They did not have much of a breathing space after the recent Senior Nationals at Puducherry.
And it showed at the 35th National Games table tennis as stars fell like nine pins at the Rajiv Gandhi indoor stadium here on Wednesday.
The men’s top seed G. Sathiyan, third and fourth seeds Subhajit Saha and Sanil Shetty, women’s No. 2 Poulomi Ghatak, and the women’s doubles top pair of Mouma Das and Poulomi crashed out on a terrible day for seeds here.
“I’ve been playing a lot of matches over the last few days, I was a bit weary,” said Sathiyan, the runner-up at the Nationals which ended on January 17, after the pre-quarterfinal loss to Rajasthan’s unseeded Sudhanshu Grover 4-3.
Poulomi, a seven-time National champion, did not play the team championship final against Maharashtra, probably in the hope of keeping herself fresh for bigger singles battles, but lost tamely 4-1 to Maharashtra’s Madhurika Patkar in the women’s pre-quarterfinals.
Gujarat’s Devesh Karia and Harmeet Desai bt Tamil Nadu’s A. Amalraj and G. Sathiyan 3-2 and won the men’s doubles gold while Delhi’s Neha Aggarwal and Manika Batra beat Ankita Das and Mousumi Paul (WB) 11-7, 11-9, 5-11, 11-9 for the women’s doubles gold.
The results: Men’s singles quarterfinals: Harmeet Desai (Guj) bt Sudhanshu Grover (Raj) 12-10, 11-7, 12-10, 11-6; Raj Mondal (WB) bt Sanil Shetty (Mah) 11-7, 9-11, 11-8, 11-8, 11-8; A. Amalraj (TN) bt Subhajit Saha (WB) 11-6, 7-11, 10-12, 11-8, 11-4, 12-10; Devesh Karia (Guj) bt Soumyadeep Roy (WB) 11-7, 8-11, 11-8, 11-4, 16-14.
Men’s doubles final: Devesh Karia & Harmeet Desai (Guj) bt A. Amalraj & G. Sathiyan (TN) 11-6, 11-6, 9-11, 8-11, 10-8.
Women’s singles quarterfinals: Mouma Das (WB) bt Manika Batra (Del) 11-5, 11-9, 12-10, 11-8; K. Shamini (TN) bt Pooja Sahasrabudhe (Mah) 11-9, 11-8, 8-11, 11-4, 11-5; Ankita Das (WB) bt Krittwika Sinha Roy (WB) 12-10, 11-7, 11-9, 11-4, 11-5; Madhurika Patkar (Mah) bt Poulomi Ghatak (WB) 8-11, 11-3, 11-9, 11-9, 11-3.
Women’s doubles final: Neha Aggarwal & Manika Batra bt Ankita Das & Mousumi Paul (WB) 11-7, 11-9, 5-11, 11-9. Mixed doubles final: Aman Balgu & Pooja Sahasrabudhe (Mah) bt Amalraj & Shamini (TN) 11-8, 11-7, 11-5.
