Amol sends Anish to the cleaners

B D Narayankar

bapu_narayankar@rediffmail.com

PUNE: Fourth seed Amol Soman had it easy pipping Anish Pathak in the junior boy singles second round of the district-ranking table tennis tournament at Sharada Centre here on Wednesday.

Disappointed at having conceded the opening game to Anish, Amol rallied brilliantly from a game down to outlast his opponent 10-12, 11-6, 11-5, 11-9 with an array of delectable strokes.

If Anish smashed out Amol in the first game, the latter wormed his way up to exert pressure, earning vital points at crucial junctures. Amol broke away to pocket the second game at 11-6 and then rubbed it in, winning the third at 11-5. Retaining his poise, Amol made a fantastic effort to win the fourth game at 11-9. It was a shattering blow to Anish, who could only present a picture of sombre disappointment.

RESULTS: Second round: Junior boy’s singles: Amol Soman bt Anish Pathak 10-12, 11-6, 11-5, 11-9; Neeraj Sane bt Saurabh Kesari 11-7, 11-9, 11-5; Pranav Renavikar bt Neel Joshi 11-5, 11-5, 11-7; Umesh Khopade bt Shaunakh Juvekar 11-9, 11-8, 11-3; Shubhankar Ranade bt Shardul Rautmore 11-4, 11-7, 11-4; Amol Kolhatkar bt Sameer Kulkarni 11-5, 11-2, 11-3; Richard Serrao bt Yash Gowankar 11-8, 11-4, 11-3; Nitish Sapre bt Siddhant Bhide 6-11, 11-5, 13-11, 11-9; Tejas Mirajkar bt Vinay Modak 11-5, 11-9, 11-8; Adwait Brahme bt Swapnil Joshi 5-11, 11-4, 11-9, 8-11, 13-11; Archit Chepe bt Dheeraj Kumavat 11-2, 11-7, 11-4; Arnav Phadnis bt Rohit Mhaskar 11-5, 11-7, 14-12; Anish Pathak bt Sujit Pingale 11-5, 11-9, 12-10.