Kolkata: West Bengal made a bold statement and sealed the Under-19 Boys top qualification spot in the team event of the 85th edition of the UTT Inter-State Youth and Junior National Table Tennis Championships at the Netaji Indoor Stadium today.
In their group A match, West Bengal thrashed Punjab 3-0 and followed it up with a similar verdict against Kerala. In achieving the first target, Ankur Bhattacharjee, Shankhadip Das, and Bodhisatwa Chaudhury helped each other to keep a clean slate. They have a third-round match in the evening against Arunachal Pradesh, and it should be a formality for the hosts' boys.
Ankur led the charge, giving the hosts a flying start when he defeated Rajveer Bhatia 11-6, 11-8, 11-7. His pace, accuracy and excellent finish were too hard for Rajveer to cope with Shankhadip, in the second rubber, set the platform with a 2-0 lead against Harkunwar Singh, but the Punjab boy fought back to level the score 2-2. However, the Bengal boy completed the task with a fine finish and won 15-13, 11-9, 10-12, 9-11, 11-7. Bodhisatwa polished off Sonu Kumar, posting an 11-6, 11-9, 11-7 win.
In their match against Kerala, Ankur beat Anokh G. Nair 11-8, 11-8, 11-7. Consolidating their position, Bodhisatwa downed Mohamed Naffil 11-8, 11-4, 11-7, while Shankhadip routed A Gourishankar 11-4, 11-7, 11-9.
The teams that booked their top position from their respective groups include Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Delhi, Gujarat and the National Centre of Excellence (NCOE).
It also means that with a slot up for grabs in each of the eight groups, the third-round matches in the evening will decide which among them will qualify to make it to the pre-quarterfinals, which begin tomorrow morning.
Apart from the expected results, some matches kept the onlookers interested. For instance, Rajasthan (TTFI 1) beat Jharkhand 3-0 in the first round and Punjab thrashed Arunachal with an identical margin in the second round.
Interestingly, Jammu and Kashmir pulled off a triumph over Jharkhand in a thriller that went to the wire. Pratham Raini made the 3-2 win possible. He first beat Satrunjay Chakravarty 11-5, 13-11, 11-9 and then Aman Kumar Pal 11-5, 11-2, 11-4. In the second rubber, Sourav Sharma put it across Aman 12-10, 12-10, 11-6, which proved crucial for J and K. Animesh Kumar and Satrunjay won a rubber each, beating their rivals Akhilesh Khajuria and Sourav Sharma.
But Gujarat carved out a hard-fought second-round 3-2 win against Assam to occupy the top position in Group G. Gujarat would have finished behind Assam if not for this win. Assam banked on Priyanuj Bhattacharyya. He won his first and reverse singles against Arman Shaikh and Burhanuddin Malubhaiwala. But what contributed to Gujarat's victory was the crucial third game, in which Aayush Tanna won 11-9, 12-10, 11-9 against Abheek Kashyap, and the other two players won a rubber each.
Team Results: U-19 Boys:
(Rounds 1 and 2):
Group A: West Bengal bt Punjab 3-0, Kerala bt Arunachal Pradesh 3-0; West Bengal bt Kerala 3-0, Punjab bt Arunachal Pradesh 3-0.
Group B: Uttar Pradesh bt Jammu & Kashmir 3-0, Rajasthan (TTFI 1) bt Jharkhand 3-0; Uttar Pradesh bt Rajasthan (TTFI 1) 3-0; J and K bt Jharkhand 3-2.
Group C: Tamil Nadu bt Madhya Pradesh 3-0, Goa bt Himachal Pradesh 3-0; Tamil Nadu bt Himachal Pradesh 3-1, Goa bt Madhya Pradesh 3-1.
Group D: Karnataka bt Bihar 3-1, Telangana bt Mizoram 3-0; Karnataka bt Telangana 3-0, Bihar bt Mizoram 3-0.
Group E: Maharashtra bt Andhra Pradesh 3-0, Haryana bt Meghalaya 3-0; Maharashtra bt Haryana 3-1, Andhra Pradesh bt Meghalaya 3-0.
Group F: Delhi bt Uttarakhand 3-0, PSPB-A bt Daman & Diu 3-0; Delhi bt PSPBA 3-1, Uttarakhand bt Daman & Diu 3-0.
Group G: Assam bt Chhattisgarh 3-0, Gujarat bt Rajasthan (TTFI 2) 3-0; Gujrat bt Assam 3-2, Chhattisgarh bt Rajasthan (TTFI 2) 3-0.
Group H: NCOE bt Odisha 3-0, Manipur bt Chandigarh 3-0; NCOE bt Manipur 3-0, Chandigarh bt Odisha 3-2.
