Shillong, April 20: The Railway Sports Promotion Board (RSPB) women, following the footpath of Haryana, made their unceremonious exit in the quarterfinals of the 83rd Senior National and Inter-State Table Tennis Championships at the SAI Indoor Stadium here today.

But was more shocking was the elimination of runners-up Delhi and bronze medallist Telangana in the men’s team events, paving the way for RSPB and Maharashtra A to enter the medal rounds. Maharashtra A’s first thrashed Delhi 3-0, and the Railmen steamrolled Telangana 3-2 in a thrilling quarterfinal.  

Both the men’s and women’s Petroleum teams entered the finals, beating the Railways and Bengal A, respectively, with similar verdicts of 3-0. In the other two semifinals, Maharashtra A women defeated Tamil Nadu Table Tennis Association 3-0 and their men beat Bengal A 3-2 in what turned out to be an edge-of-the-seat encounter.

Diya Chitale, Swastika Ghosh and Anannya Basak led their team into the final, as did Petroleum Sports Promotion Board (PSPB), downing runners-up Bengal A with an identical margin.

However, Diya Chitale’s best form and the spirited fightback alone put Maharashtra into the semifinal. Trailing 0-2 in the crucial fourth rubber against Sutirtha Mukherjee—Railways led 2-1—Diya launched herself to play some excellent game, shifting the pressure back on Sutirtha and her team. She not only levelled the score in the tie but went on to restore parity in the team score. Then it was left to Swastika to provide them with the impetus to see them through in the decider.

As for the semifinal, it was a cakewalk for the team as TNTTA failed to repeat their quarterfinal performance against TTTA.  

Strengthened by the return of Manika Batra, PSPB ran through Bengal A quickly. Kaushani Nath of Bengal, however, put up a good fight and forced Manika on the back foot for the first time. In the end, it did not matter as Manika won the second rubber after Archana had put PSPB 1-0 up. The third rubber was a formality as Reeth Rishya outsmarted Moumita Dutta, winning in straight games.

In the men’s quarterfinals, Delhi wilted under the weight of Deepit R Patil, Siddhesh Pandey and Jash Modi. The last-named played brilliantly against Yashansh Malik to make it 3-0 for Maharashtra. In the second rubber, Siddhesh never allowed any liberty to Payas Jain, who has not only improved his world rankings in U-19 Boys but has quite a few international medals to his credit. But it was Deepit’s hard-fought win against Sudhanshu Grover that gave their team the initial push.

RESULTS (Team):

Men (Semifinals): PSPB bt RSPB 3-0 (G. Sathiyan bt Akash pal 11-5, 11-4, 11-8, A. Sharath Kamal bt Arjun Ghosh 2-11, 11-9, 11-7, 11-5, Harmeet Desai bt Anukram Jain 11-7, 11-5, 11-4); Maharashtra A bt Bengal A 3-2 (Deepit Patil lost to Ronit Bhanja 11-7, 9-11, 13-15, 10-12, Siddhesh Pande bt Aniket Sen 11-7, 6-11, 11-6, 11-7, Jash Modi bt Hirakjyoti Pushilal 11-5, 11-6, 11-6, Siddhesh lost to Ronit 6-11, 12-10, 11-9, 3-11, 12-14, Deepit bt Aniket 8-11, 11-8, 11-8, 11-8).

Quarterfinals: PSPB bt Haryana 3-1 (G. Sathiyan bt Sourav Saha 14-12, 11-4, 12-10, A. Sharath Kamal bt Sarthak Gandhi 9-11, 11-3, 11-8, 11-6, Sanil Shetty lost to Wesley Rosario 10-12, 7-11, 15-13, 9-11, Sharath bt Sourav Saha 11-8, 11-9, 11-13, 14-16, 11-5); RSPB bt Telangana 3-2 (Arjun Ghosh lost to SFR Snehit 7-11, 7-11, 12-10, 11-6, 14-12, Anirban Ghosh bt Ali Mohammed 5-11, 9-11, 12-10, 11-7, 11-6, Akash Pal bt Zubain Mohammed 15-13, 4-11, 12-10, 11-6, Anirban lost to Snehit 8-11, 11-9, 9-11, 4-11, Arjun bt Ali 11-8, 11-3, 11-5); Bengal A bt Uttar Pradesh 3-2 (Ronit Bhanja bt Sarthak Seth 11-7, 12-10, 12-10, Aniket Sen lost to Abhishek Yadav 10-12, 11-13, 5-11, Tamal Ballav lost to Divyansh Srivastava 9-11, 11-4, 7-11, 7-11, Ronit bt Abhishek 8-11, 11-7, 12-10, 11-8, Aniket bt Sarthak 11-8, 12-10, 16-14); Maharashtra A bt Delhi 3-0 (Rajesh Patil bt Sudhanshu Grover 8-11, 4-11, 13-11, 11-8, 13-11, Siddhesh Pande bt Payas Jain 11-5, 11-5, 12-14, 11-8, Jash Modi bt Yashansh Malik 11-9, 8-11, 11-7, 7-11, 11-6).

Women (Semifinals): Maharashtra A bt TNTTA 3-0 (Swastika Ghosh bt Yashini Sivashankar 11-7, 11-9, 11-2, Diya Chitale bt Vidya Narasimhan 11-3, 11-9, 11-9, Anannya Basak bt Harshavardhini C 11-3, 11-7, 11-6); PSPB bt Bengal A 3-0 (Archana Kamath bt Ponmantee Baisya 11-9, 16-14, 11-8, Manika Batra bt Kaushani Nath 11-8, 11-4, 6-11, 6-11, 11-8, Reeth Rishya bt Moumita Dutta 11-6, 11-1, 14-12).

Quarterfinals:Maharashtra bt RSPB 3-2 (Diya Chitale bt Prapti Sen 2-11, 11-8, 11-7, 11-9, Swastika Ghosh lost to Sutirtha Mukherjee 7-11, 11-9, 13-11, 6-11, 6-11, Anannya Basak lost Takeme Sarkar 6-11, 11-1, 9-11, 7-11, Diya Chitale bt Sutirtha Mukherjee 7-11, 2-11, 11-9, 11-8, 11-9, Swastika Ghosh bt Prapti Sen 12-10, 11-2, 4-11, 11-6); TNTTA bt TTTA 3-0 (Vidya Narasimhan bt Selenadeepthi Selvakumar 6-11, 11-9, 12-10, 11-4, Yashini Sivashankar bt Kowshika Venkatesan 11-6, 11-7, 11-6, Harshavardhini C bt Nithyashree Mani 8-11, 11-5, 11-5, 11-6); PSPB bt Bengal B 3-0 (Manika Batra bt Saaporni De 11-5, 13-11, 11-1, Archana Girish bt Ankita Das 11-8, 12-10, 11-9, Reeth Rishya bt Nikita Sarkar 11-9, 11-6, 11-2); Bengal A bt Uttar Pradesh 3-0 (Kaushani Nath bt Radhapriya Goel 11-8, 11-8, 6-11, 7-11, 11-3, Moumita Dutta bt Suhana Narjinary 11-7, 11-8, 11-4, Poymantee Baishya bt Suhani Mahajan 12-10, 11-8, 9-11, 11-4).