Commonwealth Table Tennis Championships: Manush Shah, Harmeet Desai, and Sreeja Akula reach pre-quarterfinals

Indian paddlers dominated the 22nd Commonwealth Table Tennis Championships in New Delhi on Friday, as 11 men and 10 women advanced to the pre-quarterfinals. Top seeds Manush Shah, Harmeet Desai, and Sreeja Akula led the home country's charge

Hyderabad: India’s paddlers continued to dominate the individual events at the 22nd Commonwealth Table Tennis Championships, with an overwhelming majority of home players advancing to the pre-quarterfinals of the men’s and women’s singles at the Thyagaraj Stadium here on Friday.

The men’s singles draw was almost entirely in Indian colours, with 11 of the 14 Indians in the round of 32 progressing. Significantly, the only three exits came in all-Indian contests, underlining the depth of the host nation’s challenge.

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Top seed Manush Shah overcame a stiff opening-game challenge from Australia’s Chulong Nie before settling into his rhythm, winning 8-11, 11-9, 11-7, 11-7, 11-4. Fellow title contender Harmeet Desai also recovered after dropping the first game to Australia’s Xuqi Lin, winning 9-11, 11-8, 11-9, 11-6, 11-4.

Manav Thakkar advanced comfortably with a straight-games win over Maldives’ Akhyar Ahmed Khalid, while Sanil Shetty, Jas Modi, Payas Jain and Akash Pal also secured their places in the last 16 with convincing performances.

Among the all-Indian clashes, H. Jehob outclassed Mudit Dani in straight games. Ankur Bhattacharjee fought back from a game down to beat Divyansh Srivastava, while SFR Snehit recovered after losing the opening game to defeat Raegan Albuquerque in six games. Ronit Bhanja survived a tense finish against Singapore’s Ellsworth Le, clinching the fifth game 15-13.

In the women’s singles, top-seeded Australian Yangzi Liu lived up to expectations with a commanding straight-games win over Malaysia’s Karen Lyne Anak Dick, advancing to the pre-quarterfinals.

India’s biggest scare came from Commonwealth Games medallist Sreeja Akula, who was pushed to seven games by Australia’s Jiamuwa Wu before prevailing 6-11, 12-10, 11-8, 11-4, 7-11, 10-12, 11-2.

Swastika Ghosh, Anusha Kutumbale, Syndrela Das, Taneesha Kotecha, Nithya Shree Mani, Sayali Wani, Sutirtha Mukherjee, Divyanshi Bhowmick and Yashaswini Ghorpade also advanced with convincing victories, keeping India’s medal hopes firmly on track.

However, the hosts faced a few setbacks. England’s experienced Tin-Tin Ho recovered from losing the opening game to defeat Kavya Bhatt, while Malaysia’s Ai Xin Tee accounted for Suhana Saini. Australia’s Constantina Psihogios edged India’s Yashini Sivasankar 19-17 in a dramatic deciding game after a gripping seven-game battle, and Malaysia’s Alice Li Sian Chang defeated Sayanika Maji in straight games.