Anthony Amalraj emerged the star of round one of the singles main draw as he played an aggressive game to upset Monday Merotohun of Nigeria in the 17th Commonwealth table tennis Championship here on Sunday.
The 20-year-old Chennai boy, who had to qualify for the main draw, earned his greatest career victory as he downed eighth seed Monday 11-7, 11-9, 11-5, 5-11, 9-11, 9-11, 11-9 in a marathon encounter at the Sawai Mansingh stadium.

India were well on their way to recording two more upsets of enormous proportions but qualifier Jubin Kumar and Anirban Nandi fell just short of converting their excellent run into match-winning efforts agai-nst Yang Zi and Xiao Cai Li of Singapore respectively.

While Jubin made second seed Singaporean Yang Zi look ordinary and vulnerable, Nandi too fought bravely against fifth seed Cai Li.

Jubin's inspired play could not bear fruit as he went down 10-12, 11-9, 6-11, 11-4, 11-2, 4-11, 11-7 and Nandi made Li sweat before losing the match by a whisker 11-1, 7-11, 11-9, 11-6, 4-11, 9-11, 11-8.

Sharath sails ahead
Defending champion Achanta Sharath Kamal easily sailed through the first round with a 11-8, 11-9, 11-5, 11-4 win over Stewart Crawford of Australia.

Soumyadeep Roy and Shubhajit Saha also cleared their first hurdles. Soum-yadeep stutterd a bit as he got the better of Abbaz Salim of Pakistan 11-9, 11-9, 11-6, 5-11, 11-9.

In the women's section, Poulomi Ghatak and Mouma Das also negotiated the first round with ease. Poulomi routed Catherine Symonds of Scotland 11-2, 11-7, 11-1, 11-4 while Mouma eased past Owen Naomi of Wales 11-9, 11-9, 11-6, 11-7 to earn a place in the second round.

But it was Amalraj who stole the show with his brave effort. He was cruising along nicely, winning the first three games before the veteran, the architect of Nigeria's famous win against India in the team event final of 2001 edition in Delhi, pulled his weight and won the next three.

In the decider, Amalraj was down 3-7 before he kept his calm and came back to pocket the match.

Mousumi beaten
In the women's section, Mousumi Paul lost to Chiu Soo Jin of Malaysia 11-4, 8-11, 11-7, 11-9, 11-9 while Kasturi Chakraborty went down to Yuen Sara of Canada 11-4, 11-9, 10-12, 11-9, 11-8.
Top seed Gao Ning of Singapore down Asim Qureshi of Pakistan 11-3, 11-1, 11-9, 11-13, 11-8. Among other Indian men, Pathik Mehta went down to Kyle Davis of Australia 9-11, 9-11, 11-9, 11-8, 11-9, 9-11, 11-6 and Jitender Kumar lost to Shahkirin Ibrahim 4-11, 11-8, 11-9, 11-8, 6-11, 11-5.