Kamath, Chitale, Shah steal limelight

Archana Kamath, Surbhi Patwari and 15-year-old Diya Chitale have maintained their form to enter the top-four.

Manush Shah in action at the National Ranking Table Tennis Championship.

The gen-next of Indian paddlers took centre-stage with a plethora of talented youngsters storming into the last four of men's and women's singles in the 11Sports Central Zone national ranking table tennis tournament on Saturday.

Manush Shah, the youngster from Gujarat, emerged as the giant-killer in men's to remain on course for a double crown along with fancied Manav Thakkar. Southpaw Shah, having accounted for title contender Sanil Shetty in the round of 32, continued the momentum to stun Sarthak Gandhi and sixth seed Sushmit Sriram in a flawless manner. So fluent was Shah in his strokeplay against Sriram in the quarter-final that the lanky Tamil Nadu paddler was left with no answer. 

National Ranking TT: Chitale stuns second seed Patkar

In the women's draw, promising paddlers Archana Kamath, Surbhi Patwari and 15-year-old Diya Chitale continued their form to enter the top-four. While Kamath didn't drop her guard against Yashini Sivashankar, Chitale continued her dream run by coming on top against Takeme Sarkar in an enthralling quarter-final. Patwari, having stunned top seed Sutirtha Mukherjee in the round of 16,  accounted for Olympian Ankita Das to set up a semi-final date with Kamath. Chitale will face Pooja Sahasrabudhe, the only survivor among top eight seeds, in the other semi. 

Quarter-final results Youth (U-21) girls: Naina (Tel) bt Vanshika Bhargava (Del) 9-11, 11-5, 3-11, 11-9, 9-11, 11-4, 12-10; S. Selenadeepthi (TN) bt Shailu Noorbasha (AP) 3-11, 11-2, 11-8, 11-9, 12-7; Yashini Sivashankar (TN) bt Tisha Kohli (Del) 5-11, 11-7, 6-11, 10-12, 11-2, 11-3, 12-10; Prapti Sen (WB) bt Sreeja Akula (RBI) 4-11, 11-4, 11-8, 14-12, 11-8. Youth boys: Manav Thakkar (PSPB) bt Raja Kundu (NB) 11-5, 11-6, 11-5, 11-7; Anirban Ghosh (RSPB) bt Abhimanyu Mitra (WB) 11-9, 11-6, 11-3, 11-2; Siddhesh Pande (Mah) bt Jeet Chandra (Har) 12-10, 12-10, 11-8, 11-6; Manush Shah (Guj) bt Ananth Devarajan (TN) 11-7, 11-9, 11-6, 11-5. Women: Surbhi Patwari (WB) bt Ankita Das (PSPB) 11-6, 11-8, 6-11, 11-5, 11-7; Archana Kamath (PSPB) bt Yashini Sivashankar (TN) 12-10, 11-2, 11-9, 7-11, 13-11; Pooja Sahasrabudhe (PSPB) bt Ayhika Mukherjee (RBI) 7-11, 12-10, 11-9, 11-6, 6-11 11-1; Diya Chitale (Mah) bt Takeme Sarkar (RSPB) 8-11, 11-5, 12-14, 11-4, 3-11, 11-6, 11-7. Men: Manav Thakkar (PSPB) bt Jubin Kumar (Har) 11-7, 11-9, 11-7, 14-12; Raj Mondal (RBI) bt Vivek Bhargava (Raj) 5-11, 11-4, 6-11, 15-13, 8-11, 11-5, 11-9; Manush Shah (Guj) bt Sushmit Sriram (TN) 11-5, 11-5, 11-8, 11-8; Jeet Chandra (Har) bt Sudhanshu Grover (PSPB) 11-3, 11-8, 11-3, 8-11, 8-11, 12-10.