Double for Sathiyan; Krittiwicka wins Youth Girls crown

Indore, February 10, 2013: Gnasekaran Sathiyan served himself and a sparse crowd at the Abhay Prashal Indoor Stadium a double delight as he won both the Youth Boys singles and doubles titles at the 74th Junior and Youth National Table Tennis Championships that concluded here today.

PSPB’s Sathiyan, making most of the absence of Soumyajit Ghosh, last year’s winner of the title, defeated Tamil Nadu’s Nithin Thiruvengadam 4-1. The singles triumph was worth Rs. 55,000 and 180 points. Additionally, the victory could put him in a better position for selection in the team for Commonwealth Championships to be held at New Delhi in May. Earlier, Sathiyan combined with Sourav Saha to take the doubles crown against the Tamil Nadu pair of Nithin Thiruvengadam and Sushmit Sriram to win the doubles final 4-1,

Sathiyan and Nithin matched each other in their offensive game plan. Both were erratic at the net, but Sathiyan made fewer mistakes and scored many winners. His dominance, after losing the second set, was so complete that the PSPB boy just dismissed the presence of Nithin in less than half an hour to wrap it up. Only during the second set did Nithin lead 4-0 and 7-5 before Sathiyan went 9-8 up. But two long forehands helped Nithin’s cause as he won the set 11-9. But beyond that he couldn’t do anything.

Keeping her top billing intact, Krittiwicka Sinha Roy defeated PSPB’s Ankita Das 4-2 in the Youth Girls singles final. In fact, Anita was at an advantageous position, leading 2-1. If Krittiwicka shed her usually attacking game, Ankita went into shell using the push and prod methods, bringing boredom to the final. Both adopted Probably, they were sort of ploys adopted by the two who seemed to know each other’s game well. Nevertheless, Krittiwicka opened up in the fourth game, which paid her rich dividends much to the chagrin of Ankita.  

The Junior Boys singles final promised a keen fight right from the world go—and as the score line suggests—which Petroleum Academy’s Abhishek Yadav won 4-2 against team mate Sudhanshu Grover in a keen fight.  But what made the difference was the cool and calm demeanour of Yadav against the patchy and inconsistent Grover.  

In Junior Girls final, top-seeded Suthirtha Mukjeree downed Manika Batra 4-2 to win the singles crown.

In Youth Girls doubles final, Andhra’s Nikhat Banu and Karnam Spoorthy established themselves as a compact pair and enhanced their reputation by winning the title against PSPB’s Reeth Rishya and Suthirtha Mukherjee 3-2. The same Andhra pair had won the women’s doubles title at the Raipur nationals last month.

Earlier, The PSPB Academy pair of Abhishek Yadav and Sudhanshu Grover defeated the other pair from the academy, Pankaj Vishwakarama and Surojit Das, 3-0 in the junior boys doubles final while it was the Kerala duo of Maria Rony and Seraha Jacob which won the junior girls doubles title beating Tamil Nadu’s S. Narasimha Priya and Amrutha Pushpak 3-0.

Results:

Youth Boys: Final: G. Sathiyan (PSPB) bt Nithin Thiruvengadam (TN) 4-1 (11-7, 9-11, 11-9, 11-3, 11-6); SF: G.Sathiyan bt Sudhanshu Grover 4-0 (11-6, 11-5, 11-2, 11-4), Nithin Thiruvengadam bt Sourav Saha 4-2 (11-8, 6-11, 12-10, 11-8, 9-11, 11-8).

Doubles: Final: G.Sathiyan/Sourav Saha (PSPB) bt Nithin Thiruvengadam/Sushmit Sriram (TN) 4-1 (11-6, 11-9, 7-11, 11-6).

Youth Girls: Final: Krittiwicka Sinha Roy (WB) bt Ankita Das (PSPB) 4-2 (7-11, 11-9, 3-11, 11-9, 11-5, 11-4); SF: Krittiwicka Sinha Roy bt Manika Batra 4-1 (11-8, 11-4, 11-8, 7-11, 11-1), Ankita Das bt Suthirtha Mukherjee 4-2 (11-2, 11-8, 7-11, 11-13, 12-10, 11-7).

Doubles: Final: Nikhat Banu/Karnam Spoorthy (AP) bt Reeth Rishya/Suthirtha Mukherjee (PSPB) 3-2 (13-11, 5-11, 11-6, 6-11, 11-3).

Junior Boys: Final: Abhishek Yadav (PSPBA) bt Sudhanshu Grover (PSPBA) 4-2 (15-13, 5-11, 11-3, 11-6, 9-11, 11-8); SF: Abhishek Yadav bt Lalrinpuia 4-0 (11-9, 11-7, 11-8, 11-9), Sudhanshu Grover bt Lalhunhiua 4-0 (11-4, 11-6, 11-6, 11-9); QF: Abhishek Yadav bt Anirban Ghosh 4-2, Lalrinpuia bt D. Sameera Kumar 4-0, Sudhanshu Grover bt KR Rohit 4-1, Lalhunhiua bt Ronit Bhanja 4-1.

Doubles: Final: Abhishek Yadav/Sudhanshu Grover (PSPBA) bt Pankaj Vishwakarma/Surojit Das (PSPBA) 4-0 (11-3, 11-9, 11-3).

Junior Girls: Final: Suthirtha Mukherjee (PSPB) bt Manika Batra (PSPB) 4-2 (11-7, 5-11, 11-6, 10-12, 11-8, 11-6); SF: Manika Batra bt Karnam Spoorthy 4-0 (11-9, 11-9, 12-10, 11-8), Suthirtha Mukhjerjee bt Reeth Rishya 4-2 (11-6, 9-11, 8-11, 11-3, 11-8, 11-8); QF: Suthirtha Mukherjee bt S. Narasimha Priya 4-1, Reeth Rishya bt Mallika Bhandarkar 4-2, Manika Batra bt Ayhika Mukherjee 4-1, Karnam Spoorthy bt Amrutha Pushpak 4-0. Doubles: Final: Maria Rony/Seraha Jacob (Ker) bt S, Narasimha Priya/Amrutha Pushpak (TN) 11-7, 11-3, 12-10.

A TTFI Press release

Diminutive Anirban fells tall Sameera; Maria sends Mallika packing

Indore, February 9:  Of the top eight seeds, only six survived to live another day while No. 4 D. Sameera Kumar of Tamil Nadu and No. 7 Utkarsh Gupta of Delhi fell by the way in the pre-quarterfinals of the Youth Boys sections of the 74th Junior and Youth National Table Tennis Championships at the Abhay Prashal Indoor Stadium here today.

In the Youth Girls section, fifth and eighth seeds Ayhika Mukerjee and T. Reeth Rishya, respectively, succumbed in the pre-quarterfinals. Both unseeded Karnam Spoorthy of Andhra Pradesh and S. Narasimha Priya of Tamil Nadu entered the quarterfinals with an identical 4-1 verdict.  

West Bengal’s Anirban Ghosh accounted for Sameera Kumar in straight sets, while another West Bengal lad, Arnab Adhikari, defeated Utkarsh Gupta 4-2 in a battle that lasted nearly one hour, to enter the quarterfinals. But for these upsets, all other seeds sailed into the last eight stage without a sweat.

Diminutive Anirban, who has been the nemesis of many a top player in recent times, showed yet again why is the player to be taken serious note of. With his open-minded game plan, he had unsettled even the biggest names on the circuit. And there was no difference today as Sameera Kumar found himself at the receiving end and facing the heat from the 14-year-old year, who excelled in his close and away-from-the-table game. His backhand strokes too brooked little challenge as one could see from the drooping shoulders of the tall Tamil Nadu boy.

Utkarsh did put up a great fight but Arnab Adhikar was a shade better on the day, winning the crucial points. In fact, this was what actually separated the two in the ultimate analysis as the Utkarsh failed miserably at the easy points. Earlier, he defeated Sammay Paranjape 3-2 in a gruelling second-round fight that went to the wire.

Earlier, unseeded Maria Roney caused the biggest upset in the Youth Girls singles when she beat No. 7 seed Mallika Bhandarkar of Maharashtra 3-2 to enter the pre-quarterfinals.  The 15-year-old Kerala girl played a brilliant offensive game to unsettle the defensive Mallika in the second round 11-8, 6-11, 9-11, 11-1, 11-8. Mariya earlier beat Andhra’s A. Sreeja 3-2 in the first round of the main draw. Even after Mallika went 2-1 up, the Kerala girl did not give up her attacking mode which helped her in the final outcome of the match.

Meanwhile, the seeding in the Junior Boys and Girls sections was released here today with the main draw matches slated for later tonight.

Top 8 Seeds:

Junior Boys: Abhishek Yadav, Utkarsh Gupta, KR Rohit, Sabhay Virmani, Pankaj Vishwakarma, Sudhanshu Grover, Arjun Ghosh and Anirban Ghosh.

Junior Girls: Suthirtha Mukherjee, Karnam Spoorthy, Manika Batra, Reeth Rishya, Mallika Bhandarkar, Ayhika Mukherjee, Anuska Dutta and S. Narasimha Priya.

Results: (All PQFs):

Youth Boys: G. Sathiyan (PSPB) bt Sushmit Sriram (TN) 4-1, Sudhanshu Grover (PSPB) bt Vivek Bhargava (Raj) 4-0, Anirban Ghosh (WB) bt D. Sameera Kumar (TN) 4-0, Nithin Thiruvengadam (TN) bt Mohit Verma (Har) 4-2, Abhishek Yadav (PSPB) bt Snehamoy Mallick (WB) 4-1, Arnab Adhikari (WB) bt Utkarsh Gupta (Del) 4-2, Sourav Saha (PSPB) bt KR Rohit (TN) 4-1, Raj Mondal (NB) bt Souvik Kar (PSPB) 4-2.

Youth Boys: Krittiwicka Sinha Roy (PSPB) bt N. Vidya (TN) 4-0, Karnam Spoorthy (AP) bt Reeth Rishya (PSPB) 4-1, S. Narasimha Priya (TN) bt Ayhika Mukherjee (WB) 4-1, Manika Batra (PSPB) bt Shweta Parte (Mah-A) 4-1, Nikhat Banu (AP) bt Takeme Sarkar (RSPB) 4-0, Anushka Dutta (NB) bt Maria Ronhy (Ker) 4-1, Ankita Das (PSPB) bt Sanya Sehgal (Del) 4-0, Suthirtha Mukherjee (PSPB) bt Senhora D’ Souza (Mah-A) 4-2.

A TTFI Press release

Sathiyan, Krittiwicka get top billings

Indore, February 8, 2013: Gnasekaran Sathiyan of Petroleum Sports Promotion Board (PSPB) and Krittwicka Sinha Roy of West Bengal have been given the top billings in the singles events of the Youth Boys and Youth Girls sections at the 74th Junior and Youth National Table Tennis Championships at the Abhay Prashal Indoor Stadium here today.

Sathiyan, last year’s runner-up in his section, has managed to keep his ranking intact while in the girls’ category Krittiwicka, who has been seeded No. 1 for the first time, has got a real shot in the arm. In a way, it also proves her consistency this season where she earned the maximum ranking points to go up the ladder.

Unfortunately, PSPB’s Ankita Das and Manika Batra, have had a patchy season which reflects in their seeding here. Olympian Ankita Das has been seeded No. 2, followed by Manika who is at No. 4. Both the paddlers have not had good outings at the team events here earlier, but things, could reverse when it comes to playing the singles events.

But among the Youth Girls, Suthirtha Mukherjee has had the best of season and deservingly she has been seeded No. 3 in the singles event. Suthirtha is the third PSPB players in top eight with the last place going to Reeth Rishya. She too has been on the circuit for a long period but is yet to break into the top four whereas Suthirha, a new entrant to the circuit, has made bigger strides. Nikhat Banu, who turns out for Andhra Pradesh, has been around for quite some time and showed glimpses of great improvement during the team events. Hence it is not surprising to see her being seeded No. 6.

Coming back to Sathiyan, he should consider himself lucky to have been seeded No. 1 because of the absence of both senior national champion Soumyajit Ghosh and Harmeet Desai. The duo is currently in Sweden and are preparing for the Commonwealth Championships to be held in New Delhi this May.

No doubt, Nitin Thiruvengadam, the promising paddler from Tamil Nadu, too has gained because of the two top players missing from the line-up. Nitin is seeded at No. 3 while Delhi’s Utkarsh Gupta, who played brilliantly in the team events yesterday, breaks into the top eight slots. Another Tamil Nadu boy, Sameera Kumar, has been seeded No. 4 and it is to be seen if he can cash in on this opportunity.

Meanwhile, 40 in Youth Boys section and 32 in Youth Girls category have qualified for the singles main draw events which begin tomorrow. They will be joined by the top eight players, who are seeded directly, in their sections. When the real action starts tomorrow it will present a clear picture of how players are shaping up for the Commonwealth Championships. The selection committee members would be watching their performance before picking the squad for the New Delhi event.

Top 8 seeds:

Youth Boys: G. Sathiyan (PSPB), Sourav Saha (PSPB), Nithin Thiruvengadam (TN), Sameera Kumar (TN), Sudhanshu Grover (PSPBA), Abhishek Yadav PSPBA), Utkarsh Gupta (Del), Raj Mondal (N.Bengal).

Youth Girls: Krittiwicka Sinha Roy (WB), Ankita Das (PSPB), Suthirtha Mukherjee (PSPB), Manika Batra (PSPB), Ayhika Mukherjee (WB), Nikhat Banu (AP), Mallika Bhandarkar (Mah), Reeth Rishya (PSPB).

A TTFI Press rlease

PSPB boys, West Bengal girls win Youth titles

Indore, February 7, 2013: Petroleum Sports Promotion Board (PSPB) scored an emphatic victory 3-0 over Tamil Nadu to extend their hold on the Youth Boys trophy and West Bengal defeated Andhra Pradesh 3-2 to win the Youth Girls crown in the 74th Junior and Youth National Table Tennis Championships at the Abhay Prashal Indoor Stadium here today.

In the Junior Boys section, PSPB Academy retained title beating West Bengal 3-0, while in the Junior Girls section, Maharashtra A won the crown defeating Tamil Nadu 3-1. Unlike PSPB boys, the Maharashtra girls had to do a bit of damage control after losing their doubles rubber to Tamil Nadu as Mallika won her reverse singles to complete the formality. But before that both Senhora D’ Souza and Mallika had provided their team a 2-0 lead.  

Earlier, Andhra caused the biggest upset of the championships when they beat PSPB 3-2 to enter the Youth Girls final. In Youth Boys, PSPB ended Mizoram’s run, winning the semifinal 3-0. In Junior Boys category, PSPB defeated North Bengal 3-0 and Maharashtra A accounted for defending champions Andhra in the Junior Girls section in straight games.

In what turned out to be a remarkable fight back, Andhra’s recovery in Youth girls was simply mind boggling. After losing their first two singles, the southern state was facing virtual elimination. But A. Sreeja had other ideas as the little girl, taking on Manika Batra, the tallest girl on view here, scripted a new chapter for Andhra. Employing great stroke play, she outwitted Manika and from there Andhra seized the opportunity through Nikhat Banu and Karnam Spoorthy to unseat PSPB from the top perch.

Delhi’s Utkarsh Gupta played his heart and soul, taking both his singles against West Bengal’s Anirban Ghosh and Arjun Ghosh in the semifinals. But Sabhay Virmani’s complete failure on the day cost Delhi dear as they lost 2-3.

Kerala missed out a golden opportunity in the junior girls section as they went down 1-3 to Tamil Nadu in the semifinals. Kerala showed great courage when staring down the barrel at 0-2. Seraha Jacob and Maria Rony provided the spark by outplaying the Tamil Nadu duo of Narsimha Priya and Amrutha Pushpak 3-2 to reduce the margin. But Maria failed to hold her nerves in the reverse singles against Amrutha which put paid to Kerala’s ambitions.

To some extent, Kerala coach Rajeev has to share the blame for losing his cool and showing anger at young Maria when she lost the crucial third game to Amrutha. All that was needed was a nice little pat on the back of the girl to restore her confidence. In another incident, Tamil Nadu coach Arul Selvi was warned for illegal advice from the bench for the second day in succession. She was cautioned yesterday during their match against Gujarat. Selvi should have been shown the red card for repeating the offence but unfortunately the rules in TT are lenient.

Results:

Youth Boys: Final: PSPB bt Tamil Nadu 3-0 (Sourav Saha bt Nitin Thiruvengadam 11-9, 5-11, 11-9, 11-9, G. Sathiyan bt Sushmit Sriram 11-5, 11-6, 11-5, Abhishek Yadav bt S. Prasanna 6-11, 11-5, 11-13, 11-6, 13-11); SF: PSPB bt Mizoram 3-0 (G. Sathiyan bt Lalhunhlua 11-6, 11-7, 11-2, Sourav Saha bt Lalrinpuia 11-6, 11-5, 11-8, Sudhanshu Grover bt Issac Lalsawmliana 11-5, 11-9, 11-7), Tamil Nadu bt West Bengal 3-1 (Nitin Thiruvengadam bt Arjun Ghosh 11-5, 11-8, 11-7, Sameera Kumar lost to Anirban Ghosh 6-11, 7-11, 9-11, Sushmit Sriram bt Snehamoy Mallick 11-4, 11-3, 11-5, Nitin Thuruvengadam bt Anirban Ghosh 11-5, 12-10, 11-6).

Youth Girls: Final: West Bengal bt Andhra Pradesh 3-2 (Anushree Hazra lost to Nikhat Banu 7-11, 2-11, 8-11, Krittiwika Sinha Roy bt Karnam Spoorthy 11-5, 2-11, 11-7, 11-7, Ayhika Mukherjee lost to A. Sreeja 11-8, 5-11, 8-11, 11-8, 6-11, Krittiwika Sinha Roy bt Nikhat Banu 11-6, 4-11, 11-8, 8-11, 11-8, Anushree Hazra bt Karnam Spoorthy 14-12, 11-8, 12-10);  SF:Andhra Pradesh bt PSPB 3-2 (Nikhat Banu lost to Suthirtha Mukherjee 3-11, 11-7, 8-11, 3-11, Karnam Spoorthy lost to Ankita Das 8-11, 7-11, 11-13, A. Sreeja bt Manika Batra 3-11, 11-8, 11-8, 4-11, 11-8, Nikhat Banu bt Ankita Das 11-9, 11-5, 13-11, Karnam Spoorthy bt Suthirtha Mukherjee 7-11, 11-6, 8-11, 14-12, 11-9), West Bengal bt Tamil Nadu 3-1 (Anushree Hazra lost to N. vidya 4-11, 6-11, 4-11, Krittiwika Sinha Roy bt Sumana R Krishnan 7-11, 12-10, 11-7, 11-9, Ayhika Mukherjee bt V. Sneha 4-11, 11-9, 11-9, 11-5, Krittiwika Sinha Roy bt N. Idhya 11-8, 10-12, 11-3, 11-8).

 Junior Boys: Final: PSPBA bt West Bengal 3-0 (Sudhanshu Grover bt Anirban Ghosh 11-5, 15-13, 11-7, Abhishek Yadav bt Arjun Ghosh 11-7, 11-9, 11-7, Abhishek/Sudhanshu bt Prathikrit Roy/Anirban 11-5, 11-5, 10-12,13-11); SF: PSPBA bt North Bengal 3-0 (Sudhanshu Grover bt Rajib Sarkar 11-7, 11-8, 11-9, Abhishek Yadav bt Raja Kundu 11-7, 11-5, 11-9, Sudhanshu/Abhishek bt Rajib/Subhankar Sarkar 11-5, 11-4, 11-9), West Bengal bt Delhi 3-2 (Arjun Ghosh lost to Utkarsh Gupta 5-11, 11-3, 5-11, 8-11, Anirban Ghosh bt Sabhay Virmani 11-8, 11-8, 11-9, Prathikrit Roy/Anirban bt Utkarsh/Sabhay 8-11, 11-5, 11-9, 11-8, Anirban Ghosh lost to Utkarsh Gupta 11-6, 5-11, 11-9, 8-11, 13-15, Anirban Ghosh bt Sabhay Virmani 11-13, 11-7, 11-7, 11-9).

Junior Girls: Final: Maharashtra A bt Tamil Nadu 3-1 (Senhora D’souza lost to Narasimha Priya 10-12, 9-11, 9-11, Mallika Bhandarkar bt Amrutha Pushpak 11-4, 11-9, 11-5, Devika Bhide/Mallika bt Amrutha/Narasimha Priya 9-11, 11-9, 9-11, 11-9, 11-6, Mallika Bhandarkar bt Narasimha Priya 7-11, 7-11, 11-5, 11-8, 11-8); SF: Junior Girls: Maharashtra A bt Andhra Pradesh 3-0 (Senhora D’Souza bt Karnam Spoorthy 8-11, 11-5, 8-11, 11-8, 11-9, Mallika Bhandarkar bt A. Sreeja 12-10, 11-7, 13-11, Devika Bhinde/Mallika bt Spoorthy/Sreeja 5-11, 11-1, 8-11, 11-4, 11-6), Tamil Nadu bt Kerala 3-1 (Yukti Roshini bt Maria Rony 11-8, 11-9, 12=12, Amrutha Pushpak bt Seraha Jacob 11-9, 11-7, 11-9, Narasimha Priya/Amrutha lost to Maria/Seraha 6-11, 3-11, 11-6, 13-11, 7-11, Amrutha Pushpak bt Maria Rony 11-9, 7-11, 12-10, 11-6).

Press release

MP boys, Kerala girls cause upsets in Junior and Youth National Table Tennis

Indore, February 6, 2013: The Madhya Pradesh in Youth Boys section and Kerala in the Junior Girls category caused upsets to enter the quarterfinals of the 74th Junior and Youth National Table Tennis Championships at the Abhay Prashal Indoor Stadium here today. Incidentally, in both cases the sufferers were Maharashtra B.

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

MP boys keep hopes alive; Mizo boys upset Maharashtra

Indore, February 5, 2013: All top teams, including group leaders, completed their first round formalities without a hint of any hitch in the 74th Junior and Youth National Table Tennis Championships at the Abhay Prashal Indoor Stadium here today.

But two northeastern states can take pride that they have sounded a grim warning to bigger teams, at least for the future. Mizoram boys, comprising the Petroleum Academy trainees, defeated Maharashtra B 3-0 in the first round and Meghalaya girls extended Karnataka 3-2, both happening in the junior sections.

The effect of Lalhunhida and Lalrinpuia were so good that the two carved out the wins over their Maharashtra rivals. Both the Mizo boys took their singles against Arbaz Shaikh, Parth Phansekar, in that order, and then joined hands to beat the Maharashtra pair of Arbaz Shaikh and Sudhakar Pandey to wrap it up. 

Among the Youth boys hosts Madhya Pradesh defeated Gujarat 3-2 in the first round to keep their qualification hopes alive along with other favourtes and among the Youth girls PSPB, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra A, Gujarat, Assam, Delhi, North Bengal and Kerala moved a step ahead to qualifying for the main draw.

For MP, Pratish Janjire proved to be the hero as he beat Henis Shah in the decider 3-1 (11-4, 10-12, 11-7, 11-9) to move a step closer to qualification. Earlier, he had beaten Ravi Joshi 4-1 and Satyajeet Ghosh downed Henish Shah 3-1.

As for the junior boys’ team events, there were no surprises barring the loss of Maharashtra B to Mizoram who won their first round matches against the strong contender. The other exception was West Bengal boys conceding a match to Haryana before winning 3-1.

Similarly, in girls’ matches in junior category at least one strong team was made to struggle for its win as Meghalaya stretched Karnataka fully. Despite the heroics of M.V. Spoorthy, who won both her singles, Tanushree Das Gupta did the star turn for Meghalaya. First she beat M. Madhurya 3-2 (8-11, 17-15, 8-11,, 11-8, 13-11) in her singles and then combined with Medhavi Chettri to take the doubles against the Karnataka pair of Spoorthy and Archana Kamal in straight sets to put the northeastern team 2-1 up. It must have given some kind of worries in the Karnataka ranks, but they did not press the panic button as Spoorthy restored parity by winning her second singles 3-2 against Tanushree and then Madhurya blanked out Medhavi to bring a sigh of relief.

The results: (1st round):

Youth Boys: PSPB bt Bihar 3-0, Maharashtra A bt Himachal Pradesh 3-0, Delhi bt Kerala 3-0, Manipur bt Chhatisgarh 3-2, West Bengal bt Andhra Pradesh 3-0, Assam bt J&K 3-0, Tamil Nadu bt Chandigarh 3-0, UP bt Tripura 3-0, North Bengal bt Meghalaya 3-0, Haryana bt Jharkhand 3-0, Madhya Pradesh bt Gujarat 3-2, Punjab w/o Pondicherry, Karnataka bt Uttarakhand 3-0, Mizoram bt Orissa 3-1.

Youth Girls: PSPB bt Meghalaya 3-0, west Bengal bt Chhatisgarh 3-0, Tamil Nadu bt Uttarakhand 3-0, Andhra Pradesh bt Chandigarh 3-0, Maharashtra A w/o Tripura, Gujarat bt Karnataka 3-0, Maharashtra B bt J&K 3-0, Delhi bt Bihar 3-0, North Bengal bt Uttar Pradesh 3-1, Kerala bt Jharkhand 3-0.

Junior Boys: PSPBA bt Bihar 3-0, Delhi bt Chandigarh 3-0, West Bengal bt Haryana 3-1, Punjab bt Manipur 3-0, Rajasthan bt Madya Pradesh 3-0, Jharkhand w/o Chhatisgarh, Maharashtra A bt J&K 3-0, Andhra Pradesh bt Uttarakhand 3-0, Mizoram bt Maharashtra B 3-0, Karnaraka bt Meghalaya 3-0, North Bengal bt Kerala 3-0, Orissa bt Tripura 3-0, Tamil Nadu bt Himachal Pradesh 3-0, Gujarat w/o Pondicherry.

Junior Girls: West Bengal bt Bihar 3-0, Tamil Nadu bt Rajasthan 3-0, North Bengal bt Tripura 3-0, Maharashtra A bt Assam 3-0, Andhra Pradesh bt Uttarakhand 3-0, Delhi bt Haryana 3-0, Kerala w/o Pondicherry, Gujarat bt J&K 3-0, Karnataka bt Meghalaya 3-2, Maharashtra bt Himachal Pradesh 3-0, Chandigarh bt Punjab 3-1.

A TTFI Press release

Season-ender could provide some thrills

Indore, February 4, 2013: All top-ranked paddlers of the country, barring Soumyajit Ghosh and HarmeetDeasi, will be seen in action in the 74th Junior and Youth National Table Tennis Championships that are getting underway at the Abhay Prashal Indoor Stadium here from Tuesday.

With the season that began last August coming to an end, the nationals here will give one final opportunity to the young paddlers to gain some ranking points that will go a long way in shaping their career the next season.

Understandably, over 400 junior and youth players will be representing nearly 30 state units besides taking part in the individual events that follow three days later to provide some thrilling moments to the season-ender.

Apart from the points that the players will pick here, they can also look forward to some monetary incentives to keep their cash registers ringing. The winner among the Youth boys and girls will receive Rs. 55,000 and 48,000, respectively, while in the Junior section, the boys’ winner will carry home Rs. 48,000 while the girls’ titlist will get Rs. 40,000.  There is something for all those who finish among the top eight with the total prize purse being Rs. 4.76 lakh.

PSPB are the teams to watch out for in the nationals here as they will look to retain the three crowns they won last year, if not go one better to claim all the four on offer. In fact, their boys and girls in the Youth section had made the challenge a one-sided affair at Siliguri. However, in the junior girls’ section, it was West Bengal who beat Tamil Nadu to claim the title.

The Petroleum’s Youth team will be without the services of Soumyajit Ghosh while Gujarat will have to do without Harmeet Desai. The two are in Sweden doing a training stint and have chosen to skip the event here. But more than the PSPB, Gujarat will feel the pinch as Desai could have played a vital role for the state.

The groupings for the championships, based on teams’ performance last year, not only indicate the current standing of the teams but also sound a warning to the rest in fray as others have a lot of catching up to do. Nevertheless, there are states like Tamil Nadu, North Bengal and Maharashtra who can always pose problems to even the best of teams, more so to the Petroleum squads.

With only top two teams qualifying for the main draw, teams have been divided into eight groups of four or three teams each. The team finals are slated for February 7, followed by the qualification matches in the individual sections in the evening on the same day. The boys and girls singles finals in both the sections will be played on Sunday, the concluding day of the championships.

The show here will be managed by chief referee C.L. Thade, who is an international referee. Incidentally, this will be his maiden event as chief referee.

The Madhya Pradesh Table Tennis Association, which has agreed to conduct the championships in place of Bihar, is known for its capability to do things even at short notice. Their skills and organizational capacity will be put to test once again.

A TTFI Press release