Dehradun, April 20: The opening two rounds of boys team events at the Junior and Youth National Table Tennis Championships Monday largely followed the expected script, with the leading contenders asserting dominance at the New Multipurpose Hall here.
Group toppers Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Assam, Maharashtra, PSPBA, Delhi, NCOE, and Haryana all but secured their pre-quarterfinal berths with a round to spare, reinforcing their credentials as strong medal contenders.
Most of them progressed with authority, encountering little resistance in the early stages.
Yet, beneath this predictability, the first two rounds revealed a competitive undercurrent. Several ties – particularly in the last three groups – were far tighter than the scorelines suggested, with lower-ranked teams pushing the favourites to the brink.
The focus now shifts to the third and final round of group matches, which will decide the runners-up in each group. With the top spots nearly sealed, the race for second place promises to be closely fought and intense.
Delhi in Group F and Himachal Pradesh in Group G highlighted how challenging the competition has been.
Delhi scraped past Odisha 3-2 in a see-saw encounter, while Himachal went down by the same margin to NCOE despite a spirited fight.
Himachal’s clash against NCOE was particularly dramatic. After Naman Bhatnagar restored parity and Swanjanya Goswami put them 2-1 ahead, Sounav Barman levelled the tie to force a decider.
Parth Prabhakar then staged a superb comeback from two games down to beat Sreyanash Thakur 3-2 (8-11, 8-11, 11-6, 13-11, 11-6), sealing the tie for NCOE.
Delhi’s escape was equally gripping. Odisha’s Sarthak Arya won both his singles, but Bhaskar Singh’s hard-fought win in the third rubber proved decisive. Atherva Gupta then redeemed himself with a straight-games victory to carry Delhi through.
Assam, too, endured a scare against Jammu & Kashmir, registering a tense 3-2 win. Ritvik Gupta stunned Assam early by defeating Priyanuj Bhattacharyya in straight games and later forced a decider with another dominant win.
However, Priyanuj rose to the occasion in the final rubber, sealing the tie comfortably.
Himachal, meanwhile, had earlier prevailed in another thriller against Madhya Pradesh. Naman led the charge with two crucial wins, while Swanjanya clinched the decider to secure a 3-2 victory.
Apart from these nail-biters, most results went according to form. PSPBA, though, had a shaky start, dropping the opening rubber to Goa after Aaron Farias upset Rushikesh Jagtap.
As the group stage nears its conclusion, the narrative is clear: while the frontrunners have stamped their authority, the battle for the remaining knockout spots remains wide open, and could feature more edge-of-the-seat action. (PTI)
