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Sport - Table Tennis Printer Friendly Page   Send this Article to a Friend

Nandita steals the thunder

By Our Sports Reporter

BANGALORE June 13. Baby faced Nandita Saha of Oil India stole the thunder on a cloudy day here.

The 19-year-old from Shonpur near Siliguri pulled the rug under the top seed Mouma Das, also representing Petroleum Sports Promotion Board (PSPB) for a sensational upset on the opening day of the three-day Mayors Cup All India Invitation table tennis championship that got underway at the KGS Club premises here on Friday. Nandita won 11-8, 9-11, 7-11, 11-7, 15-13.

This was Nandita's second win over Mouma having accounted for the former India champion in the South Zone TT, last year, in the final.

The win catapulted the Manchester Commonwealth Games pre-quarter finalist and former Junior India no. 2 into the round of eight at the expense of M.S. Mythili, also of PSPB.

Mythili had earlier in the day scored a hard fought victory at 11-8, 8-11, 5-11, 13-11, 12-10 over Nandita but lost to Mouma (1-3) later in the evening. Mouma scored a 12-10, 11-4, 6-11, 11-4 win against Mythili which was just enough for her to top Group A.

Nandita by virtue of better game scores (5-5) advanced. While Mouma finished 5-4 games score, Mythili trailed behind at 4-5. Navya Ramesh the fourth player in the group conceded her matches, for lack of match fitness.

There was a surprise entrant to the quarters in the form of young V. Ranjitha of Karnataka. The youngster took a game off veteran Montu Ghosh before losing 4-11, 6-11, 11-8, 8-11.

But with two of her rivals from group D failing to put in an appearance, the Karnataka girl squeezed through as the second best and ensured herself of Rs 5000/, in the championship which boasts of the highest prize-money event, in the country.

B. Bhuvaneswari, also of PSPB, caused a flutter of sorts accounting for Anandita Chakraborty , ranked a notch higher than her own eighth, for a 7-11, 14-12, 11-9, 10-12, 11-7 win to book her berth in the quarterfinals.

In the men's section, National champion S. Raman did make heavy weather of his two victories in group A, but it was teammate and practice partner R. Rajesh who survived a scare of sorts.

The Tamil Nadu champion looked anything but comfortable against both sprightly youngster Amit Das of Centre of Excellence nor Anirbha Nandi of RSCB before prevailing in five hard fought games. "I just got lucky'' admitted Rajesh against Nandi, a few edges and chords rolling in his favour after being 0-2 down.

The results:

Men: Group A: S. Raman (PSPB) bt D.N. Guru Prasad (Knt)11-5, 6-11, 11-5, 11-5; Bhushan Thakur (RSCB) bt Nupur Santra (RSCB) 11-8, 11-7, 11-8; S. Raman bt Nupur Santra 11-9, 10-12, 10-12, 11-6, 11-4; Bhushan Thakur bt Anal Kashyap (PSPB) 10-12, 11-7, 11-7, 11-8; Anal Kashyap bt Nupur Santra 11-6, 11-8, 12-10; Bhushan Thakur bt D.N. Guru Prasad 11-5, 11-7, 11-4.

Group B: A. Sharath Kamal (PSPB) bt Kunal Telang (Knt) 11-5, 11-6, 11-7; Shubham Choudhary (RSCB) bt Prithviraj Bose (RSCB) 7-11, 12-10, 12-10, 11-6; A. Sharath Kamal bt Prithviraj Bose 7-11, 11-4, 11-6, 11-6; Shubham Choudhary bt Rajeev Ghai (IOC) 11-6, 9-11, 11-5, 12-10; Prithviraj Bose bt Rajeev Ghai 12-10, 11-8, 11-8; Shubham Choudhary bt Kunal Telang 13-11, 11-7, 12-10.

Group C: Sourav Chakraborty (RSCB) bt G. Ravishankar (Knt) 11-4, 11-7, 11-6; R. Rajesh (LIC) bt Amit Das (CoE) 11-6, 6-11, 5-11, 11-3, 11-7; Sourav Chakraborty bt Amit Das 11-6, 11-7, 13-11; R. Rajesh bt Anirbhan Nandi (RSCB) 6-11, 8-11, 12-10, 11-8, 13-11; Anirbhan Nandi bt Amit Das 9-11, 11-8, 11-7, 11-7; R. Rajesh bt G. Ravishankar 11-9, 11-3, 11-8.

Group D: Ranabir Das (RSCB) bt Uday S. Athreya (Knt) 11-5, 11-7, 13-11; Pathik Mehta (Guj) bt Karthik M Urs (Knt) 11-6, 11-6, 11-5; Ranbir Das bt Pathik Mehta 11-8, 11-7, 11-5; Amit Mukherjee (Bng) bt Karthik M Urs 12-14, 11-5, 11-7, 10-12, 11-8; Pathik Mehta bt Amit Mukherjee 13-11, 9-11, 11-8, 11-6; Uday S Athreya bt Karthik M Urs 11-6, 11-5, 4-11, 11-7.

Women: Group A: Mouma Das (PSPB) w/o Navya Ramesh (Knt); M.S. Mythili (PSPB) bt Nandita Saha (RSCB) 11-8, 8-11, 5-11, 13-11, 12-10; Nandita Saha bt Mouma Das 11-8, 9-11, 7-11, 11-7, 15-13; M.S. Mythili w/o Navya Ramesh; Nandita Saha w/o Navya Ramesh; Mouma Das bt M.S. Mythili 12-10, 11-4, 6-11, 11-4.

Group B: Poulomi Ghatak (PSPB) bt B. Bhuvaneswari (PSPB) 13-11, 13-11, 11-9; Anandita Chakraborty (RSCB) w/o Mamta Prabha (RSCB); Poulomi Ghatak w/o Mamta Prabha; B. Bhuvaneswari bt Anandita Chakraborty 7-11, 14-12, 11-9, 10-12, 11-7; Bhuvaneswari w/o Mamta Prabhu; Poulomi Ghatak bt Anandita Chakraborty 11-8, 11-9, 8-11, 11-13,16-14.

Group C: T. Pradeepa (PSPB) bt Mousami Paul (RSCB) 11-8, 8-11, 11-8, 11-8; Vishaka Bijoy (RSCB) bt Kasturi Chakraborty (PSPB) 12-10, 11-2, 12-10; T. Pradeepa bt Kasturi 11-5, 11-9, 10-12, 11-9; Vishaka Bijoy bt Mousumi Paul 11-7, 11-8, 7-11, 11-9; Kasturi Chakraborty bt Mousumi Paul 11-4, 5-11, 13-11, 5-11, 11-4; T. Pradeepa bt Vishaka Bijoy 11-3, 10-12, 6-11, 11-5, 11-7.

Group D: Montu Ghosh (PSPB) bt V. Ranjitha (Knt) 11-4, 11-6, 8-11, 11-8; Montu Ghosh w/o Mithu Paul (RSCB); V. Ranjitha w/o Kanchan Basak PSPB); Montu Ghosh w/o Kanchan Basak; V. Ranjitha w/o Mithu Paul.

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