Rajkot, October 15: Consistency is a problem which PSPB’s Harmeet Desai has not been able to surmount despite being on the circuit for a long time. The Gujarat paddler, who recaptured the national ranking title at Indore—his last title win came at Guwahati in the previous season—went down 3-4 to West Bengal’s Arjun Ghosh in the pre-quarterfinals of 11Even Sports National Ranking Table Tennis Championships at the Veer Savarkar Municipal Corporation Stadium here today.

Harmeet who can be brilliant on some days and the very ordinary on others, paid the price in front of his ‘home’ crowd after letting his opponent off the hook in the face of a nice 3-1 cushion.

It is difficult to explain if his form and rhythm suddenly deserted him or Arjun Ghosh raised the level of his game a notch higher. Yet, the fact remains that it was Arjun who won the match 8-11, 11-8, 6-11, 8-11, 11-9, 11-8, 11-9 and marched into the quarters. No doubt, credit should go to the West Bengal youngster who showed a lot of verve and kept prodding himself despite being down and out.

Arjun Ghosh surprised Harmeet Desai with a 4-3, verdict in the pre-quarterfinals

He upped the ante in the fifth game, winning it by minimal points and gradually kept himself floating to take the issue to the decider. In the decider, it seemed a touch-and-go affair as the two matched each other with great strokes, employed the flanks well and even placed the ball out of each other’s reach. A few blunders, especially when he netted the ball as Arjun served for the match and a service error, cost Harmeet dear.

But Manav Thakkar and Devesh Karia fought well to keep the hosts’ flag high when the former outlasted AAI’s Sarthak Gandhi 4-2 and Karia rolled over PSPB’s Sourav Saha 4-1 to advance to the quarterfinals. Manav, who last in the quarterfinals of Central Zone, played a controlled and yet aggressive game despite Sarthak giving him a good fight. The experienced Sarthak, however, failed to cash in on the chances, particularly in the sixth which Manav won after a couple of deuces.

In other matches, top seed G. Sathiyan beat Soumyadeep Roy 4-0, AAI’s Vivek Bhargava downed Rohit Chakraborth of LIC 4-1 and another AAI boy Ronit Bhanja outplayed PSPB’s Birdie Boro to win 4-2. For Santil Shetty it was a cakewalk as he beat Nitin Thuruvengadam of Canara Bank 4-1 and Jubin Kumar repeated the score against Telangana’s Aman Balgu.

All the quarterfinals are slated for later tonight.