Panchkula, 17 Dec: West Bengal women entered the UTT Senior Nationals and Inter-State Table Tennis Championships quarterfinals defeating Haryana 3-1 despite a fighting performance from Suhana Saini here on Sunday.
Playing the reverse singles in the women’s team event, Suhana, the U-19 paddler, fought hard in the crucial fourth rubber against Prapti Sen, before going down 2-3 to the Bengal player at the Tau Devi Lal Stadium here.
Following the loss, the hosts’ hopes faded away, and Haryana ended on the losing side.
Haryana’s Prathoki Charaborti squandered a 2-0 lead in the first rubber to let Prapti win 10-12, 9-11, 11-4, 11-5, 11-4. But Suhana beat Syndrela 11-8, 12-10, 5-11, 11-8 to restore parity.
But Kaushani Nath’s win over Anjali Rohilla tilted the balance in Bengal’s favour. Kaushani won 11-3, 11-5, 11-5 to put her side 2-1 up.
Suhana was down and out in the fourth rubber when Prapti led 2-0. But an error-prone Prapti let Suhana surge ahead in the third and fourth games to level the score.
At that point, it looked like Haryana had a distinct advantage. But four negative points on the trot from Suhana changed the complexion of the game as West Bengal put Haryana out of medal reckoning.
Haryana men went down to the Airport Authority of India 0-3. SFR Snehit beat Wesley Do Rosario 3-0, Jeet Chandra dropped two games before overcoming left-handed Jubin Kumar 3-2, and Deepit R. Patil defeated Rishab Mayank 3-1. (PTI)
RBI women beat Rajasthan (TTFI-1), Karnataka defeated Telangana, Maharashtra accounted for Madhya Pradesh, RSPB downed Pondicherry and Tamil Nadu thrashed Andhra Pradesh. Delhi and Gujarat defeated Chandigarh and Kerala respectively 3-1.
In the men’s team event, PSPB, UP, Tamil Nadu, Delhi, West Bengal, Maharashtra and Telangana joined AAI in the quarterfinals. (PTI)