Panaji: India’s Sutirtha Mukherjee arrived in Panaji for the World Table Tennis (WTT) Star Contender Goa an emotional wreck. Just 10 days earlier than the occasion, her grandmother, who she was actually near, handed away. She was distraught, however took braveness figuring out that her grandmother would need nothing greater than for her to compete on the event and do effectively.
Physically, she by no means felt higher. As far as her sport was involved, she was in glorious contact. She simply needed to put the emotional baggage at arm’s size.
She managed that and the way! On Thursday, on the Dr Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Indoor Stadium in Panaji, she beat World No. 18 Jia Nan Yuan of France 3-0 (11-7, 11-8, 11-7) within the Round of 32 to notch up the biggest-ever win in her profession up to now. Not simply that, she’s the one Indian other than Manika Batra alive within the event.
Batra, the top-ranked Indian lady, confirmed why she’s so extremely rated, pulling off a shocking 3-1 (11-9, 11-8, 5-11, 11-8) win over World No. 14 Adriana Diaz of Puerto Rico.
Being ignored for a wildcard direct entry into the primary draw of the primary WTT occasion being held within the nation meant that Sutirtha, whose present WTT rating is 147, needed to actually grind out in qualifying.
After a comparatively simple 3-0 (11-3 11-6, 11-7) first-round win over compatriot Prapti Sen, Sutirtha confronted World No. 92 Li Yu-Jhun. The Taipei paddler saved it tight however Sutirtha had discovered her rhythm and managed to tug off a 3-0 (11-9, 11-8, 11-6) win. In her last spherical of qualifying, she grinded out a 3-1 win over World No. 110 Lee Eunhye of Korea and had clearly warmed up sufficient.
After dispatching compatriot Suhana Saini 3-1 within the Rd of 64, Sutirtha knew that she must do one thing unbelievable to beat 37-year-old Frenchwoman Yuan. She was able to endure.
Suffering is one thing Sutirtha has develop into used to. The entire debacle forward of the Tokyo Olympics (held in 2021) the place Manika accused then-India coach Soumyadeep Roy of asking her to lose a match in opposition to Sutirtha, who he additionally coached personally (and nonetheless does) took a toll on her.
The fallout of that mixed with a crunched nationwide circuit meant that Sutirtha’s rating dropped drastically through the pandemic. The results of that was her failure to make the Indian group for the Commonwealth Games held in Birmingham final yr.
She took it in her stride. According to Roy, lack of funds meant that she couldn’t compete in worldwide tournaments on the WTT circuit. But she saved working towards and that was fairly evident on the National Games final September the place she beat Batra within the semifinal after which outplayed nationwide champion Sreeja Akula within the last to triumph.
“She did well in the zonal and other tournaments too but it was just the lack of funds why she couldn’t play in better tournaments abroad,” Roy stated on Thursday.
Not taking part in in these tournaments too was a blessing in disguise says Roy who had extra time to coach her.
“That continuous training has elevated her game. She’s clearly a fighter and it can only get better from here,” he stated, with the Asian Games later this yr on his thoughts.
World No. 1 surprised
In what was essentially the most stunning results of the day, World No. 193 Cho Daeseong of Korea beat World No. 1 and Olympic silver medallist Fan Zhendong 3-2 (7-11, 6-11, 12-10, 11-9, 11-8).
The Chinese paddler appeared sure of victory, after simply wrapping up the primary two video games however Daeseong staged one of the unbelievable comebacks to take the third right into a tie-breaker earlier than successful it and the following two video games.
“He (Zhendong) is very strong but I just thought I had nothing to lose after trailing 0-2, so I just thought of going into an all-attacking mode,” the Korean stated after the match.
“This is the best win of my career, so I’m very happy. When I was leading 8-1 in the decider, I thought maybe I can win but from 10-5 when it became 10-8, I was a little nervous. My heart was pumping. Thankfully I could close it out.”
Disappointment for Indians
Apart from Manika in ladies’s singles, India’s largest hopes at this event have been G Sathiyan within the males’s singles and the Manika-Sathiyan duo within the combined doubles. However, India’s top-ranked paddler Sathiyan’s event ended with a stunning 0-3 (Sep 11, 5-11, 8-11) loss to World No. 22 Yukiya Uda of Japan.
Sathiyan-Manika, who have been favourites in opposition to the Japanese duo of Togami Shunsuke and Harimoto Miwa, supplied little resistance of their straight-game (10-12, 6-11, 6-11) loss.
