India: The favorites kept their faith in fate in the women’s team event of the 87th UTT Senior National Table Tennis Championships as the top candidates advanced to the quarterfinals with confident performances in the pre-quarterfinal round at the Abhay Prashal Stadium on Sunday.
While most of the matches ended in identical 3-0 scores, several individual players provided tense moments and seventh-seeded West Bengal – which fielded a young line-up – bowed out after a spirited fight against Gujarat.
Top contenders Petroleum Sports Promotion Board, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Gujarat and RBI all made it to the last eight, highlighting the strength and consistency of the country’s leading teams.
The PSPB began its campaign against Haryana with full authority. Yahaswini Ghorpade set the tone with a comfortable back-to-back win over Suhana Saini before Taneesha Kotecha consolidated the lead with a solid win against Prithoki Chakraborti. The closest moment of the tie came in the third round where Syndrela Das was hard-pressed by Sneha Bhowmick and eventually sealed the match 13-11, 12-10 in the last two games after losing the second.
Delhi also registered a 3-0 win over Assam despite the first two games requiring resilience. Lakshita Narang was briefly tested by Bhavna Kashyap, who grabbed the third game before Narang steadied himself and ended the fight. Sayanika Maji then saw off Trisha Gogoi in a close third game en route to a four-game win before Garima Goyal completed the tie in two games against Bhumika Kaushik.
Uttar Pradesh enjoyed one of the smoother routes to the quarterfinals, with Avani Tripathi, Aarti Chaudhary and Disha each registering consecutive wins over their opponents from Andhra Pradesh.
Maharashtra’s encounter with Chandigarh was mostly pleasant but not without drama. After Pritha Vartikar took the early lead, Senhora D’Souza had to dig deep against left-hander Vani Sharma. After losing the opening game, D’Souza survived a thrilling fourth game that stretched to 15-13 to decide the game and secure the draw for Maharashtra. Ananya Chande then completed the formalities in straight games.
Tamil Nadu proved too strong for Madhya Pradesh as Selena Deepthi, Yashini Sivashankar and Nithyashree Mani each registered convincing consecutive wins, with Yashini putting in one of the most dominant performances of the round.
Karnataka’s 3-0 win over Telangana saw some of the most competitive exchanges of the day. Kushi Viswanath held her nerve to prevail 15-13 in the opening game before winning in four games and Sahana Murthy showed courage in the third round and recovered after being down in five games to finally prevail.
Despite the 3-0 result, the Gujarat paddlers were made to work hard by a determined West Bengal side. Subhankrita Datta had Radhapriya Goel on the ropes after taking a 2-1 lead before the Gujarat paddler staged a comeback to win in five games. The last game was equally dramatic: Frenaz Chipia recovered from two games down against Sampriti Roy to win the decider 11-9 and complete the victory.
RBI rounded off the pre-quarterfinal action with a 3-0 win over Odisha. Neha Kumari briefly threatened an upset when she won the opening game against Sreeja Akula, but the experienced international quickly regained control and turned the game around. Ayhika Mukherjee and Diya Chitale then sealed the tie with comfortable consecutive wins.
Now that the line-up for the women’s quarter-finals has been finalized, the focus will shift to the men’s team competition, where next up will be the pre-quarter-final encounters, promising another exciting phase of the championship.
Results:
Women’s Preliminary Quarters: PSPB vs Haryana 3-0 (Yahaswini Ghorpade vs Suhana Saini 11-5, 11-8, 11-4, Taneesha Kotecha vs Prithoki Chakraborti 11-6, 11-8, 11-6, Syndrela Das vs Sneha Bhowmick 11-8, 8-11, 13-11, 12-10); Delhi vs Assam 3-0 (Lakshita Narang vs Bhaavna Kashyap 11-6, 11-6, 10-12, 11-8, Sayanika Maji vs Trisha Gogoi 11-8, 8-11, 11-9, 11-5, Garima Goyal vs Bhumika Kaushik 11-9, 11-4, 11-7); Uttar Pradesh vs Andhra Pradesh 3-0 (Avani Tripathi vs Monica Manohar 11-3, 11-9, 11-8, Aarti Chaudhary vs Kajol Ramjali 11-3, 11-3, 11-9, Disha vs Mouparna Das 11-6, 11-7, 11-7); Maharashtra vs Chandigarh 3-0 (Pritha Vartikar vs Pelf 11-6, 11-4, 11-4, Senhora D’Souza vs Vani Sharma 6-11, 12-10, 11-6, 15-13, Ananya Chande vs Teetiksha Goel 11-7, 11-8, 11-8); Tamil Nadu vs Madhya Pradesh 3-0 (Selena Deepthi vs Parmi Nagdeve 11-8, 11-8, 11-5, Yashini Sivashankar vs Moumita Pal 11-2, 11-5, 11-5, Nithyashree Mani vs Bhavya Rao 11-4, 11-6, 11-5); Karnataka vs Telangana 3-0 (Tanishka Kalbhairav vs Pranitha Garlapati 12-10, 11-7, 11-2, Kushi Viswanath vs Varuni Jaiswal 15-13, 9-11, 11-5, 11-9, Sahana Murthy vs Sree Devi Dongari 3-11, 11-6, 7-11, 11-5, 11-5); Gujarat vs West Bengal 3-0 (Radhapriya Goel vs Subhankrita Datta 11-6, 9-11, 4-11, 11-8, 11-7, Oishiki Joardar vs Ditsa Roy 11-7, 12-10, 11-7, Frenaz Chipia vs Sampriti Roy 9-11, 9-11, 11-9, 11-9, 11-9); RBI vs Odisha 3-0 (Sreeja Akula vs Neha Kumari 8-11, 11-6, 11-7, 11-7, Ayhika Mukherjee vs Urja Verma 11-5, 11-3, 11-7, Diya Chitale vs Barsha Panda 11-5, 11-2, 11-2).
