Rajasthan surprise North Bengal, PSPB men and women romp into last 16
By IANSMonday, January 17, 2011
KOLKATA - Rajasthan men surprised formidable North Bengal while title holders Petroleum Sports Promotion Board (PSPB) cruised into the pre-quarterfinals in both the men’s and women’s events in the 72nd Senior National and Inter-State Table Tennis Championship here Monday.
Rajasthan men paddlers conquered the higher ranked North Bengal 3-1, winning three matches in a row after Devesh Karia went down 12-10, 11-6, 9-11, 12-14, and 7-11 to Soumyajit Ghosh.
Later, Rajasthan crushed Uttarakhand 3-0 in the second round on the first day of riveting action at the Netaji Indoor Stadium.
In men’s contest, PSPB outplayed Andhra Pradesh and Orissa with identical 3-0 results in their two rounds to romp into the last 16.
Soumyadeep Roy, Sourav Chakraborty and Subhajit Saha proved more than a handful for the Andhra Pradesh team of P.Vignesh Reddy, Somnath Ghosh and M.Krishna Kirti in the opening round.
A. Amalraj then joined Chakraborty and Roy to humble Orissa.
In women’s section, PSPB’s K Shamini, Mouuma Das, and Divya Deshpande coasted to comfortable victories over their Chhattisgarh opponents.
Madhurika Patkar and Pooja Sahastrabudhe then joined forces with Shamini to account for paddlers from Chandigrah in the second round rubber.
North Bengal, Maharashtra A and hosts West Bengal also made it to the prequarters by winning both their matches scheduled for the day.
