born Manav failed to live up to the challenge from his Petroleum Sports Promotion Board teammate Sanil, who came out all guns blazing against his younger rival.
The highly-rated Manav found it hard to shrug off his rivals’ body attacks as the 21-year-old youngster suffered a 7-11, 8-11, 5-11, 10-12 loss in the final.
“GSTTA wants to congratulate Manav for his silver medal effort riding on an impressive show in the earlier rounds of the tournament,” Mr. Vipul Mittra, IAS, President, Gujarat State Table Tennis Association said.
After a bye in the opening round, Manav started his campaign with an 11-6, 11-6, 11-4, 12-10 win over Souymadeep Sarkar of Bengal ‘B’ in the second round.
Manav then beat Parth Virmani of CRSB 11-8, 11-5, 11-5, 11-6 in the third round before recording an 11-6, 11-4, 11-3, 11-5 win over Haryana’s Sarthak Gandhi in the pre-quarters.
In the quarters, Manav beat Delhi’s Sudhanshu Grover 11-2, 11-8, 8-11, 11-6, 11-8.
Manav’s real test in the tournament came in the semis where he overcame a mid-game challenge from teammate and fifth seed Anthony Amalraj to record an 11-8, 11-7, 8-11, 8-11, 11-4, 11-8 win.
Meanwhile, Gujarat’s Manush Shah bowed out in the pre-quarterfinals. Baroda’s Manush suffered an 11-4, 3-11, 6-11, 5-11, 6-11 loss against Deepit Rajesh Patil of Maharashtra ‘A’.
Manush, who had a bye in the opening round, started his campaign with an 11-9, 7-11, 11-7, 11-5, 11-5 win over Viren Patel of Maharashtra ‘B’ in the second round.
The 20-year-old then beat Haryana’s Sourav Saha 11-7, 11-6, 11-6, 11-6 in the third round.
Written by : Pranjal Protim Boruah
