The Hindu : Sport : Shibaji takes West Bengal into quarterfinals

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Mar 09, 2007
ePaper

Sport

Sport

Shibaji takes West Bengal into quarterfinals

Rakesh Rao

AJMER: West Bengal's Shibaji Dutta tossed away five tie-points before pulling off the deciding singles against Onkar Torgalkar to complete a 3-2 verdict in a marathon men's pre-quarterfinals in the AAI-National inter-state table tennis championship at the Patel Indoor Stadium here on Wednesday.

In a match lasting well over three hours, Shibaji was indeed the hero of West Bengal's triumph. Shibaji who beat Torgalkar 11-5, 8-11, 13-11, 14-12, had earlier beaten Aniket Koparkar 11-9, 9-11, 11-8, 12-10. The Maharashtra duo won the singles against the West Bengal spearhead Shubham Choudhary. In the eventual analysis, the decisive difference was provided by Arunava Ganguly's 11-6, 11-9, 8-11, 9-11, 11-9 triumph over veteran Bhushan Thakur in the third singles.

Though most of the matches provided expected outcomes, Rajasthan's Vishakha Bijoy, runner up in the National Games at Guwahati last month, blanked National champion Poulomi Ghatak 11-8, 13-11, 11-9 before Petroleum won the next three singles and signed off with Mantu's five-game thriller against Vishaksha.

Tamil Nadu's trio of M. Aparna, J. Swarna and Nivedita joined hands to blank last year's semifinalist West Bengal to set up a clash with defending champion Petroleum. The other semifinal will be between runner-up North Bengal and Railways/Maharashtra 'A'.

In the men's quarterfinals, Tamil Nadu faces Railways, West Bengal plays Gujarat, Rajasthan meets Andhra Pradesh and Petroleum clashes with North Bengal.

The results (Team championship):

Men: Pre-quarterfinals: Petroleum bt Assam 3-0; North Bengal bt Delhi 3-0; Rajasthan bt Maharashtra `B' 3-0; Andhra Pradesh bt Kerala 3-0; Gujarat bt Karnataka 3-1; West Bengal bt Maharashtra `A' 3-2; Tamil Nadu bt Punjab 3-0; Railways bt Uttar Pradesh 3-0.

Women: Quarterfinals: Petroleum bt Rajasthan 3-1 (Poulomi Ghatak lost to Vishakha Bijoy 8-11, 11-13, 9-11; Mantu Ghosh bt Neha Gupta 11-8, 11-5, 7-11, 11-5; Mouma bt Shilpi Purohit 11-5, 11-5, 11-5; Mantu bt Vishakha 11-5, 8-11, 11-9, 6-11, 11-8).

Tamil Nadu bt West Bengal 3-0 (M. Aparna bt Anushree Saha 12-10, 6-11, 11-7, 15-13; J. Swarna bt Sushmita Roy 11-3, 11-6, 9-11, 6-11, 12-10; A. V. Nivedita bt Shreya Ghosh 9-11, 11-5, 11-9, 11-7).

North Bengal bt Assam 3-1 (Nandita Saha bt Sanjana Sharma 11-9, 7-11, 11-4, 11-5; Kasturi Chakraborty lost to Sanjukta Gogoi 5-11, 10-12, 13-15; Sukanya Bose bt Papari Borah 11-9, 11-8, 2-11, 11-4; Nandita bt Sanjukta 11-8, 11-2, 11-4).

Pre-quarterfinals: Petroleum bt Madhya Pradesh 3-0; Rajasthan bt Orissa 3-1; Tamil Nadu bt Gujarat 3-0; West Bengal bt Maharashtra 'B' 3-0; Maharashtra 'A' bt Delhi 3-0; Assam bt Andhra Pradesh 3-0; North Bengal bt Chandigarh 3-0.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Sport