Paddler Snehit dumps defending champion
Panchkula, 22: SFR Snehit could not have asked for a better platform than the 82nd National Table Tennis Championships to showcase his growing confidence. The 20-year-old from Telangana first slayed defending champion Harmeet Desai 4-0 and then accounted for sixth-seed Sushmit Sriram 4-1 in the quarterfinals, at the Tau Devi Lal Indoor Stadium here on Monday.
The Hyderabad lad drubbed Harmeet 11-9,
11-7, 11-9, 11-5 in the prequarterfinals before beating Sriram 8-11, 1210, 11-9, 11-8, 11-3 in the quarters.
They were the result of his fitness, speed and power that he could add to his game. Besides, he had been seeing a psychologist to increase his mental strength. All of these, Snehit admitted
Feb.
after the match, brought windfall to him.
have gains
■ Quarterfinals: SFR Snehit bt Sushmit Sriram (TTFI) 8-11, 1210, 11-9, 11-8, 11-3; A. Sharath Kamal (PSPB) bt Anthony Amalraj (TTFI) 11-8, 11-3, 5-11 1311, 11-2; Manav Thakkar (PSPB) bt Ronit Bhanja (Ben) 11-7, 12-10,
10-12, 12-10, 11-6; G. Sathiyan bt Sanil Shetty (PSPB) 11-9, 11-9, 1113, 11-8, 11-6. Pre-Quarterfinals: SFR Snehit bt Harmeet Desai (PSPB) 11-9, 11-7, 11-9, 11-5; A.
Sharath Kamal bt Sougata Sarkar (LIC) 7-11, 11-7, 11-9, 9-11,
11-9, 11-5; Anothny Amalraj bt Soumyajit Ghosh (Har) 9-11, 1210, 9-11, 11-8, 11-8, 11-5, Ronit Bhanja (Ben) bt Sudhanshu Grover (Del) 13-11, 7-11, 6-11, 11-7,
9-11, 11-8, 15-13; Manav Thakkar bt Nitin Thiruvengadam (TNTTA) 11-9, 8-11, 11-5, 11-9, 11-5; Sushmit Sriram (TTFI) bt Arjun Ghosh (Ben) 6-11, 11-8, 8-11, 8-11,
12-10, 11-9, 11-9; Sanil Shetty bt Sarthak Gandhi (TTFI) 11-4, 7-11,
8-11, 11-7, 11-8, 11-7; G. Sathiyan bt Manush Shah (Guj) 11-8, 12-14, 119, 11-8, 13-11.