Raman battles Babras bravado

MUMBAI, APRIL 10: There seemed no light at the end of the tunnel. S Raman's IOC hopes lay scattered, as he trailed Sunil Babras Dena B...

MUMBAI, APRIL 10: There seemed no light at the end of the tunnel. S Raman8217;s IOC hopes lay scattered, as he trailed Sunil Babras Dena Bank 0-2 in the Sahara Aspiration India Cup table tennis quarter-finals.

Then the frequency of the second seed8217;s shots zooming past Babras increased and Raman cashed in on the bank employee8217;s rising misses graph, to scamper into the semis 20-22, 18-21, 21-16, 22-20, 21-10. Top seed Chetan Baboor, No 3 Arup Basak and fourth-ranked Arjun Dutta joined Raman in the last four as all quarter-finals went along expected lines at the MIG Cricket Club. Second seed NR Indu IOC prevented a Bangla sweep in the quarters with a 23-21, 21-15, 21-17 win over Kasturi Chakraborty Railways, while Arul Selvi and MS Mythili came close to doing so in an all-Tamil Nadu-Bengal affair in the round of eight.

Raman8217;s start was faster than the speed of light, 6-0, 8-2 up in the first game. Then, in a flash, it was 17-17 and the game was gone.

Babras took the second, went down 11-20 in thethird, worked his way through five straight serves and then lost 16-21.

Raman got the scare again in the next. Up 20-15, he lost five points to go to deuce 20-all. But the torture ended there for the IOC employee and there was little trouble in the decider, the match ending a shade short of an hour.

RESULTS LEAGUE

Men

Group A: Subhajit Saha Bengal bt R Rajesh TN 21-16, 21-16; Nishant Kulkarni Maharashtra bt Kunal Solanki Maharashtra 21-19, 21-13; R Rajesh bt Nishant Kulkarni 21-15, 19-21, 21-14; S Saha bt Kunal Solanki 21-12, 21-18; R Rajesh bt Kunal Solanki 21-11, 21-14.

Group B: BS Thakur Railways w/o S Dey Bengal; George Joseph Maharashtra bt BS Thakur Railways 18-21, 24-22, 21-18.

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Group C: Sunil Babras Dena Bank bt Nupur Santra Railways 22-20, 13-21, 21-19; Sunil Babras Dena Bank bt Swapnil Namjoshi Maharashtra 21-16, 21-11.

Group D: Deepak Thukral Punjab bt S Sriram HP 13-21, 21-14, 21-11; Rohit Choudhary Maharashtra bt S SriramHP 21-13, 21-19; Deepak Thukral Punjab bt Rohit Choudhary Maharashtra 21-18, 18-21, 21-14.

Women

Group A: Mamata Prabhu Maharashtra bt T Pradeepa TN 17-21, 21-16, 21-14; Kasturi Chakraborty Railways bt Mamata Prabhu 21-12, 21-18; Kasturi Chakraborty bt T Pradeepa 17-21, 22-20, 21-16.

Group B: MS Mythili TN bt Janhavi Deshpande Maharashtra 24-22, 27-25; Deepali Jhaveri Maharashtra w/o Kanchan Basak PSCB; MS Mythili bt D Jhaveri 21-8, 21-10; Janhavi Deshpande w/o Kanchan Basak; Deepali Jhaveri bt Janhavi Deshpande 21-16, 15-21, 21-11.

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Group C: Arul Selvi TN bt Mallika Parekh Maharashtra 21-11, 21-13; M Parekh bt Vishakha Vijay PSCBA 21-14, 21-19; Arul Selvi bt Vishakha Vijay 21-13, 21-10.

Group D: B Bhuvaneshwari BPCL bt Rujuta Rege PSCBA 21-19, 21-11; Montu Ghosh Railways bt Rujuta Rege 21-8, 21-17; Bhuvaneshwari bt Montu Ghosh 19-21, 21-8, 21-16.Qualifiers

Men: Subhajit Saha, Deepak Thukral, George Joseph, SunilBabras.

Women: B Bhuvaneshwari, Arul Selvi, MS Mythili, Kasturi Chakraborty.

Quarter-finals seedings in prefix

Men: 1-Chetan Baboor IOC bt Subhajit Saha Bengal 21-10, 21-11, 21-15; 2-S Raman IOC bt Sunil Babras Dena Bank 20-22, 18-21, 21-16, 22-20, 21-10; 3-Arup Basak HP bt 8-Deepak Thukral Punjab 19-21, 21-11, 21-10, 21-19; 4-Arjun Dutta IOC bt George Joseph Maharashtra 21-9, 21-16, 22-20.

Women: 1-Poulomi Ghatak Bengal bt B Bhuvaneshwari BPCL 21-12, 21-15, 21-13; 2-NR Indu IOC bt Kasturi Chakraborty Railways 23-21, 21-15, 21-17; 3-Mouma Das Bengal bt 7-Arul Selvi TN 21-18, 19-21, 21-13, 14-21, 21-17; 4-Anindita Chakraborty Railways bt MS Mythili BPCL 15-21, 21-16, 19-21, 21-15, 22-20.

Semi-final line-up

Men: Baboor-Basak, Raman-Dutta; Women: Poulomi-Mouma, Indu-Anindita.