Panchkula, December 17: As long as Suhana Saini kept her in the critical fourth rubber, Haryana had a reasonable chance of advancing to the quarterfinals of women’s team events of the UTT Senior Nationals and Inter-State Table Tennis Championships.

But, playing the reverse singles, the under-19 girl did what she could, stretching Prapti Sen of West Benga, before going down 2-3 at the Tau Devi Lal Stadium here today. With that loss, the hosts’ hope faded away, and Haryana ended on the losing side, as the West Bengal women claimed the tie to win 3-1 and enter the quarterfinals. However, their chance of making it to the National Games next year is kept alive as the RBI and the Railways are not eligible as institutional teams cannot participate in the Games.

Prapti Sen and Suhana Saini were the common factors. Haryana’s Prathoki Charaborti squandered a 2-0 lead in the first rubber to let Prapti win 10-12, 9-11, 11-4, 11-5, 11-4. But Suhana beat Syndrela 11-8, 12-10, 5-11, 11-8 to restore parity. But what tilted the balance towards Bengal was Kaushani Nath’s win over Anjali Rohilla. But the defensive Haryana player played poorly against Kaushani, who wore a brace to overcome her back pain and let the Bengal paddler control from close to the table. Kaushani won 11-3, 11-5, 11-5 to put her side 2-1 up.

Suhana was down and out when Prapti led 2-0. But an error-prone Prapti let Suhana surge ahead in the third and fourth games to level the score. At that time, it looked like Haryana had a distinct advantage. In fact, Suhana led 5-4 at the change of sides, but let Prapti inched her way up. Four negative points on the trot from Suhana to  Prapti changed the complexion as West Bengal ousted Haryana from the medal reckoning.

Haryana’s men went down to the Airports Authority of India 0-3. SFR Snehit beat Wesley Do Rosario 3-0, Jeet Chandra dropped two games before overcoming left-handed Jubin Kumar 3-2, and Deepit R. Patil defeated Rishab Mayank 3-1.

As expected, RBI women beat Rajasthan (TTFI-1), Karnataka defeated Telangana, Maharashtra accounted for Madhya Pradesh, RSPB downed Pondicherry and Tamil Nadu thrashed Andhra Pradesh. They all won with identical 3-0 victory margins. But Delhi and Gujarat beat Chandigarh and Kerala 3-1.

In the men’s team events, PSPB, UP, AAI, Tamil Nadu, Delhi, West Bengal, Maharashtra and Telangana joined AAI in the quarterfinals.

Results: Pre-quarterfinals:

Men: PSPB bt Orissa 3-0, Uttar Pradesh bt Karnataka 3-1, AAI bt Haryana 3-0, Tamil Nadu bt Assam 3-0, Delhi bt Uttarakhand 3-0, West Bengal bt Punjab 3-0, Maharashtra bt Gujarat 3-1, Telangana bt Himachal Pradesh 3-0.

Women: RBI bt Rajasthan (TTFI-1) 3-0, West Bengal bt Haryana 3-1, Karnataka bt Telangana 3-0, Maharashtra bt Madhya Pradesh 3-0, Delhi bt Chandigarh 3-1, RSPB bt Pondicherry 3-0, Gujarat bt Kerala 3-1, Tamil Nadu bt Andhra Pradesh 3-0.