National TT: Diya, Manav in semis; Yashaswini stuns Sreeja

The penultimate day of the 87th National Table Tennis Championships witnessed seeds tumble at the Abhay Prashal Indoor Stadium here on Friday as the race for a place in India’s squad for the World Championships in May intensified.

Defending champion Diya Chitale, who survived a major scare against Mumbai teenager Divyanshi Bhowmick in the quarterfinals, was the only top-four seed to progress to the semifinals in the women’s draw.

Yashaswini Ghorpade upset top seed Sreeja Akula 11-7, 11-2, 8-11, 6-11, 11-7, 7-11, 13-11 in a thrilling contest.

In men’s singles, Manav Thakkar kept his hopes of a maiden National title alive.

Gets past Kushal

The bespectacled paddler halted the impressive run of giant-killer Kushal Chopda, who had earlier defeated eighth seed S.F.R. Snehit.

Second seed and defending champion Manush Shah suffered a surprise loss to 15th seed Jeet Chandra in the pre-quarterfinals.

Jeet, then, was involved in a marathon quarterfinal against H. Jeho. In a 65-minute battle, Jeet edged past Jeho, capitalising on two errors from his opponent in the closing stages.

Third seed Payas Jain was another big casualty, going down to left-hander Neil Mulye in the round of 32. Neil, however, could not build on the upset win and was eliminated by Raegan Albuquerque in the round of 16.

The results: Women’s: Singles: Quarterfinals: Yashaswini Ghorpade (PSPB) bt Sreeja Akula (RBI) 11-7, 11-2, 8-11, 6-11, 11-7, 7-11, 13-11; Suhana Saini (Har) bt Sutirtha Mukherjee (RSPB) 8-11, 9-11, 11-9, 13-11, 11-9, 16-14; Syndrela Das bt (PSPB) bt Yashini Sivashankar (TN) 11-6, 11-8, 11-9, 11-9; Divyansi Bhowmick (Mah) bt Diya Chitale (RBI) 11-7, 11-9, 11-2, 7-11, 8-11, 6-11, 11-4.

Doubles: Final: Sutirtha Mukherjee & Kaushani Nath (RSPB) bt Avisha Karmakar & Nandini Saha (AAI) 11-9, 7-11, 11-8, 11-5.

Semifinals: Avisha & Nandini bt Aarti Chaudhury & Avani Tripathi (UP) 11-9, 11-8, 11-4; Sutirtha & Kaushani bt Frenaz Chipia & Fatema Kadri (Guj) 11-7, 11-5, 11-7.

Men’s: Singles: Quarterfinals: Manav Thakkar (PSPB) bt Kushal Chopda (Mah) 11-7, 9-11, 11-3, 11-6, 11-7; Harmeet Desai (PSPB) bt Ankur Bhattacharjee (PSPB) 11-5, 6-11, 11-6, 11-8, 14-12; Ronit Bhanja (RSPB) bt Raegan Albuquerque (Mah) 7-11, 11-8, 11-7, 11-5, 11-8; Jeet Chandra (RSPB) bt H. Jeho (Miz) 11-7, 6-11, 9-11, 15-13, 11-7, 12-14, 11-9.

Doubles: Final: Jeet Chandra & Anirban Ghosh (RSPB) bt Ronit Bhanja & S. Preyesh Raj (RSPB) 11-8, 11-6, 10-12, 1-11, 11-8.

Semifinals: Jeet & Anirban bt M.R. Balamurugan & Siddhesh Pande (TN) 11-13, 11-4, 14-12, 11-7; Ronit & Preyesh bt Sanil Shetty & Divyansh Srivastava (PSPB) 7-11, 11-6, 13-11, 11-8.

Published – March 20, 2026 10:02 pm IST