Sharath, Soumyajit ousted in early rounds

Surat, Jan.27: A rusty-looking Sharath Kamal faced defeat from the hands of 22-year-old Aakash Pal of Railways in the men’s second round of the UTT National Ranking Table Tennis Championships 2022 being played at the PDDU, Indoor Stadium in Surat on Friday.

Just back from Qatar sojourn, the four-time Olympian Sharath made unforced errors galore and looked uncomfortable against the West Bengal lad from the onset ultimately going down 1-4.

Like World No. 46 Sharath, two-times Olympian Soumyajit Ghosh of Haryana faced similar fate as the 29-year-old missed six-match points opportunities to go down to the 21-year-old Vansh Singhal 4-3 of Telangana in the men’s first-round encounter.

Meanwhile, Gujarat’s Krittwika Sinha Roy stormed into women’s pre-quarterfinal after registering a thumping 4-1 victory over RBI’s Nikhat Banu.

Two Surat boys- Harmeet Desai and Manav Thakkar (both from PSPB) won their respective Round of 32 matches and booked their pre-quarters berth.

In the U-19 boys’ qualifiers, Burhanuddin Malubhaiwala will remain the lone challenger. Pratha Pawar and Riya Jayswal are Gujarat’s hopes in the U-19 girls’ category.

Key results:
Men’s second round: Akash Pal bt Sharat Kamal 4-1 (13-15, 11-5, 11-6, 11-8, 11-6).
Women’s Round of 32: Krittwika Sinha Roy (GUJ) bt Nikhat Banu (RBI) 4-1 (11-7, 11-5, 13-11, 6-11, 11-8). Sutirtha Mukharjee (RSPB) bt Frenaz Chipia 4-0 (11.5, 11-4, 11-6, 11-1).