Roots-AITA: Top-seed Sarthak edges into quarters
January 29, 2020, Chandigarh
Top seed Sarthak Gandhi overcame a resilient Sainyam to seal a spot in the boys’ U-18 quarterfinals in the Roots-AITA Challenge Series (CS-7) National Ranking Championship at Zirakpur, Chandigarh yesterday.
Gandhi pocketed the opening set 5-3, but Sainyam was able to reverse the results in the second set and force the match into the tie-breaker. Gandhi though kept his composure and sealed the decider 10-8 to stay alive in the competition.
Second seed Pankaj Singh registered a 5-4(4) 4-2 win over Arnav Bishnoi, while third seed Dhairya Chadha came back from a set down to beat Arnav Harsh in the pre-quarterfinals. Chadha lost the first set 1-4, but held his nerve to win the next set 5-4(3). He then seized the tie-breaker 10-8 to make it to the last-eight.
Shubh Negi humbled Avish Verma 4-0 5-3, while Manjoot Singh ousted Aarush Sharma 4-1 4-2. Naresh Badgujar drubbed Vivek Shah 4-1 4-1.Arnav Malik and Amish Bansal also won their pre-quarterfinal matches. While Malik blanked Iren Singh, Bansal got the better of Preet Paul Sidhu.
