JOIN USSoumyajit Ghosh and Sanil Shetty entered the men’s singles main draw of the ITTF World Tour India Open at the Thyagaraj Sports Complex on Tuesday.
Ghosh won both his matches. He first beat compatriot Jeet Chandra 4-0 before scoring a 4-3 victory over Saudi Arabia’s Ali Alkhadrawi. Shetty beat Ronit Bhana 4-0, and then eked out a 4-3 win over fourth seeded Lubomir Jancarik in the second qualifiers.
The men’s qualifying draw have 10 groups with the toppers in each making the cut to the main draw. The runners-up in each group will have another chance to advance through a one round knock-out match. The five winners along with one ‘lucky loser’ will comprise the main draw of 32.
In the women’s section, since all 12 from the qualifying phase will enter the main draw, the battle was more about the seeding. Madhurika Patkar made a winning start by beating Krritwika Roy 4-1 but lost to Suthirtha Mukherjee 4-1 in the second round. Meanwhile Karnataka’s Archana Kamath also won both the qualifying matches.