Kavyashree shines amid surprising results in table tennis matches.

In a surprising turn of events at The Sportz Hub on Saturday, several top-seeded players faced early eliminations during the UTT National-ranking table tennis tournament. Among the notable exits were sixth-seeded Sayali Wani and eighth-seeded Taneesha Kotecha, both representing the Petroleum Sports Promotion Board (PSPB), who were ousted in the women’s round of 64.

Sayali, hailing from Nashik, encountered a fierce challenge from Tamil Nadu’s Kavyashree Baskar, ultimately losing in a closely contested match with scores of 9-11, 8-11, 11-7, 11-6, and 11-7. Taneesha, on the other hand, fell to Maharashtra’s Pritha Vartikar in a five-game thriller, with the final score reading 12-10, 11-13, 11-9, 11-13, and 3-11. Kavyashree’s victory propelled her into the last 16 after she also defeated Bengal’s Ahona Ray in another nail-biting encounter.

The men’s competition also witnessed significant upsets, with G. Sathiyan and H. Jeho, seeded eighth and eleventh respectively, exiting in the round of 32. Sathiyan, who is currently preparing for the Asian Games, faced a setback against Abhimanyu Mitra from IA & AD, losing in straight games. Jeho struggled against the powerful play of Priyanuj Bhattacharyya, who secured victory in four games.

Despite the early exits of several seeded players, the tournament continued to showcase thrilling matches. Top seed Yashaswini Ghorpade narrowly escaped elimination against Aarti Chaudhary. After trailing 4-6 in the deciding game, Ghorpade rallied to win seven consecutive points, setting up an exciting pre-quarterfinal match against the highly ranked Sreeja Akula.

Several other significant results emerged from the round of 32. In the men’s category, Manush Shah of RBI triumphed over S. Preyesh Raj from RSPB with scores of 16-14, 11-3, 9-11, and 11-7. Divyansh Srivastava from U.P. defeated Sarthak Arya of Odi, while Sanil Shetty and Manav Thakkar, both from PSPB, also advanced with solid performances. In the women’s draw, Sreeja Akula overcame Anjali Rohilla from IA & AD, and Kavyashree Baskar continued her impressive run with a victory over Ahona Ray.