But for these minor aberrations, all other favourites booked
their quarterfinal berths. But what was remarkable was the pressure mounted by
boys from Mizoram who continued their onward march, beating Maharashtra
A in the Youth section. It was a hard-fought 3-2 victory for the Mizo boys.
As for the hosts, Satyajeet Ghosh played a stellar role to
take his team to the quarterfinals, winning both his singles. He first
accounted for Maharashtra B’s Rhys Albuquerque 11-8, 12-0, 12-10 and then took
on Jineet Lilani to win 11-7, 7-11, 11-9, 5-11, 11-8. These two matches paved
the way for MP’s last eight entry after Pratish Janjire lost his singles to
Jineet Lilani 9-11, 11-7, 6-11, 6-11 in an uncharacteristic way. But he made
amends in the decider after the scores level as he downed Rhys in his second
singles 3-0.
On the other hand, the Kerala girls, led by Seraha Jacob,
outwitted Maharashtra B to make book their quarterfinal berth after a very long
time. Seraha defeated Shirin Inamdar 9-11, 11-4, 11-7, 11-4 after losing the
first game in a grim battle. But once he gained momentum in the second, it was
Seraha all the way. Though Marina Rani lost her singles to Ashlesha Trehan 2-3,
the little girl combined with the experienced Seraha to beat the Maharashtra B
pair of Dyuti Patki and Ashlesha Trehan 11-6, 11-9, 5-11, 11-9 to put Kerala in
the driver’s seat.
Meanwhile, Delhi
girls lost to Tamil Nadu 3-2 after some fine fight back. But the Tamil Nadu
girls, with loads of experience at this level, outplayed their opponents. For Delhi , Sanya Sehgal won both her singles against Sumana R.
Krishnan and V. Sneha but Riti Shankar lost her matches which ultimately
turned the tables against Delhi .
The Mizoram boys, having been trained at the Petroleum
Academy at Ajmer, proved too hot for Maharashtra A boys in the Youth section as
Lalhunhiua and Lalrinpuia played their role to near perfection with the latter
winning two matches to put the issue beyond Maharashtra A.
Earlier, Madhya Pradesh entered the pre-quarterfinals in
three sections but only the Youth boys progressed while the others fell by the
wayside, succumbing to bigger teams.
Results: (All pre-quarterfinals):
Youth Boys: PSPB bt Uttar Pradesh 3-0, Delhi bt Andhra
Pradesh 3-1, Rajasthan bt Karnataka 3-1, West Bengal bt Kerala 3-0, North
Bengal bt Gujarat 3-1, Mizoram bt Maharashtra A 3-2, Madhya Pradesh bt
Maharashtra B 3-2, Tamil Nadu bt Haryana 3-1.
Youth Girls: PSPB bt Haryana 3-0, Maharashtra B bt Madhya
Pradesh 3-0, Andhra Pradesh bt Rajasthan 3-0, Gujarat bt Chandigarh 3-1,
Maharashtra A bt Punjab 3-0, West Bengal bt Kerala 3-0, North Bengal bt
Karnataka 3-0, Tamil Nadu bt Delhi 3-2.
Junior Boys: PSPBA bt Karnataka 3-0, Tamil Nadu bt Andhra
Pradesh 3-0, North Bengal bt Haryana 3-0, Rajasthan bt Assam 3-0, West Bengal
bt Bihar 3-0, Mizoram bt Orissa 3-0, Maharashtra A bt Gujarat 3-1, Delhi bt
Madhya Pradesh 3-0.
Junior Girls: West Bengal bt Karnataka 3-0, Andhra Pradesh
bt Chandigatrh 3-0, Delhi bt Orissa 3-0, Maharashtra A bt Uttar Pradesh 3-1,
North Bengal bt Bihar 3-0, Kerala bt Maharashtra B 3-1, Gujarat bt Uttarakhand
3-0, Tamil Nadu bt Assam 3-1.
Press release
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