Defending champion Ghosh ousted; women top seeds fall

Patna: Defending champion Soumyajit Ghosh bowed out of the men’s singles when he lost tamely to his PSPB teammate Harmeet Desai 1-4 in the quarterfinals of the 75th Senior National Table Tennis Championships at the Patliputra Sports Complex here today.

Harmeet will take on top-seed Achanta Sharath Kamal, who disposed Haryana’s Sourav Chakraborty 4-0 in the first semifinal tomorrow. The other semifinal will pit former national champion Soumyadeep Roy against No. 3 Sanil Shetty. Roy defeated Sudhanshu Grover 4-1 while Shetty accounted for G. Sathiyan 4-2 in the quarterfinals.

One expected the defending champion to put up a semblance of fight in the quarterfinals. On the contrary, Ghosh played a subdued game while Desai kept his attacking posture through the match. It was Desai who took the first game without breaking a sweat but Ghosh came back strongly in the second. But what changed the complexion of the match was the third set where Ghosh showed glimpses of his top quality game, only to lose 10-12.

That’s what game Desai the confidence as he never looked back after that. Even in the fifth game, Desai was up 9-6 and allowed Ghosh level at 9-9. But a silly mistake at net by Ghosh, with his serve on, gave Desai the chance he was looking for. On his second serve, Desai only needed to keep the ball on table with a power forehand which he did admirably.

Though Sanil Shetty and Satihyan were more or less on equal footing, the left-handed Shetty had an edge over the right hander. And that showed in their quarterfinal match which Shetty won comfortably in the end, despite losing two sets to Sathiyan. As for Soumyadeep Roy, he was in the best form of his life against a determined Sudhanshu Grover. The veteran, who is now turning out for West Bengal, simply mowed down Grover.

Top 2 seeds out
Reigning champion K. Shamini made a rough weather of her quarter-final outing against 31-year-old Mouma Das and escaped to safety to win 4-3. But both No. 1 and No. 2 seeds, Madhurika Patkar and Pooja Sahasrabuddhe went down to AAI’s Krittwika Sinha Roy and Reeth Rishya Tennison, respectively. Reeth downed No. 2 seed Pooja 4-1 Krittiwika Sinha Roy, showing great determination, outplayed the top-seed 4-3.
In the first semifinal tomorrow Shaimini will take on Krittwika Sinha Roy and in the second Ankita will clash with Reeth.

Results:

Men: Quarterfinals: A Sharath Kamal bt Sourav Chakraborty 4-0 (11-2, 11-4, 11-8, 11-4), Harmeet Desai bt Soumyajit Ghosh 4-1 (11-9, 7-11, 12-10, 11-5, 11-9), Sanil Shetty bt G. Sathiyan 4-2 (11-7, 11-7, 8-11, 7-11, 11-6, 11-4), Soumyadeep Roy bt Sudhanshu Grover 4-1 (11-5, 11-9, 7-11, 11-9, 11-9).

Women: Quarterfinals: K. Shamini bt Mouma Das 4-3 (11-8, 10-12, 11-8, 11-6, 10-12, 6-11, 11-7), Ankita Das bt Poulami Ghatak 4-1 (11-3, 5-11, 11-7, 11-6, 11-3), Reeth Rishya bt Pooja Saharaabuddhe 4-1 (11-4, 5-11, 13-11, 11-9, 11-7), Krittiwka Sinha Roy bt Madhurika Patkar 4-3 (9-11, 11-5, 11-13, 11-9, 9-11, 11-4, 11-8).