Date:07/01/2009 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2009/01/07/stories/2009010754471900.htm

Sport - Table Tennis

Bengal women in last four

Amitabha Das Sharma

PATNA: The two Bengals — West and North — set up a semifinal clash in the women’s section, after edging out Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu 3-2 respectively, in the 70th senior inter-State table tennis championships here on Tuesday.

In the other quarterfinal matches, Maharashtra ‘A’ laboured hard to get the better of Dena Bank 3-2, while defending champion Petroleum cruised past Gujarat.

In the men’s section, Petroleum will meet West Bengal, which continued its march forward beating strong Gujarat in the quarters, in the semifinals. Railways also moved into the last four blanking Tamil Nadu.

The results:

Women: Quarterfinals: Petroleum bt Gujarat 3-0; Maharashtra ‘A’ bt Dena Bank 3-0; W. Bengal bt Maharashtra ‘B’ 3-2; N. Bengal bt TN 3-2.

Pre-quarterfinals: Petroleum bt AP 3-0; Gujarat bt MP 3-0; Maharashtra ‘A’ bt Delhi 3-0; Dena Bank bt Haryana 3-0; W. Bengal bt Punjab 3-0; Maharashtra ‘B’ bt Assam 3-0; TN bt Uttar Pradesh 3-0; N. Bengal bt Manipur 3-0.

Men: Quarterfinals: Petroleum bt Haryana 3-0; West Bengal bt Gujarat 3-1; Railways bt TN 3-0.

Pre-quarterfinals: Petroleum bt Assam 3-0; Haryana bt Karnataka 3-1; W. Bengal bt Rajasthan 3-0; Gujarat bt Maharashtra ‘B’ 3-1; N. Bengal bt Uttar Pradesh 3-1; Maharashtra ‘A’ bt Andhra Pradesh 3-0; Tamil Nadu bt Chhattisgarh 3-0; Railways bt Delhi 3-0.

Group league (final round): Group A: Petroleum bt HP 3-0; Chhattisgarh bt Orissa 3-0. Group B: Railways bt Mizoram 3-0; Karnataka bt Jharkhand 3-0. Group C: N. Bengal bt Manipur 3-0; Maharashtra ‘B’ bt Kerala 3-0. Group D: Gujarat bt Andaman & Nicobar 3-0; UP bt Chandigarh 3-0. Group E: Maharashtra ‘A’ bt Meghalaya 3-0, W. Bengal bt Punjab 3-1. Group F: Delhi bt J&K 3-0; Haryana bt Bihar 3-0. Group G: Tamil Nadu w/o Tripura; Assam bt Madhya Pradesh 3-2. Group H: Rajasthan bt Uttaranchal 3-0.