TT: Unseeded Saundarya topples third seed Sreeja

Unseeded Saundarya Pathak from Uttar Pradesh defeated third seed Sreeja Akula from Telangana 3-1 (11-8, 9-11, 13-11, 11-5) in the first round of the junior girls main draw of the National Ranking (Central Zone) Table Tennis Championships at the Abhay Prashal here Wednesday.

Some 32 boys and 24 girls qualified for the main draw in each section, earlier in the day. Five from Maharashtra, three each from West Bengal and Delhi made the cut in the boys category. The top eight seeds in men's singles, national champion Sanil Shetty, G. Sathiyan, Sarthak Gandhi, Soumyadeep Roy, Sourav Saha, Lalrin Puia, Subhajit Saha and Lakshminarayanan have been given direct entry into the main draw.

Fifth seed Maharashtra's Shruti Amrute beat Archana Kamath 4-11, 11-5, 8-11, 9-11.

In the girls category, four Airports Authority of India (AAI) paddlers, three from Telangana and two each from West Bengal, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and one each from hosts MP, Delhi, Rajasthan, Goa and North Bengal qualified.

The qualifiying winners in each of 24 groups will join the likes of Poulomi Ghatak, Pooja Sahasrabudhe, Ankita Das, Madhurika Patkar, Reth Rishya, Krittwika Sinha Roy, Mousumi Paul and Mouma Das - the top eight seeds - in the main draw.

Petroleum Sports Promotion Board (PSPB) paddlers dominated the scene with six of their boys qualifying. Archana Kamath was the lone entry in the girls section from PSPB who qualified.