Sathiyan through to last four, Sharath pulls out with lower back pain

As expected, G. Sathiyan, the top seed of Tamil Nadu, entered the semifinals of the table tennis event of the 36th National Games here on Friday, but his State-mate and second seed Sharath Kamal pulled out the singles midway to West Bengal’s Soumyajit Ghosh complaining of lower back pain in the quarterfinals.

Sathiyan defeated local boy Manav Thakkar 11-7, 11-8, 8-11, 14-12, 13-11 in the round of eight.

On the other hand, Sharath, the Birmingham Commonwealth Games hero, was leading by two games to one, and 6-1 in the fourth when he asked for a medical time-out. After the physio examined him, Sharath said he could no longer continue. Ghosh will now take on Manush Shah, seeded sixth.

Harmeet continued his excellent form from the team event with a clinical 11-3, 11-6, 11-2, 11-9 win over Deepit Patil of Maharashtra. Harmeet, seeded four, will now face Sathiyan in the semifinals.

Sathiyan, too, has been in his element. The top seed snuffed out any comeback hopes of Manav, after he won the third game, to win 11-7, 11-8, 8-11, 14-12, 13-11.

It has not been an easy ride for Delhi’s Manika Batra, but the top seed has fought her way through to the semifinals. Manika will meet West Bengal’s Sutirtha Mukherjee while Diya Chitale of Maharashtra will face Telangana’s Sreeja Akula.

Earlier, there were five upsets in the pre-quarterfinals. In men, Sanil Shetty, and Anirban Ghosh, and in women, Anusha Kutumbale, Takeme Sarkar and Swastika Ghosh bowed out.

The results (Quarterfinals)

Men: G. Sathiyan (TN) bt Manav Thakkar (Guj) 11-7, 11-8, 8-11, 14-12, 13-11; Manush Shah (Guj) bt F. R Snehit (TS) 3-11, 11-13, 11-7, 11-9, 12-10, 11-9; Harmeet Desai (Guj) bt Deepit Patil (Mah) 11-3, 11-6, 11-2, 11-9; Soumyajit Ghosh (WB) bt Sharath Kamal (Har) 7-11, 12-10, 11-8, 6-1 (concd.);

Women: Manika Batra (Del) bt Krittwika Sinha Roy (Guj) 11-8, 8-11, 7-11, 11-8, 11-8, 11-4; Sutirtha Mukherjee (WB) bt Reeth Rishya (Mah) 11-9, 12-10, 11-8, 10-12, 11-9; Diya Chitale (Mah) bt Suhana Saini (Har) 11-5, 4-11, 11-7, 3-11, 11-5, 8-11, 11-9; Sreeja Akula (TS) bt Ayhika Mukherjee (WB) 11-4, 11-6, 11-5, 11-4.

ENDS