Sreeja Akula.
| Photo Credit: File Photo: RITU RAJ KONWAR
Sreeja Akula, the defending champion and ladies’s second seed, was on the verge of dropping her quarterfinal match earlier than she turned it on its head with an thrilling 11-6, 11-6, 6-11, 6-11, 6-11, 13-11, 11-4 win over 18-year-old Yashaswini Ghorpade in the UTT-84th senior National and inter-State desk tennis championships right here on Sunday.
However, earlier in the day, 5 of the eight seeded gamers, together with high seed Manika Batra and fourth seed Diya Chitale, weren’t as fortunate as all of them misplaced in the pre-quarterfinals.
Ayhika Mukherjee shut out Manika Batra in a slow-paced match in six video games and returned to beat Moumita Datta in 5 video games. Incidentally, it was Ayhika who upset Manika at the earlier Nationals.
Sreeja was looking at defeat and her coach Somnath Ghosh fuming. Sreeja saved 4 match-points in the sixth sport at 10-7 and once more at 11-10 and went on to win the sport. Sreeja was aggression personified in the decider as she raced away to a 7-0 lead and by no means appeared again.
In the absence of 10-time champion Sharath Kamal, it seems prefer it’s G. Sathiyan’s crown to lose. The high seed has been rock strong and he confirmed it in his pre-quarterfinal win over S.F.R. Snehit and last-eight victory over Sudanshu Grover.
The outcomes (quarterfinals):
Men: G. Sathiyan (PSPB) bt Sudhanshu Grover (Del) 11th of September, 11-2, 11-8, 11-5, 4-11, 11-6; Manav Thakkar (PSPB) bt Ankur Bhattacharjee (WB) 10-12, 11-5, 11-8, 11-5, 11-6; Harmeet Desai (PSPB) bt Ronit Bhanja (RSPB) 7-11, 12-10, 11-6, 11-8, 6-11, 11-3; Manush Shah (RBI) bt Sanil Shetty (PSPB) 11-4, 11-9, 11-6, 11-7.
Women: Ayhika Mukherjee (RBI) bt Moumita Datta (WB) 11-7, 10-12, 11-4, 11-6, 11-8; Sutirtha Mukherjee (WB) bt Mouma Das (PSPB) 11-9, 11-5, 11-5, 11-8; Archana Kamath (PSPB) bt Poymantee Baisya (WB) 11-7, 11-3, 12-10, 11-1; Sreeja Akula (RBI) bt Yashaswini Ghorpade (PSPB) 11-6, 11-6, 6-11, 6-11, 6-11, 13-11, 11-4.
