Manav Thakkar survives scare to enter pre-quarterfinals

Top seed Manav Thakkar advanced after a tough win over Sanil Shetty in the Senior National Table Tennis Championship, which saw several upsets. Harmeet Desai and others progressed, while many seeded players exited in a competitive round

Hyderabad: Top seed Manav Thakkar survived a stern test against teammate Sanil Shetty, winning in four games in the men’s singles pre-quarterfinal of the Senior National Table Tennis Championship in Indore on Friday.

However, the round saw multiple seeded casualties. SFR Snehit, Manush Shah and Divyansh Srivastava were among the prominent names to bow out, underscoring the competitive depth in the draw.

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Harmeet Desai, incidentally, is the only surviving former national champion. He was pushed to the limit before edging past Aakash Pal in a five-game thriller, while Ankur Bhattacharjee also came through a hard-fought five-game encounter. Maharashtra’s Kushal Chopda and Raegan Albuquerque impressed, the former clinching a tight decider and the latter advancing in straight games.

Top women seed Akula Sreeja (RBI) was tested but prevailed over Shruti Amrute of Maharashtra in four games. Yashaswini Ghorpade and Sutirtha Mukherjee were in dominant touch, registering straight-game wins against Trisha Gogoi (Assam) and Avani Tripathi (UP), respectively. Syndrela Das (PSPB) also cruised through comfortably, underlining her strong form.

The results: Men’s Singles: Pre-quarterfinals: Manav Thakkar (PSPB) bt Sanil Shetty (PSPB) 11-9, 11-3, 9-11, 13-11; Kushal Chopda (Mah) bt SFR Snehit (Telg) 13-11, 6-11, 11-9, 7-11, 11-7; Harmeet Desai (PSPB) bt Aakash Pal (RSPB) 6-11, 11-6, 11-8, 9-11, 13-11; Ankur Bhattacharjee (WB) bt Sudhanshu Grover (Del) 11-6, 11-7, 10-12, 11-13, 11-6; Raegan Albuquerque (Mah) bt Neil Mulye (Mah) 11-5, 14-12, 11-8; Ronit Bhanja (RSPB) bt Jash Modi (PSPB) 11-1, 11-3, 4-11, 11-8; H Neho (Miz) bt Divyansh Srivastava (PSPB) 4-11, 11-6, 11-6, 11-9; Jeet Chandra (RSPB) bt Manush Shah (RBI) 11-7, 8-11, 11-7, 10-12, 11-4.

Doubles: Final: Jeet Chandra/Anirban Ghosh (RSPB) bt Ronit Bhanja/Preyesh Raj Suresh (RSPB) 11-8, 11-6, 10-12, 1-11, 11-8.

Women’s Singles: Pre-quarterfinals: Akula Sreeja (RBI) bt Shruti Amrute (Mah) 13-11, 11-7, 6-11, 11-9; Yashaswini Ghorpade (PSPB) bt Trisha Gogoi (Asm) 11-7, 11-9, 11-4; Suhana Saini (Har) bt Trupti Purohit (Kar) 6-11, 11-9, 11-9, 11-9; Sutirtha Mukherjee (RSPB) bt Avani Tripathi (UP) 11-5, 11-6, 11-8; Syndrela Das (PSPB) bt Anannya Basak (IA&AD) 11-4, 11-4, 11-7; Yashini Sivashankar (TN) bt Anusha Kutumbale (RSPB) 11-6, 11-7, 6-11, 11-9; Divyanshi Bhowmick (Mah) bt Jennifer Varghese (Mah) 11-6, 5-11, 6-11, 11-9, 11-4; Diya Chitale (RBI) bt Tanishka Kalbhairav (Mah) 9-11, 11-5, 11-7, 11-4.

Doubles: Final: Sutirtha Mukherjee/Kaushani Nath (RSPB) bt Avisha Karmakar/Nandini Saha (AAI) 11-9, 7-11, 11-8, 11-5.