Manush shines, enters sub-jr boys semis

AHMEDABAD: Call it home advantage for Gujarat’s Manush Shah or a rank poor performance from Telangana’s Snehit Suravajjula, the day belonged to Shah in the sub-junior boys quarterfinals of the National Ranking (West Zone) Table Tennis Championships at the KDTTA indoor stadium here on Tuesday.
Shah defeated Snehit 11-9, 11-2, 11-7 in what turned out to be a one-sided affair.But it will not be a smooth sailing for Shah as he will play top-seed and PSPB Academy paddler Manav Thakkar in the semifinal. Thakkar downed Shaurya Pednekar of Maharashtra 5-11, 11-8, 11-9, 11-2. Incidentally, Thakkar had won the Central Zone championships title at Indore last week and looked in good form despite losing his first game to Pednekar here.
In sub-junior girls, Karnataka’s Archana Kamal beat her state-mate Kushi Viswanath 11-2, 12-10, 11-2 in the quarterfinals. She is now joined by Rajasthan’s Priyanka Pareek in the semifinals.
In cadet boys, Central Zone title winner Payas Jain from Delhi bowed out in the quarterfinals, losing to Jayabrata Bhattacharjee of North Bengal 11-7, 9-11, 11-9, 11-8. In other quarterfinals Alberto Lrruata of PSPB beat Dev Shroff (Mah) 3-0. Satyamgiri Gupta (UP) had it easy against Varun Shankar of Telangana 11-5, 11-8, 11-7 and Jeho H of PSPB also defeated Sourajit Halder of West Bengal 11-3, 11-8, 11-2.
In cadet girls quarterfinals, Maharashtra’s Swatika beat Tamil Nadu’s Sharmitha Srinivasan 11-8, 8-11, 11-5, 11-6. West Bengal’s Munmun Kundu won against Delhi’s Tamanna Gulshan 13-11, 11-7, 12-10 and Maharashtra’s Diya Chitale beat Tamil Nadu’s Nithyashree Mani 11-8, 16-14, 11-4. Delhi’s Vanshika Bhargava downed Harayana’s Suhana Saini 11-3, 11-9, 11-8.