Gandhidham, October 15: Top-seed seed Ayhika Mukherjee’s exit in the Junior Girls’ first round has not only upset the balance of top-half of the main draw but has also made the bottom half slightly heavier in the ongoing Indian Oil National Ranking (West Zone) Table Tennis Championships at the KDTTA indoor stadium here today.

It was not the case of Ayhika alone as No. 5 Maria Rony and No. 8 Sumana Saha, from the same half, also fell by the wayside even before the pre-quarterfinals could get underway this evening. However, their bowing out has strengthened the chance the lone surviving No. 4 seed, Delhi’s Riti Shankar. But as the match progresses, it is to be seen how far Riti can go.

In the morning, the Airports Authority of India top-seed began well against Andhra’s Vaishali Katam, taking the first two games. But Ayhika lost steam and concentration as the AP girl won 4-1, 6-11, 12-10, 11-7, 11-7 to move into the pre-quarters. As if that was not enough, the winner at Indore in Cadet section, Payal Bohra, sent No. 8 Sumana Saha packing with a score of 6-11, 11-9, 5-11, 11-8, 11-8. Then Rony Maria, the No. 5 seed, also was upset when Delhi’s Harsha Kalra turned the tables against her AAI rival to win 9-11, 10-12, 11-5, 11-5, 11-9.

As for No. 2 seed Shruti Amrute from Maharashtra, No. 3 Moumita Dutta (WB) and six and seven seeds Sereha Jacob (AAI) and Priyanka Pareek (Raj) they had no problem in moving into the next round. However, things could get tougher and tougher as they move up the ladder, inching close to their ultimate destination—the final.

On the other hand, with 16 higher-ranked players, including the top eight seeds, getting their first-round bye along with eight other paddlers by draw of lot in the Junior Boys singles main draw, they don’t begin their quest to the pre-quarterfinals and beyond until quite late into the evening.

The round of 64 saw, several pretenders exiting from the championships in the Junior Boys section as the ranked paddlers kept their date with destiny, at least progressing to the next round. But their real test will come when they meet their main opponents from the pre-quarterfinal stages where top-eight seeds—Snish Ambekar, the winner of Central Zone championships, Manav Thakkar, Utkarsh Gupta, Anirban Ghosh, Lalhunhlua, Ravindra Kotiyan and Siddhesh Pandey—will be seen in action later tonight.

Meanwhile, the qualifiers in both the men’s singles and women’s singles began with the main draw matches slated for the morrow. After that the qualifying matches in both the Youth Boys and Youth Girls will start on the same evening.