Chennai, February 14: The top four seeded teams pooh-poohed the mild threat emanating from their opponents to score emphatic wins to enter the Under-19 Youth Boys semi-finals in the UTT 84th edition of the Inter-State Youth and Junior National Championships at the Nehru Indoor Stadium here today.

In the bargain, Karnataka, Manipur, Telangana and hosts Tamil Nadu bowed out of the medal reckoning on the second day of the Boys' team challenges this morning, besides the Under-19 qualifications and second-stage contests in the Under-17 category.

Tamil Nadu expected Preyesh Raj and P.B. Abhinand, the two experienced internationals, to elevate them to the next level and place them in the medal brackets. Unfortunately, they ran into the second-seed Uttar Pradesh, blessed with the laborious Divyansh Srivastava and Sarth Mishra, willing to improve all the time.

Sarth began with a bang and tackled the left-handed Preyesh to win 11-5, 4-11, 11-9, 11-6. Divyansh set the pace in his tie against Varun Ganesh and fought back to level the score. However, Divyansh woke up in time to clip Varun's wings for a 3-2 win. Yet, P.B. Abhinand turned out as the lone fighter for Tamil Nadu to take the rubber against Akshat Tyagi 5-11, 11-4, 13-11, 11-8. But it did not change the fortunes of UP as Divyansh completed the task, beating Preyesh 3-1.

In the other quarterfinals, except for Delhi--they blanked out Manipur 3-0--top-seeded West Bengal downed Karnataka 3-1, with Rohith Shankar being the lone 3-1 winner against Soumyadeep Sarkar, and Maharashtra triumphed over Telangana 3-1.   

Payas Jain and Aadarsh Om Chhetri dropped a game each against Khlendrajit and Segal Singh, respectively, but they had the Manipuri boys on the hook all the time. Arjav took the third tie, beating Nelson Singh easily. West Bengal's Ankur Bhattacharjee downed K.J. Aakash of Karnataka 3-0 before overcoming Rohith Shankar 3-1 in his reverse singles. For Maharashtra, Jash Modi and Neil Mulye were clinical in their approach, while Kushal Chopda lost to Telangana's Kesavan Kannan 11-9, 8-11, 10-12, 8-11.

In the pre-quarterfinals earlier in the day, Assam went down fighting against Manipur before Segal Singh rallied to beat Jyoti Hriday Sharma 7-11, 8-11, 11-6, 11-6, 11-7 in the thrilling fifth rubber. After Segal Singh's shock 3-1 defeat of Ankur Bhattacharjee, Jyothi Hriday dominated the second tie to take down Khelendrajit Yengkhom 11-7, 11-7, 11-8 shifting the burden on Manipur. But Protim Manash Gogoi gave a fresh lifeline when she defeated Naorem Sidarth in straight games. Priyanuj beat Khelendrajit 3-1, but Segal Singh's counter paid off.

Results (Team Events):

Youth Boys U-19: Quarterfinals: West Bengal bt Karnataka 3-1 (Soumyadeep Sarkar lost to Rohith Shankar 11-8, 9-11, 6-11, 6-11, Ankur Bhattacharjee bt K.J. Aakash 11-6, 11-8, 11-7; Bodhisatwa Chaudhury bt Varun Kashyap 11-8, 5-11, 11-7, 13-11, Ankur Bhattacharjee bt Rohit Shankar 13-11, 11-9, 3-11, 11-2); Delhi bt Manipur 3-0 (Payas Jain bt Y. Khelndrajit 7-11, 11-8, 11-6, 13-11, Aadarsh Om Chhetri bt K. Segal Singh 12-10, 4-11, 11-8, 7-11, 11-3, Arjav Gupta bt K. Nelson Singh 13-11, 11-8, 11-4); Maharashtra bt Telangana 3-1 (Kushal Chopda lost to Kesavan Kannan 11-9, 8-11, 10-12, 8-11, Jash Modi bt Trishul Mehra 11-8, 11-6, 13-11, Neil Mulye bt Aadlakhiya J Dev 11-3, 11-5, 13-11;  Jash Modi bt Kesavan Kannan 8-11, 11-8, 11-7, 11-4); Uttar Pradesh bt Tamil Nadu 3-1 (Sarth Mishra bt S. Preyesh Raj 11-5, 4-11, 11-9, 11-6, Divyansh Srivastava bt Varun Ganesh 11-4, 11-5, 8-11, 9-11, 11-8, Akshat Tyagi lost to P.B. Abhinand 11-5, 4-11, 11-13, 8-11, Divyansh Srivastava bt S. Preyesh Raj 11-9, 11-9, 7-11, 11-9).

Pre-quarterfinals: West Bengal bt Madhya Pradesh 3-0; Karnataka bt Kerala 3-0; Manipur bt Assam 3-2; Delhi bt Punjab 3-0; Maharashtra bt Gujarat 3-0; Telangana bt Himachal Pradesh 3-0; Tamil Nadu bt PSPBA 3-0; Uttar Pradesh bt Andhra Pradesh 3-0.