Table tennis: Kavyashree stars on a day of upsets

Sayali Wani and Taneesha Kotecha, seeded sixth and eighth respectively, suffered early exits while G. Sathiyan and H. Jeho also bowed out at the UTT National-ranking table tennis tournament at The Sportz Hub on Saturday.

On a hectic penultimate day, five of the eight men’s main-draw rounds and four of the seven women’s rounds were scheduled. Nashik-based Sayali and Taneesha, who represent the Petroleum Sports Promotion Board, fell in the women’s round of 64. Jeho and Sathiyan, seeded eighth and 11th respectively, exited in the men’s round of 32.

Taneesha went down to Maharashtra’s Pritha Vartikar 12-10, 11-13, 11-9, 11-13, 3-11. Tamil Nadu’s Kavyashree Baskar stunned Sayali 9-11, 8-11, 11-7, 11-6, 11-7 in a tense battle. Kavyasree later accounted for Bengal’s Ahona Ray in another decider to enter the last 16.

Sathiyan’s Asian Games preparations suffered a setback as the veteran succumbed to IA & AD’s southpaw Abhimanyu Mitra in straight games. Jeho, meanwhile, couldn’t withstand Priyanuj Bhattacharyya’s consistency and power, going down in four games.

Top seed Yashaswini Ghorpade survived a scare against Aarti Chaudhary. Trailing 4-6 in the decider, Yashaswini reeled off seven points in succession to set up a tantalising pre-quarterfinal clash with top-ranked Sreeja Akula.

Important results (round of 32): Men: Manush Shah (RBI) bt S. Preyesh Raj (RSPB) 16-14, 11-3, 9-11, 11-7; Abhimanyu Mitra (IA&AD) bt G. Sathiyan (PSPB) 12-10, 11-6, 11-8; Divyansh Srivastava (U.P.) bt Sarthak Arya (Odi) 5-11, 11-6, 11-2, 11-4; Sanil Shetty (PSPB) bt Ayan Ghosh (Ben) 11-9, 11-6, 11-5; Manav Thakkar (PSPB) bt Neil Mulye (Mah) 11-8, 11-7, 5-11, 11-7; Priyanuj Bhattacharyya (RSPB) bt H. Jeho (Miz) 11-3, 7-11, 11-6, 12-10.

Women: Yashaswini Ghorpade (PSPB) bt Aarti Chaudhary (U.P.) 11-3, 9-11, 11-8, 8-11, 11-6; Sreeja Akula (RBI) bt Anjali Rohilla (IA&AD) 8-11, 11-5, 14-12, 11-8; Syndrela Das (Ben) bt Ayhika Mukherjee (RBI) 11-6, 6-11, 11-8, 11-1; Kavyashree Baskar (TN) bt Ahona Ray (Ben) 11-9, 11-9, 7-11, 3-11, 11-9; Anusha Kutumbale (RSPB) bt Hardee Patel (Mah) 11-4, 8-11, 13-11, 11-7; Swastika Ghosh (PSPB) bt Prithoki Chakraborti (RSPB) 5-11, 11-7, 12-10, 11-8; Suhana Saini (Har) bt Avisha Karmakar (Ben) 7-11, 12-10, 11-7, 10-12, 11-9; Tanishka Kalbhairav (Kar) bt Madhurika Patkar (PSPB) 8-11, 12-10, 11-8, 7-11, 11-8.