Samyukta, Kushi enter main draw

Karnataka's Samyukta Ananth Kumar, Sushmita Bidri and Kushi Viswanath entered the main draw of the LIC-IOC All India National-ranking Table Tennis Championships (South Zone) at the District Indoor Stadium here on Thursday.

In the men's singles, Rakshit Barigidad made it to the main draw after finishing on top of his Group.

P V Charan, Dinakar Naidu, Shailaditya and Suramit Samaddar finished second in their respective sections to make it to the draw of 128.

The second day also saw group qualification in the Youth section, the main draw of which will commence tomorrow. The junior events, too, begin on the third day with group qualifications.

A total of 66 woman paddlers have qualified from 33 groups and 86 men from 43 groups.

Meanwhile, five-time national champion Mouma Das of West Bengal will be up against B Nagasravani of Andhra Pradesh in the the preliminary round on Thursday night. A win will take her to the main draw.