The PSPB lad beat Saha 4-3 (11-8, 3-11, 9-11, 11-3, 11-6,
4-11, 11-6) but Sathiyan had to really toil for the win. In contrast, former
national champion Soumyajit Ghosh, making his first appearance in a zonal this
season, was in hot form and steamrolled AAI’s Sushmit Sriram 13-11, 11-8, 11-5,
11-9 from the lower half as bigger seeds had fallen by the wayside in earlier
rounds. But the surprises pack was the two youngsters—southpaw Abhishek Yadav
and Lalrin Puia—making the semifinal grade. Yadav now represents PSPB while
Puia is still part of the Academy at Ajmer .
Yadav beat RBI’s Raj Mondal 3-11, 11-3, 11-3, 11-8, 8-11,
12-10 and Puia from the top half downed another AAI lad Nitin Thiruvengadam
12-10, 9-11, 11-6, 11-7, 8-11, 11-6. Mondal had earlier accounted for Central
Zone winner Devesh Karia of Gujarat 4-3 in the
pre-quarterfinals.
In the first semifinal tomorrow, Sathiyan will take on
Puia while in the second, Yadav will clash with Ghosh. The finals in all
sections are slated for tomorrow evening.
Inconsistent Mouma
Consistency seemed to dog Central Zone winner Mouma Das as
the top-seeded women’s player failed to progress beyond quarterfinals here,
losing 3-4 to eighth-seeded PSPB team mate Manika Batra in a gripping
encounter. Fourth seed Poulomi Ghatak, who lost in the first round of the main
draw at the previous zonal, was accounted for by AAI’s Krittwika Sinha Roy 4-2.
But both No. 2 seed Pooja Sahasrabudhe and No. 3 Suthirtha Mukherjee, the
women’s singles winner at Gandhidham, moved into the semifinals. Suthirtha had
an emphatic 4-0 win over No. 6 Madhurika Patkar and Pooja struggled before
overcoming No. 7 Mousumi Paul 4-2.
However, credit must be given to Mouma, who justified her
top billing, and upped the level of her game after being down 0-2. Mouma, who
takes her own time to size up her opponent, was really warmed up and executing
consistent winners took the third game 13-11.
The game, which went into deuce
twice, brought her confidence level to new heights and it was visible in the
next two as she went 3-2 up. But a crucial backhand push gave back the reign to
Manika in the sixth which she won with minimum margin to level score. From
there, Manika made her foray in the decider and luck also favoured the brave as
the girl from Delhi
won crucial points to emerge 11-9, 11-9, 11-13, 8-11, 7-11, 11-9, 13-11.
Cakewalk for Suthirtha
She will be taking on AAI’s Krittwika Sinha Roy who, down
1-2, came back well to beat Poulomi 11-8, 7-11, 4-11, 13-11, 11-6, 11-9.
Probably, the latter was unable to cope with the agile younger legs of
Krittwika and her percentage game won her the day.
However, for Suthirtha it
was just a cakewalk against a stressed Madhurika, who committed far too many
mistakes. But her younger opponent, always waiting to cash in on them, just
disposed of her 11-8, 11-6, 11-8, 11-7 to have a semifinal show down against
Pooja.
Pooja, who finished a runner-up at the first zonal in Indore , is yet to come to
her own terms. It reflected in her quarterfinal match against Mousumi Paul.
After taking the first stretched game, she went down in the next two only to
pick up speed and momentum. Except for the fifth game which she won with minimal
point, she was stretched in all games that she won with a final verdict of
15-13, 9-11, 9-11, 13-11, 11-9, 13-11.
The main draw matches in youth sections are currently in
progress.
A TTFI Press release
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