LUCKNOW, JANUARY 23: Petroleum Sports Promotion Board (PSPB) and West Bengal women were the first to move into the second stage of the 73 rd Senior National and Inter-State Table Tennis Championships at the SAI sub-centre indoor hall here on Monday.

This, in effect, means the two group toppers in A and B have, as expected, secured their appointed position without a whimper while leaving Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan to fight for the second position in group A and Chattisgarh and Haryana in group B, respectively.  

As for the men paddlers, all the group toppers have had a smooth sailing into the second stage, including PSPB which did not feel the absence of Achantha Sharath Kamal, who is expected to join the team tomorrow. PSPB’s toch-bearers on the day were Amal Raj, Subajit Saha, Soumyadeep Roy and Sanil Shetty who went about their tasks as if it was some kind of a routine.

PSPB women, on the other hand, were very methodical in moving ahead, first accounting for Rajasthan and then Madhya Prdesh with little ressitance coming from the two teams in their group. Poulami Ghatak, K Shamini and Mouma Das complimented each other very well to beat Rajasthan 3-0 and then repeated the performance against Madhya Pradesh. All the three were in the pink of their form and that was visible the way they dealt with their opponents.

And West Bengl women were no less aggressive when they took on both Chattisgarh and Haryana in group B. As expected the other group leaders kept their billing intact as they just mowed down their opponents. There was some some kind of a loss of form for Rajasthan who led group F after their position last year. The loss of Devesh Karia, who have moved over to Gujarat.,and Jubin Kumar who is now playing for PSPB, have seen Rajasthan struggling. That was visible when Punjab challenged Rajasthan in the first round before going down 2-3 to the latter.

Any surprise, if at all any, in the championships will be known only after the second stage matches in both men and women’s section are gone through as that will separate matured men and women from the pretedners.

Men's team championship: (Round 1)

Group A: PSPB  bt  Delhi 3 - 0, Assam bt Manipur 3 – 0.

Group B: West Bengal  bt  Orissa 3 – 0, Andhra Pradesh bt Goa 3 – 0.

Group C: Tamil Nadu  bt  Chandigarh 3 – 0, Maharashtra B bt Himachal Pradesh 3 – 0.

Group D: Maharashtra A bt Jammu & Kashmir 3 – 0, Madhya Pradesh bt  Jharkhand 3 – 0.

Group E: Gujarat  bt  Kerala 3 – 0, Chattisgarh bt Sikkim 3 – 0.

Group F: Punjab bt Rajasthan 3 – 2, North Bengal  bt Tripura  3 – 0.

Group G: RSPB bt Bihar 3 – 0, Karnataka bt Uttarakhand 3 – 0.

Group H: Haryana bt Andaman & Nicobar 3 – 0, Uttar Pradesh bt Arunachal Pradesh 3 – 0, Haryana bt  Meghalaya 3 – 0, Uttar Pradesh bt Andaman & Nicobar 3 – 0.

Women’s team championship:

Group A: PSPB bt  Rajasthan 3 – 0, PSPB bt  Madhya Pradesh 3 – 0.

Group B: West Bengal  bt  Haryana 3 – 0, West Bengal  bt  Chhattisgarh 3 – 0.

Group C: North Bengal  bt Himachal Pradesh 3 – 0, North Bengal  bt  Chandigarh  3 – 0.

Group D: Maharashtra a  bt Uttarakhand 3 – 0, Assam bt Sikkim 3 – 0.

Group E: Maharahstra b  bt  Manipur 3 – 0.

Group F: Airport Authority of India bt Uttar Pradesh  3 – 0, Kerala bt Jammu & Kashmir 3 – 1.

Group G: Andhra Pradesh bt  Punjab 3 – 1, Tamil Nadu w/o Goa.

Group H: Jharkhand bt Meghalaya 3 – 0, Gujarat bt Tripura 3 – 0.