Greater Noida, November 7: Fourth-seed Madhurika Patkar and fifth-seed Anikita Das just escaped by the skin of their teeth in women singles to move into the round of 32 of the 11Sports National Ranking Championships (North) at the Gautam Buddha University hall here today.

However, it was curtains for sixth-seed Sougata Sarkar in men singles as he bowed out in the round of 64 to Karnataka’s Anirban Roychoudhury 4-3, while other seasoned players struggled to get past their rivals on the second day of the championships.

Madhurika was straightaway in trouble against Madhya Pradesh’s Anusha Kutumbale, a junior girl, as the national champion was rusty and slowly got into her groove to go 3-2 up. But she lost the sixth game rather sheepishly that could have embarrassed a seasoned player like her as Anusha stamped her authority. But in the end, Madhurika made amends for her unforced errors and stopped her opponent three points short in the decider for facile 6-11, 11-5, 13-11, 10-12, 14-12, 4-11, 11-8 triumph.

Similarly, it was shocking to see Ankita Das being taken the full distance by Delhi’s Kritika Malik after the former national champion led 3-1. Credit must go to Kritika, who staged a remarkable recovery to take two back-to-back games, the fifth and sixth, to put enormous pressure on Ankita. However, the Olympian stood held on gamely to run Kritika down completely in the decider, much to her relief, and win 11-9, 11-13, 11-9, 11-8, 7-11, 8-11, 11-2.

Left-hander Shruti Amrute from Maharashtra made full use of her opponent, Nikhat Banu of RBI’s sagging morale, to send her packing in the round of 64. Yesterday, Nikhat was pushed down to the second spot in her group by young Vanshika Bhargava of Delhi, who progressed sailed into the round of 32 with a clinical win over Shreya Ghosh of Railways 4-2.  

Junior girl Yashini Sivasankar of Tamil Nadu, who has had wonderful WJC India Open outing here, knocked out seasoned Mamata Prabhu of Dena Bank, once a very promising India prospect,  11-13, 3-11, 11-8, 11-9, 7-11, 13-11, 11-7.  Earlier, Pallbi Kundu of RBI fell by the wayside going down to Mahadani Sangita, a qualifier from West Bengal 3-4.  

But it was Anirban Roychoudhury who drew wide attention when he packed off sixth-seeded Sougata Sarkar of LIC 2-11, 6-11, 11-6, 11-9, 11-8, 8-11, 12-10. The Karnataka lad was down 0-2 but came back strongly to win the next three games to go 3-2 up. That was when Sougata, who had upset many a top-ranked players in the past,  managed to take the sixth game to level score. But in the decisive seventh, both players had their share of luck but Anirban cashed in on his rival's fault and converted the crucial points after deuce.

All the struggle by top-ranked players could be attributed to the fact that they were getting the feel of the arena and table for the first time while their opponents had the edge because they were nicely warmed up for the situation. 

Important Results:

Men: Round of 64: Abhimanyu Mitra (WB) bt Souvik Kar (Rlys) 11-8, 9-11, 11-13, 11-4, 11-3, 8-11, 11-7, Anirban Ghosh (WB) bt Abhinav Belwal (UP) 11-6, 11-5, 101-2, 11-3, 7-11, 11-5, Omkr Torgalkar (MHR) bt Akaash Nath (NB) 11-4, 2-11, 11-6, 11-3, 11-13, 11-8, Subash Mani (TN) bt Snehit Suravajjula (AAI) 11-7, 6-11, 11-9, 11-6, 7-11, 5-11, 12-10, Rakshit Barigidad (KNT) 11-8, 6-11, 6-11, 11-5, 11-7, 11-7, Shubham Ambre (MHR) bt Manush Shah (AAI) 11-7, 6-11, 11-8, 11-7, 10-12, 11-6, Sudhanshu Grover (Pet) bt Suresh Nikhil (TN) 11-9, 12-10, 8-11, 10-12, 9-11, 11-5, 11-5, Ravindra Kotiyan (Rlys) bt Paranjape Sanmay (DLI) 14-12, 11-4, 9-11, 5-11, 11-13, 11-9, 11-6, Saish Ambekar (MHR) bt Shubham Ojha (Raj) 11-6, 11-6, 11-6, 5-11, 6-11, 11-4, Airban Roychoudhury (KNT) Sougata Sarkar (LIC) 2-11, 6-11, 11-6, 11-9, 11-8, 8-11, 12-10, Pankaj Kumar (Rlys) bt Sarthak Sethi (UP) 11-7 6-11, 10-12, 11-5, 9-11, 11-9, 11-9,

Women: Round of 64: Anindita Chakraborty (Rlys) bt Ananya Basak (ODS) 12-10, 9-11, 15-13, 6-11, 11-7, 11-8, Mahadani Sangita (WB) bt Pallabi Kundu (RBI) 7-11, 11-8, 11-8, 11-5, 8-11, 7-11, 15-13, Mariya Rony (KRL) but Priyadarshini Das (RBI) 6-11, 8-11, 11-9, 11-7, 11-9, 11-4, Vanshika Bhargava (DLI) bt Shreya Ghosh (Rlys) 7-11, 13-11, 11-8, 11-8, 9-11, 11-8, Madhurika Patkar (Pet) bt Anusha Kutumbale (MP) 6-11, 11-5, 13-11, 10-12, 14-12, 4-11, 11-8, Poulomi Ghatak (Pet) bt Senhora D’Souza (MHR) 11-8, 14-12, 11-9, 6-11,5-11, 11-7, Oishwarya Deb (WB) bt Sagarika Mukherjee (Rlys) 11-6, 7-11, 11-7, 11-6, 8-11, 11-9, Ankita Das (Pet) bt Kritika Malik (DLI) 11-9, 11-13, 11-9, 11-8, 7-11, 8-11, 11-2, Sreeja Akula (RBI) bt Shailu Noorbasha (AP) 11-8, 11-9, 11-8,4-11, 3-11, 11-5, Shruti Amrute (MHR) bt Nikhat Banu (RBI) 11-7, 11-7, 12-10, 9-11, 11-4, Yashini Sivasankar (TN) bt Mamata Prabhu (DB) 11-13, 3-11, 11-8, 11-9, 7-11, 13-11, 11-7.