Panchkula, December 18: The men’s teams of Petroleum Sports Promotion Board and Delhi entered the final of UTT Senior Nationals and Inter-State Table Tennis Championships at the Tau Devi Lal Indoor Stadium here today.
PSPB defeated AAI 2-1 and Delhi routed Maharashtra 3-0 to earn the final berths. The women’s final will be between RBI and Tamil Nadu like in the previous edition. RBI beat Maharashtra 3-1 and Tamil Nadu accounted for the Railways 3-0.
Manav Thakkar is going through a rough patch of late. Having lost the pre-quarterfinals to Payas Jain in the ranking tournament that preceded the Nationals, Manav was in trouble against Jeet Chandra in the opening tie of the team semifinals. After taking a 2-1 lead to Jeet, Manav conceded two games on the trot. But Harmeet came to their rescue again, winning his singles after Sanil Shetty put PSPB 2-1 up.
Unlike the PSPB, Delhi was more clinical on their way to the final, beating Maharashtra 3-0. After Sudhanshu Grover and Payas Jain put Delhi 2-0 up, Yashansh Malik completed the task with a 3-1 win over Chinmaya Somaiya. The Maharashtra left-handed won the first game but failed to press home the advantage. Delhi men last entered the final at the Hyderabad Nationals in 2020.
UP men did well to take their team’s stature a notch above despite not making the semifinal grade. Their 2-3 loss to top-seeded PSPB was not a surprise. However, how they resisted the title favourites, taking two ties of them, mattered the most. Divyansh Srivastava beat an off-form Anthony Amalraj in straight games in the third rubber, but Sarth Mishra’s 3-1 win over the top-ranked Indian was the icing on the cake. Manav was erratic, and Sarth cashed in on the situation to the chagrin of PSPB. But an in-form Harmeet averted any possible crisis to beat Abhishek Yadav as the UP left-hander failed to impress in both ties.
The Delhi men, too, had a difficult time against West Bengal in their quarterfinals. Thanks to their hero No. 1, Sudhanshu Grover, Delhi survived to advance further with a 3-2 win. Sudhanshu won the first and last rubber after Yashansh Malik won the crucial third rubber against Aniket Sen Choudhury. Earlier, Payas Jain did not come off the blocks well in his two singles, adding to the pressure on Sudhanshu. But the latter acquitted his job with responsibility.
RBI was clinical despite losing the first tie. Sreeja Akula and Ayhika Mukherjee put their team in the final. With Diya Chitale rested for the match, Harshavardhini got the chance, but the girl from Tamil Nadu failed to make the most of it and went down to Jennifer Verghese. However, it did not change the fortune of Maharashtra, as RBI won 3-1.
Yashini Sivashankar’s roaring form continued in the semifinals and she put Tamil Nadu 1-0 up with an excellent 3-2 win over Sutirtha Mukherjee, expected to lead the Railways side into the final. Capitalising on the lead, Selenadeepthi Selvakumar thumped Moumita Dutta 3-0 and, finally, Kavyashree Baskar defeated Poymantee Baskar 3-0 and entered the final for the second consecutive time.
In the women’s team quarterfinals, the lone aberration was when Ayhika Mukherjee lost to Prapti Sen in the opening tie. But that did not change the fortune of the RBI, as Sreeja and Diya made amends for the loss to beat West Bengal 3-1. The Railways blanked out Delhi 3-0, and Tamil Nadu won 3-1 against Gujarat.
However, the Maharashtra women struggled past Karnataka 3-2. Yashaswini Ghorpade stood against Maharashtra, winning her singles against Sayali Wani and Pritha Vartikar. But, beyond delaying the inevitable, she could not do much as Kushi Viswanath lost to Pritha 3-0, and Jennifer Verghese beat Deshna Vanshika 3-1.
Results (TEAM):
Men: Semifinals: PSPB bt AAI 3-1 (Manav Thakkar lost to Jeet Chandra 6-11, 11-8, 11-5, 7-11, 13-15; Harmeet Desai bt SFR Snehit 11-8, 11-3, 5-11, 7-11, 11-5; Sanil Shetty bt Deepit R. Patil 13-11, 11-7, 10-12, 11-9; Harmeet bt Jeet 11-7, 11-3, 15-17, 11-7); Delhi bt Maharashtra 3-0 (Sudhanshu Grover bt Albuquerque.Raegan 11-4, 11-4, 11-7; Payas Jain bt Siddesh Pande 10-12, 11-6, 12-10, 15-13; Yashansh Malik bt Chinmaya Somaiya 8-11, 12-10, 11-9, 11-9).
Quarterfinals: PSPB bt UP 3-2 (Manav Thakkar bt Abhishek Yadav 11-4, 12-14, 11-8, 11-6; Harmeet Desai bt Sarth Mishra 11-9, 11-5, 11-4; Anthony Amalraj lost to Divyansh Srivastava 9-11, 8-11, 10-12; Manav lost to Sarth 7-11, 11-3, 9-11, 11-13; Harmeet bt Abhishek 11-9, 11-7, 12-10); AAI bt Tamil Nadu 3-0 (SFR Snehit bt P.B. Abhinand 11-6, 8-11, 12-10, 11-3; Jeet Chandra bt Preyesh Raj 12-10, 5-11, 8-11, 11-9, 11-5; K.J. Akash bt M. Balamurugan 13-11, 11-4, 11-7); Delhi bt West Bengal 3-2 (Sudhanshu Grover bt Soruav Saha 12-10, 8-11, 11-5, 9-11, 11-9; Payas Jain lost to Ankur Bhattacharjee 10-12, 8-11, 11-8, 8-11; Yashansh Malik bt Aniket Sen Choudhury 13-11, 6-11, 14-12, 11-7; Payas lost to Sourav 11-8, 7-11, 9-11, 9-11; Sudhanshu bt Ankur 11-5, 11-8, 11-3); Maharashtra bt Telangana 3-1 (Raegan bt Vansh Singhal 9-11, 9-11, 11-8, 11-6, 11-9; Jash Modi lost to Mohammed Ali 6-11, 6-11, 6-11; Chinmaya Somaiya bt Ali Mohammed 12-10, 11-3, 12-10; Raegan bt Mohammed Ali 11-8, 5-11, 11-8, 5-11, 12-10).
Women: Semifinals: RBI bt Maharashtra 3-1 (Sreeja Akula bt Sayali Wani 11-8, 11-8, 8-11, 11-6; Ayhika Mukherjee bt Pritha Vartikar 11-9, 11-8, 11-4; R. Harshavardhini lost to Jennifer Verghese 5-11, 11-4, 7-11, 11-8, 10-12; Ayhika bt Sayali 15-13, 4-11, 5-11, 11-7, 11-5); Tamil Nadu bt RSPB 3-0 (Yashini Sivashankar bt Sutirtha Mukherjee 11-6, 7-11, 4-11, 11-5, 11-9; Selenadeepthi Selvakumar bt Moumita Dutta 11-3-, 11-9, 11-3; Kavyashree Baskar bt Poymantee Baisya 5-11, 11-9, 4-11, 11-4, 11-9).
Quarterfinals: RBI bt Bengal 3-1 (Ayhika Mukherjee lost to Prapti Sen 11-5, 9-11, 9-11, 11-2, 7-11; Sreeja Akula bt Kaushani Nath 11-4, 11-9, 11-9; Diya Chitale bt Syndrela Das 11-7, 9-11, 11-6, 11-8; Sreeja bt Prapti 11-8, 11-7, 11-9); Maharashtra bt Karnataka 3-2 (Sayali Wani lost to Yashawini Ghorpade 7-11, 7-11, 11-13; Pritha Vartikar bt Kushi Viswanath 12-10, 11-6, 11-4; Jennifer Varghese bt Deshna Vanshika 7-11, 11-2, 11-8, 13-11; Pritha lost to Yashaswini 11-8, 11-5, 9-11, 9-11, 3-11; Sayali bt Kushi 11-6, 12-10, 6-11, 11-4); RSPB bt Delhi 3-0 (Sutirtha Mukherjee bt Diya Bramhachary 11-7, 11-8, 12-10; Poymantee Baisya bt Vanshika Bhargava 13-11, 9-11, 11-3, 8-11, 11-9; Moumita Dutta bt Lakshita Narang 11-7, 8-11, 5-11, 13-11, 11-8); Tamil Nadu bt Gujarat 3-1 (Selena Deepti Selvakumar bt Radhapriya Goel 14-12, 11-7, 11-13, 11-8; Yashini Sivashankar lost to Frenaz Chipia 9-11, 11-5, 11-1, 6-11, 7-11; Kavyasree Baskar bt Oishiki Joardar 5-11, 11-8, 12-10, 12-10; Yashini bt Radhapriya 11-7, 6-11, 11-9, 11-8).
