Sport - Table Tennis   

Petroleum, Railways women in title clash

By Our Special Correspondent

Jignesh Jaiswal of Banks Sports Board executes a shot in his quarterfinal match against Ajay Jha of FCI in the inter-institutional table tennis championship in New Delhi on Thursday. Right: Mouma Das of PSCB listens attentively to the words of advice offered by teammates N.R. Indu and Montu Ghosh in the round robin league match against Avanti Sinha in the women's team event.

NEW DELHI AUG. 8. Four members of the travel-weary Indian team crashed to surprise defeats even as their teams prevailed on an action-filled second day of the 32nd All India inter-institutional table tennis championship at the NDMC Indoor Stadium here on Thursday.

Women's National champion Mouma Das, Poulomi Ghatak and the men's National title-holder Soumyadeep Roy, all from Petroleum, besides Railways top-ranked Sourav Chakravarthy, the National finalist, tasted defeats after being required to serve their teams hours after landing in the Capital from London.

However, it did not affect the prospects of Petroleum and Railways. The two front-runners made it to the women's title clash after winning four matches each in the six-team league. That apart, these two teams also reached the men's team semifinals.

In the men's semifinal on Friday morning, holder Railways will take on Life Insurance Corporation while Petroleum faces Banks Sports Board. The final is scheduled later in the afternoon.

The quarterfinals produced some unexpected thrills as some of the bigger names found themselves tumbling down a slippery slope.

Soumyadeep Roy, who needed to redeem himself after his below par showing in the National team finals against Railways at the same venue earlier this year, committed too many errors against Amit Mukherjee to lose in five games. The experienced S. Raman also took off on a wrong foot and lost the opening game to Souvik Dey Sarkar before getting his act together. Later, Subhajit Saha and Soumyadeep Roy won their matches without dropping a game to put Petroleum through to the last-four stage.

Banks Sports Board gained the right to challenge Petroleum after battling for nearly three hours to down a vastly experienced Food Corporation of India 3-2. The FCI had its chances to close the match in the fourth rubber but Harsh Chopra failed to overpower a fighting Deepak Thukral even after winning the first two games. Thereafter, Jignesh Jaiswal, who had earlier won his opening match against Harsh Chopra defeated Ajay Jha in straight games to help Banks Sports Board justify his billing.

Railways experienced a striking aberration when Sourav Chakraborty was overpowered by a positive-thinking N. Ravichandran of Central Revenue. Ravichandran claimed the first two games in the flash and then, in his hurry to close the match, committed far too many errors to let young Chakraborty back in the match. In the decider, it was Ravichandran's vast experience that carried him through.

The results:

Men: Quarterfinals: Railways bt Central Revenue 3-1 (Ranbir Das bt Kishalay Basak 11-9, 11-6, 11-9; Sourav Chakraborty lost to N. Ravichandran 6-11, 6-11, 11-7, 11-2, 8-11; Sarat Kamal bt Deepankar Adhikari 11-3, 10-12, 11-8, 11-6; Chakraborty bt Basak 11-8, 11-5, 7-11, 12-10).

LIC bt Defence Accounts 3-1 (R. Rajesh bt Debdoot Chatterjee 15-13, 11-5, 11-7; Vinay Vaiswadi lost to Kaushik Dey Sarkar 10-12, 11-6, 3-11, 11-4, 3-11; Ranjan Chakraborty bt Amlan Patra 11-8, 11-6, 12-10; Rajesh bt Sarkar 11-5, 11-6, 11-4).

Banks Sports Board bt FCI 3-2 (Jignesh Jaiswal bt Harsh Chopra 11-7, 11-8, 5-11, 11-5; Deepak Thukral lost to Ajay Jha 10-12, 9-11, 8-11; Vineet Chopra lost to Subrata Roy 9-11, 11-8, 10-12, 11-9, 3-11; Thukral bt Chopra 8-11, 8-11, 11-5, 11-6, 11-5; Jaiswal bt Jha 11-8, 11-5, 11-8).

Petroleum bt Major Ports 3-1 (Soumyadeep Roy lost to Amit Mukherjee 7-11, 11-9, 12-14, 11-6, 7-11; S. Raman bt Souvik De Sarkar 8-11, 11-9, 11-4, 11-6; Subhajit Saha bt M. Varghese 11-7, 11-6, 11-8; Roy bt Sarkar 12-10, 11-8, 11-6).

Group `B': Petroleum bt Coal India 3-0; Petroleum bt Defence Accounts 3-0; Petroleum bt Electricity Board 3-0.

Group `C': BSB bt State Bank of Indore 3-0; Central Revenue bt Ordinance Factory 3-2; BSB bt Central Revenue 3-0; Ordinance Factory bt Postal 3-1.

Group `D': LIC bt RBI 3-0; Major Ports bt Indian Airlines 3-0; LIC bt Major Ports 3-1; State Bank of India bt Indian Airlines 3-0.

Women: League: Petroleum bt Central Revenue 3-0; Petroleum bt Defence Accounts 3-0; Petroleum bt Postal 3-0; Railways bt Defence Accounts 3-1; Petroleum bt LIC 3-2; Central Revenue bt Postal 3-0; LIC bt Central Revenue 3-2; Defence Accounts bt Postal 3-2.

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