Kerala storm into final after 15 years

Once Diju and Thomas put it across experienced Bhuashan Akut and Hemant Hardikar 15-11, 15-10, the writing was on the wall for Maharashtra as former National junior champion Thomas Kurien completed the rout for the hosts with a 15-2, 15-2 defeat of Vivek Gautam. The Kerala doubles pair of Jaison Xavier and Jose George did not have to take to court at all.

Kerala held back Jaison Xavier for the second singles, throwing former State junior champion Thomas against twice National champion Bagga. Thomas excelled in patches, showing ability to retrieve from impossible angles but when it came to the crunch, he made some unforced errors.

The Kerala lad led 11-5 in the first game as Bagga struggled, taking breaks intermittently. Once he gained control, Bagga was unstoppable. The game lasted more than an hour.

Bagga won the first game 17-15, relaxed a bit in the second, losing 9-15 and then showed his grit again as he recovered from 4-10 and 11-13 in the decider to win 15-13.

Xavier had an easy time against Mayur Tawade, winning 15-4, 15-5 in 20 minutes.

In the crucial doubles, it was the fresh Diju who gave a good start for the hosts but Thomas kept his cool despite being tired and reeled off six points on second serve to give Kerala a 10-6 lead in the second game.

Results inter-state

Men quarter-finals: Maharashtra bt BSB 3-1 Rajeev Bagga bt Guruprasad 4-15, 15-9, 15-2; Vivek Gautam lost to Abhijit N 13-15, 8-15; Bhushan Akut/Hemant Hardikar bt Vimal Kumar/Harshal Shimp 15-6, 15-6; Mayur Ghatnekar bt Harshal Shimp 15-7, 15-10. Kerala bt UP 3-1 Jaison Xavier bt Ravinder Singh 15-6, 15-6; Thomas Kurien lost to Sushant Saxena 10-15, 6-15; Jaison Xavier/Jose George bt Ajay Mathur/Manish Sharma 15-1, 15-3; Sanave Thomas bt Rajesh Gour 15-6, 15-5. Delhi bt Assam 3-0 Madhur Kalia bt Pallav Deka 15-12, 15-8; Davinder Dhillon bt Ajanta Choudhury 15-5, 15-8; Ajay Kanwar/Arjun Kalia bt Bhaskar Bora/Yabang 15-8, 15-2.

Women semi-finals: Karnataka bt West Bengal 2-0 BR Meenakshi bt Barnali Raha 11-4, 11-0; Meenakshi/Pooja Patil bt Amritha Bhattacharjee/Debashree Dey 15-8, 15-3. PSCB bt Assam 2-0 Aparna Popat bt Krishna Deka 11-3, 11-2; PVV Lakshmi/Manjusha Kanwar bt Krishna Hazarika/Oli Deka 15-1, 15-11.

Quarter-finals: Karnataka bt LIC 2-0 BR Meenakshi bt Leena Pednekar 11-1, 11-2; Meenakshi/Pooja Patil bt Divya Ramesh/Manju George 15-10, 15-3. West Bengal bt Maharashtra 2-0 Amitha Bhattacharjee bt Krupa Telang 2-11, 11-4, 11-1; Amitha/Debashree Dey bt Sim Sim Salaria/Nupura Bhide 17-16, 13-15, 17-14. Assam bt Punjab 2-0 Krishna Deka bt Meeta Bhandari 4-11, 11-7, 11-10; K Hazarika/Oli Deka bt Bhandari/Salomi Kundra 15-3, 15-6.