Poulomi, Saha crash out in quarters

PATNA: In the end, defending champion Poulomi Ghatak was done in by fatigue. The fourth seeded PSPB paddler, who rallied to beat Mamta Prabhu after being match point down in the pre-quarters of the 70th Senior Nationals, was back on the table in an hour's time to face Divya Deshpande.
Poulomi, however, failed to recover and went down 9-11, 8-11, 10-12, 11-9, 6-11 against the 13th-ranked Pune girl, placed 10 slots below her.
It was a hectic Saturday for the players here at the Secretariat Sports Complex with three round of matches ��� second round, pre-quarterfinals and quarterfinals ��� lined up. Poulomi, who has been competing in the Nationals since 1995, wasn't too happy with the crammed schedule.
"Normally, we play two rounds, but playing three can be very difficult in a single day. More so in this post speed glue era, where the shoulder comes into play a lot more," the five-times national champion told TOI later. Poulomi said she was hardly left with any recovery time. "I just had an hour and it was not enough. I was physically drained."