Indore, January 4: Former women’s national and reigning Petroleum champion Archana Kamath perhaps played the worst first-round game of her career and surrendered meekly to former Cadet National champion Jennifer Varghese 1-4 in the UTT National Ranking (Central Zone) Table Tennis Championships at the Abhay Prashal here today.

With Archana making her first appearance in a national ranking event for the first time this season, she had to play the qualifiers to make the main draw cut. Drawn against another unseeded player from Maharashtra, Archana should have sleep-walked into the round of 32. But, alas, the PSPB paddler, despite making a promising start, was demolished systematically by a player who is barely into her teens. At Mohali she also claimed the Youth Under-15 crown in October.

After levelling the score 1-1, the little girl grew in confidence and played as if there was no tomorrow. She was also helped by Archana’s folly, as the latter gave away unnecessary negative points. Instead of taking control of the match, Archana lost her way in the third and the fourth. However, she tried to launch herself afresh in the fifth, but it was too late in the day. Her drooping shoulders told the sorry tale, letting the 13-year-old from Maharashtra celebrate a rare achievement.

The delighted Jennifer said, “it is my best win to date, beating a great player like Archana didi.”  Jennifer may not even survive her next round against Delhi’s Lakshita Narang unless the latter plays rank-badly. But the teenager will savour the moment forever.

Amrutha Pushpak of RBI survived a scare from Kavyashree Baskar of Tamil Nadu before surmounting it with a 4-3 win. She was down 1-3 but came back strongly in the last three to enter the round of 32.

In the men’s singles second round, 11th-seed Shubh Goel and 16th-seed Payas Jain were shown the exit doors, while the remaining 14 seeds moved into the round of 32. Sarth Mishra of UP, a qualifier, accounted for Payas 4-2. The UP paddler was down 1-2 but recovered well to beat his Delhi rival easily. It was a coincidence that another Delhi player, Shubh Goel, surrendered the initiative to Pankaj Kumar Vishwakarma of Madhya Pradesh. The MP man trailed 1-2 before upstaging his Delhi opponent.

Important Results:

Men: Round 64: Ravindra Kotiyan (RSPB) bt Rudra Narayan Ghosh (Ben) 10-12, 11-8, 13-11, 11-7, 9-11, 9-11, 14-12; Sarth Mishra (UP) bt Payas Jain (Del) 11-8, 6-11, 9-11, 11-6, 11-7, 11-6; Ronit Bhanja (AAI) bt Vishwa Deenadayalan (TTTA) 11-9, 6-11, 11-9, 4-11, 11-9, 6-11, 11-3; Nitin Thiruvengadam (BBSCB) bt Jaydip Das (IA&AD) 11-7, 9-11, 11-5, 11-6, 9-11, 6-11, 13-11; Saidul Ahmed (IA&AD) bt Omkar Torgalkar (RSPB) 9-11, 11-6, 4-11, 11-6, 7-11, 11-6, 11-9; Tamal Ballav (Ben) bt Sachin Hemanth (TNTTA) 11-6, 11-7, 9-11, 8-11, 11-6, 9-11, 11-5; Abhishek Yadav (UP) bt Mohammad Ali (Telg) 11-6, 11-6, 11-9, 5-11, 12-14, 7-11, 11-9; Pankaj Kumar (MP) bt Shubh Goel (Del) 11-8, 9-11, 9-11, 11-7, 11-6, 11-6; Anirban Nandi (Ben) bt Sushmit Srirram (TTTA) 11-5, 7-11, 8-11, 12-10, 15-13, 11-8; Aakaash Pal (Ben) bt Abhimanyu Mitra (IA&AD) 11-9, 11-7, 5-11, 12-10, 7-11, 11-4;

Women: Round 64: Fatema Kadri (Guj) bt Sataporni De (Ben) 5-11, 11-6, 11-8, 11-8, 9-11, 11-7; Anannya Basak (Mah) bt Prajakta Tipale (LIC) 11-5, 9-11, 11-6, 11-4, 11-9; Vanshika Bhargava (Del0 bt Aditi Joshi (Kar) 11-6, 10-12, 11-4, 11-9, 11-9; Madhurika Patkar (PSPB) bt Pritha Vartikar (Mah) 11-4, 11-2, 13-11, 11-9; Kaushani Nath (RSPB) bt Munmun Kundu (Ben) 13-11, 11-5, 11-6, 11-8;  Chipia Frenaz (Guj) bt Manasi Chiplunkar (Mah) 11-2, 11-6, 2-11, 11-1, 11-4; Suhana Saini (Har) bt Tisha Kohli (Del) 11-9, 11-3, 11-1, 11-7; R. Harshavardhini (RBI) bt Vedhalakshmi Devi (TNTTA) 11-6, 9-11, 11-8, 11-2, 11-8; Kushi Viswanath (mar) bt Oishiki Joardar (Ben) 11-3, 11-7, 11-5, 8-11, 8-11, 11-6; Amrutha Pushpak (RBI) bt Kavyashree Baskar (TTTA) 2-11, 11-5, 10-12, 8-11, 11-8, 11-8, 11-9; Jennifer Varghese (Mah) bt Archana Kamath 9PSPB) 6-11, 11-9, 11-7, 11-8, 11-9; Lakshita Narang (Del) bt Kushi Jain (MP) 11-8, 9-11, 4-11, 11-4, 11-7, 11-2; Riti Shankar (Har) bt Isha Chavan (Mah) 11-8, 11-8, 11-1, 11-4; Garima Goyal (Del) bt Radhapriya Goel (AAI) 5-11, 7-11, 11-6, 11-4, 11-7, 11-3; Nithyashree Mani (TTTA) bt Tanzia Sharma (Del) 11-6, 11-1, 11-6, 11-6; Yashini Sivashankar (TNTTA) bt Risha Mirchandani (Mah) 8-11, 11-9, 11-5, 11-3, 7-11, 11-4.