An action-packed penultimate day of the 86th Senior National Table Tennis Championship started off with the second seeds in men’s and women’s singles – Harmeet Desai and Swastika Ghosh, respectively – bowing out in the round of 32. And the day of upsets was capped off with Payas Jain – the promising youngster from Delhi – dominating top seed G. Sathiyan to enter the men’s semifinal.
After having squandered three match-points against the same opponent in the team championship semifinal, Payas consistently outclassed Sathiyan, managing a knee niggle, in terms of strength and pace to win in straight games.
Payas will now face unseeded Divyansh Srivastava, the giant-slayer from Uttar Pradesh who entered the top-four after halting Sanil Shetty’s (who beat Harmeet) march. Divyansh will thus become a rare men’s player with a long-pimpled backhand rubber to enter the semis.
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In the women’s singles, 15-year-old Syndrela Das emerged as a giant-killer to set up a semifinal clash against seventh seed Diya Chitale.
Men’s doubles gold for TN
P.B. Abhinandh and S. Preyesh Raj – the right- and left-handed combination from Tamil Nadu – won men’s doubles gold.
| Photo Credit:
Amol Karhadkar
P.B. Abhinandh and S. Preyesh Raj – the right- and left-handed combination from Tamil Nadu – won men’s doubles gold.
| Photo Credit:
Amol Karhadkar
P.B. Abhinandh and S. Preyesh Raj – the right- and left-handed combination from Tamil Nadu – superceded their last year’s bronze medal-winning performance by going all the way in the men’s doubles category. Abhinandh and Preyesh – the Chennai charmers – outclassed Bengal’s Sourav Saha and Aniket Sen Choudhary 3-1 in the final.
S. Selenadeepthi and Yashini Sivashankar gave TN a second medal after bowing out of the women’s doubles semifinal.
The Results:
Singles Quarterfinals
Women:
(1) Sreeja Akula (RBI) bt Madhurika Patkar (PSPB) 11-9, 12-10, 11-9, 11-6; (4) Yashaswini Ghorpade (PSPB) bt (5) Taneesha Kotecha (Mah) 11-5, 8-11, 11-5, 11-6, 11-6; Syndrela Das (Ben) bt Krittwika Sinha Roy (Guj) 10-12, 5-11, 11-7, 9-11, 12-10, 11-8, 11-5; (7) Diya Chitale (RBI) bt Ananya Chande (Mah) 11-4, 11-7, 11-9, 11-1.
Men:
(8) Payas Jain (Del) bt (1) G. Sathiyan (PSPB) 11-8, 11-4, 11-5, 11-6; Divyansh Srivastava (UP) bt Sanil Shetty (PSPB) 12-10, 9-11, 10-12, 11-5, 13-11, 11-9; (3) Manush Shah (RBI) bt (6) Manav Thakkar (PSPB) 11-8, 11-7, 11-6, 8-11, 8-11, 11-6; (2) Ankur Bhattacharjee (PSPB) bt Sarth Mishra (UP) 11-5, 11-5, 11-9, 11-6.
Doubles
Men:
Final: P.B. Abhinandh & S. Preyesh Raj (TN) bt Sourav Saha & Aniket Sen Choudhury (Ben) 12-10, 4-11, 11-6, 11-7.
Semifinals: Abhinandh & Preyesh bt Akash Pal & Ronit Bhanja (RSPB) 12-10, 2-11, 12-10, 14-12; Sourav & Aniket bt Payas Jain & Yashansh Malik (Del) 9-11, 12-10, 11-9, 9-11, 11-6.
Women:
Final: Sreeja Akula & Diya Chitale (RBI) bt Suhana Saini & Prithoki Chakraborti (Har) 12-14, 11-4, 11-4, 11-13, 11-4.
Semifinals: Suhana & Prithoki (Har) bt S. Selenadeepthi & Yashini Sivashankar (TN) 11-8, 4-11, 11-6, 7-11, 11-8; Sreeja & Diya bt Kaushani Nath & Moumita Dutta (RSPB) 11-4, 11-9, 11-5.
