Alappuzha, November 26, 2014: The Kerala girls routed Tamil Nadu
3-0 in the quarterfinals of the 76th Junior National and Youth Table Tennis
Championships at the SDV Centenary Auditorium here today. The hosts will now
take on Telangana, who scrapped past depleted reigning champions West Bengal 3-2, in the semifinal tomorrow. For
records, Telengana are making their maiden national appearance.
The other semifinal will pit Maharashtra A against their B
team in the Junior Girls category as the former defeated Andhra Pradesh 3-0
while the Maharashtra’s B team downed Karnataka in straight games without a
whimper.
The Kerala girls, with the most experienced Maria and the
promising Seraha in their ranks, did not have sweat it out much against an
equally tough Tamil Nadu which had the likes of Selenadeepthi and
Harshavardhini for the singles and doubles specialist Yashini. Yet, the host
team, with crowd backing, not only won their matches but also several local
hearts.
Seraha began well against Selena to set the ball rolling for
Kerala even as Maria cashed in on the team 1-0 lead to beat Harshavardhini, who
was off colour against the experienced Maria. Then what surprised everyone was
the way the Tamil Nadu girls wilted under pressure after having led 2-0 in the
doubles. The hosts, on the other hand, staged a fine comeback and egged on by
the crowd went from strength to strength.
Telengana had a bit of a problem with Sreeja unable to
execute her shots as well on the day. So the pressure was palpably on Naina to
double up for Sreeja’s inability. Naina won both her singles, against Shobabti
Moitra (11-7, 10-12, 11-7, 11-3) and Prapti Sen (6-11, 11-7, 7-11, 11-8, 11-7)
which in the end proved crucial for Telengana. Sreeja, however, managed to put
it across in her reverse singles against Shobabti, winning the rubber in
straight games.
As for Maharashtra, the A and B teams sailed into the
semifinals without a hiccup as the A team, comprising Payal Bohra, Shruti
Amruti and Ashlesha Trehan, defeated a depleted Andhra—after the split—while
the B team were in the good hands of Manasi Chhajed and Mansi Chiplunkar with
doubles specialist Shrushi Hallengadi to boot.
The Junior Boys quarterfinals are slated for the evening
even as the Junior Girls main draw events began this afternoon. As for the
Youth Boys and Youth Girls, the main draw matches will start
from tomorrow.
Meanwhile, continuing its clean-up drive on age-related
issue, the TTFI debarred West Bengal ’s
Priyanka Ganguly for having submitted two age-proof certificates. She was one
of the replacement entries sent in by the WBTTA and was part of the West Bengal team.
The Results:
Junior Girls (QF): Kerala bt Tamil Nadu 3-0 (Seraha Jacob bt
Selenadeepthi Selvakumar 11-8, 11-9, 11-8, Maria Rony bt Harshavardhini 11-9,
11-8, 5-11, 11-7, Seraha/Maria bt Yashini Sivakumar/Selenadeepthi 6-11, 10-12,
11-4, 11-3, 11-4), Telengana bt West Bengal 3-2 (Naina bt Shobabati Moitra
11-7, 10-12, 11-7, 11-3, Akula Sreeja lost to Prapti Sen 11-9, 8-11, 9-11,
6-11, Naina/Sreeja lost to Shobabti/Prapti 9-11, 11-2, 11-8, 10-12, 8-11, Naina
bt Prapti 6-11, 11-7, 11-5, 11-8, 11-7, Sreeja Akula bt Shobabati Moitra 11-2,
12-10, 13-11), Maharashtra A bt Andhra Pradesh 3-0 (Payal Bohra bt Vaishali
Katam 7-11, 12-10, 11-5, 16-14, Shruti Amrute bt Shailu Noorbasha 11-6, 11-9,
11-4, Aslesha Trehan/Shruti bt Vaishali/Shailu 11-6, 11-13, 9-11, 11-9, 13-11),
Maharashtra B bt Karnataka 3-0 (Manasi Chhajed bt Spoorthi Venkatesh 11-8,
11-5, 11-7, Mansi Chiplunkar bt Kushi Viswanath 12-10, 8-11, 11-7, 7-11, 11-5,
Manasi Chhajed/Shrushti Hallengadi bt Spoorthi/Samyuktha 11-2, 13-11, 12-10).
A TTFI Press release
No comments:
Post a Comment