The Hindu : Sport / Table Tennis : Kerala boys in quarterfinals

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Nov 21, 2006
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Sport

Sport - Table Tennis

Kerala boys in quarterfinals

ALAPPUZHA: With its local stars S. Sundar and Vishnu Narayan playing a lead role, Kerala qualified for the sub-junior boys quarterfinals of the National sub-junior table tennis championship, after a 12-year break, at the Sakthi Auditorium here on Monday evening.

Sunder and Vishnu are products YMCA TT Academy and they were backed by a strong and boisterous crowd this evening. And though the two choked a few times under pressure, they squeaked to the knockout stage after pipping Karnataka 3-2 in the league decider.

Kerala's progress produced the day's biggest surprise.

Defending champion Petroleum Academy, North Bengal, Tamil Nadu — all favourites for the title — along with West Bengal, Delhi, Gujarat and Maharashtra `A' were the other qualifiers.

Pondicherry also made a stunning entry into the girls' quarterfinals after beating Delhi 3-1 in the girls Group G decider. Defending champion Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra `A' and `B', West Bengal, North Bengal, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh also made the last-eight grade.

The results (league): Boys: Group A: Petroleum Academy bt Goa 3-0; Petroleum bt MP 3-0; MP bt Pondicherry 3-0; Goa bt Pondicherry 3-2. Group B: N. Bengal bt Chattisgarh 3-0; N. Bengal bt Manipur 3-1; Manipur bt Haryana 3-0; Haryana bt Chattisgarh 3-2. Group C: Tamil Nadu bt Maharashtra-B 3-1; TN w.o. Tripura; Mah `B' w.o. Tripura; UP w.o. Tripura. Group D: WB bt Rajasthan 3-0; WB bt Orissa 3-1; Orissa bt Mizoram 3-1; Rajasthan bt Mizoram 3-0. Group E: Delhi bt Chandigarh 3-1; Delhi bt Uttaranchal 3-1; Delhi bt Sikkim 3-0; Uttaranchal bt Sikkim 3-2; Group F: Kerala bt Karnataka 3-2; Karnataka bt Punjab 3-0; Punjab bt HP 3-0; Group G: Gujarat bt Meghalaya 3-0; Gujarat bt AP 3-1; AP bt Bihar 3-0; Bihar bt Meghalaya 3-1. Group H: Maharashtra `A' bt Jharkhand 3-0; Mah `A' bt Assam 3-2; Assam bt J&K 3-0. — Principal Correspondent