Jammu, December 2: Haryana and Tamil Nadu’s Junior Girls had to wage real tough battles against Maharashtra B and Bengal to ensure themselves top slots in their respective groups in the 81st UTT Junior and Youth Nationals at the Indoor Hall of the M.A. Stadium here today.

After having won the first round match 3-0 against Himachal Pradesh in Group E, Haryana fought well to beat Maharashtra B 3-2, as the latter led 2-1 after the crucial doubles. But it was Suhana Saini who had to carry the burden entirely on her shoulders, winning both her singles and keeping her fingers crossed until chopper Anjali Rohilla completed the job against Vidhi Ameet Shah in the last rubber.

Anjali began badly losing to Samruddhi Kulkarni 12-14, 7-11, 8-11, but Suhana levelled score when she beat Vidhi 11-9,11-5, 11-2. But it was the doubles that put Maharashtra B in lead when Samuddhi and Vidhi combined well to outwit Suhana and Anjali 11-9, 11-4, 10-12, 7-11, 11-8.

Suhana, playing her reverse singles did her job admirably beating Samruddhi 11-8, 11-8, 8-11, 8-11, 11-9 in a fantastic fight back to provide the spark to Anjali who beat Vidhi 12-10, 11-6, 11-4.

The Tamil Nadu-Bengal B second round match kept everyone on tenterhooks as the fortunes changed hands by the rubber. Kavyashree Baskar began well beating Sammridhi Banik 11-7, 11-7, 11-6 but Nithyashree Mani lost to Sataporni de 13-11, 6-11, 8-11, 11-6, 9-11. However, the TN duo made it up by winning the doubles beating Sristi Goswami and Sataporni 11-7, 11-5, 11-8.  Sataporni soon avenged the doubles loss, beating Kavyashree 8-11, 11-9, 11-6, 11-8. Nithyashree made it look easy when she downed Sammridhi 11-4, 11-6, 11-6.

In fact, other second-round encounters did not elicit much of attention as top teams and group favourites went through the motions in Junior Girls. But Tamil Nadu suffered a shocking 1-3 defeat to Mizoram in the second round of Group C match. The loss must have straightaway put a question mark over TN’s title aspirations as Jeho defeated Vishwas Deenadayalan 11-9, 7-11, 12-10, 11-9 and Alberto Lrruata followed it up with a 7-11, 12-10, 11-8, 9-11, 16-14 triumph over Preyesh Raj Suresh and despite Preyesh and Vishwa winning the doubles 11-5, 4-11, 11-8, 11-4 against the Mizo pair, Alberto easily beat Vishwa 11-9, 11-7, 8-11, 11-6.

With the Junior Boys and Junior Girls having fished their day’s engagements, it was time for the Youth Boys and Youth Girls to begin their two rounds of campaign.

Results (Team Events):

Junior Boys (Round 1):

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

Round 2: Group A: Delhi bt Punjab 3-0; Group B: Kerala bt Andaman & Nicobar 3-0, Gujarat bt Maharashtra B 3-0; Group C: Mizoram bt Tamil Nadu 3-1, Andhra Pradesh bt Bihar 3-1; Group D: Maharashtra A bt Bengal A 3-0, Pondicherry bt Jharkhand 3-1; Group E: Karnataka bt Haryana 3-1, Madhya Pradesh bt Himachal Pradesh 3-1; Group F: Uttar Pradesh bt Telangana 3-0, Rajasthan bt Meghalaya 3-0; Group G: Bengal B bt Goa 3-0, Chandigarh bt Odisha 3-0; Group H: PSPBA bt Assam 3-1, Uttarakhand bt Jammu and Kashmir 3-1.

Junior Girls (Round 1):

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

Round 2: Group A: Maharashtra A bt Odisha 3-0; Group B: Uttar Pradesh bt Gujarat 3-1; Group C: Karnataka bt Andhra Pradesh 3-0; Group D: Delhi bt Madhya Pradesh 3-0; Group E: Haryana bt Maharashtra B 3-2, Himachal Pradesh bt Bihar 3-0; Group F: Tamil Nadu bt Bengal B 3-2, Pondicherry bt Meghalaya 3-0; Group G: Telangana bt Rajasthan 3-0, Chhattisgarh bt Jharkhand 3-1; Group H: Bengal A bt Assam 3-1, Punjab bt Jammu and Kashmir 3-1.