TN women stun defending champions PSPB in Inter-State National TT

Jammu, Mar 22 (PTI) Yashini Sivashankar did the star turn twice — in the quarterfinals and the semifinals — as Tamil Nadu stunned defending champions PSPB to enter the final of the 84th UTT Inter-State National Table Tennis Championships here today.

Yashini beat top-ranked Indian in the world and former national champion Manika Batra in straight games for a 3-1 triumph in the semi-finals.

Earlier, Kowshika Ventakesan put it across Manika to provide a confidence-boosting beginning for Tamil Nadu.

Yashini defeated Reeth Rishya 3-2 to consolidate their lead before Archana Kamath pulled one down.

But Yashini drove the final nail in the defending champions’ coffin by beating Manika.

PSPB did not require the services of A Sharath Kamal as Manav Thakkar, G Sathiyan and Harmeet Desai took their team to the final, posting a 3-0 win over Delhi in the men’s event.

Manav thumped Payas 11-9 11-4 11-5, Sathiyan defeated Sudhanshu Grover 11-6 11-8 8-11 11-1 and Harmeet, who lost his tie in the quarterfinals to Jeet Chandra of West Bengal, made amends against Yashansh Malik of Delhi to win 7-11 11-8 12-10 11-3.

PSPB will clash against Railways in the men’s team final.

Railways beat Telangana 3-2 in the second semifinal.

SFR Snehit’s heroics apart, there was nothing for Telangana to rave about. The lanky Snehit won both his singles against Anirban Ghosh and Ronit Bhanja. But Mohammad Ali and Vansh Singhal failed to match up against the experienced Ronit Bhanja and Anirban Ghosh.

RBI’s Sreeja Akula, who led 2-0, allowed Lakshita Narang to come back and stun her with a 5-11 8-11 11-5 11-5 11-4 win to put Delhi 1-0 up.

But RBI came back as Ayhika Mukherjee and Diya Chitale beat their rivals Vanshika Bhargava (3-1) and Tamanna Saini (3-0) to bring their side back on track.
Sreeja, in her reverse singles, downed Vanshika 11-6 11-9 11-7 to put RBI in the final. They will clash in the title round with Tamil Nadu on Thursday.