Gopalakrishnan, Nitin cause upsets at ISC Open

MUSCAT: R Gopalakrishnan and Nitin Vaidya caused the first two major upsets at the ISC/AL Tasnim Enterprises Open Table Tennis Tournament. Both upsets were in the veterans’ singles event.

Gopalakrishnan accounted for top seed and defending veterans singles champion George Lopez and Nitin Vaidya knocked second seed Ashraf Ghali.

In a thrilling quarterfinal game that went the distance, Gopalakrishnan shrugged off a shaky start and the loss of the first set to win the second set. Lopez won the third and Gopalakrishnan the fourth to take the match into the decider. Gopalakrishnan held his nerves to register a 12-14, 11-6, 7-11, 11-8, 11-8 victory.

Nitin Vaidya knocked out second seed Ashraf Ghali with a fine 114, 11-3, 7-11, 10-12, 11-8. In the final, Gopalakrishnan will take on Zainhom Sheta who downed Zaheer Khan 11-5, 11-9, 4-11, 11-8.

Manvi Sarawanan will take on Akshara Pateriya in the final of the girls under-14 singles. In the semi finals, Manvi defeated Dimple Malawiya 11-5, 11-3 and Akshara overcame Shwetha Ganesh 11-6, 114, 11-5.

In second round of the boys under-17 singles, second seed Kiko Wiryawan overcame Sanskar Dubey 11-6, 12-10, 11-6, second seed Viren Kundnani defeated Rehan Ahmed 114, 11-1, 11-7 but fourth seed Adhyatm Sharma faced anxious moments and was stretched to the limit by in-form Mayank Mehta before Adhyatm closed the issue with a 11-7, 11-13, 11-7, 9-11, 15-13 victory to enter the last-eight stage.