Rajasthan give PSCB scare before losing

JANUARY 7: Star-studded Petroleum Sports Control Board (PSCB), Tamil Nadu and Bengal conceded a match against their respective opponents b...

JANUARY 7: Star-studded Petroleum Sports Control Board (PSCB), Tamil Nadu and Bengal conceded a match against their respective opponents before making it to the women’s team events quarter-finals of the 61st Sahara National and Inter-State Table Tennis championships at the Dr Bhim Rao Ambedkar Stadium here this evening. Reigning champions Railways blanked out Assam 3-0 to become the first team to make it to the last eight stage.

The defeat of former national champion N R Indu, seeded No 3 in open events, to Rajasthan’s unseeded Rani Chandrima was the highlight of PSCB’s 3-1 win. Bishakha Vijay (a trainee at the PSCB Academy) had earlier given PSCB a fright in the opening match when she extended sixth seen M S Mythili to three games. Reigning women’s champion Poulami Ghatak outplayed Rajasthan’s weak-link Lakshmi Soni, and then Indu triumphed over Rishakha in the decider.

No 8 seed Pradeep’s loss to Delhi’s Ritu Ghorpade was the feature of Ramil Nadu’s 3-1 win. B Bhuvaneshwari won both her matches at the expense of Ekta Bhambri and Ritu to clinch the issue in TN’s favour after Lavanya had beaten Ishani Barua. Despite Avanti Sinha’s first match loss to Shalmali Matra, Bengal recovered through Shuhmita Roy (two wins) and Nindata Sahe to beat Maharashtra A with a 3-1 margin.

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Results: Women (QF): Railways bt Assam 3-0 (Kasturi Chakraborty bt Jonali Handigu 23-21, 21-10; Anindita Chakraborty bt Jupi Borthakur 22-20, 21-15, M Dutta bt Shamyukta Gogoi 21-13, 21-13. Bengal bt Maharashtra A 3-1 (Avanti Sinha lost to Shalmali Matre 21-10, 20-22, 21-23, Sushmita Roy bt Jahnavi Deshpande 21-12, 21-16, Nandita Saha bt Shalmali Inamdar 21-22, 21-10, Sushmita Roy bt Shalmali Matre 21-12, 21-10). Tamul Nadu bt Delhi 3-1 (T Pradeopa lost to Ritu Ghorpade 12-21, 20-22, Bhuvaneshwari bt Ekta 21-13, 21-14, Lavahya bt Ishani Barua 21-17, 21-19, Bhuvneshwari bt Ritu 21-15, 21-18); PSCB bt Rajasthan 3-1 (MS Mythili bt Bishakha Vijay 13-21, 21-18, 21-9, NR Indu lost to Rani Chandrima 18-21, 19-21, Poulami bt Lakshmi Soni 21-10, 21-10, NR Indu bt Bishkha Vijay 21-12, 22-20).

Group qualifiers for quarters: Men: Group A: Rajasthan, PSCB Group B Bengal, UP. Group C: Railways, Punjab. Group D: TamilNadu, Maharashtra. Women: Group A: Railways, Rajasthan. Group B: Bengal, Assam. Group C: PSCB, Delhi. Group D: Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra A.

Men: Group A: PSCB bt Karnataka 3-0, HP bt J-K 3-1, Rajasthan bt Gujarat 3-2, Karnataka bt J-K 3-C. Group B: Bengal bt Chandigarh 3-0, UP bt Orissa 3-0,Maharashtra A bt Pondicherry 3-2, Group C: Bihar bt Tripura 3-0, Punjab bt AP 3-0, Railways bt Assam 3-0. Group D: MP bt Haryana 3-0, TNby Maharashtra B 3-0, Delhi bt Kar 3-0 (Harsh Chopra bt V Srinivasan 21-16, 11-21, 21-12: Himansh Kal bt R Rajesh 21-5, 21-16; Ajay Jha bt M.H. Srikumar 21-14, 21-12).

Women: Group A: Rajasthan bt MP 3-1, Railways bt Maharashtra B 3-1 Group B: Assam bt AP 3-0, Bengalbt Chandigarh 3-0, Pondicherry bt Haryana 3-2. Group C: PSCB bt UP 3-0, Delhi bt Kerala 3-2 (Ekta to A Radhika 12-21, 11-21; Ritu bt NS Bindu 21-13, 21-6; Ishani bt MS Indu 21-15, 21-14; Titu lost to A Radhika 19-21, 21-11, 18-21; Ekta bt M S Indu 21-11, 21-19). Group D: Karnataka bt Bihar 3-0. Maharashtra A bt J-K 3-0. Tamil Nadu bt Karnataka 3-0, Maharashtra A bt Punjab 3-2,Bihar bt J-K 3-0, Karnataka bt J-K 3-0.

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SEMI-FINAL LINE-UP (WOMEN): Railways vs Tamil Nadu’ PSCB vs Bengal

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