PANJIM: Goa’s top two players Anshuman Agarwal and Nagesh Vereker moved into the main draw round 3 (round of 32), in individual events at the UTT 81st Cadet & Sub-Junior National & Inter-State Table Tennis Championships, at Dharamshala, Himachal Pradesh.
Both the paddlers tasted contrasting wins in their round two matches in sub junior boys singles category.
While Anshuman thumped Telengana’s Trishul Mehra 3-0 (11-6, 11-9, 11-6); Nagesh was stretched the whole distance before pulling of an exciting 3-2 (8-11, 11-7, 11-8, 11-8, 11-6) win over Karnataka’s Srikanth Kashyap.
In cadet girls singles, Goa’s Trisha Verlekar who played brilliantly to qualify in the main draw suffered a 3-1 (10-12, 11-5, 11- 6, 11- 4) loss to West Bengal’s Diya Brahmachary, while Goa’s other two qualifiers in the main draw, twin sisters Leoma and Galya Fernandes had to face defeat in their opening main draw match. Shantesh Mapsekar, who had also qualified in sub junior boys singles lost in the main draw round 2 to West Bengal’s Bodhisatwa Chaudhary by a slender 3-2 score line. Meanwhile, Goa’s challenge in sub junior boys doubles ended when Anshuman Agarwal who partnered Nagesh Verenker went down fighting in pre quarters to West Bengal’s Ankur Bhattaerjarjee and Rudra Ghosh, losing 3-2 (8-11, 11-5, 11- 9, 4 – 11, 11-9).
