New Delhi, July 24: The Petroleum Sports Promotion Board (PSPB) men toyed with Defence Accounts Sports Control Board (DASCB) and inflicted a 3-0 triumph, while their women team members followed suit with a similar verdict over BSNL SCB in their first round group matches on the opening day of the AAI 46^th All India Inter-Institutional Championships at the SMS Indoor Stadium here today.

More than the domination of the reigning championships, a foregone conclusion, what emerged as a resounding warning to the rest of teams in fray was that both PSPB teams achieved these wins without dropping a sweat.

However, the Youth Boys team of Railway Sports Promotion Board (RSCB), comprising Ravindra Kotiyan, Pankaj Kumar and Shivam Srivastava gave a jolt to the PSPB team despite going down 2-3 in the morning session. It is another matter that PSPB, with the likes of Abhishek Yadav, Manav Thakkar and Utkarsh Gupta, recovered to put it across their rivals but what surprised everyone was the way Youth Boys champion Manav Thakkar was overcome b y RSCB’s Vishwakarma Pankaj Kumar 11-7, 2-11, 11-8, 11-4 to produce a sterling performance.

Even Utkarsh Gupta was shaky against Shivam Srivastava in the third rubber but he managed a win after dropping his first game. Manav, on the other hand, scored a fine 3-0 win over RSPB’s No 1 player, Ravindra Kotiyan, to restore his pride.

In men’s group A match, PSPB rested both Soumyajit Ghosh and G. Sathiyan in the morning matches while doing it in style with Anthony Amalraj, Harmeet Desai and Sanil Shankar Shetty. Similarly, it was the combination of Pooja Sahasrabuddhe, K. Shamini and Mouma Das which accomplished the victory over BSNL as Manika Batra was rested for the latter match.

At least one match each in both sections of the first round got extended a bit. RSCB’s experienced Anirban Nandi lost his first rubber to Daramrajsoinh Rana of Employees State Insurance Corporation 2-3 but ESIC could not capitalize on the good start provided by Rana. Ravindra Kotiyan and E. Prabhakaran, putting behind their teammate’s loss, posted straight wins to give RSCB a 2-1 lead. In his reverse singles, Nandi made amends and shut Birupakhaya Saha 11-8, 11-9, 11-8 to win 3-1 in group B.

Similarly, the Airports Authority of India dropped a rubber when the second singles player, Chipia Frenaz went down to Swetha Kumaravel of Indian Audit and Accounts Department after Ayhika Mukherjee had put the hosts ahead. Then it was left to Archana Girish Kamath to help them regain lead before Chipia could return and down Pooja Sharma in her reverse singles for the 3-1 verdict in group C. The reasonably strong AAI’s men team defeated State Bank of Patila 3-0 in group C.

These are early stages of the game and there is no reason yet for the reputed teams to press the panic button, at least in group matches. Things will hot up only in the main draw when fortunes and calculations of even the best of teams can go awry.

Results:

Men (Round 1): PSPB bt DASCB 3-0, RSPB bt ESIC 3-1, AAI bt SBP 3-0, CRSB bt ESCB 3-0, Canara Bank SCB b AFSCB 3-0, LIC bt Major Ports 3-0.

Women (Round 1): PSPB bt BSNL 3-0, Air India bt DASCB 3-0, Reserve Bank bt LIC 3-0, AAI bt IAAD 3-1, RSCB bt MCIT 3-0