Manush Shah Survives Major Scare as Sayali Wani Crashes Out of UTT National Ranking Championships

The seedings held. Until they did not. At the UTT National Ranking Table Tennis Championships in Kanpur, top-seeded Manush Shah came within a few points of one of the tournament's biggest early shocks. He survived.

Sayali Wani did not.

As the men's and women's singles competitions moved from the Round of 64 towards the Round of 32 at the Sportz Hub, the two draws told very different stories. The men's competition largely followed the expected script, although not without a series of five-game battles. The women's draw, meanwhile, began to break open.

And the biggest name to fall was the eighth seed.

Manush Shah entered the men's singles draw as the top seed and one of the strongest contenders for the title. For two games, his match against Tamil Nadu's M.R. Balamurugan looked exactly like the opening round a top seed would want.

11-3.

11-3.

Quick. Controlled. Comfortable. Then the match changed. 

Balamurugan found his rhythm and began to push Manush deeper into rallies. The momentum moved. The errors increased. The scoreline began to look very different. The Tamil Nadu player took the third game 11-3.

Then the fourth 11-7.

Suddenly, the top seed was in a deciding game. For a player of Manush's standing, the situation was dangerous. Not because he was facing elimination after one poor game, but because the opponent now had belief. And in table tennis, belief can change the speed of a match.

Manush steadied himself when it mattered most, taking the decider 11-8 to complete a 11-3, 11-3, 3-11, 7-11, 11-8 victory.

He is through to the Round of 32. But the warning has been delivered. A ranking can make you the favourite.

It cannot win the fifth game for you.

Five-Game Battles Define the Men’s Draw

While the remaining seeded players in the men's draw progressed, several were forced to work considerably harder than expected. West Bengal's Oishik Ghosh was pushed to the limit by RSPB's Jayabrata Battacharjee. After losing the second and third games, Oishik recovered to force a decider and eventually prevailed 12-10 in the fifth.

The final score read 11-9, 8-11, 7-11, 11-4, 12-10. It was the kind of match where two points separated progression from elimination.

Manipur's K. Segal Singh also endured a demanding five-game contest. After taking the first two games, he saw his opponent fight back to level the match before recovering in the decider to win 11-8. Maharashtra's Raegan Albuquerque followed a similar pattern, overcoming Karnataka's P. Yeshwant 7-11, 11-3, 11-5, 7-11, 11-1. The score in the final game reflected how quickly momentum can swing once a player gains control.

Abhimanyu Mitra of IA&AD survived another tense battle against Haryana's Vatsal Duklan, eventually winning 11-9 in the fifth after twice surrendering the lead. Haryana's Ankur Bhattacharjee also had to recover from an early setback against West Bengal's Arnab Chanda. After losing the opening game and then finding himself behind again after three games, Ankur fought back to win 4-11, 11-6, 10-12, 11-7, 11-9.

The men's draw remains intact. But it is not comfortable. Not anymore.

Sayali Wani Falls as the Women’s Draw Opens Up

The biggest result of the day came in the women's singles competition. Eighth-seeded Sayali Wani of PSPB was beaten by Tamil Nadu's Kavyashree Baskar in a five-game comeback. For two games, Wani appeared in control.

She won the first 11-9. Then the second 11-8. One more game would have taken her into the Round of 32.

Instead, Kavyashree began the comeback.

11-7.

11-6.

11-7.

From two games down to victory. It was the kind of result that changes more than one player's tournament. For Sayali, the campaign was over.

For Kavyashree, it was a breakthrough. For the rest of the women's draw, it opened a door. With Wani's departure and several players from the 9-16 seeded bracket also exiting, the lower half of the draw now looks significantly more open.

The favourites remain. But the path has changed.

Syndrela Survives Her Own Test

Second seed Syndrela Das of West Bengal avoided joining the list of early casualties, but not without a fight. Railways' Sneha Bhowmick pushed her into a five-game contest. Syndrela won the opening game 12-10 but lost the second 8-11. She responded emphatically with an 11-2 third game, only for Bhowmick to hit back again and force the decider.

At that point, the match could have gone either way. Syndrela closed it out 11-2.

The final score was 12-10, 8-11, 11-2, 7-11, and 11-2.

A win. But another reminder. There are no easy rounds once the tournament begins to tighten.

The women's draw produced several dramatic recoveries. Anjali Rohilla of IA&AD survived a tense encounter against Tamil Nadu's Selena Deepti Selvakumar, winning 13-11 in the deciding game after the match had swung repeatedly between the two players. West Bengal's Ankolika Chakraborty produced one of the most dramatic comebacks of the day.

https://www.indiasportshub.com/articles/utt-national-ranking-table-tennis-championships-vivaan-dave-and-divyanshi-bhowmick-clinch-u-17-titles-in-kanpur

She lost the opening game 18-20. She lost the second 9-11. Then she changed the match.

11-7.

11-9.

11-8.

From 0-2 down to the Round of 32.

Maharashtra's Pritha Vartikar followed a similar route against Taneesha Kotecha. After falling behind twice, she levelled the contest each time before dominating the decider 11-3. Subhankrita Datta, meanwhile, looked more assured in her 11-4, 2-11, 11-8, 11-7 victory over Uttar Pradesh's Avani Tripathi.

The message from the day was clear. Momentum is temporary. Matches are not won after two games. And in a format where one player can find another level without warning, a lead means little until the final point is played. The tournament now moves deeper into its singles draws, with the men and women set to play up to the Round of 16. The U-19 boys' and girls' competitions will also get underway.

For Manush Shah, survival has bought another round. For Sayali Wani, the tournament is already over. And for everyone else still in the draw, Kanpur has delivered its first major reminder. The seed beside your name gets you into the bracket.

What happens next has to be earned on the table.