Panaji (Goa)[India], February 28 (ANI): Indian paddlers Harmeet Desai and Sanil Shetty made it to spherical two of the qualifiers of the World Table Tennis (WTT) Star Contender Goa, in contrasting vogue. Harmeet ranked 141 on the earth, fought off a tricky problem from Englishman Tom Jarvis, ranked above him at 121, in spherical one of many qualifiers. At the identical time, Sanil Shetty (210), additionally received his spherical one match fairly comfortably in opposition to countryman Yashansh Malik.
Harmeet misplaced the primary recreation however continued to be within the ascendency after that and regardless of a battle again by Tom, the Indian was in a position to shut out in a decent end. He received the very best of 5 encounters 3-2 with the scores in his favour studying 9/11,12-10,12-10, 11-13 and 12-10. Sanil compared breezed by his match, defeating Yashansh 3-0 (11-3,11-3,11-8) very quickly.
Harmeet posts his victory in opposition to the Englishman stated, “Quite happy that I could win this match because I have played him three times. All previous times it went to the deciders and I lost 9-11 two times and this is the third time and even that was pretty close. But I am happy that I could come out as the winner this time. I hope I can continue my form in the upcoming matches.”In the Mixed Doubles, 4 groups moved into the principle draw after profitable each their qualifying rounds. Two of them being Korean pairs.
Snehit Suravajulla and Diya Chitale of India misplaced to the German pair of Patrick Franziska and Shan Xiaona 1-3 (5-11,5-11,13-11,8-11), who then beat England’s Samuel Walker and Ho Tin-Tin 3-1 (11-6,8-11,11-9,11-7), to maneuver to the spherical of 16.
Also shifting into the principle draw was the Japanese pair of Mizuki Oikawa and Miyu Nagasaki who beat India’s Ronit Bhanja and Sutirtha Mukherjee 3-0 (11-8,11-8,11-8) in spherical two of qualifying. They had triggered one of many main upsets of the day earlier, taking out the French pair of Felix Lebrun and Prithika Pavade 3-2 in spherical one. The French pair have been the highest seeds in Mixed Doubles within the qualifiers.
The third Mixed Doubles pair to undergo have been Cho Daeseong and Nayeong Kim of Korea, who defeated Manush Shah and Sreeja Akula of India 3-2 (3-11,7-11,11-5,11-5,11-9) in spherical two. Earlier, Manush and Sreeja had received their spherical one match in opposition to compatriots Vidit Desai and Prithoki Chakraborti 3-0 (11-1,11-2,11-5).
Finally, it was Koreans Ganghyeon Park and Hyobin Yoon who turned the fourth and closing workforce to make the Mixed Doubles most important draw. They beat India’s Yashaswini Ghorpade and Payas Jain 3-1 (11-9,11-9,5-11,11-5) in spherical two. While the Koreans had received over the Romanian pair of Cristian Pletea and Adina Diaconu in spherical one, Yashaswini and Payas beat compatriots Jeet Chandra and Swastika Ghosh on the similar stage.
The first session of the qualifiers additionally noticed some nice fights by a few younger Indian paddlers. The first was by Ronit Bhanja, who went right down to 35-year-old towering Czech journeyman Lubomir Jancarik, ranked 114 on the earth, 2-3 (11-5,9/11,7-11,11-2,10-12). The second was by Anirban Ghosh, who misplaced to a different seasoned campaigner Romain Ruiz of France. Romain beat a gallant Anirban 3-2 (11-8,11-7,7-11,8-11,11-8) in spherical one of many qualifiers.
Three rounds of qualifying in singles and two in doubles, unfold over two days started official proceedings of the primary WTT Star Contender Goa, right here at Panaji’s Dr. Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Indoor stadium.
A complete of 200 gamers from 30 international locations can be taking part within the WTT Star Contender Goa 2023, which is able to embody not less than 5 top-20 gamers in each the lads’s and ladies’s singles most important attracts. (ANI)