JAIPUR: With all the top five players in both the men and women's section in its ranks, defending champion Petroleum Sports Promotion Board (PSPB) expectedly entered the knock-out stage (pre-quarterfinals) in the Oil India 67th National and inter-State table tennis championships, which commenced at the Sawai Maan Singh Indoor Stadium here on Tuesday.

The PSPB men's team of Sharath Kamal, Soumyadeep Roy, Subhajit Saha, Sibaji Dutta and Arup Basak scored 3-0 wins over Tripura and Chandigarh.

The women's squad consisting of Poulomi Ghatak, K. Shamini, Mouma Das, Vishaka Bijoy and Montu Ghosh scripted identical victories over Chandigarh and Madhya Pradesh.

Railway Sports Promotion Board (RSPB) men, who finished runner-up in 2005, qualified for the pre-quarterfinals with victories over Orissa and Jammu &Kashmir.

Last year women's semifinalist Tamil Nadu lost to West Bengal 1-3 in a Group `B' clash to finish second but still qualified for the last 16.

Mythili flatters to deceive

In the three-team league, which also had Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu did have an outside chance to defeat West Bengal, and thereby finish on top. In fact, twice-National champion M.S. Mythili showed sparks of her old-self against Sushmita Roy in the first tie.

Leading 10-8 in the first game and up 7-3 in the fourth game, Mythili, playing for Tamil Nadu after nine years, let Sushmita off the hook. Sushmita won 13-11, 8-11, 14-16, 11-8, 11-3.

J. Swarna equalised the scores by overcoming Pallavi Kundu 11-5, 11-7, 9-11, 11-6. However, Avanti Sinha and Sushmita closed out the tie for West Bengal with victories over N. Sathyabama and Swarna respectively.

Tamil Nadu men and Pondicherry women also reached the pre-quarterfinals. Jammu and Kashmir, Tripura and Goa women teams withdrew from the tournament.

The Governor of Rajasthan, Pratibha Patel, earlier inaugurated the championship.

The results:

Men: Mizoram bt Tripura 3-0; PSPB bt Chandigarh 3-0; Mahrashtra `B' bt J&K 3-0; RSPB bt Orissa 3-0; Haryana bt U.P. 3-1; Rajasthan bt Haryana 3-0; Kerala bt Meghalaya 3-0; TN bt Pondicherry 3-0; Kerala bt Pondicherry 3-0; Gujarat bt Bihar 3-1; North Bengal bt Chhattisgarh 3-0; West Bengal bt M.P. 3-0; Karnataka bt Jharkhand 3-0; Mahrashtra `A' bt H.P 3-0; Delhi bt Uttaranchal 3-0; Punjab bt Assam 3-2; Assam bt Goa 3-0.

Women: PSPB bt Chandigarh 3-0; Assam bt Jharkhand 3-1; Pondicherry bt Rajasthan 3-2; Bihar bt H.P. 3-0; Kerala bt Orissa 3-1; N. Bengal bt Gujarat 3-1; Delhi bt Uttaranchal 3-2; WB bt TN 3-1; NB bt Chhattisgarh 3-0; WB bt M.P. 3-0.

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