Soumyajit Ghosh, Ankita Das enter quarterfinals at Lusofonia Games

Top-seed Soumyajit Ghosh along with reigning National champion Ankita Das won their matches comfortably to enter the Quarter Finals of the table tennis individual events at the 3rd Lusofonia Games being held in Goa.

Ghosh defeated Kubeco Alsendro of Angola in 4 straight games 11-7 11-8 11-7 11-6 at Peddem Sports complex in Mapusa on Tuesday.

Ankita Das too overcame the challenge of Juano Mota of Portugal with relative ease by scoring a 11-8, 7-11, 11-3, 11-8, 11-4 while former national champion Shamini Kumaresan beat Chuwong Chang of Macau 10-12 11-4 11-3 11-1 11-7 to reach the last 8 stage.

Earlier, Goa’s teen sensation Tanisi Kirtani lost her opening match toPortugal’s Marta Santos before storming back to win her next two matches.

Tanisi lost 11-8, 2-11, 7-11, 3-11 in her opening match against Santos.

In the second match, she defeated Albiw Isabel of Angola 11-13 11-3 9-11 13-15 11-9 and then won a hard fought battle against Leong Kit Weng of Macau 12-10 4-11 8-11 11-10 11-7.

The Indian mens and womens team have already clinched the gold medal in the table tennis team events.