JAMMU, January 15: Matches went along expected lines as the quarter-finalists were spotted in the women's team events in the 59th National and Inter-State Table Tennis Championships which entered the second day at the Jammu University campus here today.Last year's losing finalists Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh, Petroleum Sports Control Board, Punjab, Delhi, Assam and Bengal are the teams that have qualified for the quarter-finals to be played here tomorrow morning.
Tamil Nadu girls kept their slate clean with an all-win record in the six-team group A (Himachal however, failed to turn up). But their final group match against Maharashtra B turned out to be the toughest of the lot.
After registering 3-0 wins over all their opponents, Tamil Nadu girls were stretched by Maharashtra A, who went down fighting 1-3. Judlin Maria lost to Shalmali Mhatre in straight games in the third singles after Arul Selvi and N R Indu had given them a flying start beating Jahnavi Deshpande and Shruti Kanade. Arul Selvi beat
Shruti in the fourth singles to clinch the issue.
Bengal, another strong contender for the title in the women's section, marched into the quarter-finals after humbling Maharashtra B 3-0 for an all-win record in group B.
The Punjab girls, powered by the Dhawan sisters, Kanchan and Neetu, downed Indian Airlines 3-2. Kanchan lost the first singles to Ekta Bhambri while Mallika Parekh gave the Airlines their second win. In the decider, Meenu beat Ekta 21-18, 21-19.
Meanwhile, PSCB, Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Gujarat made it to the quarter-finals. In their last group A match, PSCB beat Maharashtra A 3-0 but not before Chetan Baboor and S Raman lost their first games in the championships. Chetan conceded the first set to S Ramaswamy before coming back strongly, while Raman conceded a game to Nachiket Chawate.
Women's Quarter-final line-up: Tamil Nadu v Indian Airlines, MP v PSCB, Assam v Bengal, Punjab v Delhi.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
