The reigning National champion, a former champion and the No. 2 seed, all bowed out of the 76th senior National table tennis championships at the Rajiv Gandhi Indoor Stadium here on Friday.
Petroleum Sports Promotion Board’s Sanil Shetty, who bagged the National title in the last edition in Patna, was outlasted by unseeded Jubin Kumar of Haryana in a seven-game pre-quarterfinal thriller at 7-11, 9-11, 8-11, 11-9, 11-7, 11-9, 11-8, while Antony Amalraj, the winner of the 2013 Nationals in Lucknow, but a qualifier here, was sent packing by eighth-seeded Sushmit Sriram of Tamil Nadu in the second round at 11-9, 7-11, 7-11, 8-11, 11-9, 14-12, 11-8.
And, the find of the season, Devesh Karia of Gujarat lost to qualifier Raj Mondal of RBI in a last-16 clash 7-11, 13-15, 11-5, 11-7, 7-11, 14-12, 11-9.
Raj continued his giant-killing run with a victory over Abishek Yadav 4-1 in the quarterfinals.
Sushmit's run was cut-short by his Tamil Nadu mate Nitin Thiruvengadam in the pre-quarterfinals.
In the lone upset of the women’s quarterfinals, defending champion Ankita Das defeated second-seeded Pooja Sahasrabuddhe 4-2.
Ankita has been in fine form in the championships, moving really well and mixing up her offensive and defensive shots.
The semifinal line-up: Men: G. Sathiyan vs Harmeet Desai; Soumyajit Ghosh vs Raj Mondal.
Women: Mouma Das vs K. Shamini; Poulomi Ghatak vs Ankita Das.
The results:
Men (quarterfinals): G. Sathiyan (PSPB) bt Nitin Thiruvengadam 11-3, 11-4, 11-4, 11-8; Harmeet Desai (PSPB) bt Soumyadeep Roy (PSPB) 12-10, 11-6, 11-4, 11-9; Soumyajit Ghosh (PSPB) bt Jubin Kumar (Har) 11-7, 11-9, 14-12, 11-5; Raj Mondal (RBI) bt Abishek Yadav (Raj) 5-11, 11-9, 14-12, 11-9, 11-8.
Pre-quarterfinals: Sathiyan bt Sougata Sarkar (WB) 4-2; Nitin bt Sushmit Sriram (TN) 4-1; Harmeet bt L. Sathiswaran (TN) 4-0; Soumyadeep bt Kotiyan Ravindra (IR ‘A’) 4-3; Jubin bt Sanil Shetty (PSPB) 4-3; Soumyajit bt Sourav Saha (WB) 4-1; Abishek bt E. Prabhakaran (RSPB) 4-3; Raj Mondal bt Devesh Karia (Guj) 4-3.
Women (quarterfinals): Mouma Das (PSPB) bt Krittwika Sinha Roy 12-10, 11-2, 14-16, 11-6, 10-12, 14-12; K. Shamini (PSPB) bt Manika Batra (PSPB) 11-5, 11-0, 11-3, 11-7; Poulomi Ghatak (PSPB) bt Neha Aggarwal (Del) 11-7, 9-11, 6-11, 11-5, 11-8, 11-6; Ankita Das (PSPB) bt Pooja Sahasrabuddhe (IR ‘A’) 11-9, 11-5, 11-8, 6-11, 10-12, 11-8.
Pre-quarterfinals: Mouma bt Shreya Ghosh (WB) 4-0; Krittwika bt Pooja Sharma (Guj) 4-3; Shamini bt Divya Deshpande (IR ‘A’) 4-2; Manika bt Nikhat Banu (AAI) 4-1; Poulomi bt Sereha Jacob (AAI) 4-1; Neha bt Madhurika Patkar (IR ‘A’) 4-2; Ankita bt Amrutha Pushpak (AAI) 4-1; Pooja bt Reeth Rishya (PSPB) 4-2.
