Vadodara, January 7: It was as quick as it can get. Top-seeded Rajasthan defeated Karnataka 3-0 to enter the Youth Boys quarterfinals in the 11Even Sports 78th Junior and Youth National Championships at the SAMA Indoor Complex here today.

But they will run into a solid Delhi who beat North Bengal by the same margin. In fact, all winners of pre-quarterfinal matches were fancied to win and they did their job diligently, demolishing their opponents rather easily.

Though the top-seeded team beat Karnataka, Rajasthan boys were not convincing enough on the day. Pankaj Vishwakarma and Shubham Ojah on whose shoulders rest the holders’ fortune struggle in their first knockout outing. Pankaj was stretched fully when Rakshit Barigidad challenged him well before the Rajasthan lad overcame 11-7, 5-11, 7-11, 11-3, 11-5. Even Shubham found good resistance from Shreyas Kulkarni before going down 11-5, 4-11, 10-12, 5-11. Asif Khan, their third player, showed guts to beat Rohan Jamadagni 11-5, 11-8, 5-11, 11-7 for the quarterfinal berth.

Haryana boys managed to take a rubber off Uttar Pradesh when Gourang Shakreja took the third singles against Arjun Kohli 12-10, 11-7, 11-8. But UP showed more determination and almost sealed their berth in the last eight stages when Abhina Belwal and Sarthak Sethi downed their opponents Paras Madan and Ayush Tayal in straight games. In his return singles, Abhinav ensured that UP went through by beating Aush 11-7, 11-7, 11-8. This was the only 3-1 verdict as all other teams won 3-0 to advance.

In Youth Girls, except for two matches between Airports Authority of India (AAI) and Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal and Haryana, all other pre-quarterfinals went along the expected line.

However, the AAI girls led by Archana Girish Kamath, Ayhika Mukherjee and Chipia Frenaz struggled to overcome a tough Andhra. It is another matter that the AAI girls did manage to win but they wouldn’t be satisfied with their performance, especially Archana who went down to Shailu Noorbasha in her singles.

THE SAVIOUR: Ayhika Mukherjee, who rescued her team with two singles win to put AAI in quarterfinals, in action against Kajol Ramjali of Andhra Pradesh.

The experienced Ayhika put AAI in the lead when she beat Kajol Ramjali 11-5, 14-12, 11-8 but Archana lost the second singles when Shailu beat her in straight games of 11-8, 11-9, 11-9 to the utter shock of the AAI girl, who is a higher ranked player. Worse followed AAI when their third player Chipia lost to B.Nagasravani 8-11, 11-4, 10-12, 7-11 to put their team in tremendous pressure.

Luckily, sanity returned when Archana beat Kajol in her reverse with a 12-10, 11-7, 11-5 verdict and it was followed up by Ayhika who accounted for Shailu 11-4, 11-6, 11-6, much to the relief of AAI who will now meet Telangana in the quarterfinals.

Haryana girls, unlike their boys, proved to be gutsier as West Bengal would vouch. What clinched the issue in favour of the second-seeded West Bengal was the crucial third singles which Priyadarshini Das won against Shelly Khandelwal to go 2-1 up.

Haryana’s top-ranked Suhana Saini lost her first singles to Surbhi Patwari 11-6, 5-11, 10-12, 9-11 while Riti Shankar restored parity when she shocked Moumita Datta 6-11, 11-8, 9-11, 14-12, 11-3 in a tough second singes. Later Riti beat Surbi 5-11, 11-7, 11-3, 11-4 to bring team scores on level. However, Moumita accounted for Suhana 11-6, 8-11, 11-7, 11-6 to seal Haryna’s fate.

All quarterfinals, including the Junior Boys and Girls, will be played tonight with the team finals slated for tomorrow. The doubles events in all sections will also begin tomorrow after the finals.