Sanish Ambekar of Maharashtra continued with his fine run of form to advance to the semi-final round of the Youth Boys’ singles event of the 11even Sports National Ranking (West Zone) Table Tennis Championships conducted by the Gujarat State Table Tennis Association at Rajkot Municipal Corporation ‘Veer Savarkar’ Indoor Stadium, Rajkot, Gujarat.
Sanish Ambekar
The state paddler Sanish, gaining in confidence with every match brooked little challenge for Anirban Ghosh (AAI) and stormed to an authoritative 4-0 victory. Playing aggressively from the start, Sanish controlled the rallies and quickly wrapped up the match at 11-8, 11-8, 11-6 and 11-8. Earlier, Sanish had defeated top seed Manav Thakkar of PSPB 4-2 (6-11, 11-8, 11-5, 12-10, 9-11, 11-5) in a second round match.
Sanish in the semi-final, will take on Birdie Boro (PSPB) who defeated Utkarsh Gupta (Del) 4-1 (11-8, 11-8, 4-11, 11-1, 11-7).
However, Sanish’s counterpart Siddhesh Pande fell by the wayside going down fighting 3-4 to West Bengal’s Arjun Ghosh in another quarter-final tie. Ghosh showed super fighting spirit as he come from 2-3 down to snatch a 4-3 (8-11, 11-7, 11-4, 8-11, 10-12, 11-6, 11-5) over his Maharashtria opponent.
Meanwhile, top seed Madhurika Patkar defeated Ankita Das 4-2 (11-8, 6-11, 11-7, 7-11, 11-9, 11-5), while Mousumi Paul sent fourth seed Manika Batra packing 4-3 (11-6, 5-11, 11-7, 10-12, 13-11, 7-11, 11-5) to enter the women’s singles semi-finals.
In the other last eight round ties, second-seeded Suthirtha Mukherjee defeated Varuni Jaiswal 4-1 (11-7, 11-4, 11-7, 11-13, 11-6) and and Mouma Das ended the dream run of Amrutha Pushpak 4-2 (11-4, 11-6, 9-11,9-11, 11-7, 11-8).
In men’s singles quarter-finals, No. 1 seed G. Sathiyan and No. 4 seeded Sanil Shetty scored identical 4-0 wins over Vivek Bhargava and Ronit Bhanja to take their semi-final places.
Results –
Youth Boys’ singles (quarter-finals): Sanish Ambekar (Mah) bt Anirban Ghosh (AAI) 4-0 (11-8, 11-8, 11-6, 11-8); Birdie Boro (PSPB) bt Utkarsh Gupta (Del) 4-1 (11-8, 11-8, 4-11, 11-1, 11-7); Arjun Ghosh (WB) bt Siddhesh Pande (Mah) 4-3 (8-11, 11-7, 11-4, 8-11, 10-12, 11-6, 11-5); Ronit Bhanja (AAI) bt Abhishek Yadav (PSPB) 4-1 (11-7, 13-15, 11-8, 11-6, 11-6).
Mens’ singles (quarter-finals): Gnanasekara Sathiyan (PSPB) bt Vivek Bhargav (AAI) 4-0 (11-4, 11-9, 11-5, 11-4); Sanil Shetty (PSPB) bt Ronit Bhanja (AAI) 4-0 (11-6, 11-8, 11-6, 11-4); Jubin Kumar (PSPB) bt Manav Thakkar (PSPB) 4-2 (11-8, 12-10, 8-11, 11-9, 10-12, 11-8); Devesh Karia (Guj) bt Arjun Ghosh (WB) 4-1 (11-7, 4-11, 12-10, 11-9, 11-3).
Womens’ singles (quarter-finals): Madhurika Patkar (PSPB) bt Ankita Das (PSPB) 4-2 (11-8, 6-11, 11-7, 7-11, 11-9, 11-5); Mousumi Paul (PSPB) bt Manika Batra (PSPB) 4-3 (11-6, 5-11, 11-7, 10-12, 13-11, 7-11, 11-5); Mouma Das (PSPB) bt Amrutha Pushpak (TN) 4-2 (11-4, 11-6, 9-11,9-11, 11-7, 11-8); Suthirtha Mukherjee (WB) bt Varuni Jaiswal (TELG) 4-1 (11-7, 11-4,