Inter-Institutional TT: Ghosh, Shamini get top billing

Soumyajit Ghosh in men's singles and K. Shamini in the women's singles have been given the top slots in the seeding list at the end of the qualification matches in the Institutional Table Tennis Championships at the District Indoor Hall here Sunday.

Ghosh, who is the reigning national champion, leads the men's main draw which consists of 64 players, representing various Petroleum units as well as 18 states. K. Shamini, who is the women's title-holder at the Raipur national early this year, is at the top of the women's draw. Both players represent the Petroleum Sports Promotion Board (PSPB).

However, as compared to the women's main draw, which is of 32 players with all top eight seeds coming from PSPB, the men's draw has at least two seeds - Aman Balgu from the Railways and Sourav Chakraborty from Haryana - from other than the Petroleum units. Though this may bolster the confidence of Balgu and Chkraborty over the rest from other states, seeding could be the Damocles' sword hanging over their heads.

All the seeded players in both the sections will play their first round matches later this evening after the qualification matches that got over in the morning.

As for the mixed doubles, the clash will between two superior PSPB pairs for the gold medal Monday evening. In the afternoon Sunday, Sanil Shetty and Manika Batra defeated the husband-wife duo from PSPB, Subhajit Saha and Nandita Saha 11-6, 11-7, 6-11, 14-12.

Jubin Kumar and Neha Aggarwal accounted for the other PSPB pair Harmeet Desai and Reeth Rishya 2-11, 11-9, 12-10, 11-6.

Seeding List:

Men: 1. Soumyajit Ghosh, 2. Sanil Shetty, 3. Soumyadeep Roy, 4. Harmeet Desai, 5. Sourav Chakraborty (Haryana). 6. Jubin Kumar, 7. Anthony Amalraj, 8. Aman Balgu (RSPB).

Women: 1. K. Shamini, 2. Poulomi Ghatak, 3. Madhurika Patkar, 4. Ankita Das, 5. Pooja Saharasabudhe, 6. Neha Aggarwal, 7. Divya Deshpande, 8. Mosusmi Paul.