New Delhi, July 28: Archana Kamath Girish, all of 14 years, gave an interesting twist to the fortunes of her team as the Airports Authority of India (AAI) did the impossible in the Youth Girls section of the 45th All India International Table Tennis Championships at the Thyagraj Stadium here today.

Archana, doing a star turn for her team, outwitted title-favourites Petroleum Sports Promotion Board (PSPB) 3-2 to take the top perch in the round-robin league format. The Cadet girl first beat the experienced Manika Batra 11-9, 11-9, 11-9 in the second singles and then accounted for another equally skilled Reeth Rishya 11-3, 11-4, 5-11, 6-11, 11-9 in what lifted an otherwise gloomy inaugural day of the championships.

Earlier, the promising Sreeja Akula did play role with perfection to put AAI 1-0 when the girl from Telangana downed Reeth Rishya 11-5, 9-11, 9-11, 11-9, 11-4 in the first singles to set the tone. Cashing in on, Archana blanked out Manika with minimum points to go ahead 2-0. However, Senhora D’Souza brought some sanity when she beat AAI’s weak-link Maria Rony 11-6, 11-7, 11-6. This restored the confidence in Manika who downed Sreeja 11-5, 11-8, 11-6 in their reverse singles for a 2-all score.

With the match going to the decider, it was left to both Archana and Reeth to come good for a turnaround. Archana, using her forehand to better effect, took a 2-0 lead only to surrender the advantage to Reeth who came back strongly with better serves and equally good returns. In the last game, Archana was up to the task, leading 5-1 and then 8-5 with Reeth unable to pick her up, though she did manage a few more points before the Bengaluru girl shut her down.

Incidentally, both Archana and Sreeja were part of the Indian Cadet squad that participated in the Asian Juniors at Kuala Lumpur last week. The win today against PSPB has, more or less, decided the title in AAI’s favour unless they goof it up in the remaining matches.

Harsh too good

Similarly, there was another major upset in the Youth Boys section when PSPB went 2-3 down to Dena Bank, thanks to Harsh Sachanandani’s never-say-die attitude. The player from Gujarat proved too hot for both Abhishek Yadav and Sudhanshu Grover-the two are products of PSPB Academy at Ajmer-as Harsh won his singles against the two in great style to push Dena Bank to the top of the chart and their maiden title.

Harsh beat Abhishek 7-11, 11-5, 7-11, 11-8, 11-3 with excellent returns and quick-footed movements. Then Shreyal Telang did the unexpected to beat Sudhanshu 11-7, 6-11, 8-11, 11-8  for a comfortable 2-0 lead. But Peeyush Prasad was taken care of by Lalrin Puia who won the third singles 11-3, 11-9, 11-6 for PSPB before Abhishek restored parity with a struggling win 4-11, 11-8, 5-11, 11-4, 11-6 over Shreyal. With Harsh playing the decider, all eyes were on the last rubber but a struggling Sudhanshu was never going to make it against the red hot Harsh, who won 11-2, 6-11, 11-8, 8-11, 11-8.

As for the men and women’s fare, the group matches are yet to be completed. However, PSPB men and women have made it to the second stage by posting two wins each against their rivals. Other groups in both sections are hazy with a few rounds to go.

Results (incomplete):

Men:

Group A: PSPB bt Ministry of Communication 3-0, PSPB bt BSNL 3-0; Group B: RSPB bt DAE 3-0,

Group C: AAI bt OFSPB 3-0, AAI bt OFSPB 3-0; Group D: CRSP nt DASCB 3-0, CRSB bt Canara Bank 3-0; Group E: Air India bt RBI 3-1, ESIC bt AIESCB 3-0; Group F: LIC bt SBP 3-0, IA&AD bt AFSCB 3-0, SBP bt AFSCB 3-0.

Women:

Group A: PSPB bt DAE 3-0, PSPB bt IA&AD 3-0; Group B: AAI bt LIC 3-0, AAI w/o ESIC 3-0, FCI bt LIC 3-0, LIC w/o ESIC 3-0, FCI w/o ESIC 3-0; Group C: RSPC bt CRSB 3-0, RSPB bt BSNL 3-0, CRSB bt Defence Accounts 3-1; Group D: Air India lost to RBI 1-3, Dena Bank bt Ministry of Communications, RBI bt Ministry of Communications 3-0, Air India bt Dena Bank 3-2.

Youth Boys: PSPB bt RSPB 3-0, AAI lost to Dena Bank 2-3, PSPB lost to Dena Bank 2-3.

Youth Girls:  PSPB lost to AAI 2-3, Air India bt Dena Bank 3-0,