North Zone TT: Top seeds have it easy

Top seed Soumyadeep Roy and teenager HarmeetDesai sailed into the men's singles quarter-finals at the North Zone NationalRanking Table Tennis Championships at the Thyagaraj Stadium here Wednesday.

Roy of Petroleum Sports Promotion Board (PSPB) got thebetter of Haryana's Mohit Verma 13-11, 11-7, 9-11, 11-8, 12-10 for a place inthe last eight.

Another PSPB paddler, Desai defeated Anirban Nandi ofRailways Sports Promotion Board (RSPB) 11-2, 8-11, 11-9, 11-8, 13-11. It was animpressive performance by the 19-year-old, who is expected to take Indian tabletennis forward with Olympian Soumyajit Ghosh.

Ghosh, 19, has skipped the event to continue his training inSweden. The other big names not playing in the tournament are Sharath Kamal andreigning national champion Anthony Amalraj.

In the women's singles, top seed Poulomi Ghatak of PSPB eatNorth Bengal's Oishwaryya Deb 11-5, 11-7, 11-9, 7-11, 12-10 in the openinground.

Results: (Men's singles pre-quarterfinals): Soumyadeep Roy(PSPB) Bt Mohit Verma (HRN) 4-1 (13-11, 11-7, 9-11, 11-8, 12-10), Sathiyan G(PSPB) Bt Sougata Sarkar (LIC) 4-1 (12-10, 13-15, 11-5, 13-11, 11-5), MartandBiniwale (MHR) Bt Abhishek Yadav (PSPB A) 4-2 (3-11, 6-11, 11-6, 11-6, 14-12,11-9), Harmeet Desai (PSPB) Bt Anirban Nandi (RSPB) 4-1 (11-2, 8-11, 11-9,11-8, 13-11) Jubin Kumar (PSPB) Bt Sivananda Seshadri (TN) 4-1 (11-8, 11-9,9-11, 11-3, 11-2), Aman Balgu (RSPB) Bt Sourav Charkaborty (PSPB) 4-3 (11-9,11-13, 11- 4, 9-11, 11-9, 10-12, 11-9, Nithin Thiruvengadam (AAI) Bt SubhajitSaha (PSPB) 4-3 (11-8, 7-11, 11-9, 7-11, 8-11, 12-10, 11-7), Sanil Shetty(PSPB) Bt Sathiswaran L (LIC) 4-3 (11-4, 5-11, 7-11, 4-11, 13-11, 11-7, 11-9)