Jamnagar, October 6: The Gujarat boys did fairly well as five of their Sub-Junior Boys entered the main draw of the JMC National Ranking (Central Zone) Table Tennis Championships here at the JMC Indoor Stadium today. In comparison, none in Sub-Junior Girls from the hosts could make it to the second stage.

With qualifying from as many groups, the main draw is of 64 players interspersed with 24 byes, including the top-eight ranked players.

Of the five from Gujarat, Parikshit Sorathia from group 19, Karanpalsinh Jadeja from 22, Huzaifa Godharawala from 28, Harshil Kothari from 31 and Murad from group 32 topped to sail through. But, unfortunately, state’s No. 1 ranked player, Sohan Pandya bowed out without much of a fight. He was the best player after Manush Shah, the No. 1 player, who figures among the top eight seeded players.

As for seeding, PSPB’s Anukram Jain and Delhi’s Shivjit Singh Lamba are No. 1 and 2 seeds, thanks to their excellent performance in the South Zone National Ranking championships held at Chennai in August. PSPBA’s Alberto Lrruta and Gujarat’s Manush Shah are seeded third and fourth, respectively. Understandably, they have been given first-round byes. But Kanan Shriram of Tamil Nadu, who is state No. 1, Delhi’s Payas Jain, PSPBA’s John Zamliana, who form part of the top-half have also benefited from byes based on their previous performances. The bottom half too has few qualifiers who have received byes.

In comparison, not a single Gujarat has made it to the second stage from 24 groups. Four each from Delhi, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and West Bengal, two from North Bengal, one each from Haryana and MP have entered the main draw to make it a draw of 32-players in the Sub-Junior Girls.

West Bengal’s Prapti Sen, who won the singles title in Chennai, has been top-seeded while Anusha Kutumbale from Madhya Pradesh is seeded behind her. With no byes offered, they will be joined by other six seeds and start their first round in Stage 2 tomorrow.

Meanwhile, the Cadet Boys qualifiers, divided into 24 groups and Cadet Girls in 20 groups begin their qualifiers later tonight. Their main draw matches too will be complete tomorrow along with that of the boys and girls in Sub-Junior sections. All the four finals are slated for tomorrow.