Chandigarh: Top-seeded PSPB pair Yashaswini Ghorpade and Harmeet Desai, along with the third-seeded RBI duo of Diya Chitale and Manush Shah, advanced to the Mixed Doubles final at the 51st Institutional Table Tennis Championships, held at Panjab University’s Gymnasium Hall today.
Yashaswini and Harmeet faced a tough challenge against the fourth-seeded Railways pair of Akash Pal and Poymantee Baisya before winning 3-1. After losing the second game, the PSPB duo came back strong, winning the third game in an extended rally. Despite the Railways pair’s improved performance in the second game, where they fought back after a deuce, the PSPB paddlers capitalised on their combined strengths in the third, taking a 2-1 lead. In the fourth game, the pair displayed excellent returns and precise placements, putting the Railways’ pair on the back foot early on. Unable to recover from the early setback, Akash and Poymantee couldn’t match the consistent pressure from Yashaswini and Harmeet, who closed out the match with a 3-1 victory.
In the other semifinal, Diya and Manush initially struggled against the second-seeded Railways pair of Sutirtha Mukherjee and Ronit Bhanja. The RBI duo often found themselves on the back foot in the first two games, with the Railways pair setting a fast pace. Despite narrowly losing the second game, the RBI duo regrouped, winning the third in a tight contest. Their left-right combination began to click, and they slowly regained their confidence. The turning point came when they cashed in on a crucial serve opportunity, levelling the score after a deuce. With the match tied at 2-2, Diya and Manush applied relentless pressure on their opponents in the decisive fifth game, maintaining the lead throughout and eventually closing out the match by the slimmest of margins and winning 3-2.
Earlier in the day, the seeded pairs showed no signs of fatigue after completing their group qualification matches in the men’s and women’s singles events. The players displayed remarkable focus, effortlessly shifting from their singles engagements to the mixed doubles, determined to reach the medal rounds. The semifinalists approached their quarterfinal matches with clinical precision, securing their places in the semifinals without significant hurdles.
Meanwhile, the knockout rounds for the men’s and women’s singles kicked off later in the day, with the men playing two rounds and the women one, beginning from the Round of 64.
Results:
Mixed Doubles: Semifinals: Yashaswini Ghorpade/Harmeet Desai (PSPB) bt Poymantee Baisya/Akash Pal (RSPB) 11-9, 10-12, 12-10, 11-4; Diya Chitale/Manush Shah (RBI) bt Sutirtha Mukherjee/Ronit Bhanja (RSPB) 8-11, 9-11, 11-9, 12-10, 11-9.
Quarterfinals: Yashaswini/Harmeet bt Shruti Amrute/Anirban Ghosh (RSPB) 11-8, 11-7, 12-10; Poymantee/Aakash bt Taneesha Kotecha/Jash Modi (Mah) 11-7, 11-8, 11-6; Diya/Manush bt Seleena Deepti Selvakumar (CRSB) 14-12, 11-4, 11-9; Sutirtha/Ronit bt Anjali Rohilla/Himnakulpuingheta Jeho (IA&AD) 11-7, 11-5, 11-6.
