Harmeet in final, saves the blushes for Gujarat as Manush exits
Vadodara, November 24: Second-seeded G. Sathiyan bowed out of medal reckoning when he fell 1-4 to the guile of ninth-seed Jeet Chandra in the singles quarterfinals of the third UTT National Ranking Table Tennis Championships at the Sama Indoor Stadium here today.
At the end of the semifinals, only two men seeds survived as Harmeet Desai, the No. 1 seed, and Jeet Chandra will clash in the final showdown later this evening.
It was no different in the women’s singles. Second seed Ayhika Mukherjee and eighth seed Archana Kamath made it to the final even as the other seeds—No. 5 Diya Chitale and No. 3 Sutirtha Mukherjee—departed in the quarterfinals when their unseeded opponents surprised them.
Sathiyan was playing his first domestic tournament this season, and one expected him to give a good account of himself as the reigning national champion. But it was not to be when he met Jeet in the quarterfinals. Unfortunately for Sathiyan, nothing worked in the morning as he committed several unforced errors, even as Jeet cashed in on the opportunities that came his way.
After the tricky first game, which Jeet won, Sathiyan managed to level the score 1-1. But the Airports Authority of India player was more accurate in attack and defence and scored quick points to put Sathiyan under pressure. The senior pro failed to withstand the pressure and made the cardinal mistake of being unable to keep the ball on the table. The AAI paddler went from strength to strength to complete the job.
Top-seeded Sreeja Akula and Diya Chitale went down to Archana and unseeded Kavyashree Baskar, respectively. As though not enough, Pritha Vartikar, another unseeded paddler, sent third-seed Sutirtha packing in the quarters.
Though appearing for PSPB, top-seed Harmeet Desai kept the local interests alive when he beat Raj Mondal of RBI 4-1 to enter the final. Earlier, Raj defeated Payas Jain 3-2. After a fine outing against Sathiyan, Jeet blanked out Anthony Amalraj in straight games.
Archana may not be in the best form, but her gritty character came to the fore in back-to-back matches. After leading 3-0 in the semifinals against Kavyashree Baskar of Tamil Nadu, the former national champion dropped three consecutive games, putting herself in deep trouble. But she raised the level in the decider and won. In the quarterfinal against Sreeja, Archana trailed 0-2 before outsmarting the top seed from RBI to win the last three games.
Results:
Men’s Singles: Semifinals: Harmeet Desai (PSPB) bt Raj Mondal (RBI)11-5, 7-11, 14-12, 11-6, 11-5; Jeet Chandra (AAI) bt Anthony Amalraj (PSPB) 11-7, 11-7, 14-12, 11-6.
Quarterfinals: Harmeet Desai bt Sudhanshu Grover (Del) 11-5, 10-12, 11-6, 4-11, 11-6; Raj Mondal bt Payas Jain (Del) 13-11, 9-11, 11-9, 8-11, 12-10; Anthony Amalraj bt Manush Shah (RBI) 11-7, 12-10, 14-16, 11-13, 11-7; Jeet Chandra bt G. Sathiyan (PSPB) 12-10, 8-11, 11-6, 11-8.
Women’s Singles: Semifinals: Archana Kamath (PSPB) bt Kavyashree Baskar (TN) 11-8, 12-10, 11-7, 9-11, 9-11, 9-11, 11-5; Ayhika Mukherjee (RBI) bt Pritha Vartikar (Mah) 11-3, 11-8, 11-4, 11-2.
Quarterfinals: Archana Kamath bt Akula Sreeja (RBI) 4-11, 9-11, 11-6, 11-3, 11-8; Kavyashree Baskar bt Diya Chitale (RBI) 8-11, 11-7, 11-3, 6-11, 11-6; Pritha Vartikar (Mah) 11-8, 9-11, 12-10, 4-11, 11-9; Ayhika Mukherjee bt Trisha Gogoi (Asm) 12-10, 11-5, 11-3.