Riddled with self-doubt for over two seasons, Neha Aggarwal seems to have finally exorcised the ghosts that have repeatedly pulled her down at threshold of victory.
Having lost innumerable matches from a position of strength, her decision to train in Chennai is surely paying rich dividends.
Neha’s confidence-boosting victories complemented younger teammate Manika Batra’s brilliant efforts to script Delhi’s historic journey the team final of the National table tennis championship here on Tuesday.
Delhi stunned defending champion Maharashtra ‘A’ 3-2 with Neha coming out stronger against Divya Deshpande and then stopping an off-form 2011 National finalist Mamata Prabhu.
In the semifinals too, Neha had held her nerve to put the finishing touches as Delhi pulled off a 3-2 triumph over West Bengal after Manika had paved the way with two victories.
In Thursday’s final, Delhi runs into mighty Petroleum.
In the men’s section, Zubin Kumar led Haryana into the semifinals before the side fell to Petroleum.
West Bengal produced gritty performances to knock out last year’s runner-up Tamil Nadu 3-2 and a fighting Gujarat 3-1.
The results: Team championships: Men: Semifinals: Petroleum bt Haryana 3-0 (Sharath Kamal bt Mohit Verma 11-3, 11-8, 11-6; Soumyajit Ghosh bt Zubin Kumar 7-11, 11-4, 11-7, 5-11, 11-5; Sanil Shetty bt Ayush Tayal 11-5, 12-10, 11-7).
West Bengal bt Gujarat 3-1 (Sougatha Sarkar bt Harmeet Desai 11-8, 11-8, 11-3; Sourav Saha bt Jignesh Jaiswal 11-7, 12-10, 12-14, 11-8; Souvik Kar lost to Pathik Mehta 11-7, 11-13, 15-17, 2-11; Saha bt Desai 7-11, 11-2, 11-9, 12-10). Quarterfinals: Petroleum bt North Bengal 3-0 (A. Amalraj bt Subhajit Saha 11-8, 11-4, 11-6; Sharath Kamal bt Arnab Adhikari 11-6, 11-8, 11-9; Soumyadeep Roy bt Avik Das 11-6, 11-9, 11-2).
Haryana bt Assam 3-0 (Zubin Kumar bt Saidul Alam Ahmed 11-3, 11-4, 11-5; Mohit Verma bt Anal Kashyap 11-13, 4-11, 11-5, 11-5, 11-6; Rajeev Ghai bt Pankaj P. Chutiya 9-11, 7-11, 11-8, 11-5, 11-4).
Gujarat bt Railways 3-2 (Jignesh Jaiswal lost to Anirban Nandi 9-11, 11-13, 9-11; Harmeet Desai bt Amal Balgu 7-11, 11-5, 11-7, 11-9; Devesh Karia lost to E. Prabhakaran 11-13, 11-4, 8-11, 11-5, 5-11; Desai bt Nandi 6-11, 11-6, 11-8, 11-9; Jaiswal bt Balgu 11-5, 11-5, 9-11, 4-11, 11-5).
West Bengal bt Tamil Nadu 3-2 (Sougatha Sarkar lost to T. Nitin 11-8, 9-11, 9-11, 6-11; Sourav Saha bt L. Satheeswaran 10-12, 11-5, 11-7, 11-9; Souvik Kar bt S. Sivananda 11-8, 9-11, 8-11, 11-6, 12-10; Saha lost to Nitin 4-11, 4-11, 5-11; Sarkar bt Satheeswaran 11-7, 6-11, 11-3, 11-7).
Women: Semifinals: Delhi bt Maharashtra ‘A’ 3-2 (Manika Batra bt Mamata Prabhu 11-8, 4-11, 11-9, 9-11, 12-10; Neha Aggarwal bt Divya Deshpande 11-9, 11-8, 12-10; Sanya Sehgal lost to Prajakta Tipale 4-11, 9-11, 8-11; Manika lost to Divya 6-11, 8-11, 11-5, 10-12; Neha bt Mamata 11-7, 13-11, 15-13).
Petroleum bt Tamil Nadu 3-0 (Ankita Das bt A.V. Nivedita 10-12, 11-9, 11-7, 11-3; Madhurika Patkar bt Sumana Krishnan 11-8, 11-3, 11-9; K. Shamini bt N. Vidya 11-8, 7-11, 11-6, 11-7). Quarterfinals: Maharashtra ‘A’ bt Gujarat 3-1 (Divya Deshpande bt Hely Shah 11-4, 11-8, 11-4; Mamta lost to Frenaz Chipia 6-11, 11-7, 11-13, 11-4, 6-11; Runa Roy bt Sapna Sharma 11-6, 11-3, 10-12, 11-9; Divya bt Frenaz 11-3, 14-12, 11-9).
Delhi bt West Bengal 3-2 (Manika Batra bt Mousmi Paul 11-6, 11-3, 11-8; Neha Agarwal lost to Krittiwika Sinha Roy 8-11, 11-7, 9-11, 8-11; Riti Shankar lost to Sutirtha Mukherjee 5-11, 6-11, 10-12; Manika bt Krittiwika 7-11, 11-5, 11-8, 11-9; Neha bt Mousmi 12-10, 10-12, 16-14, 12-10).
Petroleum bt Railways 3-0 (Madhurika Patkar bt Shreya Ghosh 11-7, 11-7, 5-11, 11-3; Ankita Das bt Anindita Chakraborty 11-7, 7-11, 11-8, 11-3; Poulomi Ghatak bt Takeme Sarkar 9-11, 11-6, 11-6, 11-6).
Tamil Nadu bt North Bengal 3-1 (A.V. Nivedita bt Sukanya Bose 11-7, 12-10, 11-6; Sumana Krishnan lost to Nandita Saha 3-11, 11-8, 9-11, 7-11; N. Vidya bt Anuska Dutta 12-10, 11-6, 11-9; Niveditha bt Nandita 11-3, 11-4, 11-5).
