Chandra from PSPB lost to Manudev 27-82, 39-55, 55-67 in straight frames after a keenly contested Group B encounter, during which the latter had very close calls on several occasions before putting it across his opponent.
In another tooth and nail battle, Sitwala had to put in all his experience to outclass Hemant in 3-2 frames. PSPB’s Sitwala beat Hemant 1-65, 46-58, 55-08, 63-45, 83-11 in the long-drawn battle and bounced back into title contention.
Results: Group A: Pankaj Advani (PSPB) bt Divya Sharma (HR) 3-0 (74-28, 79-16, 83-9); Ravinder Singh (Raj) bt Neeraj Khemka (WB) 3-0 (26-62, 14-65, 58-27, 67-29, 62-16).
Group B: Abhishek Raj (UP) bt Vishal Abrol (J&K) 3-1 (52-38, 63-57, 41-49, 65-18); IH Manudev (Kar) bt Manan Chandra (PSPB) 3-0 (82-27, 55-39, 67-55).
Group C: Aditya Mehta (PSPB) bt Neeraj Kumar (Rly) 3-1 (79-6, 2-72, 63-32, 115-1); Saket Saurabh (BH) bt Gunjan Patel (Guj) 3-2 (38-61, 38-48, 53-34, 65-13, 74-13).
Group D: S Mumtaz Ali (Jha) bt Dhruv Verma (Pun) 3-2 (52-34, 72-42, 25-64, 19-75, 77-27); Kamal Chawla (Rly) bt Rahul Bhargav (Raj) 3-0 (64-38, 91-18, 73-16).
Group E: Sourav Kothari (PSPB) bt Rahul Agarwal (MP) 3-0 (66-29, 73-34, 78-29); Nishit Prakash (UP) bt Rishabh Pandya (Mah) 3-2 (22-74, 55-46, 15-28, 69-6, 64-14).
Group F: Manish Jain (WB) bt Vivek Chopra (Pun) 3-0 (83-29, 60-42, 50-12); Shahbaz Khan (PSPB) bt Vinayak Agarwal (UP) 3-1 (62-51, 13-70, 65-24, 62-34).
Group G: Vaibhav Sharma (Del) bt Sumit Talwar (Cha) 3-1 (26-76, 67-28, 75-52, 62-28).
Group H: S Bopanna (Kar) bt Ahsan Haque (Ori) 3-1 (59-68, 59-57, 70-51, 71-31); Geet Sethi (Guj) bt Sandeep Duggal (Cha) 3-0 (74-2, 59-10, 72-16).
Group I: Yasin Merchant (Mah) bt Himanshu (Asm) 3-0 (83-50, 77-12, 72-6); Kankan Shamsi (UP) bt Shravan Mohta (PSPB) 3-2 (61-37, 65-27, 49-60, 38-57, 71-33).
Group J: R Girish (Rly) bt Shivam Arora (BH) 3-2 (65-39, 42-65, 100-19, 52-61, 59-27).
Group K: K Venkatesham (Rly) bt IV Rajeev (AP) 3-1 (70-27, 73-21, 24-58, 57-18); Rupesh Shah (PSPB) bt Jeet Kishore Das (Ori) 3-1 (35-67, 74-26, 74-21, 81-20).
Group L: Sundeep Gulati (Del) bt Nitin Agarwal (MP) 3-1 (75-45, 68-49, 52-88, 100-65); Devendra Joshi (PSPB) bt Sumesh Turki (J&K) 3-0 (70-24, 67-27, 63-28); Sundeep Gulati (Del) bt Devendra Joshi (PSPB) 3-0 (82-22, 59-9, 78-0); Somesh Turki (J&K) bt Nitin Agarwal (MP) 3-2 (22-68, 62-52, 54-41, 8-84, 52-40).
Group M: Shyam Jagtiani (Rly) bt Sameer Bhalla (HR) 3-1 (49-51, 70-17, 77-25, 60-18); Ashok Shandilya (Rly) bt Akhil Jhonson (Ker) 3-0 (71-35, 79-12, 64-27); Sameer Bhalla (HR) bt Akhil Jhonson (Ker) 3-0 (76-5, 82-28, 66-13); Ashok Shandilya (Rly) bt Shyam Jagtiani 3-1 (97-4, 46-58, 89-31, 60-39).
Group N: Dhruv Sitwala (PSPB) bt Nicholas D'Souza (Goa) 3-0 (71-11, 62-22, 67-18); SA Saleem (TN) bt Hemant Kumar (Rly) 3-2 (76-12, 8-63, 26-66, 105-4, 76-1); SA Saleem (TN) bt Nicholas D'Souza (Goa) 3-0 (49-18, 78-63, 75-0); Dhruv Sitwala (PSPB) bt Hemant Kumar (Rly) 3-2 (1-65, 46-58, 55-8, 63-45, 83-11).
Group O: Faisal Khan (Rly) bt Hussain Cochinwala (Ker) 3-0 (85-13, 86-1, 88-5); Balaji Reddy (Kar) bt D Rajkumar (Kar) 3-1 (19-67, 71-31, 73-66, 69-3).
Group P: Lucky Vatnani (AP) bt Marlon D'Souza (Goa) 3-0 (65-3, 80-12, 74-34); Siddharth Parikh (Rly) bt Pushpinder Singh (Del) 3-2 (90-37, 41-53, 65-39, 33-64, 77-6); Pushpinder Singh (Del) bt Marlon D'Souza (Goa) 3-2 (36-59, 81-11, 38-50, 72-32, 82-26).
