Poulomi makes winning comeback

Former National champion Poulomi Ghatak made a winning start to her return to competitive table tennis by dismissing talented youngster Moumita Dutta 11-7, 11-6, 11-3 in the 11Even Sports National ranking tournament here.

Poulomi, back after the birth of her first son, looked a tad rusty but still proved too strong for Moumita, seeded three in the junior girls. To reach the main draw, Poulomi needs to win two more matches in the group league.

In fact, the full field in the ladies section led by National champion and Rio-bound Manika Batra promises thrilling fare.

Mouma Das, who joined Manika as the second qualifier for the Olympics, is ranked second, is followed by Pooja Sahasrabudhe, Madhurika Patkar, K. Shamini, Divya Deshpande, Ankita Das and Krittwika Sinha Roy. Coincidentally, all eight girls represent Petroleum.

The men’s field, without Rio Olympics qualifiers Soumyajit Ghosh and Sharath Kamal, has A. Amalraj, Harmeet Desai, G. Sathiyan, Sudhanshu Grover, Sanil Shetty, Jubin Kumar, Subhajit Saha and Abhishek Yadav as the top-eight ranked players.

The main draw matches of the junior section began after the sub-junior champions were decided.

Top seed H. Jeho battled past Alberto Lrruta, his teammate from the Ajmer-based Petroleum Academy, 11-9, 13-11, 7-11, 9-11, 11-8, 5-11, 11-6 in the final.

The sub-junior girls’ title-match went in favour of Madhya Pradesh’s Anusha Kutumble who overcame a mid-match lapse in concentration to overpower Delhi’s Vanshika Bhargava 11-6, 13-11, 7-11, 11-5, 11-4.

The results:

Sub-junior boys (final): H. Jeho (Pet-A) bt Alberto Lrruta (Pet ‘A’) 11-9, 13-11, 7-11, 9-11, 11-8, 5-11, 11-6. Semiifinals: Jeho bt Yashansh Malik (Del) 7-11, 8-11, 5-11, 13-11, 11-6, 13-11, 14-12; Alberto bt C.K. Somaiya (Pet-A) 11-4, 11-8, 11-6, 11-3. Quarterfinals : Jeho bt Dev Shroff (Mah-A) 11-8, 11-6, 11-9; Malik bt Vishwa Deenadayalan (TN) 11-7, 11-7, 11-7; Alberto bt Sur Roy Siddhant (NB) 11-7, 11-8, 10-12, 5-11, 11-8; Somaiya bt Jayabarth Bhattacharya (WB) 11-4, 7-11, 8-11, 11-7, 11-7.

Sub-junior girls (final): Anusha Kutumble (MP) bt Vanshika Bhargava (Del) 11-6, 13-11, 7-11, 11-5, 11-4; Semifinals: Anusha bt Anjali Rohilla (Har) 11-3, 10-12, 11-3, 11-7, 11-5; Vanshika Bhargava bt Dia Chitale (Mah-A) 11-4, 12-10, 8-11, 7-11, 13-15, 11-7, 11-3; Quarterfinals: Anusha bt Kajol Ramjali (AP) 5-11, 11-5, 12-10, 7-11, 11-6; Anjali bt Anubha Bajaj (Del) 11-6, 9-11, 11-5, 8-11, 11-7; Dia bt Munmun Kundu (WB) 11-7, 11-8, 11-9; Vanshika bt Sharmita Srinivasan (TN) 15-13, 11-9, 11-7.