Pudhucherry, January 13, 2015: Top-seeded Petroleum Sports
Promotion Board (PSPB) men and women’s teams posted identical 3-0 wins over
Tamil Nadu and Delhi, respectively, to enter the semifinals of the 76th
Senior Nationals, which began at the Rajiv Gandhi Indoor Stadium here today.
But the spotlights fell on both Haryana men, who beat Maharashtra ‘A’ 3-1 and Airports Authority of India (AAI)
women who downed Tamil Nadu 3-1.
Haryana, no doubt, had to depend on the experience of Sourav
Chakraborty who won both his singles, but it was Sarthak Gandhi’s third singles
triumph that gave Haryana the edge over Maharashtra .
Though Jubin Kumar, their main player’s loss to Aman Balgu did not matter in
the end as Chakraborty made amends by beating Balgu in his reverse singles.
In the last quarterfinal, West Bengal
overcame a stiff Railway Sports Promotion Board (RSPB) to win 3-1 and earn the
right to take on Haryana in the semifinals. With just Anirban Nandi, the most
reliable player in their ranks, could not do much against the likes of Sourav
Saha and Surajit Das, their weakest player, as Sougata Sarkar won his reverses
to see their team home.
Rajasthan put up a brave front but Gujarat
scuttled them with a 3-1 win in the quarterfinals. But Gujarat
men will begin their semifinal battle against top-seeded PSPB team tomorrow.
After Abhishek Yadav posted a comfortable win over Jignesh Jaiswal, Devesh
Karia restored parity with a hard-fought victory over Sudhanshu Grover. The
see-saw match witnessed fluctuating fortunes with Grover going 2-1 up. But Karia,
with two national ranking titles behind him, took the next two games to keep Gujarat ’s hopes alive. Hardik Bhatt only hastened the
issue by beating Vivek Bhargava, who led 2-0 and faltered. Karia completed the
task, winning 3-0 against Yadav.
Kudos to AAI
Nobody would have given even an iota of chance to AAI women
against Tamil Nadu. AAI, having lost the services of senior players following
age-fudging, had pitted and relied on the junior lot to deliver the goods with
the senior most Nikhat Banu for company. And the juniors did not disappoint
AAI.
Amrutha Pushpak played a stellar role, wining both her
singles. She first beat Narasimha Priya 3-1 and then downed Vidya Narasimhan
11-6, 11-8, 5-11, 11-9 the crucial fourth rubber. But it was a good revenge
that Seraha Jacob exacted against Shanmathi Sathiyamoorthy which paved the way
for AAI’s entry into the semifinals after the experienced but patchy Nikhat
Banu lost to Vidya 10-12, 14-12, 6-11, 13-11, 11-1.
Seraha had lost 2-3 to
Shanmathi the vital fifth rubber at the Junior Nationals which denied Kerala
the title.
Karnataka, however, could not sustain their progress and
went down to West Bengal in the quarterfinals
3-1. Archana Kamath managed to take her singles off Anandita Chakraborty in
what turned out to be a veteran versus the junior player. But Swetha Kumarvel,
who played superbly yesterday to beat Maharashtra B, failed to repeat her
performance while Spoorthy was taken care of by Mousumi Paul. She,
incidentally, won both her singles to put West Bengal
in the semis.
For reigning champions PSPB, Delhi became an easy meat despite the
presence of Neha Aggarwal as K. Shamini, Mouma Das and Ankita Das went about
their demolition task methodically. Neha did stretch Mouma but the latter was
up to Neha’s tricks to win her singles. Maharashtra
A accounted for Telangana 3-0 without having to shed a drop of sweat.
Results (team events):
Men: Quarterfinals: PSPB bt Tamil Nadu 3-0 (Sanil
Shetty bt Sushmit Sriram 11-5, 11-6, 11-6, Anthony Amalraj bt Nitin
thiruvengadam 11-6, 7-11, 15-13, 11-9, Harmeet Desai bt Subash Mani 11-6,
12-10, 11-6), Gujarat bt Rajasthan 3-1 (JIgnesh Jaiswal lost to Abhishek Yadav
8-11, 10-12, 11-9, 8-11, Devesh Karia bt Sudhanshu Grover 12-10, 12-14, 8-11,
11-6, 11-5, Hardik Bhatt bt Vivek Bhargava 9-11, 8-11, 11-8, 13-11, 11-8,
Devesh Karia bt Abhishek Yadav 11-7, 11-2, 11-7), Haryana bt Maharashtra
A 3-1 (Sourav Chakraborty bt Martand Biniwale 11-8, 11-8, 11-9, Jubin Kumar
lost to Aman Balgu 9-11, 11-7, 11-6, 11-13, 1-11, Sarthak Gandhi bt Chinmay
Datat 7-11, 11-1, 11-6, 11-6, Sourav Chakraborty bt Aman Balgu 11-3, 8-11,
11-7, 11-9), West Bengal bt RSPB 3-1 (Sougata Sarkar lost to Anirban Nandi
5-11, 6-11, 11-9, 11-5, 7-11, Sourav Saha bt E. Prabhakaran 12-10, 5-11, 9-11,
14-12, 11-9, Surajit Das bt Noel Pinto 11-9, 8-11, 17-15, 11-7, Sougata Sarkar
bt E. Prabhakaran 11-9, 11-6, 6-11, 12-10.); PQF: PSPB bt Kerala 3-0,
Tamil Nadu bt Delhi 3-1, Rajasthan bt Himachal Pradesh 3-0, Gujarat bt North
Bengal 3-0, Haryana bt Assam 3-0, Maharashtra A bt Maharashtra B 3-1, RSPB bt
Karnataka 3-0, West Bengal bt Telangana 3-1.
Women: Quarterfinals: PSPB bt Delhi 3-0 (K. Shamini bt
Manisha Sharma 11-7, 11-9, 11-3, Mouma Das bt Neha Aggarwal 11-9, 11-6, 5-11,
9-11, 11-7, Ankita Das bt Garima Goyak 11-4, 11-13, 11-7, 11-4), Maharashtra A
bt Telangana 3-0 (Madhurika Patkar bt Naina 11-4, 11-3, 11-6, Pooja
Sahasrabudhe bt Sreeja Akula 8-11, 12-10, 11-8, 13-11, Divya Deshpande bt
Monica Manohar 5-11, 11-5, 11-7, 11-7), West Bengal bt Karnataka 3-1 (Anandita
Chakraborty lost to Archana Kamath 9-11, 3-11, 5-11, Mousumi Paul bt Swetha
Kumarvel 11-9, 7-11, 11-8, 5-11, 13-11, Pallabi Kundu bt Spoorthi Venkateshan
11-6, 11-6, 11-3, Mousumi Paul bt Archana Kamath 11-6, 11-9, 8-11, 11-8),
Airports Authority of India bt Tamil Nadu 3-1 (Amrutha Pushpak bt Narasimha
Priya 11-5, 11-3 12-10, Nikhat Banu lost to Vidya Narasimhan 10-12, 14-12,
6-11, 13-11, 11-1, Sereha Jacob bt Shanmathi Sathiyamoorthy 11-2, 11-6, 12-10,
Amrutha Pushpak bt Vidya Narasimha 11-6, 11-8, 5-11, 11-9); PQF: PSPB bt
Gujarat 3-1, Delhi bt Haryana 3-0, Maharashtra A bt Assam 3-0, Telangana bt
Maharashtra B 3-0, West Bengal bt Andhra Pradesh 3-0, Karnataka bt Odisha 3-0,
Tamil Nadu bt Pondicherry 3-0, Airports Authority of India bt North Bengal 3-0.
A TTFI Press release
No comments:
Post a Comment