Fatigue induces rash of upsets
The 11Sports national ranking championships ( West Zone) for the Mayor Cup in Thane continued to see a procession of seeded players on Tuesday. Playing back- to- back tournaments has also played role in the exodus. The worst- hit were the sub- junior boys as all but one seed were knocked out in the round of 32, that too after firstround byes.
In the sub- junior girls section, top seed Munmun Kundu lost to qualifier Naina Jaiswal of Gujarat 2- 3 while seventh- seed Lakshita Narang of Delhi followed, bowing out to qualifier Sneha Bhowmick 1- 3 even as the other seeds survived.
The procession that began with top seed One of the grand slams of Indian Polo, the Yes Bank Indian Masters polo tournament gets under way in the capital with the final slated for Sunday at the Jaipur grounds here. It will be sixth edition of the event and offers a prize money of ` 3 lakh for the winners.
Five teams, all 14- goalers, will be in the fray — Sona Polo, Jindal Panther, Cavalry- Piccadilly, Delhiites Polo and Rajnigandha Achievers — all of whom have been in action these past few weeks leading up to the Masters.
The tournament will be played on half- league basis. For Pool A, all matches will be for a result. If two teams are level on points, goal difference/ goals for/ goals against will apply. If the tie still exists, then a penalty shootout will determine the winners while in Pool B, the first match’s score will be carried forward and second match will be played for a result.
Players in action include sixgoaler Mathew Perry of UK brought in by Rajnigandha Achievers and Argentine sixgoaler Daniel Otamendi, who will turn out for Sona Polo. Indian talent to watch out for include Padmanabh Singh, Siddhanth Sharma, Dhruvpal Godara and Simran Shergill. and continued with second seeded H. Jeho got extended to no. 3 Dev Shroff, no. 5 Agniv Bhaskar, no. 6 Jayabrata Bhattacharjee, no. 7 Yashansh
Malik and no. 8 Hrishikesh Malhotra.
The surprise package came from Gujarat as Harshal Kothari and Namna Jaiswal, daughter of the oldest male player still active, Jignesh Jaiswal.
Harshal, a qualifier, did not have to try too hard against Payas. The Delhi player, normally a fighter, painted an unusual picture against Harshal who made a fine recovery after losing the first game. Payas was simply not allowed to play his forceful forehands as every return from him saw an equally good response from the Gujarat boy.
Similarly, Namna, who went on to grab her quarter- final place, removed the first hurdle on her way when she ousted top seed Mumnun Kundu, the North Zone title holder, 3- 2.
The only seed to survive was Maharashtra’s Deepit Patil, ranked fourth, as he entered the quarter- finals beating Varun Shankar of Telangana 3- 1.