Published: October 12, 2026 at 9:27 pm
Fourth seed Harmeet Desai and second seed Yashaswini Ghorpade along with Sreeja Akula and Manika Batra suffered shock exits from the men’s and women’s singles events respectively at the second National Ranking Table Tennis Championships at the Tau Devi Lal Indoor Hall in Panchkula on Sunday.
Harmeet, who received a first-round bye in the 256-player men’s draw, bowed out in the Round of 128 after losing 1-3 (9-11, 11-1, 9-11, 10-12) to qualifier Rusikesh Jagtap.
Yashaswini, meanwhile, suffered a similar fate in the women’s Round of 32, going down 2-3 (11-13, 12-10, 11-7, 1-11, 7-11) to Tamil Nadu’s Ananya Muralidharan in a closely contested five-game encounter.
Earlier, top seed Syndrela Das made short work of Sreeja Akula, winning the contest 11-9, 11-7, 11-6 in their Round of 32 clash. Third seed Diya Chitale was equally impressive, dispatching Manika Batra 11-2, 12-10, 12-10 to advance.
Sreeja Akula was defeated by top seed Syndrela Das 11-9, 11-7, 11-6 in their Round of 32 clash
The Diya-Manika contest had moments of resistance. After conceding the opening game, Manika held a 10-8 advantage in the second game, but Diya turned the tables following a timeout. The Asian Games mixed doubles medallist stepped up her aggression, reeled off crucial points, and snatched the 2-0 lead. She then maintained the attacking tempo in the third, denying Manika any opportunity to regain control.
The day also saw a few other seeds falling by the wayside. However, other seeded players advanced.
Sreeja and Manika were unseeded
Once ranked World No. 21 and No. 24, respectively, Sreeja and Manika entered the women’s singles main draw unseeded and had to negotiate the group qualification stage. With neither receiving a first-round bye, their paths have been demanding from the outset. Sreeja entered with 70 national ranking points, while Manika started without any points, leaving both with little margin for error in a competitive domestic field.
Both, however, have shown encouraging form in the early rounds. Sreeja, representing RBI and drawn in the first quarter, overcame Karnataka’s Vanshika Deshana 12-10, 11-7, 11-5, recovering well after a closely contested opening game. She was more assured in the next round, dispatching Bengal’s Saanvi Roy 11-4, 11-4, 11-7 to advance.
Syndrela, who received a first-round bye, started her campaign with an 11-7, 11-6, 11-6 victory over fellow qualifier Ditsa Roy.
Third seed Diya Chitale was equally impressive, dispatching Manika Batra (in picture) 11-2, 12-10, 12-10 to advance
Manika, representing PSPB, also negotiated her opening assignment after a tight start, defeating Canara Bank’s Maria Rony 16-14, 11-2, 9-11, 11-7. After edging a tense first game and dropping the third, she regained control to secure her place in the next round.
She then recovered from a slow start against FCI’s N.B.S. Thanuja, losing the opening game before taking charge to win 6-11, 11-5, 11-6, 12-10. Diya, on the other hand, had a comfortable start after her bye, defeating Delhi’s Garima Goel 11-4, 11-8, 11-7.
Among the other leading contenders, second seed Yashaswini Ghorpade of PSPB defeated Delhi’s Prisha Goel 11-7, 9-11, 11-6, 11-9. She next faces Tamil Nadu’s Ananya Muralidharan, who won the Under-17 Girls singles title on Tuesday.
Ritvik Gupta and Ananya Muralidharan clinch Under-17 titles at National Ranking TT
Fourth seed and former national champion Sutirtha Mukherjee had to work harder to advance, overcoming Maharashtra’s Swara Karmarkar 7-11, 12-10, 11-1, 6-11, 11-4 in a fluctuating contest.
Fifth seed Yashini Sivasankar of Tamil Nadu moved ahead with a straight-games win over Maharashtra’s Mukta Dalvi, and sixth seed Divyanshi Bhowmick of Maharashtra also registered a 3-0 victory over FCI’s Pelf.
Seventh seed Swastika Ghosh, however, was pushed to the limit by Tamil Nadu’s M Hansini before prevailing 11-4, 8-11, 11-8, 6-11, 11-9. She will meet Railway’s Kaushani Nath in the Round of 32. Eighth seed Sayali Wanni dropped a game before defeating RSPB’s Takeme Sarkar 3-1 and will next face Bengal’s Ahona Ray.
