Surat’s Devarsh on giant-killing spree
12th seed beats higher seeds in men’s event to enter semis
Surat, June 21: Taking advantage of playing at home, local-boy Devarsh Vaghela came up with a stupendous show as he ousted fifth seed Soham Bhattacharya and fourth seed Abhilash Raval in the men’s pre-quarterfinals and quarterfinals respectively on the second day of the Tapti Valley International School 3rd Gujarat State Ranking Table Tennis Tournament 2024 organised by Table Tennis Association of Surat District under the aegis of Gujarat State Table Tennis Association (GSTTA) at the Tapti Valley International School in Surat from June 20 to 23.
The Surat-lad Devarsh first went past Ahmedabad’s Soham 3-2 in a close encounter to book his quarters berth where he dished out a 3-0 pasting to another Amdavadi paddler Abhilash and sealed his last-four place in men’s event. Eight seed Jaynil Mehta, sixth seed Jayal Mehta and second seed Chitrax Bhatt complete the men’s semis line up.
Day two witnessed top seeds tumbling out of the tournament at early stages. The men’s top seed and winner of Bhavnagar ranking meet Pratham Madlani went down 1-3 to 16th seed Akshit Savla in the men’s pre-quarterfinal round.
Top seed in boys U-19 event and local boy Aayush Tanna too was dumped out of the tourney after he lost 0-3 to 16 seed Dhyey Jani of Bhavnagar in the pre-quarterfinal round.
The boys U-19 semi-final will feature 16th seed Dhyey, fourth seed Himansh Dahiya, third seed Arman Shaikh and second seed Janmayjay Patel.
Some Results:
Men’s Quarterfinal: Jaynil Mehta (8) (RJT) bt Akshit Savla (16) (AHD) 11-7, 9-11, 11-3, 11-4; Devarsh Vagehla (12) (SRT) bt Abhilash Raval (4) (AHD) 17-15, 13-11, 11-7; Jalay Mehta (6) (BRD) bt Dhairya Parmar (AHD) 11-8, 13-11, 11-7; Chitrax Bhatt (2) (AHD) bt Arman Shaikh (7) (ARV) 11-7, 11-7, 11-9.
U-19 Boys Quarterfinal: Dhyey Jani (16) (BVN) bt Harshvardhan Patel (8) (ARV) 11-9, 11-4, 12-10; Himansh Dahiya (4) (AHD) bt Malav Panchal (5) (AHD) 12-10, 11-5, 8-11, 11-5; Arman Shaikh (3) (ARV) bt Yash Makwana (BVN) 12-10, 11-6, 11-8; Janmayjay Patel (2) (ARV) bt Ved Panchal (10) (BVN) 12-10, 11-6, 15-13.
U-17 Boys Quarterfinal: Aayush Tanna (1) (SRT) bt Pawan Kumar (SRT) 11-4, 11-9, 11-8; Abhilaksh Patel (4) (AHD) bt Jenil Patel (5) (AHD) 11-3, 9-11, 6-11, 11-6, 13-11; Himansh Dahiya (3) (AHD) bt Malav Panchal (6)AHD) (3-0) 11-7, 11-5, 11-8; Janmayjay Patel (2) (ARV) bt Hridan Shah (7) (AHD) 11-3, 12-10, 11-1.
Women’s Qualifying: Charmy Trivedi (BVN) bt Suzaan Chauhan (VDR) 11-3, 14-12, 11-1; Siddhi Bulsara (NVS) bt Zena Chipia (AHD) 11-5, 11-7, 11-8; Shiney Anthony Gomes (AHD) bt Pratiksha Makwana (BVN) 11-7, 11-8, 11-1; Pratha Pawar (AHD) bt Dhruvi Pathak (SRT) 11-4, 11-7, 11-6; Prasunna Parekh (AHD) bt Bhumi Bambhaniya (BVN) 11-1, 11-9, 11-7; Jiya Trivedi (AHD) bt Shilpa Chudasama (BVN) 11-4, 11-5, 11-2.