New Delhi: All top seeds in the men and women’s singles, barring Anandita Chakraborty, had a smooth sailing into the second round of the Vatika National Ranking North Zone Table Tennis Championships at the Hans Raj Model School hall here today.
The seventh seeded Anandita lost to No. 21 Ayhika Mukherjee, 3-4 in a battle that lasted 40 minutes. But Ayhika, who is No. 3 seeded in the Junior Girls’ category, failed to sustain herself going 1-3 down fighting to A. Naina of Andhra Pradesh.
Anandita, the veteran Railways player, started on a bright note winning the first two games only to lose steam. Probably, the age has got caught up with her and, obviously hindered by the feet movement, was at a loss when the junior girl from Airports Authority of India started reeling out winners and pressing hard on her opponent. Even otherwise, Ayhika wand as good at attacking as well as blocking. Ayhika was up to the task whenever the Railways player threw some real hard challenges with excellent backhands.
Undeterred by the 0-2 score line Ayhika began the surge in the third game with a good lead and continued with it by winning at 11-7 and following it up by stopping Anandita short of three points. The fifth game was a rout for Anandita but in the next the RSPB women gave her all to extend the game. But Ayhika won 9-11, 7-11, 11-7, 11-8, 11-3, 16-14 to enter the second round.
Probably having to play another match within an hour of beating Anandita took a heavy toll on Ayhika when she took on Naina in the junior section. In the pre-quarterfinals, the Andhra girl who lost her sub-junior title on Saturday to West Bengal’s Moumita Dutta made amends by winning 3-1 (11-6, 11-9, 8-11, 12-10).
Naina, who is No. 11 here, was stuttering a bit only to pull up her socks at the right time. Taking the first game rather easily, she was extended a bit before winning the next by a minimum points. In the third, however, Ayhika who was a pre-quarterfinalist at the World Junior championships at Morocco, showed glimpses of her comeback. But it lasted just one game as Naina shut her out to emerge victorious.
Results:
JUNIOR GIRLS SINGLES: Pre Quarter Finals: Mukherjee Sagarika [ NB ] Bt Mounica M. [ AP ] 3 - 0 , Frenaz Chipia [ DB ] Bt Saha Sumana [ WB ] 3 - 0 , Yukte Roshni [ TN ] Bt Dutta Moumita [ WB ] 3 – 2, Naina A. [ AP ] Bt Ayhika Mukherjee [ AAI ] 3 – 1, Dutta Anuska [ NB ] Bt Jaiswal Varuni [ AP ] 3 – 1, Sreeja Akula [ DB ] Bt Rituja Khopkar [ AI ] 3 – 1, Riti Shankar [ DLI ] Bt Amrute Shruti [ MHR ] 3 -1, Das Priyadarshani [ WB ] Bt Amrutha Pushpak [ IB ] 3 – 0.
Women’s Singles : I Round
Soumi Mandal [ PSPB ] Bt Vidhya N [ TN ] 4 – 1, T.Reeth Rishya [ PSPB ] Bt Nikhat Banu [ AAI ] 4 – 1, Mouma Das [ PSPB ] Bt D'Souza Senhora [ MHR ] 4 - 1 , Ankita Das [ PSPB ] Bt Dutta Tanaya [NB] 4 - 0 , Deshpande Divya [ PSPB ] Bt Amrutha Pushpak [ IB ] 4 – 2, Tekmi Sarkar [ RSPB ] Bt Paul Mousomi [ PSPB ] 4 - 2 , Kawle Charvi [ MHR ] Bt Sania Sehgal [ DLI ] 4 - 2 ,Krittwicka Sinha Roy [AAI) Bt Sreeja Akula [ DB ] 4 – 0, Poulomi Ghatak [ PSPB ] Bt A.V. Navedita [ RBI ] 4 – 2, Ayhika Mukherjee [ AAI ] Bt Anandita Chakraborty [ RSPB ] 4 – 2, Batra Manika [ PSPB ] Bt Shreya Ghosh [ RSPB ] 4 - 1 , Mallika Bhandarkar [ AI ] Bt Mounica M. [ AP ] 4 - 3 .
Men’s Singles : I Round: Noel Pinto [ RSPB ] Bt Rana Adhish [ HP ] 4 - 0 , Yadav Abhishek [ PSPB A ] Bt V. Reddy [ RBI ] 4 – 3, Ghosh Arjun [ WB ] Bt Himanshu Jindal [ DLI ] 4 – 0, Anirban Nandi [ RSPB ] Bt Chakraborty Rohit [ LIC ] 4 - 0 , Udare Chaitanya [ MHR ] Bt Sanish Ambekar [ AI ] 4 - 1 , Nishaad Shah [ AI ] Bt Dey Sandhipan [ NB ] 4 - 0 , Bhargava Vivek [ RAJ ] Bt Sabhya Virmani [ DLI ] 4 - 2 , Raj Mondal [ RBI ] Bt Birdie Boro [ PSPB A ] 4 - 0 , Rohit KR [ PSPB ] Bt Basak Ankur [ WB ] 4-2, Seshadhari Shivanandha [ TN ] Bt Deepak Malik [ ESIC ] 4 - 0 , Tayal Ayush [ HRN ] Bt Pathikrit Roy [ AAI ] 4 – 3.
