Suhana Saini and Yashaswini Ghorpade, Poymantee Baisya and Anannya Basak, Manush Shah and Snehit Suravajulla, and Jeet Chandra and Ronit Bhanja, all four Indian pairs qualified for the main draw of World Table Tennis (WTT) Star Contender Goa 2023 that commenced at Dr. Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Indoor stadium at Taleigao plateau on Monday.
Saini-Ghorpade and Baisya-Basak made it in the women’s doubles, while Shah-Suravajulla made it through to the last-16 in men’s doubles along with lucky losers Chandra and Bhanja.
Four mixed doubles pairs had already made the main draw in the morning session of day one of the two-day qualifiers. Two of them being Korean pairs.
Snehit Suravajulla and Diya Chitale of India lost to the German pair of Patrick Franziska and Shan Xiaona 1-3 (5-11,5-11,13-11,8-11), who then beat England’s Samuel Walker and Ho Tin-Tin 3-1 (11-6,8-11,11-9,11-7), to move to the round of 16.
Also moving into the main draw was the Japanese pair of Mizuki Oikawa and Miyu Nagasaki who beat India’s Ronit Bhanja and Sutirtha Mukherjee 3-0 (11-8,11-8,11-8) in round two of qualifying. They had caused one of the major upsets of the day earlier, taking out the French pair of Felix Lebrun and Prithika Pavade 3-2 in round one. The French pair were the top seeds in Mixed Doubles in the qualifiers.
The third Mixed Doubles pair to go through were Cho Daeseong and Nayeong Kim of Korea, who defeated Manush Shah and Sreeja Akula of India 3-2 (3-11,7-11,11-5,11-5,11-9) in round two. Earlier, Manush and Sreeja had won their round one match against compatriots Vidit Desai and Prithoki Chakraborti 3-0 (11-1,11-2,11-5).
Finally, it was Koreans Ganghyeon Park and Hyobin Yoon who became the fourth and final team to make the Mixed Doubles main draw. They beat India’s Yashaswini Ghorpade and Payas Jain 3-1 (11-9,11-9,5-11,11-5) in round two. While the Koreans had won over the Romanian pair of Cristian Pletea and Adina Diaconu in round one, Yashaswini and Payas beat compatriots Jeet Chandra and Swastika Ghosh at the same stage.
In the women’s doubles qualifiers, the biggest upset was caused by Koreans Nayeong Kim and Cheonhul Joo, when they took out qualifier top seeds Suthasini Sawettabut and Orawan Paranang 3-1 in a round two match. They beat the Thai pair 7-11,11-6,11-7,11-4 to move to the round of 16. The Koreans had beaten India’s Gayatri Choudhary and Anjali Rohilla in the morning session in round one.
In other round two women’s doubles qualifying matches, third seeded Indians Suhana Saini and Yashaswini Ghorpade were up against the experienced Korean pair of Kim Hayeong and Lee Eunhye. In a hard-fought clash, the Indian youngsters gave a good account of themselves and prevailed 3-2 (9-11,15-13,11-7,9-11,11-5) to move to the main draw. They will be joined there by a second Indian qualifying pair, that of Poymantee Baisya and Anannya Basak. The Indians got a walkover against the Portuguese pair of Jeini Shao and Fu Yu. In round one, they had overcome another Indian pairing of Reeth Tennison and Swastika Ghosh.
Also moving into the main draw were fourth seeds from Honk Kong, China, Li Ching Wan and Zhu Chengzhu, who easily overcame India’s Prachi Mazumder and Avisha Karmakar 3-0 (11-9,11-6,11-7) in their round two qualifier.
In the men’s doubles, Cedric Nuytinck and Adrien Rassenfosse of Belgium, took the final qualifying spot of the evening. They beat Koreans Ganghyeon Park and Dongsoo Kang 3-2 (11-7,4-11,9-11,11-8,11-8) in the final match of the day.
The Indian cheer was provided by Manush Shah and Snehit Suravajulla, who defeated fellow Indians Jeet Chandra and Ronit Bhanja 3-0 (11-5,11-5,11-6) in round two to move to the main draw. However, Payas Jain and Sanil Shetty, went down at the same stage to the French pairing of Bastien Rembert and Jules Rolland in straight games.
The fourth men’s qualifying spot was taken by England’s Tom Jarvis and Samuel Walker, who put it across the home side’s Jashan Antal and Arush Dutt 3-0 (11-6,11-5,11-7).
Two other losing pairs also made it to the men’s doubles round of 16 on the basis of having higher doubles rankings than the other losing pairs. They were India’s Jeet Chandra and Ronit Bhanja and Korea’s Ganghyeon Park and Dongsoo Kang.
Day two on Tuesday, will see a fight for eight spots each in the men’s and women’s singles.
