Durgapur, January 22: Prapti Sen, who led hosts West Bengal to team title in Junior Girls, put up a below par second-round performance in singles to bow out of the 11Sports 79th Junior and Youth National Table Tennis Championships at the Sidhu Kanu Indoor Stadium here today.

The top-seeded paddler, who enjoyed the first-round bye, went down 11-4, 12-14, 9-11, 8-11 to Assam’s Trisha Gogoi with eighth seed Srushti Haleangadi of Maharashtra keeping her outside company after Nikita Sarakar of North Bengal won 11-9, 11-9, 11-5.

But the most shocking exit was that of SFR Snehit from Telangana, seeded second. Maharashtra’s Shaurya Pednekar, playing a percentage game, shown him the door with a 11-7, 10-12, 11-6, 9-11, 11-9 triumph. It is another matter the Maharashtra qualifier could not progress any further as Delhi’s Shreyans Goel sent him packing with a 12-14, 11-5, 11-5, 8-11, 11-8 verdict in the second round.

Prapti, despite being in good form, was a little put down by the second game loss which Trisha won after three deuces. Thereafter, the ascendancy of the Assamese girl was so good that Prapti was merely following the leader. Once Trisha went 2-1 up, the West Bengal paddler’s drooping shoulders said the sorry tale. Continuing her good form, Trisha beat Aditi Deepak of Goal in straight games to move into the pre-quarterfinals.

Incidentally, Prapti is also top-seeded in Youth Girls and hopefully she will put behind the Junior Girls loss and justify her top billing.

North Bengal’s Nikita Sarkar is a good player but her intensity in the second round against Srushti was rather surprising. Unfortunately, the Maharashtra girl, despite getting closer in the first two games, could not sustain the pressure and wilted. So much so Nikita won the third game and the match 11-9, 11-9, 11-5 as little resistance came from Srushti.

The only other match that drew spectators’ attention in Junior Girls was the one between two qualifiers—Varuni Jaiswal of Telangana and sub-junior champion Diya Chitale of Maharashtra.

Varuni, who hasn’t had a great season the past year, was very much on the money today, leading 2-0. But the little girl from Maharashtra, who never gives up easily, clawed her way back into the match when she took the third game on extended points. This win renewed her confidence and Diya levelled the score with an easy win.

In the decider, Diya led 3-1 and it looked as if Varuni was on the verge of elimination. But the Telangana girl mustered courage and played good strokes to pull herself back into the game, particularly playing and winning the crucial points after deuce to enter the pre-quarterfinals (11-9, 11-6, 11-13, 6-11, 13-11). But credit must go to sub-junior Diya who played brilliantly to make a match of it.

All the other seeds had booked their passage into the third round without trouble in the section. And second-round matches in Youth Girls, which are in progress, could throw some surprises as all seeds plunge into action.

Snehit was not in his usual zone today. That was visible when he was down 1-2. But his experience and the attacking game brought him back in the match with scores level. Yet, in the decider the Telangana boy made far too many errors and a couple of net errors at crucial juncture cost him the second-round place as Shaurya won 11-7, 10-12, 11-6, 9-11, 11-9.

Snehit, however, made quick amends in Youth Boys first round to beat lowly Krishna Jagdish of Andhra 11-4, 11-6, 11-8. Fortunately, all seeds in Youth Boys survived the first round.