Sagar knocks out seeded Anand

Junior Sagar Kasture, with an unorthodox grip (almost like Japanese penholder style), caused a flutter when he knocked out second seeded Aadil Anand in an actionpacked sub-junior boys singles quarterfinals 11-9, 11-9, 7-11, 3-11, 11-7 in the All India Balkan-Ji-Bari Dilip Sampat Memorial 5-Star Mumbai Suburban district table tennis championships, here on Tuesday.

The boy, not yet 15 even, coached at JLTTA, packed a lot of variation with his grip, which time and again often wrong-footed his much higher ranked opponent. From 2-0 up, Sagar thereafter became a tad erratic, resulting in Anand fighting back to take the tie to the wire. But in the end, it was Sagar, who had a last laugh as he ran away with the decider with ease.

Another junior Ritvik Nagle, stopped the comeback bid of former champion, Aditya Managaonkar with a flurry of hard-hitting smashes to storm into men’s singles quarterfinals with a 4-11, 11-2, 11-6, 11-8 win. Results

Men’s singles (QFs): S Das bt J Rahatwal 12-10, 11-8, 13-11, 119; R Kotiyan bt Viren Patel 11-8, 14-12, 4-11, 6-11, 11-7, 11-6; A Subramanian bt R Nagle 11-8, 811, 12-10, 13-15, 11-5, 11-6; B Patel bt H Asrani 11-8, 11-8, 1311, 8-11, 11-8. Pre-quarterfinals:

J Rahatwal bt S Punjani 11-8, 11-5, 11-9; S Das bt S Shah 111, 11-5, 11-3; V Patel bt S Ibrampurkar 11-4, 11-8, 6-11, 1214, 11-7; R Kotiyan bt A Karnavar 11-6, 11-5, 11-6; R Nagle bt A Mahagaonkar 4-11, 11-2, 11-6, 11-8; H Asrani bt S Rane 11-9, 11-8, 12-10; B Patel bt V Subramanyam 11-4, 11-4, 11-3. Boys (Jrs quarterfinals:

(1)- S Das bt A Karnavar 5-11, 12-10, 11-9, 11-5, 9-11, 11-4; R Nagle bt S Kasture 11-7, 10-12, 11-2, 11-9, 11-3; R Shah bt M Nistalia 11-7, 11-9, 11-4, 11-8; Sub-junior: (1)- R Shah bt S Basak 11-3, 11-4, 12-14, 11-8; M Nistalia bt S Samant 11-5, 11-8, 6-11, 11-9; S Kasture bt (2)- A Anand 11-9, 11-9, 7-11, 3-11, 117; A Jain bt D Shah 11-7 , 119,11-9. Girls (Youth; QFs): (1)-A Basak bt Shravani Loke 11-5, 11-4, 112, 11-7; A Chande bt M Narnolia 11-8, 11-9, 11-9, 11-6