CHANDIGARH, July 28 :Defending champions Accountant General West Bengal and North Zone champions Accountant General Uttar Pradesh qualified for the team championship final in the All-India Inter-Zonal IA and AD Table Tennis Tournament being organized by Accountant General Haryana at the Sector 23 Table Tennis Hall here today.
Seeded straight into semi-finals, AG West Bengal blanked hosts AG Haryana by 3-0. Samit Biswas gave West Bengal a flying start as he defeated Amod Dixit of Haryana by 3-11, 11-3, 4-11, 11-5, 11-5 in the opening singles match. Saurav Sengupta increased the margin with a 11-4, 11-3, 11-9 verdict against Harish Kumar. Santanu Banerjee prevailed over Patanjli Kumar by 11-9, 11-9, 11-8 in the third and final game.
Earlier, AG Haryana ousted AG Madhya Pradesh by 3-0 in the first-round match. Amod Dixit, Harish Kumar and Patanjali Kumar won their respective singles matches to steer their team into semi-final.
North Zone champions AG Uttar Pradesh just managed to defeat AG Karnataka, who were given bye into semi-finals, by 3-2. UP won the first two singles to gain a 2-0 lead. Amit Srivastav beat Suresh Babu by 11-6, 7-11, 4-11, 11-9, 11-6 and SP Singh beat Praveen Joshi 11-5, 11-8, 4-11, 11-7.
Despite two games down, spirited Karnataka bounced back into the match by winning the next two singles to restore parity. Murali Krishna bt SK Tiwari 11-3, 5-11, 11-9, 11-7 and Praveen Joshi got the better of Amit Srivastav 11-5, 8-11, 11-6, 9-11, 11-9.
With score reading two-all, SP Singh then clinched the issue in favour of Uttar Pradesh as he ended the challenge of Suresh Babu 11-8, 11-8, 7-11, 11-9.
Meanwhile, Saurav Sengupta of AG West Bengal and Basab Chaudhary of AG Nagpur have been seeded one and two, respectively, in men’s singles individual championship. They have been given bye in the first round. Gurvinder Kaur of AG Punjab and Leena Khare of Uttar Pradesh are first and second seeds, respectively, in the women’s singles individual competitons.
North Zone champion runner-up Patanjali Kumar of AG Haryana was seeded top in the men’s singles veterans category. Somnath Pramanik of AG Uttar Pradesh is the second seed.
Results:
Team championship (semi-finals): AG West Bengal bt AG Haryana 3-0 (Samit Biswas bt Amod Dixit 3-11, 11-3, 4-11, 11-5, 11-5, Saurav Sengupta bt Harish Kumar 11-4, 11-3, 11-3, Santanu Banarjee bt Patanjali Kumar 11-9, 11-9, 11-8).
AG Uttar Pradesh bt AG Karnataka by 3-2 (Amit Srivastava bt V Suresh Babu 11-6, 7-11, 4-11, 11-9, 11-6, SP Singh bt Praveen Joshi 11-5, 11-8, 4-11, 11-7, SK Tiwari lost to Murali Krishna 3-11, 11-5, 9-11, 7-11, Amit Srivastav lost to Praveen Joshi 5-11, 11-8, 6-11 11-9, 7-11, SP Singh bt Suresh Babu 11-8, 11-8, 7-11, 11-9).
Q-finals: AG Haryana bt AG Madhya Pradesh 3-0 (Amod Dixit bt Satyandra Bhaduria 11-3, 11-5, 11-7, Harish Kumar bt Swapan Saha 11-6, 11-8, 11-6, Patanjli Kumar bt Manoj Savita 11-5, 11-6, 14-12).
First round: AG UP bt AG Nagpur 3-2 (Amit Srivastav bt Sanjay Badkas 11-7, 11-1, 11-2 SP Singh lost to B Chaduhary 9-11, 9-11, 11-9, 7-11, SK Tiwari bt NK Chauhan 11-9, 11-5, 11-9, Amit Srivastav lost to Basab Chaudhary 11-6, 11-9, 9-11, 7-11, 6-11, SP Singh bt Sanjay Badkas 11-2, 11-4, 11-6).