Mumbai, October 16, 2013: Even as the India A boys made easy
forays and established themselves as a strong gold medal contender in the
Junior category, India A team’s junior girls were on shaky legs as they went
down 0-3 to unranked Chinese players at the Reliance India Junior and Cadet
Open here at the NSCI Stadium today.
But for this one aberration, the Indians in all other
sections were very much in their zones and making the right noises. In fact,
what Manika Batra with the world ranking of 30 and Suthirtha Mukherjee, ranked
60, failed to do in Group 1, both Reeth Tennison (158) and Ayhika Mukherjee
(127) accomplished as India B beat the China-India combination in Group 2 to
secure a semifinal spot ahead of the A team.
Indeed, it was not the kind of start that the hosts would
have envisaged on the opening day of the 2013 ITTF global circuit event here.
Two unranked Chinese players Yanmei Yang and Anqi Li went about their
demolishing job of both Suthirtha Mukherjee and Manika Batra in that order in
just about 40 minutes.
Yang defeated Suthirtha 8-11, 11-9, 11-7, 11-5 and Li
outsmarted Batra 5-11, 11-6, 4-11, 11-6, 11-7 to forewarn that it will not be a
cakewalk for the higher ranked Indians. Both Suthirtha and Mankia were guilty
of playing into the Chinese hands who kept their basics right. Suthirtha began
promisingly taking the first game, only to lose the next three on the trot.
Manika, on the other hand, showed a lot of enterprise only
to falter as after winning the first and third games and leading 2-1, she
succumbed to Li’s slow and cautious game plan. Li was excellent in keeping the
ball on the table while Manika, more often than not, only managed to put it
back on the net. That was her undoing and, seizing the opportunity, Li just
rolled over the Indian in style.
“She (Li) was too good with her backhand play. I was not
able to play my shots and made far too many mistakes at the net,” said Manika.
The lanky Indian, however, said that the team will make amends in the latter
matches.
So far, the teams that have made it to the second stage
include India A and B in
Junior Boys, India A in
Cadet Boys and India
A and B teams in Cadet Girls. Two teams from each group will qualify for the
semifinals to be played tomorrow morning with the finals to follow in
the evening.
Overall the hosts have held sway over the rest in fray and
are on way to sweeping the medal tally, expect for the India A girls
who could end up with the silver. They are expected to meet the Chinese in the
Junior Girls final.
In the Junior Girls, the Reeth and Ayhika had to put in the
extra effort to win their group match against the India-China combination of
Senhora D’Souza and Xiaotong Sun. One Chinese in that combine made all the
difference with Sun winning both her singles. However, with Senhora being the
weak link, Reeth and Ayhika won their singles against the Mumbai girl and then
beat the India-China duo in the doubles to book their semifinal slot.
In yet another match, India B fared well in the Cadet Boys
section as they went past China ,
thanks to Ayush Tayal and Arjun Ghosh. Though Tayal lost his match to Yuhao
Wang, Ghosh levelled the score by winning against Beizeng Wang. After that the
Indians went 2-1 up after beating the Chinese pair in the doubles, Arjun had a
tough ask against Yuhao in the reverse singles. Arjun, brushing aside a stiff
challenge, won 3-2 (4-11, 11-8, 12-10, 12-10, 11-7).
Results
Junior Boys: Group 1: India A bt India E 3-0 (Abhishek
Yadav bt Sanish Ambekar 11-8, 6-11, 11-5, 11-7, Sudhanshu Grover bt Chinmay
Vinod 11-8, 8-11, 8-11, 11-9, 13-11; India A bt China-Iran 3-0 (Sudhanshu
Grover bt Huabing He 11-6, 11-6, 11-3, Abhishek Yadav bt Nia Sooroosh Amiri
11-1, 11-4, 13-11, Sudhanshu/Abhishek bt He/Amiri 11-3, 11-7, 11-9; India E bt
China-Iran Chinmay Vinod bt Huabing He 11-8, 8-11, 11-7, 11-6, Sanish Ambekar
bt Soroosh Nia Amiri 11-5, 10-12, 11-7, 11-8, Vinod/Sanish bt He/Amiri 11-8,
11-8, 5-11, 9-11, 11-8.
Group 2: Inda B bt India D 3-0 (Utkarsh Gupta bt Nishad Shah
11-7, 4-11, 9-11, 11-5, 11-6, Sabhya Virmani bt Mudit Dani 11-5, 11-7, 11-8,
Utkarsh/Sabhya bt Nishaad/Mudit 13-15, 11-3, 9-11, 11-5, 11-4; India B bt India
C 3-0 (Utkarsh Gupta bt Rohit Rajasekhar 11-9, 11-4, 8-11, 11-6, Sabhya Virmani
bt Sameera Kumar 11-2, 11-9, 11-7, Utkarsh/Sabhya bt Rohit/Sameera Kumar 11-8,
12-10, 5-11, 11-5; India C bt India D 3-2 (Sameera Kumar lost to Nishaad Shah
8-11, 5-11, 9-11, Rohit Rajasekhar bt Mudit Dani 11-8, 11-6, 11-6,
Sameera/Rohit bt Nishaad/Mudit 11-8, 11-5, 10-12, 11-9, Rohit Rajasekhar lost
to Nishaad Shah 9-11, 8-11, 6-11, Sameera Kumar bt Mudit Dani 11-9, 11-3,11-5.
Junior Girls: Group 1: China bt India A 3-0 (Yanmei
Yang bt Suthirtha Mukherjee 8-11, 11-9, 11-7, 11-5, Anqi Li bt Manika Batra
6-11, 11-6, 4-11, 11-6, 11-7, Yang/Li bt Manika/Suthirtha 11-7, 11-4, 11-6;
India A bt India C 30 (Manika Batra bt Mallika Bhandarkar 8-11, 11-5, 11-6,
11-5, Suthirtha Mukherjee bt Narisimha Priya 13-11, 11-7, 11-7,
Manika/Suthirtha bt Mallika/Priya 11-7, 9011, 13-11, 11-6; China bt India C 3-0
(Anqi Li bt Narasimha Priya 11-2, 11-8, 11-9, Yanmei Yang bt Mallika Bhandarkar
11-13, 11-5, 13-11, 11-8, Li/Yang bt Priya/Mallika 6-11, 11-4, 11-5, 11-7.
Group 2: India B bt India D 3-0 (Ayhika Mukherjee bt Devika
Bhide 18-11, 11-7, 11-6, Reeth Tennison bt Shireen Inamdar 11-1, 11-9, 11-8,
Ayhika/Reeth bt Devika/Shireen 11-7, 11-5, 11-6; India B bt China-India 3-2
(Ayhika Mukherjee bt Senhora D’Souza 11-7, 11-6, 11-8, Reeth Tennison lost to
Xiaotong Sun 8-11, 6-11, 11-6, 8-11, Ayhika/Reeth bt Senhora/Sun 7-11, 11-9,
11-6, 11-5, Ayhika Mukherjee lost to Xiaotong Sun 11-4, 11-7, 3-11, 6-11, 7-11,
Reeth Tennison bt Senhora D’Souza 11-6, 8-11, 9-11, 11-4, 11-6, China-India bt
India D 3-1 (Senhora D’Souza bt Devika Bhide 11-6, 11-9, 11-5, Xiaotong Sun bt
Shireen Inamdar 11-3, 11-6, 11-7, Senhora/Sun lost to Devika/Shireen 10-12,
6-11, 11-4, 11-7, 8-11, Xiaotong Sun bt Devika Bhide 11-5, 15-13, 11-2.
Cadet Boys: Group 1: India A bt UAE 3-0 (Birdie Boro bt
Abdullaa Albalooshi 11-5, 11-5, 11-6, Anirban Ghosh bt Salah Al-Balooshi 11-6,
11-4, 11-4, Birdie/Anirban bt Abdulla/Salah 11-7, 11-6, 11-13, 14-12; India A
bt India C 3-0 (Birdie Boro bt Lalhunhlua 11-8, 5-11, 11-9, 11-2, Anirban Ghosh
bt Lalrin Puia 11-8, 9-11, 11-8, 11-5, Birdie/Anirban bt Lalhunhlua/Puia 11-5,
11-7, 10-12, 11-3.
Group 2: India B bt India-UAE 3-0 (Arjun Ghosh bt Saif
Alfalasi 11-5, 11-2, 11-3, Ayush Tayal bt Shaurya Tushar 11-5, 11-9, 11-8,
Arjun/Ayush bt Shaurya/Saif 11-6, 11-8, 11-7; China bt Nigeria-India 3-0 (Yuhao
Wang bt Hammed Osibanjo 11-4, 11-8, 11-7, Beizeng Wang lost to Siddhesh Mukund
5-11, 9-11, 7-11, Yuhao/Beizeng bt Hammed/Siddhesh 11-7, 11-7, 11-6;
India B bt China 3-1 (Ayush Tayal lost to Yuhao Wang 11-8, 6-11, 4-11,
6-11, Arjun Ghosh bt Beizeng Wang 13-11, 14-12, 11-8, Ayush/Arjun bt
Yuhao/Beizeng 11-9, 11-9, 10-12, 11-2, Arjun Ghosh bt Yuhao Wang 4-11, 11-8,
12-10, 12-10, 11-7; Nigeria-India bt India-UAE Siddhesh Mukund bt Sail Alfalasi
6-11, 11-2, 11-8, 11-3, Hammed Osibanjo lost to Shaurya Tushar 11-9, 7-11,
11-9, 7-11, 9-11, Siddhesh/Hammed bt Saif/Shaurya 11-8, 11-6, 5-11, 11-8; India
B bt Nigeria-India 3-0 (Ayush Tayal bt Siddhesh Mukund 12-10, 12-10, 14-12,
Arjun Ghosh bt Hammed Osibanjo 11-4, 15-13, 11-6, Tayal/Arjun bt Siddhesh/Hammed
12-10, 11-5, 11-4; China bt India-UAE 3-0 (Yuhao Wang bt Saif Alfalasi 11-9,
11-2, 11-3, Beizeng Wang bt Shaurya Tushar 11-7, 11-7, 11-9, Yuhao/Beizeng bt
Shaurya/Saif 11-6, 13-11, 9-11, 11-4.
Cadet Girls: Group 1: India B bt India D 3-0
(Sreeja Kula bt Ashlesha Trehan 8-11, 11-7, 11-6, 7-11, 11-5, Moumita Dutta bt
Mansi Mahendra 11-13, 13-11, 11-3, 11-9, Sreeja/Moumita bt Ashlesha/Mansi 11-6,
13-11, 9-11, 11-8; India B bt India C 3-2 (Moumita Dutta bt Naina 11-5, 119,
13-11, Sreeja Akula bt Shruti Vijay Amrute 11-5, 4-11, 11-6, 5-11, 11-7,
Moumita/Sreeja lost to Naina/Shruti 10-12, 10-12, 7-11, Sreeja Akula lost
to Naina 5-11, 11-5, 7-11, 8-11, Moumita Dutta bt Shruti Vijay Amrute 11-7,
11-4, 11-9.
Group 2: India A bt India E 3-0 (Calange Ravichandra bt
Dyuti Sagar 11-9, 11-8, 11-6, Sagarika Mukherjee bt Srushti Halengadi 12-10,
11-5, 11-2, Calange/Sagarika bt Dyuti/Srushti 11-6, 7-11, 11-5, 9-11, 12-10;
India A bt Hong Kong-India 3-0 (Calange Ravichandra bt Desiree Hung 11-4, 11-6,
11-3, Sagarika Mukherjee bt Aishwarya Pathak 11-7, 11-4, 9-11, 4-11, 11-7,
Calange/Sagarika bt Desiree/Aishwarya 11-3, 12-10, 11-4.
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