Even as the India A boys made easy forays and established themselves as strong gold medal contenders in the junior category, the junior girls were on shaky legs as they went down 0-3 to unranked Chinese players at the Reliance India Junior and Cadet Open at the NSCI Stadium here Wednesday.
But for this one aberration, the Indians in all other sections were very much in their zones and making the right noises. In fact, what Manika Batra with the world ranking of 30 and Suthirtha Mukherjee, ranked 60, failed to do in Group 1, both Reeth Tennison (158) and Ayhika Mukherjee (127) accomplished as India B beat the China-India combination in Group 2 to secure a semifinal spot ahead of the A team.
Indeed, it was not the kind of start that the hosts would have envisaged on the opening day of the ITTF global circuit event here. Two unranked Chinese players Yanmei Yang and Anqi Li went about their demolishing job of both Suthirtha Mukherjee and Manika Batra in that order in just about 40 minutes.
Yang defeated Suthirtha 8-11, 11-9, 11-7, 11-5 and Li outsmarted Batra 5-11, 11-6, 4-11, 11-6, 11-7 to forewarn that it will not be a cakewalk for the higher ranked Indians. Both Suthirtha and Mankia were guilty of playing into the Chinese hands who kept their basics right. Suthirtha began promisingly taking the first game, only to lose the next three on the trot.
Manika, on the other hand, showed a lot of enterprise only to falter as after winning the first and third games and leading 2-1, she succumbed to Li's slow and cautious game plan. Li was excellent in keeping the ball on the table while Manika, more often than not, only managed to put it back on the net. That was her undoing and, seizing the opportunity, Li just rolled over the Indian in style.
The teams that have made it to the second stage include India A and B in Junior Boys, India A in Cadet Boys and India A and B teams in Cadet Girls. Two teams from each group will qualify for the semifinals to be played Thursday morning with the finals to follow in the evening.
The Results:
Junior Boys: Group 1: India A bt India E 3-0 (Abhishek Yadav bt Sanish Ambekar 11-8, 6-11, 11-5, 11-7, Sudhanshu Grover bt Chinmay Vinod 11-8, 8-11, 8-11, 11-9, 13-11; India A bt China-Iran 3-0 (Sudhanshu Grover bt Huabing He 11-6, 11-6, 11-3, Abhishek Yadav bt Nia Sooroosh Amiri 11-1, 11-4, 13-11, Sudhanshu/Abhishek bt He/Amiri 11-3, 11-7, 11-9.
Group 2: Inda B bt India D 3-0 (Utkarsh Gupta bt Nishad Shah 11-7, 4-11, 9-11, 11-5, 11-6, Sabhya Virmani bt Mudit Dani 11-5, 11-7, 11-8, Utkarsh/Sabhya bt Nishaad/Mudit 13-15, 11-3, 9-11, 11-5, 11-4; India B bt India C 3-0 (Utkarsh Gupta bt Rohit Rajasekhar 11-9, 11-4, 8-11, 11-6, Sabhya Virmani bt Sameera Kumar 11-2, 11-9, 11-7, Utkarsh/Sabhya bt Rohit/Sameera Kumar 11-8, 12-10, 5-11, 11-5.
Junior Girls: Group 1: China bt India A 3-0 (Yanmei Yang bt Suthirtha Mukherjee 8-11, 11-9, 11-7, 11-5, Anqi Li bt Manika Batra 6-11, 11-6, 4-11, 11-6, 11-7, Yang/Li bt Manika/Suthirtha 11-7, 11-4, 11-6; India A bt India C 30 (Manika Batra bt Mallika Bhandarkar 8-11, 11-5, 11-6, 11-5, Suthirtha Mukherjee bt Narisimha Priya 13-11, 11-7, 11-7, Manika/Suthirtha bt Mallika/Priya 11-7, 9011, 13-11, 11-6.
Group 2: India B bt India D 3-0 (Ayhika Mukherjee bt Devika Bhide 18-11, 11-7, 11-6, Reeth Tennison bt Shireen Inamdar 11-1, 11-9, 11-8, Ayhika/Reeth bt Devika/Shireen 11-7, 11-5, 11-6; India B bt China-India 3-2 (Ayhika Mukherjee bt Senhora D'Souza 11-7, 11-6, 11-8, Reeth Tennison lost to Xiaotong Sun 8-11, 6-11, 11-6, 8-11, Ayhika/Reeth bt Senhora/Sun 7-11, 11-9, 11-6, 11-5, Ayhika Mukherjee lost to Xiaotong Sun 11-4, 11-7, 3-11, 6-11, 7-11, Reeth Tennison bt Senhora D'Souza 11-6, 8-11, 9-11, 11-4, 11-6.
Cadet Boys: Group 1: India A bt UAE 3-0 (Birdie Boro bt Abdullaa Albalooshi 11-5, 11-5, 11-6, Anirban Ghosh bt Salah Al-Balooshi 11-6, 11-4, 11-4, Birdie/Anirban bt Abdulla/Salah 11-7, 11-6, 11-13, 14-12; India A bt India C 3-0 (Birdie Boro bt Lalhunhlua 11-8, 5-11, 11-9, 11-2, Anirban Ghosh bt Lalrin Puia 11-8, 9-11, 11-8, 11-5, Birdie/Anirban bt Lalhunhlua/Puia 11-5, 11-7, 10-12, 11-3.
Group 2: India B bt India-UAE 3-0 (Arjun Ghosh bt Saif Alfalasi 11-5, 11-2, 11-3, Ayush Tayal bt Shaurya Tushar 11-5, 11-9, 11-8, Arjun/Ayush bt Shaurya/Saif 11-6, 11-8, 11-7; China bt Nigeria-India 3-0 (Yuhao Wang bt Hammed Osibanjo 11-4, 11-8, 11-7, Beizeng Wang lost to Siddhesh Mukund 5-11, 9-11, 7-11, Yuhao/Beizeng bt Hammed/Siddhesh 11-7, 11-7, 11-6; India B bt China 3-1 (Ayush Tayal lost to Yuhao Wang 11-8, 6-11, 4-11, 6-11, Arjun Ghosh bt Beizeng Wang 13-11, 14-12, 11-8, Ayush/Arjun bt Yuhao/Beizeng 11-9, 11-9, 10-12, 11-2, Arjun Ghosh bt Yuhao Wang 4-11, 11-8, 12-10, 12-10, 11-7; Nigeria-India bt India-UAE Siddhesh Mukund bt Sail Alfalasi 6-11, 11-2, 11-8, 11-3, Hammed Osibanjo lost to Shaurya Tushar 11-9, 7-11, 11-9, 7-11, 9-11, Siddhesh/Hammed bt Saif/Shaurya 11-8, 11-6, 5-11, 11-8.
Cadet Girls: Group 1: India B bt India D 3-0 (Sreeja Kula bt Ashlesha Trehan 8-11, 11-7, 11-6, 7-11, 11-5, Moumita Dutta bt Mansi Mahendra 11-13, 13-11, 11-3, 11-9, Sreeja/Moumita bt Ashlesha/Mansi 11-6, 13-11, 9-11, 11-8; India B bt India C 3-2 (Moumita Dutta bt Naina 11-5, 119, 13-11, Sreeja Akula bt Shruti Vijay Amrute 11-5, 4-11, 11-6, 5-11, 11-7, Moumita/Sreeja lost to Naina/Shruti 10-12, 10-12, 7-11, Sreeja Akula lost to Naina 5-11, 11-5, 7-11, 8-11, Moumita Dutta bt Shruti Vijay Amrute 11-7, 11-4, 11-9.
Group 2: India A bt India E 3-0 (Calange Ravichandra bt Dyuti Sagar 11-9, 11-8, 11-6, Sagarika Mukherjee bt Srushti Halengadi 12-10, 11-5, 11-2, Calange/Sagarika bt Dyuti/Srushti 11-6, 7-11, 11-5, 9-11, 12-10; India A bt Hong Kong-India 3-0 (Calange Ravichandra bt Desiree Hung 11-4, 11-6, 11-3, Sagarika Mukherjee bt Aishwarya Pathak 11-7, 11-4, 9-11, 4-11, 11-7, Calange/Sagarika bt Desiree/Aishwarya 11-3, 12-10, 11-4.
