Thane, November 12: It must have come as a rude shock for top-seed Anothny Amalraj when he just lasted one round—he bowed out in the round of 32 to West Bengal’s Abhimanyu Mitra—in the North Zone championships which concluded on Saturday.

The No. 2 India ranked player, who had every chance to make most of the absence of top contenders like A. Sharath Kamal, G. Sathiyan, Harmeet Desai, Sanil Shetty and Soumyajit Ghosh, let the moment of going up the national ranking chart slip by. His sudden exit must have pleased none, least of all the player himself.

He can, however, redeem himself by making amends in the 11Sports National Ranking Championships (West), beginning at the Dadoji Kondey Stadium here from tomorrow. Comparison of the venues—the past or the present with the Greater Noida one—will be odious. Every paddler that played at the Gautam Buddha University Hall vouched for its spacious arena with excellent lighting and seating arrangements.

That may not be the case with most Indian venues, including the one at Thane. But for Amalraj, he would love to fondly recall his come-from-behind final here to beat G. Sathiyan 4-3 for the men singles title two seasons ago. Most importantly, he will have only Sanil Shetty to deal with—other four top paddlers have not entered—provided he puts behind his recent loss to a left-hander because Sanil, as a southpaw, can equally give him some headaches.

Yet, Amalraj’s early departure proved to be a god-send opportunity for Manav Thakkar, whose confidence reached sky-high when he thrashed an in-form Raj Mondal 4-1 to win his maiden men singles title. He would do everything possible to prove that his win in the North Zone was not a fluke. Similarly, West Bengal’s Arjun Ghosh, Devesh Karia, Jubin Kumar, Raj Mondal, Sushmit Sriram and their ilk of players would be lurking around the corner to be at each other’s throats and Amalraj should be wary of them.

As for women singles, the locals like Madhurika Patkar, Pooja Sahasrabudhe, Divya Deshpande—she ended as a runner-up at Greater Noida—and the two former national champions like Mouma Das and Poulomi Ghatak, any one of them can claim the crown. Ankita Das and Sutirtha Mukherjee, the floaters, can be equally dangerous but unfortunately none has shown any consistency.

Like Amalraj, Mouma, too, won here in 2015 but she is gradually waning losing to younger players. The spark that one saw with a never-say-die attitude is missing from her game. For Manaika, who beat Divya for the title in the North Zone, only a sustained effort can earn her the third title of the season. She better watch out for a rejuvenated Pooja and Madhurika.  

Even otherwise, the strength of West Zone at Thane has been the support from local participants. And they will do justice with the presence of Deepit R. Patil, Pritha Vartikar, Dev Shroff, Swastika Ghosh and they will be watching out for their rivals from other states in Yashansh Malik, Payas Jain, H. Hejo, Nithyashree Mani, Anargaya Manjunath, Prapti Sen, Suhana Saini and Trisha Gogoi    

Even as the seniors wait for heir turn, the West Zone championships get underway with Sub-Junior and Cadet category group matches first. The junior players, especially those heading to Italy for the World Juniors, will get to prepare themselves well as their performance will be watched keenly. Any good performance by the juniors in the last zonal event will be vital for the players to get their tickets to Italy where they represent India.

Competition Manager Ganeshan Neelakanta Iyer said that 13 AMCO tables will be used in the two halls for the championships, spread over seven days, with Stag flooring. As for balls, he said, both Stag (senior, youth and junior) and GKI (sub-junior and Cadet) balls will be used.  

As per TTFI’s grooming policy, new referee K.R. Manjunath will have his baptism by fire with a he helping hand extended by veteran referee T.G. Upadhya. They will have the support of 50-odd technical officials that include Blue Badge, International and National umpires.