Debadutta haults Haque brothers` monopoly

Tousif Haque (Cuttack) and his younger brother Tohid Haque beat Samarendra Lala (Cuttack) and Saswat Samal (Khurda) respectively by 4-2 identical margin to reach the men’s singles semifinals of the All-Orissa Ranking Table Tennis Tournament at Unit-1 Indoor Hall in Bhubaneswar today. D Debadutta Mohanty (AG) stopped the Haque siblings from grabbing another semifinal berth as he edged past youngest sibling Asif Haque 4-3. Mohammad Azhar completed the semifinal line-up, trouncing his Cuttack teammate Jitu Panda 4-0. Semifinalists were also spotted in youth boys singles. In the quarterfinals, Saswat Samal blanked Sunil Parida 4-2, Tousif Haque drubbed Samarendra Lala 4-0, Asif Haque humbled Jitu Panda 4-1 and Mohammad Azhar thrashed Biswajit Mohanty 4-0. Meanwhile, Suvendu Dutta (Nalco) set up the cadet boys singles title clash with local opponent Amrit Chakraborty. Anustup Das (Khurda) and Abinash Das (Bhubaneswar) finished third and fourth in the event. Sunita Si (Khurda) and Samartha Prusty (Bhubaneswar) set up the women’s singles semifinal encounters against Ankita Kha (Khurda) and Soumya Mishra (Bhubaneswar) respectively. PHOTO: Soumya Mishra plays at the All-Orissa Ranking Table Tennis Tournament in Bhubaneswar on Oct 3, 2009.