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Alappuzha (Kerala), Nov 26 (IANS)
The Kerala girls routed Tamil Nadu 3-0 in the quarter-finals of the 76th Junior National and Youth Table Tennis Championships at the S.D.V. Centenary Auditorium here Wednesday. The hosts will now take on Telangana, who scrapped past depleted reigning champions West Bengal 3-2, in the semi-final Thursday. For the record, Telangana are making their maiden national appearance.
The other semi-final will pit Maharashtra A against their B team in Junior Girls as the former defeated Andhra Pradesh 3-1 while the B team downed Karnataka in straight games.
Kerala girls, with the most experienced Maria and the promising Seraha in their ranks, did not have to sweat it out much against an equally tough Tamil Nadu which had the likes of Selenadeepthi and Harshavardhini for the singles and doubles specialist Yashini. Yet, the host team with crowd backing, not only won their matches but also local hearts.
Seraha began well against Selena to set the ball rolling for Kerala even as Maria cashed in on the team's 1-0 lead to beat Harshavardhini, who was off colour against the experienced Maria.
Then what surprised everyone was the way the Tamil Nadu wilted under pressure after having led 2-0 in doubles. The hosts, on the other hand, staged a fine comeback and egged on by the crowd went from strength-to-strength.
Telangana had a bit of a problem with Sreeja unable to execute her shots. So the pressure came on Naina. Naina won both her singles, against Shobabti Moitra (11-7, 10-12, 11-7, 11-3) and Prapti Sen (6-11, 11-7, 7-11, 11-8, 11-7) which in the end proved crucial. Sreeja, however, managed to put it across in reverse singles against Shobabti, winning the rubber in straight games.
As for Maharashtra, the A and B teams sailed into the semi-finals without a hiccup as the A team, comprising Payal Bohra, Shruti Amruti and Ashlesha Trehan, defeated a depleted Andhra-after the split-while the B team were in the good hands of Manasi Chhajed and Mansi Chiplunkar with doubles specialist Shrushi Hallengadi to boot.
Meanwhile, continuing its clean-up drive on age-fudging issues, the Table Tennis Federation of India (TTFI) debarred West Bengal's Priyanka Ganguly for having submitted two age-proof certificates. She was one of the replacement entries sent in by West Bengal.
Results:
Junior Girls (quarter-finals): Kerala bt Tamil Nadu 3-0 (Seraha Jacob bt Selenadeepthi Selvakumar 11-8, 11-9, 11-8,
Maria Rony bt Harshavardhini 11-9, 11-8, 5-11, 11-7,
Seraha/Maria bt Yashini Sivakumar/Selenadeepthi 6-11, 10-12, 11-4, 11-3, 11-4),
Telangana bt West Bengal 3-2 (Naina bt Shobabati Moitra 11-7, 10-12, 11-7, 11-3,
Akula Sreeja lost to Prapti Sen 11-9, 8-11, 9-11, 6-11,
Naina/Sreeja lost to Shobabti/Prapti 9-11, 11-2, 11-8, 10-12, 8-11,
Naina bt Prapti 6-11, 11-7, 11-5, 11-8, 11-7,
Sreeja Akula bt Shobabati Moitra 11-2, 12-10, 13-11),
Maharashtra A bt Andhra Pradesh 3-1 (Payal Bohra bt Vaishali Katam 7-11, 12-10, 11-5, 16-14,
Shruti Amrute bt Shailu Noorbasha 11-6, 11-9, 11-4,
Aslesha Trehan/Shruti bt Vaishali/Shailu 11-6, 11-13, 9-11, 11-9, 13-11),
Maharashtra B bt Karnataka 3-0 (Manasi Chhajed bt Spoorthi Venkatesh 11-8, 11-5, 11-7,
Mansi Chiplunkar bt Kushi Viswanath 12-10, 8-11, 11-7, 7-11, 11-5,
Manasi Chhajed/Shrushti Hallengadi bt Spoorthi/Samyuktha 11-2, 13-11, 12-10).
