Manav Thakkar fights back to enter youth final of TT meet

Manav Thakkar was on course for the title as he overcame determined Birdie Boro 4-3 to enter the youth boys final in the National Ranking (East Zone) Table Tennis Championships here on Wednesday.

Thakkar won (5-11, 10-12, 6-11, 11-3, 11-8, 11-4, 11-5) at the R. Dengthuama Multipurpose Indoor Stadium.

Manav will take on Arjun Ghosh who blanked out Shubham Ojha 4-0 (11-9, 11-8, 11-9, 11-8) in the other semi-final.

In youth girls semi-finals, Priyadarshini Das scrapped through to the final when she defeated Amrutha Pushpak 4-3 (14-12, 12-10, 5-11, 12-10, 8-11, 8-11, 11-6).

She will clash with Moumita Datta who downed Yashini Sivasankar 4-2 (13-11, 10-12, 11-5, 13-11, 8-11, 11-9).

Earlier in the women's section, in a shock pre-quarterfinal exit, top seed Suthirtha Mukherjee went down to Reeth Rishya 1-4 (10-12, 11-5, 8-11, 4-11, 0-11).

Fifth seed Ankita Das followed her, bowing out to qualifier Manushree Patil 3-4 (12-10, 9-11, 9-11, 5-11, 11-5, 11-5, 8-11).

Unseeded former national champion K. Shamini beat sixth seed Pooja Sahasrabuddhe 4-2 (11-4, 11-8, 11-8, 6-11, 4-11, 11-8).

Ayhika Mukherjee accounted for seventh seed Krittwika Sinha Roy 4-2 (12-10, 11-7, 11-6, 3-11, 10-12, 11-5).

Eighth seeded Divya Deshpande survived a scare from Nikhat Banu before winning 4-3 (9-11, 5-11, 11-9, 11-8, 11-9, 10-12, 11-5).

Fith seeded Mouma Das struggled to win against Takeme Sarkar 4-2 (7-11, 6-11, 11-3, 11-3, 11-7, 11-6).

In men's singles pre-quarterfinals, third seed Anthony Amalraj struggled to beat Sougata Sarkar 4-3 (6-11, 3-11, 11-3, 11-2, 12-10, 10-12, 11-4) in a gruelling match.

Abhishek Yadav got a scare from Delhi's Utkarsh Gutpa before advancing with a 4-3 (11-13, 5-11, 5-11, 12-10, 13-11, 12-10, 11-9) win.

Sudanshu Grover managed to win against Siddesh Pande 4-2 (11-9, 11-8, 9-11, 11-6, 6-11, 11-2).

--IANS

dm/sam/vt