Surat, Sept 20:  Tamil Nadu women, pushed to the brink, showed character to wriggle themselves out of trouble to beat Karnataka 3-2 in their third round of Group B match to seal their place in the medal round of the 36th National Games at the Pt. Deendayal Upadhyaya Indoor Stadium here today.

Delhi’s men, too, thumped Haryana 3-0 to ensure a medal for them in Group A after Gujarat kept a clean slate to become the group topper.

The credit for putting the team in the semifinals goes to C.R. Harshavardhini, who trailed 0-2 before overcoming Kushi Viswanath in the deciding rubber after Yashaswini Ghorphade gave Karnataka a semblance of chance in the medal round tomorrow. But Harshavardini brushed aside the imminent threat to script what was a fantastic win for the Tamil Nadu girls.

Delhi men were, more or less, sailing in the same boat, having to beat Haryana for their second-stage entry. And they did with precision as Sudhanshu Grover, Payas Jain and Yashansh Malik posted wins over their rivals.

Results:

Women’s Team (Round 3):

Group A: Maharashtra bt Haryana 3-2 (Diya Chitale bt Riti Shankar 12-10, 11-7, 11-6; Swastika Ghosh lost to Suhana Saini 7-11, 11-2, 9-11, 7-11; Anannya Basak bt Jiya Jain 2-11, 11-7, 11-4, 12-10; Diya Chitale lost to Suhana Saini 7-11, 11-8, 15-13, 8-11, 9-11; Swastika Ghosh bt Riti Shankar 11-3, 11-13, 14-12; Telangana bt Gujarat 3-1 (Nikhat Banu lost to Krittwika Sinha Roy 5-11, 5-11, 10-12; Sreeja Akula bt Frenaz Chipia 11-8, 11-6, 11-8; Varuni Jaiswal bt Filzah Fatema Kadri 11-8, 14-12, 11-4; Sreeja Akula bt Krittwika Sinha Roy 11-9, 11-3, 11-6.

Group B: West Bengal bt Uttar Pradesh 3-0 (Prapti Sen bt Mahika Dikshit 11-7, 11-5, 11-6; Ayhika Mukherjee bt Vertica Bharat 11-4, 11-4, 11-2; Takeme Sarkar bt Suhana Mahajan 7-11, 9-11, 12-10, 11-6, 11-7; Tamil Nadu bt Karnataka 3-2 (S. Yashini bt Kushi Viswanath 11-6, 13-11, 11-9; CR Harshavardhini lost to Yashaswini Ghorpade 7-11, 8-11, 11-8,2-11; V. Kowshika bt Mariya Rony 11-5, 11-8, 8-11, 11-6; S. Yashini lost to Yashashwini Gorphade 7-11, 11-8, 11-13, 11-7, 8-11; CR Harshavardhini bt Kushi Viswanath 6-11, 9-11, 11-4, 11-9, 11-6.

Men’s Team (Round 3):

Group A: Gujarat bt Telangana 3-0 (Manush Shah bt BV. Shankar 11-5, 12-10, 11-2; Manav Thakkar bt Mohammed Ali 11-3, 12-10, 11-7, Harmeet Desai bt Farooqui Moh. Zubair 8-11, 11-6, 11-8, 7-11, 11-3); Delhi bt Haryana 3-0 (Sudhanshu Grover bt Wesely D’Rossario 11-9, 13-11, 5-11, 11-5; Payas Jain bt Soumyajit Ghosh 12-10, 11-7, 11-5; Yashansh Malik bt Jubin Kumar 11-8, 11-7, 11-9).

Group B: Maharashtra bt Karnataka 3-0 (Deepit R Patil bt KJ Akash 11-4, 11-7, 12-10; Sanil Shetty lost to Samarth Kurdikeri 11-9, 11-8, 8-11, 11-6; Ravindra Kotiyan bt R. Rakshit 6-11, 8-11, 11-7, 11-9, 11-6; West Bengal bt Uttar Pradesh 3-0 (Jeet Chandra bt Divyansh Srivastava 6-11, 9-11, 11-8, 11-7, 11-7; Ronit Bhanja bt Abhishek Yadav 11-1, 11-9, 11-5; Ankur Bhattacharjee bt Sarthak Seth 11-9, 11-5, 11-8.