Mahajan grabs eighth straight

MUMBAI, Sept 4: Ankur Mahajan won his eighth title of the season after a dramatic comeback to quell the challenge of Sahil Kukreja 19-21,...

MUMBAI, Sept 4: Ankur Mahajan won his eighth title of the season after a dramatic comeback to quell the challenge of Sahil Kukreja 19-21, 19-21, 26-24, 21-18, 21-17.

The win gave him the sub-junior crown in the Punjab and Maharashtra Cooperative Bank-sponsored Maharashtra State Ranking Table Tennis Tournament at the Mavli Mandal Hall, Thane here today. Mahajan, the top seed, saved three match points in the pulsating third game before clinching the issue.

Sherry Crawford won the girls8217; title with relative ease, 21-13, 21-14, 21-14 over Aditi Jaganathan.

Mahajan squandered two winning leads in the first two games. He was up 19-15 but Kukreja staged a remarkable recovery to win the remaining points. The script almost repeated in the second game when Kukreja, the fourth seed, won five points in a row to overturn a 16-19 deficit into a 21-19 victory.

The same seemed to happen in the third game when Kukreja recovered from 14-19 and then 17-20 to push the game into extra points.

But Mahajan somehow foundthe right shots to remain in contention with a thrilling 26-24 victory in the third game. Thereafter, Mahajan seemed to seize control of the match and won the remaining games comfortably.

Sherry, in contrast, did not face too much of a problem. She had some trouble early in the second and third games. She recovered from 5-8 in the second and 1-5 in the third to easily upstage her fifth-seeded rival.

Results

Men8217;s singles second round:

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Chetan Gupta Thane bt D Redkar MSD 21-19, 21-13; Tejas Naik Thane bt V Bapat Pune 21-14, 21-17; Anil Bandel bt P Rajan MSD 18-21, 21-13, 21-14; Ashok Karva MSD bt Rajesh Deshpande Thane 21-13, 21-12; Rohit Bagade Nagpur bt Suhas Chavan Raigad 19-21, 21-14, 21-14; Pankaj Rahane Nasik bt A Kothari MSD 19-21, 21-16, 21-13; Ankit Ranade Thane bt A Joshi Thane 18-21, 21-19, 21-16; K Khandadiya MSD bt Tarun Gupta MSD 21-13, 21-16; Sachin Pisat Thane bt OM Haskar Thane 21-8, 21-12; Shashank Juvekar MSD bt Amol GanpatyaThane 21-3, 21-16; Jayant Udeshi MSD bt Tushar Joshi Thane 21-10, 21-13; Vinay Rege Thane bt Harish Shirsat MSD 16-21, 21-17, 21-18; Rahul Joshi Pune bt Sachin Chitnis Thane 21-19, 20-22, 25-23.

Women8217;s singles second round:

Amruta Joshi bt Ruhi Chawala Dhule 21-15, 21-17; Neha Sidhaye Pune bt Trupti Atre Pune 21-13, 19-21, 21-16; Shruti Gokhale Pune bt Kshipra Gogte Pune 23-21, 21-8.

Girls8217; singles third round:

Shalmali Inamdar MSD bt Aditi Tanksale Thane 21-8, 21-14; Aditi Jaganathan Thane bt Neha Gabade Dhule 21-9, 21-10; Amruta Joshi Thane bt Prajakta Asarkar Nasik 21-9, 21-10; Deepali Zaveri Thane bt Manali Kulkarni Nasik 21-8, 21-4; Manasi Bhagwat Thane bt Bhavana Suvarna MSD 21-18, 21-19; Sherry Crawford MSD bt Trupti Atre Pune 21-8, 21-18; Ruhi Chawale Dhule bt Rucha Datar MSD 23-21, 21-14; Shaili Khandekar MSD bt Ashwini Mokashi Thane 10-21, 21-17, 21-18; Anuja Chitale Thane bt K Gogte Pune 15-21, 21-17, 21-16;Chandani Ashar MSD bt S Majgaonkar Satara 21-13, 21-10.