PANCHKULA, Feb 17:
Star paddler Manika Batra moved to the semifinals of the senior National Table Tennis Championships with a 4-3 win over Archana Kamath here today.
The top-seed had to work hard to win 13-11, 11-9, 4-11, 5-11, 9-11, 11-8, 11-4. After Manika was up 2-0, Archana fought back really well to level scores and take 3-2 lead.
But changing gears, Manika showed her intent loud and clear, first in the sixth game she held four games points and in decider she was a runaway winner.
Archana made far too many errors in the sixth game which allowed Manika to breathe easy. At 10-6 Manika knew she had stitched it nicely to disentangle herself from all negative thoughts.
And, in the decider, she didn’t have to do much as Archana’s errors kept growing and Manika pulled the shutters down on the Karnataka girl.
Manika will next take on Sreeja Akula, who beat Prapti Sen 4-3, in another tight match.
Sreeja gained upper hand after being 0-2 down and stamped her authority with two fine games to level score 2-2.
Then she dropped one before regaining upper hand to wrap it up. Takeme Sarkar of the Railways started off well before letting Pooja Sahasrabudhe enjoy a 2-1 advantage. But the Railways girl stroked her way to the semifinals when she took the next three games to seal Pooja’s fate.
Reeth, who accounted for second-seed Sutirtha Mukheree in the pre-quarterfinals, had hiccups but soon came to herself to finish in style with a 4-2 verdict against Kaushani Nath. (PTI)
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