Calcutta: Kritika Sinha Roy put an end to a redundant story by defeating fifth-ranked Mallika Bhandarkar on Friday. The Bengal paddler sailed into the pre-quarters of the women’s singles event. Interestingly, she would face second-ranked Shamini Kumaresan, her idol, on Saturday.
“I have always lost to her (Mallika) in the decider. But, today, I played freely and I am pleased with the result,” Kritika said.
Kritika is playing her third senior nationals and beat her higher-ranked opponent 4-1 (7-11, 11-8, 12-10, 11-9, 11-4).
Bengal’s Pallavi Kundu produced another upset when she beat Delhi’s Neha Aggarwal, ranked eighth in the country. Pallavi almost re-enacted Thursday’s defeat against Shamini, when she won the first two games 11-8, 11-9, lost the next two 9-11, 5-11, won the fifth 11-5, again lost the sixth 8-11, till she finally won the decider 11-7 against Neha.
This was Pallavi’s first win against Neha this year, even though statistics favour the Delhi girl in one-to-one clashes. “I wanted to keep Thursday’s loss to Shamini out of my mind today. I was 2-0 up when the match started slipping out of my hand again. She (Neha) scored more points on her service. I defeated Neha after a long time,” Pallavi said.
Railways’ Shreya Ghosh produced another upset when she defeated Divya Deshpande 4-2 (11-1, 11-9, 6-11, 4-11, 11-9, 12-10). More than an upset, it was a personal revenge of sorts as Shreya has always lost to Divya in deciders. “I have mostly lost to her in deciders. So, today, was an opportunity to settle the score with her,” Shreya said. She will meet PSPB’s Nandita Saha, who defeated N. Arul Selvi 4-0.
In the men’s singles, Sharath Kamal had a cakewalk against Bengal’s Souvik Roy. The India No. 1 was looking little low on energy even though he won in straight games.
Bengal’s Anirban Nandi upset higher-ranked Aniket Koparkar from Maharashtra. The Bengal paddler, who threatened to deny PSPB the men’s team title, Thursday, won 4-1 against Aniket.
North Bengal’s Ankita Das and Nandita Saha beat Air India’s Prajakta Tipale and Shweta Parte 3-2 to qualify for the women’s doubles final. Bengal’s Anindita Chakraborty and Kritika Sinha Roy will play PSPB’s Mouma Das and Pooja Sahasrabudhe in the other semi-final on Saturday.
