Contrary to its reputation, the all-conquering Petroleum experienced rare moments of vulnerability before riding on Harmeet Desai’s shoulders for a place in the men’s team final of the National table tennis championship here on Monday.
The usually unflappable Petroleum struggled after A. Amalraj and Manav Thakkar - the top ranked player at the conclusion of the National ranking tournaments this year – lost to Uttar Pradesh’s Divyansh Srivastava and Sarth Mishra in the quarterfinals. Manav lost again in the semifinal against Airports Authority of India’s Jeet Chandra before Harmeet battled past young S. R. F. Snehit in five games and stopped Jeet in four.
Delhi, finalist in Hyderabad in January 2020, played to its potential, upstaged Bengal 3-2 and battled past Maharashtra 3-0 to challenge Petroleum.
Sudhanshu Grover pulled off two matches against Bengal while Payas Jain lost twice. Against Maharashtra, Grover put Delhi ahead, Payas regained his touch in time after suffering twin-losses against Bengal and Yashansh Malik completed the verdict.
In the women’s section, the trio of Yashini Sivashankar, Selena Deepthi Selvakumar and Kavyashree Baskar surprisingly blanked Railways 3-0 and ensured Tamil Nadu’s second straight final against defending champion Reserve Bank of India. Credit to Kavyashree, who twice levelled the score against favourite Poymantee Baisya before signalling TN’s triumph.
RBI, which fielded Harsha Vardhini for an injured Diya Chitale in the third singles match against Maharashtra in the semifinals, scored a hard-fought 3-1 victory with Ayhika Mukherjee winning two matches after Sreeja Akula provided the lead.
THE RESULTS
MEN
Semifinals: Petroleum bt Airports Authority of India (AAI) 3-1 (Manav Thakkar lost to Jeet Chandra 6-11, 11-8, 11-5, 7-11, 13-15; Harmeet Desai bt S. R. F. Snehit 11-8, 11-3, 5-11, 7-11, 11-5; Sanil Shetty bt Deepit Patil 13-11, 11-7, 10-12, 11-9; Harmeet bt Jeet 11-7, 11-3, 15-17, 11-7).
Delhi bt Maharashtra 3-0 (Sudhanshu Grover bt Raegan Albuquerque 11-4, 11-4, 11-7; Payas Jain bt Siddhesh Pande 10-12, 11-6, 12-10, 15-13; Yashansh Malik bt Chinmaya Somaiya 8-11, 12-10, 11-9, 11-9).
Quarterfinals: Petroleum bt Uttar Pradesh 3-2 (Manav Thakkar bt Abhishek Yadav 11-4, 12-14, 11-8, 11-6; Harmeet Desai bt Sarth Mishra 11-9, 11-5, 11-4; Anthony Amalraj lost to Divyansh Srivastava 9-11, 8-11, 10-12; Manav lost to Sarth 7-11, 11-3, 9-11, 11-13; Harmeet bt Abhishek 11-9, 11-7, 12-10).
Airports Authority of India bt Tamil Nadu 3-0 (S. F. R. Snehit bt P.B. Abhinand 11-6, 8-11, 12-10, 11-3; Jeet Chandra bt Preyesh Raj 12-10, 5-11, 8-11, 11-9, 11-5; K. J. Akash bt M. Balamurugan 13-11, 11-4, 11-7).
Delhi bt Bengal 3-2 (Sudhanshu Grover bt Sourav Saha 12-10, 8-11, 11-5, 9-11, 11-9; Payas Jain lost to Ankur Bhattacharjee 10-12, 8-11, 11-8, 8-11; Yashansh Malik bt Aniket Sen Choudhury 13-11, 6-11, 14-12, 11-7; Payas lost to Sourav 11-8, 7-11, 9-11, 9-11; Sudhanshu bt Ankur 11-5, 11-8, 11-3).
Maharashtra bt Telangana 3-1 (Albuquerque Raegan bt Vansh Singhal 9-11, 9-11, 11-8, 11-6, 11-9; Jash Modi lost to Mohammed Ali 6-11, 6-11, 6-11; Chinmaya Somaiya bt Ali Mohammed 12-10, 11-3, 12-10; Raegan bt Mohammed Ali 11-8, 5-11, 11-8, 5-11, 12-10).
WOMEN
Semifinals: Reserve Bank of India (RBI) bt Maharashtra 3-1 (Sreeja Akula bt Sayali Wani 11-8, 11-2, 8-11, 11-6; Ayhika Mukherjee bt Pritha Vartikar 11-9, 11-8, 11-4; Harsha Vardhini lost to Jennifer Varghese 5-11, 11-4, 7-11, 11-8, 12-10; Ayhika bt Sayali 15-13, 4-11, 5-11, 11-7, 11-5).
Tamil Nadu bt Railways 3-0 (Yashini Sivashankar bt Sutirtha Mukherjee 11-6, 7-11, 4-11, 11-5, 11-9; Selena Deepthi Selvakumar bt Moumita Dutta 11-3, 11-9, 11-3; Kavyashree Baskar bt Poymantee Baisya 5-11, 11-9, 4-11, 11-4, 11-9).
Quarterfinals: RBI bt Bengal 3-1 (Ayhika Mukherjee lost to Prapti Sen 11-5, 9-11, 9-11, 11-2, 7-11; Sreeja Akula bt Kaushani Nath 11-4, 11-9, 11-9; Diya Chitale bt Syndrela Das 11-7, 9-11, 11-6, 11-8; Sreeja bt Prapti 11-8, 11-7, 11-9).
Maharashtra bt Karnataka 3-2 (Sayali Wani lost to Yashawini Ghorpade 7-11, 7-11, 11-13; Pritha Vartikar bt Kushi Viswanath 12-10, 11-6, 11-4; Jennifer Varghese bt Deshna Vanshika 7-11, 11-2, 11-8, 13-11; Pritha lost to Yashaswini 11-8, 11-5, 9-11, 9-11, 3-11; Sayali bt Kushi 11-6, 12-10, 6-11, 11-4).
Railways bt Delhi 3-0 (Sutirtha Mukherjee bt Diya Bramhachary 11-7, 11-8, 12-10; Poymantee Baisya bt Vanshika Bhargava 13-11, 9-11, 11-3, 8-11, 11-9; Moumita Dutta bt Lakshita Narang 11-7, 8-11, 5-11, 13-11, 11-8).
Tamil Nadu bt Gujarat 3-1 (Selena Deepthi Selvakumar bt Radhapriya Goel 14-12, 11-7, 11-13, 11-8; Yashini Sivashankar lost to Frenaz Chipia 9-11, 11-5, 11-1, 6-11, 7-11; Kavyasree Baskar bt Oishiki Joardar 5-11, 11-8, 12-10, 12-10; Yashini bt Radhapriya 11-7, 6-11, 11-9, 11-8).
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