Indore, January 22: Maharashtra beat Telangana 3-0 to storm into the team semifinals of the Under-15 Girls in the 85th UTT Cadet and Sub-Junior National Table Tennis Championships at the Abhay Prashal Indoor Stadium here today.

Joining Maharashtra in the semifinals are Delhi, Tamil Nadu, and West Bengal, who beat Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, and Karnataka identically 3-1 and stayed in the medal hunt.

Of the four teams, only Maharashtra has shown consistency and kept their opponents at bay, while the rest have fumbled and dropped a rubber to two on their way to the semifinals. That is a concern for them.

Maharashtra relied on three of their players and juggled with them cleverly. As a result, they got the desired results through Divyanshi Bhowmick, Riana Bhoota, and Kavya Bhatt. So, it was a cakewalk for them against Telangana.

Prisha Goel, Avisha Karmakar and Tushti Sood did the job for Delhi against UP despite losing the doubles. Avisha beat Yashika Tiwari 3-2 in the reverse singles to accomplish the win. But the struggle of Tamil Nadu continued. Hansini, who had a not-so-good season, was the Achilles heel. However, she made up for the first singles losses in the knockout rounds to steady the rocking boat. Despite Manal Antal winning the second singles, Haryana lacked the depth to go through.

Surprisingly, Ankolika Chakraborty lost her singles to Himanshi Chowdhary of Karnataka. But Syndrela Das made good when she combined with Ankolika to put Bengal 2-1 up and soon returned for the reverse singles to wrap it up in their favour.

The girls from Maharashtra, Delhi, Karnataka, and West Bengal had no hurdles and beat their rivals 3-0. However, Telangana, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh faced initial resistance before subduing NCOE, Kerala and Gujarat 3-1 in their pre-quarterfinal contests.  

But a gusty performance by Chandigarh made everybody sit up and watch their encounter against Tamil Nadu in the morning. Not only that, Teetiksha Goel and Vani Sharma showed much promise and held their nerves against the experienced M. Hansini and Ananya Muralidharan to put Chandigarh 2-0 ahead. A hesitant and error-prone Hansini lost 11-5, 8-11, 5-11, 11-7, 6-11 to Teetiksha, and Vani regrouped after the marathon first game loss to beat unsure Ananya 19-21, 11-4, 9-11, 13-11, 11-6 in the second singles.

Chandigarh seemed on their way at that time to upset Tamil Nadu. But Teetiksha and Vani failed to combine as a duo in the doubles, and the script for Tamil Nadu took a swift change. Hansini and Ananya's well-coordinated efforts brought them back into the match as they pulled one back. Hansini dropped her first game in the reverse singles but easily beat Vani 6-11, 11-7, 11-5, 11-9 to leave the final job to Ananya, who beat Teetiksha 11-3, 8-11, 11-7, 11-6.

A bit more effort in the doubles by the Chandigarh girls could have turned the tables on Tamil Nadu, but the two trustworthy players averted the imminent danger that lurked until the doubles.

Meanwhile, the Under-13 singles knockout began this afternoon. The doubles and the singles main draw events will begin tomorrow after the group fixtures in U-15 and U-11 get over tonight.

Team Girls: Quarterfinals: Maharashtra bt Telangana 3-0 (Divyanshi Bhowmick bt Paluru Jalani 11-1, 11-8, 12-10, Riana Bhoota bt Satya Aspathi 11-5, 14-12, 11-8, Divyanshi/Kavya Bhatt bt Paluru/Satya 11-5, 11-4, 11-5); Delhi bt UP 3-1 (Prisha Goel bt Yashika Tiwari 11-5, 11-3, 11-7, Avisha Karmakar bt Sarah Dhingra 11-4, 11-9, 11-5, Prisha/Tushti Sood lost to Yashika/Sarah 11-6, 9-11, 11-7, 11-13, 9-11, Avisha bt Yashika 7-11, 11-2, 11-6, 11-13, 11-4); Tamil Nadu bt Haryana 3-1 (Ananya Muralidharan bt Tanmayee Saha 11-7, 11-5, 10-12, 11-6, M. Hansini lost to Manal Antal 11-6, 11-8, 9-11, 9-11, 10-12, Hansini/Ananya bt Tanmayee/Manal 11-7, 6-11, 5-11, 11-5, 14-12, Hansini bt Tanmayee 11-8, 6-11, 11-7, 11-5); West Bengal bt Karnataka 3-1 (Syndrela Das bt Tanishka Kalbhairav 11-9, 11-6, 6-11, 11-1, Ankolika Chakraborty lost to Himanshi Chowdhary 8-11, 5-11, 3-11, Ankolikha/Syndrela bt Hiya Singh/Himanshi 11-6, 11-8, 11-6, Syndrela bt Himanshi 11-7, 11-7, 11-6).

Pre-quarterfinals: Maharashtra bt Goa 3-0 (Kavya bt Neeza Kamat 9-11, 11-7, 15-13, 11-8, Divyanshi bt Pradnya Sinai Caro 9-11, 7-11, 11-4, 11-5, 11-6, Ikshika/Riana bt Neeza/ Pradnya 5-11, 11-4, 11-6, 11-5); Telangana bt NCOE 3-1 (Satya lost to S. Bhuvanidha 9-11, 8-11, 8-11, Paluru bt Ranjini Saha 2-11, 8-11, 11-9, 11-9, 11-9, Satya/Paluru bt Brishtita Majumdar/Archismita Mahato 11-9, 11-6, 7-11, 11-4, Satya bt Ranjini 11-4, 11-9, 9-11, 11-9); UP bt Kerala 3-1 (Suhani lost to Edwina Edward 9-11, 7-11, 8-11, Yashika bt Tia Mundenkurian 11-7, 11-9, 8-11, 11-8, Yashika/Sarah bt Tisha/Tia 12-10, 11-9, 7-11, 12-10, Yashika bt Edwina 11-5, 11-9, 11-3); Delhi bt MP 2-0 (Prisha bt Advika Agrawal 11-8, 11-13, 11-9, 11-5, Avisha bt Parmi Nagdeve 11-6, 12-14, 11-4, 11-8, Prisha/Avisha bt Advika/Bhavya Rao 11-8, 11-8, 6-11, 7-11, 11-2); Tamil Nadu bt Chandigarh 3-2 (M. Hansini lost to Teetiksha Goel 11-5, 8-11, 5-11, 11-7, 6-11, Ananya lost to Vani Sharma 21-19, 4-11, 11-9, 11-13, 6-11, Hansini/Ananya bt Teetiksha/Vani 11-3, 11-9, 11-5, Hansini bt Vani 6-11, 11-7, 11-5, 11-9, Ananya bt Teetiksha 11-3, 8-11, 11-7, 11-6); Haryana bt Gujarat 3-1 (Tanmayee bt Mouboni Chatterjee 12-14, 11-3, 11-6, 11-9, Manal lost to Jiya Trivedi 15-13, 8-11, 8-11, 11-9, 7-11, Tanmayee/Manal bt Mouboni/Jiya 9-11, 11-5, 8-11, 12-10, 11-4, Tanmayee bt Jiya 11-6, 14-12, 11-6); Karnataka bt Pondicherry 3-0 (Tanishka bt I. Iniya 11-5, 9-11, 11-6, 11-5, Himanshi bt M. Kajanethra 11-4, 11-2, 11-9, Tanishka/Ayushi bt Iniya/Kajanethra 12-10, 9-11, 11-4, 11-5); West Bengal bt Odisha 3-0 (Ankolika bt Shakshi Bhagat 11-2, 11-7, 11-4, Syndrela bt Ankita Priyadarshi 11-2, 11-1, 11-1, Syndrela/Ankolikha bt Urja Verma Sweta Verma 11-3, 11-8, 11-2).