Manush pullout leaves door ajar for title aspirants
Bhavnagar, November 9: Second-seeded Manush Shah’s withdrawal in the round of 32 has not only jeopardized his chance of winning a medal but also deprived him of valuable points in the UTT National Ranking (Central Zone) Table Tennis Championships at the SAG Sports Complex here today.
The Gujarat lad, who suffered some swelling on his playing hand, left him high and dry as in what was a left-handers R32 match, Abhimanyu Mitra of West Bengal profited as he moved into the pre-quarterfinals with a 4-0 result, after Manush conceded the match. This has opened the doors for the remaining men singles players, including off-form Sunil Shetty, the top-seed, who easily beat Mani Subhash of IA&AD 4-0.
In women singles, if it was a toil for second-seeded Ayhika Mukherjee against qualifier Frenaz Chipia of Gujarat, fourth-seed Sreeja Akuka, who is also the women singles winner at Thane, had a tough outing against Manushree Patil of Maharashtra while for fifth-seed Archana Kamath the fight back against Surbhi Patwari of West Bengal was equally tough.
However, all but one seeded player did survive to move into the pre-quarterfinals. However, seventh-seed Selenadeepthi Selvakumar of Tamil Nadu was caught on the wrong foot and lost the Round of 32 to Telangana’s Naina 2-4 despite the former having a bad opening. It’s another matter that the Telangana girl soon pooh-poohed any negative thought that might have crossed her mind to go 3-1 up before dropping her second game to Selena. In the sixth, however, she stopped the TN girl with a lot to spare.
But Frenaz Chipia of Gujarat must be credited the way she fought two consecutive rounds—she won 4-3 in a grim first-round battle against Varuni Jaiswal of Telangana—but the experience of the RBI woman held her in good stead as Ayhika upped the ante when it was the need of the hour in the sixth game to disallow any further liberty to Frenaz.
Earlier in the day, in the first round encounter, Frenaz Chipia saved four match points before she overcame Varuni Jaiswal of Telegana in a seven-game first round thriller. Frenaz won 11-9 11-13 12-10 5-11 11-8 12-14 12-10.
Leading 3-2, Frenaz had a match point at 10-9 in the sixth game. However, Varuni came up with a timely forehand winner and then followed with couple of down-the-line shots forcing Frenaz to play the decider. The deciding game was complete contrast. Telegana girl, Varuni enjoyed four match points at 10-6 before Frenaz tilted match in her favour.
The experienced Surti came up with extraordinary backhand winners and returns which left Varuni mere spectator. At 11-10, when Varuni’s shot went flying outside table, Frenaz completed a thrilling win.
In the second round, Frenaz faced second seed Ayhika Mukherjee. Frenaz stretched the RBI player to six games before losing 2-4.
Meanwhile, Dhairya made to second round of Men’s section. After overcoming qualifying rounds, Dhairya faced Rajasthan’s Anukram Jain, who had beaten the Amdavadi in last two encounters. “It wasn’t easy. But I kept cheering myself and played some positive and aggressive shots. My service fetched me good points. Moreover, first time I will play second round match in Men’s section in a National competition,” remarked Dhairya after his 11-9 11-9 4-11 9-11 11-8 12-10 win.
Dhairya also followed Frenaz footsteps. In the second round he went down to Rohit Bhanja 0-4.
Another Amdavadi, Akshit Salva also made it to the main draw. Unfortunately, the left-handed paddler went down fighting to Vivek Bhargav of Rajasthan 4-11 9-11 4-11 3-11.
Results:
Women: Round 32: Sutirtha Mukherjee (Har) bt Shweta Parte (RBI) 11-4, 11-5, 11-5, 11-4; Anitka Das (PSPB) bt Munmun Kundu (WB) 11-3, 14-12, 11-9, 11-5; Kowshika Venkatesan (TN) bt Mousumi Paul (PSPB) 10-12, 12-10, 6-11, 6-11, 12-10, 11-7, 11-9; Sagarika Mukherjee (Rlys) bt Disha Hulawle (Mah) 11-9, 11-6, 11-6, 7-11, 11-5; Archanaka Kamath (PSPB) bt Surbhi Patwar (WB) 4-11, 11-4, 11-3, 9-11, 11-5, 11-7; Anusha Kutumbale (MP) bt Amrutha Pushpak (RBI) 11-9, 11-5, 11-7, 8-11, 11-6; Moumita Dutta (WB) bt Nithyashree Mani (TN) 9-11, 11-7, 11-13, 5-11, 11-7, 11-9, 11-9; Sreeja Akula (RBI) bt Manushree Patil (Mah) 7-11, 11-0, 6-11, 11-5, 11-2, 11-3; Madhurika Patkar (PSPB) bt Anannaya Basak (Mah) 11-4, 12-10, 13-11, 11-5; Kaushani Nath (Rlys) bt Riti Shankar (Har) 11-6, 9-11, 11-7, 12-10, 11-9; Puja Sahasrabudhe (PSPB) bt Monica Manohar (Telg) 11-9, 8-11, 11-7, 11-7, 6-11, 11-9; Prapti Sen (WB) bt Harshavardhini (RBI) 11-6, 11-6, 11-6, 9-11, 11-7; Naina (Telg) bt Selenadeepthi Selvakumar (TN) 4-11, 11-7, 11-2, 12-10, 11-13, 11-6; Reeth Rishya (PSPB) bt Srushti Haleangadi (Mah) 13-11, 11-3, 11-7, 7-11, 5-11, 5-11, 11-8; Divya Deshpande (PSPB) bt Takeme Sarkar (WB) 11-5, 11-8, 11-6, 6-11, 11-8; Ayhika Mukherjee (RBI) bt Frenaz Chipia (Guj) 8-11, 11-9, 11-8, 11-5, 8-11, 11-6.