Senior Nationals: Maharashtra-A to meet PSPB women in final

Maharashtra-A beats TNTTA and RSPB on Wednesday, en route to the final; PSPB to clash with Maharashtra-A in the men’s summit clash.

Diya Chitale did well to ensure Maharashtra-A stayed alive in the contest to eventually win its quarterfinal match against defending champion RSPB in the Senior Nationals and Inter-State table tennis championships in Shillong on Wednesday. - SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

Maharashtra-A registered a facile 3-0 win over Tamil Nadu Table Tennis Association (TNTTA) in the women’s semifinals of the Senior National and Inter-State table tennis championships here on Wednesday. Maharashtra-A’s win in the last-eight stage was more remarkable, however, as it fought back in style to put it across defending champion Railway Sports Promotion Board (RSPB) 3-2.

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In the final, Maharashtra-A will take on the mighty Petroleum Sports Promotion Board (PSPB), which is looking for its first crown in three editions. Led by Manika Batra, PSPB thumped Bengal-A 3-0 in the semifinal.

In the men’s summit clash, PSPB will clash with Maharashtra-A.

Come-from-behind win for Chitale

The match of the day was the resolute show put on by Maharashtra-A’s 19-year-old Diya Chitale, who provided the lifeline for her team. Trailing 1-2 in the match and down 0-2 games in the fourth rubber against RSPB’s Sutirtha Mukherjee, Diya pulled off a magnificent win to put her side back into the contest. Swastika Ghosh finished the contest with a facile win over RSPB’s Prapti Sen in four games.

• Semifinals : PSPB bt RSPB 3-0 (G. Sathiyan bt Akash pal 11-5, 11-4, 11-8, A. Sharath Kamal bt Arjun Ghosh 2-11, 11-9, 11-7, 11-5, Harmeet Desai bt Anukram Jain 11-7, 11-5, 11-4); Maharashtra-A bt Bengal-A 3-2 (Deepit Patil lost to Ronit Bhanja 11-7, 9-11, 13-15, 10-12, Siddhesh Pande bt Aniket Sen 11-7, 6-11, 11-6, 11-7, Jash Modi bt Hirakjyoti Pushilal 11-5, 11-6, 11-6, Siddhesh lost to Ronit 6-11, 12-10, 11-9, 3-11, 12-14, Deepit bt Aniket 8-11, 11-8, 11-8, 11-8).
• Quarterfinals : PSPB bt Haryana 3-1; RSPB bt Telangana 3-2; Bengal-A bt Uttar Pradesh 3-2; Maharashtra-A bt Delhi 3-0.

• Semifinals : Maharashtra-A bt TNTTA 3-0 (Swastika Ghosh bt S. Yashini 11-7, 11-9, 11-2, Diya Chitale bt N. Vidya 11-3, 11-9, 11-9, Anannya Basak bt Harshavardhini C. 11-3, 11-7, 11-6); PSPB bt Bengal-A 3-0 (Archana Kamath bt Ponmantee Baisya 11-9, 16-14, 11-8, Manika Batra bt Kaushani Nath 11-8, 11-4, 6-11, 6-11, 11-8, Reeth Rishya bt Moumita Dutta 11-6, 11-1, 14-12).
• Quarterfinals : Maharashtra bt RSPB 3-2; TNTTA bt TTTA 3-0; PSPB bt Bengal-B 3-0; Bengal-A bt Uttar Pradesh 3-0.