Kolkata, August 23: Achanta Sharatha Kamal, who made his appearance at the Ordnance Factory Board conducted All-India Inter-Institutional Table Tennis Championships at the Khudiram Indoor Stadium here today, not only helped his team enter the men’s final but also sounded a grim warning to all with an easy win over his Central Revenue Sports Board (CRSB).  He defeated Eric Fernandez 11-8, 11-8, 11-7 to make his mark.

Anthony Amalraj and young Soumyajit Ghosh, taking the cue from the senior pro, went about their tasks methodically to demolish Central Revenue team 3-0. In the other semifinal, Railways Sports Promotion Board (RSPB) defeated Airport Authority of India (AAI) 3-1 and they will take on PSPB in what is a repeat final yet again.    

Earlier, the presence of Sharath Kamal made a world of good to the women team’s confidence as they too made it to the final beating Dena Bank 3-1. PSPB women will meet RSPB who blanked out Airports Authority of India 3-0 in the other semifinal, in the final tomorrow. Though PSPB’s Youth girls and Youth boys’ teams retained their titles-boys and girls registered all-win record with six and eight points, respectively-it was a bit of struggle for PSPB girls against a determined AAI girls.

Nikhat Banu and Kritwika Sinha Roy were the star performers for AAI on the day when both Olympian Ankita Das and Manika Batra struggled to find their rhythm. Nikhat first defeated Ankita in straight sets, putting Petroleum under pressure, while stretching Manika to five games. In fact, Manika was rusty to begin with and had several anxious moments in the match against Roy too. The PSPB girl continued that form in the crucial see-saw match against Nikhat, but luckily for her team she took the deciding game 12-10.

However, the worst display came from Ankita who was not at all in her elements today. Not only did she commit several unforced errors at the net, but even her backhand serves eluded her on the day. Nikhat, on the other hand, was picking up everything that came from across the net and even surprised the Olympian with some scorching forehand smashes.

Anirban Nandi did the star turn for RSPB by winning both his singles, first against Sushmit Sriram 9-11, 11-6, 11-8, 7-11, 11-9 and then defeated an attacking Raj Mondal in four sets of 11-8, 14-12, 8-11, 11-7. Then it was left to E. Prabhakaran to take the other match against Nithin Thiruvengadam while their third player, Aman Balgu, lost to Raj Monday 1-3.      

Results:

Men: (Quarterfinals): PSPB bt LIC 3-0 (A. Amalrajbt Sougata Sarkar 3-1, Soumyajit Ghosh bt L. Sathiswaran 3-2, Subhajit Saha btRavi Joshi 3-0); CRSB bt IA&AD 3-0 (Sayanpaul Roy bt Mohit Verma 3-2,Devesh Karia bt Srivatsa Chakraborty 3-0, Eric Fernandes bt Abhishek Mukherjee3-0); AAI bt FCI 3-0 (Raj Mondal bt S. Seshadri 3-2, T. Nitin bt Sarthak Gandhi3-2, Sushmit Sriram bt Samir Sahani 3-1); RSPB bt RBI 3-0 (Anirban Nandi btMukul Boro 3-0, E. Prabhakaran bt Souvik Roy 3-1, Aman Balgu bt Ali Baba 3-0).

Semi-finals: PSPB bt CRSB 3-0 (A. Amaraj bt DeveshKaria 11-6, 11-8, 11-8, Soumyajit Ghosh bt Sayan Paul Roy 11-5, 12-10, 11-3, A.Sharath Kamal bt Eric Fernandez 11-8, 11-8, 11-7); RSPB bt AAI 3-1 (Anirban Nandi bt S. Sriram 9-11, 11-6, 11-8, 7-11, 11-9, Aman Balgu lost to Raj Mondal 11-2, 4-11, 4-11, 5-11, E. Prabhakaran bt T. Nithin 9-11, 11-8, 7-11, 13-11, 11-8, Anirban Nandi bt Raj Mondal 11-7, 14-12, 8-11, 11-7).

Women: (Quarterfinals): PSPB bt Air India 3-0 (K.Shamini bt Vedika Garg 3-0, Mouma Das bt Mallika Bhandarkar 3-1, Poulomi Ghatakbt Ritja Khopkar 3-0); Dena Bank bt LIC 3-0 (N. Vidya bt Prajkta Tipale 3-2,Mamta Prabhu bt Ripu Daman 3-0, Frenaz Chipia bt S.V. Mogre 3-0); RSPB btIndian Bank 3-1 (Anindita Chakraborty bt K.K. Narmada 3-2, Shweta Parte bt V.Sneha 3-0, Sumana R. Krishnan bt Takeme Sarkar 3-0, Anindita bt Sneha 3-1); AAIbt IA&AB 3-0 (Nikhat Banu bt Sayantika Kundu 3-1, Kritwika Sinha Roy bt SapnaSharma 3-0, A.V. Niveditha bt Himani Bhatt 3-2).

Semifinals: PSPB bt Dena Bank 3-1 (Mousmi Paul lostto Mamata Prabhu 9-11, 8-11m 10-12, Mouma Das bt N. Vidya 11-8, 11-7, 11-9, PoulomiGhatak bt Frenaz Chipia 11-4, 11-5, 118, Mouma Das bt Mamata Prabhu 11-9, 11-8,11-9); RPSB bt AAI 3-0 (Takeme Sarkar bt Nikhat Banu 3-11, 12-10, 7-11, 11-8, 11-9, Anandita Chakraborty bt Krittwika Sinha Roy 11-8, 6-11, 8-11, 11-7, 12-10, Shreya Ghosh bt AV Niveditha 11-1, 9-11, 11-5, 11-9).