Amalraj, Madhurika are men, women champs in North Zone TT

Chandigarh, June 30, 2016: Top-seeded Anthony Amalraj defeated sixth seed Sanil Shetty 4-2 to win the men’s singles title while No. 3 seed Madhurika Patkar beat fourth-seeded Pooja Sahasrabuddhe 4-2 to win the women’s singles crown in the 11Even Sports National Ranking (North Zone) Table Tennis Championships at the Panjab University Gymnasium Indoor Hall here today.

Their title-winning efforts fetched them Rs. 66,000 and Rs. 55,000, respectively.

Amalraj, who had won two zonal titles last year, began well and kept himself in the hunt throughout, particularly after the semifinal win over longtime friend and Chennai mate G. Sathiyan 4-3. As compared to the earlier outing, the final against southpaw Sanil Shetty was rather easy despite the two going at a good pace.

Though Amalraj opened with a first-game loss, he was quick enough size up his rival’s game plan and hit the groove nicely. In the fourth, however, Shetty made good efforts to put up some fight and even managed to extend Amalraj a bit. But once Amalraj led 3-1, it was all over bar the shouting for Shetty as he was allowed the liberty of just two points in the fifth game.

Elated Madhurika

It was a good beginning to the season by Madhurika Patkar as she had completed missed a ranking title last season. The season before in 2014, she just had a title (East Zone) to show which she had won at Siliguri. But, as Madhuri later admitted, she had a nervous second-round start against six-time national champion Paulomi Ghatak, who was returning after motherhood.

Madhurika passed that test and followed it up with a tough match against Suthirtha Mukherjee in the quarterfinals earlier in the day. Having crossed the two barriers, it was a little easy for the determined PSPB player, even though Pooja made her work for points.

“I thought the second round match against Paulomi was tough because she is such an experienced player I had to be careful. Suthirtha too played well and was posing a lot of problems. But those two wins gave me the confidence in the final as I was determined not to let the trophy go off my hands,” said Madhurika.

The biggest upset of the day, however, was that of top-seed Manika Batra, who is also the reigning national champion. After the exit of No. 2 seed Mouma Das, who is bound for Olympics at Rio in August, yesterday Manika followed her today. Losing in early rounds was not a big sin but the way she lost to Pooja Sahasabuddhe, without even putting up a semblance of fight surprised everyone. But one cannot take away the credit from Pooja as she had a nice rhythm going her way. However hard Manka tried, she could not make a match of it.   

Double for Manav

Manav Thakkar, who won the Junior Boys title yesterday, beat West Bengal’s Arjun Ghosh 4-1 in the Youth Boys final to complete a double. The PSPB Academy boy who missed the title narrowly last time made it his own with a clinical performance. Arjun had won the title last year in the West Zone event at Thane.

Archana Kamath, who could not defend the Junior title, made amends to regain the Youth Girls title beating her AAI colleague Sreeja Akula 4-1. Archana had won the Youth title at Agra in the same event two seasons ago.  “I was a bit upset when I could not progress in the junior event. I was feeling the pressure. But I am happy I could hit it off in the Youth final. I had a nice flow and getting my strokes right,” said Archana.

Results:

Men’s Singles: Final: A. Amalraj (PSPB) bt Sanil Shetty (PSPB) 4-1 (5-11, 11-8, 11-8, 13-11, 11-2);Semifinals: A. Amalraj bt G. Sathiyan (PSPB) 4-3 (12-10, 9 -11, 3-11, 9-11, 11-9, 11-9, 11-6), Sanil Shetty bt Harmeet Desai (PSPB) 4-2 (11-6, 13-11, 5-11, 13-11, 5-11, 15-13); Quarterfinals: Amalraj bt Subhajit Saha (PSPB) 11-7, 12-10, 11-8, 11-8), Sathiyan bt Utkarsh Gupta (Del) 4-2 (11-8, 11-9, 11-8, 8-11, 10-12, 11-6), Sanil Shetty bt Sudhanshu Grover (PSPB) 4-2 (11-2, 10-12, 11-4, 12-114, 11-8, 11-7), Harmeet Desai bt Jubin Kumar (Har) 4-1 (10-12, 11-6, 11-9, 11-9, 11-7).

Women’s Singles: Final: Madhurika Patkar (PSPB) bt Pooja Sahasrabuddhe (PSPB) 4-2 (12-10, 11-5, 7-11, 11-9, 13-15, 11-8); Semifinals: Pooja Sahasrabuddhe bt Manika Batra (PSPB) 4-0 (11-9, 11-7, 11-8, 11-4), Madhurika Patkar bt Shruti Amrute (Mah-B) 4-2 (14-12, 11-8, 4-11, 11-4, 9-11, 11-5);Quarterfinals: Manika Batra bt Frenz Chipia (AAI) 4-0 (11-5, 11-8, 11-7, 11-4), Pooja Sahasrabuddhe bt K. Shamini (PSPB) 4-3 (11-8, 8-11, 4-11, 8-11, 15-13m 11-8, 11-6), Madhurika Patkar bt Suthirtha Mukherjee (WB) 4-2 (14-12, 11-8, 4-11, 11-4, 9-11, 11-5),  Shruti Amrute bt Reeth Rishya (PSPB) 4-1 (11-3, 11-7, 11-9, 9-11, 11-2).

Youth Boys: Final: Manav Thakkar (PSPBA) bt Arjun Ghosh (WB) 4-1 (11-9, 8-11, 11-9, 11-5, 11-7);Semifinals: Arjun Ghosh bt Ronit Bhanja (AAI) 4-1 (8-11, 11-9, 11-6, 11-5, 11-8), Manav Thakkar bt Utkarsh Gupta (Del) 4-3 (11-8, 4-11, 10-12, 11-4, 4-11, 13-11, 11-9); Quarterfinals: Ronit Bhanja bt Jeet Chandra (WB) 4-0 (11-6, 11-9, 11-4, 11-6), Arjun Ghosh bt Birdie Boro (PSPB) 4-3 (11-5, 11-7, 7-11, 11-8, 7-11, 10-12, 11-7), Utkarsh Gupa bt Lalrin Puia (Miz) 4-3 (5-11, 11-4, 11-6, 2-11, 11-6, 4-11, 12-10), Manav Thakkar bt Abhishek Yadav (PSPB) 4-2 (11-9, 9-11, 4-11, 11-6, 11-9, 11-7).

Youth Girls: Final: Archana G. Kamath (AAI) bt Sreeja Akula (AAI) 4-1 (11-8, 11-7, 11-4, 9-11, 11-1);Semifinals: Archana Kamath bt Ayhika Mukherjee (AAI) 4-2 (11-5, 11-7, 8-11, 9-11, 13-11, 11-6), Sreeja Akula (AAI) bt Manushree Patil (Mah-A) 4-1 (8-11, 11-7, 11-6, 11-7, 11-5); Quarterfinals: Ayhika Mukherjee bt Priyanka Pareek (Raj) 4-0 (11-3, 11-6, 11-7, 11-3), Archana Kamath bt Priyadarshini Das (WB) 4-0 (11-9, 11-7, 11-6, 11-7), Manushree Patil bt Tanishi Kirtani (Goa) 4-0 (11-8, 11-7, 12-10, 11-3), Sreeja Akula bt S. Seleenadeepthi (AAI) 4-1 (5-11, 11-9, 11-5, 11-8, 11-8).

Pic captions:

1. Women's singles champion Madhurika Patkar (third from left) along with other medallists

2.Men's champion Anthony Amalraj (second from left) along with other medallists.

Photo and news: TTFI

North Zone TT: Manav defends his Junior title; Reeth upsets Mouma

Chandigarh, June 29, 2016: Defending champion Manav Thakkar retained the Junior Boys title, beating Jeet Chandra of West Bengal in the 11Even Sports National Ranking (North Zone) Table Tennis Championships at the Panjab University Gymnasium Indoor Hall here today.

The PSPB Academy boy, running into an early form, disposed off his West Bengal rival 4-1.  No doubt, he was missing his usual rhythm in the first game as he was stretched a bit by Jeet. He, however, soon settled down to play a fast game. Jeet, too, was up to it and managed to take a game off Manav in between before the Baroda boy shut him out with a crispy forehand, allowing him just two points. The win was worth Rs. 16,500 while Jeet received Rs. 8,200 for his effort.

Manav later admitted that he was a bit rusty but was confident of winning. “I made a few mistakes which led to the deuces twice. But I hit my rhythm nicely and was not worried when Jeet took the third game,” he said.

If the top women’s seed Manika Batra survived a scare from Maharashtra’s Senhora D’Souza to win her pre-quarterfinal game 4-2, second seeded Mouma Das got it all wrong against Reeth Rishya to go 3-4 down. Both Manika and Mouma had returned from Japan Open just a week ago but it was a different ball game at the first outing of the season for both.

In fact, Mouma who has had a bad game today, just followed the other seeds from PSPB—No. 6 Ankita Das, No. 7 Krittwika Sinha Roy and No. 8 Divya Deshpande—that failed to progress earlier in the day as they went down to qualifiers in the second round of the main draw. However, all the top-eight men seeds moved into the pre-quarterfinals.

Manika was reeling under enormous pressure as she had to keep her reputation intact. Senhora, on the other hand, had nothing to lose and played brilliantly to push the reigning national champion on the back foot. After taking 1-0 lead, Senhora had everything going for her as she went up 9-4 in the second as well as the third. But she let Manika off the hook as the Olympic-bound Delhi girl came back to win both from that position. That’s actually where Senhora was lost the plot even though the Maharashtra girl managed to win the fourth game. But then Manika had entrenched well after the great escape to sew it up quickly.

Mouma, bringing all her experience to the table, led 3-2. But Reeth, who has had this ability to come out of trouble—she did it in the South Zone event last year at Chennai—changed course to take the next two to seal the fate of the Rio-bound Mouma.  

Former national champion Paulomi Ghatak, despite putting up a brave front, lost to Madhurika Patkar 3-4 and Paulomi’s husband, also a former national champion, too bit the dust in the second round of the main draw, losing to LIC’s Sougata Sarkar 1-4.

Both the men and women quarterfinals are slated for later tonight and they will play their last two rounds, including the finals on the concluding day tomorrow.

It was an easy semifinal outing for Manav Thakkar while Jeet Chandra had to dust off his rust before overcoming junior national champion Manush Shah to win 4-2.

Results:

Junior Boys: Final: Manav Thakkar (PSPB) bt Jeet Chandra (WB) 4-1 (13-11, 11-6, 9-11, 11-3, 11-2);Semifinals: Manav Thakkar  bt Sarthak Seth (UP) 4-0 (11-6, 11-6, 11-6, 11-2), Jeet Chandra bt Manush Shah (Guj) 4-2 (11-7, 7-11, 11-5, 11-5, 7-11, 11-7); Quarterfinals: Manav Thakkar bt Aniruddh Marathe (Mah-A) 4-0 (11-8, 11-4, 11-5, 11-7), Sarthak Seth bt Ishant Hingorank (Guj) 4-1 (11-3, 8-11, 11-8, 11-4, 11-8), Manush Shah bt Yashansh Malik (Del) 4-2 (11-9, 11-9, 11-13, 5-11, 11-6, 11-5), Jeet Chandra bt Shivaji Roy (JKD) 4-0 (11-7, 11-7, 11-7, 11-7).

Women’s Singles: PQF: Manika Batra bt Senhora D’Souza 4-2 (9-11, 11-9, 11-9, 6-11, 11-9, 11-3), Chipia Frenaz (AAI) bt M.V. Spoorthy (Kar) 4-2 (11-7, 11-3, 11-6, 8-11, 5-11, 11-2), K. Shamini bt Ayhika Mukherjee (AAI) 4-0 (11-7, 14-12, 11-3, 11-5), Pooja Sahasrabuddhe bt Pallabi Kundu (RSPB) 4-2 (9-11, 11-7, 8-11, 11-8, 12-10, 11-3), Madhurika Patkar bt Mousumi Paul (WB) 4-0 (12-10, 11-9, 11-9, 11-8), Suthirtha Mukherjee (WB) bt Garima Goyal (Del) 4-0 (11-8, 11-7, 11-2, 11-6), Shruti Amrute (Mah-B) bt Nikhat Banu (Tel_ 4-1 (11-9, 11-8, 10-12, 11-7, 12-10), Reeth Rishya bt Mouma Das 4-3 (11-4, 9-11, 11-5, 7-11, 9-11, 11-9, 11-7).

Men’s Singles: 2nd Round: A. Amalraj bt Pankaj Kumar (RSPB) 4-2 (8-11, 11-3, 8-11, 11-6, 11-9, 11-4), Sourav Saha (WB) bt S. Snehit (Tel) 4-1 (11-3, 6-11, 11-2, 11-7, 11-6), Sougata Sarkar (LIC) bt Soumyadeep Roy 4-1 (11-6, 6-11, 11-7, 11-7, 11-8), Subhajit Saha bt Sushmit Sriram (AAI) 4-1 (11-6, 11-7, 11-9, 11-13, 11-7), Abhishek Yadav bt Mohit Verma (Har) 4-1 (15-13, 8-11, 11-6, 11-6, 11-4), Utkarsh Gupta (Del) bt Subham Ojah (Raj) 4-2 (11-7, 11-9, 11-9, 6-11, 7-11, 11-6), Ravindra Kotiyan (RSPB) bt Lalrin Puia (Miz) 4-1 (11-5, 11-6, 11-6, 9-11, 11-4), G. Sathiyan bt Ronit Bhanja (AAI) 4-0 (15-13, 19-17, 11-5, 11-8), Sudhanshu Grover bt Vighyey Reddy (RBI) 4-2 (6-11, 11-8, 8-11, 11-6, 11-4, 11-9), Subash Mani (IA&AD) bt Arjun Ghosh (WB) 4-1 (11-9, 11-9, 9-11, 14-12, 11-5), Anirban Nandi (RSPB) bt Sameet Sahni (Del) 4-0 (11-4, 13-11, 11-2, 11-5), Sanil Shetty bt Aman Balgu (Tel) 4-0 (11-9, 11-6, 11-7, 11-9), Jubin Kumar (Har) bt Piyush Prasad (Del) 4-1 (11-7, 11-8, 8-11, 13-11, 11-8), Siddhesh Pande (Mah) bt Birde Boro (PSPB) 4-2 (12-10, 8-11, 11-8, 9-11, 11-6, 11-8), Manav Thakkar (PSPPB) bt Kironjoy Kushilal (WB) 4-0 (11-2, 13-11, 11-8, 11-6), Harmeet Desai bt Raj Mondal (RBI) 4-2 (11-9, 8-11, 13-11, 6-11, 11-9, 11-7).

TTFI Press release

Priyanka is junior girls champion in North Zone TT

Chief guest Naina Singh Chautala poses with Priyanka Pareek of Rajasthan and Prapti Sen of West Bengal and Abhinaya Ramesh and Seleenadeepthi Selvakumar, the bronze medal winners along with other officials.

Winner Priyanka Pareek (right) posing with runner-up Prapti Sen (WB)

Chandigarh, June 28, 2016: Priyanka Pareek of Rajasthan held her nerves in the closing stages of the Junior Girls final, fortunately converted her sixth match-point to beat West Bengal’s Prapti Sen 4-3 and lift the golden trophy in the 11Even Sports National Ranking (North Zone) Table Tennis Championships at the Panjab University Gymnasium Indoor Hall here today.

It was fifth-seeded Priyanka’s maiden title and it had come after some toil and sweat as the unseeded Prapti not only matched her opponent stroke for stroke, but even threatened to take home the winner’s purse of Rs. 13,200 before she was stopped on her tracks. It’s another matter that she had to settle for the runner-up prize, half of what Priyanka got.

At 5-1, Priyanka was a runaway hit with the spectators but Prapti closed in on at 6-3. Yet, Priyanka continued with his excellent backhands, including those wonderful edge-of-the-table placements. But the little girl from Kolkata was adept at anything that Priyanka sent as she narrowed down her rival’s lead to nil when she deuced at 10-10, saving five match points.

But luckily for Priyanka, she got those two vital points with a good forehand and when Prati failed to put the ball across, it was all over bar the shouting for the West Bengal girl.

Prapti had to labour a lot against the tough Abhinaya Ramesh of Tamil Nadu before overcoming her 4-3 in what turned out to be a very good match this evening. However, it was a contrasting semifinal between Priyanka Pareek and Seleenadeepthi Selvakuar of Tamil Nadu which the former won 4-0 and in double quick time.

Prapti, who has a few zonal titles in Cadet section, was a picture of concentration against the rampaging Abhinaya, particularly when she was down 1-2. But them she pulled her socks to go 3-2 up with the Tamil Nadu girl failing to come to terms. Having broken her rhythm, the West Bengal girl was playing fast and furious, pushing Abhinaya to the brink. So much so, she just allowed her opponent four and three points each in the fourth and fifth games. But then, Abhinaya was never the one to let things go off her hands as she showed gumption to give the taste of Prapti’s own medicine and stopped her at just three points.

With everything to play for in the decider, both players kept a tight leash on their defence and were careful not to commit hara-kiri. The trend continued well for quite some time with the two going neck and neck. Yet, Prapti had a couple of lead at 7-5 but Abhinaya staged her recovery with scorching forehands to close in on at 9-10. Squandering a match-point Prapti allowed Abhinaya to deuce but she earned the subsequent two points to pull the shutters on Abhinaya. Of course, it was disappointing for the Tamil Nadu girl, but it was a game which anybody could have won.

The left-handed Priyanka, on the other hand, did not have to sweat out much against another Tamil Nadu girl, Seleenadeepthi, who had finished runner-up in the Junior Nationals last year at Dharamsala. But Seleena can take heart from the fact that she could avenge her title loss at Dharamasala to Kaushani Nath when she sent the West Bengal girl packing in the quarterfinals earlier in the day.

Coming back to Priyanka’s semifinal game, she was too good against the Tamil Nadu girl. After taking the first game at 11-8, she launched her attack on Seleena systematically to demolish her. Seleena, without a clue, did fight her way but it was too little to outwit the Rajasthan girl. The

The Junior Boys will play three rounds tomorrow, including the final tomorrow.

As for the men and women’s main draw, it gets started from tomorrow with the Olympics-bound top-seed Manika Batra and second-seeded Mouma slated to begin their campaign in the North Zone in the afternoon.  

Results:

Junior Girls: Final: Priyanka Pareek (Raj) bt Prapti Sen (WB) 4-3 (11-8, 11-13, 11-6, 7-11, 9-11, 11-9, 12-10); Semifinals: Priyanka Pareek (Raj) bt Seleenadeepthi Selvakumar (TN) 4-0 (11-8, 11-4, 11-7, 11-9), Prapti Sen (WB) bt R. Abhinaya (TN) 4-3 (8-11, 11-3, 11-13, 11-4, 11-3, 3-11, 12-10); Quarterfinals: Seleenadeepthi Selvakumar (TN) bt Kaushani Nath (WB) 4-0 (13-11, 11-5, 11-8, 11-9), Priyanka Pareek (Raj) Surabhi Patwari (WB) 4-0 (12-10, 15-13, 11-5, 11-5), R. Abhinaya (TN) bt   Anusha Kutumble (MP) 4-2 (12-10, 5-11, 11-8, 11-2, 6-11, 11-9), Prapti Sen (WB) bt Varuni Jaiswal (Tel) 4-0 (13-11, 11-6, 11-1, 11-6).

Photo and news: TTFI

Ghosh regains crown; Manika’s double fetches her a pay dirt too

New Delhi, November 7, 2015: The dice, definitely, was rolling in favour of national champion Soumyajit Ghosh. Otherwise, how can one explain the loss of Anthony Amalraj who was on the verge of completing a hat-trick of men’s singles title at the Vatika National Ranking (North Zone) Table Tennis Championships, which concluded at the Hansraj Model School, here today.

At 10-6, Amalraj was just away from wrapping it up, but Ghosh not only saved four match-points but went on to beat his PSPB rival 12-10 in the decider for his second title this season, after South Zone triumph at Chennai. Ghosh won 4-3 and Rs. 66,000. Amalraj, forlorn, had to be satisfied with half the amount and the runner-up position.

Double for Manika

In the women’s final, Manika Batra finally completed a double beating Mouma Das 4-0 in what was a totally one-sided affair. Mouma, known for her gutsy performance, was unable to confront a hot-in-form Manika, who backhand did more wonders than her forehands. Of course, there were few furious forehands as well which had elicited no answer from Mouma. Manika’s both titles earned her a total prize purse of Rs. 79, 200. Incidentally, she had won a double at the same venue two years ago.

Amalraj, who was leading 2-1, had to counter really well and come back to level when Ghosh went 3-2 up. The Chennai lad did well to bounce back in contention with a sizeable lead. But two good winners from Ghosh, and two lucky points, courtesy Amalraj, helped the Siliguri lad level 10-all. Taking the advantage, Ghosh completed his win to the chagrin of a quiet Amalraj.

Ghosh, who will be skipping the East Zone event at Guwahati, is headed straight to Sweden for another round of league games there, having sealed his place in the Indian team with 300 points for the Commonwealth Games at Surat this December. He is behind Amalraj who leads the pack with 345 points, but Ghosh can afford to miss the last zonal.

Grover back in groove.

Sudhanshu Grover was in groove today to win his first Youth Boys title this season, beating West Bengal’s Arjun Ghosh 4-3. Sudhanshu had reached the final at Chennai but lost to colleague Abhishek Yadav while Arjun had won the title at Thane during the West Zone championships.

It was a good fight in which Arjun had the upper hand but he let the chance go by when Sudhanshu played remarkably well—the match saw good, long rallies and pace—to recover from 2-3 position to win over his rival. The PSPB boy really played well in the last two games which brooked little challenge from Arjun.

For Manika, it was back-to-back Youth title and she had very little to do against team mate Reeth Rishya who was patchy today. That she was able to win just one game tells the whole story as Manika disposed of her 4-1 in less than half an hour.

Reeth had won both the South and Central Zone titles, beating Ayhika Mukherjee and Manika, respectively. Manika’s final opponent at Thane was Moumita Datta of West Bengal.

Unlike the men’s singles semifinals, which were one-sided, the women’s singles semifinals were gripping and intense. Manika Batra yet again came from behind to score another thrilling win over Maharashra’s Divya Deshpande, the title winner at Jamnagar. Yet Manika led by the fifth game but allowed Divya to level the score in the next, making the decider even more thrilling. Divya was 10-7 up and squandered her first match point as Manika made it 10-10. From there it could have been anybody’s match and Divya had another match-point go waste and Manika pounced on her chance to win the game and match.

Mouma-Madhurika match too reached its crescendo with fortunes swinging from one extreme to another. When Madhurika levelled at 3-3 on extended points, the decider had all the trappings of the first semifinal. Madhurika saved a match-point but Mouma was not the one to give any more leeway as she won in the second opportunity.

In Youth Boys, Sudhanshu Grover had to labour against Manav Thakkar to enter the final with a 4-3 verdict while it was easy 4-1 win for Arjun Ghosh against Abhishek Yadav. In the girls’ affairs, both the AAI paddlers—Ayhika Mukherjee and Sreeja Akula—lost to Reeth Rishya and Manika Batra. It will be interesting to see if Manika, who is in women’s singles and Youth Girls singles finals, can win both titles.

      

RESULTS:

Youth Boys: Final: Sudhanshu Grover (PSPB) bt Arjun Ghosh (WB) 4-3 (11-13, 11-5, 9-11 11-6, 4-11, 11-8, 11-7); Semifinals: Sudhanshu Grover bt Manav Thakkar (PSPBA) 4-3 (13-11, 5-11, 11-5, 11-9, 7-11, 9-11, 11-3), Arjun Ghosh bt Abhishek Yadav (PSPB) 4-1 (11-9, 11-13, 11-8, 11-8, 13-11).

Youth Girls: Final: Manika Batra (PSPB) bt Reeth Rishya (PSPB) 4-1 (11-9, 11-8, 3-11, 11-7, 11-6); Semifinals: Reeth Rishya bt Ayhika Mukherjee (AAI) 4-0 (11-2, 11-7, 11-7, 11-8), Manika Batra bt Sreeja Akula (AAI) 11-6, 11-4, 11-8, 11-6).  

Men’s singles: Final: Soumyait Ghosh (PSPB) bt Anthony Amalraj (PSPB) 4-3 (6-11, 12-10, 15-17, 11-6, 11-5, 8-11, 12-10); Semifinals: Anthony Amalraj bt Subhajit Saha (PSPB) 4-1 (1-11, 11-6, 11-6, 14-12, 11-9), Soumyajit Ghosh bt Devesh Karia (Guj) 4-1 (11-5, 11-3, 11-8, 8-11, 11-7).

Women’s singles: Final: Manika Batra (PSPB) bt Mouma Das (PSPB) 4-0 (11-5, 11-2, 11-8, 12-10); Semifinals: Manika Batra bt Divya Deshpande (Mah) 4-3 (8-11, 6-11, 12-10, 11-8, 12-10, 9-11, 13-11), Mouma Das bt Madhurika Patkar (PSPB) 4-3 (11-5, 5-11, 9-11, 12-10, 11-9, 11-13, 12-10).

Photo caption: Youth Girls, Youth Boys and Men's Singles Champions are on the podium

Manav recaptures title; Comeback wins put Manika, Madhurika in semifinals

New Delhi, November 6, 2015: Manav Thakkar regained the Junior Boys singles title blanking out Anirban Ghosh of West Bengal 4-0 in the Vatika National Ranking (North Zone) Table Tennis Championships, being played at the Hansraj Model School, here today.

The Petroleum Sports Promotion Board Academy (PSPBA) boy, who could not make it to the final of the West Zone at Thane, played brilliantly to outscore Anirban, who showed excellent form in the semifinal as well as in earlier matches.

Earlier, top women’s seed, Manika Batra and No. 6 seed Madhurika Patkar not only needed some luck but also had to keep their patience and strength intact in crucial games to storm into the women’s singles semifinals of Manika defeated No. 8 Pooja Sahasrabudhe while Madhurika accounted for No. 3 seed Ankita Das, both matches going into the seventh games. Similarly, veteran Subhajit Saha had to bring in his experience to enter the men’s singles semifinals, beating young Ravindra Kotiyan of Railways 4-3. Playing his best this season, he had earlier sent Sanil Shetty packing in the pre-quarterfinals.

Gutsy Manika

It needed cool temperament and extra courage to score a come-from-behind win. And that was what top-seed Manika Batra did to storm into the semifinals, beating No. 8  seed Pooja Sahasrabudhe. Down and out at 1-3, the Delhi girl made a fine recovery from game 5, executing her backhands to score great winners and eventually emerge victorious. Pooja, somehow, went into her shell after the sizeable lead and failed to counter her PSPB colleague.

Divya Deshpande, Central Zone winner at Jamnagar, accounted for RBI’s Krittwika Sinha Roy 4-0, while Mouma, beat Mousumi Paul 4-2 and Madhurika Patkar overcame a stiff resistance from her PSPB colleague Ankita Das to win 4-3. Mouma was down 0-2 and 2-4 before staging her recovery while Madhurika had to play out of her skin to outwit Ankita who led 3-2. Incidentally, this was Ankita’s first national ranking outing this season.

In men’s quarterfinals, Subhajit Saha continued to surprise with his experience and beat Railways’ Ravindra Kotiyan, who earlier felled G. Sathiyan. Saha won 4-3 in a gruelling encounter—the only match that went the full distance—with Kotiyan, coming from 1-3 down, failed to capitalize on his form and a tiring Saha.

Other quarterfinal winners included Antohony Amalraj, who beat Abhishek Yadav 4-0, Devesh Karia defeated another Railways man Anirban Nandi 4-1 and Soumyajit Ghosh downed Sudhanshu Grover 4-0.

Their semifinals and finals, along with that of Youth Boys and Girls, will be played tomorrow, the concluding day of the championships.

Mockery of seedings

Upsets are part and parcel of any tournament. But in a rare case scenario, three men seeds bowed out in the pre-quarterfinal stages of the championships here today. No. 3 seed Harmeet Desai, No. 4 G. Sathiyan, No. 5 Sanil Shetty bowed out, going down 3-4 after good fights. But their defeats also exposed these India players’ inconsistency and, more importantly, the domination of their opponents.  

Harmeet Desai, who has been running low in confidence and form, has failed to in the last three zonal events, including this one. He went down to Railways veteran Anirban Nandi 11-9, 1-11, 12-10, 6-11, 7-11, 11-5, 11-9, Sathiyan, despite 3-2 lead, bowed to the guile and speed of Ravindra Kotiyan, who won 12-10, 2-11, 6-11, 11-9, 11-13, 12-10, 11-7 and the young Sanil Shetty could not sustain against Subhajit Saha, another veteran, and lost 9-11, 10-12, 9-11, 11-8, 11-5, 11-9, 11-7.

Though it was really shocking to see all the three good players making exit, it was a pleasant surprise as well as a good omen that players like Ravindra Kotiyan, who is a Youth section player, and Anirban Nandi, who seemed past his prime, posing questions and making right noises.

Both these matches were the highlights of the day and Kotiyan, down 2-6 showed great courage to level 6-6, then 7-7 and go up 8-7 in the decider. From there, the drooping shoulders of Sathiyan said it all and Kotiyan gleefully stopped him at just 7 points. Similarly, the sixth was the game changer for Nandi who easily took it to level the match. In the decider, he made fewer mistakes and Harmeet losing steam also last it by minimal points.

Lenient umpiring

Gujarat’s Devesh Karia benefited from umpire oversight to go through when he beat Lalrin Puia 9-11, 11-13, 7-11, 11-7, 11-5, 11-7, 11-7. Obviously tried in a seven-game match, Karia was taking too much time to catch up with breath in the decider as if he was taking a walk in the park. Umpire should not only have warned him first time when he did so very early in the last game and given away points to his opponents subsequently every time he wasted time. At least four points should have gone Puia’s way.   

RESULTS:

Junior Boys: Final: Manav Thakkar (PSPBA) bt Anirban Ghosh (WB) 4-0 (11-9, 11-4, 11-8, 11-4); Semifinals: Manav Thakkar bt Jeet Chandra (WB) 11-8, 11-8, 12-10, 11-4, Anirban Ghosh bt Ananth Devarajan (TN) 11-7, 11-9, 12-10, 8-11, 6-11, 11-7;Quarterfinals: Manav Thakkar bt Ronit Bhanja (WB) 11-8, 11-8, 11-6, 9-11, 7-11, 11-4, Jeet Chandra bt Parth Virmani (Del) 11-4, 6-11, 11-7, 7-11, 11-9, 11-4,  Ananth Devarajan bt Shaurya Pednekar (Mah) 11-8, 11-9, 5-11, 11-8, 11-4, Anirban Ghosh bt Siddhesh Pande (Mah) 11-7, 3-11, 11-9, 11-6, 11-8.

Men’s singles: Quarterfinals: Anothony Amalraj (PSPB) bt Abhishek Yadav (PSPB) 11-9, 11-6, 11-7, 11-9, Subhajit Saha (PSPB) bt Ravindra Kotiyan (RSPB) 11-2, 10-12, 11-8, 11-7, 8-11, 4-11, 11-6, Devesh Karia (Guj) bt Anirban Nandi (RSPB) 11-5, 11-6, 7-11, 11-8, 11-7, Soumyajit Ghosh (PSPB) bt Sudhanshu Grover (PSPB) 13-11, 11-8, 11-6, 11-7.

Women’s singles: Quarterfinals: Manika Batra (PSPB) bt Pooja Sahasrabudhe (PSPB) 5-11, 8-11, 11-6, 4-11, 11-6, 11-5, 11-9, Divya Deshpande (Mah) bt Krittiwika Sinha Roy (RBI) 11-4, 11-9, 11-7, 11-4, Madhurika Patkar (PSPB) bt Ankita Das (PSPB) 9-11, 11-9, 14-16, 11-9, 11-13, 11-8, 11-9, Mouma Das (PSPB) bt Mousumi Paul (PSPB) 9-11, 7-11, 11-2, 11-8, 11-7, 11-3.  

TTFI Press release

Golden moment for Moumita; Priyanka gets silver

New Delhi, November 5, 2015: One-year ban seems to have do world of good to Moumita Datta. The West Bengal girl defeated Rajasthan’s Priyanka Pareek 4-1 to win her maiden Junior Girls crown in the ongoing Vatika National Ranking (North Zone) Table Tennis Championships, being played at the Hansraj Model School here today.

Returning to the arena after a year’s suspension—she was banned for misrepresenting her age—Moumita had been in good form from season opener at Chennai (South Zone). But today she blossomed to not only reach the final but also annex the title in a somewhat one-sided final.

Priyanka, who had also entered her maiden final, could not match Moumita’s guile as the former failed to adapt herself to the game plan of the West Bengal girl, who was clever in mixing her strokes. It did not suit the normally fast player like Priyanka as the southpaw struggle from game one. She was making far too many mistakes and was struggling to return. Priyanka was also guilty of not playing her original attacking game.

On the other hand, Moumita went 2-0 up before losing a game to her rival. But that was all Priyanka could do as the West Bengal paddler did well to pull the shutters down early. Priyanka, somehow, failed to repeat her semifinal form.

Intensity intact

In the semifinals held this afternoon, both the Junior Girls semifinals turned out to intensely fought matches. In the first, Moumita Datta had to face some nervous moments throughout against Maharashtra’s Srushti Haleangadi before emerging 4-3 triumphant, the match going the full distance of seven games.

After Srushti made it 3-3, it was anybody’s match from there onwards. However, the West Bengal girl had a firm grip with a sizeable lead of 6-3 and that was when Srushti replied in strong terms to bring down the lead to 6-7. But then some poor returns and netting saw Moumita go up 9-7 and from there it was difficult for the Maharashtra girl to come back. She hit once outside and netted the next to put Moumita in the driver’s seat.  

In the second too saw one game less played but was in no way less severe in intensity with Priyanka Pareek overwhelming West Bengal counterpart Kaushani Nath 4-2. Priyanka was comfortably placed with a 3-1 lead and her West Bengal rival just about managed to take one more game before the Rajasthan left-hander finished it off to enter her first final. She had reached the Youth Girls semifinals, her best performance ever, at the Central Zone at Jamnagar. However, in the Junior Girls this remains her best to this date.      

In the morning session, there were two tough quarterfinal matches, one of which saw No. 2 seed Varuni Jaiswal of Telangana biting the dust, going down to Priyanka Pareek 4-2. Varuni had won the West Zone title at Thane.

The Rajasthan southpaw, a much improved paddler, played superbly against the much acclaimed rival in the see-saw battle, two games of which went into extra points and won by Priyanka. In the other match, Srushti Haleangadi had to bring out her best to get the better off Yashini Sivakumar from Tamil Nadu. Both played really well that it was difficult to separate the winner until the decider which Shrushti won with some ease.

It was disappointing to see Archana Kamath lacking in confidence and it was evident against her West Bengal opponent Moumita Datta as the AAI girl went down 0-4 without much of a fight. No doubt, Moumita is a good player, but Archana was going through a bad patch ever since she returned from a global tour, from Croatia to Japan. Another West Bengal paddler Kaushani Nath simply ran through Tamil Nadu’s Abhinaya Ramesh to enter the semifinals.

RESULTS:

Junior Girls: Final: Moumita Datta (WB) bt Priyanka Pareek (Raj) 4-1 (11-5, 11-9, 5-11, 11-7, 11-6); Semifinals: Moumita Datta bt Srushhti Haleangadi (Mah) 9-11, 11-4, 11-9, 5-11, 11-9, 4-11, 11-7, Priyanka Pareek bt Kaushani Nath (WB) 11-6, 11-6, 9-11, 11-6, 3-11, 11-4; Quarterfinals: Srushti Haleangadi bt Yashini Sivakumar (TN) 11-9, 7-11, 5-11, 11-7, 12-10, 6-11, 11-8, Moumita Dutta bt Archana Kamath (AAI) 11-5, 11-8, 11-7, 11-5, Kaushani Nath bt Abhinaya Ramesh (TN) 11-8, 11-7, 11-8, 11-6, Priyanka Pareek bt Varuni Jaiswal (Telg) 7-11, 12-10, 11-5, 5-11, 11-9, 12-10.

TTFI Press release

Soumyadeep Roy survives first-round scare; four Delhi girls make main-draw cut

New Delhi, November 4, 2015: After a long time in recent years, four Delhi girls—Shrishti Gupta, Harsha Kalra, Aanchal Malhotra and Kritika Malik—made the qualification cut to enter the Junior Girls main draw in the Vatika National Ranking (North Zone) Table Tennis Championships, being played at the Hansraj Model School, here today.

But four others, out of a total of eight entries, could not make the grade and bowed out in group stages.

Of the four qualifiers, three of had more or less easy outings while Kritika Malik, placed in one of the top groups of 24, had to really play out of her skin in a third round match against Tamil Nadu’s Harini Udaya Kumar to grab the main draw spot.

Kritika beat Harini 3-2 (4-11, 11-3, 11-5, 8-11, 11-8) in a match that lasted 40 minutes. The Delhi girl opened very badly to lose the first game but came back nicely to take the next two. Harini, not the one to give up easily, fought back well and levelled the score to take the issue to the decider. In the decider,  Kritika had a sizeable lead and was never in discomfort as the Tamil Nadu girl, committing a few errors, only hastened the result.

As for Harsha, Shritsti and Aanchal, it was all easy for them against their third round opponents, having already won the earlier rounds. So there was no ambiguity about who will go on to lead the groups 6, 11, and 17. Harsha beat Rama Sisodia of Rajasthan 3-0 in her last group match while Shristi downed North Bengal’s Sataporni De by the same margin and Aanchal accounted for Vidhi Shah Ameet of Maharashtra, which also produced a 3-0 verdict.

Unrelenting Roy 

The unrelenting former national champion Soumyadeep Roy continued to struggle but held on to survive the first round exit during the men’s singles qualification. The PSPB veteran had to muster all his strength and experience to outsmart Punjab’s Rohan Sahni 9-11, 11-4, 11-7, 8-11, 11-8.

The Punjab lad, patient and bold, did well to comeback in the match after being down 1-2. He not only equalized the score at 2-2 but also sent some shivers into his opponent’s mind by closing in on at 7-8 in the decider. But the experience of Roy stood the former national champion in good stead as he went on to wrap it up quickly in group 30.

But for Sourav Chakravary, also a former national champion, it was not a lucky first-round outing. The PSPB player, playing from his memories, met the fate as Tamil Nadu’s Sivananda Seshadri routed him 11-9, 11-2, 11-6 in a group 25 match.

Roy, who has a couple of matches in the group stage like Sourav, can be expected to make it to the 2nd Stage, Sourav Chakravarty’s first-round loss could cost him dear.

In other interesting first-round matches in men’s singles, Gujarat’s Jignesh Jaiswal struggled to overcome Shubham Ambrea of Mahrashtra 11-3, 12-14, 11-8, 5-11, 11-7,

PSPB’s Lalhunhlua, who won 3-2 (11-6, 8-11, 11-5, 8-11, 11-0), found the going tough against Susmith Barigidad of Karnataka and Maharashtra’s Jash Davi continued to surprise with his excellent game plans to beat North Bengal’s Rajib Sarkar 9-11, 6-11, 12-10, 11-9, 11-9, after being woefully placed in the early stages of the match.

In a surprise first round outing in group 40, Delhi’s Ansul Garg beat Gujarat’s Harsh Sachanandani 11-8, 13-11, 11-7 and in the process pushing Harsh to the corner.

In women’s singles first round affairs, Tamil Nadu’s Abhinaya Ramesh defeated Megha Maitra of West Bengal 4-11, 9-11, 14-12, 11-7, 11-9 in an interesting duel in group 13. But Manisha Mukherjee, also from West Bengal, overcame Telangana’s Varuni Jaiswal 11-6, 7-11, 11-5, 5-11, 11-5 in group 24 and Rajasthan’s Priyanka Pareek beat RBI’s Kakoli Lahkar 11-7, 13-11, 12-14, 10-12, 11-4 in group 23.  

In other group matches, Gujarat’s Chipia Frenaz defeated Kritika Malik of Delhi 11-8, 11-8, 7-11, 18-16. The match saw several deuces and four match-points being saved by the Delhi girl who had every chance of taking match into the decider. But her state mate Aanchal Malhotra had a smooth first-round passage, beating North Bengal’s Puja Paul 3-0.

Haryana’s Riti Shankar accounted for Uttarakhand’s Vinita Negi 11-8, 11-1, 11-9 in a one-sided first round outing, AAI’s Sereha Jacob beat Anushree Hazra of the Railwasy 3-1 and Archana Kamath, also from Karnataka but playes for AAI, beat state mate Kshi Viswanath 11-8, 11-2, 11-8.

TTFI Press release

Anukram wins third title; Ishita her first

New Delhi, November 3, 2015: Anukram Jain of Petroleum Sports Promotion Board Academy is in a zone of his own. Today, he completed his third Sub-Junior Boys title win this season when he beat Manush Shah of Gujarat 4-1 in the Vatika National Ranking (North Zone) Table Tennis Championships, being played at the Hansraj Model School here today.

The championships, organized by the Haryana Table Tennis Association, also saw Delhi’s Ishita Gupta annexing her maiden Sub-Junior Girls crown. The DPS, Mathura Road, student beat her Maharashtra rival Swastika Ghosh 4-1.

The Delhi girl, at last, justified her true potential and made a bold and emphatic statement against Maharashtra’s Swastika Ghosh in the final. Swastika, equally promising, could not do much against Ishita who displayed all her shots and exploited the angles well. With Coach Sandeep Gupta as advisor, it was all easier for the Delhi girl.

She had one hand firmly on the trophy when she went 2-0 up, both with minimal points. But Swastika showed a glimpse of her comeback ability and won the next. But Ishita proved too clever to shut her out with early leads in the next two games without allowing any liberty for her opponent to come closer.

Incidentally, Ishita won her first Cadet Girls title in the North Zone championships last time and the event is proving to be her happy hunting ground.

Anukram showed maturity right from the beginning and was a calculative mover against the tall Manush Shah, who won his season’s first title at Jamnagar. But since the Gujarat boy has gone down in his form and it was very much evident today against Anukram, who stopped him at 6 in the first two games. Though Manush managed to take the third, he was allowed just two points.

The pressure was telling on the Gujarat boy and the PSPBA rival simply took advantage and finished it off in style without any hesitation.

Payas, Suhani too good

Payas Jain had to wait for a full season to win his second crown. And today, the Delhi boy forgot all pressure and staged a fine recovery—he was down 0-2—to outwit the Central Zone winner Divyansh Srivastava of UP, 4-2. After losing the first two games very closely, Payas regrouped himself to win the next four games, just in 25 minutes.

Payas played extremely well, executing both his back and forehands well even as the UP was struggling to find his feet. But Divyansh also has to blame himself for committing too blunders at crucial times as found the net or put the ball out on returns more often than not. He could not pick himself up once Payas levelled the score.

It was so near and yet so far for Delhi’s Lakshita Narang as Haryana’s Suhani Saini, playing percentage game, outsmarted Lakshita who was 3-2 after being down 0-2. But But the Delhi girl missed several opportunities that could have been converted into winners. Suhana, sizing up the moment, cleverly mixed her guile—slowing down the game and pouncing on chances to score winners, particularly in the sixth to restore parity. In the decider, Suhana led quite comfortably and, despite making a few mistakes, held on to win her maiden title with a 4-3 verdict. Last year, Suhana had lost to Delhi’s Vanshika Bhargava in the North Zone final at Agra.  

It was nice to see quality encounters in both boys and girls of the Cadet and Sub-Junior sections from quarterfinals onwards. Though no new faces emerged from them, a healthy trend followed with boys and girls renewing old rivalries and settling scores.

In a way, the competitive edge was visible among the paddlers and but for the few points here and there, the boys and girls were more or less sailing in the same boat, expertise-wise. However, what separated the winners from losers were those final nervy moments during which the winners showed gumption to adapt themselves.  

RESULTS:

Cadet Boys: Final: Payas Jain (Del) bt Divyansh Srivastava (UP) 4-2 (8-11, 9-11, 11-7, 11-8, 11-8, 11-9, 11-9); Semifinals: Divyansh Srivastava bt Vishwa Deenadayalan (TN) 10-12, 11-5, 11-9, 11-9, Payas Jain bt Varun Ganesh (TN) 13-11, 11-9, 12-10;Quarterfinals: Vishwa Deenadayalan bt Soumyadeep Sarkar (NB) 11-3, 7-11, 11-8, 11-6, Divyansh Srivastava bt K. Yengkhom (PSPBA) 11-5, 11-6, 11-5, Varun Ganesh bt Rudra N. Ghosh 9-11, 9-11, 14-12, 13-11, 11-6, Payas Jain bt Tharun Shanmugham (TN) 11-6, 11-6, 11-6.

Cadet Girls: Final: Suhana Saini (Har) bt Laskshita Narang (Del) 4-3 (11-9, 11-7, 6-11, 12-14, 8-11, 11-5, 11-7); Semifinals: Suhana Saini bt Kavyasree Baskar (TN) 11-5, 11-8, 11-6, Lakshita Narang bt Anargya Manjunath (KNT) 11-8, 11-7, 11-7; Quarterfinals: Kavyasree Baskar bt Prithoki Chakraborty (WB) 11-2, 10-12, 10-12, 11-6, 11-5, Suhana Saini bt Nehal Venkatasawmy (TN) 11-4, 13-11, 11-6, Anargya Manjunath bt Sathvika Venkatchalapathi (TN) 11-9, 8-11, 12-10, 11-7, Lakshita Narang bt Kheya Shah (Mah) 11-6, 11-4, 11-5.

Sub-Junior Boys: Final: Anukram Jain (PSPBA) bt Manush Shah (Guj) 4-1 (11-6, 11-6, 7-11, 11-2, 11-9); Semifinals: Anukram Jain bt Jeho Himnakulhpuingheta (PSPBA) 11-13, 11-3, 11-4, 11-6, 11-5, Manush Shah bt Alberto Lrruata (PSPBA) 11-1, 11-9, 11-9, 6-11, 11-4;  Quarterfinals: Anukram Jain bt Akash Pal (WB) 11-5, 11-6, 11-8, Jeho. H bt Harsh Srivastava (PSPBA) 9-11, 9-11, 11-5, 11-7, 11-7, Aberto Lrrruata bt Shivjit Singh Lamba (Del0 6-11, 11-6, 2-11, 14-12, 11-8, Mnush Shah bt Payas Jain (Del) 13-11, 8-11, 14-12, 7-11, 11-6.  

Sub-Junior Girls: Final: Ishita Gupta (Delhi) bt Swastika Ghosh (Mah) 4-1 (11-9, 11-9, 7-11, 11-5, 11-6); Semifinals: Swastika Ghosh bt Manushree Patil (Mah) 11-9, 14-12, 16-14, 6-11, 12-10, Ishita Gupta  bt Prapti Sen (WB) 11-7, 9-11, 9-11, 11-7, 11-4, 11-5;Quarterfinals: Manushree Patil bt Anusha Kutumbale (MP) 11-5, 11-6, 11-7, Swastika Ghosh bt Diksha Biswas (NB) 11-7, 13-11, 11-7, Ishita Gutpa bt Sasya V Subramaniyam (Telg) 5-11, 7-11, 11-5, 11-7, 12-10, Prapti Sen bt Diya Chitale (Mah) 11-5, 11-8, 11-3.

TTFI Press release

Anukram earns top-seeding as 40 qualifiers make Stage 2 cut

New Delhi, November 2, 2015: Anukram Jain’s fantastic title win in the West Zone event at Thane helped him get the top seeding in the Sub-Junior Boys section of the Vatika National Ranking (North Zone) Table Tennis Championships, being played at the Hansraj Model School here today. The championships are organized by the Haryana Table Tennis Association.

The Petroleum Sports Promotion Board Academy boy, who collected his second title of the season at Thane, had beaten Jeho Hinakulhpuingheta 4-1 in what turned out to be a one-sided final affair.

Anukram is, indeed, in fine form but the second-seeded Manush Shah of Gujarat could be the right contender here to challenge the PSPBA boy’s supremacy. Delhi’s Shivjit Singh Lamba, who is a product of Hansraj Model School where the championships are held, is the No. 3 seed here and has an onerous task of performing in front of schoolmates and teachers. It also means added pressure for the boy. Despite being in the final, Hinakulhpuingheta finds himself as the No. 4 seed. 

The other seeds that follow them at the end of the qualification rounds were completed include Goa’s Weseley Do Rosario (No. 5), PSPBA’s Alberto Lrruata (No. 6), North Bengal’s Jayabarta Bhattacharjee  (No. 7) and Delhi’s Yashansh Malik at No. 8.

With over 1200 entries in the championships, the sub-junior boys alone counted for nearly 140 players and split into 40 groups. This meant only 40 group leaders joining the top-eight players in the main draw.

The qualifiers’ list presented some similarities with PSPBA leading the chart with five players figuring in the main draw, including two seeded players among them. Maharashtra, with two teams of A and B participating, also had five players in main draw fray with two being part of the directly seeded paddlers.

Gujarat has shown improvement in recent years and that was visible as four of their boys—Shoam Pandya, Chitrax Bhatt, Dhairya Parmar, Harshit Kothari, Karanpalsinh Jadeja—making it to the second stage event. Manush Shah is the fifth paddler, who has got a direct entry into the main draw and is seeded second here.

As for West Bengal, there are five players in fray, including the seeded Jayabrata Bhattacharjee while four from North Bengal have made the cut. Tamil Nadu, which has been doing consistently in other sections, had only three boys qualifying and Delhi, as usual, had its share with Maink Singh Ahluwalia, Kashish Bhargava, Payas Jain and Hardidk Khurana entering Stage 2 along with seeded Yashansh Malik. But unfortunately, only Shakreja Gourang and Ayush Tayal from Haryana, the hosts, have made the cut with Gourang figuring among top 16 players.

All the boys will have to play one round of their main draw matches tonight while the second stage matches in Sub-Junior Girls will take place tomorrow after the draw is taken place. 

TTFI Press release

Archana completes a double, Karia wins second title

Agra, November 10, 2014: A right-handed compliment from one left-hander to another. That is what Gujarat’s Devesh Karia got from PSPB’s Abhishek Yadav when the latter put the ball on the net in the final of the men’s singles title in the LIC National Ranking (North Zone) Table Tennis Championships at the Eklavya Indoor Stadium here today.

The 4-3 victory for Karia, second this season, was worth Rs. 66,000 in cash. 

In the final that went down to the wire, Abhishek was going for those down-the-line winners and clever placing while Karia concentrated more on acute angle winners. The final, contested in equal measure, kept everyone glued to the show court. It also saw several long rallies and good points earned and there was hardly a dull moment. There was fine display of excellent use of flanks, angles with no dearth of blistering strokes.

In the decider, Karia was leading but for the first time Abhishek took lead at 5-4.

However, there were several surprises in store for both as the game went endlessly with several deuces. Abhishek had his chance at 15-14 with serve on. But he goofed it up and Devesh, receiving service at 16-15, returned so well that Abhishek’s shot just hit the net remain on his side of the table.   

Suthirtha Mukherjee achieved a three-in-a-row feat, beating Mouma Das 4-3 in the women’s singles final. Mouma led 2-0 lead with rhythm on her side. But Suthirtha, with only backhand working for her, picked herself up well to go 3-2 up easily. Yet, the veteran was not prepared to give up and won the six game 11-9 to give her another chance.

However, Suthirtha led 6-4 before Mouma went 6-5 for the first time in the decider. In a turnaround Suthirtha benefited with two negative points and from there romped home winner to pocket Rs. 55,000. Mouma had to be content with just half the amount.

Double for Archana

Archana Kamath completed a double when she claimed the Youth Girls title beating PSPB’s Reeth Rishya 4-2. Archana, coming straight from Georgetown, Barbados, after having competed and been part of the Asian squad at the World Cadet Challenge, ran into an excellent form after subduing Manika Batra in the quarters. From there, the 15-year-old never looked back and won both the sub-junior and Youth titles for a rare double. But Reeth was struggling to find her feet despite coming back and levelling the score 2-2. Archana just turned it on from the fifth and completed in style taking the sixth and the match when Reeth sent a speedy return outside.

The Abhishek-Sudhanshu final in Youth Boys saw excellent rallies, tough fight and some moments of brilliant stroke-playing from both. But in the end, it was the in-form Abhishek Yadav who annexed the title. “It was a nice warm-up before the men’s singles final,” said the left-hander even as he gave credit to his former Academy teammate Sudhanshu Grover.    

In women’s semifinals, Suthirtha Mukherjee should consider herself lucky to have beaten Ankita Das despite the momentum was with the latter. In the second semifinal, Mouma was stuttering a bit but Divya Deshpande, too, was not at ease. But eventually Mouma came into her zone and went past her rival. As for Youth Boys singles semifinals, there was never any doubt either Abhishek or Sudhanshu Grover as both of them scored an identical 4-1 triumphs over Birdie Boro of PSPBA and Siddesh Pandey of Air India. In Youth Girls, Karnataka’s Archana Kamath had very little threat from AAI’s Priyadarshini Das—the former won 4-0—PSPB’s Reeth Rishya was a picture of struggle against Ayhika Mukherjee. However, Reeth overcame her own inhibition to beat Ayhika 4-2. 

Results:

Men’s Singles: Final: Devesh Karia (Guj) bt Abhishek Yadav 4-3 (7-11, 11-6, 9-11, 11-4, 3-11, 11-9, 17-15.

Women’s Singles: Final: Suthirtha Mukherjee (PSPB) bt Mouma Das (PSPB) 4-3 (7-11, 12-14, 11-4, 11-7, 11-4, 9-11, 11-6); Semifinals: Suthirtha Mukherjee bt Ankita Das  (PSPB) 4-2 (6-11, 11-4, 13-11, 2-11, 11-8, 11-8), Mouma Das bt Divya Deshpande (PSPB) 4-2 (11-7, 7-11, 11-6, 8-11, 11-8, 11-6).

Youth Boys Singles: Final: Abhishek Yadav (PSPB) bt Sudhanshu Grover (PSPBA) 4-2 (12-10, 12-10, 6-11, 5-11, 11-7, 14-12); Semifinals: Abhishek Yadav bt Birdie Boro (PSPBA) 4-1 (11-4, 12-10, 4-11, 11-9, 11-4), Sudhanshu Grover bt Siddhesh Pande (AI) 4-1 (11-2, 11-8, 11-8, 8-11, 11-6).

Youth Girls Singles: Final: Archana Kamath (KNT) bt Reeth Rishya (PSPB) 4-2 (11-6, 11-4, 4-11, 6-11, 11-8, 11-3); Semifinals: Archana Kamath bt Priyadarshini Das (AAI) 4-0 (11-8, 11-5, 11-6, 11-5), Reeth Rishya bt Ayhika Mukherjee (AAI) 4-2 (11-9, 6-11, 9-11, 11-9, 11-8, 11-7).

A TTFI Press release

Left is right for Yadav and Karia in North Zone TT

Agra, November 9, 2014: PSPB’s Abhishek Yadav reached a step closer to claiming his maiden men’s singles title when he beat Harmeet Desai 4-3 in a gripping semifinal of the LIC National Ranking (North Zone) Table Tennis Championships at the Eklavya Indoor Stadium here today.

But he will have to really try hard tomorrow against the battle-scarred Devesh Karia of Gujarat who would want to add the silverware to his recent trophy collection. The Gujarat paddler, who beat Lalrin Puia of PSPB Academy 4-1 in the second semifinal, began the season on a bright note winning the men’s title at the Central Zone event, just a month ago at Indore.

Harmeet Desai, playing in his first zonal this season, was rusty and it was showing when he took on southpaw Abhishek Yadav in the first semifinal this afternoon. Yadav, who lost in the semifinals at Durgapur, was really positive right from the word go and it reflected in his approach to the match. But unlike him, Desai was taking a cautious route which, in the final analysis, cost him the match.

Yadav attacked well, kept the ball in play and when opportunity presented he sent down scorching winners several times which upset the rhythm of Desai. But trailing 0-2, Desai came to his self and paid back Yadav in the same way. He executed fine strokes from flanks and covered the left-hander’s return angles well to take the next game. But in the fourth, Yadav won the extended game after three deuces. In between, Desai managed take a game off his opponent but that was all he could do as Yadav surged ahead with a huge margin to finish the match.

Yadav admitted that his fourth game was crucial. “He (Harmeet) played really well in the fourth and it could have been anybody’s game. I think I turned it around my way after a few deuces,” said Yadav. 

Desai, complimenting his young opponent, echoed Yadav’s views. “Yes, the fourth game was crucial. Had it come my way, things would have been different,” said Desai, who leaves for Stockholm tonight to play in the Swedish league.

But for Karia, it was more or less a cakewalk against an inexperienced Lalrin Puia. But credit should be given to the Academy’s defensive player who managed to take a game off his prominent challenger. Karia, aware of the pitfalls, was confident of a good showing. “I hope my experience comes in handy,” he said, referring to what happened at Indore where he was taking on top-seeded G. Sathiyan. The latter, who won back-to-back titles at Gandhidham and Durgapur, skipped this meet to play in the Russian Open.

In women’s singles quarterfinals, Suthirtha Mukherjee thrashed Manika Batra 4-0, Mouma Das downed Krittwika Sinha Roy 4-1, Ankita Das came from behind to beat Poulomi Ghatak 4-3 and Divya Deshpande accounted for Anindita Chakraborty 4-1.

The Youth Boys and Youth Girls have also entered the quarterfinal stage with the matches continuing into late evening.

The women’s singles semifinals along with Youth Boys and Youth Girls will be played tomorrow followed by all four finals on the concluding day.         

Results:

Men’s Singles: Semifinals: Abhishek Yadav (PSPB) bt Harmeet Desai (PSPB) 4-3 (11-9, 11-9, 4-11, 14-12, 6-11, 7-11, 11-3), Devesh Karia (Guj) bt Lalrin Puia (PSPBA) 4-1 (11-9, 11-13, 11-9, 11-6, 11-7); Quarterfinals: Harmeet Desai bt Sougata Sarkar (LIC) 4-2 (11-6, 11-3, 11-7, 7-11, 4-11, 11-8), Abhishek Yadav bt Sudhanshu Grover (PSPBA) 4-1 (13-11, 11-7, 12-14, 11-4, 11-4), Lalrin Puia bt Pankaj Kumar (Raj) 4-0 (13-11, 11-8, 11-5, 16-14), Devesh Karia bt Sushmit Sriram (AAI) 4-3 (11-5, 11-8, 10-12, 11-9, 12-14, 5-11, 11-5).

Women’s Singles: Quarterfinals: Suthirtha Mukherjee (PSPB) bt Manika Batra (PSPB) 4-0 (13-11, 13-11, 11-7, 11-6), Ankita Das (PSPB) bt Poulomi Ghatak PSPB) 4-3 (8-11, 8-11, 11-6, 11-4, 7-11, 12-10, 14-12), Mouma Das (PSPB) bt Krittwika Siknha Roy (AAI) 4-1 (11-13, 11-4, 11-3, 11-7, 12-10, Divya Deshpande (PSPB) bt Anindita Chakraborty (RSPB) 4-1 (12-10, 11-5, 11-9, 10-12, 11-6).

TTFI Press release

Double for Manav, Selenadeepthi puts her best foot forward

Agra, November 8, 2014: Petroleum Sports Promotion Board Academy’s Manav Thakkar defeated West Bengal’s Anirban Ghosh 4-2 in the Junior Boys final in the LIC National Ranking (North Zone) Table Tennis Championships at the Eklavya Indoor Stadium here today.

This was his second title here, having already claimed the Sub-Junior Boys crown on the second day of the championships.

Tamil Nadu’s Selenadeepthi Selvakumar made amends for her previous title loss to overcome Airports Authority of India’s Harsha Vardhini to win the Junior Girls trophy 4-2.

Manav, who is in his zone, put out on display his variety of strokes without any mental block against the West Bengal boy. Anirban, normally an attacking player, found the going tough against Manav, who never flinches to go for the kill, irrespective of the situation. But today was a normal day for him and he went about the task, sending his down-the-line forehand winners and also playing away from the table, clinically to ward off even an imaginary threat from Anirban.

Selena, on the other hand, had everything to lose. She, however, brought variety to his strokes and brilliantly used the table to outwit her AAI opponent, who would have done better if she were able to shed those minor errors at the net.

  

Manav Thakkar is proving to be Jeet Chandra’s nemesis. On their fifth consecutive meeting in recent times, Jeet yet again failed to overcome the Manav phobia. Today in the semifinals, Jeet went down in straight games of 7-11, 11-13, 6-11, 8-11 but Manav’s rival in the final, Anirban Ghosh, escaped by the skin of the teeth against PSPBA’s Lalrin Puia.

Puia, being erratic at times, proved to be his undoing despite waging a wonderful battle against the West Bengal lad who led 2-0. Puia staged a comeback of sorts but could not withstand a clinical onslaught by Anirban.

In girls’ semifinals, Selena who missed the title by a whisker at Durgapur had it easy against AAI’s Harsha Vardhini, winning the tie 4-1 while it was a one-sided affair for Ayhika who downed Manasi in straight games. Except for the third extended game in which Selena lost 10-12 before sewing it up in the next two. Ayhika, on the other hand, allowed some liberty to Manasi in the third yet it was the AAI girl who clinched it 13-11.

Earlier, UP’s Aishwarya Pathak failed to go past the quarterfinal hurdle losing to Maharashtra’s Manasi Chiplunkar 3-4. Incidentally, Aishwyarya had upset second seeded Bohra Payal of Maharashtra yesterday to raise visions of an interesting quarterfinal battle.

Aishwarya did live up to expectations to begin with but has to blame her misery after having led 2-1 until the midway. Though she lost the opening game even as her opponent was struggling to find her feet, the UP girl picked up nice momentum to go 2-1 up.

Yet, the credit must go to the Maharashtra girl who not only equalled score but also took the lead only to lose advantage in the next game by a big margin. She avenged that loss by returning the compliment to her UP rival in the decider to win 11-7, 8-11, 10-12, 11-6, 11-8, 5-11, 11-5 in a bottom half duel. Even Ayhika had a tough match against Telengana’s Sreeja Akula which the former won 4-3 from the same half.

Results:

Junior Boys Singles: Final: Manav Thakkar (PSPBA) btg Anirban Ghosh (WB) 4-2 (6-11, 7-11, 11-9, 12-10, 11-5, 11-9); Semifinals: Manav Thakkar (PSPBA) bt Jeet Chandra (WB) 4-0 (11-7, 13-11, 11-6, 11-8), Anirban Ghosh (WB) bt Lalrin Puia (PSPBA) 4-2 (11-4, 11-6, 2-11, 11-9, 8-11, 11-9).

Junior Girls Singles: Final: Selenadeepthi Selvakumar (TN) bt Ayhika Mukherjee (AAI) 4-2 (3-11, 13-11, 12-10, 9-11, 11-8, 11-3); Semifinals: Selenadeepthi Selvakumar (TN) bt Harsha Vardhini (AAI) 4-1 (11-9, 11-9, 10-12, 11-6, 11-9), Ayhika Mukherjee (AAI) bt Manasi Chiplunkar (MHR) 4-0 (11-4, 11-1, 13-11, 11-6).

Varuni ousts top-seed Shruti, Aishwarya topples No. 2 Payal

Agra, November 7, 2014: Aishwarya Pathak of UP caused the second biggest upset of the day as she decimated No. 2 seed and the West Zone titlist Payal Borha of Maharashtra to enter the Junior Girls quarterfinals in the LIC National Ranking (North Zone) Table Tennis Championships at the Eklavya Indoor Stadium here today.  

But what shocked the most was the exit of top-seed Shruti Amrute of Maharashtra. Shruti lost to Telengana’s Varuni Jaiswal, a qualifier, 14-12, 11-6, 11-9, without a fight.

However, in the bottom half the girl from Ghaziabad won 11-6, 11-4, 11-2 and would be taking on Payal’s state mate Mansi Chiplunkar in the quarterfinals tomorrow. Mansi accounted for seventh seed Maria Rony of Kerala, also in straight games of 11-9, 11-9, 11-7.

Others that made it to the last-eight stages included Telengana’s Sreeja Akula, AAI’s Ayhika Mukherjee, Maharashtra’s Rutuja Khopkar, who defeated Kerala’s fourth seed Sereha Jacob 11-6, 6-11, 14-12, 11-7 and TN’s Selenadeepthi Selvakumar who won a tough battle against Delhi’s Riti Shankar and eighth seed 11-9, 6-11, 7-11, 11-8, 11-7.  

In Junior Boys, Dena Bank’s Peeyush Prasad who first upset seventh-seed Ayush Tayal of Haryana 3-2 in the pre-quarterfinals, moved a step further for a quarterfinal meeting with No. 2 seed Anirban Ghosh. The latter downed Birdie Bora of PSPBA in a tense encounter which saw four of the five games being extended. Ghosh won 7-11, 14-12, 12-14, 12-10, 14-12. Top-seed Utkarsh Gupta had an easy prey in PSPBA’s Anukram Jain as the Delhi boy won 14-12, 9-11, 11-4, 11-4.

The other pre-quarterfinal winners included West Bengal’s Jeet Chandra, who beat Air India’s Siddesh Pande 3-1, PSPBA’s Lalrin Puia, who downed Telengana’s Snehit Suravajjula, Sanish Ambekar of Maharashtra who won over Suresh Nikhil of Tamil Nadu 3-1 along with Manav Thakkar of PSPBA and Maharashtra’s Ravindra Kotiyan. Thjakkar beat Shivam Shrivastava 3-0 while Kotiyan beat Lalhunhlua of PSPBA by the same verdict.

Coming back to Aishwarya, the girl from the hosts’ state was definitely in her zone and it showed in her game plan against Payal. The Maharashtra girl, normally an attacking paddler, surprisingly couldn’t play her shots as well and was making far too many errors at the net. But credit must be given to Aishwarya who, after taking control of the first game, simply ran over her rival in double quick time.

Earlier, UP’s Goutam Druvansh, after putting up a great fight lost 2-3 to Snehit Suravajjula in the first round. The lone main draw entrant for the hosts played well taking two games off his Telengana rival but wilted under pressure 10-12, 11-8, 8-11, 13-11, 9-11 in front of the home crowd.

In fact, the Telengana boy had the upper hand when he won the extended first set 12-10. Executing his forehand well the fleet-footed UP boy showed a lot of promise to begin with as he gave some torrid moments to Snehit. However, the latter clinched the set only to lose badly in the second.

The trend continued as Goutam won a difficult fourth set 13-11 after a couple of deuces but could not withstand the strain of decider as he folded by a minimal point.

Top-seed Utkarsh Gupta, the East Zone titlist at Durgapur, second-seed Anirban Ghosh sailed into the pre-quarters but won in straight games against Shaurya Pednekar of Maharashtra and second-seed Anirban Ghosh conceded a game before regrouping himself to beat Harshavardhan Lahoti of Telengana 15-17, 11-4, 11-5, 11-3.

The men’s top seeds enter the arena only tomorrow as they all have first-round byes in the main draw while the women’s singles have one more qualifying round to go before the main draw events begin. The day will also see the Junior Boys and Junior Girls medals being decided with their finals slated for late evening.

TTFI Press release

Third title for Manav, second for Archana

Agra, November 6, 2014: A consistent Manav Thakkar of the Petroleum Sports Promotion Board Academy (PSPBA) got the lion’s share yet again, winning a third title in the Sub-Juniors Boys section of the LIC National Ranking (North Zone) Table Tennis Championships at the Eklavya Indoor Stadium here today.

On Thursday, Manav was in red hot form beating his known opponent Jeet Chandra from West Bengal 4-1 in the final. Karnataka’s Archana Kamath, proving her superiority, won the second zonal title of the season in the Sub-Junior Girls final. She downed Tamil Nadu’s Yashini Sivashankar 4-1 rather easily.

In Cadet category, Alberto Lrruata annexed the crown after defeating team mate Jeho. H 4-0 in the Boys final and Vanshika Bhargava of Delhi took the Girls trophy with a 4-1 verdict against Haryana’s Suhana Saini. This was the second crown for the Delhi girl this season.

It was a repeat third final in as many meetings for Manav and Jeet and in all the three the latter, despite working hard, could not overcome the PSPBA boy. Manav, groomed well at the Academy, has surpassed all expectations, besides raising the bar all the time. On the other hand, otherwise a competent Jeet had found himself wanting every time he met Manav.

That reflected in the final today and the score only reiterated how well the PSPBA boys played against his opponent. His shot selection, covering acute angles and employing backhand as a potent weapon, the boy from Surat decimated his rival.

As for Archana, who was part of the Asian squad in the World Cadet Challenge at Georgetown, Barbados, easily won the Sub-Junior Girls title to pick up the thread from where she left of at Gandhidham last month. She was too good for any serious threat from Tamil Nadu’s Yashini Sivashankar.

 UP paddlers’ hurdle

Earlier in the day, UP’s Sarthak Seth failed to cross the semifinal hurdle, losing to the eventual winner as he lost 0-4. Sarthak’s struggle continued, particularly against an in-form Manav. The UP boy had done himself and the state proud to have gone past the quarterfinals and enter the second successive semifinal. To that extent, he should feel satisfied even as he tries to up his level of game. Another promising face from Maharashtra, Ashwin Subramanian lost to Jeet but the former was able to take a game off Jeet who won 4-1.

UP can also feel happy to see Saundarya Pathak’s rising graph. She too had been steady and for the second time she has made it to the Sub-Junior Girls semifinals. But her opponent from Tamil Nadu proved to be a hard nut to crack as did Archana who downed West Bengal’s Surbhi Patwari—the two finalists winning 4-0.

Results:

Sub-Junior Boys singles: Final: Manav Thakkar (PSPBA) bt Jeet Chandra (WB) 4-1 (11-7, 6-11, 11-6, 11-8, 11-7); Semifinals: Manav Thakkar bt Sarthak Sethi (UP) 4-0 (11-7, 11-7, 11-5, 11-9), Jeet Chandra bt Ashwin Subramanian (MHR) 4-1 (9-11, 11-6, 11-8, 11-6, 11-9).

Sub-Junior Girls singles: Final: Archana Kamath (KNT) bt Yashini Sivashankar (TN) 4-1 (11-5, 5-11, 11-5, 11-7, 11-7); Semifinals: Yashini Sivashankar (TN) bt Saundarya Pathak (UP) 4-0 (11-9, 11-7, 11-9, 12-10), Archana Kamath (KNT) bt Surbhi Patwari (WB) 4-0 (15-13, 11-9, 11-6, 11-8).

Cadet Boys singles: Final: Alberto Lrruata (PSPBA) bt Jeho H (PSPBA) 4-0 (11-9, 11-8, 11-9, 11-9);

Semifinals: Jeho H bt Varun Shankar (TELG) 3-0 (12-10, 11-8, 11-7), Alberto Lrruata bt Payas Jain (DLI) 3-1 (14-12, 11-9, 9-11, 11-6).

Cadet Girls singles: Final: Vanshika Bhargava (DLI) bt Suhani Saini (HRN) 4-1 (6-11, 11-4, 11-7, 11-4, 11-8); Semifinals: Suhana Saini (HRN) bt Koyal Bhattacharya (WB) 3-0 (11-9, 11-7, 11-8), Vanshika Bhargava (DLI) bt Divya Chaitalay (MHR) 3-2 (11-9, 13-15, 8-11, 11-6, 11-8).

A TTFI Press release

Manav gets top billing; 24 qualifiers get first-round bye

Agra, November 5, 2014: PSPB Academy’s Manav Thakkar, the winner of the East Zone championships at Durgapur, is seeded No. 1 in the Sub-Junior Boys section of the LIC National Ranking (North Zone) Table Tennis Championships at the Eklavya Indoor Stadium here today.

The other seeded players include Jeet Chandra, the runner-up at Durgapur, Manush Shah of Gujarat and Sarthak Seth of UP, both of whom had entered the semifinals at the zonal, are seeded behind Jeet in that order. Maharashtra’s Ashwin Subramanian, Delhi Parth Virmani and Shaurya Pednekar, also of Maharashtra, follow them to be the top-eight ranked players who were given direct entry in the main draw.

Though they have joined the 32 qualifiers from as many groups, the top eight paddlers will have first-round bye along with 24 group leaders in main draw while the others will begin their campaign from the first round itself.

As expected, in many groups the leaders who were drawn to play the qualifiers on the basis of their ranking, led while in a few there were some surprise winners. For instance, Chithresh Gurumurthy from Tamil Nadu emerged on top from the bottom of group 18 as he won three of his matches, including the one against original group leader Satyam Giri Gupta of Uttar Pradesh.

So did Haryanba’s Ayush Tayal who won two of his matches against Delhi’s Manik Singh Ahluwalia 3-2 and beat Darsh Udawat of Rajasthan 3-0 and got a walkover from group leader Soham Bhattacharya of West Bengal. Another surprise pack of qualifier was Telengana’s Varun Sharnkar who, bunched in group 31 with three others, made it to the main draw as he managed to beat Hardik Paliwal of UP in straight games.

Other UP boy who bowed out in the group stage included Parth Katyal in group 9, Subroto Raj Verma in group 10, Utkarsh Arora in group 1, Parth Belwal in group 12, Ujjwal Roy in group 13, Abhishek Pathak in group 14 and Adarsh Srivastava in group 16.

However, hopes were rested on Satyam Giri, whose previous performances in national ranking championships, pitch forked him to get the top place in group 18. Though he won a couple of matches, Satyam lost the crucial match to the Tamil Nadu boy which saw his ouster.

The 32 qualifiers will join the top-eight ranked players who got direct entry into the main draw. But there will be no respite for these players who will play two rounds of knockout matches tonight. The Cadet sections’ matches have also begun and they will also play their main draw tomorrow.

But a few girls from UP should make it to the main draw of the Sub-Junior Girls which would be the bright spot for the host state. However, the main draw events in the section will start only tomorrow when four medals will also be decided in Cadet Sub-Junior categories.

A TTFI Press release

North Zone provides last chance to fringe paddlers

Agra, November 4, 2014: The LIC National Ranking (North Zone) Table Tennis Championships, getting underway here at the Ekalaiva Indoor Stadium from tomorrow, is the last such opportunity for all paddlers, including those on the fringe, to get one more look-in by respective state selection committees before first of the nationals, beginning at Alleppey three weeks from now.

After having participated in earlier zonal events—Central, West and East—the table tennis caravan has moved into this city that is swarmed all the time with thousands of tourists, making a beeline to the Taj Mahal. Incidentally, Agra is hosting its first ranking tournament though it is the eighth overall for the UPTTA.

Of course, the 580 participants here will not only be keeping an eye on a podium finish, however difficult it is, but also try and take time off to visit the Taj, thanks to local organizers’ largesse. Nevertheless, the championships sheen takes a beating whenever top players like national champion Sanil Shetty, Anthony Amalraj and Soumyajit Gosh—he participated only at East Zone last week—pick and choose their zonal events.

Shetty and Ghosh have decided to skip Agra and Amalraj has not made any zonal appearance like Achanta Sharath Kamal. The last two named had even pulled out of the season opener, the Institutional Championships at Delhi. In fact, Amalraj marked a token presence at Delhi before pulling out on the opening day. However, Harmeet Desai, who has no national ranking this season as he has given a miss to all the zonals so far, has sent his entry for the North Zone.  

As for the women’s affair, with the exception of K. Shamini—she too competed at the Central Zone only—all other top women players will be seen in action at the North Zone championships. However, the good news and added attraction is that the two back-to-back titlists G. Sathiyan and Suthirtha Mukherjee in the men and women’s categories, respectively, will be competing here. They are the most in-form players and should be looking to score a hat-trick of titles here.

Yet, with the championships offering 10 medals in the Cadet, Sub-Junior, Junior, Youth and men and women’s sections, the boys and girls will be keen to finish the North Zone on a high note, before the Alleppey Junior and Youth Nationals, starting on November 25.  

Apart from the prize money attraction—the championships carry total prize money of Rs 5.76 lakh—the most significant aspect for a paddler is the points he or she would be earning to go up the ranking charts. A good showing will always help them with tickets to the nationals as selection is based on sheer performance.

The first two days of the championships will see Cadet and Sub-Junior boys and girls who will set the ball rolling with four medals being decided in the two sections. These are followed by the Junior, Men, Women and Youth in that order.

Though qualifiers in the junior categories will begin late on Thursday, those who stand the test of time will go through to the main draw, starting a day later. This will be followed by the Youth category events and, finally, the qualifiers in the senior section on the fourth day.

The championships will have Ganeshan Neelakanta Iyer as the competition manager who will be assisted by chief referee A. S. Kler, deputy referee Atul Dubey and a host of technical team comprising Blue Badge, International and National umpires.