Maharashtra paddlers Senhora D’Souza in the women’s category and Omkar Torgalkar and Eric Fernandes, both in the men’s category, qualified for the main draw of the 11Even Sports National Ranking (Central Zone) Table Tennis Championships.
Senhora D’Souza
In the qualifying round matches, Senhora won both her matches to finish in pole position in Group-10. Omkar and Eric also enjoyed 100 percent success winning all their respective group matches, being played at the Abhay Prashal, here, on Tuesday.
Senhora D’Souza started positively by defeating Puja Paul of Bengal 3-1 (11-2, 8-11, 11-7, 11-7) in the first match and later outplayed Prutha Prabhu of Goa, winning 3-0 (11-5, 11-2, 11-4) to seal her place in the tournament proper.
Omkar Torgalkar
Meanwhile, Omkar also won both the matches in Group-34, defeating local challenger Shashank Sharma 3-1 (11-0, 9-11, 11-7, 11-3) and then blanked Shubh Goel of Delhi 3-0 (11-3, 11-9, 11-8) to finish in first position in the group.
Eric, placed in the 4-player group-41, had quite a struggle in the opening match before he overcame Bihar’s Raj Kishan 3-2 (11-9, 7-11, 10-12, 11-3, 11-4). He had a much easier time in the second match as he tamed Bengal’s Subham Das 3-0 (11-7, 11-5, 15-13), but found the going tough in the third match against Rajesh Ramanathan of LIC before pulling off a 3-2 (11-5, 6-11, 8-11, 11-6, 11-4) win to complete his third win in the group and advance to the main draw.
Eric Fernandes
Sutirtha Mukherjee (WB), Madhurika Patkar (PSPB), Pooja Sahasrabudhe (PSPB), Mouma Das (PSPB), Mousumi Paul (PSPB), Shruti Amrute (Mah), Manika Batra (PSPB) and Krittwika Sinha Roy (PSPB) have been directly seeded in the main draw in the women’s competition.
The players who have been directly seeded in the men’s draw include, Sanil Shetty (PSPB), Manav Thakkar (PSPB), Jubin Kumar (PSPB), Harmeet Desai (PSPB), Sougata Sarkar (LIC), Sourav Saha (PSPB), Utkarsh Gupta (Del) and Sudhanshu Grover (PSPB).
Results – Women’s singles – Group-10: Senhora D’Souza bt Puja Paul (NB) 3-1 (11-2, 8-11, 11-7, 11-7); Senhora D’Souza bt Prutha Prabhu (Goa) 3-0 (11-5, 11-2, 11-4); Puja Paul (NB) bt Prutha Prabhu (Goa) 3-0 (11-6, 11-5, 15-13).
Group-16: Ashlesha Trehan (RSPB) bt Kefira Rodrigues (Goa) 3-0 (11-6, 11-4, 11-6); Ashlesha Trehan (RSPB) bt Shweta Parte (RBI) 3-0 (11-8, 15-13, 11-9); Shweta Parte (RBI) bt Kefira Rodrigues (Goa) 3-0 (11-7, 11-4, 11-2).
Group-34: Omkar Torgalkar (Mah-A) bt Shashank Sharma (MP) 3-1 (11-0, 9-11, 11-7, 11-3); Omkar Torgalkar (Mah-A) bt Shubh Goel (Del) 3-0 (11-3, 11-9, 11-8); Shubh Goel (Del) bt Shanshank Sharma (MP) 3-1 (11-9, 8-11, 11-5, 11-3).
Group-41: Eric Fernandes (Mah-B) bt Raj Kishan (Bhr) 3-2 (11-9, 7-11, 10-12, 11-3, 11-4); Eric Fernandes (Mah-B) bt Subham Das (NB) 3-0 (11-7, 11-5, 15-13); Eric Fernandes (Mah-B) bt Rajesh Ramanathan (LIC) 3-2 (11-5, 6-11, 8-11, 11-6, 11-4).