Chennai, February 8: The top-ranked and seeded teams from Maharashtra, Haryana, Karnataka, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Delhi and Kerala booked their second-stage spots in the Youth Girls Under-19 team events of the UTT 84th Inter-State Junior and Youth National Championships at the Nehru Indoor Stadium today.

There were, as expected, no problems with these seven teams that dominated against their opponents to occupy the top positions in Groups A to G. However, the fight for the No. 1 position in Group H continued between Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh with the team positions on a razor's edge. 

Irrespective of the results of the second-round match, Gujarat and UP seemed destined to qualify from the group for the knockout stage, despite Punjab beating Chhattisgarh 3-0. Only the last-round matches later today will determine the second qualifiers from other groups.

With the truck carrying Stag equipment, including flooring and tables, breaking down yesterday morning midway, the Tamil Nadu Table Tennis Association (TNTTA) officials had to work overtime last night to arrange for Stag tables and balls from local sources so that the matches in U-19 team events could proceed unhindered.

With the open draw for team events having taken place yesterday—TNTTA president T. Dhevanathan Yadav doing the honours by picking the balls—the competition department of TTFI was keen to get on with the events this morning as per schedule. Accordingly, all the technical officials, headed by N. Ganeshan and referee Anil Dubey, oversaw the laying of nine tables to start the day's proceedings at 9 a.m.

Maharashtra girls seeded No. 1, began with a bang beating Pondicherry 3-0 as Taneesha Kotecha disposed of Ananya Barady 11-3, 11-6, 11-5 to set the ball rolling from Group A in their first-round tie. Jennifer Verghese followed suit, downing Isshani J of Pondicherry 11-6, 11-4, 11-4, and Sayali Wani, though struggling initially, overcame Iniya 11-9, 12-10, 11-6 to complete the job.

Haryana, the second-seeded squad, had no qualms in dismissing Daman & Diu with a similar 3-0 verdict, as Prithoko Chakraborti, Suhana Saini and Saanvi Dargan accounted for Khushi Rathod, Yashvi Patel and Vidhi Kandoria of D&D. So sharp were the Haryana paddlers, they allowed mere 25 points to their opponents, and imposed their superiority with authority. 

The 3-0 results were the order of the day as Karnataka defeated Uttarakhand in Group C, West Bengal girls downed Assam in Group D, Delhi beat Rajasthan in Group F, Kerala accounted for Bihar in Group G, while Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat from Group H beat their rivals Chhattisgarh and Punjab, respectively.

However, hosts Tamil Nadu dropped a tie to Telangana before overcoming the neighbouring state 3-1. The experienced Kavyashree Baskar proved the lynchpin as the lanky Tamil Nadu girl first beat Satya Aspathi 9-11, 11-7, 10-12, 11-3, 11-9 and then won the crucial fourth rubber in her reverse singles against Bhaavitha Nagulapalli, who accounted for Amrutha Nalene Subaash of Tamil Nadu in the second tie. The Telangana girl won 4-11, 11-9, 11-5, 5-11, 11-9 in a tough outing. Though M. Hansini easily beat Paluru Jalani 11-4, 11-9, 11-8 to put TN 2-1 up, Kavyashree's 3-1 victory over Bhaavitha proved the clincher.

In between, the group qualifying events in the Youth Girls U-17 singles also got underway. The girls will play two more rounds today as the main draw of the team events, and the U-17 singles begin tomorrow with the U-17 doubles on what could be a hectic day for the paddlers. 

The Youth Affairs and Sports Minister of Tamil Nadu, Udayanidhi Stalin, formally inaugurated the championships in the evening. 

Important Results:

Group A: Maharashtra bt Goa 3-0 and Pondicherry 3-0.

Group B: Haryana bt Andhra Pradesh 3-0 and Daman & Diu 3-0.

Group C: Karnataka bt Madhya Pradesh 3-0 and Uttarakhand 3-0.

Group D: West Bengal bt Chandigarh 3-0 and Assam 3-0.

Group E: Tamil Nadu bt Jharkhand 3-0 and Telangana 3-1.

Group F: Delhi bt Himachal Pradesh 3-0 and Rajasthan 3-0.

Group G: Kerala bt Odisha 3-0 and Bihar 3-0. 

Group H: Gujarat bt Punjab 3-0; UP bt Chhattisgarh 3-0; Punjab bt Chhattisgarh 3-0.