V Aini Reddy of Veda Junior College and G Archana of Vagdevi College marched into the quarterfinals of the women’s singles event at the Telangana State Senior Ranking Carrom Selection Tournament being held at Regional Carrom Coaching Centre, L B Indoor Stadium, Hyderabad.
Aini Reddy scored a comfortable victory over Harika of AWASA in the pre-quarterfinals. Aini won 25-5, 25-8. Archana overcame Ch Sreedevi 18-9, 25-6 to book her quarterfinal berth.
Manisha of AWASA also won her pre-quarters match by defeating D Mounika of AWASA 18-1, 21-3, while C Sai Keerthana of St Ann’s College defeated C Sanjana 18-13, 25-2.
In an earlier round, Sujani Kumar came from one board down to edge Jyothi Reddy. Jyothi began the game with a bang as she blanked Sujani on way to a 20-0 win. However, Sujani came back strongly in the second board and won it 25-29. In the decider, Sujani thrashed Jyothi 25-3.
Top seed Aditya in devastating form
In the men’s section, top seed S Aditya was in devastating form as he brooked no challenge from P Dasharath. Aditya blanked his opponent on way to a 25-0, 25-0 in their second-round encounter.
Shaik Sameer also carved out a resounding 25-0, 25-0 over Soma Srikanth, and Sasi Nadipati too had an easy outing over Vijay Bhasker as he won 25-0, 25-0.
On the other hand, Srinivas Pandyan, Md Hafeez Pasha Reserve Bank of India’s VSK Naidu and Md Waseem had tough outings against their respective opponents.
Srinivas came from one board down to pip Biswajit. Srinivas lost the first board tamely at 8-25 but upped the ante in the next two to win them at 25-11, 25-10 to advance.
Md Hafeez Pasha also was stretched by U Giridhar, who began with a bang. Giridhar won the first board 25-8 but lost steam thereafter as Hafeez Pasha took control of the board. He won the next two at 21-9, 18-17 to march into the next round.
VSK Naidu too suffered early blues as he went down in the first board 11-16 to Md Habeeb. However, he pulled up his socks and took the next two boards at 16-11 and 17-4 to make it to the next round.
Md Waseem was taken to the wire by Vishwajeet Sara in another tough encounter. Waseem started off well as he won the first board at 25-5 but suffered a lapse in concentration. Vishwajeet capitalized on his opponent’s mistake to win the board at 25-19. But Waseem was in no mood to concede defeat and took the final board at 25-6.
Results: Men’s singles (Round II): S Aditya beat P Dasharath 25-0, 25-0; Md Rafeeq beat Parmesh 25-1, 25-4; Akshay beat Murali Krishna 25-15, 25-4; Balagangaputra beat A Rajesh 25-7, 25-0; Nithin Goud beat Ayaz Ahmed Khan (Mahabubnagar) 19-14, 25-0; Srinivas Pandyan beat Biswajit 8-25, 25-11, 25-10; Md Hafeez Pasha bt U Giridhar 8-25, 21-9, 18-17; Mujeeb Ur Rehman beat M Sai Eashwar 25-8, 25-8; Sk Mohd beat D Subba Rao 20-13, 25-0; S Sagar beat Shakti Sai 25-2, 25-2; Shaik Sameer beat Soma Srikanth 25-0, 25-0; Sasi Nadipati beat Vijay Bhasker 25-0, 25-0; P Mahesh Kr beat P Kiran Kumar 25-5, 25-2; VSK Naidu (RBI) beat Md Habeeb 11-16, 16-11, 17-4; U Naresh beat Harikrishna 25-1, 25-0; Aditya Saripalli beat Jashva Vishal 25-0, 25-0; Md Waseem beat Vishwajeet Sara 25-5, 29-25, 25-6; S Ramesh beat K Anup Kumar 25-9, 21-6; K Naresh beat M V S N V Prasad (IT) 25-10, 25-10.
Women’s singles: Sujani Kumari beat Jyothi Reddy 0-20, 25-19, 25-3; S Manikyamba beat HB Sujatha 24-17, 25-17. Pre-quarterfinals: V Aini Reddy (Veda Junior College) beat Harika (AWASA) 25-5, 25-8; C Sai Keerthana (St Ann’s College) beat C Sanjana 18-13, 25-2; Manisha (AWASA) beat D Mounika (AWASA)18-1, 21-3; G Archana (Vagdevi) beat Ch Sreedevi 18-9, 25-6.
