Hyderabad: Jubin Kumar-led Haryana overpowered Tamil Nadu 3-2 to sail into the semifinals of the 77th Senior National and Inter-State Table Tennis Championships at the Kotla Vijay Bhaskara Reddy Indoor Stadium here today.
Haryana were joined in the men’s semifinals by PSPB, who beat Rajasthan 3-0, Gujarat who won 3-1 against Railways and Maharashtra downed West Bengal 3-1.
It was Jubin who masterminded Haryana’s triumph as he won both his singles, paving the way for another bronze at least. Last year, too, they had claimed a team bronze but this time they are in a good position to overhaul Maharashtra who will be their opponents in the semis.
All is well that ends well may be the saying. But Jubin gave a tweak to the idiom by beginning and ending well. He started with a win over Ravichandran Abhishek in a tough opening rubber which was carried on nicely by Sarthak Gandhi. But Tamil Nadu really fought back well to restore order through L. Sathiswaran and R. Abhishek, in his reverse singles when they accounted for both Mohit Verma and Sarthak Gandhi, respectively.
The ball was back in Jubin’s court and the tall Sushmit was equally up to the task, taking his opponent down to wire. But the let-handed Jubin not only worked on his angles well but executed superb combination play to overcome Sushmit in the crucial fifth rubber.
TN women’s minor ripples
Though the quarterfinals in women’s section went along the line for most part, Tamil Nadu gave a twist to the tale to beat last year’s semifinalist Maharashtra A 3-1, thanks to the heroics of Reeth Rishya who, despite pulling her thigh muscle, put her team to the medal reckoning.
Unable to find a place in PSPB squad, Reeth had to play for her state and Tamil Nadu gained through her entry today. Taking on a higher-ranked Divya Deshpande, who was spearheading Maharashtra’s campaign, Reeth played a gutsy game, particularly in the decider. She was down 10-7 in the fifth game against Divya but ignoring her pain the diminutive paddler put her best foot forward and deuced. After two more, Reeth cashed in on her first match point and won 14-12 to put Tamil Nadu up.
However, Madhurika Patkar did not have to sweat it out against Amrutha Pushpak and restored parity. The crucial third game went the Tamil Nadu way when Vidya Narasimha shut out Charvi Kawle after some struggle to win 3-2. Now the matter rested on Reeth and she surprisingly finished off her reverse singles against Madhurika quickly and deservingly.
Earlier, PSPB defeted Madhya Pradesh 3-0, Reserve Bank of India, keeping their well-deserved entry into the nationals intact, defeated North Bengal 3-1 with Sheweta Parte shouldering the burden of winning both her singles. Karnataka became an easy prey to last year’s runners-up West Bengal, who won 3-0.
Earlier in the day, both Telangana teams bowed out in the pre-quarterfinals as North Bengal girls went down 1-3 to North Bengal while Gujarat’s men beat Talanga men 3-0.
Men’s Team (Quarterfinals):
PSPB bt Rajasthan 3-0 (Soumyajit Ghosh bt Abhishek Yadav 11-6, 5-11, 12-10, 11-6, G. Sathiyan bt Sudhanshu Grover 11-4, 8-11, 14-12, 11-3, Anthony Amalraj bt Pankaj Kumr 11-2, 11-5, 11-4), Gujarat bt RSPB 3-1 (Devesh Karia bt Ravindra Kotiyan 11-4, 11-8, 11-3, Manav Thakkar lost to Anirban Nandi 2-11, 11-7, 6-11, 2-11, Jignesh Jaiswal bt Omkar Torgalkar 10-12, 12-10, 11-4, 13-15, 13-11, Devesh Karia bt Anirban Nandi 11-3, 7-11, 13-11, 11-6), Haryana bt Tamil Nadu 3-2 (Jubin Kumar bt R. Abhishek 11-6, 6-11, 8-11, 11-6, 11-4, Sarthak Gandhi bt Sushmit Sriram 11-4, 11-7, 11-9, Mohit Verma lost to L. Sathiswaran 6-11, 8-11, 6-11, Sarthak Gandhi lost to R. Abhishek 11-9, 11-8, 7-11, 5-11, 7-11, Jubin Kumar bt Sushmit Sriram 11-2, 11-5, 5-11, 6-11, 11-8), Maharashtra A bt West Bengal 3-1 (Sanil Shetty bt Anirban Ghosh 11-6, 7-11, 11-3, 11-3, Sanish Ambekar lost to Arjun Ghosh 10-12, 10-12, 6-11, Aman Balgu bt Ronit Bhanja 11-6, 11-9, 11-7, Sanil Shetty bt Arjun Ghosh 6-11, 11-7, 10-12, 11-5, 11-7).
PQF: PSPB bt Andhra Pradesh 3-0, Rajasthan bt Delhi 3-0, RSPB bt Uttar Pradesh 3-0, Gujarat bt Telangana 3-0, Haryana bt Mozoram 3-1, Tamil Nadu bt Punjab 3-0, Maharashtra-A bt Maharashtra-B 3-1, West Bengal bt North Bengal 3-0.
Women’s Team (Quarterfinals):
PSPB bt Madhya Pradesh 3-0 (Mouma Das bt Himani Bhatt 11-7, 11-6, 11-9, Ankita Das bt Anusha Kutumbale 13-15, 11-7, 12-14, 11-6, 12-10, Pooja Sahasrabudhe bt Vandana Singh 1-3, 11-6, 11-5); RBI bt North Bengal 3-1 (Talnikar Shruti lost to Takeme Sarkar 7-11, 9-11, 5-11, Shwetha Parte bt Sagarika Mukherjee 8-11, 12-10, 11-9, 11-4, Lahkar Kakoli bt Sukanya Bose 11-4, 13-11, 24-22, Shweta Parte bt Takeme Sarkar 8-11, 14-12, 7-11, 11-8, 11-6), Tamil Nadu bt Maharashtra-A 3-1 (Reeth Rishya bt Divya Deshpande 11-9, 5-11, 10-12, 11-9, 14-12, Amrutha Pushpak lost to Madhurika Patkar 10-12, 12-10, 5-11, 5-11, Vidya Narasimhan bt Charvi Kawle 5-11, 11-6, 11-8, 12-14, 11-8, Reeth Rishya bt Madhurika Patkar 11-9, 11-6, 13-11) , West Bengal bt Karnataka 3-0 (Mousumi Paul bt Archana Kamath 11-5, 11-5, 5-11, 14-12, Krittwika Sinha Roy bt Swetha Kumaravel 11-7, 9-11, 11-9, 11-9, Ayhika Mukherjee bt Spoorthi Venkatesham 11-5, 11-5, 11-5); PQF: PSPB bt Andhra Pradesh 3-0, Madhya Pradesh bt Maharashtra-B 3-2, North Bengal bt Telangana 3-1, RBI bt Odisha 3-0, Maharashtra-A bt Pondicherry 3-0, Tamil Nadu bt Delhi 3-1, Karnataka bt Rajasthan 3-0, West Bengal bt Gujarat 3-0.
