Table Tennis Senior National Championship: PSPB, Maharashtra storm into final

The Petroleum Sports Promotion Board (PSPB) and Maharashtra entered the team finals in both the men's and women's categories at the ongoing Table Tennis Senior National Championship. The tournament is taking place in Shillong.

In the men's category, the PSPB steamrollered past the Railway Sports Promotion Board (RSPB) 3-0 on Wednesday (april 20). They beat Bengal A by an identical margin in the women's category as well.

Maharashtra A will join the PSPB in the summit clash. They overcame a stiff challenge from Bengal A 3-2 in the men's group and Tamil Nadu Table Tennis Academy (TNTTA) 3-0 in the women's group.

---

Read: Indian women's doubles pair Manika Batra and Archana Girish Kamath break into top 5 in latest ITTF rankings

---

However, what was even more shocking was the elimination of runners-up Delhi and bronze medallist Telangana in the men’s team events. This subsequently paved the way for RSPB and Maharashtra A to enter the medal rounds.

Maharashtra A first thrashed Delhi 3-0, and the Railmen steamrolled Telangana 3-2 in a thrilling quarter-final.

---

Maharashtra table tennis players up the ante

In the women's category, Diya Chitale, Swastika Ghosh and Anannya Basak of Maharashtra led their team into the final with a 3-0 win. The PSPB team also managed to make it into the summit clash, downing runners-up Bengal A by an identical margin.

Earlier, Diya Chitale’s best form and spirited fightback alone put Maharashtra into the semi-finals. Chitale trailed 0-2 in the crucial fourth rubber against Sutirtha Mukherjee when the Railway table tennis players were leading 2-1.

However, she launched herself to play an excellent game, shifting the pressure back on Sutirtha and her team. She not only leveled the scores in the tie but went on to restore parity in the team score.

It was then left to Swastika to provide them with the impetus to see them through in the decider.

Strengthened by the return of star table tennis player Manika Batra, PSPB quickly ran through Bengal A. Kaushani Nath of Bengal, however, put up a good fight and forced Batra on the back foot for the first time. In the end, it did not matter as Batraa won the second rubber after Archana had put PSPB 1-0 up.

The third rubber was a formality as Reeth Rishya outsmarted Moumita Dutta, winning in straight games.

---

Results

The following are the semi-final results of the ongoing Table Tennis Senior National Championship.

Men (Semifinals):

PSPB bt RSPB 3-0 (G. Sathiyan bt Akash pal 11-5, 11-4, 11-8, A. Sharath Kamal bt Arjun Ghosh 2-11, 11-9, 11-7, 11-5, Harmeet Desai bt Anukram Jain 11-7, 11-5, 11-4).

Maharashtra A bt Bengal A 3-2 (Deepit Patil lost to Ronit Bhanja 11-7, 9-11, 13-15, 10-12, Siddhesh Pande bt Aniket Sen 11-7, 6-11, 11-6, 11-7, Jash Modi bt Hirakjyoti Pushilal 11-5, 11-6, 11-6, Siddhesh lost to Ronit 6-11, 12-10, 11-9, 3-11, 12-14, Deepit bt Aniket 8-11, 11-8, 11-8, 11-8).

---

Women (Semifinals):

Maharashtra A bt TNTTA 3-0 (Swastika Ghosh bt Yashini Sivashankar 11-7, 11-9, 11-2, Diya Chitale bt Vidya Narasimhan 11-3, 11-9, 11-9, Anannya Basak bt Harshavardhini C 11-3, 11-7, 11-6).

PSPB bt Bengal A 3-0 (Archana Kamath bt Ponmantee Baisya 11-9, 16-14, 11-8, Manika Batra bt Kaushani Nath 11-8, 11-4, 6-11, 6-11, 11-8, Reeth Rishya bt Moumita Dutta 11-6, 11-1, 14-12).

---