Table tennis at National Games 2022: What happened on day 3, athletes in action on day 4

The National Games 2022 table tennis event is underway at the PDDU Indoor Stadium, Surat. It will go on from September 20 to 24.

Manika Batra from Delhi in action in Women’s singles event during the 36th National Games. | Photo Credit: A. M. FARUQUI

The National Games 2022 table tennis event is currently underway at the PDDU Indoor Stadium, Surat. The paddlers will be in action till Saturday, September 24, before G Sathiyan and Manika Batra leave for the World Championships.

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Sathiyan of Tamil Nadu and Delhi’s Manika are the top seeds in the men’s and women’s singles respectively, pushing the reigning national champions A. Sharath Kamal and Akula Sreeja to the second spot.

Sharath Kamal, who went on to win four medals, including three gold, at the 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games, found himself pushed a rung below because of his world ranking - 43. On the other hand, Sathiyan (No. 37) is the top-ranked Indian in the world. Manika, too, benefited from the same rule as the Delhi paddler is at 45, while Sreeja is at 77.

SCHEDULE DAY 4 (SEPTEMBER 23)-

Event	TIME	OPPONENT 1 vs OPPONENT 2
Mixed Doubles round	10 AM	West Bengal vs Gujarat
Mixed Doubles	10 AM	Gujarat vs Uttar Pradesh
Mixed Doubles	10 AM	West Bengal vs West Bengal
Mixed Doubles	10 AM	Maharashtra vs Telangana
Men's Doubles round 2	10:30 AM	West Bengal vs Gujarat
Men's Doubles round 2	10:30 AM	Delhi vs Telangana
Men's Doubles round 2	10:30 AM	Uttar Pradesh vs Haryana
Men's Doubles round 2	10:30 AM	West Bengal vs Maharashtra
Men's Doubles round 2	11 AM	Maharashtra vs Telangana
Men's Doubles round 2	11 AM	Uttar Pradesh vs Gujarat
Men's Doubles round 2	11 AM	Delhi vs Haryana
Men's Doubles round 2	11 AM	Karnataka vs West bengal
Women's singles	11:30 AM	Kushi V vs Manika Batra
Women's singles	11:30 AM	Krittwika Sinha vs Takeme Sarkar
Women's singles	11:30 AM	Stirtha Mukherjee vs Anusha Kutumbale
Women's singles	11:30 AM	Reethrishya Tennison vs Mouma Das
Women's singles	12:10 PM	Swastika Sandeep Ghosh vs Ayhika Mukherjee
Women's singles	12:10 PM	Mariya Rony vs Akula Sreeja
Women's singles	12:10 PM	Diya Parag Chitale vs Frenaz Chipla
Women's singles	12:10 PM	Suhana Saini vs Yashaswini Ghorpade
Men's singles round 3	12:50 PM	Rohit Bhanja vs G. Sathiyan
Men's singles round 3	12:50 PM	Manav Thakkar vs Sudhanshu Grover
Men's singles round 3	12:50 PM	Anirban Ghosh vs Deepit Rajesh Patil
Men's singles round 3	12:50 PM	Sarthak Seth vs Harmeet Desai
Men's singles round 3	1:30 PM	Sanil Shetty vs Fidel Snehit
Men's singles round 3	1:30 PM	Manush Shah vs Payas Jain
Men's singles round 3	1:30 PM	Soumyajit Ghosh vs Yashansh Malik
Men's singles round 3	1:30 PM	Jeet Chandra vs Sharath Kamal
Women's doubles round 3	4 PM	Maharashtra vs Gujarat
Women's doubles round	4 PM	Tamil Nadu vs West Bengal
Women's doubles round	4 PM	Tamil Nadu vs Maharashtra
Women's doubles round	4 PM	West Bengal vs Karnataka

WHAT HAPPENED ON DAY 3 (SEPTEMBER 22)?

Sixteen-year-old Suhana Saini of Haryana, one of the most promising young paddlers, produced the lone upset in the women’s singles second round table tennis match of the 36th National Games on Thursday.

However, in the men’s singles, all the top eight seeds, sailed to the pre-quarterfinals. Suhana overcame Prapti Sen of West Bengal, 13-15, 11-7, 13-11, 11-6, 8-11, 14-12 to reach the pre-quarterfinals.

G. Sathiyan and Sharath Kamal of Tamil Nadu, the top two seeds, produced a strong performance to defeat Wesley Do Roserio of Haryana and Ravindra Kotiyan of Maharashtra respectively.

Maharashtra’s Sanil Shetty, the third seed, was pushed to the brink before he overcame Divyansh Srivastav (UP) 11-6, 7-11, 9-11, 11-8, 11-9, 7-11, 11-9. Haryana’s Soumyajit Ghosh, seeded seventh, had to produce his best to beat Raegan Albuquerque of Maharashtra 11-5, 4-11, 11-2, 10-12, 11-13, 11-7, 11-9 to enter the pre-quarterfinals.

The results (round of 32):

Men: Men: G. Sathiyan (TN) bt Wesley Do Rosario (Har) 13-11, 11-6, 11-4, 11-5; Manav Thakkar (Guj) bt Sarth Mishra (UP) 11-5, 11-6, 11-6, 12-14, 11-6; Anirban Ghosh (WB) bt Ishaan Mahesh Hingorani (Guj) 11-8, 5-11, 11-9, 11-9, 11-3; Harmeet Desai (Guj) bt Mohammad Ali (S) 11-4, 11-5, 11-6, 11-8; Sanil Shetty (Mah) bt V. Diyvansh Srivastav (UP) 11-6, 7-11, 9-11, 11-8, 11-9, 7-11, 11-9; Manush Shath (Guj) bt K. J. Akash (Kar) 11-5, 11-8, 11-2, 11-4; Soumyajit Ghosh (Har) bt Raegan Albuquerque (Mah) 11-5, 4-11, 11-2, 10-12, 11-13, 11-7, 11-9; Sharath Kamal (TN) bt Ravindra Kotiyan (Mah) 11-9, 11-6, 11-6, 17-15.

Women: Manika Batra (Del) bt D. Pranitha (TS) 11-5, 11-8, 11-6, 11-8, Takeme Sarkar (WB) bt Nikhat Banu (TS) 9-11, 11-6, 11-8, 11-9, 14-12; Anusha Kutumbale (MP) Riti Shankar (Har) 11-5, 11-6, 11-7, 11-9; Suhana Saini (Har) bt Prapti Sen (WB) 13-15, 11-7, 13-11, 11-6, 8-11, 14-12; Sreeja Akula (TS) bt Annanya Basak (Mah) 13-11, 11-3, 11-8, 11-8; Reeth Rishya (Mah) bt C. R. Harshavardini (TN) 13-11, 11-6, 11-8, 11-2; Diya Chitale (Mah) bt Trisha Paul (Har) 11-3, 11-6, 11-4, 12-10; Swastika Ghosh (Mah) bt V. Kowshika (TN) 11-8, 11-7, 11-5, 11-6.

- K. Keerthivasan