Qualifier Anshuman packs off 2nd-seed Divyansh

Alappuzha, June 22: As qualifier Anshuman Agarwal from Goa celebrates his 3-2 victory against Divyansh Srivastava, the second seed from Uttar Pradesh must be licking his wounds, mulling over the first-round loss in the 83rd Junior and Youth National Table Tennis Championships at the YMCA facilities, here today.

The UP boy, a potential challenger to top-seed Payas’ hegemony, has to blame it on his lackadaisical performance, and that too, after levelling the score 2-2. To begin with, the Goan lad pushed the envelope beyond his capacity to come out the winner was credible. On the other hand, Divyansh failed to finish his points. In the decider, both had their opportunities and experienced Divyansh should have clinched the game. But a few unforced errors and, in his anxiety to finish, forced himself when he could have kept his cool.

A few other matches in the section witnessed intense battles. Samrath Sharma of Chandigarh posed some problems to Priyanuj Bhattacharyya of Assam when he levelled the score 2-2. The Assam lad, however, won the decider on minimal points to move into the round of 32.  

Tharun Shanmugam of Tamil Nadu, leading 2-0, lost his grip over the round of 64 matches when Soumil Mukherjee of West Bengal seized the moment to win 8-11, 4-11, 12-10, 11-9, 11-9. Shivam Chandra of UP made amends in the nick of time to win his first-round match 11-8, 11-8, 4-11, 9-11, 12-10 against P. Yeshwanth of Karnataka.

Fortunately, however, all the eight seeds sailed into the round of 32 in the Youth Boys Under-19 in their first-round matches. Seventh-seed Divyansh Srivastava, despite scratchy, defeated Priyansh Bhati of Rajasthan 3-1 to move up. All the other seeded players went through the motions, but the race could intensify as the rounds get closer to the last-four stages that get underway tomorrow.

Important Results:

Youth Boys U-17 (Round 64): Ankur Bhaattacharjee (Ben) bt Sujan Bharadwaj (Kar) 11-7, 11-9, 11-7; Sarth Mishra (UP) bt Chaitanya Karode (MP) 11-4, 11-5, 11-5; Preyesh Raj Suresh (TNTTA) 11-7, 12-10, 11-8; Jash Modi (Mah) bt Udit Sachdev (Mah) 11-5, 11-7, 11-5; K.J. Aakash (mar) bt Aditya Jain (TTFI) 11-6, 11-8, 11-6; Aadarsh Om Chhetri (Del) bt H. Lalruatsanga (TTFI) 11-8, 8-11, 11-8, 9-11, 11-6; Shankhadip Das (Ben) bt Gaurav Panchangam (Mah) 11-9, 11-3, 11-2; Amshuman Agarwal (Goa) bt Divyansh Srivastava (UP) 11-6, 12-10, 4-11, 9-11, 11-9.

Youth Boys U-17 (Round 64): Payas Jain (Del) bt Manoj Arnav (mah) 11-9, 11-8, 11-7; Varun Balusuri (Telg) 11-4, 11-8, 8-11, 6-11, 11-8; H. Jeho (Miz) bt Priyanuj Bhattacharyya (Asm) 11-3, 11-5, 11-8; Ankur Bhattachaaryee (Ben) bt Kesavan Kannan (Telg) 11-5, 11-5, 8-11, 11-8; Deepit R. Patil (Mah) bt Anish Sontakke (Mah) 11-7, 11-6, 11-2; Aadarsh Om Chhetri (Del) bt Anokh G. Nair (Ker) 11-5, 11-6, 11-3; Divyansh Srivastava (UP) bt Priyansh Bhati (Raj) 11-7, 13-11, 10-12, 11-6; Yashansh Malik (Del) bt Samrath Sharma (Chd) 11-5, 11-2, 11-2.

A TTFI press release