The Hindu : Sport / Table Tennis : Sanil Shetty stuns Arunava Ganguly

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Jul 18, 2004

Sport

Sport - Table Tennis

Sanil Shetty stuns Arunava Ganguly

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, JULY 17. Cadet boy Sanil Shetty gave top seed Arunava Ganguly a rude wake-up call ahead of the Asian junior meet by knocking him out in the boys' quarterfinals of the South Asian table tennis championship here on Saturday.

On a day when Indian boys monopolised all quarterfinal berths before the girls captured all the semifinal slots, Shetty's stunning victory overshadowed the host's expected triumph in the men's team championship. For the record, India blanked Sri Lanka 3-0, with Subhajit Das, Soumyajit Sarkar and R. Abhishek winning in straight games in the final league match.

The unseeded Shetty, a former National sub-junior champion, took on Ganguly and made it a no-contest in quick time. The score-line of 11-8, 11-7, 11-7, 12-10 adequately reflects Shetty's domination but not the way the manner in which he destroyed the pre-match favourite and left him in cold sweat in the air-conditioned NDMC Indoor Stadium. Shetty played the match against Ganguly like a boy possessed. Attacking on both flanks, Shetty managed to land most of his returns at the desired spot with remarkable consistency. It was almost as if Shetty believed that he could do no wrong against Ganguly on this day.

On the other hand, Ganguly struggled to keep the ball in play. He allowed Shetty to gain early lead in every game, but came close only in what turned out to the final one. Shetty, however, went on to lose tamely in the cadet boys' final to team-mate Soumyajit Sarkar. From the other three quarters, Subhadip Das, Aniket Koparkar and R. Abhishek, seeded two to four, took their allotted places in the semifinals.

Among the girls, S. Sangeetha and J. Swarna, seeded two and three, failed to justify their seedings in the bottom half of the draw. In the quarterfinals, K. Shamini stopped Sangeetha's recovery act by claiming the decider 11-9. Sayantika Kundu just about managed to prove superior to Swarna, who levelled the match three times. Sayantika made up for the narrow loss of the sixth game by winning the decider 12-10.

Later, Shamini and Swarna claimed the girls' doubles title at the expense of top seeds Madhurika Patkar and S. Sangeetha.

Meanwhile, the draw for the team events of the Asian junior championship to be played here from July 19 to 24 was made on Saturday.

The groups:

Boys: Group `A': Japan, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Macao and Sri Lanka; Group `B': China, India, Iran, Kuwait and Yemen.

Girls: Group `A': Chinese Taipei, India, Hong Kong and Iran; Group `B': Japan, Indonesia, Macao, Thailand and Sri Lanka.

The results (Indians unless specified):

Boys team championship (league): India bt Sri Lanka 3-0; Nepal bt Afghanistan 3-0. Final standing: 1. India, 2. Sri Lanka, 3. Nepal, 4. Pakistan, 5. Afghanistan.

Boys singles (quarterfinals): Aniket Koparkar bt Soumyajit Sarkar 12-14, 11-8, 8-11, 13-11, 12-10, 11-8; Sanil Shetty bt Arunava Ganguly 11-8, 11-7, 11-7, 12-10; R. Abhishek bt Zubin Kumar 8-11, 7-11, 12-10, 11-9, 11-7; Subhadip Das bt Devesh Karia 11-6, 11-9, 6-11, 11-2, 11-9.

Girls singles (quarterfinals): Salankara Mahalanobish bt Kalpani Herath (Sri) 9-11, 11-9, 11-9, 11-9, 11-7; Madhurika Patkar bt Ashlesh Bodas 11-7, 11-8, 6-11, 11-8, 11-9; Sayantika Kundu bt J. Swarna 11-9, 6-11, 11-4, 6-11, 11-7, 9-11, 12-10; K. Shamini bt S. Sangeetha 11-7, 11-3, 10-12, 11-7, 9-11, 8-11, 11-9.

Cadet boys (final): Soumyajit Sarkar bt Sanil Shetty 11-8, 11-9, 11-3; (semifinals): Shetty bt Paspanda Abheyewardene (Sri) 11-2, 11-4, 11-4; Sarkar bt Syed Awis Hussain (Pak) 11-7, 11-0, 11-5.

Cadet girls (final): Salankara Mahalanobish bt Ishara Madurangi (Sri) 11-9, 11-5, 18-16; (semifinals): Salankara bt Ruhansi Wijekoon (Sri) 8-11, 11-6, 11-6, 11-7; Ishara bt Divya Deshpande 11-9, 11-9, 11-3.

Boys doubles (final): Soumyajit Sarkar and Devesh Karia bt Arunava Ganguly and Sameer Prabhu 11-9, 11-7, 6-11, 6-11, 11-6; (semifinals): Ganguly and Prabhu bt T. Samaraveera and L. Madhushka (Sri) 11-7, 11-4, 11-6; Sarkar and Karia bt Sajith Silva and K. Milinda (Sri) 11-3, 11-3, 12-10.

Girls doubles (final): K. Shamini and J. Swarna bt Madhurika Patkar and S. Sangeetha 11-7, 11-4, 11-5; (semifinals): Madhurika and Sangeetha bt Sayantika Kundu and Ashlesha Bodas 11-5, 16-14, 13-11; Shamini and Swarna bt Ishara Madhurangi and Kalpani Herath 11-5, 11-3, 11-7.

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