Baboor's absence costs PSCB dear

Baboor's absence costs PSCB dear
S SANTHANAM

LUCKNOW, JANUARY 6: Petroleum Sports Control Board (PSCB) suffered their maiden team defeat in five years when their men, minus Chetan Baboor, went down 2-3 to Rajasthan in a Group A league encounter on the opening day of the Sahara 61st Senior National and Inter-State Table Tennis Championships today. Baboor could not reach here from Sweden and his absence was very much felt by his team.

Soumyadeep Roy, a trainee with the PSCB Academy at Ajmer, was the star player for Rajasthan against the formidable PSCB. Soumyadeep first downed second seed and the current No 1 in the country, Arjun Dutta, 21-19, 2-21, 21-10 and then shocked No 3 seed and one of the favourites for the men's title, S Raman, in the fourth match of the tie for a 18-21, 22-20, 21-14 verdict.

This was Soumyadeep's second win over the left-handed Raman, whom he had beaten in the semi-final of the Khar Gymkhana Tournament in Mumbai late last year. In the decider, Anal Kashyap drove the last nail into the PSCB coffin by beating Arjun Dutta instraight games, winning 22-20, 22-20.

Another majot upset on the inaugural day was the loss suffered by Maharashtra A at the hands of hosts Uttar Pradesh. UP won 3-2 in a close encounter after having won their first two matches.

Kaushik Sarkar and Rahul Prakash gave UP the psychological edge by beating Ganadeep Bhiwandkar and Sanjay Nemlekar, both in three games. In fact, both UP players conceded their first games against their opponents before recovering to win.

Maharashtra A rallied to win the next matches to equal the score at 2-2. G. Joseph and Nemlekar won their games against Parag Aggarwal and Kaushik Sarkar. But Rahul Prakash gave the local supporters a lot to cheer about by beating Bhiwandkar in the decider.

The busy schedule of matches at the newly-constructed hall in the Stadium went on the expected lines. A few state teams, however, were expected only later tonight because of the late running of trains owing to the foggy conditions.

RESULTS :

Men: Group A: Gujarat btHimachal 3-0, Rajasthan bt Karnataka 3-1; Group B: Chandigarh bt Pondicherry 3-0, Orissa bt Maharashtra A 3-1; Group C: Assam bt AP 3-2, Railways bt Tripura 3-0; Group D: Delhi bt MP 3-0

Women: Group A: Maharashtra B bt MP 3-1, Railways bt Gujarat 3-0, MP bt Gujarat 3-0, Rajasthan bt Maharashtra B 3-1; Group B: Chandigarh bt AP 3-2, Bengal bt Pondicherry 3-0; Group C: Delhi bt UP 3-2; Kerala bt Orissa 3-0; Group D: Punjab bt J&K 3-0, Maharashtra A bt Karnataka 3-2, TN bt Bihar 3-0, Punjab bt Karnataka 3-0, Maharashtra A bt Bihar 3-0.