Sharath, Madhurika top seeds; Ghosh, Shamini relegated

Patna, January 10, 2014: Top-ranked Indian Achanta Sharath Kamal, after having been relegated to the No. 6 position in the seeding list at Raipur nationals last year, has regained his No. 1 spot in men’s singles event of the 75th Senior National Table Tennis Championships following the main draw taken out at the Patliputra Sports Complex here today.

In the women’s section, it will his Petroleum team mate Madhurika Patkar who has been seeded No. 1, thanks to her two title victories at the Gandhidham (Central) and Thanke (West) zonal events earlier this season.

Normally, players are seeded as per the ranking points they accumulate during the domestic events throughout the year. In the case of Sharath, who has not played in a single tournament in India this season, the technical committee has considered his world ranking—he is currently world No. 50—as the basis for the nationals here.

“Since Sharath has been representing India at various IITF pro-tours this season and is the top-ranked Indian in the world, he has been seeded No. 1 here,” said competition manager Ganeshan N. Iyer. “For other players, we have purely taken into consider their ranking points accrued from the domestic events,” he added.

Soumyajit Ghosh, who is the men’s singles title-holder, has been seeded fifth behind former national champion Anthony Amal Raj (No. 2), Sanil Shetty (No. 3) and Harmeet Desai (No. 4). Ghosh, who missed a few zonals, and it reflects in the ranking points he was able to garner this season. Since Ghosh form part of the top-half, he is likely run into top-seed Sharath in the semifinals, barring early hiccups.  

  

With Madhurika getting the top perch in seeding list, reigning women’s champion K. Shamini—she has failed to win a single zonal title this season—has been pushed down the ladder at No. 4 with just 225 points and drawn in the top half. In fact, Pooja Saharashrabudhe, who has 255 points, is seeded at No. 2.  Though both Neha Aggarwal and Ankita Das have 220 points each, the Siliguri girl has been seeded No.3, ahead of her PSPB team mate from Delhi, for her better performance.

This would mean that Ankita, along with the other three women, can take it easy with a first-round bye while Neha will have to sweat it out against qualifier Shailoo Noor Basha of Andhra Pradesh later tonight.

Unlike the four women, none of the men seeds has been given any luxury of bye in the first round. All top-seeds will have to get down to business straightaway soon after the women’s singles main round matches tonight.

Meanwhile, 50 women and 54 men topped their group to join the elite paddlers after the qualification matches that ended this evening. There were a few upsets of sorts like Sagarika Mukherjee from North Bengal in group 47 and veteran Arul Selvi in group 19, representing Indian Bank, who failed to cross the qualification hurdle. But for those who have made the cut, the acid test begins later tonight.  

A TTFI release