Fancied teams have it easy

Chennai, Jan 6: Expecting surprises on the first day of the 60th National and Inter-State table tennis championships, is like asking for ...

Chennai, Jan 6: Expecting surprises on the first day of the 60th National and Inter-State table tennis championships, is like asking for the moon. Fancied teams just ambled past their opponents, using the opportunity to get in some competitive practice.

In a Group C match, Tamil Nadu women dismissed Pondicherry, winning 3-0. Captain Arul Selvi took rest for tougher battles. State champion R Rajesh, with two victories, played a pivotal role in Tamil Nadu8217;s 3-1 victory over Andhra Pradesh in Group D. After Rajesh came back from 16-19 down against B Mohanan in the first game, the match turned out to be a no-contest. Nagendra Reddy reduced the margin for AP, with a tough victory over Srivatsa Chakravarthy. KR Sharadh and Rajesh completed the formalities for Tamil Nadu.

With most of the matches ending 3-0, the only encounter to go full distance in the morning session was between Rajasthan and Bihar in Group C of the men8217;s section. Rajdeep Sarkar, with his second victory of the match, kept Rajasthan8217;s hopesalive. Abhay Gupta made amends for his early loss, clinching the rubber with a hard-fought victory over Sanjeev Sankar.

PSCB women8217;s team of MS Mythili, B Bhuvaneshwari, Kanchan Basak and Chaitali Hate enjoyed a workout while waiting patiently for their opponents Himachal Pradesh to turn up in a Group B encounter. But Himachal failed to arrive and PSCB received a walkover.

Another strong women8217;s team, RSCB, also got a walkover against Tripura in Group D.

The competition in the team championship is expected to get tougher when it reaches the knockout stage.

A simple march past8217; ceremony by the teams marked the opening of the championship. Tamil Nadu were given a trophy for being the best in the march past8217;. TS Raghavan, CMD, Indian Bank, inaugurated the meet.

Riaz, Prabhakar felicitated:

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Md Riaz and L Prabhakar, members of the victorious Indian hockey squad at 8217;98 Asian Games, were felicitated.

Results Team event:

Men: Group A: Assam bt Haryana 3-0 Anupam Kanwar bt JinenderJain 21-13, 21-14; Mukul Boro bt Ganesh Ahuja 21-5, 21-8; Soneshwar Deka bt Naveen Kohli 21-7, 20-22, 21-17; Delhi bt Himachal Pradesh 3-0 Harsh Chopra bt Manu Sharma 21-13, 21-12; Ajay Jha bt Partho Chowdhry 21-16, 21-18; Gangandeep Mehta bt Jaswant Gangta 21-8, 21-18; Kerala bt Goa 3-1 R Rajesh lost to Wilbur Fernandes 17-21, 20-22, V Srinivasan bt Amit Naik 21-7, 21-11, MH Sree Kumar bt Ajit Ghatkar 16-21, 21-12, 21-17, V Srinivasan bt Wilbur Fernandes 21-17, 16-21, 21-9.

Group B: Gujarat bt Tripura 3-0 Malay Thakur bt J Bhowmick 21-12, 21-10; Chirag Channa bt S Chakraborty 21-12, 21-10; Alok Jain bt Sisir Kumar Banik 21-10, 21-6; Karnataka bt Pondicherry 3-1 Bona Thomas John bt Xavier 21-15, 21-7, Ravishankar lost to Selva Muthukumar 18-21, 19-21, CR Anand bt C Arun 21-15, 14-21, 21-14, Bona Thomas John bt Selva Muthukumar 21-16, 21-17; Chandigarh bt Manipur 3-1 Harish Kumar lost to RK Rajesh 21-18, 17-21, 19-21; Amod Dixit bt Y Dinesh 15-21, 21-13, 21-12; Anoop KL bt W Sanjit Kumar21-19, 21-19; Harish Kumar bt Y Dinesh 21-18, 21-10.

Group C:Punjab bt Orissa 3-0 Deepak Thukral bt Rajesh Chaurasia 21-7, 21-12; Vineet Chopra bt Amlan Patra 21-18, 21-19; Vikas Mahajan bt Raj Subramanian 23-21, 15-21, 21-13; Uttar Pradesh bt Maharashtra B 3-0 Parag Agarwal bt Sanjeev Mehra 21-17, 21-14; Rahul Prakash bt R Chowdhary 23-12, 9-21, 21-11; Atin Rastogi bt Upendra Mulaye 21-18, 21-11; Rajasthan bt Bihar 3-2 Rajadeep Sarkar bt Sanjeev Sankar 21-16, 21-13; Abhay Gupta lost to Rahul Das 21-13, 10-21, 10-21; Amit Thanvi lost to S Karmarkar 21-16, 19-21, 12-21; Rajadeep Sarkar bt Rahul Das 21-13, 21-19; Abhy Gupta bt Sanjeev Sankar 21-17, 11-21, 21-18.

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Group D:Bengal bt Madhya Pradesh 3-0 Souvik Dey bt Vinay Vaiswade 21-12, 21-17, Subhajit Saha bt Dilip Kapoor 21-11, 21-11; Subham Chowdhury bt Premraj Jhachak 21-17, 21-10; Maharashtra A bt Jammu and Kashmir 3-0 Gandeep B bt Ajay Sharma 21-7, 21-18; Nachiket Chawte bt Maninder Singh 21-18, 21-13; Kunal Solanki bt Sanal Gupta21-18, 21-12; Tamil Nadu bt Andhra Pradesh 3-1 R Rajesh bt B Mohanan 21-19, 21-12; S Chakravarthy lost to P Nagendra Reddy 21-15, 13-21, 17-21; KR Shradha bt Md Ibrahim Khan 21-17, 17-21, 21-16; R Rajesh bt P Nagendra Reddy 21-9, 21-12.