New Delhi, July 29 (IANS) The Airports Authority of India dethroned Petroleum Sports Promotion Board (PSPB) to win the youth girls team title in the ongoing 45th All India International Table Tennis Championships here on Wednesday.
The men and women teams of PSPB entered the finals to take on hosts Railway Sports Promotion Board and Reserve Bank of India respectively.
The AAI youth girls became the toast of the tournament as they followed up their upset win over PSPB on Tuesday, with victories against Air India and Dena Bank in the four-team league. In fact, the AAI troika of Sreeja Akula, Archana Kamath and Maria Rony did their job to perfection to post 3-0 victories over their rivals to seal the title in their favour.
Dena Bank’s youth boys team is on the brink of a title, a first for the institution, in any major championships. Having won three of their four matches, the side is sitting pretty with a match in hand against the Railway Sports Promotion Board (RSPB). PSPB, however, have finished their round-robin engagements with three triumphs and one loss and should finish behind Dena Bank.
PSPB men’s team, comprising Sanil Shetty, Soumyajit Ghosh and G. Sathiyan made it a one-sided affair against AAI in the semi final. Though both Setty and Ghosh dropped a game each against their rivals Sarthak Gandhi and Sushmit Sriram, respectively, Sathiyan blanked out Vivek Bhargava in straight games.
PSPB will take on hosts RSPB, who won 3-1 against CRSB in the other semifinal.
For Railways, veteran Anirban Nandi played a decisive role when he won against Aman Balgu in the fourth rubber after Ravindra Kotiyan and Noel Pinto had given the hosts a 2-1 lead. Nandi, however, lost his first singles to Devesh Karia, putting them in some sort of trouble.
PSPB women, too, inflicted a 3-0 triumph over AAI with Manika Batra showing sparks along with Mouma Das and Ankita Das.
In fact, the AAI women were no match to the PSPB’s experienced paddlers. RBI, which had an easy 3-1 win over Central Revenue Sports Board (CRSB) in the quarterfinals, defeated FCI 3-0 in the second semifinals.
RESULTS:
Men: Semifinals: PSPB bt AAI 3-0 (Sanil Shetty bt Sarthak Gandhi 11-2, 11-4, 5-11, 11-5, Soumyajit Ghosh bt Sushmit Sriram 11-8, 3-11, 11-7, 11-6, G. Sathiyan bt Vivek Bhargava 11-5, 12-10, 11-9), RSPB bt CRSB 3-1 (Anirban Nandi lost to Devesh Karia 11-3, 9-11, 9-11, 10-12, Ravindra Kotiyan bt Aman Balgu 11-7, 14-12, 11-9, Noel Pinto bt Hardik Bhatt 11-1, 11-3, 6-11, 11-8, Anirban Nandi bt Aman Balgu 11-8, 7-11, 13-11, 11-5).
Women: Semifinals: PSPB bt AAI 3-0 (Manika Batra bt Amrutha Pushpak 12-14, 11-8, 11-9, 11-7, Mouma Das bt Frenaz Chipia 11-5, 11-7, 11-9, Ankita Das bt Ayhika Mukherjee 11-6, 11-8, 13-11), RBI b t FCI 3-0 (Krittwika Sinha Roy bt Sagarika Mukherjee 12-10, 7-11, 9-11, 11-8, 11-3, Shweta Parte bt Charvi Kawle 11-7, 11-8, 11-7, Shruti Talnikar bt Garima Goyal 7-11, 2-11, 11-6, 13-11, 12-10).
Youth Boys: PSPB bt RSPB 3-0, PSPB bt AAI 3-0, PSPB lost to 2-3; Air India bt RSPB 3-0, Air India lost to Dena Bank 1-3; AAI lost to PSPB 1-3, AAI lost to Dena Bank 2-3; RSPB lost to PSPB 0-3, RSPB lost to Air India 0-3; Dena Bank bt PSPB 3-2, Dena Bank bt Air India 3-1, Dena Bank bt AAI 3-2.
Youth Girls: PSPB bt Air India 3-0, PSPB lost to AAI 2-3, PSPB bt Dena Bank 3-0; Air India lost to PSPB 0-3,A Air India lost to AAI 0-3, Air India bt Dena Bank 3-0; AAI bt PSPB 3-2, AAI bt Air India 3-0, AAI bt Dena Bank 3-0; Dena Bank lost to PSPB 0-3, Dena Bank lost to Air India 0-3, Dena Bank lost to AAI 0-3. Positions: 1. AAI, 2. PSPB, 3. Air India, 4.Dena Bank.