Hyderabad: M Ashvajith stood tall among the other Tamil Nadu players as he won a tough battle 3-2 to enter the Youth Girls Under-11 singles semi-finals in the UTT National Ranking Championships at the Firefox Sports and Resorts facilities today.
In contrast, top-seeded Krish Vinodh, also of Tamil Nadu, posted a 3-0 win against Subham Adhikari to sail through. But other players from the state, M. Iniyan and K.A. Prahanav Balaji, fell by the wayside. However, Ansh Kumar from Gujarat, Aakarshan Yadav from Maharashtra, Krishv from Haryana, Hardik Kumar from Delhi, Mahanalabish from West Bengal and Ariv Dutt of NOCE joined the winners in the quarterfinals.
Ashvajith dropped the first game after the deuce but picked up steam to lead 2-1 against Lakshya, who failed to cash in on the situation. Yet, the UP boy restored parity in the fourth game to keep his interest and chance alive. The Tamil Nadu boy clinched the last two points on his third match point in the crucial fifth game.
Kirsh did not have to face such a situation against Subham of West Bengal. With a sizeable lead in the first game, he continued in the same fashion to take a 2-0 lead. The third game, however, was a cakewalk for the Tamil Nadu boy who gave away fewer points to complete the job.
Aakarshan Yadav of Maharashtra struggled initially before overcoming resistance from Iniyan, who fought back well in the third extended game. Hardik Kumar of Delhi easily won against Vedansh Pogaku, the only Telangana boy to survive in the knockout stage up to the pre-quarters.
It was difficult for Mahanalabish of West Bengal against Sai Mannavath of Andhra Pradesh. The latter displayed all his table skills to give a few worries to his West Bengal opponent, especially in the third game, which Sai won comfortably. As if this was not enough, he posed several questions in the fourth before the West Bengal boy answered with a 15-13 win on the fourth match point to enter the quarters.
With several stranded players arriving in Hyderabad through diverted routes, the Competition Department stretched the overnight schedule until this afternoon to accommodate them. As a result, several matches scheduled for the day were postponed for Tuesday.
Results:
U-11 Youth Boys: Quarterfinals: Krish Vinodh (TN) bt Subham Adikari (WB) 11-7, 11-8, 11-3; Ansh Kumar (Guj) V. Mithran (TN) 11-6, 11-9, 11-2; Aakarshan Yadav (Mah) bt M. Iniyan (TN) 11-9, 11-6, 12-10; Krishv (Har) bt Sudarshan Raj (Kar) 12-10, 11-5, 11-7; M. Ashvajith (TN) bt Lakshya Kumaar (UP) 10-12, 11-4, 11-5, 8-11, 13-11; Hardik Kumar (Del) bt Vedansh Pogaku (Telg) 11-7, 11-3, 11-5; G. Mahanalabish (WB) bt Sai Mannavath (AP) 11-8, 12-10, 7-11, 15-13; Ariv Dutt (NOCE) bt K.A. Prahanav Balaji (TN) 11-1, 11-2, 11-9.
–TTFI
