Manush Shah’s current ranking — 14 in the domestic and 402 in the international level — is not something to crow about. But the 20-year-old has been working hard and recent results are a testimony of it.
The singles crown in the Ecuador International Open in November boosted his confidence and the paddler from Gujarat showed glimpses of his capabilities at the domestic level too with an 8-11, 11-8, 8-11, 13-11, 7-11, 12-10, 11-7 upset victory over top seed Sanil Shetty in the men’s quarterfinals of the UTT National-ranking South Zone table tennis tournament at the Rajiv Gandhi Indoor Stadium here on Wednesday.
Unseeded here, Manush’s gritty fight back in the fourth and sixth games underelined his abilities.
In fact, Sanil had a match-point at 10-9 in the sixth game, but Manush served well and put pressure on his opponent’s backhand to clinch it. Sanil crumbled in the seventh and deciding game, making quite a few unforced errors on his favourite stroke — the forehand.
“I lost in the pre-quarterfinals in the two previous National-ranking tournaments and learnt from them. My aim is to try and be part of the Indian team for the 2022 Commonwealth Games,” said Manush.
Maharashtra’s Anannya Basak, who upset women’s top seed Prapti Sen (RSPB) in the pre-quarterfinals, lost to Swasthika Ghosh in the next round in six games. Similarly, Tamil Nadu’s V. Kowshika (TTTA) defeated fourth-seeded Sutirtha Mukherjee in the round-of-16, but went down to Ayhika Mukherjee in four straight games.
Vedhalakshmi goes down
Earlier, Tamil Nadu’s Vedhalakshmi Devi, who had accounted for Madhurika Patkar in the first round, lost in the second to Anusha Kutumbale of Maharashtra in six games.
The results:
Quarterfinals: Men: Manush Shah (Guj) bt Sanil Shetty (PSPB) 8-11, 11-8, 8-11, 13-11, 7-11, 12-10, 11-7; Anirban Ghosh (RSPB) bt Anthony Amalraj (PSPB) 11-9, 9-11, 5-11, 11-7, 11-6, 2-11, 11-3; Harmeet Desai (Guj) bt Jeet Chandra (AAI) 11-9, 11-13, 11-9, 11-5, 11-7; Shubh Goel (Del) bt Arjun Ghosh (RSPB) 11-7, 13-11, 11-5, 11-6.
Women: Swastika Ghosh (AAI) bt Anannya Basak (Mah) 7-11, 11-8, 10-12, 11-8, 11-4, 11-9; Ayhika Mukherjee (RBI) bt Kowshika Venkatesan (TTTA) 11-9, 11-4, 11-9, 11-8; Diya Chitale (Mah) bt Takeme Sarkar (RSPB) 11-13, 11-7, 11-6, 12-10, 11-5; Sreeja Akula (RBI) bt Reeth Rishya (PSPB) 11-5, 11-6, 11-9, 9-11, 10-12, 11-7.
