Indore, January 5: Lakshita Narang of Delhi accounted for Krittwika Sinha Roy of Gujarat 4-2 to enter the quarterfinals of the women’s singles in the UTT National Ranking (Central Zone) Table Tennis Championships at the Abhay Prashal here today.

But the top two men seeds, Sanil Shetty and Manav Thakkar fought too well in the quarterfinals, before going down to minor seeds Ronit Bhanja and FRS Snehit, respectively. Before that, Manush Shah and Harmeet Deasi sailed into the semifinals.

In a clash of unseeded players, the Delhi girl took a 2-0 lead before conceding the next to help the Gujarat paddler come to even terms. However, Lakshita got better in the next two, particularly in the sixth, to not only win it on extended points but to send Krittwika packing.

Of the remaining seeds in the fray, top-seed Sreeja Akula blanked out Anushal Kutumbale, the eighth seed, while second-seed Reeth Rishya got stretched a bit before putting it across unseeded Yashaswini Ghorpade of Karnataka. The Karnataka girl took a 2-0 lead. But Reeth, when pushed to the corner, brought out the best in her to take the next four games, much to the chagrin of Yashaswini.

But it was fifth-seed Diya Chitale yet again put up a great show for the second time today to outwit Railways’ Takeme Sarkar, the fourth seed. Diya, despite leading 2-0, let Takeme claw her way back and lead 3-2. But the sixth extended points game infused fresh life into Diya and after that, she never looked back.

In the pre-quarterfinals of the men’s singles, four seeds—fifth-seed Anthony Amalraj, 10th-seed Jeet Chandra, 13th-seed Deepit Rajesh Patil and 15th-seed Sudhanshu Grover—fell by the wayside, joining the five others that fell in the previous rounds. Eighth-seed Soumyajit Ghosh of Haryana, who also tested Covid positive, gave a walkover to ninth-seed Ronit Bhanja, who moved into the quarters without breaking a sweat.

It was a pity to see Amalraj bowing out to unseeded Yashansh Malik who, after dropping the first match-point, won the second to beat the PSPB paddler. Unfortunately, Amalraj could not cash in on his 2-1 lead and wilted under the mounting pressure, especially when he had a chance to level the game in the sixth.

With two pre-quarterfinals raising a lot of dins in the women’s singles, the other six matches failed to draw the kind of attention the two did.  In the first, Diya Chitale of Maharashtra definitely had the edge over Chipia Frenaz of Gujarat, leading 3-1. But the Gujarat paddler came back really well to level the score 3-3. In the decider, Diya hit the grove to wrap it up quickly for a 4-3 triumph.

In the other match, Delhi’s Lakshita Narang got her match in Kokila Sureshkumar of Tamil Nadu. The girl from Delhi led 3-1, before letting her opponent come close and challenge her authority. In the end, Lakshita won the decider on minimal points to win 4-3 and enter the quarters.

But for these two matches, others drew little attention from the spectators. For the locals, Anusha Kutumbale thrashed Mouli Modak of West Bengal 4-1. Krittwika Sinha Roy of Gujrat got luckier when she got a walkover from Railways’ Prapti Sen, who pulled out after testing Covid positive.

Results:

Women: Quarterfinals: Sreeja Akula (RBI) bt Anusha Kutumbale (MP) 11-6, 11-4, 11-6, 12-10; Diya Chitale (Mah) bt Takeme Sarkar (RSPB) 8-11, 5-11, 11-8, 11-6, 13-11, 10-12, 11-8; Lakshita Narang (Del) bt Krittwika Sinha Roy (Guj) 12-10, 11-2, 8-11, 7-11, 11-7, 12-10; Reeth Rishya (PSPB) bt Yasashwini Ghorpade (Kar) 8-11, 6-11, 11-8, 11-9, 11-9, 11-4.

PQF: Sreeja Akula bt Anannya Basak (Mah) 11-7, 11-3, 11-9, 11-8; Anusha Kutumbale bt Mouli Modak (Ben) 11-9, 9-11, 11-7, 11-9, 12-10; Diya Chitale bt Chipia Frenaz (Guj) 9-11, 11-3, 11-7, 11-1, 7-11, 3-11, 11-6; Takeme Sarkar bt Suhana Saini (Har) 11-8, 11-8, 10-12, 11-4, 11-4; Krittwika Sinha Roy w/o Prapti Sen (Ben) 11-0, 11-0, 11-0, 11-0; Lakshita Narang bt Kokila Sureshkumar (TNTTA) 11-4, 11-9, 13-15, 11-3, 8-11, 6-11, 11-9; Yashaswini Ghorpade bt Riti Shankar (Har) 11-6, 11-7, 11-7, 11-5; Reeth Rishya bt Nithyashree Mani (TTTA) 12-10, 11-5, 11-9, 11-6.

Men: Quarterfinals: Ronit Bhanja (AAI) bt Sanil Shetty (PSPB) 10-12, 9-11, 9-11, 13-11, 11-9, 11-7, 11-7; Manush Shah (Guj) bt Yashansh Malik (Del) 16-14, 11-3, 11-7, 11-3; Harmeet Desai (Guj) bt Anirban Ghosh (RSPB) 11-6, 11-9, 11-7, 11-8; FRS Snehit (Telg) bt Manav Thakkar 6-11, 11-6, 11-13, 3-11, 12-10, 11-8, 11-8.

Pre-quarterfinals: Sanil Shetty bt Ravindra Kotiyan (RSPB) 11-7, 11-6, 18-16, 11-5; Ronit Bhanja w/o Soumyajit Ghosh (Har) 11-0, 11-0, 11-0, 11-0; Yashahsh Malik bt Anthony Amalraj (PSPB) 11-9, 4-11, 6-11, 11-7, 11-9, 14-12; Manush Shah bt Deepit Patil (Mah) 13-11, 11-8, 11-6, 11-7; Harmeet Desai bt Aadarsh Om Chhetri (Del) 11-5, 11-8, 11-6, 11-9; Anirban Ghosh bt Anirban Nandi (RSPB) 11-4, 11-7, 13-11, 7-11, 11-8; FRS Snehit bt Jeet Chandra (AAI) 12-10, 11-9, 11-9, 14-12; Manav Thakkar bt Sudhanshu Grover (Del) 11-4, 12-10, 11-8, 1-11, 11-7.