Goa, December 14: The top four teams in each section, more or less, ensured a place for themselves in the knock-out stage with easy wins over their group rivals in the 11Sports 79th Cadet and Sub-Junior National Table Tennis Championships at the SP Mukherjee Indoor Stadium here today.

With just one round to go, reigning champions Tamil Nadu and Karnataka in both Sub-Junior Boys and Cadet Boys defeated their rivals 3-0, respectively, while in other groups the leaders advanced with triumphs. Nevertheless, the real fight could be for the second spot from the groups and fates of some well-known teams would be decided after the third round tomorrow.

Meanwhile, West Bengal and Delhi were sitting pretty with victories over their group rivals—Bihar and Pondichery—like Maharashtra B and North Bengal, who beat Rajasthan 3-0 and Chandigarh 3-1 in in Sub-Junior Girls.

And hosts Goa, who lost to North Bengal in group H in Cadet Girls, will have to beat Jharkhand tomorrow to grab the second slot as North Bengal, who are sure to beat Manipur, will take the top position in the group.

But what kept the spectators glued to the results was the two interesting matches—one between Odisha and Andhra Pradesh in Sub-Junior Boys and the other between Kerala and Gujarat in Cadet Girls. The Odisha-Andhra match saw players completing 25 games and the Kerala-Gujarat match just missing the mark by one game!

In the first, Odisha almost knocked Andhra out of the first round with a nice fight back after they were down 0-2 as Suman Bhuyan and Mohit Behuray fought valiantly to lose their opening rubbers in identical 2-3 margins to Akshat Sha and Adimalla Sai Deepak. But the two put up a great fight to win the doubles against Surya Telidevara and Niteesh Chiluvuri of Andhra 10-12, 11-6, 9-11, 11-9, 14-12. This helped Suman beat Adimalla in his reverse singles 11-7, 11-2, 6-11, 8-11, 11-5. But in the decider, Mohit lost 11-8, 6-11, 4-11, 11-8, 4-11 to Akshat.

In the 24-game first round match between Kerala and Gujarat the former, deservingly, won 3-2 with Smrithi Krishna doing the star turn for the southern coastal state. Her steely nerves won her the day when she, after being down 2-1 in the deciding rubber, had to pack all her punches to outsmart Jaanya Parikh by winning the last two games to put Kerala in a winning position.

After Pranati Nair beat Jaanya 13-11, 10-12, 11-9, 11-6, Smrithi went down 7-11, 14-16, 11-6, 11-7, 11-13 to Rutva Kothari. But then the two Kerala girls beat Kushi Inder and Rutva 7-11, 11-9, 11-6, 11-13, 11-5 to take the crucial doubles. Yet, there was no respite for them as Rutva, who played a vital role for Gujarat, won her reverse singles, too, beating Pranati 11-8, 11-7, 7-11, 12-13, 12-10 to restore parity. This shifted the entire burden on Smrithi who beat Jaanya after some struggle for 9-11, 11-9, 11-13, 12-10, 11-7 win.

It’s another matter, the Kerala girls lost to Telangana 1-3 in round 2 and could struggle to qualify for the knockout stage as a clear picture will emerge only tomorrow.    

There was an upset of sorts in Sub-Junior Boys first round match when Uttrakhand upset Madhya Pradesh 3-1 as the latter struggle against the hill state. It was rather a surprise despite MP boys beginning on a winning note, taking the first rubber through Anuj Soni who defeted Vihyad Vibhu 12-14, 11-7, 7-11, 11-3, 11-9. But that was all the team could do as Gautam Bharadwaj of Uttarakhand beat Eashan Mantri 3-1, then Gautam and Devansh Chauhan combined to take the doubles against Anuj and Eashan 3-1 even as Gautam accounted for Anuj 15-13, 10-12, 11-5, 9-11, 11-5 to sew it up for Uttrakhand.

The second round matches in other sections will be completed tonight.

Results:

Sub-Junior Boys (Round 1):

Group A: Tamil Nadu bt Chhattisgarh 3-0; Group B: Karnataka bt Rajasthan 3-0; Group C: Uttar Pradesh bt Andhra Pradesh 3-0, Gujarat bt Meghalaya 3-0; Group D: Goa bt Bihar 3-0, Telangana bt Odisha 30; Group E: Maharashtra A bt Assam 3-1, PSPBA bt Jharkhand 3-0; Group F: West Bengal bt Jammu and Kashmir 3-0, Uttarakhand bt Madhya Pradesh 3-1; Group G: Kerala bt Maharashtra B 3-1, Haryana bt Himachal Pradesh 3-1; Group H: Punjab bt Manipur 3-1, Delhi bt Pondicherry 3-0.

Sub-Junior Girls (Round 1):

Group A: West Bengal bt Bihar 3-0; Group B: Delhi bt Pondicherry 3-0; Group C: Assam bt Himachal Pradesh 3-0, Maharashtra B bt Rajasthan 3-0; Group D: North Bengal bt Chandigarh 3-1, Karnataka bt J&K 3-0; Group E: Telangana bt Chhattisgarh 3-0, Gujarat bt Manipur 3-0; Group F: Tamil Nadu bt Odisha 3-0, Punjab bt Jharkhand 3-0; Group G: Haryana bt Uttarakhand 3-1, Andhra Pradesh bt Arunachal Pradesh 3-0; Group H: Maharashtra A bt Kerala 3-0, Uttar Pradesh bt Meghalaya 3-0.

Cadet Boys (Round 1):

Group A: Tamil Nadu bt Chhattisgarh 3-0; Group B: Karnataka bt Rajasthan 3-0; Group C: Uttar Pradesh bt Andhra Pradesh 3-0, Gujarat bt Meghalaya 3-0; Group D: Goa bt Bihar 3-0, Telangana bt Odisha 3-0; Group E: Maharashtra A bt Assam 3-1, PSPBA bt Jharkhand 3-0; Group F: West Bengal bt J&K 3-0, Uttarakhand bt Madhya Pradesh 3-1; Group G: Kerala bt Maharashtra B 3-1, Haryana bt Himachal Pradesh 3-1; Group H: Punjab bt Manipur 3-1, Delhi bt Pondicherry 3-0.

Cadet Girls (Round 1):

Group A: Delhi bt Pondicherry 3-1; Group B: West Bengal bt Chhattisgarh 3-0; Group C: Maharashtra A bt Himachal Pradesh 3-0; Group D: Karnataka bt J&K 3-0; Group E: Tamil Nadu bt Uttarakhand 3-0, Rajasthan bt Meghalaya 3-0, Group F: Uttar Pradesh bt Madhya Pradesh 3-0, Maharashtra B bt Punjab 3-0; Group G: Kerala bt Gujarat 3-2, Telangana bt Chandigarh 3-1; Group H: North Bengal bt Jharkhand 3-1, Goa bt Manipur 3-0.

Round 2:

Group A: Delhi bt Odisha 3-1; Group B: West Bengal bt Assam 3-0; Group C: Maharashtra A bt Andhra Pradesh 3-0; Group D: Karnataka bt Haryana 3-2; Group E: Tamil Nadu bt Rajasthan 3-0, Meghalaya bt Uttarakhand 3-1; Group F: Maharashtra B bt Uttar Pradesh 3-2, Punjab bt Madhya Pradesh 3-0; Group G: Gujarat bt Chandigarh 3-0, Telangana bt Kerala 3-1; Group H: North Bengal bt Goa 3-1, Jharkhand bt Manipur 3-1.