Indore, February 28: Sayali Wani of Maharashtra bulldozed her way into the semifinals when she beat Vartica Bharat of Uttar Pradesh 4-1 in the UTT 82nd Cadet & Sub-Junior National Table Tennis Championships at the Abhay Prashal here today.

She was the lone unseeded player in the medal round of the Sub-Junior Girls category, while top-seeded Suhana Saini and second-seeded Pritha Vartikar scored identical 4-0 triumphs over their rivals Ananya Chande (Maharashtra) and Deshna Vanshika (Karnataka), respectively, to storm into the semis. Fourth-seed Taneesha Kotecha, also from Maharashtra, kept her date with destiny, who scored a 4-0 win over Delhi’s Kaashvi Gupta.

Haryana’s Suhana, who missed out on her title chance at Dharamshala, had it easy against Ananya, who just about managed to extend her in the second game. That was the only game the Haryana girl struggled a bit, but she never faced any real threat from her opponent. Sayali, facing another unseeded paddler from UP, started badly but did well to go through.  Defending champion Pritha and statemate Taneesha were at no risk from their rivals at any point during their matches.  

Kerala’s Pranati Nair got the best setting possible in the Sub-Junior Girls pre-quarterfinal when she held three match points. Leading 2-1 and then 9-6 in the fourth game, the match was within her grasp. She let her fifth-seed opponent from Delhi, Kaashvi Gupta, inch her way up. The Kerala paddler held her fourth match-point at 10-9, and she frittered away the chance in her anxiety to go for the kill. The ball missed the edge, providing Kaashvi with a new lease of life. Converting the two crucial points, she dragged the issue to the decider.

In the fifth game, both started from scratch. But Kaashvi established a good lead of 4-0 before Pranati scored her first point. The Delhi girl maintained an upper hand despite Pranati re-launching herself to narrow down the gap. From 6-10, she added two more points to make it 8-10. Without wasting any further time, Kaashvi closed the shop to enter the quarterfinal.

During the day, Manni Ramamoorthy and Sampriti, the sixth and seventh seeds, respectively, exited. The Tamil Nadu girl went down in the third round to Wani Sayali of Maharashtra 7-11, 13-15, 11-8, 9-11. A qualifier from Tamil Nadu, M. Hansini, accounted for Sampriti of West Bengal in the second round itself. Hansini, who went down in the pre-quarterfinals to Vanshika Deshna of Karnataka, won 11-9, 11-9, 11-4. But for these upsets, other seeds moved on.

Hansini fights back

M. Hansini, the top seed in the Cadet section, was down 0-2 down against Delhi’s Dhaani Jain. From there, she fought till the end and recovered her poise to enter the semifinals. Dhaani was well on course to wrap it up in the fourth and then in the fifth, holding half a dozen match points on both occasions. But the Tamil Nadu girl, after managing to deuce both times, won from precarious positions. In the other quarterfinals, the results went along the expected lines with no threat to the favourites.

In the pre-quarterfinals, a few seeds fell by the wayside. Though the seeding is just a position of pride for these kids, they don’t count much. Kaavya Bhatt from Maharashtra, seeded No. 2, lost her first-round match to Syndrela Das of Bengal 1-3. Other seeds that failed to survive included Boota Raina, Archita Dey, Avisha Karmakar and Manal Antal.

Results:

Cadet Girls: Quarterfinals: M. Hansini (TNTTA) bt Dhaani Jain (Del) 7-11, 2-11, 11-6, 12-10, 12-10, Sanchari Chakrabarty (Ben) bt Edwina Edward (Ker) 11-9, 11-5, 9-11, 11-8, Prisha Goel (Del) bt Nandhini Balaji (TNTTA) 11-9, 11-9, 11-9, Ananya Muralidharan (TTTA) bt Paluru Jalani (Telg) 8-11, 11-9, 11-1, 11-2.

Pre-Quarterfinals: M. Hansini bt Teetiksha (Chd) 11-1, 11-8, 11-6, Dhaani Jain bt Boota Raina (Mah) 14-16, 11-9, 11-5, 15-13, Edwina Edward bt Ayushi Singhal (Del) 11-9, 11-7, 11-8, Sanchari Chakrabarty bt Saanvi Mandekar (Kar) 11-9, 11-6, 11-3, Prisha Goel bt Ikshika Umate (Mah) 11-8, 11-13, 11-8, 11-7, Nandhini Balaji bt Avisha Karmakar (Ben) 10-12, 7-11, 12-10, 11-7, 11-9, Paluru Jalani bt Diva Ahuna (Har) 11-7, 11-8, 11-6, Ananya Muralidharan bt Syndrela Das (ben) 8-11, 11-9, 11-9, 11-7.

Sub-Junior Girls: Quarterfinals: Suhana Saini (Har) bt Ananya Chande (Mah) 11-4, 12-10, 11-9, 11-9, Taneesha Kotecha (Mah) bt Kaashvi Gupta (Del) 11-6, 13-11, 11-2, 11-3, Sayali Wani (Mah) bt Vartica Bharat (UP) 9-11, 11-7, 11-7, 11-6, 11-9, Pritha Vartikar (Mah) bt Deshna Vanshika (Kar) 11-9, 11-6, 11-8, 11-4.

Pre-Quarterfinals: Suhana Saini bt Khushi Jadav (Guj) 11-5, 11-5, 11-3, Ananya Chande bt Trupti Purohit (Kar) 11-7, 13-11, 11-6, Kaashvi Gupta bt Pranati P Nair (Ker) 11-8, 8-11, 9-11, 12-10, 11-8, Taneesha Kotecha bt Jennifer Verghese (Mah) 11-1, 11-9, 8-11, 13-11, Vartica Bharat bt Nehal Venkatasamy (TTTA) 11-7, 11-7, 6-11, 11-9, Sayali Wani (Mah) bt Preetha Vanisree (TNTTA) 11-7, 17-15, 8-11, 11-9, Deshna Vanshika (Kar) bt M. Hansini (TNTTA) 11-9, 11-7, 11-7, Pritha Vartikar bt Sandika Bhattacharjee (TTFI) 11-6, 11-6, 8-11, 11-7.