Snehit defeats top seed Sharath
Top seed Achanta Sharath Kamal could not benefit from the walkover in the round of 64, losing the first match he played in the 11Even Sports North Zone table tennis championships in Panchkula on Monday.
S. F. R. Snehit of Telangana, playing superbly, beating the top seed 12- 10, 9- 11, 11- 3, 11- 9, 5- 11, 12- 14, 118.
Sharath gave full credit to Snehit for the way he played some great points and kept the ace paddler on tenterhooks throughout. Leading 3- 1, he made few mistakes that allowed Sharath to stage a comeback but in the decider, Snehit was nicely placed at changeover. From there the match was going only one way as the Telangana boy, maintaining a lead of at least a couple of points to stop Sharath well short of the pre- quarterfinals.
Earlier, Snehit beat Vivek Bhargava of Rajasthan to move into the round of 32.
In one of best comebacks in recent times, K. Shamini ousted Frenaz Chipia of Gujarat 11- 13, 711, 7- 11, 19- 17, 11- 7, 11- 7, 11- 7.
Shamini, returning to the arena for the first time after becoming a mother, seemed down and out with the Gujarat girl leading comfortably at 3- 0. But Shamini brought out her best and after saving a few match points, she won the fourth game 19- 17, turning the match around thereafter. Shamini earlier defeated veteran Anindita Chakraborty of Railways while Poulomi Ghatak lost in the second round. Shamini beat Anindita 11- 9, 114, 11- 8, 11- 4. Earler, Frenaz beat Yashini Shivasankar of Tamil Nadu 7- 11, 11- 8, 12- 10, 11- 2, 12- 14, 12- 10 in a thrilling second round outing.
Poulomi, on the other hand, conceded the match to Mallika Bhandarkar of Maharashtra after two games. Even for fifth seed Divya Deshpande, it was a bit of struggle before she prevailed over Telangana’s Varuni Jaiswal 7- 11, 12- 10, 10- 12, 11- 7, 11- 5, 11- 9.
Sixth- seeded Ayhika Mukherjee of RBI dropped a game before defeating Soumi Mondal of PSPB 4- 1 as did Ankita Das, no. 7 seed, who was extended before winning 12- 10, 11- 6, 7- 11, 11- 9, 11- 1.
But it was not a bright start for Anthony Amalraj against North Bengal’s Raja Kundu who took him the full distance as the no. 2 seed scraped past with a 10- 12, 116, 11- 7, 5- 11, 10- 12, 11- 7, 11- 4 win.
Sharath gave full credit to Snehit for the way he played some great points and kept the ace paddler on tenterhooks