Raman cruises to second round

Defending champion S. Raman was through to second round of the men's singles in the 67th National Table Tennis Championship in Japiur at the SM Stadium on Friday.

The tall and lanky veteran Raman though being the defending champion was not granted seeding because he has slipped in the rankings owing to a shoulder injury.

Having recovered from it, the veteran defeated Prithviraj Bose (RSPB) 11-9, 11-9, 11-4, 13-11 to sail into second round as the other top-seeded players were resting.

Other results (men's singles): S Sarkar (WB) beat K Srivatsa (TN) 9-11, 11-8, 11-7, 11-3,12-6; Sayan Paul (NB) bt Nishant Kulkarni (Maha) 9-11,7-11, 11-3, 11-6, 11-4,11-11; Bhushan Singh Thakur (Maha) beat Rajat Chopra (Del) 11-6, 11-3, 11-6, 11-4; Vineet Chopra (Pun) beat Soumyajit Ghosh (NB) 11-8, 15-13, 11-4,11-4; Jignesh Jaiswal (Guj) beat Rahul Prakash (UP) 11-8, 11-13, 3-11, 11-5, 11-8; Amit Das (WB) bt. Krishna Kirti (AP) 11-5, 11-5, 11-6, 11-7; Zubin Kumar (Raj) bt. 14th seed Vinay Baiswade 9-11, 11-6, 9-11, 11-7, 13-11, 11-5; Rajath Kamal (TN) bt Kaushik De Sarkar (DASCB) 8-11, 11-9, 11-9, 11-7, 6-11, 11-4, 11-6; Himanshu Kala (Del) bt. Janak Raj (Pun) 11-7,11-7,11-5,11-4; A Amalraj (RSPB) bt Harsha Chopra (FCI) 11-6,11-6,11-2,11-3; Arunava Ganguly (WB) bt. Somnath Ghosh 914-12,11-8,11-3,11-6; R Rajesh (LIC) bt. Debashish Ghosh (NB) 14-12, 11-4, 13-11, 9-11, 9-11, 11-6.

Women's first round results: Sangheetha (BSB) bt. Anju K. Thomas (Ker) 8-11,11-5,14-12,11-6,11-8; MS Myithili (TN) bt. Pooja Sahastrabhudhe (Mah. B) 11-6, 11-8, 11-8, 11-9; Sapna Sharma (Guj) bt. Aparna Nair (Ker) 11-6, 4-11, 11-9, 11-8, 8-11, 14-16, 12-10; Mansi Bbhagwat (Mah. B) bt. Tulika Roy (WB) 11-8, 11-9, 11-6, 10-12,11-6.