Seven out of eight group toppers in the men's section and six in women's category have moved into the team events pre-quarterfinals of the 77th Senior National and Inter-State Table Tennis Championships at the Kotla Vijay Bhaskara Reddy Indoor Stadium here today.
The men's teams that have moved into the second stage knockout phase include Petroleum Sports Promotion Board (PSPB), West Bengal, Gujarat, Haryana, Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan and Railway Sports Promotion Board (RSPB) while a good battle is brewing between Delhi and Maharashtra A in group G for the top slot. A clear picture will emerge only after the third round matches get over tonight. But one expects both Delhi and Maharashtra A to enter the knockout stage.
As for the women's affair, PSPB, West Bengal, Maharashtra A, Reserve Bank of India, Telangana, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu have moved into the last 16 stages and await another team from group E as its leader and other second-placed teams from each group.
However, one cannot rule out the possibility of a three-way tie in group H where Tamil Nadu, Kerala and North Bengal are pitted against one another, having one-win-one-loss equations.
In what was a minor ripple caused in Group E, Maharashtra B team defeated Delhi 3-0 in the first round and could emerge as the No. 1 team from the group. But it may not prevent Delhi women from entering the pre-quarters as the second team as they are expected to beat a weak Tripura and qualify.
But there was something to cheer for the hosts as their women's squad, comprising Nikhat Banu, Varuni Jaiswal and Sreeja Akula, made every one sit up and watch them book their pre-quarterfinal berth. But their men's squad, which lost their match to West Bengal 0-3, faces Uttarakhand next in a three-team group-Pondicherry has pulled out at the last minute-and the hosts must win to qualify. In other words, if Uttarakhand manage to beat Telangana, the former would walk in. That is a real tricky situation for the home team.
On the other hand, Telangana's women's team did not stretch it too far. Posting their first authoritative 3-0 win over Uttar Pradesh, they took on a problematic Gujarat in the second round of the group match.
Varuni did not provide a good start when she went down to Guajrat's No. 1 player Frenaz Chipia 9-11, 11-7, 9-11, 5-11, but the experienced Nikhat Banu, who got a recent Chennai posting as IT inspector, restored Telangana's pride to level the score with a 8-11, 11-8, 7-11, 11-6, 11-9 triumph over Gohil Divyaba.
Then it was left to Sreeja Akula, the highly-talented junior girl, to take it on from there to give the hosts a head start as they went 2-0 up. Sreeja beat Nirja Trivedi in a thrilling see-saw rubber 13-11, 7-11, 11-6, 11-13, 11-8.
Nikhat, playing her reverse singles, again saw to it that Telangana had a hassle-free pre-quarterfinal entry. She beat Frenaz in straight games of 11-7, 11-9, 11-3.
In the decider, again the dice rolled in favour of
Harmeet as he went 5-1 up and changed side. Then luck changed sides as Sharath, who was allowed some liberty, picked nine points on the trot to be 10-6.
But serving for the match, Sharath put out the ball for Harmeet's first point in a long time. From there he picked three more points to narrow the gap. Harmeet, receiving from Sharath, could have played the ball anywhere but his forehand hit the net cord and popped out, much to the relief of Sharath and his fans.
In the adjacent court, Somyajit Ghosh hit early form and maintained it to oust second seed G Sathiyan 4-1.
In women semifinals, Poulomi Ghatak disposed of sixth seed Pooja Sahasrabuddhe 4-0 without a fuss.
Today's was the best showing by Poulomi, who returned last year after motherhood.
Madhurika Patkar stopped reigning champion Manika Batra, seeded fifth, on her tracks.
The results (Prefix denotes seedings):
Men (Final): A Sharath Kamal (Pet) bt Soumyajit Ghosh (Har) 11-8, 6-11, 11-9, 3-11, 11-8, 11-5; Semifinals: Sharath bt 5-Harmeet Desai (Pet) 11-8, 11-5, 7-11, 10-12, 7-11, 14-12, 11-9; Ghosh bt 2-G. Sathiyan (Pet) 12-10, 11-7, 11-6, 4-11, 11-4; Quarterfinals: Sharath bt Subhajit Saha (Pet) 11-6, 11-4, 11-6, 11-7; Desai bt 4-Sanil Shetty (Pet) 11-7, 11-8, 11-8, 11-6; Ghosh bt 3-A. Amalraj (Pet) 11-7, 11-8, 11-9, 11-3; Sathiyan bt Devesh Karia (Guj) 8-11, 11-9, 11-2, 11-4, 11-4.
Women (Final): 1-Madhurika bt Poulomi 11-5, 11-9, 11-5, 12-10; Semifinals: Madhurika bt 5-Manika Batra 7-11, 11-8, 11-9, 11-8, 10-12, 11-8; Poulomi bt 6-Pooja Sahasrabudhe 11-8, 11-5, 12-10, 11-8; Quarterfinals: Madhurika bt Krittwika Sinha Roy (WB) 11-5, 11-9, 11-9, 15-13; Manika bt Nikhat Banu (Tel) 8-11, 11-7, 11-6, 10-12, 5-11, 11-8, 11-4; Pooja bt Shreya Ghosh (WB) 11-2, 11-9, 11-4, 11-9; Poulomi bt Archana Kamath 11-7, 11-6, 8-11, 6-11, 11-7, 4-11, 11-4.
Men Doubles (Final): 1-Soumyajit Ghosh and Jubin Kumar (Har) bt Sushmit Sriram and Anirban Ghosh (AAI) 11-3, 7-11, 11-6, 8-11, 11-5; Semifinals: Ghosh and Jubin bt 4-Arjun Ghosh and Surajit Das (WB) 11-9, 10-12, 11-4, 11-8; Sushmit and Anirban bt 7-Sourav Saha and Mohit Verma (Har) 10-12, 11-9, 11-5, 11-7.
Women Doubles Final: 1-Anindita Chakraborty and Sutritha Mukherjee (WB) bt 2-Poulomi Ghatak and Mouma Das (Pet) 11-8, 11-8, 4-11, 7-11, 11-3; Semifinals: Anindita and Sutirtha bt Maria Roy and Seraha Jacob (Ker) 12-10, 11-7, 11-7; Poulomi and Mouma bt 7-Sagarika Mukherjee and Takeme Sarkar (NB) 11-9, 11-8, 11-7.
Mixed Doubles Final: 2-Arjun Ghosh and Sutritha Mukherjee (WB) bt 4-Sanil Shetty and Pooja Sahasrabudhe (Pet) 11-9, 11-5, 11-9; Semifinals: Shetty and Pooja bt 1-G. Sathiyan bt Reeth Rishya (Pet) 11-7, 13-15, 9-11, 11-9, 11-9. Arjun and Sutirtha bt T. Nitin and Swetha Kumaravel (Kar) 12-10, 11-13, 13-11, 11-8.
