Panchkula, December 21: Top seed Manika Batra spent the shortest time of her career in any National event as she went down 2-3 (7-11, 11-4, 10-12, 11-8, 8-11) to unseeded teenager Prithoki Chakraborty of Haryana in the second round of the women’s singles in the 85th UTT Senior Nationals and Inter-State Table Tennis Championships at the Tau Devi Lal Indoor Stadium today.

Another collapse was on the cards when Sreeja Akula, the second seed, was down 0-2 and 10-8 in the third game against Nithyashree Mani of Tamil Nadu. But the Tamil Nadu girl squandered the chance and let the reigning champion sneak in and win her first game. After that, the RBI woman showed her class and gritty side to outlast Nithyashree 3-2 (8-11, 5-11, 12-10, 11-4, 11-5) to advance to the round of 16.

Manika, who received the first-round bye in the second stage of the singles, spent 33 minutes on the court. It must have come as a disappointment for the multiple-medal winner of the Gold Coast CWG in 2018. And for Prithoki, who turned 18 last month, it must have also been a big surprise and shock.

The Haryana girl was surprised because she subdued Manika and shocked because she held her nerves in the decider with four match points to cause an unexpected flutter. Prithoki dropped two of those points, but the cushion was hard enough to bear the last-ditch pressure of Manika.

But Manika was not comfortable against the teenager, who served and returned well, often catching the famous rival on the wrong foot. Even otherwise, Manika arrived in the city the previous day. Straightaway entering the fray without practice was fraught with danger. Her rustiness showed on the table, and Prithoki made most of the chances that came her way. The Haryana player led 2-1, but Manika levelled the score and hinted at many of her past classy fightbacks in crunch situations. But a decent lead by Prithoki was good enough to send Manika packing.

For the record, it was her second outing in Season 2023. She played her first tournament when she turned out for PSPB in the Institutional Championships in August at Visakhapatnam. She exited in the quarterfinals then and now in the second round, collecting just 50 points from the two outings.

However, Prithoki went 2-3 down to Radhapriya Goel of Gujarat in the round of 32.

But unseeded Suhana Saini kept her date with destiny and moved into the pre-quarterfinals. She defeated Moumita Datta of the Railways 3-0. The Haryana paddler, picking up from where she left off in the team events, sent the fifth seed out. Sutirtha Mukherjee, the seventh seed, bowed out to Prapti Sen of West Bengal 2-3.

Important Results: Women’s Singles (Round 32): Radhapriya Goel (Guj) bt Prithoki Chakraborty (Har) 11-8, 10-12, 4-11, 11-9, 15-13; Pritha Varatikar (Mah) bt Garima Goyal (Del) 11-8, 8-11, 13-15, 11-4, 1-6; Anusha Kutumbale (RSPB) bt Munmun Kundu (WB) 11-5, 12-10, 12-10; Diya Chitale (RBI) bt Selenadeepthi Selvakumar (TN) 9-11, 6-11, 11-7, 14-12, 11-7; Suhana Saini (Har) bt Moumita Datta (RSPB) 11-4, 11-7, 11-2; Mouma Das (PSPB) bt Syndrela Das (WB) 11-7, 11-7, 8-11, 10-12, 15-13; Yashini Sivashankar (TN) bt Shamini Kumaresan (PSPB) 11-7, 10-12, 11-6, 11-13, 11-8; Ayhika Mukherjee (RBI) bt Kushi Viswanath (Kar) 7-11, 11-5, 11-7, 11-5; Archana Kamath (PSPB) bt Jennifer Verghese (Mah) 15-13, 11-6, 11-8; Takeme Sarkar (RSPB) bt Swastika Ghosh (AAI) 6-11, 11-8, 11-3, 11-5; Poymantee Baisya (RSPB) bt Varuni Jaiswal (Telg) 11-6, 14-12, 11-5; Yashaswini Ghorpade (Kar) bt Kavyashree Baskar (TN) 11-6, 10-12, 8-11, 11-7, 11-4; Prapti Sen (WB) bt Sutirtha Mukherjee (RSPB) 11-9, 7-11, 8-11, 11-9, 11-7; Sayali Wani (Mah) bt Anjali Rohilla (Har) 10-12, 11-4, 12-10, 11-7; Lakshita Narang (Del) bt Divya Deshpande (PSPB) 11-4, 11-5, 11-6, Sreeja Akula (RBI) bt Nithyashree Mani (TN) 8-11, 5-11, 12-10, 11-4, 11-5.